Omaha Pandemic, Friday, August 28, 2020

The week from hell, weather-wise and politic-wise. The temperatures in Omaha reached over 95ºF every day since last Saturday. Admittedly, temps well over 100ºF in Arizona easily outdistanced us, but all of our friends in that fellow Red state have swimming pools and soaking tubs, lessening the pain, if you don’t count the heat from the surrounding pool pavement on your feet! The political hell was the s—show of the RNC. We were only going to watch to be able to say that we gave equal time.  That didn’t work out too well. The preview we received while watching Monday’s edition of the PBS Newhour pretty well put us off from that plan. Luckily, we have a full panoply of cable TV to choose from. We binged on The Morning Show, and then launched into Extraordinary Houses. Additionally books were completed and new ones begun.  We made it through, although the news reported that The Great Leader and his assistant were re-nominated from the various federal government locations that are supposedly off-limits to campaigning. However, since he-who-shall-not-be named has pretty well done whatever he pleases for the last three and one-half years, why should we be surprised? At least we have the RNC platform to review? What, no platform you say? Oh well. We are accumulating brochures on Canada or whichever other country might allow us in with a minimum of quarantine time.

Enough.

Birthdays and other important stuff. On Sunday we celebrated two birthdays; Jeff Kirkpatrick, former City Attorney of Lincoln Nebraska and currently “job searching” celebrated his 57th on Sunday, the 23rd. Likewise, Bernadette Cleary of Tipperary, Ireland celebrated her 75th , also on Sunday. Congrats to both of you and we wish you many more.

Friday afternoon, Darcy and her partner Maria came over to make use of our kitchen. they used 36 of our tomatoes to make Maria’s family recipe for fresh tomato sauce for pasta. Although it wiped out our counter top supply of tomatoes, there were so many more on the vine that it was a blessing. While the sauce cooked down Mark and Maria set about making homemade fettuccine to serve with some of the sauce. We dined on the patio with the four of us enjoying the fruits of their labor and enjoying some wine and conversation. A very satisfactory meal with family we don’t get to spend that much time with.

Saturday we held another Covert family Zoom conference to catch up on all the doings. Ed and Meg had a wonderful time in Lake Tahoe, and announced that Meg has been admitted to the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (The organization that awards the Emmys) for her casting work. We will start bombarding her with our picks for nominees - just kidding! Sabrina, in Florida, was keeping an eye out for the dual hurricanes headed her way and keeping the fuel in her car topped off in the event that she had to evacuate. Milo, Lynn and John’s grandson and current boarder in their basement, started school here in Omaha, although they opted for virtual classroom for the moment.

Other school news was that we attended our friend Iris Highland’s photo opportunity on Sunday. Her parents and sister took her to her new Montessori School location for a picture of her starting (which actually began on Monday) her new schooling.  She braved the changes and is currently attending 3 days per week, part time. Her sister Esme is not sure where her big sis is all morning, but her Esme’s mom is now wondering if they will take 2-year olds as well!

Sunday evening we traveled to Lincoln to attend a socially distanced birthday party for Jeff in their driveway. A total of six couples sat at tables in the driveway (in the 90º heat) and enjoyed hors d’oevres, wine and conversation. Glenda had prepared potato salad, a cucumber and tomato salad from Jeff’s garden and freshly made up hamburgers and bratwurst sausages for the grill. Mark offered to handle the grill duties (he needed the extra heat) and we then sang the Happy Birthday song as Glenda served homemade chocolate cake with ice cream. A lovely, if warm evening and we were back in Omaha by 9:45PM.

Monday slipped by with a little time at Abigail’s to water the garden and set the hose on the front lawn. Tuesday, Deb joined her monthly Book Club with a virtual Zoom meeting. We again prepared hamburgers as a quick meal before the book club. Mark, in the meantime tuned into Judy and the PBS Newshour to catch up on the shenanigans.

Wednesday, Harry the Dog had an appointment with the groomer. Even the very old and infirm benefit from a trip to the groomer! He came back that afternoon shampooed, closely clipped and looking young. He still can’t hear any better, and his cataracts now show up from under his shaggy brows, but he looks much better. Mark baked a loaf of bread in preparation for pasta with tomato and Kalamata olive sauce. Very tasty And a way to use up a few of the growing batch of the tomatoes on the counter. Our friends Marsha Gallagher and Ted James stopped by for a visit on the front porch, bringing some books in exchange for some tomatoes.  Very fair trade!

On Thursday we spent time reading books,  Mark working on completing the rest of his Bee Hotels for installation and then over to Abigail’s to meet the carpenter about pricing a deck in her rear yard. We returned home in time to hear the news of the day, eat a wonderful vegetable frittata and then pick something to watch that wasn’t the Great Leader spouting for over an hour while he accepted the adulation that is his due.

Time to wish you all a great weekend, keep washing those hands and don’t leave home without your masks. Stay safe. 

Omaha Pandemic, Friday, August 21, 2020

 Weather this week has been near idyllic for the Great Plains area; daytime temperatures in the upper 80’s and night temperatures in the middle 60’s. Unfortunately very little rain, so hoses have been hauled, but, since it isn’t sweat inducing weather, it hasn’t been too onerous. Our tomato crop continues to gain on us! We have researched various tomato recipes and have tried a variety. We even experimented with home made basil fettuccine pasta with a tomato and kalamata olive sauce. Turned out well so there will be more home made pasta on the menu.

The real work horse for us is the venerable
BLT - bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich.  This sounds simple enough, but a dissection of the ingredients and all the variables and permutations numbers in the thousand.Let’s start with the bacon: slab, hickory smoked, apple smoked, thick cut, thin cut, Canadian style and even that recent interloper, turkey bacon. We next move to the second listed ingredient, lettuce: standard iceberg, Bibb, romaine, arugula, even radical Radichio for the adventurous among you. Next to the Tomato: our favourites are the varieties Champion and Celebrity; but there are also Beefsteak, Heritage, even Roma and the sprinkling of cherry or grape tomatoes.  These are just the red ones.  If you get to the golden or pink varieties you could lose yourself  and never find you way out.
How about the the unsung parts of the meal - the bread holding it all together? There is whole wheat, dark rye, light rye, white sandwich, Italian Pane, even brioche buns and a piece or two of sliced baguette. To Toast or not to Toast may be a fundamental question.

On to the “ointment” one wishes to employ. Deb is a butter only girl and more than happy to leave the lettuce portion off; Mark is a mayonnaise man with lettuce included, or perhaps the world famous Durkee’s sauce for a bit of spice. There are those that prefer a light Russian Dressing, or perhaps a french salad dressing as the condiment of choice. Two things for us are clear:, the price of bacon escalates as the tomato crop comes in, and it takes a pound of bacon to make a meal, also at least two medium sized slicing tomatoes.
The other new try for us is a fresh Greek style salad, with tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese (Greek, not the crumbles) red onion, green peppers, capers, kalamata olives, with an oil and vinegar dressing. Grill a small chicken breast or a small steak on the grill, thin slice it and top the salad and you have a main dish using more tomatoes.

There will be lots of pasta sauce frozen for the winter to add to pasta or chili con carne; and we are going to try our hand at stewing and canning this year. Great times in the kitchen and something to dip our homemade bread in. Of course we keep saying only one plant of full sized tomatoes and one of grape sized next year - let’s hope we don’t forget by spring of 2021.

In other news this week, we enjoyed another Friday Cocktail Zoom with our friendsTom & Kevin in Tucson who are “basking” in the 100ºF and over heat; also another great evening patio dinner with our friends Lee and Howie at their home, Howie made killer ground sirloin burgers on the grill and Lee furnished her trademark strawberry, red onion and romaine salad with sweet poppy seed dressing. The description does not do it justice as the salad is delicious.

Mark received last year four cherry wood logs from Glenda and Jeff’s Lincoln yard. Jeff was practicing with his new chainsaw! The logs have been acclimating in Mark’s basement shop for most of a year so; on Thursday, he loaded them into the trusty Subaru and hauled them to the sawmill.  The resulting beautiful boards will find there way into some furniture over the winter. The boards are stunning - hope only that he doesn’t butcher them too badly.

We have been watching the Democratic Convention in the evenings this week. The level of speech making is truly heartening. The highlight for us was in watching the Obamas - Michelle’s speech was uplifting, and Barack’s takedown of “He who shall not be named” was enough to make s stand up and cheer. Such thoughtful, truthful, and empathetic people have been missed the last 3 1/2 years. To be fair, Mark will watch the Republican offering next week (if he doesn’t go apoplectic) to see how they respond. Got to be fair minded, even if the opposition isn’t.

Mask up, wash your hands and stay safe.  We are not down yet!

Omaha Pandemic, Friday, August 14, 2020

In the plagiarized words of Garrison Keillor, it was a quiet week in Omaha.

Our fair city was finally able to shed the title as the only city of the nation’s top 100 to not have a mandatory mask requirement. The Omaha City Council finally put an emergency ordinance together to require masks at all times in most venues. The esteemed Governor, “Cricket” Ricketts was not able to stop it, nor was he threatening to sue as has happened in other Republican led states.  This move will not stop the coronavirus, but maybe it will save a life or two.
The past week has been characterized by morning paper reading, sometimes a breakfast and sometimes not, and then off to the daughters’ house for a round of repairs. The living room is sporting a new coat rack and carpet, all the floors steam cleaned, the bathroom exhaust fan and light are back in working order, and the solar powered motion detector light over the garage has been replaced. The mountains of cardboard boxes in the garage have been sliced, diced, and delivered to the recycle center. All is in shipshape for today’s celebration of Darcy’s friend Maria’s 25th birthday. Have a stellar day Maria! The two of them (without their attendant canine companions) are off for a day at the world famous Henry Dooley Zoo for a socially distanced outing.
Lynn and John Covert joined us on the patio last evening for a steak and potato cookout, accompanied by a caprese salad and finished off with the strawberry and angel food cake which Lynn provided. We learned of Jessy, Alex and Milo’s plans to remain permanently in Omaha, sheltering in Lynn and John’s lower level with their cat and dog until other more permanent lodgings can be secured.
The other significant development of the week is that the tomato crop at our house has begun to ripen. Looks like tomato salads, BLTs, marguerita pizzas and pasta sauce into our future ad infinitum. How could three small tomato plants so overwhelm us? How could we not remember the same problem every previous year and learn to plant only one plant?
The weather has been relatively moderate this week, although the derecho storm that blew through town in the space of 30 minutes (totally unheralded) provided a little excitement. No damage to our property, but massive damage east of us across Iowa, Illinois, and into Indiana and Ohio. Millions of acres of corn and soybeans have been lost, not to mention structures, trees and other vegetation. Mother Nature again shows that she is not to be trifled with.
We look forward to a slow upcoming week, no kids going back to school, no mask or illness worries, just the “Good Life.” Be safe, wash your hands and don’t forget your mask!

Omaha Pandemic, Friday, August 7, 2020

Birthday greetings are in order today for our oldest granddaughter, Sabrina Bailey Covert. Today is her 22nd birthday and we hope she is enjoying her day! Sabrina is currently serving in the U.S. Air Force, stationed at Hurlburt Field in the Florida panhandle. She is getting a lot of sun (and a bit of blustery rain) while defending her country.

“It has been a quiet week” As the saying goes, here in Omaha. No travels, no excruciating outside projects, just moderately cool weather, some welcome rain and mostly indoor projects. We started the week with our bi-weekly Zoom Cocktail hour with our friends Tom and Kevin from their home in Tucson; they are anxious to report the weather there is a balmy 100ºF plus all week during the day, dropping to the upper 80º range in the nighttime. Their scotty dog, Liam, now goes for his shortened walks in the early morning hours so the three of them can get back in the mechanically cooled air. Early evenings are spent under the shade of the portico, with occasional forays to the backyard swimming pool Here in the Midwest, a pool is considered an “attractive nuisance” and an expensive indulgence; in the high desert it is a near necessity!

Monday we spent most of the day at Abigail and Darcy’s (Now often shortened to “AbiDar’s”) for some continued projects. A bedside lamp sconce was installed in the south bedroom, and a real slapstick comedy (if you were a bystander) occurred as Deb and Mark struggled on a ladder, a bed and a platform, plank to remove the old and rehang a new ceiling fan in the same room. These two projects ate up most of the aged handy person’s day and was rewarded by struggling home sore, cranky and feeling inadequate to recover on our front porch with a medicinal glass or two of Shiraz. We were pleased to hear the next morning that the fan still hung and did not fall to macerate Abigail in her sleep!

The next day was home time; Mark spent the time replacing the exterior light fixtures framing the garage door, and both spent the afternoon planting the last few miniature mum plants along the east garden, mowing the lawn, pruning some of the shrubbery and overgrown herbs back into order; generally sprucing up for Deb’s Tuesday Night drinks group. The three Omaha participants arrived and set up socially distanced on the patio for a good two hour visit. Glenda from Lincoln checked in for a time via FaceTime. She was represented at the table via her image on the iPad. Isn’t technology glorious? The entire world was set right again for another week during this meeting. Trump was properly bashed, idiots writing to the newspaper were excoriated, and friendship was toasted.

Wednesday it was back to AbiDar’s for a morning appointment with the HVAC repairman and then a day spent assembling a new hall coat tree that arrived in a large box. Abigail then set up her iPad so Mark could watch a video and then spend 2 1/2 hours removing and installing a replacement ice-maker in the refrigerator.  Meanwhile, Deb made a Costco and grocery run to cover the supplies that continually drain out of the house. Of course that meant a roasted chicken was in the offing for dinner, as sandwiches and future salads. We only feel slightly guilty at taking advantage of this loss leader $4.99 piece of poultry. We know the potential and real damage to the environment that this brings, but, such a bargain. An organically raised and home roasted bird would cost over twice as much and still wouldn’t have the skin and texture of this  wonder. Sigh!

We have had unseasonably cool temperatures this week, upper 50ºF overnight and highs in the upper 70ºF’s to low 80ºF’s during the day. Thursday was raining most of the morning, moving to the 80ºF range in the afternoon; it was however a great excuse got stay inside, reading a book and striving not to feel guilty about “not getting anything done.”  Our atheist work ethic sometimes piles up on our emotions. Lee and Howie Needelman arrived for a socially distanced dinner of grilled steaks, green beans, boiled new potatoes with butter and chives, and a fresh salad with homegrown tomatoes. Lee provided dessert in the form of warm homemade brownies sobered in ice cream and whipped cream (gilding the lily so to speak,) delicious as usual.

In other family news, Ed and Meg are spending the week in a rented cabin with Meg’s relatives, who also rented accommodations, in the Lake Tahoe region. We will be anxious to hear of their adventures when we check in this weekend. John Covert announced that daughter Jessy and son-in-law Alex D’Astous have enrolled their son Milo for elementary school here in Omaha, and they left Milo with John and Lynn while they travelled back to Chicago to pack up their apartment for the permanent move to Omaha. It will be great to spend time with them. Although we have only seen them virtually via Zoom since their arrival in Omaha this spring, the prospect of future gatherings in a much safer time is in the offing.

We continue to limit our outings, with Deb doing the bulk of shopping while Mark remains in the car. This routine was underscored this week by an incident in the parking lot of the local Aldi’s grocery store. Those who have seen us recently know that the rear hatch of Deb’s blue Subaru Crosstrek is covered with some blatantly liberal stickers, mostly having to do with the ouster of the current miscreant occupant of the White House (“Make America Think Again”, “Someone else for President”, “I will vote on 11/3/20” and also a personalized Planned Parenthood Nebraska license plate.) As we arrived at the parking lot and pulled into an open stall, we had the windows down, enjoying the nice weather and Deb donned her mask in preparation for entering the store. She heard some muttering from the older man loading his recently purchased groceries into his trunk coming from the vehicle adjacent but thought nothing about it. As she exited our vehicle, beginning the walk to the store, the old guy started telling her that “we will whip your a- -  in the election,” and other uncalled for arguments. When she said, “excuse me?” He started in on more invective and then challenged her to fight! She called him a “Silly old man who was pathetic.” this inflamed him even more and he kept calling her back to fight with him. She turned around and again told him he was “just pathetic old man.” A passing woman asked her if she should call someone from the store, and Deb answered again, “No he’s just a sorry old man.” And went into the store. Quite a spectacle, but of course, Mark, who remained in the car with the radio on, was oblivious to anything. When Deb returned with her groceries, the “mean Old Man” had left, and Deb inquired of Mark what he thought of the incident, Mark professed that he knew nothing, but allowed that if he had heard, he would have leapt out of the car to defend her honor! Really, he would have!

Stay safe, don’t call out old men in the parking lot, keep your mask on

and wash your hands.