Last day of August

Hurricane Dorian seems to be moving east, if so the damage to our Florida home will be less. 

It was a cloudy day hate to say but it feels like Fall.  I hope we still get some nice summer days - winter gets so long.  We did stuff around the house and then went to Perkins expecting to have their new shrimp dinner again but they had changed their menu to roast beef specials.  We had their turkey and dressing which was good.

We watched Despicable Me 3 on Netflix in the evening.

Found cards, hope not to lose winter home

Good news, we finally found our social security cards.  We had looked in the same place before, I don't know how they were hiding. 

We went to HyVee for breakfast and then got groceries there, they seemed to add up fast today. 

The hurricane Dorian has our attention as our winter home is in "cone".  Hopefully, that will change but I think we can still have some wind and a lot of rain.  One time I am glad we are not on the coast.

We brought home a pizza for dinner, it had been awhile.

Orange

We went to Panera for bagels this morning.  Not many people there.  We had no shopping to do for a change so came right home.

We have been looking for our social security cards, we know we wouldn't throw them away but we can't find them.  About the time we order new ones we will find the old.  We are both missing ours so certain we needed them for some legal thing and then didn't put them away correctly.

HyVee steak for dinner, came with corn-on-the-cob and baked potato.

We watched the final episode of Orange is the New Black.  They completed some story lines and left others open for us to guess.

Wednesday and all is well

We had breakfast at Perkins, their potato pancakes.  Then we went to Walmart for a few things. 

For dinner we had chicken and bacon in a sauce on spaghetti noodles.  Sheila came over later with vegetables.  We got green peppers, cucumbers, kale, fennel and kohlrabi and bread.

Another nice weather day!

Taco Tuesday

We stayed home again today, doing stuff around the house.  I did some catching up on the computer which took a couple hours.  Then did a hard sudoku and read part of a book.

Being Taco Tuesday, we brought in Tacos for dinner and then watched some TV.  A slow day.

Monday in Minnesota

We cleaned the house, it had been a couple weeks so it was in need.  We almost never wait that long.  In the afternoon we had a heavy rain, our lawn had been mowed in the morning so the rain sank right into the ground.

For dinner we had leftovers!

Sunday

We ate breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  It is usually not crowded at the time we go but today it was all but packed.  I think people were stopping before going on to the state fair.   Why not just eat at the fair?  Don went to Fleet Farm, I usually like to shop around there but am still being careful of hurting the blister on the bottom of my foot.

Our daughters came over in the afternoon for a visit.  We grilled some steak for dinner.  Sheila brought over the remainder of my birthday cake so we had a slice of that for dessert.

Saturday in Apple Valley

We did things around the house, nothing exciting.  We went for dinner at Chili's.  We both had Quesadillas and a salad.  They were busy when we left. 

Then we went on search of a car wash without brushes that touch the car.  (Our usual car wash is not currently working.)  The third one we checked had a chamois type brush that did touch the car, but since it was not a bristle brush we decided to give it a try.  It did OK but not as good as our usual car wash, hope it is back soon.

Friday at HyVee and Home

Breakfast at HyVee this morning and then grocery shopping.  It was another beautiful day.

We ate dinner at home, had "camper eggs"  (scrambled eggs with pepperoni, mushrooms and cheese).  We had some eggs we needed to use.

Day after

Recovering from turning a year older yesterday!  We just did stuff around the house.  I admired my birthday gifts one more time and put most of them either to use or put away.  A couple things I will take to Florida when we go for the winter. 

We got steak (and corn-on-the-cob and baked potato) from the nearby grocery store for dinner.  Watched some Netflix.

Birthday

Today we had breakfast at Perkins.  I wanted potato pancakes for my birthday breakfast!  Then we did a couple errands, checked the car wash - still not working.  Checked another car wash was but they used brushes which we don't want touching our car, so our car is still dirty.

My blistered foot is still hurting so didn't do any more walking than possible, no shopping.

We went out to dinner at Osaka Japanese restaurant with family.  It was very good as usual.  Then to daughter Sheila's home for cake and ice cream.  I was given many nice gifts which I will enjoy!  It was a nice evening after a nice birthday day.

Eating, shopping and weather

We went to Panera for a bagel and then to Aldi's for some groceries.  We were going to Walmart but dark clouds were closing in on us.  It was green at the bottom, a sign of hail.  We decided it was best to get our car in our garage, of course we hit every light red.  We did make it home before it started to rain and there was no hail.  We did need to go to Walmart so later in the afternoon, by that time it was hot and humid.  We were also going to get the car washed but the equipment was down.

We grilled ham for dinner and also had corn-on-the-cob, potatoes and salad.

Back to normal

Today was about getting stuff put away and clothes washed.  The workmen had not finished our upstairs neighbor's porch supports so they were back at it today.  Without asking they used our outside water and electricity connections.  They also got our deck very muddy.  I'm sure they intended to pack up and forget cleaning our deck, but they found out I can be very assertive about such things.  The deck now looks very nice!

My blistered foot is a pain.  I'm wearing bedroom slippers which helps and Don wraps gauze around my foot.

We got reuben sandwiches from Arby's for dinner.

Home

We had breakfast with family, sat around and visited for awhile.  We got on the road about 10 AM.  We were going to stop for the night at Oacoma again but it was too early so decided to stop at Mitchell, still to early.  Then it was Sioux Falls where Don suggested we just drive the rest of the way home.  We got home about 10 PM.  We had stopped for a donut about lunch time and got some cold gas station pizza for dinner which we ate in the car.  The last hour of the trip got really long.

My foot kept hurting and I noticed an extra piece of skin in Sioux Falls so I tried to pull it off and it started to bleed.  I had Don look at it and he said it was a blister, a huge blister.  (I hadn't worn any new shoes so don't know why it got a blister on the bottom of my foot.)  Now it was extremely painful. 

Wedding

Don and I went to Tin Lizzie's Casino for breakfast and then up Strawberry Hill.  We turned off onto a gravel road which took us to Rochford and back into Deadwood.  Was a nice drive in the Black Hills.  We got into some rain, when we got back to Deadwood we found out we had just missed a major hail storm.

We had lunch and took a nap until time to get dressed for the wedding.  Daughter Brenda texted that they had arrived.  The wedding was nice, a lot of people.  There was a dinner following and then a DJ.  I'm sure most people enjoyed the loud music but it made it impossible for visiting.  We got tired and called it an evening about 9 PM.

Wall Drug, Spearfish Canyon and on to Deadwood

We got a good start and drove to Deadwood via Spearfish Canyon.  We knew we would be too early to check into our hotel so took the truly scenic route.  There has been a lot of rain so everything was green and lots of water coming over the falls. 

We stopped for a donut and coffee on the way at Wall Drug famous for their free ice water and 5 cent a cup coffee.  And a good place to buy Black Hills Gold jewelry, I wasn't going to buy anything BUT some was calling my name!

Our hotel in Deadwood (where the wedding is) was interesting.  I was formerly a part of the Homestake Gold Mine.  As much as possible parts of it became part of the "Deadwood Grand".  To get to our room we had to walk thru the casino and take an elevator up a couple floors which led us to the hotel check-in and then another elevator to our floor. 

We had dinner with our daughter Sheila and her husband Ken and then went to the patio bar where an "interesting" singer was performing. 

 

Go

We left about 10:30 and got to Oacoma, South Dakota (about the middle of SD) for the night.  We ate ate the "famous" Al's Oasis.  We both had their good Indian Tacos.  Was a good traveling day.

Makes me glad we're not in Florida this time of year!

Get set!

I finished packing, I hope.  I keep thinking of something else we need.

They finally started working on the poles that hold up our upstairs neighbor's porch.  One pole had worked itself into an angle.  We found out our next door neighbor has lung cancer, so sad. 

Sheila came over with our weekly vegetables, they will wait until we return.  We ate dinner at Panera and had a couple errands to run including getting gas for the trip.

Getting ready

Today I got most of the clothing packed for our trip.  Seems like we are taking a lot.  Of course we have to take dress clothing for the wedding.  We got hair cuts and ran some errands.

We are working on getting stuff eaten from the refrigator.  We had brats tonight.

Monday again

Did the laundry, cleaned the house and started to get things together for our Black Hills trip.  I'm not sure a car trip is the best idea with my painful back.  We did cancel going to Yellowstone, afterall we have been there many times before.

We had fish for dinner along with the last of the yellow beans we got.  Also had a huge salad just to use up lettuce, cukes, peppers, etc.

Sunday in MN

We went to Denny's for breakfast and then home to read the Sunday newspapers like usual.  In the afternoon our daughter's came over for a visit.

Day

It was lightly raining when we got up and continued on and off all day, a dark damp day.  We did stuff around the house and later brought in salads from Wendy's for dinner.  Certinenaly an uneventful day.

Groceries

We went for groceries this morning.  Again thought because we are going to be gone, I didn't need much but was $36.

We have another nice day, the lawns are looking like they could use some rain.  We brought in Chinese food for dinner.

Saving money!

Don needed to go to Menards Home Store today, I was going along but suddenly realized I had a $10 "birthday gift" from Kohls and 30% off.  I had Don drop me off at Kohls, I got Don a new shirt, a shirt for myself and earrings (everything was on sale).  All came to $18.  Had a couple errands and then stopped at Sam's Club for pizza for lunch, 2 slices and pop are 2.49.

We got our Thursday take home steak dinner from HyVee.

Windows

We got the rest of the windows washed.  I also washed the car windows, was just going to do the inside but ended up doing the outside as well.  Also wiped down the upholstery, etc.  Then did stuff around the house.

For dinner we had "camper eggs"  scrambled eggs with pepperoni, mushrooms and cheese.  Sheila came over with her weekly vegetable donation.  One thing we got is funnel, not sure what to do with that!


Sometimes spell check doesn't even understand me.

Panera, Walmart, Eggplant and Orange

Went to Panera for a bagel this morning and then to Walmart.  Didn't need a lot but still spent nearly $50.

My back feels better, I didn't sleep much last night so still feel "off".  As a southern friend would say "I feel puny."

We fixed the eggplant that our daughter Brenda had given us.  We fix it with onion, bacon, tomato sauce and spices and cook in the microwave.  It is usually something we have in Florida as we get the eggplants from a farmers market, don't go to farmers markets in the north.  It was really good and a nice change.

She had also given us a sign-in to Netflix so we watched the first of the last episodes of Orange is the New Black.

Clean house, sore back

Monday so we cleaned the house.  My back is still major hurting but ibuprofen seems to help.  Anyway got the job done, not sure how well.

There are storms around, the morning ones went to the north.  We did get a storm in the afternoon, nothing major.

I was still not feeling well so we went to KFC for fried chicken to bring home for dinner.

Sad Sunday

We went to Baker's Square for breakfast, had a half off coupon.  Came home and read the Sunday newspaper.  In the afternoon Sheila and Brenda came for a visit.

We grilled ham for dinner and also had corn-on-the-cob.  We watched TV in the evenings about the horrible two mass killings.  Three in one week and people still want no gun control.

Friday on Saturday

We drank our coffee outside, nice day.  Then we decided to get a start on washing windows and did the north side.  My back was hurting so decided to to the other half another time.

Don and I each did our own thing around the house.  We went to Friday's for dinner.  We probably should have left when we waited and waited for a server.  We finally ordered, got our beverages and then waited and waited again for our meals.  My back was hurting and I thought I was going to have to leave before the food came, but about that time it arrived.  We both had mexican salads, they came in a taco shell and thad steak on them.  They were good and too much food.  We got the bill and they had taken off our rum punch drinks because of our wait, made us feel a bit better.

Friday

HyVee for their breakfast special.  Today for the first time it was pancakes, eggs and bacon.  The pancakes were good and so was the hot real maple syrup.  Then we got groceries, didn't need much.

We worked around home and then got a pizza for dinner.

August 1

IKEA today.  We went for breakfast and then walked the whole store.  IKEA had sent me a coupon for $15 off my purchase so I got cookies and two packs of coffee.  I bought a cute sand "timer" where the sand moves from the top glass to the bottom.

By now it was time for lunch.  IKEA had also sent me a coupon for free meatball lunch with dessert.  We were tired after all this!

We split a HyVee steak dinner, too full from the day for a whole meal.


Blueberry Mousse