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Monday, February 8   Deaths  2,024 (+1)   New cases  305

We’re back in Bend, Oregon for a couple of days, looking for more fun in the snow, staying at a rental condo in Mt Bachelor Village. Nice big suite.

Tuesday, February 9   Deaths  2,031 (+7)   New cases  529

We skied at Dutchman’s Flat near Mt. Bachelor. As the name suggests, it wasn’t too strenuous, good for us at this stage, no skiing thrills, but no skiing spills either. 

Today is the 320th day of the Pandemic Diary database and time for an updated graphic, which–we are happy to say–shows a steep decline in the severity of the virus in Oregon. Over the last ten days, the COVID19 death rate was 7.4, as compared to 12.6 in the previous period.

Wednesday, February 10   Deaths  2,044 (+13)   New cases  555

This morning we left our happy home overlooking the river and headed back to Corvallis. At around 11:00 we stopped for another skiing excursion, this time at Potato Hill, just east of Hoodoo. Potato Hill is quite different from Dutchman’s Flat, which make sense since a potato is somewhat different from a Dutchman and a hill is definitely different from a flat. We went up the easy side of the hill, but that was hard enough. About a mile and a half in we came to a scene of major storm damage, an area where dozens of big old trees had blown down, probably during last month’s windstorm. 

Good thing we were well fortified, as our descent lacked neither thrills nor spills. We got back to Corvallis by 4:30, somewhat the worse for wear. As we were unloading, we found a paper bag in the back seat which turned out to contain a gigantic apple fritter. Thus it seems likely that we stopped at the Sisters Bakery somewhere along the line, and if so, E may have had to wait her turn behind a skinny young guy who turned down a fritter as being too large and instead bought four other donuts, a loaf of sourdough bread, and four pats of butter; and who then went outside and walked up and down the sidewalk eating a maple old fashioned. 

Thursday, February 11   Deaths  2,056 (+12)   New cases  621

It’s cold and wet here as another winter storm moves in. We are resting up, rehabilitating, and still unpacking. In the morning, E had a quarter of an apple fritter, then had a Zoom exercise class. Later she had laughter yoga, also via Zoom. M had his own quarter fritter to prepare him for a FaceTime meeting with our long-time colleague D. In 1998 the two of them co-authored an article to be included in a handbook for language program administrators. They revised the article when the book was reprinted sometime in the 2000’s. Wasn’t that enough? No. The book’s tirelessly industrious editors have now found a publisher for another new edition. Suckers that M and D are, this will be the third time that they have done this work on the basis of the same financial arrangement, which was firstly nil, secondly none, and now thirdly zero.

Now I know what some readers are asking: What the heck happened to the other two quarters of that fritter? E sent it to the freezer. If it doesn’t get lost in there (Fat chance. –Ed) it will appear again another day. 

Friday, February 12   Deaths  2,094 (+38)   New cases  517

A major spike in the number of COVID deaths today. This despite several weeks of low case numbers and test positive percentages. Yikes!

A day of errands around town. M got up early to trickle charge the Porsche so he could start it up and go get a new battery. The car clinic happened to be in the neighborhood of a nice bakery. Oddly enough, that’s where E found him when she came to give him a ride home. We bought two scones and took them home to have for breakfast. E then got right into filling out a survey and registering herself with the county health department so as to be informed as soon as appointments become available for people in her category, which won’t be soon. But at least E has been accepted into the system. M, a few years younger, was turned away. M then took bottles and cans to the bottles and cans place, got some gin from the gin place, and picked up some vegetable juice, milk, yogurt and tomatoes from a grocery place. 

In the afternoon, E took M to fetch the little blue car and then zipped home in time for Zoom yoga. M had a mind to go joyriding in the rain but decided against it. We took a walk before dinner, but the world was cold and wet, so we kept it short.

In the evening we finished watching our latest Turkish series Love is in the Air (Yer Gök Aşk). We had watched Episode #36 on Thursday night, which left us far short of the 110 episodes that Netflix offers. So how did we finish so quickly? Well, things were moving kind of slow and 74 more episodes seemed like way too many, so we skipped ahead and watched #109 and #110. Clearly we missed some things, but it didn’t matter too much. As we expected, the basic issue was still not resolved. We were delighted to meet a new character being played by Şahin Ergüney, an actor that we recognized from when we saw him play the part of Ömer’s mentor in Black Money Love. 

In Episodes #109 and #110 of Yer Gök Aşk, Ergüney plays the father of Yusuf’s new girlfriend, Bade. In #109, we learn that Yusuf is determined to marry Bade, even though he is still in love with Havva, just as he was back in Episode #36. He seems to know that he is making a mistake, but his mother is pushing hard for Bade, and his mother–played by the inimitable Işıl Yücesöy–is a force of nature. So here comes trouble.

Saturday, February 13   Deaths  2,137 (+43)   New cases  474

There have been ice storms here and there across the area. In our neighborhood, the rain has not frozen at ground level, but up in the trees thick layers of ice have encased limbs and branches. Due to the weight of the ice, some big limbs have broken off from our neighbor’s tree and fallen onto our yard. Bah. Cold rain has continued on and off all day.

Eve again went out to walk with Pepper. She was pleased that just as they started their walk, the rain stopped and the sun even appeared for a few moments. After the walk, as she was driving home, it was pouring again. 

Take-out dinner from Sybaris–a dungeness crab and shrimp bake for E, BBQ meatloaf for M. Panther Creek Pinot. A pre-Valentine’s celebration. Very nice. 

Sunday, February 14   Deaths  2,137 (+0)   New cases  254

We walked in the OSU forest today and saw some effects of the ice storm there. It was very striking. A number of large trees had fallen and many others had varying degrees of damage. It was odd to see no snow or ice anywhere except in certain places where high branches had been encased in ice, ice that became so thick that the branches broke off and carried the ice down with them. In those places the ice was was still visible after 36 hours of temperatures above freezing. Here’s what the debris looked like under one fir tree. We just pointed our camera at the ground.

The other oddity was that the high damage areas were very localized. Most of the forest just looked soggy–the way it does this time of year. Only here and there did we find pockets of damaged and downed trees, places where the ice formation must have been especially heavy. We noticed this same kind of localization after last fall’s terrible wildfires, when we saw areas of complete destruction immediately beside areas of little or no damage. The complexity of natural phenomena makes their destructive effects seem capricious, as if they were the work of angry, drunken gods. 

Pandemi Günlüğü 8-14, Şubat

Pazartesi, 8 Şubat        Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,024 (+1)  Yeni vakalar: 305

Yine Bend’deyiz, karda daha fazla eğlence arıyoruz. Büyük bir apartmanda kalıyoruz. Güzel.

Salı, 9 Şubat        Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,031 (+7)  Yeni vakalar: 529

Bachelor Dağı yakınlarındaki Dutchman’s Düz’te kayak yaptık. Bizim için iyiydi çünkü yorucu değildi.

Çarşamba, 10 Şubat        Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,044 (+13)  Yeni vakalar: 555

Bu sabah Bend’den ayrıldık ve eve doğru batıya gittik. Saat 11: 00’de Potato Hill’de başka bir kayak gezisi için durduk. Dutchman’s Flat daha zor. Parktan bir mil uzakta, korkunç bir fırtına hasarı gördük. Pek çok büyük ağaç rüzgardan düşmüştü.

Öğle yemeği yedikten sonra aşağı kaydık. Yol dik ve hızlıydı. Çok dikkatli olmalıydık. Zaman zaman kayaklarımızı çıkarıp yürümek zorunda kalıyorduk. Yavaş ama güvenli.

Eve gittikten sonra arabamıde bir çantada dev bir elmalı börek bulduk. Nereden geldi? Hmm. Belki kayak yaptıktan sonra Sisters Bakery’de durduk. 

Perşembe, 11 Şubat        Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,056 (+12)  Yeni vakalar: 621

Corvallis’te hava her zamanki gibi soğuk ve ıslak. Kahvaltıda elmalı börek yedik. E onu dört parçaya ayırdı. E bir parça yedi ve M bir parça yedi. Diğer ikisine ne oldu? Kayboldular! Ama belki bir gün günlükte yeniden görünecekler.  

Cuma, 12 Şubat        Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,094 (+38)  Yeni vakalar: 517

Kötü haber. Oregon’da günlük COVID ölümlerinde büyük artış oldu. Neden bilmeyoruz. 

Bugün ayak işlerini yaptık. M yeni bir pil almak için Porsche’yi aldı ve ayrıca biraz market alışverişi ve biraz da geri dönüşüm yaptı.

Akşam Yer Gök Aşk’ı izlemeyi bitirdik. Bugüne kadar 36 bölüm izledik. Seviyoruz ama çök yavaş. Sadece sonunu izlemeye karar verdik. Son iki bölüme atladık. 109. bölümde Yusuf ve Havva’nin hala evle olmadığını gördük. Aslında Yusuf’un yeni bir sevgilisi var, Bade. Bade’nin babasını canlandıran oyuncuyu görmekten çok memnun kaldık. Şahin Ergüney’di. Onu Kara Para Aşk’ından hatırladık. 

Yusuf’un Havva’ya kızdığı için Bade ile evlenmeye karar verdiğini gördük. Elbette Havva’yı hâlâ seviyor ve onu seviyor. Yusuf hata yaptığını biliyor ama gurur duyuyor ve annesi–Işıl Yucesöy–Bade için çok bastırıyor. Sorun geliyor!

Cumartesi, 13 Şubat        Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,137 (+43)  Yeni vakalar: 474

Dün gece buz fırtinaları yaşadık, çok soğuk yağmur. Yağmur sokaklarda ve bahçelerde donmadı. Ağaçların uzuvlarında çok kalın buz oluştu. Garip. Ve ağaçlar için çok tehlikeli. Komşumuzun büyük bir ağacı var ve birçok uzuv kırılmış. Bu bir karmaşa ve bir kısmı bizim bahçemizde.

Pazar, 14 Şubat        Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,137 (+0)  Yeni vakalar: 254

Bugün OSU ormanında yürüdük ve buz fırtınasının etkilerini gördük, Bazı ağaçlar düşmüş ve birçok ağaç zarar görmüştü. Kar yoktu ve yerde buz oluşmamıştı. Ama bazı ağaçların tepelerinde kalın buz oluşmuştu. Sonra dallar kırıldı ve her şey düştü. İşte birçok küçük dalın düştüğü bir yer.