6 week diary

 Have not written in 6 weeks because it felt like everything was always the same. It isn't, though. The kids love reading my past "week in the life" posts and want me to do another one. I started one but stopped after 2 days. 

And I did get busy again as both DAR and Girl Scouts started regular virtual meetings among the officers, and so the to-do lists and calendars came back to life.

For DAR I am teaching classes online and coaching people via email, in addition to serving on 2 other committees for my chapter, planning the year ahead the best we can.

For Girl Scouts I'm still learning my job, so I have to attend classes and be coached by others.

The landscaping, or rather, cutting down of trees and shrubs and vines, still continues. I can't even begin to measure how much stuff has been removed. Literal miles of blackberry vines, dozens of trees.

We celebrated Mae's birthday. She is now 9! 

She should have taken her third grade exam by now. But we haven't even tried to schedule it yet. I don't suppose anyone would actually come to our house like they did last year for Libby. So she has more time to study. 

Their home school science class went virtual, so we dropped it. I refused to pay hundreds of dollars tuition for science 'class' you can get on YouTube for free. The school basically said it was begging for tuition in order to keep the teachers employed, but Mike said we can't afford pity pay right now.

We started traveling again, just camping trips and visits to state parks in Oregon. We really enjoyed Beverly Beach State Park and will go there again. More trips in our future give us something to look forward to. However, poor Libby's eczema makes her skin like tissue paper, and the beach sand made her skin bleed. But she liked looking at the stars at night. We identified the big dipper, Jupiter, and Saturn. And I flew my pocket kite on the beach during the day.

We talk about Halloween but are not sure what to do. Perhaps a trip to Great Wolf Lodge, but is the reduced price worth the discomfort of wearing a mask from nose to chin? Doubtful. So we will probably do nothing.

The summer is ending too fast. We painted one side of our house and it was a great success and now we want to do another side before the rain starts. 

Before

After

Also notice I took the chain saw to a tree stump between the before and after. I have pressure washed the front of our house and it will be painted tomorrow.

And the decks! All the decks! Have not even begun them yet and they must be done. Primer, color, clear, five coats of deck paint in total. Mae convinced me that since I am painting and not staining, I don't have to sand the heck out of the deck first. Just sand a little. But can it be done before the rain starts? 

Finished watching: Dead To Me, World of Dance, The Politician. Re: The Politician, I loved season one for its absurdity and gorgeousness. Season 2 is a bit less absurd, still gorgeous especially character Alice's costumes. And Astrid's. Well, it's just amazing. But season 2 was more thoughtful and when Ben Platt sang "Corner of the Sky", well, as soon as he played the opening notes I was just grinning from ear to ear. Even though he sang the lyrics wrong. Who cares if he sang the lyrics wrong. Why didn't Bette Midler correct him when he sang the lyrics wrong??? Anyway, another thing I liked about the show is how they cast differently-abled actors in roles that don't focus on their differences.

Currently watching: Umbrella Academy season 2.

Just finished reading: Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel. It's a masterpiece, exquisitely written. A post-apocalyptic story following a pandemic. Very strange to read right now.