Raincharm’s Weblog

Love you.

Picture credit to Mark Axe

We took our walk at midday today. Shorter than yesterday’s, but probably 3 miles and got me to “goal” on my tracker. Our general goal was dropping off mail at a post office, and sanitizing hands afterwards.Today’s tree photo.For scale, Carl’s arm is sticking out the left side of the tree, clad in grey.There is lots of chalk art around. You all should know that hop scotch is alive and well, as well as other art.

And pretty petsWe ate the matzo ball soup provided by a neighbor through a porch pick-up, and spent a few hours enjoyingYou can read more about our nephew, Daniel Axe, on the RegenAxe blog. Thanks to Ashlan for assisting our views.Finally, thank you to our grocery friend for delivering some lentils. There will be chili next week! After we get our next grocery order together, including a jalapeno pepper.

Many are now learning the ins and outs of working from home. Everyone has a slightly different experience. From isolation, good and bad, to sharing the work space. I have one co-worker with 4 adults in the house stressing their bandwidth. And those with small children have an entirely different dynamic to manage.

We have just the two of us. We are managing, and Carl is understanding more of what I do for a living.

Since today is not a workday our midday walk was much longer. Over 4 miles by my tracker. We wandered around Tangletown, an area with streets that don’t strictly adhere to the grid system. My parents neighborhood is referred to as the spaghetti bowl I think.

The other tackled task included chatting with Rey and Becca for a while. As per usual I learned something new. It had to do with the connection between Cincinnati, Cincinnatus and General George Washington, and the Society of Cincinnati that appreciated their similarities. This is likely not fully correct as I didn’t take notes. If you want an explanation I will put you in touch with Rey.

I am working remotely every day, and starting to lose track of which day of the week it is. Life has gotten into a not unpleasant rut. Sun helps! Walks at lunch, and before dinner.

I try to get at least one non-Covid related task done each day. As one caller told me today, if we can get him the information he is requesting, he has a better chance to keep his people employed.

Another result of forced social distancing has hit very close to home. Mother had a fall, resulting in a few days in the hospital. She has now moved to a rehabilitation facility, but they are not allowing any visitors. None! I can’t imagine what she is thinking to be in a strange place, with nothing but strangers. For who knows how long.

I know the reason for their decisions, but it is still hard to accept.

To start or end with humor. Maybe both.

Our Mariners season tickets arrived today. Of course we don’t really know when they will play again.

We continued our midday walk, and added a pre-dinner walk as well.

We further took advantage of the good weather and our neighbor’s lack of paying work to get some yard work done. … A few hours in the sun and the hedge looks much better, and the spruce tree isn’t being overrun with branches. The strange part of this exchange is our inability to pay for the work.

Filthy lucre is not to be touched, and a check is equally suspect. I don’t have a compatible digital transfer app, so we will owe for the time being.

We are still trying to modify our own behavior further. Likely to try to take advantage of the senior shopping hours, and maybe order and pick up.

Of course, this still won’t get us hand sanitizer or lentils.

It’s probably too soon to call this our normal daily schedule, but the sunny weather provides an invitation to step away from the computer for a few minutes. We have taken these moments to stretch our legs, buy a few items from a store, and say hi from a distance to our neighbors. We even met our new next door neighbor.

Today’s purchase included Guinness. For St. Patrick’s Day celebration. And some canned black beans, more broth and some cheese. Still no lentils.

More meetings, although we’re getting more efficient. I even got to three non-Covid related items done.

There was a moment when I got distracted by a phone call Carl was on because I heard Corwin “talking”.

On the work front, Carl is learning a lot about the inner workings of water and sewer. He is subjected to daily check in calls and various other meetings over the web. I don’t have headphones and use speakerphone so I can continue to type. I even made him monitor a meeting for me while I was on a separate call.

Our new normal.

For our social activities this weekend we took walks in the sunny, but cold, city. During each walk we did a little shopping.

We got ground turkey, olive oil, lemon juice, frozen veggies, broth, etc… What we didn’t find was hand sanitizer, sanitizing wipes or lentils! I have learned to get down on my knees to look to the back of the low shelves.

We didn’t need TP. Yet.

And we did have breakfast out. Support our local little restaurant. And we had pizza delivered for Pi Day.

The weather was very brisk, but lovely.

The stores were lively, but the sidewalks were not crowded.

Tomorrow it is back to work. From my dining room. I am hoping for a more effective time than Friday, when I had some technical issues that took at least half the day to manage.

It feels like we are entering a whole new plane of existence.

Between yesterday’s post and now, I, and all of the District office types, are to telecommute. The office is closed to visitors, except for the public Board meeting. Mail and deliveries will be accepted, because we do need to continue to operate. Operations are split to two crews, to reduce the chance of everybody catching something.

There are no wipes or sprays to be found. Unless you have some special karma going, like Jane.

Schools are shuttered, universities are online, no athletics, museums are closed, concerts cancelled. We actually had a few social events this month, but only the dentist appointment remains. And the traffic is quite a bit lighter.

The freezer is filling slowly, and there are more canned goods than usual.

My biggest question now is, for how long will this new reality persist. We are in a reasonably comfortable position, as long as we stay healthy. Water and sewer service is not an option, like a daily latte. But there are many whose hours are reduced, or businesses closed. Precarious times for many.

Day 1 back, I was told to work from home. Overslept and still “got to work” by 8.

Day 2, 3 and 4 back it was/is/will be my turn to come to work. This situation really has impacted how we do business.

• Staggering personnel at work
• Many working remotely
• Staggering lunch hours
• Single person vehicles
• No customers at the front counter, use the drop box, telephone or email
• Go to Meetings, or whatever other version a person has, including our public Board meetings.
• Maintain 6 feet separation if possible
• Lots of meetings postponed
• Clean, clean, clean, washing hands and sanitizer.

And now it gets personal!

The governor has decided to limit gatherings of more than 250 people. The Mariners are not a top draw, but normally exceed 250, especially on opening day. A family holiday. For game 2 they might be able to maintain 6-foot separation between fans.

On my own personal response, I now sing, quietly out loud, while washing my hands. I have increased my personal space bubble. And I really need to stock up on more lotion, my hands are completely dried up.

Favorite hand washing tip, “Wash your hands like you just got done slicing jalepenos and you need to take your contacts out.”

I am in a location where large numbers of people congregate, I gave our hand sanitizer to Carl, I’m over 60, and I can’t stop touching my face.

And yet, she persevered.

Last shot.

I am so happy to have spent a good amount of time getting to know this little guy, during a happy phase. By the next time I see him in person, he could be crawling.

And to spend more time with Becca and Rey. They are doing an excellent job of raising a happy boy. And does he like to talk. At least mumble, grunt, gurgle, squeal, etc. That reminds me a lot of Rey as a small being. Funny I don’t have the same memory of Ashlan, but that could be the second child syndrome.

We are following Department of Health protocol at work. A trial of large scale telecommuting is under way, so I will be working from home on Monday. Including a dial in Board meeting. On a side note, we had formed a commute solutions committee already. This experiment may inform some of their suggestions.

The Board will weigh in on how far we should go. Customers have already been asked to avoid coming to the office if possible, and several meetings have been postponed. A concert we have tickets to in a few weeks has also been postponed.

Of course, there are several positions that have to physically be at work. Hard to dig a ditch or clean “flushable” NOT wipes from the sewer system. But I am more of a bureaucrat.

Flexibility will be our watchword.

And now it’s time to board the petri dish.