violent rain

Again we slept a bit later. We were on the road by 9, filled with gasoline, and out of MS by noon. We had saved some or last night’s dinner and found another Pizza Hut that was willing to warm our Pzone and pizza for us. We bought a drink and I tipped both the manager and the waitress. After lunch we drove in the rain all the way to Lafayette. It was still raining when we went to bed at 10. We got our room and couldn’t get either computer to work on their wireless nor my air card. I will complain to the manager tomorrow. We called Jimmy and Betty Trahan who met us at a nice restaurant we found last spring. We enjoyed dinner and a visit with them and returned to the motel. I thought we might go to Mamou tomorrow morning but don’t think we will. We will see what the weather is like then.

What an interior!

Inside the Bass Pro Shop where we ate lunch. It is full of stuffed animals killed by many people in the area.

Autumn beauty in the mountains

This is why we enjoy walking around Lake Junaluska especially in the autumn.

Half way to Texas

We were in no hurry to leave Roswell because later meant less traffic. I had slept fairly well after the coughing fit, but Evelyn did not go to sleep until about 6. She was wakened shortly before 8, meaning she had slept about 4 ½ hours in 2 days. We ate breakfast, filled up with fuel, and hit the road around 9. We were blessed to make good time leaving Atlanta. We drove into Alabama and headed for Talladega where the NASCAR race will be run this weekend. Just before getting there, we ran into a construction zone slowing us for around half an hour. When we reached the race site, there were already more than 200 RVs waiting for the race to begin. This was Thursday; the races begin Saturday. We drove on looking for a place to eat our Subway sandwiches we had bought yesterday morning. We finally found a Bass Pro Shop in a gorgeous setting and got permission to eat at some of their indoor tables. We spent some relaxing time there before driving on. We arrived in Meridian and checked in to our La Quinta Inn. Evelyn rested (not slept) while I tried to work on the computer. We went to a Pizza Hut for supper. We had a really nice little black girl as our waitress and had a lot of fun with her. We left there and went to a nearby Wal-Mart to get some cough medicine for me and some sleep aids for Evelyn. She got Melatonin and I got some Nyquil. We were back in the motel room by 8. Evelyn read and I looked on the Internet for some gasoline prices. I found some about 50 miles south but will have to get a few gallons because we are very low.

The first day out

I slept well again last night but learned that Evelyn hadn't been able to sleep until 6. I had set the alarm for 7:30 so we both wakened and got ready to leave. I took many things that we couldn't finish off to the neighbors. We put some final items into the trailer and went off to get some Subway sandwiches for Thursday's lunch. I also took a few items to recycle and paid our water bill before returning home. I backed the car to the trailer with Evelyn's guidance. Doris came to say goodbye and we left. I tape a note to the door telling me some last minute items but missed one of the three. I turned off the water heater but forgot to turn the thermostat to 50. I will have to call a neighbor and ask him to fix it for us. We didn't eat anything until 11 when we stopped at a BoJangles for an early lunch. That was in Franklin, and Evelyn was able to sleep for an hour or so in the continued drive. We arrived in Roswell at 2:45, called Stacy but could only leave a message, and took a nap. They came to the motel at 4:45 and took us to the sports bar where we had dinner. I had a coupon for $50 off a $100 bill. Stacy and Tom had invited some missionary friends but they couldn't come. I was concerned that we couldn't eat $100 (the prices were quite reasonable), but Peter and Olivia came to our rescue and the 6 of us made the bill. We went to the missionaries' home and enjoyed seeing his huge garden and a dessert they served. We came back to Stacy's home and delivered Christmas presents and some apples. We were back at our motel by 9. I was asleep for nearly 2 hours when I had a coughing fit so violent that I vomited a small amount. I made some hot water that relaxed my throat some, wrote what you are reading and tried sleeping again. I will let you know how that worked.

2 days until lift off

Monday brought the threat of rain. We didn’t mind because we were still packing and cleaning. Evelyn had not slept until around 5 and I let her sleep until 10:30. She got up and we took a prescription for itching to the local pharmacy. After lunch we laid down to nap. I had just reclined when the Doris came with a nice container of vegetable soup. I went back to bed and had just dropped off when Phil and Noreen came with a loaf of bread from Bear Creek Farms in Indiana. I couldn’t go back to sleep so I just worked and watched the sports shows. We ate supper and continued loading the trailer. I swear that we have more in there now than we did when we came here in the spring. We watched some recorded programs before going to bed before 10:30. I could hardly stay awake until the weather forecast. I have been taking Zyrtec for 2 days and hope it helps me.

It was raining quite hard when we wakened and continued for the day.
We were both tired and slept until 9:30. I felt much better and was ready to help. Evelyn did a couple of loads of laundry and we remade the bed so it would be ready when we return in the spring. We received 2 calls wishing us well before we went to Annie’s Apple Crate restaurant. It was very good. We returned some books to the library, stopped to buy some spicy cheeze it crackers. We came home and took a nap before supper. Then we took some things out to the car and cleaned out the refrigerator, gathering some things to give away to neighbors. We just relaxed in the evening because it was raining too hard to walk to their homes. We will try to do it in the morning before we leave. We also want to buy 2 Subway sandwiches to eat on the way to Meridian, MS on Thursday.

pain and a cold

Sunday was our final worship for the year in NC. I was up early even though I had not slept deeply. I think I am catching a cold. I worked on the computer until Evelyn wakened. She called my attention to the time, and I realized that the alarm clock had automatically reset for daylight saving time. We still had time to make it to church. We gave the pastor’s wife one of our coupon books. We had decided to use a coupon to go to the Waynesville Country Club for lunch. We enjoyed it and then returned home. We went to bed and slept for an hour before going to walk around the lake. I had not felt good after church but the nap and the walk made me feel better. I continued loading the trailer for a while but Evelyn had to rest some more. I decided to make an egg and onion sandwich instead of popcorn. We have many things that we have to get rid of so I ate some squash and cornbread. I also ate a piece of chocolate cake that Doris had brought for us. My right thigh muscle began to hurt, and I had to stop bringing items in from the deck. We watched some football and some CSI before going to bed early.

An American Hero

I neglected to mention yesterday that we had our soup supper in the home of a true war hero. He and his wife live across the street from us and hosted the supper. He was in the Navy in WWII and was on a carrier that was sunk in the Pacific by a Kamikaze pilot. He was blown into the water about 50 feet from the ship. He was virtually naked and spent 3 hours in the water until a destroyer picked him and several others out of the water. The ship he was on sank. He said he was paddling frantically away from the ship so as to not be sucked under when the ship went down. He was taken to Guam where he spent 2 weeks until, small group by small group, he and his comrades were flown back to the US on survivor’s leave. He later returned to the war and then served 22 months in the Korean conflict. He is a Cajun and we talked about the new restaurant that will open near here soon serving both Cajun and Greek food. What a combination. Bill Williams went to DC this past spring to visit the WWII memorial with many other veterans. This is one great thing our government is doing: it is offering to fly the remaining veterans there to see the memorial. Bob and Liddy Dole meet and greet each arriving flight. At least some have reverence for the “greatest generation” who have insured much of the freedom that we are now having stolen from us by those who don’t.

Wishing the neighbors goodbye

For some reason I keep getting a day behind. It is Saturday but I can’t find Friday. We just continued packing. The day was somewhat gloomy but we were able to walk anyway. It was around 10:30 when we arrived at our friends, Mickey and Frances. They invited us onto their porch for a cup of coffee but Evelyn had Iced tea. She really liked the recipe Frances had made and got it from her. We came home and put some more things into the trailer. I had also stopped on the way to pick up the medicine I had left Wednesday. We have all the medicine packed now. We were tired of staying home so we took some articles to the Open Door thrift shop after we went to Belk to pay our bill and to the bank to get some cash for our trip. There will be places where we can’t use our charge card so we need cash. We also took some cholesterol medicine to the free Good Samaritan clinic. Evelyn doesn’t take it anymore and we wanted to have it used instead of just throwing it away. As we talked with the doctor, I decided I would take it instead of the statin drugs I had been taking. We came home and Evelyn talked to Stacy for a while as we watched some episodes of Monk.
Saturday was bright and sunny. For some reason we didn’t walk, however. Evelyn’s stomach had hurt a great deal last night but she was better this morning. I took more stuff to the trailer while she colored her hair. After that we took our plants to a friend from church who looks after them for us in the winter. We came home and had lunch after which I watched Purdue beat Illinois for its second straight win. Some of the commentators were talking about their becoming bowl eligible. The coming schedule looks pretty difficult for that to happen. Evelyn made some apple muffins to take to the going away party for us tonight. After she rested we went to Lowes to get something to fight the ants with. They are small and all over the kitchen. We also bought another plastic tub so we can take more things to Texas. I hope the tires can accept the weight. We enjoyed the supper featuring chili and potato cheese soup and then came home. We had thought about going to watch some square dancers but didn’t go because we don’t know enough calls to join in yet. Tomorrow we are privileged to worship.

Another gorgeous day! We worked outside cutting down more of the plants that would die over the winter. The new spring growth will look better if the old dead growth is cut down. We finished up and had lunch. Evelyn had it in her mind that I must go play golf, so she took me to the course around 1:30. She left me there, walked around the lake, came home and baked some things. I walked around the course, making my legs ache and my psyche twitch and ache too. I should give up this game. She retrieved me around 4 and brought me home. I put my clubs away for the winter and waited for supper by watching the sports shows. We ate and then watched “Wild Hogs”. I watched some baseball and then went to bed after the news.

Another Wednesday

We had a foggy morning before going to volunteer at the hospital. After eating, Evelyn went to the local cosmetology college for a permanent while I went to carry snacks to people recovering from surgery or a colonoscopy. This will be our final service until we return next April. Evelyn’s adventure took an hour and a half longer than she had anticipated. The students have to interact with the teachers frequently, and the teachers have many students to supervise. When she returned at 3:30, we came home. While she rested I went outside and cut down our Sylva plants. After supper we watched some programs I had recorded. I also checked about how to get my free 7 upgrade on my new computer. I have to search for my receipt tomorrow. I called and learned that Best Buy, the store where I bought the computer, will charge $40 to load it in. I don’t think I like dealing with them because I was led to believe they would do it as a free upgrade. It has been delightfully cool lately and is great sleeping weather. Open the windows and snore away!

Annointing a sick friend

It had frozen again last night, but we didn’t sleep late. We got ready to go, but were early and had time to load some heavy items into the front of the trailer. The beer and wine came from under the house. Even though it was cold, I was comfortable working outside. We drove to Hiawassee through some beautiful mountains covered with red and gold leaves. We arrived at the Gudger’s right at noon. They were expecting us and were happy to see us after 3 or 4 years. We visited about the past and had much small talk. We had gone to visit because Glenn has been under treatment for a blood clot in his leg and was forced to take some painful shots in the stomach. He had a “Y” stint put into his lower abdomen to open blood flow to his leg. They had also lost a 45 year old son to pancreatic cancer 19 months ago. I wanted to have an anointing oil ceremony for physical healing and spiritual strength. After that we took them to lunch at a local restaurant and made plans to meet them again next summer. They live on a large lake in northern Georgia and have two lake front houses. We stayed there a few years ago and plan to return to spend a weekend with them. We drove back the same way and stopped to see Tom and Luanne, but they had left this morning and were outside of Nashville when I called him. We came on home, rested, ate supper and went to the square dance class. We learned some more calls and learned that there are many more difficult ones to be learned later. We came home and slept well--I hope.

Another step toward the trip south.

We drove to Asheville to worship at Emmanuel. John Greene and his family were there. He gave another good message. Lisa talked about their upcoming trip to El Salvador to do some work at her orphanage there. We gave her some more money. We tried to go to the Country Kitchen for brunch but would have had to wait 45 minutes. Instead we went to the Atlanta Bread Company. We had good sandwiches but were not pleased about getting our own food, busing our own table and having to wait more than 10 minutes before it was ready. We returned home and Evelyn took a nap while I watched some football. I waited until 4:30 amd went to hook up the trailer and pull it here so we could begin packing it. I was able to back it in to the carport relatively easily. I did not load any of it because it was cold, and the weather will get warmer toward the middle of the week. Doris brought some apple cake she had made, and we gave her some brownies before I made popcorn for our supper. We watched some more football before going to bed. We made plans to visit a friend who is dying of cancer. They live in Hiawassee, GA. We will make the trip and try to be back early so we can eat and go to square dance lessons.

Purdue beats Ohio State!!!!

Cold and rainy again. It felt so good in the house that we didn’t venture far out all morning. We just waited until the Purdue football game began. They jumped out to a lead as we ate lunch, but that didn’t excite me too much because they have done that in almost every game they have lost this year. Well, this time they really dominated the game until the end. They beat Ohio State, ranked 7th in the nation! What a pleasant surprise that was. We were both excited. Perhaps they are a better team than it appears. Evelyn went to a craft show at the fairground and bought some “shrugs”. She will use one to make some for herself. After supper we went to a concert at the Colonial Theater in Canton. Our friend, John Greene, played the bass guitar in the band that played. He is a teacher, pastor, pianist and bass player. Who knows what else. We came home and watched some football before retiring for the night. It was still raining lightly when I went to bed--and cold. It was 35 when we came home.

Here comes winter

It was cold again today and there is a freeze warning for tonight. After a late breakfast, we went to town to return the shorts bought yesterday. I got another black pair marked the right size but no tan ones. Evelyn did see a nice shirt marked down more than half and wanted me to buy it. I did so I could wear it to the dance tonight. We came home and I worked on re arranging the items in the shed. While I was outside, Evelyn, with the grace of God, found our lost passports. She had worried during the night and wakened to look for them. God is good. We had agreed to have a late lunch because there are always goodies at the dances but that doesn’t start until 8. I continued working for another couple of hours and then took a nap. When I wakened, I went outside and brought all the plants in to the shed for protection. We then dressed for the dance. We have to pay $10 each to go to the dance because we aren’t dues paying members. But the members are to bring snacks to the dance. Well, the cooking queen refuses to just pay the $10. No. We must also provide snacks. So tonight we are taking a large pizza and some puff pastry. I would not agree to this but we must rid ourselves of some of things in the freezer that we can’t take and will not keep well. We left for the dance at 7:30. Perhaps due to the weather there were only 16 people there. We had a wonderful time dancing and visiting with Dallas and Karen Norris. They will go back to Florida November 3 but we will leave October 28. We have visited with them several times this summer but won’t see them again until around the end of April. They are Christians and Evelyn and Karen even prayed together tonight. We left the dance at 10. The band stopped earlier than usual but we were ready to go.

We wakened around 8. I had not been able to sleep until almost 2 AM so I was a bit tired. It was raining when I took Evelyn to the church to lead her Bible study. I wanted some coffee so I stayed to help make it. I then went to the doctor's office to pay a bill and try to clarify my appointment time for the afternoon. I came home and brought some plastic tubs down from the attic so we could pack them. I also put our lunch into bowls and picked Evelyn up. She reminded me that she needed hose so we went to Belk to get some. While there I found 2 pairs of shorts marked down. We came home, ate lunch and discovered that both pairs of shorts were too small. The one was marked 40 but was no where near that size. We will take them back tomorrow. I worked more on packing while Evelyn rested. We went off to the doctor and he took my previstatin away. We are going to try going without any statins to see if my legs stop aching. My right thigh muscles often feel like they will give out. I always have a good time with him so we just visited most of the time. We didn't have time to return the shorts so we came home and went to the neighbor's for dinner. She served a delicious crab and corn chowder. We left there around 8 and came home. We had discovered in the afternoon that we can't find our passports. We searched everywhere we could think of without success. We thank God that we learned of the loss before it was too late to rectify the problem. We will find them within the next few days.

rainy trip planning

It rained most of the day and was cold. Of course we didn’t walk. We did go to work at the hospital at noon. On our way we adjusted Evelyn’s hair appointment at the college. Wednesday is a day when one of the rehab centers brings a van load of the elderly to have hair appointments. Evelyn wanted a permanent so she canceled her appointment until next week. She could get a permanent then as well as a cut. We had another slow day at the hospital so we left at 3 to come home. The rain had subsided and eventually stopped for the day. There is more on the way tomorrow but should taper off for the weekend. On the way home I stopped at the hotel and uploaded some pictures to my blog. For some reason I am not allowed to go to the blog site at the hospital. We worked at home on packing a bit, and Evelyn worked on her Bible study for tomorrow. I spent an hour or so trying to book a ride on Amtrak for our trip west next April. I had spent several hours trying to do this several times, but today I had success. I am not sure what I did but printed everything in case I can’t do it again. I won’t book the final trip until after the first of the year because Amtrak could easily change the routes and the prices. We really don’t know the dates until we have word as to whether the Beelis will still be there. We had some of the no nuthin soup we had made from stock of the sauerbraten. We had skimmed the fat from it so it would be less caloric. Evelyn watched the better part of a movie, and I watched a couple of episodes of “The Unit”. A program similar to “24” which I haven’t seen promoted lately. We went to bed at the usual time.

Cleaning up fun

There is always clean up after everyone enjoys any meal. This was the female clean up crew. Evelyn, the pastor's wife, the queen of the local LWML chapter and the church secretary. There were many men doing the heavy work, and many of us were working until 2 hours after the ending of the serving. We still enjoy working for the Lord, hard as it is.

Both the interior decorations for the German dinner and people outdoors enjoying the food. We had a good time serving for the second setting on a beautiful evening. The Lord is good!

LWML

Evelyn served the refreshments at the LWML presentation. Phil Loyer is preparing for the German dinner as well. Evelyn always does a superb job of decorating and baking. The presenter is talking about her trip to the Holy Land in April. Not as many attended as we had hoped.

Final 2009 guests in NC

Phil and Norrene Bollinger were our last guests for the summer in NC. They went to school with Evelyn in Geneva but moved here as we did.

2 days before the deluge

Monday was a rainy day and nothing much happened. We weren’t able to walk because of that. We had made plans to eat out with anyone from the neighborhood who wanted to go. By the evening the weather had cleared and we met 5 others at J. Arthur’s for their BOGOF night. We enjoyed the meal and then rushed off to our square dance lesson. We were late so we didn’t get to dance together. I had serious trouble with a few of the calls because they were more difficult. We will very likely go over the same ones next week so I will get them then. We came home and went to bed.
Tuesday was a much nicer day. We had both slept fairly well last night but did sleep a bit late. We were walking the lake by 8:30, home by 9:30 and eating breakfast soon after. I then went to town to have some pictures of the German dinner made at the Rite Aid drug store. I still had many pictures on the memory stick. I usually erase them but still had the ones from the German dinner. Evelyn wanted some to share with the LWML. After lunch we went to Asheville to see the endocrinologist. He seemed to think she was still the same and wants her to see the doctor in McAllen in a couple of months. We came back from there to John and Lisa Greene’s for a turkey dinner with Loughridge’s and Phil Loyer and Joanne Green. We are blessed to be friends with them. They helped me with some of the problems I have with the new computer. We had to leave before 7 because John has to practice for a concert to be given next Saturday. We may try to go. We watched the weather which calls for rain the rest of the week. There is even a prediction of snow above 4,000 feet on Saturday. We are more interested in getting out of the cold. I don’t think we will leave earlier than planned but might want to.

German dinner.

We went to church at OSLC because we still had some sauerbraten to deliver. We returned home and had lunch by noon. Then we called Tom and Luanne to see if they could come early to enjoy some wine before going to the dinner. We had a great time visiting for an hour. They are such great friends. We can't really figure out why they like to be with us--2 much older people. We really enjoy them. We went to the dinner where we helped by serving the meal. After the dinner, we helped clean up the kitchen and the eating area. It took over an hour, and Evelyn got very tired. We learned this afternoon that our friends of last year, the Rogers, have lost their job. Actually It was Kathy who had been working. I bought a ticket to the German dinner for Jim who loves German food. I am sure they are having financial problems but wouldn't want us to know it. Therefore, I asked another friend, Frieda, to deliver the carry-out dinner to him. I hope he accepted it graciously. Evelyn had a long talk with Rosalie and then went to bed. I watched some of Colts/Titans football game and then the news. It is supposed to be cold the next week. This makes us begin to want to leave for the deep south.

Football woes

It rained hard during the night, but it was only sprinkling when we arose. It was very chilly though when we left for the monthly weigh in at Weight Watchers. The weight was up a bit, partly due to the heavier clothes. I went to a local farmer’s marked and bought 5 butternut squash. We had planned to go to a craft sale downtown Waynesville but determined it to be too cold and rainy. Instead we went to the one indoor at the fairground. We found 2 books by a local author and bought them as gifts. We came home, ate lunch, and settled in to watch Purdue get stomped again. Then we waited for a call to come to the church and decorate the tables for tomorrow’s German dinner. I have sold all 12 of the tickets I was given, not including the 2 we will buy. She wasn’t gone long but I had already started walking to take a dessert to our ME friends who are in the rehab center around the corner. As I was leaving Evelyn came home and then went on to walk the lake. I would have gone with her but didn’t make that clear. I watched some of the Ohio State/Wisconsin football game. I also made popcorn for supper. We usually have that for Sunday’s supper but will have German food tomorrow. Frieda returned from Greenville with some wine I asked her to bring. She brought 6 shiraz and 6 chardonnay for $46. That is less than $4 per bottle and is delicious. Evelyn engaged in her favorite activity: making a dessert, this time of apples. I watched some of the Michigan/Iowa football game before retiring early.

cooking the sauerbraten

Friday was another beautiful day. We had nothing actually scheduled so we loafed until about 11. We ate an early lunch and went to Waynesville to dump the trash, cash a small check, pick up Evelyn’s shoes, return books to the library, and get some milk. We returned home and again I encouraged Evelyn to nap. She cooperated. Around 4 we went to walk. We both get tired when we walk. Perhaps we have missed too many days. We took our umbrella as we walked, expecting rain. It didn’t happen. We made it home and watched some sports shows. Evelyn put together some of her pumpkin dessert from yesterday to take to our neighbor, Doris. She brings us items periodically. In fact earlier today she had given us 4 sweet potatoes and some small tomatoes. We had some delicious hamburgers for supper and enjoyed some pumpkin desserts ourselves. We watched some baseball and a taped recording of the weekly Purdue coach’s television show. We were surprised about how positive he was despite our witnessing 6 turnovers last Saturday. He is right, however. Without the turnovers they could be 5-0 instead of 1-4. I don’t know exactly why, but I am not much interested in the baseball playoffs. I guess I am just discouraged about the Cubs not being in them. Evelyn had a spot on her sole and I applied some compound W before she retired for the night. I had to wait until the second chunk of sauerbraten was finished. I turned it off at around 10, put 2 TV tables on top of the lid, turned it off and came in. The crock pot we use gets too hot to use it in the house, so we just leave it on the deck. I had to secure the lid because we have at least 1 neighborhood cat that might enjoy a taste. We had done one of the slabs of meat between 9:30 and 3:30. We started the second at around 5 and cooked it longer than necessary. We will take them to the church tomorrow.

Holyland travelogue

Thursday was a big day this week. We were up early because we needed to get to the church by 8:30 in order to get the dessert set up to be served at 10. The reason we had to hurry was that we had an appointment with a dermatologist for a check up on my basal cell carcinoma. Evelyn went first and announced she had been healthy all summer. I had to remind her that her stomach hurt quite often, her bout with the 2 sores on her leg, and the nearly constant itching on her back. Dr. Thomas looked an them and recommended continued use of cortisone cream. Then he looked at me. He was disturbed by a small purple “blister” on my left arm and an irregular mole in the small of my back. He wanted to cut. The nurse injected the local anesthetic and he came back to cut out the items. He sends them off to see whether they are malignant. He also bought 2 tickets to the dinner. Surprisingly, we were back at the church (just across the expressway) before the presentation began. Everyone came to get their serving, and the woman presenting the program began. She had taken a trip to the Holy Land in May and narrated some slides of the trip. She spoke too softly for us to understand well. The DVD player would not cooperate and she had to wait many times for the picture to advance. She went 1 ½ hours, a reasonable time and answered my question: how much did the 17 day trip cost? It was $6600 and almost all inclusive. We went to town to get a Blimpie for lunch. We brought them home and then rested a while after lunch and before exercising. Evelyn dropped me at the golf course and went to walk around the lake. I played about the usual before she returned. We came home and had etouffee for supper. We then watched baseball.

Final guests of the summer.

Wednesday was a beautiful day. I had to go for a blood draw at 9 and then came home. Evelyn was at home working on the dessert to serve at tomorrow’s LWML meeting. I went back to the church to put them into the refrigerator because we don’t have room in ours. It is full of meat being marinated for sauerbraten. I returned and dressed for the hospital. Evelyn had not gone to sleep until 4:30 AM last night, so I told her to stay home and sleep. She did for about an hour until a package was delivered containing the pan she had sent to be rebuffed. I stayed until 3:30 and returned to find Evelyn working on the dinner. I had invited the Bollingers to dinner, but she had declared we were not having more company for the rest of the month. I wanted to entertain them while selling them German dinner tickets. We served smoked country style ribs and slaw. They really loved them. They left and Evelyn went straight to bed. We were expecting a phone call from Emily but never got it. She is quite busy. I must mention how beautiful the mountains are getting. The view from the hospital 6th floor shows the trees in brilliant reds and golds. This is why we are in no hurry to leave for Texas.

Better golf.

We were up and went to the golf course at 10. I couldn't begin on the front 9 because of a group playing. I wanted to play the back 9 and teed off. The group behind me complained to the starter that I had cut in front of them. To make them happy, I began playing on hole 12 and was able to keep ahead of them and played fairly well for me. When I finished the 7 holes, I wanted to play 10 and 11 but the group was still playing so I played holes 1, 2, 3 before coming back for 10 and 11. When I finished those 2, Evelyn had come to take me home. She had walked the lake and then gone to the GO grocery for sugar. We ate lunch and then worked in the yard and I made some improvements on my mulch box. I then showered and we took a nap. We slept for nearly an hour. We worked on supper and then ate. We watched some TV, including Dancing with the Stars. We made plans to have the Bollingers for supper tomorrow night. They will pick up their tickets to the German dinner at the same time.

Loafing day.

We were wiped out today. We didn't walk. We slept late. We met Phil at the church at 9 and got our huge hunk of meat to make into sauerbraten. We returned home and put the spices together with some onions and wine. We cut the 15 lb hunk in two and put each half into a bag. We put them both into the refrigerator to marinate for the next 2 days. We then had lunch and took a nap. We were still wiped out but made an appointment for 6 to talk with a Verizon representative. They have a Myfi device that allows a wifi connection anywhere in the house for multiple computers. We decided to wait until Wednesday to make a decision. We then went for our second square dance lesson at 7. We had a good time and were home by 9:30 to watch some of the Packers/Vikings Monday Night Football game.

A football debacle

We were up at 6:30 and on the road by 7:30. I bought gas before we left for $2.16. It was $2.31 when we returned at 4:30. We drove to West Lafayette in a light rain, parked in the Union Hotel parking garage and walked to the CFS welcome tent. They always serve a breakfast for the returning alumni. Evelyn was able to talk with a couple of her professional friends. I went to the game despite the cold, but Evelyn didn't. She would have been miserable. Instead she went to the student union to watch on TV. She also went to Twin Pines, the co-op house where both our girls lived while in college. She saw the composite pictures of the past and found our girls on several of them. I left in the 4th quarter of the worst spectacle of a football game I have ever seen. Even the announcers said, "Purdue couldn't catch a cold today." I was unwilling to sit in the rain to watch the mayhem. We made better time driving back and went with Bill and Shirley for supper. We went to a local ice cream parlor which has other good food as well. We came home early and packed some of our clothes so we could leave early in the morning. I also talked with the friends we will meet in New Braunfels early next month.

425 mile drive.

I wakened shortly before 5 but stayed in bed until 6. We both arose then, and I applied A Touch of Gray to my hair. I ate some casserole from yesterday's Bible study and we left for the north. We stopped in Newport for Evelyn to get a breakfast sandwich at Hardees. I got gasoline because it is cheaper in TN. We drove on to Corbin, KY and got some more. Evelyn then took over driving, and I replaced her in the sleeping responsibility. She ran into a light rain but drove 80 miles, more than she has driven on one of our trips in years. She wanted KFC for lunch and drove 5 miles out of the way to get it. We drove on to Shelbyville, IN and arrived at 4. This means we can likely get back home to meet Tom and Luanne on Sunday. We called Bill and Shirley who came to get us and took us to their home to watch our South America DVD. Shirley had made the shrimp dip that I like so much so we enjoyed that and beer. We went to the local Pizza King to get my very favorite pizza. It was good but not as good as we usually have at one of those restaurants. They took us back to our motel, stopping at Aldi for some wine and other items. We went to bed very early again so we can get to West Lafayette early.

Preparing for tomorrow's trip to Indiana

We got Evelyn ready to go to her Bible study. She is quite a good teacher. I didn’t play golf as originally planned but went to the lake instead to upload some pictures to the blog. I came home and cleaned and organized the car a bit before going after Evelyn. We were going to get a Blimpie sandwich but decided to come home to help clean out the refrigerator. In the afternoon we took brushes and cleaned to balustrade around the deck. It took an hour and was rather hot in the sun. After that we rested and then went to walk around the lake. I stopped at the Monteiths and sold them tickets to the German dinner. After supper I sold 2 more to the Fords across the street. We went to bed very early because we want to leave early in the morning.

At the hospital

Wednesday is our day to volunteer so we didn't walk. Evelyn finished some cookies and I cleaned up some e-mail. We went to the church for some new quarterly devotion booklets, Portals of Prayer, before going to the hospital for lunch and our tour of duty. I posted some pictures I took there. I took one of a young man being checked in but learned that it is against privacy policies of the hospital to do that without written permission. After being told by 3 nurses, I went to the young man and told him I had deleted it even though he had given oral permission. I just didn't think my actions through. I tried to get one of the IT guys to help me load the printer, but he didn't have time. I will try again on one of the three Wednesdays we work before leaving for Texas. I went to the HP web site, followed the directions, and thought I had made this new computer print worthy. I look in the control panel and see that the printer is checked and ready but can't get it to print. We came home around 3:30 so Evelyn could rest. A bit after 5 I put some brats into a pan to heat for supper. We ate shortly after 6 and then decided to make 4 laps around our loop. It was quite cool by then and great for walking. At 9 PM we returned a call to the place that will buff the pan we sent to them. They want a check for #39.63 before they will return it. That makes sense to us so we prepared a check to mail tomorrow. We were both tired and went to bed after the 10 o'clock news.

Haywood Regional Medical center

This where we volunteer during the summer months. Evelyn waits while I photo shoot, we enjoy our complimentary $3.50 lunch, and Evelyn is ready to check in patients for outpatient surgery, endoscopy or colonoscopy. We enjoy serving our Lord this way.