Yes, and the ones who wear a mask regularly, over their mouth and never their nose. We have a bunch of those folks working at McDonald's. I feel like we need billboards all over that say, "Believe it or not. Your nose is connected to your respiratory system!"

We saw people on Devil's Tower when we were there in 2015. I watched them for a little bit, and thought, "Nope. Just not a question I need answered in my lifetime!" 😂

We are no strangers to bears. We see them frequently when we camp and hike in the U.P. These are black bears however. We have bear spray though with our hiking and camping gear. Because we are going in early May and the hiking trails may still be snowy, the boys are not planning on going very far. When we get to Badlands, that is a different story! I will be hanging out amused by the prairie dog cities, and they'll be off who knows where. I will have a companion, my eldest son who has never fully recovered from the car accident and walks with a cane. He sticks to the boardwalks and such.

That is good to hear!

Yes, this. It is the attitude of a not insignificant portion of the population. Just one more reason I am done with the general public. About 50% of the country is let it rip, who gives a crap about anyone but self. They have shown their true colors, and frankly, 1 out of every 2 people being of a sociopathic mindset is just too many for me. The idea of leading a permanently, socially distanced life of van camping, sailing, and living away from population centers is sounding pretty darn fine to me. I am growing into.being okay with the total tanking of my fine arts career.

Propet makes some kids price walking shoes that aren't sneakers. I have some ankle boots made for walking and they look good with my jeans. I also have some of their more summer looking walkers, and usually keep a pair of slip on grasshoppers for quick trips without a lot of walking.

Nope. Don't need the snakes. My family seems to always want to go hang out in places with snakes! I don't like it much. I will stick to civilized places like beaches 😁 and let them go hike for snakes. I can only do.about two miles anyway due to my ankle which means I am always sticking to the "beaten" path, beginner trails anyway. You know, kids, strollers, etc...too crazy for the snakes. They listen to the commotion and go, "Heck no! I'm out of here." But leave it to Peter and Alexander to end up in the kinds of places normal people don't want to go just to see things I DON'T WANT TO SEE!! 😂

Okay, I am going to check it out. Maybe instead of staying three nights in Rapid City, we should do one or two in or around Custer, and then one in Wall for Badlands. Our boys LOVE Badlands, but looking at some photos of Custer S.P., I was taken!

I am not certain it would change. People use school as daycare. That is just how it is set up in this nation, and since employers are not generous with sick days or opt out days because kids are home from school, and we have no national right to paid leave or any kind of employment flexibility plus the fact that healthcare access is tied to insurance which is tied to employment, I think head in the sand would still be the policy. At least 50% of parents would still just hope their kid didn't get it while demanding school remain in session and their children not have to quarantine. In order for the response to be different, we would need a radical change in employment culture. Look how dangerous and easily transmissible RSV is to infants, but it hasn't really changed anything. It goes around, high rate of hospitalization, people taking their babies and preschoolers to daycare and school sick because they have to go to work. And our schools are truly evil because they give the kids, even little ones, in school suspensions if they miss school without a doctor's note. It can take days to get in to see the doctor in order to get an excused absence. So parents send their kids sick, and then if the school decides they are too sick to attend, they get sent home. Most of the schools here will operate with up to 1/3 of the entire student body out. We have had strep epidemics so bad that 50% of the elementary school was out and the state health department had to step in and force them to close for a week! The school board and superintendent are under ungodly pressure from local businesses to not close for illness because they already have employees absence for snow days. At no tme is the well being of the actual children a legitimate thought to any of these entities.

I am intrigued. We have never been there but would have the opportunity to stop this May. Where do you stay if you are not camping?

I am pretty certain school officials and state boards of educations across this vast land have all been lobotomized or have prion brain wasting disease because these are the only reasonable explanations for the policy lunacy!!!

Woot!!!! Doing the wave! I am also forwarding this to my dd.

LOL, the list is long. This weekend, up to the U.P. to return ds to college, will make that trip twice for spring break, and then head up in April to move him out and attend commencement. March 4 and 5, skiing at Schuss Mountain. First week of May we head to Bozeman, MT. Yellowstone, then Badlands, then Museum of Danish America in Iowa before returning home. Fourth week of May and 1st week of June, Indiana/Missouri/Kansas. Taking eldest ds on research trip for his book. He has ongoing leg issues, and it is his right leg (car accident) so he can't drive for more than about 150 miles without leg spasms. So I am gladly playing chauffeur. 2nd weekend of June, van camping with Mark at Huron-Manistee National Forest. 3rd weekend of June, sailing on the Lake Huron coast. Staying overnight at an airbnb walking distance from the Harbor we are sailing to. 1st week of July, at the house in Alabama enjoying our grandsons. Sailing on weekends all through July with some overnights on shore. (We could tie up.at the transient slip and sleep below deck, but it is pretty tight on a 19 ft Compac. 1st week of August, camping with Mark and my nephew and niece in law at Tacquamenon Falls in the U.P. Last week of August, taking eldest ds on tours of the five universities on his short list for grad school. He is taking a break now before hunkering down for more school, but plans to be enrolled full time fall 2023. He would like to get a feel for each campus and area, check out his healthcare options before applying. Somewhere in that, potentially moving youngest ds to Wisconsin if he decides to accept the one job offer there. He also has job offers in Michigan, and hasn't discounted applying in Huntsville. So that is all up in the air at the moment.

Thanks for that information.

I am so sorry! Thinking of you throughout the day today. 💓

Thank you!!!!this. All of this, and is exactly what is happening in my area.

We are actually considering what we should do at the new house. It is on Grind lee Mountain, just south of Huntsville, heavily forested, wild area, and a forest fire watch station is about a mile down the road. Here in our area of Michigan we have do much farmland that we have natural fire breaks between woods and villages/houses. I am looking at that 3 day supply list, and getting together with our daughter to make sure we have it on hand down there, as well as having here make an evacuation route plan. There are two directions to get out, and one way is a pretty serious switchback road. Not ideal fire sweeps in from the north, they won't have w choice and need to be come comfortable driving it. However if they can make it to the north just the half mile to the corners they can turn west go a mile, and then get to the other switchback heading south/southeast, and that one is a pretty decent road. Steep but at a slow speed, very driveable and fully paved. She and her hubby have never gone out that way, so they need to take a Sunday afternoon and go for a test drive. Hurricane wise. I think that area gets the outer bands generally since it is so much further north, basically northern Alabama, not far from Tennessee. But I don't know for sure. I do know tornados are a thing around Huntsville and across Alabama, however, I do not know if they are common at that elevation. Here in our area close to Lake Huron, we primarily prep for blizzards and electricity loss from high winds.

I think it is important for him to get in the habit of cooking for he and his child. Bachelor guys have a tendency to rely too much on fast food and junkie, easy stuff. So what might be great would to make up a recipe box with simple to make but healthy meals with detailed, step by step instructions. When my brother divorced his first wife, he fed his sons nothing but crud because he really did not know the first thing about cooking. Maybe make up a few things that freeze well so he has some healthy thaw and eat back ups. If the refrigerator doesn't come with an ice maker, then a couple of ice cube trays would be good. I also recommend his own diaper bag that he keeps stocked for days that he is doing drop off and pick up from daycare. My brother tried having just one bag that they were to mutually stock that would follow baby, but she refused to keep it stocked.because it wasn't "her bag". A back pack works well because it can be used for school when his son is older.

Conditions in Michigan getting worse. https://www.michiganradio.org/2022-01-04/more-than-1-300-health-care-workers-at-2-health-systems-tested-positive-for-covid-last-week

You nailed it! Not to mention accusing 59 million healthcare workers of lying about covid for profit.

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

No joke! I would run fast from such a practitioner.

This is so important. Our insurance here in Michigan will not cover long covid treatment after the fact. You must have a positive covid test prior to symptoms or during the initial symptomatic phase. So even if it seems like "just a cold" at the time, you need that test just in case something goes wrong later. Otherwise, you do battle with the insurance about the diagnosis. I am beyond weary with the for-profit healthcare system here!

I think the policy makers have been lobotomized! It is the only answer to "What the hell are they thinking!" that makes sense.

Wow, that is tough. I didn't know Orlando was that bad. I wonder if they need to find jobs in another community and move away. Hard on her, but their economics and her issues make it seem like Orlando is not an option.