It's Just Tuesday

 And I am back!

So yesterday was just one thing after another. The weather was a beautiful 75 degrees, and the sun was out most of the day. 

I went to Mass and then got home to get ready for our Romans Bible study. We gathered at 10:00, but the ladies really had a lot to catch up on so we didn't get to the video until almost 11:00! There is so much going on in the families of our friends these days. Then I took Lilly home and went to the grocery store so that Brendan would have food to eat! 

I went to Adoration from 3 to 4 and came out to Lilly calling me over and over, Apparently there was some issue with her going to her dad's house. I didn't insert myself into that situation, but I did talk to Lilly and Nina. After a dinner of parmesan chicken and roasted cauliflower, I went down to Benediction. By the time I got to the church it was absolutely pouring. I got so wet going into the church! After saying "goodnight" to Jesus, I came back and we had our Sharing Christ discussion. Man was I tired!

So glad that all these meetings don't require too much preparation.

Today was a nice one, and a lot cooler. Went to Mass and then came home to start an apple cake for Bob. I found a recipe that sounded really good. It is a fun cake to make and it went together really easily. we have SO many apples that I plan to make two more. One for tomorrow night's small group meeting and one for my Walking With Purpose meeting on Sunday. Bob said that it was delicious!

Lilly was home today and she did get all her schoolwork done, but she had a little problem with the microwave. She made chicken and it somehow burned and the house was full of smoke. I brought her down here while it cleared. I got to stay home all afternoon, except for taking Cora down into town for her walk. The weather was so neat! Stormy and cool, and the water was slate gray. We walked fast and didn't go very far because it was obviously going to rain. 

We got home and I worked on some stuff for my meeting with Fr Henry. I was supposed to meet with him today, but Lilly's concern kept me close to home. I have two Spiritual Direction meetings this week. 

After Nina picked Lilly up, I made dinner for Brendan and myself and then worked on Cora's trim for a while. I think she is mostly done. It's a good thing that I have the clippers. Her coat is going to take attention pretty often. 

Lilly pulled out her puppy puzzle and she really figured it all out fast! I need to film her doing it!

Sunday Update

 Well, once again I have waited too long between posts, but I will do my best to catch up. 

The weather has been so nice! Mostly sunny, with just a bit of chill in the air. It is supposed to storm tomorrow, but we shall see. 

Cora continues to thrive! Tomorrow is two weeks after her spay surgery, and she has completely recovered. She really didn't have any problem with anything! She left the incision alone, had no problems with it getting even a little puffy and red, and it certainly didn't slow her down! Just really glad to have that behind us. That is always a big hurdle and she is so small that I was a bit worried. We are back to regular training sessions, long walks and adventures. 

Last week I was blessed to be able to help the Rodriguez family out. There was a lot to do to prepare for people coming into town and Jude's viewing and funeral. It is so hard to believe that that family is without him. I want to stay in touch so that I can help out in the weeks ahead. I enjoyed meeting the family from out of town and helping out with the kids. The little ones are so sweet.

We had our usual Bible studies and our last Creed study at the Church. I am kind of glad to have a night off once a week. I still have things on Mondays, Wednesdays, and the occasional Tuesday. I also have the book club on Tuesdays, but I have been missing that much of the time. Just too much else to do. 

On Friday the great Apple-butter fest began again. I had been looking forward to it! Friday was peeling and chopping day, and Saturday was the day to cook it all down in the big pot out in the yard. This is a long time tradition for the neighborhood and I feel so happy to be invited. Cora got to meet everyone, and I came out with a bunch of apples that I chopped up and froze. I also cooked a bunch of them down for applesauce and tomorrow I am going to bake a pie for Bob. On Wednesday for small group I will make a Jewish Apple Cake share that with the group. I think I will make one for Sunday as well, because we have a bigger Walking With Purpose meeting. 

Today was a nice day at home, mostly. I had my WWP meeting and then went to mass. I came home in time to watch the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Ravens really bad. It was really not a good day for them. However, then I got to watch the Formula 1 race from Austin TX and Max Verstappen won!! I was so happy for him!  It was a really good race!

So, onward into the coming week. I have plans to read some new things, do some writing and try to blog more often!

What a Week...

"Whoever wishes to be first among you will be servant of all." ~Mark 10:44

Beautiful Fall day! 68 and sunny.. The temperatures are getting so nice.

It feels like I last blogged a month ago. 

So, I blogged that Cora had her spay surgery, and that went well. She was really groggy for a couple of days and did a lot of sleeping. The post-op instructions were easy to follow on those days. "No running or jumping, keep her quiet." Uh-huh.

The little onsie that I "tailored" for her worked out well. 

Well that became impossible on the days after that, but she is leaving her incision alone and it looks really good, so I am just keeping an eye on it and making her take naps in her crate a couple of times a day. 

We had a bad scare yesterday, but I think we can be cautiously optimistic. She somehow found an old "bait block" that had fallen out of the bag to the floor of the pantry. I was cleaning the pantry and when I came out she had it between her paws. It was open and had been nibbled, but we did have mice in there and so it was likely that is what ate it. I gave her a dose of hydrogen peroxide and got her to throw up, but with this stuff there is a waiting period before the bad effects begin. We have been watching for symptoms and so far so good. She has been tearing around acting like a crazy dog, she's eating and drinking and doing everything that she needs to do. I am praying hard that she's going to be just fine, but I am taking her into the vet for blood-work tomorrow anyway.  If her levels are good we can relax. I cleaned out the pantry and vacuumed the floor. I am positive that there is no more poison, all the blocks are accounted for. We do have a bit of a rodent problem right now, but we'll have to figure out another solution. Maybe Cora can learn to be a mouser. I had a pretty horrible day yesterday. I was just sick. I couldn't believe that that could happen, but it did, and I have learned. If she comes through unscathed, I will be so grateful. That St Francis blessing seems to be a very good thing. I just love this little gal and I want to have her around as song as possible.

In other news, I have had a lot of reading to keep up on. With four Bible studies in the works there is a lot to process, but it's all so good!! Revelation, Romans, the Creed and Walking With Purpose on Sundays. I had planned to take it easier this year, because I am doing Spiritual Direction, but it is very hard to say no to such great stuff! I just have to order my time. 

Laura has a couple of Covid kids to keep her eyes on. Both eyes. Lucy is taking off for a wilderness retreat tomorrow, and I can't wait to hear how it goes! I am so excited for her! 

We had very sad news on Friday night. One of the families from Good Shepherd parish lost their husband and father. Jude Rodriguez lost his battle with Covid-19. He has six children and the youngest is only 4 months old. His poor wife, Jennie, is understandably devastated. He was such a great guy. He got sick and just got sicker and sicker. It was really terrible, especially since they wouldn't let Jennie in to be with him. I hope that we can all get together to help her through this.

The Ravens are playing today, and so far they are doing really well. I won't say too much...

Ravens and Raving

 Tuesday and Fall is dancing around the edges. The weather is pretty dreary, but it's still warm. It wants a good, long rainy day to push summer out, and I'm not sure when that is going to happen. The weather forecast keeps saying that it's going to get cooler, but the warm temps are persisting.

Speaking of weather, the sun is doing some wild stuff this week. Yesterday there was news of a Solar storm, and there was much talk of all the things that might go with it, like electrical grid problems, and issues with phones and the internet, but the only thing that I noticed was a lot of stuff on the news.

My biggest concern was that the Ravens game would be impacted. It went off without a hitch, well there were lots and lots of hitches, but the power stayed on. So many hitches....I started watching the game, and it did not go as expected. All due respect to the Colts, but the Ravens should have been able to walk away with this one, and it was pretty much a nail-biter from beginning to end. I went to bed, and when I woke up I was so surprised to see that they had won!!

Here are a few highlights.

Our girl is feeling pretty purly. She is just kind of doing what she absolutely has to do, like eat, drink, and use the yard, and then she is basically sleeping. She wants to lick her incision, so I have the onesie on her and she is just pretty unhappy all the way around. I can't wait until she has her old spunk back. She is definitely not herself. 

I went to BJs today, because of all the rumblings about shortages of this and that. I wanted to get ahead on a few things. I got toilet paper, because that's already a problem. There was hardly any there and it was super expensive! I also got my flour, sugar and oil for baking so that if that gets hard to find I can at least bake bread and cookies for gifts. BJs looked surprisingly well stocked, compared to Walmart, but I think it's just because the only things that BJS sells are things that are available in large quantities, which is how they make their money, and Walmart is expected to stock everything. They are really struggling to find workers and truck drivers. 

Everything is just really crazy right now. It might just be the fallout from the pandemic, but I'm not so sure.

Happy Spay Day!

 Well, Cora had a red letter day today! She made a trip to see Dr Cullum and took a long nap, and when she woke up, things were quite different. I am glad to have this day over and behind us. She is so little, and while I didn't want her to have puppies, it was hard to hand her over when she barely weighs 7 pounds. She came through it like a champ though. Now we just have to watch her through the recovery period. No stairs, running or jumping for 10 to 14 days. For that I am glad that she is so small, because I can carry her everywhere and keep her fairly quiet. Today, of course, she is super sleepy, because she is still feeling the effects of the anesthesia, but tomorrow she will perk up, and she'll be trying to jump up on the couch. 

The vet also found a few embedded baby teeth and took them out so that there is room for the others. They were worried that with the teeth being so close together they would be more susceptible to decay. 

She can now just recover and grow. I am so glad to be over that hurdle. 

I just hope that she sleeps OK. 

Odds and Ends

 Well the past couple of days have been catch-up days. 

Housework, emails, agendas for meetings and the notes from those meetings.

Laundry is really a different story these days, and the floors are way less trouble than ever. Without so many people in the house there just isn't as much do to keep it up. Which is really good, because the other things that I have to do are piling up. I have two or three meetings a week, and I am starting to do a little more Spiritual Direction.

Today I ended up giving Cora a bath, and I intended to give her a haircut, but after she dried she just looked so fluffy and cute that I couldn't do it. She is going to have to have a short cut for Florida, but maybe I'll do that next week. She has her surgery on Monday, and she is supposed to take it easy. Ha. How on earth do you keep a six-month-old puppy quiet. She loves to jump on and off of all the furniture. 

I am going to take her downtown for a walk now and tire the little darling out.

Nice Day!

 Ah, the weather is definitely switching to Fall. The temperature today was perfect, and the humidity is gone for now! It was just lovely!

I went to mass and then came home and got some work done on some of the things that I have to stay up on. Then I did some work in the kitchen. 

At 1:00 I went down to Fullerton to pray on the sidewalk. It was very good. We had about 8 people there and we prayed the Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet. I came back after 2:00. I got to talk to Laura on the phone, so that was really nice!

I think that I may be heading to Florida with Christine for a week! I have never been there and she has been planning to go. They have a place down there and I am really looking forward to seeing it! It will be a nice break. There is a lot going on and a lot to do right now, but I can do a lot of it on the computer. 

Don't have a picture from today, but I'll put something up tomorrow. 

St Francis Feast Day!! A Blessing for Cora

Today was a special feast day! The feast of St Francis of Assisi, and the feast day of our new pastor, Fr Francis! What a blessing he is to our parish! So many wonderful things are happening, one of which was the "Blessing of the Animals", a Franciscan tradition. 

Cora thought it was all just a whole lot of fun. She got to meet all kinds of dogs and got sprinkled with holy water! She also got to spend time with her sister and her mom, which is always just the best. 

A Week Of Adventure!

 We have been so busy that I haven't even Blogged! 

Last Sunday...well, the Ravens won, so there's that. And they won again today so I am thrilled!! They are now 3-1. So it's a good season so far.

Monday was crazy! I went to Mass, came home and got the house ready for my Bible Study group and we looked over the questions for Romans. Then I went to Adoration, came home and made dinner because we had to be back down at the church for Benediction.

Tuesday was Social Graces, which is turning out very well, by the Grace of the Holy Spirit. Then that evening I had a meeting of the Walking With Purpose leaders. It was so nice to meet everyone!

Wednesday was our small group study of Revelation, which is really turning out to be great with this wonderful group of people! 

Thursday was a meeting, and then Friday we headed out to Ohio to visit Paul at Franciscan! 

It was so much fun!! He is making wonderful friends and the college is just so awesome. 

We wandered around, went to a beautiful hill that overlooks the city and the view was just so gorgeous! 

We met a few people and went to the Steubenville First Fridays event. It was a lot of fun, and Cora was just a trooper!! She is just such a good sport about every new adventure. She rode in the car all day, met a whole bunch of new people, walked and walked, and then went to a hotel and took that in stride as well! She is going to be an awesome little travel buddy. 

We had fun yesterday, at the FUS Franciscan Days festival. Lots of good food, wonderful people, and the weather was perfect! We had a late lunch and then left around 3:30. We drove almost straight through and got home around 9:30.

Today was an early one. I had a Walking With Purpose meeting, and then we had the parish picnic after Mass outside! It was wonderful and the weather was amazing. God is so good!