Tuesday

It was another really hot day in SE Iowa! Right now, at 9:00 at night, it's 83 here, 85 in Clearwater and 82 in Fort Lauderdale. How crazy is that??? June isn't usually this hot or rainy! I went outside to mow about 10:00 this morning. Dave told me the mower had plenty of gas - wrong again!! I got about 3/4 of the way finished and ran out of gas! The gas can is a 6 gallon can and was clear full...and the mower was at the front of the yard. There was no way I could carry that can AND lift it to get the gas in the mower, so I had to call Dave! About 1:00 he slipped home just long enough to fill the mower and go around the perimeter (which I won't do!). So I went outside and finished my job!

I had gotten so hot mowing, that my clothes were just soaked! When I came inside to wait for him to come I about froze to death! Wet clothes and air conditioning just don't mix! While I was outside I also had to water flowers. Believe it or not, they were dry! I got the flowers watered and pulled a few weeds while I was out there! Our lawn looks beautiful, if I do say so myself!!

I've been playing Zuma Blitz on Facebook tonight. I basically stink at that game!! I don't have any clue how my friends get half a million points! Howard usually has OVER a million points! I just don't react quickly enough, I guess! Tomorrow's another day - maybe I'll get better over night - ha!!

More later...

Another day, another ballgame!

Here it is Monday and we went to another of Allison's ballgames - this one was in Keota. At least it wasn't quite so far to drive!! This time, we didn't take lawn chairs, because there are ALWAYS bleachers...NOT! Thank goodness we got there early. There was one park bench behind home plate, so all three of us sat on it! It was really nice, actually...no one was yelling in our ears and no one had their knees in our backs! Allison pitched really, really well tonight. She struck out 6 and one girl got a hit on her. We won 9-0 or something like that...I stopped counting after while.

After the game we stopped at a convenience store in Keota to get something to eat and to use their facilities. They didn't have much except ice cream, so we all had malts and shakes! Pretty good supper in my opinion!

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Super Sunday!

I love Sundays! I love going to church! I love singing wonderful songs! I love hearing the sermons! I love being with my church friends!! It was great to see Pastor Sara today. Pastor David and Liz are vacationing this weekend - I hope they're enjoying themselves. Since David was gone, Sara filled the pulpit today. She did her usual bang-up job! For her children's message, Faith was the only young person in attendance...so, I became a young person!! Sara said I was on my second childhood!! Anyway, good job Sara! The Ascension makes for a great sermon!

This afternoon, Dave and I went to the Habitat home dedication. It was very well attended - even some of the neighbors came over to see the house and welcome their new neighbor! I took lots of pictures, but I didn't get them uploaded yet. I've got to downsize all of them and send them to the homeowner's sister. It takes a long time to downsize a bunch of pictures. I wonder if there's a way to re-size a batch of pictures instead of having to do them one at a time?

Allison's tournament got cancelled today - too much rain! As hot as it was yesterday, I think those kids on all the teams deserved to stay home today!

More later...

Hot Time in Kalona!

We had (actually Allison had) three games today in Kalona, so Bob, Ann & I were on the road at 7:30 AM to be there for a 9:00 game! The 9:00 game was hot, but the 10:30 game was even hotter! Thank God for a little breeze! I had a golf umbrella in the car - that was all that saved me from melting!! The girls did very well - they won both of those games. At 9:00 we played a team that we'd played before - I can't think where they're from. At 10:30 we played the Ottumwa team and Allison pitched! She did really well!! At one point she had the bases loaded because no one could catch a ball today!! However, even with the bases loaded and 2 outs, she struck out the next batter!!

After the second game we went downtown to the Kalona Family Restaurant for lunch. It was packed today! Then we had to get back to the ballpark for a 1:00 game. This game wasn't very pretty - we lost 15-5! The coach let a girl pitch the first inning, who has only pitched once before - she walked in 5 runs! Then the second inning, another one of the girls took over and she let them score 5 runs! She also pitched part of the 3rd inning and they scored another 5 runs!! I know the coach is trying to get some other girls used to pitching, but when they walk in 5 runs, no one but the catcher is doing any work - everyone in the field is just standing there looking off into space! Allison was catching and she had to chase down all of the errant balls the pitchers threw! It started raining on us in this third game, but it at least cooled us down. It pretty much rained the whole 3rd game!!

I've included some pictures from last night. These are pictures of her league team - not the same team as today.
Then this is a picture of her delivering a pitch last night. Unfortunately they got beat last night - that was the first loss I'd seen this year!
Dave worked at Habitat all day. Tomorrow is the house's dedication and they had all kinds of problems today. So he'll be going to the house to work in the morning instead of going to church. As for me, I'll be going to church and then I'm planning to attend the dedication.

Today in O-town was the funeral for the soldier who died in Afghanistan this past week. I guess there were a few protestors there - but only about 5 or 6. Mostly, however, there were many, many people holding flags and lining the streets of Ottumwa, showing support for the young man's family. The pictures I've seen on Facebook are wonderful. The Patriot Guard was here in full force too. Very impressive. I would have liked to have been there too, but I could only be in one place at a time!!

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Quick Tonight

Just a quick note tonight. We didn't get home until after 10:00. Allison's ballgame went until 7:30 and then she wanted to go to Pizza Ranch for supper. You should have seen that kid eat! There were 12 of us that sat together...3 sets of grandparents, Dave & I, some friends from Libertyville, and Vicki & Allison! She pitched pretty well tonight, but her team pretty much sucked! They have two girls who are afraid of the ball and step out of the batter's box as the pitch leaves the pitcher's hands. A couple more girls couldn't hit the ball if their life depended on it and several who can't catch the ball, including the other coach's daughter!

Tomorrow I pick Bob & Ann up at 7:30 AM to go to Kalona to watch more games - 9:00, 10:30 and 1:00! I hope it's cloudy!!

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Thursday

This was one of those days when you'd just like to curl up with a book and eventually fall asleep! We had a nice gentle rain that came straight down so I didn't even have to close the windows or doors! I got all of my backpacks done and delivered this morning, just before Dave got home. Since it was raining, he couldn't work so he came home to help me find mirrors for the bathroom.

After lunch I had an appointment with Dr. Coram for my back. I had about 3 of those horribly hard back spasms while he was working on me. He assures me, though, that my back is going to get better - we've just got to work them kinks out of it! When I got home from seeing him, I went upstairs and read for a little while - mainly to straighten my back. Then Dave and I went out looking for mirrors and curtains and rugs for the bathroom. We went to Target where they had one mirror that was kind of interesting, but a little too formal. We did, however, find rugs there. Then we went to K-Mart where they didn't have any mirrors except little ones or door mirrors. We did get some curtains there though. After that we went to Walmart, where we came out with nothing!! We'd already been to Menards the other day. Tonight I ordered two mirrors from Bed, Bath & Beyond! Thank you, internet!! Shipping was only $11 and Dave said we couldn't drive to Des Moines and back for $11! He's probably right because we'd find some other things we wanted in Des Moines, or I'd have talked him into going to Hobby Lobby and out to lunch, etc...yup, wise choice to order online!

We tried out a new Mexican restaurant tonight - Los Jimadores. It was very good...the best part was they had margaritas for $1.99 on Thursdays - all day!! We had a jumbo margarita that we shared. It was so big we had a hard time drinking it all!! I tried to get them to give me a to-go cup, but they wouldn't :( !!!

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It's Late!

I just got home from Wellman where Allison was playing ball tonight! I'm very tired...had a long day! I had to be at church this morning at 9:30 to sew backpacks. We sewed until 1:00 and I brought home 10 to finish. I got 4 and a half done before Bob & Ann picked me up to go to the softball game! So tomorrow I'll get 5.5 done!!

Allison pitched the first two innings tonight. She did a really good job. No hits off of her! No walks! She did hit a girl with a pitch, so there was a base runner, but she didn't score! We won 12-1. She was funny tonight. When we got there she was a little grumpy! She'd stayed up late (midnight or after) and besides softball, she's attending basketball camp at Washington HS. No wonder she was grumpy! She's tired!!

More later...