Say A Little Prayer
28/05/20 06:32
Everything is so green all of a sudden. Funny how that works. We've got our flowers and we've got our tomato plants so it's high time we got them in the ground. I even have some fencing now so that should keep the munchers at bay should they try to get at the things we're putting in the ground. It's not an overly ambitious thing we're trying to do so I'm feeling good about the prospects of getting it done by the end of the week. Just sayin'.
I'm somewhat at a loss for words this morning. Maybe I need more coffee. Maybe I need a different kind of music. Maybe if I were more annoyed. I always do better when I'm venting about this or that but I'm not feeling that way at the moment yet here I am. I just need to get in a groove of sorts and then things will start to flow. I can always go back and change things up until I get it right. And this is going nowhere until I say it's ready to go.
This is the second time in as many months that Evan has come over with a gas tank that is running on empty. I wish he wouldn't do that. He has the money and the wherewithal to see that he isn't driving around on an empty tank so he has no excuse for doing it. I told him straight away, "Evan, put $5 in your tank if it's that low and I'll top it off when you come around." That's what dads do. Some roads between his house and here don't leave much room for a car to pull over so it's better to avoid that altogether if you can. It's just asking for trouble.
They are finally opening up the beaches here in town next week after being closed for several weeks due to the fear that social distancing on the beaches wasn't going to cut the mustard. Besides, the beaches were closed up and down the coast from Maine to Massachusetts since early March so leaving our beaches open here in New Hampshire would just exacerbate any problems directly or indirectly related to crowding, social distancing, community spread, and you name it in connection to the dreaded coronavirus.
But they run a tight ship here in town so don't expect to be able to run down to the beach with your beach towel and sun tan lotion to spend the day. There is limited to no parking along 1A and only 50% of the spots in the parking lots of the two local state parks will be available for the foreseeable future. You can't lie on the beach at all. You can run, walk, and I think you can even surf but there is no sitting or lying on the sand. If you are a little fella, or the sister of a little fella, it's best to leave your bucket and shovel back at the house. See what I did there?
With the exception of the two state park parking lots, the local constabulary is making it difficult for out-of-towners to come and enjoy the best that our beaches have to offer. From a purely selfish standpoint I'm good with those plans. Not that I'm a beachgoer who needs to avoid the coronavirus diseased transplants because I don't. What I'm wanting to avoid is the inevitable congestion and crowds that we typically see during the summer months and all that entails. It makes my bike rides less enjoyable as well and it increases the likelihood that I'll have a traffic related incident sooner rather than later.
That's my pitch anyway. Let's keep everything at arms length for a while. We've only ever had a total of eleven cases of Coronavirus in our small town of 5,000 people so we'll see whether or not the influx of foreigners flocking to our beaches if only for a stroll or to walk their animals after 7PM makes a difference. Is it wrong for we townies to want our beaches for our own pleasure? Is it wrong to want to make sure that we stay safe during this pandemic?
They say sunshine is the best disinfectant and I believe that to be true. I stopped wearing a mask while biking a long time ago with that very notion in mind. The brighter the sunshine, the hotter the day, the better and safer I feel when I'm out on my bike. Now that we're expecting less traffic and fewer tourists, at least in the near term, I'll be tripping the light fantastic when I'm out and about. If I don't have to take the back roads then all the better. Coronavirus aside, I think the summer is shaping up quite nicely thus far thank you very much.
I have so many things that I have for Evan to take home with him when he goes that I had to make a list. He'll probably take some but not all and that's fine. Sometimes he just takes what he can carry in order to avoid having make multiple trips. If he remembers, he'll bring his backpack and throw a few things in there alongside his laptop. I bought a nice container of beef stew and a frozen chicken pot pie from the local soup store that I think he'll like so they are there for the taking. The less planning he has to do when it comes to food purchase and preparation the better.
Nancy's work life is getting back to normal after a brief layoff due to the coronavirus blues. She was getting a little too used to the $600-a-week bonus from the Federal Government and she would be the first to admit that it was nice while it lasted. It had a certain entitlement feel to it that made me a bit queasy but it was what it was and now it's gone. You can see how people on welfare have a hard time weaning themselves off welfare and becoming productive citizens once again after being on the public dole forever and a day. It's like heroin. Catnip has you chasing it, heroin gets you hooked.
We're often critical and even unkind when referring to "those" types of people who would do such a thing. Why don't they get a job like everyone else? They certainly look like they can work. This is why our taxes are as high as they are so it isn't fair that we have to work and they get to sit around on their lazy asses all day. I need to get my head on straight about this stuff. We're talking about unemployment and not welfare. Does the fact that one is either longer or shorter in duration make it any less distasteful?
I didn't like what I was hearing from Nancy when she found out she was going to have to go back to work and her bogey of $600 was going the way of the platypus. We had a come to Jesus moment between us when she realized that she was becoming one of those people that we roundly criticize for feeding at the public trough. All I can say is that I'm thankful that the duration of the handout was short lived and, if nothing else, the extra money was put to good use. Any longer and it would have become a problem.
I guess we can get back to being critical of the bottom feeders now that we're off the public dole. I want to be careful here too because this ($600 bogey) was a payment in response to an anomalous event of sorts which impacted every conceivable cross section of the American public. You may notice that I made no reference to the one-time $1,200 payments that were paid out as part of the governments stimulus plan in response to our economy which imploded when our economy was shuttered. We're a long way from back to normal but we seem to be getting back on track and that's a good thing for everyone involved.
Have you seen that video out of Minneapolis where the cop knelt on the black guys neck until he died? It was nasty. What the hell was he thinking? Of course there need to be consequences for doing such a thing. Firing him doesn't get the job done. I guess the courts will decide what, if any, criminality was involved but time is of the essence. Trump has asked that his DOJ review the case so there's that. And what in god's name were the people who took to the streets pillaging and burning down stores in response to the "murder" thinking?
This could become another Ferguson, Missouri, situation for the president if he isn't careful. Remember his comments in the wake of the Michael Brown shooting, "there were good people on both sides"? No, he was not referring to white supremacists on one side and blacks on the other side. But the MSM would repeat that fallacy time and time again to make our president look and sound like a racist. This is what they do.
Those dirty bastards. You know the collective power of the MSM and the left would love a wedge issue to take them into the November election and this has all the earmarks of just that. Thankfully, Trump is in full and total control of the 24 hour news cycle so this is what I say to the MSM and their minions: Good luck with that. And how about that Space X launch? Our first rocket launch in ten years since the Shuttle program was scuttled by Obama. Our astronauts (do we even call them that anymore?) have been catching a ride to the Space Station orbiting Earth with the Russians over the intervening years and that's a wrap with this Space X thing.
We're going to the moon, Alice! I think that's where the Space X program is headed and maybe even Mars down the road. I like the fact that this is a private-public partnership between Elon Musk and his company and the US Government. Everything about this latest venture is Tesla-like and it's just slick and sassy as all get out. None of this clunky US issued governmental garbage sitting out there on the launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida. That old stuff looks like scrap metal compared to what we're seeing now from Elon Musk and his folks.
The rocket portion of the craft is designed to be refurbished after reaching orbit and returning to earth only to settle down on a launch pad in the middle of the ocean. It's all by design, folks. Not sure what they did with all the "old" shuttle technology. That seemed to work just fine and it was rather popular but at the end of the day it got scuttled. I guess there are winners and losers even in the U.S. Space program. Lest I forget, we're sending two American souls into space along with this new technology in today's launch. Let's say a little prayer for them and their families.
I'm somewhat at a loss for words this morning. Maybe I need more coffee. Maybe I need a different kind of music. Maybe if I were more annoyed. I always do better when I'm venting about this or that but I'm not feeling that way at the moment yet here I am. I just need to get in a groove of sorts and then things will start to flow. I can always go back and change things up until I get it right. And this is going nowhere until I say it's ready to go.
This is the second time in as many months that Evan has come over with a gas tank that is running on empty. I wish he wouldn't do that. He has the money and the wherewithal to see that he isn't driving around on an empty tank so he has no excuse for doing it. I told him straight away, "Evan, put $5 in your tank if it's that low and I'll top it off when you come around." That's what dads do. Some roads between his house and here don't leave much room for a car to pull over so it's better to avoid that altogether if you can. It's just asking for trouble.
They are finally opening up the beaches here in town next week after being closed for several weeks due to the fear that social distancing on the beaches wasn't going to cut the mustard. Besides, the beaches were closed up and down the coast from Maine to Massachusetts since early March so leaving our beaches open here in New Hampshire would just exacerbate any problems directly or indirectly related to crowding, social distancing, community spread, and you name it in connection to the dreaded coronavirus.
But they run a tight ship here in town so don't expect to be able to run down to the beach with your beach towel and sun tan lotion to spend the day. There is limited to no parking along 1A and only 50% of the spots in the parking lots of the two local state parks will be available for the foreseeable future. You can't lie on the beach at all. You can run, walk, and I think you can even surf but there is no sitting or lying on the sand. If you are a little fella, or the sister of a little fella, it's best to leave your bucket and shovel back at the house. See what I did there?
With the exception of the two state park parking lots, the local constabulary is making it difficult for out-of-towners to come and enjoy the best that our beaches have to offer. From a purely selfish standpoint I'm good with those plans. Not that I'm a beachgoer who needs to avoid the coronavirus diseased transplants because I don't. What I'm wanting to avoid is the inevitable congestion and crowds that we typically see during the summer months and all that entails. It makes my bike rides less enjoyable as well and it increases the likelihood that I'll have a traffic related incident sooner rather than later.
That's my pitch anyway. Let's keep everything at arms length for a while. We've only ever had a total of eleven cases of Coronavirus in our small town of 5,000 people so we'll see whether or not the influx of foreigners flocking to our beaches if only for a stroll or to walk their animals after 7PM makes a difference. Is it wrong for we townies to want our beaches for our own pleasure? Is it wrong to want to make sure that we stay safe during this pandemic?
They say sunshine is the best disinfectant and I believe that to be true. I stopped wearing a mask while biking a long time ago with that very notion in mind. The brighter the sunshine, the hotter the day, the better and safer I feel when I'm out on my bike. Now that we're expecting less traffic and fewer tourists, at least in the near term, I'll be tripping the light fantastic when I'm out and about. If I don't have to take the back roads then all the better. Coronavirus aside, I think the summer is shaping up quite nicely thus far thank you very much.
I have so many things that I have for Evan to take home with him when he goes that I had to make a list. He'll probably take some but not all and that's fine. Sometimes he just takes what he can carry in order to avoid having make multiple trips. If he remembers, he'll bring his backpack and throw a few things in there alongside his laptop. I bought a nice container of beef stew and a frozen chicken pot pie from the local soup store that I think he'll like so they are there for the taking. The less planning he has to do when it comes to food purchase and preparation the better.
Nancy's work life is getting back to normal after a brief layoff due to the coronavirus blues. She was getting a little too used to the $600-a-week bonus from the Federal Government and she would be the first to admit that it was nice while it lasted. It had a certain entitlement feel to it that made me a bit queasy but it was what it was and now it's gone. You can see how people on welfare have a hard time weaning themselves off welfare and becoming productive citizens once again after being on the public dole forever and a day. It's like heroin. Catnip has you chasing it, heroin gets you hooked.
We're often critical and even unkind when referring to "those" types of people who would do such a thing. Why don't they get a job like everyone else? They certainly look like they can work. This is why our taxes are as high as they are so it isn't fair that we have to work and they get to sit around on their lazy asses all day. I need to get my head on straight about this stuff. We're talking about unemployment and not welfare. Does the fact that one is either longer or shorter in duration make it any less distasteful?
I didn't like what I was hearing from Nancy when she found out she was going to have to go back to work and her bogey of $600 was going the way of the platypus. We had a come to Jesus moment between us when she realized that she was becoming one of those people that we roundly criticize for feeding at the public trough. All I can say is that I'm thankful that the duration of the handout was short lived and, if nothing else, the extra money was put to good use. Any longer and it would have become a problem.
I guess we can get back to being critical of the bottom feeders now that we're off the public dole. I want to be careful here too because this ($600 bogey) was a payment in response to an anomalous event of sorts which impacted every conceivable cross section of the American public. You may notice that I made no reference to the one-time $1,200 payments that were paid out as part of the governments stimulus plan in response to our economy which imploded when our economy was shuttered. We're a long way from back to normal but we seem to be getting back on track and that's a good thing for everyone involved.
Have you seen that video out of Minneapolis where the cop knelt on the black guys neck until he died? It was nasty. What the hell was he thinking? Of course there need to be consequences for doing such a thing. Firing him doesn't get the job done. I guess the courts will decide what, if any, criminality was involved but time is of the essence. Trump has asked that his DOJ review the case so there's that. And what in god's name were the people who took to the streets pillaging and burning down stores in response to the "murder" thinking?
This could become another Ferguson, Missouri, situation for the president if he isn't careful. Remember his comments in the wake of the Michael Brown shooting, "there were good people on both sides"? No, he was not referring to white supremacists on one side and blacks on the other side. But the MSM would repeat that fallacy time and time again to make our president look and sound like a racist. This is what they do.
Those dirty bastards. You know the collective power of the MSM and the left would love a wedge issue to take them into the November election and this has all the earmarks of just that. Thankfully, Trump is in full and total control of the 24 hour news cycle so this is what I say to the MSM and their minions: Good luck with that. And how about that Space X launch? Our first rocket launch in ten years since the Shuttle program was scuttled by Obama. Our astronauts (do we even call them that anymore?) have been catching a ride to the Space Station orbiting Earth with the Russians over the intervening years and that's a wrap with this Space X thing.
We're going to the moon, Alice! I think that's where the Space X program is headed and maybe even Mars down the road. I like the fact that this is a private-public partnership between Elon Musk and his company and the US Government. Everything about this latest venture is Tesla-like and it's just slick and sassy as all get out. None of this clunky US issued governmental garbage sitting out there on the launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida. That old stuff looks like scrap metal compared to what we're seeing now from Elon Musk and his folks.
The rocket portion of the craft is designed to be refurbished after reaching orbit and returning to earth only to settle down on a launch pad in the middle of the ocean. It's all by design, folks. Not sure what they did with all the "old" shuttle technology. That seemed to work just fine and it was rather popular but at the end of the day it got scuttled. I guess there are winners and losers even in the U.S. Space program. Lest I forget, we're sending two American souls into space along with this new technology in today's launch. Let's say a little prayer for them and their families.