Thursday, March 8

Up around 7:30 on this dreary morning, so Hubbie could get ready to go to a Master Gardener meeting at 10 a.m. The first thing Hubbie did was check the rain gauge. During the night, we got two inches.

About the time Hubbie left for his meeting, there came a downpour that flooded ours and our neighbors' yards (the rain gauge showed another two and a half inches). I grabbed my camera to take a few snapshots to upload to my social network page before I did an exercise session.

Today, I decided to do stair stepping, resistance bands, and weights exercises. Once I was ready for the day, I sorted my shoes, bagging several pairs to donate to a second-hand store. Then I tackled my large collection of audio books on cassette. Culled two large bags of those to be donated to the college library for their annual fundraiser, and a small bag to be donated to the Literacy Council. I also set aside several hardbound and paperback books for the library.

At 12:30, Hubbie had still not returned from his meeting, and because of the weather, I began to be concerned. I was just ready to call him, when he called me. The meeting speaker had run overtime, which caused the business meeting to run late.

I'd prepared us a lunch of the remaining hamburger patty and the remaining potato salad for Hubbie, and a PB&J sandwich and fat-free pretzels for me, with slices of fresh pineapple for dessert.

At 2 p.m., we settled in to watch our favorite college basketball team in tournament play. Hubbie decided we should have popcorn for the event, but discovered he only had enough for one person. I suggested he have it.

Meanwhile, I attempted to set the TV for the game. No dice. I couldn't access the DVR, and couldn't get the menu. I fiddled with all four remotes, with no success. I suggested Hubbie unplug the cable box and plug it back in after a couple of minutes (this worked two nights ago with the bedroom TV). No dice. Hubbie changed the batteries in the remote. No dice. I was stumped and didn't know what else to try.

So Hubbie drove in the miserable weather to the cable office, where he was told a tech would drop by as soon as possible. The tech was pretty prompt. He came within a half hour, a new cable box under his arm.

Before he installed the box, though, he did what I should have thought of myself...he checked one of the the remotes to be sure it was on the cable function. It was not. Problem solved.

I think the reason I didn't think of this was that the TV was not functioning correctly this morning when Hubbie tried to use it. As soon as I came downstairs, I got it all set up again. So when it didn't work this afternoon, I was baffled.

What probably happened, though, is that one of the cats, in an afternoon romp across the furniture, stepped on the remote and changed it from cable to TV. I'll bet I won't forget to check that function again!

At last, we were able to watch the game, which was a disappointment, since our team lost. So that's the last game for this season. No more, until football begins in the fall.

Later, I made a batch of bran muffins for supper, which we had with more of the soup we made yesterday. This was an excellent soup day, with all the rain and a drop in temperature.

Before we sat down to our supper, Hubbie took four of the muffins to Mother. I'd sent a couple of helpings of the soup yesterday. Mother, of course, stayed home today. With predictions for more rain over the next several days, she might be housebound for a while.

Since everything was off schedule today, we didn't turn the TV off this evening, but watched a movie after supper: a 2000 film called "Wilder." The murders of several women are somehow connected to a pharmaceutical company. Stars Rutger Hauer and Pam Grier.

We followed that with the 2010 movie, "Stone," starring Robert DeNiro. The lives of a near-retirement parole officer and an arsonist inmate, due for early release, become intertwined...for better, or worse?