Us, January 19, 2020: John, Leo, Shadow, Roy, Ondine
Us, January 19, 2020: John, Leo, Shadow, Roy, Ondine
What a difference a few days make!
Monday Leo was out of school. And, surprise, Roy is home!
Roy was due to fly in this evening, but because in-person classes at UCCS were canceled we rebooked him on a flight leaving Colorado Springs last Saturday. There were complications NOT related to coronavirus, including unexpected fog and snowstorms in Colorado and the TSA confiscating Roy's Surface Pro tablet, charger, laptop charger, and solid-state hard drive. He went back and talked with a supervisor, who gave him written documentation as to why the items were prohibited, and it turned out that the chargers were allowed. So every time the TSA confiscated them in the past, and it's been two or three times, they were wrong. At this point, more than one of us thinks some TSA workers just steal to order.
Anyways, he was still not allowed to fly with his hard drive or Surface Pro despite neither falling into a prohibited category, so he was going to have it shipped to a college buddy. But, that buddy actually drove out to the airport to pick the stuff up in person! So, by the time Roy landed in San Diego, his friend had already uploaded all the necessary documents and materials from the hard drive to the cloud, where Roy could get them.
But wait, there's more! Roy had seven minutes to make his connection in Phoenix. He's now an old hand at fast connections, though, and knows his way around Phoenix and Salt Lake City, and made it!
So Roy landed in San Diego Saturday evening. Good thing, too, as travel restrictions ramp up and additional health screenings slow down the lines. When John picked him up, the airport was weirdly empty even in the early evening.
Leo, meanwhile, planned to be out of school until April 6 with no additional school days or even required homework. Now it looks like he may not be returning at all, because governor Newsom announced that California public schools may stay closed until fall! So, the rest of Leo's senior year may be from home! On the other hand, communication from the Patrick Henry principal says the San Diego school district will be making its own decision, and as of now still plans to reopen in April, although that could change.
Roy later learned that UCCS will remain closed, so he also won't be returning to Colorado Springs until the fall. And, just today, he learned that the dorms will be closed, so now he also can't retrieve his stuff.
Judo too is canceled for the foreseeable future because all the parks and recs have closed, as have the libraries. And, all the theatres have gone dark for the rest of the season, so seeing The Hollow a couple weekends back was the last live show we'll see for a while!
But, we can still go for walks! Sunday morning we went for a wonderful walk through the neighborhood to the trailhead at the end of Lake Murray,
then walked into Santee, returning via Cowles Mountain and the meadow loop. It was perfect hiking weather, and we were glad to get out. The creek is flowing
well after the recent rains. John even found a little treasure in the creek!
Also, it's amazing how many flowers basically look like the coronavirus.
Meanwhile, Leo went to his senior shoot-out duel in the park on Sunday, which his team won. We got together for kaffeetrinken Sunday afternoon. Oh, and
Roy brought home two Lego sets from Colorado, and let Leo go to work building the ship in a bottle set. (The other set is the International Space Station.)
Monday Roy got together with Danielle and they went out and about, apparently stopping at Target and a Lego store. And, Leo got together with his friend Taylan and they went to Mountain Mike's for the pizza buffet. It turned out to be the last day for dine-in eating at restaurants!
That's going to be about it for socializing and going out, since the whole nation is kind of in voluntary lock-down. Vista Cove, the senior community where John's Mom lives, is now not allowing visitors, even family members, so his sister Elaine had to get take-out then find a park to go to where they could eat and walk around. Restaurants are now take-out or delivery only, with no dine-in service, and with all the rec centers and libraries closed there's not a lot to do any more. Stores are still open, but there's little on the shelves any more (except, apparently, Lego sets) as people hoard stuff. And all the theatres have gone dark.
Still, the kints still find things to do together. For instance, Bear #2 trapped Bear #3 in the pantry doors using rubber bands and string to tether the knobs together. Sigh.
And Ondine got her old iPad working again, it was a big deal to recover the passwords and reset it. But she got the free trial of Apple TV so she could watch the Oprah book talk interview with Jeanine Cummins, author of American Dirt.
Tuesday was Ondine's first work-from-home day. We set up a kind of studio space in our bedroom so she could make video visits should anyone opt for one. Fortunately, John had a bunch of stuff from his teleconferencing days, so it's probably better set up than some.
Roy also had classwork to do Tuesday, and this week has a couple online class meetings.
John's literary book club would've met at Oasis Grossmont Center, but that moved online too, and there were only two participants plus the facilitator tuning in via Zoom. Still they had a great discussion about Romantic poetry, in particular Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan, and Shelley and Smith's versions of Oxymandias. And, he registered for a FutureLearn course on Forensic Archaeology and Anthropology from Durham University.
Neighborhood gas prices are falling like the stock market, lol, down to $3.39 per gallon now in just a few days.
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