Saturday, April 11, 2020 - Early Early Morning; Flowers Keep Blooming; Busy Morning; Afternoon Drive; Taco Salad and Movie Night.

Saturday, April 11, 2020 - Early Early Morning; Flowers Keep Blooming; Busy Morning; Afternoon Drive; Taco Salad and Movie Night.

I woke up a little after 3:00 this morning.  At 3:30 I was still lying in bed wide awake.  I finally got up and came downstairs to read my Bible.  It soothes me.  I went ahead and turned the coffeepot on and set down to wait on it.  Look what happened!

IT's hard to believe these could change so much in just a few hours.  There were only 3 when I went to bed at 10 - 5 hours later I have 5.  There are three more blooms that I hope come out sometime today or by tomorrow morning - what a beautiful site to see this Easter morning!  New birth! 

We didn't walk yesterday since it was 8am before I finished putting the groceries away.  I took the time to wipe every product down with a disinfectant wipe, then washed each of the apples and oranges in dish soap, followed by rinsing and drying before they went in the refrigerator.  Lastly, I let the romaine lettuce and celery soak in some cold water, then rinsed them well.  I chopped the lettuce to go in the frig.  My sister gave me a tip several years ago after she started working for the school in the lunch room.  Place a paper towel in the bottom of the storage container that you keep your cut lettuce in.  It will keep it fresher and crisper.  This also works well for grapes.  I don't remember the last time I bought grapes - at least over 2 weeks ago.  We just finished the last ones up a day or so ago.  They were still firm. 

Back to not walking yesterday.  My left leg has been giving me fits when I sit down for any length of time, so yesterday while working on the blog, I stood at the kitchen counter with my Chromebook.  I didn't have near the pain as the day before.  Moving around sure made a difference.  All in all when I laid my head down my watch/exercise bracelet showed I had 14,262 steps, and we didn't even walk in the park yesterday.    

Speaking of my watch/exercise bracelet, I love it.  I had a fitbit several years ago and it barely lasted a year as the band literally fell apart.  I was disappointed when I found out the fitbit I purchased did not have a replaceable band.  I decided I would not spend that kind of money again.  I found this one on Amazon in June 2018 for $27.  It is almost two years old and it does everything the fitbit did.  I've been very happy with it.  

It is now nearly 6:30am and the birds are having a hey-day, chirping up a storm.  It's currently 50 degrees and is supposed to reach 68 by mid to late afternoon.  My plan is to do a bit of cleaning in Bentley today, then work on my pictures.  I didn't get one picture scanned yesterday so I want to make progress today!

Dean got up soon after this.  We visited for awhile before I made breakfast - pancakes and bacon.  We ran out of the vanilla protein powder for our shakes and he's not that fond of chocolate (unlike me), but he does like pancakes.  They were pretty good.  I bought the Krusteaz brand that only requires adding water.  I will definitely buy this brand again.  I've tried a few different brands and so far I think this has the best taste, and it's so easy.

Dean headed to the garage not too long afterwards.  I watched The Pioneer Woman cooking show this morning, which was a little different since her nephew filmed it due to the virus keeping her regular crew from being there.  I did the dishes, made the bed, showered and then just straightened things up a bit before I called my granddaughter Kamron.  We talked for nearly an hour and it was good to hear her voice.  Jaxson came to the phone and talked to me for maybe 1 minute.  But he told me right away he missed me and he loved me - and that was worth it all!  I miss all the grandkids so much, and of course their parents.  

Dean came back a little before noon.  We had lunch and watched Gunsmoke.  After lunch I called Misti and visited with her for 10-15 minutes.  Haleigh was working so I'll catch her later.  

It was such a beautiful day.  

One of our two water towers located behind City Hall, Police and Fire Departments.

Dean wanted to take a ride, so we headed to the east side of town, then turned south by our lot and took it as far south as the road leading to the

This dried grass/weeds were blowing in the wind - very pretty looking.

Neosho River Bridge south of town.  Just past the bridge, we turned back north a 1/2 mile or so, by several pecan groves.  

Neosho River south of Oswego

Loved this road - you could tell water gets over it when the river is out.

First of many pecan groves we saw on our drive.

We just meandered out in the country looking around.  There are so many pecan groves in this area.  I was looking on Google Maps and discovered an icon that said Cherry Creek Falls, so we drove until we reached it.  Here is a picture

We headed on east then south and back west, just meandering one way then another.  We finally passed my cousin Rick's house.  I think his daughter Rebekah was out in the yard.  I waved, but I don't think she see me.  In other times, we would have stopped to visit for a little while - but not right now.  

We decided to come back through Chetopa, so I took Dean on a road that we often used to come back to Chetopa from Grandpa and Grandma Stapleton's house.  

Low water bridge

Farmer planting crops

Field ready to be planted

Passed by the home above with many pieces of old farm equipment.

Wheat field - so beautiful

 We are almost to Chetopa - making the curve up to the highway

Riverside Park along the Neosho River ahead of us

Heading into Chetopa

I haven't been on that country road leading in to Chetopa in many, many years, but other than the houses that I used to recognize looking different than what I remembered it was the same.  It was just a wonderful drive.  

I need to call my Uncle or one of my Aunt's to see where Gpa & Gma's pecan grove was.  We used to go there and pick pecans when we were pretty young.  We used the money we made from selling them to buy Christmas presents for our parents/grandparents.  

North of Chetopa, we headed west to Trego Road, then drove North to the road that leads back east to Oswego.  What a fun tour of this area.  One we haven't been on for many years.

My sister Cindy texted me on the way home and I told her I'd call her after we returned.  We visited for awhile before I started our dinner.  Tonight I made taco salad - a nice size salad bowl of romaine lettuce.  While I didn't have everything on hand that I usually use; I added what was in the pantry - a can of rinsed kidney beans, about a handful to each bowl, a nice dose of shredded cheddar cheese, some tortilla strips, then added about 1/4 # of taco seasoned hamburger.  We topped it with our favorite dressing for taco salad - Dorothy Lynch Salad Dressing.  Normally, I would also include chunks of avocado and tomato, and black olive slices.   I have enough taco meat to make another salad, but I'll have to return to the store as we used all of the dressing.  While there I'll pick up the missing items for the second serving.

While I was talking with Cindy earlier we talked about some good movies to watch.  I had told her she needed to watch A Walk in the Woods with Robert Redford and Nick Nolte.  I'm not sure what she did, but Dean decided he wanted to watch it again.  This movie (despite the language used in parts of it) is so funny due to the situations these two find themselves in on their hike.  Following that, we watched A Feeling of Home with Robby Benson.  Cindy and I were talking about what a heart throb Benson was back in our teen years.  He's changed a lot, but the movie was a feel good movie, if you like those.

It was a good day, having the chance to get out of the house for awhile and seeing familiar sights.

I hope you are all doing well with self-isolation and finding things to keep you busy as well.  

May God Bless each and every one of you, and we wish you a very Happy Easter!!