Month: October 2011

This was a very productive weekend. Yesterday we got things buttoned up for the winter. I finished the raking and hauling of leaves in the yard here at 126. Dad put on the storm windows and packed some things in the yard away. We burned most of the pile of rose and other branches as well as lumber scraps in the backyard at 117. Then we went to work inside. We now have heat at 117, which is very nice, although I got rather hot painting. I worked on priming the bedroom where we had added the closet. Dad worked on figuring things out with the pantry and the hall ceiling. Then I hung a few smaller pieces of sheetrock in the back hall area and Dad did a good cleaning of the garage over there.

Today Dad has been working on a wiring job for someone that Gary knows. It is only a couple miles out of New Auburn. I ran over there a bit ago to help pull some wire. But I have mostly been studying today. It was my shopping day after church, so I wasn’t home until late. We had intended to do some outside work up at the duplex in Chetek, but it is raining, so that wouldn’t have worked very well. There are a few things we do need to complete there, though, before the snow settles in for good.

Also, yesterday, we moved things around a bit in the kitchen here at 126 and carried over a cabinet unit that we thought we were not going to use, but now that it is here, I like it. It won’t match the other cabinets when they are in, but it is the only set of drawers. When there is matching countertop, it probably won’t matter so much. It isn’t exactly adjacent, but around the corner fr0m where the others will be. So I spent some time getting those cleaned up and moving some stuff from the other cabinets. I eventually have to have everything out of the old cabinets so we can tear them out. But I need more shelves before I can do that.

Some pictures:

The top left is the plants in the south facing window at 117. They like it there! The next is the new cabinets that we moved over to 126. Under that is a shot of the hall to the east of the bathroom and the inside of the bathroom at 117. And finally, a flower…

I like how it is so alive in the midst of all the other dead stuff – leaves, pine needles, sticks, etc.

They are finally putting the asphalt on the road kind of in front of our house – actually a little to the west. It has been gravel since about a year ago. It wasn’t a lot of gravel, but just enough to be annoying. And enough that there was tons of gravel in our front yard after the winter. So I’m really glad that gravel won’t be pushed into our yard in the coming winter.

We got everything ready for the hooking up of the furnace to be completed. I’m not sure if they were there today or not. Everything looks like we left it, so maybe not. It still isn’t so cold that it is a problem, but it won’t be long before we will need some more heat over there. We got the oil furnace fixed up, but oil is really a lot more expensive than natural gas. Oh, well. It was what was there. We will have to seriously think about putting the wood stove over there. There is already a hole in the roof, because the last people had one.

The bathroom is getting close to done. It just needs the inspector to look at the wiring, then the last sheet of sheet rock can be hung and it can all be mudded, taped and sanded. Then, of course, the fun of plumbing it all, which will be a project, I would guess. I’ll be glad to have a toilet over there again. It isn’t far to run home, but when it is raining, I would just as soon not have to!

I’ve been studying 2 hours every day for my personal trainer test. The more I study, the more it seems I should know. There are only 150 questions and I know about 2000 questions worth of stuff, but it probably isn’t all the right stuff! So I keep cramming stuff in my head. Only 17 more days to study.

I attended a workshop this past Friday and Saturday in Waukesha. Very convenient location – I just stayed at Grandma’s. It was held at the YMCA in Waukesha. What is was was a training to get certified to teach the Arthritis Foundations Tai Chi program. But in doing so, we were also certified to teach that particular Tai chi style to others, too.

I’ve been doing Tai chi at work, using dvd’s, and really enjoy it. But learning it well enough to actually teach it without a dvd was an indescribably gratifying experience. I’ve known for a long time that tai chi is very good for you. It is comparable to walking as far as a moderate aerobic exercise, and yet it is slow and relaxing at the same time. And when you finally get the form (which is all the moves) down, it requires such focus and concentration, that you are almost transported from the craziness of the world into your own little world for that short time. Hard to describe, but I am terminally hooked on tai chi. I’ll be attending future workshops and so on to learn more forms. When we watched the instructors’ demonstrations at the end of the two days, it was like we had learned to play ‘Mary had a little Lamb’ and they could play Rachmaninoff! There is so much more to learn, but what I do know is still something that challenges me and provides me with the exercise and other benefits. I’ll teach some when we are together for Christmas, if anyone is interested. (I’m teaching Dad right now – I think it would be perfect for him, since he really doesn’t like workouts where you get all huffing and puffing and sweaty!)

In other news, we are close to done with the sheetrocking in the bathroom at the new house. Now that Dad is only working one job, he has a bit more time for that project. I doubt that we are done by New Year’s Eve, but we should be done by spring anyway.

Middle school concert tonight, so I’d better get busy with what needs doing before then.

And a picture for your viewing pleasure. (From the Nashville trip)

My hotel room, a suite – bedroom to the back.        A replica of the Colliseum, I think it was.

A goose on the pond.                                               Tennessee state capital building.

The Opryland hotel and convention complex is the largest convention complex that isn’t a casino in the world (I think). Anyway, it has a river inside it. The first picture was taken from the riverboat (yes, that is all inside the building)  and the other is of some of our people on the riverboat.

Yes, I am home. Arrived in Chetek about 3:15 today. We made sure everyone was on their way, then bought a few groceries, came home and put everything away and made supper, then Dad had to leave for the Garage. But that gave me a nice quiet evening to wind down, do laundry, etc.

The trip went well and everyone seemed to really enjoy it. I was pleased with how it went, but must admit it wasn’t my favorite. Just too much country music… But then it was Nashville.

Once we got there, we spent the first day touring the city for about 3 hours, then visiting the Grand Ole Opry hotel/convention center, which is the biggest convention center in the country. It is amazing, with 4 garden areas with acres of glass roof atop them and a river running through one of them. You can actually ride flatboats around and look at the garden and fish and so on. I took lots of pictures of flowers. That evening we went out to eat at a really cool place – an old fashioned house made into a restaurant. The meal was wonderful. That night we went to The Grand Ole Opry. It is actually a live radio show, too, and was being taped for t.v. that night, as well. A lot of commercials… Famous entertainers, but I didn’t know them!

The next day we went to the Country Music Hall of Fame in the morning and then were dropped off in downtown Nashville to shop for a few hours. I got rather bored, but did have some ice cream and walked along the riverfront park, and bought and wrote out the postcards I sent you all. That night we went to a dinner theater and had another wonderful meal and saw a great show. They weren’t famous, but were really good. But…. more country music.

The third day was my favorite. We went to the Tennessee Agricultural Museum in the morning, then went out to eat at Cracker Barrel (where group leaders eat free 🙂 ) then went to the Fontanel Mansion built by Barbara Mandrell’s husband for their family. It is a log cabin mansion and is absolutely amazing. And the tour guides were country singers of lesser reknown, but still very good. They even had c.d.s for sale. (Everyone must be a musician in Nashville!) That evening we had a party just for the three Diamond Tours groups, back at that Grand Ole Opry Hotel complex. The entertainment was great and the food was great and it was a really good time.

All in all, I got a greater appreciation for country music, and the talent that some country western musicians have and how country music is about everyday life.

On the trip home, we also stopped at the Kentucky Derby Museum at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. That was really interesting. I could have stayed longer, but we had a long drive yet. We didn’t get to our hotel last night until almost bedtime, but when I opened my door and discovered I had a jacuzzi, I didn’t care! What a treat. (The whole week in the Nashville hotel, I had a suite, too. Very nice accommodations.)

But I am glad to be home and have another trip behind me. I just want life to get back to normal.  (Does that ever happen..?)

Dad is finally finished with his 80 hour weeks. I’m so proud of him for doing it, but also very glad it is over and he can get rested up and back to work on things I want him to do. Today we I made a list of all the jobs to get to soon, and it really isn’t all that much. I thought I had a lot more for him to do, but I guess it just seemed that way.

Sunday I leave for Nashville for the week, so I won’t be posting for a while. But, boy, will I have pictures to post when I get back! I’m excited, but am always a little nervous that I’ve forgotten to do something really important. Once we are on the way, though, I relax and totally enjoy the week. Hotel room to myself, evenings of HGTV, great food… no dishes or cleaning. What could be better (but only for a week!)?

Dad and I finished the puzzle. Took up the whole dining room table to assemble – finished product is half the size of the table. I still haven’t found a board to mount it on, so it is still taking up half the dining room table!

This is 129 mini pumpkins from our garden. Plus we already picked some for the house and I took 9 to work the other day. so we probably got close to 150. That’s a lot.

We also got quite a few butternut squash. I didn’t count them yet, plus there are several more still in the garden because they are a tad bit green and I’m hoping they will ripen if I leave them attached to the vines for a few more days. Some are going to Grandma Mick and some I’ll take to work, but I have plenty if any of you want me to save you some.  That is way more than Dad and I could ever eat!

Dad got home at about 2:30 Saturday and by 3:15 we were on our way to Waukesha. We visited with both moms and did some simple jobs for them. Then we headed home and were back by 10:30 Sunday night. Whew.

Glad to have things back to normal this week. Wednesday is honestly Dad’s last day at Pactiv. And my trip to Nashville starts Sunday.

And we finished the 1000 piece puzzle last night after we got home! It is beautiful. I’m going to frame it.

Dad was gone all week from Tuesday through today (Saturday). He will be home this afternoon. But I didn’t have any time to sit around being lonely. On Tuesday evening I had the trip information meeting at work, so it was a little late when I got home. Wednesday I was off from work in the early afternoon, but I had a Wildtree party at 5:30, so I spent the day getting ready for that and didn’t get home until late. Thursday is the regular choir day, after an afternoon of lessons. I had to run home before lessons to let Sherlock out, too, because I knew he wouldn’t last from 7:45 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. Friday was finally a calm day, and not raining for a change, so I did my last grape picking and got the juice started. I finished that this a.m. (another 2 quarts) and then made a batch of grape jelly, 7 small to medium jars. And I picked and covered the tomatoes because of the predicted frost last night.

And to make things even more interesting, I was seeing flashes of light in my peripheral vision, so went up to the emergency room after the Wildtree party Wednesday and was told that the ophthamologist wanted to see me first thing in the morning, so I had to run up there again Thursday. He carefully examined the back of my eye and didn’t find any tears, so he said it is probably due to changes in the stuff in the inside of the eyeball that can happen with age. I also have a floater that floats into the center of my vision quite frequently. Apparently they eventually fade or move out of the field of vision. I don’t need to do anything unless I start seeing new ones, in which case he would need to check it out again. Still, quite a little excitement in the middle of an already busy week.

So, last night I took myself out for fish. They have a very reasonable Friday special in the little establishment south of New Auburn. Salad bar, homemade soup, broiled fish. Very good for $10, including the tip. Then I spent the evening trying to finish my 1000 piece puzzle. Close, but not done, yet.