Greetings from Kentucky!

Hello from the United States – remote western Kentucky to be exact. I live on the shores of Kentucky Lake and I’m thankful that the dreaded Coronavirus has not hit our area too badly yet. Our entire county has about 32,000 residents and so far we only have 12 documented cases here.  I consider us lucky. That is not to say we haven’t been cautious – we wear masks and gloves any time we go out in public. My mom lives in Chicago and she happened to be here visiting me when the virus hit, so we decided it would be better for her to stay with me and ride this out.  So far her 2 week visit has turned into 8 weeks. I think we made a wise decision.

My son is a dietitian and his wife is a nurse, and they both work in major hospitals in the Chicago area. Both of their units have been turned into Coronavirus units and they are dealing with it on the front lines so to speak, on a daily basis. The population of Cook County where they are located is just over 5 million and so far there have been almost 19,000 confirmed cases there. My son’s daily work commute normally takes him over half an hour on a major expressway in bumper to bumper traffic. Last week he told me that there was only one other car driving down the road at the same time for as far as he could see. That is unheard of for Chicago!

Here in Kentucky most of the stores are closed. The largest grocery store is Walmart and they are limiting the number of people who can go into the store at the same time. My mom and I try to go shopping once every 2 weeks. This week I scored a package of toilet paper which was a thrill since we haven’t been able to find any for 3 weeks. After we go to town we wipe down the car when we get home, go in the house, throw our clothes in the washer and then take showers right away. Is that over kill? Who knows, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. Other than that, we pretty much stay home.

My daughter and her husband own a meat market which is considered an essential business, so they’re allowed to be open.  They closed the doors to the store and they’re selling meat to people through the front window.  It’s a pain in the butt for them to do that but they’re trying to keep human contact to a minimum and keep the store as germ free as possible. We made her a cute mask with cows on it to wear. Right now the media is predicting a meat shortage over the next few weeks so I’m happy I have a reliable meat source - although my own daughter limited me to 2 pounds of hamburger last week. Imagine that!

So, what have we been doing with our time? Well, I work from home anyway as a remote medical biller, so my job hasn’t changed at all. While I work I play vintage records from my album collection - great music from Elvis, Neil Diamond, Buck Owens, Wayne Newton and Barbra Streisand.  Since my mom is here we’ve been splitting the cooking which is really nice and we agree that we’re eating better since we’re cooking for two than we would be if we were each at our own houses cooking for ourselves. In the morning we’re making things like breakfast burritos with eggs, cheese, red pepper, onions and salsa or mom whips up homemade pancakes or French toast.

Lunch is usually leftovers from the prior night’s dinner. We have had a pretty good variety of dinner meals - lots of fresh soups, Mexican dishes, Shrimp and cheesy grits, fried pork chops and meat loaf.   I’ve kind of gone overboard on the desserts like homemade peppermint or heath bar ice cream, cookies or frosted brownies. I doubt we’ve lost any weight in the last eight weeks that’s for sure.

I have plenty to do outside with yard work and I take my two dogs out for backyard runs several times a day.

I sell merchandise on Etsy which has been a booming business for me during the social distancing requirement. The extra income is nice since the antique store where I have a booth has been closed for over a month now. I’ve also started making handmade soaps again, which I’ll be selling at the antique mall and at my daughter's store once everything opens up again.

I just have to be careful to remember if I’m making ice cream or soap and not eat the wrong one.  LOL. I’ve also been busy finding cute planters to re-pot some of my plants in. I’m the type of person who can always find something to keep myself occupied so I’m not bored at all.

It’s weird being here on the lake and not seeing any boat traffic. Usually by now the fishing tournaments are in full swing and families on spring break are here enjoying the warm weather. My neighbors and I are not running back and forth between houses to visit and the mail lady and I keep a respectful distance when she drops off my mail. It’s very quiet for this time of year and that’s unsettling.

So far the virus hasn’t changed my life too drastically and I think that’s mostly because I live so far from town.  I don’t eat out much so I’m not missing any restaurants. The only upside has been that my mom is here and we’ve gotten to spend some quality time together. The worst thing is that I can’t spend any time with my daughter and her husband who live less than 5 miles away. I miss hugging them. Thank goodness for Facetime so I can visit with my son and my sisters. For Easter we had a huge family facetime call with all of us and that was a lot of fun. Mostly I just hate the inconvenience of this virus, not being able to go get a haircut (so I cut my own hair), having to wear a facemask and gloves, constant worry that someone in my family is going to catch this damn thing, and cleaning my house WAY more than usual. Ok, well, maybe that’s a good thing. We all want our lives to get back to normal but I don’t know if we will ever be back to normal. Maybe it will have to be a new normal. That to me is frightening. We’ll see what tomorrow brings….

If you want to read more about Kim, visit her at Snug Harbor Bay where she frequently blogs about her Geocaching adventures (among others).