How's Your Week Going? - Week of June 8th

[ProudTVJunkie]

Hi All,

Well, I have hopes that this will be a much better week, not just for me personally, but for the world as a whole.

That said, I’m about to go pick up our End of the Year present for my daughter’s teachers (they have two teachers for their class this year.) Our school year ends June 23rd and we’ve had online classes since mid-March. Back in March, we really thought they’d be back to school by some time in April. We never imagined the students and teachers would not meet fact-to-face again for the rest of the school year!

Anyway, the gift is a customized photo album. Each student has written their own personal messages for their teachers and the parents have sent those along with some photos, and I’ve compiled it all into a keepsake book. The final printed copies for the teachers are ready to be picked up today and I'm excited to see the final product!

The big question is, how to get it to the teachers? The kids left items in their desks when they left school in March, plus the yearbooks have come in and the school is trying to figure out the safest way to get things distributed. We just have to wait and see what they come up with.

So, everyone out there in PFJ land, let me know how your week is going.

[DrvrTrnr]

What an ambitious project! Those two teachers will love the albums and cherish them forever. The high school near me set up tables outside near the front parking lot so the seniors could pick up their diplomas. Maybe your daughter's school could do something similar for yearbooks. Otherwise the kids might have to wait until the next school year. I hope they figure out a way to do it.

Cases and deaths are rising rapidly now in Arizona. The governor and health department head both said it was to be expected. Of course there is never a mention that this is the result of so many things being opened up. Newspaper people are wondering how bad things have to get to force another stay at home order. There are now 27,678 cases and 1047 known deaths. Also, people have been protest marching in downtown Phoenix for over a week. Luckily the marches have been peaceful. The Phoenix Chief of police walked with the protesters the other night and was able to have some conversations along the way. Baby steps but progress nonetheless.

[tycho657]

I am escaping this week camping with one of my camping groups. 7 RV’s and 12 people total. We have all been very careful since our last trip together in March when things shut down. We are eating and playing cards together. If someone has covid we will all get it soon. It is just nice to be around live people again.

[ProudTVJunkie]

Well, the photo books look pretty good, especially since we had to go with the cheaper versions due to budget constraints. Every student is accounted for, even though two didn't respond. I simply pulled photos I had of those two students that were taken at class parties earlier in the year and then put in a general thank you message, but every student has their own page.

The school PTO is giving the 4th graders t-shirts with the logo of the new school they'll be attending in the fall and they'll get that with their yearbooks. Our class had a little more money left over, so I went to our local ice cream shop and we're giving each student a certificate for a free ice cream cone. I wish we could do more for their last year in elementary school. They're missing out on a lot of special events but I guess we've done the best we can and hopefully this year will end up being a unique memory that we won't have to repeat in the future!

[ProudTVJunkie]

Yesterday afternoon I was surprised to hear a fire truck and police car on my block with full lights and sirens! When I went outside, I found that it was a graduation celebration. Our regional high school is sending around a school bus with a big graduation banner on one side, along with a firetruck and police car to every graduating senior's home. The families must know they are coming because the student had on her cap and gown and the family came out to take pictures.

I believe the school is having a graduation ceremony in July but with social distancing requirements, I doubt many, if any, family members will be allowed to attend so this is their way of allowing families to have an opportunity for special photos without having to physically be at the school.

And it looks as though they'll be doing something similar for our 4th graders on the last day of school.

[DrvrTrnr]

I'm so glad your daughter's school figured out a way to distribute the yearbooks. Also, I didn't know she was going to a different school for 5th grade which made finding a solution more difficult (our daughters' elementary school was K-6).

With the virus numbers rising daily, my husband and I are going out less. We're waiting longer to go to the grocery store, making sure the trip is really necessary. There are now 31,264 cases and 1,027 deaths. There were 1,291 hospitalizations yesterday, the highest one-day number. The stay at home order expired about a month ago and the state's situation continues to be a national news story. Maricopa County health people are urging everyone to wear masks and practice social distancing. Unfortunately, these guidelines are falling on deaf ears. I'm still wondering how bad things need to get for the governor to do something meaningful. I won't hold my breath waiting for him to act!

[geezer2008]

Wisconsin - 21,926 cases 682 deaths
Brown County - 2421 cases 38 deaths

Cases and deaths continue to rise here also, but not near as badly as Arizona. In our county, we only had 102 new cases and 1 more death in the last week. LOL, we finally tracked down our test results. We were both negative on May 19th. We continue to mask, practice safe distancing, and sanitize a LOT. There's no alternative for us.

We went to our kid's house and sat around their fire pit one evening. We took our own snacks, drinks, and chairs, and kept our distancing. It worked out well

I also went on a long motorcycle ride by myself. I bought my gas at the pump, went to a grocery store for food and drink, found a great park on a river, and read a book and ate my lunch. A truly pleasant day. A mask and sanitizer do not take up much room in a saddlebag

We are not comfortable eating in a restaurant and will not be for a long time.  We are considering getting takeout from a nicer restaurant and see how that goes. We've had pizza delivered twice and had Mc D's takeout once. Pizza was great, but sadly, the Mc D's made us both sick. We have been eating our own cooking for 3 months and would like a little change. We do share the cooking duties so that helps a little. It's not all dumped on 1 person. 

[geezer2008]

All of this carrying on about testing and not many people are getting tested!! What the hell???

The morning paper said that only 7% of the people in Wisconsin have been tested. That's ludicrous. How can they make any kind of educated projections with that small of a sample?? We were blown away by that.

[ibmjas]

Indiana - 37623 confirmed 2316 deaths 3% of the population tested
Vanderburgh County - 316 confirmed 4 deaths

I agree Geezer, the president is tired of the virus so is ignoring it and most people seem to be following his lead. He's starting his rallies back up next week. Testing and tracing is definitely not a priority.

My husband went to the chiropractor a couple of days ago. The doc wasn't wearing a mask and told my husband he didn't need one. Someone who has such close and prolonged contact with people would be a great spreader of the virus.

[ProudTVJunkie]

New Jersey has 166,164 cases with 12,489 fatalities.
My county has 4,164 with 436 fatalities
My town has 115 cases and 11 fatalities

I believe about 12% of the overall population has been tested. The good news is that our daily numbers are going down. Now that things are opening back up I hope that it continues but I fear too many people will stop taking necessary precautions.

A friend of mine is a nurse in a large, local hospital. She normally works in the Cath Lab but was moved to the ICU because they needed the help. She says they still don't have enough of the N95 masks but hospital personnel are now being tested once a week.

She stressed how much we still don't know. They've had workers they know were exposed who never get it while with others it spreads quickly. And antibodies seem to either give you some immunity or play complete havoc with your immune system.

Also, it appears that many people with blood type O+ tend to recovery well while type A+ tends to have the most severe reactions. I'm O+ but my husband and daughter are both A+ so I found this worrisome.

I'm actually getting tested for antibodies in a week. I was sick throughout the month of January. I had upper respiratory/flu like symptoms that lasted for weeks. We now know the virus was in NJ at that time. It could have easily been something else, but since the test is available to me I figured I might as well find out.

[geezer2008]

Are any of you other seniors feeling down because of the Covid?? Rikki and I are in our mid 70's. We are both at risk cancer survivors and are doing what we should be doing in our situation. Our time clocks are ticking loudly. We do not have a year or two to waste on Covid. We miss hugging our loved ones, taking the twins on little adventures, church, our clubs, going to movies, dining in a restaurant, and many other things. We fill our lives with hobbies and other at home things we enjoy,but it is NOT the same and we get very down. Anybody else?

[Lily]

Geezer, you are not alone. We constantly are counting our blessings since we have been more fortunate than most, but I feel a precious year is being stolen,There is no one to blame. We try to keep busy but miss going out without fear. I must admit my priorities have shifted. We just want some good times with our children and grandchildren. Maybe soon

[ibmjas]

I've been fortunate that I'm golfing with several friends. When it was cool I walked. At first they wouldn't allow more than 1 person in a cart. Now they are allowing 2 people in a cart. I'm concerned that they will soon require 2 people to a cart and I'm not OK with that. Now that the restaurant at the course has opened, 6 or more of my friends all huddle around a table to eat lunch. I won't do it. They all think I'm nuts. I'm quite happy staying at home a lot more and seeing friends at golf, but I feel beaten down by everyone thinking I am over reacting.

My husband and his mom are planning a big family get-together on the 4th with all the family that are in poor health and everyone seems fine with it. My MIL asked me yesterday if I would come if they had it. I told her yes. Other than those under 30, I'm sure I'm the healthiest one, but I keep wondering how I would feel if one of them had to go into the hospital and not be able to have any visitors and possibly die. Of course we're in an area where most people don't know anyone who has had the virus and no one knows someone who has died from it. Since everyone gets their news from Facebook, they think it's over and really wasn't anything to worry about to start with.

[Fjordmom]

geezer2008, you are definitely not alone.  I am fortunate to live in the country and be content at home A LOT!  BUT, I like to get together with friends, I am a hugger by nature, and some days I really struggle with what has been taken from us.  I am fortunate that some of my friends  come here because I have plenty of room for social distancing.  

I like to take day trips, which I could do, but what do you do when nature calls?  What are you going to find open?  Where are you going to feel "safe"?

I reluctantly have tried to gain some understanding of statistics (math is not my forte) and when I look at the numbers I really struggle with what we are going through.  The United States population is approximately 329,000,000; as I write this, today's JohnsHopkins COVID dashboard has the total number of U.S. confirmed COVID cases as 2,095,902 - that is less than 1% of the population.  (If there are any statisticians here and I'm off base, please correct me  .)

HOWEVER, and this is a BIG however, do I trust the numbers?  NO!  I don't think we'll ever know what they really are because there is no one mandating a cohesive, topdown approach -- to ANYTHING, really.  

Do I want to stop following guidelines?   Not yet, but I'm hoping sometime soon I will feel like I can take some "safe" risks.  I understand that I am in the "risk" age group, but I sure don't want to spend the remaining years of my life in fear.