Wild Turkeys at Church

Today was my day to "open" the church. The vestry rotates this responsibility. You know you are in the country when your church is surrounded by a herd of grazing cows and a flock of sheep and there are wild turkeys in the driveway! I tried to get pretty close to these turkeys to take their picture and this big one chased me all the way back to my car. Then it planted itself by my right bumper guarding his harem and kept an eye on me. I managed to exit the car and head into the church when it got distracted by something in the field.

I have a history with wild turkeys. At work there was a family of turkeys (not the human kind although there were plenty of them too!) that camped out in the parking garage. One of them would regularly sit on top of my car. Occasionally the group would surround my car as I was trying to enter the parking garage and they would peck at the windows. Very disconcerting. Almost as bad as some of the human turkeys' behavior inside the building! Then one year when I was going to see K perform in the Brown University orchestra, I came upon a family of wild turkeys strung across Route 6 and they held up traffic until the leader decided which direction to go in!

On hospitality

Senior luncheons at our church celebrated our first anniversary. I can't believe we've been doing this for a year already. I have become the chief cook and often chief clean up person too. That would be the one area we could use more help.

The joy of our seniors through the months is hard to describe. Each month we get a slightly different group of seniors. They have learned to mingle at the beginning and switch up tables so they can catch up with different people.

They all enjoy the camaraderie and are very complimentary of the food. We do not ask for a contribution but those who feel compelled find a way to leave a contribution no matter how hard we try to refuse. We try to have enough food so we have leftovers available for take-out at the end of the meal. Many people stop by and pick up take-out containers.

We have consistently had between 40 and 60 people every month. This month we had about 50. We advertize the menu ahead of time. This month we had a grilled chicken breast on a bed of mixed salad with rolls and butter, mixed fruit salad and homemade carrot cake for dessert. I've become much more adept at cooking for this size group. I made 5 carrot cakes over the weekend and took them to the church to put in their fridge. Then I bought, cut up and marinated 25 lbs of chicken breast and cooked it up on Monday morning before the luncheon. The prep time on the chicken was down to an hour and the cooking only took 2!

People ask why we do it and the answer is the smiles and appreciation on the faces of our seniors. Many of them have started coming back to church and have started bringing friends. Great side benefit.

The Quail Whisperer

One of my neighbors is big strapping fellow, a retired police chief and a big exerciser. On his return from a recent run he was stretching against the street sign post and noticed a mama quail and her chicks running under a bush near him. The papa quail was up on a higher tree sounding the call. The mama quail uncharacteristically came back out and started squawking at my neighbor. She darted in and out of the bush each time coming closer and closer. It was almost as if she were talking to him. After a few minutes of this behavior the mama quail managed to convince him to walk over to a nearby drain. My neighbor obliged and looked in the drain and there he saw 4 of what must be the mama quail's babies! He struggled mightily to lift off the grate covering the drain. He managed to lift it up and scooped up the babies. Three of them rushed off to join mama right away but the fourth one was a little wobbly but in time rejoined the family. Neighbor dutifully replaced the grate. The next day he went back to inspect the drain and wouldn't you know this time there were 5 babies in the drain! This time he and his wife formed the baby quail rescue squad. No easy task as these babies were trying to hide by running inside the drain pipe. I guess they hadn't gotten the message that the "quail whisperer" was there to save them.

Far Western Tavern

Sunday night is date night at our house. The Far Western Tavern is a "destination" restaurant in Guadalupe. We have never been. It has announced that it is moving to Orcutt in the near future. The news carried a story about a new chef joining the restaurant. One of the founders was killed in an automobile accident earlier this year. He was about 92. He had been one of the founders of the Santa Maria Rodeo, one of the best in the nation and is a much revered person in the area. We tried the restaurant out last night. It is a real throw back in time. You expect to see Marshall Dillon and Miss Kitty walk through the dining room doors. You enter through a side door into the "saloon" part of the restaurant. It is in an old hotel with the second floor being banquet space. The saloon is comprised of a very large almost 270 degree wrap around bar. There are a few tables and a smaller banquet room near the bar. You enter the dining room through the bar. The dining room is pretty dark with a squishy carpet, chairs on roller wheels and stuffed cattle heads on the wall. The drapes are made of cowhide and the windows have a smear of dust all over them. The atmosphere is dark and you expect there to be a lot of smoke from smokers (of course there isn't). We stuck to their specialties of rib eye and fillet mignon. The meal comes with everything from antipasti with fresh salsa, shrimp cocktail, baked beans, salads, choice of potatoes and vegetables. The food was delicious with steaks cooked perfectly but I have to admit the atmosphere was a little spooky.

How things have changed in West Hartford!

On my trip east I walked around WeHa center and my, my, my how things have changed. Not so much in the Blue Back area - of course, I'm not as familiar with that section of town as it's gone up since we left the area but see some of these pictures and try to remember what was there before!!

Catch up post

It's been a busy few weeks for me - first getting ready to go away for my niece's wedding in Truro, MA - Cape Cod and then heading to Hartford for A Hand Up business and seeing as many people as possible.

Getting ready includes hair cut etc., getting meals put up for T for while I'm away, getting substitutes for my shift at the Thrift Shop, setting up the Tuesday Ladies Who Lunch luncheon for when I'm away. It's wonderful to have such a happy list of to-dos before a trip. I love being retired.


The trip to the East Coast went off without a hitch. All my flights east were either early or right on time which is wonderful. I had a 30 minute layover in Phoenix and you know how harried that can be. I picked up a Ford Fusion as my rental car at Bradley Airport in Windsor Locks and headed for J and D's place in Bloomfield. Having been up since before 4AM West coast time I was ready to turn in at a pretty decent hour. I arose at 5:30AM - amazingly and was able to get in 6 miles with J before heading to the train station to pick up my niece and her husband and two of their friends for our trip to the Cape. They rented a car in Hyannis so they could get around so our first stop was Hyannis. We found Spanky's restaurant where I was able to get some delicious whole bellied clams - YUMMY!

We formed a caravan and made our way to the hotel in Wellfleet where sister's family PEEK and we were all staying. We contacted M and O parents of the bride and checked in. The family was arriving throughout Friday through Sunday the day of the wedding. The young folks went in search of lobster and other sights and I went on a tour of Wellfleet. The town looks pretty much the same. There is a new much larger Catholic church out on Route 6 and the one in town has been taken over by the Wellfleet Historical society (I think).

As you can imagine the traffic got much worse as Friday progressed and PEEK were coming from Illinois, through Minnesota then Ohio to Cape Cod. They finally arrived around midnight at the hotel. I was in contact with PEEK and made trips back and forth to the office to make sure they would be able to get keys for their rooms. All ended well. Saturday I had breakfast at the Lighthouse Restaurant now under new management and with redesigned interior but the same menu. Then PEEK made contact and they bought breakfast at the Wellfleet market and we headed to the pier to watch the boats in the marina launch down the ramp and have breakfast outdoors. We then headed to the famous Wellfleet flea market at the drive-in. I found great buys on Wellfleet t-shirts, light blue nail polish for the bride and PEEK found some vintage postcards. We met back at MOTE's and headed to Moby Dick's for a wonderful lunch of mostly seafood. By that time there were about 12 of us. Niece and company were off on a whale watch. They spotted 28 whales that day - a record, said the captain.

Saturday evening there was a wonderful rehearsal dinner at M&O's hosted by the groom's family. There were over 50 people at that dinner and 85 at the wedding! It was Ev's birthday as well and believe it or not the Wellfleet Market actually carried cakes which they decorate. He was appropriately feted at the dinner.

Sunday P, K and I joined M for church at St. James the Fisherman chapel. I spent the rest of the time taking a wonderful walk around Wellfleet. The wedding was delayed a bit due to an accident on Route 6 just beyond the exit for the yacht club. Everyone finally arrived and the wedding proceeded. It was an overcast day and the wind whipped up just as the bride was being escorted to the huppa! It was a beautiful ceremony right on the beach.

July 4 I returned to Hartford. I was able to stop in and see AB in Vernon at Rein's Deli and got caught up with her and her family. That evening at J and D's we had a reunion dinner with R and D but we were all pretty tired. Tuesday I was able to go for a long walk with J and got ready for the A Hand Up board meeting and barbecue. We had a great meeting and barbecue with 20 people in attendance. Wednesday I went to the 7AM Eucharist at St. James's in WH and saw another 20 people at church and breakfast. I was able to spend some time with E going for a walk in 94 degree weather followed by our usual lunch at Cosi's. It was almost like old times with a walk in the cemetery followed by lunch! Jane and I had a manicure and pedicure in the afternoon and then had dinner with J, D, Ang and D, and D. Then it was off to bed for 3:30 AM wake up call for the flight home. Again the flights were either early or on time all the way and I made it home safe and sound!

Researching hot water heaters

Most of the houses in our development were built about the same time plus or minus 2 years. As I've walked around the neighborhood I've noticed many homes replacing their water heaters. In talking to the neighbors the water heaters follow a pattern of developing minor leaks or just out and out flooding! I started to research tankless water heaters or on demand water heaters. We've always been curious about them. They supposedly save you heating all that water and as a result could also save water.

The ODWHs require soft water or the warranties are voided. Also if you tend to turn water on and off e.g. to wash dishes by hand, the water doesn't stay hot the whole time. It kind of has little gaps of hot and cold. It doesn't work well with a circulating pump for the same reason. We have gas for our heating so the ODWHs requires a 1 inch pipe and a 4 inch exhaust. Our house currently has a 3/4 inch gas pipe and a 3 inch exhaust. There is currently a pretty high government rebate for installing an energy efficient ODWH. The cost of a ODWH is about $1000 to $1400 and the total with installation is coming in between $2,500 and $2,800. A regular water heater comes in at about $800 to $1200 installed.

I think we are going with the standard water heater and we're planning on replacing it before it shows signs of failing (hopefully).