Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

Yesterday I cooked all day.  After my husband died, I tried to change my eating habits to include store-bought frozen meals.  After all, it’s hard to cook for one.  Ugh – they all taste the same.  Then, a single friend told me she fixed a big meal on Sunday and ate the leftovers the following week – all week long.  Ugh – I believe I’d stop eating.  Finally I decided to cook regular size meals and freeze them myself.  Works well.  I have a variety of meals to chose from and have something different every day.

So, I fixed Skillet Chicken with Mushrooms and Parmesan; Baked Cranberry Pork Chops and Strawberries and Cream Bread.  Just a quick taste of the first two confirms they are going to be good.  Right into the freezer.  Unfortunately the bread is a big N-O.  First – odd consistency – not really bread; not cake but worse – no real flavor.  Oh well.  That is heading for the trash.

In the late hours of last night, I was awakened by a strange noise.  I lay quietly listening trying to identify said noise.  Finally I decided it was one the Demon Duo playing with something in my bedroom.  Fine! – now I was awake.  I got up to find Daryl stretched across my bedroom door.  Stepped over him heading for the bathroom.  Coming back to bed – he was slapping something around the floor, jumping/pouncing on it and slapping it again.  So I turned on the hall light. 

Oh well just GREAT!  He brought in another small snake and was playing with it.  Argh!  So, I picked up the little snake (which I assumed was dead) and carried it to the front door with Daryl making flying leaps after it.  Tossed it outside and went back to bed.

You will have to take my word for it as picture taking during the dark-thirty hours of the night is/was beyond me.  I did look outside where I threw it to see if it was still there this morning but no.  Either it wasn’t actually dead or something else decided to feast on a snaky snack.

This makes the third snake he’s brought inside the house.  Not bad for a HOUSE cat.  The closest he gets to “outside” is the attached garage.  I still haven’t figured out how, why, where these little snakes are getting into the garage.

 This was snake #2.  

Snake #3 seemed about the same size.

Today I was out early and walked a mile and a half walk around the neighborhood.  Didn’t see any humans but I did see some pretty flowers.

Orchid Tree Flower

April 22 is Earth Day.  The theme for Earth Day 2020 is climate action because climate change represents the biggest challenge to the future of humanity.  The first Earth Day in 1970 launched a wave of action, including the passage of landmark environmental laws in the United States. The Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts were created in response to the first Earth Day in 1970, as well as the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  (And if you get bored, here’s a coloring picture for you!)

It’s also National Jelly Bean Day. 

Jelly beans are thought to be a hybrid of two candies, Turkish delights, and Jordan almonds, both of which date back hundreds of years. Turkish delights are a sweet, chewy candy that has a powdery, sugar coating. Jordan almonds are almonds that are simply coated in a crunchy sugar shell. Combine the chewy center of Turkish delight with the crunchy coating of a Jordan almond and you have what we now know as a jelly bean.  The first known reference to jelly beans was in the 1860s when William Schrafft, a Boston confectioner, encouraged Americans to send jelly beans to soldiers fighting in the Civil War.  By the early 1900s, jelly beans were a common penny candy enjoyed by children and adults alike.

For the rest of today – well, I have several ongoing projects I can work on; 3 or 4 new books awaiting me; I can hear the seductive call of my genealogy stuff.  So much to do! 

Tomorrow isn’t here yet so I’m not certain just what excitement will come along – here in rural, small town, still self-isolating Texas.  I’ll be happy if it doesn’t include another midnight snake adventure. 

ps: that first picture? Yes, that a Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow.

22 Apr 2020