Our daughter got her driver license! She had already passed her written and driving tests, had more than the required driving hours, and fulfilled the nine month waiting period from the time her permit was issued. Once the drivers facilities reopened, she was all ready...Unfortunately, one of the documents she needed to obtain said license was in the safe deposit box at the bank where the lobby had yet to open for customers. So began the adventure of retrieving items from the bank.
- Appointments only available on Tuesdays and Thursdays
- Appointments only available between 9:30am and 1:30pm, first come, first served basis.
- No next day appointments.
- Appointments REQUIRED.
- Provide your name, bank location, safe box number, account number.
- Must have photo ID at time of appointment.
- Masks required to enter the lobby.
Thank goodness it wasn't an emergency. I'm not sure what people who are working and cannot flex their hours are supposed to do. I felt a vague sense of irritation at the whole email process to start with and I was now edging toward annoyance at the prolonged wait time. I waited a week.
Fast forward to the date of the appointment - I arrive at the bank fully masked at my appointed time.
After verifying my appointment at the door, they ask to see my photo ID.
Ummmm...I'm not sure how that works with me wearing a mask.
Perhaps I should lower my mask?
No, not necessary.
Okay then. (silently thinks maybe they should rethink their procedures)
After a really odd comment from the banker about how I should try wearing a mask for 8 hours a day (he assumes I don't), I was led to a teller to so I could obtain my personal belongings. Interestingly enough, there were marks on the floor to ensure social distancing for the non-existent customers.
I emptied the box. I had little confidence I would ever be able to access it again.
My daughter now had the documents needed but by now the line at the DMV spanned the entire length of the building and stretched into the next town. It had been a week since the DMV opened and so now everyone was trying to take care of business. Coupled with blazing sun and ninety degree weather, we had decided to wait a little longer. Not too much longer, mind you, we didn't want the permit to expire and complicate matters.
Instead, we decided it was time to take yet another camping excursion to one of the surrounding states. You may remember from my previous post that due to the prolonged pandemic, our original vacation plans to visit the entire western United States had to be cancelled. There were concerns of overcrowding, lack of facilities, and an underlying current of hostility that seemed to clash with the idea of a relaxing vacation.
(Cancelling turned out to be a good idea. Some of the National Parks moved to Day Use reservations - with an additional fee beyond the park pass!)
Like our previous destination, the state we chose was further along in reopening phases than our own state (which still hadn't figured out that camping is by definition social distancing). We also speculated it might be less hot.
Less hot, yes. Further along, well it depends on how you look at things.
When booking our campsite, the web page indicated we could purchase our state park pass at the gate (the website was later updated). Imagine our chagrin when we arrived only to discover the only way to obtain the park pass was to call the number listed on the building, an impossible feat since we had no cell service in the area. After setting up camp, we headed into town where we could access some spotty service and make a call, only to find the office had already closed for the day - an hour before check in time at the campground! Deciding not to worry about it, we made the call the next day and successfully purchased a pass, which they would mail to us. When we explained we were already at the park, they cheerfully told us not to worry, an email would also be forthcoming with a receipt we could print. All the pass number details would be on the receipt.
It was another one of those Ummm moments. Did they honestly think we travelled with a printer in our camper? We decided the best we could do was write the number down and put it on the dashboard, provided we could actually get the email with our crappy cell signal. To our delight, we discovered free wifi in the park! We received the email, unfortunately the information we needed was in a PDF which we were unable to download because signal strength of the free wifi wasn't quite powerful enough... Sigh.
We took a screenshot of the confirmation email containing the PDF and crossed our fingers that park wardens would understand if we were questioned. I do give the staff points for being cheerful and friendly. Moreover, no one seemed overly concerned that we also didn't have our social distancing cow with us!
Next thing I knew, it was fall - time for school to start again, but not full time school. Instead our district adopted hybrid learning (two half days in school, two remote days, one catch up/make up/tutoring day). This switched back to remote learning when the positivity rate went up in our area, then back to hybrid when the numbers went down. Lucky for us we had the space to make a school room. Kid really likes her space. Maybe a little too much. After we went to remote learning she was not too keen on returning to hybrid. Longer commute you know. Note: the shorter commute for remote learning didn't prevent her from being late one day.
Meanwhile, between job searching and part time work, my husband and I had a construction project to supervise out front our house. The township put in new sewers, water lines, fire hydrants, curbs and streets. Our yard became more entertaining than TV! 
Part of our driveway was replaced...
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| Supervisor's dog |
And we made new friends! However, all this excitement wasn't enough for us, so we decided to do a little construction of our own...
Perhaps we were just plain loopy.
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