Day Ninteen - Just Saturday
Many Saturdays we like to start with breakfast out. We usually have swimming lessons for the kids. Often we follow that up with a trip to a park, or party with friends, or visit to grandma's, or something like that. Now we're just home.
Instead, we started our day with some personal screen time. The kids got up first, and were already in the office, noses to glass on their iPads when I got up. They're getting better about letting us sleep in on the weekends. It was almost 8AM before I dragged out of bed. I settled in to read some news, and turned on an 80s classic, Weird Science, just because it was there. Nostalgia, sometimes it's great with coffee. The wife got up a little later, and she and the little little made some cinnamon rolls for breakfast.
We're tucked inside as it's pretty chilly outside. The temperature is near the forecast peak of 40°F (4°C), but the intermittent wind and shade cut that to feeling like half of that. There's frozen frost and ice on the ground still, and it's creeping on 2PM.
We've only encountered a few "can we ride bikes" queries this morning. Maybe after the 4yo wakes from his nap we'll trip around the block or few. In the meantime, we mean-parented and got the kids to clean the toy room (it isn't supposed to be a toy room, but is now). There was a spot of lunch. Now nap, and a little more catching up.
The granddaughter called to ask about the D&D Starter Set I sent her. Last time I visited, she commented on wanting to learn to play D&D. I'd stopped by the store while there, but they didn't have anything except some campaign dice. So I got her a set of dice (which came with a few sets), and promised to get her some D&D start-up gear. Amazon delivered it a couple days ago, and she called today to find out how to use it. I told her to start by reading in the starter rule book, to get some of the story, and understand what the character sheets were for. I suggested she play with rolling a few characters to get used to that, and then maybe pick a monster from the rule book and have one or more of her characters go through the combat steps in the rule book. I think she thought it was something else, but said she'd give it a go.
After nap time, we're probably going to start our garden indoors. The wife nabbed some starter pots and seeds, so we'll set something up in the house and try to get some sprouts for when the overnight freezing stops. We've got a pretty generous yard garden set up, which we've neglected for the last couple of summers, with the little little taking most of our free times. Given that we're going to probably be at home for the next month or two, at least in spurts, we'll have time to set that up. The planting boxes need a little care, as the years have worn the screws loose, and at least a couple of the corners have given way. When it's a little warmer, we'll churn the soil, fix the boxes, and maybe give a good covering to help abate the weeds that have probably sucked all of the good from the dirt. When the sprouts are ready, we'll poke 'em into the planters and add some fencing to keep the dogs and other pests out.
The yard is probably going to look the best and worst that it has in years. We've had a couple great summers where we spent lots of time tending it, so it has been rich and tidy. Lately, it's been all not-grass weeds, and the mulch beds have looked better. Thankfully, our beds are filled with hostas and lilies, so a messy bed is easy to forgive. This year, probably more to have time filled, we'll weed and keep things in order.
Really glad I have a push-rotary mower, so we don't have to rely on fuel supply chains, although they also seem to be doing just fine.