Wednesday, July 24

Up at 6 a.m. to get ready for water aerobics. Very pleasant weather for walking to the gym. The water in the pool was a bit cooler than it was Monday, but nice once I got used to it. About a dozen of us attended, and we got a good workout with water noodle dumb bells.

On the way back home, a bird flew under the van. I guess it perished, though I didn't see it after I heard the thud. I hated it. I don't like hitting things with my car.

Then, on the road at the college near our house, a black kitten was flailing...obviously, it had been hit by a car and couldn't get up. It was in the other lane, and traffic was whizzing by. There was no way I could stop and see about it. My heart bled.

Not a good beginning to my day.

Back home, Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house, and while I got ready for the day, she diced onions and bell peppers for making macaroni salad and baked beans.

Discovered that something was wrong with the water heater while I was in the shower, because the water got no warmer than lukewarm. Last night, Hubbie complained that the faucet in the kitchen released scalding water.

So Hubbie called the plumber, and he was pretty quick in arriving. The first problem he ran into was trying to find the breaker switch that turned off the power to the water heater. The obvious place, he and Hubbie assumed, would be at the breaker box in the laundry room. But after trying every switch with no result, he finally turned them all off at once, shutting down power to the whole house.

That didn't work either, so he and Hubbie went outside to see if there was another breaker box somewhere, and there was. So he was finally able to do what needed to be done for the water heater, which was to replace the elements and the thermostat.

Before the plumber arrived, Mother and I had already made a batch of macaroni salad, and a large container of beans was baking in the oven. As always when I begin recipes, there are missing ingredients. Today, it was bell pepper and canned mixed vegetables for the salad.

I was able to catch Hubbie while he was running an errand and have him bring home a bell pepper, but I didn't realize until he got back that I didn't have the mixed veggies I needed. So, of course, he had to run back to the store for a couple of cans of them.

By the time we got those two dishes fixed, it was lunch time. Mother opted for her usual Ramen Noodle soup. I diced half a leftover baked potato and scrambled it with egg substitute and cheese for Hubbie's and my lunch. A couple of slices of toast and sliced tomato topped with cottage cheese completed the meal.

Did this and that for the afternoon, including reading newspapers, while Mother worked on her jigsaw puzzle.

For supper, Mother helped make a batch of bran muffins, which we had with chicken noodle soup, and cantaloupe for dessert.

I accompanied Mother to her house afterward, and then Hubbie and I watched TV for the evening, including a pretty bad movie..."The Meeksville Ghost." Hubbie seemed to enjoy it, though.