On Monday or Wednesday, supposedly, stricter COVID restrictions went into effect at major chains like Lowes, Kroger, etc. The Mask Up Knoxville group I follow has been reporting mixed results, depending on the location.
We waited a safe period to let the mask requirements be implemented, then ventured into Lowes early this morning to get some supplies. There weren’t many noticeable differences or improvements or any mask requirements at the door. From reports I’ve seen, what corporate HQ dictates doesn’t necessarily translate to enforcement at the local management level. Everyone seems to be afraid of confrontation or losing business.
Fortunately, there weren’t many customers at that hour, and we acquired our list of items and got out. E then called their main corporate number and had a quite civil conversation with someone who was genuinely concerned with the situation, and took the time to take a detailed statement, in order to take action at the local level. Hopefully as more people report their concerns, more enforcement will take effect, and the deaths will start to level off.
Back in our little quarantine, E is building cabinets for storage in the bathroom. Little by little, she’s repairing major and minor structural issues and adding value to the property, while I’m the outdoor landscape rehab dept., as you know. The pandemic has merely forced us to stay home and do more of same, only more resourcefully.
On that note, here are yet more piles of pole beans. I guess I’m an official bean-sorter! I’ve been saving lots of seeds for next year. I like how the bean vines (and morning glories) wind their way up the corn as a support. (Lots of corn ears are forming, but naturally the varmints are finding them first.) Nothing else seems to grow as successfully here, although the tomatoes are finally starting to ripen.
In the “salad bar” I noticed these pretty little flowers, probably a type of endive or chicory. Who knew common greens could be so ornamental? So is this tall dill with its delicate lacy leaves and flowers, in front of a bunch of black-eyed susans (Rudbeckia). I know, pretty boring, but when you’re stuck home quarantined, it’s amazing how commonplace plants, and the critters they attract, take on a whole new significance, at least for me. That they grow and flourish, despite me, is amazing. They keep me distracted, if nothing else.
