My question of whether I should plant annuals this year was answered for me.

I decided since today is such a lovely day--well, 60 degrees and sunny is perfect weather to my way of thinking, and since I have been bored out of my gourd, I would drive on down to the locally owned garden center.
Lots of people. Some wearing masks, I chose not to as I was going to be outside.

The long walk from my car had started my back to hurting, but I grabbed a cart and off I went.


No Impatiens. The employee said, "This has been a weird year. We have never sold out this early." I replied, "I have never planted this late."

Went looking for Tiny Tunias instead--my color scheme: hot pink, dark purple and chartruse.

I couldn't find what I wanted, and then, it just got too much. Too many people. All the end of aisle arrows pointing the same way. I asked another employee how to get out. She pointed.

I left my cart at the exit and took a few steps and everything sort of seized up on my. Not just my back, but my hips and thighs.

I limped along, having to stop every 10 steps and lean on something than continue along.
I got to my car, leaned my head back and said, "It doesn't really matter, does it God. Let's just go back home."

I have lots of pretty perennials that are coming into bloom. I have Rose of Sharon bushes that will bloom in August. I probably would have had a hard time carrying the pieces of my 3-tier planter up to the front porch anyway, and the money I took out of my emergency jar, is back where it belongs.
It's all good
===================
This whole thing is really starting to get to me.
The lack of exercise and yet, like today, when I went to the store, I was out of Diet Pepsi..it was crisis time, there feels like there is too many people, too much noise.  The mask makes me feel closed in.  I start to feel panicky and all I can think of is getting out as fast as I can.
For a couple of weeks, in April, I sat and watched the News most of the day.  That isn't good for a person.  Hearing the same thing over and over, can get into a person's head and make them feel defeated.  So, I stopped doing that.

We had an incident the other day here in this quiet park.  All of a sudden two police cars drove in, EMS and fire truck.  An older lady up towards the front of the park, was out on her porch with a gun.  Threatening to shoot anyone who came near her and then going to shoot herself.  
What in the world?
Things like this don't happen in this park.  We haven't had a break-in or even drunken people fighting incident since I've lived here.  
They said she had suffered a breakdown and they took her in for a psych evaluation.
I could empathize with her.  

Dar had come running up on my porch, pounding at my door.  When I opened it, she breathlessly said, "Shelter in place!  There's a hostage situation up near the front of the park.  A guy has a gun, threatening to shoot the hostage and everybody else he sees.  The SWAT team is here and even the State police.  Pull your blinds and lock your doors.  I've gotta tell the other neighbor's!"

SWAT team?  State police?  Hostages?  My first instinct was to hop in the car and drive up to see what was happening.  But I didn't.  I also didn't close my blinds.  I figured if the SWAT team was any good, they had the guy under control.

It all lasted an hour and later we heard what had really gone on.  I think Dar is the last person I'd want to be with in a "real" situation.  She is overly dramatic.
==============
We are going to have nice weather this next.  Nice and cool.  Maybe I can get motivated to go out and pull the grass out of my front perennial garden.
Maybe?
Maybe not.
It really doesn't matter.

WOW!  I have certainly been amiss in my posting on this here blog.  In earlier days, I posted every day.  I guess I thought the world was waiting for my incredible words of wisdom, advice and clever quips.  Such folly.

As the months and years went on, I had less and less to say--to anyone and especially the world.

Then I started working on genealogies and I drained my brain everyday on research and writing the family story and there was nothing left to post here.

Then I posted once a week, on a Sunday.  Now I have gone two weeks and believe it or not...there are people that e-mail me and want to know if I am all right because I haven't posted.  Silly Billies.

Yes, I am fine. If I had died, you would have known because my daughter Pam has instructions to post that event on FB AND in this blog.

===========

What is there to post?  This quarantine has kept me home bound.  the muscles in my legs are becoming weak without my weekly visit to the HUGE grocery store that I used as my exercise program.  Walking the breadth and length of that store and up and down aisles.

So, I initiated a walking program.  Every day, out at 2:00 (after my Soap) and attempting to walk down to the corner, perhaps a block away.  But, half-way there my back would start aching.  My legs would feel weak, my pace unsteady, my balance was off.

So, I went into the shed and hauled out the walker that Medicare gave Fred after his heart surgery.  One of those fancy ones--with hand brakes and even a seat.  That helped a bit.  Sometimes Jackie would walk with me, she also using her walker.  Sometimes Pearl's daughter would come out and push Pearl, in her wheelchair, Merle tagging along behind us, occasionally Dar would bring her 98 year old father out in his wheelchair and we would parade along.

We did that on two occasions, coincidentally on the two days we had of Spring.  Now it is 90 degrees with the humidity at 62% and it feels like July or August.  I am heat-sensitive, ever since a heat stroke took me out years ago, and I get nauseated and faint in the heat.  Sometimes I want to slap Dar who brags, to all that listen, that she loves the hot weather and I just need to drink more water to cure my problem.  Of course, she complains and suffers in the winter time, when I am outside with no hat or gloves enjoying the cold, crisp air.

Maybe she needs to drink more water.

====================

This quarantine has taken all the fun away.  Although I am used to staying home and only going out to the store or bank once a week or every 10 days, to know that I am supposed to stay out of the stores and the ones I want to go to are closed, has set me back.  AND if I go--once a month to pick up a prescription, I have to wear a mask and those dang things are hot!

I need a hair cut!  My hair hasn't been this long in many years and it is heavy hair and it is hot.

I need to go to JoAnns or Michaels and get the kids cross stitched wedding sampler stretched and framed.  Both stores are closed and my hands are so weak and shaky that I can no longer stretch and frame the piece myself.

So, I'm closed up in the house with the A/C running and it is just like being closed up in the house in winter with the furnace running.  Closed up is closed up, no matter when it is.  I want the windows and screen door open to let in the fresh, spring breeze, but like I said, we only had 2 days of spring.

It is very tiring with nothing to do.  No genealogy to work on.  No ability to go out into the gardens.  No grocery shopping to do.  Nothing.

Now you can see why I don't post more often.

I have nothing to say.

It's been many years since I got together will all my kids on Mother's Day and five years since I've been with the 3 daughter's on Mother's Day.  My Mother died many years ago at the young age of 53 and since then, I would just as soon forget all about it.  So to me, today is May10th 2020, a Sunday with lots of sun and even a few early morning snow flakes.  Bah Humbug.

Ah-hh, but yesterday, daughter Karen and her hubs Mark came over and in the windy and chilly 47 degrees, ripped out the raised garden I had on the west side of my shed.  That garden has been a pain in my heart and I have been trying to find someone to take it out for 4 years.  The rain that came off the shed roof, poured down into that garden and at one time, it was great because that meant I didn't have to haul the heavy hose out there to water.  In the last 6-7 years, that rain has poured into the garden and directly UNDER the shed, which in turn as caused the shed floor to rot and fall apart.  Apparently whomever erected that shed did not put down a cement pad first.

The kids also dug a hole, where I had a Mulberry tree taken out 5 years ago, to get it ready for the gift for me that I used a bit of my Economic Impact money for.

It's been 25 years that I have yearned for a Red Bud tree, but not the pink kind we have around here, I wanted one with almost black trunk and the branches twist and grow twisty and it reminds me of a Ming tree.  Plus, I wanted one that has purple blossoms--kind of Lavender color--and dark purple leaves.

I checked with the garden center/nursery just down about 600 feet and across the road from me.  Yes, they had them, but they no longer arrange for delivery and planting of the tree.  But, yes, they had them, 5-6 feet tree and only $225.00.  Oh, and it comes with a one year warranty.

EGADS!!!

So I checked on-line and found one, 5-6 feet tall, comes in a burlap bag that you plant along with the tree, one year warranty, and it is a weeping variety.  Shipping and all--$99.00.

 This will be a perfect specimen tree for that spot as the tree doesn't get too wide and only about 8-10 feet tall.

When it arrives, Karen and Mark will come back and plant it for me.

==================

Karen also got me a web cam and I got hooked up with ZOOM so I can attend the virtual wedding shower next Sunday.   Apparently grandson Stephen and Carolyn are still getting married on June 6th, but not the big church wedding they wanted way over on the west side of the state.  Instead, they will be married in the Catholic church here in Brighton, Stephen's home church, with 25-30 people invited and I AM ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE.  

How easy for me to get dress and drive the 3 miles into that church.

Their reception will be end of August on the west side of the state and I probably will not go to that.  2 hour drive over  there and 2 hours at the reception and 2 hour drive back home....I figure would just about kill me or at the least, put me down for 3 days.

I have had their wedding sampler cross stitched for about 4 months.  I thought at one time I was going to have to pick out the "date" threads and re-do it, but....now if I can just figure out if I am allowed out of my house to get it to the frame shop and get it all done in time for the shower next Sunday, I'll be okay with that worry off my mind.

==============

The weather man has promised, that we are done with chilly and this next week it should warm up for the next 4-5 months.  I have my Baltimore Oriole feeder up and 2 pair of Orioles enjoying the grape jelly and sugar water.  The Thistle seed sock is up for the Finches, that have just started coming in and the Hummingbird feeder goes up this afternoon.

I don't when or if I will buy annuals.  I am only going to plant one planter--the 3-tiered one I have for my porch.

===========

I am hoping the hair salon open up before the wedding because I look awful with this sticking out, gray/dark, long hair.

=============

Did you know that the Governor from New York, instead of putting older COVID-19 people on the ship or at the Javetts center, sent them to nursing homes to recover?  Instead, they infected the population in the nursing homes.

We have 380 cases of COVID in this County.  20 have died--all over the age of 70.  No new cases or deaths in this County for the last 5 days, so maybe we are calming down.

What beautiful weather we have been having...well at least the last two days.  Tomorrow it will rain again and get colder.  At least with the nicer weather, it makes the whole CV-19 go away for awhile.

It all feels very normal, when I wake up in the morning.  I get up, feed the cats, look outside at my spring bulbs blooming so nicely.  Spring bulbs come up no matter what else is going on in the world.  If I keep the TV off, there is no News of the latest cases and deaths to disturb my peace.  It's nice not to have to deal with reality for a few hours at least.

I watched a virtual graduation ceremony for my grandson Stephen and his fiancee' Carolyn.  It wasn't exactly a ceremony.  The Dean was on with a few comments, then a photo of each graduate, with the medical degree they had earned.  It took 90 minutes to show those photos.  I watched and waited so I could take a screen shot with my camera of the kids.  The photos didn't turn out real well.

After 8 years of study, they are both Doctor's.

They have postponed their wedding until August 20th.  We are still having their virtual shower on May 17th.

===================

Maddie sent me a photo of my 2 month old great grandson that I still have not seen in person.  Bright blue eyed, little blonde.  He looks so serious.  Benedikt

 ==============================

I went out to check my garden today.  They are coming along just as they should AND my pair of Baltimore Orioles showed up at the feeder today.

 ============================

I got my Economic Impact check and I can't begin to tell you how secure it felt...for a day anyway.  Then I went to the bank and deposited more than half of it, came home and wrote out checks on some bills that have been overdue for 4 months, and now I have way less than half...which is still nice.  I have stashed it in my "emergency" jar, hidden in this house.  It's not that I don't trust the bank with all of it, but I am a bit leery of hackers and I do like to have cash in the house.  

Reminds me of my great grand parents.  After the Crash of 1929, they bought a big safe and put it in their house and kept all their money in there...for years and years.

=======================

The hair salons here in Michigan will open on May 28th.  By then, I will be 4 months overdue for a hair cut.  I will be going in, even though I'm a bit scared.  

Hey--if I pick up the Bad Buggie there, at least my hair will look nice for my hospitalization and funeral!!!!!!!

I finished a genealogy.  An interesting one....oh, I guess I say that about all the genealogies I do, but this one will have a few surprises for my client and that always makes me smile.

When I do the pedigrees, I create them on an Excel spread sheet, then I tape the pages together and take it to the print shop to have them copied onto one long sheet of paper.  Well, the print shop is closed, so I taped the pages together and put them in her book.  They look okay, but not professional like I would like.

We have to do the best we can.

==============

Technology...what can I say about it.  The undermining of the next generation with their noses stuck in the phones night and day, or playing games.  A way to track us with GPS, so every where our phone goes, "they" know.  

I remember when computers first came out, all big and bulky.  We were told it would make our life easier.  We wouldn't have to keep paper files, as everything we needed would be kept on the computer's hard drive.  They neglected to tell us what to do if we needed an important file and the hard drive on the computer had died and we had no paper in a file folder to get what we needed.  Every company I ever worked for, not only kept their files on the computer system, but a duplicate paper one in a file folder in a file cabinet.

One particular reason I am kind of glad for this newer technology, my grandson Stephen and his Carolyn are having a bridal shower.  I figured with all the 20-30 somethings in attendance it would not be a good idea for me to attend.  You know, that age can be carriers and not even have one symptom.

My daughter Karen, Stephen's mother came up with an idea.

The kids will be at her house, where they are staying right now, and the rest of us will be linked up with ZOOM via cameras on phones or PC's so we can watch and everyone can see and hear everyone else.

A virtual bridal shower.  How very clever.  I have none of that equipment, but Karen has ordered the camera and connection that goes in a USB port on my computer and I will be all set.

I feel sad for this couple.  They both graduated from medical school and of course, no graduation ceremonies.  They both have their residencies at the hospital they wanted so that is good, but they have been planning their wedding for over a year.

06-06-2020.  What a lovely looking date, however....that is now being changed.  We don't know the date of the wedding for sure now.  May still be on the 6th, maybe a few days later.  Of course, no one in attendance but two witnesses and their parents.

They have planned their reception for late August and will re-do their vows, in their wedding clothes, at the reception.

They are such a nice couple and have worked so hard to get their degrees and now their residencies have been postponed until The Virus is not so prevalent in the hospitals they were assigned to.  At least they haven't had to work with The Virus patients.  Stephen is going into Cardiology and Carolyn is going into Family Practice.

I had their wedding sampler all crossed stitched and was about to wash it, iron it and get it framed.  Now I will wait until I hear the actual wedding date, because I might have to cut the threads and pick them out of the date I have stitched.

===================

I've been watching live streaming church programs.  I really enjoy  pastor Allen Jackson from a big church in Murfreesboro, TN.  He had a regular Sunday morning service that I have watched for years.  Now he is live streaming.

He wanted people to write in the comment line what was the first building they were going to go to when things get opened up.  Without thinking, I typed "Hair Salon".  That shows what a heathen I am because everyone else had commented, "Church".  HAH!  All I can say is, I think some of them were fibbing.

I look like someone I don't even recognize.  A very old lady with gray hair poofing way out to the sides and sticking out up on the top.  The back of my hair is way down the back of my neck, touching my collar.  ARRGH!!!!  

We here in Michigan are still on Stay Home orders and it is mandatory to wear a mask if we have to go to the grocery store, or they won't allow us to enter.  Do those masks really help?  Some medical people say they do, others say they don't.

The ones Karen made are lined with a coffee filter and, she sewed a seam for a pipe stem cleaner to be inserted, along the top edge so the mask can be pinched to hold tightly to the bridge of my nose.  They say when you put on a mask, light a match, bring it up toward your mouth and if you can blow the match out, the mask is no good--won't help a bit.  I tried that, and no matter how close I got that match, I could not blow it out, so........it gives me a certain feeling of safety.

Our Governor had many illogical restrictions.  Not allowed to go out on a lake in a motor boat.  You could with a canoe or a kayak, but not a motor boat.  Not allowed to buy any seeds or garden items.  The Walmart actually had their garden center roped off and "Do Not Enter" signs posted.  Not allowed to play golf.  All the golf course clubhouses around here were closed anyway.  No landscaping companies were allowed to work.

Last week she relaxed some of the restrictions.  You now can go for a motor boat ride and fish if you want to.  The lawn mowing guy can now come, mow the lawn, pick up sticks and rack leaves.  The nurseries around here opened and yesterday, their parking lots were packed.  You can play golf, but you can't use a cart, nor enter the clubhouse AND you can't touch the pin on the green...It has to stay in the hole.

Our State is opening in phases.  This is Phase One.  Phase Two, restaurants' will open with strict rules.  "Vulnerable" people are to still stay home in Phase One and Two.  Phase Three will allow salons, gyms, tattoo parlors, and the like to open, also with strict rules and in Phase Three, we vulnerable's will be allowed to go out and about.  I expect Phase Three isn't going to hit until August!

I will look like Cousin Itt by then.

ARRGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Easter was only a week ago?

It seems so much longer to me.

Still feeling a bit discombobulated. Still not being able to really focus. Still wondering when this plague will leave our lives.

Worry for my family members, especially those in New Jersey. Missing my kids and grand kids and not yet being able to hold my newest--6 weeks old already, great grand boy. Missing hugs and conversations.

 Knowing full well, in the deepest part of my soul that, as in other hard times, God will carry us through. He always has, He always will. Continually praying He will sweep this plague from our country.

Grateful to Him for all that I have and trying to find blessings in each lonely day. Whether it be the sun shining, Robins hopping across the lawn, a beautiful Daffodil standing tall again after shaking off its covering of snow or clean clothes taken out of the dryer and hung up again in my closet. A fresh bloom on my African Violet plant or my sweet Buddy cat, laying on Momma's nightgown, taking a nap.

It's the little things that really count. E-mail photos sent from a granddaughter. Phone calls from my sister. A daughter bringing me food to carry me through.

Della

Harrison, already walking around furniture

at 8 months

Life is still very good and it will be even better...one day...soon I pray.

Aren't we all so weary of all of this?
It's starting to make me really sad.
=================

Our Governor has closed down everything she doesn't deem essential.  Our lawn mowing guy can't come and pick up sticks, rake up leaves or mow the lawns.  The garden centers at the Walmart and other stores are roped off because buying seeds and getting annual flowers to plants, is not essential.  We are mandated to stay home and can only go out for groceries or prescriptions.

I decided yesterday I needed a drive in my car so I went up to the gas station, filled the car up with gas and went inside and bought a bag of chips and a candy bar.  No one in there except the cashier hidden behind a giant plastic shield.  I felt like such a rebel.

Our Governor had also banned all doctors from using HydroxyChloroquine.  This week, since our numbers have gone up, she is begging for supplies of the medicine.

In my County we have 206 positive cases and 3 deaths.  One was a 20 year old.  Of course, those numbers will go up.

I have a sinking feeling that The Virus will be around until a vaccine comes out for it.  We were hoping that with hot weather coming, it would kill The Virus, but now "they" are saying that nothing can kill it.  So even when the stores open again and businesses and restaurants open, there is still going to be chances of contracting it.

Even me, a natural stay-at-home person is getting tired of it.  I went out for a walk today.  I can feel my legs getting weaker from all the non-exercise.  My weekly trip around the store and up and down the aisles, used to be my exercise.

I don't know.  I don't think any of the experts know either.  It's not like any of us have gone through anything like this, so we know what to do.  Even the Polio epidemic in the mid-fifties wasn't this bad, and we did a bit of social distancing back then.

Life as we have known it, will never be the same after this.

Everyone is so cranky!

I had to make a run up to Walmart this past Wednesday.  I had a prescription to pick up and had been putting it off for a week.  I only had one pill left for that day, so I got there at 8:55, and was the only one in line, when the pharmacy opened at 9:00am.  I couldn't wait to get outside and let the breeze blow the bad buggies off me.  It felt like a scary "adventure".

When I got home, I wrote about my adventure on Face Book, like I often do and put a humorous tone to my story.

Man!  I got blasted by two friends who criticized me for going out that not only could I spread the virus to others or catch it myself and I was making too light of this pandemic.

Late yesterday afternoon, I found out through Dar that our lawn mowing guy can't come and rake leaves or pick up sticks.  His business is not deemed essential.  I was pondering on FB about that.  Wondering why when he would be outside and me inside and never the twain to meet and at least, I could send him a check that would help him feed his two little kids.

Another friend ripped into me.  Sort of accusing me, "Do you think your lawn work is essential?  Really?"

Gosh.  I don't think that's what I posted.  I was just wondering why it would matter if he worked when he would be outside and me in.

So, after crying a bit from the criticism and scolding I got, I decided to stay off posting anything on FB.

GEEZ!!  Last week my sister told me I was over-reacting and now this women accuse me of making light of a serious situation.

I can't win!
======================
So now "they" are saying we all should wear face masks.  Even though they don't do any good, if you have The Virus it will keep you from contaminating others---it keeps your sneezes and coughs inside the mask.  If  you don't have The Virus, wearing a mask won't keep the bad buggies out.

We have ladies around here sewing masks.  Bless their hearts, but no hospitals will take them.  They have to be made from a double layer of tightly woven pure cotton and they have to be able to be adjusted tightly around the nose part, down low on the chin, or they do absolutely no good.  The poor sewing ladies are trying to help and so far, they are being turned away from care centers.

My sister has some masks left over from when they lived in New York State and went through the SARS scare.  She said she would get one to me.  It appears to be a sturdier than the home made ones.  I might wear one if I have to go get groceries, but....I don't know.  If you keep adjusting the mask, you end up touching your face more and that might contaminate you worse than if you just went without.
=================
I didn't need one yesterday--outside trying to rake my front lawn from the piles of leaves the lawn guy left last fall when he got sick with Lyme Disease.  I have little blue Star Flowers that come up all over my front yard and I wanted to uncover them.

I only got 3/4 of one side of the lawn done.  Finally I figured that I didn't want to take a chance on an AFib attack and have to go to a germ ridden ER, so I sat in my canvas lawn chair, in the sun, and watched the neighbors walk up and down the street, with their canes and walkers.  Dar had her Dad out, pushing him around the block in his wheel chair.

At least I got to see other humans and call "Hi, how ya doing?"  back and forth.
===================
My youngest daughter Jennifer, had to go to ER on Wednesday night as she was having a hard time breathing.  She has asthma and is still recovering from an 18 month stint with Lyme Disease.

They gave her a COVID-19 test, with results coming back in 5 days.  Took an X-ray and EKG, both good and sent her back home to quarantine herself in one room.  She has been working from home and has not traveled anywhere, so I don't know where she may have picked up The Virus, if that's what she has.

That is the real scary thing about this, for me.  People can have it and show no symptoms, but still be contaminating others.  That's why I have stayed away from my grandchildren.  Not that I might give it to them, but they were working and in college until the 3rd week of March, so they could have it, and because they are younger, feel no bad symptoms, but give it to me and then...I'd be dead.

I know darn well, if I had to be hospitalized and it came down to who was going to get a ventilator--a 50 year old or me an 80 year old, I would just be rolled down to the Hospice unit.

I think President Trump was trying to be upbeat and make people feel more positive about this whole "isolation" when he spoke of being "open" by Easter Sunday.  Most of us knew that wasn't going to happen and of course, the Doctors Fauci and Brix knew that wasn't going to happen.  This whole crisis is just getting underway to my way of thinking.

So we have another month of "Stay Home. Stay safe.  Save lives".

I'm afraid some people I know are going to be worn thin emotionally.  Poor Dar.  Cooped up in her house with her 96 year old Dad,  She is used to going somewhere almost every day.

I think to myself, this is the way I've lived for the last 8 years.  There is something to be said for being a semi-hermit.  Each day feels pretty normal to me...except knowing that the Pestilence is just outside the door and right around the corner.

===================

I did have a lovely weekend however.  I got e-mails from both my Grand Girls with photos of their babies.  I got an e-mail from Jennifer!  They are in New Jersey and her husband's office is just 12 miles from New York City.  Her daughter, Elise, my youngest Granddaughter sent me a lovely thank you e-mail for her birthday card and money.  Elise was 16, so I took a 10,5 and 1, laid them on a towel and sprayed them with Lysol and let them dry.  When I got her card made, I cut out a strip of paper like the ones that come around a stack of money and wrote, "Clean Cash.  This money has been disinfected."  She got a kick out of that.

I called my sister and we talked until both our phones were needing a charge.  We understand each other so well and each have a---I don't want to say dark humor--maybe a gray humor.  We were laughing hysterically until we both started coughing and then kidded, "Oh no!  We've got the bad buggies!"  Her birthday was yesterday.  68!  I never thought I'd live long enough to see her get that old.

One of my nearby Face Book friends had posted that she couldn't find any flour on the store shelves and she was baking home made bread and cookies and rolls to keep from going insane.  I was kidding when I commented, "I have a 5# bag of Gold Medal flour.  I will barter for 2 jugs of Diet Pepsi and......she took me up on it and brought the Pepsi over this afternoon.  She was so happy to get the flour I thought she was going to cry.  Plus, she gave me half a loaf of home made bread.  Yummy.

Yesterday Karen e-mailed me that she needed to make a shopping run and for me to send her my list---which I did.  She came by at 10:30 and brought my groceries in and put them just inside the front door.  I was teary and wanted to hug her so much, so---she said, "Mom you and I have both been quarantined for 10 days.  You aren't sick and I'm not either," and she grabbed me in a big hug--we made sure our faces were turned the other way.  No kisses, but lots of I love you's.

It was very special of her because we shop at different stores, but she went to the store where I normally shop so she could put in my "number" and got  $3.00 off my amount.

Dar came over and brought me the largest container of Clorox wipes I have ever seen.  They will last me the rest of my natural life.  I wiped down my counter tops, my phones, keyboard, my purse, wallet, car keys and the bottom of my shoes.

The groceries that Karen dropped off this morning--I wiped down the Pepsi jugs and put them away, put the items that needed refrigeration in the freezer--that ought kill any bad buggies and the rest will sit in their sacks for 72 hours before I put them away.  

I'm not a real germaphobe, but every time I watch the News, I get scared and think I should be more careful.

I have managed to find my two favorite Pastors that I normally watch on TV on Sunday morning, on a live stream on my computer.  It seems difficult for them to preach to an empty church.

Now, every time the cuckoo clock sings, I say, "Dear God, please help us", and now, while I wash my hands, I say the "Lord's Prayer".  I try to remain cognizant of the fact that God is the only one who can keep us safe in times like this.

=========================
This baby looks like no one on either side of the family!  Only 3 weeks old.

Laying on the quilt I made for him.

He looks so little

Gotta have him in a Spartan onesie.

He has this blonde hair that if they don't

keep it wet down, springs up in little spikes

all over his head!

He was baptized on St. Benedicts Day because

his first name is Benedikt--and then 6 more names.

Look at that hair and those bright blue eyes

peeking out.

Harrison and Della

Harrison is 7 1/2 months old and already

pulling himself up to stand by furniture.

His big sister adores him!

Until next Sunday--Stay Home.  Stay Safe,.  and wash your hands and don't touch your face!!!

Everything just feels so strange now.
Just a week ago I was having lunch with friends--all 80 years old or over--sitting close enough to touch shoulders, all hugging and kissing went we left.

Then all heck broke loose.

We have 800 cases of The Virus in our state--6 deaths.  Detroit area and the large cities having the most cases, of course.  The rest of us are generally spread out and the towns we live near aren't all that large, but still..................

You have no idea if the person you just passed in the store aisle is a carrier.  I'm sure they wouldn't be out shopping if they were ill because This Virus makes you really sick feeling.

Now the main grocery stores are opening early on certain days for the "most vulnerable" to shop.  7:00-8:00am are the hours.  Why does the world think that all old people are early risers?  I get up at 9:00 every morning.  What am I supposed to do?

Well, I have two prescriptions that I have to pick up tomorrow at Walmart.  Also I am out of cat food and bread.  The pharmacy doesn't open until 9:00am.  So...I set my alarm for 7:00 and hopefully, I will be awake and alert enough to drive on up at 8:30--get what I need and be at the pharmacy when they open.

Cat food and bread are not all the things I am out of.  I bought a good supply of groceries last month the day my SS hit my checking about--March 3rd, so I am just about out of everything--which means, the 3rd of April I will have to make another trip for groceries.

Now, even though I am 80, I have a strong immune system and no real bad underlying health risks.  High blood pressure, which is controlled and pretty low most of the time.  That's it!  But--I could still die if I caught This Virus.  

I will wear my gloves to handle anything and everything.  If I get any cash back, when I get home, I will lay it out on a towel and spray it with Lysol, both front and back, and let it dry.  Paper money is the dirtiest thing in this world!  I will bring in the groceries--still wearing my gloves. I will empty out the bag of cat food and throw the bag away.  Then I will throw my gloves into the washer and wash my hands.  I will wash off every can of cat food with hot water and detergent.  I will wash my hands again.

Since I live alone I don't worry about my own germs, but whenever I bring anything into this house--I will clean it off good and wash my hands.

I have been in this house since the 14th.  It doesn't bother me at all.  My car sits in the driveway for days on end in my normal life, so this quarantine doesn't bother me.  Dar, is going nuts!!!  She is used to going somewhere every day, but now she is worried she might bring a bad buggie home to her 98 year old Dad.

I don't mind, but sometimes just knowing I can't go out, makes me want to go out more.  I still have a bit of rebel that has always been there.  Tell me NOT to do something and I just might.

I still hear of women baby sitting their grandchildren.  Visiting their kids.  No way that is happening here!  The grandchildren are just the age of the carriers.  Even young children are getting it now.  So...I haven't seen my newest great grandbabe yet.  My grandson is getting married June 6th--who knows.  His fiance's shower is end of April.  I may have to miss both as I think this self quarantine is going to last longer than 15 days.

I think the President and his Task Force have done a good job, but who could ever be prepared enough for something like this.  It would have been nice if China had notified the world earlier, but with their closed government...they probably thought they had  a crisis they could contain.

Just think.  One man in Wuhan province decided he wanted to fry up a couple of bats for supper.  One man--a couple bats and here we are with a world pandemic.  Unreal.  

I always thought it would be a terrorist walking through Times Square releasing drops of Anthrax or opening a vial of Smallpox.  I never thought it could be a bat!

So, onward and upward we go.  I pray daily, often times a day, for God to intervene.   

But--it still kind of scares me.    

We're in for quite a ride, aren't we?

The stores around here have empty shelves.  This must be what it is like to prepare for a Hurricane.  But why the hoarding of toilet paper?

I understand the psychology behind "panic buying", but toilet paper?  Six packages of 12 rolls of toilet paper?  If you caught the virus and had to quarantine in your home for 14 days, would you need that much toilet paper?

When I stopped up at Walmart the other day to pick up a prescription, I got 3 Giant Hershey Chocolate bars with Almonds and a box of Little Debbies.  If I have to be quarantined, I'm going to enjoy myself.

Well--it is kind of scary to me.  I am at that age that if I got it, I'd probably die, however I have no underlying health issues.  Still in all, although I'd love to see my new great grandson, I wouldn't contaminate him, but all those 20-35 year old grand kids, of mine who would be there too, could be carriers and well...I'd hate for them to feel guilty because they killed off their Gramma.  LOL

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As you can imagine, my week and weekend have not been a bit of fun.  They canceled the B1G Ten tournament and then the NCAA Tournament, which nearly gave me a stroke, because I had my whole weekend planned around those games. 

I figured, well, heck...I'll watch the golf tournament and no sooner got that idea when they canceled that AND postponed the Master's Golf tournament?

What else is there to watch on a weekend?  The News programs?  Egad!  All they do is make me more anxious.

Today I watched 2 live streaming church services from my favorite preachers and 1 from my home church--that I haven't attended for 4 years.  My pastor has grown a beard, for some reason.  He's about to retire.

Well, those services lessened my anxiety.  There is nothing we can control about this Plague.  Worrying sure isn't going to help, just make us feel more scared.  I cross stitched and tried to find something to watch--HGTV--reruns.  American Pickers--reruns.  I couldn't find a decent movie and too lazy to pull out one of my won DVD's.

Today is the 50th anniversary of my Mother's death.  Beware the Ides of March.  She was only 53. I had written a tribute to her on Face Book and of course that brought back a lot of memories, good memories, but still--I was with her when she died--it was a hard death and, 50 years later, I can still see all of it as plain as day.  So, I've been a bit misty today.

=================

This next week I had all my yearly doc appointment and lab tests scheduled, but canceled them.  I don't think it would be smart to go into a germy hospital, just to get routine tests that can wait until end of April or May.

"They" are telling us old people to stay home.  That's not a problem for me.  My car sits out front for days and days, without me using it.  But of course, now that I've been told I shouldn't go anywhere, I am itching to do just that!!!

========================

I wish people would quit with the political knit-picking.  As if that does any good.  Why can't we all come together like we did after 9/11?

Wash your hands and cover your sneezes and no need to get tested unless you have symptoms.  Fever, dry cough, shortness of breath.

Stay calm and carry on.

Onward and Upward.

Yesterday morning, I got a call from Karen.
"He's here, Mom.  You oughta see him.  A full head of blonde hair!  and he has your cleft in his chin!"

Born in the hospital where Maddie is a nurse.  She had Catholic  mid-wives deliver the baby.  He was born 9 months and 6 days after his Momma and Daddy's wedding.

All those years of ballet training must have made strong pelvic and stomach muscles because...6 hours labor, no drugs and Karen said, "she said once, 'oh--that kind of hurts.' "

One of the Mid-wives stated, "Madeleine, you were made to have babies."

Karen said it was like a birth in the olden days.

When he was born, they cut and tied the cord and put him up on Maddie's chest, skin-to-skin, and left him there for two hours.

No checking him out in an isolete, cleaning him up or putting drops into his eyes.

Just Momma, Daddy and baby.

They didn't even weigh or measure him until two hours later.

Grandma and Grandpa.  Look at my Karen.  Isn't she beautiful?  59 years old and looks like a young woman.

Then the whole family showed up.

Most of my grands and my 3 greats. 

Born only 7 months apart, he and other great grandson 

Harrison will no doubt be the best of pals.

Then in the evening, Daddy's showed up.  I don't have a photo, but there was about 10 of them.

8#  6oz.  21" tall

First blonde born in either family.

Of course, his great gramma was blonde, HAH!

His Daddy's family are pure, beautiful German's and devout (traditional) Catholics..the women always wear a head covering in church and the services are done in Latin.

There are 7 children in the family, all boys.  Each has 7 names--Saints names or Catholic names.  It is their family tradition.

So let me introduce:

Benedikt Leonel Lourdes Aquinas Anton Dominic Athanasius

I have no idea what we are supposed to call him!  Maybe Ben?

My second grand child Susanna, Mark & Karen's second child, has been a runner most of her life.

She was on the Cross Country team in High School and got an athletic scholarship to Grand Valley State University, a college over on the Western side of our State, where she also ran Cross Country.

Now to my way of thinking, why anyone would want to put their body through that kind of stress and pain--running miles and miles, is beyond me.  I was more of a sprinter.  I could run really fast for a short distance.  She is just the opposite.  It takes her a few miles to get warmed up and then she is off like a Greyhound.

She got hired by New Balance shoes out in Portland, Oregon, as their Marketing Director.  She went to many States, setting up the New Balance display and running in the 10K races.  She's also been to England and France to do the same thing.

About five years ago she was telling me that she wanted someday to run the Marathon for the Olympic Trials.  That was her goal, knowing full well she wouldn't win, but just wanted to run and finish.

Well a Marathon is a lot different than a 10K.  She did run a half Marathon in Chicago and then last year, ran in the Boston Marathon and finished.  26.2 miles.

Can you imagine?  What would you think about while running?  Over two hours.  Wouldn't you get bored and just want to quit?  Wouldn't your back, legs and feet start hurting?

By running in the Boston Marathon and finishing with a decent time, she was qualified to run in the Olympic Marathon trials.

New Balance was planning their early spring conference and going to Boston, as usual.  She asked if they could have the conference in Atlanta, so she could run the Marathon.

..and so she did. 

Mom and Dad were at the start line, halfway point and the finish line.

Because of an injury three weeks ago, her time wasn't all that great, but she did have 31 women left behind her.

All that really matters, she accomplished her goal!