The old concrete and gravel have been removed and a sheet of road cloth has been put down. The old gravel was pea gravel, of which our man Claudio strongly disapproved, saying it is not a good base for any kind of pavement. No wonder our driveway was falling apart. (Of course it did last 58 years.)
Thursday, February 3, 2022
We had R over for dinner. E made minestrone. R and M’s book project is proceeding.
More driveway work today. Many inches of new gravel (crushed rock type) have been added, along with a layer of sand. Lots of noise from the vibrating compactor. By the end of the day, it looked like this:
Friday, February 4, 2022
E went for coffee H and N this afternoon. Both seem to be doing well. When E returned around 4:45, we tried to order take-out from Ba’s in Albany. They have a good, easy to use, online order system, but they are apparently a little busy. The system did not tell us exactly where we were in the queue, but it did inform us that our order would take three hours to prepare. Whoa! We settled for Pastini’s. Pastini’s is a regional chain that used to have a really crappy online ordering system, but lo and behold, they have changed partners and radically improved! We are moderately pleased.
In the evening we watched two episodes of Yanık Koza, a Turkish series whose title translates to Burned Cocoon. The story is about a wealthy family and how secrets and lies from the past continue to wreck havoc in the present. It’s from 2005-06 and consists of 105 45-minute episodes. It’s on Netflix, in Turkish with English subtitles. Today’s Turkish lesson comes from a line of dialogue in Episode 36. The scene is a hospital corridor, just outside the room where two minor bad guys lie badly wounded and only semi-conscious. Unfortunately for them, they know too much and everyone suspects that their bad guy boss wants them out of the picture. So a bunch of good guys are standing around the hallway in an effort to protect them. The speaker is Kadir, one of our hero’s loyal sidekicks. Kadir is short, round and tough looking.
At a critical moment Kadir says: “If those two are nurses, I’m Brad Pitt!” Now you may wonder why anyone would want to learn this phrase in Turkish But if you ever find yourself in a Turkish hospital, it could turn out to be more useful that you think. We know, from having watched several Turkish series, that many Turkish hospitals are frequented by hoodlums disguised as nurses who have been ordered to rub out key witnesses who are lying helpless in their beds. So here we go. In Turkish the line goes like this:
Bu ikisi hemşireyse, ben Brad Pitt’im.
bu ikisi = these two hemşire = nurse ben = I’m
Grammar note: “se” is the functional equivalent of English ‘if.’ It comes at the end of the clause instead of the beginning and takes the form of a suffix added onto the noun.
These two nurses if ,I Brad Pitt (am)
Bu ikisi hemşireyse, ben Brad Pitt ‘im.
Now practice pronunciation. Play the video. Listen and repeat.
More driveway work today. Not done, but coming along.
Saturday, February 5, 2022
We took a nice walk in the OSU forest. About five thousand steps and thirteen floors. (E supposedly climbed fifteen floors, but her watch cheats.) Along the way we saw the first new leaves of spring.
As we learned from one of our special correspondents, spring officially begins on February 1st.
Sunday, February 6, 202
M went out into the Coast Range foraging for yard décor. He found a nice chunk of wood and a few rocks.
E had a siblings meeting via Zoom. Ice storms in upstate New York. Very nasty. Hereabouts, in more temperate climbs, E’s amaryllis is coming along nicely. This is its third year.
Monday, February 7, 2022
More driveway work. Slow going.
Tuesday, February 8, 2022
Driveway done! Good. It’s prettier and wider.
Thursday, February 10, 2022
In the first ten days of February, the Oregon Health Authority has reported 72 February COVID deaths. During the same period they have also reported 114 new COVID deaths for the month of December. Their count of total number of deaths in December now totals 338. Only about half of these deaths were reported in December and the first few days of January. Why the long delay in reporting the other half? Perhaps more importantly, when will this process end? Will OHA report another 114 December deaths in the next ten days of February or in the first ten days of March? We mention this not because we are obsessed with the month of December; at this point, that month is of only historical interest. But are we alone in wishing that we could get some idea of how many deaths are occurring now? As has been obvious from the beginning, death counts are the only way we have of determining how serious our situation is. We have lots and lots of numbers in Oregon–vaccinations, cases, positive test rates, hospitalizations, and more–but we don’t have the only one we really need in order to know what is actually going on.
Oh well. Let’s check in with the amaryllis.
Friday, February 11, 2022
Went into the OSU forest again, this time on the newish Vineyard Mountain Trail. Vineyard Mountain is just north of Corvallis and has long been home to a few broadcast and communication towers. Somewhere back in time, someone went to a lot of trouble to build a structure near the top of Vineyard Mountain. It’s hard to say what it was. Only the fireplace and the concrete pad foundation remain. From the foundation you can see that it wasn’t very big. But judging from the two-foot thickness of the pad and the rather massive fireplace and chimney, the builder meant business. A bit of a mystery.
The pandemic continues to take its toll in Oregon with an average of more than 10 deaths per day during the period of March 2-11. This is roughly the same level as in the previous thirty days. New case numbers and test positive rates continue to be relatively low.
Monday is shopping day and we spent money like water this morning, E at the Co-op and M at Mother of Markets and Trader Joe’s. In return we have obtained a cornucopia of wonders: organic grapefruit juice, cheapish wine, even cheaper black tea, dried apricots, crusty bread, ridiculously expensive frozen prawns…the list goes on and on, all the way to the pièce de résistance: a big box of Frosted Mini-Wheats. Eve did her shopping in-person for the first time in a while. She says she bought a lot more that way because, you know, what you see is what you buy, especially if you haven’t seen for a while.
After shopping M made heroic efforts to clean up from his great project and manage the great volume of gravel remaining in the driveway. A neighbor wants to take some and that’s excellent. The rest needs to be stored somewhere else, perhaps for use in future projects. But let’s not think about that now.
In the late afternoon M got his first COVID shot. Unlike Eve, who got her first shot at a large scale administration run by the public health authorities, M went to Safeway. The two venues could not have been more different. Eve’s was outside, in a large covered area built into the east side of the OSU football stadium. Parking was down the road a ways, and as soon as Eve entered the lot, she and her friend was asked if they needed or wanted a golf cart ride to inoculation area. There were lots of people coming and going and lots of volunteers to assist them. Eve’s friend took the cart while E said she’d walk. In the main area everyone had to go through a series of three checkpoints to confirm their identity and answer questions about their current condition. At the third of these Eve got a purple sticker to put on her jacket lapel and she was directed to one of the inoculation stations. There were two separate inoculation areas, each with at least eight stations. E’s section was for first Pfizer shots; the other was for second Modernas. When she got her shot, she got another sticker, a white one on which was written the exact time of her shot. She was then directed to a waiting area with chairs spaced six feet apart. A staff person monitored this area, checking how much time had elapsed since each person’s shot. At this point E was again accompanying her friend, who, as it happens, had gotten her shot two minutes before E had gotten hers. When it came time for the friend to go, the staffer assisted her to stand up, telling her to move very slowly. The staffer then looked at E and asked her to stand as well, even though technically E still had a minute and a half to go. But the staffer said that was okay and off they went to the next checkpoint. There, another staffer gave their vaccination cards. Also at that station everyone was scheduled for their second appointments. After that, they were directed to the exit where another volunteer offered them a ride in the golf cart back to the parking lot, saying that she was having trouble keeping the cart drivers busy. Both E and her friend graciously accepted. E said later that the cart was kind of fun.
So it was all very organized and ran very smoothly. Because it was all outside, E said she was feeling pretty cold toward the end. But it appeared that hundreds of people per hour were going through the process. As has been reported in other U.S. locations, volunteers had the possibility of receiving vaccinations as a reward for their help.
E’s experience included one small snafu. After it was all over, when she and her friend were both safely home, she discovered that she had been given her friend’s vaccination card and that her friend had gotten hers.
No such errors occurred at Safeway. But nor were there any golf carts or any signage of any kind. M had to just wander in and find his way to the pharmacy area. There he found someone talking to a cashier and paying for a prescription. There was no other sign of life except for another fellow roughly M’s age who appeared to also be looking around for some sign that there might be a vaccination clinic somewhere. When the prescription customer was done, this other fellow spoke to the cashier and was told to go to the prescription drop-off window at the other end of the counter. There was no one there, but the cashier quickly left her register area and went over to check him in for a shot. M too moved in that direction and he was in turn checked in by the rather brusque cashier, who also directed him to a fully enclosed waiting room at the other end of the pharmacy area. This was not a large room, but was easily large enough to maintain eight or twelve feet of distance, given there were never more than two people seated in the room. After a short time, a pharmacist came in and beckoned the first fellow into a smaller room where she gave the shots. Then it was M’s turn. After the shot, she filled out his vaccination record, gave him an information sheet and told him to go back to the waiting room and stay for twenty minutes. She then hurried back to her work, presumably in the prescription prep room. M dutifully waited for twenty minutes and then left.
The Safeway system could process only four vaccinations per hour. It did not make use of volunteers and did not require any paid staff beyond the cashier and pharmacist who were normally on duty. When he looked at his vaccination record, M saw that it wasn’t nearly as neat and official looking as E’s. On the other hand, it was accompanied by a coupon for 10% off on his next grocery purchase. Considering how much he had spent that day at those other stores, that sounded pretty good.
Tuesday, March 9 Deaths 2,303 (+5) New cases 517
M went out early and finished clearing gravel off the driveway, then came in and worked on his article. E had her Better Bones and Balance class. At 10:00 we went off into the world, ending up at a garden center where we bought a pot of tulips, some violets, and a table and chair set. We were so excited by the latter that we rushed home, set it up in the back yard and had a cup of coffee. Aah. Beautiful.
Full disclosure, our set differs slightly from the one in this photo, mainly in the areas of the plants, the patio paving, the stone wall, the coffee service, the background scene, and the sunshine.
We then went to the OSU forest for a quick hike up to the lake and back. We were home by 12:30 in time to get ready for yet another celebration of E’s birthday, this time at her friend H’s house, she of the covered back patio. That do started at 1:00 and involved take-out Vietnamese food and house-made cardamom tea. More importantly, there were two kinds of cake.
Later, back at home, hilarity ensued when E mistakenly prepared our dinner, even though it was M’s night to cook. After dinner we watched a bit more of 20 Minutes.
Wednesday, March 10 Deaths 2,305 (+2) New cases 306
Another coolish day with occasional light showers and periods of warm sun. M worked on his article for a couple of hours and then went outside to spread bark rock here and there. E did her correspondence chores–paper and electronic–and then went out to visit Pepper and his owner.
After some nice TLT sandwiches for supper, we watched episode 11 of 20 Minutes. Nothing of any great significance occurred, but it was all very dramatic. So far our heroine Melek has been found guilty of assault rather than murder because the man she was accused of attacking has been lingering in a coma. But soon, it seems, he is going to die. If he does, her sentence will be changed from 20 years to life. But what does that even matter, given that the dying man’s father–the evil and powerful Mayor–has sworn to have Melek and her whole family slaughtered within the next ten years. Meanwhile, the one police detective who suspects that Melek is innocent is in trouble with his boss and is being ostracized by his colleagues–including the guy who delivers the tea–because he has tried to reopen her case. Inside the prison Melek has befriended another prisoner, a young pregnant woman who is serving time because her husband made her work as as drug mule. Melek is doing this because Melek is nice. How could she not be? The word melek in Turkish means angel.
Thursday, March 11 Deaths 2,316 (+11) New cases 367
A beautiful day and a busy one. We had tertulia early with J and R, who helped M figure out just how he had managed to order so much gravel. His difficulty had to do with something that is apparently called “arithmetic.” So that mystery is cleared up; it will take a little longer to clear up the extra gravel. After tertulia, E had Zoom yoga and M went to the dentist.
At 10:30, M did FaceTime with colleague D to wrap up the article. He came out of the meeting to find E busy in the front yard. She was doing some spring cleaning work on her mini-garden out by the road. This inspired M to go outside also. He spread a few cartloads of bark rock. Bark rock, he reports, is approximately 1,000 times lighter than gravel. Given his level of arithmetic skills, he is almost certainly wrong.
In the late afternoon E had Laughter Yoga while M prepared his ingredients for a stir-fry.
Friday, March 12 Deaths 2,319 (+2) New cases 402
Cloudless skies and overnight temperature in the thirties made for a cold morning, but things warmed up nicely as the day went on. Around midday we took a long forest walk followed by a picnic lunch at the lake. E. had Zoom yoga at 1:30 and later had a long phone call with her brother. M did desk work and dropped off some things at the post office. At four we had a conference call with R and G and talked about a date for getting together at their house for dinner. What a strange idea! In the evening we skipped TV and started a 4D jigsaw puzzle of Budapest.
Saturday, March 13 Deaths 2,322 (+3) New cases 365
Spring cleaning day for our rather crowded back door closet. It was a bright and sunny day, so we took all our winter coats and hats and yoga stuff out to bake in the sun. Once the space was empty, E scrubbed and vacuumed.
Later in the day E had a little outdoor party with her friends J and C. The menu featured dolmas, spinach pastries, crackers, brie and possibly some wine. For once it was warm enough, mostly, to be comfortable sitting outside. M started doing our taxes, then dined on a Burgerville sandwich and fries washed down by a glass of Origon, a Catalan red, cheap but tasty.
Then we went back to work on building Budapest. We’re still plugging away at the 1884 map. So far we’ve only finished the Danube.
We also watched a little of 20 Minutes. The young woman whom Melek befriended has been coerced into betraying her. Wouldn’t you know it.
Sunday, March 14 Deaths 2,322 (+0) New cases 234
For breakfast we had chocolate croissants–not, alas, from the Patissier, which remains closed, but from Trader Joe’s. They came frozen and as instructed we set them out on parchment paper and let them thaw and rise all night, then cooked them in the morning. They were very good. M noticed that they had too much chocolate; E did not. After breakfast we finished up our income tax returns and sent them off across the internet.
After lunch Eve went walking on the west side of the OSU campus, which has long been the home grounds of the College of Agriculture. There’s a multi-use path that begins on what she still calls Pig Farm Road. These days the road still provides access to the Swine Center, but also to the OSU Dairy, the Animal Nutrition Center, and the Precision Agricultural Systems Center. We’re not sure if we want to know what goes on in the Precision Agricultural Systems Center. The building itself gives no clue.
But anyway, beyond all that, the road continues as a walking/biking route that leads through the fields in the direction of the Benton County Fairgrounds. Fifty years ago someone rescued an old covered bridge that was being replaced somewhere else in the county and moved it to where the path crosses Oak Creek. We remember walking there once or twice in the old days when we both worked on campus. Today, E says, it was cold and windy.
Pandemi Günlüğü, 8-14 Mart, 2021
Pazaretesi, 8 Mart Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,298 (+2) Yeni vakalar: 234
Salgın Oregon’da devan ediyor. 2 Mart’tan 11 Mart’a kadar günde ondan fazla ölüme neden oldu.
Pazartesi bakkal alışveriş günü ve bugün çok para harcadık. E bir mağazaya, M iki mağazaya daha gitti. Eve birçok harika şey getirdik: Kaliforniya’dan organik greyfurt suyu, İspanya’dan ucuz şarap, Türkiye’den kuru kayısı, Oregon’dan ekmek ve the pièce de résistance–buyuk bir kutu Frosted Mini Wheats. Vay!
Öğleden sonra M, bir Safeway süpermarkette ilk COVID atışını yaptı. Süreç sorunsuz ve kolaydı. Ama Eve’in aşı yaptırdığı zamandan çok farklıydı. E bir futbol stadyumuna gitti. Çok sayıda personel ve çok sayıda gönüllü asistan vardı. Saatte yüzlerce doz aşı yaptılar. Safeway’de her zaman eczane bölümünde çalışan sadece iki personel vardı. Saatte dört aşı yaptılar. Hangisi daha iyiydi? Hmm. Peki, M Safeway için yüzde son indirim kuponu aldı. E bir futbol maçı için yüzde on indirim aldı mı? Hayır.
Sali, 9 Mart Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,2303 (+5) Yeni vakalar: 517
Biraz bahçe işi ve E’nin egzersiz dersinden sonra, büyük dünyaya gittik. Bir bahçe merkezine gittik ve bir lale, biraz menekşe ve bir dış mekan masa ve sandalye seti aldık. Masa ve sandalyeyi eve geri götürdük ve bahçemize koyduk. Sonra bir fincan kahve ile rahatladık. Ah … güzel.
Tam açıklama: Setimiz bu resimden biraz farklı, ancak yalnızca bitkiler, alçak duvar, taş teras, kahve servisi ve arka plan açısından.
Daha sonra hızlı bir orman yürüyüşüne çıktık ve saat 1: 00’de öğle yemeği için H’nin evine gittik. Vietnam yemekleri ve doğum günü pastası yedik. Akşam 20 Dakikalık bir bölüm daha izledik.
Çarşamba, 10 Mart Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,305 (+2) Yeni vakalar: 306
Biraz yağmur ve biraz güneşle başka bir gün. M makalesi üzerinde çalışırken, E yazışmalar yaptı ve Pepper and Pepper’ın sahibini ziyarete gitti. Akşam 20 Dakika daha izledik. Zavallı Melek! 20 yıl hapis yatıyor. Belki ömür boyu hapiste. Ama zaman önemli değil çünkü kötü Belediye Başkanı Solmaz onun ölmesini istiyor. Onu hapishane duş odasında öldürmek için bir plan yaptı. Melek’in masum olabileceğini düşünen bir polis dedektifi var. Ama başı dertte. Patronu kızgın ve kimse onunla konuşmayacak, çaycı bile. Melek cezaevinde başka bir mahkuma yardım ediyor. Bunu nazik olduğu için yapıyor. O tam bir melek.
Perşembe, 11 Mart Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,316 (+11) Yeni vakalar: 367
Güzel ve yoğun bir gün. FaceTime’da J ve R ile konuştuk. M’nin neden bu kadar çakıl taşıdığını anlamasına yardımcı oldular. Zorluk, ‘aritmetik’ denen bir şeydi. Sonra E Zoom yoga yaptı ve M dişçıye gitti. Bundan sonra M başka bir FaceTime toplantısı yaptı ve E ön bahçede çalıştı. M ayrıca dışarı çıktı ve ağaç kabuğu yaymaya çalıştı. Kabuğun çakıldan 1000 kat daha hafif olduğunu söylüyor. Matematik becerilerinin seviyesi düşünüldüğünde, muhtemelen çok yanılıyor. Öğleden sonra arkadaşlarımızla telefonla konuştuk. Şimdi hepimiz aşı oluyoruz, bu yüzden bir veya iki hafta içinde onların evinde akşam yemeği yiyeceğiz. Ne tuhaf bir fikir!
Akşam televizyonu izlemedik. Bunun yerine 4D testere bulmacası başlattık.
Cuma, 12 Mart Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,319 (+3) Yeni vakalar: 402
Bulutsuz gökkynüzü ve soğuk bir sabah. Ormanda uzun bir yürüyüşe çıktık ve göl kenarında piknik yaptık. E 1: 30’da Zoom yoga yaptı ve daha sonra erkek kardeşi ile telefonda konuştu. Saat 4: 00’te arkadaşlarımız R ve G ile konuştuk. Yakında evlerinde akşam yemeği yemeyi planlıyoruz. Bu yeni bir fikir! Akşam televizyon izlemedik. Budapeşte’nin 4D yapbozunu başlattık.
Cumartesi, 13 Mart Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,322 (+3) Yeni vakalar: 365
Bahar temizliği günü, en az bir dolap için. Sıcak güneşli bir gündü, bu yüzden kışlık paltolarımızı, şapkalarımızı ve eşyalarımızı dışarı çıkardık. E dolabı temizledi ve süpürdü. Günün ilerleyen saatlerinde E arkadaşları J ve C ile küçük bir açık hava partisi yaptı. Dolmalar, ıspanaklı hamur işleri, brie ve kraker vardı. Çok soğuk değildi. E arkadaşlarıyla oynarken M vergilerimizi yaptı. Akşam yemeğinde hamburger, patates kızartması ve şarap yedi. Şarap Katalunya’dandı. Ucuz ama güzel.
Sonra Budapeşte’de çalıştık ve biraz 20 Dakika izledik. Melek’in yardım ettiği genç kadın ona ihanet etti. Sürpriz değil.
Pazar, 14 Mart Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,322 (+0) Yeni vakalar: 234
Kahvaltıda Trader Joes’dan çikolatalı kruvasan yedik. M çok fazla çikolataları olduğunu söyledi. E fark etmedi.
Öğle yemeğinden sonra Eve, OSU kampüsünün batı tarafında yürüyüşe çıktı. Ziraat Koleji’nin evi. Domuz Merkezi, OSU Mandıra, Hayvan Besleme Merkezi ve Hassas Tarım Sistemleri Merkezi’nden geçti. Hassas Tarım Sistemleri Merkezi nedir? Bilmek istemiyoruz. Bina uğursuz görünüyor.
Oregon’s first COVID diagnosis was made on March 1, 2020. The Pandemic Diary database began tracking deaths on March 27. As can be seen below, the death toll for the first four months was relatively low in Oregon, averaging around two deaths per day. In July, things got a little worse; in late November they got a lot worse. These days, during the most recent ten-day period, the death rate has fallen to early November levels. New case numbers and test positive percentages have also been low. So…lot’s of good signs.
In our town today we had warm spring weather. E busied herself with plant care, garage organizing, Zoom yoga, and grocery ordering; then she relaxed with a long and joyful phone talk with an old friend. The only dark spot was that it was her night to cook. She got through it somehow.
M saw an eye doctor today, a process that required two separate visits to the office. On the first visit the receptionist refused to allow him to see the doctor! This on the flimsiest of pretexts, something about how he had arrived an hour early. Incredible. Of course M persevered. He went to AutoZone and got some windshield washer fluid and filled up the tank on the Mazda, which made the yellow warning light go off. Ha! Then he went back to the eye doctor. In the afternoon he went out and worked on his paving project.
Tuesday, March 2 Deaths 2,225 (+13) New cases 269
More beautiful weather. M went shopping early at Mother of Markets. Except for the usual wincing at the check-out counter when the total was announced, it was a pleasant experience. E went to see her friend S and came back with Pepper, who requested a visit to the Chambeck day spa. In response to an overwhelming number of requests (one), we are posting another photo of this charismatic canine.
M worked outside until completely exhausted–which didn’t take all that long–and then had lunch. After a repast of chips, salsa and leftover steelhead, he went into the study to install our new cable modem. That process was fraught with peril, as it requires surviving for a certain amount of time WITH NO INTERNET WHATSOEVER. And what if the new modem didn’t work? And then what if the old modem–understandably bitter over being cast aside–refused to work either? Land sakes alive! Fortunately the process was not as terrible as it might have been. Whew.
Wednesday, March 3 Deaths 2,252 (+27) New cases 276
We woke up to thick fog this morning. M went out to do an errand and reports that traffic was slow and conditions eerie. By 11:00 or so the fog had mostly burned off, after which it was another fine day. E did Zoom yoga and later went to fetch her grocery order from the Co-op. There have been some communication issues and E is thinking it’s time to go back to doing her Co-op shopping the old fashioned way. M worked on his paver project and did some lawn mowing. In late afternoon E went to the plant nursery and bought some native tufted grasses. We plan to put a couple in the front and a couple in the back.
Thursday, March 4 Deaths 2,284 (+32) New cases 392
Quite a high number of Oregon COVID deaths in the last three days, averaging over twenty per day. But the daily tolls have always varied a lot, so we can’t make too much of this yet.
FaceTime tertulia with J and R. They have found out that their grandkids will be going back to school soon, one of them as soon as Monday, others by the beginning of April. The district plan is for each child to have just two days a week of in-class instruction, presumably for the rest of this school year. Also on the education front, the Univ. of Oregon in Eugene has announced that they will be returning to normal course delivery starting Fall term. Also on the virus front, M has a vaccine appointment for next Monday.
Another pretty nice day, cloudy and warm in the morning, some light rain coming on around 3:00 in the afternoon. We were both laboring for hours in the garden, planting the new tuft grass and ornamental thyme that E got yesterday, as well as taking two roses out of their big pots and placing them into big holes. We are slowly gaining ground in the effort to fill all the bare space that we created by last year’s various lawn removals.
In the back yard it’s crocus time.
Also in the back, these are native camas shoots. E planted the bulbs last fall.
And finally, here’s a spy photo of E tending her butterfly.
Friday, February 5 Deaths 2,293 (+9) New cases 251
We did more garden work today, despite the fact that it was raining. M, being a complete fool, has ordered himself nine cubic feet of gravel, which was delivered at noon. He was tired of never having enough. Now he’s got way too much. Despite his work today, a lot of it is still sitting in the driveway. Much progress has been made on the paving project, but it is fiendishly complex and still far from finished. Like many infrastructure projects, it has suffered from ongoing design changes and cost overruns. There is also dissension among the project staff. The designer has maligned the competence of the entire crew, while the construction supervisor claims that the initial design was “incoherent.” Fewer difficulties have occurred in the front yard where E today planted two new primroses and an aster.
In the afternoon, E had another meeting of her HEPAJ group. They all met outside at H’s place to share tea, coffee, and snacks. We suppose there was also some conversation. It was E’s turn to provide the snacks. The weather was rainy and cool but H does have a covered back patio. E came home dry but chilled. It took her a couple of hours and a hot shower to warm up. All of the HEPAJ members are getting vaccinations now, so it won’t be long–we hope–till the group can meet indoors.
Saturday, March 6 Deaths 2,296 (+3) New cases 202
A nice Spring day with lots of sun and lots of showers, each type of weather very politely taking it’s turn throughout the day. E brought Pepper for another visit and M worked on the great paving project. Thankfully, this project has at last been abandoned! completed!
In other news, E’s amaryllis has bloomed. She is especially pleased because this is the second year that it has flowered for her, thus rewarding the care she gave it over the last twelve months.
It was a big TV night for us. First we watched another episode of 20 Minutes (20 Dakika), a Turkish series about a woman imprisoned for a grisly murder that she–probably–did not commit. It stars Tuba Büyüküştün, whom we are very fond of, despite or maybe because of her crooked front tooth. She also starred in Black Money Love, where her character was also imprisoned for a grisly murder that she did not commit. She’s good at this sort of role, though we expect that after doing it a couple of times, she might be getting tired of it. Anyway, we basically hate this show–it is so sappy–and yet we are inexorably drawn to it–probably due to mental deficiency.
After that, we watched the first episode of 45 RPM (45 Revoluciones), a Spanish drama series set in Madrid in the early to mid 1960s. It’s all about the recording industry and advent of the rock and roll era. E first went to Spain the 1968, so it’s fun for her to see how the series tries to recreate the sights and sounds of that era. Episode 1 of the series features a recreation of a performance by a group called Los Pekenikes. This is a real group whose name E thinks she recalls. Apparently the group was formed in Spain in 1959 and once opened for the Beatles when they came to Madrid. So far the series seems to have interesting characters and plenty of drama. Has anyone else seen this show? Is it worth following?
Sunday, March 7 Deaths 2,296 (+0) New cases 211
Bad news for E in the front garden. Someone, either a gentle deer or a feral human, has pulled out one of her newly planted primroses and eaten all its flowers. She put the plant back in the ground and thinks it will probably be okay.
One part of the front yard that we haven’t messed with is the daffodil and rhodie section created by the previous owners.
The daffs are out; the rhododendron buds still have a couple of months to go.
Pandemi Günlüğü — 1-7 Mart, 2021
Pazartesi, 1 Mart Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,212 (+4) Yeni vakalar: 197
Oregon’da ilk COVID teşhisi 1 Mart 2020’de geldi. Aşağıdaki grafikte görebileceğiniz gibi ilk dört ay çok kötü geçmedi. Temmuz ayında pandemik daha da kötüleşti. Kasım sonunda durum çok daha kötüye gitti. Bu günler içinde ölüm oranı Kasım ayı başlarındaki seviyelere düştü. Yani bu oldukça iyi bir haber.
Bugün kasabamızda ılk bahar havası yaşadık. E biraz bitki bakımı yaptı. Sonra Zoom yoga dersi aldı ve Kooperatif’ten yemek siparişi etti. Sonra eski bir arkadaşıyla uzun ve neşeli bir telefon konuşması yaptı. M’nin sabah bir göz doktoru randevusu vardı. Öğleden sonra finişer projesi üzerinde çalıştı.
Sali, 2 Mart Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,225 (+13) Yeni vakalar: 269
Daha güzel hava. M, Pazar Ana’ya erken alışverişe gitti. Sonunda toplamı görmesi dışında hoştu. E Pepper’ı kısa bir ziyaret için evimize getirdi. İstek üzerine, işte bu karizmatik köpeğin bir fotoğrafı.
M, öğle yemeğinden önce dışarıda çalıştı. Öğle yemeğinden sonra yeni bir kablo modem bağladı. Yeni modem ile indirme hızı 275’ten 465 Mbs’ye yükseldi. Harika!
Çarşamba, 3 Mart Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,252 (+27) Yeni vakalar: 276
Bu sabah uyandığımızda yoğun bir sis bulduk. 11: 00’de sis yandı ve çok güzel bir gündü. E, Zoom yoga yaptı ve Kooperatif’ten yiyecek almaya gitti. Bu süreçte sorunlar var. E, bunu durduracağını düşünüyor. Öğleden sonra bahçe merkezine gitti ve daha fazla bitki satın aldı.
Perşembe, 4 Mart Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,225 (+13) Yeni vakalar: 269
FaceTime’da J ve R ile konuştuk. Torunları yakında okula dönüyor. Ama haftada sadece iki gün gidecekler. Oregon’un en büyük üniversiteleri, sonbaharda normal olarak açılacağını söylüyor.
Güzel bir gün daha. Bahçede saatlerce çalıştık. Yeni bitkileri toprağa koyduk ve bazı eski bitkileri de taşıdık.
Çiğdem zamanı!
Bu camas lily. E tohumları geçen sonbaharda ekti. Camas, güzel mavi çiçekleri olan yerli bir bitkidir. Avrupalılar gelmeden önce burada yaşayanlar için önemli bir yemekti.
Son olarak, işte E ve kelebeğinin casus fotoğrafı.
Cuma, 5 Mart Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,296 (+3) Yeni vakalar: 202
Bugün yağmura rağmen bahçede çalıştık. M’ın çakıl yükü öğlen teslim edildi. İlk önce hiç yetmedi. Şimdi çok fazla şeye sahip. Aptalca ama normal. Çok ilerleme sağlandı. Ancak çok daha fazla iş kaldı. Ayrıca işçiler arasında anlaşmazlık var. Tasarımcı, işçilerin tembel ve vasıfsız olduğunu söylüyor. İşçiler ilk tasarımın “tutarsız” olduğunu söylüyor.
Evin önünde daha az sorun var. Bugün E iki çuha çiçeği dikti ve bir aster dikti. Öğleden sonra HEPAJ grubuyla ziyarete gitti. E çok hoşuna gitti, ama toplantı dışarıdaydı ve oldukça soğuktu. İyi haber şu ki, grubun tüm üyeleri aşı oluyor. Yakında içeride olabilecekler.
Cumartesi, 6 Mart Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,225 (+13) Yeni vakalar: 269
Bol güneş ve bol yağmurlu güzel bir bahar günü. E, başka bir ziyaret için Pepper’ı ele geçirdi. M, Büyük Proje’de çalıştı. Neyse ki bu proje artık terk edildi tamamlandı.
Diğer haber ise E’nin nergis zambağı çiçek açmış. E mutlu çünkü bu çiçek açtığı ikinci yıl.
Bu gece çok televizyon izledik. Önce 20 Dakika‘nın bir bölüm izledik. Bu dizide bir kadın cinayetle suçlanarak hapse giriyor. Oyuncu Tuba Büyüküstün’dır. Çarpık dişi olmasına rağmen biz onu çok seviyoruz. Onu başka bir dizide gördük–Kara Para Aşk. O dizide o da hapishanede masum bir kadındı. Bu oyuncu hapishanede çok zaman geçiriyor. Aslında bu yeni diziden nefret ediyoruz. Ama uzak kalamayız. Bu bizim kaderimiz.
Sonra 45 RPM’in ilk bölümü izledik. Bu dizi 1960’larda Madrid’de geçiyor. E okumak için ilk olarak 1968’de Madrid’e gitti. Dizinin o dönemi nasıl gösterdiğini görmek istiyor. Hikaye pop müzik hakkındadır. İlginç görünüyor.
Pazar, 7 Mart Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,225 (+13) Yeni vakalar: 269
Bahçedeki Eve için kötü haber. Bir hayvan, belki bir geyik, yeni çuha çiçeği bitkilerinden birini çekip çiçekleri yedi. E onu yere geri koydu. Sorun olmayacağını düşünüyor. Bahçenin nergis ve ormangülü bölümleri iyi gidiyor.
Şimdi nergis zamanı. Ormangülü çiçeği birkaç ay içinde gelecek.
Monday, February 15 Deaths 2,137 (+0) New cases 184
A second day of zero COVID deaths reported. Reports are for the previous day, so that means that both Saturday and Sunday were zero. It makes you wonder if this is a reporting anomaly. New case totals and test positive numbers remain low.
Our day was busy but mostly routine: grocery shopping, exercise class, correspondence, etc. We had a short walk, but conditions were fairly nasty–40 degrees with wind-driven rain. We’re getting tired of rain, which seems to go on and on. Every unpaved inch of ground is saturated and puddles form in every low spot. It doesn’t help that up until seventy-odd years ago our neighborhood was most probably a wetland.
We’re having a minor insect invasion in our otherwise perfect home. (Some exclusions apply.) We have been seeing small moths flitting here and there, a few tiny ants in the kitchen, and one black fly buzzing around. We do not feel merciful toward these invaders and the death toll is mounting. E has ended the lives of four moths and three ants. M has accounted for two moths and the fly.
Tuesday, February 16 Deaths 2,138 (+1) New cases 411
A mix of rain and sunshine today with warming temperatures. Our neighborhood walk was pleasant and M did an hour of garden work before a shower chased him inside. E did her yoga class and got some sewing done. M disposed of another moth but he is having a hard time catching up with E, whose score today is three more moths and one more ant. She was very satisfied to get the ant. She says it was the that got away from her yesterday–a claim which is difficult to verify.
We are floundering around trying to find something else to watch on TV. We tried to watch a Turkish series called 20 Minutes, which stars one of favorite Turkish actors, Tuba Büyüküstün, who played Elif in Kara Para Aşk. But 20 Minutes is so grim! Too grim. Then we tried to watch another Turkish series called Woman (Kadın), which some of our friends in Spain are watching. It’s also being shown here on Netflix, but it is in Turkish with Spanish subtitles! We tried that for a while and it kinda worked, but it was really hard and just too culturally confusing. So tonight we tried out an episode of A French Village on Prime. It’s good–and it has English subtitles. But it’s French and we missed our Turkish cultural exposure. So we’re still thinking.
Wednesday, February 17 Deaths 2,143 (+5) New cases 473
Another day much like the last. First, M works on his article and E sews. Second, the sun comes out and both work in the garden. Then the sun goes away. M lies down. E goes to the fabric store, navigates the insane complexity of their pricing structure, and eventually gets a package of seam binding and one spool of thread at “regular” prices, two “free” spools of thread, and a piece of flannel fabric for 88 cents.
But wait, here’s something new. A package arrives. Quick, let’s see who it’s for. It’s addressed to E. M tells her it’s probably just a lump of coal or something, but E knows better. It’s a box of Godiva truffles and the card inside says it is for E and M from the Andees. Fine folks, these Andees, both of them credits to their clans.
Although E is now “eligible” to be vaccinated, sign up for her group has yet to be activated, as far as she can see. Frustrating.
Thursday, February 18 Deaths 2,149 (+6) New cases 466
8:00: FaceTime tertulia with R and J. They tell us about having paella and tapas here in town at FireWorks. We tell them about finding Godiva chocolates on our doorstep. Then we compare notes on lugubrious Eastern European national songs.
9:00 — E has Zoom exercise class.
9:30 — M goes to get a haircut.
10:30 — E goes to the dentist. She decides to walk despite the threat of rain.
11:30 — E goes to Winco and picks up some Grape Nuts.
12:00 — E arrives home in a pouring rain. She is cozy in her coat. The Winco bag is soggy, but the Grape Nuts are fine. M is impressed by the Grape Nuts but wants to know why she didn’t also pick up some butter.
12:15 — M fetches lunch from Burgerville.
1:00 — M and E rest from their labors.
2:45 — M starts making pickles
3:45 — Pickles!
After dinner we stumbled upon something new to watch on Netflix. It’s a British film called The Dig. It is about an archeological discovery in Suffolk in 1939 and stars Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan. We found it immediately absorbing. It’s a little slow and a little long, so we decided to save some for tomorrow.
Friday, February 19 Deaths 2,149 (+0) New cases 492
Today is the 330th day of the Pandemic Diary database. Time for another chart. Over the last ten days, the average daily COVID death toll in Oregon was 11.8. This compares with 7.4 during the previous period, so it’s not great news. but nor is it terrible.
The data in the last ten days was strikingly uneven. Two of the days, 2/12 and 2/13, had some of the highest totals of the entire pandemic. On three other days, 2/14, 2/15, and 2/19, zero deaths were reported.
For E and M, today was a more relaxed day than some. After breakfast we took a long walk in the rain. It was quite a nice rain: small drops, not too many of them, and no wind to blow them around. It buoyed our spirits. When we arrived home the rain obligingly stopped for a bit and E went out to the garden to trim last year’s stalks off of the sedum. When she finished that, she got a shovel and whacked up a couple of pumpkins that had been sitting out in our new prairie since Halloween. As soon as she finished, a bluejay went after the seeds she had exposed. Its method was to stuff its craw with four or five seeds and then fly off and bury them one at a time in various parts of the yard. We know that bird won’t find all of them and E is a little dismayed at the thought of having pumpkin plants all over the place. We shall see.
While E worked in the real world, M worked elsewhere, in the video world of Need For Speed: No Limits. Just today he finally got to the point where he could stage up his SRT Viper GTS. This means that he will be able to make more progress in Car Series and also compete successfully in Level 5 Tuner Trials, which will lead to acquiring the parts needed to increase the speed, acceleration and nitro performance of his Porsche Carrera so as to continue progressing in the The Campaign. This, in turn, will open the way to earning more blueprints to allow yet more stage-ups to the Viper, which, in the long run will surpass the Porsche’s performance and allow for yet more progress in The Campaign. That’s if M doesn’t die first. If you’re too cheap to make in-app purchases, this is a very long-view game.
After all that, we both needed a break so we shared a fish stick for lunch.That wasn’t quite enough, so M had a quesadilla and E finished off some faro salad and a hard boiled egg. In the afternoon E did Zoom yoga and M worked on his article.
In the evening we finished watching The Dig, which was quite satisfying. We have also discovered a number of other TV things of interest. First, there are many episodes The Number One Ladies Detective Agency on YouTube. Second, we have found a Turkish series called İstanbulKırımızisi. The plot looks interesting and one of the actors is good old Tuba Büyüküstün. Thirdly, Season 4 of Outlander is now on Netflix. E has never seen any of Outlander. We are not sure if she would like it. Does anyone have an opinion on this?
Saturday, February 20 Deaths 2,154 (+5) New cases 536
E was annoyed again this morning by our state public health authorities. She heard one of them on the radio going on about how the vaccination program is flowing right along and everyone who qualifies for shots is getting them, etc., etc. This, she says, is a blatant lie. If it were true, she would have gotten at least a first vaccine by now.
But then she again went out to walk Pepper and chase rainbows and then got herself a latte from Tried and True, which she says has the best coffee in town. There’s nothing like a dog, a rainbow, and a coffee and to improve one’s mood.
RETRACTION: We must report an error in the January 28th entry of the Diary. On that date we discovered that our John Deere tractor had been attacked and overturned. We were quick to blame a nearby plant shoot, which we identified as a crocus. As can be seen here, it was not a gigantic crocus at all but rather a humongous snowdrop. We regret the error.
We are fortunate, of course, that we did not file an insurance claim based on the crocus damage clause in our homeowners policy. We could have been arrested for fraud. We could have been imprisoned…in which case both of us might have gotten our vaccinations by now.
Sunday, February 21 Deaths 2,155 (+1) New cases 111
Cloudy but dry today. M mowed the lawn. E went for a walk. We planned plans and listed lists for another trip to Bend. At 4:00 we had a Zoom meeting with E’s brothers back east. All three of the crew back there–brother #1, brother #2, and sister-in-law–have gotten their first vaccinations. J the Elder says he felt poorly for three days after he got his shot but is now doing fine. J the Younger is trying to bear up under the pressures of walking on the beach and putting his feet up to watch the sunset.
On TV we watched the ‘season finale’ of All Creatures Great and Small on PBS. E was annoyed by the whole idea of Helen’s engagement and last minute decision not to marry what’s his name. None of that was in the book. It was inconsistent with everything we know about her character. And the scene where James finds her alone in the church still in her wedding dress was just stupid. Judging by the woodenness of the dialogue, even the writers who created it knew how dumb it was. This reminds us of the bad old days when you could pretty much just assume that any movie or TV adaptation of a novel was going to be junk.
Pandemi Günlüğü
Pazartesi, 15 Şubat Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,137 (+0) Yeni vakalar: 184
Sıfır ölümle başka bir gün bildirildi. Iyi ama garib. Virüs hafta sonları çalışmıyor mu?
Günümüz meşgul ama rutin bir işti: market alışverişi, egzersiz dersleri, yazışma vb. Biraz yürüdük ama hava kötüydü…soğuk, yağmur ve güçlü rüzgar. Burada her şey çok ıslak. Her santim toprak doymuş ve bahçemizden su birikintiler oluşuyor.
Evimizde küçük bir böcek istilası var: küçük güveler, minik karıncalar ve bir bara sinek. Merhamitli değiliz. E dört güvenin ve üç karıncanın hayatına son verdi. M sadece iki güveyi öldürdü ama anyı samanda sineğe de bir son verdi.
Salı, 16 Şubat Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,138 (+1) Yeni vakalar: 411
Bugün yağmur ve güneşin karışımı. Güzel. Mahallede yürüyüşümüz keyifli geçti. M yağmur onu içeri kovalamadan bahçede bir saat çalıştı. E yoga yaptı ve sonra biraz dikiş yaptı.
Televizyonda izlemek yeni bir şey arıyoruz. Kadın adlı bir Türk dizisini izlemeye çalıştık. İspanya’da popüler ve oradaki bazı arkadaşlarımız izliyor. ABD’de Netflix’te ama İspanyolca altyazıları var! Bu hem dilsel hem de kültürel açıdan gerçekten zordu. Çok fazla. Sonra 20 Dakika adlı başka bir Türk dizisini denedik. Kara Para Aşkında Tuba Büyüküstün’ü sevdik. Ama 20 Dakika karanlık ve dertlerle dolu. Bu gece Amazon Prime’da Bir Fransız Köyü adlı bir dizi denedik. İyi bir dizi ama Türk dili ve kültürü dersimiz özlüyoruz. Hala düşünüyoruz.
Çarşamba, 17 Şubat Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,146 (+6) Yeni vakalar: 473
Başka bir gün geçen gün gibi. İlk olarak, M yazı projesi üzerinde çalışıyor ve E dikiş dikiyor. İkincisi, güneş geliyor ve ikisi de bahçede çalışıyorlar. Sonra bulutlar geliyor. Normal. Sıkıcı.
Fakat bekle! İşte yeni bir şey. Bir paket geliyor. Nedir? M, muhtemelen bir parça kömür olduğunu söylüyor. Ama E daha iyisini biliyor. The Andees’den bir kutu Godiva çikolatası. Andees iyi insanlardır.
Perşembe, 18 Şubat Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,149 (+6) Yeni vakalar: 466
8:00 — R ve J ile FaceTime görüşmesi. Godiva Chocolate, İspanyol yemekleri ve küstah Doğu Avrupa ulusal şarkıları hakkında konuştuk.
9:00 — E’nin Zoom egzeresiz sınıfi.
9:30 — M’in saç kesimi randevusu.
10:30 — E’nin dişçi randevusu. Oraya yürüyerek gitmeye karar verdi.
11:30 — E Winco’ya gitti ve bir kutu Grape Nuts aldı.
12:00 — E eve geldi. Çok yağmur yağıyordu ama E’nin yağmurluğu iyi. M etkilendi. “O iyi bir işçi,” diyor.
12:15 — M Burgerville’den öğle yemeği aldı.
1:00 — Emeklerimizden dinlendik.
2:45 — M turşuluk sebzeler yapmaya başlar.
3:45 — Turşu sebzeler bitti.
Cuma, 19 Şubat Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,149 (+0) Yeni vakalar: 492
Bugün salgın haberciliğimizin 330. günü. İşte başka bir grafik. Ortalama günlük ölümler 7,4’ten 11,8’e yükseldi. Harika bir haber değil. Rakamlar tuhaftı. On ikinci ve on üçüncü iki günde çok fazla ölüm oldu. On dördüncü, on beşinci ve on dokuzunda sıfır ölüm vardı.
Bizim için rahat bir gündü. Yağmurda uzun bir yürüyüşe çıktık. Yağmur güzel. Küçük damlaları. Çok fazla damla değil. Ruzgar yok. Yağmur durkuktan sonra E bahçede çalıştı ve M bir video oyunu oynadı. Need for Speed adında bir araba yarışı oyunu. M’nin kullanıcı adı Canavar’dır.
Akşam The Dig izlemeyi bitirdik. Oldukça tatmin ediciydi. İzlemek istediğimiz daha çok programımız var. Biri İstanbulKırımızisi değeri Bir Numaralı Bayanlar Dedektiflik Bürosu.
Cumartesi, 20 Şubat Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,xxx (+0) Yeni vakalar: xxx
GERI ÇEKME: 28 Ocak girdimizde bir hata oluştu. Traktörümüzün saldırıya uğradığını ve devrildiğini bildirdik. Tehlikeli bir yabani çiğdemi suçladık. Bu fotoğraf onun çiğdem olmadığını gösteriyor. Dev bir Kardelen’di. Hatadan dolayı üzgünüz.
Traktör sürücüsü yaralanmadı. Ama traktörde çalışmaya devam edemeyecek kadar korkuyor.
Pazar, 21 Şubat Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,155 (+1) Yeni vakalar: 111
Bugün hava bulutlu ama kuru. M çimleri biçti. E yürüyüşe çıktı. Saat dörtte Zoom’dan E’nin kardeşleriyle konuştuk. Erkek kardeş 1 kendisinin ve karısının ilk çekimlerini yaptıklarını. Atıştan sonra üç gün boyunca kötü hissettiler, ama şimdi iyiler. Erkek dardeş 2 sahilde yürüyor ve sonra ayağını kaldırıp gün batımını izliyor. Ne kadar zor iş!
All Creatures Great and Small’ın bir bölümünü izledik. E sinirlendi çünkü yazarlar kitaplarda olmayan büyük bir sahne eklediler. “Aptal” “Gereksiz” “Bunu neden yapıyorlar?”
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.
We got a kitchen because we planned to mostly eat food brought from home.
The view from the condo, overlooking the Deschutes River, is a classic Central Oregon scene.
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.
The nordic trail stays in the trees, going up one side of the flat and back down the other. E took this from our lunch spot.
The mountain is called Broken Top. We don’t know the name of the cloud.
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.
Normally the trail goes straight ahead here. On this day, we had to pop off our skis and detour on foot for a bit.
The weather was beautiful. Here’s our lunch spot…
…and here’s our dessert
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.
Mutfağımız var, böylece dışarı çıkmak zorunda kalmayız.
Pencereden Deschtes Nehri’ni ve klasik bir Orta Oregon ormanını görüyoruz.
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.
İşte öğle yemeği yediğimiz yer.
Dağin adı Kırık Dağ. Bulutun adını bilmiyoruz.
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.
Normalde kayak pisti düz gidiyor. Bu gün dolambaçlı yoldan gitmek zorunda kaldık.
Hava çok güzel. İşte öğle yemeği yerimiz.
…ve işte tatlımız.
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.
