Homer'sWorld

I went to the supermarket twice today. The first time with Matt, who is having truck trouble.Upscale, yuppie store. Most people wearing masks except for men older than 60. I don't think a single older man was wearing one. A topic for anthropologists to study. Or psychologists.

The second store was the usual one in my neighborhood. I went to buy gift cards for the non-profit staff members being laid off (they will make enough on unemployment to match their part time salaries). There I saw less interest in basic common sense. The woman with three kids, none wearing masks. The little girl who gave me a weird look. The people who can't follow the directional signs. The people TOUCHING things. That isn't appropriate.

I'm back at home safe and sound. I made vanilla pudding, shared it with Doug and Birdy. Chatted with Matt on the phone. Having a salad with 1000 Island dressing (my favorite). Watching some British teenager tv show. 

Today I did chores. Swept floors, vacuumed, scrubbed the cat bathroom, laundry, bleached the kitchen sink.

Several times I sat on the porch and threw the ball for Ruby, who loves to play fetch. SO MUCH. The ball gets slobbery and dirty and unpleasant to throw.

When I was four or five my parents gave me a play set for Christmas. It had a plastic mat with roads and railroads on it, and a set of wooden blocks with images printed on them, roofs, chimneys, church spires, trees, cars, trucks, railroad engines, and railroad cars.

I had them stored away in my bedroom but they disappeared in the move in 1996 when the house was emptied out. Occasionally I would think about them, and the other night I typed in "wooden play set" in Ebay and a miracle occurred, there was a duplicate, minus the plastic mat.

Prickly pear at the 1929 Pima County Courthouse.

I have potatoes and some sort of melon or squash growing in my compost area, next to the nectarine or peach tree, which does not have any fruit on it this year.

Birdy has moved to a tent in the backyard, set up a little camp for himself. He seems very happy there. My dining room is almost back to normal, but no dinner parties will take place for a while. I have started on my third puzzle, this one has birds.


Doug re-glued three of the chairs, which I put back after this photo was taken.

I gave myself a haircut yesterday. It looks okay, I didn't make a mess of it.


Should pay myself $25.

I made two more loaves of no-knead bread. One was raisin cinnamon and the other cheese. The raisin one was quite good, although I put it in the oven a few hours early and it did not rise as much as it should. The cheese bread looks pretty amazing, but is just sort of mediocre taste-wise.


Cheese no-knead bread.

I'm sending some more money off to my Amish brother. His group is returning their stimulus checks. He says they don't really understand about social distancing- still holding church, but shorter services, as if that will somehow ameliorate things. The Amish don't pay much attention to the outside world and this is going to cause a lot of problems if his community gets infected.

I find things to do. Genealogy projects, cooking, getting fat, puzzles, water colors. Obsessing.

Pandemic update. Life continues on, except for over 2,000 people who died in the last 24 hours. It seems crazy that this is happening. I cannot stand to hear the orange thing's voice. The moment I hear it on the radio I immediately turn it off. I hate him. I wish only the worst for him, the first bitch, and his three oldest brats.

Anyways, this is where I have been attempting to work. I finally gave up and decided to go to the office. I am only one of a handful of people there (archaeology is considered an essential service because we clear infrastructure projects). I am very careful to use paper towels soaked in 409 solution to open doors. Usually no one else is in my office.

Matt surprised me by stopping over after his work ended. We sat on the porch and talked and then I took him into the backyard to see the flowers that are blooming.

Third batch of no-knead bread. This time I added parmesan cheese. Below is what it looks like after fermenting for 12 hours.

Yesterday almost 2,000 people died from Covid-19 in the United States. Here in Arizona, 2,575 people have tested positive and 75 have died.

I had to go to the office today. About six people there. Such a weird feeling, avoiding coming close to people. Everyone skittish. I finished a piece for the company blog and came home. I didn't feel like I accomplished much.

I finally had a Covid-19 dream. So strange.

I am making another batch of no-knead bread. I also have some strawberries to use up so I cooked them down, will probably make some muffins with the puree.

Someone I know living in Florida has it. He is running a fever for days between 101 and 103. I hope he gets better quickly.

And so on. We are 16 days away from the peak here in Arizona.

I am experimenting with making no-knead bread. I followed the directions on this video. You mix the ingredients, let it sit for 12 hours, and bake in a really hot dutch oven. The resulting loaf came out rather dense with a very hard crust, but it was tasty. I ate almost the whole loaf- Doug and Birdy each got a slice.

Time seem strange, my routine is different hiding out at home.

I drove over to Matt's workplace and he gave me a box of gloves. We stood and talked, he still has to go to his office and people there are not behaving correctly. He is very worried.

I took the gloves up to Robert to wear at the convenience store. We stood and chatted for a while, standing on opposite sides of the car. He is also worried.

Afterward I came home and did things. Don't ask me what they were, they just seemed to run together.

Now I am watching episodes of Gilligan's Island to make me forget the fact that about 1,000 people died in the last 24 hours.