Tuesday's Treks

I went to sleep earlier than normal last night and slept longer than I had in quite a while. I watered the vegetables and herbs in the back yard and the hanging fuchsia basket on the front porch. Then I made myself an egg sunny side up and also an egg beater omelet sandwich with a veggie sausage patty.

Then I picked up the kitchen rugs, shook them out, swept the kitchen floor and then mopped it. Kathleen came downstairs while I was mopping the floor and she decided to put the rugs into the washer and also the downstairs bath room rugs.

I went into the living room with my coffee and read the paper and then the mail; there was not a lot there that was worth keeping so most of it went into the recycling bin. After a while I went out back and pulled some weeds and dug out some of the Italian prune tree that I cut down last spring.

Digging out the sucker has become a daily task, I am not sure how come there are so many this year; the only thing I can think of is that since the tree is gone the roots are sending up new starts. They are kind of annoying because unlike weeds they are stiff and hurt when one walks on them, so I have to dig down and get as much as the root as possible.

After I came in I put the rugs into the drier and then I had a peach and a nectarine for lunch and then changed my clothes as Kathleen wanted to go to Walgreens, to Eye Health Northwest to get her glasses put back together, and then to a couple other places. On the way home we stopped and got gas for her SUV, and again this time the price of gas was down again...I like that trend.

We did not get home until about 1745 and Kathleen after putting her things away started making dinner...salmon! I could have that every night of the week and not get tired of it.

While waiting for dinner to finish I got the rugs out of the drier and put them back down in there appropriate places. Dinner was really good, too bad that there was no more salmon than there was, it would have been nice to have leftovers for some other meal.

Well, it seems like we spent a lot of time shopping, we did not spend a lot of money, which is a good thing, that will probably happen tomorrow when we go to Costco. With that said, I think I will call it a day and say good night!

Mowing Monday

This morning was so much nicer than it was over the weekend although I really did not mind the weather we had this weekend it was kind of refreshing after hot weather we had there for a while. Anyway, I had shredded wheat with a banana and some blueberries on top.

I felt a little better than I had this weekend, so I took myself for a short, a mile and a half walk and when I got back I read the paper. When I finished the paper and recycled it, I decided to go out and try out my "new" used electric reel mower. So I mowed the front lawn and the back yard.

I had mowed the area by the raspberries Saturday night after I got it, but the battery was really low on it and I could not tell how well it would work or how long the battery would let me mow. To my surprise I wound up mowing the whole lawn and it still had a good amount of power left when I finally stopped.

I put the battery on the charger so that next time I mow it will have a full charge. I thought that the mower did a really good job, in fact while I was mowing the front lawn the mailman stopped me and said that he did not realize that it was a mower because it was so quiet. He was really impressed!

I put it through a pretty good test as I had the Honda mower set at the high limit and it was quiet a lot higher than this one so it had to cut a lot of grass and it did a really good job. I did have to go over some of the front lawn again, in the opposite direction, but I often do that anyway.

After finishing the lawn, putting the battery of the charger and then cleaning and oiling the lawnmower, I was ready to go inside, clean up and have something for lunch. It was almost 1400, so it was close to my normal lunch time anyway.

I made myself a salad and one of those new Veggie burgers that I got at Trader Joe's the other day. We needed to go to Winco, so I kept asking Kathleen if she was ready to go, and finally around 1500 she came downstairs and then we took off for the store.

After shopping for a couple hours we finally got back about 1740 and then I helped Kathleen put the groceries away.

For dinner Kathleen heated up a couple artichokes and some fresh green beans and sliced up a mango. I added a Boca burger to complete my meal, Kathleen does not like them; she is more of a meat and potatoes kind of person, and I think I could almost become a vegetarian without too much of a problem.

Well, that pretty much was our day, I think I will call it a day and say good night.

Stalled Sunday

I felt pretty good when I got up this morning and so I started getting ready for church this morning, but unfortunately it did not last too long. Shortly after I finished my shower and ate breakfast, I decided that it might be a good decision to stay home. Some mornings are just like that.

Usually I start to do better around 0930 or 1000, but today it was not until 1030 or 1100, and unfortunately some mornings are like that as well. I did manage to get three loads of laundry done, Kathleen got to the drier before I did on the last load, but I managed to get the towels, and both light and dark clothes done. So once again we have clean clothes to wear. Although for me I was not even close to running out of clothes.

I primarily wear tee shirts, of which I have plenty, and shorts, of which I also have more than enough. I usually only wear socks when I am going someplace or when I go for my walks, so I sometimes only go through four or five pair of socks a week.

Anyway, I did not get much done today, other than the laundry and I did a load of dishes. Oh and I did clean and oil my "new" used lawn mower. I noticed that it squeaked a little when I tried it out yesterday, so I thought that a little cleaning and oil would not hurt.

I put the battery on the charger last night; I think that it probably needs a full twenty-four hour charge as I do not think that it had been used in a couple years. It will be interesting to see how long it runs on a full charge. As long as I can mow my lawn on one charge, I will be happy.

I did check into what the cost of a new battery was and they are just a little under $100. So even if I had to buy a new battery, I still got a really great deal on the mower.

And I guess I did prune the roses today as well, but that is about all I did outside. I just did not feel comfortable going too far from the house today, so I stayed inside most of the day. It was not that hard as it was overcast most of the day. I wonder how it was at Bar View where the children and families are.

Well, I am writing this early today, just because I have not done a lot and had some free time. I think Kathleen is going to have the rest of the left-over potato/chicken salad for dinner tonight. So I guess that there really is not much else to write about, so I am just going to say good night!

Saturday's Shopping

When I woke up this morning, it looked just like a day at the Oregon coast... drizzly and overcast. I had kind of planned on watering the roses and berries this morning, but it was so overcast and drizzly that I did not need to. Tomorrow is supposed to be kind of the same kind of weather, so I think that I can hold off until Monday to water.

Kathleen got up early this morning and came downstairs just about the time I was going to make myself my Saturday egg omelet, but she wanted to make pancakes, so that is what we had. She made blueberry pancakes and I was surprised that I got as full as I did on only a couple medium sized pancakes.

This week on several occasions I have been dive bombed by several of our neighborhood hummingbirds especially when I got too close to our hardy fuchsias. Then the other day when I went out to the back yard there must have been thirty birds fly away, from the grapes, berries and apple tree.

Then this morning I was looking out the kitchen window, as I though that the street looked wet, and I wanted to see if it was raining out or if it just looked like it was. Out of the corner of my vision I saw something moving and when I looked it that direction I was surprised to see a red-tailed hawk trying to grab a hold of a squirrel.

I had seen them circling above, but I had never seen them actually swoop down and try to grab anything before. I am beginning to think that I may have too much of a bird sanctuary here. I try to have a lot of plants and things that attract birds and butterflies to the yard, but this week has been a little ridiculous.

Kathleen had not been feeling very well all morning, so she lay down on the sofa and soon fell asleep. I read the paper and then got the mail when it arrived. After I finished reading the paper and looking at the mail, I decided that I would go for a walk and leave the house nice and quiet for Kathleen.

I wound up taking about a three mile walk. My hip had been hurting me for the last couple of days and it started acting up on me again about half way through my walk. I could have taken a short way home, but I decided that I would just keep walking, it never did get any worse, but it did not get any better either.

As I was looking on line at Craigslist, I came across a couple Brill electric reel lawn mowers for sale. I had secretly wanted to order a new one for several months, ever since I first saw one on line, but since they cost over $300 new, I have been putting it off until maybe next spring.

One was listed for $250 and when I e-mailed the individual who was selling it, he did not answer the questions that I asked but rather tried to tell me that he had answered it in the ad. I found another one that was a few days old, and I kind of thought that it would have been sold, but I e-mailed him anyway.

This one was only $75, and that is another reason that I thought that it would probably be sold. To my surprise he answered me right back and answered the questions that I had asked. So that is the one I bought.

While we were over in the Beaverton area, Kathleen wanted to stop at Trader Joe's, so we did and bought a few things that we like from there. We also found out that they stopped carrying several things that we liked...too bad!

Anyway we finally got back a little after 1800 and it has been a long day for me. Kathleen made a potato salad for dinner tonight. She added the left-over chicken from last night to complete the meal and it was really good.

I think it would have been good even if I had not been so hungry. Well, that was our day, I think that I will just say good night and call it a day.

Fatigueing Friday

I slept pretty well last night and felt pretty rested when I got up, but when I got up I realized how sore I was. Not only was my back sore, it usually is a little sore but it was really sore this morning. I went downstairs and watered the roses and vegetables and then went inside and put on my walking shoes.

Then I started out on my walk. When I started I did not have any idea how far I would go it was mostly dependent upon how I felt as I got into my walk. It did not take too long to discover that my leg muscles were also pretty sore, so I decided early on that it would not be a marathon walk.

Yesterday my total miles from my pedometer was 13+ miles, right now at 1930 I only have 5.59 miles, so I am about a third of where I was yesterday. Yesterday I not only took two walks but I mowed the lawn and did a lot of walking type activities.

After getting back from my walk I made myself some shredded wheat with a banana, some blueberries and raspberries. After eating I loaded up the dishwasher and started it up. Then I went into the living room and read the paper. The mail came just as I was finishing the paper, so I got it and opened it up.

Unfortunately there was too much junk mail, so I recycled it along with the paper and then went outside and pruned the roses. The roses are not in as full bloom as they have been; they are kind of in between bloomings, so it is not the task that it was a couple weeks ago.

After I finished the roses, I also did a little weeding, blackberry bushes, morning glory and other weeds that keep popping up in the rose garden.

Then I got my electric hedge shears and trimmed the hedge on the east front of the house. It was not as bad as I thought it was once I got to trimming it, but it still needed a trim. After putting the trimmer away, I transplanted a couple small privets to go along the east side of the house.

There is no fence there so I am trying to make my own. I have arborvitaes there as well and they do a good job of blocking out some of the east wind in the winter time.

Then I went inside and made myself a salad and reheated up the left-over Hungry Man TV dinner from last night. Those things have too much food in them for one meal, but I can remember the days when I could eat one and want more, thankfully those days are long gone.


After I finished eating, I emptied the dishwasher and then went into the living room and sat down to rest for a while. Aaron came by for a while, he is kind of batching it this weekend as most of our children and their families are camping out at Bar View Campgrounds this week end.

Aaron is working so he could not go and Kathleen and I are both not feeling too well. Kathleen with her shingles and me the side effects of my radiation treatment are still bothering me.

For some reason I just did not have the energy that I had yesterday, so I did not get much of anything else done this afternoon. For dinner Kathleen made some chicken and fried the left-over rice from two nights ago and cooked an artichoke. I had to put some of my chicken back and I only had a few pieces to begin with.

When I checked my blood pressure this afternoon it was 100/63; which is a little lower than it has been. It has been averaging something like 110/73. While I am glad to see it low that could also be a reason why I am not having the energy that I once had. Of course I do not want to go back to the days when it was 145/105 either, but a happy medium somewhere would be nice.

Well, this is all that I can think about from today, so I am just going to say good night!

Thursday's Tasks

This morning about 0400 the alarm went off for my Wrangler, so I got up and used the remote to turn it off. Then about forty-five minutes later it went off again, so I got up again, shut it off and then turned the alarm off. I tried to go back to sleep, but there is just something about being awakened by an alarm that makes it a little hard to get back to sleep.

So I finally got up about 0530 since I could not get back to sleep. I went outside, got the paper, watered the fuchsia and then went to the back yard to water the vegetables, and herbs and then filled the bird bath. Since I was up and it was cool out, I decided to take myself for a walk.

I only walked about a mile and a half, given my morning problems; I really did not feel too comfortable going any further. So when I got home, I made myself an egg sandwich with a veggie sausage on a toasted English muffin. Not too bad!

After putting my breakfast dishes into the dishwasher and washing the frying pan, I brushed my tooth and decided to take another walk. This time I went for a longer walk, in fact I walked almost five miles between my two walks.

When I got home, I made myself a cup of coffee and sat down and read the paper and then the mail. When I got done I noticed the power company truck pause in front of our house, he did not stop, so I went outside after a while and saw that he was a couple houses down the road.

Being a little anxious about getting our house power sealed I walked to where the truck was and asked the fellow if he was here to check and seal the work done, at first he said no and then he checked his schedule and saw our address.

So he said, well I guess that I am, so he turned around and I went into the house to turn off my computer and then upstairs to turn off Kathleen's, but she was on it. She wanted to try out her auxiliary power supply so she left hers on.

Within about a half hour he was all done and our house is now legal once again. Then I went into the house and finished up my coffee. Once that was done, I went outside and edged the rose garden and the square rose garden. Then I went into the house and took a quick rest.

I had planned on mowing the lawn tomorrow, but it was nice and overcast this morning so I decided that I would mow it today while it was still nice and cool. So I mowed our front lawn, my neighbor's front and side lawn, and the driveway strip that goes along the west side of our property.

When I finished, I went into the house and got myself a nice big glass of water and a couple deep breaths, then I went back outside and set up my shredder/chipper and went to work on my pile of branches. I got thirty gallons of chips from the stacks of branches lying around and a thirty gallon garbage can filled with fir cones and walnut shells.

When I got done with the chips, I spread them out along the paths in the rose garden. By the time I finished, put everything away and cleaned up I noticed that it was 1645, so I had been working outside from about 1000.

I had not worked all that time, but a good portion of it. I surprisingly enough do not feel too bad having worked that long. My back is letting me know that I moved around a lot today, but it does not hurt much more than it normally does. I am really tired, but probably no more tired than I have been for the last week or two about this time.

Kathleen dug a couple Hungry Man TV dinners out of the freezer downstairs for dinner tonight. I have been after her to check and see what things we have down there that we can use and what things need to be thrown away.

I think she said that she threw away two or three things of meat that had been in there too long. I would rather throw it out so that we can use the space for things that we need to put in there and not have it full of things that we will never use.

Well, that pretty much covers my day; I hope that everyone had a good day and a good night.

Wednesday's Work

I think that I am now in a routine with my awakening time. After breakfast I read the paper and then went outside for a while to work in the yard. I could not stay out there very long as Kathleen had a doctor's appointment with her urologist to review her latest test results.

So about 1030, I went into the house, cleaned up and changed clothes then I went downstairs and waited for Kathleen to come downstairs. We got there in plenty of time and only waited in the waiting room about ten minutes.

Kathleen had to give a sample so I waited in the exam room and as I was waiting Dr Winchester walked by and said, "what are you doing here?", to me. I think that we waited in the exam room a lot longer and just as the doctor was going to see her he had to do a "procedure" on someone. So his assistant came in and explained what the test results showed.

As we were making her appointment, for the same day, right after mine, for next January Dr Winchester came down the hall and reviewed what his assistant had told us. I enjoy his joking manner, he always tries to make everyone feel comfortable and I think he also does a good job of trying to make medical terminology easy to understand and in everyday language.

When we got home, I changed clothes and went outside to do some work that I did not have time to do before Kathleen's doctor's appointment. Our new neighbor mentioned to me the other day that she wanted the branches that overhang her front porch trimmed back so that they did not drop too many things into the gutters.

So I trimmed them for her and then cut up the branches into small enough pieces to fit into the recycling barrel. She is gone this week so I thought that I would do it for her before she got back.

Then I mixed up four gallons of weed-be-gone and sprayed my lawn, the parking strip in front of the house, and along the driveway to the house just west of us that goes all along our west side.

By the time I finished that, I was getting pretty hungry, so I went inside, washed up and then made myself a Limburger cheese and sweet onion sandwich. I also heated up the little bit of chili and rice that was left over from last night.

After putting the dishes in the dishwasher, I went into the living room and read a magazine that came today and a free paper that I picked up at the hospital today. Kathleen was watching the television, and when I finished reading I fell asleep. I slept until after 1800, I must have worked too hard today.

Although I think that anymore too much work for me could just be breathing. I absolutely have no energy or reserve, and the slightest thing that I do wears me out, just as if I had really done something. Kathleen made some ravioli for dinner tonight, one of my favorite foods...but then again almost any food is one of my favorites!

Well, I am still tired, so I think that I am just going to wish every one a good night and call it a day.

Tired Tuesday

The sun was out this morning when I awoke, so you guessed it, I got up early. When I got downstairs I emptied the dishwasher and then I made myself a couple sunny side up eggs, a veggie sausage and some toast for breakfast. After eating breakfast and cleaning up my mess, I went into the living room and read the paper. Tuesday’s paper is a pretty light read, so it did not take very long to read it.

I started to go outside, but I saw the mailman across the street so I waited for the mail, again, not much there. So I went outside and worked on the edging in the front yard as I was expecting the city inspector to give his approval on the electric work that I had done last week.

I got my whole yard done and the neighbors side next to us on the east side and then the inspector arrived. He spent a couple minutes looking at it and then put his tag of approval on it. Now I just need the power company to come out and put their permanent seal on it.

After putting my tools away I went inside and cleaned up. It was so nice out that I decided to go outside again this time I took my scythe out and went to the field next door and whacked away at the weeds. I got all of the east side done and about a quarter of the south side.

After that I took my weed whacker and did the fence line of the house next door, our neighbor is gone for a few days, so I though that I would take advantage of it and do a little weed control.

When I finished that I put my tools away and also noticed that Andrea's Land Rover was in the driveway so I went inside and cleaned up and visited with her for a while. After a bit, I made myself a Limburger cheese and sweet onion sandwich and then went into the living room where Kathleen and Andrea were.

Andrea was going to make some spinach pie for Toni tonight and invited us over, but I was tired and sore form working outside all day. As it turned out it was a good thing that we did not go...more on that later.

After Andrea and Brandon left I asked Kathleen if she had any plans for dinner and she suggested chili and rice. That sounded good to me so I said sure. Kathleen started having a pain in her head and recognized it as the start of shingles. She called the doctor's office and got an appointment for 1830.

So just after finishing eating, cleaned up the kitchen, cleaning up myself and changing clothes it was time to leave for the doctor's. Shingles in the early stage is hard to diagnosis so the doctor relied on Kathleen's past experience with it and how she felt at that time. He prescribed a couple things for her to take, so that meant a trip to Fred Meyer and a wait for it to be filled.

Well, that pretty much brings us to right now, I was tired before dinner and I am really tired now, so with out any further verbiage I am just going to say, good night!

Missed Monday

I did not get up this morning until after 0700, and again this morning it was darker than it usually is this time of year. In fact it was pretty much overcast all day. So I guess that my getting up does have a lot to do with just how light it is outside.

Anyway we were having a replacement window sales person come by this morning at 1000 to review our window situation, give us his sales pitch, measure our windows and write up a quote. So after I ate breakfast, I read the paper and then vacuumed the downstairs floors, both the carpeting and also the kitchen floor. My new vacuum really does a nice job of the carpets, of course, but also on the non-carpeted floors as well.

I also gathered up the trash from around the house and put it into the bag to go out to the can for tomorrow’s pick-up. The mail came, but there was not a lot of anything there, so I added to the paper recycling.

The salesman arrived right on time and by the time it was all done it was almost 1500, that's right five hours. It was not a high pressure sales pitch, but rather a lot of information and story telling. We also do have a lot of windows in our hours, probably more than twice as many as the average house so that part alone took well over an hour.

By the time he left I was rather hungry, so I heated up the left-over barley and ground turkey dish from the other night. After that I loaded up the dishwasher, there was just enough space left for dinner dishes, so I did not turn it on yet.

I then went into the living room and sat down and took a nap for about an hour and a half. I seem to do a lot of sleeping in that chair. Anyway, I called up to Kathleen and asked her if she was planning to do dinner tonight. She was trying to stay awake at her computer, so it took her a while to come downstairs.

She had planned on making some rice earlier, but forgot to do it so she asked me about noodles; I like noodles, so it was no sacrifice for me to have the noodles instead of the rice. She put the left-over stir fry on top of the noodles, and it was a pretty good meal. She had some sliced up tomatoes and cranberry sauce on the side which helped round out the meal.

After dinner, I finished loading up the dishwasher and turned it on. Well, I did not get a thing done today, but I feel like I worked all day. I think that I covered all the "exciting" things today, so I will just wish everyone a good night!

Sticky Sunday

I was not feeling very well when I went to bed last night, so I stayed up and watched a Hallmark movie until I was so tired that I could not stay awake. I did not think that I would be going to church this morning because I have been having bad morning for the last several days. I was right!

I did manage to sleep in until after 0700 this morning though. I went downstairs and logged onto my computer for a couple reasons, one it is close to the bathroom and two, I got my morning computer stuff done now instead of later.

Kathleen came downstairs about 0845 and cut up some cherries, nectarines and apricots and then toasted some banana bread and put some blueberries and raspberries on some cottage cheese and that was our breakfast.

After putting the dishes into the dishwasher, I went into the living room and read the paper and comics. When I got done I took my morning shower, but it was hard drying off as it was so humid out.

Since I did not get the screens put into the upstairs windows yesterday, I got the ladder out and climbed up and helped Kathleen on the inside and me on the outside put them back in. Then I put some of our container vegetables and herbs into larger containers and watered them.

We were supposed to get a lot of rain today, but instead we just got a lot of humidity. The rain just missed us to the north, but the north Oregon coast got about an inch of rain.

After doing that I pulled some weeds and ate some berries, but I was perspiring so much that I though that I would go inside and cool off. After a while I reheated some barley and ground turkey from the other night along with some refried beans with lime and added green chili sauce and hot salsa to the whole mess. It sounds bad, but was really pretty good.

Then I went into the living room and promptly fell asleep for a couple hours. Shortly after I woke up Kathleen came downstairs and started diner. She made some stir fried with flank steak and lots of vegetables. She even added some hot pepper to spice it up a little; it really had a good flavor.

She used the new frying skillet that we got yesterday, it was the same as the one we took back except that it was not flaking and it was not warped. Well, I think that I will have to make it an early night tonight to make up for staying up late last night. Since I had a pretty inactive day there is not much to write home about, so I will just say good night and call it a day.

Sticky Saturday

It must have rained a little last night because when I woke up, I had a hard time breathing, and it was like trying to breathe underwater...a slight exaggeration, but close. Anyway I wound up getting up a little earlier than I would have liked to but I just could not get back to sleep, so it was better that I got up.

Kathleen had three or four egg whites in the refrigerator, so I used them and made one of my omelets. I toasted some dark rye and once I made the omelet sandwich, I had about the same amount left over that I had it on the side. I also heated up a Morningstar soy sausage patty to go along with the omelet.

Kathleen also had a very small amount of salmon left over which I put on the toast before I put the omelet on, so in a way I had a salmon omelet. It really had a good flavor, I will have to remember to leave a little salmon for another omelet next time we have salmon.

After eating, I emptied the dishwasher and washed some of the hand washing items I then put in the dishes from breakfast. Then I poured myself a cup of coffee and then went into the living room to read the paper. Saturday is not usually a high news day, and today was not exception.


After I read the paper, I went out and got the mail, not much of a mail day either. With the mail taken care of I went outside and worked on the roses for a little while, they had not been taken care of for a coupe of days because of the rain. The grass was still pretty wet, but the front lawn needed mowing, so I mowed it anyways.

I was a little surprise that the grass did not clump up any more than it did, which was pretty minimal. The back yard had not grown as much, for a couple reasons. A couple weeks ago when I fertilized, I only did the front yard, and during the hot dry spell, I only watered the front lawn. The back yard, for the most part is in the shade, from the cherry trees, the mountain ash and the apple tree.

Because it had been so dry, there are some spots that have turned brown, but because of the trees it is really hard to use the automatic sprinkler, so it just does not get the watering that it should.

After putting the mower away and cleaning up, I made myself a Limburger cheese and sweet onion sandwich, yum, yum! We had a couple of our upstairs screens re-screened at the hardware store, and they called the other day and said that they were ready to pick up, so I went upstairs to see if Kathleen was ready to go, she kind of was.

We finally got out of here about 1430. We also had a large frying pan that the non-stick surface was coming off so we took that back to La Gourmet Chef and exchanged it for a new one. Since it retails for about $235.00, we did not pay anyways near that much for it, we did not think that the coating should be flaking off the way it was.

After we got that all done, Kathleen wanted to look at a few more things, I was getting pretty worn out, so I told her that I could not hold up much longer, so after one more stop we took off for home, or so I thought.

Kathleen did not feel much like cooking so she stopped at Burger King. We waited on line for about ten minutes, there were about eight people ahead of us and we never did see anyone at there to take our orders. Finally Kathleen asked and she was told that they had to fill the existing orders before they could take anymore.

It made a little sense, but I figured that if we had to wait this long and still not be waited on even after we got waited on we would have a long wait ahead of us, so we left. We stopped off at Burgerville and ordered one burger and an order of Walla Walla onion rings and a couple Black Forrest Shakes...excellent!

We did not have to wait to give our order and the order was delivered to our table in about five minutes. The hamburgers were so much better and the shake was to die for! I think that both of us had enough to eat and even left with over half of our shake.

I have not been feeling very well for the last few days, and maybe that is one of the reasons that I am not sleeping well either. Right now my stomach really aches, not ones normal stomach ache, but more my gut, or probably more specific my intestines. I have been overly gassy as well, which means that I need to stay close to the toilet. Oh the joys of the side effects from the radiation!

Well, I have rambled on long enough, so good night!

Finishing Friday

Well, this morning was anything but a normal morning. After getting up, I got on my computer so that I could check my e-mail before the electrician got here and turned the power off. After finishing that, I made my self a bowl of shredded wheat with the last banana, and I use that term very loosely. The banana probably should have been thrown out, but I hate to throw away food.

Anyway I got the cereal about two-thirds eaten when the electrician got here, so I stopped eating and went to the door. Before I knew it I was helping him do some of the work, just so that it would be easier and get done faster...saved myself some money in the process.

Needless to say, my cereal got left uneaten, needless the shredded wheat had absorbed what little milk that was left in the bowl, but about three hours later, I sat down and finished the shredded wheat. Kathleen just laughed at me!

Kathleen finishes up her urine collection today and we need to take it to the hospital lab to be tested tonight around 1700. So this will be a short note tonight. About 1600 I reminded Kathleen that Andrea had invited us to dinner tonight, so we will be going over there after we drop her bottle off at the hospital.

About 1415 I made myself a Boca burger for lunch with some cheddar, an sweet onion slice then I toasted it and some dill pickle slices when it was done.

I was hoping to hear back from the electrical company as to when the city electrical inspector would be getting here, but it is 1630 now and I have not heard back from him yet.

The electrician was here for about two and a half hours and it probably would have been at least an hour longer if I had not done as much of the work as I did. A lot of it was just easier having two people doing something than doing it with just one person.

Well, I told you that this was going to be a quick one...it is now about 1645 and I need to send this off and get ready to go to the hospital and then on to Andrea and John's. So good night for tonight!

This Thursday Times

I was so worn out last night that I fell asleep in my chair somewhere around 2000 and did not wake up until about 2230. At that time I was so groggy that I just about did not make it upstairs. Once I managed to make the climb, I had all I could do to just brush and floss my teeth and then fall into bed. So I was not overly surprised when I woke up at 0515 and could not get back to sleep.

So after trying for about a half hour, I finally got up around 0545, went outside, got the paper and watered the fuchsia and then made myself a bowl of Chex cereal with a banana for breakfast. Before I added the milk to the cereal, I emptied the dishwasher and then did the pans from last nights dinner.

Now I could add the milk and sit down and enjoy my cereal. The bananas are past the point that I could eat them just plain, and almost to the point where I could even eat them in cereal, but I managed to get it down with the help of the raisins that I added to the cereal to kind of mask the mushiness of the banana.

Anyway, after breakfast, I put my dishes into the dishwasher and went in and read the paper. Thursday's paper is usually the second largest of the week with only Sunday's paper being larger, so it took a little while to get through it.

After I finished the paper I went outside to prune the spent roses, there is something about two days of rain that does not bode well with rose flowers. After dumping the rose prunings into the yard debris can, I decided to go to work on the ivy since the pick up for yard debris is tomorrow and I only had the can half full. I hate to not fill the can on yard debris day because I have so much yard debris, it is usually just a matter of my getting it into the can.

Amway, I started doing the roses about 0930 and finished up about 1130, so I was pretty dirty and sweaty. So after taking the can up front, I went into the house and cleaned up. My hair looked much better after it was shampooed. There is just something not appealing about sweaty matted hair.

My hair can go three or four days without being shampooed if I do not do anything, but whenever I do something it gets really ugly fast. If I had the energy I would have to shampoo it two times a day, but luckily, I do not have that kind of energy anymore.

So after drying off, I made my self kind of a snack/lunch consisting of an open faced cheese sandwich, a little cottage cheese and a dill pickle. Then I went upstairs to change clothes and get ready for out financial advisors appointment at 1330.

Kathleen had not gotten dressed yet, so after I got dressed I went downstairs and waited for here to make her way downstairs. I was hoping to leave the house at 1230, just to make sure we had plenty of time to get there, but we did not get out of here until 1245.

Kathleen drove, as she knows that side of town better than I do and she thought that our appointment was at 1300, so she was racing over there and it was not until we were a couple miles away that I reminded her that our appointment was at 1330. So instead of getting there fifteen minutes late we were actually fifteen minutes early...kind of a refreshing change.

Anyway, our report was good, and they felt that with our new reduced budget our finances should last us okay. Last month they were a little concerned about in not lasting long enough, but with the market doing so well and our cutting back spending wise, we have a much better forecast.

We left there about 1530 and it was almost 1700 by the time we got back home. Traffic was really bad in a couple spots, but most of the way was kind of what one would expect.

For dinner tonight Kathleen made a salmon spread with the left-over salmon from last night and we had it on pita bread with some mango cut up on the side. Our new neighbor gave us some baklava, a Greek sweet pastry, which we had for dessert, yum, yum!

Well, Kathleen is off to a baby shower and I am out of things to say except until tomorrow, have a good night!

Wednesday with Winchester

Another wet morning, I am not complaining, which in itself is a little surprising because I usually like the weather warn and dry. Unfortunately it has been too dry here for the past several months.

Anyway, this morning was pretty much a normal morning, except we left for Doctor Winchester's office about 0945 for my 1000 appointment. Kathleen had to do down to the lab to get the stuff she needed to check on her kidney stones, to make sure that they were gone and to test to see what could be done to avoid them in the future.

I only waited in the waiting room when they called for me to draw some blood. I was expecting that they would just draw the blood and then send me back to the waiting room to wait for the doctor. Was I ever surprised when they told me to just wait there and the doctor would see me in a few minutes.

Doctor Winchester came in about ten minutes later and asked how I was feeling, so we talked about that for a couple minutes and then the nurse brought in my PSA results. He said that it was down to .24 which was down from .28 about three months ago, so that was good. At least it was headed in the downward direction and not going up again, which is good.

He wants to see me again in six months, so that is good, because it had been every three months. I just hope that in the next six months my PSA continues to drop.

We did a little shopping afterward and got home about 1400, so I made myself a salad for lunch. Since we left before the mail came, I opened the mail and looked at it while I ate. After lunch, I decided that since it has rained off and on for the last two days, I would take advantage of it loosening up the dirt on Kathleen's SUV.

I like to try and wash our vehicles while it is drizzling because the rain helps loosen the dirt and road grim so that I do not have to work so hard. I cannot remember when I last washed her car, but it had started to have a green slim form on the top and in the window scrubbers.

It took two washings to get it somewhat clean. The first washing was to knock out the heavy grim and than another one to get the grim residue off and actually down to paint. It looks much better than it has in at least a year.

Last year at this time I was trying to recover from my surgery and then Kathleen broke her arm and I spent what little energy I had taking her to physical therapy a couple times a week.

Then when she finished that, about a month later I started my radiation and I was not good for much of anything for three or four months. It has been pretty dry since the time I stopped going to radiation and this was the first time that I felt half-way decent in months.

By the time I finished washing her car and got cleaned up Kathleen was starting dinner, so there goes another day. For dinner Kathleen made something called Boo-sotto, it is a barley and ground turkey mixture with sautéed onions and chicken broth. It was really good.

Well, that was my day, have a good night!

Tuesday's Trickle

I slept in this morning, and as I got up I realized that it was drizzling out and the sky was overcast so that the sun was not shining in the sky light. So I guess that the amount of light in the room really does have a lot to do with when I wake up.

When I got downstairs I got the paper in and moved the hanging fuchsia basked down so that it could take advantage of the rain. For breakfast I made an omelet with yellow and red bell pepper, sweet onion and mushrooms. I used a bunch of the egg whites that Kathleen had from something that just needed the yokes for.

It made a nice sandwich and I had some left over to just eat as an omelet. After cleaning up my breakfast mess, I put away some of the hand wash dishes and wiped down the stove. Then I went into the living room to read the paper.

The mail had not come lately, so I went outside and worked under the mountain ash and pruned off some of the low hanging branches. I try to have it so that I can walk upright underneath the trees without having to duck down. If I do it when it is raining the branches hang a little lower than normal so I am sure that I am cutting them at a good height.

After I finished I went inside and cleaned up. Kathleen was eating breakfast, and since it had been about three hours since I ate, I decided that I would have a piece of raspberry cake with whipped cream on top.

I talked to Kathleen about needing to go grocery shopping today as the rest of the week we have other things to do. The mail came as I was snacking so I went out and got it, again not much there, which I guess could be a good thing.

Kathleen was finally ready to go grocery shopping around 1330, most of what we got while shopping were produce items...probably over half of the cart was fruit or vegetables. We finally got home about 1530 and put the groceries away.

Since I had not had lunch, I made myself a Limburger cheese and onion sandwich on dark rye. Kathleen had to leave the room; she just does not like the smell of the Limburger.

Kathleen had to run out again to pick up some baby dill at the Barn, our local produce stand. It is kind of strange, this is kind of a suburban area yet there are three or four pretty good size farms within a two or three mile radius of our house. Anyway Kathleen needed the dill for the recipe that she was using for tonight’s dinner.

It was sweet lemon salmon with mini carrots and dill, it turned out pretty good. While she was at the Barn she also picked up some fresh corn on the cob. So after we finished eating I did the hand washing and loaded up the dishwasher and Kathleen started it up. I still have the pots and pans soaking in the sinks so I will need to finish washing them after they have had a chance to allow the soap and water to loosen up the cooked on stuff.

Well, I think that is about all I can think of for today. Tomorrow I have my appointment with my surgeon, it was suppose to have been today, but they called and rescheduled it as the doctor was out of town today. Well, I guess I will cal lit a day and I will be sure to blog about my test results tomorrow. Until then, have a good night!

A Much Milder Monday

I got up early this morning with the intention of watering the newly planted plants, but when I got down stairs and outside I saw that the ground was still nice and moist from yesterdays watering.

So I went into the house and had some Chex and a banana for breakfast. After eating I loaded up the dishwasher and started it up, and then I went into the living room and read the paper. As soon as I finished the paper I had to get cleaned up, change clothes and head off to the doctor's office to have some blood drawn to check my potassium level, as it was low when I had my physical in June.

On the way I stopped at the credit union to deposit some money and then to the doctor's office. I waited in the waiting room for about twenty minutes and it only took about five minutes to draw the blood.

After I finished at the doctor's I stopped at the library to pick up a book for Kathleen that she had on reserve. While I was there I looked around, but did not find anything that I wanted to read right now.

By the time I got home the mail had arrived, so I brought it in and then went upstairs to change clothes. Then I went back downstairs and opened the mail, Kathleen got a few things, but most of what I got went into the junk mail bag. I did get one bill, so I went on line and paid it.

I had not had my mid morning snack yet so I took a half of a pita, stuffed it with some refried beans with green chili and lime and then put on some hot salsa and green taco sauce on top. It was kind of a multi-cultural meal, Greek and maybe American.

After I ate that I went outside and worked in the rose garden a little bit. I pruned the spent roses and then fertilized them. Kathleen came out and said that she had made some tuna salad and wanted to know if I want some for lunch. So I finished up, went inside and cleaned up and then made a couple open-faced sandwiches on dark rye with a dill pickle on the side. Just like a New York deli.

After I finished eating I did a little reading and then dozed in my chair for a while. I did not get a lot else done this afternoon, I think that I was just tired. I had thought about going for a walk, but I was expecting a call...that never took place.

Kathleen took a couple of the left-over salads from the last couple days and mixed them together, a different taste, but good just the same. After we finished eating I emptied the dishwasher and then loaded it up with the dishes from lunch and dinner.

Today was the mildest day that we have had for a couple weeks, I think the high just barely made it into the eighties, and they are saying that it is probably going to be the warmest day of the week. This is more my kind of weather!

That just about completes my day, not too exciting, but that is how most of my days are. Well before I put everyone to sleep, I will just say, "good night."

Sultry Sunday

Another early get up, I wanted to water the plants that I had just planted yesterday. So once I gave them a quick drink, I went into the house, cleaned up and had breakfast, did a load of towels and then got ready for church. We were not having S.S. today as many families were at the annual church camp out.

After church this morning there was a fellowship time, not as many people stayed for this as where in church, but I guess many people looked at this as a time to have more free time. I thought that it was a good time to see people that we do not often get a chance to talk to.

We stayed for about forty-five minutes and then headed home. After getting home I changed my clothes and then separated the laundry and took it downstairs. I took the towels out of the washer and put them into the dryer and the dark clothes into the washer.

While they were running, I went into the living room to read the comics and the ads. About the time I finished the comics and ads, the dryer went off, so I took the towels out and put the dark clothes into the dryer. Then I loaded the light clothes into the washer and went and folded and put away the towels.

I then went back and finished reading the paper, and before I knew it the dark clothes were dry, so I unloaded them and took them upstairs to fold and put away. By the time I got back downstairs the light clothes were done washing so I loaded them into the dryer. While they were drying I made reheated the spaghetti from last night and had lunch.

After finishing lunch, I loaded the dishes into the dishwasher and then took the light clothes out of the dryer, took them upstairs, folded and put them away. By this time I was really ready to go outside and get my hands dirty.

I pulled some weeds in the rose garden, trimmed the dead rose blooms and other pruning to the rose bushes. I got about twelve gallons of rose bush clippings when I finally finished. By this time I was pretty sweaty and my hands were pretty bloody.

I have a pair of welding gloves that are especially good for working around the roses as they are made of goat hide and rather impermeable to the rose thorns, but do I ever wear them...NO! I usually wear them in the fall or early spring, but I am usually too hot to wear them most of the time, I guess I will have to put away comfort and do the practical thing once in a while.

After cleaning up, I went into the living room and sat in my chair and promptly fell asleep. I woke up just before Kathleen called me for dinner, she made a Greek salad, it was pretty good, although it had more pita bread and less green in it than I would have liked. She was following a recipe and she said next time she will use some lettuce and other things and less pita.

For dessert she made a raspberry cake with freshly picked raspberries, yum, yum! Well, I guess this is all for today, it sure was muggy out. It was not nearly as hot as it had been earlier in the week; in fact it just made it to the low eighties... the coolest day of the week.

They are even saying it might rain later on in the week, I will believe that when I see it. Time to say good night.

Sultery Saturday

I was up early again this morning so that I could water the plants. After finishing the watering I went into the house and cleaned up. Kathleen had gotten up and made some blueberry muffins with whipped cream cheese and bacon.

Then after we finished eating I loaded all the dirty dishes and silverware we could find into the dishwasher and then turned it on. While that was running I went into the living room and read the paper. Just as I was getting ready to go outside and transplant some of the fox glove plants the mail came. So I got it and there was not much there for me, a catalog and a Travel Oregon magazine.

I put them aside to read later and made my way outside, it was about 1000. I first pruned the roses and then I started on the fox glove. I kept digging up fox glove, so that I could reestablish the path through the rose garden. While I was at it I got out my trusty stubbing hoe and chopped out a few of the roots from the Italian prune tree.

I was getting hot and tired so I decided to stop and put the tools in the garage and get cleaned up. It was 1145 when I got inside... I have no idea where the time went; I certainly did not get that much done. I rested up for a while and kept trying to get Kathleen to come outside and show me where she wanted me to plant the plants that we bought yesterday.

I had hoped to get them in the ground before it got too how out...so much for good thoughts. By the time she was ready it was 1330, and it took about an hour to get everything planted and get my tools cleaned up and put away.

Since it was 1430 by the time I got cleaned up again I decided to have some lunch. Kathleen had cut up a cantaloupe, so we had that with vanilla bean ice cream and more blueberry muffins with whipped cream cheese. Not really a dieter’s lunch, but it sure tasted good.

After resting for a while after lunch, I went outside and watered the plants that we just planted and the fox glove that I had transplanted earlier in the morning. Then I washed up and went into the living room so that I could read the Travel Oregon magazine that came today.

Kathleen came down and started dinner; she made spaghetti and used some of the left-over salad. I am tired tonight. I thought about taking a shower a couple times today, but I knew that I had several other hot dirty jobs left to do, so I think I will head there now so that I feel somewhat human again.

So much for a day off... oh wait, everyday is a day off for me. No wonder I never get anything done. Well, off to the shower for me, and good night to you!

Friday the Thirteenth

I slept better last night, mostly because it cooled off pretty good. Last night after I blogged I decided that the downstairs carpets needed vacuuming, so I got out our trusty vacuum and went to work. It is amazing how much better they look when they are clean.

Not having Reggie, makes it so that I no longer need to vacuum at least once a day and so sometimes I only do it once or twice a week. I think that it had been closer to two weeks since I did it this last time, I just have not felt all that great or have been really worn out.

We also had quite the thunder and lightning display last night; I was outside talking to Toni on the phone looking at the lightning when all of a sudden it started to rain rather hard. It had be kind of drizzling for the whole time that I was outside, but it had really started coming down, so I went up on the front porch. I did not have as good a view, but at least I was staying dry.

It was nice that we had a little rain, if nothing else it helped clear the air. It had been really humid the last couple days, whereas earlier in the week it was really dry, so the rain was really refreshing. I just wish that there had been more of it.

Anyway Kathleen got up early this morning and made banana and blueberry pancakes for breakfast and we topped them off with blueberry syrup...yummy! It was a nice break from my every-other-day cereal or omelet routine.

Then after breakfast, I read the paper and then the mail when it came. Today I got my cancer magazine and my monthly portfolio statement...another good month. I am not sure how much longer it is going to last, but I am enjoying it while it does.

So I went on my computer and input the monthly data into my data base and plotted the results. This helps me keep track of each piece of the portfolio on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis so that I can decide which ones to keep and which ones are not performing as well as I need them to. I also keep track of them on line to catch trends as they begin to happen.

After doing that I decided that I needed to go outside and mow the lawn as it had been about two weeks since I last mowed it. It has just been so dry and this last week so hot that I wanted to give the grass a break...me too!

When I finished and got cleaned up, I went upstairs and asked Kathleen if she were ready to go to the local True Value Hardware store, she had a couple of screens that she wanted fixed and I had a dead bolt door lock that I wanted them to look at. So we took off and spent about an hour and a half taking care of those things and then bought some more plants.

It was too warm when we got home to plant them, so I put them under the mountain ash in the shade so that they would not dry out so much. Since I had not eaten, I made myself a Cheese Whiz sandwich and had a bowl of cottage cheese. Then I went into the living room and looked over my cancer magazine.

Before I knew it Kathleen had come downstairs and made dinner... the salad from last night. She was going to make something else, but I suggested the salad as I was afraid that it would really get soggy if we did not have it again soon.

Well, that was our day; I hope that Friday the thirteenth was good to you. Good night and I will talk to you some more tomorrow!

Temperate Thursday

Today almost felt cool, it only got to about 86 degrees today, I felt like putting on long pants and a sweater! NOT! Anyway it was a much nicer day, and would have felt hot a couple weeks ago, but after a couple 100 degree days it was pleasant.

I did get up around the same time this morning, mainly because I wanted to transplant some foxglove plants and to water the berries and roses. A couple of my tomato plants were looking pretty wilted; I probably should have been watering them every day during this hot weather.

So after finishing the watering I went inside and made myself an omelet with red and yellow peppers, sweet onion and mushrooms. I originally made it to put on dark rye toast, but there was enough to do that and still have a couple of bits on the side.

After finishing breakfast, I loaded the dishwasher and then went into the living room to read the paper, but even before I finished reading the inserts, the mail came, so I went out and got it. Kathleen got a few things, Andrea even got a couple things, but other than a couple medical insurance statements there was nothing for me that was worth while.

I decided to go back outside as it was a beautiful day and do a little work in the garden, so on my way out I dropped of the recycling. I did my daily rose pruning and weed pulling, but I also sawed off on of the stumps from the Italian prune tree, there are still another four stumps left, but I only had energy to do the one.

After putting everything away, I went inside and cleaned up, just in time to make myself a salad for lunch. Then I went into the living room and after sitting in my chair for a couple minutes I found myself falling asleep. I woke up in time to watch the news and get cleaned up as I was planning on going to a Global Outreach meeting tonight at church.

Kathleen made a salad that she got out of a Rachael Ray cookbook "365: No Repeats", that was really good. It had apples, lemon juice, brown rice, red onion, radishes, yellow & red pepper, and of course lettuce. The salad dressing used Dijon mustard olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, white wine vinegar.

Well, I just did not feel well enough to go to my meeting tonight, part of it was I was tired, I think that might have been from the hot weather the last couple days, but part of it is still the side effects from the radiation. With that said, I think I will just bid my ado’s and say good night.

Warm Wednesday

Again I was up around 0600; today it was to start the sprinkler going on the front lawn. It was 75 degrees already whereas yesterday it was only about 65 degree at the same time. Before I started watering the front lawn, I watered the fuchsia hanging basket and the hydrangea, mums, azaleas, and rhododendrons.

As I was adjusting the sprinkler, I noticed a hummingbird hovering in the water drops as it was coming down from the sprinkler. Then it went around the hardy fuchsia, azaleas and rhododendrons.

While that was going on I went out back and picked some blueberries and raspberries for my shredded wheat. I picked about a half a cup of each and then took them inside to wash off. The cereal with the skim milk and berries were really good.

After breakfast, I emptied the dishwasher and then went into the living room to read the paper. The mail came a little after I finished the paper so I went out and got it. Kathleen got a few things and other than my Wrangler magazine and the credit union statement the rest was junk.

So after recycling the mail, I went into my office and reconciled our savings account and my checking account. Everything checked out on the first run through, so I shredded the deposit slips from the last month.

The sun had not broken out of the cloud cover yet so I thought that I would go for a walk. I told Kathleen that I was going for a walk, and then changed into some shoes and took off. I walked for a couple-three miles and did not feel too bad after it.

I drank a 16 once glass of water before going on my walk and another one when I got back so that I would keep hydrated. After cooling down for a while I went out back to sit down and relax for a while.

Kathleen came out and picked some blueberries before the birds got them all. I was busy cutting out the spent roses and digging out suckers from the Italian prune tree that I cut down last winter. The root system must go all over the back yard, as I was digging them out of the rose garden, the lawn back by the apple tree and even over by the berry patch.

By this time, I was getting pretty sweaty, in fact my shorts were dripping wet, I did not have a shirt on, but I was perspiring pretty hard, so I decided that I probably needed to go inside and cool off. After washing up, I got my water bottle out of the refrigerator and drank about a pint.

It was almost 1400, so I decided that I would make myself something to eat. I asked Kathleen if she still was planning on making a salad for dinner and she said yes, so I decided that I would make myself a Limburger cheese and Walla Walla sweet onion sandwich. Kathleen could not stand the smell, so she left the room, but I had a good time.

Even after I had finished eating and cleaned everything up when she came back into the room she just about sick. She just does not like the smell of Limburger cheese. I have been using the kind that comes in block form rather than the kind that comes in a jar because that is all Fred Meyer carried and I had not had a chance to stop by Safeway to pick up the stuff in a jar.

Anyway, I went into the living room after lunch and read my Jeep magazine and after I finished it I dozed off for a while; partly because it was so warm out and partially because it was time for my afternoon nap. I woke up in time to turn on the local news and then watch Fox news for a couple hours.

I t was only 96 degrees at 1700 tonight whereas last night it was 101 so today was not as hot as they thought that it might be, but it was still pretty warm. They are saying that it is "only" suppose to be about 90 degree tomorrow and even lower for the next few days. I am looking forward to that, in fact I would even welcome a couple days of rain...did I just say that?

Anyway the temperature did not quite make the 100 degree mark today, but it did not miss it by much. I think that the official high was 98 degrees. It looks like the temperature is going to take a nose dive over the next couple of days and maybe even a thunderstorm or two. The only thing about the thunderstorm now is that it probably will not produce any rain or very little and it could produce some pretty dangerous fires.

Well, Kathleen made a salad tonight, with mushrooms, red onions, cucumbers, red & yellow bell peppers, carrots, sugar peas, hard boiled egg and I am sure that I have forgotten some of the ingredients. I added some red wine vinegar and then squeezed a lemon and a lime on top. The salad was really good.

Well, it is still pretty warm and I cannot think of any other words of wisdom to impart, so I am just going to say, good night.

Thurmal Tuesday

I got up a little after 0600 this morning, because when I got up it was too warm to try to go back to sleep. The temperature was almost 70 already and I knew that the temperature probably would break the hundred mark like they had been predicting.

So after eating, I made myself an egg omelet sandwich with onions and yellow pepper, and reading the paper I took the paper out front to the recycling bin and saw that the mailman was just down the street, so I waited for him to arrive and then went out and got it.

I think the only thing that I kept was my L.L. Bean catalog, Kathleen got a few things, but most of the rest was junk mail, which I took out front to the recycling bin.

Then I went outside and took the kitchen scraps to the compost tumbler, when I opened the door to the tumbler I saw these tall sprouts growing inside. I had not taken any scraps out to the tumbler for a couple days.

The last time I did there was some cantaloupe in what I brought out and it had started to sprout. I had not turned it since then, so it had ideal weather to start growing. After turning the tumbler a few times I went into the house, cleaned up and then went back outside and sat in the sun for a while.

I could see that the back rose garden, the square rose garden and the berry patch, needed edging really badly. So I got my grass shears and went to work. There were a couple flickers who were enjoying the blueberries and since I was so close by they kept dive bombing me. While I was out there a humming bird almost ran into me, for some reason this year they have been coming closer to me than in previous years.

By the time I finished I could tell that I had gotten a lot of sun, so I went into the house expecting to clean up and go grocery shopping with Kathleen. She was still in her night clothes, and she suggested that I take a shower and cool off.

So I took a cold shower, as cold as I could stand it. It really felt good, but by the time I finished and dried off, I was starting to perspire again.

I waited around for a while and Kathleen was still not ready, so about 1340, I made myself a Boca burger and used rest of the bread, a little after 1400 Kathleen came downstairs and was ready to go. We finally finished shopping about 1545 and leaving Winco I realized just how hot it was outside.

After we got home and put the groceries away, I noticed that it was 101 outside and we still had not reached the hot part of the day...that should be in a couple hours, probably about 1800.

I will finish this after dinner; I just wanted to get an early start on it before everything got too hot.

Although I should not complain as it is only 78 degrees in the house, this is the only time of year that I am glad that we live under a grove of fir trees.

Kathleen had planned on making a salad with chicken in it for tonight, but she said that it was too hot and she was too tired, so she micro waved the leftover rice dish from last night and added some rhubarb and cranberry sauce to complete the meal.

Well, it reached 102 today, which is hot enough for me...in fact about thirty degrees too hot for me. The temperature downstairs reached about eighty degrees, and upstairs was fifteen or so degrees warmer with the basement being nice and cool. I am too warm and tired to think of anything else to write about so I am just going to say good evening!

Monday's Movements

I was up early this morning, mainly because I wanted to water the roses and the berries before it got too hot. I got outside about 0620 and finished up about 0700, I probably did not water as much as I should have but the ground around the plants that I watered got a good drink.

Before coming in I picked about a half pint of blueberries and raspberries. Then once inside and cleaned up I made some breakfast out of a half of a bowl of corn, rice and wheat Chex and the other half of the bowl I put a mixture of raspberries and blueberries.

After I finished eating I put all the dishes and silverware that I could find into the dishwasher and turned it on. While they were washing I went into the living room and read the paper, the mail came just as I was finishing up the paper the mail came, so I went out and got it.

I had a couple magazines and Kathleen had a few things, but most of it went into the recycling bag. It really bothers me that there is so much junk mail in the mail everyday, it is bad enough that the envelopes from stuff that we do want gets recycled, although I usually use them for writing notes or shopping lists on before I recycle them, but even then most of them just get put into the recycling bag.

Kathleen said that she wanted to go a few places but wanted to take a shower first, so I went outside to pull some weeds and prune the roses. I thought that enough time had gone by that Kathleen should have had her shower and be ready to go so I went into the house and there was Kathleen sitting in the living room going through a couple bags of ??????.

I had thought about mowing the lawn earlier, but I did not because it is harder to stop mowing than just pruning or pulling weeds. The more I thought about it I thought that mowing might not be the best idea because the weather for the next two or three days is suppose to be over 100 degrees, and the grass needs the extra height to provide shade for itself.

I will probably try to water the front lawn either tomorrow or Wednesday morning, to keep it a little green. It takes a couple hours to get about and inch of water, the recommended amount, on the front lawn. As much as I hate to water the lawn, the green grass makes it a little cooler around the house.

The back yard is already starting to turn brown, it is really dry. The only part of the back yard where the grass is green is under the cherry trees and mountain ash and the other spot is north of the apple tree.

Anyway we finally got off and stopped by Montivilla Sewing Center for Kathleen to pick up her monthly disk and whatever else she gets every month. Then it was on to the credit union to deposit a couple insurance refund checks, while I was doing that Kathleen went next door to the AT&T cellular office to buy more time on her phone.

I finished before she did so I went there to see what she was up to. She was looking at the new I-phones so I asked her if she had taken care of her phone yet and she said that she was on the list. It took another fifteen minutes before they called her, neither one of us could believe how many people were in the store.

In January we decided not to renew or phone plan but rather use the prepaid plan instead. We each bought $100 dollars worth of time, Kathleen had gotten down to about $30 dollars worth so we bought her another $100 dollars worth. I got $100 in January as well but I still have most of mine.

The way we are going we will only spend $300 dollars this year on our cell phones where in the past we were spending between $900 and $1000 dollars a year. Neither one of us does a lot of texting or messaging, so this works really well for us and saves us a boat load of money.

Anyway, after taking care of the phone we stopped by the doctor’s office so that Kathleen could pick up a prescription for some medications that she can send away for. So instead of paying $30 for a month we will still pay $30 but it will be for three months supply.

After picking up the prescription we went to the library so that Kathleen could drop of some books and pick up some she had on order. I do not use the library as much in the summer time as I spend more time outside, whereas in the winter it is wet enough that I do not spend that much time outside.

We finally got home about 1400, so I heated up the last couple pieces of pizza and made a sandwich out of a half of a Kaiser roll and some salmon salad. Then I went into the living room and sat down in my chair and promptly dozed off. I woke up about 1600 and was still kind of groggy, but after about a half hour I seemed to wake up.

So I turned on the local news for a half hour and then Fox news. Kathleen made some stir fry for dinner tonight, she used up most of the vegetables from the refrigerator and some steak that we had in the freezer. After dinner I emptied the dishwasher and then loaded it up again with the dishes from today's lunch and dinner. So here we are, and I think that I have used up today allotted space so I will just say good night.

July's Junk Food

I was going to post a Fabulous Food Friday, but someone else is using that so I thought that since this thing is probably more in the junk food category I would just start my own postings. So here it is: it is not meant to be a meal, but rather a "feel good" food (?).

It is my answer to "somemores", as I do not particularly like graham crackers I came up with this. There are several variations that you could use depending on your tastes. I will give the basic recipe and then give you some ideas as to how you can make it to satisfy your taste.

The basic recipe is mix two parts peanut butter, I use Adams as it is only peanuts and nothing else and I usually put it on the bottom of the bowl. To that I add one part marshmallow crème, you can substitute marshmallows if you do not have the crème. Then on top of that I add one part Nutella, for those of you that do not know it is a hazelnut/chocolate spread. Then heat it in the micro wave until the mix liquefies, take out immediately and stir.

When I make this for myself I usually use two tablespoons of Adams peanut butter to one tablespoon of both the marshmallow crème and then Nutella. You could probably substitute the Nutella with Smucker’s chocolate syrup and Smucker’s butterscotch or caramel. I then heat it up for about 20 - 30 seconds. Your portions may vary depending on how much you are making or even to your taste.

For those of you that are a little more adventurous you might use almond butter or any other nut butter. In fact it you have a small food processor or chopper you could probably use any nut that you liked. You could even mix the peanuts and what ever other nut you chose together to start out with and then add the chocolate and marshmallow crème.

Now for an optional ingredient you could add Rice Krispies, Cheerios, Chex (rice, corn or wheat) or if you must ruin it graham crackers, or anything else that sounds good to you. One could probably even make a Rice Krispies Treat using this instead of the typical marshmallow mix.

I did not include a picture because I ate it before I thought about doing this, so you will just have to try it for yourself! Good luck!

P.S. you will not find this in any diet plan, it is not meant to be for someone who is on a diet, but rather as a fun food. I also must warn you that it can be slightly addicting. I think that I have Kathleen addicted to it now!

P.P.S. I usually soak the bowl afterwards so that the goop loosens up and then swish it out before putting it into the dishwasher.

Slow Saturday

After I got up this morning I needed to keep moving as I had a Discipleship meeting at 0900, so I made myself an egg sandwich for breakfast, cleaned up the dishes and put the rest in the dishwasher and then brushed my teeth and headed out the door.

For some reason our two hour meeting went almost three hours, oh well, I guess that is what happens when we only meet every other month. After the meeting I stopped and got gas for the Wrangler. It had been six months since I put gas in it, and gas prices had gone up and come back down to almost what they were last winter.

So I finally got home about 1230 and fixed myself a Boca burger on dark rye toast with melted cheddar and some dill pickle slices. After eating and cleaning up my mess I went outside and cut dead roses off the bushes. The bushes are not putting out quite as many buds right now; I think it probably has something to do with the heat.

After taking care of the roses, I pulled some weeds for a while, but it since where I was weeding was in the sun, I decided that I probably should not be doing too much and wear myself out.

I think that the temperature has been in the high 80's to low 90's all week, and from what they are predicting, next week is suppose to be even hotter. Oh joy, I have next to no energy to begin with and when the temperature gets above 80 degrees or so, I start to lose energy fast. By the time it reaches the 90's I can barely move, and should it hit the 100's, I go into hibernation.

After working outside for a while I came inside, cleaned up and sat down and read the paper. By this time it was 1530 or so and before I knew it, it was around 1630 and Kathleen had gotten dressed and wanting to go to Fabric Depot to take advantage of a sale that they were having. Since she still is not feeling well, I needed to drive her, so I changed my clothes again, I think I must have changed clothes six times today, and we took off.

We did not finish there until 1830, so we stopped at Papa Murphy's and picked up a pizza. It was half barbecued chicken and half taco. Unfortunately it was a regular style; they did not make that combination in the delight style.

Well, I did not accomplish much again today, I will just blame it on the heat. So I guess this is good night time!

A Fine Friday

I got up earlier than I thought...I miss read the clock and thought that it was an hour later than it actually was. I probably would not have gotten back to sleep anyway, but it would have been nice to have tried. For some reason I looked at the clock and thought it was 0700, but it was only 0600, so once I was up, I was up!

I tried something a little different again this morning, I made myself breakfast, then went outside and watered the berries and the roses, and then I went inside and read the paper. No special reason for doing it, just trying to break up the monotony of my usual daily routine.

Anyway as I was finishing the paper the mail came, so I opened it, but about the only thing worth keeping were a couple checks for insurance refund and my Woodcraft catalog. So after recycling the mail and the paper, I told Kathleen that I was going to take a walk, so I took off and walked a couple miles and then came home and sat down and relaxed.

Before I realized it, it was 1345, so I though that I had better make myself some lunch. I had not made myself a salad for about a week, so it was sounding pretty good. I opened the refrigerator draw where we keep the salad fixings, and remembered why I had not made myself a salad.

There was a couple leafs of Romaine lettuce and some spring mix, a mix of different greens, some yellow pepper, a couple radishes, half a cucumber, some pretty dried up mushrooms and some parsley, but there was no green onion and now there is really not much to make another salad with.

So I think that we will need to go to the grocery store before too much longer. It seems like the produce spoils faster than I think that it should, but I guess that has to do more with the time of year that it is.

Realizing that I had a discipleship meeting tomorrow morning at church, I thought that I had better start up the old Wrangler, just to see if it would start up. I have not driven it for probably at least three weeks, but when cranked it over it started right up. So I drove it out of the garage just to have it out and not have to worry about it tomorrow morning.

About all I got done this afternoon was to look at my Woodcraft catalog, and then doze in my chair. Then about 1630, I turned on the local news and at 1700 I switched to Fox news, I seem to agree more politically with their coverage than I do any of the big three network news.

Kathleen made Ravioli for dinner tonight, one of my more favorite meals. She is feeling better today, but she is still really tired. Well, I think that covered the high lights and some of the low lights of my day, so I will just say good night.

Thursday's Trials

I was up early again today, too much daylight too early I guess. This morning I tried something different, I read the paper and then went out back to pick some blueberries and raspberries for my cereal. For a creature of habit this was quite a change!

After finishing breakfast, I emptied the dishwasher load that I did yesterday morning. I did not get to do it yesterday and when we got back from Alyssa's last night I was too tired to think about doing it. So by the time I got the dishwasher emptied and put away, I loaded it up again with yesterdays and this mornings dishes.

By this time the mail came, so I went out and got it, there was quite a lot there as there was no mail delivery yesterday. I started going through it, but then I though that I would go outside and work in the garden for a while before it got too hot to be out in the sun.

I came in about 1130 and shortly after that the electrician called and said that he was on his way. Knowing that our power would be out for a while I made myself lunch with the leftover wild rice and salmon salad and the rest of the potato salad form a couple days ago. He arrived a little after noon and I showed him the problem area. Well to make a long story short, he said that there was more to it than just what was on the work order.

He called the estimator to find out what to do, but he was in a meeting, I found out later. So he said that since he could not get a hold of him it would be better not to do anything because the two options were to do what was on the work order and take a chance that the city inspector or the power company would say that we needed to bring it up to present day code.

The other option was to bring everything up to present day code, at a cost of ~$7000, so I thought that it would be better an probably cheaper to have him talk to the estimator and see what he says.

Making a very long story short: the estimator called me back a little after 1500 and told me that I would be better off talking to the city inspector and the power company myself, so he gave me the phone numbers.

I spent the next hour or so coordinating with the city inspector's office, the power company and the electrical contractor company and have rescheduled to have the work done two weeks from tomorrow. It looks like the original work order could have been completed as written, but I would rather play it safe and make sure that everyone was happy with the decision.

After all that I sat down in my chair and started going through the mail. Somewhere along the way I fell asleep and woke up about 1630. So I decided to watch the news, but that put me to sleep again.

I woke up around 1830 and went upstairs to ask Kathleen if she felt up to making dinner, she said she would. She has not felt very well all day, so if she had not felt like it I was going to make myself either a salad or a Boca burger for dinner. She came downstairs and made a chicken and wild rice dish that tasted really good.

Well, I do not feel like I accomplished much today, but I feel like I worked hard all day. I am pretty sure this will be an early to bed night. At least with the forth of July past the neighborhood should be quieter. Well I guess that I will just call it a day and say good night.

Tuesday's Trappings

I got up about 0600 this morning because I wanted to water the rose and the berries. After I finished the watering, I made myself an egg omelet with sweet onion, yellow pepper and mushrooms, one of my favorites!

After I read the paper and the mail, I took them out to the recycling tub and then went out back again and pulled some weeds and blackberries. The blackberries seem to be more ferocious this for some reason, I am having a hard time staying on top of them.

If they were not coming up in the rose garden and the grape vines they would be a little easier to contain, but I do not want to disturb the roses or the grapes any more than need be.

I had to stop about 1045; so that I could get ready to take Kathleen to the doctor's to have her stint taken out. We left here a little after 1100 and had to wait around in the doctor's office long enough for me to read one and a half Sports Illustrated. I took the second one in with me to the exam room and finished it while waiting for the doctor.

They were supposed to have Kathleen get a CT scan before coming in, but they neglected to let us know. That was so that the doctor could check to see that the stones had indeed been taken care of.

After a little discussion the doctor decided to take the stint out anyway. So once the stint was out Kathleen felt a little worse, but over all better. She had to set up another appointment for a week after mine to check blood work and make sure that the stones are gone and maybe do something about trying to make it so that they do not return.

We stopped by Lowe's afterwards to pick up some Scott's Summer Guard fertilizer for the lawn and also a couple other items. Then we headed home, stopping for gas on the way. Gas prices were about fifty cents cheaper than last month when we got gas.

One good thing about both of us not feeling well is that we do not go anywhere and so we have not gone through a lot of gas. We get gas for Kathleen's SUV about once every three or four weeks and for my Wrangler about once every three or four months.

After we got home I put the fertilizer on the front lawn and watered it in. Right now I have the sprinkler going to give it a good soaking. The weather has been so warm and dry lately that I am having to water the lawn once a week and the roses and berries a couple times a week. I thought Oregon was suppose to be wet and cool...must be global warming...!!

For dinner tonight Kathleen made a salad out of the leftover salmon, some wild rice, sweet onion
and an avocado. It was really good! We also had some of the potato salad from last night, I had German and Kathleen had a traditional potato salad, we also had some cold slaw, so it was a real salad night.

It was in the mid 80's today with tomorrow and Thursday projected to be in the low to mid 90's, so this is definitely salad weather. Tomorrow we are suppose to go over to Alyssa and Dan's for Independence Day. I think we are going to barbecue and maybe even dip in the pool the weather is suppose to be hot and humid, so it sounds like good pool weather.

Well, I guess that is about it for today, have a good night!

Monday Musings

This morning after breakfast, I read the paper and than the mail as it came just as I was finishing the paper. The only thing that I kept was the visa bill, I shredded a couple credit card applications and filed the rest in the recycling bag, and then I went on line and paid the visa bill.

Then I went outside and took the kitchen scrapes out to the composter and brought the kitchen scrap container back inside and washed it out. Then I went back outside and grazed on some blueberries and raspberries.

When I had my snack I did a little weeding, although it seemed to take a lot longer than I thought it should have for the small area that I got weeded. By this time it was about 1400, so I went inside, cleaned up and reheated the "Mexican" rice from yesterday.

Then I went back outside and sat in the sun for a while. Of course that did not last too long before I could see some work that needed doing. So I got my pruners out and cut off all the suckers from the Italian prune tree that I cut down last winter. I even went over to my neighbors and cut off the ones on her side of the fence as well.

Later in the afternoon I decided to go out and pick a quart of raspberries for our neighbor, right now they are coming on faster than we can pick them or give them away. She appreciated them and as I was leaving Kathleen brought over some roses from our garden.

Kathleen had some prescriptions called in that needed to be picked up so about 1830 we took off to Fred Meyer' and picked them up along with a couple salmon fillets and some salad form the deli. I also got a block of Limburger cheese and some cottage cheese.

We had about half of the salmon and the salads, so that means that we can have some more another day. Tomorrow Kathleen has her appointment with the urologist and we are hoping that the stint will be coming out. She has been so sore, and I think once the stint is out she can start to feeling better. Well, that is about it for today so I will just sign off and say good night.

Sunday's Sleepytime

I was up a little early this morning so that I could eat breakfast and get my shower in before heading off to church. After eating and showering, I loaded up the washer with the towels and started the washer up. Kathleen got up and we both went this morning and stayed for Sunday School as well.

After church I went upstairs and changed clothes then I sorted out the laundry and waited for Kathleen to add her clothes to it. Then went downstairs and emptied the washer and put the towels into the dryer and turned it on. With the dryer going I went into the living room and read the paper.

When I finished the paper and recycled it I went upstairs and asked Kathleen if she had gotten all of her clothes into the different laundry bags, she said that she had so I took them downstairs and loaded up the washer with dark clothes. By this time the dryer had stopped so I took the towels out, folded them and put them away. Then I emptied the dishwasher and put the dishes in from breakfast.

The washer had stopped, so I loaded the dark clothes into the dryer, turned it on, and then loaded up the dryer with light clothes. Since I had not eaten when we got home, I made myself a couple open faced melted cheddar cheese sandwiches.

The dark clothes had finished, so I put them into the laundry bag and took them upstairs to fold and put away. When I got back downstairs the washer had finished so I loaded the washer with the light clothes. Feeling a little tired I went into the living room and soon fell asleep in my chair.

Before I knew it the dryer was going off, so after trying to wake up for what seemed like a long time I unloaded the dryer, took the clothes upstairs, folded and put away the rest of the clothes. While I was up there I asked Kathleen if she were going to do anything for dinner tonight and she said that she was planning on doing something with the pork chops that we bought last week.

For dinner Kathleen a rice dish with tomatoes and jalapeños and a salad with mango, cucumbers, sweet onion, jalapeños pepper and parsley, the salad was really good, Kathleen did not care for the rice dish because it was too mushy, but I did not mind it.

She was going to throw away the rest of the rice, but I said that I would have it tomorrow for lunch. So I put it into a container and put it in the refrigerator, then I cleaned up the dinner dishes and soaked the rice pot to get the stuck on rice loosened up so that when I wash it, it will be easier to clean.

Well, today was kind of a lazy day and other than the laundry I did not get a lot done. I still have a hard time whenever I go into my office; it looks so clean that I keep thinking that I am in the wrong place. Then when I get up from working on my computer, I am startled, because something seems to be missing...lots of clutter!

I guess that is it for today, so good night!