We need to stop worrying, stop waiting, stop fearing, stop just existing... and start living. I saw this graph and thought about how I want to live out my last years.
I would rather die living then live dying.
When it comes to all of this COVID crap, many of us are still in one of the four stages of grief that usually precedes acceptance - denial, anger, bargaining, and depression. We need to except life with Covid and figure out how to start living again in a new normal with Covid.
It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new week, it’s a new month, and I wish it were a new year... but I am going to try to keep living happily.
However, my efforts will be to do so in a safer manner than the last four weeks, to protect others, not so much myself.
Friday 7/31 - After a morning of golf with Jim and Debbie, and then lunch, we hit the road, taking Maggie with us. We stopped for gas at Weigles and custard at the Custard Cabin because I needed to give Karen the garage door opener. She would be feeding the cats. We were zipping down I-40 by 1:30, headed towards Smithville where Joe had rented a house near Center Hill Lake.
It poured (and blew quite a storm system) for much of our trip. We couldn’t even see down to the water coming over the Center Hill dam.
The rain had let up by the time we got to the cabin, a very nice three bedroom home with an open floor plan. This photo is from the Internet. The driveway was steeper than it looks here and there were no ferns hanging from the porch.
The furnishings were nice and the bonus game room in the balcony was fun. The house is probably not as well-kept up because it was vacant, a rental, and for sale.
After getting the cars unpacked and we settled in for a bit, Joe and Jim went grocery shopping and Deb and I took Maggie for a walk. There was a very nice park and walking trail right across the street and we found a vacant road also.
Dan, Val, and Tango were late to arrive because they had decided to wait out the bad storm, which lasted a few hours.
Debbie was pleased to meet Val and Tango, and Maggie was happy to have a fellow canine friend and to share Debbie, who is a big animal lover.
The guys grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and the evening was spent playing games and chatting while working an easy 500 piece jigsaw puzzle. The guys did not have much luck with the TV, which was fine in my opinion, but Joe managed to get our Amazon Prime to work. So we watched the action packed movie "The Old Guard."
Joe and Jim went across the street to the park to hit golf balls at some point. Then everyone but the dogs and I went to Burgess Falls State Park to hike and see the waterfall. I didn’t even ask if they went wading above the falls.
I got this blog post started and took the dogs on a nice long walk. Patty arrived just before the hikers got back and we all had lunch together.
There was more leisure time and then we drove 20 minutes to the Edgar Evans state park marina to rent our party pontoon. The weather was iffy, so we tried to get the boat a little earlier than scheduled.
We didn’t waste any time before trying out the slide (videos - (one), (two), (three), and (four) and also reaching down into the cooler, and jumping off the roof. Valencia took most of these videos. Some of them I could transfer from my phone easily, others just didn’t come out very well. (one), (two), and (three).
We all really had a good time; listening to music, sunning, playing on the water slide, jumping off the roof, swimming and floating, and enjoying the ride.
Notice the difference in the sky in these later photos. A big, heavy rain blew in. It pelted us for about 15 minutes. We all got quite wet. But then it kind of cleared off again, so we got back in the water, which was actually warmer than the air. We wanted to get all of our money's worth out of the two hour rental.
I got in the hot tub once home, others started their showers, and Jim cooked shrimp and steak for dinner.
We had finished the 500 piece puzzle and started a 1000 piece one. All the individual pieces did not fit on the table, and the puzzle itself took up most of the space. The pieces also fit together oddly, making it difficult to work. But we were up for all of these challenges.
Joe, Jim, and Debbie taught Daniel and Patty how to play bridge. There is so much to learn, but they both caught on quickly. Valencia and I just kept working on the puzzle.
Sunday 8/2 - Joe fixed bacon and eggs and we enjoyed a leisurely morning. Then us older folks headed to Center Hill marina (just over five minutes away) and rented a pontoon boat for the day. Dan and Val stayed back with the dogs and got more rest because they hadn’t slept well overnight.
Sitting on the dock of the marina, we girls people watched while the men folk took care of the rental.
We loaded on to the pontoon, getting an extra chair for our roof, and were ready to launch. I am not sure what Patty is signaling, but I am guessing it was intended for her brother Joe. Ha ha ha.
The forecast had a greater chance of rain in the morning, but it turned out to be fairly sunny and nice.
This pontoon did not have a water slide, but we enjoyed the two lounge chairs up on the sunroof.
After two hours out on the water, we docked and headed home for lunch. Val had all the food out so we ate quickly, packed up a cooler and snack container, and were soon loading back onto the pontoon. This time Dan and Valencia were with us. The dogs were crated, back at the house.
We anchored in a cove and swam and relaxed for almost two hours. There was also more jumping off the roof and other shenanigans.
Then we pulled anchor and motored around for a bit. In this (video) Dan was going full throttle.
Snacks and drinks were enjoyed and also more swimming. All in all, it was a very relaxing day out on the water.Jim grilled chicken for dinner and I made a pasta dish. We all ate heartily, and then Joe coaxed us out to a bondfire. We'd had two nights of rain, and this was our last chance.
The wood was wet so it didn't burn well and the bugs were biting. We all moved back inside.
There was a lot of puzzle working, more bridge playing, chatting, and just hangin' out until bedtime.
This is as far as we got, and then it all got destroyed to go back in the box. We headed home, Dan and Val headed to their house, and Patty went to Courtney's to hangout until picking up her friend Therese at the airport.
Then I basically hung out on the porch with the cats for a few hours. They seemed glad to have us home.I also worked awhile at getting all my photos and videos downloaded, edited, and posted on this blog.
The day ended taking Maggie on a long, two hour walk. Here we were, social distancing at Mirror Lake Blast. I did not get up to dance, nor will I be getting close to others in the future. I only stayed for two songs and then continued our walk.
The breeze under the shade of the sycamore tree was perfect during our Bible study.
The weekend's wind and rain were evident in our yard, which was a mess. I spent a few hours picking up sticks, removing lots of mushroom, and weeding some. This photo shows where the deer have been eating the yucca I planted last fall. I also took this (video) of some busy ants to send Britney who has recently 'adopted' a lone ant that lives under a mat on her coffee bar.
Work on the vacation blog continued from a late dinner, until bed time.
Wednesday 8/5 - I had a mini crisis! I lost four days worth of my blogging. I couldn't find anyway to retrieve the file. I still had the saved draft, but it wouldn’t let me copy it, or download it, or in anyway retrieve it back into my blogger draft form. So I retyped everything by dictating it into my phone and then e-mailing it to myself so I could get it copied faster. I also had to re-post the photos from the blogger file. This all took me over two hours to complete, but went faster than the first writing, since I had the saved 'preview' to copy from.
We got our new washer delivered.
But as I suspected, the dryer vent had a hole in it. And to make things worse, when we had tile put in the laundry room, plaster was put all around the vent for a good seal, but then we couldn't get the old vent removed.
With the help of some tools, we got the ripped vent out and filed the hole in the floor larger so a new vent (which Joe ran to the store to get) could be put in without damaging it. I was Joe's assistant, handing him tools, and eventually I squeezed behind the washer to watch the dryer vent as Joe pushed the dryer back into place.
By the time I got the laundry room cleaned up and the cat feeding station and litter box back in place, I ended up being ten minutes late for work, but had warned Nancy who said it was no problem.
It was a slow day at the pool because of lots of clouds, a little sprinkle, and colder temperatures.
Many of us were keeping track of Jean, who flew back to her former home in California after Travis arrived at Mom's. Jean and her daughter Brianna, with their friend Kate's help, loaded this 16 foot Penske truck. They were ready to hit the road at sun up the next morning. They were definitely added to my prayer list as they travel four (12 hour driving) days, from CA to FL.
Twenty minutes after I got there and had been preparing to open, a huge thunderstorm hit. There was lots of lightening, thunder, and heavy rain.
I was not surprised that no one showed up for the first shift to swim. It had cooled off so much, I had to wrap up in a towel while I sat in the office working sudokus.
It cleared off and the sun came out by 11:45 so I started the second swimming shift an hour early, e-mailing those on the reservation list I had the contact information for.
I took over an hour long nap shortly after I got home from work. Then I went to the barn to ride Amiga.
It poured again while I was tacking up Amiga. The Standing tall kids were there so we tried not to bother them. The trails were just too wet and muddy, so I mostly stuck to the yard out front. Amiga actually listened and responded well, so I quit sooner than I had planned.
I was so glad to hear that Jean and Brianna had made it to their first camping spot for the night, in Rock Springs, WY. I was also getting excited about seeing them when they were to pass through Tennessee.
I started packing for our camping trip and then went to the barn from 12:00 - 4:30.
I was in the saddle for almost three hours, but spent about 30 minutes talking with Terry when I dropped by their farm. Amiga and her donkey said hello.
A black snake about to cross the road.
After our ride I hung out at the barn chatting with Jan and some of the other gals. Here Zorro is going back out for the night. He didn't seem to be in any hurry (video),
I left time for a quick shower and to feed the four leggeds.
Joe and I met Patty and Therese at Stonehenge for dinner. We had troubles getting a table outside so ended up sitting at the fire pit, and eating there. It was actually quite lovely.
I put clean sheets on our bed and was looking forward to climbing in between them. Poor Jean and Brianna didn't get to their camp in Iowa until 8pm. Their trip was taking longer than expected because the truck wouldn’t go the 80 mph speed limit. The vehicle was equipped with a road speed governor, and the cruise control would not engage above 70 mph.
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