Tornado Warning

Hello, We were talking to Sarah on the phone when Leroy’s phone sent out a warning followed closely by the city sirens. We looked out the windows and could see clouds along with the rain. The warnings seemed very unusual. The TV did indeed have tornado warnings with the report of one some distance from us, but the storm was coming our direction. It did not look that bad out, but we still had a little time before it was with us. There was thunder and lightning. There was also the report of hail to be with it. We watched some more, talked about going to a lower lever of the house. We did finally go to the bottom of the stairs, but kept listening to the phone for reports. It did go a bit south of us, going over Ely. There was no damage, but it was disconcerting to have such an event in the winter. They always say to not look out the windows, broken glass being dangerous, but that is the first thing we did. For some reason we wanted to see what was going on. It did not look that bad. Given the flighty nature of tornados, we are not very sensible. Grateful that there was no damage, just a bit of excitement. We had returned from a walk not very long before and it was nice to be in a warm dry place -- safe. Paula

Change in plans

Hello, We had planned to meet with my brother-in-law this Wednesday. He was driving about seven hours from the south, while my brother and family were coming from another direction about an hour. Leroy and I were planning on about an hour as well. Yesterday we were informed us about the weather prediction, snow. We certainly do not like to drive in that especially as the temperatures were going to drop. We were to have rain here and it would get colder as we went. We are getting old and cautious because we cancelled the gathering. Taking changes in the weather while on the road is no longer our strong suit. Safe at home is much more appealing. We will try to find a day later that works for all of us. Hopefully the weather will be much better. We are also planning to visit some friends about a six-hour drive to the north of us. The target date for that is in March, but weather can still be a problem. I think we can be flexible about that too. We like to walk in the morning, but it was raining before Leroy went to work on stamps at the museum. It stopped a bit after that and I took a longer walk because it might start to rain again. I stayed fairly close to home, but got a lot of distance covered. I want to get back out, but do not know if it will happen. Paula

Too many clothes

Hello, I just realized today that being retired means for sure I do not need so many clothes. I might have thought this before, but it is reinforced. Most of my clothes are staying in the closet or a drawer. Now the question would be, what should I eliminate? Was life simpler when I was growing up and I only had one Sunday dress? One dress that I wore until I outgrew it and it became a school dress or was passed on to a smaller cousin. It was at least worn once a week during its stay with me. Even if I did not like it, I had to wear it. Now, if I made a bad choice it just hangs around but is not worn. Hard to get rid of because I paid for it. Oh no! I do not remember the number of outfits I had for school. Surely it was a week’s worth, but I am not positive. At least clothes are easier to deal with than photographs. It is better now that so many of them are digital and I do not have to fuss about the space they take. Attending to them is on my to do list which I have basically ignored. Luckily, we do not have so many books in the house because we are both quite comfortable moving them out. Also, the library is our greatest source of books. Grateful for the public libraries. Before we move once more, we will probably eliminate some more. I can certainly see some books of Leroy’s that I do not understand the point in moving as he as not looked at them in a year or more. Paula

Enough Steps

Hello, Yesterday, Leroy and I gathered enough steps between shopping and a fairly long walk. We just stomped around the house to get the rest. It was a challenge to be out yesterday because of the cold, damp, wind. I keep thinking if we could just walk in one direction we could make it around the world and always have the wind at our back. I heard of a guy who always planned his bike rides that way with the wind at his back. Not sure anymore if that was the beginning or the end of the ride. Leroy and I talked about doing a bit of cleaning today, but I left it up to Leroy what we would do and I have not heard a final place to start. Nothing seemed appealing? Perhaps? Right now, he is reading and I know he wants to spend some time working on stamps. He always calls it working, but I know it is a pleasure. He did recently comment that if/when we downsize he will have to give up his stamps because they take up quite a bit of space. That will be a sad day. The word downsizing does strike a bit of terror in the hearts of those with prized possessions. How did possessions become such a garner of attention and care? It would be easier to eliminate Leroy’s things than my special things. Maybe we should work on each other’s stuff? Paula

Local Tourist

Hello, Yesterday, Leroy and I made our way to a town to check out the collection of nativity sets that a man there has acquired. It was a bit overwhelming. Certainly, more than we could absorb in one visit, however it is far enough away that we will not go back. The collector did give a good 30-minute talk. That talk was well worth the time. There was a little history of nativity sets in general and then some talk about specific ones that he had. There certainly was quite a variety. They come from about100 countries. We also learned about fish bladders (Those air bladders that allow fish to stay high in the water.) This guy brought this subject into the open because he has an isinglass nativity set. Isinglass is made from fish bladders. Also in attendance was a guy who works for the DNR, who with his background was able to add quite a bit of information. I saw the DNR guy later and thanked him for his contribution. He then added some more interesting facts. Iowa does have some things that are interesting and informative. Thought you might enjoy seeing some pictures from the exhibit. First a picture from one one room.

Leroy was looking at something interesting.

This one is from Kenya

and the last from the West Bank Israel

Paula

Tai Chi

Hello, This morning I was all set to start the link for Tai Chi. Getting into the program as a host was no problem because that had now been set up correctly, however, I could not find Tai Chi on the schedule. Traditionally it has been at the top of the list, instead there was a meeting listed for Alzheimer class. Good heavens! Had I slipped over the edge? In a bit of a panic, I called my former boss because there was only 12 minutes before the start of class. There are times when it takes more than ten minutes to make changes. Did I wake her up? She sounded a bit groggy, but I plunged into my story of what was wrong. As we were speaking I found recurring meetings listed at the bottom of the page and tai chi was right there. In no time I had clicked the right buttons to get it up and running. Then I did apologize and cut short the conversation. After that it was a little unnerving because no one else had come. Usually, the leader is there ten minutes ahead of time. He did finally come at about five minutes before the hour followed closely by four others. Success. We had a good session. I always feel better afterwards. I first did some tai chi 13 years ago. There have been big gaps in the time between, but I have always liked it. I will go to a spiritually study at church this afternoon. That will give me a two-mile walk. It is sunny so I hope I remember to use some sun screen. Paula

Clothes hung out

Hello, Leroy helped me hang out sheets and some other bedding items this morning when it was 21 degrees F with a thin layer of old snow on the ground. There was some immediate freezing and stiffening of the fabric. I remember my mom carrying sheets out to hang and freeze. When some of the overalls came back in they were able to stand up by themselves. When we washed, everything had to be hung inside over the registers. She also liked the smell of sheets that were out in the air when drying. This afternoon it was 43 degrees F. when I brought everything back in. Some things had dried quite a lot. But most needed some hanging time. We have one of my mother’s wooden clothes racks. It is memory time indeed, especially since she always washed clothes on Monday. It seemed to be a law at our house. I also made a trip to Ely to get some financial papers signed for retirement as well as to return some books. Then there were three books that I checked out because they were not in the libraries that are close to me. Larger population means more books, but also more people to check them out. I might have to make a trip to check out books from time to time. Leroy finally made a trip to the local library to get some paper copies of books. He actually found three on the shelf that he wanted. Parking was a bit of a challenge for him too. There is a free lot with the library, but it was full. There is not much free street parking that is close. We are in good enough shape to walk so it is not a problem. Paula