August Bids Us Goodbye

Busy day around the house. I continued with windows. I did the larger of the two kitchen windows. Starting the windows in the house means that I have to deal with curtains...that meant taking down the curtains. Cleaning the windows and running the curtains around in the drier to get them a bit more dust free. Then this particular pair of curtains needed some attention to the top as they kept drooping and had been bothering me for some time. So I took them upstairs and ironed the tops with some spray starch...much better after I got them back up! I ran into a problem with the window when I attempted to open it to clean it...it kept coming out of the frame. I emailed the window to ask what I needed to do and they very promptly emailed me back. They had a video to watch and I got this particular window fixed...all by myself as Woody had disappeared. Isaac helped me with part of my window washing...he's a good little helper. Yesterday we had a "drop food on the kitchen floor"...as in dropping a container of Woody's coleslaw (wasn't me!). Anyway, yesterday the floor got a good mopping...so clean kitchen floor and one clean window. Let's see Cheryl arrives two weeks from tomorrow...at this rate I don't think that I can/could get all the windows finished! Really not trying to do them all...just some that really need doing. There probably won't be any window washing tomorrow as we head off in the morning to Vanderbilt. Woody walked this morning...I'm not sure how far and I'm not where I can ask him. He also went to Life Care Center to do Bible study with Jeff. Guess I will be turning pages over in calendars tomorrow and spending time in waiting rooms at Vandy. I'll report on our day tomorrow evening.

August's Last Saturday

Woody got up and walked ten miles. Later in the morning he went to the library, Walmart and Kroger. He has helped me in my cleaning mode by getting started on cleaning the front porch. Nathan and Graham had cleaned/sprayed off the outside of the house with a special cleaning solution earlier in the summer, but the front porch siding still needed to be washed down and Woody got started on that today...not a fun job! This has been sort of an off day for me...sleep didn't come all that early for me last night due to the late "nap" that I took yesterday. So I sorted pictures on into the night. I finally did get some sleep in the wee hours this morning and have taken several naps during the day. The main thing that I did today was continue sorting pitures and as of a moment ago, I just have August's from one camera left to sort...a major accomplishment. I want to get the pictures through August sorted before September arrives and I think that I will be able to meet that goal fairly easily. When I say sort...I mean that I have gone through all the digital pictures that I have taken (on four cameras)from the date that I stopped sorting the last time...that are stored where I dump them when I take them off the cameras (stored on one Passport (small external hard drive) in files by cameras and dates taken)...then I open up those files and make new files or put them in files that have already been created (like flowers in flowers, etc.). And, I do that times two as I have all my photos stored on two Passports. When this job is done I will have my photos all stored in two separate places...and none or next to none on the actual laptop. The nice thing about sorting is that I get to review all the fun things that we and kids have done over that period of time...birthday celebrations, teeth finally coming out, etc. So I have gone down quite a few memory lanes! Due to the pictures and the way I sort them, I can tell you that we have made 15 trips to Vanderbilt so far this year...Tuesday will make 16...and the year is "only" 2/3 over! It's fun to see all that the children have done and taking so many pictures at random times I usually get one or two half-way good ones at any given "shoot"...then there are sometimes when they just aren't good. I didn't even wince at deleting really fuzzy pictures. Anyway...butterflies are tucked away with butterflies, blue birds with blue birds, and special occasions tucked away in their months and on their days...files within files within files. The sorting can be rather mesmerizing/hypnotizing at times...and sometimes at later times I find some pictures tucked in strange places...the reason that I shouldn't do it for too long a time period without walking away from the task! We heard several rumbles of thunder late this afternoon and then it has lightly rained off and on for several hours. I have been reading...still trying to finish up one of the books that I have started (the one that is due first)...but sorting pictures has gotten in the way of reading. Woody is downstairs reading and watching something on TV...perhaps a DVD from the library. Tonight's photo is one that I sorted today that caught my eye due to the bright colors. This one was taken in a garden outside our public library...the reason that I try to have a camera with me where ever I go...I have one of my small cameras in my purse at all times.

On the Doctor Road Again

Woody got up and walked four miles. I got up and continued in my cleaning mode again. I washed the window in the laundry room and then went outside and washed the sunporch door windowpanes on the outside. So that area of the house has had a sprucing up. I was going to do a kitchen window, but when Woody got home from his walk, he reminded me that he had a dermatologist appointment in Murfreesboro today. So we left around 11:30 and took a leisurely "stroll" on the back road to Murfreesboro. We were slowed down a bit when we came to the community wide yardsale that is pictured in tonight's photos...there were tents, tables, etc. set up over quite an expanse of the highway we were traveling...we also got behind "Farmer Jones" on a slow tractor, etc. We went that way both going and coming back so I could attempt to get a few pictures out the car windows. It was a beautiful day...beautiful clouds...though it was a bit warmer than it has been...but there was a breeze and the humidity continued to be down. Woody's appointment was a quick one...he got called in right on time and he wasn't in the office more than thirty minutes. He was told that they discuss him in the office...I guess that they don't have many Stage-four melanoma cases who have kept returning for their yearly appointments for so many years. Dr. Bell is the doctor Woody was sent to by our personal care physician after he had been diagnosed and operated on (mole removed) here in Tullahoma and that surgeon said that he didn't need further excision as he had taken out a wide enough margin...but that it was usually recommended when the pathology report came back to have further excision. Woody decided to take the pathology report's advice and had our doctor recommend a dermatologist in Murfreesboro...that was nine years ago! At that time Dr. Bell sent him on to a surgeon in Murfreesboro and Woody ended up having two surgeries on the same day by two different doctors and after pathology reports were back, it was declared that the Melanoma hadn't moved on in his body. But, several years on down the road...it was back and that time it was fourth stage melanoma. He has continued to go for yearly or more often check-ups with Dr. Bell...so it is known that he continues to fight and win the battle with his melanoma. Woody said that his nurse today had never heard of ipimimulab or keytruda...guess most of their patients haven't gotten to the stage of being qualified to take these drugs (these drugs are "last ditch efforts"). We got back home midafternoon and ate what I call lupper (lunch and supper combined). After eating I sat down in my chair and didn't "come to" until just a few minutes ago...wonder if I'll be able to sleep tonight...now that it is bedtime! (By the way, I don't know if you have picked up on this in the news reports...but Keytruda (infusion that Woody gets every three weeks) is one of the treatments that former President Jimmy Carter is getting...along with radiation.) Oh, and, Woody did pass his "body check" for any dark or suspicious places on his skin today...an appointment was made for next year!

I Don't Do Windows...Oh, Wait...

...that's right...in the past I didn't do windows...but now I have no excuse not to wash windows since they are the kind that fold in so you can do the inside and outside while standing inside the house. I will just say that it still isn't an easy task. Today I decided to tackle the sun porch and while everything was out of that area I decided that I really should do the windows. After all...it is a sun porch...and the sun should be able to get beyond the dust and dirt that has accumulated both on the outside and inside of the windows. There are three tall windows in this small area plus a door that has multiple panes of glass...when the windows fold in they practically touch the wall...hard for me to position my body to slide them up and down or reach across to clean them and get them back in place. We have a crazy insect called a May Fly...these May flies build nests in the edges of the screens...they stuff dried grass into the edges and then lay their eggs in there. (The reason that I know this was that one day I saw one stuffing the grass in...at least the mystery was solved as to what was doing this to almost all of our windows!) There will be fewer May flies come the time for them to hatch as I swept a lot of them up with my vacuum today. The windows looked really good UNTIL the sun shone on them around 5pm today and then they looked a bit streaky...oh, well...there is always next time to make them look better...at least they are MUCH cleaner than they were earlier in the day. Before coming up to blog I "made myself" put everything back in its place. The only thing that I lack doing in there is doing the outside of the windows on the door..."perhaps" tomorrow...that is if I can move tomorrow! Now, when the weather is nice, we can leave the door open and enjoy seeing the nice clean area. Woody got up early and walked ten miles. He has also worked out in the yard today...I never heard the mower so he must have been doing something else...but he was out of my view so I'm not sure just what and I forgot to ask him when I asked how far he had walked today...and now I am too lazy/tired to go downstairs and quiz him! While I rested for a while this afternoon, I talked to my friend, Connie, who moved away from Tullahoma. We had a nice chat catching up on what is happening with each other. My sister called while I was talking to Connie so I called Cheryl back and we had a nice chat too...the longer the rest the better for me these days! We talked about her upcoming visit here...making plans. Woody has the washer and drier busy this evening. So all-in-all we have had a pretty busy day and I, for one, am ready to call it quits and find my recliner and my book. In between putting clothes away, Woody is reading and/or watching TV.

Angry Blue Bird!

I have been sorting pictures all afternoon and this little guy's expression caught my eye. Speaking of sorting pictures, I managed to finish up sorting the pictures that I had taken over the last few months on one of my cameras...but there are still a lot more to be sorted! At least it is a start for this period in the year. Woody didn't walk early this morning. Since the temperatures promised to be pleasant on into the day, he chose to walk four miles after lunch. This morning he did his Krogering and Farmer Marketing. I put the groceries away. I didn't sleep well last night so it has been one of those days when I doze off and on trying to make up for lost sleep I guess. My library cohorts and I decided that it would be a good day to play hooky from the library. I have read some more in my books. I'm making pretty good headway on one of them...maybe I will have it finished before Saturday when Woody goes to the library.

A Walkin' Day...At Least for Woody

I'll post two pictures tonight...one for tonight and one for last night! I just never got around to coming in here and posting a picture after our eggplant parmesan finally came out of the oven and was eaten. I will say that this was an absolutely delicious recipe for eggplant parm...it was good last night right out of the oven and it was good warmed up tonight...so I "think" that it was worth the effort!?! Woody got up early (I woke up earlier, though) and he headed out for his first walk of the day...six miles. He said that he was cold at the start of his walk...in the upper 40's. The temperature and humidity has been delightful today. Then later in the morning he walked to our pharmacy and picked up several prescriptions. Then a little while ago, he headed off on his third walk of the day...this time he headed first to the Life Care Center to tune in Jeff's TV so he could watch a Yankees game and then he headed to the church for his time in the Prayer Room. He has yet to return. He has also worked crossword puzzles and he also got on our old computer and played the computer a game or two of Scrabble. He has been reading too. I woke up at 4:30...things on my mind...I guess. I thought that I could go back to sleep if I read for a while, but that didn't happen...so I got some more reading done on the books that I am in the midst of...I mainly read on one early and then later in the day have picked up another of them...so more pages turned in the three books that I am in the midst of. I spent most of the morning in the sewing room. First I cleaned off my sewing machine cabinet surface...again...I keep cleaning it off so I can make some Christmas ornaments but then use it for some other project and have to put other things away so I can get back to trying to start a Christmas ornament. Today once I got things put back where they go, I decided that it was time to clean my machine...so I did that and then got underway with making my first Christmas ornament of the year...and actually have it made and it is sitting on the ironing board waiting to be pressed. The funny thing about having cleaned my machine...I ended up using thread that makes a lot of fuzz...so it is probably has as much fuzz in it as it did before I cleaned it. Oh, well...that is the way with cleaning anything...clean and turn around and it needs to be cleaned again. After lunch, I began to fade due to my early rising hour so I ended up taking a nice long afternoon nap. When I got up I did a maintenance task on this laptop. That about sums up our day. This is our oldest granddaughter's 22nd birthday...where have the years gone?!? Happy birthday, Erin!

Where Has the Day Gone?

I'm posting downstairs on my iPad this evening as I am still working on our dinner. I decided what we would have for dinner—Eggplant Parmesan. Then I decided to try a new recipe for it...well, this one takes quite a bit longer than our old stand-by recipe for eggplant Parmesan...so I got under way a little after 4pm and here it is 7pm. The first stage of the cooking is now underway...but still a ways to go. I'm not even hungry any more...I don't like to eat late. Woody got up and walked 12 miles this morning. Later in the morning he ran an errand for me and went to the Life Care Center and had Bible study with Jeff. I did some sewing while watching a really good movie: "Woman in Gold." Melany loaned it to us. I really enjoyed it. I made a little more headway in the books that I'm reading. Woody started a new book and has done his usual daily crossword puzzles. Well, back to the oven. Perhaps a bit later I will post a butterfly photo that I took earlier today.