Lawn mowing and pizza

Sunday is the girl's only day off from work these days -- they're short staffed -- and she spent the last half of it helping the boy take care of my lawn.  It was looking ragged, and they are old hands at this.  The boy's Washington internship has been postponed until the fall semester and his usual summer job at the University is on hold until students are allowed back on campus.  Unknowable. 

This might look like social distancing, but since they live in the same apartment and drove here in the same car, it's more about staying away from flying debris.

The boy has taken to wearing a beanie in response to the inability to get a hair cut.  He likes the look, which is a good thing since it will be a while.  The lawn looks good, too.

I think they had been missing the beach -- it's been quite a while since they were here last.

They labelled it distressing.  A fair assessment.

Before they left we took a walk around the neighborhood and ordered Papa John's pizza for contact free delivery to the garage.  I sent a majority of three of those boxes home with them.  It was still on the chilly side in the garage, but a garage pizza party for three is an excellent way to reward the lawn crew, I think.  Today was cloudy -- it's raining as I write this -- but I spent over an hour on my bicycle before it began.  Good stuff still happens.

Later ride than usual --

It's been my habit to ride fairly early in the day -- often before lunch, in the summer and in Florida.  Rides have been trending later in the day recently as I wait for warmer temperatures and kinder riding conditions.  Today I waited until 2:00 pm ish before I headed out, mostly because I was waiting for a package to be delivered and it arrived a little before 2:00.  It was still 46 and cloudy.  But I felt better when I got back than when I left, which is why I ride my bike.

Photo at the intersection of 160th and Ransom.  There's a new half mile stretch of sidewalk/path filling in the gap between Ransom and Quincy.  I've gotten braver since my flat tire experience, and I am venturing a little further from home that I would want to walk.  With the bike shops opening up again (with social distancing) and all of my friends and family stuck at home, I figured that I could find a way home if I had to.  Hoping for the best.  Stay strong.

Garage Picnic

I woke up to the sight of snow on the roof -- not what was forecast when OSLO and I made plans to have a socially distanced picnic lunch together today.  Rather than scrap our plans we adjusted.  We had a garage picnic.

It was cold even in the garage though at least we were out of the wind.  OSLO and I both wore our winter coats. Ham and cheese sandwich, four bean salad (Jimi's recipe), potato chips, oranges called cuties,and diet cola.  Nobody ate the potato salad.  Paper plates, plastic utensils, plastic cups. After we finished eating and sitting around the garage in lawn chairs, we were thoroughly chilled, but a walk through Sunset Bluff and back up the Idlewood hill warmed us up.  OSLO took home some of the bean salad and a new face mask made out of one of her old pairs of black jeans.  A token bit of recycling on Earth Day.  It was good to see her.  (This photo is cropped, I didn't get anywhere near as close as this looks.)

In no particular order

I got a phone call from Arizona from Glenda today, where she and her husband are hunkered down, watching the temperatures rise, hoping for a chance to head north sometime early next month.  She's an accomplished seamstress -- and she'd sent her family in Seattle some cloth face coverings that she'd made for them.  So I told her my story about OSLO's reaction to hearing that I had hauled out my sewing machine and was making face masks.  (OSLO said, "You have a sewing machine?")  Glenda's reaction to this story was, "You have a sewing machine?"  It seems unanimous -- I am not the person most expected to have a sewing machine.  Anyway, it was good to talk to her -- human contact is in short supply these days.

Sunday was a quiet day, and warm enough that I ventured out for my second bike ride in two days.  I rode past Ransom Park where the sign says that it is closed due to Covid-19.  Tunnel Park and the State Park are still open.  Two rides in two days is too much, though -- at least this early in the season.

Forsythia in bloom.  The first of the spring flowering shrubs around here.  Today was more of the quiet mentioned earlier -- there's a trend here -- and LH and I took a long walk this morning and a shorter one this evening.  I facetimed with the Grandchildren and texted with my daughter.  A phone call from Tuscon, two walks with LH -- that's a fair amount of human contact.  I'm doing okay.

Elderly checking in.

It's not yet warm. Still 40's.   The wind was 17 mph from the southwest.  But it was time to get out of the house on my bike, and the weather gave me ample reason to wear my balaclava, essentially a face mask.  After my last ride, I didn't have the courage to go very far.  A half hour ride at least gave me a couple of photos for my blog.

LH's daughter is volunteering at a food bank in Kalamazoo and has not been able to find face masks, so yesterday I made a couple of them and gave them to LH to send to Laura.  It gave me something to do that felt productive while staying isolated.  Facetime, text messages, emails, and even some snail mail (thanks Norah, Emily and Barbara) have kept me feeling connected to my family, all very much appreciated.  I'm hoping for warmer weather this next week and perhaps some bike ride reports. Stay strong.

Not Tax Day

Somewhere along the line I learned the phrase that in this world nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.  So maybe it's just the one thing that's certain, in this alternate universe we seem to be in right now.

Easter Sunday was challenging -- no family gatherings, etc.  First holiday, that sort of thing.  I did do this, though, a visit to the cemetery.  There's not much progress on a grave stone due to the lock down, but at least there's black dirt and grass seed.  It's a peaceful spot, quiet -- a few other visitors, but not many, really.

My grandson conspired with my daughter to make sure that I got my traditional Easter Lily.  I was touched.

Monday was interesting -- my water heater gave out last week, and since I have two water heaters, I let it go until after the holiday weekend was over.  The plumbers are working on a skeleton crew but promised that someone would arrive Monday afternoon.  He diagnosed a bad igniter switch, manually lit the water heater and promised to order a new igniter switch.  Social distancing, masks on both the repair guy and myself.  Hot water upstairs and in the laundry room is nice to have again.  The winds ramped up on Monday along with cold air and minor snow accumulations, so I have been inside more than I'd like.  No warm up yet.  A couple of short walks around the neighborhood, bundled up against the cold have been my only exercise this week.  This morning I made another batch of egg bites, this time with some ham -- left over from LH's Easter dinner.  Not much else to report.

Civil Disobedience

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.  Or so said my father.  Somebody else probably, too, but those words in my head are in his voice.  I think our governor has the best of intentions.  These are serious times, although I don't like being told what to do, I mostly comply with the orders, hoping they are temporary.  I am old and benefit from social distancing, I'm told.  However, I can't help but notice that there seems to be a lot of people ignoring the new restrictions our governor imposed this week.  She banned all boats with motors while allowing those with oars, and the lake does look pretty empty.  Barge traffic will apparently halt -- shipping?  Don't know.  She also banned travel to and from vacation homes, as our neighborhood fills up with its summer residents.  Private golf courses are being used while public ones are not.  A loophole, apparently.  And this is Easter weekend, and while many are checking in with their families over the internet, there are rumors of family gatherings.  Civil disobedience.  Some random photos.

I took a bike ride today.  It ended badly.  My theory on bike rides is that I need to be able to self rescue if something goes wrong.  My other theory is that if I ride 10 miles, I'm rarely more than 4 or 5 miles from home.  My other, other theory is that old tires should be replaced.  (Another one of our governor's edicts is that bicycle repair is not an essential service, so tire replacement cannot be purchased.)  So obviously today I got a flat tire -- more accurately, a very soft tire -- when 3.5 miles from home.  Sigh.  The tires are old, they are the original equipment on a bike with over 3,300 miles.  I waited too long to replace them, obviously.  What with disc brakes and all, I won't be trying a fix by myself.  I do have another bicycle, that I may or may not remember how to ride.  The weather looks pretty iffy next week, so it may be a while before I can tell you the end of this story.  Happy  Easter?

Cover

I don't get out much, but I did make a trip to the post office yesterday.  Nearly everyone I saw was wearing a face covering of some sort.  Mostly the homemade variety, a few surgical masks.

OSLO stopped by yesterday with some food for me (okay, it  was cake from Nikki's birthday) and to pick up some of the hamburger stew I made over the weekend.  She left with one of the masks -- she'd been using a lightweight polyester buff, which was okay, but there are more layers in the one she took with her.  I have found that more layers also means it can be harder to breath through the fabric, so I'm not sure if that's progress.

Here's LH wearing hers, preparing for a cold walk around the neighborhood.

I finally got out on my bike this afternoon, a much needed change of pace.  I was overdressed for the temperatures once I got a mile or so inland, but that's a lesson I relearn every year.  It was a short ride, barely into the double digits, but I am good with that.  Lots and lots of people out and about, social distancing was difficult on the bike paths and through the parks.  I'm doing the best I can.

Trying times

Sunday afternoon -- I have a pot of hamburger stew simmering on the stove -- too much food for me to eat -- cooking calms me down.  OSLO will probably take some of it home with her the next time she drops off groceries or stops by for a walk.  Yesterday was our favorite granddaughter's birthday, and we had to make do with Facetime.  Although, bless Facetime -- it would be a lot harder without that visual communication channel!  Friday evening I took her a card and some mini-tacos that Lynne's Joe had purchased for me at Sam's Club and the three of us took a walk around her apartment complex.  So I did get to see her and her brother.

   

Yesterday I hauled out my sewing machine and the past two days I have been experimenting with making cloth face coverings.  Oslo's  comment when I told her this was, "You have a sewing machine?"  Yes, yes I do.  It's about 55 years old, and it still runs fine.  Squeaks a little.  It has its own history, and it's been used quite a bit.  Just not in the last 40 years or so.  Time scrams.

Lynne is the current owner of the purple one, and I am reworking a couple of them, now that I've figured out which pattern I prefer to use.  (It's the one I used for the purple one.)  Since I rarely leave the neighborhood, they probably aren't strictly necessary, but as GZ said a few days ago, I do like to tinker now and then.

Too Cold for a Picnic

Cooler near the lake.  Or more like, too dang cold near the lake.  Certainly too cold for a picnic lunch, but OSLO and I did it anyway.  Since she lives with someone who goes to work every day, she and I prefer to stay at arms length -- or two arms lengths.  We can still take walks together, we've decided, and today I bribed her with some of my homemade chili so she made the drive into town.  I packed a lunch before she came, and we headed off to Tunnel Park where we spread a woven wood beach blanket on a table.

The sun was out, but we were both cold, in spite of puffy coats and scarves and muffs.  We were having some type 2 fun, though, so we carried on.

Half a sandwich, potato chips, half an orange, some cherry tomatoes and a Reese's thin.  Washed down with diet Pepsi.  We ate quickly, packed things back up, and continued our walk through the neighborhood at the base of the dune.  Walking helped warm us up, but not really all that much.  Thing is, OSLO said it was warm at her house.  If we do this again, we may have to meet an an inland location.  Still, it was nice to have her company for a while, and we didn't violate any of our governor's orders.  Stay safe and warm.