days at home

 It's a Friday morning . Jean is getting ready for work.  She's such a babe. I'll never get over it. Lena is in her room remote schooling for two weeks after a mild cold last week. Jimmy is off on Fridays so he's cuddled up on the couch playing minecraft and legos simultaneously. He's got Lena's old puffy purple blanket that he's inherited-- it is absolutely the best blanket in the house. I used to sleep with it on weekends in the basement until he discovered it. It's finally sunny again after three days of rain, so everyone's mood is up, I can tell. Still a little cold, though, so I'll have to wait another day to put this trampoline together. The kids are absolutely going to burst when they see it. Got Jean's grandfather's stereo working again. Listening to a playlist I made-- a sort of personal history map of my musical tastes since first grade. From The Four Seasons to ACDC to Pegboy to June of 44 to whatever nonsense came after that. ...

Dropped the kids off at school, made a big breakfast (too big probably), read my book (another le Carré banger) for a bit, then picked the kids up from school. It's snowing again today, for what seems like the 15th day in a row, but fortunately it's a dry flakey snow that I swear smells very clean. Probably not true but it is beautiful anyway. The snow is piling up in a way I can't remember. Maybe that 2013 blizzard? I've done a lot of shoveling, which I've learned I reeally do enjoy if I'm not working . I just put on some headphones, usually an audiobook, and get swept up in the labor. Almost two weeks off of work this time around and I've had a wonderful time to this point. I was stressed out, certainly, at this last gig, even if I did love the work. Big pipe, 3" IMC, up on lifts. A lot of math, a lot trig as it turns out, pre-planning and three dimensional thinking-- I loved it. I really felt like I needed a mental break, though, as disappointed as I...

Monday. Jimmy woke up early today, just after 6am. I was up late watching a new show, The Night Manager, but we still made pancakes. I went for a long jog and was interrupted by a call from Mertz. We talked a while. He's still having trouble getting through to IDES, which I would find absolutely terrifying, but he's handling it pretty well. Longed on the hammock for a long time, almost finished with my book. I even played LEGOS with Jimmy, something I haven't done in a long time. I definitely have A LOT more patience than I normally do. We had hotdogs and yogurt for lunch-- we even broke open a special stash of Pringles We grilled chicken and rice for dinner outside again. We played kickball for an hour. At night Jimmy and Lena helped make cinnamon tortillas-- a family favorite. We had popcorn and watched (most of) Onward, Pixar's latest that went straight to video after the crisis.

Saturday. Cold day. Not much for the kids to do. Tried my best to limit their screen time. Played "kickball" for a bit but it was too cold for Lena. Jimmy and I went on a long bike ride, with winter gloves, hats and everything. I let him play in the sand pit for a good hour while I did laps in the parking lot listening to my audiobook. Good exercise but felt funny when we got back, we were both fluch in the face and felt warm to the touch, almost thought I had a fever. Evrything makes me paranoid right now, Watched some of Lena's new favorite youtube show for a half hour or so. I could tell she loved it. She loved sharing the experience with me, kept telling me all about the family. Me and Jimmy played Mario Kart for a while but he really started glowing when his mom joined it. I'll admit I had a blast, too-- the three of us playing was really a lot of fun for me as well. Late at night I made a spicy chicken sandwich while I watched The Good Shepherd. Over-ate p...

Sunday. Had coffee with Jean. Talked about the differences in the generations, how blind obedience might be mistaken for courage. Lots of leftover thoughts from my WWI podcast. Lena played with magnatiles, Jimmy with hot wheels. Both really got into their projects, made me happy.  Jean went to the dispensary about 9, I did the dishes and listened to my audiobook.  Afterwards I dropped off a wagon for Pat K, his old one that he leant us years ago. It felt good to talk to a buddy. We ended up going on for a half hour about baseball, the new Clone Wars episodes, and the strangeness of the crisis in general-- all while six feet apart on his front curb. Got the next le Carré book at the B&N curbside pickup, asked up and gloved. Got some snacks at an empty gas station. I waited for a customer to leave, masked up and gloved as well. It had a glass window separating customer and cashier which was comforting, so I imagine I'll be returning there at some point. I like...