Tuesday, July 28

We got up late this morning, and I skipped my exercises, because I needed to spruce the house for an anticipated visit from the pest control guy somewhere between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Later, he called to say he'd come between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. So, drat it, if I'd known that, I could have exercised after all. I know I don't do anything important with my days, but it's still aggravating when service people act as though I don't have a life at all.

While I was waiting for the pest control person, I uploaded camping trip photos to Wal Mart. I also uploaded a photo of Snoops to Wal Mart to have printed on a mug, which we'll give to Mother as a surprise gift for Christmas. I managed to get a pretty good close-up shot of the cat while Mother was in the bathroom at camp. I hope it translates well onto the mug. This is a gift guaranteed to delight Mother.

Around 11 a.m., Mother came over and started a pot of chicken boiling to have with supper, along with mashed potatoes, gravy, and baby Lima beans. The remaining chicken and broth will be used to make chicken noodle soup for tomorrow night's supper, which will taste good on a rain-cooled day (70% chance).

After lunch, Hubbie and I ran errands...to the bank, to a grocery store to get apples and my favorite brand of fat-free ice cream, and to the WDCS for groceries, including another box of peach cereal...the ants got the other one at camp. We slipped up when we didn't put the cereal in a Ziplock bag, since we've experienced before that ants will invade anything sweet. It was quite a surprise when Hubbie started to eat a bowl of the cereal at camp and noticed ants doing the breaststroke in the milk.

The pest control guy finally arrived around 2 p.m. After he left, Mother and I cut up a bowl of fresh fruit, to use up cherries, strawberries, blueberries, and red grapes that were about to get too ripe. I also added a couple of fresh peaches to the bowl, and then cut up an extra small bowl of peaches to have over vanilla ice cream for supper.

Other than that, I returned a call to the art gallery director, who asked that I conduct another gingerbread house workshop on Saturday, December 5. The reason she needed to know now if I'd agree to do it is that the downtown association wants to include it on a December Trail of Lights events brochure. I agreed to do it.


Later in the afternoon, I created a thank you card on my computer, using a photo I took of a cluster of grapes on the front, to give to our Master Gardener neighbors who come by our house when we are gone to feed the cats and birds and take care of watering our plants and veggies, etc. The card accompanied a two-quart basket of Reliance grapes from the grape festival, and a large bottle of wine. We delivered the card and gifts before supper.

After supper, Hubbie and I did the usual...watched TV. Tonight's fare included a 2009 Lifetime movie channel feature called, "Midnight Bayou," based on a book by Nora Roberts. It's a haunted house mystery.

The second movie we watched was "Countdown," a 1996 film rated "R" for violence. A guy falls in love with a Japanese girl, then sets about killing any Japanese males who show her kindness, on the pretext of taking revenge for the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Along the way, stuff gets blown up.

I checked the eagle nest a couple of times yesterday and today. I never saw the eaglet at the nest yesterday, and wondered if he'd flown for good. But today, he returned briefly, before flying off again. Later, I saw the shadow of his wing cross the camera lens. So, while he is not spending a lot of time in the nest, he is still close by, no doubt perched on nearby limbs.