Bike Ride

Hello,

Saturday Leroy and I planned to take a bike ride to Ely (25 miles round trip). On getting out of bed it seemed much less exciting than it had the night before. The plan was to leave early because it was to get hot. Finally after some talk, I said, “Let’s just start out. We can turn around at any time. It isn’t like we have an obligation except to ourselves.”

As soon as we started down the street to catch the trail, we both felt so good in the cool morning air that there was no reason not to make it the full distance.

In the city the trail goes under some streets before it cuts back to the city parking lots/street to cross the railroad tracks. I was riding behind Leroy when a guy said rather softly, “On your left,” indicating he was passing me.

In a minute he started to go around Leroy without an additional warning. At the same time, Leroy turned left to the exit as the trail ends in a few more feet and crosses the track before catching the trail again.

In a panic I yelled, “Leroy”, too late, as the two riders came together over the same piece of trail. Astonishingly they did not fall, but both started to turn left onto the exit as I yelled, “Leroy” again. They stayed together for a little while before separating, but still upright. A woman came up behind me and said, “Obviously you know this trial better than we do.”

Later I noticed a scratch on Leroy’s rear view mirror. “Yes,” Leroy said, “His handlebar was actually hooked onto my mirror for a little while.”

Leroy just leads the luckiest life, doesn’t he?

After we were farther from the city streets we saw a gaggle of geese, more than half of them were adolescence. Those birds poop on the trail a lot. “Do you think we could slip and fall because of goose poop?” I asked Leroy.

He thought that could happen. How ironic it would have been to perhaps survive a crash with another bike and then be taken down by goose poop.

Paula

Ring Falling

Hello,

Friday at work, Leroy was moving some boxes around. Consequently he caught his wedding ring on some of them and tucked it away in his pocket. He was standing by the open elevator on the first floor when one of his coworkers needed a key. Forgetting that the ring was in his pocket he pulled out his keys only to hear something hit the floor, bounce a couple times down the elevator shaft, before the final thunk. At first he could not imagine what had fallen, but his coworker suggested it was a ring. Looking at his hand reminded him that he had indeed put it in his pocket. They walked downstairs so they would not disturb it if the ring were in the elevator shaft ready to be smashed or pushed further away.

After a bit of searching one of them spotted it lying close to the elevator. It had apparently fallen between the elevator and the shaft and then rolled out before it came to rest. That was almost like an impossible feat.

Just that day we had gotten a letter from the insurance company telling us that we had over paid on our personal items policy. This check is for almost the entire amount of the payment. I wonder if they are still not sure where we live. Before it was stated that we must be insured in the state in which we resided. They had Utah as our address, but we have tried two times to correct that. This letter came here, but who knows what the problem is. Anyway not that it is valuable; it seems we might not have been able to replace the ring with insurance money.

Even though I do not believe in working on Sunday I washed the last two windows. My excuses are, Leroy was home to help reach over the dryer, I had energy, and I wanted them to be clear and clean. It was not hard at all to reach over the dryer so I could have done it on Friday. For some reason we were both tired yesterday and unmotivated.

Leroy made another shelf that was a bit more of a trick because he was using up the end of an angled board. He had to cut a piece and attach it securely to the board. He got disgusted because he broke a drill bit, but it is done now. Small drill bits have had a high casualty rate with all of this shelf making and picture hanging.

Paula

Visitors

Hello,

Yesterday I had a couple from Chariton visit as they were on their way to Dubuque. See we are on the way to somewhere, you can come visit too. And you can even visit if we are the end destination.

It was great to see them again and it was great to show them the apartment. They were quite impressed with the amount of space that we have. I think my sister was too. This couple also commented on how nice the place looked. I have become quite settled in and liking it. I am pleased now that we have so much up on the walls and that Leroy has put in so much shelving allowing us to store more things on this level. It is quite good. The hard part was coming from the last two parsonages that were larger than we needed and we just oozed, seeped, and spread into all that space as if it were our due.

It has taken a mental adjustment to pull in a bit, but it has happened, so come see us.

Before company came I washed three more windows, and vacuumed the floors since I had the vacuum out for the sills. One of the windows has an awning, for which I am grateful in these sun intense days, but it made it tricky to get the screen in the house without dropping it. There was also a cable of some type that required more maneuvering to get past. Going back out seemed easier, but maybe that was just because I was prepared. Preparation does make a difference doesn’t it?

Then Friday afternoon, it was back down to Ely for a staff going away party for our director who is moving. Three of us are recent hires with one longer term person, but we still felt that we should acknowledge her time and help in getting us situated in our positions. I understand that a new director has been hired, but I do not know when the starting date is. So things might change some. Good thing I am flexible, right? I am flexible, right?

Paula

Window Washing

Hello,

Yesterday I tackled one window that has especially noticeable dirt. It washed up beautifully and with little difficulty. The windows are of the newer kind that tilts into the house. It was so easy to get to the outside. I also believe in cleaning the screens and the sill. That created some problem as I struggled to put this full sized screen back in the slot without dropping it several feet to the ground where it would surely crumple in a non repairable heap. I do not know how high we are, but we come up about 15 steps. When I got home from work I was disappointed to learn that Leroy had not immediately exclaimed about the great looking window.

He could not even find it when I asked, “Did you notice anything different when you came home?”

Even after looking around for a while he was mystified. I had to give several hints, before he looked out that window that he had often complained about.

Even with the two of us it was a struggle to get that screen securely in place. I wondered if we were going to have to ask for the ladder and climb up beyond Leroy’s comfort zone to finish the job when it finally settled into place.

Today I, with Leroy’s permission, took out two more screens and washed two more windows. I had thought about just waiting until Leroy came home before attempting to put screens back, but tried anyway and they slipped right in as if we all knew what we were doing.

Now with such success behind me I will try to do two more windows before the day is over. I do not like washing the windows, but I so like the results. It opens my soul and takes me more clearly outside.

Paula

Anticipation

Hello,

Sometimes the anticipation of an event or exercise can be different than the result. Why do we even bother to use energy anticipating?

Leroy had been so sure that the watercolor would be difficult to cut down to the frame size. Well it was a breeze and not worth any anxious thoughts about it. It is now looking good hanging in our bedroom. We could have even spent more on the frame and gotten a mat to enhance it.

Sunday we were the only people who turned out or up? Just what is that preposition? We turned up for a bike ride. Because we were already out we headed off anyway. It has been a while and Leroy especially told me about his bottom noticing the rather harsh seat. Somehow regular riding is not in our schedule. I am impressed that Leroy is doing exercise almost every day. There was a time when I was the one who exercised with religious fever. We have switched roles.

This morning as I wrote for my devotions, I realized that it is our anniversary. I wished Leroy a happy anniversary. “We should do something special, but what?” he asked.

I work today from 1:00 to 8:00 and Leroy works from 8:00 to 5:00, consequently we do not see much of each other. Some other day, some other time will have to be special. It just occurred to me that we could buy an IPOD and the base and convert our cassettes, records, and CDs to that little storage/playing unit. Leroy used to be the person who was all eager for this change. We have switched roles here too. Perhaps Leroy has lost his anticipation of just such a change as I had resisted spending the money on something we already have access to.

Going back to anticipation, I believe that part of the joy of a celebration is in the anticipation of that event. So anticipation can be good. Memories also make it special as I remember the gathering with our children and grandchildren last year.

Paula

Working

Hello,

I do not usually work on Friday, but it was the start of summer reading so I helped. There were only two of us and it was a busy day. I can say that I enjoyed most of it. I have missed working with students. It is especially nice when there are no necessary disciplinary measures that need to be enforced. I am grateful that most people, young and old, discipline themselves.

I had just a few of those large print books to enter in the catalog. I was sure that would be done early, however I only finished the last one fifteen minutes before leaving. I understand that the summer will just be busy.

At least I got the Inter Library Loan books ready to go. There were eight requests, but we did not own two of the books, however it takes a bit of time to track that down. Then there were two books to return. I am yet attached to my lists to make sure that I am completing all steps. It seems too easy to forget one of them.

The special girls were in again, but they were not so much of a problem. Do you think they could be maturing nicely? The brother of one of these girls was also in at a different time. He has a long way to go. Hopefully it will just get better and better.

Leroy is volunteering at the museum this morning. Yesterday they completed the move to the new/renovated building and the museum guild will be touring the finished place. I think we have both missed volunteering. We used to do quite a lot of that when we lived in Ely and have not done much since. We both get a sense of satisfaction from being able to help out.

Paula

Killing Time

Hello,

This morning, Leroy said, “I got three more stamps in the albums while I was killing time before work.”

Why do we have such a violent statement about our use of time or lack of use? Is wasting time a better way to talk about the same activity? Just what is so bad about being idle?

Bless technology for the message that I got yesterday informing me that our anniversary is coming next Tuesday. Leroy was in the room when I read this and told him. We both laughed because neither of us had thought about it at all. We are just not so good at this anniversary stuff. Years ago we found out it was our anniversary day when we got a card from Leroy’s mother. Again it was an occasion for laughter.

Years ago I had a dryer fire. It was the result of an old dryer having too much lint packed away and a snap on jeans that created sparks. Since then, I have checked dryers. The dryer here had kindly been storing lint for some purpose that I do not know about. Leroy figures that it will even dry more efficiently now with the removal of half a wastebasket of fluff.

Our library borrows almost 100 large print books from another library. Those books were in and because we keep them for six months we catalog them. I do it the quickest way possible and I have to say that yesterday the z sources were flying. It was quite exciting. I finished almost 80 books. Someone else did help by unpacking them and attaching the bar codes. It was quite exhilarating to get all of them finished.

On the down side, our sink has developed a small leak around the faucet plate. Leroy tried unsuccessfully to reseal it. Our land lord will look at it soon, but neither of us has been home. In the meantime I have a rag in position to catch drips as well as a pan and rag below. I like rags. Such a useful humble object!

Paula