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.