Heat is Relative

Hello,

Yesterday it was 90F. something in the morning. Today it has not quite made it to 90F. in the afternoon. I am pleased at how comfortable it feels outside even though it is just a few degrees cooler. We have put up a thermometer. It required some calibrating. We took our three thermometers and set them all in the same space with it, waited three hours, and all four had a different reading so we averaged it somewhat to come up with the new setting. “We should go around and find a temperature from a bank or something.” I told Leroy.

“One that is accurate?” he wondered with a laugh.

Last night we went to a picnic in a park. The tables were up on a knoll and with a breeze blowing it was quite fine up there. Is that why the wealthy in this country have tended to head to high ground?

We still have not turned on the air, but probably will tomorrow because we have company coming for lunch. I even bought bread because I did not want to turn on the oven and raise the temperature several degrees. We have a window fan that is used at night to pull in the cool outside air, but Leroy does not think it does as well as the box fans. Today we bought a box fan. It is to be a high of 72 F. tonight. I think that should feel quite nice. I will surely have to pull up the sheet if that is true.

This woman visitor is someone we knew from Missouri Valley, IA, Leroy’s first parish. We do not remember when we last saw her, but it has been years. It is fun to think about this meeting once again. By the way, if you are going through our area please stop in we would love to see you. Even if we are working we can probably make that disappear for a few hours.

Paula

Coolness

Hello,

I am so grateful for the coolness of the house. We have not yet turned on the air conditioning. This must be a well insulated place. We open the house at night hoping to let in all the coolness that is outside after the sun goes down. Tonight we are going to put in the window fan and if that does not help we will turn on the air tomorrow.

When I was at the grocery store the clerk had on a light jacket which she took off commenting, “Now that I am not in the cooler I do not need that.”

There are different perks to different jobs. Leroy wore a short sleeved shirt today for the first time this year. He stated, “In the library I was cold. It was so nice to go out in the hall.”

I am also often cold at work. We humans certainly have difference temperature preferences.

We have a picnic to attend this evening. I wonder if attendance will be down because of the temperature. I know that many do not like to leave the inside altered air. We are so dependent on electricity for so much of life. Could we survive without it? Changes would have to be made in so much of our existence. I have lived without many modern conveniences, but electricity has been available throughout my life.

Sometimes I wonder what in the world will be necessary twenty years from now. Just saw a note from daughter Sarah who is traveling to Kenya for business. She is taking more than one laptop with her. I believe life was lighter in the past even if less connected.

Paula

Email Woes

Hello,

I blog and send these writings to a number of people. Because I have so many that I send I have two email accounts that I use. When the numbers get too large they will not let me send the letter. One of my email accounts updated. Since that time I have not been able to send my group letter. I suppose they have it tagged as spam because it is such a big group. I have started to write to small groups to let them know to check my blog, but it is a slow process.

Today I delivered some of the neighborhood newsletters. I met one man who told me he is the nephew of a famous Iowan. However, he made me promise not to tell because he wants to remain just an ordinary person in the neighborhood. He even showed me a book that he had about his uncle. It was nice to see that. I want to tell about it, but I am trying to keep my promise.

Leroy and I pulled weeds in our front garden and put in tomato cages as well as tried to find things that the mystery vines can climb. The tomatoes are also mysteries. We put compost on from our own bin. The heat must not have been high enough to kill the seeds. I am hoping for butternut squash and some cantaloupe. Time will tell. Today I wondered if one of them was really a pumpkin. In any case we are going to have trouble keeping all of these vines under control. The lettuce is finally starting to grow as are the beets. Then there is another mystery thing that we planted. As our memories fade we need to write down what we have put in the soil.

Paula

Riding home from work

June 5, 2016

Hello,

I was not so busy with people yesterday and that makes the work day seem longer. But as sometimes happens, just when it was almost closing time at 4:00, someone came in. I like visiting with this person and I did not notice the time until it was after closing. At that point none of the closing chores had been done. So I hurried around doing those things, hoping I was remembering everything. I still had to change my clothes, pack the bike bag, and get on my helmet and gloves. When I got the bike unlocked and tried to move it would not. The gear was not right. There was a bike guy sitting on the bench so I asked for his help. I held up the back of the bike so he could turn the pedals. That got it solidly in gear. He then told me that it was supposed to rain in half an hour. “I hope not because I need a bit more than an hour to get home.” I remarked.

I hoped on, rode off, and succumbed to fatigue and doubt about getting home without being soaked. Several people passed me now because I was going so slowly. After about a mile or two I talked myself into a better more vigorous mood. In another mile I felt some rain drops and the clouds were definitely darker with a strong wind blowing in my face. My speed picked up in spite of the resistance. I met quite a number of bicycles some of which seemed to be groups. One man was looking at something on my side of the trail. He did not notice me until he was quite close. I had been thinking about what to do, run off the path even though there was a bit of a drop? Yell, but he had music blaring? When he saw me he immediately swerved back to his side of the trail. That happened later with one of the groups, but that is because they were visiting with each other and just having a good time taking up more than half of the trail. Every time I felt more rain drops I picked up speed and calculated if I could make it to the next overhang where I could, call Leroy to come and get me. Each time the rain held off and I kept going with encouraging self talk such as “you have gone five miles you have gone seven miles”. Finally I was back in Cedar Rapids with only three miles to go.

There is a place where the trail crosses a street. A rather large group of bikers were just hanging around on the other side taking up the entire trail path. I waited for cars, rode across and tried to get someone’s attention to let them know that I wanted to go through them. Finally I yelled and said I wanted to go on the trail. No one heard me or responded. I yelled two more times. I think I sounded like a banshee. I was feeling quite frustrated. I rode on the grass some, and got back on behind them. Part of the way home I use the city streets. There was almost no traffic so that was great. I was traveling on a street that goes from two way traffic to one way when I saw a car ready to turn onto the street from the left, where it was now three lanes all going in the same direction. There were no cars there just me way over in the right lane. I had planned to move to the left so I could turn off about three blocks down. That driver roared across the other lanes of traffic and came up behind me, looming large in my mirror. They revved their engine, scaring me quite a bit. As there was still no other traffic, I moved across to the extreme left side while the car zipped along in the right lane. I was grateful they did not follow me. It was a woman with children in the car. What do you think that was about? I also wondered if she had wanted to turn right immediately, but she was still on the street about four blocks farther on.

Because of all that excitement, I had forgotten about the street repairs, but the stoplight was working so I could cross in relative safety. I was grateful to get home but so tired it was hard to put one foot in front of the other. There was no rain at home, Leroy had set the table, and our downstairs friends had shared a pasta salad. Grateful for all of that blessing.

Paula

Riding to work

Hello,

Yesterday morning, because of the cloud covered sky, I was undecided about riding the bike the 12 miles to work. At 7:15 the sun was visible so I strapped on fortitude and gathering speed to get ready to leave the house an hour and a half before opening time of 9:00. The air was cool, but tolerable and I was grateful for little traffic on First Avenue as I zipped across without a stoplight at the intersection. Approaching downtown and the spot where I get on the bike trail, I realized that it was farmer’s market day so no getting on there. I went down to the next one-way street planning to use the sidewalk. It was a question of which illegal thing to do; ride the wrong way on the street or be on the sidewalk. Unfortunately the sidewalk was only good for a while as there were some pedestrians ahead of me. No cars were in sight so I rode wrong way on the street for about a block when I could get on the sidewalk and finally get on the bike trail. All went well until I found a walking family group, with their backs to me, strung out the width of the trail, all intent on something. As I was wondering what to do, a biker came from the opposite direction and they moved over. I told them I was passing on the left and went by as a teenage gosling fluttered away from them.

Surprisingly there were very few bikers on the trail. Perhaps it was the serious looking intermittent clouds that kept coming past. I was pleased with myself because I made the trip in just a few minutes more than an hour, I remembered all the clothes that I needed to change into, I had brought my lunch, and a snack besides. It was only the second time this spring to ride this far and I physically felt semi strong. Life was good.

Paula

Tired

Hello,

I washed the remaining five windows while the sun was shining in other windows. I like looking out through all this clean glass. I am reading, for our book club, Burial Rites by Hannah Kent. It is set in Iceland in the late 1700’s, early 1800’s. They talk about having skin over the windows. How fortunate we are to be able to afford the luxury of glass that we can clean and look out.

After cleaning the windows, hanging out a load of clothes, and generally picking up, I left for shopping. I like going on Friday morning because it is not so busy. “It must be because I got started late,” I thought as I saw so many cars on the road and people in the stores.

Finally at the last store I asked the clerk why it was so busy. By this time I was wondering if there was a holiday that I had forgotten about. This astute person thought it was just that school was out and parents were out with their children. Even though we had been very busy at the library yesterday because school was over for the year, I had not made the connection to shopping. What were they shopping for more food, since kids would be home?

I still have over one hundred pages to read in the book, Burial Rites, but I would recommend it. It informs me more about a time and a place. It is based on a true incident. Someday I might like to go to Iceland. I remember Miriam did a report on it when she was in school and I was intrigued by the country.

Leroy and I are both working tomorrow. I am considering riding the bike to work. In the morning it might not look as appealing. At least it will be cool then. I would like to shrink the mileage by about half, but that is not to be. Can I keep my resolve up when I ride by myself? Maybe.

Paula

No Rain

Hello,

Rain looked possible this morning, but disappeared by noon. I washed half of the windows which numbers just five, but I stuck to the shady side of the house. I have in my possession cloths from Norwex. It was incredibly easy to do without chemicals of any kind. I did wash with plain water and a rag before using the special cloths because I wanted to wipe away, especially on the outside of the windows, as much dirt as I could. At this point I do not see a single streak or mar on the windows. It could even have passed Mrs. Grinland’s exacting standards. I am impressed.

I will tackle the other five windows Friday morning when the unclean windows are in shade. My mother always said not to wash windows when the sun is shining on them. Is that an “old wives tale” or does it hold up over time as the best way?

I am making lasagna for supper. It is supposed to have spinach in it, but I had dandelion greens in the house, so they are the substitution. I also did not have ground turkey so tofu was the substitution for that. I did not have enough of the parmesan cheese so cottage cheese was the substitution for that. Did I tell you I was following a recipe? Don’t believe that statement for a minute. The recipe is a mere guideline not a rule.

Leroy has organized a bike ride at the church. I am going on that, but wonder if again I will be the slow person. If nothing else, I will just lag back and turn around when I am feeling like it is enough riding. I hope I do not feel too full after eating this experimental lasagna which will surely be good.

Paula