How's Your Week Going? - Week of April 27th

[ProudTVJunkie]

I guess I'll start with the bad news first. My step-father's uncle passed away from Covid-19. He was in his 70s and lived in Brooklyn. He'd been on a ventilator for over a week.
My uncle, who was in his 70s and in a nursing home here in NJ, passed away today. He had pneumonia type symptoms, was moved to the hospital but hadn't been tested.

We now have over 111,000 cases and over 6,000 deaths in NJ and almost 3,000 cases and 230 deaths in my county. Masks are mandatory everywhere with good reason.

On the upside, my daughter just got straight As on her latest report card! So the online schooling is going well and between video games and online chats with her friends, she seems to be doing okay.

Tonight, we plan to watch Return of the Jedi which makes me very happy.

Yesterday we took a walk in the rain (because, why not?) and splurged a bit on take-out from our favorite local Italian restaurant. They have what they call their Sunday Gravy special which is rigatoni, meatball, braciole, and creamy ricotta. It was SO good and best of all we still have some leftover for today.

So how are things where you are? Please check in and let us know if you're well and safe!

[larryholmes]

I am saddened to learn of your losses. Hopefully you will find some comfort from your grief in knowing that your friends care. I am sure that it is gratifying for you to see your daughter achieving so much success from her efforts in school. Stay safe!

[ProudTVJunkie]

Apr 27, 2020 20:00:21 GMT -5 larryholmes said:

I am saddened to learn of your losses. Hopefully you will find some comfort from your grief in knowing that your friends care. I am sure that it is gratifying for you to see your daughter achieving so much success from her efforts in school. Stay safe!

Thanks, Larry. Yes, it helps. Things can change so quickly. Just a few weeks ago my step-father's uncle was running his landscaping business in Brooklyn.

My uncle who died today was bigger than life, in some ways, literally as he weighed about 400 lbs. He was a talented chef. I have early memories of visiting his restaurant as a kid. He had run-ins with the law and had been arrested for running a gambling ring but cut a deal that kept him out of jail. His life was not dull and spending time with him was always entertaining. We'll definitely miss him.

And yet it's important to hold onto the positives. I'm happy to have all of you here to share these interesting times with and hope that we all make it through this together.

[ibmjas]

So sorry for your loss, PTVJ. I have a lot of friends and family in their 70s and I definitely worry about them. Fortunately, our area has had very few deaths. They talk like there haven't been that many infected, but they aren't testing many either.

Glad your daughter is doing well. Sounds like your family is coping quite well.

[geezer2008]

So very sorry for your losses, Christine   This disease is awful and a lot of people will perish before it runs its course. I pray for ALL of us and our families.

Our cases continue to rise in Brown County as they test more people. There are food processing plants here and a LOT of cases are being found among the employees. They have closed one of the  biggest plants. The CDC is here and testing because we have the highest infection rate in the state. The big worry now is that the infected workers have now spread it to their families and friends. Another major concern in Green Bay is that people are not staying home as they should. That just amazes and saddens me. Our daughter tells us that kids are coming into her yard to try and play with our grandkids. It is a constant battle to keep shooing them away. That tells us that the adults are not taking this seriously so why would the kids.

The next 2-3 weeks here are not going to be good .

We are staying home and entertained with our "stuff".

I am rereading the Castle and Storm novels in order. I just finished Driving Heat which is my very favorite of all of them. The story is great and it is the book where Heat and Rook  get married. It is the wedding that we all wanted for Castle and Beckett. They did it so beautifully in the book.  I will never forgive Andrew Marlowe for screwing it up so badly. He, literally, torpedoed his own creation. Nuf said.

We also watched The Good Liar with Helen Mirren. It was a really, really good movie.

I am currently reading Mycroft Holmes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse,  and The Widow Strikes by Brad Taylor. Both are very good reads IMO.

Rikki is also reading, knitting , and working on a paint-by-number .

We continue to exercise as we should with walking and an exercise program for oldies.

 

[tycho657]

The memories of those we have lost will live on. That is all we can hope for I think.
As testing ramps up I think we will begin to see the true picture of this virus. I do a Covid 19 check on my phone daily. My hope is that the statistics will help track what is happening.
I have my yard guy here today to fix my drip system. I have just had it turned off since Feb as we have had enough rain to keep things alive. My citrus trees need water now that the triple digits have returned. I am also having him pull the jungle in my back yard and by the pool. With the higher temps hopefully they will not return in a week like before.
It is interesting that there are big lies for food at the food banks but our St Vince numbers have been down for food deliveries? How does that happen?
My kitties turn 2 on Friday. I would go crazy without my kitties. They are brother and sister. The sister is a seal point Siamese and her brother is all black. I named them Allegro and Presto. They are my musical kitties. Presto, the black one, actually talks to me more than his sister. She only talks when she demands I play with her. She would rather play than eat.. I have 3 stray cats who have been coming around the last couple of weeks to drink from my pool. I put out some free food I got from Pet Smart that I was going to give to a rescue. It's not enough to keep them full but a little treat to keep them coming by and hopefully keeping the roof rats who like to eat fallen citrus away.I still have lemons falling daily.
I still haven't figured out how to post a picture so here is a puzzle of my kitties when they were traveling in my RV across country. They were only about 4 months old here.
www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=0db6b4a0f975

[nathanfan1]

Tycho, your kitties made a wonderful puzzle! Thanks!

So sorry to hear about the deaths in your family, PTVJ. I've been wondering for a while now if my life would be impacted by a death from the virus in any way and I got my answer last week. I learned that a former student and the son of a gal I taught with for many years, died of the virus. He was only 38 years old. He was a lawyer in New York City and a healthy man as far as I know. Compounding the grief for the family here is the fact that they can't do anything about his body. They can't transport it out of state and the backlog for cremation out there is several weeks. 

Thankfully, my immediate family is fine and this past weekend we took a little step towards reuniting. My oldest daughter and her family came out to our place Friday afternoon to play in the huge yard and ride the horses. It was easy to still keep our distance but ever so nice to actually SEE people again! It was good medicine for all of us!

Otherwise, the days are all the same. I'm creating quilts at a record pace and feeling good about using up a bit of the HUGE stash of fabric I have. I've watched a few movies and my husband and I have enjoyed playing Siamese MahJongg. You play it with 2 people and it's been a fun addition to our 2 person game options.

Geezer, I'm so glad that you and Rikki are continuing to be safe at home. It's scary how the numbers in your area have skyrocketed. Here, in the far western area of the state, the totals are very low and have been quite steady. Our county has 8 confirmed cases and the county to our north has 11. No deaths have occurred. We're blessed with communities that are doing a good job of observing good practices and precautions.

[Fjordmom]

ProudTVJunkie , I'm so sorry to hear of your losses, but happy to hear that you and your family are doing well and making the best of things.

Also glad to hear that everyone else here is doing well.  I'm doing well, but I am missing the joy of meeting friends out for breakfast or whatever, or to just go somewhere with them.  Hopefully we'll get to start doing a little in the near future, but I'm pretty sure Massachusetts will NOT be a state that opens back up soon.

As I write this, the sun is setting and this time of year it casts the most amazing colors at the tops of the trees in my yard and those of my neighbors off in the distance.  Hard to explain, but tops of the trees/branches (no leaves out yet) are a vibrant peachy/gold color that is quite stunning, and then in a few minutes that show is over, but the sky is still beautiful at the moment.     

Hope you all have a healthy, safe week and manage to have some fun, too!

[DrvrTrnr]

PTVJ and nathanfan1, I'm sorry to hear about your recent losses. This virus requires us all to stay safe and wear a mask when grocery shopping. Tomorrow I have a regular 6 month doctor appointment. I had called to reschedule and was told it will be a video chat. That should be interesting, to say the least. The office gal said the best part is nobody has to get on a scale, lol.

Both of our daughters work from home so my husband and I have seen them recently. It makes things better knowing they're both healthy and able to work. Now that the temperatures have been 100+, our pool should be warming up soon. I'm looking forward to being a little more active. I'm sorry for those of you still battling winter-type weather.

[ProudTVJunkie]

Yay! Our local ice cream shop has reopened! They are open only on weekends as they get the hang of this. It's take-out only and everyone must wear a mask and stay six-feet apart. Kate and I got there earlier this afternoon but by this evening there was a line around the corner of people waiting six feet apart.

Kate couldn't wait to get across the street so we could safely remove our masks and get started on our cones!

[geezer2008]

Yesterday, we watched the series finale of God Friended Me. Very bittersweet as we really liked the show. I'm happy to say that they gave everyone a happy ending.

[tycho657]

My 2 kitties turned 2 on May 1st. They both follow me around the house and talk to me. They harasse me until I get one of their toys out to play. I would go crazy without my kitties. I have had issues posting a picture on her so I posted a picture on twitter so I could post on here.