My, the weeks sure are piling up! The lockdown in New York State has been extended to May 15.
Days are spent sleeping late, eating too much, hanging around doing not much of anything – finally, I’m living the dog’s life! I always knew her life was better than mine.
Someday maybe I’ll be bored enough to take up basket weaving (isn’t that an awesome photo?), but not yet. I have lots of cookbooks to work through, hundreds of video games to play, and lots of cleaning and household stuff to do.
Of course, eating well sometimes means eating simply:
Ham-Egg-Cheese Sandwich with Chips
After such a hearty brunch, it’s time to check the old bank account. Yep, still doing ok, thanks to New York State Unemployment, with the added U.S. Government funds (an extra $600 a week! I’m making more staying home than I ever did working), and the monthly Social Security. Fortunately, hubby and I also had enough sense pre-pandemic to put some money into savings. We’ll get by without too much hardship. My heart goes out to those who were living paycheck to paycheck and are currently having trouble getting their unemployment funds in place – and to those essential workers who are risking their own health on a daily basis while still receiving the same pay they got before (and in at least one case I know, an essential worker whose pay was cut by 5% – WTF!).
Anyway.
The weather is still crappy, and weird. All week it’s been cold and either raining or snowing. Some days it was snowing while the sun was out. One day there was a hail storm:
Hail Storm! (April 21, 2020)
Hail Storm – View to South
Hail Storm! My Poor Car.
Hail Storm – Windshield Closeup
Five minutes after that storm, the sun came out and melted the ice.
Bear in mind that this is the third week in April, when we could reasonably expect mild weather and new blossoms. The grass has grown a bit and a few tough dandelions are struggling through the mud, but mostly it’s just yucky out there.
So, still not much incentive (for me at least) to go on a nature walk outside my own backyard.
Puppy Cody seems to be ok with that. The few times we’ve taken her over to the local school for a longer walk, she didn’t really seem to enjoy it all that much. I’m not sure if that’s because she doesn’t like getting her feet wet, or if she’s just become so accustomed to our own property that she feels uncomfortable elsewhere. We’ll occasionally take her anyway, but she does get plenty of exercise chasing bunnies and squirrels on our own property.
BTW, I pulled out our property survey and measured the property lines. A walk all the way around the perimeter of the backyard is about 500 feet – just under 1/10 mile. I figure if I walk that perimeter every time I take Cody out, I’ll be getting a fair amount of exercise even though I’m at home. With mud and snow acting as friction, the walk is a bit more strenuous. With luck, by the time the weather does warm up, I’ll be able to trot around that yard (won’t that be fun for the neighbors to watch?), and certainly I’ll be ready to resume my walks in the park.
The good news is: Hubby just returned from the grocery store and tells me most items have been at least partially restocked. Hopefully, that’s an indication that the crisis is at the beginning of the end.
How’s it by you?
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Images by Cordelia’s Mom/TeddyRosalieStudio
Cordelia's Mom, Still 
Glad you are able to get some kind of walking in…. I have been doing my walking in the house, up and down the hall, through the living room, from the front door to the back door is about 35+ feet. Multiple times can add up on the step counter until I get a good count going. Trying to do this as much as my health is allowing, the weather shifting back and forth as it does, makes for good and not so good days for me.
We have delivery of groceries from certain stores that I have been taking advantage of… as I am on my own now, it’s hard to ask someone else to do the shopping for me, although Archon has been kind enough to grab stuff for me when he is out anyway.
Take care and stay safe Dear!!
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Maybe not my business, but why are you on your own now? Hope everything is ok.
I’ve considered trotting up and down the stairs to our second floor, but I figured I’d fall and break my neck. Those stairs are a little narrower than the building code allows – easy for a misstep. Anyway, just going up and down the basement stairs to do laundry is about as much stair-climbing as I can handle at this point.
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Walking the backyard is much safer than treading the stairs up and down from the sound of it.
I live alone and even with my folks living nearby and son/daughter-in-law living a stone’s throw away, I still feel like it is on me to deal with/arrange all the shopping and deliveries I need.
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I hear you. I’d find it tough to ask anyone outside my house to shop for me; as it is, hubby does all the shopping to help keep me away from potentially infected people. Although, I did order wine for delivery – hey, I have my priorities!
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It’s no where near the beginning of the end here 💜 be safe don’t rush things.
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Yep, that’s the current debate. Thank heavens, I live in a state with a strong governor who won’t reopen prematurely, no matter what our king (um, I mean president) pushes for.
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Lol yes please don’t listen to him 😂💜💜
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Pretty much the same, weatherwise, but we haven’t gotten any of the money we are supposed to get. Apparently SS people are getting their money at the end of this month. Everything is fine, just not here yet. And it has been really COLD.
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Ugh. Hope you get your money soon. It’s quite uplifting see that in the old bank account.
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I like that light fixture. Probably original to the house, and the style indicates 1950s or older.
We’re just hanging on here, waiting for … well anything different.
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And we just had a heavy hail storm here! That’ll learn me! *LOL*
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Ah, the hail storm is probably my fault, for writing about it! 🙂
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I’m guessing the light fixture is circa 1939, because that’s when the house was built. It’s one of only 2 light fixtures that we didn’t replace when we moved in because we don’t use it (that pull chain is way too high for either of us to reach!). It may or may not work, and I’m not about to find out.
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The lockdown here has been extended to May 12. And the weather is crazy here too. It’s not the raining season but it’s raining every afternoon for the past two weeks now. My hubby runs an event management biz from home and there’ll be no income for us for many months to come. The government is giving a once-off RM1600 (USD370) for each household. Can you believe it? We’re going through a really tough time in this part of the world. On the bright side, we are safe and healthy and that’s all that matters now. Stay safe and healthy, CM! （*’∀’人）♥
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Ugh. I’ll be thinking of you, NBC.
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I’m glad you’re staying safe at least!
I lost pay as well, but happy to still have a job. Crazy times!
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Thanks for coming to visit, OM! Are you able to work from home? I know with your health issues, like mine, you can’t risk exposure to the virus. Your area is sunnier and warmer than ours, though, so maybe that will help.
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Working from home and staying safe!
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Our weather is basically the same, CM. We’re weathering this big storm at home, knock on wood. My dear wife Karen got a message from work that they’re working on their reopening plan, maybe to come in a few weeks. It’s an eye surgery center, elective things save for emergencies for which she’s been on-call a handful of times during her furlough. Interesting to include that on unemployment. Even for a few hours on the office clock docks the whole day with the government. The library is talking about what must be done for a reopening as far as safety for all, but no dates mentioned. Working my shifts at home is lonely even with all the online correspondence! Have a good weekend, my friend.
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I know Karen is dedicated, but maybe would’ve been better to just stay fully unemployed (an extra $600 a week! Not fair to the essential workers, but I’ll take it for my retirement). I’ve avoided even reading my work emails because that might somehow be considered “work” in the eyes of the unemployment division. Not that I could do anything about those emails, anyway, so why bother? (PS – special hugs to Karen for being willing to go in and help with those patients.)
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It was a condition of the furlough, the on call thing, so she had no choice, CM. The first several call-ins were before her unemployment (plus the Covid extra) even kicked in.
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All good here too but to your point, if the weather doesn’t get better soon, I’m going to pop. Hail? Snow? Cold in late April? It needs to end! I need to get outside, seriously.
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I hear you, Trent. I would enjoy this furlough a lot more if I could do stuff outside without freezing my ass off.
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This weekend’s not bad, right? I was outside for hours yesterday. I felt almost human.
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I think, given everything else that’s going on, the weather should be nice. We had a week of mostly cool rain – blah. But Yesterday was beautiful. Maddie and I go for walks in and around the park. It’s part of her routine, even though we could get the exercise in the yard. She is a creature of habit.
The sandwich looks very good – you’re making me hungry.
I hope you have a good week.
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Thanks, Dan. If my food photos make people hungry, perhaps I’m in the wrong line of work. That was just a very simple, homemade sundae, and I had to take that picture quickly before everything melted.
We took Cody to the school for a walk yesterday, and I must say we all enjoyed it. Today’s it’s raining cats and dogs, and the backyard is a swamp. Can’t win.
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Oh, wait, You said “sandwich” photo. My bad. Most people haven’t even seen the ice cream photo yet because I only posted it on Flickr and YouPic, but I know you did. I got a little confused for a moment.
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As a person who lives on a dead end street, I understand walking your yard’s perimeter, and put it up there with my up-and-down my street walking. When the back 40 is mowed we can enjoy quite a walk, but I’m sure it does look weird to our neighbors.
Glad your economic demands are met. I wish everyone’s were. I’m glad to be working, for money, for focus, for purpose, and to see other people — makes me feel more ‘normal’ like that’s even a thing now.
We’re in a cold spell again and I can’t tell you how sad the gray makes me. I’m not myself given the circumstances. I crave sunshine.
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Believe it or not, we had snow again yesterday. Mother Nature just does not want us to be going out, I guess.
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