One Wacky Week...

This week we are preparing to travel to Utah at a moments notice. Our sister-in-law, Julie, is close to passing away with pancreatic cancer. When we get word of her passing and the funeral arrangements, we will pack up and hit the road. This all depends on the current restrictions based on Covid-19 for funerals. We believe we are safer from the virus driving in our own vehicle and eating at drive-thru places. So we determined we would prepare and be ready to go if and whenever.

Monday, July 20, 2020
This day I spent being very busy in my own home. I did all the laundry and ironing, watered plants, cleaned the four bathrooms and finished my Southern Caribbean Cruise scrapbook. Claude had things in Lexington that took his day.

Claude received a phone call updating him on how Julie was doing. Hospice was in and confirmed that it will likely be only a few days until Julie passes. We talked about it and determined for sure we wanted to drive. Then we started to think of things that we needed to have in place to leave on this trip. One thing I did was check the oil in my car and determined I should get an oil change as quickly as possible. I set up an appointment for Tuesday morning.

Tuesday, July 21, 2020
Tuesday morning we got up and prepared to be at Dan Cummins by 10:20am for the oil change. We decided Claude would also drive in. I would check in my car and then join him in his Jeep. We did our walk, took Papa a treat, got something for lunch and went to the park to eat it. We also called and were able to get another Covid-19 test. We felt this was best before going to visit family. It took all morning to get these things accomplished. Then we were home to finish accomplishing more on our to do lists in preparation for the trip.

On Monday, while trying to finish the Southern Caribbean Scrapbook, I wanted a couple of pictures to fill out the cover page and the second page of the PowerPoint I was making. I went to the Carnival webpage to get a map of the islands we visited. They don't lay out the page like that anymore. I tried logging in to Carnival to see if that might show a different layout. It did not. I finally found one using Goggle. While we were driving around on Tuesday, I received a phone call from Carrie Nipper. She is the sales person I worked with on that cruise and others. My logging in to Carnival must have sent an alert to her and she responded with a phone call to me to see if she could help. Ah, the world in which we live.

I wanted to get letters ready to mail to Papa each day while we were gone as well as letters to the young missionaries that I send each Sunday. I went to the basement and pressed the button on my laptop to turn it on. NOTHING!! Claude was taking a quick nap so I tried everything I could think of to get it to work. Different outlets. Holding the on button for 60 seconds. Nothing worked. When Claude woke up, he and I checked the charging cable on his laptop and it worked so we knew it wasn't the charging cable. I found a number for Toshiba service. I called it and they referred me to Dynabook. I tried them and they only wanted you to check on the Internet. I read several things on the Internet and learned they don't make Toshiba computers anymore and they don't make parts to replace broken ones on the laptops that are still being used. This was not a good thing. I called Best Buy in Lexington and spoke with a man in the Geek Squad. After explaining what was going on with my laptop, he felt it was a problem with the mother board and he didn't have and could not get a replacement. No fixing this laptop. I asked if they could get the data off the old laptop. He felt there was probably no damage to the hard drive. He said if I came into Best Buy and purchased a laptop they would transfer the files from the old to the new for a small fee of $100. I type that with tongue in cheek. I explained this to Claude. His laptop is also a Toshiba. Now we know if it has a problem, it too will be a goner. I would use Claude's laptop in the evening to get letters ready for Papa. I had used my Kindle while Claude napped to get the letters ready for the missionaries. Ugh!!

Wednesday, July 22, 2020
Best Buy opened at 10am. We left the house in time to get to Georgetown, do some banking, do our walk and get me a biscuit at Bojangles. Then off to Lexington to search for a new laptop at Best Buy. Just for the record, they had precious few laptops on their shelves for sale. The also have fewer sales people. All this is a result of the virus. Wearing our masks we made it to the back of the store and we each started looking at all the laptops to begin comparing what they had, what I really felt I needed, etc. A nice man who worked in another department came to help us. By this time we found one that might work that they actually had on the shelf under the display. He was able to find someone who really knew the computer end of the business to help us. Turns out the one we had picked does not use Goggle Chrome. This is my browser of choice. I put my old laptop on the counter and opened it. I told him this was what I was used to using and asked what he had that was close. He took us to two that might work. We weighed the pros and cons of each and chose the one we would purchase. It has a number pad. The other did not. We took that purchase to the Geek Squad with my old laptop and they took it to set it up and transfer the files. We left understanding they might have it done that day but probably not till Thursday morning.

I learned that Claude and I are way behind in the digital world already. I knew our cell phones, which are Galaxy 7's, have an older version of charging cables. They now do something called a "C". It seems this is also the move with USB cables. So, when I was seeing two USB ports on the laptops and thinking there would be two, it turns out one of them was the old version of USB and the other was the new "C" version. All of my things are the old version and I need two. I needed an adapter. Ugh again.

The other thing I learned was that most people are going to keeping things on the cloud. So they don't put as much resident memory on laptops as they used to. I haven't really embraced the cloud. I may have to move forward with my technology abilities and usage in the future.

I received a text on my cell phone about 5pm stating my new laptop was ready for pickup. Claude and I determined we should go back to Lexington and get it as we don't know what timing will be for us and we want to be ready for whatever we need to do. We did that.

I spent Wednesday evening making sure I have the things on my new laptop like I was used to seeing them on the old laptop.

This day Cordell posted this wonderful picture of him and Julie. His comment with the picture was: "Real life love stories seldom end the way we may have planned or hoped for. But consider yourself bless if your love story is cut short suddenly. Live so you can look back over the years you spent  together as companions with no regrets." This was very tender to Claude and me. Love these two people so much.

I also received a phone call from where we had out Covid-19 tests. My results were in and I was negative. Claude's weren't back quite yet. He will get his tomorrow. Whew, I feel better.

Thursday, July 23, 2020
I could not believe it. I woke up at 8:30am and realized I didn't get up once during the night. Oh I tossed and turned to get comfortable, but I didn't get out of bed one time. When one gets to this point in life...that is a miracle!!

Claude and I ate breakfast on the front porch again. We were having a gentle misting rain. It was delightful to listen to the birds chattering to each other and watch the hazy sky with rain. Nice start to our day.

I found a cute cartoon on Facebook and sent it to Jake to get a chuckle for his morning.

I showered and then pulled some things together for Papa for while we are gone. I got the birdseed ready to fill his birdfeeder and I made two bags with treats that someone can leave at the nursing home for him while I am gone. 

This morning I also managed to get another haircut. My hair had grown again to ponytail length. Time to get a haircut. I was not sure if Tyra could do that but she got me right in. Now I am sporting a much shorter cut and it feels so good. I enjoyed visiting with Tyra. I was the only customer she had the entire time I was there. She has been watching the Covid-19 positives going up and she said she wouldn't be surprised to see them close down hair salons again. So grateful for Tyra and her being right here in Sadieville.

This photo popped up on Facebook as a memory of past posts. We made a trip to New Hampshire to visit Julie and Cordell who were serving a service mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at a Church owned campground. We went to the ocean and booked a whale watching trip. Julie helped us get a selfie with all of us in the picture. Well, Cordell is only half in the picture. This was such a fun time on the water together. Saw whales even. Great day. It was July 2014. 

Claude picked up the mail and surprised me with a package from our oldest daughter for my birthday. I sent her a text to tell her it arrived and that I would wait for my birthday in a week to open it. She suggested I might go ahead and open it or at least put it in the fridge. Hmmmm.... I opened the box and found two packages of molasses crinkle cookie from the Amish store near their home. We stopped there when in Michigan in June but they were out of my favorite cookie. Nissa knows I loved these cookies and she got me some for my birthday. I suggested to my Nissa that this would be a good tradition. Nissa also included a pair of socks that have turtles all over them. Be still my turtle lovin' heart!

Masks were next on my to do list for this day. Claude is really struggling to get the right mask for his needs. He wears hearing aids and glasses. Adding a third thing behind his ears just does not work. His hearing aids tend to pop out! This is not good. When I picked up my new laptop the night before, the man in the Geek Squad had one of these holding his mask on. The loops on the mask are held on by the buttons on the crocheted strip. Then the mask doesn't have to go over the ears. I knew I could crochet this. I Googled and found the pattern and made one this afternoon for Claude. It was a little tight so I made another one that was a little longer. It seems to work for him. We'll give it a try. 

Then I went down and repaired the three masks for me that the elastic broke. We are now ready to travel with plenty of face masks to get the job done.

Our youngest grandmonster sent me a picture of a nightcrawler she wanted. Today I found what possible fabrics I had that might work and took this picture for her to pick out the one that would work best for her. She picked the silvery colored fabric. Now I can create this thing for her and she can stuff it and I'll show her how to hand stitch the seem.

Friday, July 24, 2020
Claude made an appointment to have the oil changed in the Jeep. We did the same type of thing we did on Tuesday when I had the oil changed in my car. I drove in and Claude got in my car after he checked his Jeep in for service. We went to Chick-fil-A for breakfast. Then we went to the park for a walk. Then we went to the nursing home to leave a treat for Papa. I took the three extra bags and gave them to Glen, the chaplain for the nursing home. He will hold on to them and give them to Papa for me. I also left plenty of birdseed for the birdseed feeder. 

Well, Bailey picked the silvery stretchy velvet material. I cut it out and then sewed it and stuffed it. This fabric was not for the novice seamstress at all. She will have to glue the eyes on it. Bailey was very happy with this picture I sent her. She said it 'looks so creepy and that's what I wanted!!'  I wonder if I should be concerned? Will give it to her next time I see her. 

I did a little more sewing this day. It was fun to be back at that again. I have left it alone for the most part for quite a while. I have a blouse to make for Bailey and I might try making one for me before I cut the smaller size. 

Saturday, July 25, 2020
Breakfast on the porch to begin our day. A call to Utah confirmed that Julie is still hanging in there. Bless her and Cordell's heart. How hard this must be I cannot even imagine. So we have devoted this day to finishing up any preparations for a trip. I am doing the end bit of laundry, Claude is cutting the grass. We are gathering things to take and generally getting things in final order. What an experience. Traveling in the midst of a pandemic for a funeral of a loved one is an emotional roller coaster. We believe we have done everything we could to make it a safe experience.

This week has felt wacky. Trying to be ready and think of all that should be done and could be done ahead of times. Waiting for a phone to ring with news you really don't want to hear. Laptops breaking in the midst of all of this. It just feels strange. The corona virus in on the rise. Friday there were 767 confirmed cases added to the total. They have a percentage formula that helps compare apples to apples from the first surge we had of the virus. When that percentage gets to 5% you state is in the danger zone and needs to cut back on what has been allowed to open up. Yesterday, Kentucky was at 5.28%. Governor Beshear had already issued an advisory warning for several states stating 'if you visit them, please come back and self-quarantine for 14 days. If this magic percentage stays over 5% for the weekend, there may be more restrictions given to get it under control. Lexington has already states that Fayette County will begin the school year with on-line instruction only, no in-class learning to start the school year. We'll watch and see and continue to be personally vigilant. Interesting time in which to live. Very interesting.

At Home and on the Road...

Monday, July 13, 2020

Katelyn's birthday was this day. Katelyn is our first born grandmonster. I posted this on Facebook with these pictures of our precious grandmonster. "Katelyn Roper is a loving wife and mother...but she is also our first born grandmonster. She has been a joy to learn how to grandparent on. Today is her birthday. Please join us in wishing Happy Birthday to KTNickles!! You are a joy. Love Ya Bunches." (Katelyn is pictured with her hubby, Drew, Emelia her baby, and Raelyn their precocious 4 year old.)

Tuesday, July 14, 2020
This day Claude had an appointment with our dentist, Dr. Hollen to have his new crown glued in. I drove into Georgetown with him and, while he was at our dentist, I went over the Dr. King's to let him see the finished product on my implant bridge. He is the surgeon who removed my front teeth after my fall last August and repaired my crushed bone followed by installing my implants. He wanted to see what it looked like after Dr. Hollen glued in my implant bridge of crowns. He was so very happy with the end results, as am I. 

When Claude finished we did our typical Georgetown trip items: a walk in the park, a treat delivered to Papa and a meal purchased at a drive-thru and eaten under a shade tree in our car. Such is the nature of a great date during this Covid-19 event.

A few more family things happened this day. Claude shared this picture he took on July 4th when the Marx family came for dinner. Hayden pretty much owns the red rocking chair when he comes. To get here for lunch requires them to arise much earlier in the morning than they have been arising this summer. So...our young man was really sleepy. I just love this picture. Such is the comfort level at Grampa and Gramma's home.

Katelyn also let us know that Drew, her hubby's, grandmother passed away. Sharlotte is Drew's father's mother. She had Covid-19 and was in the hospital. They released her Monday and she went home. She passed away on Tuesday in her home. 

And Aubrey posted this picture of her holding Katelyn's baby, Emelia. Such a lot of family love in this picture. It's good to be an aunt with snuggles like this!

Wednesday, July 15, 2020
I found this quote on my Facebook newsfeed. I sent it to our son Jake who is an English major. He was impressed by the use of parentheticals. I simply told him I should add that word to my vocabulary! 

Claude and I opted to drive to Hardee's and get a biscuit for breakfast. Then we came home and ate breakfast on our front porch. As we were getting ready to leave Love's Travel Plaza, we saw this trailer hauling trailers. It struck us as funny and we called it old people humor. I posted the picture on Facebook and commented about it being old people humor. One of our friends actually commented that she saw this exact trailer near them and they live in Owingsville, Kentucky. We all decided it was probably trailers full of baby trailers sort of like the matryoshka dolls from Russia. So a lot of old people in Kentucky found this humorous.

Thursday, July 16, 2020
We found ourselves again on the front porch eating breakfast. We planted a little tree years ago when we first moved to Sadieville in the front yard. As we sat there we noticed a couple of branches with something growing in them that shouldn't be there. After we finished, Claude got his pruning snippers and we cut those branches off. We had this happen once before and we found that, if we pruned away the offending branch, the rest of the tree grew just fine. This is such a great metaphor for life and pruning out the bad that fills our lives. Great teaching and learning moments in our lives if we look for them. 

Friday, July 17, 2020
Our breakfast this morning yielded a nice visit with the Canadian geese that come every year to nest along the creek. Sometimes they walk all the way up the steep hill (that is our back yard) from the creek. These walked up and I saw them on the empty lot. I tried three times to whisper to Claude to look. He didn't have his hearing aids in and couldn't hear me. I got up to take a quick picture and the geese turned to go back down the hill. They are beautiful birds.

Bailey also sent me a text with a link. It was for a Fresno Nightcrawler Plush pattern. I texted Bailey back and asked if this was something she wanted or just something she was showing me. She said she was wanting one. This is a very simple sewing item. Today I checked the website and ordered this free pattern. It came to me in an eMail and I have printed it. I told Bailey I did this and then told her I was going to make a sewing kit of it and show her how to make it. I love doing things for my family but it occurred to me the other day it might be better for them if I taught them how and then they could do these things for themselves. So, we'll see how this project goes with Bailey. 

In the evening Claude and I determined we would take up his thought of a few nights ago and do a Robert Duvall movie watching experience. We have three westerns he was in and we would start with Lonesome Dove on Friday evening. I popped Jake a text and told him our plans. He asked the movies. Jake is a real aficionado of movies. I told him the movies and that we would start with Lonesome Dove. True to the times in which we are living and the quick wit that Jake inherited from his father, Jake replied, "I thought they changed the title from Lonesome Dove to Socially Distancing Dove. Much laughter on my part. Then Jake commented about Open Range with, "That movies gets the award for best use of a chocolate bar in a movie." And...Jake is correct.

Saturday, July 18, 2020
While eating breakfast on the front porch again, we decided it was time to get out of the house. We plotted a route using these Kentucky Highways: 460, 11 and 52. This would take us through Daniel Boone National Forest and into the knob county of Kentucky. We hopped in our hermetically sealed Jeep bubble and took off to see the countryside. I took these picture while driving using my cell phone. They work!! One of them is my favorite. I wonder if it is yours?

While driving, I was texting with Jake. It started with Jake texting me a picture of the dog he walked at the animal shelter that morning. He volunteers there and they had to discontinue that because of the virus. They have the shelter up and running again with fewer staff and they are now starting to let the volunteers come in and help. Jake walked 5 dogs between 8am and 10am. It turns out this was his anniversary of volunteering at the shelter. He has worked 85 hours to date. There would have been more except for the lovely virus intrusion. As we were texting about this nice service he has chosen to do with his life, the car in front of us had an interesting decal. I took this picture and sent it to Jake to illustrate our texting conversation. 

I sent Jake the pictures of our drive as we hit I-75 for home. Jake asked if we had accidentally arrived in Ireland as everything was so green. I only wish we had. Loved visiting Ireland.

Sunday, July 29, 2020
Today we did our own church service at home. Then we watched a Zoom meeting with CJ Alcorn giving his missionary farewell address. He did an excellent job and spoke about the restoration of the Gospel. Due to Covid-19 he will do his Missionary Training Center on-line. He will travel to St. Louis and do that from his grandparents home. He is actually going to Melbourne, Australia but not until they reopen that area because of the virus. He will go somewhere in the states until the reopen Australia. Such a different situation for these young missionaries. What amazing missionary stories they will have to tell.

Tonight we are going to watch the 90 years of broadcasting of the Tabernacle Choir on Temple Square on BYU-TV. That should be a fun view. 

I was able to finish my project this week of making a paper scrapbook into a PowerPoint presentation of our Alaska 2008 Cruise and Train trip. I have now started on our 2012 Southern Caribbean Cruise. 

I also received word that they are not opening the nursing home to visitors quite yet. They have to formulate a plan to do this safely. The Governor has said it is okay to open them as soon as the nursing home is ready. But, we are have a spike in cases in Kentucky. 400 - 500+ new cases each day. This is being figured proportionately with the earlier rise in cases and we are twice as high now as then from that proportional perspective. So we wait on seeing Papa. I did wave at him through the window when I filled his bird feeder this week. His smile was a delight. 

There are parts of this that are a blessing and I acknowledge that. But there are also parts of this that are hard and I acknowledge that. This week our nephew's wife's father died. He had Covid-19. So it is beginning be felt in our family. That puts it very close to home. The struggle with people to wear masks is just frustrating. The Governor put out an executive order that everyone had to wear a mask in public. He should NOT have to do that. He should be able to have his medical advisors explain the reasons why and we should regulate ourselves. Alas, we are contrary children with a "no one can tell me what to do" mentality. Such contention over a kindness for others and a help for yourself just amazes me. I truly believe until we all learn some lessons that humble us a bit, we'll see this virus around for a longer time. 

Hayden: There & Back Again...

Wednesday, July 8, 2020
We returned Bailey and picked up Hayden around 5pm in Shelbyville. Hayden wanted to have dinner with us. The plan was to let him pick an option and that is what we would do. He chose driving to Georgetown, stopping at Taco Bell and purchasing dinner, taking it home and eating while we watched Star Wars. We agreed and set off on that course.

A little backstory reminder. This week of sleepovers all started with a telephone conversation with Hayden. I told him Claude and I were planning on watching all our Star Wars movies over several days. I do think I used the word 'marathon' in this but really meant over several days we would dedicate our movie watching time to only Star Wars movies. Joking, I asked Hayden if he wanted to watch them with us. Serious, Hayden said he could have his mother take him to Shelbyville in 45 minutes and we could pick him up there. This morphed into sleepover time and the week of Mini's was in place. Hayden's main goal was to watch all the Star Wars movies and he was up for doing them straight through without stopping. Hmmm....

The other thing that came up in this conversation was Hayden having his braces removed on Wednesday, July 8th. He felt a celebration was in order. Before his braces were put on, his mother took him to the store and let him buy one of all the theater box sized candies he loved and would not be allowed to eat with braces on. He enjoyed those before having the braces put on and hasn't had them since. Hayden's idea of what I am calling 'The Celebration of the Teef' was to reenact that candy eating. This led to melding the candy and the Star Wars movies. A list was provided to Grampa Claude who dutifully purchased everything on said list. The end result was this...

One happy young man!!

Now, this may be the only picture in the post about Hayden. He came with some specific ways to watch the Star Wars movies. We started out Wednesday evening in the basement on the big TV with Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace and Episode 2 - Attack of the Clones. Then it was time for old people to get their rest while young person stayed up until he was ready for bed. Again, very happy the Mini's are so comfortable in our home.

Thursday, July 9, 2020
This day started with Hayden sleeping in and it gave me time to get a good start on the laundry for Claude and me. I even logged some time on my laptop. I have finished the Ireland scrapbook and now will work on the Cruise and Train Trip in Alaska.

Hayden woke up and it was time for more Celebration of the Teef. This time we stayed upstairs to watch something called the Clone Wars. This is a television show that attempts to match up and fill in blanks of time with the Star Wars movies we think of as the six standard ones. This is animated and Claude and I were dubious at best about a day of animation. But we are good grandparents and wanted Hayden's celebration to be what he envisioned to some degree. We told him we wouldn't watch all the seasons of all this show. Prior to coming he found edited versions that summarized the series Clone Wars in a way that was acceptable to him and might meet our timeline of viewing time a bit better. It turned out that, at the end of the day, Claude and I were both happy we did this. These were fairly well written and the animation was very well done. Definitely not Tom and Jerry!! We did this days viewing upstairs. 

Claude made chicken tenders and fries for dinner per Hayden's request.

Friday, July 10, 2020
This day I again worked on my laptop in the morning. Claude had a video conference call to handle. Hayden slept.

When Hayden awoke we started our television binge watching in the upstairs. It finally dawned on me why he was choosing upstairs. He was streaming these Clone Wars from his cellphone through the Chromecast. That can only be done on the living room television. While the television in the basement is lots bigger, it is also lots older and doesn't have the ports to plug in the Chromecast. I am slow some times but I get there!!

Hayden started us out with a version of the Clone Wars that was mixed with Episode 3 - Revenge of the Sith. Again, I think Claude and I were concerned about this but they did a great job of melding these two together and we enjoyed it very much. Added a new dimension to our Star Wars viewing.

Claude would then do his walk on the treadmill. Hayden and I moved things to the basement for the rest of the days viewing pleasure. Claude popped pizzas in the oven and we were ready for the rest of the day of viewing.

We watched Solo and then Episode 4 - Star Wars a New Hope. Claude's favorite of all these movies is Episodes 4, 5, and 6. These are the first three made. These are the three we took our kids to and stood in the line around the theater. These are definitely family favorites from when our kids were young. Claude was one happy camper when we got to Episode 4.

Saturday, July 11, 2020
Morning was spent Blogging and working on my Alaska scrapbook. Claude came down to walk the treadmill and I told him I was going to bake the pan of cinnamon rolls for Hayden when he woke up. Hayden loves these little cinnamon rolls. Claude had a can with only 5 in it. I baked and then left this note. When I went upstairs and found Hayden was already awake, I told him there were cinnamon rolls on the island in the kitchen. We went around and I found that Grampa had already figured out the system and had his cinnamon roll. I asked Hayden what a visit to our home would be like if it didn't include cinnamon rolls at least one morning. He looked at me a matter-of-factly said, "Incomplete!" Building little memories that will last a lifetime.

I told Hayden we proposed watching another episode of Star Wars and then take a break and go to Georgetown for something to eat. Hayden's choice. He picked Chick-filA. So we headed to the basement to see Episode 5 - The Empire Strikes Back. Then we drove to Georgetown and enjoyed a meal from Chick-filA. Once back home the goal was to see two more episodes. We watched Episode 6 - The Return of the Jedi. Then we paused for an ice cream break followed by Episode 7 - The Force Awakens. The question was whether to watch another Episode together or let the old people go on to bed. Claude had to be away the next day so we opted to all stay up and watch Episode 8 - The Last Jedi. We turned in about midnight. 

Sunday, July 12, 2020
Claude had a training class in Lexington that lasted all day long. He left at 8am. When Hayden woke up he came down ready to watch the Episode 9. We set up in the basement and enjoyed Episode 9 - The Rise of Skywalker. When the movie was over, it was time for Hayden to shower and pack up for his trip home. We stopped at Hardee's and got him something to eat and then we sped on to LaGrange. As we drove the storm clouds gathered in the distance. We made it to LaGrange without any rain hitting us. Then I turned around and sped toward home and, amazingly, missed all the rain even though there were thick storm clouds all along the way. 

Hayden's visit was a LOT of television watching. But it was really fun to go chronologically through the Star Wars saga. We are happy he found a way for us to enjoy the Clone Wars cartoons without having to watch all the seasons. They added a nice rounding out to the story for me. I wish they would do that so Palatine's wife showed up somewhere instead of finding out he had grandchildren in the final episode. It was great to share our love of Star Wars with this grandmonster who has learned to love it from a newer perspective. 

Bailey: There & Back Again...

We finally determined, we being the Marx parents and Claude and me, that it was okay to have the Mini's have sleepovers. Next, we needed to determined the timing of these sleepovers. The reality is that it hinged on when I might be able to start visiting Papa again. Since the earliest date that might be possible is July 15th, we determined the sleepovers should happen before that date. We also wanted to be sure we had waited long enough that, if we did pick up the virus on our trip to Michigan, the virus would have manifested itself in our lives. It has not. So July 4th through July 12th would be the dates for the Mini's to have sleepovers. The Marx family would come for July 4th and Claude and I would cook. They would leave Bailey. She would stay with us until Wednesday, July 8th. We would return Bailey and take Hayden. He would stay July 8th through July 12th. And...we are off to the races with Bailey.

This would be a visit without a grid. I normally make a grid for anytime we have company for any length of time. This lets us have meals planned and grocery shopping done accordingly. We have a guide to go by that can be adjusted as needed. This time...we went gridless!!!

Friday, July 3rd, 2020
Knowing our time would be very different, Claude and I did our reading for two Sundays and watched the one Darin show that was available. It felt good to be sure we got this completed before company came. We also took a nice treat bag to Papa, had something to eat in Georgetown and did our walk. 

While we had our front porch time, Claude said, "What was that?" as he pointed toward the edge of the front porch near the garage. Sure enough, some little critter ran out from beside the house into the front yard and perched itself on the rocks Claude uses to cover the drainage ditch. It was a chipmunk. I took a picture and sent it via text to Bailey asking if her chipmunks that lived under their front steps had made their way to Sadieville. She assured me they may have. The chipmunk is that tiny thing inside the green circle.

Saturday, July 4th, 2020
Claude and I were up and at 'em after a good nights rest. Claude was in the kitchen doing his cooking thing while I stripped beds and made sure all linens were fresh for visitors. We completed any little things needed to be ready for a week of company. 

The Marx family arrived a little after 1pm for lunch. Claude made pulled pork BBQ sandwiches, deviled eggs, a strawberry and bean salad, pickles and pickled beets, etc. It was delicious. I baked a lemon pudding cake that was also yummy. During the week, I cleaned out drawers in the guest room and guest bathroom that had Marx things that stay here all the time. I had it all in order and Andie was able to go through it with me and pare it down some more. Yeah us!! I also had some family heirlooms that I gave to Andie. We are slowly passing these things down to our children. Michael wasn't feeling great so he curled up in the guest bedroom bed and slept the afternoon away. Independence Day was on television so the family watched to its conclusion. Then the Marx family scooped up  Hayden and returned to LaGrange while Claude and I settled in with Bailey.

Visits with the Mini's are so very different. When they were little they were like Raelyn is now. The first thing they wanted to do was go to the basement. I have two shelves full of toys, a small train table with lots of trains, a rocking horse, lots of stuffed animals. It is a fun place for little ones to explore and find things to play with. Usually things get pulled out and spread over the end of the family room. I let those things stay out while the kids are visiting and we clean it up when they are getting ready to leave. But now....the Mini's come and they don't even go to that closet. Sometimes they don't even go to the basement. They carry in their hand their toy for every occasion. I just need to be sure there are outlets and extension cords when needed.  

Things were prepared for activities with Bailey. Claude had a painting project, I had a sewing project, there was music on the piano to learn some more of that. With the virus, the ability to go to places outside of our home was very restricted. While many are taking cross country trips and visiting all kinds of things that have limited capacity in terms of the number of people who may attend, Claude and I are being very cautious of those things for several reasons. We want to stay healthy. I want to be healthy so I can visit Papa as soon as visitors are allowed. I also can't imagine taking either or both of the Mini's home with them having caught the virus while visiting us. So I will just state that it made this visit different. It truly affects everything we choose to do and do not do.

The Mini's have their hours all turned around. Bailey and Hayden stay up till the wee small hours of the morning and then sleep in till noon or after the next day. Claude and I have kept our hours pretty straight. The beauty of this pattern meant the old folks got up and had several hours to themselves to work on our own tasks before the young folks got up. Then we could devote our time to them and whatever they wanted to do. The one thing Bailey did each day and was very disciplined about was her 9pm run on the treadmill. She is trying to keep in a bit of shape for cross country which they anticipate starting next week. Every evening she gathered her device and tennis shoes and headed to the basement where the treadmill is located. Claude and I did admire her discipline about this.

Saturday we watched the Black Stallion movie with Bailey. She had not seen it before and she loves all animals. Bailey did her run on the treadmill. When she came back upstairs, I took her out to the deck to look at the beautiful full moon. There were also fireworks to be watched on television. However, there was an unusual abundance of them being sent into the air by our neighbors and the people in Sadieville. We found ourselves moving from the back deck to the front porch and back again. Claude and I headed to bed about 11:30pm. Bailey stayed up until she was ready to sleep. The nice thing about the Mini's is they know the house and they are comfortable finding whatever they need. This pleases me no end. 

Sunday, July 5, 2020

Today we had one project we worked on. I saw a recipe for homemade honey butter on Facebook. I shared it with Bailey and she agreed we should give it a try. Interestingly, Claude had purchased a pint of heavy cream when he was grocery shopping and he couldn't even remember why. That was just what we needed so we had all we needed right in our home. We also had frozen rolls that Bailey could set to rise and then bake. This is Bailey making the honey butter and the finished product. We totally enjoyed this delightful treat. Who wouldn't enjoy hot home baked rolls with honey butter? I mean, really...

Michael sent us a text telling us there was an Eagles concert on ESPN. We found it while Bailey was running and saved it on the DVR. We were able to watch some of it while Bailey ran. Thank you Michael.

Monday, July 6, 2020

This morning proved again the comfort level of these young ones in our home. Bailey got up and fried herself and egg sandwich for breakfast. Grampa Evan would be so very proud of our girl!

This day we actually left the house. We took Bailey in with us and she walked our path in Georgetown. I thought maybe she would not do her walk at 9pm since she did this walk during the day. Not so. Our intrepid cross country queen did this walk and her run at 9pm. Way to go Bailey.

We dropped a nice treat bag off for Papa. Then we let Bailey pick the place she would like to have something to eat. She was adamant Sonic was the place to go. We all enjoyed a Sonic meal. 

Then it was time to go home and watch Hamilton. This is a play that everyone is talking about and all excited about how good it is. It is streaming on Disney+. The Marx family have that and, with their Chromecast, Bailey was able to stream it on our television. Bailey and Andie have seen this play in person in Louisville and she really wanted us to see it. I know we disappointed her but it is all in rap. I don't care for rap at all. And, neither does Claude. Yes, we are old and this is just not our type of music. So the music of it did not appeal to us any some at all. The story was good and the voices of the actors were great. But it didn't seem right to have Hamilton and other founding fathers portrayed in rap. I think the word would be 'incongruous'. We are very happy Bailey provided us an opportunity to see what all the buzz is about. I think we probably did the same thing to Katelyn when we saw Wicked. Neither of us got that one either. Katelyn loved it and the music. We are grateful to have had the experience but neither of these plays were our cup of tea. 

Tuesday, July 7, 2020

I had a dermatology visit. I have one every six months. It was at 10:40am. I thought it was at 10am. That is probably because my dental appointment the week before was at 10am. Oh well...it afforded me an opportunity to go to Bojangles and have a biscuit prior to my dermatology appointment. I did have one spot on the tip of my nose that has been a point of concern for me. Dr. Wilson said it was a precancerous spot and he would burn it off. And...burn it off he did!! I was back home well before the girl was awake at 2:30pm. 

The nursing home called. Covid-19 testing was done on all the residents and staff on Thursday, July 2nd. The results were in for all the residents and one of them tested positive. They were still waiting on results for 11 of the staff. The positive resident was in isolation in the TCU (Temporary Care Unit). Papa tested negative for the virus. This was great news but concerning to have it in the nursing home. This is a critical care facility and the spread of the virus could be deadly for the residents. 

When Bailey woke up at 2:30pm, we told her breakfast would be at Panera in Georgetown. Yep, that is what we did. Wacky times I tell you, wacky times.

Bailey treated us this day to a viewing of the play Newsies. This play we liked a lot more. They sang instead of rapping. I could understand the words a lot more. My problem with this play is it is pro-Union. I worked for a labor union when we lived in Maryland. I don't have good feelings for labor unions. I did remind myself that this was set at a time in history when labor unions may have served a good purpose. But we did enjoy this play a lot more. 

I was happy to see Bailey's outfit for the day. She had on a NASA t-shirt. We took a picture and sent it to Jake. He loves all things NASA and Space Program. He pronounced it a good style choice. In the afternoon Bailey came out sporting Claude's Georgetown College sweatshirt. She was just a fashionista today. 

Wednesday, July 8 2020

This would be Bailey's day to pack up to go home. We told her she would need to be ready to leave by 1pm. We asked her how much time she needed to be ready and she said we should wake her up at 9am. We did talk her in to sleeping until 10am. When I woke her up at 10am, she was clearly still very sleepy. So I suggested I wake her up at 11am. Which she agreed to and went right back to sleep. Next week is going to be really hard of her. 

While we waited for Bailey to finish her sleep, Claude and I logged some more front porch time. I walked around to the Lucifer plant and got these two pictures of this plant. I do love this flower.

Bailey packed and readied herself to leave. Claude had an ophthalmologist appointment at 2:45pm. We went in at 1pm so we could do our walk first. As we started the walk, Bailey stopped suddenly and knelt down over a patch of clover. She hopped right back up with a four-leaf clover in her hand. She saw it as she walked past and just stopped to pick it. She does a lot of four-leaf clover searching while waiting her turn at cross country meets. Seems she had developed quite an eye for finding four-leaf clovers.

After our walk, we went to Jimmy John's for lunch. Then to Dr. Richardson's office to leave Claude for his six month visit. While Claude was doing this, Bailey and I picked up my prescription from CVS Pharmacy, then we went to Burger King and got Papa a chocolate shake. We took that to Papa. When I got back in the car Bailey told me she felt sick. The Mini's both have a hard time with car sickness. Andie, their mom, had this also. Bailey forgot her Dramamine. I picked up some chewables at Love's as we we driving to Georgetown. Bailey took these with her lunch and they were not settling well. Claude and I both keep gallon Ziploc bags in our cars in case the Mini's get sick. I asked Bailey if she thought she could make it back to Dr. Richardson's office. She felt she could. We got a parking spot there and rolled down the windows and had our girl stretch out on the back seat. She just closed her eyes and rested for the next 30 minutes while Claude finished his appointment. She did fine after that. 

When Claude finished his appointment, we left Georgetown headed for Shelbyville. Andie and Hayden would meet us there for the exchange.

We had a great visit with Bailey. We did not sew or paint. Bailey did play the piano while doing a video chat with some of her band friends. We did see two of the plays Bailey wanted us to see. We just did things as Bailey wanted to do them. It was her vacation from the pandemic. Although the pandemic did affect what and how we could do some things. She was a happy girl and it was a delight having her around instead of it being only Claude and me for a few days.

Now...on to Hayden...