May16-May 31st, DC (During Corona Virus)

Happy Birthday to all the May Babies!  Mark Seitz celebrated on Friday, May 8th. Stacey (Seitz) Draper celebrated on the 17th, and Christopher Bozyk enjoyed his special day on the 23rd, Memorial Day weekend. Happy Birthday to Western Michigan Too! The school turned 117 years old this month!

Happy Graduation as well! Our nephew Christopher B had a virtual graduation at Texas A and M early in May. Way to Go Christopher! Our friend's Beth and Barry's oldest son, Barry Jr graduated from Uof Penn in Philly and took a job in NYC.  Their second son, Bryce took a summer internship at Tesla in California. Looks like they will still be empty nesters this summer, even with the covid isolation. And Big Barry retired from his position at the Pentagon. So sorry we have not been able to celebrate all their family's special events together. And that included our long time neighbors from down the street who also retired and decided to sell their home and move to their mountain cabin in a ski resort town in Bryce, West Virginia. Jane and John managed to sell their home without even formally putting it on the market, and got 25K more than their asking price! Good news for the rest of us. I was hoping to spend a little bit of time with them before they left.  I was thinking we could at least all sit down around our fire pit in the driveway and have a drink together. I had picked out an evening before their scheduled move out date where it wasn't raining and a bit cool-comfortable bon fire weather. I sent Jane a message and found out that they had moved out early. So sad. They just could not take another day of living out of boxes, especially since they had moved their daughter and son in law and 2 yr old granddaughter in with them from New York before the shut down in March. We'll have to plan a visit to their place some time in the future to toast their retirement.

Happy Memorial Day! Not the usual holiday. I was actually scheduled to work on that Saturday over the weekend, but we did not have any new patients to treat, so I did not have to go in. I also got Friday off and took the Holiday hours on Monday. I normally would cherish a 4 day weekend for a trip away with the family. Probably to Busch Gardens to enjoy the opening of the Water Country USA and the Wine and Food festival. Not happening this year. Everything is closed. I also miss the Howard County Wine in the Woods festival that I attended last year- a whole weekend of wine sampling and concerts, art booths and food here in our local park. Not this year. Instead, on Saturday night we had our neighbors Dan and Gloria over for drinks and snacks. Gloria has been working as a contract Nurse Manager in the only hospital on Nantucket Island off the coast of Massachusetts. She only had 1 COVID patient admitted, and since the island is basically closed to visitors, they really have not had any patients. So they sent her home early.  She was so looking forward to shopping int We enjoyed a bonfire in the driveway! It was cool enough to make a fire and roast some marshmallows. A nice way to celebrate S'more Saturday!  Even Allison's friend Jen from Salisbury University and her fiance stopped by to visit. They were in town to watch her brother's dog while he was gone for the day. We spent Sunday at their house, enjoying a crab feast! We haven't had a crab dinner in quite some time(mainly because they are so expensive, and take a while to eat. Plus it is better if you can eat them outside at home(rather messy), so the weather needs to cooperate. Dan and Gloria bought several dozen and we rolled out the paper on the patio table and went to town with our crab mallets! We also had bratwurst, potato and green salad, mac and cheese, shrimp, chips and salsa, and cheese and crackers, along with bakery designer cupcakes. Plus we brought watermelon and I made brownies and chocolate truffles. Our whole family stopped over along with their two kids and their daughter's new boyfriend. We had a wonderful time sitting out on the patio and enjoying our meal together. Socially distanced of course!

Meanwhile at work, we are slowly making our way through treatments for the Long Term Care residents as well as the Assisted Living Facility residents, but we have seen most of them already. Every once in awhile we treat someone again because they have fallen, and may have injured themselves, or caught a cold and get put on isolation, but there are no new patients coming into our building, and our facility manager is not keen on bringing in recuperating COVID patients due to concern over risking getting our residents sick. Which we all appreciate. We do have an isolation unit in case someone has to go out to the hospital. They stay on the isolation unit for 14 days, but they just extended it to 28 days, in their room. So we have had a few patients to treat there also.   But there are more of us therapists with extra time on our hands and less and less patients. They were going to allow us to work as nursing assistants, but we have not had a shortage in staff members from sickness. Since there are plenty of staff members and not so many residents or patients, they don't need our help. Some of our company's other facilities have started to schedule rehab staff to come in every other day. None of us are working our full hours, so we only get paid for the time we work. And they continue to keep a close eye on our work hours. At least we have not lost our benefits, but some staff have submitted requests for unemployment to cover their lost hours. So far no one has actually been successful in filling out the applications or getting a check. And they already used all their vacation hours. Apparently you also have to fill out the unemployment applications every week. There is a rumor that we will start taking patients in as they have opened up the hospitals and clinics for elective surgeries and treatments again. But apparently most people have been avoiding going to the hospital for fear of catching the virus. Recently, the nursing homes in Maryland have all been tested for COVID by the National Guard, including our facility. We actually did our own testing right before Memorial Day since we had plenty of nursing staff to complete the task. They offered two different ways of testing, nasal or oral swab. I was certainly dreading a nasal swab since I had heard so many horrible stories. I managed to locate the oral swab team-like getting tested for strep throat. Not so bad. So far looks like I came back negative, as did most of our facility. They had two staff members test positive and one private aide, one resident so far. Turns out one of the staff members was my OT coworker. She tested positive, but asymptomatic. So now I am the only therapist and two assistants(for two weeks at least). She is on quarantine for now.  So its off to the Corona Unit for me. Poop. And we'll have to see if we get any new patients. And they plan on continuing the testing. Fortunately the hospitalizations have started to go down in Maryland.

Tom and Allison continue to work at home although Tom has started going into his office. He has his own space and he can get a lot more done, except when they turn off the air conditioner!  Allison is happy working from home and was told she will be switching to her new position in August. She will finally be working in Tom's building by the BWI airport. She can keep working from home if she wishes, even when she starts her new position. Northrop hasn't worked out all the kinks on how to bring everyone back to the facility with social distancing yet.   Tom thought he would stop into work to start a new project before he has to begin his last PhD class. Scott has been hard at work at his Statistics class. He is getting a bit sick and tired of the content as they have been focusing on probability for the whole month. He's ready for something different. He thought he was getting a break over Memorial Day weekend, but then the prof surprised them with lab work, homework and a quiz all due on Memorial Day. We didn't see much of him except when he stopped by to eat a few crabs at the neighbors. And he does not get any real instruction-just reading and watching power point presentations and doing the homework. Tom is helping as much as he can, but also was not thrilled with the over emphasis on probability.

Because we had a 4 day weekend, I thought it would be fun to take a break and go bike riding and take advantage of our nice weather.  We have talked about biking or hiking a portion of the C and O (Chesapeake and Ohio) Canal towpath. It runs along the Patapsco River for about 137 miles from DC to Cumberland in Western Maryland. There is a free parking lot and access point with outhouses/portapotties and a small, nearby town near Frederick MD that I thought would be a good place to start-about 45 mins from our house. As Tom was loading the bikes, I checked the website for directions and noted that all the public bathrooms including outhouses/porta potties along the trail were all closed. As was the visitor center in town with bathrooms, and pretty much the entire town was closed. So it did not seem like such a great idea to go off for several hours in the heat while drinking lots of water without use of bathrooms. So we have discovered that even though many parks-both state and national-have opened up for use, it is primarily for hiking/biking/fishing and boating and no services available. And we have also discovered since that is about all that is open, everyone goes there, so not much in the way of social distancing. For some, they cannot even find a bike. Bike sales have been up-cleaning up the shelves. And local bike stores are swamped with sales and repairs. Still have to wait in line for assistance outside the stores. For some, if you find a bike for sale, you will pay a great deal-up to $1000!  Again, our neighborhood has been busy swapping/selling items, including bikes.

It's quite the experience to go shopping. A few weeks ago I was picking through the leftovers at one of our local grocery stores when the staff yelled "Fire" and pulled the alarm. I had to leave my grocery cart and the door and head to the parking lot when the manager started kicking us out. And I was just getting ready to check out too!  I certainly could have done without the store catching on fire. I think the employees felt the same way-looks like it was a roof fire so no terrible damage and they were open again in a few days. But I had to go and do all my grocery shopping over at another store. Employees continue to wipe down carts, or leave spray and rolls of paper towel for a do it yourself cleaning. Most people don't follow the arrows guiding everyone up and down the aisles to avoid crowding. But everyone seems to be wearing some sort of mask or using gloves. Our shelves are still not fully stocked, especially for cleaning supplies, paper products and popular food items. They continue to limit the number of people in the stores, so sometimes there is a line out the door. I still use my Health Care Worker ID to walk right into Costco if necessary. But even their lines have decreased since they are not stocking as much of the popular items. There is also still a limit on the amount of some items you can buy, including meat and eggs, and those prices have really gone up. I don't like to shop too often, so I try to buy 1-2 weeks worth of grocery items if I can. I did drag Allison along with me to Walmart after we dropped off supplies to Mom B at her place over Memorial Day weekend. We needed a few items like shampoo and Allison wanted to look for some running shorts. While I was making a return, some old guy tried to pick her up(he told us he was 68)! He spotted her wearing the Washington Capitals Stanley Cup tshirt and hat and just so happens he is the organist for the Caps and the Washington Nationals(as well as his church). He was wearing his Capitals face mask. He was so excited to see a Caps fan and share all his stories and performances with us on his cell phone. Boy people are really bored! He is currently out of work since most sporting events are on hold. We finally pried ourselves away, but I noticed he was mostly just poking around the store. I wouldn't have minded chatting with him if he'd offered us free tickets to the Caps games! (although it was creepy having him flirt with Allison!)

We are currently under Stay At Home/Safer At Home Phase 1 in Maryland. Some things are slowly opening, but with limitations.  Tom and Allison stood outside the pet store recently for 45 minutes to buy some fish for Tom's tank. He figured since he and Scott would be spending more time in the basement that they could use a relaxing distraction. None of our stores are open yet. The state of Maryland is easing into Phase 1 with some counties moving faster than others-parks are open, stores are open to curbside business, Starbucks is open and you can walk inside now but can't hang around. Restaurants are open for patio seating socially distanced only or take out still. If they don't have patio  seating they have to request a permit. Some areas are looking into closing off streets and parking lots to allow more seating, but that can mean less parking or ability to drive around town. And you need a reservation or take your chances standing in line. Scott was excited to see his Game Stop was open to 5 customers at a time. Sometimes you don't know what is open or not. Although all big indoor venues like shopping malls, entertainment centers, bars, movie theaters are still closed. Our one and only outdoor movie theater in Maryland just got permission to open-not sure when. Some hair salons are opening, but not ours. Too small to accommodate social distancing. We are all starting to look a bit shaggy. Good thing we had all gone to the salons early in the year and had very short hair cuts, but it is starting to catch up with us. Tom has been trying to trim the sides, but then he ends up with extra long hair on top. Forget about growing a beard-didn't work well. I keep trimming my bangs so I can see through my face shield at work. Scott wants to know what he looks like with long hair but needs a lot of gel to keep his hair straight, and Allison refuses to go back to early days of pony tails!  Hence the hats. The only one getting a trim in our family will be Cookie after I drop her off at the groomers. I had to make an appointment for her 3 weeks in advance since they were so full only grooming 1 dog at a time! And they are open 7 days/week. She will certainly appreciate the shorter coat since it has been getting hotter and muggy. I had to take her back for a check up at the vets from her infected gland-still doing the drop off in the parking lot. But she seems much better-just fluffy and hot!

Churches have permission to open or carry on outdoor services. The Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore has opted to to remain closed. Too hard to social distance at most parishes-too many people and too hard to set up chairs/huge tent in the parking lot-and then no parking. So far they are limiting indoor services to 10 people. So it is tv church for me! Girl Scouts has cancelled all summer camps-day camps and overnight camps for the summer. Boy Scouts have not officially cancelled summer, but it is looking that way. Girl Scouts are planning on a virtual camp and Allison volunteered to make a video of some activity(cooking or arts and crafts/science experiment-she has not yet decided).  She is also still busy reviewing GS Gold award projects. Guess they are happy they switched to online in the Fall. Our YMCA is offering a few exercise classes outside in the parking lots-you have to make a reservation and they only take 8 participants. If you go out in a group, numbers have to stay under 10 still. YMCA will have day camps with just 8 kids and 2 adults per group. Not sure how many groups. I am still happy to play online BINGO with the Y camp staff. We are still not pushing Scott to look for a summer job since he will be busy through June with his class and we are not sure what will be open or running when the kids get out of school mid June. Looks like most engineering internships are on hold for him.

Baltimore and Maryland have pretty much cancelled all special summer events including celebration of the 4th of July. No fireworks anywhere in our area this year. The amusement parks are still closed as well as water parks and pools, zoos. Busch Gardens is giving us a credit for our yearly passes as well as the Baltimore zoo. The Y is giving us a tax break.  I see RVs are making a comeback. Tom was never an RV type of guy. Campgrounds are open, but not all. And you need a reservation-spots are going fast. They recommend you bring our own toilet paper and hand sanitizer as people have been taking those items from the public bathrooms. The CDC does not recommend traveling out of state at this time. And if you have to, they recommend avoiding bathrooms, gas stations and fast food restaurants. What's left?  There are 2 more phases to go through until our state can reopen and they don't think we will hit Phase 3 until the end of summer. That would be when they allow us to visit Mom B in person. The discussion to open schools or not in the fall continues. Most are pushing for them to open, but maybe with varied schedules and every other day with less kids attending. Even day cares are trying to figure out how to open, especially if people start going back to work. Hurry up vaccine!

Our neighborhood continues to stay busy cleaning out closets. Since Allison is looking at renting her own apartment sometime this summer, we have been keeping our eyes open for free furniture or household goods. So far she has two Laz-Y-Boy recliner/rocker chairs, and we just picked up two new sets of Lenox silverware from the neighborhood-one for her and one for Scott when he gets an apartment. She also picked up a few lamps-one floor lamp and one table lamp, and just recently we brought home a very nice heavy wooden kitchen table with 6 chairs. The table is especially nice since it has a built in extension. Plus Tom would be happy to upgrade our couches and donate them to her , as well as our current ottoman/coffee table. She also has her full bedroom set and bed, along with her newly obtained desk and hutch and all of her kitchen stuff from college. So she really is ready to move in! And we are ready for her to move out since all of her stuff is starting to take up space!

I continue to reorganize and clean out our master closet when I get home from work early. But again, no place to take donations as of yet. And the dump is still closed to the public. Scott and I stay busy with the yard work-he cuts the lawn and I do all the trimming and raking. Both Allison and Scott have planted lots of veggies, so it will be fun to see how they do. If we can keep the squirrels from digging everything up! The wild life continues to take over. The neighborhood has been going crazy with all the fox sightings-guess they are going after the squirrels. I wish they'd come eat a few of mine!  And the deer continue to roam around eating all the flowers (and soon vegetables).  My peonies just bloomed-I brought these plants from West Bloomfield. Wish I could have shared them with Mom B. Our neighborhood is also freaking out over the Murder Hornets-the huge, yellow hornets from Asia that rip apart bee hives and can kill humans with multiple stings. Someone thinks they've sighted one every day, but they always turn out to be regular European hornets. As if COVID wasn't enough to worry about.

Besides doing yardwork and housework, schoolwork and workwork, we have been busy reading and catching up with movies and tv/cable shows. Tom and I just watched the "Maleficent 2" movie-we liked it, although Tom needed some play by plays since he never saw "Maleficent 1". We also saw "The Gentlemen" with Mathew McConaughey. Started out a bit slow and confusing, but got interesting and a bit violent. Still liked it. I also enjoyed the tv documentary on "The Roosevelts".  Especially the history around polio and Franklin D Roosevelt, including the camp and treatment center he refurbished in Hot Springs, Georgia. I knew about it, but did not know the history. I especially enjoyed watching the therapy sessions. Can't get away from the stair steps or those parallel bars!  Also busy cooking and baking. We have made quite a few banana muffins with all our ripe,  leftover bananas. Looks like everyone else is busy baking-lots of supplies missing from the baking shelves still like flour and sugar, cake and cookie mixes. I hear bread making is all the craze and it is hard to buy yeast. Still trying not to gain weight during house arrest. Fortunately for me I usually skip lunch at work since it is a big hassle to take off all the PPE before eating. And they really want us to eat our in our cars-they've removed all the tables and chairs from the break room and only allow 1-2 people in our snack shop at a time. We usually just eat at our desks since we have not had patients in our rehab gym since March, but it still feels risky. I am constantly wiping everything down with clorox wipes including computers, phones, tables and all our equipment. I see Costco removed all their tables and chairs from the snack shop and filled the area with appliances. There actually seemed to be less people shopping at Costco since their inventory seems low, especially for meat. And still a limit on the amount you can buy.

Our neighborhood also continues to organize donations, including donations for our local Food Pantry. We contributed to Scott's previous Cub Scout Pack collection, as well as a food collection put on by our local high school students. Nice for those groups to continue to participate in community affairs, even though they cannot be together. Especially for graduations and proms as the school year comes to an end. Last weekend the local high school graduates decorated their cars and had a small parade in our neighborhood. They'll also have a virtual televised graduation ceremony for all high school and college grads with Ravens football player Ray Lewis and Baseball champion Cal Ripken as guest speakers.

Many events wrapped up the month of May, including a sad event in Minneapolis of the death of a resident after being taken into custody by police. It set off multiple riots all over the US, including protests in downtown Baltimore. Fortunately as of now the damage is limited here in Maryland and no one seems to have been hurt. Unlike other more violent protests around the US, especially in Minneapolis with looting and vandalized buildings, attacks on police. Seems that people are especially frustrated at this time having been locked in their homes for so long due to the pandemic, and with so many out of work. Pray for a peaceful ending. And this week marks our vote by mail Primary Election. Tom and the kids are registered as Independent, so they can only vote for our Board of Education members at this time. And none of us can participate in the vote for Mayor of Baltimore which has been an interesting campaign. No doubt the city needs some serious help.

A happier event ended our month of May. Our family got to meet Allison's boyfriend Gabe for the first time. The two decided it was time to meet the parents! They felt since I was recently tested and came out negative for COVID, that it would be a safer time to get together. Allison did not want to spread anything to Gabe's family-both of his parents are diabetic, and his Dad has a heart condition. Plus they have traveled out of the country to Portugal prior to the shutdown. So they did not want to spread anything to us either. Currently Gabe is back living at home with his parents after he had a falling out with his college roommate. The two guys decided to part ways. Gabe is looking at possibly buying a house, but is quickly discovering how expensive they are here in the area. He really wanted a house with a yard. He'd like to put in a garden and even considered adding a chicken coop! Gabe came over late in the afternoon so he and Allison could go on a hike in nearby Patapsco State Park. They had to keep checking the web to see if the parking lots were open or not, filling up with cars. Fortunately at the park they visited, there were 5 different access points, so they got in and hiked for about 1.5 hrs. Allison said most of the people there were swimming and floating on their inner tubes in the river to cool off. They even spotted some deer and a fox when they took a shortcut heading home off the trail. When they came back, we sat outside on the patio and had a steak dinner. Gabe brought over a bottle of red Portuguese wine and some Portugal pastries. His parents are originally from Portugal. Gabe grew up in New Jersey, and the family moved to Maryland when Gabe's Dad took a job at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds where Gabe also works. Gabe also has a national security clearance like Allison. We parents managed to pick out a bit of info without being too overwhelming. We know he is 28 and Allison said he was in a serious relationship in the past, but the girl was not interested in getting married. We talked about the struggles of online dating. This was Allison's first attempt, so far so good. Gabe said he has met some strange women online. We know he has an older brother that is married with a baby on the way, and a younger sister-single and a hair stylist-all currently living with the parents. So at least Gabe is getting haircuts!  We know he went to catholic elementary school in New Jersey and was even an altar server. After dinner we sat out in the driveway and had a bonfire and cooked some s'mores and sipped some beer/wine. It was a lovely evening and we were glad that we got to finally meet Gabe. Tom especially enjoyed chatting to Gabe about computers, and I'm sure that Allison and Gabe were very happy to finally reconnect in person!

We also enjoyed watching the Spacex rocket launch of the Dragon capsule with the two astronauts from Cape Canaveral. Allison wore her NASA Dragon tshirt to mark the special event. I hear the rocket was named the Falcon after the Millenium Falcon spacecraft in Star Wars.

May 1st-May 15th, 8 weeks on House Arrest!

We finally made it to the Month of May. Only now has the Maryland Governor Hogan reported our state can begin to look at reopening. We are still primarily under the "essential" only rule, which means you are not supposed to leave your house unless you are an essential worker, like health care workers, restaurant employees-carry out only, Police and Fire Departments, Gas stations, US post office workers, employees from grocery and liquor stores or pharmacies, apparently Landscape companies, Walmart or Target employees, Home Depot and Lowes. And if you do go out,  you are required to wear a mask. I continue to do the big shopping at Costco and Sam's Club since I don't have to wait in line with my health care badge. Although items continue to be scarce, especially meat right now. I just went to our local Costco and they filled the entire meat counter with fish!  No red meat or chicken or pork to be found. They are still out of clorox wipes and most household cleaners, but paper towel and toilet paper are making a comeback. Primarily in the large club stores, not so much in the grocery stores. Also if they do have items there is a limit on how much you can purchase-only 10 cans of veggies, soup, beans. Rice is still on a limited supply, as are eggs-also limited amount that you can purchase here. There is more bread on the shelves(the kids found my fluffy English bagels!).  There seems to be enough fresh fruit and veggies-I try to keep the house stocked with those items for snacking. We are just finishing up our Easter basket goodies, but need to still watch the calorie count! Sometimes it is hard to shop when most of the items left on the shelves are junk food! Even cereal was starting to get picked over. And there are some very strange food items popping up as last resort. I found bags of fried fish skins at Costco! Really? Not even low carb for Tom!

The Governor just now allowed for the Phase 1 Mid May, soft re opening of parks, golf courses, tennis courts and beaches, but only if everyone keeps up "social distancing"-6 feet apart and no groups larger than 10 people. These areas are really only open for exercise but basketball courts and playground equipment is closed. No one is supposed to "hang out".  They also finally decided to continue with on line learning for Maryland schools until the end of this school year, June 12th. Not to reopen the buildings. Some churches are open but they are encouraging outdoor services and only 10 people allowed inside, like for funerals or weddings. I'm still enjoying my Sunday morning mass televised from Milwaukee(previously recorded).  And some of the counties can open hair salons, but most restaurants and bars are still take out only. Shops are curbside pick up. None of our hair salons are open, and Cookie is scheduled for grooming at Petsmart in 3 weeks!

Girl Scouts decided to cancel all summer camps including day camps. Troops are not allowed to meet in person, and all international trips have been cancelled or postponed. Allison and I would have been camping the first weekend in May where we help run a program for older girls at Camp Conowingo. This year's theme was The Renaissance(with Dragons and Archery and eating our food with our fingers-like Medieval Times). Guess we will just have to wait until next year. At least we have next year's weekend all planned out. Instead we spent the first weekend in May watching the flyover of the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels in Baltimore. Allison and I drove over to the Northrop parking lot near the airport for a front seat view. Quite a few other Northrop employees joined us, and even made a tailgate party of the event. People put out chairs, had lunch and watched their kids run around the expansive parking lot. The whole event only lasted a few minutes, and we only got to view them from the side. We brought Cookie along with us-it was a beautiful  day-nice and sunny. We decided to take Cookie for a walk on the BWI bike trail. Since all parks were closed, everyone decided to visit the bike trail that day! It is a bit hard to shut down a bike trail when it wraps around the airport. There were more bike riders than walkers, so we were not as worried about keeping our social distancing, although we were wearing masks. However, it is a bit hard to go on a hike with a warm face mask, and Cookie's fur coat is getting a bit heavy, so we only took a short walk. But it was nice to get out with a different view. We also tried to catch the flyover from the Baltimore National Guard the following weekend, but we could not see the planes from our house with all our big trees. We just heard them. Easy to do since there are so few planes in the sky now. 

We've celebrated(or not) several Holidays and special events over the past two weeks. We watched Star Wars on May 4th(Star Wars Day as in May the Force Be With You), and on Cinco De Mayo(May 5th), we enjoyed take out from Qdoba. Although we've noticed that the restaurant and some carry out food quality has diminished. Other events we had to modify this past month was how we celebrated Mother's Day. Hope you all enjoyed your special day Moms!  We probably would have gone out to eat, or celebrated at home with Mom B.  Instead, Scott and Allison spoiled me at home with two wonderful meals. I told Allison I am a brunch girl, but she likes to stick to her strict German roots of 3 meals/day at 7/12/6. Mainly because she is worried her iron levels will drop, and she's hungry! I'm pretty flexible on meal time, so she and Scott made me a deconstructed brunch in the morning with a lovely omelet(not their favorite, but it is mine!) They also made cucumber sandwiches and I washed it down with a Screwdriver. And for dinner they made a delicious chicken parmesan with bacon wrapped asparagus. Delicious. Allison also pulled up a Disney dessert recipe recently released. She opted for The Grey Stuff from Beauty and the Beast. Mostly Cool Whip mixed with vanilla and chocolate pudding and crushed Oreo cookies. We ate it with vanilla wafers. Very tasty. And the boys picked up some gardening items for me as a gift. The week before I dropped off a Mother's Day gift package to Mom B which included a short sleeved dressy blue top and some framed photos. I made prints of the family photo of Sarah and Patrick's wedding as well as a cute selfie of Allison, Mom and myself at our tea party last year. I also sent in photos to the facility to add to a Mother's Day video the Activity Dept made for the residents.

We still cannot visit in person. Maryland and the rest of the country seem to have lost the most people to Covid living in the nursing homes. Our county has not had as many deaths-38 total. And no resident diagnoses or deaths in my work facility or Mom's place so far from the virus compared to some nearby counties near DC with 400 deaths and most being in the nursing homes. Some facilities in Maryland have been hosting family parades at their places with residents sitting outside as family drives by to keep connected, or setting up visits through windows or glass doors. I have not been as keen on visiting with Mom B this way since I am not sure she would understand why we can't visit in person. I have been keeping up with her activities through emails and photos from the nursing staff and the facility Director. They were allowing the Assisted Living Facility residents a little more leeway coming out of their rooms, just keeping them separated in large living spaces. Recently the Maryland Dept of Health got tougher on restrictions and wants the residents to remain in their rooms at all times, including eating all their meals.  I know Mom B has a hard time understanding the reason for room restrictions, since no facility has been successful keeping her in quarantine in her apt before. Plus she can't remember the reason even after they tell her, so I think she is still probably going out to the activity room. I try to stay in contact via telephone, but don't always catch her in the room. But since they are serving meals in the apartment, I was finally able to get a hold of her more consistently. I also usually drop off a goody bag once a week with a card, some magazines and candy along with her clean laundry. No flowers or plants allowed since they are worried about possibly spreading the virus.

May 15th was Black Eyed Susan Day in Baltimore-the celebration before The Preakness horse race which would be on May 16th. The Preakness is the second leg of horse racing-the first being The Kentucky Derby which was cancelled. They talked about having the races with no people attending, but I guess it was too much to organize. Plus they have to move the horses all around the country. Instead they have currently rescheduled for October. Well, we can still eat Derby Pie and drink Mint Julips. And wear crazy, big hats!  The weekend before the Preakness our county hosts the Hot Air Balloon Festival. When Scott was in scouts we often volunteered to help unroll and roll up the hot air balloons, as well as hold the tethers as they float above the greens-a lot of hard work. But we always had a close up and personal experience with the balloons when they held it here at our Golf Course Resort. Over the past few years the event outgrew the space and they moved it to our Fairgrounds. The event is free, but you have to pay for parking. They added a stage with live music besides food and vendor tents. Also activities for kids like pony and go cart rides. Not to mention a quick ride in a balloon while it is tethered. And if the weather is too rainy, too windy, too cold, the balloons can't fly. So we have not been to the event since Scott received his Eagle and aged out of scouts during his senior year in high school. I especially enjoyed attending the event at the Golf Course in the evening when they lit up all the balloons. We could sit right on the lawn and had a front row seat to watch them inflate all the different types of balloons and then light them up with the gas tanks on board. I also loved that I was able to bring my parents to the event in the past and drive right up in the parking lot for a front row seat for a once in a lifetime experience.


Meanwhile, I keep going into work M-F for about 3-4 hrs a day as things have been slowing down. Hospitals have not been receiving patients for non emergency surgeries so our rehab facility census has been low. Not sure what is happening to the emergency treatments that usually come to us. Maybe going home with Home Health services, but some people don't want strangers coming in their house and some Health Care employees don't want to travel around. Our staff is not allowed to work in other facilities to avoid possibly spreading the virus. We continue to treat our Long Term Care residents and those living in the Assisted Living Facility. Its nice since most of these people have not had therapy services for quite some time if at all. We are usually so busy with patients coming in and out from the hospital that we don't always get to fully address the needs of our residents as much as we'd like, or spend as much time with them. Or they just get missed-especially the residents in the ALF setting.  However, since we are not bringing in patients at this time, we have more time to address their needs, but we also have to watch our productivity more closely. So they don't want us spending too much time with the patients, or spending time at work doing things we can't bill for like reorganizing  the rehab gym or our educational handouts or finishing our online training sessions. So we all try to get in and get out. I even had a 3 day weekend for Mother's Day since my boss gave me my Friday off. And it looks like we are going to stop coming in on Saturdays since there is just not enough work to go around right now. On the other hand, we were told staff could not request vacation at this time. Plus some staff have had to take their vacation hours to make up time just to get paid. We therapists thought we could be useful working along with the nursing staff since we have enough of the training, but so far we have been fully staffed with limited illness and call outs. Which is good, but  they really don't need the extra help at this time. There are a few local facilities that have switched to Covid only patients. I understand there were some therapists working in the hospitals along side the nursing staff assisting with turning the patients on their stomachs to improve their breathing.  It reminds me of the history of my previous facility in Downey, California. Rancho Los Amigos Medical Center was filled with iron lung patients during the polio outbreak which helped them breath when their respiratory muscles were too weak, much like the use of the ventilators today. Except the iron lung worked on the outside and lately I think the iron lungs might have been safer. Some Covid patients have had problems with blood clots leading to strokes or even amputations apparently caused by forcing too much O2 into the lungs. The OT profession partially grew out of nurses assisting with Activities of those patients placed in the iron lungs with limited mobility. Not only may some of the Covid patients benefit from OT services, but PT and Speech Therapy to assist in their breathing and speech following intubation. However, not everyone wants to especially work with COVID patients. I can understand why. Especially when some of the patients seem to become reinfected, or don't actually recuperate and pass away later at home. We have had some very sad stories in our area. And the Maryland Governor and the Md State Health Dept has requested that all Nursing Home residents be tested, along with the staff. Our facility is on the bottom of the list for testing since we have not had any positive cases in our residents. And the Assisted Living Facilities do not fit in the same requirements, so Mom B probably  won't be tested unless necessary. Not sure how long it will be until I have to be tested.

Scott finished his Spring Term and received a certificate for making the Dean's List. He started his Summer I session on May 4th in Engineering Statistics. He has a class and a lab session. Mostly they use the lab session to do assignments. Right now he is studying Probability and they are using lots of Covid numbers for their stats assignments. How convenient.

Tom also finished his recent online PhD class, number two out of three. His third starts in June. These classes are for "no credit", but paves the way to setting up working on the Thesis. He actually had more of these classes required of him, but he bargained down the requirement with the Dean last year. Seemed a waste of time and money to take an extensive amount of "no Credit" classes to complete research when  he already has enough information collected and learn how to write annotated bibliographies which he already knows how to do. And that is what this final phase is supposed to be(besides taking your money!). So he finished the second class and his current professor contacted his previous professor so they both can help guide Tom on narrowing down his Thesis project. Tom really liked his last professor since he has a good understanding of Tom's subject. And since Tom has been working from home, and we really can't go anywhere, he has had more time to focus on his class and Thesis project.

And he had some time after his class to work on a few projects around the house, including upgrading my computer(mine has been running slow which takes me longer to write my blog!)  He also replaced his pagoda cover over the grill. Last year he bought a cloth covered pagoda that he placed over the grill to keep the snow and rain off when we're grilling. But the cloth cover did not last, so he bought a hard cover pagoda. Seems to be working so far! 

We also had a bit of a warm up at the beginning of the month, so I could not help myself and went out and stood in line at Home Depot with the rest of the neighborhood to buys some flowers and pepper plants. I was just concerned that the supplies would be limited if I didn't jump on it when I was there. I was also using Scott's free time between semesters to help with the planting. He is my little gardener(mainly since he doesn't have as bad of allergies as Tom and Allison). He was very excited to help me work on cleaning out my flower garden and replanting some potted plants, as well as putting in new plants like jalapenos and cutting the lawn. And we started some veggies and flowers from seed, hanging them in zip lock bags in the kitchen window. I usually wait until after Mother's Day to make sure it stays warm, but it was so nice out and I was tired of looking at my dreary flower pots. Naturally, we had a blast of cold from a Polar Vortex last week and I had to cover up my new plants due to freeze warnings. They had some damage, but I think they will make a come back. I've also been busy trimming bushes and raking up leaves and trims, cleaning up the flower beds.

Nature seems to have noticed less people around. Our backyard certainly has been busy with wildlife. Our mama bunny came back to have her family under our shed. And we have had tons of busy birds nesting and feeding at our bird feeder. It makes life interesting!  They say the air is so much cleaner with less exhaust from vehicles and manufacturing plants operating. And it is definitely quieter! So few planes are flying overhead towards BWI, and much less traffic noise from nearby I-70. It is especially eerily quiet at night. Less traffic on the roads although lots more bicyclists and people out walking and taking their dogs for walks, especially in our neighborhood. You have to be careful when you are driving down our local streets since there are so many more kids and adults out in the road now. People got comfortable with less traffic, and are trying to walk with social distancing. And I think people have forgotten how to drive! Lots of speeders and people running STOP signs. Our local police noted they passed out over 700 speeding tickets in one weekend alone on I-95, with people driving around 95mph and faster! Our county alone passed out 400 speeding tickets. And DC was having trouble with motorcycles and 3 wheelers in large groups driving on sidewalks and streets, not following any traffic rules. The most traffic we see nowadays is from Amazon delivery service and Landscape trucks. People just decided they can drive any way they want I guess with less traffic on the roads. However, rules still apply!

So while everyone is stuck at home, pretty much the entire neighborhood has been out doing yardwork or hired landscape companies. That is about all we can do right now. And everyone(including us)have been busy trying to clean out closets and garages. The only problem is that you have no place to take your stuff if you're trying to get rid of it. The resale shops and Goodwill are all closed, as well as the local dump. Instead our neighborhood does the "for free" at driveway or sells things on our web page. Allison has been collecting items for an apartment-she added some lamps and a recliner chair from our friends, Dan and Gloria. She's hoping to find her own place this summer. Our neighbor's son recently moved out to his own apartment, and their daughter moved to another townhouse with friends, so they had extra furniture. Scott snagged a fog machine(great for Halloween!). I boxed up some of the kids extra socks they outgrew and some of Tom's and Scott's clothes for local donations as well as extra kids books.  Our neighborhood has also organized food and water donations for local and downtown Baltimore shelters/food banks which we participated in. I even dropped off some prepackaged brownies(tip from Mark and Linda) to the women that provided us with free face masks in the neighborhood, as well as some to the staff at Mom B's place. Can't do homemade since everything needs to be anti virus vacuum packed!

Allison is still working from home and will officially switch to her last intern placement at Northrop in August. Tom had thought Allison could use her own space and had talked about looking for an apartment this summer after the start of her last work rotation.  She was waiting to see what building she would be working in before settling on an area to look for apartments.  Not that we are trying to kick her out. I love having both of the kids around. They are such a big help around the house, and Scott and Allison get along very well. I think Cookie especially loves the extra attention! But we figured Allison would love her own space, so on a cold, windy Saturday we decided to do some apartment shopping. Mainly just to get an idea of locations and narrow down the choices. We really were not able to tour anything. All of the Leasing offices are closed. You can contact someone on the phone, but they don't want to show anything or have you fill out an application unless you are ready to move in right away. So guess we will take a look closer to the summer months. She did see some buildings closer to work that she is interested in.

We continue to keep entertained by catching up with movies and tv shows. Tom rented "Knives Out"-it was ok and "Ford vs Ferrari" which we really enjoyed. And the kids rented the new "Scooby Doo" cartoon/movie which was also OK. I think I liked "Sonic" better. And the release of Chef Gordon Ramsay's "24 Hrs To Hell and Back" in Olde Ellicott City came out on Tuesday, May 12th. I had signed up as a volunteer with Howard County Ecoworks to assist in some clean up in Old Town during taping of the show, but they changed the date and did not need me. So I missed out on meeting Gordon Ramsay. Poop. Instead, Ecoworks invited me to a "Watch Party" where they play the show on tv in a local restaurant and serve food(BYOB-buy your own booze). Naturally, that was cancelled due to the corona virus. So we enjoyed it here at home. It was crazy watching the two devastating floods in Olde Town again, with cars and people getting washed down the road and the water rising to the second level of the buildings. It was interesting to see how the county has mapped out a plan for removal of some of the buildings near the river, but they seemed to blame the flood on water rising in the river. Which has happened in the past due to hurricanes. This time it was the other way around with water rushing down the street to the river. One of Tom and Scott's favorite restaurants was featured in the show, The Phoenix Emporium. The owner held out as long as he could, but finally sold his building to the county as he is located at the end of the street on the corner right before you arrive at the river. Instead, Ramsay helped him and his staff move to a Brewery/Restaurant up the road after the owner purchased the company, Ellicott Mills Brewery. So now it's Phoenix on the Hill with a new menu and seating arrangement that we have not had the chance to try out. He also spruced up a small sandwich cafe off the back parking lot. They put in a fire pit and you can purchase a s'more kit and make it yourself outside. That looks like fun! He also reorganized a 3 story coffee shop with a barber shop on the top floor. The business seems to have more to offer now. It looks to take the place of our previous coffee shop that will also be knocked down which is a shame. That building had quite a history, starting off as a funeral parlor!  By the way, several of these buildings are said to have been haunted!  Sadly there are still quite a few empty buildings in Old Town, and with the virus lock down it has not helped them get up and running again. After watching the show, Tom felt obliged to drop in on our favorite wine store there, The Wine Bin, owned and operated by an MSU grad and Michigan family to pick up a bottle of wine "to go". Restaurants and shops will not reopen until our area is in Phase II and III. After the show aired, the local news played some interviews they had with Gordon Ramsay after the taping. He mentioned how much he liked our area and that it reminded him of home. He said he called his wife and told her they should consider retiring in this area!  He also owns a steak restaurant in downtown Baltimore at the Horse Shoe casino which I would love to visit with Tom (some day).

Well, I need to get to my mail in ballot for the Primaries. Recently we completed mail in ballots for a replacement for our local congressional rep who passed away last fall, Elijah Cummings. I would rather not be involved in this vote since the District covers our county, along with Baltimore City and Baltimore County. I would like to wash my hands of Baltimore. They have made some very poor choices in leadership over the past few years. So far they have had two women mayors, both kicked out of office during the past 5 years due to crimes. One wrote some kid's health books, sold them to Johns Hopkins and several other medical systems in the area, took the money but never printed or delivered the books. She was sentenced to 3 years in federal prison, but has not yet started her imprisonment yet due to the Covid scare. The previous mayor was kicked out after they found she stole gift cards from the office and bought herself gifts and she is currently running for the office again as the top choice! So we recently had two candidates running for Congress-two african american candidates. One was an elderly male running on the Democratic ticket, held the position before, had been the head of the local NAACP and was forced out for doing a poor job, along with womanizing complaints and the other candidate was a young married mom who heads a local non profit organization to assist disadvantaged women with jobs,  running on the Republican ticket and she lost. Maybe she got the wrong press when she defended Trump's review of Baltimore as a 'rat and rodent infested city'. So much for all the daily propaganda that Baltimore is a city in crisis and needs to make drastic changes. Meanwhile, the homicides continue, even during the corona virus lockdown-but the rats are definitely out!  And the current interim Mayor feels that the government should financially bail out Baltimore, although it was losing money before the pandemic. Mainly because tourism was down since people were afraid to go into the city, especially after the Freddie Gray riots 5 years ago.  Doesn't really feel like Baltimore wants to change for the better. We'll see how Baltimore comes through this.

April 16-April 30th (Week 6 DC-During Corona Virus)

We have been on house arrest for 6 weeks now. I can't believe the entire month of April is gone. So many activities cancelled or postponed. Tom's Birthday show has been rescheduled for April 2021. The state of Maryland has not yet decided if they are going to officially cancel school for the rest of the school year, but all current school activities have been cancelled. No more elementary or high school sports, travel teams. The summer swim teams have already been cancelled. No more spring high school musicals or concerts. Proms were all cancelled as well as graduations and recognition ceremonies . I feel very sorry for all the High School and College seniors. So many experiences that they are missing. Some activities have been posted online including proms and graduation ceremonies, but it is just not the same. We all know that, but what can you do?  Kids are still participating in online learning and homework packets, but they have not decided how they are going to grade anything. Or if they open schools, how that is going to happen.Church has been closed as well. Now I just attend mass at 8am with the Heart of the Nation Catholic mass from Milwaukee. No First Communions or Confirmations are scheduled.

And of course all National Sporting Events have been cancelled or postponed. Tom and Allison would be enjoying the Stanley Cup Hockey playoffs. Don't think they are going to try and squeeze that in this year. Tom had tickets for one of the Hershey Bears Caldor Cup games in April. Hard to believe we enjoyed our last game at the Hershey stadium in March when Scott was home for his Spring Break.

We also miss traveling down to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg Virginia. The Park usually opens before Easter and we have spent several holiday weekends down there, especially for Opening Day for Pass Members. But not this year.

We've settled into our new routine. Not sure how the world is going to look when we come out on the other side. I would imagine we will eventually get back to some type of normal, but things will definitely be different. For now, Scott finished his online Spring Term and made it through his finals week at the end of April. And we are very excited to report that he finished with all A's and even made the Dean's list!  To be fair, he was earning all A's before everyone switched to online learning. We feel bad for the kids that were already struggling with their classes, or really needed to be in the class or labs in person. There is only so much you can do online sometimes, and only so much assist from online tutors. The Universities gave the students a choice of taking a letter grade or just Pass/Fail in case they were struggling. Scott was very disappointed especially to miss out on the rest of his Electrical Engineering labs. He was learning quite a bit and liked all the different skills he was picking up with the hands on learning. This semester was primarily easy to transition to online learning. Moving forward, most of Scott's engineering classes have hands on labs scheduled. Universities are trying to figure out if they can allow students back in the fall! Administrators are actually more worried about the professors getting sick from the students!

Since we received a Room and Board refund, we decided to put it to use paying for Scott to take an online class from Western Michigan for Summer 1 term starting the first week of May. Western decided to offer classes online and we thought it was stupid not to take advantage of the opportunity. Especially since Scott doesn't have anything else scheduled right now and he can concentrate on one of his more difficult classes, Engineering Statistics. And he has Tom and Allison at home to help him out. We also received our payment from our Maryland 529 Pre Paid College Trust, so that helps out with payment. We originally signed Allison up for the program but we never had to use the funds for her in- state undergrad program, so all the money can now be used for Scott's out- of- state tuition. Scott also got a credit towards his University parking pass that he can use next year when/if he heads back.

I continue to go to work everyday, but things are really starting to slow down in our nursing and rehab center. Most of our rehab patients have been discharged and returned home. People usually only stayed about 2 weeks on average, so we dragged out some of their recovery periods. Partly because some people had more medical issues to deal with and we decided to keep them on therapy. Now we are mostly working with our Long Term Care patients and started working with our residents in the Assisted Living Facility. But there are just not enough patients to go around to fill our day with 6-8 hours. And I am trying to avoid the Corona 15(gaining 15lbs) similar to the College Freshman 15 where kids gain weight while away at college with all the food choices in the dining halls. As Health Care Workers, we have had plenty of freebies to take advantage of including free lunches from local restaurants including pizza and chick fil a. And local chains have been giving away freebies like coffee from Starbucks, McDonalds meals and a dozen donuts from Krispy Kreme!  And our Activity Director turned an electric golf cart into an ice cream truck and drives through the facility delivering awesome ice cream treats twice a day, every day!  I try to punch out of work before the ice cream truck comes!  Not only do health care workers get some perks like free food, but I try to take advantage of the services including "no waiting" in line at Costco and Sams Club. When I show my badge I can walk right in at those places. Very nice perk.

And we have had some long lines waiting to get into the stores. I try not to go shopping too often, so when I do, it is usually a big haul. I am still trying to get used to following the new, big arrows on the floors to keep us all moving in the same direction. I have pointed out to some customers that they are not following the pattern. But I have to admit, I don't always follow the lines if I walk down an aisle and did not see what I was looking for because I just run back and take a second look. I know I should probably walk all the way around again, but that seems inefficient. The stores here in Maryland are still short or empty of most cleaning products, paper products and some food items like rice, bread, soup, eggs, beans, flour, and sugar. Currently the concern is over the availability of meat. Not a great time for Tom to be following the lo carb diet. Fortunately we have our small freezer and can stock up on certain meat items when available, or pick up frozen food items as needed. I hear there is a freezer shortage now too. I always said if there were ever a Zombie Apocalypse or Nuclear War, no one would starve in our house since I usually keep the pantry and fridge well stocked. And that has seemed to make things easier for us. I usually have enough cleaning products and paper products, and food items in the house, especially since we shop at Costco and Sams club. So we were not desperate for any items, but it makes getting the fresh foods a bit more difficult, like meat, bread, eggs. And I also pick up paper products for mom including paper towel and toilet paper, so that was a bit of a concern since they had not restocked most stores with those items since March. It has become a bit of a game to see who can locate what item and where on our neighborhood web page and share that valuable info. And most people figured they could just order everything on Amazon, or have items delivered from stores, but not if the items are not available! And because we are home more, we have been cooking and baking quite a bit(like a lot of Americans). Banana and Blueberry muffins have become a staple. And Allison and Scott have found creative ways to prepare meals and leftovers, like beef broccoli stir fry from Allison and breakfast sandwiches from Scott. And Tom has had to rely on canned SPAM for back up. We tried supporting our local restaurants with carry out at times, but discovered that some of the meals are a bit skimpy or the quality is just not the same. Fast food seems to be keeping up with the demand so far.

And we now all have masks to wear out in the community. I keep extra in my car since I have equipment to wear at work. We have masks at work that last 1 week(and they count the days) kept in a paper bag at the front of the facility. We also have our temperature taken first thing coming in the door. (don't drink coffee before having your oral temperature taken!). Then we are wearing plastic face shields, hospital gowns and plastic aprons. It can get pretty hot. Fortunately we have not had any residents with positive covid cases in our facility, but we did have one staff member. Our staff is no longer allowed to work in other facilities to avoid possibly spreading the virus. We also have not been taking in any new patients. And no cases in mom's facility except for one staff member so far. Most importantly no deaths. Unfortunately some facilities in Maryland have had large numbers of positive cases and deaths. So the country is cracking down on restrictions especially in nursing homes. Mom B has been able to come out of her room to the large activity space for meals and recreation since the staff kept everyone apart, but it looks like they may have to restrict that. We still can't visit, but I do weekly drop offs of clean clothes and small gifts and cards. Some of our residents are able to visit with family through the windows, but Mom B is on the 3rd floor and they just don't have enough staff to bring everyone to the front door. I also think that would confuse my mom even more(why can't we come in?) I am currently waiting for the recent plan of testing all nursing home residents and staff to see how that works out and when. The family hopes I get tested soon, but who is to say that I test negative and the next day could catch it? I'd rather have the antibody test to see if I was already exposed at some time during the winter months.

Tom and Allison continue to work from home on their computers and with conference calls. Tom is also busy with his current PhD class. We also have been having a few beautiful days to get outside and do some yard work. Thank goodness Scott is home to cut the grass! I have been working on cleaning out the flower beds-trimming shrubs, raking leaves and pulling weeds. The cherry blossoms are all done(they cancelled the Cherry Blossom festival in DC at the beginning of April). Now the Dogwoods and Redbuds are blooming, along with my lilac bushes. I can't deliver any flowers to Mom or bring them into work-they are afraid Covid may be on plants or flowers. And I can't bring any in the house since the family has such bad allergies. I just had to enjoy them outside. We are also enjoying watching our bluebird family-looks like the parents are busy feeding young chicks as they fly in and out of their bluebird house all day and safely guard it from squirrels and other birds. They are tough little birds, but they put up with us going in and out of the garage. We also try to stay active with daily walks with Cookie. I hope we don't wear her out! I did have to take her to the vet. She was very droopy at the beginning of the month, stopped eating as much and appeared to have an infected anal gland. Going to the vet in Covid times: take a photo of the dog, send it to the vet. Make an appointment if they feel it is warranted. Drive into a numbered parking spot, call the clinic to let them know you are there. Vet comes out, checks out the dog, puts on their own leash and takes the dog inside the vet clinic. Comes back out and gives you their diagnosis. Vet tech brings out your dog with medication. You keep the leash(no covid sharing). Cookie had an infected anal gland and needed antibiotics like I figured. They strapped a cone around her head to make sure she did not lick herself (that was entertaining for us!)and even brought her out in a towel to keep my car clean(just in case). Then you call the clinic and pay for the visit with a credit card. Drive in vet clinic. She will go back in a few weeks for a final check up. But so far she seems to be doing much better. And getting in lots of walks! Hope we don't wear her out!

How else do we stay busy? Lots of tv and movies. Tom and I caught up on new movies like "The Green Book"-really liked it, "1917"-pretty good. "Hustlers"-quite a bit racy, so now I see what all the fuss was over the pole at the Super Bowl. The kids are enjoying their Disney + cable they got for Christmas. And we can't go to the Y, but if I had the energy and extra time, I would log into some of their online classes. Allison and I did enjoy the Facebook Live BINGO nights! Especially when I won a tshirt! We had so much fun with it, Allison hooked up her friend Jen at Salisbury and even she won a game! Allison also continues to connect with her Dungeons and Dragon group online. They added an extra night. Plus she started Scott and a few local friends playing online on Friday nights as well. Allison misses her Ultimate Frisbee teams, but keeps in shape taking Cookie for walks and running on our treadmill. Scott and Tom have taken several long walks up to our Home Depot and the grocery store to keep active too. And Allison and her friends have discovered the wonder of the US post office again. Besides texting her boyfriend Gabe, the two have exchanged a few cards and letters as well as with her friend Jen at Salisbury University.

Sadly, our thoughts and prayers go out to Sheila Bozyk and family whose father passed away in Missouri on April 5th at 91 years of age with a history of cancer. I'm certain the family would have loved being all together at this time, but some things have to wait.