Stuff

I haven't posted anything for awhile and am not sure I can remember what all has happened. I see it has been almost a month since I put anything here.

I had cataract surgery on the 29th of October. Annette came over from Idaho Falls to be my driver. We enjoyed having her here so much. She brought lots of apples for us to juice. While she was here we went to breakfast once and dinner twice. That tells you something about what we enjoy doing! Actually we had planned on Joe's Crab Shack because we had a gift card for there and we knew Annette wanted to go, so that was planned. Because I had to fast before the surgery, none of us ate breakfast so when we got done, we went to JB's for their breakfast bar. Then that evening we were deep into juicing apples so we just cleaned up a bit and went to the Mexican place in town. Then on Thursday night we hit Joe's Crab Shack. Annette and I also managed two trips to the mall and a visit to Sees Candy. We were busy the whole time. Grandpa got right in and helped with the apple juicing. I will try to post a picture of him and Annette working at that.

Our leaves have been steadily falling - four large trees along a very small front yard. It is a recipe for "work". We are very fortunate to have friends and ward members who stop to help us rake. One day I got 4 bags done and quit because my back hurt. The next day when I got home from the doctor's the rest of the yard had been done. Then a week or so ago we looked out our window and there were 4 people raking in the yard. Yesterday I decided I had better make a dent in the leaves and after I had been there 4 bags worth, two young sisters came from around the corner with their rakes and worked with us. Then the Elders stopped and helped also. Looking at the leaves on the trees, I figure we have at least one more yard full to do before we are finished for the year - maybe a little more.

Yesterday one of the sisters I go visiting teaching to called me about her appointment. She had the flu and didn't want us to catch it from her. I asked her if she would like a meal and she was very grateful at the thought. So I took her homemade potato soup (already in the freezer) hot biscuits, fresh homemade choc. chip cookies (cookie dough already in the refrigerator) and a container of home canned peaches. It only took me the time to stick the biscuits and cookies in the oven and thaw the soup.

Then - we went to a baby shower at Chuck E Cheese!! That's right - a baby shower held there. This was for Ashley who is Sioux's daughter. I didn't know if grandpa would go (it was for families) but when I pointed out that we would probably see Carissa and NiTasha there as well as Sioux he went. We enjoyed visiting with all of them. Ashley's baby is due on Jan. 29th. They have a little boy about 3. We ate some pizza - pepperoni which I do not like - and I got some salad which I did like.

My eye is healing well, grandpa is doing well, and Muffin is pregnant. She should have her puppies at Thanksgiving time - not great planning on our part but we don't have a say about when she comes in heat. She is moaning and groaning and having a hard time jumping onto my chair to sit on my lap. I can't think of any more news. I don't always post a comment on your blogs, but I do read and enjoy them. I will try to be better about commenting.

clarification

Sorry about that. I forgot that some of you may not know Carissa. Carissa is Allen's youngest daughter. She used to come to church with us when she was a little girl, as did her sisters. We don't see a lot of her and welcome times when we can get together.

Wedding but no Pics

Well, we went to Carissa's wedding last Saturday and I remembered my camera, but after one picture my batteries were gone. I bought some new batteries at Paul's (lithium like the camera said) and they were the wrong size - got some at WalMart today and now I have a camera again.

We knew Carissa was getting married but didn't know the man's name or much about him. So we were pleasantly surprised when we found he was a member of the church, active, a member one of the Spanish branches in Nampa. The Branch President performed the ceremony. So we have some hopes that perhaps Carissa can remember some of her early days attending church with us and enjoy going with Carlos (Juan Carlos Silva). His mother and sister seemed very nice, the mother didn't speak English but the sister does.

Our weather is very nice now, after a few cold days, and we are enjoying it. I took grandpa to the heart doctor yesterday and to the urologist today. Then we had lunch out which is always a treat. Came home and took a walk - our days are all pretty much the same. I did finish my visiting teaching and am prepared to go to the Super Saturday R.S. is having - I'm taking a dessert - cherry cheesecake.

Short Update

I forgot to take my camera with us to Washington so have no pictures of our travels. We attended Madelyn's baptism and visited with Mark & LaNita. We drove up on Thursday, Sept. 3rd and back on Monday, Sept. 8th. We took Muffin with us - I had a friend willing to watch her, but grandpa wanted to take her. She is an adventure to travel with but it all turned out okay. Madelyn was baptised in the family swimming pool!! But water is water right? The font room was already being used at their stake center and Mark's father could not be there anytime except Friday night - hence the swimming pool. We had a wonderful meeting beforehand conducted by the Bishop. There were quite a few people there and LaNita had removed all living room furniture and put in folding chairs from the church.

When we got home we were the recipient of Jenette's willingness and sweetness. She and her girls bottled 42 quart of peaches for us. I had used my last jar and had started purchasing some cans. I can't tell you what that meant to have that done. She said the peaches would not keep until we got back from LaNita's place so we sent our bottles with her. Bless her and her girls!! Then last night the young women and their leaders came to do service. They washed the outside of every one of our windows, including the ones in the garage door. There are so many wonderful people out there and we are privileged to know lots of them.

Today I am making my mother's chili sauce recipe. It smells so good cooking. Earlier I was wondering why I was doing this, especially while I was grinding up onions. green peppers and celery. The tomatoes are all out of our garden. I also made some more granola last night so I feel like I have gotten quite a bit done the last couple of days. Hope the energy lasts.

Same old topic - Food

It seems like I always talk about the food we are eating. That's because in the summer the food is fantastic. Right now our meals consist of stuff out of the garden and my old Bunkerville favorite - homemade bread, milk and grapes. Grandpa doesn't comment on it anymore even.

We did have a doctor day today - those come quite often - almost as often as meals some weeks. I took Grandpa to the dentist - he is thinking about getting new dentures. Then I went for my cleaning appointment. Bad news was that I had a chip out of one of my fillings. Good news was that it was a fairly new filling so they will remove it and do a new one at no cost to me. More bad news was that I have several places in my teeth that are requiring a visit to a periodontist. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is the equivalent of pain & suffering. We have worked hard to avoid it, but diabetes takes its toll.

We enjoyed attending the Twin Falls Temple Dedication, last session on Sunday. Of course it came to us through the dish, but it was a wonderful meeting. It was so quiet in our chapel that we could have heard a pin drop. We had a good friend who saved us some seats up in the front section where grandpa could have his oxygen on the aisle without bothering anyone.

"Doctor Days" wear us out and we are looking forward to an early night.

FAIR FOOD & FUN

I got to go to the Western Idaho State fair on Saturday. Jim took me and we had a good time. I especially wanted to eat stuff I don't usually get to eat - like Pronto Pups, milk shakes & spiced pecans. I was sick to my stomach when I got through eating, but it was worth it. We walked through all the Expo Halls, watched a concert by an acapella group, had a massage, looked at the mules and couldn't find the draft horses, looked at the chicken and rabbits, watched the "Splash Dog" show where the dogs jump really high before they go into the water. Some of them were jumping 6' 8" to grab the "bone". The last thing we saw were the 4 wheelers. I had never watched that before and part of the time I couldn't even look - they were climbing rock walls and all kinds of stuff with their vehicles and they looked like they were going to fall over backwards. I think it has been several years since I had been to the fair and I was really glad that Jim offered to take me. We had a good weekend and today was doctor appointment day - one in the morning and one in the afternoon with shopping at WalMart in between. I did get a new vacuum cleaner and was amazed at all the dirt it picked up - don't know why though when the old vacuum hadn't been doing it. No pics of the fair - I forgot to take a camera.

BACK HOME & BACK TO WORK

It's good to be home again even though it meant work on the garden produce right away. This isn't the way this was supposed to look but I guess I should be glad I could get some pictures on at all. Jim & Aaron rode their Harleys to the reunion - I took lots of pictures but am just posting the bikers and one shot of the "older" generation. The eight of us are what is left of the siblings in my family and their spouses. Grandpa and I were fortunate enough to be included in being housed at Kelly's house, so we didn't have to be on a bunk in a cabin. We had lots of talent displayed there and lots of memories to talk about. Kenneth went with us and that was such a blessing - I had someone to help drive and he helped with grandpa's oxygen, etc. We stayed with Bill & Karen on Saturday night and went to church there. My beans were waiting to be canned and I didn't feel like I could put it off. With tomatoes we are at the point where we can have a sliced tomato each meal - yeah!