How's your week going- Week of November 23rd

[ProudTVJunkie]

I can’t believe it is Thanksgiving week. Somehow this year feels like it has been interminably long and also as though someone has hit fast forward.

In my small town it took us from March to the end of October to get to 158 cases but in 22 days of November we’ve racked up another 80 cases! It’s crazy how quickly this thing is spreading right now, and yet people seemed determined to get together for the holidays.

Someone told me they can’t stop living their lives so they’re going to celebrate this holiday normally no matter what. I see it differently. Instead of risking family members’ lives by continuing to act as though nothing has changed, I’ll gladly sacrifice this holiday season in the hopes that we’ll all be together for many years to come.

Our Thanksgiving has always been a little different. My husband and I aren't big fans of turkey, so we take the family out to our favorite Mexican restaurant that's about an hour away. It's a lot of fun and no one has to cook. Unfortunately, we won't be eating in a restaurant this year, but we are getting a large tray of enchiladas and will be delivering some of them to whomever in the family would like some.

So what will everyone else be doing this week? Check in and let us know how things are going.

[tycho657]

Thanksgiving will be the same for me and my 2 cats. Last year I even made them their own plates. They do like turkey. I make stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy of course,, yams and maybe green beans, fresh rolls from the bake shop, and of course cranberry sauce. I don't usually like left overs but I do like Thanksgiving leftovers. I usually skip desert but I saw a Marie Calendar frozen Razzelberry (raspberries and blackberry) pie. I do like a good berry pie. Not really a fan of pumpkin or pecan pies.
I saw my new family doc today. She seems nice and competent. I had finally found a good doc only to have him retire during covid.
Arizona numbers continue to go crazy. Yesterday we had 299,665 cases up 4331 from the day before. We will be well over 300,000 today. Yuma county has an infection rate of over 30%. the lettuce crop is coming in at this time so they have lots of workers in from California to pick.
I cancelled out of my RV trip for Dec. I was one of the hosts but I decided it was not worth going. When they tell families to skip Thanksgiving and Christmas it made no sense to gather with people I don't live with for 5 days. There are some in the group who think it's all a hoax so they don't want to wear masks or social distance. So I am sending my home made chicken soup and my game for the one night and I will stay home.
PTVJ I think you are being very wise staying home for the holiday.

[RG]

First, Mrs. G and I wish everyone a happy and safe Thanksgiving.



Second to infinity and beyond...This Covid world not only sucks but is very strange indeed. As some may recall I have two sisters who are nurses. One in FL thinks Covid is just a really bad flu and although she wears a mask and follows CDC procedures, she also travels a lot, fly's to CT or RI and thinks Mrs. G and I are crazy by not visiting her or letting her visit us.



My other sister moved to VA with us and is just the opposite, she quit her nursing job and has been working from home since May. Now one of her neighbors had an operation and cannot walk her dogs, so my sister helps out by walking them several times a day. Nov 14th she stopped at her neighbors house and sat and talked with her for a few minutes before taking the dogs out. On the 15th her neighbor called to say she'd been in contact with a person who tested positive for Covid. Since she cannot walk she has a cleaning company come in and they cleaned her house on Fri the 13th. One of the cleaners tested positive for Covid that day and of course my sister was in the house Saturday.


Naturally, since she and my wife walk every day, Mrs. G and I also have to worry about Covid. So on the 16th my sister goes for the quick test and it comes back Negative...AND Positive! What?!? Yeppers, it came back both, which of course never happened before so she went again on the 17th and it came back Negative, but since the first had a positive reaction, they decided to do another, more extensive test so she went in on the 18th for that, and it takes a minimum of 4 days for the results. Naturally that brings us to Sunday the 22nd so no info till today where it came back Negative. However she still has to stay in quarantine till the 28th just to be sure...and that includes us as well. Luckily we have our pie's all set for Thanksgiving...oh, and turkey, stuffing, you know, all that stuff you have to have before you can enjoy the PIE!!! Apple and Pecan, and T, if someone gives you a pecan pie and you don't want it, I'll be more than happy to send UPS your way to pick it up!



Now I can make light of what we're going thru because thankfully we are not Covid positive, but it is a scary, scary thing till you know that you're negative. What is concerning is despite so many wearing masks and wiping down surfaces and using wipes and antiseptic hand sanitizers, the numbers are increasing. I don't know what else we can do, but my neighbors think I'm going overboard as I use an antiseptic wipe to wipe down the mail every day before bringing it into the house. UPS or FedEx boxes and packages also get a thorough cleaning. When we go to the store, I have the antiseptic wipes in my car and clean off everything I bought before putting it in the car. I carry them with me for those very few times we go out to eat and I wipe down the table and chairs before we sit...oh, and I do the same when I go to the doctor or to the lab. Yeah, I know, somehow I turned into Mr. Monk. It's just a strange time and we just pray that everyone stays safe.

[ProudTVJunkie]

RG, I don't blame you for your precautions at all. My step-father is diligent about wiping down the mail and all packages that come to their house. I know our library disinfects all books after they are returned and then has them sit for 72 hours before they put them back in circulation.

However, I will fight you over who gets the extra pie! My daughter and I LOVE pecan pie and my husband's favorite is apple. To throw another pie option out there, I also love sweet potato pie (similar, but better than pumpkin, in my opinion). My husband works with a man who is originally from the South and makes his own sweet potato pie every year. As it's not as popular in the northeast, when he heard it was a favorite of mine, he actually made an extra pie and brought it in to work to give to Todd to bring home to me. I was thrilled and it was absolutely delicious!

[tycho657]

Ok I will eat and enjoy pecan pie. It was my Mom’s go to pie for any pot luck. When they lived in Yuma Dad would get a big bag of local pecans and split them for Mom. She did make an amazing pecan pie. As long as I could put lots of whipped cream on it😎 I could only eat one piece, berry pie I will eat until it’s gone   

RJ keep up the caution, it’s all we can do for now.

I’m off this morning to help with the 70 families that will get a Thanksgiving meal from mySt Vince chapter. This year we got 60 precooked Turkey meals from Safeway/Albertsons to help. Everything had to be kept refrigerated , glad we didn’t need freezers. St V was picked to receive these meals this year. Normally we wait until “Turkey Tuesday” when our local grocery chain Bashas, has their yearly Turkey drive. We get one store to collect. There are many people in need this year. We always wear masks and gloves. I will keep the hand sanitizer close today also. We do a drive thru pick up. Families will have a time fir pick up. We will deliver a few families without transportation.

[nathanfan1]

All is well on my end of WI, despite the skyrocketing covid numbers. My extended family will not be gathering at all this week and we're all at peace with that. I plan on making a turkey dinner Thursday night but won't do all of the usual side dishes since it's just the 2 of us. We did get a package of Norwegian lefse though. It just wouldn't be a holiday without it!

We had a pretty exciting weekend here! My oldest daughter's husband has always been a deer hunter and they have a 40 acre parcel of hunting land about 45 minutes away from here. Their oldest son couldn't wait to be old enough to hunt. He's been interested since he was about 4 years old. He got his first deer 2 years ago when he was 13 - an 8 point buck and was so proud. Last year he got a small doe during the youth hunt. Well, he was out this past Saturday, which was opening day, and close to noon he brought down a 14 point buck!!!!!!! That's a mighty impressive rack and he was over the moon!

The middle son never seemed interested in hunting until last year, at the age of 11. He suddenly wanted to learn to use the gun and try it. He didn't get anything last year but was determined to hunt again this year. He had a hockey game on opening day so he had to wait until Sunday to go out. Just as it was starting to get dark, he brought down a small doe with a single shot after his rifle misfired twice! He had quite the story to tell and was beyond excited!

The youngest son is only 7 but he asked if he could go along and watch for deer so in the middle of the day on Saturday, he and his dad went out to their blind to sit for a while. They were thrilled when a group of 5 deer came down a hill right by them and grazed for about 10 minutes in clear sight. He was so excited to tell about what he got to see and was proud that he had seen 5 deer and his brothers only saw 1 each!

Needless to say, it was one very triumphant household Sunday night and I was thrilled that each of the boys took time to tell me their stories and share pictures. They all enjoy the venison and the 2 older boys have mastered making jerkey so they'll enjoy all of the meat this winter. That 14 point buck will likely end up mounted on the 15 year old's wall!

[DrvrTrnr]

nathanfan1, that's very impressive shooting! I'm glad the hunters enjoy eating the fruits of their labor. Someone we know elk hunts. A few years ago, he gave us two packages of ground meat. I'd never had elk before and was amazed at how lean it was. It made the best spaghetti meat sauce, lol.

There is a Basha's  close to our house. Although we  don't shop there, we always donate a turkey on Turkey Tuesday.  This year we also donated a little money to our local Safeway food drive. Every little bit helps with so many not able to work due to the virus.

[larryholmes]

"...We did get a package of Norwegian lefse though. It just wouldn't be a holiday without it!..."

Uff da...you lucky folks!!

[RG]

When I was younger we would go up to Bethel, CT, where the local Masonic Lodge would have their equivalent of a hunter's feast. There were so many different venison recipe's and there was always lots of food. What was really nice was that the hunters in the town had a state limit of 5 deer and usually only needed one or two for themselves and family, but every year they shot their limit because one of their friends was a butcher in town and he would help make steaks, ribs, stew meat, etc. for the local food bank. Those in need always ate well.  Although I never hunted, I do enjoy venison.



As for lefse...although my Scandinavian side is from Sweden, I am still allowed to eat something that is typically Norwegian, and I always enjoyed it with cinnamon. Darn! Now I'm hungry for something I don't have in the house!!!  

[nathanfan1]

I'm delighted to hear that there are a few other lefse fans here!When we all gather for a holiday, that stuff disappears in a hurry. We keep it simple with just butter and sugar. The grocery stores around here carry 2 different brands that are still hand made and rolled out in communities here in Wisconsin. I used to make it myself but this lefse we get at the store now is every bit as good as mine and so convenient.

I hope everyone has a satisfying Thanksgiving, whatever that may look like this year! I pray we'll all stay safe and be here next year to celebrate in fine fashion.   

[geezer2008]

Wisconsin is just an ongoing disaster as far as Covid. Cases are up, deaths are up, and our hospitals are all close to capacity. Thanksgiving  will make it even worse. To make it worse, WI still has not finalized the election and the infighting continues like a bad dream.

On a happy note, our Xmas shopping is done. Packages are arriving daily. LOL, but the drivers from UPS, FedEx, and the USPS have become personal friends!! The only downer is that a present for Rikki will not even be shipped til April of 2021. Go figure.

We did our every 2 week grocery shopping this week so can stay in and be safe for a while. Masks, plastic gloves, sanitizer, and distancing are our friends. Like RG, we spray our incoming packages. So far. So Good. We are really looking forward to the vaccine when it finally arrives for us little people

Our SIL will deliver our Thanksgiving dinner which is great of him. He's a marvelous cook. We will zoom later with our loved ones. That's the best gift we can give each other to keep each other safe.  

[larryholmes]

I could also really go for some krumkake and fattigman! As for lutefisk, well...I always ate this but never asked for seconds when it was served. My mother's parents were from Norway and Sweden.

[nathanfan1]

Oh Larry, you're a better man than I!!!!!!!! I won't come within 6 feet of lutefisk! The smell alone is enough to stop me in my tracks. However, I LOVE krumkake and make several batches every winter. My other Norwegian favorite is rommegrut, the pudding. It's incredibly rich and could cause a heart attack just looking at it, but oh, so good!

[ProudTVJunkie]

Although there aren't many hunters in my family, my Uncle Matty (who passed away earlier this year) was a chef who made the best venison stew I've ever tasted.

I'd never even heard of lefse. I actually had to do a google search when nathanfan1 first mentioned it. Now I'd like to try it but I'm not sure where to find it here. We're very culturally diverse here in NJ but I guess there aren't a lot of Norwegians.

I miss pizzelles. They are an Italian waffle-like cookie and my grandmother would make them often. There was always a huge platter of them at Thanksgiving dinner.

On the Polish side of my family we have Kruschiki. It's a very light cookie, also nicknamed Angel Wings. They are SO good! My Aunt Nellie makes a big batch of them for Christmas and we normally visit her the morning of Christmas Eve. That probably won't happen this year, so I may have to take a crack at the recipe myself.