Odd Man Out
06/05/20 07:02
Every time I read about Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg coming down with one thing or another I start to get a little, how do they say, a little tingle running down my leg. How terrific would that be if Trump were to get another Supreme Court pick in his first term? The left would lose their collective shit to be sure. How many bouts of cancer has she had as far as we know? Too many? Not enough? Please, God. I'm getting mean again. Make it stop!
It was so funny. Nancy and I were sitting around the other day and what appears fluttering and flittering as it did in our front room window but the first hummingbird of the season. It was right on schedule. I've been keeping track the last few years and they typically arrive around the 4th or 5th of May. I swear that the bird fluttered in place for two or three seconds while staring at me as I sat on the couch as if to say, get off your duff and put out the feeders, we're back. This is what they do uncanny as it is.
And if it's Springtime here in the hood, it's time that our neighbor Betsi's friend John arrives with his trailer in tow to spend the summer months at the end of the cul-de-sac. In the era of Covid-19, I can't say with any degree of certainty that he is a welcome sight. If anything, his idea of staying in quarantine and my idea of his staying in quarantine are two different things. He was out and about yesterday but staying socially distant so I suppose we should be thankful for that.
Maybe it's no different than the stay-at-home orders we are all subjected to here in the state of New Hampshire. We really aren't under lock and key as the wording might otherwise suggest. We are free to go about our business so stay-at-home may be a misnomer of sorts. Not wanting to appear anything but neighborly, I gave every indication that we welcomed him back with open arms but I left the door open at least subliminally for any suggestion that he may be asymptomatic or worse when it comes to the dreaded Covid-19.
But the hummingbird feeders are up, the lawn has been raked and the leaves deposited across the street, and I'm quite sure that I have no intention whatsoever of putting in a garden this year. I don't care how many meat packing plants they close or how many frozen food processing plants they take off line, I refuse to believe there are any problems in the food chain here in the United States. I even heard that Wendy's is taking burgers off the menu. Can that be true? Not a Wendy's guy, but what the hey.
Mother's Day is coming around so Nancy is not surprisingly in the what to do what to do stage when it comes to getting something for her mom. I gave her my usual response. Don't ask me, she's not my mother. That's me being mean again. Do I have any suggestions on what to get for her mom? I do not. Nancy may need to get a little more creative this year than in years past knowing as we do that her mom is under lock and key at her independent living facility during this so-called pandemic. Still, time is running short.
Nancy has wanted something for herself so I have an idea on what to get for her and I've placed the order so expect she will have it by the time Mother's Day arrives. I've decided that we'll order a nice take-out meal from a local restaurant and we've put Evan on notice should he wish to offer any suggestions on what to order. He may have a thought or two on which restaurant he prefers to order from and that would be fine too. Any and all suggestions are welcome.
It's probably a bridge too far to expect that Evan will get so much as a card for his mom so maybe I'll pick one up and he can pass it off as his own. He does write a nice note all things considered so he'll have something at least that, at a minimum, should warm the cockles of his mother's heart. While we're on the subject, what the heck is a cockle anyway? If there is a card to go along with the present we're plan to give to Nancy then he can sign that as well. Either way, Nancy will be pleased as punch to have our son on board for whatever we end up doing or not doing. She is and always has been easy to please.
Speaking of the Ev man, where is his stimulus check? It is nowhere to be found. Was he not on the right list? Maybe he'll be getting a check and maybe he won't. The bigger question when it comes to Evan is what he may or may not do with money once it arrives. We've asked if he has any plans for it and he clearly does not. Maybe he has plans but prefers not to divulge them to his parents. That would not surprise me at all.
It's a windfall for him all in all so he can do with it as he pleases. That said, I'd hate for him to wake up one day and find that his windfall has withered away to nothing and he has nothing to show for it. That's the parent in me talking. But he'll be coming by today to join Nancy for a phone conversation with a so-called provider so that's good. Maybe we can ask him again if he has any plans. If he's in one of his talkative moods that night be a good opening. If not, we'll let sleeping dogs lie.
I told Nancy yesterday that we should have a calendar for all of Ev's events aside from the calendar that she keeps for her yoga classes, etc.. Her life revolves around her calendar if I'm allowed to opine on such things. Teasing Evan's business out of any given day or week on her calendar may be hard for her to do. I'm quick to remind her that if she gets hit by a bus tomorrow and I have to unravel her calendar for important dates, especially when it comes to Evan, I might not be able to make sense of it all. Just sayin'.
Retail (non-essential) opens up this coming week here in New Hampshire so we'll see how that goes. We'll all be wearing masks and doing our level best to keep our distance from the next guy or gal when going about our business. It's become second nature to reach for my mask when going in and out of stores and restaurants but I look forward to the day when that is no longer necessary. It certainly helps that mostly everyone else is wearing one. No one likes to be the odd man out.
So now Mrs G tells us that management is starting to relax the coronavirus related restrictions at her independent living facility. They will no longer be knocking on resident's door to trumpet the arrival of their evening meals. Meals will be delivered each evening to the common area and can be picked up by the residents. Nancy confided in me that she thought the idea of residents poring over the to-go dinners in the common area in order to find their own individually labeled bags was somewhat repulsive not know what viruses or other nasty things they might leave behind on by pawing through the bags belonging to other residents.
I assured her that the font used to label each of the bags was sufficiently large such that the residents should be able to identify their own meals without touching meals belonging to other residents. Nancy wasn't buying it. The good news is that in all the of the testing they've done at the facility as of late, there hasn't been one positive case. That's pretty good and it goes a long way toward reassuring the residents that all the efforts by the management on behalf of the residents have not been in vain.
Being the natural skeptic that I am, is it possible that they are lying through their teeth just to provide a feel-good report to the petrified elderly population confined to their quarters day in and day out? I don't think so. It's kind of consistent with the number of cases here in New Hampshire which is to say that it's pretty low and compared to other hotspots in the nation it's a mere peehole in the snow. When you add the fact that they are relaxing restrictions you can be sure that they wouldn't be doing that if they found even a single positive case.
They're even talking about letting the residents get together with relatives in half hour time slots. That seems crazy to me knowing how vulnerable that population is but I have to assume they know what they're doing. Maybe they know something we don't. I also don't know what that meet and greet looks like so I shouldn't try to get ahead of it here. Suffice it to say that Mrs G liked the idea and it seemed to perk her up as she was giving Nancy the information over the phone. It was good to hear a little excitement in her voice for a change.
I told Nancy that if we're going to do this meet and greet thing that maybe we should get tested first. Did I mention that Mrs G asked that we arrange to bring her a lobster roll? She and Nancy went back and forth a bit on whether or not french fries would survive the trip and they decided that it was better to get no french fries at all than to get french fries that were no longer hot and crispy. But the testing thing? Nancy wasn't so sure. Would it matter if we tested negative one day only to contract the virus the next day and be none the wiser?
I'm on a bit of a roll here this morning. Just when I thought I was running out of things to say. It looks like a rainy and cold day here on the coast so I'll be staying close to home today. If all goes as planned I'll catch up with some reading before the day is over. I'm reading a book about drug companies and how they dumped opiates and other painkillers on communities in West Virginia resulting in untold number of deaths and other tragic societal ills. It's a very sad story, really, but one that involves heroes, villains, and an all too familiar backdrop involving families coast to coast in our great country. It is a story that needed to be told.
I sure hope we get word from Evan on what his thinking is when it comes to Mother's Day tomorrow. Did I mention that he has an arrival date for his stimulus check? He's pumped to say the least. I'm happy to see him get excited about something even if it's only to have a few extra dollars in his pocket. It's not called a "stimulus" payment for nothing. Right? Do you suppose there is more where that comes from? It's nice paying bills with someone else's money. Wait a minute! Those are my hard earned tax dollars!
It was so funny. Nancy and I were sitting around the other day and what appears fluttering and flittering as it did in our front room window but the first hummingbird of the season. It was right on schedule. I've been keeping track the last few years and they typically arrive around the 4th or 5th of May. I swear that the bird fluttered in place for two or three seconds while staring at me as I sat on the couch as if to say, get off your duff and put out the feeders, we're back. This is what they do uncanny as it is.
And if it's Springtime here in the hood, it's time that our neighbor Betsi's friend John arrives with his trailer in tow to spend the summer months at the end of the cul-de-sac. In the era of Covid-19, I can't say with any degree of certainty that he is a welcome sight. If anything, his idea of staying in quarantine and my idea of his staying in quarantine are two different things. He was out and about yesterday but staying socially distant so I suppose we should be thankful for that.
Maybe it's no different than the stay-at-home orders we are all subjected to here in the state of New Hampshire. We really aren't under lock and key as the wording might otherwise suggest. We are free to go about our business so stay-at-home may be a misnomer of sorts. Not wanting to appear anything but neighborly, I gave every indication that we welcomed him back with open arms but I left the door open at least subliminally for any suggestion that he may be asymptomatic or worse when it comes to the dreaded Covid-19.
But the hummingbird feeders are up, the lawn has been raked and the leaves deposited across the street, and I'm quite sure that I have no intention whatsoever of putting in a garden this year. I don't care how many meat packing plants they close or how many frozen food processing plants they take off line, I refuse to believe there are any problems in the food chain here in the United States. I even heard that Wendy's is taking burgers off the menu. Can that be true? Not a Wendy's guy, but what the hey.
Mother's Day is coming around so Nancy is not surprisingly in the what to do what to do stage when it comes to getting something for her mom. I gave her my usual response. Don't ask me, she's not my mother. That's me being mean again. Do I have any suggestions on what to get for her mom? I do not. Nancy may need to get a little more creative this year than in years past knowing as we do that her mom is under lock and key at her independent living facility during this so-called pandemic. Still, time is running short.
Nancy has wanted something for herself so I have an idea on what to get for her and I've placed the order so expect she will have it by the time Mother's Day arrives. I've decided that we'll order a nice take-out meal from a local restaurant and we've put Evan on notice should he wish to offer any suggestions on what to order. He may have a thought or two on which restaurant he prefers to order from and that would be fine too. Any and all suggestions are welcome.
It's probably a bridge too far to expect that Evan will get so much as a card for his mom so maybe I'll pick one up and he can pass it off as his own. He does write a nice note all things considered so he'll have something at least that, at a minimum, should warm the cockles of his mother's heart. While we're on the subject, what the heck is a cockle anyway? If there is a card to go along with the present we're plan to give to Nancy then he can sign that as well. Either way, Nancy will be pleased as punch to have our son on board for whatever we end up doing or not doing. She is and always has been easy to please.
Speaking of the Ev man, where is his stimulus check? It is nowhere to be found. Was he not on the right list? Maybe he'll be getting a check and maybe he won't. The bigger question when it comes to Evan is what he may or may not do with money once it arrives. We've asked if he has any plans for it and he clearly does not. Maybe he has plans but prefers not to divulge them to his parents. That would not surprise me at all.
It's a windfall for him all in all so he can do with it as he pleases. That said, I'd hate for him to wake up one day and find that his windfall has withered away to nothing and he has nothing to show for it. That's the parent in me talking. But he'll be coming by today to join Nancy for a phone conversation with a so-called provider so that's good. Maybe we can ask him again if he has any plans. If he's in one of his talkative moods that night be a good opening. If not, we'll let sleeping dogs lie.
I told Nancy yesterday that we should have a calendar for all of Ev's events aside from the calendar that she keeps for her yoga classes, etc.. Her life revolves around her calendar if I'm allowed to opine on such things. Teasing Evan's business out of any given day or week on her calendar may be hard for her to do. I'm quick to remind her that if she gets hit by a bus tomorrow and I have to unravel her calendar for important dates, especially when it comes to Evan, I might not be able to make sense of it all. Just sayin'.
Retail (non-essential) opens up this coming week here in New Hampshire so we'll see how that goes. We'll all be wearing masks and doing our level best to keep our distance from the next guy or gal when going about our business. It's become second nature to reach for my mask when going in and out of stores and restaurants but I look forward to the day when that is no longer necessary. It certainly helps that mostly everyone else is wearing one. No one likes to be the odd man out.
So now Mrs G tells us that management is starting to relax the coronavirus related restrictions at her independent living facility. They will no longer be knocking on resident's door to trumpet the arrival of their evening meals. Meals will be delivered each evening to the common area and can be picked up by the residents. Nancy confided in me that she thought the idea of residents poring over the to-go dinners in the common area in order to find their own individually labeled bags was somewhat repulsive not know what viruses or other nasty things they might leave behind on by pawing through the bags belonging to other residents.
I assured her that the font used to label each of the bags was sufficiently large such that the residents should be able to identify their own meals without touching meals belonging to other residents. Nancy wasn't buying it. The good news is that in all the of the testing they've done at the facility as of late, there hasn't been one positive case. That's pretty good and it goes a long way toward reassuring the residents that all the efforts by the management on behalf of the residents have not been in vain.
Being the natural skeptic that I am, is it possible that they are lying through their teeth just to provide a feel-good report to the petrified elderly population confined to their quarters day in and day out? I don't think so. It's kind of consistent with the number of cases here in New Hampshire which is to say that it's pretty low and compared to other hotspots in the nation it's a mere peehole in the snow. When you add the fact that they are relaxing restrictions you can be sure that they wouldn't be doing that if they found even a single positive case.
They're even talking about letting the residents get together with relatives in half hour time slots. That seems crazy to me knowing how vulnerable that population is but I have to assume they know what they're doing. Maybe they know something we don't. I also don't know what that meet and greet looks like so I shouldn't try to get ahead of it here. Suffice it to say that Mrs G liked the idea and it seemed to perk her up as she was giving Nancy the information over the phone. It was good to hear a little excitement in her voice for a change.
I told Nancy that if we're going to do this meet and greet thing that maybe we should get tested first. Did I mention that Mrs G asked that we arrange to bring her a lobster roll? She and Nancy went back and forth a bit on whether or not french fries would survive the trip and they decided that it was better to get no french fries at all than to get french fries that were no longer hot and crispy. But the testing thing? Nancy wasn't so sure. Would it matter if we tested negative one day only to contract the virus the next day and be none the wiser?
I'm on a bit of a roll here this morning. Just when I thought I was running out of things to say. It looks like a rainy and cold day here on the coast so I'll be staying close to home today. If all goes as planned I'll catch up with some reading before the day is over. I'm reading a book about drug companies and how they dumped opiates and other painkillers on communities in West Virginia resulting in untold number of deaths and other tragic societal ills. It's a very sad story, really, but one that involves heroes, villains, and an all too familiar backdrop involving families coast to coast in our great country. It is a story that needed to be told.
I sure hope we get word from Evan on what his thinking is when it comes to Mother's Day tomorrow. Did I mention that he has an arrival date for his stimulus check? He's pumped to say the least. I'm happy to see him get excited about something even if it's only to have a few extra dollars in his pocket. It's not called a "stimulus" payment for nothing. Right? Do you suppose there is more where that comes from? It's nice paying bills with someone else's money. Wait a minute! Those are my hard earned tax dollars!