finally

 I did not burn the burgers today

    That is big for me.  I have a tendency to put the grill on high, flip the burgers on, and do something else.

    I can tell they are done bye the smoke and flames pouring out of the sides of the grill.

    But today I put the burgers on the grill, let them cook for 4 minutes, then flippped them and let them cook for 4 more minutes and then I took their temperature.

    I turned them a couple of more times, which I understand is a no no in grilling burgers.  Flip once is what I read.

    Anyway, when the temperature hit about 145 I added cheese and took them off the grill.

    I thought they were very good.  Not blackened, not bloody red on the inside, but just about right.

    We had people over for Emily's birthday and it was a nice gathering.  

    There was too much food.  We had some leftover burgers, and lots of salads.  

    If you are in the mod, stop out tomorrow afternoon and we can enjoy some salads together.

    Jackie and I made a broccoli salad and I really liked it. I think we will make that again.  Other people must have liked it because there was not a lot left.

    Clean up has been pretty easy.  Most of it went into the dishwasher.  The human dishwasher is finishing the  rest.

    We just had one tiny, little problem.

    I turned the AC down because it was getting hot and there were people there.  After a while, I turned it down again because I was hot.

    At some point Emily can to me and asked if I thought it was hot in here.  I said I did.  She said that was because the AC unit was not working.

    The condenser was silent.  The house was at 78.

    There are 3 settings I can use:  heat, cool, or heat/cool.  I had it on heat/cool.  Emily turned it to cool and the AC popped on.

    For a few minutes I was a little worried.  I saw $$ flashing  in front of my eyes.  But my biggest concern was Jackie and the effect heat has on MS patients.

    Luckily all that was avoided by finding the right setting.

    Life is good.

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace

no sleep

On tis date in 1976 I slept little 

    Bicentennial activities were still going strong.  The 200th birthday of our country was widely celebrated in big towns and small towns.

    But I was worried about trains.

    Rochelle did not have an overpass.  We lived on the south side of town.  That meant we had 2 railroad crossings on each north south street.  It was common to have crossings blocked, sometimes for hours.

    Traffic would back up through town and people would be cranky at having to wait.

    We had a friend, Bob, who was an engineer on the BN line.  Yes, he drove the train.  We went to NIU together and both majored in journalism, but he found working for the railroad paid better.

    Twice we got caught by trains the he was driving.  He would wave to us from the cab, we would wave and yell at him from the car.

     It was a fun relationship.

    But on July 12, I was nervous.

    Why?

    Well, Jackie was pregnant and 2 weeks overdue.  They were going to take her in on the 13th and induce labor.  In Rockford.

    I was worried there would be a long delay if trains had blocked the crossings.

    We would have had to drive west, take a back road north, then drive east to reach the road to Rockford.

    When we got up. to go, no train.  That was great.

    We made it to the hospital, and labor was induced, and Emily came into the world.

    As Jackie lay in the hospital bed, waiting for our baby to arrive, the nurse asked if I was going into the delivery room with her.

    I said absolutely not.  I did not want to have anyone distracted by my fainting. 

    When we brought Emily home, Julia cried and cried because we would not het her hold her little sister.

    But she eventually did get to hold her.  I took of picture of that moment of Julia holding her sister, and tears running down her face.  I wish I knew where that picture was.

    Some people think 13 is an unlucky number.  But Jackie and I know that a 13 brings great things.

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace

Bali Hai

 I finally finished reading a book

    I know!  Took me 5 weeks, but I finished Tales of the South Pacific.

    I saw the movie South Pacific.  I was in the play South Pacific.  We recently saw the pay South Pacific.

    I figured it was time to read the book that inspired the play and movie.

    The book is actually a collection of stories.  Some of them are related, some not.  Characters drift in and out of stories, but the main character is the narrator.  (OK...explain, please.  character and narrator sound the same at the end but have divergent spellings.  Or maybe I am pronouncing narrator wrong.)

    I enjoyed the book.  But it was an eye opener.

    The racism that existed is kind of shocking.  Blacks in the service were relegated to roles like truck driver, cook, but not combat roles for the most part.  The book included a naval commander that did not want them to be in his company so he treated them harshly.

    Americans fell in love with Polynesian women, but could not marry them because the women  were not white.

    But it is also a story of bravery and sacrifice and there was a time toward the end that I did get a little misty-eyed because the final chapter is beautifully written.

    I sat on the porch reading today, and the hot temperature and the cool breeze were the same conditions the warriors faced, but I could go into air conditioning for a respite and they could only hope to find shade.

    If you are looking for a summer read, I highly recommend it.  The regular size print edition is 329 pages, heaven knows how big the large print edition is.  I got it through an inter-library loan from the Mt. Carroll library.  The edition I read was published in 1950....when I was just starting to walk.

    A baseball digression. 

    Cincinnati brought in a 31 year old rookie  relief pitcher in tonight's game.  He spent 7 years in the minor leagues and 2 years in independent league play

    I actually admired the guy and hope he does well.  He stuck with the sport for 9 years before finally getting to the majors.

    That is perseverance.

Peace an Love

        Especially Peace

toil, toil, toil

 I had a pretty busy day

    I spent the day actually doing stuff.

    I mowed earlier this week.  I t ry to mow once a week.  Sometimes that works, other times it does not.

    When I last mowed the yard looked pretty crappy.  

    So I mowed again today.

    Then I trimmed.

    Then I mowed between the garden beds with my trim mower.

    And I trimmed some more.

    Then I hooked up the sweeper and ran around the yard, sweeping up grass clippings.

    I am happy to say the yard looks pretty good.  

    But I am tired.  And I have 7 bags of grass clippings.

    It was the heat that has done me in.  Plus supper.  We had Mexican tonight and I enjoyed a margarita, which may explain any spelling mistakes and my tired state.

    But I feel good knowing I got a lot of little things done.

    Hopefully I can continue tomorrow.

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace

Smile!!

 I am haunted by pictures

    They appear like ghosts.....silently, surprisingly, suddenly.

    And I don't know what to do with them.

    I am not talking about the kajillion school pictures.  Or the vacation photos.  Or the countless photos of family.

    Well, I don't know what to do with those either.

    My brother Carl passed away a few years ago.  His wife, my sister in law Ruth, recently moved to Ohio to be closer to her children.

    I got a ton of pictures of my family from them.  

    There are pictures of my folks on their honeymoon, pictures of Carl and Dennis when they were babies and toddlers.  A few of me also.

    And there are pictures from Uncle Henry.  Great photos in black and white... but some of them are people I don't know.

    I don't want to throw them out.....but.

    One of these days I will go through them and try to sort them into keepers and tossers.

    That's just one more job on my list of things to accomplish. 

    And heaven knows, that list just keeps getting longer, not shorter.

    I just need to work on it all.

    Someday

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace

four score

 Aha!!! click bait!!

    I am not saying anything about four score.  It was just a trick to get you to read this.

    Now that I have your attention, I  have a technical question,

    I have Bluetooth headphones I wear when mowing.

    Yesterday Jackie tried calling me several times and I did not get the calls.

    Neighbor Jackie had to come and get me, and wife Jackie yelled at me for not having the headphones' Bluetooth on.

    But I did.

    While mowing, I was listening to the Cub game.  From time to time, the audio stopped and I had silence.

    This happened several times.

    I went out to finish mowing today and told her to call me when she heard the mower running so we could check Bluetooth.

    I was listening to music and agin, the music stopped then started

    Here's what we found.

    The phone does not ring in my headphones like it has on all the times I have worn them while mowing. But whenever she calls, music and radio broadcasts stop.  It's just silence.

    Now when t he music stops, I know she is calling.

    But why?  The phone is not muted.  Bluetooth is connected.  I can listen to music.  I just don't get a ring tone in my ears.

    Huh.

    Anyway, finished mowing the yard and did the field today.  Golly it was hot!  

    I had suntan lotion on, but my arms are a little hot tonight.

    And because I was hot, I did not finish mowing between my planters or trimming around the yard.

    I will do that tomorrow.  Hopefully.

    And Emily did catch the baby robin that was in her basement.  She released it into the wild so it can fly another day.

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace

avalanche!!

 Got caught in an avalanche today

    I was in a store and saw a display of cherries from Washington.

    I wanted a closer look, so I picked up a carton.  The display was on a slight slant.

    The next thing I knew, cartons that were behind it came sliding forward.

    I caught 2, but 2 hit the ground, spilling cherries all over the floor.

    I picked them up, picked up the ones in the cooler, and put those 2 boxes off to the side, hoping someone would get the hint.

    And I didn't buy the cherries.

    Our Tuesday person did not come today, so I did not set the alarm.

    Jackie woke me up at 7 to use the bathroom, and after that she said she wanted to go back to bed until 9.

    So I set the alarm for 9:15.

    When it went off at 9:15, I got up and thought I hit snooze.  She was sound asleep.

    I figured another 10 or 15 minutes would not hurt.

    The net thing I know she is shaking me and saying, "The cuckoo hit 12.  It's noon!"

    Normally that would not be an issue.  But today Beth had a grooming appointment at 2.

    On a good day Jackie can be ready in 2 hours......which meant I would be late for the groomers.

    But she ran in full gear today and I left at 1:40 for the 20 minute drive.

    Of course, there was a train.  I had to head to the overpass and then cut back to the road I was on.  Last time that happened I went way out of my way because I sometimes don't think clearly.

    While Beth was at the groomers I went to Aldi, the bank, Walgreen's, Walmart, Starbucks, and got gas for the mower.  Pretty productive time.

    I also learned what was wrong with my yard sweeper......I had it set too low.  I raised it up tonight and it worked like a charm.  The manufacturer's website had a FAQ section and one of the questions dealt with the wheels not turning.  The first suggestion was to raise the brushes.  I did.  It worked.

    Funny thing....after 10 and I don't seem to be tired.

    Go figure.

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace