Next Tuesday

 Our neighbor across the street was a tractor collector. He passed away last winter. Before his death, he had set a date, May 23rd, to sell his tractors. He has over a 100 I swear. His yard is full of them getting ready for the sale. I took a picture from our place that only shows a portion of them. The auction will be online as well as on-site. It should be a very busy place next Tuesday.

If anyone is interested I am sure if you googled "Tractor sale, Jefferson Iowa, Kenny Pederson" you will find lots of info with pictures.

Costco Run

 A run to Costco is a much bigger deal for us in Iowa. Yesterday we went to the Ankeny Costco for the second time. We used to go to the West Des Moines one, which is a couple of miles closer. Our route would take us to Wendover Road, which I always called Bendover Road. After we traveled a ways it turned into Old Alice Road and since Urbandale is expanding to the west, they have many different construction projects in process.  The Ankeny Costco is a couple of miles further but for now, it is much easier to get to.

While shopping in Costco, Butch usually goes off by himself to explore. I saw him coming toward me with a shoe box in hand. They were not a style he would usually consider BUT they were $5.00! Yup, that is right. $5.00.

Butch's feet have been on our minds lately. He had an appointment with a podiatrist and we were thinking he might have a toenail removed. That didn't happen! Doc started cutting his toenails and I was getting amused watching the cuttings pinging around the room. His feet looked much improved! Butch cannot reach his feet anymore so now we have regular scheduled appointments with the podiatrist. The nail he was most concerned with has a fungus situation so Doc told him to use Vicks vapor rub on it on a regular basis and it would straighten itself out. We were both relieved to have the situation resolved.

Haircut on the 16th

I got a haircut on the 16th and it has been 6 weeks without one. I do not feel fit for public viewing. I decided to take some before shots for comparison.

So here are the results of the cut. The haircut looks great but the old lady under it looks way too old.

Mr. Gary Brooker retires.

Mr. Gary Brooker ( far right) and 3 of his co workers retire from teaching. I sure hope Gary enjoys retirement as much as we have!

A Talk with Gary

 Gary called yesterday (Mothers Day) and we talked of many things. Gary will be retiring in a few days. He said people keep asking him what he plans to do and he does not know how to answer. I suggested he say, "Anything I want!" Our conversation took me back to when Butch and I retired twenty years ago in October. We did have a plan of sorts and that was to live in an RV and wander around and that is indeed what we did. But the truth of it is, it does not matter where you are located with your body. It is where you are located in your head. Much of what we did then still holds true today. We like to get some work in every day and mix it with a thing or two we consider fun, like going for a walk, reading a book, playing some pool, or perhaps working in a nap. I will admit there is some adjustment to completely changing your daily routine. Whatever we did, it always had a positive twist to it. I often say these are absolutely the best years and it could not be more true.

And now to get on with my retirement. I think I will start the laundry. I have about 3 loads. I plan to make some egg salad so getting the eggs boiled and peeled is on the agenda. It shouldn't take more than 10 minutes to clean up the breezeway.  That will give me a sense of accomplishment and we will see where it goes from there. And birdwatching! I think I will get in some birdwatching!