quarantine chronicles, week 3

entering into the third week of quarantine time, i started to think that something was going to have to change in the household if we were going to be successful in the long term. the childcare/homeschool situation is a lot of work, and in the absence of school or another helper, it was looking like too much for david (who is incredibly kind and patient and capable and honestly never complained at all). but he was trying to work his usual 40+ hours per week in the attic home office, care for the kids while i was at work all day long, and create learning opportunities for them, feed them and keep them from killing one another, all while work got busier for him.

it was around this same time that it became obvious that the students were mostly not returning to campus, and therefore not much in need of their student health services, and the clinic was quiet. a bank of COVID related leave time became available for UW employees who were out of work for family or infection related needs, and i luckily got to take advantage of this by paring my working hours down to 3 days every other week for the whole month of april. it was a huge relief and something significant to look forward to: time at home, relief for david, and minimal exposure risk to infection by staying home more. madison and dane county infection rates remained lower than predicted, and staying home appeared to be working.

but of course, life still happened despite the quarantine: friends had birthdays, kids needed to learn and be active, bodies had to be exercised.

empty junky garage about to be torn down (we hope? we think so?) and bored kids and spray paint leftovers turned into a solid hour of homeschool activity under the watchful eye of their father....

a sunshine day hike at devil's lake was a total highlight, when the most popular state parks were still open. (spoiler: they're not open anymore).

check out my colorful camoflauge, and take my word for it: my pink shirt matched the rose colored baraboo quartz perfectly, and my pants were a perfect match for the grey green of the lichen on the stones. i was basically invisible.

looks like homeschooling that week also included animal sketching (probably a deep dive into biology and the study of comparative anatomy, if i had to guess),

and agricultural studies including chicken herding.

the kids walked us through the harrowing physical challenge of cookie-on-face and other minute to win it challenges. turns out david is really good at working that oreo down from his forehead to his mouth by simply flexing his facial muscles. i think the beard helped.

uh, i don't even know what this is. it's probably influenced by the tiger king on netflix (which the kids did NOT watch, but we did and it's horrible/amazing).

lots of scrabble as, ummm, english class?

david also planned a water sampling experiment for the kids in tenney park, and subsequent water specimen analysis. things got pretty engaging when they saw little swimming organisms. 

meanwhile, quiet days in the clinic afforded me time to take solo sunshine walks through campus, and the absence of people and silence of the sidewalks is eerie. and magical.

this is the week of quarantine when hand delivered gifts started to really take off amongst the neighbor friends. discovering little treats on the front steps on a near daily basis has been an incredible source of joy and feeling of connection when isolation has been the overall vibe. here are some super yummy hand made pretzels that showed up warm.

and kate had a birthday, and our dinner out for her celebration was cancelled, so instead we zoomed. in wigs. sure thing.