Friday, May 8, 2020

Friday, May 8, 2020 - Morning Walk; Phone Calls; Birdwatching at Our Property; New Recipe for Dinner; Visit with Sister and Brother-in-Law; A COLD Night.

The temperatures dropped last night into the low 50's and the wind was blowing this morning.  We walked, but I put on a few layers.  Fortunately the sun popped through the clouds after the first mile and I was able to shed two layers, a jacket and my windbreaker/rain coat for the second mile.  It is going to turn into a beautiful day!

Very strong wind when we arrived shortly after 7am.

The sun is trying to come out!

After our shakes, Dean headed to the garage.  Today he wants to finish cleaning up the undergrowth of the large tree near the road and mow the yard.  After he left I hurried through my morning chores as I had a list of things I wanted to get done today.

I had several important phone calls to make this morning.  I wanted to follow up on a couple of appointments we have coming up.  First was to make sure an appointment I have scheduled for Monday is still a go.  So many things have been cancelled due to the virus, that I want to be sure there is not a change before we make a two hour trip.  Fortunately they confirmed my appointment.

Second was to follow up with the doctor who ordered the test to be sure there is no change in my appointment with him.  The card I received after my last appointment says 9, but they told me it was 8:45, so glad I called on that.   Then the receptionist threw me a curve and asked me if I would bring the results of the two tests with me or would they receive them before my appointment.  I told her they only gave me an order for one test that day.  I was told I would not need the second test this time.  They had me leave a voice message for the nurse, asking her to double check.

I wasn't sure how soon I would hear back, so I went ahead and made the next call to one of Dean's doctors for a follow-up visit.  It was originally scheduled for April 6th but it was cancelled due to the virus.  At our request they have rescheduled it for June 18th as he already has another follow-up test with another doctor on June 17th, both in the Springfield area.  They were able to get it scheduled, so it works very well.  We will take the RV to the resort where we are members in Branson.  We will have to drive to Springfield one day, but the second one will actually be in Branson.   Our camping club is also meeting that week near Branson so we should be able to attend it, or at least a couple of days.  

Next was a call to the Labette County Appraiser's office.  When we brought our property from my niece and her husband, we discovered the property was divided into two separate parcels, however they are side by side. I asked if it was possible to have them combined into one parcel, so we only receive one tax statement.  In addition we may construct our house across the line between the two parcels.  We thought it might be easier if that happened to have only one parcel, rather than two.  I was advised they would need to run it by the County Appraiser first and they would let me know.

Wow - that took a good part of my morning with initial phone calls, return phone calls, etc.  I marked several things off my list.  Just before lunch I received a call back from the County Appraiser's office and they will be able to combine both of our parcels into one.  

I started lunch and Dean showed up before I finished.  After lunch he headed back to the lot to work on the area around the tree closest to the road.  It is a large pine tree that has a tree grown up within in that has died.  The weeds, vines, grasses, pieces of wood that have been thrown in under it all needs to be cleaned out.  It has by far been the biggest project at any of the trees since he started working on cleaning the ones on the lot.  

I'm standing on the other side of the road to get this picture and the one above.

This is taken of the same tree on the lot.  The twisted trunk is a tree that grew up between these two trees and is twisted around the inside of the pine tree.  It had to have been growing for many years to be such a mess.

Marc & Misti got this for us one year at Christmas.  We had it in our storage shed until we bought the property.  It needs a paint touch-up.  Patsy, are you available?  Lol.  I can promise you it's a lot warmer here.  

I'm not sure this is where it will remain, but it's good for now.  I'd like to plant a small bush or two behind it with some close to the ground cover of some type to brighten the area up.  By the way I love Lighthouses - as you can see by the lighthouse on the left side.

Cindy called and invited us to play cards at 6.  I told her we would be there, but she declined my offer to make a dessert.

I needed to get some greeting cards, so I stopped at the Dollar Store, then headed to the Post Office to pick up our mail, then on to the lot.  After arriving, I filled the oriole feeder again, then pulled my chair out in the yard to take pictures of the birds.  They have almost gone through two jars of jelly.  Dean joined me for awhile  before I needed to return to the RV.  We saw hummers coming and going as well, but still no sign of any songbirds or goldfinches.  We keep hoping that will change.

Three orioles, one on top of the feeder and two on the hook above the feeder.  I saw 8 different orioles in the trees while I was there this afternoon.  No wonder that jelly is disappearing so quickly.

I tried a new recipe for cashew chicken in the crock pot and I needed to get back to check on it.  While it was cooking, I finished up the blog post for the past couple of days.  It seems there are not enough hours in the day sometimes.  Dean returned a little before 5.  I made some Minute rice to go with the chicken.  Once it was done, I ladled the chicken and sauce on it, then added some cashews.  It was a different taste than the cashew chicken we've had.  I think we would like to fine one a little closer in taste that we are used to.  You never know until you try!

I cleaned up while Dean showered and we made it to Cindy and Elmer's a few minutes after 6.  Cindy always turns on some music to play in the background while we play cards.  Tonight she picked Willie's Roadhouse.  I sure prefer these old country songs over most of the newer ones.

As usual the four of us had a good time, laughing all the way through the evening.  Cindy and I won the first game and the guys got us on the last two.  At least we were still in the game to the end.  We had apple crisp for a snack after the first two games.  As usual, it was delicious.  

After the third game, we visited for awhile.  It was nearly 9:30 when we returned home.  We set up for 10-15 minutes and decided we were too tired to watch TV and headed to bed.  The overnight forecast is 37, which required the thermostat to go up a notch or two.  

It was a good day for getting things done, enjoying the birds, and spending time with family.