Turn Around Tuesday

I think it was around 0730 when I got up this morning. Kathleen was already up as she could not sleep. She got up around 0530 and was on her computer when I got up. However, she went back to bed about 0800 and slept until about noon.

Today was sort of a turn around day, as the weather was really mild and no or very little rain. That is about to change again tomorrow as the forecast is for about an inch or more of rain for tomorrow with more rain predicted for the next couple of days.

I made myself a couple waffles, a couple egg whites with Tillamook light cheese and a couple sausages for breakfast. Kathleen had fixed herself a couple egg yokes the other day and I thought that I would use up the egg whites before they got spilled or got too old.

After breakfast, I loaded up the dishwasher and did all the hand washing from the last couple of days. The pot from the soup, the pan from the spaghetti the other night the stuff from making the bread and the blender from the peppermint coffee that Kathleen made the other day.

After cleaning up the kitchen, I went outside and picked up some fir cones and small branches from the storm the other night. I was tempted to rake the leaves, but I did not. For some reason I just could not get my energy going today.

For lunch I heated up some of the leftover spaghetti, it was really filling so I did not have too much. Kathleen came down about 1400 and I reminded her that she had a doctor's appointment at 1515 to check up on her arm.

The doctor was impressed with her progress and said that she did not need to come back unless she felt she needed to for some reason or another. He took some x-rays and they looked good as well.

After the doctor's appointment, we stopped by the credit union so that I could deposit a couple insurance checks that have been lying around the house for a couple of weeks. I also transferred some money into Kathleen's account.

When we got home, Kathleen heated up the leftover soup and spaghetti for dinner. We finished both so now we have a little cleaner refrigerator. After dinner, Kathleen lay down on the couch and took a nap and I cleaned up the kitchen.

Tonight should be pretty quiet from here on out so I will just say good night now.

Morphing Monday

I think that it was about 0730 when I finally got up this morning, when one considers that I went to bed at 2100 last night that was pretty late. I guess we had a pretty good storm last night; I managed to sleep through it. When I first woke up about 0530, it was quiet out and not raining or at least I did not hear anything.

I think that today was a day of change, moving from a very storm night to a relatively nice morning to a very stormy mid day and back to a relatively nice evening.

I had cereal and toast this morning when I finally made it downstairs. After I ate, I went outside to survey the damage if any and I was pleasantly surprised. There were very few branches in the yard or driveway, but lots of fir cones. No branches bigger than a half-inch in diameter and a couple feet long.

Kathleen got up shortly after I did, as she wanted to attend an art class down at the grange hall, a couple blocks from the house. So she left the house before 1000. I finished reading the paper about 1030 and started to get ready to go to church, read take off shorts and put on long pants and a button-down shirt.

Our Associate Pastor and I were going to "Rolling Hills" church to attend the kick off luncheon for a men's program called "Spirit Warriors" based on a book by Stu Weber, the senior pastor at Good Shepherd Community Church, where Andrea and John attend.

On the way to Rolling Hills, the rain was coming down so hard that visibility was only about twenty-five feet. I almost think that we could have traveled on the freeway in a canoe or a kayak; there was that much water on the roadway.

I am being asked to help head up a men's ministry at our church. I am thinking about it and I am also considering trying to get some kind of new believer classes going at church. I was involved with something similar to that when we attended Hinson Memorial Baptist Church, many years ago and I have been trying to get one going for a long time here.

Anyway, the lunch was really good, chicken noodle soup, a Cobb salad and an apple crisp. The speakers spoke while we ate, so it was not a really long and drawn out process, which was really nice. Both the pastor and I thought that the concepts were really good and we will just have to see how well it is received by the men of the church.

When I got home, about 1500, Kathleen was still gone; she had her physical therapy appointment at 1300 this afternoon. So I read the mail, which had come just before I left for church. She called about 1515, was going to stop at Fred Meyer, and wanted to know what we needed.

She finally got home a little after 1700 and decided to make some spaghetti; she had bought some hot Italian sausage for the sauce. It was really very rich tasting and neither one of us were up for seconds.

Well we were both tired tonight, so I think that it will be another early night, so I will say good night.

Soggy Sunday

I got up a little before 0700 this morning so I could shower and get ready for church this morning. Kathleen felt better this morning, not as tired or sore as she has been. We left a little later than we should have to day, but we got there in time for the first song.

Sunday School was good; we had a combined Sunday School with everyone from youth through adults meeting together. Dr Ray Lubeck from Multnomah talked on "World View", the room was packed and I think that everyone enjoyed it.

After Sunday School Kathleen wanted to stop by Mall 205 to look for a couple pair of boots, one pair for the foul weather and one pair for dress. She found and bought a pair for foul weather. Since we were at the mall, she also wanted to stop by Bed Bath and Beyond; there she found a new ironing board cover and a couple cookie cutters.

When we were leaving the mall, she said that she wanted to stop at Fabric Depot also to try to find some more fabric. We dad driven just about past it on the way to the mall, but I backtracked anyway so that she could look. I figured that we were closer now than we would be once we got home.

When we got home, I changed clothes and took the clothes down to the washer to wash. While the clothes were washing I started reading the paper. Kathleen heated up some of the soup that she made yesterday for lunch.

After lunch, I finished the paper and then took the dry clothes out of the dryer, folded and put them away. The rest of the afternoon, I sat in my chair and watched football. I did go out one time to pick up after Reggie, and it was really blustery. It was raining, but the wind made it feel like it was really stormy.

My nice leaf free lawn is now once again full of leaves again. I think that the next time I rake or blow the leaves off the lawn will be the last. There are just not many more leaves left on the trees.

Kathleen decided to make some peanut, oatmeal, raisin and chocolate chip cookies. While she was doing that, I heated up some more soup and put some limburger cheese on a slice of bread for my dinner. When I was done doing that, I put away the dishes from the dishwasher and then put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher.

Other than a really stormy evening, I do not anticipate anything exciting happening tonight. I think that I will just shut down the computer and call it a night. I hope that we will not receive any wind or storm damage tonight, so I will just say good night now.

Serendipitous Saturday

I woke up about 0600 this morning and heard the rain hitting the skylight and thought to myself, that we were going to have another day of rain. So I rolled over and went back to sleep. It was almost 0800 when I decided that I would get up. I was surprised to see that it was not raining.

I made myself some cereal and toast for breakfast and then went into the living room to read the paper. I half expected the mail carrier to be dropping the mail into the mailbox any minute. It did not happen, so I went outside and decided to rake up the back yard. At first, I was just going to rake the area under the cherry trees, but it looked so good after I finished that area, I decided to do the rest of the back yard.

By the time I was done, I was getting a little tired and my hands were starting to hurt a little. I did not bother putting on my work gloves as I thought that I was only going to do a little section, not the whole back yard.

When I got back inside, I made myself some peppermint coffee, which Kathleen had made last night. As I sat down to enjoy the coffee I realized that this was really Veteran’s day and that was why we got mail yesterday.

Feeling a little better, I got my spading fork and went to the front yard to dig up a small fir tree and a couple small bushes that were growing where they should not have been. These were all volunteers and would be fine somewhere else, so I moved them. If they grow okay and if they do not, that is fine as well.

Kathleen cooked up some ham hocks last night and made some soup today that I had for lunch. I took some beano before hand, and I think that helped somewhat. She is also made some bread, as we were just about out of the bread that she made last week.

After I finished eating, I sat in the living room for a while until I became bored and decided to go outside and pull some more of the ivy. I have most of it pulled out on the south side of the fir trees; of course, I will need to take the spading fork to it to make sure that I got all of the roots. Right now, it is so torn up and wet, I want to wait until I have a chance to rake the ground and get all the ivy leaves picked up.

We left for Alyssa and Dan's about 1600 because we were watching their children while they went out on a "date". They went to Edgefield, it use to be the poor farm, but now it has turned into a couple restaurants and a small inn. The place where they is also a small theater, so they were able to watch a movie as well.

Kathleen made some homemade macaroni and cheese for us and Natalie had about four portions, Zander had three and Hayden had about three as well. I guess they liked it! I had a good time watching the older two making cages as they were pretending to be a hamster and an earthworm. Natalie was the hamster and Zander the earthworm.

I have no idea where they came up with it but they had fun dragging everything that they could find down into the family room. Then about 1930 I helped them take must everything back upstairs.

We got home from their house about 2100 and we are both ready for bed, so I think that I will say my good nights now and head upstairs.

Foul Weather Friday

I stayed in bed until almost 0800 this morning. I think that I heard it start to rain again around 0630 and decided that there was really no rush to get up. Besides, I was nice and cozy and I knew that today was supposed to be a little cooler as well.

I made myself some cereal for breakfast, and had planned on making a couple of slices of the cranberry, orange, raisin nut toast after I finished my cereal, but when I finished the cereal, I forgot about the toast. I did not think about it until around 1100 and by then it was too late for breakfast.

So around noon I made my self the toast and after a couple slices, I sliced some of the bread that Kathleen had made and made myself a limburger cheese and onion open-faced sandwich.

I had gone outside for a while and picked some more English ivy, but it really was too rainy out and I did not need to get sick.

I also ran the check and statement for our property taxes to the post office. The mail was late today and I wanted to make sure that I got it mailed so that it would reach the tax office by the 15^th.

When the mail did arrive, it was mostly catalogs and junk mail. I have a feeling that between now and Christmas we will be getting many catalogs. The junk mail seems to come almost every day no matter the season.

Kathleen had her physical therapy appointment today, I have not been going with her, as it has gotten a little boring just sitting around reading old magazines for a couple of hours. Now that she can drive again, there is really no need for me to go.

I stayed home and pinched the barbs on some fly hooks and snacked on some carrots and celery filled with peanut butter.

Kathleen came home about 1730 after her physical therapy she stopped by Winco to pick up a "few" items, eight bags to be more precise, she also stopped by K-mart to pick up some candy and sweetened cereal for herself. When she got home, I unloaded the car and put things away.

Kathleen opened up a couple cans of soup for dinner and cooked a yam, which we divided. A good meal for a cool wintry evening. Well, it has been dark for several hours now and I do not envision anything exciting happening here later so I will just say good night now.

Thursday transition

When I woke up this morning, I noticed that it was not raining, finally! I got up and got ready to have breakfast with the guys in the accountability group. All of us were there and we had a good time fellowshipping and discussing scripture.

When I got home, the mail had already arrived, so I opened it and other than a rebate check from the medical insurance there really was not anything there worth carrying into the house.

Since it was not raining out, I decided that I needed to go out side and pull up some more of the English ivy from the side yard. I worked for quite a while and pulled up a lot of ivy, but when I stood back it hardly looks like I did anything.

My back was starting to let me know that I needed to quit, so I put away all the tools that I had taken out of the garage and I took the yard recycling out to the road. Then I went inside and decided to sit down and read the paper, I had not read it yet because I spent most of the morning with the accountability group.

Andrea called and said that she was coming over. I decided that since it was mid-afternoon I probably ought to eat something. I cut up an apple, a couple Of Satsuma Mandarin oranges, a couple of carrots and two celery sticks that I put in peanut butter. Not too bad and not a lot of calories.

When Andrea came, I gave her, her mail and a couple dozen pens that were hers. She showed Kathleen some of the things that she had bought and then they got to take about Joann fabrics and they decided to go there for a while. They got home about 1730 and Andrea left with out coming into the house, so I went out and gave her some information about an artificial Christmas tree.

Kathleen cam inside and decided to open up a couple cans of beef and barley soup for dinner. She did not have time to prepare anything from scratch as she had a fellowship team meeting. I did a little more sorting of another box that I found and that is about all I got done tonight.

It looks like another quiet night so I will say good night.

A Milder Mid-week

When I got up this morning guess what... it was raining! Not that that was surprising, but it had been raining off and on all night and I had though that it might not be raining when I woke up. I had stopped for quite a while during the night, so I was a little surprised when I heard the rain when I finally got up.

This was a blueberry waffle and sausage morning again, it just sounded better than cereal. After I finished eating, I loaded up the dishwasher and started it up. I also did some of the hand washing, but there was not really too much of it to do.

After finishing in the kitchen, I went into the living room to read the paper and drink my coffee. I just finished one section when I heard the mail come; there was not much of anything important there. I think the only important thing that came was the credit union statement.

Kathleen came down stairs and was dressed, I think that is the first time she has been dressed when she came downstairs in a long time. I gathered up the towels, loaded them into the washing machine, and started them up.

It was getting to be about lunchtime so I made myself a burger with a couple onion slices and tomato slices on some homemade bread with melted cheese. I thought about have something more, but I was really satisfied with what I had.

It had stopped raining for a while so I went outside and raked up all four areas of the back yard. I probably could have saved my time as the leaves off the cherry trees were falling as fast as I could rake them up. The main reason I did it was that I did not want the wet leaves on the lawn. Grass has a hard enough time growing there due to all the shade in the summer time, and with the wet leaves, it is really hard on the grass.

Kathleen left for her physical therapy appointment and I stayed home to get some work done. I cleaned and polished the stovetop, it is a flat glass top and it needs to be polished on a regular basis. The clothes also were ready for the dryer so I took them out of the washer and loaded up the dryer.

The handy man that is doing the work on the house next door started to cut down the Italian prune tree that is on the property line, so I helped him with some of the branches that were on my side of the line. I have been after them to take it down ever since they started to work on the house. I just wish that they had started before the leaves all fell.

By the time, I got back into the house the dryer had gone off, so I emptied it, folded, and put away the towels. I had not vacuumed in a couple of days, so I did that as well, only the downstairs. The upstairs does not get quiet as much Reggie hair or fir needles as the downstairs, so it does not need cleaning as often.

Kathleen came home about 1730 and had stopped at Safeway and picked up some coffee for her, some limburger cheese and some yogurt. I went out to get the groceries from her car and then put them away. Kathleen made some fried rice with the left over chicken from last night and what she had Monday night; she also cut up some carrots and celery.

We are trying to keep the refrigerator cleaned out of left overs as much as possible, so that when we go grocery shopping we have a place to put them. Well, Kathleen has gone upstairs and is probably on her computer, I do not think that there will be anything else noteworthy going on tonight so I will say good night now.

Torrential Tuesday

I got up about the same time today that I have been getting up for the last month or so and it was still raining. When I went downstairs to let Reggie out I noticed that there were several large puddles in the back yard behind the apple trees. Earlier when I got the paper, I had also noticed a large puddle in the in the front yard out by the street, it was a couple inches deep.

I had cereal and toast again this morning, although I think that when I use up the rest of the dry cereal I will be switching to oatmeal during the cooler winter months I like the warm oatmeal and raisins.

After breakfast, I went into the living room to read the paper. I got about half way through the paper when I heard the mailman putting the mail into the mailbox. Mostly catalogs and sales fliers. After I finished the paper and the mail, I put them into the recycling bag and since it was full, I took it out to the garage to put it into the recycling bin.

Shortly after I got back into the house, Tami came over with Alexis. Alexis was busy "playing" with Reggie and finally Reggie got tired so she wanted me to play with her. So we went into the living room and played catch with a nerf soccer ball that I have to play in the house with. It is soft and light enough that it does not do any damage.

After they left, I decided to make myself some lunch as it was after noon. I decided to make a burger and put it on a couple of slices of the bread that Kathleen had made last week. I melted some cheese over some onion slices and toasted the bread, yummy!

Kathleen spent a lot of time this afternoon going through some of her magazines, mail and who knows what that had been stacking up in the living room. I got to haul it all out to the garage. I also spent a little time picking up some of the small branches that had fallen through the night.

Kathleen made some chicken, rice and green beans for dinner. I noticed that it looks like the rain has stopped for a while. From what I have seen on the news it looks like tomorrow might be partial rain and Thursday may be almost no rain, which will be nice for a change.

I have a lot of work to do outside before the winter rains really set in. I hope that it is dry for a couple days, as I need to get the leaves off the lawn before they get too wet to pick up. There were a lot of leaves that came down during these last few days of rain, but I am surprised at how many of the leaves are still on the cherry and apple trees. The ash and walnut trees have just about shed all their leaves.

This is election night so I do not think anything important will happen here tonight, so good night.

Muddy Monday

This morning I got up about 0645, I had been awake for a while and had tried to go back to sleep, but I had just enough sleep to take the edge off and it was blowing and raining hard enough that I could not get back to sleep.

Once I got downstairs, I made myself some blueberry waffles and a couple veggie sausages. I found some real maple syrup in the pantry the other day so I used that. There really is a lot of difference between real maple syrup and the pretend stuff.

After putting the dishes and things in the dishwasher, I made myself some coffee, then went into the living room, and started reading the paper. I finished the paper and then made myself some green tea. I have been drinking a lot of green tea lately; we seem to have a lot of it laying around for some reason.

The mail came a little later today, and for the first time in about a month, we did not have any political advertisements. There really was not much in the mail that I even kept, just my medical insurance statement on benefits that they paid out last week.

I went outside for a while when the rain let up for a few minutes and picked up a couple branches that came out of the fir trees. They had been dead for a while, as they did not have any needles on them. The biggest one was a couple inches in diameter and was pretty rotten.

I also went into the back yard and the ground was pretty soggy, I think I heard on the news that we had an inch and a half of rain and they were predicting another couple of inches by tomorrow morning.

Later this morning I finished up my ballot, children did you see that, remember it has to be dropped of tomorrow. When Kathleen came down stairs and after she ate something, I prodded her into filling out her ballot as well. We discussed a couple of the issues and I was able to explain them to her.

Kathleen had been trying to get a hold of her nurse practitioner or a while today and when she finally called back, Kathleen had her phone in a couple prescriptions for her. So about 1630 we took off to Drop off the ballots and then to Fred Meyer's to pick up the prescriptions.

On the way, we both realized that we were getting really hungry so while we were at Fred Meyer's we picked up a couple of things at the deli. Kathleen got a fried chicken dinner and I got a rolled sandwich and some potato salad.

Well, I think that tonight will be relatively quiet, other than the rain and wind, so I will just say my good night now.

A Sunday Soaker

I got up this morning at 0645 to the sounds of rain; I think that it rained pretty much all night. I went downstairs and made myself some orange, raisin and nut toast and coffee for breakfast. When I finished I went upstairs to get Kathleen up, unfortunately she was still not feeling well and decided not to try to go to church and Sunday School. So I continued to get ready myself.

I left for church a little earlier than we normally do, as I am usually ready early and wait for Kathleen to get ready. So this morning I just left when I finished getting ready. As I usually do when Kathleen is not there I sat on the opposite side in church, just to get a different perspective.

Our youth pastor spoke this morning as our interim pastor's daughter was married yesterday and he took the day off. It was a good service and it was also communion Sunday as well.

When I got home Kathleen was up and on her computer, but she was not feeling well so I suggested that she go back to bed and get some more rest, which she did. I went downstairs and made my self a sandwich using the leftover cube steak from the other night and a couple slices of the bread Kathleen made the other day.

She got up a while later, made some puffed wheat, and puffed rice, dry of course. I spent a good portion of the afternoon reading the paper and looking at a couple of the catalogs that have been arriving in the mail for the last couple of weeks.

Kathleen went back upstairs, could not get to sleep, and eventually came back downstairs just as I was heating up a hamburger patty for myself. She said that it did not appeal to her so she just snacked on some cookies.

She has been on the couch since she came downstairs and I do not think that there will be much of anything else happening tonight so I will just say good night.

Alyssa finally got to have her Oktoberfest

I woke up this morning and did not feel much better than I did when I went to bed last night; in fact, I spent the majority of the first hour I was up on the toilet. I did make myself a couple eggs, veggie sausages and orange, raisin and nut toast for breakfast.

After eating I cleaned up the kitchen, Kathleen had made some bread yesterday and so there was quite a lot of things that needed cleaning. I am also trying to keep the counters a little cleaner.

After finishing cleaning, I went into the living room to read the paper. While I was reading the paper, I heard a voice on the front porch, so I opened the front door and there was the mail carrier talking on his cell phone.

After finishing the paper and the mail, I went outside and trimmed the irises that I split the other day. Then I put a couple dozen in a bag to give to Tami. I wanted to get it done today, as we would see them either at Alyssa's Oktoberfest or tomorrow at church.

Kathleen was still not feeling very well and we had almost decided not to go to Alyssa and Dan's, but then about 1500 Kathleen said that she felt well enough to go so we took off. We had a good time, I think almost half of the people there were us and our children and their families.

There were also two guys there from Boeing, one was an uncle of Dan's, his mother's brother, and the other was the father of Natalie's best friend from pre-school. Dan's uncle had retired shortly after I did and the other one was hired back after a layoff. So it was fun to get caught up on what was going on with them.

We left about 1800 as both of us were getting tired and it was a dark rainy night that made for a long ride home. I do not envision much of anything else happening tonight, so I will say my good night now.

I think I am tired of the rain already.

I slept until 0730 this morning, and it had been raining off and on most of the night. I went downstairs, made myself some breakfast, and went outside with Reggie. Since it was so wet I knew that I would be inside most of the day.

After breakfast I cleaned up the kitchen, the counters were starting to get a little sticky and the stove had something on it as well. After getting everything wiped down I emptied the sink and scrubbed it down as well.

With that done I decided to go into the living room and read the paper. As I was finishing the paper the mail arrived, so I opened up and read some and just recycled the rest. Kathleen came downstairs about 1045 and had her breakfast.

She had her physical therapy appointment at 1300, I had planned on going with her, and then go grocery shopping afterwards. I started to go upstairs to change clothes when I realized that my stomach was starting to get a little upset, so I told her that I thought that I would stay home.

It did not get any worse while she was gone and around 1630 she came home from grocery shopping, I unloaded the car and Kathleen started to cook dinner. I felt fine during dinner, but about fifteen minutes afterwards my stomach started to get really crampy.

I spent the next half hour on toilet, and I feel somewhat better now, but not as good as I would like to feel. I am writing this early, as I am not sure that I will feel much like writing later.

So good night for now!

Yes, this is the rainy season.

I got up about 0730 this morning and took my time getting dressed and going downstairs. I knew that I would be leaving a little after 0815, as I was having breakfast with the guys from the accountability group. Kathleen came downstairs about the time I was getting ready to leave. She still was not feeling too well and she still had her headache.

Breakfast was great and we had a good time talking. It was not as long as usually because several of the guys had to do something around 1000. I was glad, as I wanted to get home to see if Kathleen was doing any better. She was back up stairs on her computer, but soon went back to bed and to sleep.

When she awoke, she asked me to fix her something to eat, I asked her what she wanted and she just felt like some puffed wheat and puffed rice. So I went downstairs and mixed her up a batch. I went downstairs and read the mail, again, lots of catalogs and election stuff. I will be so glad when the elections are over; I am so tired of political phone calls, mail and ads on television. It seems like there is no escape from it all.

I was getting hungry myself so I made myself some chili with lots of onions, garlic, and hot sauce. It just felt like a hot chili day.

Since I Had breakfast out this morning, I had not read the paper, so after lunch I sat down and read it. Kathleen came downstairs just as I was finishing. She still was not feeling very well and stayed on the couch all afternoon.

About 1730 she said that she was hungry, so I asked her what she felt like and she did not know, so I suggested a frozen dinner that she bought the last time we went shopping. She said that sounded good so I microwaved it and then went downstairs to the freezer and got myself a hamburger patty and cooked it for myself.

I added some Tillamook cheese and a large onion slice to it and put it on some Hawaiian bread and toasted the bread and cheese in the toaster oven. Kathleen decided that the dinner was too spicy for her and asked for the frosted mini-wheats, which she had dried.

That is about it for today, I do not see anything unusual happening tonight so I will close and say good night.

I think that the rainy season is officially here!

I got up about 0730 this morning and felt pretty good, except for being sore. I decided before I got up that I would make myself a couple waffles and veggie sausages for breakfast. I have had cereal, just about everyday this week and we only have one egg in the refrigerator.

After breakfast, I went into the living room to read the paper, and before I finished the mail came. It really must be the time of year, because just about every day we get three or four catalogs. I enjoy looking at some of them, but after a while, they all begin to look alike.

About noon time I decided that I would go outside and work some more on the garden, I wanted to get as much done as I could before tomorrow when the rain is supposed to start and not let up for a week. Even though my hands hurt so much, I kept pulling weeds and separating the irises. I think that I have fifty or sixty irises, say does anyone out there want some irises?

I also dug up a couple dozen red raspberry plants, I think Tami wanted some, but I am not sure how many she wanted. I guess I will have to call her tomorrow and find out. Any way, I finished weeding and digging up irises clear to the fence, which is what I wanted to do, I just did not think that I would get it done today.

When I finally finished, cleaned the tools, put them away and then went to the house to clean myself up, it was 1630. I was not only tired, but I also realized that I was hungry as well. Kathleen was still on the couch, so I sat down in the easy chair and rested a while.

I heated her up some bean and bacon soup, and I cooked a Boca Berger with Tillamook cheese, a big slice of onion and the heels from the multi-grain bread. I also heated up the left over rice from last night and added some hot salsa to it, not bad.

Well, I am really tired and sore, so I think I will soak my hands in the hot wax and then take something for the pain. I think I will make it an early to bed night, so I will say my good night now.

Almost back to Normalcy

Well, I slept in until 0730 this morning that was almost ten hours sleep. I made myself some cereal and toast this morning and then some coffee to have while I read the paper, but the mail came about 0900 this morning so I had both read before 1000.

Kathleen got up shortly after I finished with the paper and mail; she still was not feeling too well. I think she is feeling like I felt all of last week. I reminded her that we needed to go grocery shopping today as tomorrow is booked up with her hair appointment and physical therapy.

It got to be about 1300 and she still had not gotten dressed so I went upstairs to see how she was doing. She said that she still did not feel well, so I told her that I would go outside and do some more work in the rose garden.

I pulled out about twenty gallons of weed, dug up about twenty more irises and probably another day or two; I should have the garden in pretty good shape. I will still need to re-dig up the rest of the garden to loosen up the soil, but that should not be nearly as hard or as time consuming as the 20' X 4' section that I have been weeding for the last couple of weeks.

I do not think it would have taken me as long if my arthritis where not bothering me as much. I spend almost as much time rubbing my hands, to help relieve the soreness as I do pulling weeds.

Kathleen called me in about 1530; Andrea came over on her way to work and brought a pumpkin pie. So after visiting for a while, we cut the pie, put some whipped cream on top, sat down, and enjoyed the pie.

It rally tasted good to me, as I did not have lunch today. I was so busy working outside that I did not realize that I was hungry. Maybe I should try to be that busy every day, maybe then I would be able to loose a little more weight.

Kathleen made chicken, tuna and noodle casserole for dinner tonight; I am not sure if that is what she felt like eating or if that is what she could come up with based on what we had in the pantry. Anyway, it tasted good and filled me up.

Well, I am writing this early as we will be getting trick or treaters arriving throughout the evening, in fact I have had several ring the doorbell already, so I better close this and say good night.

A really different kind of day

For some unknown reason I woke up about 0330 and felt pretty much awake, after trying to go back to sleep and not being successful I got up about 0345, to my surprise the paper had just gotten here so I read the paper.

I heard Kathleen upstairs about 0430 and when I went upstairs to see what was going on with her, she said that she woke up about 0400 and could not get back to sleep either. So I am not sure what it was, but both of us were up really early.

After reading my e-mail and devotions, it was about 0800 so I made myself some cereal. I had a doctor's appointment at 0900 so after eating I started getting ready for that. It was basically an appointment to check up on my surgery and check up on my PSA levels. They said that the scar from the surgery look good, but my PSA lever was about twice as high as it was three months ago.

My doctor said that he did not want to make a decision based on one reading so he will see what it looks like in three months. The PSA reading should have been lower than it was after the surgery, not higher, so that concerned me a little, but I guess if the doctor is not that concerned maybe, I should not either.

Shortly after I got home, about 0930, Kathleen took off to Michael’s to pick up some batting. I thought she might be home in an hour or so, as we where going to go grocery shopping. I decided to do a couple loads of laundry, towels and linens and while they were in the machines, the mail came so I read that. When it got to be noon, I decided that would go outside and do some weeding.

Kathleen got home about 1345 and made some soup and open-faced toasted cheese sandwiches. So I finished the area that I was working on and then went inside and cleaned up.

I still had a little bit of energy so I went back outside and raked the back yard. I am trying to keep the leaves off the lawn in hopes of preventing too much moss to grow in the shady part of the lawn.

Since it has been somewhat windy the last couple of days, I decided that I would go to the front yard and rake it as well. It still does not really need mowing, but it will not be much longer before it will need it.

Kathleen cleaned off most of the shelves in the refrigerator this afternoon and found a few things to throw out. It really has not had a good cleaning in quite a long time. Right now, she is out getting some candy for tomorrow night. We were going to do that when we went grocery shopping, but since we did not do that she had to make a special run.

I think both of us just ran out of steam about 1600 this afternoon. When one considers that we have both been up almost seven hour by 1600 it is no wonder. Kathleen is feeling much better today and I woke up feeling much better as well. This is the first day that I have felt like doing much of anything outside in about ten days.

We had dinner tonight about 1730; Kathleen cooked up some chicken breast and rice for dinner. I think tonight will be a real early to bed night as I have fallen asleep a couple times already tonight. So good night!

Strange Sunday

I got up this morning about 0645 as I thought that I would try to go to church this morning, but I got to coughing so much that by the time it was time to leave my throat was too sore. Kathleen did not fell like going either so we stayed home.

I spent a couple hours reading the paper and drinking tea. I was feeling better by about noon, but I was worn out from coughing so much. Kathleen spent most of the morning upstairs, so I made myself some macaroni and tomato, sausage and garlic sauce for lunch. Kathleen never made it downstairs this afternoon and I did not go upstairs.

Aaron, Tami and the girls stopped by after church. Aaron wanted to pick up my router table, so I had to dig it out of the garage. He had mentioned that he wanted to borrow it a couple weeks ago, I did not dig it out then, I just located it.

There is still enough junk in the garage that I thought it was better to just leave it until he really needed it. I think once I put the hard top back on the Wrangler it will clear up enough floor space so that I can organize everything a little better.

This afternoon I did plant a begonia cutting that we rooted in water. It is from a plant that we have in the living room. It took me a little while to remember where the potting soil was, we have a couple bags open. I knew I had seen a bag just the other day, but my memory is not what it once was.

I also cleaned out one of the vegetable drawers in the refrigerator; something in there turned to mush and was leaking out of the bag and all over everything that was in the drawer.

Well, it is just about time for me to make something for dinner, I think that I will just reheat what I made for dinner. Kathleen has not felt like cooking or even eating lately, so I have been using my imagination a lot lately, especially since we have not gone to the grocery store recently.

By using my imagination, I mean using what we have in the refrigerator. I have been trying to use up bits and pieces of things.

Well, I think that I will send this off, as I do not expect that I will have much more to write home about. I need to eat dinner and then see how long I can I can stay up before falling asleep. So good night!

Sunny Saturday

I got up about 0630 today and felt rested, or at least I could not go back to sleep. Made myself some cereal and a banana for breakfast. After cleaning up the kitchen, I noticed that the inside of the microwave was looking pretty ugly so I took some time to clean it out.

Kathleen had to go to church this morning to finish getting ready for the Harvest Festival. She thought that she would be home around noon, but she did not get back until after 1300. She stopped off and picked up a couple of junior Whoppers for our lunch.

While she was gone, I read the paper and then decided that I would move the exercise bike into my office. Once I had that done, I went upstairs and moved the old dining room table back down stairs. With all the moving around of things, I decided that I had better vacuum the carpets.

Since Kathleen was out of bed and gone I decided that it would be a good time to change the bed linen and wash the sheets and pillow cases that were on the bed. It seems like the sheets are not changed as frequently as I would like to see them changed.

About 1600 I went outside and raked the leaves off the back lawn, and then decided that the lawn was long enough that I needed to mow, so I mowed the side and back yard. The front lawn is in the shade much of the day and does not usually grow as fast this time of year.

Shortly after I got back in the house, Toni called and wanted to pick up one of our spare computer monitors. Thinking that they would be right over I went upstairs to dig one out of the pile of things that have collected around the old computer station.

They got here about 1815 and stayed for a little while. Beside the computer monitor, I also talked them into taking the old pet cage to use for their "large" cat, coffee. I thought that they were going the get it about a month ago, so I dug it out of the garage and it has been sitting on the front porch ever since.

Well, I told Kathleen to call me after the festival was over if she needed help cleaning up, it was over at 1800 and I have not heard from her so I guess that there were enough people to help clean up.

In a way, I am glad as I still do not feel really great and by the end of the day, my throat is really sore. Well, I just shaved for about the second time this week, I guess that is one of the benefits of not having to be all fancied up for work. I think that it will be an early shower and to bed tonight.

Even though we gain an hour sleep tonight, I think I will try to take advantage of it and say good night.

Friday Fun

Again this morning I got up about 0730, I probably could have stayed in bed longer, but I was not breathing well and thought that I should get up if for no other reason than to be able to breathe better. I made a couple of waffles and veggie sausages for breakfast. I even used lite maple syrup, I really do not mind it, and it has a whole lot less calories.

While sitting at the kitchen table eating, I noticed some rather large weeds growing in the garden just below the window. So after eating and doing the dishes I went outside and started pulling them up, just in time to get them in the yard debris can as the recycler was driving up.

With that done I went inside and read the paper, and again, before I finished the mail came. Kathleen's needles for her medication that came yesterday arrived with the mail. She was concerned that they were not with the UPS refrigerated package that arrived yesterday.

By the time I finished the mail, I started to feel hungry so I made myself some refried beans and tortillas, it use to be one of our staples, or at least one of Aaron's staples. I mixed it with some hot salsa, yummy!

After a short rest, I took some things out to the garage. Going back to my office, I decided to tackle a couple of the boxes that have been sitting in the corner for a long time. I went through five boxes and a couple of bags and when I was done I had recycled a box of paper, magazines and catalogs. I also through out about a half a garbage bag of junk.

It is amazing what one saves. The sad thing is I could probably do the same thing tomorrow and have the same results. I have cleaned out my office so much that I can even move the exercise bike in here and get it out of the living room.

Kathleen was supposed to go to physical therapy today, but she had an upset stomach and did not feel that it would be wise to go today, so I think that she rescheduled for next Wednesday.

Well, Kathleen had to get set up for the harvest festival tonight so that it will be ready for tomorrow. I was going to go along and help, but since I have not been feeling too well, I decided that it would be better not to go. I do not think that other people there would appreciate some one coughing constantly. I am okay as long as I am not doing anything too physical.

My cough is mostly from drainage, but it is very annoying and I know that my resistance is low, and I do not need to expose myself to others that might be coming down with something.

Since Kathleen was not home tonight, I made myself some hot, spicy chili and I cut up a sausage and cooked it with the chili. Between the refried beans for lunch and the chili tonight it is probably a good thing that I did not go tonight. I think that those that did go would appreciate that I was not there.

Well, this looks to be a quiet night again, so I think that I will say my good night now!

A rather quiet day

I did not get up until 0730 this morning; I think taking the Claritin-D not only helps my nighttime congestion, but also allows me to sleep a little longer. I made myself some cereal this morning and had a banana to top it off.

After I ate, I cleaned up the kitchen a bit, and than sat down to read the paper, before I was done with the paper the mail came. It seems like every day we get about three or four catalogs each day. I bet the mail carrier really enjoys the holiday season.

After reading the paper and mail, I went out and raked up the front yard, a two or three times a week task this time of year. I would not be too concerned except that they are walnut leaves and are large and heavy and I have seen them kill off everything underneath them before, so I do not really want to do that to my front lawn.

After coming in the house I made my self a couple roast and cheese whole-wheat tortillas. I used up the rest of the roast and the whole wheat tortillas so I need to put them on my shopping list.

After lunch I vacuumed the downstairs carpet, the vacuum was not picking up very well, so I snaked the hose and did not find anything. So I started to take it apart and found a pretty good size Reggie hairball clog. After I got the vacuum put back together, I re-vacuumed the carper and was surprised at how much more I was able to pick up.

Andrea and Toni stopped by for a while this afternoon, they had just had something to eat and were going to do some more shopping so they did not stay too long.

Kathleen wanted to go to a polymer clay thing tonight so she asked what I wanted for dinner about 1600, I suggested that she fry up the left over rice and the remaining ham and add some peas and onions. So she did, we ate dinner about 1645 tonight, I think that is the earliest that we have had dinner that I can remember.

Kathleen had me load all her stuff into her SUV and was out of here by 1730. I was going to meet with the accountability group tonight, but I think I breathed in too much dust taking the vacuum cleaner apart. I have been coughing quite a bit tonight and did not think it wise to go and either get someone else sick or get worse myself.

Well, I think tonight will be really quiet, so good night!