Week nine…whoa.

Things are getting confusing with the loosening of restrictions. More businesses are open and most people are wearing masks. Pretty much every store asks people to wear masks, but they do nothing to enforce the policy and there are those who refuse to comply, yet still shop. This is frustrating, but I can understand the hard position of the people working at the stores and store owners. The bizarre politics regarding masks has made for a tense environment. People have died from trying to enforce the rules. It’s crazy.

We went to Lowes last week to buy a new BBQ and maybe 90% of the people had on masks and were careful about distancing. To those who went mask-less, I was muttering “A**hole” as I passed them. I just don’t understand the resistance.

As far as I know, my friend’s aunt is the only person in my extended circle that has become infected. Truthfully, it is feeling like things are less serious, but I also don’t want to be naive and let my guard down. I’m still hopeful that we will be able to see the kids this summer.

Back to the BBQ…it ‘s great. I’ve missed having a BBQ. Dan spent Saturday evening building it and on Sunday, we feasted on steak. Heaven. We also got all of our new deck furniture from American Furniture Warehouse, including a table with a fire pit.

The weather was hot and summery all weekend and we spent it in our new garden. We had cocktails and sunbathed. It might be as close as we get to taking a vacation this year, but it certainly wasn’t shabby.

The garden is enclosed with a fence, so our indoor cats were allowed to enjoy it. They explored everything,

Tom proved to be quite the hunter and went after every bug, although I’m not sure that he managed to actually catch anything. Either way, it was cute, especially when he pounced like a rabbit.

Most of our neighbors have dogs, and the cats were fearless, actually wanting to go up to the fence to meet them. Luckily, all of the dogs proved to be friendly. We have to be careful of Slinky, because he is agile enough to jump the fence. Tom is too fat to escape.

I learned that the saying: “It’s just like riding a bicycle,” is bullshit.

Dan bought us bicycles last week and we have been riding nearly every night. The first two days I was pitiful. I rode a bicycle as a kid, but couldn’t remember what to do. I skidded along, rode at a snail’s pace, and freaked out every time I went over a small bump or a car came near me. I was so nervous.

It was much harder than I thought it would be. Part of the reason that I was so edgy, is about fifteen years ago, I did the “Muddy Buddy” race with my ex-husband. In the race, we worked as a team, alternating riding a bike and running, with difficult obstacles at various check-points where we switched off. The race was labeled as something that basically anyone could accomplish.

Lies!!!!

I decided to bike ride the first leg and it included a steep, downhill mountain biking portion. I had never done mountain biking and I saw a guy, clearly someone who was an experienced cyclist, wipe out in front of me. He was covered in blood with a tree branch piercing through his leg. He had to be evacuated. I got off the bike and walked it the rest of the way, shaking. Also, my randomly assigned race number was 666. I’m not superstitious, but maybe the universe was trying to tell me something?

Now my biking confidence is back and I’m enjoying our rides. The next improvement will be a better seat, which Dan purchased for us today. No more sore bottoms!

Last week when I blogged, the Survivor: Winners at War finale had not aired. I’m happy to report that my contestant pick in our bet with the neighbors, won- Tony!!! The neighbors have to make me a Mai Tai. Despite having to scale back on the fanfare, it was a great finale.

We haven’t been watching much TV, but we did watch the horror movie Fantasy Island. Based on the premise, I had really wanted to see this movie. It was a disappointment. Good concept, but the story was weak. The tone was odd; not true horror, more screwball comedy and heavy drama. It could have been great, but it suffered from not knowing what type of movie it wanted to be.

I was busy on Zoom, with the second half of my grammar class on Saturday and a meeting with my new writer’s group on Sunday.

When we were out, we took pictures of the low gas prices. If we are able to go on our road trip this summer, this will be great.

I usually close with cute cat pictures, but this time, I’m sharing a funny picture of me. Today, we had Chipotle for the first time since pre-Covid. And check out that quarantine hair and eye-brows. My next trip to the salon will like getting a complete make-over. You won’t recognize me!