COVID-19 Diary, Part 5

The past week has continued to be a lesson in how life off the farm operates differently in a pandemic. Last week I noticed one of our indoor only cats, Joy, didn’t want to eat one night. Joy lives to eat, she always eats, so I knew something was wrong. The next morning I called our small animal vet as soon as they opened. I drove Joy to the clinic, and then called again from the parking lot. I was instructed to set the cat carrier on the sidewalk and that a vet tech would be out to retrieve the carrier from the parking lot. I did as instructed and placed Joy in her carrier on the sidewalk and returned to my car. One of the vet techs came outside, picked up the carrier, and went back inside. It felt like I was participating in a drug deal or something illegal. The vet tech then called me from the office and asked lots of questions to do the intake history.

Joy had to spend a couple of days at the clinic and we had several phone calls from the vet during this time. When I picked Joy up at the clinic we followed the same process in reverse, they placed Joy in her carrier on the sidewalk, then I retrieved the carrier and put it in my car. Joy’s future outlook is uncertain at this time, she’s on a lot of medication and has more vet visits in her future. She is only five and has always been very healthy so this was all unexpected.

Today our clothes dryer decided to have a quick and peaceful passing, may it rest in peace. It goes without saying that it had a full load of wet clothes in it when it decided to ascend to dryer heaven. Our clothes are currently hanging off our patio furniture on our back porch. Our weather forecast says we’re only supposed to have an occasional, very light breeze overnight. Hopefully that forecast is accurate and the horses in the pasture around our house won’t be wondering why their pasture is suddenly sprouting socks and underwear.

So far we’ve learned that shopping for appliances without entering a store is terribly inconvenient. It is strange for me to say that as I prefer to buy pretty much everything online. It’s hard to tell exactly what you’re getting in the pictures and descriptions. The good news is we are not fussy and do not want a fancy dryer, just a basic one that gets the clothes dry. Realizing you have to purchase the power cord separately, and trying to ascertain if you are purchasing the correct power cord, is also a pain in the butt online. It would be a lot easier to just walk into a store and pick out a dryer along with any other parts that must be purchased separately. I acknowledge this is absolutely a first world problem, and if one has to have a problem this is a good one to have. That said, I wish it had died six weeks ago back in the before days, it would have been so much easier to replace it. You know, just walk into the store, look at dryers, pick a dryer, return home with a new dryer and all required extra parts. Easy peasy.

Life is otherwise humming along at the farm. The horses and other animals continue to be blissfully unaware that the world is experiencing a pandemic. I hope life is being kind to all of you.

When the mares realize they are late for a meal. Dawn and Penny . . .