Pandemic Times, November 8-14

 Sunday, November 8

COVID just keeps getting worse.  Trinity is moving forward with Sunday School and Worship service.  Our number of participants is small and everyone is following the protocols.  I taught SS and operated a camera during worship.  We honored our veterans today with a pin.  

We had another beautiful warm afternoon.  I cut and bundled sage for drying and shared some with April.  We had a late afternoon visit at the Matzeks and then a little deck time before supper.  We want to enjoy every minute of this great weather.

Abundant Sage

New COVID cases last week nationally:
     Wed (11/5) - 121,800+
     Thurs (11/6) - 126,000+
     Fri (11/7) - 126,000+

TN - 11/7 - reported more than 5000 new cases.

Monday, November 9

Adventure Day - We expected another perfect weather day, so we planned a day trip in the RV to Burgess Falls near Cookeville.  We've been there a couple of times before.  It is just about an hour and a half drive and easy to access. The Falls are spectacular, with a cascade and a series of 3 falls, each one higher than the last, with the last having a 136 ft. drop.  The volume of water, even in the fall, is impressive. The hike along the river is not too a strenuous 3/4 mile to the Big Fall, although there is a challenging set of steps on the way.  On the way back, we took the easy road and added the half-mile loop of the Ridge Trail. So awe walked about 2 miles total.  My new FitBit to replace the broken one has not arrived so I don't have an accurate record.  We took a picnic of home-made pimento cheese and pears. We were back home before 5 pm.

Cascades

First Falls

2nd Falls

Big Falls

Interesting mushrooms

Ridge Trail Overlook

Scenic Overlook, Hwy 70 outside Sparta

Scenic Overlook, "The Rock"

Scenic Overlook, Fall Colors

Scenic Overlook - the View

Numbers:

NYTimes case count has exceeded 10 million - 10,124,700 with 238,246 deaths.

TN case count is 277,516

Loudon County case count is 1858 with 213 active.  The case rate is 35.4 (very high) and the pos rate is 12.4%.  Alarming stats!!

Tuesday, November 10

Another warm fall day started with driving Amanda as usual, or she is driving with my supervision.  I also picked her up just before lunch and brought her to our house for a light lunch and boat ride.  We actually hit a record high of over 80 this afternoon.  The lake was calm and the ride was smooth.  We all enjoyed the warm sun and wind in our faces - and the still colorful fall foliage.

Melton Hill Lake boat ride

Reactor Bend

Using left-overs from yesterdays roasted chicken (Food City, not me), I made Chicken-a-la-King.  It was a rare treat made using a traditional recipe from one of my very old church cookbooks from my Mississippi youth - The Inverness Cookbook. Mother considered it the bible of local southern cuisine.  I served it over split biscuits instead of toast points.  Mother used to press trimmed white bread into a muffin time to make toast cups for serving it.

Chicken-a-la-King over biscuits

Wednesday, November 11  -  Veteran's Day

Generations of men in my family and Bill's served in the military, including Bill in Vietnam and his pacifist, Methodist Pastor father, Jim.  That lineage was broken with our children's generation and the advent of the all-volunteer army.  In almost every respect, that is a good thing.  I do not know of anyone in our family of this generation who is or has been in military service.

I met today at Good Samaritan with the job search committee to decide on our plan and procedure for hiring a new client services manager.  The rain held off until after I got home.  I was glad to not have to go out again.

Nationally, Covid cases hit a new milestone high with more than 140,000 new cases reported.  No telling how many are not reported because the case is mild.  Loudon County also reported a very high count of 47 new cases and the case rate is at 41.2/100,000 with a 13.4% positivity rate.  The state of TN recorded 3344 new cases.  A bad day everywhere!

Thursday, November 12

I woke up to news of another day of record cases.  Yesterday ended with more than 160,000 new cases nationwide.  Almost every state is having new daily records and nationally more than 1,000 deaths every day.

My day started with picking up Amanda at 8 am.  We changed our routine today.  We first went to Bojangles for sausage and biscuits and coffee.  Then she helped me with Santa Helper shopping at WalMart.  We were shopping for some basic clothes for boys age 16-18.  After I took her home I went back to FRC to sort and tag what we had bought plus all the online orders that had arrived.  I worked at that job until 12.45, then went to Bonnie's for lunch.  She treated us to boiled shrimp and I provided homemade pimento cheese and Saltines.  Amanda's afternoon batting practice was cancelled because of overnight rain that muddied the field, so Bill and I had time for a walk later in the afternoon.

TN added 3344 new cases and has a total case count of 296,725. Loudon County added 14 new cases.

Friday, November 13

I hope this Friday 13 proves lucky!  I don't have to go anywhere in the car today, so that is a good start.  I started the day with no specific agenda, but on developed as it usually does.  I spent the morning cutting and preparing some of my herbs for drying.  This was initiated when I went to pick some spearmint to make a stomach tea for Bill. I was surprised to find that the spearmint had been harvested already by some 4-legged creature, probably deer.  They left me just a little bit!  Lemon Thyme and French Thyme were near the mint, so I cut those as well.  After getting all those ready to dry, I decided I might as well cut some common mint to dry as well as the abundant Greek oregano.  I bundled the oregano and mint to hand for drying.

Greek Oregano ready to cut

Greek Oregano bundled for drying

Three of seven sage bundles 

Mints and Thymes

After all that, I went to the garden and cut dill and cilantro.  Both had reseeded from the spring crop.  I also found enough Swiss Chard and kale for a meal.  Alternatively, I might try to fry some kale chips in the air fryer.

Numbers: 

NY Times, US reported 181,194 new cases, a 76% increase over the past two weeks.  There were 1389 deaths, up 34%

Loudon County reported 18 new cases and 2 more deaths.  There are 219 active cases in the county.

Saturday, November 14

This felt like a free day because we had no Saturday football ritual, no game day food to plan and prepare, no watch party with Bonnie and the Brocks.  Instead, I planned a baking day.  Last night when I prepared the levain and fed the starter, I also started a mix for sourdough waffles using the starter discard.  This morning the waffles came together deliciously.  Before sourdough, I could never make crispy light waffles.  

Working with the bread dough consumed the morning.  I cut the hydration from 70% to 65% and the dough worked much better. When it went in the refrigeration to proof in my new banneton baskets, I was ready for lunch and then to go outside for a while.

I helped (mostly watched) Bill with his project to replace the plastic covering on the garden shed with Lexan.  It is much nicer, now.  As we worked I remembered when Dick Green helped us, along with Anna and Jake, to drag this old shed from behind Shalom Farmhouse more than 40 years ago.  It has been our garden shed since.

After a little recuperation, we went for a walk.  At 6, the bread was ready to begin baking.  The recipe makes 3 loaves and I bake one at a time in a very hot oven.  My experiment with reducing the hydration worked out perfectly and I got much better "oven spring."

Pandemic Times, November 1 - 7

 Sunday, November 1

All-Saints Day. Mother, Clara Nelle Taylor Westmoreland, was among the saints that we recognized this year. Many church members knew her. The Sunday routine is being re-established.  I have mixed feelings, having enjoyed the quiet pace of Sundays at home.  My SS lesson was on unity from the perspective of John Wesley.  He was amazingly progressive in his thinking.  I took a dozen pears for Bonnie and another dozen I delivered to Mary Mills.  I enjoyed a brief driveway visit with her. 

Monday, November 2

Baking day started at around 8 am.  The levain was prepared before bedtime las night and I started the actual baking of the loaves at about 4 pm.  The whole process is about 24 hours. Sitting at the dining table, between rises, I thought I saw a few Cedar Waxwings at the pond and bird bath.  They often travel with migrating Robins. I've seen more Robins than usual, but not large flocks like we get sometimes.  It was impossible to get a picture through the window and the migrating birds are not habituated to our movements like our home-birds are.

Kathy came over for a drink and visit around 5.  It was too chilly to sit outside and I needed to be close to the stove anyway.  Our visit was warm and welcomed.  The bread turned out good, so I sent her home with a loaf.

Tuesday, November 3

Election Day has finally arrived!  Of course, we voted weeks ago by mail-in ballot. Anyone over 65 in Tennessee is eligible to request an absentee ballot.  I picked up Walter at 9:30 and we reported to the Election Commission office in Loudon before 10 am.  We were on one of the three 6-person counting teams.  Each team processed 1200 ballots.  The process was tedious, but secure.  The actual ballots were scanned, so we did not know any totals when we left later in the evening.  We all knew that we were stuck in the building until the pols closed at 8 pm (or later if necessary).  Fortunately, the process was well-organized and we were finished before 8.

When I got home, I learned just how close the results were so far.  Trump was already declared the winner in Florida. In some states where the Dems thought they might take a Senate seat turned out to be clear Rep wins. As midnight approached, it was clear that there would be no decisive winner declared for several days at least.  Of course, the Republicans swept Tennessee.

Wednesday, November 4

We woke up to uncertain election results as votes are still being counted.  It is very close and I determined to not watch TV until after 5 pm.  I can't change any outcome today.

I spent a couple of hours posting worship and updating the church website.  That is a first of the month job. Then Amanda and I went into town to post a couple of packages, pick up lunch and eat our picnic at LC Park.  Once again, feeding the ducks was the day's highlight.

Then I was back to the computer for Santa's Helper shopping. Kathy came over at 5 to share a glas of wine on the deck.  

At the end of the day, there was still no election decision, but Biden's chances are looking better.

Numbers:

TN has 3445 new cases today, the 3rd highest count.  In the US, the news reported that there were more than 100,000 new cases today.

TN Dept of Health:  3445 new cases today; 269,802 total case count; 0-10, 13,158; 11-20, 35,703

Loudon County: 1775 total case count; 13 deaths to-date; 13 new cases today, 20.3 case rate; 9.5% pos rate  These numbers are bad but not the worse.

Thursday, November 5

When I woke up this morning, I realized that I completely forgot our wedding anniversary yesterday.  In 48 years that has never happened.  I didn't realize that I was THAT absorbed in the election news and COVID news.  We had a good laugh about it.  Later in the day, Bill bought be a sweet card - two kids, still in love, with a picture of a pair of little goats.

Amanda is back to workouts today, so I was out early.  I went to WalMart for some Santa Helper shopping mid-morning and then to FRC to sort packages.  Judith and I have been ordering from Amazon and WalMart, so it is necessary to open each box/package, determine who it is for and label it with the child's code.  I worked until about noon and then visited with my friends there while eating our various lunches.  

Friday, November 6

Back to town once again this morning on church business and a meeting with Cindy at GSC. The long-serving Clinet Services Manager, Judy Howell, had to retire to care for her husband who broke his leg.  They are both well into their 80s. Judy has been an amazing repository of community knowledge and has served the center with passion and compassion for the community. Cindy and I talked about the job mechanics of the job search process - seems I am to chair the committee.

I went to Bonnie's for a lunch visit and was home early in the afternoon.  These fall afternoons have been perfect for deck-sitting around 5 o'clock.  With earlier sunsets we are getting more shade for our wine/beer time.

Saturday, November 7

After several tense days of vote counting, at mid-day Biden was declared the winner and President-Elect by all the media outlets, even FOX.  Of course, Trump is not accepting the defeat yet and is making claims of voter fraud and a stolen election (has been doing so all week). No credible evidence has been produced to support his claims.  Pennsylvania became the deciding state with Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina, Georgia and Alaska still undecided.  Biden leads in both Electoral College and popular votes. The Senate balance is still undecided, too.

Football Vols don't kick off until 7:30. They are playing Arkansas so we have hope.  My White Chicken Chili was in the crock pot before 1 pm.   Kathy is making cornbread and Bonnie is bringing her famous eggs and a Mrs. Edwards Key Lime Pie.   We eat well, regardless of game results.

On this lovely fall afternoon, Bill helped me clean up the garden, put aways hoses and tomato cages. Many years, I don't get around to this job in the fall.  It is a pleasure to see the garden ready for winter.  There are still herbs to harvest, but I didn't plant any fall greens.  I'm sorry now! It was nice to be working outside together. I picked another basket of pears, 27 pounds.  Don't know what I'll do with them. While working in the garden, I declared this "Getting Rid of the Old to Make Way for the New" day.  That will be my theme for tomorrow's SS lesson.

Pandemic Times, October 25 - 31

Sunday, October 25

We resumed in-house worship today and Sunday School as well.  I facilitated my class and probably will most Sundays through Advent and until we start a new topic in January.  Church attendance was 34. 

The afternoon weather was lovely for a walk through the park and back around the corner for a picture of the Dinsmore-Jones house.  I got my 10,000 steps today!

After supper I got a "Marco Polo" response from Owen regarding my latest "Science Challenge."  I had sent him a video picture of two leaves and asked him to find all the similarities and differences.  He did a very good job of noticing details.  Marco Polo is a video sharing app that David's family uses for safely sharing.  

Marco Polo Screen Shot

Monday, October 26

I woke up thinking about the basket of pears I picked a few days ago.  Today is the day to do something with them.  I have enough pear honey, so these will be canned in a light syrup.  They will make great salads all winter.  From start to finish took all day.  I started with about 17 lbs of pears and ended with 3 quart jars and 4 pint-and-a-half jars for the pantry.

For supper I made lemon-sauced chicken thighs.  I hardly left the kitchen all day!

Tuesday, October 27

Between picking up Amanda from early work-out and taking her to after-school batting practice, Bill and I went to Knoxville.  These days, that is an occasion! Our primary goal was River Sports on Sutherland Ave to look for a replacement kayak.  We didn't buy anything, but we settled on getting a Wilderness System Tarpon 105 in Mango (color scheme) to replace the one that was lost.

On the way back down Kingston Pike, we stopped at Whole Foods and the Asian grocery.  After a take-out burger from Backyard Burgers, we made one last stop at the liquor store to stock up.

Later in the afternoon, Bill found a visitor (actually probably a resident) on its way to the garage.  He manage to detour it but it will be back, no doubt.  It is a harmless Eastern Garter Snake, but we still don't want to run into it unexpectedly in the garage.

Eastern Garter Snake, a little more than 2 ft long

I got a new cookbook from America's Test Kitchen last week called simply "Bowls." With some of the special ingredients from the Asian market and left-over chicken thighs, I made Bibimbap.  It turned out great!

Wednesday, October 28

Santa's Helper at Family Resource Center kicked off today when Judith and I met with Susan to start buying gifts for families on the lists who have not been "adopted."  Families apply and are approved by the FRC using income guidelines and their own knowledge of the family needs.  So far, there are 125 families on the approved list.  I don't know how many children. Our church adopts 5 children and the mission committee will shop and wrap for them.  We will dedicate the gifts in a church service on the 2nd Sunday of Advent and deliver the gifts to the school FRC for distribution.  The sponsor only knows the first name of each child, their clothing size and gift wish list (limited to 3 items). This year many more sponsors are electing to give money instead of adopting children and shopping for them.  As FRC shoppers, Judith and I will be busy.  We will purchase as much as possible online from Walmart and Amazon. We will not focus as much on wrapping gifts since we have more shopping to do.  We will provide gift wrap for the families instead.

For supper, I made another new dish - cod, baked on a bed of sliced red and orange sweet peppers, served over vermicelli with asparagus on the side.

Thursday, October 29

Hurricane Zeta cam ashore in Louisiana last night, but also left a lot of damage on the Mississippi gulf coast.  It is the 27th named storm of the season and the 5th to hit Louisiana this year.  It was predicted to be a Cat 1, but came ashore 1 mph short of Cat 3.  The powerful storm raced through AL, GA, NC and VA on its way our to sea. 

We had a lot of rain overnight in advance of the storm.  School was called off for the day.  I'm not sure it it was weather or covid related.  Either way, Amanda didn't have workouts and I didn't have to go out early on a rainy morning.  Instead, she and I went to Chik-Fil-A and took our lunches to LC Park to feed the ducks.

Later in the afternoon, Bill and I had a lovely walk up Brock Way.  Pork chops, purple hull peas and green beans for supper.  The garden is still paying dividends from the freezer.

Friday, October 30

Is it Friday yet? All day yesterday, I had a Friday feeling.  But today must be Friday because I had lunch with Bonnie, even though we're no longer having Friday video sessions.  I first went to Walmart at Turkey Creek to pick up a gift item that I had order for Santa Helper and then delivered it to FRC. 

I finished my online course.  The final assignment was an online prayer for unity.  I will use some of the ideas of unity for my SS lesson this week. There was nothing else remarkable about the day except for our taco supper.

Election day is getting close and COVID is getting worse.  These are anxious times.  I've been thinking about Anna and Jake all day.  This is the day for packing the truck for their move to Newport.  Deb and John and helping, along with Heather and Jarrett.  Anna has everything packed in boxes and labeled, I'm sure.  

Saturday, October 31

I enjoyed a day without getting in the car, after an active week. I prepared a Sunday School lesson, did some laundry and went for a walk.  I also made a few masks- one for me and four to share.  The best thing about the day was its simple ordinariness.

Anna and Jake are having anything but an ordinary day.  This is moving day for them.  Truck was loaded and they stayed with Heather's family last night.  Heather and Jarret are driving them and a loaded U-haul from Virginia to Rhode Island.  They have all been in our hearts and minds all day.

This afternoon I picked another basket of pears with the intention of sharing most of them.

Halloween never brings trick-or-treaters to our country door.  However, I texted Amy next door to bring Lincoln and Tucker over to show off their costumes and get a little candy.  They were adorable as the Hulk and a Swat Team guy.

Daylight savings time ends tonight, so I enjoyed one last long evening and a beautiful sunset.  Then Fried Rice for supper!

Numbers: Oct 31

TN Dept of Health: 260,672 cases; 3353 deaths; 
        0-10 - 12,733 cases;  11-20 - 34, 477 cases

Loudon County: 1711 cases; 155 active; 13 deaths; 
        26.2/100,000 case rate; 12.2 pos rate

White House Orange Zone.  The White House category is looking back and comparing to previous weeks.