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!

Spending Saturday

I got up closer to 0700 this morning, and after making breakfast and getting the mail and paper I put all the dishes that I could find into the dishwasher. Then I sat down with a cop of coffee and read the mail. There really was not much there for me, but Kathleen did get several items, but I am not sure whether or not any of it is something that she was looking for either.

Anyway, Chucky called and wanted me to go with him to the Acura dealership about his tires. He has been trying to get his tires replaced under his free tires for life deal for several months and they just keep putting him off.

On the way there, I had him stop by the police station so that we could have a police officer check out his tires and give us his opinion of their condition. The sergeant that looked at them said that he would not drive on the one and that the other two needed replacement as well.

We got there and Chucky started to go to the service bay and I headed to the dealership managers office and Chucky followed. After checking with the service folks for a while, he came back and asked us to go to the service area with him.

One of the service writers looked up Chucky's service records and could only find two time that he had brought the car there, so the manager told us that because he had not done all of his required services they did not have to honor the agreement.

Then the service writer behind him, whom Chucky had seen before when he brought his car in looked up the record and said that Chucky had indeed had his car in many times, but that he did miss a 45,000 mile required service.

I had him check further and he saw that Chucky had had the oil changed at 45,000 miles but not the full service. So I asked why they did not ask him about the service and he thought that perhaps Chucky had refused it, so I had him check the copy of the 45,000 mile oil change to see if Chucky had refused it or not, I found it hard to believe that Chucky would have turned it down.

It took quite a while, but when he found it, he could find no record of Chucky refusing the service, since it was only an additional changing of the brake fluid. So he said that he would write up a service request for the 60,000 mile service and try to get Chucky reinstated in the free tires for life program.

Chucky had 59,000+ miles on the car and probably would reach 60,000 in a couple weeks anyway so I thought that would be a good idea to do it anyway. Then he told us that it would cost almost $600.00 for that service, and my mind started to whirl, but I did not say anything.

So we left and on the way home I suggested to Chucky to stop by at Les Schwab tires to see what a new set of tires would cost. I told Chucky that he could get the service work done at John's and it would cost a lot less and then he would be money ahead and the tires that he was getting for "free" he actually was paying dearly for by having all the service work done at the dealership.

When we got to Les Schwab's I had them give Chucky four different tire options for a full set of four tires. They ranged in price from a little over $400.00 to almost $700.00 I probably would have opted for the more expensive tires as they are better tires, but I knew that Chucky did not have a lot of money and that had to play in his decision.

Chucky opted for the ones that cost just a little under $500.00 total for mounting, balancing siping and taxes. Since he did not have any money, I advance him the money for a month, but at least now he will have good tires on his car. Two of the tires needed replacing and the driver’s side tire needed replacing about six months ago.

Chucky noticed the difference in how the car handled as he was taking me home, so he was happy and I felt better knowing that he and Toni had safe tires on their car. Chucky dropped me off and then had to head home so that he could take Toni to work...it will be a safer ride.

When I got home it was after 1300 so I changed my clothes and then went outside and mowed the front and back lawn and then put the lawn furniture back on the grass. Then I went inside and washed up it was almost 1430 so I made myself my famous Boca burger for lunch.

Then I went into the living room to read the paper, I think that this was the latest that I have read the paper in a very long time. After recycling the paper I went back to my chair where I napped for a while.

When I finally woke up again it was time for Fox news so I turned it on and watched it for a while. About 1900 I went upstairs and asked Kathleen if she were planning on doing anything for dinner because I knew that she was still not feeling good. So if she were still not feeling too well I was going to make something to eat.

But she said that she needed to eat something and asked me what I thought about a salad. Since I had not had my salad at lunch I said that sounded okay. So after dinner I cleaned up all the dirty dishes and put them into the dishwasher and started it up.

Kathleen has gone back upstairs again, I think that in the last couple days she has only spent a couple hours downstairs, yesterday, I had not realized it but she had gone back to bed and slept for quite a while.

Well, other than helping get Chucky some new tires and mowing the lawn I did not get much done, but I am still tired, so I think that I will just say good night!

Friday's Findings

It must be the fact that the sun in up earlier or something because I seem to be waking up around 0630 on a regular basis now. Anyway, I did not need to get up and water this morning, but since I could not sleep anymore, I got up anyway.

After breakfast I read the paper and as I was finishing the paper the mail came, there really was not much there about all I kept was a refund check from the gas company and an Orvis fly fishing catalog.

After recycling the paper and the junk mail, I decided to wash the rugs in the downstairs bathroom. I had noticed that a couple of them had raspberry stains on them, but they needed to be washed before the raspberry stains got there. So I took them outside and shook them out and then put them into the washer.

While they were drying, I shook out and washed the new kitchen rugs. Kathleen had mentioned yesterday that they had gotten dirty, so while I was washing rugs, I thought that I might as well do them as well. I also washed the rugs in the hallway by the bathroom and between the dining room and the living room.

While the bathroom rugs were up, I swept the floor, it was not too dirty, but it was a good chance to sweep and get it a little cleaner. While I was in the cleaning mood, I decided to vacuum the kitchen floor and then the downstairs carpet.

When I finished the vacuuming the bathroom rugs were dry so I took them out and put them back down. Then I cleaned out the dryer filter and put the kitchen and hall rugs into the dryer.

Since it was not raining I decided to take the kitchen scraps out to the composter, and while I was out there I decided to deadhead the roses. I must have been out there longer than I thought because when I got back into the house the dryer had stopped. But the main reason that I stopped was that it had started to rain again and I was starting to get soaked.

After putting the rugs back down in the kitchen I decided that I would make myself a Boca burger. So I toasted some dark rye heels and put the burger on it along with a couple onion slices and some cheddar and heated it up in the toaster oven when the cheese had melted, I took it out and put on a couple pickle slices and added a small bowl of cottage cheese and that was my lunch.

Since it was raining more often than not I decided that I could not work outside, so taking a cue from Andrea, I decided that I would work on my office for a while this afternoon. I went through old bills from 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 and threw out the envelopes and filler that came with the bills. I filled up a paper bag half way with just that junk.

Next I put all four years into a shoe box and moved them upstairs with the other archived items. After that I cleaned off two of the chairs that I had been using to store things on. I now have three chairs where people can actually sit down in my office...wow!

Then I folded up some old software boxes, some of them were from Windows 95, so you know that they were old. I had about eight inches of folded cardboard when I finished. Next I moved some things around so that one can actually get into the room without following a path of stacked boxes and other things. I can even reach everything now without having to move something out of the way first. Thanks Andrea for the inspiration!

After all that "work" I decided to flip through my Orvis fly fishing catalog. Lots of nice stuff, too bad it all costs so much. By this time it was time for the O'Reilly factor so I watched that and then Hannity and Colmes. Since Kathleen was not feeling well today, I decided to make my own dinner, so I reheated the potatoes from last night and the flounder, not quite as good as last night, but not bad either.

Well, Kathleen just came downstairs, I think that she has only been down here about a half hour today. Well, I really cannot think of anything else to say except good night.

Thrilling Thursday

I got up early today as I wanted to water the berries and the roses this morning before it got too late. I knew that it was suppose to rain today, but it has not rained very much. After I finished watering in the pack yard I took the oscillating sprinkler and hooked it up to water the front lawn.

Where the sewer line was put in a couple years ago the grass never has stayed green very long and it has started to turn yellow/brown already. As it turned out it did rain off and on for most of the day, but I think the grass and plants needed the extra watering.


Anyway, while the front lawn was being watered, I made myself an egg beater omelet and a couple sausages, and then I emptied the dishwasher. Now I went out and turned the water off and put the sprinkler back into the garage. With that done I went into the living room and read the paper.

The mail came as I was finishing the paper. The mail had the gas bill, which I had a credit on, so that means that I do not have to worry about that bill for another month. There was also a credit notice from the Oregonian that was enough for the next three months, so there is another bill I will not have to worry about for a few months.

After taking care of the paper and the junk mail, I went upstairs and told Kathleen that I was going to take myself for a walk. I only went for about a mile and the last little bit it had started to rain so I cut my walk a little short so that I would not get soaked.

After a while it stopped raining, so I went back out to dig up a couple blackberry plants that I noticed while I was watering earlier this morning. As I was going back into the house I noticed a trail of ants by the back door, so I went into the garage and got out my insect spray and sprayed them.

While I was at it I sprayed from the back steps to the northeast corner in the front of the house. When I got to the front of the house I noticed another trail of ants, so maybe the spraying will do some good for a day or two.

After cleaning up I made myself a salad for lunch, by the time I finished eating my salad and put the dishes into the dishwasher it was almost time for the NBA draft to start so I made myself comfortable and watched Portland with the first pick choose Ohio State University's Greg Oden. Then there were a couple trades and with the fifty-third pick the chose Demetris Nichols from Syracuse. Overall I think that Portland did pretty well again this year with the draft and trades.

Tonight Kathleen made the flounder for dinner and sliced up some potatoes and baked them in the oven. It was really good, she spiced up the potatoes and the flounder a little and the extra flavor was delicious. For dessert she sliced up a cantaloupe, it was just right and ever so sweet. Well, that was my day, due to the rain I did not get a lot done outside, but I probably needed a day off.

From what the weather report shows it looks like we might have another day or two of off and on rain or at least showers. So maybe I will have to do some sorting and cleaning inside. Well just the thought of that makes me tired, so I think that I will just say good night.

Weathering Wednesday

Well, we made it to the middle of the week already. I got up earlier than I would have liked to this morning, but I knew that I would not be getting anymore sleep if I stayed in bed. Upon arriving in the kitchen the first thing I noticed was a trail of ants over the counter, over the stove and up and into the left over chili from last night.

Kathleen and I must have both been tired enough that we forgot to put the leftovers into a container and into the refrigerator. So I gathered up the pot and put it into the sink and turned the hot water on, then I got the sponge wet and proceeded to capture ants. The sink was literately black from all the ants that I had gathered up.

I kept this up for a good fifteen minutes, so you can imagine how many ants there were. Even later in the morning I was still killing ten or twenty at a time trying to find the path that their fellow ants had taken to get to that good chili and rice.

So after that entire ant killing ordeal I decided that I would make myself some breakfast. It was cereal day so I mixed some shredded wheat, Go-Lean-Crunch and puffed rice into a bowl and added a half a banana and several fresh raspberries.

I used the rest of my soy milk and still did not have quite enough to moisten the cereal, so I added a little water to the soy container and was surprised to see that it was pretty white looking and it did not taste too bad either.

After finishing breakfast, I loaded up the dishwasher and turned it on, and then I went into the living room to read the paper. I thought that I heard a noise, but I was not sure what it was, and then as I finished reading the paper I thought that maybe the noise I heard was the mailman dropping off the mail.

Sure enough that was the noise that I had heard, usually the mailman makes a little more noise, this time it sounded more like a bird flying into the front porch and then flying out again.

After taking care of the mail and the paper I went outside to edge around the front lawn, just about the time I was finishing up Kathleen came out and said the she was ready to go shopping, so I finished what I was doing, cleaned off the shears and put them into the garage.

Then I went into the house, cleaned up and changed clothes and was ready to go. Aaron had called said that the girls wanted to come over to pick some berries, so we told him around 1300 would probably work out for us.

It did not help us get back in time when we left the house at about 1250, but we hurried at the store and made it back by about 1400...almost record time for us. When checking out I overheard the clerk tell Kathleen that we did really well with our coupons. We got several things that we did not need right away, but will be using in the next few weeks or months.

Anyway, Aaron and the girls were here when we got home, they were waiting for us in the house and when the girls hear us drive up the came outside to meet us...they even helped bring the groceries into the house.

After we got the groceries put away, we all went outside and picked raspberries, although I have a feeling that as many berries were eaten as were put into the containers. The girls really had a good time picking berries. While they were doing that I dug up a couple dozen berry plants as the ones I gave them last time did not get planted in time and did not survive.

After the berries were picked, the girls and Kathleen went upstairs to do some work on Kathleen's computer. Aaron and I sat around and talked, but finally I decided that I needed to make myself some lunch. I got out a couple slices of dark rye and smeared some Limburger cheese on them and then put a slice of onion on one side and a couple pickle slices on top and then put them together.

Tami called a little after 1700 and said that she was working on dinner, so about a half hour later they packed up and took off. We had gotten a couple Mexican frozen dinners when we were at Winco so that is what Kathleen made for dinner.

So now Kathleen is fixing the raspberries and I am trying to get caught up on my computer duties. I guess that is about it for tonight, so I will just say good night!

Temperate Tuesday

I woke up a little earlier than I wanted to this morning and did not try to go back to sleep because I wanted to get up a little early to water the berries and roses. So at 0630 I rolled out of bed and went downstairs and outside and dragged the hose to the back of the yard.

It took almost an hour to get everything watered that I wanted to water, so after I was done I went into the house and made myself some breakfast. I bought some Morningstar breakfast bits the other day and heated them up along with a Morningstar "sausage" patty. Morningstar makes some pretty tasty vegetarian foods and are pretty healthy to boot.

After breakfast, I emptied the dishwasher and then went into the living room to read the newspaper. Before I finished the paper the mail came, so I went out and got it. We got a couple get well cards from a couple of couples in our SS class and I got an annual report from one of my stocks and our dentist bill.

It was not even a full bill because Kathleen had to cancel her appointment because of her kidney stone procedure last week, so there is more to come. Luckily we have three months to pay it without drawing any interest charges.

Once I finished the mail and the paper, I went outside and got my pruners and collapsible container and went out front to work on the hedge once again. I thought that I would be able to finish it today, and even though I had to push myself a little bit I did finally get it finished. It only took me a couple weeks to do it, but it looks pretty good.

Not only did I do my side, but the east side as well...I figure that it was our hedge and that is the least I can do is keep it trimmed.

After finishing the hedge, I put everything away and sat out in the sun for about twenty minutes. I knew that there were a blackberry and a nightshade plant that I saw the other day that I needed to get out before they got too big.

So I went into the garage and got out my spading fork and dug out about seven blackberry plants and five nightshade plants. I also dug out a couple dandelion plants that were starting to get pretty large.

By this time it was getting time for lunch, so I cleaned up the spading fork and put it back into the garage and went into the house to and got cleaned up. For lunch I reheated the two ravioli that were left over from last night and finished the rest of the cottage cheese.

After putting the dishes into the dishwasher I went onto my computer to answer an e-mail from our financial adviser and check my other e-mails. When I finished on the computer I went upstairs to see if Kathleen was ready to go to Winco, she was not, so I went outside for a while and did a little cosmetic work on some of the roses.

I figured that Kathleen must be pretty close to being ready to go grocery shopping, so I went upstairs and changed my clothes. Then I went back downstairs and got the shopping list and the coupons and sat in my chair to wait for her to come down.

I dozed off for a while and when I woke up she still was not down, so I decided that I would go upstairs and take a nap rather than keep dozing in the chair. I napped for over an hour, but did not feel any better when I got up and by now it was really too late to go shopping. So I got up and put on my old clothes and went downstairs to watch the news.

About 1800 Kathleen asked if chili sounded okay for dinner, it sounded pretty good for me. I had not eaten much chili lately because of what it can do to my bowels, but I thought that I would give it a try. Kathleen also cut up a mango and an avocado to go along with the chili.

Kathleen made two cans, and there is going to be enough left over for lunch tomorrow...that is if my bowels do not react too strenuously to the chili that I had tonight. Well, that is about it for tonight, I am not quite as tired as I have been, but I am also not as energetic as I would like to be either.

I think that the weather might have something to do with it, it was almost 90 degrees out today and I usually get a little sluggish when it gets much above 80. Well, maybe tomorrow we will get our grocery shopping done, until then, good night.