The Dreaded Plague

Greetings!  I am now on day ELEVEN of the plague.  It's a wretched little plague, characterized by a wracking non-productive cough, sore throat and fatigue.  Apparently it's been making its way through the neighborhood.  Word has it that it goes on forever.  I'm to the point that I don't cough so much during the day, but nights are still difficult.  I hate this.

So, not much has been going on since the onset.  The day before I contracted the plague, we pruned the dead fronds off the palm trees.  That's when we found the Hooded Oriole's nest.  The amount of time and effort birds put into nest building (with the exception of doves) is astounding.  See the fibers hanging off the fronds?  That's what they use to make the nest.

The Thanksgiving day picture shows how the nest is woven onto the palm fronds.  Birds are amazing.

There has been decorating for Christmas.  It's something to do in the house.  This is the tree we had in the RV.  It's about 14 inches tall, and it fit perfectly on the dinette side board.  What you can't see is that it's sitting next to the Instant Pot we bought at Costco.  Who has one?  Do you like it?  Do you use it?  Jim and I both do not enjoy cooking.  We've tried to like it, but we don't.  I'm hoping the Instant Pot might move us off our current limited diet of things that can be grilled.

Here are the always festive compotes with shiny ornaments in them.  Notice the lights underneath them.

Now the lights are on.  They're battery powered LEDs since there is no outlet in that corner.  Using my serger I made a long tube of gauzy material, and put those really cute lights on copper wire in the tube.  Very festive!

Same tree as last year.  Next year we may get a real one.  I think I'm done with the fake tree.

Jim decided that there must be outside lights.  This house is very difficult to light.  There is not much gutter, and it channels a lot of rain, so that might not be so good.  Anyway, we got one of the palms illuminated.  Amazon sells solar powered lights on copper wire.  I could put those on one of the Queen Palms.  They do not have stiff fronds.  Actually, I could do both Queens.  Lights for all!

Tonight's sunset was pretty good.  We've had clouds moving in and out all day, and they just happened to be here when the sun went down.

That's it!  Many words signifying that I've done basically nothing for eleven days.  I would like to hear from you Instant Pot owners.