Mysteries of life

Hello, On the walk home from church we walked through the campus that is close to our home. We often do this because their sidewalks have generally been well cleared of snow. It was good today as are most of the sidewalks that we use. Today a squirrel came toward us. Leroy marched right on by until I said something about the squirrel. He commented that the animal wanted to check us out. I stood very still while the squirrel came closer and closer. It came to me, sniffed my boot toe, looked at me, and then scampered off. “Wow” I said. “Maybe it wanted to see if you were food and realized it was a no,” Leroy laughed. Another mystery. Why is it so hard to use the toilet when dressed in longer clothes. I had on a sweater that hung below my bottom, so it needed to be raised then there was the open belt on my long coat that had to be hitched up along with an extra-long scarf. It seems I need a servant to manage all of this paraphernalia. I know I could have just taken off the coat which would have given me a little more freedom, but I did not want to do that. Why do I not want to do tasks the easy way even if it seems it will take more time? Paula

Walk to Church

Hello, In spite of cold temperatures, Leroy and I are getting some steps. We walked upon rising. Outside was in the single digits. We did see one interesting thing. There was a stop sign which also held the street signs lying on the ground at one of the intersections. Back in the warm apartment, Leroy called the nonemergency number of the police. We could have set the sign back up, but the metal pole was cut off at the base. The snow revealed some tire tracks going past it. I wonder whose vehicle front is dented. Later we once again walked to church with those familiar single digits hanging around. It did not seem so cold, but that was probably the illusion of the sun. We were bundled so that no speck of skin showed. The guy walking four dogs ahead of us did not believe in wearing so many bulky items. The goggles even gave good wind protection. We also appreciate the sunglasses quality of them. Leroy bought his at a garage sale. Someone in the congregation here, gave a pair to me since they no longer used them to ski. It has been a blessing. When I had to wear glasses under them they were not so comfortable, now they are great. We did not attend worship, but came for the retirement/resigning of one of the staff. It felt good to participate and visit with her. We were there long enough to warm up before heading back out knowing that we would be walking into the wind much more. We chose our route carefully so we could zigzag and get some protection from houses from time to time. We are considering walking again this afternoon in the slightly warmer air to finish getting 10,000 steps. We did walk, I have 12,952 steps. For some reason Leroy has about a thousand less. Paula

Deep Cleaning and Church

Hello, This morning Leroy said, “Lets really clean the living room and get behind all the furniture.” We are getting more lax about deep cleaning so I was glad that he suggested it. He might have been spurred on by the fern dripping leaves indiscriminately. I certainly have noticed it. While we had all the plants out I trimmed many dead leaves, etc. Leroy, that taller guy, wipes down all of the ceiling and walls. I am happy to know that we did eliminate some cobwebs. How do they grow anyway? We even cleaned out a cupboard that houses our board games. There were a few that we have not played in years so they are in the giveaway pile. I can tell we have lived here almost ten years because we have accumulated some more things. Not sure that our things fit in a 10 x 15 storage unit. There is work ahead. Leroy will be officiating at communion tonight, because one of the pastor’s is waiting for a Covid test and the other is out of town. The intern is there, but she has not been ordained so does not officiate at communion. I believe Leroy was pleased to be asked. I decided that the current pastors do not feel threatened by Leroy. Two Sundays ago he was asked to read the lessons because that person could not come. He said he liked being in front again. He did a nice job reading and got a few compliments which surprised him. I thought I might go to church tomorrow, but I now learned that we are to get more snow and it might be slippery. I will also go tonight, even if it changes my supper time. My eating times are quite scheduled and not an easily flexible point for me. I pride myself on being flexible, but maybe it is not true. I also just like to go to church in the morning. Paula

Mail

Hello, Our snail mail has come some days and not others. Apparently a number of the postal workers are out sick. One night our mail came at 9:00 pm. It has come on some Sundays and holidays. I am concerned about the carriers who are well and working such odd hours. I wonder how long they can keep up this pace. Those that come to our house do a lot of walking on snow and ice as well as in darkness. Leroy and I walked to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription. I noticed that a few more people usual wore masks. I am grateful for this close source to get prescriptions filled, so we can walk if we have the time. Leroy suggested that we take a longer walk and I am glad that we did. It is much nicer out now. Not much wind and 11 degrees Fahrenheit. We were both almost hot when we arrived at home. Our walk route was chosen by looking up the sidewalk for the clearest. Most people do a good job, but some don’t attempt or try so late that it is a lot of icy footsteps. Today I happened to look out the window and spotted the garbage truck across the alley. The driver opened the door in sub zero tempts with a short sleeve shirted arm. Then he stuck his leg out clad only in nylon gym type shorts. He did have on work boots as well as gloves and a hat along with the neon green shirt and shorts. He moved briskly around the truck out of my sight and came back shortly. He had left the cab door wide open so he had to move that aside before he climbed back in and proceeded on his way. Was he trying for the cute look? He looked quite dashing, or noticable in those flimsy clothing items. Paula

Rare Seed Pods

Hello, I have been watching seed pods growing on the Thanksgiving cactus. There are three of them. At the same time it is sending out buds for the second seasonal blooming. This morning I looked up the seed pods and learned, at least according to the site I used, that it is a rare occurrence. I know that in the 50 years I have been growing both Christmas and Thanksgiving cactus plants this has never happened before nor have I ever heard anyone else talk of such a thing. Surprising new experiences keep coming into my sight. So far life still has a good edge. I am hoping to be able to send the pictures on to you, but things have changed from my usual methods and I have to figure out the new way. I do not always embrace all this new learning. There is a big part of me that would like the old skills to still work or that someone would just tell me how to do it the new way. Figuring it out is not how I want to spend my time.

Leroy has gotten bitten by the step “bug”. He gets more steps than I do many days. He uses his phone for the record. I suspect it has even spurred him to walk home from work on the nicer day, if I can get him there in the morning. He was disappointed yesterday when it got up in the 30’s F and he drove. Today we have single digits so he did not even consider such a thing since it is a three mile walk. We might walk to church this evening for choir, but we will check the temperature and the wind velocity. Paula

Heat Wave Then Snow

Hello, We went from a short heat wave to dropping temperatures and snow and more snow on the ground. I really have no idea how much snow it is. Some places have about a 1.5 foot drift and some are almost clear. Leroy and I went out twice yesterday to clear the cement surrounding us. It was a case of heavy lifting. This morning we went out again to finish the job. Some of the already cleared had commanding drifts. All of the snow was more packed. It was quite cold and I did not last so long as I had not put on long underwear. I also wore my old leather mittens because I think shoveling is hard on mittens. When I went out the second time I decided it is only money and wore the warmest. My hands liked that, especially the fingers. Now the walks and by the garage are done. In the front the sun is finishing the job of clearing or melting the snow off. I am so happy we got that done. This afternoon Leroy and I will go to church and help with the meal delivery. Should we walk? The temperature is now 5 degrees warmer than it was. Surely that will feel much better. Than it is a question of how much clothing to wear. I also like to put on other shoes when inside because my feet get too hot inside my boots. We have a new computer that is now on its third day with us. We have had to learn some new things. We did a zoom call yesterday. We had to get it set up. Then it worked well for a while, the camera is much better, but the camera shut down about half way through. We could not figure out where it went and how to restart it. This morning it all worked just fine. I am still using the “old” one. It seems that we will like having two computers as both of us can use them at the same time. What is with us? Is our ability to share diminishing with age? Paula

Heat Wave?

Hello, Yesterday when at work, I heard people talking about a heat wave. The temperature was above 30 degrees F. Having very low temperatures helps one to appreciate warmer temperatures. Today it has gotten up into the 40s. Indeed it felt like a heat wave even though two months ago the talk would have been about cold. I went out and spent some time chopping up more ice in the alley close to the garage in anticipation of the snow coming on Saturday. When there is melting like this we get a shallow lake of sorts in back of our garage. It helps to make a path for the water to move on to a drain that is farther away. We want no dams. When the sun shines on this packed down snow/ice it comes off the cement much easier. It is so satisfying to be able to do this. If Leroy had been home we would have made much more progress. Up the street I was happy to see someone with a snow blower removing snow from the sidewalk. Leroy and I like to takes walks with that as a connecting street so it was not much fun to have it hard to navigate. There is still snow or ice on it because it has been so packed by many feet going past. When we walk I send silent thanks to all of the neighbors who have done a good job clearing the walks. It is a gift for us. Paula

Volunteering

Hello, Leroy and I are volunteering at the meal give away at the church. Someone else prepares the meals, but we help pack and hand them out the door to the recipients. Because the weather is so much nicer today there will likely be a number of people. Tomorrow Leroy is going to be a greeter at church. We are not scheduled very often for that and he has also signed up to usher, but we both do much subbing in these roles. I can believe that in retirement we will be able to find many volunteer tasks that we can do. I will retire next winter and Leroy has not yet figured out his retirement day. I did not think I wanted to retire, but once I decided to, I am noticing that I feel more and more ready for that day. Leroy spent some time this morning working on his stamps. He finds much enjoyment in that. That hobby will become more time consuming in retirement. I do not really have any hobbies but as of yet I am not concerned about filling in my time. Maybe more volunteering will be in the future? I also know that I need to control the amount of time and energy. Paula

Cold equals more reading time

Hello, I finished the book I am reading for the book club this Sunday. It was interesting and well written by Louise Erdrich. It was loosely or maybe not so loosely based on her grandfather. It showed me a lot about how we people of European descent have treated native peoples in this country. Hopefully things will change in the future. I also have a book to finish by Tuesday for the library book club. The book of hope by Jane Gooddall is also thought provoking. It takes me a while to read such books, because I like to spend time thinking about the points raised. I might finish it by Tuesday, but then maybe not. It is cold out, but Leroy and I are going out to take a walk. We will decide how far once we get outside. It is certainly nice and sunny which makes it much more inviting, in spite of cold. We will also widen the path on the sidewalk as well as take of some of the packed snow by the garage. Leroy had a doctor visit this morning, but I have not yet been out of the door. It is time. Yesterday I did get out for work, but not much else enticed me out into the low temperature and serious wind. Amazing how hearing that it could get up to 17 tomorrow sounds warm. What a difference perspective makes. We certainly have plenty of food in the house. I am grateful for storage possibilities in our modern life, and that furnace that just keeps working. We live a life of luxury with water, food, and shelter. Paula

Snow

Hello, In spite of the blizzard on Saturday Leroy and I managed to walk to church to hand out meals to those who could make the trek. It was only about 1/3 of the meals usually handed out. But that was not a problem as our coordinator knew of shelters that needed food. Some people felt we should have accepted a ride so we did accept a ride for the return trip. The streets were still quite passable in a car. Sunday morning we also drove, but I think it would have been fine to walk to church as the wind was not so serious. There was more snow, but it was light and fluffy. The streets that we chose to use had been cleared. I was a greeter and Leroy was an usher. Leroy expressed the sentiment, “If we had not had responsibilities, I would rather stay home and watch church on live stream.” As it was we joined 20 + other people in the building. We could sit well apart from each other in the large sanctuary. Hopefully all others were just watching the live stream. We are so grateful that we have access to that technology for this pandemic. Worship has changed. We did shovel yesterday before driving out of the garage. In the afternoon we went to the end of the alley and eliminated the snowplow piles of snow, making that easier to traverse. I also shoveled a single path along a neighbor’s house. It appears they have been out of town for almost a month. We often walk that way so I was really helping us. This morning Leroy went out and shoveled out the snowplow piles at the end of that walk. It was so solid that I could not get it to move with my plastic shovel. He also did another place like that at the end of our block. Non-walkers do not know how helpful it is to have that cleared. Sometimes it is the riskiest place in the blocks we traverse. Paula