Another Estate Sale is Over

The Atwater United Methodist Church had another Estate Sale yesterday and today.

This one had a LOT of miscellaneous items. It took the workers 3 mornings last week and 3 mornings this week to get everything ready for the actual sale, which was held on June 29 and 30. Pictured are 3 of the workers. I don't know how many volunteers we had, but there were a lot of us. I enjoy being on the committee and have a chance to get to know the members of the church a little better.
It looks like we will have another Estate Sale next month and maybe one in August as well.

ATWATER'S FOURTH OF JULY PARADE

My friend Carole D. asked if I would like to ride with her in her cousin's Model A car. We will be sitting in the rumble seat. Her cousin Don will have his dog riding in the front seat with him.
Should be lots of fun. The Atwater parade starts at 9:00 a.m. by Foster Freeze; travel down Winton Way to Broadway, turn left on 3rd Street to the Park.
If you see us, give us a wave!!

Settin' and Thinkin'

After doing some watering and a little weed pulling, I sat on the glidder for a short rest.
As I was sitting there, I thought; if I wanted to spend a lot of money, I could have all this lawn (read grass and weeds) dug up and sterilize the ground; hire a professional landscaper and plant lots of colorful flowers. Wouldn't that be fun? I'd need to have a drip system put in.
I'm sure that would run into a lot of money. More than I'd care to spend. But still, if the weeds could really be kept to a minimum, that would be fun. I know I'd really enjoy that.
I'm borrowing this picture that Sandy took of me deadheading the Gaillardias. That little rolling bench I'm sitting on sure comes in handy. Found it at OSH a couple of years ago. It's hard on the old back to stoop over for any length of time and prune off the dead flowers.
I caught Maggie relaxing on the top level of her cat tree today. That sure has been a good investment. She loves that tree and spends a lot of time on it. It's 5.5 feet tall and she likes the top two levels the most.

My Company Left

Sandy and Dol flew in for a visit, arriving late Saturday night (June 2nd) and left for Northern California on Sunday June 10. I get to see them once a year, so while they are here I kind of stick to them like glue. They did go to Yosemite one day and hiked up to Nevada Falls. Sandy has a nice post about that on her blog.
Now they are in Chico visiting with Mandy and John.
Maggie and I are settling into our usual routine. Last night I went to Bible Study at the Atwater United Methodist Church. We are studying Adam Hamilton's book, "Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White." It has thoughts on Religion, Morality and Politics. It will be an interesting read with lots of difficult questions or ideas to consider. Of course we won't be told what or who to vote for, but things to think about before we make our decisions. Politics is just a small portion of what is read and discussed. Looking at the chapter titles, I see a lot thought provoking discussions ahead. This book and other Adam Hamilton books are available at www.amazon.com.
The Pastor's next series of sermons on Sundays will kind of follow along with this theme. Join us if you can; Sundays at 10:00 a.m. at the Methodist Church on the corner of Bellevue and Linden Streets.

Lazy Saturday

This morning we went to the Jantz Cafe for breakfast. Rosalie and Claudia joined us there. We went early; 7:30. I forgot to take a picture. In 2008, Rosalie and Claudia went with me to visit Sandy and Dol in the Netherlands. They had a nice short visit together.

We're having a lazy Saturday afternoon. Sandy is sitting on the porch reading a book. It's been a little windy today, not a good day for sitting around the pool.

Dol is dividing his attention between the iPad and a game on TV.
Earlier today they watched a couple of football games from Europe on TV.
Yesterday afternoon they gave Maggie the flea medicine on the back of her neck. She is not happy about that. She is keeping her distance from all of us. Maggie did sleep on my bed last night, so she's not as mad at me as she is with Sandy and Dol.
I guess the medicine is not affecting her as bad as I thought it did last time. She just doesn't like it and lets us know. She'll get over it.
Maggie jumped in front of the computer a while ago to let me know she wanted her canned cat food. But then she went right back outside and under the car. She's mad, but she still gets hungry after all.

Lunch at Josie's in Atwater

Jack, Kathryn, Tom and Margie joined us for lunch today at Josie's in Atwater. There were 7 of us and one of the waiters offered to take our picture.
The food is always delicious there.
Some of the family don't get to see Sandy and Dol very often, so it was nice that the four of them were able to have lunch with us today. Sitting is Sandy, Dol, Jack and Kathryn; standing is Margie, Tom and me (Lorraine).
We had a nice visit.
Tomorrow it's breakfast at the Jantz Cafe.

Barbeque Steaks

Yesterday Sandy and Dol showed me how to barbeque steaks on the grill. It's not hard I guess, just have to remember a few things. Like wait until the coals cool down a little. I'll have to try that myself after they leave. Last summer I was wishing I had a grill, so bought recently so they could show me how it's done.
We had steak, corn-on-the-cob, the usual summer barbeque food. A very good dinner.
Today they went to Yosemite Valley. Sandy wanted to hike up to the falls. They haven't been there for about 10 years. It would have been a hard trip for me and because of that, probably not much fun.
My plan is to do some work in the yard. I'm glad it's not very hot today. Everything needs watering and it's going to take a while.
So many times while outside checking on plants, I find myself saying out loud, "oh, my gosh;" another flower plant came up that was growing in a totally different spot. Today it was the "Pin Cushion" flower that is growing in the side yard, came up in the back yard. I didn't know they would come up so easily from seed. Wow!! I would have over-looked it except it already had a little flower blooming.

Today's Picnic Lunch

Today we picked up some KFC and had a picnic in John and Violet's back yard. There were 6 of us, my sisters, Sandy, Dol and I. They have a huge, beautiful back yard and they invite senior citizens to come, bring their picnic lunch, enjoy the very nice surroundings and have fresh fruit from their yard for dessert. They have invited the residents from Grace Home this Thursday.
After eating our lunch, John gives a tour of his backyard on his golf cart. Carolyn and I had the tour before so we stayed behind and took some pictures. Dol let the women ride and he walked along and got the tour and some exercise at the same time.
This is just a part of the many fruit trees in the family orchard. There are peaches, apricots, plums, cherries, citrus, and much more. There are wells around each tree for proper irrigation.
Here they are, back from the grand tour. Sandy is sitting in the front, next to John. You can see the big bicycle decoration in the back ground. To see more of the pictures that I took today click here.

Storm clouds appeared just before we left. The sky was beautiful with the dark clouds and we did get a few sprinkles as we packed up the car. We got home, unloaded the car and then the wind and the rain came. It was a downpour. What great timing we had. Got home just in time.
Sandy has a nice post on her blog about today's outing. See it here.
Her pictures at flickr can be seen here.

Mystery Solved

For nearly two years, I've been wondering if some stray cat has been coming in Maggie's cat door during the night and eating her food. Sometimes it just seemed like too much food was missing the next morning. People suggested I buy a security camera and point it to the cat dishes, but I never got around to doing that.
Well, Sandy and Dol arrived late Saturday night and they were later awaken at 2:30 in the morning by Maggie's loud cat scream.
They got up to investigate and there was a strange tabby cat in the kitchen and Maggie was hiding under the piano bench.
I slept through the whole thing.
Poor Maggie. Who knows how many times she fought off the intruder while I blissfully slept totally unaware?
Now we lock the cat door during the night!!!

It's Gone !!

I had one little cherry on the Stella cherry tree. Yesterday I was sitting on the glidder under the carport and enjoying the nice weather. Suddenly I saw a large bird fly away from that tree.
I thought, oh no !! The birds are going to eat that little cherry. So, I got up and picked it.
The plan was to save it for Sandy when she gets here (tomorrow night) but after I picked it, I plopped it in my mouth with nary a thought of saving it.
Sorry Sandy. It was delicious!!