Friday-10am

What a week!  

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First of all, before I forget, I have to tell you that due to Iggy sending me a link to the Fargo police department notices--what we witnessed was listed as a property removal/standby for property exchange.  ??  But a couple days later I saw that girl walk out to that same SUV with a very large guy.  They did not seem unfamiliar with each other in their silence.  She took some papers and a few things out of the back seat--he got into the vehicle and drove away--she came back in the building.  I have seen the SUV in the parking lot since then, too.

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Sadly, it appears likely it could be domestic violence and she went right back to him.  Not positive, of course--but that's my guess.

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It was not raining on Monday when I went to the dentist.

Was hot, though--almost 90 again. 

When I take the senior bus (actually they are vans) I am there early so I always bring a book with me.  You have to wait to be picked up, too.  This is a shot from the chair I sit in that faces the door so I can see the van when it drives up. 

The appointment went quickly, at least.  Let's just say my back wasn't the worst it has been when I've left the dentist so I was feeling pretty confident that I wouldn't be wracked up for a couple days.  But--there are disadvantages to being one of the youngest people on the senior bus.

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The van arrived and the driver jumped out and went to the back of the van, opened high the back door, took out a walker, and proceeded to magically raise a seat from the floor like they can do in these new vans.  I'm observing the already full van--a white haired small lady in the passenger bucket seat, a woman in the bucket seat behind the driver who complained "when are we going to get to Sheyenne?", and in the other bucket seat was a tall, thin man who looked folded into his seat with his knees high in front of him.  None of them so much as glanced back to look at us.  This was a load of cranky old people.

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The driver asked me if I thought I could climb in the back.  Lowering his voice he added--or I could ask him to climb back and you could take his seat.  

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This guy didn't look like he could have crawled between those seats in the first place--and he would obviously have to greatly disturb and bump Miss Sheyenne.  Not one of them ever turned around.  I knew they could hear the driver.  Have you ever felt the tenseness of a warm van full of seniors who have no intention of moving from their spots and are anxious to get moving?  

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Well, my automatic response was not to bother any of them, of course.  (Minnesota Nice is deeply ingrained from birth.)  They all had a good 20 years on me.  I certainly wasn't going to ask them to inconvenience themselves any longer than absolutely necessary for me, right?  So, optimistically, I crawl into the end of the van to get to the folding seat behind Miss Sheyenne--which wasn't as easy as I had imagined in my head.

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The driver uses prayer and patience to replace the walker alongside me--and we finally drive away.

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Miss Sheyenne immediately complains she can't feel the air conditioner.  (All the crawling and then the maneuvering of myself and the walker had heated up the van, of course.)  The poor driver (and he has grey hair--most of them do) is made so nervous by Miss Sheyenne's complaints that he cracks open a back window next to Folded Man and asks him if that is okay.  Folded Man grunts.  Miss Sheyenne harrumps like he is a worthless driver.  I have 88 degree wind blowing up the back of my head--LOL!

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Apparently, I am the closest one to drop off.  So now I have to crawl out!  Which I manage to do, as the poor driver is commending me on my agility and thanking me profusely.  Agility is relative, just like everything else in life, I guess.  I look like a young whippersnapper to them at 62 with no gray in my hair.  But by the time I managed to get my 90 year old body turned around and sitting on the back of the van I told him to "give me a second" before I jumped down.  He didn't know it, but I had to sink into the pain for a moment there.

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Showered with a barrage of gratitude, I jumped down the few inches (my legs are too short), and he stopped talking long enough to surprise me with a big hug.  I felt badly for him--having to shoulder on with his cranky seniors.  Any other passengers on my trips have always been so pleasant before.  Maybe it was the heat and humidity?  Or was there a full moon?  ROFL!

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Anyways, I wished him well and hobbled off as he was trying to get the walker back into the van without lowering the folding seat--a task in and of itself.  I knew he was trying to save time because Miss Sheyenne was impatiently waiting--and probably judging him for taking the time to hug me. 

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As I limped up to my mailbox beside the elevator telling myself--"never again"--it dawned on me!  I should have just told him to ask them to send another van.  If that ever happens again I shall do exactly that.  I always bring a book with me.  I can wait longer.  DUH!!

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For two nights I couldn't sleep--knees swollen--hip and back were giving me grief--was up for good in the middle of the night--had to take naps (I am not a napper) because I couldn't keep my eyes open.  Didn't even read books or write letters.  

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Never again.

Minnesota Nice be damned.  ;)

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I was actually awake for sunrise...

...not by choice... 

...somewhere around 5:30am. 

We've had a lot of thunderstorms, too.  Mostly at night.  The porch has been so wet that Karma has to either sleep under the chair in the corner of the porch (only dry spot) or stay inside to loll. 

We even had one day that was almost cloud free for a few hours. 

I'm about halfway through Pandora's Lunchbox.  I shall be reading food labels even more than I was before.  And there are so many things that aren't even on the labels--whew!  Food has become quite an industry, but you'd think it would be regulated a lot more than it is.

I've been really interested in books about the food industry lately.  I just started Born With a Junk Food Deficiency and the first part is actually about the pharmaceutical industry.  That's a whole other can of worms!

For fun--I wanted to read "The Cat Who____" series from the beginning.  The Cat Who Could Read Backwards is the first one and the other one I have is actually the third one, but the library lady brought it over anyways, because number two is on the way and she'll bring it next time.  So I actually only have three books to read.  I'm slow so that's fine.  I started number one at the dentist's office.

Ruby introduced me to this series many years ago and I read a few of them.  I have always wanted to go back, start over, and read them all.  Love Qwilleran, the older newspaper man, and his cat, Koko, solving crimes.  Very midwestern flavor.  Perfect summer reading!  I'll think of Ruby as I read them--just like I do every time I watch Big Bang Theory.  :):)

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Dagan and Leah were here on Tuesday and Wednesday night.  The sewing machine is working again! (Should be for $90, right!)  There were still a couple brief glitches sewing on the neoprene, but that was due to the squishy, stretchy fabric and not the machine this time.  It even sounds different!  There had been a rattling underneath and that is all gone.  She sounds solid again.  Ahhh! 

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Leah got her pouch put together on Tuesday, but really wanted to put a double fold binding around it so she went to Joann's before work on Wednesday (remember she's on later hours for a while) and came over and did just that on Wednesday.  Dagan brought over the sewing machine on Tuesday and the Joann's stuff and my extra folding table on Wednesday.  I was not in great shape and was very tired, so I forgot to take any pictures--but it was so nice to see them a couple days in a row.

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Oh, and Dagan tried to send in his pacemaker check over the phone and the automatic dialing wouldn't go through--like it was the wrong number.  ??  So he has to get ahold of them.  He might need a new machine sent to him.  But I'll be seeing Dagan again briefly for that some time soon. 

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Also have been slowly going through a big box of card making stuff that a friend of Leah's mom didn't want anymore.  We are picking out all the stuff we want and the rest goes back into the box and we'll give it away on freecycle.  There are stamps, ink pads, paper, glitters, etc.  But the thing that absolutely delighted me was this!

How many of you are old enough to remember these?!  You bought this white spray that looked kind of like snow (to us kids, anyways) and sprayed the various stencils on your windows.  OMG!  This brought back memories.  Not that we even had these...can't remember now if we finally talked Mom and Dad into letting us get them or not.  But we had neighbors who had them and even store windows were decorated with that white spray and stencils of all kinds.  What a hoot!!  I don't think I can give these away, even if I never use them for anything.  :)

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Well, that's been my week.  I finally was able to read a little again yesterday.  We're supposed to drop into the low to mid-80s now for a few days.  Still predicting random rain storms.  Not so bad when they come at night, I guess, so we can see some sun during the days.    

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Lunchtime already.  I am not moving quickly--LOL!  Well, stay comfortable and dry this weekend.  Hope to be back sooner next time.  :):)

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"If you can always smile at life, life will also always smile at you."

The Mother at Pondicherry