Pandemic Diary — May 10 to 16, 2021

Monday, May 10   Deaths  2,533 (+3)   New cases 388

It’s the 410th day of Pandemic Diary record keeping and time for another chart.

The Oregon Health Authority reported today that 1,467,659 people have been fully vaccinated and that another 514,824 have received first doses and are awaiting a second. The total population of Oregon is about 4,240,000. Speaking of vaccinations, there was interesting news today from Buffalo, N.Y., where Erie County is partnering with a microbrewery to encourage vaccinations. Anyone who gets a shot of the Moderna vaccine gets a voucher for a free drink at the brewery. When they come back for a second shot (of the vaccine) they get another free beer.

The plants have been left mostly unsupervised for a few days. They seem to be getting along anyway.

Tuesday, May 11   Deaths  2,549 (+16)   New cases 660

M has been thinking that the Porsche needed some proper exercise. The best Porsche roads are many miles away. But it couldn’t be put off any longer. So this morning M packed himself a lunch and an overnight bag, extricated the Porsche from the garage, and drove off.

E had her exercise class and then went off for her daily infusion. She spent the afternoon preparing a complicated vegetarian meal and ate it by herself. Either that or she went to Pastini’s with H. One of those.

It took M two hours to get to the other side of the Cascades and and another hour and a half to get across the boring flatlands that came next. In the mirror there’s a snowcapped peak slowly disappearing far behind.  

M ate his lunch at a park in the town of Silver Lake. It was quiet in Silver Lake and there was an awful lot of space in all directions. 

Past Silver Lake Oregon Highway 31 stops being straight and flat and the drive gets more interesting. M’s route led him to the end of 31, where it meets U.S. 395 near the south end of Lake Abert. At the junction M turned north. The highway follows the east shore of the long, mostly dry lake. It’s a wonderful driving road: smooth pavement, excellent visibility, very little traffic, lots of sweeping curves. The Porsche is magic here. 

Wednesday, May 12   Deaths  2,558 (+9)   New cases 616

M woke up at about 7:00 in a motel in Burns, Oregon. After a pretty bad hotel breakfast, he was on the road again, this time going farther north on another very fine segment of U.S. 395. It’s lovely country and the road has some places where you could go pretty fast if you wanted to. It’s also where you find the Silvies Ranch. It’s a 400,000-acre working cattle ranch and also a destination resort with a golf course and spa. It’s a fly-in kind of place, so the highway stays empty.

When he reached John Day, M finally turned west toward home. For a while his route took him down the John Day river canyon on U.S. Highway 26. Here’s where 26 enters the canyon.

M got home around 4:00. He was tired and the car was a horror show of splattered insects. Seven hundred miles total.

Thursday, May 13   Deaths  2,572 (+14)   New cases 733

M got up early and washed the Porsche. Once it was presentable, we took it to tertulia with J&R sans R. The two of them had just returned from a trip to St. George, Utah. J said they did some lovely slot canyon hikes, avoiding the big national parks in the area and finding more out of the way things. Their son had some problems in the cycling segment of his Iron Man, and so had a disappointing finish. 

In the early afternoon, we once more found ourselves in a nursery buying plants. Is there no way out of this nightmare? When we got home, we took naps. Then E did laughter yoga. Finally M made dinner and all was well.

Friday, May 14   Deaths  2,582 (+10)   New cases 713

Busy day. In the morning E planted another Lewisia and then went off for an infusion. M spent a couple of hours doing more planting..  

After lunch E did Zoom yoga and then went to visit with her friend S, who is leaving town soon to be close to her family in Nebraska. E is trying to plan a farewell get together in the next few days.

For dinner M made beef bourguignon. (E is thinking that she needs extra protein for healing.)

Saturday, May 15   Deaths  2,585 (+3)   New cases 751

More yard work. E did more planting. M mowed. E also wrote a letter to a friend, a real letter, in long hand. Yes. We mailed it on the way to MofC to get sushi for dinner.

We’re nearing the end of our Turkish TV series and things are really hopping. Ali and the Cat have succeeded in helping Melek break out of custody. They did it by intercepting the prison van in which she was being transferred from a prison in Istanbul to a prison somewhere in the back of beyond. But she was wounded in the process and died of her wounds! But wait, Melek can’t die! Melek is innocent and good; we knew that she could never have actually had an affair with that awful jerk and we were sure it was someone else who stabbed him eight or ten times, which should have killed him but unfortunately did not. At least, we thought we knew those things. But then we learned that Melek is not really Melek! She is Mevre and Melek was her younger sister. And now we learn that she is not really innocent either. She didn’t have an affair with the awful jerk, but she did try to kill him. He was actually stalking her and she recognized him as the man who raped her younger sister fifteen years ago, the younger sister who then committed suicide and whose name her sister Mevre took for herself. So whoever she is, this M woman is kind of interesting. And the series is not over. So did she really die? She was taken to the morgue and Ali sure thinks she’s dead. He’s mad with grief. But only Özan and Mirel know for sure. Either way, that jerk Kerim is going to make trouble. Fully recovered from his stabbing-induced coma–you know how that is–he seems primed to take over his father’s evil empire of thugs and torturers. 

Sunday, May 16   Deaths  2,587(+2)   New cases 507

M went four wheeling in the mountains and was frustrated at every turn. E, on the other hand, besides getting infused, hosted a farewell party for S. Several of S’s former Yoga students came by to offer best wishes. They all gathered at long outdoor table. E provided cherry tomatoes, lemon cookies, Tazo teas, and a bouquet of iris and lilies from our garden. S was in good spirits and all was well.

M had planned well for his tour, noting exactly which roads would take him up one side and down the other. But did this planning do him any good? Nicht! Did he go up one side and end up coming down the same side? Alas yes. He tried Road 1509 southwest–snow. He tried Road 1509 southeast–snow. He then tried Road 2024 northeast but he took a wrong turn and came to dead end, but then he found the correct turn only to be thwarted by…snow. What is snow even doing there when the temperature is in the seventies? Ninety-nine point nine percent of the road is dry dusty gravel. Well, it’s just in a few of the deepest shady places on north facing slopes, but that was enough.