Omaha Pandemic, Friday, June 19, 2020

We are at another Friday and today Deb and Mark celebrate the final day of their 38th year as a blissfully wedded couple, tomorrow being the 38th anniversary of their marriage. It was a hot and muggy 1982 June day, Deb with a splitting headache, two mothers-in-law practising passive aggression as they vied for supremacy, two fathers-in-law kind of bumbling around trying to stay out of all the wives way, two pre-teen boys gussied up in their best blue blazers to stand with the newlyweds and be part of the fusion of the family. Deb Duggan and Glenda Pierce stood up for Deb as her dual matrons of honor and John Covert stood up for Mark as his best man; later family lore would have its first true legend as John gleefully tossed his two week old daughter onto his shoulder and all stood in horror as Jessy slid off over his back head first into the grass.  This may help explain Jessy’s outlook on life!!

We had another Zoom cocktail hour with Tom Nielsen and Kevin rose in Tucson. We saw live pictures of the “Bighorn” fire which was raging and visible from their windows, smoking up their picturesque sundown view of the painted mountains, one of the primary reasons for them picking that particular home.  Both, along with their roommate Liam the Scotty dog, are doing well, enjoying the morning walks, the afternoons in the air conditioned house, and the early evenings in the pool. Such a life.  We are already envisioning our next winter trip south to mooch off of all our Arizona friends; that is if they manage to keep self distancing, masking, and avoiding the current surge in COVID cases that are ramping up in this reddest of states.

Saturday we enjoyed our Family Zoom meeting. Audrey and Jake were on the road in Michigan, leaving their home for one of the first times and hauling their new camper behind the truck to a nearby campsite for a test outing. Later we received a picture of the lovely set-up.

Saturday evening, our friends Lee and Howie Needelman came over for a social distance steak cookout and cocktail in our rear garden. Good meat, potatoes, salad and homemade cookies for dessert from Lee.  Although we don’t get out much, it is so uplifting to be able to see friends, talk and be relaxed, although politics and COVID continue to be prominent topics in our conversations.

On Wednesday, our oldest grandson Chris Gillespie stopped in Omaha in the morning on his solo drive back to home in Hagerstown, MD. Chris had driven cross country the preceding week to see Ed in California. Chris was there for one day when Ed announced that he was flying out on Sunday morning to Hagerstown for Spenser’s rapidly organized high school graduation  ceremony! So, Chris hung in California for another day and then headed back east. We enjoyed our two hours with him, eating breakfast and learning about his adventures on the road during his cross-country trips. He was truly on a busman’s holiday as his regular job is as a rural mail carrier for the USPS, driving a mail delivery vehicle over the rural roads of Maryland.

This week the crew we have hired to finish the west garden area started. This area is not so much a garden as a walk-way area to be covered in crushed granite to form an area for benches, potted plants and a band of greenery next to the house. Deb envisions an Italianate style palazzo in miniature, less the statuary. Anxious to see the vision as a reality.  If they don’t get some crushed stone down before the predicted Friday evening rains, it will just be a muddy pool.

Progress on the new basement room at Abigail’s house is progressing. The drywallers enclosed the ceiling last week and they are taping, applying the joint compound and sanding this week. The carpet people are into measure this week, and next we finish the lighting and painting.  the finish carpentry around the closet and baseboards will be done next weekend, we are hoping, and then carpet install and Darcy can move down. That still leaves completion of the patio and raised garden beds to go there.  Busy summer for one that is supposed to be quiet due to the pandemic.  Exhausting to write about, let alone get it all done.  As Mark is truly retired, and Deb is probably retired unless travel picks up again before all her clients die off, it does keep our days filled.

Another Sunday of Eggs Benedict for breakfast and plowing through the Omaha World Herald and the New York Times - plenty of puzzles, reading and lounging. This week we in Omaha have “enjoyed” temperatures above 90ºF every day for the entire week; plus constant wind sometimes gusting to 35 mph. Finally on Friday the high is predicted to only be 84º - but rain and thunderstorms throughout the weekend. We surely need the moisture as we are down an inch for the month of June from historical averages and we are only half way through the month.

Did we mention that tomorrow is also the Summer solstice? We begin the long slide towards shorter days and longer nights. Before we know it Thanksgiving and Christmas will be upon us. How will the pandemic affect the high holidays for us? Will we have our usual multi-family gatherings as in year’s past or will it be cozy intimate family only? Will there be long travels in store or remixing in place at home. Well one thing is certain, we will enjoy them no matter what.

Stay safe, keep washing your hands and maybe wash your mask occasionally!

Omaha Pandemic, Friday, June 12, 2020

June one-two. Today would have been  the 97th birthday of Edwin Busk Covert I. Memories come flooding back, mostly good, some not so good, but all the memories form his life in our minds. We can’t help but wonder how he would have come down about our great leader; one can only hope that even his strong Republican mind-set would see what a debacle our country is in, and maybe added his voice to the dissent. That is a warming thought.

The marching and turmoil of this week has been historical. The thought of military force being brought to the peaceful marchers and protesters has us nearly apoplectic. This time, if we each resolve to change our attitude and push back the fears that have been ingrained in us, maybe we can actually make progress. We at 6208 Pierce Street are certainly going to try.

Saturday morning, Mark spent over at Abigail’s, assisting (more like watching and occasionally handing a tool) to our electrician neighbor and friend Tom Babb as he rewired the basement room for lighting in the remodel project going on. Saturday evening, we enjoyed our now standard Covert family Zoom conference call.  All seemed well, grandson Christopher is headed off on a cross-country vacation this week, ending at Ed’s home in North Hollywood.  On the return trip he promises to take the northern route through Omaha on I-80 to stop and see the local family. Safe travels Chris. Also Saturday evening we visited our friends Deb and Tim Duggan for a cocktail and dinner on their back patio.  Due to the temperature still in upper 90’s, we migrated inside around the dining room table for our meal of

Salads, bread, curried rice and dessert.  All accompanied by some nice wine and conversation.

We again dined on our favorite Eggs Benedict for Sunday morning brunch as we completed the ever worthy Omaha World Herald and tried to plow our way through the New York Times. Then over to Abigail’s where all hands turned out to cut and place the ceiling insulation for sound control in the basement room.  Now we wait for the drywall crew to arrive this coming Saturday to put up the new ceiling. During the week, Darcy and Deb went to NFM to order carpeting for the room. The project is coming together rather quickly. Now we order the closet doors and finish the painting before the carpet arrives.  Great progress.

We also spent more time working on the patio and vegetable garden taking shape in Abigail’s rear yard.  This week we ordered the stone for the patio to be delivered, together with the sand and edging.  More work in the heat coming up next week it looks like.

Tuesday, Mark joined his Hospice House Gardeners to plant an Eastern Redbud tree in memory of Jerry Warner, one of the master Gardening crew, who died of Pancreatic cancer earlier this spring. A solemn but still joyful event, as we remembered some Jerry stories and, along with his wife Barb, all threw some shovelfuls of dirt to plant the tree.

On Wednesday we finally had some moisture, almost two inches in a long steady rain that lasted all day.  Still short for the year but it did go a ways to catching up, however the forecast is  more dry weather over the next 10 days, so we will keep an eye on all our plantings. We made progress this week on our planned western garden entry into the rear yard. We planted two Arbor Vitae and completed the digging for the foundation settings for the metal arbor. Mark spent a few hours studying the drawings and putting all the nuts and bolts in the correct places so that we could set the arbor up and make sure it would fit in its planned spot.  All looks good for next week as the crew we have hired will be in to level the area, put down a base, and then the compacted gravel that will form the walkway of the area. Very exciting for us to finally get this vision closer to completion.

Our rear garden is coming into bloom this week, roses have popped and the lilies are all starting to open, at least those that haven’t been mowed down by those murderous rodents with long ears and fluffy tails.

Today we picked up sand for Abigail’s patio project and delivered the stones we had purchased earlier in the week.  Tonight we will jump on the Zoom stage to enjoy a cocktail with Kevin and Tom in Tucson. Hopefully, they will be either inside in the air conditioning, or lounging in the pool with refreshments at their finger tips. Stay safe, keep washing those hands and keep the masks in place.

  

Omaha Pandemic - Friday, June 5, 2020

OK- now ten weeks in and still standing.  Not a quiet week, either here in Omaha or around the country. As if the COVID 19 wasn’t enough, unfit constabulary in Minneapolis managed a killing of George Floyd, a black man, that set off lingering and deep seated unrest throughout our nation, stretching around the world to cities  as far afield as London, Paris, and Berlin. Here in Omaha, a crowd of protesters with some vandals mixed in, set off a confrontation in our Old Market area that resulted in another young black man being killed.  Although the original ruling was self defense by the white, gun toting, bar owner, a Grand Jury is now going to be called to investigate the incident. The outrage of the nation is correct, we have too long allowed our white complacency to lead to the deaths of black and minority citizens - their outrage is well placed and we are chagrined and embarrassed at our past. We support the protests and while we abhor the vandalism, we urge everyone NOT to judge this necessary fight by the opportunism of a few in the crowd.  Do not forget the much, much bigger picture of systemic racism embedded in the culture of the United States.  The 1960’s and 1970’s are back to visit it seems!

Last Friday night, we watched the movie Lincoln, as Mark had never seen it.  The prejudices and stupidity of the 1860’s are still with us. If only we had a leader of the near caliber of Lincoln instead of the current chump, who matches every action to his grandiose feeling of superiority and entitlement - us against them, and decides he is going to rule by force.  I see revolution coming, if not in person, at least at the ballot box in November.  No doubt, as he is losing, he will claim it is rigged and all false news.  The uprising will really occur if he refuses to leave office and must be forcefully removed.  Tough  and scary times.

We spent most of our mornings this week at Abigail’s house, helping Darcy to create a large vegetable garden location as well as digging an area for a 12 x 12 patio, using the removed dirt from the patio location to build up the garden area.  In addition, we are converting the basement room into a larger bedroom for Darcy to use, and thereby allow Abigail to spread her knitting and craft projects into the other upstairs bedroom.  A busy time, with exhaustion each evening.

We did manage to enjoy some non zoom time - one evening we walked to our friends Zoë and Garth Highland's’ home to enjoy a cocktail on their back patio.  We also joined Lee and Howie Needelman on their patio for cocktails and carry-out Asian cuisine.  Deb’s zoom cocktail hour went off with out a hitch, although one member was absent for unknown reasons. Evidently, unnamed persons falling asleep on the sofa before the appointed time is an unknown reason. As we look back, it is obvious that our social life was real busy this week.

We are also taking part in the Will Cather Foundation Spring event, although virtually.  Very enjoyable and educational.  Thanks to current Foundation president and BFF Glenda Pierce for turning us on to the event and encouraging us to participate. Another highlight of the week was to get Sushi the cat and Harry, the dog into the groomer’s this week.  Neither was too excited, but they sure look better to our eyes.

The weather in Omaha turned to normal Nebraska hot this week, with temperatures springing into the low to mid 90’s each day.  The rains are now gone and we are beginning to water regularly. Most plantings are in, and the plants the rabbits have not attacked seem too be doing well; there are a few to get into the ground for this weekend.

This weekend should be quiet as we finish up some projects at Abigail’s and relax a bit on our own back patio. We don’t really seem to miss the go, go, go of the pre-pandemic days; the nightly curfews caused by the continuing unrest are disheartening, but, as we don’t go anywhere at night anyway, it doesn’t affect us although our night at Needelmans did bump up on the 8:00 time limit as we hustled home; it was time for us to take a bath room break anyway. Stay safe and keep washing your hands!

Omaha Pandemic, Friday, May 29, 2020

Nine Weeks! How did it come to this? We are glad to announce that, as of our testing On Wednesday May 20 at 2:00, we were both negative as to the coronavirus!  It appears our masking up and washing hands and social distancing has been successful so far.  We don’t intend to let our guard down.

On Friday past we had an enjoyable Zoom Happy hour with Tom and Kevin in Tucson. Good to see them and to report that Tom is recovering well from hip replacement, he has now graduated to a cane from the walker and Kevin has not yet pushed him down any steps in frustration.  Hang in there Kevin! Oh Yeah, good progress Tom!!

On Saturday we again had a family Zoom, this time joined by the Coverts in Lincoln, the Coverts at John’s house, and included Milo, Jessy and Alex, who are settling in with John and Lynn for the duration. Good to see them and looking forward to visiting with them in person after their 14 day traveling quarantine is over. Maybe a socially distanced cook-out on our back patio.  Deb & Mark were at Abigail’s house, so joined in on their phones rather than in front of the iPad.  The iPad is definitely easier to manage, all the screens are visible and there is no need to switch from screen to screen. This technology stuff is getting harder and harder as we age.  Didn’t we used to be the cool kids?

For the Memorial Day holiday, Deb made a small batch (five pounds of potatoes, a dozen eggs, one onion, etc.) of her world famous potato salad; also some rhubarb crisp using some of Abigail’s garden rhubarb. Abigail joined us and made a fresh garden salad with tomatoes, onions, green and red bell peppers and a lemon and oil dressing that was very refreshing. It was topped with home made toasted pita chips.  We grilled some burgers and dined inside, due to the rain. You are not real a grill aficionado if you haven’t stood outside in the rain, under an umbrella, turning burgers over a smokey grill. Mark qualifies.

Tuesday was a big day: Dell and Karen Sennentz 52nd anniversary (noteworthy as Mark was there as a head shaved best man.) Then an Extension Class Lunch & Learn via Zoom on wasps and bees, followed by Tuesday Drink Night and Deb’s book club.  Both of the last two also were conducted via Zoom.  The Zoom application seems to be central to our life style now.  Between Zoom, What’s Ap and FaceTime, our world has turned virtual - IRL (in real life) seems such a memory, slowly dimming into the past.

Wednesday was shopping day and COVID 19 test day. This is not a nasal swab, but rather a deep dive, as the swab extends past your nasal cavities into your upper throat cavity. Then it is twisted or swirled 10 times and withdrawn.  All you can do is hang onto your steering wheel and not move for fear the nurse will puncture your brain. At least they give you a free Kleenex when they are done to blot your upper lip. No blood and we were in and out (no pun intended) within 5 minutes. Test results are back within 72 hours, hence our negative status on Wednesday afternoon.  Of course, by the time one receives the result, one may already have picked up the virus somewhere else.

As Omaha is slowly opening up and next week the bars will be at 50% capacity, we expect to see a rapid rise in  COVID afflicted humans.  The bars in Council Bluffs, across the Missouri River, opened on Wednesday. Reports are that no one was wearing a mask, neither employees nor patrons, so we expect the same result here. Parties have already been broken up at venues, bands playing, people drinking and carousing and no social distancing in evidence.  If you are young, you are invulnerable and not to concerned if all the old people die off.  More for the remaining masses.

Thursday was finally a partly sunny day - the lawn got mowed and Deb planted a sizeable share of the plants she purchased. No we just need to find a cure for the rabbit population explosion we are experiencing. Thursday evening we conducted another in person cocktail and pizza hour with our friends Ann & Don Hosford, in our back garden.  Wine and pizza, together with a home made salad and a dessert of ice cream, really hit the spot - friends in real life is so much better.  This Friday landed with perfect weather for a change, 75F, no rain, and plenty of sunshine.

Deb went to Abigail’s to help Darcy establish her vegetable garden. Tonight we will enjoy each other’s company, grill som hot dogs and finish off the last of the potato salad.  Enjoy your week, keep washing those hands and WEAR YOUR MASK!!