Quarantine Rabbit Holes and Other Shiny Things

In the words of Thumper (Bambi-currently streaming on Disney plus) “ If you can’t something nice, don’t say anything at all”. As there is nothing new, exciting or different to report for here, I have been keeping a low profile...Eddie stories are hard to come by when he is in a familiar rut here at home.  A truly good Eddie story must have the elements of surprise, distance travel, unusual food or people, and  possibly early mornings, which we all know, Eddie does not do anything joyfully before 10:00 AM. Doubtful you want a report on his woodwork projects, there are some colorful not foreign language being use...in new combinations I might add, quite sure that is a result of no cigarettes in 9 weeks (wahoo!), power tools and Murphy’s Law. A few notable quotable from the silver tongued lawyer...first, coming in from the shop last week, he stated “I am glad I am not a surgeon”.  Not that we need any more high risk Items for Coronavirus than we already have, and it is a little late in life for a redo career wise...so, I gathered that precision cutting was as little less than good in  the wood shop that day...Next, was an out of the blue comment while we were watching TV- “You know,” he started, “ I use to cover a fart with a cough, I guess I will have to start covering my coughs with a fart.”  You’ve been warned.  Like I said, there is not much new or exciting here.

I have ebbed and flowed with the dark side of pandemic panic and craziness.  I have had to put my iPad into lockdown/quarantine, because that rabbit hole will make you say bad words, fart and cough all at the same time with no Easter chocolate reward for your travels.   As the path forward looks like a Game of Thrones book (who will sit on the Iron Throne---early betting has Andrew Cuomo as a dark horse candidate), with a little House, MD thrown in for spice, I decided it was best to find other things to keep me busy...and out of the kitchen area...see Quarantine 15 (or CoVid 19 (as in not quite 20 lbs in 3 weeks) for those that have been eating take out more often) for details.

As I have said, Eddie is chasing his own rabbits out in the garage.  I have been attempting to be a good steward of the things in my life...to include the garbage.  On advise of our garbage company/community association, we are to place our trash in a black garbage bag and place said 39 gallon black garbage bag (in lieu of our can) on the curb for pick up on our regular pick up days.  The email notice reminds us that our sanitation engineers (aka garbage men) handle over 2,000 garbage cans daily, and some of those cans could have corona cooties. Yikes!  Here again, another rabbit hole.  So, I have been diligently sorting my trash so that it fits into one black garbage bag....removing the clean cardboard waste to be taken to the recycle bin on my one trip a week to get groceries from the pick up location that I booked 7-10 days prior.  Yet, another Rabbit Hole.  I am sorry, I miss going to the grocery store and selecting my own groceries....and bumping into people I know.    I know our personal shoppers are doing the best that they can given when everyone that can is using their services.   When you ask for 1 pound of broccoli, 1 pound of red grapes and one bag of lemons and get 5 pounds of broccoli, 4 pounds of grapes and 1 lemon I can see why Scott McClelland is such a big supporter of Good Reason (shiny thing alert-Houston area nonprofit to help kids be successful in school).  Guess that part is of why we do not have full time virtual learning.  I have used all of the Pinterest recipes for Grapes and/or Broccoli that I can.  Unless I stomp the grapes and make wine or smother the Broccoli in cheese sauce, I am flying solo on the stewardship of these items.  Like I said, learning to be thankful of what I do get from the store can become a rabbit hole of its own.

Post Harvey, I rediscovered a  old quilt that was made prior to the last pandemic of 1918. This quilt has moved us for 43 years, moved our kids, been a picnic blanket, and a tent.  It ended up being stored in a high shelf on the first floor.  Prior to coming into our possession, it was on down feather beds in Mississippi where homes were drafty and cold as there was no central heat --only the fireplace.  It was made by Ed's grandmother from pieces of old clothing and such.  It was not an art quilt by any means, but a block pattern quilt that was sewn together by a sturdy black Singer tread powered machine, then hand quilted...function over form.    I have that old machine,  I even have his grandmother's old sewing basket.  So, ratty and worn or not, I was determined not to toss this old piece away---it held too much history.  It has been draped over the weight machine in the home gym since we moved back down stairs a little over 2 years ago. (Guess there is nothing shiny in the home gym as it was just where I left it 2 years ago)  Wow, that whole thing--flooding, Harvey and rebuilding-- seems so long ago.  While each day then was challenging, frustrating, and exhausting, you at least knew where you were heading and how to get there...even if you had to wait your turn or found potholes in the road forward.   This is so different.  (OOOHHH Shiny-sorry)  Well, I made a couple of large TV pillows for the grandkids out of the better blocks and have fashioned a Pandemic Santa from some of the scraps.  I have enough for two pandemic panda bears leftover, wow, another week of fun with a sewing machine. Perhaps since this quilt survived the 1918 Spanish Flu I should make masks out of them....decisions, decisions....rabbit holes.

Ed and I had a shiny thing planned for late July and August--an air, land and sea trip to Alaska with a Pacific Northwest Road Trip.  As final payment for the sea portion was due this week, we went down the what if rabbit hole.  In the past,  I have chronicled Eddie's adventures with both air and sea "flu" that he seems to get regardless of how careful we are...the answer seemed obvious---to our children.  We love to travel, so we spent lots of time discussing the what ifs.  In the end today, we (really, me, cause we know how all this travel stuff gets done in Pickle world) pulled the plug on the air, land and sea portion of the trip---however, hope springs eternal---we can still "drive" in our car, with masks, gloves and Lysol to the Montana portion of our trip. Hopefully, there will be Hand Sanitizer by that time.   Fingers crossed.  Holding my rabbit foot keychain for good luck.