One of the papers I take is the Quincy paper. I found that Betty Eshom had passed this week. She was from Sutter and she worked at Plymouth Rock Antiques for years. She held down the store when I was at an auction or on the road to fill an antique mall or on vacation. She loved yard sales and auctions. After losing her husband, Curt, she had moved to Quincy and I had heard from her through another friend from Quincy. Am so sorry to hear of her passing.
Well it has been another interesting week. I have been going to the store during normal hours to feed the ferals and to keep some sort of structure in my life. Would be pretty easy to just lay on the bed and watch TV, read books and deal with feelings. Afraid that would not be good for me or anyone else. As a result, I try to get out and walk or work in the yard a bit. Have weeded flower beds and the strawberry bed. The soil is pretty gooey so that is a bit difficult to do. Would love it if the weather would turn a bit warmer and dryer so we could do lawn work and garden in earnest. I’m sure the farmers would also like to see better weather so they could get in the fields.
Made a big chicken pot pie this week. For years, I expected the chicken pot pie to form that nice gravy while cooking. It never did! Finally I figured out that you had to make that nice gravy while you were making the pie. Now I cook the vegetables, add some chicken base, thicken the gravy and add some sour cream and the chicken. Put either a pie crust top or a bisquick top on it and now it has that nice thick gravy when it is baked! Love chicken pie!
Duane McKee stopped by the store to give me some squirrel corn. Have been buying it at HyVee as it is very reasonable there but as I have not been to HyVee for weeks, I was running low. Thanks for good neighbors.
The wife of a class mate fell and died as a result. So very sorry to hear. Her name was Jo Ann Icenogle and she was the wife of Paul Icenogle who was in my class. They also collected stoneware. They were great people.
Saturday while I was walking, noted that there was a new moon and a bright star. Very pretty. Was sitting out behind the garage last night. There are always a lot of birds settling in for the evening in the bamboo which is very interesting but last night there was also a rabbit. Used to be a lot of rabbits in my yard but not this year. Was very glad to se him/her. Love all wild life.
I sometimes take a quick drive to the Mississippi river for a calming hour or two. Decided to try that this afternoon. Well first, the trees are not green. Second the wind was so strong that the river was very dark colored and choppy. Third not long after I got there, I discovered that I did not have my phone and was not sure where it was. Fourth I love watching the geese and there was one lone goose. Not exactly the reminder which I needed. Drove home, found the phone and started writing.
My thoughts and prayers are with all of you reading this “column”. Life has changed during this trying time. Hopefully we are learning some good things. That minimum wage person cleaning hospitals and rooms has suddenly become very important. We are discovering that doctors, nurses, police, firemen, EMTs, truckers, clerks in the stores and all “common persons” are of vital importance to us all. Suddenly the movie stars and the sports people making millions are not vital to our existence. Please keep all people in your thoughts and prayers. We will get through this but it will be easier if we work together. It would be nice if everyone would even quite posting political hate messages on the internet. It does no good and right now we all need to work together for the good of all. Wash your hands, practice social distancing and stay home if you can.