September 15 2011

           Brrrr!  45 degrees this morning!  Welcome to the middle of September feeling like the middle of October.

            To add to the solar heating capacity of our east-facing windows, I took down the screen room and rolled up the awning over the patio.  When Ella wakes, I’ll have her help fold the screen room canvas before putting it into storage.  The sun is so bright this morning that it should keep us plenty warm without running the furnace or heater.  Before going to bed last night, I turned on the electric fireplace/heater.  It was a comfortable 74 degrees when I checked the inside thermometer.  Now that the sun is shining in, I’ve turned the heater off again.

            The coffee is done perking and I’m ready for breakfast now.  So, insert a mental pause here.

            It is now close to 6 p.m. and I am back to the computer.  We skipped supper tonight because we went to Ryan’s Steak House for lunch.  Between 1 and 3 p.m. the buffet with drinks for two seniors comes to a little over $11.00.  It is such a great value that we try to go for lunch at least once a month. (And NO I am not paid to say that – I’d take pay – but no one is offering)

            We did more cleaning and tidying our patio area today.  It was a great day to be outside and working.  We also spent time visiting with some of our neighbors.  Dave & Grace will be heading south in another month so we spent quite a bit of the late morning and early afternoon visiting with them.  Later in the afternoon, Mark saw me out working on the patio and stopped by for a visit.  He was wondering if we were moving.  I explained that “yes & no” we were preparing to switch trailers but staying on the same spot. 

            Today we picked up the mail from our box.  We tend to forget about it for a week or so at a time.  Sometimes the mail box is pretty tightly crammed.  I have several large envelopes from the Social Security people.  I haven’t opened them yet but I know what they are because Ella has already received her packets earlier.  They are information about getting set up for Medicare.  The more I read about the various plans, the more confused I get.  Ella had checked with the pharmacy at Walgreens and found that we can schedule a time for a councilor to do a one on one explanation of the various plans.  This sounds really good.  However, we have had some many things screwed up by this branch of Walgreens that I would not trust their advice.  I may check into some of the other Walgreens in the area for this service.

            We did some shopping at Home Depot today also.  We purchased several buckets of Damp Rid to put in the two trailers.  Condensation is a real factor to be considered when wintering over in an RV in Iowa.  Moisture can build up from cooking and just from breathing in such a small sealed space; much more so than in a sticks and bricks home.

            Ella has been saving empty boxes from work at the club house and brought some of them home.  I will spend some time this evening packing away part of our Santa knick knacks.  I might as well get started on that now.