COVID 19 - The Coronavirus: Friday Blahs

My energy level took a hit Friday. We've been active, but I didn't feel much urgency and it ended up being a real quiet day.

I made Shane help with morning horse chores (he scooped a couple of poop piles), but home school was only half completed for the day.

It was a good day for a movie. Onward was released on Disney+. Carrie had wanted to see it in theaters, but a home theater was what we had!

We all really enjoyed it! We watched Ratatouille later in the day.

Shane got a lot of electronics. 

Like I said, it was a bit of a blah day for me. I didn't blog. Now I'm catching up with the backlog. I updated my work page, but I didn't send my weekly email out until Saturday. I tried to start an exercise routine the first couple of weeks of our "Corona Break," but the routine didn't stick. I should get that going again.

I did finish reading The Great Hunt. I don't think we're going to get to meet in person for book club this weekend due to the "stay at home."

It wasn't a terrible day, but it was one of "those" kind of days that normally don't get posted on social media or talked about.

And that's why I decided to talk about. These things happen. 

My cousin Kacy was in the Peace Corps in Morocco. She sent out a newsletter before they were evacuated with tons of awesome pictures and stories about a wedding, traveling, and the highlights of what she was up to. At the very end, she put the caveat about "Peace Corps service is a roller coaster." There were bad days, blah days, and great days. I like to read about all the big stories, but little notes to keep things real add hues to the highlights make them much richer.

And now, some random photos.

Carrie's been trying to teach Loki to sneeze on command. 

I've discovered his hair mats underneath his ears. I've been picking/combing it out, but I gave up and trimmed one side. My research said it's a problem for some Shelties.

He and Happy look happy in this picture, but there was a whine like Loki was dying the other day. He must have been too insistent on trying to lick Happy's butt and her rebuttal's aim was true.

Often when Happy does take a swing, it gets lost in his fur barrier. He's not great at reading subtle hints!

There's a run in built in "Maddie's lot." I'll post some pictures of the construction later.

I wanted to point out the cheese puff. Did the wind blow it in? From where? Or was that a snack from one of the two builders?

I thought it was ADHD funny.

Kinda like when I noticed the sun was heating up the clock in the bedroom.

It got a lot warmer outside, but not in the 90s! We had some 70 degree days at the end of the week after a cold and wet start!

I noticed my selfie camera mirrored images early this school year. My old counselor sent a picture of a kid who missed me and I sent a picture back holding a sign....that was mirrored. Was there a system update that switched the settings? Or had the camera always done that and I never noticed?

It's bugged me ever since I noticed. I normally manually flip the images....which I ADHD noticed makes for some odd combinations in the camera roll! 

Anyway, the Corona-life coverage will continue. Stay tuned.

Random Sunday Highlights

Still rainy.

After church, Shane wanted to balance on the bike racks (again). He gets it from me. I talked to him about having a 'T' base to be more stable.

Corran is walking around with her tail feathers up now that she and Shay have a new buddy (The feathers up are natural for the new hen). I suspect it's Corran's way of announcing she's the boss. She was put in 'time-out' in the other pen a while back for being aggressive with the silkies. Carrie threw Shay in to keep her company.

Post car rides, Shane is usually slow to get out of the car. He'll start to read something and I'll get out, take a picture of the chickens, walk around, and go inside. He'll still be sitting there when Carrie says, "Wait a minute....where's Shane!"

Carrie watches TV when she works. I normally turn it off when Shane and I show up. I've been exhausted from work and Sunday's a day of rest, though, so I left it on.

I did change it from Carrie's Log Horizon to the original Addams Family.

I had arranged a play date for Shane with Sam midday. It was pouring rain, but the boys were so 'lively' Paul let them run around in the mud outside. I laughed. These are Shane's dried shoes.

I would have loved to have hung out, helped and talked with Paul some, but Carrie had another task lined up. She had sold our mattress topper online and wanted me home to help with the pickup.

Shane wanted to show Carrie a game on ABCya when he got home. Unexpectedly, SHE got into it.

Then there was Pokemon.

And suddenly, it was bed time and the weekend was over.

Memorial Day 2018

It was going to rain all day,

We invited Sam to play.

Yes, electronics,

no loud tectonics,

And we had a happy day!

Limerick aside, it was a good day. The boys started looking at Pokemon cards...

...and then ran up to check out Shane's room.

Shane had been helping clean up the house. His definition of a clean room and mine are different.

The boys were stomping around too much for Carrie's liking with Nova (possibly) asleep.

I set the boys up with the SNES emulator and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The promised rain was long in coming. I easily could have taken them outside in retrospect.

I let them play the Pokemon TCG on the computer at Sam's request instead.

Sam hung around for three and a half hours. The boys gorged themselves on electronics and it was okay.

I did talk to Shane about what the day was for after Sam left. I kept it simple since he's young, but I like to keep it real.

Fun TV

Turns out SG-1 is on Hulu. Carrie and I started that series long, long ago in a townhouse before parenthood.

Carrie's had it on for her TV show to fall asleep to lately.

Unfortunately, some of the episodes are so much fun they capture my interest. It slows down the blogging.

How Could I Forget!?

I forgot a series to include on my list of favorite things Carrie and I have watched.

Full Metal Alchemist.

Specifically, Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood.

I saw the original series before Carrie. I recommended it to her and I think she watched it at our townhouse.

Then Brotherhood came out and turned everything up to 11.

We were able to stream a lot of it, but had to have Netflix mail DVDs for the last season, if I recall correctly.

I don't know if that would have been at the townhouse or our first house (probably townhouse).

Either way, the series deserved a shout out. We're between series (still), so the memory of a good series is always fun.

Then there's the series that will never be.....Terra Nova. Carrie and I watched the first season at our townhouse. It started slow, and then when we thought it started to show promise it was was cancelled.

Favorite TV Shows Per House

Carrie and I typically have a series or show we watch together at night to unwind. I thought it'd be fun to pick out my favorites. It's funny how each of my favorites has become inseparable from our home at the time (it's the memories of time spent together more than the show itself).

Without further ado....

My first apartment in Herndon - Definitely Ranma 1/2. I had a ton of anime and I thought it would appeal to Carrie's sense of humor....if the boob jokes didn't get me in trouble first.

My parents' basement - Star Trek the Next Generation. Carrie's a huge trekkie and it was the first major series we watched as a married couple while we waited for the contract on our townhouse.

Our townhouse in Centreville - Stargate SG-1. "You are not the only one to suffer discomfort, O'Neil" Teal'c. We had to wait for the Netflix DVDs to be delivered each time. It was 10 seasons worth of shared time!  HONORABLE MENTION: Star Trek DS-9 (my favorite Star Trek!)

CARRIE'S HONORABLE MENTION: Avatar the Last Airbender. She watched almost the whole series while I was shoveling snow during the Snowpacolypse (Amazing series that starts off looking like "just" a kid's show, btw).

Our house in Chantilly - TOUGH CALL. We actually went through multiple series that were incredibly memorable. I'll go with Dr. Who (The 9th and 10th Doctors respectively). I remember a great date night where Carrie made sukiyaki and David Tenant had to rescue people trapped in a hospital transported to the moon). HONORABLE MENTIONS: Sword Art Online (Best anime I've seen in recent years, but hindered in that Carrie crushed it in a couple of days) and Star Trek Voyager (Very slow to start, but got a lot better once the Borg came into play).

Our rented duplex - Sword Art Online Season 2 or Daredevil. We didn't spend THAT much time there together. SAO 2 was the only series we finished together that I recall (Otherwise I might have said Daredevil since that kicked off all the Netflix comic book heroes). We also watched some Fairy Tale.

Our house - MASH. Hands down. Great series. I liked it much better after the initial party seasons ended and Hunnicutt and Potter came into the picture.

Currently, we're on comic book overload. DC, Marvel, Oh my! There's too much out there now in my opinion. Carrie's enjoyed Once, but I never got into it (though I've seen episodes in the background from each season due to Carrie's binge habits and because she's seen it more than once).

Cable Television Notes - I do have very fond memories of watching the Winter Olympics with Carrie in Centreville and then again in Chantilly. We learned the rules for curling. Food Network Star was also a fun show that I used to talk about with Mom-mom. 

Jenny Meets Avatar Shane

Jenny, Carrie, and crew had a stressful horse day, so Jenny visited for dinner.

Carrie introduced Shane to Aang, so the adults could talk and play Codenames.

He might have liked it.

A lot.

He practiced/showed off a lot of air-bending when the TV went off.

We may have created a monster.

At least Jenny was amused.

The ink was washable and it may have smeared a little here and there.

It's nice that it's not my fault.

It will be my fault when I instigate Carrie to redraw the tattoos at her parents' house. I can imagine Grandma's reaction as a tattooed Shane tries to punch, spin, and kick across their living room now....

TMNT

Shane snuggled up in his favorite TV spot for something special.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - The 80s version.

It was a big hit!

It only took a couple of notes for Carrie to identify the theme.

Rainy Week = Movie Time

Cue song. Roll credits. Dance!

Watching DIfferences

Shane's TV experience is so different from mine growing up.

Me:

Watched the same episodes over and over.

Episodes were frequently out of order.

I had to wait and watch at network designated times, rent a tape, or watch a recorded episode on tape (VHS).

Sometimes watched parts of episodes because I got to the TV late or that's all that got recorded.

Anything on TV had commercials.

Shane:

Watches episodes in order.

Sees an episode once, maybe twice, and then Carrie and I are ready for the next.

He'd rewatch them more if he could.

Episodes stream on demand. No more missed moments. Pause and start when ready.

Has access to any show at any time....if we'd let him.

I limit Shane's TV to less than 2 hours a day, because I want him to stay active. Some TV is great (and a parent lifesaver), but I don't want it to be at the expense of playing, interacting, and wearing himself out for bedtime.

Documentary Kick

Carrie and I have been on the Smithsonian channel lately. They have a great series called The Real Story that investigates the history behind movies and characters (The inspiration for Indiana Jones, Hunt for Red October, Jurassic Park, James Bond...). We started Patterns of Evidence: Exodus the other night.

And some nights, I put Shane to bed and come down to a scenario like this:

We don't watch much then! (Though, I did watch something on Camp X after Carrie fell asleep on me one day).

PS - Saturday night, we watched about the introduction of sewers to Chicago. That doesn't sound awesome, but it was awesome. Where else can you hear about traffic stopping so a house can cross the street?

Old Cartoons

Thanks to the technology, Shane can re-live my childhood TV viewing experience, but improved.

There are no commercials or set times when the shows come on. Entire series can be binge watched in sequence and paused for bathroom breaks. DVDs and streaming allow for pin-point and instant rewind/fast-forward action.

Shane started on Ducktales and Rescue Rangers before the snowtastrophe. Carrie and I were sick of Little Einsteins. We have DVDs of Talespin and Darkwing Duck, too. During the snow days, I let Shane start Voltron. He loves it. There were a cluster of episodes I never knew existed.

The danger here is to dwell too much in the past. I don't think many of Shane's future friends will know what Exosquad or Centurions are. Shane needs to be able to connect with his peers not mine. I can reminisce about the shows and toys with my friends, but those toys don't exist on store shelves now (and many 80s cartoons were not-so-secretly 30 minute long commercials......and awesome). 

On a side note, I started to make a list of cartoons I wanted to share with Shane from my childhood. I was well past 40 shows with episodes I could vividly remember when I stopped. How much TV did I watch as a kid anyway?

The First Grounding

Shane was grounded from TV Sunday. He watched two hours of it while I was at the doctor's Saturday. Then, when it was turned off, he cried and whined. 

"Shane," I said, "you should say 'Thank you' after you get to watch a lot of TV." 

He refused. 

I gave him another chance and appended "If you can't be thankful for the TV you do get, you won't get any TV tomorrow. It's your choice: Will you say 'Thank you' for the episodes?" 

Well, he made his choice. I even got it on video (on the third offer) to make sure he didn't try and play the 'I forgot' card.

I know I can't make him feel grateful. I can make it clear that he should be. Manners count. At the minimum Shane needs to learn to do a cost-benefit-analysis when offered an ultimatum (Two words to assuage feelings and avoid trouble OR refuse and go without TV until Monday. Hmmm....).

It would have been nice to take a TV break Sunday, but we stayed busy. There was no moratorium on fun, only TV.

For example, we fished for O's on the tic-tac-toe board. It was Shane's idea. I wanted to play.

Then we went on a walk and found a rock. Shane keeps his rock collection in a purple pumpkin on the front porch.

This rock was special, though. Every time Shane threw it in the yard and lost it, the rock would re-appear in the pumpkin (remember the magic oven?).

Shane got so excited he would throw the rock and charge the porch.

I told him there was a 'cooldown timer' and it took the rock a while to wander home (perhaps through a tunnel?). I also said, "Shane, you have to give Daddy time to look for the rock if it's going to reappear!" Blatantly obvious if you ask me, but Shane was lost in the magic of the moment. We threw a bunch of tennis balls and hunted for them in the grass, too.

Monday morning, the first words Shane asked me: "Daddy, can I watch two episodes now?"