Fireworks, Rain and Crocheting...

Monday, July 4, 2022, was a lazy day to ourselves. We didn't invite anyone over. We didn't get invited anywhere. So we simply filled our day with things we wanted to do. Claude grilled pork chops for dinner. About 9pm, we drove to Hwy 32 going away from Georgetown and parked along the side of the highway to watch the Scott County Fireworks from the fairgrounds. I took these pictures. It is interesting to take pictures at night. Takes the shutter a different bit of time to take the picture. Then, there is always my shaking hands. I tried to group the pictures I took so they flow from one kind of firework to the other kinds. We were treated to some fireworks with shapes. I got a picture one with the smiley face. Can you find it? I loved a few of the ones where my hand moved a bit. The sparkles look like colorful fish hooks. I love the very last picture. It was one explosion inside another explosion. When I zoomed it, it reminds me of those pictures that you see of space from the Hubble telescope. Claude and I always reflect on our trip to Tahara, Japan and the wonderful fireworks we enjoyed our last night there. We took watermelon Claude had cut up and ate it while we watched the fireworks. Lovely evening.

Tuesday, July 5th, we started our day by reading our scriptures. I finished drying the final load of laundry and did the ironing. Claude had a dental cleaning appointment in the afternoon. I went with him and waited in the car. When he finished we had an early dinner at Applebee's. Then we did our Walmart errands before we headed home for the evening. This evening we enjoyed a documentary on the history of the telescope. It went all the way back to the making of glass in Venice and the Murano Glassworks. The Marx family brought me a pendant from the Murano Glassworks. I had to text Andie to tell her about it. We really enjoy these documentary pieces. Nice way to spend an evening learning things together. 

Wednesday, July 6th, we again started our day by reading our scriptures. We made more refrigerator pickles. This time we did six pints. We did this last year and wanted to try it again this year. I was able to get some other little things done in the morning like a hotel reservation for our trip driving to Myrtle Beach, verifying our room was in order at Myrtle Beach, purchasing tickets for Hayden, Bailey, Claude and me to see the Louisville Orchestra play Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, etc. I received notarized letters from my sisters on Tuesday and was able to go in the afternoon and begin the probate process for Papa at the Circuit Court. Nicely filled day. The evening would be taco salads for dinner followed by watching a very interesting series Claude recorded. It is titled "The Men Who Built America: Frontiersmen" and focuses on a few key men. The first was Daniel Boone. We watched the second and third episode on Wednesday evening. They were about Tecumseh, Davy Crockett, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Lewis and Clark. Very interesting. We have one more to watch. 

Andie sent us this picture of Hayden getting his senior pictures taken. I cut a lot of his hair the last time he visited. I get a huge chuckle at the fact he is wearing a tuxedo top and his shorts and hairy legs show underneath. Cracks me up!

Katelyn sent this picture of the Dynamic Duo, Raelyn and Emelia. They are a force to be reckoned with. They are dressed in their soccer shirts.

Thursday, July 7th, we again started our day by reading. Claude moved his car from the garage and went to the back yard to pick up all the twigs and branches. I took the opportunity to detail the inside of my car. When Claude finished, we sat and rehydrated. Then we piled in my car and went to the car wash. We stopped at Burger King on the way home for a light snack. My afternoon was working on my Blog. In the afternoon, we found another branch from our fairy tree down in the yard. Hope the guys call soon to have that tree cut down. Concerned now about our safety. In the evening, we finished watching the fourth and probably last of The Men Who Made America: Frontiersmen. This has been a very good series. So many connections and putting timing of history right in both Claude and my minds. 

I received this sweet Memoriam in the mail. Phillip Pratt is our Kentucky State Representative. A Memoriam was sent by Ryan Quarles when Mimi passed and Ryan was our State Representative. It is a very nice thing to do for families. There is one glaring error. The Memoriam states Papa was survived by Mimi. Since she passed away in 2012, that is hardly possible. I went back and reviewed the obituary that went in the newspaper. It read that Papa is the spouse of Virginia. Guess that may sound like Mimi is still alive. I probably should have had the obituary in the paper read Vernon was predeceased by Virginia. Oops! This is still a nice gesture. I am including the Memoriam and the Obituary from the Georgetown NewsGraphic for historical purposes.

Friday, July 8th, started our day reading scriptures. I sent out an eMail to our team regarding our turn to clean the Church building. Then I curled up on the loveseat in the living room to try and crochet. My poor thumb on my right hand is not my friend in this effort. I did take a meloxicam in the morning to help with that. I do love to crochet but that arthritis in my thumb is truly not my friend in this effort. Claude was trying to get the television set up in the guest bedroom so he could walk the treadmill and watch DVD's while doing so. We had a lovely rain all morning long. Our ground needs this so very much. After the rain, I was helping Claude with things in the shed and I noticed we had mushrooms growing in the hosta bed and we had a bloom on the clematis. 

Claude made BLT's and pasta salad for dinner. Then we watched a play about Aaron Burr. Very interesting perspective on that particular incident in time. Claude recorded it thinking it was a documentary. Not so. It was a play on a stage with minimal props and staging. There were only six actors playing all the part, five men and one woman. It was very well done and we enjoyed it very much.

Saturday, July 9, 2022, we started our day with a biscuit run. Since we were having another rainy day, Claude decided to make soup and rolls for dinner. While he was preparing the soup to cook through the day, I did some chores on my laptop, then crocheted for the rest of the day. While crocheting, I watch the Dan Brown stories that have been made into movies "Angels & Demons" and "The DaVinci Code". When they were finished, I watched the extra disk with background information on the making of "The DaVinci Code". In the evening we opt to watch "Out of Africa". I love this movie and the music that accompanies it. We also watched the extra DVD with background information. They showed pictures of the real Isak Dinesen. Very interesting.

Sunday, July 10, 2022, I was asked to substitute in a Primary class at the last minute. The teacher went on a business trip and was kept longer that originally planned. We are studying the Old Testament. I played the little video about Naaman and Elisha healing him. The kids answered questions so they really understood the story. Then I read them what Pres. Nelson asked us to do in the last general conference. He asked us to share the gospel with others. Then I gave each of the kids a piece of typing paper and had them fold it in half. They drew a pictures of Naaman bathing in the River Jordan on one half. On the other half they drew a picture of how they would follow Pres. Nelson's counsel on the other half. They were really well-behaved and everyone participated. 

We had to hurry home from church as Claude had a Zoom meeting regarding his calling at church in Public Relations. I finished off some things on my lap top and then sat down to crochet. This time I would listen to Linda Ronstadt. We have a DVR'd history of her life. I watched that. Then I watched a concert we recorded off Public Television. Claude finished up and joined me for the last half of the concert. Then we drove to Frankfort for lunch/dinner at Cook Out Burgers. We actually went inside. Never had done that because of the pandemic. After eating our burgers, we tried one of their shakes. We each opted for a peach shake. Very, very good. The little chunks of peach wanted to lodge themselves in our straws! 

Home for the evening. Claude had a special on Appalachian music that we enjoyed. I crocheted again. By the end of the evening, I finally finished the bodies of the four turtles. Yeah me!! 

It was a good week. 

The Next Week...

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. 

After a delightful grilled salmon dinner, we enjoyed watching Mentalist for the evening. 

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!!"

This morning we went to Frank's for donuts for breakfast. Brought them home and I ate mine with my chocolate milk. I am NOT a milk drinker. Thank heaven's they make chocolate milk!!

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.

The final set from 2021 are dated August 12th. They were taken during and after the trees were trimmed way back and the vines were cut out of them. Our neighbor, Catherine, was so very happy we trimmed these trees. They gave her yard so much shade her flowers would not grow. 

Now, pictures from June 30, 2022. We have painted and added furniture, the patio has been enlarged, we have planted along the back fence, made a hosta bed in the corner, flower beds added under the trees, a little deck added under a tree, an Amish hex sign added to the shed, and stepping stones from the patio to places in the back yard. French drains were added to the gate areas to keep down the mud puddles that were there.

I went out again later when I realized someone has planted little flags at the base of everyone's mailbox to celebrate Independence Day.

I decided I needed pictures of the front of the house on its anniversary as well. These are the front of our home and the side yard with a flower bed.

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.

We called it a day. Claude made grill cheese and soup and we enjoyed our air-conditioned living room for the remainder of the evening.

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.

That was my limit for Friday morning. I had taken my blood pressure after sitting during breakfast. It was not good, 150/80. It has been high for a few days. So, I would curl up in bed with a good book and rest while Claude went to Kroger and picked up food needed for dinner that night and for our 4th of July on Monday. When I got up from a brief nap, I took my book out to the patio and, though it was very, very warm this day, I enjoyed several hours of reading my book outside. I love this patio. 

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.

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. 

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. 

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.