Reminding Myself of Life During COVID-19: Day 165

 I meant to write this last week and never found time. I'm not sure what that says when life without travel is that busy. Clearly I'm a little too Type-A.

Volleyball

As I write this, we're waiting to start volleyball, with club season moved to the fall as high school in Colorado has moved their sports to the spring.

In one sense, I'm excited. It's good to have something to focus on. I'm nervous, as I am most years, learning to work with a few set of kids. This year is different in a few ways.  First, I know quite a few of the girls. 8 of my 10 are kids I've coached multiple times, either on a team, or in the positional work we used to do.

However, I need to mesh this team, it's a disruption with no high school season for these kids, and we're in a new gym. We lost the other one when things shut down. The rent was high and the owners closed. We found a new spot, got kicked out for not being strict about masks, and now rented a single court. I helped set things up last Friday, but we're not completely done. I'm hoping things get finished as the plan is to start Wed or Thur with practice and a friendly tournament on Saturday. 

Things are moving fast. I ordered some athletic, breathable masks since we need to wear them for practice. Between coaching older girls (15) and the lack of a real home gym and the disruption, I have no idea how things will go.

It's Hot

This has been a hot summer. Climate change isn't weather, but it does seem the trends are more fires across the last few years, less rain, or shifted rain, and some strange weather. As it is, things are dry and crispy at the ranch. Far too little rain in the last month and while cutting some grass Saturday, anything outside the sprinkler radius is desert-like.

On the plus side, some better cutting and sprinkler work, along with some manual sprinkling, as the main lawn looking better than it has in years. Not sure how I feel about it. Some pride, some wish I didn't use water here.

I fixed fence yesterday, catching up on chores. While locked down, we've focused slightly more on maintenance around here. It's been hard and hot in the weather, so I'm moving slow, but I've learned to do a bit more myself. Got some techniques, like using 2x4s in the broken posts rather than digging them out, or using a 4x4. I've also found some sleeves to help me get the monofilament breaks fixed, which is something we've struggled with for years. I bought a swag tool and figured out how to do this myself.

I'm hoping the ski season is better. Last year was looking great when things closed down.

A New Horse

We had a baby horse! Tia rescued a pregnant mare from a lot and after quarantine, brought her home. That has been neat. She got me to set up cameras, and I find myself using them sometimes to check on things, or see who's outside. 

The live view today.

Vacation

 Since my last update, we actually had a vacation. Tia and I went camping with some friends down to Dome Rock. We managed to get away with no kids or dogs and spend a couple days in our trailer. It was nice, and fun. I missed the dogs, but was also glad to not have the responsibility.

We rode for a couple days, did some projects together, like cooking a bit and fixing the trailer, and IO played some guitar while we relaxed. We slept in, no timeline, and enjoyed the slow pace of no schedule.

I want to get away again. I need a few more days off, and am hoping we can get a day or two in the mountains at the condo and another camping trip. Not sure how, now that volleyball is kicking off.

Work

Work is busy. Despite no travel, more sales engagement, and more content work for me. I think that if I were traveling, I'd be struggling as few people seem to be writing. I'm busy working on content, so I'm learning, but it's a hectic time.

I also lost my boss. She's moving on in Nov to a new opportunity, so it's good and bad. Time for her to go, bad because I'll miss her. Despite the closed offices and no travel, things seem to be moving forward. We're hiring, people are changing roles, and our business is good.

No idea when I'll fly for work again, but not likely until 2021, and then I wonder if it will be before Q2.

The World

I feel a bit guilty that things are back to normal for us in many ways. Life is moving on, we're coaching, we take some limited vacation, we're eating out about once every 10 days, and we're prospering. Kendall is taking the semester off and working on horses, but Delaney is back in school today (virtual mostly) and Kyle is still planning on going to Spain in a month.

However, lots of people are out of work. Businesses are hanging on, but as I talk to owners, they're stressed. They all feel like they might go out of business in a month or two without some change.

Parents with kids in lower school (< grade 12) are stressed in different ways. Some have kids going to school, some don't, both are worried about different things. A few teachers I know are still unsure of how this year will go, or how they are supposed to teach. They're worried if they're in a classroom, or worried how effective they are remotely.

It's wild, sad, upsetting, and more.

At the same time, the election getting going adds to stress. I have few conservative friends online anymore. Most I used to have presented themselves, in my view, as much poorer versions of themselves and I've removed them from my life. It's a bubble, but rarely when I listen or watch conservatives do I find myself thinking they have good thoughts. It's dog whistling, or a view I just don't think is rational.

I think liberals are overreacting at times, but I'm more sympathetic to their efforts. Failure there is wasting money, but is trying to make things better for more people. I get the nanny-state stuff, but I also think that the mercenary, everyone for themselves is just poor behavior. Gross generalities, but they in general are how I feel. This next 60+ days will suck.

Good Things

As I've had the chance lately to engage with a few people, I see the positives. Tia and I had a flat in the trailer, and a cop blocked some traffic to help us change things and a couple of guys stopped with a impact drill to help get the nuts back on the tire.

I see lots of little things where people are helping others and behaving well. I'm hopeful in many ways that there is lots of good in people at small scales.

I hope that I continue to find good reasons to enjoy life in the US and Colorado. I suspect another 4 years of this administration might have me packing and planning on New Zealand when Kendall is done with college.