May 21

Our state is 2 days away from the next stage of "re-opening" when more businesses will be able to open including some of the personal services outlets like hair salons/barber shops. I hope the little bulk tea/grains/spices store will be able to open up to in store customers. I was surprised that it wasn't allowed to have in store customers as food sellers were considered essential. The owner posted on their Facebook site that the health department ruled against them because they are basically "self-serve" since customers scoop out their own orders from the bins.

We did our usual shopping on two days two days because we hoped to get up to the tea/etc. store. Most of the grocery was filled at the only "big-box" store we go to (not Target or Walmart). We saw more cars in the parking lot though not nearly as many as we would have before the the shutdown. The store was not at all crowded and customers were merely "urged" to wear masks or face coverings. About 1/3 of customers weren't wearing either but all were trying to stay clear of each other. The baking aisle had big gaps in the flour area. We got our 5lb bag of flour. They still had a few of them. The cat litter aisle was also somewhat sparse but we did get the two 20# boxes we usually get.

The dairy had everything though the meat freezer was still very light. They had 1# packages of breakfast sausage but not the links we had been getting. The sign said "2 to a customer" and Mom asked it we could get 4 since there were 2 of us. The clerk laughed and told us to go ahead. The limit was to curb the customers they had been getting in from Illinois because Indiana was loosening up earlier. They had a problem with those customers coming in and buying everything in sight leaving little for the regular, local customers. She said our local meat market had the same problem and a person she knows who works there described a man who came in from Illinois each week and took out a very large order. I hope he was shopping for several families. We have noticed a couple of places urging families to send one person in to shop. We have basically ignored those suggestions because Mom and I go together just in case something happens and one of us needs help. That is something we have to consider since she is 88 and I am 71.

Instead of going to the tea shop we went to the local garden store I prefer and started picking up plants. I have most of the herbs we use in cooking and for tea. I have planted the two begonia arrangements and set the pots by the doors. They are my "show" pieces. I also planted the two spearmint cuttings that I found taking root under a bed of leaves where the runner had hidden over the winter. I hesitated transplanting because they didn't seem to be growing above the soil so I wasn't sure how the root systems were doing. However they were doing very well. I will transplant the rest of the seedlings as I get to them. That will be slow going, however, because I simply don't have the energy to do a sustained hours long stint of gardening.