The Question of the Year

Inspirational song: Should I Stay or Should I Go (The Clash)

Who among us, during this glorious year of 2020, has not had cause to question, "Is this just a cough or is this the Rona?" I've had a lot of those moments of doubt and anxiety in the last two weeks. Every time I cough. Every time I feel sore. Or tired. Or achy. So, basically, as I go through all of my usual daily junk, I have to weigh it against all the scary stuff out there.

That's where I'm at today. I'm fighting another multi-day headache, that is worse today than it was yesterday and the day before. I had to put myself back to bed, and I was useless for the whole day. I have no fever (I checked), and my sinuses are fine. I have an occasional dry cough. I have no idea whether this is anything out of the ordinary. It doesn't feel like I imagine the bad stuff to be, but the Rona is so different for everyone, so that doesn't help me in my moments of anxiety. I'm hopeful that it's nothing. The headache could easily be because I wore my old glasses for several days when I couldn't find my current pair. Plus, I have one negative test under my belt. It's probably nothing.

Regardless, I'm glad the isolation has continued. There were a lot of times I wanted to sneak out. I made myself stay home. I was rewarded for good behavior this evening with a surprise video chat from my daughter and granddaughter. The baby is propelling herself all over the place, without actually doing classic crawling on her knees. She spends most of her time up on her hands and feet, with her butt up in the air. I watched her do that for most of an hour. I suspect she is going to be like her grandfather, and skip crawling in favor of just standing up and taking off running. (None of us is surprised he did that.) Seeing that tiny human helps me stay home, and stay careful. My mindset has had a proper course correction.

Cozy

Inspirational song: For You (Manfred Mann's Earth Band)

Watching the Mr trimming the weeping chokecherry tree in the back yard this afternoon, it occurred to me that for the most part, his energies will directed at this property rather than the one up in the mountains until June. There are so many projects here that get absolutely dropped during the build season at the cabin. Some I don't care about so much. Many of them cause pain in my soul when I walk past them lying unloved, inside or outside the house. I don't expect him to get back to the big rock garden landscaping situation before spring, but other things that won't be frozen to the ground can now get accomplished.

I saw a tweet by a woman who may be my twin in the UK, saying her husband got ahold of excavation equipment, and now her garden resembles the Somme in 1916. But what does she know, she said, she's just a woman who blogs about gardening, food, and family. I had my finger hovering over the follow button, but I scrolled down and decided there were a few red flags and I moved on.

Our forced quarantine is nearly over. We each have had tests come back with no virus detected. ("Negative" is not the preferred terminology, even though the effect is the same.) A few more days, to be sure no symptoms develop, and we can go back to relative normal. I have never wanted to babysit more than when I couldn't. I asked for a photo to put here tonight, and the one that came back put me in the right mindset for a long, cozy winter. The long term weather patterns aren't right for a deep freeze with lots of snow, but the social and public health advisories will keep us inside all the same. I'm ready to loll about with that baby, awake or asleep, watching winter movies and playing kid games. 

Faster

Inspirational song: Age of Aquarius (Hair)

Every muscle in my body is shrieking at me whenever I try to move more than just squirming in my seat. Normal people don't hurt this much after scrubbing their bathrooms top to bottom. Me, I'm just one of the lucky ones. I had hoped to get more of the house tidied in one go, but I let myself focus a bit much on the one room, one that requires bending and scrubbing, and now I have a loo that sparkles and the rest of the house is waist-deep in debris still. One step at a time.

At least I am liking the switch I made away from caustic cleaners, towards simple and cheap products that don't eat your hands or burn your lungs. Other than a little bleach gel in the toilet, the rest of the room was cleaned with Dawn, baking soda, and vinegar (sometimes all three, sometimes just the dish soap). I wonder whether I could have saved myself some lung damage over the years if I had known these things were superior over the stuff that ought to come with a respirator and thick black rubber gloves. I'm also pleased to learn to use that other magical ingredient: time. Making a goopy paste with soap, soda, and vinegar, smearing it on, and then walking away has changed my game. Oh, how much time and energy I wasted over the years.

I'm not putting up a picture of my bathroom again. You'll have to take my word for it. Instead, I'll steal a couple from my daughter, whose tiny cat Carmen was halfway up her Christmas tree within 30 seconds of it being set up. A new holiday record, maybe.

Twinkle

Inspirational song: Lights (Journey)

To be totally honest, I have been obnoxiously nagging for more than a week for the Mr to get us started on hanging lights outside. For days the plastic tub where we store them has been in the living room, and dusty, tangled strands of lights have been scattered on every surface. The puppy keeps stomping on them, and nosing through to find her chew toys buried underneath. (Sorry for yelling at you, Saoirse. I didn't realize you were going for a rawhide.) 

The delay was due to multiple factors. One, we were waiting on the purchase of the exact kind of cable clips that he wanted, which may not actually exist. He had to improvise with standard wire staples fitted with narrow screws. The other delays were weather, time (he has a lot of papers to grade for 2 classes), and motivation. That last one is the hardest to overcome. How could I argue when I have been overwhelmed by lethargy myself? 

This afternoon, he got his clips, and I set about dusting individual bulbs with a damp cloth and testing each strand. Two strands have dud bulbs, so they stayed inside. He got the first row around the eaves. Tomorrow while he is off getting firewood from his mountain, I'm going to run path lights and maybe wrap a tree or two. At least that's what I hope. Today I felt hungover from Thanksgiving, and I hadn't consumed a drop of alcohol. I didn't have any fewer carbs today than I did yesterday, so tomorrow might be as big a waste as today. 

Carbs

Inspirational song: All Together Now (The Beatles)

How was everyone's Zoomsgiving? Ours was way better than I expected it to be. We had three separate family video conferences before we finally ate, including one so big we had to go to two separate breakout rooms for half an hour each after the main get-together. I am feeling surprisingly UN-lonely. There's one more branch of the family I haven't gotten to yet, so maybe we can put together a little something tomorrow to complete the picture.

My cooking theme this year was "brown." As in the crusts on my pies and the skin on my turkey achieved a level of brown far beyond what I intended. Still, we had plenty of food, and it was all good. We drove over to the kids' house, the Mr still in his pajama pants, and he ran up to the door (wearing a surgical mask, even though we both have negative tests so far) to exchange half a turkey, gravy, and a third each of the pecan and pumpkin pies, for green bean casserole, yams with marshmallows, and our traditional jello salad with cranberries, grapes, and pecans. We then had a complete meal in our respective homes. My daughter did a fantastic job with her side of the cooking. It's all I can do not to go back for yet more, even though I have no room still for more food. (The old advertising line was "There's always room for Jell-O!")

Looking at social media, I believe I am the only person in the country who didn't take a photo of dinner. Who would have guessed that? I took a screenshot of one of my video chats, and I believe it is the worst picture of me all year. No makeup, focused on figuring out why the screenshot feature was being difficult, not on angling it to look flattering. Yeah. No matter. It's the only thing I have, and if the bulk of my family could stand to see me like that, then I might as well put it all out there.

Happy Thanksgiving, one and all!

Ratio of Pies to Humans 1 to 1

Inspirational song: Schroeder Meets Basie (Rob Mullins)

Many decades ago, when I was but a young mother, we decided it would be awesome to try to make a pumpkin pie from scratch, to take to the Smith family Thanksgiving. The internet existed in those days, but I had no earthly way of knowing that. This was three or four years before I first stumbled upon AOL. I didn't do any research on how to prepare a fresh pumpkin for pie. Back then, I didn't know small sugar pumpkins were a thing. We used a standard jack-o-lantern pumpkin. I think (though I cannot swear to it) that we were smart enough to cook it first, not that it did a damned bit of good. I looked at the pale flesh, thought about how dark it looked coming out of a can, and my logic said, "well, it must be pureed whole, skins and all." Yeah. No. Don't ever do that. I cut it in hunks, put it in a blender, and used that in a pie. Dude, we took that thing to the family meal, thinking we had done something awesome. Then we tried to eat a piece of the monstrosity we had created. There was not enough whipped cream in the world that could make those tiny chunks of pumpkin peel go down easy. Sorry, Smiths. My bad.

I've come a long way with my kitchen skills, and I am a whiz with Pinterest when needs must. I now know that one roasts squashes and then scoops out the soft flesh with a spoon before using in recipes. I own a bona fide food processor too. Eating my food no longer requires a bribe or a double-dog dare. Today I roasted a lovely pie pumpkin from my own garden, ran it through the processor until it was smooth enough for Dino to eat (not that she was here), and followed the instructions on canned pumpkin I had in the pantry. (I used the home grown one because I could, not because I had no other option.) I used a Pinterest recipe for a grain-free crust that I had prepared yesterday and chilled overnight. And I got distracted and let it and the pecan pie from my family's cherished recipe sit in the oven just slightly too long and I over-browned the crusts on each one. No matter. I won't be judged by these pies. The only people eating them will be core family. Tomorrow I will do a drive-by exchange of turkey and pie for some green bean casserole and jello salad, and then my daughter's family will eat in their house and we will eat in ours. If they think my pie-making skills have not progressed far enough from that original horror almost 30 years ago, then I won't be around to see them spit it out and scrape it into the compost bucket.

On tonight's game night via Google hangouts, the kids put Dino front and center for their livestream. She was cute and charming all the way up to her bedtime (and then she got cranky). Several times we got distracted from our game to giggle and wave at her (not just us, but the neighbors and our foster daughter who moved out into her own place this year). It was good practice for the holiday, when we will be on several video chats with family. It impressive how well a six month old baby already gets video conferencing, but such is the world we live in these days. 

Woof

Inspirational song: The Motorcycle Song (Arlo Guthrie)

What is this now, day five of the current quarantine? I think that's right. Not that it will be really safe to go out when our isolation ends in another week and a half. But we will be able to go back to places like the grocery and hardware stores, with caution. It's pretty boring but necessary. Of the people who also interacted with our positive contact, so far there have been three negative tests and one positive. I don't know how many are outstanding. Two or three, maybe. Mine probably won't be back until Friday, unless the testing lab works on Thanksgiving day. The Mr got his today. He was one of the negatives. Thank goodness. So far the positive person has shown no symptoms to report. Keep it that way, s'il vous plaît.

Being inside so much gives me a lot of time to bond with my puppy-future-service-dog. She has been really good remembering the skills she learned in her last few lessons before the hiatus. But she is bored too. Maybe we can go for a walk to burn off her energy. Today it was snowy in the morning, and lethargy got me in the afternoon. I'll try to be better. 

I had a little warning that Great Pyrenees are somewhat noisy guard dogs. Before she arrived, I started trying to clear the congestion by the front window, but it wasn't until the Christmas tree went up that I really opened up a straight shot to it. Today that provided a hint toward my future. She stood at the window at woofed gently over and over. Teenagers across the street walked to their car. Woof. Squirrel in the yard. Woof. Cars went by. Woof. Everything got too quiet. Woof woof woof. Good thing she's cute.

Exchanges

Inspirational song: The Boxer (Simon & Garfunkel)

Simultaneously, my daughter and I received our birthday gifts to each other in the mail. She sent pictures of my grandkittens playing in the paper I used to pad the box moments before the postman rang the doorbell here with my goodies. She gave me a shawl and earrings, a cookbook and GF bread mix, and a dish towel I will have to guard when next our neighbor can come over (it's a football pattern). I enjoyed the synchronicity of it all. 

As if she needed to compete with the cuteness of Ralphie and Ziggy playing box, Dino got into a cardboard box of her own. Her mommy sent a picture of that to the group chat, captioning it "send me to grandma's." If only, kiddo. It's tough on both of us grandparents watching her learn to crawl on video instead of in person. (No test results yet for either of us.)

I had grand plans to decorate the outside of the house today. I can't do it alone. In fact, I can't even take the lead. So when the bulk of the day passed and the Mr had not worked up the motivation to go out on the ladder, I had no choice but to accept the delay. Weather is supposed to be a bit raw tomorrow, so it may wait until Wednesday. Instead of decorating, perhaps I will prep food ahead of the holiday. My new GF pie crust recipe needs to refrigerate for a full day to evenly hydrate the coconut flour. Making that will keep me distracted while it's windy and cold outside.

By a Nose

Inspirational song: Cocaine (Eric Clapton)

I never, ever want to put anything up my nose. Not drugs, not crayons, and not medical swabs. But guess what. That last one became necessary. It has been five days since my encounter with someone who tested positive, so if there is a viral load up in there, it should be of sufficient quantity to be detected by now. At least, that is the working theory. I feel fine, or at least I feel Anne-normal. The usual stuff hurts, and after a sleepless night, I needed a super long nap this afternoon. So nothing suspicious. I really don't think I have the Rona. But the only way to be sure was to let someone push a thin strip up my nose. Yay.

I registered late last night, while watching Fixer Upper in bed. I had to really force myself to do it. I then lay awake for a couple of hours, because you can't not watch the reveals of those shows. I barely slept. I set an alarm for this morning, but Saoirse was ready to go outside before it went off, as I expected. I wandered around like a zombie until it was time to go line up at the fairgrounds to get the test. We made coffee and drove over, with Mr S-P there as navigator and moral support. I tensed up hard when it was time for the swab. Thankfully, it was way softer than I expected. I'm the kid who could never handle throat swabs for strep, and had to repeat them because I flinched and gagged too much. So the fact that I was able to tolerate this test was a miracle of maturity. The flyer they gave me at the site entrance said it would take about four days to get my results. I'm going to assume they won't upload on Thanksgiving day, so figure it will be available on Friday. I'll let y'all know. (Pretty sure it's negative.)

While I was cuddling with my giant lap-blanket of a dog, I looked over at a big furry throw pillow I got from Costco last winter. I distinctly remember texting my daughter for her opinion on which pattern to choose, even though I had already set the light gray and white speckled one in the cart. Did I have an inkling then that I would soon have a light gray and white speckled fur baby? Probably not, but it does seem cute that I was attracted to that pattern from jump.

Do It Now

Inspirational song: We Need a Little Christmas (Johnny Mathis)

Most years, I'm respectful of the people who flip out when holiday decorations come out too early (like September). But honestly, 2020 is hard, y'all. I am on the holiday train this year. Neighborhood lights have been going up all week, and I support this trend whole-heartedly. It raises spirits in a very simple, sugar-free, non-alcoholic way. Normally I wait until the weekend after Thanksgiving, and leave lights on until Epiphany/12th Night. (In Denver they refer to it as "the end of the Stock Show.) Forget that. We are probably going to do it tomorrow while the weather is pleasant, and I'm planning on leaving those suckers going until at least MLK Day. Maybe Valentines. Or Presidents Day....

Last week I picked out a new pre-lit Christmas tree from Lowe's (the one I was given last year was incandescent and I wanted LED) and I ordered it to be shipped to the house. It was left on the porch yesterday (and UPS dude didn't even ring the doorbell to announce its arrival). I had to move things around to make space for it, and I haven't yet figured out where the antique bench will go yet. I assembled the tree this evening, and gave it a test run. I chose my light pattern (slowly fading between warm white and multi-colored light) and set about fluffing and aiming the branch tips. It's very close to done, but needs a little finessing in daylight. As in years past, I'll leave it up a few days before hanging dog chewies--I mean ornaments on it.

I had such plans for how holidays would go, now that we are grandparents. I laid claim to Christmas Eve as my time. I want everyone to come here for dinner and Christmas movies, and I figured I would let the kids open at least one gift I had for them that night. Then they can do stockings and Santa stuff early morning without waiting for me to get moving. But will that start this year? I have doubts. Maybe we will be able to reassemble our "pod" by then. I would like to be available to babysit again too. If not, then instead of my dream of a rare standing rib roast followed by the traditional Muppet Christmas Carol, I'll dig out some steaks we froze when they were on sale, and fire up the old Google hangouts. One way or another, we will make it work.

Day One

Inspirational song: Girl On Fire (Alicia Keys)

So far, staying at home for the first day of a strict quarantine doesn't feel a bit different from staying mostly at home for social distancing. We are quite used to this. Used to it enough that we got sloppy, like everybody in the country has been doing. If we escape this latest brush with the Rona, will it scare us straight enough to be careful until it's all over (whenever that is)? Dunno. Maybe.

On Wednesday I had just paid for two follow-on classes for Saoirse. Today, as the county moved to a tighter stage of controls, the instructor called to say that her middle school has been canceled until further notice. We already received the study materials, so puppy and I will be reading ahead and practicing until we can reschedule the class, as the instructor suggested. I hope I can figure it out well enough not to confuse Saoirse.

While we are isolated, my daughter has been very good about sending short videos of Dino, to get us through this period of not getting any cuddles. One video showed the closest to real crawling I've seen yet. Change in direction and distance covered--she's getting good at this. An hour or so ago, she sent two clips of baby giggles. It was delightful. Last night I got the below picture, with news that my daughter repaired her phone screen, so selfies will no longer have light-refracting haze. That baby looks so gangsta. Grandma is so proud.

To Eleven

Inspirational song: LA Devotee (Panic at the Disco)

Boulder County is now back under more strict conditions for virus control. This week the state came out with a confusing change to the color codes for what stage we are in. We are going back to "red," but now red isn't red, purple is red and red is halfway between orange and purple... I really didn't follow it. Best we can tell, red is still red, but purple goes to eleven, or is double secret probation stage, or some other ironic movie reference. Doesn't matter in the long run. The Mr and I are on actual quarantine now. We have encountered a person who tested positive. He will get a test tomorrow. I'll go Sunday or Monday, once enough time has passed for it to be accurate. This closes the door on whether we risk much for Thanksgiving.

I had a nice chat with the Cali daughter. It's her birthday, and I wanted to send good wishes that didn't come from text. I had to wait until almost bedtime to get through to her. She and her pod buddy went out to dinner, to celebrate. She sent me pictures of the two kittens that the friend adopted, from the same litter as my Harvey and her Ziggy. What a cute family those cats all were. It is so hard not being able to go visit my girl. It has been so long. We all have to wait more. Next year (hopefully) will be the busiest travel season of all time.

Topics for blog posts over the next two weeks might be really difficult to find. If we are stuck inside, it will be as challenging to find new stuff to talk about as it was last year when my biggest adventures involved walking all the way from my bed to the kitchen counter and back without needing to sit halfway through. Gotta admit, I am really hoping that the topics at hand next week revolve around not developing Covid. Wish us luck.

Adjusting

Inspirational song: Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitude (Jimmy Buffett)

In preparation for burrowing in again, I have taken all of the age-appropriate paraphernalia from this house over to the kids, so it gets used before the grandbaby has outgrown it. I surrendered clothes in six to nine months size, the stash of size-two diapers, formula and jarred foods, and teething rings. It was difficult handing over the long-sleeve onesie decorated like a football (dark brown with a screen print of laces down the front). I had hopes of watching CU games with the little one wearing it. Ah, 2020 was so full of surprises.

I popped in to see Dino when I brought the stuff, thinking I could just be in and out. But she missed me, and she was so insistent on being held. She yanked down my mask, and kept grabbing my face. She cried when her mommy tried to take her away from me. My heart was breaking, but this is the way it has to be for the time being. I will get to see her briefly when we exchange Thanksgiving dishes, but that will also be in passing. (We are each cooking a few items, and then sharing them, going back to eat in our own homes.)

I missed the first hour of game night, to go to a make-up class for Saoirse's training. I missed week five for having a migraine, so we got a little one-on-one time with the instructor to go over that stuff. We registered for intermediate and advanced classes, and got guidance on how to do it safely. (The instructor said as long as we stay distanced in the open-air class space, and not close for fifteen minutes at a time, we will be good.) 

I feel like suddenly things are changing, but now I worry I didn't prepare enough, despite doing something toward that end every day for the last week.

Whimsy

Inspirational song: A Horse With No Name (America)

Six months before we moved back to Colorado, we flew out here from Charleston to close on the mining claim where the cabin is currently under construction. It was mid-December, and as we drove around the rural parts of Boulder County, I kept catching sight of horses with their winter coats growing in. I'm not sure what explains it, but in multiple drives, in different places, I kept seeing tiny ponies and miniature horses, and suddenly I was overwhelmed by the desire to have a shaggy pony of my own to care for and hug. 

We kept driving past a farm named Whimsy, and I giggled relentlessly over that place. I asked what sort of produce is whimsically grown. I decided they must grow persimmons and periwinkle. By the time that trip was over, I had settled on a dream of owning a rural property where I could putter around with my two ponies, Periwinkle and Persimmon. Mr S-P shot that down with the painful truth, "It takes a lot of money to go broke farming in Boulder County." 

This puppy is getting bigger and bigger. She weighed 34 pounds at yesterday's vet visit for her final round of puppy shots. At almost 4 months old, I can project out that she will easily double that weight by the time she is full-grown, and if the fancy food she gets builds strong bones and muscle, she will more than double her size. Her fur is starting to change from short puppy fuzz to the long, wiry coat like her parents have. It leads me to ask, after nearly six years, have I finally gotten my shaggy pony? Stay tuned. We ought to know by Valentines Day.

The Right Way

Inspirational song: How Will I Ever Be Simple Again (Richard Thompson)

In two more days, I get the next round of Botox for migraine. It couldn't come a minute too soon, after how badly that migraine laid me low last week. Ever since, I have felt like my brain is too heavy, and it's just too hard to think. I don't like feeling fuzzy-headed (it's why I don't take many painkillers, despite my chronic pain). The Botox tends to work fairly quickly. A year ago, when I first went back after chemo, I walked in the door with my head throbbing, as it had been for weeks. By the time I was back at the front desk, booking my next appointment, I started feeling fine. If I'm lucky, the brain fog will be dissipated by the time I get back to the parking garage this time around. 

I can't keep track of everything I'm supposed to be doing. I'm behind on a ton of stuff, and I've probably ticked off a fair number of people from forgetting. A couple years ago, I had immense success ordering my life with to-do lists. I detailed them all the way down to check-boxes for daily meds and feeding animals. For the first time in ages, I started another one, but for now it's mostly stuff like paying bills and mailing a package. This is a habit I would like to recover. I already feel better, having just started it maybe two hours ago. I paid two bills and was so happy to mark them off immediately.

The universe has rewarded me already for trying to get my act together. I felt like using a Richard Thompson song for inspiration tonight, so I just googled a list of them. Played one I didn't recognize on YouTube, and the next thing that autoplayed was an hour-long live studio performance for a British TV series. I didn't know this existed. For most of the time I have lived in/had a long-distance association with Boulder, I've been aware that he made regular appearances at Chautauqua auditorium. I always wanted to go, but in decades I never made it to a performance. Now watching this gives me a chance to see what I missed, without having to do the parts of live concerts I don't like, specifically standing or sitting in uncomfortable chairs, spending crap-tons of money on tickets and drinks, and getting intensely tired but not being able to sleep for the ringing in my ears. This is a much better way to watch one of the greatest singer-songwriters of all time.

What to Do

Inspirational song: Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor) (Robert Palmer)

For a hot minute yesterday, I thought maybe we could risk it. I thought we could go ahead and get with the kids for Thanksgiving. You know... just us. But a day later common sense has returned. It would be incredibly stupid for me to do that. Exponential growth of cases is nothing to mess around with. Now I'm wondering whether I can even risk going back to the grocery store for that turkey I never bought. 

I have three different doctor appointments this week, plus taking Saoirse and Alfred to the vet first thing in the morning (for shots and a dental cleaning, respectively). We are supposed to go straight into intermediate dog training on Thursday, and though they do a great job keeping more than six feet of distance in a high-ceilinged pet store, I'm even wondering how dangerous that is.

I will probably change my mind six times before the holiday arrives. I want so much to feed my family, because it's my absolute favorite thing to do. But it is just so scary out there. The hardest part might be getting the Mr to stop going out too. He wears a mask, but he gets so fidgety when he stays home. You know what that means--construction projects have already started. He built new shelves for the garage from scrap wood today. By Christmas we may have a second storey on this house.

Graduation Day

Inspirational song: Pomp and Circumstance (Sir Edward Elgar)

The final session of puppy training class was this evening. We ran through many of the skills we learned along the way, practiced a few new ones, and talked about our plans for the next level of education. I'm somewhat wistful now. Saoirse did so well all through this class. When it started she was wiggly and squirmy and didn't want to pay attention. Now a month and a half later, she felt like the star student. She's not perfect--after all, she's just a four month old puppy. But wow, she grew and matured and learned so much. I'm most proud of how well she greets other dogs, both her classmates and the random stranger dogs out in the main store of Petsmart. Where we need practice: come when called.

We have to do one make up class on Wednesday evening, because I was out with the migraine last week, but she already knew one of the big skills from last week (lie down). We tried shake a couple times, and she tolerated me grabbing her paw, but never offered it. We can work on that. The trainer said we could choose whether to go to an intermediate class or tricks class after this. To stovepipe into a service dog route, she recommended intermediate for Saoirse. So that's what we will do promptly.

We went by the magic window closest to Petsmart on the way home, but it was 7:15 on a Saturday night. The line at the drive-through was long and orders were backed up. We had to park with 8 or 10 other cars. Saoirse thought she had been betrayed when we only got a coke at the magic window and no fries, even though she could smell them. Eventually her fries showed up, along with the nuggets I was taking to my daughter on her request. I made the dog wait until we got to my daughter's driveway. We stayed in the car and the girls came out to us. We visited for a little bit, masked since both I and my son-in-law have been under the weather this week. Saoirse and I were so happy to see the girls, and wow did that baby like seeing her doggie. I let my daughter give Saoirse exactly one chicken nugget, as a graduation present. I hope I don't come to regret that in a closed bedroom tonight.