Saturday, April 25, 2020
Into the Wild
We got out of the house the other day! We went to the Lee G. Simmons Conservation Park and Wildlife Safari, which is owned and operated by the Henry Doorly Zoo. It's about 25 minutes away from here. Right now they are only doing a 4 mile drive-through experience to see the North American animals they have (elk, bison, deer, water fowl, etc.) - nobody is allowed out of their cars. Normally they have hiking trails, lookout towers, hands-on experiences, an aviary, a playground, and other stuff that isn't accessible right now. Not sure how many acres this place covers total, but it's big. Right now they are offering free entry for anyone with a zoo membership, so YAY for us! It was a nice day, and we saw plenty of animals (no wolves though). It's was a nice little change in scenery, and apparently a lot of other people thought so too, and have thought so every day since it opened, because there was a long line of cars. They had over 20,000 visitors opening weekend. We avoided the weekend, and went in the middle of the week, but it was still busy. We will definitely go back though.
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
History in the Making
This really is the craziest thing that has happened in my lifetime. 3 weeks ago I wrote that there had been 335, 364 cases of COVID-19 worldwide, and 14,611 death. As of right now there have been 1,946,437 cases reported and 129,709 deaths. In the United States alone there have been 587,815 cases and 23,654 deaths. In Nebraska there have been 871 cases and 18 deaths. The numbers really aren't even what's crazy though, it's everything else that has come about and what our new normal looks like.
Every day we have school. Schools have been officially closed for the rest of the school year here in Nebraska, so our district has set up online school for the kids to do at home. It was a little frustrating at first, because of all the different sites we had to create logins for, but we've got the hang of it now. We usually start school at 8:30. Overall, it hasn't been too bad. I feel like we've been pretty lucky as far as what our teachers are asking of the kids. And I actually enjoy doing homeschool with my kids, and having them home.
Cora, who had been working as a special ed para, is actually still getting paid by our district. They will now be having zoom meetings, and can sign up to help with things like making paper packets for kids who don't have access to computers, packing lunches and breakfasts for the free meal program our district is providing, or other things. She is really lucky to still have that income. She misses the kids a lot, and was really glad when all the staff from her school did a parade, driving through the neighborhoods within their school boundaries - the parents were told ahead of time, so families were lined up in front of their houses on all the streets. Almost all of them had made signs expressing their love and appreciation, or drawn messages with chalk on the sidewalks. We decorated our car, I drove, and Cora had a big smile on her face the whole time, especially when we spotted her favorite student (who she got to have a zoom meeting with a couple of days later with his case manager). It was a lot of fun, and I know they're not the only school to have done something like that.
Grocery stores are still open, because they're essential, but they are limiting the number of customers that can go in at a time. They are also limiting the number of certain items you can buy. They've installed plastic guards at the checkout counters, separating the customers from the workers. Over the loud speakers they play messages like, "In accordance with recommended guidelines, please remain 6 feet apart from other customers." It's still hard to find certain items - toilet paper, Clorox wipes, hand sanitizer, dried beans, hamburger, chicken, vitamin C, diapers, and other random things. Before they restricted customers and number of items, we heard (and saw) reports of people waiting in long lines at Costco before opening, and then literally rushing the store, running to the toilet paper section, and grabbing as much toilet paper as they could, even before it was unloaded off the pallet. We've been lucky because we haven't run out of toilet paper or anything else we've needed. We've just happened to find what we needed when we needed it, without being crazy about it.
Our church is not having any congregational meetings. We have been told that we can administer the sacrament in our own homes. We are lucky because Joe and Joseph can both bless the sacrament. Our stake president does a live stream every Sunday for about a half hour. There's an opening and closing prayer, and he invites a person or two to give a talk - they stay 6 feet apart - and he always says something himself. It's been nice. After we watch the live stream, we sing a sacrament hymn as a family, take the sacrament, have a lesson from Come Follow Me, then a closing song. I've really enjoyed our worship services at home, and it has made our Sundays meaningful.
I'm the first counselor in our Primary presidency, and we've been sending out emails to our kids and their families every week, which include a short video from one of us. We've encouraged our Primary workers to stay in touch with the kids they are over, whether it's a letter, phone call, zoom meeting, or whatever. Cora is over Primary activities with another lady, and they sent out an email to let parents know that they would drop by, honk when they got there, and the girls could come out on the porch to say hi. We're lucky that we have other means of keeping in touch with each other and fellowshipping. We just have to think outside the box now.
Joe had started an internship in January for a computer security company (he officially retires July 1st). They were having him study up to get some certifications (he's got one so far), so that was something he could do from home. He started doing that over a month ago. I'm not working now either. We are lucky because we have our income from the military still coming in. In the middle of May Joe will start terminal leave, and can get a job with this company if they offer him a job. They've indicated they want him, although they can't officially discuss anything until he's on terminal leave, but if they do offer him a job, I'm not sure how that will work while we're still on lockdown. We will just wait and see, and hope for the best. Plus, congress passed a stimulus bill that gives every adult $1,200 dollars, so that will help towards the income I'm losing.
We've got a lot of time on our hands, so we've continued to stay busy with various project inside and outside the house. We are lucky because we already had a lot of materials that we needed, and have been able to order a lot of things online. We're lucky that we had a small tax refund, which didn't get spent on a spring break trip. I already posted about redoing our kitchen/dining room flooring and tiling the fireplace hearth. The CDC has recommended everyone wear face masks when their out, so I made some for our family. I made a quilt top with all of Cora's T-shirts that she'd gotten over the years for drama. Cora has made a whole bunch of Mickey Mouse ear headbands (I have no idea what she's going to do with them all, and I don't think she does either). We tore out an old deck in the back corner of our yard, and we're putting in a retaining wall and fireplace pit. We made a fence to section off a specific part of our yard for the dogs, since their ruining our grass, and we'd like most of it to heal and grow back - they still have plenty of space to run around, but not the whole backyard. We started sanding down our kitchen cabinets so we can re-paint them. We re-graded the flowerbed on one side of the yard so it gets better drainage, and we're going to be re-mulching all of our flower beds. We've been lucky to have a lot of nice weather lately....until the last couple of days when temps dropped below freezing. We've gotten lots of vitamin D, and lots of exercise.
For entertainment, I must admit, there's been a lot of video games and tv. But my kids have been playing together more, and getting along better, and there's just a good feeling in our house everyday, most of the time. They miss their friends to a certain degree, but they're strengthening their friendships with each other. I think my kids who have struggled with anxiety are feeling a break from that right now. We're lucky, because since we've been staying home, we have been saving a ton on gas (yesterday we saw a place that was $1.55 a gallon - holy cow!), and I think we're going to get a trampoline for the kids. They'll love that.
So my big takeaway so far, if you haven't guessed already, is that we are VERY LUCKY! We are privileged. And it's not because we deserve it. Not one little bit. We're just lucky. But not everyone is lucky. Not everyone is experiencing this the same as us. People have lost jobs. People who are considered essential workers are being put at higher risk. Seniors are missing proms and graduation ceremonies. Parents are struggling with homeschool, especially if they still have to work. Not all families have peace in their home, and incidents of domestic violence are up. People are suffering from anxiety and depression. We personally might be getting some benefits out of all of this, but many are not. My heart hurts for them, so very much. I'm doing what I can within my small sphere, and my prayers go out to the rest of the world.
I know that we'll get through this. This new normal is not going to be a permanent thing, although it will be interesting to see what changes DO stick around. I hope we can learn lessons along the way, and become better people. I hope we can feel more gratitude, and not take what we have for granted. I hope we can take care of each other when this is all over, especially those who weren't so lucky.
Every day we have school. Schools have been officially closed for the rest of the school year here in Nebraska, so our district has set up online school for the kids to do at home. It was a little frustrating at first, because of all the different sites we had to create logins for, but we've got the hang of it now. We usually start school at 8:30. Overall, it hasn't been too bad. I feel like we've been pretty lucky as far as what our teachers are asking of the kids. And I actually enjoy doing homeschool with my kids, and having them home.
Cora, who had been working as a special ed para, is actually still getting paid by our district. They will now be having zoom meetings, and can sign up to help with things like making paper packets for kids who don't have access to computers, packing lunches and breakfasts for the free meal program our district is providing, or other things. She is really lucky to still have that income. She misses the kids a lot, and was really glad when all the staff from her school did a parade, driving through the neighborhoods within their school boundaries - the parents were told ahead of time, so families were lined up in front of their houses on all the streets. Almost all of them had made signs expressing their love and appreciation, or drawn messages with chalk on the sidewalks. We decorated our car, I drove, and Cora had a big smile on her face the whole time, especially when we spotted her favorite student (who she got to have a zoom meeting with a couple of days later with his case manager). It was a lot of fun, and I know they're not the only school to have done something like that.
Grocery stores are still open, because they're essential, but they are limiting the number of customers that can go in at a time. They are also limiting the number of certain items you can buy. They've installed plastic guards at the checkout counters, separating the customers from the workers. Over the loud speakers they play messages like, "In accordance with recommended guidelines, please remain 6 feet apart from other customers." It's still hard to find certain items - toilet paper, Clorox wipes, hand sanitizer, dried beans, hamburger, chicken, vitamin C, diapers, and other random things. Before they restricted customers and number of items, we heard (and saw) reports of people waiting in long lines at Costco before opening, and then literally rushing the store, running to the toilet paper section, and grabbing as much toilet paper as they could, even before it was unloaded off the pallet. We've been lucky because we haven't run out of toilet paper or anything else we've needed. We've just happened to find what we needed when we needed it, without being crazy about it.
Our church is not having any congregational meetings. We have been told that we can administer the sacrament in our own homes. We are lucky because Joe and Joseph can both bless the sacrament. Our stake president does a live stream every Sunday for about a half hour. There's an opening and closing prayer, and he invites a person or two to give a talk - they stay 6 feet apart - and he always says something himself. It's been nice. After we watch the live stream, we sing a sacrament hymn as a family, take the sacrament, have a lesson from Come Follow Me, then a closing song. I've really enjoyed our worship services at home, and it has made our Sundays meaningful.
I'm the first counselor in our Primary presidency, and we've been sending out emails to our kids and their families every week, which include a short video from one of us. We've encouraged our Primary workers to stay in touch with the kids they are over, whether it's a letter, phone call, zoom meeting, or whatever. Cora is over Primary activities with another lady, and they sent out an email to let parents know that they would drop by, honk when they got there, and the girls could come out on the porch to say hi. We're lucky that we have other means of keeping in touch with each other and fellowshipping. We just have to think outside the box now.
Joe had started an internship in January for a computer security company (he officially retires July 1st). They were having him study up to get some certifications (he's got one so far), so that was something he could do from home. He started doing that over a month ago. I'm not working now either. We are lucky because we have our income from the military still coming in. In the middle of May Joe will start terminal leave, and can get a job with this company if they offer him a job. They've indicated they want him, although they can't officially discuss anything until he's on terminal leave, but if they do offer him a job, I'm not sure how that will work while we're still on lockdown. We will just wait and see, and hope for the best. Plus, congress passed a stimulus bill that gives every adult $1,200 dollars, so that will help towards the income I'm losing.
We've got a lot of time on our hands, so we've continued to stay busy with various project inside and outside the house. We are lucky because we already had a lot of materials that we needed, and have been able to order a lot of things online. We're lucky that we had a small tax refund, which didn't get spent on a spring break trip. I already posted about redoing our kitchen/dining room flooring and tiling the fireplace hearth. The CDC has recommended everyone wear face masks when their out, so I made some for our family. I made a quilt top with all of Cora's T-shirts that she'd gotten over the years for drama. Cora has made a whole bunch of Mickey Mouse ear headbands (I have no idea what she's going to do with them all, and I don't think she does either). We tore out an old deck in the back corner of our yard, and we're putting in a retaining wall and fireplace pit. We made a fence to section off a specific part of our yard for the dogs, since their ruining our grass, and we'd like most of it to heal and grow back - they still have plenty of space to run around, but not the whole backyard. We started sanding down our kitchen cabinets so we can re-paint them. We re-graded the flowerbed on one side of the yard so it gets better drainage, and we're going to be re-mulching all of our flower beds. We've been lucky to have a lot of nice weather lately....until the last couple of days when temps dropped below freezing. We've gotten lots of vitamin D, and lots of exercise.
For entertainment, I must admit, there's been a lot of video games and tv. But my kids have been playing together more, and getting along better, and there's just a good feeling in our house everyday, most of the time. They miss their friends to a certain degree, but they're strengthening their friendships with each other. I think my kids who have struggled with anxiety are feeling a break from that right now. We're lucky, because since we've been staying home, we have been saving a ton on gas (yesterday we saw a place that was $1.55 a gallon - holy cow!), and I think we're going to get a trampoline for the kids. They'll love that.
So my big takeaway so far, if you haven't guessed already, is that we are VERY LUCKY! We are privileged. And it's not because we deserve it. Not one little bit. We're just lucky. But not everyone is lucky. Not everyone is experiencing this the same as us. People have lost jobs. People who are considered essential workers are being put at higher risk. Seniors are missing proms and graduation ceremonies. Parents are struggling with homeschool, especially if they still have to work. Not all families have peace in their home, and incidents of domestic violence are up. People are suffering from anxiety and depression. We personally might be getting some benefits out of all of this, but many are not. My heart hurts for them, so very much. I'm doing what I can within my small sphere, and my prayers go out to the rest of the world.
I know that we'll get through this. This new normal is not going to be a permanent thing, although it will be interesting to see what changes DO stick around. I hope we can learn lessons along the way, and become better people. I hope we can feel more gratitude, and not take what we have for granted. I hope we can take care of each other when this is all over, especially those who weren't so lucky.
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