The Last Week of July

Rosa came on Monday and we finished her interview of me.  This was the latter part of my life, that is from 30 to now.  Both last week and this week interviews brought back both sad and happy times and some anger, too.  I've been divorced more than 30 years and there is anger buried down deep which popped up during the interview.

I went to my usual cardiac rehab in the afternoon and wore my self down to a frazzle.  But managed to pull out the stops and get ready for Jo and Alf who came to dinner in the evening.  We always enjoy our time with them.  They were just back from their place on the Cape and have about decided to sell it; it's not a vacation, but a work out when they get there.  Old houses do have many problems.

We also found that out this week as our plumbing totally plugged up again.  Great fun!  Our preferred plumber, Todd Oliver, answered his phone after I tried three times.  He answered to let me know they were on their way to Oregon and wouldn't be available to help us out.  He did give us the name and number of a company that specializes in cleaning out drains.  I called them and he, Doug, promised to come as soon as he could; probably after 4 PM.  He showed up about 3 and set to work.  He did get us unclogged, but the fix was only temporary.  Finally several days later, Thursday, he came and discovered we had a broken pipe just as the pipe leaves the house.  I don't know what all that entailed, but I do know they dug up the back yard.  The yard is back together and the plumbing all works!  Hopefully, that will take care of the problem for the long term.

On Tuesday the Cowleys came to dinner.  Gabby was tired..bored really, but the rest of us enjoyed the dinner and the time together. 

On Wednesday we went to a Cafe where some of my NCAR buddies have lunch on a regular basis.  Robert went this time.  Most of the spouses are excluded, but since he, too, is a computer type he was invited, too.  The attendees were Buck Frye, Vince Wayland, Dennis Joseph and Bob Chervin.  It was an enjoyable time.  I'm learning to eat salads when we eat out.  With the dressing on the side I can avoid most of the salt.

Robert found, on-line, a portable oxygen concentrator.  He managed to get the price down quite a bit.  These little babies are expensive.  Last night we tried it.  We need to experiment a little.  It has an extra battery pack such that it is supposed to allow the machine to work for 8 hours.  Unfortunately, for some reason the battery pack didn't seem to work so the machine stopped at 6 hours which should have been enough.  However, the siren on my finger oximeter went off a couple or three times such that I felt I hadn't had a chance to really sleep.  But, we'll play with it some more, but we'll probably take both it and our home machine as back up.  We used the home machine starting at 6AM and I slept soundly until 8.

Lorena came and cleaned on Friday.  The house sparkles after she has been here.

Connie and I went out to lunch on Friday and then to S cubed, the knitting/weaving store.  I'm so behind on my knitting I refrained from even looking at anything.  Connie had a couple of things she wanted, but they were out of them.

Carl and Martha came by this afternoon to pick up the traveling baby crib and the bag of toys that were all used when Alyssum was here.  They had been to Cirque du Soleil (sp?) last night.  It was NOT a disappointment.  They had a wonderful time.