I Did What During the Pandemic?

The world passed the one year mark of the Covid 19 pandemic in the middle of March. Each week it feels like we are getting closer to life as it was before the onset of the pandemic, but we have a ways to go. Doing what seemed normal at one time, like eating in a restaurant, feels safe but unusual. Avoiding other people in stores and even on the street is now normal feeling behavior. A friend described receiving a friendly touch on the arm from someone and reflexively pulling back. It will take some time to react to other people and circumstances in way we once did. As we completed one year of this life I began to think about what I had done with a lot of newfound free time.

Wisconsin was fortunate to have a dry and warm spring in 2020, so I was able to get outside when I felt the need. But it was still March and April in Wisconsin, so it was not all seashells and balloons. There were a few things I got around to that I may not have without the pandemic. 

Martin D1

There had been a few songs that I had been playing on my Martin D1 acoustic guitar, but I did not know all of the verses. A couple of them were Bob Dylan songs, so there were lots of verses. The first one I memorized was "Desolation Row". It seemed fitting. I would get out the guitar and set up the lyrics on a music stand in the living room. I learned one verse and memorized one verse every couple of days as I watched the neighbors walk up and down the street in a pandemic daze. There are ten verses, so it took about three weeks to learn them all. Next, I moved on to "Tangled Up in Blue" by Dylan and "This Hard Land" by Bruce Springsteen. That got me through the spring and into the early summer. I did not play as much during the summer, but got started again in the fall.

When the cold weather returned I picked up my Fender Stratocaster American Deluxe electric guitar and start learning lessons out of the "Blues You can Use" book. It has lessons on chord and scales with short musical examples of each concept. There is a CD enclosed that I could play along with. I had worked my way through some of it over the years, but I made a concerted effort to play for an hour each day. I am still playing most days, but life has gotten a little busier since I got the vaccinations in February. My playing skills improved noticeably and it is fun to play along with the CD. 

Fender DeVille 410 and Stratocaster

It was a quiet Christmas, which I did not mind too much. One of the gifts I received was a bird house kit. That allowed me to spend some quiet time in the basement and provide a new home for a local feathered friend. There was some paint left over from touching up the house and the garage in recent years, so the bird's house matches our house. Now I just need a good tenant. 

Available for Rent

Another basement project involved the basement windows. Many years ago a squirrel managed to get into the basement, through the old chimney I think, while we were gone for a few days. The squirrel, of course, wanted to get out and spent the time clawing and gnawing on the wooden window frames. Our basement is just that, a basement, so I never expended the effort to repair the windows. The pandemic presented a now or never type of situation. So on one of my last motorcycle rides in fall 2020 I picked up some wood filler at the local Lowe's. Once again I found some house paint that would suffice to paint the basement frames. Once the windows were painted I cleaned the glass and will take care of cleaning the outside once it warms up. 

Squirrel Repair Done

 Another activity that took up some pandemic time was jigsaw puzzles. We had not done puzzles since, well, ever, but finished up four of them over the winter. It takes some time to get started, but once we began the puzzle would become something of an obsession. They were puzzles that had been around here for years and their origins were unknown. We fully expected each of them to be missing a piece or two, but they were all complete. 

Jigsaw Puzzle Fun

I continued to do the things I would normally do during a Wisconsin winter. The snow fell in amounts that allowed the Reforestation Camp snow bike trails to be open all of January and February. By March the snow let up and the trails became too icy for me. In February I participated in a Snow Crown Series race at the camp. I rode in the beginner, or "fun group", category. It was a beautiful sunny winter day and it was nice to be out with other riders. We took a couple of car rides around the area and looked for eagles and owls. We were successful finding eagles, but not the elusive owls.

Snow Crown Race Finisher

We are experiencing unseasonably cold April weather, but warmer days are ahead. I have gotten in quite a few miles on my Trek road bike already and have had some good rides on my BMW motorcycle. Tomorrow I will be getting my Harley Davidson Lowrider S out of storage. It looks like we will be dealing with Covid 19 in some fashion into the summer, but the end of the pandemic is a year closer than it was last April. 

Pandemic: Year Two

We are now almost one month into 2021 and it feels a lot like 2020. The most important change is the feeling of hope, which really began in December with the first people getting the Covid 19 vaccine. As the calendar turned over on January 1st I was happy to welcome the new year and say good bye to 2020. The nine months of living under the pandemic shadow were uncomfortable and it only became worse during the holiday season. All of the frustrations of not seeing family and friends were magnified. The weather did not allow for the escapes that spring, summer and fall did. I am normally ready to move on from the holidays and get the Christmas tree out to the curb, but it felt like an exceptionally large weight was lifted this year. 

The state of Wisconsin announced on Tuesday, 19 January, that residents 65 and over would be eligible to get the vaccine beginning 25 January. My wife was able to get through to Prevea within an hour and we got appointments for the afternoon of the 25th. We will receive our second dose on 15 February. Our lives won't change dramatically, but we will be able to eat in a restaurant and perhaps visit with friends and family inside instead of the driveway or garage. I am hopeful that we will feel safe enough to travel again and stay in hotels. 

Around New Year's Day we finally got enough snow so that the snow bike trails at the Reforestation Camp could be opened. I rode three times a week until the warm weather caught up with us again and they were closed for a few days. We got four inches of snow on the day the Green Bay Packers lost another NFC Championship game and the trails are back open. They are in great shape and that will give me something to do during the long Wisconsin winter. 

Brown County Reforestation Camp

Over the past few years I have considered getting one of those tough cameras to take along on fishing and motorcycle trips. It would be another way to take pictures other than just using my phone, which I don't like to take out in a boat anyway. I have a little Nikon L3 point and shoot camera and I am using that to see if I will like using a camera instead of my phone. The pictures in this post are all from the Nikon. I have played around with the editing feature on it to make the photos a little more interesting. 

I had plans to try and learn to play a little piano and harmonica this winter but so far that has not happened. But now with some real winter weather and icy sidewalks I may be inside enough to pick give them both a try. I have also been working on whittling down a list of books titled "100 Books Every Man Should Read". More about that in my next post.

Late Winter Fat Biking

Northeast Wisconsin received a good snowfall in mid February and I got in a last ride on the trails at the Reforestation Camp. I went out there in early March after some more snow, but the the trails were closed due to the ice under the snow. Since then I have been exploring the bike trails around Allouez.

I started riding a fat bike in December thinking it would be a great way to get outside during the winter. It proved to do just that, but now that spring has arrived I am anxious to put the fat bike away and get out my road bike. The weather has not cooperated however, so I am staying on the fat bike. The local trails are free of ice and snow, but they are still coated with salt and sand from the winter. I am reluctant to subject my Trek Alpha 2.3 to riding through that, so I am waiting for the county to use the blower on the trail.

The Fox River Trail and East River Trail, the two closest trails, do not connect on either the north or south ends. But if I ride south it is a short ride through De Pere to get from the Fox River Trail to the East River Trail. There is traffic to deal with as well as a few roundabouts, but it is not difficult. Once on the East River Trail, a rider can stay on it all the way north to the old Green Bay Packers City Stadium in east Green Bay. Then it is back on a few city streets to connect with the Fox River Trail.

Yesterday was the first day of spring, but it was not very spring-like here. So I put on my winter riding gear and headed south on the Fox River Trail. The temperature was in the mid-20's, but a brisk wind came out of the north. That made the first half of my ride pretty comfortable and I cruised easily a few miles south of De Pere.

After my usual turnaround the wind made itself felt. My Trek Farley weighs a relatively light 30 pounds, but those big tires provide some noticeable resistance when riding into the wind. But I enjoyed being out and stopped to take a few pictures on the way home.

Late last year the county received some donations and was able to install a few bicycle maintenance stations along the trail. The stations provide a bike stand, air, and a few tools. I have taken advantage of the stands already this winter and they are a nice amenity for riders.

By the time I reached home the wind seemed to have increased a bit and a warm lunch was in order. For now I am keeping the fat bike in the garage, grateful that I have a bike I can ride in this weather.