October 2021

October weather finally started to cool down to the 80's.  It was more like fall.

Dave and I spent the first week of October clearing out the garden of the last of the above-ground produce and getting the beds ready for winter.  Once again, our butternut squash was a good producer, we gave away 6 large-sized squash to our neighbors and kept these smaller-sized ones for us.  They are sitting in our garage, waiting for us to use them this winter.  We still have to dig up our carrots, and just a few turnips and beets yet.  The herbs are still producing, and I've been clipping and drying them.

For our anniversary, Dave and I took a trip to Kississimme, Florida for a week.  We spent the week just relaxing around the pool, and resting.  For our anniversary dinner, we received a gift card from Jared to Flemings Prime Steak House and went out for a wonderful steak dinner.  When they showed us to our table, we were greeted with an anniversary card, and hearts.

The meal was first class all the way, and we split the entree, (a very large rib-eye steak), crispy broccoli, asparagus, and for dessert, I had a key lime pie and Dave had a caramel brownie al' a mode.  We were so stuffed, and we brought home half of our meal, for dinner the next evening.  It was a wonderful evening.

We came home to find a dusting of snow on the ground and I sighed with relief that we were able to get the garden and all the flower beds cleaned up before we left.  The snow only lasted 1 day, and the temps then climbed back up to the mid 70's, and the water level for our state still hasn't increased.  Here's hoping for snow in December to fill the reservoirs for next year.  Dave and I spent the rest of the month cutting down our decorative grasses and getting the front and back yard ready for winter.  We're still hearing about more friends who are getting COVID and wondering why they still won't get vaccinated, (???).  We still wear our masks out in public, but for the most part, we stay home.  Here's hoping that our family and friends will stay healthy as this new strain is starting to gain momentum and spread.

September 2021

September continued to be a hot and dry month.  Still no rain, and triple-digit temps.  We are growing quite concerned about what our water situation will be like next year.

September was a very quiet month for Dave and me.  We continued to work in the garden, gathering the harvest and getting the produce canned and frozen for winter.  We shared much with our friends, family, neighbors, and the Senior Center.  

A couple of days before my birthday, I was out in the garden working, and I walked into the house, (just as the doorbell rang).  It was a local florist with a delivery for me.  Dave sent me a huge flower delivery for my birthday.  He is so wonderful to always remember me.

This year for Dave's birthday, I sent him a box of chocolate-covered strawberries.  They are one of his favorite treats.

We both got our Covid booster shots this month.  Hopefully, we will have that extra protection again this dreaded disease.  We still continue to wear our masks when we are out in large public gatherings are among people we don't know.  We don't go out much, and we're fine with staying at home.  Here's hoping our friends and family are all staying healthy.

August 2021

August was as usual in the Rocky Mountains, HOT, HOT, HOT.   We had 16 days of triple-digit temps and added to that our skies were extremely smokey from all the California fires.  It made for an uncomfortable month, but as usual, we survived.

Our water restrictions were still in place, and we only watered at night and then very little to keep the lawn just green and alive.  I did do a twice-daily watering on the garden, so we wouldn't lose our plants.  It was a bumper year for our tomatoes, and the few neighbors we do have small gardens had a bumper crop of tomatoes.

Last October, I planted garlic. and the first part of August I harvested our little crop.  I dried it on the deck, then I cleaned the bulbs and braided the stems, and trimmed off the roots.  This winter we will be able to enjoy our own homegrown garlic.  It smelled so wonderful as I was working the stems and braiding it.  It is hanging in our pantry, and it gives me a little smile whenever I look at it.

It's been quite a few years since we've grown corn, so this year we planted some Salt and Pepper variety.  It was ready to harvest starting August 1st.  Every 4 or 5 days, we would harvest a dozen or so ears.  We would have 2 ears that evening for dinner, and then I would cut the kernels from the cob and freeze a couple quarts for this winter.  We were able to harvest corn until the end of September. and now we'll have plenty of corn this winter.

Our peach tree was quite a producer this year.  We gave away about 2 bushels to our neighbors, the local Senior Center, and friends.  The peaches were so sweet and juicy.  I made several cobblers, some peach bread, a pie, and froze several quarts.  I still had these 2 bushels left.  They were sitting on our deck, and in just one day's time, the high heat, and a light hot rainstorm came along and ruined them.  I was so sick when I  noticed that they had to all be destroyed.

On the 19th of August, we flew to Minneapolis to visit Jared and stayed for 5 days.  We helped celebrate his 41st birthday.  It was a low-key event.  We visited a couple of sites, went out to dinner a couple of evenings, but mostly just stayed around the house and visited.  

Dave and I are still staying at home for the most part.  We have found that it's nice to go down to the local Senior Center for lunch a few days a week.  We visit with other people our age, swap stories, and sometimes catch a free movie at the center.  It makes for a nice change of pace.  We are finding out that more of our friends have caught the Covid virus, and we've been thankful that we've gotten the vaccine early.  We have heard that a booster is soon going to be available, and we are planning of getting it when the time comes.  We home the rest of our family and friends stay healthy and well  Take care.

 

July 2021

WOW - July was another HOT month.  Still, no rail, until the 20th of July (finally - it started out on Tuesday as a light sprinkling on and off that day.  The next day we finally got a good downpour of rain most of the day, and some cooler temps for the few days).  Unfortunately, because our ground was so dry, none of the rainfall was collected in our reservoirs - the rain was all soaked up by the ground.  July turned out to be the hottest and driest month ever on record.

Dave and I enjoyed a nice quiet day at home on the 4th.  We grilled out and had a quiet day at home.  The neighborhood supplied us with quite a show of fireworks that evening.

July also brought Barbara some sad news on the 6th. Her brother, (David), passed away, at the age of 61.  He lived in Oklahoma City and in the early hours that morning, he was found dead on a bus bench.  They're not sure if he died from a heart attack or OD'ed.  David was the 4th of 7 children, (the middle child.  He was always getting into some kind of trouble, (but it was mostly just BS kind of trouble, not really bad).  The local police department knew David well, and they delighted in hassling him for little things.  David dropped out of school just a few months after starting high school and he liked, (no, strike that - he LOVED) to drink.  He hung out with kids that he knew since grade school and they all would somehow find money and someone to supply them with beer.  As he got older, Dave started doing drugs.  The police would pick him up, hassle him about the state of his condition.  Sometimes they would drive him home, sometimes they would lock him up for the night and release him the next morning, as he was sober enough to get home.  David left Ohio for Oklahoma when he was about 20.  The family would hear from him every couple of years.  He would manage to come home about every 10 years, but he always left when the local police started hassling him again.  It was sad that he died alone, on a bus bench,  Hopefully he's found his peace now.

Our granddaughter finally got a car!  Now we won't have to run her to all her appointments and back and forth to work.  She finally has more freedom to come and go without depending on us.  Hopefully the next step is to get her into her own apartment.

Our great-granddaughter came to spent the day and night with us.  It had been so long, since we'd seen her, and she's grown so much.  Dave noticed as we were walking through the mall, she's almost as tall as Barbara.  First, it was the grandkids who would measure every time they came over, to see if they were finally taller than Grandma.  Now it's the great-grandkids starting to see when they are taller than grandma.  And so the circle of like continues.

The garden has been doing great and producing very well.  It has really loved the heat this year, and with an extra watering, (when the temps are 100 or above), the plants are really happy.

An example of a usual garden pick.

2 days later, I still pick another load of tomatoes.

I've have pressure canned several turns of tomatoes, made several quart bags of tomato sauce, (in the freezer), and frozen quartered tomatoes.  I've shared garden tomatoes and tons of mini salad tomatoes with friends and neighbors, (by the bag fulls).  And they keep coming.

This has been my first year for a good zucchini crop.  I can pick the 3 bushes cleans and 3 or 4 days later, this is what I pick again.  I have frozen shredded zucchini for baking this winter.  I've give quite a bit away.  I made a couple dozen of my Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins, Zucchini Bread, Fried Zucchini, Zucchini Fritters.  And they keep coming.

We keep hoping for a break in these hundred degree temps, and for the skies to clear out smoke from the California fires, and also some rain would be nice.  But mostly, we keep hoping for this COVID virus to start dying out and for our family and friends to remain healthy and safe.

June 2021

June arrives with summer heat in full force.  The whole month was extremely hot, temps were high 90's to the 100's.  We had one day that we hit 107 (the hottest day ever for June), and most of the days were 96 degrees to 102 degrees.  It was the hottest June ever recorded since the weather service started keeping track.  On the 24th, we finally got our first little bit of rain (first since April), but it was only 1 1/3 inches.  And then we went back to a dry spell the rest of the month.

By the 14th of the month, it just got too hot for Dave and me to do our daily walks.  It would be 85 degrees by the time we got up in the morning, and it just continued to get hotter.

One good thing about June, our city was running a summer contest, "Buy Local, Spend Local, Win Local".  If you purchased anything from a local merchant and sent in a copy of your receipt, you were entered into a weekly drawing for a $100 visa gift card.  The first week of June, Dave won a gift card and the 2nd week of June, I won a gift card.  That was a nice $200 surprise for our family.

A neighbor across the street, (Lisa) went to visit her grandparents in California in the first part of June, and she brought back some freshly picked lemons from their tree and shared them with us.

The first thing I made was a lemon curd pie.  It had been about 6 years since the last time I made a fresh lemon curd pie.  It was delicious.  Then I made 2 loaves of fresh lemon bread (I gave one to Lisa for her family to enjoy).  It had been ages since I made lemon bread.  It was also a delicious treat.  Finally, I took the last 3 lemons and made some basil-lemonade.  It was so refreshing on a hot June day.

Lisa promised to bring back more lemons the next time she went to visit her grandparents.

Dave has finally found a hobby to pursue during his retirement.  READING.  Every morning, he goes out on our deck and reads a book for an hour or two (until the heat gets too high).  He's already finished 2 books and several magazines in June.  He turns on the water stream, relaxes to the sound of the water and the birds, and enjoys his time reading outside.

My garden is producing.  For Father's Day, we were able to enjoy fresh tomatoes.  And by the end of June, the zucchini was getting ready to pick, along with the turnips, basil, and small salad tomatoes.

We are slowly starting to get out a little more (grocery stores, restaurants, etc.).  But, we still wearing our masks (even though the mask mandate has been lifted in the state).  We have been watching the numbers of COVID cases continue to rise and fall each week, and we don't want to take a chance (even though we are both vaccinated).

With the weather so hot, we spend a lot of time at home, indoors (staying cool with the air conditioning).

We hope all our friends and family continue to stay healthy and safe this summer.

May 2021

 May was such a warm and dry month, unlike a usual May of past years.  Our temps were in the high 70's and mid 80's, but not a drop of rain all month long.  Our drought is really getting more severe.

One of the great things about the warm May, our lilac bushes were very full and the fragrance that the slightest breeze would carry was magnificent.  These are planted just outside our bedroom window, and during the day I would open the windows and allow the breeze to carry the fragrance into the house.  We so enjoyed it.  I received a lot of compliments from the neighbors on how great our lilacs were this year.  Our irises were also full and loaded with bloom.  We have them planted our front and they gave the neighbors a wonderful show.

Our neighborhood ducks had quite the batch of new babies this year.  And with the water levels so low, it was not an uncommon sight to see a mama duck walking her babies down the block to the park, looking for a run-off of sprinkler water to swim and play in.  One day, I noticed this mama duck had 12 little ones following her to find any watering hole available.  One of the advantages of living in our suburbs away from the busy city.

Dave and I decided to venture out to a new Mexican restaurant that opened up not too far from our neighborhood.  La Hacienda, a new locally owned restaurant.

Dave and I ordered the Chile Relleno plate.  We were surprised at how much food came on the plate.  Everything was delicious and took us back to our days in Cabo San Lucas.  The prices were very reasonable.  This is sure to be on our list of restaurant rotations.

With the weather being so warm and beautiful, we were able to clean up, till, and plant our garden the first week of May.  This was quite unheard of for our area.  Usually, we have to wait until after Memorial Day to plant most of our garden, but the TV weather forecasters said it would be okay to plant, no more frost for our area.  We cut down on the amount of planting this year, we still have quite a lot of items in our freezer and pantry.

I noticed on Memorial Day that I have tomatoes on my plants.  I should be able to have homegrown garden tomatoes for the 4th of July.  Something I haven't had for ages.

I also noticed, that in addition to tomatoes, the green peppers are also forming.  The garden is really loving this warm dry climate.  In past years, May has always been so rainy and chilly until Memorial Day, and then suddenly it gets HOT!  Now I'm thinking, maybe I should have planted more.

Dave is still trying to find his way through retirement.  He's not really sure where he fits in.  I told him, "You need to find a hobby, and get busy with it.  Do something you like."  His friend, Howard, told him that the first 6 months of retirement were the hardest, but after that, he finally settled into his mojo.  So, we're almost 2 months in, and 4 more to go.  Let's hope he finds his mojo quick.

It's nice that Dave and I are finally starting to get out and about a little bit.  On Mondays, we go to the local Senior Center for a free movie day.  The movies are recently released and ones that we've been wanting to see.  We eat lunch and then stay for the movie.  It's a good way to spend a few hours.  We socialize with people our own age and have a good time.

We're still shocked that people are not getting the vaccine, and at the numbers who are dying.  We heard on the news that the one thing COVID people in the hospital have in common, is that they haven't been vaccinated.  We are still shocked that we know people who for one reason or another refuse to get the vaccine.  When we go out to a large gathering, we still wear our masks -  simply because we aren't sure if the other person we come in contact with has been vaccinated.

Once again, take care of your family.  Be well, and stay save.  Have a happy summer, and let's hope that the west gets some rain soon.

April 2021

 April was the typical rocky mountain spring weather, (warm and wet).  Our temps were mostly in the 70's and just light showers about 2 or 3 days a week.  Not enough rain to raise our water table, but enough to green up our lawns nicely.  Dave got his 2nd Covid vaccine on April 1st, and travel restrictions were lifted, so we decided to go to Maui.  We found an open week from the 3rd of April to the 10th of April, (talk about luck of the draw).

We checked an Opal was up to date on all her shots, and Petsmart had an opening.  So, we took her over for her first-ever away from home boarding.  I was concerned about how she would do.  I requested that she get a front window suite, (so she could see out into the lobby and watch the customers come into the store kennel area).  It turned out that she adapted very well.  Everyone who saw her came up to the window and interacted with her, and she interacted back.  The staff said she was such a joy to be around.  I was worried that she wouldn't eat, but it was the least of the problems.  So, we will not have to worry about our little one going to the kennel for future visits.  Mid-way during our vacation, the staff sent us this photo, showing us that she was doing well.

Dave and I got our rapid Covid tests on Friday.  Having both gotten the vaccine, we were concerned that we would get false-positive results, but both received negative results.  We forwarded our results to the Hawaii transportation health department and boarded the airplane on Saturday morning bright and early.  As luck would have it, the plane tickets for our trip to Hawaii that was canceled last November were being held by the airline until it was safe to travel again.  All we had to do was call the airline and re-book our flight.

One of the first things we did was go out for breakfast at Kihei's.  They had these GREAT banana and macadamia pancakes and large fruit salads.  Dave and I got one of each and shared it.  You know you're in Hawaii when you start your day off with a breakfast like this.  So good, and so filling.  And it was just a few blocks from our condo.

And of course, Hawaii wouldn't be Hawaii without a trip to any ABC store.  There was one right behind our condo.  If you run out of anything, just walk over, (they're on almost every corner), and you can buy what you need.  And they're great for picking up souvenirs to take home.

Every morning, before Dave did anything else, we had to walk one block from the condo to the ocean.  Dave had to have his morning swim in the ocean and then sit on the beach and enjoy the view.  It was his favorite way to start every day.

We didn't really do anything in Maui, except relax, take it easy, and enjoy the week at a slow easy pace.

On our last day, we went to the country club for dinner.  It was a wonderful way to end a wonderful vacation.

We were seated with a view of the golf course and the mountain range.

For dinner, both Dave and I ordered the Prime Rib dinner.  It was delicious, and so filling.  We couldn't finish the whole plate.  It was cooked to perfection. 

After dinner, we were then off to the airport for our flight home.  Sometimes, I think we should sell our home and buy a little home on the island, and just bum around like this all the time.

Well, Dave finally retired!!

The Monday after our vacation, April 12th, was his official last day, and his exit interview with HR.  He went to lunch with the guys that he's worked with, and they swapped stories about the things that happened over the years.  He got a nice retirement card, and inside was a pile of gift cards to a lot of different restaurants, and a couple of VISA gift cards.  He was getting calls all day long from people that he worked with years ago at different companies congratulating him on his retirement.  He had quite the day. 

This wasn't an overnight decision.  Last year when Dave's brother, (Bruce), passed away, he did some real soul searching and decided that it was time to retire and start living and doing the things that we wanted to do.  We discussed things with our financial advisor, got things in order, and last winter he made the announcement to his boss and HR.  We are not adjusting to a new way of life - two full-time retired individuals at home together.

We are still walking 4 or 5 days every week.  

Here's hoping that our friends and family are able and willing to get the vaccine, and are staying healthy.  Now that the country is very slowly starting to get back to a new normal way of life, let's all be careful.