Shouldn't have had that iced coffee last night at the get-together, because I was wide awake until the wee hours of the morning. I wasn't ready to get up at 6:30, but I rolled out anyway to get ready to go to water aerobics.
When I stepped outside in my shorts and t-shirt, I was surprised at how cool it was...55 degrees. The water was cool, too, as usual, but nice once I was used to it. Seventeen of us showed up today, including one lady who hadn't been there in several weeks. We learned today that she'd broken her foot.
Our regular leader wasn't there today, so a substitute did the honors. She's okay, but it seems like she's making up moves as she goes along. But to liven things up during the session, she decided to tell us this joke:
How was your golf game, dear?’ asks Jack’s wife. ‘Well,’ says Jack. ‘I was hitting pretty well, but my eyesight’s got so bad I couldn’t see where the ball went.’ ‘Why don’t you take my brother, Scott, along?’ suggests his wife. ‘He’s 85 but he’s got perfect eyesight.’ So the next day Jack tees off with Scott looking on. Jack swings, and the ball disappears down the middle of the fairway. ‘Do you see it?’ asks Jack. ‘Yup,’ Scott answers. ‘Well, where is it?’ says Jack, peering off into the distance. ‘Where’s what?’ says Scott.
Back home, while I was getting ready for the day, Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house, where she made a recipe of pimento cheese. She relaxed for the afternoon after that, while Hubbie and I did various things.
Later, I helped Mother make a batch of biscuits for supper. We had these, as well as a recipe of cornbread, with leftovers from yesterdays veggie dinner. The reason we made both biscuits and cornbread is because I'm not found of cornbread, though Mother and Hubbie love it. At supper last night, Hubbie mentioned that cornbread would have been good with the meal. The breads were particularly good tonight, because they were made with sour milk from Mother's frige...she is never able to drink her milk before it sours.
Afterward, I accompanied Mother to her house, where I helped her take a shower. Then I threw a load of laundry in the washer. Back home, Hubbie and I watched TV, including an American Movie Channel 2003 film called, "Open Range," starring Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall. A former gunslinger and his men are now running cattle, but a bad-guy lawman threatens them, and he has to return to fight again.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Thursday, June 28
Up around 7:30 this morning. Did stair stepping, resistance bands, and weights exercises after breakfast. Hubbie ran a couple of errands while I did this, and then he accompanied Mother to our house. She prepared veggies to include in a pork roast, while I got ready for the day.
Before lunch, Hubbie and I ran a couple of errands...first to the art gallery, where we picked up a certificate for an oil change and tire rotation that we won at the silent auction last Friday night.
The art council director mentioned that she had several items from the silent auction that either had not been bid on, or that had not been picked up at bidding, and we were welcome to go through them and choose whatever we wanted for the minimum bid prices. I bought gift certificates for four restaurants, and a season pass to community theater productions. Hubbie bought a black cap that came with a certificate for free embroidry of whatever design he wants to have put on it.
From the art gallery, we stopped by a cafe' to pick up a container of chicken salad. This was at the request of Mother, who loves the stuff.
After lunch, I browned the pork roast with various seasonings, and put it, along with carrots and onions, and a can each of low-sodium beef and chicken broth, into the slow cooker to simmer for the afternoon.
Mother napped after that, while I did this and that, and Hubbie shopped for a few groceries at the WDCS.
The roast was good, served with mashed potatoes and gravy, and individual cups of applesauce.
After supper, I accompanied Mother to her house. Then I went to the middle school auditorium to see a show of Broadway tunes, performed by seventeen adults and eighteen children, in both full cast numbers and solos.
It was a mostly good show, but it was much too long. The woman who produced it owns a dance studio, and in designing the show, she inserted narrations in between sets of songs. The narrations were histories of Broadway shows, as well histories of the eras in which they were produced.
The show began at 7 p.m., and was still going on when I decided I needed to leave around 9 p.m. I quietly exited between sets of tunes. A couple, upon seeing me get up and leave, got up and scooted out with me. We all agreed that the show was way too long.
I did enjoy several of the numbers, though...especially those performed by a couple of women from the community theater, who have fabulous voices. My favorite song was a very stirring performance of "Pie Jesu" from "Requiem." But I also enjoyed "Memory," from "Cats," "Let the Sun Shine In," from "Hair," "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat," from "Guys and Dolls," and "It's a Hard-Knock Life," from "Annie." Altogether, there were twenty-eight tunes, with long narrations between.
Wow! Our county was the hottest in the state today, at 108 degrees! And it had cooled to only 90 degrees when we left the auditorium.
************************************************************************************
Looking through some change today, I noticed a shiny nickel that commemorates the Lewis and Clark expedition. On the back is a seaside scene, with this exclamation: "Ocean in view! Oh, the joy!" Never noticed that before.
Before lunch, Hubbie and I ran a couple of errands...first to the art gallery, where we picked up a certificate for an oil change and tire rotation that we won at the silent auction last Friday night.
The art council director mentioned that she had several items from the silent auction that either had not been bid on, or that had not been picked up at bidding, and we were welcome to go through them and choose whatever we wanted for the minimum bid prices. I bought gift certificates for four restaurants, and a season pass to community theater productions. Hubbie bought a black cap that came with a certificate for free embroidry of whatever design he wants to have put on it.
From the art gallery, we stopped by a cafe' to pick up a container of chicken salad. This was at the request of Mother, who loves the stuff.
After lunch, I browned the pork roast with various seasonings, and put it, along with carrots and onions, and a can each of low-sodium beef and chicken broth, into the slow cooker to simmer for the afternoon.
Mother napped after that, while I did this and that, and Hubbie shopped for a few groceries at the WDCS.
The roast was good, served with mashed potatoes and gravy, and individual cups of applesauce.
After supper, I accompanied Mother to her house. Then I went to the middle school auditorium to see a show of Broadway tunes, performed by seventeen adults and eighteen children, in both full cast numbers and solos.
It was a mostly good show, but it was much too long. The woman who produced it owns a dance studio, and in designing the show, she inserted narrations in between sets of songs. The narrations were histories of Broadway shows, as well histories of the eras in which they were produced.
The show began at 7 p.m., and was still going on when I decided I needed to leave around 9 p.m. I quietly exited between sets of tunes. A couple, upon seeing me get up and leave, got up and scooted out with me. We all agreed that the show was way too long.
I did enjoy several of the numbers, though...especially those performed by a couple of women from the community theater, who have fabulous voices. My favorite song was a very stirring performance of "Pie Jesu" from "Requiem." But I also enjoyed "Memory," from "Cats," "Let the Sun Shine In," from "Hair," "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat," from "Guys and Dolls," and "It's a Hard-Knock Life," from "Annie." Altogether, there were twenty-eight tunes, with long narrations between.
Wow! Our county was the hottest in the state today, at 108 degrees! And it had cooled to only 90 degrees when we left the auditorium.
************************************************************************************
Looking through some change today, I noticed a shiny nickel that commemorates the Lewis and Clark expedition. On the back is a seaside scene, with this exclamation: "Ocean in view! Oh, the joy!" Never noticed that before.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Tuesday, June 26
Slept late this morning, until nearly 8:30 a.m. We would have had breakfast at 8:30, except that I forgot to take my thyroid medicine, so we had to wait until around 9 a.m. to eat.
At 10 a.m., when Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house, I still had exercised. I spent too much time drinking coffee and watching the morning shows. Finally got on the treadmill, and did resistance exercises around 10:30. While I did this, Hubbie ran errands, including to the farmer's market to pick up veggies for supper.
As I was cooling down afterward, someone rang the doorbell. Phooey...anytime I decide to be lazy, either someone comes to the door, or we need to run an urgent errand. I guess I need to be up and ready early every morning, just in case!
The lady at the door was visiting to deliver a handwritten ladies only, come-as-you-are invitation to a coffee and dessert get-together at her house this evening at 7 p.m., as a way of getting acquainted with folks in the neighborhood. I apologized for my unkempt appearance, and she laughed and said she often looks bedraggled in the morning, since she works in her garden before getting ready for the day.
Of course, it was lunchtime by the time I was dressed and ready for the day. For lunch, I fixed potato pancakes from leftover mashed potatoes, with scrambled eggs in sauteed onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, yellow squash, and American cheese. Served this with slices of homemade bread that Sis provided when she was here.
After lunch, Mother peeled and sliced eggplant from our garden, which she salted and weighed down to draw out the bitterness. Then I washed green beans from our garden, supplemented with some that Hubbie bought at the Farmer's market, and the three of us snapped them. I seasoned the beans, added beef broth, and set them to simmering.
Once this task was complete, I insisted that Mother go to the couch for a nap, so she'll feel energized for our visit to the neighbor later.
Then I washed new potatoes for the steamer, and Hubbie sliced okra to be sauteed later. I also put a hostess thank-you tag on a half-pint jar of strawberry preserves to take to the neighbor this evening.
While the beans simmered, I ran errands...to the greeting card shop, and to the store that used to have a sale every weekend. I needed a particular item to wear with my "come-as-you-are" outfit tonight. With ladies, "come-as-you-are" means agonizing over just the right thing to wear.
Back home, I did this and that until time to finish supper preparations. Started the potatoes steaming, with sliced onion for flavor; washed the salt from the eggplant slices, dipped them in eggs, and dredged them in a flour/Pamesan cheese/no-salt seasoning/pepper/paprika mixture, and sauteed them, after which I put them in a baking dish and covered them with spaghetti sauce leftover from the pasta dinner yesterday, and put dish in the oven to bake; coated the sliced okra in a flour/cornmeal mixture to be fried later; and sliced tomatoes from the garden. All this, served with the simmered green beans, was very tasty.
After supper, I accompanied Mother to her house, so she could change clothes for the get-together at 7 p.m. I also changed into capris and a knit shirt. We arrived at the same time as a few other ladies.
We parked closest to the garage, so others ended up parking behind us. The neighbor's house is very nice, having been built only a couple of years ago. The walkway to the front door is quite long, though, so it was a hike for Mother. At at the front, the stone steps are a bit steep, and there are no railings. So I had to pull Mother up the three steps, as well as up a step into the house. After that, she could use her walker.
The house is quite lovely, and nine of us enjoyed sitting in the spacious living room chatting. There were several that I didn't know, and some that I did. One lady and I knew each other only because her husband was the one who grew a large patch of turnips and brought us a bunch of them, which we put in the freezer. Tonight she commented that her husband died in April of a massive heart attack. We didn't know this, or we would have sent our condolences at the time.
This just proves how insular we have become as a society...we don't even know what's happening to our neighbors. It's sad.
On a lighter note, when we began talking about traveling, one lady commented that in their earlier years, whenever she and her husband were on a long trip, and she needed a rest stop, her husband could never find just the right place. She would nearly explode before he stopped. But now, she said, "the worm has turned." They are retired, she does most of the driving, his bladder has shrunk, and she delays until the last possible moment before stopping.
I guess the reason that our hostess decided on a get-together this evening was because her husband, who is the manager of the waste-water plant here in town, is on a business trip to North Dakota, and she's rambling around that big house by herself. She needed company.
About an hour after we arrived, we adjourned to the dining room, where we were served a choice of a variety of desserts...fresh strawberries and peaches with dip, a spice cake, a coconut cream pie, and couple of kinds of cookies, along with a choice of soft drinks, hot coffee, or iced coffee.
Mother opted for hot coffee and cookies, and I chose fresh fruit and iced coffee. Around 9 p.m., some of us began leaving. Getting Mother down the porch steps was as troublesome as getting her up, but the hostess helped steady her.
On our walk down the sidewalk, we noticed a cute little brown bunny among the plants. He hopped out into the open, and froze while we passed, hoping that he blended so well with his surroundings that we couldn't see him. Hope the coyotes that the ladies said are prevalent in the area don't find him.
I personally haven't seen any coyotes, but the ladies said they are so bold that they come very close to their homes. And at night, they hear them howling. I think they have gotten some our kittens in the past, but we've never seen the creatures.
Since Mother and I were among the first to arrive, others were parked behind me. This necessitated that I maneuver past the front of the other vehicles, drop down off the driveway onto the lawn, and swing back to the driveway behind other vehicles. Hope we didn't leave ruts in her yard. I doubt we did, though, since the ground is so hard from lack of rain that it's like concrete.
Back home, I accompanied Mother back to her house. Hubbie met us as we were walking. "I thought you said the get-togther probably wouldn't last more than an hour," he teased. It had been two hours. Time flies among a gathering of women.
Hubbie and I finished the evening watching TV...which I think is what Hubbie was doing while I was gone.
At 10 a.m., when Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house, I still had exercised. I spent too much time drinking coffee and watching the morning shows. Finally got on the treadmill, and did resistance exercises around 10:30. While I did this, Hubbie ran errands, including to the farmer's market to pick up veggies for supper.
As I was cooling down afterward, someone rang the doorbell. Phooey...anytime I decide to be lazy, either someone comes to the door, or we need to run an urgent errand. I guess I need to be up and ready early every morning, just in case!
The lady at the door was visiting to deliver a handwritten ladies only, come-as-you-are invitation to a coffee and dessert get-together at her house this evening at 7 p.m., as a way of getting acquainted with folks in the neighborhood. I apologized for my unkempt appearance, and she laughed and said she often looks bedraggled in the morning, since she works in her garden before getting ready for the day.
Of course, it was lunchtime by the time I was dressed and ready for the day. For lunch, I fixed potato pancakes from leftover mashed potatoes, with scrambled eggs in sauteed onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, yellow squash, and American cheese. Served this with slices of homemade bread that Sis provided when she was here.
After lunch, Mother peeled and sliced eggplant from our garden, which she salted and weighed down to draw out the bitterness. Then I washed green beans from our garden, supplemented with some that Hubbie bought at the Farmer's market, and the three of us snapped them. I seasoned the beans, added beef broth, and set them to simmering.
Once this task was complete, I insisted that Mother go to the couch for a nap, so she'll feel energized for our visit to the neighbor later.
Then I washed new potatoes for the steamer, and Hubbie sliced okra to be sauteed later. I also put a hostess thank-you tag on a half-pint jar of strawberry preserves to take to the neighbor this evening.
While the beans simmered, I ran errands...to the greeting card shop, and to the store that used to have a sale every weekend. I needed a particular item to wear with my "come-as-you-are" outfit tonight. With ladies, "come-as-you-are" means agonizing over just the right thing to wear.
Back home, I did this and that until time to finish supper preparations. Started the potatoes steaming, with sliced onion for flavor; washed the salt from the eggplant slices, dipped them in eggs, and dredged them in a flour/Pamesan cheese/no-salt seasoning/pepper/paprika mixture, and sauteed them, after which I put them in a baking dish and covered them with spaghetti sauce leftover from the pasta dinner yesterday, and put dish in the oven to bake; coated the sliced okra in a flour/cornmeal mixture to be fried later; and sliced tomatoes from the garden. All this, served with the simmered green beans, was very tasty.
After supper, I accompanied Mother to her house, so she could change clothes for the get-together at 7 p.m. I also changed into capris and a knit shirt. We arrived at the same time as a few other ladies.
We parked closest to the garage, so others ended up parking behind us. The neighbor's house is very nice, having been built only a couple of years ago. The walkway to the front door is quite long, though, so it was a hike for Mother. At at the front, the stone steps are a bit steep, and there are no railings. So I had to pull Mother up the three steps, as well as up a step into the house. After that, she could use her walker.
The house is quite lovely, and nine of us enjoyed sitting in the spacious living room chatting. There were several that I didn't know, and some that I did. One lady and I knew each other only because her husband was the one who grew a large patch of turnips and brought us a bunch of them, which we put in the freezer. Tonight she commented that her husband died in April of a massive heart attack. We didn't know this, or we would have sent our condolences at the time.
This just proves how insular we have become as a society...we don't even know what's happening to our neighbors. It's sad.
On a lighter note, when we began talking about traveling, one lady commented that in their earlier years, whenever she and her husband were on a long trip, and she needed a rest stop, her husband could never find just the right place. She would nearly explode before he stopped. But now, she said, "the worm has turned." They are retired, she does most of the driving, his bladder has shrunk, and she delays until the last possible moment before stopping.
I guess the reason that our hostess decided on a get-together this evening was because her husband, who is the manager of the waste-water plant here in town, is on a business trip to North Dakota, and she's rambling around that big house by herself. She needed company.
About an hour after we arrived, we adjourned to the dining room, where we were served a choice of a variety of desserts...fresh strawberries and peaches with dip, a spice cake, a coconut cream pie, and couple of kinds of cookies, along with a choice of soft drinks, hot coffee, or iced coffee.
Mother opted for hot coffee and cookies, and I chose fresh fruit and iced coffee. Around 9 p.m., some of us began leaving. Getting Mother down the porch steps was as troublesome as getting her up, but the hostess helped steady her.
On our walk down the sidewalk, we noticed a cute little brown bunny among the plants. He hopped out into the open, and froze while we passed, hoping that he blended so well with his surroundings that we couldn't see him. Hope the coyotes that the ladies said are prevalent in the area don't find him.
I personally haven't seen any coyotes, but the ladies said they are so bold that they come very close to their homes. And at night, they hear them howling. I think they have gotten some our kittens in the past, but we've never seen the creatures.
Since Mother and I were among the first to arrive, others were parked behind me. This necessitated that I maneuver past the front of the other vehicles, drop down off the driveway onto the lawn, and swing back to the driveway behind other vehicles. Hope we didn't leave ruts in her yard. I doubt we did, though, since the ground is so hard from lack of rain that it's like concrete.
Back home, I accompanied Mother back to her house. Hubbie met us as we were walking. "I thought you said the get-togther probably wouldn't last more than an hour," he teased. It had been two hours. Time flies among a gathering of women.
Hubbie and I finished the evening watching TV...which I think is what Hubbie was doing while I was gone.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Monday, June 25
Up at 6:30 to get ready to go to water aerobics. Enjoyed the walk to and from the gym, even if it was a bit warm. The pool was cool, as usual, but wonderful once I got used to it.
The talk today, as it was Friday, was about cattle ranchers losing animals to anaplasmosis...a disease transmitted by horse flies. One of the members and her husband own cattle, and have lost only one to the disease, but neighbors have lost two or three, and one lost ten. That represents a lot of money.
This is a disease that usually presents in late summer or early fall, but thanks to a mild winter and very warm spring, it is occurring much earlier. It's mainly fatal to cattle two years old and older. Animals that survive can become carriers.
Once I was ready for the day after water aerobics, I visited with Sis and Mother, who had come to our house while I was upstairs. We didn't do anything productive before lunch.
Hubbie went to the WDCS to pick up deli turkey and bread for lunch. Sis and Hubbie were able to dress their sandwiches with not only cheese and tomatoes, but Vidalia onions. I skipped the onion, since I was scheduled to meet my ESL student this afternoon.
At 2:30, I went down to the college. My student was already there. Today, we reviewed the lesson from last week, since she needed to ask several questions about it, and write sentences using what she learned.
One thing that she asked about was the term "fill out," as in "fill out an application." She has heard this term several times and couldn't grasp the meaning. I demonstrated the term, and then asked her to look it up in her Spanish/English dictionary. The light dawned then.
In the use of the affirmative "must," and the negative "must not," she stumbled on whether we must or must not write in library books, and answered that we must write in library books. This was because in Venezuela, the word meaning an institution for lending books is "biblioteca." A "librero" is a bookseller.
She was also amused that a person can be named Fran. In Spanish it means Francisco or Franco. I explained that in English, Fran is short for the feminine Frances. But that the masculine form is Francis.
She then needed to understand the word "while." When she looked it up in her Spanish dictionary, she understood that it means "in the meantime."
Besides reviewing the lesson, we also chatted about various things, including her love of architecture and house renovations. She said she has designed houses in Venezuela from scratch, which an architect friend helped her build. And she has also overseen renovations of older homes. She and her friend are also skilled in interior design.
It's no wonder, then, that she's also an artist. She showed me photos of some of her work. I'd like to take her to the art gallery, so she can meet the director, and perhaps get her work displayed.
At the end of the session, when I got into the van to drive home, I nearly blistered my hands on the steering wheel! Gad it was hot...and the sun wasn't even shining into the windshield. I should have rolled the windows down a little. Next time, I'll do that, and I'll also take a towel to lay over the steering wheel.
Back home, Hubbie had heated leftover spaghetti and sauce, and Sis had prepared a salad, for our supper. I had insisted that Mother nap while I was gone to the tutoring session, and she was still snoozing peacefully on the couch when I got home. But she woke up in time for supper.
Sis headed home a little while later, and I accompanied Mother to her house. Then Hubbie and I watched TV for the evening, including a 1993 Lifetime Movie Network feature called, "A Matter of Justice." Based on a true story, a young man joins the Marines, and on a night out meets a loose woman, who snares him into marrying her.
The couple has a child, but she continues her philandering ways, and is neglectful of the child. He decides to divorce her, but attempts reconcilation later. She's not interested in reconciliation. Later, he is stabbed to death by her boyfriend. The mother of the young man suspects his widow's involvement and sets out to get justice.
The talk today, as it was Friday, was about cattle ranchers losing animals to anaplasmosis...a disease transmitted by horse flies. One of the members and her husband own cattle, and have lost only one to the disease, but neighbors have lost two or three, and one lost ten. That represents a lot of money.
This is a disease that usually presents in late summer or early fall, but thanks to a mild winter and very warm spring, it is occurring much earlier. It's mainly fatal to cattle two years old and older. Animals that survive can become carriers.
Once I was ready for the day after water aerobics, I visited with Sis and Mother, who had come to our house while I was upstairs. We didn't do anything productive before lunch.
Hubbie went to the WDCS to pick up deli turkey and bread for lunch. Sis and Hubbie were able to dress their sandwiches with not only cheese and tomatoes, but Vidalia onions. I skipped the onion, since I was scheduled to meet my ESL student this afternoon.
At 2:30, I went down to the college. My student was already there. Today, we reviewed the lesson from last week, since she needed to ask several questions about it, and write sentences using what she learned.
One thing that she asked about was the term "fill out," as in "fill out an application." She has heard this term several times and couldn't grasp the meaning. I demonstrated the term, and then asked her to look it up in her Spanish/English dictionary. The light dawned then.
In the use of the affirmative "must," and the negative "must not," she stumbled on whether we must or must not write in library books, and answered that we must write in library books. This was because in Venezuela, the word meaning an institution for lending books is "biblioteca." A "librero" is a bookseller.
She was also amused that a person can be named Fran. In Spanish it means Francisco or Franco. I explained that in English, Fran is short for the feminine Frances. But that the masculine form is Francis.
She then needed to understand the word "while." When she looked it up in her Spanish dictionary, she understood that it means "in the meantime."
Besides reviewing the lesson, we also chatted about various things, including her love of architecture and house renovations. She said she has designed houses in Venezuela from scratch, which an architect friend helped her build. And she has also overseen renovations of older homes. She and her friend are also skilled in interior design.
It's no wonder, then, that she's also an artist. She showed me photos of some of her work. I'd like to take her to the art gallery, so she can meet the director, and perhaps get her work displayed.
At the end of the session, when I got into the van to drive home, I nearly blistered my hands on the steering wheel! Gad it was hot...and the sun wasn't even shining into the windshield. I should have rolled the windows down a little. Next time, I'll do that, and I'll also take a towel to lay over the steering wheel.
Back home, Hubbie had heated leftover spaghetti and sauce, and Sis had prepared a salad, for our supper. I had insisted that Mother nap while I was gone to the tutoring session, and she was still snoozing peacefully on the couch when I got home. But she woke up in time for supper.
Sis headed home a little while later, and I accompanied Mother to her house. Then Hubbie and I watched TV for the evening, including a 1993 Lifetime Movie Network feature called, "A Matter of Justice." Based on a true story, a young man joins the Marines, and on a night out meets a loose woman, who snares him into marrying her.
The couple has a child, but she continues her philandering ways, and is neglectful of the child. He decides to divorce her, but attempts reconcilation later. She's not interested in reconciliation. Later, he is stabbed to death by her boyfriend. The mother of the young man suspects his widow's involvement and sets out to get justice.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Sunday, June 24
Up around 7:30 this morning, but skipped my exercises. After breakfast, and once I was ready for the day, I started a pot of spaghetti sauce simmering. Then I did this and that around the house...a couple of loads of laundry, programming the DVR for the week's movies and shows, etc.
While I did this, Hubbie and Sis loaded several bags of mulch from that huge pile in our yard, so Sis can mulch the gardens at her house. When Hubbie and another Master Gardener shoveled a trailer-load of the mulch into our yard a few weeks ago, creating a mountain of the stuff, I declared there was enough to take care of gardens in two counties. Our county plus Sis's county equals two counties. And there's still mulch left!
Once they'd completed this task, Sis accompanied Mother to our house. We visited until it was time for me to finish preparations for lunch. We enjoyed spaghetti and sauce, served with tomatoes fresh from the garden, topped with cottage cheese, and leftover hamburger and hot dog buns toasted with margarine, garlic powder, and Parmesan cheese.
After lunch, we decided it would be nice to go on an outing to a town about fifteen miles away to buy watermelons from a roadside vendor. This town is known for its watermelons, which are celebrated at a festival each year. There are two counties in the state noted for watermelons...a southern county where the melons grow largest, and the nearby county where the melons are declared to be sweetest.
We and Sis bought two watermelons each. Hubbie and I also bought a carton of peaches, while Sis bought a carton of okra and a cantaloupe. I mentioned to the vendor that we'd picked up two cantaloupes from his stand a week ago, and they were mushy. We had to throw them away. He insisted on replacing them with two more firm ones he'd gathered from the field today. These are firm enough that we can let them rest a couple of days before cutting them.
Back in town, we stopped by a fast food restaurant to buy their specialty jamocha milkshake. Hubbie had discovered it when he went there to have lunch while we ladies of the scrapbook club were gone on a trip to another town last Thursday. He probably would have had lunch at home, except that he couldn't be in the house for four hours after the pest control guy set off a flea-killing bomb that day.
The milkshake was delicious. At home, Mother, Sis, and I watched TV (actually, Mother and Sis mostly napped), while Hubbie went to the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions, to the WDCS for a few grocery items, and to a gas station to fill the van.
Hubbie got back around 4 p.m., and we played Michigan Rummy until around 6 p.m., when we declared Sis the winner, because she ended up with the most poker chips. By then, we were getting hungry, so Hubbie fixed grilled cheese sandwiches for supper.
Afterward, we played two games of Skipbo. Mother and Sis each won one. We quit around 8 p.m., and then Sis accompanied Mother to her house, and assisted her in taking a shower. Sis also put fresh herbs from Mother's garden in the dehydrator to dry.
Hubbie and I settled in to watch TV (actually Hubbie mostly napped), including a 2012 Lifetime Movie Network feature called, "Murder on the 13th Floor." The wife of a couple living in a futuristic computerized condominium finds out her husband is having an affair with the nanny, and the nanny is now pregnant (the computerized toilet alerted her). The wife hires killers to murder the nanny.
While I did this, Hubbie and Sis loaded several bags of mulch from that huge pile in our yard, so Sis can mulch the gardens at her house. When Hubbie and another Master Gardener shoveled a trailer-load of the mulch into our yard a few weeks ago, creating a mountain of the stuff, I declared there was enough to take care of gardens in two counties. Our county plus Sis's county equals two counties. And there's still mulch left!
Once they'd completed this task, Sis accompanied Mother to our house. We visited until it was time for me to finish preparations for lunch. We enjoyed spaghetti and sauce, served with tomatoes fresh from the garden, topped with cottage cheese, and leftover hamburger and hot dog buns toasted with margarine, garlic powder, and Parmesan cheese.
After lunch, we decided it would be nice to go on an outing to a town about fifteen miles away to buy watermelons from a roadside vendor. This town is known for its watermelons, which are celebrated at a festival each year. There are two counties in the state noted for watermelons...a southern county where the melons grow largest, and the nearby county where the melons are declared to be sweetest.
We and Sis bought two watermelons each. Hubbie and I also bought a carton of peaches, while Sis bought a carton of okra and a cantaloupe. I mentioned to the vendor that we'd picked up two cantaloupes from his stand a week ago, and they were mushy. We had to throw them away. He insisted on replacing them with two more firm ones he'd gathered from the field today. These are firm enough that we can let them rest a couple of days before cutting them.
Back in town, we stopped by a fast food restaurant to buy their specialty jamocha milkshake. Hubbie had discovered it when he went there to have lunch while we ladies of the scrapbook club were gone on a trip to another town last Thursday. He probably would have had lunch at home, except that he couldn't be in the house for four hours after the pest control guy set off a flea-killing bomb that day.
The milkshake was delicious. At home, Mother, Sis, and I watched TV (actually, Mother and Sis mostly napped), while Hubbie went to the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions, to the WDCS for a few grocery items, and to a gas station to fill the van.
Hubbie got back around 4 p.m., and we played Michigan Rummy until around 6 p.m., when we declared Sis the winner, because she ended up with the most poker chips. By then, we were getting hungry, so Hubbie fixed grilled cheese sandwiches for supper.
Afterward, we played two games of Skipbo. Mother and Sis each won one. We quit around 8 p.m., and then Sis accompanied Mother to her house, and assisted her in taking a shower. Sis also put fresh herbs from Mother's garden in the dehydrator to dry.
Hubbie and I settled in to watch TV (actually Hubbie mostly napped), including a 2012 Lifetime Movie Network feature called, "Murder on the 13th Floor." The wife of a couple living in a futuristic computerized condominium finds out her husband is having an affair with the nanny, and the nanny is now pregnant (the computerized toilet alerted her). The wife hires killers to murder the nanny.
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