2019 August 04 Sunday

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2019 August 04 Sunday in Cutty’s, Grimes, Iowa

61° overnight and 63° at sunrise. Hazyness is not a good sign, it means we’re at 100% humidity. And that means icky sticky!

Again our numbers forthe coffee group were down, the Stones and the Beasleys were missing. Bob, Francis and Sandy, Ella and I were the only ones there.

Ella had a large cinnamon roll for breakfast and I had biscuits add gravy.

Shortly after nine, Ella and I went to Cutty’s adult center to get it set for worship. We have what we call “Church in a Basket”.

Nearly every thing we need for worship fits in a metal shopping basket very much like the one pictured above. It easily holds the the cloth paraments, chalice, plate, collection plate, attendance pad, Christ candle and stand. It also holds the cups, plates, spoons, sugar and creamer for our coffee table where we have cookies and/or pastries.

Our worship attendance was very small again. I find it somewhat disheartening to spend hours doing research for and writting sermons that reach so few people.

We had lunch on the patio this morning. We had the leftovers from yesterday’s Nye Family Gathering.

The photos from the Christmas in July at the Grimes senior center arrived via email today. Go back to the July 25th post to see them.

Most of our day was relaxing, games, TV, and napping.

God bless and g’nite

All content (except quotations) ©2019 Thomas E. Williams
88 in Iowa

August 03 Saturday

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2019 August 03 Saturday in Cutty’s, Grimes, Iowa

66° overnight and 84° at its warmest.

66° and humid this morning.

This is the second round of flowers here. I thought when the others had bloomed and died, that it was done for the season.

Coffee with friends at the cafe also became breakfast pizza today.After breakfast, we packed Rudolf the red nosed pickup with stuff for the Nye Family Reunion and headed to Union Park UMC in Des Moines.

We ate and we visited.

And we posed for photos.

God bless and g’nite

All content (except quotations) ©2019 Thomas E. Williams87 in Iowa

2019 August 02 Friday

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2019 August 02 Friday in Cutty’s, Grimes, Iowa

61° overnight and 64° at sunrise.

I work 3-10 today which means I can go to coffee this morning and lunch at the Grimes senior center today. However, when we arrived this coffee, we were the only ones there. So, we left.

It has been a long time since I’ve had this kind of hecktic, non-stop day. And I didn’t care for it at all.

Tomorrow is the Nye Family Reunion. I hope for Ella’s sake that a lot of them show up.

She found out last night that our one grandson and family will not attend because of other commitments. They live in Des Moines and are also members of Cutty’s, yet we’ve only seen them for a few minutes out of the 86 days we’ve been here.

You would think that with it being summer and kids not in school, that we would get to see the great grandkids once in a while. But they have their own lives to live and we’re just peripheral in that life.

.

6:30 pm.

God bless and g’nite

All content (except quotations) ©2019 Thomas E. Williams

day 47 of work and day 86 in Iowa

2019 August 01 Thursday

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2019 August 01 Thursday in Cutty’s, Grimes, Iowa

The first day of August started at 62° and reached 80° around midday.

The early morning sun on the trees around the lake.

By 4 pm the sky was overcast but the lake still looked nice.

When Ella picked me up from work, we took a little drive to the cafe for ice cream.

Ella has been wanting to try some Bear Creek cheddar broccoli soup mix. She bought some along with the fresh broccoli to add to it. Tonight we had it for supper. It was good. And easy.

God bless and g’nite

All content (except quotations) ©2019 Thomas E. Williams

day 46 of work and day +85 in Iowa

2019 July 31 Wednesday

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2019 July 31 Wednesday in Cutty’s, Grimes, Iowa

63° and mostly sunny. It was a great night to sleep with the windows and doors open. We will do so again tonight. It slowly climbed to 72° under cloudy conditions and then a nice rain (no storm) came through. It may have changed some outdoor plans but was still welcome. By 10 pm it was 66° which is why I am anticipating a great night of sleep.

We did not go to Cutty’s cafe this morning. We did some lite housework and other small projects before going to the Grimes senior center for lunch.

This would have been my mother’s 112th birthday had she not died in 1994 at 87 years old.

At the center Joyce, Ella, and i played Fast Track. I beat them the first 2 games and then let them play by themselves.

I sat on the couch and worked on the bulletin for August 11th. After I emailed it to the church office for printing, I realized that I had included a wrong scripture. I quickly corrected it and emailed the updated version. This evening I received confirmation that it was printed. I work the fee booth from 8-3:30 tomorrow so I’ll try to go after work. Ella reminded me that we have a family reunion at the church this Saturday. I can get the bulletins then. And they are for next week, not this coming Sunday.

Good group at the senior center. Wednesdays are bingo days at the center. Most days we stay. I don’t play. However Ella enjoys it. I am not fond of games which are pure chance with no skill at all. However, today we are expecting guests at home this afternoon.

I stopped at the local True Value hardware for a spring and some metal screws.

And ta da! a self closing screen door.

My niece, great niece, and great great niece and nephew came out to visit today. The plan was to swim in the outdoor pools. However, the rain put a kibosh on the outdoor swimming, as well as the outdoor grilling. However, we cooked inside, ate outside under the awning, and then the kids all went indoor swimming.

In the rain

After The rain, a little color from the sunset.

God bless and g’nite

All content (except quotations) ©2019 Thomas E. Williams

day 84 in Iowa

2019 July 30 Tuesday

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2019 July 30 Tuesday in Cutty’s, Grimes, Iowa

62° and sunny. Reached 81 before quickly dropping into mid and low 70s. Looks like another night with the windows and doors ooen

If it hadn’t been for Sue’s granddaughters, our coffee group would have been REALLY small today. Ella and I shared a scrambler platter for breakfast at the cafe. Not bad for prepackaged frozen scrambled eggs. There is no grill in the cafe. Some ovens, microwaves, a crazy oil frying machine, and crockpot.

A few people getting in some miniature golf at Cutty’s this morning

Lunch at the Grimes senior center. Followed by a health talk from a nurse who checked blood pressures today.

We made a grocery run after lunch. We made a pact that we would not return to Wal-Mart this week. It seems that is has been averaging at least every two days lately. Maybe more because sometimes it was twice a day. We have enough. No more perishables needed for a week or two. Other than breakfast we seldom eat at home except on the weekends. And this week we have Ella’s family reunion on the weekend. So we will easy there Saturday and probably leftovers on Sunday. In the meanwhile we now have 3 different varieties of squash in the fridge one of which I detest, one I like and one that I tolerate.

God bless and g’nite

All content (except quotations) ©2019 Thomas E. Williams

These were our wedding cake toppers 25 1/2 years ago.

day 83 in Iowa

2019 July 29 Monday

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2019 July 29 Monday in Cutty’s, Grimes, Iowa 67° and hazy. Topped out at 82° which was a little relief. It stayed hazy again. There are various fires in the US southwest. I don’t know of that’s why we’ve been hazy lately.

The morning hazeness made the sun look like a small yellow ball in a white sky. Maybe an egg yoke lost in the white of the egg.

Just before sunset last night we received some light rain. However, just after midnight it rained hard. I was not surprised to find 3/4″ in the rain gauge.

Cutty’s Cafe is still our usual morning meeting place but today there were only 6 out us.

I gave up fighting the leg pain and went to the local clinic for injections in my knees. By bed time I could really notice the difference. I’m not close to painfree. However, it it’s a lot more manageable now.

From the clinic we made it to the senior center for lunch. I had not signed up for a meal, so I became a “walk up” and needed to go last in line. That was not a problem, there was a lot of food left over. My only concern is that there was both cabbage and broccoli today. That much vitamin K may adversely affect my blood’s clotting ability. I’ll know Thursday when I check my INR.

Then home for a rest before going to work. I was at the gate from 2-9.

.

God bless and g’nite

All content (except quotations) ©2019 Thomas E. Williams

day 46/82 my last day of work in July. And due to a clerical error, I will have 6 days in a row that I don’t work in August. What will I do to fill that time?

2019 July 28 Sunday

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2019 July 28 Sunday in Cutty’s, Grimes, Iowa

71° and mostly cloudy,

Morning clouds almost adds more color to a sunrise.

Our Sunday service was cut short. Other than Ella and I only one other person arrived and he quickly, left feeling sick. The good news is … I now have next week’s service done.

We had Pizza Ranch buffet for lunch. Ella had Pizza. I had The chicken, which is the real reason I go there.

I got in a short nap before going to work from 2-9.

Some light rain moved through during the sunset hours so no photo tonight.

God bless and g’nite

All content (except quotations) ©2019 Thomas E. Williams

day 45/83

2019 July 27 Saturday

rvingfulltimewithtomandella.com2019 July 27 Saturday in Cutty’s, Grimes, Iowa

71° and clear in the morning. This is a day off for me. Shabbat shalom!We went to Cutty’s cafe for coffee and fellowship, a usual on my essays off, though Ella goes nearly every day. Once we were finished correcting all the worlds wrongs, we headed for home

We drove around some of the park on our way home.

I took Rudolf the red nose pickup to Jiffy Lube for an oil change, in the mean time Ella did some lite housework.I returned in time for lunch. However, we both were still full from breakfast, so we went to the cafe for ice cream. Now that is a good lunch!

Then it was home to watch tv or playgames and for me to put the final touches to tomorrow’s sermon.

God bless and g’nite

All content (except quotations) ©2019 Thomas E. Williams

day 82

2019 July 26 Friday

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2019 July 26 Friday in Cutty’s, Grimes, Iowa

63° and mostly cloudy and reached 88° with done high gusty winds.

I worked 8-3:30 today. We were kept moderately busy all day which is the way I like it.

Friday night is Card Jackpot art Cutty’s adult center. We had four tables of four each. Each table had a deck of cards. The cards are dealt so that everyone has 13 cards. There is a deck of oversized cards that is shuffled and then turned over 1 at a time and that card called (like in bingo) the person at each table who has that card discards it into the center of the table. The person(s) who discard their final card yells, “Jackpot”. They win the pot for that round. If there are more than one winner, they split the pot. There are 10 rounds at a nickle and the final round is played for a quarter.

God bless and g’nite

All content (except quotations) ©2019 Thomas E. Williams

day 43/81