Social Distancing Week 1
This is the start of a series of blogs I wrote about Rooster and my social distancing adventures during COVID-19. #social distancing #Covid-19 #plan #New York City #SS Bazinet
Rooster and I have spent a week social distancing from everyone we know and love, and we are still talking to one another. I count that as a significant achievement. There have been a few moments, which could have erupted into a major battle. So far, we have managed to steer around substantial disagreements.
It’s a good thing we like one another
It’s a good thing we like one another. We aren’t people who want to stay at home. Our greatest joy in life is to adventure and investigate places we haven’t been before so we can write about it for The Henhouse Lady blog. (Rooster doesn’t do the actual writing, but he proofreads and offers advice. He is an essential part of our adventure team.)
We’ve dedicated the time we have left on earth to live a life filled with adventure, no matter what form they take. The thought of becoming one of those older people who live out their days with a remote control in their hand sends shivers through our bodies. The social distancing aspect of the coronavirus is making it almost impossible to stay focused on our goal of exploring the world around us. It’s making us irritable. It’s making us feel old.
The plan we developed during Social Distancing Week 1
Don’t get me wrong. We aren’t throwing our hands in the air in defeat. There are things we are doing to make the Covid-19 virus into our next big adventure. We’ve agreed to put some procedures in place, which will keep us from getting lazy and slipping into couch potato syndrome.
We scheduled vacation time for a journey to the great city of New Orleans. The virus forced us to cancel our trip. We decided to take time off work to gauge how bad the virus will contaminate our area of the country. Our self imposed isolation is the perfect test to see how we will handle retirement. It won’t be the complete picture. There will be much more freedom in our lives after we stop working, and a deadly virus isn’t closing down the entire country.
The first stage of what we planned Social Distancing Week 1
The first stage in our plan is to get up every morning by 7 a.m. This speculated time frame is two hours later than the standard hour we roll out of bed on a workday morning. Rooster typically leaves the house by 5:30, and I have a couple of uninterrupted hours at my computer to dream up my stories.
We decided to get extra sleep during this time when we need to improve our immune systems. and vowed to get dressed as if we planned to spend the day out of the house on an adventure. Nothing makes you feel drained like spending the day in your pajamas. Rooster suggested we dispense with the clothing altogether.
Not going to open the door during Social Distancing Week 1
We weren’t going to open the door to anyone, so why not spend our hibernation naked. The idea had some merit, but we live in a drafty house, and it’s still cold outside. I made it my mission to make the bed every day. It gave the getting up procedure a feeling of completion. There would be no temptation to return to bed once our feet hit the floor.
The second stage of our plan involved working on something that matters every day of our social distancing. It doesn’t mean we are disconnected from the world simply because we are living in isolation for a short time.
We planned to get up, eat, and then spend a large chunk of our day writing. The thing we didn’t enter into the equation involved the constant stream of Coronavirus information on the television. New York, Governor Cuomo, is emerging as a leader during this crisis.
Worried about our New York City baby chick Social Distancing Week 1
We have a vested interest in what he has to say. Our middle son lives in New York City. Rooster says the man looks like a take-charge kind of guy. I would vote for him if he ran for president in 2020. I don’t care what party he belongs to at this stage in the game. The man is a natural-born leader. He’s the one person on center stage I feel like I can trust to tell the truth. He’s not giving us watered-down egotistical version about the gravity of the situation.
We manage to turn off the television eventually and spend a good part of the afternoon working on our separate projects. I light my candles, so the house doesn’t smell like disinfectant. We spend uninterrupted quality time sitting across from one another in our study.
Spring cleaning Social Distancing Week 1
Spring cleaning came early this year. I am going through the house room by room, getting rid of clutter. I arm myself with a bottle of Lysol as my secret weapon. I spray, wait for a few minutes, and wipe. I’m cleaning surfaces that will never see a hint of the virus. There are projects I’m taking on I’ve put off for years. I even drug out my crazy quilt supplies. It’s time to work on the New York City crazy quilt I’ve been planning since we spent Thanksgiving with our son in Queens.
The place I found to walk Social Distancing Week 1
My biggest issue involved how I was going to get my exercise while stuck at home. I manage to walk at least five miles a day. I started the exercise regime a little over a year ago to fight against diabetes. I’ve seen a drastic improvement in my A1C test levels. You know you’ve accomplished something when your doctor wears a smile when they read your lab tests.
My blood pressure has also improved. My regular winter routine is to walk the stacks in the library at work during my lunch hour. Since January, I have been including climbing stairs as part of the workout. I can’t afford to lose the progress I’ve made since diabetes is one of the significant risk factors that lead to death with the Covid-19 virus. The parking lot for an abandoned glass factory spans a two-block area across the street from our house.
Rooster suggested I use it as my walking trail until life gets back to normal. The asphalt is cracked and uneven. I have to watch where I step. I’ve found the trash people discard as they walk across the empty lot or throw from their car window entertaining.
I took pictures of some of the weird trash I discovered on my walk.
(A random plastic pink thing.}
(Discarded lunch meat. I’ve watched it for a week. It still hasn’t started to deteriorate and animals seem to be avoiding it.)
(A discarded box that once contained cancer sticks.)
(Breath mints for after you smoked your cancer stick.)
(A bloody french fry box. I hope I didn’t find missing evidence from one of our city’s many recent murders.)
(A fast-food cup to go with bloody french fry box. We might as well make a meal out of the garbage.)
(Nature has its own method of littering but at least it’s biodegradable.)
(I’m not sure what this is. My guess is it’s the world’s biggest condom or a ballon from one of those baby reveals.)
And Finally.!
(Someone got bored and made a trip to the hardware store to start a home improvement project.)
(Either this guy couldn’t wait until he got home because he couldn’t find a roll due to the hoarding or he was just trying to rub in his acquisition on the rest of us who are without.)
Reading time during Social Distancing Week 1
Another fun activity I’ve found during this time of confinement is the amount of time I discovered I have to read. I always have at least one book I’m reading through, but with Covid-19, I’ve found I can do it at my leisure. There are so many books advertised on Twitter, which I’ve had my eye on for years.
I now have time to explore some of these fantastic authors and their works. I started with S.S. Bazinet’s “Dying Takes It Out of You.” I stumbled across her series during the year I was reading vampire novels for my NaNoWriMo project.
She has become one of the favorite authors I discovered on Twitter. If you are looking for a great read in which the main characters resolve deep-seated psychological issues, order one of her books.
Reading list during Social Distancing Week 1
I plan to read “Living Takes It Out of You” as soon as I finish the YA book I borrowed from the university library before the world came crashing to a halt. (Not that they will want it back any time soon.) “Seraphina,” by Rachel Hartman, is a beautiful story about dragons, humans, and what it means not to fit into either species. I’ve decided my 2020 NaNoWriMo project will be a YA story about elves, humans, and an evil wizard. It might even have a little time travel thrown into the mix. I also hope to discover another fantastic Indie author to add to my list of favorites.
We survived Social Distancing Week 1
Rooster and I have survived our first week of social distancing and discovered we are busier than we were during our typical work week. The big difference is we are doing projects we find exciting and rewarding. I have cleaned, walked, wrote, read, watched stupid politicians on television, started a crazy quilt, and did a lot of taxes. (When our kids were small, and Rooster and I wanted some alone time, we’d tell our kids we were going in the bedroom to do our taxes. It happened so often our children thought we were in trouble with the IRS.)
The only thing we missed about our routine was our Saturday adventures. We resolved this by making breakfast at home and playing Pink Floyd on U-Tube. Our search for the perfect coffee shop came to an end in my kitchen with a cup dripping from my red Keurig. We emerged from the first week, ready to face whatever happens in week two. All of us are going to make it through this pandemic.
In conclusion
We might have to keep six feet of distance between us, but we are still in this together. The steps we need to take to bring this disease under control is simple. Stay home and away from people, wash your hands, don’t pick your nose, and clean all the surfaces around you with disinfectant. We will come out of this tragedy with a cleaner world once everything is said and done.
Who is Molly Shea?
Molly Shea is an accomplished fictional short story writer from Indiana, who writes short stories and novels about a fictional town called Tecumseh. To read more of her short stories and adventures click here.
Be sure to follow Molly on Twitter!