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.