Thursday

We had some rain in the night, which was good and much needed.  Then it rained again about 3:00 and this time it poured...straight down hard rain.  Our balcony didn't even get wet.

I sat outside for about 30 minutes today.  Enjoyed the sun, but I did get hot.  Dave was out at Bryan's doing whatever he does.  I also took my 2 lap walk this morning and even jogged just a few steps.  Then I came in to the a/c and made 10 more Christmas cards.

Tomorrow we go to pick up our "big" truck.  It's used but only has 38k miles on it.  It looks good and that's important!

More later...

Wednesday

Yesterday we picked black raspberries and today I made a pie!!  It is beautiful AND it is delicious!  I wish you were here to share it with us!

We've got enough berries left for another pie.  They're in the freezer awaiting their turn.  We've also got a few left to eat!

Dave had a board meeting tonight.  So while he was gone I got some cards ready for sentiments and then they're done!

I guess I had a productive day!

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Tuesday

We went out to Bryan's this morning to pick black raspberries.  We picked about a gallon.  So tomorrow I'm going to make a pie and freeze the rest for a pie later in the summer.  They are so sweet that they hardly need sugar!  Then Dave went back out after lunch to mow and check on the mole traps.  Bryan has had a mole problem the whole time they've lived there.  Since Erin doesn't want any chemicals on the lawn, there must be a lot of grubs because they just keep coming back.  I guess there were 2 moles today.

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Monday

Last night I "confessed" to Dave that I may have messed up.  I thought I'd missed paying our March real estate taxes.  In my defense, I was a little busy getting ready to have surgery.  So Dave was angry and gave me several suggestions on how to make sure that didn't happen again.  Needless to say I didn't sleep very well.  So this morning I called Black Hawk Co Treasurer's office.  They assured me that I did, in fact, pay it and didn't need to worry until Sept.  Yay!  Dave's not angry any more!!

I got to do some picture scanning today.  I reduced my to-do pile to...NOTHING!!  Then I even made a Christmas card before Dave got home from running errands.

Now we're watching the Cubs...We're ahead by 4 in the 9th.  Hope we can hold on.

More later...

Sunday

We had another hot and humid day today after a stormy night last night!  There was one lightning strike/thunder boom that made me drop my kindle...I jumped about 2" while I was reading lying down!  It even woke up Dave.

Our sermon today was very good.  Our pastor just got back from the Holy Land and she talked about Capernum and Jesus' teaching there.  We went to Morg's after church.  They serve pancakes that are approximately 12" across and delicious!  I brought home over half of mine!

Darn Cubs.  I'm about to boycott baseball for a while.

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Saturday

This morning I was lazy!  I didn't get out of bed until about 8:30 and then I didn't even take my shower until noon.  Dave had gone to Bryan's to work in their garden...it's weedy!  Then he came home and cooked us burgers on the grill.  It was too hot to eat outside - it's very hot and humid.  At one time it was 87 but felt like 95.

This afternoon, Dave had some things to do down in the store room, so I went to the basement and walked all around it.  It took me 300 steps just to get around it!  At least I was up and moving!  When we came back upstairs, we started watching the Cubs game.  When it got out of hand, Dave suggested we go to 4 Queens and get a chocolate shake.  Tonight was going to be a popcorn and shake night.

We're about to give up on our teams!  We not only watched the Cubs get beat, we watched the Sox AND the Royals.  Sudi thinks I'm a jinx, but the Cubs have been winning all year and I've been watching them!  Hopefully this "June Swoon" won't last too long!

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Friday

We're down to one vehicle for a few days anyway.  We drove to Prairie du Chien this morning to deliver Dave's truck to a man who bought it off of Craig's List.  This guy has car dealerships and wanted it for resale.  We didn't feel comfortable driving a couple of hours with a bunch of cash, so we went to a bank up there where they counted the cash and issued us a cashier's check.  When we were  done with that, we went to a place called Winneshiek Bar & Grill for lunch...good view and good food.

Speaking of view, the views between here and PdC were absolutely breathtaking!  It was a gorgeous drive.

 Dave had a bleu cheese burger - good size and must have been really good!!

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Thursday

I got my typing done today - yay!!  Other than that, I didn't do much.  It took me a while.  This document was 7 pages long and was in outline form.  I've always hated outlines!  It just seems that no matter what you do, your points don't line up like you want them to...you just always have to stop and re-align your indents!  Regardless, I got it done, but it was 9 pages long the way I did it.  Hope it's okay.

It was so pretty here today.  We were able to open up the house again!  In fact when we were eating supper outside, I actually got a little chilly.

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Wednesday

Well, this was a bummer of a day!  First of all, when I got up, I thought it was the middle of the night.  It was still raining for quite a while after I got up.  We had 2.5 inches of rain.  It looked really rainy again this evening, but it didn't rain.  I was glad to hear that O-town had 1.3 inches - they were so dry down there.  Then our Cubbies got swept by the Cardinals - that really made the day a bad one.  At least the White Sox are winning.

Dave volunteered my typing skills here at the condo assn., so this afternoon I started typing.  I'm not the best typist any more.  I don't type enough to keep in practice.  But I'm getting it done.

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Tuesday

We had another hot but beautiful day today.  I know I sound like a broken record, but I can't help it.  It is so beautiful out our double patio doors!  In fact, the state of Iowa is beautiful right  now.  So green and lush...except for SE Iowa where the corn is curled needing moisture.  The lawns in Wapello and Van Buren counties are looking like August - dry, dry, dry.

Here, though, is a picture of the corn...do you think it'll be knee high by the 4th of July?  It's already taller than I am in places!

I love the greens in the countryside...so many different shades!

We had a pleasant surprise tonight.  Bryan called on Skype so we got to talk to Aidan!  He showed us his turtles, his octopus, and his screwdriver (bath toys) on Bryan's command.  He's got quite a vocabulary, he just doesn't want to talk yet.  It'll be there soon!

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Monday

I slept really well in the camper, but I'm still really tired.  I'm going to stop taking these Zyrtec D's every day!  They make me so sleepy!  I took a short nap today, but I didn't get up until 9:30 or after!

 I worked on some cards today while Dave went out to Bryan's to cut some brush.  That was fun for a change.  I don't know where everything is though.  I put everything away in July when we moved in and I haven't used all of my supplies so I have to look for everything!

We're watching the Cubs/Cardinals game.  Unfortunately it's the bottom of the 9th and we're behind by 1.  Come on Cubs.

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Home again!

We were camping for the last few days in O-town.  Unfortunately we were only able to get on the internet a couple of times, so no blogging.  We had a great time.  Went to Recovery Room the first night to have a tenderloin and to the Canteen the next day.  We topped off our canteen with an ice cream cone from Grahams.  We got to see Bob & Ann for a few minutes.  I got to have a massage with Gerrii and on Saturday we went to the Dutchman's Store in Cantril.  Friday we got to see Allison play ball and today we went to church at FPC.  I also got to attend a PEO meeting!  Pretty eventful few days, huh?

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Drat!

My day was ruined!  The Cubs lost in extra innings...those darn Nationals.  They won 2 out of 3 against the Cubs....grrrrrrr!

We had another hot and humid day here.  We didn't even go outside to eat today - it was just too hot!

More later..,.

Tuesday

We had another hot and humid day today...just perfect for storms.  We've had a bunch around us.  Kyle had some damage - lost a tree and a big limb off of another one.  It basically just divided and went around us.  We watched the clouds, but then all of a sudden, they were gone and we barely had any rain.

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Monday, Monday

Hot and humid here today.  At 11:00 it was 77 but felt like 89.  At 12:15 it was 85 and felt like 95!  Whew!  We had doctor appointments today - sounds like I'm going to be going to a PT for my BPPV (vertigo).  After the appointment we went to Walmart to do some shopping, then it was home for lunch  and a nap.  

Tonight we watched the Cubs get beat and now we're watching the basketball game.  I'm pretty sure we won't be staying up to watch it all!!

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Great Sunday

I love Sundays!  We went to church this morning, took naps this afternoon, and went out for Mexican food for lunch/dinner combo!

Woke up this morning hearing about the massacre in Orlando.  When will intelligent people in this country start figuring out that we need some control on guns - people do NOT need an AR-15 to protect their families or their homes.  I'm sick of hearing that guns don't kill people, people kill people.  I understand that concept, but I believe it could be a whole lot harder for people to get these weapons of mass destruction.  I was thinking today about how much simpler life was when we grew up...the worse violence we had was a Western TV show where when people got killed there wasn't any blood!  Now TV is full of violence, movies, books...everything is violent!  Even commercials are violent sounding (everyone shouts about their products).  I feel like I'm old, complaining about the "younger" generation and the "new" entertainment.  Come on, people, let's get back to God, family, and country and treat everyone with respect!  OK, I'll get off my soapbox.

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Another scorcher

When we went out to Bryan's about 2:00, the temperature said 89, but the feel like temperature was 98.  It was almost oppressive!  Very hot and humid.  We had dinner with them and Erin's folks.  We're trying to get Aidan to realize that he has 2 grandmas and 2 grandpas.  Quite the challenge.

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Friday

Dave surprised me by asking me if I wanted to go to the Wild Carrot in Waverly for lunch.  Of course, I said yes and hurried to get ready.  You see, my great niece, Kaylee, waits tables there as a part-time job...plus the food is wonderful.  So off we went!  It was really hot here today - at one time it was 94 with lots of humidity.  Tonight a brief thunderstorm went through, but it's supposed to be 97  tomorrow so it didn't cool down any.

I went to have a shingles shot today, but didn't get one.  It was going to cost $140 at Walgreens.  I had called them earlier and they said with insurance it's usually $70-80...aat Walmart they're $125.  So I'm all for saving $15, plus I didn't want to have the shot very bad.

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Busy Day

I got lots done today, but I still have 2 big items on my to-do list.  That's one thing nice about retirement...you have got another day to tackle your list!  When we moved here, I put things away without really "organizing" it the way I wanted it.  So today I tackled the desk.  I found things like 4 things of dental floss, 4 fingernail clippers, 9 fingernail files, my Ambesol, my Abreva, and about 100 pens and pencils!

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Vampire Morning!

We had to have our blood drawn this morning so we went to the clinic to  see the vampire blood collectors.  Dave's came back perfect and mine was almost perfect.  My cholesterol was 3 points high, so I have to watch my diet and get some exercise.  After doing that, we went to the chiropractor to get adjusted.  Then we went out for breakfast at Perkins!  We were really hungry by this time - it was about 10:30!

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Tuesday

Another beautiful day!

I'm glad to hear that our Park survived the first tropical storm of 2016.  Neighbors said everything looks fine - some palm fronds were down and some street flooding.  They said it was horrible during the night.

We just watched Hillary talk about being the first female presidential candidate...wow!  History again.  Eight years ago the US made history and this year, too.

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Monday

Another beautiful day in the neighborhood.  Unfortunately, it got chilly with the door open, so we had to close it this evening!  We ate lunch out on the balcony and we ate dinner out there, but I was cold!  Dave had on his flannel shirt, so he wasn't cold.

I filed paperwork today...hate that job.  Maybe I won't have to do it again until right before we leave for Florida in the fall.  Hope out little home is okay there.  TS Colin has hit the area so hope to hear from our neighbors tomorrow.

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Sunday

The weather here was absolutely perfect today - 83 with little humidity and a nice breeze.  We were able too have the house opened up again today.  It is lovely sitting here this evening.

Church was great and then we came home for lunch.  We had tenderloins the other day at Whiskey Road.  They were so big we had two huge pieces as leftovers!

Dave went to Bryan's this afternoon so I watched the Cubs game and now we're watching the Cardinals.  Very disappointing game for the Cubs today.  Darn it!

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Saturday

Dave decided he wanted to rest another day, so we were pretty quiet today.  We did meet Bryan, Erin, and Aidan for pizza this evening.  Aidan LOVES pizza!  He was a little fussy because he'd just fallen asleep when they got to Old Chicago.  He slept on his daddy until our food came.  Then he woke up and realized there was pizza!

We had a real Chicago experience today.  We watched the Cubs win, the White Sox lose, and then we ate at Old Chicago - Chicago style crust!

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Friday at the Hospital

We spent a great deal of our day at the hospital.  Nothing serious...Dave had a colonoscopy scheduled for 10:00.  We didn't get out of there until about 1:00 or so.  Went to Whiskey Road in Cedar Falls for lunch and then home to rest from our ordeal.

It was another beautiful day - one where we could have the windows and doors open!

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Another quiet day

Boy was it ever pretty out today.  We opened up the condo and had it open all day.  I did some more paperwork, but I didn't feel very well today.  I'm still off balance but I've quit taking my dizzy pills.  I took an allergy pill today.  My sinuses are just so sore.  I don't have any symptoms of a cold or sinus infection, they just hurt!  

Dave has a colonoscopy tomorrow so we'll be a bit busy tomorrow.  He has to get up very early tomorrow and finish off his gallon of "stuff".  Yuck!

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Quiet Day

I had a dermatology appointment today, but not until 2:30.  So I worked on paperwork for a while this morning.  We got the laundry done yesterday after we got home.  Dave took the camper out to the storage area while I went to my doctor's appointment.  I had a couple of things I wanted burned off and the doctor said my skin looked pretty good.

Now we're watching the Cubs win!

More later...