Masks for TWO reasons

Well, we made it through August without any forest fire smoke and thought we were all set! We had THREE terrible smoke years in 2015, 2017 and 2018 I think. We were hoping that never happened again. We THOUGHT those years were terrible. 

Well, the last week has shown us the worst air I've ever seen here. We had a huge windstorm about a week ago and it kicked up a ton of fires all around. Some really bad ones got started in Oregon and then their smoke blew into our area and just settled in our nice little Columbia River basin. 

The kids and I are now on day 6 of not leaving the house. The air is literally hazardous. It's been off the charts at points. Nathan and I spent a morning taping the cracks on the doors and putting towels in all the windows. We can still smell a little smoke in the house the air is so thick. I started getting headaches, a sore throat and a cough. We even have an HVAC system on recirculate. The day the fires started Jeremy put in a brand new MERV 13 filter as well. I'm guessing it needs to be changed already but they are out everywhere. I ordered some from Lowes that should be here in a week. 

Jeremy is in his car for most of the day but says he can still smell it in there. I feel so badly for the people working outside. 

In years past, we never had worse air than red and I thought THAT was bad. We had no idea what dark purple could feel like! We would give anything to be back in red. It really does make a huge difference. 

All we had was expensive blue painting tape so that's what we used. Jeremy was supposed to paint more of the house last weekend but due to the smoke no one could go outside. Hopefully October will be nice enough to paint. We planned to paint in September because that's when we get the least amount of wind. That sure didn't work out for us this year. There is definitely no wind that's for sure! 

I've gone outside once in the last 5 days just to try to pick some of my tomatoes. Even though our days are supposed to be 80-90 degrees, they are only in the 60's and 70's because the sun can't get through. I picked the tomatoes and they were cold. This was the middle of the day. It seemed so eerie and bizarre. I wore one of our last N-95 masks we bought 3 years ago for the bad fires. I also wore swimming goggles. When I came inside, I was still coughing but I think the goggles did the trick so my eyes weren't burning! I just feel so badly for everyone who has to be outside in this. 

Never did I think when we left the house we'd have to wear masks for TWO reasons. A pandemic and horrific smoke. Before the fires started 5 years ago, I'd never worn a mask for any reason my whole life! 

 

Air Show

The boat races were cancelled in July. They usually do an air show then. Instead, they managed to bring an air show in September! 

Jeremy was on duty and after the air show they were nice enough to let him take his family back for a look at the planes. 

The A-10 Thunderbolt was a plane the kids had been wanting to see up close for awhile. It's basically a huge gun with a plane built around it. So a nice air force guy gave us a tour and we met the pilot and the kids had a great time! 

They also had an F-16 that we looked at. 

 

Great Great Grandpa's Desks

Due to Covid 19, the kids started school all online this year. Elizabeth has zoom with her teacher for about 90 minutes a day and then has some schoolwork to do. Nathan has 3 classes a day on zoom and then some work. They are basically going half days I would say. 

This year, we got them a better set up then working at the dining room table like we did for the 3 months at the end of last school year. 

We moved Nathan's desk out to the dining room. We drove up to Moses Lake to get a desk from Laura for Elizabeth. 

They are actually twin desks! My great grandpa Spragg built them for his 3 grandchildren in 1960. Growing up, I used my Dad's desk which Nathan is using now. 

Laura used Maureen's desk which Elizabeth is using now. 

I am guessing perhaps Carolyn has the third desk. 

Great Grandpa Spragg lived through the epidemic of 1918. I wonder if he ever could have imagined that his great great grandchildren would be living through another pandemic and homeschooling using the desks he built? On computers?  I read somewhere that in 1918, most places just cancelled school for the year. I guess these kids at least get something! It might not be as good as regular school, but they are going to school and learning. 

Along with their school, I also purchased some curriculum I make them do every day. I am making them do spelling every day and they are doing the "Dave Ramsey Middle School Foundations Personal Finance" series. They actually really like the personal finance course! 

 

First Day of School

 The kids first day of online school was Sept 1st. I was busy at working getting out homeschool curriculum all day so Jeremy helped them get into their zoom classes. Of course the first day, a few of the classes didn't work, but we were definitely not expecting things to be perfect. I took a few photos. 

Nathan is a 7th grader and Elizabeth is a 5th grader. This will be her last year of elementary school before she is a middle schooler!