The Big Pause - Day 48 - April 28 - What Day is this?

The days are really starting to blend together. I feel that something interesting happened yesterday (I'm writing this the next day) but I can't think of what. I put the second coat of paint on the box during the day but that was done by the end of the work day. I went for a bike ride at lunch which was nice. I've found a new path that follows the power lines. I've done other portions of this right of way before but this was the first time I came at it from 168th. I'm going to try to keep following this in both directions to see where it goes. It's quite wide and goes through some wooded areas that are nice. Another day done.

The Big Pause - Day 47 - April 27 - Fertilizing

Now that the box was constructed I needed to head to Rona to get some paint. I've used grey floor paint for foot traffic applications in the past so that was the tentative plan here as well. This time though I wanted something that was non slip. I figured there was probably floor paint with grit but I only needed a small container and it only came by the gallon. Luckily there was a product that allows you to add grit to any paint. You put on a coat, embed the grit and then do a second coat. Appears to have worked great. This was a simple project but was actually a project I had wanted to do for a while. There are two of these boxes at my gym at work. One is poorly constructed and the other is constructed similar to how I've done this one. I wanted to make one of the well constructed ones.

While I was at Rona I picked up some lawn fertilizer and a few more veggie plants for the garden. My peas didn't come up at all, even though my sweet peas did. I really need to do more research into figuring out what the best time to plant different seeds are. Guessing isn't working out. I wasn't planning on doing lawn fertilizer but with the seeding the grass was various shades of green and just looked bad. Hopefully a quick fertilizer will even things out.

The Big Pause - Day 46 - April 26 - Assembling a Box

It's Sunday and Callie finished up her second Baby Yoda crochet project. I remain amazed at how quickly she can learn a new skill with just the internet. She taught herself crochet without any guidance from a real person. Baby Yoda is my favorite crochet project of hers so far. She made one for herself and a second one for her friend Caroline. The final touches included a tiny face mask and a wet wipe attached to his hand. I really want to make this my profile picture on Facebook but I don't want to take credit for her work.

I finished up the construction on the box. Cutting the plywood was easy. I just had to pick the dimensions and make sure that they were the same for all associated pieces. After that I created a three tab system of joinery. This way each piece has good support. Initially I thought I was going to have to add internal supports but as it came together I realized it was going to be strong enough with just plywood and screws. A simple hand hold and some glue and it's ready for a paint job. I found some grit to add to the paint to make it non skid. Hopefully it works out as I've never done this before.

The Big Pause - Day 45 - April 25 - Building a Box

It's the weekend again. Time for another physically distant shopping trip. Some friends of ours asked me to build one of those boxes that you jump up onto for exercise. After some research I've also discovered there are a number of psychometric exercises you can do with it. I needed some Baltic Birch plywood and luckily Windsor Plywood is still open. I'm still not clear on what places are closed. I wasn't sure what to expect and it seems they have interpreted physical distancing as doing your shopping for you. All the aisles are closed and you just ask them to get what you want.

I managed to get what I needed and headed home to build what is effectively just a box but of course I had to make it more complicated. More on that tomorrow when I finish assembly. I spent most of the afternoon on construction and in between steps I helped Carter with another baking project. He found a cake he wanted to try in the "Baking with Anna" cookbook. It's a sponge cake with cream cheese icing and Strawberry's mixed with strawberry jam. She really knows her recipes. There always seems to be an extra step or some extra ingredients but once it comes together you see why. The lemon juice and cream cheese in the icing was delicious and the strawberry jam really adds to the strawberry layer. The only thing we've noticed with her cookbook is that she seems to underestimate the cook time. We think she may have a more advanced oven or perhaps our oven is just a little on the cool side. We will definitely be making this again.

The Big Pause - Day 44 - April 24 - Cactus Club and a New Chair

Callie and Kerry were up early for another bird watching hike with Pete. I think they saw a deer this time which is better than their previous outings. For dinner today we tried to order from Olive Garden but it seems they don't want to deliver to us and we weren't really interested in going to pick it up.We're only 15 minutes away but I guess they are getting enough business from nearby. Instead we got Cactus club which was good except they seemed to be giving out smaller portions. My new office chair arrived today. Amazon had indicated it would not arrive until May so I was pleasantly surprised when it came early. The book looked a little rough as if someone had returned it previously but it seems good enough for us and all the parts were there. Our old one still works but it won't stay up and is quite torn so it made sense to get one considering I need it all week.  I wasn't sure what I was getting with an online order . It was an 'Amazon Basics' so I figured it would probably be okay. Looks good so far.

The Big Pause - Day 43 - April 23 - Ballet in the Family Room

Callie has been working some solo dance routines for the past several weeks. I'm actually not sure what they are for but she needed to perform them for the camera. She did all the choreography herself and we moved all of the furniture out of the family room to give her room to perform. She wore one of the costumes from the recital last year. No recital scheduled for this year.

I also took a trip to Rona. I haven't been in a couple weeks but Callie needed a new light bulb and although not an emergency it seemed like a reason to get out. Rona has done okay with the plexiglass shielding for their cashiers but they aren't doing great at the social distancing. I saw several staff interacting directly with customers with no masks and there was a line up space at the front door but no one counting or preventing people from just walking in so in my opinion there were too many people in the store. I find it interesting how people go out of their way to move to the other side of the aisle as you walk by. I suppose that's a good thing but still seems odd.

The Big Pause - Day 42 - April 22 - Spring Rain, Tires and Garbage Day

It was raining today and it was the most rain we've had in several weeks. I was glad to finally have a good spring rain and I think the plants were too. Some of the plants like the Peonies, Bleeding Heart and and Lily of the Valley grew several inches. The combination of light, warmth and water must have been a strong sign. I haven't had a chance to fertilize the grass so it's a bit patchy, especially with the areas where I've reseeded. They are quite green while other areas aren't quite as full. Still looking good considering there was a pool sized patch missing just a few weeks ago.

The other excitement of the day started early. I had attempted to drop the car off for a change a few weeks ago but they were only taking appointments and nothing was available so we had our summer tires sitting at our front door waiting. We've got the summer tires on but no where to go.

It was also garbage day. The front yard garden pile is almost done. One more week and I can finally clean the front driveway.