This and That Tuesday

I never tire of driving to our nearby lake to sit awhile and gaze at the water and watch for bald eagles and other wildlife.  The redbud trees are at their peak and so beautiful this year.

BG and I picked up some fast food and ate at the lake yesterday.  The sun was low enough in the sky to cast a golden glow on the tree tops.  I kept an eye out for the eagles, but didn't see a one.  I did, however, see a new-to-me bird perched on a small tree near the water.  

It's not a sharp photo because of the distance and my shaky hands, but I got a clear enough shot to be able to look this one up and found out it's a female Belted Kingfisher.  They spend most of their time near the water and dive for fish.  And they nest in burrows that they dig into soft earthen banks close to the water.  I'm always thrilled to find a new bird! 

Our son was home for the weekend.  We played a few games of cards Sunday afternoon, and I am happy to say that my daughter and I finally won most of them...it's always a competition and the men usually beat us soundly and never let us forget it.  It was payback time!  

Daughter and her BF went out looking for morel mushrooms, but they didn't find even one.  The weather has just been too cool for them and they aren't popping up yet like they would if it was warmer.  Brett walked around our Back 6 looking for the morels, but didn't have any luck.  He took the above photo of our mighty oak tree with his phone while on his walk.  

I didn't take any photos of our food, but we had tacos for one meal, and the way I make them is to layer on each plate the browned hamburger seasoned with a packet of taco seasoning over flour tortillas and then layer lettuce, salsa, shredded cheese, diced tomatoes and onions, ending with a dollop of sour cream.  Quick and easy and very yummy!

Another meal was sliced potatoes with turkey kielbasa, diced onions, and green peppers fried together in a large iron skillet and I baked canned crescent rolls.

Of course, bacon, scrambled eggs and those yummy orange-iced cinnamon rolls were breakfast fare one morning.  There were some Halos to eat, too.  I just love those! 

While the men were fishing Sunday afternoon in between the rains, I fixed lasagna, a big tossed salad and french bread.  

Dessert was my favorite quick and easy cherry cobbler.  For that you melt a stick of oleo or butter in a 9 inch square baking dish and then pour a well stirred mixture of 1 cup self-rising flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk over the melted butter.  Spoon 1 can cherry pie filling over the top of that.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 minutes or until golden brown on top.  I served mine with Lite Cool Whip.  Hey, you gotta cut calories somewhere!  By the way, if you don't have self-rising flour, you can add 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt to your regular flour. 

In one of my last posts, I mentioned that I was going to go for a drive in the country.  Well, that plan didn't turn out the way I'd hoped.  When I got in my car and put on my new sunglasses, the right lens popped out.  What!!??  Yes, the new glasses that I have barely worn.  So, I just drove straight to the eye care building where I got them and also mentioned that my regular glasses already had a small scratch on the lens.  I had paid extra to have the scratch resistant coating put on them.  Hmpf.  Guess it wasn't so scratch proof after all!  Well, to make a long story short, I was not a happy camper.  I had paid over 800 dollars for these 2 pair of glasses and hadn't even had them barely a month, if that.  They did fix my sunglasses and sent for new lens which I picked up yesterday.  

Those are the new glasses in the selfie photo taken when we stayed in Branson last month.  I have no idea what makes glasses so expensive other than I have many different levels of strengths due to near-sightedness and also some astigmatism.  After picking myself up off the floor when they told me what the price would be, I was thinking I should just make a run for the door and head to WalMart to check their prices, but of course I didn't.  After the problems I've already had, I'm thinking maybe I should have!

       
I had planned to have my photos that I had made framed and hung by now, but after spending time last week cutting out templates to hang so I could see how it would look without nailing too many holes in the wall, I discovered that I'd overlooked something.  Duh!  The mats in 4 of the frames were for 4x6 photos, not 5x7's which is what I needed.  So back to the store I go and hoping they would have the right size that would go with the 8x10's.  I found them...whew!  I haven't got the new templates cut out yet, and I'm now hoping this all goes together like I envisioned.  I'm afraid that the frames which are bigger than the ones I took back might throw my plan off a bit.  I'd probably give up on the whole project except for the fact that the wall looks so bare behind the tv.  

Meanwhile, BG is still hard at work...when he has some spare time...on the wiring at The Project aka our rental house.  He said he had never seen anything like how this house was wired.  We knew the man that lived there a long time before the last couple and he was not a electrician, but as the saying goes...knew just enough to be dangerous.  Remember this is the man who put 9 outlets in one closet?  BG is pulling his hair out trying to find where all the wires go to.  And he can't afford to lose anymore hair on top.  Shhh, don't tell him I said that.  Ha!  He said that if he had it to do all over that he would have ripped all the sheetrock off the walls, it would make his job a little easier.

As for me, I'm trying to get some much needed things done here.  Things that I should have done over the winter.  But, procrastination is my middle name.  I hope to get back to visiting and posting more regularly, but if not don't think I've left the country.  All is well, it's just a busy spring.  I hope all is well in your world, too.  Take care and enjoy the spring!

xo Cheryl