Overcoming ennui

Between the pandemic, the teen's choices, my allergies, an exhaustingly busy puppy, and the weather, I'm fighting a bit of a slump. Thankful for the inspiration a "Post Isolation Fantasies" post on friend Alison's blog gave me!

Post-isolation fantasies:

1. Restaurant you would go out to. The only one I've actually checked for take-out ability (which was a no-go; they are totally closed), Marco Polo Global Restaurant in Salem, OR. I always get their General Tso's Tofu; mmmm, SO good!

2. Friend you would meet up with first. Probably Kate, one of two long-time horse-&-dog friends in the area. I've seen her a couple times since social distancing started, at an appropriate distance of course, and it was so hard to not be able to HUG.

3. Place you would go. THE BEACH!

4. Shop you would go to. Is a hair salon a shop? Yes, it is a shop. MY HAIR SALON; haircut, STAT!

5. Food item you would buy/eat. See #1.

6. Cake you would eat. I don't get this. I am not fantasizing about cake; I can make cake at home. I rarely do, because (#1) cake is not my temptation of choice, and (#2) if it was sitting around I would eat it anyway.

7. Show/concert you would go to. I got tickets to Black Violin in concert May 6 as a family surprise. It has been moved to Oct. 28 now, which means that Brian, the one for whom I thought it would be the nicest surprise, may be at college and not able to go.

8. Relative you would hug first. My mom, quickly followed by Dad. See #9.

9. Holiday you would go on. We don't "go on holiday;" that's never really been in the time/money budget, we have animals to arrange care for (and miss), and I like it here. All our trips involve visiting family and/or continuing education. So the "holiday" I would go on is to the Texas Panhandle to see my folks; it's been too long since I'm seen them!

10. Other activity. Church. Online worship is fine, but I miss seeing, hugging, and eating with my church family.

11. Thing you would do at work. Catch up with my co-workers!

The office African violets are lovely, though.

12. Item you would buy. Item? Seems like one can buy any "item" they want these days online. What I'd buy aren't really "items;" see #1, 4, 5, 9 (airfare).

Anyone else care to share their answers?

Speaking of the exhaustingly busy puppy, I got some underwater treadmill photos during her second PT session yesterday, and some winding-down photos of her this morning (her nap gave me time to post, although I probably should have been doing other things 😏).

That's it for now from . . .

National Poppy Puppy Day!

So Poppy hasn't gone national yet, but she is 14 weeks old today. 😍 That means she has spent more of her life with us now (by one day) than she did in her birth home.

In honor of the occasion (or thanks to the pandemic), she got to snuggle in bed with Brian this morning when I went to work, and was surprisingly mellow most of the day.

(Who IS that hairy man???)

I have lots more to share, from finishing phase 1 of "Flockwork 2020" to Sabbath's flower-filled walk. But uninterrupted computer time is even scarcer than usual, so I wanted to get this much out while I could.

I pray you are all successfully navigating this strange, new world we live in. After throwing a royal snit, the teen seems to be adjusting to the reality that his spring break is not going to be anything he hoped for, and is actually helping get some things done around here – like mowing the lawn yesterday.

That's it for now from . . .

Norms, new norms, and no norms

As usual (normal), Poppy is the star of the show and the major "time hog" here at Boulderneigh. Thanks to the nice weather (after our little snow surprise), she is able to be outside more; I tracked down Brian's old baby gate so I could shut her on the deck to enjoy the sunshine and torment play with Chuckie. Except.... She has started digging at the rotten wood on the deck, opening up rather alarming holes and eating the pressure-treated wood, which doesn't agree with her tummy. So that option is now limited. 🙄

We interrupt this romp to watch what the neighbors are doing.

So yesterday morning I attached her Flexi-lead to a nearby tree while I weeded the island bed. The daffodils now look worse for wear play, but I did get pack two five-gallon buckets full of weeds.

Inside she is trying to master getting two tennis balls in her mouth at once. One of of these days she'll no doubt succeed; terriers are tenacious!

All that supervising and play can be exhausting!

So what are the neighbors doing next door? Coronavirus concerns don't impact construction crews; for the past few weeks they have been erecting forms for the house's foundation. This morning the concrete trucks came:

I imagine a lot of people are feeling isolated and lonely from complying with requests to limit contact with others (extremely important, since our country has so little information, thanks to paltry testing, on who is in fact positive for COVID-19). I'm a happy clam to be home alone, so for me this period is enforcing more human contact than I usually have because Brian is home. And I expect he will be schooling from home for the rest of his senior year and foregoing a graduation ceremony, too. The infectious disease specialists (along with health-care acquaintances who live and work north of us in Washington giving us news from working at the nation's epicenter) are saying we are many months, probably more than a year, away from seeing the worst of this. The scope of societal change is probably beyond comprehension....

But some things have to be done. This morning I shut Poppy in the laundry room and started on 'flock work, stage one' – trimming hooves and taking photos. I got four sheep done, which was my back's limit; I will wait until all 11 are finished before sharing, as I plan to do kind of a 'family tree' description showing how all my sheep are related to each other. Oh, and I'm still making yarn, thanks to the Jenkins spindle group on Ravelry:

My latest singles

Two previous spins, one plied and one awaiting plying (now started)

Now it's time to take Poppy to the vet for her next shot and a check of that leg. I'll report tomorrow.

That's it for now from . . .

What a difference a day minute makes

Yesterday Brian called me from school. Their handbell concert coming up on Sabbath had been cancelled – as had University Days at Walla Walla (where he thinks he wants to matriculate) the first weekend in April. I asked about the Costa Rica trip and music tour; he said those were both still on the schedule. Within five minutes he called again; the Costa Rica trip had been cancelled. Then last night on the news came the announcement that Oregon's governor was closing ALL K-12 schools in the state for the rest of this month, starting Monday.

Brian's high school has utilized "e-days" in the past, so his education will continue. And he is blessed to be 'food-secure' and 'housing-secure,' unlike millions of children in the U.S. for whom school is the safest place and their main source of nutrition and healthcare. My heart – and prayers – go out to those far more affected than us by this pandemic. and we will look for ways to be helpers.

And you know what 'they say' about weather: If you don't like it, wait a minute. Yesterday was sunny and springlike:

more morning 'sunbathing'

Today Poppy is experiencing her first snowflakes! (Our first this winter – on March 13!)

"What IS that???"

It's not sticking, but it's a good day for staying in:

I let sleeping dog lie when I can, because when she's awake, she's goin' 90!


That's it for today from . . .

From sweetness and light to heavier subjects

lilac bud!

Daylight Savings Time is affecting us all more than I initially thought. Even Poppy is slower to get going in the morning; yesterday she spent a lot of time "sunbathing."

At the school meeting Monday evening, the Costa Rica trip organizer made it clear that if it is legal to travel, he's going, as he has materials and supplies to deliver. (He also grew up as a missionary kid in Africa, and feels he's lived through far more dangerous circumstances.) So far, all the seniors but one are still planning to go, and I hope they do. The burden of shearing (and trimming the feet of) 11 woolly Shetlands is starting to weigh heavily on me, and Brian being gone for two weeks would clear my slate a little. If I stay on task (and torture my puppy with extra crate time), I should be able to get them all done in that time . . . if my back holds out. My lower back has been extremely cranky for unknown reasons since yesterday, and NSAIDs aren't helping much. Getting a start on hoof trimming was on my list today, but so far I've been hesitant to try it.

Yesterday afternoon, the "neighbor boy" (the neighbors' dog) came over to play with Poppy. Toby is a bit bigger and older than Poppy, and they played hard. Before long, the neighbor commented that Poppy's limp seemed worse. I wasn't too worried about my 'tough terrier,' but later in the house I noticed that the splinted leg didn't look as straight as it had been. I picked Poppy up and investigated further; there seemed to be some definite 'play' in the formerly-rigid splint. Wondering if it might have broken, I taped a tongue depressor to it to help stabilize it until Rick got home. Sure enough:

Apparently the splint isn't 'terrier tough"! That spot on the foam side is from a pressure sore. 😔 So Rick disinfected it and we wrapped the leg back up with a new splint Rick fashioned from a PVC pipe and an insole from one of Brian's old running shoes. Hopefully this will hold her until her appointment with the small animal vet a week from today. I wish it could be sooner, but the vet is out of town until then; I'm going to do my best to curtail Poppy's activity while we wait. I wonder if any of her other patients have broken a splint? 🧐

Today, after Toby discovered –3X! – that he could get to our place all by himself

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We are a divided household. My husband and I don't see eye to eye on everything, but we agree on a lot of things. Our son seems bent on disagreeing with us on most things. Politically, he is an outspoken Trump supporter – and a Democratic basher. When he brought home a free Trump t-shirt from the State Fair last summer, it 'disappeared.' When he bought himself a "Trump 2020" hat (not one of those red things, but still), I had to control the urge to make that disappear, too. I also have to bite my tongue a lot....

Last Sabbath Brian had that hat tucked in his belt (he was decked out in full "redneck" attire) as we were leaving for church. I told him to leave it at home; church is not the place for campaigning. He said he wasn't going to wear it at church; he was taking it for the memorial service we went to later that afternoon. I asked him to put it in the trunk because I would be transporting an elderly Dutch couple (ages 90 and 95) to and from church, and they would not want to see it. He asked why, and I reminded him that they lived through WWII. They witnessed the rise of fascism, the results of racism and state-sponsored discrimination, dictators drunk on dreams of world domination – and they recognize all those things in our current administration. His reply? "If they want to be Left-Wing Liberals, that's their problem." 😳😱😖 I love my son, but sometimes it's awfully hard to like him....

John Pavlovitz' Instagram post this morning said it well. (I don't see eye to eye with Pastor John on everything, either, but enthusiastically cheer him on as the rare evangelical Christian leader who follows God, not a demagogue.) You can double-click on it to biggify.

That's it from the mostly 'Humane Middle' at . . .