respublica

I finally used a face mask

Over the weekend, many grocery stores tightened up their rules for shopping and one of them was strongly advising customers to use a face mask. Even the employees were wearing them. I have never had one and dreaded this.

On Friday Gayle Zollmann, our landscape director gave me a face mask her mother sewed for me. What a cool surprise. It was made of material covered with vegetables! Perfect! I wore it this morning to the Schnucks old people hour from 6-7 and for the first time since all the quarantine/lock-down things went into effect, a number of other shoppers told me how much they loved the mask. Even better, the young man who had to guard the entrance to make sure only one person at a time went in, told me he loved the mask. He asked if I gardened and I said, I sure do. We had a nice, relaxed conversation.

This is unusual these days. Most of the time the stores are quiet as people want to get in and get out and not talk to strangers or friends. It's a silent process these days. The mask gave me hope.  When I got home I hung it outside so the sun could sanitize it and it's my front door decoration today.

You have to admit this is really good looking and cheerful. And to top it all off, I got everything on my list to last at least a week. They even had toilet paper and paper towels. I only needed a couple of paper towels, didn't feel the need to buy TP just because it was there.

Finally a doctor who believes in hope

Every hour of the day news people are showing us the latest numbers of people with the Coronavirus. How many have it and how many of died of it. I've become frustrated with this obsession with numbers which only show the worst. I badger Dale with the same comments when these graphs show up. "Why don't they include how many have recovered as well"? He just sits there.

So the next day or next hour I say this again.

Finally I saw a report on a doctor who wants the same information given out as I do.

Don't forget the recoveries': St. Louis doctor reminds us to remember the positive outcomes from COVID-19

He sees hope and wants us to see it too. Thank you Doctor Nitin Anand.  We need hope to get through this.

More things to learn and adapt to

Ok, now is the time we are encouraged to wear masks when we must go out in public. Well, maybe we are close to having the masks required, not just advised. I have been dreading this day because of how terrified I've been when encountering multiple people in masks doing grocery shopping. I get the reason, but I always fear those people actually have an illness. It's a terrifying sight to be among those covered with masks, gloves and even hoods.

But if we must wear a mask we'll probably have to rig up one on our own, they're as hard to find as toilet paper. And, wouldn't you just know, fashion people would be offering their own version of masks to wear in public. Here is one example.

Seriously, this is too much. The ego and need to be styling even during this time is more than silly.

Quite honestly I have become just scared to death at the thought of having to go to the grocery store, the news makes it sound like the virus is everywhere and on everyone. To make matters worse, Dr. Birx, the federal doctor who is part of every day's Covid briefing, told us yesterday to stay out of grocery stores. I mean, seriously, those places are about the only essential business we absolutely will need now and then. Unless you are one of those people who have long shopped at Sam's Club or Costco and bought in bulk. You probably have two freezers, two refrigerators and basement shelves filled with food and paper products. Most of us don't do this.

We, on the other hand, will have to get some things this week and I physically and emotionally dread this.

I did it

All the news today is how more and more public entities and stores are wanting us to wear masks when we are out. Masks are hard to find and I found there is no end to internet advice on how to make your own. I mean, these people are crafters! I am not. But after seeing this video on how to make a mask from a bandana and two rubber bands, I was sure I could do it.

Problem right off the back is that we have no bandanas. We have no bandanas today. Sing along.

But while doing laundry I noticed a stack of cotton napkins we use maybe twice a year. I rewashed two and then ironed them. They're about the same size as most bandanas. I followed along as the cheerful woman explained the process using her own bandana and I was able to do it. Here is the result. One thing I noticed in this picture is I haven't combed my hair today and that it needs cutting. But, well...

Two things. A bandana would be much easier to wear, the napkin seemed thin until I got it altogether, it's just a bit too thick. Next time I have the nerve to go out I'll see if I can find a bandana. Also, rubber bands which go around the ears get uncomfortable fast.

And one more thing

We know we have to wash our hands constantly. We've heard this over and over, we even see videos of the best way to do this. 20 seconds at least and really was hands vigorously. The main advice each day is, wash your hands and don't touch your face. I often wonder if that means we shouldn't wash our faces.

Now in the last 24 hours or so even more hand washing advice has been popping up all over. It seems all that hand washing dries out the skin and dry skin has small cracks which make it even easier for the germ to get in. So, it's important to keep the clean hands moisturized. The fatty compound in moisturizer blocks those germs from getting in.

Here I go. Not only am I constantly washing my hands 100 times a day even when I never leave the house, I am now following with moisturizer.

Don't forget to wipe down that computer keyboard, mouse, phone etc.

One walk around

I took a quick walk around the seminary campus yesterday, no one else was in sight, except for a couple of guys fixing part of the tower roof and they were way up high.

And this tree! In other years I'd always take a picture of Ferdie underneath this.

And we have 5 ducks! Normally we see two each spring.

And finally I went over to where several of our students dug out the ground in the shape of a cross behind the dorm which faces Demun. They did this two years ago and I wanted to see if the daffodils they planted in this cross came up. It appears as though the flowers did bloom, but I was too late as most have already fallen off.

This is a lesson to me. I've been obsessed with this virus quarantine and forgot about the cross. In more ways than one and I need to get back to the cross. The First Cross.

It's come to this

On Monday I posted about the multitude of neighborhood people who were all over the seminary campus over the weekend. We were frustrated by the cavalier attitude by many as they sat on picnic tables and basically touched everything, hand rails, chairs, benches, playground equipment. Multiple people throughout the day did these things without thinking about what could be on those hard surfaces. And, too many local neighborhood kids running around without parents.

This situation began to reoccur on Monday, the weather was nice and people do need to get out of their house for a while. But it seems local people were of the idea that we are a free zone. This is not fair to our own people, especially students and their families, maintenance workers, and the construction crew working here. All are being very careful to obey the quarantine regulations.

So it had to stop, sadly. We've loved being welcoming over the years, but not being taken advantage of by sloppy behavior. Yesterday morning all the benches and tables were taken off the main campus and stored. The student families playground was padlocked. Barriers were put up to stop people from going into certain areas on campus. And, big sandwich signs were made and placed at all entry points to the campus.

Click picture to see better.

It's hard for us to have to do this, but the times make this necessary.

Sun and wind and tons of people

Yesterday was a bright sunny day, but extremely windy. So windy it lifted a 5x3 foot cardboard box from the big construction dumpster down the street and flew it all the way down the block over to the Sieck classroom building across from our side yard.

The day also brought more flowering trees into bloom including the rare Yellow Magnolia.

It also brought out local neighborhood people who chose to get their outside time on this campus. Early on in this isolation time we were sort of interested in the people who came through each day, but yesterday was too much. Too many are walking in groups or by twos and threes and not separating themselves as we are told to do. They often then sit for a while on our benches. And, the ones who got my goat were 4 ten-ish year old boys who I came across as I was taking the Magnolia photo. They were on the side of the chapel and careening down the steep grade to the bottom and then rolling around with each other before climbing back up and doing it again and again.

I watched this for as long as I could stand it, getting more irritated by the minute. Where are the parents who let their boys go wandering around the neighborhood in these times? They certainly were not spacing themselves from each other. When they finally gave up on the chapel hill diving they headed to the fountain pond where 3 big ducks were sleeping on the edge. I could tell they were about to go after those ducks so I turned into bad cop. I pulled up to them in my golf cart and asked them if they lived on this campus. They looked at me as though I was speaking Spanish. They obviously did not live here, our students' children are strictly isolated and would never be set loose.

I told them for as long as I was watching them at no time did they obey the separation restriction of 6 feet between each other and they would have to head for their own homes. It took them a while to do this, waiting to see if I'd leave, but I sat there until I saw them head off campus. Where are their parents?

Two older gentlemen had been out for a safe walk and watched all this. When I was able to leave the area, one said, "You're President Meyer's wife, aren't you?" I kind of laughed and said, I'm doing bad cop this afternoon. And they smiled.

Lamb at the door

Today being Sunday I placed a small sheep at our front door. We're all listening for our Shepherd's voice today and listening more intently than ever before. Praise God for promising to hear us. And, living in times like this we are thankful for the technology which allows us to be part of our churches' worship services online. In our case, Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Collinsville.

 

Passing the time while home bound

We have made very few trips off our home property since the virus distancing rules have gone into effect. Any early morning run to get food, that's about all. It gets tiresome, but it's necessary and so we cope.

Does anyone else feel guilty or feel like apologizing when walking into a store? I do, even when I go for something we really need.

This made us both smile, the story of many people putting back up their Christmas lights to make things seem more cheery. So yesterday I joined that group and put the spotlights back on in our Tiny Town Christmas village. It did make things seem nicer.

Dale has been working from home and spends a lot of time on the phone or on the laptop. But now and then he looks like this.