A Busy Week

It has almost been as busy as a normal week around here.  First up, a picture of tulips from the house at the end of our street - simply stunning.  Hubby took Buddy for his second walk of the day yesterday (I took him on his first) and came back like a little kid with flowers - in this case, a picture of flowers for me.  He is such a romantic....far more than I am, the practical one.

For some weird reason Blogger is doing funny things this morning and some of my pictures are missing, now I can't upload any more photos so just bear with me...hoping it is a temporary thing.

Anyway, if I could insert a picture here I would show you that I've planted my little pea plants in the ground, along with planted the rest of the pea seeds as well.  Peas can deal with slightly colder overnight weather. The other seeds are doing well - cucumbers and tomatoes are all about an inch and a half high.

I did manage to go to Costco this week to get all the OTC meds we need - last visit was the first week of March.  I had driven by several times and seen long lineups and there was no way I was doing that.  Thursday night after supper I decided to try again, our town tends to shut down early due to a high senior population.  Costco closes at 830 and I went at 630.  There was still a short line but I only waited 15 minutes and inside the shopping experience was way more room/better than the grocery stores.  I still am not going back there for another month/when hubby needs his meds from the pharmacy but they were fully stocked and I was able to get sugar and raisins, both items that I haven't been able to get on my last 2 grocery pickup orders from Superstore.  When I left at 7pm there was no lineup - midweek that is the time I will go next time.  Now I feel we are good for both food and meds for at least 3 months - there is no hoarding here.  They had plenty of everything including meat so that was good.   As a kid I experienced food insecurity multiple times due to having a Mom who was struggling to take care of 2 little kids when my deadbeat dad left and never paid any child support.  As an adult, this pandemic is screwing with my brain and the need to ensure we have "enough" continues to stress me.  We definitely have enough though so I am hoping that goes away.  And I am making sure to contribute money (albeit a smaller amount than normal) to those who also have food insecurity in my own community and afar. We will donate more this year to help others with the same food security issues, that will be a priority, even with our extra belt-tightening and lowered salaries.

BC is in a strange version of this lockdown, a lot looser than most of the rest of the world.  Many businesses are still open - even more reopening every day.  They are under strict rules to make sure social distancing occurs as well as making it safe for their staff.  Several greenhouses reopened this week including the one my friend works at.  They changed how you pay and can walk through the greenhouse.  In other cases breweries and restaurants that had closed up have now converted to takeout including a loosening of our liquor laws to include takeout liquor (absolutely not permitted previously).  BC seems to be flattening the curve - especially since we had so many cases early but now it seems to be evening off.  Islanders have been extremely vocal in protests this week hoping to prevent people from the USA from taking the ferry over as well as mainlanders.  If you don't live here don't come - that should be common sense everywhere but it isn't.  Anyway, things are looking up here, I just hope the same for the rest of Canada and the world soon.

Our landscaper was still open so we asked them to come and reposition some of our sprinkler heads.  It was too cold overnight to be doing irrigation work last month but now it is much warmer.  It took them about 2 hours and was done.  They do such good work.  That was on Wednesday.  Then on Thursday a guy from the same company (the ones who did our patio, they do it all including have a greenhouse) came and put one coat of the sealant on our patio.  Hubby will do a second one today.  This meant every piece of furniture had to be moved off but we did it all in about 20 minutes as preferred to be the ones touching all of our stuff versus them.  On Sunday after it is all dry Buddy can have his back yard realm back, in the mean time we are having to take him out on a leash to do his business as he can't run across the patio until it is finished.

My stepson who just finished college and wants to become a cop can't do that as there is a freeze on hiring due to inability to train new officers right now.  He then decided to temporarily apply for security.  He was hired a month ago but due to the Province shutting down all new security applicant licenses he can't do that either so has applied for unemployment insurance as the rec centre he worked at closed last month.  He has received his emergency CERB payment plus his fiancee has a very stable job with full benefits that she can work from home with (mechanical engineer with federal contracts so very secure) so they are good for now.  They have already decided to likely put off their wedding from summer 2021 to fall 2021 but will not book anything until all of this is over.

Some of the companies we do business with are changing their business models to fit with the everchanging current times - with some success.  We went to our minimum salary this week (we pay ourselves monthly) but hopefully in 2 or 3 months we can increase them again depending on what happens with these businesses.  We have signed contracts but will not hold anyone to a contract that they are having trouble to pay.  Time will tell.  We have savings but don't want to touch that until we absolutely have to - in 2021 if necessary but not necessary for 2020.  Everyone should absolutely live within their means right now.

My stepdaughter has picked up so many hours at the liquor store after losing her waitressing job that was 60 percent of her income that basically she can withdraw her unemployment claim now.  She was paid the $2000 CERB (Canada Emergency Care Benefit) and thought it was an error.  She had applied for partial EI to cover the difference in her wage.  She had not applied for the CERB but they paid it to her anyway.  The day she found out she called us and we suggested she try and contact someone there and leave it in her savings account for now.  They called her back on Friday - she does qualify to keep the money - except she has been overpaid a few hours of EI (about $250) and will have to pay that back.  This is fabulous news - she says she is putting it towards debt.  She has always been the challenging one, the kid who rebelled against anything and everything and took the longest to get her poop together.  It now appears she is getting that poop together. Her boyfriend still has his job in a mechanics shop but they are going to 4 day work weeks, still fully employed though.

Everyone else is fine and healthy and working.  We are so lucky.  I hope the same for everyone else.  Stay safe everyone!