18 October 2020

This week at Craterworks, the boys started work on a trebuchet, a kind of catapult used before the invention of gunpowder.  They are using a paper template to size and position the boards.  The boys built the side supports for the trebuchet this week and will work on the long arm and counterweight next week.

 Sad news for Sofi, and a reminder to all of us that the corona virus is serious.  She had dinner with her good friend, Emma, Emma's brother, Ethan.  Within a few days of their dinner, Ethan tested positive for Covid-19.  Ethan and Emma both became very sick.  Sofi filled out the U's mandatory virus exposure form and within a few hours she had to check out of her dorm room and into a hotel room provided by the U.  She can only leave her hotel room to seek medical care until she has quarantined 14 days from the time she was exposed.  Someone delivers food and leaves it outside her door twice a day.  Sofi knows there are other students quarantining in the hotel because sometimes she can hear them calling out their windows, but she hasn't seen anyone since she checked in.  All of Sofi's classes are online this term so she will keep up with her schoolwork.  The child care center where she works is currently closed due to a separate corona virus outbreak so she isn't missing work.  Thankfully, Sofi has tested negative twice since she went to dinner with her friends, so she should be able to return to her dorm on Friday of this week.

The Oregon Student Activity Association moved the entire fall sport season to the spring this year, when hopefully the pandemic will be under control.  The local high school soccer coaches got together and put together an informal league for the fall.  Typically, the 8 different high schools belong to 3 different conferences and don't play each other in a regular season.  In order to get permission to play, the teams agreed to play wearing masks and not to allow fans at the games.  Abe's first game was on Friday and his entire team was excited to finally get to play.  Crater won, 2-1, a great start to the season. 

Brandan and Becky joined about 10 other parents watching the game from the edge of the school property.  We would love to be in the stands cheering, but we're perfectly happy to watch from a distance if it means the boys can play.

Abe and Abigail made cinnamon roll waffles for breakfast on Saturday morning.

Brandan made some fantastic pasta for dinner on Saturday using tomatoes and basil from our garden.

Abe, Helen and Gibson played a trio of We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday.  This is a photo of Helen and Gibson tuning their instruments before the meeting began.  Abe played the piano, Helen the violin and Gibson the cello.