Pandemic Summer Week 17

Pandemic Summer

Week 17

Day 112 – Sunday, July 5, 2020

We had a fantastic 4^th of July here in OKC.  Our festivities started when my brother arrived in the late morning and organized a game of Nerf gun Capture the Chicken in the backyard.  The “A” Team was Leah, Elijah, Bailey, and Pete (who came to visit the kids); the “B” Team was Parker, Drew, Hannah, and myself.  The “B” Team was nearly unstoppable, though Leah did manage to capture the chicken (a blue rubber chicken dog toy) at least once out of a half dozen games.  

We had an amazing mid-day meal of cinnamon pork roast with apple chutney, roasted (mostly root) vegetables, broccoli slaw, and homemade yeast rolls.  My brother brought brownies for dessert and we had left over ice cream from the previous night’s dinner to go along with them.  

While we digested, we had a puzzle contest with 100-piece puzzles.  We picked our puzzle by lot, and some were definitely easier than others.  Parker won and I came in second, and we definitely drew the easiest of the puzzles.  Mom passed out prizes in reverse, so Leah who finished last got to choose the first prize.  

There was swimming, then snacks and a viewing of The Empire Strikes Back.  At that point fireworks had started in the neighborhood.  My parents’ newest neighbor set off an impressive number of expensive fireworks.  We got a nice show.  I didn’t hear any late-night fireworks, and I believe we all slept well.

This morning, Hannah and I got up a little later and decided not to swim yet.  

Day 113 – Monday, July 6, 2020

Yesterday, we did a few Clue themed activities.  The kids played Clue (I’m not the biggest fan) in the afternoon, and we watched the movie.  The 35-year-old movie that I originally saw in the theater (clearly, I’m old, lol).  It was slapstick funny, and I remember none of it.  Elijah loved it…

Mom made lasagna for our big mid-day meal, and it was pretty amazing.  I wish I could have eaten more, but I was stuffed!  She has a special serpentine lasagna pan that keeps the pieces neat while you cut it.  You can make a taller lasagna that way.  I’m all for taller lasagna!

There was much swimming and goofing off.

The temperature is a little cooler today (predicted high around 90).  My dad says it’s humid (55%), but it feels okay to me, lol.  

Day 114 – Tuesday, July 7, 2020

Yesterday, there were several games of Clue and Farkle.  Leah made chocolate chip cookies and they were amazing.  For lunch we had leftover grilled chicken breasts on sandwiches which were fantastic as well.  

EVSC had a podcast for employees and a FB Live event for the general public.  I think we received three bits of information.  1) school nurses will be FULL TIME; 2) an entire class will go into quarantine if there is a positive test, but not the whole school; 3) high schools will NOT have a block schedule, but will go back to a traditional schedule for the year.  

After dinner, Mom made fried ice cream.  The servings were gigantic, but delicious.  There was swimming after that, but several of us were too full for any sort of activity.  

This morning, we had a few rounds of Farkle after breakfast, and I’m sure there will be a few more. 

Tomorrow, we will head home.  I need to go put gas in my car today and pack everything up.  

Day 115 – Wednesday, July 8, 2020

The kids and I swam yesterday afternoon so our stuff would dry before we needed to pack it.  While I sprayed sunblock on my arms, I failed to rub it in and I got pink in a few places.  

I grilled the burgers for dinner, though my dad prepared the coals and my mom prepared the burgers.  I did the grilling.  That’s a good set up, lol.  We had strawberry cake to celebrate Leah’s birthday next week, and we watched the first episode of the Mandalorian because my dad and brother hadn’t seen it.

I slept poorly, but I still got up at 4am to pack up the car.  We headed out at 5:15, a few minutes earlier than planned.  The trip was more eventful than I care for…. In Tulsa, Hannah barfed.  I’m not sure if it was motion sickness since she’d had a horrible headache and stomachache for the past couple of days.  We stopped at a QT to get resettled.  It was a really nice QT in a really sketchy area.  I’d never seen a convenience store with its own security guard.  

In Vinita, where the giant McDonald’s straddles I-44, and small plane nearly landed on the interstate.  I can only assume there is an airfield there, but it was disconcerting.  We stopped in Joplin to get gas, go to the bathroom, and pass out breakfast snacks.  We had planned to stop in Rolla for lunch, but we weren’t hungry, so we just made a pit stop.  We ended up stopping in St Claire at McDonald’s.  Just down the road in St Louis, it started pouring, and once again I couldn’t see the road.  I got off the highway and stopped at a gas station for cover.  After it let up a bit, I filled up the tank and headed back to the highway.  We stopped at the rest area near Mt. Vernon, IL and we were the only people there.  That was weird.  We got to Evansville 11 hours and 15 minutes after leaving OKC, and it poured (and there was lightning and thunder) for the last 5 miles.

I’m done.  We are heading to the new Chick-Fil-A in a few minutes.  Unfortunately, Hannah doesn’t feel like eating just yet.  Poor girl.

Day 116 – Thursday, July 9, 2020

I slept until 7am and it was fantastic!  I managed to get ready, menu plan, make a grocery list, and get to Walmart by 9:00.  I estimate the mask wearing to be at 75% or better which included children.  That’s good because our county’s numbers are increasing quickly.

For the first time in a while, I was able to buy everything on my shopping list.  I’m sure it’s happened in the past 4 months, but that list didn’t include disinfectant wipes, and today’s did.  The toilet paper aisle is slowly filling back up.  

Hannah had a telehealth appointment today with her doctor.  I think we should all be using Google Meet, it was fantastic!  I think I’d be up for more telehealth appointments since it kept us from driving 20 miles round trip.  Some visits need to be in person, of course.  

Hannah and Elijah seem to have recovered from their headache & gastric distress, but the headache hit me around lunch time.  Advil + Excedrine is helping a lot.  I’m going to rest all afternoon.  

Assuming, I feel ok, I MUST mow the front lawn tonight.  It’s super tall.  I had planned on mowing it the night before we left, but it rained…. The backyard is crazy too, but it can wait another day since no one can see it. 

Day 117 – Friday, July 10, 2020

It’s Friday?  LOL!  

I grilled burgers for dinner last night, then mowed the front lawn.  It was crazy tall, thick, and lush.  I will do the backyard tonight, and the edging Saturday evening.  Then I can get back to a normal weekly schedule.

My headache came back before I went to bed, so I took some Advil before turning in.  I slept WELL, and I slept until nearly 7am.  No headache today!  Yay!!  I got the kids up at 9am, to try and get them on a reasonable schedule before we head back to school.

To lure Leah out of bed, I had promised a trip to Target to get some school supplies.  I had a few things to do on the way.  I mailed a couple of cards and dropped a few things off at my office at school, then we trekked to Target.  Leah has a difficult time making decisions and she had to 1) pick a backpack, 2) pick 2 spiral notebooks, 3) pick 3 composition notebooks, and 4) pick scissors.  It was exhausting.  We saw our friends Heather and Penny there as well.  We did not find any lanyards at Target (students will hang their masks on them when not wearing them), but I had previously seen them at Walmart.  So, we went to Walmart as well and got lanyards and the recommended calculator from Leah’s list.  

I’m going to add ear loops to some of the masks I made to replace the one long tie (the kids struggle with it…), and I thought strips of old t-shirts would be nice.  I recently cut sleeves out of an old gray t-shirt for yard work and kept the sleeves “for something”.  However, when I went to look for them, I must have thrown them out when I was cleaning up my room…. Oh well.

I just heard that one of my school BFFs took a new job.  I’m happy for her, but SAD for me.  

We (school employees) are starting to get tiny bits of information here and there.  It is going to be the WEIRDEDST school year ever…. 

Day 118 – Saturday, July 11, 2020

I think my headache is trying to return, and the “gastric distress” started yesterday.  Though I don’t actually feel bad at all. 

Elijah is volunteering at the Franklin Street Bazaar for his community service hours that his school requires.  He was there from 8:30-1:00 today.  He actually had a pretty good time, and got some BBQ out of it for lunch (I’m assuming Miller’s, but he wasn’t sure) and got a horchata to drink.  He’ll be there every Saturday through August.  

While Elijah volunteered, I had an eye doctor’s appointment.  The office is in the mall, and I had not been in the mall since…. well, before March.  About 50% of the crowd was wearing masks (that will change Wednesday, when the mask mandate goes into effect).  However, inside the eye doctor, there were ALL the precautions.  I’m trying out a new brand of multi-focal contacts since they didn’t have any trial pairs of the brand I’ve worn before.  They are extremely comfortable, but my brain is trying to figure them out.  

Elijah found a CRT TV for free that we were able to pick up on the way home.  No idea if it actually works, but it was bigger than he expected (25” when he was expecting 13”). I was a lot of fun to carry down some really steep steps (because who on the west side doesn’t live on a hill?).

I have some laundry to finish up, and I plan on grilling chicken and corn for dinner.  The corn selection was greatly improved this week, which makes me happy.

Here’s to wrapping up week 17 of Pandemic.