Pandemic Diary — October 12 to 24, 2021

Tuesday,  October 12, 2021

M got up at six, had breakfast and read the paper, and then went back to bed. He popped up again around nine and went out to figure out what to do with his corms while E did Better Bones and Balance. At about the time M finished his time in the backyard, E came out to put her cabbages into the ground. Here’s one now…

Having got word that its new shoes had arrived, M took the Boxster downtown to the tire place. M loves getting new tires, especially for this sort of car. The new ones are soft and sticky. They hold the road like blazes, but they won’t last more than 15,000 miles. My candle burns at both ends; it will not last the night, But ah, my foes and oh, my friends–. it gives a lovely light!  

E took a walk in the OSU forest. Here’s what the Cronemiller Lake looked like.

For TV we’ve started watching The Morning Show with Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Anniston. Hmm. On the down side, there’s something off-putting about all these characters. But at least they’re interesting and the acting is good. We’ll probably watch more.

Wednesday,  October 13, 2021

We’ve become obsessed by the garage. We’ve been moving some things around and getting rid of others. E is sorting through her old work stuff. Yikes! What with one thing and another, we’ve decided to put one of our shelving units up for sale. Whoa. And as if that weren’t enough, M has decided to try and spiff up the place. He’s painting one wall that has never been painted before and is also starting to repair long cracks in the floor.

Following her work in the garage, E went out and did a nature walk down at the Starker Arts Park. She was remembering how she used to take dog Pepper there. There’s been some email discussion of having a celebration of life service for Pepper’s original owner.

Thursday,  October 14, 2021

We got a lot done today. E had two classes–BBB and Laughter Yoga–and she went to a hair appointment, plus she went out to see the coin man and sold her collection of WW2 zinc pennies. She had over a hundred of them; and since they’re worth a bit more than three cents apiece, you can just imagine how rich she has suddenly become.

M also raised cash when a couple of youngish type people dropped by and took away the utility shelf. He also put a coat of paint on the garage wall and then went after the long crack in the floor. He was heard to grumble aloud about the Nile River of cracks.

For dinner we went out south of town to Four Spirits. Four Spirits is a craft distillery founded by a former Oregon National Guard soldier who served in Iraq. There is a restaurant at one end of the big distillery building. The menu is fairly short and the food is good, simpler and healthier than most Oregon brewpub fare. The craft cocktails are also good; E was very pleased with her Harvest Mule. Also, the view to the west is lovely. We sat outside to get the full effect. The distillery sells whiskies, gin, rum and vodka in six western and mid-western states. Ten per cent of all bottle sale proceeds are used to fund veterans’ reintegration support programs in those states. For more of this rather nice story, see the link above. 

Friday, October 15, 2021

E went out early and fetched croissants for breakfast. Yee-haw! It was dim, foggy and cold at that time, but by late morning the mists had burned away and the sun was shining. M worked on his garage project, putting on a second coat of paint and washing some pretty dirty windows. In the middle of the day E went out to a meeting regarding a memorial for Susan. 

Later in the afternoon E baked brownies and then went to fetch nachos and virgin margaritas from Tacovore. All this was in honor of our friend P who came for a visit. P had recently had a birthday and after a snack of nachos and devirginized margaritas, she got a brownie with a birthday candle. In return Pat had some good information to share on some end of life issues. More on that later maybe.

Watched another episode of The Morning Show. Pretty interesting, maybe too much so. Do we need that much tension in the evening? 

Saturday, October 16, 2021

The COVID surge continues in Oregon. In the first half of October, the state averaged more than 20 deaths per day, which is about the same as the September rate. The state reports that both hospitalizations and new case numbers declined slightly. The positive test rate for the last two weeks is around 6.5%– quite a bit lower than the September rates, but still considerably higher than in June and July.

Sunday,  October 17, 2021

We made a long drive today, Corvallis to Brookings via Grants Pass, which took about seven hours in all. The weather was cloudy all they way with some intermittent rain toward the end. Our destination was Alfred A. Loeb State Park, where we had reserved a cabin for two nights. Loeb is a small campground that was created in 1948 in the middle of an old growth myrtle grove on the banks of the Chetco river. We’d visited it once before on a day trip. We’d been impressed by the three new-looking cabins at Loeb and had hoped that one day we might return in stay in one. Well, here we are, and it is indeed nice–a snug, heated shelter right on the riverbank.

Monday,  October 18, 2021

After breakfast we got back in the truck and headed east on the river road. The plan to was to follow the road for 20 miles or so to where it ended at the edge of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area. The first ten miles were paved and went by pretty fast. Then, as we crossed a bridge and came to a tee junction, the pavement ended. The route we wanted was to the right. Alas, a large sign announced that that route was closed due to a landslide. After a bit of exploring, we figured out that the trailhead was still accessible, requiring only a five mile detour around to the left. Hmm. Well, let’s see how it goes. As we gained altitude the road became narrower and rougher, sometimes running along the edge of slopes that plunged down hundreds of feet. We might have turned back, but the sun had come out, the recent rains had settled the dust, and the scenery was beautiful. And the roads were mostly smooth, with only the requisite minimum of potholes, washboard, and partial washouts. On we went until we found the trail to Mount Vulcan. 

We knew that we were going into an area of relatively recent fire activity. A giant fire called the Sour Biscuit Complex burned much of the Wilderness Area in 2002. Large fires also occurred in 2017 and 2018 on the west side of the Chetco Divide.

Tuesday,  October 19, 2021

Early to bed and early to rise. By nine we had had our breakfast and loaded all our gear into the truck. E gave the cabin a good sweeping and again we were on the road. We only went three quarters of a mile, though, because we wanted to take a turn through the Oregon Redwood grove. These are the northernmost redwoods on the continent. A one-mile trail loops through the grove, which is located on a southeast facing mountainside. A lovely stream bisects the loop. We’d done it before, but it was worth doing again.

After the redwood loop. we had to get moving again. We planned to spend the next night at an Airbnb just outside of Glendale, Oregon. From where we were, over near the coast, Glendale is only about 55 miles northeast as the crow flies, but getting there by car is complicated. We of course chose to go directly across the mountains, skirting the northern edge of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness and passing just south of the Rogue River Wilderness. Fifty-five miles by air turned out to be 102 miles by truck and it took more than three hours, but it was quite a ride, especially the section between Agness and Galice, known as Bear Camp Road. Bear Camp Road climbs to 4,700 feet and provides spectacular views. (Click the link to see some stories about people who tried to cross the BCR too late in the year and became stranded. Several of the stories are tragic, but one has a somewhat comedic ending.) We’re not likely to drive Bear Camp Road again, but we won’t forget it either. 

We arrived at our rural cottage at about 4:30 and decided to use its nice-looking kitchen to make ourselves a dinner: ravioli, caesar salad, pinot noir, and chocolate chip cookies. Again we went to bed early.

Wednesday,  October 20, 2021

The provided breakfast consisted of eggs, turkey bacon and croissants. There was coffee in the fridge and three options for brewing: a French press, a traditional drip maker, and an espresso maker. M decided to grind some beans and make expresso. That turned out to be a bad decision–not as bad as taking a wrong turn off Bear Camp Road just before a big snowstorm, but still not very good. We will spare you the details of this comedy of errors and move on to a video from our post-breakfast walk around the property, which was quite lovely. To best hear the birds, turn up your volume. To enlarge, click in the arrows in the upper left.

Departed Glendale around 11:00 and flew up the freeway toward home, making just one essential stop at the Rice Hill Ice Cream stand for a nutritious lunch. Arrived home about 2:30 and started unpacking. 

Thursday,  October 21, 2021

Tertulia with J and R at the usual place. They’ve just been in San Francisco, where they saw the San Francisco Opera production of Beethoven’s Fidelio. 

Friday, October 22, 2021

In local COVID news, the Oregon Health Authority has announced that a “technical glitch” resulted in large scale underreporting of Oregon COVID deaths in the months of May, June, July and August of this year. During that period, OHA previously reported 529 deaths; now they say that the actual number was 1,079. This means that they somehow missed 550 deaths, which seems like rather a lot. 

In local plumbing news, we have drain problems. Yuck. Someone is coming tomorrow. 

Saturday, October 23, 2021

Rain overnight and now a rather pleasant overcast day, bright enough for the fall colors to show their stuff. Our own young flame maple is doing just fine. Drain problems solved thanks to efficient work by energetic young plumber.

Sunday, October 24, 2021

A quiet morning followed by major winds and rain that started just after noon. The OSU Forest is closed due to possible danger from falling trees.