Sept 16

When we last saw our heros (Tom & Ella) they were on their way to Ella's doctor appointment (yesterday).  I dropped her off at doctors and then went over to our church.  When I had been there earlier in the morning I saw that they were giving away lava rock for free.  They have been doing a lot of work on the church's landscaping and several tons of lava rock were no long wanted.  I thought it might be nice for filling potholes in my drive and parking area.  Since we can not make changes to our sites without getting approval for the resort, I asked and it was okayed to use the rock.
So . . . I scooped up about a ton (just me and my trustie snow shovel) into the back of the pickup.  Realizing that every rock I put in . . . I'd have to take back out and spread on the drive . . . I stopped at a point well short of over exertion.  I think I may go get more later, if it's still there.

Today has been overcast and cool (high around 65).  It was a good day to do some simple things around home.  Our patio umberella's stand has been filled with water all summer.  With winter around the corner, I dumped the water and then Ella and I refilled it with sand.  The sand was damp and did not want to go easily through the funnel and into the umbella base.
It was also a good day to have a fire in the patio fireplace.  I love just sitting there watching the fire dance.  However, now I smell like smoke.  A shower with Irish Spring or some such soap shoud take care of that.
The sun came out just about the time Ella went to work (4pm).  So I think I'll go back outside and restart the fire. I'll sit and read until time for Fringe at 7pm. I think it is the 2-hour season finally rerun.  That way I can get caught up with it before the season premire.

Sept 14 & 15

Sept. 14th, we went in to Nathan’s so that we could be there when Charlotte and Lorelei arrived. I had a doctor’s appointment/check-up in the early afternoon that lasted longer than I thought it would due to them having trouble drawing a small amount of blood. I have these large and lovely veins in my arms that the philologists lust after – until they actually try and hit them. The veins are tough and they move. After years of suffering through countless jabs and having the needles moved around under the skin as they chase the elusive veins, I’ve reached the point where I tell them up front, “leave my arms alone and use the back of my hands.” Over the years that has worked out very well with considerable less pain to me and frustration to the nursing staff. Yesterday however, I was being stingy with my blood. After repeated stabs, they gave up at the doctor’s office and sent me to the lab. The lab tech managed to get blood on the first try but even then she was having a hard time drawing enough for the test. I find it kind of amazing that even though I’m on several meds that should thin my blood; they still have trouble drawing it.
It was nearly time for Charlotte to be out of school by the time I got to Nathan’s. Her mother dropped her off and Charlotte started crying and throwing a fit because she wanted to spend time with her mom. Mom is working long hours and going to school and then there is time with the new boyfriend and the partying, so Charlotte is feeling the need for some quantity time with mom. With all the people at her dad’s house now, I don’t think she feels like she’s getting as much daddy-time as she wants either.
I remember, as a dad, how hard it is to get any kind of balance between the things that you HAVE to do and the things you NEED to do. I tried to give each of the kids the full attention they wanted but I’m sure that it never really worked out that way.
September 15th
Today started off looking overcast and I thought it was going to rain. However, it has mostly cleared off and turned sunny at 11:00 a.m.
I made it to our Wednesday morning Men’s Bible Study for the first time in a few weeks. They are on a study about ageing, which seems to be appropriate since, other than one guy in his 50’s, I’m the youngest one there. The make up of the group dynamics has a lot to do with the schedule. We meet in the middle of the week and during the time of day when most men are at work. Anyway, although I’ve missed the first 6 of the studies, it wasn’t difficult to join in the discussion. We discussed how men and women handle grieving and loss differently (mostly).
Today is Ella’s turn at the doctor’s office. So, we’ll be leaving here soon to go into town. Until then, I have nothing else to write about. So, I’ll stop for now and get this part posted.

Sept 13

Wow!  I can't believe that it's been so long since I posted on my blog(s).  It was on September 6th and it was photos from Sept. 5th.
The only excuses I can come up with are that Vincent was visiting and we were spending time with him rather than the blog.  And after he had left, Ella's phone started behaving erratic and the Verizon techs just wiped it clean so she could restore from an earlier backup.  As it turns out, the file marked "Ella's backup" was actually a backup of my phone.  Which was 'mostly' okay because the calender, phone book and memo pad are files we routinely share anyway.  However, she lost her games (I don't play games on my Blackberry) and although she is able to receive email from her account, she is unable to send email from her account.  We're still working on trying to fix that without wiping it and going to an even older backup file that (hopefully) really is from HER phone. 
So what has been going on since I last posted?  Glad you ask.
Vincent got here.  He had several things on his agenda: 1. a pizza buffet and 2. biscuits and gravy for breakfast.  We took him to Old Chicago Pizza for a lunch buffet and he managed to eat enough to be only slightly uncomfortable.  The next morning, we took him to Cracker Barrel for breakfast.  I was sure that they'd have a country style breakfast with biscuits and gravy.  I was disappointed to find that when he ordered the biscuit and gravy, what he got was a couple of biscuits, two sausage patties and a small bowl of pepper gravy.  Ironically, after he was gone off to New York, I found that our little cafe at the resort serves a really nice biscuit and gravy breakfast. (sorry, Vincent)
We had a big family get-together on the evening before he left.  I had grilled then slow cooked a 10 pound pork shoulder.  I shredded it and served it on buns.  Ella made a potato dish with chives, sour cream and cream cheese.  Plus she also made a pasta salad with Italian herbs, black olives and mozzarella cheese.  I had also made some baked beans but they cooked too long and were dry.  We didn't have room at the 5th wheel so we used the lodge here at the resort and it worked very well for what we needed.
Yesterday (Sunday) was my last day of work-camping.  So, now I go back to just being a bum most of the time. (grin)
Now - today.
At the moment I'm sitting on the patio under the awning listening to the thunder.  It has sprinkled just slightly, however the radar shows a fair size hunk of rain headed this way.  I'm glad we got all of our running done earlier.
We got up, ate pancakes, did house work, picked up Ella's pay check, took stuff to our storage area, went to the bank to deposit the check, shopped at Wally World, went back to Verizon (3rd? 4th? time), got the oil topped off at Valvoline (by the way, they washed the windows and checked the tire pressure and added two quarts of oil and didn't charge me anything - I like that kind of service!) and watched a little TV.
Soon, we're going over to the Club House for a Staff Appreciation Dinner.
Tomorrow, I have a doctor's appointment/checkup and Ella & I will pick up the 'greats' after Charlotte gets home from school.  We'll bring them out to our place where Daddy will get them after work.
Opps!  The rain has gotten here so I'm going to post, unplug and go inside.