Self Isolation project

Dreaming of warmer days ahead. 

Using old plywood and scrap pieces of lumber, I made a dozen of these over-sized dice that can be tossed around to play Lawn Yahtzee. The dice were painted with clear exterior urethane and 3/4 inch pip holes were filled with blue resin epoxy.

Self Isolating

We've been isolated at home for a week now after returning from Arizona. We're being diligent about not having contact with others.  14 days is a long time when you're counting but we've realized that it's not much different than our normal lifestyle except for the occasional happy hour get-togethers with neighbors. We use the phone and social media to communicate with everybody.

Our neighbors know we are healthy but are still avoiding contact for the mandatory time period. Twice we found cookies and brownies on our doorstep. Today when Maryanne brought over a bag of books for Yvonne, she rang the doorbell and stood back about 15 ft as if we had the plague. She offered to bring us groceries but we're declining because we are fully stocked with stuff we brought back from Arizona. We even have two 5 gal pails of navel oranges from our trees. We likely have more fresh fruit than most households in Alberta have.

Technically, when our isolation period is over, we'll be the ones that are verified coronavirus free.  Everybody else out there could be potential carriers because of their poor social distancing practices.

Today, Yvonne had me find her cross country skis and boots and she ventured out onto the frozen lake.  I've kept busy trying to fine-tune the new furnace humidifier that I installed in October and completing a few woodworking projects. The workshop  is cold and I'm regretting not having installed that gas heater last year.

It's time to come home

Source: The White House
March 13: National Emergency Declaration.
Trump declared a National Emergency to help the government respond to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 13, 2020.



Our stay in Arizona came to an abrupt stop because of rising Coronavirus concerns. Our daily routines and activities were becoming severely impacted by this invisible threat that was spreading around the world and threatening to invade Leisure World. 

Leisure World had just announced they were closing all the public facilities effective immediately.  Swimming Pools & Spas, Fitness Center, Billiard Room, Card Rooms, Woodworking Shop and pretty much everything else was being closed to encourage social distancing of the residents and staff. Activities like Pickleball and Tennis were becoming severely restricted by cancelling all organized play. 

The average age of residents in Leisure World is likely around 75 yrs. This age group is considered to be in the highest risk category for surviving Coronavirus although, so far, nobody has become sick or is willing to tell anyone. Time will tell if the preventative measures were worth it.

Coincidently, the Canadian government was also issuing travel advisories and urging snowbirds to come home. Because of this our health insurance coverage would not cover Coronavirus claims.  Paraphrasing our Prime Minister, "It is time to come home."

We left our Mesa home early on March 17th and headed north toward Salt Lake City. Our first night was spent in Provo, Utah. We were on the road again by 7AM.  A few minutes into our drive, we heard news of a 5.6 magnitude earthquake in nearby Magna, a community in greater Salt Lake City. Live news reports were warning of downed power lines, power outages and building damage but we didn't see anything worse than a splintered power pole along side the Interstate 15. There were numerous aftershocks too but we didn't feel anything unusual as we were driving through construction zones.

The orange and yellow dots indicate where the earthquakes and aftershocks took place between March 18th and March 20th. 

The Angel Moroni statue atop the Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stands with its trumpet missing after an earthquake in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, March 18, 2020.

At the Coutts Canadian border crossing there was a half mile long lineup of returning Canadians. During our 1hr-20min wait we were entertained by 11 whitetail deer trying to cross the lineup at Sweetgrass. 

After being interrogated for the usual customs declarations and other questions about firearms and liquor the CBS Officer informed us of the new requirements for individuals returning from a foreign country during a Pandemic.  We were asked if we had any cold or flu symptoms like fever, cough or shortness of breath. We replied no to all questions. "You'll both need to Self Isolate yourselves from the general population for 14 consecutive days once you return home" said the Officer. Little did he know that "Self Isolation" fully describes our normal lifestyle at Lac La Nonne.

North of the border radio stations were announcing the Can/US border closure for all but essential travel. It felt great to be back in Canada but we all know that the worst is yet to come.

Finally we arrived home, one month ahead of schedule. This is our view for the next two weeks. There's a foot of snow in the yard and the temperature is around -10C.  Looks like there's still some winter in store for us.

On the bright side, the snow should be gone in a couple weeks and I'm optimistic that we will be returning to Arizona in October.

Mystery in Mesa

Something with very nimble fingers has carefully deconstructed an orange under our navel tree last night.

All the pieces seem to be there. The peeling was torn off and all the segments were pulled apart without damaging them. Nothing seems to be missing.

Could a raccoon have done this? I spotted one in a Leisure World drainage ditch a few months ago while riding my bike. Raccoons probably have the dexterity and the curiosity to pull this off. 

Or possibly it was a coati. We've spotted these in Leisure world too but I don't know if they have opposing thumbs like a raccoon.

(both animal photos were downloaded from a google search)

Two more Tuesday Hikes

Surrounded by the Town of Gilbert, the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch is Gilbert's 110 acre waste-water management facility. There are 4.5 miles of walking trails winding through the Water Ranch Lake and 7 accompanying ponds.  

There are apparently over 300 different bird species and various other wildlife that inhabit the preserve.

The Butcher Jones Trail is not new to us. We've hiked this one several times in the last three years.