Maddening, disappointing and downright upset.

On Saturday the 25th we headed out to a couple small stores for items that I can only get there. We were in and out so fast it made our heads spin. Then to Target because we were told that they had things that WM was always out of and not many people there either. Again in and out in a heartbeat. Why did we leave the stores so abruptly? Because not even 5 people in any of the 3 stores had masks on and not one person respected the distancing of 6 feet or more. It's no wonder the virus is still spreading so heavily. We will no longer take chances like that again. I will not go into any store other than Fry's, when we need meat, until mid summer, if then.  There are still too many people not caring about the spread of the virus. Most were younger people, but too many of the older adults were just as thoughtless.

After the disappointing start we went for a nice long ride. We took different roads and just enjoyed being out of the house. We no longer care about doing anything outside the house or car. Riding around looking at the countryside, was very enjoyable. The ac works well in the car so we were quite comfortable.

We stocked up on meat last week since  many packing and processing plants are closing because of employees, coming down with COVID. Our little 7 cube freezer is almost too full now. Sadly a lot of it is chicken, augh, I hate chicken.  But beef is still so expensive and the cuts of meat are poor quality lately. We did manage to find 4 t-bone steaks that were on sale and looked good. We also got two chuck roasts that I grind up for hamburger, it's cheaper to do it myself.

Yesterday and today we are in an excessive heat warning. Sunday we hit 106º and today 104º for a high. It's way early for these high temps. Maybe that means an early fall. 😃 The sunscreens that we had put on have really done the job that we were hoping for. So we ordered two more for the other two windows on the south side of the house. They do darken the rooms but it's worth it to keep the heat from the sun and glass out of the house. I've noticed that the a/c isn't working as hard as well.

More snowbirds from Washington and Oregon left before the hot weekend. They all said once the heat came, they were leaving. We hope that the rest of them leave soon and maybe the pool will be opened then. Although none of the residents follow the social distancing guidelines. We often have to put up our hand and ask them to stop and stay the distance. Then we get funny looks.  Our space our rules! Our life and our health.

                 
                                         Vote blue all the way through!

Disappointed

Today we made our weekly trip to WM to pick up our online order. It seems that idiots shop on the weekends, because no one, not even the associates were wearing masks or gloves. From what we could tell, we were the only ones wearing protective wear. Last Monday when we picked up our order all the associates and many many people were dressed appropriately. But today we were so disappointed in the Yumans shopping. Just think of all the infected going in and out of the store, not knowing that they are now spreading the virus just because they don't feel sick. And how many people are now infected. At this rate the virus will never come to a stop. It only takes one to infect hundreds and thousands of others. It's like, you tell two friends and they tell two friends and so on and so on.

After getting home we did our usual sanitization of everything and put things away. Then I called in for a Godfathers pizza and away we went to pick it up. Yes, we wore our masks, we aren't republicans, we have a brain. The pizza, as a Godfather's always is, was great. Two pieces left for Mark to have as lunch next week.  

A double batch of brown sugar cookies got made and that will be the last homemade cookie until fall. Next week it will hit the mid 90's and then the oven goes into  hiatus. :) I'll be dusting it out in the fall. LOL The cookies turned out great and the cookie jar plus another container is full. Hmmm, how long will they last? Not long enough would be my guess.

Today it was a beautiful 82º, sunny and of course windy. It's usually windy in Yuma. Tomorrow and the next two days will be the last of the nicer temps. Then our "winter" starts. Winter meaning we don't go out much, close up the windows and find things indoors to keep us busy. All similar to when we lived in MN, just the other part of the calendar. 

It's been so wonderful not having any sports on tv, but there is still not much worth watching on the weekends. I'm thinking I'll be needing to order some new DVD's soon. Maybe there will be one or two worth buying.

Church online again tomorrow. This could be habit forming. 

Warmer

The days are getting warmer and the nights are still nice and cool. By warmer I am meaning in the mid 80's and lows in the mid 50's. The last couple days were quite windy but today it has toned down somewhat. CarlAnn is in her cage on the porch twiddling away and enjoying the nice weather like the rest of us.

Easter came and went almost like the last 4 years. The exception being church was on-line. We have been going to church each Sunday and not leaving the house. Lola loves curling up to Mark during the service and I relax in my recliner. Easter Sunday Lola was antsy in church. She had to go potty and was having a tough time waiting. But all worked out fine.

The online grocery ordering is taking a  day or two longer to go and pick up our order. Today I ordered and won't be able to pick it up until Saturday.  With cooking every day and not eating out we go through more food. And I have to admit I'm really getting tired of all the cooking. Twice we did order out, but it's not as much fun as eating OUT of the house. And all the containers need to be sanitized and the food heated up once we get it home. Eating out costs more so I guess we are saving money in the long run. But our waistlines and backsides are growing. 😫 It's nice enough so we could be out walking, but have gotten lazy.

Since we are so happy with our last purchase of sunshades, we decided to do the bedroom windows as well. They really keep the rooms cooler and protect the windows from the harsh heat of the Arizona sun. Tomorrow they will come and measure and give us an estimate. Still much cheaper than replacing windows. All the while practicing social distancing.  That is one thing we are adamant about.

The screening is a dark gray to match the trim on the house and the frame is white again to match. Some time, down the road we would like to make all the porch screening to match.

Vote blue all the way through

Busy

With the stay at home order Mark is having a hard time sitting still. But he did get out to his shed and install the solar panels. Once it was mostly connected the sun went into hiding. We had rain a couple days and then gloomy skies. So the batteries never got charged well. But the panels did grab enough to help the batteries show that the system was working. Then of course comes the tweaking and the "maybe I can do this that or the other thing". hehehe Mark loves to do things like this. But being we follow the stay at home order and "stay home", he had to make do with what he still had on hand. Someday he wants to hook up the security cameras and some lights to the solar. But for now this is giving him something to do.

Today we picked up our second or third online order from WM. The days kind of run together so I have a hard time know what we did when anymore. It was nice to see the more of the associates were wearing masks and gloves. The store was also limiting how many people can be in the store at one time. The sad part or I should say, the maddening part was seeing still so many ignorant people without any face masks. And then to top that I saw a couple take their toddler into the store, no masks for any of them. Why and the hell didn't one of the parents stay home with the child? But then they weren't smart enough to put on masks so why would I think they know any way to practise health safety. All this ticks me off as much as our dumber than dumb so called president.

Coronavirus Solar Upgrade. It's called working with what you got....

Clinic

As much as I didn't want to, I had no other choice than to head to the clinic. I have a BAD bladder infection and couldn't stand the pain any longer. I also know the damage that can be caused if not treated early enough. It's been a very long time since I have had one. But anyway, armed with my mask I headed to my doctor. It was like a hazmat area at the clinic. Everyone was armed for protection and I didn't have to wait any longer than to check in at the desk. There is a nurse outside the door that checks your temp, asks questions, gives you a mask if you don't have one, puts hand sanitizer on your hand and escorts you to the front desk.  I was in and out in record time. I'm thinking that I was the only one there. And that could've been the case. I had no choice but to get there.

Here is is Holy Week too. Many people will be celebrating Easter differently this year. And I hope that everyone stays in their own homes to do so. It would be simpleminded not to stay home. (That is my way of calling someone stupid for not staying home.)

I'm thankful that our church has services on line. It just wouldn't be Easter without the time spent to give honor to our heavenly Father for giving us the gift of eternal life through the sacrifice of his son. We have a Tenebrae service tonight with communion. Gee I've never done communion that way before. But we have what is needed.

Weeks before the COVID 19 outbreak I had the foods that I wanted for Easter, so our meal will stay the same. It's been 4 years since we have had Easter dinner with the kids so this is nothing new. They have been good about practising stay at home too. And I'm so proud of them for doing so. Anyway, we will have a nice Easter meal with all the trimmings here at home.

Monday we have our online WM grocery order to pick up. So we will mask and glove up to pick up our order. Then go through the whole process of sanitizing everything in the order. Extra work, but worth it to keep us well.  I'm so proud of Mark for being an active part of not spreading the virus and doing everything that he can to keep us both healthy. I wish everyone would be as concerned for safety.

Stupid people everywhere

Sunday afternoon when we went to a WM in Yuma to pick up our online grocery order We were amazed at how many stupid people were out there. Meaning the ones not wearing face masks. Yes, it's not mandatory but common sense dictates otherwise. Mark was only taking the bags from the WM cart and associate to the trunk of our car and he wore a mask. I sat in the car and had on a mask. And he put on hand sanitizer before coming back inside the car. I guess some people just don't care about themselves or anyone else. It made me furious that even some of the WM associates had no mask or gloves. Good grief people, are you still believing trump that it's just a flu or will be gone in another two weeks? If so y'all need a lobotomy and stay the hell away from me and my family.

First time out in weeks.

This morning we got up before the birds to try and buy some paper products. We stood in line at Fry’s with our plastic gloves and our face masks on and I about froze to death. 😷  It wasn’t even 60º. 😳 Anyway we were about the 8th in line, over 6 feet apart and waited about 10 minutes for the the store to open. Once inside we headed for the paper goods isle, as did everyone else. Even though we were one of the first inside, the shelves were pretty bare already. That was scary to see. Mark and I shopped separately so we could get two of each item instead of one. The way we blow our noses we needed more than one box. We have enough  now , I hope, of toilet paper and paper towel. So we can use that for our noses if need be. Mark got his paper products, used his credit card and headed to the car. I on the other hand got some meat and ice cream too. Yesterday I did inventory on our meat supply and got the steak that was on sale to grind up for hamburger. It was cheaper than hamburger and no limit on the packages. It’s not a good steak for eating as such but makes great hamburger. :) Meat is rationed to one or two packages as is everything else in the store

A lady, who was also waiting in line, was saying that she had to wait four days for her Walmart order to be ready for pick up. So I quickly checked on our list and sent it through. We can pick it up tomorrow afternoon.  Not sure what she was talking about. Anyway, Some things you have to go into the store to get so we got that stuff at Fry’s where there is a lot less people. In fact it's the first time we have been in any store in 3 weeks. But we needed meat and paper products and that was the only way to get that fulfilled. The Walmarts are only letting so many people in the stores at a time. And when we checked there there was a line a block long already at 6:30, and they don’t open until 7.

Mark said we had better not leave our paper products on the table in front of the window or we could get robbed. He was saying it jokingly but it has been known to happen. So I had to find room in this little home. It's not like we have a lot, but enough for us to get by for another few weeks.

When we got home we washed everything off with bleach water and put it away. Then proceeded to wipe off everything we touched incase we carried any germs in with us. Our jackets went into the hamper as did our face masks. We really work hard to keep us safe. 

Now it's the total disinfecting of the house. Cleaning has a whole new meaning. Everything gets disinfected, floors, handles and everything in between, with great care. 

I am used to cleaning well, but not to the point of doing surgery in our home. 😆 It is much more time consuming for me, but worth the effort to keep us healthy.

Oh dear what will we do now?

Everyone in the park was notified today that all buildings will be closed and that includes the POOL. What will we do in the summer now?? Every morning we would go to the pool for an hour and sometimes in the afternoon as well. That is pretty much all there is to do in the summer when it's hot outside. The laundry rooms will still be open so at least I won't have to cart the laundry to a "public" laundromat. That isn't something I want to have to do at all. The other buildings don't mean anything to us so it doesn't matter if they are open or not. All the closings in the park are to protect us from  COVID19. Even the way we pick up our mail and pay the rent and utilities will be done differently to keep people down to a minimum in the office area. When we went down to get the laundry off of the lines a lady was complaining about the pool being closed. I had to bite my tongue to not tell her to go home to Washington if she was that unhappy. Good thing that is all she said. I'm not very polite with my feelings about taking every precaution.

Mark was so hungry for a pizza that I am making  the crust, just waiting for the dough to rise now. Pizza totally from scratch is quite time consuming, but what else is there to do right now? hehehe I'm not happy about turning on the oven though as it is 85º outside. It will take all night to cool the house down.  And I'm not too keen on turning on the a/c this early in the season. I just might have to in order to cool the house down so we can sleep tonight. But I'll do what I need to do to keep us as safe as possible. And thankfully I don't mind cooking all that much. It's the size of the  kitchen I really dislike.

The produce stand that we frequent is closed tomorrow. They will open again in May with melons and sweet corn. My ultimate favorite fruits and I do love sweet corn smothered in butter. So May is looking something to look forward to in this mess that trump made possible.

Tomorrow our sunshades will be installed. And we will stay the 6 plus feet away from the installer. As I'm sure he will be doing the same.  It is an outside job so we won't have to worry about direct contact. We can hardly wait for the shades to be installed it will really cut down on the heat of the sun.