Going Back to Work

I know parents of school-age children won't like to hear this but the 2020-2021 school year is just around the corner. Tomorrow is my first day back at work for the new school year. I'm excited to see my coworkers and a glance at my inbox makes me a little anxious. The first day of school is 5 weeks away. Let's do some updates, shall we?

Racism in the US
I'm disappointed that the push to make real changes to end systemic racism in the US has really slowed. The only changes that seem to happen are symbolic and don't really help. It's great that we are analyzing if confederate statues should be kept and if so where they should be (it makes me think of El Valle de los Caídos in Spain) but that won't change how Black people are treated. I'm proud that my church is starting a book study that I hope will help each of us evaluate how racist we are. Some background info: we are a predominantly white, older (median age above 50), conservative Episcopal church. I think many of us have racist thoughts/tendencies that we don't even recognize. I'm very hopeful that this book study will start some introspection that will lead us to be more welcoming to BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of color) so that we can better represent the community where we are located. The world is a mess and this is one area where I feel like we need change to improve everyone's lives but it's so damn hard to get that change.

COVID-19
My county has 2,137 confirmed cases (.5% of the population) and 14 deaths. Yes, it has been 2 months since I last updated the numbers here on the blog but even with that in consideration our numbers are growing much more rapidly than before. It feels like everyone is now discussing how schools will open. The federal government says that schools must be open 5 days a week and it sounds like they are implying that it must be in-person. I say f*ck them; very little of our funding comes from them and they are NOT taking into consideration the safety of doing that. It is up to states and individual school districts to decide how to open. Today I watched a short video with Governor Cuomo's plan for opening schools in New York. If in an area the infection rate is under 5% (averaging the past 14 days) the schools will open. If at any time the infection rate is above 9% for any 7-day average, the schools in that area will close until the rate gets below 5% again. I really like that his plan is completely based on data. I'm not sure about the number choices but it looks like they came from the WHO. The TEA (Texas Education Agency) has said that schools must re-open and must give the choice to have on-campus instruction within a few weeks of school starting. Right now the infection rate for Texas seems to be over 15%. I think this is foolish. I think that we should look at it county by county or even smaller sub-populations. For example, my county is doing pretty well all things considered. We will probably be ok if we open our schools (knowing that some families will choose to have their children do remote learning) but I would not feel the same way if I lived in Dallas county (just shy of 35,000 confirmed cases and a population of more than 2.6 million which means over 1.3% of their population is confirmed positive).  I will be interested to see what the numbers look like in 4 weeks.

On a personal note, my husband and I may have been exposed to COVID-19. A friend of ours was taking care of his parent who has COVID-19. The friend did not tell that to us when we invited him over for dinner. A week after the dinner he informed us that he had tested positive for COVID-19. We went into self-quarantine and will stay under quarantine until it has been 14 days since our exposure. We have had no symptoms and the 14 days is nearly up. I contacted my doctor and they said that if we show no symptoms in 14 days then we are ok to go back to "normal". That means social distancing (6 ft or more between people), wearing a mask in public, and washing our hands frequently.

The Sunroom
We have gotten SO much done since I last posted about the sunroom! First of all, we sprayed texture on the ceiling. Here's a "before" picture:

No texture, lots of patches

Texture sprayed and my ingenious way of protecting the air vent while keeping the cool air coming

Dried texture (which, admittedly, you can't really see well in a photo)

We painted the ceiling to match the almond color of the rest of the room but I forgot to take photos of that. Honestly, it's just a ceiling. Next up my spouse starting building the counter. It's important for you to understand his DIY moto: If I'm going to take the time to build it, I'm going to over build it. This counter (with cabinet underneath) has no hollow points and is bolted into the wall for support which means it doesn't need additional legs for support.

The beginning of the base of the cabinet

Our dog, Loki, enjoyed sneaking into the dining room thanks to this whole in the wall.

Support in the wall so that the cabinet will "float"

See? No hollow places. The counter has LONG 2x6's in it.

Loki quickly found his own little "cave"

Then Matthew built the half-wall between the sunroom and the dining room so that the dogs would stop getting into the kitchen and stealing our sponges. Unfortunately I forgot to take a "finished" photo so you get an "in-progress" photo for now.

I think that's plenty for now. Next time I'll show you how much better the water heater closet looks and hopefully we'll be ready to show the nice finish on the top of the counter! We poured the epoxy for the counter top but ran into some issues. It may be finished in a week, it may be another month. Oh the adventures of DIY! 

Since today is an election day, I would like to end my post with the same prayers I had in my last post. Please go out and vote to make your voice heard!

A prayer for those who influence public opinion:

Almighty God, you proclaim your truth in every age by many voices: Direct, in our time, we pray, those who speak where many listen and write what many read; that they may do their part in making the heart of this people wise, its mind sound, and its will righteous; to the honor of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A prayer for the oppressed:

Look with pity, O heavenly Father, upon the people in this land who live with injustice, terror, disease, and death as their constant companions. Have mercy upon us. Help us to eliminate our cruelty to these our neighbors. Strengthen those who spend their lives establishing equal protection of the law and equal opportunities for all. And grant that every one of us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this land; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

-Clare G. S.