August 1-August 15, 2021

  Summer is really heating up! We have had temps in the upper 90s, feels like low 100s followed by some incredible thunderstorms. So no need to water the plants! But it makes for some annoying side effects-like power outages. We have had several power outages that lasted for hours, and some power blips that seem to cause more issues. Like the hot water heater shutting off. Turns out Tom was out of town when that happened. This is a new tank and I was not familiar with it, and actually never have experienced a hot water heater shutting off(it's gas but electric light). So I borrowed my second husband, our great neighbor Dan who came over and did a quick assessment and got it running again. Turns out it is a simple On/Off switch that just needed a reboot. I don't feel comfortable flipping switches if I don't know what they do(I've seen too many action packed movies I guess!). Scott and I were grateful to have hot water for showers the next day. 

And besides power outages there are usually lots of tree branches down, or clumps of leaves scattered all over the yard to pick up. Our Cincinnati decorative pear tree dropped another large branch in the backyard. I could barely move it off the lawn and now it needs cut up. And I got caught driving home from work in a huge storm one evening. I really could not see the road-the rain was coming down sideways from the strong wind that was blowing through and very heavy. I was slowly following a van in front of me, focused on their brake lights when they suddenly stopped in the middle of the road. A  large branch fell across the street. He sneaked by on the shoulder and I followed, but I got hit on the passengers side and took a branch with me attached to the side view mirror. Fortunately no damage to the van. I am also keeping a close eye on our neighbors very large white pine tree that died this summer, hoping they take it down before it falls over on my van in our driveway!

At least all the beautiful sunshine and warm weather has been terrific for our tomato plant and jalapenos. We are now getting a good stock to use in nightly dinner recipes. I still think my favorite is making a BLT with a freshly picked tomato off your own plant. Scott's elevated planter with the netting cover seems to really have worked this year keeping all the critters from eating the veggies! And my few large stalks of milk weed have paid off as I spot more and more teeny tiny monarch caterpillars busy munching away. One of my plants actually grew mature enough to sprout seed pods so I will probably share them with Allison's boyfriend Gabe so he can plant some in his backyard. I am always amazed that the monarchs can locate the milkweed plants(they must have some type of radar!). I really have only seen 1 or 2 of the butterflies hanging around my butterfly bush this summer. Guess that's all it takes! And the last of the baby birds-wrens have left one of the birdhouses in the backyard. I was just sad that we did not have any bluebirds this year. Guess they were not impressed with our fancy new blue bird house. 

I finally heard back from the vet clinic at the beginning of the month about Cookie. He sent off a sample of Cookies bloodwork to a pathologist who reports she may have Leukemia or Allergies. You pick. Well, she is not showing any symptoms of any real illness, so we are picking allergies. We ruled out over consumption of cicadas. And we had to switch dog food because Cookies food company stopped making her kibble. We switched from Royal Canin to Blue Buffalo, but if she is allergic to the food it takes a long time to assess with blood tests. She has not shown any outward physical signs of being allergic to the food like throwing up. The vet recommends I bring her back in late in the fall to reassess the bloodwork and reschedule her teeth cleaning. 

Meanwhile I have been slowly prepping for my own hip replacement surgery. They are backed up until the end of October, beginning of November. I cannot even schedule the appointment until I have seen my dentist, completed bloodwork and watched some surgery videos. I finished the video on anesthesia. Not so sure I really want to see the surgery video(actually I have seen hip replacement surgeries in real life while working at Rancho in California), but it is different when it is going to be your hip bone they are sawing off! I am scheduled to see my dentist next week and then I will drop into the lab for the blood work. And I will watch the stupid video so I can get on the books! I also finally contacted my Rehab company's HR dept located in Illinois on central time to ask about Family Medical Leave. They won't even discuss it until 1 month prior to the surgery. But at least I am eligible. And Tom asked about Short Term Disability. All the other companies and hospitals I have worked for in the past automatically gave us Short Term Disability, but this one makes you pay for it. I did not bother signing up, but thought maybe if I did, I would be eligible to receive it when I was off for surgery. So I finally had time to call and ask HR and surprisingly I found out I was already enrolled. They had grandfathered us in from the last contract company that took us over. Just have to contact HR 1 month prior to surgery to get a case worker to start the paperwork with Lincoln financial. So my 3 months off won't be a total washout! After that I will have to figure out what I want to be when I grow up! And get medical clearance to do it.

So I am busy limping around for now, still working 5-6 days a week, 8-9 hrs a day. We are still pretty busy at work, especially since staff have been trying to go on vacation having missed out last year. And we are still short staffed. The PT dept is going to hire a new therapist. Not sure what they are going to do when I am on leave. Our Speech Therapist decided to quit and work as needed-better choice of hours and more pay. Plus she can work at other facilities of her choosing as needed. That certainly keeps our boss extra busy since she is also a Speech Therapist. We are still wearing our masks and now back to face shields. I really hate those. They are also letting more people in the building without appointments. So they expect us to drop everything and bring the patients to the front door to visit their family. The family cannot come into the building to visit if the patient shares a room with another patient (or resident). So they were visiting outside on the porch, but when the temps were in the upper 90s it was not healthy. So they had to open up an empty apartment inside for patients to visit. On the other hand, my mom's building still had an episode of COVID, so no one is allowed inside the building to visit now until the 24th of August. So I have not seen my mom in quite awhile and they told me she didn't seem well(appetite was down and she was a bit grumpy). Waiting on tests. I wish I could go in and see her.

Then again I have not had a whole lot of free time. The first weekend in August we headed down to Busch Gardens. We planned on a family vacation with a visit to Busch Gardens and Water Country USA ahead of time. Both Scott and I had to make sure we could get a Friday off work and Tom and Allison are usually off every other Friday. Turns out Tom decided to stay home. We were dog sitting for our friends with their Cavachon. They were going to watch Cookie for us, but they had a change in their vacation plans, so we had Ripley visiting for a week and a half while they traveled to California. Their son Bryce(Scott's age) was completing a computer internship virtually and decided to stay in Southern California with coworkers rather than work from  home. So Beth and Barry and their eldest son, Barry II decided to spend a week visiting Bryce near USC. They sent a few photos and asked if we had any recommendations of activities besides the usual tourist stuff-Disney and Universal Studios. They visited the LA Modern Art Museum and I recommended a tour of the Queen Mary. However it was closed due to COVID. I also recommended La Brea Tar Pits and the Huntington Library tour. I know they already had tickets to tour the Huntington Library which is basically a museum and huge gardens. Tom and I enjoyed High Tea with friends there when Allison was just a baby, but that was closed due to COVID too. I have old videos showing us pushing Allison around the grounds there in her baby carriage when my parents came out to visit with my brother Mike. Beth sent back a photo during their visit and said they were having a wonderful time. We will have to get together with them and see what other places they visited. Meanwhile, Tom decided to stay home with the dogs-he did not want to pay the extra $100 to house the dogs at the hotel and was worried about the two pups barking at night. However, he did decide that he would drive down on Saturday and we would put the dogs in the Busch Gardens kennel while touring the park, and then he was going to head home. He also got the kids and I a hotel about 30 mins past the park as the cost of hotels skyrocketed in Williamsburg. I wanted to stay the entire weekend to take advantage of all the activities scheduled including the Bier Fest! They usually run the Bier Fest in the fall, but looks like everyone is busy trying to make money fast these days! So the kids and I went down on Friday and drove straight to the Water Park. Our neighbors Dan and Gloria were also traveling to Williamsburg for the weekend. They arrived on Thursday and met us at the Water Park. Allison and Scott headed to a few water rides while Dan, Gloria and I took a few spins around Hubba Hubba Highway, the lazy river. The park was busy, but we have seen it more crowded. However, they shut down several of the rides permanently, including one of our favorites. I really can't get up and down from the inner tubes these days, let alone the beach chairs! But my favorite part of the day was finding the free beer booth for members! We ended up staying in the park until 6pm and then all headed into town to eat at our favorite Chinese buffet. We were very excited to see it was open! After dinner the kids and I headed into Busch Gardens for Scott to catch a ride on one of the roller coasters and  enjoy the fireworks while snacking on dessert-a funnel cake topped with fruit filling-I had apple and Scott had strawberry, along with ice cream and whipped cream. It was like eating a whole pie! Allison and I shared a plate and absolutely could not eat it all. Either could Scott. It was a beautiful evening and the fireworks and dessert was a great way to end it! We then headed out to our hotel for the night. 

On Saturday we heard the weather was going to be terrible, with a full day of thunderstorms expected. We called Tom the night before and recommended he stay home. Driving down with lots of traffic is bad enough with good weather. So we woke to some light rain, had breakfast in the hotel buffet and headed to the park to take our chances. Turns out it did rain all day, sometimes heavy, but no thunderstorms! Allison and Scott started the day off on a roller coaster ride. We then picked up a tasting card for all the beer and hard cider samples along with lunch. There were several new shows scheduled so I was trying to catch a few, but none of the staff seemed to know where the stages were set up. We randomly came across some of the pop up stages, but missed most of the shows. And later when it started pouring they just cancelled the performances. Not sure who managed the set up, but they did not think it through. We did catch a fun musical number while Scott and Allison ate some lunch during a terrific downpour, but the show must go on! At least the performers were under a roof. And Scott rode a water ride-not much difference in how wet he got  on the ride versus walking around the park in a rain coat. We finally ended our day enjoying the traditional Irish dancers inside a theater and then they announced they were shutting things down due to the weather around 5pm. No matter, we had finished all our beer and hard cider samples, caught a few shows, ate tons of food and had a great time! And I got a refund on our dog kennel. So we headed out back to our hotel. We picked up some Hot and Ready Little Caesars Pizza and watched the new release of "Suicide Squad 2" on our cable. I must say it was a terrible movie. Although Tom caught it at home and really enjoyed it. I liked the first movie. 

We headed home after breakfast on Sunday morning. Since we were staying east of the park, the GPS sent us home on the side roads which actually made for a much nicer drive than taking the freeway. And we made great time-a 3 hr drive. We picked up lunch on the way home and Allison joined us while we watched Disney + Monsters, Inc. the series. (we really like it!). She then left to do her shopping and laundry before starting the new work week. Even though Tom could not join us, we all had a wonderful mini vacation! Tom on the other hand was busy dog sitting and deep cleaning our kitchen cabinets.  

We have squeezed in some family time this summer. We usually try to catch up with Allison on weekends. Lately Friday night has worked well for getting together and having dinner and catching a movie. Sometimes we only have time for fast food like Chick Fil A. But when our schedules work we can spend more time. We tried a small German restaurant near Allison's apartment called the Rathskellar. They have a small outside dining area, but we stopped in on a very rainy, stormy evening so we ate inside. Basically a basement in an old house, rather small and loud. But the food was fun. Scott tried a German Stout beer and we ordered a platter with wurst sausage and pork and chicken schnitzle along with a large pretzel and potato pancakes. And lots of different sauces. Scott also tried a Cordon Bleu schnitzle with apple vinegar coleslaw and schnitzle pasta and cheese. Very tasty. We also saw "The Jungle Cruise"-a bit of a 'Pirates of the Caribbean Theme'. And we recently saw 'Free Guy' with Ryan Reynolds. Leans towards the video gamer crowd, but very funny. It's Ryan Reynolds. 

Tom also spent the past few weeks traveling for work. When he returned from Wisconsin/Illinois, he drove down to work near the Dulles airport and spent the following week in West Virginia. He also received word back from the Walden University Advisory board that his written thesis proposal was good to go to the next level after some modifications on the references. He still has to send out surveys and gather data and incorporate the info into his written thesis. So he is on the right track of working to graduate with his PhD!

Scott also has his classes set up for the fall semester. He is taking 4 classes and a lab for each class-Thermodynamics, Metrology, Fluid Mechanics and Design. He actually received an email from his advisor asking if he wouldn't mind changing his schedule to allow other students into one of his classes so they could graduate earlier. We don't think so. Scott does not want to be one of those students that can't sign up for the required classes causing him to drag out his college years-especially when we are paying out of state prices! Western is not demanding students be vaccinated, but if not, they have to be tested every week. And the school has a mask mandate. Scott is very happy that he has his own dorm room again this year with an added bonus of his own bathroom. So no worrying about sharing, including germs in his room! We move Scott back to Michigan on August 26th and he starts school on Sept 1st. 

We also kept busy following the end of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Tom found the badmitton tournaments quite amazing. It is crazy to see all the different types of sports. Allison was hoping to see ultimate frisbee added in. And I usually try to fit in not only one fireworks show during the summer, but a patriotic concert. This summer the outdoor concerts and movies have returned. It has been hard to get to some of the shows due to bad weather, or bad timing. Or just too tired! I did sign up for reservations for a free concert by the US Coast Guard at the new outdoor stage near our outdoor theater in the woods in nearby Columbia, MD. I had enough tickets for Tom and I as well as our neighbors, Dan and Gloria. Tom was traveling, Allison was busy playing frisbee and Scott was not interested. So I took Dan and Gloria and we had a lovely evening listening to some John Phillips Souza patriotic marches and the Olympic Theme song. (too bad it did not end with fireworks!). The concert was not at all crowded and had an entertaining twist when a car alarm went off. One of the band members tried to copy the sound on his trumpet! Wish I had more time (and energy) to keep up with all the new entertainment returning to the area! Like Allison and Tyler visited the Howard County Fair on the last day. Unfortunately most of the large animals were already gone. But they always have nice presentations of the 4H projects still set up to wander around including plant displays, clothing design, food items and art work. I would love to have visited as well. Maybe I will have time to attend the Maryland State Fair. And the Renaissance Festival is on track to return this year starting the end of August. 

And football has come back! We invited our neighbors Dan and Gloria over to catch the pre season Ravens vs St Louis football game over Saturday night. They mostly played the 2nd and 3rd string and it was not looking so great for the Ravens, but they pulled out a win in the end! And we enjoyed a great steak dinner together. We also got together on Sunday afternoon to try out a new distillery/bar that opened in old Ellicott City. The bar is owned by a Russian family and they make whiskey, gin and bourbon. So Tom and Dan tried a flight of whiskey and bourbon and Gloria and I tried a Gin and tonic with lemoncello that they make in house. We found a new favorite drink! We'll have to try and reproduce it at home with Dan's homemade lemoncello(italian). Afterwards we stopped into dinner at the Phoenix in town. The bar only had appetizers, but we will probably go back so we can sit outside on their decks built on the side of the hill overlooking downtown. Most of our restaurants are still trying to support outdoor dining and naturally those spots fill up fast. Especially when the weather is so nice outside. Not happy that COVID is creeping back up and we are looking at restrictions again, like showing your vaccine card to enter restaurants, movie theaters, concerts, etc. NY has started and it looks like Maryland is next on the list. Just glad we all have our vaccines!