The Blog: Spellbound by our own imperfect lives...

Cool title, eh? I stole it. I'm sitting on the porch and it's hotter than hell so it isn't a lie. Just a stolen subject line. Ella was over this afternoon. Peter and I took her to lunch and then to Target. I asked her if she had a swimming pool at home and she said no. So we bought a little blow-up one. Peter spent 45 minutes blowing it up and another 15 putting water in it. She played in it for about 5 minutes. And when Emily came to pick her up, she said that was just like their pool at home. Ha! Way to go, Nana. We had a good time. Whenever Peter's phone would ring she asked who was calling. Good girl! No secret girlfriends here! I picked Ella up at the home of her mama's friend who is about 9.3 month's pregnant. Ella pointed at her when I came in the door and said, "That baby wants to come out." Yes, indeed, I bet it does. The temperature is going to take a big spike tomorrow and will cause heads to sweat all over town. 88 degrees. We've hardly...

I forgot this part of the 4th of July. Now that they sell those damn fireworks everywhere, even in Minnesota, you hear them for weeks before and a few days after. I've never liked fireworks. I like the color and the lights but not the noise. Some kids on the next block must have saved their allowance and spent it all on firecrackers. I don't know if they still sell these but when I was a kid, they sold a little firecracker thing with strings on both ends so they could be tied to doors, etc. and when the unsuspecting person opened the door, bang, you get the crap scared out of you. My brothers tied them to the toilet seat (which was forever in the up position) so when I put it down in the middle of the night, bang. They tied my jeans to the foot of the bed. They tied them on doors and cabinet handles and I don't remember ever getting suspicious. I must have been a very easy target. Peter just walked in and I asked him if he liked fireworks. He got a big grin on his face and ...

That yappy dog next door is the last thing I hear at night and the first thing I hear in the morning. The yappy dog and the power implements. Urban noise pollution, I guess. Regis made this delicious pork loin on the grill yesterday. I tried to copy the recipe into this post but there was an html problem. Whatever that means. Google Herb and Honey Grilled Pork Roast if you want to see it. (We also had Mexican tabouleh, Cuban bread, picnic potato salad, and peach pie.) Tom and Betty came down and we had a great time sitting in the garage out of the rain, smelling the smoke from our grill, and watching the smoke drift up from Paul's BBQ across the street. The rain came down hard for a while and Regis was unhappy that it was such a cold day. I prefer a summer like this when you can have the windows open. There are so many nice summer sounds that you miss when you have the AC on: mourning doves, crickets, cardinals, baseball. Our garage is an interesting structure. I think it was moved...

I decided not to work today. Nice to have that option, I know. I slept in until 8, worked on my menus and grocery list, then took a nap. When I got up, I cleaned the house in my nightgown. There's something relaxing about that because I don't feel like I have to hurry. We had an early delivered dinner and now we're watching Pollock . It's painful to watch; he's a tortured figure, but the acting and the story are very good. Good Tom Waits song at the end, too. I suppose this sounds unsophisticated but art that looks like something I could do doesn't seem like much to admire. We were sitting out in the yard last night when our young neighbors stopped by with their baby. We visited for a while over the grill and we told them we had thought about moving our chairs and grill to the backyard this summer because it seems kind of trashy to sit in the front yard and eat right off the grill. No, they protested loudly. They said they love to see us out there every night......

We're sitting out in the yard after work and my husband announces that he invited a woman from work to stop by later. What? Is this for dinner? A drink? Is she coming in the house? Do I take out a lawn chair? He acts like this is not a big deal. So, about 5:30 this woman shows up and she's very nice and she visits and meanwhile I make dinner on the grill (but she won't eat) and she still visits and now it's 7:30 and she's still here and I'm tired of her. I don't know her. I've talked about everything I have to say and I'm done. So I pick up the tray and come in to do dishes. If you are a young man or know one, warn them against this kind of entertaining. It's too nebulous for most women and they will kick your ass at some point in the future because you've put them in this situation. I'm sorry I put those random capital P's in my post last night. Jill uses capital letters creatively and they look cool so I thought I could do it, too, ...

That's a nice subject line but it didn't last long. Regis hollered at me from the front yard and we sat in our lawn chairs for a while and watched the turkey vultures float overhead. It's an unbelievably beautiful night. Some front must have moved through because the air is drier, it's cooler, and there isn't a cloud in the sky. You know how p igeons walk down the roof shingles? I watched one that got going too fast. It reminded me of a person walking downhill and how they go faster and faster. Poor little p igeon. Must not have had a lot of experience with roof walking. When Peter was little he had a book by Louise Erdrich with p igeon in the title. He called them pig-eons. First of all, if you haven't responded to my p lea for book recommendations, please do. I'm really desperate. I've lost my ability to pick something off the shelf and find it satisfying. I've reread more books in the last year than I've read new books. We've had the movie...

If you've read anything good lately (or even in the past), please leave a comment and let me know the author and title. A few words about the book would be helpful, too, but don't worry if you can't or don't feel like it...author and title are enough. I'm desperate!

Regis and I have never been real fans of chicken on the grill. Usually it's dried out or the outside is charred and the inside is raw. This summer, we've been cooking it on the Weber with hickory chips and it's delicious. We buy legs and thighs, rub them with a little olive oil, and season them with salt and pepper. Indirect heat, my friend, is the secret. And a meat thermometer. I did my favorite google image search for chicken. I think I would prefer to believe that chicken comes in plastic wrapped packages from the grocery store and is not a real live animal at any point. If I think too much about those chicken trucks that I see drive through town, I would convert to vegetarianism pretty fast. Even a chicken deserves better...they deserve to be free-range, for example. They should have a little yard and a place to peck the ground. It was warm today but a beautiful afternoon to sit in the yard. We watched the bunnies across the street chase each other from shrub to shrub....

We've had trouble with moles over the years but I won't trap them so we've just learned to live with them. Once in a while they make the side yard feel like something from the movie Tremors but most of the time they don't bother me. They don't eat much. Yesterday I saw mole tracks in the garden for the first time this year. Linda's cats used to ravage the bunny nests and I hated it when it happened but it did control the rabbit population. Tonight I looked out the window and saw three little bunnies about the size of a fist playing on the sidewalk. They don't bother me because they don't eat much. There is a point here. Hang with me. Regis took the trash out tonight and yelled at me to come and look at something. Under the front step, right in the corner, is a BIG HOLE going under the step. There are a few very large kernels of corn in the path down to the BIG HOLE. Regis asked if this was my handiwork. LOL. Yes, I've taken to making a hideout under...

My husband has this weird affinity for winter food this summer. Last week he wanted meatloaf and of course I said, that's winter food and nobody eats that in the summer. But I made it anyway. Good wife. This week he wanted beef commercials. Somebody check out pica for me. Normally (ha) people with pica eat non-edibles or ingredients that wouldn't be considered food by themselves like starch, raw potatoes, or ice cubes. The name comes from the bird magpie which will apparently eat anything. I'm not sure that medical books would consider the eating of winter foods in the summer to be pica but I think I could make a case for it. It's just not done. It's like wearing black socks with sandals. Notice I did not say wool socks with sandals which is a Minnesota fashion and quite acceptable. I saw an old friend this weekend. She talks a lot and I mean a lot. I decided to try and keep up but it's like a fusillade. I tried to match her story for story but she just kept go...

Sometimes I do google image searches for pictures for my blog. I worry about things like this. Some person did this art work and I use it to illustrate my dragging ass after a full day in the garden. I wonder if people copyright things like this. I always change the name of the image so it's harder to track me down and less likely I will wind up in jail for jacking someone's art. It's a great picture. Poor person dragging the tired ass down the sidewalk. I went out early to use Round-Up on the weeds that had gotten beyond control. To my chagrin, I hadn't emptied the sprayer last fall so of course, something was amiss and nothing would come out. Regis and I decided to go to Men-R-Nerds to get a new contraption for defoliation, one of those fold-up tables, and a couple sections of little fence for my basil garden. Nothing like Menards on Sunday morning. The smell of sawdust and two-cycle engine oil hangs heavy in the air. It's almost an aphrodisiac. Mission accomp...

4th Street Under Attack!

When I started to write a title for this post, the above popped in as a choice. I really wrote a post once with that as a title, I wondered? Does google just put random words together as if it they make sense? Then the light came on. Oh...hahahaha...I read it as Velveeta has the same insulating properties as thermal underwear . Now, that's funny. I do remember the velvet post. And I think the answer is no to the insulating properties question but it would be a good chemical experiment for R etired L arry. I was doing dishes about 3:30, staring out the kitchen window and all of a sudden there was a cyclone-like activity in the back yard. I hollered to Regis to check the weather and it was just a front going through. It sure looked wicked there for a minute but it moved on just as suddenly as it came, leaving cooler and breezier weather in its wake. I'm trying to decide if I should put the book The Pillars of the Earth on hold at the library or stop at Barnes and Noble tomorrow...

Mom sent this video of our dog Bert, come back to life to pop balloons on the Jay Leno show. No, it isn't really Bert, but it could be.

This is the O scar that my friend J ill sent me. I love it! Speaking of O scar, work is for the drinking classes according to the title of this post. I didn't make that up. I have some cocktail napkins with the quote... O scar W ilde's words. We went down to our favorite local establishment today after work; Peter, Regis, and me...and ran into U ncle T om. We had a pitcher of beer and a couple baskets of heart attack and told stories. Since we were about the only customers in the place, it was far from wild, but it was fun. Not quite a hootenany but fun and relaxing. Tom and Regis are good story tellers and Peter is learning. I think R etired L arry is trying to engage me in a political argument. I'm not very good at that because I can hardly remember what came out of my own mouth last much less the mouth of someone who pays a bazillion dollars to run off at the mouth so it gets put in the paper. While I know it makes a difference in the end because I think the quality of l...

The weather here has been so beautiful that we spend every afternoon and evening it enjoying it as much as we can. I don’t have much energy for blogging when we finally come back in the house. Blogging and texting . Ha! I think if someone would invent a soundproof screen room it would be very popular in Minnesota . The last two nights when we were sitting in the yard, several of our neighbors started up their two-cycle engines to sheer off parts of their vegetation and greatly disturbed the peace and quiet of the summer evening. I sympathize with their need for order and short grass, but do we have to suffer? I think if our grass gets long, we’re just making oxygen. I watched, with great interest, the memorial for Tim Russert . I noticed that while most people had notes or written comments, not all of them used them as much as others. I wonder if that indicates a difference between people whose preference for communication is speaking and those whose preference is writing...

Our neighbor down the street must have a new dog. It has a bark that would shatter glass. They have quite a menagerie of strange looking dogs so maybe they rescue them or something. One got away the other day...did I mention this before?...and the guy marched down the street cussing Bertha out at the top of his lungs. I mean real cussing. Today I learned about T9 text messaging. It's a way that the phone predicts the word you're going to write so you don't have to hit the key three times, for example. It's very weird. If you want to write a word with -ing at the end, you hit the side arrow to the left key and then type -ing. It's a lot of work when you could really just call someone with the phone that you already have in your hand. Regis and I went to the library because last night I read the last book in the house that I haven't read and I already read the ones I got from Betty. The only thing left I could possibly read tonight besides road maps is the copy o...

Amazing what a good night's sleep will do for you. Regis took these pictures last night in the back yard. They're wild phlox. We have a row of rangy shrubs and wild flowers that grows between our house and the neighbors. We like it because all kinds of weird stuff grows and lives there. There's a catbird with a nest, hummingbirds,raspberries, jack-in-the-pulpit, and one time we saw a raccoon in a tree. I called the police because it seemed strange to see a raccoon in town during the day since they're mostly nocturnal. He wasn't too concerned, at least not enough to wrestle that raccoon into the squad car.

The portfolio review went very well despite my anxiety and lack of motivation. I had one of those out-of-body experiences where the words are coming out, from where I am not sure. It was comfortable and not at all like being in front of a firing squad which is how I envisioned it. My advisor joked that I should get the last license and I said I'm not buying one more damn binder. We laughed. She encouraged me to keep looking for the right job because there's one out there for me. I said, yeah at about the 27th parallel in a raccoon camp by a big lake where the ice doesn't go out until the 4th of July. Ha. I crack myself up. I learned to text message yesterday. I'm not very good and it takes me a long time to write anything. My theory about that, as I've said here before, is that you can't let technology pass you by or pretty soon you can't set a digital clock or program a VCR. Regis set my phone to do T9 which I don't get at all. I type W and the phone ty...

I wanted to post some pictures of my poppies blooming. I don't take very good pictures so I asked my weary husband to do it and of course, he jumped up and grabbed the camera. Most good photos you see here are his work...or if they're mine, they're an accident. I think these are gorgeous. He gives credit to the evening sun but I think it's a good eye, too. The first one reminds me of an Andy Warhol painting that I saw at the MC last week. I got this plant from my Auntie Vi so it's always been a favorite. Poppies are so fragile, too, like tissue paper...a hard wind or driving rain and they disintegrate. We had a nice time at Bob and Emily's house at a Father's Day cook-out. It was warm and breezy and the bugs weren't too bothersome. Ella and I played ball. She ran over and rang the wind chime every time I kicked it. Then she would kick it and say, "Go get it, Nana!" By the time we left, she had watermelon and ketchup and Oreo's pretty much e...

Regis and his boys Tiffany with Grandma and Grandpa Me with my Dad Peter with his Dad Ella with her Popop on her birthday Regis and his Dad

It's a good thing I have stopped watching the news. The amount I get by reading is almost enough to put a guy over the edge some days. I was reading about the floods today and caught a site that had pictures of the tornado in Parkersburg. Great story about a dog named Chance who was reunited with his owner after nine days. They found him sitting behind the wheel of a Pontiac Bonneville in the line of wrecked cars. He was very happy to see them. Then the news of the death of Tim Russert and the clip of Tom Brokaw announcing it. On my way home from work today I was moved to do some yard chores. By the time I got here, thankfully, the mood had passed. Peter put the furniture back after the carpet cleaning so you can walk through the house now instead of leaping things in a series of single bounds. Is that a ragged segue? We stopped at MGM this afternoon and noticed that the price of craft beers has gone way up, thanks in part to the price of hops which has quadrupled in price in the ...

We went to the MC in Rochester today so Regis could have a "procedure" as they delicately call it. I sat in the waiting room and listened to CNN for more hours than I care to count. Man, everything is outrageous to those folks on CNN. I suppose if you have to provide news for 24 hours, eventually you have to scrape the bottom of the barrel and act excited about it. One of their journalists (is that what they're called?) continued all afternoon to say that they had "pitchers" of the devastation in Iowa. That may be a colloquialism but it sounds pretty rube-ish on CNN. I finally went in the hall and sat there because it was quieter and the people coming off the elevator were entertaining. I was amazed at how fluent in English the people are who don't speak it as a first language. If I had to go to a foreign country to see a doctor, I'd be drawing pictures to communicate. Everything went fine for Regis and they used less of the drugs so he was coherent whe...

I talked to my old friend, Jane, just a few minutes ago. She lives near Cedar Rapids, Iowa where they're experiencing horrible flooding. She was evacuated from work today, the schools are full of flood refugees, and all the bridges going into downtown Cedar Rapids are closed. They're also having historic flooding in Des Moines and other towns along the Cedar River. Her voice brought back memories of the tornado and one of my most vivid images...the sight of people sleeping on cots at the Armory. So much bad weather this spring. There is a report on one of the state newspaper's websites of cows flying through the air on 94 by Fergus Falls. That seems a little preposterous but it happened in Twister so how do I know. It could happen. All I do know is that on Sunday, I drove on that road. Uh oh. I think those Dakotans make their vodka out of potatoes and maybe that's the explanation. Regis and I rarely undertake home improvement projects. They just don't interest us mu...

In an attempt to document significant happenings in the neighborhood, Regis has photographed, through the picture window, the maiden voyage of my neighbor's lunch wagon going off to serve homemade fare to the masses.

I've been sitting here thinking about how knowing you have an audience changes the way you write. I put a counter on my blog (way down at the bottom) about the 1st of May and since then, I've had about 1800 readers. Of course, some of them were me. Smile. But I didn't drive it up that far, believe me. I just make lots of editorial changes after the fact. Back when this was just a personal rant, I didn't think about it much. It was just a place to write. Now that people mention once in a while that they read this or that, or I start telling a story and someone will say, "I read that on your blog," it's a little weird. It's like the internal censor. The monkey mind. The little guy that sits on your shoulder: Don't write about this. Don't say this about that. I've always been, let's say circumspect, but this feels different. I heard someone on the radio the other day talking about how people in the midst of life troubles, air their dirty l...

This is a picture of me on Monday. At 8 a.m., I'll do the presentation for my portfolio. Someone has written competencies that are pretty broad and things I'm sure I can do, but I can't for the life of me, think of "artifacts" to demonstrate it. I feel like I get dumber as this goes on and I'm sure that on Monday it will be like a parakeet trying to get a license to be a director of special education. Tweet tweet. I worked on my portfolio for hours this afternoon and finally, that was it. My brain cells were flogged. Regis is having a procedure done at the MC on Thursday so he's on a clear liquid diet all week. As if that's not restrictive enough, he can't even eat red or purple clear liquid. No red Jello, no orange Popsicles, no grape Kool-Aid. I think by the end of the day on Thursday, he ought to be ready to send all the green Jello and beef broth on the planet into space. We're going to leave early to make a stop at Cabela's on 35 to pi...

My exercising friend was out of town yesterday so I decided to thwart the riding lawnmower neighbor and mow with my own little mower. It didn't really need cutting in most places so it was hard to tell where I had been, so I kind of went in gentle circles. Except for the places where I vacuumed. I realize this is not the acceptable gas-cutting form. The new grass in the back yard is coming up nicely. It's more like woods back there than lawn, though, so it's hard to keep grass growing in the shade. I'm going to have to get back to this later. I have too many things in my head to write.

I looked out the bedroom window to the south this afternoon. Since my neighbor has been cutting a wide swath through our front yard with his wide-deck rider, we don't even look over there. I haven't had much time to worry about weeding and the mosquitoes are a deterrent to going anywhere outside so all in all there has been some yard neglect. Today I get a look and the grass is about knee-high and has gone to seed. Lovely. Thanks to all the rain and the little bit of sun we've had for this nice crop of sheep-worthy grass. Apartment living is looking better all the time. I have one week to finish my last and final portfolio for my last and final license. I've been taking classes at MSU for 38 years and frankly, I'm about done in with that BS. I'm ready to abandon that perch and let the horse out of the barn. The true fact is that I've spent a lot of money on education that hasn't really gotten me too far. I've grieved in different ways over the last t...

After all the anxiety about the long trip, all the failed travel plans, and all the angst, Regis and I made it to Otter Tail Lake about 6 on Friday and we had a good time. Here's a list of the attendees and their place of origin: Mom- Canby Bruce (brother) and Jody- Fargo Cybil (daughter of Bruce) and Shawn- Ohio two daughters of Shawn and Cybil- Ohio Evynn and Darby (daughters of Cybil and Shawn)- Ohio Pat (brother) and Helen- Luverne Amanda (daughter of Pat)- St. Paul Teresa and Regis David (brother) and Joan- St. Paul Tiernen (son of David)- St. Paul Jeremy (son of David)- Fargo Deb (cousin) and Larry- Arizona Steve (brother)and Michelle- Fargo Nicole (daughter of Steve) and Jason- Moorhead Caleb, Duncan, Ian, Ezra, and Chloe (Steve's)- Fargo That's a total of 28. Pretty good turn-out and the resort, Barky's , was lovely. We managed a few hours in the sun, a potluck, a few fishing outings, a pontoon ride, a trip to the candy store in Battle Lake, and a ride around th...

I thought I would be on the way to Ottertail Lake by noon. See the green arrow on the map to the left. Cousin Deb called this morning and said their flight was delayed until this afternoon, apparently a result of last night's bad weather. So....the don't leave AZ until almost noon meaning I can't meet up with them until 4:30. The alternatives are that I go to Canby and ride with mom. Whoops, she's leaving at noon. Regis, my kind and caring husband, has already packed and is ready to head out as soon as he punches out today. He doesn't want me getting in the car and traveling all that way alone because he knows I'm half loony during car travel. Besides it's windy beyond description today and that agitates me. And have I mentioned that I can't seem to get my estrogen filled? I've been to the pharmacy four times and have called the clinic three times. I don't think they realize with what they are dealing, attempting not to end a sentence with a prep...

Made it through the night with no disastrous weather. We got some wind about midnight but that's it. My last waking thought was to wonder aloud if we would hear the weather radio. We have two in close proximity to the bedroom so Regis assured me we would. I'll be out of blog touch for a few days while I travel to Ottertail Lake. Maybe I'll be able to post a few pictures and stories on Monday.

PDS (Particularly Dangerous Situation) Tornado Watch posted for southwestern MN until 1 am Friday....does not include the metro area. Isolated storms near Worthington, Windom and Pipestone may produce violent, long-lasting tornadoes. Here's some terrifying stuff on the Weather Channel . It's on the right side of the page, called Raw Video: Tornado Rips Apart House.

The fat frog and my new rhubarb leaf birdbath. The rooster guards the walk. I love the color of the cheddar pinks! Look at these poppies waiting to burst into bloom. We're in a tornado watch tonight and the forecasters are bleating ominous reports everywhere you look. Natural disaster predicted. High risk for plains states. Regis wants me to watch a security video film from a bank in Iowa where they had an F5 tornado. Yeah, I want to see that. Check out the blog of Paul Douglas is you want your pants scared off your ass.

Oh lovely...I stopped downtown to get a sweatshirt for my trip and the sky started to look like it was going to thunder down on us. We get nervous in St. Peter when the skies get dark. One lady was hanging out the back door of a shop with a weather radio in her hand. Here's what the NWS has in mind for us today, Miles: A raincoat, an umbrella, but better yet, stay indoors. FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR MUCH OF CENTRAL AND SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA AND MUCH OF WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN FROM 400 PM THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH 600 AM FRIDAY MORNING... A STRONG AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WILL LIFT NORTHEAST OUT OF THE CENTRAL PLAINS INTO THE UPPER MIDWEST LATER TODAY AND TONIGHT. THIS SYSTEM COMBINED WITH A VIGOROUS UPPER LEVEL JET WILL PRODUCE A LARGE SWATH OF THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE UPPER MIDWEST. THESE STORMS ARE LIKELY TO PRODUCE REPEATED BOUTS OF HEAVY RAINS WITH RAINFALL RATES EXCEEDING OVER AN INCH PER HOUR. THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHANHASSEN MINNESOTA HAS ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR MUCH OF ...

Yesterday, June 4th, was my Dad's birthday. I meant to post this picture last night but I was on the porch and my pictures were in here. He's been gone a couple years now but I can still hear his laugh and see his face. He would have loved this weekend at the lake. On another note, we have turbulent weather ahead. Here's the forecast from PD at the Trib: Storms bubbling up across Iowa may spread into the metro area and much of southern MN by Thursday AM, making for a slow and soggy AM rush hour. Moderate risk of severe storms, hail, violent straight-line winds and isolated tornadoes on Thursday over central and southern Minnesota...I do expect 1-3 tornado touch-downs Thursday statewide. When do we catch a break? More storms Friday, another round late Saturday...Sunday should be drier and sunnier. My neighbor with the riding lawnmower was on my front lawn, right outside my bedroom window, mowing our grass last night at 9:30. With a halogen headlight on his mower. I am goin...

I was the namer of another goat. I seem to have a knack for it and this time, suggested the name Moonshine Yarrow for a goat who needed a Y name. Yarrow is a plant that can become a troublesome weed in the garden. Probably the same with goats. This is probably one of the most stressful weeks of the school year. We do curriculum writing and people are frazzled and it's enough to give you the screaming fantods. I can't believe it's only Wednesday. I don't know why the weather men do this, but they have published, in the newspaper to be read tonight, a warning about tornadic activity tomorrow in our area. I believe that could dissipate in the next 12 hours so there isn't a reason to alarm people tonight. Really. Do I need to spend today worrying about that? I have enough weather issues. Miles: Stay home, keep the weather alert radio on, and keep your weather eye peeled, buddy. Betty and I did our twenty minutes of exercise today. We tried to think of active hobbies we ...

I'm going away for the weekend. I know some people would be excited and see it as a way to relax, but not me. I have a bad case of the flaming fantods . I can hardly finish making plans, I'm obsessed with all the things that could go wrong here and there, I can't even think about packing, and I'm a wreck. I suppose you could view this as a problem I should think about resolving but I don't see it that way. I'm not at all distressed by people who like to go away and I think they ought to just do it to their heart's content. I noticed on my way out of the driveway that we have a burgeoning rabbit population in my garden. I used to cuss the neighborhood cats but now I see they served a purpose when they laid waste to the bunny nests. That's a gruesome thought, eh? Once in a while, a mentally challenged rabbit would make a nest in our backyard which is the size of a large postage stamp. What, she couldn't smell the dog? The nest always came to an abrupt...

I've always been a great sitter and a champion napper. It's probably had some ill-effects for me health-wise, but for the most part it's been a lifestyle I have enjoyed. Not to say that once in a while I don't appreciate going to bed weary and muscle-sore, but most of the time, I enjoy not doing that. I've embarked on a eating healthier and exercising regime. I call it a regime because I view it sort of like one of those evil dictator regimes. This is not something I enjoy, believe me, and don't try to tell me I will. Betty (another great sitter) and I have decided to exercise for 20 minutes three times a week. I know, I know, it isn't exactly something that would be endorsed by Jack Lalane, but it works for us. We've also decided on weekends when we get together for our grilling escapades, we will play either croquet or goofy golf (left) rather than reclining in a lawn chair in the shade. Well, at our age, did you think it would be handball? The eating...

We had a great, productive Sunday that ended with a nice sit around the grill while Regis cooked a corned beef and some sweet potatoes. We got up early to go buy groceries. We hardly ever go to Mankato anymore so there are a few errands to do when do finally go. I needed a pillow at Target and we wanted to buy a few more grill accessories at Home Depot. The one thing I didn't get that I should have was a grill pan for vegetables. We wanted to cook onions on the grill but discovered they are prone to drop through the grate. I was tired by the time I took a shower (mosquito spray is necessary now) and got into my clean bed. I had borrowed some books from Betty: she took me into her library and handed me things and gave me a little review as we went. I took home six books. Last night as I looked them over, trying to decide which one would be first, I realized I had to books that were exactly the same. She apparently bought two identical books, then gave them both to me, and neither of...