Saturday and a Trip to the Church

 I slept well again last night. The trick to that is to have enough covers to stay warm. I got up about 5:00AM, as usual.

I have made my bed and dressed and even had my breakfast.  After I fix my Chai and turn on the weather I will check on the cats. I don't know yet whether it rained or not. It's too dark to see at this point.

I packed a shoe box yesterday afternoon and will run it over to the church this morning after it gets light. Johnna will pick it up tomorrow and take it to the First Baptist Church in Independence.

If it is raining the girls won't come to mow Carla's leaves today.  If it is raining I may feed the cats in the garage. I will check soon. I am using the den computers this morning so I haven't checked on them either.

More later.... 

All four cats were out there waiting for their breakfast. They all ate and left except the two kittens/cats. They stay by the front door looking in. After they ate, I took in the food. The water is still out there. 

In a short while I will take the shoe box over to the church for Johnna.

I am currently watching "CBS This Morning- Saturday". When I get all the news, I will leave for the church. It goes off at 8:00AM.

So, more later..

I went to the church with my shoe box of goodies for the children of third world countries and found nine others already there.  Our people are really responding.  After I left there I went out to the Woodshed and bought gas and then I went to Dollar General and got a couple of things I couldn't get at ours. 

I went to Country Mart to get a few grocery items and while I was there Karan called me. Richard, her next door neighbor, had taken her to the hospital with another episode of her atrial fibrillation.  She was in pain so they gave her some morphine for the pain. She had left her two boxes  in the utility room and needed me to go by and pick them up and take them to the church. The hospital in Coffeyville felt she might be having a full blown heart attack and sent her to Bartlesville. I found them there and took them out to the church Then I went on home. 

Then I called Tate Boys, where Leslie bought my tires, to see if I could get my tires rotated and they said to come on down and they would work me in. I took my Kindle so I could read. Since she bought my tires there, they rotate and balance them for free. It was no time at all and they had my car ready. 

They didn't have a lot of Saturday business.

I went over to the mall and looked around. It is practically empty. There may be a dozen businesses left there. 

Karan called me again and asked me to call her beauty shop and tell them she would not be in for her appointment on Monday morning.  They are keeping her over the weekend. They did get her heart converted. And they must have decided it was not an actual full blown heart attack. Their hospital is full of Covid 19 and they do not want to keep her there any longer. The beauty shop was closed on Saturday afternoons. So I will call them first thing Monday morning.

Then I came back home.

I called Cox Cable to discuss the fact that I am getting a low signal on Sundays and am unable to watch our church services the past two Sundays. I talked to three different people and finally got a man who said he does not work on Sunday but he would watch  the signal and would call me after 9:00 on Monday to see how that went. He might have to send a technician out to check out the service. I was on the phone for an hour.

I got letter from Cox in the mail today. It said their service was going to be updated over the next four months. It said I should turn to channel 1987 and if I could get it I am good to go. If I didn't get it I was to check my owner's manual to see if an update is supported and if so, update it. They suggested I request a Contour box. If I don't update my device, they said I would start losing channels in November  and as early as January and no later then early mid March I would not be able to receive any channels. They apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. But I was able to access channel 1987 so I should be fine.

The tech said my Tivo was new enough that I would not need the new Contour box.

If it weren't for Cox Complete Care, Cox would be more trouble then it's worth.

It's nearly 6:00PM now and in an hour I will take my bath and put my pjs on and plan to read after that until I am ready for bed. There is nothing I am interested in on TV.  I have just watched the CBS news.

 

Friday and Finishing Cleaning

 I slept very well again last night and was up at 5:00AM as usual. I have had my breakfast and coffee and am working on my Chai.

I looked out a little bit ago and saw Scruffie waiting for her breakfast so I got all the dishes and went to the garage and filled the dishes. As soon as I got the dishes out there, the rest of the four cats joined her. Scruffie is a mottled grey cat and there are two yellow cats and one black cat I call Inky. I also keep fresh water out there and they always drink that too.

Usually the yellow cat and it's black sibling lie on the doormat out there most of the day.

Scott called me this morning and we visited awhile. He is still hoping we can get together for Christmas. Since we are in the first of the third wave, we may not be able to do that. But I am hoping we can. I would like to see the family and also Ginger and Scott's new home. John would have to drive it and that would be an ordeal, I know. We may need to skip a Christmas get together for at least this year and perhaps even Thanksgiving. I had planned to go to John and Leslie's for Thanksgiving but they may not be through the coronavirus by then. I don't know how long that will last.

I seriously doubt that I have the virus. John left Leslie and me at the restaurant to go to his meeting with the idiot that gave him the virus.

But at the time I decided to have the test, we were not sure where John got it but he suspected it was that guy and later called him to find out if he knew he was a carrier. The guy told him his wife had been sick with it for five days. So, he was a carrier and infected John and John later infected Leslie.

Luckily they have a light case of it. Both just had a cough. They are feeling better every day.

I had no symptoms and that is why I am having to wait five days (not counting weekends) for the results. I had my test last Saturday and they didn't even send it to the lab until Monday. It will probably be next Monday until I hear the results.

I got the rest of my vacuuming finished this morning. All I have to do now is dust everything. I will get that done sometime today.

Now for the rest of the CBS news. More later...It's 8:25AM. 

I texted John and Leslie this morning and asked them how they were doing. Leslie said she was fine now. John said he still had low energy. Evidently that's the worst of their experience. Thank God!

I will check with the clinic later this morning if I don't hear from them. I don't think I have anything to worry about. I feel fine. 

More later..

I did call the clinic and they checked and my results were in. I was negative.

I was really glad I didn't have to worry about that.

I put on my face mask and went out to Dollar General and bought enough to fill my one shoe box. I papered it with green gift wrap paper and filled it with goodies for a girl. I even put pink tissue paper inside it. Johnna will pick them up at the church on Sunday. She will take them to the First Baptist Church in Independence. Karan is doing two and Leslie is doing two and I did one. I only had one shoe box.

At 6:15PM, I took my bath and got ready for bed. After I finish this I will read until 9:00PM when I will go to bed.

As it turned out, I stayed up until 10:00PM and finished the book. Now I will have to see if I can get another one.

 

Thursday and Apartment Cleaning

 I slept very well last night even though I went to bed very early...before 9:00PM. It's only 5:00AM now and I am not yet dressed. That's the first order of the day....then breakfast.

Later in the morning I will wash the bare floors and vacuum the carpets during commercials.

So more later... 

It's 6:15AM and I have had my breakfast and coffee and even a breakfast bar but I haven't yet looked out to see if the cats are waiting for their breakfast. I will be surprised if they aren't there. 

Sure enough..there were four out there. They always scatter when I raise the garage door. But they come back when I leave their food. They aren't crazy about their new food but that's what they are getting so if they want to eat at all, they have to eat what there is out there. The little black cat I call "Inky" is not so fussy. He/she eats whatever there is out there.

I have been having trouble with my dry eyes the past two days. I may have to get some better meds for that, I have been using whatever  is cheapest but that is not working. It took me an hour yesterday morning to get the contact to seat correctly. I had to keep adding eye drops. That's what is happening today too. I think Roger had told me to get Sustain. I will look for that the next time I am out. And I may have to break down and get some glasses again. I could wear them in the evening.

I had had problems getting my November contact to seat so I had gone back to the October one I had kept just in case of an emergency. That one would not seat and I was continuing having to put more drops in my right eye. I just went back in the bathroom and put the November contact in and it immediately seated. So I won't need to put any more drops in that eye. Wonderful! That can't be good for my eye.

Scruffie is staying outside the door on the doormat although the two kittens have eaten and gone back across the street to the neighbor's garage. She seems to be guarding the cat food. We will see.

The CBS news will be on in another 25 minutes and I will want to watch that.

I worked in the yard again this afternoon while it was pretty outside and never did get to the housework.  I may still be able to get it done before supper. Or I may wait until tomorrow. I have nothing to do tomorrow anyhow. I usually just dust everything on Friday.

I got the  mopping done anyhow. All I need to do now is run the vacuum sweeper.  I will start in the bedroom, den and halls as usual.

I had a nice visit with Carla Lewis.  She loves working in the yard too. The little girls who mow for me will mow for her tomorrow evening. It's mostly leaves she wants to get rid of. I mowed some of mine this afternoon but couldn't finish. I had a full bag of leaves when I dumped them out. Maybe I can finish the front tomorrow after the yard gets dry. It's supposed to rain Saturday and Sunday.

Later...

I got everything vacuumed except the dining room and living room and I emptied the canister and washed it out and washed the filters too. The filters need to dry overnight so I will do the last two rooms tomorrow and dust after I get the vacuum sweeper put back together again. Then that job will be done for another week. I don't know where all that dirt comes from. I usually take my shoes off when I come into the apartment and wear just my slippers.

More even later... I have been playing some FreeCell on the Dell laptop. I should buy a new battery for that laptop then I could use it in the living room on my lap. I tried to print off the newsletters for the congregation from the Dell this afternoon but it needs a new driver for the printer. I used the desktop computer Keith gave me. It prints with that old printer.

More later on...

I will watch the CBS news at 5:30PM and after that I will take my bath and get ready for bed but won't go to bed until 9:00PM. I will read in my new Amazon free book. 

 

Wednesday and Questionable Game Day Plans

 I slept well last night and was up at 5:00AM.  I read late last night.

I have had my breakfast and am working on my coffee now. 

I opened the door and found three cats out there waiting for their breakfast. When I took the food out through the garage I heard a crying cat in the garage. I walked back through the garage and the black kitty was there, Evidently when I took the dishes in last night, it followed me into the garage. I put the door down and it had been there all night. It ran out after I talked to it and called it. That must have been terrifying to it.   It is huddled next to it's yellow sibling now and Scruffie is out there now too.

I don't know what Marilyn decided about game day. She texted me yesterday to see if I was interested in delaying game day a week or just cancelling it for the month since it would fall  on the day before Thanksgiving. Next month it would fall on the day before Christmas.  I imagine she will just cancel it since some people would have company coming for the holidays.

More later...

  

Lots of frost today. I guess I wont be doing any raking in the front yard today with that frost.  So, I guess I will read again today.

I have been listening  to NPR as they have discussed how to approach the virus during this new surge of it. There are six countries that have the virus under control including Australia and Vietnam. I think we should tune into their experience and find out exactly how they managed that. 

Dealing with the virus is like a war. 

When we are dealing with a war, we don't decide we don't want to be told what to do. If we are about to be drafted to go to war, we can't just say "I don't want to do that". Many people, even though we have been told that wearing a face mask not only protects the other person it also protects us, refuse to wear one. During war, it's not a matter of what we want or don't want ...it's a national  emergency. We do whatever we have to do to win the war.

And contact tracing is just as important. If we come up with the virus, we need to call everyone we have come in contact with and see to it they are quaranteed for two weeks. We need to hand wash several times a day. We need to keep surfaces that are touched on a regular basis sanitized. Mostly we need to stay home and away from infected people. 

The Australian Experience:

Australian borders were closed to all non-residents on 20 March. Social distancing rules were imposed on 21 March, and state governments started to close 'non-essential' services. "Non-essential services" included social gathering venues such as pubs and clubs but unlike many other countries did not include most business operations such as construction, manufacturing and many retail categories. The number of new cases initially grew sharply, then leveled out at about 350 per day around 22 March, and started falling at the beginning of April to under 20 cases per day by the end of the month.

After lunch I raked leaves around the hedge. Then I read all afternoon until I finished the book I downloaded a couple of days ago until I finished it. 

It is 6:00PM now. At 5:15PM, the First Methodist Church brought my supper. I ordered it this morning and they delivered it. It was either free or you could pay what you want. I gave them $5.00 for it. It was a large barbecue sandwich and a pickle and cake and baked beans. It was delicious but too much food to finish. The last meal I got from them was  homemade chicken and noodles, green beans and a biscuit and a piece of cake. That meal was $4.00. How could you beat a deal like that?  

It's 6:00PM now and soon I will take my bath and then plan to go to bed at 9:00PM.

 

Tuesday and a Surprise

I awoke shortly before 5:00AM and evidently had my sleep out. I had gone to bed very early for me...even before 9:00PM. I had worked hard on the yard yesterday and was very tired. I was very surprised when I checked my bank account to find that my social security had come in one day early. It always comes in on the second Wednesday of the month but today is only Tuesday and there it was! I was pretty low on cash anyhow so it was a welcome surprise. Tomorrow is Veterans Day and that must be the reason for the early social security payment.

I want to try to clean up the rest of the leaves along the fence in the back yard today. I may do some mowing or at least some raking in the front yard too. It is such a mess! Since I am stuck at home while I wait for the results of my coronavirus test, I may as well do that sort of thing. The apartment is clean and the laundry is all caught up. I have a book to read and lots of Amazon Prime to watch but sitting around is really not my thing. I need the exercise.

I texted Leslie last evening to see how John was doing and she said he was still not 100%. Poor guy! He evidently is not letting the virus get him down. He is getting on with his life delivering his product. As long as he doesn't come into contact with anyone but the cows, he can do that. I only hope he doesn't get worse.

More later. I will fix my breakfast and get dressed. 

O.K. I am ready for the day but there will be no working in the yard today. It has already begun to rain a little and it's just 6:30AM.   

These kittens are not stupid. They know where the shelter is as well as the food and fresh water.

  

That's just outside my front door on the door mat. The others are finding shelter somewhere else but with out water or food nearby. It's 7:35AM now.

More later... 

I read until lunch time and then had some soup and crackers and cheese. 

After lunch  I realized I needed to go out to Dollar General and get my Omeprazole. I couldn't find it the last time I was at the Walmart store. So I put on my face mask and bought it. Then I came on back home.

Now I am charging my Kindle. I was going to read but the Kindle battery was low. It is 2:25PM now and the sun is shining. I will go check out how warm it is. I may be able to get those leaves picked up after all if it isn't too cold out there.

I got most of the leaves cleaned up in that back yard before I got too chilled and had to come back in. I had a half of a black yard bag full though. And I got some exercise.

 

I took this photo through   the screen in the den. You can tell that.

It was 3:30Pm when I put the bag in the garage and came in to read the book from my phone.

I have read until 4:30PM and now will go eat my half sandwich from yesterday and watch the news. 

Later this evening, at 7:00PM, I will take my bath and get ready for bed. I plan to go to bed at 9:00PM.

Monday and Laundry Again

I slept fine last night. When I got up at 5:00AM I stripped my bed and have the sheets and my underwear in the laundry.

I have had my breakfast and am working on my coffee. I have yet to go turn on the TV. I also haven't checked on the cats. They didn't get supper last night. Just had breakfast yesterday morning.  

So more later....

I had all four cats out there when I opened the front door and when I put their food out there, they dug in. I see no complaints  at all.

I need to put the laundry in the dryer so I will be back in a few minutes.

O.K. I have the dryer going now.

I believe the only cats still out there are the yellow and black kittens. The others evidently had their fill and left.  These two usually sit by the door most of the time. They look in the glass. But if I go out there, they scatter.

I am going to go out there with the broom and sweep the porch area off. It is filled with leaves My trees are beginning to lose their leaves now and that situation is impossible to keep cleaned off.

More later.. 

I cleaned the leaves out from behind the hedge and then raked up the leaves around the sidewalk. Not that I think it will stay that way. There is no wind today so it may help for awhile. It is good exercise for me. 

Both kittens, the yellow one and the black one, are back out there eating. They aren't near as picky as they once were. When you miss a meal or two, it doesn't matter what food you are given. You just fill your stomach. Scruffie came back for more food too. She is gone now.

I got out the rake and cleaned up more around the hedge. I also cleaned up my new neighbor's driveway. I know it would be in my drive and hedge if I didn't. And it is good exercise for me. I probably should cut it. It could use some shaping up. Leaves are still falling so my work will be in front of me.

More later... 

A breeze has come up and the leaves are blowing everywhere. I figured that would happen. Good thing I did the work for just the exercise.

It's 12:30PM now and I am still waiting for the mailman. I may not have had any mail today.

It's 3:30PM now and I just raked most the leaves in the back yard up but then didn't have the strength to mow them. I was exhausted by then. By late afternoon they will be blown all over the back yard again. Maybe I will recuperate in a while and can mow them before that happens. I hope so. They are such a mess.

I have cleaned up the leaves around the hedge twice today already but with the wind blowing the hedge is full of leaves again now. The fall leaves are a bigger mess then the mowing.

More later... 

It's 4:30PM and  have just finished mowing the back yard, It needs a little more around the edges but I will do that tomorrow if it doesn't rain. 

 

 

I mowed the leaves up in the back yard. They are such a mess. This is the second time I have done this back yard so far this year. I have never done the west side. It is too large. I have done the front twice but it is covered with leaves again now that my tree is losing it's leaves. If I get the energy up, I will mow it too. I fill the bag on the mower and then dump them into the large black yard bag. I may have to ask one of my neighbor men to put the bag in the trash container. When it's filled to the top it's too heavy for me to lift.

More later...Its' 4:45PM and I want to watch the news. 

I watched the news and after 6:00PM I took my bath. Then I watched an episode of "The Big Bang Theory". Of course years ago I watched all of them and these are reruns. 

I will go on to bed at 9:00PM.

Sunday and Another Online Church

For some weird reason my arthritis is acting up this morning. When  I woke up my hands were aching and I ended up taking an Aleve. I am feeling better now.

I was up at 5:00AM again this morning. But I did sleep well. I woke up twice in the night but was able to get back to sleep.

More later...I want to get my breakfast and coffee. 

I have had  my breakfast and coffee and am watching "Hope in the Wild" this morning. I have fed the four cats and they finally decided to accept the new cat food. It's just as I thought. If they get hungry enough they will eat whatever food is offered.

The black kitten stays around quite a bit and it's sibling also usually stays right by my storm door. 

The channel 6 news is on now and I want to catch that so I will get back to this later.

I watched the news and later on swept off the walk and drive.

John called and visited with me awhile. He is doing well for a Covid-19 victim. He saw that I had visited with Nancy yesterday evening and said I should not be around anyone until my test comes back in five days. Since I don't believe I have the virus and just got tested just to be sure because of my age, I didn't think about that. I will stay in until a week from tomorrow when I should have the results of the test.

At 11:00AM. I turned on the computer to watch the church service and found that for the second Sunday I was unable to get online to watch it. Too many people evidently had the same idea. I will have to watch the recording of the service later. I tried to reach Cox, but evidently many other people did too. I was unable to reach a tech. I was on my phone a long time waiting. I may have to find another internet provider if this continues. 

Keith called this afternoon. He had read my blog too and also said until I get the results of my test, I should not be going around anyone. They are both probably right...just to be sure. I will call Bob and see if he can deliver the cakes on Tuesday. I could take mine to the freezer at the church tomorrow.

I had one of my Schwan's dinners for lunch with some sugarless punch and an ice cream bar for dessert.. Then I was able to watch the church service online. They had recorded it.

Bob says he will take the cakes up to Independence for me.That's good. Maybe he can visit with his sister while he is up there.

More even later... Its 3:15PM

I decided to take that cake on over to the church so I wouldn't have to deal with it on Monday.

I logged onto the  site where I will find the result of my test. I  understood it would be five days before I knew the result but the woman who helped me log onto the site said to check back on Wednesday and the result might be there then.

I have had my bath and watched 60 Minutes. Sixty minutes was very late because of another of dozens of football games, Who cares about a football game when 60 Minutes is on with serious news.

I will stay up another an hour but I want to go to bed at 9:00PM It's almost 8:00PM now.