Day ThirtyFive: HumpDay, fingers crossed. One of the things were are supposed to do is let the kids make pancakes... that's a school assignment I can get on board with. I got some of the stuff down from the higher shelves because left to his own device he would just climb up the cupboards to get what he needs, not that there is much of an issue there, from time to time I've climbed up them, they were built to hold at least that much weight because I didn't know what we were going to put on them when I built them. Anyway... he made a pancake for breakfast and even tried to get creative with the pour, this isn't his first rodeo (photo below) we posted it to the class facebook page to prove it was done. After lunch he had online class, couldn't get connected for some reason, but he wasn't the only one... as far as I can tell he didn't miss anything but honestly I have no idea what they did, it was all in French. When Heather got home I dissected a beef roast and we made Spicy Beef and Noodle Stir Fry, Lawson was happy to get out the chop sticks... but this is going to be the first year he doesn't get to go to Osaka Sushi for his birthday... that will likely be one of the first things on our 'to do list' if mankind doesn't go extinct. Lawson played some more video games online with his friends, he plays with them on the speaker phone so they can coordinate things... I got sick of his friends bitching and whining by 6pm and told him that was it for the day... my kids I can handle... others I don't need to.  Apparently I missed a call while he was online too... just returned that, talked to Dave for a while, talked shop, had a few good laughs, seems people I'm friends with have a twisted sense of humour... if you're on my friends list you might want to have that checked on. Signing off for the evening, GN Everyone.

Lawson Making Pancakes

Day ThirtyFour: Garbage day... Lawson took out the garbage, in return he was fed breakfast.  He made a custom track in BTD6 and made me play it... then other missions he had planned for the 2 of us... checked in with his class, something is scheduled tomorrow afternoon but our mission this week from them was to make pancakes and post a photo... pretty sure we did that on day 3 or 4 and about a dozen times since then... and they want photos of our kitchen with shapes drawn on them... looks like a ploy to find out if we are still feeding our kids. I'll likely post a photo from the internet of some chef's mansion in Beverly Hills or something and let them figure it out. LOL Heather picked up a few essentials from the store on the way home from work today, a few veggies, milk, flour, eggs, butter, sugar... sounds like someone wants a cake... I wonder if that has anything to do with Lawson walking around the house the other day humming the happy birthday song for hours on end... Mexican for dinner tonight, wanted to go back for another plate full but didn't. It's been about a year since we changed our eating and I'm only a few pounds from making optimum weight for my height, don't think I've been there since about 8 years old... not likely even then, back then the charts were really whacked... if bones were not visible, your parents were feeding you too much. Heather passed out early with Lawson and I trying to finish up some stuff on BTD6 before the Easter event was over... now I can go back to ignoring the game and sleep at night.

Day ThiryThree: Monday right? What month is it again? Pancakes... Hmm... where did all the damn eggs go? Meh, mayo that will work. Heather redeemed herself in the kitchen yesterday and made chocolates we can eat... only problem being we can eat them... and today we did... so that pretty much a wash. LOL While chilling stuff for the chocolate experiments I did find 3 steaks left in the freezer... we buy a complete beef tenderloin and cut it into steaks and meat for other things, wrap them, bag them in packs of 3 and then bag those in larger freezer bags, seems to work well and cost a fraction of the money for the good stuff. Played too much BloonsTD6 with the boy, he did get out in the yard to play a little in the snow, it's not like he was stuck playing video games all day. We checked his facebook and school group to make sure there was nothing that needed done there... nothing, have to look back tomorrow. You guessed it, steak for dinner, a little asparagus and some roasted cauliflower... a nice bottle of wine... in the evening we send the boy down to play hockey in the basement and the adults watched the movie Contagion... OMG nailed it LOL, right up to the part when they assumed there was going to be a run on the banks and gas stations because people were going to hoar money and gas... I guess predicting that people would completely lose their shit and hoard toilet paper wouldn't have really made the story believable... I tell you writing reality TV must be a nightmare because if you wrote shit the way it plays out IRL people aren't going to believe.

Day ThirtyTwo: Avoided the computer this weekend, hence the late report. Heather spend a good deal of the day in the kitchen fighting with stuff, hard boiled eggs were the scourge of the battle... normally something she has down pat until she got the insta-pot, which she used a month or so ago to make the eggs in and was easier and took almost no time... that being said, she's a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to food things... they did have a hint-o-green around the yoke indicating they were slightly over cooked. In an effort to get the time perfect the experimentation began... when they were done, they were far from done. Now being that they were cooled down and tested and went back in for round 2, you really can't just add another minute on the cook time, you are basically cooking them from scratch again... long story short our Easter eggs will spin on the table, however you can still crack one open and have a yummy scrambled egg if you want to cook one up. I continued fixing and packing hockey gear... I know what you are thinking... 'Rod, seriously, how fucking slow are you, it's hockey gear, put it in the damn bag and zip it shut, 5 minutes, you've been working on this for days.' - Now in my defence not all of it was new, some is well worn, broken clips, ripped straps, rusted buckles and snaps, bits that needed glued back together, other people's repairs that needed done properly, it was a mess... and not just one set... currently it looks like we are up to almost 5 complete sets of goalie gear and 2 sets of player gear, there are a stack of bags of gear that fill half of a room. We took more photos and video of gear and I was informed that when we edit it he (Lawson) has some good ideas for this one. My mind reels at the thought of what the sound track may be for this one... LOL Oh yes, Happy Easter everyone... I almost forgot (I knew there was a reason for the hard boiled eggs) well the bunny was a COVID19 no show. Hardly make sense for that rabbit to spread the disease everyplace... so we made Easter eggs and mommy and I hid them... I think we did a better job than the rabbit. Heather was over generous but I made it a little more of a challenge... the hardest one to find was the one at eye level (I will try to post a photo below). What made it difficult was the need to apply Minecraft physics to actually focus on the area to search. It's truly amazing how hard it is to find an egg that has been taped to the wall. We got a little farther into the Lord of the Rings and then cued up a few more movies in the evening. We watched the first bit of Lord of the Rings movie and Lawson kept getting lost... where's the part about this and where's the part about that... they cut out all Frodo's parties, the planning of Bilbo's parties, the plans for Frodo to move, the trip to his house, going to farmer Maggot's for dinner and the ride to the farrie, the trip through the dark forest, getting eaten by the willow tree, the time spent with Tom Bombadil, and being captured by the wraiths where they ended up getting their swords (daggers), and the rest of the trip to the Prancing Pony... the movie kinda just jumped to the next day at the inn. I had to let him know they needed to cut the movie down to 9 hours so it all couldn't be included. And

Day ThirtyOne: Shit!!! Awake at 3am again, damn naps... this isn't going to be good. So Lawson was the next up around 7am... we played some Bloons together quietly while Heather got another hour of sleep. Last one up makes breakfast! Or so the rule went today because for a change it wasn't me. Mushroom and cheese omelets with bacon. Fought with some crap on the internet, banking and what not before giving up and doing a few chapters of LotR. Interrupted by a phone call that took us into lunch. Lawson made his own perogies, I got him down the pot and had him read the direction on the bag... we still haven't done the fresh pasta thing he wanted to try, maybe next week. After lunch Lawson took a dump... now normally it's not a highlight of the day or anything to report but today the media finally got to him... he came out and explained what type of poop he had and claimed he only needed to use one piece of toilet paper... 'Shit, little buddy, you don't need to only use one piece, we are not going to run out, other people are just losing their minds, we are going to be ok... well maybe ok after you take a bath, off to the tub with you..." then I started going over the hockey gear, mending and fixing a number of items before we set into making a video about how to put on goalie gear... specifically the stuff he is donating to I.F. Minor Hockey. We wanted to film it in the dressing room but it doesn't look like that's going to happen while we are on lockdown. He misses hockey and his friends... I'm sure he's not the only one in that boat. Got a message from one of the other parents that they drove by our place just to see where we lived because the were in town looking for a bank (it closed last summer)... but no stopping by for a visit, just a drive-by and we didn't even know until they were home again... yup, this officially sucks. So anyway we have some footage, we will get some more tomorrow and then spend some time next week editing stuff together. Every spare minute the boy had today was spent in the basement playing NHL20 on Pro level, commentary by Lawson, full volume, no mute button. Shaved some meat off a roast and made steak hoagies for dinner, Lawson had a can of soup with his sandwich... 'So Lawson do you like the can soup or my home made soup better?' Heather with a big ego boost for me piped up with a: 'Don't ask questions that you don't want to hear the answer for'... Meh! Go ahead Lawson tell her. He definitely likes my soup better, he went on to complain about the broth not being made with chicken because there was almost no chicken in it, then pondered about how it was actually yellow if it was made with so little chicken, he enjoyed the noodles I guess, they were gone when he put his dishes in the sink and I didn't hear complaining about them... but had I mentioned it I'm sure he would rather had the stelline in it, after all he is 1/4 Italian. We watched a bit of idiot box in the evening and went to sleep.
My that was kind of an abrupt end to the day after describing a bowl of soup for 20 minutes wasn't it... meh, maybe he was tired.

Day Thirty: Slept horribly, head still hurts, there has to be some nasty weather coming in because it's not even allergies at this point because breathing is just fine. Heather and Lawson kept busy in the kitchen and I found a pile of pizzelle cookies on the cooling rack on one of my trips in for water. the A pile for us and 2 piles for the boy. Heather made salmon for dinner, very yummy, not over cooked like everything else up here... A few movies afterwards, 'Bright' which was good, however Lawson took a break halfway through to go down and play a game of hockey... must have gotten that from Heather, no matter how bad a show is I can't leave part way through, even a complete train wreck, I still tough it out. But Bright get 2 thumbs up, then 'White Chicks' which we watched after the boy went to bed... pretty funny, worth a watch. Well it's official, we have watched more TV in the last month than we typically watch in a year. 3 naps throughout the day and still tired, must sleep.

Day TwentyNine: Having a sub par day, hard to get out of bed... Made it up to feed the boy, cereal, grilled cheese and then crap dinner for dinner. Had enough of his friends from school. They call literally every 3 minutes even after him telling them he doesn't what to talk, I finally went and logged his account out and left it as do not disturb. Ah... that's better. New snapshot update in Minecraft left us trying to survive in the Nether again... it's getting almost doable... the difficulty left makes a huge difference and your main source of food is more likely to eat you than you are to eat it... they also added a new biome with a cobble like block that gives a whole lot more you can do in a Nether only environment. In the Lord of the Rings they set off through the forest and met Tom. Watched this weeks play from London when Heather got home, acting fine, music fine, story line blew, 2 thumbs down for Jane Aer (SP?)... akin to watching paint dry. Cashed it in.

Day TwentyEight: Lawson was back to wanting pancakes for breakfast again, I was starting to worry about him but all is good now. Disassembled cleaned and reassembled the dehydrator this morning... did I mention my small game license came in the mail a few weeks back... nothing like good ole squirrel jerky. LOL - Nah, I put in the beef that I put away the other day to marinade. Filled up the trays then filled up the pepper mill, nothing like fresh ground pepper on the jerky on the way into the machine. That being said, grinding a whole mill full of pepper takes a lot of forearm and grip... let's just say after that, the beef in the machine is the only thing that's getting jerked for a good time to come. Lawson continued to talk to his school friends online, at points I think there were all just sitting there connected doing different things at home, I asked at one point, What are you doing? - Watching a video - Well what are your friends doing? Aren't you still connected with them online. - I don't know and ya why? OK then I left it alone at that point... In the afternoon I made a meat / cheese & cracker plate and we sat down and did another chapter in the Lord of the Rings book. They made it to Frodo's new house. Afterwards I took another stab at the new online bank account, it's maddening... I finally had to go to the post office so they could verify my info so the bank could make me an account so I didn't have to go out of the house. Then I tried to attach a checking account, it locked up again, so I started over... now for some reason I have 2 checking accounts with the online bank... not looking like I'm going to enjoy this one bit. Left it, I will try to fix it tomorrow. People seem to be taking this apocalypse thing a little more seriously at this point... I figure it should only last a few more months. Heather brought home a few bags of groceries, we needed eggs, she said the store was getting pretty bare. A pound of ground beef, some cheese and a jalapeno pepper was turned into taco casserole for dinner tonight, maybe dinner tomorrow night too... So the jerky just came out of the dehydrator... OMG this is so yummy and so not $5 a slice. If I don't check in tomorrow, don't worry... I'm likely in a jerky coma, not fatal... just hard to think and type while chewing. GN

Day TwentySeven: Woke up at 3am, pretty much knew from there the day was over. Going to be an ass dragging day all day due to premature awakeulation. Lawson got up made his own breakfast and took out the garbage/recycling... snow at the end of the driveway had mostly melted so the road was accessible to put the can roadside. He started back in on talking to his friends from school online, he likes the video chat and it's given him access to more than the 2 or 3 kids he normally talks to on the phone while playing video games with them. Big Lunch he couldn't finish it, did his best but came up short. Didn't bother with the book today too tired, can't see straight... spent most of my day walking someplace (like the kitchen), staring at something (like the microwave)... and seriously wondering what the hell I was thinking 3 seconds ago and why I was in the kitchen and what I needed the microwave for... after stand at each spot for a while a lot of the questions did answer themselves... like the kitchen and microwave... eventually I remembered I had to pee... and the kitchen was just between where I was and where I was going... I looked at the microwave to see what time it was... see totally obvious. When Heather got home we puttered in the kitchen. Made the boy some food. Made us some food... it started with some garlic bread, then coleslaw... homemade breakfast sausage patties... post-apocalypse pancakes... I really need to post that recipe, feels so wrong not to share it. Oh and that eggplant I pickled at the beginning of this journal... A jar didn't last long, going to have to make a lot more next time... they are fantastic... reminds me Niagara Falls and of selecting friends based on their grandparent ethnicity and ability to cook. Hey! What's a matter with you? When's the last time you went to see your Nona? Manga! manga sorry drooling, got side tracked where was I? Oh yes, tired... everyone went to bed early. Except me... why don't I sleep? Can't stop thinking about things long enough to rest I guess.

David H.
I am still wondering if you remembered to pee...

Day TwentySix: Couldn't sleep last night so when Heather got up at 5 we had breakfast together. Lawson eventually crawled out of bed and had 1st breakfast (a piece of cheesecake) before we settled in to chapter 4 of LOTR, he wrote a summary in French then embarked on 2nd Breakfast in true Hobbit fashion (Egg McMuffin). Then off to Farmer Maggots... no wait that was in the book... umm, a coffee yes that was it, maybe an adult coffee, OK I've started day drinking but only recreational I assure you. So we got Lawson set up to talk to his class today over the internet as his teacher was hosting a class session in the afternoon so all their little minds don't go all squishy. Now if a bunch of 3rd and 4th graders can all login and do classes online can someone for the love of god please explain to me why high-school students can't manage to do that for a credit or two? Boggles my mind. A lot of the kids seemed to really miss each other, they even logged back in after class just to chat with each other. I got rid of the freezer on my front porch, it has been sitting in the doorway blocking up traffic too long... rolled it over on to the back of a friends truck and off it went to it's new forever home to replace a unit that had recently expired. Had some more coffee and Lawson ate another Egg Sammich for late lunch. Not sure why he kept asking for the same thing to eat all day... even for dinner he didn't want what was going around, we made coleslaw and fresh buns for dinner to host some loose meat and cheese... still the boy held out. Made him perogies, that shut him up... I guess some days you need a comfort food only day, those are his comfort foods. That pile of hockey gear is still taunting us... maybe tomorrow. Oh and I managed to break the food processor, I think I mentioned a week or so a go that the KitchenAid stuff was really starting to be made like crap... not going to buy any of it any more, waste of money. Ordered a $10 part, likely be in in 4-7 weeks. I'm sure there were some video games and videos in there someplace I missed, they fill the time between being useful and productive... just kind of a given at this point. That was Monday right?