Coronavirus, Shelter-in-Place
Pine Creek, Concord, California
By: Deke Graham
This Page has the Newest Post First…
To view the posts in Date Order click the Green Button Below:
(Preface) to Shelter-in-Place
After 53 days of writing everyday about Sheltering-in-Place I am hanging up my pen. It’s been fun, but there are probably other things you want to read. Thanks for coming along for the ride.
LAST ENTRY…
Friday, May 8th 2020
Day Fifty-Three:
I got up at 4 am.
I read an article that PG&E will be shutting off power in Concord at 9 am…(More)
Thursday, May 7th 2020
Day Fifty-Two:
I got up at 5 am, read the news, regretted reading the news…
I know I wasn’t going to talk coffee every day, but I have been drinking Trader Joe’s french roast this week to conserve my Peets. It’s not bad at all, although Peets is the best. Nuff said!
I did my 2 1/2 miles, while I was cooling down I started thinning the radishes…(More)
Wednesday, May 6th 2020
Day Fifty-One:
I got up at 4:30…
My radishes are popping their little shoots out of the soil, it is amazing that it happened two days ago, and now they already seem to be thriving. I think I will plant carrots today. The radishes are in two eight inch pots, the carrots will be in a 32 inch pot that is much deeper…(More)
Tuesday, May 5th 2020
Day Fifty:
I got up at 5 am…It is Cinco de Mayo today!
Wow, FIFTY DAYS, I’m still not bored, but I really miss camping, and going to the coast…
Time for my walk…(More)
Monday, May 4th 2020
Day Forty-Nine:
I got up at 5:30…
I checked my UI, and my two-weeks pay was there. Gotta love it, more money for the coffers!
I changed things-up a bit and rode the bicycle, them came home and did a walk. The bike really worked some muscles I hadn’t used for a while. Good stuff! (More)
Sunday, May 3rd 2020
Day Forty-Eight:
I got up at 5 am…
I certified my weekly hours with EDD and should see my payment tomorrow. Fingers crossed!
I walked my 2 1/2 miles at 6:30, and got back at 7:15. I cooled down and burned some incense, and as usual it took me back to Yosemite. Gotta love that! (More)
Saturday, May 2nd 2020
Day Forty-Seven:
I got up at 4:30…
Yesterday was, Mayday the day celebrated as the transition from Spring to Summer. The way the weather has been it sure feels like we stepped through that door over a week ago. Most nights have cooled down, but the afternoons have been pretty warm. We have been able so far, to stay away from using the air conditioner. We live about twenty-five miles from San Francisco. The area we live in is called Diablo Valley. Just the name seems to depict heat, as in hell, the word Diablo in Spanish is “Devil”. Erin calls where we live “The Devils Valley”…(More)
Friday, May 1st 2020
Day Forty-Six:
Happy Mayday!
My day is starting early, I got up at 3:30, yada,yada,yada…
I took a quick look at the posts in the bog, how many ways can I say good morning, and that I made Peets, or coffee.
I would like to document when I get up, but the rest is just BABLE… Let’s have more turkey, and less stuffing. Ha! (More)
Thursday, April 30th 2020
Day Forty-Five:
Happy Forty-Fifth day in captivity, I got up at 5:30, filtered Peets, listened to the Ham Net. I don’t remember if I mentioned that The Six, Bay Area Counties including ours, Contra Costa, extended our stay at home orders until May 31st…(More)
Wednesday, April 29th 2020
Day Forty-Four:
Top of the morning stay-at-homer’s, I made Peets, worked on the blog, and read about the way they are thinking of re-opening baseball. It is a very interesting idea…(More)
Tuesday, April 28th 2020
Day Forty-Three:
Good morning, I got up at a little after 5 am, made coffee, listened to the Ham Net, and got ready for my 6:30 walk. I started listening to “The Stand” and locked the back door…(More)
Monday, April 27th 2020
Day Forty-Two:
Good morning, I got up at 4:30, filtered Peets, listened to the Ham Radio Net, and skimmed the news. They are talking about a food chain breakdown and are saying it could get bad in the next two weeks. We shall see what we shall see…(More)
Sunday, April 26th 2020
Day Forty-One:
Another night of sleeping with no covers, I got up at 5 am, filtered Peets, and finished the blog from Yesterday. Today will be a no news day. I will be in the writing chair making stories up, not reading them in the news…(More)
Saturday, April 25th 2020
Day Forty, remember Noah:
It’s been Forty Days, and Forty Nights…
Good morning all of you members of the Ark! The way it seems to me, we should now be disembarking The Good Ship Corona? But alas, it is not to be, for we will have to weather the storm for a while longer…(More)
Friday, April 24th 2020
Day Thirty-Nine:
Happy Friday, I got up at 4, made Peets, skimmed the news, and finished the blog from yesterday. Let’s talk about coffee for a moment…(More)
Thursday, April 23rd 2020
Day Thirty-Eight:
I woke at 3:30 am, got up at 4, made my morning mud, and read the news. I stuck to the non-political, no virus news this morning. Today will be a writing day. Usually, three to four hours in the writing chair upstairs…(More)
Wednesday, April 22nd 2020
Day Thirty-Seven:
Got up at 5, made a Cuppa Joe, and posted my audio prologue for A New Frontier on the site. Today will be a patio mechanical project day. I need a break from the inside of the house…(More)
Tuesday, April 21st 2020
Day Thirty-Six:
E. L. Doctorow once said that “writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” You don’t have to see where you’re going, you don’t have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you. This is right up there with the best advice about writing, or life, I have ever heard. Anne Lamott...(More)
Monday, April 20th 2020
Day Thirty-Five:
Good morning stay at-homers, I got up at 4 am, made coffee, and worked on my Audio Editing Program “Twisted Wave”. Even though it doesn’t do multi-track, it is pretty slick at editing voice-over. The beacon on Mt. Diablo was on this morning. It has been turned on every Sunday since Easter, and it will be until the stay at home is over…(More)
Sunday, April 19th 2020
Day Thirty-Four:
Good Morning, I got up at 5 am, made Peets, and certified my unemployment hours for the last two-weeks online. I went for my walk alone this morning, it was just over fifty-degrees, and I walked 2 1/2 miles. I listened to NPR 1 with my headset and caught up on current events. They talked about Trump, Biden, and the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918…(More)
Saturday, April 18th 2020
Day Thirty-Three:
Top of the mornin to ya, I got up at 4:30, made Peets, and I finished the blog from yesterday. We will skip the news today!
I have an idea for getting back to writing one of my stories. It really requires input from the people involved in this non-fiction piece. “Long Strange Trip” is the story of myself and two friends that traveled the US and Canada in the early 70’s…(More)
Friday, April 17th 2020
Day Thirty-Two:
Good morning Ya’All, got up at 5 am, made coffee, and waited for Erin to get up. She has volunteered to make a shopping trip to Safeway during senior time…(More)
Thursday, April 16th 2020
Day Thirty-One:
Good morning, I made coffee at 4:30, I then checked my email. I got another message from Podbean who had been trying to help me recover my seventeen Podcasts from 2010…(More)
Wednesday, April 15th 2020
Day Thirty (One Month):
Good morning. It’s hard to believe we’ve been sheltering-in-place for a month. Wow! (More)
Tuesday, April 14th 2020
Day Twenty-Nine:
I woke up at 2 am in my recliner and went upstairs to bed, I then woke up at 5 am. Good morning fellow Americans, and anyone else who reads this. I made coffee, listened to the Ham Radio net, and read the news. The latter item is making me break my silence of the past few days and I am going to write a few lines about politics. Nasty stuff!! (More)
Monday, April 13th 2020
Day Twenty-Eight:
Good morning fellow hunker-downers, of course Peets first! (More)
Easter Sunday, April 12th 2020
Day Twenty-Seven:
Happy Easter, whatever that means to you. And I don’t have any problems with whatever you believe…(More)
Saturday, April 11th 2020
Day Twenty-Six:
Good morning, I slept in this morning, I got out of bed at a little after 6. I made coffee and ordered some pasta from Amazon. Woo Hoo! (More)
Good Friday, April 10th 2020
Day Twenty-Five:
I got up at 4, made Peets, and went right to work on my blog. I purposely skipped the news and listened to the guys on our Ham Radio Network. One of our members lives in Australia, and he fills us in on the virus down under daily. I’m in wonder every time I pick-up my handheld radio, being able to talk globally on a two-meter radio the size of a hot dog, that’s incredible…(More)
Thursday, April 9th 2020
Day Twenty-Four:
Good morning, I got up at 4, made coffee and went food shopping on Amazon…(More)
Wednesday, April 8th 2020
Day Twenty-Three:
I slept in this morning until almost 6 am. I made coffee, and glanced at the news. I found an article in the New York Times on editing your own writing. So far it is one of the best pieces I have read on the subject, but I must set it down for a bit because it is time for our daily walk…(More)
Tuesday, April 7th 2020
Day Twenty-two:
Good morning, this will be a brief day of writing, things are happening everywhere with virus related news. I guess my main concern at this time is that all of us stay safe. I will repeat what I said yesterday, that we can’t let down our guard for a moment…(More)
Monday, April 6th 2020
Day Twenty-One:
I got up at 3:30, made Peets, and started on my blog right away, now I’ll read the news…(More)
Sunday, April 5th 2020
Day Twenty:
I got up at about 4:30, made coffee, and got on the laptop and opened my UI insurance website and logged in my hours for the last two weeks so I can get my first-ever unemployment pay. After a little trial and error I got it done and should get my benefits. At this point all money is important…(More)
Saturday, April 4th 2020
Day Nineteen:
I got up at 4:30, made Peets and finished my post for yesterday. It’s supposed to rain today…nothing yet though…(More)
Friday, April 3rd 2020
Day Eighteen:
I got up at 4:30, made coffee, scanned the news, and listened to radio guys check-in on our radio network, One of the guys checked in from Australia and caught us up on the restrictions they have in place during the virus. They have very strict rules, and they are country-wide…(More)
Thursday, April 2nd 2020
Day Seventeen:
I got up at 3:45, made Peets, scanned the news—not good out there, more than a thousand deaths in the US…(More)
Wednesday, April 1st 2020
Day Sixteen:
I got up at about 4:30 today, made Peets, glanced at the news and got on the laptop during the time I knew the internet is at its best. I also knew there was a reason for getting up so early. I guess there is no reason its just what I do. Whatever…(More)
Tuesday, March 31st 2020
Day Fifteen:
I got up at 6:30, made coffee—Peet’s, I made sure to pick it up yesterday, what a difference. I am a coffee snob, totally! I read the news gently—I don’t want to disturb it! Ha ha…(More)
Monday, March 30th 2020
Day Fourteen:
I woke up at 3:30, made coffee using not Peet’s but a Puerto Rico brand to save my Peet’s for later. I’m conserving the best. I also have a five-pound can of Safeway brand that will be my last resort…(More)
Sunday, March 29th 2020
Day Thirteen:
I got up at 3:30, made coffee, didn’t read the news and went right to work on putting my offline writings onto the website. I think I am going to write everything in Google Docs from here on out. Doing it that way I don’t lose my writing when the internet takes a shit! (More)
Saturday, March 28th 2020
Day Twelve:
I slept-in until almost seven, I had had stomach problems during the night and moved downstairs so I wouldn’t bother Erin. I was in and out of the bathroom for about an hour and then fell asleep in my chair from midnight until 3:30…(More)
Friday, March 27th 2020
Day Eleven:
I got up at about 5 am, made coffee and read the news. Everything was about the same, except for the growing number of virus cases…(More)
Thursday, March 26th 2020
Day Ten:
I woke up shortly after 4 am, made coffee and Noticed that my boss had texted me at about 10 pm last night saying to text him in the morning and he would email me the Cobra info…(More)
Wednesday March 25th 2020
Day nine:
I woke up just after 4 am, made coffee and looked at the news. I worked on "Indivisible Space" and wrote in the blog. The internet seems okay in the early hours, but seems to fade by mid-morning…(More)
Tuesday, March 24th 2020
Day Eight:
I woke up at about 2:30 with all kinds of things going on in my head, I tried to go back to sleep but it was not happening. I got out of bed at around 3:30. I went downstairs not turning on any lights, put the coffee water on and decided to recline my chair and see if I could get a little more sleep. That didn’t happen…(More)
Monday, March 23rd 2020
Day Seven:
I got up at about 4 am, made coffee, checked the news, and went right to work on the website…(More)
Sunday, March 22nd 2020
Day Six:
I got up at 4:30, made coffee, and read the news. It’s getting even creepier out there. More States are locking down, borders are closing in Europe, and Italy now has eight-hundred dead…(More)
Saturday, March 21st 2020
Day Five:
We took an earlier walk today, it was suppose to rain, but it didn’t happen (big Surprise), Ha ha. We walked a different route this morning venturing a little out of our comfort zone…(More)
Friday, March 20th 2020
Day Four:
I woke-up at 4 am, made coffee and worked on my website all morning, but the internet was at a crawl…(More)
Thursday, March 19th 2020
Day Three:
Another morning of my same routine. The early morning was time to reflect on all of the things going on around us. I once again tried to keep in mind how lucky we are to be in our peaceful little home…(More)
Wednesday, March 18th 2020
Day Two:
I got out of bed at 5 am, made coffee and read the news. Things are tightening up all over the country and the world because of the virus. Canada and the US closed the border to each other, New York City is tightening down more than it had, and two more counties in the San Francisco Bay Area have imposed shelter-in-place orders to all of its citizens…(More)
Tuesday, March 17th 2020
Day One, St. Patrick’s Day:
This is the first day of a three week isolation in our home. I can’t remember exactly, but I’m pretty sure I have never had a three week vacation from my job. I’ve had a few two-weekers but not many in my forty-plus years of working…(More)