Monday, 11/ 2/20 Deaths 692 (+1) Cases 45,976 (+549)
Shopping day, M going to one store, E to another. We had fairly short lists today; a lot of edibles were already on the premises. What shall we do with all that Halloween candy?
M tore down the old cooktop, separating the metal parts from the nonmetal ones. Lots of metal in those old appliances. Simple construction too, easy to take apart with just a screwdriver or two. You get to see how it was made, which is fun. Then you haul the metal off to the recycling center. Just half a grocery bag of non-metal pieces left over for the landfill.
Bright sunny day. Warm enough to be outside and have coffee with a friend. Met R at 2:30 at Coffee Culture. No free tables on the terrace when we arrived because everyone had the same idea. And then…just when our order was ready, a couple of guys got up and walked away. Had a nice talk remembering our adventures in various foreign parts. R had a new Dodgers hat, celebrating a World Series victory by his favorite team.
We’ve settled on one hour a week for this month’s Turkish lessons, starting Wednesday. Harika!
Tuesday, November 3 Deaths 701 (+9) Cases 46,460 (+482)
Here we are finally at election day. A scary moment. All kinds of optimism among those hoping to get rid of Trump. Living in a dream world. Why do we have so much faith in polls when we know for sure that polls don’t work, a lesson learned just four years ago? Humans are strange.
At 8:45 p.m. Pacific Time Biden is leading in the electoral college race 192-114. But all the decider states are leaning red. What would it be like to be in a state where your vote really mattered? Maybe not so good, considering who half your neighbors would be. I read a thing that suggested that most voters are casual voters. They mostly vote party lines and don’t pay a lot attention to the issues, especially if they are complicated. They feel no need or desire to dig out the truth behind the slogans. They don’t much care because the government is mostly not real. The government never actually helps you, they just take your money and tell you all kinds of things that you’re not allowed to do. No wonder people instantly respond to the idea that making the government smaller will make a lot of problems just go away.
It was another busy day for E and M. E went over to the optician and ordered herself some new glasses, something she’d been meaning to do for a long time. She also got some fabric for our custom made storage rack, which will consist–if we get it finished–of a cloth-covered wooden frame with two shelves. After lunch she went over to H’s house for a visit, walking part of the way there and all the way home. M stayed home working on cleanup and organization of the garage and shed environments. He broke up some stuff, again separating metal from other materials. The metal pieces are now stowed in the back of the car waiting another run to recycling. He then started installing hooks and holders in the shed so as to bring forth order from chaos. Busy hands are happy hands.
At 10:15 it’s Biden 215 to 171, with Trump closing fast, having just won Florida. At 10:30 it’s Biden 219 to 209.
Wednesday, November 4 Deaths 705 (+4) Cases 47,049 (+589)
We had the first of our new Turkish lessons today and had a great time. We learned how to say “seventy million idiot voters” (seçmenlerin yetmiş milyonu aptal) and “We want a new country.” After that, to pass the time while waiting on election results, E researched native plants and wrapped a package. M worked on the garden shed (bahçe kulübesi), installing the last of the wall hooks and then giving the place a good sweeping. For lunch we went for a short walk and picnic up in the forest, stopping off at the recycling center on the way. After that we had some Türk Kahvesi and worked on a couple of other projects.
By 4:00 p.m. both PBS and Fox have Biden up 264 to 214, with four states still in play–Nevada, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia.
One of M’s projects involved wandering through different times and different places. Somewhere or other he ran into this cowgirl. Quite a looker.
Thursday, November 5 Deaths 710 (+5) Cases 47,839 (+790)
M went in for dental surgery today, part of the implant process. All is going well. Post-op instructions require a diet of (and we quote) “ice cream, pudding, yogurt, milkshakes and cold drinks.” Dutiful patient that he is, M jumped on that train immediately. Another appointment in two weeks, then on to the business of getting the crown. Nine months or so from start to finish.
Later on M opened up his new iMac up and got it running. Somewhere along the line it had been stored in a place with water on the floor. The bottom two or three inches of both the outer and inner boxes were permeated, the outer one being a little drier. Because of the way it was packed, the dampness never reached any part of the computer. Still, it was disconcerting.
The electoral vote count is unchanged. Sigh. Surely something will happen tomorrow?
Friday, November 6 Deaths 716 (+6) Cases 48,608 (+769)
Lots of seasonal garden work today–M was raking leaves and E was planting bulbs and seeds that need to winter over. M is mulching the new meadow area in the back with leaves from the neighbor’s tree in the front. It’s a big tree and it’s upwind from our yard. It should provide all the leaves we need before it’s done. M keeps on working despite being forced to survive on a diet of ice cream, chocolate pudding and liquids. Enough is enough, though, and he is planning to eat the food he is cooking for dinner tonight: samosas, sag paneer, and leftover purple cauliflower.
The election seems to have gone to Biden, but the interminable wait for a final count goes on and on. Meanwhile virus case numbers are rising steeply all over the country, including in Oregon.
Saturday, November 7 Deaths 729 (+13) Cases 49,587 (+979)
The AP called Pennsylvania for Biden at a little after 9:00 this morning, which put him past the 270 electoral votes that are needed to win the presidential election. E and M heard about this almost as soon as it happened by means of an email from a friend in Chile. Lots of people are celebrating; there is even a certain amount of smiling here at the house on Oak Avenue.
Part of the festivities included a Japanese take-out dinner from Sada. E had vegetable tempura and grilled salmon. M had curry katsu, which he loves, partly because he considers it one of the most ridiculous dishes he has ever run across. For TV, we watched two episodes of Winter Sun (Kış Gunesi). Not much politics there. Who has time? Someone is trying to have Kadim killed while he is in prison, but Kadim is very hard to kill. His long lost wife Farise has finally stirred from her coma. She can’t move but is able to speak, at least enough to tell Efruz about the key to Reşat’s safe deposit box, which contains information that may help Kadim get out of prision. Reşat, a dirty cop who for many years took orders from criminal mastermind Yakup, is dead, having been killed by another of Yakup’s henchmen because he knew too much. Efe and Nisan now have the key and are trying to figure out how to access the box. But Efe has been busy dealing with Seda, who is pregnant with Mete’s child, but who has become Efe’s problem because Mete is actually dead. Efe and Mete are twins and Efe has taken Mete’s place because he thinks that’s the only way to find out who is actually behind all the killing and gun running. (Only E, M, and 300 million other viewers worldwide know that the real bad guy is Yakup, who also happens to be Nisan’s father. And of course Nisan and Efe are becoming friends, so, you know, possible trouble ahead there.) Anyway, Efe (as Mete) has just promised to divorce Nisan and marry Seda because Seda convinced him that otherwise she’s getting an abortion. Both Efe and Nisan want the baby to be born because it is all that is left of Mete, their childhood friend, who was also Nisan’s husband although they never really clicked. She knows he’s dead and has agreed to help Efe unravel it all, but nobody else knows that except for Kadim and Efe’s best friend Burat. But the point of it all is that Efe and Nisan are living together as husband and wife even though they totally aren’t. Of course they’re not sleeping together or even kissing, but boy are they starting to think about it.
Sunday, November 8 Deaths 730 (+1) Cases 50,448 (+861)
We did grocery shopping today. M went to Market of Choice and Eve to the Co-op. We know that some of the items that we buy in both these places are available elsewhere for quite a bit less, but we just don’t feel like chasing around town. Some of this is laziness; some of it is caution.
Partly cloudy today and quite cold, thirties in the morning and forties in the afternoon. M will do a little yard work today despite the conditions. E will do Zoom yoga and work on her photo project. She has been planning with Andrea about how to celebrate Thanksgiving. Possibly, we will be having a meal on their back patio.
A couple of things about the election come to mind. One is that the margin of victory was much smaller than any of the polls predicted. That makes two elections in a row wherein pollsters seriously underestimated Trump’s appeal. Will poll makers learn from making the same mistake twice in a row? Probably not. Will we all pay really close attention to the polls next time anyway? Oh yeah. There are some arguments against having polls at all. Some countries have laws that prohibit release of polling data in the weeks immediately preceding an election. Which reminds us that 22 countries worldwide, including Australia, have laws that require all citizens to vote. There’s a thought.
Beyond election technicalities, however, there is a larger issue. How do we come to terms with the fact that more than sixty million people would vote for a candidate like Trump? We want to find an underlying cause. Maybe it’s something that could be fixed. But–people being what they are–that probably won’t happen. And you know what they say: You can choose your friends and these days you can even choose your gender, but you can’t choose your species.