In Search Of...

Earlier in the week I got an email from a company touting their "Halloween Spoketacular Scavenger Hunt", which involved taking a bike ride to find a list of Halloween items. 

The event was geared to the family, but nowhere did it say you had to take a child with you. Today was a warm, sunny temperature island (a high of 85 degrees!) in the middle of a brisk, rainy fall week. After a morning full of errands I decided to get out my bike and take a ride to look for the things on the list. Although it was recommended, and would have been a lot of fun, I didn't try to put on any type of Halloween attire. Instead, I dug a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, slid my feet into my shoes, and filled my water bottle before I left the condo.

The scavenger hunt was very entertaining. I rode for an hour through several neighborhoods and found most of the 22 items on the card before I decided I was hot and it was time to head home.

Five years ago today: A Way To Show You Care

Wanna Follow?

The other day Mevely317 (Myra) from Respice, Prospice left me a nice comment. At the end she asked if I had "a 'followers' or subscription icon" on my blog.

According to official Blogger sources, they introduced the Followers option and sidebar gadget back in 2008.  I don't know why I never used it, other than the fact that I personally use a third-party feed reader to deliver posts from all the blogs I've chosen to follow (no matter who the host is). 

But I understand that not everyone does things the way I do. If someone wants to read what I've written I should make it as easy as possible, and decided to add the Followers gadget to the blog’s sidebar. The process took less than a minute. Now anyone who wants to follow the blog via Blogger has an easy way to do it.

Five years ago today: Fixing A Hole

He's Deciding To Hang It Up

 Hubby Tony has been working at full-time jobs for more than four decades. For the past few years the subject of retirement occasionally came up (usually when an acquaintance made the big lifestyle change), but for Tony the event was always somewhere out in the future. In his past seven months of working from home I sensed that the idea was becoming more and more appealing to him.

Once Tony finished up a significant project in September he started seriously talking about setting a date. At his employer it's considered best practice to give six months notice. That insures his supervisor won't assign him any new projects, allows him to attempt to wrap up any loose ends on the existing ones, or arrange for their transfer to someone else. Eventually Tony decided that the end of March would be a fine time to start the new chapter in his life. 

Once the date was set, Tony relayed the information to his boss and the rest of the family, and started mentioning it to coworkers as he Skyped or texted with them. He also started the process of filling out the necessary paperwork. 

Now that things have been officially put into place, we're measuring time by how long it is until Tony's big date. Based on past experience, I know the months will fly by

A Dallas Debut

Hubby Tony and I just returned from a mini-vacation, road tripping to Dallas to visit with Oldest Son Tony and his family and attend the baptism of Granddaughter Gee.

It was an entire day's drive each way, and the first long road trip for Tony's new car. On the way there we went southwest through Little Rock. We took a different way home, going northeast through the Oklahoma Indian Nations and then east once we reached the interstate. The Sirius radio trial that came with Tony's car was still in force, which kept us from needing to channel surf in the outstate areas.

The days in between drives were filled with wonderful conversation, wonderful play time, and wonderful food. I quickly remembered how wonderful it is to sit on the floor and play with a baby...peek-a-boo, toys, books, and cuddles. During some nap times Tony and I got out and explored the neighborhood on foot.

On Sunday Tony and I were privileged to stand in as proxy godparents for her baptism, as the real godparents could not attend. There were three children baptized, and priest did a good job of modifying the ceremony for covid reasons (using a different cotton ball to anoint each child with oil, using a pitcher to pour holy water instead of dipping from the communal font, and skipping the prayers over the ears and mouth). It was still powerful, though, and I'm glad that we got to be a part of it.

First Grand who has dressed in pink!

 
Five years ago today: Next Year's Lawn Starts Now‎

Hand Hygiene For All

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you may not have known that today was Global Handwashing Day. (I didn't either, until I received an email from a body and skin care store telling me their products were a perfect way to celebrate.)

According to the website, the day is "a global advocacy day dedicated to increasing awareness and understanding about the importance of handwashing with soap as an effective and affordable way to prevent diseases and save lives" and "an opportunity to design, test, and replicate creative ways to encourage people to wash their hands with soap at critical times".

I've always done a good job of washing my hands, but back in the spring when the pandemic started I really kicked it up a notch. I know I'm fortunate in that there's always plenty of fresh water and soap available for me to use. And I have the luxury to choose what type suds to use: bar, liquid, or gel soap, scented or unscented, and with or without added moisturizers. 

Have you increased your hand washing in the past few months? Or were you always conscientious about it? What's your favorite type of soap to use?

Five years ago today: Operation Exercise

A Ram Sang (AKA Anagrams)

An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase. There are millions of them, but here are some of my favorites:

• Debit card = Bad credit
• Snooze alarms = Alas, no more z's
• Halley's Comet = Shall yet come
• Slot machines = Cash lost in me
• Punishment = Nine Thumps
• The Morse code - Here come dots
• Dormitory = Dirty room
• Vacation time = I am not active
• The eyes = They see
• Astronomer = Moon starer
• The Hurricanes = These churn air
• A decimal point = I’m a dot in place
• Schoolmaster = The classroom
• Presbyterian = Best in prayer
• Eleven plus two = Twelve plus one
• Conversation = Voices rant on
• A gentleman = Elegant man
• Funeral = Real fun
• Hot water = Worth tea

The Argyle Sweater

Five years ago today: Older Than I Look?

Organized Outside Movement

 A couple of weeks ago Hubby Tony came home from his trip to the the grocery store with a story. While there, he had talked to the owners of a gym that's getting ready to open a couple of miles from the house. Based on what he learned, he signed up as a "founding member" (getting the benefits of the cheapest membership, but not paying anything until they actually start business). He told me that he liked the gym's claims of a limited number of people in each class, enforced proper social distancing, and the thorough cleaning of the area after each group leaves.

Before the gym opens they are holding free public classes (some in a park, others in a mall before the opening hour). Each time Tony gets information about a class he forwards it to me.  I attend whenever one of the class times jives with my schedule. 

It feels great to do something physical other than walking! So far I've only been to the outdoor classes, There's room to spread out, and no recirculated air to breathe. The largest group has been six people. Everyone does a great job of keeping their distance from each other, and if necessary the instructor uses a sound system so they don't have to yell.

I've participated in both early morning and early evening sessions. Each is unique in its own way. In the morning the class is more likely to be held under a pavilion, because of early-morning dew on the grass. In the evening there's more activity in the park, and you can hear the marching band practice music from a high school a couple of miles away.

Based on my small sample I'm inclined to sign up for a gym membership too. The commitment is month to month, so the worst that will happen is that I will go once, decide it's not a safe environment, and lose a little bit of money.

Five years ago today: Ten Minutes At A Time

No More Enumeration

 It's only been ten days since I worked on the U.S. Census operation to count homeless people, but it feels much longer than that. Last week I was offered the opportunity to move over to the operation for following up with people who haven't turned in their forms, but I declined because I have several commitments coming up.

Because of political manipulations, court cases, and judges rulings the date for ending data collection bounced around.....from October 31st, to September 30th, to October 5th, and then back to October 30th. Even though I wasn't using it I kept my phone charged,and I got an official message each time a change was made. 

Over the weekend I got a text from someone in a state that abuts Missouri, saying they were looking for people to join their effort. I ignored it. Today I got a text from my supervisor, which said that even though official operations were still going on there was no more work in this area. She requested that we make an appointment with her to turn in our equipment, which she would hold until the office was ready to officially process them after the official end of operations.

I sent a quick response, and got a late morning appointment time. The boxes of forms were still in the trunk of my car, but before I left I made sure all the phone accessories were in the package. I didn't want to have to make a second trip! 

My destination was the supervisor's house. When I arrived I carried the boxes of forms up to the porch and rang the doorbell.  She answered, but instead of inviting me in, for social distancing purposes I stood on the porch and filled out a form indicating I was turning in my badge and phone. The supervisor checked to make sure everything was there, asked me to sign the bottom of the form, and gave me a copy. The last thing I did was use my phone to input my time and mileage to her house, then handed it to her. We chatted for a couple of seconds and said our farewells.

I enjoyed my Census work, and if they want me in ten years I'm pretty sure I'll be available.

Five years ago today: Do Not Engage

Google Is Amazing

Months ago, when I was unpacking boxes of things after our move I came across a box of curios that had been stored in the china cabinet we no longer had. Hubby Tony and I decided to keep a few of them, and I offered the rest to other parts of the family. They took some, but there were a handful of items that went completely unclaimed. 

Before I packaged them up for Goodwill I decided I would see if they had any value. I called a local antique mall and got the phone number for an appraiser. Before I could make the call the world went into COVID quarantine, so I shoved the items into a box and put the box in a corner of the spare bedroom. Eventually it got buried under other things and I forgot all about it.

Fast forward to now. The other week I thoroughly cleaned that corner of the bedroom and the box reappeared. Before I got rid of it I still wanted to know if there were any gems among the doodads. I tried to get hold of the appraiser, came up empty handed, and then wondered what I could find out online. One morning I sat in front of the computer and started a research project.

The first item was a sweet ceramic figurine we had received from Tony's great aunt when she passed away. On the bottom was a logo that I couldn't read, and the name "Marie" underneath it. I typed "vintage figurine purple dress marie" in the search bar and hit Enter. Immediately my screen was filled with photos of my figurine!

Based on the information provided on a couple of the website results I learned that Marie was made by Royal Doulton. Her number (HN1370) was the very tiny letters on the bottom, and she was worth about $25

I listed the figurine for sale on Facebook. It took a couple of days to get a response, but eventually I mailed her to an older gentleman who told me he wanted it because Marie had been his mother's name.

Autumn Earworm

Today I was reminded the full moon that begins tonight is the one nearest to the autumnal equinox and is called the Harvest Moon. Because of that I've had this song stuck in my head all day. 

 You're welcome.

Five years ago today: Post 1600