My Car is Back!

Well, I guess some of you have already heard, but I got a call Friday afternoon that my car was done and ready to pick up! We were on our way to get Mike's car from the shop--we now have a realistic hope that its persistant "not wanting to start" problem is fixed! Anyway, got his car, then headed down to the south to turn in my rental car and get my Honda. All worked out fine! Everyone was happy---the Enterprise rental gal was happy---my rental was fine and way cleaner than she is used to seeing them--said she wouldn't have to clean it!!!! It really made me wonder what they usually come back like! Of course, Anne and I don't make too much of a mess, no random cheerios lying about these days, etc! I was happy to get my car, it looks good as new, and except for some scratching on the "H" logo on the hood, you would never guess that the car had been grossly mangled. It drives fine, and I haven't noticed any differences, which is good!!!!!!! I am glad to have my power windows and power locks back!!!! How we get spoiled, eh?

Mike has talked to his folks a couple of times, and I talked to them early this evening, when they called. It was good to talk to them! It sounds like they came through the storms just fine. We are very relieved to hear that they had no damage. Some of their neighbors were not so lucky. They had heard that a number of trees were down in their neighborhood and saw that some were down on their street. I guess it isn't too surprising, as the neighborhood is an older one, with a lot of mature and very tall trees. I am sure they are all lucky to have gotten off so lightly. They were having very little wind and only a little bit of rain, more of a sprinkle, when I talked to them. I have had emails from Russ's wife Amy, and they are all doing well in Houston. I don't think they had any damage, and they hadn't lost power either, last I heard. They were worried about the Walters in Lufkin, but I understand that they have all talked to each other on the phone since then.

I am sure Jo and husband Eric are excited to be moving into their new home soon! Jo has some great photos on her blogs, and I am sure there will be even more later. How fun to start fresh with a brand new house, new furniture, etc! Their kitty had fun checking the house over, and seems to have given it her seal of approval. A good thing!

After taking Mike to work on Friday, I did a walk around the house to check the plants, for the first time in ages. Everything looks really good. The jasmine on the trellis continues to grow. I retrained some on the vines, which were headed into the palm tree that is nearby. It is all still a bit sparse, but that will change as it continues to grow. All the hibiscus have blooms open, and some are also covered in buds. They look really nice, and will continue to do so! The one planted last summer after the hurricanes looks as "grown up" as the rest, you would never know it was so new. The grapefruit tree is covered, and I think I probably should have culled out more of the grapefruit when they were little tykes. The side the tree leans to already is made worse by having a bumper crop of grapefruit on that side, further weighing the tree down in that direction. For the most part, I probably did okay with the culling I did, as far as size of fruit goes, as they look like they are a pretty decent size this year. Some are turning pink on the outside, I don't remember any of them doing that last year. I imagine some of them are ready to pick already, and maybe way more than we realize. Mike will have to get started eating them! All the other plants continue to do well. The frangipani has two more places that have blooms and buds, in addition to the original spot. The flowers are quite lovely, and I just wish the tree wasn't so tall, so I could see the flowers more easily. As Mike says, that is why he takes photos of them, so I can see them!

Our best wishes to you all, and to all the Texas family, stay safe!

A Duck???????

You Are A: Duck!

Found in many lakes and ponds, ducks are a common site the world over. Known for their famous quack, ducks tend to congregate in flocks or go off on their own in pairs. As a duck, you may seem friendly at times but will not hesitate to bite if someone is bothering you. Your love for travel is part of what makes you a duck.

You were almost a: Parakeet or a Frog
You are least like a: Groundhog or a SquirrelCute Animals Quiz

I took the quiz that Anne found (she posted her results on her Daily Drudge). I was surprised to come up as a duck. Somehow it didn't put in the animals at the end, the ones that I was almost, and that I was least like. They were:
almost a frog or a parakeet; was least like a squirrel or a groundhog.
Okay, it looks like there are worse things than being like a duck! The weird things that people come up with, eh?

We are keeping a close watch on Hurricane Rita and hoping that all the family in Texas weather the storm okay. It sounds like it will be a doozy. This is a time to be thankful for all that dry air they have had in Texas for ages, and the drought they have been suffering in Lufkin----all the dry air is eating away at Rita, and she will lose more and more strength before she hits--thank goodness! I guess it is too much to hope that she just fizzles? Anyway, they are all in our thoughts.

As Promised, Crane Photos!

I heard the cranes outside the other day, and ran to take a look since we haven't seen them in the yard in a good while. There they were, three of them, right by the magnolia tree! I got the camera and went out. They are so tame that they will let people get fairly close to them. I did zoom a little with some of the shots I took, the close up for example! (haha)



The cranes were having a grand time, hunting for wormy grub things. They were finding enough to keep them there for a little while! I did notice that the one closest to me--I think he/she shows up as the center one in the photos--was quite good at finding food, and the one on the far left was quite good at snatching them away from him/her. I think that in the time I was watching them, the thief snatched 4-5 of them. The fearless hunter didn't seem to mind, I guess it is par for the course? It was interesting to watch them all, in any case!

Anne spent a good chunk of time with me today working on my craft blog that will be up and running before too long. She is a real whiz at this kind of thing. It makes me want to keep learning more and more! I will keep you posted!

A comment on the blog from Brian tells me that his TDY has been postponed, and he is still at home. I am sure Christine and Michelle are happy about that! Brian too!

Edited to add: When I looked at this, I noticed that the hunter crane is the one in the left-hand photo, whose head is actually in the center, but his body is to the right, and he is more in front of the group. I noticed on looking at the enlarged version that the hunter is surely a male, and the grub snatcher is female. I won't make any comments on that!!!!!

Odds and Ends

Well, I think I told some of you, in email, about the cranes in the front yard on Thursday (I think it was Thursday?). I took photos and STILL need to download them so I can include some in a blog. I guess that will happen later, and you will see them in a later blog entry, perhaps tomorrow?

Meanwhile, rather than have you once again check my blog and find nothing new, I will just bop around and comment on tidbits of things I have meant to talk about! I am guessing Brian is gone TDY by now. I haven't heard/seen him online in a while, and I know he was supposed to go the middle of the month. Logic would tell us..... He is supposed to be home the end of the month. I don't know if he will have any opportunity to go home in that two weeks--he will only be 3 hours from home, but I don't know what the procedure is.

I have continued to put off the bit about the German rest rooms, and I think this is the time! What I especially liked about them, was that the framing of the stalls and the doors were such that there was no gap. You ladies know exactly what I am talking about when I mention the "gap." That horrible gap between the door and the frame that varies from tiny to huge and gaping, which would allow anyone who desires to see into the stall. I have never understood the sense in the design, and I don't really think there is any!!!!! The German rest rooms I visited while in Germany did not have that problem. The door fits flush with the frame, and even better, the door fastens with a sturdier (than U.S. variety) turning mechanism, which has the added benefit of showing those outside the stall that the stall is occupied. That is a real no brainer, but do we see that in the U.S.? No, we do not! Why not????? It makes so much sense. Just as an interesting bit too---in France (at least in the airport!) the "flushing mechanism" was located on the wall next to the toilet (the side wall, not the wall that the toilet backs on--made it really easy to reach), and it was a button that was pushed. In Germany, most of the toilets I saw, including the ones in Brian and Christine's house, were in the form of a button or square on top of the tank that you pushed down. I don't know if it was coincidence or fact, but I never did notice a toilet "running" while I was overseas.

I finished the dish cloth that I started knitting ages ago, as my first project when I started knitting again after years and years away from it. The earlier parts seemed to go so slow, and the last part, that I did last night, went so fast. I guess part of it was all the practice I got from knitting Anne's blanket. It gives me hope that future projects will go faster too! Her blanket has pretty well taken permenant residency on her bed, and I am wondering if she needs more, one for the car, one for the family room, etc. The one on the bed ends up providing comfort to Mickey too, as she loves to sleep on it, and Anne usually wakes up in the morning to find Mickey sleeping next to her, on the blanket. No way to get it out from under the kitty to take it away. I guess we will see.

Well, that will do for now, and I will have more news soon. As I understand it, my car is being repaired, but I don't know yet when it will be ready for pick-up. Estimates on repair time tend to be just that, estimates!

Hodge Podge

What a busy day. I don't quite know if I am coming or going, and the day isn't done yet, there are still things to do.

Brian called today, he hit it lucky, right between phone calls that I was making. We had a nice chat. He wanted to make sure we were okay, of course. Little Miss Mitchie was cooing in the background, then crying later, I guess she wanted her daddy. Brian reports that she can roll over now---it takes her a little while to do it, but she can go from back to tummy. He also says that while lying on her tummy, she can hold her head right up, quite easily. It sounds like she is growing up fast.

I took Mike to work this morning--under the circumstances, I didn't feel we could risk not having a car available. I realized right as we went out to the car that I didn't have my ID card. Fortunately, Mike asked just the right question, and I remembered it was in my car. I called the towing place, and they wouldn't be open till 8 a.m. I got Mike to work and came home to get directions on yahoo maps. I was on the road headed to the towing place, when I got a call from them---my car was loaded and ready to go to the repair place. So, I said that was fine, and I stopped first chance and parked, called the repair place to find out exactly where they were. They are on Rt. 1, but it is a long road and it is of great help to have more direction than just the route!

Well, I had a long interuption, as Mike called me to come get him. It is now after midnight and I am finally getting this finished up. I am not sure how it will list on the blog date, etc--will it be listed as Tuesday, or Wednesday?? But, back to the occurrances of the day!

I got to the auto shop and spotted my car right off. I was able to give them the little bit of information they needed, and got my ID card, which was right where I had left it. I also got some other things out of my car, things that we might want before this is all resolved. I was home not too long after 9 a.m., and spent hours on the phone. Dr. Lozito's office had called to change Anne's appt later this month, and I called to let them know that was okay. Then called the insurance rep taking care of our case. That took ages, with taking my statement, etc. They had already contacted Enterprise rent a car about a rental for us, so I then called them and got that all sorted out. I got information on what was available when and where, as they actually have 3 offices in the area. Then I called Mike to see what arrangement might suit him best, as he was going to be out of the office and unavailable all afternoon. I got off the phone with him and was about to call Enterprise again when Brian called. We had a good chat, then I called Enterprise and finalized things with that. We would stop after getting Mike after work, at one of the other offices, which is closer to us than the one USAA had listed. Then the gal from that office called to confirm. So many phone calls!

After Anne got up, we had yet another phone call, from a nurse from the Aetna insurance section. She had called the other day, and Anne was still sleeping, we had tried to call back before leaving to run errands and got her voice mail, and had planned to call when we got home, but had the auto accident, so that didn't happen. She was really nice, had just been calling to check on how Anne was doing, if she needed assistance with anything, etc. She made some suggestions, and will be available if we need her in any way, for information, advice, or as a go between. Really all very nice.

Got Mike after his "out of the office" stuff, without any problems, and stopped at the car rental place. No problems there either, thank goodness! I have a little car to drive around, a Dodge ????--I don't remember what kind, now. Oh well, I will check later and can let you all know! Just a little car. Got home and Geico called---that is the kid's insurance. So, all the questions, taping of the interview, etc. Rather tedious, and I was awfully tired, but it is nice that it is all out of the way. I am just really glad that it takes about 2-3 sentences to tell about the accident!

Oh, I almost forgot! When the rental car gal was going over the rental car documenting scratches, etc, I got a call from the auto shop. They can repair my car--they will call USAA in the morning and see if their specifications, etc, will make it possible to go ahead and repair it instead of totalling it. If so, he says it will be 2-3 days to get parts, and about a week and a half to repair it. Wow. Still, I would be happy to have my car back. We really would rather replace the Malibu first, since it has been more troublesome, and the Honda has been so good and dependable--I am sure it still has a number of miles/years in it. So, if USAA will go ahead with repairing it, that would really work out well.

A very busy day, too many phone calls, and I hope for a much quieter day tomorrow!!!!!

My Poor Car

WE ARE OKAY!!!!!!!!!!

Anne and I were in the car, minding our own business(es), on our way to the base to mail a package, stop at the bank and get more juice for Anne. A school bus going the opposite direction turned left in front of me, and I slowed my car, as I thought the bus had rather pushed its luck, turning in front of me. The bus turned into the side street, and what do I see in front of me but a car that followed right behind it!!!!!! It was right in front of me!!!!!!!!!! I slammed on the brakes, and Anne says I planted my hand on the horn and kept it there---I had no idea, and actually didn't think I had thought to honk the horn. Despite my best efforts at braking, and the luck of having been going below the speed limit (45 mph) because of the bus, I hit the car. The whole front of my car is sadly crunched. We are kind of afraid that the insurance company will total it. The air bags didn't do their thing---we are glad of that, as we both would probably have been hurt by them, being of small stature. As always (thank heavens) we both had our seat belts on. The police (each at different times) asked if we had them on, then looked at the car and said, of course you did, you would have gone through the windshield if you hadn't.

Anne and I are fine. I am more fine than Anne is. She is very sore, and had a lot of pain in one leg and in her shoulders immediately. For that reason, they got an ambulance out and did the whole nine yards of fun with her---neck brace, back board, trip to the ER, etc. Our little gal had 6 fire rescue/EMT's around her, getting her strapped onto the board, etc. They were all great, I take my hat off to them. At the ER, they did Xrays of her neck to make sure it was safe to remove her from the backboard, then took her off for more Xrays. All is fine. They put her in a sling for the one shoulder, gave her muscle relaxants and ibuprofin, and we will see how it goes. We figure she is going to be one sore little gal tomorrow. I imagine I will be pretty sore too. I am just a little sore now, I think I have a tiny bit of whip lash, and I have a little scratch-like mark below the collar bone, we figure from the seat belt.

One of the highlights and "thank heavens" moments, was that a lady police officer was in her car right there at that intersection (on the street the bus and car turned into), and saw the whole thing. She was at my car immediately to check on us, called the police and EMT's, called AAA for me (to tow the car)......she was wonderful. I had very little to tell the police, she stepped right up and told the ones who responded exactly what had happened. I could not possibly have asked for a better witness.

I don't know if my car is going to survive or not. He is badly wounded, and I will be sad to see him go if he doesn't make it. He is a Honda Accord, and I have not had any trouble with him at all in the 7 years I have had him. I was expecting to have him a lot longer. Oh well. I guess the plus side is that I will be thrilled if he makes it, and if he doesn't, I will get a new Honda, so it is almost a win-win situation.

We all feel that we have had more than enough on our plates right now, and really did not need this at all. Especially poor Anne. However, we feel really lucky that we were not badly hurt. I guess it will be interesting to see how they do things here---it is a no fault state. I think the kid I hit got a ticket. The police officer who saw the accident made no bones about it, that he was at fault. He came over later and apologized. I thought it was nice of him--some people wouldn't have bothered. Just a young guy, in a parent's car. Just one of those things, not being cautious enough. So, until we can work out something else, I will be taking Mike to work. Of course, this week he is to have the beeper, yet another thing we don't really need. I think he might try to get one of the other guys to take it. I guess once the car has been inspected, we will quickly find out what the decision is. I would imagine that if they deem it fixable, it will take a while. The whole front is badly crunched, the bumper was pushed down and back, so it was both touching the ground, and hitting the tires. The fire guys took off the bumper, and one of them backed the car into the side street so they could clear the lane. When the accident happened, I pulled as close to the curb as I could and put my hazzard lights on.

Well, I am tired and don't have the heart to write any more right now. I hope tomorrow will be a better day!!

Ophelia Did Her Thing

Anne and I took a trip to the beach Saturday evening, after dinner. We got a good view of some of the erosion brought on by Ophelia's sitting on the coast for so long. When last we had made a trip to our favorite section of the beach, the renourishment had been completed and the resulting "cliff" of sand had already been trod upon enough to soften the whole landscape. Well, the "cliffs" are back, and the beach seems much shorter. Also, the wet sand mark was up at the TOP of the cliff!!!!!! I was really amazed to see that. I had never seen it up that far before. It wasn't just that there was evidence of the high tide coming up that far, the sand was still very noticably wet from the tide. When you also consider that at a guess, the cliff of sand is about 5 feet or more high..... I think we can safely say there has been a significant amount of erosion yet again.

Anne and I had our chairs and sat for a good while, enjoying the strong breeze and the cool, damp, salty air. There were a number of people out, including a number of surfers. The water was quite rough, with breakers forming three and four times on the way in to the beach. I think that was the roughest we had seen it. It was so relaxing, listening to the sounds of the waves, the birds, etc. Anne had really been missing the beach. We seemed to have weeks and weeks of late afternoon/early evening thunderstorms, and sure couldn't be out in those! We should have more good weather now, and more chances to get out there.

We had a quiet weekend, otherwise. We are hoping Ophelia will decide she has done enough, and will go on out into the Atlantic. I am sure North Carolina would just as soon not "meet" her! Virginia either! Take care, more later.....

FRIDAY------What is That Bright Light?????

It is the sun! It is back! Gently peeping through the clouds, giving hope and joy to all who see it! Wow, can you tell that we had a lot of gray days? At least a lot for here!

It is about time---we have seen an end to the rain, for now anyway. The chance of rain in the weather forecasts is now much lower than it has been the past several days. A very nice change! I hope things will dry out a little bit now. Last week I had noticed some strange and funky little flying bugs outside in the back yard, and the other day noticed them in the front. They are no fun. Nasty little things, very light colored, almost white. They swarm around all over the place, and were even all along the side of my car when Anne and I went out to go for her scan on Thursday. As soon as I opened the car door, a bunch of them flew into the car. Yuck! They looked sort of like strange mosquitoes to me, and it turns out I was sort of right.

Mark, our bug guy, came today to do the "every other month" bug spraying. I asked him about the bugs and he said they are called "blind mosquitoes". I guess they don't bite, but they are a real nuisance. He says they are common here this time of the year, while we are in the worst of the rainy season. I don't remember seeing any last year, and we are getting closer to the time we moved in last summer. Oh well. I am sure that all this rain we have been having hasn't helped either!

Not too much else going on. We are very happy that Ophelia is headed out into the ocean, and hope that she goes on out to the east, instead of heading back inland in the Carolinas. We sure don't wish hurricanes on anyone.

All the gas scare seems to be over. I haven't noticed any stations closed or with the little bags on the pump nozzles in a while now, and gas prices have started to go down. Some have kept their prices high, but more and more are lowering theirs. Always nice to see that happening!

It's Raining, It's Pouring......

That about says it all! Well, it isn't really that bad, but it is bad enough! I checked the rain gauge earlier this evening, and it had a bit over 2 inches of water in it. I have dumped it, and we will see what accumulates overnight. We had rain off and on all day. It stayed gray all day--I don't think we saw the sun at all. It was gray enough that I even drove some of the time without my sunglasses. Those that have driven with me enough know how rare that is! Mike says he is amazed at how much worse the weather is at the base than it is here. Since the base is so much closer to Ophelia, I guess that isn't too surprising. She can move on any time now!!!!

Anne had her bone density test today. It was an okay test, didn't require any really weird contortions or anything! I am stealing the brain blogs thunder--sorry! We grabbed a bite to eat and made some stops before heading home. We were fairly soggy by then, got home a little after 3 and were happy to be inside and away from the rain. Anne headed for a nap and I got to work on some laundry.

I am managing to accomplish bits and pieces of work and organizing. The ultimate end result will be more and more organization, and a great level of preparedness! It will be a long process, but I will manage it, I am sure! I am getting a start on intensive record keeping, installed on the laptop---also known as Baby Dell----and it is a good feeling to be making any progress on it at all!

Meanwhile too.... Hurricane Katrina. I did just want to say a few things. I am sure there may have been some unnecessary delays and mismanagement--FEMA doesn't have a spotless record, as shown by the millions of dollars they paid out to residents of MIAMI, FLORIDA last summer, for hurricane damage, when our hurricanes didn't go anywhere near there. However, I think it is important that people also remember that sometimes it takes a while before help can safely arrive. There is never any advantage to putting rescuers in any more danger than necessary. That is something that was always stressed in Boy Scout first aid classes/training.

I receive a good number of newsletters by email from quilt shops around the country. There has been an overwhelming outpouring from quilt shop owners--information on how people can help, matching donations being made by the group that runs the International Quilt Show in Houston, quilt shop owners donating a percentage of the money from sales to the relief effort--and in some cases ALL of the sales going to relief, information, and requests for quilts and bed linens for the displaced hurricane survivors, etc. The quilting world is quick to rally in response to those needing help and comfort. It is really heartwarming.

Another thing that I found very heartwarming, is a bit of news Anne came in to tell me. She heard on the news that MEXICO has kindly sent assistance to the hurricane victims. They sent what they could, with open arms and kind hearts. I know they don't have a lot to spare, and it makes it even more generous and kind of them to send what they have.

Did I mention the other day that Anne crocheted a simple edging on her blanket that I knit for her? It looks great, and I will have to take photos and put them on the blog for you all to see.

Take care, be safe, plan ahead, be prepared, and more later!

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Hi All----I noticed today that we have little mushrooms or toadstools in our yard. I don't know much about those kinds of critters, so not sure which they are. We have a little bit of dollar weed started up too----it is brought on by excess water. Sure no need to water the grass these days.

The tropical depression, which will be named Ophelia if it becomes a tropical storm, is moving along the coast. Unless there is a huge change, it looks like it will continue up the coast of Florida, and perhaps make landfall and move to the west near Jacksonville and/or the Florida/Georgia border. We don't mind that we aren't getting much but rain and a little bit of wind out of it!

As promised, here are some photos of Anne and her blanket. She just put the crocheted edging on tonight--finishing just a few minutes ago. It looks really nice--one row of single crochet, and that finishes it off nicely. The dark yarn provides a nice contrast. You won't see it in the photos, they were taken the other day.











Mike cleaned out the gutters in the front of the house during the long weekend. After he finished, he said if he had known how much work it was going to be, he wouldn't have done it! I guess we will be glad he didn't realize, eh? He got me to come out and hand the hose up to him and turn the water on----an experiment. We have had a drip that sometimes, but not always, comes with the rain, and has refused to show itself. What I should say is that it only happens when it rains, but sometimes it rains and the drip doesn't come. Anyway, there is a low place in the metal on the top of the chimney and Mike did the experiment to see if that might be causing the drip--bingo! Mike says it looks like a strip of something is missing too, we are wondering if something little got blown off with one of the hurricanes last year. I will be checking with our bug guy for a recommendation of someone who can fix the chimney cap. That should take care of our drip---which will be really nice!

While outside, I made a round of the yard and house to look at all the plants. It is funny, some of the hibiscus have no blooms at all, or very few, and some have more than I have ever seen on them before. The ones in heavy bloom look great, as you might imagine! The bougainvillea is not in bloom, I think it is trimmed back often enough that it rather keeps it from blooming a lot? They are in places where we can't really just let them go wild and climb/vine all over. I guess sometimes sacrifices are called for? The frangipani still has blooms in the spot that was in bloom when Mike took photos a while back, and there are more in some other places too. The wind has taken a toll on some of them, I saw plenty of petals on the grass, but there were still flowers on the tree and buds too, so it looks like there are more to come again, if they don't get blown off by the tropical depression's winds. The grapefruit are getting bigger and bigger and a number of them are turning yellow. The tree is leaning even more. I am afraid the weight of the fruit isn't doing it any good. I guess we might have to get in a tree expert to do something with it. The jasmine is doing quite well, growing along the lattice. It is still pretty sparse, with just a few vines climbing up the lattice and down the back, but as they fill in, it will really look nice. I am sure it will be gorgeous when it is in bloom again. The magnolia doesn't have any blooms, but I did notice some red berries at the end of one branch the other day. Not sure what that is all about, but looked nice!

I have been doing a bit more reading since I finished Anne's blanket. It will soon be time to get back to my crafty type things. I have been meaning to start a blog geared towards that kind of thing--my knitting, quilting, etc. I just haven't had enough leisure to get to it yet. Perhaps we will soon have a big enough lull in the appointments that we will be able to have days at home to catch up on things a bit more. I did get 3 boxes unpacked over the long weekend, and have filled up more of the bookcases in the dining room. They are really almost full now. I want to get the desk better sorted, as I have one or two boxes of things from the desk that are still in the sun room, waiting to be unpacked. Especially after seeing the mess in the Gulf Coast areas, I really want to be much more organized ---a "just in case" type thing, and I have some good thoughts on it all, that I want to impliment as time allows. As you will see, I continue to have more than enough to keep me busy!

What is Sweet and Orange and Shaped Like a .....

Well, this arrangement was not exactly what I was going for, but it is probably nicer than what I had originally planned, so I will just figure that the HTML powers that be are guiding me! I couldn't find anything in my HTML book that actually told how to do what I wanted, so I just played with it. Oh dear, am I becoming more computer geeky? I know I have a long way to go, but.....

Anyway, back to sweet and orange and shaped like a....doughnut. Doughnut peaches, are what they are called. I don't remember ever hearing of any such thing before. One day a week or two ago, Anne and I were at the commissary and wanted more peaches. The regular peaches were horrible, still mostly green, hard as rocks, etc. Not promising, at all. We went on just a little way in the produce area, and saw these. They called them doughnut peaches, and they actually gave the appearance of being ripe, so we figured we could give them a try! They are actually quite doughnut shaped, with the pit being barely surrounded by flesh and taking the place of the "doughnut hole." Anne reports that they are very sweet and taste quite nice. I had a little sliver of one, and it was nice. Not real peachy tasting, but sort of a honey sweetness. It is always nice to see something new!

I took some photos of Anne holding her blanket yesterday, and one of her cuddled in the big chair in the living room, wrapped up in it. She put one of the photos on the brain blog, so you can see it there. I will try putting one or more of them on this blog another day. Between the late hour and having already made new and unusual efforts in the computer realm today, I think I have been inventive enough! I don't want my head to be strained too much!

Before I go, I would like to further recognize family birthdays! Jon (my brother-in-law) had his a couple of weeks back on the 23rd, followed by my Dad's on the 29th of August, and my sister Mary's on 2 Sept. Best wishes to you all! Many happy returns!