Week 42 - A Busy Week

It was a busy week for a retiree. I was out of town 4 times this week for all kinds of reasons and other than getting bird feeders set for the cold weather and knitting, of course, I didn't get much else done.

I had an appointment with the oncologist on Monday so scheduled lunch with Darla. I discovered a gift card on my desk that had been a retirement gift so we used it to go to Cracker Barrel. Shrimp and grits was the daily special and it was delish. The appointment was just routine and other than getting gas at Sam's (I recently joined specifically for cheap gas), I didn't do any other errands so was home in time for tea. Nan brought cookies to knitting, which was a nice end to a good day.

Tuesday was a meeting of the Emeriti/Retiree Association, my second time going, about drones. Afterwards, I did some thrifting. When I had gone to one of the Goodwills recently, the shelves were loaded with many bags of overpriced yarn and I asked if they'd ever mark them down like the one on Vine Street did when they didn't sell. They said they'd probably just throw them out. Well, the shelves were bare so they must have just thrown them in the dumpter. One of the two bags that was there had a skein of Lazy Been yarn in it (a local dyer) so I was pleased with that but only when I was halfway home did I think that I should have checked the dumpster. Such a waste! I had a library board meeting that night but had a few hours at home before then so knitted while drinking tea. Lovely.

It was a rainy day on Wednesday so I enjoyed relaxing in comfort while it rained. The sun did come out late in the afternoon so I went outside to change the clothesline, which had broken, only to realize I'd mistakenly bought a 50 foot one so I had to tie in a piece of the old line. I also cleaned out all the birdfeeders and the buckets that store the seed on the deck and put them all in the sun on the driveway to dry. I packed up some more yarn for Becky and called it a day.

I had no plans on Thursday and was watching a YouTuber from Omaha. She showed a picture that she didn't buy and I loved it so I got in the car and made a beeline to the thrift where she'd seen it. Of course it was gone but I appreciated being able to go and check it out. Retirement life! I went to Bagel Bin and hit a couple of thrifts and was looking for a park to eat a bagel for lunch but both of the parks that Siri gave me directions to were soccer fields with no picnic tables. Lame! I ended up heading home and eating a late lunch there. I had enough time to change my sheets and hang laundry on the line so the day wasn't a complete bust.

Saturday was the annual retreat for my spinning group, which is always at a summer camp north of Fremont and I'd only paid for lunch and dinner because I had not intention of getting up early enough to be there for breakfast and had no interest in participating in the morning class. I was happy to see that there was a No Kings demonstration in Fremont that started at 11:00 and asked Nan if she wanted to go. That meant I had a sign to make so on Friday, I dug in my scrapbooking supplies and the garage for a stick and made a simple one. I also set up all the feeders, including the Bird Buddy that was a retirement gift from the office. It has a solar roof to power the camera on it and it sends pics to your phone of all the birds that eat there. My sparrows abandonned me last winter, probably because the word of Rosie the killer cat got out, so I hope I get some this year.

I had time to chat with Carolyn Saturday morning then loaded up my sign and some sock knitting and headed to Fremont. The demonstration was fun and there were a lot more people there than I thought there'd be. We got lots of people honking approval too so it was an inspiring morning. I got to the retreat just in time for lunch and spent the day knitting while everyone did the afternoon classes. This year they didn't serve us dinner in the lodge but rather sent us to the concession stand for their corn maze/harvest festival area to eat there. Because of that, we all just left from there instead of going back to the lodge. Worked for me.

Sunday was a nice day at home. I washed my quilt and hung it on the line and did a few chores, making pot roast for supper. I was slamming on a pair of socks for Anne to wear to the Husker football game the next weekend and got the first sock done and the second cast on before heading to bed.

So that's a busy week for a retiree but it's all good. As I'm know for saying, better busy than bored plus it was a nice mix of socializing and getting a few things done at home. Loving my retiree life!

Week 41 - Fence and Medicare

The week started with a lovely rainy day, which ushered in much cooler weather. Hopefully the 80s/90s are in the rear view for a LONG time. I made the most of the coolers temps and spent a bunch of time outside this week, got some good news on Medicare, and ended the week with my annual vaccinations. 

Monday was a cozy inside day where I knitted, talked to Cindy about her trip, and when Monday Night Knitting was cancelled because everyone wanted to stay home, I just kept knitting. I had some plans for a new outside project that I was excited to get going on.

I ran errands in Wahoo on Tuesday with all the usual stops - bank, library, The Warehouse but ending at the hardware store for supplies. I had seen something called a permaculture fence online and thought it would be perfect for against my neighbor's chain link fence. They don't take care of their yard at all so it's a mess of tall weeds and weed trees so anything I can do to block that is good. The longest stakes they had were 2 feet but it was a start. I did a final run to the burn pile with my car loaded with sunflowers and then stopped at the carwash to vacuum out the back of the car and retire it (for this year anyway) as a pick up truck.

When I got home, I started putting the stakes about a foot out from the chain link and then started cutting brush and loading it up. I was in Lincoln on Wednesday for a goodbye lunch for Brook, the other data analyst who was leaving UNL, but was right back outside on Thursday after a talk at the lake. I was mostly cutting beside the garage and put the rest of the stakes in so the entire fence was lined except for a couple of feet where I planted a grapevine this spring. It was wonderful to be able to load the brush in my own yard rather than loading it in my car to take to the burn pile. The pic is just the first day but it's now 30+ feet long. This is supposed to create habitat for bugs and wildlife too so win win.

On Wednesday evening, I met with the local Medicare lady at the library. She has open sessions each month but I was the only one who showed, which was a good thing. The great news is that because my birthday is the first day of February, I can get Medicare on January 1st. That'll save me $700! But the rest was a chore. It wouldn't let me through the SSA.gov sign up because it wouldn't recognize my cell phone, which is the only phone I have these days. We went to id.me and it had the same issue so we had to do a video call for them to approve me. Only then could we do the sign up for parts A&B. I can't sign up for medigap and a drug plan until those go through but she recommended plans to me that will be a pittance compared to COBRA. I was there 1.5 hours and I'm not computer illiterate nor an idiot. Sheesh! I then went home for another 1.5 hours of computer frustration trying to login to the Husker Cats paypal account. I did manage to get in after a flurry of emails. I was over the computer drama and was happy to go to bed that night.

I went to Fremont on Friday because it was Estate Dispersal store weekend and I hadn't been there in several months. I only bought one thing (a skein of sock yarn - go figure) but found some stuff at thrifts, stopped at Nan's, and hit HyVee for their one day sale, which alone made it worth the drive. I had a lovely dinner of more zucchini butter pasta with a glass of wine and was ready for the weekend.

My only goal for the weekend was to get my covid and flu shots at the Wahoo pharmacy but I couldn't resist going outside to cut more brush for my fence. I went out first thing on Saturday and worked until it was time for a shower before heading to the pharmacy. They'd warned me that Saturdays could be busy so I might have to wait but when I drove up at noon, the street was empty - mostly likely because everyone was home watching Husker football. I was the only customer and was in and out in 10 mins. I got BK for lunch and headed home. I did dye a gorgeous skein of yarn in fall colors that afternoon but by evening, my left shoulder (covid side) was getting sore. I spent the rest of the weekend knitting and chatting with friends. By Sunday evening, my shoulder was back to normal.

That was a good week, right? I love my new fence project, got great Medicare news, and crossed vaccines off my list. I also talked to lots of friends and had dyeing fun in addition to my usual knitting fun. The best part was the cooler weather. I'm hoping I'm done sweating for months. : )

Week 40 - Crazy Hot Weather!

It was another week of ridiculous hot weather with three days of 91 degrees in October! The other days were all in the 80's. Despite vowing not to turn the AC on, I gave up and put it on. Nuts! Beyond that, I did get more things out the door, potentially because I was able to work in the house without sweating like a stuck pig.

On Monday, I pulled clothes to take to the consignment shop in Seward on Wednesday and zoomed with Darla to validate that I'd chosen well. I had to check tags for copyright dates because she wouldn't take old ones so quite a few didn't make it into the 2 bags I'd be taking there but plenty did. When I went to my appointment, the owner went through my bags and showed me what she liked and when she rejected something, why she did. That will help me when I fill another box, which she provided, to drop more off next month. Gone is good! I did go to the Etc. Shop on the same block, which is one of my favorite thrift shops ever. They had 50% off the entire store and I found lots of yarn for Dottie and a wonderful bag of vintage fabric for me. I can just see the knitting bags I'll make with all these lovelies. From there I went to the other thrift shop in town and donated most of the rejects from the consignment store, which felt right.

Starting Thursday, it was in the 90's during the day but it was cooling down at night so mornings were an option for working outside. I went outside for something or other and found myself cleaning up the crap pile that had gathered all summer at the top of the driveway. There were boxes of brush for burning, empty flower pots, tools and various other detritus. To add to it, weeds were growing through the mess so it was BAD. By the time I was done, the brush boxes were stacked, the weeds pulled and the driveway swept. I even laid the next fire in my firepit. You gotta go with these things when they hit and I was glad I did. After a shower (because you know I was sweating bullets), it was back into the basement for the afternoon.

I gave up on the basement and turned the AC on on Friday, which allowed me to do things upstairs. I packed up a big box of yarn for Dottie and another package of yarn I'd sold and headed to the library to print labels then dropped Dottie's box at the hardware store for UPS pick up. The post office was closed so I put that in my mailbox. More stuff out of the house - yay! I then did some cooking and started a new pair of socks.

I was on the fence about going to the start of the Omaha Knit Night picnic in Omaha due to the heat. It was originally scheduled for 11:00-3:00 but when I checked online, I found that they'd moved the time to earlier, most likely because of the 2:30 kickoff of the Husker game. Had I known I would have gone and been back before it got too hot but missed that so went downstairs and started sorting fabric in my craft room. Oh well.

Sunday was the annual roast beef dinner at the church in Colon (a small town 6 miles north of Wahoo) that I always look forward to so I went there as soon as they opened and got take out. I was enjoying the first of 3 meals from it when Lorri stopped by after church. Then I did some laundry and a few chores, ending the day with breakfast for supper and an evening of PBS.

The weather was supposed to break overnight on Sunday and I was really looking forward to cooler temps and turning off the AC. I'm glad I turned it on so I could actually get stuff done inside but I'm excited to wear long pants and wool socks with Birkenstocks. Hopefully this will be the last hot weather until next year. I live in hope.

Week 39 - Donations and Travel

It was another week of freaky hot weather that had me hanging in the basement because I was not going to turn on the AC at the end of September. It started out in the 90's, had a single day in the 70's and the rest were 80's. Ick! There was some productivity, a dyeing score in Omaha and some stuff was gone but the best thing was Anne and I booked our next trip.

I got a postcard from the company we did out last trip with announcing a big sale on their early spring cruises - $1000 off. Combined with the $888 credit from the cruise that became a bus trip, I checked out the options and called Anne. We chose a trip from Antwerp up to Amsterdam in late March/early April. We got on the phone and booked it, including airfare from Lincoln. It was a total score pricewise and it's early enough that I won't be sweating and it won't interfere with gardening season. I did say that if it's not going to be a cruise for some reason, I won't go. I doubt that'll be an issue so early in the year but just in case, I'm on the record.

On the gone is good front, I packed up a couple of piles of stuff for Becky when I was holed up in the basement staying cool to go with the stuff that I'd already collected upstairs. I also went through all the various shipping envelopes that I'd saved for shipping (way more than I would use) and recycled tons of those. I also got rid of many plastic bags while I was at it and I did a long overdue return/rebate on a steamer that had been recalled. I also called and made an appointment to set up an account and drop clothes at the consignment shop in Seward and emailed Changing Spaces SRS about consigning some Pyrex in one of their auctions. Hopefully these last 2 will lead to more things leaving my house.

I got out of Wahoo twice - once to Omaha and once to Lincoln. The Omaha run was to pick up a score Andrea found for me on Facebook Marketplace. A woman was selling all her dyeing supplies, including bunches of natural yarn, for $75. Since I was in Omaha, I hit some thrifts, of course, and the Rotella bread factory store. I found a cat cave at Goodwill and found a fun 3 tier plant stand at a little antique store while I was killing time before picking up the dye stuff. I went to Lincoln on Saturday to drop the donations for Becky at the garage sale that was in progress (the pic is just some of what I donated). I then met Anne at the Stuff Creative Reuse store (bought a couple of balls of yarn) and then we got ice cream at Zesto, which would probably be out last for the year since they'd be closing for winter soon. I got some groceries and headed home.

I ended the week out in the yard Sunday morning cutting sunflowers, starting by the sidewalk then did the bed under my bedroom window and around to the east side, which is the messiest in my yard. I took a huge load to the burn pile then showered and did 3 loads of laundry and hung most of it outside. At least that made use of the still ridiculously hot weather.

So it was a good week. I did some cooking and a few chores, got rid of some stuff and booked my next trip. Knitting was cancelled due to weather but I had a Ripples zoom on Tuesday and book club on Thursday plus got out of town twice - all this while the weather was too hot for my liking. I even got some gift socks finished and cast on another gift pair. Other than the weather, I'll take more weeks like this.

Week 38 - Satisfied with Progress

It was another blissfully nice week at home. I made some progress on projects and got out of town twice.

On the getting rid of stuff front, I cleared the heap of crap from my desk then went through the pile on the spare room bed and came up with 4 bags of yarn to donate to Becky for her Stuff for Strays sale. I also took the old grill (the one that had hornets nests that the Windstream guy nuked) to the metal recycling bin at the hardware store. I also took another load of sunflowers and weeds to the burn pile. Gone is good.

I went to my first ERA - Emeriti and Retirees Association - meeting on Tuesday. I had been providing them with data for years and the membership chair, who has zero tech skills, had asked me to help out with data but I'd put him off in the spring because.... cancer. Well, this was the first time I'd showed my face at a meeting and as a new member, I was introduced and given a welcome gift of chocolate. The program was an interesting presentation by the head of the emerging media arts school at UNL and I sat with Anne and a few of her workout friends, who I know a bit. As soon as the meeting was over, the membership chair made a beeline to me and I agreed to help. I'll chalk it up to giving back after working at UNL for almost 27 years.

The other out of town trip was on Saturday, which was my monthly spinning meeting. But before that, I went to Valley to check out the Quasar Bazaar, which is a flea market at the drive-in theatre. I grilled the person at the entrance booth and she said it was not super busy. I was there right around noon and with a 2:30 kick off for Huskers football, some of the few vendors who were there were already packing up. I did talk to a woman who vends at sales all the time and she gave me some tips. So it wasn't a total waste but it wasn't as inspiring as I'd hoped. From there I went to the Restore in Fremont before heading to spinning. I got the missing piece for my wheel from Helga and enjoyed the knitting machine demo and chatting with friends.

I had picked plenty of produce in my garden and made squash casserole and pork chops with one lot. After getting zero green beans this summer, my vines have all of a sudden started producing so I got my first green beans of the season. Then my friend Lorri stopped by on Sunday with a big bag of chard (I'd lamented my poor chard germination so she came to my rescue), a small butternut squash and some delicious cobbler.

Another good week in the books. A bit of this. A bit of that. There was plenty of knitting, of course. I finished 2 pairs of socks and redid the toe on another to make them longer so I could gift them to Janice. I found a few fun things while thrifting and otherwise had a nice mix of productivity and socializing. Works for me.

Week 37 - Downton and Wheel

The week started out with beautiful weather but was in the 90's by the end of the week. This ridiculous heat impacted my to do list big time. But I had lots on my calendar - knitting on Monday night, to which I took a pineapple upside down cake I'd made, a library board meeting Tuesday night, went to Omaha Knit Night on Thursday night and was in Lincoln on Friday.

I didn't have much motivation to start the week but did a few things inside like gave my African violets some love and potted up a begonia I'd had rooting, did some dishes, made tortilla casserole - that kind of thing. But with the heat looming, I went outside on Wednesday and weeded a huge amount, starting at the alley and working along the fence by my veg beds. It was the biggest load yet and I thought I'd have to make two trips to the burn pile but I loaded to the roof and made it in one. By then the heat had arrived so it was a good thing I had more inside stuff to do.

My internet was down on Tuesday morning so I called Windstream and they scheduled an appointment for Thursday. It came back later Tuesday and was still up on Wednesday morning so I cancelled the appointment in the app. Well, something didn't work because I got a text that the tech was on his way. I tried to cancel again to no avail and he was at my door. He said it happens all the time and when I asked about when I could get fiber, he went into my backyard to look at the wires. I told him to be careful near the old grill because there was a hornets nest in it. He then offered to kill them, explaining that they find hornet nests all the time in the boxes on poles. So he got out his spray and killed them then opened the grill and pulled out the nests (there were 2) and threw them in the trash. Now to get rid of the grill, which I only kept because the cats sleep on it in the winter when the metal is warm.

I have followed Omaha Knit Night on Facebook and have been to one event they held - a potluck picnic at Elmwood Park in Omaha for World Wide Knit in Public Day last spring. I enjoyed the group and said I'd make an effort to go to more, which are usually evenings or weekends in a coffee shop somewhere in Omaha, so went to their meet up at the Omaha Conservatory of Music, which has a coffee shop in the lobby, on Thursday night. It was fun and I need to keep making the effort to go more often.

The last Downton Abbey movie premiered on Friday and since Dodie and I have gone to all the Downton movies together, I bought tickets on Monday for the first showing on Friday at the theatre near Dodie's house. If you want good seats, you have to pay an extra $3 to get them online before the day of the show. Rip off but oh well. I drove down Friday morning and we were front and center (actually halfway up and center) for the first show and it was wonderful. They wrapped things up nicely. I will miss Downton Abbey for sure.

After dropping Dodie, I hit a few thrifts, of course, and found the score of the century at St. Louise's. It was a Ashford spinning wheel, which retails for ~$900, for $32. The clerk said that it had been in the basement for a long time and they were going to throw it out but she convinced them to price it and see if anyone would buy it, which I happily did. It was missing its flyer but Helga from my spinning group sells Ashford so I could order it from her. I have always said that I'd spin after I retired so now I'm all set to give it a go. Yay! Here's a pic of it in the grungy back of my car, which I won't clean until I'm done with burn pile runs. Sorry.

I had finished a pair of navy blue socks that Helen had requested so I stopped at her house just to drop them off. Yeah, right. I sat down just for a minute and two hours later, Charlie walked in from work. I still had to hit a grocery store but was tired and hungry so had to force myself to stop, which I did. Adulting! I drove right by St. Theresa's when I left HyVee so popped in there (they're only open on Friday evenings and Saturdays and I'm rarely in town then) and scored 2 vintage Pyrex lids. I have many casseroles without lids in my garage and getting back on ebay to sell vintage linens, Corelle and Pyrex is on my short list. 

With all my trips here and there done, it was time for another hanging at home retirement weekend and catching up with friends. Andrea stopped by the check out my new wheel (she's the one who found the Ashford name on it) and I caught up with Carolyn and Dee. Otherwise it was streaming, knitting and chores.

Week 36 - Burn Pile Loads

It was my first full week home and I hope it was the first of many. I had plenty to get done and was still enjoying just being home.

First thing on Monday, which was Labor Day, I made a call I'd been dreading. I called Connie to tell her that I was not going with her on a road trip to Toronto. I had told her it sounded fun but that was mostly because I thought it wouldn't actual happen. As you know, I have no interest in going anywhere anytime soon. She took it well.

With that out of the way (huge relief!), it was time to get busy. The weather was perfect so I spent 3 mornings outside pulling beggar's tick and cutting sunflowers. I made 3 trips to the city's burn pile - gone is good! When I get that done first thing, I come back and shower then can do non-sweaty things in the afternoon. It works great. I did make a nice sunflower bouquet from the ones I cut down. So pretty.

I have been enjoying cooking and have been using produce from my garden, the peaches I bought from the Lions Club (most went into the freezer for future pies) and my friend Lorri stopped after church and shared produce from her garden. I've been trying to use what I have so cobbled together a pasta bake one night (all from the freezer and cupboards), have enjoyed BLT's with my tomatoes and made banana bread because I also have dead bananas.

I did have one fun thing on Saturday. One of my post-retirement goals was to make lunch dates with friends new and old. I had recently found someone on Facebook who used to work in HR and we had clicked but then she left UNL. Jane counts as an old friend because I left HR 22 years ago! We met at Burning Bridges, which is a restaurant in Omaha that specializes in chicken sandwiches, and enjoyed lunch and a LONG chat. We were in there for almost 4 hours and got all caught up and chatted about everything and nothing. It was great.

Also on the friend front, I had a nice zoom with Cindy to catch up before she leaves for her long overdue France trip, which was supposed to happen in fall of 2020. I also zoomed with my friend Lia in Germany, who is the other moderator of the Socks from Stash group on Ravelry (knitting website). We had some admin stuff for the group but also caught up on life in general.

I did chores all week and knitted between being productive. There was plenty of streaming while I knitted but I also started listening to the audio book for book club - another true crime (not my fave) so I listened at 1.5 speed to get it done. Andrea was away so I was feeding her cat ever daily. When I wasn't heading out of town for something else, I ran Wahoo errands while I was on cat feeding runs. Between that and the burn pile runs, I was out and about plenty this week.

So it was a nice week staying home with a good blend of productivity, streaming while knitting and getting chores done. Plus the friend stuff. As far as I'm concerned this was a perfect week in retirement. I hope there are more like this after the hot weeks that are coming up that will be cramping my style. I'm so looking forward to cooler weather. Are you?