As "we the quarantined", sit back and watch the lawmakers, doctors and scientists try to figure out this Coronavirus, it becomes apparent that it's all quite puzzling. There is a huge need to allow people to return to work, and yet how do we do that when corona virus cases haven't started tapering off yet?
Steve and I feel very fortunate that boredom is the greatest of our worries. We don't have to worry about how we are going to feed our family without a job, or the impact of closed schools on our children, or losing a business that we own because it's been closed for a month and a half and rent is due again. So far all of our family members are still virus free and employed, and our one friend that got the virus is out of the hospital and working toward a slow recovery.
Everything we own is clean and waxed, and when we start feeling bored or frustrated we find that exercise is our greatest outlet. With the 100 degree days setting in here in Arizona, our days of long walks and hikes have come to an end. So now we have learned to do our own workouts without the help of our gym, and we're really getting creative and learning to love it. Steve rides his stationary bike in our "borrowed" garage, and I do online step and weight lifting classes. In fact, when life gets back to normal, we're thinking that we might still do more workouts at home. We are also wondering what other long-term changes might be appropriate given the virus isn't going anywhere soon!
We're looking forward to the day we can move into our new house, which will give us more projects to work on than we'll be able to handle. But until then, we're spending quiet days doing everything we can think of. I have now finished my second puzzle of these puzzling times.
Steve and I have quit watching much news, it's "Breaking News" every night, with the number of deaths, and new cases of the Corona Virus nation wide still soaring. Steve and I, along with most of America, have now been at home for 38 days, with trips out only for food one time and isolated fresh air. The lines of cars to pick up food from food banks are miles long in some cities, because so many "working" people can't work because of the stay-at-home orders.
President Trump keeps talking about "re-opening" the country, but doctors keep warning that if we don't re-open it right, the virus will multiply exponentially again.
So the question becomes...How does this end?
Schools nationwide are closed until the end of the school year, with kids learning solely on-line. There are no college or professional sports to watch. Anyone who can work from home is doing that, including all news broadcasters, late night shows, and everyone with "techie" jobs.
Will we ever go back to brick and mortar?
They are talking about reopening restaurants with all staff wearing masks, and all tables at least 6 feet apart, to try to get restaurants and their staff back to work, but is that a relaxing, enjoyable meal? Will people start going out to eat again as recreation, as we always have? Maybe we will do it to support our favorite restaurants and fellow Americans even if it isn't as fun as it once was.
There are also new insights emerging that the Corona Virus may be a virus of the blood rather than the respiratory system, making malaria like drugs more promising as a possible cure. If that's the case, can they come up with an anti-Corona Virus drug?
It's mind boggling to try and wrap our heads around it all.
I along with the rest of the world can't wait for all of the stay-at-home orders to be lifted so we can get back to normal. But what will normal be?
Since we couldn't be in Denver for our oldest daughter's baby shower today, we decided to take our minds off of it with a hike to Havasu Riviera.
Havasu Riviera is a new housing development that is going in near the lake. They have been working on the infrastructure for a long time. Our intention was just to find a new fun hike, but it ended up leading us on a fun adventure.
We headed into Chemehuevi Wash where it heads out of town on the west side. The wash is a combination of sand and rocks, so no matter which one you're in, it's a bit difficult to walk.
Our token lizard.
There are some gorgeous lupine in the desert right now.
Such a sandy wash! Deep, loose sand. It was really hard to walk in.
As we walked down the wash, we all of a sudden came upon this. Our first glimpse of Havasu Riviera. They filled in the wash to create a road to get from one side of the development to the other. This culvert is huge!
Havasu Riviera sits on top of the huge man-made hills. A friend of ours told us that all of the prime lots are sold, and the best lot sold for over 1 million dollars. This is quite a development! We had no idea.
There is still some beauty to the desert out here.
When we reached the bottom of the wash, we got our first glimpse of the lake.
Looking back at part of the development.
The development continues on the other side of the wash near the ranger station. This is the part that you can see from the lake.
The mesquite trees are blooming! So pretty! But I'm sure this is part of the allergy culprit.
We climbed up on a hill to the north of the wash.
More of the development.
The we crossed back through the wash and climbed a hill on the south side. We sat on this knoll above the lake for quite awhile, just enjoying the beautiful day!
Look at these tiny pink flowers, they are about the size of a pin head.
While we were sitting on the hill, Steve called our friends who were out on the lake today, so they stopped by to say "hi" from afar, and we took a few boat pictures for them, which was fun.
As it started getting hot, we decided it was time to head back. We took a little side trip to get a better view of the new Havasu Riviera. It is a huge area on both sides of Chemehuevi Wash. We had no idea it was this big!
Then back through the huge culvert.
Most of our hike down Chemehuevi Wash was through deep sand, which was pretty grueling, but what wasn't deep sand was really rocky.
We found another new desert flower that we have never seen before. This one was gorgeous!
I don't understand how something this delicate can survive in the harsh desert. Maybe that's why we haven't seen this one before.
After returning from our hike, we had a really great talk with our oldest daughter and son (in -law). They are both doing great, and taking things in stride. They aren't letting the cancelled baby shower and other crazy events bring them down, they are just taking each day, one day at a time.
Today we should be in Denver for our oldest daughter and son-in-law's baby shower, that our youngest daughter was hosting with a little help from both sets of grandparents-to-be. But as with all events, the shower had to be cancelled.
We are so thankful that everyone is safe and healthy, and at the same time, sad that we are not all together, celebrating our first grand child. We miss seeing all of our family and friends that we would be reuniting with today, and yet we realize how truly blessed we are!
Since our kids are in the military, and should have been moving very soon, they did their shower registry on-line, requesting that everyone, please not bring gifts to the shower, but allow them to order the gifts when they are settled into their new home so they wouldn't have to move them.
Now, they are not moving because of the pandemic, but everyone has been so generous, ordering from their on-line registry and showering our sweet grandson with gifts from afar.
Our kids are all set up for the arrival of their son, still unsure of when they will be moving, but thankful to be ready to bring him home when he decides it's time.
Their current condo isn't big so they have dedicated a corner of their room to him and his itty bitty things.
We could not be more grateful to all of our friends and family for their generosity during such a tough time. We wish we could see you all and thank you in person over a great meal and a glass of wine or a beer, but please know how much we appreciate every one of you. We hope we can see you all soon!!!
Today on our walk, we found an owl burrow, complete with a pair of owls. One outside, and one inside peeking out at us. It was so exciting! We don't know if they have a nest or not, but we'll have to keep our eye out. We've been doing enough nature walks that I decided I needed by good camera from the storage unit. I took this picture from across the wash, about 75 feet away. So nice to shoot with a real camera verses an iphone!
As we walked by, they both left the burrow and kept an eye on us, one from each side.
Then we stumbled upon this beautiful quail.
A lizard warming up in the sunshine.
A humming bird. Maybe the same one we saw the other day.
And last but not least, a couple of ground squirrels. So cute!
It's amazing how seeing all of these animals can lift my spirits, and remind me that everything is going to be OK when this is all over. We moved out of our house and into our motor home, and started our Covid-19 quarantine a month ago yesterday. Sometimes it feels like the days are all just blurring together. But it's also amazing to think that a month has already gone by. We don't know when the quarantine will end, or what things will be like when it does, but I am grateful to be able to get out and enjoy nature to help the time pass by.
