The biggest change is undoubtedly Mom’s 90th birthday party. We had planned to go to Florida and host a party of about 20 or so on April 4. All of my kids and grandkids planned to attend. Rick and As our vacation wound down, emails were going back and forth about what we should do. There are so many news articles and advice was rapidly changing. Some of the news articles were correct when published, but quickly overcome by changing advice. Other articles were just wrong. I wanted to make a fact-based decision based on CDC advice. Their website isn’t unfriendly, but there’s it’s a big site and finding advice that applied to us was tedious. Danita finally found the correct paragraph. We were advised not to have any gatherings of 10 people or more when elderly were involved. We reluctantly cancelled Mom’s party.
By the time we got home from vacation, we were advised to self-isolate for 14 days. We couldn’t do it completely. But we’ve been pretty good about it. We don’t mind being a little lax because there was no indication of COVID on the cruise ship. While anything is possible, we were a largely isolated society for 16 days. If anybody came on the boat with COVID, it would have been apparent by the time we disembarked. Doctors have asked us to reschedule all our appointments.
There was no food in the house. We had to visit the grocery store. We couldn’t buy what we wanted. For example, there was very little meat available. But Danita is wonderfully flexible and very inventive in coming up with tasty and varied meals with what’s available. Danita’s Kindle E-reader stopped working while we were cruising. She can read on her phone, but it’s an inferior experience. There is no one-day delivery these days. Her new E-reader arrived this morning, which pleases her immensely. My hair has been growing for the last 5 weeks or so. It’s bothersome. I finally realized that after our self-isolation ends on March 30, I still won’t want to go to the barber. I ordered some hair clippers from Amazon. The clippers should arrive Tuesday. It will undoubtedly be a lousy haircut, but few will be able to see it. There are so many little things we need. We’re looking forward to the first day we don’t order something from Amazon.
Many places are closed, which is common throughout much of the US. But some of the implications were not anticipated. No visitors are permitted in Riderwood, where Bud lives. Danita can meet Bud in the front lobby and they can exchange packages. But Danita can’t go to Bud’s apartment to load his pill container or pick up tax forms. As I was writing this, Bud called and said he might have sprained his ankle. Riderwood sent an employee to Bud’s apartment. Everything’s OK. But between using the telephone, talking through a Riderwood employee with an accent, and Bud’s confusion, it’s a complex operation.
There are a few more unexpected consequences of all the closings. Churches are closed. Our priest came up with something I somewhat irreverently call “drive through Eucharist”. The idea was to offer the Eucharist without having more than 10 people congregated at any time. It sounded like a good idea, but the bishop shut it down. Our clubhouse is closed for all uses. Danita can’t go to the clubhouse to get her morning cup of coffee. Our condos and community have monthly meetings. They have set up a way to attend electronically. The next scheduled meeting is Tuesday. It should be interesting to see how well residents adapt.
Among the things that are closed are county parks. Gates are closed and cars can’t drive in, but walk-ins are permitted. Or they were until a ranger stopped by a playground and found over 100 people. One wonders what the mothers were thinking. In response, the playgrounds are closed and taped off. It’s a mildly interesting story, I suppose. But it had a personal impact of sorts. On my ride yesterday I decided to use a long-cut I often use through a park. It’s a pleasant area and avoids some traffic. I just ride through. I have never seen a ranger in the park. Until yesterday, when a ranger was driving through as I approached the entrance. I wasn’t sure of the current rules. If the ranger told me not to enter, it would add another 2 miles as I rode back and around. I decided to ride past the entrance and turn around after the ranger had time to leave the area. That worked fine. I hadn’t made it all the way through before I encountered a second ranger driving through. They didn’t stop me, so I guess I was OK.
We decided this is the perfect time to replace the HVAC system. All houses in our condo have a gas-fired furnace and an air conditioner. Larger houses have a second heat-pump in the attic. Many of our neighbors have had their air conditioner or heat pump fail, so it’s about time for replacing the AC. Furnaces aren’t failing, but we have a sealed bearing in our furnace that squeals like a banshee. It’s so loud the house is not habitable. Repair costs about the same as replacing the furnace. We have reduced the squeal to a low rumble by lubricating the bearing. It doesn’t make sense that one can lubricate a sealed bearing, but for the last 5 years, it has worked. That doesn’t mean it will work forever. Plus, if COVID gets a lot worse and the AC fails in August, we’ll be suffering and sweltering for quite a while. Plus we won’t be traveling for a while, so the travel budget can pay for the new system. So we are getting a new system Tuesday. The contractor will be working in the basement. We’ll be upstairs.
This is a long message for a simple week at home. I hope this finds everybody getting by.