Monday, June 27th, I spent my morning working on finalizing Papa's financial papers. This required calling Charlotte at the nursing home to be sure I was doing things correctly. Then mailing the letter to Medicaid I had prepared last Friday when all financial numbers had finally arrived. Then calling the County Circuit Court to talk about opening probate. I must say that, for a man who had NOTHING, there is a lot of paperwork to close out his finances.
In the afternoon, Claude had a meeting at Elizabeth's Village, the Women's shelter in Georgetown. I took the opportunity to sit on our lovely patio and read my July Liahona. This 'outdoor living room' we have created is a pure delight for me. I loved our yard in Sadieville but really spent most of my time inside. Here, I find myself sitting on the patio reading or just enjoying watching all that wildlife. So many kinds of birds, squirrels, a chipmunk, a rabbit, and neighbors cats are all very entertaining.
I was able to get the wash done, talk with Andie and text with Nissa. I told Nissa she was my twin. She was sitting in Holton, Michigan on her deck reading while I was sitting on my patio reading. We are both fortunate to have lovely places to relax and read.
Claude fixed leftover spaghetti for dinner. I believe he got the recipe for this sauce from Alton Brown. It is soooo good. And eating it after it sat in the fridge for a few days only enhanced that flavor. Totally enjoyed the leftover meal.
In the evening, we opted to watch old Mentalist episodes.
Tuesday, June 28th, Claude and I got up and dressed and did our walk first thing. Our outside temperature was not quite 70 degrees. It made for a very comfortable walk temperature wise. I am very concerned about my hips. They get sore after just a few feet of walking. Not good. Not good.
After breakfast, I went to the back yard to weed the ivy on the little hill in our backyard. Claude headed to the grocery store. We have come to an impasse in the meeting of the minds and we don't agree. Last fall we planted ivy on our little hill. They came around and spread grass seed on the hill after our planting. We determined to let that grass grow so it would keep the water from eroding the hill while the ivy grew. In the spring, we had ivy plants and lots and lots of grass. One day, Claude and I pulled all the grass away from the ivy plants so that he could use the weed whacker to cut the grass on the hill. This would also allow the ivy to flourish and fill in. We would pull more grass away as the ivy grew. The grass would keep the soil from washing off the hill during a rain. Well, the ivy is not growing nearly as fast as we understood it would grow. Claude is ready to let the grass take over. I am not. I really want that ivy on the hill. It would be a great contrast to the grass in other places in the back yard. It would give a certain feel to this great backyard we are creating. So this day, I went out and again pulled the grass back further from any living ivy plants I could see. Claude is going to get more good dirt and we will put good dirt around the plants to help them along. I am going to have to be more diligent in making sure they have every opportunity to grow. Presently, they aren't growing as quickly as we wanted and some have just given up entirely. I will probably purchase a few more plants and then nurture them along to try and get ivy on that hill. If it doesn't work, I will concede and let Claude grow grass on that hill. Pray with me that the ivy begins to take off and fill in on the hill!!
After Claude finished grocery shopping and I finished working with the ivy, we sat on the sofa in the study and read our scriptures. I love this time together. I love reading scripture and doing it with my hubby is extra special.
In the evening, Andie, Hayden and Bailey drove to Georgetown. Hayden needed more driving hours and driving to Georgetown helps tremendously with that goal. He would have enough nighttime driving hours after he drove them home. Bailey and Hayden needed haircuts and I would do that. Claude grilled us some hamburgers and we enjoyed a little dinner together, followed by root beer floats for dessert. Bailey would try out sitting on the little deck. First grandmonster to enjoy the little deck.
My sister had breast cancer surgery. It went well. They took extra lymph nodes as they looked suspicious. Ugh!
Aubrey posted pictures of our little Nelson. Seems he fell on the playground and had to have stitches. He took it like a little trooper.
Wednesday, June 29th, was one of T H O S E days. You know the kind. You wake up and realize you really would rather have slept a bit more but you are tired of squeezing your eyes shut to get back to sleep. So, you get out of bed, fix your bagel and chocolate milk and sit on the sofa in the study to go through your morning checks on your cell phone. When the hubby wakes up, you read your scriptures together. Then, it hits you, this is not going to be a productive day. Nope. How will you handle that. I determined I would embrace it this once. So, I didn't get anything really productive done this day. That's my confessions for Wednesday, June 29th.
In an effort not to waste the entire day though, we did drive to Burger King so Claude could get a biscuit and I could have a soda. Then we went to Lowe's and purchased soil for our yard (my ivy and two low spots in the ground. We came across another huge concrete turtle. Claude purchased one of these for me when we lived in Sadieville. It sat on the end of our front porch there. We brought it with us when we moved and it is now on our front entry. We decided another one on the new little deck would be a good choice.
I even laid down to try and rest at noon. Just as I was settling in, my cell phone rang. That was it for a midday rest. It was Betty Dixon. Betty is an old friend of ours from our Gold Wing riding days. She called because Melissa Timbs, another biking buddy, was at Wing Ding in Shreveport, Louisiana. At the opening ceremony, Shirley Garcia-Stephens and Paul Hildebrand announced that GWRRA (Gold Wing Road Riders Association) would close business as of August 31st. This was a shock. At one point there were 82,000 members. Now there are 10,000 members. The young people are choosing RV'ing instead of motorcycling. So, GWRRA is closing business. Breaks our hearts. Not easy for Shirley and Paul to make that announcement. Grateful for the happy years we had with GWRRA. The opportunities to lead at the chapter, state, region and national levels when we were riding. Great friends we made. The family atmosphere. We will treasure that part of our lives.
In the late afternoon, I heard the noise of a heavy duty truck that sounded like it was next door. I went to the bathroom window on the front of our home and saw a truck pulling up in front of our home. In front of Catherine's home next door, I saw some piece of equipment I could not identify. Later, I heard chain saws. There was a cherry picker parked between Catherine's home and her neighbor. They were cutting down and old tree along the back fence that is in Catherine's neighbors yard but grows into Catherine's yard. Spent the afternoon and early evening watching this process. Curious because in a few weeks we have an old tree that will have to come down in our backyard as well. They won't be able to get a cherry picker in our yard though. But watching the process was very interesting.
Thursday, June 30th, is Drew Roper's birthday, our grand-son-in-law. I posted this on Facebook: "The cool dude in the sunglasses in our grand son-in-law and today he celebrates a very important birthday. Happy Birthday, Drew Roper! May your day be great and your coming year extraordinary. Love Ya Bunches!!"
In the morning, we set to work in the yard. Claude purchased good dirt for me to put around my ivy plants I so want to grow on the hill. Claude put a couple of bags in the low spots in the ground in out yard, some on the side of the house and some on the top of the hill. It was hard work for me to sit on that hill and put dirt around each plant. This aging body doesn't bounce up and down and move to a new sitting spots as easily as it once did. But we got it all done and were very happy with the results. When We finished, Claude sprinkled water all over everything to help it along.
It occurred to me we had been in our home for a year. This was the anniversary of our purchasing the home on Anne Jennings Way. I decided a post to Facebook was in order showing the change in the back yard from 2021 to 2022. Here are pictures taken on July 5th, 2021. The honey locust trees were still covered in vines. We had put our outdoor furniture in place. We had not painted the grandmonster bench white yet.
These pictures were taken August 4th, 2021, when we were adding to the fairy garden tree.
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I went out again later when I realized someone has planted little flags at the base of everyone's mailbox to celebrate Independence Day.
We would do our reading and then, in the late afternoon, we headed to Lowe's and purchased some other items for our patio. Lowe's had a bourbon barrel planter that caught our eye as something we would like on the patio. We would purchase that planter and something to go in it as well as two flower pot planters that were already full of things.
When we got home I put the two planters on the patio in the dining area. They contain coleus and creeping Jenny. Very pretty.
Friday, July 1, 2022, we enjoyed our breakfast in the study. Then we read our scriptures. Then, it was time to set up that bourbon barrel planter. It's base needed a little shoring up, which Claude did the night before. Now, it was time to put the planter on the base, line the bottom with rocks, fill it with dirt and plant the sedum in it. Sedum in a perennial. We hope it comes back next year. We will then fill in around it with petunias or pansies or some annual flower. We believe having a bourbon barrel planter is a responsibility of Kentucky home owners.
I had to then take care of some paperwork for Papa with Medicaid, label pictures, and update my plant journal.
Claude made fish tacos for dinner.
Sunday, July 3rd, I led the music in Sacrament Meeting. After the meeting block, we went to Sonic for lunch. They have the best onion rings. Then home for Claude to get a nap and me to finish reading my book. I got so sleepy reading, I laid down also for about a half hour. Then got up and finished my book.
Saturday, July 2, 2022, we begin a new day with a visit to the Farmer's Market in Georgetown. We visited with Char Williams. She always has a booth. She was our neighbor on Eagle Bend in Sadieville. She raises herbs and makes herb mixes and she has bees and sells honey. It was good to catch up with Char and hear about things in Sadieville and on Eagle Bend Drive. We found a vendor with little baby cucumbers and purchased enough of them to make three more bottles of refrigerator pickles for this summer. I also visited with Janell Gonda. She is the Primary president in the Georgetown Ward. We took the Self-Reliance class about Emotional Resilience together.
We enjoyed a quiet day at home. We left home about 4pm to head to LaGrange. We would pick up Hayden and take him to Dairy Queen for dinner. Then to the Kentucky Center to watch the Louisville Orchestra play the musical score to Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. Wonderful evening with your grandmonster. Claude has learned the Kentucky Center will have Harry Potter next year and both kids want to see that.
I was very restless this day. Very blue. I suggested we go for a little car ride. Claude was on board with that and felt we should include a Dairy Queen ice cream treat in the mix. We drove Hwy 421 to Frankfort and enjoyed Blizzard's there. Then we drove 1681 back to Georgetown. Claude doesn't remember ever being on this road and he really enjoyed it. My mind goes back to driving Papa all over the place on these roads. Kentucky is simply a beautiful state and any road is a pleasant ride. These roads were through Woodford County horse farms.
When we got home we enjoyed watching the two Man from Snow River movies to finish our evening.
As we were going into church this morning, Claude made some comment that was absurdly funny. Then he followed the comment with, "I will have to get you an oversized coffin when you are buried." To which I asked why. His reply, "You will be rolling over so much in your grave till you'll need plenty of room!" Oh My!!
In the afternoon he used the word 'post-destined'. Now, I have heard of predestined. Never heard of post-destined. We laughed because we figure that is because we are old and can see back better than forward. There is a lot of silliness about life when you get into your 70's.
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