HAPPINESS is to have EVERYTHING,
you need.
NOT the need to have EVERYTHING.

04.09.2020-Thursday
We awoke this morning with not very much to do. To his credit our beloved Governor finally issued a “Stay in Place” recommendation,not even an order, that I knew of. The last couple of day Carla has been investigating Personal Face Masks. If available they’re affordable if you buy fifty or more; other than that they’re quite a bit more expensive. We spoke about it and felt a more affordable option should be available to all of us. It also had to be washable and reusable. Below is what she came up with. What we’ve created are also quite fashionable. See the blog on this product.

04.10.2020-Good Friday
Good Friday, as a family ritual, has always been a very quiet day, especially between 12 and 3 pm, Carla and I will follow that ritual today no doubt. We have received so many nice comments on the face masks that we’ve sent out. The latest one was from Abby, our surrogate granddaughter. She took her mask to work, Sea Ray Boat Works, and she is now making masks in preparation for their employees coming back to work after a three-week furlough next Monday. The company is in the process of obtaining some “medical grade material” from a local hospital to make an even better mask for their workers.
oops-noon time.

4.16.2020-Thursday
What a nice break for a change; rain and 74 degrees. Seems hard to believe we’ve been “Staying in Place” for six weeks. I’ve heard this might be recommended until 2022. Carla and I continue keeping busy by making face-masks and doing our cross-word puzzles and Sudoku puzzles. We usually finish the day with a Netflix  or Prime movie. This week we’re revisiting the Harry Potter movies. Just a word of caution, at least from us, is to continue staying in place. We’re told the  Pres in going to “Open the Country.” Good luck with that  but in his infinite wisdom he feels this is the way to go. Thankfully the east-coast Governors are planning to play it safer that that. Even the Republican Governor of Massachusetts is thinking in terms that safer is better. South Dakota, Florida and a few other states with Rep. Governors are thinking that opening is a good idea; can’t wait to see how that goes! Governor Cuomo and several East-Coast Governors are forming a simple consortium to handle day to day needs in the fight on this virus. Governor of California and a hand-full of states on the West-Coast are doing like-wise. The Governors are stepping up and are being the “adults” concerning leadership. The President also in his infinite wisdom assumes he has “absolute power to govern” the states. Evidently he skipped reading the 10th Amendment. Our Constitution, whether he likes it or not, does not allow the President to act like a king or dictator.
Pres Trump stated that “When somebody is President of the United States, his authority is total.” The Constitution was written precisely the deny that particular claim. It also reserved to the states (& individuals) rights not expressly given to the federal government.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) April 13, 2020

04.26.2020-Sunday
Like many, regardless of faith, we’re tasked with partaking of our Mass devotions using live stream on our computers. Please view the St. Vincent de Paul blog when you have a quiet hour. The afternoon was topped when we joined Bob and Bonnie at there coach across the road from us. Carla had a question or two concerning TT reservations. Within the hour we had meandered back to our coach to discuss the reservation query. It did not take very long before the conversations began taking on a religious tone. I’ve been told never discuss politics or religion but the conversations that evolved were very genuine and enlightening. On many occasions my blogs drift to many of my religious feelings and more importantly how thankful Carla and I are for this lifestyle we’re living. As it turns out we’re not the only ones with these reflections. Our conversations were very instructive and informative. It’s reassuring whenever we bump into folks like us who also feel He is in charge and as much as we might wonder why our life these day are so demanding and confining for sure, Someone has a plan and we just have to deal with it and offer it up until things get better.

4.27.2020-Monday-Lat week in Clermont- TTO
That’s right four more days and we pack up and leave Thousand Trails Orlando (TTO) for Wildwood. Once again, Big Brother at Thousand Trails is trying to watch over us, by extending an extra week at no charge, for us and those that pay, at TTO.  That was nice but we’re anxious to go to Wildwood. At least TT is exhibiting and doling out helpful and remedies to keep everyone safe. Contrarily our President is pondering the positive benefits of drinking Lysol and injecting bleach and the many ways we might be able to irradiate ourselves with UV light; every four-year-old, most likely, knows that that would be very dangerous to do. But, then again, he tells us he has a “stable genius” brain, thanks to a relative who spent years at Harvard. Personally I would only trust him with a spoon, let alone the nuclear codes. I have a son that works at MIT but that has nothing to do with our brains. Friday is our go-to day as we will pick up and head out to Wildwood. Of the TT Campgrounds Wildwood,to us, feels like home. We continue to create our face-masks. We’ve lost count but I’m guessing we’ve made around one-hundred-fifty with twenty ready for sale. We’re not ready to trade in the coach for a “new ride” at least not yet, LOL.  It does offer us a nice diversion two-days a week as we prepare another small batch of masks. 

04-30-2020-Thursday

Our last day for this stay-period tomorrow we leave for Wildwood, Three Flags RVP. I look around s I type and I do believe we’re not going to be the only ones to leave. Looks like everyone is packing up their belongings.

HAPPINESS is to have EVERYTHING,
you need.
NOT the need to have EVERYTHING.

04.02.2020-Thursday

We awoke this morning with not very  much to do. To his credit our beloved Governor finally issued a “Stay in Place” recommendation, not even an order, that I knew of. The last couple of days Carla has been investigating Personal Face Masks. If available they’re affordable if you buy fifty or more; other than that they’re quite a bit more expensive. We spoke about it and felt a more affordable option should be available to all of us. It also had to be washable and reusable.

Below is what she came up with. What we’ve created are also quite fashionable. 

Carla just noticed that one of the materials we have available has an RV pictured. Below is the beginning of the process to create a face mask. Cotton pieces of fabric must be measured and after that we iron-in a vapor-protection material. You will notice my ironing abilities. It takes both of us at least twenty-minutes to complete each mask. Before the final product is completed, each mask will be ironed at least four times.

Crating these facial masks is not a walk in the park. It’s time consuming, thankfully, since we have nothing but time on our hands. It also a family project. Below Carla does the critical work with her sewing machine. This activity allows us to contribute to the cause without chancing the probability of compounding the effort without chancing our getting sick  ourselves. 

After I have cut and ironed in the moisture barrier the item goes to Carla.

The moisture barrier is sandwiched between two pieces of cloth and now it’s time for Carla to stitch the three items to resemble a single piece of cloth.

Once she stitches the pieces of cloth together the unit then moves to me again to trim the corners and snip off any and all lose threads. Once I’ve finished cleaning up the product I do an inside-out bringing the insides out. Then I iron-out the product in preparation for Carla to create the pleats and pin them in temporarily. The next step is for me to iron the product once again, that is the pleats, dodging the pins. then I pass it back to Carla. Below is the next step. Carla will re-stitch the perimeter of the mask but then removes the pins and re-stitches the sides of the mask; that is, to double or triple stitch the pleats..

Above and below are just two samples of what we’re producing. As we build more product I’ll be showing them off as well. 

The product then goes back to me to once-again iron out the mask  to create the final product. This mask is well-worth the $5.00 we’re charging.

To see our latest selection go to: GOTOSELECTION