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Other than anything having to do with music or instruments, what are you doing during the 'Stay at Home' to keep yourself busy?
Do you have a job that allows you to work at home, hobbies, etc.
I am retired, so no job. We were homebodies anyway, so this has really not affected us, as far as limiting our galavanting. We don't do our own grocery shopping now, we use instacart. Works great. Unfortunately, more people in our area are using it and I have to remember to order 3-4 days early. Other than it getting used more, it is great. None of my daughters have that option.
I have been making masks for family. I am about masked out. Finally making some for my husband and I, then, that will be it. I have to finish some up for 4-6 yr olds for my granddaughters and a great-niece, then I can make my husband's and mine. I make 4 for each because they have to be washed after one use. I am done after our 8. All material pieces are cut for all the masks. I am almost finished sewing the little ones. They are very cute.
I will try to get my last 4 quilts done when I am finished with the masks. Then I can get back to making my clothes, or attempting. Still have not been able to do a successful pair of slacks. I made a pair of cargo pants and they were almost correct.
So, that is what is keeping me busy, when not doing anything that has to do with my instruments.
The Bumblebee Flies!
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In the mornings I'm reading Beowulf in the original Anglo Saxon.
In the evenings I've just finished a Xena binge and I have now begun a Buffy binge.
Andrew
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My work is developing industrial safety products which impact on the industries supporting the mitigation of the current health crisis, and my need of laboratory facilities means I cannot work from home and so I still commute. I'm also adept at social distancing (I've done it all my life) so little has changed from my perspective, apart from the reduction in traffic and the more peaceful time at work (my engineers are mostly home-working).
I'm still in nerd heaven.
Peter
"It is vain to do with more that which can be done with less" - William of Ockham
"A crown is merely a hat that lets the rain in" - Frederick the Great
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Still working double time in the ICU but get an extra day off a week plenty of project getting done as well as more time to practice with the Viola and spend time in the workshop
Honorary tenured advisor
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Great you are making masks @Mouse and catching up on your quilting.
@Gordon Shumway You would have loved a professor I had in college for a Chaucer course.
@Peter You always make me chuckle. Stay safe out there!
@Ripton Beautiful craftmanship.
Our business is 1/2 closed. We are not doing any craft shows or internet orders (I don't want to be going in and out of the PO, UPS and FedEx every day), but we are still doing wholesale orders where we can where masks and "drop and run" so to speak.
Other than that, I have been spending a lot of time getting my gardens ready and starting seeds in my greenhouse. I even set up a 2nd seasonal greenhouse and two new raised beds.
Here are a few of my seedlings. These pics are from last week. These are much larger now, but still can't go outside until May 15-30 depending on the weather outlook.
Jim
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Good jobs, everyone.
Stay safe, @Peter , and "good work you are doing," (message from Yoda).
Love the pens, @Ripton.
Nice garden, @MoonShadows. I just went to,USPS and created a label and the mailman picked up the mask boxes when he dropped off the mail. Worked pretty slick.
@Gordon Shumway We used to watch Xena and Buffy. We are watching a couple British sitcoms airing on our PBS. They are pretty funny. "Keeping Up Appearances" and "Hold The Sunset". There are a few others we used to watch years ago, but they are no longer aired on our PBS. They are very funny. Situational, not fowl mouthed people with bad attitudes they treat as humor. I know these are old, so not sure if you sitcoms are still like this, situational comedy.
The Bumblebee Flies!
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cid said
"Keeping Up Appearances" and "Hold The Sunset".
I've never heard of hold the sunset, but I've seen quite a lot of keeping up appearances. It's not totally to my taste but Patricia Routledge is great at both spoken and physical comedy. She's still alive and 91 years old.
Andrew
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The temporary demise of the local library is a frustration to me. I have a stack of reading material comprised of works which could not be obtained through their inter library loan process, and I am currently reading “Our Own Devices” by Edward Tenner.
I had hopes that the mass entertainment would come to the plate due to the number of people, including children, stuck home. The people running HBO get it and should be applauded. Everyone else, not so much.
I did purchase a “discovering chair yoga with Steve Wolf” dvd, which I think is quite good. I am finding myself quite a bit more flexible and cramp up infrequently while undergoing its trials.
My attempts to tip grocery store cashiers has come to naught. Corporate policy, I am told. It was not worth the potential eons within hell for me to refuse the try. BTY, I routinely flame the handle of the shopping cart with a propane torch for a brisk sterilization, likely for the amusement of the other patrons in the parking area.
I recently viewed a prototype of a VW Beetle roadster constructed by the German firm Memminger (photos included below). A full scale example is beyond the extent of my interest, but I am willing to butcher a few plastic scale models to see the extent of metal work necessary.
Space X is about to launch another rocket, so I am off to view the excitement. 
Success is the progressive realisation of a worthy ideal. —Earl Nightingale.
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@Gordon Shumway Hold the Sunset has Alison Steadman and Jon Cleese. The air date in the info says 2018.
@Irv I never thought of het sterilizing thenhand;es. LOL I did bring Lysol wipes when I shopped. I not wiped the handles, I wiped the woven steel inside. I always did that. I have seen too many kiddos in those parts of the car where your groceries go, and I am not talking bout kiddos who have been properly cleaned before a trip to the store. For obvious reasons, the plastic flap that goes down when the kiddos are placed in the front seat provided for them is always up when I use a cart, for obvious reasons. I am not having that plastic flap down and my purse on top. I am not a neat nik, but some things make my skin crawl.
The 12 little masks are done and in the washer.
There are more than 1 of some of them. Different families, so not a big deal.
The Bumblebee Flies!
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cid said
Hold the Sunset has Alison Steadman and Jon Cleese. The air date in the info says 2018.
Oh, that's much too recent for me. It's not the sort of TV I habitually watch. Gavin and Stacey is probably the most recent thing I've seen in that genre. Or maybe Big Bang Theory, but I got bored with that a few years ago.
No, there were a couple of things I watched last year while tending my parents - Ghosts(?) and Pitching In and Don't Forget the Driver, but they were all poor to dubious. Detectorists was probably the best recent thing, but I'm not sure how recent that was. And Last Tango in Halifax, but that sort of limps on pointlessly.
Andrew
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Not having to "go out" means more time to work down my stack of books-to-be-read (the Japanese have a word for it: tsundoku) albeit slowly and in the manner of the honeybee, skipping from delight to delight.
Hottest current book is "The Hemlock Cup" by one of my favourite living historians, Bettany Hughes. It's a biography of Socrates, but more importantly it vivdly describes Athenian life, in love and war. Her depiction has a brutal honesty and exciting pace which makes the birthplace of western philosophy fully apparent in all its gore and muck. Recommended as a cure for the romantic view of 'Ancient Greece'.
I'm also catching up on film ('movie') recommendations from my children; last night I watched "Kingsman": a fascinating secret-service story with hilarious scenes of gratuitous violence; a worrying concept. Perhaps I should go back to the forty hours of... well, you know.
Peter
"It is vain to do with more that which can be done with less" - William of Ockham
"A crown is merely a hat that lets the rain in" - Frederick the Great
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meh...lots of yard work..mowing..hitting all the beer stores in search of a good gose beer. nothing better after mowing. Saturday evening trip to logans replaced with sonic drive in. sprite with peach mango is highly recommended. bugs bunny reruns on YouTube and going back through episodes of BSG and conspiracy theory websites.
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I am training my Australian Shepherd in obedience so when we can do trials again we'll be ready
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Well, I thought I was about done with making face masks but, I now have 36 more to make. I am running out of material. Not sure what to do about that. Without actually touching the material, I can’t tell if it is actually good heavy-weight quilters’ cotton. Bummer.
None of the quilt shops I went to are open for online orders. Have been disappointed with the popular online places that sell it. Been disappointed with the quality, or lack of, too many times and it is quite expensive. I actually did a contact us contact with one of the popular online fabric shops to ask about a good heavy-weight quilters’ cotton to use and they never got back. Got a confirmation email, but never a reply back.
I should have enough for the 36 more I have to make, but not sure after that. My not-so-good quilters‘ cotton will be all that will be left. It is thinner and a looser weave and not absorbent enough, I won’t use it. It is more for testing or little crafty items, so not expensive or as good a quality.
I guess, these will be the last 36. Geesh, I was just getting it down to a science. Tweaked the pattern a little so it is a little easier to make, set it up assembly line style so I don’t have to keep changing my pressure foot (I use two different ones for this mask). I was on a roll.
I am not making the pleated front rectangle ones. These are more formed for your face and come in 4 sizes. Much more comfortable. Oh, well. I will look in my closet to see there is some good material I missed. If I do find some, into the washer with turbo heat water it goes!
The Bumblebee Flies!
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Honestly, not doing much -- not even music related. Even before the lockdown, I had a chronic shoulder injury that has forced me to cut back my work hours to a part-time schedule for the last two years, drop out of one of my orchestras, and limit my viola practice (outside of rehearsals for my remaining orchestra) to less than an hour a week. I was about to see a doctor about other treatment options after three courses of physical therapy provided only limited relief, and then the pandemic hit and I was extremely reluctant to go to any kind of medical facility for anything short of a life-threatening emergency.
I'm slowly working on unpacking my apartment (I've lived here for 20 months and still have a pile of boxes because I haven't been able to lift things), taking an item or two out of a box each day. I've cleared out two boxes in the last month.
Other than that, have done a bit of local hiking, spent a fair amount of my free time in video chats with friends, caught up on continuing education requirements via webinars (that I don't have to sit up in a chair for), and tried to cook more interesting dishes when my shoulder allows it. Unfortunately, any hobby that involves using the arms or sitting in a chair has to be limited, which restricts my options a lot.
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Well, @AndrewH, looks like we are in thr same boat, except mone is knee. I need a replacement but am not going anywhere until it is aafe, so I am nursing it.
I can only sew for short periods because using the foot pedal on the sewing machine puts too much pressure on my knee, who would have thought! Surprised me. My husband puts the cello away when I am done because I stand after sitting with it. Would not be a good idea to use it as a crutch.
But, with the accommodations I must make in the mean time, I am lucky. I am not in a hospital with COVID, and my kiddo and her husband who both did have it, were able to get over it at home. So, I am more than willing to put up with my knee. I am sure you feel the same way. Our time will come. Yea, it will!
The Bumblebee Flies!
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Busy busy here,
Babysitting grandkids 3 days a week, I'm having a ball doing that
Cleaned out and reorganized the pantry and all kitchen cabinets
Got a 13 yard dumpster and cleaned out the barn, garage, attic and several other rooms in the house filled the dumpster and still had a truck load to get rid of.
Installed lights in garage and master bed room closet
Having 2 tons of decorative rock being delivered monday
Running plumbing and electric to make an up stairs utility room, once that's done paint and install new flooring
And several other projects that are waiting on me that i need to finish before I go back to work.
Master the Frog and you have mastered the bow.
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Wow, @Mark. What will you do when you are all done with that?
The Bumblebee Flies!
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Holey Schmoley @Mark - good on yah man !!!
Me - well, I've rearranged my spice rack in alphabetical order - all 3 items - Chilli, Coriander, Cumin.
Then, I rearranged my spice rack in alphabetical order - all 3 items - Chilli, Coriander, Cumin.
Then...
Then...
Und so weiter...
Extract from Bill's Dictionary - "recursive / rɪˈkɜr sɪv / [Phonetic]: see recursive"
Just kidding - not as bad as that - I have as many things on the go, mostly outside !!!
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Hmmm.. was just kinda thinking - StreetJelly - yeah - I did a quick 30 minute show - oh about 2, maybe now 3 ( I've lost track of time ) weeks back... with all of one single viewer (but thats pretty normal for my timezone).. but - I belatedly realised that @damfino and @Tipiaowsek both ran a SJ show a few days later... I'll maybe try to arrange a StreetJelly get-together once again - busy right now - but in the next few days... let's see... maybe title the show "CV Fiddling" ( Creative Violin Fiddling LOL, not the CV we're all currently preoccupied with )..
When ( indeed IF - it's still just a thought at the moment ) I decide to do this, it'll be promoted, as usual, on the StreetJelly threads on the forum...
**** EDIT ****
Oh darn it all @Mouse - my apologies - this was supposed to be a"What are you doing to keep busy, that is NOT music or instrument related, whatsoever?" thread - but it appeared to be "seemly" to the extent that we're all looking for something different to do, and getting fiddle/violin etc players "on stage" is like pulling teeth... and these SJ events although well attended in the past, have seemed to lose overall interest... and THAT'S why it came to my mind... SORRY for the music "sort of related" post @Mouse LOLOL - I'll repost my thoughts/ idle-plans in the appropriate SJ thread !!!!
Billy hides-head in disgrace....
I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh -
Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)
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