Small steps into fall .... and haircut

 We are definitely heading into fall... Day temps are now hovering around the 70's and night time ones in the low 40 to 50 range.  This means more blankets on the beds!!

  We could use rain... the ground is cracked. But we don't have to mow the yards... the grass is hibernating!!

  My grandson was finally tired of his LO-O-NG  hair . He went to  a chain salon that specialized in men. I loved the first cut...but the marching band director did NOT. Dominic's hair was too short to put it into a ponytail for band. So off he went for cut number 2.

He's ambivalent about the cut and nervous what his peers will think... To me he looks drastically different and much more adult ( posted a picture a few posts back of him marching in the town's fall Fun Festival parade titled "missing". )

Fall ? Cold...

 Yesterday it was Fall !!  A little rain and much lower temps... only in the low 60's !! Bob flipped the furnace from air condition to heat... and it has been RUNNING!!

Today it is still running but the temp is at 73 outside and may get up to the mid-80's. Another part of our up and down temperature cycling?

It looks like next week will be cooler... 70's.  Shorts will be washed and put away till next Spring... and long pants and sweaters are ready for layering!!  While I am at it... I am sorting things for our local thrift stores.  Things I have not worn for years will be finding new homes!! My closet and dresser will have a new emptier look!!

 

missing

 I haven't felt like posting since we received our covid booster... the one for the new variant. Bob did fine but I certainly did not. I felt rotten... slept off and on all Saturday and Sunday . Getting back to normal today...

Sadly I missed my grandson marching in the Blue Springs Fall Fun Fest parade Saturday..

He has three marching band events and then off to Hawaii ( Pearl Harbor) where the band plays for the USS Missouri.  He will miss Thanksgiving here but I have told him we will postpone things till he gets home.

more water issues/// less - no water

 Last night we had water with bursts indicating sir in the pipes. This morning I could make a pot of coffee but then no water at all!!

Bob went to take a look at what the water department was doing around noon. It looks like they were closing things down. A truckload of gravel was being delivered!

But by 2pm... still no water... luckily we have a few bottles of water to drink!

Last night Bob went to CVS;s website and signed us up for the new Covid booster. Lots of medical stuff to fill out... insurance details etc. but we has appointments for 11 am today. We arrived on time and there was more paperwork to fill out and sign. By 11.30 we were vaccinated ( Bob got a flu shot too - I am allergic).  So that's taken care of.

Our teacher daughter was vaccinated last night.  Headed off to school this morning. She has no students on Friday and was supposed to substitute in other non-gifted classes but by 9 felt so ill she had to go home. Fingers crossed this doesn't happen to Bob or me.

water happenings

 Heading out to pick up our order ( special cat food) from Target we noticed water running the gutter. It was coming up from the ground in front of a neighbor's yard. She was sitting outside  so we stopped to "suggest" she call the water department.

On our way home the Blue Springs Water dept. truck was parked in front of her house and a group of workers seemed to be discussing what to do.

Soon they were at work digging away and vacuuming up the wet dirt. (Our subdivision was built in the 1970's and the pipes are often  needing replacement! Our clay soil and hot summers / cold winters add to ground shifting which leads to pipes breaking and this summer has been HOT!)

Making dinner I turned on the kitchen faucet and tan water came out ... air in the pipes added to it all. We   put some in a glass ...not a pretty sight! Bottles of water for us tonight!

Watching the ER II news

I have been watching all the TV and computer postings about Queen Elizabeth's life and death. I had hoped she would live as long as her Mother ( the Queen Mum).

When I was really young, and living in London, I remember singing "God save the King"  and being confused about the switch to  "God save the Queen"... by then we were living in the US..

Yesterday was the coolest it's been in ages... never made it over 69 degrees. I even had to switch from shorts to jeans and make sure my quilt was "in place" for last night! But today we are back to normal  . It's currently 82 degrees. Up and down... up and down. What's next!!

 

 

revamp and computer fix (?)

We went back to our daughter's house yesterday to do a little more on her office revamp. She's been unloading boxes of stuff she took out the other day. Things are looking good!!

The dogs ( Scout and Harper) were utterly whipped after our Sunday work day... so tired that they didn't even want to get up yesterday morning!! Don't think that's happened before!   But they were ready for more romping and stomping while we were there yesterday.... multiple trips up and down the deck stairs returning whatever was thrown ( the deck is up one story off the ground).

Laurel's computer repair that we helped with last week did not do the trick even with the world-wide online repair  person ( in India) that was part of her computer purchase deal.... so an actual person was to come to her home within 5 working days to fix it. Between Laurel's work schedule and the "person" they finally set up a time this afternoon..... but we just got a text saying he was coming NOW ...four hours early. Luckily she had returned from a work "thingy" and was home. 

The guy finally made it... and replaced most of the computer aside from the case. Still does not work... doesn't get past the set-up. So the company will send a box and she is to mail it back to them. We don't know what the computer company will do then....

Bob went to our daughter's house while the guy was working on this... she felt uncomfortable with him and he doesn't like dogs....not a fun day!

What we did yesterday...

 We helped our daughter revamp her home office!!! First we totally emptied it out... then Bob vacuumed, and rolled up the old area rug. Our daughter washed the walls and I took out trash and cardboard to their respective "wheelie bins"! Cardboard to the recycle one.

Then we brought in the new area rug ... perfect size.. It left a margin , door opens and the cold air vent exposed!

Next we started bringing back things ... newly painted ( by both daughters) bookcase... IKEA "saw horses" type things to hold the top for the computer monitor etc...

At this point it was time for a break..Then Laurel made dinner for us all which was a fantastic dinner salad of balsamic marinated  chicken, mixed greens, nuts, dried fruit and a home made dressing and chibata buns! Great... We ate outside on the deck and with all that time consuming work, it turned dark!

So back to a few things before we began to head home... trash bags to the wheelie bins... old rug ready to be "thrifted"  and so on.

By the way... the top for her computer desk is an old cherry door from her great great-grandfather's barn  that her grandmother had converted to a coffee table. Her grandmother was an avid smoker so there are LOADS of cigarette burns from when the cigarettes fell off of the ash tray! Laurel refuses to get rid of them... reminds her too much of her grandmother!!

Santa Cali-Gon??

probably most don't know where the "word" Santa Cali-Gon comes from... Independence, Mo  was the start of the three trails heading West. There are places in the area where one can still see the swales left by the wagons! Santa is for the trail heading to Santa Fe. Cali- is for the trail heading to California and Gon for the trail heading to Oregon.Trains of wagons filled up on supplies in Independence!!

So Independence hosts a a three day festival every Labor Day weekend with crafts, vendors, a beer garden, a carnival etc. One can find home made items from root beer to kettle corn ! All set up in the area around the square which surrounds the Jackson County courthouse. President Harry Truman's home is a few walking blocks away and is run by the National Park Service. His Presidential Library is a short drive away.