Slower Start, Easter Sunday, Day Four

 El Reno, Oklahoma 

On Easter Sunday, Apr. 5th we slept in. Bill and Gibbs until 6:30 and me until 7:20! Farm living! 😁Not even the 12 roosters woke us up. 

Happy Easter Sunday!

The sun was up when I got washed and dressed and there was no wind. A cool night but we were warm under an extra blanket. It was 45F/6C when Bill went out to check tire pressure. 

Good morning!
Just part of our travel morning.

Gibbs and I went out to walk a bit and meet Ric starting his chores at 8. I wish we'd meet Miss Rosemary, as he so fondly calls her, but a death in her family called her to the UK. 

Seeing some turbines
on our drive this morning
and throughout the day.

I took the last bit of feed out to the alpaca boys, dropped a card in their mailbox for pickup and we were 'on our way' at 8:25. A Maverick station in Clovis was a stop to top up fuel and we got on US-60E. Mudflap got us $5.10/gal so prices are coming down. 

Somewhere around 10 MDST we lost another hour.  It makes us re-evaluate everything! 🤣 When to eat lunch and our new arrival time at our next destination. 

The leaning tower of Britton
and one of the large crosses we see on
our winter travels.
I like how the large picture turned out,
looks like the semi hit the tower!

Also around 11am CT we crossed into Texas with no warning except for the huge Texan along the highway in Amarillo.  There were traffic cones all around so that is our excuse.  Being Sunday, no workers were on duty, tg.

At the McLean's Rest Area
our first blossoming tree.

We did the route I-60E/I-25N/I-40E through the big city and our the other side on a smooth (so far) I-40. We passed a couple of familiar, heart- warming memory landmarks but were reminded of the lack of Rest Areas along this highway. 🤔🫣

Parked at the rest area,
this fellow was having a rough day.
Locked his keys in the truck.
Woops! He perservered with a
coat hanger and before we left,
got it and gave us the 👍!

We did eventually get to the McLean Rest Area at 12:45 and had a break for lunch. 

I enjoyed my cookie from
Windrush Alpacas

Shortly after 1:30 we crossed into Oklahoma. It was now 70F/20C. 

The I-40 was really easy traveling, minus the construction (pylons), with the exception of a 10 mile section around Elk City. 

This little guy was so funny.
He moved to lay on my shirt and laid down.
This was the most relaxed I've seen him.

We arrived in El Reno and took Exit 119 onto US81 N. This highway took us directly to our destination for the night, Lucky Star Casino. It was 4 pm. We met our neighbours, Wendy and Perry, the only other rv parked there. 

Parked in a familiar spot.
Just for one night this time.
We were pleased to see they replaced all of the
electric posts.

After set up, Bill drove over to the casino's fuel station, and got a great price (haha, there I go again) of $4.49/gallon. Gibbs and I walked around in the grassy area behind our Suite until Daddy returned. Nothing is right in the world, you know, when our truck has taken him away. 💖

Gibbs waiting for his Daddy
to come back with Black Beauty.
He's looking the wrong way as he
doesn't know where he went.
💕

We walked over to have supper in the casino and had a huge meal. When the 'new' chef burned our order, the waitress brought us a huge complimentary garden salad while we waited. I've never had that happen before. 

Fried shrimp and baked potato.
The salad below was complimentary
for the delay in our meal.

The salad was delicious but when we'd eaten half of our entree, we were quite stuffed! I sent my shrimp home with Bill and I stayed and donated $20 at the 1¢ machine. When it raised to $28, I should have stopped but it was a fun 20 minutes so I let the machine win. 😂 Where was Sue when I needed her luck?

It's a little exciting when all the bells and
whistles go off for an $8.80 win.
I can't imagine if I'd won $100!!

We relaxed for the evening, writing blogs and watching some tv. I missed Hope Valley tonight so will have to catch up on it another time. This was a great day. It was a nice and easy drive and we stopped in good time. Keep up with Bill's blog too here.

Good night
from
El Reno, Oklahoma!

Happy Easter and thank you for popping by...or should I say 'hopping' 🐇 by.

Late Rising, Geese Can Skate! Getting Things in Order

The Ridge - Home

On Tuesday, Mar. 24^th we slept in. We were awake but it took a phone call from our friend, Mike, and a text from our buddy, Rob, to get us the heck out of bed! That’s a good thing, the day was a-wasting! It was 11:30 when we went up last night, watching recorded programs and we weren’t tired because of our afternoon snooze.

At one point, late morning, we noticed the sky was clearing

Both the call and the message were generous offers of assistance. Was there anything we needed? Just let them know. We made our coffee and tea and Bill soon was outside with the mailbox installation. We leave the post now cemented in the ground and just remove the box when we leave. The mail lady will surely get a kick out of the pretty box.

Looks great!

I have indoor projects so I took care of the tenderloin recipe by adding it to my Word folder. While working on that, my little sister, Wendy, messaged offering to help us in any way they could Her and Morgan, my niece, are enjoying special times together while Morgan is out of school. They are both doing well, like two peas in a pod. Wendy is anxious for her fall-planted bulbs to push up out of the ground. That is what I love about spring too. I check every day.

Bill does a temporary fix on our broken tree branch

I have many online pictures from the winter that are first filed by month, then daily. I will go in and be more specific for each month and rename them according to the places we stayed and for how long. It makes it easier when looking back to a specific location and I’ve done the same with our previous 3 snowbird trips. Bill has done a bit of a surgical procedure on our damaged cherry tree for now. It may need a better bandaid but for the time being, this will help.

The geese can walk on water OR they can skate!

Looking out the window, from my inside perch, I’ve seen two groups of ‘parents-to-be geese flying over squawking. Bill says they are already territorial so they are looking for a nesting place. He made the comment that they are funny to watch as they land on the iced pond and slide for 5’ before stopping. Nature, isn’t it fun? I noticed that he hung my bird seed bell out so I needed to lift the bed to get out my suet feeder. I have one pack to be hung, now that they are looking for food.

Of course, I had to play in the snow

Bill next got the firepit out of storage in the Restroom (outhouse) and replaced the screened sides that Rob fixed for us last summer/fall. It sure looks rusty, my goodness, so I’m sure it will be a yearly thing to repaint it. 

Working on the fireplace

Rustproof paint my arse! Anyway, it will be ready for the first fire whenever we are. Bill has the old firepit ring down by his Hangar and will sooner than later be lighting all of our envelopes etc. from the mail on fire.

Got the outhouse all cleaned up so we can use it when we're outside

It is 34F/1C and it looks like the sun is desperately trying make a breakthrough. There are wee patches of blue sky to the west. Yay! I’ve been wanting to call Rockwood Terrace to check on Mom since we’ve crossed and they have a new phone system with a lot of ‘to get this, press that’ etc. so I called directly to the resident/patient caregiver who I’m familiar with. She gave me the ‘key word’ for future calls and put me through to Amanda, Mom’s nurse.

The pond was pretty hard

a look up towards our home site

 I know that Donna has been keeping us all informed but isn’t it nice to get it directly for ourselves? Mom is doing well and was walking by with her walker as she was speaking to me. We both know it is too confusing for Mom to even try to communicate with her so I didn’t ask. The nurse said she is taking her meds, walking as per usual and going down for each meal and seemingly eating pretty good. She is on a protein shake now as well since she has lost weight over the winter. I felt better and can move on with my day.

Pussy willow blossoms

We have quite a few pussy willow trees around the Ridge

 I put my boots on and took a walk outside and around. Bill was finishing his project so I lent a hand tightening bolts. I walked down the lane to take a picture of the mailbox. It is looking pretty spiffy! There were a few geese flying around and overhead. I’m sure they are saying ‘You’re home early! We haven’t settled yet!’ I won’t bother them, just keep an eye on where Mother Goose makes her nest over the coming days.

Daffodils

Back inside, I made our bacon and eggs for lunch. When dishes were done and Bill went back out, I managed to get 3 months of pictures all labelled. Then it was time for another break and I put on my lighter hoody and windbreaker to go outside. I took the cleaner and wiped all surfaces down in the Restroom before sweeping the floor. We need a new broom head for out there, one day. In the Bunky, I pulled out the bag of bird seed.

The geese were busy flying around
The outhouse looks crooked but it really isn't LOL

Last winter I made a bird feeder with Pat and although it has fallen apart a couple of times, it is being used today. All of my other feeders are still packed away in totes in the shed. Bill was busy down at the Hangar but just finishing up so we walked down the lane. Weren’t we surprised when the red flag was up on the mailbox!? We walked back and he closed things up after we checked the water in our back field. The pussy willows are abundant on the trees down by the Hangar, just white little blobs all over the branches.

Geese in the sun

We came in around 2:30 just because there is only so much we can do this early. We could still get some ‘unfavourable weather’. At 3, it was time for Happy Hour and I wanted to make us another pretty drink rather than a cup of tea today. The heaters were turned off as it was a balmy 75F inside. The sun sure makes a difference when it is beating in the windows. I caught up here and then sat beside Bill with my book. I knew he’d be asleep in no time. 😊

Taking a picture of the corral hill
I'll keep an eye on it and the snow

I got quite a few chapters read in my book and then got up to start supper. The time slipped by, it was 5:30. I had pork sausages out thawing all afternoon. What to make tonight? I Googled sausage casserole and found one. I diced onions, potatoes and cut the sausage links in chunks. In oil and butter, I sautéed each in turn, adding to the pot. I switched to Manual and added mixed veggies, bbq sauce and water.

Bill was happy to reunite with his planes
in the cargo trailer

It cooked for 16 minutes with a Natural Release. It was more like a stew but that was okay too. The taste was delicious and the sausage was so tender. I’ll have to add that to my Recipe folder. Sometimes it is nice to have leftovers but other times, it is nice when you have just enough for one meal. That was the case tonight. We haven’t had ice cream for a while so I dished up a nice helping for each of us. Tillamook white chocolate raspberry. Yum.

And the snow that came yesterday is gone

It tasted as good as it looks

Ice cream with choke cherry jelly

Bill washed and I dried.  How nice to have such few dishes, one pot IP meals are great! I sat and worked on my post while Bill went out to make sure the switch for our 2^nd propane tank was turned on. We have one tank almost empty and we’re not sure how much we’ll be using tonight. There should have been a nice sunset but if there was, I missed it. This is all we get tonight.

Tuesday night, our tv night so we’ll be busy. This was a great day that we enjoyed very much. I hope you had a good one in your self-isolated/physically distanced world.

No sooner did I hang my bird feeder and it was
visited frequently by two little finches
Good night everyone!
Continue to use common sense and stay healthy!

Thank you for stopping by!