The Food Truck-- An Adventure During Stay Home Orders!

The Food Truck parked at the door going into
The Wattenberg Center

During these times of staying home and not being able to see or visit friends and acquaintances has been hard on me as I love socializing!  One of the things I used to like doing was my monthly visit to the Food Truck.  To begin my story we need a little background.  Once a month on the second Tuesday, the Food Bank of the Rockies comes to Walden.  It is a semi-load of food for people who need groceries for their families, senior citizens, volunteers who help distribute the food and, in Walden, about anyone else since they need to leave with an empty truck.  I have been going for the past two years and it is quite entertaining for me.  I don't get out much any more and it is fun to be able to visit with people I may or may not know while we wait for the food to be set out and ready for us to gather up.  I hear all the latest gossip and see old friends and former students that I hardly recognize any more.  I kind of wish we could wear name tags because it is sometimes embarrassing 

to ask who they are when I know I should recognize them. I have exchanged recipes for some of the more exotic foods or ones we hardly see in our community, such as beets, some kind of vegan sausage patties, dried yellow split peas (I think they are what is called dahl in India), fresh hoseradish (we didn't get this but a lady told me how to prepare it when I would dig it up since we had some on our ditch banks).  Also since many of us are only feeding 1 person we get more food than we can use.  In my case, I only have a very small freezer, so we give each other tips on how to preserve or use the foods.  Right now I have a gallon of Raspberry vinegarette I need to do something with!  HA!  The reason we have so much time together is that many times the truck is late getting up here due to bad weather or truck breakdowns and we have to wait until it can be unloaded by the drivers and set up in the big room for us to file in and gather up our food.  

Cars lined up in front of me waiting to pick up groceries

Here is the procedure.  When we arrive we go into the kind of lobby of the Wattenberg Center.  The truck is backed up to that same door and the driver and their helper bring the cases, bags and bottles of food off the truck and pass through all of us into the big room.  It has been set up with tables around its perimeter.  The food is set out on the tables by volunteers who have the boxes behind them so they can keep replenishing the tables. Meanwhile out in our little room there are chairs set around the room with a path through the middle for the carts loaded with cases of food to pass through.  We like to speculate on what is really in those cartons and cases.  We sit in order of first come first served and the chairs fill up pretty fast so people then stand in a line that kind of snakes back and forth trying to stay out of the way of  the unloading process.  When it is warm outside the line goes outside. When everything is set up we are allowed to start going into the big room.  We must first sign in and sometimes fill out some forms which slows down the whole process.  Due to privacy we can't get too close to those who are signing in.  Finally we can start around the room cafeteria style filling up the bags and boxes we have all brought with us (well, we are supposed to, but most of the time I have used the empty boxes they brought the food in.  This hasn't worked too well the last few months since someone is breaking those boxes down as soon as they are empty, so there aren't any by the time I get there.  I now use my insulated big grocery bags.) At the end of the line are more volunteers waiting to help us carry our food to our cars.  Sometimes they are teenagers and younger kids who are home schooled as well as adult volunteers.  It is really wonderful that we have such great people in the community that volunteer their time for this.

Cars lined up behind me waiting for food.
The people ouside are filling in our
 paperwork from 6 feet away

Some of the foods I got today.  That's
frozen eggs in the blue carton

This was a weird one this month. 
It's vegan sausage, I think.
It looks like cookies and it is frozen.

So you may wonder what sorts of food comes up to Walden. There are always dried foods such as pasta, dried beans, and rice (although not so today), milk of all sorts, like today it was whole milk and Almond Silk, but many times it is 2% and even that kind that you can keep on the shelf until you open it.  There is quite often breakfast cereal in boxes, alway some kind of canned foods, usually canned fruit and sauces like pasta sauce, and tomato sauce.  There are frozen meats, whole chickens, fish sticks, pork roasts(one of my favorites), weird non meat patties, chicken tenders, drumsticks, and shredded cheese at different times.  Also frozen vegetables and fruits.  There are always fresh things too.  Lots of times whatever is in season is available in large quantities to freeze or can.  Almost always there are potatos, sometimes as much as 25 or 50 lb bags!  A few times there have been lots of bananas. They almost always have some kinds of drinks like juices, pop, fizzy water or just plain drinking water.  Several times they have had cases of individual yogurts which I love because they last a long time and I eat yogurt every morning for breakfast.  Boxed mac and cheese is popular too.  At the end of the line are all kinds of breads, rolls, and pasteries.  We usually get a choice of 2 or 3 of these items.  Their due dates are pretty current but they do freeze, if you have the space.  Then there are the treats! Almost always there are some surprises  One time I got a tube of  Hello Kitty toothpaste.  Another time it was a CASE of dark chocolate butterfingers! We have recently gotten candy canes, 2 boxes of 12 each.  Another time it was 2 boxes of Russell Stover chocolates and another time it was like 2, 2lb. bags of pistashio nuts.  Last month I got a 1lb. bag of shelled walnuts. 2 or 3 months ago we got maybe 10 lbs. of fresh (storage) beets.  The kind you have to boil and skin.  I made pickled beets and eggs.  A summer specialty of mine.  The eggs were also from the truck.  We got 3 dozen, a dozen each from 3 different farms plus a quart of frozen eggs!  Margarine and "plant butter" (I'm thinking it also is margarine) are also frequent items. Ok enough, you get the picture, we really are lucky to recieve these foods!

The staging area with volunteers and loaded boxes

I was really concerned about whether there would be a food truck this month since we have been hearing about the food shortages and the long lines at the Food bank of the Rockies in Denver.  With so many people out of work I can see that it is a huge problem all over.  Well, not to worry the truck arrived as scheduled today and our volunteers had it all worked out for social distancing and it went like clockwork!  We barely had to leave our cars. we drove by the tables set up outside, stopped, opened our trunks, got back in the car and volunteers, who had filled the boxes earlier, put them in our cars and off we went back home.  The foods were a little different but the food was plentiful and the basics were in the boxes.  No sweet surprises but yes, there was some fresh produce.  This could have been a problem since it was extremely cold this morning, around 15 degrees.  It was 1 degree when I got up.  I was a little worried the lettuce and spinich might be frozen but it wasn't.  There were grapefruits, oranges and apples and potatos, as well.  My freezer is stuffed full and there is plenty for me for another month!  Hallelujah! Thank You to all of those who stood out in the cold to help us out! 

Maybe tomorrow or the next day I will have a picture of my final project in my certification class!  It is really kicking my butt!

PS:  The bunny placemat that snuck into my picture of food truck food was something I made last Easter but didn't get it finished in time so it is being used this year.   

   

     

Random Thoughts on How Life Goes on While Under Stay Home Orders

Mug rug I made.  It was a charity design to benefit
fire fighters in Australia last winter.  Applies all over the world now!

I've been having random thoughts while showering, watching updates and specials on the Covid-19 virus on TV, listening to Classic Upbeat, Classic Country, 60's-90's music on my Echo.  As a matter of fact, Alexa and I have been having all kinds of conversations!  And, by the way, Audible, Chirp and the free books on Amazon have been very popular at my house too. Hallmark Movies and Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, and YouTube have all been my friends as well.  I have taken several sewing and embroidery classes online which has been quite intersting.  

6 more face masks finished!

Now my blog has been taking up some time and, oh yes, I've made multiple face masks for friends and family!  I do try to go for a walk around town each day that the wind is not blowing hard (which isn't real often, HA!).  

Filter fun while visiting on
Messenger

My immediate family has formed a group on Messenger and we try to get together each day to update each other and just joke around.  The filters on there are very popular as we are trying to have serious conversations.  All of kids are working from home mostly.  Marianne works from a tiny, one person office she walks a block to each day.  Danny has the Bowling Alley he needs to go to but he can do a lot from his office at home.  Carla and JJ are teaching preschoolers and kindergarteners online (quite a challenge for them as well as the parents) and Carla is trying online speech therapy for children which seems to be working quite successfully.  Just trying to set up a home schooling office at home has been very challenging for the teachers I have talked to!  I have been a guinea pig for Carla and, of course, my very outdated computer had troubles with Zoom!

Carla lives in Casper Wyoming where they have only suggested staying at home and have had no deaths from the virus yet in their city.  She says that the 8PM "Howling and Cheering" for all the emergency responders is very popular up there.  They go outside and everybody howls and cheers including all the neighborhood dogs. It is very cathartic and hopefully appreciated by everyone! Down  here around the trailer park I haven't heard a peep.  I wonder if anyone around town is doing it.....

I am amazed at what is being done for all us people who are at risk in this community.  As far as I know there are no confirmed cases of the virus and the medical center has not had anyone call or come in with symptoms.  Of course we would love to keep it that way!  People have suggested putting up barricades on the highways that go through town but that is totally unrealistic.  Trucks hauling supplies pass through town all the time and emergency vehicles and essentials must still be able to come and go!  It would be nice to think we will be untouched by the virus but I'm very happy that most people up here are abiding by the suggestions and orders the state has put in place for social distancing. I do worry about our safety once the stay home restrictions are lifted and tourists will be coming up to North Park.  Since no one has had the virus and we don't have a hospital, will we be vulnerable?  I think so. One other thought.  We live at 8500ft. elevation.  We have less oxygen up here and that is one of the problems people have with the virus.  They are having to life flight anyone who is sick with the virus to lower altitudes right now from other mountain communities. 

A doggy purse for Linus!

It has been very hard on the eating establishments up here.  They have a tough time keeping their heads above water in regular times.  Our family is very grateful to all the people who have supported the Bowling Alley by ordering take out during this time. I know teachers are working hard and probably stressing over their classes.  I have nothing but admiration for them.  I'm sure parents are having their problems "home schooling" their kids as well.  Good times for all!  Hehehe!

This brings me to what I appreciate about what is being done for seniors and others at risk in our community. Once a month the Food Bank of the Rockies sends a semi-load of food up to Walden for  anyone who is in need plus Seniors and pretty much anyone else as they bring enough food for all, and they don't want to take any back.  We all gather up at the Wattenburg Center and the food is set up like a cafeteria and people bring boxes, bags, carts or anything to hold the cans, bags, boxes, fresh produce, etc.  There is almost always milk, juice, cereal, frozen meat of some sort, dry foods like rice, beans, pasta and breads of all kinds.  Everytime there are some surprise things like bags of pistachios, Christmas candy, a gallon of raspberry vinegar salad dressing, a gallon of whole dill pickles, cases of yogurt, eggs, etc.  They have people there to help you carry all your food to your car.  It is very interesting and appreciated! Well, they have figured out how this will all work now that we cannot gather up there to get our food.  Volunteers will fill boxes for all and then we will drive up there and line up in our cars.  The volunteers will carry the boxes to our cars and put them in our trunk!  Problem solved!  I'll miss visiting while we used to wait in line inside the building but that's the way it is now!  

  A couple of the projects I had to make for the
 sewing class I'm taking online.  This is a trivet
or mouse pad made out of clothesline rope!

This is an i-pad holder that has prairie
points and a "Shrinky Dink" flower
for decoration

Another service the Senior Center is doing is paying a different eating place in town each week on Friday to prepare meals for any senior who signs up and someone will deliver it to our doors.  This will help the restaurants and the stay home people who are at risk!  I guess they are doing a similar thing and delivering school lunches Monday-Thursday!  How cool it is to live in a small isolated community!

More fun filters!

Well, those are a few of my random thoughts.  I have lots more!  Some are very radical, but that is for another time! 
  

A Day in my Life as A High Risk For Covid-19

My Bunny in the window.  It is very pretty.  I made
 it around Marde Gras  time.

This post may wander around a bit, but I thought that was a pretty catchy title for it.  Now that all we hear and read seems to be related to the virus, my mind and imagination has been working overtime.  Like I said, I am at risk because of my age which is coming up on 81.  I think my overall health is pretty good and I have been following the rules since before the state mandates came out.  I am not outraged that our health experts and government officials are asking and even in a lot of cases mandating that we do or don't do certain things.  I don't feel like we are in a "Hitler situation".  I prefer to think that most people world wide have enough common sense to take the advice of the experts and those countries who have been through this and know the science of epidemics and how the virus works.  I also have faith that most people are caring , loving family members and friends.  Granted young people many times are more selfish but can be reasoned with.  Anyway, I decided to stay home as much as possible, not go to water aerobics and wash my hands, etc. about 3 weeks ago.  Danny and Kathi have been getting my mail and groceries, but I still go out for a walk when the weather is nice.  I figure it this way, now that I have been doing it this long, why mess it up by not following the guidelines even for 1 excursion to the store and possibly get coughed on, get sick and maybe even die.  I would have done all those small inconveniences for nothing!  A young person who feels they are immune to this virus may feel differently but I would hope they have enough compassion for family and friends to recognize they may be a carrier and could infect many others without knowing it.  So much for my wandering thoughts.

I have been hearing a lot on mental health.  It brought up some memories I have of my childhood.  I remember when I was around 4-5 years old.  There was talk all over the news (we only had radios and newspapers back then) about this new bomb (the atomic bomb) that was so powerful it could kill millions.  In my young mind I pictured it as blowing up the whole world.  Every night I would lay in bed and try to figure out where I could go to hide from the bomb so I wouldn't blow up.  At that same time many cities even in the US had blackouts.  We lived kind of out in the country on the edge of Milwaukee.  We didn't do anything special for it but when we visited my aunts in Pittsburgh they had blackout curtains and we would sneak peeks out the windows at night to "see the blackout".  I think our obsession with the War was similar to what kids are going through today only it is a lot closer to home for them nowadays.

As far as quarantines and social distancing go, this is nothing new.  When I was young whenever a family member caught a contagious disease (like when my brother got Scarlet Fever) we were quarantined.  I remember big red signs on all our doors with big black letters saying QUARANTINED.  My sister and I were not allowed to even go upstairs where Tip's room was.  And guess what? We never got it!  Then, one summer when I was around 10, I kept stubbing my toes when we played night games, running around our neighborhood (another post about a time gone by).  Our parents were sitting around a fire at a neighborhood cookout and Mom noticed it and asked what was the problem.  It ended up that I had a very mild case of Polio (Infantile Paralysis) and had lost muscle control in my feet.  That whole summer I was quarantined to our yard.  this was not a problem for us kids as there were no fences or shrubbery so the property lines were very vague.  I would set up my lounge chair somewhere along the line between our yard and Sue's yard (my best friend who was year older than me).  All the neighborhood kids around our age would play at Sue's so I could be included.  So much for quarantines!  I recovered in time for school and I still kind of drag my feet when I get tired.  Nobody else in the neighborhood got Polio.  The visiting nurse who came to check on me every week was great.  We heard she died of Polio several years later.

 Fast forward to my sophomore year in high school.  For years, every summer our parents never let us go swimming at public swimming pools or go to State Fair, which was only a few miles from our house, or even go shopping down town.  It was Polio season and although it was never mandated, many families practiced social distancing even back then. Anyway, that summer a senior in my high school died from Polio.  I think school didn't start for a week or two that fall and then when we did go, we all had to get a gamma globulin shot in our butts.  They administered it at the nurses office as we came to school.  It really hurt and we all sat at our desks in the "Gamma Globulin Tilt" for several days!  My brother remembers it differently.  He thinks he got it in his arm, but it still hurt.  I know I got it in my butt!  A year or two later the Sabin vaccine came out and Polio was practically wiped out.

Well I guess I've reminisced long enough!  Now back to sewing face masks for family and friends!  The governor and President Trump are recommending that everyone wear a face mask when they leave their houses, which we aren't supposed to leave unless it is for groceries or other essential things.  Oh, and for walks if you can keep a 6 foot distance from others.  Since Danny and Kathi are keeping the Bowling Alley open for take out, they and their employees need face masks.  I made six yesterday and then a friend wants 2 and I'm sending a couple to my grandson, Paul, in LA and another one to my friend, Annie, in a group home in Phoenix.

My next post will be more about how my family and my life have changed in the last month!
(Hint: as I am a retired teacher in a very small isolated community, with no confirmed cases of covid-19, you might be able to guess that it hasn't changed that much. HA!  But that is not true of the rest of my family)

How I spent my Saturday.  I made 6 face masks

 for the Bowling Alley employees.  I'm still working on 5 more

for friends and family.

Putting Down Some Thoughts and Images of a New Normal

I did this on my embroidery machine

Well, it is now 2 years and 3 months since my last post! I can't believe how long I have put this off but times have changed suddenly and radically in one short (well, it feels like a very loooong ) month.  I keep thinking I need to put down some of my thoughts, impressions, images, and stories for posterity.  This came about, of course, due to the advent of covid-19 into our lives.  Several of my relatives and I have been reminiscing on Facebook about the stories my mother told about the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918, and I think I will put down some of my impressions of this new pandemic for future relatives to refer to.

At the beginning of this pandemic in December 2019, which began in Wuhan, China, we were warned that what was happening there would spread all over the world.  I just didn't believe it because I thought with modern medicine and so much lead time the scientists would get a handle on it and we would have cures and vaccinations long before I would be affected.  Well, that didn't happen!  Here we are at the beginning of April 2020 and the world has practically shut down! They are predicting that over 1 million people in the US will die from this virus! Whoa! And I am one of the at risk people since I am 80 years old and people over 60 are considered more at risk than younger healthy people.

I made this in-the-hoop on my embroidery
machine.  I need to pull it up higher on
my nose, I guess.

So here is the deal (I am writing this for future generations since we, who are living this now, all know the drill): Wash your hands, don't touch your face, practice social distancing (no public gatherings, stay 6 feet apart, stay at home unless for essentials).  Most states have stay at home restrictions in place.  This means only people in essential jobs should be out and about.  Most other people are working from home.  These include teachers and students, as all schools have been closed. Most TV programs are being sent from the news anchors', actors', and hosts' homes.  Teachers have had to adapt to online classrooms and teaching packets they made up and handout at the curb as parents drive by to pick them up.  Online Zoom meetings and gatherings are very popular nowadays.  In fact I have been Carla's guinea pig for her preschool classroom.  Unfortunately my computer is so old it didn't work very well, but I think most Wyoming schools have some type of fairly new computer for each of their students.

Sit down restaurants and bars are closed unless the restaurant does take out.  Danny and Kathi had to close down the bowling alley and lay off their employees.  Kathi is doing the take out for lunch and dinner.  They are making about 35% or less than when they were open.  The grocery stores, gas stations and liquor stores are still open.  Grocery stores completely ran out of many items the first week of the shut down in Colorado due to people hoarding cleaning supplies and paper goods, especially toilet paper.  This is happening all over the country.  Lots of jokes have been made about the toilet paper but it really is serious.  I was in the Dollar store at this time and there were people from neighboring towns 60+ miles away in our stores cleaning them out of essential items!  In our small town, we get a grocery truck in 1 or maybe 2 times a week.  This did give us a big shortage for the locals.

  Staying at home right now does not mean you cannot go outside.  We can still go for walks around the neighborhood and the park, but must maintain the 6 foot distance.  I have walked around town on nice days and have seen very few others out and about. One really cool thing that many neighborhoods all over have been doing is putting teddy bears in their windows and on porches so that kids (and adults like me) can see how many they can find on their walks.  In Walden it is bunny rabbits in the windows, porches and yards.  I have been taking pictures of them on my i-phone.  I even put my Marde Gras bunny in my window (in case any Waldenites want to count it).  The local library has cards the kids can get and check off bunnies as they find them.  They get a little prize from the prize box at the library for every 15 bunnies they find.

A few of the bunnies on my walk

I started my stay "home" rule about 3 weeks ago before it was mandated by the state of Colorado.  Before that I really didn't do much different except I did water aerobics at the county swimming pool every weekday morning and went to bible study at church and "ladies lunch" at the bowling alley every Wednesday.  Once a month I went to book club and I usually went to dinner and a movie at Danny and Kathi's once a week.  I'd go get groceries, the mail, and gasoline when I needed them and that was about it.  This was my schedule when I lived in town all winter.  In May I would move back to the cabin (when snow was gone and mud dried up) and didn't go to town much.  The last few years I worked at the Pioneer Museum 3 hours a day 3-4 days a week during the summer.  I'm guessing that might not happen until later this summer!  Anyway, I'm pretty used to finding things to do around the house and we have always bought groceries in bulk for the ranch so we wouldn't have to go to town that much.  I have always made most of my bread from scratch at home and love cooking new things so I can get along on what is in the freezer and in the pantry. I have gotten used to ordering things to be delivered at home when I'm in town but contrary to their advertising, UPS won't deliver to our cabin and Amazon contracts with them here so it is a pain in the neck to do that in summer.

I guess this is it for today.  Tomorrow I will get to what I have been doing to keep myself busy and hopefully healthy, physically and mentally.  Now, the sun is out, the wind is down and I must go for my walk in search of new bunnies in windows and maybe some new chalk art up near the post office.