Still Catching Up - June 7 - 13, 2010

MONDAY JUNE 7 I’m one Happy Camper HALLELUJAH! Just returned from my eye appointment with Dr Graether at the Wolf Clinic here in Marshalltown. IMPROVEMENT!(I could have told him that!) But now he has pictures to compare with the pics he took last year; even I can see the difference in the photos.

He commented on the amount of decreased vascular film covering the eye and even he seems quite pleased. I'm still not a candidate for cornea transplant due to the herpes virus and the rejection factor. However, if, for some reason, I lost the sight in my good eye now, I wouldn't be able to read, sew, drive, etc, but I could see well enough with the bad eye to avoid walking into any walls! Now That's Improvement! I'm still pain free and That's A Blessing!

I am enjoying the cooler weather - just wish the rainy weather would stop so the ground would dry. The 'skeeters' are horrible. I'd rather be warm and dry than humid and sticky, but I'm not complaining, this is much better than central TX hot and dusty!

It takes this place awhile to dry out with all the trees, consequently, the skeeters are quite thick. I have my bug candles and skeeter candles on the table but I'm just so sweet they find me! I do tend to get really bored when I can’t get out to enjoy the out-of-doors and read. When the weather is icky, the major excitement is when Li’lBit and I take our daily walk to the dumpster – doesn’t get much better than that somedays.


TUESDAY JUNE 8 was a terrific morning! Slept all nite to a constant rain on the roof! Heavy air today, but that's what nebulizers and inhalers are for! Went to my favorite laundromat,almost like doing laundry in a coffee shop! Love that place! Makes doing laundry enjoyable. Then off to my favorite store, Aldi's. One of the first places I hit when I get here is Aldi's. Stock up on all my pastas, sauces, condiments, etc. How can you not love Aldi's (and some great German hazelnut chocolates!) I hear they now have one in the Dallas area. Maybe will be coming to TX. If it wasn't that the meat and produce section in this one isn't much, I'd never go anywhere else!

Put a pot of dehydrated chili with dehydrated beef flavored veggie protein (WHOPPEE!) in the crock pot. Something about dehydrated veggie protein reminds me of Vita-Pro or whatever that stuff was that they served when I worked at the prison! This didn’t smell bad! Didn’t taste bad either. Been trying out some dehydrated food products from Harmony House Foods. So far, quite pleased. Pantry space is limited in the RV and hopefully some dehydrated fruits and veggies will replace some of the canned stuff.

Li'lBit and I sure sleep good in Iowa! She bounded out of bed early Wednesday morning and in no uncertain terms, let me know it was time to get up and go outside!

After our morning chores, we spent some ‘quality time’ at the picnic table – she got her daily grooming and I got filthy dirty! 20+mph winds got to be a little too much and we spent the rest of the day inside. It was nice though, sunny, the air is good -- not heavy with pollen or humidity -- just hard to keep my place in my book with the winds constantly turning the pages before I’m ready!

WOW! Time flies when you're havin' fun, Thursday already. Weather radio went off about 6:30 AM. Severe Thunderstorm Watch - winds, hail, all that good stuff. Guess that means put the plants back under the RV and get the flags down. Don't I have an exciting life! Back to watching weather radar; big icky blob up in the northwest corner of the state.

You know it is spring in Iowa when you wake up to the weather radio and you have weather radar on your computer desk top!

FRIDAY JUNE 11 was National Corn On The Cob Day – but will have to wait to celebrate, the corn vendor isn’t on the corner with fresh sweet corn yet!

Another round of winds and rains coming. Flags down, plants under the RV, GEEZ! Hear the winds hit 70 mph up near Spencer. At least Iowa is an equal opportunity sucky weather state,this one seems to be coming out of South Dakota!

My heart goes out to the families, campers, residents in Arkansas and near New Braunfels, TX that have seen so much devastation in the flash floods. How Sad!

And Des Moines was hosting the ITU Triathlon World Cup. It is the only sanctioned race in the US. Total purse is $700,000, the largest payday on the triathlon tour.

About mid-day the storm pooped out on us! Checked all three of my weather radar websites and nothing -- the blob of weather just went "poof'! At least I'm getting good at taking plants and flags down and putting them back up!

Went out to eat with my sister,place called the Junction, used to be a sports bar in one of the local hotels. Now it is more of a place to run in and get a sandwich. I had a beef, swiss cheese, mushrooms and grilled onion sandwich on ciabatta bread. Oh, was it good! They make their own fried potatoes...slice them really thin and cook them up really crisp. Plenty of food, bring half home in a box for lunch the next day.

I know to expect storms when I get to Iowa this time of year,but it would be nice if they would just slow down coming thru! I've managed to be outside at the picnic table with Li'lBit a few times so far and did have enough break in the storms to grill out a couple of times,but that's it. Oh, well, summer will be here soon and I'll want some rain! Just can't keep me happy! Nearly 8 inches of rain this week -- there's gonna be some fine sweet corn if the fields don't flood!