Saturday and Nothing Much Going On

 I slept pretty well last night and was up a couple of times in the night but got back to bed and back to sleep each time. For some reason I am a little dizzy headed this morning. I will check my blood pressure in a little while.

I have dressed and had my breakfast and coffee. In a little while I will watch "the weather on the 8's" but I don't think anything has changed since yesterday.

Leslie texted everyone from church that the Easter service had been moved indoors. I guess they are worried about wind. The time tomorrow will be 10:00AM instead of 11:00AM. If that was announced last Sunday I wasn't in on the announcement. I think I will still bake my coffeecake. The little girls may be there. 

Phyllis will not be there since she has gone to Overland Park to spend Easter with her daughter and family. I am not sure what I will do for lunch. If Eggbert's is open for Easter I may just eat lunch there. We ate at Sams last Sunday..at least Karan, Phyllis, Becky and I ate there. I don't think Just Us is open anymore because of the pandemic. 

My blood pressure is a little low. That must be why I am a little  light headed this morning. It is 120/60. No big deal...better then high.

More even later... 

I watched Good Morning America until it was over then went back to my book and finished it. It was a cliffhanger.

Now I am starting another called "Other Men's Sins". The past two weeks, I have read 19 books. Reading is about all I can do. The TV is awful.  I don't think "Bull" has been renewed...at least not yet. "Lucky Dog" is on this morning and I will watch it when I am ready. I am recording it in case I miss it.

I watched "Lucky Dog" after I recorded it. Then I went back to my latest book and finished it this afternoon. It was "Other Men's Sins".  It was pretty interesting.

It's 2:56PM now. 

I called Nancy and went by to pick her up and we went up to see the new Caney market. After we walked all around it and admired everything, we went out to the new Casey's and looked it over too. It was a beautiful afternoon so we took a drive too. Then I went in with her when I took her home and visited her for awhile. Then I came on back home at 5:30PM and watched one of my recorded programs before taking my bath at 7:00PM. 

Leslie texted me and invited me to go to lunch with them and the girls after church tomorrow. We will go to El Pueblito. It has been a while since I have been there.

I  read until 8:16PM. Then I came in the den to finish today's blog before going to bed at 9:00PM.

Friday and Dusting and Cleaning the Garage

 I didn't sleep as well last night. I woke up several times in the night but managed to get back to sleep until 5:00AM when I just got up. I had worked two hours on yard work including trimming the hedge and cleaning up after that and was very tired...maybe too tired. It looks better but not quite what I had hoped. I have half of a black yard bag full of trimmings and leaves.

I have started another grocery list and when I get enough of a list, I will go buy my groceries at the new Caney Market. It is very nice! There are a couple of things I can't get there like my face wash and my Chai Latte. When I am over to Coffeyville on Wednesday I will get those at their Walmart and also get my gas at Woodshed and go to my bank. Everything else I will buy locally. The last time I checked the new Casey's store's gas price was 20 cents a gallon higher then Woodshed. I would be over at Coffeyville  anyhow on those two Wednesdays and on Sundays.

I have had my breakfast and coffee and am working on my Chai. Shortly, I will go turn on "the weather on the 8's" and see what the day's weather is to bring. 

It looks like probable rain on Wednesday.

I will also check on the cats in about 45 Minutes. Three showed up...Inky and Blondie and the one eyed yellow cat...no Scruffie again. I haven't seen Scruffie in weeks.

My next big  project will be to clean out the garage and make it neater. Maybe I can get to that tomorrow...if my energy holds up.

More later...

It's 7:19AM now and I have just tossed all those boxes in the garage that I have saved into the trash receptacle and when it warms up a bit, I will move the car out to the curb and bring the hose around and hose out the garage. That should clean it up.

I swept it up instead of hosing it out. Then I read until 4:00PM and then came in here to check the e-mail.

I watched the news again....and now...

It's  nearly 7:00PM and time for my bath.  I will get back to this after that.

I read until 10:30PM and then went on to bed.

Thursday and Housekeeping Day

 I slept well last night and was up at my usual 5:00AM. I have dressed, made my bed and had my breakfast this morning. I am now just drinking my coffee.

I am glad this week is over. Waiting and trying to think of everything was exhausting. It was a perfect beautiful day for the service. I was glad to catch the error of Bob's birthday on the brochure. At least they will print some more for the family. 

Diana, my older niece, is coming over to Caney today to visit an old friend. Tony will probably come with her. I doubt they will stop by here. We visited a long time at the reception yesterday.

I dropped by the new Caney city owned grocery store yesterday afternoon  and it is very nice and well stocked. I intend to give them all my business. Now if they could just get a grant to remove some of these terrible eyesore empty houses and do something about their streets, that would be a vast improvement to the little community. Maybe if the president can get his infrastructure plan through congress, something will be done about that with a grant.

They have that new grocery store and a brand new Casey's and a new four lane highway 75 into town from the Oklahoma line through Caney and that's a vast improvement. Danny Scott and his committee have done a wonderful job so far.

It's 6:30 and I will go watch "the weather on the 8's" on TV.

I can hardly wait to tell John I had another cricket this morning in the bathroom and I caught it in some toilet tissue and flushed it down the stool. It was under the trash receptacle in there. :) He was determined  that all that noise each time was the smoke detector.  I knew it wouldn't be but when he is determined he is right it's hard to tell John anything.

I fed just the two siblings, Inky and Blondie, this morning and then the little one eyed blond cat from Scruffie's second litter  came to eat too. I took their food in but they showed back up so I left it out a while longer. They appear to be finished now so I will go get it again and put it away. I haven't seen Scruffie in a long time. Something may have happened to her. The last time I saw her she was very pregnant. It's a mystery. 

  

I would like to ask John, my son-in-law, to bring his chain saw and even up this hedge. I have tried to do it with my hedge clippers but it's way too uneven to do it that way. I don't know whether he has the time or not. If it warms up a bit I may take the hedge clippers out there again and try to get it evened up. It's been that way ever since I have lived here.

Well, I got the apartment vacuumed and mopped. Now all I need to do is dust. If I don't get to it today, I will do it tomorrow. I am pretty tired now. It's strange...I always get a bunch of dirt in the sweeper and I can't understand where it comes from. I take off my shoes on a rug at each door. And I vacuum every week. I asked Suzanne if she had the carpets cleaned after the last renter left and she said she did. I know the last renter was handicapped and had to have help with vacuuming and mopping but this is not just a little bit of dirt...it is a  lot and it's every week..like long time dirt. I wish I knew where there was one of those dry cleaning carpet cleaners like Nate Marsh had and that young man from Tyro who cleaned my carpets over on 2nd street back in the 80s. Those machines really cleaned a carpet.

If it warms up more, I will take my hedge clippers out and try to shape up that hedge myself. It's only 12:23PM right now. It might get warmer nearer 2:00PM. I will read until then.

I finished another book at 3:30PM. I will see how warm it is outside now. 

More later...

Wednesday and Bob's Services

 This will be another busy day. I will go over to Coffeyville this morning to get my hair done and then stay over there and read in my Kindle until lunch time. I will have my chicken salad lunch at Eggbert's and that will give me a good lunch. Then at 1:25PM, I will go out to Ford Wulf Bruns to join in the procession to the Spring Hill cemetery.

Afterward I will go to the senior center for the reception Joanne has planned. We will all wear face masks during all these proceedings.,,,just to be as safe as possible. Of course to eat cake or cookies we will have to take them off.

I got up early again this morning. It is 5:22AM now and I have just finished my breakfast. I dressed as soon as I made my bed and got myself ready for the day.

In a way. I dread today. It will be an emotional day for the family and Joanne....and probably for me too. It has been a couple of weeks. Bob and I always had breakfast at Eggberts on Wednesday mornings and I always texted him every morning between 6:00AM and 6:30AM and he always answered my text.  It has seemed very strange not to text him every morning. And this and last Wednesday were very strange Wednesday mornings. He died on a Tuesday evening on the 16th. I am a year younger and will probably be next. Outside of his sister, Betty, who is 96, I am the oldest living relative.

Well, that's life. 

I am having my chai latte now and in about 30 minutes, I will check on the cats.I haven't sen Scruffie all week. I have really just been feeding Inky and Blondie and that little yellow cat from Scruffie's second litter... with the torn right eye. Poor thing!

I will go check out "the weather on the 8's" now. It is 5:54AM.

Sure enough..it was just Inky and Blondie. I don't know where the others have gone. I have brought all four bowls out just in case the others end up coming over.

I left at 8:00AM and went to my hair appointment and later out to Walmart.  I will probably not shop at a Walmart now that we have  lovely new grocery store. They have about everything I need and everything I buy. If I went out of town to shop  for groceries I would spending a lot more on gasoline then what I would save on groceries. They will get all my business here in Caney. The market is very nice and they have nearly everything I buy. I will be surprised if the Dollar General can make it now that we have a market.

Again, more later....

The service was very nice!! Melissa and Leslie did a fine job. The reception afterward at the senior center was also very nice with lots of treats and a veggie tray too. We all had a good time visiting afterward.  I sent them a thank you note.

The funeral home got Bob's birth date on their brochure wrong.They had it as 1948 and he was born in 1934. I told Richard about that just now and they are going to print some more for the family.

I have been watching the CBS news and now it's about 6:12PM At 7:00PM, I will take my bath and read until bedtime.

Tuesday and Cakes

 I slept well last night for a change. I went to bed fairly early and was very tired. I had worked in the yard and got my flowerbeds ready for Spring. I raked leaves and trimmed. I added mulch to the small one in the front where I hang a plant on a hook.The yard looks pretty neat considering what it is.The last week of April, I will plant the flowerbed in the back yard under the den window. I always like to wait until the chance for frost is over to plant my flowerbed..

When I go over to Coffeyville to pick up the cakes from Phyllis and Karan, I will drop by the bank and get my week's money. We will be short one cake this time with Bob gone. I don't know that anyone is willing to take up the slack he has left. We have lost Sue's and now Bob's. Johnna used to bake one too but, like Leslie and Melissa, she has a very responsible job and has no way to get the cake to us since her dad is also gone. He used to bring Johnna's and Sue's to Independence.

When I get home from Independence, I will pick up Nancy and we will eat lunch at Copan truck stop then go down to Hobby Lobby and browse around just to get her out of town and see something other then the four walls of her home.

I was having trouble getting my right contact to seat this morning. I tried putting an older one in and that was just as blurry and it would not seat either. So I took it out. Then I realized, I could see clearly now. I must have left that right contact in all night. It is fine now. 

It's no fun getting old.  Weird things happen all the time...especially when you are very tired and can't think straight. I had visited for a couple of hours with Nancy last evening even though I was very tired from working in the yard. I came home and read awhile and then just gave up and went to bed.

I have had my oatmeal, coffee and breakfast bar and am working on my chai now. It's nearly 6:00AM now and in about 30 minutes, I will check on the cats. If they are there, I will feed them. I want to leave here promptly at 8:00AM to go pick up the Coffeyville cakes and go to the bank. Then take those cakes to Independence.

Tomorrow, I will get my hair done at 9:00AM and later eat something at lunchtime there in Coffeyville. After lunch, at 1:25PM I will go out to Ford Wulf Bruns to meet with the procession and follow it to the cemetery. When the funeral is over, I will go by the senior center and have cake or cookies and visit with the friends and relatives for awhile before coming back home. By then half the afternoon will be over.

Right now I will go turn on "the weather on the 8's" and check on the cat situation. So more later...it's 6:08AM

There were two cats waiting for breakfast. Both yellow ones. One was the one with the damaged right eye. Poor thing! I didn't see Inky. I think the undamaged yellow cat  was Blondie. I put all their food bowls out anyhow. I figure some of the other ones may see those that are eating and come eat too.

I left here at 8:00AM  to go to Coffeyville. I went to Karan's first and picked up her cake and then to Phyllis' and got hers. Mine was already in the trunk.  I stopped at my bank and took out some money for the week. Then Nancy called me. She had diarrhea and needed to go on a different day. I wasn't surprised. 

As I was leaving Phyllis' I saw Keith Buchele in his driveway with his stepson out by his garage. It had been a long time since I had seen him so I stopped and visited with him briefly from my car. He was an old boyfriend from high school back in the dark ages. He told me he was 91. I thought that was about right. He was just a few months older then my Bob. He would have been 91 in May. It was nice seeing him again. He was one of the nicest guys I dated back then. He was attending Coffeyville Community College at the time I dated him. When he went into the Korean war, I wrote him and as he finished college afterward, I continued to write to him. For his student teaching he came back to Field Kindley High School.  I couldn't date him then because he was a teacher and I was a junior or a senior. That was against the rules even then. We had a nice visit there at the car and he introduced me to his step son. His younger son lives with him and watches over him. He works at Wal Mart. His older son is a doctor.

I went on to Independence and took the three cakes in to the First Christian Church. The secretary helped me unload them and I told her about Bob. Then I went by Miller Brothers and had my gas tank filled up.  And from there I went to their Walmart and got some frozen meals and a few other things I needed. Then I came home and put everything away. It's only 10:46AM now so I have the entire day ahead of me.

When I got home I hunted up my birdhouse paint and repainted it.

Then I took my contact out and put my glasses on. I thought if it had been in all night. I should give my dry eye a rest. 

Suzanne came while I was back here on the computer awhile ago. She put the newspapers in my mailbox on the house. She didn't ring the doorbell. She was probably going to see her sister. But she left me a new colorful doormat. I put the one with the cats on it in the garage next to the back door. 

I have read for quite awhile and it's now 3:08PM. I had some more of my soup and crackers for lunch. It's pretty good! 

Diana, Denise's older sister, contacted me awhile ago. They are at the Best Western at Coffeyville. They are resting up after their two day trip back here from Wisconsin. I guess I will see them tomorrow afternoon.Their kids are in town too.

 

My front yard mowed and raked. I have a lot of dandelions and  would like to get rid of them before they go to seed. Most of the dandelions are in the back yard.

It's nearly 4:00PM now and I guess I will go eat my supper banana. After that, I will watch the news again. So, more later...

I went out to Dollar General and bought some weed killer and sprayed my dandelions.  I hope that will kill them.

After the news, I will take my bath after that at 7:00PM and try to go to bed at 9:00PM.

Monday and Some Coordination

I slept rather poorly again last night and probably will until I get to the bottom of who knows what. I learned at the senior center last week that Joanne had planned for everyone attending the funeral service on Wednesday for Bob Avery is supposed to meet at the funeral home at 1:25PM on Wednesday and have a procession up to the cemetery. The graveside service is at 2:00 PM. That was Joanne's idea but I don't know if she discussed it with Denise, who is making all the arrangements, or even if she discussed it with the funeral home. So this morning I am going to have to call Richard Hanks at Ford Rulf Bruns and see if anyone arranged that with them. Then I will call Denise and Diana.

Joanne also coordinated with the senior center to have a reception for those who attend the services after the service is over. Janet, at the senior center, has coordinated cakes and cookies with members of the board and has arranged to also have a tray of veggies and meats from the senior center. And everyone will wear a face mask.

When Joanne brought that up to me the day I took Bob's photos over to her I told her I really didn't think that was a good idea during the pandemic when all kinds of folks might be there...those who have been vaccinated and those who have not...but she arranged it anyhow. That is why we decided to have the services outdoors instead of at the church.....for everyone's safety. Of course, at that time we didn't know the church would be reopened.That was just decided in the middle of last week after there had been no new cases in Montgomery County.

Then I learned from Leslie that Joanne had contacted Melissa with three pages of her thoughts that she wanted Melissa to work into her sermon remarks. I imagine Melissa already had her sermon remarks planned but she agreed to work some of Joanne's information into her sermon.

Personally, I think the family should make the plans about the service since they are paying for it and are directly involved. But evidently Joanne thinks she should have it the way she wants it. I don't approve of how she has handled this but now today I will have to be sure Richard at Ford Wulf Bruns knows about the procession. 

I had all this on my mind last night and that's why I didn't sleep well again. I was up at 4:00AM. 

My niece, Denise, read this blog and texted me that she had talked to Richard about Joanne's procession plans and he agreed to it. I am so glad that has been taken care of. One less thing to think about. Now if we can get through the reception without anyone getting sick, I will be happy.

I started raking leaves and bagging them about an hour and a half or so ago. I have three full bags in my trash barrel to be picked up tomorrow. I am charging my trimmer now. My back knows I am out of shape. The yard does look better now. The little gal didn't mow as close to the fence in the back as usual so I had a lot more trimming to do this time and the leaves from my south neighbor's trees were all along my fence. It's 10:00AM and I am very tired. I did this yesterday too in the front yard. Getting old is not for sissies.

I went out to Dollar General and bought some birthday cards for Jeromy...one from me and one from the congregation. His birthday is April 2nd. He will be 42 my daughter tells me! Where has the time gone?

David Hill called just as I was getting ready to have my lunch. I had made some more on that Broccoli/cheddar cheese soup. He had a couple of parts he wanted to put in grandma's clock. He wants to be sure that will help it to continue to work before he meets me to pick it up. He said there would be no additional charge. He will call me when he is ready to have me pick it up.

It's 11:20AM...I will fix myself some lunch. 

I called Nancy at 1:39PM and she answered the phone. Then I went over to spend the afternoon with her. It's 5:56PM now and I think I recorded the CBS news so in a bit, I will watch that news. Nancy is going to be up and dressed in the morning and at 10:30AM we are going to have lunch tomorrow noon at Copan. Then we will go down to Hobby Lobby in Bartlesville.

I have to pick up the cakes at Coffeyville tomorrow at 8:30AM and deliver those cakes to Independence tomorrow morning to the First Christian Church at 9:00AM before I come back to Caney to pick up Nancy at 10:30AM.

More later .....

At suppertime, Scruffie's light yellow second  litter kitty, the only one that survived, came to eat supper. Something had put out his right eye...a fight probably. It looked like it had been gouged out. He ate a little of the leftovers from the breakfast meal but then went on back over across the street. Again, I haven't seen Scruffie in days. She was terribly pregnant the last time I did see her and that has been days ago. I have been feeding Inky and Blondie and now that poor little injured cat that is only half grown.

It's 8:46PM now and no more sleep then I have had the last two nights, I may as well go on to bed. My Kindle is charging and there's absolutely nothing on TV worth watching so I may as well give up and go on to bed.

Sunday and Church at the Building

I did not sleep well last night. I had a lot on my mind and could not put it to sleep even though I took a Benadryl tablet. I woke up at 1:00AM and finally just got up at 3:00AM. I had my oatmeal and coffee and will soon have my Chai Latte.

More later... It's nearly 4:00AM now. I will go check "the weather on the 8's" If there is wind or rain in the forecast for Wednesday, we may have to move the service for Bob to our church. The Spring Hill cemetery is about 2 1/2 miles east off CR 3900 on CR 3000. Our church is on 2600 just off CR 3900. CR3900 is the north and south Dearing Road. 

Today we have our first 11:00AM church service at our church building in a year. There will be no church school today. We will all wear face masks and have seating separation. The only hymns will be projected on our video. It will be interesting to see how many will come. 

More later...

It's 5:45AM right now and I have baked a coffee cake, cooled and iced it. If no one comes early enough to have some, I will bring it home. I will share it with Suzanne and Steve and Nancy and perhaps my next door neighbor, Branden. 

I left for church at 10:00AM and got there in time to make coffee and cut the coffeecake. 

The service was very good. Melissa did a good job. Afterward four of us went to Sam's to eat fish. It also was very good. I drove and Phyllis went with me. Afterward I drove back to the church where she picked up her car. 

I came on back home and called Nancy to take her some coffeecake. She didn't answer. She may be out on her deck in back. I will drive by there and see. Be back later... 

I finally got Nancy to come to the door. I went in and visited with her and later with her nurse Laura too. I took Nancy some of my coffeecake.

After Laura got her dinner ready and Nancy ate something she took her meds and after that I saw that it was almost 8:30PM and I needed to go home. I couldn't find my keys and after a frantic search, I discovered that when I pulled my phone out to show Laura the puppies Leslie had delivered a couple of weeks ago, my car key came out with the phone and it dropped into the recliner I was sitting in and later to the floor under it. After a frantic search, Nancy turned the chair over and there they were.

So I got home and had my bath my 9:20PM. I had poor sleep last night so  I will just read awhile and then go on to bed.

It's been a big day.