How Covid-19 changed things for us

This is probably a moot point for so many people my age. Some are retired and live on farms or in the countryside so they can isolate a bit easier than those who would be in apartments [believe me, I had been thinking a lot about downsizing just last year!].

Grocery shopping habits have changed. No longer is it the every few days run into town to get something, or on a whim decide to eat out. We didn't do that often anyway. 

Now a grocery list is a study of strategy. I make a list and rewrite it in order of the isles in the store. I start by the milk and end by the produce. We have 3 stores in our town. Walmart, Quillians, and Viroqua Food Co-op. Walmart has the best prices on many things we like. The breakfast cereals at the other two stores are up to $2 more per item. 

Viroqua Food Co-op does offer curbside pickup. Otherwise I have to drive 30 miles one way to to a curbside pick up from the LaCrosse Walmart. 45 miles one way to get Quillians pick up. So the choices are limited. 

I spent the summer doing a 'stock up' of dry goods, beans, and non perishable items.
I can call up a lady for fresh eggs and go pick them up.
I can make up an order from the Co-op and pick the foods up. It is more pricey, but the fresh produce quality is so much better than any other store.

I can call and order the mule's Senior Feed for the elder mules. They can process the order over the phone and leave the feed on the dock for me to pick up.

I find myself planning my once a month shopping as if it was a strategic battle. Do I get bulk items at Wally World at 7am? What is on my list? 

I admit that I am cooking differently. I have made home made bread. Not too bad, I can still do it.
I made home made desserts. The cookies are good as long as I stick to chocolate chip cookies. The apple crisp was not too great, not enough apples but the topping was good!
I made home made oven cooked fries. That was actually fun and not as hard as I thought.

I'm going to try some butternut squash soup this week. I have so many squash stored in the basement and I need to eat it.

But really this is just more of reaching back as to how my grandmother cooked and made things. She didn't drive and they made a trip to town in the fall and in the spring. Mom would drive us once a month to town for groceries when we stayed at the cottage in the summer.

I grew up never needing milk as we always had dried milk. [YUCK!!!] Everything was bulk. Flour, sugar, rice, powdered milk, ... 
Most everything was home made. Maple syrup and jelly for example. Meat was purchased or butchered and put in the freezer to last the winter.

Fast food was not a thing.

I recall going down into my grandmother's cellar to get something for her and commenting that she was ready for a World War. I used to privately joke about it.

Funny. She survived the first World War, she survived the 1918 pandemic, she survived the second World War and the Great Depression. She survived food and fuel rationing.
So. Not funny.

I think about that. And now I understand why my Grandparents rarely tossed things and always repurposed items. Why they were so stingy with their money. Why they wore clothes with patches and darned their socks. I understand why they thought eating at a restaurant was a HUGE thing. A show of waste and opulence.

If Grandma Pearl was alive today she would simply say 'Humph,' and carry on. If their meat got low in the freezer, there was always critters in the woods and fish in the lake.

I'm not ready to go there. 
Yet.

But I am working on taking care.

I know there are those that think this Pandemic is no big deal. I am not going to argue that with anyone. I will deal with it my way and listen to my husband's doctors who have said to treat everyone outside of our house as an Infection.

My husband is content. I am a bit stressed and bored, but need to dig deep into my Grandmother's and mom's heritage and deal with it. 
I feel we are in a fairly good place. 
I am not working 12 hr shifts at the plant and driving 60 miles per shift like I used to 3 years ago. I have to stay home. Three years ago my choice was made for me. We made a quick adjustment to living on a lot less.

Our Holidays haven't changed. When Rich's mom could no longer get around, and when Rich stopped driving...we stopped traveling to his daughter's for a get together. One year his daughter and family did come here. Enough said.

There are those who are at work keeping our food supply chain open. These are the folks I am so grateful for. 

There are the nurses and doctors that are providing the best care they can right now. To those people too, you are my heroes. 

And that is where I am going to leave it this morning. I'm going to have a cup of tea and go do chores, wander the woods, and get on with my next project of learning something new to cook or make from what I have at hand.

Be safe and well.

Sunday Sunday...what is today?

It is a different time, no doubt about it.

People are protesting that their rights are being trampled on. We have a president who is egging on unrest to deflect from his own inadequate abilities and woefully irresponsible governing.

Okay. Enough of what I think.

Interestingly enough, this time of being 'locked' down hasn't affected us like it has others. We are a very rural farming community which grows the standard fare of crops. Corn, beans, and hay. Dairy Farms are suffering great losses due to no schools being open among other reasons.

My husband is used to living life in a hermit type way. I am not as much of a loner as he is, but I am settling into a life of being remote.
I did talk with my neighbors yesterday across our property fence. They live at the top of our driveway and are the only folks near enough for us to actually see and hear. The rest of our 'neighbors' are at least a quarter of a mile away or further.

They were setting up their garden. Being 'hungry' for talking to someone else, I did stand on my side of the fence and talk... a lot. We laughed when I asked... *This IS Sunday right?*
I knew what day it was, but somehow our world feels slightly obscure and surreal.

It had been 3 weeks since I'd gone to the grocery store. A record for me.

That is one of my masks. I felt odd wearing it, but I wasn't the only one in the store with a mask.
I went at 7am again and filled my basket. Many of the items I wished for weren't there.

Rich complained that I didn't bring home cookies. They weren't on my list and I noticed that he eats them as a constant snack. I purchased canned fruits instead.
Fresh fruits, tomatoes, and other fresh food was scarce in the store.
He is like having a finicky kid to feed. But I refuse to keep candy and cookies as a non stop snack food for him.
I put an apple in front of him when he complains.

These were our veggies last night. Sweet corn from our garden a year ago, sweet potatoes, and nettles! The nettles cooked up nicely and I ate them with butter, I saved some for tea later.

I will make a special trip to Walmart tomorrow morning as soon as they are open to get some items I couldn't get at  Quillians on Sunday. I need Qtips, toothpaste, ...seeds, and brownie mix, shampoo, and a few other items.

I need a trip to the feed store for Senior Feed for Fred and Mica too. Then I am finished for another few weeks I hope.

I feel okay. But the stress of dealing with Rich's memory/health issues on one hand and not getting de-stressed on the other hand do get to me on some days.

Those are the days when I need to get off the farm and out to the hinterlands of the public lands.


I am so grateful to my son Eddie for calling on Sunday evenings. To know that he is checking in on me is comforting.

Home again update

I got home fairly late in the afternoon on Sunday as I had a midnight shift Sunday night.

Update on the 'kids' and their apartment fire. Everyone was safe and sound. 
My son's wife had gone to the Red Cross and received some funds for replacing some clothes and some other assistance.
For the moment they are living in their mom in law's house/downstairs apartment which is now very cramped. 
With a two and three year old that are rambunctious that doesn't make this anything but a temporary spot to stay.
At the moment, they sleep on the floor.
There will be assistance for them to help pay the first month's rent and a deposit when they do find a place. That is what Sam [son's wife] is working on. Something they may be able to afford.

I went shopping early Saturday morning at places like Nice As New in Wausau. I took Lily and we did some power shopping.
We made out very well with the used clothes and got the kids prepared for an outing.

One last stop at a sporting goods store for some sleds and we were ready. 

I had a grand plan. Let them play their hearts out while mom and dad were at work and I could then take them back to the motel and sort through the donated clothing from my neighbor with them.

We could watch a movie and have some quiet time.

The plan worked.

After modeling clothes and winding down. We had some quiet time. I got a movie on the Kindle and turned the volume down so they would have to be 'quiet' to hear it.
Viola:

I can say that the next time I am asked to donate to the Red Cross or the Salvation Army, I will indeed do so.

At the moment, everyone has clothes and the donations for toiletries are coming in.
My son will be going back to see what else is salvageable soon. The building inspector doesn't want him in there until the structure above the apartment is deemed sound.

They were lucky. What do they need now for the future? Well, most of that is up to my son and his wife. They need to put their heads together and formulate a plan.

I thought I'd be helping with that or at least making suggestions, but apparently not. This is okay with me. They need to stand on their own two feet.

I'd like to jump in and give them advice, but the night guy at the motel and I were talking about that...grown children and advice.
He laughed and said, "We can talk until we are blue in the face...and still it may fall on deaf ears."

He couldn't have said it better. 
I went and helped out some.
I hugged the kids and Jer and Sam a lot... Lily too.

And I left Sunday at dawn.

I was 17 minutes from the Dells of Eau Claire, I was not going to miss a chance at seeing it with incredible ice formations.
But that is for another blog.

Miss Lily and The Purse.

While Lily was here for her short visit, we were busy as all get out. We tried cramming a full weeks worth of activities plus school shopping in just a few days.

Lily wanted to visit the second hand stores in our local town of Viroqua. Last year we both got lucky with some really nice finds.

When we got into the store Lily moved down to the childrens section and started to browse. 

I stopped at the adult section that had some interesting looking pants and found some nice shorts from Patagonia and North Face. They were super soft and pre-worn.

Lily came back with a handful of clothing. She hadn't found anything in her size that she liked, but had found some very nice outfits for Elena and Sterling. What a good older sister she is. Plus she knows clothes.

She held up my items of interest and looked at them. She shook her head at one pair of pants I had and stuck them back in the rack. "Not for you, Grandma," she said.  She grabbed another pair and held them up, nodding. "More like it!"
She handed them to me and told me to go try them on.

Oh yeah. Lily will be 12 years old late December.

We put the purchases in the back of the Subaru and walked to the next store. Immediately Lily walked over to where they had purses on racks.

"You need a purse Grandma," she stated, her eyes on the items. She fingered one or two purses and looked inside of them.
I wrinkled my nose.

"I haven't had a purse since..." I shrugged. I couldn't remember the last time I'd used a purse. 

"Well you need to get organized," said Lily. "You have a smart phone that needs to be carried in a purse, you have keys and you are always forgetting which pocket you put them in." 
Lily wrinkled her nose.

"And that wallet. Ewww." She shook her head.
"I'll think about it." I replied.

We shopped and browsed, Lily found a few shirts and suggested a pink shirt for me. I liked its weight and softness so I took it.

We ended back at the purse rack. Lily handed me a purse. It was pretty but...
I shrugged and sort of acted interested.
Then after a few false starts, Lily handed me a red canvas purse. She adjusted the strap and hung it on my shoulder, then proceeded to hang it crosswise like she'd seen me wear my sling camera bag.

"This is it, Grandma. This is your purse. See? Not complicated at all. Not large and it looks enough like a camera bag to suit you." She nodded in satisfaction.
I stood mute with a red purse slung over my shoulder.

Then she turned and started to dig through the ladies wallets. 
"You have to get rid of that thing you have now. It is so ..., " Lily shuddered and made a face.

We settled on a lady's wallet and went to the cashier to check out.

I'd just bought a purse and a lady bug wallet. I wasn't exactly sure how that all just happened.

When we got home, we showed Grandpa Rich the purchases. His eyebrows rose when he saw the purse.

Lily cleaned off the table and asked for my ugly old wallet, cell phone, and keys. She motioned me to go tend to the sweet corn while she put things together.

I was cooling the sweet corn when she walked up holding my old tattered wallet. She was holding it as if it were a dead mouse.
She motioned for me to open the cabinet door under the sink.

With huge fanfare, she dumped the wallet in the trash.
She then presented me with the new purse and showed me how she organized everything.

I now have a nice red purse that is well organized.
I have no idea how I got along all these years without it.

Grocery Shopping. Ewww.

I can say with sincere authority that I dislike greatly...no, dislike immensely, Grocery Shopping.

I think the food I want should just automatically just be dropped into my cabinets when I need it.  

I hate making a list, I always forget it at home.  On those times I don't forget my list, I forget to write something down anyway.  Or I come home and discover that I got all the ingredients for something like chili except one ...

We have two stores in town that we can get groceries. One is called Jubilee Foods and the other is a SuperCenter Walmart.
If I want to drive 45 miles one way, I could have more choices, but I prefer to get what I can in town.

The only saving grace for getting groceries is that sometimes I can take the backroads back home and find something interesting to shoot with a camera.

So off I go to Walmart, the bank, and Jubilee Foods. Another exciting day at the farm.

Oh, reminder for self.  Stop and talk to the new neighbors and let them know that male coyotes have been running up through their woods so that they should keep a close eye on their little dog, Dexter.
Call old neighbors and see if we can get together for a catch up visit.

Okay, enough with lists.  I'm terrible at sticking to them anyway.

No The Red One.

"Do you want to go to LaCrosse and look at Subaru's?" my husband asked.

I'd finished chores and was tired.  The week had been exhausting with his PEG surgery and all the phone calls and appointments that we'd made.

I'd sat in the house awaiting one call or another it seemed, all week.  Yes I have a cell phone, but where we live, we can't always get reception.

The weather was cold and dreary.  I was prepared to snuggle down on the couch and sleep all day.  But hubby's question perked me up.

"Yes!" I answered and changed out of my chore clothes and into jeans and a sweatshirt.  I wanted to get going before he changed his mind.  I hadn't owned a new car since 1995.  Well, not that we actually needed one, we were pretty frugal when it came to vehicles.  His 2003 diesel truck was a new purchase but we had needed a power house to haul hay and the 'mule' trailer.

We'd been looking at getting something to replace our 2002 Subaru Outback.  It had been a purchase we made used from a friend a couple of years ago.  20K miles later and lots of $ in repairs we'd decided that it was just going to nickel and dime us until it dropped dead.

I'd purchase my son's Jeep Liberty a few years ago and I still like it, but it does have 145K miles on it.  It gets 19 miles to the gallon period.

Hubby wanted something that wasn't going to need constant repairs and that would be dependable for driving back and forth to Madison this summer.  The vehicle we were interested in averages 34 miles per gallon on the highway.  It is also AWD. What I'd learned from driving the Outback, was that I liked how the Subaru handled in all sorts of weather and road conditions.

Off we went to the Dahl's Subaru in LaCrosse.

After the test drive we got back with the salesperson and the haggling began. Call it wiggle room, haggle, negotiating, or whatever.  My husband can be a frightful person to deal with.

We had driven a red XV Crosstek that had a light colored interior. Hubby preferred a dark colored interior.  He felt we ought to consider the Charcoal colored Crosstek that was 'in transit'.  Our conversation went something like this:

Him:  I like the Charcoal color, dark interior.
Me: I like the Red.
Him: I am buying it for you, so I want you to be happy.  I like the Grey color.
Me:  I like the Red.
Him: Well dark interiors are easier to keep clean.
Me: I like the Red.
Him:  I like the Grey.
Silence.

The negotiating gets done and hubby looks at Alex.
"We'll take the Red one.""