Just a Plain Old Week...

Monday, October 25th, was a rainy day. We stayed home all day. We started our morning by reading our Book of Mormon together. During the day I read in my Lord of the Rings book, crocheted another snowflake or two, updated planting journal from Saturday plantings and paid Papa's bills. A totally not exciting day. But it was nice to be in this cozy home doing little things. 

Tuesday, October 26th, I did get the laundry and ironing done. We read our read the Book of Mormon together. I eMailed parents about Primary talks and reading of the Article of Faith assignments for their children. I also ordered some Christmas gifts. 

In the afternoon, I took Papa for a car ride. He is so appreciative of these outings. 

While I was out with Papa, Claude drilled holes in the concrete blocks and attached our cranes. Then he placed them by each of the gates to our backyard. They are so pretty. As the yard develops, they will be even more pretty. When we visited China, we learned the crane is an important symbol to them. It represents longevity and peace. It is the second most venerated bird after the Phoenix. Longevity and peace are worthy blessings for our home.

Wednesday, October 27th, we started our day by reading the Book of Mormon together. I wrapped a couple of little Christmas gifts. Then I picked out a dessert for our Sunday Self-Reliance Group. I will bake two Crumb Pies. 

Claude purchased tickets for us to go to Keeneland to watch the horses race. Keeneland has two meets each year. The Spring Meet in April and the Fall Meet in October. This was the last week for the fall meet. We don't really bet on the horses. But, we are improving in our ability to pick the right horse. Claude buys us a program and we each pick the horse we think will win. This time I picked one winner and Claude picked one winner. We each also picked a horse in second place. I picked one simply because it was named Ask Bailey. Our youngest grandmonster is Bailey. I was amazed that this horse led out at the beginning of the race. As she made the final turn, she began to fall back and actually ended up coming in last. It was delightful to sit in the stand and watch these magnificent animals run. Such is a Kentucky blessing.

After the races, we went to Firehouse Subs to eat. It was about half the price of a meal at Keeneland. Love the Firehouse Italian sub. Yummy.

The City of Sadieville posted a news article from their past. This was one when Claude was a City Commissioner and had the caboose restored and painted. This was a good thing. It later because the Polar Express each December as it is the only caboose in Scott County. The Baptist church next door to the caboose also used it each Sunday for a period of time for their children's class. 

Thursday, October 28th, I went to visit Papa. When I got there they quickly came into the lobby to tell me no visitors allowed. It seems eight residents tested positive for Covid-19. They have a special Covid Unit they have created at Signature HealthCare. These eight residents are in that unit and quarantined with separate care providers. Papa was not in that group of eight. The nursing home will now be closed to visitors for at least ten days. There is a possibility I can still take Papa out for a drive. But, I couldn't go in to visit him. When you consider there are only 50 beds in this nursing home, eight residents is a large percentage of their population. Very concerning. 

Claude had an appointment with Dr. Wilson, our dermatologist. Claude dropped me off to visit Papa while he had his doctor appointment and ran an errand to Lowe's. I called Claude and he picked me up and I sat in the car with my Kindle while he did his things. Then he got me a Blizzard from Dairy Queen. 

We came home and read our Book of Mormon together. Then I requested a refund for our Cirque du Soleil tickets. The show was to be mid-November at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky. Such is the nature of Covid-19. I also made reservations for us in Chelsea, Michigan.

Katelyn posted these cute pictures of her three little ones in their Halloween costumes. They went to the Trunk-or-Treat at the Church. (Emelia, Raelyn and Joel)

Friday, October 29th, Claude had a phone appointment to set up his annuity. Yep, he reached the ripe old age of 72 in October. Now it is mandatory that he draw from this fund. It was practically painless to set it up. We will repeat this process in a year when I turn 72. Aging gracefully. Aging gracefully.

I had a Primary presidency meeting right after that. Then I took a treat bag to the nursing home for Papa. Too rainy to try and take him out for a drive. 

The final Oldham County High School football game was Friday night. Claude and I left and drove to Frankfort for a barbeque dinner. Then on to the football stadium. We dressed warmly, wore our coats with a hood, took umbrellas and rain ponchos and our stadium seats. We got to our seats with a light rain falling. We set up and the clouds opened and the rain poured. I sent Andie a text telling her we were at the 50 yard line and had seats for them when they arrived. They got to the stadium and found us. Andie said, "Michael and I were wondering why you came in all the rain. For us it is mandatory. For you it is a choice." I assured her it is what grandparents do. With the four of us bundled up and under umbrellas, we watched the first half of the game in a pouring rain. The band (which is why were there) never came out. It would have been their last half-time performance for the year. I was very concerned about all those expensive instruments being out in that rain. As half-time approached, Hayden sent a text to Michael and asked that he come and pick up him and Bailey. No half-time show because of all the rain. Andie and Michael stopped by the Jeep and picked up Hayden's birthday present. Then we got in our Jeep and drove in a pouring rain back to Georgetown. We get points for trying and we accomplished getting Hayden his birthday gift. Ugh!

Saturday, October 30th, was a rainy day. Another stay at home kind of day. It felt gloomy emotionally which was probably this rain for days. We read our Come, Follow Me lesson for Sunday. I cleaned the house. Claude made a crock pot full of goulash for dinner and put frozen bread out to rise. Then Claude took a nap and I curled up to read my Lord of the Rings books. I would work on this Blog and crochet in the evening.  

Sunday, October 31st, Happy Halloween!!

The Primary kids were full of energy. Then I reminded the president and other counselor and chorister that it was Halloween. That is enough to set the kids in motion. They were not bad, that sang well and participated well. They were just noticeably more full of energy. 

Claude and and were set apart in our callings. This is a special priesthood blessing given to someone to help them as they serve. 

We hurried home and baked two crumb pies to serve our guests at the Self-Reliance Emotional Resilience group this afternoon.  I have posted about this recipe before. It is a favorite of mine. The story about it is on the recipe. It is good.

Now we are all settled in and prepared to handout candy to trick-or-treaters. That is supposed to be between 6pm and 8pm. I am told they start earlier than that and it should be a steady stream for the entire time. So different than Sadieville. If we got 15 kids, we thought that was a lot. The second verse touched my heart. It reads:

God be with you till we meet again;

When life's perils thick confound you,

Put his arms unfailing round you.

God be with you till we meet again.

I could literally feel my Savior's love as we sang those two lines. I knew he loves me and cares about how I feel. What a blessing being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is in my life. 

Color Me Fall...

Monday, October 18th, was a preparation day to be away for three days. I took Papa out for a drive.

While I was away, Claude built the last two large flower beds at the crest of our hill. Our hope is that this will help with water running off the hill. We purchased the plants for these two beds the Friday previous, we put them on a cookie sheet and filled that with water so they would stay alive while we were away for three days. We were also able to move the completed milk can to the patio and put a plant on top. I think it turned out great. The last two pictures show the can as it was painted originally in orange and black, then the step where we put a base coat on it. Helps to see the transformation. Claude would purchase a nice square paving stone to put under the can. It has several coats of base coat, paint, then flat paint. All of that should keep it from rusting. If it does rust, it will now do that on the paving stone and not on the patio surface.

Tuesday, October 19th, we would hit the road. We were off to Elkins, West Virginia. My hubby knows and loves me. He drove out of his way to Bojangles so we could start out trip off with my favorite breakfast, a plain biscuit with a soda. Yum!! It takes a little over five hours to get to Elkins. We had a nice, safe ride. In the evening, we drove to Steer Steak for a nice steak dinner for Claude. I had fried shrimp with a baked sweet potato. Good meal. 

Wednesday, October 20th, we awoke to pictures of our first-born great grandmonster, Raelyn on her way to school. Look at what she is doing with her glasses. I do this all the time. I told Katelyn that Raelyn definitely has a great Gramma gene! Love this little nugget. She is a very confident young lady. 

The purpose of this trip was to find fall colors in the trees. I had been following a West Virginia website that sent me a weekly update on the fall colors. We picked Elkins because it was just south of the place noted for peak color the week before. We were happy with what we saw.

In the hotel lobby was a brochure titled Randolph County, WV Motorcycle Guide Mountains to Valleys. Since Claude and I have been and totally enjoyed motorcycling riding, I knew this might be a good way to find a nice ride through the area to look for fall colors. We picked up a brochure on our way to dinner. I read through it. There were six routes. I narrowed my search to three and gave the guide to Claude to pick from those three. He picked the Little Swiss Village Route. We were ready to rumble!!

This first set of pictures is of our drive from Elkins, West Virginia to Helvetia, West Virginia. This area has a lot, I mean, a LOT, of lumbering. The mountains never showed where trees had been stripped clean from the mountains. This lets me know it is done strategically. There is also coal mining. The fourth from the last picture of this group shows what appears to be a very low wire, like a telephone line. However, as we drove they were linked together in place and low on the trunks of trees. They were obviously a line to collect sap from the trees. We saw this in Vermont. The third to last picture shows you the danger of the work the men do back in these mountains. There was this beautiful clearing with fall colors in the trees all around it. It was clearly maintained with mowing. The sign let you know it was a place for helicopters to land to get people out for medical emergencies in this area. Another thing I love driving in these mountains in the eastern part of the United States is the little white churches in the tiny towns. They are postcard perfect every time. 

We arrived at Helvetia. This is a small Swiss Village. The brochure suggested, and we did, stop at The Hutte for a bite to eat. I ordered a fruit and cheese platter for us to share and Claude also ordered himself a brat sandwich. I am not a brat lover. Claude's sandwich came on thickly cut homemade bread. He said it was delicious. We shared our lunch with the resident wasp! Here are pictures taken in Helvetia.

Now we were in for a very interesting part of our drive. Our map showed us staying on Hwy. 250 to Hwy 20. Somewhere down there we would go around the outside of Holly River State Park. We found signs for Holly River State Park but no signs for Holly River Road. We took the signs for Holly River State Park. At first, the road was paved but very uneven. Almost like it was on a level for each lane of the road. It was well worn by big trucks going over it. Then the road changed to gravel and narrow. Four times we had men in their personal pick-up trucks zoom past us at break neck speed. We were very grateful we had chosen to drive the Jeep on this trip. Usually we take my Buick Envision. The Jeep was by far the right vehicle for these roads. Lots of places only one car could drive on the road. There were no signs except for private property on either side of the road. We are still not sure what road we took but it did get us across the mountains to Hwy 20. I felt like the Sheri Lewis song from her show with Lamp Chop (the puppet). She sang a song that went, "This is the song that never ends. It just goes on and on and on." and it keeps repeating that. I felt like "This is the road that never end. It just goes on and on and on!" Claude and I were not quite sure if we where where they might film something like the movie Deliverance. Beautiful colors. Bad road. We are absolutely sure no one in their right mind would recommend this on a drive for motorcyclists. 

After making our way to Hwy 20, we drove around the edge of Holly River Stake Park and north to the West Virginia Wildlife Center. This was also suggested as a great stop to stretch your legs. So, we did. The guy was cute at the entry in suggesting we might qualify for the senior discount if we were over 65 years of age. We are assured him we qualified. 

These are pictures of the West Virginia Wildlife Center. It is a great stop. This is a fun place to take children. The elk and bison are viewed from one area. Then you walk 1.25 miles to view the other animals. All tree covered and nice asphalt paved walks. A little up and down hill, but a nice walk. 

Our visit started with the elk and the bison.

Then Claude parked the Jeep by the visitor's center and we walked the 1.25 miles to view the remainder of the animals. The first animal was a river otter. Claude fell in love with otters when we visited Alaska. He loved how they would lay on their back in the water and use their tummy for a plate to eat their food. This particular otter was very happy to find a pose so you could take her photo. This is my favorite animal photo of this trip. 

Claude and I paused at the frog pond. Didn't see any frogs but it is probably getting a bit cold for them. 

This cougar was pacing back and forth, back and forth. I'm thinking it was getting to their meal time and it was bit hungry. The cages are set up with chain link for most of the walls but every little bit they have a plexiglass window you can see through. 

Then we visited the deer and wolf.

We spent a little time with the eagles. These two bald eagles were having some kind of altercation as we approached their enclosure. The one on the left flew away to another perch. After we stood there a bit, it flew back. I changed my camera to video hoping to get a little movement from them. To my amazement the one on the left started to call out. I was surprised at their cry. I would expect a bald eagle to be a bass or a deep sound. Not so much. Pretty high and shrill. Happy I got that on video.

The Ring-necked Pheasant was hard to get a picture of. There was one male and at least three females. They too were moving back and forth in the enclosure very quickly. This is a really pretty bird.

Halloween decorations were put up randomly throughout this walk. I am a sucker for the witch that flies into the tree (or the house or the pole). Cracks me up every time.

We saw bobcats, an enclosure with a Red-tailed hawk (on the ground at the base of the tree on the left) and a Golden Eagle (on top of the tree trunk), a Great Horned Owl, and two Barred Owls.

The bears really put on a show. There were two cubs and a mother. The cubs were about as big as their mother. The mother was resting at the base of the tree. One cub wandered down from the back of their enclosure and, after scratching his face with his paw, poked a fist at the other cub. They tussled on the grass for a while. Then they stood and did their play fighting standing up. It reminded me of a picture our Andie has and loves of the Dancing Bears. I made sure to tag our Nissa with these pictures and video. She loves bears.

The last cage was a coyote. We saw lots of other animals and I took pictures but these are the best of the bunch of pictures. I would recommend this Wildlife Center to anyone. 

We left the West Virginia Wildlife Center and pointed the Jeep north on Hwy 119 to Philippi. In Philippi is the Philippi Covered Bridge. It is the oldest, longest covered bridge in West Virginia. It is two lanes and is still used by traffic. We stopped by the bridge to take pictures and read the signs. Then we drove across the bridge and turned around and came back through the other side. The last picture in this group is the sign describing the role this bridge played in the Civil War.

We made it back to Elkins after a very long period of time in a construction traffic jam. We decided to have dinner at C J Maggie's, a short walk from our hotel. It was hands down the best meal of our trip. This place one could sit in for hours and not see all the different items on the walls. The first thing that caught my attention was the pulpit like structure for the person who received you at the restaurant and then took you to your table. It was made out of yard sticks, levels and license plates. It was fascinating to see all the things they had for decorations in this place. Highly recommend C J Maggie's for a meal.

Thursday, October 21st, it was time to pack up and head back to Georgetown. But Claude indulged me one more time. I read something about a Graffiti Alley. Again, if I had my bearings the night before, we could have walked another couple of blocks and found this the night before. So, Thursday morning before we left, Claude drove by Graffiti Alley for me to get a quick picture. 

Our drive home went very well. We had a little bit of rain but nothing bad at all. It was good to get home, unpack, and enjoy being in our home again. I told Claude I was trying to think on the way home of a way to give my home a hug. I do love this little house.

Friday, October 22nd, we were treated to a picture of our youngest great grandmonster. He is a lumberjack dinosaur. Not sure what he thinks of the situation. But he is a cutie nonetheless!

Friday I would take Papa for a ride. He is always so appreciative of this time out and about.

In the evening we had our Trunk-or-Treat and Chili Cook-off for the Ward (congregation). Claude went to get something he forgot after we got to the Church. The Jeep would not start. This is one of those times we were very grateful we basically live across the street from the Church. Claude walked home and got my car and drove it over to the Church parking lot. After everything was done and we helped a little with clean-up, we went outside and used my car to jump-start Claude's Jeep. The battery on the Jeep was officially a goner. So happy this didn't happen when we were in West Virginia. 

Saturday, October 23rd, Claude called Dan Cummins first thing in the morning to see if he could get the Jeep in to get a new battery. They said he could bring the Jeep in and leave it and they would call him when it was done. Now...my plan for this Saturday was to stay home, read in my Lord of the Rings book, work on my pictures and Blog, maybe bake some bread. I was really looking forward to a quiet day at home. Now, we left quickly to get the Jeep to the dealership. I drove behind Claude so we could go do things in my car.

We got a biscuit for breakfast. Then to Lowe's we went to get the dirt needed to complete filling the new large flower beds so we could plant those flowers. While there, we looked at ivy and determined we would plant Baltic English Ivy. There were 13 cartons with six plants in each carton. We bought out what was in the store. Home we sped and unloaded the car. Claude poured the dirt into the flower beds and I leveled it out. Claude received a call from the dealer that his Jeep was ready. Back we sped to the dealership and picked up Claude's Jeep. I went directly home to plant the flowers. Claude went to the Church. You see, somewhere the night before in working to start the Jeep, Claude lost his pocket knife. Sure enough, he found it laying on the sidewalk by where the Jeep was parked. Hallelujah!!

My quiet day turned into a yard work day. We would plant 77 ivy plants (One box was missing one plant). Claude would lay the plants on the ground, then dig a hole for them to go into. I would sit on the ground with my little hand shovel and make sure the holes was the right size, put some good soil in the hole, break up and mix in good soil with the soil that came out of the hole, then plant the plant and cover it with good the soil mix. We managed to get that all done. Then laid the stepping stones we have purchased in their places. Claude actually worked with me to install about six of them to be sure how it would work. Some will be actual steps up through the ivy on the hill to the top of the hill. Some will lay on the ground on the top of the hill between the shed, the grandmonster bench and the Adirondack chairs. Those on top will have to have a place dug out for them, place them in, covered the steppingstone back up with dirt pack that down around the edges, then sweep the tops. There are three cast iron turtle steppingstones that will be mixed in with the stone ones. After getting everything where we wanted it, we each pulled a watering hose from one of the sides of the house to the back yard and watered everything. We finished about 5pm. Here are pictures of our efforts for Saturday.

Sunday, October 24th, has been a good Sabbath Day. I held the Primary pianist baby, Franklin, for the hour of Primary. He is one solid little guy. As I was walking in the hall with Franklin, Claude was waiting to go into his class. He looked at me and simply said, "Put him back!!" You see, when your baby is 46, you really aren't interested in raising children again. 

Franklin did the cutest thing. At the end of the hour he was getting really sleepy. Usually he would nurse and fall asleep. I am not equipped for that process. So I walked him down the hall. On one wall is a picture of the Savior healing someone. As we approached the picture, Franklin looked up and seemed to recognize the Savior. He reached out his little chubby hand and waved at Jesus. My heart melted. Franklin is only 4 months old. Not too long ago he would have been with Heavenly Father and Jesus. Just a very sweet moment. 

We successfully did fall colors and made great progress on our back yard. A good week. Now, I really want that day to ready and bake!!