What To Do In Lockdown

[SnowAngel]

Yes, I have made several batches of chocolate marshmallows, they're really good. I use to make regular corn syrup/sugar marshmallows, but now I have a recipe without sugar and that uses gelatin and protein powder. I've been experimenting with candy flavorings, most recently I used pecan flavoring with cinnamon.

We haven't made any progress on the board games this week, the weather has been gorgous so we have been enjoying time outside.

SnowAngel

[coracle]

The weather has cooled down, so the gardening is no longer attracting me. Must be time to do a different task: I have nearly 30 small-medium cooking apples, which have been waiting for me to peel, core, slice, simmer, cool and freeze. They are from my own tree, and I'm proud of this, as it's the first year since I planted it (and moved from a previous address) that I have had more than a dozen apples on it. There's a box of about 3 dozen more, stored in the cool of the garage, and there are still quite a few on the tree.

After that, I plan to make the first biscuits (cookies) I've made for about ten years! I've run out of the bought ones, and so if I want any, I have to bake.

[Carley]

Something I've been doing lately is watching history documentaries. I've watched most of my favorite movies already, so this is something different and fun I can do. One is a documentary on ancient Egypt. I find it very fascinating, but I know not everyone likes ancient history as much as I do.

[wolfloversk]

Birdwatching I have discovered ebird.org last week and it rekindled my interest in birdwatching. It's a great activity that can be done even from your backyard or kitchen window. And there's a lot of places like ebird where you can log your sightings and contribute to citizen science. The only difficulty is when the temperature outside is 90 degrees (F) and your windows don't really have a good view outside. I've been taking photo and song identification quizzes online and I have to say I'm improving.

Speaking of identifying animals, I'm also learning how to identify the local snake species in our area. I joined a group on FB a few months ago that helps teach people about the local snakes and how to identify them (and all the admin are herpetologists and wildlife rehabbers so they are all snake experts). I really recommend everyone learn how to identify their local reptiles. It's fun to test yourself and it's educational. Plus there are so many misconceptions about them and how to identify them... it's really great to learn fact from myth.

Doesn't have to be birds or snakes either... could be mammals, insects, wild plants and flowers... all sorts of nature is hiding right in your own backyard to learn about and enjoy.

One thing I unfortunately haven't been focusing on is my aquariums. Money is too tight at the moment for me (unrelated to the lockdown, actually) for me to afford the materials to do any new aquascapes or get new shrimp/fish. But at least I can focus on the ones I already have set up. My poor Neocaridina shrimp are in bucket limbo because I had to take down the entire rack due to a leak. I'm slowly setting things back up and they are still doing well at least, but I'll have to rely on cuttings from my other tank until I can buy new plants again. Even if the money was there, mailing plants is a bit risky at the moment due to shipping delays among other things. In the mean time I've been watching aquascaping and terrarium videos on youtube. (Although, this can be a catch-22 when it inspires me to make a new scape and I don't have the means to...)

AstroWolfD and I have been cooking together on his days off from work. We've been trying things one or neither of us have made a lot of before. This week we are trying omelettes. I've never even eaten an omelette (I grew up a picky eater) so I'm equal parts nervous and excited.

Also videochatting with friends while playing an online videogame with them or a tabletop role play game over the videochat app. It's a great way to stave off loneliness.