oops

 I made meat loaf tonight

    No, not Meatloaf.  But meatloaf, with baked potatoes and green beans.

    Now, I am not the greatest cook. And I think I demonstrated that tonight.

    I usually add a little steak seasoning to any beef we cook.   It adds a nice flavor, I think.

    Anyway, I went to sprinkle a little on and opened the wrong opening.  I dumped a whole lot on.  I used the spoon side instead of the shaker side.

    I tried scooping it yp, and I got a lot of it.

    But the meatloaf was very salty.  And for me t say something is salty is almost unheard of.

    Jackie and I tested negative for Covid today.  That makes the second negative. test, so I think we are good to go.  Just to be safe, I wore a mask to Walmart today.

    I was lost in space when someone said, "Hello, Terry."  I turned around but did not see anyone.  There was a woman about 15 feet away and she may have said it, but I only saw her backside.  I did not recognize it.

    It amazes me that I can wear a mask t hat covers most of my face, and a hat, and people recognize me.  I can't recognize people if they are wearing name tags!

    I didn't like the bananas there so I stopped at Aldi's to get bananas.  They had one lane open and I was the 8th person in line.  I debated just not buying bananas, but if  we do get a storm I don't want to be without bananas.  I know, I am just weird.

    I almost became a Green Bay fan.  I KNOW!!!!  It was in the third quarter, the Bears offense was going nowhere and the announcers said if Green Bay wins they make the playoffs.  If they lose, Seattle or New Orleans goes.  

    I don't like Seattle or New Orleans more than I don't like the Packers. So I said to Jackie, "I hope Green Bay wins."

    I don't know if it was the Green Bay defense, but the Bears had  the most unimaginative and boring offenses today. The offense offended me. 

    It will be interesting to see where they go from here.

    Everyone in our area keep safe over the next three days.  Don't shovel wet snow.  Be kind to yourself.

Peace and Love

Cannibals

 I love feeding birds in the winter

    Granted, I don't get a wide variety.  Sparrows, finches, slate colored juncos.....those seem to be the predominant birds.  I don't see cardinals or even blue jays, I think because of the lack of big trees near the feeders.

    Today we had a visitor.

    But it was not nice.

    In fact, he ate one of my birds!!!

    Look!!!

    It wasn't the large hawk that normally hangs around. I have not checked the bird book yet, and even when I do I am lousy at recognizing things.  I can never find Waldo, for instance.

    Any way, one of the birds I feed won't be back.  Although a lot of the feathers are still there.

    They say it's a dog eat dog world, but it is also a bird eats bird world.

    Thanks to Sheri for helping take down the Dickens Village.  We worked for about an hour, then. sat and had some wine and yakked about a lot of things.  I did not talk smack about the Packers-Bears tomorrow, because too many times that has come back to haunt me.

    Jackie and I feel pretty good, but I did take a nap today.

    Emily and Julia are in sunny Florida and Emily sent a picture of an alligator they saw.  It was far away, which is good.

    I wonder if they will watch the game tomorrow.  Bobby is a big Packers fan,  and I know he will tune in.  I just hope. the girls go easy on him after the Bears win 72-3!

Peace and Love

Covid 9 + 6

 I have never been good at tests

    Maybe it is test anxiety.  Or lack of preparedness. (That sums up my high school and college years.)

    I don't do well on tests.

    But today, I scored an ace!

    Jackie and I both tested negative for Covid!!!  

    We will test again on Sunday to be sure, but I am happy with the results.

    I also feel better.  Both of us do.  Not as tired, but not fully alert and energized either.

    I took in decorations from outside today.  I packed away all the working lights, took down the garland, packed it up and am ready to put it away.

    I know it is supposed to snow a little tonight, so I figured to do it while everything was dry and it was not terribly cold outside.  Usually I wait until it is -20 with terrible winds and 3 inches of snow on the lights.  So, I am ahead of myself.

    Julia and Emily are in Florida, visiting Bob and Anita and then heading to Disney World.  That means it is Jackie and me.....and dog Beth.

    Beth is used to going out early.  I am used to sleeping late.

    Something has to give, and I expect it is me sleeping late.  So I will try to get to sleep early tonight.

    I am ending this drivel with a question.

    Julia went to the store yesterday.  I said "I don't want red potatoes....I want. (fill in the blank)."

    So....what do you call the potatoes that are not red?

    Enquiring minds want to know.

Peace and Love

Covid 8 + 5

 Small victories are still victories

    Dealing with tech issues makes me want to pour a stiff drink.

    I, on my own, figured out how to connect my scanner to the computer!  It took me a while, but I did it.  I think.

    I scanned on document and e mailed it.  But, and here is the big butt, I have to push a lot of buttons to scan something.  I used to be able to push 2 buttons and it would scan.  I seem to go to several different screens before it scans.  Hmmmm.

    I called Sirius XM and negotiated a lower rate for our car radio.  It took a while, but the nice lady named Tessa with the very strong nonEnglish accent put me on a plan that will not change unless there is a general price increase.  

    2 wins..and it only took about 3 hours.

    So I tackled the fourth, our X Finity bill. 

    We have home security and a land line in addition to our internet and cable.  I wanted to eliminate the home security and land line.  After what seemed hours of attempting human contact, I talked to someone named Edna, who sounded a lot like Tessa, and we talked about my bill.

    Going only with internet and cable reduces my bill by $27 a month.  That did not seem to me to be the big savings I anticipated.  We are on a 4 service plan, and changing to a 2 service plan is not a big money saver.

    I know, $27 a month over a year is almost $300, or 15 bottles of good wine, 6 pizza orders, 55 coffees...... but is it enough to make the change?  Something we will be considering.

    We both feel pretty good today, tired, but good.  I do have more sniffles than yesterday.  I have no idea what that means.

    Jackie said we need to make doctor appointments with our primary in the next month or so.

    Every time we see a doctor they go over a series of questions.  Do you feel safe in your home?  Have you gained or lost weight? Have you fallen within the past 12 months?  Are you feeling depressed or sad?

    I always answer yes to the depressed or sad questions.  Truth is, I do feel sad a lot.  And depressed.  So I do take a medication for that.

    But I usually always answer no to have I fallen.

    Until the next visit.

    I will have to say yes.

    Yup, fell up the stairs carrying why train ornament box.

    Yup, fell down the back steps in the garage because my shoe was not on all the way.

    Yup, fell over a tube in the basement and landed on some boxes.

    I think it is carelessness, not a physical thing.  I don't hurt any part of my body, except for the big black and blue mark I had from falling on my train ornament box. And I generally am not too sore. (And no, human Beth...the ornaments were not flattened by my fall.)

    The falls are a wake up to me that I have to put my shoes completely on, tie them, and watch where I walk.

    I just hope when winter finally arrives the ice and snow won't add to my yes answers.

Peace and Love

Covid 7 + 4

 On the 10th day of Christmas my true love gave to me

    Oh my gosh. 

    This is the 10th day of Christmas!!!!  

    I still have gifts to open!  They are unwrapped, but not opened.  There is a difference.

    We keep our decorations up until Epiphany, which is fast approaching.  That should be Friday, which is the day Julia and Emily head to Florida ahead of the possible blizzard or record setting high temperature days of early next week.  Pick one. 

    Here's my problem.

    Starting Friday, Christmas decorations start getting put away.  I have 20 something boxes for decorations and lights, and they have to be brought up from t he basement, filled, and taken down to the basement.

    We have a friend who has come over in the past to help take down the Dickens Village and pack that all up.

    Jackie and I have Covid.  

    Having anyone come in the house is not a good idea.  Yet having a 75 year old man crawling around on the floor unplugging little ceramic houses ain't a great idea either!  Getting down will not be a problem, but getting up will be.

    I will. make sure Jackie has a phone to call 911 if I am stuck on the floor with a dog licking my face and hands and unable to push my weakened body upright.

    My initial plan was to ask if there were any teens in the neighborhood who would like to earn some money by carrying full tubs downstairs, but again, I can't ask people to come into the house when we are sickly.

    Damn.  

    We went to a medical appointment in Sycamore today . We warned the people that we had Covid, so when they took Jackie back they had masks and gloves on.  We had the n-95 masks and tried not to touch anything with our bare hands.

    My frustration of the day is, again, a technical issue.

    My Epson scanner will not connect to my computer.  The computer is new, and I don't recall using the scanner on. the new computer.

    Julia looked at it and asked if I had the installation disk.

    This is my child asking?

    I can't remember where my glasses are!  How in the hell am I going to remember where I put a disk from 7 years ago?  Oh, yeah.  You are thinking, "Well, Terry, you put them in a folder or holder that says operating disks and store them somewhere where you can find them."

    That's. not how this boy rolls.  I stick discs wherever I feel like it and hope I never need it again.  I also spell disk any  damn way I please, disk, disc, I don't care.

    So, I did some exploring. 

    I need the operating system and the IP address to download a link to upload the computer.

    Son of a b.  Os?  IP?   Like a foreign language.

Peace and Love    

Covid 6 + 3

Still going strong, like that battery bunny 

    We are still doing ok, I guess.

    Tired.  But I have been tired a lot.

    Jackie is tolerating the Covid medication pretty well.  She has a doctor appointment in DeKalb tomorrow and called the clinic today.  She explained her health situation and after consulting with others, they told her to come to the appointment.  I told Jackie I would wheel her in, then go sit in the car. 

    Yesterday I took a 2 hour nap, waking up about 5.  Of course, I could not get to sleep last. night.  I went to bed at 10:30, read until 11, tossed until 1, walked around, went back to bed, finally fell asleep after 2.  Then was up again at about 3:30.

    For minute or two I thought I was going to wake everybody  up.

    Beth has this round toy with a tail.  When she shakes it, it barks and rolls around.

    Well, step on that at around 1:30 and it makes a hell of a lot of noise!  You can't turn it off, it just has to run its course.

    Little things irritate me more than usual.

    We still have a landline.  Last night the phone was flashing the new message signal, which is a yellow light.

    I sleep with my eyes partially open and that damn light bothered me.  I went into the bathroom, closed the door and listened to the message.....but the light did not go off.

    After I went back to bed I looked around the room and noticed all the "vampires" .... energy sucking devices that have little lights to show they are on.  The tv cable box, smoke detector, radio, all seem to bother me.  Now that I think about it, there must be more.  So I put on why sleep mask and that helped a little.

    In the living room there is enough light to not step on a dog's toy, but somehow I still did.

    Another thing t hat has been irritating me is the constant commercial for a psoriasis medication where a male in the commercial takes a tambourine from a street band and starts dancing and banging it like he is Mic Jagger.  For some reason, it drives me nuts.

    Now that Christmas is over, I don't see as many commercials for men's cologne and fragrances.  Some of them made absolutely no sense at all.  Maybe it is just me, but they were awful commercials.  They, too, drove me nuts.

    But the biggest thing driving me nuts right now is my general indifference to things.  My stack of papers on the desk is bigger and I have no desire to go through it.  Same with putting my music on the computer, or picking up Christmas, or picking up anything on the floor.

    I am just tired.

    And sleep will not help, I don't think/

Covid 5 + 2

 So far, so good

    Things I have noticed about Covid and me.

    I am tired.  2 hour afternoon naps are the norm.  Plus, I go to bed and actually fall asleep!  Then I/we sleep late, often past 9.

    I am listless.  No desire to do anything. When we get new clothing, I always wash it.  Well, Christmas was 8 days ago and I have not yet washed the shirts or clothes Jackie and I got.  At this rate it will be spring and I will finally be washing long sleeved clothes.

    My muscles hurt.  Yes, I do have muscles.  Well disguised, I might add, but muscles still the same.  When I walk from the den to the bedroom or vice versa I feel like my hamstrings are going to cramp.  They have not done so yet, but they get all tight and throbbing.

    I don't care.  Maybe it goes with the first 2, but I am calling it separate.  I always got up to watch the Rose Bowl parade, and the Rose Bowl.  This year neither interested me in the least, although I did turn on the Rose Bowl game to watch the overtime. Food is the same. Whatever Julia feels like making is fine with me.  

    My sense of smell left, came back, left, and came back again.  It is fine now, has been for a couple of days.  But my sense of taste?  Well. that is a different story.

    After eating something, I get a foul taste in my mouth.  To me, it is a metallic taste.  Jackie has it too.  If we brush our teeth, it comes back.  Drink tea, it comes back.  Eat a peppermint, it comes back.  The taste may stay away for an our or two, but it always comes back.

    It may be affecting my appetite, which could be a good thing.  I have not been eating as much crap as I usually do,  but I seem to have a craving for potato chips for some reason.

    Neither of us have fevers, sore throats, major coughs or anything else that we notice.  Jackie is tolerating the Covid medication, which is good.  Tonight I do have a headache, which I have not had before.  Coincidence?

    I don't feel sick, just out of sorts.

    I do have a couple of meetings this week, but I will not attend.  I feel I am still a spreader and I don't want anyone else to get it.

    That's my story and I am sticking to it.

    Thanks to all of you who have wished us a quick recovery.   

Peace and Love