Mouse Caught

Hello, One mouse is gone. The stye is still with me. Soon it might be gone as well. We know there could be more mice in the house. I rebaited and reset the trap in the kitchen. Our landlord will check at least once while we are gone so the deceased will not create a stink in our place. We are hoping this is the only mouse. It is so nice out. We got our 10,000 steps today out in the sunshine. It feels so good to me. I like the outdoors. Leroy repacked today, making sure that he had all of the items in that he wanted to have in. I just decided I will adjust with everything that I put in. The coat situation is a little more difficult to get figured out. Hopefully we have the right things to layer. My violets are sending up bud stalks. They might still be in bloom to welcome us home. They always brighten my day. Paula

Stye in the Eye

Hello, I have a stye in my eye and we have a mouse in the house. Warm compresses for one malady and traps set for the other. Two days ago, I saw that there was a hole in the bag of sunflower seeds. I wondered about a mouse; however, the plastic seemed to be lifted off the hole. It appeared to me that one of us must have torn it. Today there was a hole in the replacement bag and crumbs around the hole. We went on a nice long walk this afternoon, but no mouse in any of the three traps that are set in different spots. I coat them with organic peanut butter. I do not like to share my peanut butter with a mouse, but it frequently works to lure them in. Hoping mice know a good thing when they see it. One of the cacti are blooming and the other two have a nice crop of buds. I suspect many of them will open while we are gone for thanksgiving. Leroy and I packed this afternoon to make sure that we could fit everything into our allotted bags. We are making it work. It lets me know that I have gotten used to the extravagance of taking more than I need. We will have a washing machine available. Course even though we can check on the weather, we still want to be comfortable and do not always know the clothes that requires. Paula

Computer is Home

Hello. Our laptop is home again. The problem is not solved, but we can use it most of the time after we restart. Sometimes we have to use an external keyboard. Our tech friend tried many different things, but nothing worked for long enough. I finally cried “Uncle! I will put up with all of the inconvenience.” Email boxes were full and who knows what else I might have missed. Leroy is better at using his tablet than I am so he was not quite so far behind. I tried on my phone, but do not really like that. I did manage to check in for some appointments on the phone, but not without some difficulty. We have kept busy, but in other ways. I have had some more time to read books, you know, the paper kind. I have also had time to consider how attached to this machine I have become. We will go to Sarah’s for Thanksgiving so we will have another long break from this type of technology. I do have some magazines gathered to take on the trip. At least our health has been good. We can still walk to church, just not as fast as we used to. Paula

Work Done Before the Rain and Cold

Hello, Not that it was weather related, we had a zoom call with seminary friends. Technology keeps us connected even though geographic distance keeps us apart. We had a great visit. We got much of the water out of the rain barrel before we had to move on to other things. The Swiss chard is now, mostly out of the community garden. There were some very small shoots that we did not cut. Maybe they can tolerate colder temperatures than I remember. A large bag of chard was joyfully accepted by our downstairs friends. I will use quite a bit and the rest will go to the place I volunteer on Mondays. Hopefully someone will be glad to get it there as well. We also picked the last of the broccoli. All I can say is, are worms really a good source of protein or does it depend on the type of worm? Today we finished emptying the rain barrel and turned it upside down for the winter. It feels good to get that job finished. We also planted two mums that were in pots. Hopefully they will bloom next year. If not, we can say, “Oh well, we tried.” It started to rain this morning as I was coming home from the store. I get honey in my returnable jar. Today the honey stopped when only about a fourth full. It is being delivered later today, but I am good with the amount I was able to capture. It was interesting at check out. The person there did not know how to take off the tare weight of the jar. She commented, “Not so many people bring their own containers any more. Thank you for doing that and helping the earth.” Paula

Beautiful Fall Day

Hello, We did vote. It is so easy for us to do that since it is about a five-minute walk to the polls. It is fun to see a neighbor there and visit about the garden. This morning, we were at the to help dig sweet potatoes even though it was only one plant. As we waited for others to come, we pulled giant okra plants. By giant, most were taller than Leroy and some were about an inch in diameter at the bottom of the stem. Leroy pulled them and I broke them so they would fit in the compost bin. When others arrived, we used the shovel and a chopper to fit the rest in the bin. Rhubarb leaves are also in the bin along with some random weeds. I picked up trash that travels on the wind. There were not so many sweet potatoes so we only took one as we have some at home. The broccoli appeared not to have any worms. After soaking in vinegar water, vinegar water, and plain water they were a nice lunch, hopefully without worms. There were three in the water and I spotted one on a sprig before cooking. After voting we took a nice long walk. There were a number of people, frequently accompanied by a dog, out enjoying the day with a walk. Some of the maple leaves were just lovely. I had intended to bring some home, but we came home a different way. I still need more steps to reach 10,000. Paula

Lost and new purchased November 1, 2025 Hello, Leroy lost his sun glasses that fit over glasses. He had them in his pocket and forgot to zip it in. We hope someone who can use them found them. We shopped for a new pair only to learn that the price was now almost $10 more. Lucky Leroy, he found two pair in a package deal for less than half of the price of one. we could not open them in the store to find out how they felt. A store worker assured us that he could try them on at home and bring them back within 90 days if not to his liking. He likes them. He decided to keep one in the house and one in the car so he is covered at all times.

I also got an orchid that was discounted. It is still beautiful. We took a walk. Here is Leroy by a good-looking tree. Earlier in the day we went to a traveling exhibit of the orphan trains. I thought it was special that we know someone whose grandparent was one of these orphans. However, we learned there are 2,000,000 descendants of these children in the whole country. Life was good for some and not for others.

All of this was in an old train depot. They had information about the German POWs in the USA during WWII. I had no idea there were so many camps. Hopefully they were treated as decent human beings. Paula