The Big Pause - Day 27 - April 7 - Neighbourhood Trail Complete

Carter and I went back to finish the trail today. Yesterday we had done the top half which was mostly hidden from view so we didn't have to worry about anyone seeing us but today we were doing the lower half which has an open area that is quite visible to people walking by. We moved quickly and managed to get the main trail cut through. I may go back to do a bit of trimming on the edges but for now it's a fully functional trail connecting two streets that didn't exist before.

After work Carter and I went to Canadian Tire to pick up his new basketball hoop. We ordered it online and selected curbside pickup since having it delivered was another $75. For the curbside pickup you don't even have to get out of the car though we did have to go to Receiving since the box was quite big. I still stayed 2 meters away from anyone we saw. Unfortunately the parking lot was quite busy so people aren't doing very good at avoiding public spaces.

Callie attempted to make cookies out the "Bake with Anna" cookbook. Unfortunately there was a typo in the number of minutes to bake and we almost set off the smoke alarm. We checked on line and it was definitely a typo.

The Big Pause - Day 26 - April 6 - Starting a Trail

Kerry has sorted out her regular schedule and will now be spending Monday's and Tuesday's at work. Monday will be with her principal and secretary and Tuesday will be just her and the secretary. She's very excited that her secretary has a Starbucks near her that has a drive through. The one near us doesn't and has been closed for the past few weeks. I'm not entirely sure what the logic is in having administration on site other than perhaps to be there in case any teachers need access to resources. They keep their distance from each other and have to tell their janitor where they were each day for deep cleaning.

Callie is still waiting on direction from her school. It's taking longer for high school because each teacher has to interact with a lot more students. They promised something would be set up by the end of the week.

Carter and I spent lunch time working on our new trail. It's coming along nicely and we should be wrapped up by tomorrow. We have to be a bit sneaky because I'm sure some neighbor will ask what we're doing. As I've mentioned we've kept the path to where the new road will go so all of this will eventually be cleared. The odd part was when I checked under a log that was essentially in the middle of the bush and found some weird clown made out of a dolls head and seashells. I leaned it up against a tree and Carter said I had to hide it. I can just imagine some poor kid getting that as a gift and feeling the need to run into the bushes to bury it. I brought it home and disposed of it. Hopefully I'm not cursed.

The Big Pause - Day 25 - April 5 - Exploring the Neighbourhood

Another normal Sunday for us. Carter won't let a Sunday go without pancakes and bacon. Even if we have to miss it for some reason he finds way of working it in later in the week so its best to just do it right on Sunday. I was then tasked with going for groceries. We've given up on going to Superstore as it was getting too crazy. Our local market is much more manageable. There is of course no toilet paper unless you go first thing in the morning but most other things are in stock. I've noticed their meat section is empty now. I don't know if that's because they are concerned about COVID or if people just aren't going often enough to buy fresh.

Carter and I attempted to go to the park to play some basketball. We didn't plan on playing with anyone when we got there and the park is usually pretty empty so we felt we were meeting our physical distancing requirements. Unfortunately it seems the City of Surrey isn't trusting anyone and not only was the playground taped off, the basketball hoops all had a piece of plywood installed. Carter now has me looking into buying a basketball hoop for our front yard. I've never felt it was necessary since the school is 200 meters away but I guess it makes sense to get one now. More research on that tomorrow.

On our way back, we decided to check out some recently built houses that are for sale. They are on a new road that ends in a dead end. I was hoping there would be a trail that we could take to the next road over. Unfortunately there wasn't one so I was excited to explore the idea of doing some trail blazing with Carter. I got to do that as a kid in PG but it's not an easily executed past time in the big city. In this case, there is a sign that explicitly says that the road will eventually be extended. My feeling is we're just helping them get started. It's about 100m and today we managed to get the basic pathway defined. Over the next week we'll get rid of the smaller plants and make sure all bigger branches are cut out of the way. It will actually be quite useful as a short cut for people looking to travel between the two sheets. It's a public service really.

Dinner was bbq chicken wings and Callie made twisted bread. It was delicious with strawberry Jam.

The Big Pause - Day 24 - April 4 - Night At the Movies

The weekend started like any other Saturday. Even though we are all home most of the time now we still plan on treating the weekends like weekends. One of the items on my to do list is to try to deal with my new front yard friend. I usually have some crazy backyard project going on with the neighbors wondering what I'm doing and this year looks similar except there is no major project. All I did was clean up the garden beds and rake up underneath the cedar trees in our back yard and I ended up with a dump truck load of debris.

My task for today was to try to get the large pieces cut down so they would fit in our green bin. I could probably take it all to the dump but there is a charge and I'm not even sure if they are accepting residential right now. Ordinarily you can put out extra cans but right now they are only picking up the ones the truck will automatically load. This means I'm able to get one bin out a week. Should take about a month though I'm trying to hurry things along by putting stuff in the neighbor bins early in the morning. After they've moved it to the curb of course.

Kerry and Callie went to the dance studio near our house and picked up a floor matte which would make some of Callie's home dance practices a bit easier. I spent the afternoon getting preparing parts for finishing up the mantle around our fire place. We got a new fire place and the new one is a bit bigger so I have to raise the mantle by three inches.

The best part of the day was family movie night. We all watched "The Rise of Skywalker" and we ordered Cineplex popcorn for the experience. It was okay but I suspect they are not getting a lot of orders so the popcorn was a bit stale. It probably works better when movies are playing and they can send fresh popcorn.

The Big Pause - Day 23 - April 3 - McDelivery

Today started with a much better family meeting. Everyone showed up on time and I think people are liking the routine. Callie had some things she needed to bring up and we planned our day. Carter had walk, weights, reading and TV and we discussed the idea of assigning 'house helpers' to particular chores each week. We'll sort that out on Monday. Callie had reading, dancing, walking and she focused our planning on the evening since it was Friday.  My big item for the day was that the hot tub repair man was showing up in the afternoon. The bearings went on the motor and it needed to be replaced. I had been without my nightly soak for two weeks.

Dinner plans included McDelivery for Carter and I. It went quite well. Faster than if we had gone ourselves and it was hot when it arrived. Kerry and Callie walked to pick up Sushi. We now also have a family routine in the evening during the week that involves Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. The hot tub was fixed and I managed to get it filled and heated by night time. Next up is our first real weekend which I suspect is going to feel a lot like the week with less time in front of the computer.

The Big Pause - Day 22 - April 2 - Setting Up an office

Family meeting day didn't go as well as it did on yesterday. I don't think Callie likes the idea that we will are committing to do this every day with no specific end day in site. There was minimal contribution from her but I think she was still glad she knew what everyone else was going to do. Carter had a walk to Fresh Street with Kerry planned as well as reading and TV. I also committed to doing a weights class after lunch. We found a 10 minute you tube video on arms and managed to do most of it. We should have picked lighter weights. We finished off Carter's day with a lesson on the camera. The batteries were low so we didn't get too far.

Kerry was starting to settle into her new office space. We have the old computer that Carter uses to watch Netflix and a space for Kerry and her laptop. I think this might be the new permanent home for this table. It's nice having an office area in the house. Callie did her dance but because she never told Carter he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He managed to survive the encounter. I had to switch to a kitchen table chair because the office chair I was using keeps going down on it's own. We ordered a new one from Amazon but it's not expected to arrive until May. Could be longer since I haven't been charged yet.

The Big Pause - Day 21 - April 1 - Getting into a Routine

It's not exactly clear when the first day of 'The Big Pause' is. The first case was diagnosed in Wuhan in November of 2019 and problems escalated for months after that. It became real for us on March 12th, 2020 because that was when BC recommended against travel outside of Canada. This was the moment when we cancelled our trip. That would make today Day 21.

We started the day with our first 8:00 am family meeting. Our first couple days of what was supposed to be school had a few hiccups. There was no routine and plans for lunch, dinner and other events were not communicated resulting in hurt feelings. The family meeting is designed to plan the day, set goals and make sure everyone knows what everyone else is doing. Day one went well.

Carter still had no direction from his teachers so we set simple goals. He had to set a schedule and keep to it. His schedule involved a walk with Kerry at noon, hot dogs for lunch and some reading and TV time. He kept to his schedule.

Callie's schedule had already started to take on a routine. She went on the spin bike in the morning, took the schnoodle for a walk at 11:00 am and there were dance classes online from noon to 2:30. She doesn't like to admit it but she likes to have a schedule.

I did my work day and made sure to get my bike ride in at lunch. I had to make the hot dogs and we had hamburgers for dinner. A new event was also added for Kerry and Callie. One of Kerry's teachers was hosting a Zumba class.

I"m catching up on blogs now but as soon as I do I"ll also give an update on what's happening in the world and my predictions for the future. We'll see whether I'm any good at predicting the future.