What are you doing these days?

[Ruby Slippers]

We went to a huge hike and bike park in my area after work today, a new discovery for us, took a long brisk walk/run out in quiet, tranquil nature. 

[schlumpy]

Took a short trip to the mailbox to pay the bills.

Traffic in my city is back to normal for the time of day. Lots of people out walking major streets all without masks. Major eating establishments like Bob Evans and Rusty Bucket are still closed as is Starbucks at Target. Wendy's pickup window was backing them up into the street. I realize it's anecdotal but last time I was out, I guessed about one in thirty were wearing masks and today I would change that number to one in a hundred. Just off-the-cuff observation.

Car is running fine just in case this virus takes a nasty turn and the Zombie Apocalypse becomes a reality. 

[preraph]

Well, numbers are low in a lot of midwest towns, so hopefully yours is one of them.  Unfortunately, Dallas is still peaking and showing no signs of going down yet, but people are already out and about and all warring with each other and divided on the subject.  Quick to tell people they're free to stay at home while they go spread the virus like that was nothing.  Oh, well,  that's why I'm still being super careful.  I did go eat spaghetti down the street where I knew they were being careful.  Two groups of people were on the patio outside and just me inside for a long time then someone else came in.  

 

I finally got my first sanitizing gel this week, so that made it a little easier.  Gloves are really useless because if you touch your face with them, it's the same or worse than with your own hands.  But they're good if you have any little cuts on your hands or scraggly cuticles or something like that that can catch the virus.  I carry my own napkin in my pocket for when I need to touch my face.  I really enjoyed eating out yesterday though.  Spaghetti and meat sauce and I ordered garlic bread, which I love, plus a salad.  

 

It's up around 90 today.  Pretty soon, we'll know if the virus will cool down from heat and humidity, I reckon.  Meanwhile, 90 is too hot for me to want to walk the dog.  

 

I want them to take the kids back to school for summer school instead of wait until fall.  To me, it will be safer this summer than this fall when it turns cool again.  And people can't work until they get the kids out of the house, obviously.  But they're not going to do it and are threatening to just keep homeschooling them, which is an unfair burden on parents.  And if they do, they need to forfeit most of the taxes going to it.  I bet you'd have trouble wringing that out of them.  

Edited May 14, 2020 by preraph

[preraph]

Big laugh of the day.  On social media, search for Andrew Cotter "Still having the company meetings online."   

 

It's a zoom business conference with two labs. 

[schlumpy]

21 minutes ago, preraph said:

 I really enjoyed eating out yesterday though.  Spaghetti and meat sauce and I ordered garlic bread, which I love, plus a salad.  

 

 And if they do, they need to forfeit most of the taxes going to it.  I bet you'd have trouble wringing that out of them.  

We have a deli that serves a wonderful Roman sub. Their buttered garlic bread is to kill for and probably will kill me one day.

When I was in Germany in the early 70's there was an Italian place where I wooed by wife that would bring out a plate of baked cannelloni that was still bubbling on the plate. What an instant relationship maker that was!

You are right about taxes. They won't be giving them back. It only works one way. We give - they take.

I'm learning two new songs PreRaph. One is "If Anyone Breaks My heart" by the Well Pennies and the other is "One Song Away" by Ivan & Alyosha.

It's best to stay busy. We will be out and about soon enough.

[preraph]

3 minutes ago, schlumpy said:

We have a deli that serves a wonderful Roman sub. Their buttered garlic bread is to kill for and probably will kill me one day.

When I was in Germany in the early 70's there was an Italian place where I wooed by wife that would bring out a plate of baked cannelloni that was still bubbling on the plate. What an instant relationship maker that was!

You are right about taxes. They won't be giving them back. It only works one way. We give - they take.

I'm learning two new songs PreRaph. One is "If Anyone Breaks My heart" by the Well Pennies and the other is "One Song Away" by Ivan & Alyosha.

It's best to stay busy. We will be out and about soon enough.

This is a great time for all you creative souls!  Oh, you've made me want more garlic bread.  I had discovered a little place across town that had good garlic bread when this all started, but it's a tiny place and probably not safe to go there.  This may have killed them too as they were pretty new.  

[preraph]

In Dallas there are food pantries and agricultural donations being given away and people line up for miles to go through the line to get some. They just showed people lined up for miles to get free potatoes that had been donated because there's a big overage of potatoes right now. How much sense does that make to burn that much fuel for a sack of potatoes? Pretty sure it would come out about even.

[schlumpy]

1 hour ago, preraph said:

 How much sense does that make to burn that much fuel for a sack of potatoes? Pretty sure it would come out about even.

Buts It's free!

Get it?

[preraph]

You know what really galls me? They show these lines of vehicles and most of them are big expensive gas-guzzling SUVs, because that and pickup trucks is mostly all they drive here in Dallas. People are just weird. Everybody wants freebies. 

 

 

[chillii]

lt'd be useless to me anyway geez l but a few kg bag of potatoes and ever half of those go green or start growing before l use them.

[preraph]

Me too chillii, but I guess if I was feeding a family, they'd not go to spoil.  I bought a little bag of tiny gold potatoes and wasted half of them because I didn't feel I ought to fry them up (again) and have that much fat and all.  I'm not very careful, but when I had bought bacon a couple weeks ago for the first time in forever, I could tell after I age it that it was messing with me.  And I cook potatoes in bacon grease, so....I let them go.  I should have gotten some green beans and just did a pot of them with them, but having to order everything gets complicated so I didn't attempt it.  

[sothereiwas]

Working, wife is singing "The Flame" to me, so the distraction factor is present, but it's worth it. She can't sing forever. 

[preraph]

It's Saturday and it's been raining since last night so I'm just sitting here with a scared dog. The aimlessness of having no work is starting to get to me. Usually there's something I have a plan to do whether it's just a chore or whatever, but today I am truly aimless other than I cooked. I could be cleaning house but I woke up so early this morning that I haven't really woken up fully to have energy. 

 

I really hope I can get myself back up to speed after all of this 10 days of lethargy.

[carhill]

Today is window day, been cleaning windows, repairing or building screens and hanging a couple mini-blinds some bare windows have long been in need of. It's been cool and windy the past week, a real gift, but a number of windows had their screens damaged by critters over the years, or have been missing forever, so couldn't really be left open to let the air circulate, so some keystrokes and some new materials arrive and work begins. Hopefully when things open up more and people feel safe to wander I'll get back to getting the place sold. In the meantime, fun doing some projects and fixing things up. Always something to do.

I did go to the post office last week and have been to the bank once to make a cash deposit since all the Covid-19 stuff started but otherwise haven't been to town or shopped since February. I was amazed at all the businesses that are still closed, even in a dusty town out in the middle of nowhere that the virus really never touched. Most of the people wearing masks were Mexicans but then most of the town is Mexican. For me, life as normal, just wash my hands after handing stuff like the mail or the gas pump or delivered items. Pretty normal other than the marked lack of people or vehicles.

[preraph]

Sounds like you're having a good productive time getting things done. 

 

My dog finally fell asleep from exhaustion while trying to keep her eyes open. Even the smallest amount of rain terrifies her. And she must be ready to explode.

[amaysngrace]

Beaches opened here today and people are flooding in from all over.

My daughter just found out she’s positive and my friend and her daughter are mad that we went to the beach yesterday.  They don’t live here, we do, we went on the beach, they joined us.  

She told me I should’ve stayed home.  That’s rich to be a tourist telling the homeowner to stay home, especially when it IS home.  

Anyway, she’s also a nurse who chose not to work through this while my daughter toughs it out.  

Must be a nice view from the ivory tower.

[sothereiwas]

Shampooed the carpets, cleaned up the yard, if it stops raining I'll put up a few new yard lights. Fun and games. 

[Inflikted]

Well, now that I've returned to work this week, I don't have all that time like I did for the two months prior, so I guess I don't quite have to occupy my time as much.

Now, I'm mostly just stewing over the fact that my three coworkers refuse to take the pandemic seriously and won't follow any of the safety precautions (aside from general distancing, which barely matters, since we have to use the same devices and certain shared spaces throughout the day), even though we had to sign waivers saying we'd wear masks while on the job. It's frustrating, and to me, my takeaway is that it kind of shows how egotistical and "Me, me, me!" some people are, because they whine that it's "not fair" to force people to wear masks, that it's "against the constitution", that they "have a right to not wear a mask", and blah blah blah, but it's not so much about "you", it's about making sure you're not unknowingly spreading the illness to those around you. Why should they care about anyone else's health and safety? Clearly, that's less important than the mild inconvenience of having to wear a mask. 🙄

Shoot, yesterday, the owner of the entire company stopped by our office to pick something up, and even he wasn't wearing a mask. And he's old as heck! It's not even like there's any benefit to me "reporting" the place, because I mean, among four coworkers, one of which is wearing a mask frequently and three who refuse and think it's stupid, gee, I wonder who would've been the snitch? If I were on my way out of the company, yeah, I'd say screw it, but it doesn't really do me any good. And because no one else is following it (heck, my coworkers are getting excited about gyms and pools and stuff opening soon...), it probably won't make much of a difference whether I continue trying to be safe at work, anyway. Oy.

Anyway, on a less frustrating note... One of my relatively new hobbies is a trading card game, Magic, so I was excited this past week to get the packs of the new set that came out. To be honest, I've been super antsy for something to do, so earlier today, I decided to splurge and order another big box of packs (even though it's probably not the wisest thing to frivolously spend money right now). Although, at this point, I don't know when (or if) I'll see my friends again, so it could end up being even more of a waste of money if I never get to play with them again, lol...

[Happy Lemming]

4 hours ago, amaysngrace said:

My daughter just found out she’s positive...

How is your daughter doing??  Everything OK??

[amaysngrace]

1 hour ago, Happy Lemming said:

How is your daughter doing??  Everything OK??

Yes thanks!  She’s asymptomatic.  

I’m pretty sure I am positive and asymptomatic too but will be tested on Monday. 

[preraph]

Inflijted, your new hobby trading cards sounds fun. It's always great to find something you can get into. 

[chillii]

Since my gf left for back home for a month, and  l finished my last job , just been doing stuff on the house, weathers been beautiful been a pleasure , or sleepin in , or watchin movies , or anything else l feel like doing. Get up to our main city once or twice a wk now , go for a wonder, grab a few things, or d and me grab some lunch. Before this though it'd been 6 or 7wks.

Weird though , we're aloud out from next wk , even though l've been goin out anyway just no people stuff though but now, after all this time we can do people stuff next wk. lt's really weird even though l wouldn't trust it just yet anyway non the less so l'll only catch up a little. Realized today l haven't seen anyone except my daugther and gf in over 2 mths. Brother and he's lady were comin over for a beer today to celebrate, l even shouted him a beer, went too far,  really looking forward to it actually but alas ,they got side tracked soooooo, l have to drink the beer now, it's heartbreaking . But yeah , lookin forward to some people again l must admit.

Edited May 17, 2020 by chillii

[The Outlaw]

Currently I’m only working four days a week and I’m off for three. And I’m still maintaining a safe distance from people and 🧼 my hands like crazy which honestly may not even be enough since there are newer things coming out about the virus everyday. 

[chillii]

Here we're allowed to do anything with 5 or less as of last Frid, or should l say that's now what we're supposed to be doing. So this wkend has been the first in a few mths and the atmosphere's been really nice to see again, nice but surreal. People are out and about a bit more as usual like again.

Tomorrow l've gotta go into the city and this'll be the first time in a few mths where things will be just a little like normal again. lt still won't be near as busy or it's old self but l'd say at least some normality, really looking forward to it. A lot of things still aren't allowed to reopen yet though they're fazing them in next, bit by bit over the next mth if all goes well.

Edited May 17, 2020 by chillii

[chillii]

Went into our main city today.  Perfect weather sand dunes and ocean looked gorgeous over the back as you drove in. But everything was weird , to be expected l know but things were actually a little less uptight during lock down than now. Now everyone's cautious they look for space or stop and tuck away let you past or you do something. or go big circles around each other. lanes in shops they see someone they go to the next one and come back when the other ones empty. All the shops have exe's in red tape all over the place, lines and tape fences , entry and exits , one ways , really effg weird. Walked straight into the bank two chicks outside chuckled a bit l thought hmm, a second later l got kicked out and told to wait outside , we chuckled, ahh huhhh, l see now.

Shops with tables in front of counters so you can't stand any closer , they come in handy actually somewhere to put your stuff for once. Cashiers in perspex cubicals , l mean l'm glad they need protection they're doing a big service it's just strange. People were good everywhere don't get me wrong , all just trying to do the right thing is all, few chuckles along the way at each other.

Very weird times eh.