We leave tomorrow, August 1st for our trip out West. I'm ready to G-0, go!!!!!! Our first stop is to visit my sister in Dayton, Ohio.
Ed said we could go later or next year if I didn't want to leave my flowers. But, now that I've discovered that my adopted daughter, Christie Rhodes, loves flowers as much as I do, I feel OK about leaving. I have hired her to cut off my spent flowers in the fall, then trim my roses and maiden grasses in early spring. She'd BETTER keep her hours accurately - are ya listening, Christie?
Ed's buddy, Robert Foerster, has been such a great help for Ed this week. Those two worked many hours to get all that shelving in the "basement" and several other projects done on the RV. Thank you, Robert!
We took Jim Bowman, our cousin who watches over the place, to dinner at O'Charlie's this evening. He'll also drive my car now and then. It sets my mind at ease to know we have such count-on-able people around us.
Then we stopped to see Billie Brown for a few minutes. Her husband, Al, passed away early this morning. Billie has been my computer student for years and the four of us got along so well. We know Al went straight to heaven and wish him well up there. We will miss him and we will keep in touch with Billie, a very special lady. Our prayers and thoughts go to Billie and her family.
This is a first - it's not even 10:00 p.m. and Ed's already gone to bed. I'm heading that way very soon. Night-all! See ya on the road!
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Freaky Friday
Ed got the RV out of the shop yesterday. Now he has lots of things he wants to do to it, such as add a shelf down in the "basement" (under storage area) for our lawn chairs.
My day began with a visit from our new preacher, Jim Radford. I'm getting the Pastor's Page all set up on our church website. He is most cooperative and upbeat. You can see this page by clicking here: Donovan Memorial United Methodist Church. Doing the church's website has been good for adding to my computer skills.
Then I met my cousin, Stashia May Kline, at our local retirement center to have lunch with my Aunt Ginny May. She's now in the assisted living unit and is slowly adjusting, although her early Alzheimer's doesn't help. When we got ready to leave, the skies opened with one of the hardest rains I've ever seen. We waited and it let up in about 5 minutes.
Stashia drove me to the Hyundai dealer where Mother's car was being serviced. I drove the car to Waynesboro to Bill Bartleme's office. Bill used to live near us and, besides being a dear friend, he's been doing Mother's taxes for eons. He drove me back to Singers Glen and took the car. Mother is giving her car to Anita and Bill graciously volunteered to drive it to Dayton, Ohio. What a friend!
I found out that Ed was right -- my original idea of driving Mom's car and following our RV with our towed car wouldn't have worked. Just driving the 40 miles to Waynesboro brought back that awful pain in my right shoulder. I try to forget about my fibro but it shows up when least expected. It's good to have a husband to help keep me in the world of reality. Thank you, Ed and Bill B!!
My day began with a visit from our new preacher, Jim Radford. I'm getting the Pastor's Page all set up on our church website. He is most cooperative and upbeat. You can see this page by clicking here: Donovan Memorial United Methodist Church. Doing the church's website has been good for adding to my computer skills.
Then I met my cousin, Stashia May Kline, at our local retirement center to have lunch with my Aunt Ginny May. She's now in the assisted living unit and is slowly adjusting, although her early Alzheimer's doesn't help. When we got ready to leave, the skies opened with one of the hardest rains I've ever seen. We waited and it let up in about 5 minutes.
Stashia drove me to the Hyundai dealer where Mother's car was being serviced. I drove the car to Waynesboro to Bill Bartleme's office. Bill used to live near us and, besides being a dear friend, he's been doing Mother's taxes for eons. He drove me back to Singers Glen and took the car. Mother is giving her car to Anita and Bill graciously volunteered to drive it to Dayton, Ohio. What a friend!
I found out that Ed was right -- my original idea of driving Mom's car and following our RV with our towed car wouldn't have worked. Just driving the 40 miles to Waynesboro brought back that awful pain in my right shoulder. I try to forget about my fibro but it shows up when least expected. It's good to have a husband to help keep me in the world of reality. Thank you, Ed and Bill B!!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Painless Party Preparation
We love to have people over but with cancer slowing Ed down and fibromyalgia slowing me down, it seemed overwhelming. One day an idea popped into my mind. About 2 years ago, I ran into Christie Rhodes at Costco. (Christie and Linden have rented Mother's farm for many years.) She was buying tons of food and I learned that she and her sister do some catering.
I called her and ended up with with a fantastic result. Christie usually serves 50-200 people, so doing a private small party was a new venture. We discussed the menu several times and came up with the most scrumptious meal you could imagine. She stopped by on Friday to get my serving dishes.
Ed made a pork roast and Christie made the rest. Promptly at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday she, with the help of her sons, delivered hot food. We had lima beans (fresh from her garden) with mushrooms, a potato casserole, a broccoli salad, oatmeal rolls, a tomato salad, homemade peanut butter pie and homemade apple pie.
Some of the comments included: "These are the BEST limas I've EVER eaten." "Real potatoes do taste better than boxed ones, don't they?" "These rolls are so moist!" The broccoli salad spoke for itself....I noticed that when everyone got seconds, they all took more broccoli. "Those tomatoes are to die for, if you find out what spices she used, please tell me!" The pies were just mouthwatering and most people had a piece of each. Sunday at church one of the guests said that that was the best food he's eaten in ages...ditto for me!
There are 4 couples in Singers Glen that we really enjoy, even though we don't get together very often. Dick and Linda Heatwole couldn't come but those who did were Hunter and Mary Margaret Hollar, Mike and Deb Frank, and Clarence and Deane Geier. It was one of those "a good time was had by all" gatherings! I had my camera ready and plumb forgot to take pictures....shame on me.
The best part was that we ate extremely well and all the dirty pans were at Christie's house!! Thank you, Christie!
p.s. Christie is looking for ways to earn some extra money. She can cook and would also be available to clean or do other things. So, if you're needing some help you can let me, her agent, know!
I called her and ended up with with a fantastic result. Christie usually serves 50-200 people, so doing a private small party was a new venture. We discussed the menu several times and came up with the most scrumptious meal you could imagine. She stopped by on Friday to get my serving dishes.
Ed made a pork roast and Christie made the rest. Promptly at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday she, with the help of her sons, delivered hot food. We had lima beans (fresh from her garden) with mushrooms, a potato casserole, a broccoli salad, oatmeal rolls, a tomato salad, homemade peanut butter pie and homemade apple pie.
Some of the comments included: "These are the BEST limas I've EVER eaten." "Real potatoes do taste better than boxed ones, don't they?" "These rolls are so moist!" The broccoli salad spoke for itself....I noticed that when everyone got seconds, they all took more broccoli. "Those tomatoes are to die for, if you find out what spices she used, please tell me!" The pies were just mouthwatering and most people had a piece of each. Sunday at church one of the guests said that that was the best food he's eaten in ages...ditto for me!
There are 4 couples in Singers Glen that we really enjoy, even though we don't get together very often. Dick and Linda Heatwole couldn't come but those who did were Hunter and Mary Margaret Hollar, Mike and Deb Frank, and Clarence and Deane Geier. It was one of those "a good time was had by all" gatherings! I had my camera ready and plumb forgot to take pictures....shame on me.
The best part was that we ate extremely well and all the dirty pans were at Christie's house!! Thank you, Christie!
p.s. Christie is looking for ways to earn some extra money. She can cook and would also be available to clean or do other things. So, if you're needing some help you can let me, her agent, know!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Not Blogging
Little did I realize that so many people were reading our blog.......until I didn't post for a while. Now, people I never would have thought about have mentioned that they were waiting for an addition!
In email, if I don't get a response from someone for a long time, I usually take them out of my address book. On the blog, I am at your mercy.........but I do really enjoy hearing from you.
Hellloooo, Dear-People-Out-There!!!
You can click on "Comments" at the bottom of each post.
Type a few words or a sentence or two.
Then at the lower right-hand corner of the window,
click on "Publish your comment."
At least I won't feel like I'm out here in cyberspace all alone!
You can click on "Comments" at the bottom of each post.
Type a few words or a sentence or two.Then at the lower right-hand corner of the window,
click on "Publish your comment."
At least I won't feel like I'm out here in cyberspace all alone!In email, if I don't get a response from someone for a long time, I usually take them out of my address book. On the blog, I am at your mercy.........but I do really enjoy hearing from you.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Weeding, Weeding
I've gotten some feedback complaining that I haven't posted lately - mostly from Mother in her nursing home in Texas. My sister-in-law, Maribeth May, takes her computer in and reads the posts to Mom. I was worried about putting too much detail but come to find out, that's exactly what Mother likes.
But, for right now, what would I write about? I would say, "Today I pulled about a thousand weeds and there are only 9,000 weeds to go - in that one bed! I transplanted a few plants and am watering them every other day. I'm pulling out daisy plants like crazy because they're taking over everything. I found one this week that was sending roots under my day lilies! It's been extremely dry, so weeding is difficult. We did get over half an inch on Friday and still need more."
Here's the view from my bathroom window and you can see how the daisies are pushing forwards. You can also see pink Sweet Williams, California poppies, Stella d'Oro day lilies, yellow day lilies and red hot pokers. Yes, those are cows in the background!
(Click on photo for a larger view.)
But, for right now, what would I write about? I would say, "Today I pulled about a thousand weeds and there are only 9,000 weeds to go - in that one bed! I transplanted a few plants and am watering them every other day. I'm pulling out daisy plants like crazy because they're taking over everything. I found one this week that was sending roots under my day lilies! It's been extremely dry, so weeding is difficult. We did get over half an inch on Friday and still need more."
Here's the view from my bathroom window and you can see how the daisies are pushing forwards. You can also see pink Sweet Williams, California poppies, Stella d'Oro day lilies, yellow day lilies and red hot pokers. Yes, those are cows in the background!
(Click on photo for a larger view.)
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Kitty Cat Scan
It looks like our kitty cat had better start packing her bags ready for the RV to go rockin' and rollin' down the road!
In other words, Ed had his CAT scan on Friday and the results show no change in the size of his lung tumors. So.....we'll be going on our trip out West!! YAY!! Needless to say, we're relieved and delighted!!
The next few weeks will be filled with a gazillion things to do to outfit the RV and batten down the hatches here on Bluebird Hill. It won't be easy to leave my flowers, but they'll just have to fight the weeds by themselves. More later.....
In other words, Ed had his CAT scan on Friday and the results show no change in the size of his lung tumors. So.....we'll be going on our trip out West!! YAY!! Needless to say, we're relieved and delighted!!
The next few weeks will be filled with a gazillion things to do to outfit the RV and batten down the hatches here on Bluebird Hill. It won't be easy to leave my flowers, but they'll just have to fight the weeds by themselves. More later.....