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Today started at 6ish. I managed a bit more sleep, but it was still a hard start.

The first meeting was at 7:10, and then Zoom meetings started for three hours straight. Tuesday is a busy day as all the status meetings on Monday are expected to have brought forth some work.

I had no real crises of the moment, and the three hours went by fast.

I finally got outside in the pouring rain and managed a damp short walk. I still have breathing issues and stiffness. Mostly this is a use-or-lose-it problem. I will walk further each day and try to get back to my normal two-mile walk a day. With all the surgeries and Susie’s stroke, I have let this slide too much.

Susie’s bandages all came-off yesterday, and she is feeling better, and she had Physical Therapy today. PT was during the big status meeting at 1PM, so I missed some of the PT with Clare. I did use the gun-like IR thermometer to check everyone before Clare, our PT person, got here. I greet her at the door the same way, the Covid-19 greeting, “We have no symptoms.” She had her inoculation first shot, and Clare will get the second shot at the end of the month. Masks are worn, of course, and hand cleaning is done with care.

I am hopeful for a Covid-19 shot in late February or March. Let us hope Oregon and the Feds can get their act together and get’r’done.

Once my meeting on Zoom was done, I caught up with Susie and Clare. Susie is still too unsteady and becomes tired too quickly with a cane. Leaving the walker is still a distant goal for Susie. The exercises today and work-out are to get Susie to stand up straight as this will get her to be safer and maybe get to use the cane. Susie was also timed and appears to be improving.

Before, Susie found it hard to get up this morning. I understand! She managed to get a waffle for breakfast and take her pills before PT. Susie was tired and then rested for a few hours.

Susie then asked me about lunch while I was in another Zoom meeting. I had one scheduled with 10 minutes lead time. That was back-to-back to another in the afternoon. I finally made Susie a grilled cheese (cheddar) sandwich when the meetings ended. I then, using the same hot pan, grilled burgers for dinner. Susie loves a cold burger as long as it has cheese on it. I had a hot burger. Corwin grabbed one too. As expected, Susie had a cold burger a few hours later.

I tried to start Brass: Lancashire. This is a board game I am trying to learn and may someday play with someone. It is a worker placement and Euro-style cut-throat game. Usually, Eurogames are not mean; this is an exception. It simulates the industrial revolution, and you have limited resources and placement options. Also, you can gain points for yourself and your opponents by performing some actions. This usually means you prevented your opponent from getting all the points! I managed the basic set-up on the table, but I was tired. Maybe tonight still or Wednesday.

6,668 vaccinations were given yesterday in Oregon for Covid-19. That is a slight improvement in the rate.

4,262 (a new record) people died from Covid-19 in the USA today. The worst day yet. For D-Day in WW2, 4,414 are recorded slain, for comparison.

I went with Precious Lord Take My Hand for today.

 

Today started at 6ish. I had trouble sleeping and broke-out into hives on Sunday night. So sleep was minimal. I was welcomed back and kindness offered by most of my fellow Nike employees.

I was tired. I just muddled-through. I drank lots of coffee, Mexican, non-GMO, fair-trade liberal.

I rallied Susie between and sometimes during Zoom calls. My morning was just different Zoom meetings after another. As usual, Monday morning Zoom meetings are status or alignment discussions. Nothing I had to lead or, if I am honest, needed me as a critical resource. I tried to keep listening as I got Susie up.

Susie was so tired I helped her find her clothes and kept her focused on the clock. She was supposed to be leaving at 9ish.

We got done, and Susie’s driver did not show. A call and a text later and we learn that there was a mistake when we are ready an hour too early. At ten, Susie headed off to Zerida’s place for hair, nails, and so on.

I few more Zoom calls, and then I am free for a few hours. I order food for Corwin and me from Gyro House. I have the lamb Gyro, and Corwin has the fried chicken. Susie picked up McDonald’s Happy Meal, her fav.

A status meeting, and one more meeting on data flowing, all Zooming.

I then have to make my first sourdough bread. I must make it as the starter is ready. I have an online recipe and try to follow it. The mix is too wet. I think I must have added 1/2 cup of flour before I took it off the hook. And it is not fully mixed! I then grab my bread mat and flour and knead and finally get the texture I think should be right. I get it in the mix into an oiled bowl and let it rise. I have to then make the starter again. Used almost all of it up! I measure out water and flour to feed the scraps of starter left in the crock!

I throw the mix twice as directed. It was supposed to be a fold as stated in the instructions, but it was more like grab, tear, and put back.

I make a nice round loaf with lots more extra flour on a sheet of parchment paper–I thought it was already a miracle. I heat the dutch oven for 40 minutes at 450F in the oven. I am to slide the loaf and paper into the pot. The loaf falls off the paper and plops upsidedown into the pot. I just shake my head. I sprinkle water on the bread to make the crust hard. The bread cooks covered for 15 mins and 15 uncovered.

It is almost a perfect loaf, slightly undercooked, but tastes right, and I like the big bubbles. Also, the starter is fine and already filled the crock! I have survived, and so had my starter for our first loaf!

I made a huge mess making the one loaf, and I did all the dishes and clean-up the cement-like dried starter from silverware and bowls.

I have Roll20 online Dungeons and Dragon game today. We play every Monday at 6:30PM local time. So I order Papa Murphy New York styled pizza. This is a take-and-bake pizza. Meaning you get it raw. I drive over and pick it up and put it in my still-warm oven. I have dinner just as the online session is to start. We have everyone today that normally plays. We play for two hours in the Mad Mage Dungeon with me DM-ing. I think everyone had a good time.

We were doing this before Covid-19. This lets me include distant players, Bill in Minnesota, and folks recovering from health issues. We have played many premade adventures and campaigns. There is some excellent stuff. The Mad Mage is not as good content as some of the adventures, but it is huge.

My friend M@ read one of my Howard stories, liked it, and sent me some fixes. I have made the corrections–all small errors.

5,422 people were vaccinated yesterday for Covid-19 in Oregon.

1,964 people died from the virus today in the USA.

I picked one of my favs to sing at church, Soon and Very Soon–Methodist Hymnal #706.

 

Today was a quiet day and one that made me feel a bit trapped in my house. After all the events of the week, I wanted to get out. I stayed. The rate of Covid-19 infection in Oregon and the rest of the USA is too high.

I started about 9ish and went very slow. Susie and Corwin got up, and Corwin made breakfast-lunch for Susie and himself. I read a book and got dressed. Corwin also did the dishes. I put away the board game Istanbul that I had out from last night.

I invested part of my time with the sourdough starter. I followed directions and now have the second growth in the crock. I will need to use it, feed it, or put it in the frig. This is all new to me, and I am surprised by the idea that I need to feed it every twelve hours. Also, the lid to the crock was destroyed in the box, and King Arthur will be sending me a replacement soon.

I am reading a new book. Imagine a computer guy who decides to get a Ph.D. in history on the Battle of Jutland of 1916. He then goes back to the original sources for everything, including writing one book on how gunner worked in the World War 1 navies, to tell the most detailed and fully footnoted account of one battle. Imagine every source checked back to original and fully footnoted. That is John Brook’s book The Battle of Jutland, published in 2016 for the 100th anniversary. I am on page 116, and John is reviewing every section of the general written orders for the British Fleet and how it applied to the battle. I love the detail, and John covers every controversy as he is going. It is not a very good narrative, but so far, it covers most questions I have had on this battle. Mr. Brooks references the best narrative history I have read: Jutland 1916: Death in the Gray Wastes. I hope to soon read his description of the battle. I have already ordered a reprint of one of the sources. I am resisting collecting an archive of Jutland.

I then did more dishes; yes, Corwin left for me a clean-up in the kitchen. Once that was done, I made pasta and meatballs baked in red sauce with cheese for dinner. I am also rewatching Ken Burn’s Civil War on my Apple. I watch the Civil War while cooking. It gets my focus correct on all the events in Washington DC and politics in general. It is not that bad.

Susie and I watched the old animated movie Hercules on Disney+ while not trying to choke on the absolute abuse the greek myths take from the show. The story freely mixes and invents. The music is fun.

Laundry and dishes await. Sourdough is calling me, “Feed Me, Michael!”

Here is the website I discovered for information on vaccinations in Oregon: https://public.tableau.com/profile/oregon.health.authority.covid.19#!/vizhome/OregonCOVID-19VaccinationTrends/OregonStatewideVaccinationTrends.

Yesterday, 6,505 vaccinations happened in Oregon. I will start following this now that I have a source.

1,792 people are reported counted as dying from Covid-19 today in the USA.

I went with This Is My Father’s World. I have done this one before, but it seemed to fit tonight—Methodist Hymnal #144.

Today started about 9ish and remained slow and pleasantly boring. No bleeding, no coups, no elections, and a few deliveries.

I managed to sleep a regular night’s sleep. I was up as I thought it was later than it was. I think I dreamed it was in the afternoon.

I did stay up to play A War of Whispers board game last night. This is a new Kickstarter Collector’s Edition. I learned that meant all those blurry markings on the board were now replaced by a cool looking 3D piece of plastic. The armies were also replaced with a banner marker that looked well like a banner. The appearance was impressive for a 60-minute play game. It needs to be a visual game, allowing the players to grasp decisions without reading the rules or looking for minutes to find their move.

The game is a new take on a worker placement 4x game. Instead of running the empire and participating in the 4x styled running of the empires, you are trying to get the empire that you support to do well, the one you just support to do good, the one you sort of like to do fair, then one you could care less about, and one is an enemy. You have agents that can get the empires to do things. You can also collect secret powers to use later for any of your agents. All of this would be simple if the other players were not trying to do the same thing, but they have a different set of empires. Thus the one that would make you a winner is the enemy of another player. I played it against myself to learn the game. It appears that the four rounds of play in the game are just enough time to get something done, but not enough for all your plans to happen. When Covid-19 is The War of Whispers is going on the gaming table!

I did the dishes again and ran the dishwasher. And was then informed that we out of coffee.

Corwin made breakfast of Eggo Waffles for Susie, and I dressed and went to Wholefoods for coffee. As usual, I ordered and had groceries delivered yesterday to discover I am out of coffee the next day!

Wholefoods was busy. Everyone is careful and keeping to masks (fully on). I picked up the coffee, Mexican Fairtrade, non-GMO, every cup the taste of liberal. I have been drinking Mexican board-crossing coffee since Trump was elected, a small protest. Today, I got just one more bag. I grabbed the Rainforest blend for the second bag. Time to move to other issues!

As I was driving home, the police were out with shotguns on my small local roads. For a moment, I had a flash to the words of the song Alice’s Restaurant, “We don’t like your kind.” I imagined some southern drawl saying, “this yours” while lifting up the coffee. “Yup, he is a liberal–he has a fresh piece of Parmigiano cheese in his bag,” from a dreamed-up deputy. “Creampuffs from the Bakery,” says the officer with an eye-roll and reaching for his cuffs.

But none of that happened. The peace officer was putting the shotgun away, not pulling it out. Some drama was already over, and I suspect it involved a scary animal; we get them sometimes. But I was smiling that I escaped with my coffee.

I made dinner of bratwursts baked in the oven. We had the creampuffs as a snack.

My baking plans are more complex than I had hoped. The sourdough start is here, but the crock I purchased lid was smashed to pieces in the mail. I have contacted King Arthur Flour already. I have begun the feeding process. It will take 24 hours to start the process. I will likely get to bake bread in a few days, sourdough. Yes, Covid-19 had driven me to baking bread! I use the hook on the KitchenAid mixer to knead.

Dan Gray is working in Visual Basic, and I looked up how TRY works for him. My memory was it was added to the Borland version so many years ago (when I used it on IBM PCs), but I did not know if Microsoft had included it. I was happy to see they added it in the 2018 documentation (it was likely there before–but that is the first date I found it). They added the whole Ada-like version with FINALLY. This takes me back to my days before finishing college doing BASIC programming.

Tonight, I wanted to play another practice game, so I grabbed the board game Istanbul off the shelf and set-up a two-person basic game. I love the look of the board, and the play is easy, even just against myself. So something to do while waiting for the sourdough starter to well start.

That was all to this quiet day. We will have a cup of liberal Sunday morning Coffee soon.

3,235 people died in the USA today from Covid-19.

Today I opened the Methodist Hymnal, and it opened to #512, Stand By Me.

I managed to get some real sleep. I did awaken when Susie was up getting a snack but went back to sleep. I slept-in until 9:30ish and able to start slow and easy. I took Friday off as I was too tired to return to work without any good sleep for most of the week. I am still a bit fuzzy, but I can find my way.

Susie was up at 10ish and was catching up on her medications. Her Thursday pill was missed in the chaos yesterday from the bleeding from her surgery. Today we got back to more normal. I had replaced all of the bandages yesterday, and we had no extra bleeding today. I replaced a few today, and the wounds look as expected.

Susie had three Eggo Waffles with peanut butter. She rested while I waited for the groceries. I had them delivered from Safeway. I was surprised that it was a Dasher who delivered them; it used to be a Safeway truck. I put away the groceries and waited for the physical therapists. There was no shredded cheese; I worked out how to put in a claim. About 1/2 of the Safeway orders have been short or include things I did not order. This time I thought I good to tell them. Before, I thought I should just accept what I could get as it is a pandemic, but I think now, we should deliver right after all this time. Be it a bag of cheese or a Covid-19 vaccine.

I tried to put PT off, but today is an insurance day. Susie was assessed to need more PT, and we were also assessed to pay 100% of the cost as it is a new year. I have not yet reached 2021 out-of-pocket maximum, and so I must pay 100%. I have money, pre-tax, put in an account to cover these kinds of things. I had doubled it for 2021, and it looks like I will quickly exhaust it and reach my out-of-pocket maximum. I might not get to February this time! March was the last record for reaching the max.

I could complain, but I am happy to get Susie the help she needs and use the tools available to me to reduce the cost. Susie was timed again, and the hallway trip using her walker was 47 seconds today, better than her best. This with holes punched her legs covered with bandages!

I made beef stew and cornbread muffins for dinner. I cannot get the flavors right; it is only average stew. Someday I will get the hang of Instant Pot cooking.

Susie took a nap. I watched a terrible movie, Solomon Cane. I then caught up on the TV series The Expanse. It was another excellent episode.

Sorry, not a very interesting day. I also started to edit the most recently written and very long Howard story: Howard In Florida. This is the longest Howard story today, more than 11,000 words. Howard attends a computer convention in Florida that resembles the one I have attended. It will take a few weeks to get it all edited.

3,914 people in the USA died from Covid-19 today.

I thought God of Grace and God of Glory, Methodist Hymnal # 577, was a good choice with all the crazy.