Spare Again

John and I went bowling last Sunday to get some much needed practiced, and it payed off this Thursday during league night. We each improved our average by several points and made our team proud. Now you have to understand that improving your average by just a few points means a lot because the later it gets in the season, the higher above your average you have to bowl to bring that average up.

My overall average has fallen to 109, no thanks to the BPPV that is still with me, although much more manageable now. I bowled the first game without any strikes but lost of spares and still managed a 138. I fell apart in the second game and bowled in the 90s. Then I blew it out of the water the third game with the highest ever...173. Wow. John had a similar night so between our two great nights we got two of the four game points of the evening. John's average went from 113 to 115 and mine from 109 to 111. Our goal is to become consistent bowlers in the 150-175 rage. Who knows, maybe we will even bowl a fluke 200 point game some day. Hah! "In your dreams!" you say? Probably!

A Dog With Good Taste

Teddy does have good taste. Did I say good? I meant expensive. He has been know to slum on tissues or toilet paper but he has definitely graduated to above his means, if it is possible, that is, to put a price on the love and affection he gives us.

This year alone Teddy has eaten $10.00 worth Dutch Bro. coffee bucks that had been laying on John's night stand, a twenty-dollar bill found not far from the previous, a hearing aide left on the coffee table, and tonight's choice of entree... a reimbursement check for $117.00 make out to John. Teddy had to dig for that one in John's school bag. How does this dog know were the valuables are kept????

John, I've told you more than once that we need to purchase a safe!!! I'm afraid my new diamond ring is next.

Passing Time

Wow! It’s the weekend again. Nolan & Anneliese will be arriving back in SF tomorrow evening. Yea! I spent the week working on catching the HS up on a bunch of paperwork. Thank goodness I had someone to help me out with it. That sure helped pass the time.

This afternoon I went to the bowling alley to work on my skills. It’s the third time I’ve gone to practice outside of the league games, and I think it is starting to pay off even though I have a long way to go. Gary the alley owner, in an attempt to encourage me said that "bowling a 103 average is not too bad...there are plenty of people who've been bowling for 30 years that bowl a 103 average." My comment was: "They are obviously doing something wrong and I don't want to bowl a 103 when I'm 84!" John did not initially want to go with me, but halfway into my third game he showed up. I think he got some good pointers form Gary as well. I actually am enjoying this game so much more than I could ever have dreamed.

The sand is back on the northern part of Harris Beach letting us walk all the way to Rainbow Rock should we choose to do so. Da Boys loved it. Teddy found some dead animal to roll around in and Otis found himself plenty of bottles. I recently learned something new… plastic soda bottles with the lid on them, containing some yellow fluid are not to be messed with. Apparently fishermen use empty soda bottles to urinate in before tossing them overboard. Eeeeeeewwwwww

This morning I went to the beach again with Da Boys. They found a pelican with a broken wing, poor thing. I saw it just as they reached it at a full run. What was interesting is that they just sniffed it a couple of times and then ran on to chase other ocean birds. I am so glad that Da Boys are not into tormenting handicapped creatures they find on the beach.

Not Again!

Just how many peanuts did Teddy eat??????? More remnants on the carpet when I came home this afternoon. I'm having the carpets cleaned this weekend!!!!!

PEANUT....

Yesterday I came home and was hungry since I’d had a very early lunch. There wasn’t much in the fridge as I haven’t gone shopping yet this week. I took out a piece of garlic/pepper bread to toast and spread some awesome organic peanut BUTTER on it. Yum. It was sooo good that I just had to have a second piece of toast. Needless to say, I was not hungry for dinner a little later.

When John met up with me he was quick to let me know that Teddy had been naughty that day. Apparently he had managed to unscrew the lid off a jar of ROASTED peanuts that John had left sitting on a table next to his seat by the TV. I have some doubts if the lid was truly on the jar but regardless the jar would have been better off in the cupboard. Oh well. I’d say John will have to live without having peanuts until he buys himself some more.

Since it was cold in the house, John and I decided to get in the hot tub to warm up. I’m sure glad we have one. We use it all the time. From the hot tub I notice that our peanut BUTTER BUSH is, after several years, finally starting to bloom. It has beautiful red flowers at the end of each steam that are supposed to turn into red berries and eventually purple as time goes on. I can’t wait to see the process.

We watched the news and a movie that was pretty lame, and I was more than ready for bed as I had not been sleeping particularly well the last few days due to hot flashes and the vertigo that I’m still harboring. Now, Da Boys like to snuggle under the covers with us, and usually sometime during the night, jump out when they get too warm and go to their doggy bed. At some point during the night I again woke up but not for the usual reasons. I smelled bad in my bed! Several thoughts ran through my head. Had John cut the cheese or did one of Da Boys cut the cheese? Gross!!! I kicked Otis out of bed who was still snuggling by my feet and proceeded to fan out the bedding... trying to vent out the odor. After several attempts I noticed that it didn’t help. I contemplated moving to another bedroom and leave all the male species to themselves. Then it hit me! I jumped out of bed, and yes I was right. There was peanut POO all over my carpet in front of the bedroom door. It looked like someone, or something as the case may be, had taken several fists full of peanuts and scattered them all over. Thank you John for leaving your peanuts out and Teddy for helping yourself to them earlier in the day.

Another sleepless night! Grrrr.

My Little Watchdogs

I love watching the birds feed at all the feeders we have scattered around our yard. Last weekend I realized that it I was overdue with refilling them so I went to the store and bought more bulk seed as well as seed blocks. I was so proud of myself for getting all of that done on a Sunday afternoon. That night Da Boys did something they rarely do.

In the middle of the night Teddy and Otis had a tizzy expressed in a barking episode! I quieted them down so that they wouldn't wake up John, even though it would take more than that since he doesn't sleep with his hearing aides. The next day came and went. I was back in my working routine. Then on Tuesday after work I decided to pick some strawberries for breakfast the next morning. That's when I notice somethings were missing. I found two of my bird feeders at the bottom of the hill full of paw prints on them, and I didn't find the new seed block at all. What I did find was animal dung full of berries. Now I understand that Da Boys had tried to scare off the critters that were robbing our yard.

Morale of the story? Get a taller post to put the bird feeders on so that the deer, coons, and bear won't be able to reach them.

Slow-mow

Not much new these days. I'm still putting up with BPPV. It gets better for a day and then gets worse... over all a slow improvement. Needless to say my bowling averages have continued to fall. My boys are patiently waiting for me to get better so that they can go on their walks again. It's kinda sad to have to disappointment each morning.

Fall is in the air but schools is still off to a slow start this year. I still haven't settled into a routine. I guess that until I finish with all the assessments I'm doing, it will probably stay that way. The good side of this is that I have a lot of flexibility in my schedule.

John is off to another Duck game today with his brother Steve. I get the house to myself. I think I'll cuddle up in the sun or by the fire when it starts raining tonight and read my book. I know the boys will be doing the cuddling tonight to keep me company.