I Am Surviving

Wednesday I stayed close to home.  I had a 2.5# brisket and used a recipe Ted had emailed me to fix it versus my normal one.  It was like shoe leather!  We sliced it, put it in the refrigerator and ate leftovers.  It has good flavor but you would get old trying to chew it.  On Sunday I will put it in the crockpot with some beef broth and let it cook on low for a couple of hours.  I have little to lose!  

We took a ride to check out the wall to see if they had indeed stopped working.  No one was, and all the supplies, machinery, concrete processing equipment, barracks and at least 50 trucks are just sitting there.  This has to be a $2 million campus erected just for building the wall.  It will be interesting to see what happens to minimize the financial loss, not to mention what breaking contracts will involve.  There is a campground called Chimney Rock that sits right on the river.  They rerouted a road, took down a spillway, cut a new road and have concrete poured for the wall but the steel ballards are not set.  If they don’t finish this work, I think the owner will have to sue somebody to save his park.  

Thursday I was still not feeling up to snuff and began to worry that maybe I had more than an intestinal uproar.  I hesitated going to play mahjong if there was a possibility I could have something more.  So I went for a covid test.  It was negative.  I started feeling better and determined that stress has a definite impact on my digestive system.  I felt comfortable going to mahjong but didn’t win any games.

We were going to the clubhouse to play Mexican Train so decided to go to Southern Fried for a chicken tenders basket.  There were not many people there because it was a little before 5.  We ate our food which is always good.  Our waitress asked if we wanted anything else and Ted said just the check.  She said “well the gentleman who was in the booth behind you already took care of it.”  We have never had that happen.  We gave the waitress a $5 tip and promised her we would pay it forward.  We have no idea who he was.

We played Mexican Train at the clubhouse with Eileen, Tom and their new friends Sharon and Everett.  I did not win!  

Friday we were scheduled to have “pizza on the patio” at Sue and Niles along with Tom and Eileen for dinner.  I offered to have it in our coach house but we settled on maintaining the patio at Sue’s location.  Ted and I went to the butcher and grocery.  I also did laundry and then gathered our drinks, paper plates, napkins, forks, small plates and a lemon meringue pie to take with me to Sue’s.  Everyone orders what they want from The Pizzaria and brings their own drinks.  I just chose to also bring dessert and the utensils and things.  This is not how I normally entertain but “when in Rome, do as the Romans do.”