The Case of Grover and the Terrifying Scarecrow

As we were walking the dogs this morning, we passed the Ranger Station (translate, office) of the RV Park and they had these precious stuffed dolls dressed like scarecrows. Well, Grover started his (not)-ferocious barking and backing away from the dolls. We would stand by the doll and call him; he would get only so close and then start backing up and barking. It was SO funny -- Carl and I were in stitches!

Later on in the afternoon, when it was light, we took them for another walk and Grover made his final statement: he peed on the doll!

I Can See Clearly Now; The Blur Is Gone. . .

Today was the day I've been anticipating for more than 2 weeks: I got my complete eye exam and came home with contacts through which I can see PERFECTLY! It's been a long time since I've seen as clearly as I do now and it's WONDERFUL!

Would you like ground glass with that?

This morning I was making Carl's daily smoothie breakfast when I noticed the smoothie coming out of the BOTTOM of the blender jar! I immediately turned the switch off; Carl came to help; and we poured the half-blended smoothie into a jar. Carl pulled out his tools, did whatever fix-it people do, and said I could carry on with smoothie-making. So I finished blending his smoothie, poured it into a glass, and started working on making my smoothie. Before I got too far, Carl said, "Linda, there is something gritty in this. Do you know what it could be?" I said, "It's milk, chocolate protein mix, bananas and blueberries -- I have no clue." So we decided I'd make mine and, if it was gritty he could continue drinking his; if it wasn't he would stop. Same thing happened: smoothie-makin's started coming out of the bottom of the blender jar! Carl took the blender-bottom apart again and we discovered the blade had become loose and had ground away some of the glass surrounding the drive shaft! So the grit in Carl's smoothie was, in fact, ground glass!

School Days, School Days

I had this most wonderful afternoon: I visited my niece, Mandi, and great-niece, Ruth. I got to their house just as Mandi was driving into the driveway after picking up Ruth, age 5, from school. It was so energizing and exciting to listen to Ruth talk about her day. First of all, it was Thursday which is homework day. Ruth LOVES homework and it was delight to watch her tackle the homework for the week.

Then I asked her to tell me about her day. What a gift! She told me about "Calendar Time". She said "I really didn't listen because I was helping the teacher." Of course, when asked what happened in "Calendar Time" she was spot on! One of my favorite quotes was "I was distracted when I was in Row 3 so I moved to Row 2." Here is a 5-year old talking about being "distracted"!

Ruth checked out her first book from the library today which was a first. She is a wonderful reader and speller (absolutely no bias here).

What is so special for me is that I've not ever experienced a child coming home from school and telling me about his/her day. To observe the sparkle in her eye, the joy in her demeanor, and the enthusiasm in her voice was worth a million dollars to me, a lifelong advocate of education for women!

We're Walking. . . and we're talking. . .

Carl and I discovered a beautiful, quiet neighborhood just down the road from Jellystone and we've been taking a walk through it everyday -- about 3 1/2 miles roundtrip. In addition to the health benefits, it's fun to check out the houses for ideas we might use. And, the real treat, is that we find we actually have real conversations! It's amazing how much more conducive to conversation it is without the competition from computers, telephones, TV, music, and dogs. Go figure!

Clean Sweep

For all practical purposes, I was out of town from Friday, September 7 through Saturday, September 15. So when I hit home, I started cleaning.

• I cleaned my clothes;
• I cleaned my "to do" file;
  
• I cleaned my trailer;
• I cleaned my patio;
• I cleaned my closets;
• I cleaned my hard drive; and
  
• I cleaned my dogs!

Space 97 at Jellystone RV Park is a sight to behold!!! But look quickly because it doesn't last long!

What a Party!

We drove to Fort Worth Thursday, September 13, to celebrate our younger daughter, Erica, 4oth birthday. It started with dinner at an Italian restaurant in their neighborhood for 10 of E's family and friends. To our total shock, E's husband, Allen, picked up the tab.

The best surprise was yet to come, however. We went back to their house and a limo stocked with champagne, driven by Kurt, picked us up. We then went to Arlington to pick up E's mother, uncle and sister, and then Kurt took us to Plano to a restaurant where our son-in-law, Brian was performing. At the end of his show, Kurt was waiting for us and drove us back to our respective houses.

Erica is definitely "40 and fabulous" and it was a joy to celebrate this occasion with her, other members of our family, and her friends!

Where's the Library?

I am not a "surfer" of the Internet -- I use it when I need it but it's not a hobby for me. Nonetheless, since I've been volunteering at the library, I am surprised at the things for which people rely on the library.

Just a few of the things people have asked for in the past several weeks:

• What is the best way to get a snake out of my pond?
• I'm being transferred to Thailand; do you have a book on the language?
• My daughter just got a pet rabbit and I need to know how to care for it.
• I want to get my GED; do you have any information on that?
• I need some information on filing a liability claim when I was riding a motorcycle.

It is clear to me that libraries are as relevant for research today as they have every been!

Hooray for "Hairspray"!

My girlfriend, Susan, and I went to see "Hairspray" on Sunday. It is absolutely delightful: the music and dancing is so much fun; John Travolta delivers an amazing performance as Edna, and he and Christopher Walken make a hilarious couple; Michelle Pheiffer is gorgeous, but quite the dragon-lady; and the underlying story line is compelling and very well done.

Conger and Gallegly give this move a thumbs-up!

A Raging River

This is The Horseshoe on the Guadalupe River just a mile from where we live. Water is being let out of the Canyon Lake Dam into the river constantly at 5000 cubic feet/second (cfs). This is a lower rate than that at which upstream rain is filling up the lake! To put this into perspective, the maximum safe flow rate is 1500 cfs for tubing and kayaking; normal flow rate is about 700 cfs.

To say the least, this summer has not been friendly to the river sports industry which is so important to the economy in this area.

The Eyes Have It

I went to the Austin Eye Clinic last Friday to see what, if anything, can be done about my vision. I had a radial keratotomy (RK) in 1991 to correct my distance vision and it did -- immediately after my surgery I had 20/20/ vision in one eye and 20/25 vision in the other. The glasses I wear have a teenie bit of correction in the top half but, primarily, I wear them for reading. Every since my surgery, I've had blurry vision the first thing in the morning and on cloudy days. However, the length of time for the blurriness has been getting longer and longer and it now lasts until noon or so. During that time, I have to look through the bottom portion of my glasses which is not good for my necki! So I wanted to see if I'm a candidate for lasik or some other procedure.

As it turns out, I have a small cataract on each eye. One solution is to have artificial lens' implanted which would give me almost perfect vision -- both for distance and close up. However, the cataracts are not bad enough for insurance to pay for the implants so this option would cost us $9200 ($4600/eye). This is really not an option for us because of house building, so I'll just get new glasses (or contacts) and wait until my cataracts get bad enough for insurance to pay for the implants :-)