Week six

My co-worker counted on wednesday we have been working from home for 43 days (inculding weekends and easter days off). So now it's 47 days. And children have been at home even longer, d for 50 days (they stayed home before this lock down came compusory, because school was needed for those doing their final exams) and sys and ys for 48 days.

Sys's school project -  and as you can see, everything is WIP.

It's fine. I go shopping once a week if there's no special needs. Like next week, my car is due MOT and I need some soil bags for my veggie plot and my aunt need gardening gloves and my mom wants me to check if there's any leftover goodies from shops. Old man should eat much more, he's losing weight and he's already bag of bones. Pity he can't eat anything healthy or fatty (and everything must be cooked to oblivion). No full corn anything - with exception of oats.
Here is no restrictions to go outside or working outside (just recommendation for high risk people to stay at home and away from other people - however they are allowed to go shopping etc if there's no-one to help them) , but no public meetings over 10 people are allowed, no restrictions on shops or supermarkets (or megamarkets).

So because he doesn't do shopping anyway, he decided our wood needed cutting. Wearing overalls I got him almost 30 years ago. If you want to find a thrifty person, old man is one. If there wasn't corona, I would have been there splitting the wood while he was cutting it.

So, because people are trying to avoid other people, they are flocking here.

And of course they parked right in front of our back gate. Which hasn't have an acual gate ever.

Somewhere behind all those bushes are those old (more than 100yrs) fish ponds, which nowadays might have some frogs, a pair of cranes nesting (they have laid eggs already) and two pairs of swans (which will fly away in few weeks, they will not nest here). It was magnificent park once, a very popular place for walks while in honeymoon in the manor house (it was very popular hotel at the time, even after the WWII). Old people still remembers that and NOW they want to see them again. Or their children. Or people whose parents have worked either in the manor or hotel or those fish ponds. Since then land is split and sold to several other people (part of it belongs to a country house which was spilt from the original manor), fish were harvested with dynamite and all buildings were either relocated or demolished (again using dynamite - you might think people nowadays are stupid, but think again, after WWII all kinds of stupidities were done all the time!) Pump house is gone (dynamite), caretaker's cottage is gone (relocated) as well as gamekeeper's hut (relocated, it was moved only few hundred meters and is now our closest neighbouring house, and it is empty now). Our grounds are part of that original fish pond area.

Rush hour - I haven't seen more than one plane in weeks before that and not afterwards either

 

Another uninvited visitor. We had snow for a day.

 No more snow. I put on that strawberry plastic to keep weeds on bay until soil is dry enough to plow. Might take some time, because ground was still frozen a week ago. Hopefully lack plastic warms it.

Salad!

I just had to get something in to the polytunnel, so I sowed some salad seeds. Now there is also radishes, more salads and perpentual spinach (new zealand spinach). In one of the cold frames I sowed carrots. Inside I have peppers, chillies, aubergines, brassicas and so on. I had parsnip seeds from last summer, and knowing how poorly older seeds might germinate I wrapped them on moist paper towel to see, if any seed will sprout.

Hb has been working on my car since Friday, and he might finish with it today evening. It will not pass MOT and keys are not working, but I have to take it there anyway, otherwise I can't do it at all.
I've been looking for a replacement, but haven't found any yet. I can borrow old man's car, but he needs it occasionally, when he has to go for blood tests or treatment or such. No longer taxi drives for him, too hig risk for infection.

I have made several face masks, this was the first one (instructions from New York Times, not good). I won't use this pattern again.

It is easy to us to stay at home and not to meet other people (Number Two excluded). D has it harder, she actually has friends now, and had realized she misses their hugs and closeness. Boys have a great time, they are only worrying if they have to go back to school before summer. I doubt it will happen, but you never know nowadays.

I have less freetime than before. My days are filled with cooking, walking with 'Suma, doing dishes, washing, gardening, helping children with their school - and yes, I have to work eight hours a day on top of all that.  (I cook at least one big meal a day, usually two, I make lunch for hb to take with him to work, and then there are breakfasts and snacks). I don't bake much, on Friday I made buns and one loaf, I got the loaf out of oven 1am.
There's been some very nice days, and some very difficult. But overall, we are doing fine.

Weeks 3, 4 and 5, i think

I've been busy. It's the beginning of gardening season, even if we have had three weeks of snow, sleet and frosts. It's April.
I put up my polytunnel two weeks ago, and I have sown first seeds there already, salads, radishes and swiss chard (if I remember right). I hope I can get some harvest before I can plant tomatoes and peppers (and chillies) there.
I bought plant light few weeks ago (it was just before this shut down started) and now my peppers, aubergines, chillies and some other seed have sprouted, so I rigged it with a plank and windowsills to hold it on place. 'Suma is no longer a menace, so I can keep my seedlings in a plastic box on floor.
Second lot of seeds are sown and put up on a tall freezer, I hope I remember to check on them occasionally!
Mental breakdowns are fewer and fewer. Ys has one every now and then, but so far I have managed to get him over them with ease. He thinks he has too much to do (at home school). I don't think so, but my kids always blame me for being too demanding. Last breakdown was because he had to make a totem pole (out of kitchen towel cardboard tube...), he wanted to draw and it was supposed to be made with different papers... Oh dear. Ice cream, tissue to blow one's nose and pep talk later all was well and he spent two hours crafting a pretty totem pole.
Oh, there was Easter. We had roasted lamb leg (it's rarity here, but kids love lamb/mutton so I try to get some for easter), chocolate eggs and other easter stuff to eat. We don't celebrate it as such, it's more like a spring time feast for us.
Work might not have been as busy as it could have been if I was working in office (and I have few days off anyway before easter). Meetings via skype and teams.
Ys's room has been under construction, I've plastered outer wall (with window) and that moster block of concrete that lies in that room (it's in extension which is a half floor below the old house, and because we have non-solid gorund here, we had to make some weird stuctural solutions in order to keep old house solidly in place). One wall is waiting for planks (I'm treating them atm, first treatment is strong black tea for tannines, and next treatment is mixture of vinegar and iron (rebar bars I had lying around). I will not produce even colour, and that's the point - it might end up with very dark brown, or just light greyish. I'm aiming for lighter greysish tones as ys has asked for that, but... You never know, when playing with natural material and not so accurate measurements. We cut the planks and now we only have to wait for that first tea treatment to dry so that I can put that vinegar concotion on, but it will probably have to wait until tomorrow.
(we have mostly spruce as buiding material here, and it has no tannin unlike oak, so in order to get some colour out of iron-vinegar mix I have to treat the planks first eith tannin, I could buy it, or use crushed acorns (didn't harvested then last autunm) or even use red wine, but I opted for strong tea).
I've managed with one weekly shopping, occasionally I've run out of milk or spread a day early, but then we have had just cope without for a day. I've been (my own opinion) successfull so far, even if I don't have a set meny for the week ahead. I have some ideas (like hot dog casserole hb asked for) and then I'm just playing along.
Freezers are not actually emptying, because every time I go shopping I buy stuff I put into freezer: bread, meat, chicken, fish, chips, veggies etc. But I have used some odd items now and then, I hope that in summer I have enough room for berries.
I've sewn four masks so far, I think the last one is very usable, it fits nicely (not too tight). I think I should be doing several now, I'm using them when I'm shopping. Yes, people look me weirdly, but I don't care, I don't want to be the one who spreads covid-19 around. Self-made mask will not protect me 100%, but it will protect others, if I happen to have infection!
I'm really missing number two, I so long for holding a baby. My sister sends daily messages, pictures and videos, but I can't hold her or smell the wonderfull smell of a baby.... My kids are so bid they are not good substitutes on that - teenager boys don't smell like babies...
People are telling in social media how they are spending their extra time now in isolation. I mean what extra time? I haven't had time to write to my blog in three weeks!
My alarm goes off at 6am, then after brushing my teeth I'm off to 'Suma walk, back at 7am, waking kids, eating own breakfast and it's 8am, then logging in to work, doing that until just before noon, making lunch for school kids, back to work, then by 3is pm getting out for another 'Suma walk (into the forest so only max 30mins) if kids haven't done that, laundy, dishes, another cooking time, more work (need to get not only my hours but also my work done), some building/gardening/crafting stuff and then I'm finally sitting in front of telly, and its half past eight in the evening!