Week #2 of Life in the Midst of Social Distancing

Welp, gotta admit, this is tough, but I know we are not alone. This is not an ideal or easy scenario for anyone right now and I recognize that we are extremely lucky to enjoy spending time together, to still have our jobs, our health, and to have all of our friends and family safe and well at this time, and of course to not be in literal lockdown. So we are doing what we can to muddle through and make the best of this, even if Sam does literally run away from us as soon as her "day" is over so that she can close the door to her room and play on her phone and talk and text with her friends 😂

On a more serious note, the governor has declared all non-essential businesses closed. The reality is that a lot of restaurants and stores had closed already and many people had already been working from home or having their offices closed to the public. As an essential service organization, we are still open, and our small staff is doing all it can to assist those staying at our shelters and those in the community who are unsheltered during this trying time. We are trying to limit exposure as much as possible given the circumstances, and as I don't work directly with our clients, I am trying to limit my time in the office as much as I can but I do have to go in for things like payroll, printing, sorting mail and cutting and reviewing checks.

Monday: Worked from home and knew weather was looking iffy for Tuesday morning, so decided to go out for a run in the morning once it was light out before I started in on work. It was cold - only 18 degrees. Brrr! - but calm, and I got some nice glimpses of the sunrise through the trees. Felt good and enjoyed my run on the semi-frozen cart paths. (6.1 miles)

Took the side trail off the cart paths to catch the light above the Heath

Then it was onto work. Ended up on a 1 1/2 hour conference call before lunch so Sam had trouble focusing and went up to do her math work in her room and then came down but I was still on the call and I therefore could not assist her with the prompts for her writing assignment. Sigh. But we made it through, and it turned out to be a fairly productive day for both of us in the end. Hurray for small favors. We stopped structured work time at 3:00 and headed over to the Heath for a walk with Ryan.

Overcast and spitting snow, but still lovely to be out enjoying all the interesting features of the Heath itself and this time of year with thin layers of ice atop the open water at the edge of the bog, needle ice coming up through the mud, geese and mallards out in the middle of the Heath, and a whole lot of chattering away from the child. 😃 (1.2 miles walked)

Found a few skunk cabbage coming up in a sheltered area!

Came home and made cookies before dinner, because, well, priorities, people!! 😋🍪

Tuesday: Woke up to snow. Very pretty and heavy, sticking to the trees and making a mess of things, probably 6" overall, but the upside is that it will likely melt rather quickly. Went into work for the day and left Sam and Ryan at home to work and get school work done. Before I got home, they got in a nice afternoon walk/science observation session out on the powerlines too.

Morning backyard view

Out walking in the snow

💖

Wednesday: Another work from home day. Headed out a little before 6:30 and ran across the powerlines to Highland Green Road. The heavy snow had frozen back up overnight and was lumpy and tough to run through. Hit the sidewalks for a stretch before taking a quick jaunt down to the water's edge, and then returned via the back dirt road. Tired, but a lovely morning with some pretty light. (6.0 miles)

Fiery morning light

Then it was onto work and school...

My assistant looking rather peeved that I've invaded her space 😹

My co-workers 😆

We headed out with Ryan a little after 3:00 pm for an exploration around Mt. Ararat and the powerlines. Always fun to get out in the woods, and one of the pluses of all of us being home is that there is more time for family walks. And I think Sam appreciates the chance to get out of the house so there hasn't been a whole lot of complaining about getting out either! (2.1 miles walked)

Taking the trail less traveled

Such a cool rock formation/quarry area, and neat to check out with ice still on the rocks!

Cool ice formations

Raccoon prints!

💗

We were supposed to all be down in MA this coming weekend to celebrate Irene's 70th birthday, but since that in-person celebration was put on hold, we all got on Zoom tonight to sing happy birthday to her. It was quite funny with the 4-year old making funny faces into the camera and being the one in charge of blowing out the candle and eating the birthday cupcake 😂

Physical Distancing Birthday Party celebration!

Thursday: Started work at home, went in to the office for a few hours to get a few things done that needed to be done in person and then came home and worked at the kitchen table for the rest of the afternoon. Sam and I stopped work around 3:30 and headed out for a walk while Ryan went for a run. It was a really nice warm afternoon, and good to get out for a short walk and talk around the block with the kiddo. (1.0 mile walked)

Friday: My day off, which is no longer my own 😑 Ah well, I know there are bigger things to worry about right now, but I will admit I did like having the day to myself... Headed out for a run around 6:30 am. Early morning runs almost guarantee social distancing, although today I did see one other woman running on the bike path and a few people out walking. I definitely feel like more people are getting outside during this Covid-19 pandemic. I mean with no other entertainment available, it's like people are saying, 'oh hey, nature exists!' I can only hope it continues long after the virus has abated, but it is kind of funny right now to see how many people are out and about walking! Ran down to the bike path and up through town on the roads. Pretty light over the Androscoggin and a nice calm morning. Felt good. (8.0 miles)

Then it was off to the grocery store, which was relatively quiet. There was certainly enough food to be had (and even toilet paper, which I didn't need so I didn't buy - stop hoarding, people!), although there were still some bare shelves in certain sections, and no wipes in existence at all. Back home to unload the groceries and then set in helping Sam start in on school work while I did some laundry, emptied the dishwasher, cleaned the shower and did some dusting and vacuuming. We Facetimed with Morgan over lunch, played a game of Yahtzee with Ryan and then returned to school work for Sam and cleaning for me. 

Around 3:00, we set out to Dresden on another farm stand mission. Even though many farmers are no longer attending the farmer's markets, Maine has so many great farms with farm stands, and I feel so strongly that supporting them and eating locally grown food is incredibly important always, but perhaps even more so now. So this week the plan was to head to Goranson Farm to pick up some greens, potatoes and sweet potatoes. Yum!

I had seen that there was a wildlife management area right down the road from the farm, so after we picked up our veggies (and an oatmeal creme sandwich for Sam - yum!), we headed off to find the Green Point Wildlife Management Area. There was a sign and a few cars parked in the lot but no trail signs per say, just an old road that wandered through an old apple orchard and led to a dirt road that went down to the banks of the Kennebec River. A neat, if random, exploration for the afternoon. The wind was whipping and the river looked like a lake or the ocean, it was so wide with waves crashing on the shoreline. We did spot one wooly bear making its way across the orchard and saw a mink in the overflow pond/stream just up from the river, which was cool! (1.8 miles walked)

Waves on the Kennebec

💗

😂

Apple tree by the shore

Old road

Saturday: Up early again and out around 6:30 for a long-ish run. Headed out onto the cart paths and then down into the Cathance. Still some ice in a lot of spots, but as long as you're willing to slow down and do a bit of sidestepping, it was manageable. Decided I'd keep going farther out into the system and go out to Head of Tides. Beautiful morning to be out and the trails all to myself! Finished up with the rest of the cart paths, a bit of mileage on the back dirt road and the powerlines and a final mile along Canam before heading home. Saw several turkey vultures circling high above, the pair of Canada Geese and two pairs of ducks plus what I'm pretty sure was a beaver in the Heath, and enjoyed the roaring river. Lucky to have this trail system so close to home! (15.0 miles)

After a quick snack and shower, the three of us headed out for farm stand trip #2 of the weekend, this time just up the road to Whatley Farm off Cathance Road. They were doing online ordering so that when you arrived at the farm, your bag was all ready for pick up. Awesome! We ordered a big bag of spinach, some golden beets, bacon and a sampling of their sauces (hot sauce, salsa, chili garlic ginger sauce and tomato puree). Yum!

After that easy pick-up, we stopped at the Head of Tides Park and took a hike through the woods on the trail from there. Conditions had changed even in the few hours between when I was out at Head of Tides and when we went out later in the morning, with more mud, more water atop the ice and a lot more squish 😆 We don't normally hike over here, mostly just run out here from home, so it was a fun chance to see the forest and trails with a different eye. Got in a really nice hike, with lots of birdsong, skunk cabbage coming up in the swampy areas and one very large dead snapping turtle seen (it appeared to have died of natural causes), and some good squishing in the clay/mud along the river's edge at Head of Tides as it was low tide and the river was out. (3.0 miles walked)

Head of Tides

Then it was home for lunch, a few chores and putting together something I've had on my list to accomplish since Christmas when Ryan and Sam gifted me a frame for my Western States bib and photos. A fun addition to our Badass wall! 😍

Sunday: Slept until the cats woke me up and then didn't rush to get out the door. Still, wanted to get my miles in before the rain started and finally headed out around 7:30. Ran the route Ryan had run yesterday with a slight variation at the end, basically out the powerlines and back dirt road to hook up with the Ravine Trail, then around on Highland Green Road to run the cart paths at the club house. I returned via the back dirt road so that I wouldn't have to add any mileage on Canam to get a nice even 10. Saw three deer, heard lots of bird call and saw one crow flying over with a stick in its beak. Legs felt fine but I was hungry. Must not have eaten quite enough yesterday. Happy to finish up with a solid, if not overly mileage-heavy, weekend. (10.0 miles)

And then I came home and baked my feelings 😋😆😏 And why, yes, yes, indeed, we did eat up all the oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies I baked on Monday 😂😂 so today it was pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and blueberry muffins. I feel no remorse or guilt here. You gotta do what you gotta do these days, people! And homemade baked goods are always good to have around 😃

Week #1 of Life in the Midst of Social Distancing

This is the first of what originally started as two weeks at home from school for Sam, and then changed to being home through April 27th. WOW. This is simply something so extraordinary that it is even hard to digest. Social distancing has become the norm for the time being and we will just do our best to get through to the other side, whenever that might be.

I went into work on Monday and Tuesday so Ryan was in charge of homeschooling while also trying to work and then I worked at home Wednesday and Thursday doing the same. Friday, I don't work anyway, so I did my best to focus on getting the major chores like grocery shopping, cleaning the house and doing laundry done while helping Sam too.

On Tuesday, I picked up a packet of materials at school for Sam to work on, although we had already laid out a loose framework of an "at home schedule" together on Sunday night and laid down some ground rules for this new venture in homeschooling and social distancing.

Since this is real life, I'll admit that there was a bit of whining here and there, but overall, Sam really did a great job this week of rolling with this crazy change and understanding that there was still work to be done on all our parts. I think having a schedule and expectations really helped us all! Hopefully we can all stay sane and focused and won't want to be socially distancing ourselves from each other by the time all of this is said done! 😆

Monday: School work, work work, and a walk around the block with Sam once I got home. (1.0 miles walked)

Gigi is helping 

Cat-opoly time (being the banker is good math practice!)

Tuesday: More of the same, except with a pre-dawn morning run on the roads around town for me and no afternoon walk as it was rainy and kind of nasty out. (6.0 miles)

Wednesday: It was cold enough that everything had a thin veneer of ice on it in the morning and I decided I'd feel better if I just started off the day stocking up the fridge and pantry instead of running anyway so that is what I did before I settled in to work at the kitchen table.

Coworker #1 does not appear pleased with the situation 😸

And this one is trying to get out of working 😂

Later in the afternoon after our work was done, Sam and I headed outside for recess and to check out conditions on the powerlines. Nice to get out for a walk in the sunshine! (1.6 miles walked)

Thursday: Waited until it was light out to head out under overcast skies for my run. Kind of dreary with semi-frozen ground and some ice making for variable conditions out on the cart paths and down to the river, but most of the ice patches are small at least. Started drizzling in the final 2 miles. Two deer seen. (7.5 miles)

Moody sky reflected in the Heath

Then it was on to school work and work work. Took a break later in the afternoon to make blueberry muffins. Yum! 😋 And finished up the day with a walk around the block. Yes, it was drizzling but being physically active is extra important in times like this when we are out of whack, so yes, I'm the mean mom that took the kid out for a mile in the rain 😆 She might have dragged her feet a bit at the beginning but she chatted the whole way, so it couldn't have been all that bad! 😉 (1.0 mile walked)

Friday: Got up and headed out for a run around 6:45 am. A rather dreary, drizzly morning. Ran roads around town. Kept it nice and easy and hoped my mind would stop circling around about all the things we can't control right now due to this pandemic, but it didn't quite work. (7.5 miles)

Then it was off to pick up a few other items at the store, clean the house, do laundry and help Sam with math, science and writing.

After lunch, we started a game of Cat-opoly which was trending towards going on forever, so we took a break to drive over to one of the local farm stands and support our farmers by picking up some greens, eggs and potatoes. Still drizzly and damp and cold, so I didn't push a walk.

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent relaxing and enjoying some yummy pizza from Portland Pie and gelato from Gelato Fiasco for dinner. So many restaurants have closed and/or had to reduce dining options, so we are going to try as much as we are able during this crazy time to support those businesses that do stay open and hope that we can make a difference. We also attempted to finish up the previously mentioned game of Cat-opoly, which Ryan was clearly winning and which was annoying me to no end. I like games but this was just endless. We played for like 3 hours over the course of the day and it had still not ended! Ridiculous. I finally said we needed to call it at 8:30 and go to bed!

Saturday: Didn't set an alarm and just took my time getting out the door in the morning, finally heading out at 7:30. Windy and cold but bright and sunshiney at least. I ran the cart paths and did a slightly bigger loop down on the Cathance trails, but they remain a bit too icy to be truly runnable right now. Still, the river is flowing nicely and it is always nice to get out in the woods for a bit. Grateful as always for running, and thinking I need it more than ever right now with the apprehension and uncertainty of this pandemic, even if trail conditions and social conditions aren't ideal right now. Looking forward to a time when both have improved but for now, I'll continue on and try to remember how lucky I am in this moment, both on and off the trails and roads. (10.0 miles)

Mid-afternoon, the three of us headed over to one of the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust's new preserves, Woodward Point. A gorgeous stretch of land, with wide open fields leading down to the water, and several different trails out to different points. The fields were rather squishy and muddy but it was quite nice to walk out in the sunshine and check out the mud flats and rocky beaches at the edge of the water. A really cool spot and we all enjoyed our meander! (2.7 miles walked)

The water was a gorgeous turquoise color!

Neat conch shell!

Lots of barnacles

Humming at the periwinkles

Back up to the fields

Woodpecker activity!

Neat steps down to the water's edge

Neat shell and sand bars

💗

Sunday: A whole mixture of feelings this morning. Flat out tired, anxious in general about the overall state of the world, sad that I won't be running the Mountaineer Rumble 100k next month and won't be getting the chance to visit my parents either unless there is some sort of miraculous reversal of this pandemic, but knowing that overall I am lucky and not wanting to feel sad about not running a race, which seems like a silly thing right now in light of the larger things happening in the world. Part of me wanted to finish up the next few weeks of this training cycle just to do it, but honestly I just did not have the mental energy for a lot of miles this morning and so 20 became 10, and that is OK. Trying to give myself space to feel all the feelings, and thinking that this next month will likely become just a time to get out and run to enjoy it, to stay healthy and active, to hopefully see spring begin to bloom in the woods, to stay sane, and ideally get in a few longer efforts if it feels right. Obviously my short-term spring goal is gone, but the overall goal of consistent, happy running remains, as do the long-term 2020 goals of 2,000+ miles for the year and No Business in October. I don't know, it's a crazy world out there and like everyone else right now, just trying my best to acknowledge, adjust, and not panic. 

So, with all that said, ran on the roads around town and then hit the Highland trails on the return. Still icy in the shade but overall, not bad, even if, once again, road shoes weren't quite the right choice for that short trail stretch 😆 Bright and sunny, cold morning. (10.0 miles)

After lunch, we headed out for another family walk, this time out in Harpswell at Skofield Shores Preserve. Sunny and bright once again, with a bit less wind and a much more brisk feeling in the air. Brrr! Enjoyed the views out onto the sparkling waters and mudflats of Middle Bay and enjoyed a meander on the trails through the woods. Good to get in more outside time with my favorite two people 💗 (1.6 miles walked)

A lot of downed pines out in the woods

Ice along the shoreline in the shade

Happiness is an empty shoreline to explore 💖

Love this view

Despite the fact that all of us wish things could go back to normal, it is nice to have a slower pace for our days, and a chance to just be together. We've also noticed a lot more people out walking and exploring, and hope that the silver lining of this will be that more people come away with an appreciation of the beauty of nature and time spent outside. That would certainly not be a bad thing!

And with more time at home, it means more time to pet the kitties and watch the world go by out back. Lots of grackles and red winged blackbirds flitting in and out and chattering up high in the trees, goldfinch changing color, the white breasted nuthatch cautiously making its way down the tree trunk and the juncoes, sparrows, blue jays and cardinals coming in to eat the seed and nuts I throw out each day. We've also had a few visits by a groundhog, a skunk and the pair of mallard who first came into the yard last year as well! Hopefully the fox and possum are coming by when we just aren't looking too!

The kitties did not get the memo on social distancing 😆💗

Chomp chomp

Early morning visit by a skunk friend on Saturday morning