corona lockdown day 19

Today was marked by some technological problems and a lot of work.

Things had warmed up a bit today so I braved jogging again. Still at 1 block. Streets were pretty quiet.

Final projects were due yesterday so today was filled with training sessions and sending out of the projects. There was a lot of processing going on and my poor computer lost the internet twice and lost access to the file cloud once. I had trouble downloading and zipping all the files that I needed to so I had to figure out work arounds. I just got them all sent. My email is now pretty backlogged.

James will be going to virtual school tomorrow. He may even be looking forward to it. Law class.

James complained that he had no clean sweaters. That I was not keeping up with my laundry jobs. Then he found them all under the bed. Haha. I can't wash them if they are under the bed and not in the laundry basket.

James is tiring of steak but there were not many options. I keep telling him that in a pandemic options are limited.

corona lockdown day 18

Today I worked in the afternoon and evening as I had interviews in the evening and my students had their final project due tonight. So in the morning I braved Food Basics. There was a lady at the door pumping hand sanitizer like last week. There were not a lot of people in the store. There were also still as many things missing as last week. Not much chicken, flour, pasta and no TP. Checkout went quickly. They had installed the plexiglass so that was different.

The news says that all outdoor parks will now close. I don't know that really is going to make that much difference as being outdoors with good air circulation. I would be interested in the data of how people.

The number of cases in Kingston and Ontario shot up today. I haven't seen the new case lists but maybe due to more travelers returning. Still very concerning. Both Kingston and St. Catharines seem to be trending together and both look like around 35 current cases.

corona lockdown day 17

I slept well last night and was up at 7am. It rained most of the day but I did get out in the garden a bit around 8am. There was some bunny fur in the garden that seemed to be ripped out and left so I am worried that my bunny met an unhappy demise.

Rustle had upgraded its video capabilities with 2 cameras and the ability to see lyrics on the screen. Ebe did some great work this week on the technical side of things.

Then I worked most of the day as I had to get some reviews done. Running out of food for James as he normally has a meat meal and today was pasta and nachos, no meat. A meatless day in the pandemic world. I am hoping to brave the world for groceries tomorrow.

Corona lockdown day 16

Today came with a lot of interviews so I was kept pretty busy. I am not experiencing any Corona boredom!

There was also a day long cross Canada prayer event. I was working for most of it but it had each hour run by a specific province. A great show of unity and people working together. Each province has a prayer focus for their hour. It was a pretty well run event considering they couldn't have had much time to put it together.

Today for dinner I made a turkey filled with stuffing and wrapped in bacon. OR should I say, I put it in the oven. Loblaws actually made it. It was quite good.

Now I have expended all the fresh meat. I have some frozen things.

Last week Rustle did a broadcast using Facebook live. This week we are going to try youtube live! Exciting times.

Corona lockdown day 15

Today was another busy day at work with meetings and interviews.

James has figured out how to play an online game made for phones on his computer which has made him very pleased as he wins all the time as his computer is more powerful than phones so his character is faster. He was so excited by a win he ran up the stairs and jammed his toe on the top stair. It made a pretty loud bang and he had a big cut and a lot of blood but he is bandaged up now. Not going to a hospital in corona season!

Corona lockdown day 14

Today was a jam packed day. There were 2 prayer meetings, lots of work and interviews. I did go to the grocery store before work but after the seniors hour. I went to Food Basics. I passed Loblaws on the way and there were a lot of cars at the Loblaws so I wondered how FB would be. It was not hugely busy. There were 2 guys at the door. One in a FB uniform- maybe a manger the other was a security guy. They had complementary hand sanitizer at the door. Because the last time I was there the cashier was antsy about anything larger than a quantity of 2 I was a bit concerned about getting more than 2 juice but juice was not being rationed, so it was ok. There was also no one at the cash before me, so checkout was pretty easy.

I forgot to check the TP aisle but I did see someone leaving with TP so there must have been at least a bit.

At another till there was a man who had unloaded a whole buggy full but must have had more than 2 of a rationed item as I heard him pleading with the cashier saying that he had 3 teenage boys at home and they eat a lot.

We had rain and cold and grey.

While the Ontario numbers had a big spike today, the Canada numbers this week, while high numbers have not had significant increases. With all the travelers returning home, it is not unexpected that things are still high.

Corona lockdown day 13

I woke up at 5am so my sleep was a bit broken. I did not have an exiting day personally mainly just worked but Kingston had a more exciting day. A train derailed again at the same spot that one derailed earlier this month. Luckily now no one has anywhere to go so it is less of a problem than a few weeks ago. There was also a fire in an abandoned building nearby but it was quickly put out. Two medical workers in the area have now tested positive which is not a good thing, obviously.

We are running low on juice and cheese and fruit. The problem with the new limits at the stores mean that I am running out of things faster than before which puts more pressure to go to the grocery store which makes it a kind of catch 22 sort of . What is interesting is to see how the supply chain is managing but the not so good thing is being out with people, I suppose.

There was a bunny in the garden today but it is still very cold, so probably not a very happy bunny.

Corona lockdown day 12

Today was the last day for anything "inessential" to be open. I wasn't quite sure what that meant. I went to the dollar store as I thought it may be the last day but there didn't seem to be any signs that they were closing so I don't know about that. It was almost empty, which I guess is good.

I watched a video where the group that oversees some supermarkets (maybe, not sure the relationship) said that the supply chains were strong, that there are lots of supplies in their warehouses, just the issue is getting the supplies on the shelves. When I was at Loblaws they seemed to have stock of most things but their paper product (TP) aisle was completely empty, so it has been pretty much 2 weeks and that has not been able to restock so I guess they still need to work on that.

There are now 11 cases in Kingston, all somehow related to travel. Either travel themselves or close contact. This was always the risk in calling everyone home. So the numbers won't be sorted out until all of the international travel quarantines are up. The numbers that are seen are also a few days behind as it takes some time to test and post. Considering Kingston went from 4 to 11 just now, it is likely that there will be some more rise in the overall numbers. Quebec numbers about doubled today which does not look good.

the numbers game

While I said yesterday that the numbers looked better, today they looked worse. The Canada numbers spiked because of Quebec. The numbers are all probably a bit spikey as travellers are returning. Clara said that there is some community spread in Calgary,which is not good.

I am not sure what the closure of essential services will mean to what shopping looks like tomorrow. Announcements like that tend to create some panic.

Corona lockdown day 11

Today it is snowing. I start work at 1pm because I have interviews until late at night. I had a poor night as woke up at 2am because James was up and then took a long time to get back to sleep. I braved Loblaws. They had a new flow for entering the store (some doors were in and some were out) that seemed efficient. I took a cart (normally I only take a basket) and got fresh fruit and veg and meat and juice which were the most needed things. Most things in the store were unchanged except for the bulk. There is a chicken in the slow cooker now.

There were a lot of changes at the checkout- some lanes were cash only and some were card only but it was hard to tell which so I used the self checkout which I knew would take a card. They had reduced the # of self checkouts from 6 to 4 so that people would have more space. So I had to stand in a line for the first time. But there weren't a lot of people in the store so the checkout slowness was not a big deal but I could see how it could be at busier times. One of the checkout people said that Kingston was "low risk" so they were last to implement things. There was no TP.

Corona Lockdown day #10

Today Rustle did their first attempt at online church- Facebook Live. It was well done (except the sound was a bit wonky). Shari sang some songs. Todd spoke from 1 Kings 18 about the prayer of Elijah who prayed for rain in the time of drought and then a storm came. The chat feature was also fun to connect with others in this time of isolation.

I also watched the elevation church steam that spoke from Joshua 3 about crossing the jordan and how the Israelites were going into a new world, as we are as well.

I am running out of food again so will need to brave the supermarket. Today we had left over chicken and fries.

The numbers from today were better than yesterday but it is hard to tell if that is a continued trend.

Corona lockdown Day 9

Had another good sleep. Had interviews most of the day but did get out for a jog before they started. It was colder so I did find it more challenging. Still 1 block.

Yesterday I made a Chef's plate and had leftovers for lunch today amid interviews. Tasty and healthy

Tonight I have chicken in the slow cooker. But after that I'm out of meat so I will need to brave the outside world again.

Rustle is going to try a live stream tomorrow!

Corona lockdown day 8

Living one week in the new normal. I slept well last night. I had a lot of late interviews so I started work at 11am. I did get a jog in today (one block only) and the weather was nice in the morning. The wind picked up in the afternoon and things have cooled off now. Tomorrow is supposed to be colder. From what I gather from Facebook, grocery stores were more tense today. There were some cheques that came out so maybe more people shopping. Maybe people getting frustrated with the isolation so nerves more frayed. Tomorrow is a day of interviews as well.

Corona lockdown day 7

This was a very long day. James woke me at 2am going to the bathroom and then I couldn't get back to sleep. Except I did, just before I needed to wake up! I got up early to do a prayer meeting live from Israel with over 4000 people  from around the world before work. Then work was lots of emails and problem solving and interviews. At lunch I walked to Food Basics, which was busy but had a lot of cashiers on so there were no lineups, allowing for social distancing. They did have toilet paper but not much. They were rationing all purchases. I had a lot of frozen concentrated juice that James drinks and the cashier said she didn't know about that but the other cashier told her that it was not a rationed product, which is good because if it was I would need to go to the store every day! Then in the evening we had a long board meeting to talk about meetings at Rustle in this pandemic.

Updates on day 6

This was the song that they shared at the end of the national communion service.


I did go for a short jog today- only one block- google maps said 850m so it was a large block. I need to start somewhere though!


The city has made some changes- Kingston Transit is free so that people can get on at the BACK of the bus to social distance themselves from the driver. (Though using public transit is still on the "danger" list of things to do) As they expect people to make more garbage now that everyone is home every household can put out 4 bags of garbage. They also have lifted parking restrictions near the hospital. And turned the Memorial Center into the COVID testing center.


Chef's plate indicated that their orders are up. The box came today with a delivery driver wearing plastic gloves. The soy sauce had spilled but I had an extra from take out in the fridge so was ok. Made a Thai curry that was very good with chicken and chow mein noodles

Since I downloaded my pictures in the camera, here is what the inside of freshii looked like yesterday (no more dining in)

And this was from an older chef's plate (the vinegar spilled in this one- I have been having a run of spills)

corona lockdown day 6

Today I woke up at 6ish even without my phone. Did the dishes and some things around the house. Wondered how the seniors hour at the grocery stores and SDM went. Decided I might like to go for a jog now that I mainly won't be walking to work anymore but all the shoe stores have closed due to the state of emergency. Giant tiger is still open though the online show that they said was in stock was not in stock. I hadn't noticed that they had shoes before. I bought some just so I don't ruin my good shoes even though they may not be great to run in. There was not much available at the GT of what I needed (veg)- normally they have a pretty good selection. They also didn't have TP but there are places in the city that are starting to have it.
The city has been sending many notices about green bins and todays notice was that all food waste should be in liners. Which is a great idea if you have liners at home. But otherwise you need to go to the store. And what if they sell out? I'm not sure how well thought through this was.
I will log onto the communion service in about 10 mins. Looking forward to it!

corona lockdown day 5

Only 5 days in and it is already getting old, just wait for day 105.
At 6am I was woken by my phone that I forgot to switch off. Someone gave a thumbs up to a post on facebook and my phone thought it was important that I know. My phone was wrong.

It was a productive day at work and a number of us learned that we would be working from home, including me. But who knows if it is too late as the virus is closing closer and closer and there are now 3 people in Kingston with the virus and I'm starting to have people who know people with it, so it is creeping closer.

I ran out of vegetables and was too worried about the state of emergency to try a store thinking that may have caused more drama in the stores.

Tomorrow I have the day off work due to all my evening and weekend interviews. There is a nationwide online communion service tomorrow at 1pm run by the same people I went to the Grimsby conference with. 1400 people signed up yesterday and I expect it will be more by the time it runs as they only opened sign up yesterday. Also Chef's plate is due to arrive.

corona lockdown day 4

Today is Monday. It took me some time to come up with the day. As I had late interviews today I had the morning off. I went to Loblaws before 8am as we were out of juice and James drinks a lot of juice. Loblaws was also mostly out of the juice he likes but I got a few cans. I did not check the paper products at Loblaws because I was pretty focused on getting the items on my list and getting out. I went to the self checkout and there were signs that said only 2 paper products per person. Rationing the paper products. This maybe should have started earlier. That is the theme of the corona virus lockdown.

Then a friend posted that her daughter was sick and she needed some things. So I popped by Giant Tiger and over to her place with some gingerale and crackers and things.

On to work to a corona response meeting. Lots of difficult decisions in the works. After the meeting we received an email that banned meetings of more than 10 people. Luckily the meeting of the 20 people was over by the time we read it.

Then interviews as usual, emails as usual.

Email from the city not to put tissues in the green bin. I think there already are tissues in the green bin though. Maybe I can dump it in the backyard to make the birds happy.

Corona lockdown day 3

Yesterday was nice enough to hand laundry outside for a little bit. Today was back to Winter Coat weather.

Today at Rustle Aleesha who is a Masters of public health student spoke about the importance of hand washing before the message. She said that there was a correlation between increased handwashing and the decrease of influenza as well as the coronavirus. Then Ebe spoke on Psalm 139. There were still a lot of students around. As Kingston currently doesn't have any cases and other places do, people are feeling safer here. We'll see if St. Pats changes anything in that department.

I went to work after Rustle and tried to deal with covid decision emails and had some interviews. We have a covid planning session tomorrow.

I did find some meat at Metro but now we are almost out of juice. I am not doing very well at being stocked up for 2 weeks.

Corona lockdown day 2

Everyone still appears well.

While all official hockey is cancelled, unofficial hockey is not. James still couldn't play because of the recovery from the concussion, but he coached as his AAA team played the girls provincial team.

This morning I went to Loblaws early and it was still busy despite not having a lot of essentials. There was no meat, which is what I had gone out to buy. Chili tonight with no meat is on order. We are eating through the pandemic supplies before the virus has arrived due to the hysteria. There is no toilet paper anywhere so this is increasing the desperation before the virus arrives.

Today was supposed to be a party for St. Pat's on Aberdeen. We just have to wait and see if that happens.

For the rest of the day will be in the house, likely reading Frankenstein to James.

the wind

The wind is very strong during the day. Not sure if it is blowing the virus in or out!

Today's meal was only pasta because the grocery stores were too wild to brave today so have no meat.

Brian was supposed to be flying out for March break today. I wonder if he actually left. Because if he did he'll be in quarantine when he returns so progress on work will be slow.

Corona lockdown day 1

Today started out looking like a normal day on track to deal with the corona issue step by step over the next week. But it shortly came down that classes are cancelled next week and then everything rather fell apart. Despite having no cases here, the pressure of other universities taking the same plan likely had some affect.

So they want so large gatherings of groups of people. However, this week is St. Patrick's so historically the site of large parties. So I'm not convinced that the cancellations will be all that useful if that continues.

The grocery stores were too scary to attend today, not for virus concerns but for hysteria concerns. I'll plan to try my shopping tomorrow early.

This also has caused us lots of discussion for the Rustle board for how to handle our gathering. Looking at increasing sanitizing and health practices.

The virus closes in

Hockey is cancelled and march break is 3 weeks long. Will it stop the outbreak? Will it allow James to catch up on his homework?

So far there are no cases in Kingston. And so, we wait.

While official events are being cancelled, apparently unofficial events like the St. Patrick's day party are still on.

hockey hit

In the game on Sunday James got hit. He seemed fine of Sunday night but got checked out on Monday at the hospital and was diagnosed with a minor concussion so is off school today.

close

I contemplated hanging laundry out today due to the sun. However, the negative temp stayed me from the task.

I did all my shopping before 9:30am. Working on household tasks and not going in to work today!

Virus threat dramas

One of my students from China was talking with me about how they didn't feel it was safe to return in April when classes were done but that he thought that things would be better by June, so that is hopeful news from one area.

I have an early meeting of the timetable committee this morning and then a board meeting in the evening and a final presentation schedule to work out in the middle.

timetable and train dramas

I spent the weekend working on the timetable. Then we have a lot of things going on with the course. There was a train derailed in Kingston today which James found very exciting. At first there was a concern about what was spilled but it seems to have turned out not to be a danger. But the train is blocking a major road artery.