Snak, nope

Doing pretty good getting some house stuff done. Still working on getting the bedroom finished up and going through things to clean out the small third bedroom upstairs and maybe get the floors done in there.

Nope nopeity snakes are a hard no for me.

Good for you getting miles in on your bike. Hopefully that means you are feeling mostly healed from surgery. I know it was harder the second time.

I’m not sure how much we are really getting accomplished, but even the little bit is more progress than we have done in years. Years! So much more to plan and work on. The deck is a wreck. The side door in the garage needs to be replaced. I am more than ready to replace the counters and sink. Floors in two other main floor rooms and one in the basement. New vanity and lighting in my bathroom. It would be a smart investment (imo) to pull out the fiberglass shower in my bathroom and install it with tile. If I had access to the right skills trades I could do some stuff!

This whole week is excessive heat warning. Bad deal

Another month over

A “derecho” moved through parts of Nebraska just now. Straight line winds 80-120 mph. Nebraska having a terrible year

Happy anniversary. Your cake sounds delicious.

Hump day

Go USA volleyball. They pulled off a win against Serbia today. This team is struggling a lot compared to Tokyo. I doubt they’ll be able to repeat the gold. Hopefully they’ll find their rhythm

Columbus missed the worst of it. Lincoln and Omaha got nailed - again. Caleb said their place wasn't majorly damaged - but without power. Nephew Josh, place ok - had power. Niece Caitlin - many trees downs, one on roof - no power. Largest power outage in Omaha history. West Omaha may be without power for 6 or 7 days. It's still over 90 here for at least another week. Dang! Mother nature. Ease off already.

I thought you had been having success with your sourdough bread baking?

well - I bet the loaves still all taste pretty good -

Bernie claims we are doing date night tonight. I don't want to get my hopes up, but I also want to get my hopes up. We'll see.

Yesterday we went to the Lions Fly-In Breakfast and then bought our first sweet corn of the season. I visited Sarah at the nursing home and then we had Kathy and Steve, farmer friends, over for dinner. They just finished shaking cherries and the season was somewhat of a bust. They just hope they aren't going to have to declare bankruptcy soon. They still have apple season but don't have the money to pay the additional 9 workers that will come up from Mexico to help. They may have to do apple season with only 6 of 15 workers which means they won't be able to pick all the apples they have grown this season. We had burgers, funeral potatoes, watermelon and chocolate cake. Then we played Five Crowns card game. It was a nice evening.

Today I am working on a loaf of sourdough bread using the info I have researched and a new recipe and process. I will bake it tomorrow at some point.

Russ went to pick up pizza for dinner.

How was your weekend?

That must be Bernie's way of making an effort to go out but doesn't want to plan it. Irritating for you I'm sure.

I had a doctor check up this morning to get meds renewed. I told her that the Ortho team wanted me to have a sleep study for apnea. She made a referral to the local sleep study clinic but I guess they take awhile to call to make an appt. I'm fine with that.

I went to a happy hour going away party at the local brewery for Gabrielle, the young woman that worked at Power Books. I volunteered every week and got to know her. She is about Rory's age, 29. She is leaving to get her masters in architecture so they hired a new manager, Maria. She is very nice and I will enjoy working with her.

Tomorrow I will meet my friend Laurie at the lake to kayak and go boating on her pontoon. I need a nice lake day. I also have to get the downstairs room ready for our weekend visitors and get some toys out for the boys.

Lots of bad weather patterns this summer.

Laurie woke up sick this morning so no lake and boating day. I went to the pharmacy, went for a walk on our property, picked veggies, watered my flowers, read my book and Russ and I went out to an early dinner.

Sunny beautiful day too!

Yay for USA vball!

USA Women's volleyball takes down Brazil in five sets. They will play for GOOOOLLLLLDDDDDD!!! Holy crap. Talk about peaking at the right time.

USA, USA, USA

Friends are due here any time now. They drove up and went to the sand dunes first. Unfortunately it is a rainy day. The weather forecast said morning rain and clear by afternoon. It is a down pour outside at 3:30 here at our house.

They are done climbing the dunes and didn't have rain until they got to the bottom. Now they are skipping rocks at the beach and no rain, partial sun on that side of the county. I hope tomorrow is nice.

I am cold, in the low 60's here. Amazing how that feels cold after winter months.

Enjoy your weekend.

Friends left this afternoon. We went out for dinner Saturday Eve and grilled at our house last night. Yesterday I went with them to Lake Michigan beach and to some shops in Glen Arbor a small town across the country from us. This morning we went to the Suttons Bay Marina Beach and Melissa and I went to some shops on Main St. while the kids swam with their Dad. Then we joined them to get some sun. They didn't leave until 3:30 this afternoon. The kids had fun and it was nice to see them all. I'm tired!

Tomorrow I will go to Aqua Fit and we have a fundraiser event tomorrow night that we purchased tickets to support.

Did you have a nice weekend?

Rory, Hannah, their dog and Hannah's parents arrive on the 23rd. Her parents stay 3 days and fly back to Mpls and Rory and Hannah stay until the 30th. In September I have two friends coming at different times. They've been here before. One of them is going to help me wallpaper the accent wall in the laundry room.

Some critter is stealing plants out of my flower pots! Nature has beat me this summer.

I have washed towels from guest use this past weekend. I need to go down and gather sheets from beds and wash those, then remake the queen bed for next week.

I made a pasta/veggie salad for dinner, visited Sarah at her nursing home, and got my hair cut today. I finally scheduled a pedicure for this Saturday. My feet are a mess. It has been almost a year since my last one. The docs don't want pedicures and dentist work too close to surgeries.

The hummingbirds are eating a lot now. They tend to buzz in front of our faces if we are outside, telling us they need a refill on the feeder. They must be pretty smart.

We had torrential rain on the weekend and high winds on Sunday. Yesterday and today were beautiful and sunny. You can't seem to get a break in NE.

Stay safe!

Raining today and we are suppose to go to that tractor show this afternoon. I hope it clears up.

I am going to do some baking this morning. I found a recipe that I add sourdough discard to a store bought brownie mix. I'm wondering what it does to it. Also, I want to experiment with a sourdough sandwich bread recipe I found last night on Youtube. It looks easy. I will put the dough together tonight so I can bake tomorrow.

TGIF for you!

I know you're worried about C. Has he always been an honest boy or did he tell you white lies when he didn't want to own his choices or to get you off his back? I know Rory was clean through high school because he was planning on the military. Once he changed his mind, he started drinking and smoking a lot of pot in college and after until he joined the electrical union. My guess would be that as part of his household with the guys, they at least smoke pot but I can't say for sure not knowing C. It's a phase he needs to grow through if he is doing it. How old is C now? I still believe you gave your boys a good foundation of values and they will figure out their lives at some point. They are still young and considered adolescents according to psychologists. I think they've extended adolescence to the thirties for males now. Frontal lobe development is slower in males than females. Read up on it and see what you find out. That neighborhood may just have cheaper rent. I always worried about housing because David chose to live in fire traps with no smoke alarms, etc. Total dumps for very cheap rent. Slum lords...

We went to the tractor show and met Kathy and Steve there. I don't need to see another one, LOL! It was huge and very good people watching but also hot, smelly and noisy. We looked at the flea market, some tractors but never met up with our classmate that has at least 4 tractors on display every year. We went out for dinner and had a nice chat with them and just got home.

My brownies are very gooey and good. The sourdough starter gives them a tang and cuts the sweet somewhat. I added mini semisweet chocolate chips that may have made too gooey. I have a small plate for Sarah and her husband and the rest are for us.

Pedicure tomorrow! I'm looking forward to it. My feet are in awful shape. I need to ride my bike this weekend if the rain passes us by.

I hope you have some relaxation time or something fun planned.