Tuesday, April 6, 2021
Palo Pinto General Hospital opened for visitors and all the Covid-19 testing sites closed or moved to the urgent care facility. Life is, for the most part, back to pre-pandemic normal. It’s hard to believe a little over a year ago we were home watching Tiger King and Pandemic documentaries on Netflix and wondering what was going to happen next.
The weather’s dry and windy. We may get some rain on Friday.
Last Thursday, Ray and I went to the movies to see Nobody on opening night. It was a great show.
Palo Pinto County has reported 2849 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 71 related deaths.
Friday, April 16, 2021
Ray’s sisters have been pushing to sell their family land. Last week Ray told us he’d researched land outside Texas and was considering selling our place along with his family’s ranch and retiring in another state. Matt and I were shocked at first, but we aren’t opposed to the idea. All three of us have been on an emotional roller coaster for over a week now.
Yesterday, local realtor Mac Coalson came and walked through our house. Ray’s sister recommended him highly, but we’d never met him. He’s an older gentleman, and he’s so kind and polite—in a genuine way, not salesman-like. Walking through our cluttered home, he apologized several times for coming so early in the morning and for such short notice. After noticing a family heirloom buffet and calling it out as a piece he guessed had been in the family for years, he looked me in the eye and said, “You have a really nice home and it’s going to be hard to replace.” I wanted to cry.
Today is the second day it’s rained and been gloomy. I’ve been sick with a cough and congestion for a week now. The cough is worse at night, and I thought it was caused from wearing a face mask at my new job. But now the guys are hacking. Corona virus numbers are on the rise again. Palo Pinto County has reported 2864 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 74 deaths.
Sunday, April 25, 2021
The roller coaster ride continues as our house is under contract with a tentative closing scheduled for May 28th. We’ve been looking at land mostly in Missouri since it is a little cooler there but the winters aren’t too terrible. Places sell quickly and we should get pre-approved for a loan this week. I started purging and packing, but it’s slow work.
Matt’s been out of town all weekend and Ray worked overtime. The quiet, lonely house aided my reflection while stuffing boxes.
The Johnson and Johnson vaccine is back in circulation. Palo Pinto County reports 2874 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 75 deaths. I tried to find what percentage of the county has been fully vaccinated but was unsuccessful. I’ll keep looking
Friday, April 30, 2021
Stephanie and Hayden left yesterday for a five month trip in their RV. She called me today around 2pm and told me they lost the RV to a fire. They had stopped for lunch in Cabot, Arkansas when they noticed smoke coming from the camper. Hayden reacted quickly and removed the propane tanks and the pickup. No one was hurt but we are heartbroken for them. The whole family was already emotionally fragile from our process of uprooting out of state. Our immediate family is basically homeless. God is doing something. I just hope this is all the bad stuff.