Makin' Monday.

Look at that gorgeous sunset. My grandma would surely enjoy it. She and her friend, Betty, would go for drives in the country. Taking pictures along the way. Many of them of sunsets. "Quick, Betty. Get your camera!" is a shared family memory and story that will be told around the campfire for years to come.

Have to make some kind of baked goods today to thank my neighbor. Someone had hit and crippled a possum out on the trail and you could tell it was in distress. Times like that I wish I didn't know how to read tracks. Poor opossum. I called Aaron and he put it out of its misery. Didn't think my little .22 would get the job done. I remember shooting a woodchuck point blank thrice with a .22 many moons ago; it still moved. Freaky.

I hate to see an animal suffering.

The Buccaneers won the Superbowl.

Meanwhile, the COVID virus has mutated into two different worrisome strains. One from the UK is doubling infections every ten days and is 45% more transmissible.  It is spreading like wildfire in Florida right now. The African variant is less affected by current vaccines.

Freaky.

Superbowl Sunday.

Not for me, but today is a long awaited day for thousands of football fans. Chiefs against the Buccaneers. Played in the midst of a pandemic. 

Hopefully folks will heed warnings from healthcare officials and maintain safe practices. If not, we'll probably get another surge in hospitalizations. Thank goodness most essential workers have been vaccinated.

Second load of laundry is ready for the dryer. Garbage ready to go out for tomorrow morning. Vacuum run in all but back bedroom. Gonna mop the floor, hit the shower and read some Dostoyevsky.

Forty one days until Spring and these onion bulbs couldn't wait for it to get here. Time to finish an inventory of seeds on hand and then order whatever is lacking.

Swell Saturday.

While Saturday is certainly swell, the swell referred to is in my eyes. The pain woke me up from a nice sleep. A 3:30 a.m. dose of Benadryl was followed by another at 10:40 a.m.

Not a good thing. 

The sun is shining and I'm watching some black-capped chickadees and one lone blue jay enjoy the seed in the feeders. Am not sure why they haven't eaten any thistle seed. 

One of the buds on the Christmas Cactus is in full bloom. The purple African Violet is growing and still blossoming. The smaller pink ruffle-edged African Violet has fallen victim to kitty shenanigans involving the curtain; it's still alive but has lost its flowers.

The $2 Primrose picked up at TOPS has perked up a bit. Amazing what a little water can do. Killed one of the Aloe Vera sprouts. Over watering. One of these days I will learn.

Friday Progress Report.

Yesterday was above freezing so Bandit and I took a walk on the Blaisdale Emery trail from Browntown Road north toward Custer City. It's one section of the nearby trails we frequent year round. About fifty yards from the entry is an old railroad bridge with a nice swimming hole that Bandit likes. On the Custer City side is a big marshy area where beaver have dammed one of the Tunungwat Creek tributaries. There is almost always wildlife around on this section of trail. Especially in Winter when fewer folks are out. In fact, I saw my first wild mink there about a month ago. Pretty cool.

We usually head toward Custer City, but rarely make it that far in the Winter... Snow can be rough to navigate on uneven surfaces. Well, maybe not for four-paw powered pups, but for us old farts its challenging. I keep telling myself that the marsh us going to be pretty - as incentive to keep going. Encouraging words don't help much when your body aches.

Yesterday we started earlier than normal. Took our time and made it to the frozen over marsh. Lots of birds out singing their the sun is shining! song. Bunny and deer tracks all over the trail. Was surprised that there is still open water on the creek. Then again, this winter has been rather mild. Same as last year. 

All told we walked two and a half miles yesterday. We were both feeling our age by the time we got home.

PROGRESS:

The diet is going better now the Oreos are mostly gone. Been trying to have a real meal more often. You know, meat, vegetables, fruit. Trying to eat more fruit. 

Some progress has been made on the Jacobean pillow. Hope to finish the needlework this week.

The sourdough seems to be turning into something I like to put off. ? Se la vie.

Terrific Thursday.

Only six more weeks until Spring (44 days) and the weather forecast today is calling for temperatures near 40 degrees. Looks like Bandit and I will be taking a long stroll this afternoon. 

Henrietta is perched on the roll-top desk watching me as I type. Bandit is curled up behind my chair presumably waiting for me to play or give him a treat...most likely the latter.

Speaking of the latter (being chubby), the diet's not going so well. Have been stress eating and was bad at the grocery store and bought empty calories (eggo waffles) and oreos. Note: calories from chocolate are NOT empty...they're soul soothing! Am glad Spring is around the corner so I can be outside and get more exercise. Until then I guess I'm gonna have to crack down on working out. Really don't want to drag the elliptical back in here, but might have to. At least I actually walked on it while watching TV instead of sitting on the couch like a lump on a log. I'm starting to resemble a hippo; amazing what ten pounds looks like on a 5'2" frame. *sigh*

No time like the present...

Weary Wednesday.

Took a Benadryl at bedtime last night. Slept fairly well; only got up to pee a few times. Forgot to fill up the cat food dishes before turning out the lights so Tigger started waking me at 5ish. I'll be ready when the clocks jump ahead an hour - that's for sure!

Tired today. The only things accomplished were balancing the checkbook, writing out bills (including $360 in property taxes) and submitting an order to Walmart for pick up tomorrow.

First Monday in February.

Got groceries yesterday. Am shocked at the rise in prices. Bacon was $9.99 a pound bringing the per pound cost to $4. Well within the budget. Picked up some sale items not normally purchased turnovers and readymade toaster waffles. Guess I'll look into making breakfast that can be frozen.

So nice to have a freezer so I can stock up. Gretchen cans meat. Will speak with her about difficulty. Might need to do this; its so much cheaper than buying canned meat.

Put a generator on the Need list. Would hate to have all that food go bad because of a power outage. 

Gotta go to the spring today. This liquid the town pumps to residents tastes horrible.

Bandit wants to go out, so that's my cue to sign off.