Plague diary April 23

It's been five weeks today since we decided to not go anywhere that we would run into other people.

There are a few things that I like about being locked down.  Such as being able to stay up late and sleep in as late as I like.  In fact, I've been getting extremely restful and satisfying sleep throughout the plague time, plus not a single nightmare or disturbing dream about getting sick.  And I think that scam telemarketing calls are down, probably because scamsters can't trust their employees to work at top efficiency if they're not right there in the boiler room.

But of course there are things I don't like.  Top of the list is not being able to see the grandchildren, although the other day I returned some empty tupperware, sat on the porch swing while the kids played in the front yard and chatted at a distance with son and daughter-in-law.  That was nice, but not as nice as hugs and kisses.

I realize that I really dislike not being able to go grocery shopping.  At first in the lockdown my sons went to the store for me, and might call or text from the store to ask whether 2% milk was OK since there was no skim, but that stopped when they want into lockdown as well and we all started to use the grocery store pickup.  Which didn't always deliver what we ordered, and sometimes delivered what we didn't order (mixed nuts with "less than 50% peanuts," yuk).

But I like to shop for groceries as targets of opportunity.  I like to check the leftover bins, where yesterday's ground beef is marked down, and the getting-old produce is put at random into 99-cent bags.  That's when I might decide to buy five bags of getting-old apples to make a pie and some applesauce, or two bags of getting-old avocados, to eat one of at every meal till they run out.  Sometimes the red peppers look fabulous (buy a half dozen) and sometimes they look limp and pathetic (buy zero).  And if I'm not in a hurry, I like to go slowly up and down the aisles to see what looks good that I forgot to put on my list, or didn't realize that I wanted till I see it.  You can't do this with Kroger Click Pick.

from the fruit stand, chosen by ME!!!

I have been violating my orders (from my sons, not from the health department) and have made two trips to the fruit stand and one to the butcher in the last five weeks.  Wearing my mask and standing far from others.  But I'm really jonesing for a trip to the big grocery.  They have geezer time for an hour every morning, where just old people are admitted.  Some of my friends, even older than I am, go to the grocery regularly and so far seem to be uninfected, but I'm resisting so far.