Dec 20 - Dec 26 2020

12-20-2020

Corona Cases      17,053,640

Corona Deaths    300,700    

 

12-26-2020

Corona Cases  18,105,229

Corona Deaths  314,017

 

 

Interesting things we did this week

• Christmas was this week.  I worked as usual, but this time without holiday pay…but at least I didn’t lose a days work like I did in Flagstaff.
• Family members got calendars again.  I was lucky that I got nearly 3 months of traveling before the lockdowns came.  I’d hit dozens of National Parks and National Monuments before heading back to Florida.  I had more than enough lovely landscapes to choose from.  Arizona in particular was beautiful.  I had one sent to my sister and 2 sent to Aunt Pam, and those had arrived before Xmas.  I have one calendar left, and I’m saving it for Bree.  I made about 100 cookies and those were given to Grandma for her birthday and to George (roommate).  I have one more that I’m going to give to Christine…Gil’s house keeper.  I gave Christmas Hooch to Chris & Carla along with Gina & Phil.  We have 2 more, we’ll keep one and give the other to Gils friend Jesse.  We have started making a batch of the apple cinnamon for ourselves….but it’ll take a few months for it to reach the same state our first experiment was.
• Gil made a real effort this year at the gift giving.  He isn’t a natural gift giver, so this takes some thought and effort on his part.  I’m also difficult to buy for as I tend to buy what I need and am not interested in dust collectors.  He did well, got me some keto food and gave me a necklace that is really pretty.  I gave him a new hat, bat box, headphones, Ancestry test kit and a Playstation 3.  I tend to be a natural gift giver and I pay attention when people say they need something or they are upset that something is broken.  The PlayStation 3 may have been a mistake as I think he will never leave the living room now…
• Went up to Grandmas on her birthday.  It was a small group, just Grandma and Mitch and parents.  Grandma is deteriorating quickly.  She kept telling me I could sleep in the 3^rd bedroom with the twin beds.  There is no third bedroom.  I think she’s thinking of the Georgia house.  But she asks the same questions over and over and doesn’t remember the address.  She also likes to bash on people and give orders.  Mom and Mitch did a little tag teaming on caretaking and that gave them a little time to get a break.  Mom needs more self-care….she’s going to snap soon if she doesn’t get it.
• The weather was horrible this week and I didn’t get all the miles I needed last week.  And Saturday morning…when I could have got good miles in, it was below 40 degrees with a crispy wind chill.  I’m so behind on my miles.  I only have 40 miles left to do before the end of the year but I’m loosing ground.  I really want this completed before the end of the year.  The weather next week is going to be really good, I’m going to have to hunker down and crank those miles out.
• I haven’t been reading on my Kindle unlimited currently, I’ve been burning through some of my audible books this week.  It feels good to get hooked into a new book again.  I don’t always have the attention span to get hooked, but I’ve picked up a few nice ones and got really hooked.  I was doing some research on female serial killers in the US and tripped across Georgia Tan – she used to run a children’s home in Tennessee.  Although not a traditional serial killer in the way I describe it, she was responsible for many deaths…its estimated to be over 500 children and babies.  She was a child trafficker and a baby broker.  Her actions changed the way adoption was viewed in this country and was acknowledged as one of the greatest advocates for children…until the truth was discovered.  I’d never heard of her and grabbed a book about the true stories of survivors of the children’s home.  That book was put together by the author of novel based on a family that was directly affected by the actions of Georgia Tann.  It was fiction…but it was based on soooo much truth.  That book eventually lead to a ‘reunion’ of survivors and many of them shared their stories.  I ended up with both books and burned through both.  From there, I moved onto Hilarie Burtons book The Rural Diaries, two actors that move to a farming community and buy a farm and a candy store.  It’s a nice story and its nice to see that successful actors (that could be living a very good life in Hollywood) prefer a more family friendly lifestyle away from the big lights.
• I did some research on the vaccination distribution and children and healthy adults will probably have to wait until late spring/early summer for their turn.  So it looks like I’ll still be here for a while.  Not sure how that will effect the Costa Rica trip.
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