Omaha Pandemic, Friday, May 29, 2020

Nine Weeks! How did it come to this? We are glad to announce that, as of our testing On Wednesday May 20 at 2:00, we were both negative as to the coronavirus!  It appears our masking up and washing hands and social distancing has been successful so far.  We don’t intend to let our guard down.

On Friday past we had an enjoyable Zoom Happy hour with Tom and Kevin in Tucson. Good to see them and to report that Tom is recovering well from hip replacement, he has now graduated to a cane from the walker and Kevin has not yet pushed him down any steps in frustration.  Hang in there Kevin! Oh Yeah, good progress Tom!!

On Saturday we again had a family Zoom, this time joined by the Coverts in Lincoln, the Coverts at John’s house, and included Milo, Jessy and Alex, who are settling in with John and Lynn for the duration. Good to see them and looking forward to visiting with them in person after their 14 day traveling quarantine is over. Maybe a socially distanced cook-out on our back patio.  Deb & Mark were at Abigail’s house, so joined in on their phones rather than in front of the iPad.  The iPad is definitely easier to manage, all the screens are visible and there is no need to switch from screen to screen. This technology stuff is getting harder and harder as we age.  Didn’t we used to be the cool kids?

For the Memorial Day holiday, Deb made a small batch (five pounds of potatoes, a dozen eggs, one onion, etc.) of her world famous potato salad; also some rhubarb crisp using some of Abigail’s garden rhubarb. Abigail joined us and made a fresh garden salad with tomatoes, onions, green and red bell peppers and a lemon and oil dressing that was very refreshing. It was topped with home made toasted pita chips.  We grilled some burgers and dined inside, due to the rain. You are not real a grill aficionado if you haven’t stood outside in the rain, under an umbrella, turning burgers over a smokey grill. Mark qualifies.

Tuesday was a big day: Dell and Karen Sennentz 52nd anniversary (noteworthy as Mark was there as a head shaved best man.) Then an Extension Class Lunch & Learn via Zoom on wasps and bees, followed by Tuesday Drink Night and Deb’s book club.  Both of the last two also were conducted via Zoom.  The Zoom application seems to be central to our life style now.  Between Zoom, What’s Ap and FaceTime, our world has turned virtual - IRL (in real life) seems such a memory, slowly dimming into the past.

Wednesday was shopping day and COVID 19 test day. This is not a nasal swab, but rather a deep dive, as the swab extends past your nasal cavities into your upper throat cavity. Then it is twisted or swirled 10 times and withdrawn.  All you can do is hang onto your steering wheel and not move for fear the nurse will puncture your brain. At least they give you a free Kleenex when they are done to blot your upper lip. No blood and we were in and out (no pun intended) within 5 minutes. Test results are back within 72 hours, hence our negative status on Wednesday afternoon.  Of course, by the time one receives the result, one may already have picked up the virus somewhere else.

As Omaha is slowly opening up and next week the bars will be at 50% capacity, we expect to see a rapid rise in  COVID afflicted humans.  The bars in Council Bluffs, across the Missouri River, opened on Wednesday. Reports are that no one was wearing a mask, neither employees nor patrons, so we expect the same result here. Parties have already been broken up at venues, bands playing, people drinking and carousing and no social distancing in evidence.  If you are young, you are invulnerable and not to concerned if all the old people die off.  More for the remaining masses.

Thursday was finally a partly sunny day - the lawn got mowed and Deb planted a sizeable share of the plants she purchased. No we just need to find a cure for the rabbit population explosion we are experiencing. Thursday evening we conducted another in person cocktail and pizza hour with our friends Ann & Don Hosford, in our back garden.  Wine and pizza, together with a home made salad and a dessert of ice cream, really hit the spot - friends in real life is so much better.  This Friday landed with perfect weather for a change, 75F, no rain, and plenty of sunshine.

Deb went to Abigail’s to help Darcy establish her vegetable garden. Tonight we will enjoy each other’s company, grill som hot dogs and finish off the last of the potato salad.  Enjoy your week, keep washing those hands and WEAR YOUR MASK!!  

Omaha Pandemic, Friday, May 22, 2020

Another week under our belts, together with Eggs Benedict, bread, cookies, chicken, pasta, wine, martinis and so much more.  Exercise seems like a thing of the past - but it must come back if we are to survive. This week we completed another Covert Family Zoom meeting with all adults and one grandchild. Then, Saturday evening, we indulged in a Nebraska/Texas Zoom cocktail meeting with friends in Lincoln, downtown Omaha and Lubbock Texas.  Not people we see on a regular basis, so much to catch up on.  Good to spend some cheer time. We will have another Zoom Cocktail meeting with our friends Kevin and Tom from their home in Tucson Arizona. Tom is recovering from last week’s hip replacement so we are anxious to hear how it is coming.

Weather this week in Omaha is marginally better, still cool and cloudly with a little smattering of rain.  Deb went plant shopping at least twice this week and the plants are piling up in line, screaming to get in the dirt and begin the growing season.  The lawn was mowed twice in the week as spring is the time to go, grow and mow. The rabbit population has decided that our rear garden is a personal smorgasbord with tasty morsels to munch in all day long.  We are feeling a real affinity with Elmer Fudd - our latest hapless hero. Still looking for a pellet gun to take out a few of these ‘wascaly wabbits!’

Tuesday was Deb’s Tuesday Drinks Night Zoom and for the first time, all five participants were able to get on line and join in the “fun.” Still looking forward to a real life Tuesday Drinks Night in the not too distant future.

Wednesday evening we hosted our friends Deb and Tim Duggan for a cocktail IRL (in real life,) again sitting in the rear garden and socially distanced. Deb Duggan brought some delicious asparagus en crote hot from her oven - yummy. We treated Deb to a Gin & Tonic and Tim to a “hard” root beer. It is so good to have actual real people to see and converse with.

We had another real life encounter set for Thursday with friends Lee & Howie, but alas, Mark’s lower back went haywire and after a quick trip to the chiropractor, we decided to cancel; the threat of rain and storms had something to do with the cancellation, too. We sat for a bit on the front porch and watched as the sun came out, making a mockery of our wimpy ways and the weatherman at the same time.

The week ended with Deb suiting up in her overalls and getting out to plant some of the myriad flora she bought. It is really looking wonderful and the cool damp spring has brought the greenery to a peak.  There is forecast of sun next week so we will see if it shines. John and Lynn’s daughter Jessy, together with her husband Alex and son Milo, have arrived for an extended stay with John and Lynn. Unfortunately, driving from Chicago, they are taking the very safe precaution of self-quarantining for fourteen days so we won’t be able to see them for a while. Maybe a local Zoom.  We can see about adding them to the Saturday Covert Family Zoom if they are game.

Nebraska announced today that they were opening up even further on June 1. Bars and Lounges can now open with up to 50% capacity and concerts and events of up to 3,000 can occur, assuming that social distancing can be maintained. Dances, carnivals, midways and street dances are still forbidden. Parades are allowed if people remain in their vehicles. This is all so complicated. The four Nebraska counties containing the meat packing and slaughter facilities are still to remain in close lockdown.  We fully expect the cases of COVID 19 to skyrocket upward in the next few weeks, so we will continue to maintain our personal quarantine and make careful trips to the grocery, nurseries and chiropractor. A curious note, only Mark and the chiropractor had face masks; none of the other staff or patients were wearing!

Old and vulnerable are we!  We will mask and glove up, stay home and hope each of you can stay safe and keep washing those hands.

Omaha Pandemic Friday, May 15, 2020

As we enter week 9, nothing seems to be changing much.  We can get our haircut and update our tattoos, sit in a half busy restaurant, or go to California and walk on the beach, but not sunbathe. We of course did none of these.  We did seem busy though.  Our Saturday family Zoom went well, only short one grandchild and a different one this time, but she was working so had an excuse.  All look well, seem to be well adjusted, and remembered that we were the grandparents. No great news to report, except that Adrian’s clients keep dying on him; as he is an in-home care giver, that is not too surprising.

Saturday evening, we received news that Deb’s nephew, Will Picken graduated from college at University of Nebraska-Omaha (UNO) with a degree in electronic something or another. (Has to do with computers we think; doesn’t everything?) Congrats to Will.

Sunday was Mother’s Day and all children were kind enough to check in with their mother.  The day started with another Eggs Benedict breakfast - Deb’s favorite. Abigail and Darcy came visiting on Sunday evening, bringing a marinated flank steak, which we threw on the grill and made carnitas tacos with a salad and baby potatoes.  Delicious and so much fun to spend some quality time with them.  It was cold/rainy so we were forced inside for our feast but we don’t think there were any COVID issues.  Abigail works from home so no worries there, and Darcy also completes her videos from home; all should be good, and no symptoms occurring as of Friday.

Monday arrived along with a two person crew and four and one-half yards of dark chocolate colored mulch.  They spent the entire day spreading it around the gardens and then cleaning everything up.  The dark mulch sets all the greenery off to best advantage.  Deb was so excited, she made multiple trips during the week to garden centers, grabbing more perennials to put in together with her normal annual flowers for pots.  It will be a busy planting weekend and the temperature today is above 60F for the first time in weeks.  We can see the sun, although rain is forecast for tomorrow again.

Tuesday night drinks via Zoom ended with only three participants this week, one had a separate commitment and one had audio troubles.  Maybe next week it will get to 100% attendance! Wednesday, Mark made a foray to the Hospice House Gardens to see the troops and check in on progress. He had a brief but spectacular moment imitating an Eastern Redbud Tree as they searched for a proper place to plant their memorial to a member of the crew who died this spring.

Tuesday was car switch day, as Mark and Darcy met at the Subaru dealership to drop Darcy’s car for repairs and borrow Mark’s in the interim.  Later we learned that it could be a few days, so Deb drove Mark back to the dealership for a loaner pick-up.  That way we were able to drive a brand new car to the grocery stores for Wednesday shopping.  We ended up visiting 5 different stores, either looking for the things we needed or moving on when the line was outside the doors.

Thursday was a stay at home day and Friday we went to pick-up Darcy’s car and then Deb went over to the girls house to do some gardening and enjoy the one day of sunny warm weather in the entire week. As we look over the past week and think about the coming many weeks of continued change, we find we are not to upset to be stuck at home.  There are plenty of projects to do around the homestead and very little we need to go out for - some flowers for planting, some groceries and some boxes of wine to keep us entertained and fed, plenty of binge watching to be accomplished, and so many books to read.  We have our health, our family and friends to talk to.  What more could we want (maybe the lottery.) Stay safe and keep washing your hands.

Omaha Pandemic, May 8, 2020

Entering week 8 and not much seems to be changing. Nebraska has loosened up its leash, allowing church services, hair and massage salons opening and tattoo parlors. As a bearded individual, Mark is trying to figure how to have his beard trimmed while wearing a face mask, as is required!  Looks like time for another home trim job. Also 50% tables in restaurants, but not bars, so while restaurants are allowed to have minimal dine-in capabilities, not a lot of them are rushing to offer this service.  With Mother’s Day coming this weekend, only a handful seem to be offering dine-in service.  Envision lots of carry-outs for Mom’s brunch this year.

A correction (or probably just a clarification) from last week.  Darcy’s stints on You Tube are under Omaha Girls Rock, but they are the ones entitled OurStory.  The subtitle wasn’t mentioned, so if you could not find them, try again.

This past week we walked around the block to our friends Zoë and Garth Highland for a socially distanced cocktail on Friday evening on their back porch, after their girls were down for the night. Very enjoyable to see them together and not just holler  at them from our front porch as they walked by.

On Saturday, the contractor we hired arrived and promptly began swinging a sledge hammer to break out the west side concrete sidewalk.  Quite a job and quite a pile of broken concrete to be hauled away, but he was done in 2 hours. We would have been days trying to do it ourselves, probably at the cost of two bottles of Ibuprofen to boot.  Later in the week, another landscaping contractor stopped over and we laid out our vision for the area.  It will take most of the summer to get it done, but we are shooting for an Italian garden style area, complete with our version of tall cypress trees (Arbor Vitae) and benches along a granite walk with a green border of vinca minor and pots of colorful flowers. Now that we have committed this to the ether space, we will see how true we come to the original vision. Stay tuned.

Our rear garden continues to bloom and take on a finished look.  We are expecting however, near freezing temperatures over the weekend.  This morning broke to 37F in our yard, and tomorrow

morning is forecast even lower accompanied by gusty winds.  No planting of tomatoes this Mother’s Day.  We are at least a week out on setting the tender plants, although the radishes are flourishing, as is the rhubarb.

We continue baking and eating as if for a party of twelve. One evening, instead of a full fledged meal, we opted to go continental with a baguette, some Brie and a glass of wine.  This sounds like light dining until you get to the end of the bottle of wine and discover that you have wiped out an entire baguette and wedge of Brie between the two of us!

Shopping this week was normal - many more masked shoppers but still a significant number uncovered. Vehicular traffic has picked up as the restrictions are being lifted.  However, a significant jolt to the psyche when NPR announced this morning that the national unemployment rate jumped to 14.7% and that the true number of people out of work was probably 22% - that is nearly a quarter of the working population - a staggering fact and all accomplished in six weeks.

Last Saturday we held another Zoom family get together and talked to all but one of the grandchildren; we are seeing more of the family than before the pandemic - something good is coming of all this. Deb continued with her Girls Drinks Night on Zoom, and all but one attendee was able to log on.  Next Tuesday she is shooting for 100%.  Also this week, Deb attended a porch cocktail with distancing at her friend Robin’s house joining with friend Deb Duggan round the fire pit.  Bundled up in blankets, they enjoyed some hors d’oevres and wine, chatting and shivering in the cool evening.

This evening we are going to attend a Zoom cocktail get together with Tom and Kevin in Tucson.  Tom Nielsen is Lynn Covert’s cousin.  Lynn is recovering very well from her hip replacement, but it must be a genetic thing - Tom is going in for his hip replacement  this coming week as restrictions on “elective” surgery have been lifted. We will be anxious to visit with him post-operative.  

We want to wish all our readers a happy Mother’s Day - enjoy your visits, real or virtual, with each other.  We are thinking of you and will spend this Mother’s Day with two of our four children, enjoying a socially distanced cookout at home.  Stay safe and keep washing those hands!

Pandemic Omaha, Friday, May 1, 2020

Week seven and counting. First, Happy Birthday to Spenser on achieving his 18th birthday today. Congratulations also on your high school graduation. This past Saturday we again had a family zoom.  Two of our grandchildren were able to join. One was working and the other two were probably still in bed (teenagers!). Maybe tomorrow.  It was great to see the youngsters, listening to their wise cracks and their nonchalance at COVID 19.  Ah, youth.

Last Friday, we had a date night by ordering a full dinner from the local top end restaurant The Grey Plume; the owner and Chef, Clayton Chapman, grew up across the street from us and went to school with our girls.  He prepared a full meal and sent it along with cooking instructions and a bottle of Australian wine.  The dinner was Wagyu beef, with roast vegetables, preceded by a wonderful leek and potato soup and topped off with a double chocolate dessert with creme on top.  Delicious and a lot of fun during these tough days.

We continue to read, garden, walk a bit, travel to the grocery store so we can holler at people without masks or people who can’t drive but somehow manage to have commandeered a vehicle. More people with masks this past week. But now that states and cities are beginning to “loosen” the restrictions, we expect to see the hospitalization and community spread skyrocket. I hope we are wrong and will happily wear the title of “Chicken Little” if we are proved wrong.

Our weather has gone from temperatures in the mid-80’s to lows in the 40’s overnight.  Then the winds hit midweek - gusting to 35 mph and making outdoor work nearly intolerable.  There was however a bit of rain and the most incredible rainbow ever witnessed from our north deck the other evening.  Never have we seen such a full and vivid true rainbow that wasn’t a man-made recreation. The garden growth is popping up by leaps and bounds and we are so surprised when something appears that we had forgotten we planted.  As usual, plenty of things now in the wrong spot and tagged for rearranging before the season is out, but nevertheless wonderful to see.

Deb really enjoyed her “new” book club by Zoom meeting this week. They have just finished the book Mornings in Jenin and it was thought provoking. Then Deb arranged her “ladies drink night” via zoom and this time 4 of 5 were able to log on. She expects a full house next week.

This week is becoming a true social whirl in this time of social distancing, what with the Zoom meetings, and last night our friends Howie and Lee stopped by for a social distance pizza and wine in our backyard.  Tonight we are invited to join some neighbors for a glass of wine in their back yard, and Saturday we are invited to a Zoom cocktail party with friends from Lincoln and Houston Texas.  Quite the social calendar.

Time for a plug for the kids:  if you want to see what our girls are doing, you can turn to You Tube and search for Covert Knits for Abigail’s weekly podcast on knitting or you can search for Omaha Girls Rock to watch Darcy’s broadcast of her lessons for middle school kids about rock & roll.  Both interesting and entertaining, although, admittedly we are biased.

Please stay safe, keep washing you hands and don’t drink and drive, or walk around aimlessly!