Life at the Aerie

Not a whole lot happening at the Aerie this week.

Sure, Terry and I went to Point Pleasant Beach, NJ last weekend for her high school class' 50th reunion and had a great time with a bunch of people from St. Mary's High School of whom I knew just three. But the bar was open almost all night so there's that. And the weather was gorgeous so we got to walk on the beach and boardwalk both Friday and Saturday. Waves were marvelous!

Then on Sunday we stopped at cousin Nancy's to meet up with lots of folks from Terry's side of the family to look at a bunch of old photographs. The goal was to ID as many people as possible. As I didn't know many of them (or plead the fifth), I sat on the side and watched while recovering from the high school reunion. (See above. re: "open bar".)

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I was keeping an careful eye on Irma as she tore through western Florida. I've relatives in Key LArgo and up the coast at Weeki Wachi. They all suffered minimal damage to their property and the folks in Key Largo were sane enough to have evacuated to areas around Orlando where they hunkered down. (And then went to Disney World immediately after since they couldn't get home.)

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Tuesday, Terry did a pre-op assessment over in Wellsboro and on Thursday she had her left knee scoped to remove debris and remove/repair a partially torn meniscus that has been troubling her since, well, the early '70s. She hurt it when we were going to climb Mt. Washington back then and reinjured it the next year when we went to climb Wildcat Ridge across the highway from Mt. Washington. Doctors back then pronounced it "hyperextended" and gave her some Tylenol, a pair of crutches, and sent her home. No MRI or anything. The current doc (who replaced both my knees in '13) said she also has arthritis and bone-on-bone contact on part of that knee may need a partial knee replacement if this surgery doesn't help.

Terry came home the same day (Thursday) and has been hobbling around the house with the occasional help of a cane. I'll be driving her down the hill to church on Sunday but she should be good to go on her own Monday or Tuesday.

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I've been knocking around the house doing some chores like cleaning out gutters and weeding the fallow garden beds in preparation for winter. I've also been mentally marking the trees I want to fell this winter for next year's firewood. (I'm still waiting for the power company to come through and do their right-of-way maintenance that they said they were going to do this summer. That might provide some additional wood.)

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I've also been plotting exactly how I'm to catch/nab/trap three 5-month old kittens to take them to the vets on Monday morning. I've been working on gaining their confidence so I can suddenly snatch them in an act of betrayal. One will be easy. (That's the one I played hide-and-seek with in the basement for 12 hours about a month ago.) A second is a possibility. (I've managed to actually pet that one a time or two. Granted it was only a quick stroke or two and very , very brief, but I think I can snatch that one.) They third.... Well, that's why they make have-a-heart traps. Tigger is a wily, wary one. My plans may be foiled, however, if they successfully bring down their own meals as they did last evening. A young, dumb bunny became an overnight snack that meant they really didn't need my can(s) of cat food.

Stitching News!

Terry got all excited over an email she received this morning from a stitching friend. Terry had submitted a sample of her work for judging in the artisan program of the Smocking Arts Guild of America (SAGA). It was returned to her as unsatisfactory after three Masters had looked it over and criticized the way several leaves on a flower stem were stitched.

Today, after resubmitting the corrected work, Terry got the word that she had passed and has moved up the ladder one more rung. She will be honored, along with others who have also moved up, at a special ceremony at SAGA's national convention this fall.

Terry and mosquitoes

Tonight's campground (Roughrider Campground in Minot, ND) is bordered on two sides by a still body of water. While this may be nice for some ducks, and a family of Canada geese, it also serves as a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Terry and I walked up to the camp store after dinner to get our dessert--ice cream, of course. We were out for maybe 15 minutes. Terry got three mosquito bites and had a dozen or more swarming to get to know her Type O neg a little better. She had on a long sleeve sweater, too. Of course it was black (a no-no as far as biting bugs is concerned) and long pants. I had on a short sleeve T-shirt and got no bites despite staying outside twice as long as she did.

The Alaskan mosquitoes are going to drain her dry! (She's going to need a gallon of DEET.)