COVID-19: The Journey. Chapter 5: Economic bust

Photos: At top, we are alone by the historic Levee Inn, Davenport; middle: dock with boats at Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri; above, window coverings, installed carefully amid the COVID crisis.

The news of July 30 that the national economy had shrunk at a record-breaking 33 percent rate in the second quarter came as no surprise to the Bakers.

The April-June plunge was by far the worst in decades, the Associated Press reported. This news was published after two events in July that to me, illustrate how middle-class Iowa retirees actually behave in current economic times:

1. On July 11, we carefully attended the senior dance recital for Steve's grand-daughter, Hailey. We had gone to this event for many years and had been looking forward to it. The Danceworks event was at the Galvin Fine Arts Center on the St. Ambrose University campus in Davenport. We attended in masks and our temperatures were taken at the entrance. We were seated by people we didn't know, but we kept as much distance as possible between us. The auditorium had many rows closed off to enforce social distancing.

We waited for Hailey afterwards, and when she arrived I burst into tears. She truly is a gifted dancer and is now part of the Pom squad at the University of Northern Iowa. Afterwards, we talked about finding some place to eat, outdoors. Darned if we could think of any place, at all. We trekked home and thereby did not spend money at any local restaurant.

2. On July 19, we returned home from a long, safe weekend in the Ozarks. We thought about staying in a nice hotel between Missouri and Iowa. But truly, the idea of a hotel room, with a closed pool and take-out food, is just not very appealing. We pressed home instead. That's another example of two retirees who didn't spend money in a community, as we might have done another time.

Other social occasions were accomplished carefully: For example, we hosted several neighbors on Independence Day in our big yard, at safe social distances. It was blistering hot but we stayed in the shade. It was possible to see some fireworks in the area.

I continued to meet with a girls' group (high school friends) from Tipton, Iowa. We recently walked on very nice trails in the Cedar County community of Clarence, Iowa. Then we headed over to a local restaurant to eat outdoors. (That at least helped one Clarence business!)

We also attended a high school baseball game. Steve's grandson, Brady, played for the Falcons at Davenport West. They faced the North Scott Lancers of Eldridge, Iowa. Only two people could attend for each player; we were attached to Brady and that was verified at the gate. We sat in safe social distances in the sparkly clean bleachers. No food was sold in the stadium so I walked a few blocks to Hungry Hobo with a mask on and bought sandwiches and pop to take back to the bleachers. That was allowed.

July ended with us walking around downtown Davenport on Bix 7 Saturday. We also got new window coverings for the house. I worked with a firm, Budget Blinds, starting in June. This was the highly anticipated installation. The company sent us directions on what to do when the workers arrived and we followed the rules to the letter. The house was cleaned and sanitized and we all wore masks. We also stayed out of rooms when the work was being done.

That night, I got all excited: My favorite Major League Baseball team, the Minnesota Twins, was on Fox-TV versus the Cleveland team. It was billed as one of the top games of the year, but it was a bust for this Twins fan. The good guys could not find their bats, and Cleveland's pitcher, Shane Bieber, was terrific on the mound. Nevertheless, I wore my Twins tee-shirt, visor, and used a Twins coozy. We had popcorn, peanuts, beer and hot dogs.

It was pretty fun but not like our usual experience at Target Field in Minneapolis. Sigh.

Me, ready for the Twins to take on Cleveland, July 30.