Beeping

Hello,

I came home last night tired but somewhat elated because I had had a session with the cub scouts that went very well. One of the dads afterwards told me that I did an exceptionally good job. I was giving them some tips and points about library cataloging, how to find things and what might be best. The five boys in attendance seemed amazingly interested.

As I came into the stairwell at home and changed into my slippers I heard a beep. A little later I again heard it as I was telling Leroy about my day and he was telling me about how tired he was. That time he also heard the beep. He wondered if it were a smoke alarm.

“We have to find it,” I insisted, “I can’t sleep listening to that and wondering where it is.”

We started looking for smoke alarms in each room. There were not so many or we did not just find them. But we heard the beep two more times. I decided to stand where I thought it was located and behold it was coming from my purse. My phone battery needed charging. I am so glad we solved that mystery.

Tired Leroy went to bed just after that discovery even though it was just 9:00pm. This morning he tells me that he feels fine. I know it is a reoccurring theme from me but I asked, “Can’t you take a nap at work?”

He always did this before. At noon he generally took a five or ten minute nap and that seemed to give him lots of energy.

“No, I cannot nap,” he said, “I have to be at the front desk all of the time. The intern and I used to take turns, but she is no longer there. I would look bad sleeping there.”

I did not have an answer to that so I guess he will just have to go to bed early some times.

Paula

Writing a Christmas Letter

Hello,

I vowed to get my Christmas letter done over the Thanksgiving weekend. Seemed there should be enough time with no company and no planned outings. Well it did not happen. So I thought yesterday could be the day. Still not done and here I am doing other things once again. I go to work in just a couple hours so it is not likely to happen today either.

We have no Christmas decorations out consequently as usual we are “bucking” the trend of decorating on Thanksgiving or the day after. We will get out our advent wreath for next Sunday. We have a couple droopy advent candles that were left in the attic heat to sigh, languish, and ooze a bit to the side. That is one problem about buying certain items on the “after” sales. Can they still be used? I think so since the bends are at the top and will soon be burned off.

Leroy has been looking, unsuccessfully, for our pictures of our Slovak Advent wreaths. It is great to have digital photos, but the sheer volume of photos and lack of organization can make them quite illusive. At least when we die our children will not have to go through so many pictures. They can just dump the entire load and be done with it. The dump will not fill up with our photos.

I want to write the witty, not to be forgotten Christmas letter and send it early, especially to those people who are not on the Internet with us so that they can be updated about our family’s latest move. Even thought nothing has happened yet Leroy senses that we will be here next Christmas as well. His contract expires next summer, but he is confident they will find money and it will be extended. He is often right about these feelings, but we will see.

Leroy drove the car today. At the CR airport the temperature was at seven degrees. He said, “Yesterday I was fine on the bike, except for my hands.” He has cold sensitive hands plus the bike riding posture does not really protect them very well.

Paula

Sitting Tall

Hello,

I did the power yoga once more and even finished it. Right now I am sitting tall and straight because of that workout. As it turned out the last part of the session was really much slower, not necessarily easier, but I felt more in control than when moving so quickly. I am not as flexible as I would like to believe that I am. Certain sitting postures are difficult for me to do. At least at one point the guide said not to strain. That helps me to feel that I should not be overwhelmed by the difficulty. On the cover of this DVD it says it is for all ages and all levels of fitness. Seems to me that is not quite true, but I will keep doing it. A women that used to have a yoga program on TV stressed that it is not a competition and I must remember that I am competing with no one, just trying to create better health.

I was pleased to get a letter from the Social Security administration telling me that my Medicare sign up was complete. I had been feeling a little anxious because I was about six weeks beyond the recommended sign up date. Just about two days later I received my card so now I am all set. I can put that fussiness aside.

Leroy will have no difficulty since he has watched me lead the way. He is so lucky to have an older wife. Older, but of course I look much younger.

It was back on the bike this morning, for that daring guy even thought the report was for temperatures in the 20’s. I went out to do some things later, and it did feel a bit cold. Leroy misses that time outdoors when he is unable to ride. I should walk more too as I also like to be outside. For some reason we have gotten away from walking at 5:30 am as we used to do. It was a great way to wake up and get energized for the day. Now we sleep until 6:00, sigh.

Paula

Crazy Sunday

Hello,

Leroy and I went to church on Saturday night because the choir sang. We did not feel obligated to go to church for the second time in the weekend. Does that say something about how much we like to spend time worshiping God? Scary thought!

Somehow the day felt a bit out of kilter with no services, but much like a real day off with no scheduled plans. Our landlord is out of town so we are picking up their mail and newspaper. It is ok if we read the newspaper, because as I told them, “our eyes will not hurt it.” What I learned is that I am the one who really likes to read the paper. I look at almost all articles while Leroy flies a bit higher and touches down for the funnies, a few ads, and perhaps the headline stories. Me, I like the news stories and human interest articles.

I got out the power yoga DVD just to demonstrate to Leroy how awfully tough it is only to end up doing 15 of the 25 minutes. I will have to try that again as I am stronger than I thought. The thing I really miss is the pause and holding of a position where this just zips right on. I worked up quite a sweat before I quit. Maybe tomorrow I will go farther.

Leroy tried to fix a wall outlet in the computer room. He has tried before with little success. This time he kept a record of all the combinations that he used. Again it did not work. This new outlet has some type of power interrupter that apparently is too much interruption for Leroy’s skills. He has new declared that he will just get a plain, simple outlet to replace the broken one. Sounds like a solid plan to me.

Leroy went up and down stairs to the basement many times and figured he got quite a lot of exercise, but he still joined me on a long walk around the neighborhood. It was cool, however still great for walking.

Paula

Weather

Hello,

Mid-westerners are known for talking about the weather, but maybe that is because it is something most of us agree about. Now I can safely say it is cold outside. In spite of that cold the rutabaga leaves are still alive. I covered some of them that are next to the Swiss chard. The chard was ok as well, but I decided to cut it close to the ground as I thought the daytime temperature might even be difficult for it to survive. It looked so good that I did not want to have it freeze. We will eat it tonight.

The weather certainly does change our lives. I did not hang out clothes today, but used the dryer instead. I certainly get less exercise by letting the equipment do the job. The wool socks still get hung up, but only on the indoor rack that once belonged to my mother. It is these practical things that I am so glad to have inherited. I also have mom’s ironing board, but I have had that all my life away from home as mom had gotten an adjustable new fangled one. This one’s height is set. It is also more difficult to collapse as it has developed some tough joints. Old age affects many things. So weather changes the laundry world for me.

Even thought the temperature, according to the thermometer, in the house has not changed I must dress more warmly. This house seems to be well insulated, but there is still some sense of coolness around the edges. I have not yet worn a wool sweater, but wool socks are on and at least two layers of long sleeves.

Leroy did not ride the bike today. I did not urge him too even though I commented that there was no wind. I will walk to church tonight or rather this afternoon at 4:00. I will certainly dress for winter, but at least walking does not create a noticeable breeze. Leroy will come there after work so I will ride home in the car.

Unfortunately our humidifier now leaks. Fortunately it did not leak so much that water seeped below. Also fortunately we have the money to buy another unit, but I might try to wait for a sale on such a utilitarian item or will that be at the end of the dry season?

Paula

Thanksgiving

Hello,

Leroy and I were together all day today. Sometimes on holidays Leroy has a hard time if we do not go somewhere or have someone come visit. Today he was quite content to just be here and with me. He puttered around the house and did some odds and ends so that he could feel that he accomplished something.

Because of great phone service we called all of our siblings and children. I even called a cousin who is 15 years younger than I am. I do not know when I have last seen her. I really have not talked to her as an adult. Her father, my last living uncle died just recently. I touched bases with her about the loss at holidays.

I am not much for using the phone, but it was very satisfying today. I should perhaps use it more often. The call with Brian involved the webcam and that was so nice to see Logan as he has once again changed. Sophia was there too, but the changes were not so obvious. Sophia plays a nice game of hide and seek on the webcam.

This afternoon, Leroy and I went out for a spin on our landlord’s two seater trike/bike. It was great fun to cruise around the flat neighborhood and avoid any big hills. People smiled and one even complimented us on our bike. I resisted the urge to babble on about how it was not our bike and just said as we sailed past, “We like it too.”

We made our blueberry pie with oil crust and pronounced it good even though it did not look very American. We also had rather untypical foods for the day, but we pronounced that good too.

I believe we will not participate in any of the black Friday sales even though we have talked about getting a new TV and a small computer such as a tablet. We are not yet quite ready to make those purchases. Nothing else takes our attention. I do need to buy some groceries and that will be all even though we might check out some of the things in the stores.

Paula

Conversations

Hello,

Almost every day I have such great conversations. Great advice is being given. Pertinent questions are being asked. Great jokes are told with just the right touch of humor. Interesting theories are expounded with finesse. It all seems to be coming from the same source. Oops, I realize that I am talking to myself. How did this happen? It seems to me that it has escalated in the last year or so. Have I gotten wiser or do I just need a constant stream of chatter to feel all is right with the world?

Many years ago when I had children at home I spent a lot of time talking to them, including when I shopped. After the last child was in school I would find that I was still telling the shopping cart everything that it could possibly want to know. A few raised eyebrows and some sidelong glances helped me to curtain that habit. Or maybe it helped that I was younger and could still learn new skills, such as silent shopping.

I have noticed that at work I have a tendency to talk out loud. Last night I struggled hard keeping my mouth shut. The only trouble is that I then adopted Leroy’s habit of small sighs, whimpers, moans and or groans. He, by the way, is a master at this art. I am not sure if he wants to me know that I would be aware things are not going well, hence the noises or if it is just for himself and his own mental health. Leroy is a master at the sounds while never actually saying a word. Without meaning to I have learned from him. So now my task is to be silent when at work so I do not annoy my fellow workers.

By the way the fog was even worse last night. I crawled safely home and gave a prayer of thanks for being there. Leroy tells me that he too was very aware of the fog on his way home even though he went home about three hours earlier than I did. We are thankful that he has good lights on his bike. When he bought them, I thought they were extravagant, but no more. They are now a necessity especially as he comes home after dark. It is even rather dark in the morning. Who knows with this nice weather he might ride on the shortest day of the year. He is a little concerned because much of his warmer clothing is dark and not so visible; hopefully the drivers see his lights flashing away. He also tries to travel on not such busy streets or even goes a bit early in the morning as the traffic is less.

Paula