Week 20 - My Civic Duty

When I retired, one of the things I wanted to do was work at the polls and this week was my first time. Besides that 13 hour day, I had several other full ones too. All good.

Tuesday was going to be a long day and since I was working in Yutan, I needed to take all the food I'd eat all day with me. I prepped that on Monday afternoon and made a pan of blondies to split between knitting and the polls. Unfortunately something had reset on my phone so my texts were messed up and not getting through. I was alone at the library so messaged Andrea only to hear that all the knitters were at the school for the year end concert and I'd missed the texts. I went home and went to bed early.

I got up at 5:30 Tuesday morning and made an omelet for breakfast figuring protein would last longer. I packed up my lunch and dinner plus many craft projects and headed to Yutan. There were 5 of us there and I spent the entire 13 hours writing voters' names in the book after they signed in. I instantly hit it off with the woman doing the sign in book and we chatted the hours away. We only had 128 voters all day and none in the last hour. By then I had my temperature blanket spread across my knees and was weaving in ends. We started packing up early and I was out of there by 8:15 and home by 8:30. It was a long day but didn't drag and I made a new friend, Lori, who is going to start coming to Monday Night Knitting.

I needed 000some recharge time on Wednesday but did get out in the afternoon to plant my driveway containers. I found Goodie's hidey hole in the shade under the wheel barrow while I was planting. I also cleaned up the kitchen, finished a charity hat and talked to both of my sisters plus had tea on the deck. I was recovered and ready for more.

I was going to Helen's on Thursday and decided I'd get bbq ribs for supper so scrambled to put together potato salad before I left. As usual, Helen, Debbie and I chatted the day away and I left in time to get to the library commission before they closed to drop off book club books then hit Stuff (found some sock yarn - yay!), pick up the ribs and get gas at Sam's before heading home. Shortly after I got home, Andrea stopped by to drop off some cookies for me and helped me hook up my hoses too. They snake under the deck so it's much easier with 2 people. It's good to have friends.

It was 95 degrees on Friday so I spent the day inside. I cleared the coffee table and bar (I'd cleared the desk earlier in the week) and cleaned the bathroom and floors before settling down to weave in more ends on my temp blanket. Since the house was clean and I had ribs and potato salad, I called Ana and she came over for supper. She's back in town for a couple of weeks so it was nice to catch up.

Saturday was spinning but not until the afternoon so I had a long chat with Carolyn and another with Dee before picking Andrea up for the usual run. We hit the Restore before spinning then the Estate Dispersal Store, Goodwill and Aldi afterwards. We got a soft serve at Zesto on our way out of town - lemon sherbet, which was way more lemony than the Zesto in Lincoln has. I started Outlander, having waited until all the episodes were out. We had a storm that evening and got 2" of much needed rain. Nice.

I did the cats on Sunday morning and spent extra time with Frito, the cat who was being bullied so is now in the quarantine room. I had been hemming and hawing about getting the new Runza burger and finally caved, spending $12 and it ended up being not worth it. Oh well. I miss BK, which closed recently. I finished Outlander and called it a day. We had a bit more rain - .2" this time. Every little bit helps.

So working the polls was new and fun. I got some things done in the house, planted more containers, had fun with Helen and Debbie and had fun in Fremont. I'll call that a full and nice week.

Week 19 - Started My Containers

It was another week of temperatures swings, starting with heat followed by soup weather with the heat on and ending with high 70's - perfect spring weather. I went with the flow and got all kinds of things done.

It was pretty toasty on Monday so I potted up dahlias and then dyed some yarn to take advantage of the sun and heat for quick drying then made rhubarb sugar cookies to take to knitting, knowing a front was coming through that would cool the house down. Alas, as much as I love all things rhubarg, this facebook recipe was not worth making again. : (

The high on Tuesday was 61 and so I made a big pot of lentil soup, which I've been wanting for awhile. Delish! I also made a nice dinner of asparagus goat cheese pasta. So much yumminess! Otherwise I stayed inside knitting to keep warm. I went through my food cupboards on Wednesday to pull donations for the boy scouts but it really needed doing. I did get outside that afternoon and tried to pull up some of the clay from the backyard dirt pile. I didn't have it seeded so am trying to break through to the grass underneath. Time will tell.

Thursday was the beginning of actual spring weather so I took advantage of being outside. I ran errands in Wahoo before lunch and totally scored at the senior center thrift shop. I don't usually find much there but got a few super fun things - a new placemat for under the cats' water bowl, some bias tape for knitting bag strings, some Paris notecards to gift to Cindy and a vintage tablecloth. Not only is it gorgeous but zero stains. And get this - they were having discount sale and I pulled 50% so all of this was $2.41. Gotta love it. I went outside after lunch and potted up the shade planters for along the garage. My containers make me so happy so it was great to get started.

I had zero motivation on Friday and spent the morning feeling guilty for getting nothing done, especially when I got a text saying they needed someone to take care of the cats at the shelter. I didn't respond. I was going to Lincoln later and had the great idea to call Cindy and see if she'd be up for hanging out and she was. I took fake Aldi frapuccino packets and headed out. We had a lovely time sitting on her back deck and then I headed to Lincoln. Dodie and I were going to Suffs at The Lied Center and meeting for supper at Salty's Lodge beforehand. It is the restaurant that replaced Red Fox, which Layton and I ate at almost every Friday pre-pandemic. They changed nothing inside but the menu was different. Dinner was great and so was Suffs, which I knew nothing about but thoroughly enjoyed.

Saturday was a busy day. For a retiree anyway. I started the day doing the cats at the shelter then threw a rhubarb upside down cake in the oven because I was going to Nancy's husband's 70th birthday party, which was also a goodbye party because they're moving back to California. Lorri and Bob picked me up and we had a wonderful time. Pretty much a friend of Nancy's is a friend I haven't met yet so I had a great time talking the afternoon away. All 3 of their daughters had flown in for the party and I hadn't seen them in years so that was fun too. It was a good time and Nancy and I will be getting together for lunch before they head west in mid-June. I ended the day talking to Dottie well past my bedtime.

That left Sunday for chores. It was gorgeous weather so I hung my laundry on the line and did some raking of the back patch until my rake came apart. It just needs a screw to reattach the head to the pole. I went out to my garden bench and started listening to the audio book for book club, knitting a charity hat while I listened. I ended the week with my tetrazzini that I pulled from the freezer. Yum!

So it was a good week. I started my containers (yay!), had some thrifting fun, did enough to feel productive and had lots of socializing. Even some culture with Dodie! Hopefully the spring temps will stick around for awhile because I have plenty more gardening to get done. Here's hoping.

Week 18 - A Good Mix

Well, the week started with me finding water in my basement where the new wall met the old one after only .3" of rain on the weekend. The contractor was responsive and the week went up from there.

After texting a pic of the wet floor, I called Chris first thing Monday and he said it was normal but he'd come the next day to check. I worked for 45 minutes that morning with Cindy and then made strawberry/rhubarb pie to take to knitting. I also made a small one for Tim, my one time contractor who had checked out the wall and expressed concern with the grading. When I dropped it off he read me the riot act calling BS on water being "normal".

Chris came on Tuesday morning and said he'd extend the wall to the house where there's only a crawl space under the addition. He came on Friday morning and got it all done except for a small piece of a capstone because he ran out. He's also be coming back to paint the outside trim around the egress window. With zero rain in the forecast and drought conditions, it'll be awhile before it's tested but I'm happy with his willingness to extend the wall.

I had some fun with friends this week. On Tuesday, I went to Project Hail Mary in Omaha with Lori. Great movie and I did a much needed Aldi run on the way home before a Ripples zoom at 6:00. Lovely day. I went to campus on Thursday, planning to hit the Hort Club plant sale before meeting with the Emeriti-Retirees membership committee. Alas, when I got there at 9:15, the line to pay was already so long that there was no way I'd make my 10:00 meeting so I grabbed Darla and we went to the Union Starbuck's. After the meeting, I went to lunch with Dana and Cindy at Fattoush for yummy middle eastern food. I ended the week with an Omaha run with Andrea. I didn't need to go but did anyway. We hit Trader Joe's, Whole Foods and the library book sale. It was past lunch so we went to Brazen Head where we both ordered "chowder", which was just soup. $9 fail in my book. Oh well.

I did get some gardening done too. I put up the new fence I bought on Temu this winter, which took longer than I thought to put together, and then loaded it up with the forsythia branches I'd cut to give access to my backyard from the alley for the dirt removal. I was home early enough on Saturday that I prepped the raised bed where I plant early veg, which was late but the weather hadn't cooperated so it is what it is. I cleaned up the hog panels and the driveway sunflowers to get ready for planting pole beans there later. I planted the veg bed on Sunday, put all my overwintered plants outside and then grabbed my friend Lorri to do a flower buying run to Bomgaar's, which was fun.

In other things, I did the cats twice - Friday and my usual Sunday. I went to poll worker training on Wednesday night, which was honestly horribly done with no agenda and no direction on which of the many packets they were following. At least I met 2 women I'd be working with and they're poll working veterans so I can rely on them having learned very little that night.

The weather was all over the board - from high 80's to low 60's for the daily high temps. Also no rain so I was relying on sprinkling the dirt piles front and back plus my newly planted veg bed every single day. This became a problem when I did 3 loads of laundry on Saturday morning and hung most of it outside. Get a load of my birks when I was done.

I'd call that a good week. It had a nice mix of socializing,  getting things done and a better retaining wall which I hope will fix the seepage problem. Starting to garden is always fun. Now to see if I keep up with it this summer. Send good vibes please.

Week 17 - A Spring Cold

The week started well with a nice lunch in the park with my friend Lorri on Monday but then I woke up with a full blown cold on Tuesday. Claritin D rescued me from the crazy congestion and it's a good thing because I had lots to do.

A big front loader and dump truck arrived on Monday and got rid of the rest of both the front and back dirt piles. They made quick work of it but left a layer of packed clay that a power rake couldn't get through, which had been the contractor's plan. He was going to rent a power rake and charge me big bucks for the raking so I told him to skip it and called my lawn guy. Tim confirmed that the packed clay needed to be broken up by hand so despite feeling pretty crappy, I got out there first thing on Tuesday and raked the back myself. That involved swinging a rake over my head to get it to break through the crust and then yanking it back. I couldn't wait because I wanted the workers, who were busy building my retaining wall, to move the chunks I got up. I did the back on Tuesday and the front on Wednesday. They moved the dirt to the alley and it was ready for power raking.

Cam, who mows my lawn, came on Saturday and power raked then came back later right before it rained and seeded the front lawn. The back lawn had lots of grass coming through but the front didn't. Maybe that pile was there longer? No clue but I saved >$300 by having Cam do the work instead of the contrator. Nice.

After the two days of heavy labor while fighting a cold, I spent a lot of time knitting (finished another sock WIP) and streaming over the rest of the week, talked to my sister and my friend one afternoon and did some baking and cooking. On Sunday I was up and out early to take care of the cats at the shelter and water my friend Lorri's seedlings so that I could cross that off and relax for the rest of the day. Then I got a text from my cousin asking if I'd seen her invite. I hadn't gotten a text (turns out she had texted my old cell) but she had invited me for supper. I hemmed and hawed but ended up going. Of course it was fun with great company and yummy food so a nice way to end the week.

Things were looking up for sure. The basement project was finally finished with the retaining wall done and the yard on the mend from the dirt piles. I was off the Claritin D by the weekend and was doing OK. I also had crew free mornings to look foward to. Or so I thought....

Week 16 - Heat and Workers

The weather was crazy again with 89 for the high on Monday, 80's on a few other days and finally a storm that dropped the temps to more normal spring highs. Between hunkering down in the house to avoid the ridiculous heat and the crews coming almost every day to do work in the yard, I wasn't outside much. 

I did some baking for the crews - banana bread one day, which one guy seemed to love, and chocolate chip cookies another day which no one ate. What? I gave them to the contractor when he stopped by at the end of the day.

Anne and I booked another river cruise trip for the fall, enticed by a free airfare deal. It was still pretty pricey so we've sworn off booking ahead and will look for last minute cheap trips going forward. This trip is mostly in Germany, which Anne has never been to. It'll be wonderful, I'm sure.

I went to a Emeriti/Retirees lunch on Tuesday and then went to Helen's to hang out. There was much laughter while we crafted, as usual, and this time I left earlier so I wasn't rushing to get to the library board meeting that night.

I had lab work and an appointment with my oncologist on Friday morning and so scheduled lunch with Dodie. I was hankering for a burger so we went to Ollie and Hobbes, which had a wonderful mini meal feature that had a small burger (who needs 6-8 ounces, which seems to be the norm here), fries and a drink for $9.50. It was delish and we chatted a long time after we finished. I then went to my friend Becky's for tea before I dropped some yarn at Stuff and picked up some groceries before heading home for the weekend.

The best thing about the weekend is no one would be working in my yard. Having to be dressed and presentable early every morning was getting old. Having a lovely morning sitting in my nightie on Saturday felt great. I did go to spinning Saturday afternoon but didn't make any other stops before heading back home. I was gifted a dozen eggs, which I didn't really need so boiled some up when I got home. But the best part of the weekend was putting my clothesline back up on Sunday and doing 3 loads of laundry, hanging most of it out. Otherwise I did some streaming and knitting, working on WIP (works in progress) socks since I'd finished these Keukenhof Gardens socks on Thursday. Can you see the tulips in the lace? I also made a cozy meal of chuck roast with tons of mushrooms, parsnips and carrots plus mashed potatoes and gravy. Good thing it was yummy because I'd be eating it several more times.

I have high hopes that the outside work will be done soon so I can get back to real life, which will include not getting dressed first thing in the mornings and being able to work outside in my yard without dodging work crews. I'm ready to get back to my normal life - the life of a retiree that is. : )

Week 15 - Heading Back Home

The cruise was over on Monday and we'd made what seemed like a good decision at the time to stay an extra day in Amsterdam afterwards. All we wanted was to get home but lesson learned for next time.

We had to be out of our cabins by 8:00 so after an early breakfast, we put our luggage out and went up to the lounge to wait until our 10:00 transfer to the airport. Our airport hotel ended up being a 15 minute uber ride from the terminal we were dropped off at. Considering that, we were not up for going back into Amsterdam. Luckily the Amsterdam Forest was right by the hotel so we headed over there for the day. It was Easter Monday so a holiday and there were lots of people and families enjoying the weather. We got lost getting back to the hotel so got many, many steps in before we found our way back. We ate sandwiches we'd made on the ship and watched some TV. We were both done and just wanted to get home.

We ate breakfast at the hotel and took the shuttle to the airport. Only when we were ready to board did we see that we were not sitting together, probably because we booked our tickets separately so United didn't know we were traveling together. I sat next to a lovely woman from Chicago and we talked on and off for the whole flight on everything from politics to what we buy at Trader Joe's. I watched The Housemaid, which was very good. The chatting helped pass the time and our layover wasn't long in Chicago so it was a good day of flying. Darla picked me up and took me right home. We checked out the basement work and the dirt piles then she left. I let the cats out and started unpacking. I had to deal with the 3 litter boxes in the shower before I could take a shower and get to bed. It felt great to be in my own bed freshly showered and in and clean nightie with my cats all around me.

I'd been up almost 24 hours by the time I went to bed but still woke up at 3:30 and couldn't fall back asleep so got up at 5:00. I had taken some frozen milk out of the freezer so thoroughly enjoyed mini wheats and coffee for breakfast then started doing laundry. My contractor came and mentioned that they didn't have access to my backyard from the alley but I told him I was fine with cutting down some of the forsythia. He left and I got busy with the loppers. When that was done, so was I. I spent the afternoon cleaning up my 2 email accounts and waiting for bedtime.

There was a talk at the lake about mussels and crayfish on Thursday morning. Not the most interesting topic but the donut was yummy. I left for Lincoln afterwards to do some food shopping and take Darla to lunch to thank her for the airport taxi service. I started on my catch up to do list when I got home. I stayed up later and slept later on Friday so was pretty much over the jet lag. 

It was a good thing I wasn't up super early because I had to do a fasting blood draw Friday morning for my welcome to medicare physcial. I was at the lab at 7:30, went home for breakfast and was back for my appointment at 8:40. My lab results were the best I've had in years, which I credit all the walking and healthy food on the cruise for my LDL being normal. Yay! I stopped at the courthouse on the way home to pay my house taxes and fill out a poll worker form. When I got home, Chris was there to finish the last inside work - reattaching the electricals and removing the beams that he'd put up for the jacks that supported the house. I made more progress on my list and cooked tuna casserole and broccoli for supper. Normal food but not as healthy as I'd eaten on vacation. 

I had a low key weekend with lots of chatting on the phone, knitting, streaming adn doing a few more things from my to do list. I enjoyed doing some cooking and just being home. No matter how good vacation is, and this one was fabulous, it's always good to be home. Back to reality is a good thing. Now to get the basement project finished. Here's a pic of one of the dirt piles and the tarped trench on the east side. Hopefully it'll be done soon.

Week 14 - All Around Holland

We spent the entire week in The Netherlands, specifically South and North Holland. It was a week of "What pretty town are we in today?" I loved it.

We were in Veere on Monday. It had a cute little downtown and we did a bit of shopping, picking up their local pastry called bolus before heading back to the ship for lunch. I think there was an extra excursion that afternoon so two of the tour leaders took the people who didn't go on that on a nature walk. There was a windmill, of course, and beautiful flowers but there was also a cool dock thing to cross a creek that had to be pulled across with ropes. We had a talk on sea salt before dinner and sailed at 7:00 to the next stop.

Tuesday was windmills first thing in Kinderdijk. It has 17 windmills around a series of canals and is such an attraction that each boat can only stay 2 hours at their dock. We toured a windmill then did a boat trip around the canals and learned all about them. Foolish me thought they were for grinding grain when in fact they're actually for pumping water. Go figure. When our 2 hours was up, we sailed away to our next stop - Schoonhoven. After lunch, Rene took us on a walk around town. Not a tour with info just showing what was around. We found a wonderful yarn shop and had fun chatting with the owner and clerk. The owner bregrudgingly sold me a mini skein that she'd dyed and I bought yarn to match it so will make souvenir socks. We also bought yarn at a Bernina sewing store that I noticed had a bin of yarn on the sidewalk as we walked by. Anne found licorice in a grocery store too. It was a fun town and we enjoying the shopping. Then, you guessed it, it was back to the boat to hang in the lounge and then eat dinner.

We were in Gronchem on Wednesday, which was the day you could take a trip to Rotterdam, which had been the plan in the tour documents but the leaders dissuaded us from going, saying that it was just a big modern city. Only a few people went. Anne and I enjoyed the walking tour in the morning and then there was a last minute mini excursion that afternoon to do a cheese tasting and tour another windmill. We did the cheese but skipped the windmill in favor of shopping. We found a small craft store that had some yarn (I pity purchased a single skein of 6 ply sock yarn) and I found my favorite Lion Bars at a discount store so was happy to add these to my cereal purchase. With my 2 European food faves found, I was thrilled. We had passed a cat on our morning walk so headed that way and found a bench to knit on. Anne left to go biking and I mosied towards the cat, who was still outside and came right to me for pets. Loved that. Hanging in the lounge and dinner followed. I was loving this trip!

Enkhuizen was Thursday's town and it was a chilly, dreary day. We did a walking tour, as usual, in the morning and after lunch, we took a ferry to a museum of Dutch life that was on a nearby peninsula. It was brutally cold out there with windy whipping around. Siri said it was 46 but when I asked for the feels like, it was 32. Yikes! We walked around a bit but it was just too cold to deal so we practically ran to the ferry and went back to the ship. Much better. Chatting in the lounge and some knitting warmed us up.

Grand Circle Tours and Overseas Adventure Travel are all about learning and discovery so Friday was our home visit. We broke up into groups of 6 and we went to a woman named Julie's house. She was lovely and gave us her take on life in The Netherlands while serving us coffee and Easter chocolates. She ended with a Dutch thing - alcoholic pudding served with whipped cream and fruit. We walked back to the ship and headed out.

We were sailing during the day so we could see the Naviduct. It's a lock that raises boats above a highway. Yes, you read that right. It was hard to get a picture that shows it but here's the best I could do, taking it from the top deck of the ship as we sailed over the highway. We sailed for the rest of the afternoon so there was an interesting tour of the galley and plenty of time in the lounge. With a beer most afternoons, I'd drunk more in a week than I normally drink in 6 months. There was wine with dinner most nights too. We docked near Amsterdam in Haarlem and had a talk about the Dutch royal family before dinner. 

Saturday was tulip day and there aren't sufficient words to describe it. We started at Annemieke's to hear about her youth program based around tulip farming and to pick some tulips of our own. Next stop was Keukenhof, which is an enormous tulip garden that is something to see. It was Easter weekend and so a mob scene but the flowers were worth it. The colors were breathtaking and absolutely everywhere. We spent the whole afternoon there and it was amazing. Here are a few pics. Because Sunday was Easter, we had the Captain's farewell dinner when we got back. It was a magical day.

We started Easter Sunday with a canal cruise in Amsterdam. I had expected most stores to be closed but that wasn't the case. The one I cared most about was Stephen & Penelope - Stephen West's yarn store. It was buzzing with customers and had lots of gorgeous yarn. I showed some restaint and only bought 3 skeins, 1 of which was a gift. We grabbed lunch in a cafe and then headed to the meeting point for the bus back to the ship. We had packing to do and had a lovely Easter lamb dinner and lots of chocolate everywhere. We had to say goodbyes to some of our friends who would be leaving for the airport in the wee hours. It was hard to believe the cruise was already over.

What a great week! I am a total convert to river cruising. You unpack once and settle in and then you wake up somewhere new every single day. You get to know people and have a great mix of seeing places (our average steps/day was 12,800) and relaxing. The food is all included and delicious. There's no down side to it and I can't wait to do another. Now to get through the next day when we'd be still here while everyone else was flying home. No extensions next time. : )