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.

Frustration

Although, at the end of the day, I accomplished most of the items on my to-do list, this day has not been all I hoped it would be.

I know that the US Postal Service wants to stop Saturday delivery of mail. But I didn't know that the counters at post offices are closed on Saturday. We had some gifts to mail to Sweden. They can't be mailed at the small post office in our resort, so today I drove to first one, then another nearby full-service post office. And neither one is open on Saturday! So those gifts haven't been mailed. I'll do it Monday.

Next, I went to Hobby Lobby to buy Christmas wrapping paper and some boxes for gift cards. I found some really pretty, shiny paper. Unfortunately, when I opened it at home, I discovered it is paper for lining baskets. It is clear! That won't hide the description of gifts for our New Hampshire granddaughters. Since I wanted to get the gifts wrapped and didn't want to drive to the store again, I covered the boxes with typing paper, then with the pretty, clear paper. Not a perfect solution, but the gifts are wrapped.

One task did go as planned. I am taking three dozen cookies to church tomorrow. I got the cookies mixed and baked, with an additional three dozen for John and me.

We have completed all our Christmas shopping for gifts that must be mailed. All of our Christmas cards are mailed or emailed. Two of the three sets of presents to be mailed are wrapped. I guess, since it is just December 1, we are in pretty good shape. How many of you are this far along?

Only in a Small Town

You know the saying, "neither rain, nor snow nor sleet keeps the Post Office from delivering the mail." Or something like that. Do you believe it? Today, we do.

All of our snail mail goes to a post office box in Littleton, CO, and our son Eric periodically sends it to us in a USPS Priority Mail box. It usually arrives in 2 or 3 days. Last Wednesday I sent him a text message with a General Delivery address of Tumacacori, AZ. He texted back in the late afternoon, saying he was mailing the package. So Friday we stopped by the Tumacacori Post Office. The mail wasn't there. When I asked about getting it Saturday, the postmaster, Joanne Stupy, gave me a business card with the phone number. Though the post office window isn't open on Saturday, she said someone would be there in the morning until about 10, distributing mail to the post office boxes.

That was impressive. You need to go through an 800 number to reach a post office in most cities. To be told I could call when the post office wasn't really open was very special. I called on Saturday--no mail. I called this morning, again--no mail. I asked if the package could be forwarded to somewhere else, as we were leaving tomorrow. "Yes," she said. So we went to the RV park office to pay for one more night, then we planned to drive to the post office and leave a forwarding address. While we were in the park office, they received a phone call, asking if they have someone named Anderson who was looking for a general delivery package. The woman here looked and said, no one named Anderson. After she hung up, I asked if that was the post office. When she said yes, I pointed out that our name was Andrews--very close to Anderson. She called and found that our mail had been sent to the Amado Post Office--about 1 mile from here. I had put the wrong zip code on the package.

We drove to the Amado PO and picked up the package. It had been delivered there, the zip code changed so it went to Tumacacori, then again sent to Amado. Only then did the postmaster Joanne realize it might belong to the woman who kept calling about a general delivery package. So she called the two RV parks in the area, hoping she could locate us.

Such service would never happen in a city. The box would have sat on the shelf in one of the post offices for the required 30 days or so, then be sent back to Eric. Instead, we received it today. Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor my giving Eric the wrong zip code kept the Post Office from delivering this package. And are we ever grateful!