The COVID Chronicle, April 1-15, 2021

 

April 1 [Thursday]

[Wife Klem] awakened me just past midnight. She’d been online looking up vaccine appointments because they became available for our age group just today. I was groggy with a scrunched forehead and eyeballs squinting with sleep. I’d come to understand an appointment at the local pharmacy was being offered on Friday or Saturday. I selected Saturday morning. She’s getting vaccinated at the Los Angeles Fairplex today, the Pomona Fairgrounds. I love this woman. Then boom, I was back asleep with no hassle.

 

Lunch with a pal from college today! We dined in Orange County, the focal point of anti-masking. But we both wore masks and dined outdoors on the patio. The place was not crowded, indoors or out. We chose outside including an umbrella to protect the pair of balding skulls. His wife got the Johnson & Johnson single-poke vaccination. He has not gotten it and is leaning toward no vaccination reasoning that he’s healthy and stays in shape. He is a youthful 52. A delightful afternoon.

 

[Wife Klem]’s done it! She’s the first of us to get vaccinated. She can dunk on us for a few days rubbing it in, but she graciously enjoys pole position without the pomposity. For me, though, after I get my poke, maybe I’ll lord it over the kids for a few days until they qualify.

 

April 2 [Friday]

I spoke with a friend of mine from college, a different pal than from yesterday. We hadn’t spoken in years. He’s 52, living the life of a bachelor. He’s been living solitary for a year. His uncle died of Covid early in 2020 inducing diligence with masks and social distancing. The poor rascal hasn’t dated in over a year! Much respect to those living in solitary confinement.

 

April 3 [Saturday]

I got my vaccination today, first of two. Pfizer. In [Wife Klem]’s prior conversation with the pharmacist she was told ‘bring someone else and they get it, too. Just make them an appointment.’ With those instructions [my daughter] joined me and we both got poked today. I was very brave and didn’t even whine, or at least not very loudly, but so we’re both lined up to be complete by the end of April. [The boy] did not do it. He didn’t want to feel he was breaking the rules opting to wait for his April 15^th eligibility.

            A few hours later [the boy] was riddled with a guilt trip and consented to his first of two shots. He was the 102^ndvaccination of the day by the pharmacy. But get a load, 56 additional appointments had been made for the day with no-show.

[Note: Other than a sore shoulder at immediate point of contact, no side effects.]

 

April 4 [Easter Sunday]

Happy Easter Sunday! We go to the Safehouse for lunch to see my parents and [my brother]’s family. Food was ordered from a local bakery, it was shipped frozen, and consumed today defrosted and delicious. Each of our three family pods had their own separate food bin from which to trough, thwarting the cross-pollination possibility. We masked when not eating and distanced. Fun time and a super day. I don’t know if my mom’s just blowing happy gas, but her attitude toward vaccinations has taken a turn for the positive. We spent some time seeking appointments at the local Ralphs and CVS pharmacy. No availability listed.

 

April 5 [Monday]

You know, with the wide expansion of vaccinations, in the coming months I’ll need to take a more diligent approach to showers. Soon my B.O. will no longer have the safe buffer of social distancing from which to hide my dereliction of duties.

 

April 7 [Wednesday]

I brought the car in for service. Doesn’t need it based on mileage, but needs it because the oil has been sitting in there for nine months. In meeting with the service technician I enjoyed that there was not pretense of a handshake, as would likely have been pre-Covid. I’ll do my part in continuing the disbanding of the handshake post-Covid.

[Note: the technician explained that conventional oil should be changed every six months, synthetic is OK for one year.]

 

April 10 [Saturday]

[Wife Klem] ordered pizza pies for dinner pickup. People were dining in! It had been a long time since I’d been here and observed seated diners. More tables were occupied than vacant. I’m still not amongst them. After so many months with empty insides, this partial occupancy struck me as crowded. I gather my pies for our Saturday night supper and depart.

 

April 11 [Sunday]

Cal State Fullerton gets back to live instruction in the fall. On campus living, however, while it is opening back up, will accept only half or less capacity to continue with the distancing. [The boy] applied for on campus living. We’ll see if that is obtained or if he ends up driving every day from home. Hoping he beats the odds and lives on campus. Is only 20 miles, but that stretch of freeway is a mess.

 

April 12 [Monday]

[My daughter] returns to live-action high school today! Twice weekly with live tutelage for those who choose, it is voluntary, with virtual school the remaining three days. Students also have the option to remain entirely virtual. This morning was a throw back to the old days, pre-Covid. Getting up extra early, an escalated breakfast, arrange for drop-off and afternoon pick-up between [Wife Klem] and me. It was exciting, felt like the first day of school.

[Note: Most students chose to remain virtual. The largest live class had nine students.]

 

April 13 [Tuesday]

Mom got vaccinated! Dad drove her to the local Rite Aid and she got the Moderna vaccine.  She’d been sweating us out for almost a year about how she didn’t want the vaccine. Then nonchalant compliance. This is a big relief. [Wife Klem] and I had been teasing each other that she’d go by herself, claim to have been vaccinated, but really not. But not so, dad witnessed!

 

 

Dinner By Fire

 

‘Monday Night Football! Damn, this is a fine American invention,’ thought the young bachelor. Kick off was in 15 minutes and he’d be watching, regardless of who was playing, but tonight in style. His favorite meal brewed up by his own nascent culinary skills. Homemade fried chicken.

 

Music blared loudly from the other room, part of his pre-game ritual. Prepare dinner to the ambience of some fine tunes, set the coffee table in front of the TV. If the meal preparation edged too close to game time, he wanted the dining area ready in case he had to hustle in last minute.

 

He was of drinking age and basked in feeling adultish. Tonight that basking took the form of a beer while cooking. And that was all fine, but with meal prep encroaching toward kickoff he turned up the flame on the burner, that’s when things went askew. The chicken was frying well, two tasty seasoned and breaded breasts in the pan. The oil level was high, but not too high for the modest burner that had previously been in play. But turning it up higher was a gutsy move. It was, in fact, the wrong move. The bump up for the gas burner gave the flames just enough gusto to come up over the brim of the pan.

 

“Oh shit,” he said surprisingly calmly given the circumstances. “Better bump that back down,” as he finished his beer and placed the empty on the kitchen counter, but too late. That five-second delay to put down the bottle and step over to the stove from the kitchen sink would yield tragic results. Flames from the burner sluiced up over the pan’s brim and set his delicious meal entirely ablaze!

 

To properly fry chicken it must be done in a two fingers-deep pool of fuel, boiling oil. This also equates to a generous fire fuel load for a kitchen fire. Flames were instantly as tall as the ceiling.

 

He turned off the burner and grabbed the handle of the pan. The guy felt momentarily like a caveman thinking, ‘I’ve made fire, what the hell do I do with it now?’ He had essentially trapped himself. He couldn’t simply put it down as the fire would easily spread. He also couldn’t just continue holding it because the flame was brushing as high as the ceiling. The smoke detector was blaring by now adding to the chaos. The immediate concern, though, was the boiling oil that was popping out of the pan in every direction, including his arms and chest.

 

He was a smart guy. He knew water would extinguish most fires but not a grease fire. Water and oil do not mix. Meanwhile, the fire was hot and far too close for comfort. Hell, that fire was at exactly arm’s distance. He was no coward, no way was he giving up his meal just because of the fire. But he was yelling at the top of his lungs.

 

“Oh, shit! Oh, shit! Fire!”

 

He turned his head sideways away from the fire because it was sending scalding salvos of flesh-scarring burning oil in all directions. His arms and chest were taking a terrible beating from the spattering oil.

 

Cannot dump this fireball into the sink. The pan’s lid! He moved to the right to retrieve it and practically dropped it on the pan. Fire, thankfully, extinguished.

 

Red marks riddled his bare arms from the boiling oil. His t-shirt was seared through in several spots that had been hit with burning oil. He would later find his chest to be amply scarred from this episode.

 

Feeling beaten, but he would not relinquish himself to defeat. He got a chair, moved it to the smoke detector, removed it and pulled out the battery. He turned the music off and TV’s volume up. Just in time for Monday Night Football.

 

The national anthem concluded, the crowd’s applause robustly underway. Kickoff was near. He fixed his plate with well-done chicken breasts, loaded up the complimentary side dishes, grabbed a few napkins because he was no heathen, also to dab at his flesh wounds, he joined the game.

 

 

[Inspired by a true tale heard in 1990 about a fried chicken dinner that escalated into a fireball. wdk]

 

The COVID Chronicle, March 16-31, 2021

 

March 19 [Friday]

California Governor Newsom expanded vaccination eligibility plans. [Wife Klem] and I will be eligible vaccine recipients effective April 1. Youngsters aged 16 and older ascend to eligibility as of April 15. The next challenge will be to secure a vaccination appointment once those openings go live with an increased subset of citizens vying for them. We’re getting closer.

 

March 20 [Saturday]

We had a Safehouse visit today, just the four of us from Team San Dimas. [My brother and his family] are absent because they’re in Pacific Grove winding down their recent trip. Masks and social distancing remain in effect. Uncle Joe and dad have vaccination appointments for Monday! Mom remains a hold out. This conundrum brews.

 

March 22 [Monday]

Dad and Uncle Joe got vaccinated! This is vaccine poke number one of two. Uncle Joe gets credit as the catalyst. Meanwhile, [Wife Klem’s people] have had both doses for over a week! Strong marks for good behavior.

 

March 25 [Thursday]

[Wife Klem] checked the ‘My Turn’ app for our vaccine eligibility. She and I are confirmed eligible as of April 1, both piglets trailing in at April 15. We’ll see how soon we can get our appointments, but this is neat news. I wonder if this’ll change anything about how we exist and interact with people outside our ‘pods’.

 

March 26 [Friday]

Sushi for Lenten Friday from the restaurant right down the street from us. [Wife Klem] called it in, I retrieved it. Restaurants have opened up for reduced indoor dining, 25% capacity, and surprise, people are actually doing it! We haven’t dined in a restaurant since pre-Covid and have no desire to reengage. As I stand in the lobby awaiting our order, people show up for indoor dining and are seated. I totally understand wanting to support local business. Heck, we want this too, but the actual dining in remains a ‘no thanks’ for us. We’re just not amongst those wanting to eat indoors. Not mocking, just documenting the Covid progression, or regression pending one’s perspective.

 

March 27 [Saturday]

Our second, and hopefully last ever, Covid-Spring Break. The Whitewater Preserve hiking trail in Palm Springs is our opening stay-at-home vacation salvo. Trail courtesy entails masking up when encountering others and distancing when possible. Trail was relatively lightly populated today. If it wasn’t for this and related family field forays the kids would be happily engaging their plastic pals and staying indoors. Big ups to [Wife Klem] for her initiative and sharing her desire to enjoy the outdoors. 

 

March 29 [Monday]

Spring Break continues with a day trip to beachside San Clemente. A lovely oceanside walkculminating on a pier with a seal 50-feet below in the ocean looking up at us awaiting treats that are not tossed forth. A fun, very nice day. Plus I had a hot chocolate.

 

March 30 [Tuesday] 

[The boy] got his wisdom teeth pulled! My chum’s mood turns glum as the medication wears off and his immediate future for the next few days takes a disgruntling shape of restricted movement, ice packs, limited food choices and gauze in the mouth to stanch bleeding. No Covid angle. Just a bent college-age monkey.

 

March 31 [Wednesday]

After the screed the other day about not wanting to dine at a restaurant, we do it today. Outdoors in a tent, but unforeseen as recent as yesterday. We accommodate [my daughter] and her boyfriend’s lunch date. [Wife Klem] and I dine at a neighboring table. In the coming months she won’t need us to drive her anymore. Plus with the vaccine on the approach the social distancing angle may possibly recede soon.