Staycation
August 4, 2008
Bill was on vacation all last week. Here's what we did. Every morning we spent several hours enjoying our computers--e-mail, videos, music, writing HTML, catching up on the news and then we had breakfast. After that, we swung into action on other things throughout the day taking occasional breaks back to the computers.

Day What Bill Did What Jo Did
Saturday - Was the "Counter Nazi" for the morning (meaning he put away all the stuff that was on the counters and wiped them clean
- Built stand for small balafon and stained it
- Did laundry
- Pruned tomatoes
- Modified assisted living device for me
- Did some minor grocery shopping--beer, milk, bananas
- Did dishes twice
- Poured more cat food into the cat food container
- Went out and bought dinner at Subway
- Added information to the Democrat webpage
- Finished a Sims' game entry
- Answered a political phone survey
-Finished watching "Ratatouille" and then watched "The Soup"
- Told Bill which fast food place to go to
- Fed raccoons for the night
Sunday - Hung out load of wash
- Moved ceiling flower display to other side of room
- Vacuumed dining room
- Went to Taco Bell to secure dinner
- Took car to garage for oil change next day
- Put the trash out for tomorrow's pickup
- Fed raccoons for the night
- Did a load of wash
- Filled bird feeders
- Did some menu planning
- Cut my hair
- Helped Bill move ceiling flower display
- Told Bill to go to Taco Bell
- Took my car over to garage to bring Bill home
Monday - Started project to fix kitchen ceiling where it had been leaking for the past couple of years (we got the roof fixed this spring)
- Picked up car from garage
- Unloaded groceries from car
- Went to Arby's for dinner
- Went to drum practice
- Fed raccoons for the night
- Went to chiropractor
- Picked up Bill's car from garage
- Went to grocery store
- Went to Arby's for dinner
- Went to drum practice
Tuesday - Went to oncologist appointment with Jo
- Kept working on kitchen ceiling project
- Fed raccoons for the night
- Went to oncologist appointment
- Talked with daughter Amy on phone a couple of times and granddaughter Addilyn once
- Watched my usual two shows during the afternoon
- Made a vegetarian dinner for us
Wednesday - Went to Cox's Arboretum to see the butterfly display
- Went to Lowe's to get some spackling, tape, and paint brushes
- Continued with kitchen ceiling project
- Went swimming with Jo in backyard pool
- Went to Cox's Arboretum to see the butterfly display
- Went with Bill to Lowe's to look for a small fan
- Went swimming in backyard pool
- Made beanie weenies for dinner
- Fed raccoons for the night
Thursday - Continued with kitchen ceiling project
- Helped Todd load more of their stuff into his van
- Went to Ikea for dinner & some shopping
- Fed the raccoons for the night
- Amy, Todd, & grandkids came over
- Amy and I went to lunch
- Watched the grandkids while Amy & Todd went to an appointment
- Went to Ikea for dinner & some shopping
- Saw Roscoe, the raccoon, and four baby raccoons on deck
Friday - Tried to set up Ubuntu (Linux) on computer all morning; finally at 2:00, got it to work
- Did some fetching of things around the house for Jo since her sciatic nerve was hurting
- Went to McDonald's to bring back lunch
- Went to Lowe's to get a small desk fan for Jo
- Finished kitchen ceiling project but because of the problems with it, it doesn't have a 'finished' look; looks kinda rough
- Took a short nap on deck after drinking a beer
- Went to KFC to get dinner
- Fed raccoons for the night
- Sat in Zinn Center and watched three of the baby raccoons feed
- Spent most the morning in bed or at the computer because of being crippled with sciatica (what am I going to do when Bill goes back to work?)
- Wrestled with the doctor's office about a medical release form so I could go to a retreat this September
- Told Bill to get us some KFC for dinner
- Sat in Zinn Center and watched three of the baby raccoons feed
Saturday - Did a load of wash
- Went to Meijer to get contact paper for the kitchen ceiling project to give it a finishing touch and ended up getting some other stuff, too; i.e., paint for the dining room
- Sat on front porch and drank a beer
- Tried to put contact paper up on ceiling repair but it wouldn't stay up there
- Went swimming with Jo in backyard pool
- Went to China House for takeout food
- Fed raccoons for the night
- Went to Lowe's to get trellis for ceiling project
- Went to Meijer with Bill
- Sat on front porch while Bill drank a beer
- Watched TV for an hour while putting ice pack on my back
- Went swimming in backyard pool
- Told Bill to go get Chinese food at China House
- Sat on deck to try to photograph raccoons while Bill went to Lowe's
Sunday - Tried to fit trellis on celiing and one cupboard door couldn't open; back to square one
- Off to Lowe's to take back trellises and to find some other contact paper that would stick to the ceiling
- Tried putting new contact paper on ceiling horizontally and had a helluva time; next tried vertically and that worked better
- Went to Lowe's for more contact paper
- Painted over the contact paper
- Finally finished ceiling project
-Sat on porch and drank a well-deserved beer
- Cleaned up kitchen & dining area
- Put the trash out for tomorrow morning's pickup
- Went to Bill H.'s for dinner
- Fed the raccoons for the night
-Folded some clothes
- Baked some bread in the bread machine to take to Bill H's
- Helped clean up the dining room some
- Untangled some white Christmas lights to go up on the newly fixed ceiling
- Went to Bill H.'s for dinner
- Took some better pictures of the raccoons

Where are they?

There are 4 cecropia caterpillars in this picture, one of them is only half visible. Yes, really, there are.