HOT!!!

 We had horrible, record-breaking heat all week that kept Steve and me indoors as much as possible.  And, because we are in an energy-saving program with Ameren, on a couple of afternoons between 3:00 and 6:00, we retreated to the basement to stay cool.  Thankfully, the heat wave broke yesterday (Saturday) and we were blessed with cooler temperatures and even a half day of steady, light rain.  

Steve and I spent a few hours Monday morning at Beckie's swimming at the pool where she is house-sitting but the rest of the week either she was at work or we had other commitments preventing us from driving over and jumping in.  I went with a friend from church to get frozen custard at Ted Drewes Tuesday evening and to take some to another friend who was sick with Covid (the one I might have infected as mentioned in last week's blog).  That disease is on the upswing, it seems, as both Julina and Sarah came down with it late this week.  Not sure how Julina caught it but Sarah got it, most likely, from the conference she was attending in Maine.  Hopefully, she will be able to fly back to Utah on Monday but her travel plans around the state this weekend have been curtailed.  She managed to book a cute little cottage by the ocean in Bayside and she is not suffering too badly from the symptoms, which is a blessing.  Julina, too, has not had too severe of a case so - hooray for the vaccines we all have received.  

In spite of the heat, the yard needed work so I went out every morning right after awakening at 6:00.  I have counted at least six pumpkins and my bottle gourds are finally starting to take off!  

Much of my indoor activity was working on fabric projects - blankets for humanitarian give-away, a tote bag for Ivan, more zippered bags to hold food through the weekend for disadvantaged school kids.  I started a new piano student.  He is one of my Primary students and I am teaching him in exchange for him vacuuming the house.  I was fingerprinted on Friday as part of the requirements for my teaching beginning strings this coming year.  Steve saw his endocrinologist on Thursday and his A1C was 6.5!!!!  And, actually, according to the doctor, that is too low.  Considering the fact that his continuous glucose monitor goes off regularly throughout each day, I am not surprised.  So, Steve will continue to adjust his insulin dosages and hopefully, find a happy medium....

I watched Last of the Dogmen Wednesday night and it was actually fairly good.  Steve and I watched a couple of Strange New Worlds episodes - always good.  I tried to watch Around The World in 80 Days (Jackie Chan version) since I had just finished the book but I had to turn it off after the first five minutes.  It is not AT ALL like the book so I didn't want to waste my time putting up with all the stupid changes.  I started watching 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (the 1954 Disney version) and it is pretty dated.  I will probably finish it next week....maybe....

Third week in August

We started our week last Sunday with the Southerlands coming over for dinner.  We played two rounds of Qwirkle afterwards.  Although Quinn is in the photo, he spent most of the time laying down because he was not feeling well and Monday morning, we found out why -  he tested positive for Covid!  It is now a week later and no one else in either the Southerland family or Steve or I have gotten sick so I guess we dodged the bullet?  But, I might have been a carrier because, on Wednesday, I went with a friend from church to deliver a slice of birthday pie to a woman to whom we minister and she is on immunosuppressant drugs and tested positive for Covid today.  Yikes!

Elizabeth Crippen drove over from Columbia Monday evening to stay the night and to attend the temple with me on Tuesday morning.  Steve didn't get to join us because he had to take Linus back to Open Door for a follow-up on his surgery.   The growth was malignant but the vet is confident she removed it all.  Linus also came home with a "cone of confusion".  The vet wants his wound to be left unbandaged and the cone will keep him from constantly licking his sore leg.  It has been an interesting week with everyone getting used to the cone.  It is quite large which makes it difficult for Linus to navigate.  And walking around Linus gets tricky sometimes.  We slide it off for him to eat and to go outside to potty but the rest of the time, he has to wear it.  

Tuesday evening, we had Sam Carpintero over for dinner to celebrate her thirty-third birthday.  

We also got our Kia back from the body shop on Tuesday but we took it down to the Kia dealership on Wednesday for a routine oil change and tire rotation.  Thankfully, we got it back that evening.  St. Louis had lovely pre-autumn-like temperatures most of the week so driving the Honda with the windows down as we shopped on Wednesday was quite pleasant.

I attended another neighborhood beautification committee meeting Thursday night and was reminded how the more people you have, the more opinions you have and how some people just don't know when to stop talking.  I brought baby hats to work on so I would be able to sit through all of that without going crazy.  

Steve and I went out to dinner Friday night - a very rare occurrence given my dietary restrictions.  There are a few eateries literally around the corner or down the street from us and one of our goals this year is to try them out.  We went first to a place called The Haven but, as soon as we walked in, it definitely gave off more of a bar vibe rather than a restaurant that has a bar.  It took several minutes for anyone to even address us and when I asked if they could provide gluten-free food, we got a flat out "No".  So, bye bye to The Haven.  We drove in the opposite direction to The Royal Kabob and found a completely empty restaurant but a very friendly teen who told us that they could serve gluten-free.  They serve Persian cuisine, 100% certified halal food.  We ordered the mixed grill of lamb, beef and saffron chicken and it was so delicious.  

Saturday was a baptistry day.  We stopped by the Southerlands afterwards but not for lessons.  We needed to drop some things off and dash home to eat and then attend a baptism at the church.  Steve has been dealing with a painful right hip the last several days that has not been getting better (we skipped yoga on Thursday because of that).  So, mowing the front lawn just was not in his wheelhouse.  But, grass waits for no one and our weather forecast is for an excessive heat warning for the next five days which is why I got to mow the lawn Saturday evening.  I am so grateful I had the strength and stamina to do the job.  

All week long, my morning yard task has been to take out the thick cluster of native iris that was there when we bought the house and to spread out the hybrid iris I planted after we moved in.  With a post on Next Door, I was able to give away all of the iris I removed to neighbors within 24 hours.  

I watched two movies this week without Steve - one was Killers that turned out to be a fun watch and the other was Harriet (about Harriet Tubman) which was very well done.  Steve and I both watched a library loaned DVD called With Six You Get Eggroll on Friday night.  It was made in 1968 and starred Doris Day and Brian Keith and it started out well enough but we think the writers just ran out of material half-way through and resorted to stupid, mad-cap shenanigans for the last half of the movie.  It was a waste of time.  We watched an episode of the second season of Strange New Worlds on Saturday night and it was VERY good.  

Trouble with dogs

 I noticed a growth about the size of a quarter on Linus's left front leg just before we left for Indiana.  It was way up by his armpit so not very noticeable most of the time.  

By the first of this week, it had turned quite ugly and Linus was licking it so I called Open Door Animal Sanctuary.  They provide veterinarian services for those in the Seniors for Seniors dog adoption program and I have swallowed my pride and started to take advantage of what they offer rather than drop over a hundred dollars every time we go to the vet down the road!  I emailed a photo of the growth to them Monday and was told to bring him in Tuesday morning where they kept him throughout the day and performed surgery to remove the growth.  A sample was sent to be biopsied but the vet believes she was able to remove it all. Late Tuesday afternoon, Linus and I returned home with antibiotics to take and instructions to bring him back Thursday for a dressing change.  

Well, by Wednesday morning, Linus was clearly in pain - panting and not willing to walk on his leg at all and his leg looked a little swollen -  so I called and was told to bring him back that day.  Open Door is in House Springs, a 35 minute drive from our house, so going there takes up some time.  They redressed his wound and sent me home with additional wound dressing supplies and some pain killers.  Why they didn't give us those with the antibiotics is beyond me?  Happily, by the end of Wednesday, Linus was walking on his own again and seemed to be feeling better.  We even bought him a larger dog bed....

Keeping his dressing on has been a challenge.  We were not sent home with a "cone of shame" so I've had to improvise by wrapping dressing around his shoulder so he can't pull off the bandage from his leg.

Sally hovered around Linus after he came home, actually choosing to stay by him rather than hang out in her favorite place under our bed!  Nurse Sally....

HOWEVER, she became quite a problem Friday night.  We always put the dogs into their kennel just before we head to bed.  They get a treat, we close the door, turn the fan on high for white noise and they are good for the night.  But, for some reason, on Friday, Sally would not settle down. She just whined and yipped constantly.  Linus, on the other hand, was quiet next to her.  After 30 minutes, I thought maybe her paw was stuck so I got up out of bed and went in to check.  Nope, her paw was fine.  I let them out to go potty, put them back in their kennel, went back to the bedroom, closed the door,  and she started up again.  No volume of our white noise would drown her out.  Finally, after another 30 minutes went by, I caved – because I absolutely could not sleep through it – and let both dogs out.  They both happily went to the TV room and I went back to bed.  Ten minutes later, Sally is scratching on our bedroom door!  So, I caved again and let her go under our bed.  I climbed back in bed and five minutes later, she is hopping up on our bed, panting!  Finally, I got up and put a half a Benadryl tablet in some cheese – and I took the other half! – but she wouldn’t take it from my hand as I offered it to her as she was under our bed.  So, I put it on the floor in front of her and got back into bed and, thankfully, she let us sleep and sometime in the night, she ate her cheese/Benadryl ball. I was  worried this would be a trend so last night, I pre-emptively gave her a Benadryl/cheese ball about thirty minutes before bedtime.  I don't know if that was the solution or if Sally was just being her usual happy-to-sleep-in-the-kennel self (which she is 98% of the time) but she (and we) had a peaceful night.

Aside from dogs filling our lives, we had a fairly normal week except for Tuesday.  For Lucy's 12th birthday back in April, we gave her a gift certificate for a trip to the zoo (like we did for Quinn) and the weather and our schedules finally aligned for us to take her Tuesday morning.   But, if you will recall, we also took Linus to the vet on Tuesday  AND we also finally had our scheduled body shop repair for the Kia (remember the hit-and-run that trashed our left rear bumper back in June).  SO, I drove Linus down to Open Door in the Element, drove up to a half-way rendezvous location to meet Emily who brought Lucy.  Then, Lucy and I drove home to pick up Steve and we went to the zoo in the Element.  Had a lovely time!  After lunch and a visit to the gift shop, we drove to an Enterprise car rental to pick up our loaner car for the duration of the Kia repair.  Steve then took Lucy in the rental to meet Emily at another half-way rendezvous and I drove back down to House Springs to collect Linus.  Whew!  What a day!  Keep in mind that the Element has no functioning air conditioning and, while Tuesday was a relatively mild day, one still has to drive the Element with the windows down and being bludgeoned by constant wind is exhausting!  I don't know how motorcyclists tolerate it!.  By the time I got home with Linus, I was done!  Here are photos of Lucy and the zoo....

This is under the sea lion exhibit.  It is fun to watch them swim over us!

We also visited penguins/puffins, monkeys, and birds....

I planted a second set of beans before leaving for Indiana and they are already up.  I pulled out the fancy Husqvarna sewing machine that Elise is lending me and I learned how to make the fancy schmancy stitches!  So cool.  I will put borders on several baby blankets that I have prepared.  Steve and I finished season one of Strange New Worlds and started season two last night.  We also watched a movie called Front of the Class.  I found it on Prime (had to pay for it) but it is a Hallmark movie about the true story of a man with Tourette's Syndrome who teaches second grade.  It was really good!

Linus update:  I mentioned our problem with Linus and his bandages to a friend at church who is a dog expert (and trainer) and she mentioned using a pool noodle around his neck so I went to a Dollar General and bought one.  So far, it seems to be working!

First Week in August

I have very little to write about regarding the beginning of the week.  I pulled up the bean plants that were slowing down in their production and replanted more beans for a second harvest at the end of September.  I also pulled up my dead zucchini plants and planted more seeds.  Steve's diabetic nurse requested that he try to do some kind of exercise after dinner every night so we took a bike ride Tuesday evening and walked the dogs on Wednesday.  We are fortunate that we had cooler temperatures (and rain) to make that exercise more pleasant.  I am officially no longer the administrator for the civic orchestra and I am so relieved to be done.  I am not particularly great with keeping up with email and to have TWO accounts to steward was draining.  And, with August, the orchestra emails will be ramping up for the new season.  All I have to do now is show up to rehearsals and concerts and practice my part.  Oh, I will have programs to put together but those are finite projects - not open ended like everything else the administrator does.  Speaking of practice, I have really fallen off the wagon regarding practicing any instrument this summer so when I pulled out the cello to play for 30 minutes Monday night, my poor fingertips could tell!  I am trying to resume a practice routine every evening to keep my 67 year old brain challenged.  

The "big" news of the week is that we traveled to Greenwood on Thursday afternoon.  We brought Elise because she and Julina attended GenCon on Friday.  Notice the braces on Julina - her bite was causing her teeth to loosen and this was the solution.  She wore a Herbst appliance back in high school and braces probably should have followed at that time.  Oh well, better late than never.

While Elise and Juli were having fun at GenCon, Steve and I puttered around the house.  It was put on the real estate market earlier this week because Alex wants to move more out into the country.  One of his wishes is to be able to shoot his many guns right from his back porch.  Another need is to downsize and have everything on one level due to his wheelchair.  So, he has been the driving force for moving from the house in Greenwood.  It is a large home on a huge lot but it suffers from quite a bit of deferred maintenance and it is being sold "as is".  That being said, all the pictures that were crowding the front hallway were removed and the walls were painted.  Everything taken down was put into laundry baskets and shoved into the outside storage shed.  I discovered this when I went out to put away a ladder and shovel that had been left out.  I brought my gardening clothes prepared to do any touch-ups to the yard but discovered that, aside from a lone invasive honeysuckle plant and a small poison ivy plant, everything looked pretty ship shape.  So, instead, I straightened up the storage shed and discovered all the wall pictures.  Happily, there were several recently emptied totes that I could store almost everything in and I just had to get one additional one that was longer and taller for the remaining few.  Alex identified several pictures he no longer wanted and I removed the pictures and donated the frames to Goodwill on the way to Walmart for the larger tote.  Steve baked a batch of bread and I cooked a pot of pinto beans because Juli had requested I make her a batch of bean blobs to freeze.  This goes way back in our family history - I would cook up beans and then mash them and season them with taco seasoning mix and then put them into muffin cups to freeze to provide serving-size portions of refried beans for burritos or whatever.

Saturday, Juli, Elise and I said goodbye to the boys and drove up to the temple for an initiatory session.  

After we finished, we changed into traveling clothes and drove about an hour and a half south to the little town of Milan, Indiana.  Fans of the movie Hoosiers might recognize the name as the location of the actual basketball team that beat all odds and won the state championships in 1954 and who inspired the movie.  An old converted bank now houses a small museum just chock full of memorabilia from the actual team and from the movie.  Having lived in Indiana for many years, and having loved and watched Hoosiers even longer, Julina has visited several towns / locations where the movie was filmed but she had never actually been to Milan so this was a check off the bucket list for her.  Below is the museum.

Alex viewed a possible house to buy located south of Greenwood in Nashville, Indiana.  He went down to see it on Thursday but Juli had to work so we decided to at least drive by the property on our way home from Milan.  It is in picturesque Brown County with plenty of hills and woods and rivers.  This house is on a very narrow, one-car lane called Grandma Barnes Road, deep in the forest. It is at the tip of 5 acres of woods and hills, on the only really flat part of the property.  About 30 feet from the back door is a steep hill that truly could hold a target for Alex to shoot at!  It is all on one level with a large detached two-car garage so it might actually work out, aside from being in the middle of nowhere!  And being next door to hillbillies, complete with a confederate flag!  Yikes!  Must be the reason for the brand-new privacy fence erected between the two properties 😄

After our brief look at the outside, we wound our way back north to Greenwood but just had to stop off at a beautiful overlook to take a photo or two...

Today was church and then we packed up the car and dogs and now we are back home.  Happily, we encountered no traffic delays on the return trip which was a huge difference from our drive on Thursday.  Then, we had two significant delays - one due to construction and the other was an accident - which put us at Juli's after 10:00 EDT.  

Steve and I found time to watch the 8th and 9th episodes of season one of Strange New Worlds while at Julina's and I watched Justice League Wednesday night while Steve was at youth activities at church.  I  couldn't remember seeing it before but, as I watched, I realized that I actually had.  I guess it was pretty forgettable?