Other veggies and activities Aug 2026

I made some pickled red cabbage with a nice head of "Red" cabbage that Laura Zufelt gave me. She bought it for a Relief Society dinner, but ended up not needing it.  It looks really pretty and tastes pretty good on sandwiches and in Salads.

 

We played "Three of these things belong together" with cucumbers and zucchini squash. Most people can grow abundant zucchini. I cannot.  But I'm glad for what we do get.  However, my neighbor, Brooke, CAN grow lots of huge zucchini and gave me one. I grated it up and froze four packages for later use in Frittatas or zucchini bread or something. And I made four loaves of Zucchini bread. WITH whole wheat and half the oil (subbed applesauce for half the oil). I thought they turned out pretty good.

 

There have been enough raspberries by picking twice a week, watering like crazy AND fertilizing them, as well as trimming away the dead and dying canes that occasionally we can have raspberries and cream. Last weekend there was actually a day named "National Raspberrys and Cream Day" in the USA.  How apropro. Note is IS a small bowl.

 

Mike got sick last week with a really really bad head cold.  He started with it on Tuesday night (when Aunt Tuny was still here!!) with the beginnings of a sore throat. It just continued to progress. He thought it felt like he did when he had Covid. A couple of times.    He stayed home on Wednesday morning from our regular temple office shift. That just meant I had to work extra hard since he wasn't there. I stayed after my shift and kept my other appointments to do other ordinances (but cancelled his appointments). He felt lousy for a solid WEEK. Plus.  He also missed out Second Saturday assigned office shift, so I did that one on my own, too.  And he missed this week's Wednesday shift, too. Still just a wee bit cloggy, cough-y and snotty.  He is feeling improved. Much.  But the other lady working in the Temple office came to work with HER cold, or the remains of it! That was this morning on Thursday, while I subbed for someone on their early morning shift. Oh well. Mike figures that's probably where he caught his in the first place -- the Temple. I sure hope I don't get it too. I've been avoiding Mike like the plague this whole past week. I've even slept in the guest room.

Still doing the Medicaid Dance.  We've submitted, we've paid, we've waited. We've called and waited, called and had questions answered and have been left with more questions.  It seems like this is more than complicated, and EXPENSIVE, too!!  She has to pay her rent there. Every month. But she doesn't make enough for that.  AND she has to pay a large Spend Down to Medicaid in order to qualify for Medicaid insurance in order to apply for the State Waiver through Medicaid for housing.  The first Medicaid she qualified for (with the spend down of $2,303!! More than half her rent and nearly everything she brings in monthly) is for insurance and all that paid money brought back to her was an extra $204 into her SSA check.  That hardly balances the fact that she makes $3,000 a month and is required to pay over $7,000 a month to various entities!!! I'm rather frustrated and bewildered.  How is this really supposed to work??   How, indeed  . . .  we must wait.  As I understand it, the next step is that Utah Case Management will send a nurse to evaluate Mom. Then they'll decide if she can qualify for the housing waiver.  In the meantime, we keep shelling out money, loaning her money, giving her money (for Our House and For the Spend down). When does it end? We'll probably never be paid back, either. It is getting close to the point of saying, "Never mind. We'll move her in with us."  Again.

 And we have had some RAIN!!  It has been so nice.  Not a lot. like a 1/10th of an inch here, a quarter of an inch there. But it adds up, AND it keeps our lawn watered.  We have had some VERY hot days in July and August, so this little respite of rain and coolness has been nice

Utah Shakespeare Festival is going strong. I've been ushering. I have to go three times this week. I'll see my fourth play tonight, "Something Rotten" since I'm assigned to stay late.  We'll see how it compares to the Stage Door production with our lovely Eric as a star. I've seen "Twelfth Night" twice, "Book Club," "She Loves Me" twice. I've yet to see "See How They Run," "Hamlet," and "Frankenstein." Maybe one other . . . Oh yes. Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida." Not even sure I want to see that one. I'm not assigned to ever usher on that one and that's fine with me. I'd kind of like to see "Hamlet," but I don't think I was assigned that one, either.

Corn in Aug 2026

 We grew this!!! I'm so thrilled. I think I want to have corn, cucumbers and tomatoes for breakfast today😊

Church changes

 A few months ago the church announced changes to our Sunday meeting schedules. We still have 2-hour church, but now we will be meeting for Sunday school and relief society / quorum meetings each week instead of alternating weeks. 

This will be a great bonus for me because even after all these years of alternating, I still don't know what week is Relief Society and what week is Sunday school! And I'm IN the Relief Society presidency!!

But this morning I spent some time viewing and listening to the videos and training on the changes  that the church provided for members and leaders. It was so inspiring. Mike and I have really been slackers about using that third hour on Sunday for our own personal and family sabbath study time. We didn't change much when the schedules changed to be only 2 hours long of meetings at church. We still just nap, and lounge, and watch tv., read novels.  Shame on us. Maybe we can do better now. I hope so. There is much to learn. 

I have noticed in this year's study of the Old testament that I really have learned more. Which kind of surprises me since we have been studying the Old testament once every 4 years for quite a few decades now. Granted, I was in other auxiliaries during part of that time quite possibly. I might have missed the general curriculum as I took care of primary kids, etc. 

But I have enjoyed seeing in the Old testament so many similarities with the Book of Mormon. And learning new things even though I've read those scriptures and bible stories before. In this day and age there are many more avenues to learn more and hear from other people about their take on certain scriptures, and it has been really good for me. I don't always listen to the podcasts, but when I do take the time to do it, or to read the other study guides, or even just to read the manual provided by the church and all their online resources, it has been enlightening and has strengthened my knowledge and testimony of the scriptures and the Savior. Jesus is everywhere in the old testament. You might miss it if you weren't looking! I've been looking. 

August.

 Wow. It's been HOT!

But I finally got the first five little tomatoes from our garden. They had better hurry up and ripen, because it looks like the vines are being affected by the curly leaf disease. We just always seem to get that every year! 

Before my tomatoes ripened, I bought little Cherry tomatoes. We had a lovely dinner here with Eric and Matt on Saturday to celebrate Matt's birthday the previous monday. Matt's about 38 years old now I think. Eric will be 36 on his birthday in september. Which is next month! But Mike made some lovely Dutch oven potatoes, and he grilled steaks for us and incinerated some squash. That made me kind of sad. And we had salad. And Caprisi kabobs as an appetizer. Mom came over and joined us for dinner. And we had homemade ice cream for dessert. It was a nice evening. They had come up to Cedar to see a couple of plays by the America something theater company that used to be the Neil Simon festival. I'm glad they came. We had a nice time together.  Too bad I forgot to take any pictures of our smiling faces!

Last night Mike and I went up to woods Ranch and tossed horseshoes between about 7:30 and 8:00 p.m. it was only in the 70s up there instead of in the 90s like it was here in town. It was a nice respite from the heat. Actually, our air conditioning is a nice respite from the heat, and I thoroughly enjoy having Central air!  On our way home we stopped in and visited with Kim and Terry Hunter. We made arrangements to have dinner with them on Monday night at our house! Mike is going to do a Dutch oven meal again. I'm looking forward to it.

End of July, 2026

 That's a little more like it-- garden is doing a bit better. The raspberries are struggling with disease, the lettuce is being protected, the peas are blooming again, despite our heat. 

This morning, below. 

Last week. Above. 

And our corn is looking really good. 

I even saw a baby pumpkin on a vine this morning. I've been so pleased with the squash out front. I think I beat the bugs for the most part. I have plenty of yellow and zucchini squash in my crisper. I just need to stay home long enough to cook them!

Mom has the most beautiful African violets! They bloom frequently. So pretty.

Here is the Gardiner Grandma Lego figurine, riding atop a bee. 

I went to a fun baby shower/ open house this week. It was for Emilee Reeder. Hosted by Lynette Harris at her old house ( where Emily is her tenant). The backyard was lovely, and so was the rain that fell most of that morning. Until it stopped an hour before the shower...just in time for me to help Lynette get the yard set up. 

LAST week on Saturday Mike and I went to Beaver, Utah with about 1100 other people to help clean up flooded property. It was hard work, but very rewarding.

Mike and I also attended the Pioneer Legacy Celebration at the SUU football stadium the evening of July 23rd. It was long and kind of hot and the seats were hard, but it was a really great production. About Utah Pioneers, of course. Great fireworks! And the set was really nice. Talented kids singing and dancing,etc. 

Merrill Osmond is the creator/producer. He lives in St. George, and two years ago they brought it to Cedar City for the first time. This year was not nearly so well-attended as in 2024. 

We wondered if we might get rained on. We brought umbrellas so we wouldn't. 

I just love our Red Hill.

They did a really nice America 250 tribute and had all of the official US flags over the past 250 years on the stage at once.  They had some football dude play the national anthem on his electric guitar, ala Jimmie Hendrix. I didn't really like it then, and 50 years later I still didn't enjoy it. Oh well. I think some did. 

It's been a GREAT July! We've enjoyed our family immensely, and had a great trip to CA. Mike has been helping out Jack Reardon in his cabinet shop or at installation sites. Mike doesn't want to get paid, so Jack has paid him with gift cards to The Pub, Jaden (Jack's son) Reardon's restaurant here in town. We've eaten there three times. And once at Pizza cart.  Mike usually just lends a hand 1 day a week, but he did about one solid week in the middle of the month. 4 hours a day. It made Mike very tired, but he enjoyed it a lot. 

Oh, and we have had some of the most gorgeous clouds!

These are unique flowers they have on our Temple grounds. You can see the names, Latin and common. But I never see them in nurseries. Maybe they are too expensive for us common folk.

The are so pretty. Pinky/coral, purple and white. They might have yellow, too. Straight stalk, smallish leaves, big blooms on top. Almost rose-like.  The first time I saw them, I wondered if they were fake because it looked like they had justed been poked straight into the flower beds like a wire stem from a store floral selection .

Now, on to August! This is when I start my regular ushering at the Utah Shakespeare festival on Friday and Saturday nights. Lots of plays coming up. I've only seen three of the 8 or so productions being offered this year. And I haven't used a single voucher yet.

I'm also still muddling through the tangled red tape of the Medicaid New Choices Waiver application for Mom. It should be interesting to see if it ever will come to an end. We have been at this for over 4 months now. It's hurry up and wait. But we have made a little progress.