This has been the strangest week

It isn't that anything terrible has happened, it's just odd little worries coming up about one thing and another.  Things that make me wonder if I did such-and-such right.  Or knowing I forgot something that might cost me a few bucks.

I quit the pill I take for winter depression a little too early this year because the new Medicare Advantage group we chose, Aetna, has me paying more than I want to for it.  Cliff and I can both tell I'm not taking my Lexapro, and he even jokes about it (Please let me go get your pills).  I'm fine without it for most of the year. so I'll just let myself be grumpy, and before you know it I will change into my springtime self with no help... like I did most of my life until I found out a little pill makes me easier to live with in winter.   

Almost everything I planted in the garden in February is germinating, but the last couple of days we went back to cloudy and cool conditions, so I'm not doing much outside.  I did take a shovel out and dig a one-foot-deep trench to plant the ten asparagus roots I ordered, because they are supposed to arrive Monday or thereabouts.  There are also boysenberries and red raspberries coming.  Will I live long enough to taste all those things?  That's anybody's guess, but if nothing else, I will enjoy seeing them all alive and growing.

I made some hummus yesterday, first time in a long time.  I like it as a dip for tortilla chips.  I didn't have any canned garbanzo beans, but I had the dried ones, so I cooked them in the Instant Pot.  Then I decided I needed to make Pita bread, but failed miserably.  Oh well. I did have success with my favorite recipe for oatmeal-raisin cookies.  When I'm cooking, I'm usually happy, and cookies make the grandson next door happy, too. 

Also yesterday, I began planning a couple of spring road trips.  When we went shopping this week, I told Cliff I was really craving some Kentucky Fried Chicken, so on the way home we went to the one in Oak Grove.  However, there were only two people working, and after standing in line for twenty minutes, we went next door to Pizza Hut instead.  My craving is still with me.  What I really want is a KFC with a buffet, so I can have nothing but chicken, grease and all, as much as I can eat!  When we got home I did a google search to see where I could find one with a buffet; the closest one is in Berryville, Arkansas.  

We love Arkansas!  

So I told Cliff about my discovery and he immediately said, "Well, get in the car and let's go."  He probably agreed so quickly because without my depression pill, he's afraid not to agree with every hair-brained idea I propose.  Of course we didn't leave: I at least want some green leaves showing when we go.  I looked for things to do in Berryville and found a gun museum with some exceptionally rare guns: Saunders Museum, which is closed for winter but will open April 15.  

"Saunders Museum is one of the largest collections of rare guns in America. Col. Saunders was acquainted with many iconic American figures such as Theodore Roosevelt , Buffalo Bill, Texas Jack, and Annie Oakley. In the Saunder’s collection you will see guns belonging to Jesse James, Joaquin Murietta, Belle Starr, Cole Younger, Jim Cummins, Three-Fingered Jack, Billy The Kid and Sam Houston among many others. There are nearly 400 guns in this extensive collection! There are unique pieces such as a blunderbuss gun, a flintlock pistol made for King Phillip V of Spain (c. 1737), an original Bowie knife, and General Pancho’s spurs."

So the plan is to go there (it's just a four-hour drive) and go straight to KFC for lunch, then on to the museum.  This also puts us very near Eureka Springs, so we may go through there the next morning (although we've seen about everything it has to offer) and go home a different route than we came.

I'm also planning our annual trip to Jamesport, which has the largest Amish community in the state of Missouri.  That's only two hours away, so there won't be any overnight stay.  I like to get my tomato and pepper plants there, so that trip will likely be in April also.  Cliff and I usually find some good buys in one of the stores that sell out-of-date food, dented cans, and such.  We're not scared!

Tonight it will be below freezing outside, and then our early spring will come back for awhile.

Peace.