Starry night on the prairie

Another lazy day on the mountains. Haven’t done much today at all. Did get two dish rags knitted and have another one half way done.

We went grocery shopping this afternoon. Had to stand outside the grocery store to wait our time to go in. For some reason they are now limiting the number of people in the store. It was easier shopping today with less people in the store. Don’t know why they are enforcing limits now though and they weren’t earlier in the week.

We stopped and exchanged our bed and bath linens for fresh ones. Wish I had that service at home!

Yesterday evening we took a three mile walk around the grounds. We walked down to Tom and Sandy’s cabin and then walked home via the stables. It was a pretty night to be out walking. I had to walk fast when we started as I was cold but walking warmed me up. Saw a bunch of turkey’s down by the stables. They were eating their dinner along side the horses.

My allergies had gotten better yesterday but came back today with a double punch. Have had a bit of a sinus headache all day and have had to take allergy meds twice today. Sure wish they would go away and stay away.

Checked on the Crisis Text Hot Line last night and they were busy so I took four calls over the course of an hour and one half. All four were fairly easy and they were calmed down by the end of the call. I have a two hour shift tonight and then again tomorrow night. The later I sign on the busier they are. It is nice to get calls right away and not waste and hour waiting on a call. Last night I handled two calls at a time.

It has been cooler and a bit hazy most of the day here. Never did get any rain although once or twice we got a few sprinkles that didn’t last very long. I don’t think it reached 77 today. The fireplace will feel good again tonight. Jim went and got more wood so we can have a fire when we want.

We have 2:00 reservations tomorrow afternoon to get into RMNP. Jim has some place in the park he wants to take me to go hiking. We won’t be able to hike long as we are having dinner tomorrow night with his brothers at Joe’s cabin. That will be nice to eat “out” for a change.

I laid down this afternoon to take a nap after we got back from the grocery store but I wasn’t able to sleep. Hope I can stay awake long enough to do my hot line shift. The allergy drugs make me sleepy.

I actually fixed a meal tonight instead of eating left overs. It felt good to eat something fresh again. We went through most of our left overs so I get to cook again.

I am getting really good at doing nothing all day long. I don’t even feel guilty about it anymore. Sure hope I can break that habit when I get home though. Not sure I am cut out to do nothing all the time.

Grateful the grocery buying is done for several days, grateful for a cool day today, and grateful for fresh sheets on the bed for tonight.

Another lazy day in the mountains. It has rained off and on most of the day so we haven’t hiked yet today. Not sure we will get a very long one in this evening as it is to continue to rain for the next couple of hours.

I took another nap this afternoon and slept hard for about two hours. I slept some last night but not enough so it felt good to sleep on a rainy afternoon.

I did knit one dish rag this morning but I haven’t done anything else. I finished the book I was reading last night and haven’t started a new one today. I only have one book left to read. I have some on my iPad Kindle but I really don’t like reading on it. I still have yarn though so I won’t go crazy!

I have made 10 dish rags on this trip so far and have one more skein of dish rag yarn to go. I also brought two skeins that I can make into baby blankets. They take hours to make so that will keep me busy.

Still trying to find baby chickens. I talked to the guy that supplies Bluestem with baby chicks. Unfortunately he is coming July 25 and we won’t be back until July 29. I have one more source to try to see if they can get me some August 1. The guy I talked to today can ship them so I may go back to him however he won’t sex the Americanas and I want some of them but don’t want to end up with a bunch of roosters.

I am looking for a new upright freezer and am coming up empty on that too. Evidently when the Covid crisis hits a lot of people decided to get a freezer to stock up in case there was a meat shortage. My local guy said he won’t have any until at least October. I’ll try to make a few more inquiries and see if I can find one before my meat comes the middle of August. I may have enough room for it but wanted to get a new freezer as a precaution as my other freezer is getting rather old and I don’t want to lose a full freezer of meat.

My heart doctor’s nurse called today and said the heart monitor test was basically normal. It only caught my low rate at 46. The thing records only when I told it to and when I was sleeping and my heart rate dropped I didn’t push the button. When my Smart Watch would wake me up and I would push the button my heart rate had risen by then. Oh well, I’m glad I am staying in normal rhythm and not having AFib which is why I wore the monitor to rule that out.

Our first two weeks have gone by quickly. Only two more weeks to go! I’m so glad we decided to stay two weeks. We have been able to take quiet days and not feel so pressured to take advantage of every moment here.

We made five more park reservations for the next two weeks. If the weather is bad or we decide not to go we will only be out $2 each day. Got several at 3:00 and some for a noon entry time. I love Trail Ridge Road and look forward to getting back on it a couple more times before we go home.

Grateful for a rainy day and a long nap, grateful my heart monitor test came back normal, and grateful for knitting projects that keep my hands busy.

We went to the Rocky Mountain High Store in Boulder today. I learned something while there. When we gained entry to the storeroom the guy asked me what I needed. I told him gummies. He showed me the list of inventory and I immediately said darn, I should have asked them what kind they wanted. The clerk Immediately said I can’t sell you anything and you have to leave the store now. When I asked why he said he isn’t allowed to sell to someone that is buying things for someone else. Darn! Who knew?

I didn’t make that mistake at the second shop we stopped at. Got what “I” needed and left.

The drive to Boulder was beautiful. I especially like the scenery after Lyons as it opens up more. I was a bit claustrophobic on part of the drive today. I miss seeing the horizon.

Came home exhausted. I am learning that being around others drains me very quickly these days. I got so used to being just with Jim that when I spend time with others I get drained immediately.

After my nap we had leftovers for dinner and then walked up to Jim’s brothers cabin and visited with them for a bit and walked back. Saw a buck and a doe grazing in the grass just outside their cabin. It was a pleasant evening to be out walking. I could tell I haven’t walked for two days though as I was huffing by the time I made it up the hill and back to our cabin.

I did laundry this morning and got that out of the way. The laundry mat wasn’t busy and it was done quickly.

Not sure what our plan is for tomorrow. We will probably take a long hike in the afternoon. We have passes to go into RMNP for Thursday and Friday at noon on both days. Jim has some hikes in mind for those two days.

Traffic was heavy both going and coming back from Boulder. The road was not built for the amount of traffic that is on it these days. One slow camper can sure slow down a lot of traffic. Not many passing lanes and the campers don’t seem to realize they are slowing traffic and rarely pull over in the pull out lanes.

While in Boulder I called the Tractor Supply Store to ask about timing in ordering baby chickens. They had no idea of delivery lead times and didn’t seem to interested in finding out. I got on the suppliers website when I got home and found out they won’t have any before September 22. May check to see if Bluestem will have chicks before then and get them there.

Our first two weeks here is almost done. The time is going by very quickly. Before I know it our four weeks will be up and it will be time to go home. It was 96 in Boulder today. Sure feels better in Estes Park where the high was 77 today.

Grateful for a safe trip to Boulder and back today, grateful I got my shopping done, and grateful for our walk this evening.

A recovery and rest day for me. I fell asleep hard last night early but only slept for an hour and had trouble going back to sleep. Around 4:00 I took one NyQuil tablet. I finally fell asleep around 6:00 and slept until 10:30. Went back to bed at 1:00 and slept until 4:00.

Wonder if I will sleep tonight? Oh well, at least I got some sleep today.

Jim walked down to his brother’s cabin and I stayed here. Jim’s other brother and wife walked up and visited with me for a bit. Not sure when Jim will be back. We are having left over soup for dinner so I can heat it up when he returns.

I still feel a bit hung over from the NyQuil. They do knock me out but I feel drugged the next day. Good thing I only took one.

It has been cloudy and windy today. The clouds disappeared for a bit this afternoon but they are coming back. It is to rain tomorrow but we shall see. My weather app tells me it is going to rain in 45 minutes and then they remove it. Weather must be very hard to predict in the mountains.

I have done a bit of knitting and reading today but mainly resting. I needed a do nothing day. They are good for my soul.

We may drive down to Boulder tomorrow or Tuesday. I have a few things I need to pick up and there is a camera store that Jim wants to visit. It might do me good to rejoin the real world for a day. It is so easy while here to block out what is going on in the world and pretend all is well everywhere.

I did get another guest bed made up. Wow! Write that down – I did something today. LOL! I really do need to get out and take a walk after dinner tonight but not sure I can make myself do it. Some days are meant to do absolutely nothing and this is one of those days.

Grateful for a rest and recovery day, grateful for NyQuil and the sleep it gives me, and grateful for the beauty and quiet of the mountains.

My entertainment duties are done! We have had a busy 24 hours around here but it has been fun. The guests last night were a delight. We got to bed late and were up early this morning to fix them breakfast before they left to go horse back riding. They came back to the cabin after their ride so they could change clothes and then they were off to go over Trail Ridge Road.

I fixed chili and cheddar Broccoli Soup for dinner tonight for Jim’s two brothers and families. We had enough left over that everyone got to take home a container of each soup. Grateful they took it home so we don’t have to eat it for the next week.

We all had a nice visit during and after dinner. It was good to see the three Showalter brothers together again. We missed Jim’s sister Jane and his other brother John.

I took two short naps today. I haven’t slept well the last two nights and was really tired today. I had no motivation at all to do anything. Maybe tonight will be the I will get to sleep longer than two hours in a row.

Jim went up to Housekeeping and returned the bed linens and towels and brought fresh ones back. I have only made up one bed so far but will get the others made up tomorrow. I was lucky to get the soup for dinner made today.

We haven’t gone for a walk the last two days. Will definitely put that on my very short to do list for tomorrow. I need to stretch my legs and get some exercise.

It will be good to have a quiet day tomorrow. I am finding that being around others is still a bit overwhelming to me. After spending several months alone and not around others it is taking me a bit to adjust to being around others. I enjoy others around at the moment but feel overwhelmed quickly.

Grateful Joe and Linda and Sarah had a safe trip here, grateful for family that gathered around our table tonight, and grateful for friends that came to visit.

Our big adventure of the day was going to the big grocery store to get ingredients for all the guests that are coming in tonight and tomorrow night. The store was busy as usual and it took a bit of time to get checked out. We had a lot of sacks to carry in when we got back to our cabin. Traffic was heavy going to the store and coming home. It took a while to get through town to get to the store and back to our cabin.

We cleaned today. We had to request a different vacuum as the one we had wasn’t sucking up much. The replacement one works much better. Jim hand scrubbed the kitchen floor and I cleaned the two bathrooms. We got the counters and table cleared off. The cabin feels more spacious to me now.

Last night I handled five calls on the Hot Line. None of them felt especially rewarding to me. Some nights it is more fun than others and last night was not one of the fun nights. They weren’t bad or hard calls. The texters just didn’t engage much and it was hard to know what they wanted. One gave me a STOP which means I can’t respond any more. I never know why that happens or if I said something wrong. I am learning to just let it go and know what ever happened was what was to be.

I got a bit more sleep last night than I did the night before. I laid down for a bit this afternoon and had just fallen asleep when I got a phone call. Someone was looking for a room for Saturday night at my Airbnb. They were coming to town for a wedding tomorrow night that is expecting 250 guests. No way would I have let them come stay with me even if I had been home.

I finished reading my fifth book on this trip. I haven’t started number six yet. I have some knitting I may do next instead of reading.

The electricity keeps blinking off today. It has done that about five times. We had to have them come reset the internet once today. Glad I am not taking calls on the Hotline as that throws the calls back into the queue. The person that gets them can throw it back to me but then I don’t get credit for handling the full call even when I end up doing so.

Our guests tonight won’t be here until around 8:00. I am fixing tacos for them so it will be an easy meal to fudge the time with if needed. I will get everything but the meat fixed ahead of time and when I know they are close I will start the meat. It will be an easy meal to fix and serve. We got some ice cream and chocolate sauce for dessert along with some cookies.

We stopped at Housekeeping on our way back from the grocery store and got a griddle so we can make pancakes for breakfast. I also got a crock pot that I need for tomorrow night’s dinner.

We may go on a walk this evening before our guests get here. We didn’t walk much yesterday. I am not very motivated to get out and walk as it is warm here today and my legs are still sore from climbing the mountain Wednesday. We will see what happens. It would probably do my legs good to get out and stretch them and walk a bit.

Time is already going by too quickly. Our four weeks here are flying by. Next week we are going to drive into Boulder. I have a couple of things I need from a store there. Jim wanted a couple things from a different store. A week from tomorrow some good friends are coming it to stay with us for a couple of days. After that we will only have one more week to go.

It is so nice to be able to relax and not feel like I should be doing something productive. I keep thinking of all the things we have to do at my house and at Jim’s house. It all seems to wait for us to get to it.

I haven’t heard from the Tractor Store about my inquiry into purchasing chickens. Next time I go to town and have dependable cell service I will have to call them. Sure would like to get a delivery of baby chickens around the first of August. Not sure what the lead time is so need to get things started before I get home.

It is another beautiful day in the mountains. It reached the mid 80’s today so it is a bit warmer than it has been. I’m sure by evening it will cool back down and I will be wishing it was a tad warmer. We have the fireplace cleaned out and a fire laid for lighting later tonight.

Grateful the grocery store trip is done and things are put away, grateful for guests that are coming in tonight and tomorrow night, and grateful for this quiet, relaxing time.

I ended up having a busy night on the Hot Line. I handled six calls. Luckily I only had to handle one at a time but as soon as I would finish one another one would come in. They kept me engaged last night.

I have signed on for my shift tonight but so far no calls have come through. We have way more counselors than texters right now. It will get busier later.

I had trouble sleeping last night. At some point I got up and took a second hot bath and even that didn’t help. I finally got a two hour nap this afternoon. Not sure why I couldn’t sleep last night. I had been sleeping fairly well for me.

This afternoon we drove into RMNP and drove up to Grand Lake. We got to Grand Lake a little before 5:00 and there was a long line of people waiting to get in so we turned around and headed back. We didn’t want to get caught in that traffic.

The park is very different this year. We did have to wait in line to get in for our 3:00 reservation but after that we didn’t run into many people or much traffic. It was nice. There were empty parking spaces in all of the pullouts and at the Visitor Center which is most unusual for this time of the year.

We saw a moose and two different elk herds. There were lots of cars pulled over to the side of the road. Everyone wanted to snap a picture of the elk and moose.

It was a beautiful drive to drive through the mountains. I love riding on Trail Ridge Road.

Grateful for a beautiful drive today, grateful for a busy night on the Hot Line, and grateful for the wild life we saw today.

Happy birthday to Jason, my oldest. He turned 45 today. Where does the time go? I trust he had a wonderful day celebrating and I look forward to celebrating with him when I get home.

We took a four hour hike this afternoon. Only walked a little over 4 miles but we climbed to the top of Eagle’s Cliff. It was rather steep and a hard climb for me. I would have never made it if Jim hadn’t been very patient and encouraging with me. I got nauseous and light headed at one point. Almost tossed my lunch. Coming down went much faster than going up. It was one of those hikes though where you have to concentrate with every step going up and down. I had to stop and rest many times going up but made it down with only one rest.

I thought I would have Jim go get the car when we got back on the road and still had a mile to go but I made it. Sometimes it helps to be stubborn.

It felt good to make it to the top of the mountain. I almost quit several times. I’m glad I didn’t as the view was incredible. It was worth the hard climb up.

Other than climb the mountain I haven’t done much today. Went to get fresh sheets for our bed and got extra towels for the guests we have coming in Friday night. A friend of Jim’s from church is bringing his young family out and Jim offered them to stay with us while they are in Estes. They will come in sometime late afternoon Friday and will probably leave Saturday morning. I’m glad we have the extra space and it will be put to good use.

I invited a friend and her husband to come out for a few days and they accepted my offer. It will be so good to have a woman to have a deep conversation with for several days. I think that is the thing I have missed the most during this shelter in place thing. They will be coming the 18th and will stay four or five nights.

Tomorrow we have a reservation at 3:00 to drive into RMNP. We like to park somewhere and walk out on the tundra. After the hike today I’m not sure how far I will be able to go. My legs are a bit rubbery tonight. Maybe they will recover in 24 hours and we can take a good long hike. I love Trail Ridge Road and would be content to just drive up to Grand Lake and back again.

Either tomorrow or Friday I need to do laundry and go to the grocery store. I will be cooking dinner for 6 Friday night, breakfast for 6 on Saturday and dinner for 7. At least I know what I am cooking which is the hardest part of the whole deal. I have a long list of things to get at the grocery store.

I’m working on the Hot Line tonight. Took one call and they disengaged quickly so am now waiting on my second call. We aren’t so busy tonight so am having to wait to get a texter.

Grateful for a long, hard hike today, grateful for Jim’s patience and encouragement during the hike, and grateful for rest time tonight.

Another lazy day in the mountains. I have only left the cabin for 10 minutes today and that was to drive down to the post office on Camp grounds to drop off the heart monitor so it can be returned. Otherwise we have hung around our cabin today.

Jim is waiting on a phone call from his son and once that is done we will take another long walk. Last night we walked over 3 1/2 miles. I did well – we live on top of a hill and that was a bit tough to end the walk having to walk uphill but I made it. Saw some beautiful countryside. We walked over the bridge that crosses Glacier Creek and the one that crosses Big Thompson. I love listening to the water as it rushes past the rocks.

Made hamburger soup in the crock pot for dinner tonight. The smell of it cooking made me hungry all afternoon. We had a bowl a bit ago and will probably have another one when we get back from our walk. Will have leftovers for lunch food for a couple of days.

I looked on-line at the Tractor Supply Store in Emporia and found out they can order chickens for me. I sent them an email asking when I need to order them for a August 1 delivery date. I tried calling them but got cut off due to the poor cell service here. When I hear back from them I can time my order so the chickens will be ready when I get home. They come in groups of 10 – I wanted to get 25 chickens so am thinking I will order 30. Usually some don’t make it – my luck though since I am over ordering they will all live. Can’t wait to pick up 25 – 30 eggs a day.

I checked the Crisis Hot Line last night and they had more texters than counselors so I got on for a bit. Took two calls and finished up a transfer call. I reached Level 4 Counselor. I have handled over 50 calls since I started in May. Level 5 happens when I handle another 50 calls. They still haven’t checked any of my calls and given me feedback. Sure trust I am doing the right thing. One of my callers last night asked if she could have my personal information so she could talk to me daily. She liked me! We aren’t allowed to do that but it was sweet of her to ask. Sometimes I so want to hug my callers.

I took a short nap this afternoon. I have been sleeping more here than I have for a long time. Wonder how long it will take me to break my nap habit when I get home.

It has been another beautiful day in the mountains. As usual it clouded up for a bit this afternoon but we never did get any sprinkles or rain. The clouds have moved on out now and it is clear out again. There are a few clouds building up again. It is rare to have a full day where you don’t get a few sprinkles mid to late afternoon.

Our first week is almost over already. I’m so glad we get to stay for three more weeks although I think I will have trouble breaking my lazy habit when I get home. I am getting pretty good and doing nothing all day long.

I am almost finished reading book number 4. I only brought 7 so may have to switched to knitting instead when I run out of books. I hate to pay retail price for books.

Grateful for another lazy day in the beautiful mountains, grateful for delicious soup smells all afternoon, and grateful I may have found a baby chicken source.

I still want to type June instead of July. I’m running 6 days behind I guess!

Had another quiet day in the mountains. We did go downtown to the shoe store. I tried on some shoes but the guy checked out my hiking boots and thought they were the right size and were still in good shape. Decided to save over $100 and not get a new pair. We don’t hike enough to need another pair.

We stopped at a bookstore and Jim got the calendars he likes. I got some post cards to send to the grandkids. Most everyone downtown were wearing masks. I still didn’t feel 100% comfortable being out and among people but did it to get it over with. I’m perfectly content to stay on the Y Camp grounds and hike around here. Town wasn’t as busy as I have seen it before but there were lots of people out and about.

Tried a new recipe tonight but neither one of us liked it much. It is called Chicken Crack – chicken breasts with dry ranch dressing and cream cheese cooked in a crock pot. When the chicken is done you put bacon bits and cheddar cheese over it. It tasted very salty and was way too rich. We managed to eat enough to get full but don’t think I will be printing out that recipe to make again. I expected it to be creamy but it wasn’t. The chicken wasn’t dry but I thought the cream cheese would make a sauce. Not sure if I did something wrong or not.

Took a nap again today. I finally figured out that the decongestants I am taking is probably making me more tired than normal. I’m still stuffy and snotty if I don’t take them. I sneeze many times a day and blow my nose a lot. The decongestants dry me out for a bit. I am trying to remember to drink more as I am dry inside and out. I’ve never had allergies like this up here before.

We will be taking a walk yet this evening. It is lightly raining now so am waiting for the rain to pass. It usually sprinkles every afternoon for a bit. Never rains much but I prefer not to walk in the rain.

I finished reading another book today – my third one since I have been here. I have another one started. At this rate I may need to go buy some more books. I only brought six or seven with me. Guess I can switch to knitting instead when I run out of books to read.

Went to the corner grocery store this morning to get ingredients for our dinner tonight. I was proud of myself for getting there and back to the cabin without getting lost. Jim usually does the driving and if I don’t drive I don’t pay attention to where I am going. This is my third time staying at the Y Camp and I am finally feeling like I know where I am at most of the time.

It was sunny and beautiful here today until the clouds rolled in this afternoon. We sat outside for a long time last night and looked at the full moon and the stars. It was a beautiful evening. The moon shadows were incredible.

I get to stop wearing the heart monitor tomorrow and will get it packaged up and sent back. I’m glad I got to wear it for a bit at home and trust it captured my low heart rates there. I haven’t had low rates since I have been in the mountains. In fact now I have too fast of a heart rate most of the time. It makes me tired when it beats so fast.

We have a moth problem in our cabin. They seem to swarm in during the evenings. We have a glass with an index card that we are using to capture them and take them back outside. Not sure how they manage to find their way inside. I hate to turn the lights on after dark as they swarm to the light.

It has been nice to have this quiet time with no chores to do. I can finally start to feel my body relax and sink into itself a bit. 2020 has been a stress filled year and it is nice to step away from some of that. I really wonder what the long-term mental health effects of the virus will be. It has changed me in ways I don’t fully understand yet.

Grateful for this down time, grateful I can send the heart monitor back tomorrow, and grateful for books to read.

We took a wonderful walk last night after dinner. We walked down to the Administration Building and then back up the hill. I was able to walk all the way without sucking air. We saw two mule deer on the way down.

I got up this morning around 7:30 and decided to go get my laundry done before it got crowded. I was the only one doing laundry so it was a good time to go. I switched out our bath linens for fresh ones while I was there.

I knitted a dish rag while I was waiting for the laundry to wash and dry. Made a total of four dish rags today. I hadn’t knitted for a bit and it felt good to have needles in my hands again.

This afternoon I went down and visited with Sandy while Jim and his brother Tom went for a long walk around the grounds. It was nice to have another woman to talk to for a bit. I have missed face to face visiting with my female friends.

Fixed leftovers for dinner tonight. Still have some more in the refrigerator but got rid of one container. Not sure what I will make tomorrow night.

Laid down on the couch after dinner to stretch out for a bit and fell asleep. I slept for two hours. Sure hoping I will be able to sleep tonight now. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.

Woke up in time to see the last of the sunset. The sky was filled with lots of reddish clouds above the mountains tonight. It was beautiful. I sat out on the deck and watched the clouds for about an hour and then came in to write my blog. Jim had laid a fire and had me light it. It got started with one match. I love having a fire pop and crack in the evenings. The warmth of the light and heat of the fire is inviting.

No plans for tomorrow although I do want to go to town sometime and get some sweat pants. I can’t believe I forgot sweat pants. It had been so hot in KS I forgot that the mountains get cool at night and didn’t think to grab some to bring.

I feel like I have taken a lazy pill. I have no motivation to do anything and am fully getting into this relaxing thing. Sure trust when I get home I can find my motivation again. Good thing there is nothing I have to do here or it might not be getting done. Living is easy and simple here.

Grateful for the beautiful sunset I saw tonight, grateful for the time I spent with Sandy today, and grateful for naps and leftovers.

What a busy night I had on the Crisis Text Hot Line. I handled two callers at a time for three hours. I lost track of how many calls I took but know it was at least six and maybe sight. It was the first time I was on the site where we had more callers than counselors. It sure made the time go by quickly. All of the texters were fairly easy although I had one strange one. None we’re suicidal and most had high anxiety. I was able to get them all to a cool calm before we hung up. That’s a good feeling.

It has been another lazy day around here today. Jim and I sat outside on the deck watching it rain for at least an hour early afternoon. I was huddled under a blanket as I forgot to bring sweat pants and it was chilly. I finally got too cold and came in and laid down under the blankets to warm up. I fell asleep and slept for two hours.

When I was waking up Jim came in and he laid down. He is taking a nap now. I wonder if the Rocky Mountain air makes one more tired. My O2 levels are lower here than they are at home. Does that make you more tired?

We haven’t taken our walk yet today. It is cool and cloudy out and looks like it might rain again anytime. It is to clear off by Monday and be nice and sunny again then. I’m so glad we will be here for four weeks so we can afford to be lazy for a bit and not feel like we have to take advantage of every moment here doing something. I do worry though that being lazy will become a habit for me and when I get home I won’t get back into the swing of getting things done.

I am reading another book today and almost have it finished. I brought some knitting to do but so far haven’t taken it out of the bag I brought it in. I should have brought yarn to knit a blanket – that would feel good on my cool legs. I don’t usually knit blankets in the summer time and forgot that it is much cooler up here than back home.

My headache finally went away this afternoon. I am still having some snotty nose issues due to allergies of some sort. Grateful I brought some decongestant medication with me. Hoping it will clear up soon. Have a touch of a sore throat and plugged ears this afternoon. I am trying to drink a lot of fluids are wash that stuff out.

Only have two more days of wearing the heart monitor. I’m tired of being strapped to it. At night I get all twisted up in the cords. Cell reception is very bad up here and it isn’t transmitting correctly when I call it in so not sure it is doing any good to wear it. Hoping we got enough when I wore it at home to give the doctor what he needs. My heart rate is faster up here than it is at home. I have only dropped to 48 since I have been here.

Grateful for these lazy days, grateful for rainy days, and Grateful for the sound of the rolling thunder over the mountains.

Had a good night on the Crisis Text Hot Line last night. I was on-line for three hours and handled five calls. All were rather simple calls although one was a prankster. I would get one call finished and another one would come in. Made the time go by very quickly. I have another shift tonight.

Woke up this morning around 6:15 and couldn’t go back to sleep. Finally got up at 7:15. Around 10:30 I got tired so laid down and slept for two more hours. Feels good to get some extra sleep.

My altitude sickness seems to be better today. I drank 96 ounces yesterday and I think that helped. Had a stuffy nose when I woke up. Used some Flonase and that seems to have helped. With all the virus stuff going around it makes me wonder if I had it – glad I am feeling better. We have taken precautions but that doesn’t always mean one is completely safe.

I am still struggling with understanding why the debate on face masks or no face masks rages on. If there is a chance they can help reduce the spread of this terrible virus why wouldn’t you wear one? I just don’t understand how helping keeping someone else safe violates your freedom. If we would have all done our part when this thing broke we would have contained it by now. Now with all the push to open everything too fast we are in worse position then we were before.

Jim went to the grocery store this afternoon. He came back and then went to walk down to his brother’s cabin. He and his brother are going for a short hike. Tom and Sandy are coming up for tacos at 6:00. Tacos don’t take long to fix so will get them started around 5:30 or so.

I have been lazy again today and haven’t done much. Finished reading a book and started another one. Took a long nap and have sat and looked at the mountains. Such beauty and grace in this area. We had a few sprinkles this afternoon and everything smells divine. Makes my allergies go a little crazy but that is a small price to pay for the wonderful earthy smell.

We don’t have any plans for any of the days coming up. Will probably take a long walk after dinner tonight. I haven’t checked to see if they are having a fireworks display in town tomorrow night. We won’t go even if they are. I wonder if there will be private displays around. Usually this time of year the fire danger is too high for them to allow legal fireworks. Fireworks are not my favorite thing anyways.

Rain is in the forecast for the next two days. Most afternoons this area gets a short thunderstorm. Rarely do they get much rain out of it. Keeps things cooled down. It does hail quite often though so if one is hiking you have to keep an eye to the sky to avoid getting caught in a hail storm.

I got a replacement debit card as my other one was expiring. Spent some time this afternoon changing the numbers on all my auto debit accounts. I hate that as you have to remember passwords and ID names. I think I got them all changed. I looked up my bank account and checked to see what accounts were auto paid. I only have one that I need to call Monday and make sure they have my new information.

Got my electric bill for June. Even with running the A/C most of the month and running it as low as 76 my bill was only $32.90 – the minimum charge. The solar panels are paying off. I don’t feel so guilty now lowering the temperature in the house knowing I won’t have to pay through the nose for it.

My O2 level has been ranging from 90 – 95 today. My heart rate has ranged from 47 – 81. I haven’t gotten out and done much so haven’t made my heart race yet. I did OK last night on our mile walk. It didn’t jump up high until we were almost home. I think I am finally adjusting to the altitude. My headache is almost gone.

It has been a wonderful day. I love staying home alone and enjoying quiet music from Spotify playing, reading a good romance novel and drinking fresh sun tea. Life doesn’t get much better than that.

Grateful for this restful time, grateful for the divine smells of the mountains, and grateful Jim is getting to spend some private time with his brother this afternoon.

A lazy day in Estes Park today. Neither one of us had much motivation to do much. We did take a short walk around the grounds. I got to see my first deer laying on the grounds. He just watched us walk right by him and he didn’t get up to check us out. I am having a bit of altitude sickness and didn’t want to go too far yet today. Feeling a bit better this afternoon but not ready to push it yet.

We have stayed around the cabin today reading, napping and resting. It does feel good to take a day and do nothing. It is nice to cocoon in our cabin and pretend all is well in the world. I looked at the news and decided to turn it off. Too much bad news out there.

The weather has been picture perfect in CO today. High was in the mid 70’s although at this altitude that always feels a bit warmer to me than that. It is cool in the shade and hot in the direct sun. I have been sitting on the deck and sit in the sun for a bit to warm up and then move to the shade. That is about all I have done today.

One good thing about being at this higher altitude is that my heart races faster. I don’t think it has been below 60 since I have been here. That is fast for me! When I get up and walk around it jumps up to 150 or higher. Maybe I need to live at 4,000 ft and hit the middle range.

None of the kids are going to be able to come out and spend some time with us. We have two extra bedrooms and a huge cabin all to ourselves. I like the extra space but hate paying for something that we won’t use.

I feel myself unwinding and relaxing. I’m so glad we are going to be here for four weeks and don’t feel pressure to go do things when I’m not feeling up to it. We will probably get out and do something tomorrow although I would be perfectly content staying in my cocoon and not going anywhere for a week or so.

Grateful for the beauty around me, grateful for this slow pace of life, and grateful for the quiet of the mountains.

We are at the Y Camp In Estes Park. We had a smooth drive today. We left around 8:20 and made it to Estes Park in about 8 1/2 hours. We stopped at the grocery store and stocked up and then checked into our cabin.

It took us a bit to get the car unloaded as the back of the car was full. I got all the groceries put away but haven’t unpacked my suitcase yet.

I had to put a sweater on this evening as it cools down quickly in the mountains. We have a large cabin for just the two of us. We reserved it way back the first of March before the virus hit and expected that several of our kids were going to get to come spend time with us. None of them can come now so we have lots of space.

We are both tired tonight. We may go get some fire wood and sit and relax in front of a fire tonight. Not sure we will do much tomorrow either and allow us time to adjust to the higher altitude. I have a bit of an altitude headache this evening. It usually takes me at least five days to adjust. I’m glad we will be here for four weeks as that will give me lots of time to adjust and then I can do lots of walking without sucking for air.

The cell service in the area is very bad. The internet is good so if anyone wants to get hold of me send me an email or FaceTime me. We do have a land line in the cabin and it gets good reception.

It will take me several days to adjust to not having anything that has to be done. I didn’t bring my sewing machine so I can make masks. I did bring some knitting, puzzles and lots of books to read. It will be nice to visit with Jim’s brothers and their spouses. We will go on lots of walks too when I have adjusted to the altitude.

Grateful for a safe journey today, grateful for the beauty around us, and grateful for the cool, evening mountain air.

Not one of my better days. I am not having an easy day today. Not sure why other than I am not looking forward to going to CO tomorrow. I am so torn about going. I’m sure once I get there I will be fine and will be glad I went but with all that is happening in the world right now it feels risky to go. I was just starting to feel good about being home and now I have to upset that.

Took the car to the service station in Cottonwood Falls to have the oil changed. I turned over 6,000 miles on it. Good to have that out of the way before we take off tomorrow morning. They vacuum and wash the car so it is nice and clean for our trip.

Have been gathering stuff up to take today. We are going to have a full car load. Going away for four weeks feels like a long time and I’m sure I am taking way too much stuff. I haven’t packed my clothes yet so need to do that this evening.

Worked on making the last batch of face masks this morning for a bit. Have the first seam sewed in them and need to start pinning them this evening. I won’t get them sewed up before we leave. I want to wait and use ribbons on most of them as I am out of the masks that tie. I’ll have to get more flannel and sheets when I get back so I can make another big batch of masks. Sounds like we will be wearing them for a long time to come.

My heart rate dropped to 33 for a bit last night according to my smart watch. Sure wonder what the heart monitor is picking up. I wear it until July 7 so it will be a while before I hear the results.

Got a call from the lady I am buying a calf from to butcher. The calf will go to the butcher shop July 24 so will be ready sometime the second week in August. The kids are going in with me and taking parts of it. Cattle prices are $0.90 per pound right now. Sure lower than you can buy in the grocery store. It will be good to have good beef again. I only have two packages of good hamburger left. I filled out the sheet that tells the butcher how I want it cut today and mail it back to the lady selling me the beef. She is going to take it in to the butcher when she takes the beef to him in July.

I tried reading the news today and got too angry and had to stop. It will be good to take a month’s break from the TV and the news. If something happens that you think I should know about email or message me. Otherwise I am going to pretend all is well in the outside world for a month.

I took a nap this afternoon when I got back from having my car serviced. I was a danger to myself and the world and needed to escape from myself for a bit. I’m still cranky but not quite as much as before my nap.

And this too shall pass…..

Grateful for the personal service the local service station offers, grateful for beef straight off the ranch, and grateful I will be in CO tomorrow afternoon and remember why I love it there.

I was up at 5:45 to get breakfast fixed for our guests. They ate and were on there way west by 7:10. It was fun to have them here for a short visit. I look forward to spending more time with them when we get to CO Wednesday.

Jim went back to bed as soon as they left. I stayed up and worked on making more masks and got laundry started. I went to the post office at 9:30 and mail 16 packages of masks. Spent over $60 on postage. Came home and took a long nap.

I’ve spent the afternoon making more masks, gathering things up that I want to take to CO, and making up the guest bed. I ground the left over roast beef and made it into beef salad (kinda like ham salad except you use roast beef). It is good and will make a good snack on our travel day Wednesday.

We are having left overs for dinner tonight and tomorrow night. Need to get the refrigerator cleaned out as we will be gone for four weeks. Not sure what is even in it but it will be interesting finding stuff and heating bits and pieces up. Might not be a balanced meal but it will get us fed.

Got the written results of the echocardiogram back. I had one done in 2018 and have been comparing the results. Not sure I understand all of it but nothing seems much different. I still need to look up a couple of things but I didn’t see anything too alarming. I am surprised the doctor’s office hasn’t called but maybe they only call if it is bad news.

The Clinic did call today and offered to change my mammogram appointment to the Emporia office. That wasn’t offered as an option when I booked on-line. I’m grateful they were able to do that for me and save me a trip to Topeka just for a 15 minute appointment.

This has been a rest and recovery day. I feel like I have a lot of stuff that needs done but can’t quite figure out what needs done. Decided to do nothing and sit with the feelings and see if they will calm down. So far it hasn’t. Maybe my body is trying to tell me something else. Giving it some room to relax and communicate with me. I’ve been a bit wired lately and maybe it just needs room to breath and relax.

Tomorrow I need to empty recycling and fill the mower gas cans as well as the car. We will need to get the car pack and loaded so we can leave fairly early Wednesday morning. It is only an 8 1/2 hour drive but we would like to get there mid afternoon so we have time to get settled before dark. We will have to go grocery shopping when we get there and need time to do that.

I send out 92 face masks in the mail today and 15 others were picked up by others at my house this week. I have material to make about 100 more when I get home in August. I ran out of the masks with ties and ordered some more ribbon. It is to come in Wednesday so it will be ready for me to use when I get home. Sounds like we will be wearing masks for some time to come so will probably get more material and make another big bunch of them to give away. Feels like a small thing to do to help keep other people safe.

I’ve made over 550 of them so far. I still get a thrill when I get one finished so as long as that continues I will continue to make them. I told Jim I am spending my stimulus check on material and postage to make masks. At the rate I am going I may spend all of it on this little project.

My heart rate alarm went off during the night again last night. I slept through the alarm but the app sends me an email to let me know it happened and what time it happens. Last night I went down to 40 for over five minutes straight.

I slept hard last night for about three hours, was awake for one hour and then slept hard again for two hours. The nap this afternoon was about two hours long so finally got some good sleep.

Feeling a bit restless this afternoon. Wonder what is behind this sense of urgency to do something? Not sure what the something is.

Grateful for the wonderful visit from Tom and Sandy, grateful for the masks that went out in the mail today, and grateful for long naps.

Jim’s brother and his wife came a little after noon today. We had a quick lunch and have visited all afternoon and evening. Jim and Tom went on a tour of the neighborhood and Sandy and I stayed at the house and visited.

Fixed a pot roast with potatoes and carrots with beer bread muffins for dinner. It was good. Had cheesecake with strawberries for dessert. Had ham salad sandwiches for lunch.

They want to be on the road by 7:00 in the morning so I will get up early to fix them breakfast before they leave. May go back to bed after they leave. I didn’t sleep much at all last night and am really tired tonight. Bet I sleep tonight.

I have 15 packages of face masks ready to take to the post office tomorrow to mail. I am giving away almost 100 masks this week! My supply has been wiped out. I pinned another 25 this evening but only have about 20 others left. I am out of the ones that tie and don’t have any ribbon left to make more of those. I still have enough flannel to make another 100 masks but that will have to wait until I get back in August. I’m grateful I found homes for the masks I had made.

It has been a fun day visiting with Sandy. I look forward to spending more time with Tom and Sandy while we are in Estes Park in July. Jim’s other brother Joe and his wife Linda will also be coming out for part of the time we are there. It will be like a month long family reunion. Fun times!

Grateful for this time with Tom and Sandy, grateful the meal turned out OK, and grateful it is bed time.

Another productive day. I’m on a roll! Haven’t had two back to back productive days in a long time.

Finished sewing over 20 more masks today. I have made over 500 of them so far. Have material to make at least another hundred. If anyone needs some let me know. I am leaving July 1 and won’t be able to send any until I get home July 29 unless I get them off Monday or Tuesday this week. Have over 100 on hand right now. I have some with elastic and some that tie.

Moved all the furniture in the living room and dining room and did the floors. Even moved everything off of the pantry floor and got it cleaned. I found lots of dirt. Sure feels good to have that project done. Still need to dust but the house feels much cleaner to me now.

Jim helped me get the tarp that had gotten caught in the mower out. It was easier than I had hoped it might be. I mowed a bit afterwards just to make sure it was working OK. Still have about an hour of mowing left to do but it is too hot to mow right now. It is 94 but with the heat index feels like 102. I don’t like when it is that hot and humid.

Had a bit of a thunderstorm blow through during the night. I slept through most of it although I heard the wind howling at one point. Jim got up and watched it. I do enjoy watching thunderstorms blow in. We sat out on the deck last night and watched the sky fill with clouds. It was lightning about 70 miles away that we could see. Got some rain but not lots.

I got the chicken coop shoveled out. Still need to take the hose down and spray it out good. The straw had dried out and was easy to clean out. Got two wheelbarrows full of dirty straw. Hopefully in the morning I’ll get down and get that job finished.

We went to Walmart this afternoon and got two carts full. Had to get four bags of dog food, meds for Jim’s cats, and a few things we want to take to CO. Spent over $300. Money seems to go quickly out the door these days. Shopping wears me out. I was glad to get back home. I guessed about 50% of the customers were wearing face masks. Did my best to avoid the ones that didn’t have on a mask.

Jim helped me make scalloped potatoes with ham for dinner tonight. It is cooking now. I still want to make another batch of banana bread. Got a double batch of snickerdoodle cookies made last night.

Our guests should be here tomorrow early afternoon. So looking forward to having them come. I’ll put a pot roast in the crock pot tomorrow morning so I don’t have to cook while they are here. I’ll make some beer bread muffins to go with it and call it good.

I am slowing starting to pull some things out that I want to take to CO. I have a list started. I want to avoid shopping in CO as much as possible. We will have to go out for groceries but am hoping that will be all the shopping we have to do.

Need to write a few letters before I leave Wednesday morning. Realized I won’t have a printer to print my letters while we are in CO. I’ll have to send emails instead. My handwriting has gotten so bad I don’t think anyone could read what I wrote if I tried to hand write a letter.

My heart range has been between 43 to 134 today. I haven’t gotten an alert for the last several days of it dropping below 45 and staying there for over 10 minutes. Maybe it is not going to act up while I have the monitor on.

Feels good to have moved my body again today and to have gotten the house cleaned. I so enjoy a clean house. I feel like I finally have reclaimed my space again and my body is all home now. I had been feeling I left bits of me somewhere else. Good to be back home in my body and grounded again.

Grateful the house is clean, grateful the mower is fixed, and grateful the chicken coop is almost cleaned out.

This has been a busy afternoon. I finally had a very productive day. I cleaned the guest bedroom and bathroom for the guests I have coming in Sunday afternoon. Got the hallway and entry way cleaned too.

Baked a double batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and a batch of banana bread. I’m going to made a batch of Snickerdoodles and another batch of banana bread yet this evening.

I sat down to sew up some masks and discovered I had pinned them wrong last night. Pissed myself off! Had to unpin them and start over. I wasted an hour of time last night and an hour today. Jeez, I hate when I do something stupid like that.

Jim cleaned out the garage and washed up the dogs food and water bowls. The food containers were just plain nasty. When I am home I run them through the dishwasher once a month but they hadn’t been cleaned since last December. Yuck!

Had a fun night on the text hot line. I took two calls from young girls that just needed someone to listen to them for a bit. One of them didn’t want me to stop talking to her. We are to limit our calls to under one hour but I went over with her. Sometimes I just want to reach through the screen and wrap my arms around them and let them know everything is going to be OK. They live with such intensity these days. Maybe I did too and just don’t remember it.

Made a batch of ham salad this morning. Jim really likes it and it makes a good quick snack. Grilled hamburgers on our new grill for dinner tonight. They turned out perfectly. We had one ripe tomato from Jim’s garden in Stillwater that was delicious. I had forgotten what a home grown tomato tastes like.

Tomorrow I need to clean the living room, dining room and kitchen. The floors really need done. I have spot cleaned them since I have been home in June but haven’t moved all the furniture and given them a good once over. They desperately need cleaned. I also need to do our bedroom and bathroom floors.

May need to run to town to the grocery store tomorrow. I need to decide what else to fix with the pot roast and potatoes and carrots for Sunday evening and what dessert to fix and then check to see if I have on hand what I need.

Made my annual physical appointment and my mammogram appointment today. They are in mid August. I haven’t had a mammogram for three years and I promised my Endocrinologist I would have an annual physical from my regular doctor. He doesn’t give a very thorough exam so not sure it is worth the time but it checks a box.

We didn’t get out to get the mower fixed today. Still need to get that done so I can get the mowing finished before we leave next Wednesday. I also need to get the chicken coop cleaned out yet. It got too hot to work outside this afternoon.

I forgot to wear my smart watch to bed so don’t know if my heart rate went too low last night or not. My rate has ranged from 40 to 128 today. I am sure anxious to know if the heart monitor reads the same as what my watch shows. I was kinda expecting the doctor’s office would call me today to tell me the results of the Echo but I didn’t hear from anyone.

Felt good to move my body and get some things done today. I have been lazy lately and have not gotten much done. It feels good to have part of the main floor clean. It will feel even better when the other half gets done tomorrow. For some reason I feel better when my house is really clean.

Grateful for the work I got done today, grateful for a fun night on the hot line, and grateful I moved my body today.

Drove to Topeka for my echocardiogram late morning. Lots of road construction on the KS Turnpike. My appointment took about one hour. The girl that did it was a rookie but her trainer came in and coached her. They told me they didn’t see anything that would prevent me from going home and that the doctor’s office would call me with results.

Stopped at Walmart to pick up a prescription on the way home. If you haven’t checked out GoodRX I would encourage you to do so. For some reason most of my prescriptions are cheaper using GoodRx which is free than If I use my insurance. The blood pressure medication I picked up today would have been $177 with my insurance but was only $43 with GoodRx. Don’t ask me to explain how they do that but I will take the savings.

Had one episode of my heart rate dropping below 45 and staying there for over 10 minutes overnight. I trust my heart monitor recorded that. I haven’t received a robo call today so am assuming the monitor is doing its thing.

Had a rough call on the text hot line last night. I had to get my supervisor involved. We went through the steps and I though the supervisor should do one thing and she told me to do another. I did what she told me to do but I need to figure out how to contact her and get an explanation of why she did it that way. I felt that the caller was not going to be safe. Maybe the supervisor had information I didn’t have and I have to trust them. I found her less helpful than the other two times I had to involve the supervisor. She didn’t provide any coaching to me and I had to wait what seemed like a long time between her comments to get guidance.

The second call I took was easier but the person was at work and sometimes took a long time to text back. I sent her some referrals and told her to look them over after work and to text back in if she needed more support.

I have a shift tonight from 10:00 to midnight. Hopefully I will get hold of a supervisor and get some direction.

One thing I don’t like is I was told my calls would be monitored and checked and I would receive feedback on a regular basis. So far as I can tell none of my calls have been monitored and checked and I have received only one piece of feedback during a call I got a supervisor involved in. I was reading on the network and a different supervisor was coaching us to handle it the way I had handled it to start with. Things like that frustrate me and make me go ummmm…
Thinking I will continue handling things as I have been and will take feedback under consideration and not as have to.

The main boss at the hot line was fired and things seem very chaotic and unorganized right now. I’m sure things will calm down. They have had a huge influx in the number of counselors and they weren’t geared up to handle them. Thinking in another couple of months a lot of the newbies will drop out and things will settle into a new normal.

Jim will be back around 5:30 tonight. I need to figure out what to make with the hamburger I thawed and get something going for dinner so we can eat when he gets here. I think I am going to make the three bean casserole that has bacon, beans and hamburger in it. I don’t think I have made that for him before.

KS has screwed up the payment for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. I got an email from them saying they had given me a week too much and that they were going to reverse the payment. That happened Monday. Today the payment showed back up again. Not sure what is going on. I would call them but you still can’t get through. Easy come – easy go – easy come! Hope they get their act together soon.

Sure could take a nap this afternoon but not sure I want to. I slept fairly good last night and would prefer to stay up and not risk not being able to sleep tonight. However I have to stay up late to work on the Hotline. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t take a nap. It will be a surprise to me what I do!

Grateful for a safe journey to and from Topeka, grateful for GoodRx, and grateful Jim will be home soon.

Sleep was hard to find again last night. I finally fell asleep around 6:00 this morning and had to be up at 9:00 to get ready to go to town for my haircut. I’m glad I had set my alarm or I would have missed my haircut.

It felt so good to get all the extra hair I had grown for the last five months cut off. I had him cut it short but not extremely short. It feels a bit extremely short though as it was so long before my cut. I usually only go 8 weeks between cuts so five months set a new record for me.

After I got my hair cut I went to the post office to drop off the heart monitor that didn’t work and mail a couple of letters. Then I went to Walmart to pick up a few things. One of my tower fans had quit working and I needed a replacement. I remembered to get potting soil and new pots so I could repot the geraniums. They were seriously root bound and didn’t have enough soil in their small pots. Also got cat food for Katy and sewing machine needles and pins.

Stopped at Fanestil’s Meat Market on the way home and got a roast to cook for Sunday night dinner. Wow have beef prices gone up. Betting the rancher isn’t seeing much of that increase. I asked for a four pound roast and the butcher went to the cutting room and cut one for me. It turned out to be 5 1/2 pounds so when I got home I cut it into two pieces and package it up so I could freeze them. I’ll lay one of them out to thaw Saturday and then cook it in the crock pot for dinner Sunday night.

When I got home I transplanted the geraniums into their new pots. Set the new fans up and carried out all the packaging and the old fan. I had also gotten another flat sheet for more masks. I had more flannel pieces to use up and needed more sheet pieces so I wouldn’t waste the flannel pieces. I threw the sheet into the washer to get it washed up.

My heart monitor came in so I got it hooked up and registered. I trust it is working correctly but I am struggling to trust the company that sent the monitor.

I laid down and took a two hour nap. I have a volunteer shift with the Crisis Text Hot Line tonight and knew if I didn’t take a nap I wouldn’t be very compassionate with my callers this evening and might not be able to stay awake until my shift ends at midnight.

I pinned together 20 more masks after my nap. I need to get started cleaning the house but so far that urge hasn’t hit me yet. Maybe this evening I will get the cleaning started. I would much rather sew masks though.

I walked down to the end of the driveway to bring up the mail and the trash can. I decided it was too hot out to clean out the chicken coop. If I get up early enough tomorrow morning when it is cool out I will do it then.

Tomorrow I have to be in Topeka by 1:00 for the Echocardiogram. I’ll have to leave here around 11:30 as I need to stop and get gas somewhere along the way. The test takes about an hour so should be home by 3:30.

Jim is coming back tomorrow afternoon. I don’t expect him to be back before I get home. I’ll have to remember to lay something out so I can fix dinner tomorrow night when I get home. I didn’t think to check my grocery list while I was at Walmart today. Maybe I can find something to fix – guess I can stop at the store on my way home from Topeka tomorrow afternoon if needed.

A week from today we will be in Estes Park for four weeks. I need to start making my packing list and gathering up what I want to take. I am looking forward to going but am sad to leave home so soon again. I finally feel like all of me has arrived back home and would like to stay and enjoy that for a bit. The cool evenings in CO sound delightful though and I am looking forward to spending time with family out there.

The spike in the number of Covid-19 cases is a bit alarming. I have a feeling it is going to be a rough six to nine months, if not longer, for most of the country. My heart is heavy thinking of all the families that have lost jobs, lost family members or who are sick. It is increasingly difficult for me to remember to continue to take precautions. Jim is better at it then I am and he reminds me.

Grateful for a hair cut, grateful for naps, and grateful Jim will be back home tomorrow.

I seem to be stringing together a bunch of frustrating days. The new lead wires came in for my monitor. Hooked everything up and kept getting an error message. I called the company and they ran the troubleshooting thing and found out my monitor is defective. Really! I boxed it up to return it and they are to ship out a different one. They told me I will receive it tomorrow but I’m not counting on it. Not sure why this is turning into a chaotic mess.

Jim left for Stillwater around 2:00 this afternoon. After he left I went into Emporia and bought a new BBQ grill. Jason met me at the store and loaded it in the back of his pickup and brought it out to my house. I haven’t tried to use it yet. The lady that rang me up seemed confused. I needed a propane tank and told her what I wanted. She had trouble understanding I wanted the tank full of propane. She wanted to just sell me an empty tank. Not sure that would have done me much good.

Went out and mowed for 2 hours. Ran over some old pieces of tarp down by the chicken coop and it got stuck in the blades. I’ll have to jack up the mower so I can get it pulled out. Decided I will do that tomorrow – the way my day is going that task might not go well.

Finished up about 20 face masks this morning. I woke up at 5:30 and couldn’t go back to sleep so got up and sewed for a bit. Went back to bed around 7:30 and slept 2 more hours. At least by sewing the time between sleeps wasn’t wasted.

I have a haircut appointment tomorrow morning at 10:30. I have a list of errands I need to run while I am in town tomorrow. I was going to take care of some of them today but stopped to find a grill and since they had what I wanted I followed Jason home to help unload the grill and didn’t go do my errands. I didn’t want to make two trips to town today so decided to wait till tomorrow to do all of them. I need to get out and get the chicken coop cleaned out if I get up early enough to in the morning. I like to do it before it gets too hot.

Thursday I have to go to Topeka for my echocardiogram. My appointment is for 1:00 so will have to leave around 11:30. I have been putting the miles on my Forester lately. We are taking it to CO so will put lots of miles on it for that trip.

It is weird not having Jim here. We haven’t spent a night apart since last December. The house feels big and quiet to me tonight.

I need to get started cleaning the house sometime soon. Jim’s brother and his wife will be here Sunday afternoon and I need to be ready for them. I have the house open tonight and the dust is blowing in. It is to warm up tomorrow so will close it back up and start cleaning. Maybe it will stay clean for a couple of days. The dust has been thick lately. Rain is in the forecast so maybe we will get some and quiet the dust down a bit.

I’m glad I stayed home and didn’t go to Stillwater. I need to continue to ground myself and settle in here. I am looking forward to going to CO July 1 but at the same time I would be very happy to stay home for the month of July. I feel a bit scattered – like my body hasn’t all gotten here yet. I was hoping by mowing I would connect to the earth a bit and feel more here. Maybe cleaning out the chicken coop in the morning will help.

Grateful for Jason’s help with the BBQ grill today, grateful Jim had a safe trip to Stillwater, and grateful I am finally going to get my hair cut tomorrow.

It was another rough night of attempting sleep for me. I slept for about two hours and then was up for six hours. Finally feel asleep around 6:30 this morning and slept till almost noon. I hate nights like that.

My watch alarm went off four times telling me my heart rate had dropped below 45 and stayed below 45 for at least ten minutes. Sure wish I had on the monitor last night to capture that. The leads haven’t come in yet as promised. I got another robo call reminding me to hook up the monitor and start using it. I punched the number so it would transfer me to an actual person. He said they can’t stop the robo calls. He looked up the order for the missing leads and the package had gotten routed incorrectly by UPS. He said they hadn’t set a new delivery date yet.

Went into Cottonwood Falls to mail two packages of face masks and to cash a check. I remembered to get some quarters to take to CO so I can do laundry while we are there.

Worked on sewing face masks most of the afternoon. I fixed a box of 50 to send to Jim’s son David. David said he could use them to pass out at his needle exchange project. Still have over 100 masks cut out and waiting to be sewed together. That should keep me busy for a few more days.

Fixed chicken tenders for dinner. Jim had corn on the cob and I had green beans. Baked some banana bread this afternoon to use up two very ripe bananas. Jim enjoys eating it and I like making it. Need to get some cookies made to take to CO.

We went on a two mile walk this evening. Saw 4 or 5 deer, 1 rabbit and we helped a turtle cross the road. The wild flowers have been very plentiful this year. It was a pretty evening for a walk. We came home and sat out on the deck. I raked Sophia and got handfuls of fur off of her. The wind came up and cooled us down quickly. I had to come in as I was getting cold. There is a slight chance for some severe weather tonight but it may go around us.

Jim is headed to Stillwater tomorrow. He will probably leave a little after noon. I need to go into Emporia tomorrow afternoon and get four sacks of dog food and a new BBQ grill. Jason is going to meet me and bring it out and get it set up for me. I hope the store isn’t sold out of them.

I fixed Jim a bacon, egg and tomato sandwich for lunch today. The tomato came out of Jim’s garden. He said it was good. Store bought tomatoes just don’t have much flavor to them. We still have two more tomatoes to use up over the next day or two. I’m sure he will bring some more back with him when he comes back Thursday afternoon.

This hasn’t been a very productive day for me. When you don’t get up until noon the day goes by quickly though. I have several projects to work on but didn’t feel like doing much today. I hope to get out to the chicken coop tomorrow and get it cleaned out. I really would like to get that done before we leave for CO.

Jim’s brother and his wife are coming by Sunday evening and spending the night. They are headed out to CO and stay at the same camp we will be staying at. It will be fun to have them here for the night. It means a lot to Jim that they will drive out of their way to drop down and see us. Jim wants them to see his new living space.

It will be weird to have Jim gone for two nights. We haven’t spent a night apart since last December. Maybe I will get some things done while he is gone though. I really need to get some cleaning and painting done.

The energy in the world is plain ass crazy right now. I feel like I am on an emotional roller coaster trying to make sense out of all of it. I see some positive things starting to happen but there are some dark things happening too. I must say the best thing about Trump being president is the dark stuff has come forward for us to deal with. It is hard to see the denial and fear that comes with it. Someday we will look back on these days and have a different perspective about what is all happening. I keep reminding myself to stay grounded and not get pulled into the muck. Not always successful though.

Grateful for my second sleep although it came later than I would have liked, grateful for the beauty we saw on our walk tonight, and grateful it is almost bedtime.

This has been a recovery day for me. I woke up at 6:00 this morning after sleeping six hours straight. That is a lot of sleep for me. By 7:45 I was headed into Emporia to pick up some groceries. Walmart was not crowded so I took my time and got some things off my list of non-urgent things. I filled my cart full today. Took me a while when I got home to get everything carried in and put away.

We listened to church and had technical issues. We could barely hear the service on Facebook so switched to the radio broadcast. It cut out during the sermon. Went back to Facebook but I gave up as it was too hard to hear.

I had lunch and then took a long, afternoon’s nap. I slept for over two hours this afternoon. Trusting I will be able to sleep tonight.

Grilled hamburgers on the George Foreman grill and fixed Jim corn on the cob. I had some broccoli with my burger. Simple dinner tonight was all I could handle.

I have been working on making more face masks. Got all the ribbon sewed together and the first seam done in the big stack of masks. I have the first bunch pinned and am starting to actually finish some. It takes a bit to get to this point but they go together pretty quickly once I get there.

I am cranky this evening. I picked up some energy that isn’t mine to keep and need to discharge it. It feels thick and heavy to me. I need to go for a walk and let it go but am having trouble getting out the door to do so. Maybe I’ll get there yet – then again maybe not.

Need to run to the bank and post office tomorrow in Cottonwood Falls. May have enough recycling to take a load. I need to start cleaning house and making my packing list for our CO trip. July 1 will be here soon.

The weather feels like it could build into a big storm tonight. We had some rain forecast earlier but it has been removed from the forecast. The air is thick and heavy and the sky is getting darker. The system may go to the northeast of us and miss us.

Hoping the lead wires to my heart monitor will come in tomorrow so can start that process. I got a recorded call today reminding me I needed to start the monitoring process. I sure would if I could. My heart rate has ranged from 42 to 165 today with an average resting rate of 44. Maybe that is why I feel a bit sluggish tonight.

May take some time tonight and write a few letters. I did good writing them until June 1 and have slacked off since. I enjoy writing them and I need to do something fun tonight. Wish the Crisis Text Line needed help tonight but last I checked they had way more counselors than texters. When it isn’t my scheduled shift I don’t like to hop on and take calls away from those that are scheduled to work.

Have a quiet week planned. Will do some cleaning, sewing and preparing the chicken coop. Jim is going to Stillwater Tuesday so I will have a couple days to myself. As cranky as I am tonight I bet he wished he was going tonight.

Grateful for a recovery day, grateful for a long nap, and grateful for Jim’s sewing machine that has sewn miles lately.

What a beautiful day full of love, family and friends. Nicole and Geoff were married in their back yard in a beautiful, moving ceremony. It was perfect in so many ways. It was wonderful having all three of my kids together along with their partners and the two grandchildren.

It is so nice to see Nicole happy. She found a wonderful man and he fits right in with our family. I spent time talking to his parents today and enjoyed our conversation. I loved seeing Nicole’s friends again – they call me Mom.

The photographer took some family pictures. I hope they turn out good. I had been looking forward to having family pictures taken at our wedding in March and that didn’t happen.

The drive to KC and back was easy and smooth. Not much traffic to speak of although the Johnson County drivers are not very driver friendly.

Looking forward to tomorrow and Monday when we get to stay home and relax. I do need to run into Emporia and get some groceries but that won’t take long. After that is done I can stay hidden on my house on the prairie. Jim is going to Stillwater Tuesday but I am staying here. I need to do some cleaning, painting and mowing. I also need to get the chicken coop cleaned out really good. I want to get baby chickens as soon as we get home from CO the end of July and want the coop ready for them.

I’m tired tonight. I didn’t fall asleep until after 6:00 this morning. Not sure why I could not sleep last night. I even got up and took another bath and even that didn’t work. Maybe tonight will be the night that I lay down and go right to sleep and sleep through the night. I am way overdue for a good night’s sleep.

The weather held out today and was warm but no rain. It was a bit weird at first being in a house with 32 other people in it. Haven’t been around that many people for several months. We spent lots of time outside though and everyone was practicing safe habits. I took some face masks but we ended up not wearing them. I will admit I broke the rules and gave lots of hugs today. Sometimes a mom just needs a hug!

Grateful for gaining a new son-in-love today, grateful for a beautiful bride, and grateful to have had my whole family together today.

It has been a wild day today. We got on the road to come to KS around noon and arrived around 3:00. It had started raining in Stillwater this morning around 7:00 and rained all morning. I got soaked loading the last few things in the car.

Since it was raining this morning I didn’t get to go out and finish painting the last section on the west side of the house. Jim had worked after dark last night getting it ready to paint. It will have to wait for a dry day.

Jim is going to have to go back to Stillwater next week as he didn’t get the soaker hose set up before we left. He ran out of time. We had a full car full and he didn’t get to bring everything he wanted to bring with him so now he will get another chance to fill the car again. I plan on staying in KS when he goes to OK for a few days next week. I need to have some time in KS before we go to CO the following week for four weeks.

When we got home I discovered the heart monitor the doctor wants me to wear had been shipped to me. I opened it up and attempted to get hooked up. It is missing the lead wires that attached to the machine. When I called the company to tell them the guy said that had never happened before. He acted like he didn’t believe me they were missing. I had put the batteries in the monitor and it started beeping. He told me I was wasting the batteries. Duh! Not impressed with their service today. He is to mail me some lead wires and I am to have them by Monday supposedly. We will see if they get here then.

I’ve been putting things away and going through my mail. It feels like it has been a very busy day. We were kinda rushing around this morning so we could get gone by noon. Once Jim realized he was going to have to come back next week we quit gathering more stuff up and we left. He will have a long list of things to bring with him when he comes back next week. We won’t be back to Stillwater for six to eight weeks after he goes next week.

It always takes me a few days to adjust to where I am at when we change houses. I’ll only have eleven days here and then we go to CO for four weeks. I think I am craving some boredom and staying in one place for a long time.

The animals all look like they were well cared for. We haven’t seen Tony yet but I’m sure he will show up this evening. The house sitter had enjoyed her quiet time on the prairie. She wants to come back and stay again some time soon. That’s always a good sign that things went well for her.

Tomorrow afternoon we need to head to KC around 2:15. We probably won’t be home until after 11:00 or so. It will be so fun to see all three kids and their families at the wedding tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it even though I have to dress up a bit. We are having some family pictures taken which I am excited about. It has been a long time since we had professional pictures taken.

I made another batch of ham salad when we got home. I happened to have the ingredients on hand to make it and it makes a good snack. Not sure what I am fixing for dinner but I’ll come up with something. Jim is taking a nap as he didn’t get much sleep last night and had to drive today. I may take one too although I would rather stay up and go to bed early. I am always afraid if I take a nap I won’t sleep at night.

I’m glad we are out of OK for this weekend. The big Trump rally is in Tulsa tomorrow night. Sounds like there may be some trouble with the conflicting crowds that are expected. OK case counts have been jumping and I am afraid of the fall out of 19,000 people unmasked in a indoor arena. Wish they could have moved it to an outside venue. People have been camping out to get tickets for the last 48 hours already. The timing was good for us to leave the state and then to stay away for six to eight weeks.

Don’t have anything on my calendar for Sunday or Monday. It will be good to have a few days to stay home and relax. We will be tired on Sunday after our big day tomorrow. Jim is going to Stillwater Tuesday so I will have a couple of really quiet days here while he is gone. Need to get the chicken coop cleaned out and I want to start doing some deck painting again. Rain is in the forecast so not sure what I might get done outside.

Feeling a bit cranky this afternoon. I am such a nester that going back and forth challenges me sometimes. It will be good to be here for 11 days and reclaim the house again. Maybe after July we can stay here for longer periods of time and I can get settled in again.

Grateful for a safe journey home today, grateful the animals and house are in such great shape, and grateful for the prairie view this afternoon.

And just like that it is Thursday and we will be returning to KS tomorrow. The week here in Stillwater went by very quickly. We didn’t get as much done as I had hoped we would but that is OK. The work seems to wait for us.

Finished mowing the yard this morning. It always looks so nice when it is all mowed up. The mowing was a bit harder this time as it is so dry there were places where I couldn’t tell where I had mowed. The cottonwood cotton was a pain to mow through as it blew up and went up my nose.

Jim is almost finished taking the shingles off and scraping another section on the west side of the house. When he gets done I will get it painted tonight. The west side is almost done. He has one little section to do but doubt he will get to it this time. We still have to do the east side of the house and above the front porch and back deck but the house is looking much nicer.

I took three calls on the Hot Line last night. The last one was very rewarding for me. I had one call where my internet had a hiccup and I got disconnected from my texter. When that happens the call gets transferred to someone else. I got signed back on and they transferred the call back to me. Even though the person that received the call didn’t respond to the texter I only get partial credit for handling the call. Oh well, we got the person to a calmer state.

I have another shift tonight at 10:00 pm. We have so many counselors right now that I end up waiting about an hour before I have someone to text with. I have been signing on early so I can get in line so I will get texters. I’m grateful the texters don’t have to wait but it is kinda frustrating to have to waste an hour of my time waiting on someone to help.

I have the car partially loaded for tomorrow. Jim still has a bunch of stuff to pull out he wants to take. Don’t think we will have room for all he wants to take so will have to prioritize what we do take. We need to take our mountain stuff in case he doesn’t get back down here next week. We told our house sitter we would try to be in KS by 3:00 but I will be surprised if we make that time frame. Jim tends to run a bit behind when it comes to leaving his house here.

We are having left overs for dinner tonight so I can clean out the refrigerator. Still have some ham loaf left over from earlier this week. We will have to take a refrigerator bag and clean out the refrigerator tomorrow before we leave as we may not be back until the second week of August.

It is another hot summer day in Stillwater with the temperatures in the mid 90’s. Rain is in the forecast for the next seven days so maybe it will cool down a bit. Trusting it won’t rain on Nicole’s outdoor wedding Saturday afternoon. They have an indoor back-up plan if needed. So looking forward to seeing all of my family in one place for the first time since Christmas.

Feeling better again today. My heart has not dropped below 45 today so far. It got to racing a bit while I was mowing but it settled back down when I came in and cooled off. Starting to think it was all thyroid related and my medication level must be leveling out as I am feeling better and the heart is calming down.

Feeling a bit down and sad today. Thinking it is all the chaos in the world that I am feeling and holding on to today. We certainly are starting to feel like we are at a tipping point in our society. I pray it tips the way I feel it should and things start to get rebuilt in a better way that works for all. I keep having the feeling it is going to get a lot worse before it gets better though. I hope I am wrong.

Grateful the yard is mowed, grateful the house painting project is progressing, and grateful we are returning to the prairie tomorrow.

Got the back yard mowed today. Did the first part of it around noon and finished up the last part of it after dinner tonight. Still need to mow the front yard and then mowing will be done.

We went to Lowe’s to look for a BBQ for KS. Service was horrible at that store today. The first person to help us just pointed at the grills and left. The second guy said that is an expensive grill and then left. Finally the third person showed us the grill that we wanted to see that was in a box. I was done by then and we left without one. Thinking I will get a bigger one when we get to KS.

Jim looked at five different stores for some soaker hose. He never did find what he was looking for. Came home and found some in his shop! He will get it all set up with a timer tomorrow sometime.

He is outside now taking more shingles off the west side of the house. Hoping he gets it done tonight and gets the side washed down so I can get it painted tomorrow morning before it gets hot. I would love to get the west side of the house finished before we go back to KS Friday afternoon.

I have a shift on the Crisis Text Hot Line tonight. I’ll sign on at 9:00 so I can have a texter by 10:00. My shift will last to midnight and I hope to get two if not three texters to chat with during my shift.

I took a nap this afternoon. I didn’t sleep well again last night. Getting tired of this cycle I seem to be in. Sure wish I understood what helps me sleep and why I don’t sleep. Can’t seem to pin point what works and what doesn’t.

We have started loading up the car of things to take this time to KS. Jim needs to gather all his CO gear as he might not be back down before we leave for CO July 1. He might end up coming next week but we will see. We will have another full load to take to KS this time. I think he has decided not to take his Mazda as he wants to leave a car in the driveway so the house doesn’t look deserted.

I got a small paint brush so I can start painting the trim on the house. When Jim pulled off the shingles the sides of the windows became exposed and need painting. That will be detailed painting and I will be able to do it better with a small brush. Not sure I will get that done this time but maybe in August I can get to that.

Fixed brats on the grill for dinner tonight. We had left over scalloped potatoes that we ate with the brats. Not my favorite meal of the week but it fed us and it was quick and easy. Not sure what I will come up with for tomorrow night.

We will need to clean out the refrigerator before we leave Friday. We might not be back here for two months. Not sure that thought has hit Jim yet.

No sustaining low heart rate today again. It did drop to 40 a couple of times but didn’t stay there long. That is good! I jumped to 180 at one point today when I was mowing. It calms back down when I stop mowing and cool down.

One more full day here and then we head for the prairie. As expected this time here has gone by quickly. I sure didn’t get as much work done this week as I had hoped I would. Guess every little bit helps but we need big progress to get this project completed. Maybe that isn’t the point anymore! It will be nice to get back to the prairie.

Grateful the back yard is mowed, grateful to be in service tonight on the Hot Line, and grateful it cools down in the evenings.

I got a little painting done today outside. It felt good to make a bit more progress on the house today. We didn’t get much done yesterday. Jim worked this afternoon on removing more shingles. He still has more to do before I have another space to paint. If I get up in the morning early enough I have one more area I can paint until Jim gets the next area ready.

I didn’t sleep more than two hours last night so took a nap this afternoon. I miss being able to sleep most of the night. I had gotten into a space where I was sleeping six hours a night – I miss that! I can never figure out what causes me to sleep and what prevents me from doing so.

I fixed tacos for dinner tonight. They are so easy I almost feel guilty fixing them so often. They are one of Jim’s favorites and he never complains when I fix them. I turn them into a taco salad – not one of my favorites but they are so easy I fix them often.

It was hot again in Stillwater today. Mid 90’s is too hot for me! I had to quit painting earlier than I wanted to as I got too hot. Hoping I get up earlier tomorrow so I can get out before 10:00 and be able to paint for at least an hour before it gets so hot.

I wrote my Aunt Jeannie a long letter today and fixed a package with some face masks to mail to her tomorrow. It brought back lots of childhood memories. She and my dad’s brother were divorced years ago but she still feels like an Aunt to me.

Spent some time on the Crisis Text Hot Line Platform today looking at the referrals we have that we can send to our texters. Sent the supervisor a note asking a question and got a clarification on something I needed help with. There is a lot of chaos going on amongst the paid staff on the hot line. The President of the company was fired last week for racism and it broke open a big can of worms. I was disappointed to hear about all of that. For now I am going to continue to volunteer but will need to stay on top of what is happening and may decide not to continue.

This week in Stillwater is going fast. We only have two more full days before we return to the prairie. We haven’t gotten much done this week but that’s OK. Somehow the work waits for us.

Jim had someone come by and give him a bid for a garage door. He ordered a door but it won’t be installed until we get back from CO. One more big thing that will be taken off his list. We are making progress – just seems like our to-do list is still rather long.

I’m getting excited for Nicole’s wedding this weekend. It will be good to have my family all together again. We haven’t been together since Christmas. Hoping we get some good family photos taken.

My heart has not dropped below 51 for 48 hours. Sure wish I could understand what causes it to do so and why sometimes it doesn’t. I have had the opposite problem the last two days in that it starts racing for no reason now. All of a sudden it will jump to 130 with no reason. Talk about riding a roller coaster! Stop! I want off!

Grateful some painting got done today, grateful for afternoon naps after a night of little sleep, and grateful for this time in Stillwater.

This has been an interesting day. Neither one of us had much energy or much motivation to do anything again today. I think we have taken this relaxing thing too far and can’t seem to get back into the mode of actually getting stuff done.

Jim did make lots of phone calls today to change his mailing address. The modern technology makes this process very hard. The address in Strong City is 2374B V Road. People have a hard time getting that right.

I got the pieces I had cut out To make face masks pressed and put together ready to sew. I have about 100 more face masks to sew up when I get home later this week. That should keep me out of trouble for a bit.

I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things and mail a package of face masks to a friend. The line to get the package mailed was long but I didn’t want to go to the Post Office so I stuck it out and got it on its way.

I made a ham loaf for dinner tonight. It was good – I prefer meat loaf to ham loaf but Jim likes ham loaf better. Have lots of left overs though so will have to eat it a couple more meals this week.

Jim and I both have heavy hearts tonight with all the social unrest that is happening. We both trust that major change will happen as a result of all of this – change that is long overdue. Jim has an interesting perspective as he taught at a historical black college for over 30 years. He is helping educate me about racial relations and racism.

The racism unrest has hit the Crisis Text Hotline I volunteer for. The founder and CEO was fired last week due to her racist practices. The staff are sad, angry and unsettled. They have a network where the staff and volunteers can communicate and post notes to each other. I have been reading some of them to try to understand what is going on. Some volunteers have quit, some are thinking about it, and others want to stay on. It is hard to know what the right thing to do is. I will watch what happens in the coming days before I decide what to do. I don’t want to stay on if that is interrupted as consent to the racist practices that evidently have been happening. I am too new to know who to listen to and who has a perspective that might be helpful to me in making my decision. For now, I will do my shifts and focus on why I am there – to help ease the load of an individual texter.

I can feel the heavy energy of the world tonight. My pulse rate has gone from 40 to as high as 150 today. It jumped big time while I was at the grocery store. Earlier this morning I got an alarm that it had stayed below 45 for over 10 minutes. Maybe my heart is feeling the chaos in the world right now and jumping around trying to find a “new” normal.

Grateful we were able to take another quiet day, grateful for the brave voices of those speaking out about racism, and grateful change is happening.

A relaxing day today. Didn’t get much done. I did get all the flannel and sheets cut into pieces so I can make more masks when I get back to KS. Still need to press them so they will be ready to put together.

Jim had gotten two big packages of ham pieces at the grocery store yesterday. One package was butt ends and the other was odd pieces of sliced ham. We worked over an hour getting them put into smaller packages to put into the freezer. We made ham salad with some of the smallest pieces. Hadn’t had ham salad for a long time and it is really good. We have some extra ground ham so will fix a ham loaf for dinner tomorrow night.

I was going to fix scalloped potatoes with ham for dinner tonight. I fixed scalloped potatoes but forgot to put the ham in it. Sometimes I wonder about myself! I thought the pan was not full enough but couldn’t figure out what I had forgotten.

It reached the mid 90’s here today. I stayed inside Mose of the day. We will go take our walk when it cools down a bit. I don’t do well in this hot of weather.

We only walked one mile last night. We waited until dark before we walked as it was hot yesterday too. We need to walk longer than that tonight.

I have had a day where I wanted to eat all day long. I finally am stuffed and will probably have reflux later. Sure wish I knew what caused those types of days. I used to be able to not eat between meals but not today.

I got an alarm on my phone that my heart rate had dropped below 45 and stayed there for at least 10 minutes this morning. I hadn’t been up too long when that happened. I’m tracking it on my calendar now so I can report to my Cardiologist when it happens. Can’t seem to find a consistent pattern when it happens.

Finally got hold of someone at Best Buy. They called me back after about an hour and the guy was able to take care of the exchange paperwork. The new replacement oven won’t be delivered until August 7. This has been the longest process as I ordered the new oven way back in February. I’ll be glad when this project gets crossed off my to-do list.

I didn’t sleep very good last night. I would sleep for an hour or so then be up for an hour or so and repeated that all night long. Makes for a long night when that happens.

We don’t have any big plans for tomorrow. Jim has some phone calls to make to get some workers to the house this week. He also has a shopping list he wants to take care of. If I get up early enough I’ll go out and paint in the morning. It might wait until later in the week though.

Oklahoma has seen lots of new Covid-19 cases. Stillwater has more now than they have had during the whole time. I don’t think this crisis is going to go away very soon. It is getting hard for me to remember to continue to take precautions when I am out and about. I trust I won’t drop my guard too low and get sick. Jim is much better at taking precautions than I am. We both wear masks when we go into a public building. We still limit where we go and how often we go out. Not sure when I might feel comfortable going to a restaurant or being in a crowd inside.

We both are missing the cats. I have gone to the back room twice today to check on Katie and thought I heard Tony at the door earlier today. Got a text from the house sitter that all the critters are doing well back home and all seem to be playing nice in our absence.

Grateful the flannel and sheet pieces are cut, grateful I was able to get hold of Best Buy today, and grateful for a day of rest and relaxation.

We are back in Stillwater for a week. The drive was uneventful and smooth. We left Strong City around 12:30 and got to Stillwater around 3:30.

The house sitter for the week showed up around noon. We introduced her to most of the cats and dogs. Ellie and Bell were MIA but she met the others. She brought a dog with her so she will have plenty of company and lots of critters to love on.

I was surprised that Jim’s mailbox was full when we got here. We had both Put in orders to forward the mail to Strong City. I had two hand written letters to read! Hoping the USPS gets their act together and gets things forwarded as we requested.

Jim went out and got groceries after we got home and the car unloaded. It is so hard to know what we have at each house. He got some hamburger and we grilled hamburgers for dinner. Simple and fast which was what we both needed tonight.

I unpacked my suitcase and realized I forgot to bring underwear. I thought I had left some here. Had to make an emergency run to Walmart to get some. Got some more flannel material while I was there. When I bought sheets to make face masks I had to get a set of sheets instead of just the top sheet. I have two fitted sheets to cut into rectangles to make more masks and needed more flannel. I didn’t bring the sewing machine but I will get everything cut into pieces and pressed.

I called Best Buy to try to get the oven exchanged. It took five minutes before I got to the point of leaving my phone number for them to call me back when it is my turn. They called me back an hour later and for some reason the call immediately got disconnected as soon as I told the lady my name. I had to call back and get back in line but this time it didn’t give me the option of getting a call back. They wanted me to wait 1 hour and 30 minutes and listen to their music and automated messages. I hung up and tried again an hour later and the same thing happened. I’ll try again tomorrow.

Last night my smart watch went off as my heart rate was under 45 for over 10 minutes. I had woken up before it went off and didn’t feel right. I got up and sat in the living room. I finally felt better after a bit. Sure wish I had the monitor on when that happened. I’m afraid when I get the monitor I won’t have one of these spells. My heart rate has stayed above 45 all day – in fact it has been over 50 most of the day.

It is strange being here with no cats underfoot. I keep thinking I hear Tony scratching at the door to come in. I have gone to the back room to check on Katie twice before I remembered that she is in Strong City. Jim will be glad to get back to his cats in a week.

I finally remembered to order a pair of sandals to wear to Nicole’s wedding a week from today. She has hired a professional photographer and we are going to have some family pictures taken. I have a dress to wear but didn’t have any shoes to go with it. It is going to be hot so I ordered fancy flip flops. That way I won’t be tempted to wear hose.

While I was at Walmart I picked up a skein of baby yarn in case I want to knit this week since I don’t have my sewing machine. I did bring knitting needles so I won’t go completely crazy not doing something.

Feeling a bit tired tonight. I was up for over an hour in the middle of the night last night. I should have taken a nap on the way down here today but didn’t. Maybe I’ll sleep tonight. Not sure why I have been taking so many naps lately but my body seems to need it for some reason. If I have nothing else to do I might as well honor that.

Grateful for a safe journey to Stillwater today, grateful my heart rate has stayed up today, and grateful underwear is easily purchased.

We are still on the prairie.  The house sitter that is coming to stay for a week had something she wanted to do tomorrow morning before she came.  We decided to stay one more night.  I was tired when I got back from my drive to Topeka this afternoon.  This way I didn’t have to be on the road for five hours today.

I got to Topeka at 12:30 for my 1:00 appointment.  They called me back at 1:05 and I was done by 1:10.  The girl that did my ultrasound did a quick job today.  It didn’t feel like she did a thorough job but maybe she was just fast at what she does.  I was home by 2:20.  Seems like a long trip for a five minute appointment.

Called Best Buy to see if I could arrange an exchange for my oven that is too small.  The delivery guys yesterday still haven’t completed the paper work so the main office for Best Buy can’t do anything yet.  I had called them last night and waited for over an hour to talk to someone to be told to call today.  I waited over an hour again today to talk to someone to be told to call tomorrow.  Trusting tomorrow will be the magic day.  Third time is a charm – right?

Called the A/C people.  My A/C is struggling to keep the house cool.  They haven’t been out to do their annual check of the system yet.  When I talked to them today they said they got a late start on their annual checks due to Covid-19.  Then the heat wave hit and they have been busy doing emergency service calls.  They have me on the list to come out and check the unit out.  It isn’t an emergency as the house is cooling – just not as cool and as efficiently as it should be.

This house was not vented properly when it was built.  There are rooms in the house that are ice cold and other rooms that are barely cool at all.  It drives Jim a bit crazy.  I have talked to the service guys before about it and they said I would have to have all new venting installed to fix the problem which means cutting through lots of walls.  We may try to find an expert to come check it out and see what they recommend.  We also need to fix the hot water problem.  It takes a long time to get hot water for the kitchen sink and showers.  I had turned off the system they used that provided instant hot water as it used way too much propane.  I think we need a on demand hot water heater on the main floor.  Maybe I’ll put that on my wish list for next year.

I fell asleep in my chair again this afternoon.  I don’t know why I have been so tired lately.  I slept fairly well last night.  Have felt sleepy and a bit cranky all day.  The good news is my heart rate hasn’t dropped below 44 for 24 hours.  Maybe I scared it into behaving when I went to the Cardiologist.

Took two calls on the Crisis Hot Line last night.  Both calls felt incomplete to me.  The first one felt more like a prank caller than a person in crisis and the other one disengaged fairly quickly after we started.  I always wonder if I said something wrong to make them pull away.  The only hard part of doing this type of work is the not knowing what is really going on with the texter and what the rest of their story is.  I can only hope I do more good than harm.

We added some distance to our walk last night and ended up going 2 3/4 miles.  We will try for 3 miles tonight.  I always resist getting going but always enjoy our walk once I get out and get started.  We saw lots of deer last night feeding in the fields.  They are so fun to watch run through the fields.

We will drive to Stillwater late morning tomorrow.  I still need to pack some things to take.  We plan on staying for a week.  I thought I might have to come back early for doctor appointments but two of the three appointments are now scheduled for late June and early August.  I still need the heart monitor people to call me and let me know when I can get hooked up for that.  If they call me next week and can get me started I’ll have to come back early.  We plan on bringing two cars back so I can come home early if needed.

I was surprised the earliest stress test appointment they had available was late July.  I decided to push it off one more week and not have to come home from CO early.  Good thing it isn’t an emergency!  I have my echo on June 25.

I have felt a bit on edge all day today.  Not sure what is behind that.  It has been a hard day for me to find my center and relax.  I’m glad I got a bit of a nap in my chair.  I feel a bit better this evening but still have some heavy energy hanging around.  It probably is some energy I picked up that isn’t mine.  When we walk tonight I’ll see if I can get rid of it.

Grateful for a safe trip to and from Topeka today, grateful for another night on the prairie, and grateful for the beauty we see on our walks each evening.

Happy anniversary to mom and dad. They have been married for 72 years today. I trust they are celebrating on the other side. I sure miss them.

I went to the Cardiologist this afternoon. He isn’t sure what is going on so ordered a bunch of tests to be done. They did an EKG today and it didn’t show anything strange. The Heart Center in Topeka is to call me soon to get them all scheduled. He wants me to wear a monitor for at least two weeks so it can capture one of my episodes. I have to do the nuclear exercise treadmill stress test and a Echocardiogram. He said he has some ideas what is going on but he needs facts before he can come up with a treatment plan. He did tell me not to take the Beta Blocker for now.

The last time I had the stress test done it was done in Emporia. The Cardiologist wasn’t impressed then with how they did it and asked if I would drive to Topeka this time. I’m hoping the three things can be taken care of in one visit but we shall see. Not sure when they might be calling me to get things scheduled. As of now I am still planning on going to Stillwater tomorrow but we decided to take two cars so I can come home early if needed. I have to go to Topeka tomorrow for my thyroid ultrasound – it would be nice if some of this could happen then but not counting on it.

The bug guys came today to spray for wood bees. They also sprayed inside the house as they hadn’t sprayed for a long time. It will be nice to sit on the deck and not get dive bombed by wood bees.

The new wall oven finally got here today. It is the wrong size! Damn it! I have a call into Best Buy to see what my options are. They went ahead and hooked it up and he told me I could use it. Not sure why they would take it back if I use it but I trust him I guess. There is a 45 minute wait for the help desk and they are to call me when it is my turn.

It was nice sleeping with the windows open last night. It got down to the low 60’s and it was nice and cool. It has warmed up today to almost 90 but so far we have left the A/C off. We will turn it back on tomorrow before we leave.

I handled three calls last night on the Crisis Text Hotline. Had to get my Supervisor involved with one as it was a mandatory reporting type of case. I never know what the final outcome of those cases are. The other two were routine calls that were fairly easy to handle. It amazes me how their system works to help get people calmed down. I don’t panic now when I get a person that is suicidal. I do worry that I will miss something and not react enough but I can only deal with the information the client gives me. I have another shift tonight.

I need to finish getting the house cleaned for the house sitter that is coming to stay while we are in Stillwater. I warned her that my schedule may change and I might have to be here part of the time. I’ll see when my appointments get scheduled and go from there.

Grateful for a caring Cardiologist who is curious, grateful the wood bees are gone, and grateful for the cool sleeping weather last night.

Talk about a lazy day. I fell asleep twice in my corner chair today. Once I slept for about 20 minutes and the next time for over an hour. Not sure why I feel so tired today as I actually got some sleep last night.

I cleaned the light fixtures in the kitchen and dining room. To do so I have to get my heavy step stool and put it on the kitchen island. Jim came in the kitchen while I was doing that and about had a fit. Sometimes he tries to treat me like a china doll. He needs to get over that!

Fixed chicken tenders with Marinara sauce for dinner tonight. Easy and quick dinner. That is what I used to eat every night of the week.

Tomorrow will be a busy day. The new oven is to be installed early afternoon. The exterminator is coming at 1:00 to get rid of the wood bees. I have a Cardiologist appointment at 3:00. Good thing Jim is here so he can cover part of it while I am at the doctor. I need to remember to move my car down to the barn before people start showing up so I can get out on time.

I have a volunteer shift tonight on the Crisis Text Hot Line. We are over staffed again tonight so will spend more time waiting to get a text than I will actually have a convo with someone. My shift doesn’t end until midnight so I guess it is a good thing I took a nap in my chair today.

Neither one of us got much done again today. We have both been very lazy since we have been back to KS. Hoping next time we come back we will get motivated and get some things done. The deck still needs finishing. I have a list of other things that need done too. Good thing nothing is urgent and it all can patiently wait for us to get to it.

My heart rate has done better today. It did fall to 33 while I was napping this afternoon but didn’t stay there. My smart watch has an alarm on it that goes off it my rate drops below 45 and stays there for 10 miinutes. The alarm didn’t go off today so I know it didn’t stay that low for long. My average resting rate today was 45. Sure am trusting the doctor can figure out what is going on and help me get this fixed.

The wind blew hard most of the night. I am guessing we had some wind gusts of up to 70MPH last night with sustained winds of 55. We opened the windows and enjoyed the coolness of the night. The sound of the wind can drive one to drink though. We left the house open today. I much prefer the house open than to have the A/C on. It is a beautiful evening out tonight. We took a 2 1/2 mile walk. Perfect temperature in the mid 70’s and a light breeze. The sunset tonight is a plain Jane one but beautiful.

Grateful for naps in my chair, grateful for a long walk tonight, and grateful the light fixtures are clean.

The wind is in a big hurry tonight. It is blowing around 30 mph now and is forecast to possibly get up to 70 mph before the night is over. Better button down the hatches. Trusting we won’t have any wind damage tonight.

Have had a slow and easy day today. I made up the beds downstairs and swept all the floors downstairs. Still need to dust and clean the bathrooms but am almost done. Still have the main floor to finish up tomorrow.

Jim went into Emporia this afternoon to get a few things he needed. Luckily he got home before the wind picked up. I’m grateful I have a bigger car now instead of the little Prius. I wouldn’t want to be driving this evening even in my bigger car.

We are to get some rain and possible strong storms this evening. The wind is blowing something in. My feet have ached all day.

We have a free day tomorrow. We sure haven’t gotten much done on our list this trip. I think we both needed a week of decompressing and resting. With all the chaos in the world it is easy to get ungrounded and disconnected. A part of me wishes we didn’t have to go back to Stillwater this week. We are just getting into the rhythm of the prairie.

Thursday will be a busy day. The new oven is being installed, the guy is coming to spray for the wood bees and I have an appointment with the Cardiologist. Friday I go to Topeka for my Ultrasound and then we drive to Stillwater.

My friend came and got six chickens last night. She will be back tonight for the last five. I picked up my last two eggs this afternoon. I will be sad to see the last chickens go away and will miss them until I can get some again in August. Tomorrow I need to get the coop cleaned out if the wind lets up.

I grilled hamburgers for dinner tonight. Seems like we have plain hamburgers several times a week. We both like them and they are easy to fix. Now to decide what to fix tomorrow night. I’m trying to get the freezer cleaned out in preparation for the beef that is coming in July. I have a turkey I need to fix when I come home after Stillwater and before we go to CO in July.

My heart rate has been between 45 – 50 most of the day. I’m glad it didn’t drop to 40 as the nurse advised me to go to ED if it did. I didn’t feel good for about 15 minutes earlier today. Hard to describe what I felt like. My heart starts racing and I almost feel sick to my stomach. I get hot and tired. About the time I think maybe I better do something it goes away. I’m grateful the Cardiologist had an appointment available this week. I’m still thinking most of this is related to my thyroid levels being off and trust the heart issues are temporary and will go away when my thyroid levels get straightened out.

Grateful for a quiet day on the prairie, grateful the basement is almost all cleaned, and grateful for all the eggs my chickens provided me while I had them.

This has turned into a recovery day for me. I haven’t done much. Did make a few phone calls this morning. The guys that need to fix my stack on the barn put me off until the heat wave ends. I left messages with both the Endocrinologist and my family doctor. I can’t make phone calls everyday so guess I accomplish something by doing that today.

I made an appointment with my Cardiologist for this Thursday. He comes to Emporia sometimes and they happened to have had a cancellation. That will save me a trip to Topeka. The nurse was surprised my doctor hadn’t done a EKG when I went in last week. I told her I was too. She recommended I stop the new medication and wait until Thursday to see what the Doctor recommends then. I agreed with her. She did tell me to go to the ED if my heart rate drops to 40 again and stays there for longer than a few minutes.

The Endocrinologist sent a message and then her nurse called. I got conflicting advice from them. The Doctor told me to skip one dose a week and have my levels rechecked in two months. The nurse told me to keep everything the same although the nurse did say I was very close to being way too low. I think I will follow what the doctor sent in her note.

I had sent a note to my doctor the morning after I had such low heart rates overnight. He told me to take half of a pill and to see what happens and to come back in if I continue to have low rates. I don’t think I will try that.

Jim and I went into Emporia this afternoon. We went to Staples and got two new chairs for our study. I also got a new keyboard and mouse. I don’t like the one that came with my computer. I am doing much better on a bigger keyboard and a mouse that has a visable wheel. We rearranged the study a bit and I now have a better work space. I don’t spend a lot of time on my computer in the study but I need good work space when I do my volunteer hours. Jim is going to build us each a desk sometime soon.

I laid down for a bit when we got home. I didn’t sleep well again last night. I never fell asleep this afternoon but it felt good to lay down and rest for a bit.

My neighbor got five chickens last night and will be back after dark to get five more tonight. I haven’t been down to do chores yet today so don’t know if they laid any eggs today or not. It hurts to have to buy eggs from the store for a bit but hoping I will have new chickens the first of August and eggs by Thanksgiving.

I have the linens for the third bedroom washed up. I’ll go downstairs in a bit and make up three beds. I still need to wash the linens from the beds that are in the room Jim has taken over. Not sure I will bother washing them as they need to be taken out of the room and I won’t be using them again. I do need to start cleaning the floors downstairs and dust all the furniture.

We don’t have anything on the calendar for tomorrow or Wednesday. Maybe the mood to clean will finally strike and I can get the house done. Thursday the new oven is being installed and I have a doctor’s appointment. Friday I go to Topeka for an Ultrasound and then we are driving to Stillwater. I am running out of time to get the house done. I work best under pressure so maybe I will get started soon.

I haven’t written any letters for over a week. I miss writing them. Maybe that will be somethng I will do this evening. I have my address book now so I can write to some people that I haven’t written to yet. My brother said he didn’t get the last letter I mailed. I can’t remember where I dropped it off at but seem to remember it was one of several that I mailed at the same time. Makes me wonder if everyone I have sent a letter to has received it.

I got a short note from Aunt Glenda today. I had mailed her some face masks. She sent me a brand new $5 bill for the postage with a note that it was part of their stimulus money and she was working hard to spend it. She makes me smile!

My rental property manager called me this morning to let me know one of the properties needs a new A/C unit. He estimated it would cost $3,000. He called me this afternoon and said the actual cost is $3,800. OUCH! Grateful I have the money to pay for it but not how I had planned to spend that money. I haven’t had a major expense on the rental properties since I had to replace two roofs a couple years ago. Guess I was due for one.

Feeling a bit frazzled today. Not sure why. Delaing with doctors can do that to me though. I just want someone to tell me what is wrong (if anything other than my thyroid levels). I don’t like when I get different advice from them and I am supposed to know what to do. I’m grateful the Cardiologist can see me this week. Maybe I will get some answers from him.

Grateful for the new office chairs, grateful I have the funds to pay for the new A/C unit, and grateful nothing had to be done today so I could take a day to recharge and be quiet.

Got up this morning and went out and mowed. Figured out what was wrong with my mower and got it started without issue. Mowed the entire yard. Got kissed by the sun a bit. There was a nice breeze and it didn’t feel too hot mowing today. Jim went out this afternoon and pushed mowed to trim the yard. The yard sure looks nice now.

Jason and his partner and her two kids came out for dinner. It is so nice to have adult conversation with someone. Oh how I have missed having my family together. I fixed chili and homemade cinnamon rolls for dinner. They stayed and watch the sun go down. The temperature has dropped nicely this evening and it was a beautiful evening to sit outside and visit.

My neighbor came and picked up five chickens. She will be back tomorrow night for five more. She will get the rest of them Tuesday night. After they are all gone I will need to get the chicken coop cleaned out really good. I hope to get baby chickens and start over the first of August. I can’t wait to be back in the egg business.

Finally feel like I have had a productive day. I hadn’t had one for a bit. I am tired tonight but it is a good type of tired.

Last night my smart watch kept going off telling me my heart rate was too low. I took one of the new pills my doctor had prescribed and it caused my heart rate to go down to 40 and stay there most of the night. I didn’t take another one this morning. I sent my doctor a note through MyChart and trust he will tell me tomorrow on what to do. I don’t think that is the medication for me. I think I will call my Cardiologist and make an appointment with him. 40 is a tad low!

Nothing on the calendar for tomorrow. I do need to make a few phone calls. The exhaust stack on the barn has blown down and I need to call the guys to come repair it. I need to call the Cardiologist and make an appointment, and I need to check with my family doctor about the medication. If I don’t hear from my Endocrinologist about my TSH level I need to call her office again. I have a short grocery list that one or the other of us need to get. We also need to go look at office chairs and get two new chairs for the study. We might look for some deck chairs too.

Thursday I am to get my new oven installed. I had ordered it way back in February and the delivery got delayed due to Covid-19 restrictions. Trusting it will get delivered and installed on Thursday. It has been paid for all this time.

Friday I go to Topeka for my Ultrasound on my neck and then we are going to Stillwater for a week. I will need to get the house ready for my friend that is coming to house sit and get packed to go to Stillwater. I am almost wishing we didn’t have to go but know we will enjoy our time there when we get there.

This week will go by quickly again. Next week we will be in Stillwater and come home so we can go to KC on the 20th for Nicole’s wedding. That Will be a fun event! Then home for 10 days and then off to CO for four weeks. The summer will go by very fast. I am looking forward to August and things settling in for a bit. Although if I can find a house sitter in August we will probably spend a week in Stillwater sometime in August too.

Finally feeling like I am back in my peaceful valley of life. Finding a bit of a rhythm to life on the prairie again. One benefit of being back home is getting to see my kids and have wonderful evenings like tonight.

Grateful Jason and his family came out this evening, grateful the yard is mowed, and grateful for the peace and quiet of the prairie tonight.

It has been a laid back day on the prairie today. I didn’t get much done again today. Got the bedroom upstairs put back together and the linens from one of the rooms downstairs brought up. I have one last load of laundry to do today and those linens will be ready to go back on the bed. Tomorrow I’ll start on the other bedroom downstairs.

I worked on making more face masks again today. I have all the ones I had pinned together sewed up. I have more pieces cut that need pressed and then I can start the assembly process again. I needed to take a break from them for the rest of today.

Set out two chicken breasts to thaw this morning. Found a recipe on line that was easy and really good. You simmer the chicken for 10 minutes, then wrap each breast with two pieces of bacon. Put them in a pan and pour BBQ sauce over them and sprinkle with shredded cheese. Bake for 25 minutes at 375. Made a quick and delicious meal. We decided I needed to print that recipe so I will remember to make it again. Now to decide what to fix tomorrow night.

I took a nap this afternoon again. My shoulder was hurting again last night and I didn’t sleep well. Slept for over 1 1/2 hours this afternoon. Hope I sleep tonight.

I went to town after dinner to get gas for my mower. I was going to mow for an hour. I had not turned it all the way off when I mowed earlier this week and the mower was dead. I’ll have to have Jim help me start it tomorrow. Not in the mood to mess with it tonight. I spilled gas on my shorts while I was filling the mower’s gas tank so had to come in and take a shower. Kinda represents how my day has gone today.

I’ve been cranky all day today. The full moon was last night and it was a hard one for me. I am also adjusting to a new routine of being in the big house and haven’t found my rhythm here yet. There seems to be a lot for me to get done here but nothing seems to be what I want to be doing. Since we are going back to Stillwater next Friday it seems hard for me to get things done for some reason. Oh well, If things were urgent that I get them done I would do so. Most of what needs done can wait like painting the back deck, painting walls and the never ending job of deep cleaning each room.

We watched the wedding of Jim’s niece on Facebook live this afternoon. It was the shortest wedding I have ever seen but one full of love. I’m so grateful for Facebook live at times like that so family and friends can join in the celebration.

We worked a bit organizing stuff downstairs. The first load of Jim’s stuff was
dumped in the hallway downstairs and I didn’t want it to stay there. I moved my stuff from a big closet downstairs into the furnace room and organized it better. Jim worked on sorting his stuff in the dark room and made room for the stuff that was in the hallway. We both found some things that need taken down to the barn to be stored. Jim ended up not putting anything in the closet so it is still free for the next load of stuff we bring when we come back from Stillwater on the 19th.

My lower back is sore tonight. Not sure if I lifted something wrong or twisted it while I was downstairs today or if I slept wrong last night. Hopefully it will be better by tomorrow. I’m tired of my body yelling at me.

It was another hot day on the prairie with the temperatures in the mid 90’s again. I stayed in most of the day to avoid the heat. I think I got a bit dehydrated yesterday being out for over an hour in the heat of the day. I have been working on drinking lots extra today to help me feel a bit better. I think I am finally catching up as I do feel a bit better tonight.

Grateful the stuff out of the hallway got put away today, grateful my stuff got better organized, and grateful this day is almost over and a new day will be here soon.

I am 66 years old and participated in my first protest march today. It was all very peaceful and relatively quiet. There was a good turn out although being in the middle of it I have no idea how many people were there. We marched down Commercial Street from 12th to 7th and then east one block and then south again two more blocks.

At the end point there was a gathering with speakers. We all kneeled for 8 minutes and 45 seconds in honor of the time George Floyd had a knee on the back of his neck. Afterwards there were speakers. Jim and I were towards the back of the crowd and couldn’t hear what was being said.

We left before the speakers were done. I was hot and my heart rate was really fast. We walked back up Commercial Street to return to the college to get to where we parked the car.

I was impressed with the number of young people that came out. There was a nice showing of us older people too. Lots of people along the route were handing out cold bottles of water. At the gathering point on Campus they were handing out face masks and bottles of water. Several protesters pulled coolers full of water to hand out.

We were interviewed by a reporter from the college’s newspaper. He took my picture with my sign. My sign said “This mother heard George Floyd’s cry for help”.

Not sure anything will change as a result of the protest today. I read some of the comments on the article the local radio posted and several of them didn’t get the point at all. Racism is alive and well in Emporia, KS. Now I need to figure out what Step 2 is for me. I need to step up and do my part as we need change on many levels so that all people feel safe and are heard and seen.

When we got back to the car we went to Walmart to pick up a few things. I had broken a pair of scissors and needed a replacement pair. I also needed some low dose aspirin as my doctor recommended I start taking one a day. We picked up a big sack of dog food and a couple other things Jim needed.

Came home and haven’t done much this afternoon. I fell asleep in my chair for a bit. Need to go out and do chicken chores and make sure the girls have enough water. It is a hot one today.

I contacted my neighbor and she is going to come start getting chickens this Sunday. She will take five a day until she gets them all processed next week. I was going to clean out the chicken coop tonight or early tomorrow morning but will wait now until the chickens are gone to do it. I plan on getting baby chickens when we get back from CO the end of July.

I have the linens from the two bedrooms upstairs done. Need to do rugs from the two bathrooms upstairs and then start on the beds downstairs. I am a slug this afternoon though and not feeling like I want to move much. May not get anything done today.

I volunteered for three hours on the Crisis Hot Line last night. The first caller disengaged when I pushed him to problem solve. The second one was a satisfying call to me as I was able to get her some relief. I spend most of my time waiting for texters to interact with. I was able to copy and paste which I couldn’t last night. Now I need to figure out why the sound alert when I get a texter isn’t working. I have it turned on. The volume works on other things on the computer. I’m sure it is some small thing that I need to fix but can’t figure out what it is. I’ll keep playing with it.

I have some hamburger thawed for tonight. I’ll probably just fix plain hamburgers with it. We both enjoy that and it will make dinner easy. We picked up a few more corn on the cob for Jim to eat. I’ll fix me another vegetable to go with mine.

It is in the mid 90’s today and hot and humid out. The A/C doesn’t turn off for long before it turns right back on again. The back of my shirt was wet when we got back to the car today. I rarely sweat like that. Not sure we will take a walk this evening.

Grateful for the organizers of the protest today, grateful for all that were passing out bottles of water in support of the walkers, and grateful to have A/C and a cool house to come home to.

This Grandma is tired tonight. The two grandkids came out early afternoon and we just got back from taking them home. Oh what fun we had though. I fixed bacon, eggs and pancakes for lunch for them when they got here. Both ate really good. I had baked cookies this morning and they enjoyed them. We baked cupcakes this afternoon. Fixed hot dogs, corn on the cob and green beans for dinner.

Tagen ran the sewing machine for me to help me make some more face masks. Ellexia played in the sprinkler for a bit to cool down. They helped me do chicken chores and played with the dogs and cats.

I had forgotten how many dishes I can dirty when the kiddos are over. The third dishwasher load of the day is running now. The kids were so good and it was so nice to spend the day with them. Tagen is four inches taller than I am now. Oh my how he has grown up over the last six months.

I am washing the bedding for the two beds upstairs today. The washer and dryer have been running all day and I am not done yet. Tomorrow I need to wash the rugs in the two bathrooms upstairs and then get started on linens from the three bedrooms downstairs. It is time to do my spring cleaning and detail clean each room of the house. I hate doing it but love how it feels when I am done.

I haven’t had a chance to sit down much today. It has been a very busy day. But my tired tonight is a good tired and hopefully I will sleep well tonight.

Had a Crisis Text Hot Line Shift last night. I only took two calls. Both were fairly easy calls. I wanted to send one of them a link and my new computer wouldn’t let me copy and paste the link. I had to rope my supervisor into the call and ended up transferring the call to her so she could paste the link. She then transferred the call back to me and I finished the call up. The link had really helped the client so I am glad we figured out a way to get it to her.

I messaged a different supervisor later to ask how I copy and paste on the Apple. He gave me a new way to tried and it worked. I had switched to my old computer for the second call as it is common for me to send my clients referrals to links. I’ll try it out on the Mac tonight and hopefully will be able to make it work. I have another shift at 10:00 tonight.

I leveled up to a Level 3 Counselor last night. I have handled 30 calls so far. The next level up requires 30 more calls so it will be a bit before I become a Level 4. Level 9 is as high as they go. I have no idea how many calls it takes to get that high.

There are now over 10,000 counselors and last month we handled 105,000 calls. They are working hard to spread the word about the Hot Line as they have so many counselors now and can handle a much higher volume of calls. They have more than doubled the number of counselors they have since six months ago.

This has been a busy but good day. Got a lot of house work done but most importantly spent time with my two grandkids. It did all of us good to spend some time together.

Grateful for the time I got with my kiddos today, grateful for the cleaning and laundry I got done today, and grateful for the opportunity to be in service again tonight.

A frustrating day for me. I was at my doctor’s office at 7:45. They called me back at 8:15. After the nurse left I sat in the little room until after 9:00 when the doctor finally got to work. He was distracted and rushed when he came in. His computer wasn’t working so he spent 10 minutes getting it going.

I gave him my list of complaints. He was a bit dismissive and seemed uninterested. He never did lay hands on my shoulders or listen to my heart. He felt my pulses in my wrists and that was as much examining as he did.

He sent me for an X-ray  of my left shoulder and to have labs drawn. He gave me a list of exercises I can try to see if it helps my shoulder. Gave me a prescription that he said I could or could not take. He thinks it is all related to my thyroid condition and will level itself out in time.

His nurse called and said the X-ray was normal and that if I want they can refer me to PT. I am going to try the exercises for a bit and see if they help and then go to PT if they don’t. I am to go back in 90 days if nothing is helping and they will do an MRI then.

He gave me a heart medication that is to level out my B/P. However, he thinks it is thyroid related and it may level out on its own. He said I can wait 30 days to see if I feel better and if I don’t to try the medication.

Most of the lab results have come back and everything is normal except for BUN which is always high for me. It actually was lower than my normal which is good.

The problem child TSH was only 0.77. Way too low! It was 5.6 the end of March. The good news is that is evidence I have been swinging back and forth. When it gets that low it can cause the heart to be stressed and over worked. That explains the B/P roller coaster. I’ll wait until the Endocrinologist sees the results and see what she wants me to do. They also drew blood to check the cancer levels but those results take several days to get back.

I was disappointed in the visit today. I hate feeling dismissed and not getting definite direction. Usually he isn’t like this but about one out of ten visits he can do this. Oh well, I know my body better than anyone and getting the low TSH helps me understand what is going on. It is getting better so I just need to be patient and ride it out a bit longer. I have a feeling I am still getting too much thyroid medication and it needs to be reduced.

Stopped at Bluestem and got a new watering container for the chickens. Came home and ate some breakfast and went to bed. I only got three hours of sleep last night and I was wiped out. I slept a couple of hours and am feeling much better.

It is in the low 90’s today and a hot and windy day on the prairie. Jim got the blinds in the living room all unknotted and was able to lower them so the living room is cooler. Jim turned the A/C back on late morning so the house will stay cool.

Jim’s cats are adjusting slowly. Tony got out for a bit today and stuck around the house. That is good. We are afraid the dogs will scare him and he will run away. Katy has stayed in her crate inside and has been quiet for her. Another couple of days and Tony can come and go and all will be back to normal here.

Fixing tacos for supper tonight. I have some hamburger thawed and tacos are easy. I don’t have the energy to get complicated tonight.

Cut out more pieces for more masks this morning before I had to leave to go to the doctor. I need to cut some more flannel pieces and press all of them and then I can start putting together more masks. I need to start cleaning house but the mood hasn’t hit me yet.

Tomorrow we need to check our feed supplies and possibly go to town for a load. I checked with my neighbor and she is going to take my chickens over the next couple of weeks. I will replace them with babies when we get back from CO. The ones I have now are only laying about 2 eggs a day. Not worth the feed. I will get 24 babies and get back in the egg business this fall.

I think Jim is going to wait to go back to Stillwater until the 12th when we go together. He is enjoying relaxing on the prairie and getting some reading and writing time. It was so nice yesterday to spend the day relaxing and enjoying the beautiful view we have here.

Grateful for the lab results today, grateful for a long afternoon nap, and grateful for tacos.

A quiet day on the prairie at last. I went to bed early last night and got up in time to watch the sunrise this morning. It was beautiful and filled my soul.

I spent some time this morning putting things away and cleaning up the kitchen. We had dumped everything from the cars into the kitchen and dining room when we got here yesterday. I hate cluttered kitchen counter tops and kitchen tables.

Made a long grocery list for Jim. He went to town and it took him over an hour to get all the things on the list. He said his cart was full! It took us a bit to get everything put away when he got home. It is always an interesting experience to see what he buys at the store.

I ran into Cottonwood Falls to go to the bank to deposit three checks and to stop by the post office to mail two packages. I sent face masks off to my two Aunts.

Spent quite a bit of time today making more masks. I almost have all the ones I have cut out made up so will finish that last 10 or so of those and then will have to cut out more pieces. I have another big stack of them made up so if anyone needs some just holler.

Went out and mowed the driveway and to the south of the parking lot. It was nasty mowing as the grass was tall and it is dusty dirty out there. My eyes are still gritty and I am dusty and dirty. It was good to get outside and bounce on the mower for a bit. My house sitter had mowed up most of the yard. I will need to remember to get some gas before I can mow again.

Tomorrow morning I have to be at the doctor’s office at 7:45. I don’t usually get up and going that early in the morning. I look forward to getting some answers though and trust he will figure something out that will help me.

Need to stop on the way home from Emporia tomorrow and get a new watering can for the chickens. My other one is so bent out of shape that I can’t twist it on properly. The floor of the chicken coop is all wet from the water that leaks out when you don’t get the lid on correctly. I will need to do a big feed haul sometime this week but don’t think I will do it tomorrow. I’ll wait till I have Jim with me so he can do the heavy lifting.

We need to get the chicken coop cleaned out sometime this week. May do it this evening when it cools down a bit. It got hot enough this afternoon I turned the A/C on. Last night I had to put a sweater on after dark and am guessing it will cool down enough again tonight that we can turn the A/C back off and open the windows. I prefer sleeping with the windows open and the A/C off.

I have chicken tenders marinating in olive oil and seasoning that we will grill for dinner. Jim got some corn on the cob at the store today so we will have that with the chicken. It will be an easy meal to fix.

I haven’t started cleaning the house yet. Maybe tomorrow I can get a room or two done. The mood didn’t hit me today yet.

Sitting in my chair typing reminds me I need to do something about shades for the west windows. It sure would keep the top floor of the house cooler if I could block out the sunlight in the afternoons. I have never been sure what I wanted so have kept putting off getting something. Time to get off the pot and make a decision and get something ordered.

It is so nice to be back on the prairie. My heart feels full of light and love. Nothing fills me as full as being on the prairie.

Grateful the pantry and refrigerator are restocked, grateful more masks are made, and grateful to be back on the prairie.

Home sweet home! We got here around 3:15 this afternoon. Have been unpacking the two very full cars and putting stuff away all evening. Still not done but getting close. It is so very good to be home.

Jim put Tony in the office and took the cat crates to the garage. When Jim came back in he couldn’t find Tony. We looked all over the house and outside for him. About two hours later we heard him in the office. He was hiding on a book shelf behind a table. What a relief it was to find him.

The cats have talked to each other through the screen door. It hasn’t been love at first sight yet. We will give them some more time to smell each other before we actually allow them to make contact. Katy slept most of the afternoon in her big crate in the living room.

I had Tony in my car and he cried almost half the way home. Jim said Katy slept most of the way. Neither one has ever gone off of Jim’s property except to go to the Vet’s office. Not sure Tony is a fan of road trips.

I am making a very long grocery list for tomorrow. Jim is going to go to town and do our shopping tomorrow. I have a feeling it is going to take him a bit at the store to find everything. I cleaned out the refrigerator today – had a lot of things out of date. When you are gone for over five months that happens!

The sunset tonight was a beauty. There were enough clouds to give it lots of color yet we could still see the ball drop off the edge of the earth. I had to put a sweater on as it is chilly out on the deck. It is so nice to look out over the green green grass of home.

I didn’t sleep real well last night and am tired tonight. My right shoulder is bothering me tonight. I iced it while we were outside watching the sunset and will take a hot bath and then use a hot pad on it in bed. Sure hoping the doctor can figure out what is wrong and give me something to make it feel better.

We went on a walk and when we got to the mail box the dogs came to walk with us. We turned around and brought them back to the house. Their collars needed charged. Roxy’s collar was sticky and not working well. We locked the dogs in the garage and got the collars charged. I brushed Sophia for a bit with the rake and got handfuls of fur off of her. Have a lot more work to do on her. She looks like she is in rough shape. Roxy has a few burrs I need to cut out tomorrow. She was a bit pissed at me for locking her in the garage and not in the mood for me to work on her.

I have masks back in stock if anyone needs some. Holler at me and I will get them to you. I found some elastic so you can have your choice between ribbon ties or elastic. Jim likes the ties an I like the elastic.

I fixed hamburgers on the George Foreman grill tonight. The pickings for dinner were slim to almost none. I heated a can of corn to serve with them. That was the best I could come up with. I can do better tomorrow after Jim goes to the grocery store.

I have a lot of cleaning, sorting and reorganizing to do this week. I also would like to get back to painting the deck and get that project finished up. I’ll see how much I get done. Lots to do to reclaim the house. The house sitter did a great job but it will feel so good to get it really cleaned again.

Jim got his cameras unloaded. He has a big job ahead of him to get them organized and on shelves. We didn’t have room in the two cars for all his cameras. He took over one of the bedrooms downstairs as the room he is going to turn into his dark room isn’t big enough for all his treasures. That should keep him busy for several days.

Grateful to be back on the prairie again, grateful for a beautiful sunset to witness tonight, and grateful for a safe trip today.

It has been a hot and sticky day in Stillwater today. I didn’t get out to finish my mowing early enough and is too hot for me to do it now. Jim is on his way out now to finish the job for me.

We loaded both cars with most of Jim’s camera collection. Not all of them will fit. We had to leave a little room for some of the stuff I need to take back home with me. We will have two full cars full Of stuff to unload when we get to KS tomorrow afternoon. I had wanted to stop at Costco on our way past to pick up a few things but we won’t have room in the cars for anymore stuff.

Worked on making face masks again today. I lost count how many I have made today. I got out Jim’s old iron and pressed the cotton sheets. That has made them much easier to work with. He has an iron but no ironing board so I put a bath towel folded up over a card table. It worked well for what I was pressing.

I gathered up some of the stuff I want to take back to KS but haven’t finished getting everything piled up yet. I still need to pack my suitcase of clothes to take back. I’ll have to leave the winter stuff and take them home another day as space is going to be tight. Since we are coming back for a week in June it takes some of the pressure off to get everything we need this trip. Jim may come back later in the week for two nights and will bring another load then if he comes. He is going to see how his cats adjust and decide if they will be OK without him around so soon after moving them. He is really concerned how they are going to take to the new house and my dogs and cats. My experience tells me everyone will adjust just fine after a few tassels and hisses.

My Aunt Glenda called this afternoon. It is always a delight to hear from her. I had written her and told her I missed going to the cemetery in Florence to decorate graves and that Jim and I were going to go over this week to do so. She called to let me know mom and dad’s graves were well decorated and that the cemetery removes all the flowers ten days after Memorial Day so no need to take some over Tuesday.

We are having left over Chicken Pot Pie for dinner again tonight. It needs to get used up and it saves me from cooking another meal. Jim is kind to eat the same thing two days in a row. I’ll have to think of something to fix in KS for dinner tomorrow night when we get there. I have no idea what I have on hand their so it might be a creative meal. One of us will need to go grocery shopping Tuesday after I make a long list of things we need. It is hard to remember which house has what in it.

I put a heat pad on my aching right shoulder last night when I went to bed and it helped. Ibuprofen nor Tylenol seems not to be helping it at all. I tried ice once and that didn’t seem to help either. Glad I got some relief with a heating pad. It is aching again this afternoon from sewing and carrying lots of cameras to the cars. Sure hope the doctor can help me figure out what is wrong with it Wednesday.

Hard to believe my time here is coming to an end. It will be so good to get back to the prairie but I will miss Stillwater. This little house has been a wonderful place to shelter in place. It is little but very cozy and comfortable. It will be interesting to see how we do in the big house on the hill. Our lifestyle will change a bit. Jim can relax more there and not feel so pressured to get his projects done here. I will have more house to keep clean and more animals to tend to.

Life is constantly changing and this is just one more change for us. I’m sure we will find a rhythm to prairie life and enjoy ourselves there too. It will be nice to be closer to the kids and grandkids.

Grateful for the phone call from Aunt Glenda today, grateful for the box of face masks that got made today, and grateful tomorrow is moving day at last.

Happy birthday to my beautiful daughter Nicole. She was 10 days late entering this world. 9 1/2 lbs with a head full of hair. She has a heart of gold and I am so glad she chose me to be her mother.

I mowed this morning while JIm slept in. I got most of the big back yard done. I still have about 20 more minutes of mowing to do in the back yard and then I need to do the small front yard. It got too hot for me to be out mowing this afternoon so I came in and took a nap. Slept for two hours.

Fixed crustless chicken Pot pie for dinner. I tried a new recipe and it is a winner. It was easy to fix and tasted delicious. It uses mashed potatoes instead of a crust. It is the ultimate comfort food and a good way to use up the rest of the chicken I roasted two days ago.

Got a dozen face masks made today. I had two requests for more masks so got those packaged up and ready to mail. I’ll take them to the grocery store post office tomorrow morning and get them sent off. I have another dozen masks pinned and ready for the final step of sewing. Have lots more material to cut to make more. I found some elastic and am using that this time as well as some more with ties. The elastic ones don’t fit Jim’s face but I like the elastic better than the ties.

Jim is starting to pack the cars with the stuff he wants to take to KS on Monday. He is taking two bookcases and is cutting some boards to fit them so the shelves will be stronger. I think he is going to put cameras on them but not sure what his master plan is.

We need to go for a walk tonight as we haven’t done that for two days now. My shoulder is hurting though and not sure I am up to walking tonight. I activated it when I was mowing. I realized today that ibuprofen or Tylenol doesn’t help relieve the discomfort. Sure hope my doctor can figure something out on Wednesday. I’m tired of it hurting.

Hard to believe tomorrow is my last full day here. We will be coming back for a week in June but KS will become our permanent home as of Monday. I have come to enjoy Stillwater and the city conveniences it provides without feeling like a big city. Although the last two and one-half months we haven’t taken advantage of many of them. It will take us a bit of time to find our rhythm in KS. We will only be there for 12 days then come to Stillwater for a week and then two weeks later we plan to go to CO for four weeks. So it will be the end of August before we really settle into our KS home. We will probably come spend a week in August in Stillwater too.

I applied for and finally received the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance for the loss of income from the Airbnb. I will continue to receive it through the end of July unless it gets extended by Congress. That makes up for the revenue I lost from the Disc Golf tournament, the Rodeo, the Symphony on the Flint Hills and regular guests through out the summer. Still not sure when I will start accepting guests again. I’ll wait and see what the case counts do when we return in August to see if I feel comfortable having strangers come in my house then.

I encourage any small business owner that hasn’t applied for the PUA to do so. It is a simple process especially if you have a copy of your 2019 income tax return that shows the revenue you earned from your small business. If you need help holler at me and I would be delighted to help you. There is a weekly claim you have to enter but that is simple and doesn’t take long to do. There is no minimum income earned requirement and you get $600 a week that you had no business due to Covid-19.

I haven’t written any letters for a few days. Sent eight earlier this week. I might get on Jim’s computer while he is out working and get a few more written. I’m so glad I thought to start that project. It has given me much joy in writing the letters and receiving some responses. I might keep that practice going into the future even as our restrictions are lifted.

My heart is heavy listening to the news of the protests that are happening all over the country. I read a report today that most of the riots and fires are being caused by ultra right groupS that are coming in from out of state. Their main claim is to cause division between races. How terribly sad. My heart aches for all the injustice that has been done to POC over the years. I pray their voices will be heard and systematic change will happen in our culture. It breaks my heart to read some of the comments condemning them. We have a long ways to go to find equality for all. I feel my white privilege tonight and it is weighing on me. I ask forgiveness for the times I was insensitive and ignorant of the rights and needs of POC. May I learn to do better in the future.

Grateful most of the yard is mowed, grateful more masks are being made, and grateful for the PFA I received yesterday.

Had a tough case on the Crisis Text Hot Line last night. I had to get my supervisor involved for some expert advice. The supervisor was super supportive and helped boost my confidence. I had kinda thought she would take over the conversation but she continued to coach me and let me handle it. She even left a kind note for me afterwards. This was the first case that I was worried about the texter enough that I wanted an experienced person to look at our exchange and help me out.

Sometimes when I have a tough case I have trouble letting them go after we are done. But because the supervisor was involved and she felt comfortable that the texter would be safe I was able to let it go. That was nice. I have handled 19 cases so far. One more case and I will level up to a Level 3. I have volunteered for 19 hours so far. 181 to go to complete my commitment. I’m glad I found this way to be in service. Most of the time I enjoy it.

I painted almost 2/3 of the west side of Jim’s house today. I have caught up to him and he needs to remove more shingles before I have more to paint. Tomorrow I need to start getting the yard mowed so may not get any more painting done before we leave on Monday. I’ll see how long the mowing takes and how I am feeling.

I had some low B/P again today. It was OK this morning but when I got outside in the heat it dropped. I would paint for a bit and then come in and drink lots of water and rest and then go back out to paint. Slow but steady was my motto for the day. I sure hope my doctor can reassure me on Wednesday that nothing serious is wrong with me. I sure am tired of this.

I grilled hamburgers for dinner tonight. Fixed some broccoli and made a baked potato for Jim. Need to use up the left over chicken some how tomorrow night. Not sure what I am going to make with it yet.

I didn’t get the freezer cleaned out yet. We are coming back for a week mid June so will continue to clean out the freezer then. I’ll need to do the same thing in KS as I am getting som beef the first of August and will need freezer space.

Started making more face masks today. Cut out part of the pieces of the sheet and the flannel. The big pieces of flannel are easier to use than the receiving blankets were as I can rip the strips to the width I need and not have to cut all four sides. I have two people waiting for me to mail them some masks and want to try to get them in the mail this weekend.

The man that Jason worked next to died of Covid-19 today. That makes this thing very real for me. There was another man from Emporia that died this week too. Both were in their 40 – 50’s and relatively healthy before they got sick. Damn! Life is not fair sometimes.

I haven’t started gathering things up to take to KS yet. I do have a list and figure it won’t take me long to pull things together. Since we are coming back June 12 I don’t feel a great sense of urgency to get everything this trip. We will probably start packing the cars on Sunday with lots of Jim’s stuff he wants to take this time. He is taking his Element that has lots of room so will be able to take a double load this time. When we come back in June we will take his Mazda to KS when we return.

It’s been a good day. Painting the house is very rewarding as it looks so nice when I am done. I have lots of trim to paint when I get done with the main color but that will happen on another day and time. Maybe when we are here in June I can start getting the trim painted. We will see how I am feeling and how hot it gets. I don’t do well in the heat.

Grateful a lot of painting got done today, grateful for my supervisor’s guidance last night, and grateful to be making more face masks.

I had a rewarding night on the Crisis Text Hot Line. The first two calls were relatively easy. The third one was a bit harder but I think I helped get him more help. It is hard when they don’t respond and you don’t know what happened. I signed off and went to bed but couldn’t sleep so I signed back on and took one more call. It was relatively easy too. Not bad to get four calls in on one night. I had to wait 35 minutes to get my first call. We have lot of counselors right now which is a good thing.

I haven’t done much today. Did two loads of laundry and wrote a letter this morning while Jim was sleeping. This afternoon I made some more banana bread. I ran to Walmart to get some material to make some more masks. I had to wait about 15 minutes to find someone to cut the material for me. I use 600 count bed sheets as part of the fabric in the masks and found two queen sets on sale. I’ll have to cut the elastic off the fitted sheets but will end up paying less than I did before. They had flannel material and I got a bunch of it. Last time I used baby receiving blankets. I guessed at how much I will need.

I didn’t get to paint on the west side of the house today at it rained this morning and again this afternoon. The forecast is showing the rain moving out after tonight and the sun is to return from its vacation tomorrow and hang around for the next seven days at least. Hoping things will dry out enough that I can paint tomorrow afternoon. I’ll need to mow Saturday and Sunday before we head to KS on Monday.

I have another Crisis Text Hot Line shift tonight. Last night I signed on early so I could get several calls in. Not sure what time I will sign on tonight. I knitted a dish rag while I was waiting for a caller to handle.

I have one set of the sheets I bought in the washer now and will get the other set in when this set is done. I can start cutting material tonight between calls. I have had two requests for masks and I don’t have any extras to send. It won’t take me long to get a dozen or so made up to send to the ones that have requested some.

I have a chicken cooking in the crock pot for dinner. I’ll fix us each a salad and cook some veggies and dinner will be ready when we are ready to eat. Makes an easy meal. Will need to think of something to fix with the left over chicken for a meal on Saturday.

I don’t like days like this when I don’t find much to do. I get restless and antsy. One reason I went out to get more material is so I would have something to do. I can sit and enjoy doing nothing but all day of that is too much.

Grateful for being of service to four people last night on the Hot Line, grateful to have found two sets of sheets on sale today, and grateful for the smell of the chicken that is cooking in the crock pot.