November Flew Right By Me

I knew I had saved a draft to publish, but I didn't realize it was about OCTOBER!  I am obviously having a hard time keeping up!  I thought October whizzed by, but November, too?  It's lucky that I keep a separate journal, or I'd have no sense of accomplishment.

I spent the first 3 weeks of November working on the annual Super Saturday activity at the church.  I was in charge and I had a committee of 1 -- 1 other person.  We planned and executed an all day crafting activity at the church for the ladies.  They worked on Xmas gifts.  We had a great turnout -- 46 women came and participated.  Some of them brought homemade soups and bread for the luncheon.  We had 7 crafts available to work on, with examples and instructions and the materials all packaged up into individual kits, labeled and ready to go.  It was a huge success.  We put together 170 kits,  purchased (pre-paid).  The first two weeks of November I spent getting it all ready, and the 3rd week of November I spent putting it all away, and distributing the extras.   It was such a big production.  And, of course, I forgot to take pictures because I was so busy working that day.

The 4th week of November was Thanksgiving week.  It came in with a ton of snow.  (Really, 8 inches.)  But freezing temps the previous week followed by snow.  I did take pics. 

 This is the picture I took on my back porch when I opened the door.  This branch was hanging down, weighted in snow.  It is about 6 inches from the door. 

 I went to the front door to take this picture.  Check out how much snow is sitting on the ladder. 

This is the view of the north side of the house taken from the front porch.  My trampoline is covered! 

We stayed inside most of the week because the roads were icy and slushy.  It started to warm up a little on Wednesday and we ventured to town to do some errands and get some groceries. Sharon and Judy were kind enough to invite us to join them for Thanksgiving Dinner at the Lovell Bible Church.  Here we are eating and visiting with one another.  Judy took pictures and posted them on Facebook.

On Black Friday we ventured out -- the snow mostly melted -- and drove to Cody for a movie and dinner out.  We saw Mockingjay Part 1.  The 3rd book of the Hunger Games Trilogy is being shown in 2 parts.  It was very good, and we were happy to get out of town and do something entertaining.  And it's a good thing we did, because a cold front moved in on us.  Saturday morning it was 44 degrees when I went out to walk, and at 10 p.m., when I came home from volunteering at he Hyart Theater, it was 5 degrees!  I don't think I have ever seen such a radical change in temperature in one day!    It started snowing about 6 p.m. and I drove home from the theater in a blinding snowstorm.  (Oh, how I hate those!)  Sunday morning we fixed our own Thanksgiving dinner.  Dad wanted some of those fabulous Turkey sandwiches we always have with the leftovers -- only we had no leftovers!  So, we bought a turkey Saturday while we were in Powell getting the flat tire on his truck fixed.  (Oh, there's always something!) 

This morning, it's 10 below out.  Brrrrrrr!  I'm staying inside where it's nice and warm today. 

Where did October go?

The first part of October can be characterized by one of my Dad's favorite jokes.

 What time do most people go to the dentist?    At tooth-hurty (2:30)!

Looking for a more respectable (meaning not so corny) joke, I came across this one:

 "Open wider." requested the dentist, as he began his examination of the patient. "Good God !" he said startled. "You've got the biggest cavity I've ever seen - the biggest cavity I've ever seen." "OK Doc !" replied the patient. "I'm scared enough without you saying something like that twice." "I didn't !" said the dentist. "That was the echo." *

I was happy to be able to go to the dentist in October.  No one likes talking about their pain and cavities and root canals, etc.  Nor do they look happily upon the idea of visiting the dentist.  But eventually.... you just get down to it.  My visit took some planning, since my dentist is in Mexico.  But first, we went to California to visit with the family, friends, and take care of some important family business. And since Grover and I both have birthdays in October, our kids threw a surprise birthday party for us! That was the fun part!

Afterwards, we drove to Yuma and checked into our motel (low budget digs, but with a great pool!!!) The next day (Monday) and every day thereafter (through Friday) we trekked in and out of Mexico - Los Algodones - for dental treatment.  5 days running!  I spent a good part of my week  (20 hrs) in the dentist's chair--almost like a part-time job.  I will spare you the details.  Suffice it to say that my dentist's parting words were:  "You had a hard week.  You were brave."  I consider that to be real validation, and even sympathy.  Do you ever get that from a dentist?  You should.  It's worth a lot.

 Once at home again, I spent the next five days bragging/boasting about my brutal intensive dental experience.  Why would you do that? was the question people asked.  A good question.  The main answer is:  Cost.  One third of the cost of  local dental estimates.  And of course, the 2 jokes above are the other answers:  pain, and cavities. This summer I was enjoying a candy with a nougat inside when all of a sudden the candy pulled my filling right out of its space.  Now, I had not really a cavity, but a cavern.  The last thought was,  how many dentist visits would it would take with the normal, average extended approach?  Suppose each visit is about an hour, that would mean 20 visits.  And even with 1 visit each week = 20+ weeks!   There is definitely an advantage to getting it all over with!

Ok, enough of that.  Where did the rest of October go?  I cleaned up the house and finished canning all the tomatoes that we grew this year.  We went out to dinner for my birthday.  I officially turned 65.  I decided that I am going to use that number--wear it as a badge.  Not as an excuse, but as a badge of honor.  Crazy?  Yes, but I see so many people start to give in because they're 65+.  Surrender to it.  Not me.  I am going to own it and use it, and keep doing things and trying things.  And then, I'm going to tell people that I know stuff, because after all, I'm 65!

 One of the advantages of turning 65 is the Medicare Wellness Medical appointment.  My family will be happy to know I went in and had tests and medical care.  And so far, so good!  No worries.  Now, I am back to the exercise routine I have:  swimming and walking, mostly.  Last week Grover and I went out and tried a little tennis exercise, and we went bowling on Saturday.  Fun stuff! 

For Halloween I dressed up as a cowgirl (Caroline Lockhart, local rancher, newspaper editor, now deceased) and handed out candy at the Museum to all the town kids.  Very fun.  I'll try to find the photo Dad took.

*source: http://www.jokes4us.com/peoplejokes/dentistjokes/dentistonelinersjokes.html