November 22, 2025

Kansas City, MO

Ah, Saturday morning. The premier task of the day is taking the dogs to the groomers. I left the apartment at 06:45 and headed to the streetcar. It is a couple blocks from the apartment. The streetcar arrived shortly after I did and took me to the next and last stop at UMKC, or as we refer to it Whole Foods (very near W 51st Street and Brookside Blvd.) Then I walked up to the house.

Grace and I took the dogs to the groomers arriving at 07:30 when they opened. After dropping off the dogs for their wash and set we returned to the house. I had my morning cigar and checked out the front porch. It looks like it is time to refresh the planters with winterized plants. Finishing my cigar, I returned to the apartment via the streetcar, a stop at Winsteads for egg, sausage and cheese sandwiches, then on to the apartment.

When I arrived, I put on Mary’s coffee and then went to wake her up. She was already out of bed! We sat at the table and ate breakfast. It turns out I ate breakfast, Mary saved hers for lunch. Too early in the day to eat for her.

Then we walked over to the streetcar and took it to Whole Foods. We actually went into Whole Foods and bought some of the things she needed for making her tomato sauce. Afterwards we walked up to the house. Checked in with George and Grace, and then took the Jeep to Mission Kansas to pickup Mary’s watches with the new batteries.

I dropped off Mary at the apartment so she could get started on her sauce, then I went back and picked up Grace and took her to get the dogs from the groomers. The dogs looked and smelled so much better on the way back to the house. I stayed and cleaned out the planters on the porch. It was then end of the summer season for them. Apparently the first frost did them in.     

Off to Home Depot for replacement flowers. Missouri isn’t like California, there are no winter flowers. The garden department at Home Depot was filled with Christmas trees and not much else. They did have poinsettias. While there I looked for replacement lights for the steps outside the front door. They were fairly easy to find. I also looked for a light to replace the one on the pole by the walkway out front. That one took more effort, and I only found a replacement in black. The pole and current light are white.

Packed with eight multi-colored poinsettias I headed back to the house to put them in the pots on the front deck. Quickly I determined eight wasn’t going to be sufficient. One was broken during transport anyway. So, it was back to Home Depot to get five more plants.

This time there were sufficient plants to fill the pots and make the front look festive. The combination of full red, variegated red and white, and white flowers looks really nice. Not sure how long they will last outdoors, but they should be good though Thanksgiving anyway.

After the planting was done, I took a break and had a cigar. Once the cigar was done, I finish as episode of JAG and then headed down to the streetcar and back to the apartment. Its only 17:00 but I am exhausted, so is Mary. I put my sweatpants and sweatshirt in the washer; they were a little dirty from the planting. Make a cup of tea and prepared to call it a day. Too early, yes.

Harry IV & V, and Rochelle will return tomorrow. We will have family dinner at the house. Which means a trip to the supermarket tomorrow morning. Need the sausage and meat for the sauce.

The weather here today is beautiful! The sun was out and the sky was a beautiful light blue. It was cool in the morning, probably near 5C (40F), but in the afternoon it got up to 16C (60F). The wind was light, and the humidity was low, so it felt nice and warm. Tomorrow looks to be more of the same. However, look forward on the calendar it appears as if snow will be falling here in ten days. This is the weather in the mid-west. As Rochelle has often said, if you don’t like the weather wait five minutes and it will change.

About mid-day, while make a run for Home Depot, I noticed that a streetcar was stopped in the middle of the intersection. It wasn’t until the return trip that it dawned on my that there was a collision between the street care and a vehicle. Looking online I found that the streetcar had indeed collided with a box truck. One which had run a red light. No one was hurt fortunately, but people were delayed for about an hour while they cleaned it up and got the streetcars running again.

Time to call it a night.

Buonanotte e ciao,

Enrico e Maria