Life of Wry

We’re heading for a clash.

Yolo County extended its stay-at-home orders until the end of May. That’s a whole nuther month, folks. While frustrating, it gives me time to really fine tune the groove. I’m not complaining. More importantly, I’m supportive. Governor Newsom expects the entire state will be observing public-health-motivated guidelines for quite a while yet. He released, yesterday, what sounded like a well-thought out phased plan for balancing public health and economic concerns and getting the state to a safe and sane place.. as facts & science warrant.

So, that’s what the smart people are doing. Science, facts, public health priorities.

Then, there’s the other. This side is tired of this shit. This side wants its freedoms. This side says only scaredy cats wear masks and hole up indoors. This side says the other side is a buncha fascists. The powers that be on this side don’t wanna pay unemployment or incur any costs/liabilities associated with people not working, or people working and then getting sick.  This side is planning to stop publishing stats on the number of people dying. This side is going to start focusing only on the economy, now that they’ve taken care of the virus [pat selves on back]. This side is done with public health whiners (especially since their voters aren’t the ones dying). This side is ready to take its victory lap and proclaim mission accomplished. 

So…. as of two days from now, the federal guidelines will be all but lifted. The high population blue states will continue their sensible guidelines (though the freedom-loving residents in those blue states will flout them, screwing the rest of us), while the less dense (population-ly-speaking) states will move on with their lives, also screwing the rest of us.

Or not. I guess we’ll see.

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Well…   this is not the duel I started out writing about. The “Pandemic Duels” of the title refer to life in our household today … me with my projects, Jim with his.

Mine were of the domestic variety. Classically domestic. Housewife-ily classic. First up, bread baking. Quarantine has brought a third loaf of homemade bread to our kitchen. This one — as one would hope — is the best so far.

Whole wheat (half ww, half white, actually) and millet:

Tastes as good as it looks.

Following bread baking, I decided to clean the oven. I can’t take a lot of credit, since it’s a self-cleaning oven, but I did have the idea, I did stress for the 3 1/2 hours it took to do the job at some ungodly high temp, and I did wipe down the whole inside when it was all done and cooled off.  Lots of ashy remains. It’s pretty impressive. A bit scary, too, given that high heat.

Will ya look at that!

Every 14 years, whether it needs it or not.

I also baked a cake, made dinner, sat through two meetings and yadda yadda, none of it counts, because..

Jim’s project takes the prize!

While I swung in the hammock yesterday, Jim took a measurement: how high must a table be such that a person swinging in adjacent hammock can reach out to her side and move a wine glass from table top to mouth and back with nary a strained muscle.  He built the table to that spec, and crafted a good looking one, besides.

Jim wins this round. But the quarantine orders continue.. so there’s time for a comeback.