A new week came and now that new week has come to a close. It has been a long extremely hot and uncomfortable week. We are 26 days without rain which is the longest stretch since 1988. The weather person did predict the possibility of some showers yet this evening and again tomorrow. Most peoples yards have gone dormant around here. I certainly didn’t mow mine. 

It has been entirely too hot to work outside. Yesterday the ambient temperature reached 101. That’s unusual for us. I think today’s high is going to be 98 but the feels like will be over 100 again. We’ve only gone out for the necessary things. Yesterday I did the grocery shopping at Walmart Neighborhood Market. That’s about the only place I go. I know where most stuff is and if I don’t, I just ask one of the employees that are filling “on-line” shopping baskets. They are usually in my way any way. This morning Kate had an appointment and after that we went to Haubstadt for a meat shopping trip at Dewigs. 

This is Labor Day weekend. There will be a massive amount of people out on the highways. Julie and Jim are coming over tomorrow evening and will go back hoe on Monday. Jim is going to install the kitchen light for me so I don’t have to crawl up on a ladder. I think they are also going to bring their dog’s ashes over here and we will transplant one of our saplings somewhere in the yard and bury her ashes there. We did that with their orders dogs ashes and that tree has grown beautifully. I have several Redbuds and a couple of nice Tulip Poplar trees that need to be culled out and either transplanted or thrown away. It will be the kids choice which they want to use.   

I think I told you that I ordered a Flugelhorn through Amazon. I heard a guy playing one at a concert recently and wanted to see if I could play one. So I ordered it and I finally got it this week after waiting almost six weeks. I didn’t know it was coming from India, but it did. I’ve played it a couple of times now and it does take some adjustment from the trumpet. But I like it, and will work on learning it better. I’m just an old dog learning aa new trick. I’ll probably never get real proficient on it but who knows. 

Amazon made another nice delivery at our place this week. We bought a new iRobot Roomba. The old one had quit and I bought new brushes and filters and stuff for it but it only worked a little and then it would quit with some error message . So I bought a new one. We have it hooked up and charged up and synced to Kate’s IPhone. Still haven’t run it because I guess it needs to “learn to map the house” and we haven’t had time to let it do that yet. Maybe yet today. 

That’s it for this Friday afternoon. Have a blessed holiday weekend. Peace. 

 Happy new week. It’s now noon and I went out and put the water bill payment in the mailbox. It is miserable out there. The heat hit me and I was instantly ready to go back inside. The new neighbors across the street have a few guys out there putting a new roof on their house. This would be a terrible day to be up on a roof. It looks like they are putting the new on on top of the old one. I’ve lived here in my house for 23 years and they have not put a new roof on in all of those years. I suspect that is the original roof. So, it won’t hurt to put a second layer on. But I still wouldn’t want to be up there. 

We had a good weekend around here. We didn’t do a lot. Friday Ms. Kate had a followup visit with her electro cardiologist and got a clean report from her. Has to go back in six months. And believe it or not, (because I can’t) we have no doctor’s visits for the next two weeks. (Knock on wood) It has been forever since we had that. And — she only has one doctor’s visit for the month of September scheduled. All praise to our mighty God for the healing that is going on in her body. 

I went out and watered my tomato’s and zinnias at dusk last evening. We are on our third week with no rain. That is extremely unusual. I think the least time was in 1988. The forecast says that we MIGHT get some showers this coming weekend. But, that means that we have hit the “no need to mow” season. I’m not mad about that. 

I still haven’t met the new neighbors across the street. And the neighbor next door to the north is still getting their stuff out of the house. They have a sale pending sign in the yard but I understand there is a lot of work to be done on the house before the sale can go through. But that’s just gossip so far. I wish them good luck with their sale. They are nice people. 

That’s it for today. Have a blessed week. Peace. 

 

 Happy “mid-week” to you. Yes, it’s Wednesday; “Hump Daaaaay!!” The wether is perfect and I’m going to go out and try to do some years wok here in a little bit. I went out yesterday and did some but unfortunately my work yesterday was cut short because I took a rather hard fall. I was trying to remove a “staub branch” from the ground by kicking it off. Well, I in doing so, I lost my balance and fell backwards, landed on the right side of my back and rolled down the small embankment out on to the driveway. I was lucky enough to not hit my head on the concrete but I had to lay there a few minutes and then try to get myself back up. I almost always carry my phone when I work outside just in case something like that happens, but this time I had not. So, I had to figure out how to get up without help and finally managed to. But — I’m okay. I’m stiff and sore but don’t have any bruises to show for my adventure. I went in the house and sat for a bit while my nerves settled down and then I took a couple of Tylenol and went back out and got on the JD and mowed the front yard. Last night it was tough to find a comfortable sleeping position. Today I’m getting around pretty well. 

I had an appointment to get my toenails trimmed this morning at 10:00. I just can’t do that job by myself and Kate’s beautify shop has a young lady that does that. She did a great job. I really don’t like all of the stuff they do at regular nail salons. Most of the ladies seem to not understand English and even though I try to explain that I don’t want the bottom of my feet touched, they doing it anyway and I am horribly ticklish. So it is not a pleasant experience at all. All I want done is to have the nails trimmed. Anyway, —- I made another appointment for eight weeks from now. 

I got a call from one of my old friends from the late ‘60’s today. He and his wife and a couple of more couples were enroute to Wisconsin for a reunion of the guys that I served with at Clark Air Base, Philippines from 1967-1969. I belong to a small specialized group of Air Force Security Policemen back then and we try to get together every couple of years for a long weekend somewhere. The group is getting smaller and smaller as we all grow older and the health deteriorates among many of us. At 80, I’m the oldest member, I think but several of the guys are in pretty bad shape and several have already passed. When we first started doing these we tried to do them in locations that had a lot of activities and places to go and see. Any more, we look for a hotel that provide enough rooms and is in an area that has some place “of interest” to drive and see if folks want to get out and explore. But mostly we just set and visit and compare medicine lists, and compare surgeries etc! LOL Kate’s health absolutely prohibited us from doing the trip this year, and last time too. 

That’s it for today. Tomorrow we actually have a day without appointments. But — Friday she has two appointments.  Peace, my friends. 

A glorious Saturday to you. It is another hot and miserable day. It is currently 12:30 pm and the temperature is 92 degrees with a “feels like” of 100 degrees. It’s another day to keep one’s butt in the house if at all possible. 

Yesterday was a good day. Ms. Kate and I went up to Nashville, Indiana because she was wanting to look for a new “whirly-gig” for the yard to replace the one that got smashed this spring by the tree. Unfortunately they didn’t have one at the place we had gone before. So, we went to a local place and had lunch before heading back to Evansville. On the way home we stopped at Gasthoff Village bakery in Washington, Indiana and picked up an Angel Food cake, some Snickerdoodle cookies, and some homemade Amish noodles. All in all ——- it was a great day. The drive was pleasant, and I am thrilled that Ms. Kate is doing so well that she wants to do day trips and start traveling again. 

I need to water my garden this evening at sundown. It has been three weeks since we have had a good rain and we’re not really looking at any rain for maybe another week. I think the time of year that we don’t have to mow for a couple of weeks has finally arrived. Next week though is projected to be a really nice weather week and I’m looking forward to it. I have a lot of yard work that needs to be done and the temperatures and humidity levels are supposed to be really favorable. Maybe I can actually get out there and do some pop it without it being during a heat advisory. 

Did I tell you that Ms. Kate and I paid off the mortgage to the house this week? I. Know, y’all have probably had your house paid of for years but for her and I, —- this is the first time we have ever done that. In our 58 years of marriage we have bought three different houses. However, we sold two of them long before they were paid off. The rest of our lives we spent living military housing. So this is an extremely big deal to us. We bought this I house in 2001 when I retired . I expected I would be 90 before it was paid off. So, congratulations to us.  

I think that is all for today, not very exciting is it. LOL. Have a blessed weekend. Peace. 

 August 14th, mid month already. Today would have been my mother’s 107th birthday. That’s a long time. She’s been gone since 2015. My dad died in 1996 I think. (Is it bad that I don’t know for sure?) This year he would have celebrated his 110th birthday. 

I have good thoughts and sad thoughts to share this morning. Let’s get the sad out of the way. Julie nd Jim are having to put one of their two dogs to sleep this morning. It just suddenly got very sick and they found out that it has a large tumor on its liver that is bleeding into it’s stomach. It was the younger of the two dogs and was “Jim’s dog”. It was a real sweetheart. I feel so sorry for the kids. They have been preparing themselves to put the older dog down because of his health but in no way were they thinking analyzing like this. 

Other sad news today is that our house cleaner had to take their son back to the ICU and he is on a ventilator. The son is I think 21 years old and is an invalid. He only weighs like 70 pounds and they have to literally do everything for him. Kari, his mom, is such a lovely person and we have become very good friends. Please keep the family in your prayers. 

Now for better news. Ms. Kate is doing wonderfully well. Her BP and heart rate seems to be under control. She is getting her energy back and has started making Christmas cards again. Today we have two follow-up appointments; one with her urologist and one with her cardiologist. But, it is is wonderful to see her up and moving around and looking and feeling “chipper” again. It’s like having the old Ms. Kate back again. 

Another happy news is that I have put together a Heumann cousin’s reunion. They all live over in southern Illinois. My sister lives up in the Springfield Illinois area and of course Ms. Kate and I live here in southern Indiana. But, although it is on a couple of hours drive over to see the cousins, we just never do. So, I told them we need to do this before we meet at the funeral home again. We did this maybe five years ago and since then we have lost my one remaining uncle, his wife, and their son and another cousin. I’m in contact with a couple of them via Facebook but that is all. So on September 22nd we’ll meet at Giant City State Park for lunch at the lodge and sit around and eat fried chicken and gab for awhile. I’m really excited about it. 

That’s it for today. I hope your day is full of joy and love. Peace. 

 Good morning and happy Saturday to you. It is a perfect weather morning. I think it is 65 degrees out there right now and the sun is shining with no breeze. I should be out pulling some weeds or mowing the front yard, Instead I’m siting at my kitchen table writing a blog entry and having another cup of coffee. See, I can make good decisions. LOL

It is only going up to the mid seventies today so anytime I go out will be a good time. There is a wren sitting on a feeder pole just outside of my kitchen and it is singing its little heart out. Yesterday I was out side doing some yard work and I had a hummingbird either singing to me or fussing at me for being there, I’m not sure which. I prefer to think it was saying thank you for filling up its feeder. Actually, it had already done that when as I was just finishing up filling it and putting my stuff away, it came up and hovered right in front of my face for a few seconds. It was pretty neat. 

Ms. Kate had her Cardioversion open Thursday morning. Unfortunately, she has not had the results that we had expected or at least hoped for. When we left, her BP was low as was her heart rate. They told her that could be expected but she was to call them yesterday morning and let them know what her rates were. Well, yesterday morning they were still very low so she called them. She was to to eliminate one of her medications until further notice. She is right back to having zero energy and unable to walk from the kitchen to the bathroom or the bed room without stopping at least once and she has to use her cane constantly. Theoretically she should have come out of the procedure feeling full of energy and somewhat lively. But —— that didn’t happen, so I guess we will see how taking her off of the Matoporal (SP?) will help the situation. She doesn’t seem to be any better this morning but se won’t be able to be able to talk to her doctor until Monday. That should be sufficient time to see what is happening. She has appointments with both her Urologist and Cardiologist on Wednesday. If things have not improved, I’m afraid they are going to try to set her up with a cordio-ablation and I do not want to see her have to go through yet another hospital stay or medical procedure. But, what ever it takes to keep her live and get her healthy. Please keep her (and me) in your prayers. 

I reckon that’s about all I have for today. Tomorrow is a day of worship and I hope you will take advantage of the opportunity to  give thanks for another week full of blessings. You know, with all of the things we have going on with Ms. Kate, I am still fully grateful to God that she is beside me everyday. Take a few moments of your time to stop and worship the God who provides us life and love. Peace. 

 Happy Tuesday. It’s another hot one today with weather alerts for unhealthy air. We’re told that tomorrow it starts to get a lot better. With slightly lower temperatures and the humidity is supposed to drop. That’s a good thing because I have outside work to do. However, I’m not going out and doing yard work or anything else when the “feeels-like” temperature is over 100. 

I don’t have much to write about today except that I don’t think I told you that I have begun a new adventure. I went to a local concert on Sunday evening and their was a trumpet player that did a solo on the flugelhorn. It was absolutely beautiful. The sound was so very mellow and smooth. A flugelhorn is basically a trumpet except the entire horn is flared. That makes it sound at a lower tone than a trumpet  with is basically a long tube that flares only for the last 5-6 inches. Hence, the trumpet sounds much higher and “brassier” (if that is a word) than say the flugelhorn or french horn. Anyway, I was intrigued and decided to get on Amazon and buy one. It should arrive some time next week. Perhaps I wasted $179.00 and perhaps I’ll be a very happy flugelhorn player. We shall see. A person has to take some chances and try new things even at 80 years of age. It keeps you young.  Even if I learn to play it —- so what? Maybe I’ll play a solo at church sometime. Or maybe I’ll just play for my birds. 

Our “big event” for this week is for Kate to have yet another cardioversion and try to shock her heart back into rhythm. Hopefully this one will be the last time she has to do that. She thinks her medicine change is having some positive affects but she needs the shock treatment in conjunction with the medicine change. If this one doesn’t do it, the next thing will be a cardio ablation. She really doesn’t want to have to do that. Nor do I want her to have to go through it. We went to church Sunday and she had to use her rollater to get around because she got week and out of breath. So, once again I’m asking for your prayers. God’s going to do what God’s going to do; His will be done. I just hope we’re all on the same page. 

That’s it for this Tuesday. Stay safe, stay healthy, stay in touch with the God who created you and fills your life with blessings every day. Peace. 

 And the days just keep rolling by. August 3rd already. It is supposed to be a “typical early August day” according to the weather reporter last night; hot (90 degrees) and humid, but not as bad as it has been the past week. We have had thunderstorm every day this week. Parts of the area got hit by an EF-1 tornado a couple of days ago. We had a lot of wind and torrential rain during that storm. I had a bunch of smaller limbs down in the yard. I got those cleaned up but since then we have had more wind and rain so I have to go clean up again. Yesterday I managed to get the front yard mowed and the week eating and some weeds pulled in between the rain showers. I will probably go out and mow the back yard today. I also need to fill all of the bird feeders. I have purposely not been feeding them because I was only attracting a large flock of starlings and squirrels. So, I was determined to let them clean it all out and leave before I refilled them. Plus, I didn’t want to put new food out just to have it soaked with rain. We are not anticipating any rain now for the next week. 

The doctor’s appointments just keep coming. This coming Thursday Kate has to go in for yet another Cardioversion. I think this will be her sixth and we really hope this one will “take” since they have front-loaded her with her new medication. They took her off of Coumadin and have put her on Eloquis. So, we are looking forward to this appointment with great expectations. If we can remember what “normal” is — it will be nice to return to it. 

We finished up the last three peaches we had. I had bought a half bushel last week. From that I got three pies and several days of “snacking” on peaches. Peaches are my all time favorite fruit, but I think I have gotten peached out buy now. But they have been delicious. Yesterday we had a cantaloupe that was the best one we have had this season. Today I will cut up a watermelon for snacking later. Summertime brings such a bounty of good fresh stuff to eat. We grow a lot of cantaloupes and melons in this area and they are so very good. 

My former parish had a trial sermon last week for a new pastor and they and he have come to an agreement. He will start in mid-October so I’m told. I am thrilled for the parish and I hope he is exactly what they need to lead these two churches for a long time. The folks up there are such great people and they deserve the best that God will send. I’m anxious to go up and hear him later this year. He is from a different denomination but if he is bringing God’s word, that shouldn’t matter. I wish them only the best. 

I guess that is it for today. I pray you will have a blessed weekend. Peace.