Friday, Sept. 7

The biggest and best news today: we have a new great-granddaughter...Autumn Leanne...born at 3:51 this morning, weighing 9 lb. 5 oz.! Beautiful, chubby chipmunk cheeks, and a shock of dark hair. Can't wait to get my hands on her.

Up at 6:30 to get ready to go to water aerobics. About 25 of us showed up today, which is unusual for a Friday, since folks often have weekend things to do that keep them away.

The pool was cool this morning, but pleasant once I dipped down into it. Enjoyed the session. Some of the ladies seem to be experiencing physical problems, though. One, who is younger than I am, has rheumatoid arthritis for which she is taking multiple medicines. She visited her doctor recently, because of extreme pain in her legs. Her doctor discovered she has no pulse in her feet. RA often causes problems with the feet, including deformities.

A couple of other ladies are experiencing bursitis, either of the hip or shoulder. So they won't return to the pool until the pain of the ailment goes away.

One lady, who like me, has heart disease that required a stent, has been having pains in her stomach. Last week, she underwent a catheter procedure that revealed polyps in her stomach. She's awaiting news of biopsy results.

In other news, one of the ladies said a storm that passed through the county on Wednesday lifted the roof off the barn at her property. The barn had recently been fitted with a new roof and rafters, so her husband was sick almost to tears about the destruction. I can see why, after a prolonged drought that decimated pasture land for their cattle, forced them to sell part of the herd. They also lost cattle to a disease this summer. So I imagine the barn roof was the last straw (no pun intended).

Back home, by the time I was ready for the day, it was 11 a.m. I busied myself doing this and that until lunchtime. In the meantime, Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house. After lunch, she retired to the couch for a nap, as usual.

While she napped, Hubbie worked in the yard, and I went to the upstairs computer to try to fix the printer, first by uninstalling the printer, and then using the CD that came with it to re-install it, which didn't work, and second by contacting a support website for the printer model to download a new driver, which also didn't work. So I see no other solution except to buy a new printer. I'm tired of fooling with this one.

Around 3:30, Mother finished her nap, and the two of us went to the kitchen to put together salmon chowder for supper. Mother's contribution was chopping onions and fresh garlic, and grating Monterey Jack cheese. Otherwise, the chowder is very simple to put together...cooking the onions and garlic in margarine or butter, adding flour and milk, then adding all the other ingredients...canned diced tomatoes, canned salmon, frozen whole kernel corn, and spices...then bring to a boil and add the shredded cheese.

The chowder was very good, served with oyster crackers, and slices of rye bread and margarine. Afterward, I accompanied Mother to her house, and waited until she took a shower.

Back home, Hubbie and I watched a two-part, min-series movie from the A&E channel: "Coma," based on a novel by Robin Cook. A young medical student suspects foul play when more than the average number of patients go into comas following routine surgeries.

Thunderstorm cropped up around 8 a.m., bringing rain, thunder, and lightning that caused a couple of brief power outages...just enough to turn the TV off. We were three-quarters of the way through the first episode of "Coma," but each time the power went off, the DVR zipped the movie back to the beginning, and I had to fast-forward to the point where we left off.