Bad Hair Month

We had pushed Buddy's grooming until this week as originally this is the week we were to fly away to Mexico and he was supposed to go to the groomers (owners of his parents) for dog sitting.  It wasn't to be so we rebooked an appointment for grooming.  Thursday I got a text saying the groomers was closing.  As poodle hair continues to grow without shedding it was necessary for us to do a small trim so he could see again as his eyebrows were hanging over his eyes.  Poor dog, now he looks like a 5 year old got at him with some crafting scissors.  I also gave myself a small trim too but am not sharing that photo :)  Hubby's up next.  He is so picky and yet wants me to try trimming his hair as we both were scheduled for haircuts last week and now that's off indefinitely.  I am a little scared about that one.  I have ordered thinning scissors from Amazon (for all of us) but who knows when they will get here.

  

We absolutely killed ourselves this weekend getting the yard into shape and washing off crud off our old patio set and BBQ.  It is done, no photos of the new furniture until we get a sunny day as it is raining right now and they are tucked away under cover.    On Friday I started manically cleaning, first the pantry, then the fridge, then the entire house.  I even cleaned out the cupboard under the sink where we store the garbage, it was nasty.  Apparently, I am a stress cleaner.

I placed my first online order for groceries - I will pick them up Thursday then deliver Mom's portion to her.  I will do this every 10 days or so now.  I decided to go with Superstore as they have the best prices, and hopefully, they will be able to fill most of it.  I did notice for each item after it is in your shopping cart there is an area for notes next to the item if substitutes are ok.  I put in alternates to almost every item.  They were booking for 6 days out even if you pick them up yourself.  I also noticed that I can add items up until the day before pickup so I will add items now as I remember them.  Their website is very slow and up and down with so many trying to order online.

 Yesterday I had to go to the pharmacy to get a couple items I can't add to my grocery order for both Mom and our household.  Mom needed distilled water to clean her cpap machine so I ended up at 2 different pharmacies to find it.  Pharmasave had closed all sections with tape except the medical ones and only had one cashier and pharmacist on.  They also had a big sign in the window that they had no toilet paper.  It was weird.  At Shoppers Drug Mart a few aisles were bare but there were still a few boxes of tissue left as they had no toilet paper either.  We are good for a while and Mom has 28 rolls as 2 weeks ago we were shopping and they had a sale so she bought a gigantic pack.  If we run out we can access her stash.  I hear now our grocery stores intend on installing plastic shields around their cashiers and most are asking you not to use cash.  That is ok for us but difficult for many who only use cash.

I had to kill a few minutes before doing a pickup of plants at my friends house so stopped and looked out at the estuary(where mouth of the fresh water river meets the Ocean).  Our sun is now gone and it was a cold rainy day.  Still pretty but grey.  And yes, our mountains still have lots of snow up there, I believe it was still snowing there yesterday.

I visited my friend (in the yard) and picked up a couple of packs of petunias and one other flower I am not sure the name of, that is all she could get before her greenhouse closed up as the other annuals are not ready yet.  It is too early to plant them so now I have to nurse them for a few weeks until it warms up.  It was sad to say goodbye as I am sure it will be a long time before we see each other in person again.

Work is slowing now as to be expected.  Once it stalls our next project is to finish painting the house.   I have lots of other small projects to get to as well.  I have 2 plant stands and a metal table I need to spray paint as they are starting to rust.  I bought the rustoleum paint last summer but haven't gotten around to it so that is a priority.  I am going to clean the black scum that homes in the Pacific Northwest get around the windows and in the sills.  I have a photo scanning project that never seems to get anywhere and a whole bunch of shredding to do for the company as well.

My stepdaughter is texting me right now.  The liquor store where she works has just given them a $3 an hour raise.  Apparently, Canada feels that liquor stores and pot shops are essential services so they will remain open even if lockdowns occur.  Now she is afraid of getting the virus and wishes they would close.  I don't know what to tell her.  She is caught between a rock and a hard place, needing the money to survive yet not wanting to get sick.  

We have a platform called Zoom for our business, it is a video conferencing app.  We pay $20 a month but they also have a free version which limits time per call.  We decided we are going to try and do family zoom meetings once a week until this is over as the kids and us are spread between 3 time zones across the country.  Those who are at home will be on the call.  This will give us all hopefully a bit of comfort as we can't see each other and not everyone has apple phones to face time.  This also means we can all be in on the call at once.  Thank goodness for technology right now.

As I said to my friend yesterday while standing 15 feet apart, this is the year where everyone will have a whole lot of time and no money or no time and a lot of money if they are an essential service.  Strange times indeed.