Candice & Todd's blog

I did not post about Covid last month. At my last writing about it (August 14) - 7 weeks ago - the total cases have, of course, climbed. At that time the John Hopkins map documented that there were 206.5 million cases of Covid world-wide. There were 4.35 million deaths world-wide. And there were 4.638 BILLION vaccines administered.

As of today, there have been 234.7 million cases and 4.8 million deaths to date world-wide. (28.2 million more cases than my blog post in August and There have also been .45 million more deaths - sadly 450,000 more people have lost their lives to this disease since my last post in August). There has been a major increase in vaccines, thankfully: 6.288 BILLION vaccines.

At that time - 7 weeks ago - there was also a new statistic on the John Hopkins map: 4 week averages for cases, deaths and vaccines.

The 4 week total showed 2.5 million positive cases in the US and 12,332 deaths. As of today, the 4 week total shows 3.66 million positive cases in the US and 52,271 deaths. A huge increase in the 4 week total -- showing how much more deadly the virus has become.) Look at the spike (the red and white charts to the right). Cases and deaths are surging upwards. As of today, over 700,000 people in America alone have died.

Below are images from a moving tribute to the (then) 650,000+ lives lost as of last month that are represented by white flags on the Washington DC Mall.

The Delta variant was just starting to take over back in August. Break-through cases were also starting to appear with the more powerful Delta variant strain. Last month, a friend of ours + her husband were in this group.

They both got break-through cases. He was in the hospital for 19 days and doctors said that 1st week they almost lost him. But, thankfully, they didn't. (Thankfully he is NOT one of these 650,000+ flags represented.) She said that so many people around him were dying. She is still advocating for vaccines -- she told me that doctors said it saved his life. He's a school teacher in the neighboring school district where I used to teach, BTW.

The hospitals have been full again - mostly with Covid cases (95-97% were unvaccinated and the 3-5% hospitalized for Covid were vaccinated). Todd's colleague was the 1st in their office to get Covid (and 2 of them have wives that are nurses / I was most nervous about them bringing it into his office!). His colleague was unvaccinated, but he's young - late 20s - and said it was rough. Thankfully, he was not hospitalized. (His colleague - now fully recovered - got his 1st dose a few days ago.) One of Mercer's best buddies also got it last month. Thankfully, his family was very proactive about quarantining. He has also recovered. I am grateful that those handful of people we know that had contracted it are now doing much much better!

The vaccine for younger children is going through the process of being approved. Do we know what the vaccine will do to a person over time? No - it's not been tested / verified over time. I have heard of people saying that it may later fertility rates. True. But - also - a higher death rate in children will also alter fertility rates. So...

One a positive note about the new data: INDIA is doing much better than they were! Here is their map from today:

Look at their positive cases and death rate spike... it is WAAAAY down!

Also - to note - their vaccine rate is WAAAAY up! Their population is HUGE compared to ours and their death rate is so much lower. I haven't been following India in awhile, but I wonder if it's solely the vaccines or if they have other measures helping to protect their population as well??

Thankfully, at our city school district where our kids go / where I work, they have a temporary mask mandate in place. From the first few weeks of school, the Covid #s were climbing and the quarantining of students was crazy - like a revolving door. So hard to manage as a teacher, honestly, but also had to have been hard for parents & students who were out. With the mask mandate and with a new "test and stay" protocol (early morning daily testing of those who would normally be quarantined due to exposure... who are allowed to come to school that day with a negative test)... the number of students staying in school has increased quite a bit over the past several weeks.

The county that we're surrounded by, however, their school still does not mandate masks. Their quarantining processes are not following CDC or Cobb Douglas Department of Health either. Their cases are really high. There have been several students who were hospitalized / in ICU last month. (I did not hear anything else, so hopefully they're doing OK!) And... now - in this past week - there is a lawsuit that was just filed against the School System! I am grateful - SO SO GRATEFUL - that I am no longer working there!!

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Last month marked the 20th anniversary of 9/11. There was a lovely tribute at our school for those fallen in the tragedy.

(We have a videography class and they did an outstanding job on a 30 minute segment we showed in school.) The tributes in New York were televised / we watched. And - across the world were really touching.

We went and visited the nearby tribute at Kennesaw Mountain - one flag for every life taken during the 9/11 attack. 2,977. It was really sobering to walk through the flags realizing that each one represented a person who should be standing there instead.

Volunteers also installed an additional 11 flags at the front of the park (at half-mast) in remembrance of the 11 additional lives lost as Americans were leaving Afghanistan last month... shutting down the almost 20-year war on terror.

(Of course, thousands of additional lives were lost over the course of those almost 20 years. Here is a statistic from Brown University which includes over 7,000 American lives lost there + another 30,000+ from PTSD mental illnesses. The numbers in Afghanistan + allies was quite a bit higher as well over 177,000 additional lives lost.)

Very sadly - as soon as America pulled out, the terrorists that were mostly at bay for those almost 20 years, came right back and took over.) It's a frightening state of affairs over there. I am also grateful to be here!

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An update on another thing that was posted in August - the bathroom project. Unfortunately, it's going so so so so slow. The contractor has been going through some personal issues which is impacting his arrival at our house many days + when he does arrive he / his helper come very late.

They have also messed up several things which is disheartening. Disheartening because it looks bad, costs us more in tile (we had to buy more / had to go with a different style for the "wet wall" behind the sink), causes delay and frustration.

I actually started sanding drywall, priming the walls and ceiling in the bathroom and painting last weekend. I was getting fed up with the guys not showing up. Also, I thought this might give them a boost to finish the parts that they can finish and move in our toilet + vanity so we would at least have "1 1/2 bathrooms" to use as a family. (We're ALL getting tired of the 4 of us sharing1 bathroom the past two months!)

Isabella thought it would be fun (for a few minutes) to help me sand the drywall. It did not last long!

I'm not sure what's going on with the shower. It's a total mess. :(

On the POSITIVE side.... the water leak has stopped and things have dried out at this point.

(We still need to move on the other 3 things that were in our original scope of work -- but looks like we'll be finding different contractor(s) for these items: new water heater, painting the bedroom (may be me!) and replacing the wood floor in the back den -- which is where all of this started to in the first place... the 1st evidence of water damage. I got impatient and dug into the wall / found damage there as well to a structural member. UGH. At least we know what we're up against when we do start that next bit of work.)

Thankfully, we've had calming and uplifting butterflies emerge here at home to take our mind off of the things that are going on in the world and in our bathroom. I ended up sending in some caterpillars and chrysalises to Isabella's science teacher. (Plus a supply of supplemental pipevine leaves / passion vine leaves to support them.) Last week, 3 of their pipevine swallowtail chrysalises emerged. The teacher was so excited and sent me photos / videos. At school, the teacher opens the net and lets them fly out while the children watch.

One thing that I had not seen before, but we caught the beginning of: making a chrysalis. Unfortunately we did not have the time to watch for hours and hours and hours / overnight. So, we caught the beginning of the process and the after effects. We've seen the J-formation before, but the body going through the change - like in the first couple of segments near it's head... we had not seen before. It's hardening and changing color segment by segment. We have noticed it's head (or it's tail?) is left behind behind.... such a messy process. This particular one fell to the ground. Some of them stick to the vine or to the top of the netted cage. I've already mentioned the poop (of the caterpillar), the head or tail left during the chrysalis stage. THEN, there is blood - or rather - a red liquid called meconium that is left-over fluids that are not needed from the metamorphosis in the chrysalis. Ewww!

We did not have any butterflies emerge until Friday last week after I picked Isabella up from school. (We were on break this past week - fall break update will come later.)

FINALLY - what WE have been waiting for and nurturing for 2 months... finally ONE pipevine swallowtail emerged!

Blue, orange and white spots adorn this blu-ish black iridescent body.

Since we've been back from break, TWO of another variety - gulf flitterary butterflies - have also emerged. (Note - they have to hang down for an hour or to to let the blood travel through it's wings. Eventually they will start flapping their wings. They are not ready to be released the first 12 hours.)

The white spots on this one are really a translucent silvery color that my camera cannot capture.

Here at home, Isabella names and interacts with each of them as she handles them (gently) and releases them. She's so lucky to have this experience of experiencing all 4 phases of metamorphosis: seeing the eggs, watching the fast caterpillar growth, making of chrysalises and then interacting with the butterflies after they emerge!

Mercer made his SENIOR league baseball debut last month. He's the youngest of the bunch. The team is mostly made up of 14 and 15 year olds (he's 13). The other little league affiliates around town that they play are up to 18 years old!

Mercer is not hitting quite so well because they are pitching so FAST. But he is fielding and pitching against them... holding his own (his 13 year old self!) I think he may be a little intimidated, but I'm proud of him! Todd - of course - does not want him to feel intimidated at all.

Overall - this is a good experience for him when he tries out for high school baseball in the spring. There is something strange going on at the little league park where we've played and we're not sure if his team is going to be able to continue.

They have a tournament team like he's been on in the past, but there's some sort of different dynamic which may not be meeting the rules of the little league? We'll have to find out more on that situation soon.

He had his debut on the Spikes "tournament" team too. He was the starting pitcher there as well. On the tournament team, he's playing 14 and 15 year olds and hitting much better.

Here's one final photo of him in the Denver Broncos jersey that his birth-family out in Colorado gave him when we went out there for his 10th birthday. He finally fills it out a bit more. He wore it because they had "Jersey Day" at school last week.

(Fall break coverage will be on the next blog post... now - must turn back to school work and painting in the bathroom!!)

Fall ball has started back again -- it's been raining a lot so things are kicking off a little slower than anticipated. Mercer's baseball is off to an even slower start (we weren't sure if there was even going to be a team at first). Maybe this has worked out like it's supposed to? The coach at this level has 2 kids on the team and is a certified pitching coach / has experience coaching high school baseball. Sounds like it will be more challenging for him.

Isabella has had 1 game so far. Not sure when M will have his first. But - he's settled on a team -- the team basically signed up for the rec league so that they could pursue the "extra" (Spikes) team to play in tournaments. He'll be playing on the same size field as before but the base path is a different length (further distance) than before.

Isabella's baseball has a unique twist this year - the league possibly did not have as many people sign up for fall ball (Spring is the big season)... so they've combined teams between ages of 8 - 12. (Two different league year.) They are switching between the field that she was supposed to play on for 9-10 year olds + they alternate fields that the 11-12 year olds play on! It's interesting, but fall is supposed to be a year of growth - not competition quite as much. The spring should settle out and the kids playing in their regular age bracket then. She's on a team with 2 other girls. (one of the girls is on the previous blog / we took her to the butterfly exhibit last month). Isabella is the little one in the back with the pink helmet in the picture above.

Speaking of butterflies, we have been looking under the leaves of the vines that are growing at the community garden all summer. We got a little impatient so ordered some caterpillars in a cup again. They came to us this year much bigger than when we ordered some caterpillars last year. It did not take long before they were making chrysalises! This first photo is just over 2 weeks ago. Not all of the caterpillars made full chrysalises.... only about half of them did. (We put them all in the netted habitat anyways.) It was a little disappointing b/c of what we paid for them + shipping.... but.... fast forward almost a week and our butterfly "situation" totally changed! :)

About 1 1/2 weeks ago -- the 1st day that one of the ("Painted Lady") butterflies we purchased popped out of the chrysalis -- we found a leaf at the garden that was COVERED in baby (Pipevine Swallowtail) caterpillars!

We put that into the netted habitat with the existing chrysalises. (More on the swallowtail caterpillars below)

We had to first celebrate the Painted Ladies that emerged!

The painted lady chrysalis are sort of ugly but also SOOO cool! they shimmer with bits of gold on them!

Isabella had a little bit of a hard time letting go of that first butterfly and wanted to wait 'til another chrysalis popped.

She let two of them go together the next day so they'd have a friend to fly with. The next day more popped. We had a total of 6 that made the metamorphosis. She let the other 4 butterflies go that had also popped in that time period the following day.

Just over a week ago, we found some under a leaf... and - there was A LOT! (19 of them on one leaf!!) When pulling the weed from our garden plot, there have been a few more little caterpillars here and there over the past week.

Looks like we're up to 30 caterpillars so far! Yikes! (The main type is the pipevine which is host plant to the pipevine swallowtail . There is also a little bit of passion vine in the net too and it is host to the gulf flitterary butterfly.) Those were found later and are tiny.

The 19 little ones (not much wider than a toothpick and only about 1/2 an inch long) are now the size of a human pinky - 1 1/2" long and wider than a pencil!!

They eat so much. SO MUCH FOOD - We have to get so many leaves from the garden. And - they poop a lot.

SO MUCH POOP. Having to clean out the cage 2-3 times per week with that many! (when they go through metamorphosis there will be a lot of blood too.

It's weird, but... I understand that they basically get liquified and certain parts move around from the original caterpillar body to form a butterfly.) Stay tuned on the butterfly pictures on the next blog! :)

Two weeks ago, we went to an overnight birthday party. One of Mercer's former teammates was turning 13. (such a big year!) His family set us up + 2 other families in hotel rooms at Great Wolf Lodge / paid for the water park.

They rented a cabana at the edge of the wave pool. Holy cow!

At first, I thought it was just going to be Todd and Mercer going, but they invited the whole family!

Isabella had 2 little girls to hang out with that she knows quite well and 2 teenage girls. They said she did NOT sleep all night (the girls were all in one room + the boys were all in a different room!) She crashed the next day at the cabana!!

Us adults hung out / stayed up late after dinner and talked til 1 am. This group REALLY knows us and our family.... and we know all of them quite well. It was fun staying up and just having great conversation!

I didn't do anything water-park wise. I sat with one of the moms and her baby at the edge of the wave pool b/c I was nervous about my arm. Todd, Mercer and Isabella did ALL of the slides and rides!

I've included all of these photos which look similar because of all of the animated poses Isabella has made!

It was nice to some of the baseball families together again. It is still a little sad that these boys won't be playing together again. We vowed to do it again... soon. (dinner and hanging out... not the water park!)

13 years ago, we went to court and swore that we would take care of this cutie. Now, this cutie is taller than me (arguably right there with Todd if not a wee bit taller) and has sideburns!