One advantage of the stay at home order, no one is starving.

While going shopping for food is no picnic (you must wear a mask and social distance), there is more time for creativity including cooking items that previously people did not have time to make. Normally James would be in school and Dad at work but because of the shutdown we are enjoying each others company and working on fun projects to keep us busy.

This will go down as a very strange year, plus its an election year so the best is yet to come.

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.

With the covid virus threatening the world this was certainly a quiet Easter. Once again we ordered our Easter ham through VIP camp and it was delicious as usual.

This year we did not buy a Easter basket but instead made one from candy we purchased and one of the baskets from previous years. We did this because its difficult to purchase items that may have been touched by others since they may have the virus on their hands when they held the basket. Because of this, many things have to be wiped down and sterilized just to be safe. Hopefully one day we will laugh about this but despite the pandemic we had a great Easter and hope you all had the same and are staying safe.

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. Continue reading “DTE Begins Construction On Tulane 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. Continue reading “New Chevron Added To James Varsity Jacket 2020” →

While we did not get a white Christmas this year, we did get a white New Years Eve and the Christmas decorations on the block really looked good with the snow reflecting all the lights. James put a lot of work into this years New Years display, decorating the living room and working on his new decade trifold. His explanation was that this was not only a new year, but a new decade so he had ten horns set up in his trifold to represent each year in a decade. A great time was had by all but especially James on this first day of a new decade. Mom and Dad could not help but imagine what type of a celebration he would have put on had he been around at the turn of the millenium twenty years ago.

Continue reading “Happy New Year 2020” →

Despite the early snowfall in November, we did not get a white Christmas this year, but that was about the only thing that was not perfect this year.

Christmas Day was warm this year, so warm in fact that it could have passed as a spring day.

Lots of presents this year including a two headed monster for Dad, a karaoke machine for James, and a new computer for Mom.

Mom pulled out all the trimmings for Christmas dinner with a turkey along with stuffing and deviled eggs. A great time was had by all.

Continue reading “Christmas 2019” →

James is on Christmas vacation with his school but got a treat this Monday (and next Monday too) with a special VIP Camp for the holidays. The event was held at Skore Lanes in Taylor and each of the campers got to bowl 4 games in addition to all the other events including a hot dog, chips, and drink lunch. James had a blast with his “summer” friends” (who he saw earlier in the week at Santa’s Magic Forest) and everyone got to wish Merry Christmas to each other.

Mom and Dad picked James up at the bowling alley and we all went to Golden Corral for a nice family dinner. A great time was had by all.

Continue reading “VIP Holiday Mini Camp 2019” →