Lock-down Day 13

Well, the mozzies were fairly quiet during the night. I slept undisturbed, and woke when the alarm went off. Doing the usual 'snatch phone before Mini gets hold of it', got up to answer nature's call, then went to lie down ... and dozed for another hour and a bit. I got up about twenty to seven.

I had some really strange dreams in the early hours. I dreamt that a friend considered buying this house - beautiful house, in a small street (not sure which city, it looked like East London), with lots and lots of windows all around, except the front. Oh, it had windows facing front, they were just smaller. Also a large property out back - and I suggested he turn it into a commune, as it has such a lot of rooms and so much space everywhere. He suggested I help him and manage it for him - in return, I'd get rent-reduction. Don't ask ... I don't know what deep down desire this portrays. Possibly that I miss living close to all amenities at the moment; no refuse removal, no stores nearby, no deliveries out here.

There was another dream, but as I wrote the above, it evaporated ... I no longer remember.

Shortly after eight, three of my mippies were inside and Ziva came in soon afterwards, so I shut the passage door, then googled the vet's number, phoned and confirmed they had Fit 32, 4kg and that they're open. Then I gave mippies a treat - as they were puzzled by the closed door, prepared a plastic vase, went outside and cut my only carnation ... then decided to cut some more flowers, as it looked a bit lonesome, and off I went to the vet.

I gave them the flowers as a thank you for being there for those of us who rely on them. It's not much, but it's something. 

It was a little more expensive than my online order, but at least I have enough of mippies favourite dry food! Apparently, we'll know in 'a few' days, whether the lock-down will be extended or not. No date, just 'in a few days'. I'm trying to stay positive and act as if lock-down will finish as planned, next week. At the same time, I'm preparing for another month's extension ... as much as I can.

The cheese is looking good, though. Seems that I have a really thick layer of curd floating atop the whey. I've cut it into several parts, now leaving it for another hour. Then it'll go into the bag to drip for the rest of the day.

Again, news confirming that it's the employer who needs to apply for UIF to pay employees. When we left, we were also all told that we'd receive mail with all the documentation we'll need ... those without e-mail had to wait to get hard copies. I've heard nothing from my employer ... They also created a WhatsApp group, I wonder if they've given any information via that? Since I don't have WhatsApp, I wouldn't know. I think I will simply have to wait until we get back, before I'll know more. I really don't want to talk to anyone from work - well, except At, of course. But my signal here is really not good - when I called the vet this morning, I only got a connection on the second attempt and the line was also very bad - I could hardly hear what was said on the other end.

Well, I'm wandering around my place trying to decide which jobs I would regret NOT having done during lock-down. Oh, I know I've had this lovely list when I started ... I've just looked at that list again, ha ha, I haven't done ANYTHING from that list, yet! Spring-cleaning wasn't on the list either! Well, I have worked on the belt, I'm making cheese, and I've definitely done quite a bit of baking. I've also just glued my safety boots - the sole has cracked badly, and I got some of the glue At recommended, as he's using it on his crutch, to replace the rubber at the bottom.

The cheese still looks good, and a good quantity, too. I'll weigh it, once it's ready. That'll give me an idea how much I pay for home-made cheese per kg compared to purchased. I've also filled the whey into a 2 liter bottle, so I can use it for bread making. I've held off on the sourdough, as I don't have too much rye flour and also don't know what to do with the daily extra.

I'm trying to sound my usual self, and part of me is fine - but on the whole, the uncertainty is wearing me down. 

I just got a message from At, apparently our HR messaged via the WhatsApp group that she did everybody's application for them. I'm inclined to think she did the company's application, finally. Either way, that's one less thing I need to worry about. Oh, in case you're wondering: No, I didn't get any message via e-mail.

It was good chatting to At, though. Yes, I called him back :) He's doing fine, albeit completely isolated. And he thanked me again for getting him smokes and headache powders just before lock-down, so he's fine, as well. I feel a little better after talking to him. He also misses our daily at-work chats - neither of us talk to anyone else about what's going on in our lives.

I've taken out some mutton chops for tonight's dinner. I've been thinking of making another one of those bread-omelettes for dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow, but I've postponed that for tomorrow, now. I'm just not in the mood. I don't even want to log into my game today ... Well, I've done the cheese, and bought cat food. Now, I think, I'll sit back and carry on with my belt.

I'm making progress on my belt, hopefully I'll manage to get it finished! I see there's been no update on the numbers since Monday, still 58k tested, 1749 confirmed cases, 45 recoveries and 13 deaths.

Okay, from 2 liter milk, I get 330 gram cream cheese. Good to know!

Mippies came in without much trouble, again. And, yes, again Mewthos was the last to come home - and again, as always, Mini the last to come inside. After giving them their evening sachets, I first decided to have a bath ... and we're out of water! Yeah, I bet I'll get crapped out about that again, tomorrow. Whatever. Fortunately I had run a bath, and I had enough water to take a bath. A bit low, but good!

I came across a lonely meme, not related to the current crisis, so I have to share it here:

I had a laugh at Ziva just now. She wanted to go into one of her self-isolating places, the shelf next to me, but Mewthos was there already! Ha ha! So she gave him a bit of a wash before they both scrambled out of there ...

The mutton chops were delicious, only now, of course, I have the bones to try and take care of somehow ... Silly of me, eh? Ah, well.