Numbers Just Don’t Add Up

We had a nice Memorial Day weekend.  I have been getting out a bit more but not for long, not into any crowds, mostly just run an errand and return.

We were invited Sunday to a Tomball campground by friends who had 5 people besides us at their RV.   Plans were if it rains, grab a plate of food and head for home.  There was brisket, ribs and chicken besides lots of other stuff too.  I made a Black Forest cake to take.  We all were outside sitting apart.  It rained horrendously on the way down, broke for about 3 hours, and when it clouded up, we headed home in another horrendous downpour.  Our water meter lid was floating in the yard, the emitter lid had been blown off and our side yard on top of the French drain looked like a river.  Nothing was damaged, just lots of water draining away eventually.

Monday we were having Terry and Carol over so Ted smoked ribs in his smoker.  I used red/white/ blue dishes and put a dozen little flags out around the wall.  I even told Alexa to sing The Star Spangled Banner before we sat down to ask the blessing.  I thought it was a nice touch.  I made twice baked potatoes, beans, Texas toast and served applesauce with Carol’s coleslaw.  I also made a very berry cobbler which we all enjoyed.

We played cards.  I had a Shanghai and came in second.  Hooray, finally my dry spell has broken.  I am used to playing cards at least once a week and this not socializing is getting old fast!

Irene and I both had Chico gift cards so when they finally opened we went to the Premium Outlet Center to see what trouble we could get into.  I used up my gift card and then some at Chico’s but Irene had two cards and had some credit left on one.  A fair amount of stores were not open yet,  some had social distancing outside waiting to get in and some allowed only a certain number in at a time.  I made one purchase at Ann Taylor and Irene bought a piece of jewelry at Swarovski and we shared some mini Annie pretzels on a bench that had the middle seat roped off.  So much for lunch!

While I was cleaning house and preparing for having company, Ted was working on getting the plates for my Jeep and the motorhome.  The consignment lot that sold our truck had all our Jeep paperwork and were in no hurry to get the plates but finally this week Ted picked them up.  When the motorhome title arrived he was able to get the motorhome plates.  They are now on the vehicles with the inspection stickers in place.  The titles should come sometime in June.  Nancy will watch out for them.

Our trip is mostly in flux right now.  What I have in place isn’t working because the events we were aiming for have been cancelled.  New ones are in their place.  Michigan is still on shutdown until into June so the county campgrounds aren’t open, I need to change the dates in the Ohio state park but no one answers the phone and the mailboxes are all full.  Sam’s commencement may or may not  happen.  The party venue may or may not be open with permission to have enough people to cover the guest list, etc., etc., etc.!  We were able to get Ted registered for a different Shoot in Ohio with my brother.  That venue has cabins and RV spots but all 600 spots and the cabins were full.  So we opted for the nearby KOA and Dan and Sue rented a camping cabin.  Let’s hope those reservations hold!

But we are self contained now with a generator so the worst that can happen as far as parks go, is we end up in a Walmart or Flying J for a night.  We will do our best to get confirmed reservations as we move along but with things changing day after day it is hard to stay on top of it.

And this is the reason for my Title.  Today we reached 100,000 Covid19 deaths.  So I Googled how many people normally die each day from all causes in the US and the answer from a few different sources is 7,000.  We have been “locked up” for the most part, for 56 days.  You can do the math.