Yikes

 I am a tired puppy tonight

    I finally got my butterfly bushes put away for the winter.  Normally these plants survive, but the first year is crucial.  I took the hay bale from the porch and piled hay around the plants.  Then I put a rose cone over them and piled up dirt around the cone to hold it in place.

    Hopefully the plants will come back next year.

    I also moved the potted plants into the garage, spread hay on top of my raised gardens, moved the pumpkins and gourds to the back of the yard where deer may or may not feed on them, stacked and piled crap in the garage to create some space, and finished putting ornaments on the tree.

    I was going to put the lights in the 3 unlit Dickens Village houses, but my knees are not cooperating right now.  Maybe later, or maybe tomorrow.

    I just have a couple of chairs to bring in from the porch and the grill from the deck and I will be ready for winter. 

    I also worked on finalizing my brother's obituary.

    I submitted it to the Rockford paper, went through all the steps to have it in the print and on line editions with a picture, and got to the last page.....which asks for payment.  It was over $1,000!  Holy cow!!

    I cut some info out, eliminated the picture, but it is still over $600.  I am not sure what his family will decide, but it is still a chunk of change.

    It's a tough decision, at least to me.  You can spend the large sum, or use that money to support an agency he favored.

    You can opt for the shorter obit, but it takes a lot of the personality out of the person.  

    Then you have to consider the person.  Carl was 83.  The people he went to church with know, the people he worked with know, his neighbors know......the only group of people who don't know are his former clients.  

    And you have to consider ages.  Younger people will get the info on line, while us older folks may be more used to a newspaper for our information.  If you only do one form, you miss the members of the other group.

    I also realize an obituary is permanent record of a person's life.  If we are still here as a humans, a great great great great great grandchild may be curious about their distant relative.  

    I never thought it would cost that much.   Of course, I called the customer service number and they are going to call me back.  That was at 10 a.m. and I have not heard from them yet.

    I am not holding my breath either.

Peace and Love

fears

I may have some problems to overcome 

    Not finishing things is one.  

    Being on time is another.

    Disorganization in all phases of my life.

    But fear is a big one.

    Some fears I have overcome.  Like a fear of needles.  I can actually get a shot or have blood drawn without passing out.

    Other fears I won't overcome, but they should not be a problem in normal life.

    Like a fear of bears.  I went on a camping trip once in an area where black bears were active.  I could not sleep and ever step I took I scanned the trees for bears.  I eventually abandoned the group and went to a public camp site rather than a deep in the woods site.  I did not have that fear years ago in Alaska, so I am not sure why I have it now.

    Alligators.  Jackie's brother Bob and his wife Anita live in Florida and see gators once in a while.  I get nervous seeing them in a zoo.  The gators, not Bob and Anita.  Just to be clear.

    Jet planes crashing into our house or losing an engine and having it hit our house.  We don't get a lot of planes flying over us, but this time of the year seems to bring an uptick.  FedEx, UPS, Amazon all fly into Rockford and sometimes they seem pretty low.  

    A Trump presidency.  Enough said.

    Burglars.  We have an alarm system because I watched some crime shows and became convinced we needed an alarm system.  I also gave up watching crime shows.I do sleep a little better.

    Tornadoes.  Still debating with myself about a home shelter in the garage.

    Being alone.  Not just for an hour or two, but a permanent loneliness.  

    Teaching again.  I could not do it.  If today's standards were applied when I was teaching I would not have lasted 2 years.  I would have gone crazy with what teachers have to put up with today.  It's insane.   Luckily, I am too old and too ornery to ever go back into a classroom.

    Success and Failure.  Both?  I think that explains why I write books but don't trey to get them published.  What if they are terrible and get bad reviews?  I would be devastated.  But what if they were successful and got rave reviews?  I would be devastated because I could have written so much more.  So, I am the only reader of what I write.  Crazy, eh?

    So much for my fears.....and psychiatrists who want to take a shot at redeeming me are welcome to try.

Peace and Love

Whew

 I am one tired boy tonight

    I actually got up early because I drove Emily to a hospital in Barrington for some surgery.

    It was not major surgery, but it was surgery. And any surgery is a major thing.

    We had to be there at 10, which was great.  Anything earlier than that would have been a real struggle for me.

    Julia is going to pick her up tomorrow.

    We had help come in to take care of Jackie because Julia isn't strong enough.  Seems the help wasn't either and Julia had to help her get Jackie into and out of her chair.

    Surgery went fine.  Doc came out and told me all was ok and she was on her way to recovery.

    She was supposed to spend 1 to 2 hours in recovery.   That meant she would be in a room about 3:30.

    At 5:30 she was still in recovery because there was no room available!  

    No  visitors are allowed in recovery.  But, since I was such a nice guy, not demanding or impatient, even after over 2 hours,  they bent the rules and took me back to see her.

    She was wide awake and we chatted for a few minutes before I left for home.

    Julia let the dogs out today and fed them tonight.  I will go over about 10 and let them out again and Johanna will feed them in the morning.  

    Ny plan was to go to Target in Lake Zurich, hit a Starbucks, then go back to the hospital to read my e-book.  But I did not bring my e-book reader, so that fizzled right away.  I did get to the Target and Starbucks.

    Some things I learned today:

    Houses in Barrington can be rather large.

    A car looked like it overturned and burned on 90 west of Marengo on my way home, closing 2 lanes.

    It is impossible to sleep in a chair in a waiting room in a hospital.  And I can sleep darn near anyplace.

    Nurses qualify for saint status.

    No matter their age, they are still  our little girls.

Peace and Love

Bear down

I am sort of watching the Bears tonight 

    But to be honest, this is a boring game.  Neither team has much of an offensive spark.

    The Bears have 4 interceptions and 9 points.  That is pathetic.  I imagine Minnesota will score and win the game. And the Vikings just scored to take the lead.  Pathetic.

    We got the tree up, shaped, lights strung and almost all the ornaments on before I got tired or bored, not sure which.

    The dining room table is filled with decorations that need a place.  I hope it is done before Jan. 1.

    I was talking to a friend and they said they were having memory issues. They were going to come over for a visit.  I said any day this week is fine.

    After I hung up, I realized I am busy Tuesday driving to a doctor's, busy Wednesday picking up my sister in law from O'Hare and maybe busy Friday for the downtown holiday walk.

    I told them memory issues seem to hit a lot of us at this age. I can't believe I forgot the doctor thing and the airport drive.

    Next week isn't much better.  

Peace and Love

aaaa...what?

 When Julia wakes me up, I know there is trouble

    One time she told me a tree had disappeared.  We figured a deer got caught in the guide wires holding it straight and eventually snapped the tree to free itself then ran off with the tree.

    Today she knocked on the door and said it was cold in the house.

    It was in the lower 60s, and colder than that in the basement.

    I got up and checked.  The furnace was not running.  The fan was not running.  The heat was set to 70 but it as not running.

    I went outside to check the exhaust vent to be sure it was clear.  It was.

    I went inside and went to the circuit box.  I found the one for the furnace, flipped it, and th furnace went on.

    By the time I got upstairs it was off again.

    I called the emergency number for Anderson's and within 20 minutes a service tech was out.  He checked everything, ran some tests, and found the pressure switch was bad.  It would run for a couple of minutes then quit.

    He replaced the switch and the heat worked great!

    Timing is everything in life.

    Friday I discovered Beth's electric collar was not working....the battery was dead.  When we had the fence reactivated, I signed up for the automatic replacement batteries.  But I checked on the calendar and I last replaced the battery in June.  They last about 3 months.

    That explains why Beth has wandered out of the yard at least twice at night.  

     Friday I tried calling the fence people for a battery, but they were out.   I went on line and signed up for the battery replacement program.  I paid the money and figured the battery would get here midweek this week.

    Well, Saturday a battery comes in the mail, which means I did sign up the first time.  If I had waited 24 hours I would have discovered that.  Now I have to call the place and explain what I did.

    I also placed an on line order for a present.   Usually I get a confirmation e-mail, but I didn't.  So I called them to see what happened. The nice person asked my order number, which I did not know.  Jackie always tells me to write down the order number, but I never do.

    Well, their system was down.  She could not check any order status.  But she took my number and said she would call as soon as the the system was up again.

    I went back to yahoo mail, and voila!  My order has been shipped!

    A few minutes later the lady called and I told her I just got confirmation on the shipping, but it was strange we didn't get an order confirmation.

    If I had done my usual procrastination number, I would not have had to call.

      The best news is Sheri came over to help put up Jackie's Dickens' Village and we had pizza for supper!  That's the first time since Thanksgiving I have not had turkey.

    And the village looks great thanks to her help!

Peace and Love

damn electronics

 We watched a DVD tonight

    Miracle on 34th Street, one of my favorites.

    Of course, Julia had to get it started because I. could not figure out how to get the dang thing to play.

    And at the end, it took us about 10 minutes to get it off DVD mode and into regular TV mode.  At one point we had Hells Kitchen on and could not change the channel!  It made me to never want to go to a restaurant again.

    The thing is, I don't know what we did.  So I won't know how to do it again when we watch the next DVD.

    I can see the problem when Julia finally builds her house and we end up watching something we hate because we can't figure out the TV.  Lucky Emily is so close.

    About 8months ago we broke the plug on a floor lamp.  The lamp plugged in behind the couch and evidently we pushed the couch in too far and the plug broke.

    So I bought a new plug.  

    Electricity has scared me ever since I used a vice grips to pull a live wire through a hole in the wall and ended up getting shocked across the kitchen.  We had a little galley type kitchen and I had turned off every breaker that was marked kitchen.  Well, the wire for the range hood was on a separate circuit, that was not turned off.  Or marked.  I had unnaturally curly hair for about a month.

    Today was the day to fix the lamp.  It actually  went ok.  I put on the new plug,  plugged it in, turned it on and it did not smoke, or spark.  But it did light.

    Mission accomplished!

    I also did not use the same outlet, but instead opted for an extension cord and an outlet not behind the couch.

    And we got almost all the Christmas decor distributed.  

    Julia and Emily dragged the tree up this morning, it is in its base and all I have to do is fluff it up tomorrow.  

    I do wish I had taken the flower pots in....I think they might get a little snowy tomorrow.  I should have done that a week ago, but didn't.  I will sometime this week.

    That's my boring life for today.

Peace and Love

I think I can, I think I can

 I felt like the Little Engine  That Could today

    You know. the children's book....the little engine makes it up the hill because it thinks it can.

    Well, I felt like the little engine today.

    Why?

    Well, each of these boxes was in the basement this morning.

And so were these. 

    I did not take pictures of the 2 boxes on the porch.  Nor did I t take pictures of all the standing things, like sleds, or hanging things, that had to come up.

    I am not sure how many boxes total there were, somewhere in the 100s I think.

    The ones on the porch were a mistake.  I did not plan to bring up the garland, but I brought it up. I was  thinking it was something else.  As long as it is up, I might as well hang it.  Maybe tomorrow.

    I hope to get Julia to help me bring up the tree.  She left after work today to meet her cousin and her daughters.  I think she planned it knowing that today was bring up the boxes day.

    Actually, I feel kind of good about it.

    Thanksgiving is put away, Christmas is getting spread around.   I even burned an incense cone in one of my little log cabins.

    I always think life would be easier if all this stuff was stored I the garage.  No steps, no hauling up and down.  I could even put boxes on a wagon and bring them into the house that way.  

    It does get hot during the summer, but there is noting in the boxes that would be hurt by the heat.  I just would not put candles out there.

    Something to think about, although when I once suggested it someone said no.  Maybe it's time to reconsider.

    Hope you had a great Black Friday.......but I really think this is being carried too far.

    Black Friday football?  Give me a break.

    Speaking of breaks, I took my time today.  I stopped frequently, played with Beth, had lunch, and did not put too much stain on this old body.

    But tomorrow I may be sining a different song..

Peace and Love  

stuffed!!!

 Surprise, I ate too much!

    I bet those same words have been repeated in several  households today.

    We were a small group, but you wouldn't know it from my being me habits.

    Jackie said get a 15 pound turkey.   I got a 17 pound turkey.  Now, 2 pounds does not seem a big difference, but when it comes to left overs, it is1!

    She said to use 5 or 6 potatoes for mashed potatoes.  I used almost 5 pounds, and we have about 3 pounds left.

    She supervised while I cooked.  I baked the turkey, which was very good.  She told me how to make mashed potatoes, but I put in a little too much milk.  I boiled the corn all by myself.

    Emily brought some more stuffing.

    Julia made a pumpkin pie and bought 2 pumpkin pie cookies.  We also had a pecan pie and Sandy brought a pumpkin mash up dessert and ham while Jen brought Cole slaw.    Excuse me while I loosen my belt.

    We also had  sweet potato pie, buns,  and a lot of laughs.

    Our friend Sam, who is about 10 years old, gave me a present.

    It's a glass ornament, with an angel's feather in it to remind me of my brother, who is now my guardian angel.   She also gave me a hand made card.

    There are many things I am thankful for:   family, friends, my health, the health of my family the usual things.

    But I am especially thankful for acts of kindness like this.  

    I miss my brother.  I think of all the times we should have gotten together, but didn't.  Yet I am thankful for the times we did and for his weather reports on those cold wintry days.

    I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving.  I'll be serving leftovers while I  haul up 257 boxes of Christmas decorations tomorrow..  Feel free to stop in anytime after 2, when I should be getting up.

Peace and Love

Sandy did the honors....and cut the bird nicely

Petunia's Cookie Kitchen made the cookie pies and cookies!

guilty one?

 Emily messaged us tonight to look in the back yard

    Her headlights were focused on a buck with a medium sized rack.  He was just standing in the middle of our back yard, like he belonged there.

    Then I thought:  Is this the culprit that took out my gingko tree?  Did he come back for another tree?  What does he have against me?  Against trees?

    Emily. turned off her headlights and came in, and I think Mr. Buck settled down in the grass, maybe even in my native garden.  

    I jus hope all my trees are there tomorrow.

    So, Jackie and I went to Sycamore for a medical thing.  Julia drove Aunt Ruth, Carl's wife, to the airport.

    When I saw Julia briefly this morning, I didn't say Happy Birthday.  In fact, I was totally out of touch.  I thought tomorrow was the 22nd!

    When we came home, I sat down to read the Tribune and they had an editorial about JFK's assassination this date in 1963.  I thought they were wrong.  Then I realized they were not wrong, I was!

    To make matters worse, she texted us to put on some small potatoes for her supper.  I put the potatoes in a pan, put water in the pan, put the pan on the stove and walked away.  I never turned the burner on! When she came home 20 minutes later, she did not have potatoes.  How can I be  that way?

    Seriously, it does scare me.  

    When Emily came in we gave Julia her presents, visited for a while, but did not have cake.  She got a really beautiful bouquet from "the girls" in Switzerland.  I always thought the friends she made over there were super and they proved it , again.

    Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

    Don't eat too much.

    And if you are traveling, I hope you have a safe trip by air, land or sea.

Peace and Love

oops

 Sometimes I don't do things and get embarrassed

    The phone rang at a little after 8 this morning.  Now, I did not recognize the name and number at first, but I answered it.

    I put on my deep, throaty, voice and said, "Hello?"

    There was a pause, then a familiar voice said, "Uh, Terry?"

    It was my friend Dave.  He owns a lawn care equipment company and was calling to see if I wanted to store my mower with him this winter.

    I said yes, because it frees up some space in the garage.  Yes, it costs, but by the time I get all the chairs and stuff in the garage it is worth it.  I need a lot of space to get Jackie in the car, and it can be hard with the mower.

    Anyway, he said the mower would be picked up between 10 and noon.  So I put it in the driveway.

    I noticed one of the tires had a lot of brown on it.  Now, that could have been mud and dirt because I used it my bird bath project and I hauled dirt in it.  But I also have a dog, and well, it could be shit too.

    I went in the house, took care of Jackie, then filled up 2 - 1 gallon jugs with hot water.  I have all the hoses away, so I opted to take hot water out and attempt to wash off he brown.

    But the mower was already gone.

    I feel bad that the tire was dirty.  I know, mine is not the only mower that may have that problem.  But still.  I should have cleaned off the tire.

    I did clean the light fixture in the dining room.  Another chore off he list!  And I did not add one today.

    My fingers don't work as well as they used to.  The fixture has 3 hooks with rings.  I bet I dropped those suckers a total of 10 times.  I would go up on the ladder and down the ring would go.  After I got it together Jackie said it was upside down, so I took it apart and did it again.  Only it does not go together the other way.  So I took it apart again.  Got it half up and dropped the rings.  It was a frustrating experience.

    Btu it is up.  And clean, except for my handprints.

Peace and Love

    

never-ending

 My to do list is shorter, sort of 

    I have subtracted 6 things and only added 2, so the is a gain of -4, as in 4 less to dos.

    I know.  The list is never ending.  I do one, then add one, it seems.

    For example, I hauled in the almost all of the tuff from the yard, which was on the list.  But I just shoved it in the garage, which means I added a "sort stuff" item to the list.  

    I'm glad I got the downspouts reattached because otherwise I would be going out in the wet tomorrow to do that.  It took me a few minutes to ind the screws, and the correct screwdriver, but only a minute or two to actually do the work.

    Jackie had a thing today, so I had about 40 minutes to read.  This was at the local hospital, and I closed my eyes for a second or two and I heard someone walking.  I opened them up and a lady said, "I was trying to be quiet so I didn't wake you."

    That's when I wondered if I was snoring.

    I don't think I fell asleep, but I could have.

    Tomorrow I have to clean the ceiling lighting fixture in the dining room.  It is a dust collector and it should look nice for Thanksgiving.  That usually takes me a long time because my hands don't manipulate the fixture features as well as they used to.  I just hope I don't drop the glass.

     Today is an anniversary of sort.  Three years ago I had just come home from the hospital minus a prostate.  A lot of people wished me well, and I do appreciate all of you for doing that.   I know, better late than never.

    My "anniversary" appointment is a teleconference tomorrow.  I hade my PSA tested as a prep for the session and it barely registers.

    Modern medicine is indeed amazing.

Peace and Love

1 more time

 I have finished my bird bath puzzle

    Sometimes when you have a jig saw puzzle to do, you have to rotate pieces to have them fit.  You look for patterns, colors, shapes and then find the pieces you need.

    I did that with my bird bath pad.  For 3 days.  Hours.  And hours.  Frustration.  More frustration.

    But I solved the puzzle today.

    How?

    I got a new puzzle.

rotate!  flip!  Nothing worked

So I stacked them to start over

and went with an alternate plan

which took me less than 2 hours to do.

    All o this just so I don't have to trim around the bird bath!

    Yes, I am one brick shy of a load, but it was so frustrating to see all the grass growing around the bird bath.

    It was also frustrating to think I kept forgetting to put water in it.  Which makes the whole purpose moot if there Is no water.

    Next year I will be better.

    I finished in time to catch the last quarter of the Bears game.  How does a team allow 17 points in. under 3 minutes?  Oh my gosh.  I figure it improves their draft pick position next year because they are not going anywhere this year.

    Most of my outside chores are done....just one left.  I have to reattach some of my downspout extensions.  That should only take a couple of minutes, which is good because now it is going to get cold.

    Every year we have been in this house I have put lighted garland on the porch railings.  I have 7 sections of garland, and I love the way it looks when the house is lit at night.

    Butt, and there is always a big butt, I just don't feel like doing it this year.  I may put up the garland and not string lights on it, but I am not even sure I am wanting to do that.  Probably tomorrow I will get up the gumption to at least pull it out and check my options.  

    Jackie yelled at me because I let Beth out and forgot her.  Again.  I went outside to do something and the dog was at the front door.  I honestly don't remember letting her out.  I think I am going to have to get some kind of sign to hang on the door when she is out, because I have forgotten her a few times.  That's not bad when it is warm, or mild, but could be tragic on a cold day.  

    Peace and Love

Saturday?

 I can't believe the day is almost over

    Granddaughter Camryn came over for a visit.  She had seen Emily for covid and flu shots and said she wanted to stop over.  Emily texted me to "put on pants" because Camryn was on her way.

    Funny thing.  I did not have pants on!

    But by the time she arrived, I was fully dressed.

    Jackie was another matter.

    I eventually got her dressed and we all had a great visit, catching up on how life was going.

    She went with to let out the dogs at Emily's and got to meet Mimi, Emily's totally adorable foster dog who needs a caring home.  Contact Emily if you think you may be interested.

    The two of us went into my back  yard to look at my brick puzzle.  She's an artistic type person and can see shapes better.  We moved a few stones around.  Then Julia showed up and we moved a few more stones around.

    Were we successful?

    I'll let you decide when. I post pictures tomorrow.  Hopefully.

    Actually, Camryn came a little after 11:30, maybe closer to 12.  Hare to be ready for the day when you don't get out of bed until 10.

    And I am still tired.

Peace and Love

memories and torture

 This was one of those days

    I went to my memory section on Facebook to see what was in my past, which I frequently forget.

    13 years ago I was preparing for surgery  to repair my umbilical cord hernia.  That was fun.  I do remember I could not do any lifting, which I did not have to do back then.  But when Julia was home  for Christmas and we had a big snowfall. I could not use the snowblower.  But she could.  We e fired the puppy up,  I showed her how to use it, then watched as she pinned herself to a snowdrift at the bottom of the driveway because she shifted into reverse.  

    In between spasms of  laughter, I shifted it out of reverse and she was fine.

    11 years ago was the last performance of A Dickens of a Christmas Carol.  This was a VCCT original that we put together and it was a funny show.  The problem is, I don't think enough people came to see it.  It would have been worth admission to see my friend Curt as Tiny Tim!

    10 years ago, we had a tornado watch.  A storm with high winds and hail headed our way with the winds expected to be about 80 mph.  Ye, we sheltered in place.

    Sadly, 9 years ago we attended the visitation of a young man who was a  friend and a former student. Just does not seem possible it was that long ago.

    Speaking of long. .I have to get a replacement title for a car.  I called the SOS office to clarify something and was on hold for about 20 minutes then abruptly disconnected.  Seriously.

    I called again, and after another lengthy wait, I talked to a person who was actually helpful.  She told me I needed a waiver of lien statement from the lender.

    The lender was Honda financing.

    Now yesterday I called their 800 number 4 times.  Each time the call ended after a certain point.  Once after I pressed one, once when I pressed the number for financial services, once before I could even press one, and the last time I don't remember anything working.

    So today I called again, expecting the worst.

    I talked to person on the first try!  Yes, I had a 23 minute wait, but I talked to a real live person.

    I explained I needed a waiver of lien statement for a Honda they financed.  I gave her the VIN number and she said, "Sorry to tell you, but we can't issue a waiver because the car was sold long ago.  We archive that information.  But I will tell you how to get it."

    She gave me the web address, then walked me through the process.  But by this time my phone was beeping low battery because I had been on hold so long!  I apologized after asking her to repeat something for the 900th time. 

    She talked me through the form, I finished on my own, the lien waiver letter is in the mail and all is looking better.

    I told her thank you because she was the only person I have talked to who has really helped me.  I appreciated that.

    You can safely assume I did not get out to solve my yard block puzzle.  Maybe tomorrow.

    Or not.

Peace and Love

PS....Renee......Julia said I ordered the wrong size pizza.  This was too big.  Oops.

well, that's deep

 I sort of solved my puzzle today

    Well, I actually said screw it.  

    I had a long and difficult night, and won't go into details to spare you.

    I had a frustrating day because I found out I am not the only person who loses things.  Well, they put them in a place they can't remember.  And no, it was not me or anyone in the household.  Or even the neighborhood.

    I realized how old I was today when I ran into a lady I knew and she said she was a great, great, great grandmother and the young, foolish kid I had in fifth grade is now a grandfather!  Foolish, but a nice kid who has done well in life.  A grandfather.  

    I had planned to go into town, then come home and work on my concrete block puzzle.  But honestly, my heart and mind were not in it today.

    Maybe I am tired, but as I talked to people I realized the words I wanted were stuck in my head and I could not get hem out!

    I actually said happy weekend, I mean Christmas, I mean oh my god the word would not come out!

    Thanksgiving.  

    Jackie had a library board meeting tonight but started to not feel well around 6.  I wonder if the 2 of us picked up a bug, or I picked up a bug and gave it to her.  She stayed home, and I was happy because I was not looking forward to taking her to the meeting.

    Anyway, I hope to get some sleep tonight.  Maybe that's all it is because I am really tired.

Peace and Love

Help...I need somebody

 Not just anybody, but a puzzle master

    I dug out my bird bath.  Put sand down.  

    Then I got stumped.

    Here's why.

    I can't seem to get them together!  This is how it is supposed to work.

    But I can't tell front from back!

    What the hell an I missing?  I only have 2 days of nice weather left!!

    Any help??

    Had some blood taken today for my 6 mo PSA monitoring.

    I asked the person if she had sharp needles today.

    "I just finished sharpening them this morning," she said.

    Then I asked if she had done this before.

    "Don't worry.  You are not my first patient.  You are my second."

    We had a really great back and forth.

    She had me in the children't blood draw area.  I said that was fitting considering my temperament when it came to blood draws.  She said it was no reflection on my, that was her station for the day.  She also said she had been doing this for 23 years which I found hard to believe because she looked so young.

    All the time we were talking she was doing her job.  I felt a tiny pinch and that was it.  Very nicely done.

    On the way home I decided to explore a bakery I had heard about.

    Bought some humongous cinnamon rolls for tomorrow, some cookies, 3 bagels, and some rolled and filled little cookie like pastries that I can't remember the name of at this moment.

    Moral.....never stop at a bakery when you are hungry.

Peace and Love

She tried to help

IA my foot

 We went into the suburbs tonight

    We attended visitation for my friend Frank.  I have known him and his brother John since at least 5th grade, if not earlier.

    There were several picture boards and in almost every picture he was smiling, wether it be holding a grand child, or  child, or in front of his 65 Chevy, or with his wife.   Always a smile.

    Visitations in the city are different than in Rochelle.

    In Rochelle, there is a line of family members and everyone goes down the line and greets people and offers sympathies or stories.

    In Chicago, there is no line.  You look for the person you want to visit with and go to them.  It makes more sense to do it that way.

    Back to the picture boards.

    One was of Frank's childhood.  John called me over and pointed to a picture of Frank and some guy.  They must have been 12 or 13.  John asked, "Do you know who this is?"  I said he looked vaguely familiar, but I was not sure.

    It was me.  Seriously!  I did not recognize myself.  I recognized Frank, but not me.

    So I called Jackie over and shower her the picture.  She knew right away it was me.  So did Steve, another friend of the group.

    I have to admitI was a nice looking young kid, but that was before acne and weight gain.  

    But on to AI.

    At home, I plugged in the name of the funeral home and did a route search.  The most direct way was 88 to 171m north on 171 to Belmont, east on Belmont.

    However, in the car I asked for directions and got quite a different response.

    I said, "Siri, directions to Montclair Funeral Home, Chicago."

    Her response was something like, "I found the location in Paris, France, distance 4,186 miles.  Proceed?"

    Jackie and I just looked at each other.

    Now, I would not mind going to Paris, but I would be interested in seeing driving directions once we hit the coast.

    I tried again and got 2 more answers that made no sense.

    So I gave the address, and that worked. 

    Except, she had us going north on 39.  My guess is we would go north to 94, then the that ti 294 and go south.

    But on the map at home, that route was 20 minutes longer.

    So I ignored the directions she gave and got on 88 headed east.

A    ll was fine until we got to the Mannheim junction.  It took us 20 minutes to get through that.  And let me tell you, people are crazy!  I saw dozens of cars drive on the shoulder and then cut in front of the semi ahead of us.  

    We finally hit 171 and I went north.  Siri said to turn, we did.  She said turn again, we did.  We ended up creeping along Harlem Avenue.  Siri said turn right, so we did.  Then she said at ===== road turn left.

    Well, I got to a corner and turned left.  Onto a one way street.  Going the wrong way.

    If a police officer saw me and asked if I didn't see the arrows, I might have said, "Hell, I didn't even see the Native Americans."

    I made a 3 point turn, got back the on route, and eventually got to the funeral home.  But it took at least half an hour.

    On the way home I went down Belmont to 171 and then to the tollway.  It took about 15 minutes.  So much for AI

    We were hungry and stopped at a White Castle.

    I have a feeling that will stick with me for a few hours.

Peace and Love

what the......

My first thought was:  why in hell s a dog barking

     My second thought was:  Why is it so loud?

    My third thought was:  Why is Julia knocking at our bedroom door and talking to someone?

    I was sound asleep and forgot we had a dog!  Honestly, I was really confused.

    I was more confused when Julia said, "The guy's here."

    I had made an appointment for our furnace to be checked for winter.  I set the appointment for 8 a.m. and completely forgot.

    Yes, it was written on the calendar.

    No, I did not look at the calendar.

    Julia let him in, I put on some sweat pants, and everything was ok until........

    We have an on demand water heater.  It gets flushed and tuned every fall.

    The guy was working away and after about 20 minutes I went down to see how everything was going.

    He said he was just starting the water heater.  I commented that he needs to be sure the circulating valve is shut off because if you don't the  cleaner gets into the pipes and recirculates throughout the house.

    "Shut off valve?"  He seemed confused.

    I left him to finish and a few minutes later he came and asked me if I knew where the shut off valve was.  I did not.

    I give the guy credit, he called the shop and I believe he called the manufacturer to find the valve and shut it off.

    One time a different person did not, and we had discolored hot water.  We had to run the taps for a long time until they were all clear.

    He finished about 10:30 and checked the water, it was clear.  And hot.  He also left a sheet of instructions for future service.

    I had planned to get outside early today for a project.  I finally got Jackie ready for the day, went to the store, stopped at the post office, let out Emily's dogs and got home about 3.  I did not get the project done, but it is about 1/2 way there.

    Every day I wake up and a new part of my body hurts.

    Yesterday I had a cramp.  Luckily it did not reoccur once I went to bed.

    But I feel like I have a twisted ankle, even though I don't remember twisting it.  Add that to the sore knee, sore thumbs, sore back, and the smallest task becomes difficult.

    Supper was fairly easy.  

    Emily bought some gumbo at Costco.  She got 2 for 1, so I had gumbo for supper.  It was pretty darn good.  Julia made a pasta salad, I partially cooked 2 brats on the grill for Julia and Jackie .  For some reason, they did not like the pink inside, so I had to fire up the grill again and cook them longer.

    But all is well that ends well, right?

Peace and Love

Mr. Dillon, Mr. Dillon!!

 I feel like Chester from Gunsmoke

    He was the deputy, or assistant, who walked with a stiff leg.  He sort of did a strange 2 step down the wooden sidewalks of Dodge City.

    Spent some time with Exit 99ers today.  We met at a saloon in Monroe Center for lunch and visiting.  

    And no, Miss Kitty was not there.

    At some point after lunch, I staggered backward off my chair with a loud, "Oh my gawd" which made them think the old guy was having a heart attack, stroke or some sort of seizure.

    What I was having was a severe cramp in my left leg.  In the thigh region.

    I tried walking it off, standing, drinking water....nothing relieved it.

    Carrie had me do some stretches that helped, but the muscle never loosened completely.

    And no one would rub it for me!  

    I spent a lot of time moaning, stretching, walking and rubbing before I finally found some relief.

    But back at home, it is tightening again.  So I have had a Gatorade, and a banana and lots of water.

    But it is still tight, just not as tight.  

    I dread the upcoming night.

    Anyway, it was a fun time with TC, BH, CJ, and JC.  We had some serious talk, some laughs, good food and just had a fun afternoon.

    I just hope we can do a show again, soon.

    And that my leg doesn't cramp half way through it.

Peace and Love

Taxi!

This has been a complicated, busy day 

    If you can follow this, congratulations.  I can't follow it.

    Julia, Emily and a friend went to a craft show.  They left about 8, maybe earlier.  I was asleep.  All I know is Dog Beth came up to sleep with us after Julia left.

    Sleeping with us means constantly licking our faces, arms, or any exposed flesh.

    Julia and Emily drove to the suburban Chicago craft show separately, because Julia was going to pick up my niece from Midway.  She came for the weekend to help her mother with some tasks around the house.  

    Neither Emily or the friend, who for id sake we will call Sissy, wanted to go to Midway.  Especially since they had a 4 p.m. painting class in Oregon and Julia would not be back until 3:30.

    So the plan was to meet at 64 and 251 at 3:30.  I would take my niece to Rockford and Julia would continue on to class.  Emily was going to ride with Sissy, then come home with Julia.

    Well, that fell through when Julia got to Rochelle before 3:30 so they decided to stop and visit Jackie and use the bathroom.

    I was on my way to 64 with Emily, who did not ride with Sissy after all.  Emily got a text and we turned around and went back to my house to drop off Emily, pick up my niece, and continue on to Rockford.

    And yes, everyone got to where they needed to go.

    To be honest, I am still confused.  But that is a moot point.

    Julia, Emily and Sissy all enjoyed their class, Jackie and I had Portillo's, Laurie and Ruth had pizza from Napoli's and all is well.

    I I even cleaned out the car!  I vacuumed it, swashed the windshield, sorted out the crap that was in there....I was pretty darn productive!

    Just another day.....

Peace and Love

oh my gosh!

 Last night I had quite the experience

    Dog Beth is black.  She can't be seen in the dark.

    So Julia bought a collar that lights up.  It has options of a steady red light or a flashing red light.  That way we can see her in the dark.

    I take a flashlight with me when she goes out for the last time, usually around 9:30.  I can shine it on her when I get curious about what she is doing.

    Last night she was out sniffing around.  Sniffing, sniffing, sniffing.  She was over by the driveway and I was on the porch, hoping she would do her thing and come inside where it was warm.

    Suddenly, she takes off like a flash!  Across the front yard like a mad man.  Or dog.

    I thought, and this is where I get a little uncertain, I thought there was a deer in the yard next to us.  But I am not sure.  Could have been a. rabbit or whatever.

    But Beth was flying toward it.

    I had my yard shoes on, untied as usual, and I started running after her.  I yelled "Beth" and she stopped

    (Mental image time:  75 year old man wearing floppy shoes running across the grass holding a flashlight like a baton in a relay race).

    I caught up to her and herded her back into the yard.

    I don't know if my yell stopped her, or the underground fence did.  I don't even know where she stopped, although I thought it was in the neighbor's yard.

    But she went back into our yard without getting shocked.  So either she was not beyond the fence or the fence is not working. 

    I may have to go out tomorrow with her necklace in hand and check.  I don't look forward to that.

    I was really scared.  If she had continued after the animal, I would have had to follow that flashing red light though yards and fields, running the risk of being called a peeping Tom again.

    After our museum board meeting last night, I took a survey of 3 guys.  I asked them to pronounce the word handkerchief.   Go ahead, say it.

    All 3 said hankerchief....so I wonder where did the d go?

    This was all set off by hearing "She's Leaving Home" by the Beatles.  The young girl leaving home clutches her handkerchief as she exits the house.  I keep listening, but I can't tell if the British boys are saying hankerchief or handkerchief.

    I know in a world that seems to be collapsing around us, that is really a minor point.

    But I still wonder.

    By the way, I only use tissue.  Makes it easier.

Peace and Love

soupy sales

 I always like it when Jackie gets her hair done

    Why?

    Glad you asked.

    Right across the street from the salon is Acres Bistro.  (Add another o and you get saloon, not the same type of establishment.)

    It takes about an hour for her to get her hair colored.  During that time, I take my e reader and go across to  Acres for a coffee and usually some cookies.  I don't eat all of the cookies at one time and always bring half home.

    Well, Acres has squash soup on their fall menu.  An d no, ii is not splattered on the actual menu, but it is an item they are serving.

    Nobody in my family is adventurous enough to enjoy anything other than chicken noodle or vegetable soup.   So when I have he chance to experience a new soup, I try it. Usually.

    So I had coffee, a huge bowl of squash soup, and warm apple tart for dessert.

    It was great!

    We were visiting friends of Julia's once in Switzerland and Yvonne made pumpkin soup.  It was awesome!  Maybe it is the same as squash soup, I am not sure, but I still smile when I think of that soup.

    Today's was just as good.

    I also had carrot soup in Switzerland a long time ago.  I loved that.

    We had a VCCT progressive dinner years ago and I made about a gallon of carrot soup for our stop on the dinner route.  I think I ended up with about a gallon less 1 cup left.  I froze it, and all winter I would thaw some soup and enjoy it again.

    Today, on my way back to the salon, I ran into one of my former cohorts at Tilton.  Gwen and I spent about 15 minutes catching up on each others lives and laughing.  I don't think I have seen her in a couple of years, which is strange since Rochelle is not a big town and everyone goes to Walmart at some point.

    Well, if you are looking for some great soup, and a delicious apple tart, check out the good people at Acres Bistro!

Peace and Love

no laughs

 I am in a somber mood tonight

    A long time friend passed away last night.

    Frank, his bother John, and I grew up in the same neighborhood.

    I guess I was about 5th grade, maybe earlier, that we all became friends.  Through the years, John and I became closer.  But Frank was always there.

    He was a gentle person, who loved everyone.  They were all a close Italian family.  I spent a lot of my formative years at their house, and I can't even begin to count the number of softball games we played in their alley.  It was a lot.

    He had a beautiful red Chevy convert, with a license plate that aid summer 65, because that was when he met his wife, Barb .  I think the Chevy was a 65, but now I am not sure.  He brought it out to Rochelle for the Heritage Festival car show a couple of times, and everyone would come out to our house for a cook out afterwards.

    He, Barb, and John came out to visit this summer, and we had a great time talking about the "good old days."

    That old adage,:you never know when the last time you do something is.  How true.

    This has not been a good year for me, emotionally.

    My brother Carl, Rick from Church, Frank, and Jimmy Buffett....all gone.  

    Granted, I did not know Jimmy, but I loved his music and his outlook on life.  It was almost like I did know him. It's strange that I felt so bad about his death.  

    But time marches on.  We all come to the same end, don't we?

    And even though I know that, it is still hard to accept.

Peace and Love

ding, dang double drat

 Well, that certainly was a messy search

    Years ago, well over 13 maybe even 20, we bought some Cutco knives.

    Former student Joe was selling them to earn morey for college.  We bought a set, and as a special 4 steak knives were included.

    It was not cheap.

    But the knives are great.  And when they get dull we can send them in for a free sharpening.  I dread doing that, because I don't need any more cuts.

    At some point we lost a knife.  My guess is it went in the trash accidentally.

    Well, last night another knife disappeared.

    I asked Julia if she might nave it someplace, and one said no.  Then she said, "Why don't you just order new ones?"

    $87 per knife is the reason.  That's why we only had 3.

    I was determined to find the missing knife.

    I looked through drawers, under furniture, in cupboards..... no knife.

    I put on some gloves and went tnrough 4 bags of garbage, but came up empty.

    Luckily we have another set of knives,  not as good, but it is a full set.

    Tonight I was doing dishes.  I had not wiped off the cooktop for a couple of days.  When I did tonight, there was the knife!  Being black it blended in with the cooktop and I never thought to look there.

    Happy, happy, happy.

    Beth went to the vet today.  Julia heard her wheezing and thought maybe she was sick.  She checked out fine except for the couple of pounds she has gained.

    We ned to cut back on her treats and food.  You can say the same for me.

    As a reward for her good behavior, we stopped at Starbucks.

    Oh well, we will start the food cut back tomorrow.

Peace and Love

I am sorry

 This may have some spelling issues

    Yes, even more than usual.

    I am taking a break from doing dishes.  Some idiot put a sharp serrated knife in the dish water.  I grabbed it and cut the top   of my right hand pointer finger.  That is the finger that is responsible for y   h n m and .  U keys .  So I am not using it, subbing a different finger.

    And yes, I was the idiot.  I knew it was in there, just grabbed it anyway.

    Damn that hurt. 

    I put Christmas lights on the bushes today.  I won't turn them on until after Thanksgiving, but it was too nice a day not to do it.

    I also changed batteries in the smoke alarms.  One of them gave me trouble as it is a CO2 detector as well.  I put the battery in wrong and displaced a little bit of plastic that is needed to hold the battery ion place.  

    I may have said some naughty words.  If you heard me,  apologize.  I always think that helps.  I did get it back together.

    Well, that is all I can do tonight.

    Enjoy the beautiful weather.

Peace and Love

ha ha ha

 We saw Paula Poundstone last night

    She was at the Egyptian Theater in DeKalb.

    Jackie and I went, and Emily and her friend Chrissy also went.  We did not sit together because we got a handicapped seating area for Jackie.

    Which is sort of neat at the Egyptian.

    Nora, from the box office, called on Friday and asked if we needed a space for a wheelchair of if we needed to transfer to a regular seat.

    I said we need a space for a wheelchair.

    In that case, they actually remove a seat!  Last tine we went they came out with some tools, unscrewed it and moved it.  Last night they had done. that in advance.

    I think she is funny.  Yes, her language is often blue, but she is still funny.

    She talks about life, especially her life, and the oddities of our world.

    Paula interacts with the audience frequently, pointing to people and asking them questions and then going on from their answers.

    At one point she said she had never been to DeKalb before and several people pointed out she was on stage at the Egyptian about 7 years ago.

    I imagine it is hard to keep track of the towns in which she has appeared.  I believe she flew in from New York for this show and was heading to a Carolina afterwards, but I may be mistaken.

    I am glad we went.  It was a fun night.

    I may even tune into her podcast.

    My mission tonight, after wasting the afternoon watching the Bears, is to test the outdoor lights so I can put them out tomorrow.

    It never fails to amaze me how they can work when I put them away but not work when I take them out.

    I think it was Doug who said maybe they get wet and the dampness causes electrical problems, so I let them sit out in the basement for 2 weeks last year before I put them away.

Here's hoping.

Peace and Love

She does feet puppets as part of her act

Plenty of seats....but I love the architecture of the theater

Ok, northern lights were supposed to be visible about 6 p.m. tonight.  I took this picture, and there is a smudge at about one third of the way up on the left.  Northern lights or clouds?  I think clouds.

early today

 I am getting an early start on this today

    I am not sure when our clocks will fall back.  I suppose I will do that before bed, but my sleep will be disrupted for months; probably until the next time change.

    Jackie and I are going to see Paula Poundstone at the Egyptian Theater in DeKalb tonight.  It will be Jackie's first Paula show, and my second.  I always enjoy her on Wait Wait, the NPR news program, and she is a stream of consciousness person, much like me at times.  Except she is funny.

    Show starts at 7, and I don't know when we will be home.

    Thus, an early blog.

    I did finish fertilizing today.  Took about 20 minutes. but I can now cross that job off my fall to do list.

    When I got done I was ready to put the mower away and decided to wash it off.  I should have picked up Beth's piles before riding around the yard.

    I got out my expansion hose.  This has to be completely dried when done, because it can expand and break when not used.  Don't ask me how, I don't understand.

    But I do know the wheels on the tractor do go round and round but with large brown spots.  Could be mud.  Could be.

    So I was in the driveway,  ear protectors on, listening to the Saturday afternoon blues, maybe swaying and moving to the music, and blowing out the hose to make sure it is empty.

    I was blowing it with my mouth.  Suddenly, I detected a presence and turned to find a FedEx driver staring at me.

    I took my headphones off and he said he didn't want to scare me, which he didn't.  I told him I was just clearing the hose and he nodded with that "what the hell is he doing" look.

    We laughed about it, he took a picture of the package, and left.

    I rolled up the hose and went in the house for an afternoon tea.  Earl Grey, with just a hint of bergamot.

    Just another day in my boring life.

Peace and Love

I love the details at the Cornado Theater in Rockford

JC , Superstar

Jackie's cactus is getting flowers....I need to repot it.

job almost done

 My jobs list is getting shorter

    To be honest, there is one I don't think I will get to this fall.  I didn't get to it last fall either.

    I have a bird bath in the back yard.  I get tired of trimming around it.  So last fall I bought some cement stones to put around it.  My plan was to let the stones sit there for a while and kill the grass.  Then I would dig out the grass, some dirt, put down some sand, and replace the stones.  

    I hope the grass will not grow between the stones, as it is doing now.

    Every time I think of doing that, I little voice in my head says, "Don't!"  So I don't.  But it. will have to be done, later or sooner, otherwise I wasted money on the stones.

    Anyway, I had a plan to reseed and put a fertilizer on the yard this fall.  I did the reseeding.  I even bought a tow behind spreader to put on the fertilizer.

    Ace had a clearance table with 50 percent of winterizing fertilizer.  There were 2 bags, each covering 15,000 square feet.  I figured I would buy them after I bought the spreader.

    Well, when I went back the bags were already sold.

    I found some all season fertilizer at Rounders and bought that.

    Rounders??  Yes, glad you asked.  They have bought the -place across from Aldi's in Rochelle.  It was Stock and Field then some initials, but is now Rounders.

    They are clearing out the old merchandise and have some great deals.  And the new merchandise looks pretty darn good.  Big pet food section and tool section.  They are still setting up, but if you have a couple of minutes you might want to walk through.

    Today I hooked up the spreader, put the fertilizer in the bin, and started doing the back yard. 

    Now I don't know how big the back yard is, but, either it is bigger than 15,000 square feet or I put it on too heavy.  I do not think I did an area that was 150 x 100, but maybe I did.

    I bought another bag to finish.  This is a general fertilizer you can apply through November.  

    I went for take out tonight and when I drove into the driveway it was covered in fertilizer  granules.

    So there I was, in the dark, working with the car headlights on, raindrops a falling on my head,. blowing 

may driveway and sidewalk.

    I am sure neighbors think I am crazy.

    And I may be.

    Was driving home and listening to the radio and started crying.  Seriously.  Tears running down my cheeks.

    Go figure.

Peace and Love

Late nights

 I went to see a play tonight

    Emily and I went to see Jesus Christ, Superstar at the Cornado in Rockford.

    It was a great show.

    This is a touring cast and it was a 1 night only presentation.  The theater was pretty much full, and a lot of the audience members were about my age.

    One lady in front of us kept taking pictures, despite being told not to once.  The second time the staff member was a little more forceful.  Another person was taking flash pictures on the other side of the theater.  And someone behind me had their phone flashlight on twice.  During the show.

    None of these people were young.

    Anyway, it was a good show.

    Often times when there is a large cast I watch the people in the background.  In this show, I watched the dancers a lot.  They moved as one body, in sync with each other.  It was pretty neat to see.

    I wonder what it is like to be in a show like that.

    After tonight they pack up and go somewhere else for another show.  And another.  And another.

    I bet they con't have a lot of clothes because they move so much.

    And I wonder how much they are paid.  Do they get a   meal allowance?  What kind of hotels do they stay at and are they single rooms or doubles?

    I wish I could talk to one or two of them and find out some of the answers, although I bet they don't like to talk about money with strangers.

    The Cornado is a beautiful theater.  I don't think they can build one like it in this day and age.  Lots of elements.

    A long time ago, the 16th Congressional District had a representative named Jon B. Anderson.  He was a Republican, and I voted for him in every election.  He was smart, well reasoned, and he had a lot of great ideas.

    He ran for president as an Independent.   There was a fundraiser at the Cornado and my brother Carl and I went.  We sat up in the balcony and listened to Harry Chapin, who was a folksy type performer.  After about 90 minutes Harry said he had to take a break, but would be back in a moment.

    By then it was 9:30 or so and both of us were working and it was a school night, so we left.

    Tonight's show brought that memory back to me, a memory I had almost forgotten.

    Thank you, Emily, for taking me along.  And thank you Julia for keeping an eye on Mom and making supper.

Peace and Love