What to Do During the Coronavirus Quarantine or Social Distancing

Let's face it, if we need to do Coronavirus quarantining or self-isolation, we can figure out how to be creative if we run out of toilet paper. After all, humans have lived for tens of thousands of years without toilet paper!

But as such a social society, trying to entertain our minds may be more of a challenge.  Out here in the remote high desert, we don't have many cultural opportunities. But I'm starting to see a silver lining in that staying at home may allow us some cultural opportunities we didn't have time to look into before or that simply weren't offered before (see opera near the bottom). Our kids, Desert Boy (age 12) and Desert Girl (age 10), would probably be fine binge watching various programs and playing video games. But my husband and I want them to make the most of this time of social distancing and when schools are closed and/or moved to online forums.

So we've made a list of some of the things to do during this time. I've also been looking for some new opportunities, and my, there are some fantastic ones.

So make sure you've got a good Internet connection (there are a few things on this list that don't require one, thank goodness, as ours isn't all that good), and dive right in!

 4-H projects (https://shop4-h.org/) - 4-H is the largest youth organization in the U.S., and it covers a whole range of curriculum including aerospace, small engines, electricity, entomology, and so much more! In addition to the national curriculum, we've also found great state curriculums available online.


History movies (e.g., Ken Burns) - We're not going to totally avoid movies. Desert Boy is studying Civil War in his history class right now, so why not look at it in more detail? There are several other series that look very interesting.


Online museum visits (https://www.travelandleisure.com/…/museums-with-virtual-tou…) I'm looking forward to visiting some places I might not ever get to go. And maybe checking them out virtually will make us want to add them to our travel list when all the chaos subsides.

Writing short stories (NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program) The kids both love to write, and NaNoWriMo (from National Novel Writing Month) has a great free program.

Coding (Codecademy.com) Desert Boy is very much into coding and suggested this. There is free content, then you can try the Pro content for 7 days free, then it's $20 a month. He wants to learn Python, so I told him that if he is serious about this, I will pay, but he will have to commit to learn it. 

Skype a Scientist - topics include Whales, fossils, glaciers, bats, and more, plus it's free

Reading (https://time.com/100-best-young-adult-books/ for suggestions)  We have some books around the house that they haven't read yet. The apps Overdrive and Libby let us take out library books (ebooks and audiobooks) for free. And Desert Boy also has a Sora account to take out school library books for free. He reads 1-2 books a week on that.

Cooking lessons My husband and I will continue working through this period (my husband on the ranch, where business never stops, and me a mix of telework and field work), so we think the kids should make more of the family meals. They like to cook anyway, so we will be encouraging them to try out some new recipes. They've enjoyed various cooking shows in the past such as Junior Master Chef.

Woodcarving One of Desert Boy's desires. Not sure yet how we're going to accomplish this! Developing hobbies will be a great thing to do during this time at home.

Sewing One of Desert Girl's desires. She's been getting lessons from two super nice community members. She also has the 4-H curriculum guide and a sewing machine I barely know how to use. Hopefully we can figure this out!

Starting our garden (indoors and out) - Yep, it's time! The kids will be a lot more involved this year.

Work on Tree House The one they built last year needs some work. Just no falling out of it is allowed!

Make short movies The kids recently participated in a student short film contest (because I made them, but they ended up loving it, like I thought they would). Now they're ready to make more movies. They are just using cell phones to shoot the footage, then simple movie editing programs like iMovie. It's a fun skill to learn that can actually be added to a resume later in life.


Travel to the national parks with Rock the Park Jack and Colton visit lots of national parks and wild areas and share their adventures on this fun show. Airs weekends on ABC, and also it's on YouTube. Also another great thing to watch to start making a bucket list of places to visit in the future. p.s. Check out our high desert gem, Great Basin National Park!

For more mature students and adults:

Metropolitan Opera They've cancelled live performances through March 30, but starting March 16 will be streaming a past performance every day! Check out the link for the schedule, which includes some biggies, like Bizet's Carmen and Puccini's La Boheme.

Open Yale Courses various free college course lectures, including Epidemics in Western Society since 1600

 I imagine this list will be expanding fast as more places make content available. What would you add? Feel free to leave a comment or email me at desertsurvivor @ live.com.

Thanks, and best wishes for getting through the Coronavirus well!

Remember, someday you'll be able to tell your Grandchildren, I survived the great toilet paper shortage of 2020. :)

Local Happenings aka A Rather Random Post

 Some of these photos are a little older. (Or maybe a lot older, but who's counting? :) After the fair, we had one sheep left. Sheep are social, so it followed us (and the dog) around everywhere. Including to the swimming hole!

The kids painted some rocks and found some rocks around town.

It's always a fun surprise.

Every once in awhile you should take time for a tea party. Holding your pinky out is optional.

While it was warmer, we played soccer at the playground. Actually the "we" didn't include me, but I enjoyed watching. Maybe next year I'll work up the guts to get out there and give it a try!

Desert Girl is still working on being an animal trainer. Here was some success getting Maggie to go down the slide.

One evening I was in search of sandhill cranes. I found the cows creating quite a lot of dust.

I eventually found the sandhill cranes. Such cool looking birds!

When they took flight I was lucky to get them backlit. What beauty!


Meanwhile, the cows were curious and coming to see what I was doing.

And just playing around.

Here's a fun fact. Baker Ranch provides the hay for the National Finals Rodeo. The horses, bulls, and other animals get some delicious high desert hay. 

These cows are eating a mixture of feed grown on Baker Ranch.

As you've seen, this is very much a rambling post. So why not include Desert Girl's fish imitation?

Along with her drawing of fish. She also wants to be a marine biologist.

One day, Desert Girl and I took a trip to Garnet Hill near Ely, Nevada. Desert Girl was ready with a hammer to find some garnets.

I was fascinated watching the huge mine trucks on the next mountain. The mine trucks look tiny, which tell you how big the mine is.

It's been a busy year for our volunteer fire department. This day was someone burning brush that got out of control.

Fortunately it wasn't too windy, and the fire didn't spread much.

Each year the local school kids do a Wheel-a-thon as a fundraiser. The younger kids (grades K-2) ride eight miles, and the older kids (grades 3-6) ride sixteen miles.

This year, local law enforcement from four jurisdictions came out and did some educational activities. I think they also enjoyed sharing stories.

And here's one of our super bus drivers, Carrie. She followed the kids at the Wheel-a-thon. And she takes Desert Girl to school every day. It is great to see her smiling face every day!

A Quick Trip to Salt Lake City

 Desert Girl recently got her kindergarten shots (she is so looking forward to kindergarten!). She did great. Since we have to travel so far to go to doctor's appointments and I had to take the day off, I decided why not take one more day off and just go to Salt Lake City and see a few more places covered by our Connect Salt Lake Pass that we had bought on Groupon.

Before Salt Lake, we went and visited our neighbor who has moved to the Wasatch Front. It was so good to see her. She's our surrogate grandma.

Afterwards we continued to the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point. We started at the Big Bang and proceeded through time. The dinosaurs certainly got lots of attention, but I think the kids' favorite part was the interactive sand table with flash floods to bury dinosaurs.

Our little paleontologist also really enjoyed the sand pit.

The next morning we went to Hogle Zoo, arriving just fifteen minutes after it opened and finding the parking lot full. The Zoo was certainly a zoo. We navigated our way through strollers and crowds of toddlers and admired the dinosaur animatronics.

We watched the rhinos getting fed.

After a couple hours we had seen it all and were ready to go on. We had a nice lunch and continued to the Children's Discovery Museum.

We went through the old train depot at the Gateway, admiring the amazing stained glass windows.

The kids checked out the old ticket counter.

The children's museum was lots of fun for the kids.




On the way back to the vehicle, the kids played in the fountain. Do you think they stayed dry?

Not quite!

 

 After two full days, it was time to go home. Looks like I wiped out the kids!