Wednesday, April 29

We were up early this morning so I could go to water aerobics. On the parking lot, when I arrived, the member with the tomato plants she'd started from seeds was just getting out of her car with a box of the plants. I was expecting them to be big enough to put in the ground, but they are just tiny, baby ones. I took two for Hubbie to nurse to a bigger size before he puts them in the raised bed. Right now, they are under the grow lights in our kitchen window.

The water at the pool was still pretty cool this morning, but was okay once I got used to it. Now that the weather is warmer, more women are attending the sessions.

The lady who is going on a cruise next week said she and her family have obtained Tamiflu doses to take with them, since they are to visit Canada. Her family's doctors balked at giving them the antibiotic, but capitulated when told that the family felt they had to make the trip, since they had invested so much money in it already. This lady is in her late 70s or early 80s, so I hope she doesn't come in contact with the virus while she's on the trip.

Back home, once I was ready for the day, I did household chores while Hubbie ran an errand. Mother came over around 11 a.m., and later we fixed separate lunches for each of us...Mother had her usual ramen noodle soup, Hubbie had the last of the leftover pork roast and trimmings, and I had egg substitute scrambled with onions and mushrooms, and a half a wheat bagel. Hubbie and I had sliced fresh strawberries for dessert.

After lunch, we ran more errands...to a grocery store selling grapes at 99 cents a pound, to another grocery store to pick up light cottage cheese (the only store we know of in our small town that carries the brand we like), and to a meat packing plant/wholesale grocer that was selling local strawberries at $2.25 a quart, rather than $4 a quart, which is what we paid for the last eight quarts we bought. These strawberries, grown within ten miles of our house, are somewhat smaller than the other ones we got, but they are fine for making preserves.

We picked up only one flat of them and brought them home for Mother to inspect. She's the one who loves to wash, cap and slice them for the freezer, and then make preserves from them later. We offer every year to help her with this task, but she prefers to do it herself. Anyway, she said the strawberries were fine, so we went back to the market and got another flat of them.

After that, we went to the WDCS for a few items. I was glad to see, upon entering the store, that there was a very large container of antibacterial wipes to use on the shopping carts. I also carry a bottle of the liquid to wash my hands at the store. With the threat of swine flu, these measures are imperative.

At the pool this morning, our leader mentioned that the WDCS has rubber shoes for wearing in the pool. My old ones have seen better days, so I picked up a pair. Other than that, I got a large box of quart-size freezer bags for the strawberries, and a few grocery items, especially salad makings for our supper of beef strips sauteed with onions and bell peppers, and baked potatoes.

We didn't do much after we returned from shopping...Hubbie continued reading his novel, and I played on my laptop.

During supper, we kept hearing the new kittens yowling their heads off, wanting mama cat to come feed them. So after supper, Hubbie gathered the kittens and put them in the large wire cage, and then put the mama cat in with them.

After that, we made another trip to the WDCS to get kitten food. While we were there, we bought a new broom for the kitchen, because Hubbie used the old one today to sweep mud and debris from yesterday's storm off the concrete porch in front of the house, after which I deemed the broom no longer sanitary for kitchen use.

Mama cat is none too happy being inside the cage, nor does she appreciate being outside of it without the kittens. But to keep her from eating the kitten food, Hubbie removed her for a while. We weren't sure if the kittens would take to the new food, but they eagerly chowed down.

We hope by keeping the kittens caged for a while, we can tame them and make them ready to be adopted.

Later, we watched President Obama speak, followed by a couple of our favorite one-hour shows that I'd recorded on DVR.