Choosing our pain

G and I both are complaining of aching bodies.  G was riding his dirt bike on the Hatfield-McCoy trails for the last four days.  He went down a couple times, once when stopped and once in the mud. And bouncing up and down on the dirt trails is hard on your body too.

I spent a couple days shoveling mulch from a trailer on to my flower beds and staining the floor of the deck. That involved being on my knees and getting up and down from the floor many times.  I actually got it finished before the cold weather will arrive.  But my thighs are complaining.  This week I hope to finish the mulch.  There always are more projects to complete before winter arrives.

Nature in many forms

Yesterday I went out to my garden where I found an iris in bloom.  It is not the season for them to be blooming so I was thrilled.  As you can see I have tilled most of the garden already.

Irises are my favorite flower, so this was a wonderful gift.

Looks like there is something interesting in the weeds. When Ada gets to walk in our fields and woods she is in heaven. We do walk on the road for at least 30 min twice a day for real exercise.

This is her favorite place to be.  There are so many wonderful smells.  But the smells win out over our calls for her to come back.  We have to bring her back with the leash.

What's for dinner?

When our son and family packed their belongs and moved to CA, we were the recipients of food from their refrigerator and freezer.  When I came back home from MD, there were a lot of surprises:  half containers of salad dressings, ketchup, maple syrup;  frozen lasagna, turkey burgers, a pizza just to name a few things.  I am planning some of my meals around these.  Thank you to them.

I went outside of my comfort zone in cooking when I bought arugula from the local Amish auction.  The challenge then was to find a recipe that Hubby would like.  I found one where you sauteed onion and garlic, add chicken broth then cook the arugula and dried cranberries in the broth. Slivered almonds were added before serving,  I thought it was a keeper.  He ate it, but I am not sure he is a fan.    

Dog Days

The term "dog days" originally meant the hot humid days in late summer.  For me it is each day of my life.
When I was staying with RM, I usually walked Ada twice a day and did other care of her.  She asked that we take Ada so she can give her energy to other things in her life.  So Ada is now at her country home.

I assumed when she was loose outdoors, where there is lots of room to run, she would.  No, she likes to stay close to  me.  She will wander around the buildings, sniffing for critters.  Well, she did go visit the neighbor dog.  I decided to not allow that.  What I have found is that she is a very well trained dog.  Andrew put a lot of time into her training and it shows.

Since she does not get her exercise running around the yard, as I just assumed she would, I take her on a 30-40 minute walk on the road on leash.  Since she is very happy to go at a brisk rate, I am getting some needed exercise.

So "dog days" is a very positive phrase in my life.

A Saturday with RM in MD

Today, Saturday, is busy for RM and me.  We were up and had breakfast early.  At 9:00 am we set off flea foggers in the house.  There is a serious infestation on Ada.  We had to be out of the house for two hours.  During that time we took Ada on a wonderful long walk.There are many miles of paved trails close to her house.  We then came back and opened up the windows for two hours to air it out.  During that time we sat on the front porch where we flea combed Ada and had our lunch.  Hopefully this will help with the problem.

Later this afternoon we will meet up with friends of RM at a historical house three blocks from here.  There is some kind of reenactment of a battle, so we will learn of some history in the area. In the evening a neighbor invited us for dinner.  My part was to bring dessert so I made chocolate mousse.  We are keeping busy which is good for us.

In the event that any reader has not heard the news, our Son-in-law died on July 25.  This was completely unexpected.  DH and I are still with daughter.  I have been here the entire time, he had to go home to work for three days.  He will go back home on Saturday, but I will stay.  A's family left on Tuesday.

We are now working on various financial, legal issues.  Friends have done research and DH is helping daughter with these.  It is actually going quite smoothly, which is what she needs.  She will go back to work for a half day tomorrow and Monday and then full time.  I know this is rather factual, but it is impossible to put emotions into words now.  But we are hanging in there and daughter is trying to do normal living as much as possible.

Visit from Grandchildren

Our grandchildren visited us for four days last week.  K has a fascination with horses.  A friend let them ride her horse, whose name was Charm.  

Another activity was blueberry picking.  This seems to be an annual event. We have a lot of blueberries frozen now.  

Then there were chores to be done and someone needed to drive the tractor.  

As usual, the visit was much too short.