No, bat, old Fogie

Hello, I have not seen the bat for the last two days. I feel a bit sad about that, but I wonder if it is still out there, just out of sight. We suspected something was residing there because of the quantity of poop on the window sill. I miss looking at it up close which allowed me to see so many details. Leroy got his hearing aids on Sunday. Neither of us was quite prepared for the length of the appointment, but happy that he could get in early. Leroy tells me, “Now I am officially an “old fogie”. Another observation he made, “I hear so much noise when I chew, can you hear me chewing?” I had to tell him yes. He is now eating more slowly in an effort to be a bit quieter. I think he often breathes so loudly. So, I asked, “Did you hear yourself breath?” “Yes, I did at first. Now I do not so much,” he replied. Except when he is asleep, I have not noticed the loud breathing so I am hopeful for a cure with hearing it himself. He went to a neighborhood meeting last night. He tells me that he could hear all of it. Apparently, it has been some time since that happened. Hurrah for technology that improves the quality of life. Paula

Ants, Bat, and Cabbages

Hello, What do ants, a bat and cabbages have in common? Nothing except figuring more prominently in our lives right now. That bat returns each day for a good sleep safely on our screen which is sheltered by an awning. I try not to make much noise in that area because I have seen it startle with loud noises. Guess I figure this animal is my friend, especially when I think about it catching bugs. We have ants come visit us in the kitchen and I do not feel so favorable towards them. They have found the area when I store honey. Some of it must have dripped on the outside of a bottle. I did create my homemade ant killer. These ants are large and black. Leroy comments, “Do you see any uncles?” Anyway, this killer attracts many ants because of the sweet content, but they carry the boric acid back to the nest and most of them die. Yesterday, I accidently killed one on the counter, before I could dispose of it another ant grabbed it, hauled it to the edge of the counter, took it down to the floor, and dragged or carried it away. I am astonished by the strength to accomplish this task. My downstairs friend was going to a plant store so I had her get some cabbages. She generously gave me 12 of them. I did not read the directions concerning distance that these plants need. They are crammed into our front garden, helter-skelter. Hopefully many of them survive and the cabbage heads are not too large. We could cut some off early and that would probably be fine. We planted some other things yesterday. Today I noticed something had dug a small hole in there and I startled a bird as I came up with new plants. I showed Leroy where I thought these new cabbage additions should go. He dug holes and put them in racing the coming rain. We also got a netting on to stop further raids on the garden. Paula

Bat On the Screen

Hello, When I closed the window in the spare bedroom, I saw a bat clinging to the top of the window screen. I was pleased to see it sleeping in a save place. I had wondered if bats hung out under there as we could see droppings on the sill. Neither of us could identify them, but we suspected bats.

Leroy and I went to the garden this morning at the early hour of 5:30. It was a beat the heat plan that turned out to be good. The only draw back was that the ground was so dry it was difficult to pull weeds. We did get some out of there, but left many more than we took out. We took a little time to water, but it was not nearly enough. I have a hard time remembering that person I used to be who got up early almost every day, went to the garden, and picked squash bugs, tossed them on the ground before stomping on them. It certainly extended the life of our zucchini. It seemed much more of a chore to get to the garden so early today. I use a cup of sesame seeds when making granola. I make it about every week or two. So that is a lot of cups. I ordered it in bulk. I will put some of the bags in the freezer even though it might be fine without doing that. We are fortunate to be able to do that because a little jar would not be very efficient. Besides I get a ten percent discount this way. While at that store, I spotted red lentils marked to less that half price. I bought four bags of those. We both like them. They will not last too long at my house. Paula

Who is Dr. X

Hello, I got a call this morning telling us that Leroy has an appointment with Dr. X. For the life of me I could not remember who Dr. X is. The name was familiar, that was it. I looked at our shared paper calendar. No appointments for this day they were reminding about. I started running through a list of his body parts and the doctors associated with those parts. Nothing worked for this doctor. I, who rarely call Leroy at work, called for about the fifth time. Because he had heard my voice so frequently, Leroy just laughed when he answered the phone. It took him a bit of time to think who this doctor is. He finally remembers that he sees Dr. Y at this association. It is for eyes another reason that it did not come to mind since he only goes about once a year. I made a trip to the pharmacy early this morning before the heat settled in. I had to pick up a refill and get another refill started. I then learned that they would have to call the doctor because there were no more refills on this prescription at the moment. I wanted to let Leroy know about the status of all that. This morning I needed to call our financial advisor about some changes to two accounts. Because some of our investment strategies had changed and I wanted to tell Leroy the status of all that. That ended up requiring two calls to Leroy. A friend of ours died and I passed on that news to him. I thought this woman would live forever, but guess not. Paula

Not Competitive, but

Hello, Leroy used to complain that I got more steps than he did on the same walk. For some reason, he seems to get more than I do. We took a short walk this morning, went shopping together, and were together much of the rest of the time, he has three thousand more steps than I do. How did that happen? Neither of us can explain it. Leroy is still on his 10,000 steps per day streak. It is now 41 days. I am not in the competition at all as I do not seem to get it on my work days. He is going to walk outside now. I will join him even though I need so many more. At this moment I only have 6,826 which is a bit shy of 10,000. What is disgusting is that Leroy has had quite a bit of time to read and I have not at all. What do I do with my time? I did make bread. June 11, 2022 Somehow the day got away from me and I did not finish writing. Both of us got our 10,000 steps. We were going to deliver neighborhood newsletters tonight, but it is a little misty. That is not good for these papers that are exposed to the weather. Both of us still have a few steps to cover. We can do that, but I am not sure how long we can be out. I did read a graphic novel today, it was really a memoir, but graphic. This book, Gender Queer, has been banned often. I can understand how that might be, but I also found it great for helping me to see how another person feels and the pain they experience before learning more about themselves and the world around them. Reading is a great way to find out about other people and see them as fellow human beings. I would recommend this book. Paula

Days so full

Hello, Leroy and I went to northeast Iowa to celebrate my 50 + 2 college reunion. Because of Covid it was delayed. I was sorry to learn that two of my favorite people were not going to be there. However, it was still a good time. As expected, people looked older, but surely not me. Grateful for name tags and pictures from senior year to make the connections. I feel that I spent a good bit of time talking to people that I never visited with while at school. Does that often happen? The last day was for a church service, traveling home, and for us talking about our 51-wedding anniversary. Two of my grandchildren declared me to be very old. A point that I could not argue with as it is much longer than their lifetime. At home I went to work the next day and plunged into the summer schedule at the library which is quite an intense time. There are many, many people in the library, mostly families and children. We have reading support morning and afternoon, as well as a program everyday in the afternoon for children and teens. All of this extra traffic increases circulation. Many people were new to the library necessitating the filling out of library card information. All of that takes more time. Then there are the full carts of books that need to go back on the shelf. For some reason there were also more interlibrary loan requests. That also takes a bit more time than usual. And some people think we sit around and read books. I have a long list of possible, but not so much time even when I am home. I do like the energy that is in the building during the summer. Paula

Meet another Neighbor

Hello, Leroy is working today. Even though it does not garner many steps, I decided to pick up trash in the boulevard and the street gutter. Someone had talked about the trash in the park near here. I had noticed that trash, but it is more of an effort to get to that. It pushed me to go out and work on the block here. I did from our house to the corner and down the side that is closest to the Dairy Queen. It is also a busy street. Perhaps for those two reasons it accumulates much more trash. It was a pleasant surprise to see that the street cleaner had been past. There was not much in the street except for those places that a car had been parked so they could not clean there. In spite of that, a plastic grocery sack filled with ease. As I was coming up to a driveway someone pulled in. They parked there a short time. I squatted down, all the better to pick up stuff. They stuck their head out and asked if I was crossing. I then noticed the backup lights on the car were on. I replied, “No, I am just picking up trash.” She then asked, “Could you move farther away?” I asked with a laugh, “You don’t want to hit me?” She responded, “That would be terrible. Can you imagine? Old lady hit while bending over to pick up trash.” We both laughed together. I was happy to have made a connection because I had found green foam, black tipped items. She did tell me they were part of a toy so I put them on the steps of the closest house. My good deed for the day. Paula