Random 5 for April 26 – Ideas, Amazon, yard work, plants, food

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A brainstorm! – As I was listening to the traffic report on the radio, I realized there isn’t any. Nothing to report. No accidents. No jams. No nothing. I wish they would change that to a people traffic report. It would go something like “10 cars in the Starbucks drive-through,” “20 people waiting to get in Costco,” “don’t even think about going to Target, line wrapped around building.” That would be so helpful. If you have to do a supply run, it’s so much easier if you can get a handle on when it’s busy.

Mollie bathing on the open windowsill. This was taken yesterday. She is doing better.

Thank you Jeff Bezos – We make a national sport of bad mouthing successful businesses. This week I am grateful to Jeff. He overnighted (not him personally) the diabetic supplies I needed for my cat. I worried that it would take at least a week but it didn’t. No extra charge with Prime. I thank Jeff, the pick/packer who filled my order and the delivery guys that made it all happen. Thank you!

The irony – This would be a great time to prep the garden and clean out the pond. Lots of time and no interruptions. Unfortunately, Mother Nature has different ideas. Looking at the long range weather forecast, the next time I will have two nice warmish days together to clean the pond is next weekend. That’s a full three weeks later than normal. We have been having unseasonably cold and rainy weather for April.

On a good note – My tomatoes are galloping along. They like heat. I have them under a grow light and they are doing very well. They’ve been transplanted to bigger pots. Now they just need to grow a bit more. By the time our soil is warm enough to plant, there will be buds on them.

Yes, this woman is 90!

Groceries – I have always been interested in what other people buy in a grocery store. I check out the carts. Sometimes I ask if I can join them for dinner. It is inspiring. I am currently picking up groceries for my brother and his wife. They get more stuff than we do. They are doing creative cooking during this lockdown. I have bought them a lot of yeast, all the baking supplies and enough eggs to serve a quiche to the 6th fleet but those aren’t the real surprise. The real surprise is that amount of half and half they go through. I am convinced my sis-in-law uses it as a skin treatment. For age 90, her skin looks like a 70 year old.

So how was your week?

101 thoughts on “Random 5 for April 26 – Ideas, Amazon, yard work, plants, food”

  2. I think you’re right about that half/half! Dear Lord, your SIL looks AMAZING!
    Mother Nature needs to get it together before I lose my mind. Those tomato plants look fabulous. Would they move over and share the light from that lamp with a desperate human? Glad to hear you were able to get Mollie her medication!! Woo Hoo

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  3. Your SIL is a youthful 90. My goodness, how encouraging is that! I’m jealous of your tomato plants. I want some too, although I’ve got some good-looking parsley and basil growing inside right now. My own little victory herb garden of sorts.

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  7. Oh, a people traffic report would be great. So far, two of my favourite walking areas have remained relatively unpopulated. With better weather headed our way, I am doubtful that this will continue.
    I’m glad to hear that Mollie is doing better. That is awesome news!

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  8. My AM news station that has the traffic reports every ten minutes has eliminated the traffic reporter from 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. and the anchor person has to read those reports. It is a CBS News/Entercom-owned station and they have had massive cutbacks due to lack of advertising due to the pandemic and so many business shutdowns. One of their biggest advertisers was Art Van Furniture Store and they filed for bankruptcy in late February. They’ve laid off anchors, sports announcers and most of their personnel now work from home – they were celebrating their 100th anniversary this year and had lots of vintage spots and highlights of news stories from the last century – all that has gone by the wayside as it is COVID-19 news 99% of the time now. I think they just have our traffic reports for construction and pothole pop-ups. I’ve always been pleased with Amazon and I don’t have Prime, but they often deliver earlier than expected, even with free shipping. Mollie is looking good basking in the sunshine and cleaning her paw – was that her paw that had been bandaged?

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  9. You have eggs and tomato plants! both in short supply here. Envious.
    Glad Mollie’s medical items care through – one less thing to worry about. YEA!
    A people report? Sr. staff manages to get one. Here’s how:
    Go in “Google maps”. In that search box, type in desired location (Like Petsmart near me or store name) Store will pop up on map with a “pin”. Click on pin, which brings up an info box about that store, then in that box scroll down and there should be a bar chart representing days of the week and it should show you if the store is busy or not on particular days …and usually says” live” on the bar representing the actual day of your search. He gets it to work and it does help you plan trips
    Mess around with that and see if you can do it. Fingers crossed…it’s something of a mystery ( but once again the data is all out there – we just have to know where and how to get it to work?)
    If it doesn’t work, I’ll claim it was only a dream HAHA (But it should)
    Hugs to Mollie and your Realm

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  10. Your idea for people traffic reports is excellent! I’m amazed that our traffic reports still contain alerts for accidents and slow downs… not often, but it seems there should be zero of those. We still get surf reports every day even though people can’t get in the water yet. They guy who does them is so funny that I think people would rebel if they put them on hiatus.

    Good to know that Mollie is doing better and her meds have arrived. Jeff isn’t my favorite, but I’m glad he came through for you!

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    • I was grateful for Amazon as purchasing it through the emergency vet would have cost three times as much. Since it’s pet specific, you can’t pick it up anywhere. Chewy would have been my normal go to but their deliveries are running longer. We have had other Amazon deliveries that took longer so they must be prioritizing med supplies. Yay for that.

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  12. I agree with the vehicle traffic slow down the people in line ups report would be more helpful. We use to go to different stores for different things. So if you saw our buggy at certain stores, say where we go for snacks, you would think we had terrible eating habits. There’s usually no vegetables or proteins in that buggy. 😊

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    • We do that too to some extent. Our “normal” grocery store has fabulous fruits and veggies and that’s where I see those luscious carts! Then there are the stores where we get canned and boxed food. Not so appetizing.

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  13. You are right about your sister-in-law’s skin – gorgeous! And – I think I understand you”hitting a wall” (last post) if you have had bad weather. One of the blessings of the past two weeks here has been blue skies and sunshine. Hang in there, Kate. Spring is coming.

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  14. You can get yeast?!. I wish we were that lucky. It’s a tough find. But it would be great to get out in the yard sometime before the summer. Seem like rain for several more days.
    Whenever you show me that photo, Ican’t believe she’s 90. God Bless.

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  15. Your sis-in-law is amazing with her resiliency. I remember the accident she had last year, and I’m glad to know she’s doing well. Lots of half-n-half is probably a good “sin” to have at that age. 🙂 I like to look at what other people have in their carts, too. But I’m no longer allowed to say, “I wish I was going to his/her house” anymore. I’m told by my better half that it’s creepy. – Marty

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    • Thanks! Last year my cat Morgan ate my first set of tomato plants. I’ll be happy to get them outside to start “hardening them off” so she can’t get at them. I placed them at a “harder to access” spot but she’s a cat and goes wherever she wants.

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  17. 90 and recovered from that terrible accident! And is apparently still going along making bread and fancy meals. I fear that will not be me at 90. Hell, it’s not really me at 55. 😂
    My mom always said – Old people are just well developed versions of their younger selves. I’m likely to be a bedridden sloth at 75 and I doubt I will be celebrating a 90th b-day.

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  19. I can usually understand you but half and half has me guessing. We have had beautiful weather since the lockdown started. I am jealous of your drive through Starbucks still being open. I saw someone with a Starbucks coffee cup the other day and really want a shop made late.

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    • Half/half is half cream and half milk. People buy it to put in their coffee or tea. We only have 2 Starbucks open locally, drive-through only and they are always jammed up. At least a 20 minute wait. The hours are limited too.

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  20. Glad to hear Mollie is doing better and thanks to people like Jeff who sort out urgent deliveries!
    We’ve had sunny days, but the wind has been so cold. It’s hot and muggy now, no rain coming our way, but I wouldn’t be surprised to hear thunder later.
    Envious of your tomatoes. Make mine look like weeds….. maybe they are!!!!
    Take care.

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  21. I’d venture your SIL’s skin looks better than a LOT of 70 year olds! Maybe I should start bathing in half and half…I could use some overall skin plumping for a lifetime of taking it for granted. Glad to hear Mollie is feeling a bit better and congrats on the overnight delivery score. Amazon (despite the often justified criticisms) has been a lifesaver for many-I hope their people stay safe while helping the rest of us out.

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  22. Oh your people traffic report is a very neat idea! Very clever! I planted tomato seeds in an egg carton. I have over 20 some little seedlings! It was an experiment as I never did that before. Problem is I don’t have enough dirt to transplant the little things…nor do I have enough pots.

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  25. I’m happy to hear Mollie got her meds next day delivery. That’s great news. We were under tornado warnings for several hours last night, but the wind never blew more than 5 mph. The tree frogs were singing like crazy though.

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  27. Hope you continue to see an improvement in Mollie. Glad her meds arrived in short order.

    I don’t want to listen to people traffic reports for store, after store, after store . . . waiting for the reporter to get around to the store I’m interested in. But stores could broadcast “real time” store cams on their websites showing whether there are gaggles of people in line, or not.

    Oh, wait. All those let’s-take-a-selfie folks would probably become perpetual line waiters just so they could be “on camera.” 😛

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      • It sure is. My neighborhood is so quiet with everyone home. I only see a few people walking their dogs or I wave to my neighbor when we’re in our backyards. Most people here are doing good going out only once a week for groceries. I live across from a park and it’s off limits to people too. So strange to see it empty.

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        • I’ve been surprised that more people aren’t out walking. Our houses aren’t close together here but I rarely see more than 2 or 3 people walking in the ‘hood. We have a park too, also closed although there are walking paths. I haven’t been by it during mid-day to see if anyone is walking. Paths are narrow so it would be hard to distance.

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  29. Great news about Jeff getting the supplies delivered to you overnight for Mollie!
    Our week was unbelievably peaceful and we had 4 and a half inches of rain that filled all the ponds in our little community. The frogs, the birds, the turtles and the Allie Gators are all happy!

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    • That is a lot of rain! We are having a steady rain today. In it’s own way it’s peaceful but we’ve had so much of it that I’m (and a lot of people) are chomping at the bit to get out. Jeff is my man now. I am very grateful. It’s not like there were a lot of alternatives other than paying through the nose.

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  30. Glad you got the diabetic supplies quickly – that’s heartening especially when most of the stuff any of us order these days is either on backorder or “to be delivered in Fall if you’re lucky” ! HAHA I’m amazed at the morning news traffic report too – although around here there have been a LOT more tractor trailer accidents. No cars on the road so they are speeding out there and having horrific accidents – the state police are on top of it now – we hope. Your sister-in-law absolutely does NOT look 90. She must have fabulous genes! I look 90 and I’m only 72!

    Hugs, Pam

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  31. I too love the idea of people traffic reports. I’ve never been much of a people-y person … much preferring the quiet, less populated experiences, but there is an indicator that this pandemic is turning me into a recluse. I had to drop off some things with my oldest son and didn’t want to leave the house because I felt there would be too much traffic on the roads.

    …. even though I know there is little to no traffic on the roads.

    I’m starting to treat cars on the road with the same physical distancing measures as I do people in person. Some day when life approaches ‘normal’ again, I may have issues being released back into the wild 😏

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  32. It’s been an ok week. We have made it this far without having to face the virussy supermarket, and yesterday we had another warning to stay away from a local friend who tried it and was horrified at the lack of regulations. No distancing, one security guard on duty waving people in without counting. Sounds horrendous.

    And the stupids are out in force on the streets. We’ve now seen not one but two families of four walking hand in hand along the pavement, happily letting us walk in the road to avoid them. And a daddy and his little girl blowing bubbles on a street corner, again letting pedestrians step into the road to avoid them. No doubt parents will say, “Awww, but they’re making memories!” Erm, having someone step into the road and be hit by a car or a bike – is that memorable enough for you? 😡

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  33. LOVE the idea of a people traffic report – I’d subscribe to that!

    I’ve done similar at check out lines, especially when the shopper ahead of me has a black forest cake or a bucket of ice cream. I must change my delivery though – I got funny looks when I said, “Ooh, I think I’ll follow you home!”

    Finally, yay for the overnight meds. You have enough to worry about without having to delay the administration of Molly’s drugs.

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    • It wasn’t the meds but the glucometer and test strips which I needed to be sure the insulin dosage was correct. Without monitoring it could be deadly. It also had to be a pet version which wasn’t easily available. I get frustrated with on-line shopping sometimes but I am very grateful for it.

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