Coronavirus, Covid 19 Discussion and How It Has Affected Your Daily Life Chat Thread

[SnapdragonQ]

And to our teachers who read or post here, none of my comments are directed towards teachers. We've been through many different districts and each district does things differently. Direction comes from the top down, and also from the community and school boards. We know that.

On the teacher level we love you all and know exactly how hard it is to be a teacher.

 

[MROO]

Just found this thread - wish I could have found it a month ago, but my Internet was not working. It really would have helped!

Covid time has been very difficult for me. The Covid virus does not scare me much. But the unrelenting loneliness has been one of the worse things I have ever lived through.

Pre-Covid: I lived alone, but I was rarely lonely. I didn't like technology, and avoided it often - flip phone, no Internet, no TV in my house.

THEN Covid restrictions began - suddenly and unexpectedly.
With no warning, I changed overnight from being a mostly write-on-the-board classroom teacher to a "work from home using technology" teacher. This was incredibly stressful, because there was so much I didn't know. At the same time, connectivity issues prevented me from doing the online learning I needed to do to improve the situation. I tried to call colleagues for help, and friends, but they were all caught up in their own issues. What stress to be unable to do your job right (when children depend on you), and to be unable to do the learning necessary to improve the situation - and then to be unable to talk to others to help relieve that stress!

I wanted to yell to some of them "You have people in your house! I don't have anyone in my house! Do you have ANY idea how lonely that is?" But I didn't want to impose.

I think if I had not had pets, I might have lost my sanity. I brought some ducks in the house. I walked the dog. I petted the cat. It helped a little - just enough...

Very slowly, small bit by small bit, things improved. A few people finally were able to help a bit. My students and their parents - I am so thankful for them and proud of them - slowly began figuring things out. The students and I shared our slowly growing knowledge. Eventually, connectivity improved and I was able to learn even more.

And now? Well, now, some people are starting to be tired of social isolation. So now the neighbors who walk their dogs say "hi" and smile when they pass by six feet away. Now a neighbor invites me for a driveway chat. Now a friend agrees to walk with me for exercise. Now a colleague calls one day and chats with me.

So now life has improved a lot. Not back to normal, but better. But underneath I'm still reeling with a huge backlog of stress. And I still haven't hugged a live human being in more than two months. So I continue to act as if everything is fine, just like I've been doing all along. But it's a thin veneer.

Welcome to the Crazy Chicken House! I, for one, am glad you found us!

I SO understand the "no-school" issues. I work in public school support, so while I don't have the online teaching issues, I have many close friends and colleagues who do ... and it's been a real struggle for pretty much everyone but the tech teacher. We have minimal technology at home, as well. My daughter is a HS Senior, and is really having trouble adapting. It's not just the loss of all of the usual "Senior Perks," like prom and graduation and such, but the loss of her everyday social contacts. There's no slow adjustment to this huge life change; and they never got to say goodbye. Like many others, staff and student alike, the slam-dunk into on'line learning still has her reeling!

It's funny how the neighborhood stuff works, though, isn't it? Growing up, we knew all of our neighbors. Everybody chatted, knew the "big stuff" and lots of the little stuff in each others' lives. When the world went on "Pause," that network wasn't there. As things start to loosen up again, as they inevitably will, let's ALL remember how nice that connection can be, and how empty some parts of our lives were without it. Let's not let it die again!

 

[FortCluck]

There are some people who should be placed in one of these regardless of the outcome of this situation!

I’d rather be in that bubble than deal with some people in this world. Wouldn’t be a bad life honestly. I can roll over people.

 

[MROO]

That reminds me! How on earth are parents of a kindergartener getting away with not bothering with schoolwork? Since no one even reads with her, she flipped out about reading with me a few days ago. I mean, Fox in Sox was a book she was reading at three. The other day she breezed through “band” the first time it appeared, then stammered the other ten (or whatever) times. That book took over an hour!!!!!!!!!!! Believe me, two weeks ago she could read.

DON'T LET THAT SLIP! Even if it's just reading aloud to/with her ever day, make sure you do. If reading slides too far, it will become a chore. It has to stay fun! I've always said that, if I could only give my children one gift (beside the obvious one of Life!) it would be the love of reading. If they read well and enjoy it, they can learn and/or accomplish pretty much any other thing they need to do in life.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I SO understand the "no-school" issues. I work in public school support, so while I don't have the online teaching issues, I have many close friends and colleagues who do ... and it's been a real struggle for pretty much everyone but the tech teacher. We have minimal technology at home, as well. My daughter is a HS Senior, and is really having trouble adapting. It's not just the loss of all of the usual "Senior Perks," like prom and graduation and such, but the loss of her everyday social contacts. There's no slow adjustment to this huge life change; and they never got to say goodbye. Like many others, staff and student alike, the slam-dunk into on'line learning still has her reeling!

Even for college level students who might be more used to doing some of their coursework online, this has been tough - I've heard it from both sides. One of my friends, her spouse is an instructor at a community college, and he's been struggling to figure out how to best make videos for lectures or how to respond to questions that come up to the lectures, and how to best handle giving and correcting tests.

Another one, when this all started, her daughter was told to vacate her college campus and had to take a late night bus, so left all her books behind (the university assured students that they could come back later in preassigned time slots, to pick up items they'd need... then closed that completely). So even though she was following along with her classes online, she didn't have the books to cross reference. I didn't ask if she re-purchased those books, but we all know college texts can be extremely pricey.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Don’t get me started on your marbles

I know, right?

It's been the same here.
And minimal communications from the school district and minimal guidance from teachers.
Each teacher left to their own devices on how to connect with the kids and often overlapping one another. Meanwhile, the next county over the district site is littered with info, plans, computer schedules, happenings....all easily found.
Here, it's been crickets and no amount of searching or digging helps at all. There is no info to be found. Even local news is razor thin.

Our district did not want to shut down at all, has been hostile towards Northam for it in the communications, and it's like to be spiteful they decided not to be proactive about anything, even for the good of the kids, and instead just sit and wait for the next set of orders.
Frustrating.

What about my marbles!?

And so sorry about the school issues, Snap!!

That's AWFUL! Three at once sounds like a mama teaching kits how to hunt. The little guys can't always carry a grown bird easily, so it'll drag & get tripped over. That would account for the loads of feathers.
I am SO sorry!

Thank you!!! This makes a lot of sense. I was thinking maybe she was fighting and struggling the whole way.

Nope ... the Happy Wanderers jinxed themselves. And if you heard coyotes, I'd lay money on them beIng the culprits!

That’s true!! But I still feel bad for even thinking that or not watching them, etc. although I guess I can’t watch the entire day. And yeah I think so too!! Although we’ve heard them before and I didn’t think they were interested. knew the foxes were. But just a few days ago we saw a huge coyote waltzing down the driveway, didn’t even seem scared of us, and I think there was coyote poop on the hill on the front recently, so I’m sure it saw the tasty chickens and decided to come back. I should have known it would but thought it had moved on. Guess not. I feel like an idiot. We’ve always been so lucky.

 

[SnapdragonQ]

And so sorry about the school issues, Snap!!


That’s true!! But I still feel bad for even thinking that or not watching them, etc. although I guess I can’t watch the entire day. And yeah I think so too!! Although we’ve heard them before and I didn’t think they were interested. knew the foxes were. But just a few days ago we saw a huge coyote waltzing down the driveway, didn’t even seem scared of us, and I think there was coyote poop on the hill on the front recently, so I’m sure it saw the tasty chickens and decided to come back. I should have known it would but thought it had moved on. Guess not. I feel like an idiot. We’ve always been so lucky.

Thanks.

And it happens to the best of us. Nearly 15 years without any predator incident and then I move here and was hit by a fox, raccoons, and an owl all in the same week. Not right away mind you...only after I had been here a while and never actually saw any of the creatures I listed at the time it happened. Just feathers EVERYWHERE outside the pen. It was like someone grabbed the chicken so fast it self plucked while being snatched up.
Some just flat disappeared with no trace. Poof! .....magician style. And still a few others were left in a very unpleasant pile after whatever tried to pull them through the fence and it didn't work. That was the worst.

I've since spotted the fox, caught the raccoons. and still see evidence of the ever present owl. At my other farm all my birds had free acess to acres of pasture and never once did I have an issue. I had good basic farm fences though and all the chicks were happy to stay inside of them.
I didn't let anyone free range here on purpose, but their area is much smaller because I don't have good basic farm fencing here, and a few knew how to get over their own enclosure and into the larger pasture. Now there's a top on the run.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Thanks.

And it happens to the best of us. Nearly 15 years without any predator incident and then I move here and was hit by a fox, raccoons, and an owl all in the same week. Not right away mind you...only after I had been here a while and never actually saw any of the creatures I listed at the time it happened. Just feathers EVERYWHERE outside the pen. It was like someone grabbed the chicken so fast it self plucked while being snatched up.
Some just flat disappeared with no trace. Poof! .....magician style. And still a few others were left in a very unpleasant pile after whatever tried to pull them through the fence and it didn't work. That was the worst.

I've since spotted the fox, caught the raccoons. and still see evidence of the ever present owl. At my other farm all my birds had free acess to acres of pasture and never once did I have an issue. I had good basic farm fences though and all the chicks were happy to stay inside of them.
I didn't let anyone free range here on purpose, but their area is much smaller because I don't have good basic farm fencing here, and a few knew how to get over their own enclosure and into the larger pasture. Now there's a top on the run.

So sorry for all the losses!!

It’s been similar here. Never had any issues but then all of a sudden the last few months I’ve lost tons.

We did have a hawk take one a few years ago and have had it try again as well as had raccoon and fox try to get in the pen, but no successes until the last few months. And we also lost a bird to I think old age or sickness or both last summer. Just dropped dead.

But that was it in 4 years. Now 4 1/2. Even with free ranging. Although I did stop free ranging for a while after the first hawk attack but still. Only one predator loss.

But then now I’ve lost 6 chickens in just a few months as well as two betta fish, which I know sounds stupid but I was really attached to them, particularly one.

I lost two chicks to two different predators a few months ago and then I just had to put a chicken down a few weeks ago due to illness and now of course the three losses yesterday.

It’s just a lot at once.

 

[MROO]

What about my marbles!?

And so sorry about the school issues, Snap!!

Thank you!!! This makes a lot of sense. I was thinking maybe she was fighting and struggling the whole way.

That’s true!! But I still feel bad for even thinking that or not watching them, etc. although I guess I can’t watch the entire day. And yeah I think so too!! Although we’ve heard them before and I didn’t think they were interested. knew the foxes were. But just a few days ago we saw a huge coyote waltzing down the driveway, didn’t even seem scared of us, and I think there was coyote poop on the hill on the front recently, so I’m sure it saw the tasty chickens and decided to come back. I should have known it would but thought it had moved on. Guess not. I feel like an idiot. We’ve always been so lucky.

Electric fence is your FRIEND! One good zap makes 'em quite wary!

 

[ShrekDawg]

Electric fence is your FRIEND! One good zap makes 'em quite wary!

Might need to try that!!! We were thinking of fencing in the yard with a regular solid fence like field fencing or welded wire but would only be able to do the back most likely due to the cost and they like foraging all over nowadays. Plus it would be a lot of work and time. Electric fence might be easier and cheaper, at least for now. We will eventually have to do a real fence anyway though as we’re going to get another dog eventually and don’t want to do the “long leash when out” thing again plus most places won’t adopt or sell you one without a fence. But for now, the electric fence seems like a good option. Might need to get or borrow a dog too though. LGD maybe. something to scare off the coyotes. Maybe need to borrow one of my brother’s dogs haha