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Monday, January 11 Deaths 1,613 (+8) New cases 939
The Pandemic Diary tracks Oregon deaths daily and calculates averages for successive ten-day periods. This is the 290th day of tracking. For the period January 1 to January 10 Oregon recorded an average of 12.8 deaths per day, a very slight decrease from the previous period. Here is the latest curve chart.
Concerning the plague of fascism, Arnold Schwartzenegger has posted a statement concerning events in the nation’s capital. It is very moving and draws upon memories from his early life in post-war Austria.
Schwartzenegger says that this is America’s Kristalnacht, the night of organized anti-semitic violence that occurred in Germany and Austria in 1938. It seems to M that our recent experience also has things in common with the Beerhall Putsch, the failed Nazi coup attempt that occurred in 1923 in Bavaria. Bad precedents both.
In Corvallis it was another grocery shopping day. Mother of Markets was pretty quiet at eight in the morning, so that was nice. Too bad M forgot some crucial items and had to go back at two in the afternoon. Between the two trips he went to the dentist for a fitting of his implant crown. He found out that the dentist and at least some staff have already had at least a first dose of vaccine. So that was nice. Too bad the assistant who did much of the fitting and spent the most time close to M had declined the vaccine because “I get sick from vaccines.” Hmm. That’s not what M wanted to hear. The correct response from M, of course, was “Oh, that’s too bad. Get another job. I’m leaving.” But M is hardly ever correct, though he does file things away.
E did some critical correspondence in the morning, then after lunch had an hour of Zoom yoga. Later in the afternoon she went with her friend A and A’s dog Pumpkin to hike in the forest. She found yoga and forest walking to be a winning combination. M made some stew for us to pack and take to Bend for tomorrow’s dinner. E made dinner for today.
We have a reservation for two nights at a resort just outside of Bend, a place that was one of the nicest in the area thirty or forty years ago, so nice that we could rarely afford to stay there. It has been far surpassed since, but it still looks acceptable and is now affordable.
Bend has some wonderful restaurants and we plan to get take-out for our Wednesday dinner, but we’re taking food with us for all our other meals. It’s a little like camping, but with a complete kitchen. We’ll see how it works out.
Tuesday, January 12 Deaths 1,667 (+54) New cases 1,203
Well here we are just outside of Bend Oregon, where we have come to play in the snow. Unfortunately there is no snow, so that may not work out. We’ll go higher up mountain tomorrow and see if we can find some. Tonight we are safely settled into an old rental condo unit in the Seventh Mountain Resort. We’ve just had our evening meal brought from home and we’re fine. The place we’re staying is very much so-so. The kitchen is minimally equipped with a tiny fridge, a tacky little cooktop and a very noisy convention oven / microwave. Of course the unit has been redecorated and repaired many times in its long life. It’s nice enough–spacious, not really shabby anywhere, but a little bit of a hodge-podge. It’s now a Worldmark by Wyndham property and they’re trying hard to push some kind of worldwide time-share and condo scheme. Our check-in was a two step process. First we registered normally at one counter. The friendly woman did everything except give us a key. For that she sent us to another counter where another friendly woman welcomed us again and strongly urged us–for what seemed like hours– to sign up for a sales pitch tomorrow morning, saying we would get a $100 gift card just for attending. Wow! We weren’t real excited by that. Kinda wanted to just get to the room… Anyway, if you like high pressure selling and tired condos, you should definitely come here.
Wednesday, January 13 Deaths 1,708 (+41) New cases 1,346
Nice sunny day and we did find snow, quite a lot, just twenty miles farther up the road. When we checked the snow surface, we saw that old snow had been rained on and refrozen to an icy crust, then covered with a thin layer of new snow. It promised some fun times on the well-used cross-country ski trails, maybe a little too much fun. We pulled out the snowshoes instead. We ended up going about four and a half miles, which included tromping a few hundred feet upward to the top of a mini-mountain. Here’s what that looked like.
When we got to the top, we were tired. We looked for a place to sit down and have lunch. The place we found had nice décor.
For lunch we had a carrots and celery starter followed by sandwiches and chips. To drink we each had a small can of pineapple juice, chilled on ice at the table. This was followed by hot mocha coffee, a few bites of Swiss chocolate, and a sip of Aberfeldy. Then it was time to strap back in and try to find our way back.
It was Eve’s night to cook. She got us take-out from Hola, the Peruvian/Mexican place. The interior of the restaurant was off limits, with pick-up taking place at an outside makeshift counter. It felt very safe and the food was excellent. We went to bed early.
Thursday, January 14 Deaths 1,737 (+29) New cases 1,152
Another sunny morning in Bend. We had our usual tertulia with J and R, who told us about the big storm that struck the Corvallis area just a few hours after we left for Bend. There was lots of rain and a whole lot of wind. Near where E used to live, several homes were cut off when not one but two big fir trees fell across the entrance to their cul-de-sac.
We had a leisurely morning and finally started for home at about 11:30. It was a good day to view the mountain peaks and we stopped at the usual place between Bend and Sisters.
As we passed through the town of Sisters, we did NOT stop at the Sister’s Bakery. We can’t remember now exactly why we didn’t stop. It might have been because we summoned enough willpower to resist their fatty treats. Or it might have been because they were closed for remodeling. I guess we’ll never know for sure.
When we got home from our trip we found a surprise package on our doorstep. The excitement deepened as E. opened the package to find a bonanza of beautiful cloth bags and masks. Turns out they were a thank you gift from a local seamstress with whom E has shared some stimulus money to compensate for the COVID-induced downturn in business.
Friday, January 15 Deaths 1,758 (+21) New cases 1,012
COVID rages worse than ever and the whole country is edgy about the inauguration. The only good news today is that Trump’s approval rating did in fact decline after the riots. A miracle. Around our house it was catch up with the chores day. E worked on organizing the pantry cupboard with her new round-n-rounds, then had Zoom yoga, then organized another few hundred photos. M washed and vacuumed the car and swept wind blown tree litter from the patio and driveway. We also went for a morning walk and saw evidence of the storm, at least five big trees down in a nearby neighborhood.
The OHA reports that a total of 146,137 vaccine doses have been administered in Oregon. This includes both first and second doses. We were happy to hear that Andrea got her first dose. She hopes to get her second dose in about thirty days. The OHA also says that a total of 321,425 doses of vaccination have been delivered to Oregon, which means that there are approximately 150,000 doses now available for administration. In recent days the state has been averaging around 12,000 vaccine administrations per day. At this rate, Oregon has only about a 12-day supply.
Health workers and caregivers of all kinds continue to have first priority. The next priority group would include school teachers, people with chronic illnesses that increase COVID susceptibility, and all people over 65, which would be us. According to one source, vaccinations for the second group could begin as early as January 23. Others say that we should be thinking about April.
E highly recommends a book called Educated by Tara Westover. It’s a memoir about Westover’s childhood and early life. She’s grew up in a survivalist household in eastern Idaho. Her father was a Mormon who had come to believe that the vast majority of Latter Day Saints had been completely corrupted by the devil. Tara Westover and several of her siblings were born at an isolated house in the mountains and their births were not registered. The memoir is essentially the story of her relationships to her parents and brothers and of her struggle to find her way. M is reading it now. Spoiler Alert: Tara has had one tough row to hoe.
Saturday, January 16 Deaths 1,799 (+41) New cases 1,173
E got up early this morning walked over to Market of Choice to obtain emergency supplies. M stayed home and made coffee. Breakfast was good. Later E went out to the country to walk Pepper and M worked a bit in the garden and then came inside to work on the Turkish version of the PD. Dinner was take-out Italian food. We have enough of it left for another meal.
Lots of COVID deaths these days, just as Fauci and others had predicted. As measured in terms of deaths per 100,000 residents, the Oregon rate is now 42. Here’s what has been reported for a few other places using that same metric. (World numbers are from the Johns Hopkins. State data is from the Washington Post. We are mindful that these may not be true numbers; true numbers are a dream. These are just the numbers that we have.)
Italy: 135
United Kingdom: 132
United States: 120
Spain: 114
Mexico: 110
Sweden: 101
Switzerland: 101
Brazil: 99
Germany: 55
Canada: 48
Australia: 3.6
Japan: 3.2
New Jersey: 230
New York: 207
Louisiana: 173
Florida: 118
Wyoming: 90
California: 84
Utah: 49
Vermont: 26
Sunday, January 17 Deaths 1,800 (+1) New cases 799
A lazy morning. The weather is warm, mostly cloudy. The sun, when it’s out, is still far to the south, more than halfway down the sky even at noon. But it warmed us right up when we went for our walk before lunch.
In the garden there are new shoots starting to poke up–crocuses, hyacinths and daffodils. They’ll be here soon. Right now though, it’s sarcococca time! Sarcococca blooms every year in January, the middle of the winter when there’s nothing else. Its flowers are small and quite unspectacular, but their smell is amazing. We brought a sarcococca from our old house and had the good sense to plant it just beside the front door of our new one. So these days we notice the wonderful smell every time we go in or out. Sarcococca is from the Himalayas, so it conflicts with our current Oregon native plant agenda, but never mind. Moderation in all things.
In the afternoon we talked with E’s brothers on Zoom. Jim is at home in upstate New York while John has ensconced himself in South Carolina where it’s warmer. They seem to be doing well. Alas, our talk was marred again by technical difficulties. E also had a long phone talk with Andrea, who was taking a much deserved day off. We also made a quick run out to B and B’s house to deliver a birthday cake. We wanted to take the little car, but its battery was dead and we were back in the Mazda. Never mind, it was still good to take a drive through the country on this rather nice day.
Later, we plan to watch Part 2 of the new version of All Creatures Great and Small on PBS. E was a little annoyed by Part 1. She has read the original stories several times and she finds that in this production some of her favorite details have been altered or omitted.
(End of this week’s post. Turkish edition follows.)
Pandemic Günlüğü 11-17 Ocak
pazartesi, 11 ocak Oregon’daki ölümler: 1,613 (+8) yeni vakalar: 939
Pandemi Günlüğü Oregon’daki ölümleri her gün sayıyor. Her on günde bir ortalama hesaplıyoruz. Bu gün 290. gün. İste yeni grafik.
Faşizm başka bir beladır. Arnold Schwartzenegger bunun Amerika’nın Kristalnacht’ı olduğunu söylüyor. Mesajı çok güçlü.
Corvallis’te alışveriş günüydü. Süpermarket sabahın erken saatlerinde sessizdi. Sabah E Zoom yoga yaptı. Beğendi. Öğleden sonra ormana gitti. Arkadaşı A ve köpeği Pumpkin ile yürüdü. Daha sonra E bugünün akşam yemeğini ve M yarın akşam yemeğini pişirdi. Neden? Yarın iki günlüğüne Bend’e gidiyoruz.
M on birde implanti üzerinde çalışmak için dişçiye gitti. Ofisteki neredeyse herkesin COVID aşısı olduğunu öğrendi. Sadece bir kişiye aşı yapılmadı. Bu kişi M’un ameliyatı sıasında asistandı. Aşılardan hastalandığımı söyledi. M bunu duymak istemedi. Asistanın farklı bir işe ihtiyacı var.
salı, 12 ocak Oregon’daki ölümler: 1,667 (+54) yeni vakalar: 1,203
Yani şimdi Bend’deyiz. Otelimiz tamam. Çok güzel değil ama pahalı da değil. Karda oynamaya geldik. Maalesef kar yok. Yarın daha yükseğe çıkacağız.
çarşamba, 13 ocak Oregon’daki ölümler: 1,708 (+41) yeni vakalar: 1,346
Güzel güneşli gün. Yolda yirmi mil ileredikten sonra çok fazla kar bulduk. Kar ayakkabılarını giydik ve küçük bir dağa çıktı.
Zirveye çıktığımızda yorgunduk. Güzel bir yer bulduk ve öğle yemeği yemek için oturduk. Kar ayakkabılarını çıkardık ve rahatladık. Dekor zarifti.
Öğle yemeğinde havuç ve kereviz yedik, sonar sandviç ve çips, sonra çikolata ve kahve. Sonra kar ayakkabımızı giyeriz ve güzel piknik yerimizden ayrıldık.
perşembe, 14 ocak Oregon’daki ölümler: 1,737 (+29) yeni vakalar: 1,152
Bend’de bir başka güneşli sabah. Yaklaşık on bir buçukta ayrıldık. Yolda dağları görmek için durduk. Bunlara Üç Kız Kardeş denir.
cuma, 15 ocak Oregon’daki ölümler: 1,xxx (+29) yeni vakalar: 1,xxx
COVID durumu çok kötü ve açılıştan herkes endişeli. Tek iyi haber, Trump’ın onay notunun biraz düştüğü. Bir mucize!
Oregon’da 146.137 COVID aşısı yapıldı. Yaklaşık 150.000 dozumuz kaldı. Bu on iki gün sürecek. Ne zaman daha faslasını alacağımızı.
Educated adlı bir kitapı okuyoruz. Yazar Tara Westover. “Survivalist” bir ailede büyüdü. Hayatı çok zordu. O çok iyi bir yazar.
cumartesi, 16 ocak Oregon’daki ölümler: 1,799 (+41) yeni vakalar: 1,173
Bugünlerde çok sayıda COVID ölümü. Oregon oranı artık 100.000’de 42. İşte diğer bazı yerlerin numaraları.
İtalya: 135
Birleşik Krallık: 132
ABD: 120
İspanya: 114
Meksika: 110
İsveç: 101
İsviçre: 101
Brezilya: 99
Almanya: 55
Kanada: 48
Avustralya: 3.6
Japonya: 3.2
New Jersey: 230
New York: 207
Louisiana: 173
Florida: 118
Wyoming: 90
California: 84
Utah: 49
Vermont: 26
pazar, 17 ocak Oregon’daki ölümler: 1,800 (+1) yeni vakalar: 799
Bu sabah tembeldik. Hava ılık, kısmen bulutlu ve kısmen güneşli. Güney gökyüzünde güneş alçalıyor, ama sıçaklığını hissedebiliyorduk.
Bahçede bazı yeni yeshil filizler var–çiğdem, nergis ve sümbül. O çiçekler yakında burada olacak. Ama şimdi sarcococca zamanı! Sarcococa çiçekleri küçüktür ve muhteşem değildir, ama harika bir kokuları var. Evimizin ön kapısının yanında bir sarcococca var. Her dışarı çıktığımızda kokusunu alabiliyoruz. Çok hoş.
Öğleden sonra Zoom’dan Eve’in kardeşleriyle konuştuk. Ağabeyi New York’te, küçuk erkek kardeşi Güney Carolina’da. Onlar iyiler.
Bu akşam PBS’de Büyük ve Küçük Tüm Yaratıklar’ın 2.Bölümünü izleyeceğiz. E kitaplar sevdi ama bu TV programından emin değil.
Loved your pictures – especially of blooming flowers in Jan. Your winter adventure sounds delightful.