More testing, conservation, no school, rain and ants

We had our third Covid test in 8 days on Sunday, and it was handled tactfully -- no ramrod action. This test is supposed to be the most accurate and thorough of the three, with swabs going to a lab. The results are revealed in two or three days.  I've been told that three negative tests make you eligible for the vaccine. That sounds good to me, but so far, talk of a vaccine has been just that  – talk. The first test, administered by a nurse, was fairly comfortable considering a giant cotton swab on a stick is being shoved up your nose. The lady was as gentle as she could be. The second test was given by a policeman, who wasn't as gentle, and I think he brought back some brain on his swab from a few of us. Our 5-year-old daughter Joanna was supposed to take the third test with me and my wife Phuong, but the crowd and heat were a bit much. I'll endure quite a bit for negative results and vaccine shots because the lockdown is a bit of a hassle and it's extending indefinitely ,,, and Covid can be deadly.
• • •
There's not much bread now, no honey, and only very little (and very expensive) cereal. We found some wonderful wild blueberry and raspberry preserves, but with limited bread and butter it doesn't work so well. We got a little bread on Friday (for the weekend) and we're nursing the little butter we have. There's nothing quite so effective as a lockdown and shortages for forcing people (like me) to conserve, reduce, reuse, recycle. Aluminum foil is precious, since it's essential for keeping our frequently used toaster oven clean when we cook. Trash bags are gone, so we use grocery bags and recycle everything we can. Since almost all shops are closed, my wife gave me a haircut. She did a great job even though she had little to work with. A small, all-purpose store down the street stayed open through the restrictions and this week several people there tested positive. Obviously, Covid is all around us. That's why I'm baffled when I see folks on our street not wearing a mask and walking around talking to neighbors.
• • •
There's no school but there's talk of online kindergarten starting in the middle of September. Our daughter should be starting kindergarten now, but she's made it clear she would much rather continue with homeschooling with dad than go to a school here. The web and printer help me with lessons. We've been studying insects for the past month. We've just finished a week of ladybugs / lady beetles / ladybirds. We have a standard joke now: "Oh no, not the life cycle of the ladybug / frog / butterfly ...." We started dragonflies with a video on Sunday and starting Monday we will read, identify body parts, where they live and so on until we finish with a "test" on Friday. These lessons were from the teacherspayteachers website; it costs some money but it's worth it for me. Our 2-and-a-half-hour sessions also include: math, which she hates, except when I use jellybeans; singing and dancing, which she loves; drawing and coloring, which she super loves at the moment; reading, which she enjoys and excels at if the subject matter interests her; and trying to beat the timer tracing the alphabet and numbers 1-20. She loves playing with little plastic frogs, lizards, iguanas, snakes, crocodiles and alligators that we bought back when the Vincom mall was open before the lockdown. Otherwise, she'll hang on mom, bug her brother, and help me cook just a little. Elijah will kick a ball or anything else he gets his feet on around the house; climb the stairs up and down; and really hang on mom, although he's starting to single me out for rough-stuff play. Both will sort of watch Babytv.
• • •
Cooking is a real pleasure for me, even in our hot as hell kitchen. I cook most of the meals, although my wife has been nosing around the kitchen more of late. I'm soaked in sweat after cooking, but the new toaster oven and microwave keep meals warm while I tidy up ...  I finally finished the Dune series and I am so happy that the one Jack Vance book that I couldn't find online -- Night Lamp -- is finally available as an e-book. I found it just as I finished the final Frank Herbert Dune book, Chapterhouse. The reading streak continues with 630 days in a row ... Thunderstorms come almost nightly, and the rain is driving the ants inside. Every house is battling ants like crazy. I pick up my spoon to eat ice cream and there are ants on it, along with ants circling around the ice cream bowl. Not real appetizing.