Sunday, December 6
Covid case rate at nearly 60/100,000 is too high to go to Sunday School. Sourdough Waffles were a Sunday morning treat. We stayed home all day. I finished the winter face masks for my FRC friends & Kathy. The white with silvery snowflake design will look good all winter.
The Lady Vols were playing basketball at 3:30 so we watched their losing effort against West Virginia. We hope basketball will keep going so we have some winter entertainment.
Rudy Tuesday Salmon for bill and Tilapia with Shrimp Sauce for me!
Monday, December 7
Today was a big day for Santa Helper - the pick-up at First Baptist Church. They usually adopt more than 60 children, so lots of bags of gifts to load and unload and then check in an place. Laura volunteered with us today, courtesy of Tate & Lyle. Four of us met at FBC at 10 am and loaded vehicles. Back at FRC, we had everything processed in just over two hours. A little later, JoAlison and Walter brought the gifts from Trinity. At the end of the day's work, about 3:30, Susan and her staff decided that they could manage for the rest of the week without Judith and me. So my FRC Santa Helper work is done for this year.
Tuesday, December 8
I anticipate that most of my days will be at home for the rest of the winter. Time at home in spring and summer is easy because there is always plenty to do outdoors. We will have to find our winter rhythm. I think that the new treadmill will help.
We put up the Christmas tree today. Last year we finally gave in and bought an artificial tree. The old Lockett/Buttermilk Farm Christmas Tree Farm is no longer in business. We enjoyed many years of choosing and cutting our trees there and visiting with the Lockett family. Always with live trees we waited until mid-December to put up the tree, but this year there is no need to wait. We will join so many others who are decorating early to bring on a little holiday cheer.
Covid cases topped 15 million nation-wide, 15,113,900 and deaths are more than 285,000. TN added more than 6000 new cases since yesterday and more than 100 deaths.
TN: 414,749 total cases; 5,109 total deaths; 0-10 - 20,668; 11-20 - 54,422
Loudon County: 2634 total cases; 281 active; 21 deaths
7-day avg case rate 63.1/100,000; pos rate 21.3%
Wednesday, December 10
The Good Samaritan Executive Committee (5 of us) met in person at 9 am this morning to hear and approve the recommendation for the new client service manager. We will have a called board meeting Friday via Zoom for final approval.
I put my old iPhone in the mail for Owen for Christmas along with the extra Christmas masks for the kids. Then I stocked up on necessities at the grocery store. On the way home, I picked up chicken nuggets for the girls and stopped by for a quick visit. Claire was finished her organic chemistry exam. The porch project is moving along nicely.
I spent the afternoon doing a little cooking - roasted a chicken for supper and made a pot of chili for tomorrow. I've converted my mask-making space into a gift-wrapping space. Much easier than the table.
Thursday, December 10
The morning news reported 3132 Covid deaths yesterday, the first time that daily deaths have exceeded 3000. Last week there were more than 854,000 new unemployment claims. Dire news. We are blessed.
This beautiful fall day started with fog and a forecast of sunshine and 58 degrees. We are headed to Historic Rugby to see the sights so today's post of Pandemic Times will also be a travel log. We left home at 11 am in the RV of course, with a picnic of salmon-salad sandwiches, apple slices and gingersnaps. We will pick up chips and soft drinks along the way. The route to Rugby is 60 miles along rural highways. We head north on TN 95 toward Oak Ridge and turn briefly onto Hwy 58 before driving alongside the site of the old K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Plant. After many years of demolition and remediation, the site has been cleared and repurposed for other industries.
We travelled 27 miles before passing a gas station and Dollar General just 5 miles outside Wartburg. We twisted and turned our way along the edge of the Cumberland Plateau to Rugby, arriving there about 12:30. We picnicked beside the pond across from the old boarding house, Newbury, which is still in operation, now as a B&B.
After lunch, we hiked, as planned, up to the ole Massengale home-place. The Massengale family was not part of the Rubgy experiment, but were a traditional Appalachian self-sufficient homestead. Their home-place was about 1/2 mile from Rugby by an old road bed. At one time their ridge-top farm had more than 500 apple trees.
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| Nothing left of the Massingale homeplace except marker stones and rubble from the chimney |
After our hike, we watched the movie in the visitor center. We were the only visitors. Rugby was founded by Thomas Hughes as a Utopian communal community for English younger sons of gentry. As such, it never succeeded. It remains as a historic site and has a population of about 80 families. We had a personal guided tour of four of the historic buildings.
The Episcopal Church has held services continually since 1880 and currently has about 18 active members. The library still contains the 7,000 book originally donated by American and British publishers in the late 1800's. No new volumes have been added since about 1890. The library boasts and impressive collection of British classics, none published since the Victorian era. We also toured the house build by and for Thomas Hughes although he never liver there. The one-room schoolhouse/museum was in use by Rugby area children until 1951. It contains a collections of the books authored by the Rugby founder, the most famous of which was Tom Brown's school days.
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| Schoolhouse/museum |
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| Library |
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| Episcopal Church |
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| The old pews are very low so kneeling is easy |
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| Original gas lamps have been electified, but they still retain the pulley and flame snuffers |
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| Episcopal church |
We enjoyed our afternoon for the history, the weather and the change of scenery. On our next trip we hope to hike to the "Gentleman's Swimming Hole" on Clear Creek.
We made it home well after dark, about 6:30. I made a pan of cornbread to go with the chili that I prepared yesterday. I was glad that supper required very little preparation.
Friday, December 11
The Good Samaritan Board had a called Zoom meeting at 9 am to approve the hiring of our new client service manager, Suzzanna Walsh. Everyone seems please with the pick, especially our staff. The rest of the morning I spent catching up on UMW business, sending out $1000 in local mission spending. Without our sale, our income and mission-giving have been curtailed.
At mid-day we went to the Matzeks to get a piece of Amanda' Eggnog Pie with Bourbon & Brown Sugar Whipped Cream. (It was as delicious as it sounds!) We also wanted to see Amanda's surprise. As you can see in the picture below, she is sporting an adorable pixie haircut. All her long brown hair is gone, to be sent off to 'Locks of Love.' Her beautiful hair will be made into wigs/hairpieces for financially disadvantaged children suffering hair loss.
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| Amanda's new look! |
Kathy came over for a Friday afternoon cocktail hour and it was just barely warm enough to sit outside. Maybe I should pursue getting an outdoor propane heater. I made BiBimBap for supper which turned out very good.
The political news of the afternoon is that the lawsuit presented by TX AG to overturn the election results in 4 key swing states, which was supported by 18 other Republican AGs (including TN) and 106 US House Members (including all TN Republican members) was not even accepted by the Supreme Court. There was not dissent on the merit (or lack of) in th ecase. All Trumps legal options eem to be exhausted but he rants on. He is a clear and present danger.
Numbers 12/11
TN from 12/10: 422,962 total cases; 5172 total deaths
Loudon County: 2731 total cases, with more than 200 added in the last week; 307 active cases; 7-day avg case rate 76.1; pos rate 22.5
Saturday, December 12
Drippy lazy day. I finally pushed the Amazon order button on the Christmas gifts for the Missouri Whitakers. They will be getting lots of packages next week. We are sad that we can't wrap and give their gifts in person.
While sort of watching UT Men's Basketball (they won), I spotted a Towhee outside my window. I've had a glimpse or two recently, but this was the first good look. Not only are they beautiful, but they sing a lovely song. And I love their full name - Rufous-sided Towhee! Wrens, Chickadee, Titmouse, Cardinals, House Finches, Goldfinches and Doves are daily visitors. They empty the feeders every couple of days.
The last news of the day was that Pastor Kristie is not well and that all church activities are cancelled for tomorrow. We pray that it is common cold/flu and not Covid. Her husband has severe COPD.
Saturday Numbers:
TN: 7289 new cases since yesterday; 426,262 total; 87 new deaths
Loudon County: 2783 total cases; 350 active; 1 new death making 22; 83.0 case rate; 52 new cases yesterday, 22.5% pos rate. This week began with a case rate of about 60.
US, NY Times: 16,067,400 total cases; avg 207,816 new cases/day last week; 296,824 total deaths
The Pfizer vaccine has been given final approval and shipping will begin tomorrow with delivery to begin on Monday.
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