Coronavirus 2

Surprising no one, the state "stay home" order is extended from April 27  to May 4.


April 6: Dd's daycare re-opens with an impressive batch of new protocols.  The UW Covid 19 model is predicting that the state "peak hospital resources" will be about April 16.   We decide to keep Dd home another week, at least.

April 8: I sew two masks and we start wearing them when we go to the store.  It's been kind of wild to watch the official reversal on mask wearing recommendations.

Activities of Late

- recorders
- the roof
- bubbles
- exercise rings and the rowing machine
- jumping on our bed (which is still a mattress on the floor) is daily activity
- Dd is now pretty much trusted when playing with legos
- biking with D's new gear bike or the ride along and Dd's new weehoo trailer
- watching the new neighbors moving in to the north and south of us (so far three households of the new townhouses and one out the kitchen windows).
- finished the 3rd book from the Space Case series with D
- D reading Frog and Toad books
- annoying singing dog toy that both kids love
- a bit of kids' yoga and dance videos

April 13: the trucks are back, after a week-long shutdown, to ripping up our street and alley, which makes for good entertainment.   The sugar ants are also back, for the third spring in a row.   I really don't like it but this year offers some perspective on what really matters.

April 15: we do not go to San Francisco or change our alter our new routine with  a"spring break"

April 16: Dd and I go to his 18 month appointment for four vaccinations.  He won't need anything but a flu shot and hopefully a coronavirus vaccination until kindergarten!

April 20: Dd goes to daycare.   After five weeks away drop off is tough but he reportedly rallies quickly and seems to be happy at the end of the day and when we glimpse him at recess.

April 22: D bakes a "wacky" cake with my parents over Skype.  I open the oven but otherwise mostly stay out of the way.  We've also had success with him reading to them.  I figure him spelling out tricky words to them is good for their brains too.

April 26: the ants are still here, but diatomaceous earth is working pretty well and it's non-toxic!  In a pandemic, who cares if our doorstep looks like it's covered in flour and pancake batter (when it rains)?

April 27: this is the beginning of our 7th week home with D and the 3rd week where his teacher provides content.   I'm happy that we don't have to worry about grading at the kindergarten level.   What she provides is now 3 video lessons a week (totaling about 45 min), and two zoom meetings for the whole class.  This week they will try small group reading.   Other than that he does independent reading, reading to someone and we read to him.   He uses an online practice site that the school provides access too that covers math, language arts and a bit of social studies.  Usually he does one or two topics there.  He's done two Outschool classes so far, which are video lessons in real time with a few other kids.   There's a site where astronauts read books in space and another where actors read books which are lightly animated while the test is highlighted.  There are also a few more game-like practice sites we've used but it is really overwhelming to look through them and many are really crappy.   He writes in a journal everyday.  We've had a lot of really interesting conversations with him and I'm grateful for all the books we have, the many entertaining and enriching gifts the kids have received (like the kiwi crates) and the filtered recommendations people like my mom have given us. 

Also, so far our families and friends are okay.


Here are some fun writing sample's from D. 

Spring 2020 gardening

Here's an update on our gardening efforts, with links and plant names so I don't have to search my emails for them anymore....

On The Ground

We transplanted a black currant from a neighbor.  Hopefully it gets enough sun on the north side of our fence.

I was sooo excited to get some big rocks from a construction site in West Seattle after the garbage truck and other construction trucks pulverized part of our parking strip starting in January (and several more times in February...).   Then someone took our rocks!  These rocks were all I could manage while using a car and a dolly so it's not like someone just causally carried them down the street.

The garbage truck driver's job was made more difficult by the months-long process of pouring new concrete on half the street and several sidewalk curb cuts, so maybe it was him?  Jack thinks that the street inspector told the paving contractors to remove the rocks because they were taken in the middle of the afternoon while the inspectors and contractors were around. 

Over the winter I put in some paving stones in the parking strip and a few months ago we put up the birdhouse we painted over the winter.

Last year the Japanese snowbells bloomed in late May, so we are still looking forward to that.  The daphne  was so much better this year (this pic is from before it bloomed) and the creeping jenny is just the right thing for the shady under-tree, crap soil area.  Below the daphne is some aggressive oregano which makes weeding smell great.

This is not our cat, but he's a frequent sight in our neighborhood.  We call him (or her?) Shoes.

On The Roof

The high country blueberry bush planted in spring 2019 has been joined by a little bluegold blueberry bush and I hope this results in more berries.   I'm encouraged by all the blooms.

I bought some pink coral bells and put two down on the parking strip and three on the roof.   The latest round of construction work has been a three-weeks-and-counting job where they are putting down conduit for comcast in our alley, the street, and the alley to the north.   They further tore up the grass and killed another coral bell plant I'd just put in, a rather sorry sarcococca plant and a new catmint plant.

Also on the roof I planted pale evening primrose (white buttercup sundrops) from seed, a hayscented fern, a big bluestem grass, and several blue false indigo baptisia australis.

I got some lettuce and cauliflower plants and planted more kale and spinach from seed, as well as some onions and carrots for the first time.

For the cats we put in some seeds for a nicer cat grass and cat nip.  Toru spends quite a bit of time on the roof, even when it's cold.   He almost always follows us up there too.  Luna comes up occasionally, when it's warm, though she still insists on struggling to open the cat door with her paw instead of just pushing through it.

We've got parsley and cilantro self seeding, which is just fine by me.  Our delicious chocolate mint plant continues to thrive (surprising no one) and many bulbs from last year came up again.  I think they're hyacinths and ornamental onions, but we'll see when they bloom.   The pansies are self-sufficient and pretty, so I like them.

D is a good garden helper.