hear, here

It's a miracle 

    My hearing aids work!

    After going 2 days without them, they are working today.

    Why?

    Well......I made sure they were charged.  I checked the battery status and they were both charged.

    I tried turning them off and on.  Nothing.

    I decided to change the cones and ear wax filters and voila!!!  It works!! Either there as waxy buildup (gross) or the filter wasn't in properly.  That's possible, because I changed my cones and filters about a week ago and had trouble getting the left ear on correctly.

    So, all is well that ends well.

    Tomorrow we are heading in to the city to see the Savannah Bananas!!

    This is  their third game at Wrigley and I read that the place was rocking the first night. It should be a fun day.

    Jackie is not going, but she can watch the game on ESPN.

    This was a birthday present from Julia and Emily.  Emily won a ticket lottery and was able to buy 5 tickets.

    Never heard of the Savannah Bananas?  Watch ESPN tomorrow afternoon or Google them.  They are the Harlem Globetrotters of baseball.

    Speaking of baseball, I always enjoyed the commercials with the little girls talking to their dad about heating and air conditioning.   Last year I Googled it and discovered they are not the company's owner and his family, rather they are all actors.

    I haven't seen them in commercials this year, so Google came to the rescue.  Seems the. girls' contracts were up and they went separate ways.

    And I absolute detest the betting commercial that has  the company founder touting high limits while a guy in a blue shirt looks like a zombie as he watches his phone, nods, and smiles.  Kind of creepy.

    But nothing tops the commercial for a law firm featuring Carson Kelly of the Cubs.  Makes Rockford commercials look good.

    Enough of my complaining.

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace

chicken cordon black

 I am not a great cook

    In reality, I am not even a good cook.

    I am not imaginative, innovative, or able to follow a recipe.

    But I try.

    When I cooked burgers and brats for Emily's birthday I thought they were nicely done.

    My steaks have been turning out better.

    But tonight, well, supper was more like a burnt offering.

    There is crispy chicken, and there is chicken that when you bang it on the plate it sounds like a piece of wooed.  And it looked like it too.

    I bit into it and thought I broke a tooth!

    These were breaded chicken breasts found in the frozen food aisle.

    I put them in the air fryer and did not check on them until it was too late.

    Jackie said they were ok, I thought they were a tough nut to crack.

    I did not take my hearing aids in today.  They are only open until 3 on Friday, and we slept in.  Plus Jackie had a blood test, so we took care of that.

    Then we went home, picked up Beth, and drove out to Julia's to check out her sidewalk and the plantings.  It really looks good.

    I just checked my veggie garden.  The tomato plants look like the leaves are curling up.  I don't know if they are getting too much water or not enough.

    And the cucumbers are going crazy.  I need to remember to plant one plant.  When the seeds sprout, I need to pull all of the growths except one.

    I just wish the tomatoes would start coming.

    I regret not planting lettuce.  Well, check that.  I planted lettuce but nothing came up.  I think the birds may have gotten to the seeds.

    I still have seeds, but is there enough growing season left?

    Might as well plant the seeds, eh?  I mean, what could happen besides nothing or lettuce?

    And maybe it will fill some bird's tummy.

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace

odds and ends

 Lots of little things to note tonight

    I have to stop complaining about how old I am.

    Ringo is touring this fall.  He is 86.

    My friend Bobbie just got lawn of the week in Rochelle.  S.he is 90.

    Here I sit moaning about my aches and pains.

    Speaking of aches and pains, I have PT starting next week to see if  my legs can get in better condition.  They were really sore today.  We have also made a couple of changes in my medications to see if that helps.

    Speaking of Ringo, I checked out tickets for his tour.

    I have family near Lancaster PA.  He performs there this fall.  I am sure my nephew and his family would welcome me for a night.

    I was a bit taken aback by the tickets for his Lancaster show.  There were only a few left, in the 2,000 $ to 3,000 $ range.  I think that ones is out.

    However he is also performing in Easton PA and tickets there are in the 300 $ to 400 $. range.  Much more reasonable.

    Unfortunately, I won't be going to either one.

    Median house price in Chicago is 420,000 $ according to an article I read.  

    France is banning use of social media by anyone under age 15.  As a side note, France will ban cell phones from all schools.  Both measures start next year but will probably be challenged before then.

    I don't know how they will enforce that.  Kids will find a way around the ban.

    I was looking for a document on my computer today.  I thought for sure I saved it to the cloud, but it is not there.  Not on this computer.  Not in the cloud.  Where or where could it have gone?

    Our morning person always brings treats for Beth.  Our cleaning person always brings treats for Beth.  Jackie always gives treats to Beth when she is eating lunch.  Beth got lots of treats today.

    Terry always cleans up the barf .  Beth won't eat supper.  Gee, I wonder why?

    My one hearing aid is dead.  So talk loudly if you see me.

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace

    

high hopes

 I had high hopes for today

    Put the new wheelchair together.  Weed the veggies.  Get my bike  down and air up the tires.

    1 out of 3 is not bad.  Is it?

    I got the wheelchair together.

    To be fair, all I had to do was take it out of the box.  But that was hard!

    I took compost out to my compost bin.  And then I just wandered around my native garden for a few minutes.

    It is such a beautiful night.  Cool and dry buy a bit smokey.  It reminds me of a campfire with rotten wood.

    I did pick 2 huge cucumbers from the veggie garden.  I can never understand why I have 3 or 4 plants that produce copious amounts of cucumbers.  I only need 1 plant.

    And honestly, I did not take my shower or get dressed until after 3.  I think yesterday tired me out.

    That's it.

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace

wow!!! I'm tired

 We had a pretty busy day today

    And my back is barking!

    I once told wifey that we can't do too many ins and outs of the car because that us a lot of stress on my back.

    Well, I am icing it right now!

    We went to DeKalb.  In and out for her doctor's appointment.

    We went o Ollie's. In and out for custard.  But the great part was we got to catch up with Barb and Rick in addition to enjoying frozen custard.  (It is not ice cream!  It's custard!)

    It was a beautiful day outside too.  We sat at a table under some trees in the back and talked about old times at Tilton, new times, future times......a really nice visit and catch up,  I had the Black Forest sundae, which is vanilla custard, chocolate topping and a heaping dose of cherries.  It was yummy!

    We got home, I gt her out of the car and after about an hour sitting around, we went to a church fellowship dinner at Luna in Rochelle.  So it was in and out of the car again.

    That makes 4 in and outs in one day....but it was worth it.

    We visited friends, socialized with our church people, had custard, and enjoyed a really nice day.

    I did feel sorry for the waitstaff at Luna.  There were 16 of us, plus tables outside that had people, and only one staffer plus the bartender.  Our waitress was really working hard.  I think we al left her a nice tip. 

    The icing on the cake was seeing the Cubs with a 9-0 lead. 

    But poor Beth is feeling neglected.  We were gone a lot and I think she missed us.

    Luckily tomorrow is an open day.  My back is happy.

Peace and Love

    Especially Peace

wasting away

 Ok,  today was a mulligan

    A pick up the ball and move on day.

    The plan was to go out when our morning help was here and finish mowing the lawn.

    I was going to go after Jackie got out of the shower.

    But instead, I sat at the computer for a minute and took a short nap.

    I shook myself awake, sat back down and fell asleep again.

    Now, I was in my desk chair.  Not comfortable at all.

    When I woke up the third time, morning help had gone and it was raining.

    Long story short....never got out to mow.  Ended up taking my shower a little before 3.  Went to the store a little before 5 and then to a doctor appointment to find a solution to my leg cramps.

    I seriously wasted a day when I need to maximize every day!

    Oh well, there is always tomorrow.

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace

Oh my

 Life is full of surprises

    And it is not just me, although today there were a couple.

    Jackie and I went to see Who's Christmas  staged by  VCCT.

    Amy Frank was the lead in this Dr. Seuss themed play.  Actually, she was the only character!  The show runs 90 minutes or so and is really well done.  The script was great, the set amazing, and Emily as Cindy Lou Who was incredible.

    Not only is it funny,  sad, and happy, but it is also in rhyme!

    If you have not gone, please go.  Yes, there is language and sexual references and youngsters will not be allowed.  But really, it wasn't terribly foul.

    You can even get your picture taken with Cindy Lou Who.

    I had some bags of landscape waste take into town.

    I stopped at Aldi's first, then went to the car wash.

    I was not paying close attention, but I pulled in behind  a silver truck in the automated bay.

    I see the guy standing outside his truck!

    No water was running, although the spray arms were right at the back of his truck when they stopped working.

    So there he sat.  Could not go forward, could not get the door up to exit.  Could not go backward because the sprayer arms blocked his path.

    I tried putting a token in to see if that would at least open the door, but the machine would not take my token because it said the bay was in use.

    But it wasn't.

    There is a phone number to call, but it was picked up by an answering machine.

    I told him good luck.  He said he may just wander over to the restaurant and stay there until breakfast.

    But here is the interesting thing.  While I was looking for the tokens in my center console, I found my damn sunglasses!!!  Yes, the ones I just paid $150 to replace.  They were stuck in the back of the console.  Damn me for not putting stuff away.

    We were having hot dogs tonight.  I stopped at McDonald's for fries.

    I tried using the animated kiosk.  After I got through taping it 593 times, I inserted my debit card and got the message that the card reader was not working.  Pay at the counter.

    I know!  I could have just ordered at the counter, which I did.  That was at 6:20.  That is the time on my receipt. 

    One order of fries.  

    I waited 16 minutes!

    After I left I checked the car wash but the truck was gone. 

    At one point he said he had a Sawsall in his truck.......

    Last night Jackie said she was cold, so I sett he AC a little higher.

    When we went to bed, I set it lower, to 71.

    I put the phone face down on the dresser and went to bed.

    At 1:30 I got up because I was chilly.  The room seemed cold.  I checked the thermostat and it was set to 54!!!!  The room was 68 on my little thermometer.  The AC was humming away.  I raised it to 71.

    Lessons learned:  Put sunglasses away.  Don't put the phone face down with a program open.

    Nuff said.

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace