Let it be known that I'm an extrovert who likes to be out and about, even if it's just doing silly little things, so I'm going kind of stir crazy. I'm still thinking back to my trip into the ortho on Thursday (necessary procedure for my younger one) and how nice it was to see people I know in person. We've been going on joy rides and thinking about a trip to a drive in next weekend to help.
I took both of the kids running yesterday...2 miles per kid. It was such drama that I tried to just go out on my own today. I ran half of it and walked the other half because safely dodging around other people is becoming a major challenge. Nobody is clustering or congregating, but it's hard to pass at a safe distance when you come up on walkers or are about to get passed by a group on bikes. Today, I wound up sinking into mud trying to avoid a guy and his dog. I went in search of large puddles to clean up my shoes. I'm either going to have to run at the crack of dawn or start running on the streets after dark if I want to be outside for my fitness. I've really been trying to pass safely and love that people are out and about trying to be active, but too many are not doing the same and don't bother to try and maintain a safe distance.
I made a gluten free chocolate cherry brownie cake the other day. No pictures, but everyone but my hubby liked it. It reminded a lot of the flax flour brownies I got in CO over the summer. I have noticed that supplies at stores really varies by store and time of day, but I'm also noticing that "my stuff" is easier to find. Gluten free flours, dairy free alternatives, gluten free pastas, etc. all seem to be much easier to find. I mean, we are really good on food, but my family may be learning to live with my alternatives if I can't get their norms. They did get a treat last night. We don't dine out a bunch, but usually we do something on the weekends. Last night they got pizza from one of our local faves...
We haven't done it yet, but TX's governor green-lighted delivery of mixed drinks from restaurants, so maybe we'll get margarita delivery next week if places can remain open.
Oh, I also don't drink coffee. I know it's far from healthy, but I get my caffeine fix from diet sodas and Nuun.
Speaking of soda, we also had some drama Friday afternoon. I went out to get a can of soda from the garage and noticed a buzzing coming from the breezeway between the house and garage. At first, I thought it was a big bug, and then I realized that it was a hummingbird. We have been getting a lot of rain (hence all of the oak pollen filth you can see washed onto and stuck on the top of the breezeway), so I'm guessing he flew in there when he was wet and scared. I put up a red cup of sugar water on the small roof area extending in this area and even tried to gently coax him out with a broom. I actually got him to step on to the end of the broom and I brought him down to a lower level, but he flew right back up to the top of the breezeway. So, I left the water up there and left it for a few hours. There's one little area that I can't see, so it's still possible he never made it out, but I can see the vast majority of where he could have gone and there was no sign of him. So, I'm going to hope for the best.
Hope you are all doing well
I went out for a walk yesterday, and there was hardly anyone out, but then this morning on the news the health minister was scolding people for not staying inside. I guess there were people who were flocking to big parks, which were at capacity and so people were standing in line waiting for their turn to go in. But that wasn't us at all...we saw maybe 6-10 people in the span of an hour...but they are saying stay inside unless you absolutely have to go somewhere. So does that mean I'm not allowed to go out for a walk? How are we all supposed to stay healthy if we can't get the groceries we need to eat healthy and can't go out and exercise? My husband is working from home, the kids are doing school...I can't work out from home, and I'm not working every day...the only exercise I'm getting is walking to the grocery store 2 blocks away. I just don't know what they want from us. We were told we're not on lockdown, but they are sure expecting us to act like we are!
Well, the cabinet met today and they announced a lockdown that they don't want to call a lockdown. You are only allowed to leave your house for grocery shopping, and only one person from each household, or if there is an emergency. You may not have any gatherings outside of your immediate household of more than 3 people. So we can't go to my in-law's....they could come here, because there are only 2 of them, but we are 4, so we can't go there. If you need to get some fresh air, you may not form groups of more than 3 people, and those people must remain 1.5 meters from each other and they want people to go alone as much as possible. All social gatherings of more than 3 people are forbidden, though there will be some exceptions for weddings and funerals. If anyone in a household has a fever, everyone in the household must remain home, even if they are not sick themselves. And all these regulations are being extended until June 1st instead of the previously announced April 6th. Small children are still allowed to play together. Also, mayors are being given the power to fine people for having more than 3 in a group or for standing closer together than 1.5 meters.I think some people are the "give an inch, take a mile" type. I also think people are trying to hang on a semblance of normal life, too. We've been told we can go for walks, but to maintain 6 ft away from people who we don't live with. I'm still seeing kids on bikes, kids playing basketball, and groups of power walking women. It doesn't help that it's Spring and we've been cooped up in our houses for the past 4-5 months.
I would continue to go out for your groceries and walks, just maintain a safe distance from others. My guess is your health minister was yelling at the people who are not taking this seriously.
Aw, that hummingbird is so tiny. I have three hummingbird feeders. I love to sit and watch them in the mornings. They are so territorial. They get really nasty if another hummingbird comes up to the same feeder, even though there are so many openings on the feeder. I've seen little skirmishes, where one hummingbird pushes another away from the feeder. Then they fight while flying and eventually the new comer is run off.
They also chase away the wasps that come up to the feeder, too. But wasps don't like to be denied their sugar water, so they do fly back at the hummingbird. Who knew bird feeders are war zones?
Hello again,
My baguettes are done and they came out better than last week's attempt. I did some trouble shooting. I added more water and baked them at a lower temp for a little longer.
Here are a couple of photos. I don't have a lame (for making the slashes) so the slashes on the top are a bit wonky. I used kitchen scissors instead. The dough was really hydrated and was a little difficult to work with. It was really only a problem when I tried to move the uncooked baguettes onto the baking sheet, so the bottom loaf in the photo has a little bend in it. My husband made a sandwich before I had a chance to get a photo of all three.
View attachment 458049
The crumb was much better this week, too. Last week there were no "big holes," which is the holy grail of baking baguettes. I've got some holes this week.
View attachment 458051
Hello again,
My baguettes are done and they came out better than last week's attempt. I did some trouble shooting. I added more water and baked them at a lower temp for a little longer.
Here are a couple of photos. I don't have a lame (for making the slashes) so the slashes on the top are a bit wonky. I used kitchen scissors instead. The dough was really hydrated and was a little difficult to work with. It was really only a problem when I tried to move the uncooked baguettes onto the baking sheet, so the bottom loaf in the photo has a little bend in it. My husband made a sandwich before I had a chance to get a photo of all three.
View attachment 458049
The crumb was much better this week, too. Last week there were no "big holes," which is the holy grail of baking baguettes. I've got some holes this week.
View attachment 458051
Well, the cabinet met today and they announced a lockdown that they don't want to call a lockdown. You are only allowed to leave your house for grocery shopping, and only one person from each household, or if there is an emergency. You may not have any gatherings outside of your immediate household of more than 3 people. So we can't go to my in-law's....they could come here, because there are only 2 of them, but we are 4, so we can't go there. If you need to get some fresh air, you may not form groups of more than 3 people, and those people must remain 1.5 meters from each other and they want people to go alone as much as possible. All social gatherings of more than 3 people are forbidden, though there will be some exceptions for weddings and funerals. If anyone in a household has a fever, everyone in the household must remain home, even if they are not sick themselves. And all these regulations are being extended until June 1st instead of the previously announced April 6th. Small children are still allowed to play together. Also, mayors are being given the power to fine people for having more than 3 in a group or for standing closer together than 1.5 meters.
Schools are still closed until April 6th, and it will be discussed whether or not to extend that. One of the press asked if it wasn't a bit ridiculous not to keep schools closed when they said no gatherings of more than 3 people and keep distance. You can't do that in a school, so why not extend the school closures. Our teachers have had several strikes this year because of their workload and the expectations from teachers being too high and the pay too low, and now they are making an exception to the rules for schools after April 6th. So yeah...let's protect everyone except our teachers and kids....we're willing to risk them. It's so dumb. They said they might just leave it up to schools themselves to decide, and if they do, I imagine my kids will be staying home because their schools both decided to close before it was mandated that they had to. If they are recommending people not leave their houses, and they are restricting those numbers severely, the school will probably take the cautious route and follow those recommendations by staying closed as long as those rules are in place.
They didn't call it a lockdown, but that's what it is for all intents and purposes. You can't get together with other people outside of your household, you aren't supposed to leave your house unless it's to get groceries, and then you have to go alone. How is that any different than a lockdown?
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