Michelle, I understand your sadness and frustration and not seeing your Mom. I talk to my daughter several times a week (she lives in the county north of me) but if we were to meet we'd have to stay several feet apart and no hugs. :-( I also think you need to stay at home to protect yourself and your family - if they lose you they will be lost; you're a rock for them. So stay healthy.

I've found myself at the drug store a couple of times a week, usually because of some or other health thing following the surgery (the yeast infection that won't quit - but any more would be TMI). I understand Pete's frustration with the pain; I'm stepping down on medication strengths, but am being careful to always eat something as I alternate Rx Ibuprofen and slow-release Acetaminophen so I don't tear up my stomach. And while I thought getting off of the oxycodone after two weeks was pretty good, I switched to Tramadol (codeine) that is in some ways more insidious. It's difficult to stop taking it and switch to something non-narcotic; after 3-4 weeks you can't just stop it or it makes you feel really bad overall, and this different pain is on top of whatever you're regularly treating. I'm tapering now as I cut the pills and try to stretch it out to longer and longer between the smaller doses.

There are many cases of COVID19 in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, but few seem to be tested. It's anecdotal until people are sick enough to go to the hospital for testing and admission. Texas is doing little regarding building extra capacity and ventilators, that falls on the cities and counties. People may want to use this site https://covidnearyou.org/#!/ recommended by Mrrzy in another thread. Report every day and be part of the data. I take my temperature every day now that I have the new thermometer (I bought it when I was recovering from the surgery so I could detect an elevated temperature due to infection; who knew this would come along at the same time.)

In my declutter activity (there is still some!) I took the sturdy part part of a large dog bed that got torn up by the puppy and folded in half and sewed it into a pouch that I closed on one end with strips of velcro. I folded a torn-up-but-washed-one-more-time comforter from the kennel and put it in the casing. And I sprayed it the the bitter yuck stuff to keep the puppy from tearing it up. The kennel was bare for a few days and no one used it, but now that the new padded thing is in there, it is once again a place the dogs voluntarily go to sleep. I rarely close the door on it (unless Cookie is in time out - she's getting a little better about some of the puppy nonsense).

Charmion, I was in the driveway yesterday watching a mockingbird go through an elaborate display on the next door neighbor's rooftop TV aerial. And the sounds - I'm not sure where all of them came from. I have in the past heard them mimic car alarms, but we don't hear those alarms so often any more so the birds have moved onto other electronic noises to perform.