Where Shall We Go?

           Roland has to take his vacation days or lose them.  He keeps on asking when and where we shall go.  He has a desire to go to North Carolina to see his mom who was supposed to come see us in May of last year – but because of the pandemic wasn’t sent.

          There’s still a pandemic.  We are not in the clear.  It was announced this morning that while some counties have advanced from extreme to high risk, other counties have been set back – ours for example.  We were at extreme and went to high risk but have been told that we are entering extreme again.

          I remember when we were told that the state would reopen in phases.  There would be four phases.  I don’t know of any county in the state who has gone beyond phase two.  I don’t wish for it to sound like I’m living in fear.  I think there’s a difference between fear and being cautious.  Roland will say that he needs to get the vaccine and then he will turn around and ask if we want to go bowling.  I refuse to go bowling during the pandemic.  Heck, I won’t even get into a public pool right now.  How my body has missed that during the summer.

          Before we went to New York last summer, we prayed about our decision.  Opportunities had changed.  Same thing today.  I told Roland that even if we book something we don’t know how things will be in three or four weeks.  We don’t know how they will change tomorrow.  It’s good to make plans – but as there are so many “if” factors right now.  Not only is there a pandemic but several states are experiencing tremendous weather conditions. 

I suggested we just stay around here.  It would be fun to see more of this state and parts of Washington.  Again, we have no guarantees that we would be able to find lodging.  Even so, could we trust it?  How many layoffs have resulted due to the pandemic?  I don’t think traveling at this time is a good idea.  I don’t think all the uncertainties would amount for a great vacation – and yet I am an adventurous.  I always retell situations of the unplanned and perhaps disastrous. 

Roland gave me a scenario of another who is older and Roland asked if he wasn’t worried about COVID to which he received the response, “I can’t stop living.”

I don’t think of the COVID in that same regard – certainly I want to live my life – but not at the expense of my family or my religious beliefs.  God sent plagues to His children in Biblical times.  He tested them. I feel like by going on vacation, by going bowling, by engaging in activities the way that I did before, I am failing the greater test.  I may survive my encounters.  I may have the time of my life.  But what greater blessings will I have missed by giving in?  Even the church itself has not reached phase four.  Who am I that I am better than that?

COVID is still a problem.  It hasn’t gone away.  We know people who have tested positive for COVID.  We know of many who have been hospitalized.  Some people just seem more tolerant somehow while others still have not accepted that all of this is real and that we must proceed with caution. We have a picture of ourselves with Joh's mom in our house when they dropped by 2 and a half years ago.  She passed away because of COVID.   

I am so grateful to President Biden and his messages of hope and encouragement.  Sometimes when I watch or listen to him, he looks and sounds like a general authority.  There is compassion in his voice that we have not had for the last four years.  How different things might have been if we had had a leader who set an example for us to begin with.

Wednesday

          Every third Wednesday the Roseburg cinema reserves a theatre for the senior members of the community to see a recent feature.  The theatre doors open at noon during school but at 9:00 am during summer.  Roland decided we would head to the theatre, return to the house after the movie ended, collect Jenna and go and see Crater Lake. 

Before the movie started there was the education and ticket drawing.  My ticket (or Roland’s ticket – I had them both) won a coupon for Lighthouse Bakery and Café which neither of us had been to or had even heard of for that matter. 

Crater Lake got cancelled as it was pouring.  I was more excited about the rain than my disappointment in seeing the lake again (neither Jenna nor Roland have ever seen it in person).  Roland had heard that admission to the park would be free on Sunday.  By the time church had ended, Roland just didn’t feel like making the trip.  Thus they still have not seen it.  I don’t think Jenna cares however.

          We had also planned on going to the farmers’ market.  I don’t know whether it got cancelled or not.  We forgot about it.  We’ll have to try again next week.  Jenna announced that the activity for young women’s had been cancelled but I believe it was made up for the following night.

          We played three rounds of Sequence before Roland excused himself to research some business whatever.  Jenna and I played one round of Scene It.

Wearing a Winter Coat to Kick off the Summer is so Wrong

       Jenna had planned to kick off her summer by going to the beach.  The temperature had dropped on her last day of school.  It’s been cooler at the beach and raining as well.  The weather has challenged her plans as the temperature has dropped all over the state.  It's also been raining.

      

           Jenna enjoys the rain and thinks she'd be okay at the beach in the rain.  But I don't wish to drive an hour and a half in the rain to go to a cold wet beach.  I will have to take her later. Poor baby.

       She and a friend kicked their summer off at our house playing games.  They would like to go see "The Incredibles" next week.  The theatre is much closer to us than the beach.

Four Hours With Sick Car: NOT The Greatest Souvenir

            Bill and Kayla had planned on spending spring break with Bill's parents who live in St. George.  Their house gets quite packed with visitors when the entire family comes to visit.  They have five children and I think at least 5X that amount in grandchildren.  Bill had planned on getting the family a trailer tent to add to their comfort of an overly squished house.  But, evidently, Bill's parents either forgot or found another opportunity and booked for a cruise - that same weekend!

          I don't know how long before spring break Kayla had contacted me to see if they could make their spring break getaway with us in Oregon.  What a fantastic birthday gift for Jenna!  I decided to keep it a secret - knowing they would have to leave before her actual birthday but would be spending time with us close enough (Jenna turns 14 today; the family had to leave yesterday)

          Before they come, I have always suggested site-seeing options and cost and so forth.  This time I mentioned the Wild Life Safari - about a ten-minute drive and Enchanted Forest which we had never been to ourselves but had seen signs during our travels.  About two and a half hours north of us.  Didn't think they'd be interested in more driving, but thought it might be fun.

          They did not wish to drive the distance - which turned out to be a huge blessing for all of us.  I don't know if Bill took a picture of their back window after it had blown out - not even the entire window - just a large hole giving the appearance that it had been broken into - which hadn't been the case.  None in the car understood what had happened, but the glass had shattered as they were driving less than ten-miles an hour.

This, of course, is only a rough crop combining to demonstrate

          There hadn't been room for all eight of us in the van, and so Roland and Kayla and I were in our car; all five of our children (Bill is included in that number. He is the only one of the five who can legally drive) were in the van.  I decided I should go to Roseburg with Bill and sent Jenna and Kayla's oldest two with Roland and Kayla and I went with Bill to Roseburg to see if we could get the glass repaired, but there was not the right size in stock and so an appointment had to be made for Monday morning.

          Yesterday was their last day, and I gave Jenna the option of staying home, but she did not wish to break her record of perfect attendance, plus I think she was getting frustrated with some of the behavior that the children had displayed over the last four days.  Maybe not . . . Roland had said she had wanted to participate in more sophisticated activities that had been above their social levels.

          So Jenna returned to school and Roland returned to work.  Jenna talked Bill into taking her to school and he learned his car battery had died.  Because the back window covered only by cardboard boxes flattened out registered the van door was open, the overhead light had remained on until the battery needed to be recharged.  By then Jenna had missed the bus and so Bill borrowed our car to take her and then got lost on his return.

          As Jenna was at school, I decided that we would have enough room in our car for 5 people and so  I had planned on keeping the level of noise down by taking Kayla and children to the park and library for story time and then another park for a picnic.  Bill would be spending his day at the auto glass and then the mechanics.  But he truly does have the most positive attitude when things go awry.  He took his cell phone to keep himself entertained and seemed to be okay with it.

          Kayla was cold.  It appeared to me that Anna felt cold also - though the playground was definitely more inviting and therefore more important than staying warm.  I took the three-year-old to the library where he not only put together a few puzzles but talked about each piece as he put it in.  I think he's really an old man in a little person's body.  Gosh, he is smart!

          After story time we left Myrtle Creek and I took them to the park in Riddle - which they really seemed to enjoy, but poor Kayla was still freezing and actually I was too.  We were out a shorter time than I had anticipated, but fortunately for Roland, he had done the majority of what work was required of him, but still had hours left on the clock.

          Bill had returned from the glass repair and visited with Roland a bit before going to our mechanic's to get a service - only temporary at that.  Once again, parts would have to be special ordered and would not arrive until this Thursday but the kids return to school on Wednesday.  So they are now driving on a temporary repair job.  They made it to Burns, Oregon last night but still have the longest leg of their trip ahead of them still.  I pray they arrive in Utah safe and sound and that their car's problems have been left behind in Oregon.

Spring Break is Near Its End

            Spring break is over for Jenna.  Her cousins don't need to return to school until Wednesday.  I gave Jenna the option of staying home today, but she doesn't wish to ruin her perfect attendance.  Plus I think she is wanting a break for the chaotic noise level that has been a part of our house for the last four-going-on-five days.  That's right, Bill and Kayla brought their three children for a spring break visit.  I didn't even tell Jenna - which I'm glad, as I had my dates wrong and had expected Kayla a lot sooner thinking her children had the same amount of spring break that Jenna did.

            Funny thing, Jenna had asked if I would take her to the library on Thursday - which actually happened to be a part of my agenda - thinking that her cousins would be here already - but they were actually due to arrive that very day.

            I drove Jenna to the library so that she could paint a flower pot and hoped that Bill and Kayla would be able to meet us there.  We pulled up to the library at exactly 12:34.  Upon seeing the numbers lined up in order, Jenna told me to make a wish.  I said I wished some family member could be with us.  Our wish came true after 3:00.  I have much to post about and seven titles saved in drafts.  Only one class this mod, so hopefully I will be able to make the time to add details to the titles and post them.

showing off her flower pot creation

seeing Kayla and family in our driveway

            Roland is now back at work.  Bill has to go to Roseburg for an unexpected expense involving the car (another post) and my plan is to take Kayla and the kids to the library for story time and then we will have a picnic and drive around.  I'm tired.  I need to get dressed.  See that Jenna gets off to school.  She has talked Bill into taking her.

Holding Hands

            Modern Technology in some aspects has made our lives easier, but at the same time has seemed to create more challenges - particularly when there is a glitch or breakage.  Last week I had both my laptop and pc on my desk.  I could seem to receive the internet on my pc so long as my laptop was near - like an insecure child unwilling to go through with it on its own.  Oh, brother. 

            I've been using Internet Explorer on the PC as chrome seems to provide a tremendous amount of pop-ups (even though the blocker is set to BLOCK)  which is extremely annoying when taking an exam.  But lately I've been having issues with explorer as well.  I don't know why, but I have never liked Firefox.  And I can't open Yahoo in the PC at all.  

            I've been listening to the lectures on laptop just so I can set in a more comfortable chair than I can with PC.  My Management Instructor is quite knowledgeable of the subject, but he is soooooo monotone that I have a hard time keeping up.  Those voice patterns we call Siri and Alexa on our machines - they seriously put in more emotion into what they are saying (machines, mind you) than does my management instructor.  He does not sound robotic exactly.  His delivery  isn't even that exciting.

            I did not choose to attend the luncheon or games yesterday.  Often when I have two classes I have still made the effort to show up for either one or the other,  but somehow felt more pressed for devoting more time as I have two discussions, two assignments and two assessments for the week.    I would like to turn them in ASAP.  Once again I am shaking my head at the very idea of procrastination. 

            My goal for last week, this week and the next two are:

            1) to look up all my references on Monday so that I will have them available for discussion and possibly management assignment.

            2) snooze lecture on Tuesday morning - the subject really isn't that bad; it's his deliverance - or lack thereof.

            3) write the discussion posts and post them to the appropriate class

            4) sign into lecture of second class after it starts because I tried signing in early last week and as it turns out he is in another class and I ended up getting cut off.  Review takes about twenty minutes anyway.

            5) work on assignments for both classes.  Review.  Review.

            6) Review and correct if necessary and turn in either Wednesday night or Thursday morning

            7) take assessments.  But do not use chrome on PC.  check Yahoo emails on Laptop, take quizzes on laptop or use Firefox for PC. 

            So now I am done.  Except for the daily checkpoints (which can only be done per day) I am done for the week.  Hallelujah!  Frees up my Friday and Saturday for myself or house or community . . . away from the computer if I would like.

            I have had blog post ideas, but they have gotten lost in the shuffle of my mind.  I've also managed to squeeze in a few word puzzles during my breaks from the computer.  Currently I'm not reading anything leisurely.  The most interesting reading material I wish to look at lately has been whatever my sister posts to facebook.

August 21 Checklist

        Jenna had asked if her friend Kylee could spend the night.  They had planned for Monday night, but workday sleepovers did not work out well when she and Annette we better friends.  I told her it would be up to Roland.  He said yes and   Jenna created a list for the following day.

             Jenna's agenda for Monday, August 21:

 1) [Kylee]

 2) pool

3) eclipse

4) doughnuts

5) library

6) rays/goin’ postal

7) little shop 8 games . . .

9) something scary

10) bed. 

Allow me to explain:  First thing, we went to Kylee’s house to pick her up at 8:30 a.m..  Check off 1.  Next we went to the pool.  When we arrived, there was a note on the door:

A birthday bash is held at the pool each year on the Friday closest to the 21st.  We have missed all three years however. We were in Roseburg this year as I suspect other two as well.   I thought it was cool that the pool was getting an eclipse for its birthday (LOL) It was just Jenna, Kylee and me in the pool.  There were three lifeguards there.  What troopers, allowing us to be there.  They had even allowed the girls to go down the slide that had been turned on. Check off number 2. 

the large slide hadn't been turned on.  They went down this small one

I thought there would be more from the class as we had made reference to watching the solar eclipse from the pool.  Our instructor had a much better view as she was watching from a city closer to Madras.  We had accumulated several pairs of glasses since summer began and Miss J managed to give away all pairs except for one.  I had already given those to Roland figuring there were other pairs in the car.

hype

this was taken earlier this summer

Kylee had a pair - which she had torn in half so that both she and Jenna could watch at the same time.

 

  Kylee had wanted me to take her home for a half hour or so, but I thought we’d be watching the eclipse first.  I ended up driving to the park by myself as I didn’t know if I’d make it back in time to watch with Roland.  As I had mentioned before, neither Jenna nor I were all that impressed as we had been expecting to see the Corona.  I think a lot of people were as we made our way to Kylee's house and found many with paper glasses on their faces looking towards the sky.  They lost interest before the passing was complete.

courtesy of my brother-in-law (view from Utah)

 The skies seemed overcast.  Not as dark as we had anticipated.  The skies were really smoky that day and the next.  Worse than Medford was.  I had a killer headache – my breathing was almost as bad as it was in Utah.  Even Roland has been affected. Check off number 3.

Now Jenna was hoping I could take them to Happy Doughnuts – which is on the other end of town.  I was willing to drive them there, but did not want to make the drive just myself (I think driving up and down Old Pacific all day is what contributed to my leg becoming sore in the first place) and by the time I got to Ray’s (the local grocery store we call Rip-Off-Rays) there weren’t any maple bars (or many doughnuts of any variety for that matter)  Jaime specifically wanted maple bars because Monday was maple bar day at the Happy Doughnut; oh well . . .) so no check-off for number 4.

I had come home to change my pants and returned for Jenna and Kylee just before 11:00.  I hadn’t planned on adding laundry to the agenda, but realized that it needed to be done.  Kylee loaded my car full of cans and bottles to take to the recycling because each return of bar-coded bottle or can (has to be readable and not bent) add up at 10 cents a can, but I had to go to the library for summer reading before they could turn in the cans. 

It was our last day at the for the children’s reading program at the library and Jenna and I have been volunteering each Monday.  I don’t know how I became the story lady, but I have told stories at each event.  After story time we have had an activity except for the day of the solar eclipse.  Story time felt like an afterthought.  The children were more involved in the activities they had already started - which is okay.  Here are some samples of most of the activities that we did for the last two months:

 

we offered Lego activities two weeks in a row:
July 24 and 31

Sponge Bobs birthday was August 10

Solar Eclipse activity Aug 8

display case as of August 8

pin the eclipse over the sun

we created fairy gardens on Aug 14

house to go in the fairy garden

learning the planets on Aug 21

this was our last day of summer reading

tiles created on the last day

making slime Aug 21

cover photo for facebook page; rocks painted at the festival

Check off library.  So I took the girls to Rays, dropped them off with the five or six bags of cans, and went to the laundry mat.  I told them I’d meet them at Goin’ Postal – which is just next door to the strip mall (I guess you could call it that) where Ray’s is located.  It’s still a good walk. 

So we were home and up to number 7.  Both enjoy scary movies, though I don’t know why.  Little Shop of Horrors is not all that scary, but because  the plant arrives on the day of the full solar eclipse, Jenna decided they needed to watch it in honor of that day’s eclipse. But they had wanted to wait until it got darker.

 They started working on number 8.  Asking questions from board games mostly.  Kylee did have an opportunity of playing Balderdash with the rest of us as we introduced her to Family Home Evening.  Kylee fell asleep as they watched Little Shop and started from the beginning the next morning (after she had gone to the pool with us again of course - the smokiest day - not a good workout because we did not breathe the air) The girls were well behaved and at a lower volume than Jenna had been with Annette.

We returned Kylee to her house just after three.  I'd forgotten that I had agreed to work a shift at the library, and so had Jenna go with me as I did not have time to take her home.

The smoke had lifted by Wednesday morning.  Back to a better pool workout.