Getting my exercise

Yesterday at sundown I went out for my evening walk and hoped this time to extend it to a mile and a half or more.  I hadn't gone far when I saw a woman getting mail from her mailbox but her little dog evidently wasn't on a leash and took off.  She called to the puppy, who finally started to come back when she noticed me.  Of course, being a puppy she threw herself at my feet and rolled to expose her tummy for scratching.  While I was scratching her, and the lady was trying to get control of her collar, the little puppy peed on my hand!  I didn't say anything, the dog was picked up by her owner, and I went on my way making sure my hand didn't get near the rest of me.  You'd think in the dry heat it would have air dried pretty fast, but I swear it was still damp when I got home.  Being my right hand I had to open the door with my left, and turn on the faucet at the sink left-handed, but finally got my hands washed.  I will try to extend my walk tonight and be careful if I stop to pet a dog!

It was back to Lowe's today to see if I could successfully buy 3 bags of rocks.  First I got a cart and went back to where they were to make sure what I wanted was available.  This time they were stacked on a lower shelf and I didn't need to reach overhead.  I got the first bag on the flatbed cart when a lady who was watering plants came over and got the next two bags.  When I approached the cashier she gave me a stern look and said "Don't do that again!  Ask for assistance."  When I drove my car up she was waiting to load it into the back.  I just now unloaded it, and since there were only 3 bags I was able to back into the driveway and carry one at a time the short distance to the back yard.  This whole thing is so stupid - no one looks in my back yard so what is the big deal?  But my thanks go out to the ladies at Lowe's!

After getting the blood test results showing my liver function is excellent, today I have two very jaundiced eyes.  Over the weekend and in the heat I probably drank 2 to 3 times my normal intake of beer, but that seems awfully drastic a result.  I'll wait and see what it looks like tomorrow, and I'm going to teetotal it this evening.

Family weekend

Just a short post today.  My sister, Julie, came from the Bay Area with a friend yesterday, and Steve, Joe, their kids, and I went to a BBQ at Jeannie's house.  I haven't ever seen so much delicious food!  I went back today and snapped this picture of Julie, Paul, and Jeannie & family.  Both days most everyone was in the pool as it's been so hot.  I think I was outdoors in the heat too long yesterday and haven't really felt right since, although sleeping 11 hours last night helped.

I took a number of pictures by the pool yesterday but for some reason they all came out looking like stormy waves in the water.  Maybe it's a reflection from the sun making it look choppy?  Maybe someone can tell me.

 

Today I got the results of the blood test earlier this week, and it looks like everything is normal.  My total cholesterol went down as was to be expected from the low dose of Lipitor, but personally I'm not crazy about it being at 102 as I'm sure it could go down below 100.  Having cholesterol that is too low isn't all that healthy either, but I guess I'm stuck taking the Lipitor for a while at least.  So far the only negative I've experienced is worsening of and a different type of leg & foot cramps at night.

I missed a night of walking yesterday so I'm going to get back to it this evening.  I need to figure out where I can go to walk that is a change of scenery at least once in a while.  Could do the gym-treadmill thing, but I can't think of anything more boring, at least to me personally.

Calling cards

When I was full-time RVing and opened my South Dakota mailing address, Terri sent me a supply of calling cards as well as some return address labels.  I've been wanting to get some that aren't so plain, so after years of avoiding Instaprint - you know the advertising, the cards are either free or cost $10 - I looked at their website.

I wanted a scene from nature and actually hoped I could find one of an open road stretching out ahead, but no luck.  I didn't really want to design my own (really I'm just not capable of designing anything) so I was left with their selection, which isn't bad.  I finally chose this impressionistic, water-color-type tree.  I blotted out my phone number, but everything else is the way it looks.

For 250 cards and 50 return address labels the cost came to just under $30.  I guess it's worth it, and now if I meet any fellow bloggers/blog readers on the road I can offer them my calling card, and hopefully they have one they can offer me.  I have a nice supply of beautiful cards I've been given along the way, and always wished I had gone for broke with a photo of my 5th wheel and truck on a card, but it's just as well I didn't.  

I'm looking all over for the little card holder I had but can't find it anywhere.  Since I rarely throw out things like that, it must be somewhere in this chaos.  I am thinking about cleaning up and rearranging my office/IMac/camping gear storage room, maybe even this afternoon, and I just might find it there.  At least maybe I will be able to access all parts of the room.

Costco was first on the list this morning to get some prescriptions that are now filled in 3 month supply.  Much easier than having to always be running in for refills, and I don't want to have to keep transferring the Rx while I'm traveling.  I bought myself some new underwear while I was there - you know what your mother always told you - always wear clean underwear when you go out.  I decided I'd better pay attention to Mama just in case I need one of those emergency room apps when I'm away from home.  Oh wait, my jitterbug phone doesn't use apps (and if it does and someone knows that, please don't tell me!).  And for the record, I bought bikini type garments, just for the fun of it and imagining the look on the faces of the ER personnel!

I had chicken for my dinner last night and thought I would have problems with acid reflux during the night.  I had some of the chicken on a sandwich for lunch today, so I'll see if it's just chicken I can no longer tolerate or just a fluke.  Chicken doesn't taste as good to me any more, although I still enjoy a hamburger now and then.  I'll stick to mostly fish, but worry about my diet while traveling.  

I think I will travel only about 275 miles of interstate, and that's out of 4500 miles (one way).  I may decide to alter the route slightly but it won't make that much difference in traveling interstates.  I'm excited about seeing so much of hometown American (and possibly Canada) this trip.  

I will be going to a BBQ at Jeannie's tomorrow so I will get to see the Flat Stanleys and whatever the girls have decided to name the female dolls.  I gave them each a lot of blank outlines that I printed out and asked them to color.  It should be interesting to see what they come up with.  Two other granddaughters and a grandson will be there as well, so maybe I should go armed with additional Stanleys!

I'm also taking some little things I picked up at the Back to School sales.  They have those ruled spiral bound notebooks for only $.17, so you can imagine I bought a bunch.  I'm like a kid in a candy store at the back to school sales!  Then to avoid fights among sisters I have printed out their names on my labeling machine and affixed them to the notebooks!  I probably missed my calling to be an elementary school teacher, but it's a good thing because I don't have enough patience.

I'd better quit now and let you go read some other blogs with more to say than I can come up with.

Ready to mail

The maps and book are ready to be mailed to my grandsons.  I numbered each individual map in the order I will be traveling, and even highlighted my first day's route.  I hand printed a note to them about it, and anyone who doesn't normally print in lower case letters should try it some time.  Tedious!  Now it's all ready to go to the post office in a week or so.  I don't want to mail it too soon before I leave - I'm a bit superstitious when it comes down to it.

I just received a phone call that began, "The FBI has reported. . .", and I thought Oh shit what have I done and how did they find out!  It turned out to be an advertising scheme for home protection devices (they didn't mention a Smith & Wesson :~).  I think the message was to the effect that the FBI reports that a home is broken into every 15 minutes, or something like that.  A home alarm system is the last thing in the world I would want.  Two of my kids have them in their homes and it is a real pain in the neck when I'm staying there and maybe want to open the bedroom window, or when I would take the dog out early in the morning.  I would be triggering the alarm  myself all the time, or more likely, I would never set the thing to begin with.  At least the FBI isn't looking for me and I don't call any suspicious characters that would turn up on the records they collect.

I've been thinking a lot and planning the next few months, which is way more tiring work than actually doing anything!  I also had an enlightenment this morning - when I am working furiously on a project, as with the maps & trip plans, the day seems to stretch out more.  When I just sit on my rear most of the day it goes from morning to bedtime and from weekend to weekend in a flash.  You'd think it would be the other way around but it isn't.  That means I need some projects to work on, but they have to have real goals and an end result I can see and enjoy.  

Washing the dishes doesn't count as a project, although it will become one soon if I don't get busy.  I made a stupid mistake a couple of nights ago, one that I have made over and over and you'd think I'd learn but I don't.  I put a big knife into the soapy dishwater where it was waiting to cut my finger.  Hurt so damn bad and for so long I've just let dishes stack up for a day or two.

I'm thinking about going back to Lowe's and trying again to get a few bags of rocks.  I should have stopped yesterday morning after leaving the lab as Lowe's is in the same shopping area, but I had fasted for the blood draw and was hungry and needed some coffee.  I'm not excited about getting the rocks in the first place because then I'll just have to deal with them and it's too hot to fool around outside.

So far the weather today is really pleasant - only 81 by 1:30 pm, although it's going up to 92 or higher.  I think I'll have a nap before it gets too warm.

I'm just dragging today

This morning I was at the lab when they opened at 8 am so they could draw a vial of blood.  I have been taking a low dose of lipitor for about 2 months and they need to make sure it isn't affecting my liver.  By all means take that test!  But I had to fast, which is why I went so early.

Since I came home I have been absolutely dragging along, and they didn't take enough blood to cause me to feel like this.  I take iron supplements and have plenty of protein in my diet, so I just can't figure it out except maybe that it's just laziness.  It has gotten hotter today than yesterday, and I found the coolest spot in the house and took a nap.

When it gets this hot I never feel like cooking supper, so this may be a nacho chips/salsa/cheese in the microwave night.  That's the only thing I ever use my microwave for.  I thawed out chicken but it's too hot to even go outside and throw it on the grill!  Guess it will keep until tomorrow.

I mentioned yesterday that I didn't know why Sitemeter disappeared from my site a long while ago, and now it is back.  I think it is because I block Google and other companies from tracking me, and it looks like Sitemeter was one of the companies affected.  As soon as I "allowed" it, the counter is back.  I have no idea if it is accurate or not and really don't worry about the numbers anymore.  

Nothing else happening here.  If I had TV I'd probably be watching some kind of drivel, so I'm just as well off without it.  Y'all try to stay cool!

Will wonders never cease

After not showing up on my blog page for months, maybe even a year, the sitemeter is now there.  I'm afraid to breathe or cough because it might go away.

I want to thank Kristine who gave me the idea for Flat Stanley, and to Sandie who sent me the link to the templates.  At first when I looked at the web site it appeared to require Apps, and as I've said before I don't do apps.  But I found out the apps are not necessary.  I printed out several templates and just now took them over to Autumn and Arianna to color for me.  I did the Flat Stanley one, but there are also girl figures as well and I printed some of them thinking that we will use the girlie template on our upcoming road trip to Oregon.

My granddaughter Autumn is probably the best person I know to color a picture.  She does a beautiful job with it, and the colors she does are always bright and bold - just what is needed for a little paper doll who is going to appear on photographs.  

I can't believe I have never heard of Flat Stanley, and he's been around since 1964!  I was around Ara's age in 1964 and had many other things on my mind I guess.

I stopped at AAA this morning and picked up the individual state maps I'll be using for my trip to NY, and will send them soon to my grandsons.  This is going to be so much fun for me, and I hope it's half as enjoyable for the kids as it is for me.  But I don't know why "Fat Albert" is what comes to my mind first instead of "Flat Stanley". 

   

Teaching one of my favorite subjects

That is, map reading.  I was talking to my son in NY and asked if he thought the boys (7 and almost 5) would like it if I sent them maps covering the entire route I'm taking to NY, plus a couple of highlighters.  My thought is that I would let them know every day or two of my progress, the route I'm on, where I stayed overnight, etc., and they could follow my journey with their own maps.  The thing is that since I'm not going to be on much of the interstates, I almost have to send them individual state maps so they can find the US and State routes I'm traveling.

Mike seemed to be enthusiastic about it, and said they followed his travels to Afghanistan and back on a world map, and both of them learned at a very young age to assemble the jigsaw puzzle of all the states in the U.S.  So I will go to the AAA office soon and get the maps and into the mail to them.

Map reading was something I tried to teach my own kids and they can all do it, a couple of them being more interested and better at it than the others, but it's a skill worth knowing.  In these days of GPS, smart phone apps, etc., I want my grandchildren to learn that you can figure it out for yourself, and when you get older you have the choice to let a device do the work for you if you wish.  But the basic skills should be there.

I will also send them a Dr. Seuss type book I found at REI called "There's a Map on My Lap!".  Josh (the older one) is reading quite well now and he can read to Justin.

I got gas at Costco this morning for $3.59 a gallon, which is very good for California at this time of the year.  I still worry about the cost of fuel for a trip of 4500 miles, and then of course, back to CA which probably will be a few miles less depending on the side trips I make and what's left in my travel fund.

I made a stop at Target to pick up a couple of needed items.  I had one heavy item (a case of alcoholic beverage) so I took the cart all the way to the car, unloaded it, and then found a cart return spot nearby.  When I was getting into my car a woman stopped, rolled down her window, and thanked me for returning the cart rather than just leaving it in the parking area.  She said she almost never saw anyone returning carts and told me she appreciated it.  What a nice thing to say to someone, and the glow has stayed with me all day.  She must be referring to the Walmart parking lot where carts are left in parking spaces everywhere.  Sometimes it's like that at Costco as well, and I can't figure it out because there are so many return corrals it doesn't take much of an effort.

I want to thank Hobopals for the instructions on how to print gridlines on an Excel spreadsheet.  It worked, I printed the sheets out, and they look great!

I also thank Brenda for her encouragement regarding my finding an older dog.  They just adopted two mature dogs, Maya and Max, and their photos can be seen on their current blog entry.

The thermometer is climbing to the upper 90's for the next 10 days at least.  I can deal with it but sure hope it doesn't exceed 100 again!

Looking at the clock I see it's Miller time.  I need to make sure that the travel from Target to here didn't cause any damage to the quality of the beverage.