Another Week Bites the Dust...

Saturday, March 7th, was the last day I visited my father in person. That was the day things started to change. Sunday, March 8th, when I went to the nursing home to take him for a drive they had issued an order that there would be no visitors from the outside. I knew things were changing for all of us and this was the first (albeit one of the most important) steps in this process. During the week of the 8th through the 15th we began seeing things close and cancel. We were not told at that point we had to quarantine. The week starting the 15th of March was time to stay quarantined. This makes 6 weeks we have been asked and then Executive Ordered to stay in our homes. So let's look at how we managed to fill this week.

Tuesday, April 21, 2020
This day there were two new sheep born at Shaker Village in Kentucky. There was a female and a male. They named the female Virginia after the lady who does the sign language when Governor Beshear gives his daily press update. The male they named Baaashear after Governor Beshear. Yes, we are finding some joy in this journey.

Wednesday, April 22, 2020
This day I started in the kitchen getting my breakfast. My eye caught something with color in our front yard along the driveway. I went to the dining room window to get a closer look. This is what I went out and took a picture of. 

When we visited the Marx family before Easter, we noted how lush the front yard looked. We talked (at an acceptable social distancing place) with Michael and Andie about this. They are using a lawn care business to spray their property several times each year with weed killer and/or fertilizer. Michael still does all the mowing. They felt this was well worth the cost. Our poor yard struggles to stay green. It's a hill that has clay and rock not far from the surface. The water rolls off of it and it catches every seed of any weed in the breeze. Claude called Pratt Landscaping and asked about their service. They have something where they spray 5 times each year (we had missed the first spraying). The cost was only a few dollars more than what Claude pays for buying the product to do it himself. Then he has to walk the ground and disburse whatever he has purchased. He signed up for the service and they came out at 7am while were were still asleep and sprayed the lawn and left the bill in the front door. Those dandelions were curling up by the end of that day. Very happy we did this. 

Meme of the day this day was this one.

My granddaughters both made contact this day. Aubrey sent me this idea for masks for children. I shared this idea with Katelyn and then had the girls tell me which ones each of their little ones would like. Emelia wanted the black and white bear at the top, Raelyn wanted the gray and white kitty, while Nelson preferred the brown one at the bottom that is either a lion or a dog. I gathered yard and supplies and made a box of things needed to try my hand at these. I started last night on the one for Nelson. I used a tiny hook and it came out big enough for me. I will have to figure something out. I know I can make the base part now even with the meager instructions. But they may require real baby yarn or not crocheting as many rows or something. I'll ponder this and figure it out because they are so dang cute. Even just to play in, I am sure the great grands would love these.

Katelyn sent this picture with a poem. Katelyn loves her first born. 
"You are my sunshine, my Rae of sunshine
"You're getting bigger every day
"You'll never know Rae how much I love you.
"Please stop growing and stay this way."

This day I order Mother's Day gifts for my daughters and married grandmonsters. I also mailed the final piece of Emelia's first birthday present. Her Girl Scout cookies and cards for Raelyn and Emelia. Grampa also put in $1 for each of the girls. Raelyn thinks it is a ticket. Grampa wants to be sure she gets a ticket from him. 

Thursday, April 23, 2020
This day the Ropers were officially out of their apartment. They have lived in this apartment complex for 6 years. They moved in with only the two of them and added Raelyn in the one bedroom. Then they moved to a two bedroom and added Emelia. Now it was time to try and get into their first home. They managed to get this accomplished even with the corona virus and quarantining. Very happy for this little family. Katelyn took me on a virtual tour of the new property. They should be happy in this home for a long time.

Friday, April 24, 2020
This was a day to test one's patience. I started scanning a document a few days before. I wanted it in my lap top so I could give the printed copy to Papa to read. Then he could dispose of the printed one when he was finished. The first page scanned fine. The second page scanned fine. The third page not so fine. My printed stopped half-way through the scan. It was trying to scan but couldn't. This happens every now and then. I usually close everything down and turn everything back on and that sometimes fixes whatever is the issue. This time that didn't work. So I shut her down for a couple of days and when I came back on Friday the scanner would not work. My next step has always been to uninstall the printer software and reinstall it. I uninstalled like always. However, it would not reinstall. I spent and entire morning trying all kinds of things from running the HP Doctor software to downloading and updating from the Internet. Finally I got it to work. Then I was off scanning again. Hallelujah!!

Katelyn send two cute pictures of our Emelia. She is almost one year old. She is walking now and she had three teeth. She apparently enjoys pizza very much and also playing with the DVD's with her toes. Oh My! Be still my heart.

Every night, except for Saturday night, I write a letter to Papa. I try to include a picture whenever I can. This time I sent him this picture of him with his walker. You see, it has now been 5 years since I purchased this walker for him. It is now a most valued possession as it allows him to still be mobile in a safe way. Whoever invented this one needs to be honored. It is a great toy for the grandmonsters as well.

For some reason my body was craving a grain bowl from Panera. I told Claude and our dinner plans changed to accommodate that craving. We drove to Georgetown and, as we sat in the drive-thru line for a very long time, I told Claude that the gas prices have gone down so much so everyone can afford to wait in a drive-thru lane to support the local eateries. 

As we sat eating in the parking lot in our car, I asked Claude if he had any interest in having a test for Covid-19. He said he really didn't. I suggested it might be nice to at least have that test that shows if you have had it and didn't know it to see if you might have some immunity from it in the future. Well, you know how sometimes your tang gets tunggled when you try to speak. That happened with Claude's reply of, "Yes, it might be nice to know if you are asemetic." (He meant asymptomatic). I shared bit of this chat with our kids via text. Jake quickly replied via text, "Let me know how that goes. I have not been washing my hands between texts!" Sometimes, just sometimes, I think my family might be a little weird.

Saturday, April 25, 2020
The Roper girls received their package from Great Pa and Great Ma. They loved their cards. This makes one happy.

I started my day making an apron for Bonnie, Claude's mother, for Mother's Day. It is out of a Hawaiian print shirt of Claude's. Turned out really pretty. When I received the gifts for the other Mother's, I will get all this in the mail. 

Nissa sent me a text asking if I wanted to chat. Well...of course. I paused in my sewing and retrieved my hubby and we had a lovely video chat with Nissa and Todd. They had their first shared day off work in a long time and were spending it calling family and having chats to be sure all were okay. They both looked good and sounded great. Their hours have been cut due to a drop in business but they are still both working as they supply auto parts to police and firemen, etc. 

Meme for this day. This is such a true statement that it is painful. Even with Claude and I getting out and walking we are still gaining. 

We had errands in Georgetown. Claude knew of a new place to get BBQ ribs that he really wanted to try. The guy is only open Saturday and Sunday from Noon to 6pm or whenever he sells out. We got there at 12:30pm. Claude got in an appropriately social distancing line and when he was 3rd from getting to place his order they came out and scratched off ribs. This was his desire so he left the line and came back to the car. We would have lunch from Zaxby's instead.

As we sat in the Zaxby's eating our lunch, I shared with Claude some insight I had come to me. It went something like this, "I think one of the best ways to look at this is, when I get to the end of this, what will I look back and wish I had done with the time during quarantine?" I really think if we knew this it would help direct our time and efforts

After lunch we stopped at CVS Pharmacy to pick up a prescription for Claude. Then we went to the nursing home to take Papa a bag of treats and for me to fill the bird feeder. I left treats in the front lobby first. Then went around back to fill the bird feeder. I could see someone walking in Papa's room. I waved to them and then went to fill the bird feeder. I looked back in and they had told Papa to watch out the window. I came to the window and waved to Papa. He has a screen and he doesn't pull up his blinds. He just sets them to open so he can watch the birds. He saw me and we waved back and forth for a bit. I blew him a kiss and he blew me a kiss several times. It was such a tender mercy to connect with him at all. They had his bed pulled down closer to his closet and the window. He looked thin to me but he had a nice grin and I'll take that any day.

In the evening we called Jake and had a nice long chat with him. He also sounds good. I worry most about him as he lives alone and now works from home so all his days are spent in his apartment. It was good to hear him sound good. To ask his advice or thoughts about some things we are thinking about and make sure he knows we value his opinion. He does have great insights into things. 

A friend from my Louisiana days posted this string of pictures where people had misspelled a lot of things. I laughed so much at some of them. I will not share the pictures. I'll just share the words.

• Card only and no cash back. Sorry for the incontinence.
• To our valued guest we will be closing at 7pm daily for the forcible future.
• Shoplifters will be prostituted. No exceptions.
• Kepchup.
• Oatmeat.
• Belssed.
• Amphibious pitcher makes debut.
• If you park in this parking lot and your not visiting our daycare your vehicle will be toad. Learning academy.

These two I will share the picture. 

Sunday, April 26, 2020

Today I feel a little punky. Just not on my game. But I am trying to get some things done. We had our home Church service this morning followed by a Worship Service via Zoom with our Ward family (congregation). I spent some time transferring my pencil notes in my paper scriptures to my digital version. I'm getting this Blog done. I'll write to the missionaries later. I'll write Papa a letter later. 

A friend has been posting a question each day on his Facebook page to get people thinking and sharing. They have been things like your most embarrassing moment or what do you collect and the list goes on. Today Tommy Druen posted the question, "Who is your favorite Old Testament character?" I usually just peruse the answers people give. This time I responded. "My favorite is Joseph. Because he stayed faithful in every adversity. He loved his family even with their flaws." I only taught Old Testament one year to seminary kids. I remember distinctly how much Joseph impressed me. It was good to share that with others.

Now I am off to watch the Andy Beshear show to see how we are doing with the corona virus. I will share my biggest area of concern continues to be the increase in cases in the long-term care facilities. On Monday, April 20th there were 408 residents and 184 staff that tested positive for the corona virus. As of last night there were 602 residents and 273 staff that tested positive for the corona virus. The number of deaths was 95 as of last night. That is almost half of the 200 deaths total in Kentucky from corona virus. These are sobering numbers to anyone with a family member in a long-term care facility that is skilled care for the weakest of us. Sobering.

What Day of the Week is This???

It all seems to run together. My father residing in the nursing home never knoww what day it is or if it is morning or evening. Claude and I are pretty much in tune with day and night but what day of the week it is sure gets fuzzy when they are all the same. So I'll continue putting my life in this Blog so when Covid-19 is all done I'll remember what each day was...or close to it.

Monday, April 13, 2020

Paul, our grandson, received his face mask and sent me this picture. He commented that the fabric smelled like Blamma's house. That is a compliment. Blamma is what he and his siblings called me when they were little. Claude was Blampa. Katelyn, Paul's older sister, couldn't say 'gr' and substituted 'bl'. We loved these names. They were unique. So when Paul said the fabric smelled like Blamma's house, that was a double compliment.

This day I tried to get Papa some new glasses. I called Dr. Richardson's office as soon as it opened. It seems they don't have any record of making new glasses for Papa. They do have all the records from his visits. So, I asked if they know what his last prescription should have been based on his eye exams. They do have that but have not made glasses from that prescription. The bottom line is they can't make glasses for Papa. Since Walmart's optometry department is completely closed, and since that is where Papa would have purchased his last pair of glasses, I have no where to get real glasses made for Papa. They would have been bi-focals. I do have one lens but that doesn't mean the other lens was the same. My only recourse was to purchase a pair of the strongest readers I could get. Claude and I drove to Georgetown and I purchased the strongest readers I could in a style I thought Papa might like. Then we dropped them off at the nursing home. This is driving me nuts. Papa can't hear and his TV is way across the room from him. He is pretty much blind in one eye and mostly blind in the other. However, reading is something he still fills his time with till his eyes get tired and then he takes a nap. I truly hope the readers work for him. And, I take courage in Glen telling me he works with his two magnifying glass options to see the page. Ugh!!

In the evenings Claude and I watch television together. We are wading our way through all of the 8 seasons of Psyche, a television show we really liked. I bought the DVD set several years ago for Claude and this seems a time to watch all of those. We are also watching through the Hobbit movies as well as a few other movies we have DVD's for. Then we try to clear some of the shows we have DVR'd. While watching Psyche this night, Shawn was talking about the Bible to his friend Gus. Gus told Shawn he clearly had never read the Bible. To which Shawn recites for Gus the names of the first five books of the Old Testament in this fashion, "Genesis, Exorcist, Leviathan and Do The Right Thing". Claude and I are still laughing. Clearly Shawn had never really read the Bible.

I also finished the fourth row of my Covid-19 afghan.

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Saw one cute memes and sent it and a screen shot from my phone to our Mini's. Bailey loves emoji's and these particularly fit this time in which we are living.

Every beauty shop, barber shop and nail salon is closed. People are trying to cut each other's hair when they have never cut hair before in their life. When getting ready in the morning, I realized how long my hair is actually getting and took this picture of me playing with a new hairstyle. What do you think?

Took a rather sobering phone call this day. One of the nurses that works for Signature Health Care traveled to Tennessee. She came home the day the Executive Order was given that, if you travel out of Kentucky and then come back into Kentucky, you must self-quarantine for 14 days. Being a nurse and working in the long-term care area, her employer gave her a test before she went to self-quarantine. It came back positive for the corona virus. She has absolutely no symptoms. No fever, no cough, no tiredness or difficulty breathing. Absolutely nothing. In fact, she is so healthy that she goes out everyday for her jog and does her yoga in her home. They have tested her husband and her daughter and neither have the virus. So, there you have the deceptiveness of this virus. She is totally asymptomatic and still can spread the virus to others. Since she can't come in to work (she doesn't work where Papa resides), they have given her the task of calling every family in a Signature Health Care facility and reviewing with them what they are currently doing and confirming end-of-life decisions. We had a lovely call. We laughed about her situation and then she explained about Papa's situation and confirmed our desires for his end-of-life. They are keeping residents in all their facilities in isolation in their rooms. If a resident tests positive for corona virus, the nursing home will provide all the supportive care they are capable of doing in that facility (breathing treatments, meds for symptoms, etc.). Glen had already told me that Signature Health Care of Georgetown, where Papa resides, is preparing some rooms that will be in a separate section should they needs them. If the resident develops respiratory concerns, they will be transferred to a hospital. They can be placed on a ventilator. Then she told me something I did not know. They will only keep someone on a ventilator for two weeks with that timing beginning when they place the ventilator in the patient. It seems prolonged use of a ventilator causes the tissue around it to deteriorate. They simply can't and won't leave it in longer than two weeks. After two weeks, they can perform a tracheotomy and insert a breathing tube. Papa has requested for him and my mother long ago to not prolong the end-of-life. I told the nurse that they may use the ventilator for the two weeks if it has a hope of giving him time to heal. We are not to prolong life. May I just insert here that taking responsibility for the end of your parents lives is not for the faint of heart. It truly requires you to know your loved one and their wishes and understand that you must stand firm in that plan. It is not easy to say, "Okay, let them die." Not easy at all. But I personally believe there is time for us to return to our Heavenly Father and we don't need to tamper with that timing either. I reflect back to my dream a week or two ago of my parents walking hand-in-hand and will bring that memory to the fore when time requires it. I have always wanted to be with Papa when his time came to die. I was with my Mother for the entire last week of her life. I wanted to be there with Papa. The threat of this virus taking him means that I haven't seen him for a month now. If they put him in a hospital in this condition, I will not be with him at all while he is there and I will not be with him when he passes. He will be alone. Him being alone at that time is so much harder to think about than him passing. Life is not easy even when you are doing the right thing. I am grateful that Signature Health Care is making sure all families are aware of what they will do and that their wishes for end-of-life are being confirmed should any steps have to be taken.

This evening I finished rows 5 and six on the Covid-19 afghan. It was progressing.

Wednesday, April 15, 2020
Meme for this day harks back to a favorite television show "The Big Bang Theory". They have a running line about the Schrodinger's Cat Theory. Someone made a meme about that based on the corona virus.

This day I managed to get the seventh row done on my Covid-19 afghan.

Thursday, April 16, 2020
Meme for this day was cleverly stupid.

I loved getting this picture of Nelson when they received their face masks. It is funny to me that I mailed all the face masks the same day with the exception of the Tyler's. Theirs were mailed the next day. Yet the Tyler's got theirs on the same day the Ropers received their face masks. I believe that mail is silly right now. But it still moves a bit. Nelson is cute and Aubrey says he loves playing with it.

Katelyn helped Raelyn send a letter to her grandparents, Nissa and Todd. This is her letter. It says, "Dear Ma and Pa, you owe me an Easter Egg Hunt. I love you and miss you." The inside of the card says......"I'll come over and go fishing and hunting and play outside. Love Raelyn." Melted these grandparents heart.

This day found me spending a good bit of my time crocheting. The temperature dropped outside to way below normal for this time of year. So I put on my Dr. Pepper socks and crocheted away. I finished rows 8 and 9. Please note that I am not curling my hair during all of this unless we are going somewhere...which is just about never. It will be difficult to go back to curling my hair every day.

Friday, April 17, 2020
This morning I spent doing laundry and ironing. Between loads I would crochet. While I did this, Claude busied himself defrosting the freezer in the pantry. Yeah Claude!!

I received this picture of Jake. He received his face masks.

This day I finished row 10 on my Covid-19 afghan.

Saturday, April 18, 2020
This day was Jake, our son's, birthday. He turned 45 years old. First thing I posted a Happy Birthday wish to him on Facebook with this picture of him taken at Thanksgiving 2019 with the family that came for Thanksgiving. Jake is the tall one on the left end of the back row. 

During the day Jake and I texted back and forth. On Friday Claude said how he wished we could go to Michigan and take him to dinner. There is a 'no travel' order in place and we really are not to leave Kentucky. If we had to for any reason, we are to self-isolate for 14 days upon our return to Kentucky. I told Claude that restaurants are not open and we couldn't sit down and have a nice meal together anywhere. So Saturday I was really wanting to do something extra for Jake's birthday. All the rest of our kids and grandmonsters have others they live with. They are not alone. Jake lives in his apartment and now works from there. So he is alone except for stepping out in the evening and chatting with Max, his neighbor, at a safe distance for a bit. The idea came that we could order something for him a nice birthday meal. I ran the idea past Claude and he thought it was a great idea. I sent Jake a text and asked him what he would want from a restaurant in Chelsea that had curb service or delivery service. Any place he wanted. I also indicated that it would be a good meal for him and it would help his local economy. Jake was happy with the idea. He suggested Cottage Inn Pizza which he was sure was doing delivery. He told me exactly what he wanted from there. I called and ordered and paid for Jake's meal and they delivered him a hot pizza and Caesar salad. The sweet lady that took the order asked if I wanted the large salad or the single serving size. I assured her large would be better and Jake might make two meals out of it. Jake was happy with that idea when I told him his pizza was ordered and would be there shortly. To continue the celebration, Claude and I called Formaggio's in Georgetown and ordered us individual pizzas and Caesar salads. Then we drove in and picked them up. Loved that they wrote on the top of our individual pizzas Thank You and Stay Safe. 

It was a long distance meal, but it was fun nonetheless. This is how we celebrate while self-distancing during the corona virus.

Later Jake sent me this picture. Jake goes to the laundromat. He has been taking Max's clothes as she has very poor health and has a greater risk if she got the virus. This day Max was sure she should go herself. Later that day Jane, the lady that owns the laundromat, brought Jake cupcakes to celebrate his birthday. Clearly Max had talked with her. Jake said she was very careful to tell him she washed her hands several times while baking them. Jake was happy with the cupcakes (which included a little candle to put on them). He took three of them to Max to enjoy also. There are so many nice things happening with this virus. 

During the day we seemed to have an unusually large amount of things collect at the top of the stairs. We usually put things on the gossip bench or by the door and then when we go downstairs, we take them with us. Seems like things were a bit out of control and we needed to go downstairs more than we were. 

This night I finished the last row on the afghan and then crocheted the edge around it. I was very happy to get this done. I think it turned out well and I have had several compliments on it from my Facebook post. It was fun to be crocheting again. I will not now crochet for a long time I think. I am pretty sure I have carpal tunnel in my hand and this just makes it very angry. So, I'll find another project to do until I feel my hand can do this crocheting again.

Sunday, April 19, 2020
Didn't sleep much Saturday night. So I read my Ensign for April. I was about half way through it when I finally went to sleep. Sunday morning I got up and got my shower and prepared myself for Church at home. Then Claude and I each read some. I finished up the Ensign. We had a Zoom Worship Service. Not a sacrament meeting. But a chance to sing a couple of hymns, listen to words from our Bishop and also two other talks. Just a chance to be back together via on-line face time with the other members of our congregation. It was nice. Luella Alcorn posted this picture of us. Claude and I are on the right side next to the bottom. We look like we are peeking over the edge of the picture.

In the afternoon, Claude played his guitar and I recorded him singing. This was something I felt strongly about us doing last week. There were two songs Claude used to sing to our kids when they were little. They are titled "The Marvelous Little Toy" and "The Unicorn Song". Our kids loved hearing their Dad play his guitar and sing these songs. I just felt a prompting this would be a fun thing to do for our family. So Claude did some practicing and he was ready on Sunday. I recorded it. Then I spent the rest of the day trying to get them to download to a Google photo album I created for them. This would allow me to share them with all the family. I changed the settings on my cellphone before I recorded so it was a larger file. I'm sure that was what made it so hard to do. That, and our Internet has been really spotty since everyone is home. It was fun to do this for our family. 

Monday, April 20, 2020
When we woke up we had a message from Andie, our daughter. She sent us a link to an NPR recording of Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers. They are excellent. And so I started the recording and we did our waking up this morning to new songs from them. 

I suggested Claude get me a biscuit for breakfast from Hardee's. We hopped in the Jeep and went to the drive-thru for a biscuit. We sat in the parking lot to eat and watch all the truck traffic at Love's Travel Plaza. 

When we got home I started working this Blog while Claude took care of some telephone chores. Then we paused to sit on the front porch for a bit before working in the yard for the rest of the morning. I was weeding the front flower beds and Claude cut the grass. Now Claude is edging the top part of our property and I am finishing up this Blog entry.

I just wanted to record this about the concern for long-term care facilities in Kentucky. As of last night's update from Governor Beshear, we had 2960 cases of the corona virus in the state. 148 people have died because of the virus in Kentucky. On April 7th there were 55 residents in Kentucky long-term care facilities with the virus, 22 staff with the virus and 11 deaths. As of today, the total number of deaths in long-term care facilities if around 50. With the total number of deaths in the state being 148, that means 1/3 of the deaths from corona virus are in the long-term care facilities. This is why the tight restrictions there. When the restrictions for all the things start to let up a bit, the very last one that will open up is the long-term care facilities. Just looking at these numbers makes it clear why that is important. This is a vicious and strange virus. So many are healthy and don't know they may have it, like the nurse I spoke with last Tuesday. They could be spreading it and not even know it. Others are healthy one day and gone the next. We have even had a 10 day old baby with a positive test. Until there is a vaccine against it, we will have a strange way of life. But, as Governor Beshear tells us at the beginning and end of each of his daily news cast, "We can get through this, we can get through this together."

And the Beat Goes On...

We are still enjoying time...lots and lots of time...

Monday, April 6, 2020
This day was spent mostly making face masks.  These were for each member of our family, the missionaries in our ward (congregation) and a dozen for John's Hopkins Clinic in Maryland. Our friend, Betty Dixon, asked for them for her granddaughter, Courtney.

Claude and I did pause in the early afternoon to sit on the front porch and enjoy the pretty weather. Our little tree was almost at peak blossom and it is gorgeous during this time of year. The little birdhouse that Claude painted looked so pretty in the branches with all those blossoms. There was even a little honey bee buzzing around collecting nectar. I took a very brief video of that and sent it to the great grandmonsters.

 While out on Facebook, I found this cute idea for a thrifty way to remember the Covid-19 Pandemic.

And in the evening, Aubrey sent us this cute picture of Nelson curled up with her watching a movie. Face of an angel.

Tuesday, April 7, 2020
Arose with a goal to get the packages in the mail. There were several and it felt good to get them off to family and to help a friend. You can get very shut off and out of sync when you are just to stay inside day after day. All those days run together. We've kept our days and nights in order but knowing what day it is requires a peak at the cell phone every now and then. So stepping outside of just the two of us was refreshing. 

This day was our son-in-laws birthday. I posted these pictures of a vacation we took in 2012 with Todd and Nissa to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. 

Then we were off to Georgetown to deliver masks to the missionaries and a box of food that Claude prepared for them. He even included a roll of toilet paper for them. He made a pork tenderloin for our dinner and gave half of it to the missionaries. We also dropped off a bag of treats for Papa. We got a biscuit for ourselves from Bojangles and then went for a walk at the park before returning to Sadieville. I am so very grateful for this park. No problem with social distancing. It is about a mile walk on level ground by Elkhorn Creek. Claude forgot his wallet in the Jeep and went back to get it. I took this selfie of me in the park. 

One of the hardest parts of this is not seeing Papa each day. You always wonder how the residents are doing. The nursing home posted this picture. Someone came in a bunny outfit to look at them through the windows and say hi. Did my heart good to see this. This is not Papa in the picture. 

Katelyn sent these pictures of their family. The first one is little Emelia making a list. This definitely comes from a gene from me. I love lists and grids. The second one is Drew with the girls riding horse back on him. That's a good daddy.

This day Governor Andy Beshear started showing a chart about Long Term Care Facilities in Kentucky and what is happening with them during the Covid-19 pandemic. This is a huge concern. Papa is in a skilled care facility. Everyone there is compromised health wise. If it gets in there, many will not make it. So I will be watching this chart carefully as the statistics change.

Wednesday, April 8, 2020
This day felt weird. We arose early and got ready. Claude's audiologist needed masks. She wanted to open the business for emergency needs only. She put out a request for face masks on Facebook. She and I became friends on Facebook because she wanted to see our pictures of Africa and I put most of them on Facebook. So I saw her request and made her two masks. She was planning on arriving at the office in Georgetown between 9:00 and 9:30am. We got to Georgetown early to get a biscuit for breakfast. We had time before Debbie was to arrive so we went to Walmart and Claude did our weekly shopping. Then we dropped off the masks to Debbie. We also went for a walk at the park. By the time we got back home, it was only 10:30am. It felt like it should be about 3 or 4pm. Ugh. The changes for this virus really play with your concept of time.  

I checked my eMail and found another one from Groupon with a cute subject line: "Like Shakespeare said, 'To deal, or not to deal. It is no question'." 

The Marx family received their masks first and posted this wonderful picture of their family. (Bailey, Michael, Hayden, Andie). Love this family.

We settled in for the evening. The weather kept alerting us of a tornado watch for our area. The storm clouds gathered and the winds picked up. It came like gangbusters. No tornado but our next door neighbor took this picture from his front porch. I can almost see a funnel starting to form in the cloud. I did bring my wreath off the front door inside until all this unsettled weather blows away. 

The Georgetown NewsGraphic notified us that Toyota has extended their shut down until May 4th. 

I had four really big skeins of yarn. I purchased them a couple of years ago on two different markdown racks. I have not crocheted them because I ruined my hand when crocheting for 2017 Christmas gifts. I determined I should try to crochet and make an afghan to remember this Covid-19 pandemic quarantine period. This night I got the first row completed. I think the pattern for each motif will remind me of the picture they use of Covid-19 in the media. 

Thursday, April 9, 2020

Governor Beshear has asked that we ring bells, if we have them, at 10am each day to remember those who have lost their lives to the corona virus. My sweet friend Laura has a daughter named Jessie. She is going out on their back porch and ringing her bell for these people. This just melts my heart. Jessie has the purest heart of just about anybody I ever met. 

Claude came across this meme and shared it with me. I really believe this one contains a lot of truth about where we are right now. I have been amazed that we have been given guidance and people have not followed it. So, the Governor has to issue an Executive Order which carries more weight and the possibility of penalties. Once again, I cannot understand why we have to make rules instead of using the good sense we were given. 

Okay, this next part might be a little disturbing. It will only serve to illustrate we are getting a bit of cabin fever even though we have been out more than many others. Somehow Claude and I were speaking of painting my nails. This led to us laughing about painting Claude's nails. Which led to me actually painting Claude's toenails. We opted to paint one foot red and one purple. We then posted this for our family only asking them to pick which color was best. Purple got the most votes. We received a note from Jake that said "Red. But he should put on socks and never take them off!" 

This led to a discussion of whether these were my feet or Claude's feet. and the dialogue began. Katelyn stated purple. I suggested Raelyn made that choice. Katie had to admit that vote did come from Raelyn. Claude indicated that purple was better because it would match his long toe on his left foot that he broke while we were in Tombstone. He stubbed it on the little refrigerator in our room. Andie and Claude's mother also voted purple with flourishes using gif's to illustrate their color choices. 

Then Claude added fuel to this flame by texting this picture and with comment, "Look! A spring bouquet!" 

This is where Bailey began to question if these were my feet or Claude's feet. Claude said, "You tell me..." Bailey replied, "Your feet." To which Claude replied, "Nothing gets past you..." To which Bailey posted this picture with the comment, "My feet are cold."

Claude counseled her to 'try the microwave. Bailey simply said, "Okay." Katelyn jumped into the mix with this picture of her feet.

Bailey responded by telling Katy her shoes were nice. Katelyn said, "Thanks Payless haha." Bailey this posted this picture asking, "You like my dog slippers??" Katelyn replied she loved them.

Claude quietly published this piece of artwork for the family stating, "Mr. Thumbly stopped by to say Hi. He did maintain the requisite social distancing, but it was a stretch." Katelyn immediately asked, "Grampa, are you ok?" I assured her we just had a bit of cabin fever but it was being channeled in a fun way. 

Andie then set to work and created a thumb video using Claude's thumb and making the mouth move as she spoke in a British accent. You see, someone suggested this was Thumbkin and not Thumbly. To which Claude assured them he was British and it was Thumbly. Oh my!!

After a bit Bailey came back with this picture!! Clearly the girl knows something about photo shop. Now Thumbly is on each of Grampa's toes. She sent it and said, "Pa look!!"

Claude asked her what he was looking at? Beside 10 or so gloriously beautiful toes. Bailey assured him it was an art piece. 

That was a lot of picture and dialogue but it clearly shows where we are at after three or four week inside and separated from physically being with each other. 

I sent Andie some text messages in the evening alerting her to helping us with our plan for the next day and telling her it was a surprise for the Mini's. I'm not sure how it happened but I believe our very sensitive Bailey was needing a grandparent fix and Andie indicated she would see us the next day to reassure her. What I do know is that at about 11:30pm as we were beginning to drift off to sleep there was a ding on Claude's cell phone. We usually ignore these after we are nestled in bed but this one felt different so Claude picked up his phone and checked. It was a message from Bailey asking if we would bring this purple scarf when we came the next day. Hence, I knew that she found out from Andie and the need for that scarf indicated someone needed a little reassuring. When I took the Mini's to see the second Harry Potter movie with the Louisville Orchestra, Claude was out of town. Bailey wanted to go but she was just getting used to the intensity of the movies. She was concerned. I was aware of this before I went to pick them up. I wore my purple scarf that Claude gave me. Before the movie/concert started I showed Bailey the scarf and told her that it was given to me by her Grampa. He gave it to me because he loves me very much. So that scarf was full of Grampa love. I assured her if she wore it or hugged it when she was concerned during the performance she would be surround by Grampa love that would protect her from any bad feelings. She hugged that scarf the entire evening and was sure  Grampa was there with us, if not in body, in spirit. That is why the late night call and why I am sure that this quarantine is wearing a bit on our Bailey.

Friday, October 10, 2020

This day we woke up and got ourselves ready for a little drive. This was the day of another worldwide fasting and prayer for relief from the Covid-19 virus. We would observe this by fasting breakfast and lunch. We would break our fast with dinner on the way back from LaGrange. 

First, Claude baked cookies. Then we packed a bag of treats for Papa, a bag of cookies for the missionaries, and a bag of treats for the Mini's. We were off. 

First a stop at the missionaries and dropped off their cookies. Then we went to the nursing home and left the bag of treasures for Papa. I also gave them 12 more face masks. 

There are couple of things in Georgetown of which I took note. First were the new signs in on the curb in front of what had formerly been sit down restaurants. That is not allowed with the corona virus. However, restaurants can do curbside service. So, Georgetown has put these nice signs out to mark parking spaces for those helping restaurants stay in business. I loved this idea. Yea Georgetown!

The second thing is the repair work being done on the courthouse in Georgetown. They have taken the cupola off the building and are doing repair work. Just find this fascinating.

Now we headed to LaGrange with Bailey checking to see on how close we were. Love her little heart.

We usually have the Mini's for several days during their spring break. That was last week. I sent them pictures of past spring break visits to fill the void of not being together. I also ordered each of them something we thought they might enjoy. For Hayden I ordered a book about Stephen King and his writing. Hayden wants to be a screen writer so he had this book on his list of things to read. For Bailey, I ordered a Lego kit from the Harry Potter movie with the lady giant and the girls from their magic school. It was a carriage and the creatures that pull it. There were little replicas of the giant lady and her students. The carriage could be made as a carriage and then rearranged as their living quarters. These didn't come till the week after spring break. So we waited to tell the Mini's about them till both gifts had arrived. 

Since it was close to Easter, I pulled out my plastic Easter eggs and filled them with candy. There were 16 of them and 4 others that were bigger. I had two Easter baskets from years past. 

The plan was to drive up to the Marx home and put the eggs in the front flower bed with the baskets and gifts and cookies on the front porch. Then we would park on the street in front at the curb and call the Mini's to come out and find their treasures. I sent a text to Andie saying we were close and it was a bit cool outside so they might want coats. She said she would get Bailey out of the window. Poor little nugget.

I called after we set up everything and out the Marx family came. We had an Easter egg hunt, opened gifts and chatted from a safe distance. Here are some pictures I took and Andie took. I love the one of us social distancing safely.

I took video of the Easter egg hunting. The Mini's are getting a little older for the Easter egg hunt but they still had fun...and...they were outside for a bit. We had a good chat before we left to head back home. It was really good to see them all. A bit strange not to get a rib cracking hug from my Hayden. And Claude said quietly as we left, "Bailey needs to snuggle in Pa's armpit for a half hour." Yep, he needed them as much as they needed him.

We would have dinner on the way home at a burger place in Frankfort. Then we would stop in Georgetown for a walk in our park. We encountered this lone goose. He was not very happy we were near him but we stayed on our path and didn't bother him.

We no sooner got home than I received a call from the nursing home. I seemed Papa's glass were missing and they needed me to know as he said I had the frames. I assured them I had not seen him for a month and I did not have his frames. They had the lens which had popped out. I set to check on places that might be able to put the lens in a new frame while they looked for Glen who had the lens. Jessica, the social worker, said she would call me back after she found Glen. Dr. Richardson, the last ophthalmologist Papa saw, would not be opened until Monday. There was one other office that was had some hours. Others were closed completely. The social worker didn't call and it was getting to be 6pm. I called the nursing home and spoke with Renee, the nurse. She said she would find out what she could and let me know back. She did and they had the lens. I explained I would call Vision Works Saturday morning and see if they could put the lens in a frame. Ugh!!

Saturday, April 11, 2020

I called Vision Works as soon as they opened and explained my situation. They said I could bring the lens by and they would take it in a bag from my car and see what they could do. I hurried to Georgetown and Glen came out with a Ziploc baggie and one lens. I thought they had both lens. Nope, just the one. This would not help at all at Vision Works. I called them and explained I only had one lens, that I appreciated their willingness to try to help me. I did have a nice chat with Glen. I learned that the residents are staying in their rooms. No mingling in the dining room. No church services. They have something almost everyday from a Bible study to a worship service. I cannot complain in this big house in which to roam and a yard to work in and drive-thru's. These people are stuck in a room smaller than my living room with two people in a room and that is it. Glen did say Papa was using the magnifying glass I got him when he first went to the nursing home and a magnifying sheet that Junie mailed to him with his books for his birthday last year. With these he was able to do some reading. He said Papa is healthy. Tomorrow morning I will be calling Dr. Richardson's office first thing to see if they can make Papa a new pair. Claude suggests I get a second pair in case this happens again. That is not a bad idea. 

I determined I would sit and crochet for the remainder of my day. I would finish two more rows on the afghan.

The Tylers and the Ropers received their face masks in the mail and sent me pictures.

Sunday, April 12, 2020, Easter

Throughout this day I have worked on this Blog. I was up before Claude and started to gather pictures and notes to remember what happened each day. 

We paused to get our showers and breakfast. Then we had our Church service at home. We read lots of scriptures from the Book of Mormon about the Savior's Atonement and Resurrection. We are now watching the Tabernacle Choir's 2018 performance of Handel's Messiah. We received these pictures of the Ropers enjoying Easter. There was a nice video of the girls finding Easter eggs in the front room. This included Emelia walking around. So fun. 

Claude fixed us a nice ham dinner for our Easter meal. It was yummy. We have recorded the Governor Andy Beshear show and will  watch it after the Choir. Then I will set to crocheting another row for the afghan. Won't get that row finished tonight but will get a start on it. It is good to do this in bits as my hands are still not strong regarding the continuous motion of crocheting. We have forecasts for severe weather as the evening wears on. That should be interesting. We had several power outages again this morning. Claude read about tornadoes in Monroe, Louisiana. This is not far from Shreveport. We know many people in this area. There was even another earthquake in Montana and Idaho. The world is really rocking and reeling. It is an interesting time to live for sure.