Starry night on the prairie

This has been a cloudy, cool day on the prairie. We didn’t get any more rain but it looked like it was going to rain most of the day. The sun broke through the clouds occasionally but it never cleared up completely. It was only in the low 50’s today so it was damp and cool today.

I went into town and painted for two hours today. I got the first coat of the kitchen walls done. I really like the color and will be anxious to get the second coat on it. It felt good to get some more painting done today. I need to get a better ladder – the one I am using is too short and the paint bucket is too far from where I need it to be. The other ladder we have is too tall and heavy.

I took a nap this afternoon and when I got up we went into Emporia and delivered cookies that I had made this morning to Tagen and Jason. Jim stopped and got a replacement windshield wiper for the rear window on the Mazda while we were in town.

I fixed Jim burritos for dinner and I had a hamburger. I am still feeling a bit tired and needed something that was quick and easy to fix. Although most nights I only do quick and easy these days.

The furnace guy came and he discovered the leak is from the water booster pump and not the furnace. Damn. I get to pay the furnace guy for a service call and now get to pay the plumber to come out and fix the booster pump. The booster pump is two years old so hoping it is still under warranty.

The door guy texted me and let me know he has ordered the heavy screen for the screen door at this house. He is going to be in Cottonwood Falls on Monday so will stop by the new house and check out the door to the metal building then.

I called the electrician and we are on their pending list. They will call the day before they can come and couldn’t give me an estimate as to when that might be. Guess it will happen when it happens.

I have a shift on the hot line tonight. I was too tired to get on it last night. When I was up in the middle of the night for three hours I checked the hot line and they had 20 volunteers working and 125 people waiting. I didn’t get on and should have.

Tomorrow I take my car in for an oil change at 10:00. If it is nice I will walk to the new house and paint while they change the oil. If it is rainy I will just wait and then drive to the new house and paint for a bit when they are done. I need to be home before 1:00 as Jim has his class and he likes me here in case he runs into computer problems.

Our internet cut out again today. Damn it anyways. I will have to call them tomorrow and see what they want to do. I don’t think he tested the new router after he discovered the other one was bad. Not impressed with their routers.

We don’t have anything on our schedule for the weekend so hoping I can get lots more painting done. I need Jim to come down and take off the upper level kitchen cabinet doors so I can get them painted and get the inside of the cupboards painted. I think I have decided to replace all the hardware and get some that will all be the same color. They have four different types and colors of hardware on the cabinets now. I may also add cabinet knobs to give the cupboards a fresh look. I was looking on-line and got too confused with all the different choices. I may have to go shopping in person to find what I want.

I also decided to add a tile backsplash above the kitchen sink and two sets of cabinets. The wall is in bad shape and the backsplash will cover it nicely. I need to call the tile company and get on their schedule to get that work done.

I sure would love to get the kitchen cabinets and kitchen woodwork painted by the end of the weekend. Not sure that can happen but that is my goal. The other rooms will go much faster – cabinets take a long time to paint it seems. I also realized today the ceiling will need painted. I hate painting ceilings but it needs done.

Jim wants to come up and make a room-by-room list of things that need done. That will help both of us organize the work and decide who is doing what and I can get outside help for some of the projects started. It sure seems to take a long time to get contractors in to do the jobs.

The keys I had made did not work. I need to go to my key people downtown and get a key made. I should have done that today when we were delivering cookies and didn’t think about it. I need to get my handyman a key so he can get started.

Jim got both cars unloaded this afternoon. Not sure where he put the treasures he brought back with him. I think most of it went down in the basement. His other house is starting to look a bit lighter but there is still a lot of stuff left to bring here yet.

We got our stimulus money as promised today. I put it in savings so I will have the money to pay the state estimated tax later this year. It is nice to have the money come in to cover that tax bill. Still waiting on the OK state tax refund. There was a change in the tax law after our accountant did our taxes and we will be getting an additional federal tax refund too. The accountant was waiting on the software update before he can amend our tax return file for that refund.

I got the final invoice from the dumpster people and we did not exceed our weight limit so their was no additional charge. That was good news. I can finally cross that item off my to-do list. It seems most days I add to my to-do list many more items then I get to cross off.

Tomorrow afternoon I need to bake Jim some more cookies. His supply is low. Maybe I can do that while he is teaching his class.

I can’t wait until Easter and being able to fix a Thanksgiving Easter dinner for two of my three kids. It will be such a delight to have them here for a meal. It has been over a year since we made that happen.

Grateful for the painting that I got done today, grateful to get to see Tagen and Jason for a hot minute today, and grateful to cross something off my growing to-do list.

What a day. I’m glad I am home and this day is done. Neither one of us slept very good last night and we were both up before the alarm went off at 8:00 this morning. If you know Jim, you will understand how unusual that is.

We were on the road to Stillwater by 9:00. I made a quick stop to deliver some eggs in Matfield Green and we stopped again at Belle Plain for gas. Got to Stillwater before noon. Jim had some errands to run and I stayed at the house and started packing up books. Jim brought Wendy’s chili back with him when he came home. We ate our chili and then he went out to the shop and started gathering up things he wanted to bring back. We filled up my car and Jim’s Honda Element.

We left for Strong City around 3:25. We drove in rain both ways today. There is a lot of water standing in the ditches between here and Stillwater. Traffic wasn’t heavy except for about three miles around Wichita on the way south.

I drove by the new investment property when we came home through Cottonwood Falls to make sure they had picked up the dumpster. They had and they left some good sized tracks in the yard where they had to drive to pick up the dumpster. Glad to have that gone so I can cross it off my list.

I quickly fixed a ham, cheese, and onion omelet for dinner along with some hash browns. It was quick and easy. We were both hungry and tired. Jim took care of the chickens while I fixed dinner. They gave us 24 eggs today. I got rid of four dozen eggs today but got two dozen more. They pile up quickly.

After dinner I gathered up the trash and Jim took it down to the curb. I need to remember to go into town tomorrow and set out the trash there. We filled up the trash container when we were picking up the yard Sunday.

Tomorrow the furnace guy is coming to fix the water that is leaking out of the furnace. I haven’t heard from the door guys so will need to call them again and see if they got my message. I also need to call the electrician as I still haven’t heard from them. Sure wish I only had to make one call to get things done.

So far the internet is working although we weren’t home and on it much today so far. Not sure I believe it has been fixed yet but am hoping it has been. The printer is still not working properly but we will take it one step at a time.

I need to call and schedule an oil change for my car sometime this week. I keep forgetting to do so. I turned 13,000 miles today on the way home. I got the car on January 3, 2020 so haven’t put lots of miles on it yet. COVID 19 grounded me and I didn’t travel much last year.

I promised Tagen some cookies tomorrow so will need to get those made in the morning and taken to town tomorrow afternoon. I hope to go in to Cottonwood Falls and paint in the morning for two hours or so. I would love to get the kitchen walls finished with the first coat. I need to see some progress on that house. I also need to test the new keys to see if they are going to work – I have my doubts. If they don’t I can take them back when I deliver cookies tomorrow afternoon.

I have a crisis hot line shift tomorrow night. Last night I worked for about two hours and handled seven callers. None of them were high risk. I had an interesting exchange with a woman that is not enjoying being a mother. I trust I handled her with grace and compassion even though I was a bit shocked at what she had to say. I’m too tired to get on the hot line tonight. Not sure I would have much patience or grace.

Jim will unload the cars tomorrow. Both of us are too tired tonight to mess with it. Some of the stuff needs to go downstairs and it would be easier to drive the car to the back lower doors and not have to carry the stuff so far. With all the rain we have had we can’t do that right now. If we wait a day or two it will dry out enough that we can drive up to the back door.

We don’t have anything on our calendar for the weekend after Jim teaches his class on Thursday. Am hoping we spend a couple hours a day at the new house and make some real progress. So far next week is pretty open too so we should be good to go and work lots on the new house.

I feel old and tired tonight. Sitting in a car for six hours wore me out. I’m glad that trip is done and out of the way – until next time at least. We really need to get back down there and stay for a solid week and get lots of work done down there. Everywhere I look we have lots of work to do. Somehow it seems to patiently wait for us to get to it.

Grateful for a safe trip to and from Stillwater today, grateful the dumpster is gone, and grateful for the rain that is falling on the prairie.

A rainy day on the prairie today. It was sprinkling when I went down to do chicken chores this morning. The sun took the day off and it has been damp, cloudy and cool all day.

I called the electric company that provides service at the new house and reported the tree that is hanging over the power line in the back yard. I left a message so not sure when or if they will react to the call. I also called the door company to ask them to fix my screen door and the door to the metal shed at the new property. I haven’t heard back from them either.

I delivered five dozen eggs to my regular egg customers around noon today. Jim wanted me here when the internet guy came so I didn’t stay in town to paint. The guy showed up and spent about 15 minutes doing a diagnostic check on the system. He replaced the router box again. The new one was a lemon too. Not sure if the problem has been fixed or not but we will see what happens. The printer issue did not get fixed although I didn’t expect that to happen.

We went to town after the internet guy left. We stopped at Bluestem and got 200 pounds of chicken feed and 50 pounds of dog food. I also got some keys made for the new house so I can give my neighbor a key so he can get started on doing some work. The guy that made the key didn’t seem to know what he was doing and made me four keys when I asked for two. I’ll have to try the new keys to see if they work. He said I could bring them back if they don’t.

We then went to Walmart and got some groceries and other things on my list. I got a few more things for our Easter Thanksgiving Dinner. That list is now down to just veggies and perishables which I can’t buy until it is closer. Came home and got everything unloaded and put away. I then took a nap. Every time I go to town I come home exhausted. Wonder how long that is going to happen for?

Jim had fish sticks and tater tots and I had salmon and sweet potato fries for dinner. It makes for an easy meal.

Tomorrow we are driving to Stillwater to pick up two loads of stuff from Jim’s house. I’m taking four dozen eggs to another regular egg customer that lives in Matfield Green as we will go by her house on the way out of town. Not sure what we are going to do for dinner when we get home but will figure something out. Think I will stop by Wendy’s tomorrow in Stillwater and have chili for lunch. That will be a treat to get take out. We haven’t done that for over a year.

The dumpster guy is to come pick up the dumpster tomorrow. I am grateful it didn’t rain too much today as he has to drive through the yard to pick it up. It will be good to go to the house and not see the dumpster in the yard.

Wednesday the furnace guy is coming in the afternoon to fix the water leaking from the furnace. We are to get our stimulus money on Wednesday if it comes as promised. It will just go into savings until we need it to pay our state estimated tax. Money comes in and it goes right back out.

I didn’t get any more painting done today. I am a bit stiff and sore from my fall yesterday but am doing better this afternoon. I don’t like to paint when I am tired as I don’t feel like I do a good job painting when I’m not at my best. I won’t get any painting done tomorrow since we will be gone all day so hoping Wednesday I can get back at it.

Wednesday I will need to call the electrician if I haven’t heard from them by then. They have had the bid for a week now and I want to remind them to get that job scheduled. Other work is being held up until the electrician can get his work done.

Since I took a nap I will probably get on the hot line tonight. I checked last night and they didn’t need more help – at least when I checked. Anytime there is a mass shooting they tend to get busy and it sounds like something happened in Boulder this afternoon. It makes me sad every time there is a mass shooting.

Grateful for the additional rain we got today, grateful the internet may be fixed, and grateful for naps that restore my soul.

We are worn out! I worked for four hours at the new house and Jim worked for three. I painted kitchen cabinets again. After over an hour of that I stopped painting on the cabinets and painted on the wall. I needed to see some progress and cabinet painting is slow and hard to tell that I am getting anywhere. The kitchen sure looks better with part of the wall painted.

Jim worked on tearing down the old garage and cleaning up around it. He didn’t get as far as he wanted to get. It Is slow, hard work. He is cutting rafters trying to get the roof to collapse but so far it is hanging tight.

We both stopped what we were doing around 5:15 and finished loading the lumber that has been torn off the garage into the dumpster. I handed boards to Jim and he threw them up high in the dumpster. At one point I tripped and hit the ground hard. I am thinking I am going to be sore tomorrow. No real damage done though.

We cleaned up the yard some more to add what we could to the dumpster. It is to rain tomorrow so doubt we add any more to it. It is getting pretty full. They are coming to pick the dumpster up Tuesday morning.

I need to find someone to haul off the boat that was left on the property as well as the rest of the boards and roofing material from the garage once Jim gets that down. I also need to call the electric company to see if they will come cut a tree down that is hanging over the power line in the back yard. It is our line so not sure they will do so. My list of things to do at that house seems to continue to grow. I don’t seem to be getting to cross much off the list.

I had put a chicken in the crock pot around noon so when we got home around 7:30 I quickly made some hash browns for Jim and some carrots for me and dinner was ready. We were both tired and hungry. I’m glad I had something almost ready for us to eat.

Tomorrow the internet guy is coming in the afternoon to hopefully figure out why our internet goes on and off. After he leaves we need to go to town to run some errands and pick up some chicken feed and dog food. I need a few groceries so since we will be in town I will pick those up. I have an egg delivery to do around noon tomorrow. If I get up early I may go into town and paint for an hour or two before the internet guy comes or else go in after he leaves and we get back from town.

Tuesday we are going to Stillwater for the day. We will drive my car down and drive both my car and Jim’s Honda back. Jim will fill both cars with more stuff he wants to bring up. Someday soon we need to spend a week or more in Stillwater so he can get some work done. He hasn’t been keeping up with his plan to spend a week a month down there working on the house and he has lots of work that needs done there too.

Wednesday the furnace guy is coming to figure out why water is accumulating under the furnace at our house. It sure seems like we are having to deal with a lot of fix-it guys lately. I need to call the door guys and have them come fix a screen door that the screen is torn and almost completely out of the door and then send them to the new property to attach a door to the metal shed that blew off during the high winds a week or so ago.

Thursday Jim teaches his OSHER class and then I think we have a couple of free days. I will be ready for some quiet time without scheduled repair guys by then. Of course we will have to continue to work on the new house and see if we can make some serious progress over the next couple of weeks.

It felt good to make more progress on the new property. There is so much work left to do that I get overwhelmed thinking about it. It helped to paint some wall today though as I can see how that transformed the kitchen and can picture the other rooms with fresh paint. I’m so glad our neighbor is going to start working when he can on the three really bad rooms. That will take a load off of Jim as much of that work I don’t know how to do.

Grateful for the work that got done today, grateful the dumpster is going away Tuesday, and grateful for fix-it guys that know what they are doing.

Happy Spring Equinox to all. A day of balance between light and dark and the traditional first day of Spring. The prairie is starting to green up and spring flowers are blooming. It is a beautiful time of the year.

We went to the new investment property this afternoon to work for several hours. I got some painting done after Jim helped me remove all the lower set of cabinet doors. He worked on tearing down the old garage. Neither of us finished our projects but it felt good to get a couple solid hours of work done. I helped Jim haul lots of garage boards to the dumpster after I painted for a couple of hours.

I talked to the neighbor next door who happens to be a handyman. He came in the house and I showed him three rooms that need lots of attention – the laundry room, bathroom and back porch. I am going to get a key made to the house and then he is going to start working on all three rooms as he has time. Since he lives right next door he can come over for an hour or so and get some work done in any free time he has as he won’t have any drive time. Jim has way too many other projects to do and if we don’t hire some help this house won’t get done.

I’m hoping I will hear from the electrician next week and find out when he is coming. He needs to get that work done before the handyman can do some of what he needs to do.

I took a nap this afternoon before we went to town. Jim took a hike while I slept. It was another beautiful spring day on the prairie.

I had laid out some hamburger so when we got home I quickly turned the grill on and grilled hamburgers for dinner. Made some hash browns for Jim and green beans for me. I like easy dinners like that and it only took 20 minutes to fix dinner. Tomorrow I have one of the free range chickens thawing and I will put it in the crock pot before we go work in town and dinner will almost be ready for us when we get home.

We plan on going back tomorrow to work for another couple of hours. We have a stack of boards by the dumpster from the old garage that need put into the dumpster before it goes away Tuesday. I want to get some more painting done. I would like to get the bottom cabinets done so I can then get started on the top ones next week. I need to look at the hinges as I would like to order new hinges for all the cabinets so they will all be alike. Some of the doors have a circle hole drilled in them that the hinge fits in though so not sure that I will be able to find hinges that will work for all. We will see what I can find. If I add pull knobs I think it will help give the cabinets a new look too.

I didn’t get a chance to try the new wall paint as we drove Jim’s car and the paint was in mine. Maybe tomorrow I will take the wall paint and see if it will work. I will make it work for at least one room as I don’t want to waste it. I will paint the big bedroom closet with it if nothing else.

We have a busy week shaping up for next week. Tomorrow we need to get some more work done on the investment property. Monday the internet guy is coming to hopefully solve our internet problem. We also need to go to Emporia Monday for a feed haul and to run some other errands and I have egg deliveries to make. Tuesday we are going to Stillwater to bring back Jim’s other car and two car loads of stuff. The dumpster is going away Tuesday. Wednesday the furnace guy is coming to find out why the furnace at our house is leaking water on the floor. Jim teaches his class on Thursday. We need to get some more work on the investment property most days too.

It felt good to get in town and get some work done today. If the handyman can get those three rooms done over the next month or so I can get the other rooms painted and Jim can handle the little things that need done to them. Maybe we can get this house rented by June 1. There is still a lot of yard work that needs done and the outside of the house needs painted so June 1 may be an ambitious goal.

Grateful to have gotten some painting done today, grateful Jim got started tearing the garage down, and grateful my neighbor agreed to do some work on the house.

One year ago today Jim and I got married with just five people total in attendance including us. The pandemic had just started and social distancing was just starting. No one wore masks as those hadn’t been recommended yet. What a first year this has been. We still haven’t been able to get all five kids together so they can meet each other. Not sure yet when that may happen. Weird on so many levels yet with all that has gone on in the world this last year it seems “normal” in a different way. Things do change.

This also happens to be my sister Kathy’s 70th birthday. Where does the time go? Sending much love across the miles to her and wishing her a wondrous year of celebrating her 70 years this life time. Trusting someday soon it will be safe to travel again and we will be able to see each other soon.

I woke up late this morning after having a dream that I was up cleaning house. I was disappointed when I discovered it was a dream and I really hadn’t gotten the house clean. I got up, did chores, ate breakfast and then started cleaning – this time for real. Got the whole main level cleaned today. Wow did I find a lot of dirt. It feels so nice to have the main level cleaned.

We rearranged the office and got rid of a lot of clutter in it. Now it looks like a study that I want to be in. I had to unplug the DISH TV cords and after a bit got them all plugged back in correctly. Had one problem with a plug but figured out what it was and our TV works.

The internet went out again today and the yellow lights came on just as they did with the other router. Jim called and the company is sending a tech guy next week. Sure hope they can figure out what is wrong. It wasn’t the router. Wonder if they will cancel my new two-year contract?

I removed the driver for the printer on my computer and reinstalled it hoping that would help fix the printer issue but it didn’t help. I don’t know what else to do to fix it. The printers work if we plug them into the computers but they work very inconsistently when we use wireless. It would be easier if they never worked using wireless but sometimes it works right away and sometimes it searches for hours to find the network and never prints and sometimes it will print three hours after you tell it to. I still haven’t found a tech person to come help me solve that problem. My computer shows the printer is idle but when we go to print the icon shows us the printer is offline. Even when we reconnect the printer to the internet it still shows offline most of the time although sometimes reconnecting it fixes it for a bit. Weird!

I called and have a furnace repair guy coming next Wednesday. The furnace is leaking water and am not sure where the water is coming from.

The dumpster is being picked up next Tuesday. Will try to get the old garage torn down tomorrow and Sunday so it can be put into the dumpster but if not we will have to figure out another way to haul that lumber away.

I cleaned today instead of painted at the new house. Hoping I get to the new house tomorrow to get some painting done. I needed to get this house cleaned today. It had crossed the line of no return and needed put back into shape. When my house is dirty I get cranky.

We are grilling steaks for dinner tonight. I have a baked potato in the oven for Jim and am baking myself a sweet potato. Dinner will come together very quickly when it is time to heat the grill.

I handled six calls on the hot line last night. No high risk callers and most were easy to handle. I did have one new situation for me but seemed to be able to get them to a cool calm by doing a grounding exercise with them.

Spring Equinox is tomorrow – a day of balance between light and dark. It is a good time to plant intentions of what you want to spring forth over these growing days of light. I used to gather with some friends to celebrate the Equinox and Solstice and I miss that ceremony time.

Jim ordered some bird spikes and put them up around the outside lights today. The barn swallows like to nest around the lights and it causes a big mess on the deck for several weeks each spring. We will see if they work and where the birds decide to nest this year.

Grateful for a year of married life with Jim, grateful for my sister and celebrating with her from afar today, and grateful the main level of the house is clean.

So far the new router is working. Neither of us have had to reconnect our computers to the internet. Before the new router we were having to do it four or five times a day. Jm made it through his class without getting kicked off which was a huge relief. Still having problems with the printer printing on demand but am thinking that is due to an issue either in the printer settings or in our computer settings. I will continue to look for a wiz kid to come to the house and check the settings and see if we can get that resolved. I had a list of three people that do in-home computer calls but when I called them none of them were still in business. Thinking the COVID thing probably drove them out of business. We can always plug the printer into our computer if all else fails.

I didn’t sleep well again last night. I took some Advil Cold and Sinus stuff and am now thinking that is what is causing me not to be able to sleep. I won’t take it again. I seem to need to double test my theories to see if they are right.

Today is the last day of my ear drops. My ears are better – I didn’t have any ear pain at all today. First day in several weeks for that so progress is being made. I am to continue using the Flonase for another week and I was to take the decongestant for another week too but I will have to see if the other kind causes me to not be able to sleep too. Sleep feels more important than the reward from the decongestant.

I took a long nap this afternoon. I didn’t get a nap yesterday and I have a shift on the hot line tonight. I made it through my shift last night but I was wiped out when I was done. I only took four calls and then signed off. None of them were high risks texters but all needed a listening ear and someone to assure them they would be OK. One was a bit tougher with a hard situation with few options. They promised to text back in if things became worse and they become serious about suicide.

Jim taught his class this afternoon. It seemed to go well. I only had to help him out once. I took my nap after his class so didn’t make it into town to paint. Sure hoping I will get some painting done tomorrow and this weekend.

I fixed hamburger soup when I got up this morning so dinner was ready after my nap. That was easy. I laid out some steaks that we will grill for our anniversary dinner tomorrow night. I will throw some potatoes in the oven and then grill the steaks and dinner will be easy tomorrow night too.

Other than painting we have no plans this weekend. It is to be a nice weekend so hoping Jim can get some work done outside at the new property. The dumpster is going away next week and we need to get some more work done while we still have it. I will paint inside and try to get the kitchen done. I want to do one wall in a bedroom to see if the new paint I got will work. Am thinking I want to get a darker color for the living room and dining room.

I haven’t heard from the electrician yet so don’t have a date when he will come clean up the breaker box and do the other odd jobs he needs to do. Everything happens in it’s own time.

When we were eating dinner tonight the doorbell rang. It was a young couple from Topeka looking for a bed and breakfast. I gave them the Chase County Chamber website address so they could look up what is available in the area.

Maybe this coming week will be a good week to get this house cleaned and get lots of work done on the house in town. We are going to Stillwater one day next week to bring up Jim’s other car. We will fill my car too so he will get two loads of more stuff brought to KS. Wonder how many more car loads of stuff he has to bring? I’m not sure I want to know the answer to that question. Other than the trip to Stillwater we don’t have anything else special planned for the week.

Ellexia and her daddy are driving to KY to visit family next week. Ellexia told me she needs some cookies to take along in the car with her so I will need to get some baked for her and delivered to Emporia either tomorrow or Saturday. A girl needs her cookies!

We didn’t get the winter weather that was forecast for last night. We got a bit of sleet and ice early evening but not the two inches of snow. It was actually nice outside today if you could find a spot out of the wind. The wind was in a hurry all day with gusts up to 30 MPH.

The girls gave us 25 eggs today. My refrigerator is getting full of eggs again. I may take some to a friend in Matfield Green tomorrow just to get rid of some.

We are still checking our bank accounts daily waiting for our stimulus money to come. Not sure if we will each get a check or if they will combine them this time since we have filed our 2020 income taxes already. I have had to wait for a paper check the last couple of times. Jim always got his right away in a direct deposit. I guess there is no hurry for the money to come in as it is going into a saving account to sit until it is time to pay the state our estimated tax payment quarterly this year. We don’t need it until July so have time to wait for it.

Grateful the new router is working and Jim didn’t get kicked off the internet during his class, grateful for no ear pain today, and grateful for a long afternoon nap.

What a day. Not sure much of it has gone as planned or expected. Another reminder to not have expectations I guess.

I figured out this morning that part of my not feeling good has more to do with the cholesterol medication than it did with the COVID vaccine. I happened to think to look up the side effects of the new medication I inject myself with. Not so common side effects include sore throat, fluid in the ears, leg cramps, fatigue and insomnia among others. My leg cramps have been getting increasingly worse over the last couple of months – now that I look back they started when I took my first injection. The new injection made them even worse. The sore throat and fluid in the ears started after my new injection and the insomnia worsen then too. It also mentioned the possibility of chemical burn at the site of injection which I have.

I have an appointment with my doctor the first week of May and I will have to have to risk/reward discussion with him to see if this new medication is worth it. I will take the next two as scheduled as they cost so much I don’t have the heart to waste them.

The manager of my internet company called me this morning and woke me up. Not a pleasant start to my day. He didn’t have much new to tell me other than I found out that their router has a card in it so the router is not interchangeable with other brands. He didn’t have an answer to me as to why I wasn’t told the router has a one-year warranty. No compromise or interest expressed on his part to keep me as a customer.

Unfortunately my internet provider choices are very limited. Jim has a class to teach tomorrow and needs internet to be able to do so. So we ended up driving to Council Grove to exchange the router for another one. I had to sign a two-year contract to get it for free. When the new company comes my way I will break the contract and have to pay $240 to get out from under it.

The new router did not fix my printer issue. The printer is still going off-line and you have to reset it every time you want to print something. And even then it only decides to print occasionally. I am beyond frustrated with computer issues. The internet tonight is working very slowly and am not sure why. Jim wants to call the company tomorrow and have them send a tech out but if they don’t find anything they will charge me $150 per hour. Not sure they have any interest in finding something wrong on their end.

Jim and I volunteered to help with the distribution of Commodities. We only had to work for one hour this afternoon and then returned early evening for another hour. They had plenty of volunteers both time so not sure we were too needed. Most of the boxes had been handed out early and were gone before we got their at the designated time this evening.

It is getting cold again and there is an icy mix in the rain we are getting. We are in a Winter Advisory for overnight with wind gusts predicted to be over 30 MPH during the night and up to two inches of snow expected. It will be a good day tomorrow to stay home.

I obviously didn’t make it to the house in town again today to paint. Another day wasted on that front. We have no plans this weekend so hoping I can spend a lot of time in town and get that project going. I need to call the dumpster people and have them come pick up the dumpster. We aren’t adding to it so it might as well go away.

I have a shift on the hot line tonight. I didn’t get a nap and the internet issues have made me grumpy again. I hope I don’t take my frustrations out on a texter.

I spent way too much time today around other people. After not being around people most of the time I find it very draining to be around people now. Thinking I like the isolation of COVID and will not be breaking out much. I can handle one or two people in a home setting but beyond that I have forgotten how to handle that and not sure I want to remember how to do it.

Grateful for the commodities that will go to families in need, grateful for the additional moisture we are getting on the prairie tonight, and grateful most of the time I don’t have to people.

I think someone needs to put me into time out. I am cranky this afternoon. I came home from the dental cleaning with a raging headache. That hygienist is going to have trouble holding a job when she graduates. I am surprised she is a second year student – she acted like a first year student. My mouth has three sores in it from her oops today. This has been the only bad experience I have had at this program. Usually they take a long time but don’t wound me.

Got a notice from the Oklahoma Tax Commission that they need proof that OK withholding had been withheld from Jim’s pension and IRA. I had to take a picture of the forms on my iPad as I don’t know how to use the camera on this computer. I filled out their form and it almost went through when the internet went down. I had to start over and do it again. Finally got it through. They won’t let you mail it in – you have to submit on-line. Wonder what people that don’t have computer access do?

Got a gallon of wall paint and a gallon of woodwork paint before my cleaning today. Trust I will like the colors. Am concerned the wall paint will be too light. I can do one room with it and then get something different if I don’t like it. I had thought I would do most of the rest of the house in one color but if I don’t like it I am not stuck with doing it that way.

Stopped at Staples to ask if they make house calls. I desperately need someone to come help me solve our internet problem. I am beyond frustrated with it. Staples used to make house calls before COVID but no longer do so. Does anyone know of someone that knows computers and understands routers and is willing to come to my house? HELP me out please!

Picked up a few groceries as I needed to waste 20 minutes before my appointment. I got non-perishables I will need to fix our Easter dinner – we are having a long delayed Thanksgiving meal – turkey and all the trimmings.

Stopped at the Vet office and got flea and tic medication for 3 cats and the 2 dogs and got the dogs a three-month supply of HeartGuard. Those critters are expensive!

I mailed the electrician their check and acceptance of their bid. Trusting they will call in the next week or so to get that job scheduled so I can get the painting done. This whole project has not progressed much this week. That adds to my crankiness.

I did manage to get some sleep last night. I didn’t take the decongestant and am thinking that is what has caused me not to be able to sleep the last couple of nights. I did use the Flonase last night and the ear drops. My ear is better although still not 100%. At least the pain is manageable now.

I got on the hot line for a bit last night and handled four calls. They were all routine type calls and not high risk. Most of them just needed to vent and weren’t too interested in problem solving. Sometimes I guess venting is enough. I have to remind myself to meet their goal and not to impose my goal on them.

Tomorrow I am helping prepare the Commodities for distribution in Chase County. The lady was to have called me to tell me what help she needs but I haven’t heard from her yet. Guess I will show up and figure it out then. Not sure how much of the afternoon it will take.

Thursday Jim teaches a class from 1:00 – 2:30. Trusting our internet will hold up during his class this time. He likes me to be here when he teaches in case he runs into some technical issues. Not sure I am very helpful but sometimes two heads are better than one.

We don’t have any plans this weekend. Our first wedding anniversary is Friday. This year has flown by. I guess if we can survive a year of isolation together we should be good when the world opens back up again.

Spring Equinox is Saturday – a day of perfect balance of light and dark. I always check within to see where I am in balance on that day and where I am not. I love learning new things about myself during Solstice and Equinox ceremonies.

Jim wants to go to Stillwater one day next week. This time I am going to drive him down and he will bring his second car to KS and not leave one in Stillwater. It will be a long day as it is a three-hour drive one-way. We will fill both cars with more of his treasures and then come home in the evening.

It is to start raining overnight tonight and rain for lots of tomorrow and Thursday. I welcome the rain to the prairie. It has been a beautiful day today with temperatures in the low 60’s and sunshine.

The girls gave us 26 eggs today. One day next week we will have to do another feed haul. They are eating like crazy right now. I don’t mind feeding them when they give me lots of eggs in return. I have extra eggs again if anyone needs some.

We are having leftovers for dinner tonight so dinner will be easy. Nothing else has felt easy to me today so glad something will be easy. I’m too cranky right now to think about taking calls on the Hot Line. I’m afraid I would not give much empathy to the texters in the mood I am in now. Maybe I need to text in and have someone tell me something positive about myself.

Grateful the teeth cleaning is done, grateful I got my errands done while I was in town today, and grateful tomorrow is a new day to wake up to and feel great.

Another non-productive day after another night of little sleep. I have got to figure out what is causing me to not be able to sleep. It is causing me to not be able to do the things I want to do. I stayed home this afternoon and took a nap – even during my nap time I wasn’t able to sleep very well.

I delivered four dozen eggs today. I have four more dozen in the refrigerator for a friend that will stop and pick them up. I’m glad eggs are going out a bit faster this week. They sure pile up quickly. The girls gave me over two dozen eggs today.

I attempted to hook up my old router to the internet today. It worked easy as could be. The printer even printed immediately. Then I walked away for five minutes. When I came back and attempted to print it didn’t do so. The network that I connected to was not on the list to choose from. WTF! I don’t understand why it worked and then the network I used disappeared. These things drive me to drink. I reconnected the router that is going bad and the network reappeared. I give up. I will wait until I can find a tech person to come out and help me or I might end up smashing something in frustration.

I got the bid from the electric company. They charged me a hefty fee just to do the bid and inspection. Their bid was actually a bit less than I had guessed it might be. I wrote them a check to pay the inspection fee and included a note to schedule the work. Their bid didn’t have an acceptance page to it. I will mail it to them tomorrow and hopefully will hear back from them soon as to when they can come do the work. There were two items they didn’t bid out as they weren’t sure what all would be involved in doing the work. I may hit my guess of what I expected it to cost when I add in the inspection cost and the remaining two items on their list.

We got our federal income tax refund today. I tucked it into my saving account as I will use all of it to pay to the state for what I owe them plus the estimates I have to pay. I will have to add to it to cover all the estimated tax payments I owe. Easy come – easy go.

I checked the IRS website to see where my stimulus check is and they tell me they don’t have enough information to tell me. This happened last year too. Not sure why I don’t show up in their data base. Last year they had to mail me my check but since we filed our 2020 taxes and they have my banking number now I am hoping they will direct deposit it. Not sure if Jim will get his separate from mine or if they will come together.

There was something in the Recovery Act that my accountant discovered that he now needs to file an amended tax return for us which will net more federal tax refund. That won’t cover the rest of the KS estimated tax but with the stimulus money added in it will. Money comes in and it goes right back out again. I’m grateful that I will have enough to cover the state tax bill without having to dig into savings.

My dental hygienist called today to let me know she had an opening for tomorrow afternoon and asked if I could come in then. I agreed to do so only to get this appointment over and done with. She is not on my list of favorite people. I really dread going but I need to get it done. For some reason she called Jim’s phone instead of mine today. She sure seems to not have her act together very well.

Since I have to go to town tomorrow I will go in early and pick out the paint for the walls for the rest of the house and the woodwork paint. Some of the painting will have to wait until the electrician gets done but I can get part of it done now.

Dinner is going to be the corn beef and cabbage dinners I picked up yesterday from the Catholic fund raising dinner. That will be easy. Tomorrow night we are having left over pot roast so that will be easy too.

It reached 59 today. The clouds and light shadows were beautiful this afternoon. There were tornado warnings in counties around us but we didn’t have any severe weather. We are to get more rain tomorrow night and into Wednesday. I have appreciated all the rain we have gotten so far and welcome even more to come. It has greatly reduced the fire warnings that we had been under.

Grateful for what sleep I did get, grateful the funds to cover the state tax owed will be forthcoming, and grateful for the beautiful clouds and light shadows today.

What a wonderful “normal” evening we had. Some dear friends invited us over for dinner. Great good, great conversation, a fire in the fireplace, and a sense of returning to a rich and full life. Couldn’t ask for anything else.

I only slept about two hours last night. Not sure what was going on but I could not fall asleep. I am wondering if I had a Benadryl bounce from the sleepiness it caused to being wired. I am taking some over the counter decongestants that the nurse recommended for my ears so they may be wiring me. I tried taking a nap this afternoon and maybe got another hour of sleep. I am really tired right now so may take a bath when I get done blogging and go to bed early. At this point I will sleep whenever sleep can find me.

I didn’t make it in to paint today as I was too tired. I was afraid I would be too sloppy if I tried. Trusting tomorrow I will make it in to paint. Jim wants to work on tearing down the old garage tomorrow afternoon so I may go in to paint in the morning and then help him in the afternoon.

I did run into Strong City around noon. The Catholic Church had a corned beef and cabbage dinner today. I got two orders to go. It will be our dinner tomorrow night. I was surprised that no one inside the building were wearing masks – not even the guys that brought the food to the car. People were hugging and talking and acting like the whole virus thing is over. Trusting no one that was there had the virus and that the event doesn’t become a super spreader event. I was glad they offered a drive-up option and I didn’t have to go inside.

My ears are a bit better today. The drops went through the ears today and didn’t plug them up like they did yesterday. I didn’t have as much pain in the ears today either. Hoping by tomorrow the pain will all be gone, the ringing in the ears will stop and I will have my energy level back to normal for me.

I need to make my egg deliveries tomorrow around noon. I have a new customer to deliver to so will get rid of four dozen eggs tomorrow. I got rid of one dozen today so will only have two left in the refrigerator although I will add another dozen tomorrow after I gather eggs. I like when the eggs go out as fast as they come in. Gives me more refrigerator space.

Wednesday I have volunteered to help prepare and pass out Commodities that come in to Cottonwood Falls and are given to low income people in the area. That will help me meet some more people in the area and be of service.

Since we weren’t home tonight I didn’t notice the time change thing tonight. I like extra daylight in the mornings and will miss that for a bit. I like eating earlier rather than late and wish they would leave the whole time change thing alone.

We got more rain today which is a wonderful blessing. We have been in drought conditions for a while and we are appreciating every drop of rain that has fallen. The ponds needed to get filled up for the start of pasture season on the prairie.

The girls gave us 27 eggs today, including a fairy egg. I hadn’t gotten a fairy egg lately and was just thinking about them yesterday. I wonder if that is the only type of egg that hen lays.

It was a nice reminder tonight of what returning to normal activities might look and feel like. Small gatherings with friends and family is what I have missed the most through this past year of isolation. I haven’t missed shopping or eating out. Still don’t have the urge to travel yet but I am wanting to invite friends over now. We will start with small groups and go from there.

Jim and I have talked about finally holding our wedding reception but not sure how to know who has been vaccinated and who hasn’t been yet. I sure don’t want to host a super spreader event. We will probably wait a bit longer to start planning one.

Grateful for dinner out with friends, grateful my ears are getting better, and grateful for the rain the prairie has received the last few days.

Finally got a bit of painting done today. Am still working on painting the kitchen cupboards. Still have the top ones to do and some of the bottom ones. Progress was made though. It is starting to look better in the kitchen but so much work still needs to be done in the house. I’m a bit discouraged this evening.

My ear was feeling better this morning. Jim came over to the new house this afternoon to bring some things to put in the dumpster. I went outside to help him and when I was done my ear started hurting again. It didn’t like the cold air hitting it.

I came home after painting for a couple hours and laid my head down on a heating pad. I fell asleep and when I woke up my ear felt better. It is still a bit painful but not stabbing like it was earlier.

Got another regular egg customer today. I will add her to my Monday delivery schedule. The girls gave me 27 eggs today so am grateful to have another customer.

Jim is getting taco’s for dinner tonight – I will have a plain hamburger patty. That will be another easy dinner to fix.

The guy that was going to take the boat came this afternoon after I left. He sent me a message letting me know he had found a hole in the bottom of the boat and didn’t take it. I’ll have to figure out a way to haul the damn thing to a dump now. I had thought when we got the dumpster that the first thing we should have put in it was the boat. I’ll figure something out about it – sooner or later. Wonder if the city would haul it away when they have their free trash and haul day sometime this spring?

We got invited over to a dear friend’s house for dinner tomorrow night. I almost feel like dressing up to go – I haven’t dressed up since Nicole’s wedding last June. It will be a huge sign of doing some thing post COVID to go to their house for dinner. A night out – YAY! Our first big step towards returning to life in a bigger world than our house.

I want to go back to the new house in the morning and get some more painting done. If I would work just two hours a day on it I will make some real progress. Getting the inside painted will sure help the house look better. I need to pick out a paint color for the walls in the living room and dining room and then paint for each of the bedrooms. I also still need to get some woodworking paint. Thinking I am going to hire a handyman to fix the back room and laundry room. Jim has classes to work on and it is going to be while before he can get to them.

I’m hoping the electrician’s bid will come in the mail Monday so I can get that signed and then get on their schedule to get that work done. I need to call and remind the plumber Monday that he still needs to come out and inspect the plumbing. Trying to get the big things out of the way so I know where I stand budget wise.

I need to call the dumpster people and have them come pick up the dumpster the end of the week. Jim might get the garage down yet before it goes away but if the rain continues he won’t be able to. We can always burn the garage wood if we had to.

The spot where I injected myself with the cholesterol medication is starting to turn red, itch and welt up like the other brand of the medication caused. I found a video on-line to watch on how to use the injector. The only trouble I had was once I had it on my thigh was getting the pump to start injecting the medication. Once I figured that out the injection went smoothly. It takes 9 minutes for all the medication to inject. There was a big mosquito like welt when I was done. Now the welt is bigger than a silver dollar. My body does not like medication.

According to the Where Is My Tax Refund website we are to get our Federal refund Monday. That will be nice. Too bad most of it is going to the state to pay our state income tax due. Easy come – easy go. Just grateful we got enough back from the Federal tax to have enough to pay the state.

I have a new knitting project that I need to get started. I’m not sure I am in love with the colors but I won’t know until I put it together if it will work. It is so hard to pick out colors on-line and not in person in the yarn shop. My next project is another blanket and I need to get it done before it starts to get too hot to have a heavy blanket on my lap while I am knitting on it.

I’ll probably get on the hot line if they are busy tonight. I didn’t get on last night. This hasn’t been a good week for me on the hot line and need to get a good couple of calls in so I remember why I like doing it.

Grateful to have gotten some painting done today, grateful for another regular egg customer, and grateful I was able to figure out the injection.

Another lazy day where I didn’t get much done. No painting again today. Still didn’t have the energy for it although I am feeling a bit better.

I slept from 1:00 – 3:00 and then couldn’t go back to sleep until 6:45 and then I only slept until 8:30. Got up and discovered our power was off. I called the electric company and they were already on the way to fix it.

I took my shower and got dressed and went into Emporia. I had to drive Jim’s car as I couldn’t get the garage door open to get my car out. Picked up my ear drops and a few groceries and returned home. Put things away, did the chicken chores and fixed my breakfast. The power was back on by the time I got home.

Went into Cottonwood Falls and delivered four dozen eggs to a dear friend. Went by the new investment property and discovered the door to the metal out building had blown off in the wind. We had left the door open as the building is empty and the heavy wind must have caught it and ripped it off the hinges. I’ll have to add fixing that to my long list of things to do. The boat is still on the property. Hopefully they will come get it tomorrow.

Came home and took a two hour nap. I’m still a bit tired tonight but feeling better. My ear hadn’t hurt much today until this evening. The PA I saw recommended I take some decongestant as well as Flonase. That seems to be helping a bit.

Tonight I have to inject myself with the new cholesterol medication. I watched a video on how to do it and it doesn’t look too complicated but sometimes things don’t go as easy as they should. We will see how it works. This one takes nine minutes for all the medication to be injected. Trusting it will feel like an IV and won’t hurt all that time. I am also trusting I won’t have a skin reaction to it like I did with the other brand. I have to take a Benadryl 30 minutes before the injection just in case I react to it. My body doesn’t like drugs and I can have unusual reactions.

I worked my shift last night on the hot line. It was another frustrating night for me. I handled five texters and four of the five were very slow to respond and gave me one word answers. It took a bit to drag out of them what was going on. None of them were very interested in problem solving. I have to trust that venting is what they needed as that is all I could see happened. I had to get a supervisor involved on one of the calls. The supervisor was helpful and gave me some extra space to chat that sometimes the others don’t.

I’ll probably get on again tonight when I get done blogging. It makes me feel like I did something for the day when I put in a couple of hours on the hot line. But so far this week I haven’t felt that my time was super effective. Some days and weeks are like that. One never knows what impact, if any, I am having.

I called the electrician and found out they were mailing the bid out today. I’m glad I called as they had the wrong address. Somehow they had my address as U Rd instead of V Rd. I’m anxious to see how much that bid will be.

Got the roofing bill and the bill from the heater inspection. I wrote checks and will put those in the mail tomorrow. I guess it is a sign of progress that money is flowing out.

I fixed green chicken for dinner. Jim got some hash browns with his and I had some carrots. It was another very easy meal to fix. Seems like that is all I do these days – easy what ever. Jim wants tacos for tomorrow night so that will be another easy meal.

We don’t have anything on the calendar for the weekend. Sure hoping I will feel energized tomorrow and will make it in to paint. That house is not going to get done if I don’t get started.

This time I am in right now feels like the in-between time. I have a wonderful anticipation of things returning to a new normal yet still have my feet stuck in the isolation of COVID. It feels like my body is not all here on either side of this great divide. It will take me some time to figure out what part of the new I want to pick up. Change is in the air and sometimes it can feel unsettling.

Grateful the power came back on rather quickly, grateful for what sleep I was able to find, and grateful for ear drops that will help my ear pain go away.

Jim had internet problems during his class today. So frustrating. He got kicked off the call when the internet dropped two different times. He was a fried puppy when the class was done as it interrupted the flow of his lecture – twice. I sure hope we can get the router situation fixed soon. I sent the company a letter today but not sure what they will do about it – if anything.

I didn’t make it in to paint this morning. I’m still not feeling 100% yet. When I went down to do the chicken chores this morning the wind hit my ear and I literally yelled in pain. I called my doctor’s office and they told me to go to Express Care. I went in after Jim’s class was over this afternoon. I have lots of fluid behind the ear and the tube is swollen and one of the ear drums is red. She called in some ear drops for me. The pharmacy was backed up and I didn’t want to wait an hour for them so will go in tomorrow morning to pick them up.

I am making spaghetti and meat balls for dinner. I will have my sauce over a spaghetti squash and Jim will have the traditional spaghetti noodles. I took some of the sauce in to Michelle’s family as I made way too much for us. I baked chocolate chip cookies this afternoon so took the kiddos a bag of those and also dropped a bag off at Jason’s house.

Jim’s car was fixed today. After class I drove him in to pick it up. A rat had chewed through the clutch hose and the hose had to be replaced. He has spent a lot of money on his two cars this month. Glad it was a relatively easy fix.

I worked the hot line last night and handled four long calls. All four of them needed a supervisor to be involved due to the high risk of the texters. Some of the people were challenging as they were high risk but didn’t want to problem solve. None of them felt good to me when I was done with them. Some people are harder to help than others. I will never know the final outcome of any of them. Glad every night is not like last night.

I have a shift tonight to work. They are already busy and have lots of texters waiting. I will get on after dinner and get my two hours put in. I didn’t take a nap today so can’t stay up late tonight.

I’m starting to feel the pressure of not getting into the house in town to work on it. Trusting I will feel better soon and have the energy to work on it. We are to get rain starting tomorrow morning and it is to rain most of the weekend. That will make good painting weather so trusting I will feel better sometime this weekend and get some work done. The sooner I can get after the painting the sooner we can rent the place out.

We got 28 eggs from the 29 girls today – not bad. I have 5 dozen eggs in the refrigerator that need a home. Anyone need eggs?

Nothing on the calendar now until next week. I do need to remember to give myself my cholesterol shots tomorrow night but other than that we are free of any responsibilities. Sure hoping we will make it into town to work on the new investment property. Jim will need to start getting his lecture ready for next Thursday. He didn’t get near as far as he wanted to today so maybe he has a lot of it done already.

Jim and I are both fully protected from COVID today as it was two weeks ago that we got our second shots. What a relief that is. Not sure much will change for us but I do feel much more comfortable being around the kids and grandkids. Not ready to travel yet but nice to know we could if we had to.

Grateful for the compassionate care from the nurse that saw me today, grateful Jim’s car is fixed and home, and grateful for empty space this weekend.

I have no idea what I did today except sleep. I had a headache this morning and didn’t feel like doing much. I had slept from 10:00 last night until 4:00 this morning. Woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep. Was up until 7:00 and then took a hot bath and slept until 10:30. Went back to bed at 2:00 and slept until 5:30 this afternoon. I must be fighting something off. Feel better tonight.

Fixed hot dogs for dinner. Talk about an easy dinner. We had some hot dogs left over from our dinner Sunday night with the kids. Jim likes hot dogs – even had buns on hand for him. He got leftover baked beans and potato salad with his. I had some carrots and no bun with mine. About all the energy I had to muster tonight so glad it was a very easy meal.

I have a hot line shift tonight – hoping I can make it through it. I checked a few minutes ago and they are busy already so may sign on early and get it done. Guessing it won’t matter when I sign on as they will be busy whenever. We usually aren’t busy this early in the day.

I didn’t make it in to paint today. Just didn’t have the energy earlier to do so. Hoping tomorrow I will have my energy back and will be able to get some work done. I don’t like days like today when I get absolutely nothing done.

Jim teaches his second OSHER class tomorrow. He has been working all day making a Power Point presentation to go with his notes. The time he puts in to put together a 1 1/2 hour lecture is amazing.

Friday evening I need to remember to give myself my cholesterol medication shots. I will be using a new type of injection this time so trusting I can figure it out. I have to take Benadryl with it so will inject them at bedtime so the Benadryl doesn’t mess my day up.

There was a huge grass fire south west of us today. We could smell the smoke all afternoon. The wind today was in a huge hurry – gusts of up to 40 MPH. It has finally slowed down this evening. There are some beautiful thunderheads to the south and east of us. Doesn’t look like the rain will make it up to my corner of the prairie tonight but have a chance for more rain later this week. It is dry and the grass is tall and the fire danger is high. Trusting we will get our share of rain sometime soon.

I called the new internet company today and they can’t give me a date when they will get to my area. It could be in a month or it could take a year. When I told the lady why I was calling and the problems I am having with TCT she told me I could buy a router on-line for less than $50. Sure enough – I found one for $45. I ordered it and am trusting I will get it soon. I have never heard of the company I ordered it from but sometimes I get lucky when I order. We will see what happens.

The house feels weird tonight after all the wind today. It is almost an eerie quiet now. The air feels heavy to me and my feet are hurting. I can tell there will be a nice thunderstorm in the area tonight.

Still haven’t gotten the electrician’s bid to do the repair job on the new property. I may need to call them tomorrow and find out where it is at. The plumber hasn’t called me yet to schedule a time to come out and I will need to call and remind him too.

My Aunt Jeannie called today. We only talked for a few minutes and she got another call. She said she would call back but must have forgotten to do so. It was good to hear from her briefly. She told me she is going to be 81 this year. Wow! Where does the time go? I have many fond memories of staying with her during the summer time when I was a kid.

Need to try to track down a package delivery. Got a note that an attempt was made yesterday and failed and they would try again today. We were home both days and no one came by. The package is a huge box of egg cartons. I would like to find them before they sit out and possibly get wet. I may drive down to the neighbor’s house and see if they are on his front porch. That happens sometimes.

Trusting I will feel better and have more energy tomorrow. Today I felt like someone pulled my plug and drained me empty. Maybe I just needed a rest day.

Grateful for a day of rest, grateful for an easy dinner, and grateful the wind finally slowed down.

What a day. I am tired and cranky tonight. I listed the boat that is in the back yard at the new investment property on several sites trying to find someone to take it away for me. No charge – just haul it off. I have had to answer all sorts of questions today. How much does it weigh? Will it fit in a pickup? Can you deliver? How long is it? Where is the trailer that goes with it? People it is free – take it or leave it – just make a decision and deal.

I finally had someone come to look at it. He had a boat trailer with him – but he came alone and couldn’t figure out how to get it on the trailer. Yikes! What happened to common sense? He was going to go find some help or else he is coming back this weekend with some friends. He drove 30 miles to come to my house. As long as the boat is gone soon I will be happy. I am done with it!

Went to the house and did a bit of painting this afternoon. I think the colors will work but I need to let what I put up dry before I decide for sure. Patched some nail holes in the living room and dining room. I didn’t get much done but it is a start.

I took seven calls on the hot line last night and got promoted to Level 7. Level 8 will come after I handle 500 more calls. I have handled 500 calls since I started last May. I got on the hot line this afternoon for a short bit as they were busy. I handled two calls and they were caught up so I got off. Anytime there is a major story about suicide the story adds a link to the hot line and we get slammed. Meghan and Harry mentioned suicide and the story about their interview posted on-line had a link to the hot line. I’m too tired tonight to look to see how busy they are.

I have an issue with TCT Wireless. We have trouble using our wireless printer and several times during the day our internet goes down. I have called them four times over the last month. They finally sent me a new power cord and charged me $10 for it which didn’t fix anything. Today they told me our router is going bad and it will cost me $200 for a new one as the warranty on the old one is up. If I sign a two-year contract they will provide the router for free.

I looked at the contract I signed with them when I joined their service and there is no mention of a one year warranty or the fact that if the router goes out I have to pay for a new one. Their service is worthless if you don’t have a router. And what happens if the new router fails one year and one month after I sign the new contract?

I checked the terms and agreement on their website and it doesn’t mention a one-year warranty or the fact that if the equipment fails I have to pay.

I hesitate to sign a new contract as there is a new internet company coming my way sometime this year and I want to switch to them as their speed is much higher. TCT charges $240 to break their contract.

They have me over a barrel though as we need internet service and I have very limited options until the other company gets here. I’m going to write them a letter and see what we can compromise on. The other three times I have called in no one mentioned the cost of a new router. Yikes. What to do?

I slept hard for about three hours last night and then couldn’t get back to sleep. Since I was at the house in town this afternoon I didn’t take a nap today. Thinking it will be a very early night for me.

I am running a low grade temperature tonight. My throat is sore and my ears are plugged and ringing. I have felt like I was coming down with something ever since I got my second vaccine ten days ago. You would think that if what I am experiencing is a side effect of the vaccine it would be done by now. Maybe I have an ear infection or something. I can’t take oral antibiotics so don’t think I will go to the doctor unless I get worse.

Other than a hot line shift tomorrow night I have nothing on my calendar for tomorrow. I hope to get to town and get some painting done. We only have one car right now as Jim’s car is still being fixed so am having to figure out what Jim needs to get done. I do my best painting in the mornings so will probably go in tomorrow morning while he is still sleeping.

Jim went to Emporia this afternoon and picked up some groceries and ran some errands. I think if I had gone to town today it would have pushed me over the cliff. The wind today wore me out and it is still blowing tonight.

I fixed a pot roast this morning in the crock pot so when I got home from town dinner was ready. That was a good thing tonight as I was tired and didn’t have the energy to cook. The roast was delicious and a very easy dinner to serve.

We have a chance for some rain tomorrow night and into Thursday and maybe even more over the weekend. We are in drought like conditions so any rain we get would be very welcomed. There have been lots of grass fires around. It is a dangerous time of the year for fires.

Grateful the boat may be going away, grateful a bit of paint is up on the cabinets and walls, and grateful it is almost bed time.

I got on the hot line after dinner and forgot to blog. I handled 8 callers and was getting impatient with the whiners so decided I needed to get off for the night. Luckily I didn’t have any hard texters tonight. I leveled up to Level 7. I will have to handle 500 calls before my next promotion to Level 8. I have handled 500 calls since I started last May.

It was a rest and recovery day around here today. We got woke up early as the roofers called and needed Jim’s car moved so they could position their trailer where they needed it to be. We got up and got dressed and rushed over to the new house. One of the guys helped Jim push the car out of the way.

We came home and Jim went back to bed. I stayed up and did a bit of house work. After I had lunch I went into town for a haircut. I wasn’t in the mood to stop for paint when I was done so I came straight home and went to bed.

When I came home Jim had gotten up and I went back to bed. I took a long nap this afternoon. I was still worn out from our long work day yesterday. I’m still a bit tired but am feeling better.

Jim arranged for the car to get towed to the repair shop this afternoon. He had to call a tow truck to come from Emporia to tow the car 6 blocks to the repair shop.

The roofers probably finished their job today. When Jim was there mid-afternoon they were almost done. I’m anxious to go see the house now that they have finished and most of the yard is picked up. It will look even better when we get the dumpster out of there.

I had left overs for dinner – Jim had a frozen pizza. He enjoys pizza and is good about eating it when I fail to plan dinner. He doctors it up and adds lots of jalapeño peppers, onion, olives and cheese.

I baked Jim a batch of Snickerdoodles after dinner tonight. I needed to see that I had done something today other than nap.

I was going to go paint this morning but decided I didn’t want to hear the roofers pounding on the roof all day long so I didn’t go in and paint. I am hoping that tomorrow I can get it and get that project started. Jim said he would come in and help me get the cabinet doors removed.

It reached the mid 70’s today. The wind was a bit brisk at 22 – 28 MPH so it didn’t feel as warm as it was. I only needed a sweatshirt when I delivered eggs around noon today. It is to be warm again tomorrow and then go down to the 50’s for several days. Spring is still deciding when it wants to come and stay.

Other than taking trash to the curb I don’t have anything on my calendar for tomorrow. Jim will teach another class on Thursday and I have my scheduled hot line shifts Wednesday and Thursday nights. Otherwise we have our normal, quiet week going on. Hoping it will be a good week to get lots of work done on the new house. That project feels big to me right now and if I can get a room or two painted it will feel more manageable to me.

Thursday will be two weeks since our second vaccine. The new guidelines say we can now gather with other vaccinated people. What a relief that will be. Maybe I need to schedule some dinners with friends so I have something to look forward to. It was so nice having Jason and his family out yesterday and not being so worried about getting sick.

Grateful for a haircut, grateful the roofers did a great job, and grateful for long afternoon naps on a recovery day.

I am tired. We almost filled the dumpster today. Jason, Cody and Dylan came and helped Jim and I throw stuff into the dumpster. I think it is safe to say all of us are exhausted tonight. It was a beautiful day to spend outside this afternoon carrying load after load of junk into the dumpster. So grateful that part of the job is done.

When I got to the house at 12:30 today the guys that hauled off the grain bin were there. They were looking for parts for the bin. They found some of what they were looking for. We didn’t find any more pieces when we were cleaning the yard up today. They took some things out of the garage – I told them anything they wanted to haul off they could have.

Jason and his family came over to our house for dinner after our work day. I grilled hamburgers and hot dogs to go with the deviled eggs, potato salad and baked beans I fixed earlier. It made for a quick and easy dinner. I made Jason Eclairs for dessert and sent the pan home with him.

Cody, the four-year-old helped us gather eggs. He picked one up and immediately cracked it open. He didn’t quite understand the concept of putting them into the bucket and bringing them up to the house.

Needless to say I didn’t get a nap today and I am tired this evening. I will do my best to stay up until at least 9:00 but may not make it. My bath with Epson salts will feel especially relaxing this evening. I’m not used to lifting and carrying so much stuff.

The dumpster is 2/3 to 3/4 full. We didn’t get the garage torn down so will wait to call them to come get the dumpster until we get that project done. We got all the big pieces into the dumpster and still have a bit more room. I’m glad I got the 40′ dumpster though as we would have run out of room in a smaller one.

Tomorrow I hope to go in and start the kitchen paint job. I have to go to Emporia for a 1:45 haircut so may not get started until I come back from town. We will see how sore I am in the morning and what my energy level is.

Something is wrong with the clutch on Jim’s car so we will have to have it towed to the shop tomorrow to get it fixed. Glad it broke in the driveway and not somewhere inconvenient.

It feels so good to have the big garage and old garage both emptied and most of the yard picked up. We got a good start on getting the place cleaned up today. It feels a bit overwhelming though to realize how much more work we have to do to get it fully into shape. One step at a time – one day at a time. Slow, steady progress wins the race.

Grateful for Jason and Dylan’s help today, grateful to have family over for dinner, and grateful for the beautiful work day.

I was sound asleep when the alarm went off this morning. The straw rancher was bringing straw this morning and I wasn’t sure what time she was coming. So I got up early in case she showed up. She didn’t get here until 10:30 so I could have slept two more hours. Oh well, I have a fresh supply of straw so I can change the chicken linens now. The straw rack Jim built works nicely and held all 10 bales she brought today plus plus the two I had on hand.

I took a nap this afternoon and slept hard for two hours. I’m still tired tonight but am hoping I will be able to sleep tonight again. Once my body decides to sleep that is all it wants to do.

I went to the rental property this afternoon to check on the progress of the removal of the grain bin. It was gone when I went in mid-afternoon. Yay! Another big sign of progress. The neighbor said they had used a Skid Loader and it only took them a couple of hours to move it out of there. I’m glad I sold it to someone that knew what they are doing and were able to get it to go away quickly.

I unloaded my car with the stuff we bought yesterday – the two ceiling fans, paint and paint supplies. When I opened the side door of the car one of the paint buckets fell out and the lid fell off. I spilled 2/3 of the gallon of paint in the grass by the driveway. Dang it anyways! That was the fastest I have ever gone through 2/3 of a bucket of paint. My new neighbor came over and asked what he could do to help. He went and got a bucket and a shovel and cleaned up my mess. I think I like my neighbor. Now I get to buy another gallon of paint. I will wait and make sure I like the color and use up what I have first. Not sure how much I will use. I spilled the bucket of kitchen cabinet paint and I don’t think it will take a lot of paint to do them. We will see how I come out.

While I was at the house I carried another 20 loads or so of stuff into the dumpster from the old garage we are going to tear down tomorrow. There is still a lot of stuff to clear out of it before Jim can start tearing it down. The big newer garage still has a lot of stuff to clear out too. The people that took the grain bin piled the stuff that was in it in a big pile and that all needs to get loaded in the dumpster. We will have plenty of work to do tomorrow afternoon.

I made a potato salad and boiled and peeled the eggs for deviled eggs this morning. I also made two pans of Rice Krispie Treats for the kiddos. Tomorrow morning I will fix baked beans in the crock pot, finish up the deviled eggs and make a dessert. Then when we get done with our big work project and come to the house all I will have to do is grill the hamburgers and hot dogs. That will make for an easy dinner after a hard afternoon of work.

Tim came out late afternoon and picked up the trailer. I sent one of the pans of Rice Krispie Treats home with him.

It will be nice to get most of the stuff into the dumpster tomorrow. Not sure we will get the old garage all the way torn down but that may go faster than I think it will. I wouldn’t know how to start to do that project. There will be four adults working so the moving stuff into the dumpster part should go rather fast. I’ve gotten lots done in just the few hours I have worked at it so far. The weather is to be beautiful again tomorrow so it will be a nice day to spend outside cleaning up the yard. I sure would like for the dumpster to be able to go away next week but I don’t know if we can make that happen this soon or not.

Monday I have to deliver eggs and then go into Emporia as I have a haircut in the afternoon. I need to stop and get a gallon of woodwork paint and some paint to use to paint the inside of the kitchen cabinets. I also need some liners for my paint bucket. I’m hoping I can start washing kitchen cabinets Monday after my hair cut so I can start painting on Tuesday. We will see if Plan A works.

Don’t have much else on the calendar for next week other than Jim has his class to teach Thursday afternoon. He will need some time to finish up his prep work for that. I’m hoping to get to the new property and get a couple hours a day of painting and cleaning done. Part of the work will have to wait until the electrician can come and get their job done.

I worked for a bit on the hot line last night. I am six calls away from leveling up after handling 494 conversations since I started last May. I had a couple of interesting ones last night and felt like I helped at least two of them. I may get on tonight if they get busy and I am not too tired. I have put in 12 hours this week already though and they recommend you only work a maximum of 12 hours a week. They have been so busy that they are not enforcing that recommendation though.

We had left overs for dinner tonight. With the eggs all cleared out and now the left overs cleared out I can find things again in the refrigerator. The eggs will start piling up again soon though. It is nice to have them all gone for a day.

Grateful for my new neighbor’s help in cleaning up my paint spill, grateful the straw got delivered today, and grateful the grain bin is gone.

I got a very good night’s sleep at last! It felt so “normal” to sleep most of the night. Maybe I can learn to sleep again!

I went to the new property early afternoon so I could meet the person who is taking the grain bin and get the cash from her for it. I’m glad I went early as she showed up early. She and her fiancée are going to start taking it apart tomorrow. It will be good to have that gone this weekend.

While I was waiting for her to show up I carried lots more stuff from the yard and the outbuildings to the dumpster. The yard is looking better already. Jim and I are planning on going over tomorrow afternoon and doing more work and Jason is coming to help us Sunday afternoon. By then we should be almost done with filing the dumpster. Yay.

I had expected the roofers would come back today and finish up the job but they didn’t show up. Trusting they will show up Monday and get it done.

Jim and I went to Sutherlands after I came home from Cottonwood Falls. We got two ceiling fans with light fixtures that will be hung in the living room and one of the bedrooms. I also got paint for the kitchen cabinets and walls. Trusting I will like it when it gets up. I did tell Jim I don’t have to live with the colors so it won’t matter if I don’t like it anyways. Jim got some materials to start building the chickens a shaded porch for their coop.

I took a long nap when we got home from town. When my body decides to sleep that is all it wants to do. I’m still tired tonight. Trusting I will sleep again tonight. I could get used to sleeping at night.

I fixed white chicken chili in the crock pot before I went to Cottonwood today. I was glad I had made it as I slept so long this afternoon. It was nice to have dinner ready when I got up.

Took a few calls on the hot line last night. I was starting to get impatient so signed off a bit early. I got on tonight and handled a few calls. I may get back on when I get done writing. I’m working to get promoted to Level 7 and am less than 10 callers away.

A friend is stopping by tomorrow and picking up 14 dozen eggs to give away for me at a volunteer work day Pioneer Bluffs is having. It is nice to have the refrigerator cleaned out again.

My local straw farmer is coming by tomorrow to bring me 10 bales of straw. It will be nice to have fresh straw. What I have now is pretty old and got damaged before Jim built my straw rack. Not sure what time she is coming so will have to get up early and be ready for her. Farmers tend to work on earlier schedules than I do.

Tagen was going to come help us clean up tomorrow but he got a better offer of something to do. He was so sweet and made sure I would be OK if he didn’t come. He said he could help during spring break so we will have him out then.

We have another quiet week next week. I have a haircut Monday afternoon and Jim will teach his class Thursday afternoon. I’m sure I will spend lots of time painting and cleaning at the new house. Hoping the electrician will get his bid to me so we can get that project scheduled and completed next week. I can’t do anything in a few of the rooms until he gets his work done.

We are over one week out from our second vaccine. My arm finally stopped hurting and my headache is gone. Last night I read that you are 95% protected two weeks out from your second vaccine. What a relief it is to know that it is safer to be out and about now.

It is to be in the mid 60’s this weekend so it will be a beautiful time to be outside cleaning up the yard. We didn’t get any rain last night – it came close but missed us. We sure could use a couple of inches as everything is so very dry. Lots of grass fires are keeping the local fire departments busy.

It is nice to see slow, steady progress happening on the new investment property. Hoping by the end of the weekend most of the clutter will be gone and the yard will look clean. I hope to get started painting kitchen cabinets this weekend so the transformation inside can start to happen. Still a long ways to go but progress can be seen.

Grateful for sleep, grateful for progress on the new investment property, and grateful for the help of my family.

It has been a busy day. I was at the new investment property at 8:30 this morning. The roofers were already there and hard at work. They got over half the roofing project completed today. They will be back in the morning to finish the job. Not sure I like the color of the tile but am hoping when they get all done it will be OK.

The furnace guy came a little after 9:00. He got the furnace cleaned up and said it was in good shape. He showed me where the filter was and how to change it.

The electrician came while the furnace guy was still there. He found lots of things that need to be fixed. We walked through the house and he made a long list of things to do. He is going to send me a bid and then will schedule a day to come do the work if I accept his bid. I will need to pick up two ceiling fans with light fixtures to have ready for when he comes back so he can get them installed.

After picking up the yard for a bit and putting more stuff in the dumpster I came home. Jim had his class this afternoon at 1:00. I sat in the office during his call in case he ran into technical issues. He figured it out most of the time by himself.

When his class was over I took a two-hour nap. I didn’t sleep well again last night and was able to get some good sleep this afternoon. I grilled hamburgers for dinner tonight. I had quickly laid some hamburger out this morning before I went to town and couldn’t think of anything else to do with it. Grilled hamburgers and quick and easy.

I handled five calls last night on the hot line. One I had to get the supervisor involved but was able to talk the texter down and felt they would be safe the rest of the night. I have another shift tonight. I am 15 calls away from leveling up to Level 7. I have handled almost 500 callers since I started taking calls in May. Feeling much more comfortable with most callers now. I still get an occasional one that I struggle finding words for them that might help. Some situations are so big and hard that what ever I say feels like it couldn’t possibly be enough to do any good. I’m humbled everyday on the hot line by the resiliency of the human spirit and how important having someone listen to your story is.

Tomorrow will hopefully be a quieter day. We will probably go in the afternoon and do some more clean-up work in town unless it rains. It is surprising how much better the place is looking already and we really haven’t given it a lot of time and effort yet. I need to do some clean-up at this house soon. The dirt is exceeding my comfort level and needs to be cleaned up soon.

I am selling a grain bin located on the new property. People have been bidding on it. I’m closing it out at 8:00 tonight. Trusting the high bidder will come through with the money and will be take it away sooner rather than later.

Some of the kids are coming Sunday to help with the cleanup. I need to do some cooking Saturday so I can feed them when we are done Sunday with our work. That will be fun to spend time with them. I have missed that more than anything this past year.

So far the new investment property renovations have gone very smoothly. That tells me it was the right property to invest in. I’m sure we will hit some snags at some point but so far so good. Slow and steady progress is nice.

Grateful for trades people that know their business and practice their skills, grateful the grain bin will be sold by night’s end, and grateful for a quiet day ahead tomorrow.

After dinner last night I laid down to sleep for an hour. Jim tried to wake me up after an hour was up but I couldn’t make myself get up. I slept for four hours. Blessed sleep at last. I was up most of the night after that but it felt so good to get four hours of sleep.

I finally got to sleep around 6:00 this morning and at 7:30 my phone rang. The guy delivering the dumpster was in Council Grove and headed our way. We quickly got up and went to the house in Cottonwood Falls to meet him. He got there about one minute before we did.

He found a spot in the yard to dump the dumpster and left. He will be back in 30 days to pick it up. We came home and I fixed breakfast. Jim went back to bed after we ate breakfast.

I stayed up and drove in to Emporia to deliver the permission slip to our accountant so he can e-file our tax returns. I stopped at the bank and cashed a check and then stopped to pick up a few groceries. After lunch I laid down and slept for another hour. Wow. I have gotten six hours of sleep in the last 24 hours. That is the most sleep I have gotten for days.

The electrician called and is coming tomorrow morning at 9:30 to do an inspection and bid to fix all the electricity issues in the house. The furnace guy is coming at 9:00 to do his inspection and clean. The shingles were to have been delivered today and they might start working on the roof tomorrow or Friday. Progress! It feels so good!

I need to go back into Cottonwood Falls as we need to set the trash out tonight for pick-up tomorrow. We forgot to do that when we were there this morning. I will probably spend some time taking the trash I have in a huge pile in the living room and putting it in the dumpster. Might as well start the big haul project and start loading up that huge dumpster. I can’t wait until the yard is clutter free.

Jim teaches his first OSHER class tomorrow at 1:00. Tonight he needs to finish putting together his notes and Power Point for his lecture tomorrow. He has a 90 minute class to present and it is new material for him to teach. He has so enjoyed doing the research for this class.

I gave up and hooked my old printer directly to my computer and am not going to mess with the wireless connection. That means I can’t print from my iPad but for whatever reason this internet doesn’t easily allow me to use a wireless printer. Jim is still fighting with it to make it print from his computer. I bought a second printer cord today in case he gives up and wants to hook the new printer directly to his computer. It just wasn’t worth the frustration to me. So looking forward to the new internet company coming out this way. Not sure when that is going to happen but they keep telling me soon.

The new power cord to the internet router just came in the mail today. We will see if that helps fix the connectivity issue. I have my doubts but I don’t know how this stuff works. Hoping that the solution is that easy. I just tried it again and it has already kicked the printer off-line so the new power cord didn’t fix the problem. Drat! Back to the drawing board.

It feels like spring out today. It reached the low 70’s today. I sat outside on the glider and ate my lunch. It felt so good to sit out in the sun for a bit. There is a gentle breeze today and the sky is bright blue. There is smoke in the air from the burning of the pastures that has started around here. The quality of the air will increasingly get worse over the next 45 days. We will be begging for rain soon to clear the air up. We could see the smoke from three different pastures being burned while I was eating lunch.

Jim is out hiking this afternoon. He always feels better when he takes a good 2 – 3 mile hike. With the weather this nice I will soon start hiking with him. I am a wuss and don’t like to hike in cold weather or too hot of weather. I have a very narrow comfort hiking temperature range.

I am marinating chicken tenders and will grill them for dinner. I got Jim some fresh asparagus at the grocery store today and I will grill it with the chicken tenders tonight. I don’t care for asparagus but Jim loves it. It is one of the few vegetables he likes.

I have had some slightly swollen lymph nodes in my neck that appeared the day after I got my second vaccine. Have a touch of a sore throat and it goes up into my ears. I am still running a very low grade temperature. I usually run 96 and am running low 99. I read that women are getting false positives on mammograms due to the vaccine. My body does not handle drugs well and I am assuming it is my body reacting to the vaccine and that it will take several weeks for it to calm down again. We will see what happens. Anyone else notice that reaction?

Since I was up in the middle of the night I got on the hot line. There were only 20 of us working and we had over 100 people waiting for someone to talk to. I handled five callers and then had to sign off. I can only work for about two hours at a time and I become emotionally drained and can’t take another call. I always feel guilty when I sign off and there are people waiting. All the callers I handled were urgent calls and some had been waiting for over 15 minutes. The non-urgent callers had to wait for over two hours. None of the ones I handled were as urgent as they might have been but they all needed someone to help them calm down and ground. I have a regularly scheduled shift to cover tonight. Grateful I was able to get a nap this afternoon so I can stay up and work the hot line tonight.

I feel my energy level rising with the temperatures. It was so nice to sit outside on the back deck today for an hour or so. It has been a long winter and it is so refreshing to welcome the sunshine and heat back to the prairie. With our vaccines in and working and the heat and sun returning I am really feeling the spirit of spring this year.

Grateful for sleep at last, grateful the house renovations are progressing, and grateful for the wondrous heat and light that is returning to the prairie.

Another night of little sleep. This is getting old quick. At least I got two hours in a row last night. That is more and better sleep than I had gotten the last couple of nights so maybe things are going to improve from here. I am feeling very sleep deprived right now.

Got on the hot line last night and handled four callers. Had another heart breaker case. At the end of it the texter was in a better space mentally than when they texted in. It felt good to get them there but oh my their situation is a hard one for them.

Went to Emporia before noon today. I picked up our tax returns. Jim has to sign a form before they can file the taxes so I will have to run the form into town tomorrow. I need to get our federal money back so I can pay the state. Easy come – easy go.

Stopped by the Salvation Army and dropped off eight boxes of stuff collected from the investment property. It feels good to have that out of the house and gone.

Went to my dental cleaning appointment. The girl that did my cleaning last time asked me when I got there if I would allow another student to do it this time. Each student has to handle a certain variety of cleanings and my teeth fit some special category that they don’t see often. I said yes and by the time it was over I wished I had said no.

This is the first time I felt like the student cleaning my teeth was not well suited for her new profession. She had a high, squeaky voice that grated on me. She had the personality of a stump. I was surprised she was a second year student as she kept hitting my teeth with her instruments. She had to take each x-ray twice as she didn’t position the thingy correctly. I was there for three hours and she didn’t get done. She did some extra things as she is using me as a class presentation case study. I have to go back March 30 for her to finish the cleaning and then back a third time for her to do something to finish up the case study.

When she was looking at her calendar to schedule my return visit I told her I could only do Tuesday afternoons. The first date she gave me was a Thursday afternoon. I repeated my limitations. The second date she gave me was a Tuesday morning. I repeated my limitations. The third date she gave me was a Thursday morning. I repeated my limitations. She finally found a Tuesday afternoon. Man! Some people can’t hear and listen at the same time.

It was a great lesson to me to next time say no to special requests. I came home grumpy and with a headache.

I called and ordered a dumpster to be delivered to the new investment property. They are bringing it tomorrow. We will have 30 days to get it filled and then I am to call them so they can come back and pick it up. We are having a work day with some of my kids helping us this coming Sunday afternoon. I bet we will get most of the stuff into the dumpster then. Jim has an old garage he wants to tear down and add to the dumpster if we have room left at the end of the day.

The roofing company called and let me know they are delivering shingles tomorrow. That means they will be starting the project either Friday or next Monday.

Thursday the furnace is going to be cleaned and inspected. Progress is slowly starting to happen. I was going to go in and work some more sorting through stuff this afternoon but decided not to go in. Not sure I would be very productive today.

I have ham and corn chowder cooking in the crock pot for dinner tonight. I’m glad dinner is already ready when we are ready to eat. I don’t feel like cooking tonight.

It is another beautiful day on the prairie today. Temperatures are in the mid 60’s with bright, blue skies. It is a touch windy again but this is KS and most days are a touch windy in KS.

The girls gave us 28 eggs today – a new record. I have 29 hens so all but one laid an egg today. What to do with all these eggs is the big question around here these days. When the kids come over Sunday I am going to fix potato salad and deviled eggs. That will use up at least two dozen eggs. Maybe I will make an angel food cake and use up even more.

It does feel good to have a project to organize and work my through. I have need a big project and this property is providing that. I sure would like to have it done and ready to be rented out no later than the first of May. We will see if we can hit that target or not.

Grateful our taxes will be filed tomorrow, grateful they can deliver a dumpster tomorrow, and grateful for the wonder of eggs – they still amaze me when I gather them each and everyday.

I had trouble finding much sleep last night. It was one of the worse nights I have had for a long time for sleeping. I even had trouble finding sleep this afternoon when I tried to take a nap. Wonder what is up with that?

Went to the investment property and worked for a couple of hours this afternoon. Have a huge pile of filled trash bags, a big stack of donations and recycling and found a couple items to keep. I have most of the stuff in the house sorted although I still have to go through some more things on the back porch. Progress.

I went through each room and made a list of things that we will need to do to each room. That helps me prioritize and sort in my mind what needs to happen next. Jim worked outside and found lots of recycling stuff as well as trash. He found a few treasures to save too. He took two car loads of stuff to the recycling center already and has more to take.

I called the plumber, electrician and furnace people. I have a confirmed appointment with the furnace guy but the other two will call me when they can come. I also called and found a dumpster and got details on ordering that. Jim decided after working this afternoon that we could get a dumpster sooner than he thought so tomorrow I will call and get one ordered to be delivered for later this week. We can keep it for 30 days at a set price. That should give us enough time to get the outside cleaned up.

Some people came this afternoon and took away some furniture that had been left in the house. They found a few other things they could use and took too.

Once everything is emptied out of the house I can start with some minor repairs to the walls and start prepping for painting. We need to wait until the electrician is done before I can paint though as not sure what is going to need to be done to fix the electrical systems. I’ll probably start in the kitchen and get the kitchen cabinets cleaned good and then I can start painting them.

I have a car load of stuff to take to the Salvation Army tomorrow. I still have more donations to load and take away but my car got full. Trusting others can benefit from the stuff we will give away.

I have some hamburger thawed for dinner tonight but not sure what to make with it yet. Jim likes to eat after the sun goes down so haven’t gotten to fixing dinner yet. It is so nice that it is getting dark so much later in the day now. In two weeks, with day lights savings time, it will really be late when the sun goes down. I like to eat no later than 7:00 so we will have to compromise soon and find a time that works for both of us.

We got 26 eggs today. I delivered two dozen eggs today to a regular customer and ate three for breakfast so only down one egg from what I ended up with yesterday. Maybe I need to fix something using eggs for dinner most nights to use some up.

Thinking about having a clean up the yard party next weekend and inviting friends and family over for the weekend. Work on filling our dumpster and I will feed you in return – sound like a plan? I think the clean-up will go much faster than Jim anticipated it will. If he had a couple of people with strong backs to help him lift and carry it will go very fast.

We have a connectivity issue between our computers and printer. Most days we have to reboot the printer and router before it will print. What causes that and how do we fix that? It is a pain to have to do that constantly. The guy I used to use fix my computer issues is no longer available to help me out and I don’t know who to call to come help us out. It is so frustrating when things don’t work the way they are supposed to and I can’t figure out how to fix them. Is it the printer? Internet connection? Our computers? Why can’t they play nice and get along?

It has been a beautiful day on the prairie. Temperatures were in the mid 50’s and we had bright blue skies all day. It was a touch windy but not too bad. Spring is definitely in the air. The sunset tonight is a plain Jane one as there is not a cloud in the sky. I saw smoke in the air today from prairie fires burning around the area. Burning season has begun.

Tomorrow I go to town to pick up my taxes and to get my teeth cleaned in the afternoon at the Vo-Tech. I forgot to call and get a haircut appointment so will have to make another trip to town to do that at a later date. I’m sure I will have another load of things to donate to take to town later in the week anyways.

Thursday Jim is teaching his first OSHER class this year. He has been putting in hours of work to get the class ready as this is the first time he is teaching this particular class. He enjoys doing the research to putting the classes together and loves to teach. This class is on the history of the Great Plains. He will have a second class going that starts in another couple of weeks but that class is one that he has taught the subject matter before.

Grateful that the great clean-up project has begun and is going fast, grateful for a friend that shared a contact so I could find a dumpster, and grateful for the beauty of the sunset on the prairie tonight.

I can’t believe February is over. Time seems to be flying by. Not sure where it goes to these days. I don’t get much done and the day seems to be over before I get started.

Feeling much better today. Last night after dinner I laid down for a bit and ended up sleeping four hours. Got up and was up until 5:00 this morning. Slept another two hours and got up. I’m tired this afternoon but decided not to take a nap. Maybe I can sleep “regular” hours tonight.

I got on the hot line at midnight last night. Handled three calls. One was a real heartbreaker. Some situations just are so unfair. Hard to find words to help them sometimes.

Baked peanut butter cookies and took to Ellexia this afternoon. I needed some fry boxes from McDonald’s so we stopped and got some since we were in town. I will have lots of things to take out of the investment property and fry boxes are the right size for me to handle. I have to go to Emporia Tuesday so will load up my car with the first load that will go to Goodwill or Salvation Army.

Monday I need to call an electrician to come out and do an inspection and fix some hanging wires. I also need to arrange for the furnace to be inspected and for a plumber to come check the pipes under the house. Also need to find a dumpster rental place so we can start getting the outside of the property cleaned up. Not sure who delivers dumpsters to Cottonwood Falls but will find one.

Tuesday I have to go to Emporia again so I can get my teeth cleaned at the Vo-Tech. I will pick up our taxes and am hoping to get a haircut if my hair dresser can work me in. So far we don’t need any groceries so won’t need to stop for that unless something comes up on my list between now and then. I also need to deliver the birthday girl her blanket. I want to bake some cookies to go with it so will do that sometime tomorrow too.

I may go into Cottonwood Falls yet today and start filling boxes of stuff that needs to go away. If I don’t go today I will do it tomorrow. I want to get started cleaning the kitchen and getting it ready to paint. Have to get rid of all the stuff in the house first though. My phone doesn’t work well at the house so have to make my phone calls tomorrow before I can go work on the house. The roofers are to show up some day this week. It will be nice to see progress on the house.

We are having fish for dinner. Jim gets breaded fish and I get grilled salmon. It will be another easy dinner to fix. That is all I do these days – easy stuff.

It feels so good to have the second vaccine in. I am anxiously counting down the days to freedom. Not sure much will change other than I can if I want go somewhere or have people over. Not sure I want to go anywhere if I can. I kinda like staying home.

Grateful to see Ellexia (and her dad) for a hot minute today, grateful for fry boxes from McDonald’s and grateful I am feeling back to normal today.

Feeling much better today. Not back 100% but getting closer. Fatigue is my main complaint followed by a sore arm. I have been hungry today and the nausea is gone. I have a mild headache but it is better. Feel like I could have taken four or five naps today. I took one short nap and may take another one after dinner so I can stay up for a bit afterwards tonight. My arm woke me up a couple times last night when it yelled at me.

We went to look at our new investment property. Met the next door neighbors while we were there. They are a nice, young couple. We have lots of clean-up and clearing out of stuff to do before we can start painting and cleaning. Anyone know of someone that needs a job for a week hauling off stuff? We also have lots of little trees to cut down, a grain bin to get rid of and an old garage to tear down and have go away. Should keep us busy for a bit.

Monday I need to call and get an appointment to get the furnace inspected, have a plumber come out and check out the pipes under the house, and have an electrician come check out the electrical system. Jim noticed several electrical things that need attention. I hope I budgeted enough funds to cover all this.

It reached the mid 60’s here today. A bit warmer than forecasted. The wind has been in a hurry all day so didn’t feel as warm as it was. It was very foggy this morning. Only going to be in the low 50’s for the next couple of days. It will be back up in the 60’s the middle of next week though. Spring has arrived.

I’m going to grill hamburgers for dinner tonight. It is warm enough to turn the grill on and that is my favorite thing to do with hamburger. That will make dinner nice and easy. I have some Fanestil baked beans for Jim to go with his hamburger. They have too much sugar in them for me to eat.

Tonight is the Full Snow Moon. It is cloudy so am doubtful I will be able to see the full moon rising tonight. Maybe the clouds will blow on out of here and open some space for the moon to shine brightly on the prairie tonight.

A friend let me know her brother is in the hospital with COVID. It is so hard to be so far away and not be able to be of support to her family back east. Trusting he will recover in time. Sad that with the vaccine now available that he had to get it now. I don’t know if he had gotten a vaccine or not.

The girls gave us 14 eggs this morning. I’m sure Jim will bring up a bunch when he goes down this afternoon. My refrigerator is getting full of eggs again.

No plans for tomorrow unless I go to the new house and start packing some stuff up to haul off. Trusting by tomorrow I will be back to normal and my energy will return. I am tired of being tired.

Grateful to be feeling better, grateful we got our first look at the new investment property, and grateful for the full moon tonight.

Not feeling bad – not feeling good after the vaccine yesterday. Feels like I am coming down with something. Pretty low energy, mild headache and a achy arm but nothing much else. I have had trouble getting and staying warm today but otherwise tolerating the vaccine. We will see what the next 24 hours bring.

I haven’t gotten much of anything done today. I didn’t sleep much last night so was up for a couple of hours this morning and then went back to bed. Slept off and on for a couple of hours. Feel like I could go back to bed and attempt to get more sleep. Sleep is so hard to find sometimes.

I had booked off my hot line shift last night and was glad I had done so as I didn’t have the emotional energy to deal with it last night. I checked once today and they were busy enough I could have logged on but decided not to. I am drained enough today without adding that to it.

We haven’t made it by the new investment property yet. As far as I know it was to be empty today sometime. We might go by tomorrow if I have more energy.

Jim laid some gravel in the chicken yard so when it rains we won’t get our boots so muddy. I gave the girls some sprouted wheat berries today – they love them. The girls gave us 23 eggs today. Back to having seven dozen eggs in the refrigerator. Yikes. What to do with eggs becomes the question of the day around here.

Finished the birthday blanket and ordered yarn for my next project. I like the colors in the one I just finished. I have some yarn left over so added a few colors and will make a similar one next time so I can use up the left over yarn. Webs is running four to five days behind on shipping so it will be a week or more before the yarn arrives.

Am fixing Jim burritos for dinner – I will have a plain hamburger patty. Not really feeling like eating much today so may not be able to get a hamburger down. I had some grapes for lunch – they were all that sounded good.

I had to call the internet company today again. The guy I spoke to earlier this week forgot to call me back to tell me what he was going to do. He is shipping a new power cord. We will see if that fixes the problem.

My accountant’s office called and they will have my taxes ready to pick up Monday. I have to go to Emporia to get my teeth cleaned at the Vo-Tech on Tuesday afternoon so I told them I would pick them up then. So nice to have the taxes done and out of the way.

Jim got a call from Newman Hospital checking to see if he wanted to get the vaccine. They are looking for people 65 and older for a clinic next week. Sounds like Emporia is almost done vaccinating those 65 and older and is getting ready to open it up to the next group. That is good news for those waiting their turn. If you are 65 or older and haven’t found a vaccine yet, call Newman Hospital and see if you can get in to their clinic next week.

My new cholesterol medication came in today. I don’t need it for two weeks but good to know it is here and ready for me when I do. It is a new type of injection so trusting I can figure out how to use it. It took me three months to figure out the last one. Sure trusting this one won’t leave a chemical welt burn on my thighs at the injection site like the last one did.

Got up early so we could get chores done and head to town. We arrived a few minutes before the vaccine clinic was open. Got our second COVID vaccines. The process was smooth and easy. They said they were giving 700 vaccines today. Both of us have sore arms this afternoon and I have a mild headache but so far other than that feeling good. It feels like we got our Get Out of Jail Free Card today – well in 30 days we will be freer to roam. It will be so nice to have other vaccinated friends over for dinner starting in a month or so.

Came home via Cottonwood Falls so we could dump the recycling. We managed to fill the back of my car with totes of recycling material.

Came home, fixed breakfast and I went back to bed. I didn’t sleep much last night and needed more sleep. I sure wish I could sleep as well at night as I do during the day.

My accountant called and woke me up. We will get a bit more federal back then we owe the states so came out almost even. I call that a win. He is going to finish them up and mail them to me next week. It is good to have that task done. I was worried about what the results might be as this was the first year Jim and I filed jointly.

Our new investment property will be empty tomorrow. If we are feeling good we will run by and take a good look at it. Have a feeling we will have some hauling off of things to do. We will get to it next week and get it cleaned up and start painting. It will be fun to have a big project to work on.

I handled five calls last night on theft line – I think they were all suicidal thoughts. One of them was heartbreaking. Sometimes we just don’t have enough to offer them as solutions. I have to remind myself my task is to help them get safely through the night and not to offer long-term solutions. Depression is a beast to live with and is a heavy burden on its victims.

I booked off my shift for tonight in case I don’t feel well but will get on and help out if I’m doing OK. They are so busy late at night I always feel a bit guilty when I sign off. Last night there were 89 people waiting to chat with someone. They keep getting pushed down the line when a high risk texter comes on. Jim keeps telling me I can’t help them all.

The girls gave me 14 eggs this morning and Jim just brought up 11 more. I need to find more regular egg customers. I deliver on Monday’s. Eggs are $3 a dozen or two dozen for $5. Hit me up if you want fresh eggs.

I got a ham at the grocery store yesterday that I am going to fix for dinner tonight. Ham is Jim’s favorite meat. I like it although I could not eat it again and be OK. It is easy to fix. I’ll throw a baked potato for Jim and a baked sweet potato for me in the oven along with the ham and dinner will be easy. We like using the ham leftovers in casseroles and soups.

No plans but recovery for the weekend. Jim is out working on the chicken coop and hauling gravel to fill the holes the girls like to dig around the fence. We have some coop yard improvements we need to make this spring. Good thing he is handy and likes doing that kinda thing.

Prairie fire season has begun. Tallgrass Prairie Preserve has been burning today. We can see the smoke to the west of our house. I love driving at night during burning season and seeing the prairie burn at night. Jim has never witness a prairie burn up close so am hoping we will be home when they burn my property this year. Spring is coming around the corner.

Grateful it was our turn to get our second vaccine, grateful for easy to fix dinners, and grateful for lots of empty space this weekend.

It has been a some what productive day on the prairie today. We went into Emporia this afternoon. I had my thyroid levels checked – they were high at over 4.0. They had been running way too low. Hard to hit the target with it sometimes.

After the blood draw we went to Bluestem for chicken feed, cottonseed hulls and dog food. I like to line the nesting boxes with cottonseed hulls as it keeps the eggs cleaner. The girls ate lots of food during the cold snap. We got 200 pounds – should last us for a couple of weeks.

Then we went to Walmart and picked up some groceries. It always surprises me how fast they add up. I didn’t think we got much and we spent over $150.

Stopped at Fanestil’s for some bacon and turkey and then came home. I was worn out from shopping.

We picked out our shingle color for the new investment property and called the roofing company. They are going to come next week and do the roof. Yay! That was fast and easy. It will be good to have the new roof on the property before we attempt to rent it out. We. must have gotten in before the spring roofing surge hits.

Took a short nap after we got everything put away. I didn’t sleep well again last night. Darn it anyways. Didn’t sleep very long this afternoon but felt better when I woke up.

Cleaned the two upstairs bathrooms this morning. Changed the sheets on our bed and then washed the bathroom rugs. Trying to get things in shape in case I don’t feel well for a day or two after I get my vaccine tomorrow.

Jim got all the chicken feed sorted and put into smaller containers. He said he didn’t have to take a hike today as he got his exercise hauling feed. He got the two cars unloaded from the stuff he brought up from Stillwater. He also got the compost dumped. We need to load up the car with recycling stuff and take it to Cottonwood and then I think we are caught up on things that we needed to get done today.

It always feels good to get all those little things taken care of. They seem to patiently wait for us. None of them take a lot of time to do – it just seems to be hard to stop and take time to take care of them.

I got on the hot line last night and handled four calls. I didn’t feel I was as patient as I should have been so signed off after a bit. Sometimes when I am tired I want to jump to problem solving and not allow them time to process and come up with their own solutions. I have a shift tonight. I booked off my shift for tomorrow night in case I don’t feel good. If I don’t have a reaction to the vaccine I can always log on and work the line.

I called the internet company again today. We are still having a problem getting thrown offline constantly. The guy is to mail me a new power cord to the router. We will see if that fixes the problem. If not, they will have to come replace the router. Sure will be glad when the new internet company comes out this way.

We have to be in Emporia by 9:00 in the morning for our vaccines. Nothing else is on our calendar until next Monday. Trusting we will have a quiet, relaxing weekend at home on the prairie. We don’t have anything on our urgent to-do list that has to be done.

Jim starts teaching one of two of his Osher classes next week. He says he is almost ready for the class. He has been doing lots of reading, note taking and outline making to get ready to teach it. Not sure how many hours he puts in to put the class together but it is a lot of hours. He enjoys teaching them and it gives him something to do.

I have an appointment to get my teeth cleaned one day next week. The student that is doing it this time will graduate in May so I will have to get hooked up with a different student for my fall cleaning. I need to call and get an appointment to get my hair cut next week. Maybe I can fit both of those into one trip to town.

Hoping next Monday we can start cleaning and painting on the new property. It will be good to get inside the house and really see what we purchased. Trusting that project will come in under budget – you never know until you get a good look and even then surprises can happen.

The temperature was a more seasonal temperature of 50 today. Still feels good after the bitter cold we had a week ago.

I have two rows to go and then I can cast off on the birthday blanket I am making. I need to sit down tonight and get that done. I have in mind what my next project will be. I need to go yarn shopping and get it ordered so I can get another one started.

Grateful the to-do- list is almost cleared out, grateful the roof will get done next week, and grateful we get our second vaccine tomorrow.

72 degrees on the prairie today. Wow. What a difference a week makes. It has been a touch windy but still needed to take my sweater off while cleaning out the chicken coop. Bring on spring. The girls are enjoying rearranging their fresh linens this afternoon. The eggs will be cleaner for a bit and the smell is fresher. Good day in the chicken coop today.

Yesterday late morning I didn’t have one egg in the house. Jim took all the cartons of eggs to Stillwater to give to friends. Today I have two dozen in the refrigerator and 8 more on the counter. Easy come – easy go around here with eggs.

I took a nap this afternoon while Jim took a hike. I didn’t sleep well last night and woke up feeling tired this morning. I feel much better now that I took a nap. Sure wish I could sleep as well at night as I do in the afternoons.

We are grilling steaks for dinner tonight. Need to celebrate this beautiful day by turning the grill on. I put potatoes in the oven to go with the steak so dinner will be easy as can be tonight.

It is only gong to be 48 for the high tomorrow. Even that will feel good after the bitter cold we had last week. We have a chance for some rain later in the week. Feeling more and more like spring has sprung around here.

I only have two more rows to knit and then I can cast off the blanket I am making and weave the ends in and it will be done. I will need to order more yarn if I decide to make another one. I like having an ongoing project – especially when I don’t have a deadline to get it done.

Since I took a nap I’ll probably get on the hot line tonight later. I looked last night and they had 89 people waiting to chat but I was too tired to help out. We are so short of volunteers late at night that it is taking up to an hour for people to get to chat with someone. By the time we get to them many have given up. They have a way of filtering the calls to ensure the high risk callers jump to the front of the line but sometimes it can miss a high risk texter.

Tomorrow we have to go to Emporia. I need to have a blood draw done and we need to restock chicken feed and pick up a few groceries. Thursday morning we get our second vaccine and have left the rest of the weekend open in case we need to have some recovery time.

Monday we hope to start the cleaning and painting on our new investment property. We need to go over later today and pick out a roof color and let the roofing company know what we want so they can get the material ordered. I normally just tell them to use whatever but Jim wants to choose it.

I am more and more encourage with the freedom the vaccine will bring us. I keep reading reports of how effective they are and what that will release us to do. What a relief it will be to be as fully protected as they provide. I so look forward to having friends over again that have also been vaccinated.

I got the Costco shopping trip supplies put away and things back in order in the house. I sure didn’t get done what I had planned to do yesterday but Jim got safely home and that was more important. Got a bunch of laundry done today and a bit of cleaning done. Things feel more manageable around here again.

Sophia only has four pills left to take. She has healed nicely and hasn’t run off once. Wondering if it will be safe to not put her electronic collar back on her. I’m grateful to the Vet and the great job he did cleaning up her neck.

Need to go sit outside and enjoy this beautiful day. I have about an hour before I need to fix dinner.

Grateful to be able to go outside without a sweater or coat on today – first time this year, grateful the girls have fresh linens, and grateful we had steaks in the freezer to eat for dinner tonight.

What a day. Not sure much of it went as planned but all is well at the end of the day.

Jim left for Stillwater around 9:30 this morning. He went down to get another load of books and photography files and cabinets. I messed around the house this morning and did chores and a few other things and then headed to Cottonwood a little after 11:00 to deliver eggs. When I finished that I drove to Wichita to go to Costco.

The main thing I needed from Costco was Chicken Tenderloins and they didn’t have any. I managed to get a cart full of other stuff. Costco was out of powdered sugar too. Walmart was out when I was there last. Is there a powdered sugar shortage these days?

I was almost home when Jim called. He had run into car trouble and needed me to bring him a key to his other car that was in Stillwater. I came home, unloaded the car, did afternoon chores and then I drove to Stillwater.

He got his car towed to a repair shop. They are going to fix it and then drive the car to his house in Stillwater. He will go down sometime next week and get it and bring another load.

I was only in Stillwater about an hour and we headed back to the prairie. Jim put two file cabinets in the back of my car and boxes of stuff in his car. Jim drove his other car and I drove my car back. Made for a lot of driving today – I spent over nine hours driving. I am tired tonight. We got home at 10:00 tonight. Thankfully I had picked up some roasted chicken at Costco so I heated some of that up and fixed a veggie and called it dinner.

Jim took 11 dozen eggs with him to pass out to friends in Stillwater. I delivered 3 dozen eggs in Cottonwood this morning. When I left the house this morning I had zero eggs in the kitchen. I already have 8 and will gather two dozen tomorrow. It was good to get the stash cleaned out.

I got on the hot line late last night and handled seven calls. They were the normal run of mill calls. I didn’t have to get the supervisor involved in any of them. Had several suicidal texters but they all seemed to calm down after they vented. Sometimes all people need is a listening ear with no judgement. I think I am too tired to get on the hot line tonight.

The Health Department called and changed the time of our vaccine from 5:05 to 9:15 on Thursday. That means we will have to get up early and get to town. It will be good to get that out of the way.

Either tomorrow or Wednesday I need to go to town to get chicken feed and a few groceries. I want to make sure everyone around here has what they need in case we have side effects from the second vaccine and don’t want to get out.

It is to be really nice again tomorrow and we plan to clean out the chicken coop and give the girls some fresh linens. It is always good to get that job done. They sure like being outside when days are as nice as it was today. We reached the mid to upper 60’s today. A week ago it was -17. Gotta love KS and the ever changing weather. It is to get a bit colder after tomorrow but nothing like last week.

I am tired tonight. I got two sleeps last night but one was for three hours and the other was only for one hour. Trusting I will sleep good tonight. We don’t have to get up early tomorrow so maybe I can sleep in and catch up a bit. Didn’t have time for a nap today.

Grateful for safe driving conditions today, grateful the egg stash got cleared out, and grateful for the beautiful weather we had today.

A windy day on the prairie today. The wind has been in a big hurry most of the day. It is working hard to bring in some warm weather. Lots of melting happened today and the rest will be gone tomorrow when it reaches the mid to upper 50’s. This afternoon the sun has come out and there is a hint of spring in the air.

The house has felt very quiet today after all the fun we had yesterday with the grandkids. I haven’t spent near as much time in the kitchen today as I did yesterday either. I was tired so I took a nap this afternoon. While I slept, Jim took a hike.

I only have 20 more rows on the blanket I am knitting. Yay! I may get it finished yet today. I knitted on it this morning while I watched church on my iPad. I will have end to weave in after I get it all knitted so I still have about two – three hours of work to go on it.

As soon as we got home last night from taking the kids into town I took my bath and went to bed. It was the quickest I was able to fall asleep in a long time. I slept for four hours, was up for three and then slept two more hours. It was a good night’s sleep for me.

Jim has decided to go to Stillwater tomorrow to get another load. He has a film project he wants to work on and needs some things from Stillwater to get started on it. I may go to Wichita tomorrow and make a Costco run. I have a list of things I need and the weather is to be good. We will see what happens tomorrow.

The girls gave us 25 eggs today. Jim said he would take 10 dozen with him to Stillwater and give them to people he knows there. It will be good to get the refrigerator cleaned out of eggs for a day. I will get rid of three dozen to my regular customers tomorrow. When you put two dozen eggs a day in the refrigerator it doesn’t take long for it to fill up.

Tuesday we need to clean out the chicken coop and give the girls some fresh linens. I look forward to being able to open their windows and airing the coop out for a bit. It has been locked up tight for a bit and is very stinky. We will also need to do a feed run one day this week and refill their food supply. Those girls do like to eat.

A week from Monday we will get to start on our new investment property. I see lots of painting and cleaning in my future for a bit. Sure hoping we won’t find too many surprises and that project can be accomplished in a month’s time. I would like to get it rented by April 1. Not sure if that is realistic or not until we get in there and get to take a really good look at it. We have decided our first choice will be to find a renter. If we can’t find someone then we will furnish it and will turn it into an Airbnb. We would make more with the Airbnb but it takes more work as we would have to clean it between clients, mow the yard, etc. We will see what happens.

One day this week I need to go to town and have my blood drawn for a thyroid check. Maybe I can do that Tuesday or Wednesday when we have to go to town for feed and groceries. I don’t have to be fasting for it so that makes it easier to just pop in and get it done. Thursday late afternoon we get our second COVID vaccine. Will get stocked up on groceries so if we have side effects afterwards we will have what we need and won’t have to go to town next weekend.

It will be so good to have that second vaccine done and be on our way to being fully protected. Having the grandkids out made me anxious to start having friends over again and slowly starting to rejoin the rest of the world.

I decided this year for Lent I am going to do 40 acts of intentional kindness. Not sure what all that might look like yet. I did my first one yesterday in taking a meal to some friends that are experiencing a sickness in their family circle. I will give it some more thought and keep my eyes and ears open to others in need. It will be fun to see what I notice and how I respond.

Grateful for the warmer temperatures headed our way, grateful the blanket is almost done, and grateful we can share eggs with friends.

What a fun day I am having today. Both grandkids came out for the afternoon. I have been busy keeping them fed but we are having so much fun. They decided not to spend the night so will take them back into town late afternoon.

I fixed them bacon, eggs and pancakes for their lunch when they first got here. Then they had s’mores about an hour after that. I fixed a pan of Peanut Butter Rice Krispie treats to go home with them. Thinking they will last now without more food required – at least for another 30 minutes. Man – kids do eat – often and lots.

I have a crock pot of chili cooking for our dinner tonight. Neither grandkid seem very interested in eating chili so will have to go to Plan B for them if they are still here. I am taking half the chili to some friends. It is hard to make a small batch of chili and I get tired of leftovers so found someone wiling to take some it.

Got on the hot line last night for two hours. Handled four calls. They were fairly easy calls and two of the four felt good to me. Sometimes I can tell I have helped someone – other times I am not so sure.

It got in the low 40’s today. Lots of melting happening today. The kids were outside playing for a bit. They jumped off the retaining wall into a tall snow bank. They had a snowball fight for a bit. It was good for them to get outside and get some fresh air. They helped Jim do the chicken chores this afternoon. We got 26 eggs today from the girls – including another fairy egg.

Got some knitting done last night. I have one more repeat to do and then I can cast off and get the rest of the ends tucked in. It will be good to have this project done. Maybe two more nights of knitting on it and it should be done. I’ll have to go yarn shopping and decide on my next project.

I have to go to town one day next week and have a blood draw so they can check my thyroid levels again. When we are in town we are going to have to stop and get more chicken feed. The girls packed the food away when they were locked up in their coop during the bitter cold weather.

The propane guy came to fill my tank today. I guess how much propane I will need each year and put it on a contract. He let me know I exceeded my contract amount with the fill today. I used a lot of propane the last two weeks. This tank may last me until summer but it will be close to needing filled again by mid summer. Come on warm weather – my propane bill needs a break. The last couple of years I have carried a credit to the next year as the winter has been so mild. February this year has used up that credit and then some.

I didn’t get a nap today – too busy taking care of grandkids. I may go to bed very early tonight. I stayed up late last night doing the hot line and then woke up at 6:00 and couldn’t go back to sleep for two hours. Slept one more hour and called it good. Someday I will solve my sleep issue. Sure wished I knew why sleep is so hard to find most of the time.

Tomorrow can be a quiet, rest day. May be ready for that by then. The kids have been so good but I’m not used to them being around. Sure makes me sad to think about all the time I have missed with them this past year. Grateful I can start being around them again.

Grateful the kiddos came out to play today, grateful for the warmer weather today, and grateful the propane tank is full.

Not sure it felt like Friday today. Not sure what day of the week if felt like but I am out of step with time and the calendar today. We didn’t take the trash down Tuesday so maybe that threw me out of whack. Ellexia came out on Wednesday which is most unusual too.

We got up to 34 today on the prairie. Above freezing after two weeks below. At last. It didn’t feel that warm as there was a brisk wind but we are trending in the right direction. It is to be 59 on Tuesday – short pants weather.

I handled six or seven calls on the hot line last night. None of them needed a supervisor’s involvement. Run of the mill things – suicidal thoughts, relationship issues, cutters, anxiety, boss issues, etc. All seemed to have calmed down by the end of the call. I took a short nap today so may get on the hot line later tonight and help out. We have been very busy late at night. They are going to start accepting applications for new volunteers next week so if anyone is interested in joining me as a volunteer let me know and I can get you more information. The training is fairly good and their approach works most of the time. It is rewarding work, although sometimes it can be draining.

I’m trying to think what I did today and am coming up blank. The days seem to pass whether I stay busy or not.

Grilled hamburgers for dinner on the George Foreman grill. Simple and easy dinner. I am going to fix chili for dinner tomorrow night. That will be another easy meal.

Sophia continues to recover and seems to be doing good. I checked her wound site today and it looks really good. I wrap her two antibiotic pills in a piece of ham and she eats them right up. I’m going to have to buy Jim some more ham next time I go to town as Sophia is going through his stash of ham.

The girls gave us 24 eggs today. I have 12 dozen eggs in the refrigerator that need a home. Hit me up if you need eggs. I deliver on Monday’s. I wish the food pantry would accept home grown eggs for distribution but they are not allowed to do so. When it warms up the first part of the week we are going to clean out the coop. It is stinky!

I hope to finish the blanket I have been knitting on. I need to have it done in two weeks so I can give it to a birthday girl. I’m on the 11th repeat and only need to do 12 so am almost done. Maybe I can get a good knitting session in tonight.

No plans for the weekend. We had left it open so we could recover from the vaccine shot we were supposed to have gotten today. They got delayed until next Thursday. I need to go to Costco and am thinking about running down to Wichita tomorrow to get that taken care of. I may wait till earlier in the week when they aren’t so busy. We’ll see what I decide to do tomorrow.

My hand mixer bit the dust last week so I ordered a new one. It came in today. It is bright red. The white one that was the same model was $20 more. Go figure.

One more week and we will be able to get into our new rental property and start the repairs and cleaning process. I need a big project and am thinking this one will fit that need. Not sure what we will have to do until we can get inside it and really take a good look at it. I know it needs lots of cleaning and painting but beyond that am not sure what we will find. Jim has some woodwork trim to repair on it that we noticed. He is good at that type of thing.

Grateful we came through the winter weather without any property damage, grateful for the warmer weather headed our way, and grateful my computer tells me what day of the week it is.

We went to town to pick up Sophia around 5:30 last night. She looked good and has acted fine since she has been home. She had two deep puncture wounds from the spikes on the containment collar and a staph infection around the site. The Vet got her cleaned up and put her on antibiotics for seven days. I wrap her two pills up in a piece of ham and she eats them easily. She doesn’t have to go back in unless the wounds don’t heal. Roxy was glad to see Sophia when she got home.

We took Ellexia home after we picked up Sophia. We had such a good time with her. I’m glad she came out for the day.

Got notified last night via email that our second vaccine shot has been delayed until next Thursday. The shipment of vaccines are slowed down due to the winter weather and loss of electricity throughout the Midwest. What is one more week – right? Disappointing but I understand it is something they couldn’t control.

I took seven calls on the hotline last night. One was a suicide call that I had to notify my supervisor about as the caller was high risk. The caller seemed to have calmed down by the end of it. The others were a random assortment of issues. I only handled one call at a time last night. Some nights I can do two at a time but didn’t feel up to that last night. We were busy and they had over 100 people waiting to chat when I logged off. I put in three hours and was wiped out and couldn’t take another call. I have another shift tonight.

After I gathered eggs this morning I went to Emporia and got our groceries for the week. Since we aren’t going to town for our vaccine tomorrow I decided to make a trip today and get it done. I didn’t think I needed much but managed to spend over $100. Not sure what I bought that added up that high but it seems to happen almost every time I go.

I noticed the Walmart in Emporia is now doing COVID vaccines. You have to make an appointment in advance on-line. When I got home I looked it up and all their appointments for this week are already taken. Not sure when they release more dates to book but if you are looking for a vaccine you might check their website regularly and see if you can get a booking.

We mailed our reservations for a cabin at the Y Camp this summer. Jim took the letter to the post office in Cottonwood Falls this afternoon. It is due to the Y Camp at the end of February. He has been having trouble getting payments to Stillwater on time lately as the mail service is so slow these days. Trusting it will get there on time.

The pharmacy that is handling my new cholesterol medication called today and gave me instructions on how to use the medication. Not sure I followed what he said but will figure it out when it gets here. The new insurance company was much quicker to approve it than the old one was. They are shipping it late next week. Hoping this new one won’t give me welts on my thighs at the injection site.

The sun has been out most of the day. It reached the mid 20’s today but felt much warmer. The snow seems to be melting in places already. Looking forward to next week and temperatures back up in the mid 50’s and above. I am done with winter cold.

I laid down to take a nap this afternoon and had just fallen asleep when my phone rang. I usually can answer it on my watch but for some reason the call didn’t come through my watch. By the time I got up and found my phone the call was gone. I think someone was calling to tell me my vaccine appointment had been changed but they didn’t leave a message. I couldn’t get back to sleep and now I am grumpy and have a headache. And this too shall pass……

We are having fish for dinner tonight. That will make for an easy dinner as I will put Jim’s in the oven along with some tator tots for him and some sweet potato fries for me. I will grill myself a piece of salmon.

Feeling out of sorts this afternoon. Think I am too tired to sleep right now. After I get done writing I will get up and move around and see if I can move this heavy, icky feeling out of my body. Sometimes that helps. I wouldn’t recommend calling and talking to me right now or I might bite your head off. I was fine earlier today and not sure why I am so grumpy now.

Tony, Jim’s indoor cat got into my yarn again and messed up another skein of yarn. Jim will have a project to do to straighten it out for me. Tony is living on thin ice right now. He might join my cats and become an outside cat if he doesn’t start behaving.

As soon as the weather warms up we need to clean out the chicken coop again. The girls were stuck inside 24/7 for a bit and the coop is getting really stinky. We let them out yesterday and again today. They have spent most of the day outside today – I don’t blame them. It is to be in the mid 50’s by Tuesday so hoping we can get it cleaned out then.

Grateful Sophia is home and doing well, grateful for the time we had with Ellexia yesterday, and grateful the sun is shining today.

Last night I brought Sophia into the house to change the battery on her containment collar. After I unsnapped it I had to pull it away from her as it was stuck to her. I initially just thought it was frozen to her but then the smell hit me. Evidently she had gotten some water on the spikes and they froze and made a very sore spot on her neck. It was a rather large sore. I attempted to cut some of the hair away to get a good look at it and realized rather quickly that she was going to need professional care for her wound.

I called our vet office and they had me bring her in so they could start antibiotics last night and withhold food and water from her over night so they could sedate her to clean the wound. We quickly got her loaded into the car (well not so quickly – it was hard to convince a 125 pound dog to get in the car. Jim finally had to lift her up.). We dropped her off at the vet clinic at 5:20. I haven’t heard from them yet today. The vet said they had their surgery over booked already but they would work her in when they could. They thought I would get to bring her home today but it will depend on how deep the wound is and when they can do the surgery.

I have used this containment system for over three years and have never had a problem before. When I am outside a lot and the dogs are under foot I run my hand around their collar to make sure all is well. With this cold weather I haven’t been around them as much and hadn’t been doing that. Sophia’s coat is so thick right now it is hard to see a problem. I feel so bad that I let it go so long before I noticed it. She has been acting normal – lounging around in the cold and eating well. Hoping it isn’t as bad as it smelled or looked.

Ellexia didn’t have school again today and around 11:30 text me to see if she could come spend the day. Tim and Tagen were at home and she wanted a day away from home. It has been so fun having her here. When we got home from picking her up she was starving so we made blueberry pancakes, bacon and eggs. Ellexia made the scrambled eggs for me. She cracked the eggs and stirred them while they were cooking so I could fry the bacon and make the pancakes. She was a big help.

An hour after breakfast she needed a snack. Two hours later was ready for lunch. I forgot how much kids can eat and how often they eat. I wasn’t expecting to have her here so I didn’t have as much kid friendly food on hand but we found stuff she would eat.

I baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies for her to take home with her. I doubled the recipe but didn’t double the butter and shortening amounts. The cookies look a bit stiff but she said they tasted OK. Sometimes I have brain farts and do stupid things like that. Glad they are still going to be eaten.

I got the laundry caught up as we haven’t done any for a couple of days trying to help conserve the power grid. It warmed up and was over 20 today. Felt like a taste of spring and a blast of warm air after so many days at or below zero. The snow is even melting a bit this afternoon. It is to continue to warm up over the next week and will hit 50 in six or seven days. Spring is coming!

I sold two dozen eggs today and put two more dozen in the refrigerator. The girls keep giving me 20 plus eggs a day. Had only one frozen one this morning. Got another fairy egg this morning. They always make me smile when I see them.

My mood has finally lifted and all is well again. I learned more about myself and am grateful for the lessons – after they are done. It is painful to go through the process though. I’m able to communicate better now than I used to be once I get to the point of finding words. Progress.

I’m hoping the vet office will call in a bit and we can go get Sophia and take Ellexia home in the same trip. If they did surgery late in the day Sophia may have to spend another night.

No plans for tomorrow. Friday late afternoon we get our second vaccine injection. I am planning on going to town a bit early and picking up some groceries so we have what we need for the weekend in case one or both of us have a reaction and aren’t feeling like getting out and about. From what I have heard that is what we need to plan on happening. Good news is most people feel better within 48 – 72 hours so it will be short lived. So looking forward to being on the other side of this and being a bit freer to mix with others that have been vaccinated.

The welts on my legs from the cholesterol injections are a bit better today. I remembered to put some Tea Tree Oil on them and that helped a lot more than the Cortisone cream was. I don’t like the smell of the Tea Tree Oil but I like the itch relief.

I have lost another couple of pounds this last week or so. I am five pounds from being back to my goal weight. This is the first time I have ever been able to get back on the wagon after gaining weight and be able to take it back off again. Hopefully I learned from this experience and will be able to maintain the loss and keep it off this time. We will see what happens.

The sun has been shining all day today. It has felt so refreshing to have the sun shine and have it warm up a bit. We haven’t had to turn many lights on today and have enjoyed the natural light. I have so enjoyed hearing Ellexia talk to Jim and listen to her laughter. It has been way too long since the kiddos came to play.

Grateful for our time with Ellexia today, grateful for a caring and compassionate vet, and grateful for the lessons I continue to learn about myself.

Trash day although we didn’t have much trash and decided it wouldn’t smell if left in the garage another week. It will give the trash pick-up guys one less stop for them tomorrow. I worry about them on days like this.

My weather station reported we got to -17 last night with a wind chill of -39. There have been rolling blackouts as the power grid cannot keep up. Luckily we have been spared of a power outage. This is a good time to have solar panels and use propane instead of natural gas. I have had the fireplace on in the living room to help give the furnace a break. We have stayed nice and warm even with the furnace set at 65.

We are having left overs again for dinner so I don’t have to use the oven. We have lots still in there that need used up. I skipped dinner last night and Jim had leftovers. Looks like the energy grid will be OK after tonight so maybe tomorrow night I can use the oven and fix something fresh again. Nice to have the backup of leftovers to eat when you aren’t supposed to use the stove or oven.

Ellexia was going to call me to come get her and spend the day with me as her school was cancelled. Her dad wasn’t feeling good this morning so he stayed home so she didn’t come out. It was silly to drive to town in below zero temperatures if it wasn’t absolutely necessary but I sure wished she had been able to come out. She hasn’t spent a day with me for over a year now.

The water faucet we use to get water for the chickens is frozen. That has never happened before. Lots of people around are reporting frozen water pipes that have never had frozen pipes before. We have had over 10 days of single digit temperatures. Thankfully by the weekend we will be back above freezing and warm up a bit. Hopefully the faucet will thaw without breaking.

I didn’t sleep much again last night. That makes about four nights and days that I haven’t gotten much sleep. I am overdue to crash. Sure wish I could solve my great mystery surrounding sleep. It sure is hard to find somedays.

I’m feeling better today. I still haven’t come up with a solution for my problem but at least I better understand what the problem is. Now I need to learn to live with it. That is easier to do once the problem has been defined and I was able to do that today.

Ever since I started doing energy work when I get upset I go quiet. I do not have words in the moment to describe what I am feeling. I have to allow my emotions to be felt deeply within and then I can start to put words to what happened. It is frustrating for those around me to not have me share what is happening at the moment. Words are not helpful to me and I need space to process what happened before I can find words. Once I allow the energy and emotions to pass through me I can find words and then I can easily release the situation. Sometimes it takes me 24 – 48 hours to find words. Anyone else relate?

I was reminded once again how differently different people process and think. My habits of thought are so old I don’t even see them for what they are as they feel so comfortable for me. I often forget others process and think differently than I do. Every time I go through another time of deep emotion I learn something new about myself. Maybe that is the light at the end of the tunnel.

The sun came out this afternoon and it has warmed to 12 degrees. That is a 29 degree increase from what it was this morning. It feels so good to see the sun shining this afternoon. It makes me feel warmer even though that is a relative term these days.

Looking forward to Friday and getting our second vaccine. Not looking forward to the 48 hours following the vaccine if we have a reaction to it. Sounds like most people have at least mild symptoms afterwards and I tend to have a hard time with things like that.

I have two huge welts on my legs for the two injections I gave myself with the cholesterol medication. My new insurance requires a different brand of injections. I got notified that my doctor approved the new type so I should be receiving the new injections next week from the pharmacy. I hope the change will help eliminate the welts at the injection site.

Grateful we haven’t lost our power – yet, grateful the temperature is starting to warm up a bit, and grateful I can see the light at the end of the tunnel I have been in.

I better get my blog written early today as the power company let us know that we will be experiencing some rolling black outs over the next 24 – 48 hours. The power companies cannot keep up with the demand. I got the propane fireplace pilot light lit and have it running so we will stay warm if the power goes out. Trusting the water pipes won’t freeze. At the request of the power company we turned the thermostat down to 67 today. I usually keep the house at 71. Doing our best to help out the power company.

I didn’t sleep much at all last night so took a nap early afternoon. I had something on my mind that I couldn’t let go of last night. It is still bothering me and I can’t seem to find a solution. Doing my best to move my body and get out of my own way today but so far no luck. It will work itself out sooner or later.

We are going to have left overs tonight – hopefully when it is time to eat dinner the power will be on and we can eat warm leftovers instead of cold. We will see what happens.

I gathered eggs this morning and gave the girls another pan of sprouted wheat berries. They jumped on the pan of greens this morning. I think they approve. I got 20 eggs when I gathered them and Jim brought 3 more up this afternoon. Three of the eggs were frozen and cracked. I am thawing them and will give them to the dogs later.

The pharmacy I get my cholesterol injections from called me today. The new prescription insurance covers a different brand so the pharmacy is requesting a script from my doctor. I am to call them back if I don’t have the new injections within three weeks. I trust the new brand will not cause the welts I get at the injection site. I can still tell where I have given myself the first two and now the third one is a welt bigger than a quarter in size. They itch badly at times.

I delivered eggs in Cottonwood this morning. There was a snow drift at the head of my driveway that was over knee high. My Forester went right through it – no problem. I am grateful I have a different car as my Prius would not have made it through. The highway was clear although the north south highway between Strong City and Cottonwood Falls was snow packed. The side roads were slick but I managed not to slide off the road. It was good to get back home safely. There was little traffic on the highway or in town today. Smart people stayed home today.

The owner of the house I am buying let me know the water is frozen at that property. He said he would do repairs if needed once this cold snap lets up. I take ownership February 26 so hoping he will get water running by then. We shall see.

I am cranky today. I don’t like when I can’t figure something out. I know what the problem is but I can’t seem to come up with a solution that feels right. Lack of sleep last night isn’t helping. Pushing through won’t work for me. I have to sit it down, walk away and come back clear headed. Sometimes that is easier said than done though.

Grateful for a warm house today, grateful for a safe trip to town to deliver eggs, and grateful for my Forester and how it drives on snow packed roads.

Another scary cold day on the prairie. Temperatures hovering at 0 or below with a wind chill of -10 – -15. It is to get colder tonight and tomorrow night. My furnace runs most of the time trying to keep us warm.

The girls gave us 23 eggs on this cold day. There coop is staying warm enough for them. I have had chickens get frost bite before but so far these girls seem to be staying warm enough to avoid that. They will be very happy to get to go back outside though later this week when the temperatures warm up a bit.

I made snickerdoodle cookies today as well as a lemon cake. I still need to make the frosting for the cake. Not fixing a fancy dinner so decided to fix Jim a dessert instead. I have some hamburger thawing but not sure what I am going to make with it. I may make a Shepherd’s Pie.

I didn’t sleep very well last night. I got up in the middle of the night and got on the hot line for an hour or so. Handled four calls. They were routine stuff and no likely suicidal texters.

I haven’t stuck my head outside for two days now. Jim has taken care of chores for me. I really do not like getting cold as it takes me a long time to get warm again. Thinking I will delay delivery of eggs scheduled for tomorrow for a day or two as it is too cold to get out when it isn’t absolutely necessary.

I have welts on both legs where I gave myself my shots Friday night. The welts itch and are raised a bit. I can still see where the welts were from the last two shots too. My legs are going to look like a battleground if this keeps up. My body does not like drugs put into it.

Found out a friend’s mother is in the hospital and tested positive for COVID. Damn! She is in her 90’s and at high risk for not doing well. Sending lots of light and love her way.

Feeling a bit restless today. Funny that I wouldn’t go out even if I could but when this weather is like this and I can’t go out I want to. Not sure where I want to go but I want to run away today. I will sit with this uncomfortable feeling and see what it is trying to teach me.

Grateful for a warm house today, grateful for the cinnamon smell of Snickerdoodle cookies, and grateful for my chickens and the eggs they continue to provide me.

I have had a Benadryl hangover all day. I only took one tablet 30 minutes before I did my shots last night. Had trouble sleeping last night. I felt like I wanted to crawl out of my skin. Finally took another hot bath around 5:00 this morning and was able to sleep for two hours after that. It was a long night.

I took a nap this afternoon. I got a phone call which woke me up. I’m feeling a bit nauseated now which I have done the other two times I took the shots. It will pass by tomorrow and I will be fine then. The injection sites are a bit raised and itchy today but not too bad yet.

I was on the hot line for a bit last night. Had a fun call for a change with a mature woman who was trying to decide what to do with a on-again off-again lover. I really enjoyed our convo. It was a nice change from the teen age cutters and all the suicidal people I have been handling lately. I was interrupted towards the end of the call by the supervisor reminding me to risk access the caller. Only problem is I had done that at the very beginning of the call. When I told her that she said “Oh, I must have missed that”. She never did apologize. Needless to say, she isn’t my favorite supervisor to work with.

I have ham and corn chowder cooking in the crock pot for dinner tonight. It sure smells good. I hope I am feeling better later and can eat some. Right now I don’t think I can. I may be back to chicken noodle soup for dinner. I haven’t had any lunch yet but not feeling like eating anything right now.

I haven’t managed to get much done again today. Jim did the chicken chores for me this morning. Wind chill was -11 when he walked down there to gather eggs. They gave us 20 eggs today. Jim hasn’t gone down yet to give them water and fill the feed and check for more eggs. I had one frozen, cracked egg this morning. I have it sitting on the counter thawing so I can feed it to the dogs.

Jim found another bag of Snickerdoodles in the freezer so I didn’t need to bake cookies today. Hopefully tomorrow I will be feeling better tomorrow and will bake some them.

The forecast is now calling for -13 Tuesday night. Dang that is cold! The good news it is too warm up Thursday and get above freezing temperatures and keeps going higher from there. I so look forward to the higher temperatures and spring coming. We are almost halfway through February and Spring will be here soon.

The new surge protecter did not fix our printer issue. We still have to manually reconnect it often as well as reconnect our computers. It is so frustrating. Not sure what to do to fix it. The internet company says it is a power issue in the house. They didn’t come check the router which is what I think the problem is. I will call them again next week and see if they will consider loaning me a new router to see if that fixes the problem.

I have ten repeats done on the blanket I am making and it isn’t long enough yet so will add probably two more. Getting close to the end though. I have a recipient in mind and will need to have it finished by March. I should make that date with no problems. This time I have plenty of yarn.

Monday I need to call and order the next round of shots. I changed insurance companies so hoping the new insurance will continue to cover them.

No plans for Valentine’s Day tomorrow. We haven’t started eating out yet so I will cook something for dinner. I may bake Jim a lemon cake as that is one of his favorites. Not sure what I will fix for dinner.

Monday I deliver eggs unless the roads are not safe. Tuesday is trash day and Friday we get our second vaccines. It will be a normal week of staying home and not doing much around here.

Grateful Jim did the chicken chores this morning, grateful for a fun texter on the hot line, and grateful for another quiet week ahead.

Not sure where the day went to today. Haven’t done much but make a batch of cookies and take a nap. It has been so cold I didn’t even do chores – Jim took care of them today. We got 25 eggs today which is amazing as cold as it is.

I worked on the hot line for a bit last night. Took two calls early to help reduce their queue and then, as they were caught up, got off and signed back on later for my shift. Only handled two callers when I signed on the second time. We had to do a rescue for one of them. The supervisor didn’t share much with me so not sure what happened. I signed off after the call as I was drained.

This morning when I signed on so I could review the convo I noticed that after I had closed it the person had texted in they were OK. We hadn’t heard anything from them for 15 minutes when the super told me to close it out. It was a relief to know the texter was OK. Their text must have come in at the same time I hit the close button. Once I hit close convo I can’t reopen it to text. Trust the person is alive and well today.

The super must have seen the comment come in as the rescue was not completed. I wish she had shared that with me last night. I might have slept better.

The hardest part of doing this volunteer job is the never knowing the “rest of the story”. You never know if what they are telling you is true, you never know the other side of the story and you never know what happens to them once you disconnect. Trust becomes a big part of this job – trust that their best and higher interest is what happens. Somedays it is easier to let go of them than others.

I made butter cookies last night using my new cookie press. Jim said they are good. I struggled getting the lid off the thing a couple times. Good thing Jim was around as he had to help me open it up twice. They are fun to make and other than getting the lid off the press worked well.

It never got out of the single digits today and most of the day felt like it was below zero with the wind chill . Snow is to start falling in the morning and snow most of the day tomorrow. The temperatures are going to continue to drop through Tuesday next week and then we will finally start warming back up a bit. It is dangerously cold out there.

Jim put some plastic up over the door to the garage that the dogs use to try to keep some of the cold out. The cats have been coming in at night but the dogs run around like nothing is different. The dogs have been napping under the heat lamps in the garage occasionally. They love cold weather.

The blanket I am knitting on is coming along. I am on the 9th repeat at this point. I will finish it and do one more and then decide if it is long enough. I have enough yarn to do more and I prefer the blanket be too long than too short. I have been watching Home Fires, a PBS series on Amazon Prime while I knit. It makes the knitting go by quickly as I get absorbed in the story line of the series.

I stopped writing for a bit and we delivered the cookies to the grandkids. The forecast for tomorrow is calling for snow and I wanted to get the cookies to them before the roads got bad. The traffic was heavy tonight (at least by Chase County standards) on the highway. Thinking lots of people were trying to get home or errands run before the really bad winter weather arrives tomorrow. I took each of my kids some eggs too. Not sure if they needed them but I needed to get some eggs out of the refrigerator.

No plans for the weekend. I need to bake Jim a batch of Snickerdoodles tomorrow but other than that the only thing I have to do is stay warm and dry. The high tomorrow is going to be 9 and the low is 0. Sunday the high will be 1 with a low of -4. Yuck! February has been a moth of winter weather so far. By next weekend we should finally get above zero again. Bring on Spring.

I’ll probably get on the hot line tonight since I took a nap today. I need to find something to do today so I feel a bit productive. I keep managing to not get much done these days.

Fixed brats for dinner tonight. I picked some up when I got groceries earlier this week and needed to use them up. They fix up quick and easy in the George Forman grill. May make soup of some kind tomorrow since it is to be so cold. Soup will taste good on a cold day like tomorrow is to be.

Just made myself a note to remind myself to give myself my cholesterol shots before I go to bed tonight. I usually do them during the day but since I need to take Benadryl with them decided to do them at bed time as Benadryl can knock me out.

Looking forward to getting our second vaccines next Friday. Not looking forward to the reaction for the first two or three days afterwards but it will be worth it to be protected. By the time our wedding anniversary rolls around March 19 we should be good to go.

Grateful to find out the texter was OK, grateful the cookies got delivered today, and grateful we will be able to stay home where it is nice and warm for the next couple of days.

Another quiet, very cold day on the prairie. The temperatures have barely been above the single digits again today with a brisk wind that has made it feel even colder. The walk down to the chickens and back up this morning was brutal. I’m grateful that it isn’t any longer than it is. I had tears in my eyes from the cold on the walk back up to the house.

I took the first pan of wheat sprouts to the girls this morning. They didn’t know what it was and seemed afraid of a pile of greens. Jim said it was gone this afternoon when he went down so they must have gotten brave and tried them and liked them. I started another pan of them. I keep two pans going and am able to give them a green treat every three to four days. I brought up 19 eggs this morning and Jim brought one more up this afternoon.

I had trouble finding sleep last night so took long nap this afternoon. I have a hot line shift this afternoon and needed more sleep. I took seven calls last night. I had a few weird ones that were not into problem solving. I have to trust venting does some good for them. We will see what happens tonight.

Today is the third anniversary of my Bright Lines Eating journey. Except for eating chicken noodle soup, crackers, Manuka honey and toast when I had C-Diff this summer I have gone three years now without eating foods that include flour of any sort or sugar of any sort, including artificial sweeteners. I have gotten to the point where desserts and foods that contain flour or sugar do not even look good to me. I try to eat one ingredient foods as much as possible. I avoid processed foods most of the time. Bacon is the one exception I make – gotta have bacon! Since I have had C-Diff I have also learned I need to avoid grains and dairy. White potatoes I eat only very occasionally as they bother my gut too. I still am not back to eating raw vegetables or high fiber veggies. I can eat beans again although for a bit I couldn’t.

This journey has gotten easier as I have progressed down the road on it. Eating out used to be a challenge but I have learned safe things to order. I am no longer weighing my food as I did when I first started. I have pretty much learned what a protein size should be for me and eat accordingly. At this point I am maintaining my weight, and not trying to reduce it dramatically. I still avoid snacking most days. I allow myself a snack on my hungry days occasionally but it is rare that I eat one.

It has taken me a long time to accept this version of myself in the mirror. I didn’t see the weight loss for a long time. I still felt overweight. I felt like a fraud of sorts when I would shop and buy small sized clothes. That has gotten better but am still not sure I see myself as others see me. I am down 60 pounds from my heaviest weight. It is funny how an image of oneself can get stuck in your head and it can take a long time for that to change. I went from a size 18 pants to a size 2. I wore XL tops and now wear Small or even XS sometimes.

I had gained almost 30 pounds back last year but have managed to take over 20 of it off again. I think I had gotten too thin at one point so am happy with where I am now. I realize I will always have to watch what I eat as I have a tendency to gain weight quickly if I take my eye off of it. I am grateful I found this way of eating as it works for me.

The four lines one is not to cross of Bright Line Eating is to weigh and measure your food, eat no flour or sugar, eat only three times a day, and plan your food for each day. I still follow the no flour and no sugar and eat only three times a day. I never did write out what I was going to eat each day and no longer weigh and measure my food. It works for me so I guess that is what is important. Everyone has to find what they can live with and how to make it work for them.

No plans for the weekend except to stay inside and stay warm. We have a wind advisory for tomorrow which is going to make this brutal cold feel even colder. I trust my chickens will stay warm enough. I may need to put a heater in their coop if not.

I finally remember to call the internet company. We keep having to reset out computers connection to the internet and to reconnect the printer every time we want to print something. The guy I spoke with suggested I try a different surge protector. So far – so good. I hope the fix was as simple as that. It was getting very frustrating. We have limited options for internet service out here in the country. There is a new company working their way towards us but not here yet. I will switch to a faster speed internet when available.

Jason texted me this morning to ask me to babysit their four year old today. I didn’t see the text until late this morning and by then they had figured out a plan. I was sorry I didn’t get the chance to have him come out to play. Maybe next time I can help out.

A week from tomorrow we will get our second vaccine. I am so ready for that to happen and then to count down the four weeks afterwards when we will be reasonably protected and a bit freer. It has been a long year since we were able to move around freely.

We are having leftovers again tonight so dinner will be easy. I’ll have to think of something fresh to fix tomorrow night as this has been the second night of leftovers this week. Good to get the refrigerator cleaned out though. I hate to waste food.

Grateful to have discovered the Bright Line way of eating, grateful we may have fixed our internet problem, and grateful we are able to stay home and not have to get out in this bitter cold.

The closing on the new investment property was quick and easy. They didn’t receive my wired funds until late last night but were able to turn things around and proceed with the closing. The seller will remain on the property for another two weeks so we won’t get started with the remodel until he leaves. Too cold to work right now anyways.

I stopped at the water department in Cottonwood Falls to get the water changed over to my name on the 26th. I had to go to the office to fill out an application. The copy machine blew a fuse or something and was dead so I need to mail a copy of my driver’s license to them tomorrow. I had to pay a $50 deposit to start services. Neither the gas nor electric company requires a deposit.

I still need to call to arrange for the furnace and electrical system to be checked out and then I think I have all the immediate needs taken care of. I’m sure my list will grow once we get inside and really check things out. Hopefully the weather will warm up a bit and it will get nice to be outside again.

We went into Emporia after the closing and dropped our tax package off at the accountant’s office. That felt good to have that handed off. My accountant won’t get started on it until after March 1 but at least it is in his hands and off my desk.

We stopped at Walgreen’s to pick up a prescription for Jim and then went to Walmart for groceries. Got what we needed and then some and then headed home. It was good to get back home.

I took a nap after we got home. Going to town wears me out quickly these days. I had finally gotten some good sleep last night but I have a Crisis Hot Line Shift tonight and need to stay up late.

I fixed Jim scalloped potatoes with ham for dinner before I laid down for my nap. He put them in the oven at 4:30 and when I got up at 6:00 dinner was all but ready. That was easy.

The pan of sprouted wheat berries is ready to be fed to the girls. It looks so pretty and green sitting on my kitchen counter. I started another pan two days ago. It will be turning green in two more days. I’ll keep starting a pan every four days and the girls will get a pan full of freshly sprouted wheat berries to eat every four days. They gave me 25 eggs today. They don’t seem to mind having to stay inside and stay warm and dry. I now have nine dozen eggs in my refrigerator. Anyone need eggs?

Nothing on the calendar for tomorrow. Friday I have to give myself the two cholesterol shots. This time I am going to do them at bedtime since I have to take Benadryl with them and the Benadryl makes me feel drugged and sleepy. Next week I need to call and order another set of shots. Trusting there will be no issues since I switched insurance companies. It took a month last time to get the insurance approved to get the shots. The retail cost for the is over $1,500 a shot.

We don’t have anything going on this weekend or next week until we have to go to town on the 19th to get our second vaccine injection. We will hopefully be able to wait for our next grocery trip until the 19th so we only have to go to town once next week. We will see if it works that way.

Got a bit of cleaning done yesterday and did some more this morning. The house is feeling a bit better to me. I still need to do some more cleaning but it is good to have some of the house clean. Not sure what I do with my days but I seem to forget that I need to clean a room or two a day. If I can remember to clean a room a day the house stays clean and it isn’t such a big deal. When I get behind this house feels overwhelmingly big to clean.

We only have two weeks to decide what we are going to do about going to CO this summer. Still so many unknowns and not sure when to go and for how long. I’m just not feeling like going anywhere yet. CO was safe last year and I’m sure it will be this year. We don’t know how many of the kids will want to come out and stay with us. I do not want to rent a big house again and not have it used. Wish we didn’t have to decide this far in advance but that is how their rental system works. If we wait until later the chances of getting what we want is slim.

I’m still struggling with getting out. I told Jim on the way to town today that I have forgotten how to be around people and find it draining and exhausting. I was impatient in the store today with the customers that were brain dead and not aware of others around them. My travel lust seems to have gone away. It may return at some point but the very thought of traveling right now turns me off. I would much rather stay home on the prairie. I do look forward to being able to have the kids over for dinner or for the weekend and to have the grandkids come out for the day. It will be fun to have friends over for dinner too but beyond that I am not ready to rejoin the “normal” world. Wonder when I will be?

Grateful for an easy closing today, grateful the trip to town is done and errands taken care of, and grateful for a long nap today.

Not a good night to find sleep. I got a couple hours here and there and finally gave up. I had something on my mind I needed to get taken care of. Once I did that I was able to get another hour of sleep. I took a short nap this afternoon. I was sleeping good until a phone call came in. Maybe tonight will be the night that I can sleep again.

Yesterday I had called my on-line bank to break a CD to pay for the new investment property. The lady had told me the funds would be in my account within 15 minutes. They never showed up. I got a confirmation from the bank informing me they had received the instructions for the account upon maturity of the CD which is in May.

I called the bank early this morning and found out somewhere along the line the lady had hit the wrong button and the promised transaction had not happened. The second lady I spoke with took care of it and stayed on the line until the funds were in my account. I was then able to order the wire transfer that should happen yet today and open a new CD minus the funds for the investment property. Good to have that all taken care of.

I arranged for house insurance for the property effective tomorrow. The rate is a bit higher than I expected but I accepted her quote. I will take some time later and shop for something cheaper. I only need it insured for the value I have invested plus enough to clean the lot up if something were to happen.

I need to call to get an inspection of the furnace and electrical system for the new property. Chase County doesn’t have any building codes so no inspections are ever done when properties are modeled. I want to make sure we don’t have any issues with electricity or the furnace.

I also need to call two more utility companies and get service established. I hate talking on the phone but it needs to get done. Hopefully that process will go smoothly. I went on-line to do the electricity and can’t get into my account. I will need to meet the password. I hate passwords and that whole process. Not sure what went wrong as I wrote down what I had entered.

We will have to go into Cottonwood Falls tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 for the closing. I think I have all the paperwork ready and the money to pay for it should have arrived by then. I am used to having my business partner handle these things for me. This one has felt a bit more complicated since we aren’t using a real estate agent to handle the details. It seems to have gotten all sorted out though.

I got a phone call this morning to schedule my second vaccine. Jim had gotten an email yesterday for his. They were able to get me an appointment at the same time as his – 5:05 PM on Friday, February 19. It will be good to get that second shot over with. Michelle had her second shot yesterday and is feeling really crappy today with a very sore arm, fever and severe headache. Trust both Jim and I can skate through our second shot without too many side effects.

The girls gave me 19 eggs this morning. There were two broken eggs in the nesting boxes. Not sure if the eggs froze and broke open or if the girls broke them open. I have been giving the dogs a couple eggs a day as I keep finding eggs with cracks in them from freezing a bit in the coop. The dogs enjoy the raw eggs and they are good for them. I have plenty of eggs that I can spare a couple eggs a day right now. I think I have 7 dozen in the refrigerator right now and another dozen in the basket on the counter.

We are having leftovers for dinner tonight so dinner will be easy. We have an assortment of food in the refrigerator that needs eaten up so it will be a bit of this and a bit of that. I need to make more room in the refrigerator for eggs.

This cold weather is crazy cold. We haven’t had a cold snap that lasted this long for many years. No relief in site for at least the next ten days. Spring will feel so good when it finally comes this year. We probably have four inches of snow on the ground. Things are frozen pretty solid now. I had a bit of trouble getting the door to the chicken coop open this morning as there was ice on the handle. The new water heater pan is helping keep the coop warmer than the other heated watering container. The chickens look like they are surviving OK in the cold. They are a bit crowded but that helps keep them warmer.

I have some house cleaning I need to do this afternoon. It has been a bit since I cleaned some of the rooms. I need to take advantage of the fact that there is no dust blowing in right now. Maybe things will stay clean for a bit longer.

Grateful for a warm house today, grateful I got the bank problem sorted out, and grateful for leftovers that will make for an easy dinner.

Damn it is cold outside. I was surprised the girls gave me 24 eggs this morning and Jim brought one more up when he fed them this afternoon. Not bad for a very cold day. It isn’t going to warm up for the next ten days or so. This will be our longest stretch of cold weather all winter. At least it is February and somewhere in my brain remembers it won’t last long. We got about another inch of snow today and the temperature may have gotten up to 10 but not much above that. We are to go down to 11 below zero next Sunday. The forecast is showing snow possible for the next ten days. I am ready for Spring already.

I went to Cottonwood Falls at noon to deliver eggs and to drop off the title paperwork to the seller of the house I am buying. The roads were better than I expected. My Forester handled like a champ on the snow. It is nice to have a car I trust that I can drive on snowy roads. The Prius didn’t do so well on snow.

I called the title company today to find out what our next steps are in closing. The lady I needed to talk to was on the phone and I chatted with the dingy secretary. She talked in circles and really didn’t know what she was talking about. I was trying to tell her that both the seller and buyer were ignorant and didn’t know how the process worked and needed to know what we needed to do next. I think she was just as ignorant. I didn’t get very far with her.

Anyways the seller called and got to talk to the person in charge and we are closing this Wednesday. Wow! Things happen fast sometimes. I quickly called my bank and arranged for the funds to be transferred so I could have the money on hand to close with. They told me to wait 30 minutes and then I was to call back to give them wiring information. Their phone system got overloaded and I haven’t been able to get back through. I will call either later tonight or first thing tomorrow morning. They told me it only takes an hour to transfer money so I have enough time to get that done before closing.

The seller will continue to stay on the property for 10 days after we close. Trust that isn’t an error in judgement on my part.

I called my insurance agent and got the ball rolling on getting the house insured. I only have two questions I need to ask the seller and the insurance agent was going to take care of the rest. I never know how to answer some of the questions. Those type of details don’t matter to me.

We are transferring utilities after the seller vacates so will wait another week or so to arrange all of that. I’ll make some calls tomorrow to find out if I need to do deposits, etc. and if so will get that taken care of. No big deal if the utilities get shut off for a day or two since we won’t be living in the house.

I picked up the bid from the roofing company. It was three times higher than I expected it to be but we found out the house has three layers of roofing, including a layer of wood shingles. Evidently someone put a layer of asphalt shingles on top of wood shingles. Jim says that is a no no for roofs. They will rip it all off and put up a new base coat, whatever that means. Jim seemed to think it was a reasonable bid given what they are going to have to do. This stuff is like a foreign language to me. The same guys did two of my other investment properties roofs two years ago and did a good job so I trust them. I signed the contract and put it in the mail today. They will add me to their list of jobs to do whenever they can get to it.

Once the seller moves out we will start cleaning, painting and figuring out what repairs will need to be made. Jim and I will do some of the work and we will have to find contractors to do other parts of it. I would like to have it ready to rent by April 1 but not sure we can move that fast. We will see what happens.

The seller is hoping to have both the inside and outside of the property cleared out of the stuff that is on the property within 10 days. With this icky weather I’m not sure how successful he will be able to be. We may be making lots of trips to the dump and needing to borrow or rent a truck for a long weeks worth of hauling work. May need to hire some extra strong people to help us out.

I have green chicken in the crock pot cooking for dinner tonight. It smells like it is done. I’ll fix some veggies for me, potatoes and a salad for Jim and dinner will be ready. Nice and easy dinner.

I had been looking for a project and guess I just picked one up. It will be fun to paint and clean and get the house ready to be lived in. I sure trust it will turn into a good investment. One never knows when you buy a property what problems you may also be buying. Some are obvious, like the roof needing replaced, but some are hidden and are surprises.

Grateful for the eggs the girls gave me on this cold day, grateful for a project that will keep me busy for the next month or two, and grateful for Jim expertise on remodeling.

I hear there is a football game today. Wonder who is playing? Can you tell we are not sports fans in this house?

We got about two inches of snow today. It is foggy and lightly snowing now. Bitterly cold and is not going to get above freezing for the next ten days. We are finally getting a blast of winter. Not a fan! It will help me appreciate spring even more when it moves out of here.

The girls gave me 21 eggs on this cold, wintery day. When I opened the door to gather eggs none of them jumped outside. I gave them some sunflower seeds inside this morning and they were quite content to stay inside and eat them. Sometimes chickens are smarter than I give them credit for.

We got the Newsletters last night around 8:30 and had them done this morning by 10:00. She came to pick them up and brought me another two bunches to do. We got those done and she came back and picked them up. That project is done. It did feel good to have something productive to do.

I’m fixing fish sticks for Jim and a pice of grilled salmon for me for dinner. Part of it is in the oven and I’ll throw my salmon in a pan when Jim’s fish sticks are almost done. Dinner will be easy to fix tonight.

I didn’t make it into Cottonwood Falls to deliver the paper work to the seller of the investment property I am buying. He didn’t make it out here either. I have to go to town tomorrow to deliver eggs so will drop it by then. The roofing bid is at the new house and I am anxious to see what the bid is.

Other than delivering eggs tomorrow I have nothing else on the calendar. It has been so nice to stay home for the last three days and not leave the house. I don’t think we have much of anything on the calendar all week. It is too cold to get out much so glad our schedule is clear.

When I went out to the garage a bit ago to get something out of the freezer both dogs and cats were laying under the heat lamps. Earlier the dogs were out playing in the snow. They like cold weather. I’m glad they come in to warm up occasionally. May need to close the garage door tonight so they stay a bit warmer, although with their thick coats they will be OK with just the heat lamps. Tony, Jim’s big orange indoor/outdoor cat has chosen not to venture outside at all today.

My furnace has had a bit of trouble keeping the house warm today. I hope it isn’t a sign that it has a problem and is going to complete quit working. Not a good time for that to happen. I’ll keep an eye on it and call them tomorrow if it is still having trouble. Ice is covering the vent on the fireplace and it keeps blowing out so we don’t have that as a backup option.

I may bake some cookies after dinner. I’m in the mood to bake something. I took sugar cookies to the grandkids earlier this week so they probably don’t need any yet. I’ll throw them in the freezer if I bake and then I will be ahead for a batch or two.

Grateful for three quiet days at home, grateful for the beauty of the snow since I don’t have to get out and go somewhere, and grateful for a warm house.

The Newsletter project is complete. She brought it to us last night around 8:00. I stuffed the envelopes inside and Jim started putting the three stickers on each newsletter. I finished them up this afternoon. She only brought 1,800 of them – I was expecting 5,000 so it was a small job.

I have a crock pot of chili cooking for dinner tonight. Sure wish I could invite some friends or family over to share it with us. It is hard to make a small batch of chili.

I got on the hot line for about an hour last night. Only took four calls. It was a weird night and after a few calls I logged off. Just wasn’t feeling it last night.

I may go take a nap when I get done writing. I am tired and won’t make it very long tonight unless I take a nap. I slept fairly well last night so not sure why I feel tired now except I have a bad napping habit.

The chickens gave us 26 eggs yesterday. We have gotten 21 so far today. When I went down this morning to let them out it was just starting to snow. We got some beautiful, big flake snow for about 20 minutes. Got enough to barely cover the ground and then it stopped. It is to get below zero during the night later next week. Not my favorite type of weather.

This is another stay tucked in at home type of day. Neither one of us have much that needs to be done so we are relaxing and not getting much done. It is my favorite type of day. Tomorrow will be more of the same. I’ll have to get out Monday to deliver eggs. I don’t think we have anything on our calendar next week. Jim needs to take the Honda in to get it inspected so he can title it in KS. We’ll see if he gets it done.

I need to spend some time checking the tax package. I think most of the forms have come in but am not sure. It will be good to get that package in the hands of the accountant and off my desk. My goal is to have it at the accountants by the end of next week but I need to make sure I have all the tax forms in.

Grateful for the beautiful snow that fell today, grateful the snow stopped before it piled up much, and grateful for naps that restore my energy.

A quiet day at home – just the two of us at last. We have both enjoyed the day very much. Jim took a long hike this afternoon and cleaned out the garage and I took a long nap. Perfect way to spend a beautiful day.

I didn’t sleep well last night. I kept waking up and then having trouble going back to sleep. Wish I could sleep as well at night as I do during nap time.

The girls gave me 24 eggs today – a new record for them. Back to having four dozen in the refrigerator and almost another dozen in the egg basket on the counter. I think they like these bit warmer days. They might slow down next week as it is to get very cold again and hang around for a week or so. Hopefully this will be our last blast from Mr. Winter this year..

The title company got the paperwork to me this afternoon. I will have to call them Monday and make sure they are going to handle the closing of the property too. Everything looks good to go so far. We may be able to close the end of next week if the seller can be ready by then.

The Newsletter that I am going to work on will be delivered later this evening. The lady finally got hold of me today to let me know she had just gotten it back from the printer. That will give me a project for a day or two. I’m not sure what her deadline is and how many I will get to complete. I like doing that kind of thing and am pretty fast at it. Trust my sore shoulder will hold out and let me get my part done. Maybe it will be good for the shoulder to put it to work and not baby it like I have been.

I worked on the hot line last night and handled 8 calls in two hours. Had to get the supervisor involved in one suicide and one prank call. Was able to talk the suicide down and they were in a much better place at the end of the call. Had a few cutters, relationship breakups, suicidal thoughts and teen body issue calls. Regular type of night on the hot line. The two hours always goes by quickly though, especially when I handle two calls at once.

Since I took a long nap tonight I may get back on the hot line unless I work on the newsletter. We will see what my mood is and how things go.

We are having leftover beef soup tonight for dinner so that will be easy. Jim is so good about eating leftovers.

I ordered 25 pounds of hard white wheat berries and have a pan of them sprouting to feed to the chickens. If they grow as I want them to, I will start a new pan each day and be able to give the girls some fresh greens daily. It should take about a week to get them to be three or four inches high. I used to buy a head of lettuce to give them everyday but when lettuce prices went to over $1 a head I gave up that treat for them. Hopefully this will work and they can have a fresh greens treat daily and it won’t cost too much.

I got my Crisis Text Line hoodie today. They send everyone that volunteers for 200 hours one. It fits nicely and is warm. I will enjoy wearing it. When I handle 90 more calls I will get a backpack as my next reward. They set goals for us to level up and it is based on how many callers we handle. I am a level 6 and after 250 callers I move to a level 7 and get the back pack. 90 to go to meet that goal. My goal is to get to level 9 and receive a $500 gift card from Best Buy. That would be a sweet reward. I haven’t looked to see how many calls that will take though. They increase the number of calls each time you level up.

It is amazing how much we have both appreciated staying home today. We had a busy week for us with lots of trips to town and it was so nice to stay home all day. Neither one of us plan to leave the place all weekend. We will recharge and refill.

Grateful for a new egg record today, grateful the paperwork is proceeding quickly towards closing on a new property, and grateful for my new hoodie.

A full day at home at last. It has been a very windy day on the prairie today. The wind woke me up last night several times. We have had gusts of over 40 MPH today. Hang on to your hats folks.

Tony, Jim’s other cat has lead me to where Katy’s crate used to be today. How do you explain to another cat that Katy is gone and won’t be back? We have tried to give Tony some extra scratches and attention today. He is mourning too.

Jim went to town this afternoon for his physical. He liked the doctor and felt he did a good job with his physical. No changes to his medications so that is good.

A friend stopped by and picked up four dozen eggs. I am down to two dozen in the refrigerator this afternoon. Yay! I like to get them cleaned out at least once a week so they stay fresh. I sent two fairy eggs home with my friend to show her girls. They are fun to look at and open. Rarely do they have a yolk in them and if they do it is very tiny.

I cleaned the office today – kinda. Jim brought a bunch of stuff back from Stillwater Tuesday and hasn’t gotten it put away yet. It was hard to find the floor to clean but I got under our desks cleaned and what I could find of the bookcases dusted. Found lots of dust, cat hair and dirt. Tony, Jim’s big orange cat, sheds badly and I keep forgetting I need to clean more often as a result.

Thanks for all the messages and heart felt responses sent to us yesterday and today. Losing a pet is never easy and it seems most can relate. They do wind their way into our hearts and leave a hole when they leave us.

I have one of the newly butchered chickens in the crock pot cooking for dinner tonight. It was a small chicken and didn’t take long to cook. We taste tested it early and it is yummy. I turned the crock pot down to low so the rest of it will stay warm until dinner time. What a difference in taste from the store bought chickens. I am a believer in farm raised local meat! I purchased 10 chickens and am wishing I had ordered 20. I’ll watch their website and get more next time they have some. They are a lot more expensive than grocery store chicken but so worth it.

Nothing on either of our calendar’s for the next three days. Three blissful, quiet days ahead of us on the prairie. We are both emotionally exhausted from this busy week we have had and will use the next three days to recharge and rest. It is to be cold and possibly snow so it will be a good weekend to stay tucked inside and not do much.

I took a nap while Jim went to town for his physical. I have a shift on the hot line tonight and needed to be ready for it. I worked two hours on the hot line last night and took 8 calls. One of them was frustrating as they were not wanting to problem solve and I never did figure out what they had hoped to achieve by texting in. I even asked the supervisor to review the call to see if I missed something. I was tired last night and couldn’t stay on any longer even though they were busy. Maybe tonight I can stay on for more than two hours – we will see how hard the calls are.

In two weeks from tomorrow we go back and get our second vaccine. Four weeks after that we should be fully protected. I see the light at the end of the tunnel for us. I truly hope the availability of the vaccine continues to increase and more people can get their shots and get protected.

It is 5:00 and still very light outside. I appreciate the bit longer days each day. Spring is getting closer and closer. Last night the stars were incredible. I love a winter’s night sky. The sunset tonight will be a plain Jane one which is one of my favorites. There will be a soft pink rim around the entire horizon as there is not a cloud in sight. Sometimes I need to remember to just sit and take time to enjoy the beauty of Mother Nature.

Jim and I were talking yesterday at how simple our lifestyle has become. Most days we stay home and don’t go anywhere. That feels comfortable for us now and neither one of us are wanting to change it. It will be interesting to see how much travel we start to do again – if any. Travel has lost its appeal to me right now. We would like to go visit our kids but other than that I really don’t want to get out. I like the quiet routine we have now.

Grateful for a quiet day at home, grateful for the high quality chicken cooking in the crock pot, and grateful for the beautiful sunset tonight.