Home and Back to Being Busy...

Saturday, October 10th, was a special day. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and particularly our stake, the Lexington North Stake, has been finding ways we can do good things and still be observant of the Covid-19 restrictions. This day we were all invited to download the Billion Graves apps to our cell phones. Each ward (congregation) had a person to locate public cemeteries in their ward boundaries. Claude was that person in our ward. People who volunteered were assigned a cemetery in their area for their family to work. And, if there were multiple families, they were given specific areas of the cemetery. Then, as families, they would go to their part of the cemetery and take pictures of the headstones using the Billion Graves app. These could then be transcribed by the family taking the picture. Meaning, they would record the information on the headstone into the app. Then all that is downloaded to Billion Graves and is available for anyone searching out their ancestry. When I was a child and my parents were working their genealogies, they had to go to the cemetery and take the picture. This might involve doing that on a long trip. Now, we can research our family through this App and not have to make that long trip. Claude and I spent the first part of our day getting the t-shirts provided by the Church for each volunteer and delivering them to the volunteers in our ward. Then we went to the Sadieville cemetery and took photos of one end of it. We will go back another day and take pictures of other graves. This was a really fun activity. Many families posted pictures of their children cleaning headstones to get the best picture. A good time was had by everyone that participated. Great way to serve and enjoy the fresh air.

Sunday, October 11th was a nice day at home. Church service via Zoom, followed by our own study and worship at home. The Noe family had been out-of-town on Saturday and planned to take their Billion Graves pictures on Sunday afternoon. They needed their t-shirts and were willing to drive to Sadieville to pick them up. When they arrived their youngest, Lyla, came to the door with her friend. I had put a bag with 5 pieces of peach taffy in it. When Lyla showed up at the front door with a friend, I had to ask them to wait a minute while I quickly added another piece of peach taffy to their bag. The girls eyes lit up with the idea of peach taffy. And the Noe family was off to take the pictures with their Billion Graves app. 

Monday, October 12th, I was able to stay home and take care of business in the morning. I received a letter from the nursing home the Saturday before we left for Jekyll Island. It had a cover letter stating they were planning to open the nursing home to in-person visits with restrictions beginning Wednesday, October 14th. There were several forms that needed to be filled out and a Covid-19 test needed to be taken with results given to the nursing home. I spent Monday morning being sure all my questions were answered and all my ducks were in a row for this visit with Papa. I called the nursing home and left a message for Glen Redmon to call me back. He did and we set up Tuesday, October 20th, for me to have my first in-person visit with Papa. The nursing home will only be doing in-person visits on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoon. The visits will be for 20 minutes starting at 1pm. There will be a 1:00-1:20pm visit and then 10 minutes for them to clean, a visit from 1:30-1:50pm and then 10 minutes for them to clean. They will do six of these visits each of those 3 afternoons. Next I called and set up a Covid-19 test for Claude and me on Wednesday, October 14th. I filled out and signed all the paperwork. Ideally, I am set to visit with Papa on Tuesday at 1pm.

Claude and I had errands in Georgetown. We first delivered the final set of t-shirts. Then we went to the drug store for Claude to pick up his shoes. He gets a new pair of shoes each year because of his diabetes. They are ordered through J&L Pharmacy in Georgetown. Turned out he was supposed to come the next Monday. We were a week early. 

Claude bought me a soda and a biscuit. Then we went to Moss Park to take our walk. Well, Claude took his walk and I waited in the car. I was feeling a bit under the weather. But I brought things to do. While Claude walked his two laps of the park, I read and worked with my Courage workbook from Time Out for Women, sipped my soda and had a nice time to myself. Time to freshen up the groceries. We needed to get fresh veggies and milk as we finished those before our trip. Claude would do the grocery shopping and I would continue working in my Courage workbook. During these two times in the Jeep, I managed to finish about half of my workbook. Good use of that time. 

Tuesday, October 13th, Claude used his birthday present. I gave him a 45 minutes flight in one of those little airplanes. I have done this twice before and Claude very much enjoys that time in the air. We were surprised when the pilot invited me to join them. So I climbed in the back seat of this little plane, the pilot gave me headphones to cut down on the noise of the flight (I wouldn't be able to hear what he and Claude were saying, just protect my hearing) and I got my cellphone camera ready and my real camera ready to take lots of pictures. 

The pilot told me that he was going to fly us over Sadieville so we could see our home. How cool is that?!?! Our pilot was Rodrigo. He cheerfully took a picture of me and Claude by the plane in which we would fly. Claude is on the left and Rodrigo is on the right in the second picture. There was another little plane leaving right in front of us. I took pictures of it to get a frame of reference for what we were going through with our flight. We were leaving from Lexington Blue Grass Airport.

These picture are the flight between Lexington and Georgetown. There is really only about 15 miles maximum between Lexington and Georgetown. The third picture is of Keeneland Horse Race Track.

Soon we were over Georgetown. The first thing I noticed was Great Crossing High School (1st picture). This is the new high school in Scott County. The second picture is also of Georgetown. In the lower left corner you can spot a water tower. Follow the road to the next intersection to the right. On that corner is our Church building. It has parking lots of each side. The last two pictures are of the new by-pass extension in Georgetown. At one end is a traffic circle on Hwy 32. This is where the previous phase of the by-pass ended. Now they have added a traffic circle and the extension will north from it. The last picture is the other end of the new by-pass addition. It is at the intersection of Hwy 25 and Cherry Blossom. This will open soon and will be a huge blessing to the Georgetown/Scott County area.

Rodrigo was letting Claude fly the plane between Lexington and Sadieville. We would now fly north toward Sadieville. We flew over the Toyota Plant. Then further north past three communities built around lakes in the area. The first is Moon Lake subdivision, the second is Harbor Village subdivision and the last is Mallard Point subdivision. I recognized the Scott County Landfill. Then I was a little confused. I saw a sign and a gas station and thought I was looking at the Pilot Travel Plaza. But there should have been two signs because there are actually two Pilot station, one on each side of I-75. Also at this point Claude started trying to get my attention. I snapped the final picture in this set and only realized when I was home that it was the Love's Travel Plaza in Sadieville!!

Rodrigo took over the flying duties and Claude was able to really take in Eagle Bend subdivision in Sadieville, our home. For years we were the last home on Eagle Bend Drive. Now the Hunt's have built a home north of us on the hill and, before them, the Williams, built their home out in the woods. Claude and I are no longer the last home on the block but there is a green space between the Hunt home and our home. 

This first picture is a little fuzzy. But I like that it includes the old Sadieville School in the lower left corner. You can see all of Eagle Bend in the center. Our home is the last one on the right with the gravel roads leading to the Hunts and the Williams homes.

Now that you have your bearings, I will post pictures of Eagle Bend and particularly our home. See if you can find it!

Time to head back to Georgetown area on our way back to Lexington. I took these places that figure in our lives. The first picture is where Community Based Services is located. I have to go there at least annually regarding Papa's care. It is to the left of the road going down to the white warehouse. The second picture is Lowe's with the white roof in the center. A good portion of our retirement income is spent in this store. Jimmy John's in in the front part of the parking lot and is a favorite place to eat. The third picture is the intersection of Hwy 25 and Ironworks Pike. Ironworks in the highway going north in the picture. It is the highway on which the entrance to the Kentucky Horse Park is found. The Kentucky Horse Park is the next picture. 

Time to go on back to Lexington. One last look of Georgetown. You can see the 460 By-Pass on the left and on the right is I-75. The second picture is simply a pretty house surrounded by fall color. I liked the layout of the third picture. It is where Hwy 25 crosses over I-64. The loop is where I-75 joins at I-64. The fourth picture is of Spindletop. It is actually on Ironworks Pike down from the entrance to the Horse Park. It was the home of a wealthy oil person who moved to Kentucky. The home is now owned by University of Kentucky.

We are back to Lexington now. I took this picture because it looked like the little green houses you buy in the Monopoly game. Lots and lots of little houses in rows. Next is the Lexington, Kentucky skyline. The third picture is Calumet Farm in Lexington. This farm has won so many trophies with race horses that there is a room full of them at the Kentucky Horse Park. Pretty farm with white fence.

And...we landed back at Lexington Blue Grass Airport. 

This was so much fun and an absolute surprise for me. I purchased a flight for one. The pilot was kind enough to ask Claude if I might like to join them. Claude said I probably would. Then Claude sent me a text and I said yes. Unexpected delight!! I came home and took the pictures off my camera and posted them on our family Facebook page and our Eagle Bend Facebook page. So fun to share this experience.

Wednesday, October 14, 2020 I had scheduled Claude and me to get a Covid-19 test in preparation for me being able to visit Papa. We were in Georgetown at 10:30am for our test. You just sit in your car, call in to the doctor's office, they come out and take medical history and then swab your nose all the way to your brain. That is it. Now we wait for the results.

I had two prescriptions to pick up, so we took care of that. Usually when we walk we go to the park in Georgetown and walk. This day I suggested to Claude that we drive to Lexington and walk in the Arboretum. I checked online and they were open, masks were required. We left Georgetown and drove to the Arboretum. Here are pictures of our lovely 2 1/2 mile walk in the park!

Claude and I were both very tired when finished but we were sure happy we did this walk. Great day for a walk. Great place to take a walk.

Thursday, October 15, 2020, I was able to spend the entire day at home. I spent my morning multi-tasking. I did ironing while catching up on the days we have been home from Jekyll Island in this Blog. This was a good way to do it as downloading pictures takes F.O.R.E.V.E.R. I also managed to get two letters written for Papa. I have so much work to do in my sewing room that the rest of this day will be spent down in the basement working away. Claude went to Frankfort today to renew his driver's license. Now he is trying to get the grass cut before the rain cloud overhead dumps on our hill. This has been a full week and more is to be done as we finish the week.