May 26-June 1, 2019

Weather | 5/26, 4.34" rain, 61°, 82° | 5/27, 65°, 81° | 5/28, 0.20" rain, 65°, 79° | 5/29, 2.28" rain, 59°, 79° | 5/30, 0.11" rain, 59°, 79° | 5/31, 0.02" rain, 55°, 79° | 6/1, 0.23" rain, 61°, 83° |

• Sunday (5/26): Got 4.27" of rain overnight. Checked road conditions online and Highway 156 was closed. Texted Petco fellow employees to tell them I might not make it to work. Went north to Lewistown and made it to Highway 6 and into Quincy. Had 5 of my 6 classes, with the woman with a white husky called Alaska bailing out like she always seems to do. Left work early, since Petco had 3 others going until closing time. Bought birthday cards from me and Bill for Mary, plus 2 dianthus plants for Mary at Walmart. Fixed smoked eggs and watched The Lake House and October Sky.
• Monday (5/27): Mary's 53rd birthday, today. Fished in the Swim Pond. Bill caught 3 fish, Mary caught 1, and I caught a very large one that we suspected was a female, so I put her back. Filleted the 4 fish we kept and ate them...very yummy. Bill left around 5:30. I listened to game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals and Boston beat St. Louis, 4-2. Katie called. Her washing machine wasn't draining.
• Tuesday (5/28): Hard to get to do things outside, due to constant thunderstorms. We haven't planted a garden and it's a good thing, because it's mostly under water. First thunderstorm arrived at noon. In the evening, we had a thunderstorm after thunderstorm starting at 9:30. I got the rain gutter up above the 1st-floor north window AC. It works great at keeping water from pouring onto the outside of the AC.
• Wednesday (5/29): Woke to deep blue sky. We got 2.07" of rain overnight. Highway 156 is closed again, due to flooding. Hannibal has downtown businesses flooded after their storm sewer pipe exploded due to 2-3" of rain in a short time period. A semi truck ran into several feet of water on Highway 61 north of Canton. The driver was rescued from his truck via a rubber raft. The Memorial Bridge crossing the Mississippi at Quincy was closed yesterday morning, due to flooding. Mary figured up rain amounts and we've received 12.24" so far this month, a new record for us.
• Thursday (5/30): Went to work early to get chicken food and oil for the Buick at Farm & Home. Trained 2 dogs in 2 classes and got handouts printed for the following week. At 8 pm, learned West Quincy was under manditory evacuation, due to potential levy failure. When I left work to go home, traffic was blocked going west over the Bayview Bridge crossing the Mississippi, so I decided to drive I-72 south on the Illinois side of the river to Hannibal and Highway 61 north on the Missouri side to home. While I was still in Quincy, Mary texted me letting me know westbound traffic over Bayview Bridge opened, but I have an app on my phone that shuts off messages and phone calls while I'm driving, so I never got the message. Damn! Got home at 11:30. The dike never failed, but they expect it might, because a surge of water is flowing down the Mississippi, due to the U.S. Corps of Engineers releasing water from a lake in Iowa. At home, Mary cut tall grass on the south end of the far garden with a scythe. Grass is growing too fast and too high to keep up with by using a lawn mower. Besides, you can cut grass with a scythe with standing water all around...can't do it with a mower.
• Friday (5/31): Added 2 support metal posts, metal braces, and tightened cross-wires on the NW corner of the near garden. Also added tightened cross-wires on the SW corner. Mary washed clothes and mowed the lane.
• Saturday (6/1): Worked 8-3 at Petco. Drove home and sat out a thunderstorm, then Mary and I went to Germanfest in Quincy. While driving down the lane to leave, swerved to miss a bullfrog the size of a dinner plate. Listened to a German band, ate brats, and drank 2 very good beers. We were there 3 hours...left when bands changed to some '70s-vintage rock band. Afterwards, shopped at Menard's for paint for the mailbox and wood stove and Walmart for food.

May 19-25, 2019

Weather | 5/19, 61°, 69° | 5/20, 44°, 55° | 5/21, 1.65" rain, 41°, 53° | 5/22, 0.45" rain, 51°, 75° | 5/23, 61°, 75° | 5/24, 0.18" rain, 65°, 85° | 5/25, 61°, 75° |

• Sunday (5/19): Worked a 9am to 7:30pm shift. Took 2 lunch breaks. Have 6 dog training classes on Sundays, now...with a long shift, it makes for a very long day.
• Monday (5/20): Went to work early and bought an 8,000 BTU air conditioner from Menards. Added a 2pm dog training class with a 5-year old great dane/boxer female called Rabbit. It's a high-strung mess. While petting it, the dog took a swipe at me, grazing my right cheek with her canine teeth. My positive dog training wasn't positive at that point. Fortunately, the owner was fine after I swatted her on the rump, grabbed her snout, waved my finger into her face and told her that's enough! She laid flat on the floor for a good 5 minutes after that. Don't know how well that dog is trainable. Mary washed sheets, towels, and furniture covers, but with oncoming dark clouds, ended up drying them inside.
• Tuesday (5/22): I installed the new AC into the west window of the living room. With 2 ACs on the first floor, and one of them larger capacity, we can stay plenty cool during the heat of the summer. The new AC came with closed-cell foam boards that I installed outside of the window over the side plastic curtains that come with the AC, to shed water away from the sides of the unit. This stuff also blocks light, so nighttime bugs stay away. I looked it up online. Might buy some of this stuff in the future for AC installations.
• Wednesday (5/23): Worked today. Went in early and bought a 10' section of vinyl rain gutter, plus brackets, to put in above the north window 1st floor AC. Herman never put any rain gutter on when he built that addition, so water drips right onto the outside cover of the AC. Also, picked up some items at Sam's Club. Mary washed clothes.
• Thursday (5/24): Went in early to work and bought food items at Walmart and Aldi. Had only 1 dog training class...pet parent of other class has a daughter in softball and couldn't make it. 
• Friday (5/25): Put tin foil with aluminum duct tape on outside of curtains along sides of downstairs north AC as a way to keep out rain and bugs. Disassembled, cleaned, assembled, and installed the final AC in upstairs north bedroom window. Did the tin foil, aluminum tape job on this AC, too. Bill showed up around 9 pm. Talked and watched a movie of his choice, Men in Tights, by Mel Brooks.
• Saturday (5/26): We had a weinie roast with Bill. Stormed hard in the evening and rained and rained and rained.

May 12-18, 2019

Weather | 5/12, 0.07" rain, 41°, 49° | 5/13, 38°, 63° | 5/14, 0.01" rain, 45°, 67° | 5/15, 55°, 76° | 5/16, 57°, 86° | 5/17, 64°, 85° | 5/18, 0.78" rain, 65°, 72° |

• Sunday (5/12): Kids called Mary. Rough time for Katie right now with job, government pay, and friend. Bill is looking to get a new job within the month. I called Mom. Karen visited Mom. Karen and Mom will visit Denver to a memorial service for Aunt Lois in June. I trained between 11 am and 5:30 pm at work...2 of 6 classes canceled due to Mother's Day.
• Monday (5/13): Trained 2 classes at 6 & 7 pm, each with 3 dogs per class. New additions...a mini schnauzer called Freddy, who I trained in Level 1, and now is in Level 2, he crapped twice...obviously potty training doesn't work for Freddy; and a golden doodle called Ellie. Shane told me I'm working 4 days a week through June, because Bill Fawcett is taking all of June off. We were number 1 in the country in services (dog training & grooming) last week, which involves 6,000 Petco stores. Mary allocated monies into savings, and mowed hip-high grass in the far garden.
• Tuesday (5/14): Figured average dog training commissions for this year and figured pay through June and beyond. I figure I'll have to quit Oct 5th in order to not go over Social Security's income limit and still be able to get SS. Plan on presenting this info to decision makers at work, since they keep upping the hours I work each week. Looked up where I'm going to in St. Louis and drive times. Packed & left for Bill's place. We walked to ate at a sports bar call Mattingly's. Bill has a very nice small apartment.
• Wednesday (5/15): Up at 5, showered and ate breakfast at Bill's. Left at 6:45am for Stray Rescue of St. Louis, which is in downtown St. Louis...rather hairy driving I-70 into town. I hate driving in 5 lanes of traffic. Meeting went well with Justin Tichy, Chief Stores Officer, from corporate. He listens intently. Wants to change employee retention. We lose 70% of our employees each year. He wants to change to 30% loss by 2022. Has other ideas about saving time doing tasks. Says putting up self labels monthly is a huge waste of time. After the meeting, I visited Shane at the Petco in Arnold (St. Louis suburb) where he is starting as manager. It's older than Quincy's Petco. Then shopped at a next door Walmart, Aldi, O'Reilly's for a 5-gallon gas can, Sam's Club for gas and honey, then burger joint and drove home. Was very tired once I got home at 4pm. Didn't sleep well at Bill's apartment...too much traffic noise and woke every hour.
• Thursday (5/16): Last day of work for Cory at Petco...he's the goofball that dances while at the register. He already quit his new job at Home Depot and started work for a heating & cooling company. Trained my 6 pm dog early at 2 pm, since she had a daughter's softball game at 6. My 7 pm class canceled...sick husband. Mary raked cut grass off the far garden and mulched 3 rows
• Friday (5/17): Hot day and Mary's allergies are hitting her hard, due to a lot of tree pollen, so I worked on ACs. Removed, cleaned, and reinstalled the AC in our bedroom. It never was removed last winter, so it was a mess. Flushed out what I call bug jerky. Only got 1 of 3 ACs done. Takes time to remove from window, disassemble, flush it out, scrub off green and black mold with Clorox solution, assemble, and put back into the window. Mary mowed with the bagger to put mulch on near garden. She got about 3/4 of a row done.
• Saturday (5/18): Ate breakfast at 11:30, because when we got up it was thunderstorming and cells kept rolling through us. We had shrimp for main meal. I dismantled, cleaned, assembled, and installed an AC into a north window in the NE entry room.

May 5-11, 2019

Weather | 5/5, 49°, 72° | 5/6, 54°, 76° | 5/7, 0.67" rain, 53°, 51° | 5/8, 0.18" rain, 55°, 72° | 5/9, 45°, 49° | 5/10, 38°, 59° | 5/11, 0.05" rain, 47°, 53° |

• Sunday (5/5): Had my 5 classes of dog training. Had an extra dog attend a class at 3:30 with Aggie, the Basset Hound. It's name is Suki, a chihuahua/yorkie cross that showed it's teeth at the curious hound. I sent the dog home, early, because it was misplaced in a Level 2 lesson, when it needs to be in a Level 1 session. The husband brought the dog in and said to call his wife, which I did later. Sunday is the only day that will work for them, so I'll have to figure that out with Shane. Back home, Mary raked grass tht was mowed yesterday and put in as mulch around all of the young cherry trees, after putting cow panels around the small trees to guard from chewing deer. She mowed more lawn. Mary also removed firewood and the wood rack from the living room. I bought dinner at Subway and brought it home, so Mary didn't have to fiddle with making supper.
• Monday (5/6): Taught 1st class of Level 2 to my 6 pm class (1 of the 2 dogs missed class). Parents of the woman who owns Ruby, a doodle I teach on Thursdays, got a new puppy and I sold them a 2-level package of classes, so I had 2 new dogs in a 7pm Level 1, Class 1. They are Munson, a poodle/bishon, and Hershey, a pomeranian. The class went very well. Lisa, who owns Hershey, ran into Ron (the other Petco dog trainer) on Saturday, who told her to wait until the dog knows its name prior to bringing it for training with us. That's ridiculous, since the first item we're supposed to cover is the name game, an exercise to get the dog familiar with its name. I texted Shane, telling him Ron needs to quit running customers away with that comment. Shane agreed and said he will talk to Ron. Mary mowed all the near garden and outside of far garden. She's taken in too much pollen and needs a break.
• Tuesday (5/7): Got a 4% raise at Petco, which only means I use up the amount Social Security allows me to make in a year faster...I guess that's a good thing. Investigated Mother's Day gift for Mom and decided upon a gift certificate to Logee's. Toured trees. Have lots of new green cherries developing. Watched a BBC Cadfael show and Promised Land, which was a good movie.
• Wednesday (5/8): Balanced checkbook. Downloaded AKC Canine Good Citizen (CGC) pages from Petco's dog training curriculum book that I took photos of several months ago and uploaded to iCloud for CGS Class 1 and wrote note cards. Shane called and said Petco's VP of product and sales is holding a roundtable meeting with employees in St. Louis next Wednesday and Rob, our district manager, asked Shane if I'd attend. Shane thinks I'd be a good representative from the Quincy store. I said yes. Thinking about going the day prior and overnighting with Bill, since it's an 8 am meeting in St. Louis. Mary made bread.
• Thursday (5/9): Trained 2 dogs at work. A new dog called Thunder, a Boston Terrier, jumps and scratches its owner...will be a tough one to train. Mary did inside work. Texted Mom and Bill while driving home. It's cool in Circle MT. Working out details for Tuesday night's overnight at Bill's apartment. Learned that Jane Cason, the former Homer High School librarian, died at age 90 on April 8th, in Anchorage.
• Friday (5/10): Clipped nails on all dogs and washed their collars. Mary & I mowed the lane. 
• Saturday (5/11): Took Plato and Amber to the Vetco event at Petco and got them rabies shots...cost only $30 for both dogs, due to 20% employee discount. Shane asked me to schmooze with the people. I had Plato with me. He's stellar at being nice with other people and dogs. One woman said, "You should put him on the payroll." I sold a complete package (three 6-week sessions) to a woman with a uncontrollable golden doodle (golden retriever/poodle). Got home, ate nachos and watched 2 movies...Darkest Hour and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.

April 28-May 4, 2019

Weather | 4/28, 0.02" rain, 33°, 55° | 4/29, 0.52" rain, 45°, 57° | 4/30, 1.63" rain, 47°, 53° | 5/1, 0.68" rain, 49°, 70° | 5/2, 1.01" rain, 45°, 59° | 5/3, 47°, 59° | 5/4, 43°, 63° |

• Sunday (4/28): Did 5 dog training classes at work, with 3 cancellations that only did away with 1 class. I'm taking over training a German Shepherd. The pet parent said she doesn't like Ron, because all he talks about are his medical issues and how much he hates working at Petco. She took her complaint to Petco's corporate office. Shane asked me to contact her. She'll start next Sunday at 4:30 with me. Mary did laundry, figuring she could dry clothes on the line outside, but rain forced drying inside. She talked to Bill. He's planning on visiting us during Memorial Day weekend. I decided to take Memorial Day off, which is Mary's birthday this year.
• Monday (4/29): Graduated 3 dogs during dog training today...2 from Level 1 and 1 from Level 2. I also did 7 sections of dog treat resets and the July dog training calendar. Mary created shopping lists, and measured Amber for a harness.
• Tuesday (4/30): We shopped in Quincy. First, we bought a harness for Amber, and another aquarium decoration at Petco, then floss for Mary at JoAnn's. Then, bug dope and dog water bowl at Menards. Then we got tires switched onto the aluminum rims at Sam's Club. That took 2 hours...we thoroughly looked throughout that store! The car rides better on the new rims and I see tire pressures on my instrument panel for all 4 tires (had only 3 tires reading in the past). Took old rims to a scrap dealer in West Quincy, MO, and got $25.80 for them...good riddance! Had a late lunch at Qdoba. Then food items at Walmart and Aldi, plus 2 pants, 6 T-shirts for Mary and 3 sweatpants for me at Walmart. Finally, 2 cheap comforters for dog beds, 4 couch pillows, and several movie DVDs at Salvation Army. It rained all day and we felt lucky to get through on Highway 156 in a stretch that floods during heavy rains. They're predicting that the eastbound Memorial Bridge crossing the Mississippi River at Quincy will flood by Friday. Had nachos and watched a movie we bought from Walmart's $5 bin called Arrival. It's good.
• Wednesday (5/1): Standing water everywhere after all the rain we've had, but it's green everywhere, too. I changed oil, oil filter, and air filter on the Cadillac. 
• Thursday (5/2): Trained 2 dogs at work and sold a 2-level dog training class. The eastbound Memorial Bridge crossing the Mississippi at Quincy is closed, so the newer, normally all-westbound Bayview Bridge, now has 2-way traffic. I left home 30 minutes early, expecting backed up traffic in the eastbound lane, but it didn't exist, so I got to work way early. While crossing the higher Bayview Bridge, I looked over and saw that the lower and older Memorial Bridge had about a foot of water covering it's lowest section. The Mississippi is supposed to crest Friday at 11 feet above flood stage at Quincy, but they're predicting 2-3" of rain mid next week, so flood levels might get even higher. Driving the Cadillac is nice without worrying about daily diminishing tire air pressures. The chimney swifts are back. We thought we heard them the night before. 
• Friday (5/3): We saw 40 white pelicans circle overtop of our property and settle down to the NE, probably in Wood Duck Pond.
• Saturday (5/4): I changed oil, cleaned air filters, cleaned spark plugs, and sharpened blades on the 2 lawn mowers. The oldest one didn't run all last year, because it wouldn't stay running. I adjusted a tang that holds one end of the governor spring so that the spring was tighter and it worked. Both Mary and I mowed a bunch of the lawn on all sides of the house, since it was a sunny day with rain forecast most of next week.