October surprise

Trump's October surprise was Covid-19; Biden's, I guess, was the fake laptop story?; ours was a busted water heater. Rocket Boy had to spend the last three days of his visit working frantically all day long to get the old one out and the new one in. We were quoted around $2000 by two different plumbers to replace it for us, so we decided to save a little money by doing it ourselves. Bad, bad idea. We did end up saving about $500, but that doesn't count wear & tear on my husband. It was really a horrible experience.

I don't know if the medical team at Walter Reed could have helped us with our problem, but to ensure that they won't be helping the Trumpster much longer, I have already voted. My ballot arrived on October 10th, I puzzled over it for an hour or so, reading articles online about the various amendments and whatnot, then filled it out and drove to our closest drop-off box, where I dropped it off. I've been notified by BallotTrax both that my ballot has been received and that it has been accepted, so I've done the most important thing I can do. Well, that, and giving Joe Biden $100, in four $25 payments. Nine days until the election.

I studied the "Presidential Electors" section very carefully. Sometimes I reach for something (on a shelf in a store, for instance) and end up with something different in my hand than I had intended. I wanted to be sure I had not aimed for one circle and filled in the one below it by accident.

I'm glad that deaths from covid seem to be going down, but cases are going up up up. The Midwest is bad, and so is the Mountain West. Utah is in terrible shape and Colorado is doing worse than before. On October 4th, the last time I did a normal blog post, the New York Times reported 209,448 deaths; today, three weeks later it's 224,999 -- 15,551 more, which works out to about 740 per day during that period. That still seems like an awful lot, but it's a smaller percentage of the cases, which are skyrocketing. Trump has declared the virus over, under control, we've turned the corner, etc. Hmm, don't think so. 

The kids and I are doing OK since Rocket Boy went back. We miss him, but he calls every night and expectations are lower when he's not here. I did manage to take the boys to a pumpkin patch last Sunday -- see photo -- pumpkin hunting in the Covid-19 era, geez. I also found a white one at Trader Joe's. The pumpkins are on the front porch, where a squirrel has discovered them and has begun eating one. We decided not to worry about it -- we can cut around the squirrel mess if it leaves us enough pumpkin to carve.

In some ways it's easier for me to have Rocket Boy be in St. Louis because I'm having so much trouble with depression and anxiety, have been for some time now. I worry about the election, I worry about the fires (Colorado's taking its turn, after the misery in California all summer), I worry about Amy Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court, I worry about things I have trouble doing, like calling repairmen. I have good days, but I mostly have bad days. I have to do a lot of gentle coaxing to get myself to do things like clean the kitchen (which, I'd like to note, is clean at the moment), and it's easier to do that coaxing when RB isn't around to have an opinion.

I do think having an animal in the house would help my mood. I can't tell you how many times (dozens? hundreds?) I've paused to speak to the animal in the house, only to realize that there isn't an animal in the house, and I'm about to speak to the air. We need to find a new cat or dog. I'm really almost at the point where I'm ready to do that. Almost. Not quite, though. But soon. 

I think a lot about how having a dog would get me to go on walks, something I almost never do anymore. I just keep getting fatter and more out of shape, and a dog would undoubtedly help with that. I remember when the twins were babies, I felt so confident pushing that stroller. It gave me an excuse for being out on the street -- I know I didn't need an excuse, but I felt as though I did. When we finally gave up the stroller, I stopped feeling comfortable going for walks. A dog would bring that comfort back. 

On a day like today, though, I'm just as glad we don't have a dog. Our second October surprise: a gigantic snowstorm! It was in the teens earlier, but now it's in the single digits on our porch (which tends to be a very cold spot, I should note). The snow is much deeper than this now (I think this was around noon), but it's so cold that I don't want to go out and take another picture! The last time I checked, it was 5 degrees. The prediction is that we'll get down to 2 tonight, but I think on our porch it will be below zero. Oh, and up to 14 inches of snow total. On October 25th, for crying out loud! It is too early for this kind of thing. It feels like January, not October. Granted, I am wearing thin capri pants, a long-sleeved t-shirt, and bedroom slippers. With a coat, socks, boots, gloves, all of that, I'd probably feel better. What did I read about how Scandinavians think about winter? -- there is no bad weather, only bad clothes? I am definitely wearing bad clothes. The twins are in shorts and short-sleeved t-shirts. The thermometer is set to 68 degrees. I've been keeping it at 65, but last night I decided we needed a few more degrees. Some years we don't even turn the furnace on until Halloween! (OK, it's almost always needed sooner than that, but this is ridiculous.)

Well, it's six pm, the day is coming to an end. Time to make dinner -- French toast, I think I can handle that. Tomorrow is a school day, but they call it Monday Launch Day, when the teachers leave homework assignments but don't interact with the kids, so it won't matter that there's a foot of snow on the ground and it's freezing. Later in the week, Thursday and Friday, the kids go back to the actual building for actual in-person classes. We'll see how that goes. What a trip this year continues to be.