April 19 to 25, 2020 ; still in quarantine at home in Keremeos, BC

Sunday ; Mostly cloudy and mild.

Another slow, lazy day. Replenished toiletries in the camper. Reviewed and purged pet medications. Reviewed weekly investments performance. Posted weekly blog entry. Downloaded, signed, scanned, and returned some investment documents. Cooked supper creation. Turned out okay. Watched French Film Festival short films. Not all winners !

Monday ; Sunny and warm. Feels like summer !

This morning I had a somewhat lengthy phone conversation with an agent at the British Columbia Automobile Association / BCAA regarding renewal of the minivan registration and license, emergency roadside service, home insurance, and travel medical insurance.

This afternoon I did outdoor work. Got the outdoor water spigots turned on, and garden hoses on the front and rear of the house hooked up. Did a 6000 km. inspection on the truck. Did some RRIF planning and records keeping.

Our new TV channel programming started today. Joanne spent almost the entire day binge watching 90 Day Fiance on TLC. HA HA HA ! I created and cooked a beans and rice enchilada concoction for supper. It … wasn’t great !

Tuesday ; Sunny, cool, windy.

Another slow, lazy day. Did some preventive maintenance work on the truck and minivan. Did some online research on home insurance. The local insurance agency’s service deteriorated a lot last summer, since they “sold out” to a large insurance corporation. No longer a family owned, independent insurance broker, the “second generation” of the family ownership are now just employees of a large corporation. Who no longer seem interested in continuing to provide the outstanding level of service they did when their father owned the agency. Okay ... see ya !

Cooked another weird supper creation. Turned out better than expected. Sort of made up for last night’s crappy supper. Watched a lot of TV in the evening. Day twelve of fourteen day quarantine. Certainly am looking forward to a trip to the grocery store on Friday !

Wednesday ; Raining all day. Makes me sleepy !

Started out the day by making waffles. < sigh > Forgot to spray vegetable oil on the waffle maker grille surface. What a mess ! ! ! Struggled with how to respond to an acquaintance’s e-mail seeking advice. Was not inclined to tell her what she wanted to hear. So … didn’t ! Couldn’t work on most of today’s “to do” plans. All outdoor work ! Had a phone meeting with another insurance agent.

We cooked supper together. Was the best meal of our quarantine. So far ! One more day to go ! Watched French Film Festival short films in the evening.

Thursday ; Sunny and cool, a bit windy in the evening.

Last day of quarantine ! Oh, boy … fresh fruit and vegetables tomorrow. And 

milk !

Worked outdoors this afternoon. Exercised our little generator. Did some routine maintenance on the minivan. AND … < insert drum roll here > … washed the truck ! The drive from Arizona to British Columbia, or the opposite in the fall, always leaves the truck pretty grimy.

Did some online exercises before supper. We’ve been doing that daily. Paid our Canadian and American MasterCard billings for April.

Friday ; Sunny and mild, a bit windy.

WOO-HOO … lettuce … tomatoes … Ambrosia apples ! WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO … red meat ! HA HA HA HA HA !

QUARANTINE OVER ! Around noon we went to the laundromat and selected a time tomorrow to do laundry. Our park’s laundromat is now available only by appointment, to maintain social distancing. Then we headed … in the truck … to Keremeos village. We stopped at Sanderson Farms and bought fruits and vegetables. Lots of them ! HA HA HA ! Next stop was Buy Low Foods, the grocery store in town. While Joanne went into the grocery store to begin shopping, I crossed the street to Similkameen Pharmacy. The pharmacy door was closed, and signage indicated that the pharmacist would meet customers at the door. I presented him with my prescription needs. He advised me that they were filling prescriptions for only 30 days, instead of the usual 90 days. I was pissed off, and told him so. I accused him of profiteering, getting triple the dispensing fees he usually would. His “explanation” was total bullshit, and I told him that as well !

I joined Joanne in the grocery store and … we bought a LOT of groceries. I am hoping that we can cut our weekly shopping trips in half, to once every two weeks, for the foreseeable future. We wore face masks for the first time today. And I don’t have very good face masks. Just some old Harbor Freight dust masks … with elastics that have lost their stretch due to age and heat !

After grocery shopping we returned home. Our relatively new next door neighbour … who just returned here a few days ago after wintering in Florida … and obviously thinks quarantine rules apply to others, but not her … and who has some VERY strange ideas about yard maintenance, asked me to not park our truck in our yard because she wanted to … wait for it … use a leaf blower to blow all the dust off her gravel yard. HUH ? You want to blow dry your gravel ? Like you did last summer ? Which resulted in our truck, our minivan, and all the windows of our home being coated in dust ! ! ! I declined to move my truck. And suggested as politely as I could that blow drying her gravel may not be such a great idea. She threw a hissy fit and stomped off. Minutes later … she was blow drying her gravel !

We went for a long walk. AHHHHHH … that felt great ! When we returned home there was a card from the neighbour on our door. With forty bucks inside ! To pay for car washes. I was livid ! I will NOT tolerate that kind of passive aggressiveness ! ! ! Especially from a neighbour who frequently borrows tools and equipment, and asks for my advice and / or physical help. Generously, Joanne offered to deal with the matter, and return her forty bucks to her. Tomorrow !

< deep breath > AHHHHH … I barbecued very thick burgers for supper. Served with home made fries. And preceded by a fresh garden salad. AHHHHH !

Saturday ; Mostly sunny and mild. Briefly very windy in the afternoon.

Joanne did a LOT of laundry this afternoon. First opportunity to do laundry in over three weeks. While Joanne was doing laundry I visited with our neighbour / friend Jeanine who, like everyone else, is feeling a bit of “cabin fever” after a month of self-isolation.

In the evening I shuffled money around, and bought some new investments.

DSK