New chairs for the seniors

 Our new chairs were delivered for the senior center today.  I am so pleased. 

The new chairs are very comfortable & even coordinate well with our valances. They really brighten up the room.

Four of us sat on the new chairs and visited for about an hour.  Now we will add some narrow coffee tables and our new sitting area will be complete.

Geri & Carolyn testing the brand new chairs.

My fall

 

Took a quick picture of the big tree next to my driveway, played with it to make it artsy-farsty.

Fall in 'Sconny.

Change Sings

 I donated a book to the Cameron Public Library at our library board meeting on Monday night. 

I ordered this book from Amazon in January after seeing Amanda Gorman perform at Joe Biden & Kamala Harris's Inauguration ceremony. I fell head over heels for Amanda.

The book came this week, finally published.  It's wonderful.

And now it is available at my public library.

☮

My lucky day

 The drive from Rice Lake to Eau Claire is starting to really show some color. I hope the weather stays nice like this so we can enjoy the fall color. 

 My trip to Eau Claire was to see a periodontal doctor. It was my lucky day, their CT Scanner was not working, so he had to resort to basic xray. Saved me about $450. End result was the same, surgery done, problem solved.  

Happy wallet.
👏👏

Today's procedure was a lateral periodontal cyst removal, oral tissue biopsy, and osseous graft to replace bone loss.  $900 just like that.  The doctor explained that these cysts are extremely common in the exact location of mine.  The danger is the cyst can grow and damage the root of the tooth. Mine was not deep, so both teeth should be just fine.

Several stitches and now a course of Ammoxicyllin & mouth wash for 2 weeks.  And soft food for a few days.  They even gave me a cup of applesauce and packet of instant soup & a small ice pack to ice my jaw.  Two days of no strenuous activity, so no bike riding or yard work.

 It's kind of nice to have this done, it was diagnosed during covid in 2020.  It took awhile to feel comfortable with going there & then to get scheduled with their office.  Now I go back in 2 weeks, and then this is off my list.

What's in a name

Today, I called a tree trimmer, named "Out on a limb". Such a clever name for a tree business.

The owner calls me back,  get this, his name is Forrest.

It tickles me when a person's name describes his occupation.  At the Brewery there was a security guard who's name was Sandra Justice.  Seems like I've run across other examples like that through the years,  but that one sticks in my memory. 

Anyway,  my big maple tree by the driveway is getting too big for its own good. 

These soft maples with multiple trunks are at high risk of splitting when they get too top heavy. 

 I don't want to lose this beautiful tree.

But this tree has many trunks, so it needs the help of a professional.

Forrest is stopping by tomorrow afternoon to give me an estimate. 

Owning a home also means taking care of the yard & trees. And I have a LOT of trees.

Football 2021

Last night I had 2 tablets going.  

One was streaming great nephew Jackson's game,  Baldwin at Prentice. Baldwin lost by a wide margin.  It makes my after-the-game text message more difficult to write.  I always text the kids after every game that I watch.  The messages after a winning effort are, of course, easier to compose.  The message after a beat-down takes a little more thought.

The other tablet was streaming the Luck Cardinals.  It was their homecoming night. They were playing Frederic, the school closest in proximity & also a school that shares the Luck/Frederic baseball team,  track team, and other consolidated school teams.  Luck was winning by a wide margin when I tuned out. I don't have any relatives playing this year,  but I know some of the kids from past years.  It was heartwarming to see these kids cross team lines to help each other up, pat each other on the back, & generally show that they are friends, regardless of the color of the uniform.

I was also watching the Milwaukee Brewers on the big screen.  The Brewers are close to winning their division,  having already clinched a shot in the play offs. Lots more baseball to come.

⚾️⚾️⚾️

Lots of sports without having to climb up on bleachers or freeze or drive anywhere.

❤❤❤

When I went out to get the mail today, I noticed this little gift that some critter left for me on the railing of the porch.  Someone must be feeding corn to the birds or deer in the neighborhood. I wish I knew which little critter left these for me.  

 Mother Nature 😁

Looks suspicious to me

I finished taking down the raised bed, working the soil and then planting 4 new Peony roots.

Two are Soft Salmon Joy, one is White Imp & the other is Edward Flynn. 

The Flynn is a dark maroon double.

Three bags of wood mulch and the new peonies are nicely tucked in for the winter.  They should love this spot, it gets full sun.

I did get a creepy feeling looking at my finished work. 

It looks an awful lot like a freshly dug grave. 

🎃👻

The big maple on the west side of the driveway is starting to turn red.  I had a view of this tree while I was working of my Peony bed. I can see it is getting much too big.  I called and left a message at the tree service, I need to get it trimmed way back before it splits.

The leaves are sure pretty, especially in the sun.

🍁🍂🍁

Back to my exercise bike today.  Going for another 7 day stretch of at least 30 minutes/day.

 

Yard work

 In about 2009, I built a 3 step raised bed planter in the lower yard.  It never really worked as well as I had hoped, and it was just too far from the water hose for it to be practical for growing vegetables.  This year,  I noticed that the wood was getting quite rotten.  The past few summers it has been an eyesore,  growing more weeds than anything else.  I tried to get morning glories growing and they had a pretty good summer this year, but the weeds were winning. 

This location gets full sun,  a rare thing in my yard.  I decided to take down the wood and my plan is to plant Peony bushes in this spot.  

Today was part 1.

This was the pile of lumber after I got every screw removed.

This is what is left of the raised bed.  Now there is work to do pulling out old roots.

The lumber pile after deconstruction.  Lots of screws to remove.

Tomorrow I'll start the shovel work to work the soil in preparation of the 4 Peony roots I bought from my friends at Fina Gardens.  The roots were delivered about 2 weeks ago. 

Time to get them in the ground.

It was a perfect day to do this job.  Sunny, but not hot. I had my lawn chair and took my time and pumped up my vitamin D!

After my shower,  Barley & I enjoyed some time in the deck.

I dumped a few flower pots today,  everything was looking pretty dead,  but over in the shade I saw these pretty petunias, still hanging on. 

A Summer Shandy tasted great, it was a good day.

No worries

 I joined a group for breakfast this morning in Trego, about 45 minutes North.  Rick & Mary meet Rick's brother there for breakfast quite regularly.  Always ordering the same thing,  sitting at the same table.  We had some pleasant conversation over a tasty plate of breakfast.  Occasionally, I changed the subject to avoid the pitfall of complaining about politics, but generally it was enjoyable.  My eggs and bacon were delicious. A nice change from my routine of cereal & blueberries, which I love,  but a change is nice too.

I brought a number of items to Mary for her to donate to the thrift shop where she volunteers. All proceeds from the shop go to the Chequamegon Humane Society.  It's a nice way for me to unload a few things that could still be useful, but I no longer need. I like knowing that I am helping the cats (and dogs of course).

The drive was a beauty, the leaves are really starting to turn. There are splashes of red, orange & yellow that hurt your eyes in the bright 🌞. 

Once back in Rice Lake, I stopped at the mall to see the jeweler.  My ring has started to catch a thread from time to time,  I wanted to be sure that the prongs were tight on the rubies & diamonds.  

My old beau Garfield gave me this ring for Christmas and my birthday,  was it in about 1984?  I think that sounds close.  

The goldsmith, Pat Patterson, was the artisan. Back in those days,  Pat had a store in Boulder, Colorado. My girlfriends and I were frequent customers.  I almost always had some thing(s) on lay-a-way.  Last I heard,  Pat moved his business to Glenwood Springs, Colorado. I still have many gold pieces that he made. This ring is my all time favorite.  I can still vividly remember the first time I saw it,  of course under the lights in his shop, the diamonds were dazzling.  I was also quite a lover of rubies back in those days, the deeper red, the better. I would say that I was very surprised and stunned when Gar gifted it to me.  Not only was that out of character for him,  but he could not have given me anything I would have loved more.  It did not come with any meaning,  other than it was a birthday a gift.  

I still love it and wear it all the time.  Gar is still a friend and he reaches out occasionally.  He still lives in Colorado. 

Anyway,  the verdict today was that all the prongs are good,  so I will continue to wear it without worry.

🚵‍♀️

Day 7 of the bike ride ✅

I spy

 I always wonder where Barley goes to sleep and even though I've looked a few times,  it wasn't until I was doing my daily stationary bike ride that I spotted her in her quiet place. 

Snuggled in on the guess bed,  a very quiet spot during most of the day. 

Today was day 5 of my new wellness program. I've enjoyed listening to a book called 'Eventide' by Haruf.  Yesterday I was in tears listening, as the story took a very sad turn.  All the while,  pedaling on my bike ride to no where.  When my wellness coach calls,  I'll be able to give a good report. 

Buckle Up

 When I was in my 20s, I was not a big fan of seatbelts. Only wore mine intermittently.  Did not think they were really necessary. 

Then one night,  I put my little Honda Civic on its roof, and I walked away unharmed (car was totalled) because I had on my seat belt. Since then,  I buckle up before I start my car.

It's okay to change your mind and get the vaccine.

When we know better, we do better.

Fall colors

 Starting to see some flashes of color in the maple leaves.  

Fall has come to Wisconsin. 

My work with Karla, the Nutritionist,  is going pretty good. Now I added Angie, a wellness coach, to my team.  This service is offered by my insurance provider.  I had a long chat with Angie to get started. I made commitments to ride my stationary bike daily, and so far I've kept my promise for 3 days. 

I see Karla in 2 weeks & Angie will check in on me after a week or two.  It helps me to be accountable to someone.  I feel like I have a good team now. 

Building better habits takes time,  but I have plenty of that. 

For now,  my knee is feeling pretty good.  The cortisone shot on August 2nd is still helping a lot. 

Life is good.

All things Stella

 After about 18 months I got back in the gym on Thursday.  The Varsity Volleyball game at Luck was quite exciting.  Great Niece Stella is starting on the Varsity as a sophomore.  

Her team has a lot of talent and heart.  

It was fun to watch them come away with a 3-1 match victory.  

These are a few of the photos I took.

Introductions

Serving

Such elegance during the serve.

Stella's little brother Jude not missing a thing.

Jude hanging with the big kids

After the game, Jude is a proud little brother.

I'm looking forward to the next game.  I'm being cautious, will be wearing a mask & no chit chat after the game.  And, if possible, and it usually is, I social distance while in the bleachers.  I'm happy to be able to capture Stella on film.

Volleyball Tournament from my recliner

 Stella played in a Volleyball tournament today in Elmwood.  There was a livestream.

The camera operator was not very good at showing the action as it happened, but I got the idea. Laila was watching too and we got on the phone and chatted during a couple of games.

There was no score on the streaming, the gray box down in the corner was not doing its job.  

I kept score as best I could. 

I wasn't always right, but we knew who was ahead that way.

Luck had a big comeback in the last game against Durand.  I kind of think that they won the whole deal, but having never seen the brackets, that is not a for-sure.

Update:  Stella reports that they won the Silver Division.  We (Laila & I) think that Luck lost one game, so that probably put them in the consolation bracket and then they won all their games.  The last 2 games were really impressive to me as Durand has twice as many students in their high school than Luck does.

🏐🏐🏐

A few random sunflowers are blooming in the yard, here & there.

They are so happy.

Everyone loves to get mail

 Getting mail is always a treat. Today I got this wonderful note. 

❤❤

The Backyard

 Early this morning I saw that there was movement in the backyard and saw a little video of a buck.  I checked the trail cam and here are a few photos of this dude.

And he had been here a couple of days ago as well.

I had not checked the trail cam for quite some time, and found this picture of a bear wandering by as well.

The backyard continues to provide some great wildlife.

Life is good 💖