Just settling in for the long haul

I'm not checking on the COVID-19 data so much now.  Seems like it's the same old thing, no matter what day it is, and it finally became meaningless to me.  I check how many cases are in our Lafayette County after 2 PM each day and leave it at that (it's 28 cases this afternoon).  Maybe I've had a little attitude adjustment.  Today I feel more settled.  Maybe now I can  read a book, because I just haven't been able to get interested in any book since this mess started.  Cliff, on the other hand, is reading like crazy.  He usually brings the iPad to me when he's finished a book:  I return it and pick out another book for him.  A while back he did his own book-choosing, and happened to like what he got; but usually that doesn't happen.  He doesn't type, so he isn't good at typing words in a search engine to find the sort of book he prefers.  I'm getting pretty good at knowing what he'll like, though.  The library has lots of books they recommend, but most of them are fiction, and Cliff finds about 75% of the fiction he reads to be silly, although he'll read a Virgil Flowers book once in awhile, or even a Chet and Bernie (there's another one coming out in July).  Today I went to the library online, typed in the word "football", and found a book he will probably like.  I don't accept the library's rating of a book; I go to Amazon's website and see what their ratings are.  They rate this one at almost five stars.  The entire title is Fields of Battle:  Pearl Harbor, the Rose Bowl, and the Boys Who Went to War.    It's non-fiction, so that's a point in its favor.  He likes reading about the various wars our country has fought, and he likes football.  We shall see.  I've told him to never feel forced to read a book if it doesn't suit him.  Library books are free, so we're not under any obligation to read a boring book.

I've been making lots of cookies, simply because I enjoy it; I share them with the grandson, which he enjoys.  Unfortunately, I've made so many, I broke the beaters on my hand mixer.  I paid under $10 (on sale) for the mixer over four years ago, so it doesn't owe me anything.  It has a flaw frequently mentioned in many of the reviews: it has five speeds, but none of them can be called slow.  So I have to use a bigger bowl or those speedy beaters will sling bits of dough, batter, and butter all over the kitchen.  The beater itself is as powerful as any I've had, with a motor that never slows down, gives up, or gets hot.  So all I need is beaters, right?  Imagine my shock when I saw the beaters alone are $20!  This left me debating whether to just get the whole mixer with beaters for $25 (it isn't on sale now), or pay $20 for just the beaters.  

Yes, I bought the whole mixer.  

My sister called to check in this morning; she doesn't have Internet, so one of her grandsons made a DVD video of her kids and grandchildren leaving messages for her.  She enjoyed that.  Yesterday our oldest granddaughter and her mom were in the shop with Arick, so we went out and sat 10 feet away from them and visited awhile.  The grandson uses lots of wipes and spray to de-germ the shop after he's been in there working, in case Cliff goes out there to do something.    

About once a week our daughter does a Skype visit with us and any of the rest of her family that wants to join in, so we get to see our newest granddaughter, who is growing like a weed already, and all the others.  I wonder what Brynn (the baby) will think when this is over and people other than her parents want to hold her?  Another couple of months and she'll probably be scared of us all.   

The grandson has been working a lot, even doing some overtime.  He works at the company Cliff retired from, and so does our daughter's husband.  The company is listed as "essential", but someone told Arick the other day, "It isn't if we run out of work, but when.  

On my walk today, I noticed gray and black feathers all over the ground covering a wide area.  Some feathered creature apparently lost its life, or else had a narrow escape.  I didn't see any blood around, so maybe it got lucky.  If so, it is surely naked and cold, because there are lots of feathers.

The woods are coming alive now.  Surely mushrooms will be found this week.

I'm not sure what is called.  These flowers have longer stems than violets... maybe sweet William?

violets... my favorite

We'll get through this virus thing yet.  We are survivors.