Quarantine Day 14: Our Daily Routines

Today is two weeks after california was put under lockdown for the covid19. I have mixed feelings about the quarantine. Some days feel very dreadful and boring, some days are more productive than others, some days are fun and some days are super lame. It is important to find something to do, so that you wont go crazy. It is important to find a hobby or work from home, so that you will not get annoyed at housemates or family members. Thankfully, we have a lot of animals living in our home so it makes not going out a bit better. My sister also came home from Michigan right before the lockdown took place, so we are spending our days taking care of our animals and the lawn. Some of the things we have done for two weeks was go to the grocery store, look for water and toilet paper (which is nowhere to be seen), stock up on some food, and make some delicious meals.

Another thing we do daily is go get eggs from our chickens and ducks, and it is definitely very helpful during this time because our neighborhood cannot find eggs anywhere. Duck eggs are yummy also! Not many people know about eating duck eggs, but they are a lot fresher than chicken eggs and are better for your health. If you compare the two eggs, the chicken egg yolk is more orange but the duck yolk is a brighter yellow. The shell is also much more sturdy than our chicken egg shells. Another thing we do out in our yard is go running around with our four huskies. We have a big 5 acre backyard so we walk around to get exercise while the huskies look for squirrels and bunnies. The mom husky Howl recently had 8 puppies, and we sold 7 by last week. We are keeping one named midnight and he is such a sweet boy. He listens so much better than the huskies maybe because he is a black mouth cur mix. He already knows how to give his paw and sit.

Since we live in the high desert, there are a lot of desert plants, weeds, cacti, foxtail and plants that are harmful to our dogs. Last year, we noticed these purple plants that were pretty but later turned into evil seeds that look like fish hooks and dig into the dogs’ skin. I had a hell of a time trying to dig all of them out of their skin. Apparently it is called a plant named filaree, which you can eat before it dries up. We feed some to our ducks and chickens during this stage in the spring (March, April), then they start to dry up and the hardened seed creates this swiveled fish hook looking thing that tries to burrow into the ground.

We searched the internet and they said vinegar will kill all plants, so we mixed some dish soap, salt, and vinegar into the weed spraying can and started hosing our lawn with it. It is taking very long but hopefully it will do its job. If not, we are thinking about renting a tiller to grade the lawn. We tried to burn and torch the dirt but since the seeds grow low to the ground, it is not working very well at all. Foxtails dont really burn well for some reason either. If anyone has any solutions they are aware of, please let me know! We have also been drinking a lot of wine. Within two weeks we drank about a bottle of wine every few days, and my mom thinks we are turning into alcoholics. I think I found my new favorite wine. I love Josh, Chardonnay or Red Wine. Both are pretty good and will get you tipsy. They are tasty and even have an Ibotta deal going on for 1.50$ cash back a bottle. Make sure to check it out next time you're wine shopping at the grocery store.

Thankfully, Netflix has been trying to update more and so has a lot of movies that were out in theater right before the lockdown. Their movie choices are still not so great, but they have been trying harder since the outbreak. We rented Invisible Man that came out on Youtube Movies pretty fast after it was in theaters. The movie was great! The acting was good, it was action packed, good story, and chilling. There were so many scenes that came out of nowhere and many twists and turns throughout the film. The film was psychologically terrifying, unlike Hallow Man with Kevin Bacon that came out over 20 years ago. That one was pretty lame. I highly recommend The Invisible Man. I wanted to also watch Harley Quinn but it was 25$ to rent, as much as a ticket price at the theaters. Makes sense, but still a bit expensive for online. Maybe soon though. Better Call Saul is a must watch! I was able to watch the 5th season on Netflix when I was in London but it went away after I landed in USA. You can still watch it on AMC. The show is such a great prequel to the best show ever and Bob Odenkirk's acting is unbelievable. His portrayal of Jimmy vs Saul is just amazing. Gus is great also. I love how he is so quiet and but so damn scary. Mike's character buildup before Breaking Bad is also very cool and I like how everyone has a backstory. So that is what I have been doing in Apple Valley at home with my family. A lot of wine, farm life, animals, movies, and shows. I will update more soon!