The boys are falling into line. I could not be more surprised. Gill was sincerely upset when Jonas beat him to emptying the dishwasher. The both got dressed, brushed their teeth (well, maybe just Jonas), and reported to breakfast, the requested Cream of Wheat, sweetened with brown sugar. We listened (on Alexa) to the history lesson of the day: Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight. Makes me recall the Jimmy Steward move, Spirit of St. Louis, and the stow-a-way fly.
After a few more chores, we moved on to civics, completing the US Census survey. We used the opportunity to do a mini-civics lesson. Ed explained that the Census is constitutionally mandated, then went into an explanation of our governmental structure. The take-away was that our US Representatives are determined based on census data.
To provide other historical context for the census, I printed the 1870 Census for Edward Vogt (4 years old in Cincinnati, born to Prussian parents, great-great uncle to our Ed) and the 1930 Census for Benjamin Dupre (36 years old inVille Platte, born to Louisiana natives, great grandfather to Shelly). We reviewed the information recorded (age, relationship, income, occupation, own/rent, birthplace, language, etc) and prepared to compare to the 2020 Census.
Gill eagerly ripped open the envelope; we had pen in hand and were prepared to start writing, but there were only two pages (in several languages) enclosed! The US Government was instructing us to access a webpage and complete the survey online, which we did, in turns, on Jonas' computer. The questions were not nearly as comprehensive as the ones in the 1870 and 1930 censuses, asking only for name, race, residential info, and relationship to each other. No questions about occupation, income, language, etc. It was interesting to note the great variety of options for relationship, including same-sex marriage, and unmarried but living together status. The gender options were binary, though I'm betting that the 2030 Census might allow for more gender / self-identification options. We'll see. Our boys might be completing their own census survey 10 years from now.
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Gill opens the 2020 Census envelope
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| Ed's bee hives |
I connected with a Aimee, Tracy, and Susan on a Facebook group that we're calling Coffee Talk. It was so awesome to connect with them.
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| Aimee, Susan, me, and Tracy (photo cred: Susan) |
I found a new contributor to this blog. In his typical efficient style, Ed is "documenting" our Covid-19 experience with daily tweets. I will include them in the "news" section of these journal entries.
In the news:
- 297,090 Covid19 cases worldwide, 12,755 deaths
- 15,000 Covid19 cases in the US, 200 deaths
- 73 Covid19 cases in Missouri, 3 deaths
- Kenny Rogers dies
This is what the world is starting to look like:
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| From the BBC World News 3.21.2020 |
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