The good, the bad and the ugly. Being cooped up, mostly indoors, with just my husband and dog for company has been an eye-opening experience. Other than a trip to the doctor for a follow-up after my sepsis hospital stay and one little jaunt out by myself, it’s been just us. A few times (when the weather cooperates) I’ve managed short walks with Harley down Mulberry Lane. But other than that? Hanging out in the house, playing on the internet, and far too much TV. (Yes, the #Homeland series on Netflix is excellent, by the way.)
The good is, that despite close proximity for weeks on end, there have been surprisingly few harsh words exchanged between us. We seem to have found a way to balance far too much togetherness with time apart within our small-ish house. Luckily we do live in the country so it’s possible to get out for a walk and rarely see another soul except for the occasional dog walker escaping the confines of their own home and yard. As the weather warms up it’ll be possible to get out in the yard more, cleaning up the garden, taking photos of emerging leaves and flower buds.
I was out on the deck yesterday and discovered three robins lunching on the lawn. There are sprigs of green out there and the frozen ground is beginning to thaw providing snacks for foraging robins and black capped chickadees. When Harley and I ventured down onto the lawn, a little bird in the bushes gave us a lengthy tongue lashing. I suspect it, or its mate, was building a nest somewhere nearby and it wanted us gone – now.
So, more of the good things – the photo opportunities abound both indoors and out. I belong to a very active photo club based in Moncton – the #FocusCameraClub – and the enthusiastic executive has devised a number of photo challenges to keep us busy – and all of them require staying home (as mandated by our government) and shooting either in the house or in our own back yards. I love the challenge of finding subjects that suit the topic of the day!
A new challenge started today – based on letters of the alphabet. It took a while to find a “K” object, but then Joel suggested a ‘knife’ – problem solved.
Of course, staying home isn’t all rosy. After a while the daily question, “what would you like to have for supper?” wears thin – and occasionally we just grab a box of cereal. I actually enjoy cooking but I do get tired of ‘thinking’ about it. Joel cooks too but, like me, coming up with menu ideas isn’t a pleasure. Still, we manage to eat reasonably well and the only knives used are for cutting food.
Each day we seem to find one or two ‘chores’ that have to be done – laundry, cleaning etc. It’s pretty bad when you argue over who GETS to do them rather than who HAS to do them. Today’s major effort was bathing the dog. He’s big. He weighs 65 pounds+. And, he’s strong so if he didn’t really want to be bathed there isn’t a lot we really could have done about it. Luckily he normally goes to a professional groomer, #TheBarkingBarber. Rianna brooks no nonsense from her canine customers and, since he started going there as a wee puppy, he’s learned to be well behaved – into the tub and stay put, stand to be dried, don’t wiggle (much) for the brush out. Given that he hasn’t been clipped in over 2 months, he’s not looking too bad. Joel has been trimming Harley’s nails and clipping his eyebrows (so he can see out) but that’s as far as it’s gone – no attempts at body clipping (yet) in the hopes that the groomers will be allowed to re-open before he’s a total woolly mammoth! I’m not sure he was impressed with today’s bath though.
Staying home, staying safe and washing often hasn’t been nearly as onerous as people might think. It’s just mind over matter – if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.
Images by Ceci 