I like to go somewhere on my days off. Mostly, I enjoy visiting places I’ve never been to where I can take a lot of pictures, visit historical sites, eat exotic foods, hear unique languages, and spend time with my dear wife. I come back home with a story to tell my friends and co-workers. Road trips are all about stories. Something interesting always happens. Always.

When I virtually return to work on Monday, my Team is going to ask me what I did on my vacation. Oh, it was quite a week, I’ll tell them, with tongue firmly in cheek. I’ve been lucky enough to have some really great vacations – Italy, Mexico, Hawaii, Washington, DC, New York, Chicago, Las Vegas, Atlanta – but this year, thanks to the inept handling of the Coronavirus Pandemic by our Federal Government, we’re on lock down in the state of Oregon and we couldn’t go anywhere. So, being confined to the house, what did we do? As if I were going to present a slideshow of pictures of each room in our house, I will instead point them to this post and ask them to read all about our fascinating week on Channa Drive.

I wanted to make sure Oscar Boy, my 5-year old Black Labrador Retriever, had the time of his life this week. I got up at 6:00 am every morning, fed him, ate my breakfast, and went for a walk with the pooch. When we got home, I put away the clean dishes, ground up coffee beans, made coffee, played Madden Mobile and refused to think about work. Oscar found his spot on the couch and fell asleep. What a trooper!

We had Jacobs Heating and Air Conditioning come over to the house on Monday for our yearly check up. The machine is in good working order but it still cost me $588! At least, we can keep staying warm during this fairly cool Spring and cool when Summer hits the Pacific Northwest. The repairman was the nicest guy and his only flaw was he was a Dodgers fan. We talked about missing baseball. COVID-19 is not only messing with my vacation but also my beloved sports. I should’ve taken his picture.

My dear wife and I walked Oscar in the afternoons. We strolled the new Westside Trail and talked about the stresses of our day. I could’ve taken pictures of Nutria, Mallards, and Crows so big they looked like Black Hawks. She doesn’t like me to share the details about our personal conversations, so I won’t, but yeah even on vacation we have stressful things to deal with just like everyone else. This was the one part of the days together we both enjoyed the most. Sorry, not one picture.

During our vacation (and probably for the foreseeable future) I took over the cooking. On Monday night, I made chili in the crockpot and cornbread from scratch. OMG, both were delish! I made enough so that we could have it for 2 nights. On Wednesday, I smoked Chicken Breasts and baked banana bread. On Thursday, I made Chicken Enchiladas and Salsa Verde. Bonnie cooked Trout on Friday. It’s Lent. We ate each night like we were sitting in a fancy restaurant for the first time even though our lonely view was of the television screen and the gas fireplace. If you really want to see, I did take pictures of the breads and Chicken Enchiladas I made. It was so Asian of me. I even posted the pics on Microsoft Teams.

Tuesday was a shopping day. While nearly all retail stores were closed, QFC and Petsmart were not. Dog food and a Nylabone chew toy for Oscar. Chicken breasts for Wednesday’s dinner, one roll of toilet paper (I could only buy one), ice cream, and standing in line 6′ behind the next patron until it was my turn to pay. QFC is so eerily quiet this week. As well it should be if this virus is ever going to stop spreading. A grocery store employee sanitized all of the shopping carts while I was shopping and she was still at it when I left. Clean carts equal good service.

By Wednesday, our dryer went kaput. I researched the costs of buying a new dryer online and a top of the line Electrolux was going to be over $800! Our wonderful across the street neighbor, Christine, suggested we call The Appliance Guys. What an amazing recommendation! The nicest guy came out. He wore a face mask, gloves, and fixed our dryer for less than $200! We would not have to dry our clothes outside! Which, if you’ve ever lived in Oregon before, you know is hard to do. It rains a lot here. I love good service! This guy would’ve made a great picture!

On Thursday, another inconvenience…the downstairs toilet broke. Our go to is D & F Plumbing. Within a few hours, a young man had to install a new toilet assembly. I also had him check the water pressure coming into the house and going out the kitchen faucet and outside downspouts. In no time, all was back to normal. Have you noticed, I can’t remember the names of one of the 3 repair guys who’ve come out this week? I’m not shitting you. I should’ve taken their picture and posted them online.

Friday is really a dead day. My dear wife is cleaning the house. I’m writing and listening to Sheryl Crow Radio on Pandora. My FitBit and Bon’s Kindle are recharging. I don’t mean to sound bitter about spending my vacation mostly indoors. I’m lucky to be healthy, to have a home, to have a job and to have so many loved ones, when so many people are suffering terribly due to this horrific situation. This pandemic will end one day and life will return to normal. A new normal, whatever that is, which I hope will bring truth, justice, and the American vacation of leisure, excitement, and travel. And pictures. Lots and lots of pictures.

And a fascinating story.