Finally

 Finally, I was able to encourage Butch to get up so we could take part in the senior hours at Costco and it was worth it! He had to get up at 7:30 AM and grumble he did. He didn't have to get up at 7:30 but he did. I reminded him that he did that all summer to help Russ and he didn't grumble even once!

We were at Costco at 9:00 AM. Purchased gas for $1.69. The crowd was remarkably thin compared to other visits and we noticed that people who were not first responders, under 60, or obviously not seniors were turned away. It was one of our better Costco shopping experiences since March.

From there we went o HEB. It has been my experience they have the freshest and longest-lasting produce in the RGV, most likely because of location and turnover. It is Friday and was a bit more crowded, but I have seen it far worse.

From there we stopped at Dollar General so I could stock up on chocolate. While there a polite young man held the door open for me and then he was also ahead of me in the check-out line. He had a case of beer and the very young and inexperienced clerk asked him for his ID. He said I will have to go to my truck to get it. Since he had been so polite, I patiently waited and finally, the clerk asked me to come ahead. When I went out there was no sign of the guy or his truck. He tried and failed. Visually he could have passed for older. 

So we came home and resumed our usual routines. Going out of the park is a big deal and it had been two weeks or so. I do wait until the cupboard and fridge are bare much as I have since March. I am a much more experienced shopper in knowing how to avoid the pitfalls than I was last March.

Later...

The Virus Hates Christmas

 From this site: https://www.thundercloud.net/infoave/new/the-virus-that-stole-christmas/utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thundercloud%2FIapJ+%28Cloudeight+InfoAve+Computer+Tips+%29

The Virus Hates Christmas

This virus hates Christmas, nobody can doubt.
It’s all over the place, both inside and out.
While the Christmas lights shine, and the snowflakes still fall
Not much else this Christmas seems like Christmas at all.

Some people are doubters the say it’s a cold
Others are scared and believe what they’re told
But one thing is certain, lots of people are sick
Hopefully one of them is not old St. Nick.

But Santa’s still working, they say he’s immune
And we hope he can brighten the quarantine gloom.
Instead of cookies, it might just be wiser
To leave Santa a bottle of good hand sanitizer.

The virus will try to steal the joy from the season,
But we can’t let that happen and for a good reason.
I’m sure if we all still truly believe
The blessings of Christmas we’ll all still receive.

Merry Christmas!

Clear, Sunshiny Skies!...continued

 This morning when I got up at a bit after 6:00AM the sun was rising and I could see the promise of a beautiful day. Yup, that is what we have. High of 72 degrees when it gets there.

I plan to join the ladies in the pool hall at 1:00. Only 10 people can be in the pool hall at one time but so far that has not been a problem.

continued... I forgot that I didn't get this posted. I did go play pool with the women and I had a good day. I was accused once of playing defense and indeed I was so I said, "And Butch would be so proud." Today is another women's day from 1 to 3 and I plan to go.

I told them about Jan M. in Jefferson who was told by her doctor that playing pool was good for her to keep her active. So Jan moved to Jefferson from Arizona and moved her pool table with her. She has it in the living room. Seniors! You can never know what they might do! The answer is anything they want to.😃

As a whole, the general pace of things is slower than in years past, and to be quite frank it suits me.

I looked out the window a bit ago and after giving up on the birds we suddenly have some action.

A semi good picture of a gold-headed woodpecker.

A not very good pic of a mockingbird.

The squirrel and the grackle seem to have a working relationship.

Documentary Storm

 I subscribe to Documentary Storm (no cost) and here is one of the options for today. I was reminded by the subject matter of a group of single women in Jefferson who have their own "Daisy Chain". They look after each other by sending an email to the group by a certain time each morning and if someone does not respond or forgets they get checked up on to make sure everything is okay. I think it is an excellent idea all around. This documentary isn't long but quite informative and encouraging. Enjoy

https://www.documentarystorm.com/daisy-chain/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Weekly+Newsletter

Hunkered

Yesterday we were hunkered down due to cold temps (50's) and rain off and on all day long. This morning the sun is shining. To be truthful it is peeking through the clouds and they say it will shine today. 🤞 

So Butch and I went on a Netflix movie marathon. I googled the "Top 10 best movies on Netflix" read the synopsis of them and wrote down the ones that appealed to one or both of us. One of my pet peeves is cruising for a movie and taking an hour to decide and most often not landing on anything! Our choices were okay but I am going to encourage you to make your own list because our choices were not all that memorable. Just okay.

And then I threw together a soup. Often I make what I call 'one of my concoctions' and this could have been labeled as such. When you have a few things always on hand, such as leftover meat, in this case, rotisserie chicken, broth, veggies such as carrots, onions, and celery, and some cheese it is super easy to throw together a concoction. In this particular incident, I also added some roughly chopped cabbage and diced leftover baked potatoes. It was a hit!

If you think nothing is going on down here you may want to check out the Trophy Gardens blog today. You can find it here: https://trophygardens.blogspot.com/2020/12/bits-pieces-saturday-12-6-2020.html

We are not doing much participating but if you have a desire to it is happening.