And it's Friday

* Which matters a LOT less than it did in the before-times, when Friday afternoon meant "Yay I am home from work and can relax, I don't have to get up at a set time the next day, and I can go do something fun"

* It's been brutally hot here so even if I felt comfortable going out to do stuff, it wouldn't be fun. I don't even particularly like doing "farting around" drives (where you just drive but don't get out of the car) in this kind of weather because of the risk of a break down. My car is about 10 years old and while I've taken good care of it....you never know.

* I am contemplating making another Kroger run either next week or the week after that. Grayson County seems to be settling down a bit, and if I go early on a week day (and wear a mask, but I think they are requiring it now) and move quickly I should be okay. There are a few things I use that no place in town carries, or that it would mean doing a wal-mart order for, and frankly, I'd rather Kroger got my money.

* That said, my Imperfect Foods box arrived intact this week. Dinner tonight is going to be the smoked turkey breast I got on an Everything bagel, and one of the plums (I am not sure but they may have doubled my order on those, maybe as an apology). And I have more of their good "slightly irregular" chocolate covered raisins (which ship in the cooled bag with the meat and cheese, so they don't melt on the way)

* Finished "The Castle of Llyr" last night - actually, when I stopped there were only 2-3 pages left, but I didn't realize that because each of these books has the first chapter of the NEXT at the end - and that was all the other pages. It was good. I liked it. The good guys won and nobody died. I presume the weird giant will get help by Dallben maybe in the next book; I presume Taran would carry out what he promised.

I recommend the Lloyd Alexander books - or at least these; I know he wrote others and I may want to track some of those down and read them, too. He writes in a way I find vivid and enjoyable. Of course, I have many, many other books to read - including a translation of what was his source material, the Mabinogion.

* I think the "Sockhead Hat" is long enough now (I don't want it the full floppy length) so maybe tonight I start the decreases on that. And I have another hat going, which I am calling "Not Quite Bankhead" because I messed up the pattern (I got going and forgot that you do a plain knit round between the wide rib on the crown) so I decided to just go with it rather than ripping back....I have a DIFFERENT yarn to make a REAL Bankhead hat with.

I might just keep all of these. The Sockhead Hat feels a bit like a badge of honor because it's one I started working on on that July trip up to Illinois and even though I have sad memories of that time (and pretty much most of the time since then, ugh), I still powered through.

And yeah, I know I tend to be a believer in sympathetic magic but I am wondering: with every project on the needles that I started in the "before-times" finished, could it somehow bring us a little closer to the end of all the bad stuff? I hope. (I have friends who either work in biotech related companies, or who themselves have friends/relatives who do, they keep telling me to hang on, it may not be as long as I fear....I hope they are right)

I need to get back to the vest and the grey cardigan, too, but somehow those still seem a bit daunting. Finishing hats feels easier. (And I also have three pairs of socks on the needles I want to finish)

* I also dug out some yarn and printed off the patterns I planned to make with it so I have a number of small projects ahead - another hat (called the Soft Hat, which is a play on the hardhats worn on construction sites; I have a "highlighter yellow" colored yarn to make it with (the color name is actually "Pickleball" so you can imagine what it looks like) - and if I ever get to do fall or early-spring field labs again, I can wear it, because it will be high-vis, make it easy for my students to spot me). And several small simple shawls that are meant to be made with sock yarn.

I've also been stash diving in my sewing room and thinking about which quilt to make next after the current top is done (I still need to figure out backings for the one I want to take in). Probably it will be one of the pre-cut packs, either some charm packs or a jelly roll.

Maybe what I need to do, to be happy, is most days to plan on working early in the day and then knock off midafternoon and sew....would be nice to get some of the stash worked down and it feels good to do that kind of thing.

Also, in the coming days I will probably be spending a couple hours a day over at school - I will have the soil to sort through, and then later on the soil invertebrates to count and identify. I am thinking that in my lab it will be fine - the person I share it with is not in town this summer - and in my office of course it's just me. I will bring a mask to wear in the halls in case I encounter someone else (technically it's the rules: you are supposed to wear it in the hall but can take it off in your office, and I tend to be a rule-following nerd, though perhaps on days when I'm clearly the only one in the building I won't worry about it so much).

* I broke down and ordered myself some more vintage Smurfs. I don't know. I guess I like revisiting some of the things of my late childhood (I still get the Mrs. Grossmans' stickers). Some of these are from a Canadian seller who had some different ones I don't remember ever seeing, and of course never had - including a bagpiper and also one that she called an "alchemist" but could also be a wizard, I guess. Part of it is getting mail that's other than bills or ads, but part of it is, yeah, being able to line them up on my desk and look at them or whatever. I should probably get a small wall shelf to put up somewhere for them eventually....

I think I'm realizing as an adult that I can afford stuff that was beyond my wildest dreams as a kid, and even those "wildest dreams" things are not that horrifically expensive by grown-up standards. (A dozen vintage Smurfs, other than the very rare ones, would be less in total than a pair of not-very-expensive flashy shoes, for example)

* My long-missing April Doki Doki crate came the other day! That's also good news. My favorite thing in it was a lazy-susan style pen cup with four quarters - so you can put a different kind of pen in each quarter and revolve it when you need to take one out. (Or you could put double-pointed needles of different sizes in them....). There was also a nice little finger-puppet sort of thing made to be a screen cleaner.

Hopefully the June crates will come soon (I have the May ones - both the regular one and the gachapon one). And hopefully shipping is clearing up a little, even if it's slow. I guess I stick with them for now, they are a small bit of happiness once a month.

*Edited to add: the "Reopening Task Force Updates" tend to drop late in the day on Friday and I forgot to check for one until after talking to my mom on FaceTime this evening, so I did.

In the most recent one, the university president recognized that we may have to "quickly" transition back to all online - he is aiming for a 72 hour (that's 3 days) turnaround time. He sternly warned students to be sure they had a PC, Mac, or good tablet, and a webcam (test security), and reliable internet. And apparently there are ways to help if someone has problems with any of those. Also a stern word about "check your campus e-mail daily" (Some students only use their personal e-mail address).

This reassures me a lot. I was imagining everyone being very bullheaded about "we WILL be in person until Thanksgiving" and maybe trying to ignore cases on campus but now...well, ideally they will have a good early-warning system, or will look at local caseload.

So one thing I want to do - well, other than getting this month's set of samples processed before classes start back up - is to make sure I have everything ready to go for all-online work, including writing a few more "distanced" labs

But yeah. Given that several of my colleagues have risk factors that might make them have a worse outcome, and that a couple of them have small children in their household, and that *I* have a couple risk factors....I feel some better.

I mean, I think I'd feel even better with an "Okay, we're going to do this ALL online but faculty can record lectures from empty classrooms" but maybe it will be okay for the first few weeks.

Or maybe, who knows, it will be totally okay and no one will get sick, I don't know. But I don't want to count on that.

(If we DID go to entirely-online early on....well, I'd be VERY tempted , if cases up north were less than down here, to take some day in late October or Early November and load my car up with everything I would need (and even my plants, I have a lot of room in that SUV) and just drive up to my mom's house and spend the rest of the semester there and on through Christmas. I could take my houseplants, like I sad, and a lot of yarn, and my laptop to work from - she has wifi - and enough clothes and books and everything. I could shelter at home for two weeks first to be sure I didn't get infected, but if the weather looked good? Just get in the car and drive, drive drive, cross the Mississippi at Louisiana, Missouri (which looks a less-scary crossing than the big 55 bridge at St. Louis) and then hang out there with her for a good long time - I'd have my teaching work to do (she'd let me use the living room as an office and she'd be able to be doing something quietly while I taught) and I'd have my knitting and books and that would be a LOT better. Yes, it would be an 11 1/2 hour drive but maybe I could do it?)

I wouldn't get on a train at this point, much less a plane. But I would be willing to consider driving it, though if I had to stay overnight that could be a bit of an issue.