Today we hit a horrific milestone: 100,000 deaths in this country from the coronavirus. The worst of any other country in the world. It did not have to be this bad. Trump ignored the warnings early on and dismissed the oncoming crisis as a “democrat hoax.” And now he could care less about these deaths as he wants to ignore that this is happening and reopen the country where all of the early-open hotspots are surging. He wants to golf (as he did over Memorial Day weekend), and he desperately wants to campaign for his reelection. He is a moron. He is a monster.
Our rural county got the go-ahead to enter “Phase 2” of opening up in Washington, and it makes good sense from our governor because we have a very low case rate that has slowed well within the criteria of advancing to the second phase. This means it will be OK to meet with groups of five people outside of our immediate household. Which I believe means that Nate and Sandra and Quinn could come to Harstine! And as long as we’re all feeling healthy, I don’t think that means “only hanging outside on the deck with masks, six feet apart.”) I BELIEVE that means that they could come on down, stay with us for a night or two, and masks don’t have to be a thing except if we were, say, walking the beach and encountered other people (which is rare here). Right? I figure it’s up to the kids, because they know who they have been around (at work) and how they measure their own risks. John has been at the highest risk in our household since he has been the grocery-go-getter, and he probably goes more often than he should. But he’s been pretty careful, not that that is a sure thing, I know. Nate and John and I all have June birthdays, and it would sure be wonderful to have our small group celebration (which for me, would be the best birthday present ever!) Plus I need motivation to clean this house…
In other pandemic news, I placed an order with Amazon that included dishwasher and laundry detergent, plus a big plastic jug of olive oil. I’ve done this numerous times before, but I needed all three in fairly short order and our grocery store tends to be inconsistent with its stock on those items. Since “Prime” two-day delivery doesn’t appear to exist anymore, I ordered somewhat in advance (before it was dire) and sure enough, it took a good week or more before they notified me it had all shipped. Yesterday, the day it was all supposed to be delivered, I saw the UPS truck arrive while I was out on the deck. Oddly, he was there in the driveway for a long time. I saw the guy once at the back of the truck, either opening or closing the doors and he waved at me. Then he apparently sat inside the truck for another period of time—I’d say overall, he was there for a good 20 minutes. OK, maybe 15. But a long time for a delivery. I was reading my Kindle book so I wasn’t paying much attention and John wasn’t around. Later, John went up to bring the box down and came back in empty-handed with a puzzled look on his face. No box. No nuthin’. I checked my Amazon account and there was a message in big red letters that my order was UNDELIVERABLE and that I would be receiving a refund. What?
And then I imagined what probably happened. The liquid laundry detergent and the liquid olive oil had probably been tossed into a box (with the rest of the stuff) with no care (I had a dented olive oil bottle once) and it rattled around and one or the other—or both—leaked. Possibly intermixed. It was probably a huge mess. It was obvious the UPS guy could tell. You can picture this, right? Sigh. First World Problems, I know.
We wish so bad that we had a photo of this! John drove down the driveway returning from picking up the mail and here was little Nikki the cat nose-to-nose with a DEER. He said they were no more than six inches apart, checking each other out. The deer’s neck was was bent down, peering at Nikki, and neither of them were freaked out by each other, just simply curious. But John’s arrival sent the deer trotting down the hill to the beach. You can picture this, too, right? Man, what a photo that would have been. What a soothing and uplifting photo that would have been.
Trail walking.
Beaches and trains, his true loves.
Walking the tracks.
Checking out the flora. And probably bugs.
Loving the surf.
I adore this little boy!
