Self-Isolation Continues March 26 to March 31

This March 30th, 2020 woke up to this. The snow is pretty close after all the rain last night. View across the lake from our sundeck.

Last March (2019) the weather was also a gambit of temperatures. We had snow, rain and some warm sunny days. We also had get togethers with family and friends ... the self-isolation situation of today makes us really appreciate those times.

Dinner with Kristi and Jason, prime rib.... yumm. I had bought one to have this year but had to freeze it instead. Prime Rib is Jason and Kristi's favourite dinner.

Some warm afternoons later in March last year.

An evening out at the Chemainus Theatre with Pat and Darryl, our neighbours.

March 2020 Different times.

Friday, March 27th

Following the "rules" that the government stipulates and our daughter, Dr. Kristi Kyle imposed upon us which are even more stringent for self-isolation.

Same old, same old. raining so no time spent outside other than walking Freya. Hot tub in the morning and then more house cleaning just cuz ... Lots to do if we feel like it. :)

Ray popped out today to fuel up the car, pick up our mail and pick up a prescription (paid for already) for our neighbour who is in quarantine at present. He masked up, and gloved up for the trip. Once back the same routine, clothes in the washing machine, and lots of hand sanitizer for the car, door handles and anything else he might have touched and then washing and sanitizing his hands. We definitely make sure we are not going to get this virus! This whole process makes us feel quite a bit of anxiety leaving our safety of the house. We notice that going out raises our blood pressure, usually our chest feels tight and Ray's usual sore throat feels a little worse before all the symptoms subside.  All this just caused by anxiety.

Found out tonight that Garrett probably has the virus, so has quarantined himself with his office desk set up in their master bedroom for the next 2 weeks. Bummer for Kat who is 6 1/2 months pregnant and had to spend all day disinfecting their townhouse including Garrett's dog, Kira. Pretty tiring and emotional for her. Hopefully she does not get it too.

Saturday, time to pick up a big grocery order from Superstore in Duncan this afternoon. Hopefully this process goes as smooth as the Walmart order on Thursday.

This morning Kristi and Garrett got us set up on "Zoom" so we could video conference with all of us at one time. What a fabulous visit seeing their faces just like they were here in our living room.

Turned out the grocery order was ready on time... I had my doubts as they had sent an email to me at 7:45 am that they were running behind. I did get most of what I ordered except TP again and a few meat choices. I also received a frozen turkey for free as my order was over $250. I guess I will be cooking turkey for Easter for just us.

Will add the missing items to the next grocery shopping list. I was there at 1pm and loaded 15 minutes later and on my way back to Lake Cowichan. I spent the next hour disinfecting all our groceries and putting them away. I will repackage all the meat tomorrow.

We are in for a very drizzly week and quite cold temps. This week we have had days with new snow on the mountains around us and then it would melt. Ray says the lake has come up a couple of inches overnight.

To occupy my time, I did some baking and after getting my groceries made cabbage rolls.

Wow I forgot how long it takes to make a good batch of cabbage rolls ... 3 1/2 hours later they went into the oven finally, after making the homemade sweet and sour sauce and meat mixture with bacon and rice in my big turkey roaster. Dinner is made. I will be able to parcel them out for some quick meals as no going to a restaurant if I don't feel like cooking. lol

You sure don't feel very motivated with the rainy weather. Ray is spending his mornings in his shop, working on my new herb planters for the front garden while I do some cooking, laundry and cleaning. Regular house stuff. Certainly not anything too interesting to report.

Is there "light" at the end of the tunnel ... will the sun come out to play?

Kat had her ultrasound this week for baby Stella at 6.5 months. The baby is still being uncooperative showing her complete face as her hand is always in the way. I suspect she is a thumb sucker as Garrett was. lol Everything is going well for her. Yeah. Hopefully when she is born the crisis is over and we will actually be able to hug her.

More snow on the mountains and -1C this morning ... burrrrr. At least the rain quit for now and there are some blue patches in the sky.

Received my grocery order from our little Country Grocer this morning. I actually got almost everything including toilet paper. I had asked for a bottle of bleach and they substituted a large container of Lysol Wipes.  So I will probably do a lot of my shopping here in town supporting them in the future.

I

t appears that Spring has Sprung ... at least for the wild life. Heard this horrendous screeching so went out to our deck to look. "Twitter Painted" as they say. lol

Monday, March 31st was Garrett's birthday. Being in quarantine in his master bedroom, he does not look like he is suffering too much. Kat baked him a pecan pie

Garrett's dog Kira

 Ray and I have been "hankering" for some Chinese Food. Being bored I decided to tackle it myself. We had Spicy Shrimp and Pineapple Fried Rice, Cashew Nut Chicken and Chicken Chow mein. I made enough to last for a couple of dinners. lol

And that takes us to the end of March still in the midst of this Covid 19 crisis and continuing self-isolation. The news from Dr. Bonny Henri, our Provincial Health Officer, tells us we will be in this same situation until at least July and possibly longer if there is resurgence in the fall. Only time will tell.