Corona lockdown day 110

I did not go anywhere at all today. I had a lot of work to do and did not finish everything I planned so I will need to work tomorrow. Queen's has given everyone Thursday and Friday off as well but I have too much to do to be off for that long!

There is a little bunny that seems to spend the day happily munching on the grass and weeds in the backyard so that means that I have no more need to mow the lawn!

Yesterday when I was walking back from Shoppers, there were a group of young males hanging out in front of Tim Hortons. They probably weren't well socially distanced but maybe they were a bubble. There was a lady standing a number of feet away staring at them and seeming pretty upset with them. But you can't control other people, only yourself.

When you know all the bunnies in the neighbourhood

Before work I took a quick trip to Food Basics. There was only 1 cash open but things moved pretty quickly. There weren't a lot of people and things weren't too weird. When I was walking home, I saw a bunny walk across the street and between 2 houses and it was a bunny that I had not seen before. It was a pretty big one. Then I realized that I know all the bunnies in my neighbourhood.

I made BBQ chipotle chicken from the frozen box. It was quite enjoyable.

I also had to make a quick trip to shoppers and that went ok as well. Got a large box from amazon and I got a mask that works really well for me. I need to try to find a sports mask for James! (not for hockey but for workouts)

corona lockdown day 109

In working towards becoming a hotbed for amazon orders I had ordered one on Thurs and one on Sat and they both are listed as arriving today. When I look in the amazon order, it looks like both orders are in the same box. Isn't that a streamlined process. We are out of a lot of fresh things so I am planning to brave a grocery store this morning.

corona lockdown day 108

There was rain off and on today. I did manage to get 2 loads of laundry done but they were in an out.

I watched a number of church services during the day. My dinner plan didn't work as when I went to make the chicken I found it was still frozen. So I had to pivot and find some other things. I'll plan to make the chicken tomorrow. When I was out in the garden I heard a rustling and the teenage bunny ran in front of me. She didn't seem too concerned about me. I wasn't sure if she was running from something else or trying to distract me from baby bunny, who is often out on the lawn these days. She ate some vegetation and then loped away. I saw a robin check out the place where the robin nest used to be. I wondered if it was for a purpose or if returning to a birth place!

corona lockdown day 107

Today I had thought about going downtown to try to get a mask but when I woke up there was an email that one of the masks I had ordered from amazon was going to arrive today so I decided to wait.

James needed to get a PIN # for his bank account and so we had to navigate through the challenging phone system. It was difficult to get a real person on the line. Then it was difficult to get a useful person on the line so it took us some frustration and time to persevere.

I visited the lakeshore farm truck today. As it is outdoors, no masks were required. The man who runs it is very friendly and he explained what produce he had right now and what would be coming up. Strawberries and tomatoes seemed to be big now.

I took a walk down to the water and ran into my old boss Don. There were more people out walking than I expected as it was overcast and rainy. There still seemed to be lots of cars in the grocery store parking lot. I am wondering how this affects other policies in the grocery stores as they had been allowing reusable bags- as that is probably an Ontario policy, I wonder how a local outbreak would affect that. At any rate, they didn't release updated numbers today.

I had a few months of laundry build up and I tackled about half of it.

We had leftovers for dinner tonight. Tomorrow will try BBQ chipotle chicken from my frozen box but cooking it a different way because the other 2 ways I have tried with the other flavoured chicken have been ok, but not great so I'm hoping for greatness.

corona lockdown day 106

Kingston is now up to 18 active cases so tensions have has risen quickly to the point where the masks are required inside. So in a week things changed quickly. I took a walk around after I made James dinner and I expected to see parking lots empty but things seemed to be trekking on as usual. People seem to be still being quite social outside so it is hard to tell what the communal feel is.

I had been seeing the teenage bunny around (around 1/2 the size of the regular bunny) and today I saw a tinier one, so very cute.

COVID-19 Update #48 - Making Masks Mandatory

corona lockdown day 105- that escalated quickly

Kingston is now at 10 active cases. The cases apparently link back to a nail salon that 500 people visited over the past 2 weeks. So I guess that means 500 people in quarantine. I walked the Oak Garden trail before work as I knew I had a schedule with no lunch break.

corona lockdown day 104- the graduation

Today we spent 10 minutes at the high school graduating. It was kind of amusing that they go through this mini ceremony 200 times and need to make it feel fresh every time. James walked down the aisle and onto the stage and got his package. I think he had a good time. He made the honour roll that even surprised me!

Other things fell apart today

-the Chef's plate box was damaged in transit (apparently) and never arrived

- our internet cut out 4 times today so I'll need to contact Bell

Overall the day was pretty stressful as we had a big financial report due today.

Tuesday talks with Todd without Todd

corona lockdown day 103

Today was a lot of meetings. I had planned the afternoon to review some applications but there were just more and more tasks in the inbox. I had done a lot of walking yesterday and I could feel it today. I didn't get to do much walking today so I guess that balanced out. We got a bit of rain. James and I played frisbee in the rain for an added challenge. We have one more case so we are up 2 cases in the last 3 days. They haven't indicated if the 2 cases are related.

corona lockdown day 102

Today was a busy day as expected. I got up early and popped by Rustle to pick up the deposit. There was not much to deposit but I am trying to get in the habit of going by. Right after that I went to Food Basics as we were out of juice. It was just after 8 and it was the quietest that I have ever been there ever. There was almost no one there that I wondered if I was in senior hour. I was probably only in for 5 minutes. I am not sure why it was so quiet as it was the same time that I normally go so that I can make it home in time for work. Then had a lot of meetings in the morning. At lunch I went by the dollar store as James needed masks for this week. I picked up a few things and a pack of 5 masks for $4. Then more meetings in the afternoon. Then James made it as the last customer to get a hair cut. He looks lovely and ready to graduate!

The payoff for not mowing my lawn meant that the bunny visited this evening and happily was eating the long grass. After a little bit of eating where some birds had been hopping around. I saw something behind some of the grass. I wasn't sure if it was a bird but no it was a new bunny that was about 1/2 the size. The bunnies chased each other around the garden, it was pretty funny.

The heat of summer, but not wilting

James and I played frisbee in the sun. We had a pretty good time despite the heat.

The gourmet roast from last night was the best thing from the frozen box and I used the leftovers in a chili and that will likely last for tomorrows dinner as well.

Had an amazon parcel come through intellicom though the driver had a hard time finding my house. I saw her drive around the block about 4 times before arriving. One thing in the box that I had ordered was some tubes of pringles but they may be more broken than whole due to the shipping process. Oh, well they all get crumbled eventually.

I ran the sprinkler this evening in the backyard to keep the back lawn from dying and to make birds happy. One robin stopped to check it out, but that was all.

I realized that we were in more dire need of juice than I thought (I tried to get juice at Giant Tiger but hadn't been able to find it) so I will have a busy morning tomorrow before work as I need to go to Rustle as well.

corona lockdown day 101

They tested everyone on the hospital floor with the positive corona-19 test and so far all have come back negative. Though I suppose it is early days yet, I don't know if it would show up this early? I wonder how often they will need to continue to test to find out the extent of the outbreak.

However, if the staff member didn't get the infection from the hospital, I wonder if they have sorted out how the person got it for the infection tracking.

I tried Giant Tiger this morning just after they opened. It was busier than when I had been a few weeks ago. They had done some renovations pre-covid and I saw that they now have fresh meat. They didn't have a bunch of things that I was looking for that they had a few weeks ago but I got some things that I needed.

Then I popped over to Shoppers and the most memorable thing was that they had hand sanitizer for sale! Haven't seen hand sanitizer for many months! (other than at store entrances, not for sale)

The Lakeshore farm truck was in the Canadian Tire lot again and did seem to be doing swift business despite the remote location> People seemed to be pulling up pretty frequently in cars.

Then we had our virtual service. Then I went out to mow the front lawn. Part of it is dead but the rest was growing pretty rapidly.

the streak has ended

After weeks without a case we now have an active case. Unfortunately it is someone who works at the hospital has tested positive. Now we have to wait 2 weeks for the extent of the impact.

Also I meant to write that there are mini strawberries that grow in my lawn. They don't taste like anything at all but the robins seem to like them. I scared a baby robin today and it screamed at me.

corona lockdown day 100

I woke up at 7:30 again and decided that since it was Saturday I would go for a jog. I increased the distance to 2 blocks working back up endurance. The morning is quite nice in my backyard as we have a lot of shade. There was a good breeze as well. I got some laundry out- it was a good laundry drying day.

I worked on cleaning the bathroom and the kitchen. James' dartboard is up now so we played a lot of darts in the afternoon. Making a "gourmet roast" from my frozen meat box. It is pretty huge and fills my whole slow cooker. I expect to make something with the leftovers tomorrow. In honour of the day 100 I downloaded the pictures from my camera covering a couple of weeks.

This was the oriental peonies attempt at recovery after the hailstorm:

Moroccan spiced chicken even with Moroccan couscous though I was not sure of the difference with that and regular couscous

Then we had another big rainstorm and this happened to the oriental peonies. There was no recovery from this.

Here is a regular peony peeking out. It was standing up before the rainstorm and the only one. But now there are many more.

Parmesan chicken with mashed potatoes

Calzones!

Thai pork noodles

Harissa chicken and chickpeas- I missed taking the "after" picture. The interesting thing about this one was the freekeh that was actually quite good

Turkey enchilada bake. I'm pretty sure I have made this one before. It is pretty easy and good.

The dart board (from my parents) and the protector (used Nat and Karries gift and I covered the rest). James is a big fan!

corona lockdown day 99

I woke up a bit later than usual- 7:30 so I didn't go for a jog. The forecast says it will be hot the next few days but I didn't find it too bad. I just only like to jog earlier so I don't see people too much! I had meetings all morning. At lunch I went for a walk. I didn't pass anyone else on my walk (other than lots of cars). Interestingly heat waves seem to be as scary as viruses it seems. There was only 1 person waiting outside the hairdresser.The lakeshore farms truck was still in the Canadian tire parking lot. I have been wondering why they chose that location but I like how close it is if we are short on veggies. The afternoon was full of exam stuff and still trying to wrap up a course that finished in April. In the evening I put the sprinkler on less for the lawn and more for the birds. One robin appreciated it. It can't be too hot yet, otherwise more may have appreciated.

corona lockdown day 98

Today I went to Loblaws before work as we were running low on some things. It was the most relaxed shopping trip since the pandemic. There weren't a lot of people because it was early. Cucumbers seemed to have jumped in price to 3.99 (?!) I found pretty much everything I needed quickly. The self-checkout was empty so I did that and was allowed to use my own bags. So that was fairly successful. I had a lot of meetings in the morning and then had an exam in the afternoon. 

Made Harissa Chicken with chickpeas and freekeh (which looked a but freaky but was actually quite tasty)

James had a youtube live banquet, not quite sure how it went yet.

There was a driver going the wrong way on the 401 today https://www.kingstonist.com/news/driver-arrested-after-brief-pursuit-on-highway-401/

Dickson said no injuries were sustained as a result of the incident, and that there was no threat to public safety, apart from when the suspect was driving in the wrong direction.

corona lockdown day 97

Today I went for a jog again in the morning. For a while it was too cold, I slept too late or I had a pulled muscle. But today I restarted the jog. Only a block but it was a good start.

I am not sure what is going on at the house next door as they have dug up the whole front yard. Maybe replacing a pipe.

Info about the robbery that I wrote about yesterday:

https://www.kingstonist.com/news/kingston-police-seek-publics-assistance-to-identify-robbery-suspect/

I actually took lunch today and went for a walk around the Kingston Center. There is a guy in the parking lot selling fresh veggies. I saw him there on Saturday as well. I wonder why he selected the place he did as it isn't very busy but maybe that is appealing.

The haircut place had a lineup about 10 people long. I guess it will take some time to clear the backlog of 3 months. They seem to be open more hours though, I guess that will help. The lineup was in the shade, which was nice for them.

There seemed to be a lot more traffic. I guess people have places to go now.

Loblaws did not have a lineup nor did Shoppers. I didn't go in anywhere, just walked around.

I got the first email out to the new class. Tomorrow is meetings and an exam.

crorona lockdown day 95 and 96

Today was a lot of meetings and sorting out things for exams. No time for lunch but I did get a couple of loads of laundry hung out. Yesterday I was by Rustle before work to pick up the offering and drop off our printer cartridges. At lunch I went to the bank and a quick trip to Metro. The Metro sign clearly said that backpacks were not allowed but no one said anything to me. Yesterday we had our first socially disctanced prayer meeting since the covid. I did not attend as I had to work. Later that day the corner store right by Rustle was held up by a guy with a knife. Our interns work at that store so I hope they are ok.

corona lockdown day 94

Today I woke up at 7am and got the laundry going as it looked to be a nice day. I went out to Shoppers and made it through pretty rapidly. People seemed more relaxed, not many people were wearing masks. A successful trip. Watched the 3rd day and Rustle service in the morning then made butterscotch chocolate chips for Sarah and delivered them. Then made the website I was working on. Made lemon pepper chicken. Worked on email. Ready for bed now- I need to run to Rustle first thing in the morning as the printer cartridges arrived and I need to pick up the offering.

corona lockdown day 93

Today felt like a sluggish day. I woke up early but didn't feel like I got a lot accomplished. It was pretty cold which I think made me not want to do much. James finished all of his high school work so there is some freedom there. We had tacos with grass fed ground beef. Rustle is staying online for a couple of weeks but 3rd day is opening with multiple services to fit the guidelines. I have to tackle making a webpage tomorrow and trying to catch up on my email!

corona lockdown day 92

Today we entered Phase 2 of the reopening plan. What is different? Well, I went shopping in the morning because we were out of fruit and some other things and Loblaws was quieter than other times that I had gone. I made it through most aisles quickly. They still did not have a lot of cleaning products but had plenty of flour.

When I got back I went to hang laundry on the back deck and noticed there were a lot of flies which was unusual and there was a mauled and dead baby grackle. Not nice. There clearly is a predator in the neighbourhood that I don't see and don't like.

Had lots of meetings today. James finished his law project. I made calzones.

corona lockdown day 91

I woke earlyish and got the laundry hung out. I worked at my standing desk on the back porch until I had to start my meetings. As the computer (and it is a small tiny thing) was no new fangled my old monitor did not work with it, I had to get my monitor from the office so had to make another trip in today. Everything seems so clean in the office. We had a board meeting today to talk about reopening Rustle. We are only able to open after we have all the requirements in place which may be in a few weeks. In the evening I made parmesan chicken with mashed potatoes and broccoli that used a lot of pans to make! We are out of a lot of things so I likely need to get groceries tomorrow.

BETWEEN TWO FRIENDS - Episode 11 with Christena Hastings

corona lockdown day 90

Yesterday there was a rainstorm with a lot of wind in the morning but things were hot and sunny in the afternoon. I went to campus to pick up my new computer. However, the monitor that I had at home to connect it to ended up being too old to use. So I will need to go into work to pick up the monitor from my desk today. Yesterday made Moroccan spiced chicken, with even what was called Moroccan couscous. Though it was difficult to determine the difference with regular couscous.

corona lockdown day 89

I was pretty tired today but inbetween meetings I plowed through email so felt good that way. Made Oktoberfest sausage chili that I thought was pretty good. James is working on a law project. There are a lot of challenging things going on. I should be getting a new computer to work on tomorrow.

corona lockdown day 88

I thought I went to bed pretty early and would wake at 5am but instead woke at 7. I got some laundry out and went right to work as I had to get some emails out. I had to shut my computer down at lunch because it was working too hard. I am looking at getting my work computer moved to my home that way I can just do my meetings on the laptop and the rest of the work on my real computer and give the laptop a break.

I had to go to Shoppers to pick up a prescription. On my way there I heard a lot of sirens and then I saw a police car and fire truck leaving the scene. An ambulance was still there looking like it was cleaning something up so I'm not sure what happened there. When I got to Shoppers, they had hand sanitizer on the stool on the way in (which they hadn't had before) and there was a security guard (which I had not seen before). He just nodded to me. I didn't know if he was there for Covid or something else. He was strolling around the whole store. They had my lemonade on sale so I went to the self checkout (they have always preferred if you use the self checkout). There was another lady at one of the self checkouts so I went to the unoccupied one. The other lady left and I don't know who was in charge of the self checkouts but noone sanitized it before the next guy came through. We are getting lax in Kingston. There are not so many masks anymore and we are moving into Phase2. Things were pretty quiet out still on my trip though. I made tacos with some of the ground beef from the box. Tomorrow I'm going to try to make a chilli with sausages.

corona lockdown day 87

I woke early but I did not hear a lot of birds signing. Since the hail it is much cooler maybe the birds sing less?

We were out of fruit so I trekked to Food Basics. I was a bit worried as there were a larger number of cars pulling into the parking lot, but the store was pretty empty so it was just that everyone arrived at the same time. I made it through the store pretty quickly as I only mainly needed fruit and veg. I passed by the meat and there was not any cheap meat. So I was happy again with my meat box as I am paying the same amount as I would have to pay now but it is better quality meat. Also, I don't need to carry it home. 

At 10am, I watched Elevation Church speaking about John 4:6 and how Jesus was tired because of the journey and how a lot of people now are tired so Jesus can relate. Jesus had to go through Samaria to get to the next thing he needed to do. It was a tiring journey.

At 11am I watched Rustle. Shari was singing. Todd was talking about Philippians and how in difficult times some of the Philippians had to sacrifice for others and we should as well.

In the afternoon I worked on cleaning the kitchen. There are so many things to clean!

The oriental peonies are trying to rally after the hailstorm. They still smell nice.

BETWEEN TWO FRIENDS - Episode 10 with Christine Sulphur

corona lockdown day 86 - hail

Woke up at 5am to the birds singing. Then woke again at 7am and they had finished. Went to Shoppers right after the seniors hour. It was busier than previous trips but went very quickly and so was fine. These were the oriental peonies before the hail storm.

 It was a nice day, I got 2 loads of laundry done before the hail storm. There was hail flying in every direction. It was very intense.

For dinner I made one of the meat box- Chipotle mango chicken. I thought it would be one meal but there was so much meat in the package it will do for 2 meals. I checked out their website to see how it works for the next box. I selected the box every 6 weeks. They rolled over everything that I ordered this time so I can make adjustments based on what was good. They also note due to the covid situation it can take 7 days to ship the box, like it did for mine. So things must be good on the meat ordering front.

corona lockdown day 85

I woke up early and worked for a bit. Took a break by walking to the new Dollarama in the Kingston Center. It has been open for a few months before the pandemic I think. It is a pretty large store and has some more things than the one across the street. I thought that the smaller one was doomed when they made this larger one but the pandemic had probably helped the smaller one as people need to space out more any way. I needed to pick up rice. I also picked up a plastic square container that I can use in the fridge for defrosting the freezer meat. The box warned that there could be some leaks on defrosting. I think maybe it is the dry ice that does it. So to protect the fridge I have the box.

James is working on an idea to transform the garage into liveable space. This seems to have turned his mood around and he is quite excited about it. He also has volunteered to paint the back deck if I pick up the paint. I just have to figure out the right kind of paint in a pandemic.

Dinner was firecracker cauliflower. Very good.

 The firecracker spice looked interesting

 Tray of veg

 Tray of firecracker cauliflower

 Sauce for the cauliflower

The final product

The oriental peony still looked and smelled great today. Also a good laundry drying day so I am getting caught up.

corona lockdown day 84

Today was a lot of email trying to catch up, but so many new emails that it is difficult. We had a board meeting in the evening. I woke up early in the morning so made a quick trip to Loblaws as we were out of fruit. I looked at the meat but there were no good deals so I continue to work with my freezer of meat and am pleased with that. Yesterday's dinner of spicy pork bibimbap:

 Today the oriental peony opened! According to Facebook this is later than some other years that I posted about it.

 Tonight was meatballs and mashed potatoes. Very yummy.

corona lockdown day 83- timetabling

I spent a long day timetabling as we had our new numbers come in that were higher than expected so I had to scramble to put things together. It is good to have it done- I have had tunnel vision on this so my email has been building up so lots to catch up on tomorrow.

Had a nice chef's plate of spicy pork bibmpap. James had a plain chicken breast from the new frozen meat package. Very good quality.

corona lockdown day 82

Today the meat order arrived! And it was very very cold. It was far colder than my freezer- I can tell because when I open the freezer now it is MUCH colder.

It was fun to track the package as well as I could see that it shipped last night and was in Mississauga. When I woke up in the morning it was in Belleville (oddly without leaving Mississauga?) At any rate I could track its arrival in the Kingston depot and then going on to the truck. So that was exciting.

My Amazon packages did not make it out of the vortex of Mississauga. One interestingly had some scans on Friday.

At 3:20pm it arrived in the depot
At 5:30pm it is scanned as leaving the depot
At 6:30pm it is scanned as arriving back in the depot

So did it try to leave and then have to turn around? Who knows?

My day was full of timetabling and emails.

The meat box:

 It was a giant pile of meat

 Freezer before the meat box

 Freezer after the meat box