Covid-vival Part II

Resting on a tree

So I get antsy during this phase of self-isolation and ride my bike to the Las Cruces Farmer's Market on the downtown plaza every Saturday morning.  I ride it to get empanadas and fresh veggies.  It's a nice ride mostly on the gravel maintenance trails bordering the irrigation ditches.  It's so peaceful to not have to think about traffic---crosses 5 or 6 roads then the last 3/4 of a mile is on streets in the downtown area that are usually pretty empty.  Thanks to all who abide by the shelter in place restrictions for making it so.

Art

This mural is on a wall by Lion's Park by the railroad tracks just off US Hwy 70, known as West Picacho Avenue in Las Cruces.  The park itself, with tennis courts and a pool, is closed due to the pandemoic restrictions but the mural is accessible from the trail.

Lady

This mural is from the Visitor Bureau in downtown Las Cruces, about 3 blocks from the central plaza that houses the Market. 

My Buddy

And this Blue Heeler always greets me when I ride by his house on the ditch. Just one of the many dogs, pretty much all fenced in their yards, that can be visited on the ride....

         

Onions

The onion fields to the east of the Mud Shack are about ready to harvest.  It's so tempting to pluck a couple whenever I ride through these fields.  In contrast, the fields to the west are just getting going:

Baby Onions

We do co-operate with many of the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, however.  None of the markets around here will deliver wine or beer but many items, if you can find them in stock, can be delivered for a nominal charge and a tip for the driver.  We've had groceries from both Sam's Club and Sprout's delivered via Instacart.  And yesterday had our first experience with restaurant delivery via DoorDash.  Both services worked well and the delivery times weren't outrageous---a couple of hours max as opposed to pick up scheduling two days out at Sam's!!!  Not meaning this as a commercial; more like expressing surprise it works so well, so far at least.

And finally, a shot of the Mud Shack from the onion fields to the east surrounded by blooming pecan trees:

Stay safe, enjoy your isolation---Trying to figure out what I'll be watching this week what with Homeland, Better Call Saul, Little Fires Everywhere, and Marvelous Mrs. Maisel all having concluded their seasons (and absolutely finito for Carrie).  At least a few favorites like Billions and Succession should return in May.

And I Saw That----DON'T TOUCH YOUR FACE!!!!!

Covid-vival

So how y'all doin' with this covid thing.  Staying home?  Washing your hands?  Hoarding TP and Purell?  Not touching your face?  All of the above?  None of the above?  Are you ingesting Lysol like our fearless leader suggested?  Of course, now he claims he was being sarcastic to see how the media would respond.  Between his comments and tweets and the ridiculous bombasticism from the Senate Majority Turtle, it's a wonder this country will survive until November......
I have to confess I have a hard time staying home.  My stepson Ben has been doing some shopping for us and his aunt.  We've used Instacart to get items from Sam's Club and Sprout's.  I ride my bicycle to the Las Cruces Farmer's Market every Saturday morning to get my favorite empanadas and any miscellaneous veggies we need.
We've only had one Corona death so far here in Dona Ana County, 88 cases as of last night.  There's talk of limited openings mid-May.  No testing upticks though so I guess we'll see.
Agriculture is still going strong:

Lettuce in a field

And it's pretty easy to maintain social distancing on a bike, riding solo on the ditches. It is a little weird picking up a prescription at the veteranarian though.  You call it in the day before, drive to the animal hospital, call them fom your car and they verify that it's there, take your payment info, then bring it out to your car.  Guess that's safest for everyone.

Fortunately, Nellie's Cafe is doing curb side delivery for call-in orders.  So I get to see the Friday regulars and Danny the owner and Josie, his sister and the waitress, every week.  Neither sun, heat, wind, rain, nor Covid-19 can keep me from my Friday breakfast:

huevos rancheros with red and green chile meat, rice, and beans

Gotta admit it tastes a lot better than Tide pods, Lysol, or bleach.  And it won't kill or maim you, either.  Maybe that's an avenue for research by virologists.  Everything's better with green chile---maybe it would beat the virus too!!!  Be better for you than Cheeto's suggestions.......#liberate AmerikafromCheetoandtheTurtle.  Stay safe, stay apart, and eat your chile!!

A Thought Exercise

So Wednesday the wife gets a call from one of the Friday regulars at Nellie's Cafe---"Don't forget Friday is Good Friday and Nellie's will be closed.  Didn't want you and Bill to miss your weekly chile."  No problem---I'll just call in our order Thursday and go pick it up.  Which I did.  But I should have guessed there were changes there when, after I gave my order, Josie asked "And how do you want your eggs?"  Obviously she didn't realize to whom she was speaking.  In person, I don't ever have to tell her what I want.  When I got there, Nellie's was locked up tight, no lights on but big signs in the windows proclaiming them to be OPEN.  I called, Josie answered and said she'd be right out.  I guess thanks to the newest lockdown proclamations they had to close the front door where in the past they had a table set up to collect monies and hand out orders.  Now Josie comes out the back dooor, gets the payment, goes back in and then delivers the order.  When she came out and saw me, she said "It's not Friday!!"  I shot back "So that's why you asked how I wanted my eggs!!"  And we maintained our social distancing while we laughed......So that's my covid-tribution for today.

Now that Bernie is out of the Democratic race, all the news outlets are calling Biden the nominee and there's a focus on the number two slot.  I guess the most prominent suggestions are female senators like Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, and Amy Klobuchar or Governors Gretchen Whitmer of MI and our own Michelle Lujan Grisham of NM.
How about thinking in a different way about this.  Why pick a democratic senator for the post?  Isn't it just as important, if not more important, to get control of the Senate, especially if the incumbent is re-elected?  Now if Kamala or Amy were to be VP, their seats might not flip since both CA and MN have democratic governors who'd likely appoint a Democrat to fill the seat.  Not the case in MA with Warren and a Republican governor.  And in the middle of a pandemic, do we really want to lose effective governors?  Now Stacie Abrams is high  on a lot of lists but does she have the experience to be a heartbeat away from the Oval Office?
Bear with me on this and I'd love to hear your thoughts---personally this option nauseates me but--- how about Vice-President Hillary Rodham Clinton?  Don't know how having two old white establishment figures at the head of the party would play in the general election but HRC does have the chops to be VP---former First Lady and Secretary of State.  Don't really see Pence doing very well on the VP debate stage against her.  And leaving the female Senators in place with the possible additions of Mark Kelly in AZ and Steve Bullock in MT would help with wresting control of the Senate from the GOP.  And Amy McGrath is within the margin of error in her contest with McConnell in TN----wouldn't it be great to retire the Turtle!
As I said, this would not be my first option but isn't thinking about this a great way to give your poor overburdened overstressed mind a breask from corona virus coverage?

A Covid Covered Saturday

So I got up around 0630, proceeded to dress and round up protective gear for a trip into the pandemic world  to obtain groceries and other necessities.
First, the PPE.  I've been retired almost ten years now.  One perk from my job was samples of things we sold like masks and gloves and noise abatement headgear.  So when Corona struck, we got the gloves and masks out of the garage storage and moved them into the house.  I'm sure all this stuff was past their "pull date" but for personal use??  Why not.  Made sure I had a bandana to cover the mask which was clearly marked "N-95", you know, the good masks in such short supply for medical professionals....
Small bottle of Purell sanitizer in my pocket, off I went to Walmart, Sprout's, and the Las Cruces Farmer's Market.
Got to Walmart about 20 minutes after it opened.  There were a ton of parking places in the rows near the entry doors which was surprising.  Quickly learned why all the cars were near the west driveway----that's where the entry line was set up.  Laughing and joking, I entered next to another guy who had parked next to me, halfway across the lot.  The store wasn't crowded.  Elbow bumped someone I knew, proceeded to the "necessities" aisles----Rogue Dead Guy Ale, wine.  Next were chips and popcorn; ground turkey for dog food; laundry detergent.  People wearing PPE were about 50% of those I encountered.  One elderly couple used one hand to hold handkerchiefs over their nose/mouth, leaving one hand to pick items and/or steer the cart.  Don't know why they always seemed to be in the same area as me---it considerably slowed me down.  I must say the store was very clean and there were employees apparently tasked with one job---wiping the carts down with sanitizer.  The woman in charge told me they wiped down every cart every 5 minutes!!!
Sprout's was even less crowded than Wally World.  I grabbed hamburger buns, cheese, ground beef and left.  The checker wasn't very friendly when I commented on the pinpad not liking my card.  And she was flat rude to the woman following me who apparently hadn't been paying attention to Covid guidelines as she attempted to unload the half dozen cloth grocery bags onto the counter---"You can't put those here!!" sputtered la checkerina bit*hy......
About cards--my bank hasn't gone all in on "chipped" debit cards yet.  I'm sure when my card expires the replacement will be chipped but for now I still have to slide it.  Well, since I use my debit card for about everything, it's a little worn.  I'm learning which checkouts at which stores need me to slide the card "up" so I don't get a "Card Read Error."  Checkers used to put a plastic bag over the card and swipe it but I've been told that damages the newer pin pads.
The Farmer's Market had about seven vendors: four baked goods, two veggie, one for local honey.  My favorite empanada baker wasn't there again. Sigh.  Which is why I got several cheeses at Sprout's for snacking.....
So I followed social distancing guidelines.  Used the mask and gloves although one of the nitrile gloves split when I put it on so it was pretty useless.  More customers at Sprout's and the Market had on PPE than at Walmart.  And the people I interacted with seemed pretty cheery and upbeat.  The woman at the Market showed me the hand-made masks her daughter was making to send to various charities tht provide them to nursing homes and hospice facilities.  She had a box full, readty to ship Fed-Ex.  Maybe if other places around the world approach this pandemic the way people have here in Las Cruces-- maintaining social distancing, using PPE, and keeping a sense of humor and camraderie--  Corona-SARS-2, aka Covid-19, won't be the catastrophe it might be, despite the mixed messages from our leaders (or lack thereof).
And the kicker to the morning was that after I got home at 0915, I went to the Sam's Club website.  I had a cart set up with items like dog food and vinegar but the pick up window was beyond 2 days.  Since my sister-in-law had given us a gift card that included a free Instacart delivery, I transferred my cart to that site and, lo and behold, the 7 items were delivered to my gate at 1015!!!!!

No Joke

     Happy April Fool's Day.  I see Google has opted to not make a jokey Google Doodle in this time of panic over the pandemic.  I can appreciate the decision, given the assault on the media giants by the government but if there's ever been a time the populace could use a laugh, it's probably now.....
     Follow up on my last post: The husband/wife team that makes those wonderful empanadas was not at the market last Saturdy.  I sure hope it's a temporary glitch in their supply chain.  Their empanadas are soooooo  goooood 😋😋

     So of course I continued my social distancing with  bike riding on the ditches.  The shot below is as close as you'll get to a selfie.  Just me and the bike in shadow with a photo-bombing thumb:
   

     Now people have been working on this field for several months.  I figured it was going to be a new housing development. Never been so happy to be wrong!!  That's a new concrete irrigation ditch and all those white markers are baby pecan trees----a whole huuuuuge orchard!!!  (And the shadow selfie photo-bombed it too)

     I continued down the ditches and levee road until it intersected with the paved loop trail around Las Cruces and Mesilla.  The bike insisted on a portrait by the information marker:

   

     I know there are roadrunners in the area.  Usually they are too quick and scoot away by the time you stop, get the phone,  and try to capture their image.  But this morning I got lucky!!  This guy stood right there on the wall so I could take his portrait:

     

     And further along, bike and I came to a fallow field.  We've all heard about the lilies of the field and amber waves of grain but I got a pic of some egrets outstanding in their field......

     And of course, it's impossible to ride in this area without the mountain views:

Picacho Peak

The Dona Anas

The Robledos, home to the Dinosaur Trackways Monument

     So that's how one person is coping with Covid.  I hope all of you are paying attention (as if you can escape the news coverage!) to the reasonable demands being made on we citizens in an attempt to flatten the curve.  If we focus on the alarmist views, 2 million deaths, an economic depression, we'll all be wishing for those end days.  Don't know how the rapture proceeds with social distancing and not sure I want to find out, either.  So wash your hands, keep your distance, go ahead and have that 3rd glass of red..............Oh, and should you need more information, I'd recommend the Axios site.  And for how to avoid the virus from the CDC , also what to do if you get it-- this link includes a self-screening tool.  Be safe!!!!