This mornings ride

Quite a day on the trail. First off a raccoon crossed my path headed for the backyard of a Jefferson resident. A rabbit was a few feet from the raccoon. Neither were concerned. I rang my little bell on my bike and he quickly waddled away from me. The rabbit hopped off the bunny trail.
When I arrived at the bridge I was surprised how high the water was up. I took a few photos. The sound and the rushing water bothered me a bit so I walked my bike back across the bridge. I turned to look back wondering if there might be a biker. It is hard to hear approaching people either on bikes or on foot. The trail is a quiet place. There stood a deer! She was in the shade so getting a picture would have been difficult on several levels. So I went on my way.

The contrast of color was the attraction.

Hands and Mower

Butch had an appointment with a hand man today. He has had trouble gripping  and drops things frequently. He thought it was carpal tunnel. The hand guy doesn't think so. He says he thinks it is tendonitis so first we will try treatment for that. He had steroid shots in both hands. It hurt much worse in the hand that has been bothering him most. (left)
After that we stopped by Jason's to "look" at his mower. 2 hours later we left. Jason has a nice mower despite the fact it is going to take much fixing to get it just so. Jason can do it-no problem.  It is a Cub Cadet.

There is more but I won't go into it. Suffice it to say I had not had my morning coffee or breakfast.

On a lighter note.

My friend Colleen is home! We had our first walk this morning against a pretty stiff wind. It is great to have her back so now my walk will seem so much shorter and informative. We have much to catch up on.
No more progress on the room but Butch has been in touch with Russ and he said maybe next weekend.
Butch is off to the golf course. We had a windstorm last night with much rain. He checked the rain gauge before he left and there was 2 inches in it.

Saw this on my walk this morning. The nearest tree was quite a distance from the machinery.

 
We may go to the lumber yard and pick out windows when Butch gets back.

Not my Circus

Strange Things Happen!

Sunday night I rolled out of bed at 12:15 AM to make a bathroom trip and looking out the front door I spotted 3 garbage cans sitting behind our car. They were not ours and it was not garbage pick-up day. I hollered at Butch and woke him up. Meanwhile in the backyard there are people with flashlights wandering around, looking under our locked motorhome. Butch turned on our outside lights and that did not concern them at all so he opened the window and yelled,"What the H--- are you doing?!!". They said looking for a cat. I look again and the garbage cans are gone. Never did find out what that was about. They had an 8 year old with them. Supposedly his cat. I called the cops and they came by with their spotlight. Strange, very strange. There is something wacky with our neighbors to the south. It is a house of men. 3? 4? Not sure. Sometimes there are kids there. Rarely a car. Rarely a woman. They are nocturnal. It is always all closed up. No window is ever open and you cannot see inside anywhere. AC is always running. Weird. In the light of day they are friendly and will visit if asked but still very odd.
It took me two hours to get back to sleep!!

A Special Fathers Day

Yesterday was the 2014 Belltower Festival and one of my classmates was the Grand Marshall- Dr. Jim Hanson. He and his wife Elizabeth hosted a party at his house and we were invited. It was a big fancy tado-catered-open bar etc.
Butch and I were eating at a table and some "older folks" joined us and we began talking. The Brooker name is well known in Jefferson so all those connections were acknowledged and then a fellow asked me my maiden name and where I came from. I said I am from Jefferson but my family hasn't been here for many years. My maiden name was B-R-O-C-K. He said, "Francis Brock?". I said yes, Francis was my father. He said he knew him and remembered him very well! My dad died in 1956 at the age of 33 so this gave me goosebumps I kid you not! He shared a story about my dad working at a hamburger joint. It was named 4 Star or something like that. Open 24 hours. He was training a new employee one night and stepped out for a break. I am guessing a cigarette break. A customer came in and ordered 5 hamburgers and it flustered the new guy. As he was slicing open the buns  he cut into his hand and there was blood all over the place but when my dad came back he was cool as a cucumber and handled it all seamlessly. It was a special treat for me to run into someone who knew and remembered my dad.


Bob Owen remembered my Dad:

Here is a picture of my dad, Francis Brock.

Strawberries Romanoff

I just tried this recipe and it IS a keeper. Sounds simple but it is very good!

Strawberries Romanoff

(Makes 4 small servings, recipe inspired by Strawberries Romanoff at Le Parisien Restaurant.)

Ingredients:

1 pound fresh strawberries

1/2 cup sour cream (I use light sour cream, but never fat free)

1 T Stevia In the Raw Granulated Sweetener

1 T brown sugar

(You can use all Stevia or all brown sugar, or any combination of sugar/ sweetener that you prefer.)

Instructions:

Be sure to buy the reddest and ripest strawberries you can find for best flavor. Rinse strawberries, then cut big ones into fourths and smaller ones into halves. Put cut strawberries into a medium-sized bowl

In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream and sweetener, brown sugar, or a combination of the two. Taste for sweetness to see if you want to add more sweetener. Gently combine sour cream mixture with cut strawberries, divide into four small dishes, and serve.

Jefferson's Belltower Festival Parade 2014

 Jim Hanson from the class of '61 is the Grand Marshall

                                   Class of '74

                                     Leo-standing-made the blog!!

                                           More Leo

                                Wicked witch has a new bike!

                                      Munchkins!

                               Lots and lots of tractors!! Bernard would say,"I had one of those." or he would say, "I have one of those." When he said I have one of those  Marlene would say, "But it doesn't look like that." And Bernard would reply,"Because I use mine."

                                 

                      Seated above on the tractor is Keith Conroy from the class of '61

And then it started raining...

Busy, Busy weekend

Gary and I got a couple of bike rides in. It has been many, many years that Gary and I have done an activity together just the two of us. In fact I cannot remember the last time. It was great! We rode to Cooper and back which is a total of 15 plus miles.

Then Gary took off with his camper trailer, heading back to Missouri. He called when he was gridlocked in traffic about 5 miles from home.

Butch went out to Leo's and mowed. With timely rains it has been difficult to keep up with the mowing. Then Bill and Jo arrived and we visited with them for a bit. Then I went to Mickey's to help her get her latest load of boxes emptied. Then back out to the other Brooker's to visit with Marlene and Bernard. Oh yes, Butch and I worked in a trip to Boone to water the Boone Brooker's garden and flowers. 

Cribbage game-L to R Butch, Bill, Marlene and Bernard. I told them that not a one of them looked like they were having any fun!

There is more but it is beginning to sound a little tedious. Needless to say I was more than a bit pooped when I hit the sheets.

Today is Belltower Festival and all that entails so I am wrapping this up till tomorrow.

Gary's Visit Plus

Gary is here to get his trailer to take back for camping trips this summer. Gary and Butch have made sure all systems are working properly so when they have fun nothing will get in the way. Gary and I rode out to the bridge this morning and the wind was higher than I like but it worked out okay. We rode slow and visited on the way back. We plan to go again tomorrow but hope it has calmed a bit.
We are still waiting for Russ to get started on the next step of our room. I kind of figured this would be the hitch in the progression of things. There is always a hitch somewhere.

My good friend Mickey lost her friend Sparky yesterday. Sparky had a pancreatic tumor and was very sick for over a week so she had to part with him and will meet him on the rainbow bridge someday where we reunite with the pets we have lost. She will miss him but it is very tough watching a pet suffer.

This is Belltower Festival weekend coming up so the town is all abuzz getting ready. And also all hyped up because Jefferson will be getting a casino. It was voted on and passed today. I may see more of my youngest sister Myrla. She likes casino's. Of course I may have to go out to the casino to see her while she is here!
Butch's brother Bill and sister Marlene will be in Jefferson this weekend so it will be like a mini family reunion and we can get all caught up on family happenings.
Till next time!

Annual Doctors appointment

It started off super. I checked my chart online and I was blown away with my blood profile. It was the best I had in many years. Fasting blood sugar was 99 right at normal. Cholesterol was 205 -borderline but down 20 points from a year ago. She told me she was impressed with my blood profile as well and to continue what I am doing because it is working for me. So all is looking great until she listened to my heart. She did not like what she was hearing. Having a heart murmur that did not surprise me but she said,"No, this is different." So we do an ekg as I have many times in the past but this time there is something out of whack. Good old A-Fib has reared its ugly head. Now I have known I had it for quite some time but this is the first time it has happened while they were paying attention. So now we have a T-4 to see if it is thyroid related and a chest x-ray and I am wearing a monitor for 24 hours and seeing a heart specialist today. In about a half hour in fact as I write this. I am also on Pradaxa and that was a bite in the budget. For the first time I will be using my deductible for prescription meds. Not only will I be meeting the deductible, I am very close with the first months prescription! Most likely I will be from here on out. So I am trying to see the positives of all this and so far I am fine with it.


After the appointment: After talking to the heart doctor it seems my path of treatment is taking the pradaxa and that will be it. I am having an echo-cardiogram in a couple weeks and if that is okay taking pradaxa will be the extent of it. So all is good.
Butch has an appointment next week for his carpal tunnel. Probably looking at surgery after that. His blood profile was fine on all counts so 'sugar boy' let up for a few days before his blood work but he is hitting it heavy again after once again getting a free ride.
I hate this part of the health business but I do want to continue having the quality of life we so enjoy. So these minor inconveniences will have to be endured.

Busy week coming up!

Gary is coming to get his trailer soon. Jason and Laura are on a trip so we will water their garden on Wednesday and Friday. BellTower weekend coming up. Bill and Jo and Marlene and Bernard will be in Jefferson for reunions and Belltower. Mickey will be coming with another load of her things on Friday. Butch has the sill plate installed on the new room. Now we are ready for Russ...we hope to see him soon. Lots of exciting things happening.
Butch was reading an issue of Our Iowa and it was listing the 99 counties of Iowa and the attractions you could find in each county. He said we could tour our own State in the motorhome and by golly that does sound like fun. It is now on our Bucket List!
Today was Butch's birthday. It was kind of passed over by me. My friends in Texas now make my birthday a big deal. They are so good to me. He did receive a peanut buttery gift from one of our special Texas friends and he was thrilled. Since I kind of spaced off his birthday I told him I would cook him some oatmeal for breakfast in the morning. Not many people can get excited about oatmeal for a birthday gift. When you reach our age priorities can change beyond belief!!