Latest snapshots

Bergamot-also known as Bee Balm in bloom along the trail

Butch the electrician doing his least favorite part of the electrical work down in the crawl space. It is hot!

Out to eat with friends at B'J's in Glidden Iowa, 20 miles west of Jefferson on Hwy 30. Pictured above is Jack, Pete and Butch.

Jerrilyn and Denise.

Watching Elise Grow

Headphones: http://youtu.be/ONk1R2ncM-Q


Swimming: http://youtu.be/gIeQNLVUJ7M

A Trip out of town

Yesterday we went to The Wolfe Eye Clinic in Ames, IA for Butch's follow up after the laser treatment to remove the film some people develop after cataract surgery. Everything is A-OK , come back in a year. We will be returning to the same place for me to have the initial consultation about cataract removal next Monday.
 After Butch's appointment we went to Hickory House, a world famous place in Ames, for lunch. It was good but each of us will order differently next time we go. It is a great place to eat but it is one of those places where you can benefit from someone else's positive experience when it comes to choices.

We spent a bunch of time in Lowe's after lunch picking up electrical items so that home projects can proceed. We stopped in Boone to spend some time with Jason and ate supper at one of his favorite places in Boone, The Colorado Grill, another great place to eat but I was so full from lunch I tried to eat light but with a minimum of success.

I have a collection of pictures I have taken lately and will try to have them posted soon. I have sure enjoyed our great-grand Elise and her pictures. Her Momma is a teacher and has the luxury of getting to spend more time with her this summer.  

Our little engineer

From Amanda Teeter

Have to be a bragging mom for a minute. If you can't read the sign it says she pottied 11 times on the big girl potty today. She's doing so well for the first week out of diapers.

This is the more...

We hurried through our wonderful farmers market supper so we could make the 6:30 movie. It was Brave, a Pixar movie. It was good and kids will like it very much. It always surprises me a bit when I can get emotionally invested even a little bit when it is really only a cartoon. Good movie but only a one timer in my opinion.
What a shock when we came out of the theater and hit with the powerful heat and humidity. Today was supposed to be the hottest for awhile. Sure hope that is correct.

Triple digit heat and such

Jason came over yesterday and helped Butch with getting things done in the crawl space. I offered but I have rules...like can you get me out after I get in there. I think he had reservations as to my skill levels beyond the concerns of getting me into and out of the  crawl space as well. But we are both glad for Jason's help and I wondered to myself what I could fix for supper that would be a special treat. I mentioned creamed eggs on toast and Butch thought it would be a good choice. We tried creamed eggs on toast as a breakfast choice in Magnolia Park with minimal success. BUT we used gravy premix and I did not do that. I used a made-from- scratch old fashioned white sauce. You know butter, flour and milk and all like in the old days. It was wonderful!!! And Jason loved it which is the most important part. He said, "I bet you thought you were going to have leftovers." and indeed I had thought that but it was okay. I haven't had someone rave over my cooking for quite some time. It was nice.
After supper Leo stopped by with some sweet corn he purchased at the farmers market. Can you believe sweet corn before the 4th of July? Unheard of!! Colleen was telling me this morning that it was planted March 15th! And then I helped Colleen with her computer and she brought me some peas and new potatoes from the fore-mentioned farmers market. We are eating very well these days.
Butch is nearing the halfway mark on the wiring...so I am just full of good news.
I am in a bit of a push as we are thinking of going to the movies so more later...or tomorrow A M.

A-OK

I must be much better as it is hard to remember to take the medication. It was not at all hard in the beginning.  I am now able to eat normally and eating is one of the things I enjoy best so that is a good thing.
Butch is working on the electrical and I am helping with that on occasion as well as doing other odds and ends like laundry, cooking...yes, I said cooking,,,and watering plants and pulling weeds.
I am still getting my 2 miles in every morning with my friend Colleen. We keep each other going and there are days we each would pass on if we were on our own.
I walked through the garage yesterday afternoon and I could smell garlic...and then I remembered the garlic Colleen gave me to plant. So I looked at it and it was sprouting. In other words it was screaming to be planted and so I planted it. In two different locations. That tells you how humid it has been lately. Also tells you that plants have their own way of screaming and garlic is pretty damn good at it. I love the way this garlic looks when it matures. It looks like a graceful crane. I hope it takes off so I can get some pictures...or perhaps I can find some on Google images.
Found one!

The road to recovery

The mouth is better. It is not 100% yet but I would say 80%. It seems as we get older the little irritating things we must deal with come out of the blue and stay too long. The plus side of this is that I have dropped a few pounds. Most likely it is temporary but hey I will take what I can get out of the situation.

Our doctor guy came and pulled up all the flooring so it was nice that all worked out. Butch had a short break from his electrical chore because the loose flooring was all over the place. He enjoyed the break and played golf a couple of days. I am assuming we will both be back at it come first thing tomorrow morning. First thing for me and first thing for Butch have some space between but that works great for both of us.