A different time, but staying busy

     So the questions have been posed repeatedly in the past three weeks: How are you things at your place? How are you spending your time?

     Short answers: We are fine; we are well. But, believe it, we are staying fairly busy.
      We are reading a lot -- here are the stacks of books Beatrice and I have been working. (That's in addition to e-mail and Facebook messages.) 
       I am working on my sixth book in the past month. Some are sports-related, some are not. I have had some of these stacked here for months, and now have time to read them.
       Bea usually reads books much more than I do -- I read more Internet (sports) news than she does -- so she always is in reading form.
       We are watching more television news than I care to do. Enough said.
       We are not on lockdown, but we are being urged to mostly stay out of sight. So we venture out some -- we have walked to the nearby store, across the 7th Street bridge, to stock up on a couple of times recently.
     (Haven't found any toilet paper, though.)
     To expand on the answers -- if you care to know more -- here is a blog post with some details.
     For those who live in our facility and read this blog, they will be familiar with some of this material. For you "outsiders," here is what is going on here (if you care).
     First, credit to management here at Trinity Terrace and at  Pacific Retirement Services (PRS), the managing firm based in Oregon, for doing all they can to keep us safe.
     Most importantly, no outside visitors, including family and friends. Only exceptions: (1) essential health personnel -- nurses, doctors, (limited) caretakers; (2) end-of-life situations.
     Before people come in from outside, medical personnel is checking their temperatures and asking health-related questions.
     Emphasis is being placed on social-distancing rules, urging us to stay at least 6 feet apart. Do you realize hard difficult that is on, say, an elevator? (They now have spaces marked in the elevators, so no more than four people at a time.)
     Hand sanitizers available in many, many places. This had been a growing concern before the current crisis.

     No meetings (we have a Resident Council and its various committees and a Foundation group that meet occasionally).

     No games (regular card games, bingo games, pool table and ping-pong table).
     No exercise classes (yes, I miss them -- yoga, stretch-training, water aerobics, and for Bea, tai chi).
     Getting some  exercise with daily walks; I am still going for lengthy walks -- weather permitting -- outside a couple of times a week. There are people here who regularly walk the hallways in the buildings, and they still are.
     No gatherings. So no Social Hour in our big auditorium -- every Thursday at 4 p.m. -- with a program each week (usually a guest speaker or musical performer, sometimes a resident).
     No twice-a-month Saturday Morning Coffee events (with a program). No monthly birthday party. No regular Wednesday PM practice for the world-famous Trinity Terrace Ukulele Orchestra and Singers.
      No regular events scheduled by the Resident Services department. (Exception: a sing-along on the apartment balconies and in our terrace area, with people spaced apart, a couple of Saturdays ago.)
       No scheduled outside trips scheduled by Resident Services -- to restaurants, museums, plays, concerts. These are usually popular.
     No transportation services, except medical/dental visits. Those of us who no longer have a car can take seven "free" trips -- not counting medical/dental rides -- we are allowed per month.
     Limited access -- one hour early in the day, two hours in the afternoon -- to our in-house Country Store (a convenience store for residents, guests and staff).
     No White Elephant Store (an in-house retail store for goods) activities, which also means no apartment sales. (This store's benefits go almost exclusively to workers here.)
     The pool, usually open at all hours, is limited to one person at a time, for no more than 30 minutes -- and that time must be scheduled.
     Nail and hair salons closed.
     Restaurants (three of them here) closed. But we're not going hungry. We now order meals (one a day) and they are delivered -- in a bag, with plastic dispensers -- to our door.
      (What made the decision to close the restaurants an easy one for management was evident a couple of Sundays ago when there were some 60-plus people at one time in the restaurant at one time, and the buffet line was full, with people standing right next to each other. We saw that, and said that ain't going to work.) 
      Housekeeping service -- once every two weeks -- remains intact. This requires an explanation.
      Management had decided that housekeeping services could be a hindrance in social distancing. But many of the aging, limited residents suggested -- uh, complained -- that they were not capable physically of doing their own housework. So management reversed its thinking, and reinstated the schedule.
     Same was true with the Country Store (this is basically not a money-making operation, but available for the convenience of staff and residents).
     Decision was made to close the store (which is usually open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to noon Saturday).
      Reasoning: often too many people in the store, too close together, at once, too much touching. Doors, especially to the coolers that hold the most popular items (50-cent soft-drink cans, 50- and 80-cent ice cream bars), being touched repeatedly. Items on shelves -- candy bars, chips, cookies, etc. -- being touched.
      But several/many older residents were not happy with the closure, saying they could not go to outside stores and regularly relied on our Country Store for some items.
       So management partly reversed its decision. Now instead of two residents volunteering to work the two-hour shifts, the staff person (Brandon Roberts) who usually buys and stocks the store's goods is manning the store three hours a day, setting up at a desk blocking the door entrance, taking people's orders and filling them, handling the money  (while wearing protective gloves).
      We thank him. I especially thank him.
      To personalize this -- and I don't mean to be bragging -- I have been committee chairman (with some co-chairs) of The Country Store since December 2018. That means scheduling the workers, filling in when needed, and often stocking the store (mostly soft drinks) between shifts.
      Similarly, the suspension of the Social Hour also affects me. With several other people, we have been chairpersons of that committee since the start of this year, which means being the host/emcee of the program and scheduling the guests. 
      We had the programs lined up through the end of July. When we resume activities, it will require rescheduling guests ... so far we have a month's worth to reschedule.
      Ah, heck, we like doing it.
      Bea also is affected by suspension; in her case, the White Elephant Store activities. Starting a few weeks ago, she took over the chairperson role of that 25-person committee and -- I'm sure a lot of those people will agree -- it is no easy task (much more difficult than Social Hour or Country Store).
      Frankly, it had been about a month's work -- several hours, many phone calls and visits a day -- for Bea. There was some stress involved. No, a lot of stress.
      White Elephant goods -- clothes, furniture, miscellanous discarded items -- are donated by residents and/or staff, but much of them come from apartments that are vacated here. Most, unfortunately, are vacated by deaths, and after the family takes what it wants from the apartment, the rest is left to the White Elephant committee' disgression.
      There is a near-the-end-of-the monthly sale, plus apartment sales. Whatever profits are made go into year-end bonuses for staff, and for school scholarships for staffers.
      It is, in our opinion, one of Trinity Terrace's biggest assets, an important contribution to this place.
      And we give credit to management for re-thinking some of its decisions, thinking of the benefits for our residents and staff.
     Good news -- and we pray this holds up -- no COVID-19 cases here.
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      As for me, I have been asked if I miss sports. Obviously, yes, but so do all sports fans.
      I would be deep into following major-league baseball right now -- especially the New York team in the American League -- but, honestly, people remaining healthy is a helluva lot more crucial than any sports event.
     So, like everyone, we missed the NCAA Tournaments -- always fun -- and college spring sports, and the NHL and NBA playoffs (so far). But, don't laugh, the intensity of LSU's football season wore me out, so the break is OK. 
     In addition to reading, one of the things that keeps me busy -- in addition to writing way-too-long pieces like this -- is that I do research online. 
      I generally have some research projects going regarding the history of Louisiana high school athletics ... that has been a passion since I was a teenager. 
     Spent way too many hours looking at microfilm at The Shreveport Times and Shreveport Journal in the 1960s, '70s and '80s when I should have been working on becoming a better writer.
      So I have updated Louisiana baseball state-championship game results, and for the past year and a half, have been researching, updating and, in some cases, correcting Louisiana high school state track and field champions -- individual events, relays and team results -- that Jerry Byrd Sr. had compiled (and published in a book) through 2004.
      Having to retype what Jerry had because they were not available online, and still working on that. Still to go: compiling the results from 2005 to 2019. (Looks as if we won't have to deal with 2020; that's awful, isn't it?)
     So big task, hours and hours of looking at past files in  newspapers.com
     Always plenty to do, always plenty to read.
     Stay safe out there. Keep the faith that all will be well.