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This week I started working from home. Not that there are too many of us the Mercury office (hardly any), but we all are trying to follow the recommendations while still serving our readers and our community. 

When the editor offered me a choice, I had some doubts but decided to give it a try. I don’t have kids, and my dogs are outdoors. I have enough room and it seems that my farming husband is constantly cheating on me by calving cows, disappearing at the farm for weeks. So I didn’t encounter any problems coming my way. 

The morning of my first day working from home started great. The time I saved putting makeup on and driving to work was dedicated to an unhurried breakfast. Then, to keep myself away from the promising heavenly wonderful life fridge, I moved to my office and started working. With a great mood, it felt that my working ability went up a bunch. 

That lasted for about an hour or two, and then I heard a big bang. I thought something broke in the house so I went running outside. The dogs were going crazy and looked really stressed. I walked around the property, and while I couldn’t see the source of the noise (I later found out it was the explosions at Regens Metals), my dogs decided that they should keep whatever it was away by barking. They went on for a good hour, while I was trying to work. 

Then it went quiet. What a relief. But it only lasted until our neighbour rang the doorbell to let me know that the dogs are running loose in the field. 

They still were terrified and anxious, so it didn’t take me long to get them back. But to teach them a lesson I decided to lock them up. What a mistake. In two minutes of self-isolation, they started barking, making me nervously vibrate. So I let them out hoping to finally get some work done. 

But apparently Monday was a workday for our neighbour as well. He came to fix the pasture fence broken by deer. And since the pasture is abutting our property, my lovely puppies were so excited to see him somewhat close, that they decided to accompany his work with another myriad of barkings. There was nothing I could do, so I just tried to keep my eye from ticking and work, work, work… 

The dogs were so great, that they wouldn’t leave him alone until he finished. And half an hour after that happened the first wave of tourists arrived. People started driving by, enjoying a beautiful quiet afternoon. Can you guess what happened? Right, my lovely paws were so happy to see every new vehicle passing by our place, that they couldn't resist greeting strangers and escorting passersby with a wonderful two-voiced melody. 

But at some point, I realized that I actually was happy too. It turned out that just in one day I managed to develop an almost perfect disturbance resistance. And when I finally finished my work for the day and came outside, I was able to enjoy the nice and warm evening petting my lovely dogs, quietly laying by my feet. 

But in reality, what I really want to say to all of you who are now working from home with spouses and kids all over them, huge kudos to you guys! How do you do it at all?