Day 165 and the one with all the ear wax

Tomorrow is the last day of summer vacation and I have a lot of thoughts about it.  But first, let's talk about the second to last day of summer vacation.  Tuesday night, Will and I were up watching the Rockies game and I started to have a bad headache.  It turned into one of the worst headaches I've ever had and I even woke up Glenn to get some help.  My forehead was aching and I felt so queasy and of course my brain went immediately to "I have a brain tumor and there's brain fluid leaking out of my nose."  I'm pretty rational at 11:00 p.m.  The next day I realized that I probably had a sinus infection. I tried a bunch of over the counter stuff yesterday but was still feeling droopy so I went to the doctor today.  It turns out, you have to have two weeks of a sinus infection before they will prescribe antibiotics so I have 10 more days to go. I did pick up some more OTC meds that are helping.  While I was at the doctor's office, the PA discovered that one of my ears was completely blocked with wax.  Does this blog get anymore glamorous?  So after two rounds of ear wax treatment and an unspeakable amount of wax pulled out of my ear, I'm happy to report that I can hear everyone grumbling and complaining about the lack of snacks in our house so much more clearly.  I still have a headache so the ear wax isn't completely to blame for my condition but at least my ear canal is clear.  And who knows, when I get on the scale tomorrow, maybe I'll have a lost a pound or two.  Of ear wax.  How's that for a visual?  

All grumbling about snacks aside, we have had a pretty sweet week together.  It's still hotter than necessary for the last week of August in Cheyenne but we had some rain today and the forecast shows things cooling off.  Will is tired from football practice and Reina has had some time with aunt and cousins this week and she and I tried to make a doll's outfit on the sewing machine yesterday.  Let's just say that we hope outfit #2 turns out better.  

Glenn and I walked Charlie tonight and talked about this summer wrapping up.  As hard as it's been with everything going on in the world and the worries about getting sick or someone we love getting sick and all of the TOGETHERNESS, this has really been one of my most significant summers of being a parent.  I feel like I've really gotten to know the kids on a different level.  Maybe that would have happened if it had been a normal summer.  13-yr olds and 11-yr olds are pretty cool - there's a lot of good stuff going on there.  We've developed little patterns - Will and I watch baseball, Reina and I take Charlie out for what she calls his midnight walks.  It's more like 8:15 p.m. but who's counting.  Will keeps me updated on his fantasy football team and Reina and I read the same books.  Glenn's here too - practicing tackling drills with Will in the backyard and letting Reina stay up until 10:00 p.m. watching a documentary on Nefertiti.  We've cooked more meals than I care to count and the dishwasher is always running.  

It's not all peaches and cream - there have been fights about electronics, differing opinions about the role of the police (really) and most nights end with me saying to one or both of the darling monsters, "I love you but I really really need to not talk to anyone right now." But we have made our way through it.  

The kids go back to their school buildings on Monday.  Most 'experts' (other parents, teachers and the nurses at the doctor's office today) agree that they probably won't be in school long.  I've read the school district's plan for keeping everyone COVID-free and I'd say there's a pretty good chance that they'll be online-schooling from home sometime this fall, but on Monday we will embrace a little bit of normalcy, even if it's just for a day.  

Day 162

 It's another Monday.  We had a busy weekend with projects, a visit to the in-laws, a trip to the farmers' market, canned some pickled beets, sweated in the 90 degree weather and brought home three new chickens.  It's a good night for a blog post - list style. 

1.  Glenn woke up Sunday morning and announced, "we are getting three new chickens today."  Okay then.  We stopped at the poultry swap and picked out three pullets, a leghorn, an easter egger and some blend that I can't remember.  Two are mostly white so Reina named them Snow and Oreo (has a few black feathers.)  The third chicken is white and red and Reina suggested "Ginger" but Will wanted the opportunity to name one.  Her name was "the chicken to be named later" for a day and a half and today Will decided on Solomen (with an E - I asked), named after his Madden 20 quarterback.  Naturally.   I could write paragraphs about how Glenn spent an hour building them their own enclosure so that they could be kept separated from our current chickens and then in about 5 minutes, they flew over the coop and explored the yard.... but I won't.  So far everyone is being chill except for Charlie who would really like to see what the new chickens taste like.  

2.  School starts one week from today!  I'm more excited about the forecast for next Monday which is currently predicted to be 67 degrees.  Please please please.  

3.  Reina got a haircut today, several inches off the length and shorter bangs.  It looks cute and fresh and a good start for the school year. 

4.  I read an article about a shortage of canning supplies this summer because more people are home doing crafts and making jams and jelly. I'm running a little short on lids so I did a quick google search and it looks like the article was right.  I have about 30 lids and twice as many jars right now but if all else fails, I'll just buy more jars that come with lids.  What a weird but also typically-2020 problem to run into.  Maybe I can trade some toilet paper or Clorox wipes for canning lids?  

5.  Wyoming has about 3600 COVID-19 cases tonight and 37 deaths.  

Day 157

 I've had the urge to write on the blog lately, even though there really isn't anything new to report.  We are still preparing for the kids to go back to their school buildings on August 31.  We've received a little more guidance about what the school days will look like, although I'm still waiting to hear more about elementary plans. I just looked up the plan online - masks in the hallways and in common areas.  Cold lunch but they'd like everything to be able to be thrown away (but I'm trying to have more reusable containers!), no drinking fountains so water bottles are a must. 

Back to our planning, all of the school supplies are bought and waiting in backpacks.  Reina just informed me that she wants to trim her bangs again before school starts so we'll add that to the list.  (I trimmed them earlier in the summer after a very careful Youtube search and a couple of helpful videos.)  Will has ordered every single pair of Nike pants currently in production - that's what it feels like anyway - so once those come in the mail, he should be all set.  

Will finished his third day of football practice.  It's been a warm week but the weather cooperated today with practice moved to the afternoon.  It rained for like two minutes but it was cloudy and everything cooled off.  I'm ready for fall weather.  That's one drawback to not being in the office this summer - no air conditioning! 

Charlie got to go to the field tonight for a walk.  It may be anecdotal evidence, but so far on the nights he goes to the field, he sleeps all night in his kennel.  We are back into the days of toddlerhood (puppy edition).  Will he sleep through the night?  Will he wake up at three because he's lonely and make his sad warbling noise that gets louder and louder until someone comes and gets him?  If I let him outside at 3:00 a.m. to go potty, he'll go back in the kennel but only after I offer him a dog biscuit.  As certain people have pointed out recently, he's training me well.  Charlie is zonked out on the rug right now so maybe this will be a sleep-through-the-night night.  

Night night from me, too. 

Day 155 and Dance!

I can always tell how tired I am by how long it takes me to do the math and figure out how many days of quarantine we've been in.  At this point, it's not really 'days of quarantine' since Glenn's back at the office and Will had football practice this morning, so let's consider it 'days of the pandemic.'  

We had such a busy end-of-the-week and weekend.  On Thursday, I took the afternoon off to go to McCormick's orientation with Will.  We wore masks and had a health screening on the way in to the school, things that will be part of Will's daily schedule.  We sat through a presentation about the plans for school (lunch in the gymnasium, limited time in the hallways, different entrances and exits, etc.)  He took his school picture for his id and it turned out great and then we snuck out so he could get ready for baseball tryouts.  

On Friday, I took the day off to help Aunt Vicky and family start the move to their new house in the country.  It was fun to help and I got a billion steps in.  On Saturday, we helped move more boxes and then Reina had her dance recital in the evening.  The recital is usually held in early June but just like everything else, those plans changed this year.  Reina took Hip Hop 2, Jazz 2 and Ballet 4 this year.  We love watching her dance.  

Hip Hop 2.  They danced to the Pokeman theme and it was a lot of fun - very energetic and animated.  

The Ballet song was from Hercules and they were dressed as Greek goddesses.  It was really pretty and Reina's really learning how to leap.  That's our girl in the middle. 

Jazz 2 danced to a song from The Greatest Showman.  This was my favorite outfit and Reina is so close to nailing her splits.  

 

I took a bunch of pictures but these were the only three that are even slightly publish-able.  I was sitting too far away to capture the action shots and there are a lot of blurry faces.  Reina requested that I put this one up because she thinks she looks like Bigfoot.  

Day 149

This week is a whirlwind of mostly good stuff but a lot of *stuff* happening.  We are less than two weeks away from school starting.  I think - the school board was meeting tonight but I had to run Reina to dress rehearsals for dance and then decided to give my sanity a break and read the highlights tomorrow instead of listening to it.  Will had another pre-tryouts baseball practice tonight.  He wasn't happy with how he played so we spent part of the night talking about playing fall baseball so he can keep working or just focus on football.  He and I did this while simultaneously watching the Rockies who almost blew a 6-run game in the 9th inning but thankfully (for both my sanity and Will's) won the game.  Reina and I took a late evening walk with Charlie which is becoming our new tradition.  Glenn was here too - just doing chores and looking for side-by-sides online and running Will back and forth to baseball. 

It feels like we are all a little on edge.  It's almost like it was when all of this first started. I think the uncertainty of the next few weeks is affecting us.  Will there be middle school football?  Will the kids make it through a week of school before getting sent home?  Will we all stay healthy?  One day at a time.  Tomorrow the cousins are coming over and that's what we'll focus on right now.  

I keep dreaming about going to back to the office.  In one dream I was really worried about being around too many people.  In the second dream, my boss had brought in a cat and said that we could keep it in the office.  That was super exciting (for me) especially since it was an African Serval cat (google it).  At our staff meeting the next morning (in real life), I floated the idea to my boss and co-workers.  Shockingly, it wasn't greeted with a lot of enthusiasm. I think it would really help with social distancing.... if I had an actual wild animal in my office.  

We found out yesterday that the Wyo Cowboy football season has been pushed back or possibly canceled.  I hadn't cried about COVID related stuff in at least a month but I have to admit that it brought about a few tears of disappointment. I completely respect the need to keep players safe and the uncertainty of the long term health effects that may occur but dangit. I think I needed football on Saturdays to make me feel like things were getting back to normal even though they really aren't.  I'm also mad that we as a society couldn't come together and get this thing figured out.  

So instead of ending this point on an even more downer moment, here's a Charlie story.  I took Charlie on a walk over the lunch hour.  He's getting braver about being out in public and even a little friendly with other dogs we meet.  It was warm at noon but he and I walked for a while.  Finally he laid down under a tree to signify that he was done with the walk.  The only problem was that the tree wasn't in our yard and we were about a mile from home.  Nice try Chuck.  

Day 147

 Another summer weekend wraps up.  Without baseball, you'd think we'd have a lot more free time.  We did have a baseball bbq yesterday and it was fun to see everybody one more time before summer ends.  Will socially distanced himself from us and hung out with his teammates because of course he did.  Grumpiness aside, I'm glad he likes his teammates and I hope they all have the chance to play together again next summer.  

Glenn started staining our deck which he did a few summers ago but the kids and I were out of town at the time.  Its a messy project but he does a good job.  We are truly running out of home projects which is shocking.  

Will was supposed to read the lesson during today's Zoom church service.  Even though my computer uses Zoom every day during the week for work, today it decided to have the microphone be all wonky (technical term) so after a few tries, our Pastor had to take over.  I sent a message apologizing for the technology and she wrote back that my computer must be observing the Sabbath.  We both agreed that who knew it was so devout?  

The rest of the day involved baths for all three dogs, some weird cleaning projects and my latest craft project - reusable gift bags.  I like sewing stuff that has straight lines. 

One last bit of good news.  I discovered the Otter Pops that I've been snacking on all summer are only 90 calories for SIX pops.  I thought they were 90 calories each.  This is big news and guess what's for breakfast? 

Two weeks tomorrow until the possible first day of school.  Stay tuned.   

Day 143

The kids and I masked up and headed out to do some back-to-school shopping.  We've done most of it online but a few things (shoes, football cleats, Freddie's lunch) we had to get in person.  After a delay of about an hour while I ransacked the house to find my wallet (in true Lucy fashion, it was in Glenn's backseat and I had to drive to his office to find it), we shopped.  We were successful in getting shoes for both kids and a few more clothes for Will.  We finished up ordering shoes and cleats online tonight and fingers crossed, I think we are all set.  

School is supposed to start on the 24th but we received a survey today to get feedback on whether or not the first day of school should be pushed back, to give everyone more time to prepare.  I voted to give everyone a few more days to get ready.  I've been listening to the school board meetings online for the first time in my parenting life and there aren't any easy solutions.  There are also some micro-managers in the mix but that's a conversation for another day.  Right now the plan appears to be in-person school with social distancing and mask wearing.  Will won't have a locker at junior high - which is not a big deal because last year he used his locker maybe 4 times.  Hot lunch at Reina's school will look a lot different but that will just mean more cold lunches from home. 

I bought Will football cleats and assorted equipment in the hopes that by doing that, we don't jinx the season.  I have mixed feelings about him playing but I'm also wanting to feel like things are normal so it's a weird place to be.  Football is not an easy social-distancing sport but it is outside.  Baseball has been fun for all of us and it's giving him a team to interact with.  The school district is planning on fall sports moving forward but there are a lot of unknowns - what happens if someone on the team tests positive?  The first practice is scheduled for August 17.  We will wait and see.  

Day 141 and baseball pictures

This weekend Will had his last baseball games of the season.  His team went 4-0 over the two days including a dramatic walk-off walk against an obnoxious team.  It was a fun way to end the season.  I tried to take some pics to capture the last weekend so here we go.  

Glenn rarely sits in our chairs when Will is up to bat or on deck.  He and my dad migrate to the bleachers or behind home plate.  Here's Glenn wandering back after Will got on first base.  

Will on first base.

Will on second base.

Will and teammate chilling in the dugout. 

Base running

Look at those wheels. 

Last at-bat.

This baseball season wasn't what we thought it would be, traveling baseball without all of the traveling.  But he had a good season, he learned a lot and had a good team to play with.  He gained new skills and a lot of experience.  He worked hard and has the bruises to show for it.  We sure love watching this kid play ball. 

Day 134

Another list! 

I made my first batch of zucchini bread for the summer.  Between our home garden and the community garden we share with V and a friend, we are living in Squash Town.  We have yellow squash, pumpkins, a few little cucumbers and a bunch of flowers getting ready to produce something.  The zuc bread was delicious and surprisingly a few slices made it through the day.

Will slept-walked  (sleep-walked?) last night but none of us noticed it (including him) until he woke up this morning to find a tote of old legos and toys on his chair next to his bed and his Harry Potter wand on top of his desk. Glenn thinks it's his inner child trying to play with more toys. 

This afternoon, I was getting off of a work call when I heard Coco start to gag nearby so I zipped over there to try to put a kitchen towel under her and instead I caught her barf in my hands.  That was fun. 

Reina was feeling a little under the weather but is better tonight, fever free and all of that good stuff.  She at an entire container of cherry tomatoes yesterday so that might have had something to do with it.

Wyoming has 2,520 cases and 25 deaths as of today.  Most of the big retailers in town are requiring masks and you definitely notice more people wearing them all over town.  I don't know what to do about school clothes shopping. I think I'll try to order some stuff for pick-up here in town but we'll probably have to do some online shopping too.  Reina wants a Hamilton tshirt - so do I!

Day 130something

Things that happened this week: 

1.  We ate an entire loaf of banana bread in one day.  Granted it wasn't the biggest of loaves but that's a sign of teens and tweens in the house, isn't it?  Okay okay, I had my share too.  It was delicious.  I haven't been baking as much lately because we don't need something else that makes the house warm but it was a crisp morning and the brown bananas were perfectly ripe.  Yum! 

2.  I broke down and bought Reina a kiddie pool that's actually designed for dogs but pools-for-kids are hard to find right now.  She loves it.  The dogs are scared of it - apparently it's too much like a bathtub.  When it's set up, Tootsie refuses to leave the deck.  

3.  Our camper was hauled away.  Last month's hailstorm that dinged up the garden ended up totalling our cute camper.  We decided to get our money back and save up for a more durable version, instead of fixing up this one.  I was sad to see it go. 

4.  Reina and her friend held a funeral for her rat Simon who passed away in February.  He was a good rat. 

5.  Glenn installed a new disposal and we got about 75% of the way done on a new storm door but we didn't read the directions closely enough and now we have to order another part.  We are so close to being handy. 

Another week in the books.  Still no word on official school plans and our county's case numbers are fluctuating.  We'll keep taking it one day at a time. 

Day 128

Has it really been almost a week since I wrote about rotting potatoes?  The next day, I was convinced that I'd lost an entire rotisserie chicken somewhere in the house (it's really not that messy, I promise!).  I'd searched the car a couple of times, check random cupboards and weird places for it to be hiding, but no freshly cooked chicken was found.  On Friday, while driving to Casper for baseball, I had an epiphany that I'd actually left the chicken at the self-checkout at the grocery store. I hope somebody had a delicious lunch.  

Will played a tournament in Casper this weekend.  Reina and I and Grandma H drove up for Friday's games.  Glenn, Will and Pop-pop stayed in Casper for the duration.  Back at home, Reina had a birthday party and a sleepover so I had one of the rarest of the rare events - a night at home ALL BY MYSELF.  As usual, I had big plans but mainly cleaned some random areas in the house, watched murder mysteries, missed everyone and went to bed early.  

Is Frontier Days week without Frontier Days and it feels strange.  I"m glad we aren't dealing with massive crowds and stupid traffic for Cheyenne but it also highlights just how weird everything remains.  I'm still working from home mostly, Glenn is back at the office and we don't have any concrete plans for school.  Baseball winds up in a few weeks and then we await word on football or fall baseball.  

Tonight, Will had a doubleheader starting at 4:00.  Despite storm warnings, it only rained a few drops and was a little windy at times.  Until about 5 minutes before the end of the last game.  You could see the clouds rolling in from the north and they just looked ominous - that weird purplish gray that means something bad is probably going to happen.  We made it to the car just as the big drops started.  We had a little hail but nothing damaging on our side of town.  Other areas were reporting ping-pong sized hail and broken windows.  Oh Cheyenne.  

Day 119

Another summer weekend in the books.  We had fun watching Will play baseball even though his team had a tough row to hoe.  The weather was HOT.  After the games on Friday, we came home and were all really grumpy with each other.  Okay, fine. I was mostly grumpy with everyone but we survived.  We don't need air conditioning in Wyoming very often but boy this was a weekend when it would've come in handy.  Instead, we took turns trying the Glenn strategy of taking a shower right before bed and turning the water as cold as you can stand it before getting out.  It's not great for water conservation but it works well.  The weather was slightly cooler on Saturday and then today we sought out more projects in the shade, or in my case, the basement.  Glenn decided to create a hail tent over the garden and he made amazing progress.  I'll take pictures of the finished product but I think it's safe to say that the baby beets and whatever squash things that are going will be well-protected before the next storm. 

Reina told me today that she's pretty nervous about going back to school.  We don't have a final plan from the school district yet so I reminded her that a lot can happen before the first day of school.  We talked about how she likes being with her friends and learning from her teacher, but she's also scared of the germs and kids being all in the room together.  So just like everything else, we will take it one day at a time.  I went through my fabric stash and she picked out some Harry Potter fabric for some special Reina masks.  It was fun to pull out the sewing machine again.  Glenn has some tote bags he wants to me make and Will's baseball pants need a mend.  Too much sliding in the dirt.  

One day at a time.  One week at a time.  Bring on a new week!  

Day 116 and some pictures

Will was watching me type the last post and when he saw the number of days I put on there, he was surprised. "Has it really been that long mom?"  Yep.  Some days I feel every single hour of those 116 days and then other times, it feels like it's just been a moment since we started staying at home.  But here are at Day 116.  Glenn may be going back to the office next week, his agency has provided a plan for bringing some people back . My office is still telecommuting for the near future.  Our case numbers are still higher than they were a month ago so I don't know what the plan is.  Quarantine and significant budget cuts are making it an interesting time to be a state employee.  

Let's talk about fun stuff!  Glenn and I are taking tomorrow off because Will has an actual baseball tournament!  The first game is at 9:00 a.m. and it's supposed to be hot tomorrow.  We've been using the shade canopy we bought specifically for baseball but I know we'll need it tomorrow.  We had to order some extra tie-down straps and tent stakes that look like they could drill for oil because of the Wyoming wind but it works.  

Reina's art class this week had a Wyoming theme so she's been painting the state flag, a buffalo, Indian Paintbrush and a bunch of fun things.  Tomorrow is Statehood Day so we are all in on Wyoming this week.  Most of the teams coming up for the baseball tournament are from Colorado so I'll have to make sure I'm wearing the attire that clearly states my allegiance.   

What else is going on?  Between Will's baseball practices and Reina's dance classes, our evenings feel a little more like 'normal times' than they did a few months ago.  We still have time for dog walks in the evening and random home projects so things are quite back to normal.  I'm still doing most of our shopping online and doing store pick-up which is probably helping our budget because I'm not distracted by shiny stuff in the sale bin.  

I'm finally getting my camera out a little bit and here are some pictures from our week.  

Will's on first and those pants will never be white again.  I've tried.  One parent takes her kid's pants to the car wash and apparently that does the trick.  I'm not there yet.  

Jogging back to the dugout after crossing home. 

Our reluctant baseball game attendee.  Last weekend was the first time he actually played with a toy during the game.  Picture by Reina.  

Our hail dented camper that we bought last October.  Sigh.  

Momma and twins! 

Day 112 I think and Fourth of July weekend

It's Day 112 possibly.  I'm honestly losing track.  Its Sunday night and I'm sitting on the couch with Charlie on one side and Will on the other.  We are watching some basketball tournament on tv with no fans and no one we've heard of but hey it's live sports. 

We had a busy but fun summer weekend.  We had Friday off and spent most of the day at the baseball field.  It was a rough day for Will's team and then went 0-2.  We came home that evening and ordered pizza and watched Hamilton with Grandma H.  Will didn't really watch it but he wandered in and out and made comments like "I don't think they rapped in the 1700s."  The rest of us loved it and Reina said the next morning that we had created a monster as Glenn ate breakfast and played the soundtrack on his phone.  Saturday morning, we were back at the ballfield and Will and team had a much better day and went 2-0.  Will had a lot of hits and came home with a baseball sized bruise on his arm after wearing a pitch to get on base.  After baseball, we went home for a little while and then went back for a socially-distanced bbq with some other baseball families.  We also spent some time at the Fry's house for socially-distanced pre-fireworks and then we came home.  Reina and I watched fireworks for a few minutes but in typical Wyoming fashion it was a little chilly and we ended up wishing America a happy birthday from inside the house. 

Today, was a lot of laundry, some gardening and dog walking.  Glenn and Reina went to Windsor to swim at the grandparents house.  I watched church online this morning and Glenn and I braved the grocery store afterwards.  Man these details continue to be boring but that's what this summer is.  A bunch of tasks that make up the day, with some fun family time and the excitement of washing hands when you come back from the grocery store.   After last week's hailstorm, some of the garden is bouncing back and I saw the first baby antelope of the season and I was glad to see that they survived too. 

This week brings more baseball, another art class for Reina and some 90 degree weather. I'm looking forward to 2 out of the 3 of those things. 

The Weekend and Day 106

Saturday, we had a break from baseball so we packed all of the humans and the dogs into Glenn's truck and headed to Guernsey, a small town about an hour and half from Cheyenne. I've driven through it many times for work but I'd never stopped at the reservoir. The kids were excited to swim so that's where we headed first.   

I posted this picture on instagram with the caption "who are these giant kids following me around?"  But seriously, who are they?  It's like actual teenville around here.  

I tried to work on my action photos and got this blurry gem of Reina jumping in.  Now I just need to work on focus.  

Trigger had a best day ever.  He loves water and retrieving stuff out of the water, swimming after kids in the water, etc.  I have a picture of Charlie on my phone who was not having his best day.  Not a fan of the water but we got him to swim a few times.  

Hubba.

After the kids swam for a few hours, we headed over to Register Cliff and then drove a few miles to see the Oregon Trail wagon ruts that are carved in the sandstone.  It's pretty amazing to think about traveling across that country in a wagon while we are cranking the air conditioning and drinking a root beer float.  

It was a nice Saturday.  It felt nice to get out of the house and out of town, even for just a few hours. 

Day 103

Oh hail no.  

Our Friday afternoon was buzzing along.  Reina was finishing up her week of online art class (so much fun that I signed her up for two more sessions), I was getting work done, Glenn was getting work done, Will was doing who-knows-what and the skies darkened and giant balls of ice fell from the sky.  Okay, so maybe that's slight hyperbole but the hail was big.  Right as it started, I made a mad dash outside to cover my tomato plants with laundry baskets and I got pelted a few times and man it stung.  We stood in the house to watch the storm pass over but it hailed and hailed and hailed.  The size was anywhere from pea to slightly small golf ball but it was relentless.  Somewhere in our county, someone gets a storm like this every summer and I guess it was our turn.  The garden is shredded.  The laundry baskets have holes in them and the tomatoes are no more.  Some of the garden was protected by hail guards but one of those collapsed under the weight of the hail.  The new camper is dented.  But all of those can be fixed, replaced or composted for next year's garden.  We may have to do more shopping at the farmer's market but but with everything that's going on in the world right now, this ain't nothing.  (For the record, these were not the exact words I was saying a few hours ago while I was sobbing (SOBBING) about little baby beets but what can I say, I'm growing.) 

So that rounds out our week.  Will had two nights of baseball and his team went 2-0 the first night and 0-2 the second.  Reina loved her art class.  Glenn and I both had trips to the office but still not plan to go back full time.  Tomorrow we are doing some yard work and then piling everyone into the truck to go to a lake for the afternoon.  Picnics and swimming are just what we need.  

COVID update.  Wyoming's case numbers are up to 1368 but about 1000 of those people have recovered.  That's good  news but unfortunately the numbers keep climbing.  I just read that we might have some new health orders on Monday.  Wear those masks people!  

Day 99

I have to remember to post tomorrow for Day 100.  ONE HUNDRED.  But that's tomorrow's post.

So it's another Monday.  We had a nice weekend.  It rained on Friday so when it got dark, I took Reina outside to show her all of the nightcrawlers that come out in our yard.  I stumbled across this phenomenon last summer when I'd go lock up the chicken coop and freak out by all the slimy things in the grass running away from my flashlight.  Anyway, Glenn decided that we should collect some and put them in our garden.  So we spent about 30 minutes trying to find big worms and catch them.  We are party people! 

Will played three baseball games on Saturday - his team went 1-2 but Will played well and we had fun watching.  It's nice getting to know the other parents and the weather was perfect.  During a break between games, Reina and I masked up and shopped downtown for a little while. 

Yesterday Glenn took the kids to see the Pauley grandparents for the afternoon and I got a few hours in the house by myself.  It was magnificent!  I missed everyone after the first hour but I enjoyed just puttering around the house and watching chick flicks.  Before they left, Glenn and I installed new light fixtures in the basement.  We are getting close to running out of things to replace in the house - things that are within our skillset at least. 

So that was our weekend.  Reina is taking an online art class this week in the afternoons and she had a lot of fun with today's session.  Will has two nights of baseball doubleheaders and Glenn and I both have plenty of work projects.  Bring on the week! 

Day 95

We have almost made it to the end of another week.  Not much has changed.  Glenn and I are still working from home for the foreseeable future.  Reina had her friend Dylan over today and they had so much fun that I'm trying to figure out how he can stay the whole summer.  A busy Reina makes for a happy Reina.  Will had baseball practice tonight.  He has three games this Saturday, the first one starts at 8:00 a.m.  Gulp!  He had a double header on Tuesday and it's so much fun to watch him play.  He walked a bunch but drove in a run on a Sac Fly and made some outs playing third.  We are getting to know some of the other baseball parents and that makes it more fun for us too. 

Let's see, what other details from the week are possibly worth memorializing?  I made Reina some curtains!  The mask team is taking a break while we see how supplies are looking so I'm working on some other projects.  Reina searched online for some Harry Potter fabric and after a few 'sorry out-of-stock' messages, we finally found some that she liked and I whipped them into curtains last night. I can't say that the seams are perfectly straight but they look like curtains and they replaced the Frozen curtains she's had in there for many years.  Next I have to put straps on a goose decoy bag that I made for Glenn.  Yes, a giant tote to hold goose decoys. 

Wyoming's COVID-19 case numbers are now 906 confirmed and 238 probable.  Case numbers have climbed this week, compared to previous weeks.  Vicky had to get tested today because she's having another surgery next week.  She said the test was more painful than she thought and not something that she plans on repeating.  Painful nose swabs seems like a good way to wrap up another post in this strange time. 

Day 92

Another Monday!  Glenn and I are still working from home.  The weather started off cooler than expected and hazy because of the fires burning in the West (not a good sign for so early in the summer!).  I had to go to the office for a few hours this morning.  The budget news for state government continues to be scary, but just like everything else in this time, we are taking it day by day!

Reina got to spend the afternoon with Grandma Hansen and they had lunch in the park, played with water colors and went to TJ Maxx (naturally).  Will had batting practice tonight so I took him and Charlie and I walked while he practiced.  After that, Glenn finished putting up the towel racks in the bathroom goodness this post is excruciatingly boring. We painted the bathroom this weekend!  When I think about all of the house projects we've finished up during this quarantine time, it's pretty amazing.  And there are still more to tackle.

I got to see Coco use her cat tent as a hamster wheel to chase another cat out of the yard tonight.  Now the moths are brazenly landing on me while I try to type.  So gross.  I think even the cats are tired of catching and eating them because there are soooo many this year.  So many. 

I thought of my daily silver lining earlier today but now I've forgotten it.  Reina and I are reading The Ickabog every night, was that it?  Will and I are going through a 'pun' phase where we send each other texts and memes and include Pop-Pop because he's always up for a good pun.  Oh I know what it was!  Glenn has a thing for true crime murder shows and I do too!  I always knew that I did but his is a new appreciation that he discovered while exercising in the basement over the lunch hour.  He finds random channels on our cable and while they sometimes veer towards the gruesome (mob killings, etc.), today's was just a good old fashioned marital murder.  We both watched for a while but he had to go back to work before the murderer was revealed.  It was the wife, duh. 

So there you go.  A bit weird to end on spousal homicide but it's a Monday.  Oh wait, let's end on Will's report card.  It arrived today and he was two percentage points away from all A's for the year!  He ended up with an 89 in Spanish and an 89 in Honor's World Geography.  He had all A's for the second semester and we are really proud of him for making a commitment to his academics.  Bring on 8th grade!

Day 85

Day 85 was another Monday, but at least this time there was no kid schoolwork involved.  I'm working on a project to collect resources for people who are very stressed and even suicidal so my work life has been a little heavy lately.  I did have kids coming in from time to time to ask about snacks, lunch options, how much more electronic time they had and hey-mom-check-out-this-dance-I-just-made so those were nice diversions. 

Will is digging school being out and he finds ways to stay occupied during the day (watching old sports highlights, reading about sports, looking up statistics about sports and practicing sports in the backyard.)  Reina is a little tougher. Once she ran out of electronic time today, she was as the kids say "all up in my business" or my little 'butt barnacle' as I fondly refer to her during quarantine.  I suggested art projects, reading, cleaning her room (oh mom, you are so funny) and she finally agreed to spending some time playing with my make-up and drawing.  I'll sacrifice a few eyeliner pencils if it means I get 30 minutes of total silence.  She spent her time drawing the character Cher from Clueless, a bonafide teen movie that she watched with her big cousin last week.  Since Clueless is in fact based on the Jane Austen book Emma and it's also one of my favorite 90's movies, this is a project that I can fully support.    

We had a good old fashioned busy (but lovely) weekend.  We got to watch Will play his first baseball games. He had some good hits and drove in a few runs.  When he was playing third, he had a liner glance off his glove and bonk his head but he bounced back up and stayed in the game.  I did not run on to the field after he hit the ground and I'm not sure he fully appreciates my restraint.  I did ask Glenn and the other people around us "did that hit his head" about 50 times but he's fine. The coaches and umps checked him out thoroughly and while he didn't appreciate me gazing at his pupils the rest of the day, he felt fine.  At the ballpark, ti was fun to watch some games with the grandparents in attendance and little cousins running around.  It felt like summer - especially when the weather went from chilly, to sunscreen, back to chilly and get out the umbrella.  Oh Wyoming.  (It's 37 degrees as I type this and so far we've had rain and hail tonight.  There's snow on the summit but let's hope it stays there.) 

Reina is back at dance class a few days a week, with social distancing and mask wearing.  She had a class on Saturday morning and then she played with the cousins during baseball. In the afternoon, she went to a little birthday for our neighbor's granddaughter.  She and Reina play about once a week and on Saturday, the other grandkids were there too so Reina had a gang of girls to run around the backyard with, it was good for her mental health and they all get along well.  

One of our on-going projects lately has been to paint the vanities in the kids' bathrooms.  We spent a big chunk of Sunday getting that done and hanging up new light fixtures.  I'm happy to report that Glenn and I did that (it was mostly Glenn) without arguing or electrocuting anything.  Victories! 

Besides tonight's hail, this has been a good start to another week.