2020 Living in the year of Covid

 2020 Living in the year of Covid

The year began under the threat of Covid 19, the mysterious respiratory illness that we now know came from China. The politicians of the world are still spouting accusations and rebuttals in every direction. Nobody knows the truth about where the virus came from or if there was some nefarious scheme at play. 

The reality of the respiratory illness is it is quickly becoming a pandemic; it will make you deathly ill and may kill you. The government is shutting down the country but not quick enough or complete enough to isolate the US from it spreading here. Domestically, we are forced to wear paper masks in any gathering of people, schools have shut down, businesses closed, and everyone is waiting for the pharmaceutical companies to develop a vaccine.

There is not a lot of panic, but everyone is apprehensive. Hording food became an issue, but soon it became apparent that some essential services would continue to operate. Grocery stores adapted and offered online shopping with curbside delivery to your vehicle. At one point the US ran out of toilet paper, that caused a big stink! 

As time went on public impatience emerged and everything got crazy. Everything was questioned, why are big box stores labeled essential services and subsequently getting richer while small companies forced to close are going out of business? Why are we forced to wear these useless paper masks? Why are we being forced to take multiple vaccinations for the disease? Why isn’t the government doing more? Why is the government controlling every aspect of our lives? Why, why, why? It goes on and on.

Picking out my "Craftsman tools" coffin

Criticism and conspiracy theories are the main topic of conversation in 2020.  Through all this, some of us remained calm, tried to be sensibly cautious in public and live life as normally as possible in these troubled times. 

January 2020

The weather is unseasonably warm, we have daffodils blooming in the front yard.

I found a full-size commercial claw machine for sale on Facebook Marketplace for a very reasonable price. After researching used machines, I reevaluated it to be offered at a very cheap price. I messaged the seller and made arrangements to pick it up asap. I didn’t want to lose the sale to someone else. 

When we got there the claw machine was in the front yard and the front access door and one of the glass panes was broken. The woman said her husband had tried to get it out of the mobile home by himself and had dropped it down the three steps of the porch. By the looks of the place, I got the feeling he drinks a bit, anyhow the woman cut the price to almost nothing. I bought the machine for $100.

It was a great winter garage project, a little bit of time and very little money and I had it back in operation. What fun! We decided to keep it a secret from the New Mexico grandkids so they would be surprised on their next visit. Little did we know with Covid travel restrictions we would be keeping this secret for over a year.

March 2020

On the 2nd of March, Millies’s brother Ernest passed away. He was the eldest of the Bray siblings and the only boy. I always enjoyed visiting with him and am confident that had we known each other when we were younger, we would have been garage buddies, as we both enjoyed fabricating and fixing things. The world has lost a good man and a gentle soul. There was a memorial service for Ernest around the middle of the month, his ashes would be interred in the family cemetery in the spring.

Also, in March I moved my copper framed bottle tree to a new location in the yard and added LED lights to the bottles and added a base of blue cut glass.  We really like the result and I'm sure will trap many evil spirits! lol

I had an irrigation water meter installed by the water authority and replumbed the lawn irrigation and my outside faucets to the lower cost water via the irrigation meter. 

new water lines

Millie continues her two-mile morning walks on the beach. This is very safe exercise during the pandemic as it involves no contact with anyone.

Home from beach walk

During a bout of cabin fever, we took a drive down to Georgetown and enjoyed a walk on the historic waterfront. 

Georgetown waterfront

April 2020

We remodeled the laundry room optimizing space and making it a lot more functional.  It also looks a lot nicer.

Although the tourists’ numbers are lower in winter, Myrtle Beach never shuts down. There is usually something going on and people out on the streets. One Sunday in the first week of April we took a ride down Ocean Blvd and were quite shocked. The town was like a ghost town, we drove for miles and didn’t see one single person. It was eerie like something from an episode of The Twilight Zone. 

The whole length of Ocean Blvd was deserted

May 2020

The big event this month was Millies’s birthday. I surprised her with a Rolex watch! However, this is the gift that she wears daily!

June 2020

Two projects to report in June, I used the frame from Millies broken tread-mill and manufactured a bicycle rack for four bikes. The second project was replacing the microwave oven with a combination convection/microwave unit. At the same time, I installed a thru the wall vent for the stove. Those recirculating units are about worthless.