corona lockdown day 80

Today Kingston gained a case after being without for a few weeks. We'll have to see what the history on this one is.

The lousy weather has backlogged my laundry. I have also taken apart my dryer vent to clean it, so the dryer is out of commission.

I have 4 amazon packages at various places stuck for whatever reason.Maybe the meat order will arrive as well. It is like a race of the deliveries tomorrow. Though one of the packages was from my order in April so it is not so likely that one will win.

What is in my freezer?

I told my mother about the celebrity game of "What's in my purse?" and I have made my own game of "What is in my freezer?"

Juice, fries, samosa, chicken fingers and freezies. Oh and some frozen raspberries at the back. It may not look like it, but there is plenty of space for a meat order.

Photos from the week

Wednesday -BBQ flatbread pizza. It was so big I had it for lunch the next day as well. The pepper that was provided was so small that I added another pepper for more veg.

 Honey sriracha glazed pork chops with sesame green beans

 From my dandelion digging, look at this giant root (that seemed like a lot of roots wrapped together) pictured against a "normal" root for context.

 California beef tacos. A very messy meal!

So far the rain has not arrived so the laundry is still hanging. The race to see if it will dry first or if the rain will arrive first.

corona lockdown day 79- small steps

I decided on FB in the morning and it was the right decision. The guy at the front reminded me not to take the backpack off in the store. There weren't many people in the store so I made it through the aisles relatively quickly. Their stock seems to have stabilized compared to other weeks. They had very few empty shelves. They did not have much yeast (not that I was looking for some)

They did have chickens on sale so I picked up a couple and there is one cooking in the slow cooker right now.

I also hung the laundry out. There are a few peeks of sun and there is some breeze so I am hopeful. But it is scheduled to rain soon.

I also mowed the lawn this morning to try to beat the rain. The front lawn is growing quickly. Mainly with dandelions. So it is good to mow them down. The back yard I am so far winning the war on the dandelions and there aren't many left.

corona lockdown day 78- the one that got away

The police did not capture the man on the run. Likely the rain hampered the dogs as the dogs are normally pretty good. The incident started only a block away from me, but it seems he ran in the direction away from my house, which is good.
Also good that the police have his car, guns and drugs.
https://www.kingstonist.com/news/male-who-fled-police-wanted-on-numerous-weapon-and-drug-offences/

Today was an even worse day for laundry drying as it started to rain on my hanging laundry. The rain has certainly cooled things off.

I took a walk before work when there wasn't any rain.

We had a staff appreciation call today where they gave everyone the afternoon off but as I had a midterm and heaps of work to do for timetabling Brian and I worked all afternoon.

Dinner was beef tacos from Chef's plate, which were mostly similar to my tacos. They had a n avocado that in other dishes I have mashed for the coating for the tacos but todays was not mashable (too hard) so I cut it into small chunks and that seemed ok, not the texture they were going for, but that is ok.

My meat box has not arrived yet. I have to go shopping tomorrow as we are out of a lot of things. I haven't decided where to go yet- it will be a game day decision.

Corona lockdown day 77- some excitement

This morning there were baby robins on the lawn happily following a parent. I hung laundry but it turned out to be a poor laundry drying day despite the heat and wind things weren't all dry by the end of the day. I am quite enjoying my outside standing desk as I worked there in the morning before my meetings, then again in the afternoon after my meetings. A baby robin ran into the front window in the afternoon and sat in the bush for quite some time, I guess understanding the need for recovery. I checked on it a few times. It did say a few things and one time I saw a parent nearby. Then the baby was gone, hopefully not suffering to many concussion effects.

I made siracha glazed pork chops with edame rice. Trying something new!

About a block away near the Shoppers, the police were conducting a traffic stop and the driver ran away on foot. The police were trying to contain the block and use the canine unit to track. The latest update was that he had broken containment and was in a block further north. We'll see in the morning if they have caught him.

corona lockdown day 76- some battles won, some battles lost

Right now my good computer is on some lockdown due to an error and needing to restart so I am writing this on an old computer.

The war against the dandelions in the backyard is going rather well. The front yard is all dandelions so written off as a loss- I just mow them.

The house got stuffy so we had to turn the AC on, but it is actually quite nice outside due to the breeze so I set up a standing work station outside that I quite enjoyed.

The chef's plate arrived so dinner was BBQ flatbread pizzas.

A couple of amazon orders arrived though 1 delivery was for an $2 box of rice krispies. In its own box and own order so they can't have made any money on that! Am expecting one more order tomorrow.

corona lockdown day 75- my mothers birthday!

Today was a special day as it was a special birthday for my mother! A nice hot day for her.
I had to run some errands. The food basics was pretty friendly and easy to traverse for being a small one but the line ups were long to cash out as there were only 2 cashes open. A lot of stores downtown were now open and a lot more people out and about. The COVID testing center parking lot was empty though. A good laundry drying day. I got to skype with my parents for the special occasion.

Tomorrow morning I have lots of meetings, in the afternoon an exam so will be kept hopping.

corona lockdown day 74- the rain

There was rain and rain last night meaning I was up at 4am. After I got ready for the day and killed a large millipede, I went for a walk. Saw a few bunnies. Then it was a long day of many meetings at work. Made chicken in the slow cooker so we are officially out of meat.

I have planned a trip to Rustle, the bank and Food Basics tomorrow. And it is my mothers birthday!

Building the Perfect Squirrel Proof Bird Feeder

corona lockdown day 73- first day sleeping with the windows open

As it has become warmer last night was the first night sleeping with the windows open.  This resulted in a rather broken sleep as the grackles had a fit at 5:30am and then the first trucks were in the neighbourhood a few hours later. Maybe someone burned breakfast. So it ended up being 10am by the time I got rolling. I listened to elevation church at 10 and then Rustle at 11. James wanted to play cards after (Crazy 8's). Then I was tired again so I watched some murder mysteries. Made chicken in the instant pot for dinner. Chicken again tomorrow and then all the meat in the freezer is done.

Tuesday I plan to take a vacation day for my mothers birthday. I also need to go into Rustle to do up the deposit. Since I have to be downtown to hand it in I will also plan to stop by the Food Basics downtown.

churchill park tulips

 This was the "leftover" chilli that I made earlier with leftover roast beef, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, onions, beans and corn.

 Churchill park tulips

corona lockdown day 72

Today I slept in until 8am. Impressive considering it is pretty light outside at that time. I pulled myself together and walked down to the shoppers at Division to pick up some prescriptions. It is a smaller shoppers than the one by my house. While before I was shopping for survival needs, now my shopping seems to be "just in case" and trying to stock up on things that may be needed. I also got some more lemonade today. More of a treat.

The roads seemed pretty empty, not many people or cars. Not many people in shoppers either. One with a mask and one going the wrong way against all the arrows, two extremes.

The day was nice enough to hang 2 loads of laundry. I also washed lots of dishes and read the book of revelation.

Last night made tacos and will make some of the same tonight except we are almost out of taco shells so tacos minus the tacos really.

corona lockdown day 71

Thanks to Thomas for this:



Today I went to Metro to pick up the ground beef that James likes. The store was quiet and I walked the aisles and checked out quickly. They had my favorite lemonade which I hadn't bought since the pandemic began so I purchased that as a treat.

On the Metro website they did recommend masks but in the store there were only a couple of people with masks.

The Metro website also listed all the stores with workers who became sick with COVID, mostly in Toronto and Quebec. Good to know if you live in those areas I guess.

Kingston is still maintaining its bubble.

Sadly, the backyard had a loss as a crow took a baby bird out of the grackles nest.

corona lockdown day 70- a beautiful day in the neighbourhood

The weather was nice today. I went for a walk before work. Had a lot of meetings. Had to write a sign off goodbye message to the outgoing class. I talked to financial people today- my financial advisor and the finance person from the head office of our church. The latter as there were some complexities due to the current situation.

For dinner I made chicken in the slow cooker again. James has so few likes that things are very repetitive. I am thinking of a trip to Metro in the morning for the ground beef he likes (The Food Basics ones are "too hard" though they seem fine to me). I am also contemplating ordering a box of meat from "Trulocal". Their prices are expensive but it may give some variety and the advantage of not going to the store. Food Basics had almost no meat the last time I was there (not that there was a scarcity as they seem to have taken down the 2 package rule) but I think the meat staff had not put it out yet.

There was also a promising email from Loblaws that indicated that soon:

• Reopening of supermarket service counters in meat, seafood, and bakery
• Reopening of beauty departments at Shoppers Drug Mart
• Reopening of President’s Choice Financial pavilions and our Mobile Shops
• Next-day pick-up at PC Express and the reintroduction of fees for some of the most popular slots
• Once again accepting product returns
• Selling lottery tickets
• Returning to regular store hours

Also saying that seniors and health case workers would have priority access but I'm not sure what that means.

There were some more details about our newest case from a few days ago who had traveled outside the Kingston area- apparently he had 22 contacts (all outside of Kingston) some of which had symptoms so it doesn't seem as though he was very careful.

corona lockdown day 69- another miscalulation but not mine this time

I managed to make it to Food Basics before work. There did seem to be quite a few people. I don't recall any people having masks. I did have to negotiate with the hostess about my backpack again but I made it through the aisles quickly and efficiently. I try to pick a checkout where the person in front doesn't have a huge number of purchases as you need to wait until they are gone to pick up your things. Overall a success.

The day was full of meetings (as is tomorrow) but the chef's plate did not arrive. At 5:30 I received an email from them saying it wasn't sent this week. I'm not sure if the holiday weekend threw them off. At any rate I had to replan things as the meal did not arrive so had to make frozen samosas. I have to replan tomorrow as well now.

corona lockdown day 68 - more miscalculation

I set my alarm early in plans of heading out before work but then had an earlier meeting than I planned so I didn't go out. I woke up before my alarm I guess because it was so light out so no harm done. I will try again tomorrow. The day was a day of meetings and tomorrow looks like more of the same. At lunchtime I took on the dandelions, digging as many as I could. Then after dinner, I mowed the front and back lawns. The back is where I wage the war on the dandelions. The front is just a mess of weeds so I only mow them down.

Our health guy for Kingston has said to get covid, you need to leave the Kingston area and that indeed happened, someone travelled out and came back with it and so we have added a case after weeks without a new one. Stay home, stay safe!

corona lockdown day 67- victoria day- miscalculations

According to Google maps Food Basics had the same hours as other days, but when I arrived there it was closed. So I went home and found that the hours were different, so I didn't go shopping but will try again tomorrow- it just means having to be really organized tomorrow.

The other miscalculation was that it was supposed to rain all day today but then it didn't so I hadn't got laundry ready to hang so by the time I had organized things it was 3pm. But the wind was pretty good and it did seem to dry things out so that worked out.

I dropped off some stuff at Sarah's as well so I got a few walks in but I didn't get the cleaning that I had planned in.

James is working on another law case now about a case where the police in Toronto were arresting a drug dealer but he had put his drugs up his bum (?) and they did a strip search to get them out and if it was legal and all. The next case they are looking at will be about the female who had a case to try to get onto a male hockey team. He seems to be looking forward to that one.

photo download

After Rustle I went to take some photos of my old tulips at the old house. Tulips don't seem to grow at the current house, then I walked to see the new school and found the new path through the Oak street gardens that Sarah told me about.
There were a lot of people on their porches or working in the yard as it was a nice day. There were a lot of cars on the main roads, though who knows where they were going.
The day was so nice I got 2 loads of laundry dry.

For dinner I planned to make a leftover stew but it ended up being a leftover chili. I think it was pretty healthy and tasted ok as well.

I downloaded all the pics from my camera. Let us see what there is:

Butter chickpea curry. Where I learned to fry Naan bread. There apparently is no "after" picture. It was good.

 For James' birthday he wanted Pappa Johns and instead of pizza I got this calzone type thing. It was good as well.

 Sticky hoisin park tacos. Tacos with rice, pork, peas and cabbage. Nice combination

 James' birthday pile

 Spicy pesto beef burgers. I don't normally get their burgers but this was very good. It had this interesting hot pepper that looked like a cherry tomato. I think it was called a cherry pepper.

 Golden Thai turkey fried rice. It was good but part of the instructions at the end were to have it cook and form a crust but I didn't get that to work.

 Southern BBQ pork- one of the easier recipes that I have made. Still yummy.

 Honey sesame chicken tenders. I think I have made this one before. Another easy dish.

 One pot spiced enchilada bowl. It tasted healthy. I liked it!

 My new vulcanized rain shoes. My other ones started to leak so I ordered these online. Very comfortable. Waiting for more rain.

 From my trip today. They have torn down the school that was by our old home and are building housing.

 Tulips at the old house

 Tulips at Sarah's neighbours house

 The new high school

 The new oak street garden  path

 What is growing here?

 A river of pollen