Tuesday, January 4, 2021

Tuesday, January 4, 2022 -- Mattie died 640 weeks ago today. 

Tonight's picture was taken on January 6, 2009. It was the Epiphany or Three Kings Day in the Christian religion. One of the cartoons we were watching at the time, gave us a website, in order to print out a king's (wiseman) hat. Mattie liked the notion, so we printed it out for him while we were playing. I LOVE that smile. 

Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins. 

• Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 56,697,387
• Number of people who died from the virus: 829,091

If you do not live in the National Capital Region, you may not know about the I-95 shutdown. It is perhaps a first for something of this magnitude to happen. Our region received about 7 inches of snow on Monday, which is a TON for us. This caused trucks to crash and pile up on I-95. This was like a domino effect, because it caused a back up and stranded drivers for 24 hours. I can't imagine being stuck on I-95 for 24 hours unable to move or have access to heat, water, and food. Not to mention a bathroom! My thoughts go out to all these drivers and of course the emergency personnel who are actually walking on I-95 to check in on drivers and to deliver food. Amazing people!

Peter was supposed to drive to Virginia Beach today for business meetings. However, while I was taking a shower and getting dress this morning, I had the radio on. It was through the radio that I heard about the I-95 shut down, and I immediately alerted Peter. After learning more, he had to cancel his trip and alert everyone he was scheduled to meet. To learn more about the shutdown today, check out: ‘Never Seen Anything Like It': Drivers Stranded for 24 Hours on I-95 in Virginia. 

Meanwhile this is the state of roads near the Farm. I learned from our HOA president that we are indeed on the snow plowing route maintained by the city. So our HOA fees do not pay for plowing, like the former owner of our house told us. Frankly though I think we would have better luck with a private company, because the town appears too busy to get to side streets to plow. All of the side streets in our neighborhood are unacceptable in my opinion and in some cases are sheets of ice. 

Regardless of weather conditions, I walk Sunny. I am like the Post Office (though here on the Farm we haven't received mail in two days because of the street conditions!!!). So Sunny and I did our hour walk on these streets today. All I could see was fallen trees everywhere, trucks on several streets to manage the fallen trees, and in one instance Sunny slipped on black ice and literally his entire back end gave way. I had to help him up and thankfully he is physically okay. All I could think about was the fact that he just recovered from KNEE SURGERY in September! 

This Thursday will mark the first month my parents have been living in Virginia. It is an adjustment for all of us. In just this short period of time, I have seen a massive decline in my dad. Both physically and cognitively. I expected something like this to happen because of his new surroundings, but being in the middle of winter doesn't help. Because I can't get him outside to enjoy fresh air and the backyard. I am not sure that would even help, but now, he spends an inordinate amount of time sleeping in his chair in the family room. It wasn't like he did a whole lot in Los Angeles either, but for me it is hard to be confined to the same routine each and every day. In addition to the same routine, I feel like I am listening to a broken record, or my joke is I am stuck in Ground Hog's Day. Again no fault of his own, but he can ask the same thing OVER and OVER again and it requires a great deal of patience to manage his questions.