Another Week - Still Virus Free

We managed to get through another week without exposing ourselves - or at least not catching it if we did - to the latest viral scourge that humans are having to fight.  It continues to amaze me what havoc a few strands of viral genetic stuff can do, especially its ability to turn our own cell machinery against us.  During our many recent walks we have come up with all sort of fun and goofy ways to combat the virus - fortunately, none that you will be seeing soon at a pharmacy, doctor, or hospital near you.  My personal favorite one is to create an inhaler with a chemical that irreversibly binds to the spikes on the virus (the ones the virus uses to bind to our cells) and thereby inactivate the binding mechanism.  Of course, that requires finding a chemical you can inhale when you are symptomatic and doesn't actually cause more lung problems than the virus.  Still some kinks to work out - but I'm working on it (without a lab, ability to conduct a clinical trial, or any true knowledge of the binding mechanism for the corona virus).

But anyway, we are trying to maintain a positive outlook and find things to occupy ourselves.  We have been getting out for a long walk everyday, since the gym is no longer an option, and have certainly enjoyed the first indications that spring is just around the corner.  From the daffodils starting to flower, the warmer temperatures producing some beautiful foggy mornings over the lake, or even the first tulips buds.  We are using our copious amounts of indoor time to continue to work on some of our favorite recipes, like deep dish pizza, as well as try a few new things - sourdough bread is up this week (which makes us like most of the rest of the world at least according to the Wall Street Journal, apparently everyone is trying to make bread all of a sudden).

Fortunately, we have long been big jigsaw puzzle fans so have a great collection to work our way through.  We did decide it was a good time to tackle some of our more difficult ones in our storage that came to us from my Mom as a result of Mom and Dad's relocation to Madison.  Many of these are Escher themed and certainly can occupy a lot of time, which is a good thing right now.

The weather also cooperated the last few days, being warm and relatively dry, that we were able this morning to get out and start preparing our community garden beds for some planting.  Didn't get anything planted yet, but it did feel good to be outside, working in the soil, and not feel like you are about to get infected.  Already dreaming of freezing some beans this summer.