Another month of stay-at-home orders due to the CCP Virus and politicians drunk on their new found power. Staying at home is wearing pretty thin on all of us. We usually try to get out once a week but we probably only managed to get away once this month.
The kids are finishing up their "distance learning." They sit at their desks all day most of the time, but I can't tell if they are getting anything done or just mindlessly wasting time on their phones and computers. The teachers are so slow to input any grades. Some of the points for the work is so low that it wouldn't make much of a difference anyway. A few of their teachers (especially Emily's) hasn't posted any work for them since they stopped attending school physically...so mid-March. So as far as I can tell, the last quarter of school was a complete wash...nothing learned, nothing gained.
Christian is finishing up the work for his students and getting ready to post their final grades. Some of his kids don't do the work either but he has the highest percentage of kids actually doing work in his classes. Many of them have even been able to pick up their grades a level too.
The one time we went out for a drive this month, we went to the San Bernardino Mountains. We took Mill Creek Road. It would have been a really awesome trail if it were not for the people out there.
We actually went out on a Saturday, which was a big mistake. It was way too crowded. Lots of cars out there that did not have any business being on a 4x4 road, big groups out camping next to the river, people in dirt bikes and quads racing up and down tearing up the trails and getting in the way, but the worst was when we got to the end where there is apparently recreational shooting range. The shooting range itself wasn't necessarily a problem but the fact that people will then take the opportunity to line every nook and cranny near the range with spots to shoot whether it is safe or not because it opens up to where the road winds further along the trail is a problem. Add in all the trash they bring up there to shoot and do not bother to clean up after themselves and it is just an eyesore. There were people there that were shooting rifles to targets that were merely 10 paces away! We were mostly just afraid for our lives and was on edge until we were able to pull back out onto the main road. I'll tell you, we will not be driving that leg of the trail ever again!
The other "excitement" on our trail was when we took a detour up a steep hill. Christian was testing the ability of the Jeep and wanted to know how much he could push it. But we found out at the top of the hill that the trail went no-where. It was basically a steep drop on the other side, full of thick brush. He tried to get the Jeep turned around to come back down but when the vehicle was perpendicular to the road, it started to teeter and we were afraid that he was going to roll it. Emily ran up and Christian had Emily hang off of the driver's side door to add some weight to keep it from tipping over. Caitlyn sat inside behind the driver (not that she adds that much weight!). Christian was able to maneuver it back down but it was intense.
So, yeah, there was probably a little too much excitement on that trip for my taste.
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For mother's day, I got a new rice cooker. I had my old rice cooker since we got married. It was a wedding present from my sister but it has seen better days. The top doesn't lock on any more and it has a big dent in it. But the most irritating thing is that there was something wrong with the wiring so when you turned it on, some times it would go off while you were preparing the rest of the meal. Once you are done and ready to eat, we would find out that the rice was not cooked at all and we would have to restart it again and would not be able to eat for another 20 minutes.
Emily cleaned it up and took it apart. Christian found out the wire got a cut in it that we did not see because it was covered which was why sometimes it would not work. He cut it off and soldered on a new plug and it seems to work great now. Emily plans to take it with her to college even though it is a bit big for cooking for one!
I also got some new gardening clogs as my old one from Marian has a crack on the bottom and water gets in at the bottom of my right foot. I got a new potato masher too.
Christian made me Chicken Dai Bao with the help of the kids for dinner. He actually did not realize that it was Sunday initially and had planned to make me homemade english muffins the next morning. So I still got english muffins the next morning, it was just a little delayed. Plus, I didn't have to make lunch the next day either as we had plenty of leftovers!
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Christian still spent a lot of time working on the Jeep. The biggest thing we are tackling right now is the heat soak problem. When we turn off the engine, it gets super hot in the engine bay. If we start the car back up, the heat causes a misfire code and sometimes the engine runs rough. We ordered new fuel injectors and got some fancy heat shields for it. It ran a lot better but did not solve the heat soak problem. So next, we ordered some louvers for the hood. There's a local place in El Cajon that makes nice ones.
We had to take the hood off and cut holes into it. That was a little worrisome but it came out really nice. Plus, it cools the engine bay by 20 or 30 degrees. However, it does not completely fix the heat soak problem. Even if it makes a big difference, we are still able to get the misfire. So the last step is to put in a relay that will turn the electric fan on for a few minutes after the engine turns off. This is only really effective since we put in the louvers for the heat to escape. We are really hoping that this will fix the problem once and for all.
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When Christian isn't working on the cars or his class, he is studying for his Physics CSET. He needs it to be able to continue teaching next year so he is pretty stressed about it. He was supposed to take it earlier but it got cancelled because of the coronavirus debacle.
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Emily's behind the wheel driving instruction had also been postponed several times. At this point, I think we have wasted hundreds of dollars and Emily will still not be able to get her license in time to go off to college. We tried to get our money back from he company and they relented to take her out. Well, I guess the manager or owner is going to do it himself. The DMV is still not fully operational. Who knows when we will be able to get an appointment for something like that. To top it all off, Emily has misplaced her permit!
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Caitlyn took her AP US History test. It was probably a waste of time as she didn't even finish it. Instead of the 3 or 4 hour test they normally took which had a mixture of multiple choice as well as open ended questions, it was only a 45 minutes online writing prompt. So after filling her notebook with 3 or 4 inches of notes, she has to prove her knowledge with one question. She was pretty upset about it.
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They are very slowly starting to let businesses open up a bit, but I don't know if it will be enough to save some of these small businesses. Many are still forced to be closed and some will never open back up again. Even some of the bigger businesses that were struggling will be closing some doors and unemployment is through the roof. We have been fortunate through most of this so far but it is still very stressful.
Someone dropped off a quick seminary graduation gift for her which was nice. She completed the rest of her seminary by sending in pictures of her seminary journal and attending a zoom meeting once a week.
