Still Staying Intentionally Distant

The Governor of Nevada just issued a press release adding restrictions to continue social distancing.  He's closed golf courses, tennis courts, swimming pools, etc..  He's also prohibiting the sale of dry goods in bulk.  He is being aggressive and that's a good thing.  He said he's receiving photos showing people at these venues NOT distancing so he's taking the steps needed to ensure we do.

Last week, the casinos confirmed they have been ordered to stay closed until April 30th.  Casinos are sending out updates via emails and mailings.

So far, Carson City has less than 25 (known) cases - and I have to add 'known' because there are very few tests and most people who may be infected and sick are not being tested.  It's a strange situation we're in right now - a President who disbanded (fired) all the pandemic control staff; has little interest in the realities of this pandemic and very limited resources to manage what's happening.  While our numbers of infected and deceased will be more accurate than China's, they will not be reflective of the true reality of the pandemic - because there are no tests to use to confirm most cases.

Other than a 10 minute trip to the drive through teller and a quick drive to Dairy Queen for a cone last night (drive through), I haven't left the house in 17 days.  Oh wait - we did have to make a quick trip (requested by the construction superintendent) to the house to confirm how we wanted the fireplace tile set.

It's a little stir crazy at times but I know it's the right thing to do.  J. did end up playing golf last week - they moved the day to a better weather day - and I was pretty nervous about it - though his group absolutely DID stay 6 feet apart at all times - and they all had separate carts.  I tried to explain to him that sure, you are social distancing but you don't know about every other person you encounter.  Sure, you can disinfect the cart steering wheel, where gloves, etc. - but you still don't know you won't be infected and that means the people you live with (me) have to re-start the 14 day clock of 'have I been exposed and am I going to get sick?'.  I am sick of that constant 'counting' - it's really making me anxious.  I'm sure we all feel that way.  We are being very careful - washing hands a lot, have disinfecting wipes we carry with us if we do have to go anywhere.  J. is the designated errand runner - we made one joint trip to the grocery a couple weeks ago and quickly regretted doing that because it doubled our exposure.  So now we stick to one person going out - as minimally as possible.

For the most part, we're just staying in and hanging out.  Watching way (WAY) too much TV.  I've done a bit of baking and cooking - starting to enjoy having the time to cook.  And (unbelievably) even enjoying working around the house.  Cleaning passes a lot of time, too so that's good.

I was just starting to type that I'm trying to reach my Aunt M. in Massachusetts and haven't been able to when my messenger interrupted with a text from my cousin - with an actual land line phone number to use.  She doesn't have a cell phone anymore.  I'm going to call her tomorrow for sure!  It will be so good to talk to her.  I also got a wonderful surprise call from my sister earlier this week and it was great to hear from her!  She's keeping busy with house projects and gardening - made me wish we had our house yard to take care of and work in because J. and I both love doing that and it would pass a lot of time.  Someday.  Pretty soon, I hope!

We had movers here today - according to the house construction Superintendent, we're 30 days out - and that was actually a week ago so we're less than 30 days out, we hope.  We've had a bit of a glitch - thanks to COVID-19, the jumbo mortgage market is having liquidity issues - we can't get a jumbo loan.  So we'll be using a lot more of the Tracy house money to buy the house - which is OK.  We're blessed we have the needed funds - and the only regret I have is the house sale was our last windfall - likely ever.  Now we're re-crafting our budget for window coverings, washer/dryer, etc. - because instead of having LOADS of available funds to do all the things we want to do, we're going to have to carefully budget.  And we'll have to figure out how to fund the October cruise we have planned - and the Alaska cruise planned for June, 2021. 

The good news is - we are absolutely fine.  We considered making a savings withdrawal to cover the additional funds needed but with the stock market plummeting recently, it's not the best time to be selling things.  So we'll hang in there and create additional liquid funds when we need to after the market has recovered a bit.  (Hopefully more than a bit.  It's got a lot of recovering to do).

We're getting very excited about the house.  The impromptu visit yesterday was the first time I've been inside since the cabinetry was installed - and they've put on the hardware as well and we love it.

The movers were highly recommended by our soon to be new neighbors - very fair pricing - hourly rate for their time and a flat fee for their truck and supplies.  They will help us move everything from the town house to the new house first and then make a trip (or two) to storage and move both storage units to the garage of the new house.  We'll have to park our cars in the driveway for a bit but at least all of our stuff will be in one place.  We'll be super busy for weeks going through things - and I can't wait to start that process!!