Coronavirus Diary April 5th - 19th

April 5.

I cut out the mask pieces today. I thought Lee had pipe cleaners but he only had a few and they weren’t long enough anyway. So I ordered them from Michael’s for curbside pickup. They were supposed to email me when they were ready to pick up, but they never did, so I checked on the order and it said ready for pickup, so there you go.

When I went to get the pipe cleaners I also went to Trader Joe’s. They definitely have a system in place. You have to wait outside for a person to leave before you can go in. They spray the cart with disinfectant before you use it. They are only using every other checkout lane. No free samples in the back, Leo would be sad.

Then I dropped some of the pipe cleaners off at Sarah’s for a possible toddler art project. It was nap-time, so I just put them outside the door and tiptoed away.

Everything was quiet and deserted out in the world. There weren’t even that many people out walking.

I had three zoom “meetings” yesterday. One with Sarah, Daniel, Leo and Kirby. One with some of the ladies I became friends with in Texas. And finally one with the Westie Ladies. For the last one we all had our cocktails because it was in the evening. I made myself a lemon drop martini. It was delicious! We had a great time chatting but boy it made me miss them, a lot. I’d like to visit New England this fall but with the current state of the world we’ll just have to see.

April 6.

4 mile easy run this morning, then started on house cleaning. I’m trying a new system. So far I think I like it, it breaks it up into manageable chunks so each day I feel like I’ve accomplished something. Today I did the bedrooms, the hall and the stairs. Tomorrow I’ll do the kitchen and the mud room. Wednesday I’ll do the bathrooms and Thursday I’ll do the living room, dining room and entryway.

I made more progress on the masks. I sewed the pipe cleaners to them, using a zig zag stitch. I was afraid I’d break a needle but it was actually pretty easy. I have enough for 18 masks. Now I realized I need bias tape to use for ties. I have some, but not nearly enough. Back to Michael’s I guess!

Boris Johnson, the prime minister of England, is in intensive care with covid 19. Karma is a bitch, as they say. He was reluctant to have England shelter in place and put it off. 

April 7

John Prine died of covid 19 last night. I’ve been sad all day about this. I went out this morning to find bias tape. I was going to go to Joann’s but they aren’t open until noon right now, so I apprehensively went to Walmart. But I needed have worried. They had only one entrance open, only letting a few people inside at a time, sanitizing the carts between customers. I wore a mask, and used wipes when I got back to my car. The bias tape pickings were pretty slim. There wasn’t any 1/2” wide which is really what I need, but there was a few 1” and 1 pkg of 2”. I think I can cut these down the middle and make them narrower so that they will work. Its that or order it off of Amazon where they are saying it will take a couple weeks. 

Its a beautiful day. The dogs did some sunbathing; I cleaned the bathrooms. 

Sunday April 12.

It snowed like crazy today, around 6 inches of wet heavy stuff. I worked on masks, ate too much pie, not much else. First day I’ve been bored. Thought I would start the milkweed seeds indoors but I can’t find the little starter pots with the plastic hood and heat pad so I ordered it from Amazon.

I’m running 5 tomorrow. It’s going to be cold, windy and icy but you know Id still rather do it outside. Tuesday is a speed workout so I’ll probably do that on the mill. Hopefully by next Saturday’s marathon pace workout I’ll be able to do it outside.

April 14. Tuesday.

I ran my first speed workout today. 8x600 @ 10k pace. The first 6 repeats went great and then a mini blizzard blew through. I got pounded by snow and could hardly see! Then it stopped and the sun came out but the trail was covered with about 2” of snow, so my last 2 repeats were slow.

April 15. Wednesday.

I put the pleats in all the masks I’ve made so far, 10 of them. I claimed one for myself and tried in on.  It looked great and felt very comfortable. I feel like it offers good protection too. I went out later in the day to pick up a sympathy card for Amy C’s grandmother, who died of Covid 19 yesterday. Very sad. 

Leo ran a fever for a day and then went back to normal. I went over there today to give Sarah one of my masks and some other stuff. I got to see and talk to Leo through the glass screen door. He was happy to see me and didn’t seem upset that I couldn’t come inside. Maybe he’s just getting used to this strange new normal.

There were more people out today it seemed. Without sufficient testing its just so hard to say what’s really going on. Apparently in Iceland where they are testing close to 100% of the population, around 40% of the people have the antibodies but never had any symptoms. 

We ordered plants for the rain garden and I started milkweed seeds inside today. If they all germinate I will have a bunch of milkweed plants!

Thursday April 16.

Its sunny and slightly warmer today. I’m in a cheerier mood today. I had a good run this morning, nothing special, just 5 miles at an easy pace but I felt good even though it was cold. 

I worked on masks a little, did my nails, ordered stamps to support the post office. The John Lennon stamps are sold out so I got Sesame Street stamps instead. There are ones with Elmo on them so I figure I can get stickers or something and mail Leo a surprise.

Friday April 17.

Yesterday Lee started having a sore throat and a cough. This morning he was running a low grade fever (99ish). He takes Motrin for arthritis so its probably artificially low. He seems to feel ok, but there are no tests to be had so we just have to assume. He called our dr and there’s no point in isolating from me or the dogs, thank goodness, but he really needs to not go out until he’s no longer sick. They say 7 days from onset of symptoms AND 48 hours with no fever without meds. Its worrisome but selfishly at least initially I was mainly worried about how in the world I could keep Harper away from him if she knew he was in the house. Basically if we tried to isolate him in the guest bedroom she would just sit outside the door and cry. 

I mailed 5 masks to Gail this morning. I used click and ship and was very proud of myself until I realized my box wouldn’t fit in the mailbox so I ended up having to go to the post office anyway. I wore my mask and I was only inside for a second. Then I got my car washed. Strange the things that are considered essential services!

Minnesota’s governor is expanding what outside activities are permissible. So the marinas are opening which will make Lee happy. 

Saturday April 18.

Lee’s fever has been normal for 24 hours and his cough is mostly gone. He wore a mask to walk the dogs this morning. Until he is out of jail I need to be the one to do all the errands. Of course the man can’t sit still so he’s been doing yard work and house projects all day. I don’t think he feels at all sick now!

I went on a fun sort of run this morning. One of the Facebook running groups I belong to is focused on the Boston Marathon. This would have been the weekend of the race if it hadn’t been postponed. So they had a virtual challenge. For $20 you got a medal if you ran any distance, as long as the last mile was your fastest. The $20 goes to their pet charity, The Second Step, that advocates for victims of domestic violence. I had on my training calendar to run 8 miles, with 4 of them at marathon pace. So what I did was 2 miles warm up, 3 miles at marathon pace, 2 miles cool down, and then 1 mile at marathon pace minus 10 seconds. I did well, especially considering that it was the first workout of this sort this training cycle AND that I chose a hilly route, since San Francisco is hilly. At the end I had Lee take my picture with my medal. It wasn’t the same as a race, but it still felt good.

This afternoon I drove to Apple Valley and picked up our 1/2 a pig from Andrew. Its the farthest I’ve gone since we got back from Florida. Wore my mask when I got there as did Andrew and no contact involved. And we’ve got lots of meat now, which might come in handy if there is a shortage. And even after driving for over 40 miles total I STILL don’t need to get gas. I haven’t filled up my car since we got back from Florida.

Sunday April 19.

I’m making sourdough bread today. One loaf of raisin coriander whole wheat and one loaf of flax and sunflower seed whole wheat. I also fertilized the new trees outside. And off and on I work on the masks. I finally got around to sending Angela more postcards to translate. It is an absolutely beautiful day outside. Lee is busily making a cushion for the storage bench in the bathroom and making trim for the linen closet. I think he feels completely fine now. Another day or two and I’ll feel confident that he’s not about to keel over. Still to be safe he needs to stay home until next Tuesday. So I’m doing the grocery shopping tomorrow.