still wet

It rained and rained all day yesterday...our "swimming" pools were filled again. Luckily the newspaper delivery people have figured out ( finally) the best places to throw our two papers.... and how to miss the pool in the front yard.

It rained again last night ... and it won't surprise me it we have more today. At least the temperature is lower even though quite humid.  Didn't have to water... again!!

So we have had to find things to do inside. I worked on things for the next online show and Bob played video games, "interacted" with his fellow ham operators online and worked on his radio workbench. Kept him occupied and out of the way!!  LOL

Earlier we headed out to do errands - Post Office, farmers' veggie stand and Target for the cat's prescription pills - hoping to get done before the next batch of rain. Success!!

I've turned the cucumbers from the veggie stand into sour cream, radish and dill salad. It is sitting in the fridge "marinating".

dark and gloomy

I'm sitting at my computer... everything outside is dark and gloomy... and it's pouring!!  An email has warned me that a tornado was sighted about 20 miles north of me and warnings have been posted!! Told Bob to listen for the sirens - he hears them better than I do!

Glad I went out this morning. One of my hearing aids stopped working yesterday afternoon and I needed to have it checked out. They replaced the "filter and dome" and it's working again.  My hearing aid place is in Costco so I picked up a dozen bagels at the same time!

Now it's thundering and pouring even harder.... Tigger the Tripper cat is hiding under my desk.

One good thing... I won't have to water my tomatoes and herbs!

He can fix anything

Last night the clip that connects the toilet handle to the flapper corroded into nothingness!! Bob said he would fix it today... just take the tank cover off and hand move the flapper to flush!
Today he found new replacement toilet stuff in his stash and went to work. Easier said than done since all the nuts for the handle had also corroded and he was afraid he might break the porcelain around the hole.
But my husband that can fix anything... did fix things. Tidied up and put the toilet back together!!

In the 50 plus years we have been married we have had a plumber only once ... when Robb was a baby and jammed a baby food jar lid down the toilet. Bob watched the plumber and learned how to get the john up !!
We did have

someone in to lay and connect gas lines when we switched the stove from electric to gas... but that's it!!

Three cheers for Bob !!

He 's older and grayer now but not too different!

boy is it hot!!

Not doing much at all. It has been so hot. We went out for a short walk - the walking track at our hospital. We took water and masks ( just in case we met someone). We managed one lap.... the thermometer in the car registered 97.
Today is almost as hot. We managed a trip to the grocery store. We separated - Bob did the cat stuff : food, litter etc. I managed the rest. We met up for birthday cards and the checkout lines. I was glad to take my mask off when I closed the car door and relaxed in the air conditioning!! I was glad to let Bob get gas on the way home!!

So far the blog changes are small.... some things haven't changed at all. At least not to my mind. Fingers crossed that I am right!

Here's my passport photo ... 1951

my grand daughter Lili finger painting ... about age 2

Wear masks... stay home... social distancing.... stay safe

new blogger

Guess it's my turn to figure out the new blogger format....
For sometime I have been reading on blogs about the new format and didn't have any idea what anyone meant. But then I went to my blog yesterday and there it was... the new format. I could go back to the old one but later this summer I would be automatically changed.  So... I will
 see what happens.

This is a digital scrapbook page I made ... way back when May 2006.  Lets see if it is on this new blogger post...

Well... so far so good!

life goes on

Life goes on... working on things for the next online show.... reading and so on.  Not sleeping too well. Too many dreams. Had one last night with my son as a late teenager. Not a bad dream until I remembered that there was no reason to pack up his stuff for our move... (dream story line). That made me hit rock bottom and wake up.

My daughter called... just to chat. But moved onto her will. It seems as if a lot of teachers are doing that. She downloaded a form and is in the process of filling it out and will go to the bank to get it notarized. This doesn't make her feel very good nor does her plan to daily self-quarantine if she has to go back to teaching in a building rather than online. She wants to keep her family as safe as possible.

And there we are... not able to do anything to help either of our daughters ( and their families) but listen. And keep ourselves as safe as possible so that they don't have to worry about us.

Busy day? !

Woke up and went downstairs where Bob suggested a walk in the park. So off I went to get dressed, wash face and brush my teeth... and then off to the park. It's the first time we have been since the original lock down. The parks were closed and their playgrounds.... but someone ( parks and recs I assume - City dept.) has been there. All the paths have new asphalt ! No more tripping on the cracks!
So walk we did... picking up trash as we went! Luckily there are loads of bins!
We'll be going again. There was a group "exercising" in one of the shelters... dog walkers.. and people just like us!

Home for coffee. Off to the grocery store soon.

It did look like customers at the grocery store are adjusting to the rules - in and out, masks etc. -  more that they had been. Almost everyone was wearing a mask!! Hooray. Maybe the local increases in virus numbers have actually begun to sink in ???

Even the little veggie stand across the street is doing curbside!!  I am looking forward to the cantaloupe for dinner!!

RAIN... thunder ... lightening

I woke several times last night to the sounds of thunder ... huge lightening strikes and lots of rain!
This lead to lots of strange dreams. Not bad ones, just strange. I guess the strangest included my grand daughter, as a small child, walking with me down  the Queen's lane  with horses  and cattle and a huge bull. We managed to keep the animals in their fields even when one of the smaller bulls got out and started following us. Weird? right?  No idea where this lane was ... just knew it was the Queen's!

Anyway... it has rained off and one since the middle of the night. We , again, have our own swimming pools all over the back yard!  I definitely won't have to water today !!

Bet it is going to rain again... everything is dark and we have all the lights on!!

numbers are rising

Our Covid 19 numbers are on the rise and making me ( maybe us) a little nervous. Guess we will hunker down a bit more.  Do feel the need to get OUT so we are planning walks early in the morning ( before it gets HOT). We will keep our distance if we come across anyone else.

When I say HOT... I mean hot. The weather person is talking about a heat index of 110 this weekend. My plants have needed daily watering and I am hoping for a little rain overnight. I have tomatoes on all my  plants and am hoping for more  -- there are plenty of flowers, so fingers crossed.

Dominic is enjoying his Marching Band Camp...they are outdoors for the most part and wearing hats , taking huge water bottles and being careful. Since Marching Band doesn't have trombones he is playing the baritone. He was given the baritone at the end of last school year and seems to have made a successful transition.

school ??

My grandson was to start 9th grade at the end of the summer. Our school district gave him the choice of virtual school or actual physical school. Not sure what safety precautions were to be taken but he and his parents decided that virtual learning would be his choice for at least the first half of the year. The school district will provide him with a Chromebook and one of his parents will be with him during school... not online with him but in the same room. He will be able to go to after school marching band practice which will be held outdoors with masks ( when not playing) and social distancing.
His Mother is a teacher in a near by school district - in the elementary gifted program. She is working on how she will handle this if her school district doesn't have physical school... She says this is the direction the school district is heading.

Our area's - four counties including Kansas City ( both the Missouri and Kansas sides)  - is still growing Covid 19 -wise. Parts have mask requirements.  My family - not just my husband and me - are being careful wearing masks etc.

So... it's back to mask making for me.

surprise

After watering my plants on the deck I brought in my watering can ti fill it at the kitchen sink. After a few minutes I returned to turn off the water and found this little guy sitting on the wall behind the sink!!

Who knows how his got in the watering can which was sitting on the deck two stories up!!  He's pale green and his body was about 1 1/4 inches long.  His toes have little suction cups. Caught him and took him back outside and put him into one of the plant containers.

love these signs

I go past these signs each time I head out of our subdivision... I really like them and today I managed to take a picture ( not a good one though) . ... it started with  " you matter" ... then "you are worthy" and "love your neighbor" were added.

hair cut time...

Yes it's time for a haircut.... but I haven't called my "stylist" to see how he and his salon are doing. Are they even open?  Do they require masks? ETC... So I guess I will continue to figure out how to keep this hair out of my eyes and to be surprised at how gray this pandemic is making me!!

quieter

Yesterday was finally quiet... guess everyone who bought fireworks set them off before the 4th and finished things up on the fourth!!  So many went off that it looked like we were in the midst of a fire... very very hazy and smokey.  Hard to see across the street!
Some fireworks were really really loud and the cats jumped each time one of them went off!!


We have now had many days of HOT sunny weather with occasional showers. The forecast for this week is even hotter  ... mid 90's. Everyone's air conditioners will be going full bore. Guess I will have to plan on making more bears for the August online show and doing more laps around the house... too hot to spend much time outdoors.

Looks like our family is growing.... my elder daughter's step-daughter is having a baby. A little girl due January 19th.  Lacy sent me a picture of a pair of sneakers she bought for the baby... tiny and oh so cute!!

Oliver's spa treatment

Oliver came home for a much needed spa treatment. I made him in 1993 (Vogue pattern) for my daughter to take to college... he made it through college... two grandchildren and many pets. Lately he became a chew toy and that's why a "spa treatment" became necessary.
I "opened" him up and removed lots of his stuffing. Found the pattern piece necessary and cut out two new paw pads  and replaced the chewed on ones.
Bob took him out on the deck and gave him a good wash and left him to "drain".  When he was almost dry Bob popped him into the clothes dryer  on Ultracare .  I restuffed him and sewed him closed.

 He's all done and ready to return home...

Looks pretty good for a 27 year old bear!!

Get up... get up

Bob woke me up early this morning( 6am) to the wail of tornado sirens!! We both grabbed phones ,glasses, slippers and bathrobes and headed downstairs to the basement.... sirens going off continuously.  It was also raining heavily and the wind blowing ( according to the weatherperson after it was all over) at 80 miles per hour.
I looked out a window by the front door and could not see across the street.
We hunkered down in the basement until the sirens stopped and the phone signaled an all clear. On the way back to bed we checked the local television station's radar map... lots of red and warnings all over.
 Finally went back to bed and dozed for awhile.... not a great way to start the day

No damage in our yard other than tipped over plants. Two neighbors had their wooden fences blown down and one had a tree split and half down.   No electricity down here but lots of outages all over Kansas City.