2018 July 09 Monday

2018 July 09 Monday in Grimes Iowa

68° with cloud cover in the morning. The sky cleared and it reached a steamy 91° just after noon. At 10 PM it was still 84° that felt like 91.

Sitting on the patio this morning I watched a young robin. As it hopped along the ground. It couldn’t fly or didn’t know it could fly. At one point, it was standing on the edge of a landscaping block. It was about 8″ of the ground. It would squat low then quickly stretch high on its legs. It reminded me of a child on the edge of a swimming pool, wanting to jump in yet afraid to jump.

As I watched, it jumped from one thing to a higher thing until it was atop my small wood pile. It sat there for quite a while.

When it tried to jump from the woodpile to the top of the outdoor fireplace, it slid off to the ground. As it hopped away into the neighbor’s site, an adult robin (which had been hidden behind a tree) followed it at a distance. Evidently there to keep watch over the youngster but at the same time not assisting it with it’s struggles. Not a bad parenting skill.

Ella and I have very different concepts of time. If I wake at six o’clock in the morning, I think, “Why didn’t I wake at five as usual? There is a whole hour I’ve wasted sleeping.” If Ella wakes at six, she thinks, “Why am I awake in the middle of the night?”

Nine of us were there for coffee this morning. We continue to call it “going for coffee” even though only a third to a fourth drink coffee. The majority of us drink tea, hot, iced, sweetened or unsweetened. But somehow “going for tea” just seems a bit too high class and too British for this group.

I tried calling for a doctor’s appointment, several times, and couldn’t get through. So we stopped at the office and talked to a live person. I set an appointment for 4:10.

We then went to the senior center for games fellowship and food. I ate very little of it because it was mostly carbs.

When I returned home, I opened a small can of chicken chunks and ate them.