Annie is back in Virginia

Today I met Annie by the bicycle racks near her dorm.  She asked me if I would store her bicycle while she returns to Virginia.  It didn't quite fit in the back of my car, but enough that the brief drive to my house was no problem.  This evening I called her and found that she had just landed.  I'm happy that she and her fiance Tim were able to make the trip before further difficulties in travel disrupted their plans.  I let the chickens out and refilled their feed bottle and then closed up their coop in the evening.  Other than those activities I have mostly napped and haunted the internet.  I watched the daily briefing from the White House and once again President Trump highlighted all the amazing progress that has been made in providing tests, sanitizers for masks, additional commitments of various businesses to helping the effort against the pandemic.  As usual the press mostly asked petty and persistent questions.  Trump defended his hopeful message while telling the very personal tale of the death of people in a hospital near his neighborhood.  I wonder if he was inspired by the video taken by a man who wept as he filmed bodies being loaded into a truck near a Brooklyn hospital.  I ate the remaining waffle brownie and some buttered popcorn. 

Fasting, Wedding and Brownie Waffles

I fasted until after 1 PM today after saying a prayer at 10 AM in concert with other members of the Church around the world.  Not long afterward I was scheduled to join the broadcast wedding of a nephew.  I enjoyed the sacrament with my son then I broke my fast with some waffle brownies I invented for the sake of switching up my diet.  Although I have a freezer full of beef steaks, they can become boring.  I made the brownies with primarily cream cheese, eggs and butter with enough chocolate and flour added to make them stiff.  I added baking powder and vanilla and sweetened the mixture with stevia.  I have a waffle iron that makes waffle bowls.  I decided to use it instead of the oven and they turned out well.  I completed my meal with some salmon.  My stomach seems to appreciate the food I ate.  I have been wary of carbohydrates but I find that a small amount of flour seems okay.  In the evening I was able to use the video conference software to visit with Lucinda's children. 

Beginning Fast

I am an experienced faster.  I have fasted since my youth on the first Sunday of each month except at General Conference time in which case I fast on the Sunday designated.  Tomorrow is the last Sunday of the month of March, 2020.  We have been asked to fast for those affected by Covid-19 and for the various countries caught the the plague.  At 10:30 AM we have been asked to pray as a focus of the fast.  I began the fast at about 12 noon but didn't finish eating and drinking until after 1 PM.  I ate leftovers from yesterday, some chunks of steak and some cheesecake with pineapple, strawberry dices and extra whipping cream.  It did not settle well and has made me feel out of sorts for most of the day.  I am anything but hungry.  I watched President Trump attend the embarkation of the hospital ship Comfort from the dock at Norfolk Naval base.  It was a very touching scene.  He was criticized by the press for flying a few hundred miles to speak.  Yet it brought attention to the effort made to make the ship ready for action in four hours instead of the month that had originally been scheduled.  We are a wicked nation.  Abortion is the chief sin of which we have borne the stain, but there are other clear abominations that have festered and grown.  I frankly think the burden of abortion and these other sins are worse than the virus.  This may well be a turning point for our country.  Our economy has been based on a flimsy structure with entertainment and diversion as its chief aim and product.  Only 'essential' industries are allowed in most area and cities and that means that only medicine and primary food sources remain open, along with the transport of food and medical supplies by truck, train and plane.  Those few people who did not shop for goods 'online' are being brought to do so by the closing of the many stores that carry non-essentials.  Today I took some masks and tissues to my granddaughter, Annie, who is heading back to Virginia by air with her fiance.  I hope that their decision doesn't put them in danger of infection.  I don't know if they will take advantage of the items I gave her, but I can only provide and advise, I cannot insist.  It has been  about 17 days since I began quarantine.  My granddaughters, Jacqueline, Diana and Leila decided to avoid my house for my sake. 

Travel Advise

Annie and Tim are flying back to Virginia on Monday.  I am planning to provide them with masks, not so much to keep the virus off their face as to keep them from touching their mouth and nose.  Both of them have glasses they can wear to protect their eyes.  I have been somewhat dilatory today.  I baked a cheese cake and broiled a steak but I still have half left of both which I assume I will eat tomorrow.  The fifty pounds of popcorn I bought for Richard is being well utilized.  It makes the house smell nice.  The grandchildren won't be coming up tomorrow.  They are concerned for my safety.  I will miss seeing their sweet bright faces.

Snow and Online Birthday Gathering

It snowed again overnight.  I made some cheesy bisquits with quite a bit of butter.  I ate salmon and some yogurt with crushed pineapple added, then I had a handful of buttered popcorn.  In the afternoon I joined an online birthday celebration for my neighbor Becky Williams.  I responded to an e-mail from Diana Graham and watched the daily update of the White House Covid-19 update. In evening I put a load of dark wash through the washer and finished up a page about acrylic paint for my online art lessons.

Sleeping Late

March 25, 2020.  I woke up when my grandchildren arrived for their bi-weekly tasks.  There are two reasons I continue their duties.  For one thing, I regard my employment of them as a way of helping support their family, particularly in this time of uncertainty.  The second reason is that although I can't get near them or hug them, even with social distancing in place I enjoy their presence.  About the only other things I've done today is let the chickens in and out of their coop and add some beef to my beef stroganoff from yesterday and share it with Richard.  Today I added a can of green beans but so far it doesn't seem to have done any damage to my digestion.

Testing the Battery

I went to the bank today.  I carried a bottle of hand sanitizer in my car and used it everytime I touched the canister that carries money and messages between the inside of the bank and my car.  The teller was wearing plastic gloves.  Fortunately they dispersed the money in an envelope.  I took the car out today to make sure the battery still held a charge.  It is a little over a year old and has been 'gently used' so there was no problem.  My fifty pound sack of popcorn from Amazon was delivered today and Richard stored it in assorted canisters.  I ordered some supplies from Walmart that will be delivered and bagged up the steaks I cut and froze last week.  After more than 40 hours of fasting my blood glucose was under 70 and my ketone level over 3.  I decided to make beef stroganoff with the steak I broiled.  I left a lot of it for tomorrow but so far I don't have the gastric distress that plagued me for several days. I enjoyed watching President Trump's townhall from the Rose Garden, particularly because the questions asked were from ordinary citizens who sincerely wanted an answer instead of coming from arrogant journalists who spend their time at press conferences trying to trap the president.  I also enjoyed watching his daily update.  The problem with America is not Trump's fault.  He is only trying to ride a bucking horse that has a spike under the saddle.  Our people seem to have forgotten normal skills and behaviors that protected people in the past from many of the ordeals of nature and economics.  Prudence is rare.  Most people live from paycheck to paycheck.  A lot of our economy rests on 'Fried Froth', entertainment and recreation of various kinds that bring people together in crowds.  These businesses have hit a wall with social isolation and quarantine.

Change of Profile Picture

For several months I have been using a picture that contrasts my weight when I was riding a mule in Bryce Canyon to a picture of myself after returning from Alaska last year.  I decided to change to a picture of the First Vision that Jacqueline created.  She has talent both for capturing likenesses and for composition.
I have written more pages for my art lessons site. I still have quite a few more to go.

More Art and other Things

I continued working on my online art classes.  Today I began to address the subject of color and have completed setting up two assignments.  I only ate animal products today aside from a few kernals of popcorn.  I am much less gassy than yesterday when I foolishly tried gruel again although I had already had two bad experiences.  I contacted several of my children, particularly Nancy and they seem to be doing alright.  Tomorrow is the Sabbath and once again we will be doing the sacrament in our home, just me and Richard. 

Art Work

Eliza asked me about doing remote art lessons.  Years ago I made a booklet for the women in the group that met in my home but I have not been able to find a copy.  I decided to put it online and linked it through my PatChiuart.com domain.  I didn't do much else today than work on the lessons.  I should finish up the section about sketching by tonight.  I really have to stop eating Cream of Wheat with cream.  I get a really gassy, acid stomach not long after I eat it. 

Earthquake

This morning I felt a shuddering and heard a sound that I tried to identify but very quickly realized was earthquake.  Since I was browsing Facebook at the time I quickly got a notification that my daughter Tricia had posted about an earthquake.  It took place about equal distance between her home in Bountiful and mine in Provo, but I am on the hillside and she is on the flat.  The seismic waves traveled through the flatlands easily.  My daughter, Mary, in West Jordan was quite a bit closer to the epicenter.  She felt the earthquake which was a fairly mild 5.7, although the strongest felt in more than 20 years in Utah.  It was followed by many smaller aftershocks.  I felt the 4.8 after shock that came about 5 hours after the initial shock.  I prepared my car as a bug out vehicle after heeding a post from someone who claimed that a stronger quake was anticipated.  I lifted two 50 lb. sacks of chicken feed out of my car and stored them in the storage bench where I keep straw.  I used a dolly for most of the way, but I had to lift the sacks into the bench.  This winded me.  I put down the wider back seat and installed some cushions I prepared for traveling east more than a year ago.  Mostly I kept up with news of plague and earthquake on my electronic devices.  I am grateful that for now I have what I need to 'shelter in place'. 

Redesign and Watching

I thought I might need to ditch the 1.5" pvc els I had purchased because they were too small in diameter for my feeding wall project but I discovered that if I mounted the retaining rings on the outside they were about the same functional diameter as the 2" els in the bottle that I have been using.  I put some chicken feed in other containers for the meantime and added some water to the reservoir in the green house.  I intend to store some water eventually and I also need to locate and inventory the propane tanks that I will use for the generator if that becomes necessary.  There are a number of possible outcomes of the current crisis.  Worst case scenario is that this current crisis is the trigger for societal dissolution.  Although I have a years supply and more of food, it could be more than years before things are relatively stable, and that may only come when Christ arrives.  On the other hand, we have been in a bubbling broth headed toward the end time for some time.  The ship of state may well resist tipping completely over once more and we will have more time to either lose ourselves or repent.  At least for the time being my children and grandchildren are taking precautions and being wise. 

Group Limit

My daughter Lucinda has 11 children and a husband, making 13 people in their home.  Today the federal government recommended that no more than 10 people gather.  This is probably good advice, certainly limiting the possibility of crowds gathering for groceries.  I went out this morning and bought two bags of chicken feed and filled my tank which was half full.  The only person I approached closer than six feet was the cashier at the farm store.  I was slightly ahead of the curve in my decision to self quarantine.  Events rapidly overtook my decision.  I am probably in a far better situation than most people.  I have plenty of food, I don't have any duty to leave my home for work.  In fact I only went out for chicken feed because there is some discussion of making home quarantine for 'vulnerable individuals' mandatory and chicken feed was the one commodity that was growing low. 
I have been stalled in proceeding with my feeding wall because I used a smaller size of plumbing els than are needed.  One alternative is to use the els from the jar feeder.  In any case I don't feel impelled to take definite action at this time.
I received the 2020 Census form and filled it out online.  I only received one copy for this house so I filled in the names of David's family as well.

Interesting Sunday

Today was the first Sunday of a period of uncertainty of whether Church will be held or whether we will avoid crowds.  Richard and I had a simple sacrament meeting with a prayer, a sacrament hymn and the ritual words read from the scriptures.  I learned that Mary was short on basic supplies and within a short time I loaded food and sanitary supplies into my car and drove to her home in West Jordan.  David added some other supplies in the form of a rifle and some bullets in a rifle case.  I knew about the bullets but no the rifle.  It's a good thing I didn't get stopped along the way.  I contacted all of my children in the past two days and each seems to be okay.  Nancy has a cough and decided to work from home, using the phone to consult with those who require her services, which is just as well because her daughter Miranda is suffering from a cold.  I have plenty to do in the following days as I finish up my chicken coop; installing the feeding wall and finishing the siding. 

Corona Corona

Officials seized fake corona virus testing kits at LAX airport.  This is how it is.  Government and private industry are having a real problem getting testing kits distributed but scammers have them hot and ready. 
I accomplished a bit today.  Mostly I talked to Annie, Meg, Sam and the two women I am supposed to minister to.  I mostly called to reassure them I'm okay.  I raked some waste from the coop, prepared a board to go at the base of the feeding wall and re-positioned the secondary roost.  I have mostly spent the day on the internet.  I guess I'm 'caught up in the moment' over the corona virus news.  The suggestion I made to the bishop about having family members with the appropriate priesthood take care of providing sacrament for their own families may have had some influence on the letter sent out this morning by the Stake Presidency.  As I had suggested in my e-mail to Bishop McMurray on Thursday, the priests will take the sacrament to those without priesthood in their homes.  They will do so by appointment tomorrow morning.  This means I will be having a meeting with Richard since David and his family are going up to spend Sunday with Taylor and his family. 

Nothing to get Dressed up for

I have a lot of attractive 'Sunday' best dresses, skirts and sweaters.  I wore them to Church and the temple, meaning I dressed up at least three times each week.  Now the temple and Church are canceled, unless someone wants my presence at their sealing, which is very unlikely.  On the other hand, with the cancellation of schools, I will not be required to get up earlier than eight each morning, and that is only because if I sleep much beyond eight my entire schedule of sleep will be tipped on its head.  My prettiest jewelry is not required since I wear it mostly for art meetings and going to Church.  It is now March 13 and I wonder if Church will start again before it is full spring.  Meanwhile my default daily wear is the comfortable yoga pants with boot cuffs that I also wear as pajamas along with a turtleneck shirt.  I altered some corduroy pants to fit me after losing quite a bit of weight last year, but they are still and not suitable for wearing at night.  I adopted the practice of wearing the yoga pants when I decided to dress in such a way that I could leap out of bed and quickly finish my usual morning ritual before driving kids to seminary.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays I would get up a half hour earlier in order to drive to the Provo City Center Temple to act as patron in an 8 AM endowment session.  So now my life is simplified.  The only thing I do now is drive up to Bountiful each Friday to take Hannah and Rudy to the park and McDonalds.  Today I had planned to maintain 'social distance' by staying in the car.  But Rudy was quite insistent that I join them in the park and I realized that my presence means a fair amount to him.  I would be more exposed to him by failing to join him. 
I am tempted to pack up all my fancy 'go to meeting' clothing, but things may change greatly before the season turns completely.  Today I faced sleet as I began my drive to Bountiful.  I stopped to get gas and my sweater was soon loaded with icy particles.  At least I got the plastic cut for my feeder wall.  I plan to finish it tomorrow.  I hope the weather cooperates.

Doing hardly anything

Today was chilly and after taking the kids to seminary and shopping for meat at Days Market I came home and prepared the roasts I bought to be cooked as steaks.  Afterward I went back to bed.  I have decided to self quarantine and therefore had no plans to attend the temple.  Tomorrow I will drive up to Bountiful to spend time with Rudy and Hannah.  I doubt my normal routine with them will change much.  I didn't eat my steak yesterday but it warmed up well for today.  I have browsed the internet a lot as I watched the slow reordering of things because of the threat of Corona virus.  There are definitely several points of view on the subject.  To those who are under very minimal threat it seems ridiculous that such seemingly Draconian measures are being taken.  For those of us under more immediate threat because of age or health issues it seems sensible to slow the spread of the virus by canceling large meetings and delaying events.  There are economic consequences either way.  As for me, I am letting my physical energy lead the way.  I don't believe I am actively ill, but I also believe I am fairly vulnerable. 

Semi quarantine

My experience at the temple yesterday was good until a woman entered the sealing room and proceeded to cough in her hand, which she then used in the sealing ceremony.  I realized that I have to avoid situations where I have little to no control about the actions of others.  The discovery that an active case of Covid19 from one of the cruise ships was being treated in the hospital where my daughter-in-law who shares the downstairs portion of my home, is employed in the lab made me aware of how close I could be to a risk situation. 
Today I had hoped to make more progress on putting in my feeding wall in the coop, but at least I finished up the gate gap closer.  Fortunately I have a small stock of suitable face masks, some hand sanitizer, and sufficient supplies of other items.  I plan to shop in the morning after dropping off the kids at seminary.  Day's Market has a good price on beef steak.

One run, one strike

I took a tube of hand sanitizer and a small packet of tissues with me to the temple today and my new dress pocket worked well.  On the other hand, the pocket I had sewn on what I thought was the left side of my slip was somewhat toward the back and I ended up not using it.  I had a pleasant time at the temple.  I did some shopping on the way home and indulged in some bananas and treats which left me with a very gassy stomach.  I stopped by Lucinda's house to visit with the younger children who I haven't seen in some while.  Later, after I had rested for a while, Lelia and Timothy came over and made a dice from clay.  Jared came over later in the day which put a stop to any plans I had of cutting my plastic piece for my coop feeding wall.  We had a nice visit, but he is still a somewhat confused man.  I have taken out the trash, folded laundry and now it is time to end my day.

Interrupted Post

I hate it when I have written quite a bit and something happens to erase it.  That just happened with a post I had nearly finished.  At any rate, to recap, I finished one of the projects I hoped to accomplish today; installing pockets in my temple dress and slip so I can carry a tube of hand sanitizer.  There is no way to avoid touching hands in the endowment ceremony or sealing ceremony so the best way to deal with that vector of infection is to use sanitizer as seems wise.  It will depend on the amount of sniffling and coughing I hear, or my own behavior.  I am feeling somewhat better than I did a week ago when I decided against going to the temple for two days.  I still have several active projects that I will do according to available energy.  I have some things to do with my chicken run and coop and I need to clean out the area near my storage sheds. 

Another Sweet Maple Sunday

Jared brought his three older children to Maple Sunday today.  Miranda was enthusiastically telling her mother of how much she liked Calvin and Jacqueline as they loaded their car in preparation to return home.  Jacqueline had expressed some worry about going to a different seminary next year when Adam is eligible for seminary.  She worried about finding friends.  I assume the seminary at Timpview has people from her ward.  I assured her that she would have friends, but if not, if the group she joins for seminary is haughty or exclusive she needs to deepen her relationship with the spirit.  I baked a pork roast and a cauliflower casserole.  Nancy brought bread, desserts and a salad plus drinks.  Jing brought up a rice dish, Taylor brought drinks, and Tisha brought cake in honor of her husband, Brad's birthday.  I gave small paintings to Jared and Brad.  Jared had first choice and he chose a blue encaustic snow scene.  The other painting was an oil of pomegranates which Tisha said Brad favors.  It was a rather random gathering.  Rudy stayed in my room where he played with the marble game and a world globe.  The youngest was Lilah who mainly refused contact although she is willing to give me a 'high five'.  The teens played games and the adults conversed on a number of topics while avoiding politics.  I ate nothing, although I did take a few bites of dessert as I cleaned up the dishes and tidied the kitchen.  Tomorrow I hope to make renovations on my temple dress so I can carry a pack of tissues and a vile of hand sanitizer.  I want to get back to temple attendance and I am feeling somewhat better today. 

Pictures

Today my major labor was preparing pictures taken at the art exhibit for publication on the website, the Facebook page for UVAG and the newsletter.  The corruption of my Word Perfect file created some difficulty.  The most serious is that I can no longer prescribe the degree of rotation, but I've developed a number of work arounds.  I create and manipulate most images in Presentations, save them as an image file then either upload them to the web or print them after dropping them into Open Office.  I also came much closer to the goal of protecting the chicken run and only a gentle rain kept me from completing the barrier over the gate.  Adam and Ralph pulled up the mulch along the sidewalk and revealed some rather alien looking tulip and daffodil sprouts.  They should recover in a few days.  Tomorrow is spring forward time.  I plan to have Maple Sunday and leave church after sacrament meeting.  I am feeling much better today and feel I was under hydrated instead of being anemic.  I had a lovely ribeye steak today after having two eggs in the morning.  I think some of my abdominal discomfort stems from a form of constipation.  The one thing I had planned on was getting the mess in my storage area straightened out.  Jacqueline came over to watch 'Enchanted' and I pointed out that although the costumes worn by the key character were 'immodest' she had an essential innocence. 

Lovely, Busy Day even if ill

Today I got quite a bit done.  I took the kids to seminary, purchased some ribeye steaks and liquid hand soap at Day's, worked on securing the chicken run against coons, drove up to Bountiful for my usual activities with Hannah and Rudy, and returned home in enough time to take Jacqueline to the art exhibit opening at the Covey Center along with the candy palettes the girls made yesterday.  I was feeling very weak while working on the chicken run and was unable to finish the job all the way.  The weakness was reminiscent of the way I felt when I had severe anemia but I'm feeling quite a bit better this evening.  Tomorrow I hope to finish closing the obvious weak points along the lattice fence and gate.  Maybe I can also mount the wall chick feed container.  Adam noticed that it was time to remove the mulch from the front strip and let the tulips and daffodils up.

Feeling Sickly

I had hoped to go to the temple this morning but although I woke in time I realized that my physical level was still somewhat compromised.  I'm conscious of having a mild inflammation of my throat and less energy than normal.  I went shopping for supplies for the special molded chocolates I provide for openings.  I also bought some supplies for my chicken house and groceries for the Maple Sunday this weekend.  I got some cauliflower, a pork roast, loaves of cheap bread and sour cream.  I didn't use a cart either at the craft store or the grocery store and felt almost ready to faint.
Jacqueline and Diana came up and made the candy treats which they packed in transparent treat bags using silver twist ties.  I feel this is the best way to present the chocolates since they offer less threat of melting.  I had hoped to do some securing of the chicken run using screw eyes I purchased at Lowes but I couldn't find the supplies my grandsons used the other day.  I also cut the angles to make a feeding wall in the coop.  The current feeding situation takes up too much room and gets too mucky to see the level of the contents since it perforce sits beneath the perches.  The feeding wall I had in the coop previously worked quite well and had a good capacity.  I hope to get around to fixing it tomorrow, but since I plan to go to Bountiful and bit earlier than usual in order to return in time for the UVAG exhibit opening I may not get around to it.

Tidying up UVAG

The other day when I purchased an independent website for the Artist Guild I made new graphics to refresh the look. Meanwhile I have the responsibility of accounting for memberships and proper addresses for the newsletter, both electronic and printed.  I spent a lot of time today on my computer tidying up the ragged ends.  I made a new mailing list complete with new mailing labels.  I tried to complete a list of members.  Tomorrow in the afternoon Jacqueline and Diana will come over to make the molded palette candies that I have formerly placed on cupcakes.  This year I will make them stand alone.  Or rather my skilled helpers will make them.  I hope to go the temple tomorrow.  I hope to feel somewhat better after taking it relatively easy for the past few days.

No Hand Shaking

Probably as a result of eating carbs I have had inflammation of my lungs and frequent coughs.  It is flu season and the Corona virus has increased the awareness of how personal contact is a major vector for disease.  I had planned to go to the temple as usual this morning but last week I had a difficult time suppressing coughs.  When I found that seminary was canceled because of ACT tests at the high school I decided to sleep in late and do the tasks I had planned after going to the temple, none of which would involve personal contact with others.  I picked up my check from the lawyers office, took pictures of the award winners at the Covey Center and went shopping at Smith's with the aim of building up my gas points.  I found a sale on beef, a good price on toilet paper, a bag of buns for Richard, and an unanticipated sale on Kerry Gold Butter.  I purchased ten packages of Kerry Gold, three packages of steaks, a large package of toilet paper.  I also bought a hand of bananas.  I ate one as I drove to the bank and deposited my alimony check at the drive through.  Once at home I waited for a visit from the president of our Art association, Sandy Whitby, who came to pick up the awards I printed out and provide me with a copy of the sign in for the exhibit.  After she left I cooked my steak.  I also ate some pastries and another banana.  For a while I worked on getting the photos of the award winning pictures onto e-mail.  My digestion was rumbly so I took a nap.   When I woke up I continued working with the pictures, cropping them and putting them with their titles and the names of the artists. 

Just another Sunday

I struggled against waking up on time this morning but Richard and I made it to church on time.  I scanted on my exercise and shortened my prayer, but I made my bed and left my room tidy.  I fasted for those caught in the plagues that are raging around the world.  I couldn't raise my hand to sustain Brother Youngblood as a Sunday School teacher.  He nibbles at the edge of orthodoxy but his doubt seems all too often to outweigh his faith.  My ministering brothers came over for a visit and I showed them Diana's diorama.  Tomorrow I will likely help Jacqueline make a silk painting of the scene.  Jared came over for a visit with Patricia and Timothy and they did quite well aside from a brief tussle over the Star Wars trading card album.