Omaha Pandemic, Friday, February 26, 2021

This has been an exciting week around the pandemic stricken Midwest. Lots of snow, lots of melting and lots of birthdays to report on. First the weather: the temperatures ranged from a low on Friday the 19th of -19.6ºF to a high on Wednesday the 23rd of 55.7ºF, a swing of 75º in the period of 5 days. In addition to the snow already on the ground, on Sunday, we received an additional 8.5 inches of very wet snowfall in the space of about 6 hours. This was the heavy wet stuff, which in days gone by would have been perfect for snowball fights, building snow fort, or rolling and constructing a snowman. We did none of the above. Only shoveling.

Friday afternoon and into the early evening, we finished clearing the basement area for the scheduled construction on the weekend. We didn’t finish until after 6:00, effectively cutting into our cocktail hour. We were forced to dine on the wonderful assortment of cheeses that our friends Marsha and Ted sent for Deb’s upcoming birthday, of course accompanied by a decent wine, not from a box!

Saturday was not a quiet day. Our contractor arrived in the morning to drop off materials and then headed back to another Menard’s store for more supplies. He returned just after lunch and commenced installing all the metal framing for our basement project. He finally pulled out of the driveway by 5:30 in the afternoon.

During the day, our first doorbell ring was the florist, delivering a stunning floral bouquet from Abigail, via the local Janousek florist. (Abigail is really into supporting local businesses!) John and Lynn Covert stopped by to deliver a card and gift for Deb and then, our friends Glenda and Jeff drove in from Lincoln to drop off some birthday gifts for Deb, whose celebration wasn’t really scheduled until Sunday. They stayed for a glass of Rose’ Prosecco which they kindly brought with them, together with a “Texas style” brownie properly decorated. Later in the afternoon, a friend, Robin Putnam stopped by with a birthday card and another lovely bottle of wine to enjoy at a later date. Evidently, we were to be blessed with a birthday weekend, as the actual date was on Sunday, the 21st. This was all to celebrate her 70th birthday, a milestone of sorts; we seldom sit around in our late middle age envisioning life at 80, so the hoopla was appropriate.

Sunday dawned snowy as noted above. Since the 21st is also our friend Kevin Rose’s birthday, his 63rd spent in sunny Tucson next to the pool as we shovelled, we texted him a begrudged greeting. We brunched on our normal Eggs Benedict, cleared the driveway and then finished the electronic Omaha World Herald and the paper New York Times. Around 3:00, Garth and Zoë Highland walked over, together with Iris and Esmè to deliver some flowers and a large “birthday” collage that the girls had prepared. At the same time, neighbors Beth & Tom walked over carrying a bottle of wine, a card, and some cheese and brownies. We chatted from the deck, masked up and properly distanced.

Due to the snow, the planned celebration at our house was moved to Abigail’s. We left and headed to the service station to recover Darcy’s car, which was in for an oil change. Deb delivered the car while Mark drove over to Paddy McGown’s Pub to pick up our take-out dinner consisting of a huge club sandwich for us accompanied by a bag of their tasty “Reuben egg rolls” some deep fried “blarney stones” (pepper encased in spicy cheese and deep fried,) and some other of their specials for the girls. 

Before dinner, we gathered in Abigail’s knitting room, ostensibly to show Deb some of her most recent creations, but actually to surprise her with a Zoom Happy Birthday song from some 30 or 40 of her friends and relatives. Needless to say, she was surprised. We truly knew she had not suspected a thing as she immediately complained that she had not put make-up on or fixed her hair, effectively catching her unawares. It was truly memorable and we again thank all of you, many of whom are our readers for helping her to celebrate. Kudos to Abigail and Darcy for organization, preparing and also for baking Deb’s favorite chocolate ribbon cake, a treasured recipe from her own Mother.

After dinner. We viewed a special presentation of Darcy and Maria’s - “Deb’s Antarctic Vacation” which they had hysterically mocked up from photos. Deb was shown basking in a swimming pool on board a ship in the Antarctic, seen petting sea lions and penguins, and sunning on a glacier. This is the only Continent she has never set foot upon, but she is still hoping. If not, we have this “film” as a remembrance.

We returned home Sunday night, exhausted and exhilarated at all the festivities we had crammed into a weekend when we were supposed to be stuck inside, with only our “bubble” to spend time with. But the festivities didn’t stop there. On Monday evening, Deb and Tim Duggan brought a hot home cooked meal of Indonesian pork roast, mashed potatoes and yummy gravy as well as ice cream and cake and a bottle of wine to share with us for a dinner. They stayed until nine, toasted the passing years and then left us to think of all we had enjoyed over the snowy weekend.

Tuesday was suitably low key. Deb enjoyed her monthly zoom book club meeting while Mark tried to understand the Scots accents on another episode of Hamish McBeth. Sometimes he is able to turn on the captions but most times that small electronic switch eludes him so he struggles to keep up. Ostensibly they are speaking English but not always recognizably so.

Wednesday is grocery shopping day, so Deb is off to visit the various markets and lay in supplies for the coming week. Wednesday Drinks night was fully attended and we completed the evening with some more cheese and wine, this time box wine! We have been binge watching a show called The Sinner at the recommendation of Marsha and Ted; interesting but definitely R rated for violence, nudity and language. We are enjoying though.

Thursday was again a quiet day, Deb toiling away on reservations for clients who have begun to awake from their imposed isolation and are making plans for year end 2021 or early 2022. So much for thoughts of forced retirement for her. Mark broke out the wok pan after years of disuse and made a chicken stir fry for the evening meal. We also have a fresh batch of liverwurst pate whipped up for snacks so are good for the rest of the week and into the weekend.

Thanks again for all the help on the birthday Zoom. stay safely distanced, wash your hands and schedule for your vaccine. We are all pulling through this, slowly but surely.

Omaha Pandemic, Friday, February 19, 2021

Happy Friday to all. Another exciting week in the Midwest. We set a new record low on Tuesday, February 16 of -23ºF. We broke the previous record and managed to stay inside and get the car started everyday. Considering that the 16 year old Subaru that Mark drives sits outside year round, it is a pretty good track record. 

Valentine’s Day, Sunday, was a bit of a let down. After our annual discussion about how the “holiday” is a made for marketing set up by the candy and greeting card enterprises, Mark didn’t even bother with a card. You would think the. Old fool had learned after all these years that some protestations are not as strenuous as others. No card, no candy, no flowers - just a hug and a wish for a great day. Deb at least gave the idiot a little foil wrapped candy heart she had tucked away in her purse!

Deb also invested solid baking time in service to the holiday, baking and decorating a pair of huge heart shaped chocolate chip cookies. One was delivered to the girls, and one was delivered to Iris and Esmè, together with a loaf of banana nut bread. Monday, on President’s day, Deb also baked up a huge batch of oatmeal cookies in honor of Mark thinking he was still in charge of anything - got to humor these old guys!

Tuesday, to celebrate the record temperature, we journeyed out to the previously scheduled appointment for out 1st round COVID vaccine. This enterprise went off without a hitch. We were in and out of the clinic within 25 minutes, which included the 15 minute mandatory observation time for adverse reactions. We used the Charles Drew Clinic located in a building at the Omaha Home for Boys, in North Omaha, the use of which was recommended to us by our dear friend Ann Hosford, who found that this clinic had openings available. When we made the appointment we were concerned that perhaps we were drawing a slot from some more impacted person, but the reservationist assured us that their goal was to get the vaccine into as many arms as possible as soon as possible - they had time for us and so we took it. They also made our second appointments at the same time. We were impressed with the professionalism and efficiency of the operation. Afterwards, we took the opportunity, as we were out, to complete some of our weekly grocery shopping.

As we noted last week, we had experimented with a Shepherd’s Pie recipe utilizing some ground lamb and a number of vegetables. The seasonings made for a delicious dish, which was also great a night or two later as a leftover meal. Abigail was inspired too, so found a vegetarian recipe of Shepherd’s Pie to try, using lentil beans as a substitute for the ground lamb. She generously shared a few helpings with us for an evening meal. This, too, was delicious, and the flavor was very close to what we had made earlier. Abigail’s mashed potato topping was superior to ours and perfectly browned for a wonderful presentation.

Wednesday morning, with the temperatures rising to 14ºF in the daytime, Mark loaded his trusty new electric snowblower into the Subaru and drove over to the girls house to spend a quick 30 minutes clearing their sidewalks abutting the streets. As they live on a corner lot and have a very busy bus route thoroughfare whizzing by, it needed to be cleared before the ice set in. Normally a neighbor takes care of it for them, but for some reason it didn’t get cleared, so Dad to the rescue. Besides, he is retired and needs to feel needed. 

 Wednesday evening was percolating along uneventfully; we grilled some cheese sandwiches for dinner and settled in after the PBS Newshour to watch some escapist TV. We have been watching Season Two of a show called The Alienist, a crime drama set in the late 1890’s New York City with Dakota Fanning in the lead role as a detective. Not great, but an enjoyable story line. We had just turned off the TV when a loud rumbling sound began from the TV. Thinking that it was a problem with the sound bar or the TV, we were genuinely confused when it did not stop when we shut the TV down. We realized that it was instead a broken water line in the wall. Mark ran downstairs and shut the main water line off, ending the noise. We moved the bookcases located under the TV from the wall and sopped up the relatively small amount of water on the floor. We called and left a message for the plumber for the next morning.Thursday morning, the plumbers arrived around 9:00 and opened up the wall to locate the broken line. They cut out the offending portion of copper, repaired the line and then put the thawing machine on the lines.

They were in and out in under an hour and we were back in business. We ran around flushing the toilets, starting the dishwasher and running a load of laundry to make sure that we wouldn’t run out of clean dishes or clothing. 

We now have another wall to repair but are taking the episode as a sign of good luck. If we had already been in bed when the line broke, we probably would never have heard it and awakened the next morning

to a flooded and frozen house. 

We may have mentioned this before, but we subscribe to The Writers’ Almanac, a daily email we receive that provides a daily poem and short articles, mostly of birthdays of writers or other historic happenings in the world. It comes under the auspices of Garrison Keillor. We mention this because we also receive, about once a week, a daily column of musings from Keillor as a separate email. He currently lives in New York City with his wife and he has been writing lately of their trials and tribulations under the COVID pandemic. A lot of what he says is similar to what we write about here, but, he is such a great writer that we have no compunction of recommending his work to you. The column we received this past Wednesday was particularly good, and included a poem he wrote while waiting the requisite 15 minute observation period after his first vaccine shot. It won’t be copied here, but we recommend that you go to his website and read the column of February 16, 2021. It is titled “The old scout stands in line.”  His website is Garrisonkeillor.com.

As usual, we urge you to stay safe, keep washing your hands, stay away from people, or at least socially distanced, and schedule for your vaccine at the earliest possible time. All these things could save your life and the lives of others. That is a good thing.

Omaha Pandemic, Friday, February 12, 2021

Another Frigid Frigging Friday! We are keeping inside as much as possible this week as the daily high temperature all week has been 9ºF. Thursday's afternoon high was 5º and Friday dawned at -5ºF and the expected high is to hit 2ºF and there is a forecast of another 1-2 inches of snow. It certainly is white around our house this month.

 We have been out of the house twice this past week. Mark was up and out to a dermatology appointment first thing Monday morning. As he had some skin cancer issues about eight years ago, he is very conscious of any unusual skin growths. Some little spots started to appear on the top of his scalp, so off to the Doctor he goes. These were little AK precancerous spots, so a couple of quick shots with liquid Nitrogen to freeze them off and he was back home within 40 minutes. As cold as it has been, he probably could have just stood outside without his hat for a few hours and frozen them off that way. The office visit was much quicker.

The second trip was not so quick. That would be our weekly shopping trip, this time on Wednesday. We started with the Goodwill donation site. As we have written before, we are slowly unpacking the remaining boxes and clearing stuff left over from our move to this address five years ago this summer. We are trying to get the one remaining basement room cleared for new walls and paint so are constantly dropping stuff at the Goodwill. Next stop was the U.S. Post Office to send off some international packages destined for Abigail’s knitting friends and then on to four grocery stores. After loading up with groceries, Deb wanted to stop and drop off the Christmas presents (Kitchen Table gift cards) for her friends at Pegasus.  All three agents were in and it was so good to see them!  We then drove to Abigail and Darcy’s house to drop off some of the groceries, do a little shoveling on the front walk and (after a quick stop at Duggan’s to drop off some interesting, we hope, items) back home in time for Deb’s Zoom Cocktail hour.

We received a surprise on Thursday when we received a Valentine’s Day treat from our friends Marsha  & Ted. A beautiful box of hand dipped chocolates! Mark was wondering what they sent Deb, but was told it was a joint gift and he will have to share.

Thursday was more basement clean-out and then a visit from the carpenter for him to measure up for the framing and drywall to be installed. Also on Thursday, Mark was able to re-experience the efficiency of the federal government. He has been urged by friends and then by his two sons, to sign up for VA benefits, both as to health and for numerous commercial discounts offered to veterans. He visited VA.gov and learned of all the information he would need to sign up. He collected his DD214 military separation form, a copy of his current passport, social security number, Medicare card, BCBS insurance card and his most recent 2019 Federal Tax Return. All of these items would be required, according to the instruction. 

He made it as far as logging into the site and successfully creating a log-in and password. Then, Bureaucracy struck. The site kept telling him that they were unable to confirm his service information and to phone for help. So he did. Three hours later, and two helpful VA employees later, he, in theory, is now a “Pending” VA Beneficiary. He mailed his DD214 form off to Atlanta, to await final confirmation in 10-15 days. In the meantime he should be able to sign up for a VA ID card. Neither of the two helpful people could successfully break through the computer loop in the VA site that keeps instructing to press the green button to proceed. The last lady finally gave him the number of a help desk that could sort things out. 

After an hour of hitting all the various number options on the phone and getting the same instructions to go to VA.gov to sign up, this veteran surrendered and hung up the phone. He will wait the 10-15 days for his DD214 report to be received and then they should let him know that he is beyond the pending stage. Of course he still has to complete the forms, and, as to Tax Return info, they only will now accept 2020 Tax info. According to the information heard on NPR, the IRS will start processing 2020 tax returns on February 12, 2021.  Score one for the Bureaucracy, 0 for the hapless veteran.

Friday is a baking day. Deb is making banana nut bread and oatmeal cookies. Mark is baking some French baguettes and together we are making some Shepard’s Pie from a recipe from a Poldark themed cookbook with some additions from Glenda.  This should be a weekend to stay in and keep warm. Have a great Valentine’s Day on Sunday, enjoy President’s Day on Monday, and by all means, keep washing your hands, practicing safe distancing and keep your masks in place. Next week is vaccine week for us!!

Omaha Pandemic, Friday, February 5, 2021

Entering our 12 month of the Pandemic and COVID self quarantining. This slog through the cold winter months, coupled with the inability to go much of anywhere or to spend time with friends and loved ones is getting very tiresome. This again has been a quiet week. Saturday, Mark joined 240 other Gardeners on a Zoom class about Seed Starting and Indoor Seed Lighting. It doesn’t sound particularly exciting but it was interesting and got us to thinking of Spring. Deb hopped right on the internet to order some Haricots Vert bean seeds that will be planted in Abigail’s vegetable garden at first chance. We will have to google about planting soil temperatures and days to harvest but it does get us thinking.

Now that we are down to one pet in our three-person household, we seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time on Sushi the cat. He gets constant brushing, his litter box is cleaned much more frequently, and his happiness level seems to be higher. At least that is our understanding based upon his purring. However his purring mechanism seems to have broken down. It is now a loud deep roar, as if he has a cold in his throat. This aids him to become more demanding at the hour he has deemed Dinner Time.

Sunday evening we had a Zoom cocktail hour with Lee and Howie Needelman, getting a chance to spend a little conversational time with them. Their daughter Molly had headed back to San Francisco after spending over two months with them, and they were sad to see her go, although, as we all know when kids return for an extended visit, also glad to push them back out into their world. We have been binge watching Longmire on Netflix, all six seasons, and we finished up all but the last few episodes on Sunday and Monday. Monday also found Deb off to the cardiologist for an echocardiogram, which had been rescheduled due to the previous week’s snowstorm. She took the opportunity to get a little grocery shopping done as she was out. Before she even returned home, the cardiologist office was calling her with results. After checking with them, we are pleased to announce that all is well, and her heart is even showing some improvements - the hard-heartedness is easing some - luckily for Mark.

Tuesday was a required fasting day as Mark was headed in Wednesday morning for his scheduled colonoscopy. We won’t bore you with the horrid details of this preparation. Suffice it to say that all went down without a problem. Wednesday morning’s procedure was completed and the report was good. We came home from the hospital in the early afternoon so Mark could shove down a sandwich and get some additional rest. The anesthetic used by those guys is wonderful - the best sleep ever.

We did finish the Longmire series on Tuesday night. If you have a chance to watch this, we can recommend it. Although, for such an unpopulated part of the country, there sure seems to be a lot of murder, mayhem, and Irish Mob types in the area.  A good show that was very true to current condition of  European white people versus Native American relationships. Another supreme example of white supremacist attitudes that seems to infest every area of our life. Our guilt is reinforced.

Deb is currently reading the book Caste by Isabel Wilkerson; a look at systemic racism, comparing the U.S system to the caste system of India and the horrendous Holocaust of Nazi Germany. If you have not read it, she recommends it - not an easy or comfortable read, but one that is changing her outlook on her own life and that of her ancestors. Her Irish immigrant forbearers suffered some of the same things in the past, but, due to the color of their skin, were able to overcome it. As her Dad told her, “Be thankful that you were born white.” She is taking her time finishing the book because she wants to remember it and learn what she can about how to change the belief system that is ingrained in so many of us.

Thursday morning brought another light snow here in Omaha, only perhaps 1/2 or 3/4 of an inch, but accompanied by blustery winds out of the northwest. Temperatures are predicted to drop precipitously  over the next 10 days - next Monday the high is going to be 10ºF with an over night low of -3ºF. We will stay snuggled in our warm little House on the Prairie and not venture out.

On the food and cooking front, this week we made both chicken and beef broth with the Instant Pot. We had accumulated bags of chicken carcass bones in the freezer, and Deb had purchased some oxtail and bone marrow bones earlier in the summer. For the beef broth we even roasted the bones to get some deeper color and flavor from them. Pressure cooking them for 45 minutes for the chicken and two hours for the beef certainly beats five or six hours on the stovetop. The result is just the same and certainly provides the ingredients of some excellent soups and dishes in this cold, cold winter.

Thursday evening, we held a Zoom cocktail hour with our friends, Ann & Don Hosford, Jeanne & Frank Daharsh, and the Needelmans. This is as close as we can come to hosting a small cocktail party, and we don’t even have to make sure the house is clean, just that we look presentable from the waist up! The other “excitement” on Thursday was that we were able to schedule our COVID vaccines for next week, and the second injection for a month after that. We are so looking forward to helping with herd immunity. 

Our forecast now calls for a high tomorrow, Saturday, of 10ºF and two to four inches of snow.  That will keep us a safe distance from all, and we will continue to wash our hands and wear a mask if we don’t feel safe with each other! Stay safe and stay well. This all may pass at sometime in the future.