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.