Working Out

Above is the Las Vegas Athletic Club (LVAC) at Eastern and 215. That parking lot is never empty but now it is. I went to my last class at LVAC on March 17, 2020. I was up and getting ready to go the next day when I read that LVAC had closed. Following the governor's orders, it was possibly the last gym to close here.

I am going to physical therapy even now. The number of patients has dwindled and the tables are more spread out. The in-store Pilates studio is shut down, but the reformers can still be used by therapists (I was on two of them yesterday). One of the therapists gave me some exercises to do at home, and I added some others that I have been doing there, so I have a small workout I do regularly. It takes between 20 and 25 minutes. I bought a flat weight bench from amazon, but have discovered that it is really not right for most of these exercises. I should have gotten a massage table! But damn, those things are big and my apartment is not that large. So I use a mat on the floor. I don't love it because I have trouble getting up from the floor, but at home I have things I can grab onto. Here's my hope: that I will eventually get strong enough to be able to get up and down easily.

Ducks and geese at Cornerstone Park. The goslings may be the first of the season.

I have taken a few walks in Cornerstone Park but it isn't all that comfortable for either my legs or my back. Again, hoping these issues will ease and I can get back into walking.

Honestly, I am not highly motivated. I am able to complete the PT exercises every day but not much else. I have options: LVAC has online classes and links to others; we even have access to Les Mills videos as part of our membership. I also have workout DVDs. These are the most appealing to me right now, but I haven't done any yet.

Food in the time of Hoarding

There is food, as I said in my last post. But hoarders have made much of it hard to get. I keep hoping they will back off, but my guess is that those who have grabbed much and are satisfied for now have been replaced with others who did not grab but now do.

Still, there is food. Just maybe not everything we want. Getting it is another story. I no longer go into the grocery stores. I am hearing that some stores are limiting access to a certain number at a time. Even so, the chances of infection are higher than if I stay out.

So far I have ordered food twice, to be picked up. There are designated pickup spots with signs. The signs say to call a certain number. When I call they ask for my last name and the space number where I am parked. Someone brings out the order and places it in my car.  I have picked up food from Smith's Grocery only so far.  Both times I had to wait; the first time three days, the second four, before I could pick it up. Pickup slots are limited. If more people do this, then will the dates become even farther apart?

Today I placed an order for delivery from Whole Foods through Amazon Fresh. I had the order ready to go yesterday and twice tried to place it but there were no delivery times available. So when I woke a bit after one this morning, I thought to jump on the computer and try again. I got a slot between 1 and 3 pm Wednesday, the day after tomorrow.

Other days I tried to order from Sprouts but it became ridiculous. Sprouts has a feature that allows one to create a shopping list, and I did that, laboriously. But then I discovered that the list is only a handy item you can create for yourself, if you are going inside the store. You can't click on something that says "deliver" or "pick up". I was unwilling to go to the delivery page and start all over. Besides, I am hearing that Instacart is overwhelmed, and that is what Sprouts uses.

Instacart is like Uber or Lyft. Ordinary people go into the store and do the shopping for you, then deliver the items. I believe this process leaves the opportunity for infection rather wide open. No guarantees that individual persons are being careful, whereas the employees of the stores have to follow guidelines to be safe.

My cupboards are slowly thinning out. I have a fair amount of dried beans, although not black beans, and I can never get any of those, wherever I order. I have pasta, rice, other beans and bean mixes, other dried food or nuts. Canned tomatoes, other grains. Last night I made baked beans in the Instant Pot, because I have many white beans.  I am regularly making substitutions in my cooking. This situation may make me more flexible in the future.

covid journal

This may now become, for a time, a journal of living in the time of Covid-19, in Nevada.

It is almost the end of March, and most of us are taking this virus seriously. I still have friends who believe it is no big deal. I don't understand how they could reach that conclusion. I think they simply do not believe the numbers. But why would so many institutions lie about them?

In my 74 years I have never been in a situation remotely like this. There have been other epidemics, other pandemics, but nothing like this. I worry, I get scared at times, a feel a loneliness I did not know I could. Having always been on the outside, content to watch and contemplate, I surprise myself. I want that human contact. I tell people I drive through Starbucks to get that short bit of visible contact and those brief friendly interactions.

Will Starbucks have to close?

How much more needs to happen?

We aren't entirely shut down yet. The flights are still coming in, there are cars on the road, unrestricted. A lot fewer, yes, but many. There are parking lots full, people in the grocery stores. Some stores are restricting the number inside at a time, but that makes outside questionable. 

Many people walking in parks. The majority seem to be dog walkers. That's as it should be. Still some gathering in basketball courts, although the City of Henderson has taken down the hoops.

The big worry is the lack of protective devices for our healthcare workers, and the effect of bottom-line administrators on their health. The frequent re-use of masks means more people are getting infected. Making the situation worse.

I have made one cloth facemask. It's a simple one that does not have a nose wire, so when I wear it it fogs up my glasses. I have another one, different, cut out, but not sewn. I still need to find some kind of suitable wire for it. I know that these masks are no good for healthcare workers but they can provide some protection for the rest of us. We should be wearing them.

I am in physical therapy. The office is serving far fewer patients and the equipment is spread apart more. They are taking precautions but I suspect not really enough. These therapists put their hands on us as part of their job but they are not wearing gloves or masks. Everyone uses hand sanitizer and they wipe down the equipment after each person, but is it enough?

I need that therapy. If I didn't I would postpone it. I am diligently doing the suggested exercises every day at home, which is honestly a new thing for me. I always mean to do them but so rarely do. If they were fun it would be easier, but obviously they aren't fun for a reason. The reason is that I need them.

The parking lot at my apartment complex is full most of the time. That is, the cars associated with the apartments are there most of the time. Once you get a space you pretty much keep it because so few cars are moving. I lost mine and now I have a new one that is holding.

We are not starving. I can't get many food items that I normally buy but there is food. We don't have a crisis that way. I am anxious, though, for the items to come back, the hoarding to slow down.

It's quiet. The air is clean. The lake is clean. The birds at Cornerstone Park are starting to give birth.

NightWalks

Nighthawks by Edward Hopper

As summer approaches once more I think about taking earlier walks. If I wait too long I won't be able to walk at all. It will be too hot. Last summer I often walked when it was still dark.

My usual walks are in parks or on trails along the Pittman Wash. However, when it is black outside it makes me nervous to be where there is so little light. Like a moth I am drawn to patches of light. Therefore I tend to walk on the streets, the streets lit by streetlights, car headlights, night lights in businesses.
Gas stations are like beacons, yet look even
lonelier than closed businesses, perhaps because of the bright lights.

Edit: written about one year ago (2019) but not published then.