It's Wednesday - A "Day Off" With a Ton of Stuff To Do

I have a stack of bills to be paid on my desk, an empty refrigerator that needs populating, and 10 audio credits that need to be used up before April. I won't listen to the books that quickly, but I can get them purchased and into my cyber-library within the next week or two. I'm on the final audio book of a 30+ book series, and I'm starting another huge series after this one. I just need to see which book of that second series I left off with in my purchasing and get the next 10 bought and processed for the proper audio file type. I also have bills to cyber-pay. It'll be a busy day all around and DH is in a total frump. 

I have a bunch that needs doing on my "day off", not 
even including the three loads of laundry and making 
the beds that's standard for a Wednesday. My "day off" is 
almost busier than a work day. 

It's a bad time of the year for DH, and adding closing the store to his mix and he's at boiling point all the way. But, he still has time to lie back in the evening and watch the Olympics. Not double-tasking the way that I do with the TV on behind me and me on the computer getting things accomplished. No ... he's kicked back in bed, watching the TV like a slug. *sigh* GRRR

I enjoy "watching" TV, although it's rare for me to actually 
pay a lot of attention to the screen. I'd much rather be 
reading a book. He's a TV addict. Maybe that comes from 
being the third child when I was an only child and had to 
self-entertain. He needs outside stimulation to be entertained, 
I'm happy with a book. 

I can work out some of my frustration in the pool in an hour, but really? For example, I got home last night, ate a quick dinner, and then gathered the trash together to take out to the bins. Today is trash and recycling pickup day. Then I grabbed my tea and went down to the computer to catch up on emails and notifications while listening to the Olympics on the TV behind me. I even watched a little bit of them. He went up to bed, settled down and watched the TV, then came down to yell at me about something I had apparently done incorrectly when I picked up our income taxes last week, and then went back upstairs again. Good grief! GRRRRRR

I'm really tired of getting yelled at all of the time. I understand 
his stress levels are high, but so are mine and I don't yell 
at him. GRRRRRR Retirement isn't looking like it will be 
any fun at all. 

Today I have to ride him hard about getting the shelving photos sent to me. I need to get that file populated ASAP and a "day off" is a great day in which to get some serious computer work done (between a quick run to the framers to get a mis-cut frame redone and another one routed out. I may not get the frames back until next week, but maybe they can have it on Friday. I might be able to take a quick run out there, although I really don't get my Fridays off any more. 

This is my YMCA from the air. Obviously in the summer, when 
the outdoor pool is open. The black square is the main building 
which houses the gym, the building connecting the black roof 
to the pool area is the rest of the gym - basketball court, running 
track, weight room, lots of machines, etc., and the indoor pool. 
It's a big complex with a little bit of family for those of us who 
meet at the front doors every day. 

Enough bitching, though. I have a swimming pool waiting for me to work out my frustrations in, so I'm wrapping this up and heading to the YMCA. Have an excellent Wednesday. Be kind, enjoy the Olympics, and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Time - Not Really My Friend Today

Just a fast post today. It's a swimming day, DH is already stirring (during MY quiet time) and my internet connection required me to actually move to the study to do my morning meditation. Thank goodness I was able to connect downstairs because upstairs simply didn't happen this morning. 

A fast post this morning. I have about ten 
minutes before I need to leave for the swimming 
pool. 

Yesterday's crazy schedule actually went quite well. I got my injection - I'm always a bit astounded by getting an injection in the back of my arm instead of into the upper arm muscle, but it's almost completely painless in this area, and the more standard way of injections always is painful. So I guess it's a win even though it's a massively expensive procedure. This is for bone health, which I don't really have - LOL. My exercise regime and my diet help my bones, but not enough. Chemical assistance is necessary. But I'm done for another six months now. Yippee! 

I was getting Prolea for my bones, but the Doc switched 
me over to some other name now - a generic. Since each
 injection is almost $2000! (Yeah - that many zeroes), I'm 
fine with whatever he recommends. Thank goodness for 
health insurance or I'd be totally sunk. 

I got quite a lot of cooking done. I found a wonderful package of six boneless pork chops that were calling my name. So I made a quick cook of those yesterday and I have my meals for the next few days ready. The trash and recycling were finally picked up, and my recycling bin is already at least 1/3 filled with what I couldn't fit into it yesterday. Just missing a single pickup can really mess things up and I was off schedule on the last pickup. My bad. 

I usually only have one week's worth of 
trash, but this time I was double that, and 
the recycling was a month's worth. My 
cans were FULL. 

My swimming friend, Rosemary, has been MIA and we've all been concerned about her. Sabrina, our "Gate Gargoyle" was determined to make sure she was OK (Rosemary is elderly and lives alone with only a land-line, no cell phone). We both were very concerned. But she managed to contact Rosemary on Tuesday afternoon. Apparently she's sick - too sick to swim. No surprise there - she spent a week closed up in a large rental house with her three sons and their assorted families. It's a New Year's tradition for the family - they come to Northern Minnesota from all over the nation for this after-Christmas reunion. She ALWAYS gets sick from the kids. Always. Hopefully she'll be feeling better today and will be back at the YMCA to reclaim her swimming lane. 

So, I'm out of here. Have an excellent Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow on another very busy day with another doctor appointment - the story of my life sometimes - LOL. Slava Ukraini. 

You Brighten My Days

I finally had a good night's sleep, and after a week of no virtual reality on my treadmill, I'm back up and running on that as well. It was pure delight to be on the treadmill for my 45 minutes looking at scenery I've seen many times before, but that doesn't matter to me. What's important to me is that I have something other than a computer screen of nothingness to look at while I'm using the treadmill. I'm back up and running for another year now, and I'm VERY happy. 

There are actually a lot of virtual scenery runs out there on 
the internet, and I have internet connectivity with my treadmill. 
So one of these days I'll explore accessing new runs on my screen. 
But for now, my Treo Wellness videos are pretty extensive and 
I enjoy them. It's just to keep my mine occupied while fast walking, 
because "running" is a rather boring activity. 

I've always been a fairly active person - not much for sitting in a chair for 8+ hours a day, day after day, week after week. I'm not a fitness guru, and not a fitness junky, I'm just someone who enjoys being active because I'm stuck in front of a computer screen and keyboard for far too many hours every day. So when I turned 60 and could get an inexpensive membership to the YMCA, I joined and started swimming again after decades away from the pool. It was a re-learning experience but I loved it. I also used their gym where I used the bicycles and the treadmills most often. 

There's a lot of great equipment that I can use at the 
YMCA, bur I prefer to exercise at home except for the 
swimming pool. I really don't have room for a pool 
at my house - LOL. 

Being there often and meeting the same group of people led to friendships that I cherish, experiences shared, and stories exchanged in front of the doors as we wait for them to be unlocked every morning. I've seen Gate Gargoyles come and go over the years, and I'm still friends with several of them. I still swim, but I use my home treadmill because it's mine, it's a really good one, and I love it. But I learned what I wanted in a treadmill because of the treadmills I used at the YMCA. 

I enjoy keeping in touch with my virtual friends, many 
of whom I've had for decades now. You're JUST as important 
to me as any physical friendships, maybe (in some ways) 
even more important to my grounding and general wellbeing. 
*hugs* to all of you! 

I give myself Sundays off - I allow myself a bit of extra sleep and a longer than usual meditation time. It's a Sunday - I'm only in a rush on that day when we're heading out to the Renaissance Festival. Otherwise, I try my best to be lazy before jumping back into the rat race of commerce once again. But the other thing that I do regularly - six days a week - is post in this blog, which I copy over to Dreamwidth and LiveJournal. It's one of the ways that I keep in touch with friends whom I've never had the joy of meeting in person. When I don't post, people get a bit worried. It's comforting to have friends - in person or cyber - who actually care about me, and it's also flattering. I hope you have friends in your lives who brighten them as much as many of you, my readers, brighten mine. Have an excellent weekend and I'll be back on Monday. Slava Ukraini. 

Running Late - Just a Quick Post

Happy Tuesday to all of my friends in cyber-land. It's going to be a beautiful day. Yesterday was a bit of a slog, but I was busy and had good sales, so I'm happy. I pulled down all of the sale flyers and informational signs we had posted, and the store looks like normal once again. DH has been spending his time sorting and packaging feathers. We have a LOT of feathers that need to be put out for sale - mostly pheasant of various types. They're lovely but they'd look even better in someone else's handiwork. 

We have a LOT of feathers. DH has spent days 
sorting them by length so that we can get them bagged 
and out onto the sales floor for our customers. They're 
quite lovely, but a bit labor intensive. 

It's a swimming day today, and I'm quite grateful I wasn't swimming yesterday. I got a notification on my phone that my YMCA had closed because of a power outage. That would mean that everyone in the swimming pool would be required to leave the pool, even though they weren't actually inside the building. I'll have to find out what happened today. I suspect it wasn't a long outage, but I'm quite sure it was inconvenient for a lot of people. 

We also have a lot of the Red Tipped Pheasant 
feathers, from Golden Pheasants. It's been days 
and days of sorting, bagging, sealing and pricing 
feathers. *sigh*

It's August already, the clock is ticking down and I was supposed to have received an email from the company I'm thinking about hiring for our final sale. But, I looked through all of my emails just now and didn't see one. I'll have to phone them again later today to find out why. 

So, I'm off to the pool. I'mm try to grab a few breaths and calm down a bit, but it's already looking like it's going to be a very busy day spent chasing my tail. *sigh* I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

I'm Running Late. Have to Get Moving

My cupboards are no longer bare - or at least my refrigerator is once again stocked with my cooked fruit for breakfast. I'm quite pleased about that because I was completely OUT! A rare occasion. But yesterday I picked up more pears and added apples and blueberries and nectarines to the mix. It's going to be wonderfully tasty and I'm already looking forward to my first portion after my morning swim. 

Properly speaking, my fruit is roasted, not baked, 
and yesterday I used pears, apples, nectarines and 
added some blueberries into the mix (the photo is 
NOT what I cooked, but it's similar). I add chopped 
nuts to the mix as well. It's a perfect breakfast meal 
for me. 

Aearwen and I had a lovely chat yesterday afternoon to cap off my day. All in all, it was a perfect day, and I don't get those often. Everything clicked into place, no electronics had hissy-fits, no unexpected errands cropped up, and everything worked like clockwork. My days aren't usually like that, so I was quite pleased. 

Yesterday was almost perfect. Not quite, but closer than 
it's been in months. I'll take it! 

The outdoor pool opens tomorrow, and it's been COLD outside. Now, it's not a Minnesota winter cold - not subzero with blizzard conditions (thank goodness!), but it's been in the mid 40's in the mornings and that's cold for running in and out of the outdoor pool. I'm glad I don't swim outdoors until next Tuesday, although I don't think we're getting any big warm-up before then either *sigh*. I like swimming in the outdoor pool - seeing the sun rise while swimming, and having that Olympic length are both serious plusses. But I really HATE the run out and back again until summer temperatures really take hold. Summer temps are NOT here yet. 

The YMCA outdoor pool opens over the weekend. I'll be 
swimming outdoors, welcoming the sunrise for the next 
few months. I enjoy the outdoor pool, but it's a cold run 
to and from the building. 

I guess I don't have much to say today - LOL - and I'm also running low on time, so I'll just wish all of you a wonderful Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow. Be kind, listen to others, pet your non-human companions, and celebrate another day of life. Slava Ukraini. 

Missing Friends and Writing Stories - All is Good

My friend Rosemary has been MIA and we've been concerned. Rosemary is like the watch that "takes a licking but keeps on ticking". She's an older woman, maybe cracking five feet tall and probably 90 pounds - very small. But she's a power house. Norwegian in ancestry, she exhibits all of the positive traits of the Vikings - strength, perseverance (or stubbornness), and a bright interest in the world. She's at the pool every day for the 5:00 am opening, and if she won't be there, she always lets us know. 

Rosemary is at the swimming pool five days a week for 
the 5:00 am opening. She's been there for years, and the 
days she's missed she's been out of town with family, or 
something else that she always tells us about in advance. 
That wasn't the case this time. 

She was at the pool on Monday and our mutual friend, Meg, said she had looked quite tired and had even said that she was exhausted. She had family visiting over the weekend and probably overdid it entertaining her kin. On Tuesday she wasn't at the pool, and we were all a bit concerned, but figured she was taking a day to recuperate. On Wednesday she wasn't there, and we tried calling her and leaving a message on her machine (she never actually picks up the phone, and she's old fashioned - land line only, no cell phone). 

Rosemary was MIA. This is something that NEVER 
happens. I'll be scolding her and making her promise 
to call one of us if something like this ever happens again. 

On Thursday she wasn't there again. This set alarm bells off for several of us, and I determined to do a bit more in-depth searching after I was finished with my swim. I asked our gate gargoyle - Sabrina - to look into the computer and find her address for me. I wanted to drive by her house to do a wellness check on her since she has no living relations in the Twin Cities area. Sabrina agreed and gave me the information, making me promise I'd phone her with the results. 

So, I went to Rosemary's house on my way to the shop. It's a lovely house, very well kept up, neat and tidy. But all of the lights were off, and there was no answer nor any sign of life. I couldn't see if her car was in the garage or not - there were no windows in the garage door. I called Sabrina with the news, and she dug a bit farther on her end, finally finding a secondary phone number for one of her sons. The son informed Sabrina that there had been a death in the family, and Rosemary had traveled to wherever she needed to be for the family. We're all breathing a sigh of relief now, and are looking forward to seeing her again next week. I will scold her for frightening us, however. Such a naughty girl! LOL 

My latest story is up for reading, and I'm quite happy 
with it. I could easily see a longer tale with this 
character. Voting will open today, so I'll post links 
for voting in tomorrow's post. I hope you'll take 
a look/read and will vote for me when you can. Every 
vote counts. We're down to the final eight and two 
more will be eliminated this week. 

My current story is up, but voting doesn't open until later today, so I'll have a link or something in my post tomorrow. I do hope that you'll read it and vote for my tale of a worried Elven father. It was a fun story to write, went in directions I certainly hadn't planned, but that's when the best things happen when I'm writing fiction. I hope you enjoy it, I'll be back tomorrow with a voting link and to wrap the week up. Slava Ukraini. 

Life Goes On - But I'm Tight on Time/I Live to Write Another Day!

I live to write another week, so thanks all. I was a solid 10 votes behind the leader, which isn't good. It puts me into the bottom half, but still, I survived. Today, however, I actually slept until my alarm went off, so I have a firm 15 minutes to get this up, find appropriate illustrations, and post it before I have to leave for my final swim of the week. ACK! 

There's just something magical about swimming in the 
twilight. That's what we do these days, since the sun 
doesn't really rise until after I'm out of the pool. Autumn 
is knocking at the door. 

I didn't get as much done in the household cleaning department yesterday as I had wanted. I did,  however, get a lovely soup put together and into the crock put, where it cooked until after dinner. It's in three containers in the refrigerator now, dinners for the next few days. Yummy! 

We need a new treadmill - ours, from the year 2000, is 
now officially broken. It served us well, but we need 
a replacement. *sigh*

I had sent a message to my doctor wanting to know if the water resistance from my swimming would be considered a resistance exercise. Unfortunately, no. *sigh* I need to have walking (boring) or something else that's a weight-bearing activity. We've got a phone conference scheduled (I think? - I'll have to double-check that later today) with an Endocrinologist, and I'll know more after that. But, it's looking like a replacement treadmill is essential, because I really don't want to have to be at the gym five days a week, and their Saturday hours won't work for my schedule at all. 

This is my YMCA, looking at the building from the 
South. The outdoor pool would be off photo to the left, 
the main entrance is at the back right under the 
awning. There's a lot of gym equipment, a walking 
track, two different ball courts (no handball at this 
location, though). It's well attended throughout 
the day, and five minutes - 10 on a really bad 
weather day - from my house. I love it! 

So ... life goes on - LOL. I'll see what the next writing challenge is later today and get my brain into thinking about something other than my health, my unclean house, and Sharon's Visit (that final item, of course, being a positive thought - LOL). I'm super late on time today, so I'm cutting this short right here. Thanks to ALL of you if you voted for my story this past week. Every vote mattered! I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Books, People and Pork Roast - A Bit of Something for Everyone on a Rainy Tuesday

It's raining in waves this morning - heavy downpour for a few minutes, then quiet. Totally weird, and leaving me quite unsure about appropriate attire for standing outside the gym doors this morning. I always have an umbrella in my car, but if we're also getting wind along with the rain, an umbrella won't be a lot of assistance. I can pull my yellow "Paddington Bear" slicker from the closet and wear that, I suppose. My Mother-in-Law gave it to me during my first year up here. I'd never needed one before - we didn't get long periods of heavy rain back in the desert areas where I was from. 

We've had our copy of "Crockett's Victory 
Garden" since the early 1980's and use it 
extensively. I remember watching the show 
on PBS when I was younger. I really enjoyed 
him - plain spoken and so very knowledgeable. 

There are times in the rainy days, when I stand in front of the YMCA doors and wonder if I could just swim through the raindrops - they can be that heavy. Today, however, seems like bands of rain followed by total quiet and no drops. Quite unusual and challenging for appropriate dress. My yellow slicker will probably be taken out of the closet for today. I'll use my umbrella too. But maybe I'll be lucky and the 5 minutes or so that I'm standing outside the doors waiting for our Gate Gargoyle to unlock will be in a dry period. 

Chanda is moving with her family from "I am very 
complex, really. I am kind of my own region." in the 
center north, all the way east to "I only use you for 
your lakes." It's not a large parish, but it'll be a good 
one for her husband to build and strengthen. He's 
excited, everyone else is working hard to allow him 
to live his dream. 

Speaking of our Gate Gargoyle, she's leaving us. Next week will be her last week before she moves to a small town in Ohio where her husband (a pastor) has taken a job. It's been a lot for her to do - getting the household and the kids packed up and ready to move, getting her current house onto the market, and generally, high stress. But she goes where her husband finds a job, and he found a church that needed him in Ohio. I hope things go well for her, but it's a pain. We just got Chanda trained and she's leaving us. She won't even be here when the outdoor pool opens. Instead, we'll need to train in another new Gate Gargoyle. *sigh* 

I love cooking my roasted pork loin. I put it into 
the oven with the thermometer in it, and just let it 
cook until it's at temp. I marinate it 1-2 days before, 
so it gets all flavorful. It's easy and it's delicious. 
A total win/win. If you're interested in the exact 
recipe, look up "Fall-Apart Roasted Pork Shoulder 
with Rosemary, Mustard and Garlic". It's a winner! 

Sunday's pork loin cooked up wonderfully - that recipe is a keeper. I've made it several times now and it's always perfect. It's the kind of meal that I love - little muss, little fuss, and great results. We're getting several more meals out of the roast, so it's definitely something I'd do again. I love easy in the summer months when I'd rather be outdoors in the garden than cooking in the kitchen on my Sundays. I'm wrapping this up and getting ready to get wet. Have an excellent Tuesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל. 

A Beaver in the Pool - A Laugh for Your Day

Yesterday was a really nice day - not just in weather, just totally in general. Things clicked. I wasn't super rushed, I didn't have a long list of things I had to accomplish, and I managed to get everything done that I needed to. It even started out with a burst of humor which I'll share with you because we all need something to laugh about, don't we? 

At first, Beth couldn't tell it was a beaver, because it 
was sitting, and they sit on their tails. But then it went 
into the pool water and she saw the tail and those 
powerful back feet. I'm quite amazed that it wanted to 
climb over the tall chain link fencing to get to the pool. 

Coming to the doors of the gym yesterday, my friend Meg asked if I had heard about the beaver. "Beaver? No, haven't heard anything." She grabbed her phone and showed me a somewhat blurry photo of a beaver sitting on a platform surrounded by water. I looked at her quizzically. "It's our pool!" she said with a huge grin. I looked again. It WAS our pool. Our outdoor pool. Apparently beavers can climb over eight-foot tall chained link fences. Who knew? LOL Anyway, our lifeguard Beth, as she was off shift and heading to her motorcycle, checked the outdoor pool as is her habit at this time of the year. She was shocked to see an animal in the middle of the pool. At first she thought it might be a muskrat, but then she saw that distinctive tail. Nope, it was a BEAVER - about 14-16 pounds worth of a beaver. In the middle of our pool! Needless to say, we all got a seriously good laugh about that one. My friend Even said that beavers are attracted by the sound of running water. Well, we are filling the pool now, so that would certainly qualify as running water. Too FUNNY! 

I went to my local FedEx Office store to fax the documentation 
to the credit card company. I knew they would have the 
appropriate equipment. It cost me $2.49/page and it was a 
total of 30 pages! OUCH! But, I'm not going to get a bad 
mark on my store credit at this point in my life. The sale 
was legitimate and I'm owed my money. GRRRRR. 

The day itself went really smoothly for me. I gathered all of the paperwork for the charge card credit that I'm disputing, made sure I had a cover letter explaining everything, and headed over to the FedEx store to fax it to the credit card company. For some reason, they insisted on a fax. Well, the damned fax cost me more than $75 to send, and the disputed amount is for less than $40, but I'm in the right on this one, and I'm not backing down. I have a perfect record on my charges over almost 30 years, and I'm not letting a one-time customer ruin my credit rating with my vendors and bankers. So, I got the 30 pages of documentation faxed to the company, did my grocery shopping, and returned home with a feeling of accomplishment. Now to see what the credit card company says in response. 

I even had enough time to make new sugar water for 
my hummingbird feeder. I think I might have spotted 
one whizzing by me too, as I was pulling the feeder 
down to refill it. I should have hummers within a week 
or so, and I'm totally ready for them. 

I barely had any necessary cooking to do yesterday either - a quick 1-1/2 hours of vegetable preparation for my salads and a little more prep work for last night's dinner. My loads of laundry went smoothly, and I was done with all of my chores when I spoke with Aearwen later that afternoon. All in all, I'm pretty darned happy with this Wednesday, and am ready to jump into the pool for my final swim of the week. I hope all of you have a wonderful Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל. 

We're Screwed - Snow Is Coming

Snow will be the focus for the next 72 hours. Although we had a short and sweet snow yesterday, it was minimal and quickly gone. Today and tomorrow will be quite different, so tomorrow's post may just be an "I'm still alive and I'm going out to shovel" check-in. We're going to be dumped on, starting at about 2:00 pm this afternoon and not really stopping for 48 hours. Ick! My "day off" tomorrow will be totally screwed. 

Today the weather will be OK until the afternoon, but 
then, we're screwed for 48+ hours of heavy snow. 

The Twin Cities know how to take care of snow. They're really good at snow removal and street clearing. But the big snow plows are for the city streets, not my driveway. And my roof, which has been wonderfully clear for the past week, will once again have a bunch of snow upon it, requiring DH to go out and pull down snow on Friday. Except ... Friday is my second "day off", so he might not get much chance to do that until Saturday which will make him crabby (nothing unusual there, though). 

It really doesn't take much for DH to become 
crabby. It's his default mode. It does get 
boring, however. 

I'll at least have an easy drive to the gym today. I'll treasure that memory as I fight my way there on Wednesday and Thursday. I'll probably even have to brush Minion off before driving back home both of those days! "Sigh" Life in the Frozen Northlands. Then again, we rarely get the ice storms that are so common farther south, and even though we do get tornadoes, they're not as common as they are in "Tornado Alley" down the midsection of the nation. 

Although we do get tornadoes outside the colored 
areas, generally those are the areas where they 
are more common. I live in the white zone in 
Minnesota, but we get them here too. I used to 
live in New Mexico, but traveled through 
all of the red zone to get to and from. I saw a 
lot of tornadoes while driving through the red area. 

But, I'm just warning you about the upcoming storms, because Wednesday and Thursday's posts might be quite short so that I can shovel out to get to the swimming pool. I'm NOT going to miss my swim because of some snow! No, no, no! LOL

Tomorrow's trip to the gym may look more like this. Heavy 
snow and limited visibility. I'm fortunate, the gym is less 
than five miles from my house. Still, that's five miles on 
icky roads. I'll need to be careful. Today, however, it's 
clear and cold. 

Wasn't it glorious? President Biden actually flew to Poland and took a train 10 hours to Kiev to meet with Zolensky and the people of Ukraine. I think that was absolutely FABULOUS and showed some real chutzpah. Bravo President Biden and President Zolensky. This was unexpected and delightful and I was absolutely thrilled. Speaking of Presidents, prayers extend to Jimmy Carter and his family as he enters hospice. He's old, very old, and I think he's ready to go. I'm sure his beloved Rosalynn will follow him soon. They were and are the perfect couple. So ... have a great Tuesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Yesterday It Snowed - Ick! I Think Winter Has Finally Arrived

Yesterday's first snow was a good reminder of what winter holds in store for us. We had at least three inches by the time it was finished, and had to shovel several times at the shop. Although we expected to get more snow overnight, I wasn't seeing any real white when I looked into the front yard when I awakened, so maybe we missed that one. That would be great since today is a swimming day and that's always a bit tighter schedule than non-swim days. 

It's nice when I wake up early on swimming 
days. My schedule for those days is very 
tight, and if I have to shovel, it gets even 
more difficult. The doors unlock at 5:00 am, 
and I need to be in the water already no later 
than 5:10 am. Shoveling can add up to 30 
minutes of extra necessary work before I can 
head to the Y, so early is better. 

I spent yesterday at the computer in the shop, entering and changing some inventory that needed updating and packing some product we'd sold out of over the weekend. The first snow day is always a really slow day, and yesterday was no exception. I had three customers through the door, two who were looking around, and one who purchased a couple of small things to repair some pieces she had. It was NOT a day to write home about. 

We're far from empty, but we are low on stock in 
some items, and we didn't restock our jewelry 
or Native American-made products in advance of 
the holiday season this year. We'll deal with what 
we have and that will have to make do. 

DH spent his day in the back doing the book work and finally felt cold enough by mid-day to set up his space heater. So he was warm. I wasn't stupid - I had leggings on under my dress, and had my shop sweater on over it with a turtleneck under it. We keep the shop cool because our customers are walking in wearing their winter coats, but it means we, as the staff, need to dress warmly. Hopefully I guessed right with the clothes I packed for today. It's hard to predict what our weather or temperatures will do. 

I really liked the Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato 
soup recipe I first tried several weeks ago. It's 
easy to make and it's very tasty. I think I'll make 
another batch of that tomorrow, and maybe add 
some ground sausage or something similar to it 
for a bit of protein. I also had DH pickup salad 
yesterday. I'll chop it into smaller pieces and 
should be able to eat it for dinner. I've missed 
my salad since I've been dealing with my new 
braces. 

I'm looking forward to tomorrow already. I think I'll make that Roasted Peppers and Tomatoes soup again. That was one of my favorites, and it's a lovely thing for colder weather. It goes together relatively quickly too. I'll add the ingredients to my shopping list for tomorrow and enjoy the smell of roasting peppers filling my house tomorrow after I'm finished with my morning errands. 

I love the aroma when I'm roasting the red peppers 
for the soup. It's spicy, but not harsh, and it fills 
the kitchen with tasty promises. 

So, I'm getting this wrapped up early. I awakened at 2:30 am, and instead of rushing, decided I might as well stay up, have a relaxing meditation and then dive into my day. Consider my day started now, and I'll be off to the gym in less than an hour for my first swim of the week. I still might have to shovel a little bit if we got some windblown snow, so I have to make sure I have the time to do that before leaving for the gym. Have an excellent Tuesday and Slava Ukraini. 

The Woes of Road Construction - Will I Have a YMCA This Morning?

For those of you sending positive thoughts out to my friend Claire, it seems like the surgery was successful. The pathologist at Mayo contacted her yesterday via email and said it seemed that they managed to get all of the cancer removed. It's a relief for everyone, and I'm sure all those positive thoughts helped. Thank you, everyone. 

Thanks for your positive thoughts. The prognosis for 
Claire is quite good and she's very relieved. 

As of last night, my YMCA was still closed, although they were hoping to reopen at 5:00 am today. Well, I'm hoping for that too, since I made a quick reservation for today after yesterday's unexpected shut-down because of water issues. It's been a real mess all year - the main road in front of my Y is being completely torn down and rebuilt and while they're at it, the County is also redoing all of the water pipes and utility stuff that goes on below the surface structure. Getting all of the various departments onto similar schedules has been a nightmare for everyone, and it's September. We're running out of summer. 

Summer is ending and autumn is here. Soon we'll be 
dealing with winter's cold and snow. It's a guarantee 
that the road construction will pull into a second year 
of mess, but it would be really nice if the water is 
finally fixed for the YMCA and businesses along the street. 

I expect the road will continue to be a two-lane road through the winter. It's usually a four-lane road with turn lanes added, so this is a considerable downgrade for a major North/South roadway. People have gotten used to their chosen alternatives, but for those of us needing to get to buildings that face the road, there are limited choices. Everything is accessible, but not always very easily. 

Sometimes getting to the YMCA over this summer 
of road construction has seemed like the path 
drawn above. I'm just grateful I'm dealing with 
the road at 4:45 am. The traffic is light at that 
time of the day. During the regular day, it's got 
to be a nightmare for anyone trying to get from 
Point A to Point B. 

Nonetheless, I'm hopeful that the Y will be open again at 5:00 am this morning because I really want my three swims for the week. I'll know in a bit more than an hour. 

I was able to track down the correct phone number and 
contact the Leaf Guard people regarding my unknown 
appointment. I got that confirmation, then contacted my 
car people who said there should be no problem having 
my car back in plenty of time. So ... I'm counting on all 
things to fall into place for next week Wednesday. 

Regarding that appointment I forgot to write down, I tracked down the phone number and contacted them. My appointment is scheduled for 11:00 am, my car appointment is scheduled for 7:45 am that same day. That should (all things being normal) be sufficient time for me to be back home in time for my gutter people to walk around the house and give me a quotation for Leaf Guards on my gutters. Everything has to work smoothly for success, but I'm hoping for the best. I also got my ColoGuard completed and sent back off yesterday, so one more thing on my "to do" list accomplished. So, I'm off to the Y. Afterward, I have a quick grocery shop and then my usual Friday "off" which means a lot of work here, but not at the shop. Have an excellent day and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Bumps In My Road - Another Waterless Day at the YMCA

Today is not starting out well, but hopefully what started out poorly will end up well. I went to the gym, as usual, for my Thursday swim, but found that the county utility company had once again opened up the roadway to work on the water. Seeing that my companion Rosemary's car wasn't there (she always beats me and swims 5X a week for years and years - very dependable), I started to wonder. I attempted to contact my Gate Gargoyle, Ed, but he wasn't behind his desk. After waiting for ten minutes and still not seeing Rosemary or Ed, I decided the Y probably didn't have water again, so I turned the car back on and returned home. The first thing I did when I got home was make a swimming reservation for tomorrow. It'll mess my schedule up slightly, but at least I'll get my three days a week in. 

I can't believe I set up an appointment and 
didn't add it to my calendar. This could be 
a disaster in the making. 

So, after moving my first load of laundry to the dryer and taking my morning shower, I dove into the second problem of the day - an appointment. I made an appointment for Leaf Filter to come and do an estimate on our house, shortly after the State Fair ended. They contacted me via phone because of information I had left them at their State Fair booth. I remember I scheduled the appointment for mid-day, but I can't find the darned thing in my phone calendar, and I'm not finding that I wrote a note down with the date and time. So, I'm trying to backtrack my phone calls from them and hope that I can find out that information. I'm pretty sure I made the appointment for a date starting with a 2, but since I set up that appointment I've set up, 

I'm frustrated. I know better. Usually it would be easy 
to contact the person about an appointment, but in this 
case, I don't have a way to return the actual initial call. 

Problem #3. The other appointment. I set up an appointment for my car yesterday. It's been something I've needed to do for the past month or two, and I want it out of the way before winter comes. So yesterday I phoned the dealership and set up an appointment for the morning of the 21st. Although I'd probably be back home by early afternoon (I still have to do my grocery shopping after my car is done), I still don't know if I had set up the Leaf Filter appointment for later that day. 

Although I want to get a quote from Leaf Filter, 
getting new windows (especially for my lower 
level windows) has a higher priority and we 
probably can't afford both of them in the 
same time period. Still, I want a general idea 
of what it will cost us, so I do want this 
appointment. 

I've gone through my calendar several times now and I'm giving up on finding the appointment information. I'm not usually so scatterbrained, but they had contacted me within a day or two after the State Fair, and I wasn't back on regular schedule at that time. So, I'm grumbling and hoping I can backtrack to find out when I need to contact them. I need the estimate - DH was asking me about getting one only last night. But I actually want to be here when they are looking around. 

Hopefully your day will be running a bit smoother than mine is starting out. I'll be back tomorrow after my swim, because I have faith that we will have running water at the Y again by then. Until tomorrow, have an excellent day and Slava Ukraini. Peace!