One Day at a Time

Sunday, June 07, 2020

Neighbors, Ya Can't Pick Them!

"The more we can be in a relationship with those who might seem strange to us, the more we can feel like we're neighbors and all members of the human family."Fred Rogers

My neighborhood has changed dramatically these last few years. It is a small upper middle class (not to be skewed by the lottery winner third house down) neighborhood. We are very rural with only seven <4 acre lots on our side of the street and 4 lots on the other and one empty lot at the cul de sac. Actually, there are 3 empty lots and one that is expensive will never be buildable as it is not able to perk. More about that later.

Anyway, out of the eight homes that were here when we built on our lot about 13 years ago, four of those original neighbors have sold and moved away. We are pretty good friends with our neighbors on the left side of us but they are gone 6-7 months of the year to Florida. They have HUGE home and I anticipate they will want to live permanently in Florida as they age and time goes on unless the pandemic and politics down there change their mind. My husband is a great social animal and we have become new friends with the new neighbors on our right side, even though we are in the middle of a pandemic. He is good at making friends by dropping off plants and they have responded by dropping off banana bread and chocolate covered strawberries!

I have not met the new neighbors who own the large lot at the far end of the road near the highway, but he has built a dock for his 100K or even more expensive boat. The reason I am quoting prices here is that he must have lots of money and must be really disappointed he cannot get a home built on the river. He does come by that dock and take his boat out on the weekends. The boat is full of grandkids and a few adults. Anyway, this last weekend I got to listen to some popular style of music (loud and repetitive) while he entertained on his dock. His dock is almost a mile from my yard and yet I could hear the "noise." Why do people always assume you like their style of music?

Fortunately, it was for only several hours on a Saturday. I am a bitch and would have called the police (even though they are overworked these days with protests and pandemics) and complained if it went on and on or if it happens more often. I do not mind the occasional BBQ BUT! Even my neighbor to the left of us in the big house was polite enough to call a few years ago to let us know she was holding her church service on her front lawn and we would have "noise" for a few hours and hoped we would not mind. She is a gem! It was a one time only event and I did not mind.

To belabor this neighbor thing, I went down to my dock to take photos of our wonderful sunsets the other day and happened to look across the river to our neighbors on the other side of the river. We only know them superficially because one of them is our Postmaster. I took this photo.

They seem like such nice people...I will NEVER understand someone who likes 45 and claims he is a good leader. If your grandfather likes to walk in on 15-year-old girls naked, makes fun of the "cripple" across the street, calls people names, and demands that you do not disagree with him EVER, he is not someone you like. You may be required to be polite, but you are not going to vote for him for dogcatcher.

Ok, my last little note on neighbors. As my readers may know, my son lives in a suburb near the city area of D.C. You may (or may not) have read in the news about a 50-year-old white guy on a bike confronting three teenagers who were putting up protest flyers in support of the black lives matter movement in a park in that area. Two were 17-year-old girls and one was a 16-year-old boy. The biker assaulted the two girls tearing the flyers from their hands and then rammed his bicycle into the boy before riding away. Since the boy was smart enough to film the assault on his cell phone, the man was identified and arrested. ( I do not know if the teenagers were black or white, but that does not matter!) The reason I am writing about this is I got a text message from my son today that this man lives a few doors down from my son's house and there was going to be a protest in the neighborhood as a result, so he wanted me to be aware and not be concerned!

I had to add an addendum to this. When my son stretched his and his new wife's money and bought his rather small house (smaller than 90% of the houses in his neighborhood) I was pleased because the area looked so stable and economically safe and middle class. I do remember saying I was a little disappointed because it was certainly "white bread."

You cannot pick your neighbors, but you hardly expect this!

Tuesday, June 02, 2020

The Bank Lobby...no, not the one that is closed

I am exhausted today. I am angry today. I am bewildered, and it has nothing to do with what you are reading in the news! I did not want what I got in the mail yesterday. I do not need what I got in the mail yesterday. Please hang with me here.

I received in the mail yesterday a Visa debit card that arrived in a plain white envelope from an address in Omaha called Metabank. (MetaBank, the retail banking division, operates 10 retail branches in four market areas: Central Iowa; Storm Lake, Iowa; Brookings, S.D..; and Sioux Falls, S.D.. MetaBank offers traditional banking services designed to serve the needs of individual, agricultural, and business depositors and borrowers.)

Most people toss their credit card offers, but I decided to open the thin white envelope and found inside my "Economic Impact Credit" in the form of a VISA debit card. Yes, this "small" bank is the one issuing the Federal payments as a VISA debit card. Not one of my two large banks on the east coast, but some unknown! The reason soon became clear.

Some of my friends have gotten their money as a direct deposit to their bank. The IRS has my bank routing information to one of the largest banks on the east coast, but they did not use that. Others have gotten their money as a check from the U.S. Treasury. Instead, I have gotten this Visa debit card in an unobtrusive envelope with absolutely no advertising from the Treasury office that some of us will be getting our money this way. I have read that some people have tossed this envelope thinking it was a solicitation for getting a credit card!

The U.S. government has made no effort to make this clear to people. I also learned that there are numerous fees attached to the use of the card. They (Metabank) allow you to make only one withdrawal per day from an ATM before they charge you $2.00 per transaction. Because my HUGE bank is "out-of-network" my bank is charging an additional $3.50 per withdrawal and will not allow me to withdraw a large enough amount to empty the card in one day! This is money that people who cannot put food on the table could use.

Start adding this all up and you can see the bank lobby is making millions of dollars off of this VISA debit scam. Not only in fees but in the money they are holding from people who threw away their card!

In addition, my card balance is not in even dollars but ends in 50 cents. You cannot get 50 cents from an ATM. I will have to spend it somewhere and overspend to get the 50 cents. I cannot imagine how someone who has never had such a card or does not read small print will get confused and end up owing Metabank money before they can figure out how to cancel. I will attempt to clear the balance tomorrow, and hopefully donate it all to a worthy cause(s)...although emotionally I would like to donate it to the Democratic party and buy a balloon with Trump in a diaper.

Greed is endless.

Friday, May 29, 2020

Adjusting ...adjusting...adjusting

Those of you who use WordPress or another interface to Blogger may find this post neither here, there or anywhere. Blogger has developed a new "better" interface. It seems that it is designed for mobile devices because we all read blogs on our phones/tablets? I am sure that many people do read the more popular blogs on their "mobile devices" but most of my readers probably do not. I cannot imagine reading something like a blog on that tiny screen.

Anyway, this new interface, and the super-simple symbols and the relocation of stuff is making me a little dizzy! I got all cozy with the old-fashioned model. Yes, they do allow us to go back and use that, but I will work on this and stretch my mind a bit.

I cannot figure out where the HTML interface button/link might be in case I have some coding adjustments... I will have to work on that. Maybe HTML coding is so old and obsolete that no one uses it directly anymore? Oh, THERE it is!

Now I am going to load a photo...just to see if I can do it! Most of the interface stuff is still there only somewhere else-there...Now to make the photo bigger.

... I think you can see the little color-coordinated spider on my evening primrose better now.

There is a link on the original bookmark fro Blogger that says I can go back to the older, more familiar interface. I will now go ahead and publish this and see if it works. The AARP (organization for retired folks) says learning new computer programs is good for you. I hope this counts as a new program! It is certainly learning.

The world changes endlessly and we must keep up or wave as it passes us on by. Nothing wrong with being left behind, but only if you want that.

Sunday, May 24, 2020

If Time Were Not a Moving Thing

With so much time on my hands these days I go through books faster than usual. I had read the book "Time and Again" by Jack Finney a few years ago. I had forgotten that I had read it and started to re-read it just last week and then remembered how I had found it somewhat intense and a bit claustrophobic. It is a science fiction book about an artist being selected to create time travel with his imagination/self-hypnosis and this will be used by the government to change what they want to change in the past. It was a well-constructed novel based on factual historical events in New York in the late 1800s. There was a rumor that the story was going to be made into a movie by Robert Redford, but that fell through.

Now, I have turned to read "Speak, Memory" by Vladimir Nabokov because...well, why not go back in time with a great author? It is an autobiography. He begins recreating his first impressions of his life way back into toddler-hood. What an impressive memory he has. It reveals lovely patterns of existence and symbolism in the context of the turn of the Century in Russia in a wealthy family. In the prologue he explains that all of this was edited by intense give and take from older siblings and other friends who seem to remember some of it far differently than he does.

" I have journeyed back in thought---with thought hopelessly tapering off as I went---to remote regions where I groped for some secret outlet only to discover that the prison of time is spherical and without exits."

That is the fugitive of time. We see one creative side and another set of eyes that passed with us through that same window will throw cold water on that memory washing away a rosy color from our glasses and coming up with evidence of something very different. It is almost as if our memories of our past life are "but a dream."

OK. ENOUGH with the song lyrics.

Nabokov also said "The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness." Well with that depressing perspective I will admit I can now move forward with fewer expectations on the importance of my leaving a memory or even a footprint!

"Initially, I was unaware that time, so boundless at first blush, was a prison. In probing my childhood (which is the next best to probing one’s eternity) I see the awakening of consciousness as a series of spaced flashes, with the intervals between them gradually diminishing until bright blocks of perception are formed, affording memory a slippery hold." Nabakov again.

Above is a photo looking back to our dock, a memory for this year. Our first venture across the water in almost a year since the recreational boating lock-down was lifted this holiday weekend. My husband was thrilled and I brought a book in case he had luck at his old fishing hole.

Sunday, May 17, 2020

Seven Good Things in No Particular Order

Since the "visit of the virus" there have been some unexpected changes:

1. My son and daughter-in-law have met dozens of people in their neighborhood, mostly people who walk dogs like they do.

2. The garden supply catalogs and retails stores are sold out as people re-discover backyard gardening.

3. My septic system is benefiting as we have learned to count toilet paper squares to be frugal with our small stockpile.

4. With the box delivery of random vegetables and fruits, Hubby and I are now eating veggies that I avoided and now I think we are more broad-minded in our taste as well as healthier. I get more veggies than I usually use, and thus that is also good forcing me to eat fiber!

5. Free-lance repairmen have become valuable at our house and I think we are valuable to their gig list of work as they face unemployment. We have had a fuse box repaired when hubby cut through the electric cord of his hedge trimmer, a boat transom repaired that was ages old and the electric box to our yard gate fixed.

6. The grandkids actually sit in a chair in their driveway and visit rather than spending time in their bedrooms, even though we see them less.

7. My house cleaning is no longer smash-dab but thorough and careful. (Unfortunately, no one sees it!)

What are some good things you are enjoying while we work on staying healthy?

Thursday, May 14, 2020

Are You Home?

We are still on an upward curve in terms of infections and deaths, but our Governor is slowly and not so carefully opening the state back up. We are bravely driving up to see the children and drop off garden plants this weekend. No touching and using masks, but because the drive is over an hour and we are visiting both families, we will have to use one of their bathrooms. I am going to ask them to run the fans for a while before we go inside and for their sakes run it for a while after we leave. Odd the things we request of our children these days.

I will pack some snacks because I am not sure we can feel safe eating anywhere...even outdoor sidewalk cafes!

Above is some Pasta Fajoli I made a while back. Haven't made this since I was a teenager!

I am feeling a bit useless these days as the friends that I have called have no needs, although I do check on them. Guess I just have solid pioneer friends. My kids are also doing well and so glad that all four of their careers are still moving along with full employment. That is perhaps what I worry about most when I let my mind wander down that "What if..." vein.

My gardens are super lovely as the weather has been perfect spring. Coolish with just enough rain to make the plants grow! And, as usual, the natives fight hard not be overlooked and overshadowed by the full-blossomed hybrids.

Anyway, I may stop by your place this weekend and drop off some tomato plants, some pepper plants and some basil. Will you be home?

Wednesday, May 06, 2020

Sigh

Something I read today:

"What weight do we apportion the fact of life versus quality of life? At what point of psychological and economic degradation is that quality unacceptable and is the life worth putting at risk? What number of lives, if any, is it OK to endanger so that a much higher number of lives can be bettered? What’s the higher number? And how should betterment be defined?

Sweden’s herd-immunity approach provided one set of answers. Michigan’s lockdown provided another. Whichever fork a given place or population takes, it’s making a profoundly moral decision.

A friend of mine recently asserted that no matter the Covid-19 data in July and August, all college campuses should welcome students back for the fall semester because young people aren’t the primary victims of Covid-19; because the current disruption to their lives, if prolonged, could strain them in ways that haunt their futures; and because they have so much future ahead of them. They warrant a little extra consideration.

Implicit in that reasoning is that older people, who are vulnerable if the resumption of business as usual spreads the virus, warrant a little less.

There’s no way to sugarcoat that, and there’s no point in being anything less than wholly honest about the implications of the transcendently difficult choices before us." Frank Bruni, New York Times

Someone on Facebook responded thus:

"Wonder what it costs for a two week stay in ICU? Families then have to bury their loved one. Legal fees for will probate. Cemetery plot if one is available.
All that expense and suffering. And then, medical people that spent fortune to train. Throwing it into the bonfire to care for humanity.
If we are reducing this to a matter of money, then the answer is NO. The economy will recover anyway. Your portfolio will eventually go back up. Yearly profits will not be as high. But the human cost is unspeakable. The children left without a parent. That price is too high and the economy is not worth needless deaths. I do not accept that nihilistic nightmare."

Thursday, April 30, 2020

Masking

I can remember, barely, last year when I was in China and felt sorry that the Chinese have to wear masks as they went about their daily lives in cities like Shanghai and Beijing and other cities we visited. Even our host on our tour boat gave a talk comparing the culture of the west and the east and admitted to longing for the day when his children would not have to shelter inside due to days of heavy air pollution. The majority of China's energy comes from cheaper coal.

In late January many Americans thought the Chinese were being wussy wearing their masks everywhere. Many Americans did not comprehend the virus at all.

When the pandemic first started to spread here on our continent you would see the occasional mask being worn by an elder or someone you assumed was immune-compromised or something else. In early March even I went to the store in our rural area without a mask and saw 15% wearing some face covering. Many of us felt it was probably overkill. Consistently, the government said we didn't need masks but just needed to distance. I felt in the back of my mind that this was really so that people did not rush out to buy and hoard the N95 masks.

There was a back and forth for weeks on how "aerosolized" the virus could be. There were articles on how far heavy spittle and sneeze drops actually traveled. Then the scientists' admission (still somewhat controversial) about tiny virus particles traveling distances or hanging in the air for hours. Whether these tiny vapors are strong enough to be a contagion is still being explored. Public bathrooms are the absolute worst place to expose yourself as heavy concentrations of the virus were found in patients' bathrooms and areas of heavy use in the reception areas of hospitals.

Then States started to turn the corner and ask people to cover their faces with anything if they went out shopping. This eventually morphed in laws requiring masks in some areas...such as mine. Suddenly masking was taken seriously by those snowflakes who follow the science. Others were blatant deniers but felt they needed to public carry automatic weapons for protection instead. I will not digress on this flat-earth mentality.

I had two boxes of N95 masks from Home Depot. One from a time when we were painting and doing sanding work. Another from an order I made in early January as a precaution. I gave away the unopened box of 10 masks to our local Fire Department as the Pandemic grew. Part of the other box I sent to the family for their protection and the rest I put in zip-locks to be used in the car as I have lung issues and both hubby and I are in our mid-seventies. Once worn they get aired in the car for 4 days and then re-used, which one medical site recommended for those using it much more heavily than we do.

Now the last day of April you will see all kinds of masks with varying degrees of protection being sold in ads or home-made by volunteer groups. Asia is selling tons of them on Facebook (and probably other social venues) with little facts on how effective they are. Cotton, batik cotton and quilting fabrics are the best for homemade but should use a wire to fit across the nose which prevents air escape as well as glasses fogging. They caution against non-natural fabrics and I have found nothing on silk scarves. I have some quilting and some batik materials but I do not like the ties so am waiting for elastic which I ordered a few days ago. When I make these I can distribute to those who want or need them and we can use them in the future.

As with any product that is needed masks have become customized. Sports teams, hobbies, pet breeds, and even hand lettering with the initials of the wearer are being made. Never let it be said that entrepreneurs will miss a sales opportunity!

In my vanity, I have noticed that you do not need lipstick anymore if you head outside to get mail or food. If you are female you do not need to brush your hair too much. By the time the straps are in place, your hair will look reasonably pathetic anyway.

Well stay safe out there and make sure you bring home the correct spouse after your shopping trip...we are all starting to look alike out there.

Please explain this label to me..!

Saturday, April 25, 2020

Catch Up and Keep Up

I just realized that I am trying to find time to squeeze in a blogging post. I am not the type of person that can just toss something off the top of my head...well, I can, but it will sound like one of our President's monologues and people will quit reading here and leave scratching their heads. It seems that washing vegetables, washing the mail, nurturing my spring seedlings, nurturing the perennials I had ordered with our unusually cold spring, keeping up with the laundry that may or may not be covered in virus, keeping in closer touch with family and friends who are near and far, and trying to plan meals with half the ingredients is taking up all my time and keeping me exhausted.

I should be less busy. But I had two Zoom meetings and about two dozen emails with tasks in the last week. I continue to order food online and that is harder than it sounds. These online activities are exhausting for someone of my ancient age. It took me two hours just to organize one of my email boxes so that I did not lose important emails to the great black hole where all emails eventually go. I am exhausted from trying to log in to a Zoom meeting, realizing only my laptop has a camera (who in the hell needs to see my witchy hairstyle these days?), finding I have to go to the bedroom where it is quieter, finding the bedroom internet is not strong enough and trying to take notes when every 5th,6th, and 7th word is lost in static!

Then I came across this article from National Geographic explaining why Zoom meetings are so tiring for many but not all.

My daughter (who is not one of those meme crazy ladies and certainly not one of those chain challenge idiots) got me involved in a 10 days, 10 photos, 10 friends challenge on Facebook. I spend hours trying to find meaningful photos and thinking about which 10 friends I would select...usually determined by which photos I find. My daughter's birthday was Friday and she and her family had planned all kinds of things to do. Online games with friends, a parking lot happy hour where they will remain 10 feet apart and eat and drink sitting in the trunks of their cars, and a movie night--online. They just purchased a huge trampoline that takes up their entire backyard and the kids are in such good health using that. My granddaughter has been heartbroken that she is no longer participating in cheer competitions with all the tumbling and balancing, and this is great for her.

I also was selected to participate in a View From My Window group on Facebook. Fascinating photos of ALL types from people's windows around the globe as they shelter in place. I am sure the administrators of this group will have a good book someday. Through this group, I see bitterly cold winters, soft gentle spring views, and finally, some hot summer desert views. I see lake views (pools, oceans, rivers) contrasting with high rise cities and barren alley views from all the continents and islands of the world. Some of the best "window" views include animals---giraffes, monkeys, kangaroos, parrots, lambs, horses, etc. (I guess I am spending too much time with this group.)

Today I am nervous as I will have to try to log-in to a live FB presentation and I still do not know how to do it. I failed with the test yesterday. I am supposed to support the person doing the presentation as a back-up to answer questions. Since I am not the only support person, I guess they will survive if I do not figure this mess out.

I will leave you with a photo of the 'view from my window' but this is not the one I uploaded to the group. I was in too much of a hurry and just selected something from my image catalog. Yes, I dusted the table.

Sunday, April 19, 2020

A Follow-up and Some Interesting News

1. I can’t wait for National Parks to reopen after the quarantine.

2. I am in no hurry for my volunteer meetings to reopen after the quarantine.

3. These days, resigned hope is my default mood.

4. Have I ever told you there are times when I wish I had kept my big mouth shut?

The credit for this meme above can be found in Messimimi's comments at the bottom of the previous post if you want to know who and how this came about.

The young girl above is paddling down our river on April 8. The water temps in the 40's and air temps in the 50's. We just lost two members of the Kennedy family canoeing on the Chesapeake and not wearing dry suits or their Personal Floatation Devices. A mother and an 8-year-old son. Their death was attributed to rough waves but also very cold water in the 40s. Note where she is keeping her life jacket!

The more significant changes caused by this virus is that when you force mankind to remain indoors for significant periods of time, the world begins to slowly recover from its scars and pollution that we have wrought.

Mobs of monkeys are roaming the streets of Japan.
Venice's canals have become clear once again because silt is not being stirred up by traffic. (One rumor is that dolphins have returned. This was not true and photos in social media were dolphins swimming off the canals in Sardinia which is not an unusual phenomenon.)
Lions did sleep on the roadways at South Africa's Kruger national park because of the lack of traffic.
The air pollution in Europe, China and around the world has become less. The countries with lots of asthma cases (China) can now see blue skies.
Elk have invaded Banff town as their tourist industry falls into great decline. You can see it here as well.
The earth is actually vibrating less due to the lockdown. Earth tremors can be more accurately measured closer to developed areas.
One thing that is not happening is that birds ARE NOT louder. Just seems that was with the diminishing of noise pollution and people being forced to stay at home!

(You may not be able to get to all of these links if they are geographically or subscription-restricted.)

Have a peaceful, stressfree weekend!

Friday, April 17, 2020

From MessiMimi...a fill-in.

One of my readers (perhaps others) is not happy about how 'dismissive" my posts seem to be during this time of death and danger. I try to write light-hearted because there is way too much depressing information out there. My life is not all sunshine and roses, but I do not want to share the hard stuff with readers, as I am still a bit private even though anonymous. I also do not want to brag about the things I am doing because I have the privilege of being upper-middle-class and can afford to assist. So I like to make reading the blogs a break from reading the news. I also avoid politics (I do give in now and again to try to convince others) when I can.

Below is an exercise from Messimimi's blog. Simple and a nice distraction.

1. I can’t wait for _______ to reopen after the quarantine.

2. I am in no hurry for __________ to reopen after the quarantine.

3. These days, ______ is my default mood.

4. Have I ever told you ________?

You can play in the comments and then perhaps I will repost with my answers.

Here is a course from Yale on happiness you can audit for FREE.

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Too Much of a Good Thing?

Apologies as I have not been around to read my Bloggers (you folks) as much as I would like to. I have been busy cornering the market on milk, ricotta cheese, eggs, spreadable butter, real butter, and coffee creamer. On the odd chance you might be interested in how to do this I will explain.

Last week on Tuesday I ordered the above through an online service called InstaCart where local people who have a car and need income go to the grocery to shop for you. Once the shopping has started they ping your phone when they want to substitute a product for something not on the shelves. These shoppers can be teenagers who have never shopped in a grocery store or others who have experience and will map out the aisles to be the most efficient. I got two pounds of strawberries on the last order, which I do not remember selecting! Anyway, you are looking over their shoulder sometimes when they send a photo of the partially empty shelf with alternative products. You can tip up to 25% for the driver. I do that and also leave money in an envelope on the porch where they deliver as cash is probably more important to them. You are instantly messaged to your phone once the order is on its way. The first order came fine even though it was missing a few items and had the strawberries.

My second order, I needed dairy type products. I made my order online and waited for a few days and never got any response. They do not guarantee a short or quick delivery. Usually, you have a four-day delivery window and they can deliver as late as 9:00 P.M. This tool to avoid the virus requires patience.

Since some times had passed, I was concerned the order was not completed, so I went in and ordered once again. This time I got thrown off the internet as we lost electricty due to that nasty front that came across the East Coast. By afternoon the power came back on and I went through the whole process again ordering my dairy stuff.

I know my brilliant readers are waaaay ahead of me on this. I got the order two days later. Then the very next morning after that I got the same order again! And the morning after that I found the same order on my front porch! For elders this ordering online is a little crazy. I will pay for it all, as it was my fault, I guess. If I do not go to the store, I will be much more careful.

Now I have reached out to provide this free food to my friends. I managed to get rid of one dozen extra eggs to a friend who is in her 80's and confined to her retirement campus. She is a former nutritionist and probably one of the best bakers I have ever met. She left me a little surprise of her culinary talents after I dropped the eggs off.

I finally had to freeze some because everyone I contacted was stocked! My freezer is now also overstocked.

Next hubby Instant Messaged our gardener fellow who lives with his mother and I told hubby to tell him he had to take all of the order! He is coming today to get it, I hope!

I was going to make an Italian cheesecake with the Ricotta. Can you freeze ricotta? By the way, do you need anything?

Thursday, April 09, 2020

Deal With It

It is a roller coaster ride, is it not? Some days I can be very Zen and so thankful that spring is abundantly showing off everywhere in my area. I am truly happy that I am ahead of the curve on weeding, frozen foods, paper products, chocolate, and phone calls. This is the valley in the ride.

Then I get to the start of a hill. I had my first Zoom meeting today with a volunteer group. I actually had to change out of PJs (at least the tops), wash my face, put on some make-up, and brush and blow dry my hair as it is getting heavy and missing its haircut! Then I had to figure out how to link to the meeting. I started 5 minutes early and FINALLY after multiple missed attempts did some corrections in the mass list of ID and Password and other entries that would not validate and logged in only 5 minutes late! The ~~damn~~ meeting was an hour and a half long. It was very productive and I managed to get volunteered for only one or two things to do.

This is what I use to cut hubby's hair and he looks great!

Now, this introvert is exhausted from just that, BUT this afternoon I have to get in the car and mail some face masks to my son, pick up the mail, and drive my car around in the country to charge the battery. It does not like sitting idle for days. Hubby is thrilled to go for a car ride. Does he remind you of your pet?

Since hubby has been outside working more, he is creating more laundry. He did a wash yesterday and is folding it today. I am holding my breath and letting him fold clothes...egad. That is the downhill, cannot-keep-up side of this ride. Relearning PowerPoint to convert to a .jpg to put on the gardening FB page is also much more challenging than it seemed to be years ago. And what I have to post is time-sensitive.

I am totally bored with my cooking. Totally. And we have a larger variety of foodstuffs than most. I just want some salty fatty food from a restaurant. My next job is to call the restaurant and place a take-out order. This is exhausting for me and a little nerve-racking.

Above is an odd meal I cooked the other night. Kentucky BBQ chicken, Boiled Japanese Daikon radish with ginger and oyster sauce, and some curry-flavored stir fry vegetables. I order bi-weekly veggies and must find ways to use these.

My dreams stay with me longer. They are odd and usually involve me trying to keep up on some trips or meet-up with others in some tight time frame.

Then we reach the valley once again when I read an article that says this virus was probably in China in mid-November as they had an unusual uptick in flu cases. (You may remember that we left China the last week of October!) So I can be thankful for that dodging of the bullet.

Now that I have erupted in verbal chaos, just exactly how is your day going?

Friday, April 03, 2020

A Harump Followed by Something Worthwhile

Learning to live in the time of Coronavirus is not easy for those who are inflexible or sorta-flexible or just plain privileged.

While commercial fishing is allowed, our governor has banned recreational boating. This has resulted in a 15,000 signature petition for him to lift it if boats agree to stay 50 feet apart, only family members on board and no parties on beaches. It is hard for good old boys to give up such a hobby and I can understand why. I am sure the state had images of beer parties and boats rafted together, or remote beach parties, etc. Also, they did not want their DNR officers spending time on drunken get-togethers on the water when they need to focus on other stuff.

Hubby can canoe and kayak as that is considered exercise, so he is not totally dismayed. Our governor survived cancer and has a good knowledge of medical science, but elected by the GOP, the Trumpers are getting mad at him for taking away their 'rights'. (The right to infect the nation if they want.) I have learned that many (at least those on FB, Twitter or the media) conservatives are ALWAYS suspicious of science and think scientists are members of some dark-state cult. Pray for those scientists that stand behind the President at each daily briefing and manage to not strangle him while subtly contradicting what he says to keep us alive.

We also learned that we can no longer work in the children's garden to raise food for the free pantry. It seems that the University will not allow volunteers (Master Gardeners) to work on their own. The property is owned by the museum and they do not mind, although they have pretty much shut down their offices. The director of the museum told us yesterday that she is now employed at one hour a week!! Other Master Gardener projects can continue. One is run by a church and its volunteers are not part of the MSG program and the garden is on church property. A larger food garden is run by an environmental organization and pays its staff...so that is considered agriculture which is exempted from the Shelter in Place edict, even though MSGs are part of it. Hubby is bereft that he has planted seedlings in trays and cannot transplant to the children's garden! I have begged him not to chance it because there is a 5,000 dollar fine! I am pretty sure they would waive it, but still. How would he weed and water weekly anyway?

My online grocery orders arrive with about 70% of what I order. The only things missing are the things I really need like milk and butter! I may have to mask up and go to the grocery, now that the CDC is recommending masks...after all this time...! I dropped off the larger portion (10) of my N95 masks to the local Fire Chief in a dash grab process, but retained a small supply in the event we do get sick.

My freezer is full as is my fridge and I cannot complain if I run out of necessities like coffee, chocolate or wine. I will grow in character...some people have run out of shelter, food and the ability to see their loved ones.

But, having written all of this, I have an excellent uplifting video on the virus. Please watch this doctor and I am sure your tensions will ease:

Short Version
https://youtu.be/Qwx3JMRTz8U

Longer Version
https://vimeo.com/399733860

Monday, March 30, 2020

Notice a Difference?

Yes, the parking lots are emptier if not totally empty in front of our favorite restaurants. I can order for pick-up, but I am still a little worried about germs for all that. The photo below was the last time we ate out...March 17...perhaps we were pushing it?

All our meetings have been canceled (which is driving my extrovert husband bananas in trying to find stuff to do.)

We are elderly but fairly active and do not see ourselves as elderly...this has been a strong reminder of how few years we have left on this earth.

Every news report we fall into the "vulnerable" category.

I am close to my children, but we do not talk sometimes for months and that has changed to texting and phone calls several times weekly as they check up on us!

My husband's fishing buddy (in his late 50's) who calls maybe twice a year is stuck at his condo in Colorado and called to make sure we are doing well and to remind us his son, who lives near us, can be called upon for any assistance we might need. Then he tells us his wife's father passed away last week due to the virus...

My next-door neighbor (newly moved in) also offers us assistance if we need it. He is in his late 50s.

Our intermittent helper (gardening and such--the man released from prison last year) calls before he comes to help with mulch and asks if he can bring anything from the store for us.

My own brother ( a real introvert) who never calls me unless we are on travel together and trying to coordinate something or pick a place for a meetup, called to see how we were doing!

I am ordering expensive frozen dinners online as a break to cooking. When I say expensive...it is like eating out without all the ambiance and wine but the same bill. I also think the serving sizes are much like TV dinners and not going to satisfy hubby.

I spend much of my time washing things...not clothes or dishes...but mail, food packages, prescription bottles, and of course, my hands.

We worked in the children's garden today and I discovered that you have no impulse to touch your face when your hands are covered in dirt. Try it.

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Life is a Bit of a Hornets Nest

The morning is dark and gloomy at 4:00 A.M. The bedroom is quiet. My mind is racing as I lay in bed and stare at the shadowed ceiling...why did I wake up? Hmmm... Oh, yes! I forgot to put the food recycle-bags that I had washed into the dryer and we are going food shopping this morning.

Dragging myself out of the warm covers, I put the bags in the dryer and go to make some coffee. At 5:20 the alarm goes off and I go in to wake my husband. He seems unenergetic and slow and then tells me he thinks he may have an eye infection!! I make him get up, wash his face, and then wash the eye with saltwater. It does not look too bad so we do not cancel our morning plans. (The eye was better by the afternoon.)

The grocery told us, elders, to get there at 6:00 A.M. when they open so that we can shop without lines and maybe have a chance of finding things.

It is bleak and dark outside. A slight drizzle with cold weather and seems like we are leaving for a trip to the airport instead of just a weekly errand to the village. I get the mail from the counter to take to the P.O. We do not have rural delivery and thus have to hit the Post Office twice to thrice weekly. Hubby has been having trouble starting "my" car and I have been seeing him double start even after the dash says Power On! I am concerned with his concentration these days and greater confusion with technology. After arguing with him I make him give me the driver's seat. The computer in the car is clearly not working well. After finally getting the car to turn off completely which takes several shifts, pushing off the start button, and even opening and closing car doors, I wait a bit and then start it as I normally do and it works!! Good thing we are getting an early start.

We head to the Post Office since the grocery will not be open for another fifteen minutes. I pull into the empty parking lot and the Post Office is well lit. I push the off button, but the car does not seem to go off. I do not worry but hurry inside to deposit and get mail. When I put the virus covered mail and a medium box of snack peanuts and chocolate I ordered from Amazon in the back seat. I try to start the car. It takes five minutes this time. I am frustrated as it is hard to see the car settings, etc. in the dark morning. I rarely drive at night because of this. Something is clearly wrong and I am just getting ready to call a tow when I turn the car off and we sit for 5 minutes. I try again one final time and it works! It is a computer problem.

We optimistically head to the store and I try not to think about the possibility of ice cream melting in the trunk if we load it with groceries and have to wait for a tow. I have turned the lights to auto, and other stuff to my original settings and tell my husband to please not touch all the settings. He is feeling bad and I am feeling bad and oh hell...

We get two carts and wipe down the handles, sides, etc. and our hands with wipes I carry in my purse. An Asian elder rounds the corner followed by his Caucasian wife. They both smile and I smile back and ask her if she brought coffee. She says her hubby has already had his coffee and I am wondering if she did not realize I was attempting a joke. Something I do when I am nervous and frustrated. (It isn't until much later I wonder if the Asian man is feeling the prejudice or does he always smile?)

The store is quiet and everyone is polite and keeping their distance. For the first time since this nightmare started, I see some customers wearing gloves and a few elders wearing masks. I find most of what I want except bleach. I am down to half a gallon and use it to wash my veggies. I hurry past the produce section as I got my first order of produce online yesterday. (I had opened the box outside, brought in veggies and fruit and dumped them all in a sink of bleach water for about three minutes, rinsed them thoroughly, let them air dry and put them away. I get little choice in what they deliver, but it will help me stretch my cooking imagination to prepare veggies I do not like.)

Remembering what produce I got, I select bananas and strawberries in the store and celery. I have a feeling that this ordering online will not deliver the more fragile berries, tomatoes, etc. I zoom my cart past toward the meat. Hubby cannot eat red meat due to his allergy so it is all turkey, duck, and chicken. I have plenty of seafood in the freezer but the fresh seafood counter is totally closed. I see the paper products aisle is 90% empty but I do not need any of that anyway and hurry on to the other aisles.

Hubby has taken a second shopping list and the second cart and is on his way to the opposite side of the store for the dairy. We buy more ice cream these days to handle our boredom. I cannot live without coffee creamer and have 3 jars now!

We get everything we want except the bleach. I get to the counter with only one cart ahead of us. The elder customer in front of us says that it is nice the store sets aside time for us old folks. When she has paid, I put up my recyclable grocery bags on the counter and assure the clerk that I have just washed them. Her response indicates she does not really care, or perhaps did not hear. We talk lightly about the pandemic and she admits that she is immune-compromised. She is a young thing in her 20s. As we wheel our two half-filled carts away I hear the customer behind me ask the clerk if she is holding up under this virus panic. Everyone seems to care about the vulnerable.

Both of us load the trunk quickly as the rain is now starting up again getting everything wet.

I get into the car which starts exactly as it is supposed to and we head home. Lots of Lysol wipes on most things such as door handles, car steering wheel, etc. and then we wash our hands after everything has been put away. I think we are good for 7-10 days.

This whole experience made me realize how tense we are. I felt as if I had just caught the last plane out of Cuba and all it was was a weekly errand! And this will probably go on for a month or two more...

Monday, March 23, 2020

The Pause

Most of us have put our lives on pause. If you are retired, this is not a huge difference in the pace you used to set each day. It is a bit frustrating if you are very social and love your meet-ups. It is a bit frustrating if you participate in social sports or even gym activities, but making a sacrifice to save lives is not all that difficult! My daughter lets her little girl out to ride bikes with a good friend a few times each week. They are told to stay 6 feet apart when talking. My granddaughter must have some social connections at the age of 12,but who knows if she understands the seriousness of all this. That is her life overseen by her parents. She spends the rest of her freetime on the snapchat APP of her phone or doing her homework online. She is not a stellar student, but also someone who will make it through school as above average.

My oldest grandson is a teenager and smart enough to be able to handle the homework in an efficient manner and spends too much time playing online games. He is very close to his uncle, my son, so they connect electronically at the end of the workday.

The youngest is nine and tries to keep up with his teenage brother but is somewhat lost because team sports have been the central part of his life outside of school.

I do not think any of my family realizes how long this hunkering down is going to last.

I have restricted my going out to maybe twice a week...maybe once more as we do not get rural delivery of mail. I wipe the mail down with a bleach and water cloth and let it sit for a short time before I open it

I am now getting my vegetables and fruit via delivery. Getting the first box in two days. We will see how that goes. I may try to get all my groceries via delivery. My neighbor and I are planning on leaving the box outside the house and bringing stuff in to clean in the house.

Yard workers and delivery do not come into the house. I am certainly hoping we do not need repairs. My friend 's refrigerator just died and she got new one. On that same day, Best Buy, which sells appliances, emailed all its customers that they will sell and deliver appliances, but no longer install them! They will get them to the front door and the rest is up to you.

We planted spring potatoes in the volunteer children's garden, but not sure if or when community children can help us harvest. It was just hubby and I. We canceled the get-together with volunteers to pre-plant all the vegetables in small trays to place under grow lights and hubby spent 4 hours doing it himself in the basement.

My daughter had planned a long weekend in the nearby mountains with us, but the cabin owners canceled and refunded the money. My son and his wife planned a weekend with us at the C&O canal in a cabin. That is in May and might very well be cancelled. We have a late June trip where my husband was going to take the oldest grandson on a SCUBA diving trip to the Bahamas. My son was going also. I was going just to make the the three males behaved themselves. That is farther away in time, but I will not be surprised if flying out of the country is unadvisable in June!

So life is a bit of a bore. Even our brief consideration of taking a chance drive up to see the cherry blossoms has been canceled as D.C. said too many people were enjoying them! Even though they are all outdoors, it was too crowded.

We still have the local parks with their hiking trails, but hubby and I do not know if they are crowded as this weather warms. We will have to see in the days ahead.

Mage from Postcards From the Edge is back blogging after her lengthy illness. But she returns to the pandemic that has us all staying home. It is good to read her "postscards" once again, though.  Blog connections with you all are more important than ever, helping us realize that life goes on and we can keep each others spirits up virtually with absolutely no exchange of bacteria or virus!