Quarantine and You: or in this case, me.

Hey followers (like calling you guys that cuz it makes me sound like a cult leader) I know it’s been a long time since I posted anything, I’d like to lie and say that I’ve been hard at work developing content but really, I’ve just been hard at work…at least….until Monday of last week.

Like many of us, I too have been furloughed from work for a really unclear, nonspecific period of time cloaked in confusion and uncertainty. What does this mean? Well, for the first week of furlough I spent a ton of time with family but also a good deal of it outside. Not exactly quarantined but still practicing the recommended social distancing to a point.

Metal Detecting:

The family and I picked up this hobby a couple of months ago and have had a lot of fun with not a ton of effort. It started with my wife’s memories of being young and going out with her father to parks and such looking for coins and things. She’s talked about this memory a lot as we had tried to find inexpensive hobbies to get us all out of the house and away from the tv/phones etc. We had put it off and put it off and just kept prioritizing other things in front of it because we thought it would be terribly expensive to start. You see the big expensive metal detectors at the sporting goods stores and they’re like $200+ and it was a little intimidating.

And then we got our taxes and we were ready to pull the trigger. Amy did some research on the different models, features etc. and she finds, surprisingly enough, that there are in fact some very affordable options with excellent reviews, and hell, there’s even a highly rated, affordable model on sale and available at our local Big 5 Sporting Goods store! We head on down there, pick it up, take it home and set it up before making a quick journey to a local park and before you know it; pay dirt! Coins, screws, nails and more! Best part? Shae gets really excited every time we start digging and tries to “help”. Tons of fun.

So the Metal Detector we bought was on sale at Big 5 for about $80, we have a small garden shovel we used originally but decided a knife was more appropriate so we could make smaller holes. In an attempt to ensure smaller holes we later purchased a hand held pin-pointer for about $25, so all in we’re into a fun little hobby for a little over $100. We bring a little bag for trash and such so we end up cleaning up a bit which is cool and we even found a decorative silver fixture, looks pretty old and has a ton of detail in it. As far as hobbies go, I highly suggest this one, very rewarding, even when you sometimes just end up with 60 y/o trash.

Fishing:

Well, big surprise, we went fishing a couple of times. This is a hobby that I have always loved. It’s fun, rewarding, challenging but peaceful. Since starting a family, this particular hobby can be a bit of a struggle at times. The tough part has always been; I’m the one fishing, what does the family do? My poor wife has always been left to just chase around the kiddo and keep her from falling into the water or tumbling down some hill. It seemed to be much harder before Shae could walk but it seems to have gotten…easier?…different? We have different things we bring, Amy is really good at planning this stuff out and we have both gotten pretty good at identifying the challenges that come with each outing. As of recent, the best purchase we have made for our adventures is a collapsible hand cart. Seriously, it’s easy enough to load up the car and drive out there, it’s a whole separate feat to get it all out of the car, down to the fishing area, set up, get comfy, spend the time there and have to load it all back into the car, and then back into the garage. This hand cart just makes it so much more manageable so that by the time we’re all done mommy and daddy aren’t tired, frustrated, hangry and annoyed because we spent 1.5 hr’s loading, unloading, setting up, loading and unloading again.

Video Games:

Honestly, surprised I haven’t played more by now. Let’s be honest though, it seems like we’ve still got plenty of time. So far, I have played through Halo Reach and Halo CE on my Xbox One S. Considered playing through the rest of the Master Chief collection but at this point I’m leaning more towards dusting off Destiny 2. I’m hesitant to get mixed up in Skyrim with all the time available, I’m worried about the passing of time, there seems to be a weird time flux paradox every time I start into that game.

TV:

Oh man, we just got Prime again too. Obviously we’ve burned through the office at a break neck speed however since we’ve gotten Prime again shows like House, random Docs, Top Shot and who knows what else will enter into the mix. Also, we got the CBS All Access trial so we can smash through Season 1 of Picard, which I am enjoying a lot.

The Kid:

Oof, this kid right now, let me just say this; she’s not a fan of being cooped up. The combination of poor weather and social distancing has been rough on her. Even today, we all needed a little fresh air, even though it was raining we had to go on a walk for all of our sake. Shae seemed to really enjoy it. She was super calm the whole time, tucked into her stroller and snugged up in her jacket and a blanket. Something about a change of scenery can do so much for us all. We just walked around down town Talent in a large circle that avoided all parks/playgrounds (if Shae had seen one we would likely have had a bit of a fit on our hands) Amy really enjoyed the walk, she’s about 18 weeks pregnant with our little boy now and being stuck inside with no real walking has been rough on her too.

All in all, we’re just trying to live and not get angry with each other. We all love each other so damn much but it’s hard being stuck in like this. We try to make the best of things, get outdoors and have fun while also staying safe. Everything going on in the world right now, the extreme uncertainty, nobody has answers, the only real answer is to love the ones closest to you and find ways to connect. I love what I’m seeing about people doing video conference birthday parties and things like that. Be creative but most importantly, be there, some how.

Laterz,

SpaceCowboy Bill.