Tomatoes?

Hello, For some reason the tomatoes in the community garden are very slow. Or perhaps someone is picking them before they are totally ripe. I just want a few to eat. A neighbor showed us the five-galleon bucket’s worth he had picked from his garden. He said, “This is the second time this week.” I am jealous. We do have some peppers at home along with some salad greens that are coming back. I planted some seeds for the fall, but nothing seems to have germinated. Leroy thinks the seed is too old and I think the watering or lack thereof is at fault. As I was leaving the community garden area yesterday, I saw a guy coming by. After hearing about the garden, he sounded like he might be eager to pick some things. Too bad the cucumbers have all died. He would take some of the small tomatoes which are doing quite well. I am always glad to encourage others to harvest some of the produce. Leroy and I think we should go back and check on the beans, but it is raining now. Maybe tomorrow we will have time to get that done. The zucchini has been put down by the bugs. I am still amazed that one year I as able to keep them at bay. It was necessary to get there early in the morning and kill all that I found under the leaves. Paula

Walking and Geese

Hello, This afternoon we checked our step count. Would you believe that Leroy recorded almost 2000 more steps than I did from our walk to and from church? How could that be? He did usher and I mostly sat and stood during the service. I did greet, however, and that involves a small amount of walking around. We also watered the flowers and he did walk to the farther ones. All that must have added up. An afternoon walk was on my agenda to get closer to the 10,000-step goal. Leroy wanted to join so I let him. On our way we went through a park. Leroy commented on the number of geese there. Then we had a titillating conversation about what a group of geese is called. It was enchanting I will not tell you what it was. The only word we could recall was a gaggle of geese. We checked out some street construction before we came back to the park. On the way through, we noticed some geese on the splash pad. I turned the water on, startling them and they moved off a bit. Leroy and I then walked farther away. The geese came back on the pad and some started drinking. Then some of them stood under the part that puts out a mist and not a big spray of water. Soon all the other geese were moving to the water and enjoying it as well.

Paula

Can that be true

Hello, Yesterday my visit with the eye doctor confirmed that my vision is not as good as it was after the cataract surgery. I am looking through scar tissue. For me to get that vision back I will have an additional simple surgery. That will happen in September. I had noticed that Leroy could read a sign farther away that I could, but I had no clue what was happening. Could I have dry eyes, I wondered. I also noticed that I had more trouble reading especially for a long period of time. Guess I am glad to find out the reason and that there is a solution. The procedure should be simple, but I do need a ride. I suppose I will have to be a little careful afterwards. Last evening we finally got the beans stripped so they can produce again. Some of them were a bit mature. Still, we were able to give away three plastic grocery bags to different people on the way home. I was happy about that. We still had one bag and ate some of them at noon today. They were ok, but not my favorite green bean. Today, the humaine society had a pet festival for people who have some trouble getting to a vet. They did a check up and provided some pet supplies. There were a lot of dogs there with just a few cats visible. It was held in the neighborhood next to ours.

Paula

Talking to a Neighbor

Hello, On my way home from the delivering more newsletters I saw a neighbor. I greeted him and pointing to a large tent in his yard, I asked, “Having a big celebration?” “Yes, for my youngest daughter who died.” He replied, “Someone gave her fentanyl two years ago and she died.” “That would be so hard,” I said. He went on, “We celebrate on her birthday and try to make it nice.” He got a phone call then so I said, “I will pray for you.” When I walked away, I wondered, just what should a person say in this situation. It also reminded me that we never know what hard things other people are going through. Paula

Cooler?

Hello, It was 60 degrees when I started to church to water the flowers there. The flowers on one side are in the sun when I get there, but it still did not feel hot. After visiting a bit, I headed back with a stop in the community garden. I had announced, “I am going to strip the beans because they have gotten too old. That turned out to be an optimistic statement. I did pick beans, but only about ¼ of them. It felt hot in the sun. Since it was only me, I could not convince myself to keep going after picking a bag and a half. Somehow other people are encouraging just by their presence. I will have to go back sometime soon. I have not done anything with those beans, but I must sort as some of them were ok. I also picked two heads of broccoli. It seems our neighborhood has changed. Seldom do I see people out on their porches so it is hard to share this produce on the way home. I am also not aware of many others using the garden as was the case in the past. This afternoon I went out and delivered some more of the neighborhood newsletters. Leroy had stubbed his toe so he sat at home with his foot elevated. Again, I soon noticed the heat, but it had gotten up to 82 degrees with much sun coming done. To protect my skin, I have on my sun hat as well as a sun shirt. I am well covered. Paula

Grist Mill at Wild Cat Den

Hello, Yesterday, Leroy and I went on a day trip to Iowa’s oldest working grist mill.

We got a tour of the place and learned quite a lot. There is certainly a lot of engineering knowledge that goes into making it work. It reminded me of a Rube Goldberg machine. When I looked that up, I found it did not really apply to this situation as his drawings were of things that got complicated but could be quite simple if done the most direct way.

Each part of the mill is dependent on another part to work smoothly. There were four floors to this building. We could see how the water powered the operation. In times of low water source, a boiler was used to make it work. Wild Cat Den is a state park and we did some hiking there as well as had a picnic lunch. I so enjoyed being out in the woods with the tall trees. Guess it reminds me of growing up on the farm and wondering the woods for entertainment. We did not hike all of the trails because it was quite hot out and I got tired. There was a nice map of the trails which listed the length, degree of difficulty and the expected time to complete. This park also had a camp ground. There were only spots for tents on electricity supplied. It looked quite inviting to us since we are tent campers. The only drawback was that there were no modern toilets. Paula

What a Day

We have a sleep number bed. Last night Leroy wanted to change the number and the batteries in the remote were powerless. He tried some from another device, but they did not work either. He put the batteries in the charger overnight and figured it would work in the morning. No such luck. He called the company. They could not find our account. Apparently, that is needed to fix the remote that only works with our bed. We could not find the proper papers. After much struggle and time on their side and ours, it finally happened. The account is in my name and needed my phone number. We wrote all that down and put in the file so we are ready in the future. The guy who helped us was truly patient. Perhaps he was playing games while he waited for us to search this and that. Or maybe he had other work he could do. I was impressed with his skill with the aged public. This afternoon we went to the shoe store. My knee has been hurting some and the reason is that my shoe soles are worn on the outside rim. At least that is what the physical therapist thinks is a contributing factor. My walking shoes are a year old and I wear them quite a lot. I may clean them up and see if any of the lower income people who come to the church meals would like them since the shoes do not even look worn out. I just realized that except for the dentist and the eye doctor, I have been able to walk to all of my doctor appointments. What a great thing. Healthy for me and for the planet. Paula