Saturday, October 8th, Hayden started his first job. It is at Cinemark Theaters. This is perfect for Hayden as he wants his college education to be in the movie arena.
Monday, October 17th, Pratt Lawn Care came to talk to us about our very poor grass situation. He proposed aerating (again) and the strip seeding (which is the same as power seeding). He will call the power people to come mark and put out flags so they don't have their equipment damage some type of line in the ground. As soon as that was done, they would schedule the work.
Tuesday, October 18th, Claude went to visit Dr. Richardson, our ophthalmologist. Good visit.
In the evening we had our final Primary Presentation practice. It went very well. The kids went through the program two full times and practiced standing and sitting for Jenny Squires, the chorister. If the kids do as well as they did at practice, they will have a truly moving presentation.
Wednesday, October 19th, Claude went to see Dr. Lyon. His shoulder is hurting a lot and all of the time. He had this happen once before and had to have a series of physical therapy appointments to help it heal. Dr. Lyon again felt he needed the physical therapy. Claude scheduled the first of those appointments for Friday. It is arthritis and tendinitis based pain. No torn rotator cuff.
In the evening we were off to hear the Oldham County schools October Band Concert. It was held at East Oldham County Middle School. The East Oldham County Middle School 8th Grade Band performed first. Then the Oldham County Middle School 8th Grade Band performed. These two bands combined to play one number. Then the Oldham County High School Band performed four numbers. The finale was all three bands performing How to Train Your Dragon 2. I like that they do this each year. The eighth grade bands from these two middle schools will funnel into the high school. This gives them a chance to work together a bit and feel a part of a full music program from middle school through high school. The kids are allowed to dress in costume for this concert as long as it doesn't impede playing their instrument. Hayden and Bailey are in the high school band. Hayden dressed like an 8th grade band student. He has done this every year since 8th grade. He simply wears his 8th grade band shirt. Cool! Bailey and the other mellophone players all dressed in How to Train Your Dragon costumes. Bailey was the dragon. Cool!
This first picture is Bailey entering the gym. The second is Hayden finding his seat. The third is the OCHS Band with Hayden and Bailey circled. The fourth is the combined bands (all three) with Hayden and Bailey circled. The last is the final bow for the evening. I leave it to you to find Bailey and Hayden. I'll give you a hint. Hayden is on the end of their row.
After the performance, Bailey and the mellophone section went to the cafeteria and took pictures. Bailey is the dragon in white. Good to see these kids having fun as a group. Love it.Thursday, October 20th, it appears nothing happened this day. That is not true. Things did happen. I just didn't take any pictures, have any eMails, or have any texts. Wow!!
Friday, October 21st, Claude went to his first physical therapy appointment. He did fine. Came home with two exercises to do each day. We had to figure the best place for him to do them. We think we have that figured out. He needed a surface of a certain height and the dining table is too low and the kitchen counter is too high. We had to find something just right. (Sounds like Claudielocks and the House of Anne Jennings.) We think, if he stands on the treadmill, the display will be just the right height. Goodness.
This day we also made reservations to take a trip to Iceland in 2023! Northern Lights in Iceland is a bucket list item.
Saturday, October 22nd, Claude made the topper for our tree trunk. This poor tree captured our hearts when we moved in. It was huge and covered in vines with a place at the base of the trunk that looked like it could open up and you go inside. It was the perfect fairy garden type tree. So, we went with it. Covered it with treasures to accent that theme.
Then, the branches started to fall and it was apparent we needed to cut it down before it fell on one of our homes and did real damage. Claude and I decided to leave part of the trunk and put a top of some kind on it and put the decorations back on it. Let it have a little more life as a fairy garden tree. Claude painted a line around the tree trunk and told the tree removal guys to cut down to that point leaving him a level top. They did. It sat and we pondered how to top that tree...for months...
Claude loves his power tools when he gets to do a project.
I helped him carry the topper to the back yard and we set it on the top of the tree. That bubble in the middle makes a carpenters heart happy!
Then Claude brought out the windmill base and determined where to place it to get it screwed down tight.
Here is the windmill on top of the truck. So neat!
Next, we brought out all the decorations we had when the tree had all its limbs. We determined where they would fit. Claude worked and nailed them all on. The hobbit door and two windows the Marx family gave us are on the bottom. The turtle door knocker Claude made me is on the left side. The butterfly Papa and Mimi made is on the right. And the rock my friend, Jessie Rayburn, made is at the base. We have now remembered they found a heart shaped wire when we took the branches off. We will also add that to the tree. We also want to find the right gnome to go at the bottom of the tree. Such fun!
We had the flying alligator Papa made hanging from the tree. That won't work now. So, we hung it where the birdfeeder was in the hosta bed. We'll get another shepherds hook and move the birdfeeder that was there to another flower bed.
While working, we found our clematis is still blooming with lots more buds to come into bloom. This promises we should have a strong plant next year. There is another of these on the other side of the house.
When all was finished, Claude cleared up his work things. Then we went to Sonic for a hamburger. The man had earned it, right?
We had the whackiest time getting through the line. Hope I can tell this like we experienced it. Claude was driving on Broadway toward Sonic. There was a red Jeep Cherokee in front of him on Broadway. It was going ridiculously slow but Sonic was a short distance ahead so Claude stayed in the right light to turn into Sonic from Broadway. Amazingly, the red car also was turning into Sonic. Ugh!! The driver pulled in and then stopped with us behind and the back of our car hanging out on Broadway. The red car seemed to be trying to decided if it should turn to the left into a parking space to go inside OR if it should turn to the right and park under the covered area for ordering. Hmmmm...please, make a decision. The red car pulled forward a bit and we got our car into the Sonic parking area. We decided we would go through the drive-thru and then park in another lot to eat. Unfortunately, the red car finally decided to do the same thing! It pulled up to the sign with all the items to choose to eat. This is before the ordering place. Okay, patience as the driver reads the menu. Then, the driver window comes down and the drivers arm comes out with a big cup which they empty onto the drive. I realize then that we are dealing with a very old lady. She sits at this sign, we assume to read it, not sure if she has a passenger with her or not. Eventually she moves forward to the ordering sign. It takes a good while for her to place her order. Then she rounds the end of the building headed to the pick-up window...in stages. Very comical at this point. Claude places our order and we round the end of the building. She is getting her order from the window. All of that and she got one, count 'em, one soda. She pulls forward and we pull forward to pick up our order. She pulls to the front corner of the building and stops. We get our order and pull forward, turning to the right to driving behind the building next door and get to the street. As we turn the hedge between the buildings, surprise! surprise! surprise! The lady in the red car is at the exit to the street in front of us. I thought I would burst a seam laughing. It took her a good while to decide it was okay to turn left. We the made it across the street and down that parking lot to the tree we wanted to sit under. She drove to the corner and took a long time deciding to turn left to go back to Broadway from whence she came. Goodness. The key thing to note here is her front bumper was handing off and there was a big dent in the back of her car. Yep, she was a red accident waiting to happen again! Very funny to experience.
I was most happy when we got our order. I LOVE the little mints they give you with your order at Sonic. They are the peppermints that look like the round hard ones but they are soft and melt in your mouth. Claude is not fond of them so I usually get both of our mints. When the young man handed us our order, Claude asked about ketchup. I leaned over and asked for an extra mint. He said, "Would you like a cup of them?" with a big grin on his face. I assured him that would make me very happy. He gave me this cup full of mints. I am rationing them. Four each day. Oh my, they are good. It's the little things. It really is the little things.
Sunday, October 23rd, The Primary Program happened. It was truly beautiful. The kids were reverent. They sang beautifully. They read or said their parts very well. Every one of them. I found myself in tears at the end. The Spirit was strong this sacrament meeting. I had the best seat. I was in the bishopric seats and could see parents as they watched their child perform. That is so much fun to see the happiness and joy in the parents eyes. Lots of thumbs up to their kids as they finished their parts.
In the evening, Aubrey posted some pictures of Nelson's 5th birthday party. Here are some of our little man. We gave him cowboy boots. I particularly love the one with cake on his face. He had a motorcycle themed party.
We finished Sunday evening with our Self-Reliance Group. They have installed a big screen television on the wall in the Primary room where we hold our group. I had Josh Rayburn give me some instruction on it after Primary in the morning. Claude and I went early to try and set it up.
Another surprise as we arrived at the church parking lot. It was full of cars. It was like they were having sacrament meeting again. There are two wards meeting in this building. The Georgetown Ward was having a baptism for an eight year old child. I decided we would move our class down to the young women's room and forego using the new television for our videos. Claude found out they were near the end and would be done in a few minutes. They finished the prayer at 6:45pm. That is 15 minutes before our class begins. We had to take down a room full of chairs and put up the four tables and 10 chairs we needed for our group plus try and figure out the television. Now, the problem is that LDS people like to hang around and chat after a function. I figure this is the same in all churches. However, I was on a time crunch. I entered the room and started taking down chairs and putting them away. As I was doing this, I found it comical to think I was facilitating a Self-reliance group on Emotional Resilience. I sure needed that emotional resilience to get this all done and do it cheerfully!! The other thing about LDS people is that when they see someone taking down chairs, others start to help. It didn't take too long for others to get the hint that this room needed to be used in a bit. Help was given. Chairs were taken down. Tables were brought in with chairs around. Claude and I figured out my laptop and the television set to watch our videos on the big screen this time. It all worked out and we were only 15 minutes late getting our group started. We had a good class.
Now, lest you think I did nothing myself this week. My week-long project was to rip the music from all our CD's. We had them stored in two dresser drawers in the guest bedroom. I had ripped a lot of them when we lived in Sadieville in 2017. I was able to get that done and all on my laptop. My problem came when I tried to put my first external drive in my laptop. Somehow things got a bit confused and I had to stop and now have to work at emptying my trash. To complicated to explain what the problem is but it will take patience and some work to get this done. I am happy that I got all this music saved on two 32GB thumb drives. I can now take the music off the two external drives and that frees up space for more of my pictures.
