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@Steve Good story.

@ Anna Hi there, and welcome back. Yes, NH a bit safer for the moment anyway. I have a niece and friends in the greater NYC area, and my heart goes out to them (all well, AFAIK). You'll get settled and then the stitching will come out, I'm sure.

Just returned with loaded baskets from the Local OUTDOOR Food Market in our village. We get there at 8 am wearing masks and gloves.

I wear glasses for reading and long distance. If I wear a mask the glasses steam up and I can't see!
So! I take them off and Guess What?

I CAN'T SEE!

We now have enough fresh veg and meat for the week. It's essential, I think, to support the local producers. They work hard and get up before it's light to load up their vans, arrive at the market square and have everything beautifully displayed for us to buy. There are notices everywhere about keeping our distance from each other...even married couples have to stand apart as the Gendarme are about and don't know who's partnered to who!
Each stall has barriers in front of them and now instead of being able to help ourselves the traders serve us.

What is the best part of all this is the Overall Good Humour displayed by Traders and Customers.

Took a small solid lump of dough from the freezer last night, and hey presto, a light bubbly bowl-full of dough ready to be turned into ham, cheese & garlic rolls for lunch! Isn't chemistry wonderful

Wendy, an outdoor market is probably the safer way to go. Yesterday we had to get food for my Parents-in-Law and stood outside in a queue for 45 mins before getting into the shop. Not great. There were a number of people in the queue who obviously have no concept of biosecurity. One young woman had no gloves, held the trolley handle, operated the cash machine, rubbed her eyes, finger combed her hair, chewed a finger.. Not entirely clever. Need I mention hair colour? You may be able to guess. It's amazing how many people live down to the stereotype.

Our vicar's second cousin died from it yesterday, and her BIL was very sick from it, but seems to be on the mend after being touch and go for a while. 8 of the 24 men in the local homeless shelter that Tracy & the vicar helped until the lockdown have it. The gent I mentioned going into ITU, I got it wrong, he actually went into HDU, he is now, after 3 days, in ITU and on a ventilator. That has a 50% survival rate. A friend of Tracy's has relatives in Trinidad, so far six have died in the last four days.

Things are looking a little bleak. But the sun is out and the birds are singing, and it's warming up at last.

Regards,

Richard.

I just finished ordering groceries online for delivery. Will arrive Monday between 11 and 1. I had pretty well stocked up on things so it was mostly replacing and then getting some fresh fruits, veggies etc and packaged and freezer food. I think our village (we are way to big to still be called a village) open market which is open Tuesday afternoons has been closed down. Most has, but we are now the only state to not have a state wide stay at home order. Governor has pretty much shut down everything and most of the cities, counties, villages have issued stay safe at home orders, but for some reason (and I won't get started because I won't stop) he won't make it state wide. Groceries are encouraging curb side pickup or deliveries as it makes safer work environment for their employees as well. And several groceries are offering free pick-up and delivery services for seniors on specific days.

I told my daughter today that the world is operating backwards. I shopped for groceries and then showered and dressed.

Carole

rcperryls wrote: Sat Apr 04, 2020 5:18 pm I told my daughter today that the world is operating backwards. I shopped for groceries and then showered and dressed.

Oddly enough the working day still feels roughly normal here, as we work from home anyway. But the social calendar is seriously depleted, and it's the little things that used to punctuate the week (meeting up with friends, embroidery group) which are now missing that cause me to have no idea what day of the week it is most of the time!

Richard, you seem to be dealing with more than your fair share here. Take care, ok?

Serinde wrote: Sat Apr 04, 2020 6:12 pm Richard, you seem to be dealing with more than your fair share here. Take care, ok?

Yes! That sentiment comes from me too!! Both of you Take care!...and keep smiling!

Wishing you and Tracy strength and peace of mind!

Last Wednesday I found watching the lambs in the field nearby very relaxing and cheering too and I took a little video but I don't know how to post it here. However, if you're on FB you should be able to see it with this link. One of the lambs is definitely a star in the making

Edited: you may be able to see it even if you're not on FB as I've set it to public. Anyway, just give it a go if you like lambs

Thank you! I love it!

Carole

That number 20, with the little black knees!

We have ewes and lambs across the road -- earlier than expected -- but they are all quite big solid things, and possibly past the "lambs charging around mad half hour". We'll watch with interest.

Those Lambs are delightful.

I'm not sure we're in the thick of it at the moment. There is, possibly, a Tsunami coming and I'm trying to gauge how deep the water's going to get, and how strong the current will be. Tracy's contacts through the Church have left us with a wide circle of relatively vulnerable people we feel responsible for. The current situation means that pastoral care of the congregation can't be left to the vicar alone - anybody in that situation would go under unless they were totally unfeeling, and the vicar's chief failing is excessive empathy and she needs a bit of sheltering herself. So the lay leaders of the church are stepping up to share the burden, Tracy being one. So we're seeing rather more than we expect from our position in isolation, and, well, it feels as if the situation is huge. It IS huge, we're just trying to do our little bit to make it easier for a small number. Just feel so helpless in many ways. Some people just need a hug of reassurance, and we can't even do that for them at the moment.

Sorry. Should stop thinking 'aloud' really. Don't want to spread doom and glespondancy. [OK, that was a spoonerism I have prevented autocorrect from messing with].

Regards,

Richard.

richardandtracy wrote: Sat Apr 04, 2020 9:10 pm Sorry. Should stop thinking 'aloud' really. Don't want to spread doom and glespondancy. [OK, that was a spoonerism I have prevented autocorrect from messing with].

Regards,

Richard.

Not at all. There's a lot of helplessness -- more than enough to go around, so I'm sure you are not alone in this, either out in the real world or in our own personal cocoon known as the CSF. For what its worth, you and Tracy have support here.

Serinde wrote: Sat Apr 04, 2020 9:34 pm [quote=richardandtracy post_id=701748 time=<a href="tel:1586031045">1586031045</a> user_id=17553]
Sorry. Should stop thinking 'aloud' really. Don't want to spread doom and glespondancy. [OK, that was a spoonerism I have prevented autocorrect from messing with].

Regards,

Richard.

Not at all. There's a lot of helplessness -- more than enough to go around, so I'm sure you are not alone in this, either out in the real world or in our own personal cocoon known as the CSF. For what its worth, you and Tracy have support here.
[/quote]

Couldn’t have said it any better.

Carole

Think aloud as much as you like - it helps! Yes, pastoral care needs to be shared around at the moment, we've got an entire team now each of whom rings/contacts a set of people at least once a week, and feeds this into the "is practical help needed/is more contact needed" main team. In our case it was made easier by lots of us already being in smaller house groups, so that was a ready-made network-within-a-network, but I think all around people have been rallying round to look out for others!

What I find challenging is how easy it is to miss out the people who are not online and don't do email or texts. We have to be really vigilant to include them by good old-fashioned landline!

We are isolated here from the 'real world' Makes my heart ache to read what some people are experiencing. More for you and Tracy, Richard. I am proud of what you are doing and do feel free, as others have said, to let off your " glespondancy" here!

We phone friends/family in the UK regularly (lucky to have free phone calls on our internet package) and have recently been in contact with a couple we used to caravan with, swapping pictures and memories.

This morning I have been thinking about our stocks of foodstuffs that we 'depend upon' from the UK. I've been counting Tea bags of all things!
We buy in bulk the pyramid bags, but haven't been over there since October. Thought I'd have enough to last until May when friends were due to visit the UK...all that is now in doubt. Heck I'll be drying them on the line and re-using them next. Already making one bag last for 2 cups!
Before you say it...there are tea bags here, but at a price and they are so weak as to be useless!

I realise that this is trivial compared to what The Virus is doing to the World Population, so feel free to tell me so!

wendywombat wrote: Sun Apr 05, 2020 10:27 am I realise that this is trivial compared to what The Virus is doing to the World Population, so feel free to tell me so

Not trivial at all because the tea is more than a drink. It is a connection to your world and all that involves. Using a tea bag for 2 cups is just hanging on to what is familiar and loved. Makes sense to me. Wish I could send you a carton of them. I know it doesn't help much, but we do have a limitless supply in S&G. I would love to have a cup with you!!

Carole

Today's jobs have been twofold.

About 150-200 stitches on my Gryff picture. Possibly only 400 stitches from finishing page 10 of 18. I started this chart page in November 2018. It has taken rather a time for the 7100 ish stitches.

The other job of the day was getting the frame of a birdcage up over our vegetable bed. It's a moderate size one (16 x 12 ft, or 5m x 4m) Tracy bought in 2017 but we've not put it up yet. Had help of the whole family doing it. Including both Maine Coons. Now, as the vegetables we will be planting are not attacked by birds, you may well ask why we need a birdcage. I have actually alluded to the reason already. They are ginger and white and very helpful. NO! Not my eldest daughter (who is both ginger and very white through lack of sun), the cats! Having seen us spend several days digging the soil, the cats want to help. This morning was a prime example. Ozzie came in mid morning absolutely filthy. His paws were caked in dirt, and his tummy fur was plastered. When we got to the veg bed, we found out why. He had excavated a trench 3 feet long, five inches wide and 6 inches deep. Helpful cat had been helpful. He pranced around his hole on tiptoes, looking so proud of himself. Rooster has had his moments too. One I saw, he scraped a shallow dirt bath and settled down in it. Then after 10 contented minutes, he went bananas. Dirt flung in all directions, pebbledashing everything within 6ft, and then he took off, stationary to flat out in a single pace, ears back as if all the demons in hell were after him.

That is why we need a birdcage, it's to protect the veg from helpful cats.

Anyway, it was a gorgeous, sunny, spring day.

Regards,

Richard.

very useful cats you have Richard. Perhaps you could rent them out to anyone who needs some garden dug?? I guess now you will have 22 disgruntled cats so maybe give them a bit of ground of their own, roughly turn it over yourself then leave it for them to play with.
Mabel thank you oh so much for the video clip, it is priceless.

As for me and sticthing -mmm I was going well the last 2 days but then had to leave it suddenly to see to the dogs. When I got back to it I was totally lost amongst 2 shades of golden-brown and 2 shades of white. 5 min later it was all put away to await another day.
I had hoped to do the neck shaping on my new winter jumper, and put the basket with my knitting in it handy to pick up, but summer is very reluctant to go and at just after 10am it is already 26.4c heading to 31c so the knitting basket is back in its place and I will get my stitching out and hope for some peace and quiet.
SIL - who is now working from home - spent the weekend clearing the front yard of 1 large tree (no idea why) an untidy useless hedge, and a garden area in front of the veranda full of palms. It now looks bare but better than previously and downstairs, where he is fitting out a work station, now has good light coming in. Try to concentrate with electric saws and shredding machine noise has been interesting to say the least.

Hang in there dear friends, we have our stitching our forum to rant or share good times with and everything has an end at some point.

The weekend weather was mostly fair so we spent a lot of time outside or in the garage with the door open during the cooler and wetter hours. My son was excited to have some "no school" days and put a lot of miles on his bicycle circling the neighborhood. The next week looks to have some nice weather which makes it easier to survive not being to go anywhere.

Recently I've been working to improve my computer backups. Some data is stored on two computers (or devices), but some of it is still stored on only one computer. On redundant drives, but still vulnerable to accidental deletion, fire, theft, etc. My solution is setting up another computer in the garage to store an additional copy of all files, but the wireless out there is a bit weak. Meanwhile my wife had been complaining of a bad smell in the house that I was unable to smell. Having her frequently complain about it and me not doing anything about it was not leading to marital bliss whenever the topic came up.

So we both put on our PPE and I went to the attic to route a networking cable out the the garage and she into the crawl space under the house, determined that she was going to find a dead and rotting critter. I got my cable ran and she found the source of the smell, the sewer drain pipe under the kitchen was leaking into the crawl space. Do I call out a plumber to fix it right away, call the plumber out in a month or two when things are more back to normal, or try to patch it up myself which probably means a trip to the store?

The past few evenings I've not done any stitching because of other priorities. For example, my neck has started to bother me due to the poor ergonomics of the computer monitor at my work-at-home desk. As much as I hate to spend time and money to resolve the problem, it seems prudent to get it fixed before I hurt myself. But tonight I did manage to get in some stitching which was a welcome escape for a few hours.