dang it

 Tomorrow is Sept. 1

    What happened to summer?  It has flown past quickly.  Now I find some of the things on my to do list don't matter....such as getting the fountain on the porch working.  Procrastination does have its benefits.

    So does paying attention.

    We were in DeKalb yesterday for a morning doctor visit for Jackie.  Julia asked if we could stop at the bagel shop and get her a couple of bagels.

    She texted me her order.  But I left my phone at home.

    So she texted the order to Jackie's phone.

     Now, I am not familiar with her phone.  I was paying close attention to the phone when I went in the back door of the bagel shop.

    What I was not paying close attention to was the small step, clearly marked in black and yellow warning tape.

    I stepped normally  and smashed my right leg on the floor.  I did not fall, but today my knee is a little sore and my back and hip seem to be barking at me.  I noticed the knee when I rode my bike tonight.  

    And I complain about people watching their phones when walking.  Shame on me.

    Yesterday I dropped Jackie's morning pill container and pills spilled out all over the bedroom floor.  I recovered 7 of the 8.  Knowing Beth will eat anything on the floor, except medication for her, I looked.  Julia came and helped me look.  We moved the bed, dresser, high boy, side table.  I used a Swifter to dust every inch, then I vacuumed it.  No pill.

    We both assumened it went down the floor vent.

    A while later I set the pills on the table to be sure she knew which one was missing and there were 8 pills.  Huh.  At least the bedroom floors are dusted.

    Digression.  On this date in 1920, John  Lloyd Wright got a patent on Lincoln Logs.  He went to Japan  with his father  to investigate a hotel his father designed, built with interlocking beams to prevent falling in earthquakes.  His father, Frank Lloyd Wright, took John to look at the damage caused by an earthquake and the Wright designed Imperial Hotel was still standing.  Young John came home and invented Lincoln Logs based on dad's inteerlocking beam design.

    That was from Neil Steinberg's book, Every Goddamn Day.

    And with that, good night.

Peace and Love

 

double damn

 Well, Stanley, you've done it again

    I do a weekly weigh in every Wednesday.

    Last week I finally got down to 189.   That is from the 206 I was in January.

    I was proud of that.  I felt happy with myself.

    Then today happened.

    I tipped the scale at 194.

    In hindsight, I have been eating almost everything in sight. Plus I have not been riding my bike or walking.  Those two combinations are not good for me.

    The weight gain did not seem to slow me down today.  I ate way more than I should have and now I am angry at myself.  When I get angry at myself.........you guessed it, I eat.  It is a viscous circle.

    Right now I am starving.  

    Damn.

    Caught squirrel number 6 today.  Made another run to the park to set it free, but this one did not run off like the others.  It kind of hung around me.  I almost deceded to bring it back to its home, but it did run off.  About 10 feet.  Then it looked around like it was lost.

    My golf cart was delivered today.  I also have a sheet of instructions on how to care for it, and verbal instructions for winter storage and summer maintenance.  That will help a lot.

    They also learned the batteries in my cart were put in in 2014....so I had 9 years out of them.  That isn't bad.

    I know it will be too late to do this, but the moon was fantastic when I looked about 40 minutes ago.  It was huge.  And bright.  I could even see the Indian mooncraft!  Grab a peek if you can.

    An exciting Cubs win!  We Meatloafed Milwaukee!!

Peace and Love

not again

 I am not prepared for hot temperatures

    My ability to accept them ran out last week, when I nearly melted going out to get the mail.

    Now we are getting it again this weekend.  I am not looking forward to it.

    At least we don't live where there are hurricanes.  Batten down the hatches, Florida and East Coast.  

    Caught a ground squirrel today.  I believe it is 5, maybe 6.  I checked he traps at 11 and at 11:30 I had one.

    I took him out to the park and let him go.  I hope it reunites will all the other ones I have let go out there and they can re-establish their colony.

    I felt a little funky today, so I did not get much done.  I managed to pick up some of the crap in the garage, but not enough to make a difference.  Maybe tomorrow.  Or maybe not.

    We have been watching the Bob Newhart show at night.  These were filmed in the 1970s and it is funny how life used to be.

    The other night Bob and Jerry, the dentist, drove to Peoria so they could watch the Bears/Green Bay game because the game was blacked out in Chicago.

    I remember those days.  If the game was not sold out by Thursday or Friday, then it was blacked out.  If the game was sold out, then it was broadcast.  I remember that, but Jackie doesn't.  It seems Rockford was a popular destination also.

    I don't think people came to Rochelle, because it was dry on Sunday, if I remember correctly.

    I just can't imagine that being done today.  

Peace and Love

War....again

 I am after the ground squirrels...again

    I have trapped and released 5, and thought I pretty much got them.

    Julia said the other morning she saw 3 in the yard by the feeder and a couple more out in the back of the yard.

    So after mowing tonight, I set 3 traps.

    It's not that I hate hte little critters, in fact I think they are very cute.

    But they leave holes in my yard.  Lots of holes.  Plenty of holes.  More holes every day.

    When I can find them, I will get some pine cones and shove them into the holes, but I don't know if that will get rid of the ones I have.  Time will tell.

    Before I mowed today (chore 2 on my list of 4) I met Dolly and John for coffee in DeKalb.  I had three other stops to make, so it worked out well.  We spent over an hour just talking and laughing.  It was an enjoyable time.  Plus, they bought the coffee!

    I made  a point of writing all my stops down, plus what I needed to get at each stop.

    Doing that only helps if you bring the paper along, which I did not.

    But I did get everything on my list!  I guess the mind is not as gone as I imagine it is at times.

    I do have a question, especially for any guy who read this.

    Do you have hair on your knee caps?  My left leg has very little, but my right knee has a short stubble that is really irritating when I touch it.  During the summer, when I drive, I seem to touch it a lot and it is bothering me.

    So I guess I will have to shave my knee.

    Never thought I would say that in my lifetime.

    Sometimes I am too laid back.

    Today I went into a grocery store for 3 items.  I saw a display for Pepsi 24 packs for $10.99.  Since this store offers a senior discount on Monday, I decided to buy a 24 pack of Pepsi.

    When I get to the checkout, I mention to the young man running the register that it's senior day and I am a senior.  He says of course, and rings up all my items except the Pepsi rings up at $11.59.

    I say to him, The Pepsi is only $10.99.  There is a big display by the door with a sign that says "Hot Buy."

    He calls a manager over and I say the same thing and the manager tells the checker, "Give it to him for $10.99."

    I wanted to say, "Wait a minute.  You are not "giving" it to me for $10.99.  You are selling it to me for the price you have posted on your display."

    But I bit my tongue and said thank you, even though I should not have said thank you because that was the price they had.

    Adding on to my anger, when I got home I looked at my receipt and....... no senior discount.

    So my shopping expierience slightly dampened my enthusiasm for the day.

    And they I listed to the Cubs when mowing.......

Peace and Love

eh?.....huh

 I took a day of rest today

    I read the Trib on line, took a nap, listened/watched the Cubs, rode my bike, let out Emily's dogs,  and cleaned out the car.

    I had 4 things on my to do list this weekend, and I have done 1 of them....cleaning out the car.

    It took me a while to figure out how to put the back seat floormats back in the right spot.  We can only use one, on the driver's side, because the mobility seat prohibits one in the back seat on the passenger's side.

    But I had both mats out and could not figure which was which.  But eventually it all went back in the right spot.

    Now all I have to do is clean up the area where the mower and golf cart are parked and mow.  And trim.  

    I had a nice ride around the block.  I made 3 circuits.  I did feel guilty because I saw 4 different people out walking their dogs.  I have not walked with Beth in a couple of weeks.  I should be doing that on a regular basis, both for my health and hers.

    It was such a nice night to ride or walk.  The sky is clear, the moon approaching full, and the temperatures very nice.

    But I always have a complaint.  We need rain.  There is none in the forecast through Friday.  I'll have to water plants tomorrow too.

    My work is never done.  But at least I can still do it, it just takes longer.

Peace and Love

arf ... arf....arf??

 Letting out Emily's dogs can be an experience

    Weekends on which she works, I sometimes let them out.  Today was one of those days.

    She texted me to say one of the dogs, Maravalla?, gets put in  the bedroom because she has been getting stuck between  things lately.  And I will just call her M because it's a lot to type.

    Now, M is not a very healthy dog.  She gets a special diet beccause she does not eat.  She is unsteady on her feet and she does not like strangers.  Or most people.  She is very timid and shy.

    Sheri happened to be over weeding.  Which was a lucky thing.

    I got all the dogs out, but could not get the gate to the bedroom open.

    I asked Sheri and she got it open.  Old men are not good at figuring out child gates.

    I could not find M.  I looked everywhere.  I went outside and asked Sheri if M was out here.  I thought maybe she didn't stay in the bedroom when Emily left this morning.

    Sheri came in, we looked through the house, could not find the dog.  Then she looked under the bed and there was M.......evidently stuck.

    I called Emily and she said to drag her out by her legs.....but the dog could not fit beneath the bed  railings.  I had no idea how she got under the bed in the first place.

    So I pulled while Sheri picked up the corner of he 600 pound bed and lifted it high enough to get M out.  I dragged her, M bit my arm twice but she is so weak it did not even leave a dent.

    As we were doing this, Liam, the 800 pound Irish wolfhound, led the others in for a sneak raid on M's food dish.  We pushed and pulled the dogs out and when we got them all out, M stood in the middle of the bedroom and  took a huge pee.

    Sheri went back to weeding, I cleaned up  the pee and the dog yard, got all of them back in except M......who I thought got her head caught in the fence but did not, she was just looking.  

    I picked up the dog who does not like to be handled or be touched by strangers and carried her back into the bedroom and closed the gate.

    My plan was to go home and mow.

    But people were coming to pick up our old entertainment center.  This is about 1,500 pounds and the plan they had to move it did not seem as easy as putting it in the back end of our van.

    So we did.  

    Then I drove the 2,250 pound entertainment center to its new home, where it was unloaded by 7 professional wrestlers, all named Igor, who carried it into its new resting spot.

    The bad news is I did not get the mowing done.  

    The good news is the car is cleaned out.

    The better good news is the Cubs won.

    The best good news is we had dinner with Sheri, Renee, and Wendy and had plenty of laughs and a little wine.

    All in all, it was a pretty damn good day!

Peace and Love

outside

 I finally went outside for more than 1 minute tonight

    I think it is still pretty warm.  And humid.

    I started cleaning up the cucumber patch.  I have about 12 baseball sized yellow cucumbers that are totally inedible.  I don't know why that happens.  I do check.  One day they are little and the next day gigantic.  Next year.

    What's that they say?  Keep doing the same thing and getting the same negative results is the definition of insanity.  Well, I am insane.

    Here's proof.

Took a food order for takeout.  Julia wrote it down and I ordered.  It is clearly written on paper:  onion rings.  Jackie wanted onion rings.

    I ordered on line, picked it up, brought it home and Jackie asked where her onion rings were.  

    I didn't order them.  It was right there, on paper, in front of me.

    Geez.

    The golf cart was picked up today. 

    The owner's wife came with.  She is the one who yelled at me the other day about not checking the water level in the batteries.  I think she came because she wanted to see  what kind of idiot they were dealing with.

    We had to push the cart down the driveway and onto the trailer.  As we were pushing it up the trailer, my shoe came off.

    I have shoes a only wear outside.  I also have shoes I only wear inside.  I don't like wearing my outside shoes inside, but sometimes I do.

    Anyway, I usually just slip my feet into the shoes, choosing not to untie the laces and then tie them again.

    So my shoe came off and I said Jackie is always yelling at me to put my shoes on right instead of just stepping into them.

    The lady sooks at me and says, "You know, they make shoes without backs."

    For some reason, that cracked me up.

    Speaking of crocs and shoes, we had a doctor appointment in the burbs Tuesday.  The nurse, or assistant, was wearing crocs.  But they had little "things" in them:  doughut, flower, minion, that type of stuff.

    Jackie noticed it and said it was cute.

    Turne out hese little things have a name, which I don't remember.  But the girl buys them to decorate her crocs.

    What an idea!  That's why some people are rich and I am not.  Looking at the holes in crocs and thinking, "I'm going to make a little plastic/rubber gizmo you can plug into the holes and change whenever"  was genius.

    I am ending now.  The mojito I mixed was a bit stronger than I usually make and I think it is affecting my ability to think clearly.

Peace and Love