Wednesday, July 3

Up at 6 a.m. on this glorious morning to get ready to go to water aerobics. It was actually a bit chilly walking to the gym in my shorts and t-shirt, but by the time the session was over, the temperature had risen enough to make for a very pleasant walk back to the parking lot.

In the dressing room, I snapped a picture with my cell phone of our aerobics leader. She was clad in a dark blue swimsuit, and a tall red, white, and blue hat that looked like something out of a children's story. Later, I posted the pic to my social network page.

The pool was a bit cooler today than it was Monday. We learned that the heat to it had been shut off yesterday...getting a head start on saving energy for the July 4th college break, I guess. The pool will be closed Friday, so we will resume aerobics next Monday.

Fifteen of us attended the session. Today, the substitute leader brought barbell type water noodles. They were fashioned by her husband, using recycled noodles strung onto PVC plastic pipes, with plastic knobs on the ends. The noodle parts can be separated on the pipe, so it can be held by  the pipe, or the noodles can be slid together for a larger handhold.

We worked out with these new devices today, which exercised different muscles than the regular water noodles. It was a good session.

 I was back home around 9:15. After a couple of cups of coffee, I headed upstairs to get ready for the day. In the meantime, Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house, and then he ran errands...mainly to pick up weekend groceries.

While I was upstairs, the land line rang four times. I let voice mail take messages, and learned later that one call was from Hubbie, who wanted to complain that the WDCS no longer carries white American cheese, because, they say, there is not enough call for it. I call for it quite a lot, but since that store no longer carries it, Hubbie went to a grocery store that does.

He also wanted to complain that he was forced to use the self checkouts at the WDCS, because there wasn't anyone at the fast checkout lanes. He hates using self-checkout, and today, the register he used charged him about $12 too much, so  he had to get the assistant to cancel the tab and re-do the purchase. Naturally, there was only one assistant for the whole bank of self-checkouts, so he had to wait. Why would the store choose the day before a busy holiday to "train" customers to use those dratted things?

Another call was from a lady who this year is in charge of the women's building at the county fair. She wanted to know if I'd agree to judge children's art at the fair. I declined, but gave her suggestions for folks she could call. The women's building is like an oven in July, and the fair board has never seen fit to install air conditioning, so no, I don't want to be involved in activities there. I spent a lot of years sweltering in that building during county fairs, and I don't propose doing it again anytime soon.

Daughter was one of the other callers, and I returned a call to her. We only chatted for a few minutes, because I needed to leave to meet a noon dental appointment. Daughter plans to spend the July 4th weekend with us.

I didn't have to wait long beyond my appointment time, though I was in the dental chair for nearly an hour. The first thing the hygienist did was X-ray my teeth. Then she wanted to recline me for the cleaning.

But the chair wouldn't cooperate. When she tried to lower it, it raised itself. When she tried to raise it, it lowered itself. After several tries, she discovered something was lodged in the mechanism that was causing the problem. She fixed it, and we were on go...until she pulled the light over to shine on my face, and the handle came off in her hand.

She said one of the dentists had fixed that handle (after it dropped into a patient's lap), and he'd assured her there was no way it would come off again. Obviously, he was wrong.

The whole episode seemed like something out of a TV comedy, and we couldn't help laughing. But finally we got underway. It didn't take long to clean my teeth, but it took forever for the dentist to come and conduct an exam.

When he came into the room, he was red-faced and sweating. I asked if he was okay, and he said he was, but both he and his patient were exhausted from his trying to extract deeply buried, slanted, thoroughly uncooperative wisdom teeth.

However, he was delighted at how healthy my mouth is. Since my teeth are in good shape, the hygienist decided that we can set six-month exams, instead of the four-month ones I've been keeping for the past yay-many years.

Today, I complimented the hygienist on her very flattering new hairdo, and learned it was a wig. She has been undergoing chemo for breast cancer for the past several months since I saw her last. I was glad to hear that she has been responding well to treatments, and the tumor has shrunk to the point that her doctor can no longer see it.

Back home around 1:15, I was plenty hungry and ready for lunch. Hubbie had already fixed lunch for Mother and himself, so I had a deli turkey sandwich, chips, and a couple of small plums.

Afterward, Mother and I put a pot of pinto beans on to simmer. She diced onions, carrots, and banana peppers, plus ham, and I put the recipe together with garlic, paprika, no-sodium seasoning, and pepper.

In the meantime, Hubbie ran more errands. While he was gone, I heard a dog whine in the backyard. When I looked, I saw a type of bloodhound limping...her back leg was obviously injured, probably from being hit by a car.

When Hubbie returned, he gave the dog water and food, and tied her up. Then he called the vet and was told to go around the neighborhood to see if he could find the owners. Failing that, he should call the Humane Society. If he had no luck there, then he could take the dog to the vet at 8:30 tomorrow morning.

Of course, he couldn't find the owner, though a neighbor agreed to help canvas the neighborhood. He tried to call the Humane Society, with no luck. So I guess we'll have to try to get the dog to the vet. That's going to be a trick, since it is extremely heavy, and Hubbie can't lift her by himself. I have a bad back, so I wasn't sure if I could help.

As luck would have it, the neighbor, a young woman, dropped by around 8:30 p.m. to say she couldn't locate the dog's owner, but she offered to come by in the morning with her husband to help load the dog into the van.

Later, Hubbie peeled potatoes, which I fried with onions, and we had them with the beans and ham, corn-on-the-cob, and cornbread. After supper, Hubbie accompanied Mother to her house, and then we settled in to watch TV.

Around 9 p.m., the neighbors dropped by again to say they found out who owns the hound...the son of the local sheriff, who live a mile or more from our house. It seems the hound had been earmarked as a tracking dog, but when the sheriff's department decided they had enough dogs, this one went to the sheriff's son.

So now, the neighbors will come by tomorrow to take the dog to its owner. They tried to lift it tonight, but it cried in pain so much that they decided to wait until morning.   

What a day.