Final Omaha Pandemic Post, Friday, May 6, 2021

As suggested by today’s title, we are ending the weekly posting of our activities during the COVID 19 pandemic. We have enjoyed writing of our adventures, trials and tribulations during the past thirteen months.

We have watched our country struggle with the virus, lose ground gain ground, issue mistaken directives, issue corrections, and finally find a path leading to eventual suppression of the disease. 

We have celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, food, short trips, daydreams, projects, projects and more projects. We have chided our leaders at times, lost our temper at failed leadership, and encouraged our friends, family and neighbors to stay safe, get vaccinated and be kind. We do have one Birthday to note: Saturday, May 1, our youngest grandson, Spenser Busk Covert, celebrated his 19th birthday.  Congratulations to Spenser and we look forward to hearing of all his adventures in the future. 

We also made the difficult decision this past week to take our dear cat Sushi for one last trip to the veterinarian. He left us on Saturday, May 1.

Sushi came to us, as have most our pets, through happenstance. Sushi had been living with Darcy for a year or so, acquired from a friend, around 2006. When Darcy moved to a different apartment, Sushi came to live with us. He, eventually joined by Harry, made up our tight little family of four. Sushi was a great cat for us; occasionally harassing Harry and often joining us on our back deck at our former house most evenings for our cocktail hour, patrolling the rear yard and coming in when we were ready. That tradition continued at our current home until three years ago. One evening, he disappeared from the rear yard. He evidently found a chink in our fencing, went exploring and then could not find his way home. We spent weeks searching for him and had given him up as lost forever. One Sunday morning, a walking neighbor came running up as we were sitting on the front porch reading the morning paper. She said she thinks she found Sushi. We hustled the five blocks over and saw him, filthy, sitting in the middle of an alley sunning himself. He had taken shelter under an old garage shed and was very skittish when we picked him up. We took him to the vet, had him checked out and cleaned up. He never again had any interest in going outside, nor did we have any interest in inviting him out. Rest In Peace Sushi. You are missed. 

Now, as our life returns to a new normal, as we get out in our gardens, move about the city, and begin short travels, we think we have said all we need to say about our life during this time of national suffering; we have posted enough photos of food and flowers.

We will continue to write of our travels, and will post when appropriate on happenings and issues we find fascinating or informative. Our posts will remain out in the “blogosphere” along with our other Covert Journeys writing. If we head on another trip, we will again post a daily update of our travels and send out an email to hose on our mailing list, alerting to an update. 

Thank you all for reading our ramblings, sending your comments, and holding your tongue when you thought we were nuts! We have enjoyed the outlet and hope to see all of you over the next few months as we travel around. Please stay safe, continue to stay distanced and keep washing your hands and wearing your masks. If you are not yet vaccinated - get it done. If you are not vaccinated, we will not be able to see you, nor will we be able to welcome you into our home when you visit. This may be harsh, but it is science and it is reality. If you haven’t yet noticed, we have little time for stupidity and irrationality. For those of you who are Mothers, enjoy the day on Sunday. For those who are not, call your mother (if that is still a lucky option) or take a moment to remember all of her sacrifices for you. Be well. 

Omaha Pandemic, Friday, April 30, 2021

Road Trip! Our first excursion out of Omaha since July 31, 2020 when we traveled to Red Cloud Nebraska, hometown of Willa Cather and now home to the National Willa Cather Center. This trip was not just a lark, but a purposeful sojourn to celebrate a birthday - the 90th birthday of Deb’s Uncle Bud (Gilbert) Picken. Bud is the only sibling of Deb’s father and is still living by himself, together with his trusty long-haired Dachshund Sara. We departed Omaha on Friday morning at 10:50 AM, getting only three blocks away before turning around to pick up a forgotten item. We finally hit the road at 11:03, headed for I-80 and then I-29 north to Missouri Valley via Crescent Iowa. Our first delay is encountered in MoValley;  the Union Pacific mainline runs through this town, and there are three sets of tracks. Just as we pull into the outskirts, the signal arm drops and two trains, both headed the same direction, pull across the road and grind to a stop. No way around. After 10 minutes or so, Deb realizes that she may have consumed too much coffee prior to our departure from home. Nowhere to go and a crisis impending. Next to the road is Mike’s Automotive Repair store, a two bay steel building with vehicles in front. We pull out of the train wait line and into the parking lot. Deb hustles in, pleading a urinary emergency and they grant her access to the facilities. Back on the road, we wait another 10 minutes for the signal arm to lift and we are on our way.

We are not good Interstate Highway travelers, much preferring the “blue roads” of rural America. A slower way to travel, but much more scenic, flavorful, and no harassing semi-trailer vehicles to wear us down. Our first stop was our guilty pleasure of a McDoanld’s Restaurant in Denison, Iowa. We only eat McDonald’s when we are on the road. This first taste in 2021 was of a Quarter-Pounder with Cheese and a double burger, no cheese. The obligatory french fries were topped off with good hot coffee. Then back on the road headed to our destination of Fairmont Minnesota. The town is just north of the Iowa-Minnesota border, midway across Minnesota on I-90. We had told the relatives we would arrive around 4:00 PM, and we pulled up at 3:57! Great navigating and driving. 

As noted, Bud lives independently in a small cottage home in the middle of Fairmont, but for the birthday event, his daughter and son-in-law Denise and Scott Posner traveled in from their home in Wisconsin. As Denise spent her  teenage years in Fairmont, coming in to visit Dad is a regular event. It gives her a chance to attend his various doctor’s appointments and also to see her brother Dan, who lives in nearby Mankato, Minnesota. Dan was not able to join us for the birthday celebration, although he was scheduled to come visiting the next day. We are sorry we missed seeing him, as Deb has not seen him sine they were kids.

After visiting for a few hours and reviewing the batches of photos Deb had brought to share with her family, the pizza that Diane had ordered arrived for our dinner. Bud is hard of hearing and wears hearing aids. Diane had prepaid for the pizza, and was trying to jockey her way to the door to offer a tip to the driver. Bud however was first at the door and saw the ticket for the $37.00 pizzas and promptly offered the delivery driver $40.00, telling him to keep the change as a tip. He was a very happy driver, and sped off with a smile. It wasn’t until sometime later that Diane explained to her Dad that she had already paid for the pizza and the driver just earned a $40.00 tip! Bud took it well and said “Well, I have been having a hard time getting rid of this extra money that keeps showing up in my account from the government, so it wasn’t too bad a mistake!”  To accompany the dinner Bud had whipped up a Waldorf Salad and we enjoyed the food and smiled at the error.

Diane had made a wild blueberry pie for dessert, so we stuck some candles in it, sang Happy Birthday, and enjoyed the delicious pie with some ice cream. We finally headed out to our hotel room shortly after 9:00, well after Bud’s normal bedtime, but we so enjoyed the visit and hope he did too.

Saturday morning we rousted out, packed up our bags and stopped at McDonald’s for a breakfast egg and biscuit breakfast with more coffee and headed to Minneapolis along the blue roads. We arrived at our destination, the IKEA store next to the Mall of America. We have just spent months clearing the lower level of detritus, so why are we stopping at this Mecca of consumerism? We love the design sense of IKEA and almost always find some small stuff to carry home. This trip, our largest purchase is floor lamp intended for the new lower level library, together with some other small stuff, stopper bottles for wine, a small wastebasket, a couple of packs of frozen meatballs.

Speaking of IKEA’s famous Swedish meatball dinner in the cafeteria, the cafeteria is open. there is a sign we scan in order to secure a time to eat at the cafeteria - no time slots available! Hence we are left with picking up a few packs at the market at check-out. We had planned ahead and brought a cold bag for just such an eventuality.

We finished at the store and moved on to our evening’s hotel, arriving around 4:00 PM. We refreshed, had a glass of wine and then arranged to meet our friend April Dillon at a nearby parking lot. There is major construction around her new neighborhood, occasioned by the light rail coming through the area and it would have been impossible for us to find her new home on our own. She drove us the few winding blocks to her new apartment building and we elevatored to the 5th floor for a tour of her new home. She has done a marvelous job of picking just the right unit in the right place in the building, affording a sweeping view with no chance of another building impeding her view, north light and plenty of windows. She has had to edit her belongings as we all have when we downsize, but she has done a masterful job of editing and display. Her new home is lovely and inviting.

At six, we returned to the parking lot, conveniently also the place of our selected restaurant, Jimmy’s. this is our first foray into a sit down restaurant since the COVID crisis hit. The place was crowded and though they advertised that they were safely distanced, it felt very close to us!  However, all servers were masked and we settled into a table safely away from others. This place is known for its halibut, walleye and seafood. We each tried something different, and although passable, it was not up to the gourmet standards we had expected, especially considering the pricing. We did enjoy the conversation, the martinis, the wine and the outing, but could not recommend this place in the future.

 We were back in the hotel by 9:30, quickly into bed and sleeping fitfully through the night. On Sunday morning, we met April again at another nearby breakfast place for some eggs, toast and other goodies, together with coffee. We said our goodbyes, and headed south toward home, on the road by shortly after 10:30. It was cloudy and 48ºF when we left Edina. As we headed south the temperature slowly started to drop. By the time we were just south of Mankato, it started to spit and we soon found ourselves in a snowstorm with limited visibility. the snow wasn’t sticking to the pavement, but the fields were turning white. By the time we crossed into Iowa, the temperature was down to 34ºF. We stopped for a bathroom break and to fuel the car and continued south. (If you look closely at the photo, right, you will see that the town name is Frost, Minnesota!)

At 28 miles south of the gas station, our low tire indicator light came on and we pulled over near the intersection of U.S. 169 and Iowa 9, just outside of Logan Iowa, A quick inspection showed a rear driver- side flat tire. We unloaded all of our IKEA purchases into the rear seat and pulled the spare tire and jack from its storage position. The snow had stopped, the pavement was dry, but the winds were stiff. Mark, in his sandals and no gloves, began the tire changing process. One lug nut would not come loose, neither tightening nor loosening. Obviously cross threaded. We called AAA and learned that it would be up to 3 hours before they could reach us. True to their word, at 3:30 the truck pulled up. It was a guy from Fairmont Minnesota, the same town we had visited for the Picken birthday party. He had the tire off and the spare on and inflated properly within 30 minutes. Although we were covered by AAA, we let loose another $40 tip for the help we were so grateful for. That was two $40 tips in one weekend for the residents of Fairmont! We hope they remember us the next time we come through.

The rest of the trip was uneventful, but we did stop at a Dairy Queen for the other obligatory pleasure of a road trip - no, not a Blizzard, but a Sundae, topped with chocolate and peanuts. We arrived home at 8:00 and unloaded the car, had a bite to eat and a glass of wine and then rolled into bed, tired but really glad to be home. We had noted that when we passed into Omaha, the temperature had climbed to 78ºF, a 44º swing in less than two hundred miles.

Monday was the 12th wedding anniversary of Claire Covert Bybee and James Bybee. Congrats to these two youngsters! We took the blue chariot in for repair and learned that the damaged tire was unrepairable and needed replacement, the second in two weeks, and also that all the lug nuts on the wheel were now cross threaded, requiring them all to be broken off, the hub pulled and five new ones installed. New tire, $250, repair $185, tip to AAA $40. All in all, an expensive trip, automotive-wise.

Tuesday afternoon, Deb met Abigail at Lowe’s to pick out plants and generally wander the store getting ideas for the garden. That evening, Deb enjoyed a Zoom meeting with her book club; the book was Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. All enjoyed it. 

Wednesday Mark traveled to Master Gardeners to supervise installation of the flagstone he had ordered for a path in a new garden area they were constructing, followed by a coffee hour hosted by the staff of Hospice, thanking the crew for all their annual work. While Mark was working away, Deb walked over to the Highland neighbors for coffee and some time with Esmè, Zoë and Garth. Iris was in class. Wednesday evening, was Girls Drinks Night, again at our house so Mark was forced into the lower level library to watch PBS Newshour and his latest binge, Balthazar, a French murder series.

Thursday noon, Deb’s Girls Lunch group, Mary Carter, Deb Duggan and Lee Needelman arrived, each with their own lunch to dine on the patio, the weather rising to a perfect 74ºF. Thursday evening was a time for relaxation, a home-grilled hamburger and en evening watching Backyard Farmer and catching up on Jack Irish. So ends another extremely busy week. When do we have time to relax?  Not this week.

Again, if you haven’t been vaccinated, get to it please. Now we can be outside without masks but caution is still the watch word. By the way, Sushi the cat lived through the weekend and into the week, still struggling but “not dead yet!” Thanks for following our adventures!

Omaha Pandemic, Friday, April 23, 2021

Another strange weather week in the Midwest. Sunny but blustery days, with overnight temperatures dropping into below freezing range most nights. As much as we love getting the flowers out and uncovering our plantings around the garden, we have resisted and are now glad we have. We even had a light dusting of snow on Tuesday morning.

A big birthday shoutout to first-born son Edwin Busk Covert III on completing his 48th year! Only a few years away from a milestone birthday (of course that means Mark too will be celebrating a milestone that same year, owing to their 25 year age difference!) Ed celebrated by an attempt to dine in every upscale taco joint in LA for his birthday, courtesy of Meg’s planning and knowledge of Ed’s culinary loves. Good job Meg!

Tuesday morning we took our cat Sushi to the veterinarian. He had been listless, no longer jumping onto the sofa for a scratch or onto the bed as Deb was trying to read, demanding a scratch with his loud purring and head butting. We learned that his weight had dropped nearly in half to about six pounds, all due to a huge tumorous mass that has grown around his abdomen, narrowing his trachea, making it hard for him to eat or purr. It is inoperable and it could be days to perhaps a month longer for him. We are truly sad, this will be the second pet this year that we have lost. We are doing our best to make his final days comfortable, putting out good food, letting him sleep constantly (what’s new - he is a cat) and keeping his water fresh.

Abigail has been having some food adventures. She has become a real grillmaster,

cooking turkey burgers and asparagus on her deck grill. She is already an accomplished cook, but adding this dimension to her repertoire bodes very well for future dinners at our daughter’s house. We are thrilled. 

We finished up the lower level library (Mark is forbidden using the term Man Cave) and have spent a small amount of time watching TV, reading and admiring our work. Wednesday evening Deb hosted her weekly Girl’s Drink Night at the house, so the invitees were invited down to ooh and aah then banned to the upper level while Mark cracked a bottle of red wine and proceeded to watch his favorite PBS Newshour show on his own, accompanied by a box of wheat thins and a stack of Swiss cheese squares. It was like a banishment to heaven, although probably not too good for his arteries.

Wednesday morning Mark traveled to his Master Gardener site, got the team working in 30ºF weather and then promptly returned home after an hour due to cold fingers with no appropriate gloves. The crew stayed behind long enough to finish a small amount of clean-up and plant the 24 elderberry bushes that arrived from the Nebraska Resources District; bare root twigs that should make it just fine in our climate. Although the berries are poisonous to humans in their raw state, they make excellent jellies and wine when properly cooked; that assumes the birds and critters don’t get to them first. It will probably be 2022 before we see any fruit from these twigs.

Thursday morning Deb did actual travel agent work, booking some cruises and cleaning up some details. Mark mowed the lawns and in the evening we dined at Lee and Howie Needelman’s home, inside and unmasked, as we have all been fully vaccinated. A joy to see them in person and the Asian cuisine was excellent as always. We learned of Howie’s experience with his AmEx card account due to the massive hacking of UNMC information of last year. Evidently he was buying things all over the country and applying for multiple new AmEx card accounts; a harrowing story. The most intriguing was that the thieves would remotely set up call forwarding on  their home phone number in order to confirm information from the card companies when they would call to confirm purchases!

Friday morning we are leaving on our first road trip in over a year, driving to Fairmont Minnesota to help celebrate Deb’s uncle Bud’s (Roger’s younger brother)  90th birthday. Bud (or Gil, as his family calls him) still lives by himself (with his little dog, Sarah) and is fairly independent. We also will see Deb’s cousin Diane and hopefully Diane’s brother Dan.  Following our day/evening in Fairmont, we are running up to the Minneapolis area for an outing at the IKEA store and then some time with our good friend April Dillon, returning on Sunday. Weather forecast is good, but a chance of snow on Sunday in Minnesota. We are looking to a great trip and will properly note it our next weekly report. 

Darcy and Maria, along with their dogs Norman and Weenie, will be staying at the house and looking after Sushi. We are hoping Sushi’s health holds until we return. We hope you are now vaccinated and urge you to stay masked whenever appropriate, maintain proper distancing and get outside to enjoy the spring weather in your part of the world. Keep washing your hands and stay safe.

Omaha Pandemic, Friday, April 16, 2021

Weather report: overnight temperatures dropping into the upper 20’s, daytime highs in the lower 50’s this week. Friday afternoon rain predicted, which is overdue. It has been snowing in the western part of Nebraska, 450 miles west of here, but will turn to rain by the time the front reaches us.

There are no birthdays to report this week; however, we did note that on April 15, we remembered the second anniversary of our trip to Europe together with the Needelmans in 2019. We note it, as this is the date when fire erupted in the roof area of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. We had just passed by the cathedral and returned to our hotel room when our phones erupted and the CNN news flashed pictures of the burning cathedral. The next day, we walked back to witness the scene, with fire hoses spread all around and the usual onslaught of gawkers, chattering away in their native language, we could barely catch a phrase. For more details, see our post of April 2019 by searching on “France.”

Friday, Abigail took the afternoon off from work so she and Deb could plant the early seeds in the garden beds - potatoes, carrots, onion sets, radishes, lettuce, spinach and peas. Mark spent the time installing some solar lights along the two stairways leading from the lawn up to the deck.That evening we had another Zoom meeting with friends Tom and Kevin in Tucson. They were out on their patio, under the sunlight with the mountain view reflected in their windows. If we get to Arizona this year, it will be in the heat of summer, but that’s what why air conditioning was invented! 

Saturday we watched another instalment of vegetable growing, presented by the Nebraska Extension Service, this time on container gardening. Mark finished putting together the shelving units in the basement, and we moved the area rug down in preparation for work on the new queen sized futon, and glass-fronted shelving units that had been stored in the garage during construction.

Sunday we finished up detail work in the basement rooms and Deb broke out her Instant Pot and dropped in a couple of chicken carcasses she had been saving in the freezer, resulting in a couple of quarts of chicken broth to be used in all sorts of tasty dishes in the next few weeks. A quiet Sunday.

Monday morning, Mark completed most of the futon set-up and Deb began the task of shelving books from boxes and stacks spread throughout the basement. In the afternoon, Mark stepped out to plug his batteries into the lawn mower and clean up the lawn. Deb got out her trusty rake and clippers to do some clean up and we managed to fill two leaf bags! The new 2021 trash pick up program in Omaha is quite restrictive. The plan doesn’t allow yard bags except from May17 through June 25. Excess yard waste at any other time should go in the 96 gallon containers to be added to the landfill. Of course if there is too much in the big bin, then we have to put the yard bags out with each bag bearing a sticker we purchase from the City at the rate of $1.98 per bag, plus City sales tax. All rather irritating.

Tuesday, Darcy arrived in the afternoon to help us finish the futon and to assist in placement of the unit and mattress. Mark hung the television set over the antique book shelf units and Darcy helped to connect the Apple TV unit for use with the TV. we then settled in for an initial glass of wine in front of the TV in our newly christened Lower Level Library!

Wednesday, Mark headed out early for his weekly stint as a Master Gardener. He is a crew leader at the demonstration gardens set up at the Josie Harper Hospice House facility. They actually tend to over 11 separate gardens on the ground and Wednesday was the first day for the crew. The morning broke brisk with a low of 32ºF which slowed the crew down some, but by 11:00 AM all was looking good, so they broke for a coffee.   klatsch to end the day. In the afternoon, Deb finished loading almost all of the books into the new library area and started sorting and shelving. The books were all shelved by Thursday afternoon and Deb headed for her first haircut appointment in over a year. Mark broke down all the remaining cardboard in the garage, swept it out, and delivered the cardboard to the recycling center.

We are planning our first road trip for this coming weekend - stay tuned for our trip to Minnesota and the little things we encounter along the way. Back to our true Covert Journeys. Stay safe, mask up, wash your hands often, don’t kiss strangers and schedule your vaccination.

Omaha Pandemic, Friday, April 9, 2021

Weather has been spotty in Omaha this past week. Temperatures raised to the mid 70ºF range over the weekend and plunged to a high of 44ºF on Wednesday. Sunshine followed by 1.55 inches of rain, followed by a sunny Friday. spring is here; now we wait for tornado season! Birthdays to report this past week include Colin Duggan celebrating his 42nd birthday on Sunday and our good friend April Dillon celebrating her 70th in the northern sunny climes of Eden Prairie, Minnesota on Friday. Congratulations to both.

Projects both inside and outside this week soaked up some of our energy. On Saturday, a sunny warm day, we journeyed to Abigail’s house to construct a new raised planting bed for vegetables. This one is constructed of 2 x 10 treated eight foot timbers. It ended up being 12 feet long and 4 feet wide, at a depth of 19 inches. We took a break in the afternoon for the bi-weekly Family Zoom call from Abigail’s deck and then finished up the construction project.

On Sunday, Easter Day, we awoke to a warm sunny morning, perused the Omaha World Herald on-line and retrieved the Sunday New York Times from the front yard. Earlier this year, we transitioned from the print addition of the daily rag to the on-line edition. As confirmed local tabloid readers, the electronic method is less than satisfying. It is very hard to sit on the front porch, nursing a morning coffee in the early light, and try to page back and forth on the iPad tablet. The page views keep changing of their own accord, throwing off any rhythm the reader tries to gain. The decision to switch to electronic is the result of an increase to nearly $600 per year for the paper edition. To say we are dissatisfied with this change is an understatement. There definitely are pluses to the Luddite life.

 

Sunday afternoon we trekked back to Abigail’s to finish work on the raised bed. Mark finished up some minor construction issues while Deb and Abigail did some yard clean up. We dumped a couple of bags of leaves into the bed box and then Mark and Abigail hauled the top soil over to the box, slit the bags, and dumped in the soil. our thirty bags of topsoil barely made a dent in the box. Looks like we are going to need more dirt, so we made plans for another run for the coming week.

Monday morning, the two of us donned our painting clothes and put final coats on the basement walls; in the afternoon,Mark set up his saw horses, miter saw and equipment in the basement, staging for cutting the base mouldings and trim for the basement project while Deb prepared for a client meeting scheduled for late afternoon. Strange how work now seems to get in the way of all our “fun” projects. 

Last week, we learned that our friends Dell and Karen were driving in from Phoenix to Kearney, Nebraska to visit their twin daughters for the Easter weekend. On Monday they drove in to Omaha to visit their new great-grandchild and to have dinner with Karen’s sister Cathy and her husband who still lived in Omaha.

Tuesday morning they stopped by our house for a few hours conversation and a cup of coffee. How strange but warmly exciting to welcome them into our home, unmasked and unworried about the COVID. All four of us are well past our vaccination dates, so were able to hug and sit in the same room, sipping our coffee and catching up. In person is so much nicer than Zoom meetings, though because of these regular Zooms, we did not need to recap the year past.

Tuesday afternoon, Mark worked on the basement while Deb toiled in the office area. That evening we welcomed our friends Lee and Howie Needelman for dinner of our favorite LaCasa pizza, some salad and bottles of red wine. Lee provided ice cream and cookies for dessert. We sat on the patio for a bit enjoying our class of wine before heading in to dine at the dining room table. They headed out around 8:30 to go walk their puppy, and we were again able to hug some vaccinated friends. There are clear benefits in this pandemic for being old and early recipients of the vaccine.

Wednesday we were back to Menard’s, ordering another 60 bags of topsoil, a half dozen bags of dark brown mulch and rented another truck from them to carry it all home. The yard crew at the store fired up the forklift and loaded the pallet of soil into the truck. Off we drove to Abigail’s and set up a bucket brigade of the two oldsters and the two daughters to unload the material from the truck. That took a quick 15 minutes to stack it on the front lawn.

Next we loaded the two extra 2 x 10 boards into the truck for return/refund and then loaded Darcy’s queen size mattress, pad and particle board bed frame into the truck. An unknown moisture source (spill, animal accident?) had stained the mattress and started to mildew so it had to go. We drove off on the next leg of our project while Darcy spent a hardworking 45 minutes wheelbarrowing the 2400 pounds of top soil around to the back yard - this a real life saver for the old folks! We drove to the dump/recycling location, paid our $20 fee and drove in to throw off the mattress, pad and broken down bed frame. Then back to Menard’s to turn in the two returned boards and rid ourselves of the truck. We were home and done by 1:00 in the afternoon just as the rain started.

Wednesday morning Mark finished most of the work in the basement and later that afternoon we experienced a two and a half hour power outage due to some faulty network equipment in the neighborhood. We put this enforced lull to good use by dozing off in the family room - everything we work with or read is now electrically powered except for some magazines already scoured. Later in the afternoon, our neighbor and electrician Tom Babb stopped over to hook up the ceiling light fixtures, receptacles and switches in the basement.

Thursday Mark finished up the moulding work, applied the caulk to hide gaps in the finished product and began work on assembly of shelving units that had been purchased from Amazon and stored in the garage during the duration. Deb headed out for grocery shopping required to sustain us for the next few weeks.

As Friday is a bright sunny day, we are now headed back over to Abigail’s this afternoon to dump the 2,400 pounds of topsoil in the box, hoping that this will be enough to raise the level for planting the potatoes, carrots beets and other root vegetables envisioned for this spot.

We still are looking for some time to get our own garden in order, cleaning up winter debris, uncovering the sprouting plants and generally getting things beautiful again. Keep your masks on in public, make your vaccination appointment if you can, stay away from strangers, and wash your hands.  We want you all safe.

Omaha Pandemic, Friday, April 2, 2021

It has been a very busy time in Central Omaha this week. Birthdays, babysitting stints, painting, gardening, and general busyness characterized our days. First to the three birthdays celebrated this past week. Our daughter-in-law, Audrey Covert in Pleasant Ridge, Michigan celebrated her 42nd on Saturday. On Monday, March 29, brother John Covert passed his 70th gloating over his new small camper. When asked what kind he received, he stated that he hadn’t checked on the box yet, but he was having a great time playing with it! He was going to put it in the back seat of his car and bring it over for Mark to play with sometime.

Also on Monday the 29th, our friend Zöe Highland celebrated her 38th birthday. We walked around the corner to her house on Monday morning for a quick party, meeting with her friend Char Thiessen and Zöe’s children to celebrate with some cupcakes, and bubbles blowing across the yard. Parties are so much fun with toddlers running around, at least in the morning.

Sunday evening we had our first indoor dinner party in over a year. Our friends Deb and Tim Duggan, both fully vaccinated, joined us for dinner. Deb prepared a Shepherd’s Pie, an amalgam of recipes from various cookbooks and her friend Glenda’s recipe. We sat down to a dinner at the dining room table after spending a cocktail time around the backyard fire pit soaking up the heat and dodging the smoke while munching on Deb Duggan’s hors d’oeuvres of sausages wrapped in pastry. The evening ended with a large helping of Deb’s world famous cherry pie.  Deb was so tired from all the baking and mixing that she didn’t make a salad and Mark hadn’t made any bread. The beautifully presented casserole was unceremoniously placed on the white plates, looking as though it may have already been digested, but it sure was tasty! A great evening and a long time coming.

Monday, after the birthday party, we headed to Menard’s for a major shopping expedition. We ordered  2 X 10 treated lumber, thirty bags of topsoil, a dozen 16 x 16 concrete stepping stones and a bundle of 8-foot base molding. As this was too big a load for our Subaru, we rented a truck from Menard’s, had them load our haul, and then headed out to Abigail’s, first stopping at our house to drop of the mouldings and pick up our large wheelbarrow.

Upon arrival at Abigail’s, the three of us unloaded the truck, stacking the lumber and stepping stones by the drive and piling the bags of soil at the top of her inclined front yard. Abigail was in the truck lifting the bags of soil and handing them off to Deb, who spun east, then south and trotted up the incline to hand them to Mark who stacked them in a neat pile, ten bags high and three across, which promptly started slipping down into a large random pile.

Mark then hopped in the truck to return to Menard’s. We had the truck for a total of 2 hours and it cost us under $40.00. A lot less than a delivery would have charged. By the time he returned to Abigail’s the girls, with Darcy’s invaluable help, had moved all of the stepping stones and half of the lumber to the rear yard. While Darcy’s young legs and strong arms wrestled the balance of the soil into the wheelbarrow and around to stack on the patio, the three remaining Covert troupe finished with the lumber. We then sat for a rest, opened a bottle of wine and rested before dinner. Abigail prepared a great Caesar’s Salad and Mark threw hamburgers on the grill for a well earned meal.

Tuesday we arose early and walked over to Zöe and Garth’s house to arrive by 8:00 AM. Our assignment was to babysit for 2 1/2 year old Esmè while Zöe and Garth attended to an OB-Gyn appointment for checkup on Zöe’s pregnancy and an ultrasound and photo of the impending new-born. We were lucky in that older sister, 4-year old Iris, was being dropped off at pre-school so we two septuagenarians were able to gang up on Esmè alone. Mark has dubbed Esmè “Princess Running Mouth” for her constant chatter; not baby talk but adult language and she knows everything! 

We set a stellar example by setting her down in front of the television and the three of us watching two hours of educational video. She consumed 6 marshmallows (three over the stated parental limit) and finishing most of her cut up kiwi fruit snack. As our own five grandchildren all grew up at least 1,000 miles away from us and we only saw them annually, and never in an in-charge situation, our parenting skills are some 30 years out of date. However all three of us survived the ordeal, and parents returned home with wonderful  photos of the coming being and Esmè was reunited with them without incident or injury.

Tuesday afternoon we continued to paint the lower level room, applying a first primer coat to the ceiling and all the walls. The room is finally taking shape and beginning to look like a real living space.

While Mark painted, Deb worked upstairs in her office handling some client requests. For dinner that evening, Deb prepared some pan roasted Yukon Gold potatoes, some butter roasted green beans, and Mark pan fried some thick cut Duroc pork chops. Delicious and Mark topped his chop with a helping of Glenda’s home made elderberry jelly. Truly a feast with an ending of the final slices of the cherry pie.

Wednesday, Deb was up early and working in her office handling a group of final payments for clients headed out on cruises in the fall. Then it was all hands down to the basement where we began the second coat on the ceiling, and a first coat of “Contemporary Grey” to the walls. This was an all afternoon process but the room is really taking shape. With both of us painting it was a true team effort and both of us gaining ownership of the project. Deb had some Italian sausage left over in the refrigerator and also found some tomato tortellini in the pasta drawer so dinner was a quick water boil and pan fry with the sausage and the last of her homemade tomato sauce from last summer’s crop out of the freezer.

Thursday, we again attacked the basement, putting the final coat on the walls and touching up any missed on the ceiling. Then we headed over to Abigail’s again to help with set up of her new patio table and chairs. These were all delivered the day before on a pallet placed in front of the garage door. We unpacked and carried the table parts and chairs around to the deck and spent an hour or so assembling the lot. then back to the driveway to break down all the cardboard involved in shipping.

Under it all was a plastic pallet which turned out to be the property of the U.S. Postal Service. Mark called the number on the pallet, and after two transfers, was able to convince the USPS to come pick up their pallet as we had no vehicle large enough to return it. We stumbled home in time for Deb to log in only a few minutes late for her “Girls Drinks” Zoom meeting.

We dined on the remains of the Shepherd’s Pie and Sausage Tortellini leftovers, washed down with some red wine. We watched three episodes of a series before Deb realized that she had already watched it. Fortunately she can’t remember how it turns out and Mark is into the story so we can continue to watch in future evenings.

Friday morning was a repair day, The repair being to fix one of Mark’s screw-ups. We have joint banking which makes it easy for Deb who does most of the buying and all of the bill paying but Mark only has one credit card that is in his name only.  The down side is that Mark can never buy something without Deb knowing. So, in an effort to surprise her at Christmas, Mark used his one card to buy some presents on Amazon. Due to lateness of date, he opted for Prime delivery. Little did he know that the card was then billed $14 per month for his Prime membership giving us not one but two prime accounts for the past 5 months.  It took lots of digging, after locating his account password, to cancel the 2nd  membership. If Deb hadn’t noted this when paying the monthly bill for the credit card, he would have been charged until death. Smart sleuthing on her part, but now she will never receive a surprise purchase from Mark!

That wraps up another exciting week in the Midlands. Keep you vaccination appointment, wash your hands, stay away from strangers and wear you masks! We hope to see you again soon, hopefully sometime in 2021.  

Omaha Pandemic, Friday, March 26, 2021

Time is flying by, “normal” times are slowly returning, and we hold our breath that there will not be an upsurge in this pandemic to further stymie our lives. The weather at Pierce Street has been cool, occasionally rainy, but promising of spring. On Saturday, we sat through a two hour on-line class presented by Nebraska Extension on beginning vegetable gardening. We learned about soil temperatures, soil balance and planting timing. It confirmed some of our long held beliefs, and upended some others. All in all, a good experience.

We were able to celebrate a birthday this week by attending a real, in person, birthday party - the 4th birthday of our great friend and neighbor Iris Margery Highland.

It was held at her parents house, around the corner from us, and included her parents, her extremely verbal younger sister Esmè, our next door neighbors Beth and Tom Babb, and Char, a good friend and fellow book club member of Deb’s and Zoe’s.  We were joined via What’s App by Iris’ grandmother Bernadette Cleary from her home in Ireland. 

While the birthday girl seemed to enjoy the party, the heavily sprinkled birthday cake, and the presents, the real celebrants were the adults who finally were able to congregate with friends, in person, on the back patio and engage in real time conversations. Such a joy and a harbinger of things to come.

We both are now 11 days past our second vaccination, and looking forward to spending some unmasked time with friends similarly vaccinated in the coming weeks. We wouldn’t have believed a year ago, that we would so look forward to spending a little time in the company of others - not that we don’t enjoy our own company, but. . . Well you all know.

Saturday afternoon, the drywall taping guy finished the wall in the upstairs family room, which you recall was damaged by a burst water line in February.

We then spent most of this week applying four coats of paint and rehanging the television and shelving, moving the temporary TV out and getting the room set back up so as not feel like we were in the middle of a construction zone.

Slowly but surely, Deb’s travel business has begun to pick up.  She has several cruises booked for the end of the year and into 2022 as well as trips to Mexico.  She is not sure how she feels about the uptick as retirement has been very satisfying but the moment she actually received a pay check in March for some travel insurance she had sold, the dollar signs reappeared in her eyes.  She is 2 years short of being in this business for 50 years and she would love to hit that landmark career achievement.  Her plan right now is to let her business ebb naturally and to not take on new clients.  Also no air-only business, no Las Vegas or  honeymoons packages or cheap cruises or hotels.  She does reserve the right to change her mind about any of this!  

This morning the carpet crew arrived to install new carpeting on the steps to the basement. Last weekend, Mark tore up the old carpet and repainted the stringers of the steps. The drywall will be finished in the basement room, and painting can then begin in that section. We are nearing the end now and getting positively excited about all the changes we have wrought.

As we finish up on our fifth year in this house, we are finally finished with the remodelling and redecorating. Now we can spend some quality time outdoors, sprucing the gardens, adding shrubs and flowers, and planning meals on the patio. 

Most should now have at least one vaccine in their arms - good job. If not, get it scheduled. Keep your masks on, wash your hands, stay distanced and stay safe.

Omaha Pandemic, Friday, March 19, 2021

The word this week in the Midwest is rain and cold. It began raining on Sunday and continued on until Tuesday. We experienced over 4.7 inches of rainfall here at Pierce Street. The wind gusts on Sunday reached 30 mph and the temperatures ranged from highs of 45ºF to  overnight lows of 33ºF. The rain, cold and wind made for a good time to be indoors. The sun finally came out on Thursday, but the high temps were still forecast to be in the upper 40’s to low 50’s. At least a little drying can occur.

Tuesday we went for our second Moderna vaccination,

and so we are now fully vaccinated. As reports say we won’t have full coverage for 14-28 days, we will continue to lay fairly low - there is really no place to go in any event. We continue to bake and cook, worry about our kids and grandkids, and fuss about the slowness of the remodel in the basement. The drywall tape part of the project is always slow as the guy comes, applies a coat of mud, then leaves for a few days while it dries, then back to sand and create a mess  before he applies another coat of mud. The process repeats. We don’t expect to begin getting paint on the walls for another two weeks. 

The garage is full of all the furniture, both new and old, that will be transplanted back into the space. We are looking forward to completion and then the fun of hanging more art and photos, rearranging the space and then sitting to watch some TV. Next project on the horizon is an expansion of Abigail’s vegetable garden and installing railings on her newly built deck. Whatever retirement is, it is not sitting back and growing old, it is working, growing older faster and getting sore muscles to go with the stooped back. At least we are not COVID infected yet.

Wednesday morning, Mark led a Zoom meeting with the Josie Harper Hospice House Master Gardener group in planning for the coming spring and setting dates and ideas for the season. The group now numbers 26 active members and 17 of them were available to log in and join the meeting. Somewhat like wrangling cats, but all were able to log on and make some substantive contributions. It looks to be a busy Spring for them. 

Deb broke out her Instant Pot this weekend and brewed up some chicken stock from her horde of roast chicken bones, all of which promptly went into the freezer. Next she popped some hamburger into the pot, followed by beans and spices and produced a huge batch of chili to offset the cold evenings on the weekend. Again, we dined on that for two nights and stashed the rest in the freezer for later consumption.  Deb baked a beautiful and very tasty cherry pie this week. Her best crust ever and that is saying something as her crust is world famous, at least in this family. Mark baked up another pair of baguettes on Tuesday, which meant that we could enjoy a very French meal of baguettes and Brie with our wine as a dinner that night. This was in preparation for the annual St. Patrick’s Day feast.

Wednesday, the Instant Pot was again pressed into action with a corned beef brisket going in the pot with onions, broth and seasoning. It was pressurized and an hour later it was done, then carrots, potatoes and cabbage went in for 5 minutes, again under pressure. Abigail joined us and we had a proper St. Paddy’s day feast, accompanied by two fresh loaves of Tim Duggan’s Aunt Mary’s Irish Soda Bread and a couple of bottles of Guinness for Mark. We topped all of this off with the last of the cherry pie for dessert. Quite the meal and we were finished by 8:30! Abigail headed home and the two of us fell into a stupor in front of the TV screen.

We have been binge watching this past week an English comedy, The Detectorists, which is available to us on the Acorn Network. It is a hilarious, low key comedy about a group of metal detector enthusiasts in the fictional town of Danebury in rural Southeast England. It is written, directed and stars McKenzie Crook and includes as his wife, Rachel Stirling, and her mother, played by her real life mother, Diana Rigg. We are definitly enjoying this and would highly recommend it to fans of droll British comedy. 

Thursday evening was a busy one - Deb held her Girls Drinks Nite via Zoom at 5:00. She finished at 6:15 and Mark had heated up Abigail’s turkey tetrazzini for dinner, we then logged on to a Zoom cocktail hour with our friends Karen and Dell in Phoenix. We learned that their pool is heating up nicely and the outside temperature is approaching 80ºF during the daytime. It doesn’t look like we will get south this spring as the season is slipping away and there are too many things pressing on our time. Oh well, there is still time so we will wait it out and hope for the best.

If you have finished your vaccination run, congratulations; if not then get to cracken! Keep those masks in place, wash your hands and stay socially distanced. Conditions are moving more and more towards normal, whatever that may be.

Omaha Pandemic, Friday, March 12, 2021

Now we are into the second year of our pandemic adventure. The big story this past week has been the weather in the Great Plains. The weekend was cold but sunny. By Monday, the daytime temps were in the mid 70º range and stayed that way  through Wednesday. However, on Wednesday the winds picked up, gusting to as much as 40 mph in the late afternoon. The ensuing cool front moved in overnight on Wednesday, ushering in clear skies, a little wind, and temps peaking in the mid 50º range with lows dipping into the low thirties. It looks nice and makes one want to get out into the garden, but it is way too early. Luckily we have begun to receive the garden porn (seed and flower catalogs) in the mail to let us drool over what we hope it will all look like in a few months.

.Saturday and Sunday the contractor was here to finish the drywall installation in the basement. We now await the next phase, the guy to tape and apply the mud to all the seams This will be the longest and messiest part of the job - dust and more dust.

Abigail received delivery of her new washer/dryer combo this week, and Darcy was quick at work catching up on laundry. Nice to have machines that work and not take two hours to complete a single load. Mark met the plumber there this week for a quick repair and hung a picture for them while the plumber completed his work.

A side benefit was Mark’s haircut by our in-house stylist on their new rear deck. Deb went over there this week also and delivered a fire pit kit we had found on a Menard’s visit this past weekend.

With the better weather, we had an opportunity to dine out with friends. Monday evening we met Deb and Tim Duggan at the local tavern patio for cheeseburgers, a couple of “Dirty” martinis and beer. The occasion was to celebrate Tim’s impending birthday on the 9th of March, his 78th. Deb noted that Tim is now officially her oldest living friend. There are those no longer with us though. We received word on Thursday of the passing of old friend Sally Lusk who had moved to Maryland to be closer to her children after the passing of her husband a few years ago. Sally was a character, but a loving and faithful one. Memories of her will live on for a long time. Especially the time that she and Deb were on a trip to Russia when Sally was set upon by street urchins who tried to steal her purse.  They were scary but unsuccessful as Sally had her purse hidden in her voluminous jean skirt that was a staple for her travels.  Also, an American living in Moscow saw the attack and sprayed pepper spray on the little darlings and, unfortunately, Sally.  She was so happy about being saved she didn’t mind.  She will be missed in the Covert household.

Sunday evening Deb tried a new recipe of cauliflower soup, using some of her stash of homemade chicken broth, some bacon for topping and plenty of vegetables and spices.  It proved to be a “keeper” and will show on the menu again soon. This actually lasted for two evening meals. Tuesday we dined on Asian take-out with our friends Lee and Howie Needelman on their beautiful patio as we watched the sunset. It is so good to be able to see and visit in person with friends again. All have had at least one round of vaccine and a few have received both already. The end of fearing the pandemic is in site, although we expect to be living with masks and social distancing for many months or years to come.

Wednesday we stayed in but had a good, healthy meal of asparagus spears, baked potato and a thick pan fried pork chop, perfectly cooked. All washed down with our favorite red beverage.  A mellow day and a mellow meal.  Deb has rediscovered Cheerios for breakfast with blueberries and says she feels like it is summer already. Apparently, isolation has done her in.

Thursday afternoon Mark made some baguettes and Deb picked up some homemade tomato sauce from Abigail so we dined in the Italian mode with pasta, fresh bread, a salad and some more red beverages.

Friday, Mark will take part in two Zoom classes for his Master Gardener series, and we will again enjoy a Zoom cocktail hour with Kevin and Tom from Tucson.  Tom is recovering from rotator cuff surgery this week but should still manage to enjoy his cocktails, - he is ambidextrous we are told, not a two fisted drinker!

We still remind you to wash your hands, stay distanced and wear your masks. If you have not yet gotten on the vaccine list, please do so ASAP. We want to see you soon in person.

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.

Omaha Pandemic, Friday, January 29, 2021

We arrive at another Friday, this week filled with tremendous amounts of “white stuff” in the midlands. Specifically a huge snowstorm which, if the national media is to be believed, also managed to dump snow from the south Kansas border on up into Illinois and southern Michigan. Here in Omaha we received 11.9 inches on Monday, and another dusting on Wednesday morning. The three day total was just under 15 inches. Iowa to the east received even more. Lincoln Nebraska, 50 miles west of us, received closer to 17inches. Quite the storm.

In anticipation of snow, we went shopping on Sunday, hitting four separate grocery stores to lay in supplies, as if we were going to be stuck for days (midwestern mindset, left over from our prairie sod busting days.) The snow started coming Sunday evening, and finally stopped sometime in the early morning hours of Tuesday. We awoke to the white silence and beauty of every surface covered with white “hats” and birds flying around our bird feeders and heated water facility.

Mark fired up, or actually inserted the batteries on his snowblower and went to work. Two hours later the drive was cleared as well as the sidewalk and front steps to the house. We were able to sit on our porch and look out at the white expanse of a pristine snowfall that evening, the only sound the occasional muffled snow blower toiling a few blocks away.

Wednesday morning revealed a fresh inch of the white stuff spread all over the drive and car again. This one swept up rather quickly; however the City’s snowplows had managed to provide an eighteen inch hardened furrow at the end of the drive. This was dispatched by the shovel wielding 73 year old workaholic. Not that we had to go anywhere, but just that we could if we wanted to. What good is it to have a pair of 4-wheel drive Subaru vehicles if not to entertain the thought that we could.

While Mark was out taming the elements on Tuesday, Deb mixed up the batter for her world famous chocolate chip cookies, and Wednesday produced a batch for sampling. All the calories expended in snow shoveling were quickly replaced, and then some. Speaking of comfort food, Deb made her world famous chili in the new Instant Pot for the first time. It was some of the best ever served in this house and there was enough to feed us for three nights and still some leftover for the freezer and a later meal. 

Zoom meetings this week included a Saturday Family Meeting with Ed & Meg, Jake & Audrey, and Abigail, Deb’s Women With Spines monthly book club meeting on Tuesday, Wednesday Girls Drink Night and Friday’s upcoming Tucson cocktail hour. In our comfort food mode, Deb made another meatloaf, accompanied by baked potatoes and another tossed salad. We were commenting on the fact that we, probably  eight years ago, threw out all the past dated and spoiling bottles of salad dressing from our refrigerator and never looked back. We now make our own vinaigrette dressing from fresh ingredients, some times using a raspberry vinegar for variation. Fresh tasting and never goes out of date.

On Thursday, Deb finally got to a project she has been threatening all winter - clearing the freezer of extraneous and unidentifiable items. Now we can begin cooking from our freezer with the remaining food and then begin buying only what we need for the week, ice cream excluded. This was an entire afternoon’s project but the time went by quickly as the meatloaf was cooking and bingeing episodes of The Leftovers while she worked.

The other culinary note is Mark’s discovery that hot Earl Grey tea in the afternoon, accompanied by a few homemade chocolate chip cookies are a marvel, especially with a good book.

Friday morning brought another large scale project. Deb has been clearing the basement in anticipation of finishing off one remaining section for more wall space for art, and another place to hide out and watch some TV, a movie, or to read. Also, we may end up with an area for short time visitors (grandkids and such.) Our dear friend Garth Highland came over with his trusty Chevy pick-up and helped us load a large 6 drawer lateral file cabinet in the back end of the truck; we then hauled it down to the Omaha Girls Rock warehouse as a donation for their use. We could not have completed this without Garth, and all it cost was a small baggie of chocolate chip cookies!

Well that wraps up another week under quarantine in Omaha. Stay safe, keep washing your hands, mask up and stay safely distanced if you venture out. Stay close to those you live with, and keep in touch with those you love.

Omaha Pandemic, Friday, January 22, 2021

 Another Friday, another history making week. An important birthday this week was for Abigail Jean Covert, who turned 38 on Wednesday. As it was also Deb’s friend Char’s 70th birthday on that date, Deb joined Char at Zoë Highland’s house along with Zoë’s husband Garth, her two beautiful girls Iris and Esmè, along with neighbors Beth & Tom Babb and good friend, Jan Carlin for an afternoon birthday

celebration complete with a stunning cake from The Cake Gallery.  Masks were worn (except during cake devouring). Meanwhile, Mark ordered world famous LaCasa pizza and around 6:00 Deb and Mark drove, together with the pizza to Abigail’s to celebrate along with Darcy and Maria. The pizza was great (hamburger and onion double crust and a large cheese ) together with some of Deb’s homemade salad, and an amount of wine. Chocolate cake, courtesy of HyVee, was the dessert. A grand time.

Four years ago at this time, 2017, we all were in Washington D.C. In the late summer of 2016, feeling sure that Hillary Clinton was about to become the first woman President, Deb purchased four tickets to DC for the Inauguration. We intended to bunk with Ed, who was then living in McClean, Virginia while he worked for Deutsche Bank. As we all know, Hillary didn’t win the election but was bested in the Electoral College vote by the “Orange One.” Out of our sorrow came a little bit of joy.

The Women’s March on Washington was scheduled for Inauguration Week, and so, with Abigail knitting “Pussy” hats while we were still on the airplane, the four of us headed to D.C. to help make history in another way. We bunked with Ed and were joined on March day by our granddaughter Avery. We hopped on the Metro train right at Ed’s building the morning of January 21, 2017 and headed into D.C. The train was filling up with each stop. Because the cars were filled to overflowing, they added more and more trains to bring the people in. The sea of humanity was amazing and everyone was cheering and chanting as we walked along the streets of D.C. There were over 200,000 people at this impromptu march and even though we didn’t march around the White House, the energy was electric. It took us most of the afternoon to get back to the apartment. Darcy stayed behind to meet up with some of her friends that has also been to the march. What a day.

That brings us to this past Wednesday, January 20, 2021 and the historic Inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. We spent hours in front of the TV, marvelling at all we saw and heard, from Lady Gaga’s rendition of the National Anthem ( the best we have ever heard,) the vibrant, stirring and fresh poetry of Amanda Gorman, to the President’s Inaugural address. It was a great start to the mending of our torn democracy. Now the real work begins.

Other activities of the week were quiet in comparison. We took our surviving pet Sushi the Cat into the vet for a rabies shot and check up. He is only 2 years younger than Harry the Dog was, so we thought we

should get him assessed. He has an infection and some slight kidney disease; also hearing loss. We brought him home loaded up with antibiotic pills and ear drops. Looks as if he will be with us for a while.

Thursday evening we chatted via cocktail Zoom with Karen and Dell in Phoenix. They are now waiting for the second round of COVID vaccine and seem perfectly content in their milieu. We are still looking forward to visiting and, as soon as we receive our round of vaccines, we may hit the road for a round of visiting in the southwest.

Food this week wasn’t too inventive, although the Ruth Reichel recipe for Chicken Curry was very tasty, especially paired with some homemade salad, naan and mixed rice medley.  Nothing spectacular, but tasty nonetheless.

Stay safe, wash your hands, mask up at all times out of your bubble/nest, and keep distanced. We want to be able to see each and every one of you when this is over. Hey, this may be the last mention of Trump in the weekly missive - unless the Impeachment Trial gets on the docket soon.

Omaha Pandemic, Friday, January 15, 2021

 Well, another week has “flown” by. The excitement of the riot and insurrection has passed and now we are left to the blaming and finger pointing, of which there is plenty to go around. The “Orange One” professes total innocence; all of the Democratic members of the House of Representatives plus 10 of their Republican cohorts manage, in one long day of interminable talking, to impeach him again. Thus he becomes the first U.S. President to be impeached twice. We fear he will again not be convicted of the offenses, and will proudly wear this one as another merit badge. Again something that no one else has ever done, Making America Groan Again.

We now watch and wait as each State Capitol prepares for its individual marches, protecting itself from insurrection and arguing as to whether or not the idiots can carry their firearms into the various legislative buildings with impunity. Meanwhile, the National Guard stations 20,000 - 30,000 troops around Washington D.C. One hopes that will be enough troops to ward off another riot during the inauguration ceremony that the defeated departing person, once again throwing decorum and tradition into the garbage bin that has become his term of office, is refusing to attend. Florida can have him.

 That is enough politics for this screed. Friday night we decided that spaghetti and meatballs sounded good, so we trotted out some frozen meatballs from the freezer box, mixed in some of our homemade tomato sauce from last years’ garden and toasted up some hot dog buns with garlic butter and parmesan. Add in a small salad, and we were back in Rome at some little trattoria enjoying a glass of wine and convivial surroundings.

 Santa brought Deb an Instant Pot this past Christmas, and this week we tried it out for the first time. She took her famous (in certain circles) ham and bean soup and threw all the ingredients into the pot, pressurized it, and an hour later - voila  - bean soup. It was edible out of the pot, but, as we customarily prepare meals sized to include four hungry children who we imagine might join us, we had a bit leftover.  We have what we refer to as our outside refrigerator, actually our gas grill, sitting right outside the patio door. In very cold weather, as we have been enjoying lately, we stick the large pot in the grill overnight, and it comes out frozen solid the next day.  So, the following morning we brought it in, scraped off the excess fat that had risen to the top, and reheated.  Now the flavors had melded properly and we had a sublime soup.  Enough left over after a second dinner and to have some for lunch later in the week.

Feeling the pull of comfort foods, Deb then pulled out some fresh ground beef and prepared her also famous meatloaf. This time intentionally making enough for sandwiches and dinner the next day. We accompanied the meatloaf with a try at a new (to us) Martha Stewart method of baked potatoes. We picked up two large Yukon Gold potatoes (not Russets) and stuck them, untouched, in the oven on the rack with the meatloaf for 90 minutes at 325Fº. We pulled them out, smashed them on the cutting board enough to pop them open and had a most delicious baked potato. Slathered in butter or your favorite sour cream, they were great and easy.  The taste was different from the roasted Russets from years past, but a great and easy change of pace.  Of course, all these meals are accompanied by a salad and home mixed vinaigrette dressing.

Last Saturday we were to have our denuded live (actually dead) holiday tree out at the curb for the Boy Scouts to pick up and haul away. We failed that test as we had not even started on the great takedown. We buckled down starting on Sunday, to deconstruct all the displays. We hauled all the empty crates up from the garage storage and began the repacking. The trees were untrimmed, with the live tree hauled to the backyard to entertain the birds and wildlife until spring. Last to go was the Santa display in the glass fronted cabinet. By Wednesday, all was put away back in the garage. The only remaining project was to place all the nice knickknack collection (that is probably not the correct word for these items but you get the idea) back in the cabinet.  This will take a day or two to dig them all out of their drawers and hiding places. Some will turn up a month later as a drawer in the guest room is opened for some reason and there, snuggled in amongst the bedding or towels will be another missing item.

We had another nasal swabbing test on Thursday afternoon, and by Friday morning received our Negative results.  We now are pleased to learn that we may be able to sign up for our vaccine inoculations next week. That will be something to really get excited about. Our friends Dell and Karen in Phoenix received there first inoculation on Thursday. As we post our comments this Friday morning, Omaha is in the middle of a full blown blizzard. Total snow accumulation is predicted to be near 3 inches, and the wind is gusting to 55 mph. Quite a change from Wednesday, when we were out chipping the last of the ice and snow from our rear deck, and refilling the bird feeders and suet holders around the yard. Such is the strain of living in middle America, where the landscape turns white while the politics remain red.

In the meantime, keep socially distancing, wash your hands repeatedly, stay in your own “bubble” group, and keep safe. We will write again after the inauguration and the final riddance of our 4-year sickness.