“Dentists are incapable of asking questions that require a simple yes or no answer.”
http://www.dentalindia.com/jokes.html#.Tu1LTLJFu7s
This link above does have some cute dental jokes, but the first one seems incomplete.
Sunday, Dec 11 Ice fog again, making pretty wintry scenes, so both John and I got out our cameras and took some pictures. Maybe a couple will make it into our season’s greetings newsletter, if we ever make time to write it. It’s been an otherwise lazy day, just entering phone numbers into our new cell phones, and cleaning up around the kitchen and counters in the den. I’m so far behind, with many things to do, and no energy or desire to start. John has decided it is time to inspect the apples stored in the dark and cold garage and make an apple pie or just slice enough to fill the dehydrator. … We never did anything with apples, but we did play with our new phones. Now he’s back in the back bedroom/computer room talking to his sister on his new phone that I fixed with “speed dial” numbers. That’s cool. She is number 3 so all he does is hit 3# — but it doesn’t work from our den, only from the southeast room of the house. It operates from AT&T towers – the nearest is 10 miles away. The phones are from the new Motorola and the provider is Consumer Cellular:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_Cellular
If you read at the above link you will learn that this company markets to seniors (that’s the p.c. term for old folks) and keeps things simple. Our roofer (as in shingles on the house roof) friend suggested this company and he is not a “senior” so we didn’t know. We don’t text, or tweet, or bleat – although we sometimes snore – we have nice cameras, and buying and listening to music while birds still sing seems silly. So, a simple phone, a simple plan, and less cost than before.
Two more letters for Morris’ book tonight; one from Japan!
Monday, Dec 12 What a morning. I was on the phone to Culligan and to Consumer Cellular (CC) about our malfunctioning equipment (they –Culligan– said they would check and call me back in the afternoon; they still have not called) and about my transfer of John’s phone number to the new CC service. Then John came in and told me to get out in the next 3 minutes to see the silver frost in the sunshine before it melted. I was more than 3 minutes getting off the phone with the cell provider, but I made it out in time to walk around the inside pasture and near the round pens to see the beauty with blue sky backing the glistening crystals on all the needles of the trees and everything else. Gorgeous. He took many photos of tree cones and branches around our yard and also of Woody in his (her?) favorite place in the hay shed to watch the pasture goings on. Then John left for town to get his teeth cleaned.
I just got a call from the lady who we took heaters to saying she wanted to bring them back — their propane furnace igniter having been replaced this morning.
With John in town, we are going to attempt a meet-up there with her and him to transfer the heaters. We’ve been playing phone tag. He was having to wait in long lines for gasoline at a place in town where their regular is priced 5 or 6 cents cheaper. He met her in Safeway parking lot and transferred the heaters. Now mine is back in my bathroom, and turned on low because it is so cold back there in the back of the house. This house is L shaped and LOUSY (is that what the L is for?), for pushing air to the back rooms. [John says: The problem is the far corners cool first while the temperature in the central hallway (not a spot where one lingers) spurs the heat pump into action. Thus, the thermostat has to be set to about 73 to keep the far corners comfortable.] The second oil heater had originally come from the unheated garage, where we have another, turned on next to the water system. In not too long, we will have a little dessert and go to sleep. It is 10:10 as I write this.
Tuesday, Dec 13 Today apples finally got put into the dehydrator, and I took off to drop off a check to cover John’s teeth cleaning yesterday. We get a 5% discount for writing a check and not putting on a credit card. Worth it, but John forgot and left his check at home. I had to go to a 4:00 Massage Therapy (shoulder and neck) appt., so I dropped it off. Then I grabbed my free 6” heated sandwich (not bad, but might not be worth the normal $4.59 price)– tuna, cheese, tomatoes & lettuce. Then drove on down to the place where I was going to play music, and ate my sandwich, visiting with some of the residents, who were happy to see me. We started about 6:35 and played and sang Christmas carols. They love to sing along and do, and we had copies of music to give them, which made it nice. There was an amazing participation. I was the ONLY violin, along with a piano. We did fine. The rest of the group was just singers, and the piano player and I also sang.
Wednesday, Dec 14 John got up early and drove to Yakima to get his tooth looked at (possible root canal and ended up having one, to a tune of $1264, but that’s not the finish of it, just has a temporary filling in place now).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_canal
Also John took his Subaru in for servicing (free 3000-mile, as part of purchase contract), but another maintenance item that is required at 30,000 miles (costing $717, includes $54 sales tax). He took a trip to Costco while there, and got off for a lot less money.
I played music at noon at the food bank soup kitchen and we were fed afterwards: Chicken Teriyaki & veggies from scratch with Chinese noodles on top, salad, and a lovely dessert — yellow cake with white frosting and a generous layer of raspberry jam/sauce. Then off for exercise and after to deliver an envelope of letters for Morris’ book to his doctor’s office for him to pick up tomorrow when he’s in town. Got to the door of the office and thought the envelope was rather “light” so I looked inside. I had never put the papers in the envelope after addressing it and writing notes on the front for delivery to him. So, came on back home to retrieve them.
I arrived shortly after John had gotten home and was unloading the car. He left some cat chow in the car for me to take to my neighbor. When I came to get the insides of the envelope, I also picked up a bag of paperback and hard books I had picked up at yard sales, which John either had read or was not interested in reading. Packaged them up to donate to the Adult Activity Center and took them along with a CD for a lady who works there, and also I “loaned” them a stuffed reindeer with a bell and red/green tie around his neck and a red nose !! (I got it at a yard sale and they decorate the center really nice for every season, so he will have a special place somewhere (he’s on top of a tall bookcase in the main room, behind the “free table”). He is over a foot tall, with big brown antlers. I hope to get him back, but then would have to worry how to keep him for next year, so perhaps I should just donate him to the center. Tonight John made a great dinner of roasted pork ribs, with a great piece of Rosemary bread toast, and seasonally-red Rome applesauce.
Thursday, Dec 15 Music in the afternoon, at Dry Creek, one of our favorite places, another assisted living place (serves meals), but the residents have their own apts and are quite with it (most of them).
John went with me to town today in my car, let me off to play music (almost all Christmas music), filled it with gasoline, and then he went to the store and to Goodwill where he found him a new wallet to replace his leather one that fell apart. It cost him $5. I guess that is not too bad, and it is brand new. I only recently heard on the radio that they carried new gifts as well as recycled clothes. My my. [John: They have used books!]
We hadn’t seen a couple of the wild cats recently, but the food was being eaten. Today John saw Woody playing with Rascal, and when he went tonight to add food and water at the cat house, out came Little Sue. Later I saw Big Sue under the tamaracks outside the back computer room window. I was back there getting his phone fixed to work with the ported number he has had for 2 years. Few people have it and we already had 2 wrong calls on the temporary number he’d been using till this SIM card arrived. Problem is there are limited phone numbers and they get recycled.
John is making a scalloped potato dish –extra large size — to have with our leftover pork ribs from last night. The largeness is to convert raw stored potatoes into cooked frozen potatoes.
Tonight, we finalized the transfer of John’s number on his cell phone of the past two years, and when the reception seemed limited, the customer service rep on the other end in Portland, did something and sent a software request to the number, which allowed us much better coverage from our house (even to the den); we shall see if that continues. Don’t know why it wouldn’t. Maybe John will use his phone more, now that he doesn’t have to walk to the middle of the 7-acre pasture to dial out or receive calls. [John: Wishful thinking on her part. Why do I need to call anyone? I’d have to stop what I want to be doing and bother someone that is doing what he or she wants to be doing.]
Friday, Dec 16 A lot to do today. Scholarship luncheon at school, potluck. I had a great meal and was eating a piece of candy for dessert that had chocolate over caramel and nuts, and sadly I pulled off the top of my gold crown (it is over my old root canal from Cincinnati back in the 1960s). Now here we are – chose to go without dental insurance and both with a problem in the last month of the year, but compared to John’s, mine shouldn’t be as expensive. (I hope that too is not wishful thinking on my part ! Then I went to the Adult Activity Center where they threw a nice Christmas party for quite a few of the regulars. I didn’t eat any food, but got to participate in choosing a gift and had my picture taken with Santa. The gifts I got were butter cookies in 2 little canisters and a large number of small balls for decorating a Christmas tree (which I gave away this evening to our hostess for the potluck). Then I did exercise class. Came home and worked on a transposition of music (Shamus O’Brien: here is a link to a less than professional effort)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HKRwattyWw
for our clarinet player to be able to play with the rest of us. Ours is in the key of D, and hers needs to be in the Key of E and each note pushed up a full note.
[Shamus O’Brien is a poem (1896) written by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu and the following gives a sense of one more sad Irish tale . . .]
http://www.oldandsold.com/opera/opera-86.shtml
While I’m at the work of making music, John worked on making Acorn squash.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_squash
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/classic_baked_acorn_squash/
For large gatherings, such as pot-lucks, John cuts the squash into chunks about as wide as a Peace Silver Dollar (1.5 in or 38.1 mm)
http://coinauctionshelp.com/page47.html
Interesting history and controversy here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Dollar
The many small chunks cook easily and allow diners to select only what they want.
I returned from the cold computer back room and found Johni napping, and so I fixed the dessert we are also taking tonight. It is another potluck with our music group at 6:00 p.m. and a jam session afterwards. Nice to be busy. Oh, today before I left, John looked out and saw a deer on top of a table (on top of two barrels where he has fed the birds). He managed to come in and take out his camera and get the photo before she got down. For sure, that will go in our 2011 greetings newsletter.
Saturday, Dec 17 Today at 2:00 is our playing Christmas songs at the Briarwood Commons Retirement facility. This is definitely apartment living and they gather together only for special things, such as bridge, music, and soup dinners. They always feed us afterwards, and it is quite a spread, so I won’t need dinner tonight.
It was an amazing fare: two baked lasagna dishes, salad, rolls, and lots of different desserts: cookies, candy, sweet cupcakes with cinnamon/brown sugar and nuts, several different cakes (a popcorn cake I have never ever seen), check out the link below for the recipe, with pictures.
http://cookiesandcups.com/popcorn-cake/
This coming week brings the December Solstice:
http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/december-solstice.html
Be sure to celebrate – days start getting longer. In the link above scroll down until you find ‘Solstice’s influence on cultures’ and in the second line there is an embedded link to ‘various traditions’ that is itself interesting and, if you have more time to waste, on to related topics.
Hope your next week is a good one.
Nancy & John
still on the Naneum Fan