The Strange Days of 2020

We are all living in a strange time.  Lockdowns, illness, worry, fear, and sadness.  Loneliness and losses.  Covid 19.  Election year blues.  Schools were closed and kids worked from home with their parents.  We stayed home.  The struggle is real and I fight daily bouts of anxiety and fear of another loss that will kill me.  Or of not being able to keep going on the daily to fight another day.  I am still struggling daily to find meaning in what I am doing, especially now when I am seeing news that sucks and is ugly in a world that seems ugly too.  I am saddened by it all and I worry daily about my people and their people staying well and being able to keep going.  I keep F'ing going though.  Every day.

Home for me is not so bad.  I always have lots of things to do - from housework to yard work to quilting and designing - there is always plenty to keep from getting bored.  Hubby also does not mind being a home body.  He is usually home anyway if there are no wells to be drilled or equipment to be worked on.  Our 4.5 acres always has some type of landscaping or work that needs done on the gardens. This year I did some work on a set of steps that  go from the yard and slide to the garage door area.  The last time it was done was 5 years ago and Rye re did that area for me for Mothers day.  It took him about 4 hours.

This is what it looked like to start with now on the left.  and on the right in process putting down the pavers and rocks and the landscape fabric.

Here it is finished.  It took me two weeks of pretty solid days of work to get it done.  No 4 hour job here!  I put in some new plants including some Thyme to creep among the pavers and rocks, and some lavender for luck, as well as some Jacobs ladder and (after pictures) a wonderful Iris.  It should last another 5 years.  Blessing us with beauty.

Many of our friends have lost jobs or are laid off for a while or in deep fear of losing their jobs. We (Ace Water Wells) are considered an essential business in the Covid world.  Fortunately most of our work is outdoors and social distancing is easy!  Water is pretty important when you are supposed to keep everything clean and sanitized and wash your hands every 20 minutes!  So even though the year started out slow drilling wise, we have survived and are still working.    Happy to be working whenever we can.  Keeping it slow and safe.  

Below photo - Water for coffee in Big Lake, Alaska.  Perfect Start Espresso Shop

My school will reopen in mid-August, with an adjusted schedule and a different flow of traffic.  One way!  We are wearing masks.  I will be the "masked secretary"!  We are also having sports - so important to our kids and their mental health.   Do I have some fears?  Absolutely.  Already said I do and so do a lot of our community.  Together we will get through.

I have made over 300 masks total. It is what I can do with the skills that I have to help the community.  Most were donated to great places that needed them and I still make a couple a week so I have some on hand to give away if needed.  I still prefer the ones with ties and I have been able to have almost matching mask with work outfit every day so far.  They at least kind of match my shoes.  Not my socks though - my socks of the day are usually naughty!  My most recent socks say "the universe is kind of a dick!"  And it is!  I want to flip the Universe off on the daily!  They are blue and I could match masks but they are not appropriate to have those words on my face!  You know.....  I have a great pair that say "Neato Burrito" and also a pair that say "You are not the boss of me"!  I love them all.  They keep me going when I need a pick me up during the day - or if someone ticks me off I can hold up my foot and even if they don't know what I am doing and it seems really weird - it makes me feel a little better that I told them - even if it was just with my invisible socks!!!

This Pandemic has given us time for some things, like that yard work, but has also stolen from us as well - most notably time with our people.  We aren't supposed to go see our elders, the kids are afraid to come around in case they would give it to us.  My son who works often out of town worries that his travels will bring it home.  The girls who lived with us both work in the medical field and they worry that they might bring it if they should visit.  Don't gather in groups - so no card night or game day.  Lest we be shamed for trying to "kill Grandpa and Grandma"!  No one in the family or anywhere wants to be "patient zero" of the Covid epidemic!

I was able to finish the original 15 minute quilt  (see the post here about it) - the Bear Paw Pattern with 25 different gold fabrics on a Blueberry Batik background.  I am in love with it. It is at the quilters as we speak and it will probably be mine forever.  It will take a VERY grand cause to make me give this one away - I think....maybe....we'll see!  Without the COVID time it probably would have taken me another year to finish this in 15 minute increments.  I have about 10 other projects started now that I can "15 minute" along if I need to!  Stay tuned for a little photo gallery of the quilts I have finished since lockdown started - I just have to wait to show some of them as they are gifts that have not been given yet!  Special projects for special people and special occasions.  Some little joys.

I went and helped a friend rescue some plants and flowers from the bulldozer - literally!  A new subdivision is being built on an old homestead and when they tore down the older house they left the flower beds so we could go "guerrilla garden" retrieval in that yard.  I got more than 21,000 steps that day and got some great plants!  I was unable to do a whole lot the next day and my back is still a little tweaked!  Totally worth it though!  I forgot to take pictures while I was on site - remembered when I got home!

Left to right - honeysuckle with trollius in it.  Lillies - Center.  Garlic Allium that has a beautiful bloom.  It was about 90 degrees the day we had to move these which is not ideal, but they have all recovered nicely and are in new homes here on the farm!

One of my favorite things was.... of course.... these awesome ROCKS!!  Look at those "Bobby Dazzlers"!  They have all also found homes here, part of them in the paver stairs area pictured above.  

I still have a TON of yard things to do before snow comes (or lots of rain which is usual for August), and the garden is getting close to harvest time.  The squash and the greenhouse both were over the top amazing this year!  Stay tuned for a couple of recipes with squash and other garden delights!  There will also be plenty of cabbage for sauerkraut this year!  I'll keep you posted on how that turns out.

Until next time - Be safe, Be Well, and Blessed Be!