So much gardening!

 And cooking! And a day like that deserves a nap. Or binge watching another few episodes of Downton Abbey. I never did watch it when it was popular and new, so I've been watching it now, ten years later. I'm up through halfway through season 2. And I only started a few days ago.

This morning I started in the garden around 7:00 a.m. I was not paying attention to the time and forgot all about Mom's 10:00 a.m. doctor appointment! It was a good thing she called me. I went and picked her up, in my raspberry picking clothes! No makeup. I was a sight. But we made it! Not a second to spare.

I picked three tall yogurt containers of raspberries, a bucket of carrots, a bucket and a half of green beans, and a big bucket of tomatoes. The buckets are all varying sizes. A beach pail, a big beach pail, number 10 size can. But it was a lot of stuff spread all over my countertop. A LOT of things to wash, scrub and sort. I also picked a bowl of plums. I froze the berries.. Mom snapped about half the green beans for me. 

I made some roasted carrot and tomato soup. I didn't really have all of the ingredients for it, so it probably doesn't taste exactly like it should. I had no red bell pepper. But I made it anyway. Nor did I have vegetable broth, so I just use chicken broth. The roasted vegetables smelled really good while they were baking. I also bottled six pints of carrots, whole. I've never done that before. I baked a carrot cake. I roasted some sliced zucchini with olive oil and parmesan cheese. I cooked two different batches of green beans and had Mike deliver them to Connie Long up the street.

I harvested lettuce seeds. I watered the green beans, onions and raspberries with the hose, and hand-watered with buckets from the hose the cucumbers and peppers.

I remember years past in my backyard how I'd haul 5 gallon buckets FULL of weeds out of my garden. Sure am glad the weeds are at bay for a bit. That was HARD. I don't know why it's different, but I'll take it. More targeted watering? Free use of Roundup on baby weeds? Being out there every other day? More grasshoppers to eat the weeds?

I'm tired. We also had Mom over for lunch after her Dr. Appointment and blood draw at the imaging center. And the Dr never called me back with results. And tonight Mike and I  go pick up Gayela at the St. George Airport. She's going to stay with us for a few weeks I think.

And the aftermath-- Aaaaugh!!

Sunday afternoon drive (To Arizona!)

 A very long drive. But Mike has not been able to drive for six weeks since he had his shoulder replacement surgery and he was itching to go.  Plus, he's been watching weather and fishing on TV, so we needed to see how the water levels were doing here in the southern part of the state.  So drive we did!  Clear down to Lake Powel and Page. We packed a picnic, I checked on Mom first, as she was in the ER on Saturday afternoon due to low sodium. She was stable and resting at her house, so off we went.  Left around 12:30 or one, got home around 8.  We ate our picnic in Kanab, drove through Zion on the way TO Lake Powell, and drove over Cedar Mountain on the way home.  Nice day. Nice drive. Nice findings.

Pictures:

As a reminder, this is what it looked like in April:  NO WATER around Lone Rock. So sad.

There's still a big bathtub ring around the canyon area near the dam.

The river is still flowing slowly down below the dam to the south.  There were visible beaches.

We took a little side road to the top of the Wahweap Marina Overlook. That was pretty. LOTS of houseboats in that marina!

From the lookout parking lot we could see the top part of the dam clearly.  The water is still way down, but we heard there has been progress, and now we can see it in the form of water around Lone Rock. Happy Day!

Visitors for Mom ( and us!😊)

 Donna, Robert and Janet came to spend the weekend with Mom. I was kind of sickly with a cold for some of it. I didn't do my Shakespeare ushering shifts, and the added rest really helped. I felt soooo much better on Sunday.

We had a lovely ham dinner on Sunday evening that Eric and Matt missed because their potatoes wouldn't cook! We did miss them ( and their funeral potatoes). 

Donna ended up staying an extra day (bonus for Mom and us!). Tropical Storm Hillary was the cause. Storms in Las Vegas caused a 4 hour delay getting here, and she didn't wasn't to deal with further delays on the way back. 

We had lots of rain due to the tropical storm. That means nice BIG raspberries. They are at their peak now. I did my first batch of jam today. 

I also whipped up some fresh blender salsa, AND bottled the few ripe tomatoes I have. Tonight is a substitute shift at the temple. Busy day. Oh! And Mike drove himself to the gym today. First time back since July surgery. He's technically two days early ( too soon), but he's doing really well.

I sent this photo of picking berries to Ella this morning. She loves raspberries and I wish she was here to share them with me.

These are not headphones, like Mike thought at first glance. A neck pillow.

Lots of games with everyone. Here and at Our House Assisted Living Center.

Mom and Janet at dominos. We also played Push the Dummy, Five Crowns, Boggle, etc.

Oh my. Pie. These were memorable pies Robert and Janet brought for Sunday dinner. Coconut and Banana cream. Red Button brand from the freezer department at Lin's. Soooo good. 

Carole King's "Beautiful", the musical

 

Mike's shoulder surgery

 Mike has really bad joints.. really bad arthritis, big bone spurs, worn out and damaged cartilage , etc, etc. He has had one knee replaced. It was a mess, fairly crippling. He is glad he did that surgery, as now it does not give him great pain to use it. It's not as flexible as he would like, and feels "tight", but it's virtually pain free and very functional. (Except for kneeling on it)

Next: the shoulders. His right one was replaced July 13. They do something called a "reverse" replacement nowadays. They put a metal socket/receiver on the top of the humerus (which used to have a ball on it), and they shave out the socket on the scapula and screw in a ball. The joint is now reversed, the deltoid muscle(somehow!) does the bulk of the work in lifting and moving the arm instead of the muscles of the ( in Mike's case, very well-worn and very damaged)  rotator cuff muscles and tendons. They had to really pull and stretch the muscles around the joint to DO the surgery, so his upper arm was very swollen and bruised for weeks. They said it (replacement)  was an easier surgery and recovery than rotator cuff repair, and so far Mike has found that to be true. He is less than 5weeks out of surgery and feels really great, has good movement and flexibility AND, best of all, minimal pain. Of course, physical therapy hasn't begun in earnest, so time will tell. But we are optimistic.

Here's an X-ray of his new shoulder. That IS a before and after comparison. Hardware is the one on the left.

Needless to say, it was NOT in good shape before. The ball on the top of his humerus was so worn and jagged with big bone spurs. The socket was so worn it could barely hold his shoulder ball in place-- and frequently did NOT

 and that's why Mike decided to do this.

This is a sketch the surgeon made on our hospital whiteboard, but after he erased the "before" illustration of bone spurs, etc. And he explained how much better shape the scapula was for receiving the replacement part than they thought it would be. No bone graft was necessary. 

It is truly amazing what modern medicine can do these days. And we are very grateful!

Nice, smooth scar.

And look how comfy he is on the sofa without his sling!  

Water, Rain and Birds

 We have been Ssooo grateful for all the snow that came last winter. Our lakes and reservoirs were filled so much! Powell is not totally filled, but smaller ones are. It's lovely. 

And then we have had a few really nice rain showers of late. One weekly for the past couple of weeks or so. Beautiful. It cools the hot summer temps and it waters the lawns and gardens.

Yesterday, August 12, was one of those. I also had to usher at the Shakespeare Festival. It wasn't raining at 6:30, but when 8 o'clock came, it was sprinkling. They did not 'hold' the play, but started in a drizzly rain. And it eventually quit. But I was so cold! Wind came. I was glad for my long sleeves and long pants since I was up in the balcony for the duration.   Brrr. It was only in the 60's, but I was chilled.

The afternoon rainshower came with hail, too! Not as much as Panguitch lake area got, but enough to make me wonder about the garden. Panguitch had white covering the ground they had so much. And, strangely, the hail we saw on our deck wasn't round white ice balls, but CLEAR ice chunks. Weird.

How we love sitting on our deck in good weather to watch the birds nibbling on the sunflower shrub.

See the cute upside-down finch?

A good year for apricots

 I was balking about bottling apricots this year, in spite of their ABUNDANCE all over town, in friends and neighbors' yards, and many offers to come and pick them. I thought I had BOXES of bottled apricots in my basement fruit room. 

Well, as it turns out-- I don't! I'd moved all the bottled fruit to my visible shelves sometimes last year( or during the pandemic--who knows?!) And most of the boxes of bottles on my shelves in the back were full of empty canning jars! That was a surprise. I remember thinking that I had way too many empties, and even gave away three boxes to a stranger I met in Walmart. Yeah, it was during the pandemic because jars and lids were in high demand. 

So, I've picked and bottled apricots and apricot juice. The Rasmussen's gave us some, and on a Monday the 7th Gail and I rode to Parowan and picked a couple of boxes of really nice big ones from Luck Felstead's trees. Rasmussen's were big, too, but very overripe so most of those were juiced. 

I do like home canning and food preservation. It's kind of my "thing."

Dominos and lurkers

 We had a nice Sunday dinner of Mexican Salad with Gail and me and Mike and my Mom. We decided to play dominos after.

I went to get the tin of Domino's out of the cupboard, and

DROPPED the entire tin. Dominoes went every where.

We had to count to make sure they were all there. Crazy.  I think my thumb just gave out. Not surprising. I think I have developed arthritis in both of them and they do hurt quite a lot. I knew they would fail me eventually. This time, it surprised me, though! 

I'm glad it was just a toy and not dishes. 

I will be very careful with dishes from now on. Maybe even have to switch to lighter plastic eventually. 

This is a thing we see every sunny afternoon. It LOOKS like someone in a hoodie, lurking outside our patio! It moves when the wind flutters it, and it's easy to catch a glimpse of it in our peripheral vision when we are in the kitchen

 It's really rather startling. BUT...

It's really just the folded-down patio umbrella. ( Another thing that's hard for my thumb to do-- lift and raise the umbrella!)

Elder Renlund

 A week ago, I was asked to say the opening prayer on our Ward's Sacrament meeting. That's not a hard thing to do. I got there on time, stopped by my primary classroom, moved a table, chatted with my friend, Jackie on our way into the chapel.  She was kind enough to tell me I had lipstick on my teeth, so I was busy doing a quick swipe of that as I walked in at the back, saw an empty seat near some neighbors and plopped down. 

My neighbor leaned over during the prelude music and said, "Did you see Elder Renlund sitting on the stand?" 

Really? An Apostle? How cool. I looked up, and ,no, I could NOT see him at all. The podium was blocking my view of that particular seat on the stand. Oh well. 

Our Bishop opened the meeting, recognized Elder Renlund, announced song, prayer....

And when I went up to say the opening prayer, I couldn't even look his way. I focused my eyeballs on the microphone so I'd walk that way instead of tripping or something else embarrassing. 

Said the prayer. Sat down. Still never saw him until he stood up to speak at the end of our meeting. His remarks were touching, entertaining, in a sweet way, but also powerful. He bore testimony of our Savior and I was happy to add my "Amen" to his. I went to Primary after that. I have no idea if they attended Relief Society and Priesthood meeting or Sunday School or not. 

But it is nice to have a theater-lover drop into our ward who also happens to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ.  He was in town attending Utah Shakespeare Festival plays. Apostles take August off and don't travel to Stake and Regional Conferences. Janet Seegmiller says he has been coming for years. Nice man. Humble, normal. Yet a prophet.  I'm glad I was able to share a pulpit with him. 

And I was happy to share it with my Bishop and the Bradshaw's, too . And Lincoln &Emma Stone who sang, "I Know That My Redeemer Lives."

July 2023 Family Photo (almost everyone)

 

 July 5, 2023. We are only missing Seth from the Photo (Gail's husband).

Left to right:

Ella, Damian, Tandy, Braeden, Lexi Liebhardt (San Antonio, TX).

Matthew Davis and Eric Liebhardt (St. George, UT)

Me, Mike (Cedar City, UT)

Katie, Casey, Hayden Rossman with Corbin, Quintin and Hailey Rossman in front. (Castle Rock, CO)

Nick Liebhardt holding Emily with Rachel, Logan and Jane in front of Nick and Kaylee (Herriman, UT)

Caroline, Gail and Jonathan Owens (Spring Creek, NV)

Photo credit Spencer Murray.

Some more, NOT in chronological order:

Rossman Family

Casey, Katie, Hayden, Corbin, Quintin, Hailey..

Eric & Matt Davis

Nick & Kaylee Liebhardt, Rachel, Logan, Jane and Emily

Damian and Tandy Liebhardt With Lexi, Braeden and Ella.

Owens Family: Gail, Seth, Caroline, Jonathan.

Grandkids! We have 13 now, ages 2 to 21.

Me, Mike and My Babies-- All Grown Up.