Sunset after 8 pm.

It was a quiet weekend with no visitors, as is the rule these days.  LH is faithful about walking every day, thankfully -- and it's a good thing I'm a semi-professional introvert.  Tonight, after my evening facetime chat with the boy and the girl, LH and I agreed to brave the cold wind and take a walk around the neighborhood.  This picture was taken about 10 minutes before our sunset here.

It even looks cold.

Restricted Activities

Thanks for checking in here now and then.  Since I'm bored enough to write this and to find some pictures to illustrate the words, I'm so glad you're bored enough to read it. 

OSLO talked about making egg bites a few days ago.  In spite of warnings on the internet about the Covid 15, as in 15 additional pounds, I have been doing some experimenting with cooking.  These were good, but more veggies would have been better.  These had cheese, onion and cherry tomatoes.  About one egg per muffin cup (scrambled egg mixture), put the veggies in the bottom of the muffin cup, pour the egg/milk/salt and pepper over the top.  Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes.  I still have 4 more to eat -- I haven't caught on to cooking for one person yet.  Not really a problem, since I can always send extra food home with OSLO or the Grands.

OSLO stopped by this afternoon to check on her elderly mother, an activity that is allowed under the current order by our Governor.  She brought along Maya, whom she refers to as her fur baby, and we took a walk around the neighborhood.  Walks and walking dogs are both allowed activities.  She did a little bit of "shopping at Mom's" before she headed back home.  Later I facetimed with the boy, who is finding the social isolation imposed by the stay at home order to be difficult.  He has found his on line course work to be much less demanding than his regular classes.  Life goes on.

Not many words, lots of pictures.

LH and I took a longer walk than usual today, behind the tennis courts to Sunset Bluff, a small loop around that neighborhood, down the hill to the Tanglewood streets then a walk through the tunnel at Tunnel Park.  Finally a scramble down to the beach and back to the center access point of Idlewood before climbing the stairs back into our neighborhood.  The lake was calm today.

The stairs at the center access point are in the center of the photo.  It's located at the south end of our little park.  Everything is okay here, at least for now.

A New Week Begins

Today was the 15th day of my 14 day self isolation, and I woke up to a really pretty view out of my  windows -- if you like this sort of thing.  It didn't last long, the sun came out and melted the snow by lunch time.

Today was the day our Governor chose to issue a stay at home order for the state, for three weeks beginning tomorrow.  I hadn't been to the grocery store in over two weeks, so today looked like a good time to do that and gauge the mood of the masses.  I was pleasantly surprised by a couple of things -- after hearing about empty shelves and rationed food, there were only a couple of things on my list that weren't available.  No surprise, toilet paper and Clorox wipes.  Some items had limits -- only two dozen eggs per customer, for example.  More than I need, so I bought one.  Hamburger and chicken were limited to two packages each, again more than I needed, so I bought less.  My fellow shoppers gave each other plenty of room, and the process went smoothly.  I was a good citizen and stood on the spot marked X while I waited for the person in front of me to check out.  The guy behind me had the biggest bottle of whiskey I have every seen -- it was at least a gallon, maybe more.  Everyone has their own definition of necessity, I guess.

The grandkids made a short visit today -- the girl delivered the package of toilet paper she had purchased at Staples last week, and I sent them home with chicken vegetable barley soup, hamburger hot dish, and a few other items I liberated from the depths of my pantry and freezer.  They promised to share some of it with their Mom, who will like the soup, I think.  LH and I took a long walk around the neighborhood around noon, solved none of the world's problems, but did what we could.  It was a decent start to the week.

A cold Saturday in March.

I am nearing the end of my self isolation period, 14 days from the onset of symptoms.  I'm doing well, though I did take a long nap on the couch this afternoon.  It was a quiet day, OSLO called to check on me before my nap, and her household still seems to be healthy.  It got pretty cold here overnight, into the 20's, I think.  LH and I got out for a walk around the neighborhood late this morning, and the sunshine felt good.  There was much less wind than yesterday, so the lake was in a better mood.  These were taken from the north access point, the one closest to Tunnel Park.  As you can see, they're in much better shape than we are at this end of Idlewood.

I made a big batch of soup this afternoon -- what with cooking up some barley and chopping up a bunch of veggies, it took a while.  I used some leftover chicken -- I think  the leg and thigh had been in the freezer since the family was here in January.  A cup of raw barley makes more than 3 cups of cooked barley, more than I needed for the soup.  I took a container of the soup over to LH and her SO.  I put it in a grocery bag and dropped the grocery bag at her front door.  She came out and picked it up after I had walked away.  It felt ridiculous, but we're both pretty serious about following the rules.  It's good soup, if you like chicken, barley and vegetable soup.

March 20, 2020

There are a lot of repeating 20's in today's date.  The first full day of Spring, and it's a cold and blustery day.  I do appreciate that my regular readers are checking in, it's a good feeling.  So thanks, all.  I have a few photos to share, the first is a picture of what I found when I dove deeply into my freezer.  Frozen bread dough -- dinner rolls, specifically -- and I now have mini sandwich rolls.  I only baked up 6 of the 24 in the package.  As a bonus, this made the house smell good. I should have let them brown for another 5 minutes, but they are tasty.

The lake is in an angry mood today --

I started my day by cleaning the ceiling fan in the family room -- and ended up having to vacuum the floor because they were dustier than expected.  I spent a fair amount of time on the phone with GE's human resource department, trying to determine what number they had assigned to me as a surviving spouse.  It turns out that it's a number I need to know, and though I had written it down, I wrote it down wrong, and had to jump through a number of hoops to get the correct one.  In the end, they gave it to me, so it was time well spent.

After lunch I texted LH, who was up for a walk around the neighborhood.  We have a few regular routes, and we chose the one that was most sheltered from the wind.  My doctor had suggested that I get outside and walk once I was feeling better, and it's an easy prescription to follow.  Warmer weather would be nice, but you have to work with what you've got.  In other family news, the girl is still working at her job at Staples.  Staples is currently listed as an essential service, primarily because they're a source of the office supplies needed by people working from home.  Yesterday they got in a shipment of toilet paper, and it was gone within 20 minutes.  The girl says she's tempted to put a package of toilet paper in the middle of the parking lot and see how long it takes for a fight to break out.  The boy is continuing his semester on-line, and they seem to be figuring it out as they go along.  Rumors abound, as you might expect, and meanwhile I continue to self-isolate per my doctor's orders.  It seems like a good idea, sick or well, for people in my age group.  Thanks for checking in!

No Zombie's yet....

Things are strange, and getting stranger.  There's a lot of focus on food these days, and while I have enough to last me a very, very long time, people keep offering to bring me more.  Yesterday I cooked up some hamburger, added a jar of sauce, cooked up some pasta and called it supper.  Today I learned that hamburger, pasta sauce and pasta are all sold out at the local grocery stores.

This is more spaghetti sauce than I can eat, though.  I'll probably freeze some of it in a day or so.

LH called this morning, she and her partner were on their way to D&W, who is providing special hours for seniors and other high risk people.  7 to 9 am on Tuesdays and Thursdays, starting today.  I was out of bananas, so I texted her a short list of things I'm out of, and they delivered this bag outside my door before 10.  I owe her $10.

It was nice to have some fresh vegies with my turkey sandwich at lunch.  And did I mention bananas?
I got a couple of phone calls from OSLO today, checking on me, making sure I have enough meds in case ... I don't know what the just in case is, really.  I reassured her and her SO that I am on top of these things.  Nice to be worried about, I guess.  Maybe.

I took a walk this afternoon with LH (adequate distance apart) and she reported on all of the empty aisles at the grocery store this morning.  She reported that there was no rice available, so I rummaged through my pantry and found quite a bit of it -- mostly because I don't often eat it.  I also found an unopened bag of barley.  I am thinking that I might have to Google up some recipes using barley.  I know I like it, although that bag has been in my pantry for a while.  As OSLO said today, I don't feel like I have to eat everything in my pantry before I die.  But maybe some barley.

March 18, 2020

It may be time to use this old blog again.  It is a useful way of letting my family know how and what I am doing, and in a time when "social distancing" is a hard fact of life, it's a safe way to keep in touch.  Here's a photo of me, upright and reasonably healthy. 

I took a walk around the neighborhood this morning with LH, keeping our distance, of course.  I've been walking most days when the weather allows.  No biking yet.  Partly weather, partly the "cold" I am recovering from, and partly lack of enthusiasm. 

Calm and gray here today.  LH and I took a walk from our local access point to Tunnel Park last week, along the beach, then a difficult scramble up the sand to the tunnel, and home via the streets.  So it's possible to walk the beach, still.  I'll try to find some more fodder for the blog and post again soon.  If nothing else, it gives me something to do!  Take care, all.