Oh, September

September is the month when I used to begin my downhill slide into depression.  I'm hoping my little pills help me with that again like they did last year.  Cliff and I had a good enough time at Old Threshers in Iowa, thanks to the fact we rented scooters; we wouldn't have made it an hour, had we been on foot.  The temperatures weren't bad and people were friendly, as they always are in Mt. Pleasant.  

However, the trip there and back was more boring than usual because we have trouble conversing now, due to Cliff's lack of hearing.  Often, it doesn't even help for me to scream out my words because that only garbles the sound.  He used to listen to his SiriusXM radio in the shop all the time; he's told me to get rid of it now, because he can't enjoy it.  When he turns it up, it's garbled and he often can't even recognize what song is playing.  Thank goodness for captions on the television, or he couldn't even enjoy it.  I used to read on long trips, and we both enjoyed that so much; more recently, I checked out audio library books on the Libby app on the iPad, and we listened together.  That's a thing of the past.  He does qualify for a cochlear implant, but it looks like it will be some months before he gets it as he goes through all the procedures medicare demands; then after he receives it, he'll have to learn how to use it and understand it.  At least there is that one ray of hope.

We got Gabe home from the kennel and the next day, realized he had a stomach problem.  We took his usual food with him, so I don't know what the problem could be.  Maybe he picked up something from another dog.  Saturday night I was up three times cleaning up messes, and could hardly go back to sleep for the awful smell.  I gave him rice cooked in chicken broth, but he didn't eat much of that.  This morning, I opened up a can of pumpkin and he ate about a tablespoon full of it.  I do think he's improving now.

I'll share a few pictures from our Iowa adventure, and that'll be it for this entry.

The first thing he did was look at the Oliver tractors, featured this year.

  

Cliff forgot his hair brush and used his toothbrush to comb his hair instead for the three days we were there.  Yes, there was a Walmart in town, but why bother?

The high point of the trip for me was seeing the Country Gold show Thursday night.  93-year-old Leroy VanDyke had just gotten over covid, but emceed the whole show after singing his old hits from the 70's, still sounding like he did as a young man.  The other entertainers were good too.  I felt sorry for Cliff, though; his ears don't let him enjoy any kind of music these days.

I still have okra and corn in the garden, as well as a few tomatoes.  Also many, many weeds.  At this point, the weeds can just stay there.

We have a foggy morning here.  Enjoy your day!