June 22-28, 2020 Week 15 Corona Virus Pandemic

So I finally received a job offer last Sunday night from the contract company, RehabCare. Apparently my email bounced back(recruiter spelled Seitz wrong). Our Rehab staff was busy emailing each other last week. At first, our full time OT was the only one to get a job offer. I got my offer last Sunday night and one of our OT assistants received her offer on Monday. Our other OT assistant did not get an offer. Both of those girls have been at the facility for 10 years. I feel really bad for the staff that did not get a job offer. Our rehab manager was offered a position, as was our 2 PTs and one PT assistant. The other two PT assistants are not interested. We also have two Speech Therapists. One was sent to another facility but both received job offers. None of us were offered our current salaries. We all took a pay cut. But at least this contract company pays for Holidays and Continuing Education after 90 days, plus a 401K plan. Not like the last contract company I had to deal with at my previous job. They did not offer any of that. And this contract company considers 30 hrs work week full time, so I don't have to commit to 40 hrs.  We will start with our new management on July 1. I have been busy filling out all their online paperwork. Not easy in a big Tstorm when the power kept flicking on and off. We had so much rain we thought for sure Ellicott City would flood again. Good thing it stopped when it did. Our neighborhood streets were beginning to back up and flood. We had lots of trees and branches down from wind and soaking rain and half of our neighborhood lost power. So far this year though we have not had many severe storms.

Meanwhile I needed to take my 3 Personal Days so I would not lose the pay, so I took off Weds to Friday. I will get paid for my vacation time, but we lose all our sick time. Our company must have been feeling sorry for the staff, (or they received some government funding) because we all got a Covid Bonus check. It's just that the therapy checks were smaller than the rest of the staff. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth though. Helps cover a bit of our lost sick time. But now we have to start all over building up Paid Time Off. I still have vacation scheduled for July with the Seitz family in Tennessee, so I already informed the new company that I am taking the time off. So far it is not too busy, so the staff should be able to manage. My coworker was supposed to take off some time too for her daughter's wedding, but the family decided to postpone the ceremony until next year. Pretty much the entire staff postponed or cancelled their vacation plans. Our supervisor was supposed to travel to Hawaii after their daughter's high school graduation. Right now if you travel to Hawaii, you are put into quarantine for 14 days. I could do that if I was independently wealthy! Of course, I would end up staying longer than 14 days! The question is, when you get some place, what is actually open or available. Maryland is currently in Phase 2 of reopening. The mall opened and Allison and Gabe took a stroll through the building, but Allison said not all the stores are open. It's hard to tell sometimes what is or is not open at this time. Restaurants opened indoors at 50% capacity. Most Marylanders are wearing masks when they go out. Even gloves if you have to touch a lot of things like shopping carts or the gas pumps. The staff at the stores are still wiping down the carts after use or have cleaning supplies available at the doors to wipe down the handles. Our YMCA reopened, but I am not interested in working out on the machines. The exercise classes are still being held outside.  I attended the pool aerobics classes, and those have not been restarted, just swimming laps. And you need a reservation.

Most importantly my hair salon reopened! Allison and I could not take it anymore, so we headed in to get our hair cut. Almost Heaven! They check your temperature, everyone is wearing a mask, including us through the whole process and limited number of people. I would have loved getting highlights, but was really not planning on spending that much time in the salon(usually takes over an hour for highlights and cut). Instead, our salonist, Ellie had my hair washed, cut and blow dried in about 20 mins. Same for Allison. She is even offering to cut hair at your house.  Now it is much more tolerable wearing all the safety gear at work with shorter hair! Tom and Scott are still holding out. And to top it off, Allison and I are getting a pedicure next week! Probably skipping the manicure. I don't mind someone working on my feet, but I can skip the fingernails for now.

And the Maryland zoo reopened! Since we are members, we took advantage of the Members only days and Allison, Scott and I went on Friday. Weds and Thursday sold out. You have to buy tickets ahead of time and make a timed entry reservation. Keeps the numbers down and people spread out. They are only open from 10-4, and reservations were every half hour. We got in at noon on Friday after Allison got her hair cut and brought in our lunch. It was nice to get out for a big walk around the zoo, and see the cute baby chimps! One of the zoo curators said they need to put away the cute babies cause it leads to too much grouping of humans in one area. A few displays were closed, including cramped, indoor spaces like their cave with Maryland night creatures.

I also spent some of my time off running errands-dropping off supplies for my mom. Still cannot visit in person. Her facility  recently was told the state wants the residents to continue to remain primarily in their rooms, including eating all their meals in their rooms. Also they want all staff in Assisted Living Facilities and Nursing Homes to be checked for COVID weekly now as well as the residents. I lucked out having the oral test last time. Not sure my nose will be able to tolerate that much poking! If and when they start. That's a whole lot of tests per facility. By the time they get everyone tested and get the results back, it will be time to retest! And it definitely is not an easy virus to follow. Our facility has decided to start taking in more hospital patients. Even though they are testing patients before they come to us, we are finding some are testing positive for covid while admitted to our facility, even after just a few days. And even after testing negative twice. And some have symptoms, like fevers and a cough and others don't. And the staff that work with them are testing negative. So hard to follow. But in order to stay in business, the facility has to admit some patients. They are all put on two separate units now, in their own rooms and restricted to their rooms. It makes it a little tougher to provide therapy, with less therapy equipment and little mobility. And wrapped up like a Christmas present with gowns, masks, face shields and gloves. Isn't it time to retire yet?

I also did some shopping at Costco, although they continue to have less and less on their shelves that you really need. Still can't find the cleaners I would like including Lysol spray or wipes and hair gel. I did manage to order and pick up some cheap face masks-good for outside or quick runs to the store. And I stocked up on some meat products. Still low supply here or expensive. Basic items like milk, eggs, cereal, canned/frozen vegetables, frozen french fries or pizzas, even ice cream are more plentiful. And that includes paper towel and toilet paper!  Our neighborhood continues to have fund raisers for food pantries as well as clothing collections. I put together two trash bags of mens/womens tshirts and shorts for a neighborhood clothing donation to downtown Baltimore. Looks like places including Good Will have reopened.

When I'm not trying to figure out what is open I am still busy reorganizing closets. Like I said, there really was no place to drop off donations, but I think they are getting started again. In the meantime, I am having fun looking through old photos and letters from friends and family I dug out from the back of the closet. Scott even helped me out by reorganizing and cleaning out our food pantry. Good thing the dump is accessible!

I also had to take Cookie back for a  quick check up during the week due to her infected anal gland. Fortunately she is all cleared up and I had the vet peek at her paw since she had a nick from the recent grooming. All's well. Still dropping off in the parking lot for the vet visits.

The highlight of the weekend was celebrating our 33rd Wedding Anniversary on Saturday, the 27th. Tom and I tossed around some gift ideas, but really could not agree on anything just yet. Tom wants to change out our gas stove for a gas range/convection oven combo. I really don't want to give up the gas oven which is what you have to do. Plus we already have an electric oven. I know the convection oven is faster and more consistent, so I wouldn't mind trying one. But not willing to give up my gas oven. And we talked about buying a new outdoor cooler, but they are a bit pricey. We could also use a new footstool/coffee table, but the quality leather furniture is so expensive. And we can't agree on another style. I like the storage units, but ours was bonded leather which wears off. We do agree we would both like another soft sided water bed mattress(also very expensive). So for now, we settled on cards and flowers. Plus I picked up Tom some new shorts for vacation.  We also discussed going out to dinner, but the whole experience is a bit dampened by coronavirus. So we opted for having our neighbors Dan and Gloria over for dinner on the patio and a movie. I had to work that morning, so Tom and Scott were busy cleaning, decorating and cooking a prime rib roast, potatoes and corn on the cob as well as bacon wrapped asparagus. I made an apple/berry cobbler with vanilla ice cream when I got home from work and Tom made creme brulee with a kit we have had in the cupboard. Everything turned out delicious and we enjoyed watching "The Invisible Man" on our outside movie screen. Gabe also joined us for dinner. Dan and Gloria had the chance to meet him. He and Allison spent the day together, out to lunch with a walk around the lake and a paddle around  lake in our double kayak. We have been storing our kayak at a coworker of Tom and Allison's house. They live on a small lake and they love taking our tandem kayak out especially with their young daughter. And we love having the kayak being used rather than hanging in the garage rafters. So Gabe seemed to enjoy his first kayak experience. If we can figure out how they can transport it, I think they would enjoy taking it out on our bigger lake at the local park.

Our local schools are finally out for the summer, but not much happening for the kids this year. Pretty much all the summer camps have been cancelled or have limited numbers. The community pools are all closed. Amusement parks have not yet reopened.

All summer sports are cancelled. Kids are going to have to figure out how to entertain themselves this year. Scott also finished school completing all his homework and classes at the beginning of the week and ending with a 3 hour final on Weds. Now we just have to wait for the grade! He is just so happy to be truly on summer vacation. He spent a few days hanging out with his old high school friends-out to lunch and watching movies, playing video games. He is just so happy to be done!