#COVIDchaos week 9

May 4-May 10 (Days 41-47)

The weather is starting to stay consistently nice and warm. This is salvia that is in our front yard – it always has such a vibrant purple color.

We’ve still been spending time out on the deck…especially when it’s sunny and NOT windy. 💨

We are slowly trying to get ourselves back to “normal” – whatever that may be.

Kansas’s stay-at-home order expired Sunday, May 3, and some retailers and restaurants were allowed to open as outlined in the Reopening Framework.

Many other states are starting to open, but none have reached the four criteria outlined by the White House recommended to open up. Many states have cases going up or staying that same, and this is one of the most basic of the criteria to open up.

Cinco de Mayo fell on “Taco Tuesday” and “Takeout Tuesday,” and according to social media posts, the local Mexican restaurants in town were swamped with folks wanting to celebrate. Some patrons waited two hours for their food. Restaurants apologized citing they were overwhelmed with the number of orders, since many had just re-opened after being closed for six weeks.

Ali has a new friend. She has only liked/tolerated three other dogs (Petey, Ted’s dog, a big black Lab that lived on our street, and a mutt that lived in the adjacent neighborhood). This dog lives in an adjacent neighborhood.

I’ve made three batches of chocolate chip cookies over the last eight weeks, and my cookie baking skills have been 💯.

Pro tip: Milk chocolate chips do not taste as good as semi sweet chocolate chips.

I took an afternoon off work this week. I’ll have to start taking days here and there or I’ll end up with too much vacation time at the end of the year. I know – #firstworldproblem. We’re not sure of the fate of our New York City trip this summer – it’s not looking good.

I eased up on the “no seeing friends” rule that has been in effect since March. Both boys have been able to hang out with a friend or small group of friends.

The boys have been playing more disc golf – trying out courses in Colwich, Millbrook Park and Cessna Park, plus playing at local courses with their friends.

Several area school districts have announced plans for graduation ceremonies in the summer. To honor seniors, most neighborhoods have put out their yard signs with the names of graduates, and some have even had a “senior parade” where seniors ride in cars around the neighborhood.

The mainstream news is still mainly coronavirus related. The funniest thing that happened was Flush-Gate – the “flush of a toilet” heard the Supreme Court’s oral arguments – this was the first time the Supreme Court heard arguments via phone. I bet someone will make sure to mute their device next time.

Sunday was Mother’s Day. We grilled out at noon and practiced a social distancing outing at Oma & Papa’s in the afternoon.

That night, we had a Zoom call with the Hilgers, Oma and Papa. Lisa called us too, so she joined our Zoom call!

On May 10, there were 4.28+ million cases worldwide, 1.3+ million cases in the U.S., 6,984 cases in Kansas and 468 cased in Sedgwick County.