You may wonder what’s been happening since our doors closed on March 13. We immediately came up with a solution to continue our deliveries of food to our homebound seniors as well as supplying lunches to our congregate diners. Following is a list of things we have done.

• Implemented new procedures for homebound delivery which included masks and porch deliveries. There are less restrictions on “Homebound”.
• March 16th our drive thru at noon began. Also offered weekend meals, hand outs of bread, eggs, milk, yogurt from Hardester’s and produce boxes from a government program (Russ Perdock).
• Secured PPE for drivers and employees. Have sanitized daily, performed temp checks of all employees, and supplied masks.
• Packaging for drive thru ordered right away—$9,000 for a 140% increase. Shortage, so we also back ordered.
• Hired 4th kitchen employee to assist with the added time it takes to prep and package ALL lunches.
• Dealt with financial losses: no more thrift store ($1,000/mo.). Cancelled March 4 Meals, our dinner and silent auction, our 6th annual chili cook off.
• Community came through financially to help: Rotary, Calpine, Church of Shambhala, Reynolds Systems, Grocery Outlet, Twin Pine Casino, Congressman Mike Thompson, Lionesses, and private citizens.
• Volunteers stepped up to help with pharmacy pickup, grocery pickups, post office runs. (Kathy Kitchen)
• Informational handouts distributed at our drive thru. Included food resources, info on Covid-19, volunteer info., friendship line info (loneliness), Covid-19 scam, online Tai Chi, online tech classes.
• Purchased new freezer, more carts, hot boxes, ice chests, pergola for the drive thru, supplies for emergency food bags.
• Went from an average of 1,735 meals served to 2,421 meals served per month—40% growth. Our food budget increased accordingly.
• We received a jolt on Monday, July 27, when one of our employees showed up sick. Was sent home immediately. Told to have test; tested positive. It had already been 10 days since they had worked. We took a break until all others tested negative. Tessie and I hadn’t mingled with the employee, so we were able to contact drivers and send out frozen meals. Masks, daily sanitizing and handwashing do work.
• Daily phone calls and welfare checks are being done.
• Fielding questions, faxing for seniors, making copies. Appointments accepted to check out movies, books, and audio books. Masks will be required as well as hands sanitized.
• Evacuations for Hidden Valley and warnings for Middletown. Still was able to get food out to our Cobb and Middletown seniors and called our homebound seniors in Hidden Valley to check on them.
• Throw in a surprise health department inspection. We received a 99%.

1. Horses have the largest eyes of any land mammal.
2. Horses can run within hours after birth.
3. When horses look like they’re laughing, they’re actually engaging in a special nose-enhancing technique known as “flehmen,” to determine whether a smell is good or bad.
4. At one time people thought horses were colorblind. They’re not, though they are better at seeing yellows and greens than purples and violets.
5. A horse’s teeth take up a larger amount of space in their head than their brain.
6. You can generally tell the difference between male and female horses by their number of teeth: males have 40 while females have 36 (but honestly, most of us are going to use the much “easier” way).
7. Horse hooves are made from the same protein that comprises human hair and fingernails.
8. The horse trailer (“horse box”) was invented by Lord George Bentinck, a U.K. man who needed a more effective transport for getting his six horses from one racetrack to another.
9. In 1872, Leland Stanford (1824-1893) made a bet that at some point in the gallop all four of a horse’s legs are off the ground at the same time. Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) proved him right by using a series of 24 cameras and photographing a racehorse named Sallie Gardner.
10. Horses are more secure and comfortable when trailering if they can face the rear, but they prefer openings.
11. Horses can sleep both lying down and standing up.
12. A 19th century horse named “Old Billy” reportedly lived 62 years.
13. From 1867 to 1920, the number of horses increased from 7.89 million to 25 million. Experts believe this was due to the rise of the automobile.
14. Because horses’ eyes are on the side of their head they are capable of seeing nearly 360 degrees at one time.
15. The fastest recorded sprinting speed of a horse was 88 kph (55 mph). Most gallop at around 44 kph or 27 mph.
16. The Przewalski’s horse is the only truly wild horse species still in existence. The only wild population is in Mongolia.

    Remembering names has been nonexistent for me on numerous occasions. I once went to introduce my date at a work party after dating him for three years. “I would like to introduce my boy friend—(Oh, no! My mind went blank—I mean I did not have a clue!). Do you think he would help me out? I looked to future hubby for some much needed assistance. You would think it would be forthcoming. I expected him to rush in to save me from embarrassment. Not. To this day, I can still see that Mona Lisa smile on his lips.

    Luckily one of my fellow workers said, “Nice meeting you Harry.” Of course, everyone already knew his name and most had already met him. I was probably the only person in the entire room who had forgotten his name. Forgetting names has nothing to do with old age. I was about 23.

    After I had been married for seven years, I went into the bank to cash a check. Yep. I signed it with my maiden name. No, I hadn’t kept my maiden name after marriage. It wasn’t a problem. The teller didn’t catch my error, nor did anyone else along the way. It gave me a lot of confidence in my bank?

    Remembering names is an asset I have never possessed, but with age it gets even better. Not to worry. Before too long you won’t recognize the face either.

    When out and about and you run into an acquaintance who’s name is Jane, you will hold back on calling that person Jane. You will, instead, search your memory for the correct name—you already have a friend named Jane, so this individual can’t be Jane. Right? Wrong! You know several people named Jane. This is one of them. Good luck, everyone.