day......sad anniversary....365

 One year ago today I first mentioned Covid in this blog

    Technically, it would be tomorrow for one year because 2020 had a Leap Year.  But I don't always believe in facts, so I am celebrating 365 days today.

    Now, you may have noticed I do have a problem with numbers.  I did day 1 on March 16.....so somehow, I have lost a few days.  But it was on March 7 I first mentioned the virus.

    We were not calling it Covid 19.....it was still a coronovirus, and I bet I spelled that wrong.  We did not know a lot about it, other than it was going to disappear tomorrow and we should not worry about it.

    Masks?  I don't think they were being pushed at the time, although social distancing and handwashing was.  I remember bringing home groceries and wiping all of them down with sanitary wipes...even the fruit.

    Toilet paper was flying off the shelves, as were paper towels and disinfectant sprays.

    Without a lot of help from the people who were supposed to be our protectors, we have managed to survive a full year of this.  No one is happy, no one is comfortable, and I bet no one truly feels safe.

    But we have made it this far.....and we will make it another year if we have to.

    Jackie and I have had our second dose of Moderna.  She was fine, but last night I felt queasy, very tired, was sweating and had chills.  I went to bed at 11 and listened as the cuckoo squawked every 30 minutes until 3.  After that, I don't remember much until 7:30, so it's possible I had a little over 4 hours of sleep.

    Today....no caffeine in the afternoon, going to bed early, and hoping to sleep.  

    I will do my nightly talk with the Big Guy and I'll say a prayer for the 500,000 Americans whose deaths are attributed to Covid.

    Stay healthy.  Stay safe.  Stay smart.

Peace and Love

day......Lara......364

 I watched Dr. Zhivago today

    No, I am not a peeping Tom spying on my neighbor!  Dr. Zhivago is a movie.

    For some reason, I always wanted to watch it in the middle of winter, sitting in a cold room, huddled under a blanket, icicles dripping from my nose, my fingers too numb to grip the controller.  Why?  Well, to put me in the mood of the film.

    If you have not seen this classic from 1965, raise your hand.

    Really?  That many!  Wow.

    I saw it in the theater many years ago.  The movie had everything you would want in a show:  romance, war, philisophical debates, moral debates, beautiful women, and the enduring stuggle of how to handle your life when fate leads you in a different direction.

    It is long....almost 4 hours.  Jackie did not want to watch it because she figured she would fall asleep in the middle.

    It was strange watching it after all these years. 

    For some reason, I could not grasp why all the Russians had English accents and why one character was around in 1917 and also in the 1940s and did not seem to age a bit.  But, enough about my critical opinions.

    One of my favorite scenes in the film was after Lara leaves, Yuri goes after her, using the sleigh and horse to catch up to the stopped train where he whisks Lara off and takes her away.

    I remember that scene vividly.

    Maybe too vividly, because it never happens in the film!  Never!!  How did that get in my mind?

    I tell you, the mind remembers what you want it to remember sometines, not what actually happened.

    Speaking of old movies, it is almost time for me to pop Casablanca into the DVD player.  If I had to rank movies by favorites, that would be number one.     I confess, I had a man crush on Bogart, to the point I had a large poster of him in my bedroom.  I also had one of Ingred Berman, who to me is still the most beautiful woman to grace the screen.  From Casablanca, the poster was her face when she was at the airport, her hat pulled down and a single tear running down her face.  Movie magic.

    Here's lookin' at you, kid.

    Stay halthy.  Stay happy. 

Peace and Love

PS.....second shot yesterday, a little headache and a sore arm, but nothing major for either of us.

day.....$$$$$......363

 Cars can be expensive little necessities

    I took my Honda in for an oil change and tire rotation this week.

    I have a gauge (or is it guage? OMG...I am losing my ability to spell!)  that tells me the life of the oil.  I don't change every 5,000 miles like I used to, because the sensors measure how good the oil is and whether I should change or not.

    Well, it was at 50% life.  I usually change at 15%.  In other words, I had plenty of life yet on the oil and did not really need to change it.  But my gut said it has been over a year and a half since I had it changed!  I just have not been driving as much.

    For instance, I went to the zoo twice a month, sometimes 3 times, depending on the number of Fridays or special events.  In 52 weeks, I would have gone about 26 or 27 times, maybe even 30, At 160 miles round trip, that is almost 5,000 miles that I did not put on the car.

    Plus I have not driven to ball games, or anyplace other than Rockford, DeKalb and locally.

    So I figured to be safe, I'll get a change.

    I got out of the car and the tech said, "There are some other items that need attention."

    He then rattled off changing transmission oil, changeing brake fluid, flush and change coolant, a carburetor carbon cleaning and the $$$ signs flashed through my mind.

    I had just read somewhere that it was recommended to change the transmission fluid at a certain point.  I could not remember the point or where I read it, so I said to go ahead.

    But I also wanted new floor mats for the front.....$$$$$ because the car is 7 years old and those mats are no longer made.

    If I had done everything, it would have been over $1,000!!

    I did go home and look through the owner's manual for guidance on when to change all that stuff....none was given.  Just to use the car monitoring system to determine when to do it.

    That is my project for tomorrow....maybe.

    Jackie and I did get our second dose of Moderna today and as of 9 p.m. we are both feeling fine, although I did not eat my entire supper.  That is not normal, believe me!

    Hopefully tomorrow will be a day of answers....and nothing else.

    Stay safe.  Stay healthy.  Get a shot.

Peace and Love

day....slogans.....362

 I think Covid 19 needs better PR

    As we approach (March 11) the one year anniversary of Covid being declared a pandemic by WHO, maybe it's time to consider getting a PR firm for the disease.

    After all, cigarette companies hired PR firms when it became known to them that cigarettes were killers.  Good PR enabled companies to shield (or hide) smokers from the truth,

    So we got cowboys astride horses in beautiful, rugged western scenery.  We got mint flavored smokes, not to encourage young people to take up the habit, but so older adults could have a smooth, refreshing smoking sensation.  We got cartoon camels on packages and brands that may have been born in bowling alleys.  How lucky is a strike, when it leads to lung cancer and heart attack.

    And who can forget the stunning, emaciated career gal lighting up her slim cigarette, showing her independence and individuality by smoking like everyone else.  They even named a tennis tournament after that brand.

    In Europe, I found an empty pack of smokes on the ground.  There was a skull and crossbones on it and the warning, in huge type:  Causes death!  It was also in French and Italian.  Since it was empty, my guess was the user just did not get the message.

    Not to make light of Covid, but maybe it already has a PR firm.  

    That firm has done a good job of convincing people Covid is no worse than the flu, will eventually go away, the vaccine has a chip that can track us, masks are a violation of our personal liberties, social distancing does not apply to weddings, birthday parties or large family reunions, telling people the truth about the disease might cause a panic, and other assorted BS.

    I'd say the Covid PR people are doing a much better job than the cigarette people.

    But I wonder if the families and friends of the 500,000 in the US who have died would agree.

    Stay safe.  Stay healthy.  Get the shot.

Peace and Love

day.......16 tons......361

 This was a beautiful day today

    Temperatures were in the 40s, which is great.

    Snow is melting...I can see the top of my lilac tree, which a few days ago was hidden by the snow mountain in my driveway.  By the way, I have a couple of huge scratches on my Honda rear bumper area.  I wonder if the other day when I backed into the snow mountain I may have done that, or if someone with a cart in a grocery lot did it.  It frustrates me, cause the car looks pretty good outside of that.

     I took advantage of the nice weather to do a yard and garage pick up.

    I crushed cans in the garage and bagged up the plethora of plastic bags that have accumlated in the past year.  What is the policy on reusable bags?  At one point they were not allowed, but I think I can use them anywhere I bag my own grocereies.  I think.

    I had a lot of aluminum cans.  I have not crushed them since pre surgery in November.  Remember a picture I posted of 12 cases of pop?  That represented 144 cans and I bet I crushed 136 today.  My foot is sore.

    But the big pick up was the yard.

    How can a little dog shit so much?  Seriously, I had to double bag the crap.  And I only did part of the front yard!  She hardly went out in the back yard, so that was an easy clean up.  My back hurt so much from stooping over I had to quit for the day.

    Corki.  I think she has mental problems.  She follows me around and sits fairly close to me whenever I sit.  She will sit by Jackie when I am out, but if I am in the house....Jackie might as well be gone.

    Then I was on the phone today on a fairly important call and she barfed.  Corki, not Jackie.  Why does she throw up on the rug and not on the wood floor?  Just another shade added to the den rug.

    Oh well.....

    Hope you had a chance to enjoy the nice day.

    Stay safe.  Stay healthy.

Peace an Love

day......what the hell......360

 I sometimes think we have a huge problem

    Actually, I think it most of the time lately.

    Maybe it's the Covid thing.  Maybe it is the election.

    But I am begining to think people are freakin' nuts, to be polite, or just incredibly stupid.

    Some examples.

    A guy is running for governor in Illinois.  Earlier in the pandemic he was removed from the legislative floor in Springfield for refusing to wear a mask when there was a mandate to wear one.  He also believes Chicago should be its own state so they don't inflict their values and culture on the rest of the state.

    A representative from the same area in Illinois drove his pick up truck to D.C. for the Jan. 6 riot.  He has a decal for a far right military group on his truck, but insists he did not know what the decal stood for and his trip to D.C. was just to see what was going on.

    A congressman believes Jewish bankers used space lasers to start the devastating California wildfires that killed almost 100 people.  Plus she mocks people who identify as transgender because there are only two sexes...male and female. She says that is based on science, but global warning, pandemics, and rising sea levels are just conjecture.

    A governor is accused of improper asexual dvances, including touching and kissing his female aids, and explains it all by saying he was flirting in a joking way.

    A woman is running for Congress in our district and she not only does not live in the district, she has no plans of moving here.

    The youngest member of Congress, who was in a horrific automobile accident that left him paralized, told everyone his friend left him to die in the accident.  His friend says he went into the burning car and pulled him to safety.  Now it turns out the congressman also lied about the accident preventing him from attending a military academy while the military academy said he was never accepted to attend in the first place.

    We have a guy running around yelling the election was stolen from him, while there has been no proof of massive voter fraud, 60 court cases were tossed and the Supreme Court he appointed, plus his justice department and his FBI and every state elections commission has said no massive fraud existed......and people still believe the election was stolen.

    If the United States of America was a third world country, this would all be funny stuff.  But we are not.  And it isn't.

    And I honestly don't know who is dumber....the politicians or the people electing them.

    I actually started out thinking I would write a funny post tonight.    And in a sense, each entry is a comedy if you subscribe to the belief that out of tragedy comes laughter.

    Stay safe.  Stay healthy.  Thanks for letting me vent.

Peace and Love

day....open wide.....359

 I don't have good teeth

    Lots of fillings, a couple of crowns, one implant.....I did not take care of my teeth when I was younger.  To much candy and soda and not enough brushing always earned my a "talk" by the dentist.

    But the last few years have been pretty good.  Sure, a couple have chipped and a cuspid even broke off one, but I have all my teeth except one, and that spot is filled by an implant.

    Going to the dentist is not my favorite activity.  I hate the poking, the drilling, the probing......I really don't like my mouth being invaded.

    But I went today and everything is hunky dorey.  No problems, no issues.

    My hope is to make it through the rest of my life without any dental issues.  Now, that could be one day or 20 years, but I will have that hope every day I am still here.

    I have probably told this story....that is a problem with doing a blog every day.  I forget what I have told about my past.

    So maybe you have heard how I became the hero of the family at the tender age of four or five.

    My family and two of my cousins, all went to a "children's " dentist.  He had neat little plaques of nursery rhyme characters on the walls  and the parents loved him.  But the kids?  He was not gentle.  He hurt us.  Constantly.

    One day I had enough.  He was doing something to me and it hurt.  So I bit him.  Hard.  

    He finished and took me to the wating room and said he would never work on me again because I was a monster  for biting him.

    So we were forced to find a new dentist.  Instead of being in trouble, my two brothers and my two cousins thanked me for years because I spared them a lot of anguish.

    And the new dentist that we went to was kind, patient, and nice.  So nice, I was still going to him when I was married and he took care of Julia and I believe Emily too until he retired sometime in the early 1980s.  

    And I never had to bite him, not even once.

    Stay happy.  Stay safe.  Floss and brush.

Peace and Love