At this time I want to acknowledge the deep debt of gratitude to all those who have supported me in this endeavor. My wife, Queen is my inspiration and greatly augments my efforts. I realize that I sometimes must drive her nuts with my ravings and antics. Her support has been a lifesaver.

     My son George, grandsons; Andy and Jason have been instrumental in making these things appear at all. They all suffer an old fool well, my thanks to them all. I also deeply appreciate the responses from my readers who seem to enjoy the pictures. I regret that some still have problems opening the pictures. At least these pages don’t have to stand on their literary merit alone. Ha!!

This meant an emergency trip to the store for ice for the cooler chests as well the present refrigerator to use as a cooler. This morning the man came with the bad news. The compressor is shot. The good news is that it is under warranty. We should have it next Thursday. <Sigh>

<11:17 AM> I am back from my swim. The water was wonderful. Fritz was there as well as several other swimmers. I saw Betty Steigerwalt up there. She too has had her health problems but she is still plugging along. She told me our old friend Helen Wisocky has great problems walking now and is afraid she will fall if she tries to walk down to the pool. That is a real shame. She is a wonderful person and she loves that place so much.

Fritz was here for lunch. I had to go down to Lafayette Avenue to get the cold meats for lunch. Later George and Kathy stopped by on there way back to Delaware.

I went back to the pool for a quick dip and to take a few pictures. I tried something new. This camera is capable of taking video. So I took a few shots of some of these same kids in action. It would be nice if there were a way to display some of my better efforts on these pages. We shall see.

Then I returned to help with supper.

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The kids are having a ball

Keith Billig and Tommy at the pool today

Tonight we invite that near famous Indian artifact archaeologist or scavenger Thomas P. Davies to dinner. Afterwards we had a great time sitting on the front porch talking. Queen and I always enjoy the fine company.

 
Sunday, July 11, 2004 7:10 AM 64 deg at LVIA and 61.5 in the bus stop

It is a sunny warm day this morning. It is neither too hot nor uncomfortable as yet. The blood glucose was 145 and the weight 200.

This morning Queen wants to go to Walmart. <11:37> We are back. It was a hot trip coming back because the sun heated the inside of the car. By the time the air conditioning became effective we were in Bowmanstown. The store was not too crowded.
I saw our neighbor Dee Miller there. She had to quit her job to take care of an aging relative. She says she misses it a lot. Hey you do what you have to do!!! 

Boy, Oh boy, now I really understand the old tale of not missing the water until the well runs dry. We really miss a fully functional refrigerator-freezer in the kitchen. As of now we have a glorified Maytag icebox. This morning on the way home from our shopping trip I had to stop at IGA for another large bag of ice. Oh it keeps the produce cool and other non-critical items but things like luncheon meat and other perishables must be retrieved from the basement fridge.

I remember as a kid we had a Frigidare refrigerator with the compressor in the basement. It used ammonia as the refrigerant. One day it sprang a leak. Whew!! we evacuated the house fast! But we also kept the old icebox we had on the east side back porch. Mom used it in a pinch. I well recall as a kid chasing after the iceman who came by every day with big chunks of ice. We kids would beg for a sliver of cold ice. He would take a large chunk to a customer’s house using large ice tongs. We were not beneath using his ice pick and help ourselves. Sometimes, he would shaft us by taking the ice pick with him. Boy on a hot summer day that was great stuff.

Monday, July 12, 2004 7:15 AM 70 deg at LVIA and 67.8 in the bus stop
It is raining heavily with a strong thundershower this morning. It is probably just as well that Queen isn’t up yet because I am sure she would have questioned my sanity by my taking an umbrella and my trusty cup of 8 O'clock coffee up to the tent, in the pouring rain. Man it was raining pitchforks and hammer handles. Yes I got wet but it was worth it. I loved it! Hey sometimes things in life that are free are worth it even if they are nuts I still do them. I wanted to listen to the rain on the tent. I went up there in spite of the rain and it was well worth the discomfort.

This morning the blood glucose is 128 and the weight 201.  <4:00 PM> What a day this has been!!!!
This morning my blank checks arrived and I had to pay some bills. One of which is for my cable internet. That one is absolutely essential to me. Ha!!

Then we went to Super-Fresh for 8 O’clock coffee that was on sale. Upon returning I discovered that I had forgotten to get more ice so I had to get the car out again and it was down to IGA for ice. Then also stopping at George’s place to retrieve the rest of our food from their fridge. I shut it off unplugged it and let it set with the doors ajar.

Since it was pouring rain about as hard as it could I figured an umbrella to be virtually useless to me. So I wore my big yellow poncho like slicker. That enabled me to move about in the rain with both arms full of stuff. It was hot and sweaty. By this time my feet were about as wet as they could get! Nonetheless going into George’s house in a pouring rain I caught the heel of my shoe on the screen door and on the poncho as well and promptly walked right out of one of the shoes! By now I had the feeling that things were not going too well. When I got home I told Queen and she asked me if I swore? I said no not very much. I think I referred to the “parentage” of the sneaker; but by now I had reached a level of frustration that not even swearing helped. After a temper outburst she often asks me “did that help”?  My inevitable answer is always your damn right!! I got everything home and Queen and I found a place for it all.

Queen in addition to putting up with my ravings was doing a big wash. Yes today is the dreaded sheet day so the beds had to be made also. We are both dead tired. It was almost supper time before she finished the last of the wash.

This morning I also I called the bathroom people to find out when we are scheduled for that job. Instead of a couple of weeks as the man said it might be at the end of July or early August. <Sigh>

I see that Ada Webb died. She had a massive stroke last week. She was 96. The “pollution” finally got her. Golly she was cut down in her prime!! Tonight for supper due to the problems of the day instead of spaghetti, Queen had a tuna noodle casserole. Boy it was good!