Beautiful Weather and A New Way to Shop

We have had a wonderfully cool and comfortable week.  The temperature has stayed in the 60s F most days and I love that.  It's been cool but not cold and all the birds are just singing their little heads off!  It was perfect weather Monday for me to cut the grass.  It normally wears me out mowing but when it is cool, I find it much easier.  The older I get the harder it is for me to handle the hot weather.  I know it's coming, in fact it is usually here by May but this year has been different and I love it!

We have discovered that shopping these days is certainly different with all the Covid precautions.  Up until this week the only shopping we have done has been for groceries.  In our area all the other stores opened this week but we learned it is not at all the same shopping now as it was pre-Covid.

Our printer went out on us and we thought it would be nice to support a local electronics business instead of just ordering one online.  We picked one out on the store's website and checked if it was in stock locally.  The website said it was indeed in stock so Tom drove down to the store to buy it.  When he went to the store's entrance (wearing a mask) he was told he had to have an appointment to come in and someone would escort him to whatever he wanted to buy.  They could not let him in then, but made him an appointment a couple of hours later.  Just to be safe he asked them to double check if they had that printer in stock.  It turns out they did not, so no appointment was needed.  He came home and we ordered it online.  I would say it might be good advice to call and check with any business before you go!  We should have done that and did not.  I know it must be quite difficult to try and operate any kind of a business right now and I do feel for them and understand they are trying to be safe.  There are many local regulations for businesses especially regarding how many can be in the store at one time. 

My dentist office opened up this week too and I have an appointment for my checkup next week.  I understand there are many precautions for any kind of a medical/dental visit right now.  I have already received two emails about the coming visit and then today they called me with instructions.  When I go I am to sit in my car and call them when I arrive.  They will tell me when I can go inside and of course I should wear a mask.  I have a feeling there will be much more once I go inside.  I would guess a temperature check and a list of questions to answer.  I am a little nervous about going to the dentist right now but I don't want to cancel my appointment as they are not easy to get.  I'm glad they are taking precautions but it is something for us to all get used to. 

Now that more businesses and services are beginning to open I have a feeling we are all going to have to learn a whole new way of shopping and doing most anything else in public.  I'm not complaining.  I'm glad they are being safe but there will be a learning curve for all these changes.  Has anyone else discovered many different ways of doing the everyday things we used to do?  Our world is certainly changing.

I didn't have any pictures today so added Sophie & Zeus baby pictures!

       

Our World is Changing

I'm willing to guess that I am not the only one that feels like I am living in a bad sci-fi movie or maybe a Stephen King novel.  No, this is NOT the time to reread The Stand. 

I've tried to not write about it but I find that I seem to have a need to express my feelings in these very strange days in which we are living.  The speed of the growth of this thing is almost unreal.  A little over a week ago there were around 100,000 cases worldwide. There are today more than 500,000 worldwide.  If you are interested in tracking it you can do so here:  Covid-19 Global Cases  No, I'm not trying to scare anyone but I genuinely find it interesting to see this map and learn a little of the scientific side of this.

I live in the suburbs of Kansas City and we have seen the number of cases triple in less than a week.  We were under voluntary "stay at home" recommendations.  Well, that is history now.  As of the first of this week we are under "orders" to stay home and isolate except for going to the grocery store, pharmacy, or medical office.  There is even a phone number people can use to report persons not following this order and there can be a fine or even jail time for breaking it.  The police are not going around looking for isolation breakers but have the rules there to prevent large groups of people from gathering.  Not that there would be anywhere to go as all the theaters, restaurants, bars, etc. etc. are closed. 

We have seen many creative ways of dealing with this isolation in the community.  Some people are putting teddy bears in their windows and others are driving around with their children so the kids can count the teddy bears.  Apparently it is okay to drive around in your car within your town.  Things like this are fun distractions for the kids and actually, I kind of love teddy bears too.

I have plenty of jobs and hobbies to keep me busy so I do okay staying home.  We do need certain basics in groceries but we did not want to go out and empty the store shelves like some have done.  That is not fair to others that are shopping.  We figured it was safer to go out in the early days of all this, so we set up a plan to go to the store once a week starting three weeks ago.  Each trip we bought more than we normally would buy but we did not overdo it.  This morning was our last trip out for awhile.  We worked out a pretty good system for our shopping.  The stores open an hour early for people over 60 and those with health problems.  We tried that last week and the size of the crowd was ridiculous.  So today we went early but one hour after the early opening.  It worked out well as there were not many people in the store.  When we got home we followed the guidelines about handling our groceries.  We brought them all in and put the bags on our kitchen table and then washed our hands.  We then unbagged everything and wiped down what grocery items we could with sanitiser wipes.  This may sound silly but this is what authorities have  recommended we do.  I then put the groceries away and cleaned the table and all the surfaces in the kitchen.  I am also cleaning door knobs, light switches and such every day.  With a careful trip out once a week for the past three weeks, I feel like we are now stocked up enough to do fine for over a month if necessary.  I may take a solitary walk around the neighborhood or we might even take a drive in the country if we feel the need to go out.  Other than that, we are now in to stay and will avoid all public places. 
    
So much has happened and we have to take precautions.  It won't last forever but I think there will be some permanent changes as a result of all this.  How are you doing with all these changes in our world?