Coping With Heat and Virus Restrictions

So, what are we doing these days? It is hot, really hot, here in Gold Canyon. Not as hot as it will be mid-summer. But hot. Just look at this temperature!

In addition to the heat, there are the restrictions of Covid 19. Everything in our resort is closed. The swimming pool, the gym, classrooms, tennis courts and pickle ball courts. It is the same all across the country, I know. Some people in our resort are trying to make do. These people put up a rope or something so they could play pickle ball on one of the parking areas.

If nothing else works, how about arranging small rocks in front of your house?

We have been trying to clean up and pare down some of our files. I have used my iPhone to make digital images of thousands of the photographs we have accumulated. Many of the pictures are ones we have taken throughout our married life. We have pictures of our children over the years, pictures of our homes and friends. And many, many photos from our travels. In addition, we have many of the old photos from our parents.

I have finished copying them. Now, I have to put them into digital albums so we can find them if we ever want to.

We also have been trying to clean out old files. Here you can see some of those John has been going through.

I have been working on financial files. I don't have to keep everything, for ever. For legal reasons, 7 years of financial data is all that is required. We also have deeds to property we have bought and sold, as well as to property of our parents. The paper really accumulates.

We also have many genealogy files. I was surprised to find those had already been pared down. I didn't have to do anything there.

We are trying to put this time to good use. And so far, we haven't been bored. And when we die, our children will appreciate what we are doing. Their job will be simplified.

So, What Are We Doing?

We are staying home, of course.  We don't have any choice.  We only leave our resort to go grocery shopping.  Since everything in our resort is closed or cancelled, we only leave our house to walk.  It is the same for everyone here.  Lots of people are walking, some riding their bikes around the resort.  We saw a woman on roller blades yesterday.  And if exercise isn't their interest, people just drive around in their golf carts.  Reminds me of Sunday afternoon drives when I was a child.

I did a lot of house cleaning when the stay at home order first came out; recently we have begun going through our storage compartments.  John found a box of old letters.  In 1973 he spent 13 weeks attending the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia. The FBI established this academy to provide training to local police department command officers  John was a lieutenant on the Boulder Police Department.  I stayed home in Boulder with our two boys, Doug age 5 and Eric 18 months.  We wrote letters to each other every day.  Since it was before the cell phone era, we only talked once a week.  Long distance calls were expensive.

We have both been reading those letters before destroying them.  We feel like we have stepped back in time 47 years.  Nixon was president, Agnew resigned during that time and the Watergate hearings were underway.  Our parents were all still alive and we almost feel we should give them a call this afternoon, just to see how they are doing.  We are in a real time warp.

We have been a keeper of old family photographs in both our families.  We all know printed photos deteriorate.  I have been making digital copies of these photos periodically over the years.  I decided now was the time to finish the job.  Yesterday I copied 620 photos, mainly from the first 25 or so years of our marriage.  In the past I have copied many of the family photos from before we were born.

I am almost done with the copying.  Now I am trying to move them into albums so I can find something when I want to.  So far, I have only done that with part of the 620 newly copied pictures.  I wonder if I will finish this task before we are free to travel and shop again?

Other folks in our resort have different ways to keep busy. We see notes on the streets, written with colored chalk, hearts cut out and put up in windows, banners of encouragement. Here are two cute signs put up in one yard. We saw the top display today for the first time. The second was from late March.

Stay safe and healthy, everyone.

Signs of Our Times

I am sure none of us has ever lived in a time like we are in now.  Social distancing, wash your hands, stay at home, no gatherings, no funerals, limited travel.  I feel like everything I touch might be infected.  Today we went for a walk.  I didn't touch anything.  But as I straightened my glasses, my first thought was--now I have to disinfect my glasses!  Really?  Probably not, but I feel everything is a threat.

These signs around our resort help build this fear.

Even the grill is closed.  No carry-out available here.

We went to the post office the other day.  Look at the plastic hanging from the ceiling to protect the clerks.  And notice the empty mail crates stacked in front of each window to keep is 6 feet away.

This is an encouraging sign we saw yesterday in someone's window here in our resort.  In case you can't read it, it says, "Social Distance Hugs to all!"

There are signs from God throughout the park that brighten our days.  The cactus plants are in full bloom.

Follow the guidelines and stay healthy, everyone.  Hopefully, all this will be over in the not-too-distant future.