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.  

Post about Peru trip

Someone left a comment on a previous post about the lack of pictures or posts about our trip in
South America.  This trip was more stressful for me that I realized. My emotional state was a bit of a mess for about a week.  I think I am better now, but not completely.  Nothing I need to see a therapist about, but it is just taking time.  I will not go into details about what contributed to the stress at this time.

Then there was a lot of catch up to do around home:  A huge stack of mail, weeds taller than the plants in the garden, work to do for the two organizations where I have the position of treasurer.

Next let me tell you about the pictures that were taken on the 14 day trip.  There were 11 people on the tour, all taking pictures.  I was concerned that some of my pictures may not have been the best, so asked for copies of the pictures of the others.  One man in the group had his laptop along and everyone downloaded their pictures to it.  He brought them over a couple days ago and put them on my external hard drive where I have my pictures.  There were over 9,000.  He figured if I looked at each one for 3 seconds, used one second to click to the next, it would take me over 9 hours (without bathroom breaks)!!   So I have my work cut out for me.  We are leaving on another motorcycle trip on Wednesday, for 10 days, so this will be put on hold.  I really do have hopes of putting something together later.

Visit from Son-in-law

Our Son-in law has been visiting us for the last week.  During the day he does his work (which is looking at the computer monitor for eight hours at a time).  Other times he follows us around attending dinners with our various friends and groups (G's motorcycle buddies) and assists G with projects.  Two biggies this week were 1) the Audi was loaded on a trailer and taken to the scrap yard where, we received $350 for it and 2) getting G's favorite motorcycle running again.  He had a little mishap several months ago where it started on fire and he could never get it running again.  S-i-L made a suggestion that it be taken off the center stand when trying to start it, as there is some kind of switch there.  It worked.  They spent several hours getting all the parts back on and last night it passed the test drive.

Today the two of them are attending a motorcycle swap meet, and tomorrow will go to an antique car show.

Since he and RM live within driving distance (6-7 hrs) we will see them more often.  I am happy about that.

We are in Chili today, where we have been for three days.  Today we get on the bikes for the first time and ride to 14,000 ft. to start to get aclimated to the height.  We spend the past two days in Santiago where we toured the area as a tourist.  Just got the notice I need to run.

Lots done today

Today DH and I spent the day in the Cleveland area.  It is an hour from our house by car, so we made a day of it.  I had an appointment from 10-11am, we then had lunch with our son after touring his work place.  Then we stopped to see a coworker of DH from where he last worked.  He is supportive of DH because he knows the workplace environment there.  Following that we shopped for protective clothing for our upcoming motorcycle ride in Peru.  After spending hours in two different stores, I found an armored  jacket and pants and DH got a new helmet and jacket.  Following the drive home , I read two applications for scholarships that a club we belong to awards.

Tomorrow, following our exercise class,  we are taking the bike to Columbus to return a helmet that I previously bought but do not find the fit comfortable enough.  I will take pictures of me wearing the new clothing.