This Week
We’ve officially made the transition from our first season here in Minnesota, frostbite, to our second season, mosquito bite. The weather is absolutely gorgeous, temps are approaching 70 degrees during the day and the nights settle to the crisp 40’s. The crab apple trees and lilacs are nearly in full bloom, the colors and fragrance are unbelievable. This perfect weather won’t last long, Minnesota summers are typically hot and very humid.
Our governor announced on Wednesday that most everything in the state will be reopening by June 1st, barring anything unforeseen. A few more beloved local restaurants have announced their permanent closures and I’m afraid many more will be to come.
On The Travel Front
It now appears that both of my upcoming trips -- Ireland in August and Toronto in September are in jeopardy. Ireland is opening up soon but may still have a mandatory 14-day quarantine for passengers traveling from abroad. Considering our trip was only going to be for 10 days this won't work. I guess I picked a bad time to start a travel show. Things are changing day-by-day basis so we’re giving it until the end of May before we officially pull the plug on Ireland.
Being a tumbleweed by nature, my mood is so much better when I have a trip planned. Worst case scenario I'll have more time to learn video editing and get more polished on camera.
Amstel Update
Amstel had his stitches removed and should only have to wear this donut around his neck for another week or so. He, somehow, managed to break open the incision so he’ll have to wear it a week longer than normal. He seems to prefer the donut over the cone, his eyes instantly get heavy when we put it on him. Oh, and his new nickname is “Dunkin”.
Culinary Creations
A professional chef I am not but as it has with so many of us, boredom and limited access to restaurants have forced us to get a little more imaginative with cooking meals. I’ve made a few new dishes this week, this one is panko breaded chicken breast (with spicy barbeque sauce), asparagus, and sweet potatoes.
One good outcome of this pandemic has been more video calls with my family. Mom and Dad are a little self conscious on video so I’ve been trying to break the ice with some of the Facebook filters and games.
During this particular call my Dad and nephew discovered a game on Facebook that challenges you to try to eat virtual hamburgers. My dad said it was the most fun he’s ever had on a call so I think we’ll be doing more of that.
I got around to dismantling my 60 year old Raleigh wheels this week and delivered the original hubs to a wheel builder who will be lacing them into some new modern wheels, hopefully, today. I was going to try and build them myself but after watching a few how-to videos it was clearly beyond my skillset. Ten years ago I would've just jumped in and tried but age has wisened me up a little.
As I was taking out all of the old spokes I noticed quite a bit of rust and even a few spokes popping out of the inside of the rear wheel. All it would have taken is a pothole or a curb for one of those to puncture the tube and I would’ve been stranded somewhere with a flat tire. It’s been tough to be without a bike this week but the wait will be worth it.
Hope Breakfast Bar Initiative
For those of you who missed my last few Pandemic Diaries posts I’m donating the proceeds of all my book sales in May to a wonderful charity that I’ll tell you more about below.
I still have no idea how many books I’ve sold so far in May because Amazon doesn’t have a tool to track sales in real time. Get on that Bezos, would you please!?
If you’ve bought a copy of Alarm Clock Dawn or The Perfect Pause, I thank you!
For the entire month of May 100% of all proceeds from my book sales will be donated to, Hope Breakfast Bar. They’re serving meals to 1,000-2,000 people per day (10,000 per week) to families in need, first responders, and medical staff working on the front line during the pandemic. The links are below to donate or purchase books.
Donate directly to Hope Breakfast Bar
Link to purchase The Perfect Pause
Link to purchase Alarm Clock Dawn
Things I’m Grateful For
I’m going to end this, and every future Pandemic Diary entry with a list of things I’m grateful for.
- Russian Kettle Bells. They've been my saviour since the gym has closed;
- Yoga. I've been doing more this week;
- Chateau les Acacias Bordeaux. It's the best $10 wine I've ever had; and
- Lilacs. Nothing beats the scent of these in the spring.
I hope you’re all well and have a wonderful weekend.
With Gratitude,
Eric Vance Walton
*I am an American novelist, poet, traveler, and crypto-enthusiast. If you’ve enjoyed my work please sign up for my author newsletter at my website. Newsletter subscribers will receive exclusive updates and special offers and your information will never be sold or shared.
Alarm Clock Dawn, one of the first full length novels published on the blockchain, and the book that started it all for me can be found HERE. Or Click Here to read it for free on the blockchain
My book on meditation, The Perfect Pause, is priced at $12.99 (paperback) and $4.99 (eBook). Buy the paperback and receive the eBook for free!
I read this edition of the Pandemic Diaries when it was only seventeen minutes old but just found the time to actually make a comment. A fine update you made in this entry and wonderful photos. For the record, we have your second season year round down here most years; not bragging or complaining, just stating a fact.
Can't wait to see the new rims, I'm a fan of "all original" but sometimes it makes sense to upgrade like in the case of the wheels. Plus older sizes of tires seem to be getting harder to find as years go by.
I have a Schwinn tandem bike from the early '60's that is in fair shape that some day I need to fully restore but it is far down on the list right now. The wife and I used to ride it when we first got married but when the kids came it got put into retirement, it has been at least 22 years since we have ridden it.
Have a great weekend friend,
Sult
Hey Sult! I would take the very worst of the second season not to have to suffer through the first! Lol. We're planning to, hopefully, fly the coop after the Holidays this year and be gone until spring. Everything is so uncertain with this virus and the economy that it's hard to say if we'll be able to accomplish that but I'm still hopeful.
I can't wait to see them either. It's going to be like Christmas morning. : ) I'm usually a fan of "all original" too, this is the only non-original mod I would do. The great thing about these Sun CR-18 rims is they make them in the original English 26 x 1 3/8ths size. You can squeeze in a more standard 700mm size rim but you lose a lot of clearance. The spoke and rim will be chrome and then the nut securing each spoke to the rim will be anodized black so it should give it a pretty cool custom look.
The tires are a little tough to find but a few manufacturers still make them. I should buy a couple sets of tires now, just incase they discontinue them. When our generation of vintage 3-speed fans get too old to ride the demand won't be there anymore. The axles on this thing feel like they're made of cast iron. The wheel builder taught me something I didn't know. There's a hole in the middle of the front hub and I always thought it was for oil (like the one on the back hub is) but he said it's actually meant for a grease gun. He said the new grease pushes out the old/dirty grease and makes the wheel spin like new. So I guess I need to buy a grease gun now.
A Schwinn tandem!! I'd love to see a picture of it. Those can be worth quite a bit these days. Schwinn made a high quality bike. That would be a fun restoration project.
Hope you and yours are having a great weekend my friend!
Eric
...and we're saying goodbye to the mozzies as the days turn cooler;) I must say there are many positives with lockdown as we get to do the tasks we leave for 'another day'.
Those virtual games can be a lot of fun! Glad to see your Dad smiling Eric;)
Ah, I bet that's a welcomed transition! It's so strange that you guys have opposite seasons. Maybe we should spend the "winters" there! Thanks, it's always nice to see him light up like that. We're trying to coax that out as much as we can. We just did a video chat with the family this morning and my mom says it puts him in a better frame of mind to see the family. I hope you are all doing well in lock-down @lizelle. Take care!
I absolutely love your post! You are making the best of every situation and apart from the traveling aspect, you are not making it turn out to be a grim time during the pandemic. Many are struggling so I have shared your post to bring light to what things can be like.
I love that you are trying new foods or learning new recipes. I have been out of sorts when it comes to making food. Feels like everything is the same so I lack motivation. I am happy to just eat salad for lunch and supper. Not the same for my kids though.
Raising money to support a charity is what we all need to do during these times. We already have Salvation Army and Red Cross distributing food to people and donating a little extra to those with families, children going to school to help with the kids who have stomachs in their toes :P
I think this could be a good thing to help small local businesses to keep going. Some just need that extra boost and need to see that the local people care for those businesses. A lot of us are short on money but there is always a way to make things work. Something that I have learned during these times is there's always a way to make it through.
I'm happy to hear you connected with it, thank you, and I appreciate you sharing also! I think the pre-Covid world we knew is gone forever. I believe there will be both good and bad in that. Most people I know have shed some of their materialistic tendencies and are beginning to focus on the moment and the people around them. I worry about losing more of our civil liberties and what this will do to the economy. This will be our generations' equivalent of the Great Depression. When we're old and feeble we'll be talking about how we survived this. I'm happy to help in any way I can. So many are struggling right now. I hope you're having a great weekend and thanks again for all the support!
I definitely agree that there will be good and bad coming from it, but hoping more good than bad for sure.
100% with you on losing you liberties, many question this and there's a lot that I'm seeing just by putting 1 and 1 together that give me that fear. But it's best not to go into that fear and to just be knowing of whats happening and being informed to be able to do what we can for ourselves during these times. When the time comes for something big to happen, I am sure we will be prepared.
Our kids will be talking to their children about how they were no longer able to go to the parks, mom or dad couldn't bring them shopping anymore and families would only be talked to by phone or video chats. It's insane to be thinking that far down the road.
My weekend has been good thus far and I hope your week starts on a good foot :)
Thank you! I have a young nephew and I often think about how he'll remember this. Thankfully, they live in a very good so he hasn't stopped learning. Take care of yourself!
Jeez, how you coping with the heat and the ever annoying buzz of mosquitoes Mr.Eric? I'll take heat over mosquitoes any day if I have to choose one.
I LOVE the heat and, thankfully, the mosquitos don't like me. They swarm my wife though. How've you been?
Happy Mosquito Bite! Let's eat some virtual hamburgers together soon to celebrate the season!
I'm sure you've experienced our second season first-hand! Lol. I bet the boys would really like some of those Facebook Messenger video chat games. Hope you all have a good weekend!
Did you guys get all of this rain we are getting now? It is pretty horrible. I just want it to move out of the way so we can get the seven days of sun that they are calling for after it. We basically have a swamp in our back yard now and even though they already sprayed for mosquitoes, it is probably going to be pretty bad this year.
It rained a little on Saturday and the entire day yesterday here. Yesterday was a tough one. This week is looking fairly decent though so if you're getting your weather from the West all should be good. The mosquitos never seem to bother me much but they flock to my wife (maybe that's why they don't bother me?!) Lol.
Hello dear friend @ericvancewalton Realmete you have been taking good advantage of the quarantine time, I am only sorry about your trip, I hope you do not have to postpone it.
I love Amstel's new nickname "Dunkin". fits better. let's hope that with these donuts it doesn't touch its sutures anymore
That dish looks great and looks delicious. It is good that you are communicating with your family via the web, it is not the best, but it is a good alternative.
What a joy that you are spending time on your old bicycle, the rust does not have to worry you, you can send it to chrome again and it will look like new
You are very kind to donate your sales to that institution, since it helps the local economies.
It is good to be grateful for the things that happen to us especially when it comes to a good bottle of wine
How good to hear from you dear friend
I wish you an excellent weekend
Thank you @jlufer! The old wheels are going to a good home. A friend of mine from Pittsburgh restores old Raleigh bikes and he's going to give them a new life on a different vintage bike. I hope you and your family have had a wonderful week!
Nice to see the weather changes but situation is riling up in my country. Covid-19 and now we have a cyclone hovering over my country. It might be little bad in the next coming days. While, the government of my country is also trying to keep on going the usual activities after few days despite the situation is getting worse. Nevertheless, trying our best to overcome this situation in our own way.
While nice dish and thanks to quarantine, I have been trying few dishes as well ;)
Try to stay as safe as you can @rehan12. Most of our country is opening up and will soon see a huge spike in infection rates. The good news is almost everyone except for high-risk groups are surviving the virus. The deaths are still horrific. Be well and thanks for the comment!
Yup, the death rate is exceeding than expected. Hope it is does not get too late before we get an antidote. Stay safe buddy!!