Two Months In

Day 78. Still in quarantine / social isolation / physical distancing. The Safer-At-Home order may have been overturned by the state supreme court*, but we're still at home because we feel it's the right thing to do and we are able to do it.

4.20.20

The kids are still doing virtual school, which ends next week. Felix has been doing well with it, turning files in on time and having larger projects. Keeping Iris on task remains difficult. It's been a bittersweet and bizarre end to the year, picking up the kids' stuff left at school in black garbage bags handed through the passenger seat window on our appointed day by befacemasked staff. Felix is now done with elementary school, with no real recognition of that fact. We have no idea what next year will look like when the school year begins.

Nick's been starting to spend more time at the office (which has few staff and plenty of separation distance), although he's still doing virtual court appearances for now. I've had the word passed down to me that teleworking will continue for the foreseeable future.

The cats do not mind the arrangement.

Last Wednesday was the first time I got in a car and left the WR area for the first time since March 13. Earlier this month, I got a new battery in my car that turned out to be defective. Not knowing the cause of my completely dead car, I had it towed up to Wausau. I got a ride up there to pick it up and got to go through a few work zones each way (yay, work time!). But it felt strange to be driving "so far" again.

To mitigate the building frustration of all being within the same walls for so long, we have been trying to do more stuff as a family, like having a fire (Bug, I'm on to the fact that you only want the fire to roast marshmallows...) and playing four-handed sheepshead on a nearly nightly basis (math skills!).

I've had worse hands...

This is quickly becoming the year that wasn't:

• Baseball/softball seasons have been canceled. 
• A cousin's wedding was postponed a year. 
• I also postponed my 40th birthday indefinitely. ;o) I did document the day with lots of pictures to show what my life is like these days. Cassie got me the perfect pandemic-period presents: boxes of facial tissue (since the store were sold out), two homemade cloth face masks, and a plant to attract more hummingbirds to our yard.

But we do have some positive changes coming soon:

• The kids will be at Y Camp all summer. We had wanted them to go to the new Boys & Girls Club facility in town, but registration is severely limited (and initially available only to essential workers, which is the right thing to do) and we felt the kids having more time outdoors was the healthier thing for them in multiple ways. So, Iris is now counting down the days to that.
• We're finally (fingers crossed) going to be getting some work on the house done that was postponed in late March. I'm less excited for the construction while I'm home, but definitely ready for the results.
• Both kids will be doing five sessions of golf lessons. We got out as a family last week and it's nice that there's at least one sport they can do that's conducive to social distancing.

Speaking of birds, being home has allowed me to keep an eye on the various feathered species that are stopping in our backyard.

I need a purple bird...

Boom.

* My thoughts on this. I remain in favor of such an order. It may have limited business (bad, I know), but it also provided expectations for social conduct. Now, there's no clear direction on how many people can gather and how "open" businesses are, and as a result, the positive cases in WI just keep growing. I admit it's made me judgmental of those who are viewing this pandemic differently than us (gathering, not wearing masks, etc.). We as a family are going to continue to distance until we feel the risk of contracting or spreading the virus are significantly reduced.

Felix: 10.5 yrs & Iris: 7.5 yrs