A Lovely Night with Family.... remembering....

I had a very nice time with the Wallace family in Middletown, DE last night.  Nancy is my niece by marriage.  My late husband is her uncle.  Nancy is married to Jeff Wallace and they have a son Steven.  Nancy also has a son, Anthony Boylan who is grown and already out on his own.

Steven decided to play football this year at Middletown High School.  He is really growing into a lovely young man.  I get to see the Wallaces a couple of times a year.  Usually for holiday meals, so it was nice to be seeing them for a different reason.

I had to be at their house at 6:00 PM.  I was a hair late as I have totally forgotten how much traffic is out around 5:00 PM rush hour.  I tend to be at home during those busy hours.  I also tried a short cut that I thought I had remembered and it was not quite what I had remembered, but I did get there in time to move from my car to their car and off to the school.

The reason for the evening was the "Beat The Beast" night where they honor or remember those who are fighting cancer, have won the battle or who have passed away.  At the beginning of the school year they were given the option to purchase a pink football jersey with the nae of the person they want to remember.  Steven selected his late Uncle Charles and had the name Rudewick on the back of his jersey.  Nancy emailed me on Wednesday evening to see if I would be interested in comeing to the game.  She had just found out that she and hubby Jeff would be walking on the field with Steven and invited me to join them.

We arrived in plenty of time to get to the gathering place.  Nancy did get a picture of me with Steven, but I have not gotten it yet.  But here is a picture of the waiting area and the football team warming up on the field resplendent in pink jerseys.

Steven is number 74, so we were at the end of a long line, but it was a very special moment listening to the information about Rudy being announced over the PA system and proud;y walking along the 50 yard line with Steven and his parents.

We then opted to stay for, at least part of the game.  It started out badly for the Cavaliers as Mount Pleasant took the opening kick and ran it the length of the field for a touchdown.  The rest of the first half Middletown struggles to score two touchdowns on their own while keeping  Mount Pleassant from scoring.

Each time Middletown scores, the cheerleaders ran to a couple of boxes and threw little, blue footballs into the crowd.  They are sponsored by Nino's in Middletown and are worth a free cheese pizza.  I missed getting one, but a friend of Jeff and Nancy gave me the one that he got.

They were also giving the rally towels out to everyone, so Nancy made sure that I had one.

This was the score at halftime and we got to joy the halftime show.  But Since Steven was told he did not have to suit up for the game and he was getting chilled in the cool night air... as were the rest of us, we opted to leave after the band finished.

Once back at their house, we warmed up and chatted about our memories.  Nancy has just moved her father, my brother-in-law, into an assisted living facility so they had been going through all sorts of memories and stuff as his house has sold and they will be going to settlement on Thursday.  I got home a little after 11:30 PM so it was later than usual bedtime for me.

I got up after 9:30 AM today.  I took a moment to take a picture of the little football, the rally towel AND the jersey that Steven wore.  He gave it to me last night, another very touching gesture.  It was an evening of loving memories and new, special times.

Not as bad as expected....

Hello friends and family.... and those who are just reading.  The great bridge replacement on Route 41 has begun.  For those who do not know, in my area there are two main truck routes going north to the turnpike and Harrisburg or south to Route 1 and I-95.  The majority of that traffic has usually gone along Route 41, as there is a truck stop along the way before hitting Route 30 and points north.

I live on Route 10.  I have been here since 1983ish.  I ended up here following the divorce from my first husband so I could keep my kids in their school district.  It was a cute little house, with the emphasis on small.  It was a two bedroom bungalow.  My second husband built a third bedroom in the basement so the boys had a bit bigger space and were not sleeping so close to our bedroom.  These days it would not be a legal bedroom as the basement window is not big enough to crawl out of in case of a fire, but there is a exterior exit in another part of the basement... but I am off topic.

Penn DOT has, as of Tuesday, closed Route 41 and detouring ALL of the traffic going north, up Route 10, through Parkesburg to Route 30.  This takes them right by my house.  It has been in the planning stages since spring although for all of the chatter on Facebook by locals you would think Penn DOT decided to do this on Sunday and suddenly closed the road.  But they altered several lights along the detour adding left turn signals to speed traffic along and added a traffic light at an intersection that has needed one for years.  Many of us are thrilled that it has finally been installed.

I fully expected to have a significant increase in the amount of traffic that would make it very hard for me to get out of my driveway.  I also expected to have a rash of accidents at the intersection with the new light, but neither has happened.  Traffic has increased.  I notice a larger number of trucks speeding by, but I ventured out yesterday and had no trouble getting out, moving around the area using alternative roads and getting back home.  And, to date, not even a fender bender at the new light.

My sleep patterns are changing, finally.  I have been having some trouble getting a good night's sleep since getting back from Fancy Gap this spring.  I sometimes find it very difficult to fall asleep.  But if I do fall asleep, I find myself waking up throughout the night or not really being in a deep sleep and being aware of tossing and turning.

The last couple of weeks I have been dealing with Miles being in the house.  He is a younger dog than Winston and in the first couple of weeks, whenever he would get up in the middle of the night, I would get up, take him out, just so we had no accidents in the bed (he is sleeping with me).  He now gets up and down all by himself and seems to be able to make it all night without having to go outside.

My Fitbit, that I have been using since late winter, indicates that I am getting no less than 6 hours a night, but I have trouble being overly active on those days.  I do better with closer to 8 hours.

Yesterday I got a new pair of pajamas from Target.  One of the quilt designers that I follow, had posted them on her blog and they are adorable.  They are long sleeved, long legged and in "pouty pink" with all kinds of sewing things on them, needles, thread, scissors, sewing machines, rulers, embroidery floss... all kinds of cute sewing items all over. the link is: http://www.target.com/p/nick-nora-women-s-pj-coat-set/-/A-17328918  and be sure to select the Pouty Pink, as the other colors are different, non-sewing designs.  I got the 2X and they fit me fine except the sleeve and pant length are designed for an Amazon.  But they are stretchy and soft and I wore them last night and slept for almost 10 hours!!!

Today I received another sleep aid from Amazon.    They have daily deals and I always look at them but rarely buy.  But I have been looking for an essential oil diffuser that I could use in the bedroom.  But they are really expensive and many of them only run for a couple of hours.  I wanted something that could go all night and send the scent of lavender into the room all night long.  The Pure Spa Deluxe was usually around $90, but was on sale for one day for $30, so I pulled the trigger.  It arrived today.  I set it up around 2:00 PM and I just checked it and it is still putting a gentle mist into the air.  What I like, is that is does not make a sound!  It has some subtle lighting, but it can be run with no lights, too.  I will let you know how it works out for me!

On the Winston/Miles front, things are moving along, but there are some bumps in the road.  It is quite obvious that Miles sees himself as the alpha dog here.  Winston, who has always been laid back and not much of a lovey dog, had a bit of an anxiety attack on Sunday.  After getting back from church, I had planned to do some sewing, but Winston began to frantically pace, trying to find a tiny, dark space to crawl into.  He has done this a couple of times before Miles arrived, but I am sure that Winston had enough of the new kid and just wanted to find a place to hide.  He tried my bedroom, where he has always been able to hide, but that did not seem to suit him.  He just paced circles and figure 8's on the main floor.  He finally headed to the basement and I watched him on the cameras go from room to room.  He finally settled down in the dark sewing room and slept for over an hour.  After that, he has been good.  I am trying now to give him separate time for playing and cuddling when Miles is outside on his own.  Miles will not let me pet Winston alone if he is in the house.  We will have to work on this behavior.

Tomorrow I will be making an unexpected trip to Delaware.  I had an email from my niece, Nancy.  She apologized for short notice, but in the beginning of the year they had arranged to buy a football jersey for Steven to wear in a special game, honoring or remembering cancer victims.  They had purchased one that said Rudewick in memory of my late husband.  It turns out that Steven and Nancy and Jeff will be part of the pre-game ceremonies by marching on the field.  They have invited me to join them.  I was quite touched by their thoughtfulness, so I am going to go down and join them in remembering Rudy.  I will get some pictures!!

I will try to be better...

I had an email from my friend, Sharon, today.  She wanted to know if I was OK.  She is a friend on Facebook, but she also follows my blog and was concerned that I had not posted in a while.  I was shocked when I saw it had been almost two weeks since I had written anything here.  Sharon, I promise that I will try to do better.  I guess I have been busy as time has just flown.

Getting the newest family member is getting acclimated to his new home.  Miles has made his presence known in my home.  He has marked a couple of places... to be expected for a young, male dog.  We have done the initial vet visits and are treating him for a yeast infection in his ears and some skin irritations, probably allergies to fleas that he had when his foster family found him, lost in a children;s park in Pikeville.  He has had his initial Lyme disease shot and has been microchipped, so he can be returned, just in case he gets away from me.  On his last visit, his skin has cleared up and so have his ears.  He is still digging at his feet more than I like, but I noticed that Winston does it too, just not as much as Miles.

I helped out at church for a four session special speaker.  This gentleman was a motivational speaker and was remarkable in his story telling and his faith.  Inspirational!  I have been learning how to run the Audio/Visual system at church.  This was an opportunity to run the system myself and learn how to do things.  It was fun and very much a learning process.  I was able to man the microphones for the speaker and the musical guests.  I was also able to project the lyrics on the two screens at the front of the sanctuary and kick off the Power Point presentation for the speaker.  This way, I can serve as backup for the two people who run the system normally.

I also served as the facilitator for a small group that we started at church.  We are studying everything there is to know about Prayer.  It has been interesting thus far.

I have also gotten some dressers for the basement bedroom.  My brother-in-law, Al, is moving to a retirement home on Saturday.  He has sold his house and they are getting rid of furniture and belongings.  I wanted to put dressers back into the room now that the sewing stuff is in it's own room.  So I bought a dresser set and picked it up this week.  The nephews loaded them in the back of my truck... which really enjoyed being out of the driveway and not plowing snow..... and the dressers will stay there for a few days until I can either get the room painted or I can get help bringing them down into the bedroom.  I am planning to have them in the room (painted or not) by the end of this month as I am having a mini sewing retreat here the first weekend in November.

The most exciting thing that happened recently was on Sunday morning.  I returned home from church to find that my burglar alarm had been triggered by the motion detector in the living room.  It is supposedly able to ignore pets under 40 pounds.  Both of my dogs together do not weigh 40 pounds.  Somehow, they managed to trigger the alarm.  The good news is that the system functions.  The bad news is that the motion detector is now sitting upside down.  The sensor projects it's beams out from the sensor directly into the room and then down to the floor.  Turing it upside down has the floor beams going up to the ceiling.  Hopefully that will solve that problem.  It never went off with just Winston.  But he would curl up somewhere and just sleep until I got home.  After Miles came, they did the same thing... but I am guessing that they are learning to play together when I am gone.  To say that things are really changing here is an understatement.

Furnace on, Sweat pants out and a lazy day...

I am not getting the nice kind of sleep I would like.  It is not me.  It is Miles.  Most nights he is sleeping with me.  Some nights he starts out in the Living Room where Winston has always slept.  But Miles is on a medication to work on his skin issues and it makes him pee more than usual, so generally about 2:00 Am or 3:00 AM he gets up and jumps off the bed.  Or, if he is in the Living Room, he comes in and tried to wake me up.  So he goes out (and sometimes Winston, although he usually gives me the 'what in the world are you doing up at this house?' look) and we all go back to sleep.

I turned the air on for a couple of days last week, not so much for the temperature outside, but more for the humidity level.  I had it turned off but the windows closed as it has been raining and drizzling and blowing some for the last several days.... thanks Joaquin.  This morning I woke up and the temps outside were down in the 40's.  Right now, early afternoon, it is only reading 51 degrees.  So guess what, the furnace was flipped on and the sweat pants and long-sleeved shirt came out of the drawer.  Hello fall... nice to see you!

Miles is feeling a bit more at home.  For the first time, he and Winston played with the toys.  I had pulled off the covers on their big pillows (I had not gotten Miles out fast enough this morning and I came out to find him peeing on the pillow.).  I had put Mile's pillow, uncovered, on top of the kennel.  I left Winston's uncovered pillow on the floor.  Winston wanted me to throw one of his unstuffed toys.  So we were playing catch.  Miles figured out that it was fun to play with the toys, so he grabbed another one of the toys and jumped on top of Winston's pillow.  Now Rachel (Mile's foster Mom) had said Miles did not tear up anything while she had him.  Wiles had been racing around the living room, all happy and bouncing and then jumped on the pillow with the toy.  He appeared to be playing with the toy.  But on further checking, he was actually tearing into the outer covering of the actual pillow and bringing out the stuffing.  So I had to yell at him and get him off the pillow.  So I had to grab a needle and thread, stitch up the hole and then put that pillow on top of the kennel, too.  We are still learning about each other.

I gave both dogs dental cleaning treats.  They were bone shaped and I give them one every now and them.  Miles took his into the kennel and is munching away.  Winston tried to bury his in the couch.  Then he went over to the baby gate at the kitchen door which tells me he wants to go outside.  So I opened the gate and he ran over to get his treat.  For once, I let him take it outside.  He has been so good with Miles that I felt for once, I would let him actually bury something.  He was outside for close to 20 minutes.  I had to drag his lead to get him to come inside.  His face was caked with mud (it is still drizzling here) and his paws were filthy, too.  But he had a smile on his face and I do not regret letting him do this, it is part of who Winston is!

I will be heading to the church, shortly.  Tomorrow is food donation day and I have several things to put on the table.  I do not want to be lugging in multiple bags tomorrow morning.  I will be helping to work the A/V system tomorrow morning.  We are having a 4 session program starting tomorrow morning.  The other three will be tomorrow night and then Monday and Tuesday night.  I will be working the system alone on Monday and Tuesday night.  Yikes!!!  I will let you know how it goes.

An expensive user error....

Today I had to pay the piper.  And I will have to pay the piper next spring as well.  But tiday my user error cost me $213.31.

Living in Southeastern Pennsylvania, the last several days have been revolving around the weather and the impending arrival... of all things.... a hurricane.  Just a few days ago there was just normal fall weather.  Suddenly there was Tropical  Storm Joaquin.  And almost as suddenly it was a Category 1, then 3 and now 4.  The forecasters could not agree on his track because of all of the many variables.

So, being the think ahead and be prepared person that I am, on Wednesday I headed outside to make sure that the generator would be ready in case we lost power.  But to my dismay, it did not want to start.  Eventually it turned over but it would only run with the choke either fully on or about half.

I called Danny and he made some suggestions, so I added some carburetor cleaner, got it to run and let it run for a while.  Did not change anything.  It just was acting like it was not getting fuel.

Thursday morning, I went to try it again and now it was not starting at all.  God bless Danny, he and Marji came up and he spent a couple of hours working on things.  The spark plug was fouled, so he cleaned that.  We could get it to run, but only with the choke on.  He was not comfortable fiddling around with the carburetor.

So I called the Westpro company, the makers of the unit and they gave me the name of two repair centers in the area.  The closest one was in Downingtown.  I called Yerkes Repair and spoke to the owner, Bill. He asked if I could get the unit to him and I said, while I had a truck, I was a widow, living alone, etc.  So he said they could pick it up.  They would be here first thing in the morning.

Not exactly first thing, but they did have an older gentleman here around 9:30 AM.  He loaded it into the van and off he went.  I asked, as he was shutting the doors on the van if he had a time frame that it would be fixed, and he said 'no', and left.

I had to just settle in and worry if I would be seeing it anytime soon.  Even though Joaquin was going to stay out in the Atlantic after all of the drama, we were still getting some nasty weather from a couple of systems that could still have the power going out.  And the reviews for this company indicated that they were slow to get things done, with no responses on the phone.  So I was a tad worried.  But they had been very responsive thus far and had communicated very well.

But I set about my day, clearing my dining room table and getting some things straightened up.  I had a crock pot roast cooking.  I had just checked it with about an hour or so before it might be finished when the phone rang.  It was Bill Yerkes.  The generator was finished and could they come bring it back.  I said, certainly and the same gentleman returned it and muscled it back onto the deck.

They had replaced the spark plug, de-gunked the carburetor and did some sort of power steam in it and freed a frozen selinoid.  The ethanol that is being added in the gasoline these days, if it remains in the carburetor causes a varnish to coat the inside.  They said it was really bad.  The manufacturer said to store it with no gas in it.  The repair man said all I have to do is close the gas flow valve and let the motor run out of gas.  This will keep the gas from lingering in the carburetor.

So, I am back in business.  I will follow the directions and be hopeful that I will not have any problems in the future.  If not, I know who to call.  And I did not think that the $200+ toll was too bad, considering they also picked up and delivered it back to me repaired in just one day.

So, next spring, I will have to get a new carburetor for my lawn tractor, get it replaced and put a shut off valve between the gas tank and the engine, so I can do the same thing with it.  It was running badly the last time I ran it.....!  I am learning things that Rudy knew but never shared with me.  But I am understanding more and more!