Aug 14-24: I Think I'm Getting Homesick!

Tuesday the 14th I had my appointment with the cornea doc -- not much he is going to do right now but wants to see me again in 2 months -- have an appt for Oct 10 -- so I'll be hanging around Iowa until the middle of October! So, here I am! He said basically for all the abuse the eye has taken, the eye is in good shape, but there is still a really high risk of rejection.

The truck was ready (AGAIN!) so my sister dropped me off to get it outta ‘hock!’ Then we went to Culvers for “all you can eat chicken” night. On the way back home, the presidential motorcade came whizzing down the street.

President Obama had been in town on his campaign trek across Iowa. Initially he was to have spoken at the court house steps and I thought I would like to have gone, but plans changed and it was held in the auditorium at Miller School – don’t you know my sister was glad it wasn’t at her school! Tickets were available, first-come-first-served, on Sunday but I was not about to stand out in the rain to get tickets – the line was down the street and around the corner! So what did I do – went to the Tama Pow Wow and SAT in the rain!
Earlier in the day Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana, had spoken in town….missed that one, too!

Wednesday was Long John Silvers night with Marilyn. I do so enjoy visiting with her.

Thursday the 16th the Historical Society had a presentation on WWII Code Talkers from the Meskwakie Settlement near Tama. Even though the original speaker couldn’t make it, it was still quite interesting listening to the men that spoke.

Got my truck back with the A/C 're-fixed' just in time for the cool snap to come thru! A couple of nights the temps were down in the upper 40s/lower 50s. Told Bea I didn't pack for the winter months so I was going to make a trip to Good Will and the Salvation Army Thrift Store and pick up a couple long sleeve shirts, a jacket and another blanket! Then I'll just leave them in the camper in case I find myself up here during a 'chill' at some other time. At least I do have a small space heater with me so I don't have to run the noisy furnace!

Continued to get some rain on and off – not a lot, but things are so dry, we will take every drop. It does mess with me setting outside reading at the picnic table…still too windy and chilly -- and the picnic table is still wet!

Sunday, my sister had some shopping to do in Des Moines so instead of our usual Sunday Brunch, we took my Groupon coupon for The Corn Patch, a restaurant in Grimes, and headed that way. I cannot believe the amount of food -- onion rings, a tureen of homemade potato soup (specialty of the house), homemade loaf of bread, dinner salad, Bea had their fried chicken Sunday special (all you can eat with french fries) and I had the baked seafood platter with baked potato -- and we got it all, plus our beverages (no room for dessert) for a Groupon that cost me $15! I was so miserable I didn’t want to move! But it was so good! And then we did some shopping on our full bellies!  Maybe it is a good thing I have to stick around until October - we still have 3 or 4 more Groupon Coupons to use!

Thought Monday the 20th would be a 'do nothing' day -- to recover from my Sunday activity and get ready for my Tuesday and Wednesday outings. Holly changed those plans. She got sick last night --in the bed! So, off to the laundry. She was in really sad shape, kinda thought this might be the time I would lose her – but she was perkier in the AM.  Evidentially she just ate a few too many crickets or locusts!

Tuesday I headed to the casino at Tama – met with Kathy at the buffet. She is from Waterloo, IA but I hadn’t seen her since last winter in Rockport. She has a 5th wheel down there in one of the other RV parks, but we manage to get together with a few other RVers about once a month down there for good food and chatter!

Wednesday was lunch and chatter with Sherri, Susan, and Ingrid at the Landmark Restaurant Williamsburg. When you walk in the door and the waitress recognizes you and tells the hostess to put you way in the back, you know you have been going there too long!! I ordered their patty melt (they do a really good patty melt) – comes with soup and salad – so I ate the soup and salad and brought the patty melt home for supper (along with a piece of strawberry rhubarb pie!)

Thursday 23rd Bea and I went to our favorite Mexican restaurant in town – it had changed owners and has been closed since I’ve been here – it’s back open with the same menu, same wait staff – same good food!

By Friday, I was back in my ‘normal routine’ for summers in Iowa. Had a real busy morning. Decided not to go into town; didn’t need anything really important. Took some brats out of the freezer and found some potatoes that were getting full of eyes and kinda wrinkly -- they made just about enough potato salad for a couple of days! Emptied the kitty litter, took my ‘recycle’ stuff up to the recycle bins, emptied the trash and emptied the sewer tank. Just doesn’t get much more exciting than that! After all that excitement, Li’l Bit and I had to go outside and rest! Nothing like a good breeze and a good book!