Entertainment for the day

We received a call the other day from our electric company to inform us that our electric pole was "compromised".  They came to replace it.  Five trucks arrived (picture shows only two).  We watched in awe as them lowered the line, removed various attachments from the pole, then pulled it out and put a new one in.  Five men worked for about two hours.  The amazing thing to me was how each had a specific job and how smoothly it went.  By "compromised" it was that it was rotting in the ground.  Our electric company is very proactive in that they inspect poles and also remove tree branches that might fall on the lines in a storm.

The yard light on top of this pole lights automatically at dusk. That is fine except when we are sitting around the fire and trying to see the stars.  So a couple of years ago we asked a neighbor's son who is an electrician to install a switch so we could turn it off.  The supervisor of this work crew told us that this is illegal.  Gerry explained that his wife wanted to see the stars.  They were kind enough to put it back up.  Guess we are not going to jail for our illegal acts.

It is hard to see in the picture, but Gerry was out there watching the entire show.  

Thanksgiving week

Since most of read http://stylingwithreneemichelle.blogspot.com/  I will not repeat what she posted there.  I would add that she has great friends.  For hours they worked with us in removing insulation and without a murmur  of complaint.


 "before" pictures" 

 The day before we had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at their apartment overlooking DC.  Well,  not actually the White House and monuments, but some of the city.   It was a treat.  All I brought were two pies: the required pumpkin and a cherry. And as usual there were leftovers.

On Sunday G and I drove back to Ohio.  This has to be the heaviest  traveled day for the whole year.  Traffic stopped or went extremely slow for hours. But we arrived home safely and are on with our life.  My big project for the coming months is to replace the flooring on all of the first floor except the bedroom.  That requires choosing counter tops for the kitchen, flooring for the kitchen and carpet for the living room/dining room.   Pleased be advised that this may be the topic for many future blogs. A friend advised that I enjoyed this,  do it with joy and have a good time doing it.  I will try to remember that  advice .

A gift of flower pots

Over the years I have had grandiose plans of having many houseplants as well as outdoor flowers in clay pots.  Or so it would seem when I looked at my stash in the garden shed.  I no longer have even one house plant and it is not a good idea to have flowers in clay pots outdoors when you are not home to water them daily in the summer.  So, thank goodness for "Freecycle".  I posted that I had them to give to a good home and two women are now very happy.  No, make that three, because I am happy that I gifted them to the two women.  They each got about 20.  Most I found at garage sales, so the "sunk" cost was not too much.


Freecycle is a group where one can get or give items free that can be reused and kept out of landfills.
I looked it up and there are 5,311 groups around the world.  If you are interested in finding one near you,  just look up freecycle.org.

I am stating to be more realistic about which projects or activities I actually will do.

The usual preparation for winter

This last week couple of weeks the weather has cooperated so that Gerry and I have been able to do the last minute preparation for winter.  He has put antifreeze in all of the water pipes in the camper.  It was a bit of a project in that he had not done it before and was worried that he would miss one, it would freeze and he would have a burst pipe and another project next spring. Thank goodness for Youtube.

He then winterized all the mowers, the shredder, tillers and who knows what else.  Winterizing them means turning them upside down, scraping off all the accumulated grass and dirt, then washing it with the power washer. He also drained the oil and filled it with new so it is ready to go next spring.

I pushed myself to get the deck and railings stained.  It seems this needs to be done every 2-3 years. I did hire someone to help this year, but it still took several days.

All I need to do yet is plant spring flower bulbs.  But that can be done any time that you can still dig in the ground.

Projects and recollections

It is October when G and I start thinking about what projects need to be completed before it is too cold.  Mine was to stain the deck again.  I looked back on the calendar and it looks like I did it two years ago.  There must be a better way, but this deck is what was here when we bought the house.  It was a two person job (not G and I).  Doing projects like that definitely is not his favorite thing to do. So I power washed it, and applied a brightener which is supposed to open the pores in the wood so the stain goes in better.  Next I hired a 20 year old Amish young man.  He has been doing a lot of yard work this summer.  He spent two days applying the stain on the floor.  I stained the railings for two days and am not finished.  Rain is here so it will have to wait.

G project was to put a sealer on the cracks and joints on the concrete apron in from of the shop.  This took him several days too.  We are bleary eyed but are happy to have done so much.  I did not think to take any pictures.

For G's birthday party I made a board with pictures from his life.  I thought I would include some here. This is him riding a motorcycle to classes at the University of Minnesota.  I can't believe he is smiling.

Another motorcycle pic.  He raced motocross in Oklahoma.  I never could get the red dirt stains out of his clothes.

Ok, this is the last motorcycle picture.  This was a couple years ago when he rode the Continental Divide Route.  Just wanted to show there is a theme here.

Nature

The other morning I was sitting on this swing having my morning coffee. The dew from the previous night had covered this spider web.  It made it much more visible.  How intricate and beautiful. I watched as a mosquitoes got caught in the web.  The spider was on it quickly and seemed to paralyze it. It sounds dreadful but that is nature.

Another view.  I so much enjoy nature, as you can tell.

The last photo is someone destroying nature!  It is Hubby trying to get rid of weeds in the ditch in front of our house.  He did such a good job that he even got a few branches on a tree!  As you can see he has a gas can in his hand.  He has his special way of getting the fire going.

Seeing stars!

This morning I awoke at 5:15 am.  Usually I try to get back to sleep but since that didn't seem to be working I got up and had my first cup of coffee.  I happened to look out the windows to the west and noticed a thick fog.  Then when looking out the east window I saw through the fog a bright star or as it turned out, Venus. Intrigued, I went out side and was amazed at the view.  The fog covered all the light pollution.  There was just a small waxing moon.  Because of this stars were bright. I lay on a foam mattress wrapped in a warm blanket and just gazed in awe.  What a gift.

Words fail me to describe how I felt.  I thought of A in A who requested a trip to a place where there was no light pollution and loved it. I plan to keep the location she went to as a future trip.

Better him than me

Hubby is dirt bike riding, or should I say rock riding in Colorado.  This is a picture he sent to me of his group manually turning a bike around because it was too difficult to keep going. I cannot imagine riding on those boulders. I think he told me that one day he fell down 10 times.  He still claims it is fun.

He is at 12,015 feet elevation and still smiling.  

After all that effort this is what they saw!

One project completed

I think I have mentioned in previous posts that Hubby is actually paying people to help him with his many unfinished projects. This is one of the first, with many to follow I hope.

What was I thinking?

On my KonMari mission I am now editing CDs and photos.  If you hear a scream from Homerville you will know why.  I would be embarrassed  to report the number of CDs that I have purchased (and kept) over the years.  I have come up with a method to edit the CDs.  I listen to the first couple songs on each one, then look on YouTube for the album. For the ones I love and can listen from my computer, they are going.  Also there many I just do not like anymore.

For the photos, I tried to Google how to edit them.  Mostly I was told to put them in albums.  No, I want to edit which means sorting and throwing.  These two projects may take weeks, but must be done eventually. The best part I am finding and listening to songs I really love.

Hubby has been at the air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin for the past week.  He is seriously thinking of flying an ultralight again.  Apparently the choice now is should he buy one or fix up the one he has. It needs a new engine and who knows what else.  Our daughter is lobbying for him to pay someone to fix it for him.  That is painful for him to do.  But I am happy to report that he has a mechanic working on two of his Triumph cars and a motorcycle.  So there is hope.

Well, one to the project!

My life

Today I decided to just look at my pictures and use some of them to tell about me or my life.  When I wake in the morning this is what I see (when the sun is shining of course).  I like geometric shapes, and shadows.

Another picture of my day lilies.  I have been taking endless pictures of flowers.  Now to find a way to use the photos in decorating my house .

 

When we visited our son and family in California, we witnessed the "organize chaos" of the swim meet the grandchildren were in. There were six lanes with swimmers competing for several hours.

 S volunteered to be in charge of the computers this year.  He even put his dad to work on the tangle of cables.  A good time was had by all!

Gerry's birthday

When we were in CA, Gerry was having pain in his back.  It improved while we were there, but a couple day later, it came back with a vengeance.This picture shows how he spent his 70th birthday- in the ER/  He seems ok lying there, but when he sat up or moved some the pain was intense.  The diagnosis is sciatica.  This is one of those things that the doctor cannot say what caused it.  The pain pills did not give him much relief.  It just takes rest and time.  There are some treatments but they are not too promising.  He was better after a few days, so he went to a motorcycle show this weekend. He took our camper so he can lie down when needed.

I have spent my time weeding my flower beds.  FUN.  Today I picked 20 pounds of blueberries.That was more enjoyable that weeding. I will freeze them to use on cereal and in smoothies.

More from California

Kyla was REALLY into making "slime".  The recipe uses white glue and Borax.  She could even blow it up like a balloon.  She added food coloring for variety.

Bryce enjoyed himself playing drums at his father's work place. This small room had this drum set and a couple comfortable bean bag type chairs. Fortunately most of the sound could only be heard through the headset .  Work places in CA are quite different than in Ohio and probably most of the country.

I would like to add comments to the last post where the children were selling drinks.  This was very much a spur of the moment event.  Kyla invented a drink with fresh fruit and ice water.  The neighbor boy brought over cookies to sell.  I think they made $6 which they split three ways.

We attend the children's swim meet.  It was "organized chaos"with a couple hundred children ages 6 to 18 competing. It is a co-op so all the parents are required to volunteer.  This year Shawn agreed to do the computer part.  I think it was more than he bargained for. He put his dad to work.

One more note on the visit.  At the de Young museum we saw this sign on the restroom door.
We wouldn't see that in Ohio!

Test

. Making money.

Doing it again.

Saturday is our ninth annual Pig Roast/Pot Luck.  So far I haven't freaked out.  Ninety two people have said they are coming.  Luckily we have a tent for shade as it will be a high of 91 degrees.Tables are set up in the garage and almost everything is purchased.  I forgot to get the plastic aprons for those cutting/shredding the cooked meat.  This year RM and her physics friends will not be here.
I hope I take more pictures this year to share.  Usually I running around so much that I forget to do that.

On another topic, when I walk in our woods I love it when I witness something new in nature.  Of course in Spring there are many wild flowers.  I try to identify the birds by their song.  I carry my phone and try to get information on various songs.

Today I saw from my deck a coyote loping across our field into the woods. I would never see it in the woods, but I was thrilled to see it in our yard and field.  A couple of time we have heard them yipping and howling close the the house at night.


 

Camping recap and home projects

Since we returned home from the camping trip, I caught the cold Gerry had.  So it has been a slower week.  My diet seems to be entirely cough drops.  But both of us are on the mend.  I really don't want to complain, because it could be so much worse.

Gerry has this blessing or curse:  He loves the challenge of fixing things.  At our Monday night dinner a friend brought a Lincoln welder that was broken.  He said it would cost more to have it repaired than it was worth.  Gerry was the recipient.  He was thrilled because it uses 110 and he does not have one like that.  The other three he has are different.  You will have to ask him the details. Anyway, here is how he spent the next few days. My kitchen is a work shop too.

There was a small lake at the campground. This is the scenery as I walked there. Nothing spectacular but just peaceful feeling. 

G is always looking for ideas for "yard art" that we could have when we start camping.  He thought these were possibilities.  I think there may need to be some discussion on this yet. :)

The wheels on the bike on the bottom one turned in the wind.

First Voyage with camper

Last week we took the camper on its first trial run.  We went to Maumee Bay State Park about 100 miles from our house. It was not an ideal vacation, but we accomplished what we set out to do- test the camper.  First of all, G was suffering from a terrible cold.  But he insisted on going.  On the way we had a flat tire on the van.  No problem - put the spare on and take the tire in for repairs the next day.

We had put water in the tanks at home.  When we turned on the water pump, water sprayed from the back of the toilet.  Fortunately there were facilities right across the street from our site and we were able to carry in water for drinking and washing dishes. Once we returned home G took to apart and found the broken part.

I learned that I need to make a spreadsheet or put sticky notes on all the cupboard doors because I could not remember where I stored everything.

G was very pleased that the van could pull it well and the brakes worked well!

We are looking forward to many more adventures.  But our schedule is so filled that we may not use it until October.

Plow Days

Today we attended the Spring Plow Days of the Engine Club Gerry belongs to.  Usually they have plowing demonstrations by very large tractors, small old  tractors, garden tractors and even horses. Yesterday it rained a lot so they could not do any plowing today.  We were able to enjoy  a large pot luck lunch and tour the property where the event was held.

This is an example of the "yard art."  

The members of the club love to make unique vehicles.  Several children enjoyed this one.

The families who host the event collect old farm equipment.  It was like visiting a museum.  Our son was visiting from San Francisco and had brought a friend.  Gerry had a great time explaining what the various pieces of equipment were.

Update on test results, Spring work

In my last blog, I made reference to some testing that I was undergoing and tried to be funny about my comments when wakening.

I found it difficult to describe my symptoms to my doctor so it might not make sense here either.  For about six months I would occasionally  have this episode where I would be looking at normal things like the hall way in my house, my bed, or what ever.  It would look different, extremely clear and immediately I would feel very nauseous.  Never vomited. I would also feel fear for no reason. This would happen twice a day then not for three weeks.  I felt silly even going to my Nurse Practitioner about it.  After having my esophagus and stomach checked she referred me to a Neurologist, who ordered an MRI and EEG.  The MRI came back negative and the EEG showed what she described as sharp waves.  She said it probable is a mini seizure.  This can manifest  itself as a sharp smell, movement of your figures and many other things, like me seeing something extremely clear. Really weird, I know.

I have been prescribed a very low dosage of anti seizure medication.  So it is not anything serious, just annoying.  I am happy to have it checked out and know it is not serious, but should just be addressed because it could cause some problems after years if let alone.

Thank you to those who voiced concern.

My daughter and son gave me money for my Christmas gift to buy some trees.  The nursery sends them when it is time to plant them.  They arrived last week and we had a couple of days of snow after they arrived so I stored them in the wood room in the basement.  But the weather improved and hubby helped plant them.  Each is one branch with a stake to keep it upright.  They are flowering Bradford Pear (non edible) but are beautiful in three seasons.  

 

Testing and food

Today was my day to get some testing done at Cleveland Clinic. At the end of the EEG I had fallen asleep.  When the woke me they asked questions to determine how oriented I was.  I was asked what day it was, the names of the Great Lakes, five states that start with M and who is the president of the United States.  I almost failed the test on the last one.  I said something like, "I know who it is but don't want to say his name."  but finally did.  I am sure the women giving the test were just shaking their heads.

In a week I will get the results and give a report. I don't think my problem is real serious, but may need addressing.  We will see.

On Sunday I am hosting my third dinner in a month.  I am taking notes of what I make as I want to have a couple good "go to" menus that I can use in the future. The first was Chicken Marsala with rice, roasted carrots and steamed green beans with nuts.  The second was also Chicken.  I made Chicken Cordon Bleu.  This has  rice pilaf,  vegetables and a lemon cheesecake for dessert.  Both are keepers. Both of course had a salad to start as well as dinner rolls.

This Sunday I will be making my first Prime Rib dinner.  We want to tell some friends thank you for things they have done.  I did warn them that I have never made Prime Rib before but they said they would be good sports.

As I have said many times, "It is great having guests for dinner.  I end up with a clean house and a great meal."  Usually we have leftovers too.

Treatment update.

On Wednesday Gerry had his out patient procedure where radioactive seeds were implanted into his prostate.   He had finished the five weeks of radiation treatments three weeks previously.

A friend has a  house five miles from University Hospital that is vacant.  We stayed overnight there, then got up at 5 a.m to be at the hospital at 6:30 a.m.  By 3:30 p.m. we were on our way home. Everything went smoothly, although we were both beat by the end of the day.  Gerry is very confident with the doctor he has chosen.

The weather was extremely windy that day.  When we arrived home there was no electricity.  We drove 5 miles to a neighboring town were we had dinner.  Not knowing if the electricity problem was resolved, we spent a couple hours at the library.  All was well at 8:30 p.m. when we arrived home.

This is the before picture.  Sorry, Gerry I just had to include it because you are make such a fashion statement with the matching hat and gown.  In case you haven't guessed, Gerry's attitude has been very upbeat throughout all of this.  It has barely slowed him down.

Better the second time around!

What a great meal.  Salad, chicken Marsala, roasted carrots with thyme, green beans with roasted pecans, rice, dinner rolls, orange cake, and wine. 

The best part is no effort on my part except popping most of it in the microwave.  

These are the leftovers from a dinner for guests last night.

Two Birds that remind me of Andrew

 A week ago when walking in our woods, I came upon these three Bluebirds.  They were in a tree close to the Bluebird houses that are out there.  There are two of them.  They were made by Andrew.  I quickly went online to read information on when I need to clean them out.  It said by March 15 at the latest.  Since they are too tall for me to reach, I rode the four wheeler out there and stood on it. There are two nails to remove, then take out the old nesting material, followed by a spray of bleach and water.

As usually happens, when I stood there touching the bird houses, tears were running down my cheeks.  I have another memory of Andrew that has to do with birds.  One Christmas Renee Michelle gave him an app for his laptop that had bird calls on it.  He and I went to a county park where we hiked.  He played some of the calls.  The only birds we could get to come to us were Cardinals.  Now when I see a Cardinal or Blue Bird, I think of him.  That brings a smile to me.

Update from the Goertzens

The other day I asked G if he could straighten the shelves on this shelf in the basement.  "Always the engineer" he came up with this to pull the shelves up from sagging.  I don't think there is anything he can't repair.  I use that phrase, "Always the engineer" frequently when talking with him, sometimes in awe and sometimes in frustration!    He has a solution for every problem.

I am using the KonMari method to sort and edit everything in the house (mine not G's of course) and needed the shelf space to do that.  More on that project in another post.

He has completed his five weeks of radiation treatment for his prostrate cancer.  We are really grateful to have good treatment within driving distance.  It took about four hours to drive round trip and get the treatment.  It hasn't slowed him down.

This week we bought a camper.  It is a 2012 model and is in great shape except for a water leak on the roof, which will need to be repaired.