Monday, January 18 Deaths 1,803 (+3) New cases 666
It was grocery shopping day. E handled the Co-op and M went to both Market of Choice (for general items) and Trader Joe’s for wine, dried fruit and nuts. E and M may be foolish, but not so foolish as to buy wine at M of C. Also in the morning E finished up her Pandemic Diary entry about the surprise package and last week’s PD got posted. M charged up the battery on the Porsche and took it out for a spin. A beautiful day for it. Now we wait to see if the battery will hold its charge. Knowing that he may have to replace the battery, M took a long look at it. Looks pretty nice, as batteries go. Moll Kamina 80Ah, made in Germany. Lasted ten years so far. Little translucent dollar signs floating all around it…
Tuesday, January 19 Deaths 1,88 (+5) New cases 637
We drove down to southwest Corvallis this morning and walked through the Denawi Creek wetlands. It’s just a few acres with development all around it, but it’s quite lovely. On one side it borders on Sunset Park, where there is a playground and two of the city’s best softball fields. M remembers playing ball there many times back in the last century. He hadn’t seen the place since. Back then there were three softball fields at the park. One of them could only be used in late summer because the ground was too soggy to play on–even in June and July.
Nowadays that third field has vanished, leaving not a trace, and what we see now are seasonal ponds and a lazy stream running though a soggy prairie full of native grasses, sedge, and small riparian trees. We saw ducks who swam over hoping to be fed and some kind of large rodent chomping on some grass just a few feet away. E decided it was a beaver and M decided it was a nutria.
After lunch E mailed letters and talked for a long time with her friend H. M mowed the back lawn, a ridiculous thing to have to do in January, but what else can you with long shaggy grass on a warm sunny day?
Lately we’ve been watching another Turkish series on TV. Its English title is Love is in the Air and it is set in Cappadocia. It was made about ten years ago and it’s a little different from the other series we have seen, which have been more modern and more urban. It concerns two sisters, Toprak (Earth), who is terribly innocent, and Havva (Eve), a ruthless schemer. Toprak is grieving for her recently deceased baby and is working as a wet nurse for a wealthy family. Havva is bent on snagging the town’s most eligible bachelor, the young heir to the same family, who is named Yusuf. The baby that Toprak is nursing is in fact Yusuf’s son, born out of wedlock to a young woman who died not long after giving birth, hence the need for a wet nurse. Toprak is married, but she is living, for now, at the home of the above mentioned wealthy family, leaving her husband on his own, free to carry on his affair with a floozie named Yasmin, nicknamed Yaso. Meanwhile, Yusuf’s younger sister, Münevver, is secretly in love with Yiğit, the housekeeper’s son, who has just graduated from teacher’s college. The name Yiğit means valiant, but he is not living up to that name, and Münevver (Enlightened) is getting annoyed.
Wednesday, January 20 Deaths 1,832 (+24) New cases 674
We watched the inauguration this morning. It was very moving. We loved Biden, and just like the rest of the country, we liked Lady Gaga, J-Lo and Bernie’s mittens. Some of the speeches were a little long. But the main thing was that it happened. Not many countries have ever needed new leadership as bad as we did.
After the swearing in, we went for a walk up in the forest so that E could visit an old friend with whom she has been sharing important moments with since the first Obama victory.
On the way back we saw how our old maple was doing. About five years ago the it was cut as part of a thinning operation, which left nothing but a three foot tall stump. Hard to kill a maple, though, at least in this climate.
It’s the 300th day of Pandemic Diary record keeping. After twenty days of only moderately high daily deaths, the number this week climbed back up to very high, 21.7 deaths per day. Here’s the chart.
Thursday, January 21 Deaths 1,843 (+11) New cases 849
Although COVID is still raging in Oregon, there is one mildly hopeful sign: the test positive rate has averaged below five per cent for the past eight days. And on the national scene, masks will now be required at all federal facilities. What a concept.
A cold damp day around here, no real rain but lots of mist and drizzle. M went to Bi-Mart and got a bag of manure. Why? Because the Extension newsletter says that now is the time to manure one’s rhubarb. We wonder if this recommendation comes from the latest horticultural research or if it is traditional lore that has been passed down by untold generations of rhubarb growers? The article didn’t say.
E ventured into town and came back with a nightlight. We really need a nightlight because we had to close the shades to keep out the light from the Christmas lights at the house across the street. The lights have been on 24 hours a day since Christmas, even though no one lives there. Ask us if we understand this.
M is cooking tonight–saag lentils, rice, and fried eggs. On Love is in the Air, the secrecy of Münevver and Yiğit’s secret love is beginning to unravel. Both of their mothers now know about it. Yiğit’s mother is deeply concerned–about herself–because she knows she might get fired. Münevver’s mother, Hamiyet, is furious and lays into Yiğit with the old “How could you do this to us after all the nice things we did for you?” She banishes him from the mansion and comes very close to exiling his mother as well. Of course, this is all still women’s stuff. Yusuf and his dad Yilmaz (Undaunted) are still in the dark. Yilmaz continues blithely along, and is nearly finished with his plan for getting Münevver engaged to the provincial governor. Meanwhile, has innocent Toprak’s dunce of a husband rented a house for himself and his floozie? Of course he has. Has Toprak found out about it? Uh-huh. Has the scheming Havva managed to lure handsome good guy Yusuf into her web? Not yet. Fate has dealt her a couple of setbacks. Has she given up? No. She’s a spunky one. When fate slaps her, she slaps right back.
Friday, January 22 Deaths 1,865 (+22) New cases 877
A walk today at a Benton County Natural Area called Fitton Green. Just a stroll really, about 3500 steps. Nice day for a walk, warmish and partly cloudy. The other major event of the day that a M finished another of his British crosswords. Here’s an excerpt. The clue is Idle socialite, ages out of university, finding way to embrace flower-girl. The answer is a two-word phrase, each word containing six letters. The known letters and blanks are as follows: _o_n_e _i_a_d. If anyone sees this and thinks of the answer immediately, well, that’s good, but you probably shouldn’t mention it to M, because it took him forever.
Saturday, January 23 Deaths 1,877 (+13) New cases 775
A mostly sunny day, cold in the morning but mild in the afternoon. E went out to the country to walk Pepper. Pepper was glad to see her, but not happy at all about going for a walk, possibly because it was pretty cold at that time. So E got in only a few steps toward her daily goal of many thousands. After lunch, therefore, she had to take M for a walk around the neighborhood. E also spent time today searching for a new pot for a house plant that is outgrowing its current home. By the time she found one to her liking, it was late in the day and she wisely decided to postpone the actual repotting phase of the project. While she was out searching, M worked on doing a makeover of a little iris bed that was choked with grass. It was so warm that he had to take off his heavy shirt and work in his tee. Weird.
We’ve been getting information about vaccinations in Oregon. A total of 285,914 doses have been given. The state is averaging 12-15,000 administrations per day. At that rate it will take a while. The state government has released a schedule for when various groups will become eligible. So far only health workers and caregivers have been getting the vaccine. Starting on Monday, teachers, school staff and child care providers will become eligible. Two weeks after that, people 80 and older will become eligible, followed a week later by 75 and older, and a week after than 70 and older, and a week after that 65 and older. So Eve will become eligible sometime around Valentines Day. Because M is in a different group, he will become eligible later.
But wait, what does “become eligible” actually mean? Not much. Apparently all it means is that you will have permission to put your name on a waiting list somewhere. Where are these lists? No one is saying. How long will you have to wait once your name is on a list? No one knows. Oh boy.
If E does get her shots before M, things could get interesting. According to M, it means that E will have to do all of the grocery shopping for a while. E says that’s right, but M will have to do all the cooking because she’ll be so tired from all that shopping.
Sunday, January 24 Deaths 1,880 (+3) New cases 582
No sun today, cold and dreary, light rain most of the time. E braved the weather to repot her giant plant. M helped by making suggestions (mostly useless) and by helping lift the whole deal back in into place once the repotting was done (quite helpful). E says the change will be good in the long run. Meanwhile, the plant seems ungrateful.
E also took a long walk today, in spite of the rain. M took advantage of the weather by staying inside and watching an OSU women’s basketball game. Due to a long series of COVID related postponements and cancelations, it was their first game in over a month. The game went to double overtime, but they lost.
For anyone who didn’t guess it immediately, here’s the answer to Friday’s crossword clue: Idle socialite, ages out of university, finding way to embrace flower-girl. We’re looking for two six-letter words. The semantic clue was ‘idle socialite.’ The anagrammatic clues were very obscure. Let’s go word by word: “ages” = a LONG time; “out of” = on the outside of; and “university” = U. So, we have to put the two parts of LONG–LO and NG–around the outer edges of the U. That gives LOUNG. The ‘way’ is road whose abbreviation is RD. Those two parts–LOUNG and RD– ‘embrace’ the ‘flower-girl’, which is to say that one is on the left side of her and one is on her right. So now we have LOUNG_ _ _ _ _RD with the flower-girl in between. Who, then, is the flower-girl? Think sixties musicals based on British plays.
test 2