Arrowwood Viburnum berries

The radio came on at 5:30 a.m. this morning.  I'd set it at that time for the last election day and haven't reset it back.  The announcer said "... frost warnings until 7 this morning."  FROST!  I was wide awake.  I double checked the weather on my phone.  No, it was down to 41 degrees but I doubted it would fall far enough to freeze, even slightly, by sunrise.  (It turned out to be for the state's furthest northern counties.)  Autumnal Equinox is coming soon and there is a lot to get accomplished before temps can't recover during the diminishing daylight.  

Threw on a flannel shirt and got a few fall chores done today.   Tonight I watched the Emmy Award show.  I don't often watch award shows.  I do love the fashion but I can see that on-line the next day.  The presenters at award shows tell tired jokes badly.  When I do watch I wonder how these people can act so well on TV/movies but be so bad delivering one-liners?   It's Star Trek's 60th anniversary but the award show chose not to pay homage to the iconic series.  They did however plan on bringing together the stars of another fav of mine - Buffy The Vampire Slayer.  It first aired 29 years ago. I  never did get to see Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz present an award.  Either they did it while I and the dog were on our constitutional or the network cut it for time.  At least I didn't miss much - Monday nights there isn't much else to watch on TV.

Highbush Cranberry

 

Excerpts from the Sheriff's Report:

12:08 a.m. - Officer observed a vehicle driving very slowly that turned into the Dollar General parking lot.  Driver exited vehicle and went behind the dumpster.  Officer made contact.  She stated she was dumpster diving.  Female left the area.  Everything OK.

6:10 a.m. - Reporting party wants to turn her phone into police because she is harassing a guy on social media.

8:31 a.m. - Officer stood by while property owner made entry into his rental to shut off the water that has been leaking 70,000 gallons per month.  Upon entry, they estimated there to be 20 dogs in the residence that is no longer habitable in its current condition.  Contact to be made with animal control.

10:19 a.m. - Caller with Kwik Trip fraud department reporting an elderly man from the area has been purchasing a large amount of Apple gift cards, $500 each time.  Over the past three months, he's purchased over $19,000 worth.  When questioned, the male stated he was sending the money to the White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt.  Officer spoke with male.  He stated he was sending money to Leavitt and Congressman Walz in order to ship money to his residence.  Leavitt & Walz claimed that the recent $500 card from Kwik Trip didn't work, two other cards were accepted, so due to this issue they claimed the male owed another $2,000 for the shipment of his money.  The male is in denial that he's being defrauded.  Officer to follow up.

11:11 a.m. - Male arrived at Law Enforcement Center driving a lawnmower pulling a trailer, appearing distraught.  He handed over a credit card from the homeowner who passed away.  Male reminded he can't drive a lawnmower on the road.

1:42 p.m. - Handicap sticker believed to have been stolen from the senior center.

3:30 p.m. - Caller request law enforcement.  Her ex-husband showed up and started swearing, got in her face, and threatened to run her over with a skid steer.  Deputy talked to reporting party and a witness over the phone.  Witness stated he did not see anything physical nor did he hear the threats.  Ex-husband will not return to home without contacting law enforcement.  He will remove all of his things by the end of the month.

3:34 p.m. - Caller at Kwik Trip reporting a male he doesn't know hit him in the face and went into the store.  Caller has split lip.  Officer in contact.  Both parties state the incident started at the four-way stop and is due to road rage.  Person who hit caller has a cut on his hand.  Both parties swung at each other.  Both will receive citations.

7:55 p.m. - Motorist called.  They saw a car run the stop sign at a roadway construction site.  Car struck multiple cones and a sign.  Is currently dragging a construction cone under the vehicle.  Traffic officer pulled car over.  Driver initially stated she hit a deer, then admitted she was on her phone and hit the construction barrier.  Citation to be mailed.  Construction company will be contacted to determine damage cost.

10:00 p.m. - Caller struck a bear.  Needed help getting it into the vehicle.

10:19 p.m. - Call from male driver stating his vehicle is about to start on fire.  Dispatch unable to gather more information as caller was extremely rude and cussing.  Highway was blocked off.  Vehicle owner declined accident report.  Only damage was to engine.  He was warned about his language with dispatch and apologized.

Full Moon rising

Amazon's business model sometimes seems enigmatic.  At the end of July I'd submitted an order for 7 disparate items.  Was a little surprised that their delivery date was estimated out to the end of August through the first two weeks of September.    Two items from that order did arrive early but the rest sat and didn't even ship.  Amazon's way of punishing me for not using their Prime service?   That didn't seem logical since a) if I didn't need them right away I wouldn't mind the wait and b) if I needed something quickly I'd buy it elsewhere and cancel the order.  

Near the end of August I had another order of 11 items.   They also were scheduled to be delivered within the first two weeks of September.  Odd.  Do Amazon workers take vacation in August?  Since I had two orders outstanding and not yet shipped, I asked Amazon AI if they would combine some items from the two orders.  NO, was it's answer giving the reason that they were from two different orders.  OK, I thought,  just asking.

With the estimated delivery date approaching,  suddenly everything shipped this week except for one box of Christmas cards and a special pop-up Christmas card.  Even though the cards hadn't shipped, they were scheduled to be delivered today.  Didn't think that was going to happen.  It didn't.  Later in the day I got a notice that the box of cards were delayed and wouldn't be here until next week.  Then I received a notice that the pop-up Christmas card was no longer available.  They were cancelling that part of the order.  (This is why I order my Christmas cards and calendars in August - plenty of time before I need them.)  

I also got a notice that an item from the first order and an item from the second order would be delivered together on Friday.  I double checked that they were indeed from two different orders.  You can't trust AI.

P.S.  On Friday, the rest of everything I'd ordered in the last two months was delivered by UPS - except for the special pop-up Christmas card that Amazon said they no longer had in stock.  Yes, even the box of Christmas cards, that I was notified wouldn't be arriving until next week, was tucked inside a box containing other items.  Plus there was a box containing an item from the first order and an item from the second order.  

Crabapples

My way of celebrating Labor Day was sitting out on the deck and listening to an audio book.  My current book is in the genre of Harry Potter written for young adults.  Same basic start: 12-year old goes to boarding school where magical things happen. This time the 'magic' is by way of  five of the Greek gods/goddesses.  For once my knowledge of mythology has come in handy and, even if I haven't finished the book yet, I know what's going on.  I wondered though if junior high kids would be able to follow along.  How many of them have studied classical mythology?  Would they pick up on all of the clues the author liberally scatters through the narrative?  Then I remembered how many kids during the Summer Reading Program could quote dinosaur names to me so maybe?

This morning we had a lovely long rain storm.   I couldn't just toss Whip outside and tell her to do her thing.  She sat in the shelter of the front doorway waiting for me.  I had to put on my rain slicker and go outside before she'd venture into the rain.  We only went part way before Whip was ready to turn around and I agreed.  She ran all the way back to the house and then wiped her head vigorously against the couch to get her fur dry again.  Thought Labrador's were suppose to like water.

Took off to meet Friend Nancy for breakfast.  We haven't seen each other in over a month.  I didn't recite to her the gory details of my recent hospital stay.  She didn't show me all of the pics she took of her recent trip to a family wedding.  She did share a couple of pics she thought I might be interested in: the wedding dress, some dinosaur bones, and rocks.  That's true friendship.

Hawthorn berries

The 'morning chorus' stopped before the end of August. There are still birds, well some birds, around but they are busy getting ready for migration.  Instead of wasting energy staking out territory they are gorging on the last of the summer's abundance and flocking together before they eventually feel the pull to warmer climes.  This time of year I'm greeted w/ an almost tinnitus-like background of insect noise.  It continues all day until nighttime temps dip low enough for them to go dormant.

Breakfast was a cup of coffee, a glass of cranberry juice, two eggs, two strips of bacon, and the pièce de résistance - toasted French bread rounds smeared w/ elderberry jelly.  Neighbor Anita gave me some of her freshly made jelly in appreciation of the elderberries I'd picked earlier.  Life is good!

Gray Dogwood berries

A new volunteer at the library.  She introduced herself and then went to the back to sort out the 'BB' books.  They are thick cardboard books which can take a toddler's chewing on their corners while someone reads to them.  We keep them in bins and don't really bother to put them back in order.   The new volunteer was tasked w/ bringing some order - no matter how temporary - to them.   A few people walked in and walked to the back of the library.  I recognized them - they often use the library to hold their meetings.   I picked up the cash register receipts from the last week and attendance log and entered everything up to August 31st into the spreadsheet.  Printed out the resulting graphs to show Librarian Trevor trends in attendance, various other stats, and how much the Village, the Library Board, and the Friends of the Library should be paid for the past month.  A lady came in on crutches.  She said she didn't need my help in finding books but could I help carrying them.  I told her to yell, "Hey Sue"  whenever she was ready for me.  A knock at the glass front doors.  A three year old (?) was pounding on the glass to be let in.  His older sister, brother, and somewhat embarrassed mother followed.  I asked her if I could be of any assistance.  "No." was her answer followed immediately by a "Yes" from her older son.  He wanted books on baseball.   Since he didn't look over the age of twelve I took him over to the 700 Dewey-decimal series of books in the junior non-fiction section.  I'd put away enough books on sports to know this would be the general area for him to look.  I heard a "Hey Sue" from the Inspirational book section and went over to carry four books picked out by the lady on crutches.  I checked them out and put them in a bag so it would be easier for her to carry them.  The lady explained she'd broken her leg six weeks ago and this was the first time she was allowed out on crutches. She wanted to rest for awhile.  Told her just to yell when she was ready to leave and I would carry the books to her car.  She sat on a comfy couch we have near the front desk and picked up the local newspaper we keep there for patrons.  Librarian Trevor walked through the library and I gave him the printed stats, receipt slips for the month of August, and asked if he wanted me to put a sign up that the library would be closed on Labor Day.   The new volunteer hadn't realized  on Thursdays the library stays open until 7 p.m.  Told her no worries, she could take off early.  In close succession came in two people who wanted to use the computers.   Checked one out to each of them.   An older lady I know came to the front desk.   She absolutely adores books by Dorothy Grafton.  She returned the book she just read and had a list of four more books for me to order from other libraries for her.  She could do it herself on-line but she would rather have us do it for her.   I wrote down the info.  The mother and her kids were ready to check out books so I did that.  The three-year old ran back to the glass front door and stood in front of it causing the door counter to ring over and over until she was able to corral him again.  I had a sudden flashback to my own mom working in the kitchen while a younger brother sat on the floor banging happily on pots.  I started working on inputting this month's stats when the phone rang.  It was a patron from another library in the consortium. She was sure she'd returned a book but it still showed as being checked out.  Could I check the stacks for it while she waited on the phone?  I assured her I would check but I couldn't at the moment.  Added her request to my list of things to do.  The crutch lady was ready to leave so I picked up her books, opened the door for her, and placed them in her car.  Told her the library was honored that, on her initial outing sans cast, she had chosen to come here.  That elicited her first smile.  I walked back in and one of the guys at the computer asked me to double-check some info he had on the Edmund Fitzgerald.  He was making a quiz for a group he would be speaking to.  I proofed the questions he had and their answers.  I ordered the Dorothy Grafton books.  I checked our stacks extensively for the phone caller's wayward book (didn't find it), and made up a sign about the upcoming library closure for the front door.  The rest of my volunteer shift went on like that.  A side benefit of working at the library is it makes you feel smart (whether or not you are).

Big Bluestem

 

I don't have any visitors right now.  Whip can sniff out all of the treats I throw out for her.  With the rain last night, fire danger has subsided.  No ticks.   My HMO prefers I leave the grass long.  No reason to mow the lawn but I did anyway.   I just don't seem to have enough oomph to start on the autumn chores.  At least this is one thing I can get done sitting down.

Blitzen trying to catch a frog on the other side of the window

Today my state's Elections Commission assured municipal clerks that the Executive Order, dictating USPS restrict which absentee ballots are sent out, is to be ignored for the upcoming November election.  Finally!   By state law, some absentee ballots are due to be sent out this week.   This Executive order was signed in March and the question of it's legality is still percolating through the judicial system.   

The Feds are pushing for the order to be in place for the Novemmber election.  A central Federal portal for each state to upload voter lists doesn't exist.  The USPS software to check outgoing ballot information against the (non-existant)  state voter lists is written but hasn't been tested.  The Executive Order calls for unique bar-codes on the outside envelopes of out-going ballots.  Those envelopes haven't been created.  Training for USPS personnel and municipality clerks on how the system will work and what to do if there are issues hasn't been written.  Trying to get all of that done within the next two months is idiotic.  In fact, there ought to be a moritorium on any election rule changes for six months before a presidential or mid-term election.

I've had the same P.O. Box for the last 20 years yet still find some of my mail placed in mailboxes all along the courier's route.  I sent a Christmas Card to my cousin only to have it arrive two months later. [fill in your own postal experience here].  Do we want USPS deciding who gets an absentee ballot and who doesn't?    Anyone still pushing for this Executive Order to be in place by the November elections is living in a fairyland or wants to create chaos around the election process.  

Elderberry

 

Neighbor Anita wanted to make elderberry jelly this year.  She hoped the elderberry would take it's time ripening since she also had a family get-together to prep for.  For once Mother Nature smiled and the elderberry heads didn't begin to droop until Anita had the time to work w/ them.  I checked the bushes out on the edges of the woods and they had already been picked clean.  (Guess birds don't care if the berries are ready or not.)  The three bushes nearest the house though still had lots of berries.  I cut the heads that were a deep purple and delivered a 2/3 full bucket of them to Anita.  Don't worry about the birds, I left some heads that still needed time to mature on the bushes for them.

The dog was asleep w/ her head on my lap and I didn't feel like getting up to get the TV remote anyway.   That's the only reason I ended up watching 'Velvet' tonight.    It's a Spanish soap set in the '50's about a fashion house.  I liked listening to the Spanish (it has English subtitles) and thought it might not be a bad way of improving the smattering of Spanish I know.  Only issue is this is the first episode I've watched so I don't know all the characters back stories.  There are a number of couples, w/ love triangles all over the place, and explosive revelations like the scion's real mother appears but she's dying from some heart disease.  I'm not a fan of angst but have to admit the clothes they wear are wonderful!

Pineapple Weed

 Excerpts from the Sheriff's Report:

1:06 a.m. - Walk-in to Law Enforcement Center reporting a male on the walking path attempting to hang himself.  He has been drinking.  Officer out on foot on the trail located bong, phone, and rope on a tree.  Request boat for mail [sic] in the river 60-70 yards from shore.  Male in custody - taken to hospital.

1:28 a.m. - Officer spoke with a male about riding his lawnmower around town.

4:24 a.m. - Caller from hospital ER reporting a female patient is becoming agitated and wants to leave but per hospital policy her blood alcohol content has to be below a certain level.

3:29 p.m. - Reporting party states a large round bale fell into their yard and would like advice.  Deputy reports this happened three days ago.  Nobody has contacted Caller.  Caller wanted to know what to do.  As there is no information as to who lost the bale, there is nothing law enforcement can do.  Caller told he would have to clean up the hay.

3:37 p.m. - Caller reporting a male in a white vehicle who appears to be very intoxicated and is most likely heading to work.

5:46 p.m. - Male caller reporting a female was in his house and stole his money, food card, phone chargers, and a possible phone and tablet.  He believes she is at Embrace.  Deputy attempted contact - no contact.  Also multiple code violations as there is a large amount of trash and a tent set up in the backyard.  Male caller wanted a vehicle removed from the private property.  He was told not to move vehicle since he doesn't have permission to do so.  Next Day 4:43 a.m. - Female caller wants to report her car stolen.  She doesn't know her address.  Property owner had called earlier wanting this vehicle removed and states caller took items from the property without permission.  Contact to be made to find out where vehicle is.  Female caller doesn't want to report it stolen, just help getting car back.  Contact attempted at residence.  No answer at door.  Vehicle is still there and is not stolen.  Female caller was told vehicle should be registered and she needs permission from property owner to go on property and get it.  Female caller doesn't have a valid license and has a protection order against the property owner.

6:59 p.m. - Call from Kwik Trip.  A parochial school bus stopped after a sporting event and forgot one of their students.  An employee was able to get in contact with the student's mother.  She called the athletic director.  Within ten minutes the kid was picked up and back on the bus.

11:20 p.m. - Homeowner reports she was doing dishes when her front door opened and a female came in and vomited all over her floor.  Female is unaware of where she is.  Homeowner does not know who female is.  Female stated that her friend is in the basement.  Nobody found in the basement.  Female has a can of Twisted Tea and a THC vape on her - taken into custody and booked for criminal trespassing and cited for underage alcohol and possession of THC.

12:19 p.m. - Staff at Bank requested officer to speak with a customer about getting scammed out of $30k.  Female was on her computer when a pop-up came on her screen from Microsoft stating she'd been hacked by several sites out of China.  She was instructed to call a number and they told her they were from Bank Headquarters and needed her to withdraw the cash and a courier would pick it up.  The female was on the phone with the scammer as she went to Bank and withdrew the cash.  Female told the bank the money was to purchase a vehicle.  The scammer then requested a picture of the cash and a courier named Mike would be picking up the shoebox with the cash.  They then tried to get her to purchase gift cards.  Staff at the Bank intercepted this transaction and had her hang up on the scammer.  While the officers were speaking with her at the bank, the scammers called twice and hung up once officer stated he was the police.  Bank staff helped her close her financial accounts.

Partial Lunar Eclipse

Got in to see a doc at the clinic today as a follow-up on my recent hospital stay.   I told her about some issues I was having and she said those were probably side-effects from the antibiotics I was taking.  (I knew there was a reason I should have read those information sheets the druggist gave me.)   No need to get stitches from the operation removed.  Incision was so small, it was just glued shut.   She did want another blood sample.  Went to the lab and the nurse there asked which arm I preferred she draw from.  I held them both out in front of me and told her to take her pick.  I'd had so many needle marks from the past few days my arms looked like those of a a drug user.  She picked the right.   "It's less damaged than the other." was her reasoning.  Later I got a call from the clinic that my hemoglobin count had gone up a little more since my discharge (good thing) and I should set up another blood draw in two weeks (hopefully my arms will have recovered by then.)  

Tonight I sat out on the deck to watch the lunar eclipse. I switched out Whip's usual harness for the one that glows and set the color to red so it wouldn't hurt my night vision. Unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses are long lived things so I had time to do other things.   Fun finding constellations as stars started popping out, listening to a great horned owl announce it's presence in the forest, and even hearing shuffling noises that Whip wasn't concerned about so I wasn't either.  Too cool for mosquitos or gnats but the crickets and grasshoppers sang for awhile until it got too cold for them too.   I threw on a sweatshirt, wiped dew off the camera lens, and Whip and I sat side by side on a rocker watching as the Earth's shadow slowly covered the full Moon's face.

Budding Florists

Nieces Shelby, Rebecca, and Carolyn had a Girls Weekend.  One of the activities was a flower arranging class at the florist where Carolyn works.  Everyone got the same 'recipe' of flowers and made an arrangement they could take home.  Think it's something I could have my guests do too.  We could go out into the meadow, pick flowers, and come back to see how we would arrange them.  Hopefully the guys will think it's a hoot.

Took it as easy as I could today.  Did have to pick up some antibiotics at the pharmacy the hospital doc had prescribed.  Before I left the house I got a message from the library that an audio book was ready for me.  Stopped there first.  I'm only a block away from the post office so picked up my mail.  I'd left my car out for three days at by the ER.  Noticed spots all over the hood so drove another block to the car wash and got it all nice and shiny.  Drove to the County Seat and picked up the drugs.  In truth, I was a bit nervous about eating.  Mom had diverticulitis.  She'd been careful about eating berries, nuts, popcorn, stuff like that.  However, I'd gone over my hospital discharge papers and saw nothing about restrictions in diet.  Still ...  Decided to go grocery shopping and pick up the same foods they had fed me in the hospital.  Came home and put everything away.  Just doing those errands this morning tired me out.  The dog and I took a quick nap.  As Cousin Rick reminded me "growing old isn't for the feint of heart.' 

Pictures from Rebecca Webb and Carolyn Lloyd.

Knap Weed

Got back home again this afternoon.  Sunday morning just after midnight I had blood coming out of an orifice it shouldn't.  Grabbed my purse and phone and drove to the hospital emergency ward.  They verified it wasn't anything minor and ordered an ambulance to take me to the Mother Ship hospital two hours away.  The docs there didn't seem overly concerned.  They explained they see blood every day and they did know exactly what needed to be done.  Took an MRI, saw where the problem was, and operated to put some coils (didn't know they could do that) into a couple of arteries that had broken into the intestines. (Probably not the technical way of explaining the situation but that's how I understood it.)  I had hoped to get out the next day but my hemoglobin count started falling and that did concern the doc.  He made me stay there all of Monday.   I was very fortunate that Neighbor Doug had recently taken care of my pets and said he would look in on them. By the way, at least at this hospital, the food was top-notch.   This morning my hemoglobin count stabilized and the doc was satisfied enough to let me go.   The hospital arranged for a service that drove me back to my car. Hospital gowns being what they are, I did lose any decency/dignity I had but I'm back home and feeling well.

Mathematical Instruments

 PBS recently aired a show about the Apollo 11 mission.  It reminded me of all the thrill, wonder and angst I had back then watching astronauts walk on the moon's surface.  The show included glimpses of engineers carrying slide rules.  NASA had computers for repetitive tasks but in the 60's the slide rules were still in use for a quick-backup sanity check or calculation.  There are old pictures of people using slide rules for many activities - rocketry, hydroelectric power, cars, WWII bombardiers, chemical research, Trinity nuclear test, etc.    A slide rule was still a necessary tool while I studied physics in college in the early 70's.  Hand-held calculators had just become available but were wildly expensive.  Slide rules, n the hands of someone who knew how to use it, could do arithmetic calculations practically as quick.  Unfortunately they were in high demand among students in the sciences and  easily stolen. We all had backups or carried them in holsters from our jean belts.   In the late 70's when I was training for my private pilot's license, I used a special navigational slide rule.  By that time, personal calculators were finally coming down in price so I also bought a Texas Instrument TI-30 and a specialized calculator with flying functions built in.  Eventually all of my slide rules and early calculators were packed away (couldn't bring myself to toss them).    Brother Brent gave me an Addometer his father-in-law had from the '40's.  It used dials to add/subtract/ etc. and was marketed for small businesses.  It seemed wrong that these instruments were stuck away in boxes when they had such a story behind them.   I gathered them all  together and asked the brothers if they could make a display for them that I could mount on the wall yet be able to take them out and still use them.  Brother Phil worked to get it done just before he left.  Geeky, I suppose, but way interesting and so unique I'd say no one else in the area has one like it.