Pandemic Times - July 19 - 25

Sunday, July 19

Uh-Oh!  No entry for this day.  Sometimes the spirit needs a break, I guess. I found this picture, so I must have made bread:

Monday, July 20

This was a home day, with gardening and housework. I took this photo of a garden supper: corn left from Saturday, cut off the cob and fried in bacon grease, Marguarite Stuart's  cheesy squash casserole, garden-fresh green beans with a few purple hull peas tucked in and a small pork chop.  I had enough green beans to put a few pints in the freezer.

Numbers:

Loudon County case count is now 408 with 126 active.  In Knox Co, the active cases exceed recovered.  The US has recorded more than 141,000 deaths and over 3.8 million cases.  TN has recorded 79,754 cases with 45, 974 of those listed as "recovered."

Tuesday, July 21

This morning I went to Lenoir City Elementary School to pack school supplies for the Good Samaritan Back Pack give-away program.  The work was scheduled for 9-12, but we finished at 11. Masks were required and the work was arranged so that it was not crowded.  After lunch at home, I went to Farragut for a much needed hair cut and picked up Fried Rice and Spring Rolls from Little Bankok for supper.  I read that LoCo had 25 new cases today, but I didn't get the numbers recorded.  

Wednesday, July 22

I volunteered again this morning for the Back Pack project.  Claire and Amanda met me there at 9.  We were finished by 9:45, so they had a short morning of work.  

Afterward, Bonnie and I went by Click's Funeral Home to pay respects to Bill Harris.  His death was unexpected and he will be very missed in our church and community.

Numbers:

US:  NBC reported more than 1000 deaths today, for a total of 142,505 death

TN Dept of Health recorded 2473 new cases and 17 deaths.

Loudon County case count is 443 with 151 active cases; 5662 neg tests total.  We are above the threshold

Knox Co has 1401 active cases

Rutherford Co, where Claire will be going to college, has 2518 active cases.

Thursday, July 23

Kathy and I went to the graveside service for Bill Harris.  It was hot, but not unbearable and lasted only about 30 minutes, including full Masonic rights.  A men's ensemble from Trinity sang.  Trinity has a number of members in attendance and all were wearing masks.  Most others were not.

After dropping Kathy off, I stopped for a doe and her two fawns crossing Grubb Road.  The fawns were confused and took several minutes to make up their minds about which way to go. They wanted to follow their mother who had gone up the steep bank on the left.  I enjoyed watching them resolve their dilemma.  After I got home, Bill went shopping to replenish his favorite shorts.  He came home with 5 pair!

Which way did mama go?

Not that way!

We can't find her

Finally going in the right direction!

Numbers keep getting getting worse.

TN case count exceeds 86,000 with 2570 new cases, 109 new hospitalization and 37 deaths since yesterday.

LoCo case count is 484 with 183 active

Knox Co has 1436 active

US (NY Times) case count is 4,011,100 with 143,700 deaths

The time it is taking to double the number of cases has been decreasing by half.

Friday, July 24

Video recording day.  I put up some of the "Reserved for Safe Distancing"  signs to make off pews so I could take a picture for the newsletter.  I think it will be many weeks before we return to in-person worship and activities.

Afterward, I picked up Bonnie for a funeral home visit for John Davis.  John was a teaching colleague and his wife Carole, also a teaching colleague is a friend. I have known them both for many years and taught their children.

Numbers:

Loudon Co recorded 7 more active cases today after an increase of 40 yesterday. 

Knox Co has 1544 active

TN added more than 200 cases

Loudon Co remains above the threshold of 10 new cases/100,000 residents

Nationally, new cases, hospitalizations and deaths are increasing alarmingly.

Saturday, July 25

I went to another funeral today, this time for John David. (Neither was Covid-related) I got up early to pick a few vegetables and water the garden.  Just as I was leaving to pick up Bonnie and go to the graveside service, the sky opened with a deluge of rain.  The service ended up being inside the funeral home in the visitation room.  There were not many there other than family and everyone was masked.  I am so sorry for Carole. 

Later, Bonnie came over for steaks and fresh corn.  The rain had cooled the air so that we were able to sit and eat on the deck.  After strawberries and ice-cream for dessert we decided to try to see the comet.  We (Bill, Bonnie & me) went down by the river where we had a good sky view.  We waited until "good dark," about 10:30 but all we could see through the scope was a smudge which might have been the comet.  It was in exactly the right location. Wish I could have gotten a picture.  We were very disappointed, but had fun anyway.  At least we tried!

Numbers: 

TN added 1718 cases to a total of 90,796, with 26 more deaths and 76 more hospitalizations.

The US has exceeded 4 million cases and is averaging 70,000 new cases every day.

Loudon Co has 195 active cases and a total case count of 503.  We are still well above the threshold.  LoCo has added 135 cases this week and has a 8.2% positivity rate.