March 2020

This COVID-19 Spring of 2020 will be considered the strangest time in longer than my lifetime. Even weeks ago, nobody would have thought that an entire country, indeed almost the entire world, would go into a lockdown. It is a strange time to live through and it is difficult to imagine that the repercussions will not be felt for many years to come. Economically, this will devastate most nations. I didn’t want to look at our investments but finally did my end of the month review and we lost more than $60K this month. It will be interesting to see how resilient Americans are. Meanwhile, we try to be as optimistic as possible, aiming to keep negativity at bay but it is hard when every conversation literally everywhere is about the virus. We go for daily walks in the park, and cautiously do a Costco run every 2 weeks. But no Aikido, karate, gym and we cancelled our Yaymaker and Harris Center events. Even Disneyland has been closed for weeks. I am confident that we will come through this a stronger world. I feel blessed that my own family is all still healthy and pulling paychecks, and the grandkids are loving the online learning experience. They can go at their own pace without any classroom behavior distractions. Michelle is still employed by Starbucks so continues to pull a salary even though her cafe is closed. Eric is in an essential job so goes to work as usual. Ryan and Beth are operating out of their home with occasional trips to work as necessary. And we are all asked to continue restrictions through April which may be the worst month yet. We even got to see the grandkids last Friday as they walked by the house on one of their daily walks.

But the month was not a total loss. The lockdown went into place mid-March and before that, we actually got a lot done.We had our neighbor, Larry. over for dinner. Rog grilled a tri tip and we had a great visit. Our date with Max was another Harris Center event. This time we heard Brian Skerry, an ocean photographer with National Geographic. Before the event, we had dinner at Cracker Barrel. Skerry gave an interesting presentation focused on sharks and Max asked him for advice in the question and answer session.

The kids came over for a project. We made Japanese fans. They did a fabulous job. Not sure when we will get together again.

Rog was able to get his motorcycle license at DMV and test drove his Harley Davidson Night Train. He struck a deal with the owner and is now one happy camper. He is taking rides whenever the weather allows which helps him keep sane. He has not been able to get the title changed, since DMV has closed all of their offices. We mailed in the paperwork and hope that fulfills our legal obligation.

The weather has cooled off and there have been lots of rainy days, so the outside work is minimal. But we are enjoying watching the flowers blooming and the trees leafing out. The wisteria bush has bloomed for the first time in 3 years and we are enjoying it immensely.

One of my projects has been to get rid of the yellowjacket nest on the hill out back. I suited up and tried a remedy I found online: pour a bucket of soapy water in the entrance to the hole,, followed with a bunch of boiling water. The soap kept the workers from flying and I hoped that I got the queen with the hot water. But a week later, still lots of bees. I tried it a second time but didn’t do a good job and the soap didn’t close off the entrance. I couldn’t get near it with the hot water. So we hung a trap and hope to get the angry ones to go to the trap. We shall see!