I think this picture of the line waiting to get into Walmart best describes the late winter, early spring of 2020 when everyone was sheltering in place due to the Covid 19 shutdown. Toilet paper shortages, anti bacterial soap shortages, mask shortages, and disinfectant wipe shortages were probably the main things that were being rationed by the stores. If they had any of the afore mentioned items in stock you could only take one or two of them. Social distancing of 6′ was the theme everywhere which limited the number of people who could shop at any one time. Some of the rules implemented by our Governor were considered very controversial as shops and people were defined by being essential or not. This resulted in several protest in Lansing by small businesses who were ordered to stay shut while larger essential business could remain open. All restaurants were carry out or delivery only.
Category: General Day to Day
General Events
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Covid Shutdown Affecting How We live 2020
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DTE Begins Construction On Tulane 2020
We have been seeing the results of the DTE upgrade throughout the neighborhood and knew our time would be coming. Sure enough it came during the heart of winter as DTE tore up cement and lawns so that they could do an upgrade which would replace some of the piping and and most noticeably bring the meter outside which is better for some purpose (it does mean the meter people can read the meter outside which should help somewhat). Our understanding is this project will be going on for 18 years which by that time will probably need to be upgraded again. DTE plans to come back in the spring and repair the grass and cement. (more…) -
New Chevron Added To James Varsity Jacket 2020
James received his chevron (also known as a rocker in the military) and we had his varsity jacket modified to display this. The Chevron represents his second year on track doing the shot put and James has every intention of being on the track team again this spring for his junior year (he already has his sports physical turned in and the first meeting is right around the corner at Annapolis). James enjoys the jacket and keeps it in great shape. It is high quality so I don’t think he has anything to worry about but he takes very good care of it and does not wear it in poor weather. (more…)
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A Fabulous Christmas Tree 2019
Our neighborhood is truly lucky to have probably the best decorated Christmas tree in Michigan located on our humble block. If you ever get into our neighborhood, check it out. You can see it from nearly a mile away and to top it off they shoot off fireworks there as well. The ornaments are blow molds which gives you an idea of how big this tree really is.
We included two pics, a before and after.
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The Rap Off
James signed up for the Rap Off, a Poetry Slam Event and it was the first event of its type. It was held at the McDonalds on Telegraph and Colgate from 6pm till about 8pm and was alot of fun for all the kids and especially for the spectators. James based his rap on the history of McDonalds and it was very well received. James received $110 dollars for his activities (an anonymous donator enhanced all the prize money which was cool), and also received a Certificate of Congressional Recognition signed by Debbie Dingell. The event was very successful and there will be another such event probably in a couple months. James also got a chance to meet Darren McCarty of Detroit Red Wing Fame.
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The Egg and I
James had to bring home an egg for one of his classes (Human Development I think). All he has to do is not break the egg for one week. He has to bring the egg to class each day so he cannot simply put it on a shelf for a week, it has to be brought to school each day so James has to be very careful that he does not break the egg. If the egg gets broke he fails the class. Pretty Draconian if you ask me but hopefully the egg makes it through the week.Well, the egg has made it to the weekend so we are halfway there.
Finally, the egg has made it the whole week and James got an A on this project.
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Last Pool Day 2019
Today James took his last swim in the swimming pool as the weather is starting to get a wee bit chilly especially in the evening as the Fall season begins to take hold. -
Butterflies Are Free To Fly 2019
We saw this beautiful butterfly on some of Mary’s flowers in the back yard and could not resist taking some pictures of the beast.
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Beautiful Summer Day Visit To Bronners 2019
Bronners really looked different this year as we saw many items that we never saw before including a motion light snowflake that was really cool (but they were out of, only the demo left, but plenty of time till Christmas. We really enjoyed the Santa in the classic car mural and will have to review old pics to see if we just missed that or if that is something new. Regardless its something that is not for sale but it certainly is cool to look at. The day was perfect so we tried to spend as much time as we could outside of Bronners, looking at all their outside decorations as well as the inside decorations.Taking the back roads from Lapeer to Frankenmuth is a very enjoyable ride, you go around a beautiful lake, and you find all sorts of small ma and pa type stores. However, with a gps its almost impossible to know your way around.
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Antique Shopping at Past Tense & Weathered Windmill
Stopping at Past Tense in Lapeer MI is always a pleasure, although it always brings up the debate on which is the real 24, the 24 that we refer to as Telegraph or the 24 that goes from the Palace of Auburn hills through Lapeer? In addition to antiques Past Tense has a Christmas and Halloween section plus a garden shop which has all sorts of unique products for the outside decorator. We got some interesting ideas for the yard but only purchased an “outdoor cemetery” sign on this visit.After leaving Past Tense we headed North via side streets and stopped for the first time at an antique store called the “weathered windmill”. It was really cool and had many items that we simply could not live without, but did. We managed to buy an old antique crate. (more…)
