Not much new really.... :)

I hope everything is going well there.

The weather has been pretty nice here lately. Our hot, humid days have given way to warm days with less humidity. Air conditioners are being given a rest which is a very good thing (though mine hasn't really been on at all for any length of time)!

The garden update here really isn’t too exciting. My small containers are doing well though at times it’s just hard to wait until the produce is ready. For instance, every day this past week I’ve had 1 strawberry a day ready to harvest. There are others getting there but not yet – 1 a day isn’t bad but it’s like eating one Lay’s potato chip or 1 M&M – once I get the taste I want more! It’s especially sad when strawberries are actually good for me. The tomatoes are doing well and I’ve got several orange ones. They just aren’t ready. The basil and parsley – well that’s doing quite well and I’ve got more to get harvested and dried now. The peppers are slowly coming along. It’s just taking time. Catnip is doing well and my cat is loving it! It’s hard to be patient when some of the things are doing well and others are well – slow. The summer and butternut squashes – well I’m not sure that I’ll get anything from those plants. I suspect that I’ve over planted that container and the overcrowded condition has made it impossible for any of it to grow well.

Work – well that’s a continuous challenge. The “do more with less” attitude is alive and well. I just wish I wasn’t in one of the top 2 understaffed offices in the state. Life could be easier…..Oh well. At least we are still helping customers and making a difference to them. We’re trying. I’ve got lots of preparations to make to get things ready for the new loan officer and trainee. I’ve got a week before they arrive so we’ll see how that goes.

I visited Dad on Friday night. Matt came down for a dentist appointment and was there too for dinner. Gloria had hamburgers, hash browns, carrots (with pineapple – a new recipe), and caramelized bread pudding for dessert. It was nice.

A broken gas line in front of their house last Tuesday caused some excitement. Apparently they were working on the street in front of the house and nicked the line. They went to each house and tried to get everyone to evacuate. By the time they had Dad ready and moving, the line was fixed. Fortunately no one was hurt. It was quite a bit of excitement for them.

Saturday I spent the day with Christi. Matt had to work for most of the day so I’m glad we spent time together on Friday. Christi and I went to the Madison Farmers Market early in the morning. Then it was a moving trip to Milwaukee. If all goes according to plan she'll be up in Milwaukee 8/2 for the duration. ;)

We also went to the Pabst Mansion (which is located across the street from where she lives). They give tours and we took one of those to view the mansion and the work there. The house is in the process of being restored in many rooms (a major production). It’s a beautiful old home with a woman’s tea room, a man’s study, and all sorts of other items. Though built in the 1800’s, it appeared that they spared no expense (including a lot of hand carved wood). It’s lovely really and I’m glad we took the hour to go see it.

On the way back to Madison, we stopped to visit Linda and go to her boyfriend’s surprise birthday party. They were grilling out, having a pool party, and a bonfire that night. Linda really put a lot of work into getting things set up. She even had a Harley Davidson cake made which was very nice (her boyfriend Bob is big on motorcycles).

With the long day yesterday and the busy work week, today for me has been a catch up day with house things. I just looked outside and it’s raining – so much for doing more work on the container garden and sanding the picnic table yet today.

Well, I’d better get going – I’ve still got lots to do before I’m ready for the work week.

Best wishes,
Take care!

Hi,

I hope everything is going well there.

The weather here has been decidedly hot and humid. I’m tired of it already. The only ones happy I imagine are the people who run the utility companies and are reaping the financial rewards from the air conditioners that are running. So far, I’ve held fast to my plan to not run the one in the house yet but it’s getting more and more tempting. I’m fortunate in that I have the air conditioner at least ready and in the window as well as several fans (including a ceiling fan in the living room). The fans been working well and my big concern is to give them rests from working so that they don’t wear out.

My banana chip drying went pretty well. I should probably try to get another batch dried. I think this time I’ll make the slices a bit smaller so that they dry faster (although I know the humidity didn’t help). Daisy (my dog) has been enjoying them along with me. She loves fruits and vegetables so we share a lot.

The container garden that I’ve got outside is doing well. The tomatoes are looking great and there are a lot of them! All of them are still green which is an issue (as I’m getting quite impatient!). I’ve had several more strawberries off the plants and I’ve put them with some bananas, milk, and yogurt and made smoothies for breakfast lately (quite nice on a warm morning). The basil and catnip are doing well. The catnip has been quite prolific and provided me with enough dried product already to supply us for the next year I think. Peppers are forming quickly lately and should be ready before too long. Gardening can try a person's patience when things are progressing as they should but it feels like they are dragging. :)

With no rain for a while, I’ve had to regularly water my plants and on city water that can get pricey. I’m hoping for a storm so that we can cool off and get the plants watered. Nothing too strong or serious but it would be nice to have a bit of rain and cooler weather.

Work continues to be a challenge. No more word on moving or anything like that. The new loan officer (who will be stationed about 50 miles away) will be quite a challenge to supervise. There’s a lot of logistical (office space, phones, computer, etc.) stuff as well as a lot of communication items that need to be planned for and worked out. In addition, I’ll be doing training of a farm loan officer starting in August. It’s my first time for supervising training so this should be interesting. I’ve assisted and trained on various parts but never had one person to oversee through the whole process before. It’ll be a good and challenging experience I’m sure.

Wednesday I went with my daughter. She ended up buying a 2006 HHR (GM) car. It's very nice. Then it was dinner at Red Robin with her and her brother.

Thursday was a visit to Dad and Gloria. That was nice and they seem to be handling the heat quite well.

Friday was packing, moving, and things during the day. We had a quick visit with Linda, Jessie, and Kelsey and toured their country home (a very nice and spacious place). Friday night we were at the county fair (which has become way too commercialized and way too expensive).

With Friday having been such a long day, Saturday was destined to be a catch up day. I felt my age a bit too much after the Friday moving. There’s never a lack of things to do but I know that I moved a bit slower that day. Lots of housework and things got done. Although I made a nice long “to do” list, it still seems like I didn’t get enough done.

The town's Blues Festival was Saturday. It starts at about noon and runs well into the night. At least they haven’t had rain to ruin that. There were Maxwell street days down town but I didn’t even stop at them – I just didn’t need anything. As the saying goes “It’s not how much you save but how much you spend”.

Today – well lots to do. I need to get some things done around the house (cleaning, laundry, dishes, etc.). Also, I’ve got some family photos that need attention and some formatting to do on the family calendar – well you get the idea.

Well, I’d better get going. I still need to try and cool the house down. Maybe a different fan???

Wishing you the best,
Take care!

An interesting week.....

The weather here today is beautiful - though a bit windy. We've had some storms and rains going through this past week - fortunately nothing too serious.

My container garden work is going pretty well. I picked a couple of strawberries - very fragrant and sweet - but one was "pitted" a bit. It didn't look like bugs but something that happened when it was growing - too much sun or water? Hard to tell... The tomatoes are doing quite well and I'll have lots (too many?) before too long. :) A great problem to have! My basil and parsley need some drying.

One of my projects today is drying banana chips. The store in town had 29 cent a pound bananas so I'm taking quite a few pounds and drying them. Purchasing dried banana chips (good in trail mixes, etc. and as a dog treat) can run about $3/pound here and they have lots of preservatives and chemicals in them. I'm seriously hoping that I can economically dry cheaper bananas and make a healthier snack. I've already weighed my control banana group and I'll see what the net weight is when I'm done, factor in the electrical charge and see what the costs are involved. I know - it's a lot of work for what may be a futile attempt (if they don't turn out to be edible). :)

There's a farmers appreciation celebration in town today. We had a parade, ball games, fireworks last night, a dance (country band), and other things. I went to the parade (walked Daisy to it though she got scared by the people and the noise - we'll have to work on that) and got a quick meal at the park. We have a display for work at it so I had to work there for a couple of hours. It was kind of fun.

Last week at work was interesting. There's still talk of moving our office to another town. It's a real bummer. Travel time from here would be anywhere from 1-1 1/2 hours one way each day (depending on the location of the office). We have no official word so we're just trying to hold things together. In addition, a new employee for me has been hired. I'll now be supervising them from about 50 miles away (instead of posting them to the office where I work they are located in another office). They will be starting in early August and are trained so that's a bright spot at least. There is still some talk of placing a trainee (I'd be the trainer) in our current office. That's a mixed blessing - mostly a big challenge as we are staffed at under 50% of our workload now. We'll have to see how things go from there.

Well I'd better get going.
Best wishes and take care!

Happy July 4th Weekend Everyone!

I hope all is well there and that you are enjoying a great 4th of July weekend.

I have been having a very nice 3 day weekend. Although I debated about going into the office today, I decided that there were simply too many things that needed to be done here at the house. There just aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done.

On Thursday at about 9, my son and daughter arrived home for a visit. Although they only live about 50 miles away, they come home only about 3-4 times a year.

Friday was a day for brats and all the fixings as we celebrated the 4th of July in a very low-key way. We played a few games, talked, and just enjoyed being together. A great and relaxing day.

Saturday, we took pizza and chicken, fresh peaches, potato salad, and a few other things to Grandpa and Gloria’s for lunch. Grandpa is suffering very badly from cabin fever. He did however make the effort to get to and eat at the kitchen table with the rest of us. We had a nice visit. The warm days seem to agree with him. Though I suspect Gloria spends time in the kitchen just to get where it’s cooler. Anyway, it was about 88 degrees in the living room (according to the wall thermometer) and Grandpa thought it was “comfortable”. I’m not sure when it hits the 90’s or 100’s if he’ll feel the same but for now it’s working. Probably over-working the bedroom a/c (it’s only a small unit) which may be the next problem to be concerned about. Sounds though like Gary’s working on that issue.

We arrived home and they were in a big hurry to get back to their homes. Unfortunately, Lily (the cat) wasn’t in a hurry and disappeared in the house. We tried everything and she just wouldn’t come out from where she was hiding. We tried for about a half hour to get her to show herself then I took everyone to A&W for dinner. When we got home, Lily came out of her hiding place to greet us. Silly cat! They left shortly after that.

There have been a lot of random fireworks in the neighborhood. I’m hoping that they knock it off tonight so people can sleep. One group didn’t start them until midnight last night (about a block or so away) and Daisy went crazy over the noise!

The weather here has at least been quite nice for the holiday weekend. We still have a chance for thunderstorms today so we’ll have to see. Then there are storms for the next few days.

I’ve been working on the family recipe book for Christmas. I’ve got the plastic sheets, dividers, and binders ready. The recipes – well I’m copying what I can find. I think it’s beginning to take shape. Do you have any to include?

Still working too on the family calendar for Christmas. I’ve got loads of pictures of some people and very few for others. That’s the usual challenge.

In addition, I managed to buy a good photo printer for half off so now I’m back on scanning and things. I should have it hooked up and ready to go soon. Hopefully I’ll continue to get this done so we can have that done soon. Cropping and fixing photos seems to take the most time – they have to be run through another program. The older the picture – them more that seems to need to be done with them.

Hard to believe that it’s Gary and Sue’s 15th wedding anniversary Thursday. It just doesn’t seem like it should be that long ago.

Gary and Sue and the grand daughters called – they’re going to the Wiota 4th of July parade today and then to Yellowstone Lake. That should be interesting. I hope they have fun.

I talked to Linda and she isn’t wearing a cast! She said that it will still be another 6-8 weeks to heal but that the doctor felt that the pins and plate were going to hold it together well enough so that she doesn’t need a cast. The doctor also told her that her wrist would be stronger now than ever before. I hope that’s right.

Well, I’d better get going.

Hope you have a great day,
Take care!