Baker's heartbeat

Above, and top, me doing the virtual 'Quick Bix' in early July Today is the first day in about 33 years that we haven't been in downtown Davenport well before 8 a.m. The Quad-City Times Bix 7 has been a part of the Baker family since the late 1980s. I walked/ran it for eight years, and then reported on it as part of the Times' news team. The last two years I've done the Prairie Farms two-mile "Quick Bix." On this Saturday, we Bakers would normally shop at the crafts fair, eat at the food booths (sandwiches from the Scott County Pork Producers), enjoy popcorn, beer and listening to live music. The Bix 7 race and street festival is a place to gather with family and friends. It is the best weekend of the summer and it would have continued this year except for COVID-19. I did the virtual "Quick Bix" on the hottest day of the year, in early July. Last year I ran 13-minute miles; this year it was 15-minute miles on a treadmill.  I did e...

Haircut !   Father's Day and social distancing on the patio. More than 12 wagon-loads of weeds were pulled out of lake by our dock. The neighborhood signs were cleaned, repainted and waxed. Both Bakers started June by getting a hair cut. It was such a relief! Here's the blog I wrote about the experience (https://bakersheartbeat.blogspot.com/2020/06/june-3-was-red-letter-day-for-hair.html). As the president of the neighborhood association, I organized an effort to get the main signs cleaned, repainted to an extent, and waxed. That continued with volunteer help for the first three weeks of June. We launched two home improvement projects: New window blinds, and new gutters, covered from falling leaves. I was in charge of the blinds project and met with a salesperson; she came to the house fully protected ... with boots, a face mask and gloves. Family members visited on Father's Day; we had seen most everyone repeatedly during Carol Baker's funeral an...

Carol Baker photo tribute In May, almost all activities were affected by COVID-19. I'm the current president of the Lake Huntington Neighborhood Association and our quarterly meeting was limited to the executive team. Four of us met in chairs, placed six feet apart in the driveway. We discussed neighborhood business and then sent out the meeting minutes to residents.  The next week Steve's mother, Carol Baker, had a stroke at her nursing home in West Liberty, Iowa. Her children, Steve and Cindy, were allowed to see their mom in her last hours. The next week was full of activity related to the funeral. See the blog I wrote, here (https://bakersheartbeat.blogspot.com/2020/05/saying-good-bye-in-covid-19-era.html) Daughter Kirstin returned home for several days; keeping baby Myla entertained was a full-time activity. We also got a visit from Tipton (Iowa) friends who arrived with a pie. We talked to them outdoors on our deck and felt safe doing that. More Tipton friends...

  Gage, Kirstin and Myla Rodewald, with Buffy. Chalk drawings helps us, maybe neighbors too! Daughter, Kirstin, and baby granddaughter, Myla, greeted us at home the first of the April. We see the extended family once a month so certainly felt safe in this visit. Son-in-law Gage, a police officer in suburban Des Moines, eventually joined us and we four played card games after the baby went to bed. Palm Sunday arrived, and we painted the driveway to reflect the spiritual season as well as to share goodwill with the neighbors. Gage also helped Steve fetch our pontoon boat from storage and get it in the lake. By the time the Rodewald family left, however, we were faced with purely home duty the next few months. A first concern, of all things, was toilet paper. Steve's daughter, Jill, came to the rescue: She'd found some at Sam's Club and drove it out to our rural Scott County home. Daughter Teiah arrived with an Easter basket. Both girls dropped the items on the ...

Teens jump off a rented pontoon boat in Florida It was November 2019, when the members of the extended Baker family arranged to have a family vacation in the spring of 2020. Plans were made and vacation bills were paid well ahead of the trip. Some $12,000 from about 15 people was involved in reserving space on a cruise ship to celebrate the high school graduation of Steve's grand-daughter, Hailey. Fast-forward to February 2020. News came about a troubling virus, but it was contained in Asia. Steve and I decided to take a slow trip south, stopping every six hours or so in various communities. We would leave March 2. This would end in New Orleans, where we could board the ship. The rest of the family would meet us. We'd unite at dockside, we thought. It was Friday, March 13, when the mass confusion started. The younger families had taken off from Davenport, Iowa, on March 12 and drove straight south. This group was arriving in the New Orleans region when the news sta...