Monday, September 21 – Sunday, September 27
The Week in Covid Era Dentistry: I had a cavity filled this week, an unpleasant experience in the best of times, and just about dreadful in in the Covid era. I should note that poor dental hygiene as a kid has left me with a mouth full of old silver fillings. I’m a pro at opening wide and thinking beautiful thoughts while a drill is working it’s way into my tooth. Part of my ease comes from one of the first times I got Novocaine injected. I don’t know if I was even 10 years old, but dentist did this thing where he kept the needle behind his back and then quickly moved it into my mouth before I could protest. My memory of the first time he did that what that the need was HUGE, like comically huge. It freaked me out. The next time I had a filling I was waiting for this implement with great anxiety and when I caught a glimpse of it, well, it was just a normal sized. And ever since then, since I’ve already had the biggest needle in the world in my mouth, every other filling has started off well.
This week I got past the needle phase, no problem. But in Covid, the object of the game is to reduce aerosols. To that end, they inserted a “Dry Shield” into my mouth that essentially prevented my tongue and new spit from going forward into my mouth where the work was being done. It was like wearing a sports mouth piece for a play that never ended. Luckily things when relatively quick. I have a brand new modern filling and I got more human contact in 20 minutes than I have had in months
The Week in Covid Era Flu Shots: I mean, I don’t know I am possibly going to get the flu or any other communicable illness/disease with all the Covid precautions I’m living through. But, I’m all in on this public health thing so I got my regular flu shot. I got it done at work where people walking fearfully into rooms full of co-workers is normal.
The Week in Piecing Out Oktoberfest: Still nursing my bitter, bitter feelings about Oktoberfest being cancelled, I got take out from Arnold’s, a big part of how the city celebrates. I grabbed a seat at a picnic table, ordered up Rhinegeist’s Oktoberfest beer Franz, and waited for my schnitzel. Maybe not the raucous celebration I wanted, but a touch of Oktoberfest will have to do.
The Week in Moutarde: A friend was heading up to Jungle Jim’s International Market and asked if I needed anything. I haven’t been there since well before Covid, and I could think of tons of stuff I wanted, but I settled on asking for one thing that would be fun and easy to find, and something that my guest shopper could not get wrong…stone ground mustard. He found some and I immediately went to the butcher and bought a pork roast, as you do when good mustard is in your possession. The mustard was delicious. The cooked roast as about the best one I ever made. And, I got to say moutarde for a couple days!
Moutarde Pork Roast 
Moutarde and green bean.
The Week in Puzzles: TJ Maxx doesn’t have a lot puzzles, but of that small bit of inventory, they have a high percentage of weird puzzles. This week I got to spend part of an evening with Rick of Rick and Morty Fame.
