sunday plans

We slept in until 7 o'clock this morning. More typical for Regis, not so typical for Gus and me. We've been outside several times already and it's gorgeous out there! The air is bracing, I think you could say. I took my coffee out and watched Gus confab with Maggie and Chloe next door. They run from one end of the fence to the other, look at each other and race back to the other end.

We cooked on the grill yesterday afternoon: shrimp wrapped in pepper bacon, chunks of cheese that got warm and gooey on a cedar plank, slices of mortodello and prosciutto, and olives. Delicious. It's the kind of meal you eat with your fingers. We wrapped slices of the cheese with meat and added a piece of hot pepper. Oh, my. Eating should always be this much fun.

Mike is bringing us more chickens today. We've gotten hooked on farm chickens and farm meat. I can buy beef from the meat counter at HyVee but I have trouble with chicken. I like the chickens from the farm so much better Regis says I am getting to be a food snob but if I'm going backwards, to a time when chickens came from farms, I don't see how that's getting to be a snob.

This is a real chicken.

We have several friends and family members with birthdays this week.

Vickie's birthday is on Monday, September 5th. Here she is in the world's largest frying pan with me this summer on our trip to Iowa.

Here's Tom with Betty at a Thanksgiving Day gathering we had a few years ago. They looked like they just walked out of an Irish pub and it's one of my favorite pictures of them. Tom's birthday is Tuesday, September 6th.

This is Bob with Alex on the patio a couple summers ago. Bob always looks serious in pictures so I had a hard time finding one where he looks jolly. This will have to do. Bob's birthday is Thursday, September 8th.

Happy birthday, all of you! Celebrate those birthdays!

We're planning a fine day. I'm working a little bit tomorrow so we'll celebrate Labor Day today by being fairly lazy and non-productive. I'll take pictures.

early saturday

Gus likes to go out early in the morning and poke around the yard. Sometimes we remember to bring a flashlight and sometimes we don't. This morning, I lost sight of him so had no idea what he was doing. We've been out three times, so far, and it isn't even 6 o'clock. Now he's at the door again and it's pouring rain.

I went to exercise at 7 and because I was a schlepp this week, I had to do 75 minutes to get my total right. Uff da. Good thing Nikki came in for the last 15 to visit with me so it wasn't quite so painful.

Going to get ready to re-start the day. Looks nice out there now but the weather could be turbulent. Keep a weather eye out, friends.

ah, friday....steaks on the grill

Our floor guy came at the end of the day to bring samples. As usual, the first things he showed me, I liked. Yeah, I'll go with that. He had good ideas so what could I say. Regis and I both like this guy a lot and trust him so we're sort of driven to use his service.

He brought us a bag of corn from his garden. He called it SH2 and said it was the best corn ever. We don't usually eat corn but we threw a cob on the grill with the steaks and after we tasted it, we had to call him to tell him he's right. It is delicious. So were the steaks.

We bought a cast iron pan from the neighbors at their garage sale. I don't know why men are attracted to cast iron because it's so heavy. I almost needed help carrying that thing inside but it did a great job on the onions and mushrooms.

There's a run-down on Friday night supper at the Fritsch house.

So, now I have to start packing up two rooms in preparation for the new floor. He said he's pretty laid back and doesn't mind if we need an extra day but we're going to commit to be ready. He said he would call us in about two weeks to set up the start. In a month, we'll have new floors in the whole house except the bedrooms where we have hardwood floors.

I had a busy day at work with some untoward shit that went on and caused some unpleasantness. One of the sweet bakers said she felt like her soul was decrepit. I thought that was the saddest thing I have heard in a long time. The bad actions of one person shouldn't decrepitize your soul. Oh, my. Life is good even with some occasional ugliness.

We have no plans for the weekend which are nice plans to have. Regis is working hard to teach Gus manners and proper dog behavior and we figure we can't do that if he is in a crate. So, we're home a lot. Fine with us. I won't reiterate Gus's tricks here but he is a smart boy and learns fast.

We do have plans to grill a lot in the next couple weeks. Mike is bringing us five more chickens on Sunday and we have two flank steaks in the freezer. Tomorrow we're trying a new recipe for cheese and charcuterie (which I had to look up) on the grill. Charcuterie is the art of smoking and preserving meat. We bought some things at the coop like prosciutto and coppa. Should be an interesting experiment.

I met the nicest lady from Comfrey in the last few days. She called River Rock to inquire about the lemonade and to order three gallons of it. As we gabbed, I learned that she is an almost twenty-year cancer survivor and as she said, "any day on the right side of the grass is a good one". So she tries to have fun every day and not complain or be grumpy. What a good attitude. She loves our cookies and told me that her husband says the oatmeal cookies are as good as his mother used to make. Now, there is a compliment.

We stopped at Pet Expo to buy dog food today. Regis has been reading up on it and we wanted to avoid grain-heavy products. We tried something, well, not us...but it's called Taste of the Wild. Read about this...it's a hoot. This is what it says about the food Gus is eating: A Toast For A Roast A grain-free formula for all life stages with sweet potatoes and peas provides highly digestible energy for your active dog. Made with real roasted meats, this formula offers a taste sensation like no other. Supplemented with fruits and vegetables, this hearty formula delivers natural antioxidants to protect your friend's body from the damage of everyday living, supporting a healthy immune system and overall good health. Your dog craves a taste of the wild. Go ahead and give him one.

I'm pretty sure if times get tough, we could eat this, too.

We have Reverend Raven on the CD player. The weekend has officially started. Try to have fun in the next few days.

hard to get going some days...random thoughts

It's Thursday and I love Thursday but sometimes it's hard to get moving. Today is one of them.

Seriously, how did it get to be September 1st? I love fall but this one sneaked up on me.

If we're going to get our floors done, there is a lot of work to do around here in the next month. I have to pack up all the stuff and get it out of the way. Where to go with it is the question. Our garage is stuffed. Our back porch is full. You can't pile that kind of crap on the patio and cover it with a tarp. Well, you can, but the neighbors might look at you funny.

Gus has learned to shake hands without a reminder. He has quite a repertoire of tricks already including come, sit, shake, and ringing the bells when he has to go outside. He's not too reliable on that last one yet, but he's getting it. We get quite a charge out of him. Whenever I check on him in the night, he is sprawled on his back with his legs all splayed out. Regis weighed him at the vet yesterday and he's 22 pounds already.

My job has changed a little at the coffee shop. Most of the money responsibility has been passed to someone else. I worried (a little) that it was because of my incompetence with numbers but I was assured that it was not. As they divide the responsibilities of what used to be one manager over three people, things shift. Ok by me. That money caused me a lot of undue anguish and hysteria. I have more time for the fun things now: prancing around the front in an apron and making menus.

Well, hard as it is to get a move on this morning, I have to do it.

gus and a bench and gus on a bench

mid-week

I keep having these revelations like I am coming out of a big, gray fog. I hope it's not untoward brain activity and I'm identifying it as something wonderful.

Work is settling down. They have taken duties away as part of the separation of one job into three and it keeps making things easier and simpler. I'm all for that. My work life is good.

We have been enjoying gorgeous days on the patio. Yesterday was drizzly and cold but we sat out there anyway because we had prepped a whole tray of peppers and scallops and had three giant prawns to cook. You can't do that on the stove, my friends. The poblano peppers were stuffed with Andouille sausage from Prairie Pride Farm, a chopped yellow pepper, onion, and some very hot peppers. Then I covered them with a layer of smoked provolone. The scallops were wrapped in prosciutto. We used Emerill's creole seasoning on the prawns. It was a delicious meal and we licked our fingers.

We had a very nice local contractor come over last night to give us an estimate on flooring. It's kind of unlike us to get three estimates for anything. We are usually way more impulsive in our purchasing. Since this will cost as much as a good used car, it's probably a good thing. What I would like, as I have said before, is for someone to choose something I will like, in a price I can afford, and install it while I'm gone. I really don't want to be involved in any of the details.

Steve was a character which almost guarantees him the job. I like characters. He spent a lot of time looking around the house. He was either taking mental pictures of my decorating so he could share them with his wife, or he was sizing up the job, which I admire. I asked him if a job like this in a tiny house full of junk looks like a nightmare and he said, "Yes, it does." I admire that, too. He'll come back Friday with samples and we'll go from there.

His being a character was not his only professional qualification. He had a flooring store in Mankato and he's done floors for 38 years. I don't think he has a PhD in Botony like the guy who did our first paver walkway but I believe he's qualified anyway.

Gus is active in the morning. He goes out a couple times, wolfs his dog food, and likes to play. This morning he has been after the strings on my slippers. When I got down on the floor to get his kong toy out from under the chair, he started licking my ears. How can you be mad at a dog like this? He's finally figured out how to play with the kong toy. I see someone put peanut butter inside it which could increase its appeal.

This dog loves toys. He's like our two-year old grandbabies. The first thing he does in the morning is look for a toy. The first thing Alex and Elliot do when they walk in the house is look for the toys.

Hey, remember this dog? That's Gus on the left and the unknown dog on the right wearing Christmas lights. I think we can accomplish this stunt this year! Gus will make a great Christmas dog!

Unlike his predecessor, Bertrand, who once peed on the Christmas tree skirt which is almost an act of sedition in the world of dog-human interaction. I don't ask my dogs to wear costumes or painted nails but I expect them respect the Christmas tree skirt.

I have been trying to establish a new morning routine. One of the concessions I am making to retirement is that I don't get up at 4 a.m. anymore. I get up when I wake up, usually about 6, and we go from there. I like to go to the Pulse at 8 o'clock. I do some light exercise and then go on my way to work, It goes pretty well.

I can't remember if I said here before that we bought a teak bench at Bill and Jean's garage sale. When I saw it come off the truck, I said, "Ooohhh..." but they said they were going to keep it. But they decided it was too big for their house and there it was on the sale. I love it. It will have to move seasonally to accommodate our fireplace but we can live with that.

Better get moving.

weekend in words...no pictures

I'm reposting this as new because somehow, I got highlighting in the background, and I couldn't fix it. It was driving me insane.

We had Ella come over yesterday so we could celebrate the start of her school life Wednesday. We had lunch at Patrick's then came home to spend time on the patio. We had a little present for her, Vickie stopped for a visit, Ella helped me water plants and do some weeding. Later, Regis made a fire in the chimnea and we cooked wieners, smoked sausages, and marshmallows on long sticks. It was great fun and a fitting start to Ella's school year.

We joked a couple times that she has no idea she's in for a long haul of education. Of course, she was disgusted with that and said yes, she did. Ha! Such innocence.

We were a little worried about Ella and Gus, her being an excitable five-year old and him being a huge puppy. She did a great job, though, and learned to grab his leash, push on his butt, and tell him to sit. We called her the Dog Whisperer.

I went for a nine-mile bike ride yesterday and saw some interesting things. A young fellow was walking toward campus carrying only a backpack, a couple of small duffle bags, and a sleeping bag. I wanted to say, "Dude, good for you! I admire that!" Most kids go off to college with enough shit to furnish a four-bedroom house and require an SUV and trailer to get it there. Pretty resourceful, I'd say.

Regis and I are both enjoying Laurie Notaro's books. I gave up on Scary Little Girl but The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club: True Tales from a Magnificent and Clumsy Life is great. Regis is reading It Looked Different on the Model and I hear him chuckling all the time.

We're teaching our dog to ring a bell by the door when he wants to go outside. So far, so good. It's a genius who thought up and marketed this little item. If you don't have a pet or haven't been in a pet store lately, it's an interesting visit. We are amazed and the array of crap that is made for dogs. Next time I go, I'll make a list of the most outrageous.

When I was shopping yesterday at HyVee, a woman stood befuddled before the deli case. She said, and I quote, "Can't I just say turkey?" And the young kid behind the counter laughed and said "No, you have to tell me which turkey." I bet there were twenty kinds of turkey: no-fat, low-fat, pepper turkey, smoked turkey, no-fat smoked turkey, no-fat bbq turkey, regular low-fat pepper turkey with mild bbq. You get the drift. Have you ever heard Dennis Leary's rant about ordering coffee? Worth looking up if you haven't. There's a link. Get a cup of skim mocha latte with a double shot of sugar-free vanilla and no whip before you listen to it.

I have to get ready for work soon. Monday is my busy day and this is the end of the month...lots to do. I have to dress nice so I can deliver a catering order, I have to wear something I can exercise in at the end of the day, and I have to pack a lot of food because I'll be gone 9 hours. This is complicated. Work is complicating my life. Ha!

It was a beautiful day yesterday. As I drove to Mankato at 7 a.m. to buy groceries, I thought how pretty the day was starting out...soft light, a little haze in the air, beans and corn starting to turn yellow. And the evening was just as nice. We had a wonderful fire with some cedar pieces in it and it smelled great. Even some of our walking traffic commented on the smell.

We had BBQ Saturday night that was good but not as good as Regis makes. He has it perfected so the meat falls off the bones and we like it that way. You have to pay a lot for food in a restaurant that is as good as you can make at home.

Gus lays on his back and plays with his toys, then takes a run at the love seat and lands up here like a twenty pound sack of flour thrown from across the room. It reminds me of the stories Regis and Peter tell about turkeys flying through the trees in the woods. They can't fly so they glide and only stop when they collide with a branch. That's what Gus is like. I hope we can teach him to slow down before he gets to 70 pounds or I could get hurt. He loves to play.

One more cup of coffee then off to work.

thursday is my favorite day of the week

For a lot of reasons, Thursday is my favorite day of the week. It's almost the weekend so we're thinking of things we can do for fun on Saturday and Sunday but the weekend hasn't started yet so there's no pressure. It's usually a busy day at River Rock so I get to put on an apron and hang around the front of the shop gabbing it up with folks. Ah, Thursday.

I had to pick up some stuff from the accountant yesterday so Regis and I motored to Mankato and did that right before 4 o'clock. Then we stopped at Neighbor's and had a happy hour glass of wine and an appetizer. Way good for half price. We had Prosciutto Wrapped Scallops with Garlic Cream and Mushroom Duxelle and Beef Carpaccio with Garlic Dijon Aioli. Nice place and good food.

Tonight we're going to experiment with a little table-top grill Regis found at a garage sale in Iowa for a quarter. We've seen them for $150 dollars so if it works, it's a great deal. We're going to cook little pieces of sirloin and chicken and maybe a few shrimp. It looks kind of like this. You put sterno under it and voila...a tiny grill for indoors.

Ok...off to exercise and work.

here it is tuesday night already

Regis and I are cooking tonight. The River Rock crowd is coming over to see the movie Black Gold, we're making suffed poblano and jalapeno peppers, and bread cheese. Our house smells like onions and peppers and Andouille sausage.

I came home yesterday after a ten-hour day and went to bed at 7 o'clock. I slept all night and felt great when I got up this morning to work out with Rachel. That TRX is a killer but it was a good killin'. There is almost nothing like a good night's sleep.

I think I got jalapeno on my hands and rubbed my nose. Must have nicked the glove with my knife. Not good.

I came home today to find a new pet fence keeping Gus out of the living room. I had to laugh. I wonder when the bear is arriving that this fence is designed to enclose. It's enormous. I could step over the one we borrowed but this one...a moose couldn't step over it. Regis says I will be glad when he is fully grown and we are able to contain him. Here's a picture but keep in mind this is inside the house. We also got 700 pet waste bags. That should be a lifetime supply but probably is not.

We have tiny green bugs on the patio that Regis (amateur entomologist) has identified as aphids. What the hell are those and why are they crawling on me?

We are in the process of working with two different flooring companies to replace the flooring in our house, which took a beating with the last dogs. A lesser woman would have given up on this project as it requires too many tools, measuring devices, estimates, and visits to showrooms. I just want someone to pick out something I would like in a price range I can afford, come in and complete the project when I am gone from the house for a few hours, leave no sign that they were there, and send me a bill. Is that too much to ask?

sunday morning

We had such a nice day yesterday and I think we're going to repeat it today.

I went to exercise early and then had a cup of coffee outside at River Rock with my friend, Kris. Even with the highway noise, it was pleasant.

I did some paperwork at my computer...you know...bills and such. Ugh.

Regis and I went to the patio about two o'clock. We had a plate of cheese and olives for lunch and gabbed the afternoon away. Later on, we cooked steaks on the grill and had a big salad. Delicious.

We made a fire in the chimnea and burned up old cards and letters that we've been intending to dispose of for years. It was a beautiful night and the fire made it sweet.

Days like that one are just not as common as they should be.

Today will be full, too. Regis got up early with Gus and I slept until 7. He got the laundry started and I made a big omelet for breakfast. He is going to mow the grass and I am going to buy a few groceries and go for a long bike ride. Tiffany and Peter are coming for ribs and sweet corn. Also have cantaloupe, berries, salad, and some shrimp as an appetizer. A great summer meal.

Tomorrow will be busy as I have to go to work early to do the banking. At 9:00, I am being trained to use Quickbooks. It will be like sending me to a class on brain surgery taught in Swedish. I don't think they realize my disability as it relates to all things involving numbers. Ah, well.

School starts this week and I have no regrets, only relief. I only have to worry about coffee and the lunch specials! Hurray!

customer service

In attempting to arrange another vineyard tour, I call an establishment in the neighboring town. I ask if it might be possible to bring a group of 30-40 people in for lunch and a wine tasting on a Saturday in September. These are people who like wine and like to spend money. Do the math. The woman was so unenthusiastic that I asked to speak to a manager. Turns out, she is the owner and was still really not interested in accommodating us. Well, she was so rude, now I'm not interested in going there. Ever.

Ah, people are funny. Regis and I have learned in our somewhat limited restaurant and bar adventures, that the experience is important. I don't care how good or bad (to a degree) the food is, if you don't have fun, you aren't interested in going back. One of our favorite places has a bar tender who is less than a good time. We almost take a big wide turn to avoid him because part of the fun of going there is the people who know us and are happy to see us.

If people appreciate your business and take the time to know your name, if makes you more comfortable in parting with your money. Fact of life.

I enjoy the people at my new job so much. My co-workers and the customers. I don't know if coffee shop customers are just on a different wave length than some (most)  folks or what it is, but they are the friendliest people. Always happy to let you know where they are from and who recommended us and what they thought of the scone and cucumber lemonade they just had. I am constantly surprised that people are so willing to try new things.

I have a new cookbook called Heartland. Every time I get it out and try to look at it, Gus comes over and lays his head across the page like he wants to read a recipe. What the hell. I think I'm going to teach him to pick up his own toys, something I could not accomplish with my human children. He is a smart dog, for sure.

Our friend, Vickie, is coming over shortly for some patio time. I took some Prairie Pride sausages out of the freezer so we'll cook those on the grill in a while and have some cheese and some big fat stuffed olives.

Make it a good weekend.

now, there's a question

I went to Penney's yesterday because one night when I was in there, the saleswoman told me she was a bra fitter and I thought that was a service of which I could partake. The woman I met was not there but the current woman said "Honey, we're all bra fitters here. Want me to take a look?"

I thought that was a hilarious beginning. The bra fitting did not go quite as I imagined. It involved being measured and then handed bras through the door. If I knew whether they fit or not, I wouldn't need a bra fitter. Oh, hell. What I brought home looks better than what I had.

I also got a hair cut which is always a hoot. Patrick makes getting a hair cut fun and I told him that. It's an idea that works for lots of things.

I saw my recently retired physician's assistant in the coffee shop yesterday. I loved her and always looked forward to seeing her because she seemed to be interested in many things and she liked to talk. She made going to the doctor about as much fun as it could be. Think about it. We're not talking colonoscopy here, just your garden variety bursitis and skin rashes.

I took a basket of clothes over to the consignment shop yesterday. I was a little annoyed because I went in with a big basket and I went out with a big basket. There were quite a few of my things they rejected. Harrumph. I thought my clothes looked better than some of the shit they had hanging in their store. I won't do that again...too much of a hassle for a little bit of money. I drove that crap right up to the thrift store and left it.

The thing that pissed me off was that the little truck that picks things up at your curb came to our street yesterday which meant I missed that opportunity. This is a lot of angst over a few pieces of clothing I didn't want anymore. (My Sonny and Cher vest....you can see the photos somewhere on this blog if you're interested and I would not blame you one iota if you aren't. It was an impulse purchase off a sale rack to which I am mightily vulnerable.)

Mike and Erin said they took a bunch of stuff to a thrift store a few weeks ago. There was a large sign that said, "NO DEAD ANIMALS". This would lead you to believe that it has happened often enough that they had to make a sign discouraging it. Or someone who works there has a vivid imagination of what people MIGHT leave there. Either way is nasty.

I have been way off schedule for exercise. I thought I had it back in line last week, then this little dog came into our lives. The truth is that I don't like getting up at 4 a.m. anymore. The Pulse is open from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. Then it closes for an hour and re-opens at 8. I just need to figure it out. I signed up for the 10K at the Mankato Marathon (it's only six miles) so I better get moving.

Friday is usually my short day at work but today I have to think about two advertising opportunities. I realized yesterday that the people selling this stuff are a little bit like K-Tel salespeople on tv (do they still have those?). The deal is good for a short amount of time and is really too good to be true. Other people are paying way more for this same opportunity. Call now and get twice the ad for half the money. Really. And crank the handle of this little digger to win that nice diamond ring in the corn, girlie.

Here we are at Friday again. I'm going to make an effort to slow the weekend down a little. It seems like all of a sudden it's Monday and what kind of time warp am I in anyway? Make it a good one.

barely past 6 a.m.

Gus is taking his first nap of the day under the bench. I'm drinking my second cup of coffee after having done the dishes. Regis is at the grocery store. I told him yesterday if we had small children, someone would call social services because we are out of everything...eggs, bread, peanut butter, and blue cheese. How can we survive? Thank God for kale.

I feel like I am half-way getting my head around my new job. Everything doesn't feel new anymore...at least I can find my way to the bathroom without a map. Ha!

Someone asked me one day if I would be sad when school started. I laughed. Regis reminded me that for more than fifty years, every fall meant going back to school. Yeah, I know. But I do not feel sad.

I feel delighted to have new things to think about and new things to work at and new problems...like where to get farm-fresh eggs instead of how to structure a professional learning community. The last egg guy I talked to was a dang hoot and really liked his chickens. I'd like to buy eggs from him because he's funny.

We have a menu full of grilling in the next few weeks. We love to grill in the summer but don't even attempt it in the winter because we are purists and use charcoal. Gas seems like cheating. You might as well move your oven out to the patio and call that grilling. Charcoal grills are hard to keep hot enough in the winter, too, which is the main reason.

Today I am taking some clothes to the consignment store. I wonder why men don't have consignment stores. Maybe they do in bigger cities or maybe men wear their clothes to tatters. My dad was not big on clothes. Every day of his life when he wasn't wearing a white dress shirt and tie, he was wearing khakis and a white t-shirt. He did not like variety in his wardrobe.

The little truck that takes stuff off your curb is coming today, too, but I'm not ready for that. I have a few things here and there and may be able to pull it together but then again, maybe not.

Well, here we go. Off into the day.

life is full of changes

Regis officially resigned from his job today. Now, this may seem like bad news to some of you with the economy and all but he did it with not only my blessing but my encouragement. There is only so much of Crazy Town, its Mayor and the various crazy Council people that a person needs to tolerate in one lifetime. When that insanity starts to bleed over into your personal time, i.e. early mornings and weekends, it's time to pull the plug. Good-bye cheap Halloween costumes and hello peace and contentment. Life is just too short for that kind of bullshit.

You wonder where some people get off. It's either they are socially maladjusted or inherently evil. Doesn't matter. Nice to have a choice of whether or not to put up with their crap. He's heard from the nice people who appreciated him and that's a good thing.

Regis went off to the vet clinic with Gus for his first check-up and his third round of shots. Probably will get scheduled for the neutering, too. Ouch.

We've had good days and nights with Gus. He sleeps on a rug by the bed and he whines maybe once...and all I have to do is dangle my arm over the side of the bed and scratch his ears. He goes right back to sleep. He has asked to go outside once each night during the night....not bad for a puppy. He had a period of incessant mischief this morning which was trying. He likes to counter cruise which would be more problematic when he is fully grown but isn't good even now. He grabs dish towels and cords and stray plastic bags when he thinks you aren't looking. Of course, I raised to two-year olds so I am ALWAYS looking. I took him over to the neighbors to play with their three dogs: Chloe, Maggie, and Roscoe. He liked that. We signed him up for obedience classes today.

I had a good day at the coffee shop. We crossed a major barrier in the new logo...it's been an impediment to forward movement and we finally realized it. Hurray!

A guy is coming from the floor store to talk about replacing all of our floors. Our carpet in the living room is old, ugly, and smells like dog pee (see the stories about Bert). I think the previous owners did their Harley repairs on the kitchen linoleum. We've been so busy with the dog that it looks like we were ransacked or a bomb went off in here so I hope he isn't a clean house critic.

I got my Ambien prescription refilled today, finally. I felt like a crack addict checking all the time but my doctor retired the middle of July with NO NOTICE so I didn't have time to see her and get it filled. Of course, I was on the last month and when they fax over the request, the response is that Ruth retired. No shit. I have another appointment on the 24th so I told the pharmacist that and she wrote it on the request. I didn't say where the appointment was. Ha!

I see Amanda added me to her google plus circle. I am getting seriously mixed up about all the social media opportunities in my life. There are too many ways information gets input into my head. I can't remember if I learned something through an email, a text, Facebook, Gtalk...and now google plus. Google is insidious. Really. Pretty soon google will be managing my recipes and my bank account and probably my prescriptions. Hey, there's a service I could use.

I got an envelope today from a retired teachers organization in Mankato with an invitation to attend a meeting. I told Regis I would rather be staked naked to an ant hill and covered with honey. Hahaha! Too bad the retired vintners don't have me on their mailing list. Now, that would be an interesting meeting. And one I would attend.

Well, better get ready for the floor guy. Any design ideas would be appreciated. I only know what I don't like once I already own it. In this case, that would be bad.

nights like this

I think I could do a night like this every night of the year. Cooking on the grill, visits from neighbors and kids, puppy playing, wine drinking, good food, beautiful summer evening...and the dishes are done.

Gus is taking a nap because he played so hard in the back yard after dinner. He gets the zoomies and it's a hoot to watch. He also visited Ella and Alex today and the Kwik Trip so Regis could fill up his car. He spoke with Chloe, Maggie, and Roscoe next door and had a visit from Waldo. He is officially welcomed to the dog neighborhood.

I can't believe he is happy to pee on the grass outside. That other dog we had was prone to peeing on Christmas tree skirts and my pant legs. Those were some good stories.

P.S. In case you need a reminder of what a shit Bert really was, check out the Blasts from the Past on the right side of this blog. Six out of eight are about Bert. That tells you something.

gus on his first visit to the patio

Gus joins our pack

Since October, we have been dogless but Regis has recently started yearning for a dog. We read up on different breeds, explored shelter dogs, and talked to lots of people. The folks across the street have a dog, Zoe, that we love. She sits regally in the yard and never runs away. Zoe is a golden doodle and I want a dog like that.

We looked for a doodle but they were either too far away or too expensive. Then on Friday, Regis found a website for a nearby dog breeder and we went out to look at a puppy. I knew...look at a puppy = buy a puppy.

We went to a farm near LeSueur called Island Farm Goldens. I knew when we drove in that the dogs had good care there. The two puppies were romping in the grass and there were lots of happy dogs in a fenced area.

We bought our dog Friday night, then went to Mankato to stock up on the dog stuff we needed. When Kramer died, Regis was heartbroken and he gave away everything we had. They were very happy to help us spend our money at Pet Expo.

We named our dog Augustus McCrae after the Robert Duvall character in Lonesome Dove and we call him Gus. It fits him just fine.

So far, he has learned quickly to sit when he comes up to us. A fifteen pound puppy jumping on a person is one thing but a seventy pound adult dog is quite another. He is learning to like his crate and he is learning to chew only on toys. He is like any baby, though, and he likes a lot of attention. When he sleeps, he likes someone to be nearby.

The picture is one I took with my phone. He's sort of a constant motion machine so it's hard to get good photos of him but we'll try today with a better camera.

I just had Gus out in the yard for a romp and now he needs a nap. He's going to be fun!

i was almost a hood ornament yesterday

On my way to work on my bicycle. Laptop and a clock in my basket. Stopped at the corner of Minnesota Avenue and Nassau. When the light turned green and the little man said I could walk, I started out. A car came whizzing around the corner and nearly hit me. I dismounted the bicycle in a surprisingly graceful leap considering I was wearing a long skirt, clock and laptop went flying. I remained miraculously upright but the bike went down. Car kept right on going. Bastard.

On my way home, I saw a man get out of a vehicle at the PO wearing the absolute worst wig I have ever seen. It looked like someone made a wig out of a shiny brown blanket. It was so bad I thought about riding by and snatching it off his head. (the bad wig bandit) Really, is bald worse than this assault on the eyeballs?

We met friends for dinner at Whiskey River. Delicious meal and good company.

I'm glad it's Friday. We have no plans to do anything except maybe some yard work and a little bookkeeping. and some sleeping late.

On to the weekend.

it could have been this

Saturday night, Suzie was telling us she'd had a bad year. Her dog, Steve, died. She had surgery on her back. She had a run-away car incident and slammed into the PO doing 50 mph. She had to give away her bird, Herbie, because he got aggressive. And she retired. I said, "Suzie, you are one relationship away from being a bad country song." If you knew Suzie, it would be funny.

We went to a consignment auction last night. Vickie has been telling us what good deals she gets there and how much fun it is. We got there about 4:30 so we could look over the stuff. That took about 30 seconds. Unless you were interested in moldy old bed sheets or railroad memorabilia, there wasn't much to draw to. We stayed for about an hour because Regis had a mild interest in an old camera but then we hightailed it outta there. Some of that old crap went for almost 300 bucks. WTF

We sort of understood what was going on when the woman was "calling" if that's what you call it. But when the dude took over (he looked like he had spent every day of his life under a blazing sun) there was no hope. He started doing the rapid jibber-jabber and she would yelp like a terrier every time someone bid. Wait...wait...what? We were clueless. I was afraid to scratch my ear for fear I would make an unintended bid on a rusty Western Union sign.

There was quite a collect of, let's call them characters, at this auction. One old guy appeared to be sleeping until an old cow bell came up for auction. He jumped right up and won it for 20 bucks. One guy went out of there with such a pile of shit I thought someone should call his wife and warn her.

I don't really get this collectible thing. Some pieces of junk are worth a ton of money just because someone else wants it. Some pieces of junk aren't worth anything because everyone either has one or doesn't care. Crazy world. Between this auction and the garage sales in Iowa, I have seen a ton of crap change hands in the last week.

We went to Pappageorge for dinner. We love that place because the food is very good and it's quiet. Some drunk from a nearby hotel had discovered it, too, and he was holding court at the bar in a very loud voice. He had his food to-go but continued to order beer after beer, order additional onion rings to go, and have intimate conversations with his fiancee on his cell phone. In another cell phone conversation, I heard him arrange to have them driven from the wedding to the reception in a golf cart. That's the kind of decision a guy should only make sober.

All in all, it was an interesting evening.

squinting off into the distance

I have a clear memory of standing in the bedroom and thinking, "Oh, dang! I wanted to write about ...on the blog!" But do you think I can remember what is was NOW?

At one point over the weekend, Jane and I had a conversation like this:

Me: Did I tell you about our birthday party next summer?

Jane: No, you didn't!

Regis: She told you last night.

Me: I don't remember doing that.

Jane: What did I say?

Is this how conversations go as you get older?

Aw, hell. I thought I would remember by the time I got to the bottom but I didn't.