Cat in the Garage

Hello, I put the garage door open as I was entering the alley so it is up by the time I get there. Just as I pulled into the garage the all-black cat, which we have seen often before, ran into the garage and under Leroy’s car. I parked, grumbled a little at that cat, looked under the car, saw it by the driver’s front tire, and told it to go back out. It looked at me wearily before it moved more to the center of the car. I walked around muttering, “What is long enough and light weight enough that I can slide it towards you and you will leave?” The ice chopper looked like it would work. When I looked again, I could not see the cat, but I swished under there just in case. The big door lowered and no cat appeared. The small door was open and it darted towards it. I stepped back and let it march out into freedom. Not sure why that animal wants to get in our garage, but Leory as had trouble with it when he was doing something out there and had the door open. My trip to the dentist involved a bit more than I expected. I will need a filling. Luckily, I have no pain there. Then there is a lower front tooth that hurt when we were gone for Thanksgiving. The pain went away most of the time after we came home so I have ignored it. I mentioned it to the hygienist. She did not see anything at first, but when she poked in the area it was painful. She saw something that she did not recognize. “I will have Doc look at this,” she said. When he looked, he had her take an ex-ray of the tooth and the root. He speculated as to what it might be. Something I had never heard of before. He told me, “Don’t you worry about this now. When you come back for the filling, we will discuss the possibilities.” Life holds new adventures all of the time, cat and tooth! Paula

What day of the week?

Hello, Even though I write the day and date when doing my devotions, I still wonder what day it is. There was something about going to a job that kept all of this straight in my mind. For some reason today has seemed more like part of a weekend rather than Tuesday. If I get hit in the head, could I answer the question about the day even though I might be functioning? Yesterday someone was insisting that it was a date later than it was. Even though I knew the date, I sympathize with the confusion. Early tomorrow, I go to the dentist for the last checkup of the year. The appointment card is in the table so I will see it at breakfast. How is that for a trick to help the memory? They also called me with the reminder, but I had remembered it before that. I am grateful for the dental care and that I still have a functioning mouth, tongue, teeth, jaw, and all of it. Last night I did not feel so well, more general than anything specific. This morning my voice was a bit stress. It was hard, but I did almost no talking. Breakfast was rather quiet. Guess I do most of the talking. I am feeling livelier now and my voice sounds better. I am not going to get 10,000 steps today, but I will try to get it up to 5,000. We are happy that the laptop functions well now. We still look at and talk about getting another computer, but just have not done that. Oh, we did give up our home phone. It needed to be replaced and we just let it go. Our cell phones will be the way to reach us. Paula

Early or Late

Hello, Rain predictions and rain falling convinced us to drive to church. We got there in plenty of time for me to greet and Leroy to usher. There was only one other car in the lot. After we wandered around a little hanging up coats, etc., we learned that we were an hour early as there was to be only one service today. Leroy spent the time greeting others who also came early. I went downstairs and put plastic spoons and forks into groups of 25 so they can be handed out at the food deliveries at the shelters. At least I felt useful. Later in the day we went to a funeral. We arrived in plenty of time, but not too early. The service, however, started a bit late and there was a lot of talk and music. At the end of the message by the pastor, it was already an hour and fifteen minutes. We had a birthday party to go to that would be over soon. We had expected the service to last about an hour. Then we would leave. We were sitting in the middle of a row, but asked to get past three people there. There was to be communion and some small amount of liturgy. We went out the wrong door so it took us a while to get to the car. I tried to tell Leroy it was not where we had come in, but he insisted. Why I let him do that I do not know since he does not have a good sense of direction. At the party place we learned that most people had come early and left early, so they had packed up and we missed out on that. I will contact the birthday woman and wish her well for her 80th. Paula

Quiet Morning, Volunteer Afternoon

Hello, Yesterday when at church, I asked if help was needed for the Saturday evening meal. The answer was yes. There are servers, but no clean up people or very few. Leory and I have cleaned up so it is a good job for us. We actually know what we are doing. Before we go to church we will walk to the city library. Leroy is on his last library book and I am out and feeling a bit unanchored. That mile and a half one way, will get us some steps. We are hoping to reach our goal before the day is over. Leroy did his exercises early this morning. I managed to get in mine a little later. Leroy does say that his day is good when he gets that done before other things intrude. I got another mouse trap set in the attic. It is hard to know where the mice find a way in, but there is also a trap in the back porch. At least that blocks all doors. Our downstairs friends seem not to be a stopping place for mice. Perhaps they go up the wall and have a hole somewhere. Or does that say something about the delectables in our apartment? Paula

Mouse Caught

Hello, That house broke mouse is now caught and out of the house. The trap is reset. Hopefully there were no mouse friends here. Christmas eve found us helping and worshiping at church. First, we gave communion at the 7 pm service. Leroy and I had a discussion about when to arrive. I wanted to come after the service started because communion is about middle of the service. Leroy wanted to come about half an hour before the service started because is what we usually do when we have a job to do. We compromised and got there about 10 minutes ahead of time. Leroy felt we should be there so they would know we were coming. After the service we cleaned up and got ready for serving communion in the 9 pm service. Choir practice started in 15 minutes so there was not much down time. Usually, when someone has a birthday close to choir meeting day, the choir sings Happy Birthday. Usually, the spouse tells the choir director about that. Leroy forgot about that. The director was heading out the door for other duties, so I just stood up and loudly said, “Tomorrow is my birthday.” Everyone laughed. They sang Happy Birthday to me in four-part harmony. We had signed up to do clean up after this service. It turned out to be more of a deal than we anticipated. It was to sweep the sanctuary. It was a big job, luckily five others helped us. We still did not get home until 11:45pm. What a full busy evening. Sometimes it is hard to remember that we are there to worship God. Paula

Christmas

Hello, I gave Leroy a hair trimmer. He read over the instructions and the most notable was: do not use when asleep. He thinks he can follow that. Yesterday, Leroy, in the kitchen said, “I think I just saw something dart past.” “Oh, it can’t be another mouse I do not see any evidence.” I stated positively. This morning, I looked at the mouse trap in the kitchen which had been sprung when I bumped it many days ago. The peanut butter is gone. I wailed, “I don’t see any droppings, there can’t be a mouse in here.” “Perhaps, we have house trained mice,” Leroy speculated. I rebaited and reset the trap, hoping it is just a fluke. We have had a quiet day today. We shared oven space by baking some casseroles for our downstairs friends. Later we took a walk with another friend. Paula

Some of the Best things

Hello, Some of the best things are small things. We have a white desk lamp that was quite dirty. I tried to clean it some time ago, but just managed to move dirt around. Leroy tackled it. It is now clean. Every time I turn it on, I am pleased. We chopped some ice off the alley. It is great to drive into the garage without slipping. So nice. Our children are far away, but technology keeps us connected to them. We lived far from our parents for many years, but calling was so expensive that we only did it once a week or less. However, I wrote weekly letters as well as getting letters from home. Leroy accidently bought garlic pretzels. He likes them. Pretzels are his favorite snack. Even thought we feel like we have scaled a mountain we sometimes can figure out technology on our own. There is a certain smug feeling that goes with that. Paula

Will We Get Cards?

Hello, Each year when I put up the wrought iron Christmas card older, I wonder, “Will get enough cards to bother putting this up.” It always takes some days, but it starts to fill and I wonder where to put the card that is in my hand. We have had this holder since we lived in Missouri Valley. We left there in January1984. Our lives have had a lot of changes since then. I do not get my cards done as early as many people do, but at least this year it happened before Christmas. Sometimes it is much later than that. I suggested that Leroy play Boggle with me for the evenings before my birthday. He groaned a bit but did it tonight. I often win so he does not like to play. When he wins it is usually a spectacular event with some long words. He would rather play a dice game with me where chance has more say in the matter of winning. Today we finished our charity giving for the year. Leory even hand delivered two of the checks. He did comment that the one place he should have done it on line as the person at the desk had no idea what to do with it. Hopefully it will be handled well by someone else. I volunteered again this morning writing “best by dates” on canned and packaged items. There is a great amount of giving at this time, but it slows down in other seasons of the year. So even though the shelves are very full of some items, it will not be there for long. Paula

Back To the Asian Market

Hello, This afternoon we went with a backpack each so we could bring home our purchases. We got 15 pounds of rice which Leroy carried. I carried other things including tofu and some spring rolls. Because we usually drive to get food, we have forgotten how one must be aware of weight, price and taste when shopping. It is five blocks away so not so far, but Leroy tells me he noticed the rice weight after a while. Almost no other shoppers were there while we were there. I hope it is still going to be a keeper for the neighborhood. Leroy volunteered to give communion at the Christmas eve service before the one where we sing. This morning, they asked him if I could help too. We will also distribute communion at the service where we sing. After that we will clean up, whatever that means. Leroy wondered if it means put chairs away. We will find out. Good thing we like to participate and feel useful. Cleanup is not such a popular task as some of the other services also needed help in that area. We can clean up as well as make a mess. Paula

No Obligations

Hello, No where to go, nothing to do. It makes us a bit on edge. We even growled at each other a couple times. We did finish the Christmas cards that we could think of sending. Seems our list keeping, last year, was not as complete as it could have been. Oh well, life goes on. We did manage to get a bit of cleaning done. Things are at least neat around here. This afternoon we took a long walk to two little free libraries in the area. So now all the books that I bought have been distributed. Then on the way home we stopped at the Asian Market that just opened yesterday. Neither of us had on our reading glasses so it was a bit of a guess to know what we were looking at. Some labels were in other languages and our glasses won’t help with that.

I was pleased to see so many shoppers there. Hopefully it will be a success for them. Tomorrow, we plan to go back with money and backpacks in hand. At least the produce did not need as much explanation. Leroy has his steps for the day, but I still need over 2000. I may have to take another walk. It is warmer today, but the wind is still cool. True confession: I thought Leroy had lost a paper. Instead, I learned today that I had moved it into a safe place which I did not remember. Life tends to keep me humble, but not all the time when I need it. Paula

Weather Changes

Hello, Midwesterners often talk about the weather. Perhaps it is such a neutral topic that all experience, so there is little chance of offending anyone. Or could it be that we are slightly surprised that it changes every day and during the day. No “same old same old” for us. It gets below zero and a few days later it is in the 40’s so we can talk about a heat wave before it turns again to the cold zone. Today we have been blessed with melting snow and rain before the wind came in strongly dropping temperatures. Changes of clothing are sometimes required to be comfortable. Does that justify the amount of clothes that I have in my possession? How many crèche sets can one couple have? We have nine of them. Leroy thinks it is time to downsize in that area. But what to do with them? Paula

Bah Humbug

Hello, The tree went up yesterday. The lights went on as did the garland. Leroy told me I could put on the ornaments. Today I did that, but there was little joy in that task. It just became a chore. I also have not gotten my part of the yearly letter done. Leroy put up some other decorations. Maybe later today I will get more done. I did get the gifts for Leroy under the tree. One was too large for any of the bags that we have, so I wrapped a tablecloth around it and not a Christmas tablecloth either. All of this activity does not really fit in my skill set. Even buying presents is a chore for me. Maybe I do not read people so well. I never know what to get. I am in the practical vein and some feel that gifts should be luxury. I even look around my house and think about getting rid of things that are just setting around. I could decorate once and be done for years. Decorating is not my skill either. Washing dishes is more it. I like some of the extras about Christmas. Such as opening Christmas cards. Or visiting with people. The church services are a highlight for me. Paula

Walking To Church

Hello, Last night we went to a concert at church. We drove because the temperature was dropping, there was snow on the sidewalks and the wind had come up. Several people asked if we had walked. They expressed relief that we had driven. We did not like it because we did not get our full amount of steps. This morning, we waffled between walking or not walking. The sun came out and walking became much more attractive. We have warm clothes and even though it takes some time to get them on and out the door, we did it. The temperature was only about 3 below zero Fahrenheit with almost no wind. A brisk walk is easy to keep up when cold is chasing you. This afternoon we went to a Christmas party, but drove there. Both of us have our steps now. So that is nice. We shoveled some snow after church. There was a thin layer left from yesterday. We did not have time to get it done yesterday. Today, I saw an article stating that people over 60 should not shovel snow. We are well past that day and have shoveled for years. At least we know Leroy has no heart blockages so he should be ok as long as he does not over do. I think I am good as well. Paula

Fixed Computer

Hello, Our computer that required such exacting ways to turn on and to use, it seems to have reverted to its former self of just turning on. We can use the laptop keyboard without restarting. It is a nice time saver. Ideas of getting another laptop have been set aside for other things. We don’t want to make any decisions. The tire pressure sensor on my car had a battery wear out. That battery is now replaced so it is good until the next battery wears out. There is one for each tire. Apparently, they generally last about seven years. We have not replaced this before so they are all at least ten years old. We have been given a gift of longevity. There was a discussion of spiritually meetings at church. We have not had any for a time. They will start again, but not at a time convenient for me. Do I want to give up Qigong which I find quite relaxing? This will require some thought and contemplation. If the time were 30 minutes later for the church meetings I could get to both. How can my life feel too full to get everything in? Paula

Downsizing

Hello, Today we managed to give away a set of Pfalzgraf dishes. That meant three heavy boxes are gone. The furniture rescue place was happy to get them. We did ask before we dropped them off. Having worked in the museum, Leroy knows that some dropped off gifts become a burden of unwanted stuff. While there, we got a short tour of the place. It made me realize many of the things they would accept. That will take some more thinking on my part as I do not have extras of many of those ordinary household items. We also gave them a cash donation. We had not used those dishes in 13 years. When asked, our children stated that they did not want them. I was happy to find a place that seemed eager to accept them. The tough thought came on the drive home when Leroy commented, “I think we should have had a meat serving platter.” I could not remember such, but looked in another box when we got home. There was that meat serving platter. The place was closed for the day, so tomorrow will be a phone call and perhaps another trip to the place. It is only about three miles away, so not far. We have some storage space now, but are reluctant to fill it up. Less stuff means a lighter feel to life. Tomorrow the tires on my car will be checked. Hopefully it will not be a big deal. My tires are six years old, but I do not drive much so they still look good. Paula

How much Snow

Hello, Leroy and I thought we had missed all the fun shoveling snow. We were pleased to learn that more snow was predicted for Saturday night. Leroy found a site that said 1-3 inches. That seemed like a nice amount. Not so heavy to shovel. The snow was coming when we went to bed. Beautiful stuff. It seemed to be over when I got up at 11:00 pm. It was very light outside so I took a picture to share with you.

Leroy woke up at 4:30am. He got up and went out to shovel the alley in back of our garage. I woke, but stayed in bed for another hour. I went out and started to work on the sidewalk by the house. The snow was definitely deeper than three inches. It was closer to six inches which is a bit more work to move. We cleared by the side of the house, but reduced our effort to a shovel wide path on the public walk. We also got that path on the next-door neighbors’ walks on both sides. It was time to stop because we like to eat breakfast. I trimmed Leroy’s hair and we took showers. All that takes time. On the walk to church, we both had on good boots. It was a bit more effort because most walks had not been cleared. Some of the cleared ones had ice on them. We got to church on time, but barely. I tense my hips when walking the slippery places. Why that would help, I am not sure. But I feel more in control. Now my hips hurt a little from all that muscle gripping. We feel like we did not miss winter. Do you think we will get to the day when we get tired of it? Paula

The Facts of Life

Hello, Just so you know even if you are still able to walk without help, public restrooms can be challenging. On this last trip only one toilet flushed while I was still seated. In more than one restroom, I had to put my hands by more than one tap to get some water to run. One friendly patron pointed to the one that worked. At least I was able to get the soap off my hands. Once I was stuck with removing it with a towel. This trip, there were no long lines in the women’s restroom. Nice! Because I was traveling with Leroy, I did not have to bring my bags with me, so it was easy to use a small stall with the door opening in. On one flight I used the airplane restroom. It was a puzzle for me to figure out how to flush. Even though there was no sign, I finally pulled a handle that turned out to be the right thing. I had been imagining causing some problem. Who knew what might drop or appear? There were family restrooms in the airports. I was glad to see those. I was also impressed that the DC airport had an adult changing room. The signage showed a person in a wheelchair and a changing table. That should be a help for people who are unable to walk or stand. Since we have been home, we have been busy with many things. Today was our first day with no obligations. However, late morning, we got a phone call asking if we could help at church with the distribution of boots and gloves. We had done that before, but the crowd was small that day. There are several boots and gloves left over. Hopefully this will meet the need for some more people. On the positive side we can get some good steps this way. Just so you know how crazy I am, we hung out bed sheets even with all the snow on the ground. It is now above freezing so they are drying some. Paula

Health Changes

Hello, Because I have been told I have prediabetes, I watched even more what I ate. I actually lost two pounds over the holiday. I do not need to lose weight. The focus will be: what can I eat and gain weight. The number of shoppers has increased. It makes me want to stay home since I am not a fan of crowds. Today we went to church for another time of deep cleaning. It seemed the room was fairly clean, but then we found some dust on chair rungs. There are more rooms to clean, but they are still missing some ceiling tiles, so there is not much point in doing anything now. I am reading Huckelberry Finn for a book club that meets on Sunday. I should have started it some time ago. There are too many words for me to get through before Sunday. I have read it before, but do not remember all of it. I have a book for a book club that meets in a week and a half. Also, a book I had on hold came in and it needed to be picked up or it would go back. Pressure to read, that is where it is now. We are so blessed. One orchid, two violets, and three holiday cacti are blooming. Three rooms have flowers to look at. The rest of the rooms have green plants, course that is only two more rooms. So good we too care of the plant pots at church and dug the amaryllis blubs before we left town. It would be a terrible job to do now with the cold and snow. Paula

Pull a Roller Bag on a Snowy Sidewalk?

Hello, After leaving the bus we had a two-block walk to the house. After I got a bit stuck crossing the first street, Leroy offered to help with my bag. I declined because I did not want to give in. The snow was a challenge. At one point I gathered two hard, baseball sized blocks of snow. A stop was required to extract them. Some places the snow was about an inch high, nothing like what was on the sides of the walk, but pulling became much harder. I even grumbled a bit to myself. It was wonderful to get to the house. Back on the bus, Leroy was sitting toward the back and I was in the front with my backpack on my back and my bag between my knees to keep it from rolling away. I signaled to Leroy to pull the “stop requested” strap. He misunderstood my great gestures and indicated I was to do it. I reached over my head and to the back, but my arm was not long enough. Finally, I half stood with my arm in the same wonderful position and managed to snag the strap. When I settled back in my seat, I could see the guy across the way smiling and laughing. At least I provided entertainment. I wish more people used the bus so it could afford to run more frequently. It would make our trips to and from the airport much quicker. I often wonder about the people who have that as their main means of transportation. And some people think poor people have an easy life just taking handouts. That is not true from my perspective. I even feel a little guilty that as a senior citizen I do not have to pay for my ride on the bus when I could easily pay the full fee. In DC and Salt Lake, we pay half price. Paula

Coming Home

Hello, Our flights were quite smooth, however coming home was a bit of a mystery at times. We got a notification that our flight had been delayed by half an hour. We hung around at Sarah’s and hoped that the rain would stop. When we walked to the metro, we decided not to use our umbrellas as it was not so much rain. On the escalator going down into the stop, I somehow got the handle of my roller bag under my backpack. I yelled for Leroy, who was behind me to help. He did not understand what was wrong and I had no idea how to work my way out of it. I finally managed to get my words clear enough that he could untangle me before the end of the escalator ride. As soon as we got to the airport, we got another notification that our flight had been delayed again by fifteen minutes. We finally boarded 1:40 minutes late. It was because of a low ceiling in Washington. Many flights were delayed and almost no planes were there. We got our seat assignments about ten minutes before we departed. Leroy and I had the emergency row seats. If we had needed to, I hope we would have handled it okay. Our bus was a little late coming to the airport. It seemed that it was a driver in training as some other guy was sitting at the front checking the time frequently. They even called the bus terminal and told them we would be late and gave the numbers of the buses that we passengers wanted to transfer to. It all worked out. Paula