COVID Diaries - April 27

Furlough is complete.  I capped it off by actually calling in to safety huddle, but I have not yet checked my email.

Today was actually an awesome day.

I woke up and cooked myself an actual breakfast (minus coffee because of some other plans) and then lounged around for a bit.

I did the longest bike ride I've maybe ever done in life. With a friend from work.  It was super fun.  I tried some things I wouldn't have done without her.  She also helped me fix my bike when I popped the chain on a steep hill. Sites included Victory Memorial, Wirth Park, Cedar Lake, Sculpture Garden, Mississippi River, a coffee shop, the heron rookery, and Webber Parkway.  It was quite a ride!

I ran as soon as I racked my bike.  This just needs to get done right?.  It was hot out, and sunny.  But a nice day to be outside in the end.

Next up, obviously, was food.  I hit up Chipotle.  Apparently I've thrown social distancing caution to the wind here.  I even went in without a mask.  (I didn't realize there'd be other customers in there.)


I ended the evening with a social distance happy hour with Captain Smiley and Dungeon Master.  Captain Smiley put out his Blessed Ramadan sign.  Our neighbors across the street stopped and thanked him.  They said it means a lot.

Tomorrow it's going to rain and I'm surprisingly excited for not sunshine.  I told my co-worker, I've never had such a legitimate tan so early in the year.  She agreed.  But it's okay to take a break for a day, right?

COVID Diaries - Sunday April 26

We are on day 2,000 of the quarantine.  What?  No?  Year 2,000?  I dunno.  It's been a while.

I am calling it good on Furlough Week.  I technically don't have to work tomorrow but I do work this week so I'll call into the safety huddle in the morning like the team player that I am.

I woke up once and then actually for reals woke up after 11am. I went out for a run.  I wasn't quite done running when Captain Smiley needed some socially distanced logistical assistance with moving furniture.  So, I did the thing.

Then, I cleaned my house and myself.  I did laundry (sheets), reorganized the laundry closet, did dishes, and reorganized under my kitchen sink.  The reason for all this?  I told myself I could have tacos when I'm done.

I did get my tacos.  Turns out, I can order online, drive down to Los Ocampos, and my order is about ready as I walk in the door.  Mmmm.  It was so good.

I wrapped up the evening talking to Mom and Dad on Facetime.  Mom gave me gardening tips. 

COVID Diaries - April 25

So, I woke up around 8am, stayed in bed, and went back to sleep.

I woke up for reals around 11:30am.  After a bad dream about not making my mile.  Trying to run and trying to run, and literally, I couldn't go far enough.  There were walls and hedges and issues...

I am surprised to report that I wound up at Sherburne Wildlife Refuge today, after several days of me thinking I wouldn't go. I ultimately self-negotiated no trail running, but any walking, picture taking, and sketching that I wanted.   Honestly, it turned out to be a phenomenal day. 

Blue Hill Trail has an overflow parking lot. Y'all I did not even know there was another lot.  I've never seen more than two other cars besides me parked in the regular lot.  I decided to skip that walk in honor of social distancing.

I hiked the Oak Savannah... something.  There were a lot of Trumpeter Swans this time.  I also saw Loons, but they were so far away, I couldn't take a picture.  This is the site of "Dad thinks he'll be eaten by flies but really we just looked at Pelicans".  No pelicans today.  I guess that means I have to come back.  Right?

I also did the Wildlife Drive. It was fascinating to observe the wildlife.  I saw a Red Tail Hawk; nesting Bald Eagles, Blue Heron, Sand Hill Crane (I think only one?), some weird duck, Trumpeter Swans, and I basically don't even mention Canada Geese anymore, right? 

It was also fascinating to watch the humans/cars/bikes on the Wildlife Drive.  (I adore Wildlife Drive, and will sneak it in anyway I can.  Even on work days if I'm in the area.)  There were bikes, but they were actually finishing the loop as I was starting.  Some of the other cars went super fast, I just pulled over and let them go around.  A car or two was taking things as lazily as I was.  (Think 5-10mph for a 7 mile loop.) At least one car had humans wearing masks inside the car.


When I got home, I took a minute to gather myself.  Then I went out for my run.  I went a bit longer than 1 mile, and tried to enjoy the phenomenal weather we're having.

Next up was laundry.  Oh.  Y'all.  Sometimes I do not have enough drying racks.

I ended the evening with a Happy Hour Zoom call with my people.

COVID Diaries - April 24

Today was my day of distance socialization. 

I woke up around 5am, and was all "well, the sun is coming up, I can go run, I'm sure I'll nap later". I saw the sun rise over the river while I was out.  I also spent some time finding a new path to the river because of the effing train in my way.  When I got home I did "weights" which is a band workout right now.

I tried very hard to log onto a webinar.  It didn't work.  I thought it was because I was on a mac, which has been an issue in the past.  I got an email later it was an issue with their server.

Instead, I talked to Baby Pooky who can now wave, and sometimes say hi, but I think she needs to know me better to talk on FaceTime.

And then I napped.  Hard.

Afterwards I sent a retirement card to one friend, birthday cards to Baby Pooky and Captain Smiley.  The birthday card design is clutch I think.

Next up was actually eating food.  I got carry out at Peppers and Fries and took it to Olive's back yard.  I stayed outside and we ate at least six feet away from each other. And her dog.  We sat outside and talked half the afternoon.  We could hear baby eagles, saw woodpeckers, etc.  It was awesome.

Since I was already on that side of town, I went to Riverview Theater and got some To Go Popcorn.  I wound up with a bonus visit to a friend (more a friend of Qat Lady's) and her kids.  Her kids knew Fiona and had a book about her.

When I got home, Captain Smiley and I had a physical distance happy hour on my patio.

Now, I'm catching up on the news. Someone who I will not name suggested we inject ourselves with bleach or lysol to treat the virus.  Like, really?  Maybe we should put some people on that?  So now Lysol and all of the other places literally had to do PSAs saying "please, do not main line bleach". 

In news that I think is beautiful, Calls to Prayer are broadcast to the Cedar Riverside neighborhood during Ramadan so that everyone can safely honor the holiday.

COVID Diaries - April 23

This was another "not the way I planned but ultimately productive" kinds of days.

I woke up, made myself banana pancakes with raspberries and chocolate chips, and coffee.

I finally finished a (free) 12.5 hour CEU.  That is a super big chunk of CEU hours that count towards the clinical credit, so that's amazing.

In the afternoon I ran/walked/ran 3 miles.  (I did a full mile without stopping.  Have you met me?)  I forgot to take my anti-crazy pills this morning, and my heart rate was much better in the afternoon, even after the coffee. Correlation much?

I ended the evening with Zumba on Zoom.  I had a bad attitude and sound problems to begin with.  But no one else noted the sound problems, so I assumed it was me.  Ultimately I found my iPad, logged in there, and improved my attitude significantly.

Sometimes I'm like "I'm going to come back and read these blog posts to remember what physical distance/quarantine/whatever was like".  And one of the things that's totally happening but I don't mention much is the freaking crazy dreams I am having.  At least I'm not alone, right?

My sleep is so completely screwed up.  Or, more accurately "the time I want to wake up is completely screwed up"  I'll have to address that by early next week.  Sigh.

Another thing that's been surprisingly clutch is the 3 month free trial of Amazon Music (expensive version).  I've spent some time going through old albums/songs/artists that I adore and I am loving having great music all the time.  I'm currently listening to Throwing Copper which was one of my absolute favorite albums in high school.  At one point I could play several of the songs on here. I may be sucked in on this one, since I have so many Alexa devices.  Sigh.

COVID Diaries - April 22

For a day that I did almost nothing I'd originally planned, this was a positive and productive day.

I started with breakfast and a walk with Captain Smiley.  I showed him the dome house and the ponds (we're calling them ponds now instead of marshes).  We saw a friend along the way walking her dog.

Second exercise was an 11 mile bike ride around Palmer Lake.  I was sad (but unsurprised) not to see Dungeon Master.

After second exercise I did chores: I swept out my garage (originally scheduled for Saturday), and then as a bonus cleaned/organized my car.

Third exercise was running my mile. Done.

After that, and possibly the best part of the day, was taking a shower and washing my hair.

I hit North Market (which may replace my Seward Co Op Furlough goal).  Shopping there is such a pleasure.

To wrap up the evening, Captain Smiley and I had a physically distant, socially present supper and it was amazing.  We had to go from Nona Rosa's. So so good. 

COVID Diaries - Tuesday April 21

Today was the day that everything fell apart, and then sort of put itself back together quite nicely.

I thought about heading up to Sherburne Wildlife Refuge, and was looking to see if Wildlife Drive is open for the season.  That's about when I learned that while yes, the drive is open, all the bathrooms are closed.  This had a significant impact on my trail running plans.. This led to me checking Elm Creek and Baker which are in similar predicaments. Sigh.

So, I lay on the couch, and dried the clothes I forgot to take out of the washer last night and considered all my options.

I wound up doing a 3-ish mile run.

Then I talked to some of my favorite people in Kentucky.  One is reading The Order of the Phoenix, the other is reading Enders Game.  Neither one will go back to school in person this year.

Obviously I had my afternoon nap.

While dealing with the "what the heck am I going to do now?" of it all, because I'd been looking forward to some further away parks, I decided to head back to the Heron Rookery. Did I mention while I was sulking, I found my binoculars.  So, I tried to take lots of pics through the bincolulars.  That was a learning process all it's own.

Next up was Zumba on Zoom.  They are finally working out the nitty gritty on this one.  Sounds is getting better and better.  Mom does the Zumba too.

Finally, Chipotle was delivery to my door.  At no extra charge.  So that's a nice way to wrap things up.

Bonus that is unexpected (and not in my post-its) is I did a very rough sketch of the rookery as well.

COVID Diaries - April 20

No.  I did not smoke pot today.  That's not my thing.

I did get up and go for a bike ride on the newer of my two bikes.  I like this one much better, except the tires seem more fragile for the winter/post-winter conditions. I went a lot faster on this bike.  No joke.

I also did my mile run after the bike ride.  I understand why triathletes call this a brick workout because trying to make my legs run and pop after a bike ride is not easy.

For a new adventure, I ordered online with the Chipotle app and picked it up.  I now (somewhat problematically) understand that I live five minutes from a Chipotle.  I could've done better without that discovery.

In the afternoon, I assembled a grow station in my living room.  It's the best thing I've ever done in this house.  Why did I not have all the plants living here from the beginning?  So, my transformation into my mother is almost complete.

I wrapped up the day with a virtual happy hour.  Qat Lady and My Pooky Bear are both doing well.  Baby Pooky is learning to walk.  She can also say hi.

So, day 3 of 10 Days of Furlough ends with me accomplishing everything on my agenda.  Originally a trip to a wildlife refuge was planned for today, but I opted out of that nonsense when I saw the 25mph winds with gusts up to 40mph.  Maybe tomorrow instead?

I still can't find my binoculars.  One of the enduring "where'd I put that?" items from moving that i haven't found yet.  Only, now I'm afraid I know where they are and it involves moving other boxes to get to them.  Sigh.

COVID Diaries - April 19

Today is furlough day 2 of 10.
Plans for Monday include a happy hour with Qat Lady and My Pooky Bear.
Plans for Tuesday include talking to some of my favorite people in Kentucky about the books they are reading.

Today was productive and then it fell off a cliff.  I'm cool with that.

Running: Done first thing.
Weights (goal was 15 mins).  I did a 10 minute warm up for running, of leg exercises.  When I got back I did the same 10 minutes of drills, but this time with a resistance band.
For "first meal" I had lox, capers, cream cheese on crackers, and then a "my Pooky Bear sandwich" (which is modeled of a prosciutto sandwich she had somewhere in England or Ireland and adored).

Heron Rookery: A suggestion from Olive was that I get myself to checkout the Rookery before the leaves are on the trees.  I'd looked at biking there, but it was just all too much, emotionally, right now so I drove.  Totally worth my time.  FYI, Blue Herons are my favorite bird.

Lowes: I got plants.  I tried to find something for Dungeon Master but they didn't have it.  I'm currently trying to teach her about Sugru.

Costco: They are out of eggs.  This just makes it certain I have to hit the co-op.  There was no line to get in, so I'm not really sure what I saw the other day in Coon Rapids.

And then, y'all, I hit the wall.  I came home, put my plants in the window with the sunshine and watered them, unpacked my groceries, and sat my butt down on the couch. I've just had second meal (eggs, bacon, toast), and not planning on moving much the rest of the day.

Originally I'd planned to hit Sherburne Wildlife Refuge tomorrow.  The forecast calls for sun, which is good, but 25mph winds which are not my thing. So, I think I will relocate that trip to another day.

COVID Diarires - April 18

Today is Furlough day 1 or 10.  I have a plan people.  I've made a list of things to do, people to contact, places to see, exercise/movement options, and chores.  And by "list" I mean post its.  And then I put the post its on different days of the furlough so I know what is planned for the day.

Today's goals were bike ride, clean the bathrooms, vacuum/sweep the floors.

Bike ride: Actually happened first.  I rode my old old bike, because the tires are better to deal with the post-winter street conditions.  Except, apparently I tried to break one of my tires.  Glad I didn't go for a longer ride.  I deflated and then reinflated the troubled tire and it seemed to stay on the rim better now, but I didn't take it back out to test it.
Agenda for later this week is to pull out the other bike and see how she handles the sand and gravel in the roads.

Run: I ran my mile, but I took my route backwards today.  Everything looks so different this way.

Then there was a significant amount of lounging, napping, etc.  Followed by

Floors: I swept the kitchen first, because the broom gets into a couple places better than the vaccum. Then, I started eying the bathrooms, so I switched to those.

Bathrooms: I have 2 full bathrooms and 1 half bath.  I really only use the tub/shower in my bathroom, so the second tub/shower doesn't get dirty, nor get a lot of cleaning attention. My strategy has been to do one chore in each bathroom, and then move on to the next chore.  It's more walking around, but fewer cleaning rags actually.  Current plan is all mirrors, all sink tops/surfaces, the tub/shower that's used the most, then the freaking toilets.  I hate cleaning toilets.  The floors were done as part of the other floor project.  There was a lot of hair on my bathroom floor.

Vacuum: I finished off the evening vacuuming all of the floors on both levels. I have a lot of hair.

Then I went to a Chinese restaurant for take out.  That's an experience.  I had to call and say I was here, and they brought the food outside, set it on a table, went back inside, and then I could grab it and go.