Friday, July 31, 2026

Mama and Chase didn’t take the comforters and blankets to Helping Strays on Friday morning because it was pouring down rain. They’ll take them another time. Around noon, it had stopped raining so Mama and Chase picked up Nanaw to go to Bread Company for lunch. Mama and Chase had French onion soup, and Chase got a cookie with M&Ms on it. Nanaw had a half Caesar salad, a cinnamon crunch bagel and an orange scone. She tried to pay for her extravagant lunch but Mama wouldn’t let her. Next, they went to Target to buy high school supplies for Chase. He insisted that they call them high school supplies, not just school supplies. A while ago, Mama set up a debit card for Chase; she now deposits his $10 a week allowance in the debit card account. He stores the actual debit card behind his phone in the phone case. Chase picked out two kinds of plastic golf tees and paid for them with his debit card. It was the first time he’d actually used the debit card so he asked Nanaw to come along with him. He handled everything well, considering what went wrong. First, one of the packages of tees didn’t have a UPC barcode so Chase had to find a Target employee to help him. She was able to look up the tees and type in the barcode number. Then when Chase used the debit card, it asked for a pin number, which he didn’t think he had. The Target employee came over again and showed him what key to press to get the machine to bypass its request for a pin number. Nanaw was very proud that Chase handled all the problems so well. .On the drive home, Mama and Nanaw asked Chase if he’d ever heard anything from Amelie, and he said she texted him that she got a new phone and she sent him her new phone number. They asked if he answered her, and he said he texted okay. Then they told him he should text her something, and he sent a hello text but at first it didn’t go through so he did it again but Mama didn’t know if it went through or if she texted back, and Mama didn’t ask. Mama and Nanaw tried to explain to Chase that he had to talk to girls and people but they don’t think he understood what they were talking about: the importance of communication.

Thursday, July 30, 2026

Nanaw weighed and measured Chase on Thursday, and he weighed 122.5 pounds and was still 5 foot 6 inches tall. He’s gained 3.5 pounds since last month, and Mama said it was muscle weight from all those workouts he’s doing. Uncle Mike came over today and helped Nanaw with her solar fireworks lights that weren’t working. She had put them all on the porch where there’s no sunlight. She didn’t realize that because they’re solar lights, they need to be out in the bright sunlight to get charged. Uncle Mike put them in a circle in the part of the front yard that gets lots of sunlight. And tonight they were shining brightly. Nanaw sent Uncle Mike a picture of them so he could see that the non-shining problem was solved. Chase had a workout at 2 p.m. today, and Uncle Mike was still there when they got back home. He had finished cutting the grass and trimming the grapevines. He found four cucumbers that Nanaw had no idea were there. They were on the back side of the plants where Nanaw never looks so from now on, she’ll have to look there also. When Nanaw took Chase home, Mama told her about what they were doing on Saturday. They’re going to Gibault to help with work around the campus – something to do with dirt. The students who come to help will get three hours of community service credit. Each student has to do ten hours of community service work each year so this will count for that. Mama has the day off tomorrow, and in the morning she and Chase are going to Helping Strays to donate a big pile of blankets and comforters for the dogs. Then they’re going to pick up Nanaw and they’ll all go to Bread Company for lunch. Yum!

Wednesday, July 29, 2026

On Wednesday morning, Chase texted Nanaw asking if she could come pick him up at 9 instead of 10 from the sleepover. He wanted her to bring him back to her house before they went to Gibault for the technical session so that’s what Nanaw did. Nanaw got to see Drew and Brady when she picked Chase up.  Cole had left earlier and Nanaw’s not sure whether Joey was still there or not. Chase said he’d fallen asleep about 2 a.m., which is earlier than usual at a sleepover. He said he wanted to get enough sleep for the technical session. It turned out that Nanaw didn’t have to sit with Chase during the session, so she sat in a room next to where the students were working on their laptops and talked with one of the parents waiting for his son. Joey was there and so was Nick, Evie and Cam. Those were the only ones Nanaw recognized. Chase was one of the first students to get his laptop set up, so Chase and Nanaw got to leave early. While Chase was working on his laptop, Mr. Gregson came by, and Nanaw had a nice chat with him about his granddaughter and his son who’s in the Marines in Japan. Mama and Nanaw are happy that they get to see Mr. Gregson again. It turns out that Mama didn’t realize the school was providing Word so she bought a license for Chase’s computer, and he now has two copies. They don’t know what they’re going to do about it. In the afternoon, Chase fell asleep for a little while, still tired from the sleepover.

Tuesday, July 28, 2026

Today was cleaning lady day so after Nanaw finished straightening up the house, she and Chase went over to his house. While Nanaw watched her soap opera and played with Tyler the kitty, Chase watched TV in his room and played on his phone. Nanaw had asked him to do his Python lesson this morning but he forgot to do it. Once again, for his lunch Chase heated up his pizza and bread sticks in the microwave, putting a cup of water in with them to make them soft. Nanaw needs to make a correction as to where the pizza and breadsticks came from. Nanaw thought Mama brought them home from her driveway adventure at Uncle Mike’s. But Chase said that was wrong. It came from Papa John’s and was left over from dinner the other night. When Chase and Nanaw came back home, they worked with Chase’s new laptop in preparation for tomorrow’s tech session at Gibault. Chase is meeting with a tech person to get his laptop set up with the school requirements. Chase and his friends have a sleepover at Drew’s house tonight. Then Nanaw is going to pick him up tomorrow morning at Drew’s to take him to Gibault for the tech session. Chase said Truman was going to sleep with Mama tonight while he was at his sleepover.

Monday, July 27, 2026

Chase did his Python course on Monday morning; he wasn’t sure what number it was but Nanaw thinks it was 16 or 17. Nanaw is ready to start Lesson 14 but doesn’t seem to find the time to do it. So she’ll have to find the time. For lunch, Chase had food Mama brought home from her driveway adventure at Uncle Mike’s house: pizza and breadsticks. There was enough food for two lunches. Chase warmed the food up himself in the microwave, and he did the trick that he learned about on YouTube. To soften up the things you’re microwaving, you put a glass of water in the microwave with the food and that softens it up. Chase said it turned out really good. Chase and Nanaw had to make a trip to his house to get the right shoes for his workout. When he packed his bag this morning, he put in the wrong shoes. On the way, Nanaw drove by the post office and mailed Mrs. Betty’s birthday card. Nanaw is having lunch with Mrs. Betty and Joyce this Sunday out in Wentzville at Stefanina’s. Nanaw thinks they haven’t had lunch since last October so Nanaw is really looking forward to it. Chase had a 4 p.m. workout, and Nanaw took him to it, and Daddy was going to pick him up. On her way home, Nanaw stopped at Chase’s house to leave his clothes bag, the bag of guys and Truman. Mama sent the last picture below of the Tyler, the cute cat. Sometimes Chase pets him and that makes Nanaw happy.

Saturday, July 25, and Sunday, July 26, 2026

As planned, Daddy and Chase went out to Elias’s house in Silex on Saturday. From what Nanaw could tell on Life360, they got there early Saturday morning, and it looks like they spent the whole day at the golf course. Nanaw will check with Chase and Mama to get the details. Nanaw couldn’t tell what they did for lunch and dinner so she’ll have to ask about that also. (They spent six hours at the golf course, and Chase had a hot dog for lunch. They used a golf cart so they didn’t have to walk the course.) Mama went to Uncle Mike’s in the afternoon for the driveway adventure. She and Uncle Mike went to Paul’s market to get something for Daddy to grill on Sunday. Mama said they got two Italian sausages for Nanaw, who is invited to dinner on Sunday. They also bought huge hot dogs and bratwurst. Mama also sent a selfie that Chase took of himself on Saturday for Days of Chase. He was supposed to send it to Nanaw but evidently forgot to do it. Nanaw sent him pictures of Baby Truman on his way to the little house and one of him there but didn’t hear anything back from Chase. Mama got home around 11 Sunday morning from Uncle Mike’s, and Daddy and Chase got home from Silex a little later. Supposedly, they weren’t going to spend the night but evidently they did. Nanaw has so many questions to ask! Some more things Nanaw learned. Uncle Chris is going to get rid of the Knight Owl café. Chase wants to play golf with Elias next weekend but if he can’t do that, he’ll play golf with Daddy. The sleepover at Drew’s house has been moved to Tuesday night. On Wednesday morning, Chase and Nanaw are going to Gibault for the technical setup of his laptop. 

Friday, July 24, 2026

Chase had a workout session at 10 a.m. on Friday morning. On the drive there, Chase told Nanaw that he’s going to have a sleepover at Drew’s house next Monday night, he thinks with the rest of the guys of the crew. He asked Nanaw if she remembered where Drew’s house was, and then asked if she’d be able to come pick him up on Tuesday morning. Nanaw told him yes, she remembered where Drew lives – you make a right turn at the street where you turn left for the workout. Then she said yes, of course, she’d be able to pick him up on Tuesday morning. Nanaw is so glad he’s getting together with the crew before school starts. She thinks the only one he’s seen this summer is Brady so this will be fun for him. Tonight is the Demo Derby in Waterloo, and usually Chase, Mama and Daddy go with Brady’s family. But they weren‘t going this year because both Mama and Chase said they weren’t feeling it. Also, Chase said he’s golfing with Elias tomorrow, and Nanaw assumes that means he didn’t want to stay out late. He’s really looking forward to seeing Elias. Chase didn’t do his Python course this afternoon but Nanaw will see if she can get him to do it every day next week. She’ll make sure to do her lessons with him when he’s doing his; that will help keep him on track. Nanaw isn’t going out to the little house till Saturday morning. She was tired and didn’t feel like doing the long drive on Friday evening.