Saturday and a Day of Rest

I slept well last night although I was up three times to use the bathroom. I got right back to sleep. I ended up sleeping until 6:00AM. I am just now having my breakfast at almost 7:00AM....late for me. I have nothing planned for today.The apartment is clean and I cleaned up  leaves in the back yard twice yesterday. I never did finish the front. It got too hot. Both yards are very bleached out due to the prolonged heat.

I will turn on the TV and watch for "the weather on the 8's" and check on the cats.

I watched the weather and found that we should have rain on next Wednesday. Only Scruff came for breakfast this morning and she ate nearly all her food. She must have really been hungry. Later Blondie showed up but I didn't feed him. He has an owner who can do that. 

I started watching the CBS commemoration program of 9/11 but they were reading the names of all 3,000 people who were killed that day and I couldn't sit through that so I turned it off and read instead. Besides I had seen the entire horrible thing on TV at the time it happened.

I read all morning on my next to the last book and finished it. I have one unread one left to read. It is 10:45AM now. 

 More even later... 

I had the rest of my tomato basil soup for lunch with some crackers. 

Then I went out to Sonic and bought a cherry limeade slush. 

I watched the Ohio State/Oregon football game and afterward I read awhile.

Then I decided to go over to Nancy's and see if I could raise her. I tried calling her...no answer. Then I went over to her house and tried again...no answer. Then I rang the front doorbell three times....no answer. Finally I went to the back door and rang that doorbell...and what do you know...she came to the door.

I stayed two hours and visited with her. Then I came home to watch the news. But it wasn't on. Only a football game was on so I went back to my latest book and read until 7:00PM. I took my bath then and put on my pjs. It's  7:35PM now.

It's begun to get dark. When it is dark, I will go bring in the solar kitty. 

I cleaned up the back yard of leaves twice today and when I looked out a minute ago it needed it again. Well, not today or tonight. Maybe I will do it again in the morning. We will see.

I plan to go to bed at 9:00PM.

Friday and Dusting

I slept pretty well last night and only woke up once for a trip to the bathroom..my regular routine since I am trying to drink more water. I go through at least one bottle of water a day..sometimes more. I also have crangrape juice every morning, one coffee and chai latte. Sometimes I have a cherry limeade slush from Sonic. I got hooked on those when I worked at Quality Motors back in the 90's.

I will dust the apartment today. After mopping and vacuuming on Thursdays I like to leave the dusting for the next day. I usually dust with a polish. My furniture was bought during the 70's when I worked at Blackledge Furniture Store here in Caney. So it is quite old but good. It is all Thomasville or Drexel so it is meant to last a lifetime and so far it has. Only the dining room table was made by Amish folks. That was something Bob wanted and I sold my Thomasville dining table to Bobby and Karan when we bought the Amish one.

I finished my latest book last night before I went to bed. I think I will work on that impossible puzzle today. I am tired of reading.

I will go turn on the TV and watch "the weather on the '8s"  now and then check on the cats.

So more later... 

It looks like we have a chance for rain two days next week. Also, both cats came for breakfast and even though they didn't seem to like the new canned cat food in the past, they cleaned up all the bowls this morning. I only have one can left now so I will start feeding them the dry food again. I hope they will eat it now.

I am thinking of going to Coffeyville this morning to look for a birthday gift for John, my son in law. I have an idea for something he will appreciate. I should have got it Wednesday but I just put it off. His birthday is the 14th so by the time I would buy it on next Wednesday, it would be too late.

I have been working on the puzzle again. It's a doozy! I have found very few new pieces. Maybe five in an hour.

I'm going to go to Independence and buy a gift for John's birthday now. 

I got John's gift and put it in the mail today.I hope it gets there on his birthday...which is Tuesday.

Now I guess I will go back to the puzzle. 

I worked on the puzzle for an hour and only found two pieces. This one is really difficult. I may just put it away and return it if I can't get it worked by Wednesday when I go to Bunco.

Then I read for awhile. It's 4:40PM now and I will go watch the news. I just had my supper banana. I will be giving blood on Wednesday morning when I go to the doctor and will be donating blood in the afternoon on Thursday here in Caney. So I want to get some oranges and some Oreo cookies. That will add substance to my blood and maybe I won't be deferred this time. They really need my blood since it's 0 positive.

Now,back to the news. 

I am really disgusted with many of the Republican party….my party. The president finally did what needed to be done by issuing a federal mandate for all citizens to get vaccinated. This is not a game or a political question. This is a matter of life or death for all of us. Now we have the Delta variant as well as the original covid virus to deal with. And now even those who have been fully vaccinated can get the Delta variant. There will be other variants developing too until almost all citizens are vaccinated. Everyone and anyone can be infected or even re-infected. 

It is  6:00PM now and I just turned off the Tulsa news. The Oklahoma governor is one of the worst of them. Oklahoma is one of the worst states dealing with this pandemic. They are 8th in the nation dealing with the most cases and deaths. Yet their governor and several other Republican governors will fight any mandate to get folks vaccinated. We have the science and three different vaccines yet people will ignore this mandate or fight it to protect their “personal rights". In a pandemic, personal rights do not take precedence over the rights of everyone else. 

We have to stop at stop signs and observe speed limits or suffer the consequences of a ticket. There are laws to protect everyone from abuse, murder or robbery or you can go to jail.  This mandate is designed to finally get this pandemic under control to protect us all.

Why is that so hard to understand!!!

If everyone would read the book "The Great Influenza", they would understand why this is so important. My grandmother's baby sister died in the 1918 flu pandemic. There were no medical schools in that day. If a person wanted to become a doctor, he followed a doctor around on his rounds and learned what he could. Most treatment for anything was "bleeding". Sometimes the patient was accidentally bled to death. Then the microscope was invented and France and Germany started medical schools. Then our brightest men who wanted to learn to be a doctor started going to Germany and France so they could learn  medicine. In a short while the most prestigious universities in America opened medical schools too. After all they were being left behind and their brightest men were going to France or Germany so they could learn medicine.

The 1918 pandemic began at Camp Funston  (what is now Fort Riley in Kansas). Then we got into the war and it spread across the world as our men were sent overseas. There was no treatment and millions died worldwide.The lowest estimate of the number that died from that epidemic was  21 million. That was in a world with a population of less then 1/3 of what it is today. Today's estimates by epidemiologists of the number who died is between 50 Million and 100 Million. Roughly half who died were age between 20 and 30. The epidemic stretched over two years and 8% to10% of all young adults then living, had been killed by the virus.

It is 7:25PM now and I have had my bath and it is beginning to get dark outside. 

Thursday and Apartment Cleaning

I slept restlessly last night and was awake several times throughout the night. I don't know what the problem was. I don't remember dreaming or anything like that. I just couldn't get comfortable and stay comfortable. So I would just wake up and it would take a little bit to get back to sleep. I had spent some time last evening raking and picking up leaves in the back yard. I suppose that could have entered into it. I wonder what that yard looks like this morning. It's still dark out there since it's not quite 6:00AM The leaves are still falling since it's fall so I suppose I will have to do it some more ....several times... before they are all gone. It's good exercise for me though. Lord only knows, I get very little exercise anymore.

I was up at 5:00AM as usual. I am in the process of eating my breakfast now. Today I will clean the apartment again. I do that every Thursday. And today at 12:45PM I will take Nancy to her beauty shop appointment at Anessa's. It's at 1:00PM. Afterward we will drive down to Copan and have lunch. She wants to do that to pay me back for my "trouble". Of course, it's no trouble. I will have my housework finished by then and will be ready for lunch. I was going to have the rest of my tomato basil soup but I can have that tomorrow.. 

The yard is parched and dead looking in most places. I haven't watered and I don't have a soaker hose or a sprinkler and I don't know whether I should buy one. The yard is just a yard. I don't really have a lawn as such. I am not sure what to do about mowing this week. It looks pretty yellow out there.

I will check out the "weather on the 8's" and on the cats. They did not like that cat food I gave them yesterday morning and didn't eat much of it. What was left of it I put in a paper cup with saran over it and put it in the frig. I will offer it to them again this morning and see if they are hungry enough to eat it.

I fed both cats and they ate most of it. I guess if you're hungry enough you will eat what you really don't particularly like. Blondie is wearing a new lavender collar. Someone over there wants everyone to know he has an owner.

I got the apartment cleaned, vacuumed and mopped. And the vacuum sweeper cleaned up. It's only 9:12AM too. I may go out front and do some raking.The back looked fine this morning and it is only 68 degrees out there now and it's 9:14AM.

It's 10:20AM and I have 3/4 of the front yard raked and bagged before I played out and came in to drink water. Maybe this evening I can finish it if it cools down. It's 80 degrees out there now. Too hot for me to be in that sun!.

I will read awhile or try to work on that puzzle. It's a doozy!
So more even later..

I took Nancy to the beauty shop and then we went to Copan Truck Stop for lunch. She wanted to come over to my apartment afterward and she stayed a couple of hours before I took her home. The Schwan's man came while she was here and afterward I told him she wanted to see him too. He said he had a lot of stops yet but would stop by her house after he finished there.

I won't get to the yard again this evening. I am too tired. I may get to it in the morning. We will see.

In about 15 minutes the CBS evening news will be on and I want to watch that.

After the CBS news, I took my bath. It's 6:30 PM now and I will read until my bedtime at 9:00PM or so.

It's 9:15PM and I am going to bed.

  

Wednesday and Hair Day

I slept well last night even though I was up twice. I finally woke up the third time at 5:00AM. We had a little rain around 8:00PM but the northern part of Montgomery County had more of a storm and some small hail according to Leslie. I read for awhile because channel 6 out of Tulsa was off the air all evening and they were using an Oklahoma City channel for their news.I am not interested in Tulsa news and so I am certainly not interested in news from Oklahoma City. I did watch the CBS news from them. Then I turned off the TV. I haven't checked yet this morning to see if they ever got back on.

I am having breakfast now....my usual oatmeal....and drinking my coffee. It's still dark out at 6:15AM. I looked last night and there are leaves all over my back yard again. I doubt I will rake again until all the leaves have fallen.

I will go turn on the TV and see if the "weather on the 8's" is on  and then when it gets light I will check on the cats.

It's 63 degrees out there this morning and it will get up into the high 80's today and into the 90's the rest of the week.

Both cats were there waiting for breakfast this morning. Blondie had a collar on now so his family had to have put that on him.  He sniffed at he cat food but didn't eat any. His family must have fed him too. Scruff is still eating though. She is ferrel and doesn't have anywhere else to eat but here. 

My yards, both front and back, are both filled with leaves again but I won't be able to clean them up today since I will be leaving at 8:15AM to go to Coffeyville to get my hair done. I will try to work on that tomorrow morning.

I will stop by the bank today and see if they can order checks for me. I really don't want to order them online if I can get them done at the bank. I don't want to put my checking account information out there for all the nuts who wait for just such a thing.

I see Tulsa's channel 6 is back online this morning.They were off all evening and Oklahoma City's channel 9 was all we could get for the CBS news.

So, even more later... 

I left for Coffeyville about 8:20AM and got to my hairdresser in plenty of time. After she finished I went to get gas and after that I went out to Walmart there to get three things I can't get at our market. Then  I washed my car and vacuumed it out, took my papers out to Karan's and came home. I stopped at Sonic here and got the child's Wacky Pack of chicken strips and french fries and a coke. It costs me $1.99 plus tax for a total of $2.18.Of course, I always give the car hop $1.00 tip. When I was 14,I was a car hop and I know how important tips are when you are working for minimum wage. In those days minimum wage was .40 an hour. That was  1949.

Then I came home and sorted through the junk mail. 

I will read awhile now. 

About 2:00PM I went over to visit with Nancy. Tomorrow at 12:45PM I will pick Nancy up and take her to the beauty shop over on Spring street. Then we will go to Copan Truck Stop for lunch.

It's 5:05PM  now. I will eat my banana for supper and watch the CBS evening news now. After the news at 6:00PM, I decided to go out in the back yard and rake up those leaves again. That's about the only exercise I get so it will be good for me.  

Later, I will read awhile more and take my bath at 7:00PM.

I took my bath at 7:00PM as planned. I will read awhile and then I will go to bed at 9:00PM or thereabouts.  

Tuesday and Laundry

I slept pretty well last night although I was up a couple of times in the night. I drank lots of water yesterday. All that raking dried me out. I noticed last evening that I will have to rake the back yard again. I intend to do it while it is relatively cool this morning, It's only 6:25AM right now and not even light out yet.

I have had my breakfast and am having my coffee now. I put those last two brownies in a plastic bag and will take them to Nancy today. She loves sweets too and seldom gets any.

I have my towels, pajamas and underwear in the laundry this morning. I will dry clean some of my tops this morning with my Dryel.  I would rather dry clean them that way then put them in the laundry. That way they don't shrink and really smell fresh. 

I will go turn on the TV now and watch "the weather on the 8's". In a little while I will check on the cats too. Scruff came back last evening but she had eaten well yesterday morning so I didn't feed her again. She will be plenty hungry this morning if she's out there. 

So, more later.... 

We have a 60% chance of rain this evening. We could sure use it.

Both cats came for breakfast. Scruff wasn't all that happy to see Blondie. He has a family that should be feeding him but he comes over here most of the time and helps her eat hers.  She is not all that happy about sharing. She finished it up after he finally left and I brought the bowls in and washed them.

I went out back and raked up the leaves that had fallen and blown into my back yard yesterday afternoon. I just put them in a plastic grocery bag and put that in my trash.  I will take that trash out. I think the trash will be picked up today. I hope so. There's quite a bit in there.

The trash was picked up this morning about 9:15AM. I went out later and picked up the  leaves that are now falling from my own tree. It's inevitable I know. It's bigger then me.

I just put the last load of Dryel tops in the dryer. That was 25 tops I dry cleaned in the dryer.. That really freshens them!

O.K.that takes care of my chores for the day. At 1:00 PM I will go over to Nancy's and when her Visiting Angel leaves at 1:00PM we will take a drive. That will get us both out of the house and we will have a visit. I think I will go out to Eggbert's or Copan and have lunch. I had a good lunch at Leslie and John's yesterday and a chicken pot pie the day before on Sunday.

Tomorrow is my hair appointment in Coffeyville. So far no one has called me about it.  Belva has been quarantined for at least two weeks now and should be safe.  I got hold of David Harkin and he told me Bunco was next week..So I put it on my calendar.

I watched 60 Minutes Sunday evening and one of their best stories was about the Richie Boys, a group of mostly German Jews who escaped the Nazis and enlisted in the American Army to fight the Nazis. They were very intelligent and extremely well trained on how to get intelligence from German prisoners.

Surprisingly there was no violence involved. They, of course, were fluid in the German language and that was a great help. They learned that the best way to get information was to show empathy for the prisoners. They said something like "This is a terrible war, isn't it? I am sick of it and I am sure you are too. We have both lost so many young men." 

They were taught never to use violence of any kind. That would never have worked. 65% of the valuable information for the war effort came from the Richie Boys system. They were trained at Fort Richie Maryland. That's where their name came from. It was an extremely interesting  program. There were three 98 year olds on the program that told their story. I even recorded the program.

I went to get Nancy at 1:00PM. I visited for awhile but it was obvious she wasn't going anywhere...even for a drive and she was still in her nightgown. I told her if she would call her beautician and find out what time her Thursday appointment  was, I would take her. I don't know whether she will do that or not.She says she wants to go have lunch after she gets her hair done. We will see. I will check with her before Thursday. I'm not going to hold my breath though.

It's almost 7:00PM  this evening and I am going to take my bath and put my pajamas on and get ready for bed and then read my Kindle. I plan to go to bed around 9:00PM.

Monday and A Labor Day Picnic

I slept well last night and was up at my usual 5:00AM. I have made my bed and got myself ready for the day and had my breakfast. 

This afternoon I will go out to Leslie and John's about 2:00PM for their cookout and homemade ice cream picnic. I will test the brownies I made yesterday once again and see if they are edible. If not, I will go to the market and make another batch this morning. I will need more nuts.

I got a notice from the Chronicle that my subscription is up the 30th of this month. I will need to get that paid. I send that to several people and it is full of news. They really enjoy it and so do I. I didn't renew the Reporter or the Journal this year. They are under the same ownership and used the same reporters and the news in both papers was the same. So I just didn't renew either of them. Suzanne leaves me her Reporter anyhow and after I read it, I give it back to her so she can share it with her sister.

More later... 

This is my next door neighbor's back yard. Mine would look like that if I didn't rake and clean it up. 

 

I get good exercise doing that.

I guess I will go turn on the TV and watch "the weather on the 8's". 

I watched the weather and also some of the CBS news. 

Then I went out and started raking the front yard. I got it all raked but needed to stop and hydrate.I came in and drank some water and will rest awhile. Then I will go out, put some  plastic gloves on and pick up those piles and put them in the black yard bag. But I am pretty sweaty right now and need to rest and drink some more water. It's only 68 degrees right now so I want to get that done before it gets any hotter.

I got the front yard raked and the leaves put into a yard bag and got that into the trash container for tomorrow. I  guess we will still have trash pickup tomorrow. It's our neighborhood's regular day..

 

So, more even later..It's 9:45AM now and it's getting hotter so I am glad to have that done. But all that bending is good exercise. I had about six piles of leaves. I see it's still 68 degrees out there. Not bad for early September.

I went back out at 11:20AM and cleaned up the other two piles of leaves and got them into another black yard bag while it was only 79 degrees out there. Luckily there were only two piles and they were in the shade.

More even later...

I left home about 1:30PM to get to John and Leslie's at 2:00PM. We visited for awhile and then John began the hamburgers. Karan had brought potato salad.  I had my brownies. Leslie had all the fixings. Then after we ate she fixed everyone homemade ice cream and served my brownies.

After awhile we watched Cheyenne in the swimming pool with Jeromy, her dad. They had a good time. We played with KiKi and Mini, their two Corgis, and Hoover and KiKi played in the water when John got out the hose. Hoover is their male Corgi.

After awhile John took Karan to see the calf he was raising after it's mother rejected it.  Then they went to his barn where he had painted a picture of his cows.

After Karan left, he took me to see the calf and across the pasture to see his other cattle. He gave me a nice tour.

Then we went back to the house and soon after that I left for home.

I am very tired. Between the raking and bagging of the leaves and the afternoon, I was very tired. 

I will watch the evening news and then take my bath and perhaps read awhile before I go to bed. It is 6:30PM now. I will not go to bed until 9:00PM or so.

 

Sunday and Church Online

I slept well last night and only woke up once. I dreamed of Jeromy, my grandson. I dreamed he had the key to my front door and came to check on me. I heard his voice say "Hello" and woke up. It was so real that I actually got up and turned on the light expecting to see him. It was 4:00AM. I even walked through the apartment but then I realized it was only a very vivid dream. It was weird. I seldom dream...if I do, I never remember the dreams when I wake up. Anyhow, I went back to sleep and slept for another hour and got up at my usual 5:00AM.

I dressed and made my bed and fixed my breakfast and am eating it now. I used the last of my milk and will have to go to the market later on this morning if I want to have breakfast in the morning.

It's almost 6:00AM now. I thought I heard the wind in the night. I imagine there are leaves all over my yard again. It won't do any good to rake them up again unless the wind has died down. It's a lost cause. But it is good exercise and I need any exercise I can get. We will see...

I guess I will go check "the weather on the 8's" and see what the forecast is. I don't know if we got any rain last night. If we didn't, I will have to water again this morning.

More later.... 

I went out back and raked leaves again and bagged them up. There were quite a few but I got them all.....for the time being. There are quite a few in the front but for now anyhow, I am leaving them.

Leslie called to invite me out for a cookout and homemade ice cream tomorrow to celebrate Labor Day at 2:00PM. I am to bring brownies. I went to the market and bought pecans to put in them. I need to check out my eggs. They are quite old. I'd better make sure they are still good. I will bake the brownies tomorrow morning.

It's10:49AM now and I will soon log on "Beyond the Walls" for their church service.

And that's what I did. As usual it was a fine church service. I don't miss the services at our building as much as I miss the fellowship. It is 12:18PM now and I guess I will go read.

The eggs were fine and so I went ahead and baked the brownies today. They took forever to bake, it seemed. Every time I tested them with a toothpick, they were still raw. I baked them a few minutes more and now they are pretty firm. We will eat them with the ice cream so I guess they are acceptable. 

I read until almost 5:00PM and finished my book. Now I will find something to eat.

I ate one of my chicken pot pies from Schwan's. It was good and something I had in my freezer.

I was not aware we were not having online evening church this week since I didn't zoom in last week and so when I zoomed in this week.The Mission Center President told me we were taking the holiday off.

So I watched 60MInutes instead. It was very interesting this week.

I think Keith's blog is down. I can't bring it up at least.

Now I have taken my bath and will read awhile. Then I plan to go to bed at 9:00PM., put my PJ's on and am ready for bed when the time comes.