Week 21 - Goodbye Auntie Margaret

It was a weird week with storms, cancellations, clinic runs and some fun but ended with the death of my dear Auntie Margaret. Here we go.

My cousin Richard's grandaughter had died from a horrible disease and the visitation was on Monday night. They recently moved to Omaha and I felt like I should go because they have no other local family besides their daughter's. But the weather did not cooperate. There were huge storms with hail forecast for exactly when I'd need to drive so I didn't go. knitting was cancelled too so I stayed home and made a nice dinner while the rain poured down.

It was chilly Tuesday morning, which was perfect because I was making a strawberry/rhubarb pie for dessert since -Lori was coming for lunch. She lives in Omaha now but comes for lunch when she has appointments in town. She was due ~12:30. When it hit 1:15, I texted her only to find out I'd screwed up the date and she'd be coming next month. Sheesh! Totally my fault so I made a quick lunch and went through a cabinet that afternoon. There was knitting too, of course.

Wednesday was the long awaited cinnamon bun trip with Darla. She had seen a reel of a truck driver who does routes in eastern Nebraska who raved about the cinnamon buns in the tiny town of Pilger, which was about 80 miles north of Wahoo, and we were going to get some. Darla picked me up early and we were there by 9:00. Luckily I'd called ahead and had 4 buns put aside because they were already gone. We shared one and then headed out to thrift our way home. Pender had one of the best thrift stores I'd ever been in and we found another great one in Scribner, where we ate lunch in Mel's Bar (delish burger and my favorite tots). We stopped in Hooper for ice cream and then hit the Goodwill in Fremont. It was a totally fun day and ended with the Surivor finale. Here's a pic of some of my favorite thrift scores from the day.

I had nothing beyond taking care of my neighbor's cats on Thursday's calendar. I walked into the bathroom to brush my teeth and when I took a perfectly normal step, something twisted just above my ankle like something I'd never felt before and I was instantly in pain. I limped to take care of the cats and it hurt so much that I called the clinic and got an appointment for 10:00 with a doctor I'd never seen before. She sent me for an x-ray and nothing was broken, which was a big relief. She put a brace on and told me to go home to ice and elevate so that's what I did. I spent the day knitting and started watching a Great Course on the Pacific theatre in WW2. That evening when I took the brace off to take a shower, I had zero pain. It's like it had never happened. What????

There was still no pain Friday morning but I put the brace on anyway and got busy. I had to do the shelter cats that morning and ran some errands in town then spent the afternoon planting containers. Then the phone rang. My dear Auntie Margaret, who was 104, was near death. She's recently fallen and was failing fast. I talked to my sister about whether we would go to the funeral and we decided to go. We got the call Saturday morning that she had died.

I loved my aunt so much. We grew up with Auntie Margaret and my cousins Bette and David at every holiday, event - we even vacationed together. She was always there and such a hoot. After I moved to Nebraska, I would fly into Rhode Island on Thursday mornings so I could crash my dad's weekly lunch with her. She was there for every milestone in my life. She had been housebound for the past few years and couldn't hear to talk on the phone so I feel like I lost her a few years ago. I definitely needed to go to the funeral.

We didn't know when the service would be but I started making calls to make sure I had cats and plants covered. I also had to make decisions on my garden. I planted the rest of my containers but decided to wait on planting my veg beds. There was lots of waiting to hear so the weekend dragged. I finished the WW2 thing, which was also a drag, and we finally heard that the funeral would be a week out on June 1st so we booked a room in Rhode Island. I'd be driving to Dottie's in northern Indiana and then we'd drive to RI from there, which would take a couple of days.

So, what a week, huh? Auntie Margaret was the last of her generation, outliving them all, and the sweetest, funniest aunt I could ever have wished for. Rest in peace, Auntie Margaret.

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.