Season Change and Pesonal Pictures

Last week it was 85 degrees and this week 45 with a low forecast of 24 in the morning.  I think fall is mostly behind us..... I don't see anything higher than 61 for the next 10 days in the forecast. The chill index this morning when I got up was 22... 8-)   But I am ready!  My sweaters are washed, folded and on the shelves. Turtlenecks are ready although I want a couple of different colors. I have a new fake fur-lined vest from Sam's at a great price. My knee boots are in the closet although I still have to spray them with a leather protectant. Had to look in some boxes yesterday but finally found my gloves and I have a rack full of scarves from last year.  So....bring it on! Of course I may get my fill of it early if it is a long, really cold winter and then I can become one of those annoying snow birds that people in Arizona dread.

On another note.....I have a big appreciation of personal pictures from being the genealogy fanatic I am. It is so frustrating to either not have a picture of someone or only have one when they are 10 years old and none as an adult.  I don't have many of me since I am always the one taking them so I have pictures taken periodically at a studio. The last ones were before I let my hair go natural so decided it was time to get some new ones done, especially with a big birthday coming up.  So off  I went to a local Penny's studio. I have gone for many years going back to when Larry and I would get pictures done with the grandkids at Penny's when we lived in Sacramento. Here is a collage of the ones I had done last week. I HATE having my picture taken so am always happy when someone can get some decent pictures of me.

Monday Misc for Oct 27th

Genealogy Seminar:  I'm glad the JCGS sponsored all day 2014 Genealogy Seminar is over!  All I did was take pictures for the Quarterly and be a chauffer on Saturday for the speaker - someone else picked him up at the airport on Friday and took him back on Sunday. The hotel he stayed at is on my way to the event center so I volunteered.  The seminar over all was very good and the  volunteers who planned and worked it did a wonderful job.  They have done this every year for many years so have it down pat. Now for the speaker.....he may be well know, own a genealogy publishing company, be a certified professional genealogist but I had had enough one-on-one time with him after 5 minutes. The guy never shuts up and most of the talking is about him. I set across from him at dinner and he was still talking...  He has been married and divorced 5 times and is an admitted narcissist.  I was thrilled when I dropped him back at his hotel and very glad I didn't have to listen to him for the 45 minute trip to the airport the next morning.

IKEA: Last Thursday I took my car to the dealer to get the oil changed and ready for winter.  Since the dealer is only 1 exit away from the new IKEA store I had to go check it out.  The store is the 1st one in Kansas and the only one in Missouri except for 1 in St. Louis. People lined up 48 hours in advance when it opened a couple of months ago.  Well, it is pretty much the same as the one in Phoenix that Larry and I went to except the one here has undercover parking which is very smart for winter. And yes, I bought several small things I didn't need as I always do.  Larry loved going there and usually put more items in the cart than I did - especially in the kitchen section.

Fall:  Loving the fall weather but the 85 yesterday was just plain silly.... A front is coming in and they are saying frost next Saturday morning.  I figure that  I can go back to sweaters on Thursday at the latest. Yesterday I went for a drive looking for trees to take pictures of.  Here are some of what I found:

The bottom picture was on the trail in the apartment complex.

TGIF

I really don't know why I look forward to Friday since Saturday is just another day when you are retired.  I guess it is just due to the 40+ years of working and looking forward to Friday and having the next 2 days off work... Tomorrow is the all-day annual seminar for the Genealogy Society and I'm the photographer for the event this year. Our speaker is from back east,  owns a publishing company for genealogy books and is a well know speaker on genealogy.  The specific topics aren't of great interest to me but I'm sure I will learn something. Then tomorrow evening is a dinner at a local BBQ place.

Last Wednesday, Vivian and I went out to the Overland Park Arboretum & Gardens for a walk in the sunshine and to enjoy the fall atmosphere. It was beautiful!   They have a special exhibit of scarecrows along a trail that were made by volunteers - very entertaining and creative.  Here are some pics from the day:

I was surprised that the dahlia plants were still in bloom - I don't remember my mother's being in bloom this late in the year.  Yes, the bottom left flower is a rose but the rest are dahlias.

I was surprised that more trees were not in their fall colors.

The stack of pumpkins was at least 5' high.

 

Some of the scarecrows on the trail. The witch who flew into a tree (bottom left) was cute.

This was our favorite and the one we voted for to win a contest for the best scarecrow.  The painted expression on his face is just priceless. He is looking down at some flamingos that have been spray painted black and brown. The title for this one was "Scardy Crow".  Below is a close-up of his face.

Monday Misc for Oct 20th

Yep, fall is here and I am loving it!  This is the view of the trees across the street from my apartment and what I see from my desk in the office. There is a tree just outside my office window that is almost as pretty. However the 70 degree weather is interfering with my sweater wearing....

San Francisco Earthquake: I was interested in the news on Friday with it being the 25th Anniversary of the last big earthquake in San Francisco since I was there in 1989 when it happened. That was the one where the freeways fell down and one side of the Bay Bridge collapsed.  I was living in the Sacramento area after a job transfer and went over to San Jose for a trade convention to look at bar coding equipment for the company. A co-worker and I had left the convention floor and walked next door to a large hotel to have a drink in the lobby bar when it hit. I didn't know so many people could fit under a baby grand piano.... I remember looking out at a very large chandelier above us and it was swinging in circles while bottles were falling off the shelves and breaking as they hit the floor. It finally stopped and we crawled out.  My glass of wine was still on the table but I needed 2 hands to hold it since they were shaking so much. The convention was immediately cancelled so it was a matter of getting out of there. Our car was packed in an underground garage. They would take 10 people in and count 10 cars coming out before taking 10 more people in.  The lights were out so only emergency lighting was available in the garage so it was hard to find your car. We didn't know the extent of damage until we heard it on the radio driving back to Sacramento.  One of those things you never forget......

Tide Cleaners:  Most people wouldn't think much about finding a good cleaners in a new town.  But to me, cleaners are important and I judge them by how well they do my jeans with the right amount of starch and crease. Any cleaners can do a passable job dry cleaning things. I was not thrilled with the one that is near to me - they either got the starch totally wrong or forgot to crease the pants. So I tried another one last week. I have never seen Tide Cleaners before and yes, they are owned by Proctor & Gamble who makes Tide products.  This area is a test market for them.  The jeans look good but haven't tried them yet..... It's the little things......

Morris and Lizards: This was my nightmare! Not necessarily that he would bring it to bed but that it would get loose in the house and wander into bed. It was such a relief not to have to worry about lizards here in the Midwest. This is the October picture on my calendar.  I have had a calendar over my desk with drawings by Gary Patterson each year for over 20 years.  All the pictures are of a cat doing various things.

Catching up...

It has been a busy week and I just didn't get around to setting down to update the blog...  A friend from Tucson was visiting for a week and we were on the go every day!  She is 10 years older than me but sometimes I had to find a bench to set down on to rest before she did.....  The weather didn't cooperate in that it rained 5 of the 7 days she was here.  We got everything on the list done but had to change a few things around because of rain. Of course the weather has been perfect since she left on Tuesday...  Perfect fall days right now with cool days, crisp nights and leaves changing.

I gotta admit that I did not think the KC Royals would win the Division Playoff let along the American League Championship....  However, I am really impressed with their "non-prima donna" attitude which is very refreshing in today's world of players only out for themselves and money.

I'm missing my little furry buddy but not ready for another one yet - if ever.  The house is awfully empty and I really noticed it after my friend left this week. 8-(     But that's life...

I've been switching out my closet this morning - bringing winter sweaters in from the storage boxes in the garage and taking out summer stuff. I'm ready!

Tidbits for Oct 7th

Louisburg Cider Mill:  Vivian and I stopper here on the way to Ft. Scott last Friday. The hot, fresh cider and cider donuts were wonderful!

Ft. Scott, KS:  Had a great time in Ft. Scott over the weekend with my niece.  We stayed at the Courtland Hotel which was built in 1906 for the railroad workers passing through. It isn't fancy but clean and had lot's of charm.  The furniture was a mix of antiques and stuff from the 50's but the bathroom was current. I didn't realize there was so much history in the area!  Besides a fully restored Fort Scott Military post, there was the Mine Creek Civil War Battlefield and a Civil War Massacre site - all very interesting.

Hotel Courtland

 

Lobby of the hotel

 

Ft Scott National Cemetery is one of the original 14 national Cemeteries that were established in 1862 by President Lincoln.

Company Coming....  A friend from Tucson arrives today for a week's visit.  8-)

Thursday Tidbits for Oct 2nd

Pain Shot:  I call it my miracle shot even if it did only last for about 6 hours...  What I am in the process of having is Medial Branch Nerve Blocks at L3 & L4. Last Tuesday was my first shot.  The way it works is that they do 2 shots of a temporary medicine to confirm that the pain is in fact coming from specific nerves.  If that is confirmed, they do a shot of something that basically kills the nerve which can last for a couple of years or more. This treatment is only for nerves outside the spinal column. So I went in not knowing what to expect other than what I had read on the paper they gave me. The doctor did 6 shots to numb the area on my back by the spine where the shots go.  She said the first numbing shot would "hurt like a bee sting"....well that was the biggest bee I have ever been stung by.....  It hurt and then there were 4-5 more of them.  I didn't feel the big needle when they went for the nerve - only a little pressure inside when she put the medicine in.  They use something like what dentist use that numbs an area for a few hours. By the time I got back to my recliner in another room my back was pain free. I couldn't believe it!  My pain is only in one isolated area so it's pretty clear if it is hurting or not. I waited a few minutes while they watched blood pressure and was discharged with a pain diary to keep for the rest of the day with instructions to "go home and do things that would normally make my back hurt". After about 3 hours of lifting, twisting, bending over, etc I could start to feel some pain starting to come back.  I had to call the diary in to her nurse yesterday before they would schedule the next shot which isn't until Nov 4th due to her being out of town for 3 weeks. The bee stings are worth the end result - at least they only hurt for a couple of seconds.
Results from my CT Scan: I had the scan on Friday and the results were posted to MyChart on the computer Friday night and was there Saturday morning for me. Of course it had a lot of big words but basically by looking them up I figured out that it was "calcified fat cells" and no problem. The doctor called me yesterday and confirmed it.  She said it sometimes just happens and sometimes happens after a surgery.  So no worries.... The also saw the nodule in the lung and it was still the same size as it was  few months ago. So....for the first time in several months, I don't have a doctor's appointment on my calendar for this month! 
Weather: The weather is playing with me!!!!! Last week it was mid 80's. A high of 56 tomorrow then slowly working it's way back up to mid-upper 70's or 80 before back down to the mid 70's.  However, tomorrow is sweater weather and my big decision will be which color of turtleneck sweater to wear....