A Peek into my Week

I spent part of last Friday learning how to enter food pantry applicants' information into the computer. This was also my first time using a laptop, (I had to ask how to open it. LOL) so it was a double-learning experience. I’ve been thinking about getting a laptop so I’m glad to be able to use one.

The back room was almost empty early Friday but it filled up quickly. That’s the room where donations are taken in and stored until we can sort them, hanging or folding the clothes, and deciding to keep or toss the knick-knacks and other things. You might wonder why we would throw things out but you wouldn’t if you could see some of the things people drop off – dirty and torn clothing, worn out pots and pans, stained and melted plastics, things with parts missing. Even though there is a BIG sign out front that says "No Dumping", people drop off things when we're closed, too, even when it's raining. We no longer take TVs of any size and we don't have room for larger items like furniture or appliances. Our dumpster is pretty full every week and we fill a straight truck with bags of unwanted clothing every 2 weeks. The clothing is recycled and the Center gets paid a small fee per pound. We do, of course, get wonderful donations also. Sometimes people even give brand new clothing with tags still on them. We get nice things that don’t sell at garage sales or when people die and the family is disposing of things. Right now we’re getting generous donations of fresh produce and we give it away on a first-come basis. I love going to work and seeing what’s new each week.

People donate magazines to the Center and we resell them for a dime each. Someone brought in a couple of grocery sacks last week and I went through them to make sure there was nothing inappropriate (Playboy, etc.). Most of them had the label cut off so I noticed when 2 didn’t. I got a good chuckle when I saw they were addressed to “Allison Wonderland’ and ‘Rhoda Horsy.’ I wonder how long it took the person to come up with those names.
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My garden is winding down. The peas have been gone for weeks and I just finished pulling all the onions. The tomato plants, while still having a few tomatoes on them, look like heck. All the lower leaves have died and fallen off. I was told this was caused by a magnesium deficiency and to add Epsom salts to the soil but I didn’t do it. I had enough extra tomatoes to can a little bit of juice. I’m still picking enough green beans to have them twice a week and I have green peppers and carrots. I’m always glad to have the fresh veggies but I’m also glad when the season is over. It was a good experience using the planter boxes and now I have some ideas to improve them next year.
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Our big family reunion is coming up Monday, Labor Day. My mother had 11 children in her family and I had 33 first cousins and too many second, third, and fourth cousins to count. There are only Mom, 2 of her sisters, and 1 brother alive now, 3 here in central Iowa and one in Montana. The cousins are spread out across the entire U.S. from Florida to California and everywhere in between. We’re having a potluck at a local city park and I hope we have a good turnout. People seem to drift away once the older adults on their branch are gone.
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Jim did most of the mowing Saturday but I finished on Monday. The garage floor is cracking and shifting and it’s affected the doors, one of which is automatic and the other manual. My car is parked in the automatic side and the mowers, carts, etc. are on the other side. Since the only side door is next to my car, it’s easier to open the big door on that side and then raise the other door to get the mower out. Well, on Monday, the automatic door didn’t want to go back down. It would go so far and then was catching on something. It ended up bending the top of the aluminum door when it tried to close! You can imagine how panicked I felt thinking the door was ruined, wondering if I’d have to park my car outside, how we were going to close the door to protect things from getting stolen, etc. I hated to even tell Jim about it when he got home. He was able to figure out where it was hitting in the tracks and we adjusted it. Then we worked on straightening the door. We had to undo the arm that connected it to the track because even the connector was bent a little. Thank goodness we were able to get everything working again.

Nowhere on our property is very level and both the house and garage are built where the ground slopes away on 3 sides. Add to this the problem of moles (or gophers) digging everywhere and the ground just isn’t very stabile. This has led to problems with the basement floor, walls, and stairway and the garage floor, all which are expensive to fix.

A Peek into my Week

I already posted that I had jury duty 2 days this week. Friday I opened the Multi-purpose Center at 8 and worked until 4:30. Anne, who is my sister and the director, had the WIC (Women, Infant and Children) appointments the day before and that makes a very long day for her. She came in about 8:45 but none of the other volunteers showed up. I was glad it was kind of a slow day. Some days it can get pretty hectic with people shopping, the phone ringing, handling donations and sometimes the food pantry, too. For lunch, Anne usually buys us a take-out sandwich which I eat at my desk. If I'm lucky I get my coffee drank before it's cold. I enjoy the work but I would enjoy it a LOT more if it paid something. If I'm lucky I find a shirt, a book, or maybe a purse that I like but they don't put gas in the car or pay the bills.

t has been a strange summer, weather-wise. June was a steaming scorcher most of the time and July may be one of the coolest on record. It has been great not to have the AC running all the time and being able to sleep with the windows open. I’ll take fresh air anytime over a house that closed up. It’s been raining quite a bit, too, which plays hell with racing schedules. This Saturday evening was the first time that we’ve been able to make it to a figure 8 race and we attended the one at the Brooklyn Raceway. Our son Jason and his wife sponsor a race series that takes place at several central Iowa tracks and he also takes photos at the races and sells them. The Brooklyn racetrack has provided them with a small building to sell their photos in this year, which is really nice for them and provides better access to the fans. Jay has a blog where he posts photos, figure 8 race and other motorsport schedules, and race standings here. We hadn't seen the kids since Jim went back to work so it was nice to visit with them.

Saturday night at the races it got downright chilly. I was wearing jeans and a tee and thank goodness, I took a sweatshirt. There was a steady breeze out of the northwest and it felt really cold before the races got over at 10:30 although it was probably in the 60s. Today was a perfect day... mostly sunny, high about 80°, and no wind. We both slept in since we got home late last night (Brooklyn is almost 100 miles away), and then went to Terrible's Casino like we do most Sunday afternoons. I've been having a good month. I won a little over $200 earlier in the month and today almost $70. That's pretty good since I usually only spend about $20 - $15 that Jim gives me and $5 that's comped each week. When we left today, Jim was in first place in the daily free slot tournament with over 4800 points. We'll find out Monday morning if that holds up. First place pays $50, 2nd - $25, 3rd - $20 gas at their station, 4th - $10 gas, and 5th - free buffets. Any of those would be nice wins.