Trick or Treat!

Well, the last day of October is upon us. That means a time change...which means that we move an hour closer to my family in Arizona (AZ doesn't change time so part of the year we are two hours apart and part of the year we are only one hour apart.). And, hopefully, we will get an extra hour of sleep tonight. When we changed time in the Spring, Woody was in the hospital for Interleukin-2. Glad that is behind him and that we are home for this time change!

Woody didn't walk this morning, nor did we take a walk together today, due to his knee. It's better but he is trying to rest it. He got up and had the kitchen really neat and tidy by the time that I got up so that I could mess it up again when I made a pot of soup. I made Stuffed Spud Soup again...it's a quick and easy soup...and I love it (Woody likes it too)...so those were my deciding factors (mainly the easy part!) in soup choice for this week. Woody went to the library and got more books and DVDs. He has spent the afternoon reading, watching football, and watching DVDs. I have been sewing...or at least getting ready to sew something. So a pretty calm and relaxing Saturday for us.

Tonight's picture shows the decorations on our dining room table. A couple of days ago I added the real pumpkin...the one that grew voluntarily in our compost pile...it did get orange enough to use for our Fall decorations! This is our first success with growing a pumpkin...and we did nothing!

Now I will post this before Trick or Treaters ring the doorbell again. So far we have had seven (make that nine!)...we never have very many.

Cycle 4, Day 19--It's Friday...again!

I really can't believe that it is Friday once again. Time really seems to fly these days...sometimes that is good and other times not so great. I guess the thing that is the hardest to believe is that November will begin on Sunday. The year is quickly drawing to a close.

Woody got up early, went to work, didn't walk at lunch as he is still favoring his knee, stopped by the fruit market on his way home and got tomatoes and apples. He relaxed in his recliner for a while...until his back got to bothering him (pressure on his back in the scapula area hurts him at times--this is the area where Dr. Sosman did a needle biopsy that proved to be melanoma the first time that we saw him in December of last year.) Anyway, Woody suggested that we take a walk around the block. He said that he needed to get up and move around and get the pressure of the recliner off his back. He thought that his knee was doing better and that if we took a "careful" walk it would be okay. So we did take a walk around the block staying on level surfaces as much as possible. After he got back home, he put the heating pad on his knee.

We survived...or I guess I should say that our three youngest grandchildren survived our taking care of them last night with "only" one bloody lip! Esther (2) fell out of one of their recliners and hit her lip on the corner of an end table..."ouch!" She was very brave and Joy (4) helped us by getting one of the ice packs that they have stored in the freezer door for such occasions. Woody read them lots of stories. And, I got in some good "Elijah holding time." Nathan, Kathy, Graham, and Abigail enjoyed their night out. The play "Little House on the Prairie, the Musical" with Melissa Gilbert (Laura in the TV Little House series) playing Ma was definitely a hit for both the parents and the children. I got to hear about favorite parts from each of them today. Graham and Abigail told me how they made it look like there was a storm and a fire and also how they made it look like there were horses on stage when there weren't. Abigail got fascinated with the lights and seeing the dust particles in them! She also had to be convinced that Mary wasn't really blind...today she told me that Mary was "acting like she was blind."

We are looking forward to a relaxing weekend before Woody goes to Vanderbilt on Monday for a CT scan. For the first time, we have received no word about this appointment from either the nurses or from the automated Vanderbilt voice. I went online to make sure that the appointment had been made and it has...guess we will go without any prompting!

Beaver Pond Reflections

Woody still has a gimpy knee so he didn't walk at lunch and we won't be walking this afternoon either. But I figure that we may get our exercise shortly. I'm posting early today, since we are heading next door to take care of Joy, Esther, and Elijah, while Nathan, Kathy, Graham, and Abigail go to see "Little House on the Prairie, The Musical."

Cycle 4, Day 17

Once again, Woody got up early, went to work, and walked at lunch. When he came in the door after work, he mentioned that his knee was gimpy. He doesn't really remember when it started bothering him. But we didn't take a walk this evening, since he thought that he had better rest it.

Cycle 4, Day 16

Even less happening today than yesterday! It has rained a good portion of the day. Woody got up early, went to work, didn't get to walk at lunch due to the rain, came home and has rested and relaxed for the rest of the day. We didn't take a walk this evening due to the rain. Right now Woody and Graham are watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." And, it is still raining. Obviously this picture wasn't taken today! We snapped this tree when we started out on our walk on the Tullahoma Greenway on Sunday. Oops...I almost forgot...Woody did make another cranapple crisp this evening.

Another booooooring day!

Today has been pretty much a same ol', same ol' day...as you can see above, even Storm, the kitty, thinks that our life is pretty boring! Woody got up early, went to work, walked at lunch, was very busy at work, came home and we went on a walk. It was a pretty long walk--2+ miles. We were both glad to get home from the walk. We ate supper after we got home. We watched the news. Now I'm blogging and Woody is reading. That's about it for our boring life! But, as I have said before, we are quite happy for boring days! It has been another absolutely beautiful day.

Cycle 4, Day 14 (half-way mark for this cycle)

What a glorious Sunday! The sun shone brightly, the leaves seemed to shimmer in the sunlight, and the Fall colors were magnificent. Woody and I both taught Sunday School this morning. We came home, changed clothes, ate some chili (still quite hot...I tamed mine with shredded cheese and sour cream!), then headed out for a walk on this beautiful Fall Sunday. We walked the Tullahoma Greenway...so walked at least 3 miles...of course, it is a slow three miles, as I keep stopping our progress to take pictures. The leaf photographed above seemed to have gotten caught on the rock rather than being swept down the stream...which was a good thing, as I had to change lenses to get a good close-up, and, if it had been in the flow of the creek, it wouldn't have still been there when I was ready to take its picture. We thought it very unique!

Woody rested after we got home...had one of his "feeling sleepy" times. He rested and relaxed watching football. He had a Youth Sunday School Teacher meeting this afternoon. He is now watching baseball. He's happy to have the TV back.

I started this blog more than an hour ago, but our doorbell rang when I had written just a couple of sentences. There were five little children and two parents at the door. Three of the children were dressed backwards and all shouted "trunk or treat" when Woody answered the door. They looked rather familiar so we let them in...and their treats were tangerines (with lots of seeds that several of the adults had to extract!). We did finally figure out that it was Nathan, Kathy, Graham, Abigail, Joy, Esther, and Elijah! They had been at church and stopped in to see us on their way home. Since they were dressed silly and won't be here on Halloween to go "trunk or treating" at our church they decided to "hit" us up tonight! We had a nice visit and now they have gone home to find their beds. They had been away for the weekend doing ministry gigs in TN and AL, so they will be glad to sleep in their own beds tonight.