Pandemic, Week 102 (Hoodies)

 

This week, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine as the United States and other NATO nations issued sanctions against Russian and increased aid to Ukraine. Germany announced it was halting certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, without which, Russian cannot pipe gas through the Baltic Sea to Germany. President Biden nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson for the Supreme Court, making her the first African American woman to be nominated. The PBS Kids show Arthur about an aardvark in third grade has ended after 25 years. 

The world reached 435.3 million COVID cases and 6.0 million deaths this week, of which the US accounted for 80.6 million cases and 973,000 deaths. 253 million Americans (76 percent) have received at least one vaccine dose and 216 million (65 percent) are fully vaccinated. Uganda introduced a bill which would fine persons $1100 or receive a jail term of six-months if they refuse the vaccine. Hong Kong will require all of its 7 million residents to undergo COVID testing in March. Queen Elizabeth II tested positive for COVID.

 

So while the world (or at least parts of it) were literally blowing up, schools were closed for February break and the painters had moved onto our living quarters, we decided that rather than watch paint dry for a week, we would head out to Portland to visit my college friend Cecily, her family, and her cabin on Mount Hood.

We flew out on Saturday and spent the night at what the kids dubbed, "the murder house," an airbnb in a lovely neighborhood, devoid of any real furniture. Things rapidly improved when we met up with Cecily and her crew for brunch the next day, took in a few local sights, and then headed to the mountain and the Tamarack Lodge. Cecily and her boys stayed the first night, which resulted in an epic round of Cards Against Humanity - Family Edition, followed by a day of sledding, snow shoeing, more Minecraft than advisable, and lunch before they headed back to the city for school and work, and we settled in for another 18 inches of snow. 

The next morning we headed to a chilly (read negative six degrees) Mount Hood Meadows for a full day (2/22/22) of powder (and more than a few developing moguls) on the slopes. Wednesday was more of the same – with some family skiing followed by the boys going off to tackle the upper parts of Heather Canyon while Nora and I went mogul hunting. We ended up calling the day a little short so that the kids could work on some homework, and the adults could rest their aching muscles. Thursday we opted to sleep in and only do a half day of skiing – which was a good choice given it was snowing on the mountain and visibility was less than ideal. The boys decided to ski all of Heather's Canyon, which was essentially skiing into the void in the upper parts (good thing they were already familiar with it) and felt pretty good about themselves afterwards. The visually challenged pair of Nora and I (the former couldn't wear their glasses with goggles and the latter chose not to), made our way slowly down a series of blues and blacks, stopping at each sign to verify where we were going, before eventually meeting back up with the boys for a final family run (that of course involved moguls). 

On Friday, the Williams joined us for a full day at Timberline which included multiple runs down the magical mile, a snowcat up to Palmer Glacier (and several snowball fights during the thirty minute wait), followed by a run down the longest vertical terrain in the United States (albeit with a break midway for lunch at the lodge – kids!). Afterwards we headed back to the cabin for dinner followed by a candlelit path to a massive bonfire and a few rounds of Sushi Go Party! (Nora won) before crashing for the night.

The next morning we packed up the cabin, stopped in Hood River for lunch, and then hung at the Williams's to do dinner, laundry, Breath of the Wild, and pat the bunny before heading to a far less murder house airbnb for the night and then flying home... to our substantially more, though not completely, painted home.

 

(To see all of our Mt. Hood pictures, click here.)

Pandemic, Week 101 (Loverly)

This week, tensions escalated on the Ukrainian-Russo border after Vladimir Putin oversaw major military exercises of Russia's nuclear forces and shelling began in eastern Ukraine. A U.S. District Judge denied Donald Trump's petitions to dismiss civil suits regarding his role in the January 6th Insurgency. NASA and NOAA released a report which found sea levels on the coasts will rise, on average, 10-12 inches by 2050. The Diocese of Phoenix has declared thousands of baptisms (and any subsequent rites) "invalid" due to a priest mistakenly using "we" instead of "I" when actually baptizing individuals for years (the priest has subsequently resigned). The Women's Olympic ice-skating final, which has been embroiled in controversy over allowing a 15-year old Russian skater who tested positive for banned substances to compete, was held with the disputed skater finishing fourth and calls to revisit both the eligibility and scoring rules. The Los Angeles Rams won the Superbowl.

The world reached 423.2 million COVID cases and 5.9 million deaths this week, of which the US accounted for 80.0 million cases and 959,000 deaths. 253 million Americans (76 percent) have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 215 million (65 percent ) are fully vaccinated. Disneyland and Tysons announced that they are loosening mask requirements as has DC.

This week we briefly celebrated the Superbowl at Katherine and Lee's (which means we were there long enough to eat and submit our Superbowl quizzes, but not long enough for Allen to collect his winnings), before heading home to finish packing up the house for the painters and ourselves for our stay at an Airbnb. Valentine's day was spent eating leftover hamburgers in the new flat while we watched Olympic curling. That's pretty much how the week went: the kids would sleep in a bit (both of their commutes were 10 minutes shorter from our temporary digs), Allen would turn on Olympic curling as we all left (the kids to school and myself to Steve & Megan's as a proxy home-office) and it would still be on when we returned. In between, he would pop-in to see how the house was shaping up.

On Wednesday, Allen, who had been lamenting the aging process and the degrading of his eyesight from 20-10 to 20-20, got glasses! Thursday, John (who'd been staying at Katherine's to avoid the painters) headed to Dallas for a planned visit with Jacqui. And on Friday, we moved back in among the drop-cloths for one night before heading to Portland for a week of skiing (assuming the 20 inches of expected snow don't prevent us from making it to the mountain). It will be interesting to see what the place looks like when we return...

(To see all of this week's pictures, click here.)

Pandemic, Week 100 (Plungers)

This week, President Biden called Vladimir Putin to argue for diplomatic solutions to remove Russia's 100,000 troops on the Russian-Ukrainian border and warned of severe consequences should Russia invade. The National Archives requested that the Justice Department investigate Donald Trump's handling of Presidential records after 15 boxes of materials were discovered at Trump's Florida residence (including "love letters" from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un) while other official records had been torn-up. A Louisiana District Court issued a temporary injunction preventing the EPA from using the "social cost of greenhouse gasses" when calculating the cost of emissions and instead using Trump-era metrics. The Consumer Price Index indicated prices have risen 7.5 percent this past year, the highest rates since 1982. Marjorie Taylor Green claimed that Speaker Nancy Pelosi was spying on members of Congress with the aid of the "gazpacho" police.

The world reached 410.8 million COVID cases and 5.8 million deaths this week, of which the US accounted for 79.3 million cases and 943,000 deaths. 252 million Americans (76 percent) have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 214 million (64 percent) are fully vaccinated. California, New York and Oregon all announced lifting of mask mandates. Truckers continue to block the Ambassador Bridge in Canada to protest vaccine requirements. Deer in New York City were found to be infected with Omicron.

It was a weird week for us. John returned home from convalescing at Katherine's, but then returned to Katherine's prior to visiting Jacqui, taking Ducky with them. Ducky's departure (as well as John's) were related to our plan to have the entire interior of the house painted over the course of 2.5 weeks, which meant we had to spend much of this week boxing up stuff and removing things from walls. Nora's school was one of several DC schools that received bomb threats this week and had to be briefly evacuated (Owen claimed he heard Duke had one too but instead of evacuating, they just had two "buff" guys for security – we're not sure any of those details are correct). We had Billy over for dinner and to admire Owen's gaming abilities (and shame our frames per second).

But the big activity this week was Allen and Nora's participation in the Chesapeake Climate Action Network's annual Polar Bear Plunge. Allen participated in last year's virtual ice bucket option with the Quaking Quakers, and Nora so enjoyed dumping cold water on their father, that they lobbied to participate in-person.

Initially, it wasn't clear how polar the plunge would be as temperatures were a balmy 60 degrees when we arrived at the National Harbor Saturday morning. But by the time all the speakers had spoken (including giving a shout-out to the top fundraising team, the Quaking Quakers of Washington), the party paraded to the beach and the plungers disrobed, the wind had picked up and there was a definite chill in the air. Allen and Nora plunged into the Potomac with the first wave of polar bears, splashed around in the 40 degree water, and then ran to the shore (which caused Nora to fall and submerge a bit more than intended). After drying off and changing clothes (including Nora appropriating my shoes because in a rookie mistake, we neglected to bring backup footwear for the plungers to change into), we headed home for warm showers (because while the Potomac's water quality has improved, you probably still want to rinse off after a dip in it) and then headed to Union Market for a celebratory lunch for their efforts which raised over $1,300 to help pass climate policies which, as Nora said, "In hindsight was fun."

To contribute to Allen and Nora's fundraising page and help #KeepWinterCold, click here.

(To see all of this week's pictures, click here.)

Pandemic, Week 99 (99 Problems but Allen's Birthday Ain't One)

This week the U.S. conducted a raid in Syria that killed the leader of ISIS. Recovered documents indicate that Donald Trump wanted Homeland Security to seize voting machines six weeks after he lost the 2020 election while telling attendees at a rally that if reelected he would pardon those prosecuted for the January 6th Insurrection. The EPA plans to reassert its authority to restrict mercury emissions from coal-burning power plants. The Washington football team announced its new name, the Commanders. The New York Times purchased the free on-line word game Wordle. Quarterback Tom Brady announced his retirement from the NFL at age 44. Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow on Groundhog Day, suggesting six more weeks of winter.

The world reached 394.1 million COVID cases and 5.8 million deaths this week, of which the US accounted for 78.0 million cases and 926,000 deaths. 251 million Americans (76 percent) have received at least one vaccine dose and 213 million (64 percent) are fully vaccinated. While there are signs the pressure from Omicron is starting to ease, COVID related labor shortages resulted in New Mexico bringing in the National Guard to work as substitute teachers.

Our work on John's bedroom continued this week, with even Mom Mom helping out. But while John's bedroom was looking better, John himself was feeling a bit rough, having aggravated his back from a fall a few weeks earlier. Even with a new mattress – which doesn't have a hump in the middle – John was having trouble sleeping and was in a fair amount of pain, so he headed up to Katherine's to see an orthopedist and start some PT while the rest of us finished his room. We're hoping to trade-in Duck for John's return later this week.

The rest of the week was spent celebrating Allen's birthday. After last year's socially distant celebrations, it was nice to be able to meet up with Brad & Marlo for a drink before having a lovely meal at Del Mar on the actual day. Then on Saturday, we all gathered at Mom Mom & Grandpa Don's for Don & Nora's escargot (well, maybe not everyone gathered for those) and some amazing brined/smoked/grilled tomahawk pork chops courtesy of Katherine & Lee. After presents and a few too many glasses of wine, we headed back to Katherine's to enjoy the Olympics, and maybe a few more drinks.

(To see all of this week's pictures, click here.)