Thursday

We had over 3 inches of rain again this morning.  It was really raining hard in the night and again when I first woke up this morning!  The grass/weeds around our homes loved the last couple of rains - everything's so green!  It stayed in the 70's today so both of our walks were wonderful.  We've had the house wide open all day! 

I did a couple of alcohol ink paintings today while Dave painted the driveway. 

We also played some dominoes - he's so darn lucky!!  I watched my 8th class this afternoon.  Now I'm on my own with Lightroom.  I feel like I really learned a lot!  I'll be going through my pictures and making them better!

More later...

Wednesday

We finally had Spectrum come out and figure out why our internet keeps coming and going.  It seems to be fixed now.  Dave bought a new router thinking that would fix it, but it didn't.  Unfortunately, the repair guy came during my photography class so I missed about 45 minutes of that.  While he was here, I took my phone to Verizon to have them figure out why I'm missing calls.  I don't think what he did will take care of that problem, but time will tell.

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Tuesday

Had an early appointment with my cancer doctor's office.  I had his PA today - I hardly ever see him.  My tests were good, so the report was good..  I don't go back until Nov 3rd now.  I also got my Prolia shot today. 

After that we headed to see Sudi & Howard.  But we made a little detour to get an orange and vanilla ice cream cone!  Then we went to SeaBreeze's overflow parking lot where we did social distancing, but got to visit with our good friends and get some sun, too. 

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Monday

What a gorgeous day we had today.  It was pretty much perfect.  In fact, I've still got the windows open!  Feels really good.

Our electricity went down for a while tonight - the whole park.  Lots of people outside when we took our evening walk. Since the power was off, we ordered curbside from Cheddar's.  Yum!!  Did you know they even give you crescent rolls with takeout?!  Double yum!

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Sunday

When we walked early this morning, it was already pretty warm and sticky!  When we got home,, the air conditioning felt really, really good!  We listened to our church services and got uplifted for the rest of the day.

This afternoon, the weather turned much cooler with very low humidity.  Our evening walk was much more pleasant!  

We played some dominoes this afternoon and I "attended" part 4 of my photography class online.  Then after our walk this evening, we went over to John & Gayle's to visit with them before they leave for New Hampshire in the morning.  We'll miss them a bunch!

Here's the two "paintings" I did yesterday.  They are both very bright!

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Saturday

Lots of humidity today!  My hair needs cut so badly, but even though it's longer than normal, today it was really curly!  I guess I'm lucky!! 

We walked twice today.  This morning wasn't so bad, but the evening walk was just a bit  oppressive.  We had 4.5 inches of rain yesterday so it's understandable!  It sure made things clean around here...and the grass actually perked up, too!

I did a couple of red paintings today and we played dominoes.  I went with Dave to pick up groceries at Walmart.  LOTS of people there...only about 10% of them were wearing masks.  How stupid are these people!!

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Friday

This was a very interesting day at The Ranch.  It started thundering about 5:00 AM and it's still thundering at 9:30 PM.  We sneaked in a walk between the rain drops this morning, but we didn't get to walk this afternoon.  About 10:30 we'd already had over 3" of rain.  I have no idea what's in the gauge now!  We needed rain, though, so I'm not complaining!!

I did day 2 of the Lightroom class through this photography group I belong to.  It's an 8-part class so from 2:00 to 4:00 each day I'm watching online. 

I forgot to mention, in our domino marathon, I finally won one.  Dave has won 3 and me 1.  I'm already behind by about 50 points in the set game.  Grrr!

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Thursday

This was a lazy day for me.  After our walk this morning, I watched The View..  Dave fixed burgers on the grill.  This afternoon I "attended" a class about the program Lightroom live on Facebook.  It's an 8-day class.  The first half of today's class was great and then the instructor couldn't get Lightroom to load after break.  So the second hour, I played solitaire and listened to him answer questions, etc.  Lightroom has to be open to learn about the various components of it.

This evening, I watched a bit of the NFL draft.  I wanted to see Joe Burrow's parents when he was chosen #1.  Joe's dad coached at Iowa State when I was there.

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Wednesday

Beautiful day here today!  Mid 80's and low humidity.  That's supposed to change in the next day or two. 

I played with ink today and Dave piddled.  We walked both of our walks. 

Then this evening we did something new.  We had a Zoom meeting with some of the people in our condo building in Waterloo.  That was fun!    Everyone looks good!!  

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Tuesday

Dave and I walked early this morning because it was going to be hot and humid today.  Then he worked on a lady's roof the rest of the morning and a lot of the afternoon.  It's under a big tree so it gets tons of droppings from that tree.  Took him far longer than he anticipated.

I had a follow-up mammogram this afternoon.  I didn't have to have an ultrasound so they must not have seen anything new...anyway I'm hoping.  I don't like wearing a mask - I think it's hard to breathe, plus it's warm and I'm already plenty warm!

Our evening walk was delightful.  The temperature was wonderful and lots of people were out.  It took us much longer than usual!

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Monday

Just another day in isolation.  I did finish a book today - Bays End by Edward Lorn.  Great story line if you can get past the language.  This is a story of 13 year olds coming of age.  Potty mouths, all of them!!  Still a good read, though.

No naps, so I'm tired tonight. 

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Sunday

We both did three church services again this morning after our early walk.  Loved the music at all 3 today!  Messages were good, too.

Ordered curbside from Olive Garden (buy one, get one).  Played a little dominoes and read a bit.  Took our walk this evening.  Other than that it was a pretty lazy day!

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Saturday

After breakfast and showers, we went for our walk.  The streets were quiet and empty.  We were a bit earlier, but not that early.  

After lunch I did a couple of paintings.  This was my first attempt at a wispy alcohol ink painting.  I think I'll frame it and see what it looks like on one of our walls.  I'm pretty happy with it.  

I tried to do a wispy painting in reds and oranges, but it didn't turn out the way I wanted.  I will use it for backgrounds instead!   I didn't even take a picture of it!

This evening when we took our walk, we heard several more complaints about the German Shepherd that we had a run-in with.  By the way, the manager basically said there was nothing we could do about the dog.  She's talked to the owner and me and told us to "play nice".  We both have to live here.  When that dog bites someone, I can't wait to say, "I told you so!" 

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Friday

What a beautiful day!  Both times walking  today we didn't run into that stupid dog owner and my face didn't leak!!  That's what I call success!

We didn't do much today.  I read a bit and made cookies for Dave, but that's about all there was to my day.  Again Dave clobbered me in dominoes.  I've got to find something I can win other than bowling!

On one of our walks today, we saw this cactus blooming.  It is beautiful!

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Thursday

Yesterday we about melted walking...today we wore jackets!  Weird weather!  I guess that's a sign of Spring.  Today we got both of our walks in by 4:00.  That was strange, but nice.  We did, however, about get attacked by a German Shepherd.  We were walking down one side of the street and the dog and his owner were walking on the other side of the street coming at us.  The dog started barking viciously and started lunging at us with his teeth bared.  I stopped because I wasn't sure the lady could control the dog.  Scared me nearly to death.  I just knew I was going to get bit.  Dave kept on walking but I just froze.  I filed a complaint with the office suggesting that the dog needs to be muzzled.  Larraine and her little dog had a run-in with this same dog a couple of days ago.  The owner apologized profusely but that's not enough as far as I'm concerned.

I opened up our house today and let some of that wonderfully cool air in - especially while I was working with my inks.  Here is what I did today:

I did 5 different ones.  My paper cutter is broken so I've ordered a new one.  These sheets each cut down to 4 card-sized backgrounds.  

More later...

PS:  Dave is clobbering me in dominoes!  He's won every day so far!  

Wednesday

After our walk this morning, I got out the alcohol inks and made a couple more 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of backgrounds.  These two are so pretty in person - the pictures do not do them justice at all!  There was so much humidity coming in the open window that I stopped with two.  The ink was puddling with the moisture in the air.  We had 80% humidity this morning.  

This afternoon while we were playing dominoes, we had a nice little rain - only about a quarter of an inch, but we needed it!  We walked about 6:00, right after supper.  The humidity is 92% now - almost complete saturation!

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Tuesday

Whew!  It was so hot walking this morning!  I was so hot, I jumped in the shower just to cool down!  I guess it wasn't so hot, but it was very humid!  We waited until almost 8:00 tonight to walk.  It was much nicer!

We picked up groceries from Walmart this afternoon.  We got everything we ordered except for red seedless grapes. 

Some of my backgrounds.  It's supposed to be cooler tomorrow so I may do some more.  I have to have good ventilation, so I open a window.  When it's hot and humid like today, I don't want the window open!]

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Monday

Happy birthday, Dave!  All Dave wanted me to do for his birthday was make him a chicken noodle casserole.  So I did that for supper.  Then we got the birthday cake out of the freezer (left over from my birthday).  So we had cake and half a Wendy's frosty for his birthday...and chicken noodle casserole! 

We walked twice today, but tonight's walk ended in the dark!  We had to wait for it to cool down.  I was still drenched when we got home!

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Sunday

Happy Easter!  Dave and I walked early this morning so that  we got home in time to "go" to church at 9:30.  After that service, I watched the Easter Sunrise service and then watched 1st Presbyterian Church in Ottumwa's service.

Dave and I ordered breakfast from Speggtacular for lunch!  The food was really good.  We sat in the car in the parking lot and ate it.  It was nice to have bacon and eggs at a restaurant!

This afternoon we played a few "hands" of dominoes and then watered and dead-headed the flowers next door!  They are blooming like crazy!  I also ordered groceries but we can't get them until Tuesday now.

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Saturday

This is a photo of yesterday's alcohol inking.  I have 60 of the backgrounds done at this point, but I'm going to keep doing a few more.  It's so fun!  The ones I made today are a little "wilder" - I used a combination of colors.  I found out that hand sanitizer removes the ink from your hands - yay!

Dave and I went for a drive late this morning.  We just needed to see the water!  We got gas at Sam's for $1.55/gallon and then went over to the Courtney Campbell Causeway...just to see the beauty.  We couldn't park anywhere because the parking lots are all closed.  Lots of people walking, running, and riding bikes along there.  A few were not practicing isolation techniques!!

We got both our walks in and even played dominoes for a while today!

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Good Friday

We walked pretty early this morning, but the humidity made my face leak!!  This evening's walk was much nicer!

I did some more backgrounds today, but not until after I cleaned house.  Dave vacuumed one room and did the laundry.  I dusted, vacuumed, disinfected everything, and still got to play!  These are some I did yesterday.  I forgot to take pictures of today's output!

Tomorrow I need to balance our bank accounts.  Yuck!  

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Thursday

It was very humid walking this morning!  My hair (which needs cut badly) is really curly/wavy today!  We put off our evening walk until about 8:00 PM when it was much cooler!

Dave washed off our awnings today after he went and got groceries that we couldn't order online - frozen stuff and fresh produce.  I worked on some of my ink backgrounds.  I've still got the inks and everything out.  It's very fun to play with and if you don't like a  spot, you add more ink or you add alcohol and keep working until you do like it!  I sure wish I had some plastic gloves, though, as my hands get pretty inky!!

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Wednesday

I did something new today!  I used clippers and cut Dave's hair.  I didn't do too badly if I do say so myself.  We also ordered food from Abe's...yum!!  Both of us saved half of our meal for tomorrow.  Dave has been wanting a hamburger, so he got one today - even though we were going to order from Fat Cat's...anyway that was the plan yesterday. 

We got both of our walks in today.  This evening we waited until after 7:30 to walk.  It was a great time to be outside - nice and cool. 

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Tuesday

Tomorrow we're going to try ordering from another restaurant nearby...another adventure!  Fat Cat Tavern just up the road is having 1/2 pound hamburger specials tomorrow and Dave loves hamburgers.  Me, not so much.  I like them made out of 95-97% meat (hardly any fat) and pretty much well done.  You don't get that in a restaurant so you don't see me ordering one.  I'll probably have boneless chicken wings or something like that.  We finished our Olive Garden meals.  I stretched my two meals into 7 helpings and Dave ate his two meals in 4 servings.  Let's see...$36 divided by 11 is about $3.25/meal...not too shabby.  We'll do that again!

Had some excitement around the park today.  Don (our oldest resident) was walking his dog when a car backed out of a driveway and hit him - walker and all.  He was taken to the hospital and released tonight.  He's sore, but no concussion.  Thank goodness.  Then down the street from us (3 houses south), we saw a pickup with a bunch of kids toys in the back.  The people with the pickup weren't 45, but we assumed they were helping their parents move in and the toys were for the grandkids when they came over.  I guess our maintenance man told them they couldn't live here so they moved out before they got moved in.  It wasn't the grandparents moving in - it was the family with 2 kids.  Seems the lady traded her mobile for a car and didn't bother to have the couple approved by the park.  She's Latino and said it was her home and she could do with it as she pleased.  Whew!  Glad they got that settled. 

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Monday

It was another great day here.  It's starting to get a little humid this evening, but we had the windows open all day.  We were able to get both of our walks in without me getting too hot!  Dave painted the lanai floor today and painted Kathy's vent covers. 

I finished another 1000 page book.  It's book 2 in a 3 book series by Ken Follett.  This one was Winter of the World.  Ken Follett is one of my favorite authors.  Years ago I read Pillars of the Earth and loved it..  This 3-book series follows 5 interrelated families - American, German, Russian, British, and Welsh.  Character development is wonderful...he also throws in lots of real people too.  His books are what I would call historical fiction...with an emphasis on historical.  The first book took us thru WWI and this book has taken us through WW2.  I don't know what the last book will cover yet, but I'll definitely read it.  Each book takes me around 25 hours to read!

Speaking of reading, I read The Nightingale which was another great book about WW2.  Really well written, also. 

More later..

Sunday

We went to 3 different churches again today.  I  like "going" to church in my jammies!!  Three different sermons by 3 good pastors.  I'm also going to listen to Brian Diebold's sermon.  His mom, who is a bit prejudiced, says it was the best Palm Sunday sermon she'd ever heard. 

We got both of our walks in - even though it was drizzling on us both times.  We might try going back to the park tomorrow...Dave said he read that it was open.  We  saw some pretty flowers here at The Ranch, but I'd rather see alligators and birds!

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Saturday

Today I really felt bored.  I didn't take a nap.  I did read, and played games.  Put away groceries after Dave picked them up.  Other than our walks, I didn't do much! 

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Friday

I had a very productive day.  I got all of my paperwork done and filed...except our passports expire in October and I didn't do anything about that.  I will one  of these days.

We got our two walks in again today - we're now just walking here at The Ranch.  Tomorrow we pick up another order of groceries.  Unfortunately they won't pick frozen items, or unfrozen meat, and I understand that.  So Dave will run into Publix and get what we couldn't get at Walmart.  Next time I'm going to try ordering from either Publix or Winn Dixie and see how that goes!

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Thursday

I had a sleepless night last night.  For some reason I was just wound up!  I think it was because I was putting together our tax papers and couldn't find some of the receipts I needed.  Then I got panicky because April 15th is right around the corner.  So, I just got up and worked on the taxes with no interruptions and got them mostly finished by 7:00 AM.  I took an hour nap later this morning and then this afternoon I took a good nap. 

We walked here in the park both times today.  We also did a video chat with Bryan, Erin, and Aidan.  Kaitlyn was already asleep.  Bummer!

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Wednesday

First thing this morning, I wanted so badly to "April Fool" Dave.  He's so easy!!  I get him every year, usually with the same statement.  I had read on Facebook, though, that they were trying to keep April Fools jokes to a minimum because of covid19...so I decided not to subject Dave.  My dad always got us every year, so it's bred into me!!  We had 40 head of ponies when I was growing up and this time of year is when the mares would start having babies.  So Dad would come wake me up telling me that Cherry had her baby and they were going out to see it.  So I got up, threw on some clothes, and head for the door only to hear, "April Fools!" 

Since I couldn't do that I worked on taxes instead.  I'm almost ready to send them off.  Should have them ready to mail tomorrow.  I'm a little  late this year, but I don't have everything yet.

We walked twice today here in the park.  It was a lovely cool day - we even had our windows open until about 9:30 tonight!!  Love that!  I also worked on some more backgrounds.  Now I'm done until my new paper gets here.  Alcohol inks take a special plastic paper or a non-porous surface. 

This is so fun.  I sure wish plastic gloves weren't scarce, though.  My hands get a bit messy!!

More later...