First, thank you for your good thoughts about Elder Son. I was touched at how many of you are thinking of him. He is hanging on well, but of course we are all a bit worried.
I think I mentioned that Younger Son has gotten into yoga, but I don’t think I passed on that this winter he took all the classes and fulfilled all the requirements to become a yoga teacher. He doesn’t teach any classes yet, and I don’t know if he will, but I am glad he has yoga to help him through this quarantined time. Oddly, he hasn’t been doing much biking, if any; his biking friends who did go out told him that the paths were crowded, and he is being very strict about distancing.
Smokey’s brother lives in a small town south of Chicago. He is alone since his wife died a couple years ago. We haven’t heard from him in months, and when Smokey calls, he doesn’t pick up. Worrisome. I sent him a message on FB, hoping that would get through. Turns out Smokey did, too. His stepdaughter messaged Smokey yesterday because she was worried about his brother; Smokey will call her later today. He thinks her daughter still lives in the same town as Brother, so she could check on him. Or we could have the police do a wellness check on him, as a last resort.
I am finding it increasingly difficult to find humor to post here. Earlier today I was reading a story on the Washington Post about all the wacky things families are doing to keep themselves amused during this quarantine. It should have provided some delightful blog fodder, but instead it repulsed me. Posh homes, well-stocked pantries, designer kitchens, even so much tp that they could use it in place of a ball during blindfolded dodge ball. Given how much a lot of people are suffering, I found it disgusting and obscene. So, no wacky videos of people doing stuff to amuse themselves.
The governor of Wisconsin has extended our safer-at-home order to May 26. Good move.
A friend of Smokey’s (our mechanic, actually) posted on Facebook that someone is going around our county shooting horses. WTF? It’s better than shooting his wife and kids*, I guess, but still. Not only does he shoot them, he shoots them somewhere in the body so they die slowly and in pain.
Has anyone else gotten their stimulus payment? We haven’t. And the IRS site to (supposedly) check on the status has not been able to help. We both have our social security checks automatically deposited and filed a 2018 tax return, so I know they have our banking information.
More travel posters.
A short treatise on capitalism.
How to make — and wear! — a face mask
Whatever disasters cats cause, we now know it was deliberate.
Tumbling doggos.
More doggos with captions.
Doggos doing things.
Doggos being good.
Doggos and kittens.
Doggos unite.
Everything you ever wanted to know — and more! — about the Attacus lorquinii.
Zoom moments.
Some screenshots of a newsletter that arrived this morning.
* I am assuming it is a man doing this. And I think that assumption is fully justified.
kmkat & her kneedles 
We’re getting the same notice on the IRS website. I’m hoping it just means that they’re rolling out the payments and ours isn’t one of them yet. When our son checked on his status, the website said that they needed his bank’s routing number so it’s worth going to irs.gov to check status.
Hang in there, K!
Another week has flown by. It is weird how time moves slowly but quickly at the same time! I am glad that WI is staying safe through May. I have a daughter in Neenah and I have a son with his family in Fond du Lac. I did not realize there are so many animal videos on Instagram! A person could spend hours really!!! Thanks so much for your informative, thoughtful, and funny post!
I have to just completely tune out from everything because people are so stupid. (Having a good day, Kym????)
Sorry to hear about your son. Not sure how I missed that. Hopefully all is going well. A small bit of light. The post about the horse was from Oklahoma and at least it was not in our county although awful anywhere. We did get our stimulus check…maybe they are waiting to send you a paper one with “the man’s” name on it (egad). Some days Jacob and I are bone tired but I wouldn’t want him with anyone else so we persevere. Looking forward to sunshine and warmth thinking that will boost our spirits. Hugs
We got our stimulus check direct deposited. I suspect because we had already filed our 2019 return.
I hope you get good news soon about Smokey’s brother. It’s scary being out of contact with family members like that. ❤
I saw some Tweets about "Phil"s and breaking quarantine yesterday, and they made me laugh. I hadn't seen the Trojan Horse one, but I did see a version about a Mongoian siege. 😀
*Mongolian… yikes, typos
I enjoyed the ‘Phil’ thread! Way too many Phils running around loose at the moment…
And oh my, those high-stepping cats. That confirmed a lot of suspicions!
The reports of “Phils” are disturbing, mostly because there are multiple freezer trucks not only in NYC but in New Brunswick, NJ filling up with dead bodies. I agree that watching privileged people entertain themselves is less amusing then it could be, it is becoming very apparent the “have nots” are dying disproportionately because they can’t afford to stay home and shelter, among other things.
We are lucky that my husband already worked from home most of the time, and my oldest son is now able to as well. The younger 2 are both students so I am the only one out of work (substitute teacher) and I only worked part time anyway. Hopefully Smokey’s brother is ok and just bad at communicating. And I continue to hope that it hits Older Son’s area lightly. NJ is now officially closed until May 18th, but it remains open-ended and I don’t expect school back in session until next fall.
I love the glass headstones so beautiful
I just spent an hour reading some random guy’s twitter, opening a new browser window to do so, leaving the sheep running on the old.
Random guy posted that video of Jeanne Pirro(sp?) drunk talking. I paused it just in time to hear “baaaaah”. Synchronicity!