Amazing car repair

Earlier in the week my car developed a buzzing sound which appeared to come from behind the "video" screen on the dashboard. It started as soon as I started moving and stopped when I stopped. I tried jiggling all the vents around the screen and even tried tapping all around the screen to see if I could loosen whatever was buzzing. Then yesterday I spied something lurking beneath the windshield wiper almost out of sight. It was a very dried up leaf which was caught between the underside of the wiper and the windshield. I actually pulled over to the side of the road - yes it was bothering me that much! I removed the dessicated leaf and started off again and I avoided a very expensive search for the source of the buzzing just by the luck of seeing the tip of that dried up leaf! Yay!

Another month, another senior lunch

Monday was the last Monday of the month again! The menu called for macaroni and cheese and ham. I thought there would be too much sodium for the seniors so I went in search of a lower sodium alternative. I finally settled on some lower sodium chicken sausages with roasted red peppers and spinach - yummy. I had to find a m&c recipe on line to get the quantities right for 60 people. I usually make it for the 2 of us and I cook it by feel. I wanted to make sure I got the amount of seasonings more or less right. It was all a hit.

I find that having regular monthly events like this seems to make time fly by even faster!

When a hurricane goes up the east coast....

Hurricane Irene has been heading up the east coast since Thursday. We left Connecticut because of the cold winter weather, icy slippery roads, the hot humid summers and the never ending utility bills and off course hurricanes. This past week Connecticut experienced some rumblings from an earthquake in Virginia and the last 2 days the impending and then striking hurricane. It did feel good to be over 3,000 miles away but we still are so connected with people on the east coast that we followed the storm and the reports from various areas of the earthquake! I was glad to hear that overall our family and friends are okay with some minor inconveniences (easy for me to say) of loss of power, cable, internet, cell etc.; some basement flooding and lots of preparedness. I am still grateful that we moved and although we still followed it from afar, I was glad to be out of the way of the hurricane and earthquake (although we have plenty of those of our own to contend with.)

So what's up with our gate???

What's the point of living in a gated community when the gate is taken out so often? This is the second time in a month that our main gate has been taken out. Fortunately they have cameras and have been able to track the perpetrators. These gates cost thousands of dollars! This one is dented on the wrong side so it looks like someone backed into it.

Why is it?

Have you ever noticed that the stores never carry what you're looking for when you're looking for it but it's plentiful when you aren't interested in it? I have "given away" a number of my smaller plastic containers with lids and I am down to my last 2 of that size. I try not to over-buy items but wait until I really need the item. In the past I have been looking for the smallest of these containers with lids that K has in Chicago and I think they are perfect for saving small amounts of leftovers etc. Of course I haven't been able to find them in our stores for the last year. Today I went to buy the slightly larger containers and you guessed it, they didn't have any of those although they've had plenty of them for months but guess what they did have? Yup, they had the smallest containers now. Go figure....

A day of "what would you do's?"

This morning I passed a house that had a pile of garden trimmings dumped in front of the house on the street. It was cordoned off. As I got closer I noticed it was smoking where a pile of grass clippings had been thrown on top. What would you do? I went to the front door and rang the bell. I explained to the homeowner what I observed and she said, "oh, it's probably just heat from the composting and unfortunately it is all going to have to stay there until Monday"!!

Then this afternoon I went grocery shopping. I swiped my credit card and handed the checker my "loyalty" card. At the end of the transaction the checker handed me my receipt and thanked me. Now, I never use my debit card to pay for groceries so I was expecting to sign something. The checker assured me that I must have put in for an "eft" transaction so I left the check out. Still puzzled I stopped and checked the receipt - it didn't have my card number and there were items on it that I had not purchased. He charged my groceries to the person who checked out in front of me and didn't give them a receipt! What would you do??? Well, I went to customer service to explain the situation. The "manager" on call didn't have the security clearance to search for who the previous customer was but he said he would take care of it and I went through the line and they onloaded everything and rang me up again. The poor previous customer have a debit of more than $100 more than what they bought!

Ladies Who Lunch and other things

The lunch attendance has been slipping but I noticed that cake seems to bring them back. I promised a cake and we had it on Tuesday. There were 9 wonderful ladies who came for lunch. With the help of some very obliging men golfers we finished the entire cake. I actually made a half cake for us to have at home and made a baker's dozen of cupcakes.

I took some of the cupcakes to the church for their Wednesday after eucharist breakfast and got many thank yous. The older generation really loves their sweets.

The latest t'ai chi class is in the second week. 10 people signed up but only 6 people showed up. Pretty typical. Of the 6 only one has never taken tai chi before. He is at a distinct disadvantage. To add to these difficulties he is very hard of hearing. It's going to be quite a challenge.