2021 Year End December 31, 2021

 We are at the end of another year that seems like it was five years long! Annual year in review letters can seem boring, especially to those of you who could care less about all the kids-grandkids-pets- travel that we will be sharing. We understand, which is why you can just as easily dump this in your trash folder or not even open it.  It seems so easy and that is OK by us. We understand.

2021 started so hopefully. We were about to embark on a new year. Trump was almost gone, his protestations not withstanding. Vaccines were close to being released. Technology and science were set to win out over the Coronavirus; civility, propriety and reason were about to enter into the White House; the great national divide was about to be sutured together for healing. January 6th snuck up on us and, just as an entire nation had stared dumbfounded on September 11, 2001, we again were transfixed by the images on our screens of our nation being attacked, this time from within and hectored on by a man who is so self-involved, so dismissive, so … so… so…Well you get the picture and we don’t need to belabor the point. If you think we are being too harsh, you don’t really know us. We’ll leave it at that.

Early in the year, we celebrated Deb’s 70th birthday, this time via a surprise Zoom call including friends, relatives, co-workers and various fans. Not the greatest surprise party ever staged, but it got the job done in the time of COVID. This set the tone for a host of following 70th birthday events during 2021 for her friends: Jan Morrison, Deb Duggan, Glenda Pierce, Peg Strickland, Char Thiessen and Judy Cormaci to name just a few.

We completed two projects on the house this year, one intentional and one not. The intentional was to finish the remodel of the lower level (some would say basement) room into a library/TV room/alternate guest room. The unintentional was caused by a burst pipe in a wall of our family room. During a run of sub-zero days, a water line pipe leading to the laundry area burst at 11:00 one night. Luckily for us, we were awake watching television and were able to get the water shut down in a matter of minutes. The plumber arrived two days later to make the repair and then we spent a few weeks tearing out drywall, insulating the area after it dried out and then repainting.

As to travel, about the farthest we journeyed was to the COVID testing sites to have our nasal passages tortured. We tested every few weeks; it felt like we were doing something, and as Mark is immunocompromised, it felt like cheap (free) insurance. Besides we went to different sites each time so were able to travel around the city some. We were out weekly for grocery shopping, Mark drove and waited in the car, Deb masked up and went in for the supplies, trying to maintain her 6 foot safe space and spraying her hands after each trip.

In April, our friends Del and Karen Sennentz stopped by for lunch at our house on their way back to Kearney and then the drive home to Phoenix. They had come to town to get a glimpse of a first great-grandchild. Since we did not get to Arizona this year, it was our only non-Zoom chance to see them. Later in April we drove to Fairmont, Minnesota to visit Deb’s uncle, Gilbert Picken to celebrate his 90th birthday. Gilbert (Uncle Bud to Deb) was the last remaining member of that generation on her side of the family. Following our visit we journeyed to Minneapolis for shopping and a dinner with our friend April Dillon, then home again. We were saddened to learn of Gil’s death just after Thanksgiving. He fell at his home and never recovered consciousness. We are so glad we got to spend this day with him and his daughter and son-in-law Diane and Scott Posner. 

Also in April, we began work on an additional vegetable garden at Abigail’s house. Her back yard is very sunny and lends itself well to the raised beds we have built over the years. This year’s addition was extra deep to accommodate potatoes and other root crops. We also began laying out border gardens for shrubs and flowers around the yard. This is going to be a long term project but allows us to be creative on a whole new gardening canvas.

In May we stopped our weekly blog chronicling our COVID adventures, thinking the pandemic was drawing to a close. Shows what we knew. Regular readers will know that we lost our beloved cat, Sushi in May. Later in the summer we became the caretakers of Cleo, an older small black cat that had been Abigail’s cat for some years. Cleo was struggling with the onslaught of other dogs and cats at their house, and we had a hole in our hearts which Cleo was soon to fill. In May we also received a visit from Mark’s high school friend David McQuinn and his wife Susan. Dave’s mother passed away last December and they traveled from their home in Minnesota to lay her ashes to rest. They stopped by the house and we spent some afternoon hours on the patio enjoying a bottle of wine and reminiscing. We hope to catch up with them in the future in our travels.

In June, Ed and Meg came to visit from their home in North Hollywood, taking a break from their respective jobs as Director of Corporate Computer Security for Warner Media, and partner in Morman Boling Casting Agency; the occasion being Ed’s 30th High School Reunion. They joined us again over the Christmas holidays, filling the house with even more seasonal spirit. We will next see them at the their wedding ceremony in Temecula, California in April 2022. 

Ed’s kids are doing well, Christopher gainfully employed at the U.S. Postal Service as a mail carrier, Avery finishing up her degree at Towson University in Maryland, set to graduate in May, and Spenser learning how to cook and be a chef at a restaurant in Hagerstown, Maryland. Jake’s kids are safe: Sabrina stationed with the Air Force in Florida, and Adrian flying away on December 27th to take his oath and head off to Air Force Boot Camp at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. In Pleasant Ridge, Michigan, Jake continues to keep Ford Motor running and Audrey stays more than busy wrangling the employees and customers of her successful Woodward Pet Sitting Service.

Abigail continues her payroll work at PayPlus, the provider for Home Instead Franchisee payrolls. Home Instead was sold this year, but, so far, her firm continues to provide services. Darcy and her partner Bud (formerly Maria) continue to share Abigail’s home. Darcy wrapped up her employment this summer with Omaha Girls Rock and they have embarked on a new venture called East Oh! - a web based business providing information and safe sex equipment. If you are interested, you can check their website -www.eastohomaha.com. 

Mark continued his volunteer work with Nebraska Extension Master Gardeners program, herding a crew of twenty-three mostly elderly volunteer gardeners around the 13 gardens they have created at The Josie Harper Hospice Residence. Deb continued providing travel services to a dwindling group of clients. The clientele is much older, travel in times of COVID is much more difficult, and life is getting too short. She has a few trips booked for the coming year, but is more than happy to hang up her computer, clean out her files and let it slide. 48 years may be enough. We shall see what the future brings.

Mark’s aunt, Carolyn Covert Wilcox died this past summer at age 95. She was the last of that generation on his side. We had not seen her in a few years and so must remember her only in our memories - all good ones. On the brighter side, life goes on and continues. Our friends Zöe and Garth Highland gave birth to the third member of their expanding brood - Arthur Michael Highland on July 12. This was a difficult pregnancy - Zöe spent the final 8 weeks in the maternity ward of the Nebraska Medical Center. Zöe’s mom, Bernadette Cleary, wrangled a special dispensation visa to arrive from her home in County Tipperary, Ireland prior to the birth and spent nearly three months helping out. We were able to welcome Bernadette to our front porch for a wee glass o’ wine some evenings - only to relieve the stress, mind you. Bernadette has returned to Ireland, Arthur is thriving wonderfully, his sisters Iris and Esmè are not yet tired of him, and mom and dad are coping. All is well.

In October, Deb and Abigail flew to New York State to attend the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival, allegedly the nation’s largest gathering of all things wool, including the animals, the yarn, the weavers and the knitters. Abigail met people from around the country, some of whom even follow her knitting on You Tube. If you want to follow her, look for Covert Knits on You Tube.

In early December, Deb drove to Nebraska City and met with her friend Glenda Pierce who drove in from Lincoln. The two of them then proceeded south to Weston Missouri to meet with their other high school trouble maker - Peg Strickland. They did some Christmas shopping at Weston’s fabulous Christmas Market, returning home the same day. A long day well spent and renewing an old and enduring friendship.

We hope this letter finds all of you and yours well and safe. Please keep washing your hands, staying safe and masked up. We have great hopes of getting on the road in 2022, and if we are successful, we will see you then. We love you all - Deb & Mark.

Pandemic Omaha Friday December 25, 2020

Happy Christmas. This is Christmas week, so this post will be short, as we here at the Covert household are running hither and yon, getting ready for the big little day. A few birthdays to comment on this week: Howie Needelman turned a year older as he closed the door on his 71st on Wednesday. Our neighbor Mike Cortese is one of those unlucky children who celebrate on December 25 - always a disappointment as a kid, but a bit of a blessing as one grows older - less attention on age! While still a kid at heart, Mike celebrated his 53rd this year.

Last Friday, we enjoyed a cocktail Zoom with our friends Kevin and Tom in Tucson. As noted last week, the Arizona weather is decidedly cooler than expected. This makes up for the 2020 record number of days over 100º F for this State.  Over the weekend we plotted our menu for the coming important day, we mailed a bunch of stuff that may or may not make it to the intended destinations on time, and finished some last minute shopping.

Monday we motored out for another Covid test at the Mall - our sixth of the year. The Test Nebraska system is running much more smoothly now, there were not long lines, and we received results in about 30 hours - both still negative. We enjoyed a wonderful pan fried thick Duroc Pork chop accompanied by home fried potatoes Monday evening, a break from all the sweets we have been picking at during the days.

Tuesday was a tough day, Deb baking and fasting as she was scheduled for a colonoscopy and endoscopy on Wednesday. Mark was dispatched Wednesday morning to drive our friend Marsha Gallagher to her ophthalmologist for her second cataract surgery, and Darcy was pressed upon as driver and helper for Deb. All turned out well for everyone, so that is one less thing to worry us.

The key activity this week is baking and wrapping. Deb has been in charge of baking and buying, Mark in charge of wrapping. Amazon, USPS, FedEx and UPS have been doing super duty on our street. Although there was one minor glitch: we had mixed up five 2-liter bottles of mulled wine, labeled it with a Christmas wish, and tucked it away on the front porch in a corner to cool. One Amazon driver, as he made his delivery, spied the stash and evidently assumed it was a thank you gift for all his hard work. At least, that’s the positive thought we have assigned to his outright theft of a bottle.

We can only hope that he was of legal drinking age as Deb’s fingerprints were all over the bottle and we would not want to be accused of contributing to the delinquency of a minor (although we probably have been guilty of that over the years.)

The baking yielded miniature loaves of pumpkin bread, turtle cookies, frosted cookies, peanut clusters, frosted spice bars (a personal favorite) shortbread bars, and, on Christmas Eve, almond pastry for distribution to neighbors and family, 10 total pastries which we distributed, masks in place, on Christmas Eve. We drove around dropping off baked goods and mulled wine, interrupting people’s dinners, their cleaning and wrapping, or leaving at doors of those who were afraid of masked strangers ringing their doorbells. We would have sung carols, except we had to maintain our 6 foot distance and remain muffled with the masks. Our duets are not that tuneful in any event.

Christmas Eve started early here, with Mark headed out at 6:15 in 7ºF weather to scrape the snow and ice off the drive and sidewalks. While Deb baked all day on Christmas Eve, Mark commenced wrapping, and wrapping, and wrapping. Following our drive about for deliveries, we were back home by 6:00. Abigail and Darcy arrived around 6:30, bearing gifts and looking for some love. Maria stayed home to have some quiet time, watch the dogs, and prepare for her visit to her family on the next day.

We dined on the world’s largest lasagna that Deb had prepared during the day, accompanied by two of Mark’s baguettes and a fresh salad. We munched on some of the sweets that were covering the counters, and enjoyed libations of red wine, Prosecco, and Moscato. Abigail, who never drinks, enjoyed her bottle of Moscato greatly. Today she spent the first day in her office since the pandemic was declared in March. She worked for about 6 hours in her office with five other team members, enjoying the company of her co-workers but struggling with the requirement of shoes, bra, and real jeans - not her normal work from home attire.

We opened gifts, laughed, talked and remained as socially distanced as possible in a small house. Darcy, who is out and about in the world more than the rest of us, remained masked the entire evening, lifting only to eat and drink. Finally, around 11:55, the girls headed home and Deb and I to bed. This was one of the strangest Christmas’s we have ever endured. It was a small group with big love radiating from every pore. 

 We wish each of you a Happy Christmas season - peace hope, prosperity and good health to all. Please stay safe, stay masked and wring those hands with soap and running water. Distribute safely distanced hugs and blow kisses to everyone you can think of. We are sending the same to all of you.

Pandemic Omaha, Friday, December 18, 2020

 ‘Twas the week before Christmas and all through the house, every creature was on the move except for the mouse and  Sushi the cat who is sleeping by the fire; Harry the dog is pacing or pissing on the carpet, Mark is trying to stay out of the way and Deb is shopping, baking, wrapping, baking and baking. Amazon, Federal Express and the U.S. Postal Service are daily visitors, climbing the six steps up from the drive and then mounting the additional seven steps up to the front porch to deliver their boxes and shipping bags.

That part above about Harry and the carpet: we are trying to interpret his moaning and pacing which are probably signals of his need to go out, but he is old and we are old. All of us oldsters understand insistent bladders, and some of us oldsters understand lack of attention, particularly when the moaning can mean so many different things, all sounding the same. The large snow flakes that started last Friday morning turned into slush, followed by a topping of two or more inches of snow and then a plunge in temperature. This snow weighs a ton, so Darcy, now the favorite child, came over to shovel the walks and the driveway. Unfortunately, we didn’t suggest she shovel the back deck, which resulted in Mark’s narrow, ice covered path way for Harry. When you are deaf, blind, unstable on your legs, and not too good at icy steps, you are not willing to go out unless carried by another elderly unsteady housemate. We are awaiting a thaw for this weekend so we can clean the rear deck and claim a fresh path for Harry. Sorry about that old guy!

Saturday we stayed in to let the streets get cleared and spent the morning lounging and the afternoon on the Saturday Family Zoom call. Again, no grandchildren in attendance, but Mark, John, and their children and a few spouses were all in attendance. There have been articles about Zoom Fatigue, having to spend all day staring at co-workers and finding it hard to maintain focus. However, this  biweekly schedule we have adopted seems just about right. We feel we are closer to our long distance kids than ever, we see more of our local in-laws than we did in pre-pandemic times, the one hour of concentrated visiting lasts just long enough. Our communication methods are forever changed, and mostly for the better. It will be great to see everyone in person again someday, but for now - this will do.

Our friend Marsha Gallagher has elected to have cataract surgery, her vision has been very compromised in the last few years. Her partner, Ted James, can no longer drive due to his vision problems, so if they want to maintain good mobility, this was the choice. Deb and Mark urged Marsha to have the surgery and volunteered to be the designated drivers to get her to and from appointments and surgery. Sunday we took a test drive to their home in Bellevue to get the timing down and to make sure Deb, who drew the first run, knew the route; their home is sited deep on the edge of Fontenelle Forest and hard to find the first time or two. Following the test run, we went shopping to grocery stores and other merchants to pick up supplies for the week. Upon return home, Mark baked a couple of baguettes and Deb started her world famous chili, owing to the cold weather. Deb is still working on recipe reduction; we are going to be feasting on chili for at least three days. Good thing it is the world’s best chili!

She also had time for a couple of batches of pecan bars and a whole mess of peanut clusters. Hopefully the goodies will last until Christmas Eve.

Mark journeyed out Monday morning for his six-month eye exam at the ophthalmologist. Visual Field checked out “perfect” and eye pressure was unchanged. He is set up for another six month appointment in the summer and he was back home without any dilation required. Monday evening is usually trash night at our house, but with the advent of the new 96-gallon rolling receptacles, we find that we did not even get to the halfway mark on either bin. Hence no trash out this evening. After all these years, it felt strange to hear the trucks go rolling by the next morning and not hear the crash of cans and look out to see those hurtling down the hill. We still think we will opt for the 48-gallon size when they become available in the spring, but we now think these will easily hold a week’s worth of our refuse. We enjoyed another great bowl of chili for dinner.

Tuesday, Deb had her annual dental check-up and cleaning before heading down to Bellevue to pick up Marsha and take her to her outpatient surgical appointment. All went well and Marsha was delivered home and Deb returned in time for evening drinks in front of the fire. The last of the chili tonight, satisfying to the very end. Chili is always better on day two and best on day three as the flavors meld and it all comes together.

Wednesday morning, it was Mark’s turn to head to Bellevue and get Marsha to her morning appointment for follow-up. Prognosis was great, the surgeon was very pleased with the outcome, and her recovery is going so well that the second follow-up appointment was cancelled. She is clear to drive when she feels ready. The second round for the left eye is scheduled for the two days before Christmas, then she can feel relieved that it is all behind her. 

Deb baked up a few batches of short bread bars just to keep her baking chops sharp. While working away in the kitchen, she heard a loud crash coming from the north sliding door. Turning around, she walked over to the door to see what she could see. There, for her wondering eyes what should appear but. . . . Wait for it. . . . . A large red-headed woodpecker laying perfectly spread eagled (pun intended) on the snow of the deck. This was a beautiful bird; thinking the avian dead, she rushed to get her phone for a picture, opened the door, and whoosh, the bird hopped up and flew away, rising to the roof tops and shouting - no wait, that is another story. She was so relieved, she felt an undescribable elation  Anyway, this isn’t the first bird to plow into the window here. We have mounted a heated birdbath right on the corner of the deck, some six feet from the door. Not the best spot for a birdbath, but close enough that it can be plugged into the outside electrical outlet easily, and we can also keep the bath filled. There is no photo of the fellow, perhaps a picture of Deb looking shocked, covered in flour with a mixing spoon in her hand will suffice. 

Thursday Deb wrapped and packed all the boxes for shipping to the out-of-town kids. FedEx guarantees they will reach the destination by December 20, but if not, it’s the thought that counts. Thursday night we enjoyed another Zoom cocktail encounter with our friends the Sennentzes in Anthem, north of Phoenix. We learned all about the unseasonably cool weather they are encountering. Lows in the upper 30’s and mid 40’s, with highs in the upper 60’s. The high this coming weekend is forecast at 73ºF - not what you would expect from Phoenix this time of year. Dell may have to slip into some long pants in the evenings. They had a rainfall this week, only the 15th measurable rainfall of the year - 2020 is still working its ‘magic.”

Stay safe, keep your masks on, wash your hands, don’t engage in unprotected hugs. McConnell, the “Turtle,” has finally congratulated his former Senate colleague Joe Biden on his election to the presidency. The orange hairdo in the Oval Office has not yet conceded. There is a small article in the newspaper regarding Mar-A-Lago, the former Marjorie Merriweather Post mansion that has been converted to a country club by you know who. He is intending to move there to use as his home on January 21. However, there is a rule in the fine print of the organization that states that no one can use it as a permanent residence, only as temporary place to stay. Anxious to see how he gets around this one.