Saturday Again

The images above are my trash bags after eight hours of raking and bagging leaves and small limbs. My peony bed just beginning to show a little growth, and my front yard all finished. The back isn't completely finished yet so I haven't a photo of it except for the peony bed.

I had a plan for today. This morning I met Bob at Eggberts for breakfast. I had laundry to do while I waited. Then at 9:30 I went out to Windsor see my sister.

When I got home from that, I raked some piles of leaves. I also would like to have gotten my patio furniture cushions cleaned. But I didn't have enough day left. I have some great stuff I used on the car cushions. They came out like new.

Yesterday when I mowed my front yard I noticed I seemed to have lost power in my mower. Leslie said she would ask John to come take a look at it when he has time. I hope my motor is not going out on that Dixon riding mower. I would be lost without it. I sometimes mow twice a week in the summertime. I believe we paid $1300 for it used in 2003. Lord only knows what another one would cost me.

I'd got that laundry going and fed Missy Kitty.

I went for breakfast with my brother-in-law and then took a book to the post office to mail. I had sold another book on Amazon. I am trying to sell most of my hard and soft bound books since I am now buying my books for kindle.

When I got home from seeing my sister, I started in on the yard. I trimmed both front and back and then began raking again. I got the west side mostly done but still have to finish, do the east side and the front as well as the rest of the back. I had the entire west side finished late last fall and most of the back and then my neighbor's tree dropped it's leaves late and I would have had to start all over again. I just waited until spring and I started again today.

I came in for lunch and to check my e-mail but after I rested awhile, I went back out.

Well, it's 4:00 now and I am really tired. I got most of rhe leaves cleaned out in the front, east and west side of the house. Now if I can just find a time to clean up the rest of the back yard.... It won't be today.

Well, I was wrong. The wind is coming up and it looks like it may rain. I went back out for about an hour and got about half the back yard done before exhaustion set it. This wind may blow the remaining leaves around and I'll have to re-rake them at a later time...after they dry out again. I now have twelve bags ready for the trash man. I'll have to put them out three at a time. It will take several weeks for me to get them all picked up again.

I hope my neighbor's leaves don't blow into my yard now.

Wow!

Dr.s Appointment and More

I have today off. I have a doctor's appointment in Bartlesville after my hair appointment today. I called Bob A. last night and he is going to go with me. We may eat at Dink's again today.

I saw a news story last week about the presence of what they called "pink slime" in 70% of our ground meat. It's made up of muscle and connecting tissue. Then it is treated with ammonia to prevent e-coli from forming. This is the ground beef we find at most of our markets. I may never eat ground beef again unless it is my daughter's beef.

The more I learn about our food supply, the more concerned I am about our health. Here in America, the FDA deputy commissioner for food was once a vice president at Monsanto. How objective do you think he will be?

Europe and England have banned GM foods but the only way we can avoid them is by buying organic or growing our own.

Afternoon...

We went to the doctor in Bartlesville this morning and he froze another place on my nose. I noticed it had been peeling.

Afterward we walked the mall and then walked all over Lowe's. Then we went to McAlister's for lunch. It was a wrap and a side with tea and was pretty good. I brought part of it home for supper this evening. We had a good visit.

Phyllis F. called last night to say she got two days off in April to go with Bob and me to Branson to Silver Dollar City. We are so pleased. She too is alone so the three of us will have a good time. She went to Joplin with us a few weeks ago.

This afternoon I mowed the front yard and the side yards and cleaned up my patio furniture. Now I just need to clean the cushions. Missy and the neighbor cats will be sleeping n them so how long they'll stay clean is anyone's guess. I still need to trim but maybe I can get that and the cushion cleaning done tomorrow.

And I still need to rake some leaves up. So much to do and so little time to do everything. Oh how I wish they would cut my hours to 20 a week.

Thursday Again

I work today and then tomorrow I will go to Independence to have my hair done. It has become a mess. When the humidity comes up, it gets curlier and curlier and I can't do a thing with it. Luckily Carol can.

I want to see my sister tomorrow. But first I have a doctor's appointment in Bartlesville at 9:30. Luckily my hair appointment is at 7:00 AM. I will go from there to Bartlesville for the doctor's appointment.

I really need to finish my yard work this weekend. That will destroy my hairdo. :)

I hope there is no wind or rain.

Marilyn called last night and we discussed the weekend's Living the Question group meeting scheduled for Sunday evening. Because Howard had surgery last week, we felt he should not have to try to come out for it. He likes to lead the discussion so we hesitate to have it without him. I put out an e-mail and informed everyone of our decision.

So far I have heard back from two.

Yesterday Bob A. and I attended the Lenten Luncheon at Grace Fellowship. It was a salad luncheon provided by the Christian Church women. Everything was very good and the testimony of a former drug and alcohol abuser was excellent. Religion and the support of her congregation has turned her life around. She feels God has forgiven her and now she is able to forgive herself. That's a wonderful testimony.

Wednesday Again

I will go to work this morning. I don't feel 100% but maybe about 98% so I cannot afford to miss any more work. I will leave at lunchtime about 11:40 to pick up Bob A. for the Lenten Luncheon. I hope I gain strength as the day progresses.

I don't know where I got this bug but my daughter, whom I haven't seen since last Thursday, also had it over the weekend but that's too much time for us to have infected one another. I guess it's going around.

I just laid around yesterday. I cleaned the bathrooms and ran the duster on the laminated floors, the kitchen, and both bathrooms and was exhausted by then. It's a good thing I stayed home yesterday too.

I did work up the energy to attend the library board meetings last night. I really didn't want to go but I had missed February because of our church valentine dinner so I felt I really needed to attend last night. As it turned out, there was no foundation meeting because only two of us showed up for that. I did take notes for the board meeting though. I am secretary for the foundation but John C. is secretary for the board. He has not been there when I attended at all so I have done his job too for three occasions.

Tuesday Again

I can't make up my mind whether to go back to work today. I feel kind of drained but the problem has stopped.

Tonight I have a library board meeting and foundation meeting after that. I don't know whether I will be up to those either but I missed last month's board meeting because of our church Valentine party. I will just play it by ear.

I heard from Scott's girlfriend yesterday. She said Scott and Ashley, my granddaughter, were touring Germany and having a grand tme. She will be with him a total of two weeks. I haven't heard a peep out of him since she went over there. I guess they are having a good time.

Keith and Esther are on vacation. They were going to see the Grand Canyon, among other things.

I haven't heard anything out of Leslie since they took me to dinner last week. She and Karan and Bobby went to Kansas City to help Sheri with her auction. After being broken into three times, losing her large big screen TV and laptop computer each time, Sheri decided to sell her house and move into a loft downtown. (she had a security system but in the time it took the police to get there, they had time to make off with the big screen TV and laptop computer) Her husband bought them all new furniture after that so she was selling her old furniture at the auction. She needed help running the auction.

I took a shower, washed my hair and dressed and now I am exhausted. I think I will call in sick again at 8:00. I may be pushing it to go back to work today. Bob A. just called to check on me and he suggested I should stay home too. I sure don't want a relapse. I will miss the money but I would rather be well.

Stange Monday

Bob A. met me at Roeder's this morning to I could leave my car to get a new headliner. Mine was beginning to come down at the back window. Then he took me to work. About 11:00, I began to feel bad. I had awakened in the night...about 1:30, not feeling really well but I took a couple of Tums and went back to sleep. I felt alright by time to go to work, so I did. But I began to have stomach cramps mid morning. Finally as I was filing across the hall on the north side of the large courtroom, I began to have cramps. Luckily, I was near a bathroom and then I called Bob A. and asked him to come get me. He brought me home and also gave me some meds that he had to stop the diarrhea.

I put my robe on, put my clothing in the laundry with my towels and watched TV and dozed all afternoon. By 4:00 I was feeling much better. Bob came by and picked me up to go get my car. The headliner looked great. I went by the Medicene Shoppe and picked up my thyroid med. I ran out last night. Then I came home and ate a bowl of oatmeal. I hadn't eaten all day.

Now I am checking out the blogs.

Daylight Savings Time

I awoke at 3:30 this morning but after going to the bathroom, I went back to bed and back to sleep. Then I awoke at 6:30, which was actually 5:30, closer to my usual waking time of 5:00.

I fed Missy and fixed myself some oatmeal, juice and coffee. It rained all night and after looking outside, I could almost see the grass grow. Actually all I have green right now is weeds and my bulbs. I got my mulch on Friday but the wind has kept me from spreading it. Maybe I can get it done after work this week.

I am taking my car in to Roeder's tomorrow, to have a new headliner put in it. The headliner is beginning to come down around the back window. He didn't think trying to glue it would work out. So I will spend $165 plus tax to have a new one put in. I am trying to keep my car nice. Last fall I cleaned the upholstery and the carpet and they came out like new. I wash the car about once a week to keep it looking as good as possible considering it is a 2001 Honda Civic. I also dropped in to Gary's and had him look to see why the "needs service" light was coming on. He said the last time it was serviced they neglected to reset the light that notifies the driver that it's time for service again. He said there was no rush. He said unless I drove 500 miles a week, I didn't need to have the oil changed every 3,000 miles or even 5,000 miles. I drive about 20 miles a day to and from work and home at lunchtime and back. Then if I go to Independence once a week, that's another 30 miles there and back home. If I go to Bartlesville, that's another 90 miles round trip. But I don't go to Bartlesville every week...usually only about once a month.

I will go to church this morning and then eat out with Bob A. and Phyllis F.

Then I will come home and do my letters. I will then attend the support group at Windsor Place. Tonight my favorite TV program is on...Harry's Law. I also enjoy Frontline and American Experience and Nature. But Harry's Law is the only program I enjoy that is not on PBS. TV is for the birds anymore.

As usual, Harry's Law was extremely entertaining.