A Full Life...

Monday, November 2nd, Claude and I went in to Georgetown together for him to go to Physical Therapy. He leaves me with Papa while he has PT. This saves us one car on one day into Georgetown. It is a little thing but we feel good trying to save and conserve a bit. We determined Claude would cook dinner that evening but knew we needed something light at lunch time. I suggested a mango/pineapple smoothie for me. Claude obliged and we drove thru Dairy Queen. Then it was home to fill the afternoon. I worked on some sewing for Christmas and some things that needed to be done on my computer. 

Tuesday, November 3rd, was such a productive day. Claude had meetings in Lexington. He called an inspector that had to inspect the installation of the new hot water heater. I stayed home so he could get in the house to do that inspection. I finished up the sewing I had to do to get Christmas packages in the mail. I heard noises outside and found the utility people out trimming trees in the back yard. I am always happy to see this. It gets limbs away from the power line and the phone lines. When we have ice in the winter, this will keep us from losing power because a limb broke on them. 

The inspector came. I showed him to the basement. He looked at the hot water heater and said it was installed correctly. He put a green sticker confirming this approval and was off to his next home to inspect. Very quick. 

I was trying to take out Christmas decoration boxes so I could carry them upstairs each time I went back upstairs. If I emptied one, I brought the empty box back downstairs and put it in storage. I knew I wouldn't have time to finish the interior decorating but I would get a good start on it. 

After the inspector left, I managed to get the two boxes I had to mail ready and headed to the post office in Sadieville. This is what I saw in front of the post office. The UPS truck was pulled up and working diligently to move boxes into the post office. That big package crate is parked right in front of the big window of the post office. The lady inside told me she now understands it is a permanent fixture. It was put there by Amazon to handle all the packages they deliver in Sadieville and northern Scott County. It saddens me to think it may be a permanent fixture. It is just unsightly in every sense. Ugh!! 

Tuesday, someone posted this cute meme on Facebook. Our son, Jacob, is an English major. I sent it to him and he definitely enjoyed it. 

Tuesday afternoon I spent with Papa. I needed to be home before 5pm so Claude and I could go on our date. While sitting with Papa I received a text from Claude. He said we had a 'change of plans'. It seems he looked at our tickets. We were to go to the Eastern Kentucky Center for the Arts to see the Beach Boys. I purchased tickets and I purchased a parking pass. When I printed the tickets and the parking pass I gave them to Claude folded in half. When Claude opened them, the parking pass was on top. He entered the parking pass information on his calendar. His calendar shows up on my calendar on our cell phones and lap tops. The problem. The tickets were for February 27th. The parking pass said "Beach Boys" but the date on it was December 3rd. Hmmmm... Claude checked on the Internet and, sure enough, the event at EKU for Tuesday evening was "A Christmas Carol" not the Beach Boys. I had not put the Beach Boys on my December calendar. I did have it on my February calendar. When I got home, we figured out it was probably a glitch on the parking pass. We opted to enjoy an evening at home. Claude made a sausage/corn chowder out of leftovers from our Thanksgiving meals. I started the laundry. Claude found Trans-Siberian Orchestra on the local public television channel and we settled in for the evening. I address all the Christmas cards and will get those out in the next day or two. Claude finished the Christmas letter for these cards today.

Tuesday was just a good full day and I felt very productive.

Today has been another good day. Claude left for meetings in the morning. I finished bringing up the Christmas boxes for inside the house with the exception of the Christmas tree. Then I headed into Georgetown to be with Papa. 

Papa was a concern today. When I got to the nursing home at 9:30am he was a curled up in his bed and his breakfast was on the table by his bed. He had not eaten but he didn't look like he was really asleep. I touched his arm and told him his breakfast was there and he had not eaten. He was disoriented. I asked him if he was okay. He kept saying, "No, no I'm not okay. My head hurts. Somethings not right with my head." I got him up and sitting on the side of his bed and reminded him we were going to go to the church and I was going to practice the organ but he needed to eat his breakfast first. He set to eating. He had to clean himself up before we could go and while he did that I went to the nurses station to sign him out of the nursing home for a bit. There was a new medical person that was checking patients with Signature Advantage insurance. She was new to that position. I was again very grateful I was there to talk with her before she met Papa. Papa just doesn't remember his health issues and really doesn't give a good report to any medical personnel. I visited with her and then she came to Papa's room and talked with him and took some vitals. She did a few things to see how Papa was doing. One thing was to pat the tops of her legs and then ask Papa to copy what she was doing. He just wasn't getting what to do. Simple task but I again could see how disoriented he was today. He tried raising his leg and all kinds of things before she got him to understand what she was asking. We eventually got him his morning meds and went on to the church. He got disoriented going into the chapel. There is a door into the front of the cultural hall, a tiny wall, and then a door into the back of the chapel. He was pushing his walker into this little wall instead of going through a door. Ugh... It was good to get him out and about. 

After taking Papa back to the nursing home, I went to Dairy Queen. My dear friend, Laura, was going to meet me there for lunch and a good long visit. We don't get to do this often and we both relish the opportunity to visit like that. I love this Lady. She is a great source of comfort and strength for me. 

After we parted ways, I quickly drove to Kohl's to purchase pajamas for Bailey and Hayden. I am sewing pajamas to Raelyn and Emelia and they will get them on Christmas Eve. I wanted Bailey and Hayden to have that experience at the same time since the Ropers will be in Kentucky sharing Christmas with us this year. I was able to find pajamas for the Mini's and use my discount card. Score!!

Then I hurried out to Sadieville. I am on the Board of Adjustments and there was a resident asking for a variance on a garage he is building on his property. The meeting was brief and we granted the variance. I was also able to voice my concern with Mayor Rob Wagoner about that crate in front of the post office. His understanding is it is only there through Christmas. The problem is that the place it is sitting is really post office property. There is no room in back of the post office for the mail trucks to turn around if the Amazon shipping box is back there. Main Street and the parking spots across from Main Street are the property of the railroad that runs through Sadieville. Permission would need to be received from the railroad to park the shipping crate there. We'll see if it disappears after the Christmas shipping rush.

We have had a good evening at home again. I have gotten some things done on my lap top and a few more Christmas items placed in our home. It feels good to accomplish things and have a full and productive life. Not all days are like that. I have been blessed with two in a row and that just feels good.

Turkey Time...

Thanksgiving was a wonderful time in our home this year. Claude and I did all the grocery shopping except for the fresh foods the week prior. Then on Monday we fought the grocery store to pick up fresh veggies and breads. We have not set foot in a grocery store yet. That really helps to get the holiday off right. 

Tuesday Claude smoked the brisket. He would have done it Wednesday but he is doing physical therapy for his back and that would take up his Wednesday morning. So, Tuesday we had the great fragrance of smoking brisket wafting through our home. So yummy.

Wednesday the family would arrived. First came the Marx family at dinnertime. Claude prepared home made macaroni and cheese to go with brisket sandwiches. So very good. Then we settled into our visit. Bailey had a sweatshirt that needed repair. She and I went to the basement and stitched it right up. Andie found this pictures taken of Hayden in his Oldham County Symphonic Band tuxedo and holding his baritone. He is one handsome young man. The Marx family is watching Friends as a family. So we all watch several episodes of Friends. Then we played a game Andie brought called "5 Second Rule" or something close to that. The basis of the game is you pull a card from a box full of cards and read it to the person on your right. They must come up with three items that fit that category before 5 seconds are up. If they don't get it, the next player gets to guess in 5 seconds but they can't use any answers the first player thought of. It was a fun game. We all enjoy watching the game show "The Chase". Claude and I saved an episode that has James Holtzhauer on it. He won big time money on Jeopardy. This show was done before he ever played on Jeopardy. Since we all followed the James story on Jeopardy, it was fun to all watch him win on The Chase. Jake arrived around 10:30pm. He did great on that drive down from Michigan. We all agreed to sleep in Thanksgiving morning.  

Thanksgiving morning we did sleep in. Andie won for sleeping in the longest. She is a first grade teacher and when she gets an opportunity, she tries to catch up on all the sleep missed preparing lessons and things during her own time. Claude prepared a nice breakfast of sweet rolls, bacon and eggs. A little before noon I went to Georgetown to pick up Papa for the afternoon. He was happy to be with family. I pulled out photo albums from trips Claude and took to South Africa and to Alaska. He sat pouring over them the entire afternoon. We all decided we should share our favorite Papa stories after I got home from returning him to the nursing home simply because he didn't share one of them this time. He had a good afternoon and we were happy to have had him with us for one more Thanksgiving. Claude smoked a brisket for our dinner and we filled out the rest of the menu with mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing and cranberry sauce, moonshine corn, tossed salad, and rolls with chocolate cake and ice cream cake for dessert. We were very full. Elizabeth Schepens sent us this picture of her son Luke enjoying the blanket I made for him when he was born. Elizabeth worked with Claude when Claude was Kentucky League of Cities president. Luke was born during that time. We played another game of 5 Second Rule and also Apple to Apples. Michael enjoyed ball games on the television in the basement and we watched movies on the television in the upstairs. Raelyn called us in the early evening. That is always an adventure as this rambunctious three year old carries the phone around to show you things or what she is doing. She was happy to see Hayden and Bailey on this call. Such a nice day. 

Saturday we had a nice breakfast together and then the Marx family were off to stop at a couple of stores on their way home to LaGrange. I had not taken one picture. Not one. But I had told everyone we were going to get a group selfie before everyone parted ways. Hayden set up his cell phone with the timer and took this grand picture of all of us. I really like this picture.  (Hayden, Jake, Sandi, Claude, Michael, Andie and Bailey)

I went to visit Papa in the afternoon and left Claude and Jake watching some programs about Saturn and its rings and the Cassini information learned about them. Jake loves all things about space. When I returned we all piled in my car and drove to Ted's Montana Grill. We wanted to share this treasure of a restaurant with Jake. We all ate bison in some form. Jake really enjoyed it and I can see a return to this place in our future with Jake. The evening was spent with Jake finishing his laundry while we watched programs on the history of baseball. 

Sunday, Jake would head back to Chelsea, Michigan. We had been very concerned about his safety as there were storms coming from west to northeast. Fortunately the track of them ended up being a bit north of Jake and he made it home in fine shape. 

Today the mail came with a package in it addressed to me. It turned out to be the t-shirt I ordered Claude so he could wear it on Thanksgiving. Alas, that did not happen. However, I have been assured I get full points for effort. It will be a great t-shirt for Thanksgivings to come. I think he looks quite handsome in this shirt and we enjoy it because we watched this television show when it first aired and laughed our sides off.  

So I give Thanksgiving 2019 a star for success. Nothing earthshaking but everything family and time together. That is the best for any holiday.

A Few Tidbits before Thanksgiving...

Sunday, November 24th, Katelyn posted these pictures of our little girls. Oh my goodness, I love getting pictures. Look at how sweet they are together. 

Monday, November 25th, I finished the second pair of flannel pajamas. These are for Nelson. I have Emelia's cut out but will have to wait to get them sewn until after Thanksgiving. How huggable will Nelson be in these soft pajamas? I think pretty darn huggable!!

Tuesday, November the 26th, Katelyn had Raelyn help her bake cookies. Love that face. Today I baked a cake for Thanksgiving dessert. While I was mixing the chocolate/banana pudding batter, Claude was downstairs vacuuming and putting up the air mattress for company this weekend. I finished my mixing and got a cereal bowl. Into it I put the beaters and the spatula with the chocolate batter on it. When Claude came up, I had his treat waiting. Trust me. Licking the beaters and the spatula never get old. 

Tuesday morning we had sunny skies. I hurried to the nursing home to take Papa to the creek. The clouds would roll in as we sat there. When it was almost noon, I started the car to take Papa back to the nursing home. The geese were totally unconcerned with moving from the road so I could get out of the park. I even honked my horn but I truly believe they thought it was some weird kind of goose honking!! I finally looked at Papa and said, "I'm going on out but we may be having a goose for Thanksgiving dinner instead of a turkey!!" We had a good chuckle. 

Today, Wednesday, November 27th, Claude had his physical therapy appointment. He drops me off at the nursing home and then goes for his appointment while I visit with Papa. This allows us to only take one car into Georgetown. We left early so we could get a biscuit for breakfast. We got a ping on our phones as we were driving to Georgetown. The alert was that a tractor/trailer had turned over and all lanes of I-75 were blocked. Alas, we were on I-75 going south with no exit. We came upon the back up and stayed in the right lane. It was moving just a bit. We called the physical therapy people and informed them Claude would be a tab bit late. When we came upon the mess it was just that, a really big mess. This was a tractor trailer hauling garbage to the dump. We are having horrible wind gust today. Part of the truck's problem was the wind. I wish I had, had my phone ready to take a picture. That tractor and trailer were across all three lanes of the northbound side of I-75. They had cleared one lane of the southbound side of I-75 but the other two lanes were filled with debris from the garbage truck. The debris seemed to be mostly metal things. It was all over the Interstate. They were going to be a long time cleaning this up and getting the report done on the wreck. No injuries. The worst thing was they must have called for dump trucks to haul off the debris. One of them, instead of going to the dump and paying to dump the trash, chose to dump their load of trash along the intersection near Sadieville. The rudeness of some people is underwhelming.

Now we are ready and waiting for the Marx family to be in here in just a few minutes. Jake will drive down after work and we will all have a nice Thanksgiving weekend. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

The Final Walk...

What a way to end the walks we would do in 2019!! Claude has signed us up for 5K's that we could walk several times this year. We have enjoyed these times together. The last one of these would be the Southern Lights Stroll at the Kentucky Horse Park. It would have a competitive 5K run/walk at 6:15pm and a stroll through the Christmas light of the Horse Park starting at 7pm. Claude signed us up for the stroll. 

This turned out to be a cold, windy, rainy day. The evening promised a break in the rain maybe while we walked. It kept that promise for much of our walk time but not all. We did enjoy this walk and would do it again. We differ in our approach to it though. I think if we want to keep up our pace and be timed we really need to participate at 6:15pm. If we do the 'stroll', it should be that, a stroll. Not even a fast walk. With the rain and the leaves on the ground and it being dark, it could get a little slippery. We did fine though. It was a fun way to end our walks for 2019.

Now the Southern Lights are on at the Kentucky Horse Park. We want to take the Ropers through when they come for Christmas. We think Raelyn would really enjoy this drive through the campgrounds with Christmas light to watch.

Rockin' the Rodeo...

Claude and I attended the Bluegrass Rockin' Rodeo last year. I shall refresh your memory about me experience with rodeo watching so you can see what a great thing I have done by attending the rodeo...again...

When we were in our early years of marriage, we made a trip to Utah at the time of Fair and Rodeo. This is a very big deal in the west. Claude's home town of Tremonton, Utah has the Box Elder County Fair and Rodeo as an annual event of major significance to the community and the surrounding areas. Claude was very excited about being home for this. He really wanted to go to the rodeo. I assured him he could go but I didn't really want to go. I was very concerned about a horse breaking its leg. Claude assured me that never happened. I agreed then to go with him. As bad fortune would have it, the first horse out of the chute broke its leg. Really!! I was heartsick. They got the horse out of the arena with is one leg dangling and it trying to walk on three legs only. Ugh!! They had to put the horse down. This was my last rodeo. Never again did I want that image added to the one I would carry for the rest of my life of that poor horse with the dangling broken leg. 

However, last year I agreed to go to the Bluegrass Rockin' Rodeo with Claude and we had a very good time. No horses or riders or bulls or calves were injured. So when Claude approached me about attending again this year, I told him okay. 

Friday, November 22nd, we went to Alltech Arena at the Kentucky Horse Park for this year's Bluegrass Rockin' Rodeo. 

My favorite part was this father and son that came in each riding their own horse. The little guy was maybe 6 or 7 years old. At least from a distance that is what it looked like. Their two horses are in the lower right stall in the picture below. The little boy is sitting on his horse with his cell phone in hand. His dad is the one coming out of the chute in the right side of the picture below. He did stop and take a video of his dad in this event. He was so cute sitting on the horse without supervision while his dad got ready and waited his turn and then participated in his event. When the little guy would feel the horse starting to move and get fidgety, he would grab the reins and yank the horse back to where he wanted him to stand and the horse would comply. Clearly this little guy spends a lot of time on the back of that horse and they know each other well. 

The dad came back to his son after his event. He watched the video his son had taken. Then the little boy got off his horse and climbed all over the railing while his dad prepared for the next event in which he would participate. The little guy knew where his boundary was and, though his dad wasn't watching closely, he really didn't need to because of how well behaved this little guy was. 

Eventually the dad left him to participate in his next event. This time the dad used the horse the little boy had been riding on. The little guy climbed up on the railing with cell phone at the ready and, if you look about in the middle of the picture below, you can see him standing on the rail taking another video of his dad. 

After that event, the dad came back to stall where their other horse was, the little guy joined his dad and shared the video. Then the dad put all their stuff together and got the horses ready. The little boy got on his horse and the father walked his horse in front and they exited the arena. It was a perfectly delightful way to enjoy the rodeo. Rodeoing is clearly something this father and son do and they know the routine and exactly what to do. Those horses were so well behaved. It was just fun to observe.

So, if my Big Guy Clauda wants to go to the rodeo next time...I will say yes.