Workin'

This week marked new beginnings, in terms of work for Courtney and Britney.  And I was scheduled to work at the pool five days instead of my usual three.  Some folks ask me about my pool job; am I workin' hardly or hardly workin.'  I do a little of both, LOL.  I have also tried to do my regular workouts at the gym, really workin' the weights and I am trying to up my walking.

Sunday 8/26 - I slept in until 6:45 and it took awhile for the caffeine in my tea to dull my headache.  Guess I had too big of a day riding and workin' on Saturday.










The cats continued with investigations of the new screen, and workin' on a plan of escape.

I sat with Shirley at Church, first time in several weeks we have been there together.

Chatting afterwards, we decided to meet later in the day for some R&R.  Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest.  Once home, I finished the weed whacking, but my body told me I needed the R&R sooner than later so I headed to the pool.  

It was great lying in the sun and jumping in the water to cool off.  Shirley came a little later and I enjoyed chatting with her.  I was at the pool for almost three hours.  I did water plants when home, the pets and I all ate dinner, and soon it was getting dark.  I did not have the energy or desire to walk more than a loop around the Church block and was in bed at 8pm.

Monday 8/27 - I got last week's blog done and posted.  Monita has been licking her belly a lot, causing this sore spot.  I am workin' on a solution to the problem with both cats licking so much they are losing their hair.

I scurried off to the gym and was really workin' the weights for an hour.  I had protein for an early lunch and met Shirley at Patty's house at 11:30, for cat care instructions.  Maggie had not helped my timing.  She finally pooped on our forth walk (5:30, 8, 9:30, and 11:20am).  From Patty's I drove into town and did a bunch of shopping.  My first purchase was this barrel chair at the thrift store.


I paid only $20.00 for it.  It was difficult getting it into the car, and once in, I couldn't see out the back.  Also, I had little room for other purchases.  Five additional stores later, I got home at 4:30pm with a packed automobile.









I unloaded my car, ate an early dinner with my furry housemates, and got to Mirror Lake Blast at 5:30.  

What a blast it was this time.  Soul Soup played until 9:00 and tons of people were dancing right from the start.

Tuesday 8/28 - was Courtney's first day back to work after four months of disability and Britney was kicking off the start of a new semester.  I worked a morning shift, 8:45-1:45.
Joe was home mowing when I arrived.  He helped me move the barrel chair onto the porch so I could clean it up a little before bringing it into the living room.  Stevie thought it a great place to rest.










I was too tired to be productive.  Seems the way it has been going much of this summer.  So I took an enjoyable, much needed nap on the couch in the sunroom.

I ran to Patty's for cat care and to take her trash out.  Then Joe and I went to Stonehenge for dinner.  It was wonderful sitting on the back porch.









We took a short stroll after we ordered our food so I could look at their water feature.  The falls go into the pond in front of the 18th hole that all dinners look out on.

Settled in at home, we watched an episode of Yellowstone.

Wednesday 8/29 - We had a steady 90 minute downpour of rain starting at 8am.  While working here later in the morning, I heard Allen out on his back deck using his miter saw.  I was just getting ready to go workout, and ran over and asked if this would be a good time to cut my ladder rungs (earlier he had said he'd be glad to do the job).  We agreed on a time, giving me an hour to get to the gym and back.  So, I had to really move, not rest much, to fit my workout in.

"Helping" Allen, we got the nine rungs cut, the two sides shortened, and all the screw holes drilled into the sides before we ran out of time and I had to get to work.

It was a light crowd to begin with because it rained on my way to the pool, but then the sun came out and I had a decent number of people, all the way up till 7 pm.  Joe was at poker so after I got home, soon popcorn and bedtime occurred.

Thursday 8/30 - I saw deer visitors just after the 6am sunrise.  I do not like the crows that also come for the corn, so was glad the deer scared the noisy birds off.




It was a short morning here at my desk, computer, and woodland view out my windows because I had to be at work at 8:45.  






I kept busy most of my shift, so it went quickly.  It had gotten fairly sunny, quite humid, and was rather hot, so I cooled off in the pool a couple of times. 

Home to shower and neaten up the kitchen, then we picked up Shirley and continued up the road to Good Samaritan's to hear a free concert by Memory Road.









There was no seating left downstairs, so we went up to the balcony to sit.  This puzzle was right behind our seats, so I worked at it for awhile.  We all enjoyed the music.





After dropping Shirley off at home, we hit Food City for some basic supplies like milk and OJ and also picked up dinner from the salad bar.

A bit later we watched two episodes of Yellowstone.

Friday 8/31 - I started with a leisurely morning at my computer in the sunroom.  The cat tree is just to the left of my desk so the kitties can keep an eye on me or watch critters outside.  Then I tackled several chores, some that I needed Joe's help with.







By noon I was heading out on horseback to enjoy a mid-day ride.  Early on, Amiga and I came across this in the road.




I think the Copperhead was heading across the road, and the dogs who were running way ahead of me startled the snake. He was coiled and ready to defend himself when Amiga and I got close enough to notice him.  By the time I got my phone out of my pocket and took two photos, the snake decided to continue heading across the road.







The day was already hot and steamy so the dogs (Boz and Chester) took every opportunity to cool off in the water.




At one point, as I was riding Dunkey towards Marmaduke (video), we came across this large equipment.  I could hear a big machine working around the corner.  Not knowing the footing now, I got off and walked Amiga past these giant monster things that were parked here.















Just the one bulldozer was working to grade the dirt back over where they had buried the pipe.

When I got to where Stratford Dr. hits the corner of Beechwood and Marmaduke, the pile of pipes was much smaller than last week.  I got off Amiga again and was able to walk her past this pile.  This photo is looking back towards Marmaduke where we had just been.

Once back to the barn, after the 90 minute ride, I washed the sweat off Amiga and put her back out with her pasture friends.



I had a little extra time before going to the gym so decided to trim these forsythia real quick like.  Well, no job is quick and easy around here.  The brand new outdoor outlet on the deck kept flipping the breaker in the garage.  So I tried the other outdoor outlet on the house (which is also new) and had the same problem.  I ended up getting out a longer extension cord and plugging it in, inside the house, to get my trimmers workin.'  Ugh!  By now I was running short of time for the gym, so just did some more trimming while I was at it.

I got all cleaned up and ready to go to the fair and realized I had forgotten to do cat duty at Patty's, which I was going to do on the way to the gym.  Double UGH!

I texted Shirley, made a quick trip to Patty's, and then wasn't sure whether to return home (where Shirley was going to get me) or to go to the 4-way where we were picking up Jean.  Eventually we all made contact and were off to the fair.





We had planned extra time to go look at all the exhibits and animals.  The camel at the petting zoo made us laugh.  She was quite a character.






After dinner, Polly and Jan joined Jean, Shirley, Karen, and I in the grandstands for the horse and mule show.  There were 22 different events so the show lasted until just after 11pm.  We enjoyed watching all the events.  This is a photo of the winners of the costume contest.

Saturday 9/1 -  I can't believe August is over and it is already September.  The passage of time seems to be gaining speed.  I slept in until 6:30, did more chores, went and worked out, and got to the pool to work just before 1 pm.  It was hot and muggy in the sun, but the clouds and rain soon moved into the area.  Some of my silly pool customers swam during a downpour.  A little later we got thunder and lightening and I had to kick everyone out of the pool.  I was able to get home earlier than expected, but had a quiet evening (Joe was out of town again) and hit the hay early.