What's NOT Happening

Well, since my last post, my state joined the lengthy list of states with a shelter in place order (although I think technically it's called a "stay at home" order, but its the same general concept). How does that change my daily life? It doesn't, really. I was already pretty much self-quarantining and working exclusively from home -- DH is essential personnel, so he picks up any groceries we need (or I Amazon Prime things if it's too small to make an entire store trip -- for instance, did you know that you can buy an entire gallon of ranch on Amazon? #TIL). We're checking some things off the property to-do list - DH in his garage, and me in terms of more cohesive decorating and organizing in both the house and hopefully soon, the tack shed (flooring, real walls, heating and cooling? Yes please!).

We insulated and put up walls in the entire garage over the course of the weekend, now he can build shelves and start consolidating his tools in an organized fashion (and I can finally have my guest bedroom back!). 

I bought a summer bed set (the heavy quilt we use for winter would smother us in the summer) and have started planning out lamps and wall hangings and curtains. I'm actually so bored I ordered some stuff to DIY some mason jar lamps so we'll see how that works out for me, haha. 

After my existential crisis a few posts back about how poorly I was doing at balancing WFH, things have improved immensely. I'm setting reminders to take walks on my breaks and also eating outside on the porch to enjoy the sunshine, and I'm remembering to log out at quitting time about 90% of the time -- and minimizing the amount of times I check my email "off the clock". I'm spending a lot more time with the horses and dogs, and they all seem more content. Doing yoga every day and maintaining a high step count (even if I lack the stairs to climb that I had at work, lol) is keeping my body a lot more comfortable. DH and I are having more relaxing dinners (rather than the frantic "oh God we better eat something because it's 8 p.m. and we need to do chores"). We've been very mindful of minimizing food waste, and I've been doing some baking (because why go to the store for a loaf of bread if I have yeast and flour here?). Life seems to be moving a bit slower and more simply, and frankly after the hustle and bustle of the last year+, that's fine by me.

She perpetually reminds me to stop and smell the roses. Mostly because once she's outside I can't get her to stop sniffing the grass and come back inside, lol. 

Good reminders to enjoy "me" time as well.

The only bummer is riding -- or rather, the lack thereof. The girls aren't quite back to that point yet (although yay for regular work!) where I would have felt comfortable hopping back on, but now that we're officially under a stay at home order, I have mixed feelings about riding. I mean yes, my horses are at my house. And our stay at home order, like most, does make provisions for outdoor activities as long as social distancing measures are followed.... So I could ride and still technically be complying with the letter of the law. But morally, I have some qualms.

Break for humor, because nobody likes text walls. 

Yes, I could get hurt doing a multitude of daily things around my house (like ask me about last week when our air fryer CAUGHT FIRE). And I have to handle my horses every single day, and as we all know, horses are unpredictable creatures in the best of times. But particularly in the time of a global pandemic, it seems smarter to minimize risk where I can. So could I get in my car and drive somewhere to go hiking? Absolutely. Would it be against the current orders in place? Probably not, depending on how you interpret them. Should I? For me, that answer is no. And I feel pretty similarly about riding. I would just be flatting my two (relatively) sane, safe horses. But it's an unnecessary risk. My husband is in a high-risk job and is very likely to come in contact with someone who is infected. He has some risk factors that means if he gets sick, he could get REALLY SICK. I have enough on my plate right now without worrying about a freak riding accident that could incapacitate me at the worst possible time. There is no way I could go to a doctor or ER right now and in good conscience explain why I had an injury that was perfectly preventable if I had just temporarily refrained from participating in my extremely privileged outdoor activity of choice.

My favorite view, even if my windows need to be cleaned. 

That's not an indictment on anyone who is still riding. Everyone's situation is different. I'm not here to tell you what to do or not to do, and you don't have to justify your decisions. I'm sure ALL of us have analyzed the ins and outs of our various situations and made the decision that we are most comfortable with. Some of you who board may have had the decision made for you by the facility owner. I'm not interested in making that decision for other people and I'm mostly trying to avoid reading the preachy articles and comment threads advocating one way or the other on social media. If you're not riding, just know you're not alone <3 If you're still riding, be safe.

We've been planting grass seed and gradually starting the process of trying to landscape. 

The silver lining in all of this is that original my state's peak for COVID-19 cases was originally not forecasted to be until mid-May, but it sounds like they're changing that estimate now to peak sometime mid-April instead. So it sounds like all of these sacrifices have been worth it, and we are successfully flattening the curve. Hopefully soon the restrictions are lifted and I'll feel better about riding again. Or if not, it won't kill the horses not to get ridden, 2019 definitely proved that. So in the meantime, I'll just keep on keepin' on. I still plan to work the horses on the ground, so I may still occasionally have media and things to say about that. Or maybe you'll just get spammed with decor and organization photos, on top of last year being basically exclusively dedicated to construction - the horror! At any rate, I hope you and yours are staying safe, sound, and relatively sane!