It’s been a very quiet week. That’s understandable since many things in Maryland are still closed. I’m riding a couple of days a week. The rest of the time it’s been rainy. There’s plenty of water in the rivers, and more rain in the forecast. My goal is to have at least an hour of good physical activity every day. But with all this rain, my indoor projects are drying up. I might have to get inventive soon, because doing jumping jacks in front of the TV is definitely not my thing.

Wearing masks at the grocery store went from being recommended to mandatory a while ago. In spite of the increased demand that created, the supply of face masks seems to be opening up. That’s good because the masks I made from T-shirts definitely have their limitations. Danita found some disposable masks that will be in this week, and some reusable masks that should be in within the month.

Neighborhood activities are dramatically reduced. There are no neighborhood parties or gatherings. Condo meetings are held over the internet. The clubhouse is totally locked down. Residents aren’t allowed to even enter, much less get a cup of coffee. Lots of people are walking. You see small groups standing and talking, carefully separated by 6 feet. I think I pulled a coup of sorts. The office ladies had problems with very slow computers. I told them that if my clubhouse card worked, I would go over early in the morning and look at it. I’m pretty sure they made my card a “staff” card so I can enter any time. Woo-hoo!

We traditionally eat breakfast out on Sunday and dinner out on Thursday. Restaurants are all closed, but most are still doing carry out service. We are substituting carry out for dining in. It’s not as good. We don’t get out of the house, the food isn’t as hot, and it just isn’t the same experience. But we’re learning which restaurants do carry out best. Which foods heat up well. It helps us anchor the days of the week.

People are getting antsy about being on lock down. Everybody wants to know when things will start opening up. We don’t normally watch TV news, but we watched Governor Hogan’s press conference to present Maryland’s plan. There were no surprises. It more or less follows the federal guidelines. The key to get to phase 1 is a downward trend in ICU admissions and deaths. These numbers are clearly displayed on Maryland’s COVID web page. After the Governor repeated this 3 or 4 times, reporters stopped asking when phase 1 will begin and started asking what “downward trend” means. Finally, one reporter tried to indirectly ask if we could remove nursing home patients from the numbers. (We’ve had several nursing homes that had a huge percentage of residents get COVID. These people understandably have a high incidence of ICU placements and deaths.) The Governor wisely side-stepped the question and talked about the recent regulations for personal protection equipment and other practices to reduce nursing home infections. There’s no doubt in my mind. Our president is a lot smarter than some of our news reporters.

With a little luck, phase one might start next month. For Danita and me, phase 1 means no changes. We’re over 65 and aren’t employed. But we need phase 1 so we can get to phase 2.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

Bud’s settled, kindof. Danita has an aid coming in 3 days a week at Noon. Bud’s kickin’ and complain’. For now, it’s what we can do.

My four and a half year Dell Latitude computer stopped charging the battery. I have this super duper 5-year “we’ll come to your house and fix anything” warranty. So I called Dell. They’re like “Dude, your battery’s 5 years old, buy a battery.” And I said “Hey buddy, if I buy a battery and it still doesn’t work, will Dell pay for the battery?” So they agreed to replace some parts and I’m saying “Hey, bro. You’re the man.” So I cleared off my desk and created an admin account for the tech. The tech came, went directly upstairs, and did stuff to the computer for 45 minutes. Then he said “It works.” and left. Danita immediately starts wiping down doorknobs with alcohol. That’s when I realized the tech didn’t cough, sneeze, or look sick. But he also came in without gloves or a mask. Danita found out the virus can live on a wood desk up to 4 days. I think after day two, whatever’s left has to be sparse and weak. But really, there’s no reason why I have to sit at my desk. So I have my computer back now (because it is not made of wood) and I’ll get my desk back tomorrow. And my computer lives for a few more months — or maybe years. Who knows?

I’m still bike riding. I was out the other day. The weather was cool so I had a jacket. But I was going up hill and working hard, so the jacket and jersey were unzipped. I don’t bike with a mask because I need the air. I’m puffing and panting up this hill, trying to keep over 5 MPH when a lady comes up from behind, dinging her little bell. She’s all bundled up in her jacket like she’s cold. She’s wearing a mask that looks like it filters the larger air molecules. And she’s effortlessly going about 10 MPH.

Not that I feel particularly old, but we have another cool, windy day today. Danita and I decided to take a walk. I’ve been having real problems keeping my glasses clean, so I took them off and left them on the table. While I was walking, it looked like my glasses were dirty. Drat. I have too many floaters, and for some reason they’re not moving around much.

I often have problems hearing other people. It used to be only at noisy parties. Now with social distancing, it happens quite frequently. I was planning to see an audiologist when we got back from vacation. Unfortunately, the world was pretty much shut down when we got back from vacation. Danita and I cancelled several medical appointments. The one I kept was done by video conference.

Now for the finishing touch. The federal plan for re-opening the country has everybody else going to work, going to school, and eating out, while us old folks continue to shelter in place. I hate that phrase.

Other than these minor irritations, we’re doing quite well, and I hope all of you are also.

I hope everybody had a happy Easter. It was a very strange Easter for us. No Stations of the Cross, none of the St. Louis Friday perfectly grilled cheese sandwiches. No church services of any kind. (Sorry, U-Tube recordings don’t cut it.) No ham for dinner. (Danita made her most excellent spaghetti, which can be cooked for two.) Still, we are all well. We’re getting out for exercise and chatting with neighbors when we see them. Julia organized a nice video conference. Besides the Reeds, we had Ed & Lynne, Joe Toni & Maisie, Mark & JiaJia. That was fun.

Bud continues to be the headliner here in Maryland. His move to advanced care was set up for Friday. Danita got permission to go into Bud’s apartment to help pack up. After she got there, they called her and said the move wasn’t happening. Bud had been getting a housekeeper, but that was suspended because of the danger of Covis contamination. The situation is very unclear (at least to us). Danita found spoiled food out on the counter, dirty clothes, etc. She’ll be talking with the folks at Riderwood to see what kind of solution is possible.

We had some quite unusual weather last week — two days of 30 mph winds with 50 mph gusts. If there was any property damage, it got buried below the Covis updates.

There’s not a lot else going on here in Columbia. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

It’s been an intense week. The main event this week centered on Bud. Bud lives in Riderwood, a CCRC. Riderwood is trying to protect the health of their residents. They don’t allow visitors and have asked residents to stay in their apartments. Bud is out wondering the hallways, knocking on friend’s doors, asking Danita to visit him, etc. He is repeatedly reminded that he shouldn’t be doing these things. He complies, but then a few minutes later it’s all forgotten. He watches TV, which I suppose includes at least some news shows. He reads the Washington Post daily. But he doesn’t know there’s a pandemic. He’s also not taking his medicine, not eating well, etc.

We’ve been trying to get Bud to move from independent living to advanced care. There have been phone calls and Emails galore, tons of stress, and at least a few tears. Yesterday, Bud agreed to move. There’s a lot that has to happen before he moves, but it looks like the move could happen as early as Friday.

A really good thing that happened this week is Mom’s 90th birthday. We had planned a party in Florida. That was obviously cancelled. Instead, we had a video party. All of Mom’s children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren attended. It’s rather limited what one can do with 15 people in a non-structured video chat, but Mom had a grand time. I was amazed how well it all worked. We were even able to surprise her. We had people from Japan, Iowa, Alabama, New York, Maine, Pennsylvania, Florida and Maryland (and maybe someplace I missed).

The latest COVID change is a sudden request to wear masks when in grocery stores and other areas where social distancing is difficult. This in spite of the obvious lack of the availability of masks. I’m looking at various ideas for masks on the internet. Here’s the one I like the most so far. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mai-UqdNRi8

I just finished a very good book: Two Years before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana Jr. There’s a lot of romance and lore about the old American clipper ships. This book will tell you what it was like to be a sailor in those days. It was a wildly successful book in its day because when the California gold rush started, it was just about the only book that gave information about California. Today it’s still an excellent book, and perhaps the most realistic view of life in a bygone era.

Next week, Danita’s going to be busy arranging all the things required to make Bud’s move successful. I won’t be all that busy. Fortunately, an under-cabinet light burned out. This is my opportunity to replace halogen mini-bulbs with LED strip lighting. Materials should be in Wednesday. Woo-hoo, a project!

I hope this finds everybody doing well.