Day 19, July 3 Rochester, Minnesota

Mostly an easy day today. Patti went on a walk in Quarry Hill Park across from their parents home at 7 AM with her sister Paula. It was a chance to debrief about the wedding of her son. Then Paula, her husband and youngest daughter are headed back to their cabin in northern Wisconsin. So nice just for that debriefing Sharing the glow.

Next Patti and sister-in-law, Jodie went to Verizon to get a new phone number for Patti‘s mom‘s cell phone. She has been getting hit  by spam, text messages (sometimes 50 in one day!) and so we all agreed starting over was good. Then Patti spent a couple hours helping send off text messages to getting all of the appropriate people, the new phone number. Oh technology.

After lunch, Patti, Dick, and Patti‘s mom Joanne went off for a wonderful adventure. That his high school friend Randy‘s parents have a toaster museum. This is a collection of over 1000 antique toasters, as well as other antique cooking, household items, and tools. Randy’s dad, Maynard, gave a very informational and educational tour, sharing some of his expertise about these fascinating appliances. we all learned quite a bit. Dick was especially glad to be able to interact and ask his questions as well as share a lot of his personal experiences. Not everybody gets the opportunity to go and visit a toaster museum. Bravo, Maynard.

Then it was a hang out afternoon into the evening with, Patti‘s brother Perry, picking up Kentucky fried chicken and we had a nice dinner together. Then we brainstormed and helped Patti‘s mom deal with problems with her air conditioner and had discussion about other upgrades for the house that could happen. So nice just to have some in person time and we all are so proud of her mom for still living independently in her middle 80s. We want her home to be as comfortable and safe as it can be for her.

Once the air conditioner repair guy left, we were glad to have the temperature start to drop. It was in the 90s most of today and as far as everyone is concerned, too hot. We’re hopeful the air-conditioning will make the Fourth of July a little more bearable.