Dear Family, Friends, and Diary,
I started the last diary set with a picture of where I saw Corona virus infection and inoculation going over the next several months, until "herd immunity" in late Spring. Here is that picture, with actual data from the last half-month:
So far, so good. Actual infections are under what I guessed and inoculations are a bit above. I now expect that's "a trend", as unscientific as it is to use two data points and claim any predictive capability. The important thing is that my little model assumes new vaccines will arrive in mid-February and mid-March, pushing the US to two million new people inoculated daily, twice where we are today and well above what the current administration chooses to promise. With three, and later four, approved vaccines, supply will stop being such a limiting factor and the medical infrastructure will have learned how to get shots into arms at flu-shot volumes (60+ million in a month).
This is what I mean by "getting better". We'll see.
Monday, February 1, Covid Day 325
While the Northeast was getting battered by snow, Fresno's weather Springlike. It was warm enough that I spent half the morning in the yard, cleaning mostly, but also cutting way back on the bushes in front. After years of trimming from the top, I decided to thin at the bottom, letting them grow as tall as they wish. Now we just have to wait for another three or four years to see if growing up works. We'll see.
Otherwise, the day was quiet. Vern and I sat out in his backyard, still trying to solve world problems. I feel like we no sooner get one solved than someone creates another. Now we need to think about "variants" and Q-Anon, terms we had never used before. It was easier when local worries were limited to drought or flood.
Marianne got in some art time, art marketing that is. She had heard of a small new gift shop that was interested in offering works by local artists. She brought four small pieces up to see what was possible, but was disappointed. The space was cramped and not-yet-prepared. The art pieces came back home, although there were promises to reconsider when things were more settled. We'll see.
Lunch-dinner was out on the patio, a sure sign of Spring. Marianne prepared meatballs in lettuce wraps, sort of like tacos with lettuce instead of tortillas. It was all tasty, and sitting outside helped. However, our big table will look a lot better once we can have a crowd over in a few months. I am still forecasting a giant Fourth of July party. We'll see.
After the generous meal, I needed to walk. I also needed to investigate why the police helicopter was hovering over our peaceful neighborhood. I started with a pass by neighbor Tom's garage and noted that he had repaired damage the rain had done to his homage to Liberty. I wonder if he is Libertarian? If so, he might be good to talk with because I have certainly agreed with most of his messages over the last year.
Meanwhile, the helicopter kept buzzing overhead. I finally found a cluster of ground troops on the street where our friend Jeanne lives and heard a police loudspeaker announce: "Come out with your hands up." Not for Jeanne I assume. I turned and left for the quiet of Cambridge Avenue. Our neighbors were gathered on Vern and Joan's porch wondering about the helicopter activity. When I said the activity was on Jeanne's street, someone called her and verified that she was safe, safe but locked inside her house. I hope they catch the bad guy. We'll see.
And that was about all the excitement we could handle on this first day of February.
(This day in our history: 2004, Frankfurt Walk)
Tuesday, February 2, Covid Day 326
No plans for the day and that's about what happened - nothing memorable. I'm sure we had our breakfast and dinner meals. I vaguely remember a Peloton session and Marianne assures me she had ample Art Hut time. At 5:00 PM we had cocktails, Zoom cocktails with Adrienne and, eventually, Tony. Rita and Pete were missing in action. Maybe next week will have better attendance.
(This day in our history: 2007 Winter Walks in Pomersfelden)
Wednesday, February 3, Covid Day 327
We left home for a trip, a real stay-away trip to the Coast. Travel has been a defining part of our lives for over two decades and we worry that we have lost the necessary skills in the pandemic year, so we ventured out. This would be just two nights away and it was to Cambria, a Pacific village we have visited often, so we will scrape off a small amount of our travel rust. Nonetheless, it did remind me of our start on a far longer trip 20 years ago when it took me a week or two to get in travel condition. Months and months later, we had memories for a lifetime. I have more humble goals for this trip.
We started with shopping at Schaad Family Almonds, an easy goal, not far from home. In the heart of the world's most productive almond farms, we have become picky about the nuts and Schaad's are the best we've found. It's kind of like developing a taste for good French wine while driving through Burgundy. Kind of.
From there, we drove straight south on farm roads, more peaceful than our normal Highway 41 route and not much longer in time or distance. We passed miles and miles of orchards and vineyards, skeletons of their summer selves. We went through a few small Valley towns, wondering what growing up in this relatively remote part of California would be like. The only industry we saw were prisons and food processing plants, both centers of Covid exposure in our county. I hope the folks in both get to the head of the vaccination line.
Our next stop was at the Paso Robles Tesla Supercharger station. We needed 45 minutes to top up the tank before heading to what I worried would be less EV-friendly Cambria. We are still working out that whole range-anxiety thing. By the way, I have memories of "range anxiety" on that long drive around Europe as well as we really had little sense of where gas stations would be and, back then, there was no Google Maps to show us the way. No Google. No GPS.
We were too early to check in to our hotel, so we started a bit of shopping, first in Harmony, the population-18 village that lives on its cows and kitsch. We were the only customers in the whole town. After that, it was an hour or two in Cambria itself, shopping for ear rings for Ava and Marianne and killing time. Covid travel involves a fair amount of time killing.
The initial action at the Cambria Pines Lodge was (almost) contact-less check-in. From a parking space outside the hotel, we tested the word that we had arrived. A few minutes later a masked clerk came out with a package of paperwork and card keys, no hanging around a crowded lobby these days. Our accommodations were a two-room suite with far more space than we needed, but that's our favorite arrangement since we tend to putter a lot in our room when traveling.
Dinner was included in our hotel package, but determining just how to be served took some thinking. We were surprised that indoor dining was an option, but not an option we would feel comfortable with. Outdoor tables were offered, heated with overhead radiant heaters, but these seemed a bit too chilly since warm food becomes not-so-warm almost immediately in these conditions. The third option was room service, for just a few dollars more. That proved to be a real hit, with less than a 20 minute wait, time we could spend watching sunset from our deck.
(This day in our history: 2020, More Tunnel)
Thursday, February 4, Pandemic Day 328
A whole day as tourists!
I started the day with a sunrise drive to the French Corner Bakery for coffee. I looked over all the goodies, but skipped the extra calories, still full from room service the night before. Back at the resort, the sunrise was just lighting the hills across the valley.
In the before times, breakfast at the Cambria Pines Lodge would be buffet grazing and an hour or two working on pictures and the diary while we decided what to do for our tourist day. In pandemic times, the folks packed to-go bags for us and we headed out into the chilly garden. A feathered hotel guest came by to ask if we would share. We didn't. Good news, bad news: eating was more disciplined, but I miss the warm, slow start of our travel day.
Our major tourist event for the day was a visit to the Piedras Blancas Northern Elephant Seal Rookery. The seven miles of coastline are home to 25,000 of the animals, with January and February being the peak of the birthing and breeding season when the beaches are covered with seals of all sizes from 70 pound newborns to two ton males.
Once a year, the pregnant females come onto the beach to give birth, nurse their newborns to 4 or 5 times their birth weight, mate with the beach's dominant male, and descend back into the sea, leaving the milk-nourished pups behind. For two or three months the young seals grow off blubber before they too go to the ocean to learn how to swim, hunt, and survive. Seals will return to the beach to shed their skin before going out to feed again. In December, they restart the whole process again at Pietras Blancas.
Wildlife photography of seals was a challenge, not for the normal difficulty of getting animals to stay still long enough, but waiting for them to actually DO something. Sound recording would have been more dynamic as the pups squeal for mom meals, mom's yell at wandering males to prevent crushing the little pups, and those males bellow at each other to establish priority. Kind of like human communities.
Off the north end of the beach is the Piedras Blancas rock and the namesake Light Station. On our next trip, we need to plan ahead for a tour!
Back in Cambria, we stopped for a snack from the French Bakery and ate it at a picnic table in front of the history museum. Closer to the resort, we detoured into the town's industrial area and parked next to a cute pickup truck I think I need.
We came to this nondescript place to check out Red Moose Cookies. We had seen signs for the place on our earlier trips, but the store always seemed to be closed, often with a "sold out for today" sign on the front door. This time, we could make it in. Roger, the owner, introduced us to his pandemic-aware shop and wonderful baked goods. Only two groups were allowed inside, one selecting and the other properly distanced but still immersed in mouth-watering aromas. When selection time came, we were tempted to pick a bag or two of every cookie or brownie. (Roger told stories of even more enthusiastic customers, sometimes buying the day's supply in under ten minutes.) We settled for brownies and four types of cookies, all of which have proven to be outstanding!
Cambria Pines Lodge also features a garden shop, one that we shop at on every visit. If we lived in this coastal climate, I think we would become major customers, but as travelers from the inland desert, we just look around and take pictures.
Back at the Lodge, Marianne worked on art (I think) and Netflix (I suspect). I took the car to the hotel's Tesla charger to top-up for the drive home. I also wandered in the hotel grounds, watching workers pack up the Christmas decorations. Two or three years ago, we visited when the German-style celebration was in full swing and pronounced it about as authentic as we could imagine. Maybe next year again.
Above us, Turkey Vultures were coasting back and forth, looking for lunch I suppose. These birds don't have the positive reputation of the larger Condors, but they share the skies locally and are all fascinating to watch. A pair of the vultures stopped to rest and chat atop a nearby flat-topped dead tree. A bigger lens would have been useful, but these shots will have to do.
After a short siesta, we headed for Moonstone Beach. The idea was to take fun pictures of playing birds and dramatic ones of a Pacific sunset. Well, it was not so much playing or drama.
The only birds were the ubiquitous seagulls and, for the most part, they stayed on the far edge of the sandy beach and estuary. The sky lacked the strands of clouds that add drama to ocean sunsets. But, you know what, it was still fun, out in the cool but clean air, enjoying the best we could.
We came "home" to a room-service meal, a luxury forced on us by pandemic, but one we may do even "on the other side". We do wonder when that will be, but we are thankful for everything we can do in the meantime.
(This day in our history: 2015, Bizarre Graffiti)
Friday, February 5, Covid Day 329
This day's diary is easy. I was up early again for French Corner Bakery coffee and we settled in the garden for a Lodge breakfast. By 10am, we were packed up and heading home, leaving the coast's clean air behind us. When we reached the edge of the Central Valley, the fine dust from farm field activity was filtering the bright winter sunlight. Too bad, but it makes us appreciate the coast even more.
Because we had charged at the Cambria Pines Lodge, we needed no more electricity to make it to Fresno with a comfortable margin, no range anxiety. We experimented more with "self driving", at least the highway version, and I got a little more accustomed to Carla making her own decisions. It will still take more experience before I really relax and even more time before Marianne is willing to be behind the wheel with the automatic systems in control. For this and other reasons, we need a long Interstate-highway trip!
As for travel in times of Covid, this trip was OK. We were probably no more exposed to strangers than we would be back home in Fresno. Our only "crowds" were associated with the limited shopping we did and everyone was carefully masked and kept their distance. While indoor dining was legal in San Louis Obispo County, we remained too uncomfortable with that mixing. Room service and to-go food worked just fine. But we do miss the variety of activities that were commonplace in the before times, and should be again on the other side.
(This day in our history: 2011, Bamberg Night)
Saturday, February 6, Pandemic Day 330
Saturday was cleaning and catching up around home. Juanita did the cleaning part, except I managed to wash the travel dirt off the Model Y. Marianne created art with Claudia and we both worked in Peloton sessions. The trip was recorded on trotter.ws. All the trip's dirty clothes ended up clean. Dinner happened. Netflix happened. And that's one more semi-isolated day in the records.
(This day in our history: 2002, White Hill Towns)
Sunday, February 7, Covid Day 331
I started Super Bowl Sunday with a trip to the grocery store for beer and chips, both splurges in our watch-your-calories life. This day would eventually be responsible for a two-pound weight increase, added to the gain from this week's Cambria trip. It will take weeks of discipline to go down again and I doubt I can be disciplined in all things necessary in pandemic times. We'll see.
I also called Geoff and was shown the snow that was covering their Maryland yard. I do not miss this aspect of winter, but at least he and Susanne do not have to drive to work!
Sunday also requires some time to read the New York Times and the Fresno Bee. Nowadays, we are also flooded with news from cable and local TV and, most continuously, internet channels. Sunday papers allow a bit more depth and can be digested at a leisurely pace. I like that.
Eventually, it was Super Bowl time, and we did the best we could to have a party, a party of two. There was betting (I successfully backed Tampa because Tom Brady went to my high school) and pre-game television giving more obscure information than we could possibly want or need. The menu was the most important part: chili, beer, chips, cornbread, guacamole and salsa.
And so we ended one more day in a pandemic, a day where the only connection with folks is via Skype and separate parties. Next year should be better.
(This day in our history: 2019, Fresno Art and Snow)
Monday, February 8, Covid Day 332
After the Super Bowl weekend, Monday definitely started a work week. We both had bike-exercise sessions, since that's what passes for our work. Then Marianne had an ear doctor check before she returned to the art studio. While out, she snapped a picture of cherry blossoms, the first harbinger of Spring. We get the blossoms in February, whereas the more-famous Washington DC blossoms won't arrive for almost two months. We have to remember this climate advantage when Fresno is 110F next summer.
Part of work is work-out and today I did a world tour via Peloton: Wellington, Sidney, Vancouver, San Fracisco. This may be the only world tour we manage for a few years.
After I visited neighbor Vern, I started our 2020 taxes -- definitely work. While I don't begrudge supporting our government, taxes are a significant part of our annual expenditures and this first stage of gathering records just reminds me of that. In a few weeks I will send everything to the accountant, she will crank out the forms, and we will get a schedule of payments. Then we tend to forget about income taxes until next winter. We don't forget we are fortunate to HAVE income, especially now, but still ...
The only other accomplishment for the day was completion of the 1,000-piece, tree-of-life puzzle. I guess this too is work, in retirement.
(This day in our history: 2020, Normal Fresno)
Tuesday, February 9, Pandemic Day 333
The only plan was our Tuesday Zoom cocktails, but that fell apart when no one else could make it. Otherwise, the day was as plain as imaginable: breakfast, yard clean-up, neighbor visit, and dinner. After dinner, I took a ride and brought cameras, hoping something interesting would appear. Specifically, I was looking for Spring blossoms, but fruit trees are still their winter bare branches. At the end of the drive, back on Cambridge Avenue, I noticed Jon and Susan's front yard tree so I managed blossoms after all.
Of course, the day was historic for the start of a second impeachment for the last president. Marianne paid more attention than I did since I am completely discouraged by the reality that Republicans will not vote guilty no matter what the evidence. DT started his reign by saying he could shoot someone in the middle of Broadway and still be elected and now, it's clear he sent deplorable drones to the Capital where people were killed and his party would still elect him emperor. Like many Americans, I just want this behind us.
As for the other ongoing history, the slow-drip of pandemic progress, news is mixed. Rapidly falling case numbers in Fresno, in California, and in the US are certainly encouraging, but the uneven vaccine roll-out world-wide is unsettling, especially when reminded of the reality that we all are NOT safe until we all ARE safe. Marianne and I get our second shots in about a week, but VoC Day (Victory over COVID) is still months away, if it ever arrives, globally.
(This day in our history: 2002, Cordoba)
Wednesday, February 10, Pandemic Day 334
This day was spent watching Trump Impeachment 2.0. The replay of the January 6 insurrection and DT's preparation over months was chilling. The Republican "So what?" response was depressing. The whole thing defies quick analysis or comment, so I won't.
(This day in our history: 2016, Tom and Kate Visit)
Thursday, January 11, Covid Day 335, Impeachment Day 3
We knew parts of the day would be devoted to the second impeachment trial, but first I checked our own neighborhood. We are welcoming another Mourning Dove pair on our back porch, looking forward to their domestic developments, as we did in 2020.
I found one flowering cherry blossom starting its life cycle. Over the next few weeks, we will be able to go into the fruit orchards and see blossoms by the millions, but a first one is always special.
A year ago, near the beginning of the Covid19 stay-at-home orders, several neighbors decorated sidewalks with positive and encouraging sayings and drawings. It's been months since I've seen anything other than Tom's garage drawings, so I found this "Beautiful Day" reminder encouraging.
On another sidewalk, the sign reminding us that Fresno City College remains closed was not so encouraging. I'll admit the streets in our neighborhood have been quieter without students noisily speeding away from their classes, but it was better when young people walked along our sidewalks, making noise or not. I wonder when they will be able to return.
After my short walk, I settled in to watch the third day of DT's 2nd Impeachment trial. Mostly, this was a replay of events whose evil we all knew. That they would not have happened without the former president is perfectly clear, yet there is no expectation that the required number of Republican senators will agree and convict the man. This process is adding shame to shame, discouragement to discouragement.
In my afternoon chat with neighbor Vern, we talk about the trial, mostly, but I was thankful for the distraction of photographing neighborhood cats, although I am generally not a fan. I favor birds, victims to these feral felines. Later Marianne and I discussed the trial, again with amazement of how politicians can ignore what was done, in hopes of holding on to their own power. Those power-mongers enabled and encouraged the feral mob on January 6th. And, without th ex-president's conviction, conditions will be ripe for the mob's return.
(This day in our history: 2019, East Brothers Light Station)
Friday, February 12, Covid Day 336, Impeachment Day 4
Our morning was spent working on "chores", including a trip to the ear doctor for Marianne and diary writing for me followed by Peloton for each of us. In our current state, this constitutes a busy" morning. What ever did we do back when we had jobs, kids, parents, travel, and all the other things from the olden days?
Determining where to "dine" turned out to be a big deal. Marianne had afternoon art classes, so she wanted someone else to cook (not me), but who? Many places are serving outdoors, but we are still quite risk-adverse, so we feel limited to take-away meals. Nothing sounded interesting.
As a rule, we do not do fast food, and that limits options, especially here in Fresno. Remembering that avoiding fast food restaurants will also complicate long distance American travel, we decided to experiment and go to Chick-fil-A, a popular place we'd never visited. There were dozens of cars in the drive-thru lane, but the operation was well-organized and our twenty-minute wait was tolerable. The food, a chicken sandwich for me and a salad for Marianne, was good enough for a repeat some day, but hardly seemed to warrant the long line.
Back home, Marianne disappeared into the Art Hut while I finished diary writing. It is a struggle for me to keep trying to write something for each of these pandemic-colored days. Our days have become so routine and ordinary. We should be thankful, given the difficulties in the world right now, and we are, but still, what's to write?
Marianne's art work, between YouTube and Zoom classes, remote collaboration with Claudia, and actual painting, seems more rewarding. She is even encouraging when I hand her my daily writing for editing and correcting.
While Marianne worked, I walked a little through the neighborhood. Fresno City College campus serves as our local walking park, quiet now of course. It will be strange when this all starts up again, whenever that will be. I finished with a stop at Vern and Joan's and we discussed neighborhood cats more than the historic impeachment happening back in DC. We have more control over feral cats.
From walking, visiting, and art, we moved inside for the Friday Zoom Game night with Jen, Brian, and Geoff. After the required checks of weather (Maryland snowy, Colorado very cold) and grandsons (all three were OK), we worked through three games of Codenames with admirable skill. We mix teams every week and there is no such thing as long-term best or favorite players, so skillful games are simply ones where there is plenty of laughing. Somebody always wins, a good message nowadays.
(This day in our history: 2017, Death Valley)
Saturday, February 13, Covid Day 337, Impeachment Day 5
Last day of Impeachment 2.0? Maybe. Maybe not.
Impeachment 2.0 was to be the theme of the day, but first I headed over to Starbucks for an early morning diary writing session. I find that getting away from the house-office is useful in order to focus on the long-running project. I'm sure part of my mind is just wishing for a return to the before times, when a Starbucks morning session was part of travel or at-home time. Now, I am limited to going to the store, ordering from young folks whoes names I know and who know my name, checking the Black History poster, and going out to the Model Y to write.
Before and after my office session, I tuned into the impeachment, first catching the news that the process would be delayed by the calling of witnesses and then hearing that the two sides had closed and senators were putting forth their proforma questions. Eventually, Marianne and I tuned in to watch as votes were counted and the evil ex was let off the impeachment hook. On a technicality. Independent of facts. By senators too cowardly to reflect on any of the evidence.
I suppose America is at another cross-road, with DT heading to the history trash bin or, with his supporters, continuing the transformation of the Republican Party into the Q-Anon-White-Supremacist-Radical-Christian-Insurrectionist Party. It's not clear, at least not to me. We'll see.
So, what more mundane activities did Saturday hold? We shopped at the Vineyard Farmer's Market, a weekly treat. The food is farm-fresh, even in winter, and it's nice to see the same folks offering whatever is current from their fields, greenhouses, and barns. Back home, Marianne had a weekly art-class session with Claudia while I started a new jigsaw puzzle, a Liberty Puzzle map of the foods of Italy. It's kind of like traveling - kind of.
Otherwise, it was a normal pandemic day: a mid-afternoon meal of tuna rice noodles, a meat pocket, and a cookie; an after-dinner walk to see what flowers were springing up; a return to the art studio and to the puzzle table. We may miss these simple routines when we can travel again, but we'll have LOTS of diary entries to jog our aging memories.
(This day in our history: 2002, Portugal Beach Life)
Sunday, February 14, Covid Day 338
The day started with the Sunday New York Times and Fresno Bee. Naturally, there were several stories about the impeachment, but I moved past them as quickly as I could. We all saw what happened and I'm not convinced anyone yet knows what will happen next.
Instead, I checked out the rose garden to see if roses will happen in 2021. Yep, it seems they will. This is one of life's little miracles and we need all the little miracles we can find nowadays.
Then we took a Sunday drive along Fresno's Blossom Trail to see if the fruit orchards were springing to life as well. Most trees were still pretty bare, but a few were starting to bloom. I think these are plum (pink) and, maybe, peach (white). One plum tree had mostly died, but the farmer generously let the old tree take up orchard space and bloom on the remaining small branches. Hopeful?
We drove east on Belmont Avenue, one of the county's oldest thoroughfares, and then upstream along the Kings river. On a hill across from the Pine Flat dam, Marianne spotted a wooden chalet that reminded us of the best of Alpine hills in Austria or Switzerland. I'm not sure about the driveway up, but the view must be spectacular.
Down around the dam, we looked for something interesting to photograph and found a green field with grazing horses. Good enough. I got out of the car to get a better view of the half-dozen in a field below us and barely noticed the pair coming up behind me, looking for carrots or apples, I suppose. I petted the light brown one and apologized for coming empty-handed. A fun distraction.
On past drives to Pine Flat Dam, we had returned on the same road we we had taken in, but in pandemic time, when we really have not much else to do, we set out along the edge of the reservoir to see if there was another way home. The drive above the lake was scenic, for sure, and there was a variety of homes and cabins and trailers perched on the hillsides to take advantage of the views. Several places looked a little rough, with dead cars in the yards and tarps over (presumably) leaky roofs. Rural Fresno County has a wide range of homes, from Swiss chalets to Western Appalachia fall-downs, but on this road, they all share a view.
Away from the reservoir, we took a much smaller road, winding for a dozen miles though the foothills. There was never a center line, because this really wasn't a two-lane path. Fortunately, the only traffic we crossed were a few intrepid bike riders and there was room to pass -- barely. Eventually, the road widened and some of the more prosperous county homes started showing up. All in all, a nice Sunday drive, one that Mamo would have liked. We miss her.
Back on Cambridge Avenue, Vern was just coming back from his walk and we decided to start the afternoon porch gathering a bit early. We fired up the new gas fire pit to take the edge off the winter breeze -- it's enough for Fresno winter. Over the next half-hour, several more folks were drawn to the flames and chit chat. Even Marianne showed up, since we are feeling more and more comfortable with (mostly) inoculated neighbors, outside in the breeze at least.
After the porch gathering, we returned to art, television, and the final pieces of my puzzle. As pandemic days go, Sunday was pretty active, but we still end the day with a few hours of just making do before it's time for bed in preparation for a repeat the next day. Honestly, it's not a bad life, but I hope we get the chance to break patterns and run out of day before we run out of activities.
(This day in our history: 2009, Robin and Art Visit)
I hope to have seen my national inoculation optimism be borne out, while at a personal level, Marianne and I restart some amount of our normal life: a little travel this month and visiting little kids next. As usual, we'll see.
John and Marianne