March 2020

Today was beautiful here in Az, too...........wegot out for a wheelchair run and saw several neighbors from
a distance.................everyone seemingly in good humor............it has forced the world to stop/

It will be interesting to see how things are changed after this is over, and how long any changes last. I suspect a lot of people will find different priorities.

The kids across the street have reduced in numbers so there are only 4 of them left. Today they were so bored staying in the house, they decided to work in the yard. They have the yard looking really good now. To be fair, this is the first day it's been decent to be outside.

RICK:
CB says your FaceBook is hacked. She is getting offers for grants from you. You might want to change your password and spread the word to others about your hacker....

ELLEN:
You have a golf cart? Nice! That would be a handy machine. How are the students doing in their cabin?
I will try the bread recipe soon. I don't think I have bread flour, just regular, and definitely don't have a bread machine. Donnie used to make bread in a coffee can inside the crockpot....about 40 years ago. It was quite tasty. He made bagels, too. I hope he gets back into bread making mode when he is fully retired.

His company called the other day and said he would be working at home when he goes back from his knee surgery. They have sent everyone home with pay, even the ones like production workers who can't work at home. Good company. They don't want to lose their workforce. The company is in the same town as Virginia Tech who had about 1000 students come back after spring break when they weren't supposed to. It's going to be a virus hot spot. A Radford University student came back from spring break and was just diagnosed with the virus. This one lives off campus and had been home for awhile, so who knows who she has been in contact with. That university is about 7 miles from our house. Virginia Tech is 15 miles away. So the virus is here.

Our governor is doing a good job. Non-essential businesses are closed now and all public schools are closed for the rest of the school year. There have been 7 deaths in VA as of yesterday.

We jumped on the CBS All Access channel since they are letting people try it for a month for free! We are enjoying 'Star Trek: Picard"!! Nice of them giving the free trial...:-)

ARK:  Loved the kitty picture.  I stole it to pass around to my cat buddies.

ELLEN:  SUCCESS....we made the bread yesterday and it tuned out great.  Best homemade bread I ever made.  Thanks so much for the great recipe.  Going to give a loaf to Karen and get more bread flour for the next batch.  Try it everyone.  It's really easy.



CB:  I heard from Mary Ellen.  Her & Joe are still doing well.  They did get 6" of snow during the last storm.

I visited Karen (my freind with the brain cancer) for her birthday yesterday.  One good thing about being isolated, I can visit her since we don't leave the farm.  Her daughter brought a ice cream cake for her birthday.  BUMMER for me, it's on my 40 day fast so I couldn't eat it.  17 more days to go thennnnnn the ice cream comes outta the freezer.

A crazy woman went into a local store and coughed all over the meat, fresh fruit & veggies and baked goods ON PURPOSE .  $35,000 worth of food items had to be thrown away.  YES she will be prosecuted and hopefully put in jail where she belongs.

Stay safe and healthy...

Hooray, Trudy!!! I'm glad it worked for you. There are few things any better than warm fresh bread right out of the oven.
Ark, do you have a stand mixer? That's what I use for making bread, rather than a bread maker. In past years, I wore out 3 bread makers, but this mixer does the job really well. Mine is a Kitchenaid, and those are tough machines.

The kids across the street seem to be doing pretty well. Some of them left late last week, so there aren't as many of them now. They did a good job of cleaning up the yard yesterday. They are basically pretty good kids. Well.... young adults.

As for the golf cart... When Neighbor Ron died in December, I knew that they would have to sell everything. Without trying to act like a vulture, I let them know that I would like to buy the golf cart. I got it for a truly bargain price. It isn't the latest and greatest, but it will be fun to run around on.

ELLEN:
Ummm, no. I have a little hand mixer, but that is it. We will have to do it the old fashioned way and knead the bread dough. I guess they did it that way for thousands of years, maybe we can do it, too! I may have to get a machine.
It's nice you got the golf cart, and a nice remembrance of your neighbors.


TRUDY:
Your bread looks great!! I inserted your photo into your post. I can almost smell the bread from here! Congrats on your success!
There were some teenage boys who coughed on produce in eastern VA, too. As a prank. Sheesh. I haven't heard if they have arrested them, but they posted themselves online doing it. Kind of foolish...

GRAYMARE:
How is TL doing at home? Keeping you busy??


Today Donnie trimmed Trinket and Cactus Jack's feet. He is slow, but they behaved and their feet look great. He sits down on a bucket to do Trinket's feet, she is so short. Daisy is doing a little better, although still getting a gram of bute a day. Donnie changed her SoftRide boots' pads to softer ones and she is moving easier. Hopefully we can stop giving her bute in another day or two. I've already cut it in half. Anyway, all the horses' feet are done for the next 6 weeks!

Stay safe and healthy, dear friends!!

Pretty loaves, Trudy! Nice going!

Ark, get a stand mixer! I hadn't had one until about 10 years ago. All I had were hand held mixers. They are okay, but my Kitchenaid stand mixer is the BEST! They are super strong. I use it for all kinds of things. Making cookies is sooooo easy and fast. I even use it to mix meatloaf. Most of the time, I get cheese in blocks. Using the grater attachment, I can grate cheese in seconds. (Put the cheese in the freezer for a little while before grating it.) There are lots of attachments available for it. Not cheap, but useful.
I have accumulated a number of kitchen gadgets over the years. My Kitchenaid stand mixer is my very favorite one.

The kids across the road had reduced their number down to 4 last week. Yesterday, they must have decided they'd been adults long enough and left. Nobody there now. I can understand that young active people would have been bored to death with little to nothing to do this time of year. They'll probably find that when they go home, they will be just as bored, but moms and dads might find a thing or two for them to do.

Talk about eerie silence for a base...no traffic....no sirens...no airplanes...noisy airplanes....that are so loud you cant carry on conversations....nothing....no shooting range going on for hours at a time.....just quiet.....very quiet.
Weird.
I had my appt on the 25th...moved me up becuz of cancellations. I waited in the car until they were ready for me....went right in to the room to my chair...5 tries to get iv in and 4 and half hours later i was done. Yesterday felt ok....today not so much...ouch! But not unbearable.
Go back on the 9th for impressions for my partial.

Whoever is inpersonating Rick got dawn too. So beware everyone.

Ellen hou will enjoy your golf cart and can give the girls rides. Ill have to try the bread recipe...right now no flour...but we got one pack of tp yesterday...yay.

Its going to be a long 3 weeks...we are shut down here now. But together we can do it...but my hubby may not be so lucky

Perma-gloom continues. I thought when I saw the sunrise this morning, it was going to be better today. But, no. The clouds have blown in again.
Two days ago, I watched an eagle swoop down and snag a dead fish. Yesterday, there was a flock of about 20 migrating mergansers. Those were rather funny. They were all sitting on the surface, then I guess one of them gave the signal and they would all dive, and reappear several seconds later, popping up like corks.

Today was a perfect day here........sunny, breezy, and pleasant.  We were out and about also..........no interaction with
others.  Several families were out also........not together, just out and about..........I have a friend that tested positive
for covid 19 virus...........She has sore throat, horrible cough, fever, and severe breathing difficulties.  She's in home isolation
for two weeks in addition to the two she's already served.

Anyhow, we seem fine so far.  Horses are fine and that keeps me on a happy path............shoer was here last week, I just waved
as he went to the horses........

I hope you all are doing well..............boy, I sure hope the economy recovers quickly.................

God bless, love you all..............

So far, everybody in this immediate area is fine.  The county does have 4 cases now, but no fatalities.  Indianapolis is not doing as well.
I'm really hoping for some better weather later this week.  The constant gloom and cold doesn't help anybody.

I guess I'm the only one here..............Wow, I hope our area stays virus free......so far, none close that I know
of................yesterday, as of today at 5P we are to only go out for essentials, of which, I have none
right now. I think we're OK for the next two weeks. Our biggest problem is the hoarders in our state, lack of medical supplies,
ventilators, hospital beds, etc. I haven't been out so I don't really see what's going on. Frankly, my dears, I
don't give a damn......................I just want all of us to stay well.

It's cloudy and windy but no rain predicted............

Good luck to all of us................God bless.

This area is in a holding pattern. Only one new case of COVID-19 today. But, we are all staying home as much as possible.
The weather continues to be gloomy and wet. For me, the weather is keeping me a prisoner in my house more than the virus. If the weather gets better there are plenty of things I could be doing outside. This has been a long dreary month.
I did check the local stores online today. Still no TP. There must be mountains of the stuff in some people's homes. Summer garage sales will feature the various brands. At Christmas, people will wrap it in bright wrapping and give it as gifts.

Virginia has a stay home order from the governor since yesterday. I think it goes until the first week of June. Last I heard, we have had 27 deaths in Virginia. Our county hasn't had a case yet, but Radford which is an independent town five miles from us has had at least one. I suspect it is here, too, there are just no tests to know. We have a good governor, he was a pediatrician before he got into politics, so he understands medical things.

Donnie and I are okay. Our neighbors who bought the house next door are going to put the roof on our hay building. We are letting our former 'carpenter' go. He hasn't been here in two weeks anyway and never bothers to let us know when or if he is going to show up. Our neighbors have been laid off from the Volvo Truck plant and are happy to have a little part time job.

It rained all day today. After cleaning the barn, we watched the last of the Star Trek: Picard series on CBS All Access. They are giving a free month of access this month! We loved the Picard show. They did such a good job and it was nice seeing Patrick Stewart again.

Daisy is feeling better. She still has a limp, but not as bad. She isn't running, but she is walking easier.

Stay home. Stay healthy!

Time to change the calendar. Go to:

https://horsefriends.forumotion.com/t104-april-2020#12556

Or click on "Basket" and then "April 2020"