If things had gone as planned, we would have been on the road to Michigan today. But since the trip has been postponed, I decided to get an early start grocery shopping at the WDCS this morning, because we wanted to go to the watermelon festival this afternoon. I skipped my exercises, figuring I'd get plenty while walking around the festival grounds pushing Mother in the wheelchair
Whew! Was it ever hot at the festival! We stayed long enough to make a tour around the craft booths, sign up for prizes, make a quick trip through the car and tractor show (see snapshots in previous blog), and enjoy cups of soft serve ice cream, before we called it quits.
The crafts booths featured the usual items...t-shirts and caps, Indian jewelry, wood crafts, jars of honey and jellies, etc. There were several food booths, too, some sponsored by local organizations serving hamburgers, hot dogs and the like, and other commercial ones offering foods like blooming onions and (yuk) gator on a stick.
On a stage, performers sang country and gospel songs. People strolling through the festival grounds wore watermelon themed t-shirts and hats, and fanned themselves with free logo fans given away at some booths. Later in the afternoon, there was to be a free watermelon feast. Several local growers provide the melons, and a very large group of people line up for generous one-fourth-of-a-melon servings.
We preferred to travel down the road to our favorite watermelon farmer's roadside stand and buy a small melon to eat at home. We were back home before 3 p.m. As soon as I came into the house, I headed for the kitchen to make myself a glass of lemonade, using bottled lemon juice and sugar substitute. I offered to make glasses of the refreshing beverage for Mother and Hubbie, too, but they declined.
For me, though, one glass wasn't enough, so after I quickly downed the first serving, I made myself another glass, this time sipping it. I guess I must have been both dehydrated and low on electrolytes, because I felt much cooler and refreshed after finishing off the second glass.
Now I was ready to settle down and read my novel until suppertime. Supper was loaded baked potatoes...huge potatoes topped with pepper Jack cheese, leftover barbecue pork and sauce, and coleslaw. Sides were corn-on-the-cob and sliced tomatoes.
Later, we went over to the college to see the outdoor movie musical, "Oliver!" sponsored by a local dance studio and the arts council. You may remember that in a previous blog, I mentioned that the dance studio instructor had sent e-mails to about 350 people, including us, inviting us to attend this movie. The e-mail came not once, but over 400 times.
You'd think that after receiving a message 400 times, I'd remember what time the movie was scheduled to be shown. But no, I had to check my e-mail to find out. "About 8:30" is what the invitation says. "Oliver!" is a three-hour, G-rated, 1968 Academy Award winning movie, based on the Charles Dickens novel, "Oliver Twist."
When we arrived, Hubbie walked up to the dance instructor and (tongue-in-cheek) said, "I surely do thank you for sending us an invitation to this movie." The instructor laughed, saying that not everyone was thankful for the invitation. "One person even threatened to sue me," she said. I don't think that person would have a case, since what happened wasn't the instructor's fault.
She said that the e-mails stopped coming to us when the service provider blocked them from going out anymore. But, she added, the messages kept replicating through the server....about 65,000 times...before the server shut down the instructor's e-mail account.
About 30 of the 350 she'd sent the invitation to showed up for the movie. We thought we were going to arrive late, because after we finished watching a movie on TV, it was nearly 8:30. But we got there just as the movie started.
We didn't take snacks with us, because one purpose of the free movie was to sell snacks as a fundraiser. So we bought homemade brownies at intermission (two large ones per Ziplock bag for fifty cents) . Following intermission, there was a glitch with the second movie CD when the sound stopped. Those in charge scrambled around to fix it, but in the meantime, half the audience folded their lawn chairs and left. Finally, after hooking up a different speaker, the sound came back on, and the remainder of us enjoyed the rest of the movie.
At a few points through the movie, a group of dance students got up and, on the sidewalk beside the movie screen, demonstrated dance routines like the ones the characters were performing onscreen. The students had met from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. to learn these routines before the movie began.
As we left the movie, around 11:30 p.m., the instructor said, "Well, we've had a few ups and downs getting this event together, but we made it."
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Watermelon Festival
This afternoon (Saturday), we went to a watermelon festival in a nearby town, where kids decorated watermelons for prizes. The first shot is the "Ameloncan Idol" entry, and the second shot is of a melon decorated as a girl in an old fashioned bonnet. Of course, no festival in our area is complete without a tractor show (both antique and new) and an antique car show. Even though it was horribly hot and humid today, I still wanted to walk around and look at the colorful antique autos. Mother decided to stay in shade in her wheelchair and enjoy a cup of soft serve ice cream while Hubbie and I took a quick trip around the show.Friday, August 7, 2009
Friday, August 7
We were up by 7 a.m. this morning, so I could get a treadmill session and resistance exercises in before Mother and I went down to the college at 9:30 to watch the five to eight-year-old kids perform a puppet show, using the puppets and props that they'd made.
Before the kids performed, the workshop leader entertained us all with a couple of shadow puppet skits. The figures for the skit (flat characters that are jointed so that the arms and legs move) are held against a translucent screen on which is mounted a bright light so the figures show through the screen as shadows. The figures are mounted on long metal rods so the puppeteer can hold them close to the screen in front of the light without his hands being visible.
One clever skit centered on a spaceship that hovers over a farmhouse. The puppeteer made flying saucer noises as the ship sucked a carrot up inside it. Then a duck (quack) is sucked up, followed by a cow (moo). The spaceship finds it difficult to suck the cow up, so first the front end goes up (moo), then the rear end (moo), then the whole cow (moo-o-o).
The farmer comes out of the house and is also sucked into the spaceship. Finally, the farmer's wife, carrying a vacuum cleaner, comes out of the house. The spaceship approaches her. "I don't think so," she says, and aims her vacuum cleaner at it. The spaceship is sucked onto the vacuum cleaner hose, and the farmer's wife shakes it. Out drops the carrot. Out drops the duck (quack). Out drops the cow (moo). Out drops the farmer (mumble-grumble). The farmer's wife then flings the spaceship out into space. "Humph!" she says. The end.
Following the shadow puppet skits, the kids performed a very short version of Peter Pan with their puppets. It was just so cute. The middle school age kids did a great job with their puppets this afternoon, too. These kids wrote their own skit about a hero girl at school (Supersonica) and her evil twin, a vampire principal, and teachers who assign too much homework. I didn't pay a lot of attention to the plot of the skit. I was more interested in how the kids operated their puppets, which they did very well.
We were back home by 2 p.m. and didn't accomplish a lot for the afternoon, though I did begin researching information about digital cameras. As much as I hate it, it's time to upgrade to a better unit. I think I have found what I want, which is the same brand as the one I have, and which is compatible with the lenses and flash unit on my current camera. Rather than buying online, though, I will probably deal with a camera store in the Capital City that I've done business with over the years. The price at the store and online are appreciably the same, but I think the store offers a six months same as cash deal so that I could pay for the camera in installments instead of outright. Even though I'll buy only the camera body, it's still expensive.
Supper tonight was leftover beef hash with fried eggs and toast. I rarely eat egg yolks anymore, but beef hash just cries out for them. After that, Mother went home, and Hubbie and I (you guessed it) watched TV.
Before the kids performed, the workshop leader entertained us all with a couple of shadow puppet skits. The figures for the skit (flat characters that are jointed so that the arms and legs move) are held against a translucent screen on which is mounted a bright light so the figures show through the screen as shadows. The figures are mounted on long metal rods so the puppeteer can hold them close to the screen in front of the light without his hands being visible.
One clever skit centered on a spaceship that hovers over a farmhouse. The puppeteer made flying saucer noises as the ship sucked a carrot up inside it. Then a duck (quack) is sucked up, followed by a cow (moo). The spaceship finds it difficult to suck the cow up, so first the front end goes up (moo), then the rear end (moo), then the whole cow (moo-o-o).
The farmer comes out of the house and is also sucked into the spaceship. Finally, the farmer's wife, carrying a vacuum cleaner, comes out of the house. The spaceship approaches her. "I don't think so," she says, and aims her vacuum cleaner at it. The spaceship is sucked onto the vacuum cleaner hose, and the farmer's wife shakes it. Out drops the carrot. Out drops the duck (quack). Out drops the cow (moo). Out drops the farmer (mumble-grumble). The farmer's wife then flings the spaceship out into space. "Humph!" she says. The end.
Following the shadow puppet skits, the kids performed a very short version of Peter Pan with their puppets. It was just so cute. The middle school age kids did a great job with their puppets this afternoon, too. These kids wrote their own skit about a hero girl at school (Supersonica) and her evil twin, a vampire principal, and teachers who assign too much homework. I didn't pay a lot of attention to the plot of the skit. I was more interested in how the kids operated their puppets, which they did very well.
We were back home by 2 p.m. and didn't accomplish a lot for the afternoon, though I did begin researching information about digital cameras. As much as I hate it, it's time to upgrade to a better unit. I think I have found what I want, which is the same brand as the one I have, and which is compatible with the lenses and flash unit on my current camera. Rather than buying online, though, I will probably deal with a camera store in the Capital City that I've done business with over the years. The price at the store and online are appreciably the same, but I think the store offers a six months same as cash deal so that I could pay for the camera in installments instead of outright. Even though I'll buy only the camera body, it's still expensive.
Supper tonight was leftover beef hash with fried eggs and toast. I rarely eat egg yolks anymore, but beef hash just cries out for them. After that, Mother went home, and Hubbie and I (you guessed it) watched TV.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Thursday, August 6
While Hubbie was at the eye doctor this morning (see previous blog), I hopped on the treadmill and did weights exercises. Once I was ready for the day, I did this and that until Mother came over around 11 a.m.
Around 10 a.m., highway department trucks came, and three guys began cutting limbs off the trees in our yard that were closest to the road. Hubbie went out to talk to them, and learned that one or more neighbors had complained that the low-hanging limbs on these trees were obstructing their view of the road from the intersection on the west side of our house.
We were not opposed to the highway department removing the limbs, but Hubbie told them that the view of the road is completely obstructed when looking east from our driveway. There is a curve in the road, just beyond the edge of our yard, and until now, it was impossible to see traffic coming around the curve because of thick brush on the neighbor's property.
What we had to do was watch the curve carefully through that growth, and if we saw any movement or glints off metal, we didn't attempt to leave the driveway. It felt like a game of Russian roulette. We've always warned family and visitors to our house to never back out onto the highway, but to head out and carefully watch that curve. For years, we've feared someone would be broadsided leaving our driveway. When the greenery died away in the winter, it wasn''t so bad, but in the summer it has been terrible.
At 11:30 a.m., Mother and I went to the Caring Hands Hospice office to attend a Pampered Chef luncheon. When we arrived at nearly noon, the Caring Hands coordinator was just putting a chicken with carrots, onions, and potatoes, into the microwave. It was being cooked in a stoneware covered dish from Pampered Chef, and she assured us that it took only 30 minutes to cook a chicken in the microwave oven this way.
In the meantime, the Pampered Chef representative gave a program, highlighting special knives, and other kitchen tools. She also made a container of lemonade, with sliced strawberries, and bottled non-alcoholic sangria.
When she had finished, the chicken was still not cooked. So we all marched into the kitchen and filled our plates with veggies and desserts (homemade chocolate chip cookies, and a fruit pizza). We noshed on this while we waited for the main course.
About ten of us attended the event, with most being hospice nurses who needed to get back to work. A couple of them finally left without sampling the chicken. Close to 1 p.m., the chicken was finally done, and we enjoyed servings of it. The chicken was good, but not any better than what we roast in the slow cooker. We find the slow cooker to be a very convenient way to prepare meals, and the one we use is large enough to accommodate big chickens, roasts, turkey breasts, etc., plus veggies. The stoneware dish, on the other hand, is fairly small.
It seems the reason the chicken took so long to cook was that the office microwave's power is so low. One lady said it took forever to heat a cup of water in it this morning.
I hadn't planned to buy anything today, but I did go ahead and order a grilling basket that Hubbie can use when we want to grill veggies alongside of meat on the grill. If we don't get to try it sooner, we'll use it for our Labor Day feast. The basket is one of the lower priced items from this company.
I didn't see anything else we could use. We have a world of kitchen stuff already, and very little room to store anything else.
After we got back home, Hubbie and I went to the WDCS to pick up health items for Mother and a few groceries for us. While we were out, I decided to go by the farmer's market. Unfortunately, though, I chose one of the two weekdays that it isn't open, the other being Tuesday. So I'll try again tomorrow.
On the way home, we noticed that one of our neighbors was having a yard sale. So after we put the groceries away, Hubbie and I went back to see what was still available so late in the day. It had definetly been picked over, but I found a few things...some sponge smiley faces and other figures to use in card making, a word search book for Mother, a Dean Koontz paperback novel for a quarter, a round Pyrex lid, also a quarter, and a ladies white shirt with interesting navy blue details at the collar and bodice for a dollar, that I thought Mother could use. The lid didn't fit the casserole dish I thought it would, but it does fit a Teflon frying pan.
Supper tonight was barbecue sandwiches with sauteed potatoes and corn on the cob. Later, I read my novel while Hubbie napped for a while. Then we watched TV, as usual.
Around 10 a.m., highway department trucks came, and three guys began cutting limbs off the trees in our yard that were closest to the road. Hubbie went out to talk to them, and learned that one or more neighbors had complained that the low-hanging limbs on these trees were obstructing their view of the road from the intersection on the west side of our house.
We were not opposed to the highway department removing the limbs, but Hubbie told them that the view of the road is completely obstructed when looking east from our driveway. There is a curve in the road, just beyond the edge of our yard, and until now, it was impossible to see traffic coming around the curve because of thick brush on the neighbor's property.
What we had to do was watch the curve carefully through that growth, and if we saw any movement or glints off metal, we didn't attempt to leave the driveway. It felt like a game of Russian roulette. We've always warned family and visitors to our house to never back out onto the highway, but to head out and carefully watch that curve. For years, we've feared someone would be broadsided leaving our driveway. When the greenery died away in the winter, it wasn''t so bad, but in the summer it has been terrible.
At 11:30 a.m., Mother and I went to the Caring Hands Hospice office to attend a Pampered Chef luncheon. When we arrived at nearly noon, the Caring Hands coordinator was just putting a chicken with carrots, onions, and potatoes, into the microwave. It was being cooked in a stoneware covered dish from Pampered Chef, and she assured us that it took only 30 minutes to cook a chicken in the microwave oven this way.
In the meantime, the Pampered Chef representative gave a program, highlighting special knives, and other kitchen tools. She also made a container of lemonade, with sliced strawberries, and bottled non-alcoholic sangria.
When she had finished, the chicken was still not cooked. So we all marched into the kitchen and filled our plates with veggies and desserts (homemade chocolate chip cookies, and a fruit pizza). We noshed on this while we waited for the main course.
About ten of us attended the event, with most being hospice nurses who needed to get back to work. A couple of them finally left without sampling the chicken. Close to 1 p.m., the chicken was finally done, and we enjoyed servings of it. The chicken was good, but not any better than what we roast in the slow cooker. We find the slow cooker to be a very convenient way to prepare meals, and the one we use is large enough to accommodate big chickens, roasts, turkey breasts, etc., plus veggies. The stoneware dish, on the other hand, is fairly small.
It seems the reason the chicken took so long to cook was that the office microwave's power is so low. One lady said it took forever to heat a cup of water in it this morning.
I hadn't planned to buy anything today, but I did go ahead and order a grilling basket that Hubbie can use when we want to grill veggies alongside of meat on the grill. If we don't get to try it sooner, we'll use it for our Labor Day feast. The basket is one of the lower priced items from this company.
I didn't see anything else we could use. We have a world of kitchen stuff already, and very little room to store anything else.
After we got back home, Hubbie and I went to the WDCS to pick up health items for Mother and a few groceries for us. While we were out, I decided to go by the farmer's market. Unfortunately, though, I chose one of the two weekdays that it isn't open, the other being Tuesday. So I'll try again tomorrow.
On the way home, we noticed that one of our neighbors was having a yard sale. So after we put the groceries away, Hubbie and I went back to see what was still available so late in the day. It had definetly been picked over, but I found a few things...some sponge smiley faces and other figures to use in card making, a word search book for Mother, a Dean Koontz paperback novel for a quarter, a round Pyrex lid, also a quarter, and a ladies white shirt with interesting navy blue details at the collar and bodice for a dollar, that I thought Mother could use. The lid didn't fit the casserole dish I thought it would, but it does fit a Teflon frying pan.
Supper tonight was barbecue sandwiches with sauteed potatoes and corn on the cob. Later, I read my novel while Hubbie napped for a while. Then we watched TV, as usual.
Ouch!!
I'd already posted my blog last night, when I noticed how drowsy Hubbie looked, sitting in his recliner.
"Are you nearly unconscious and ready for bed?" I asked.
"No, I'm fine," he said.
"Well, your eyes (at least the one I could see) are nearly closed."
He turned to me, and omigosh!, his eyelid was swelling shut, and his eye was bloodshot. All around it were red blotches, threatening to turn to bruises.
"What on earth did you do to yourself?!" I asked, anxiously.
"Well, I was checking on the kittens, and it was dark in the garage, and I leaned over to get a better look, and I came down hard on the metal handle of the yard wagon."
"Why didn't you tell me you'd hurt yourself," I asked.
"I was hoping you wouldn't notice my eye until tomorrow morning," he said.
"Not notice! How could I not notice??"
"I didn't want to worry you," he said. "Do you think I should see the eye doctor?"
Well, yes, I thought he should see the eye doctor, even though he assured me his eyeball didn't hurt. I suggested he put an ice pack on it, just the same, to help reduce the swelling.
This morning at 8 a.m., he called the doctor, and the receptionist said to come right in. Fortunately, the examination revealed that he'd done no permanent damage, and that the eye required no medication. All it requires is time to heal. In the meantime, he looks like he's been in a fist fight.
His eye is a nice addition to a long scratch down his forehead, where he ran into a limb while mowing the yard yesterday.
"If anyone asks," he joked, "I'll tell them you punched me.
"Don't you dare," I warned, "or I'll tell them that you whacked me and caused the bruise under my jaw." I do have a bruise under my jaw, but it was caused by my blood thinner medication.
The two of us are ugly wrecks, right now!
"Are you nearly unconscious and ready for bed?" I asked.
"No, I'm fine," he said.
"Well, your eyes (at least the one I could see) are nearly closed."
He turned to me, and omigosh!, his eyelid was swelling shut, and his eye was bloodshot. All around it were red blotches, threatening to turn to bruises.
"What on earth did you do to yourself?!" I asked, anxiously.
"Well, I was checking on the kittens, and it was dark in the garage, and I leaned over to get a better look, and I came down hard on the metal handle of the yard wagon."
"Why didn't you tell me you'd hurt yourself," I asked.
"I was hoping you wouldn't notice my eye until tomorrow morning," he said.
"Not notice! How could I not notice??"
"I didn't want to worry you," he said. "Do you think I should see the eye doctor?"
Well, yes, I thought he should see the eye doctor, even though he assured me his eyeball didn't hurt. I suggested he put an ice pack on it, just the same, to help reduce the swelling.
This morning at 8 a.m., he called the doctor, and the receptionist said to come right in. Fortunately, the examination revealed that he'd done no permanent damage, and that the eye required no medication. All it requires is time to heal. In the meantime, he looks like he's been in a fist fight.
His eye is a nice addition to a long scratch down his forehead, where he ran into a limb while mowing the yard yesterday.
"If anyone asks," he joked, "I'll tell them you punched me.
"Don't you dare," I warned, "or I'll tell them that you whacked me and caused the bruise under my jaw." I do have a bruise under my jaw, but it was caused by my blood thinner medication.
The two of us are ugly wrecks, right now!
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Thunderstorm
At 2 a.m. this morning, we got an automated message from a meterologist at one of our Capital City TV stations alerting us to an approaching thunderstorm. I signed up for this $6-a-year service, whereby our home phone and cell phones will be called in case of severe thunderstorms or tornado warnings.
We were alerted that the thunderstorm was due to arrive in our county at 2:30 p.m., and indeed it did, at around 2:35. The wind blew furiously, lightening flashed, thunder cracked, and it rained hard. After a few minutes, Hubbie realized that the six kittens out near the wellhouse must be drowning. So he dressed, put on a coat, and took a basket out to the yard to gather the critters.
Poor things were drenched and shivering when he brought them in. I got a towel, gathered them into it, and rubbed them dry. Soon, they were snuggled warm and content in the towel. Hubbie decided to check and see if he could see the mama cat near the house, and sure enough, she'd found her way to our front door. He brought her in and put her and her brood out in the sunroom, providing a box for the kittens.
Then we went back to bed, figuring the cats would be fine until morning. This morning, Hubbie checked on them, and found the kittens still in the box, but the mama cat was gone...she'd clawed her way through the screen on an open window and was outside somewhere.
So Hubbie moved the kittens to the garage, putting them in an old cabinet drawer. Mama cat tolerated this arrangement through the day, but later this afternoon, she began moving the kittens. We don't know where she's hiding them.
After all the early morning excitement, I naturally had trouble going back to sleep, so I only got three or four hours of shut-eye for the night. Of course, sleep deprivation made me draggy all day.
Still, I did a treadmill session and resistance exercises, but afterward I had only about 30 minutes to get ready to go down to the college to do snapshots of the kids making props for their puppet show. Today, they used paint, and managed to mess up their clothes in the process. Instead of wearing old clothes, some of them wore nice outfits...one even wore her Easter dress, which of course, she stained with paint. I called Hubbie to bring me a bottle of liquid treatment, with which I was able to get most of the stain out. Fortunately, the dress is orange and yellow floral, and she was using orange and yellow paint, so the remaining stain isn't obvious.
After a meatloaf sandwich lunch, Hubbie and I ran a couple of errands...to get a case of dog food at the vet's office, and to pick up a couple of pounds of barbecue. We'd originally meant to get the barbecue for our trip to Michigan, which has now been postponed. But last week, before I knew we'd have to postpone the trip, I promised the Caring Hands Hospice coordinator that I'd contribute a barbecue sandwich meal to a lady who is having a hard time taking care of a terminal (and very difficult) family member. So I went ahead and bought the barbecue, some of which we'll have for supper tomorrow night, and some of which we'll freeze for later use.
I packaged the rest of the barbecue to take with us when we go to the Caring Hands luncheon tomorrow. A staff member will deliver the meal to the lady who needs it. This lady gets no relief from caring for her family member, because he won't let anyone else near him, and he gets agitated if anyone unfamiliar enters the house. So we at Caring hands thought that one way to help the lady is to provide meals for her freezer so that at least she won't have to think about cooking (the family member doesn't eat...I don't know how he gets sustenance).
At 2 p.m., I went back to the college to photograph the middle school kids making props. I was amused to observe a couple of slender young ladies (about to become sixth graders) demonstrating their complete boredom with the workshop. Obviously, they are just too cool to enjoy this infantile event that is so far beneath their dignity.
I was less amused by their undisguised (rolling of eyes) distaste for the floral Easter dress that one of the slightly chubby girls wore. The two girls are doing an excellent job of practicing being snobs. I hope they grow out of it.
Other than uploading the snapshots from the puppet workshop, I didn't do much else this afternoon. Supper was beef hash, made from leftover beef roast and cubed baked potatoes (we'd thought ahead and baked enough potatoes last night for our meatloaf supper, as well as to use tonight in the hash).
Later, we watched a movie I recorded on DVR, "A Near Death Experience," which is a TV-14 film about a woman who can see and talk to dead people, particularly a woman whose husband shot and killed her. The woman has to solve the mystery of why the husband shot his wife. The movie reminds me very much of "The Ghost Whisperer."
We were alerted that the thunderstorm was due to arrive in our county at 2:30 p.m., and indeed it did, at around 2:35. The wind blew furiously, lightening flashed, thunder cracked, and it rained hard. After a few minutes, Hubbie realized that the six kittens out near the wellhouse must be drowning. So he dressed, put on a coat, and took a basket out to the yard to gather the critters.
Poor things were drenched and shivering when he brought them in. I got a towel, gathered them into it, and rubbed them dry. Soon, they were snuggled warm and content in the towel. Hubbie decided to check and see if he could see the mama cat near the house, and sure enough, she'd found her way to our front door. He brought her in and put her and her brood out in the sunroom, providing a box for the kittens.
Then we went back to bed, figuring the cats would be fine until morning. This morning, Hubbie checked on them, and found the kittens still in the box, but the mama cat was gone...she'd clawed her way through the screen on an open window and was outside somewhere.
So Hubbie moved the kittens to the garage, putting them in an old cabinet drawer. Mama cat tolerated this arrangement through the day, but later this afternoon, she began moving the kittens. We don't know where she's hiding them.
After all the early morning excitement, I naturally had trouble going back to sleep, so I only got three or four hours of shut-eye for the night. Of course, sleep deprivation made me draggy all day.
Still, I did a treadmill session and resistance exercises, but afterward I had only about 30 minutes to get ready to go down to the college to do snapshots of the kids making props for their puppet show. Today, they used paint, and managed to mess up their clothes in the process. Instead of wearing old clothes, some of them wore nice outfits...one even wore her Easter dress, which of course, she stained with paint. I called Hubbie to bring me a bottle of liquid treatment, with which I was able to get most of the stain out. Fortunately, the dress is orange and yellow floral, and she was using orange and yellow paint, so the remaining stain isn't obvious.
After a meatloaf sandwich lunch, Hubbie and I ran a couple of errands...to get a case of dog food at the vet's office, and to pick up a couple of pounds of barbecue. We'd originally meant to get the barbecue for our trip to Michigan, which has now been postponed. But last week, before I knew we'd have to postpone the trip, I promised the Caring Hands Hospice coordinator that I'd contribute a barbecue sandwich meal to a lady who is having a hard time taking care of a terminal (and very difficult) family member. So I went ahead and bought the barbecue, some of which we'll have for supper tomorrow night, and some of which we'll freeze for later use.
I packaged the rest of the barbecue to take with us when we go to the Caring Hands luncheon tomorrow. A staff member will deliver the meal to the lady who needs it. This lady gets no relief from caring for her family member, because he won't let anyone else near him, and he gets agitated if anyone unfamiliar enters the house. So we at Caring hands thought that one way to help the lady is to provide meals for her freezer so that at least she won't have to think about cooking (the family member doesn't eat...I don't know how he gets sustenance).
At 2 p.m., I went back to the college to photograph the middle school kids making props. I was amused to observe a couple of slender young ladies (about to become sixth graders) demonstrating their complete boredom with the workshop. Obviously, they are just too cool to enjoy this infantile event that is so far beneath their dignity.
I was less amused by their undisguised (rolling of eyes) distaste for the floral Easter dress that one of the slightly chubby girls wore. The two girls are doing an excellent job of practicing being snobs. I hope they grow out of it.
Other than uploading the snapshots from the puppet workshop, I didn't do much else this afternoon. Supper was beef hash, made from leftover beef roast and cubed baked potatoes (we'd thought ahead and baked enough potatoes last night for our meatloaf supper, as well as to use tonight in the hash).
Later, we watched a movie I recorded on DVR, "A Near Death Experience," which is a TV-14 film about a woman who can see and talk to dead people, particularly a woman whose husband shot and killed her. The woman has to solve the mystery of why the husband shot his wife. The movie reminds me very much of "The Ghost Whisperer."
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Tuesday, August 4
Started the day with a treadmill session and resistance exercises this morning, and then I got ready to go down to the college, which is less than five minutes from our house, to shoot photos of kids making puppets.
The puppet making workshop is sponsored by the arts council, and will continue all week. On Monday, the kids wrote a script for the puppets, and then drew pictures of the characters in the skit. Today, they fashioned the puppets from blocks of soft foam, fabric, and various elements like nuts, buttons, beads, etc., based on their drawings.
I arrived at the workshop around 10 a.m. to photograph the kids as they worked. This morning, kids ages 5 to 8 years old attended. I stayed about 45 minutes, and then came home to upload the pictures to my computer.
After a grilled cheese sandwich lunch, I returned to the college to photograph middle school age kids in the same activity. Again, I stayed about 45 minutes. I'll return to the workshop tomorrow to photograph the kids making props for their puppet show, which will be Friday. If nothing comes up, I'll try to be there that day to see the performances.
Well, the e-mail replication glitch from the dance instructor was not solved as of this morning. There were over 250 e-mails from her on the computer upstairs, and on my laptop when I checked. So after I'd deleted those, I put a block on her address, which stopped them from coming to my in-boxes. But they still went to the delete folders. About 400 of them went to the folders, and they kept coming until around 4 p.m. I checked to see how many folks she sent this e-mail to and counted 350 people. Wow! She must have ticked off a lot of people.
A piece of good news, today...our insurance will cover the total cost of the slide-out repairs on the camper, which, in the final analysis, is estimated to add up to $4100! Whew. Thank you, insurance company.
Another invitation came by e-mail today (only one this time)...the Caring Hands Hospice coordinator invited Mother and me to a Pampered Chef luncheon on Thursday. Nothing else is on the calendar, so I guess we'll go.
After a supper of meatloaf, baked potatoes, and green beans, Hubbie and I read our novels for a while, and then watched the movie, "No Country for Old Men," recorded on DVR. This film is rated "R" mainly for violence, and some language. It stars Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones, among others. It's a gripping action-thriller about a guy who, while out hunting, finds several trucks with human bodies and dogs strewn around them. One of the vehicles contains heroin and two million dollars. The guy takes it...and then is pursued by a psychopathic killer who has implanted a tracking device in the money.
The puppet making workshop is sponsored by the arts council, and will continue all week. On Monday, the kids wrote a script for the puppets, and then drew pictures of the characters in the skit. Today, they fashioned the puppets from blocks of soft foam, fabric, and various elements like nuts, buttons, beads, etc., based on their drawings.
I arrived at the workshop around 10 a.m. to photograph the kids as they worked. This morning, kids ages 5 to 8 years old attended. I stayed about 45 minutes, and then came home to upload the pictures to my computer.
After a grilled cheese sandwich lunch, I returned to the college to photograph middle school age kids in the same activity. Again, I stayed about 45 minutes. I'll return to the workshop tomorrow to photograph the kids making props for their puppet show, which will be Friday. If nothing comes up, I'll try to be there that day to see the performances.
Well, the e-mail replication glitch from the dance instructor was not solved as of this morning. There were over 250 e-mails from her on the computer upstairs, and on my laptop when I checked. So after I'd deleted those, I put a block on her address, which stopped them from coming to my in-boxes. But they still went to the delete folders. About 400 of them went to the folders, and they kept coming until around 4 p.m. I checked to see how many folks she sent this e-mail to and counted 350 people. Wow! She must have ticked off a lot of people.
A piece of good news, today...our insurance will cover the total cost of the slide-out repairs on the camper, which, in the final analysis, is estimated to add up to $4100! Whew. Thank you, insurance company.
Another invitation came by e-mail today (only one this time)...the Caring Hands Hospice coordinator invited Mother and me to a Pampered Chef luncheon on Thursday. Nothing else is on the calendar, so I guess we'll go.
After a supper of meatloaf, baked potatoes, and green beans, Hubbie and I read our novels for a while, and then watched the movie, "No Country for Old Men," recorded on DVR. This film is rated "R" mainly for violence, and some language. It stars Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones, among others. It's a gripping action-thriller about a guy who, while out hunting, finds several trucks with human bodies and dogs strewn around them. One of the vehicles contains heroin and two million dollars. The guy takes it...and then is pursued by a psychopathic killer who has implanted a tracking device in the money.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Trip Postponed
Well, phooey. Hubbie got a call from the RV repair shop this morning advising him that the damage to the slide-out on our camper is greater than they thought when they first looked at it. It'll be as long as three weeks before they can get it repaired.
The shop owner said that he thought the camper had sustained damage in a storm. When we thought about it, we realized that, yes, there had been a severe windstorm while we were at camp at the casino at the end of March.
The straight line wind that rocked the camper from the slide-out side really scared us, and since then, Hubbie has noticed that water has leaked onto the camper floor after rainy days. But it wasn't until the trip to the grape festival that he noticed that the rubber liner of the slide-out had dropped down. So now an insurance adjuster is going to inspect it to see if damages can be claimed. We certainly hope so, since the tab for repairs will run up to $3500!
Anyway, now our trip to Michigan is postponed indefinitely. Hopefully, we can reschedule for September. We know Granddaughter will be very disappointed, just as we are. Hubbie has already cancelled our campground reservations. Fortunately, the campground charged us only $4 for cancelling.
Oh, well, since we can't make the trip right now, we'll just amuse ourselves with various local events, like the watermelon festival at a nearby town this coming Saturday, and a free outdoor musical movie from 1968, "Oliver!," Saturday night. On the August calendar, too, are our usual meetings of the arts council, community theater board, Master Gardeners, and the scrapbook club, as well as the musical play "Grease," performed by a local dance studio, another outdoor movie, "Clue," in a couple of weeks, and a museum event about preserving food in the early days.
I do hate, though, that we couldn't make this trip while the college pool is closed. Water aerobics will start again August 24, so if we make the trip in September, I'll miss a lot of days at the pool.
Other than the glitch with the camper, we had an ordinary day. We got up at 7 a.m., and I hit the treadmill and did weights exercises right after breakfast. After I got ready for the day, I went outside to take pictures of the mama cat with her kittens, and flowers around the yard.
Then I pattied hamburgers for Hubbie to cook on the grill later. The hamburgers were to be frozen to take on the trip. When they were hot off the grill around noon, though, we decided to have three of them for lunch and freeze the rest.
I didn't do much after lunch besides reading my novel, because I didn't have a Plan B once I learned we are stalled in our trip plans. I'll need to review my regular "to-do" list and choose some things to accomplish while we wait for the trip to be rescheduled.
Tomorrow is taken care of...I agreed to do snapshots at a summer arts event for kids at a local college just down the road from our house. The arts council director called last week to ask me to do this. My camera has been cranky lately, though, so I hope I can get some decent shots.
Supper was simple tonight...hot roast beef sandwiches made from the leftover beef roast and gravy, with mashed potatoes, carrots and onions. After that, Mother went home, and Hubbie and I kicked back to watch TV.
We watched the two-part min-series, "The Storm," a disaster movie recorded on DVR from NBC channel.
Funny (and annoying): we received an e-mail invitation from our former ballroom dance instructor inviting us to the free musical movie, "Oliver!"....not just once but at least 75 times by the time I posted this blog. The same e-mail keeps coming in and coming in. I called the studio this afernoon to see what was wrong. A lot of folks must have also called, because there was a recorded message informing callers that they were aware of the glitch and were trying to fix it.
The shop owner said that he thought the camper had sustained damage in a storm. When we thought about it, we realized that, yes, there had been a severe windstorm while we were at camp at the casino at the end of March.
The straight line wind that rocked the camper from the slide-out side really scared us, and since then, Hubbie has noticed that water has leaked onto the camper floor after rainy days. But it wasn't until the trip to the grape festival that he noticed that the rubber liner of the slide-out had dropped down. So now an insurance adjuster is going to inspect it to see if damages can be claimed. We certainly hope so, since the tab for repairs will run up to $3500!
Anyway, now our trip to Michigan is postponed indefinitely. Hopefully, we can reschedule for September. We know Granddaughter will be very disappointed, just as we are. Hubbie has already cancelled our campground reservations. Fortunately, the campground charged us only $4 for cancelling.
Oh, well, since we can't make the trip right now, we'll just amuse ourselves with various local events, like the watermelon festival at a nearby town this coming Saturday, and a free outdoor musical movie from 1968, "Oliver!," Saturday night. On the August calendar, too, are our usual meetings of the arts council, community theater board, Master Gardeners, and the scrapbook club, as well as the musical play "Grease," performed by a local dance studio, another outdoor movie, "Clue," in a couple of weeks, and a museum event about preserving food in the early days.
I do hate, though, that we couldn't make this trip while the college pool is closed. Water aerobics will start again August 24, so if we make the trip in September, I'll miss a lot of days at the pool.
Other than the glitch with the camper, we had an ordinary day. We got up at 7 a.m., and I hit the treadmill and did weights exercises right after breakfast. After I got ready for the day, I went outside to take pictures of the mama cat with her kittens, and flowers around the yard.
Then I pattied hamburgers for Hubbie to cook on the grill later. The hamburgers were to be frozen to take on the trip. When they were hot off the grill around noon, though, we decided to have three of them for lunch and freeze the rest.
I didn't do much after lunch besides reading my novel, because I didn't have a Plan B once I learned we are stalled in our trip plans. I'll need to review my regular "to-do" list and choose some things to accomplish while we wait for the trip to be rescheduled.
Tomorrow is taken care of...I agreed to do snapshots at a summer arts event for kids at a local college just down the road from our house. The arts council director called last week to ask me to do this. My camera has been cranky lately, though, so I hope I can get some decent shots.
Supper was simple tonight...hot roast beef sandwiches made from the leftover beef roast and gravy, with mashed potatoes, carrots and onions. After that, Mother went home, and Hubbie and I kicked back to watch TV.
We watched the two-part min-series, "The Storm," a disaster movie recorded on DVR from NBC channel.
Funny (and annoying): we received an e-mail invitation from our former ballroom dance instructor inviting us to the free musical movie, "Oliver!"....not just once but at least 75 times by the time I posted this blog. The same e-mail keeps coming in and coming in. I called the studio this afernoon to see what was wrong. A lot of folks must have also called, because there was a recorded message informing callers that they were aware of the glitch and were trying to fix it.
Kittens
Of all the batches of kittens that this tortoise shell mama cat has had at our house, this is the first litter that she has brought out for us to touch. The reason we haven't been able to give away any from her other litters is because we couldn't tame them. Naturally, now that they're grown, they are friendly with us. But it's much harder to find homes for grown cats than for kittens. So I hope Mama Cat doesn't decide to hide these before we can tame them and find homes for them. Of this litter of six, there are two males (a black one and a white one), two white females, a black female, and a gray female.Sunday, August 2, 2009
Sunday, August 2
I was glad to get a treadmill session and resistance exercises in this morning, after skipping it yesterday. While I was exercising, Mother came over and put a beef roast in the slow cooker. We didn't accomplish a lot for the rest of the morning, beyond reading the Sunday newspaper, doing some laundry, and programming the DVR for shows for the next two weeks.
The beef roast was yummy, with carrots and onions, and mashed potatoes and gravy. After lunch, Hubbie and I shopped for groceries at the WDCS, and picked up a couple of items at another grocery store.
Then we relaxed and read our novels, stopping mid-afternoon to enjoy big helpings of locally grown watermelon. For supper, we had bagel pizzas, leftover from last night's supper, along with baked potatoes cut up and sauteed, and peaches for dessert.
It couldn't have been a more uneventful and unexciting day...which was fine with us.
The beef roast was yummy, with carrots and onions, and mashed potatoes and gravy. After lunch, Hubbie and I shopped for groceries at the WDCS, and picked up a couple of items at another grocery store.
Then we relaxed and read our novels, stopping mid-afternoon to enjoy big helpings of locally grown watermelon. For supper, we had bagel pizzas, leftover from last night's supper, along with baked potatoes cut up and sauteed, and peaches for dessert.
It couldn't have been a more uneventful and unexciting day...which was fine with us.
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