What a freaking roller coaster ride! Here in Wisconsin, we have been following our “Safer At Home” Order since March 24th. Before all of this sh*t hit the fan, I somewhat saw it coming. I was busy busting butt working a head for my clients, hence my delay in blogging. I will apologize ahead of time – long post!

Here is what I have been up to!

Attending A Birth

Shortly after my last blog post, my client went into labor. Thankfully she went into labor before Covid-19 hit the sh*t fan because now, almost all hospitals will not allow Doulas to provide in person services. Only a single visitor may be present at birth to provide support. The scramble of Doulas, midwives and families has been absolutely insane. My heart goes out to all of the birth workers and families dealing with this lock down during birth.

Indoor Gardening

It has been a rather “short” winter here in the Midwest. Last year seemed to drag on. We have been anxious to get our vegetable seeds started so we started working on them in mid-March. Our herbs were growing ok but I had some minor fails with over watering and transplanting too soon. Good thing I saved some of the seeds to start over & try again! The veggies were also started and appear to be doing well. I am watching how much sun they get so they don’t appear to be too dry in attempts to avoid my watering habit. In addition, I am trying to be more aware of re positioning the plants for the best sunlight in our south facing window.

Bought A Shipping Container!

Ox and I were beyond excited to get our shipping container. With our current residence, we do not have a garage and hope to build a homestead off-grid in the future using shipping containers. To start, we purchased a 20 foot shipping container. It was delivered early March. We filled the back of it with storage stuff, with enough more than enough space for Ox’s workshop/bike garage.

BMW Motorcycles

I don’t care what you ride, but you have to admit – once you get the itch, it’s hard not to scratch!

Here is a little back story:

Ox, being his sexy self, of course wrangled me into this unknown world. I had only been on a motorcycle ONCE before he came along. Summer of 2019 was my first year actually enjoying the ride as well as learning about the mechanics of it.

Late last summer, early fall of 2019, Ox introduced me to BMW motorcycles. At the time, I didn’t really care about the difference of name, engine etc. A bike was a bike to me. Well, that didn’t last long…

Around the time Ox switched things over to the BMW, he introduced me to a show/tv series: Long Way Round with Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman. Now, if you have not seen, nor heard of this show (like me), don’t feel bad. It wasn’t even on my radar because back in 2005 I was in high school and motorcycles were far from anything I cared about.

What makes this show a game changer for me, is that it introduced me to more than just the status of a biker. It introduced me to a new way to travel. Personally, I am one who likes to be outdoors in the confinement of isolation away from society. For riding motorcycle, being able to be outdoors is kind of the gig BUT I had never heard of dual sport/off road adventure riding. Until now.

The entire reason Ox wanted to jump over to BMW was because of the GS Adventure bikes (yes, I know other companies make dual sport/ off road bikes *insert eye roll*). Taking adventure bikes out for long trips is NOT deal for two up (two riders for those of you who are not bikers). With not wanting to be left behind I have discovered a new found interest in learning how to ride, specifically for off road adventure riding.

So, we bought one!

This is our new(er) beauty! A 2001 BMW R1150 GS. It is a big and heavy bike but I AM IN LOVE! Ox has made some minor adjustments to fit his personal tastes and riding comfort. This is his bike and I am jealous. Ox being a 20+ year seasoned rider, I have a lot to learn. I feel very lucky to have him to teach me.

Since, I am new rider, along with other factors, we decided to move forward with our BMW Custom on the 1977 R100 RT. So, what does that all entail. Well… to be honest. Hell of a lot of work!

Above are pictures of the bike when we first got it. Looks pretty damn good for a 43 year old bike. However, taking this beast apart was DIRTY effing work.

We started taking it apart for Ox’s custom to ride off road but as life would have it, it will now be mine. I had never wanted to touch tools before. I hated the idea of it. I think it is more of a gender insecurity because I wasn’t really forced to learn how to turn a tool to build or fix something. Ox made me feel comfortable in my learning capabilities despite the lack of my mechanical knowledge.

Hello April

Now it is April with the weather swinging back and forth between warm, sunny days to light snow. During the Quarantine we have spent our time reorganizing the Shipping container to be our garage/workshop, planning out or overhaul on the bike, working out, in addition to spending time with the kids outside as much as possible to clean up the yard & ditch next to the house. Wisconsin has the Safer At Home order in effect until April 24th, however I feel that it will run longer now that the President has extended the recommendation to April 30th.

All we can do is stay busy at home, wait it out and reduce our trips to the grocery store. Honestly, I have enjoyed my time in Quarantine with my family. It has given me a chance to relax a little, work on things together and be outside.

How have you been spending your Quarantine?

As always,

Thanks for reading! Stay Healthy & Stay Safe.

Amanda