Day 33 - A Scare - and Working on Some More Projects

Well, it's day 33 of our self quarantine.

I haven't blogged for about a week because I've been kind of tense and nervous and full of anxiety.

Steve said he was feeling a little out of sorts. This is a guy who never gets sick! I was terrified!!!!

I know his sinuses are getting to him but he was getting more than a little concerned. He was worn out, lethargic, and just had no energy at all.

We made a phone call to our general practitioner who then connected us to the covid-19 screening system. From there we went through a series of phone calls back and forth. I must admit within an hour and a half we had all of our questions answered and we had all of our assurances that what Steve is feeling is not covid-19.

We got a z-pack of Azithromycin just in case, plus we have his other various prescription sinus medications on hand.  He is making a point of following the doctor's orders. What a relief. We were able to do everything via telephone and did not have to enter a doctor's office or a clinic or thank goodness the hospital!!

It has taken the better part of a week for him to get back up to snuff. I spent the entire time worrying about him, and nervously sewing face mask after face mask after face mask to distribute to the elderly in our area and our family members.

He must be feeling better today because he was already running around with the vacuum cleaner... and now he is out in the garage cutting out new seat boards for my project!!!

Two months back, my neighbor Cheryl was selling these two wooden chairs. I snapped them up right away, and our grandson Clayton helped carry them home to stow away in our garage until the weather got warmer.

The weather was finally cooperating and up in the fifties, so sunshiny and pleasant.

I hauled out my little painting stand and some primer and paint. First I primed and painted a little table we had laying around that I wanted to put out between our rocking chairs to hold the "beverages of our choice".  Steve supervised from his chair.

I worked on priming and painting the two chairs.

Steve removed these avocado green seats. Last month I managed to pick up a hunk of red vinyl before all of the quarantine stuff started. He measured to cut out two new wooden seats. Now we can cover the new boards and they will look spiffy!

This morning we figured that it was time to cover the seats with the red vinyl. We decided to add a layer of dense waterproof foam between the vinyl and the wooden seat. Just an extra little bit of padding but nothing that could absorb moisture or get moldy. These are rubbery closed cell foam floor tile for cushioning under your feet in a work area of a garage.

Steve was able to easily cut them to size with a scissors.

Between the both of us we were able to pull and hold and staple the red vinyl into place

We put them down on the far left section of our front porch. 

Once the weather warms up and the danger of frost has passed, 

I will set my large white pot with the green ivy between them.

Then when we have company (once this virus stuff is over) the chairs can be carried over to the area where the rocking chairs are.

We have our white rocking chairs up on the far-right section.

I put the little white table between them. 

We really enjoy sitting here in the afternoon sunshine

to soak up the vitamin D 

and wave to the socially distancing neighbors as they walk by. 

On the future planning list is to build and hang up a nice big porch swing too.

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Speaking of the front porch, we had a nice surprise last week.

Clomp clomp clomp up on the front porch came three of our little grandchildren. They came bearing gifts! They brought us art projects and pictures and a big jug of my almost depleted favorite French vanilla creamer!

We had a delightful visit through the window... although I'm sure it was hard for littlest Claire to understand why she couldn't come in to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We were able to talk through the window and hear each other speak,  so we didn't need to use the cell phone. Lots of hand gestures and touching on the glass hand to hand. I wished I could have hugged and kissed them too. But that will have to wait for another time.

Our grandkids have been keeping in touch with us with texts and photos and posts which is wonderful. Technology sure has made this quarantine much easier and more manageable.

Here at the two that live out in the country, Jameson and Whitney. They were playing REAL Minecraft, by using REAL bricks and wood to build things. Who needs video games when you got the actual thing in your own yard?

Maybe she will be a structural engineer?

Our wonderful son-in-law donned his new mask, and took our complete full shopping list of items to the store. He managed to do a double shopping, one for their household and one for our household.  We have not had fresh produce or bakery in a month!

It was so good to get fresh vegetables again. We had used up our own supply and we're down to using canned or frozen veggies. He even found a big huge watermelon. It tastes like summertime!  We so appreciated fresh bakery buns and lots of extra thoughtful treats.

He even popped in a surprise package of marshmallow peeps, my absolute favorite!

I cannot express how nice it was to have our son-in-law do this for us. Our grown kids are all still working at essential jobs, so it's an extra burden for them to run to the grocery store for us.


Once we got all of the groceries, they go directly into the garage. We have a "decontamination table" set up divided half and half. While we both wear gloves, we take the items from the bags one at a time, totally clean each item, and dispose of outer wrapping or packaging. Then it's brought to the clean side where I either re-bag or stack it carefully in a clean basket to go into the house. Some items are left in the garage for a couple days to "de-germ" themselves and we have an extra small refrigerator out there for cold items that don't need to come in the house right away.  All of the vegetables are washed in the sink with vinegar and hot water rinse.

Even with the incoming mail, we use gloves while we retrieve it from the box. Mail is sorted out on the porch, and immediately disposed of if it's junk. The important stuff is transferred to our "decontamination table" in the garage. From there we spray it down, handle it with gloves, and leave it out there to dry off. The contents are not brought into the home until a few days later.

We are also going through this the same steps with the items brought over by the grandchildren.  I was able to refresh the whole bulletin board with new artwork!

We are hoping this extra effort and steps are keeping us free from the virus.  After that scare with Steve's health last week, we never ever want to let the virus in.  Being quarantined for another month is not going to hurt.  Better than being dead!

PLEASE

 STAY IN

STAY SAFE

STAY HEALTHY!