Look, Ma, no cavities!

At last I can say that I am through with the dentist for a while...since June I have broken a tooth, gotten a crown, been to the orthodontist to get my permanent retainer reattached, and now today went back to my dentist for my cleaning and check-up.  And, whew!  I made it through today's exam without having to have any more work done. Woody got up early and went for a walk and is now on his second walk of the day...to the prayer room at church.  I had another night of not getting much sleep (becoming a habit) and woke up even earlier than Woody.  All these sleepless nights let me get in more reading.  I finished another book this morning.  I really felt rough yesterday and last night, but today seem to be feeling better...I think that the front has passed either above us or below us and the barometric pressure is better for my aches and pains.  I did deadhead and do a little weeding.  Woody worked some in the yard, too.  Woody was resting pretty soundly when I left to go to the dentist.  I took a little snooze after I got back from the dentist.  This morning we heard a knock on the door and then in tumbled several children.  Elijah announced: "It's Muffin and us."  They have two of their cousins visiting and Elijah, Esther and Joy brought Janna (aka Muffin) over to see us.  

Mundane Monday!

Woody got up early and walked nine miles.  He has been ambitious in the kitchen today.  He made Cucumber Jello and also three loaves of zucchini bread and some zucchini muffins.  I have sort of taken it easy as I haven't felt the greatest.  I did a little sewing this afternoon.  I mended an outfit for my life-size baby doll that I played with when growing up.  We had unearthed her in Grammy's Attic Day and I decided that I needed to fix the original outfit that she came in...it needed new elastic and a bit of mending here and there. It was really in pretty good shape considering how old it is.  Woody ran an errand late in the afternoon. We have both read today.  I finished a book and have started another.  I took a nap this afternoon...not sure if I felt better before or after the nap!  Just planning to take it easy the rest of the evening.    

Blah Blog!

Adding a little color to this blah blog by adding a photo of a cardinal that was hiding waaaaaaaaaay up in the branches in a tree in our front yard.  Today has pretty much been a same ol', same ol' day.  Woody got up early and walked six miles.  I woke up even earlier.  We went to the early service this morning.  Woody taught his sixth grade Sunday School boys.  I went to my Sunday School class.  We came home and had lunch.  I went next door for a short time and took care of four of the six little ones.  When I got back, Woody was dozing away.  I went upstairs to read and did for a while, but ended up sleeping away a good part of the late afternoon...guess making up for my very early rising time.  Woody commented that he guessed he had actually fallen asleep (something that he usually denies!).  And, that about sums up our last Sunday in this year's July.

Subtly Saturday

Woody got up early and walked seven miles.  He later went to the library, made a hospital visit, made a stop at the grocery store and also the fruit and veggie market  He has watched a library DVD or two and has read.  I got up and finished a book so Woody could take it back to the library.  I have since started another book. My major effort of the day was to give the dining room a good vacuuming and dusting and polishing. While I dusted I listened to some Aesop's Fables and then started listening to The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. When I finished in the dining room, I came back upstairs and read and also watched the latest episode of Project Runway. I'm still unhappy about not being able to watch the Olympics.  I have checked out the US medal count a couple of times today and have read an article or two about our athletes.  I sort of feel cut off from the world...at least the Olympic world!  It just seems so surreal that all previous Olympic years (old technology) I have been able to watch and now with all the new technology...even with our updated computers...I am unable...oh, well...best not to dwell on it!  And, now...back to Project Runway on my iPad (on a network that we don't "subscribe" to) and my reading!

Not a Happy Camper!

I love the Olympics.  I'm one of those who could be glued to the TV for the next two weeks...but alas...not this year.  We(this day and age)have become so "advanced" in our electronics (technology), etc. that now that we have to have digital TV...we cannot get certain channels...one of those being NBC.  It would seem that one would be able to get something on the computer or iPad...but unless one has cable or some such other device feeding TV into one's house...it seems that you are out of luck.  We are on an antenna...so no other signal coming into the house that will provide coverage.  I guess I will have to be satisfied with just bits and pieces (clips here and there that NBC decides to release) of the Olympics this year.  I did find an app that will let me keep up with medal counts, etc.  Maybe I will find something "more" once the athletic events actually commence...but so far it looks like NBC has a pretty tight hold on being able to see much if one doesn't have something feeding NBC into their home.  I don't understand why the NBC stations signals from Huntsville and/or Nashville aren't stronger.  But at the moment I am pretty sad that I'm not downstairs watching the opening ceremonies.

Woody got up this morning and walked seven miles...boy is it humid...when he gets home, he literally has to peel his t-shirt off it is so wet!  Not my kind of walking conditions!  I got off to a slow start this morning...I woke up fairly early and got up, but didn't push doing much.  I read for a while, then later in the morning I did do a few things around the house and then went outside and deadheaded and did a bit of weeding.  The gardens have so many leaves in them that it looks like fall...the earlier drought conditions caused a lot of leaves to fall.  I raked and picked out some leaves from the garden in front of the front porch.  I then took pictures of the caladiums, so my sister could see that the bulbs that we planted while she was here are now popping up and looking pretty. I think that I have spotted ten that have sprouted...I'm not sure exactly how many bulbs we planted.  They add a nice touch of color to the gardens. Late in the morning, I walked next door because Elijah had come over to our house looking for Joy...Joy wasn't here so I walked back with him to see if we could find her (she was in their garage).  Nathan and Graham were working on their motor home.  It was decided that Graham would  use our new vacuum on the floor inside the vehicle.  So Graham, Elijah and I headed over to our house to get the vacuum...we headed back to their vehicle each carrying a part or two. The vacuum was disassembled at our house so that we would each have something to carry...equality!  Graham did a great job for a while and then Abigail worked at it for a while and then I took over and helped finish up the job with Abigail pointing out places that were missed!  Woody and Esther went grocery shopping and to the library. This afternoon we have pretty much taken it easy (not exactly sure what Woody did as I napped for a while).  For some reason today has seemed like Saturday all day long...guess that comes with retirement!

Grammy's "Attic" Day...At Last!

Graham has worked so hard helping me go through the closet that has become like an attic.  His favorite find was his Aunt Melany's piccolo and my flute...though the piccolo was by far his favorite and the last time that I saw him he was working away on learning fingering of notes.  He likes how small it is...even with the case it fit in the pocket of his shorts!  We really didn't take the time to photograph all that we took out of this closet and then put back...but it is now neat and tops of objects, etc. have had dust removed and some of the drawers have been rearranged!  The girls came over mid morning and checked out some of the dolls (three different Shirley Temple dolls and a couple American Girl dolls...along with a lot of things that go with them.  We did decide to put away the American Girl tea party table and chairs and accessories and get out two of the American girl desks.  So the upstairs hall corner has been converted from tea room to school room.  Graham and I almost had things back in the closet before lunch and not long after lunch was over we had the girls come back to play school.  They spent a good part of the afternoon over here...after the newness of playing school wore off, they went downstairs to watch a VHS tape that I had found in the closet.  I am still having to go through quite a few bags of books that I had stored in there from the church library (for one reason or another). I am determined that those bags and boxes will NOT go back in the closet.  Graham figured out a different way to put the stackable drawers back in the closet (I have two stacks) so that all can be accessed without having to move anything.(Plus in the process he has created a new place for "him" to hide when they play hide and seek!) It was a very successful and I think fun day looking through things that belonged to my parents, me, his parents, my aunt, my cousin, etc.  There's lots of memories stored in there for me!  I found a bunch of old cards that I had saved for one reason or another (Woody will tell you that it is because I am a pack rat!).  I plan to get rid of them, but first want to read some of the notes since many of the senders are no longer with us...and back then folk included notes with their cards!  So I have some reading cut out for me.  Abigail called and told me that she had found a Shirley Temple movie (Heidi).  One of the Shirley Temple dolls has outfits that came from about seven of her movies.  Really cute outfits.  We didn't try them on today...that was left for another Grammy's Attic Day!  What do you think of the haircut that Graham showed up with last night!?!  In the top photo, Esther is behind Graham hugging one of the dolls that I played with as a young girl...the other dolls in the pictures I inherited from my Aunt Lois.

Woody got up early did the crossword puzzle, read, and walked four miles.  I had a rough night sleeping...so woke up way before Woody, but finally got back to sleep and slept till I heard Graham's little voice.  Graham and I went down and had breakfast (English muffins and scrambled eggs)...Woody had had his bowl of oatmeal earlier. Then we got busy.  I had asked Woody last night if he would prepare his veggie burritos for our lunch. So after a busy morning we had a good lunch and then went back to work. I got to hold Isaac for a little while late this afternoon.  He is just full of smiles and giggles!  I don't know about anyone else...but I am a bit tired this evening!  All-in-all a very productive day! And, thus ends our first Grammy's Attic Day! I think worth the anticipation! I'm going to go collapse in a recliner with a book!

Last Wednesday of July!

I can not believe that it is July 25th and that fifteen years ago today I was in Antioch.TN taking care of  four-year-old Erin Elizabeth because her baby brother had been born that day.  Not only are the months flying by, but so are the years!  Woody got up early and walked 10 miles (yesterday he walked four miles).  I got up early and hit the floor ready for another day of cleaning.  Cleaned  more in the guest room...under the bed this time.  I put clean sheets on the guest bed...all ready for our next guest!  Joy and Esther spent time over here as did Graham.  The girls got to playing with the bells on one of the shelves in the living room.  I finally told them they might as well take them all off and we would dust the shelf and the bells.  They were very willing to get their hands on ALL of the bells on that shelf.  They played happily with them for some time.  Graham and I have made final plans...or is that finally made plans...for Grammy's Attic Day.  We have a closet in the hallway at the top of the stairs...it goes about six feet one way and six feet the other...so has quite a bit stored in it...there's quite a bit that isn't easily accessible without taking out quite a lot first.  I told the children some time back that we didn't store anything in our attic...but that this closet was like an attic!  And that "sometime" we would get into it and explore it "sometime" when I was ready to clean it.  We have had so many things come up to keep us from doing that task...so the time is upon us.  Graham is going to be my main helper and when we come across a "wonderful find" we will call the girls (we say the girls as there are a lot of my Aunt Lois' dolls stored in this closet) over to see what we have found.  Graham is looking forward to seeing the doll sized (American Girl sized) school desks again.  We may put away the American Girl tea party things and get out the school desks for a while.  That is if Elijah will allow the tea party things to be put away...he does love the tea party in the corner at the top of the stairs...though, he has been playing with it less and less lately. Anyway, Graham is coming over after church and going to spend the night so we can get up, have breakfast, and get going on "Grammy's Attic Day" first thing in the morning...we might even start pulling out a few things this evening to get things under way!  This afternoon I did pull myself away from my cleaning for a while and went to the church library to work for several hours.  Then I came home and put the bells back on the shelf! I called Alex a little while ago to wish him a HAPPY 15th BIRTHDAY.  It sounded like he had had a good day.  (Oh, my...this means that it won't be long till he has his driving permit...yikes!)

 

Busy, Busy, Busy Day

Woody got up early and walked.  I can't say how far as he is off at the church prayer room on his second walk of the day.  We left the house at 8am to head to our personal care physician...an hour drive away. Woody was going for a blood pressure check and I was going for my six month labwork.  We had a nice visit with our doctor and then headed home.  Woody had decided that we would early vote on our way home.  So once back in Tullahoma, we headed to the early voting poll place.  Then we ran an errand that ended up taking us to both Kroger and WalMart.  We got home and I was very ready for lunch as I hadn't had anything to eat so far.  After lunch, Elijah came over to show us his new haircut.  He decided to play for a little while...and as you can see from the picture he got played out!  This afternoon I had a "deja vu moment"...going to the orthodontist!  I wear a permanent retainer...have ever since high school.  It had been taken off and recemented a couple of times...but not for a long time.  When I was getting my crown work done, I think, the retainer got popped off when the dentist was doing impressions.  So today Melany and Nathan's orthodontist popped off the other side...scraped off dried on cement and then recemented it back on.  I came home and did a couple of things and then Nathan popped in and invited me (Woody had already left for the prayer room) over to supper.  They were trying the recipe that I had shared with them for "No Noodle Zucchini Lasagna."  It was very good and most of the children found it quite tasty, too...of course a couple of them did say that they didn't care for the noodles!  They were not told the ingredients of the lasagna prior to them tasting!  The other big news of the day...Isaac has his first tooth!

Cleanin', Cleanin', Cleanin'!

Woody got up early and walked twelve miles. I had trouble getting to sleep last night and thus slept in a bit longer than I like...thus I got a late start on my cleaning plans. I got up and started attacking some more parts of our bedroom. That has taken up most of the rest of the day...still have the bed to get remade. I uncovered a lot of dust/dirt. I seem to be feeding the vacuum quite well! When I clean, one thing tends to lead to another...a never ending job. But we have a much cleaner bedroom. Tonight's photo is one of the neighbor's (Nathan, Kathy and family)pumpkins. They have already harvested three of them each weighing in around 12 or 13 pounds. They brought us one. Very pretty light orange color.

OOPS!!! Isaac Locked In! Graham to the Rescue!

Kathy planned to use our car this evening as she was only going to take Isaac with her.  She started the car and air conditioning and then went to buckle Isaac in...upon shutting the door next to Isaac...all doors were locked...OOPS! (The doors automatically lock when the ignition is started in our car...neighbor's vehicle's doors don't lock till car is put into gear.)  We were only given one key to ignition/doors when we bought the car.  Well, luckily on this car there is a separate trunk key.  Woody decided when we got the car and only one key that we would keep the trunk key safely in the house for just such an event.  In a Taurus there is a section that can be knocked out in the center of the back seat (to put something long in the trunk).  Woody always said that the trunk key would be the solution if we ever got the keys locked in the car. And, the major part of this plan was that we would need one of the little ones next door to crawl through this opening.  This was the first time that we had to test this out!  Graham to the rescue! We were just glad that the car was already running and that the air conditioning was on.  So everyone stayed cool through the process...well, probably Isaac the coolest since he was in air conditioning!  Woody played pat-a-cake through the window with him and kept him smiling. We were just glad that Woody pretty quickly remembered where he had "safely" put the trunk key!!!  Lots of reflections on tonight's photos...but I think that you get the picture!

Woody got up this morning and walked seven miles.  We went to the early service at church...interesting experience as lightning had done a job on the electricity there.  We had no lights, nor amplified sound, nor air conditioning for most of the service.  All was restored by the time for Sunday School.  Woody taught his class.  We came home and have had a quiet afternoon for the most part.

UPS Came Through!

Finally...UPS made their delivery to us at 8:30 last night!  I had promised Graham that he could put the vacuum together so I quickly called over there hoping that he was still up and available for more work!  He slipped on over and made short order of getting our new vacuum together.  It is a strange looking contraption...but works very well...and on top of working well, it is very lightweight.  Our old vacuum was also a canister (my preference in vacuum styles), but it had gotten to be almost more than I could do to get it up and down the stairs.  When I needed to vacuum upstairs, it always seemed to be downstairs and when I needed to vacuum down, it always seemed to be up.  And, Woody wasn't always available to help me maneuver it up and down...so sometimes vacuuming got neglected.  With this one, I have no excuses as it is very easy to carry and it sort of follows me around like a little puppy dog when I am vacuuming!  I vacuumed some downstairs last night and have vacuumed a LOT upstairs today.  And, I should be hanging my head in embarrassment due to all the dirt that it has sucked up!  But I have been without a vacuum for two weeks...and that is my story...and I'm sticking to it! The vacuum is a Dyson and it won out when I researched vacuums on the Internet...due to its weight and easy maneuverability. So the vacuum is the last of things that I was waiting for...at the moment anyway!

Woody got up early and went for an eight-mile walk.  I once again didn't sleep the best so I got up when Woody did and started in on vacuuming upstairs.  With this vacuum my stamina seems to hold up better for a little longer.  I did take breaks off and on throughout the morning and part of the afternoon.  Finally at a point this afternoon I gave in and sat down in the recliner to read and promptly fell asleep and slept for a while (till my sister called)...guess early waking up and all that vacuuming finally got to me!  Woody walked to the library this morning and on the way home stopped at the fruit and veggie market...mmmmmmmmmmmm...peaches!  Earlier this evening, Kathy asked us if we would watch Isaac while the rest of them went on a bike ride.  He was so good.  He sat up and played on a blanket in our family room for a long time.  (He and I had a photo session while he played!) When I thought that he might like to be in a different position, I put him on his tummy...and it wasn't long till he took a little nap. They got home from their bike ride before he woke up so I took him home when he awakened.

We had more storms roll through last night.  And, it looks like we might get another this evening...at least it was sprinkling when I walked home from next door and I have since heard several rumbles of thunder...but at the moment things seem quiet...so maybe this one passed us by.  We seem to be catching up on our rainfall!

For those who wait...

This shows my camera waiting for the next bird to land on the suet feeder basket.  By waiting I have gotten to see quite a few different types of birds.  Woody didn't walk today as it was raining quite hard and thundering when he got up.  We had several storms roll through in the night. Nathan and Graham came over pretty early to check out what would be needed to fix the switch on the light/fan in our bedroom. They figured out what was needed and headed off with some of their children to do some shopping which included a stop at Lowes.  Woody and Elijah headed off to do our weekly grocery shopping.  Abigail stayed home with me.  Woody and Elijah made it home before Nathan and Kathy and their crew.  It wasn't long after Woody and Elijah's return that Nathan and Graham were back over here getting back to work on their "Sonny-do project."  And, fix it they did!  The fan hasn't gone this fast in a long time and it is so good to have a light that doesn't flicker.  A big THANKS to Nathan and Graham.  I put in a call to our pharmacy this morning and FINALLY the doctor had called/faxed it in and it was ready to be picked up.  I headed to pick it up this afternoon. The last wait for the week is that I am waiting on a delivery from UPS...well, it is getting rather late...it is on the truck out for delivery (sometimes I don't like being able to track orders!) and has been out for delivery since 6am this morning (surely in a town our size the truck could find its way here by now?!).  UPS is known to deliver rather late in our neighborhood so perhaps there is still hope that it will get here tonight.  If not...I will be waiting till Monday...more about that wait till after it is over!

Waiting Game Still Ongoing!

One waiting game paid off...I did manage to get a goldfinch in focus.  Several fly in each day to get some of the seeds from the cone flower.  Woody, as usual, got up early and went on a walk.  This time he walked six miles.  I had a difficult time sleeping last night.  I spent a good portion of the "night" in the recliner in our room...reading rather than sleeping.  I finally got sleepy and fell asleep and slept in the recliner till about 6am and then got up and slept in the bed for a couple more hours.  I am still playing a waiting game with the doctor's office and the pharmacy.  I called this morning to see if the pharmacy had gotten the renewal from the doctor yet...no, they hadn't.  So put in a call to the doctor's office...no problem...they would see that it got done.  Well, a little after 4pm I called the pharmacy and they still hadn't heard from the doc...so called the doc AGAIN.  I will call the pharmacy in the morning.  I have formed a plan...if the pharmacy hasn't heard from the doctor's office yet, I will call the doctor's office and tell them that I am on my way to pick up a written prescription! I run out of the medication tomorrow night and don't want to go through the weekend without it!  I've been working on getting this filled since Monday!

One waiting game ended this morning when the Janome software tech returned my call and pretty quickly solved my problem with reloading some software.  It was really strange when she worked it out so she could  work on my computer from where she was in New Jersey!  Amazing what can be done with computers...that is, when one knows how!  She was very pleasant and really knew what she was doing!

Woody ran an errand shortly before lunch.  He has read quite a bit today, too. At some point prior to lunch I managed to finish the book that I read on most of the night.  I also did a bit more work on the laptop to try to get it back to running the way we want it to run.  I played "circus train" with Elijah for a little while. Graham and his daddy are installing another fan on their back porch...Nathan was guiding Graham through the installation steps when I walked over there a while ago.  I  have given them another project...the fan and light in our bedroom isn't working correctly.  They said that they would look at it.  I call these home projects that we have for Nathan to do "Sonny-Do" projects rather than "Honey-do!"

I guess I will be playing more of the waiting game tomorrow...hopefully a couple of waits will be over!

Measuring Up!

And, yes, there are still shoe stores where you can get your foot measured!  And, I feel that we are privileged to have such a shoe store in Tullahoma!  It is getting to the time of the year that new "tennis" shoes are needed and today was Esther and Elijah's turn to go to the shoe store.  Both came out happy with their new purchases.  Grammy will take the others another day!  We decided to divide and conquer today...easier to do two or three at a time rather than all five...and, soon it will be Isaac's turn to get his first pair of shoes at Clayton's!  Woody walked eleven miles today.  He picked some more cucumbers from our garden today and made more pickle relish tonight.  It sounded like we were going to get a storm this afternoon and my energy seemed to be zapped so I stayed home and didn't go to work in the library.  We have had some pretty good storms roll through lately.  I forgot last night to mention the whopper that we got after I posted on Monday night.  By the time it was over we had gotten around 4 inches of rain.  We had small hail, too.  The wind picked up pretty good for a while and there were a lot of downed trees in town...but we only had limbs, branches and leaves on the ground in our yard the next morning.  Woody went to the dentist this morning to get the stitch out from his tooth pulling experience of last week.  He is healing well.  I had to make an interesting appointment today...with an orthodontist.  I wear a permanent retainer and one of the bands has come loose so need to have it taken care of...it will seem strange to go to the orthodontist that Melany and Nathan went to...that appointment is next week.  I'll bet that they don't have too many 64 year old patients come into their office.  Melany and Nathan's orthodontist is semi-retired...but I did manage to get my appointment with him.  Yesterday I called the computer geek who worked on our laptop a few weeks back. He answered some of my questions...but this laptop no longer seems like ours...it seems to have a mind of its own!  I finally put in a call to a Janome (my sewing machine brand) tech to see why I am not able to reload my customizing software.  So far I am still waiting for them to return my call.  I'm also waiting for my neurologist to phone in a renewal for one of my prescriptions...we have tried to pick up the prescription twice now.  So lots of waiting going on around here.  About the only thing that I got totally accomplished today was getting shoes for Esther and Elijah!  Oh, I have gotten a few more recipes typed into my iPad recipe collection.  I am enjoying using it as my cookbook.  It works very well for me...Woody still heads for the paper version of the recipes.

She would have been 100...

If Mother had lived 1 year and 4 months longer, she would have been 100 today.  She gave us this basket of berries several years ago.  When she visited us, she loved to see the sun stream in from the western window in our kitchen and shine on the berries.  It only lands on the berries at certain times of the year.  This evening as I was walking into the kitchen to come upstairs to blog, this is what I saw...the sun streaming in on the basket "lighting up" the berries.  It certainly made floods of memories of Mother sweep over me.  The album that is next to the basket of berries is a scrapbook of her recipes.  Our niece made this and gave it to us this past Christmas.

It has been a fairly quiet Tuesday.  Woody got up early and walked his four-mile route.  The children have come in and out at various times.  We got Nathan to change the light bulbs in the light on our stairs...not an easy task.  Thanks, Nathan!  It's good to be able to see when we go up and down the stairs now.  As he came over and got busy on changing the light bulbs, I walked out the door to go get my hair cut.  We have both read and relaxed this afternoon.  Woody left a while ago to walk to the prayer room at church.

Monday...again!

Woody got up early this morning and walked eight miles.  Later in the morning he walked to the pharmacy to pick up some prescriptions for the two of us.  I got out my tripod and set up the camera so I could take pictures with my remote trigger.  I got several good ones...but I still prefer to have the camera off the tripod as I feel "stuck" in one place when I have it on a tripod.  Later in the morning I focused it on the hummingbird feeder, but once I did that no hummingbirds came...at least when I was looking!  Woody picked quite a few tomatoes from our garden...they are very good!  This afternoon the neighbors (Kathy, Nathan, and five of their six) returned from a weekend trip to Kathy's parents'.  Not long after they got home Graham's camp group arrived back at the church.  He came over and has filled us in on the fun time that he had. We have just had a storm blow in and we got another good rain and a few thunder booms.  So nice to have rain showers pop up once again.  The plants are so happy!  

Mid-Month Sunday

Can you believe that we are already to the middle of July?  I woke up super early...guess I had vacuums on my mind!  I got up and went to work on cleaning up the kitchen...something that I was too tired to do last night.  Woody got up a bit later than I did and not long after he got up he headed off for a seven mile walk.  We both went to the early service and then Sunday School.  Woody taught his six-grade boys.  We came home and have had a pretty quiet Sunday afternoon. Woody is now at the evening service at church.  I did spend about an hour snapping bird photos after lunch.  Tonight's picture is one that I got.  The birds were really enjoying coming to the feeders this afternoon.  This is a downy woodpecker, the smallest of the woodpecker family.

Decisions! Decisions! Decisions!

Today has been a day of decisions for me...and it didn't end when I came in to blog!  I wanted to post a photo of the goldfinch that I managed to capture yesterday.  Well, I had to crop the picture a LOT in order for one to see the goldfinch and not all the other plants, etc. in the original photo as it was taken from some distance away and not with my longest lens.  So that meant that when it was cropped it wasn't exactly the sharpest photo on the wall...which at times is okay.  But I decided that I would play with it with my photo software and then I had to decide which effect I wanted to post!  The other decision that I have faced today continues to be choosing a vacuum.  I have researched on the Internet a good part of the day...and at this end of the day I am  probably more confused than when I started and I'm not sure that I am any closer to my final decision.  I "sort of" think that I have made up my mind and then I read a review that makes me second guess myself!  I have watched videos online about various vacuums and their features...and I have looked at videos that fault different features...and have read about sundry features, both good and bad, and on and on!  Anyway...I think that it is time to move away from researching for the day and perhaps read...at least do something else! I think that I will probably dream about vacuums tonight...or perhaps clouds of dust...or how dirty my house is getting due to not having a vacuum!  (I will say that I have not found a single vacuum that doesn't have some fault found with it by someone!)

Woody got up early and walked four miles.  He and I ran a couple of errands early and then he took me home and he headed off to the library and Kroger by himself.  He has read, watched library DVDs and rested most of the rest of the day.

Oh, and we have had rain, glorious rain several times today...along with a bit of thunder...looks like drought conditions have been broken for the time being for us.  We are so thankful for the rain!

And another update...as I was heading out of the blog area I saw that tonight's blog is my 1300th!!!!!!!!!!  Oh, my.........

And...they're off!

Woody and I saw Graham off on his first church camp experience in which his dad isn't the camp pastor.  Before he left, he and Goosey went over to his house to get his water bottle and they discovered that the Luna moth was indeed a female and had laid a lot of eggs.  That discovery made me put in a call to Melany to let her know about the Luna moth eggs as she had asked for some of the eggs along with the moth for graduate school art project that she is working on.  Not knowing how long till these eggs would hatch, she decided that she would come today to get the moth, eggs...and Erin!  Erin wasn't quite ready to head home, but Grammy needed a break.  I told her to let me rest up a bit and then she could come back if she would like.  Melany and Alex arrived shortly after lunch.  Melany and Woody divided up the Luna moth eggs...some for her and some for Graham.  Woody had already gotten some hickory leaves to put in the boxes for the little caterpillars to eat when they hatch out.  So I guess we have the life study of a moth for Graham and his siblings and more fodder for an art project for Melany.  After Melany, Erin and Alex left, I headed off on a mission...researching vacuums...trying to decide on a replacement for our vacuum that decided to bite the bullet last week as I was vacuuming getting ready for company. Still no decisions have been made...but the process is started.  Woody took me out for a treat this evening after supper...a Blizzard at Dairy Queen...YUM!

RAIN!!!!!

I awoke to the wonderful sound of rain on the roof...almost a forgotten sound.  We had a nice steady rain for most of the morning and a light drizzle in the afternoon.  The fauna and flora in our yard are feeling much better now that they have gotten a good drink! I sat on the front porch for a while and took a few rain pictures...rain bouncing on the road and little birds taking shelter in the trees.

Woody didn't walk this morning due to the rain and also due to his mouth hurting a bit.  He did take a short walk with Elijah this afternoon.  Erin spent time with Graham this morning helping him understand more about a game she has on her computer.  After they did that for a while, Graham got Erin to do space battles with some of his K'nex creations. Joy and Abigail also came over for a while.  Abigail helped me make Cucumber Jello for Goosey (Woody). This afternoon Erin and I went to do a bit of shopping...we needed batteries and a few food items.  We came home and rested for a while and then got busy on our supper...Meatloaf Roll-up.  Woody is still pretty much eating soft food...but he did manage a few small bites of the meatloaf. The latest about his mouth after having a tooth pulled yesterday afternoon...he said that he can open his mouth a bit more this afternoon.  Erin and I got the kitchen cleaned up after supper and are now relaxing again.  We're waiting for Graham to join us.  He is spending the night with us because Nathan and Kathy need us to take him to church in the morning to catch a bus.  He is going to a weekend camp in Alabama.

Today...Gold Doubloons?

We have had another busy day.  Upon Erin rising we got out the cookbook and made Eggy Crumpets using some of the English muffins that she made yesterday.  I declared this a day of doing not much cooking so lunch was leftovers and supper was leftovers plus a couple of other things thrown in.  The little cousins came over this morning and spent a lot of time with Erin looking for the Gold Doubloon treasure that Goosey (Woody) had hidden months back...still not found!  We ended the day with the Gold Doubloons still elusive!  This afternoon Graham came over to build with K'nex and after he had been here for a while Erin had me hand Graham a note...that explained that his very special lamb, Fluffles, had been kidnapped and that he had to follow clues to be able to find him before Fluffles became dinner!  Graham was very happy to be reunited with Fluffles and skipped out the door pretty quickly once he had found him!  After supper and we had the kitchen cleaned up, Erin and I cleaned out another cupboard.  Nice to have someone so tall that the she could get everything out of an overhead cabinet and not need the step stool! Erin is now wanting to use my serger...uh, oh...danger!  Guess I will go give her a lesson? 

Oh, I called NIH to make Woody's appointments in October.  We got the email yesterday with the dates.  We'll be going back the first week in October. 

Woody didn't walk today.  He called the dentist as soon as the office was open.  He decided that this time his tooth ache was not sinus problems.  He managed to get an appointment today and ended up having a molar pulled.  So at the moment he isn't feeling the perkiest...numbness is wearing off so he is feeling some pain. 

British Are Coming...Or is it Pirates?

As you can see, Erin and I did manage to make English muffins...with some help from Erin's cousins.  It has been an active day...one moment we are English...you should hear Erin's British accent!  Then the next moment they are pirates...Erin has a very good pirate accent also!  She and her cousins had fun with a pirate treasure hunt using a treasure map drawn by Erin.  We ate lunch at Nathan and Kathy's.  We helped them eat up their stuffed zucchini boats...very good!  Then we helped them eat up the birthday ice cream.  We cooked the English muffins after lunch.  The cousins continued to play...quite a rousing time.  We were quite excited when thunder joined in the cacophony!  And, along with the thunder came a nice gentle rain that lasted longer than just a few seconds.  Things under trees actually got wet this time.  When the cousins went home, Erin and I had a little respite and then got busy on tonight's supper...linguine and red clam sauce.  Yummy!  Erin made a side salad out of tomatoes and cucumbers, mozzarella cheese, oregano and a drizzle of olive oil...a Caprese salad of sorts.  Good on the side with our pasta.  We also made garlic toast with hot dog buns.  I'm full.  Woody is just coming home from his walk to the prayer room at church.  He walked seven miles this morning.  I think that the three of us will probably take a walk after the sun goes down...and after our dinner settles a bit more! Grammy is feeling her age!  Not sure why I decided to change our bed today...but am just now getting it remade...just hasn't been time before...well, during the time that I rested...but I needed that power nap more than I needed to get the sheets back on our bed! Ready for some evening down-time! The English muffins are very good, by the way...definitely we were successful with those.  Some of them are to be used to make an English breakfast recipe in the morning. 

Fauna

This is how our day started out...Nathan called to say that there was a deer in our back yard heading toward our back door.  Well, by the time that I got my camera, the deer was heading down the side of our house so I had to run to the front of the house and quietly out the front door.  I managed to get a good shot of her in our across the street neighbor's front yard.  So I went back inside and went back to making Erin's breakfast (much better day for her waking up).  Before I got her ham and cheese omelet made I got another call...this time from Kathy.  She said to get my camera because Goosey (Woody) was on their back porch and had a Luna moth.  So I left Erin to grate the cheese on her omelet while I grabbed up my camera once again.  Woody had captured the Luna on his eight-mile walk.  He brought it home to Graham.  They have put it in a box and are hoping that it is a female and that she will lay eggs so they can raise them.  Erin helped with dishes after breakfast.  The little girl cousins came over with a doll with a broken leg and Erin helped them fashion a cast for her leg.  Then they had a rounder of a game of hide and seek.  We laughed when they couldn't find Erin.  When they left to look in another room, Erin said that she "was the elephant in the room" since they hadn't spotted her.  They had fun till lunch.   
After lunch Erin and Goosey made sweet pickle relish...a triple batch. Later in the afternoon, Graham came over and asked Erin to play Battle Ship.  After one game they went upstairs and Graham played one of Erin's computer games.  At a point during that time I went up to relax in the recliner in our room...well, I went into one of those sleeps when it is so hard to come back awake!  About the time that it was time for Graham to go home for supper, I did come back to life.  We had supper.  Then after supper Erin and I started on my job for her for the day...clean out a couple of cupboards...we attacked the tupperware cabinets first...matched up lids, etc.  And then we went on to the canned goods cabinet...oh, my.  All the canned goods are still on the kitchen floor as we are taking a break. 

It has been a good day...always is when Erin has a good day here.  She has been pouring through a cookbook trying to decide what we will make.  I want to go through all these cans and see what we have and what we can make with what we already have here.  Erin loves to cook! The three of us did take a walk last night after the sun went down and it was a bit cooler. We may do that again in a little while.

Diabetic Funk?

I got up this morning with the intentions of getting Erin up early enough to go to church.  But she was in her "sleep-in" mode as there is no telling what time she finally went to sleep last night (she tends to be a night owl) and was very hard to budge out of bed!  I finally decided that it was best if she and I stayed home.  So Woody went on to church without us.  When I finally did rouse her, her blood sugar reading was a bit low.  She has meds that she has to take 30 min. before she eats in the morning, so she did that as soon as she got up.  By that time it was really time for lunch!  So she ate, but not long after eating she felt sick to her stomach...so took an anti-nausea med for that and watched a DVD for a while and then went upstairs to lie down as she had a headache and was "out" for most of the rest of the afternoon!  Her cousins came over hoping to spend time with her, but instead stayed downstairs and played with K'nex, my grandfather's blocks, etc. Elijah came over and asked Goosey (Woody) to play catch with him. We finally got Erin up in time for supper.  She has eaten.  Her blood sugar reading is good.  She and I have been working crossword puzzles.  Woody just got home from the evening service. He hasn't walked today as he was going to walk with Erin after he got home from church this morning.  I think that we may go walk around the block in a few minutes.  There has been rain in surrounding areas of Tullahoma today...but no rain here...at least on our street.  Now if Erin would just go to sleep at a decent time tonight...but she is probably "slept out" and will stay up most of the night and then will be hard to get up in the morning!  I have plans for us tomorrow (hoping to get her to help me with some things around the house)...so need to get her up and going in the morning! She usually gets up better for her grammy than she did this morning...and when she is that way with me it usually tells me that she isn't feeling well due to her diabetes or one of her other ailments!  She has lots to deal with!

A Good Day to be THREE!

Woody started off Elijah's birthday by walking seven miles.  I got up and got busy getting ready for company.  When I was downstairs, I heard a rustling in our garage and looked out and found the birthday boy and his 10-year-old brother.  They were getting ready to go on a bike ride.  Graham was hooking up their bike trailer to his bike.  Then Joy and Abigail joined them on their bikes.  Elijah settled into the bike trailer and put his helmet on and they were off for a bike ride.  This bike ride was to get Elijah out of the house while his parents got his cake ready...a dirt cake...presented in one of Elijah's favorite dump trucks (there is plastic wrap between the dirt cake and the truck!).  This dirt cake was complete with worms throughout!  We got all the food ready to take over to Nathan and Kathy's.  A little before time to eat Melany, Wade, Erin and Alex arrived.  Kathy's parents are here from south Georgia, too...so quite a party!  As Woody, Alex, Wade and I brought over food, Kathy got it all arranged buffet style on their kitchen counter.  Then we went through and filled our plates.  After the meal, we all had some dirt cake...very yummy...devils food cake broken up and stirred into chocolate pudding...and, of course, gummy worms!  After the cake came the presents.  Boy!  Elijah can open presents fast and furiously!  The toys were played with for a bit and then the children changed into bathing suits and headed out to play with the new water toy sprinkler that Aunt Melany, Uncle Wade, Erin and Alex gave.  Elijah did a lot of "lawn mowing" with his new bubble mower that they gave him, too.  Cool fun on a hot day.  We visited for a while until the children came in to play "Pin the Tires on the Dump Truck!"  Erin made her way back to our house first and then Goosey.  The two of them went to the library...so Erin has a supply of books and movies to keep her occupied for a little while.  Melany, Wade, Alex, Graham and I then headed to our house.  Graham wanted to show them his Hex Bug stuff and then he went off to play a computer game with Erin in her room.  Abigail joined them to play the game too.  Graham stayed till our supper time.  We had left over barbecue (I see that in our future for a while...quite a few leftovers from our birthday feast!).  So we have had a very full day...both from activities and food!  Erin is now ensconced in her room.  Before I came in to blog, she had started to read out loud a Sherlock Holmes mystery using her British accent!  It should be an interesting week...one never knows what Erin will come up with! Happy Birthday to our sweet Elijah!

Cookin' Here in TN

Well, we were cooking both in the kitchen and outside today.  We did get a few drops of rain after I finished the blog last night...enough to get the street slightly wet...just not enough to dampen things under the trees...and we have a lot of trees...so not a lot got wet!  It was another hot day.  Everything is crunchy underfoot. Woody walked six miles early this morning beating the heat.  I stayed in mostly and made heat waves in the kitchen.  All is ready for tomorrow's feast except for one dish...I will do that after the blog.  I made my mother's recipe for Boston baked beans.  These have to cook on top of the stove for an hour and a half and then in a slow oven for six to eight hours!  Rather warm in the kitchen most of the day!  Woody thought that we probably could have cooked them outside!  Woody made the slaw.  And I made potato salad.  So next is a the cucumber jello salad...when one has so many cucumbers that salad shows up a lot!  Nathan brought over a sample of what they had for supper tonight...stuffed zucchini...very tasty!  I have done a little cleaning...but very little...guess I'll be getting up early tomorrow to finish what doesn't get finished tonight.  My get-up-and-go has just about gotten up and went!  Well, off  to see if Woody has peeled the cucumbers...a job that I have given him. Oh, i almost forgot, Woody did take another walk later in the morning. He walked to the fruit and vegetable market for another head of cabbage, some peaches and some tomatoes.

Another hot and dry (so far) day!

I just love the way the nuthatches get to the suet cage...instead of flying to it like the other birds, they climb down the chain.  I finally managed to capture one with the camera.  I was out by our mailbox saw that the nuthatches were having their turn with the suet and I just happened to have my little camera in my purse since I had just come home.

Woody got up early and went on a four mile walk.  He picked blackberries again on this walk.  He said that due to the extreme heat and dry conditions that they were just about gone...bushes, berries, etc. drying up.  We have gotten a lot of severe thunderstorm warnings this afternoon and evening...but so far not a drop of rain.  We do need rain so badly.  I have done some cooking in preparation for a big day of cooking tomorrow.  Woody went to the grocery store so I could get started on that cooking.  As soon as I finish blogging, I will go downstairs and get my beans soaking.  I plan to make my mother's recipe for Boston Baked Beans for our Saturday July 4th/Elijah birthday celebration.  I took a little snooze this afternoon and was awakened hearing the sweet little voice of Esther.  Nathan, Kathy and children have been away for more than three weeks.  It wasn't too long till a Graham and Abigail came over to see us.  They headed back home quickly as they were helping to get ready for supper company!  Can you imagine...being away for more than three weeks and having company for supper just a few hours after you return?!?! Elijah made his way over a little after Esther, Graham and Abigail left and he stayed and played a while, then I went next door to see the ones (Joy and Isaac) who hadn't graced our door! They have all grown (or so it seems) since we saw them last.  They have been doing their juggling ministry at summer camps and seem to have had a wonderful time...swimming, canoeing, etc. mixed in with their juggling! 

Woody and I are both reading quite a bit at the moment...both of us have good books.  Woody usually has a couple of books going at the same time...often a non-fiction or two and a fiction.  Well, at the moment I am in the midst of two...something that I rarely do.  But I had started a book and then the library called and said that they had a book that I had requested...so I couldn't resist starting the one they called about and I was into the other enough that I really didn't want to put it aside...so I'm reading a couple of chapters in one and then a couple in the other.  They are both fiction...and both a mystery book...hope that I don't get the plots confused!

I made Eggplant Parmasan for supper...yum...and, again, the iPad app worked very well for viewing my recipe.  I was glad that I used the iPad recipe as I had left out the sliced tomatoes...opps...from the recipe so that is fixed. Well, off to soak beans!  Lots of cooking and cleaning to do tomorrow.  We will have a houseguest starting Saturday.  Erin will be staying with us for several days. 

Happy 4th from TN!

Woody got up early and walked eight miles.  I, again, didn't rise very early.  I talked to Melany while they traveled to visit with Wade's parents for the day.  Then a bit later I talked to my sister.  Finally I decided that it was time to start to make our pulled pork for Saturday.  This took the entire afternoon and into the evening.  I seems to take forever to get the roast cut up...it is very difficult to get the meat cut away from a really strange shaped bone and then while I am cutting it off the bone I am trying to trim away as much fat as possible.  Finally I got it into the pot and got all the ingredients added in and got it simmering. Then it is a three hour cooking process with me staying pretty close as I skim fat that rises to the top.  Anyway...I am tired...I always wonder if it is worth it while I am cooking it...but then when it comes time to eat it...I usually think that it is!  But at the moment the verdict is still out!  Woody has done a lot of reading today.

Lazy Summer Tuesday

Woody got up early and walked ten miles.  As for me...I slept longer than he!  I did do a little watering...just trying to keep some of the plants alive.  But I also hate to use precious water...so I am torn as I know that we have entered a time of drought.  I planned our Fourth celebration...which won't take place till Saturday.  I got all the ingredients that we will need on the grocery list (I hope!).  Melany, Wade, Erin and Alex will be joining Kathy, Nathan, Graham, Abigail, Joy, Esther, Elijah, and Isaac, and Woody and me for our 4th celebration which this year we are combining with a birthday celebration for Elijah.  He's turning three...hard to believe!

I continue to type recipes into my recipe app. One of our blog followers wondered what I was using for a keyboard on the iPad.  I am using the one on the screen, but I am using it just like a regular keyboard...not just using one or two fingers.  It does slow me down a bit as the numbers are on a different keyboard and you have to change back and forth between numbers, symbols and letters...but it still works.  Today I cooked for the first time using the iPad for my cookbook...and it worked great.  I made "Simmer Steak" which wasn't the best test as there isn't much recipe following, but still I have now used a recipe that I have typed into my iPad recipe "book."

I got a call a little while ago from the public library that they had a book that I had requested so after I got supper ready, I headed that way.  I passed Woody walking home from the Prayer Room at church.  He has had two walks today.  Me this afternoon after I got supper fixed I flopped in the recliner and read, played solitaire, and snoozed...good for a lazy day.  The birds are still enjoying the suet bird feeder.  I am just about to have to refill it...it is down to a very small piece.  I have one in the refrigerator ready to go in when this one is gone.  About the only birds that can get at it now are the woodpeckers...or perhaps this big ol' jay!

Not Quite As Hot...

Maybe not quite as hot, but still hot!  Thunder has been rumbling around us...but just rumbles no rain on our yard.  It is just so dry.  Woody got up really early and went for a seven-mile walk.  When he got back he planned to use the laptop for a while...get his crossword puzzle, etc., but alas...no internet connection.  Since he needed something to do, he decided that he would use up the zucchini...so he made three loaves of zucchini bread.  I took a picture of two of the loaves with my iPad camera so I could put the photo with the recipe that I typed into the iPad recipe app.  So that is tonight's blog photo...can you just smell the bread and just about taste it?!?  I also helped transfer the pickles that were ready to be put in jars.  We are not canning these pickles...these are just refrigerator pickles. This afternoon a friend stopped to return a book to Woody that he had borrowed...he handed us baby Frosties...and we handed him a loaf of zucchini bread...seem like a fair exchange?!?  I'm looking forward to a Frostie (well, Freezie...since it has been in the freezer) after I blog this evening.  Nothing much better than a Frostie on a hot summer day!  I continue to type in recipes as that is an activity that doesn't use a lot of effort so it keeps me from feeling hot! And I am accomplishing something as the stack of loose recipes is going down...so that is a good thing for recipe organization and paper build-up around here.  I have talked to several friends on the phone this afternoon.  It's funny how the phone doesn't ring for several days and then it rings a lot all in one day.  It was good catching up with them.  As you can tell...that is if this posts...that I managed to solve our internet problems after I got up this morning.

"It's HOT!"

It looks like this little tufted titmouse is crying out a warning about how hot it is!  I think that it "may" have been a little cooler than the last couple of days...but that's not saying much!  Woody walked eight miles early this morning.  I slept in a bit later than usual as there was only one service at church today...the annual God and Country service at 11am.  We both taught our respective Sunday School classes.  We came home and have had a lazy summer Sunday afternoon.  We have both finished reading a book (not the same one!).  I have typed some more recipes into the computer and started a new book, talked on the phone with my sister, and had "FaceTime" on the iPad with Nathan and family.  Woody has watched a DVD and rested his eyes a bit.  That about sums up our activities on this the first day of July...the start of the second half of the year!  Oh, yes, Woody did make a recipe of "Crazy Dill Pickles."