Week 6 of Stay Home, Stay Safe

This was the week that we really needed to give Dean a haircut. His hair was a bit overdue for a cut even before the Stay Home, Stay Safe order started. We offerred to try to cut it ourselves (although we have no experience), but he kept declining until it was driving him crazy. Anne shaved the sides and then trimmed the top on the following day. Whew! He is pleased with it. Thank goodness it all worked out. We are learning to be more and more self-sufficient.

We are also in the process of bringing a tree down that was very sick and half dead. It was right next to the house. David didn't think it was so terribly tall that we would not be able to handle it on our own. He climbed the tree and took down some of the larger branches. We ended up needing to buy a larger chainsaw. We were able to bring it down with everyone helping. Now we have tons of firewood for our fire pit (which we bought for evening entertainment). It just arrived, and we look forward to trying it out in the next few days.

I didn't get the picture of the tree completely down. They made quick work of it with the new chainsaw.

We are using the backyard for fun, too. The guys have been busy playing Belegarth with their foam weapons. It isn't as much fun to play with just two people, but at least they have each other to spar with each day.

On the educational front, Anne completed Math III this week. She is all done with math for her entire high school career. That feels great. She also completed Earth Science, which had dragged on and on for two years. Both Dean and Anne will be done with English for the year in a few weeks. We are reading The Hobbit as a family. It is an enjoyable distraction to our daily grind. We also really are enjoying the National Park documentaries on the National Geographic channel on Disney Plus. Each episode is like a mini vacation. I love to hear the kids talking about all of the animal facts they have learned through the years. They have a strong knowledge base that will serve them well. Dean is on track to be done with all of his subjects and graduate around the first week of June. It is a relief to see the end in sight. 

We decided to start doing a few drives each week around our city. During this shutdown, we are taking advantage of the lack of traffic while having Anne do most of the driving. She is starting to build her confidence and conquering  several new things each week. She drove through a medium size tunnel; dealt with a beautiful, huge bear crossing the road in front of her in the middle of downtown; drove our narrow downtown streets; and dealt with several homeless people walking down the middle of the road. All of these are common occurrences in our city and excellent practice for her. Although it is somewhat unusual to see a bear actually in the inner city, it certainly isn't unusual to see them in our neighborhood. We did have a bear get caught in a hotel lobby on the outskirts of the city last year. You never know where bears will pop up!

Stay safe everyone!

Blessings, Dawn