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.

Marveoous Monday

One would think that by sleeping in until 0730 I would be nice and rested, but I did not feel as rested as I think I should have after eight hours sleep. Anyway after breakfast this morning I loaded up the dishwasher and started it up.

Then I decided that I needed to shake out the throw rugs in the kitchen. Since I was doing that and had the rugs off the floor, I decided that I would sweep the floor and then mop it, so I did.

After sweeping the kitchen I thought I might as well vacuum the downstairs carpeting. The burgundy rug on top of the living room carpet seemed to have gotten a lot of "lint" on it so I thought that the rest of the carpet probably needed it as well.

Once I finished the vacuuming, I got the kitchen rugs off the fence and put them back down in the kitchen, and then I went into the living room and read the paper. After finishing the paper I emptied the dishwasher and as I was finishing that up the mail came, so I went out and got it. There really was not anything there for me, although Kathleen had a few things.

I went outside and pruned the dead roses off the plants and then got my spading fork and went to dig up the vine that was crowding out the climbing roses. The spading fork did not work so I went back to the garage, put the spading fork away and got the spade and after a few tries, I finally was able to get the roots dug up.

I decided that I was tired enough that I would go inside and sit and rest for a while. After sitting for a while inside, I thought to myself why not go outside and sit in the sun and get some fresh air at the same time. I sat there for a while and then decided to pull a few weeds.

I knew that it was starting to get time for lunch so I went inside, cleaned up and made myself a salad. I really think that the salads taste pretty good without dressing, but the raspberry vinaigrette and red wine vinegar really gives it a better flavor.

After eating, I went and gathered up the garbage from the cans in all the rooms and then put them into the garbage can and then took it up front for pickup tomorrow. Then I sat out in the sun for a while before going inside to watch Fox news.

Kathleen made some ravioli tonight for dinner and cut up the rest of the cantaloupe for dessert. The cantaloupe was really nice and sweet, and the ravioli was really good for being Costco frozen. Well, we had dinner earlier tonight than we normally do so I think I might even try to get a little extra sleep tonight.

Last night before going to bed I had to wake myself up after napping for a couple hours and then got eight hours sleep on top of that. Hopefully one of these days I will feel rested again. Well, good night for now.

Sunday's Storms

I woke up several times this morning and stayed in bed because I was so worn out that I could not get up. I woke up again about 0530 and thought about getting up, but decided to stay in bed a little while longer...the next thing that I knew it was after 0700.

I got up and showered, but I was still too tired to move very quickly so I decided that since Kathleen still was not up and she had not felt very good the last couple says that I would stay home this morning rather than try to make it to church.

So I made myself some breakfast and read the paper then about 1030 I decided to go out and pick some berries for a mid-morning snack. There is just something about fresh strawberries, blueberries and raspberries fresh off the bush, plant or vine.

While I was out there I checked for signs of my raccoon friends, but did not find anything. While I was out there, I had noticed a nightshade plant growing by the grapes so I decided to get my spading fork and dig it out. While I was getting it out I noticed several other smaller plants and a healthy looking blackberry bush, so I dug them out as well.

Since I was in the digging and cutting mode, I decided to prune the dead rose flowers, so I traded my spading fork for the pruners and went to work. I got the big rose garden and the square rose garden done and went out to do the ones along the driveway. While I was doing the climbing roses I decided to cut the climbing vine that was working its way into the roses.

I cut the vines off but I still will need to dig out the roots one of these days. While I was cutting out the vine it started to rain, I did not feel it as I was under the canopy of the fir trees, but when I finished and started to the back yard I had to run to get under the cover of the cherry trees the mountain ash and the apple tree.

It is thick enough back there that I hardly got wet at all. The rain did not last very long; in fact it stopped shortly after I got back into the house and cleaned up.

Andrea called about 1300 and asked if she could come over for a while as they were at the high school and Brandon was getting really fussy. So she, John and Brandon stopped by for a while. Kathleen had just gotten up and so she came downstairs shortly after the got here. Alyssa had called earlier this morning and wanted to come over, but I told her that her Mom was not up yet and to call back in a couple hours.

She called while Andrea, John and Brandon were here, so Andrea decided to stay so that she could see the other kids. Well Alyssa, Dan and their children were going to stop at the farmers market on the way, but it was just closing as they got there so they tried a couple other local produce stands and they were closed as well.

She finally called again and said that they were going to stop at Costco and then here. Andrea and her family stayed for a little while after Alyssa and her family got her and than Alyssa, Dan and the children stayed until about 1930. I was all set to make myself some lunch when Andrea got her, so by the time Alyssa left, I was ready to eat the wall paper.

Alyssa and Dan brought over my Father's Day present, the new Leatherman tool For gardeners, and a box of Ivar's clam chowder. So after everyone left, Kathleen opened up and mixed one of the packages of chowder and put it on the stove, I stirred it for fifteen minutes and then just about ate it out of the pan.

It rained off and on all day, but I do not think it rained enough to do a lot of good, so I will probably have to water either tomorrow or Tuesday morning to give the plants and shrubs some water. Well, that is about it for my day, so I will just say good night.

Stabilizing Saturday

Although I got up about 0630 this morning it was more of a normal day than I have had for a few days. After getting downstairs, I went out back just to see if my neighborhood raccoons were helping themselves to berries and apples. I did not see any so hopefully they will find another place to dine.

So after breakfast and reading the paper I emptied the dishwasher and put everything away and put my breakfast dishes into the dishwasher. Just as I started to go outside to work on the hedge again when the mail came, so I got the mail and the only thing that I kept was my stock market trades and the final visa bill for our laptop and Kathleen's printer.

We were able to buy it with no interest for four months, so that is why I put it on the card. We have been able to do that for a couple large ticket items that we were able to divide the payments into the number of free months offered and not have any interest owed.

Anyway, after going on line and paying the visa bill, I went outside and worked on the hedge for a little while. I talked to our new neighbor and told her that I would mow her lawn in a little bit. I have been doing it so long that it almost seems natural. I thought that I would do it until she can make arrangements to have it done.

She came out as I was finishing the front yard and said that her son would be over in a couple days to do the back yard. He only has a riding mower, so it is hard to do the newly planted areas without leaving deep trenches in the soft ground. So that is another reason that I have been mowing it.

After finishing up the front lawn, I took a couple swings around the perimeter to catch the areas that he could not get to with the riding mower. Then I went inside, cleaned up and made myself lunch. I just reheated the snapper and tater tots from last night, they did not taste any better, but no worse either.

After resting for a little while I decided that I needed to start walking again, so I asked Kathleen if she would mind if I went for a walk. She said no, so I put on my walking socks and shoes and took off. I only walked for about a mile for a couple reasons, one, I had not walked for a while and secondly, I did not want to be gone too long in case Kathleen needed something.

I watched a couple movies on the tube and around 1830 I decided that I would make something to eat. Kathleen had not felt very well today so I just micro waved a Boca burger and put it on some dark rye toast with an onion slice and a couple pickle slices and topped it off with some melted cheddar.

Kathleen came downstairs about 1900 and I told her that I made myself something to eat...she seemed rather relieved. Well to day was more of a normal day for me. I did not do a lot of yard work, as I did not want to get my allergies, asthma worked up. Well, I cannot think of anything else to say except, good night!

Funny Friday Farming

This morning I slept in a little later, it was just a little after 0600 when I got up. I decided that since I did not get around to watering yesterday, I would do it this morning...mornings are better for watering anyway.

As I was approaching the square rose garden I heard some rustling behind me over by the raspberries. When I turned around to look I did not see anything at first, so I kept looking, thinking it was probably a bird in the apple tree.

Was I ever surprised when I heard the rustling again and this time I was able to look right where it was coming from. It was not a bird or even a squirrel, but a big old raccoon, so I turned the hose from shower setting to stream and pointed it in the direction of the raccoon. It took off over the fence and headed west.

About five minutes later I heard another noise, and when I stood still for a few minutes I located where it was coming from...the apple tree. So I again turned the hose to stream and shot it into the apple tree at the raccoon. It climbed a little higher, but then started going down some of the branches and over the fence to the south and then headed east.

I really do not need a family of raccoons living in my back yard, so I am going to try to discourage them from finding a friendly nesting place. Unfortunately there is a good supply of food, in the berries and the apples, and while I do not like them eating the fruit and berries, I would rather that they visit rather than actually live here.

I now not only have to fight the birds, squirrels, slugs, ants and other insects, but now raccoons. I suppose it could be worse I could have bears, coyotes, wolves, foxes and cougars, so maybe raccoons are not that bad. Although they can be a real pest once they claim an area as theirs.

I finally finished watering about 0730 and went into the house and cleaned up. After breakfast, dry cereal and raspberries, I went into the living room to read the paper. While I was reading the paper the door bell rang. When I answered it, it was a person from our power company saying that he wanted to show me something.

I put on my Birkenstock's and went with him to the side of the house where he showed me the insulation from the mast coming into the house had come off. He said that I needed to have it fixed and that normally they would just turn the power off until I did, but he gave me 30 days to get the work done.

So after finishing the paper I called one of our friends who is an electrician to see if he could recommend someone to do the job. He gave me the name of one of his former employers, so I called them and had to leave a voice message with their estimator.

I waited for the call back, but finally thought that I would have to go out and mow the lawn as it is suppose to be raining off and on this weekend. So I took the phone with me and mowed the back yard first, since I still had a little energy left, I mowed the front lawn as well.

I still had not gotten a call from the estimator, but I had heard the mailman dropping off the mail as I was cleaning up. I got it, but other than the water bill there really was not much of anything there. Again the door bell rang and this time it was the FedEx driver delivering Kathleen's new A-pap machine. She had not gotten up yet, so I just left it on the couch.

The estimator finally called back and gave me a quote of $500 to replace the wire and bring everything else up to code. I was not expecting it to be quite so high, but I was not overly surprised either...everything cost so much anymore.

I decided to make myself some lunch, so I heated up the left over mac and cheese and the rest of the snapper for the other night. Not the tastiest meal, but I was too tired to really care.

Since the yard debris got picked up today I had an empty barrel to fill up so I went out and pulled out some more ivy and even got out my stubbing hoe and dug and cut out some of the roots. Some of them were three or so inches across, no wonder the ivy was so healthy.

After filling the barrel up about three-quarters full, I decided that I would call it enough and go inside. So I cleaned up the hoe and moved the barrel to behind the fir trees and went into the house and cleaned up.

After falling asleep in my chair, I decided that I would get on the computer and pay the water bill and get that out of the way. Kathleen heated up some frozen fish and tater tots for dinner. She cooked them in the convection oven so the fish and the tater tots were not real mushy and did not taste all that bad.

Well, I am sure that I am leaving out some other rather uninteresting information about my day, but that is all that I can think of for now, so I will just say good night!

I Think it is Thursday

Just when I did not think that I could get any more tired...I did! I woke up early this morning and finally got up a little after 0400 after tossing and turning for a couple hours. I did sleep a little during that time, but it was not a good sleep, so after a couple hours of that I just decided that I would be better off just getting up.

To make matters worse, the paper was not here when I got up, so I did all my computer stuff and then finally a little after 0700 I called the local dealer. After about forty-five minutes of not hearing anything, I called the paper circulation department and about a half hour later the paper came.

The local manager delivered it and rang the door bell, so I went out and talked to him and he asked me what I did to get my yard looking so good. I told him lots of time and many years of working at it. I usually get one or two people a week stop while I am working on the front yard and say how nice it looks.

After reading the paper, I took a cat nap in my chair and finally about 0930 the mail came, not much there, so I recycled the junk and then went outside and worked on the front hedge for a while. A lot of the trimming that I am doing is at shoulder level and so my arms get really tired quickly. It does not help that I am so tired to begin with, but I pushed on a little longer than I probably should.

The son of the woman who moved next door asked me if I would move the sprinkler for him as he had to leave, so about every twenty minutes or so I would move it until about 1400. By this time it was time for me to make some lunch for myself, so I cooked up a Boca burger and put it on some dark rye toast with onion, cheddar and a couple pickle slices.

After eating I went outside and sat in one of our Adirondack chairs and rested for a while. It was so nice outside that I just could not see myself sitting inside. Well, I did not sit too long and before I knew it I was digging up some columbine and some bachelor buttons and transplanting them.

Then I noticed some Italian prune tree starts in the rose garden, so I dug them up as well. That led me to noticing some weeds, so I pulled them out as well. I thought about watering the plants again, but I ate berries instead...I never did get around to watering...oh well there is always tomorrow!

I decided that I needed to go inside if I had any hope of getting any rest, so I cleaned up a little and sat in my chair and before I knew it I woke up and it was 1630. I watched the news for a while and Kathleen came down stairs and pointed out that my feet were pretty dirty. While I had washed up the upper part of me, I did not have the energy to clean off the lower extremities, so my feet were pretty filthy.

Kathleen made some macaroni and white cheddar cheese for dinner. She also added a can of chicken and some pearl onions and peas to the mix. It was anything that I would have asked for, but I was too tired to do anything different or even think of anything else, so it did the job.

She also opened a can of cranberry sauce to go along with the main dish. Well, it is a little after 1900 and I am almost ready for bed. I am sure that I will not go to bed for a while yet, but my brain has pretty much shut down, so I think that I will just say my good nights now.

One year ago today!

It is hard to believe that it has been a whole year since I had my cancer surgery, but it has been. It is not like it has been uneventful year; both Kathleen and I have had our share of medical problems. I am so tired right now that I think this is going to be a really short blog.

This morning was somewhat normal, I did get the front lawn mowed this morning and pruned the dead rose buds, but that was about all I got accomplished today. Kathleen did not make it downstairs until about 1300 today; I know that she said that she slept over twelve hours. I had waited for her to get up before I went to Fred Meyer's to pick up her prescriptions to see if she needed anything else, she did not, so I took off.

When I got back from getting the prescriptions it was about 1500, so I made myself a salad for lunch and then crashed in my chair for a while. When I finally got the energy to go upstairs, I took a nap for a couple hours, but I still do not feel rested.

About 1900 I asked Kathleen about her meal schedule she said that she still did not feel well, so I reheated the snapper from the other night and I think that I used the last of the "Mexican" rice for dinner for myself and that is where we are now.

As I said, I am really worn out, so I think I will just say good night and call it a day!

Tiring Tuesday

I thought that I would start this early because I know that when I get home from spending most of the day at the hospital I will not feel like writing very much.

This morning after getting up I emptied the dishwasher and did the hand washing left over from last night, and then I made myself an egg and veggie sausage sandwich with dark rye bread. After eating I washed the pan and put the dishes into the dishwasher.

I had noticed that the micro wave
was starting to get pretty filthy, so I thought that I had better take a little time and scrub it down.
I washed the tray and also the top, sides, door and bottom of the micro wave and then wiped it down and did it all over again to get it clean.

With the kitchen somewhat clean, I went into the living room and read the paper. Tuesday is not usually a great news day, so it did not take me too long to finish the paper. When I did I took it outside and put it with the rest of the recycling and took the bin up to the front to be picked up today.

The mail had not come yet, so I thought that I would at least get a start on this and save some frustration tonight when I get home. The other reason is that Kathleen just got up and we will be leaving in a little while and I did not want to get started doing something that I would have to stop in the middle of.

Well, it is now 2140 and we are just getting home...it has been a long day for me and I am sure Kathleen as well. We spent almost nine hours at the hospital, Kathleen was out of it for a good portion of that time, and I think that I read all the magazines in the waiting rooms on two floors.

The doctor came out about 1730 and told me that it looks like they got the larger one to break up and the other ones should take care of themselves. So at that point I got to go to another waiting room and wait for Kathleen to wake up. About 1900 the nurse came and got me and said that Kathleen was looking for me, so I got to go into the room with her until about 2100 when they "kicked: her out.

Well, I am more tired than I thought that I would be, something about sitting around for nine hours will do that to me every time. So I am sure that Kathleen will write something about her procedure when she gets around to in, right now I can hardly see straight, so it is good night from here.