Today's Pics

We went to Des Moines today to the Habitat for Humanity Restore. Butch is not fond of the place but Jason, Laura and I like to poke around there. We enticed Butch there because they had some air compressors for sale and he has been in the market for a small portable one. He also had one spotted on sale at Menard's and that is where he ended up buying one. It was a fun day with the kids and when we dropped them off in Boone I took some pictures of their grapes and one of their not yet ripe pumpkin. This is a volunteer pumpkin by the way and it certainly hasn't had much rain.

Munchkins

I have been wondering how the greatgrand munchkins were faring these days but knowing that their mom is a busy one I did not push and then today when I signed in to Facebook I am blessed with some recent photos...and here they are!

Miss Elise (age 3) in her princess dress with her hair straightened for the first time. She is usually a naturally curly girl and her great gram likes it both ways.

And Baby Leo who is now 5 months old.

Early morning ramble

I was up early this morning...early for me that it is at 5:00AM. I remembered that I had not watered my flowers yesterday. They worried me as hot as it has been. I had to wait till 6:30 for it to be light enough for me to see them and they were fine. These flowers need dead headed really bad and I want to give them a good soaking before we go to the fair next Thursday. I have been amazed how well they hold the water they do get.
It is such a relief to have the sewer fixed. Like the song says, "You don't know what you got till it's gone". So true and it always amazes me how your life gets suspended when there is an issue with it. It is like holding your breath. But we are breathing much easier now and I am caught up with the laundry and Butch has emptied the holding tanks in the motorhome without any problem. All systems go and yes, I do catch the double meaning.
In a few minutes I will be meeting Colleen for our walk. We have missed a few days and we will be missing a few more coming up. We have been very fortunate all summer that nothing has prevented us from getting our walks in. We both miss it when we do not get it done. We do not feel like we walk quickly at all and really considering our age I do not think we do walk quickly but Colleen has had some guests this summer who tried to walk with us and couldn't stand the pace. So perhaps we do better than we think. I am aware that the bike runs I have made lately were much easier than the first ones.
For now, I am out the door....

More to come

Butch had an early morning appointment with a doctor in Ames for a tingling in his arms and hands under certain circumstances and a loss of dexterity in his hands. I think today was the first of many appointments. Two are on the calendar already. As he would say,"Its a long way from my heart." Or maybe it is me who would say that.
The sewer issue is taken care of... that is everything but the bill. Not knowing where the sewer was in the beginning was our mistake. As it turns out in putting the sewer connection to the motorhome we cut right through it. How it worked for the two years it did is a complete mystery. But the situation has been repaired and altered to be satisfactory now.
I took a few early morning photos the other day and here are some of them.

Sewer in process

They are working on it and we are going to make some adjustments to our system while we are in the process. In the final analysis it should all be better than it was before and that is the silver lining in this big old pile of stinky stuff. I always look for that silver lining even in a pile of poop. It is our own poop after all. It is nice there are people out there who are willing to help us deal with our own poop.
Another part of the silver lining is that our 3 season room has yet to be built. Sometimes procrastination can also be a blessing. I am hoping tomorrow we can do laundry. Tonight I hope we can take a nice long shower without mysterious gurgles and burps.

 The one above is there because Butch may want to consider it the way his game is going these days. And the one below is because I thought you could all use a little chuckle and it also ties in a bit with our sewer problem..

We have hopes the plumber is showing up tomorrow and that we will be repaired before evening. Hope is all we live on, right? If that indeed happens I will be so happy to have our normal routine returned. Sometimes being in a rut looks pretty darn good.

We went to Ames for my annual eye exam this morning and all is well. I think I will get some Mexican glasses this next winter. They simply want way too much money for them on this side of the border. I am so tired of the constant search for glasses so I had the doctor write a prescription for ones I can wear all the time.

We are watching Breaking Bad on Netflix. Anyone else out there hooked on that series?

A ride through Paradise

This morning I had a very early appointment for a hair cut. 7:15AM. I know. I was surprised too. But Marcia asked if I could make that time and I said "Yes" so there you go. It cut into my walk time with Colleen but I found a new hairdresser in Jefferson that I like. That only took 3 years. So after my haircut it was still fairly cool outdoors so I decided to get a bike ride in.
It is hard to put into words what it feels like on the trail in the early morning light with a light southerly breeze. There are places along the trail that give me the feeling of entering a cathedral with all that can entail. The quiet serenity of the tall trees forming a peak above, shafts of morning sunshine finding its way through the leaves. The quiet, oh the quiet is so hard to describe. It simply can't be done. It has to be experienced and it has to be experienced alone. If I were with you I would have to tell you how wonderful it is...and that would break the spell. Here are the pictures from this mornings meditation.

Many places along the trail have steep sides where you are looking down on the river valley floor.

 I have the thought in some places where I find it doubtful a man has set foot on the ground for many years if ever simply because it appears so undisturbed.

Single minded

I do believe that once my company gets here and I am enjoying them I totally forget everything else. I think it is a good thing because it means I am very much more in the moment. The bad news is I forget to get photos of the event and disappoint many of my readers.
Our friends from Yale and  Lake Panorama were guests in our new fancied up house, Marv and Judi Smith, Jack and Jan Tallman and Bob and Jean Cornish. We enjoyed another great meal prepared by my sis in law Keri. More and more people are now knowing how lucky I am to have Keri in my bag of tricks. The menu was Ham Balls, Cheesy potatoes, Orange salad and Key Lime pie for dessert and it was all as delicious as it sounds. After our delicious meal we played cribbage. I spent most of the evening at the lower table but I still had a very good time.
Before our guests arrived Jason and Laura stopped by with my Simply Said items I had ordered. They were kind to me and installed both of the items. I am so impressed with both items and they add just the right touch. I do have pictures of them and here they are.

Curious about Chrome OS?

I have been looking into a new computer with a Chrome OS(operating system). So people ask me what that means exactly and how is that different from what I have now (Windows 7). Well, I came upon this you tube video that explains it very well so if you have any curiosity about it at all just watch the video.
Why am I thinking about it? My computer is approaching 4 years of age and it gets a lot of use. And in the last month or so it has seized up so I would need to manually shut it down then restart. Not a good thing nor a good sign. Chrome OS laptops sell for $249.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QRO3gKj3qw