Walking in the Cold

Hello,

This morning Leroy had mostly a froggy voice along with a cough. I convinced him, with little effort, to stay home. He wondered, “I did not know if I could handle the walk to church.”

I did go out about an hour before my leaving time to shovel the bit of snow that had fallen since we last shoveled yesterday. This was to test my ability to handle the walk in the sub zero temperatures. It was a low wind day and the sun was starting to come out so I thought it would be fine.

I will admit that when it is so cold I would like company just in case. The main streets with a few open gas stations seemed like a good choice. It was a fast walk even though many people had not gotten up that last bit of snow. Because of the cold it was not slippery.

I was warmly dressed with a t-neck shirt, sweater, wool socks, wind breaker pants over my fairly warm slacks, a hat, three scarves along with a warm coat and gloves. My face was the only exposed part of my body. I was even so warm that when I got to church I had to remove my sweater which I might have normally worn indoors.

We are pleased with our weather station even if we have not figured out how to connect to our mobile devices. The directions stated that we could include family and friends. Our downstairs friends also could not get it connected for themselves. Maybe on a business day we can finish the job with assistance from a human being. As it is it seems to be connected to some unknown network because it is giving us the forecast, we just do not know what network it found. I like being able to see the outdoor temperature while indoors. Yeah for technology!

Paula

Traveling to Salt Lake

Traveling to Salt Lake

December 30, 2017

Hello,

Our travels to SLC started off smoothly. I encouraged Leroy to go to the bus stop earlier than needed because I did not want to miss it. We were there at least 15 minutes ahead of time which was nice to wait in the fine weather. I thought it was interesting that almost everyone on the bus had a smart phone. We are seriously getting behind the cultural norm. Leroy corrected that by buying an older IPhone. Hopefully this phone will be the perfect one just for him.

I was pleased to see the bus had a number of people on it. That helps to keep the routes up and the cost down. The transfer bus to the airport was not so populated. The bus driver had asked Leroy, who had a suitcase, if he were going to the bus station or the airport. There was another woman who asked if she was getting on the bus to the airport. When we got to the airport I talked about pulling the bell to alert the driver that we wanted to get off. Leroy did not think that was necessary. In a bit the driver had gone past the stop. I pulled the bell and he exclaimed, “I forgot!” as he pulled up to another door at the airport.

On the plane we were set to get started when the pilot said something was not functioning and he needed to restart some part of the equipment as he thought it was the computer that needed a little encouragement. Then after that was good we went out to the runway to take off when the pilot again came on and told us there was no place to park at Denver since we did not leave on time so we had to wait for another open gate. I was pleased that we did not wait very long and we were able to catch our connecting flight by walking rapidly, using the airport tram, and walking rapidly once more.

At SLC we called Miriam to let her know that we were on the ground and we would get on the train there. She told us she was doing a job only about five minutes away and she would pick us up. It all worked out just fine.

Paula

Traveling Day

Hello,

I do not know about you, but I am always just a little on edge the night before we travel, wondering if it will all go as planned. At midnight when I had finally managed to put aside anxieties about how the next day would go, I got a text message startling me awake. Oh no, the text was from the airline informing me that our flight was delayed for four hours. If I was remembering times correctly, I suspected that meant we would miss our connecting flight in Denver. After a bit I just thought that if we had to spend the night there, I would contact my friend to see if she was available so we could visit. Sleep was much more elusive after that. In the morning I was sleeping deeply when Miriam came rushing in to tell me that I should get up.

I explained the situation. Leroy, also having sleep issues, was up reading. We tried to check the website, but could not learn anything there. Andy and Miriam said, “You must call.”

We found a number that led to an automation answer that told us, “You will fly on another flight that was leaving two hours earlier than your delayed flight.”

That meant that we had some time, and we could catch our connecting flight. We got ready ahead of time so the girls played a card game with us. That was good for me as it helped calm me down. I was quite surprised that we even had seats together on the first flight where we had not been previously scheduled. Happy, happy me! We did not sit together on the second flight because we had gotten an economy fare and we were both in middle seats. That was fine as we each had reading material.

Going later meant that Miriam could take us to the train station so we did not have to drive one of their cars there and leave the keys in it. I did not feel so comfortable about doing that.

Temperatures were 30-40 F when we left Salt Lake and about 5 F when we got to Cedar Rapids. We stayed in the airport looking for the bus out the window and just ran out at the last minute. Later, waiting in the bus station for our connecting bus, one of the congregants walked though and offered us a ride home as it was on her way. Traveling was smooth and easy. Why do I waste any time or energy fussing in my mind when it often turns out well, maybe even better than planned?

Paula

In Utah

Hello

Yesterday afternoon it started to snow. After the evening meal there was enough that had not melted. It had been quite warm and the ground was still temperate when it started coming. It enticed the children to come play in it. Leroy and Andy’s dad spent some time shoveling. Since I did not want to be left out I went out to help shovel, but I did not bring boots so stayed strictly on the sidewalk. Because they were done here, I went across the street with the kids and shoveled over there. It was an interesting phenomenon. On the sidewalk area the snow packed together and was even a bit heavy to get off the shovel. However, over the grassy areas it was quite a bit drier and did not pack well enough to make a snow animal except for the smallest variety.

This family had books due at the library so Leroy, the girls and I walked to the library. In the middle of the night I had remembered that Leroy had brought his hiking boots which are water proof as well as some boots. I wore his boots and he wore the hiking shoes when we walked the blocks to the library. The girls were quite excited about the wonderful, large, pristine expanse of snow in the front and in the back of the library. Leroy and I just walked on some dry sidewalk while they played in the snow. We did not give them too much time as I had to go to the bathroom and Leroy was getting quite hungry.

On the walk home there was much talk about how wonderful the snow is and what a great thing that we were here for it. Blessed indeed. Both Leroy and I grew up in places that had an abundance of great sledding hills. Even though the mountains are close, here in the valley it is flat, flat, flat. But it did not stop good times as they created their own idea of what to do.

I must recapture the art of playing in the snow. Snow angels and fox and geese games along with building snow creatures should do the trick.

Paula

My Haircut

My Haircut

December 17, 2017

Hello,

Some of you asked to see my haircut. This morning Leroy took two pictures one of which I posted on FB. I did not post the second picture because it was mostly a duplicate, but it was closer to me and showed more wrinkles and cords in my neck.  I chose the vanity shot because of course, I look better. Here is the picture so you can also check it out.

I decided to include both because if you were to see me in person you could note all details, so no hiding.

Two more people complimented me on my hair this morning in church. One of them talked at length about how lucky I was to get a haircut and just have almost the same look because of my curly hair. I did not tell her about how few times I comb my hair. Also a hairdresser once told me that if I forgot a comb I could just bend over, run my fingers through my hair, stand up and it would almost fall into place. I have been known to do that more than one time in my life and I bless that woman for her good advice.

The adult choir sang quite a lot in church this morning. There were only six sopranos and the two strongest voices were missing. We had a hard time singing over the 25-30 others who were all singing enthusiastically.

This afternoon Leroy and I will once again walk to church, easy 10,000 step day, to sing with the children for their program. This will be the first time we have been to the children’s program since we have joined this church. I guess both of us have enjoyed not needing to go to all church activities which was not the case for the 30 years Leroy was the solo pastor. Generally we did like attending everything, We probably would have been there anyway, but once in a while it would have been nice to stay home or do something else.

Paula

Tourists or Not

Hello,

Leroy and I had planned to go to a town about an hour or hour and a half drive away to go to an art exhibit. Leroy was not so peppy when we got up, complaining a little about his voice. The drive had not seemed so interesting to me. I suggested that we might like to stay home and go some other time in January.

I had a time set up to help another person apply for an action grant from that insurance company. She came and we got the job done. Hopefully her application will be approved.

After that Leroy and our downstairs responsible guy, set about changing the nonfunctioning outlet in the kitchen. It all took a few trips up and down stairs to make sure that the proper wires were no longer live and capable of causing shocks. At one point Leroy thought it was all done only to discover that the kitchen light could not be turned off. A second attempt locked it all down in the proper place. I was happy that both guys were unscathed from this experience.

When lunch was over we went out to do a little shopping. One purchase was a thermometer which as near as I can tell, records only wrong temperatures. Sigh, a return is in the future. From there we took some things to Goodwill. I was looking for some glass contains were lids that sealed. No luck on that score, but Leroy found a bike rack for the great low price of less than four dollars. The rational was that if it did not work on our car it was not much money gone. Leroy reported that it took some thought and figuring, but it works. Our old one which we bought years ago for much, much more money no longer works because one of the cords broke. Replacement is good.

Now if we could just find the right thermometer for our lives we would be all set.

Paula

Haircut

Hello,

I got a hair cut on Wednesday. When the stylist was finished, she had me look in the mirror to see if it was good. “I would like a little more off, especially at the back and bottom.” I rather flippantly replied.

She got to work and took off some more length. When I looked, all I could think was, “It does not look like me.”

I feel the same every time I see me in the mirror; consequently I am not looking in the mirror very much.

I had spoken with Nora before my haircut. She said, “Don’t get you nice curls cut off.”

With great assurance I stated, “I would not do that.”

Well, they are almost gone.

When I have gone out, many people have noticed my haircut and said it is good. But in my head I am thinking, “What else would they say when they cannot miss the fact that I have a haircut. At least I have never said, What a terrible haircut to anyone else.”

However today someone I had not met before complimented me on my hair, so perhaps it is better than I realize. I will admit that it does not frizz, course some of that is because of the lack of humidity, so not much curl either.

Leroy said it looks more like the cuts I used to get. Definitely shorter than I am used to now.

Paula