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

stranger

 I ran into a s stranger I knew today

    I know!  That makes no sense.

    I had some errands to run and one of them was stopping at the museum to pick up raffle tickets.

    I walked in and a lady was sitting in a chair.  I passed her and she said, "Hello, Terry."

    I turned and looked at her.  Her face was familiar, and her voice was familiar, but I could not put. name to the face.

    "Who are you?  You look so familiar," I told her.

    "Norma Thiele," she said and I said of course it was.

    Norma and her husband Joe moved to Texas some 6  years ago.  It was her daughter's 50th high school reunion and they came back for the festivities.

    We had a really nice, but short, chat.  I told her how sorry Jackie and I were to hear of Joe' death just about a year ago.  He was a teacher, superintendent, and just a really nice guy.

    The chance run in improved a day that had been  highly irritating.

    I needed gas for the van and the mowers.  So I went to the station in front of Walmart because that usually has the cheapest gas.

    There is a frontage road leading to the gas station.   The frontage road has 3 lanes with the middle lane clearly marked for left turns.

    So I was a bit pissed when the guy in front of me put his left turn signal on but did not move into the middle lane.  Instead they kept driving, slowly, along the frontage road and eventually stopped because there were cars coming where they wanted to turn.  

    I know!  I minor irritant.  Everybody gets brain farts.

    I pulled into the gas station and all the pumps were full.

    I parked behind this big ass red truck, which was driverless.  I just assumed they had finished and went in to pay.

    This little old lady came out...frail looking, skinny, tiny, and started to try to pump gas.  The guy in the truck also got out and it took the two of them to get he hose into the opening.

    I swear....I don't know how either one of them could get in the truck!  They were tiny and the truck was huge!

    Anyway, another lane opened and I pulled in there.  Took the gas cans out of the back end, filled them, filled the car, put the gas cans back into the plastic tub I carry them in and drove off.

    I pulled off the frontage road and headed north on Caron Road when I noticed my. tailgate was still open!

    Holy crap.

    I stopped, put on my flashers, then went to the back to do a quick inventory.  Everything looked in place, but to be sure I retraced my route looking for grocery bags, or wheelchair parts.

    Now totally frustrated, I headed to the museum and had a nice chat with Norma and everything was ok.

    Just do me a favor though.  If there is a left turn lane, please use it.  And drive a vehicle you can get in without a ladder.

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace

Oh Canada

 My heart aches for our Canadian friends

    Sure, the smoke is a nuisance and hazardous.

    But folks in Canada are losing forests, homes, businesses, and possibly lives.

    I don't understand people who think our climate is fine.  Storms are more severe, flooding is common, droughts are everywhere.  Yet politicians seem to feel that is of less importance than drilling for oil and natural gas.

    50 years from now thpse people will be damned by their actions.

    Anyway.....

    Got my last vent up without any problem!  That surprised me be cause no simple task gets accomplished by me.  They all become major projects, generally ending with professionals being called in to fix my mistakes.

    Not this time!

    5 vents taken down, washed, sun dried and remounted.  Life is good.

    I did some outside chores tonight.  It was quite pleasant.  If possible, I will mow tomorrow evening because my grass is gettin long.  Go figure.  No rain and it is growing.  

    I watered plants, picked up dog doo, watered my strawberries, filled the bird feeders and filled the bird baths.

    Surprisingly, it took almost an hour to do all that.  I went out with the Cubs leading 1-0 in going into the third and came back when it was 4-1 in the fifth.  The boys better get going.

    When I looked outside this morning it was very smokey.  It wasn't as bad as in Chicago or farther north, but I was surprised it drifted out this far.  

    We are supposed to get more smoke t tomorrow, but I think this is from our fires out west.  

    We need rain.  While Texas deals with massive floods, we deal with drought.  Nature sure is funny, eh?

    Speaking of funny, the backs of my thighs have been sore.  I sometimes sit on a heating pad for a little  relief.  Today the pad stopped working.  Then it worked.  Then it stopped.  Now it won't work.

    Guess I should just toss that, eh?

    Stay safe.  Stay cool.  Stay happy.

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace