Our state's stay at home order was lifted on May 4, but I'm an older person with those pre-existing health problems they talk about on the news, and I have decided to continue to shelter in place until there are treatments or a vaccine for COVID-19, donating to charities such as our local food pantry and rescue mission but staying out of the way myself.
With faith that this is a temporary situation, I thought I would log my activities while sheltering at home. It has been a different but fruitful time. I think often of my grandmother who was a farm wife, did not drive, and lived 9 miles from the nearest town. My life these past two months has closely mirrored how Grandma probably spent her days, except I have more conveniences (I don't wrestle with a wringer washing machine), technology (Grandma would have loved to Marco Polo her grandkids) and the knowledge that I am able to jump in my car and take off for parts unknown, however ill-advised that would be. Knowing that I can even though I won't makes a difference psychologically, I think.
At any rate, here's a record of my stay-at-home day:
*****
6:30 a.m. I come downstairs and make coffee. Drink coffee. Wake up.
7:00 a.m. I read morning devotions, and am encouraged by Psalm 46. To share the encouragement, I create a meme for verses 1 and 5 using the PicMonkey site. I pay for a “Royale” membership at PicMonkey for $39 a year and edit photos and create memes here. This morning I decide to create a new cover for my book,
100 Days to Freedom, using an unfinished oil painting of my mom’s for a background. I don’t take time to do it just now, but complete the meme using that same lovely background and post it at my caregiving page on Facebook and at my caregiving blog. I also send a copy to my cousin, Pam, who is working from home and is facing COVID-19 related job stresses and uncertainties.
7:30 a.m. John is up for the day and is browning sausage in the kitchen. He, with his normal cholesterol levels, can breakfast on scrambled eggs with sausage. I have oatmeal with a half banana and 1 T. semi-sweet chocolate chips.
8:00 a.m. John is visiting on the phone with our son and granddaughter, who are waiting in the curbside pickup area outside Walmart for their grocery order. I slice a sheet pan full of bananas for the freezer; when they are frozen I’ll transfer them to a zip top freezer bag. I stocked up on bananas when our son-in-law picked up a grocery order for us this past Monday. Because I take a proton pump inhibitor daily, it is important for me to make sure I have some potassium and magnesium each day. I take one or two Rolaids with calcium and magnesium stearate for the magnesium, and eat a banana or a potato each day for potassium. Frozen bananas are great for smoothies but can also be defrosted in the microwave and mashed for my morning oatmeal or for muffins and banana bread.
8:30 a.m. John heads off to feed cattle. I shower and dress for the day, including a 3-minute makeup routine. I could run errands uptown or answer the door now and not feel self-conscious, but will do neither because of the pandemic. However, I may need to answer a Facetime or a Marco Polo call from one of my grandkids, and trust me, a groomed grammy is less scary than a combed and tidied grammy. I love the Marco Polo app. It has really helped me stay in touch with my grandkids during this time.
A couple of weeks ago I made 25 face masks for family members. John is using his whenever he has to go into groups of people. Farmers don’t lead isolated lives as some people think; nearly every day John needs to go to the elevator for grain or fertilizer, and sometimes to the blacksmith shop or gas station for parts and repairs. During this time, he is, however, taking care of more business by phone rather than via personal visits, as is his habit. Yesterday he found he could have his cattle mineral delivered rather than picking it up in person. He has also given up his daily convenience store stop for iced tea and snacks. I’m baking cookies weekly and keeping 2 pitchers of tea in the refrigerator at al times. We both are drinking lots of iced tea now, and not nearly as much diet coke (me) or diet Dr. Pepper (John) as we did before the pandemic.
9:00 a.m. Back at my computer with my Bible, I refuel my depleted store of Scriptural nourishment.
10:00 a.m. I bring up 6 packs of hamburger from the basement freezer. I will brown this in 1 or 2 pound packs, freeze it for easy meal prep, and take it to my daughter, who is faced with the challenge of feeding five people 3 meals a day with no takeout or carry-in meals. Her husband is working from home now. To further complicate her life, her kids have food allergies; no eggs, nuts, or dairy. And her youngest is currently on an elimination diet to see whether his stomach upsets and blood in stools can be alleviated...these symptoms are almost certainly due to food hypersensitivity. This week she is avoiding wheat and oats for him in addition to other known allergens. She had a tele-doc-conference with an allergist last week for her two oldest boys and has scheduled a similar appointment for her youngest. She was a step or two of her friends who have been bowled over by the responsibility of homeschooling their children after school was canceled for the remainder of the year due to Coronavirus...she is a homeschooling mom and so their family at least did not face homeschooling as a new stress during this time. She is a wonderful teacher to her boys.
I check the drying paint on the dining chairs I’ve sanded and painted this week. I think I’ll let the two coats of latex paint cure for a few more days before I spray on a couple of coats of polyurethane. I’ve ordered spray paint for the remaining chairs I want to paint. Painting dining chairs with a brush is no joke. Every coat of paint took nearly an hour for each chair because of how difficult it is to avoid drips or runs on the bumps and ridges of the rungs and legs of those chairs.
We are sheltering in place because we are older and both John and I have health risks that might cause the virus to do us serious harm. I’ve used the time to remodel our guest bedroom from ceiling to baseboard. I’m glad it is done but I don’t believe I’ll tackle another popcorn ceiling in my lifetime. I scraped it down, primed it with white paint (2 coats) and then attempted a knockdown finish. I didn’t do a great job, but once it was painted (2 more coats of paint) it looks fine. I then painted the woodwork and walls, and shampooed the carpet. So nice to have that done—and the Thomas Kincaid border that I loved in 1990 but dislike intensely in 2020 is GONE!
10:30 a.m. I put in a load of towels to wash and add a bit of Clorox. I’m doing lots more laundry now as we are no longer reusing bath towels and I change hand towels and kitchen cleaning cloths and towels daily. I clean the bathroom daily instead of weekly, and am using cloth rags instead of paper towels to polish mirrors and fixtures. We are trying to use fewer paper towels, which were hard to get for awhile, along with all paper goods. I’ve found I can fool my energy saver washer into using enough water to cover the clothes by always using the “bedding” setting. We are using more water, but there is not a shortage of water just now.
11:00 a.m. I called my daughter to see whether her supply of iced coffee was low. Her regular brand of iced coffee, can’t be found right now. There are many other odd shortages (famously, toilet paper, but also oatmeal, potatoes, and tub margarine are hard to find). She said she had enough for this week but flattered me to tell me that she prefers the taste of my recipe (below)! With all of the COVID-19 cases in meat packing plants, beef prices are going up and there is a rumor that chicken, beef and pork will all be difficult to obtain soon. We are blessed to have beef in the freezer from our own herd, and we have plans to have another steer processed at the locker plant this fall.
Iced coffee recipe:
8 cups brewed coffee, preferably from freshly ground beans
½ cup powdered coffee creamer (I use Coffeemate)
½ cup fat free half n’ half (if I have it)
½ cup simple syrup (I make simple syrup using 1:1 proportions of sugar and water)
1 can evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Dash salt
 |
| The vase is blown glass, made by our son-in-law, Brian, during his college days. |
11:30 a.m. I venture outside—there were frost warnings last night and got down to 37 here—and pick some leaf lettuce from my mineral tub container, the first cutting. I also pick a stem of deep purple iris to add to the peach colored blossoms I picked yesterday. For our lunch, I make a big bowl of leaf lettuce topped with my grandmother's salad dressing recipe.
Grandma Opal’s Wilted Lettuce Dressing
Cut 6 slices of bacon into 1 inch pieces and fry with 2-3 tablespoons finely chopped onion (garden fresh green onions/scallions if you have them). Drain all but 1 to 2 Tbsp. bacon grease, add ½ cup sugar and 1/4 cup vinegar. Let cool until it is just warm but no longer boiling hot, pour over fresh lettuce leaves, serve immediately. YUM.
1:30 p.m. I bake my first semi-successful loaf of sour dough bread. It is hard to keep bread on hand and so it seems many people have had the same idea—make homemade! Thus, I haven’t been able to find bread yeast to replenish my supply. During the first few weeks of the stay-at-home order, flour also was out of stock, but I am once more able to order flour from Walmart.com. At any rate, I have experimented with sourdough starter and after 3 weeks of effort feel confident I have a viable batch going. It has a pleasant, yeasty, smell, and the bread I baked with it today has a nice, mildly tangy, sourdough flavor. Today was my third effort and I think I finally may have a recipe and technique that’ll work!
Sourdough Starter
I began with ¾ cup plus 2 Tablespoons of flour (four ounces) and a half cup of non-cholrinated water (I just used the water in the tea kettle, that had been boiled). I stirred this together in a glass bowl, covered it with a plate, and set the starter atop the refrigerator. Each day for the next four days I stirred in another four ounces of flour and four ounces of water (please note four ounces of flour measures differently than four ounces of water, see above measurements). On the fifth day the starter smelled sour and there were bubbles, so I felt I had obtained a viable starter. So, I tried a loaf of bread and had a failure. Tried a second loaf a week later, another failure. Today’s loaf is edible! I will store the starter in the frig and feed it once a week. I’ve found it works best to feed the starter and set it out at room temperature for at least 24 hours before I try to make bread with it. Good to know that if worst comes to worst (if no store-bought bread is available and there is a shortage of flour and yeast) I could still make bread!
Here is the bread recipe I used today—not a perfect loaf, but tasty warm from the oven, with butter:
¾ cup sourdough start (ripe and active)
1 and ¼ cups non-chlorinated warm water
1 Tbsp. honey
1 and ½ tsp. salt
3 and ½ cups unbleached all purpose flour
• Whisk together starter and water in a large mixing bowl. Add honey, salt, and about 2 cups of flour. Stir together until smooth, let rest for 30 minutes.
• Add 2 and ½ cups or so of flour to form a soft dough. Knead for 5 minutes in electric mixer with dough hook (or, for non-arthritic wrists—by hand)
• Place dough in a large bowl that has been sprayed with non-stick spray. Cover and let rise overnight; for 8 hours or longer.
• Form dough into a round loaf and place it on parchment on a rimmed baking sheet, let it rise for about two hours or until it is near double in size. Cut slits across top.
• Preheat oven to 425. Bake raised loaf for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.
2:00 p.m. After lunch John and I watched the DVD recording of his uncle's funeral service. Because Uncle Wilbert passed away during the pandemic, we did not gather in a large group for his funeral. John attended a graveside service where everyone socially distanced and wore masks. But there was a private service later in the day for just Wilbert's children and their family, and this was recorded. It was good to see this celebration of his life.
3:30 p.m. Our daughter and two youngest boys visit but stay outside. It is so odd not to have them come into the house. They decorate my sidewalk with colorful chalk drawings.
5:00 p.m. I mix up pizza crust dough for homemade pizza. We probably won't be ordering takeout for awhile longer so it's home cooking all the way! The remainder of the day will be spent cleaning up the messes I've made in the kitchen and perhaps cycling through another load or two of laundry.
Despite my "Little House on the Prairie" activities today, this has been a stressful time as well. My son, son-in-law, and daughter-in-law are essential workers and so have not been able to stay sheltered these past weeks. Local churches and sports teams are talking of reconvening before some feel it is safe to do so. The media tells us so many different things that it's difficult to know what to believe. I am so grateful to the Lord, who holds the past, present, and future in His hands, and loves us beyond measure: powerfully and perfectly. We can rest in His love. Grateful.
