Friday, Sept 18

 

This morning was a little frustrating for me.  This may all be TMI so feel free to skip this next paragraph.  

I was scheduled to do my volunteer work with Viva Village (12-3 pm CDT).  Since it is on-line, currently, I thought that it would not be a problem to continue to do it while I was here.  I tested my netbook at home and everything all set-up and I thought that I had checked everything. I checked it again right before I left home.  I had it set up using the Firefox browser.  George had this all set up so that my viva village stuff would not change my personal stuff.  Not that I understand any of this.  Anyway, in the few days between checking it and needing it, Firefox did an automatic upgrade!! Bah!  NOTHING WORKED!! After multiple calls to George I switched over to Microsoft Edge as my browser for my Viva Village stuff. Then I had to get it all set up again with my tabs.  I had to call Kathy (my Viva Village authority) to re-sign in. Whew.  Finally I got it all set up and working .... I thought.  But I found that everything worked except all the documents in One Drive were now Read Only.  I could not add, edit or copy anything that I needed.  After multiple more conversations with George, we discovered that this is an unfixable problem.  Apparently I had not actually tested this at home so it never was working.  When I tested it I opened One Drive and it looked ok but I never tried to edit anything in it.  The solution was to use Jeanne's laptop to get what I needed from One Drive and email it from her computer to my netbook so that I could edit and send.  What a pain.  What was supposed to be a 3 hour casual stint ended out being about 5 hours and not casual (until I got it figured out and working).  But now everything is all set up.  I had volunteered to do an additional stint on Monday.  It should be much easier because everything is set up and I have told Viva Village that I would not be doing the stuff needing the One Drive. 

In the midst of all that we did take a lunch break. Jeanne was very patient with me and was properly sympathetic with my ranting and raving.  She got a lot of her stuff done while I was occupied. 

We finally had time to take our daily walk.  It is so nice to have good weather.  We had covered the beans again, since it was to get down to freezing.  It was a little chilly.  It is nice to hear that the Portland air quality was gradually improving and I heard that it rained!!  

We had a nice zoom call with Connie, Judy, Jeanne and Marsha.  Jeanne knows all of my friends so it has been nice to include her on these zoom conversations. 

Jeanne fixed a delicious dinner of pork chops, mashed potatoes and carrots.  Yummy. She is certainly feeding me well.  

A family of deer came by.

After dinner we had a chance to work on a puzzle.  This was our first chance.

Thursday, Sept 17

 

Morning view of the lake. The geranium won't last much longer.

A plastic bag drying rack.  For all the times you wash out and reuse plastic bags.

We covered the beans because it was going to freeze.

Enjoying the nook in the morning.

Night Furry likes my bed.

Some of Jay's fish.

This is what our chicken squares from last night looked like. 

A pileated woodpecker came by.

We took our daily walk to go to the mailbox and to swing by the lake.

View from the kitchen window to the area Jay has been clearing.

We had a nice zoom call with Vivian.  Emmy could not join us this time.  Emmy and Vivian are 2 of my high school classmates who live in Portland.  We have a weekly zoom call.  That is been a real treat for me.

We went  into town to go see the movie "Tesla" at the State Theater for the 4 pm show.  This theater had been falling apart and had been closed as long as I have been coming here to visit.  Some billionaire bought up a bunch of the buildings downtown Ely and worked on renovating them.  His condition before finishing the renovations was that some one or group had to take on the management of the building.  It finally opened May 2019.  When COVID 19 hit they closed for a few months.

As a fund-raiser, people could "buy" a chair. Jeanne and Jay bought one in memory of Jay's parents.

When they reopened they had made some additionnal changes. The ticket program they have will only sell tickets where the seats are separated by 2 seats.  For the people who come together either have one person buy the tickets or you ignore the seat assignment and sit where you want.  That is what we did.  Everyone was wearing their masks.  We all went in one door and exited a different door.  Every other row was blocked off.  We did not buy any popcorn or beverages.  I think that there were 14 people in the theater. It felt very safe.

Tesla, is about the inventor, Nikolai Tesla.  I had not known anything about him or the movie.  So, now I know a little more about Tesla but I don't think that I would recommend the movie.  Very slow moving and confusing. 

After the movie we scurried home, quickly put together a spaghetti dinner, ate and then got  set up for a 7 pm zoom call with Sharon and Kris. That was also a fun zoom call.  Fun having the 4 travel buddies together.  

We had to cover the beans again, since it is to get down to freezing again.  There are really only a few beans left to harvest, so it would not be a big loss if the plants died.  But we are still trying to save them.

It was another relaxed day with our AQI of 20 ;-) !!  I sure feel for Oregon.  

Wednesday, Sept 16

My cozy nook where I sit in the morning.

+

Jeanne and Jay's bush bean garden.  Jay wants to extend the garden deck.  I thought they should make raised beds.  We harvested beans.  Probably the last batch.

Fawkes

Night Furry

We had a leisurely morning with a lot of yakking.

The pontoon boat is ready for winter.

Same with the canoes.

The house from the garage end.

And the Christmas lights.  Because of everything that happened this year the lights never got taken down.  It is a good thing because now Jeanne does not have to put them up.

We drove into town for a quick errand.  When we got back it was time for lunch.

I had a nice zoom call with my Southminster Super Wednesday group.  That was fun.

We went on a walk down to the lake.  We just did the loop.

Note the blue sky in the background.  Some of you may have forgotten what it looks like.

Jay has done a lot of work clearing out dead trees in the woods.  You can now see (sort of) the house from the road. 

 Nathan and I had made limoncellos earlier.  I had put 2 tiny, less than 3 oz. bottles of the limoncello in my liquids bag.  We sipped our limoncellos while we watched a DVD that Glenn had done of our trip to Italy, which we had done a few years ago. 

Limoncello and DVD of  Venice.

The deer are pretty laid back.

Evening view of the lake from the upper deck.

We had driven into town to go see a movie.  They have a small theater which has been renovated and they currently have it compliant with all the health regulations.  When we got there we found out that it was closed on Wednesdays.  So we will try again tomorrow. 

We had a nice dinner of chicken in crescent roll pockets.  Not sure what to call them. I should have taken a picture.  It was fun making them and hey were delicious.  I think I could do them with tuna or with vegetables for my pescatarians at home.

In the evening we watched "It Was a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood".  Jeanne and Jay have Amazon Prime and Netflix but it was surprising the number of movies we could not watch because they were not included on the free movie list. Jeanne finally decided to sign up for a free week of Starz.  That gives us one more choice. 

Ely, Sept 15, 2020

 Tough decisions.  Jeanne was going to be alone for two weeks while Jay helped Wilhelm (son in law) with some window job.  I thought that if I were going to visit her now would be time with the least COVID 19 risk as possible.  Of course, there was the flight risk, but Delta has a good reputation about complying with all of the safety recommendations. I knew that Jeanne and I would be "bubbling" our family units as soon as I arrived.  If I did not go now then it would probably not be until I had the vaccine.  Who knows when that would be.  So I bit the bullet and made the reservation.  After several changes the day finally arrived.  I had a 6:30 am flight out of Portland.  George drove me to the airport. 

I had my face shield and mask on.  I bought some of the N95 masks for the flights.

I had bought one of those ready-to eat-oatmeal containers, just add water.  I had added the water at home.  I thought if I didn't add much water then it would go through security .... NOT.  Oh well.  So I bought another one at the coffee shop in the airport after going through security.  Pretty empty airport.  Everyone was wearing their masks.  There were a few people like me who had on both mask and shield.  

They loaded the plane from the back to the front.  So sensible.  I hope that they continue to do that once we get back to "normal".  Odd to see such an empty plane.  The flight attendant came by and thanked me by name for my loyalty.  

Above the smoke when leaving Portland

It is challenging to eat and drink with the shield on.

The flight was pretty painless.  I got to Minneapolis about 10 minutes early.  I had plenty of time to get from G to C.  Luckily I brought plenty of food with me.  Many of the shops and restaurants in the MSP airport were closed.  

Snoopy and Woodstock both have masks on

Empty airport

It was a little overcast in Minneapolis but not due to smoke.

Jeanne was right out front when I got out there.  Virtual hugs (they just aren't the same).  It is about a 2 hour drive to Ely.  So nice to be able to breath!! 

Fall colors are just starting.

See the ear of the cat (lower left) watching the squirrel. Jeanne and Jay are cat-sitting Laura and Wilhelm's 2 cats while the window project is going on.

Jeanne gave me my birthday present. She had saved it until she could give it to me.  she found out that I was born on a full moon!! She had 2 full moon pictures which I had taken and the text says "Barbara Donaldson Walker - born on Marsh 4, 1950 - Under a full moon." No wonder I have always liked full moons.  Cool mug and she gave me a necklace as well with a full moon on it.  Perfect.

We had a delicious dinner - cheeseburger, green & wax beans from the garden and brownies.  Yummy.  

We watched 2 episodes of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.  There were several movies we tried to watch but they were ones which were available on either Netflix or Amazon Prime but when we got to the point of watching we found that there was an additional charge. 

What a day!   I was ready to hit the hay.