Leaves, Snow, Relief Society Activity, Rodeo, TSO and Church...

Monday, November 10th, was a great day of getting lots and lots of little things done. Plants were watered, Christmas cards were labeled and ready for the newsletter, plans were set in place for a Michigan run with a family dinner set up and lunch with Jake set up, Blogging was done and pages set for the rest of the year, tickets were purchased for two events. It was simply a very productive day.

We also had our first snowfall of the season. It was not a big covering. But you could tell we were having snow and there was really snow on the ground. Some of the counties around us got several inches of snow and some of the mountain communities had enough to close roads. We were very happy to stay inside our warm home and putter and enjoy taco salads for dinner. 

EMailed Steve Gulbrandsen, my brother-in-law. He had the 10 family file names which Drew and Katelyn did the baptisms for on Saturday. He sent them to me. Claude and I will do the initiatory and the endowments for these names. This feels so good to me.

Tuesday, November 11th, when I woke up, there was snow on the ground. Not a full covering so you couldn't see the grass underneath, but a covering over the lawn, trees and furniture. Lovely...from inside my home.

This was Veteran's Day so we stayed inside. I did Relief Society things: December birthday cards and worked on the newsletters for December and January. I also added the Trivial Pursuit questions to my Google Notes file for September. Claude got his shower spent the rest of the day in his pajamas. He did get up to make us hot dogs for dinner. Good day.

Wednesday, November 12th, Claude and I started our day running errands. He had cleaners and paying the county taxes. I had to purchase stamps and needed a couple more gifts from Kohl's. 

When we came home, I finished reading Alice in Wonderland. I truly did not enjoy this book. I kept thinking there was some underlying, deep meaning behind her adventure. Not so. I even paused in my reading the other day to look at the history of the book. It was simply a tale told to three young girls as Lewis Carroll took a boat ride with them and a friend. Alice Liddell asked him to write it down for her. There were several editions but the final version has been continuously in publication and has been translated into 174 languages. It is Victorian literature in the fantasy genre. Wikipedia says it is seen as an example of the literary nonsense genre. I would agree with that. It is totally fanciful. No deep meaning at all. 

Evidence of the cold being her regularly is my putting the flannel sheets on our bed! They feel so good. 

Thursday, November 13th, Claude had a morning dental cleaning. I got up and for some unknown reason, was lead to clean out some drawers in my dresser and some boxes in the coat closet. I also cleaned the glass in the door to the patio. 

In the evening I attended the Relief Society "Cookies & Cocoa" activity. I made a little jar of instant cocoa mix for us to use at Thanksgiving. I spent a lot of time talking with Shelby Brimley. While talking with Jenessa Dymock, I learned the Jenna Thacker has her baby boy. He is very early and very tiny but his hitting all his marks. Such a story for Jenna and Colton. Childless for years. This year adopted a baby in May, Jenna turned up pregnant in June. In November they now have two children a few months apart. Prayers for this very preemie baby to be okay and for Jenna to get her strength back. 

Friday, November 14th, our big outing was to Freedom Hall in Louisville to see the North American Championship Rodeo. This would be our third year seeing this rodeo. 

Getting there was an adventure in itself. Claude was still trying to exchange his 100 euros for American dollars. He read there were two money exchange kiosks at the Louisville airport. We went extra early so he could check this out. We parked in the parking garage and I waited for him to see what he could do. He had to go to the baggage claim area as well as the check-in area. Neither had any place to exchange currency. Ugh. 

Next, we wanted to find somewhere for a nice dinner. I found El Nopal Mexican and got our directions on Google Maps. We found it very easily. Getting back to Freedom Hall in the dark was a little more dangerous. Google Maps takes a few seconds to locate where you are and where to turn when leaving a parking lot. Claude is quite prone to getting in the car and starting to drive even without clear instructions. He went to a side street and wanted to turn left. I assured him Google Maps said to turn right and go down and turn around. He turned left and soon found us in on-coming traffic. It was a one direction road. Fortunately we were in the Jeep. Claude jumped the curb and down another curb into a chicken restaurant parking lot. Whew!! From there we found our way easily to the gate to get into this Kentucky State Fair area. 

The Kentucky State Fair ground has several venues in its boundaries. This is the map of the fair grounds and where the parking lots are located. The rodeo was held in Freedom Hall. It is the blue circle in the middle. The yellow building extending south from there is the Louisville Exposition Center. It is huge and they held the animal show and sale in that building. Kentucky Kingdom is also located in the area. It is the gray triangular area to left lower center of the map. It is an amusement park. There is also another big building for shows and things. Around all of this is a road loop called the Circle of Champions. 

We entered at a gate at the bottom of the diagram where the blue box is. We paid for parking. There were big signs telling those going to the rodeo to park in Lots B, P & R. Okay. They had all traffic turn right onto Phillips Lane. We did this and were immediately directed into what turned out to be Lot B. Thinking it was for the Exposition Center and a LONG way from our entrance, we drove through that lot and out the other side. Having been here before, we know we could park close to the back entrance to Freedom Hall. We ended up driving the entire Circle of Champions Road and were able to locate Parking Lot's P and R. During this time I found this diagram of the parking areas and told Claude to just keep going, we would need to park in Lot P or R and walk to Freedom Hall. Every other lot was full of trucks, horse and cattle trailers, people trailers, etc. We parked near the #1 in Lot P. Then we made the long hike to the Freedom Hall. 

We had what would have been okay seats with the exception that the large entry to this 2nd level seating was to our left. Everyone entered there for the portion of the second floor of the arena. If the action was coming from the end of the arena there, we often had to watch the jumbotron. At one point, a very, very tall fella in a very large black cowboy hat decided to plant himself at the end of the ramp when everyone turned to come up the steps to their seats. Completely blocked the view. Ugh. 

We enjoyed the rodeo though. Here are a pictures of the events and the entertainment. First, opening ceremonies.

Bareback Riding:

Steer Wrestling: (This would be Claude's event of choice if he we participating in the rodeo.)

Entertainment: The six horses were very well matched. If you watched their hooves, the actually marched in time to the rhythm of the music. The wagon held the dignitaries of the sponsoring organization.

Team Roping:

Breakaway Roping:

Saddle Bronc: (This is where the tall man in the tall hat stood right in the line of sight of where the horses come out. Had to watch the jumbotron.)

Entertainment: A family of Charro's. A charro is a Mexican cowboy that specializes in tricks with the lasso and his horse. He is defined by his elaborate dress and skills with his horse and ropes. This started with their 11 year old son on his horse. He explained what a charro is and that he is the fourth generation of charros. He would perform. His father would perform. He and his father would perform together. Then his mother would come out and perform with them. They were all excellent. I especially loved watching the father stand on his horse while twirling the lasso. Then he stood on his horse to do more tricks with the lasso. His horse stayed perfectly still. Wow!!

Tie Down Roping: 

Entertainment: Last year they invited Steve Buttleman to come to the rodeo. This year, he was also invited. Steve is the bugle player for the Kentucky Derby and also for Keeneland in Lexington. He has done this for many decades and is a much loved figure in Kentucky. This year, Steve came out to play his bugle in his traditional attire. He was asked to remove his Derby hat and was given a cowboy hat to wear for this rodeo. Love hearing him play that bugle.

Barrel Racing:

Bull Riding: This is my least favorite event. 

It was a really good rodeo. We made it home is good fashion after our hike back to the Jeep and wading through LOTS of traffic to get onto the Interstate.

Saturday, November 15th, I started reading a book I found while dusting my bookshelf in our bedroom. It is Pearl Buck's "Dragon Seed". I did a little research to find out when she wrote this novel. As a child, my mother read Pearl Buck's "The Good Earth". My mother thoroughly enjoyed the book. I read it after her and realized I was a Pearl Buck fan. Several years ago, I purchase the trilogy with The Good Earth in it and read all of them. As I did this research and learned "Dragon Seed" was published about 10 years after "The Good Earth", I found a great quote by Pearl Buck. ""If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner. To make no mistakes is not in the power of man; but from their errors and mistakes the wise and good learn wisdom for the future." 

I got this picture of Claude maintaining the yard. All those lovely trees are dropping all their lovely leaves. Claude has blown them up the hill and is covering the liriope and the fence line with them. 

As we drove to Cincinnati, I played a game on my cellphone. It has advertisement. This is one that pops up. It is an advertisement for a game to strengthen you 'brain'. Please note the header..."barin". It seems, if you are advertising a 'brain" game, you should spell "brain" correctly. Just sayin'.

In the evening we began our 12 Dates of Christmas (although we may count the rodeo as the first date). This was to see TSO (Trans Siberian Orchestra) at Heritage Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio. We started by having a nice dinner at City BBQ in Florence, Kentucky. Then on to find parking and wait a bit for the show to begin. Last time we went to something at Heritage Bank, the traffic was absolutely awful. This time, we left ample time to deal with that and enjoyed a few minutes of quiet time in the Jeep before going into the arena.

Every show, TSO give back $1 of each ticket sale to the community which hosts their show. This year that check in the thousands went to a food bank in the Cincinnati area. 

These are some of my favorite scenes from this year. The stage was full of lights and fire as always. But it seemed like more than ever. 

This was the finale. Oh how I wish I could share the video. It ended with lots of fireworks and the fire flames. Amazing. 

A little snippet of the audience getting involved with the music and singing. 

There had been a little rain between Cincinnati and Georgetown. We missed all of it. 

Sunday, November 16th, I had an awful night the night before. My right arm had sharp pains running down it. It may have been the weather. I may have slept a little funny on it at the beginning of the night. Nonetheless, I got out of bed and went to the living and took comfort in my recliner. Eventually I slept a bit more there. Then I moved to the sofa and slept bit longer. I had the alarm set on my cellphone to wake Claude at 6:15 to get ready for his morning Zoom meeting. I awoke on the sofa and could not feel my cellphone on the coffee table. Then I realized the end table lamp was off and I knew I left that on. That meant Claude must have gotten up and turned off the lamp and taken my cellphone. Sure enough, It was on my night stand with the alarm turned off. I curled back up in our bed and rested till 7:30am when it was time to get ready for Sacrament meeting. It would be a long day.

I always ask Heavenly Father to let me have one cup-filling moment when I attend church. This Sunday it was listening to Lily playing the pew behind us. She is close to two years old. She plays quietly. This Sunday, Lily sang as she played. It was all very quiet but that little voice singing as she played was very touching to me. A happy child would do that. A child that was comfortable in her surroundings. She was not being irreverent. Rather, she was playing reverently with a little melody thrown in for good measure. Thank you Heavenly Father for giving me that moment.

After Sacrament meeting, Jenessa and I got the left over crocheted ornaments from 2024 that I made for the ladies in Relief Society. We had Lily help us put them on the tree in the foyer. Lily kept one for herself as a bracelet. How cute.

I had Claude bring me home then. I dressed in my warm, comfy clothes and headed to my recliner. I would take a brief nap which would get me through the rest of my day.

I went back to Sandiland to finish this Blog. I had to label Rodeo and TSO pictures. Alas, my laptop' memory was full and I couldn't get the TSO pictures to download. UGH!! I spent all afternoon and evening moving my pictures to my two external drives and lightening the load on my laptop. I finished doing that and posting TSO to Facebook about 9:30pm. I gave up and went to join Claude in front of the television for the remainder of the evening. That was enough laptop time!

Family and Yard Work...

Wednesday, November 5th, in an effort to be ready for winter with the lawn work and to make spring a bit easier to set up the yard, Claude trimmed this dinner plate hibiscus. It grows taller than him and is prolific with blooms. We wanted it all in the garbage can so it could be picked up Thursday morning. That would leave us room to finish up the yardwork with an empty trash can on Thursday. Whew! Timing is important. 

Katelyn sent me this cute picture of Raelyn and Emelia. They were at the dentist office. While they waited, the made a puzzle. Look at the puzzle they chose. Turtles!! I was so happy to see this. They know I love turtles. 

Thursday, November 6th, our final flower bed project was completed. We have two enormous decorative grasses growing in the front flower bed. They have to be trimmed back. Claude uses his tiny little chainsaw and cuts them back while I gather and fold them up to put in the garbage bag. It never ceases to amaze me that I can get all that grass into that one big garbage bag. Very nice to have the flower beds all ready for winter. 

This was Hayden's 21st birthday. I posted this on our family Facebook page: "Someday, we will watch a film directed by Hayden Marx. Today, we will celebrate the day he was born. All things in good time. Happy Birthday, Hayden! May you finish this year, your senior year, in great fashion. Enjoy every moment. We love ya bunches!"

We also received word that a new Apostle was called to fill the vacancy in the Quorum of the 12 Apostles. His name is Gerald Causse. He was born in France. He has been serving as the Presiding Bishop of the Church for the past 10 years. His experience in this calling will certainly prepare him to serve as an Apostle in this day and age. I love the order of the Church. The scriptures say "The Lord's house is a house of order." It truly is. 

Claude and I sat at my laptop and, after speaking with Kris, made our plane reservations to fly to Las Vegas to visit with Cordell and Kris. We also purchased tickets to see Potted Potter. This is all seven harry potter books covered in 70 minutes. Should be fun. 

Friday, November 7th, I practiced the organ for the second time during the week. I love playing the organ. Never had real lessons but I love it nonetheless.

While I was practicing the organ, Claude was cutting the grass one last time. Bad weather was on the way and he finished cutting the grass just as the thunder and rain rolled in. 

I spent the afternoon wrapping Christmas gifts. I did was the next episode of Northern Disclosure. 

Saturday, November 8th, would find us out and about. Bailey's final home football game at Campbellsville University took us to her campus to cheer on their team and to watch Bailey perform with the marching band. 

The first thing they do is call TMB (Tiger Marching Band) Huddle. This is done on the grassy area in front of Bailey's dorm. They warm up their instruments and play pieces of music. The flags are practicing with them. Lots of energy.

The band them marches over to Findley Stadium for Party on the Plaza. This is basically a pep rally before the game. The cheerleaders are there and perform with the band and flags. They are led on the march over by their school mascot "Claws". We were surprised that Party on the Plaza was moved to right in front of the stadium. Bailey explained later that the building across was having a basketball game. The are where the band usually performs in on the broad walkway between these two buildings. It was hard to identify Bailey in these tight quarters. 

We purchased our tickets and found our seats for the afternoon. While the temperature was around 60 degrees, the sun was blazing down on us and we found it much warmer than we anticipated it being. These are the pregame 

The game started with a touchdown. This was exactly what happened when we went to the other game. I took a picture of the scoreboard each time a score was made. 

The band sits in the end zone.

Half-time is a busy, busy show. The band moves a lot, the flags are all over the place, the batons are twirling. I can't keep track of where Bailey is in the videos. But she is one of the trumpets.

After their half-time performance, we hurried down to treat Bailey to a snack before she had to be back with the band in the bleachers. She opted for a hamburger. She was kind enough to take these pictures of us for me. I am simply awful at selfie stuff. 

We didn't stay for the 2nd half of the game the other game we attended. It was miserably hot. This time we were their for the second half. The concessions are outside the stadium. Your had is stamped on your first entry to the stadium so you can exit and return at will. As we returned, we noted that the tables to even check to see if you had a stamp on your hand were gone. Hmm... The other things we learned was the concession stands close up before the end of the game. In that third quarter, they started coming to the stand with bags of popcorn they were giving away. Then they came out with big trays of burgers and hot dogs that had not sold yet. They were all free. Lesson learned...come to the second half. You don't have to pay and you just might get a free snack!

There was a ladybug infestation. They were everywhere. I first noticed this when one landed on my sunglasses. I thought it was a bee at first. Then realized it was a ladybug. This one sat on my jeans for a long time and then went for a stroll.

The game continued with Campbellsville having a significant win in terms of score. Claude noted that it was really a well matched game which did not reflect the score.

After the game is finished, the band plays a hymn. I do not know the name of this hymn. Bailey told me and I can't remember. I am sure it is very familiar to protestant religions but not in our hymnal. It is beautiful. I loved that the football team and their coaches come to the band as they play. They all link arms and sway as this hymn is played. It is very moving. I love that the football team and the band support each other. 

This is the horn section of the marking band. Baily is second from the right end. 

While we were watching football. Drew and Katelyn were at the Detroit temple for their first time there together. They ministering brother took them. His wife watched their four children. Steve, my brother-in-law, helped provide family names for them to take. So happy and grateful this happened. 

Sunday, November 9th, I was able to play the organ for Sacrament meeting. Elizabeth, the regular organist, let me pick hymns I wanted to play. I had not played the organ in two years. I opened my hymnbook when Elizabeth asked me to play and whatever hymn it landed on, that is the one I chose. All were old favorites of mine, which was very nice.

I received a text from Elizabeth Sunday morning explaining the program for Sunday had the wrong hymns in it. These were not the hymns I had selected and Elizabeth had turned in. Before leaving our home, I quickly wrote out two cards with the hymns I selected. When we got to the church, Claude posted they hymn numbers on the two boards at the front of the chapel. I gave one of the lists to Julianna, the chorister. The other I placed on the pulpit for the bishopric member who would conduct. I told Claude to watch for the bishopric and make sure they knew that it really didn't matter what they said as they conducted, these were the hymns I practiced and the ones I would play. When Bro. McCleod arrived, he said hi to me as I was playing prelude. I turned to him and quickly explained the need to change his conducting to the hymns on the card on the pulpit. He agreed. I did not know that Claude also wrote on the bottom of my list that I was playing the hymns on the card no matter what they announced. Such silliness. It went well.

Meanwhile in Muskegon, Drew gave his first talk in sacrament meeting. Katelyn snuck this picture. 

She also sent us this picture. This is Kennedi, their two year old. She is quite the daddy's girl. She wanted to do what her daddy did. So, in the Primary room, she stood behind the pulpit for a minute to be like daddy!! Oh be still my heart!

Claude and I would both take a nap. Then we gave in to a movie evening. It was nice to just be together snuggled up as the cold front moved in.

Nerves Continued, Hurricane, Good Meals, Projects Finished, Planes and Family...

Monday, October 27th, was my check-up with Dr. Fine, the podiatrist. By now he was to have the ultrasound results to test blood flow in my legs that was done in July and the nerve tests done on Tuesday, October 15th as well as the blood tests drawn at Georgetown Hospital the previous Wednesday. Well, that isn't what happened. Dr. Fine had the request made for blood tests but no results. He also had the results from St. Joseph Neurology but he felt they were incomplete. This would end up being one of my most frustrating doctor visits in my 75 years of visiting doctors. I am sure it felt that way because all of this was started in July with the expectation I would have answers before our trip to Greece. 

Dr. Fine asked the nurse to get the blood test results from Georgetown Hospital. She thought he was asking for something else and got the something else and then had to go back to get the blood test results. In the meantime, I have an app that gives me results from things done at Georgetown Hospital. I found the login and brought it up on my phone and gave that to Dr. Fine to review. The nurse brought in the faxed blood test results. Dr. Fine could not find the test for Vitamin D. He told me to go back to the pharmacy and see if they did all the tests they were requested to do. Ugh!! 

Dr. Fine also wanted to have the St. Joseph Neurology report from Dr. Everman. These results were from Kristina Cassmeyer, APRN. He felt I had not even seen Dr. Everman. I clarified for him that two people did the nerve conduction test first. Then Dr. Everman came in and did the EMG (electromyogram) to test the muscles in my leg. Dr. Everman did review the results of both tests and told me what she saw before sending me to Kristina Cassmeyer for the final physical tests (walking, etc.) The results were that all large nerves and muscles were in excellent shape for a 75 year old lady so the only thing left was SNF (small fiber neuropathy). 

I found an interesting word, well, many interesting words, in the printed report Dr. Fine gave me a copy of. It was 'claudication'. I took a picture of that word and sent it in a text to Claude, my dear hubby. The AI definitions is: Claudication is a medical term for muscle pain or cramping that occurs during exercise and is relieved by rest. It typically affects the legs and is a hallmark symptom of peripheral artery disease (PAD), a condition caused by narrowed arteries. 

The report also stated that 50-75% stenosis in the anterior tibial artery in both legs. The left is worse than the right. Ugh! Stenosis is narrowing or blockage of the artery. Not good. However, I do have blood flow and things are still working okay. 

Bottom line is Dr. Fine is referring me to a vascular surgeon at Lexington Surgery. They will call me at some point and make and appointment. Hope this doesn't take as long as getting the nerve test did.

Needless to say, this influx of new vocabulary (at one point I had to remind Dr. Fine I did not have a medical degree and did not understand all the words he was tossing at me) left me overwhelmed a bit. It didn't feel like, after going through all the test over a long period of time, that I truly knew what was going on. I think as I got home and retold Claude what I knew and Googled some more of the terms again that I began to grasp what was happening. It is all good and will be dealt with.

The rest of my Monday was not productive. I went to Sandiland to work on finishing my weekly Blog. I ended up talking with Laura, my BFF, and totally enjoying that time. Claude made beans and rice for dinner, yum!! 

Tuesday, October 28th, we had a wet, cold day. Claude trudged out in it to get groceries. I stayed home to get laptop things accomplished. Katelyn would call. 

Wednesday, October 29th, with approval received from Jenessa Dymock, our Relief Society president, I was able to distribute the November Relief Society newsletter and get our announcements for November to Jennifer Barber for the November Sunday bulletins. 

This day I spent and inordinate amount of time looking a Facebook. Hurricane Melissa passed over Jamaica as a Category 5 hurricane. Claude and I went there on a cruise. We took a bus shore excursion to the top of the mountain at Ocho Rios, Jamaica. I have never forgotten the poverty that most of the people in the countryside lived in. Many of the homes were merely wooden stakes in the ground with aluminum sheets stapled to them. As I had listened to the weather reports about the Melissa, these memories came to mind and I knew a lot of the people of Jamaica would not have shelter that would survive this storm. All weather reports were dire. Melissa made landfall on Tuesday. Some said they should make a Category 6 because of the intensity of this storm. It was like no other. By Tuesday afternoon little clips were posted on Facebook of the wind and damage as it happened. By Wednesday, people were able to get out and survey the damage. I will post these pictures of 'before' and 'after' in Black River, Jamaica. It really was almost totally leveled. 

I shared this one with our family and titled it "Making the Most of a Bad Situation". Bless this man's heart!!

One person posted a plea to travelers. He said he knew they had planned their vacations and that Jamaica depended a great deal on tourism for income. However, he asked for people to consider changing their plans for a while so that Jamaica can try to regroup before tourism comes again. I think that is fair. 

We have Tithing Settlement each year. It is a time for families to meet with our bishop for a few minutes. Claude and I scheduled ourselves for 6:10pm this day. We went to Cattlemen's Roadhouse for a wonderful dinner first. We had a table by the fake fireplace. It was really nice. 

We met with Bishop Barber after and had a nice visit. 

Thursday, October 30th, we stayed up way late, or way early in the morning. So, we took the opportunity to sleep in a bit to make up for that lack of sleep. This is one of the nice things about being retired. I was able to do my Christmas shopping on-line. The hope is that by the end of next week, all Christmas presents will be purchased and wrapped and ready to go. We will not have time to do any of this in December. I must be done before Thanksgiving. I watched another episode of Northern Disclosure. I also printed the school pictures of the great grands for my refrigerator. 

Friday, October 31st, was Halloween. Claude and I decided a week or so before that we were not going to purchase candy to distribute. We decided this morning to make this a holiday for us. We started our morning with a trip to Frank's for donuts. Then it was home for a Halloween MovieFest. We would watch all the Ghostbuster movies. A round to popcorn would take us through the Men in Black movies. Claude would make hamburgers and potato salad and we finished our day with some Castles episodes. what a very, very, very lazy day. We did stop the movie watching when Jessie Carter wanted to call and chat. Love her sweet heart. 

Saturday, November 1st, we started our morning at Chick-filA. We went through the drive-thru and took our breakfast to Cracker Barrell to eat. I will just state for the record that sitting in the back parking lot of Cracker Barrel is a very busy place. The big travel trailers park there, the fire department brought two big fire trucks there, clearly realtors are meeting clients and leaving a car there while they check out properties, dogs are walked, etc. It is a happing place for sure. 

My goal today was to clear out some things in Sandiland. One of which was finished my crocheted pumpkin which I started at the October Relief Society activity on October 9th. I am slow, but I gradually get there. Claude pronounced this one cute. 

I also framed the cross-stitch I made for Katelyn. I want to add some ribbon to it for a hanger and 

edging. 

Dinner was a drive-thru Taco Bell. These were the messiest Crunch Wrap Supremes we have ever ordered. I was sure I was going to have to get a spoon and eat mine out of the wrappings! It was good but it was messy.

In the evening, we recorded the first episode of the second season of Harry Potter's Wizards of Baking. I sent Bailey a text to let her know it was recording. Can't wait to see what they come up with this year. Last year's show was phenominal. 

Sunday, November 2nd, I had a bad night getting into Sunday. I was up most of the night. I had sharp pains running up my neck into my head while I was trying to sleep. This is very concerning to me. When I sat in my recliner for a while, I reached around and realized I had a hard lump on the back of my neck about the size of a ping-pong ball. It felt feverish and very sensitive to the touch. I read and tried to relax in my chair. About 6am I went back to bed. When our alarm went off to get up and ready for church, I told Claude I was not going. I was going to try and sleep a bit more. I would end up spending this day in my recliner. The sharp pains went away but the fever and lump stayed on my neck. 

Monday, November 3rd, I had one goal to accomplish. I awoke to a lump in my neck still but only sensitive to the touch, no fever feeling and no pain radiating into my head. I decided to attack my goal and take it slowly through the day to get it accomplished. I would cut back all the liriope, hostas, turtle plants and peonies in the yard. I also trimmed back the columbines on either side of the back yard by the gates. It took me all day with rest stops between, but I got it done! Yeah me!!  

I chose Burger King for dinner. 

Most of my Christmas presents ordered through Amazon arrived. One more to come and some gift cards. Then I can wrap all of the presents and will be ready for that part of Christmas. Whew!!

Katelyn posted this sweet picture of Ramon (their exchange student) with Emelia sitting on his lap coloring. This is soooo sweet.

Tuesday, November 4th, Claude had us scheduled for oil changes in each car. He left early and went to Chick-filA to pick up breakfast. I left a bit later and met him at the tire place where the work would be done. It was good to get this done on both cars. We were amazed at the difference in cost for oil changes. We could remember when it was $25 for the oil change. They may have rotated the tires. It was a bit out of the budget but both cars are ready for winter driving. 

I stopped at the church on the way home to practice the organ. I will pay for Sacrament meeting on Sunday. I haven't done this in about two years. It all came back to me. The organ is new and I had to select the stops but they are close to the same as the old organ. The things that is most difficult is turning the pages in the prelude book. I have to reach quickly with my right arm and have may fingers separate the page and flip the page. My arm is clearly not like it once was. It can do this motion but it not a friendly one to do. Since that are is all put together in reverse order, there are some things that will be a bit of a struggle for the rest of my life. But there is nothing to complain about. It will be good to do this exercise with that arm. 

In the evening, we went to the Louisville Kentucky Temple. We stopped at Chick-filA in Frankfort for a drive-thru dinner and ate in a parking spot facing the main highway. Across the highway was a store named PopShelf. We each weighed in on what we thought it sold. Claude was sure it was a store that sold shelving you popped together. I was sure it was a store that sold and kinds and flavors of Soda Pop. We were both wrong. I did a Google search and found this description. "PopShelf is a division of Dollar General, but targets a higher-end shopper." I did not know Dollar General had degrees of shoppers! I found this extremely amusing.

On to the temple we went and enjoyed a wonderful endowment session. As we were getting to the Snyder to get on it, both our phones had really loud alerts. It seems a plane had crashed at the Louisville airport. It was a UPS plane. They did not want anyone in a 5-mile radius of the place. We were further away then that and got on to I-64 to head north toward home. As I record this it is Wednesday. There death count is up to 9 with the probability of more. They have not identified all the missing. These are valid pictures I found on Facebook. 

Then, the funniest things happened on our way home. Claude and I stopped in Shelbyville on the way home from the temple to get our traditional after-the-temple ice-cream. Claude pulls up to the drive in window and orders 2 chocolate shakes. The nice lady says, "Sorry sir, we don't have shakes but we do have frappes!" I looked at Claude and told him we were actually in the Starbucks drive thru. Dairy Queen would be the next building down. I am still laughing!

What a week! Well, a little over a week of posting. I still haven't heard from the vascular surgeon. Who knows when that will happen. I am grateful for our little home and that sanctuary it is from life. We are richly blessed.