May 16 Saturday
I ran 10 miles this morning, 6 at marathon pace. This time I committed to making the pace for the marathon pace miles. At first I was using a run/walk ratio of 90/30 but that wasn’t near enough running for my rather ambitious goal, so I went to 1:15/30 instead. This worked, although for the last two miles even that wasn’t quite enough. But there is a law of diminishing returns. Eventually too much running will slow me down. It’s very possible that my current goal is too much. But with San Francisco cancelled, I’m not even sure that I will even run a virtual marathon at the end of the training period. So what the hell, I’ll keep trying and just see how it feels. It’s going to get harder, more miles, more fast runs. We’ll see how it goes.
The rest of the day was lazy, watching the rain roll in. Most of it seems to be going slightly north of us. Too bad. So strange to think how crazy wet last year was, and this year we have to water.
May 17 Sunday
The rain is swirling around us, being pushed by a tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico, up the Mississippi Valley, and around Minnesota. We got over 2 inches of rain last night and I won’t be surprised to find out that we got another 2 inches, or more, today. It has been raining, hard, all day long.
FaceTimed with Daniel and Sarah (and Kirby) today. We were talking about states entering “phase 2” and how our actions would change, if at all. The biggest changes for us are still several months away. Sarah is talking about trying to find a nanny when she returns (remotely) to work. How that would work within our bubble remains to be seen. They would have to give up their place at their daycare, but there is no other way to do it, unless we take up watching children full time. (Note: as of June they are planning on sending the kids back to daycare in the fall and we are watching them full time from late July until September. Stay tuned!) Travel that involves planes is not likely this summer, so Daniel and Kelsey will probably not be able to come, although maybe by fall it will be safer. (Note 2: they are coming, but they are driving, and they're going to stay for a couple weeks, working remotely.) Lee’s musings about business travel are unlikely as well. Daniel said that his office has said to plan on working from home for the rest of the year. And depending on how long this goes on he and Kelsey might decide to leave SF, because if they can work remotely, and they don’t have to commute, and all the things that make a City fun are unavailable, why pay the exorbitant rents for nothing?
In the meantime Lee and I talk about fun things to do. The brunch meal we got from Bellecour was so delicious that we think we might try dinner from them sometime too. And Sarah says the bbq from Tennet was really good. I’m skeptical since we have yet to experience good bbq in Minny, but it’s worth a shot.
May 20 Wednesday
A friend in New Hampshire told us today that one of her husband's co-workers has tested positive for covid 19. He had a heart attack and had to go to the hospital so he was tested. Both my friend and her husband were tested. Her husband is positive, my friend is not, so far (Note 3 - she had 3 tests and never tested positive). Everyone is asymptomatic. They have been socializing distantly with other friends (outside, 6 feet apart) so now they need to be tested too. Its such a bummer. They are not sure how her husband caught it. He rode in the car with his coworker several times and although they were both wearing masks its a small space to be in together. Someone probably touched something and then inadvertently touched his face.
Lots of fun hanging out with Leo (and then with Sarah and Kirby too) on Monday and Tuesday. On Monday Leo and I cleaned the bedrooms. Leo went on a walk with his tricycle (that has a handle so an adult can push him as needed) and grampa. We also made bread, which he thoroughly enjoyed. He poured a little salt from one measuring cup to another and helped to form the loaves. Then when it was finished he had a piece with butter and jelly. AND he took a loaf home with him to mom and dad.
On Tuesday Leo and I made chocolate cookies. It was messy and delicious. Those cookies are the best, I have to ration myself or I’ll eat them all. Sarah and I and Kirby (in a snuggly) and all the dogs went for a walk during nap time. Nap time was unsuccessful for Leo. Lee bought Leo a little nap pad with a built in quilt and pillow but it was far too exciting for sleeping. And he pooped mid nap. After a clean diaper they gave up and set up the packnplay but by then he was too worked up for sleeping. I’m sure he snoozed in the car on the way home.
It was a beautiful afternoon so we sat out on the screened porch. We let Leo take off his shoes and socks and go barefoot in the grass. We showed him how he could get the screened door open all by him self and he had a great time going in and out. We’ll work on not slamming the door some other time.
May 21. Thursday.
Well that was stupid. A young police officer showed up around 5:30 pm to do our multiple dog owner inspection. We had asked that he wear a mask and he did, as did we. I asked him to take off his shoes and he did that also. The dogs were very good, waited politely for him to come in. He wanted to make sure we had a fence in the backyard, he didn’t care at all that it’s a temporary dog fence. He wanted to see where we fed them and that they had water. That was it! What a waste of everyone’s time, and an unnecessary exposure to someone outside our bubble.
The only dog that cared about getting petted was Cosmo, and the officer did pet him quite a bit. I had told myself before the visit that I would sanitize anything he touched, but didn’t think about sanitizing a dog! “Could we spray him with Lysol?” Asked Lee. Uh, no. But we had some peppermint scented hand sanitizer so we sprayed his fur with that and rubbed it in. Now Cos smells delicious!
May 23. Saturday.
I ran 14 miles this morning at what’s called a “long run” pace, which is a little bit faster than my easy run pace. It rained on and off and my stomach was upset, but other than that it was a pretty nice run. I chose a hilly route so it was sort of challenging. I ran part of the way on Minnewashta Parkway, but turned around too soon, so I ran up and down a few side streets on the way back to add on the 2 miles I was missing. Made for a math workout with a tired brain but it came out almost exactly right in the end.
Yesterday I dug out a border along the rain garden/vernal pool/pond and planted some of the new plants we bought. Still have more to do but now I’ve got to wait for the rain to stop and things to dry out a little.
May 25. Monday, Memorial Day.
I worked on the pond border some more yesterday. I planted some red twig dogwood on the opposite side of the pond. They are just little twigs now but hopefully soon they will come out of dormancy. So many things are starting to bloom, including all kinds of wildflowers along the rail trail. I saw columbine and phlox this morning. I’m making mental notes of things I’d like to eventually add to my wildflower garden.
May 27. Wednesday.
Monday afternoon we went over to Sarah and Erik’s for Memorial Day. I went to set the alarm system as we left and I couldn’t. The keypad was dead. I checked Simplisafe and apparently it died back in mid-April. I don’t think the 2 of us have gone anywhere together in a long time! All I had to do to fix it was change the batteries.
Yesterday was a Leo day. Lee made him a sandbox and that was a big hit. Scooping and digging. But in the morning Lee was outside laying pipe for our homemade irrigation system and that was a lot more interesting than the sandbox. I had to come outside and supervise Leo so that Lee could get something done while Leo helped! Lee also took him up into the new pontoon boat which is sitting in the gravel driveway right now while Lee does a little work on it. Leo was seriously into driving it. Just wait until its in the water!
Leo ate lunch and then went upstairs for his nap around 12:45. He slept a little bit but not very long. Around 2 pm we started hearing loud thumping noises and then “MEEMAW! MEEEEEEMAWWWWW!!” When I went upstairs to get him he had knocked all the books off of one of the book shelves. “I put them back,” he offered, and he did, after a fashion. He also said, “Its ok!” Well no, not really Leo, but you are so funny I could hardly be angry! Grandchildren are so much fun!
We hung up the hummingbird feeder before I took him home. We also showed him pictures of hummingbirds. I hope one comes to the feeder sometime when he is here!
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