Pandemic Omaha, Friday, April 24, 2020

We have ended our fifth week of confinement, or near confinement and not much has changed, and yet a lot has changed.  For one thing, the six inches of snow from last Friday morning (you remember the picture) was gone by that evening.  We were able to grill out on the rear deck! Such are the vagaries of urban living on the Great Plains. Saturday was another family Zoom meeting - these are getting to be very enjoyable. For the next one (tomorrow) we are adding the grandkids so we can catch up on their doings from around the country.

Sunday morning highlight, after the local newspaper and a quick perusal of the New York Times, we dined on a special treat - Eggs Benedict with made-from-scratch hollandaise sauce - delicious, but with three egg yolks and two sticks of butter, a little rich for everyday.  But it sure was tasty to say the least.

Local news is that the smaller communities dotted around the great state of Nebraska have become COVID 19 hot spots due to the beef, pork and chicken processing factories located in Grand Island, Lexington, Fremont and other points.  Grand Island’s population is less than 20% of Omaha’s, yet they have surpassed Omaha in both number of cases and number of deaths! Amazing is probably not the correct description, better to say devastating.

Mark is continuing his gardening classes by attending Zoom lectures over noon hours and sending information out to his crews as they continue to work the Hospice House gardens. We completed a week’s worth of gardening around the homestead, removing the leaf litter from all the beds, uncovering the growth and marvelling at the fact that 6 inches of snow did not harm a single plant, peonies popped back up, tulips shook off the snow and started to bloom, and Hosta just shrugged.

Deb’s Tuesday night drinks group was called back into session via Zoom - 3 of the 4 members were able to “zoom” in.  Next week should be a full complement. Wednesday is shopping day, so we headed out to the grocery stores, Deb braving the crowds of unmasked strangers while Mark waited in the car to spirit her and the food home.  Mark sat through another class over the noon hour while Deb, alone in the car, managed to make it to Costco for two huge arbor vitae plants and to the local Ace hardware for another flat of perennials for the garden.

We have plans to create a new garden along the west side of the house and so are looking for a small- job contractor to chop out and haul away the concrete sidewalk that is in the way.  Tough to find someone for such a minor job, but we keep trying and buying the plants to populate it as we go.

As usual, more bread and cookies popped out of the oven and had to be delivered before we became to big to get out of the house. Darcy is moving back to Abigail’s house this week as her 14-day quarantine is over.  She will take some time to settle back in, but she and Norman the dog are happily back in their own beds and are looking forward to some outside yard time. Plans for a large vegetable garden are being laid; better for us than bread and cookies for sure.

We continue to spend our evenings hollering at the PBS Newshour, dining, reading and watching some TV. The new season of Bosch just dropped and so we are 4 episodes into that, as well as trying to begin the new Killing Eve after Bosch is complete. So much to do and so little time when all we have is time. Very confusing. At least we can get some entertainment by listening to all the scientific ways that our Dear Leader has for cures - there will now be a run on Lysol and large hypodermic needles as the faithful rush out to inject themselves with disinfectant.

As we enter into the sixth week and move towards the end of the initial stay safe time, we, at least, don’t see any change in the near term.  If we are able to travel again by 2021, we will be surprised.

Pandemic Omaha, Friday, April 17, 2020

We are now entering week five with no end in sight.   Great shout out to Ed, happy birthday, kid. We again had a family Zoom meeting this week, all close family members present and accounted for. Jake and Audrey have started a huge “square foot” gardening project.  For further information you can go to Jakecovert.com to view his work, listing all the vegetables, planting dates and layout.  This nerd stuff must be hereditary. It looks great and I look forward to seeing the growth charts and the eating results.

Last Friday was our friend Lee’s 70th birthday and her daughter organized a surprise drive-by of friends with banners on their cars, honking and waving to her as she stood in the driveway.  It was great fun and a way for us to get out and “see” friends if only for a minute. Such excitement seems to becoming the norm during these weeks.

On Easter Sunday the old bent bunny arrived at Abigail’s and Darcy’s homes ringing the doorbell and leaving a basket, the quarantine rules evidently causing some confusion with May Day. Not much time in our garden areas this week as the weather gets sunny and 40-45 then plunges to 23-25 in the night.  We arise each day to see if our tender things like peony shoots, Hosta and rhubarb survived the constant freeze thaw cycles. We have been binge watching the final episodes of Season Two of “Killing Eve” as the new season dropped this week and we need to catch up before heading into the new.  Also, “Harry Bosch” drops on Friday, so we have plenty of watching to do.

We are doing a lot of reading - Mark is starting number 15 of the 18 Nevada Barr National Park mysteries; Deb is into number 10 of the 38 Anne Perry series. Not to mention the Kenji Alt-Lopez cooking tome and weekly New Yorker, monthly Vogue, Fine Woodworking, and the ever arriving mail order catalogues.

Also much baking continuing.  Deb decided on peanut butter cookies, and managed four variations: plain, covered with chunks of peanuts, chocolate chips on top, and the new favorite, strawberry jam topped peanut butter cookies - a PBJ cookie.  Baguettes were baked again as were two great loaves of ciabatta bread.  We are going to have to start a lot more walking if this keeps up much longer.

Monday, John and Lynn Covert stopped by our house for a social distance chat.  Lynn was showing off her fancy red cane and her ability to go up and down steps pain free.  She is talking about a half marathon I believe.  It was great to see them, even if it was from afar, they on the driveway and us on the front porch.

Tuesday afternoon, Mark went over to the Josie Harper House Gardens to check on the progress of the Master Gardener crew.  All clean-up has been completed, but, given the weather, everything is now on hiatus for a few weeks.  That is the problem with these early spring warm weather snaps - we get all excited, slap on the shorts and tee-shirts and then get face slapped when we step out side.  Sunshine can be a tricky thing.

At least Deb’s orchids in the north window are looking good and bringing some color to the interior.

Wednesday was shopping day again, so Deb gloved up sporting a snazzy new plaid cloth mask, and Mark drove her to the stores, only three this time and all grocery. We are learning to shop on line for other items.  We need to log onto Penzy’s spices for some updates on our spice rack and salt supply. On Thursday, Deb baked another 98 (but who is counting) peanut butter cookies; it takes practice to get a recipe down just right you know.

Wednesday morning, Nebraska set a new all-time low of 21F; Thursday afternoon a snow storm moved in, eventually dumping 6” of wet, heavy snow on the Omaha area.  Spring in the Great Plains is sure a crap shoot.  Our 12” high peonies are going to have to really struggle to survive this.  Friday’s high is expected to be in the mid 40’s and the snow is rapidly disappearing as this is written. Next week in the 60’s and 70’s, maybe this is the last of the white stuff, but the old Nebraska adage of not planting until Mother’s Day is seeming to hold true.

 A quiet week has passed - the big news in the local (slim) newspaper is that the owner of a large, local outlet mall is going to open next week as a “test case” to see if we can get the economy rolling again.  Assume he is a Voldemort voter, but really want to watch the news when people show up, get sick all over again, and the attorneys start filing suit against him.  Stay Safe, Be Careful and Keep washing your hands.

Pandemic Omaha, Friday, April 10, 2020

As we end the third week of intense family time, we are happy to report that we are all still healthy and there don’t appear to be any visible wounds on our persons. Both animals are still alive but seem to be sleeping a lot.  Probably due to deafness and old age on their parts - or on our parts. So what are we doing to entertain ourselves and keep murder from our door? Reading and cooking and binge watching and gardening.

We had a family meeting over the weekend - Ed set up a zoom conference and he and Meg met us from their home in North Hollywood, Jake and Audrey met us from their home in Pleasant Ridge, MI, Abigail from her Omaha home on Blondo Street and Darcy from her temporary location on Mason Street here in Omaha. It was great fun to see and talk to everyone and we managed to chew up nearly an hour and a half of internet time.  So much fun in fact that we will try to do it again this weekend.

If nothing else, this pandemic exercise has urged that we spend a lot more time getting in touch with family, checking in and making sure that all is in order. Jake and Audrey check on their two, Adrian living with his Mom in Jackson Michigan and Sabrina sheltered at Ft. Hurlburt in Florida, courtesy of the USAF. Ed’s three are spread around the State of Maryland. Avery in her apartment at Towson University in Towson, and Spenser at home in Hagerstown. Chris, likewise, is in Hagerstown, being a hero delivering the mail with USPS.

Tuesday evening, Deb usually has a girls night out - “drinks nite” - at a local watering hole where she meets with a few of her friends, most of whom read this blog, so I won’t name them.  This week, the plan was to continue over Zoom; however the technology was defeating for some so it is now rescheduled for Friday evening to try again.We did, however, have a “social distance” cocktail hour with our friends, Deb and Tim Duggan; Tuesday evening, they came to our house, carrying their tote bag of wine and beer.  We had set up a tray of hors d’ouevres, properly gloved up, and set on the patio table under the Cinzano umbrella in the back yard. We stayed up on the deck, a good 12 feet away as they arrived directly from the car, avoiding entering the house.  We spent a nice 90 minutes talking and enjoying our cocktails. Mark made a pair of martinis for the ladies and it was nice to see friends in the flesh.  The weather was cooperative and ended on a very pleasant note.

We went on our Wednesday shopping tour - Mark stayed in the car while Deb fought her way through three grocery stores, Costco, and the gardening center.  Masked and gloved, she was appalled that, even though our state is under a mandate to wear a mask in public, she encountered less than a handful of the hordes in the stores wearing a mask.  Masks were seen mostly on store staff.  People evidently have adapted an attitude that either they are invincible, immune, or just don’t care what happens to others - every one for themselves in our selfish society.  Perhaps if Dear Leader deigned to mask up, others would get the message? As thousands die in NewYork, all that can be talked about is how soon we can get back to work.

We spent a number of hours in the garden this week. As expected, the snow of last Friday disappeared in less than 36 hours and the plants stretched out as if newly fertilized.  Now we are enduring low temps and winds gusting to 40 mph, this too shall pass.  Mark has stepped back from the Master Gardener gig for a while - his immune system is suppressed due to his lack of a spleen from a childhood accident. Medical advice and carping from children finally prevailed.

Cooking also takes up time.  Mark continues to make bread, Deb is gearing up for more cookies and pies, and our friends and neighbors, also over cooked, are dropping off food as if we either had a death in the family or are infirm.  To be fair, we do the same to them. We have received potato salad, chicken noodle soup, soda bread, naan and curry dip, not to mention the support we have shown to local restaurants purchasing lasagna and fried chicken.  This too we shared.  We still have two meals a week designated as “clear the fridge” or “leftovers” nights.

Some evenings, we just sit on our front porch, share a glass of wine and watch the glorious “pink” moon in the evening.

Pandemic Omaha, Friday, April 3, 2020

Another Friday, another day nearer to paradise? House arrest this week has been steady. The four of us (Deb, Mark, Sushi the cat, and Harry the dog) are all still alive and kicking although it has been nip and tuck for a few of us. Last weekend, we were looking forward to sharing some nice conversational time with our friends Deb and Tim Duggan with dinner from the Kitchen Table Restaurant picked up and enjoyed with a glass of wine at our house; not to be. Both Tim and Mark are being overly cautious and felt iffy about this evening encounter.  We will have to satisfy ourselves with a Zoom cocktail party over the internet.

Sunday was John Covert’s birthday and also our friend Zoë’s birthday. Opting not to bother John too early on a Sunday morning, we were surprised when he called at 9:30, announcing that he was up and able to accept birthday greetings! We offered him the same and then received an update on their family doings. Lynn is continuing to recover from her hip replacement surgery. She was at therapy three times last week and is now graduating to a cane from a walker.

 Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, she will now move to telemedicine therapy. John is taking good care of her according to him.  No word on the truthfulness of this from Lynn.  Both their children are doing well, Claire working from home and trying to convince her kids that she was working, not there to entertain them. Jessy likewise is home as is her husband Alex. Milo spends time on his class work and Jessy spends a lot of time walking the dog Scout, a legal way to get out of the house in downtown Chicago.

We took an afternoon walk and delivered a birthday present to Zoë - really just an excuse to see Iris and Esme through the window. They also take a daily walk and pass by the house so we can stand on the front porch to holler at them.

Wednesday was a big day. Mark went to the Hospice House for Master Gardening, this being the first time this season to get out and begin the clean-up. Nine members of his team plus five members from the “traveling crew” were on hand to help and all practiced “social distancing” as best possible. It was a warm, sunny day and all were glad to be out in the dirt, gossiping with old friends and bringing each other up to date on the winter.

Also on Wednesday, Deb went off by herself to do the shopping, stopping at four different stores, trying to take advantage of the senior time shopping hours. As usual, people were still standing around in the aisles, meandering and chatting rather than practicing the distancing and single mindedness that shopping is supposed to be in this time of trouble. Shelves were filled to varying degrees, dependent upon the store. Toilet paper and soap seem to be in short supply at most stores. Canned soup and simple things like Mac & Cheese are also the first to go. No doubt a sign that 90% of children throughout the country are home from school. In the old says, if one walked into the grocery store with a mask, they called the authorities to escort you out, now when you show up without a mask, they call the police to escort you away from the robbery going on inside the premises.

We watch the nightly news to see that over one half of the States are under shelter at home rules. Although Nebraska has not hit that level, it may not be long, no matter how much our Republican Governor protests that it will not happen here! Being a mostly rural state just means that there are less hospital beds and further to go to reach medical help; the virus will find us.

Most afternoons, we walk around the neighborhood. Now that so many are working from home and all the children are not in school, we see complete strangers that only live around the corner or down the block. We nod or shout hello from the sidewalk, occasionally engaging in conversation or a quick “nice to meet you.” We have always commented to each other on the houses we walk past, admiring a nice lawn or recent touch-up; shaming those that seem to neglect their gardens or exteriors. As we stop in front of one house or another to discuss our critiques, we see people looking at us strangely from the windows - maybe they think these two old people are casing the place?

Today, winter returned to eastern Nebraska, overnight temps in the lower twenties and freezing rain then snow covering the ice. It won’t stay long as the forecast is to return to the upper forties and low fifties in the next few days, but it does bring one up short to step out in 23F morning air to retrieve the paper, luckily our delivery person landed his throw on our porch this morning, saving some dancing down the icy steps.

All travel plans are up in the air and in doubt. We had planned to fly to Maryland in June to celebrate our youngest grandchild’s high school graduation, then driving south to Fredericksburg area to see relatives. All is on hold as the country sorts out its troubles and tries to fight free of this pandemic. Stay safe, have your masks near, and keep washing your hands.