Newest Rental!

Esther decided to go abstract with this one...circles of paint with drips.  She and the two younger boys did a good job!  It adds another bright spot to the garden.

And, here's the garden with all four bird houses.  The one on the far right, that looks like a birch log, was made by friends of ours and is made specifically for blue birds.  That one one is already rented by a daddy and mama bluebird.

I know that today is Tuesday because I remembered to pull the garbage can around to the front and empty our inside trash into it and pull it to the road...one of the touch points in my week that keeps me on the right day!  I also took out recycle and I guess it is a good thing as Kathy just informed me that they were stopping curbside recycle pickup for the time being.  So I got rid of a lot of cardboard boxes...had to flatten those and also paper, tin cans, and a milk carton.  Now to remember to put all those items into the trash till they tell us otherwise...a decision made due to the Coronavirus.

Woody spent a lot of time out in the yard again today.  The yard bucket is getting fuller and fuller of sticks.  It will need a young and willing body to take it out to the stick pile before long!  We have several of those next door!

While he was outside I skinned and deboned some chicken thighs and put them in the freezer...both the bones and the meat!  The bones will be used for future "liquid gold" aka chicken broth/stock.  And, I will cook the thighs one of our favorite ways...when we need them for a meal. At this point I think that we can make it till a week from this Friday with what we have on hand.  That is our goal anyway...to go two weeks between grocery shopping trips.  I did a couple of other small cleaning jobs around the kitchen.  Oh... I just remembered that I out a load of clothes in the washer this afternoon...guess I had better go transfer them to dryer once I hit publish!

Tonight's borrowed Coronavirus thought:

"When the dust settles, we will realize how little we need, how much we have, and the true value of human connection." (Unknown author)

Stay safe!
Stay well!
Stay home!

Houses For Rent!

We're looking for some new renters for these birdhouses!  This was a joint effort from many members of the next door neighbor grandchildren and Nathan.  For Graham's birthday, Woody added some extra money onto his birthday check for Graham to purchase materials to build us three new bird houses.  Woody gave Elijah the job of building them and Esthrr the job of painting them!  And, today was the day that the project came to fruition!  I haven't seen the third one yet as Esther was still painting it and I said that I would wait till it was in the garden to see it.  Nathan did assist Elijah in building them.  I know that Elijah learned how to cut the hole for the birdies to enter!  Esther came over for a moment today to check out photos that I had saved on the iPad for ideas of how folk are 

painting birdhouses these days.  She was impressed with all the different ways they had been painted.  I told her that I had saved them just for ideas and that I wanted her to paint them how she wanted.  I love that she painted the blue bird sitting on the branch waiting for his turn to go into the house!  We have a branch hanging over the yard that the bluebirds use to wait till it is their turn to go in to their house.  We are hoping that blue birds move in.  We do have bluebirds already living in the cylindrical house that is especially built for bluebirds.  Woody said that he saw bluebirds wondering where the other houses were today...maybe they will find them tomorrow!  I'm very happy with the outcome...good joint family project for this quarantine time!  I'll show the third one when it is finished! I understand that Esther allowed Isaac and Joseph to help her paint this last one.  Esther said that she really enjoyed painting them!  

Woody has spent a lot of time outside today.  He continued to clean up the yard and weed and trim deadwood out of some of our rhododendron bushes.  He picked up a lot of sticks, too.  I even helped 

him saw off one of the dead branches so he wouldn't have to maneuver back up the slope of the garden to get to it.  And...he didn't think that I could do it!!!  

I did a lick-and-a-promise dusting job in the dining room and living room.  And, I've read some more.  I was reading four e-books...alternating back and forth between them.  But over the weekend I finished two of them, this morning I finished the third, and am working on the fourth one now.  I have one "real" book that I am reading also...so at the moment I only have two books going...down from five!  

It has been a beautiful Spring day.  Note how green the trees are becoming...you can see behind the birdhouses.  To think that a week ago they hardly had any leaves on them!  I love to watch the trees green up each Spring.

Tonight's Coronavirus thought that I borrowed for tonight's blog:

Also highly contagious:

Kindness

Patience

Love

Enthusiasm

Positive Attitude

Don't wait to catch them from others.

Be a carrier!

Stay safe!

Stay well!

Stay home!

Come and Get It!

This afternoon when I was cooking out supper, I had just taken all the cooking mess over to the counter next to the sink so I could load it into the dishwasher and I turned around and this scene just seemed so inviting to me...one of my happy places.  So I decided to share it on the blog tonight.  I made chicken gumbo in the stainless pot...and rice is simmering in the black pot.  I could have turned and taken the counters behind me...but I would have hated to disrupt this tranquil scene!!!  As of a couple of minutes ago when I was downstairs, I only had the stainless pot left on the counter to wash as soon as I publish this.  I was ready for a break.  I will say that the gumbo tasted good.

Woody spent time in one of his happy places today...out in the yard.  He spent a lot of time outside weeding and cleaning up the front flower beds and he also planted the last of the grass seed.  He said that he was glad to be finished with planting grass seed. He continues to try to get grass to grow around the stepping stones that connect our front walk with Nathan and Kathy and family's front walk.

A load or two of wash got done and put away.  I even finished a book this afternoon.  And, it was a beautiful day outside...very Springy...flowers are blooming...trees are getting baby leaves on them...that spring green shade from the Crayola box is starting to show on our trees.  Such a pretty time of the year! A pretty positive sight when looked at even from a stay-at-home point of view!

Just before I came in to blog I watched a video from an internet sewing teacher/friend.  She made the following inspirational comment on today's world situation that I will share tonight.  She suggested that we think of this enforced "stay-at-home time" as a "GIFT OF TIME!"  She challenged us to "USE IT WISELY!"  And, this time I can share the author of the wise words...most of the time the words are anonymous. I borrowed these words from Connie Palmer, sewing teacher/designer extraordinaire!

Stay safe!
Stay well!
Stay home!

Finally Friday

Has the week seemed long to you?  Is time slowing down during this pandemc?  Do you have trouble knowing what day it is since all routine has pretty much been taken away?  I have a few "touch points" that help me realize what day it is.  First...my pill reminder!!  I start off the day taking my morning meds and the little boxes let me know what day it is.  Melany reminded me that this should keep me grounded in what day it is.  That is all good and well, except by later in the day I'm not thinking about what letter was on the top of today's pill section.  So I need more than that.  Thankfully I still have a church service on Sunday.  Even though we are watching it livestream on my iPad, it still pretty much seems like we have been to church.  Usually I have school on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday and know which child comes for their long time on which day...so that USED TO remind me what day it is.  Right now Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are pretty much the same as the other...except that Tuesday night I take the garbage out to the road for Wednesday pickup...I have had a bit of a problem remembering to do that...but so far haven't forgotten! Wednesday we no longer work in the library so lost that touch point.  On Thursday our pastor has started a livestream Bible study...so that gives me a Thursday time to be "somewhere!"  Friday remains closest to the same.  Woody runs errands with his friend and now I (a change) do our family grocery shopping.  Saturday seems like Saturday because it follows our routine Friday.  But Woody has lost his one Saturday reality check...the public library.  But so far we aren't too far off on "what day is it!"  That may change as this "shelter at home" continues.

Woody headed off fairly early to make a stop at the Credit Union.  After that he headed off to run errands with his friend.  This afternoon he spent quite a bit of time in the gardens at the front of our house...picking dead leaves and other debris from around the plants.  It was a beautiful spring day.  The only problem with the outside currently is the pollen count!

I made our weekly run to the store, though today we decided that we would try to eliminate a trip to the store next Friday.  I hope I did a good job of picking and choosing items that we would need.  Some items are still quite sparse on the shelves.  I did manage to get there when a big shipment of toilet paper was being unboxed!  A major coup!  I did get a package since we wanted to not go back for two weeks and we are working through the package we got a couple of weeks ago.  I got the last bottle on the shelf of the dishwashing detergent that I use.  I found the last package of bread flour on the shelf.  Kathy asked me to see if I could find that.  There was still no yeast...but the neighbors (Kathy and Nathan) have provided me with some that they have.  With bread flour they can use the bread machine for their homemade bread and use their bread machine yeast.  So they could "give up" some regular yeast!  So we traded...flour for yeast!  Anyway, I managed to get restocked in some things that I was or just about out of.  There was still not a lot of meat...or at least what I was looking for.  But I think that what I got and what we already had will get us through the next two weeks.  Time will tell!

I felt so sorry for the girl who checked me out at Kroger.  Check out was not her regular job and they had put her there with little training...just a few minutes...because there were so many people needing to get checked out.  She was having quite the time.  But I tried to make her feel better by reminding her that we none of us were really in a big hurry since none of us had a lot to do except go home!  She was really struggling, but got me checked out and I think that she was accurate in what she did.
Just had to make several voids along the way!!  Our stores had put up acrylic barriers between us and the cashiers and had marks on the floor to keep us at least six feet apart.

Pandemic thought for the day:

"Nothing should go back to normal.
Normal isn't working.
If we go back to the way things were, we will have lost the lesson.
May we rise up and do better!"

Stay safe!
Stay well!
Stay home!

Throroughly Thursday!

Tonight's photos I took today of our gardens.  The tulips must be happy with the amount of rain and the temperatures as they are blooming nicely along with some iris that I will share photos of another time.  Melany and Wade planted these for us several years back.  So pretty!

We have had another day of just hanging out.  I actually did some sewing...made something as a surprise for a friend.  I have washed and dried a load of clothes (still have to put them away).  And, made Woody some more of his sweet red pepper sauce (his catsup).  And, some green beans for our supper.  Woody cut off the ends and then I fixed them.  We really like a Southern Living recipe of old for garlic green beans.  They turned out very good once again and will be even better after the flavors blend in the fridge!  Woody sat and read for a while, again, in the car so he could feel warm!  The TV has been going and we have both done some reading.  Me...not quite as much reading.  I think that I am about to move on to another past time...the sewing room felt like a good place to be today so I think that I will hang out in there some tomorrow.

Now...the kitchen mess is still facing me.  I had to sit down and rest for a while so decided to blog before heading back down to clean up.

Last night I mentioned about April Fools' Day not being as much fun this year.  Well, let me tell you what happened about an hour after I posted the blog.  I have Alexa set off an alarm around 8 each evening to remind myself to take some of my medicine.  It went off, I took my medicine and went downstairs.  I got downstairs and was doing something in the kitchen and realized that I was hearing the Alexa alarm again.  I went back upstairs and told her to stop.  She stopped, but then it went off again.  Stopped it and after a few more minutes it started to go off again.  I told her to stop and then asked her when I had alarms set and she said I had six alarms set...there should have been only three. So I figured out how to clear the three that I had no idea how they were set and went back downstairs.  Once downstairs we heard April Fools' over the downstairs Alexa!  Nathan and crew had set up our Alexa to do this as a joke!  It definitely had be confused and addled for a few minutes!  I think that I may have missed hearing the Star Spangled Banner as they asked if I had heard that...I was probably downstairs when that was sung or played!  Quite the pranksters next door.  They had a good laugh and then disconnected.

For tonight's thought about the Coronavirus, I decided to share a laugh that I read online today:  "Can we just uninstall 2020 and install it again?  This version has a virus!"

Stay Safe!
Stay Healthy!
Stay Home!

Another Barn!

How do you like this barn?  Oh...not another barn, but a cow checking you out!?!  April Fools...about the barn!  I haven't had anyone around to either fool me or me fool them...so this was just my lame attempt!  Hard up...in these uncertain times...April Fools jokes aren't even fun!

We are both up pretty early.  Woody got the ingredients put together for the French toast and cut the Brad and then I dipped the bead and cooked it.  After I got that cleaned up, I got out what I needed to make spaghetti and meatballs.  Then when I was ready to put it together, I didn't have to gather everything together.  It ended up being finished in time for lunch so he had our main meal at noon today.

Woody headed off to Tennessee Oncology this morning for an appointment for getting his monthly anemia and B-12 shots.  And, this time he saw the doctor, also.  The labs did include, hopefully, what his nephrologist needs for labs and Woody won't have to go for that lab appointment...trying to eliminate as many health appointments as possible!  The oncology office will fax them to Dr. O.

Our temperatures have dropped back down...so once Woody feels cold.  He chose to read for a while in the car this afternoon where the greenhouse effect made him feel warm for the time he was out there.

Here's my borrowed encouragement for today:

"Let's welcome April with hope in our hearts, peace in our days, joy in our souls, and trust that things WILL get better!"

Stay well!
Stay safe!
Stay at home!

Tuesday Happenings

This poor old barn may not be there when we pass by the next time.  There a lot of barns out there that are on their "last legs!"  We find them interesting, too.  This past trip we found barns in bad shape like this one, but we also found one that its owners hadn't given up on yet and they were patching it up.  I think that it is the first time that we have found a patched-up barn.

We continue to "shelter at home." Today I had to break our quarantine a bit as I needed Nathan's help to get the app for Woody's video appointment with his nephrologist. I haven't felt very stressed during all that has happened so far with the Coronavirus...UNTIL I had to get this appointment set up!  There was no way for us with any technology that we have to have this video appointment.  And, a phone-call appointment wasn't an option.  So Nathan downloaded the app on his phone and we will have to borrow his phone when it is time for the appointment.  We did get it working and were able to see the lady we were interacting with to get this set up.  Doing this took well over an hour of phoning back and forth, Nathan downloading the app prior to the call to the doctor's office, first attempts last night, etc.  What a pain...but it is done!  Major accomplishment of the day!

I declared this a baking day and let Woody choose what I would bake...cookies, cinnamon swirl
bread, or a pie.  He chose the bread.  It is another first-time recipe for me...but from an old cookbook...some probably have the red and white check Better Homes & Garden Cookbook.  My copy was a wedding present so it is 51-years-old.  One of the reasons that I chose this recipe was that it only used one packet of active-dry yeast...and that was how much yeast that I had in the pantry!  One of the reasons that Woody bread over the more desserty choices was he thought that it would make good French Toast.  It should with the nice cinnamon sugar swirl running throughout the loaves.  What we do know that the slices we had of it right out of the oven tasted mighty good!  I do love homemade bread!  But for us to have any more yeast will have to get back on the shelves in the stores...well, that isn't exactly right...Kathy did say that we could go shopping in the Dorrell pantry next door!  Nice to have back-up supplies!

I made an eggplant casserole for supper.  The kitchen is cleaned up and ready for tomorrow's cooking tasks.  I have had enough time in the kitchen today and am very ready for my recliner for the rest of
the evening.  Woody has done crossword puzzles, watched some TV and done a LOT of reading.
He'd better slow down.  Our church has closed its doors to foot traffic so getting back to the library
won't be easy any more!

Cheryl...my Arizona sister, my favorite sister, AND  my ONLY sister, has gone on what she is calling "lock down."  They are to "shelter in place starting this evening at 5pm.  She doesn't seem to excited about the prospect...wonder why!!  Guess we can all do it together and try to get this virus under control.

At the end of the blog each night, I have been trying to add some encouraging words.  Sometimes they are just things that come to my mind and sometimes, like tonight, they are something that I have heard or read during the day.  I read this today: "when you can't control what's happening, challenge yourself to control the way you respond to what's happening."  So stay positive, stay we'll, stay safe.  We're in this together!

(I apologize for weird spacing and and weird words...for most of the blog I have been typing blindly with the lines and paragraphs bouncing back and forth while I type...not fun!)