Good Saturday to you on this first weekend in May here in northern Iowa. Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day with sunshine, warm temperatures and gentle breezes. It won't be long and people will be putting out flowers and everything will be bright and colorful in our neighborhood. But today it is sweatshirt weather at a cool 58 degrees so it is still a roller coaster ride with the temperatures. We have had plenty of rain this week, which was needed. It has greened everything up, too!
Speaking of yesterday Joel enjoyed the nice weather while he stained our back deck. Earlier in the week he had scrubbed it and yesterday he put on the stain. He has declared that this year the focus is to get things done outside of the house. Some new wood trim and a coat of paint for this big house is called for. Somehow I need to keep him off of a high ladder though. All his work makes me think of a picture he showed me from a postcard that came through the mail. There was a picture of a T-shirt that said "Dahlen Workshop.. fixing everything but stupid" For some reason we found that pretty funny.
Speaking of stupid - it is not a word I use much- but that is a bit how I have felt this week as we have looked again for a laptop for me. I know I need it backlit and I know I need the letters to stand out vividly from the keyboard color. I know I want a 14 inch size screen and I know I need a program that can use voice to type my articles when necessary..... but the rest? I have no clue. It does make me feel just a little bit stupid, which I know is just silly. We thought we would be able to buy one right here in town, but that has not worked out as we go from store to store and they are not carrying what I need or everything is out of stock. We were told to wait until the middle of June when the new stock comes in. 6 more weeks? I need to get this going and set up for several reasons. Bottom line.......Technology keeps moving on without us and at our age it is kind of hard to stay caught up. Guess we will just need to take the plunge and do our best with God's guidance!
Joel is off to Gabby Grandpas this morning....then Menards and the grocery store. He does like his Menards! He can usually think of some "good reason" to go there every week! Haha He got in a couple bike rides, but has been working mostly on the deck. I am walking 30 minutes now daily...but still indoors. I picked up a dust rag and went through every room in the house on every level the last couple of days...now we need to get the vacuum out! Made some homemade whole wheat bread this week along with almond flour quick bread. We eat very little processed food or purchased meals. We are a "from scratch when we can" couple. Haha
A neighbor stopped over to ask a question this week and we invited her in for a visit. She will be 95 in June and continues to live on her own. Just a few years ago she had a large coffee table and end table she was going to have Salvation Army or Goodwill come and pick up and we told her we would purchase it from her. She did not want anything, so we gave her a gift card. That coffee table and end table still grace our living room and work so well for us! This woman has always enjoyed being outdoors and I think it shows in her strength and longevity.
Speaking of longevity, Joel and I were reading an article on how to get enough protein as we age and the importance of having it. Lots to do with muscle mass and energy as we age. Joel and I have gone to cereal, oatmeal, a salad, or yogurt for our nightly suppers and are thinking a bit more protein would be a good thing! It is just so hard to pack in the protein without large portions of meat. I wonder if our neighbor packs it in!
We had quite an adventure this week with hemming up our living room curtain panels that were dragging on the floor. I wrote about it on Facebook. After 1 1/2 hours of attempting to thread our sewing machine and get the bobbin to work....we gave up and went to adhesive hemming tape! We noted: Joel's fingers are too big to get down into the bobbin area on our nearlya 50 year old machine and my vision makes it impossible for me to be using the machine....Thank goodness for hemming tape!
Moving on...........the weather has been crazy this week across the country. I did see a video on Instagram that had me laughing, though.....there was a tornado that hit a train that had stopped on the tracks. Two workers were talking as they videoed the tornado coming...one guy says, "I think it is going to hit us"....debris is flying everywhere.....hitting the train and windows and rocking the train....another guy says, "Do you think we should get away from the windows?" They just keep talking matter a fact like as it goes over shattering windows....then one says......"I think a car turned over....yep." A car is over." The other says "we are in an emergency"....... (NO KIDDING!} I think it was hard to comprehend what was happening but I would NOT have been so calm.....On a sober note, so many have been hurt and so much property destroyed this week. A violent spring so far.
Speaking of Spring, Joel is wanting to find some periennals to plant this year that are deer resistent. It seems we have many daylilies and hostas which deer LOVE to munch on. So we are on a quest to find some plants they will ignore....And then there are our resident squirrels....This morning Joel also told me a squirrel had a big corn cob he was dragging around our yard.....from a neighbor's yard. The squirrel would stop every few feet, dig a hole and plant kernals! I have a feeling Joel will be mowing down corn stalks again all summer!
So on that note, we are thankful for all the rain this week....and no tornadoes. Grateful for green grass and the antics of our squirrels. Grateful for a cleaner house.....grateful for homemade whole wheat honey bread. Grateful for Joel getting the back deck scrubbed and stained. Grateful for his energy and stamiina. Grateful for having three days of good energy and balance myself this week....felt so good and makes me hopeful for more in the future. Grateful for a neighbor stopping by. Grateful for hemmed curtains and hemming tape. Grateful for phone calls, texts, emails, and in person visits....and so much more..
Enjoy your weekend!
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