July heat vs Steve and Jeanne

It has been very, very hot this past week but happily, our low-coolant air conditioner is still managing to keep our house cool (with the big help of three fans) because we finally heard from the Total Home Warranty.  They will NOT pay for anything associated with our air conditioner....not to replace it and not even to repair it.  We jumped through hoops with this claim and paid $300 out of our own pocket and still we were denied.  It has been a most aggravating ride with this company and I would not recommend them to anyone.   

We had a lovely surprise this morning with a big rain storm that dumped quite a bit in about an hour and a half.  It has cooled things down for today but it is supposed to get very hot again this coming week.  

Grandparent Day Camp was on Tuesday and the kids sewed their own pillow cases!  I worked with them one-on-one and I think their creations turned out really nice.  With Larkin, it was mostly her sitting on my lap and helping guide the fabric through the needle but the other three actually used the foot pedal and did their own sewing, cutting, and ironing.  I stayed very close by with Quinn and Lucy, of course.  Noah, who had done a sewing unit in school, just needed me to tell him when to do each step.

We got to see the grandkids (and Joe and Emily) again on Thursday evening at the game.  Steve and I rode the Metro there and back (and caught the correct train back this time😀 ) and, even though temperatures were high, our seats up at the top of the stadium allowed us to catch a very nice breeze.  Our tickets included $6 of Cardinal Cash which we all used to buy our dinners.  I was surprised at how engaged all the kids were throughout the entire game.  Of course, the big jumbotron scoreboard and the two home runs with resulting fireworks helped.  Best part of all, the Cardinals won!

It was a full stadium because we were playing the Cubs.  A Cardinal player got hit by the pitcher at one point in the game and was down for several minutes at home plate.  Larkin observed this and told her mother "Look, those guys are sitting down and telling secrets".  Happily, the player was able to get up and continue to play.  

I had Carondelet quartet rehearsal Friday morning and Steve and went again to the temple Friday afternoon.  

Saturday was a fun day that started with a ward Pioneer Day pancake breakfast.  They even had gluten-free pancakes so I happily pigged out.  There was also a giant slippery slide set up on the north hill of the meetinghouse property and it was enjoyed by all the young families who attended.

Saturday evening, Steve and I went out to dinner at Little Fox where Beckie works part-time and we had the most amazing meal!  Steve described it as "Six Flags for the mouth".  Beckie was the perfect server and it was fun to see her doing so well in her serving profession.

I also trimmed my pots at the pottery studio on Saturday.  Twice, actually.  My two large pieces were not dry enough to work with so I had to set them out to dry a bit and go back to finish.  Good thing the studio is fairly close by.  Steve and I checked out "A Quiet Place" from the library and, even though I typically do not like scary movies, this was pretty good.  We have also been watching episodes of "Manifest" throughout the week.  I just don't know what we will do when we get to the end of Season 3 since making a fourth season has not been picked up by anyone.  

Oh, Neal, our handyman, finished up the guestroom downstairs on Tuesday and Wednesday.  It looks so nice.  I need to paint the bedroom door and the closet doors in the bathroom down there (which he installed several months ago).  They all just have primer at this point.  I had hoped to do this on Saturday but going to the pottery studio twice kind of put an end to that plan.  

So, in spite of the heat, we had a good week.  The garden is producing zucchini like crazy.  I am loving my plentiful cherry tomatoes.  The rabbits are loving my bean plants.  The zinnias are in full glory.

Quiet Week

I have only one photo from this past week so I guess it will be a short post.  It was a quiet week with the most drama coming from my phone calls to Total Home Warranty almost every day to get an update on our air conditioner claim.  A repairman came on Monday and proclaimed that our twenty-five year old unit, that was leaking coolant into the atmosphere, needed to be replaced.  Ya think?!?!?  We received a bid for a new AC on Tuesday and it has been round and round with the warranty company ever since.  I truly believe they wear customers down with their incredibly long phone holds while having to listen to a recording blather on and on about how great their company is.  Then, once you get to talk to a real person, they continue to wear you down making you wait while their "slow" computer downloads all the information they need.  I will continue my battle with Total Home Warranty tomorrow and until I get satisfaction.....

Steve and I braved downtown Saint Louis Tuesday afternoon and obtained a senior citizen Metrolink pass that will allow us to travel at half price.   I don't ever see us using the bus system but we definitely will take advantage of the light rail to go downtown to do tourist-y things.  And, downtown was surprisingly easy - streets were quite empty, parking was easy to find and figure out.

We entertained two sets of dinner guests last Sunday and Monday evening:  Gerry and Julie Van Dielen from the ward on Sunday and John, Sherrie, and Shawn Downs on Monday.  The Downs are in town for Shawn's cancer treatments.  I served the same meal for both parties:  cold sliced ham, a corn/tomato salad, marinated carrots, and potato salad.  It was the perfect summer meal.  And, after Monday night, I told Steve that I was not going to invite anyone over for dinner for at least a couple of weeks as we have had quite a string of dinner guests lately.  Although, we always have Beckie come to dinner once a week and I don't consider her a "guest".  She came Tuesday night and after we eat we sometimes play a game, or watch something.  This week, we took the dogs on a little walk.  I am happy to report that Sally has returned to her usual perky self again after her fireworks trauma.  Yay!

I was in Ballwin on Wednesday for grandchildren music lessons.  Then we went to the fabric store for them to select their material for our next Grandparent Day Camp project - sewing pillow cases.  

Thursday evening we attended a town hall meeting with our state and local representatives.  It was outdoors and the temperatures were mild but it was very muggy with rain threatening.  After we left, the sky opened up and we got almost an inch throughout the rest of the night.  It has been overcast ever since which has made temperatures lower than average.  A tender mercy for our struggling air conditioner.  

Friday morning was grocery shopping, in the afternoon we went to the temple.  I am so grateful we are able to attend once a week.  

Saturday morning, Steve and  I helped clean the church.  There were eight adults to do the job so it went quite quickly.  The pottery studio was closed the first part of July for vacation but reopened last week and I threw a few things yesterday afternoon.  It was fun, as usual.  

We finished season 4 of the Great Pottery Throwdown this past week.  I watched the final show of Loki.  We watched "Radioactive" on Prime and, while it was interesting to learn about Marie Curie, we both thought the storytelling format was kind of dumb.  Last night, we watched "Heaven Is For Real".  It is a DVD we own - I think it was a gift - and we had watched it before but had forgotten the plot.  With this second viewing, I was frustrated all over again at the main character who is a preacher who has a hard time believing his son saw heaven?  Really?  Weird.  

I am back to wearing a mask with Covid cases on the rise.  I have learned that two families in the ward have come down with the virus this past week!  Of course, I want to ask if they were vaccinated but I won't.  And, I find it incredible that they might not be vaccinated.  I just don't get it....

It has been quite the week

The 4th of July fireworks really did a number on Sally.  After she got so spooked on the 3rd in the evening when someone three doors down lit some professional-grade firecrackers, and only getting worse on the 4th, she spent much of last week under our bed.  I'm talking all day, all night.  And getting her to go outside to go potty was a real challenge.  We took to carrying her in our arms out to the garage - that is if we could coax her out from under the bed - to get her to go!  We think she may be getting back to her normal Sally-self a week later.  And, you can be sure we will be contacting our vet for doggie Valium for next year's 4th of July!  This is her hiding under my sewing chair.

Grandparent Day Camp on Thursday didn't help matters, either.  She is not UN-friendly with the grandkids but I think she just prefers a more quiet household.  With the grandkids, we did watercolor with each child reproducing a picture of their choice.  Noah picked a winter landscape, Lucy an ocean sunset, Quinn a trio of parakeets, and Larkin chose a cat (of course)  Here are their masterpieces:

We bought a slip 'n' slide specifically for them to use but I have to admit it was kind of a dud.  But, at least they got wet.  Steve and I had a chance to get wet, too, only in our neighbor Fred's little backyard pool.  He has been on vacation all week and we were tasked with helping take care of his dog, Stacy, and of turning on and off the pool filter each day.  Tuesday was a hot one so the water felt especially delicious.

We didn't have a chance to take a dip the rest of the week because we were entertaining various guests.  Elizabeth Crippen came from Columbia Tuesday evening and stayed through Thursday morning.  Her birthday was Wednesday and she didn't want to spend it alone.  She and I took Linus down to the Open Door Animal Rescue Wednesday morning for his six-month heartworm check and the great news is that he is now heartworm free!!!  There is a scrapbook store in that neck of the woods so we shopped on the way back home and Elizabeth was delighted.  Steve grilled pork steaks for Elizabeth's birthday dinner.  Sally was still in her under-the-bed mode so Linus got to soak up all the attention.

  

Then, Friday was Elise's birthday and she arrived Thursday morning and spent time with us until Friday evening.  Because Beckie had to work on Friday, we had a family birthday dinner Thursday evening.  About that time, our over twenty five year-old air conditioner was struggling to keep up with the heat so our house was not very comfortable.  Therefore, we moved the birthday celebration to our deck where the shade and the breeze actually made things quite nice.  

Elise actually made her own birthday cake - well, it was lemon ice box pie - but I fixed the BBQ chicken wings and the corn on the cob that she requested.  If you have tried to buy chicken wings lately, you will know how difficult they are to find and how pricey they have become.  

Friday morning, I had a string quartet rehearsal but that afternoon, the three of us went to the temple.  Then, Elise bid us farewell to head off to the Southerlands to go swimming with them at the local pool.  It was so great to have her with us for a few days.

Aside from our struggling air conditioner (we have a HVAC person coming tomorrow and happily, weather has been cooler this weekend), we have had some major upgrades on the house this past week.

First, we had the cement front porch doubled in size.  Sergio, our neighbor, had his brother-in-law visiting who also just happens to do cement work and he did the job.  We had been planning to have it done by someone else Sergio knows who was also going to add cement to their back yard (for their dog area) and I am not sure why that never came to happen.  Whatever the case, we now have a place to put two chairs. (once I get them painted)

Speaking of painting, Neal, our fix-it man, has progressed to the point on our downstairs area that painting was the next step (before installing the molding and the door) so Steve and I primed and painted two coats on the walls yesterday.  The outside walls are in the same shade of "modern gray" as the rest of the house but the inside walls are a lovely butter yellow per the suggestion of Lucy.  I confess I was not thrilled to be donning painting clothes again but happily, the job was small and easily done.  

Finally, we had Forever Clean install gutter guards on the west roof of our house.  The east is way far away from any trees but the west side was just always getting clogged to the point that a small trickle of water would leak through in our basement any time it rained really hard.  It was not cheap, especially considering how short our house is, but it works like a dream now.  We had some gully washers after it was installed so we know.  

I picked my first zuccini last week.  I know it is just the beginning of many more.  And, the tomatoes are just coming into full production, too.  

I weeded around my little "Christmas tree farm" all last week and spread mulch and I know you can't see them very well but this is now they look now.  

In addition to painting yesterday, Steve and I attended a new bishopric potluck dinner.  Happily, we didn't have to host it!  Being the newest ones to the ward out of that group, it was nice to get to know everyone.  And, being the oldest people in that group, we probably wouldn't have had opportunities to get to know them otherwise.   Because we were entertaining so much throughout the week, we didn't get time to watch many movies or television but we did catch a pottery throw down last night and we watched some episodes of Star Trek Next Generation on a recommendation from Elise.  The one where Data creates an android child was particularly touching.  And, I was able to catch the most recent Loki.  Whoee, what a fun show

 

Happy 4th of July!

And now it is July.  The year 2021 is officially half over.  I just can't wrap my head around this.   We finished off our Sunday last week with a birthday celebration for Emily.  The Southerland clan came to our house and we feasted on BBQ chicken wings and a beautiful gluten-free chocolate cake created by Emily.  

We saw the Southerlands (sans Emily) again on Tuesday for the second Grandparent Summer Camp.  It was bread and jam week.  Steve helped the kids make their own little loaf of bread and they helped me make a batch of raspberry jam.  Emily contributed four cups of raspberries from their backyard patch and we provided four cups of frozen berries that we got from the store (hopefully, next year we will have our own productive patch).  

Speaking of fruit.....Steve and I noticed a fully loaded apricot tree early last week in the back yard of a house just down the alley and the fruit was just dropping and rotting on the ground.  So, I wrote a note asking if we could come pick (and pay for) the fruit and left it on the windshield of their truck.  Happily, I got a reply that we could get all we wanted and we didn't need to pay!  He, Mark, stated that this tree was about twenty years old and it had never born fruit until this year.  No big surprise.  Apricot trees, being the first to bloom each spring, usually get hammered by a late frost at this latitude.  Steve and I hauled out the tall, antique fruit ladder we got from Bob Eschrich several years ago and we picked about a lug of apricots.  I am going to make jam tomorrow and share a jar with Mark.  I grew up with two apricot trees in El Paso and it is so nostalgic to eat a fresh-off-the-tree apricot again.

In other garden news, about two months ago, I transplanted a redbud sapling from Emily's front flower bed (where it didn't want to be) to our back yard and I feared it didn't make the move well and had died.  In fact, on Monday, I was all ready to pull it out of the ground but when I went over to it, look what I saw....new growth!  I am so tickled. (although, redbud trees are kind of like a weed because they pop up all over the place but when they are in the right place, they are a beautiful addition to a yard)

Steve had a kidney doctor appointment in Columbia on Thursday so we spent our day there.  I usually teach a cello lesson to Ethan during his appointments but that was cancelled so I actually got to go into Steve's doctor visit and meet Dr. Stein and ask some questions.  And, I got good news:  his kidneys are slowly getting better.  The sarcoidosis will likely prevent complete healing but at least they are not getting worse.  He is reducing his steroid intake.  And, he doesn't have to be quite so rigid in his calcium intake because, if he doesn't eat enough calcium, his body will actually leach calcium from his bones!  And, I can make potatoes almost potassium-free by peeling and soaking them in water for an hour.  Hooray - Steve can eat potatoes again.  Also in our visit in Columbia we ate lunch and had a good visit with Melanie.  She provided her couch for a short nap.  We had frozen Randy's custard with Elise.  We stopped in to see Pat Rybolt at the Music Suite and even had a chance to be of service by taking out huge pieces of cardboard to the dumpster.  We visited Elizabeth Crippen briefly on our way to Steven and Tamara's for dinner.  Tamara fixed a yummy seafood chowder and we had a great visit.  And, then back home.  This was our first long trip in an air-conditioned-less vehicle and it wasn't horrible.  With the windows down, I need to wear a hat so my hair doesn't blow all around my face.  Beckie watched the dogs for the day.  I had to take the following photo of Steve and Linus.  Look at how he gazes up at Steve.  He is such a sweetie.  Both dogs are kind of wigged out by the fireworks going off in our neighborhood.  Last night, two houses down let off a bunch of loud ones just as I was out with the dogs on a potty run and Sally dashed back into the house and under our bed.  She didn't want to go out this morning as a result and Steve had to carry her outside!  Poor thing.  

We got to attend the temple again on Friday - it is so nice to be doing that again - and yesterday was a completely "open" day (meaning neither of us had any outside commitments)  I fixed up a batch of gluten-free pancakes and I baked a gluten-free red/white/blue jello poke cake.  Steve mixed up a batch of gluten-full chocolate cookies and I baked them with red/white/blue M&M's and delivered some to women I minister to.  We started watching "Gettysburg" last night (Steve's July movie).  We watched a couple of pottery throw-down episodes throughout the week and "National Treasure" was the Grandparent Summer Camp movie.  I caught up on "Loki" and an episode of "Manifest" while Steve was at church on Wednesday evening.  It has been a good week.

 

Out of town guests allow us to play tourist

On Tuesday, my sister Juli and her grandson (my great-nephew) Kason flew into town for visit.  Juli arrived from Arizona at around noon and Kason came from Maryland just after dinner time.  On Wednesday, we took them to the Gateway Arch and met up with Emily and her four kids.  Juli, Kason, and I rode up to the top of the Arch.  Aside from some Covid restrictions - like only being able to look out of one set of windows at the top and wearing a mask - it was pretty much the same as when I rode it years ago.  

Before our scheduled ride, we toured the new museum that opened up about three years ago and Steve and I decided we need to come back a couple of times just to go through all the exhibits

this is Larkin pretending to be a kitty in one of the exhibits

 the view is just spectacular!  And, the day was somewhat breezy and I could feel a bit of swaying at the top.  Eeeeee!  

On Thursday, we met Emily, Lucy, and Noah at the zoo (Larkin and Quinn were at summer day-camp).  Temperatures were mild as the sun was behind clouds (we carted around umbrellas to ward off any rain 😁) so it was a perfect day to be outside.  

Steve matched the penguins...

That afternoon, we drove to Ballwin and brought pork steaks for Joe to grill for dinner.  Beckie came and Elise drove over from Columbia so we had a really nice little family gathering.  Later that evening, while Beckie stayed to "babysit" the youngest three, Juli, Kason, Emily, Joe, Noah, Elise, Steve, and I did proxy baptisms at the temple.  It was our first time inside since the pandemic.  It was pretty neat.

Friday morning, Juli and Kason had tickets to a new aquarium located downtown at Union Station.  They were kind of pricey so Steve and I opted to not go.  Instead, I took Linus down to the Open Door Animal Rescue facility (a thirty-minute drive one way) to have blood drawn to check on his heartworm condition.  Only, when I got there, they were short staffed couldn't do it so we will have to go down next week to get it done.  And, on the way home, Juli called to say they were finished at the aquarium.  In spite of Covid concerns, the place was packed with people (St. Louis is hosting the Olympic gymnastic trials this week and downtown was full of young girls and their mothers - most likely competitors) and Juli and Kason could hardly get to see much of anything.  Even the soda fountain that touted super-duper fancy milk shakes had an hour wait-list so Kason was disappointed about that.  

Friday evening, though, we had tickets to a Cardinals game!  

We decided to ride in on the Metro to avoid the downtown parking hassle and that went pretty smoothly.  It was only after we got at the stadium that we experienced some hiccups:  the small one was that our purses were too large so we had to pay $5.00 to store them in a portable locker trailer.  A bigger hiccup was that our digital tickets were for the wrong day!!!?!?!?!?  We bought them in early June and requested the June 25th date but somehow, they changed to Saturday June 26th!  Happily, we were able to buy new tickets - at half the price - and we got in to see the game.  I called our credit card company to dispute the purchase so I believe we will get our money back on the more expensive ones.  Fingers crossed.   Early on in the game, temperatures were warmish and muggy but as the sun went down, a nice breeze kicked up because it was bringing in a major storm front.  Happily, the rain held off until after the 9th inning.  And, darn it  - the Cardinals didn't win - they lost by one point.  The final hiccup of the night was that we got on the wrong Metro to go home!  Thankfully, Kason was not the typical teenager with his nose in his phone and he caught the error.  We should have transferred at a certain point but didn't and if Kason hadn't been watching, we would have ended up at the airport!!!  But, because trains don't run as often at night, we had to wait longer to catch the correct trains and we didn't get home until 1:00 am!   Which made getting up at 6:00 am Saturday to get Juli and Kason to the airport all the more difficult.  I dropped them off at 7:30 and went home and took a nap.  I took a second nap after lunch.  In between naps, I taught a virtual cello lesson and I did some glazing at the pottery studio.  We had Gary and Thomasina Filmore, an older couple from church, over for dinner.  What a day!  What a week!

Some nice little side notes about Juli and Kason's visit:  The downstairs shower does not leak, happily!  Kason is a movie fan and he was just in awe of our DVD collection.  We haven't added much to it in the last several years but we have quite a few from the 90's and early 2000's and those were the movies he was excited to see.  We ended up watching "The Truman Show", "What About Bob?", "The Man Who Knew Too Little", "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" (the Ben Stiller one), and "Apollo 13".  

Today is Emily's birthday and her family is coming for dinner.  I have cold BBQ chicken wings in the refrigerator (I cooked them yesterday) and a potato supreme casserole to pop into the oven.  Emily is bringing a cake.

Ever since Thursday, we have had rain on and off and everything is just soaked.  I am grateful, though, as we went almost three weeks without rain until then and that is kind of unheard of here in Missouri.  I found a lilac, a forsythia, and a false cypress golden mop on clearance at Walmart on Monday and got them in the ground Wednesday morning so they are very happy for this rain. 

 (from bottom left clockwise:  blue hydrangea, forsythia, white hydrangea, lilac, rhododendron.  The golden mop is in the middle and there are three stella del oro plants in front of it and to the right of the hydrangea)  I also harvested my first cherry tomato yesterday - it was delicious!  Looking forward to many many more.....   

 

Too many little dark clouds - I am glad this week is over

The week started with a dark cloud hanging over my head - and not a rain cloud, which I wish it was.  I had a colonoscopy scheduled for Tuesday morning.  That meant a light diet on Sunday, a liquid diet on Monday, the disgusting prep to drink, and then the procedure.  With that dark cloud, I just had a hard time feeling motivated to do much of anything on Monday and, on Tuesday, I really couldn't do much.  My brain was just too foggy from the anesthesia.  I watched a lot of "Manifest" on Netflix which reminds me of "Lost" from the early 2000's.  I watched the first episode of "Loki".  Happy news is that the two polyps that were removed were "hyperplastic" meaning I don't have to have another colonoscopy for ten years.  HOORAY!  The other happy news was that I could indulge in a 710 calorie Dairy Queen peanut buster parfait after I left the hospital.  

Another smaller dark cloud at the beginning of the week was our car air conditioning.  Steve and I had noticed it phasing in and out of cool for the week before and on Sunday, as I was driving home from another long string quartet extra rehearsal, the cool never kicked back on.  So, it was time to take it to the shop but that was rather complicated because it is our only car and I had my Tuesday procedure and Steve had a doctor appointment on Thursday and we needed to go grocery shopping.  I tried to rent a car but that was a joke!  No Enterprise cars available for rent anywhere in the metro area for a whole week and it would cost $100 for just one day!  Holy cow.  (I have listened to a podcast since then and evidently, rental cars, used cars, and even new cars are hard to find right now thanks to Covid and a few other natural disasters that shut down semi-conductor plants around the world).   Happily, Beckie came to the rescue.....I scheduled an appointment with the mechanic down the street for Wednesday and she dropped her car off Wednesday afternoon for us to use until the car was done.  Thursday morning, we were able to do grocery shopping around Steve's doctor appointment.  The very sad news is that the car needs a whole new compressor and, at $1,100, we just can't justify sinking that much into an 18 year old car with over 200,000 miles (we actually don't know how many miles it has because our Carfax report stated that the odometer was turned back at some point in it's life!).  So, we are going to try to make it with just open windows and doing as many errands in the cooler morning hours.  

Dark cloud #3 was a UTI that I developed mid-week.  It came on quickly and might have been because of the colonoscopy?  Happy to be on antibiotics now.  

Now, on to some good news.....our handyman has got the downstairs shower up and running.  He was able to re-use the faux-tile plastic panels (keeping us from having to buy a fiberglass shower stall) and he discovered and replaced the reason for the leak - it was a cracked drain.  He also put up the two walls to enclose our guest sleeping area.  He still needs to put up trim and hang the door and then I get to paint but we are making major progress. Below are some before/after photos

 

 

My string quartet, the Carondelet Quartet, had two performances this weekend - both at 3:00 in the afternoon.  Saturday's was at the historic Lutheran church in our neighborhood where we regularly rehearse and today's was at Intersect which describes itself as a place that combines all the arts together in a beautifully restored Lutheran Seminary building built in the early 20th century deep in the city (you can Google it).  You can see that the space where we played today is also an artist gallery.

We performed the "Lark" string quartet by Haydn and a five-movement Fantasie by Samuel Colridge-Taylor, a British/African composer from the late 19th/early 20th century.  I think we sounded pretty good.  Noah, Lucy, and Quinn came to Saturday's performance.  Steve, Beckie, and Kyle came to today's concert.  Overall, we had about 30 people each day.  

Saturday morning, I drove to Ballwin to help Emily with her yard sale.  Although the forecast was for temperatures in the upper 90's, we awoke to some cloud cover which really made things pretty pleasant and, when the sun was out, there was still a nice breeze when we sat in the shaded garage.  You can see that Quinn and Noah helped to promote the sale.  And, they actually brought in some business.  At noon, I drove back home with Noah, Lucy, and Quinn so they could attend the concert and have their music lessons afterwards.  We fed them hamburgers and corn on the cob for dinner and then I drove them back home.  

And, last evening, we actually had some GOOD dark clouds in the form of much needed rain.  My little rain gauge registered almost a half inch.  So grateful!