We'er Hanging in There

After the violent weather this past weekend, a cold front pushed through lowering nightly lows into the 30s and daily highs to the mid 50s or so. Wednesday morning, in particular, was cold, with the low hovering just above freezing. I understand the Panhandle even had some snow. Things should warm up by the weekend, though.

The hail and winds did some damage to Donna's tomato and pepper plants, and to some of her other plants. I'm hoping when the sunshine returns that it might perk them up some; we'll just have to wait and see.

While at the kitchen sink a couple of days ago, I saw a woodpecker hugging the trunk of our front bur oak. I slipped into the garage and peered out, hoping to catch some photos. I snapped a couple before he flew to our neighbor's tree, then I snapped one while he visited them.

Woodpecker on the bur oak in our yard. He blends in nicely, doesn't he?

Here he is on our neighbor's tree.

We don't get out much these days, and we avoid as much contact as possible. For groceries, we currently are doing only curbside pickup. For medicine, we do drive-thru. I can't remember the last time we were in a store. And those are just about the only places we go when we venture out. It's rather ironic that with the lowest gas prices in years, we are unable to travel.

Now whenever we go out, I feel sort of like a criminal. We try to be as inconspicuous as possible, pick up our things, then get back to Rio Concho West as quickly as possible. I'm wondering how long it will take for me to mentally return to normal once this is all over. When will I feel comfortable walking into a grocery store? When will I feel safe sauntering into a restaurant? When will I not feel in danger when I'm around crowds of people?

I'm thankful we live where we do. I'm especially thankful we are not currently full-timing in an RV. State parks in many states are closed, national parks are closed, and many public lands have closed. It's a bit challenging to find a place to park an RV these days. And if you are not one of the fortunate few with a washer/dryer setup in your RV, you have to venture out every so often to do laundry in a place that you might not feel safe in.

Yep, I feel pretty fortunate right now.

Keep safe out there.