May 10-16, 2020 Henry Surgery, Last Week Grace Classes, Heather's Box, Planting Garden

May 10-16, 2020 

Henry Surgery, Last Week Grace Classes, Heather's Box, Planting Garden, FROST!

Hello Friends!

What a big week; we had four major things happen.  The weather was very cold!  We had temps in the twenties.  I had to wrap our garden's hoop houses in plastic to keep our greens happy.  The greens (kale, spinach, lettuce) would have survived the cold, but I didn't want to take any chances.  Usually, after May 10th we don't have temps below freezing, but this year was an exception.

Henry: Surgery

Our rescue English Shepherd that we adopted in August 2018 has been struggling with a little tumor hanging on his right ear; about the size of a grape.  The tumor has grown and Henry has been scratching it; which has caused it to bleed and get messy.  This week I decided to call the vet, even though I've tried to hold off due to the lock-down here in Michigan because of COVID 19.  After a few hoops, he had surgery to get the tumor removed.  Although the vet didn't think it looked like cancer it turned out to be so.  It was Basal Cell Carcinoma; a skin cancer that I've had repeatedly myself.  He has stitches and will need to go back in nine days to get them removed.  I totally overreacted to the news and took the cancer diagnosis badly.  I felt like I was kicked in the gut!  My dad died of skin cancer and I felt rather crushed hearing Henry had cancer.  

Hiking with Henry:
Our daily hikes have been going great; except Friday and Saturday after his surgery when he was tired and recovering and we kept it short.  I'm so thankful for our time together in the woods!  

Mother's Day:

Our family doesn't really do much for Mother's Day, but this year Dd did give me a gift which was lovely.  She made me a watercolor of a Black-Caped Chickadee.  

Church:
Dh and I continue to watch our sermons at home.  Our church streams the sermons on a live stream.  I've been donating to our local food bank (FROM) and Feeding America with our tithe money since we've been home.  I just really feel for all the families that have lost their jobs and are hungry.  I encourage you to support food banks too.  I wish there was more of a safety net for people to have food; especially children.

Application:
After being asked to lead a Bible study next fall, I decided to step-up and apply this week.  It felt weird asking people to be my reference, but I did...  It was a hard decision, but I do want to do more volunteering and service work.  I especially look forward to the weekly leader meetings with other women that enjoy Bible study and perhaps growing some new friendships and networks.  I still don't know many people in Michigan.

Chickens:
The chickens are enjoying time in the tractors.  They just love getting out of the coop!

Hummingbirds:
This week I got the hummingbird feeders refilled and outside.  It didn't take a day before we had lots of action and fly-by's!!!

Garden:
Lots of action---I've been transplanting the kale to spread out our seedlings.  We planted our tomato plants in the hoop houses so the frost wouldn't kill them.  The heat from the hoop houses will help them to grow fast.

Dd's Progress for the week:

Grace Classes:

Dd finished up her Grace Co-op classes this week.  She had finals and lots of homework to finish it up but worked hard and made it through.  Her final grades are:

Painting Studio: 97 %   A+

The American Civil War 99%   A+

Analytical Writing for Essays & Research Papers 85%  B

Anatomy & Physiology 99%   A+

Baking:
Dd made Seth a cheesecake this week.  She also made lemon squares for our home to enjoy.

Math: Algebra II: Saxon

2 hours homework and class

This week was Dd's LAST tutor class! 

Writing: 

IEW& Analytical Research: 4 hrs lessons and class

Science: Apologia

Anatomy & Physiology: 1 1/2 hours lessons

Physical Education: 5 hrs 45 min

German: Duolingo

2 1/2 hours in lessons (30 min day)

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March 15-21, 2020 Lock Down and Flu, Bunny, Andy Stanley, Sequence

March 15-21, 2020 

Lock Down and Flu, Bunny, Andy Stanley, Sequence

This post is out of sequence; I somehow never hit 'post' and it fell out of line....

  

Hello, Friends!

What a difference one week can make in the history of the world.  On Sunday, for the first time I decided to stop going to our church service in person and watch it online at home.  We attend a 'packed' church; so many people all jammed together and that has been worrying me.  



Covid-19 Denied Testing:
Dh went to work on Monday, but he didn't look or feel good.  By Tuesday he was very sick with the flu, as was I.  On Wednesday he called the Michigan Health Dept. and they had a doctor call him back, a few hours later, to review his symptoms, as we were afraid we may have contracted Covid-19.  Because he didn't have a high fever (actually our temp's had been 95 most of the weekend) or hadn't been in contact with a 'confirmed case' he didn't qualify to get tested.  So, we spent most of the week very fatigued on the sofa.  We really just did the bare essentials this week.

Grocery Store:

My last visit to the grocery store was on March 9th.  I hear things have really changed at the grocery stores since I last went!  I guess there are lines in the morning to get into the stores and then lines to check out and there are lots of empty shelves.  For once, it paid for me to be proactive and shopped before most people determined this virus was a real threat.  I don't know how long I can go or how I will plan my next shop, but I'm going to go as infrequently as possible.  I made it through this week without grocery shopping.



Church:
I was too sick to go to my Bible Studies this week; honestly, I was too sick to even do any of the lessons.  I'll have to catch up next week.  I'm not sure, but I believe the classes were canceled due to Covid-19.  Both my classes are going to move to Zoom, so we can have our classes as a group together online.  I'm so glad there is Zoom; I'd never heard of it before but it will really save the day!  

Tractor Supply:

The ONLY place I went to this week was a five-minute rush in to grab four bags of chicken feed at our local Tractor Supply store.  There was only one other customer and I was in and out in minutes.  I was very careful not to touch anything but my feed bags and sanitized as soon as I got in the car and then again at home with soap and water.  I wish I could have done this errand last week, but I kept putting it off as I couldn't determine if this would be a store that could be closed or not.  I hope Tractor Supply is deemed 'essential' but I finally decided it would be smart to go ahead and buy the chicken feed now and not have to worry about whether the store closes or not.

Chickens:

Ack. My white chicken, Bunny, died on Thursday.  The miles I've gone through with this specific hen is crazy.  She was the bottom tier in the pecking order and struggled all last winter.  I've hand-feed her more than any other chicken as she continued to be the chicken that was most prone to get sick.  This was at least her second time getting pneumonia and I had her isolated in her own small cage in the coop with her friends for the past few weeks.  I'd been cooking her scrambled eggs to add to all sorts of other goodies every day.  But, this week she finally died after a roller coaster of days getting better followed by days getting worse, I just had no way of knowing her outcome until her last day.  I will really miss my special, Bunny and her way of just being a special girl.  The rest of the hens are doing fine and at this point there aren't any other sick chickens.  I'm hoping the three chickens I lost over the past six months will be the end of the winter illnesses.  I'm glad spring is finally getting here and the chickens' health will improve.



Andy Stanley:
Dh and I have been enjoying watching the pastor, Andy Stanley, on YouTube; his "90" series.  We have really been getting a lot from this series and recommend it highly.



Face Time: Heather:
This week my friend, Heather, and I Face Timed! We became friends when I lived near Indianapolis, Indiana.  The hardest part for me moving to Michigan was losing contact with Heather.  It took me years to find a friend that was similar to me--sensitive, artistic, Christian, and a deep nature lover.  It is was great getting to catch-up with her!  We are going to try to catch-up more often, maybe make it a once a week thing?  That would be awesome!!  



Sequence:
We are loving playing Sequence on the dining room table lately.  It is so great having Dh home!!  



Hiking with Henry:
I'm so thankful for another week getting to hike in the woods with Henry.  I'm really hoping I'll find time to hike with Henry during the summer, unlike last year when I got too busy.  I really benefit from Forest Bathing with Henry; but "Hiking with Henry" sounds better than "Forest Bathing!" I just deeply love looking at the trees, especially the view staring straight up and seeing the sky through the branches, especially when the branches are bare and have no leaves to block the view.  I've been posting some pictures of Henry on Instagram: tracyruth9





Dd's Progress For The Week:



Bible and Devotions:
Dd went to church with Seth again this week.  



Grace Co-Op Classes:
Science: Anatomy and Physiology (Apologia)



Art: Painting Studio



Writing/English: Analytical Writing for Essays and Research Papers (IEW) 



Math: Algebra II (Saxon) with a tutor



Foreign Language: German with DuoLingo (5 sessions)



SAT Prep: Khan Academy : 1:30 hours (3 sessions)



Drawing at home: 5 sessions at 20 min each



Physical Education: 4:00 hrs (YMCA with Hailee)



Read Aloud:
To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolfe



Work: Dd is still enjoying working at the pizza shop

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March 29-April 4th, 2020 Migraines, Garden, Hiking with Henry, Zoom, Online lessons

March 29-April 4th, 2020 

Migraines, Garden, Hiking with Henry, Zoom, Online lessons

Signs of Spring!

  

Hello Friends,

Another week of social isolation, which for me isn't a huge change!  I haven't gone grocery shopping since March 9th, but since I truly hate shopping this isn't hard for me!  



Staying home is easy for me, except for breaking my routines, I do like my routines and it feels weird not shopping (even if I don't like going!).  Dh worked from all again all this week, but they have informed him he *has* to go in next week.  He is really not looking forward to being around the germs and we've set up a protocol for how he comes in the house and puts all his clothes straight in the washing machine before he takes a shower.

Migraines:

Every single day this week I suffered from migraines.  I'm so tired of being in pain and sitting on the sofa.  To top it off, I'm not sleeping well; waking up most nights.  I know one would think I must be upset about the COVID 19, but I feel so much better now than I did 6 weeks ago when I was horribly upset that no one was taking this seriously.  I feel so much better now that people are paying attention and being careful, at least the majority of people are following the guidelines.  I think my increase in migraines is due to the weather and my hormones.

Check out this enormous GRAPE VINE!  It wide enough to be a tree.  There are three sections visible in this photo--the vine is brown and the trees are green.

Garden:

In the moments of respite from my headaches, I've been working in most of the gardens--flower, herb, and veg.  They all need so much work and it was warm enough to work outside a few times this week.  If nothing else I pulled out the old dead plants and vines from my garden beds; not exhaustive work, but little things that needed to be done.  It is nice to be outside.  

I had planned on only having a very small garden this year, so I could repaint our house, but with only shopping as infrequently as possible it would be a good idea to do more than I planned.  Dh turned over the compost in a few sections and put some of the compost in a few of the front gardens.  Next, I will be able to plant some lettuce, kale, spinach in those beds soon.  I'm sure we will get more snow during April so I can't plant most seeds.

FaceTime Heather:

Again this week I was lucky to have another chat with my friend Heather on FaceTime.  It has been a blessing to keep up our friendship over all these years.  What a treat to watch her children grow!

Bible Studies:

I'm continuing to do my two Bible Studies, but instead of meeting in person, we meet up on Zoom.  I'm learning so much.

Hiking with Henry:

Thankful for my long walks in the woods with Henry.  I've pulled two ticks off Henry already.  I wish ticks would stay away longer.  




Dh Work:
I think Dh was able to work from home all this week.  He thinks it's funny to say comments about his "commute" to work each morning as he walks downstairs to the basement!  He had a hard time staying focused but did his best.

Seth's Roller:
On Friday, after Dd went over to her boyfriend's house.  Around 4pm she texted asking us to come over in the truck to haul the yard roller and a trailer from his parent's house to his house.  Eric was in the middle of work and I was chainsawing on bushes, but after 5pm we headed over to help him.  When we got to his parent's house we had a long-distance chat with his folks for around 45 minutes. They go to our old church, so we know them.  It was nice to chat with them, but also pointed out the fact of how not one of our old church friends continued being our friend after we left...so very sad.  You think the people you hug and pray for will be your forever friends, but it somehow doesn't ever work out that way.  In the end, we got both things Seth needed to his house so he could work on his yard.

Seth:
This week was Seth and Dd's 6 month anniversary.  I never would have imagined Dd's first relationship would last this long!  They are all gangbusters...which scares me to death!  I didn't get any gradual transition from her 'childhood/teenhood to adulthood,' she just woke up one day deciding to be an adult and I'm still trying to wrap my brain around all of this change.

Dd's Progress for the Week:

Church and Daily Devotions




Work:
Still working at the pizza shop, though we are discussing her taking some time off. 



Papers: 
Completed two papers:
Romeo and Juliet and King Lear, both by William Shakespeare.



Foreign Language: German:
DuoLingo: 5 short lessons



Physical Education:
3 sessions= 8 1/2 hours



SAT Prep: 4 sessions

Grace Co-op Classes: Classes Online Now:

Science: Anatomy and Physiology (Apologia)

Art: Painting Studio

Writing/English: Analytical Writing for Essay's and Research Papers (IEW)

There was an interesting yellow growth on this tree.

Math: Algebra II:

With tutor

...........

March 22-28, 2020 Bunky, Zoom, FaceTime, Stairwell, MI Lock Down

March 22-28, 2020

 Bunky, Zoom, FaceTime, Stairwell

By the end of the week, we managed to get the three new stringers properly installed and the under-layer of runners down.  We can finally go up and down the stairs again!  Who knew was a big job it is to replace your infrastructure in stairwells!  As you can see we had to replace a lot of drywall that had been damaged when we were taking out the old stairs; we'd made a lot of holes! 

Hello, Friends!

The beginning of the week was snow, but by the end we had sunshine.  I thought I'd just save the snow-free pictures for next week.  Dh and I are still getting over our flu, but are spending more time off the sofa and having some hours of relief. 

 This flu is weird because you feel like you are better one day and then the day after that you feel totally exhausted again. 



 We had one day where we got to 99.5, but most days we were actually 95 degrees, much colder than we normally are which was a surprise to us.  



This week my lungs continue to mildly hurt each day, but this wasn't a problem for Dh. 

Reunions:

With the government shutting things down and making our state closed brought an awakening to all our family members that had been believing this outbreak was a "hoax."  



Now, even the farthest right family members are coming to terms with reality.  Dh had so many phone calls this week!  Most of his family only talk to him at the Christmas party, but this week BOTH his brothers called him!  Even my brother, Bunky, that hadn't called me in about a year, called me and chatted for around 2 hours!!!!  It was so great!   

 

Church:

Dh and I watched my church's live-stream at 11am on Sunday morning.  I'm thankful Dh is not only willing to watch with me, but is really enjoying it!  I'm hoping Dh will slowly get used to Pastor Jeff and then maybe he will be willing to try going with me when churches open again.  

Stairwell:

Whenever we felt like we had a little energy, Dh and I would spend an hour or two on the stairwell.  We progressed a little bit each day, but we also had a few days that we felt so awful we didn't get anything done other than holding down the sofa!  This picture is of the three new stringers.  You have to use balances and make sure each one is placed absolutely perfectly.

Bible Studies:

On Monday our Thrive group met online at the Zoom platform and it worked out great!  We are still working on:

 The Unexplainable Church: Reigniting the Mission of the Early Believers: A Study of Acts 13-28

On Wednesday our Bible Study Fellowship, BSF, group met online at the Zoom platform and it also went well.  We are working on: Acts and The Letters of The Apostles--which is awesome!

I'm really learning a LOT!  I've always been very active in my Bible studies, but this year has been extra intense.  Although I do worry that I 'share' too much in my classes and hope the other ladies don't think that I dominate too much air time.  Some women go the whole class without answering one question and I have a hard time not adding something to every question...I do make an effort to let others share but if there is dead air or something vital isn't brought up I often will contribute.  It is a fine line and I do make an effort to "read the room" in regards to my class participation.

Dd's Pizza Job:
Dd gave her notice to take the next few weeks off due to concerns over Covid-19.  Her boyfriend suffers from asthma and Dh and I have isolated ourselves, so she was our weak link working with contact with people at the pizza shop.  





Grocery Store:
Another week without grocery shopping, or anything outside of our home.  My last time at the store was on March 9th.  It looks like I will shop next week as we are out of all produce and Dh keeps asking for a salad.  It's almost funny how he craves things he hasn't wanted for months now that he can't have them!

Michigan Lock Down:
Michigan, among other states, declares state lockdown.  From what I am hearing there isn't full participation.  Dd's pizza shop had been switched to take-out only, but that still brought people into the shop and in contact with her.

It's hard to believe that in a few weeks I'll be turning over the soil and getting it ready for greens~!!

Dd's Progress For The Week:

Bible and Devotions:
Dd went to church with Seth again this week, but now they watch together online.  Dd got all dressed up this week, she's a hoot.  



Grace Co-Op Classes: 
Due to Covid-19, the classes are now being held online.



Science: Anatomy and Physiology (Apologia)



Art: Painting Studio





Writing/English: Analytical Writing for Essays and Research Papers (IEW) (They are doing this online)



Math: Algebra II (Spring Break)



Foreign Language: German with DuoLingo 



Drawing at home: 5 sessions at 20 min each



Physical Education: 4:00 hrs 



Audio Reader: 
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin





Read Aloud:
To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolfe







Work: Dd is still enjoying working at the pizza shop, but gave her notice that this was her last week until the pandemic improves.

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