2 months in and counting

Well, it has been just over 2 months since we entered quarantine. I don't know about the other states, but Texas has allowed most business to reopen now. Things are looking a lot more "normal" around here. When we were in FW Wednesday, however, a lot of restaurants were still keeping their dining rooms closed. They still have over 7000 ACTIVE cases in the metroplex. Although PP county has had 10 cases, none are currently active. Once again, I am thankful to be living in a small town!

Since our household is considered vulnerable, we are still staying in most of the time and wearing our masks when we get out. We did have visitors this week though! Matt, Sheila, Caleb and Nam came for a visit on our lawn Wednesday evening. They brought catfish and chicken from Chicken E and we picnicked in the front yard, while Nam played on the rope swing. It was SO GOOD to see them! We all wore masks and hand sanitizer was kept handy, but we did get in a few hugs. Since they have been as diligent as we have about sheltering in place, we felt like it was safe enough. It was really hard to say goodbye though!

My kids have been so good throughout this whole ordeal. It isn't unusual to get a little surprise in the mail every so often from one of them. They have been great to keep in touch and facetime so we can see them and the kiddos. Rick and Amber have been over a couple of times, but we've not had any physical contact with them since they both work out in the public. I'm really not used to going so long without seeing any of my kids!

As you probably know from Facebook, Dennis had his biopsy on Wednesday. It was pretty rough! He had to take a pain pill and lie down as soon as we got home. Thankfully the pill took effect by the time our kiddos arrived for their visit! We won't know exactly what we are dealing with until June 2, when we go back for the test results. But the doctor did tell Dennis that the MRI showed that the two lesions were rated 3 and 5 (on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the most likely to be cancer). So we are pretty sure that he will be dealing with some kind of cancer treatment. Most prostate cancers are slow growing and rarely cause any serious health problems. However, there are some that are very aggressive. There are also some treatments that are more unpleasant than others. We are really looking forward to talking to the doctor on the 2nd and finding out exactly what is in store.

We passed the 2nd month anniversary of Daddy's death this week. I drove by the cemetery to check on his headstone to see if the death date had been added yet. Still nothing. So I called the monument company to see what the holdup was. They assured me that it would be done by the end of this week. I'm planning to go check on Copper tomorrow, so I'll stop back by and see if it has been completed. I still had some more paperwork to do and turn in this week to finalize his affairs. It just seems to go on and on! I'm doing fine most of the time, but every once in a while something will hit me and I totally lose it. That happened the other night while I was watching "Call the Midwife" (one of my favorite TV shows!). The episode was about one of the nurses caring for her grandmother as she was dying. That hit a little too close to home! I still lie awake at night sometimes, reliving it.

Our freezer is filling up with the fruits of Dennis' fishing trips! I had to do a little rearranging this week to fit it all in. I emptied the bottom basket and have relegated it to my fish storage. I also sent some deer meat home with Sheila to free up some more space. I am SO thankful to my good hubby who provides so well for us!

Work on the house has been very slow this past week, since Dennis was traumatized. It is supposed to rain pretty much all this next week, so maybe he'll be able to get more done. With fishing on Monday, being gone most of Wednesday and him feeling bad, and then doing all of the mowing and weed-eating before the rains set in, he hasn't had much time to do anything inside.

I guess that's about it for what's been going on around here. Stay safe and show kindness in all you do!

Week 7 (I think) of Quarantine

Well, today is the first day of Stage 1 of Governor Abbott’s “Open Texas” initiative. Since Dennis and I fall in the “at risk” group, our lives won’t really change much, if any. I’m just hoping people don’t overreact and act like nothing is wrong anymore. The numbers of new cases and deaths (in Texas) actually rose more in the past day than they have been. I know that it is too early for this to be from the easing of restrictions, but it emphasizes that the risk is still out there. Texas is seeing about 1000 new cases every day.

Dennis’ back is much better, and he is steadily working on the house again. He has put up sheetrock on most of the hallway and hung both closet doors. He also came up with a brilliant idea! We had to tear out our old linen closet in the hall bathroom in order to enlarge the door. One of the hall closets abuts the bathroom wall (where the old closet used to be). Dennis suggested adding a door inside the bathroom that accesses the shelves in the hall closet, so we can keep towels within reach of our guests. The shelves will have access from both the hall and the bathroom, so I can refill them from either side. I love it!

View of hall from LR

New hall closet door

Dennis’ blood sugar has advanced from the pre-diabetic stage to diabetic. Our insurance company has a program that they provide (free) for diabetics that he signed up with this week. They furnish all of his testing supplies. The tester transfers his readings to the company, so they can monitor them. He also takes a picture of all of his meals and sends them, so they can see what he is eating and how it affects his blood sugar. That will enable them to better help him manage his diet. It should be very helpful!

The past two Sundays, Dennis and I met by ourselves. Since I had had a stomach bug for several days, we didn’t want to take any chance of sharing whatever germs caused it. Since the standard 14 days (for COVID-19) have passed, we will be able to assemble with our little group this coming Sunday. They’ve been meeting at Kirk’s house. I’m looking forward to being back with the others. I am definitely missing social interaction!

I ventured over to Weatherford today to pick up groceries (curbside) at Brookshire’s. I had had trouble accessing Walmart’s online shopping, so I decided to try them out. Their selection was a little better than Walmart’s. Their service was more “personal”. Rather than doing everything on an app, a real person texted me with questions about my order. It is too far to drive to do all of the time, but it was nice for a change of pace. Plus I was able to fill up my car with cheaper gas than we have in MW! It was the first time I’ve bought gas in about 6 weeks. Now that’s a record!

We’ve actually been eating better than normal with the quarantine. I’ve always cooked supper every day (except for an occasional night out), but we used to eat out for lunch a lot. Now we are down to getting take-out once or twice a week. So we are eating much healthier. With Dennis’ diabetes, he is being much more careful with his diet. We are enjoying having sourdough again. I’ve made garlic/cheddar biscuits, pretzels and bread since I began my starter. I try to bake once a week. I used the leftovers from my last loaf of bread to make croutons…yum! The trouble with homemade bread is that it is good the day you bake it…not so much, afterwards. I’ll probably process my leftover croutons to make some bread crumbs and store them in the freezer. We are really trying not to waste anything right now!

I made cheese/poblano tamales yesterday. They are our favorite! I was afraid I had ruined them though. I cook them in my Instant Pot. That way I can go do something else and not worry about them until it beeps at me. Well that didn’t work very well when I forgot to add water to the pot before sealing it! I had a MESS to clean up! But, after cleaning up the burnt mess, I added the water and tried again, and they turned out just fine…a little messy (from melting the first time), but still tasty. Yesterday was just one of those days when everything I touched went wrong!

I am feeling the grief from losing Daddy more now. It isn’t a constant thing, but it sweeps over me at some of the most inopportune times. Like today, on my way to pick up groceries, I thought about when Daddy and Bobbie lived at Brookdale (which is close to the store I was heading to). That was all it took to bring me to tears. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to get myself under control before getting to Brookshire’s! But I finally did. I just never know what’s going to set me off. This may sound strange, but I really miss the nursing home! I developed a close relationship with several of the staff and other residents while I was tending to Daddy. Last week, when they had their drive-by parade, I was really excited to participate and see them…even if it was from a distance. I didn’t realize how much it would affect me though. I cried the whole time and had to stop by the park afterwards to get myself settled down. Even though I am always a big crybaby, I really hate crying in front of people. If I’m going to cry, I want to be somewhere private!

I also REALLY miss my family, as I’m sure all of you do. My arms ache to hug my kids and grandkids! Zoom and facetime are great, but they don’t take the place of being together physically. I’m sure that is also affecting my grieving process (or my grieving is affecting how much I miss them). That is the one thing about COVID-19 that scares me the most. Those infected and hospitalized have to be isolated from all of their loved ones at THE WORSE TIME OF THEIR LIFE! I don’t know about y’all, but in our family, if someone is in the hospital, YOU GO BE WITH THEM! Just the thought of having one of my family members, or myself, having to be hospitalized with this awful virus and being ALONE brings me to tears EVERY SINGLE TIME. Dennis and I discuss it from time to time, and I break down every time. It absolutely breaks my heart to think about it. I was determined, when Daddy was dying, that I would be with him when he passed. I was so very thankful that I was able to be! People need to have their loved ones with them when they are sick and dying! Thankfully, I was able to be with both of my parents at the time of their death. It just really matters a lot to me.

Well, enough of that!

I’m still knitting dishrags, but I’m easing up a little. I’ve already finished and mailed out all of the ones that people requested. So now I’m just rebuilding my stockpile. I’ve also had to start work on my court report for CASA. I have a hearing coming up in a couple of weeks (via ZOOM…now that ought to be interesting!). All of my case work has had to be done by phone…as well as some training that I’ve had to do. I’m very thankful that my child is in a good place during all of this!

Well, that’s what’s going on around here. How are all of you managing during your “stay at home” time?

Hanging in There

I can hardly believe that we are almost halfway through April already! Even with being trapped at home, time rushes by.


I was able to get a little CASA work done last week…via Zoom, video chats and texts. I also made good progress on my dishrag knitting. I have to kind of space that out, because my hands go numb if I do too much at a time. So I knit 2-3 rows, then take a break. I mostly work on them in the evening while I’m watching tv.


I made a new sourdough starter last week. My old one had been neglected a few months back, so I threw it out. I baked a loaf of bread Wednesday. It sure was good! We love fresh bread, but we really don’t need to be eating much of it! I just made a small loaf. It was perfect for supper, then I sliced the leftovers the next day to make grilled cheese sandwiches. I figure having it once a week won’t hurt us too much.


Last week was the roughest week that I’ve had since Daddy died. I started noticing about midweek that I felt numb. I would try to get busy with something, but my heart just wasn’t in it. Then Thursday, I cried off and on all day. I couldn’t really say why I was crying, I’d just burst into tears for no reason. I guess it is just part of the grief process. The social isolation was probably working on me, too. We usually order takeout on Fridays, so I told Dennis that I wanted to take our burgers to the park to get out of the house awhile. It was such a beautiful day. It was sunny, but there was a nice cool breeze blowing. We weren’t ready to go back home afterwards, so we headed west of town and drove around for a bit. I had been seeing pictures posted on Facebook of the flowers at the Indian Creek cemetery, so we headed out there to see them for ourselves. The Indian paintbrushes are at their peak right now…just gorgeous! I’ve really felt much better since our outing. Then last night, Stephen set up a Zoom visit. Usually when we do them, Gracie is already in bed. But we did it early enough last night that we got to visit with her. She is changing SO much! She just chatters up a storm. (I can’t understand most of what she says, but that’s ok!) She also sang for us. Loved it!


I’m still trying to get all of Daddy’s final business taken care of. It has been challenging with the way things are right now. I FINALLY got his bank account closed and received the check yesterday. I worked on that for almost two weeks via phone calls. I still haven’t been able to get through to Social Security. I’m going to try again first thing in the morning. I’ve distributed all of the death certificates that I needed to (I think!). Stephen is still working on closing out his investment account and distributing the assets to the various beneficiaries. Kathy sent me Daddy’s tax return yesterday with a payment voucher. I had forgotten all about the taxes that he would owe! Thankfully I still have enough that was left in his bank account to pay it. I still should be getting a couple more refunds…from the nursing home and his last retirement check. (It had actually already been deposited in his account, but the bank returned it…even after I had told them that TRS said it was for us to keep.) Even though we had greatly simplified things for him when we put them in Brookdale, it is surprising how much still had to be done after his death.


We are thankful to be able to have small assemblies on Sunday mornings. Our congregation broke up into 4-5 small groups that meet in different houses. We have 7 that meet in our house. That has really helped, too! Kirk was our speaker this morning and gave a wonderful lesson on “What is Truth?” After our worship, we all sat around and discussed the lesson, what’s going on around the world, and how each of us are doing. This was our 4^th Sunday to meet this way, and Dennis commented on the fact that we’ve had 100% attendance every time! I think we are all enjoying our time together. Even though we purposely try to limit our time together, for safety reasons, we have a hard time breaking up and going our separate ways.


Dora contacted our whole congregation yesterday and suggested that we do a drive-by parade for Gayland and Judy tonight. Being our oldest members and both being in “reduced health”, we figured that our current world situation is probably harder on them than the rest of us. We plan to meet after supper tonight and surprise them. I think almost all of our congregation is planning to participate. I hope that it is effective at cheering them up. Plus it will be really nice to see everyone again…even if it is from the “safety” of our vehicles. I love all of the ways that people are finding to stay connected and help each other out during these trying times!


Before our forced isolation, I had planned to take a trip (probably to Big Bend) after Daddy died to have some quiet time to decompress. After having an abundance of quiet time, I think I’m going to change my mind. When we finally are set free, I still want to take a trip, but I want to go where I can be with people! I still like to vacation in sparsely populated areas, but a side trip or two to visit loved ones will definitely be on our itinerary!


Enjoy the beauty where you are and stay safe!