The Corona Chronicles entry #5

Day #15

It's truly amazing how much the world has changed in a couple of weeks. I was telling the kids that it was hard to believe that two weeks ago we were picking out new track shoes for Wesley and new glasses for Greta.  We went to Jason's Deli and had a nice lunch and then had our teeth cleaned at the dentist. It feels like that happened months ago, rather than weeks.

Now our dentist has closed. The shoes sit in their box because track and school has been cancelled. Can't even take the shoes back because the store has been closed. 

The country pretty much shut down. Non-essential businesses have closed and the ones that are open have changed their practices in some way or another. Our vet clinic has closed the lobby and you call when you arrive and sit in your car until your turn. Then someone comes to your car and collects your pet and it's taken into the clinic. All correspondences are done over the cell phone. You even pay over the phone. Many retail stores, that are still open, will only deliver things to your car. Restaurants have closed with many now only offering take out or delivery. One story out of Seattle said out of work strippers were delivering food topless, that made me chuckle. Call me crazy but we are avoiding all food except for meals made at home. I want to keep my favorite restaurants in business but I'm not taking the chance of the cook being infected.

Our governor issued a stay-at-home order over the weekend so non-essential businesses are now closed. According to friends on social media most of the state hasn't gotten the memo yet and stores like Lowes and Wal-Mart have been packed with people that are tired of staying home. In our little town people are seen clustered together talking and kids are playing basketball in groups.  I feel like until it hits our community these people won't figure it out. Some sobering predictions came out of the White House today that predict 100-200K people could die in our country alone (that was a "best case scenario").  Needless to say this was a "can't stop watching the news day". It was raining out, what else is there to do?

I found hope in an interview with the CEO of Starbucks. He said they are just now slowly reopening the Starbucks over in China after being closed for 9 weeks. He said we are on week 2, so if all goes well we could possibly be reopening the country in 7 weeks. I find comfort in that number. We can do 7 more weeks.

The Corona Chronicles entry #4

Day #11

Yesterday was a good day. I kept the tv off. I didn't get online but twice. I put on my boots and went and tilled up the earth to prepare to plant a big box of strawberry crowns that showed up a few days ago. I forgot I even ordered them back in February. They were to ship when it was time to plant them. I was happy to see them on the porch! What a great time to grow fresh food in my back yard.

I'm planning a giant vegetable and flower garden this year. The kids will be involved in every step so they learn the value of growing their own food. We haven't grown a large garden in years because they do take a lot of work and are difficult to leave for summer vacation. We figure this year would be a good year for one since we haven't planned a vacation and aren't sure we are even going to take one. 

 I'm trying to not talk about what is happening in our world with my kids. They are fully aware but I don't get too deep into it. They are 10 and 12 years old and old enough to know and understand but they don't need to worry. They need to be kids and not be burdened with major problems. After the teacher parade the other day I noticed Greta was withdrawn. I asked her what was wrong and she said nothing and went to her room with tears in her eyes. I went and laid down next to her and we chatted. She wouldn't fully open up but I understood her tears and sadness. We all feel that way off and on. It was fun to see the teachers but it also made it all the more real...and sad.

 Keeping the kids busy has also been important. I'm trying to come up with fun things to keep them learning and happy. They collected snails out of the koi pond and wanted to set up a small aquarium that they could keep them in. So now we have an aquarium full of snails in Greta's room. I spent a large part of my childhood crouched next to a pond fishing out snails so it brought back memories. I told them to go search for snail eggs in a slimy mass. Sure enough after 10 minutes Greta comes running up to me with a leaf full of slimy snail eggs (that is also now in the aquarium so we can watch them emerge).

The Corona Chronicles entry #3

Day #10

It's difficult to not look at the news all day. I find myself wandering over to the computer and sitting down to just see if anything new is being reported. There is new information coming out about the coronavirus hourly. It can be all consuming. Then it leads to more worry and the cycle continues. I've decided I needed to stop the random internet searches. I don't turn on the tv in the morning anymore to watch the Today Show with all the news anchors broadcasting from their houses. It just isn't healthy for me.

I decided I needed a different sort of outlet. You'd think sculpting would be that but I just can't get motivated to return to my job just yet. I'll get there. I think once we figure out online learning for the kids I'll feel good about going to a quiet room and sculpting. I've got a list of orders, I can only assume they still want their dogs sculpted. In these strange financial times I can see buying sculptures being pretty low on the list of necessities. So instead of looking at the news for hours on end I've decided to start playing video games. It's a great way to distract your mind. There was a game that I'd been wanting to play for awhile but it needed a second player. So Wesley and I have been playing this Playstation 3 game for a couple of weeks off and on. It's a "capture the flag" style game and it's done a fabulous job of keeping my mind off of the happenings in the world. And it's a great way to spend time with my son!

We've been trying to focus on the good things that are going on rather than the bad. Yesterday we drove into town, parked and stood on the corner and watched all the teachers in the elementary school drive by and wave to all the kids. It was a teacher parade meant to raise the spirits of the kids and parents and it did just that. It all made me get choked up. Not sure why, but my emotions are all over the place so I'm blaming that. I read the following today and it raised my spirits and I hope it does yours too.

My heart is heavy... but my infamous saying is Everything happens for a reason and only a season ... so here we are and yet...

The reports are that... the truckers are getting supplies to the stores.

People are stocking the shelves all night and letting old people shop first.

Carnival Cruise line told Trump “We can match those big Navy Hospital ships with some fully staffed cruise ships”

GM said hold our cars and watch this; we can make those ventilators where we were making cars starting next week.

Clothing companies and individuals are making homemade masks for the medical community.

Restaurants and schools said, We’ve got kitchens and staff; we can feed kids.”

Churches are holding on-line services and taking care of their members and community.

NBA basketball players said, “Hold our basketballs while we write checks to pay the arena staff.”

Construction companies said, “Here are some masks for the medical staff and doctors”.

Breweries are making sanitizer out of the left-over ingredients.

Neighbors are encouraging each other by putting up signs, decorating windows for scavenger hunts, singing together and playing music for each other.

It’s only a short season of life.. press on. Love your people and never stop having Faith. 

I’m here for anyone, for anything! I’m thankful we can come together as one. 

We have a wonderful country and an amazing God.

The Corona Chronicles entry #2

 Day #9

I feel like I could write all day about what is happening. It's surreal in a way. I haven't mentioned on here yet that we lost our big black lab Cody back in January. He lived to a nice old age and his health declined to the point that his quality of life was not good. We made the tough decision to put him to sleep on January 21st. Ever since then it's been so quiet around here. The two boston terriers have been pretty mellow, perhaps they are not in their puppy phase anymore (they will be 4 this summer). I started taking peeks at craigslist pet page looking for puppies. I didn't have a good idea of what I wanted, I just knew I didn't want another boston right now (two is plenty!). I wanted more of a laid back breed, perhaps a mutt kind of like Chance. I didn't want a big dog as they do a number on hardwood floors. So one day I found a litter of pups that just called my name. One little guy in particular reminded me so much of Chance that I contacted the owner and scheduled a time to drive the 7 hours round trip to pick him up.

Little Cooper (he's often referred to as Mini Cooper) is such a doll. He was 7 weeks old when we got him and he'll be 3 months old March 27th. He's half shih tzu (his dad) and half border collie (mom). He's long with short legs and giant paws. The vet said he'll be interested to see what he looks like when he's grown. He's brought out the "puppy" in the two boston terriers. He and Winston will play for hours, chewing on each other and racing around the house. Beanie has done a good job of teaching him what is and isn't allowed.

I'm thankful that we have him right now. He's such a joy and brings a smile to our faces with his silly antics. I kid that I'm too busy cleaning up urine to worry about much else that's going on in the world. I figure if we are all sheltering in place what better time to have a puppy? I wish everyone would consider this and clean out the shelters. Instead many people are panicking and dropping their pets off at shelters because of the unknown. Can pets contract the virus? No. But it doesn't stop people from worrying.

The pup has been on a certain puppy food that he's been doing well on. It's only sold at Petsmart (it's their brand of puppy food). I'm supposed to keep him on it for the first year of life. I went to buy a large bag to get us through and the shelves are bare. Everyone is buying loads of extra dog food (pet food in general). I had to go home and order a bag online, pay for it and have it shipped to the store for pick up.

It's one thing to have enough food to feed your family for a month or longer, but to keep your pets fed too is another story.  In our case having enough extra pet food to feed the goats, horses, chickens, guinea pigs, rabbit, cockatiels and cats takes planning! We have plenty of hay and the grass is greening up so that's good.

This could have easily happened in January which would have been, in my opinion, a hundred times worse. Going outside and soaking up the warm sun, jumping on the trampoline, going for a jog or planting a garden is food for the soul. Something we all need.

Take care.

The Corona Chronicles entry #1

Day #8

Boy has a lot changed since my last blog post back in February. The world is upside down. People wearing masks and gloves to go to the grocery store. The death toll today stands at 16,500. I fear this number is just the beginning. We are staying home, Sean is working from home (as he has been since November because mold was found in their building). The kids are home for spring break and we just found out last Tuesday that their school has been closed down for the remainder of the school year. We will attempt online learning starting next Monday.

I know this has been very tough on many people. Business are shutting their doors and sending workers home, some unpaid. People that live paycheck to paycheck are very worried.  Individuals that are used to going out and socializing daily are ordered to stay home. Many people don't cook and rely on eating out. Most restaurants are closed with only the drive through open. Sean and I really enjoyed our weekly lunch date before all of this happened but we are curtailing that activity. I just don't trust other people to make my food right now. This virus can go undetected in healthy individuals and they can transmit it. It's frightening. I worry the most about the elderly, my elderly church friends who are home alone. I pray this doesn't last as long as I fear it will.

 The media has done a pretty good job of painting a bleak and desperate picture of what is happening in the world right now. I'm not blaming them, it's an accurate picture. I just feel it's overwhelming the amount of information, articles and statistics that are being thrown at me every time I turn on the tv or log onto the computer. I have not wanted to leave my house out of pure fear of catching this horrible virus but I needed to get to the grocery store one last time before hunkering down. I researched when the store was opening and decided to be there bright and early and try and beat the crowds. So yesterday I woke up at 5:45 so I could be there right around 6 when they opened. It was dark and raining which I also thought would be a good way to keep people away. Boy was I wrong. Many cars were already in the parking lot when I arrived. There were a mob of people just standing outside each entrance waiting for them to open doors. They opened the doors and these people rush in and went straight for the toilet paper and bread. This store had limited many products to only one per person, so there was actually some left when I finally wheeled my cart over to each section. Although getting only one loaf of bread kind of sucked. I piled my cart high and feel like I have enough meals to easily last my family a month. I'm sure we will run out of fresh fruit after two weeks but canned fruit and applesauce to get us through.

I like to think of myself as sort of a prepper. Several years ago I was very into it. Did lots of research.  I set up a pantry in the basement. I collected canned goods, bottle water, medicine and all sorts of survival gear. What I didn't do a good job of over the years was rotating out the canned goods, flour and sugar. It was too much work to lug all of the groceries down stairs and rotate up the older food and replace with the new food. So a lot of the food down there is past its expiration date. I wish I had done a better job right about now. Luckily I'd been slowly building up that pantry again after I read about how quickly the coronavirus was spreading in China. I felt pretty good about our food supply until I read about how the peak of cases could be as far as 30 days out or more for the US. I thought how much I'd like to hunker down and not leave the house, even for fresh fruit or milk. I also feel quite the burden of being the main food buyer and meal maker. Like, if I mess this up and don't buy enough food I'm going to be out there when this virus is every where. In the air (I read it can remain in the air for up to 3 hours) and on surfaces. It's strange, I've never experienced food anxiety before now.

This strange time we are in right now is something we've all never experienced. It's a completely new situation that we are navigating. I think journal entries will be good to have, to look back and read to my grandchildren one day. Take care.

This and That

Larry, my buddy from church has been asking me to come hammer on some iron with him for a few months. You see he loves blacksmithing and has been doing it for many years. I told him a while back that I think it would be fun to learn and so I got the opportunity to try my hand at it. He hauls around a flat bed trailer with all his equipment and brings it to city events to do demonstrations. I showed up a few weeks ago and he taught me how to crank the air blower that keeps the fire super hot and how to hammer iron into shapes. I was amazed at all the tools he made to shape the iron into cabinet handles and such. He's quite the artist. It was fun (and very cold unless you were next to the fire). I look forward to trying my hand at another project, I think we are going to try a boot scraper next.

I really enjoy growing food and my friend at church figured that out pretty quickly after I met her. She's in charge of the Tower Gardens that the church has and was looking for another person to help out with them. They can be time consuming when it comes to cleaning, harvesting and replanting them. We harvest the lettuce, kale and herbs and provide them to the congregation (the congregation purchased them so it's a way to give back). My friend who does the church towers was pregnant and has since had her baby the end of December so now I'm in charge of the church Tower Gardens (and my own at home) and I spend a decent amount of time each Sunday making sure there is water in the tanks and harvesting them. They sure are beautiful!

I've been taking the two Boston Terriers to school in the afternoon to pick up the kids. They get SO excited! They are hyperactive and psychotic as it is so this just pushes them over the limit. Wesley is in scholars bowl this year and so we wait for 20 minutes after school to pick him up which means several dozen kids walk past the car. The dogs get so excited to see each and every kid and each kid gets very excited to see the dogs. It's become a fun tradition.

Here's our silly selfie with Beanie. I think she's smiling in it.

Since I'm sharing dog pictures here are Winston and Bean all cozy on the couch with their new blanket. These dogs have no hair or body fat to keep them warm and shake often during the winter (in our 72 degree house). They have a bed next to the sliding glass south facing window and will soak up the sun until they are panting (and still don't move). They are crazy little dogs and we love them.

My Mini Me

Miss Greta and I have been spending some quality mom and daughter time together.
She and I have some similar interests and enjoy each others company. One thing we like to do? Go out to eat! With her (and my) dietary restrictions it's been a fun challenge to find restaurants that we can both enjoy. There are several though and we frequent them somewhat often. One of them is a Mediterranean restaurant where I can eat low fat vegan and she can eat gluten and egg free. Oh and they have wonderful GF baklava and hummus to die for!

I've written about our church painting parties before but they are sure fun to do with Greta. She has her own style and isn't afraid to show it! Her snowman door hanging has abs, a seashell necklace and a scrunchie. Silly girl!

As of about a year ago I'd never heard of subscription boxes before. What are subscription boxes you ask? They could be anything that interests you....there are Harry Potter subscription boxes, wine subscription boxes, shave club boxes. Anything! You pay a flat amount monthly and a new box is shipped to you. It's usually a mystery what's in the box and that adds to the fun. I've subscribed to Ipsy and get a beauty box each month for $12. It's full of makeup and skin care trial products. It's a nice way to try out an expensive product without much investment. This last month two face masks were included in the bag and Greta was excited to try them. Kind of scary eh?

December Outings

While family was here for Christmas we went a few places, one of which is a place downtown that has been tagged with graffiti. The graffiti is wonderful and super colorful. The kids had fun posing in front of it.

While we were out we went to a local candy store that sells bulk candy and other goodies. Each grandchild was given $5 to spend. It was fun seeing how close they could get to that $5 limit without going over.

We stopped by the new park that's not too far from our house. It was a pretty cold day so we had the whole place to ourselves. There is a swing on a sort of zip line there that swings around in a loop. It was a big hit with the kids (and adults).

Trying to get the kid and the swing up the ramp became quite hilarious. They would all work together though!

Christmas 2019

We had a lovely Christmas at home this year. My folks were in town and my sister and her family visited from Minnesota. It's always nice getting the cousins together and I appreciate people driving to see us since we aren't big winter travelers (too many critters). We did some fun activities while everyone was here and I'll have to do another blog post about that but I'll share some pictures of Christmas day.

Blake always tries to calm our crazy boston terriers by holding them. They aren't real fond of being held so it's funny.

Greta opening a Hydro Flask. That's all she wanted for Christmas.

A katana sword for Wesley. It's a little sharper than I thought it was.

She got not one but TWO Hydro Flasks. This VSCO girl is excited!

 

The boys got some BB guns and pellet guns for Christmas and birthdays so they went outside and set up a target range and popped off some rounds. It was a beautiful Christmas day in the 60's. Great weather to shoot.

Wesley got a poo emoji hat for Christmas (thanks Stacy!) and eventually I'm like "please take off the darn poop hat so I can get some normal pictures of you!" Hehe.

We had the annual candlelight service at church and snapped a few pictures.

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas!

Christmas Fun at Noni and Papa's House

We spent several days over at my parents house over the Holidays. It was fun to relax and not have to do much for a change. The kids got to play several fun new games on the Xbox while the men sat around and looked at cars (is that what all men do?). Greta and Emery decorated Christmas cookies one day. You gotta have something to put out for Santa!

Some Xbox arcade game was a big hit among the kids and adults alike. 

Rudi soaked up all the attention.

Birthdays, Cookies, Tie Dying & Cows

Sean celebrated another birthday in December. He's such a sweet guy, I'm sure lucky to have him in my life. We celebrated with angel food cake and strawberries and a gluten free & egg free confetti cake. I got him a pellet rifle to target shoot with Wesley. Happy Birthday Sean!

They kids got to do their traditional gingerbread decorating before Christmas. It's funny to look back over the years and see how much I had to help them obviously when they were tiny and to fast forward to now and just set them up with stuff and let them go for it. They sure are growing up fast! Greta was sad that I couldn't find a gluten free gingerbread kit but I redeemed myself with a giant GF and egg free sugar cookie for her to decorate and eat.

Greta's new found love in life is tie dying. She watched several youtube videos and then started asking for die and white clothes. We found Goodwill to be a great resource for white clothing. Since she was still learning it's a lot easier on the checkbook to mess up on $1.50 shirts (not that she messed up!). She did great work, very unique colors and patterns. I was getting into it too. She even found white cotton shoes and tie dyed them! She's my crafty girl.

I saw a fun idea of facebook where a gal took an old piece of barn wood and painted a cow head on it. It had a very Christmas feel and I just loved it and wanted to try doing something similar. I searched and searched for old barn wood and couldn't find anything in the right size or without it costing a fortune. Then one day at Menards I found a prepackaged and cut piece of pine that was the correct size. I wondered if it could be made to look weathered without actually being weathered wood. I thought for $6 it was worth a try. I decided to do a Jersey cow head and give it to my friend Jessica (she loves Jerseys). I was pretty happy with it and I think Jessica liked it.