Masks Etc

I ventured out for my first 

SENIOR shopping trip at Walmart.

(Our's opens 6-7 am for 60+)

(I needed my thyroid refill. And dog food.)

I was appropriately gloved and masked up.

We have a box of N95 masks the church

issued the guys when they were doing

hurricane clean-up in Key West.

Wow.

It added yet another reason to be in awe of

our amazing health care professionals.

These are AWFUL!

I'm NOT a mouth breather.

But the whole time I was wearing this

thing I kept finding myself breathing

through my mouth - which I hate.

It's not healthy to breathe through your mouth.

(That's why HF put all those nifty filters

in your nasal passages!)

AND I couldn't keep my darn glasses on!

Anyhow.

I got in, got what I needed, and got out.

Meanwhile,

Rod had an appointment with his eye doctor.

He had laser surgery on his glaucoma eye

six weeks ago and it was time to check to see

if it worked.

They called and cancelled because its not an emergency.

But I think his eye looks WAAAY worse.

It looks like a balloon that is over-inflated.

So I called and got him another appointment.

He went in this morning.

Before his surgery his pressure was 16.

This morning is was TEN!

The Dr. said his eye looks great (all considered)

and the reason it looks bad is the other eye lid

is starting to droop quite a bit so it looks bigger...

He is VERY BLESSED!

We started with this beautiful full moon.

Pretty enough to warrant TWO pictures.

Also... please note the dump truck is NOT

on the back patio!

Kyle got it all finished up yesterday!!!!

YEAAAAAA!!!!!!

It's going back to the farm today.

Stay healthy.

Stay positive.

Stay strong.

This just popped up on my "Nextdoor Neighborhood" page.
I guess it could be worse...

And Sam just shared this on my FB page...

Hahahahahahaha!!!

Zoom Master (HA!)

I have been shut up in my "office"

Ok, Jim's bedroom...

for the past YEAR.

Ok, 2 days.

Or is it 3???

Anyhow.

I hosted my first live webinar on

Friday morning and actually had 19

students show up for class!

Not bad for 4 hours of insurance stuff...

Then last night I co-hosted Lawrence's webinar.

Good thing I was there, his screen froze and I

had to take over for a couple of minutes...

And then this morning I popped into our

Spanish instructor's class just to observe

and she was doing it DIFFERENT!

She had her iPad hooked up along with her

laptop, so she could show the presentation on

her iPad (which is WAY easier to write on...)

and had her Q&A and Chat windows open on

her laptop so she could teach AND answer 

questions at the same time!

Brilliant!!!

(Plus the iPad has a better White Board than

Zoom does - and I already have saved stuff

that I can use...)

As soon as I saw that, I jumped on with my other

instructor / friend Lillian, and we set up a practice

webinar and tried it out!

WE LOVE IT!

(Rod had to come close my door because we were

squealing... lol)

So.....

Tonight at 6:00 I'll be hosting my 2nd Zoom webinar.

and I'm going to try it the way she did it.

(Fingers Crossed!!!)

This is NOT me, obviously.

This is Lawrence, and what I was looking

at on my screen last night.

Well, I was also an "attendee" on my phone so I

could raise my hand when he asked questions

(he only had 4 students and only 1 was participating)

All those other names on the participant screen

are other instructors - most logged in and wandered off...

I was also following along on MY presentation

on my iPad.

So I had 3 different devices open.

Plus Lillian kept texting me (she was watching too)

and then my boss Dan popped in and started texting

me, so I was trying to flip back and forth between

texting and raising my hand ... sometimes I wasn't

fast enough and he got a bit discouraged that there

wasn't more participation.

But I tried!

(grin)

I slept WELL last night!

I had a large morning class, but honestly am not

expecting a huge class this evening.

People have better things to do on a Saturday evening. 

Probably. 

Maybe. 

Anyhow.

That (hopefully) explains the radio silence.

I'm not teaching again until Wed evening...

so I promise to check back in on Monday.

Or even Sunday.

We'll see...

Caught the last 20 minutes of the morning session.

It was good!

Thursday Morning

Quick Update.

(Since I have a VERY busy day planned...)

Let's see, what's on my list for today...

#1. LAUNDRY! Rod is out of uniforms, so the first

load is already in. (Thursday is my regular laundry day 

but I often toss in a quick load one other day...)

(And I haven't...)

#2. Call the mortgage company.

I've been messing with them re: home owners insurance

since JANUARY and it looks like we MIGHT have

it all straightened out today. Fingers crossed!

#3. I have a list of past students I need to phone

(and then follow-up with an email) to invite them

to the new Zoom Review classes we are hosting.

#4. REHEARSE FOR THE NEW ZOOM REVIEW CLASSES.

Hahahahahaha.

I'm teaching the FIRST class tomorrow morning.

All the Florida Elite Team members are attending.

NO PRESSURE!

#5. Clear a space in Jim's bedroom so I can sit

undisturbed for 4 hours to host the classes.

Tomorrow's class is from 9am to 1pm but the rest

of my scheduled classes are 6 - 10 pm.

So there will be family home.

I need to be behind a closed door.

And since I will be on camera, there needs to be

a decent background!

I'm thinking I'll set up so my backdrop is his

blank white closet doors and maybe hang a

picture/poster/something? behind me?

Or just go with the white?

I don't know.

I'm going to set up a lap top AND my iPad

so I can both teach and watch myself

from the student's perspective so I don't

slouch and get out of the camera shot,

or lean over and give them a good clear

view of my entire nasal cavity...

You know.... Typical Zoom stuff.

And then I'm sure there's other stuff.

I need to do dishes.

And the floors need to be mopped.

And change the sheets on our bed.

And weed in the garden.

And prep some food so poor Rod will have

dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow.

Kyle and I have been on the road and we

aren't good about eating when we travel, so the

last two days we have had WAAY too much

junk food (my body is letting me know how it

feels about THAT...) and one meal.

(Tuesday was a 6" subway sub and last night

was a Taco Bell burrito and taco.)

We need ACTUAL FOOD.

(I'm air frying okra as we speak...)

And Rod has had to fend for himself for 

breakfast/lunch and dinner.

Although I DID make a dozen hard boiled eggs

into a batch of egg salad on Monday.

But man can not live on egg salad alone!

(And there were left over YUMMY BBQd pork ribs

in the fridge - I actually haven't even opened the 

fridge in 2 days... don't know what's in there!)

Anyhow.

That's what's going on in our neck of the woods today.

Since my class starts at 9 (but I want to be set up by 8:30)

and then I am co-hosting the evening class I'll probably

not check in tomorrow.

It's going to be a BUSY (stress filled) day.

Hope everybody is healthy, happy, social distancing,

and getting plenty of fresh air!

Oh yeah.

Florida went on "stay home" orders starting midnight

tonight - so there's that.

Rod (aviation) is considered essential, so nothing changes

for him, and agriculture is also essential, so Kyle is still

allowed out and about.

And I'm a hermit anyway.

 (Not that you can tell from the 

past two days!)

Hahahaha.

OH!

I ate the first (tiny) peach from our tree the other day!

It was tiny, hard, but really juicy and ... not bad!

Here's hoping they get BETTER...

And our first BABY yellow squash!

I'm sure he will soon be followed by many many many others.

(He is on a little starter plant Kyle bought, the other

plants look WAY better but are a couple weeks behind...)

April 1 - 4th Post - GARDEN UPDATE

We’ve been working hard, weeding all the grass out

of our garden rows and mulching around our plants.

Also put chicken wire all around the bottom to keep the local

rabbits out of   Farmer McGreggor’s Garden. 

It’s looking so good! Those are beans in the first row

tomatoes at the end. Then a row of peas we haven’t mulched yet,

and a row of zucchini and yellow squash.

Lots of work and hoping for a great harvest!

April 1 - 3rd post

While at RK I got a text. NO CLASSES TOMORROW!

I guess they finally figured out that there’s no point in scheduling a class

If you haven’t yet figured out how to enroll students... LOL

So now our new schedule is: First class - 4/3  @ 9am -  ME teaching.

Then 4/3 @ 9pm  - Me co-hosting with Lilian whose computer is

Not cooperating, so likely I’ll be teaching.

And all the other Elite Team will be attending the morning class

So they can “see how it works...” No pressure! Hahahaha.

(Yes, I’m nervous.)

We finally made it home about midnight. Covered all the feed/seed

with a tarp (we ran through a bunch of rain - first rain since January

and supposedly it was going to rain at our place overnight. It didn’t...)

This morning I got up, fed the horses and cows, unloaded the feed into the barn,

moved the cows into the middle pasture (so Jake didn’t pester me)

and got the rabbits set up in their new houses with hay, feed and water.

Fed the dogs, made a quick smoothie, and Kyle and I headed over to Linda’s.

Weighed her 3 cows and got them loaded into the stock trailer.

Smoothest load EVER!

And now we are back on the road to the ranch.

Meanwhile, I’m supposed to be phoning all my past students from 

the last few months to invite them to my review class on the 3rd.

And answering a gazillion texts from the other coaches.

And had a lovely phone conversation with Nancy!

NEXT POST - GARDEN UPDATE!

April 1st - 2nd Post New TEAM MATES!

So... we left Tampa and headed to Dade City to Hancock Seed Company.

What a BEAUTIFUL operation! Picked up a bunch of seed for the 

city farm - loaded it in the bed of Kyle’s truck and next was the ranch.

We were hoping to get to Ag-Pro in Chiefland to pick up a tiller, but they

close at 5:30 and we still had to get to the ranch, unload the seed and then

drive to Chiefland. We didn’t even get to the ranch until 4:45. Can’t make it.

So we loaded the seed in the back of the big stock trailer, moved Kyle’s truck

into the shop, hooked the stock trailer to the farm truck (so Linda doesn’t have

to pay for Kyle’s fuel for 2 more trips) and headed into Ocala to Rural King.

*** SOCIAL DISTANCING WAS CAREFULLY OBSERVED AT ALL THESE STOPS ***

(Not to mention the Germ-X and blue latex gloves we made liberal use of)

Once at Rural King we stocked up on 600# of horse/cow feed,

an additional 200 pounds of beet pulp pellet for the horses.

Also... rabbits!

Introducing BOB! A large brown male.

And Ethel - a younger, smaller black female.

Welcome to the Team!!!!

Over The Road - Update

I’m probably going to do multiple posts today

Because I’m on my iPad and it doesn’t like

the Blogger platform.

Anyhow.

Yesterday.

I had a 9:00 “quick” Zoom webinar with the other

4 coaches on the Florida Elite Team (and our boss...)

It lasted until 10:20! 

Hahahahahaha

We got lots accomplished though and the first

webinar goes live April 1st at 9 am with me as co-host

and the 2nd webinar same date at 6 pm with me as host/instructor.

YIKES!

That’s like tomorrow morning!

Once I finally got off the computer Kyle and I hit

the road and headed to Tampa to pick up the part

for the dump truck that is still sitting on the patio.

But the new part was missing the “yoke”.

(Mechanic talk... I just nodded.)

The amazing guy had it overnighted.

And the iPad is done.

Continue on the next post!