The Things I see

Butch grilled some steaks for us. They were extra delicious!!

Social Distancing

That is one big 'ol fire ant!

Butch is down at the end of the block doing the "Rocky" arm pumps. He walked all the way there without incident.

Fiber Optic

Butch and I had a conversation the other day about high fiber food and the benefits of the same. This morning I prepped jicama, watermelon, radishes, green peppers and in the wings are 3 acorn squash. I suggested supper be a "fiber-optic" meal with all you will see are vegetables. Not sure it will fly.

Fridays Walk

That is the Alamo Texas water tower in the background.

This is a favorite of mine. For today anyway

We're bonding.

 I do not know the story behind this. At first I thought they were eggs.

Masks required

Masks are required nearly everywhere now, including in Trophy Gardens so I thought I would repost the directions for the T-shirt mask. It is still the one I find most comfortable. Yesterday I wore the bandana one that has more layers.  Twelve layers if folded correctly but no one could understand me when I talked and it was very warm!
Here are directions for the original T-shirt mask I posted before: It is a youtube video.
 https://youtu.be/pJaVBt8q6g8

And here are directions for several different kinds of masks:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-to-make-t-shirt-face-mask-coronavirus_l_5e8f2f06c5b6b371812d15af?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9uZXdzLmdvb2dsZS5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAHn0qGfjAqArhZ-1LPQKUH9O4cs3_60CBlKfNWR0AkorYNn-Fss5H-C8aIR-zO_fvErquYbm6y7qcGq1lvntwoLJ9XEeVQTkyKRRa5ChcSNUUAEUg3tAda4ugOMSn6jZR9dNOmdIdmWSTWhsjNwTKcMOIuDo0owG2vEUKquINs6b

The site above looked like a very complete collection of different kinds. I copied the T-shirt one for a visual pattern. I like the way the youtube video tied the strings better than the visual pattern. I think it fits better and is more comfortable.

My Thursday walk Pictures

Eastside of golf course looking North

A series of Jack Rabbit pics-Very cooperative!

Red-winged Blackbird

On hole # 4

See the Bee?

Westside of golf course looking South

A look from another  angle. Looks short!

In South Texas, after Christmas you plant your poinsettia, wait a bit and this is what it looks like! 

 Home is always where the motorhome is parked.

Remember to click on pic for a larger look.

My Wednesday Morning Walk

Click on Pic for a closer look

                                           
                                          RV's in waiting (storage)

                                             
                                             East side of Golf Course

Social distancing-There we are, smack in the middle.

Yup still here! Texas

Yesterday was one of our BIG days. We have 2 BIG days a week when we go to Physical Therapy. Tuesdays and Thursdays. It is a 9 mile trip from here with about half of it being city-like traffic. That is it would be in former times or otherwise known as BC ( Before Coronavirus). The traffic seems to get lighter each time we go. Either that or I am getting used to it. Maybe both. I am also getting more advanced in my manipulation of the manual transmission. I have done some fancy gearshifting.

Butch's sessions with the therapist are an hour long. I drop him off and then wait in the car while either reading a book or listening to one. Yesterday everyone was wearing a mask. I thought they should have started earlier but better late than never. When everyone is masked everyone is adding another layer of protection.

Took a Poll

We read an RV newsletter nearly every day. Have done so for years. https://www.rvtravel.com/ One of the things they do is ask questions in a poll and one of the questions recently was "Do you know anyone personally with Covid 19?" And for us the answer is "yes". Butch's brother Bill and his wife Jo have Covid 19. Also their son Paul and his wife Pam. All four are in the recovery stage, Thank God! It really makes it more real when you know someone directly who has it.
Take care, my friends.

Shut it!!

Sonny Elephant

There was a question on Facebook that jogged a memory for me. The question was 'What was the first book you encountered that made you want to read?' And my answer was "Sonny Elephant". Miss Dowd read it to us in 3rd grade. She read a bit of it after we had our work done for the day and we very much looked forward to it. I would love to read it again. And so I looked it up on Amazon and I can buy one for $61+. I don't think so! If anyone knows where I can get one to read for free....wonder if the library would have it?
I know there are classmates of mine who would surely share this memory.

A small set-back

Butch was taking a medication that he had been given from day one in the hospital. The first time the nurse gave it to him I asked what it was for and she said circulation and a mild pain reliever. Okay. So after being home for a while and getting off various meds. Butch decided that particular one was giving him "bad dreams". After questioning him for a bit it seemed they were somewhat psychedelic and perhaps like an LSD trip. So we called the doctor and she said to stop taking them. No one seemed concerned if that was what he wanted to do. Time goes on. Perhaps a week, I am guessing, and I noticed his mobility was getting worse, not better. I told him I didn't think he was making any progress and seemed worse! He agreed and decided to again try the meds he had dropped. So now we are back on track. He is taking less of them, 2 to 3 a day instead of 4 and the pain level has dropped while the mobility increased.
He has made the statement that he will not be using the walker a month from now. I know he will do his best to reach that goal.
I know you probably want to know what the med was that was giving him the psych trip. He is still having weird dreams but not as bad. I didn't want to put it on here but if you really want to know, text me and I will tell you.

HEB Senior Support Line

HEB Senior Support Line

HEB Senior Support Line can be reached by phone 1 833-397-0080, 9:00-1:00, 

Monday thru Sunday. Senior citizens, ages 60 and up, will be able to order supplies and

groceries from a curated list over the phone or online through the Favor delivery website and 

app. The line will be staffed with volunteers to accept and process home delivery orders 

via phone daily from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.

You can find many of the answers to how this works here:

 https://blog.favordelivery.com/h-e-b-favor-senior-support-online-ordering-101-b2848ebbee1

I decided to test it yesterday and was amazed at how well it did work. 

The only glitch was my fault. I needed to be more specific about the things

 I wanted and will do better when I use it again.

On his feet

Butch is back on his feet and looking steady. We are in week 4, getting therapy on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He has at least another 4 weeks and perhaps six before we will even consider him driving the motorhome. I have always had Zach Hiller as a backup in my mind and he has told me he would but with the current conditions I would not ask him and I think it would be irresponsible of me to even consider it. The times they are a-changing.

There are those who are concerned with the fact that we visit and play cards and games with others in the park so I thought I would mention the care we ARE taking. No visitors are allowed into the park so the people we do see are the same ones we have seen all winter. We do practice social distancing, definitely with ones we do not recognize and to a certain degree with all others. Liz is a hairdresser and she will cut your hair but only if you have not been out of the park for 5 days or more. When I go to the grocery store (once since March 17th) I wear a mask and gloves and do my best to maintain distance. I have not encountered anyone who appeared ill although I am aware there are carriers who do not show any symptoms. I am just saying it would be disconcerting if a person did see people who were obviously ill. The park is nearly empty. Most have left for their summer homes and 90% of those remaining are year-rounders. When we do play cards we are outdoors with most often a southerly breeze. No hugs, no fistbumps, elbow bumps or any other kind of bumps. We are doing the best we can while maintaining our sanity as well as our distance.

A Tip worth trying!

Quick Tip

Easy windshield de-bugger

Bugs making suicide runs on your windshield? Get an 8-ounce (or so) container of Rain-X washer fluid additive and just add it to your windshield wiper fluid – works great without all that work! There’s also Rain-X Bug Remover (not concentrated) that does the job. Driving down the road and collecting bugs? Don’t wait for the next fuel stop – just use the windshield wipers! Thanks for this de-bugging tip go to A. Fisher.

One of Colleen's Columns

If you have kept up with this blog for a while you know that Colleen is a friend of mine. She is a woman of many talents one of them being a writer. We used to have a routine when she still lived in Jefferson whereby we would meet at the Raccoon River Valley Bike Trail every morning at 7:00 AM and walk to the one-mile marker and back. It made a wonderful start to our day. It was always a good day when we walked...and talked.

In the time of coronavirus

April 1, 2020Greene County News Online

~a column by Colleen O’Brien

Someday this will be over, and I will have succumbed or survived. If it’s the latter, I hope I have something to show for the hours I was forced to spend alone.

This command to “quarantine” should be a walk in the park for me. It is no different from how I live all the time. Freelancers often work alone. As a self-employed freelance writer and editor, I write and edit in solitary confinement. About 70 percent of the time I’m staring out of the window or red-penciling an author’s manuscript or actually writing.

The difference lies in the idle hours of the 30 percent. Pre-shutdown of the world, I spent time with friends over dinner or at the movies or a play; I liked hanging out at the library or taking a class. In those carefree, halcyon hours of memory, I was able to enjoy myself because I was outside myself. Now, my constant companion being me, myself and I, I’ve discovered what a bore I am.

I’m staring out the window. Which isn’t bad – I have a pleasant view. And as of this date, the end of March 2020, we’re still allowed to go outdoors where I live, so I walk a lot. To the store and back every morning, not to get something but just to fool the brain that I have a purpose. Often, I drive somewhere and walk around – the cemetery is quiet, no traffic, no fear of someone coughing on me. The river walk is a good outing. The beaches would be refreshing, but they’re all closed.

Reminds me of a story: the road sign read, “Lake Robbins Closed.” Lake Robbins is a small lake with a dancehall at one end that’s been open for boogying since the 1930s. My parents danced there when they were courting before the war. The Second World War. My husband and I danced there in the 1990s.

The story is this: I was taking my eight-year-old grandson for a car ride when we passed the sign. It took him about five miles of pondering before he came out with it: “Gramma, how do they close a lake?”

I think that of the beaches. Closing miles and miles of beaches seems a daunting task. But the public beaches have parking lots and specific access. Easy enough to close. Private beaches? I suppose those people walk whenever they feel like it. Wild beaches? Surely there are some out there, unchained, but how do I get to them?

These major segues of thinking, such as the Lake Robbins story, are now common in my home aloneness. I swerve from one subject to another as if I’m an ice skater on the bumpy frozen rivers of my mind. Mindlessness gets me through countless hours. But I know that I will look back on this time of the coronavirus and judge myself. In order to be able to pat myself on the back, I need to be proactive, that odd verb of this age, and promo some activity for myself that I might be proud of. Or at least have something to show for the thousands of hours with time in the palms of my hands.

I could start with the small household repairs that I’ve left undone, the easy ones that I can probably handle.

Actually, I can’t think of one right this minute.

I could finish one of the five novels I’ve begun and never completed over my long lifetime. I keep them under the bed.

Hmmm. They used to be under the bed. Must have been a different house.

I could write what I call pome-a-day. I did this after my husband died. For months. It was a satisfying ritual each morning as I sat with my coffee staring out the window. Because I still sit with my coffee staring out the window first thing in the morning, I might as well put the time to good use. Being an American means you have to keep busy.

Bah. I haven’t got one single poem in me, and if I did, it would be bad.

I could paint all those wine glasses that have been accumulating on a shelf in the shed for that purpose.

I don’t feel like it.

I could write snail-mail to friends and family.

Tomorrow.

I could watch an entire night’s worth of movies.

I did that two nights ago – four flicks whose names and characters and plots I can’t recall.

I could help my neighbors. I did ask them. One said, “The only good thing in my week is going to the store. So, no thank you. Do not take away my only pleasure.”

Okay.

I could garden. Digging in the dirt is one of those atavistic endeavors that never fails to feed my soul.

But I have red ants throughout my yard. I can’t be so foolish as to disturb their underground condos. The grouchy little buggers attack.

I tried volunteering at several entities, but so far, none of them want someone as old as I am. I do pro bono editing, which is my usual volunteer work. It is satisfying, but I’ve just realized that, like me, no one else is writing much either. With all the time in the world to write the great American novel, the professed desire of many, many are not doing it.

As I look this essay over, I see that I’m playing the role of spoiled brat in the time of coronavirus. There seems to be no help for it, I think to myself. We’ve been taught whining for the last four years, and it has sunk in. Are we all now snivelers because life isn’t going our way?

A whole new American way of being.
~~~ ~~~
Looking at my situation from that viewpoint, I’m getting to work right now. I cannot sink so low that I snivel beyond this solitary point.

It’s been a long time since I alphabetized my spice cupboard.

Starting right now.

Out of the house

Thursday is PT day for Butch so I decided to take advantage and go to Costco while he was working out. For those of you concerned about safety, everything is wiped down between patients, 15 feet between people is the general rule and only 3 patients in the whole facility at one time. Everything that can be done is being done.

When I went to Costco I wore a mask and gloves, they have a maze set-up for you to walk through to gain entry, all the carts are wiped down before you can get one, and there are signs everywhere to remind people to remain 6 feet apart. It is a very scaled-down version of Costco. There are no seats in the cafeteria area and the cafeteria is not in full operation. I am guessing it is for employees only. There is a masked and gloved assistant at every cash register that maintains a distance between you and the cashier while getting your purchases through checkout. There is tape at the registers every 6 feet to wait. They have made that area much larger.  No one ever touched my card or receipt.  I am guessing more than half of the shoppers were masked and gloved.  There are always risks but care is being taken.

The traffic is even less than it has been so people are getting the idea. Having not driven since last October the low traffic volume has been a blessing for me. I am getting plenty of driving these days. And I have better talent on the manual transmission just from practice.

So life goes on but at a much slower pace. We can handle it.

Hanging in there

Copied and pasted...

Hi guys
Just be careful because people are going crazy from being in lockdown! Actually, I've just been talking about this with the microwave, toaster while drinking coffee and all of us agreed that things are getting worse. I didn't mention anything to the washing machine as she puts a different spin on everything. Certainly not to the fridge as he is acting cold and distant. In the end, the iron calmed me down as she said everything will be fine, no situation is too pressing. The hoover was very unsympathetic... told me to just suck it up, but the fan was more optimistic and hoped it would all soon blow over! The toilet looked a bit flushed when I asked its opinion and didn’t say anything but the doorknob told me to get a grip.😬 The front door said I was unhinged and so the curtains told me to ........yes, you guessed it 😝.....pull myself together.

HEB Excursion and Physical Therapy

Yesterday was Butch's Physical Therapy appointment. They are with him for an hour and I cannot go in so I planned a trip to the closest HEB to load up on groceries. First time in a store since March 17th. I wore gloves and a mask and tried my best to keep 6 feet away from all others. I had to be vigilant because there are people who rolled their eyes at me like I was being silly and appeared to have not a clue that they were to avoid me. I did see a fair amount of other people with gloves and masks. So I would say it was a 50/50 mix. I bought $103 worth of groceries. I cannot remember the last time I spent that much at one time in a grocery store.

Butch had a hard session with the therapist. He walked 80 feet with only a cane and then 80 feet back. He said he had to stop for a rest, still standing on the return trip. So they are taking steps to have less reliance on the walker. His next appointment is Thursday. We both know it will be at least a month before we can consider heading for Iowa. The therapy days are hard on him and he is ready for a nice nap when he gets home.

My groceries were getting down to some pretty repetitious stuff so I am very happy to be looking at some variety. I bought a small watermelon and it is calling my name!

Made a mask

I made a mask for both of us. They are easy to make, comfortable, washable and practical. Can be sanitized and add filtering by adding additional layers of fabric. I will trust it much more than the simple painters mask I had been using and all it cost was the sacrifice of a T-Shirt. The easy to follow directions can be found here: https://youtu.be/pJaVBt8q6g8

In a Pinch

Here are directions for making your own mask. Easy to do and no sewing required.
https://youtu.be/pJaVBt8q6g8