Friday, April 3, 2020 - Grocery Run; Taking An Afternoon Ride

Friday, April 3, 2020 - Grocery Run; Morning Walk;  First Tub of Pictures; Puzzle?; Taking An Afternoon Ride.

Dreary Day in SE Kansas and NE Oklahoma

I woke up early this morning - 4:30.  I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep but after 15 minutes I knew it wasn't going to happen.  It's fine.  This way I can enjoy my first cup of coffee before going to the store a little later.  I want to be an early bird!

I enjoyed my coffee while reading the remainder of the blogs I didn't get to read last night, since I kept nodding off.  We went to bed at 9:30 - it's rare we go before 10.  

Dean didn't get up until after 6, so as soon as he was up, I changed and headed to the store.  I was able to get everything I needed--- apples, almond milk, more hand soap to keep at the kitchen sink since we are using it so often now, four pork chops that were marked down to $5 and some odd cents, and hard salami.  We like the salami with cheese for lunch.  

When I went to the checkout I noticed they put up plexiglass between the cashiers and the customers since I was there several days ago.  I think that's a great idea - they need to be protected as much as possible.  They have disinfectant wipes at the front door.  I used one to wipe off my cart handle and then carried it with me to keep wiping my hands as I picked items up.  As soon as I got in the car I used sanitizer and then wiped each item off once I got home, threw my sack away, and washed my hands again.  Overkill?  I am just trying to be diligent in keeping both of us safe.

It was 48 when I got up this morning.  The temperature is now 40, with expected 36/37 temps overnight, but then gradually warming back up.  We will have to bundle up a bit to walk later this morning.  

I walked outside to get in the car and immediately noticed a slight mist.  When I reached the car it had evidently been raining/misting for awhile.  It must have been light or we would have heard it in Bentley.  We turned around and went back inside.  I'm glad we did that as the sky opened up just a few minutes later.  We had quite a bit of lightening followed by some big boom thunder several times throughout the morning.

We had our shakes.  I did a little straightening of things and for the most part I didn't do much of anything the rest of the morning, other than lay a pork roast out to thaw a bit before I put it in the crock pot later this morning.  It will be our dinner tonight.

Dean came back from the garage at noon, where he spent most of the morning straightening things upstairs.   I made a light lunch for us followed by our daily apple.  

It continued to rain.  I told Dean since it was raining I didn't want to get a tub of pictures today.  Once it starts raining it gets pretty muddy at the garage.  We are going to need to have rock hauled in sometime soon.  So instead, we decided to go for a ride.

It was raining when we left

 We headed east to Columbus, KS, then headed south to the Kansas/Oklahoma State Line.  Treece, KS was on the north side of the state line, with Picher, OK was on the south side of the state line.  I used was, because both cities have been abandoned as part of the Tar Creek Superfund Site due to mining issues over the years.  If you are interested, you can read more about it here.

Leaving Kansas (Treece)

Entering Oklahoma (Picher)

Picher water tower, and County Barns are about the only thing left in the former city.  Before the last homes were bought out, a tornado hit the community on May 8, 2008 and destroyed most of the remaining homes, killing 6 people.  

Dean and I had been to Arnold's Flower Shop near LeRoy Kansas that day.  We stopped to see my dad who was a patient at Labette Health in Parsons, KS on our way home.  We could see some pretty dark clouds ahead of us.  When we arrived at the hospital, my dad told us a short time earlier they had moved all the patients out of their rooms into the halls due to a tornado alert.  It was the same storm that hit Picher just a short time later.  I don't think I'll ever forget that day, as he passed away two days later.  

Chat piles in Picher

 From Picher we continued on to the southern edge of Quapaw, OK following it to Twin Bridges State Park in Oklahoma.   Pictures I took on our way:

Mama and her colt in the middle.

Driving over I-44

Do you remember the spoonbill snagging that was going on at Chetopa a week or so ago, well here is the Paddlefish (Spoonbill) Research Center, 4 miles north of Twin Bridges Park.

Paddlefish Research Center
Spoonbill = Paddlefish

A friend's brother had told us a few years ago if we took a road to the Neosho River near Twin Bridges park, we would probably see eagles.  It's a site he learned about years ago when he lived at Grand Lake. 

We drove by this house on the way to the River.  I noticed this engraved sign just to the left of the tree next to the house.  It was engraved with the 10 Commandments!  I loved it!

 We had never driven this road, and even though it was raining and we didn't expect to see eagles today, we wanted to check it out.  Well, this is where we decided to stop - see the muddy road ahead of us in the top picture below.   The sign below says "MUDEATER BEND".  I think we'll come back on a "dry" day, as it may have swallowed my little car!

Twin Bridges gets it names from two river bridges, one on each side of the park, where the two rivers join together as Grand Lake O' The Cherokees.  The two are the Neosho River that runs from the north part of Kansas through Oswego/Chetopa before moving into Oklahoma; and Spring River that comes from north Missouri through Riverton and Baxter Springs, KS and into Oklahoma.  

Neosho River above/Spring River below

I just happened to take this picture as the guy was jumping from the dock onto the boat. I'm sure glad he didn't slip!  Click to enlarge it.

From Twin Bridges we moved on to Fairland, OK.  I love their water tower.

Lots of low hanging clouds today

It was a nice ride, and good to get out of the house for awhile.  

This is the route we took today.

I put a pork loin roast in the crockpot a short time before we left.  It was perfect when we returned.  I steamed some cauliflower, made cheddar cheese potatoes, and deviled eggs to go with the roast.  I'm not sure if we were just super hungry or it really tasted as good as it seemed.  We'll use the leftover roast for hash in the next day or two.  It's one of our favorite meals.  It's now 6:45pm and it's 34 outside.  The weather should not change much between now and tomorrow morning. It is supposed to gradually warm up every day this week.  I hope it dries things out.  

My sister Crystal called and we talked for nearly an hour.  It was good to catch up with her.  I really miss not being able to get together now that we are back home.  We are so close, yet so far away!  

Good night to you all.  May God Bless each one of you!