Saturday and Home Again

I probably mentioned earlier this week that at the last minute, I decided to go on to Church camp...even though I could only stay until Saturday...this morning. I left early Thursday morning and was gone until early this morning. I enjoyed my visit there and renewing old acquaintances...some I don't see except once a year at the family camp. I spent quite a bit of time with Nolan..an old friend who is now almost completely blind. We visited each day and I mostly sat with him at services and meals. He is a nice man and has many friends there. I don't know a soul who doesn't like him. He lost his wife to cancer soon after I lost my Bob in 2010.

The camp seemed a little unorganized and it was quite rainy and chilly. I had meant to take my jacket but accidentally went off without it. I could have used it.

Ken Simpson and his wife, Elizabeth, came yesterday and left last night. Ken has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and they have taken away his driver's license.   So Elizabeth is doing all the driving. 

Family news: My daughter and son-in-law celebrated their 44th anniversary yesterday while I was gone...on June 14th.

Here is their photo.



They have had a very good marriage. They take care of one another.

This little black snake was in the rafters all the time I was there.  It was cold most of the time so it didn't really go anywhere. And black snakes are good snakes to have around. At least that's what the farmers told me.



I have unpacked and am running a load of laundry.  I finally got my bed stripped too and am washing the sheets.

I left camp this morning about 6:20. It rained off and on as I drove back home. And, of course, every time a semi passed me coming from the other direction, it threw so much water on my windshield that I was temporarily blinded in driving. The camp is about 95 miles from Caney. I got into Coffeyville about 8:00AM and stopped at Eggberts to have breakfast. Then I went out to the Woodshed and filled up my car with gas. After that I stopped at the Dollar General store and bought some small plates for the coffee cake tomorrow at Church School. I also went by the bank and withdrew some more cash for the week.

When I got home, I quickly unpacked and put everything away.

I had a letter from the wife of one of my classmates and I want to retype it and send it out the the class.

So, I will get back to this later...

After I finished getting that letter out to my classmates, I went by Nancy's home.  I stayed and visited with her for over an hour then came back home and re-made the bed and put away the laundry.

It's now 2:35PM in the afternoon.

I am going downtown to look into that place where Karan's step daughter has a resale shop. I am caught up now. I looked through the resale shop and had a chocolate milk shake while I was there. It was very good..

Then I came home and put away the laundry.  I saw the little gray cat and gave it some food. It probably had not eaten much since I had been gone. It cleaned up the bowl.

I watched some of the programs I had recorded while I was gone and then at 7:00PM, I went out and mowed the front yard.  That's all I could do. Hopefully after church tomorrow I will be able to finish the job. If not, maybe I can do it on Monday. I get my hair done on Tuesday this week. My hairdresser has dental appointments for her family in Springfield on Wednesday. So she will be gone then.

Then  Wednesday, afternoon Diana and Tony are coming to visit me. They are back for Bob on Father's Day tomorrow and will be here several days .

It's 9:30PM now and I have had my bath and am going on to bed. At least I have a nice clean bed now!

Tomorrow, I am presiding at church and also will take the coffeecake for the church school class.. Now I am going to bed!

Wednesday and a Coffeyville Day

I slept very well last night...again without Melatonin. I woke up a couple of times but got right back to sleep. It rained last night and thundered too. That just helped me to sleep.

Finally at a quarter past 6:00AM, I just got up. I got ready for my day and texted Bob to see if he wanted to eat breakfast with me. He did but he wanted to buy this time. I agreed. We had a nice breakfast at Eggberts and afterward I took him back home and then went to the bank for my money for the week. 

Then I went out to South Coffeyville and bought my gas. Then on to Walmart to get what little groceries I needed. I dropped by Toni's shop at a quarter past 9:00AM and sat in the car reading. After awhile, she saw me and came out to tell me she could get to me early. So I was finished long before 10:00AM. I stopped by Brahms and got my milk and yogurt after that and came on back home.

I haven't done much this afternoon but watch some programs on cold cases on Amazon Prime TV. I ate an ice cream bar for lunch and finished up my trail mix.  I will have yogurt for supper.

Tomorrow, I need to strip my bed and do my laundry.

More later...

Tuesday and a Cool Day

I slept very well again last night. I am hoping the days of not being about to sleep without melatonin are over.  I have dressed and had my breakfast and fed the little gray cat. I sat in the recliner and watched it eat. It is very shy. If I make any effort to get out of the chair, it runs away. I think it is just a stray and is wild. It used to be very scrawny but is looking pretty good after all these months I have been feeding it.

I don't have a plan for today. I charged the battery on the Works trimmer last evening and will finish trimming this morning while it is cool. It is 55 degrees out there this morning. It feels like "fall" for a change.  The yard looks nice since I mowed on Sunday afternoon and evening.

I may go out to Eggberts for lunch today. I like to do that about once a week. If I can catch Nancy, I will ask her to go too.

I should have stripped the bed this morning and washed the sheets but somehow I just wasn't up to it. Maybe I will do it on Thursday or Friday. By then I will have some more laundry and my towels too.

More later...

Nancy came by while I was using the trimmer to edge the lawn. She wanted to go to brunch and I was happy to go with her. We went out to Eggbert's and had our "usual" lunch ... chicken salad on lettuce, a bowl of fruit and a warm muffin....with coffee. We sat and visited for an hour. Then she brought me home. She had errands to run. I will sweep off the walk and check out the trimming to be sure I got it all. It is 10:30AM now.  The temperature is up to 72 degrees now. It will be a nice day.

More even later...

I got the rest of the trimming finished and swept off everything.  I also read the new Reader's Digest. I watched a couple of programs I had recorded this afternoon and also just played some solitaire. I haven't done too much productive today outside of the trimming.

We may get some rain later tonight. I am glad I got the mowing and trimming finished. I will be going to Coffeyville tomorrow for my hair appointment and grocery shopping. Also, I want to stop by the Braum's store for  yogurt and milk before I leave town.  

It's 6:30PM  now and at 7:00PM, I will take my bath and get ready for bed. I will go to bed at 9:00PM.

Monday and A Free Day

I slept very well last night. It may have had something to do with the mowing I did yesterday afternoon and evening. I haven't had to take melatonin for several weeks now. I got up at my usual 5:00AM and had my oatmeal and coffee and chai. I had some leftover coffeecake too. I took a piece to Alice, my next door  neighbor, have saved one for Nancy and had the last one myself with my chai this morning.

I have no plans for today. Maybe I just need to rest.. I think I will eat my leftovers from Great China for lunch.

Karan contacted me today to ask me to preside for her on Sunday. We have a guest minister coming this next Sunday. I spent a little time putting together the bulletin and am prepared. I am so glad I decided not to go to camp this week. I just don't want to deal with my sleep problems away from home.

I may check in with Nancy today. She came by before I went to church yesterday morning and said she was having trouble finding me at home.  I went by her place Saturday morning to see her and she was not home. I was home all Saturday afternoon because Steve and Suzanne were here installing my new blinds for the living room. It must have been Friday when she couldn't find me home. That's when I went to Bartlesville and I went by her house before I went to Bartlesville to ask her to go with me and her car was there but she didn't answer the door or the phone so I think she must have been with Sandy.

More later.....

I went out to Dollar General and bought most of the stuff I wanted to get at Walmart on Wednesday. I wanted to hang one of those hooks in the center of my living room valence. It hung a little in the center. That fixed it.

I tried to call Nancy several times this morning and she is evidently not home. Then I went by Roger Burch's office and picked up my contact lens prescriptions and then afterward went by Nancy's home.

She didn't answer the doorbell so I assume she is still not home. I was going to ask her to go to brunch with me but I think I will just cook one of my turkey pot pies in the microwave and eat here at home.

I had accidentally left my Great China leftovers in the car so I had to just throw them away.  There weren't much of them anyhow.

More later....

I had one of my turkey pot pies from Schwans and it was good. Later in the afternoon, Nancy came by and visited a couple of hours.  After she left, I had my yogurt and watched a program I had recorded until 9:00PM when I watched "Bull".  That about the only network program I like.

After it was over, I went on to bed at 10:00PM.

 

Sunday and Church

I slept well last night and got up at 5:00AM as usual.  I watched the weather, and had my oatmeal and coffee and started my coffee cake and got it in the oven. As soon as I got it out and turned off the timer, I mixed up my cake. When the cake timer went off 28 minutes later, I noticed the cake was not baked. With the stopping of the timer, the oven was evidently turned off too. I had not had any experience with the timer turning off the oven too. My glass top range over at Coffeyville just turned off the timer but the oven had to be manually turned off.

The cake had begun to bake before the oven cooled down so I just started it up again and waited another 28 minutes for it to bake. Then I tested it and it was done. I took it out to cool and get iced after it cooled a bit. It will be amazing if that cake is o.k. but it appears to be. I iced it and will wait for it to finish cooling before putting the cover on it. When I get to church, I will freeze it and Bob will pick it up there on Tuesday when he goes to Independence to deliver the four cakes.

I speak today at church.

I have decided not to go to church camp after all. I was supposed to go over there Wednesday afternoon but I have been sleeping much better and I am conveniently near the bathroom here. I usually get up in the night once. At the campgrounds, in order to be able to sleep I would have to be in a cabin by myself.  Then when I had to go to the bathroom, I would have to walk up the walk outside to reach one.

I can't sleep in the dorm because the other people in there do not quiet down enough for me to sleep. And I am not looking forward to the heat either.  The only time I have to deal with the heat here, is when I mow.

So I decided to just forego going to camp and just stay home.

More later...

Church went just fine today.

Phyllis, Karan, Bob and I went to Great China for lunch. As usual, it was very good. I brought a little home for supper or lunch tomorrow.  When I came home there was a nice breeze so I mowed the front yard. It was the one I have to look at the most. It looks good now. I don't know when I will get to the side yard and the back...maybe this evening if it doesn't get any hotter.

Then I got the four newsletters finished and out on the mailbox for the mailman to pick up tomorrow around noontime.

Mike wasn't at church this morning and usually he is the first one there for just church.  I will e-mail him to see if he is unwell.

It's almost 3:15PM now. I think I will go watch some recorded TV or some Amazon Prime.  I will get back to this later...

About 3:45PM, I noticed there was a breeze out there so I went back out and mowed the side yard and the back yard. Now, it's done for a few more days. I had just mowed it Tuesday so the rain we had really caused it to grow. It needed to be mowed yesterday but I knew my hair would be a mess if I did it yesterday so I wanted to wait until after church this morning.

Now, it's 4:40PM, and I will go watch some more TV on Amazon Prime until 60 Minutes comes on. I always like to watch that.

After that is over, I will take my bath and put my pjs on and read awhile until 9:00PM...then I will go to bed.