Wake Up Call

My sister-in-law sent an email this morning telling us that a resident in health care at Grace Village died of Covid-19 this morning. She knew this lady who had attended her church and served as a missionary. Now the deceased's husband is being tested because he did spend some time with her. As of Friday we had 8 people in our county that died from the corona virus. When she is added it will be at least 9. Last week at this time it was 4.

Last night there was a "patriotism" rally at the courthouse square. It was announced that since Black Lives Matter had held rallies there, those who want to demonstrate love for their country should also rally. In the media photos the participants are sitting or standing close to each other with no masks in sight. What I expected to see given the attitudes of some of our area residents. We shall see if there is a spike in cases in 1-2 weeks. I am glad that more stores are requiring masks since so many people will not wear them otherwise. 

Yesterday when we went to a restaurant to eat breakfast we noted as we passed another restaurant we frequent that there were no cars in the parking lot. Once home, I found on Facebook that the empty restaurant is closed until July 23rd because one of their employees tested positive for the virus on July 8th. The staff are self-isolating. I have not eaten there recently, but my husband ate there July 9th. Perhaps we shouldn't be dining in restaurants so often. My husband goes to restaurants for breakfast 2-3 times a week. We ate dinner at one Wednesday. 

As those affected creep closer and closer to us and the places we visit, assessing risk may be a good thing to do. Maybe more take-out and fast-food drive-thru business would be safer. Hate to give up food prepared by others.

The vague is becoming more specific and the surreal more real.

A Bit of Outdoors

My husband went walking around the neighborhood at 6 a.m. this morning. He said it was pleasant outside. When I went out around 8:30 it was 73 degrees and not very muggy. I went out to trim the spent Asiatic lilies and give the patio plants a drink. Nothing but 80-90 degrees the next 10 days with a slight chance of rain Tuesday. It has been a dry summer so far. 

My gracious neighbor phoned yesterday and left the message with my husband that I should help myself to some of her hydrangeas. They are big and fluffy and have turned whiter the past week. She has two big bushes of Annabelle hydrangeas with about 70 blooms so I didn't feel sad about cutting off 3 blooms. 

While I was outdoors I walked around to the side of my house and found my hydrangea bushes have about 6 blooms, only 2 blossomed out enough to cut. I took one as there won't be many. They are totally different from my neighbor's plants.

Friday I am going to Fort Wayne to return the blouse I ordered online from Macy's. It didn't fit. I may browse that store though I know some clothing stores have their fitting rooms closed. That's the way it was at Kohl's. I will stop at a few other places, ending at Costco where I will buy one of their rotisserie chickens to eat for supper. We have no special plans for Independence Day. There will be an outdoors symphony orchestra concert in Winona Lake, but with so much heat I think we will skip it. We can see some of the higher fireworks from our house.

Besides the Winona Lake pastor who has Covid-19, a lady in our church (who was at the in-person service) has it, and now the local digital news reports that the mayor of Warsaw has it. We have over 500 cases in our county though about half of those are now recovered. It seems unstoppable. 

I received a reminder from Dell that my warranty runs out in a few weeks. Last summer my computer died and had to be replaced. This summer everybody is concerned about a pandemic and people dying. I could do something about the computer, but Covid-19 I can do nothing but try to avoid.

Weak Link

You have probably heard the adage that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Likewise, a defense is only as strong as its weakest member. This holds true in a pandemic.

When people live together in a household or community, the protection against contagious illness works best when all members agree on following guidelines to minimize risk. 

My husband is more comfortable with mingling with other people right now than I am. Thursday a friend who lives in the independent apartments came to our condo to give us an anniversary card. My husband promptly invited her inside to sit in our recliner and visit. I felt it would be rude to oppose him, but I was not happy with the situation. She told us she had recently had lunch with a friend at Ruby Tuesday so she is out mingling. My husband also crossed over the berm between our condos to talk with the neighbor who was sitting on his patio. Neither wore masks; the two men were less than 3 feet apart. My spouse is ready and willing to eat often in restaurants. I am a bit reluctant. 

I am working like crazy in the grocery stores to social distance, but my efforts aren't worth much if my partner introduces the virus into our home. I must admit that I have a dental appointment at the end of June that I plan to keep; he canceled his.  So our assessments of risk and what we are willing to do differ.

Our county had about 200 cases of Covid-19 June 4th. Now on June 12th it has 306. Grace Village has 2 more employees that tested positive (for a total of 3). I feel like staying home more while my husband is out and about happy things are reopening. I do plan to go to the public library next week during "senior hour"; this will be its first time open for use since March 24th, though it did some curbside pickup service the past few weeks. 

Thursday we did expose ourselves to risk by eating in a restaurant and shopping. At Kohl's, there were many people without masks. After I browsed for some rugs on the second level, I was not happy to discover the down escalator had been shut down while I was shopping. I had to use the elevator. The family in front of me in line consisted of an unmasked mother and 3 children under 5. She pushed the elevator button. When the elevator arrived, they piled in. The lady behind me (unmasked) said aren't you getting on. When I answered no she hurriedly joined the family. Yes 5 people could fit, but was that wise? As I stepped up to the elevator button, I noticed there was a sign that said 1 person or 1 party at a time. I bumped the button with my elbow. When my turn came, I invited the masked lady behind me to join me if she wanted, with each of us in separate corners. There were probably over a dozen people waiting to ride down. At least, with another person joining me, we speeded things up a tad. So even when you think you are not taking much risk, things can go much differently and increase that risk.

I am grateful to be surrounded by nature. It cheers me a bit to watch the birds and see what plants are blooming. The Asiatic lilies started opening the past few days.

My anniversary bouquet had a single red rose among the purple, pink, and yellow flowers. I put it in a budvase where I think it looks better by itself. 

We have been watching Downton Abbey the past few weeks. My sister gave me several years ago a DVD set of the first two seasons. I had forgotten some of the incidents, but of course not Mr. Pamuk.

Grace Village has hired a new CEO to start mid-July working beside the current one until January when the current one retires. Too bad he has to face Covid-19 in the campus now; I am sure when he signed on we still didn't have any cases. His abilities will have to arise to meet new challenges.

All of us have new challenges these days.