Morning all,
It's ages since I checked in. Time to get my priorities right again. I've been busy in the garden. Planted beetroot, carrots, beans, lettuce, cauliflower, onions, spinach and garlic. The existing lettuce is nearly gone to seed again with the heat we have had here this last week. But today it is blessedly cool and we've had overnight rain so that has made thinks look up and interested for a while. I'm still digging in the patch that was the hedge some time back and there is corn growing in some of it, tomatoes (self sown and ready to eat) in another and 1 million weeds everywhere else. I'll go out there and finish that job today.

We are all well and safely tucked away at home over here. I can go visit one brother but not allowed to travel to see the other as he is too far away for the moment. We need permits to enter or leave the State of Queensland. Shopping is now a lot easier as most of the stuff is back on the shelves. Have to laugh, one of the 'so smart' hoarders tried to sell his toilet rolls and hand sanitiser on e-bay and Gumtree. They shut him down so he went back to the grocery store and asked for a refund. The store owner told him no way in some very interesting language. He is now stuck with 150 packs of 32 rolls of TP and 150 litres of sanitiser. Should never have to buy TP again I wouldn't think. That's 4800 rolls at maybe two a week used should take him 46 years to get to the last of them. Haven't done the calculations on the hand sanitiser - just did - and provided it was broken down into 250ml bottles it would take about 60 years to get through it, more if it can be put into foaming hand wash bottles. My calculations may be a bit off on the sanitiser but it would be close enough I would think. They should be eating TP and drinking sanitiser for food for some time. I think the interview is on YouTube and if I find the addy, I will post it here. You can all get a laugh from both the store owner and the interviewer who is one of the better ones we have.

My family at home in NZ are all well and thriving in their little bubbles. I've been chatting to my niece and my sister about the family tree and we are now beginning to expand it from the immediate family to the various offspring of the older (my grandparent) generation. Since each one of them seems to have been extremely fertile, there is a lot to look up and enter. I have lots of relations apparently. Some may even live next door. Still it is a way of passing time when you are stuck at home. I've also got to try to put my fathers photo album from WW11 back together as many of the photos have slipped out of the photo pockets. Luckily Dad was mostly very good at writing on the back of the photo to tell me who they are or what the picture was and he has also written a description of the photo in the album. It won't be easy but I think it will be worthwhile when I get it all together. Since SloMo (our PM whose name is actually Scott Morrison - but there are some pretty nasty adaptions of this) tells us this is not over yet and won't be over until it is over then I think I have some time to get all this sorting and scrapping done. Actually he said yesterday that we will have at least 4 weeks of this and maybe more depending on the curve and how we behave. I think the millennium generation are going to dig us out of the depression we are apparently about to have because they cannot and will not behave and stay indoors, physical distancing and behaving like young adults. Therefore they get fined 1334.00 for going off down to the beach and drinking themselves silly and doing stupid things.

Sorry, but I don't have time to do personals just now. I have read them, and I think of you all a lot - especially when I am up a ladder or a tree and realising I haven't posted in forever. Still the garden looks good for it. So stay safe, bake bread, clean out the garage, stay home and stay well.

Hello Ladies,

I hope you all remember me, it has been a while for me. I guess I just feel of the grid.

I have really enjoyed working from home but have not kept a routine with exercise or food for 2 weeks and I lost energy and gained weight. I told myself, I need to get back to my routine.

I am texting from the exercise bike this morning.

If you all would keep my DH in your prayers. He is having an aweful time with anxiety and anger and depression. He just wants to be done at work and I get it but he has about 6 more months. I just dont know what to do for him. His highs and lows wear me out.

Over the weekend I did a big home office purge. I shredded a lot of paper and tossed a lot of things. That felt good. I worked on it Saturday for about 6 hours.

Yesterday I was too tired to do much in the rest of the house so my plan is to use the time between 4:30.and 5:30 each day this week and get the rest of the house swept,.dusted, mopped.

Happy: what a nice thing to do for your friend, getting some clothes together for her. Does she not have family to help her with things like that?

Shad: in our family one of my cousins is very interested in our ge geneology and has been working on it for a long time. We usually have a family get-to-gether twice a year, usually 4th of July weekend and at Christmas, those who dont live near by usually make at least one of those, the other in State usually make both.

Jamie, my cousin who is the history keeper has things pretty well caught up and then at these get-to-gether we add to things and take updated pictures.

She keeps it on a OneDrive file and we all can access it, send pictures and info over the year and just add to info.

The older I get the more this information becomes more valuable to me.

Hello to Laura, Annie and Ceejay

Hi Susie - Some of my ancestors on my mothers side are named Chaney! They came from Kent, in England. So if your husbands family came from there as well we may be related - and then related to a person who was the Keeper of the Horses for Henry 8th. Love to try and sort it out.
Your husband has only 6 months to go. If it weren't for the COVID-19 it would go in a flash. At the moment it is difficult to see a way forward and also to get very anxious about the state of our superannuation since the share market is doing badly everywhere. I hope he can find some reserves for these few months and I hope he has a plan for retirement. Too many men long for retirement and then end up with no plans and eventually no hope. It may be lucky for you that you are still working but it won't be good for him if he is only going to mope around at home on his own. Men are not as strong as we are - mentally that is, not physically

Hello to all the rest of you. We are having some gorgeous weather at the moment. Warm but not too hot, no wind but no rain either. Today I have dug over another patch of earth and will plant that up in the next week or so. Got to get the soil friable and fertilised - it's like concrete out there.

We had a nice Birthday dinner with our niece Cailyn last night at her house.

After dinner, she had to do some homework and asked me to it with her. So I did, we watched the biology lab lecture and then did her homework. I sure hope she gets a good grade on it!

I did great with my food and exercise yesterday. Had a few minutes when I wanted jelly beans badly but told myself I was having cake later so I chewed gum and drank water and got through it.

Shad: the genology that I know most about is mine as a McCoy. I dont know if anyone in my husband's family has done any research of not. I should takk to his Aunt Shirley and see what she knows.

You are so right my DH needs a plan for retirement. I tell him this daily. He does think he wants to do something part time. We have a friend who owns and managers 3 Chickfila restaurants and my husband wants to be one of those older people they hire as sort of Ambassadors in the dinning room. He is very good with people and loves to interact with them. We also have a friend who owns a couple of car dealerships and they have older guys who drive cars for them delivering them to other dealerships and such. He likes to drive as well, so that is another idea.

Of course I have plans for him too.

Morning all,
I have a house covered in photos from long ago and am trying to sort out my dads photo album. Although I think I already said that he was quite organised and wrote on the album page and the photo, there are times later in the war when he was obviously engaged elsewhere and the notations on the album weren't done or the photos were not named. Mostly it is the album not notated. Anyway I now have to find another way of putting things in and some of the photos plus some of the newspaper reports are dated so I will need to check from his personal diary type letters home where he has been and what he has seen. Dad was not a front line fighter, although several times he mentioned bullets whizzing past his ears, he was one of the back room boys deciphering signals and receiving orders from the generals to the troops and also he plotted the enemy whereabouts from directions of signals and the odd word or two. If you look at the photos it would seem he had a pleasant war and made lots of friends and played a lot of rugby and did a lot of swimming and sight seeing, but I know it was more than that and he didn't talk about it very much at all. None of them (that I met) did. I wish now that I had pushed him more to hear more about what he did.
Anyway I am left with a pile of letters home, photos of all sorts of things I have to figure out may have been taken at certain times and a load of newspaper clippings about the rugby games between nations and divisions - generally with both my fathers surname and the Maori boys names spelt wrong. It's a learning curve that is more or less straight up not across. There are few around these days that I could talk to about this as most of them would now be over 100 years old and I do know most of those that we knew have passed.

Other jobs on the list today are to sand down the kitchen window frame and mask it up for painting, sand the front door frame for the same reason. Dig over some more garden and plant more veg and sort out a load of clothes for the Goodwill bins. I have also tracked down a charity which will accept used bra's for use of abused women, poorer countries donations etc. Now I have to try and find a place that will take old spectacles or see if they can be recycled in some way. I also need to repot a few of DS2's bromeliads that I have been looking after for him. Now he has his own rented house, he can have them back after I have tidied them up and since they reproduce easily maybe he can put some in the yard of the rental house - it could do with some prettying up.
There's plenty of other things I can find to do as well no doubt, so today will be another busy and fulfilled time. There is always something to do.

Susie - sounds like your DH has a few plans for retirement and I wish him well. I am thoroughly enjoying mine although there is always a nagging worry about my super running out etc. I refuse to think about it too much since it seems that something always turns up when necessary.

Happy - hope the DH is getting back on his feet again. Nothing like a bad back to drag a person down and one down the bottom of the slippery slope, it keeps battering at you to keep you there. Silly decisions can be made at that point and those who love us can be made really upset, really easily.
Eventually those kittens will grow up. Some faster than others. Romeo the cat is a lover not a fighter and he allows the cat next door to come in and eat his food with not a growl or hiss in sight. Good ol' mum has to be the tough one and get rid of the cat before it eats me out of house and home. I must speak to the neighbour about this. I've been toying with the idea of putting in a cat door, but that means that I have to leave the solid back door open and put the cat door in the screen door or have two cat doors. It's a conundrum.

Hello's to Annie, Laura, Ceejay Hope you are all okay.

Good morning Chickies
It's 5am right now so I'm going back to sleep, but I'll be back tomorrow to chat. My hubby woke me up with a text & as I was turning my cell off I got a 3FC pop-up, so I took a peek & I saw the Worldlies thread is still going.
Hugs & my Love to everyone, I hope none of you have had the Covid19 virus, our family has been fortunate to be well. Sandee

I slept in a bit this morning. I am about 30 min behind on my morning routine.

I try to keep a daily routine so that my life feels a little normal.

I thought about skipping my recumbent bike workout but then talked myself into doing it. I know I will feel better for it.

Our church has done a fun thing. The issued a sidewalk chalk challenge to our congregation. Starting yesterday until Friday 5 pm. People from our church can go and pick out a parking space and decorate it with their chalk masterpieces.

DH and I took a drive last night to see how many have been done. About 20 so far. We are going back a little earlier tonight to see more of them and I am going to get some pictures.

Our church is also taking pictures and they will post them all on Saturday.

Time to get DH out the door for work. I will come back later.

Good morning ladies,


Will try and do a proper post IF the rest of the world will give me a few minutes to myself.


Susie - the chalk challenge sounds like a lot of fun. I hope the rain stays away so many people can participate. What a fun way to get creative. I smiled at your comment about DH being a grump about staying on the job. My BIL was the same way. It made it quite difficult for my sister that last year as he crept towards his end date and the closer he got to finishing, the more frustrated he got. I'd think when you are down to just a year, you'd be happy that you were finally getting out of there but no. Of course I was the same myself. I was sick and tired and hated Memphis and most of the people I had to work with and resented my ignorant manager who forced me and my partner out - the two of us who worked the hardest. She caused me so much unbelieveable stress. The happiest day of my life was crossing the Mississippi River to head north again for good. My last day on the job I was by myself after hours still sorting papers and writing up how to's for turn over and I thought to myself WHY are you worried about this??? So I literally threw everything in the trash at the far end of the building - it just didn't matter. All my hard work in the end didn't matter and I think that was what was so hurtful. I think my BIL felt the same way - 30 years on the job and it didn't matter. A month later and it's like you never existed. So DH just needs to settle down - make plans for what he's going to do the day after he leaves and try and be grateful (I hope) that he will be getting a pension or something out of this afterwards to make his future a bit easier. I think also in these hard times although it's scary being retired, we are better off than those who abruptly lost their incomes. Our social security checks keep coming (at least for now). So if he is getting paid, he is better off than at least half the country right now. We all face very uncertain times at least for the rest of the year.


Shad I understand what you mean about lost details in pictures and stories and such. I sometimes wonder if I should dig deeper in conversations with my mother before all is lost although I know she doesn't know much more than her own grandparents. I hope you can put the puzzle pieces together. I really had to smile about your comment regarding "a pleasant war" - interesting that there were some moments when you could take a break from the terrors of war. I know the men around me at the time in the 70's would not talk about their experiences in Vietnam save for one brief conversation I had with an old boyfriend at the time. He didn't say much but I will never forget the haunted look as he spoke. I immediately felt awful about those who protested the war and had no idea what the soldiers had to deal with. When you spoke of donating the eyeglasses, we have an organization here - The Lions Club which collects and redistributes spectacles. I was surprised to see that there is a Lions Club Australia too - I'm sure you will be able to find someplace to drop off your donations. I should do the same - have at least a dozen pairs here. I keep thinking I will reuse some of the frames and I never so. I was ticked off that DH chucked about 6 pair in the trash when we have bins all over town to collect them. He just gets in a mood and starts tossing everything in sight. I like to repurpose things if possible over a landfill. Good luck figuring out the cat door system. It does get a bit frustrating letting them in and out although up here with all the dangers, all our cats are inside ones. I am hoping the 2 newest ones will not be bolters once the weather gets better.


I do need to refocus things. Have gained about 6 pounds since this quarrantine. It is more from lack of movement than eating as I am actually eating less than I was before. One big mid day meal does my fine. I make us a lunch and then I have no interest in dinner and then DH is looking for something. I am not eating a balanced meal - not enough fruits and vegs. My knees are also bothering me a lot lately. Which is a catch-22 - the extra weight makes the knees hurt and the knees hurting limits the exercising. But I will work it out. Starting with a water pill today to get rid of the puffiness and I have some defined tasks today also. It's chilly these next few days and was supposed to be rainy out but clear and windy right now. I will get out on the deck for walking laps if not downstairs on the exercise equipment. I just feel agitated and unfocused these last few days. DH gets underfoot, the cats keep me from getting a good sleep - they are running like mad at 2 in the morning and then DH gets up at 6:30 and clunks around making all sorts of a racket so sleep has been short for the last few days. Deep breath and carry on soldier.


He's about to come downstairs and start clunking around the kitchen so I'm going to get off the computer before he starts annoying me with questions about am I going to do this or am I going to work on that so I will take this opportunity to go get busy and do my own thing.


Stay healthy and well. Hello to the others.

Evening all.

Happy – Is your DH’s back feeling better? And how about your knees? Very motivating to get into your shoes first thing in the AM! It was nice of you to get some clothing to your friend who had heart surgery. Have you written the articles for the shelter yet?

Shad – You’ve been busy in the garden! I’m probably too late, but I did plant some seeds for grape/cherry tomatoes and basil. I didn’t have any tomato seeds so we’ll see if the seeds from a couple of the store-bought tomatoes will sprout for me. I saw a similar story about one of the hoarders trying to profit off of this horrible pandemic with hand sanitizer. He was shut down on amazon and I hear he was forced to donate it. Kind of despicable trying to gouge people for $70/bottle. Sounds like you’re really immersed in your father’s photos, letters and newspaper clippings. My father never talked about his military service – never wanted to. Same for bf’s dad. So we know very little about that part of their lives. Good on you to find places to take those bras and eyeglasses. I have several pairs of glasses I would like to donate to someone who needs them. I see Happy has mentioned the Lions club for that…have to make a note. As for clothes…I have a lot that aren’t wearable, but I still put them in a bag for donation as I hear that at least the cloth can be recycled into something else.

Susie – Glad you’re back on the exercise bike. I totally understand the cravings for sweets. I have to say I’ve been disappointed that my bf hasn’t bought any sweets the last couple times he shopped, though I have to give myself some credit – I haven’t asked him to buy sweets for me. I also didn’t get to the store for post-Easter candy on sale either, so yay me, lol. I’ll pray for both your dh and for you to get through these last six months of your dh’s job before he retires. I’m sorry he’s struggling with it and I won’t pretend to know the issues he’s having, but he’s fortunate to have a job – we all are. The impact this pandemic is having is just devastating. I’m glad he’s been thinking about what he wants to do after he’s retired! Oh that sidewalk chalk challenge sounds fun! It puts a smile on my face when I see sidewalk drawings and messages on my walks around the neighborhood. I’ll have to see if you post any photos on FB, hint hint.

Dee – Hello stranger! I’m glad you and your family have not been ill with the Covid virus.

Hellos to Ceejay and Annie!

==

I’ve been keeping to a routine. Exercising in the AM, breakfast, work, walk after work (weather permitting). TV and reading at night. Did more cooking than I have in a while last week/weekend. I guess we just needed a break from the carryout meals. And there’s more time for cooking these days.

My back’s been just fine – I’m doing the PT exercises every few days, and my morning workouts often have similar exercises too. My foot’s actually feeling pretty good too. The rest helped it, and now I think the exercise helps it too. My balance seems much better the past week or so.

I cleaned off the top of my dresser over the weekend. It so needed it! I emptied out a crummy old jewelry box and found new spots for the bits that were in it. Also found new spots for my watches and a bunch of jewelry I had hanging on corkboard I had sitting on the dresser and propped against the mirror. I was so tired of that cluttered look. Except for earrings, I really don’t wear jewelry very often anymore. The chains on necklaces get tangled with my hair in the back, and I’ve always found rings and bracelets to be a hassle when it comes to hand-washing. Anyway, I’m very much enjoying the cleared off dresser and I hope to keep to my intention of not laying clothes on top of it. If I wear something once and I can wear it again before it needs laundering, I have a bad habit of putting it on top of the dresser.

I was able to get my boss to agree to cover the purchase of a keyboard tray for my home office. Bf installed that over the weekend. Much better. The office needs some tidying, but it’s working well for WFH.

Okay, nothing more to report. I’ll get this posted. Take care everyone.

Dang, I missed it again. Happy Belated Birthday yesterday Shad. I'm so sorry - was thinking about it on the 21st and then I have been distracted and realized I missed it. Hope you had a good day and managed some sort of small treat for yourself.

Ok, so the reason I have been distracted is that it appears my sister and her whole family may have the corona virus. Started with the BIL who has had a nasty nagging cough for 2 weeks now. My sister got super tired one day and for 4 days straight lost all sense of taste and smell. As of yesterday my nephew had a fever and slight cough but otherwise is fine. My sister appears to have a mild case and gotten over it already. She said she feels fine. She is worried about BIL who refuses to go to the doctor or get tested. What is the sense he said, they can't do anything for you... He sleeps which is unusual for him but good that he gets rest. I am worried about them. A lot. I am supposed to get a pulse oximeter this week - waited 6 weeks for it. It measures the oxygen in the blood. One of the things with this virus is that you can be getting less oxygen as pneumonia sets in which doesn't easily translate to difficulty breathing until it gets suddenly bad. My sister is the main caretaker of my Mom who at the moment is doing fine. We order things for her including groceries and supplies. I sent her a care package yesterday with some cash, a mask, sanitizer and a few other things. The neighbors have been dropping off milk, bananas, bread and fresh produce for her so she's doing ok thank God. My BIL's Dad is recovering in rehab from a heart attack, several strokes and leukemia. He is going to be released soon and cannot be by himself. So if BIL has Covid-19, he certainly can't take care of his Dad nor can my sister for that matter. His sister is supposed to come in from out of state - she wants to come soon but needs to stay away from them. It's a big mess. I read some things about symptoms and I want to share them with my sister but I also don't want to alarm her either so I'll figure out how to address it with her. She is very worried for her husband.

As for me my mouth is really, really sore. I am worried that something has gone wrong with the dental implants. I called the oral surgeon last week, have an appointment in the office 2 hours away on Friday May 1. I hope there is nothing serious but it's so sore it's hard to eat anything other than mush stuff. I am cleaning my mouth with a bacterial rinse I was prescribed - no not trump's miracle cure bleach either.

The weather is warming up. People are flooding into town. Our friend lives on a lake and said all the cabins around him are fully occupied - all with out of state license plates. It is fishing opener next weekend and the seasonals are coming to town no matter what. DH went to the stores yesterday and said town is very busy, lots of people. Doing social distancing when they are forced to but not wearing masks. We have held tight at 2 cases but I fear the floodgates will open and we'll get a surge. I am staying home as much as possible. If I get stir crazy, we go for a car ride by ourselves.

I am also annoyed that they opened my road up to ATVs and now they ride in clumps making lots of noise destroying the peacefulness of my little neck of the woods here.

That's about it for now. I have to swap some laundry so I'll post this. Will try to come back for personals tonight. Love to the crew...

Thanks Happy. Loved the cake. No calories in that one. I had a lovely day on Saturday, phone calls from Chris (ex Japan Chris) and from Chris (down the road Chris) and also from my brothers, my sister and some emails from my nieces both here and in NZ. DS2 came round and he and DS1 have bought me a new tv for my birthday. The old one was wearing out and I was thinking I'd have to get a new one but now there is a new one here and DS2 installed it on the wall and hid all the cables in the walls so I now have a nice clear space on top of the entertainment unit. DS1 video phoned in the afternoon and when I answered it there was my granddaughter holding up a big poster that she had made with HAPPY Bithday Grandma on it - yep it even had a spelling mistake but it was all colours of the rainbow and I didn't have the heart to tell her about the spelling. So we chatted for a while and she told me she was having home schooling because Dad was working from home. And she read me a story and then I read one back to her so it was fun. DS1 tells me the new house is coming along but won't be finished until at least November. Sounds like a long time but the year is flying past and it won't be long - it will also give them some more time to save up for furniture and fittings etc. Nothing but the best brands for those two. DS2 and new lady friend stopped for dinner and we had a wine and a chat.

Happy - I'm so sorry to hear about your sister and her family. BIL NEEDS to get medical help before the lungs start shutting down. The older you are, the more vulnerable you are to lung infections with this ******* virus. Glad to hear your Mum is okay. Must be a terrible worry for you with all that going on and you are so far away.
I hope you get some relief from this mouth business. You seem to be having a never ending time of it. It will have to be worth it in the end. Please don't drink or inject the disinfectant - sarcasm or otherwise. I'm still seeing that doctors face when he was discussing his latest edict on how to beat the virus. Perhaps the entire population should go out to Mar - a - lago or whatever it is called. He seems to be there often and he doesn't seem to have a problem.
As for the people coming into town. That's just wrong. The NZ PM demoted one of her cabinet because he went for a jaunt to his holiday home several hours away. She said she would have sacked him but unfortunately she needs everyone on deck right now. Another member of Parliament from the opposing party did something similar and he is now in quarantine for the foreseeable future. Go Jacinda.
Oh and thanks for the information on the Lions clubs and donating eyeglasses. 4 pairs went down the road on Friday to the secretary of the local branch. They will apparently be going up to the Solomon Islands at some point. She doesn't take the cases because of the cost of the weight in the plane so we binned those.

Laura - glad to read that your back has come right and that the foot is feeling better. Good on you for doing the exercises and keep up the routines. Only way to get through all of the days really. My list for today is almost complete and since we have now hit the hottest part of the day ( not overly hot - very pleasant) I have come inside to do what needs to be done here. I'm about to make a brew of coffee and a sandwich and have a couple of hours off before I get back to the last of the list.

Susie - loved the idea of the chalk pictures. Good idea to keep people up and doing and involving different generations. I saw some pictures on Facebook. They looked good. Good for you for sticking to a routine. If you have to work from home you have to have the routine to keep up with the work and also keep up with your own stuff at home.

I've done as much of the photos as I can for the moment, my niece in NZ has for some reason got some of the photos which should go in the album. Why she has them I don't know but I want them. She is sending copies but I'd rather have the real thing and I will get some more printed for her. How to state that to a determined woman might be interesting. I doubt that I can print any in the original size since photography has moved along considerably since 1942. So I will try to be diplomatic and see if I can bribe her with something. Maybe I can get the photos, put them in the album and she can be the guardian of the album, that might solve a few problems. I have other photos from my dad I can work with for my own albums. I need to go to NZ and see what I can do and what photos my sister has as well.

Garden is going well. The last lot of seeds that I planted have now emerged and are growing, so I will have onions and garlic and beetroot as well as the cauliflower, spinach, beans, corn, carrots and tomatoes. Time to plant a succession crop soon. I'll run out of room soon too.

And that's about it for todays ramble. Please stay safe, stay home unless it is absolutely necessary. NZ is about to come out of their lockdown stage 4 bubble to go to stage three which allows them to move around a little more freely. The process has worked well over there. Here the government is talking about re-opening the schools, and letting people get back to work in certain jobs and they state that the first flights allowed in and out of Australia will be to NZ. However I am really wondering how this is going to affect people wanting to go on an overseas jaunt in the future. Travel insurance - already expensive - will be out of reach for many and we may have to have a medical certificate to be able to go abroad. Life will be interesting. So many seem to think the restrictions will be lifted and all will be as it was. Well I don't think it will be, I'd like to think we might go on being nice to each other for a bit longer - some hope I guess
Hellos to Annie and Ceejay. Hello Dee.

Oh and a very happy birthday to Happy - 21 today.

Thanks Shad - cute vintage card - not like vintage us LOL. Birthday during quarantine. That's one for the books. But will make the best of it anyway. After some discussion we have decided that this year DH is going to use the veg garden beds for flowers for his pictures. He is going to build new waist high growing beds and re do the garden. Also we need to have a whole bunch of trees removed because they have become so overgrown that there is not nearly enough sun to properly grow the vegs. Not being sure of what the money situation will be like the rest of the year I said we have to sit and discuss what we would like to do, what projects wait till next year and what we plan on doing. Of course DH gets his mind to wanting to do something and wants to plow ahead. I am concerned about spending until we know what the investments will do. We took a beating as did the rest of the people over the last 2 months - just waiting it out.

Hello all. Happy Hump Day.

First off – Happy (belated) Birthday wishes to Happy and Shad. So sorry I missed both of them. I hope you both have a wonderful year of life the next 12 months!

I’m thinking of taking a vacation day on Friday. I’m hoping the weather will be nice, but I’ll likely take the vacation day even if it’s not. Just need a break.

Happy – I can understand your worry over your sister and her family. I sure hope your BIL got treatment! It sounds like your mom is doing well and she is fortunate to be able to have neighbors drop things off in addition to the care packages and grocery deliveries. My sister and I have been alternating grocery drop-offs at my mom’s. I feel bad not sticking around after dropping off the groceries and mail, but I don’t want to bring any bad germs to her. Instead we talk on the phone. == So so sorry the mouth is still so sore. I hope your visit to the dentist on Friday goes well and he can reassure you that nothing has gone wrong and that it will pass, and hopefully SOON!! === I don’t think it’s wrong for people to use their vacation homes, but it’s really wrong if they’re not keeping to the social distancing/mask protocol! I also feel like taking a nice long drive somewhere on a nice day. Or maybe just to the forest preserve and take a walk, or maybe have the bike with me and take a ride. We’ve been having more than our share of gloomy, rainy and chilly days and I haven’t been for a walk around the neighborhood in some time.

Shad – Sounds like you had a nice birthday! Enjoy your new tv - nice that installation was included! Sounds like a delicate situation with the photos the niece has that you want. Nice that the family is interested in keeping the memories alive, but it does make sense to have them organized in a cohesive manner. I think having the albums being that repository and having someone be a caretaker of it is an excellent idea. We don’t have anything like that in our family. My mom has a box of photos but they really aren’t in any kind of order, and neither of my parents are/were really much good at organizing them and sharing the memories. I do have a copy of a VHS tape that my father converted from a home film many years ago. We watched it together once. I didn’t really know anyone in it – all the footage was before I existed, but I suppose I’ll record the vhs onto the hard drive of our dvr and at some point copy it onto a dvd and when my mother can finally come to the house we can play it for her. She might still have a vcr, but I don’t think it’s hooked up…I don’t think she ever had a dvd player. Sadly, I think she’s beyond seeking out and watching tv shows and movies. Lately she’s gravitating towards watching sports like basketball and hocky. === Wow, lots of veggies in the garden! I’m afraid my garden will likely be limited to a couple of containers with tomato plants set atop a pile of cinder blocks alongside the sunny side of the house, and maybe some smaller containers of herbs set on the sunny side window sills. === I too believe so many things will be different now even after this virus eases up. Our employer has stopped extending the WFH mandate as to specific dates and just stated our office will work remotely until further notice. I have asthma, so I’ll be particularly cautious about returning to the office. Travel…I haven’t done air travel in quite a while and the thought of those air vents spewing out whatever’s in the air…scary. I’m all for strict screening measures. All the measure that will be needed will definitely raise the cost to travel. Things will definitely not go back to what was normal pre-C19, that’s for sure.

Hellos to the rest of you. Hope you’re all doing well.

==
Not much to report in my world. Made more masks this past weekend, but not happy with a couple of them because the elastic is not the ideal kind – a bit too wide. But they are extras for now, and I might narrow it down.

Continuing with exercise, but not getting any cardio. Need to hop on the bike (indoors or out). I have some cardio workouts on dvd, and I’ve been checking out what’s available with our Amazon Prime membership. I added a couple step videos to my watchlist. And there’s always walking if the weather’s alright. Sunday was a really nice day and bf and I drove to the park and walked around on the paths. A good amount of people doing all sorts of activities – walking, biking, running, boxing, flying kits, flying a drone, using the hills that go down into the retention area (which is dry) for workouts – running up and down them. Or as I saw some teen boys doing – hopping up the hill on one leg, and then another round where they were doing lunges all the way up the hill!! Wow!

I’ve done a couple of isometric workouts I found on Prime. They consist of three rounds of five exercises, each move held for 30 seconds with a 30-second rest between exercises and a 60-second rest between rounds. I’ve done upper body and lower body the past two days. I start out thinking these workout’s very doable, and by the end of round three…I’m toast. There are more workouts in the isometric series, so I’ll probably try the arm workout this week. Today I did part of a Pilates workout on my BOSU ball.

We still need to address the window well issue. Bf cleaned out the debris and found a drain pipe, but we don’t know what it leads to in the ground, and it’s clogged. He ran the hose in it and it filled right up. So…we’ll talk to the contractor guy again and see what his solution might be with this new development. It’s probably going to involve removing the existing well, digging a new drain and having it go away from the house, which would involve more digging and trenching of a drain pipe. This well is adjacent to a small garden bed, but otherwise it’s surrounded by concrete – driveway on one side, sidewalk on another and the stoop on the third. I really don’t want to have to tear out concrete for this fix. Sigh.

Lunchtime is over & think that’s about it for me anyway, so I’ll post this now. Stay safe and stay healthy everyone!