All About The Children
28/11/21 06:36
I'm off to a slow start on this week's blog post. I need to get my arse in gear if I want to have something out come Sunday. It's been a pretty good year for posts thus far. It hasn't been a struggle in the least and I've had none of what they refer to as "writer's block." You know what that is. You sit in front of your computer screen and you can't think of anything you might want to say. Your page remains blank despite your best efforts. I've come to realize, I guess, that saying nothing in so many words, which I do well, is an art form. Call it "blather" if you will.
I had my annual physical yesterday. Well, a wellness visit really. What a complete waste of fucking time. I knew going into it that I had no issues outstanding and my bloodwork, which I obtained in advance, seemed good to go so no worries there. I saw a resident instead of my usual physician so that seemed weird. He knew squat about my history so I wasted no time beating my chest about what I thought were some interesting improvements since my last physical. I was telling the missus last night that I don't really know what I've done in the last 12 months that would help me account for the changes but changes there were. Changes for the better I might add.
It probably has something to do with diet and or exercise so I'll be looking to not only hang on to what I've accomplished but I'll be wanting to add to those improvements in the coming year if I can. It's hard to know what to work on precisely, so I'll just have to double down on what I think I've done to get to where I am today. Does that make any sense? Maybe it's just matter of having more salads and less meat. Maybe it's just getting more exercise than what I'm used to. You know, push myself on those days when I'm feeling lazy or unmotivated. I can't let the wind and the rain slow me down or keep me from biking my favorite route when my mojo is working. Go. Go. Go.
When I first took a look at the results of my bloodwork, I thought I had gotten someone else's results. Could it have been the woman behind me in line at the place I had my blood taken. Not likely since I had PSA results and women aren't, as a rule, tested for PSA. These days, who knows. Men have babies and some places put tampon machines in men's rooms. It's crazy, right? The results I got when I got them back seemed better by a margin that seemed unlikely knowing what I know about my efforts or lack thereof over the course of the last year. My regular physician, had he been available, would have had more to say about the changes. A pat on the back may have been in order.
Maybe he'll give me a call. I can hear him now. "Johnnyboy, you done good." "Keep doing what you're doing." Who doesn't like hearing words of encouragement from their health care professionals? So, I don't know about next year. My physician might well be retired by then. Maybe I'll just schedule a little bloodwork and, assuming everything is up to snuff, I'll call it a day and I won't bother with seeing someone who knows diddly squat about my history. I don't know if I'll be able to get away with that but it's something that sure sounds tempting as I sit here this morning some 365 days out from my next doctor's visit.
I know it's hard to believe but Mrs G and I have the same physician. She called me last night to inquire about which physician showed up when I was in for my physical. We had discussed the fact that our usual guy was in the office but not seeing any patients for whatever reason. So, neither of us saw our usual guy and we both saw a different resident for our respective visits. I'm still not sure why Mrs G was so curious about my visit. If I had seen our physician, maybe Mrs G was thinking that it was just a fluke that he didn't see her when she went to the office. Maybe she was wondering if he was seeing some patients and not other patients. I'll try not to read too much into her query.
What the hell is going on in Waukesha, Wisconsin? You know, the place where that BLM sexual predator mowed down and killed several people who were joyously participating in a Christmas parade the night before last. Why does every headline in every newspaper coast to coast read, "SUV hit parade after dispute?" Isn't this the more appropriate headline: "BLM sexual predator exacts karma after Rittenhouse verdict?" The case has been taken over by the FBI and they are trying to bury this story. Why is the FBI even involved in the case unless it's really a case of domestic terrorism? Since when is mowing down and killing women and children at a Christmas parade not an act of domestic terrorism?
It gets better. The FBI has actually not called this an act of domestic terrorism but the FBI has dispatched forces across the nation to find and charge mothers and fathers raising their voices at school board meetings with domestic terrorism. See how that works? The headlines are misleading and they are deliberately misleading and everyone and anyone with half a brain knows it. Why are they misleading? Might it shed an unfavorable light on the Black Lives Matter movement? Does the Black Lives Matter organization hold the kind of sway with the government that they can control and even dictate what stories do and do not get covered in the media? That is one mother fucking scary proposition.
I wasn't kidding when I made my "karma" comment. BLM had hoped that the jury might convict Rittenhouse and that would put an end to the dreams of any and all white boys who might think once or twice about showing up at a BLM looting and ravaging rally. We know in 2020 that the cops stood down in cities across our nation while BLM types burned our cities to the ground. The law doesn't apply to them, don't you know. I don't know that even one BLM type was arrested much less put in jail for the mayhem they caused in the tumultuous year of 2020. All I can say when it comes to the Waukesha killings is, here we go again.
If we can't give them (people of color) reparations then we might as well let them do as they will to exact whatever it is that they think they are entitled to. Anyway, the Rittenhouse jury did not convict him so the BLM movement decided to do what criminal organizations always do when their backs are against the wall. They took matters into their own hands and people lost their lives. This is what they do and rather than fighting back or looking to put these criminals in jail for the rest of their natural lives, our government seems not only not to care but they actively cover-up, defend, and enable the crimes committed by these animals. It seems crazy but it's true. This is not your grandfather's FBI, my friends.
It was good to have the Ev man come along with me when I went to pick up our turkey at Whole Foods. He stopped by as he sometimes does and off we went. We stopped to fill up his gas tank and we shared a chuckle when he went to fill his tank on my dime and he came up short. Of course, we didn't know that until he was back sitting in the car and I turned on the engine only to see that he didn't fill it up much beyond three quarter of a tank. I said to him, "Ev, when someone is paying for your gas make sure that you fill it up completely." "Keep filling it up after you hear the first click and stop after hearing the click for a second time." "That's how you do it, my friend."
We put a little air in his tires and then we were off to the market to pick up our Thanksgiving order. I never know if the Ev man is going to be in the mood to go into a store or not and yesterday was no exception. Nonetheless, he joined me and we went about our business inside the store of picking up our pre-ordered turkey, stuffing, and some little cranberry croissant type thingies that appealed to the missus. Our experience wasn't seamless and that surprised me a little bit. There seemed to be too many moving pieces. I should have known there was a problem when they handed me a buzzer that they promised would go off when my turkey was ready for pick-up. Spoiler alert : It didn't.
We had to make a stop here, there, and everywhere while in the store before our order was complete and ready to go. Maybe that was by design. Maybe they wanted us to do a little shopping in the store while we were there. If you have the customer in the store, you keep them there in the hopes that they will add even more things to their carts before they leave the store. Right? We did end up buying just one other thing so maybe there is some truth to what I'm postulating here.
As distracting as everything is in Whole Foods, due to the expansive variety of goods they sell, I was happy to help the Ev man focus just long enough on some ready-to-go honey glazed chicken nuggets that I thought he might want to have for lunch or dinner. Feedback after the fact tells me that he enjoyed the nuggets just as I thought he would so that's good. Not all of my recommendations pan out like that so adding one or more in a row to the plus column helps me stay in good stead with the Ev man. I don't see him returning to Whole Foods himself anytime soon but I'm more than happy to have him come along with me if he is so disposed. Hope springs eternal!
Mrs G gave a call last evening. She was tickled that her facility had put out tablecloths and flowers for the Thanksgiving feast and she couldn't have been happier about it. There hasn't been much of an opportunity to do any community dining in her facility due to the dreaded Covid over the last 12 months so bringing out the white tablecloths just in time for Thanksgiving was the bees knees. I'm not saying that community dining is back in spades but I am saying that management, for whatever reason, has decided to throw caution to the wind in order to restore some semblance of normality if only for the Thanksgiving holiday. Good for them. The residents, I mean.
The missus was busy as a beaver yesterday putting everything together for today's feast. She made her grandmother's pumpkin pie, a nice cranberry something with a recipe out of Cook's magazine, and she boiled a dozen eggs or so in order to make some deviled eggs. Who doesn't like whore derves? I think she surprised herself at just how busy she was and maybe how everything fell into place so nicely. I had to ask her later in the day if she had time to get in a little exercise since I know how important that is to her on any given day. She's up and out of bed early this morning asking about gravy boats and just how many potatoes she should be cooking in order to make the mashed potatoes.
We're expecting a little snow next week if the forecast that I'm looking at is on target. That means that I will be out and about in the yard today and tomorrow cleaning up the last vestiges of leaves that have taken refuge along the perimeter of our home. My new electric hedge trimmer is working like a charm so there's that. I just have to work a little harder to keep the cord away from the cutting blades since I've not been very successful at that thus far. We have some tall grasses that need clipping before the snow falls and this trimmer is just what the doctor ordered. You know me, everything has to be neat as a pin before the snow comes along. I won't tolerate stragglers. Grasses, I mean.
Did I mention that our turkey is a nice organic 11.5 pounder? It's just the right size. I usually get a bigger bird thinking that I'll make a soup or maybe have some left over for sandwiches but that has just never worked out so I'm going smaller this year. There's enough for the three of us and maybe some to set aside for seconds if someone is so inclined. Isn't a second seating a thing? I guess we'll see. We'll have other leftovers as well so I think we're more than good to go. I can't wait to see if this Whole Foods turkey purchase, along with the other things from the store, was the right choice for us. I guess I would say, so far, so good.
Fast forward 24 hours and Thanksgiving 2021 has come and gone. It was smashing success! Everything turned out just the way we'd hoped and, short of a couple of timing issues, we all sat down to a very nice Thanksgiving meal. We hardly had time to talk about the things that we should have been thankful for before we started eating the dinner. That's not the way it's supposed to work but sometimes the natural order of things goes haywire and you do what you can to restore order even if that means just moving on and hoping for the best. I think we all agreed that the purchases we made from Whole Foods were just perfect and, coming in a very close second, was Nancy's delicious homemade cranberry sauce.
The turkey was unbelievably good and it was cooked to perfection. I prefer a pop-up so I know when to yank the bird out of the oven but this particular 11-pounder had no such thing so I watched the clock according to instructions I read on the internet and it worked out just fine. I usually lather the bird with butter or margarine before putting it in the oven but read somewhere that vegetable oil was the better alternative. I also cooked the bird in the oven with the breast facing downward and that, according to yet one other article I read, allowed the juices to flow into the breast meat as it cooked. I'm not sure if I'd done things differently that it would have turned out any less tasty. It was destined to be good.
The financial markets are under pressure this morning either because the Fed heads announced their plans to double down on tapering and tapering sooner than expected, or, because there is now a new Covid-19 variant coming out of South Africa that is more contagious than the delta variant currently in circulation. It's funny how that works. As for the governments who are using the various variants to suppress and imprison their citizenry, the ends justify the means. It's the perfect tool for the tyrannical powers and the dictator wannabes who make it up as they go along all in the name of keeping people safe. "Two weeks to slow the spread" is so yesterday. Now, it's all about the children.
This couldn't have come at a worse time. The holiday shopping season is just now getting under way with Black Friday and whatever it is that comes along next Monday that involves technology. I can never remember what they call the Monday shopping extravaganza but it's the one holiday when I usually go online to pick up things like charging cords, flash memory, and other computer related accessories.
Sleepy Joe Biden's approval numbers are already in the thirties and if things really go south in a big way in the financial markets we might well see his approval ratings drop into the twenties. It's probably only a matter of time, maybe hours, before a Fed head steps up to the plate to announce QE infinity. And then, if the creek don't rise and the good lord's willin', we'll be off to the races once again. Let's hope that what they say about the "trend being your friend" is correct.
We're keeping an eye on the now seemingly seasonal Covid virus and it seems to be hitting the blue states fairly hard. This is not going to play well in the Adirondacks if Uncle Wally's Holiday bash gets postponed or otherwise delayed yet again due to the uptick in rates of either Covid related deaths orCovid related infections. We were all locked down last Christmas so his plans for his annual get together never got off the drawing board. We took it in stride, of course, being the dutiful brothers and sisters that we are since no one wanted to inadvertently give anyone else the dreaded virus.
I'm hearing that in some places in the UK the death rates are higher amongst the vaccinated under the age of 60 than that of the unvaccinated. So, not only can the vaccinated catch and transmit the virus, but they are also dying in greater numbers compared to their unvaccinated brethren. Tell me again why we have mandates in countries around the world to get vaccinated? Anyway, the new governor in New York state has implemented a ban on elective surgery in the state in order to keep hospital beds free for an anticipated uptick of cases due to the new virus coming out of South Africa. It's likely just more fear mongering and, coming from a blue state, no one should be surprised.
As of now, we're planning to attend Uncle Wally's bash. That said, trips to the Adirondacks in the middle of the winter are, as you may well imagine, already dicey and subject to last minute changes due to weather patterns. I don't know that the missus has some metric in mind when it comes to Covid death or infection rates where, if exceeded, she would want to cancel our trip but I'll need to discuss that with her some time soon. She's throwing a lot of numbers around these days that seem to suggest that she's becoming increasingly frightful but the absence of headlines for a few days might help to restore her sense of equilibrium when it comes to the mass hysteria around this demon of a virus.
I had my annual physical yesterday. Well, a wellness visit really. What a complete waste of fucking time. I knew going into it that I had no issues outstanding and my bloodwork, which I obtained in advance, seemed good to go so no worries there. I saw a resident instead of my usual physician so that seemed weird. He knew squat about my history so I wasted no time beating my chest about what I thought were some interesting improvements since my last physical. I was telling the missus last night that I don't really know what I've done in the last 12 months that would help me account for the changes but changes there were. Changes for the better I might add.
It probably has something to do with diet and or exercise so I'll be looking to not only hang on to what I've accomplished but I'll be wanting to add to those improvements in the coming year if I can. It's hard to know what to work on precisely, so I'll just have to double down on what I think I've done to get to where I am today. Does that make any sense? Maybe it's just matter of having more salads and less meat. Maybe it's just getting more exercise than what I'm used to. You know, push myself on those days when I'm feeling lazy or unmotivated. I can't let the wind and the rain slow me down or keep me from biking my favorite route when my mojo is working. Go. Go. Go.
When I first took a look at the results of my bloodwork, I thought I had gotten someone else's results. Could it have been the woman behind me in line at the place I had my blood taken. Not likely since I had PSA results and women aren't, as a rule, tested for PSA. These days, who knows. Men have babies and some places put tampon machines in men's rooms. It's crazy, right? The results I got when I got them back seemed better by a margin that seemed unlikely knowing what I know about my efforts or lack thereof over the course of the last year. My regular physician, had he been available, would have had more to say about the changes. A pat on the back may have been in order.
Maybe he'll give me a call. I can hear him now. "Johnnyboy, you done good." "Keep doing what you're doing." Who doesn't like hearing words of encouragement from their health care professionals? So, I don't know about next year. My physician might well be retired by then. Maybe I'll just schedule a little bloodwork and, assuming everything is up to snuff, I'll call it a day and I won't bother with seeing someone who knows diddly squat about my history. I don't know if I'll be able to get away with that but it's something that sure sounds tempting as I sit here this morning some 365 days out from my next doctor's visit.
I know it's hard to believe but Mrs G and I have the same physician. She called me last night to inquire about which physician showed up when I was in for my physical. We had discussed the fact that our usual guy was in the office but not seeing any patients for whatever reason. So, neither of us saw our usual guy and we both saw a different resident for our respective visits. I'm still not sure why Mrs G was so curious about my visit. If I had seen our physician, maybe Mrs G was thinking that it was just a fluke that he didn't see her when she went to the office. Maybe she was wondering if he was seeing some patients and not other patients. I'll try not to read too much into her query.
What the hell is going on in Waukesha, Wisconsin? You know, the place where that BLM sexual predator mowed down and killed several people who were joyously participating in a Christmas parade the night before last. Why does every headline in every newspaper coast to coast read, "SUV hit parade after dispute?" Isn't this the more appropriate headline: "BLM sexual predator exacts karma after Rittenhouse verdict?" The case has been taken over by the FBI and they are trying to bury this story. Why is the FBI even involved in the case unless it's really a case of domestic terrorism? Since when is mowing down and killing women and children at a Christmas parade not an act of domestic terrorism?
It gets better. The FBI has actually not called this an act of domestic terrorism but the FBI has dispatched forces across the nation to find and charge mothers and fathers raising their voices at school board meetings with domestic terrorism. See how that works? The headlines are misleading and they are deliberately misleading and everyone and anyone with half a brain knows it. Why are they misleading? Might it shed an unfavorable light on the Black Lives Matter movement? Does the Black Lives Matter organization hold the kind of sway with the government that they can control and even dictate what stories do and do not get covered in the media? That is one mother fucking scary proposition.
I wasn't kidding when I made my "karma" comment. BLM had hoped that the jury might convict Rittenhouse and that would put an end to the dreams of any and all white boys who might think once or twice about showing up at a BLM looting and ravaging rally. We know in 2020 that the cops stood down in cities across our nation while BLM types burned our cities to the ground. The law doesn't apply to them, don't you know. I don't know that even one BLM type was arrested much less put in jail for the mayhem they caused in the tumultuous year of 2020. All I can say when it comes to the Waukesha killings is, here we go again.
If we can't give them (people of color) reparations then we might as well let them do as they will to exact whatever it is that they think they are entitled to. Anyway, the Rittenhouse jury did not convict him so the BLM movement decided to do what criminal organizations always do when their backs are against the wall. They took matters into their own hands and people lost their lives. This is what they do and rather than fighting back or looking to put these criminals in jail for the rest of their natural lives, our government seems not only not to care but they actively cover-up, defend, and enable the crimes committed by these animals. It seems crazy but it's true. This is not your grandfather's FBI, my friends.
It was good to have the Ev man come along with me when I went to pick up our turkey at Whole Foods. He stopped by as he sometimes does and off we went. We stopped to fill up his gas tank and we shared a chuckle when he went to fill his tank on my dime and he came up short. Of course, we didn't know that until he was back sitting in the car and I turned on the engine only to see that he didn't fill it up much beyond three quarter of a tank. I said to him, "Ev, when someone is paying for your gas make sure that you fill it up completely." "Keep filling it up after you hear the first click and stop after hearing the click for a second time." "That's how you do it, my friend."
We put a little air in his tires and then we were off to the market to pick up our Thanksgiving order. I never know if the Ev man is going to be in the mood to go into a store or not and yesterday was no exception. Nonetheless, he joined me and we went about our business inside the store of picking up our pre-ordered turkey, stuffing, and some little cranberry croissant type thingies that appealed to the missus. Our experience wasn't seamless and that surprised me a little bit. There seemed to be too many moving pieces. I should have known there was a problem when they handed me a buzzer that they promised would go off when my turkey was ready for pick-up. Spoiler alert : It didn't.
We had to make a stop here, there, and everywhere while in the store before our order was complete and ready to go. Maybe that was by design. Maybe they wanted us to do a little shopping in the store while we were there. If you have the customer in the store, you keep them there in the hopes that they will add even more things to their carts before they leave the store. Right? We did end up buying just one other thing so maybe there is some truth to what I'm postulating here.
As distracting as everything is in Whole Foods, due to the expansive variety of goods they sell, I was happy to help the Ev man focus just long enough on some ready-to-go honey glazed chicken nuggets that I thought he might want to have for lunch or dinner. Feedback after the fact tells me that he enjoyed the nuggets just as I thought he would so that's good. Not all of my recommendations pan out like that so adding one or more in a row to the plus column helps me stay in good stead with the Ev man. I don't see him returning to Whole Foods himself anytime soon but I'm more than happy to have him come along with me if he is so disposed. Hope springs eternal!
Mrs G gave a call last evening. She was tickled that her facility had put out tablecloths and flowers for the Thanksgiving feast and she couldn't have been happier about it. There hasn't been much of an opportunity to do any community dining in her facility due to the dreaded Covid over the last 12 months so bringing out the white tablecloths just in time for Thanksgiving was the bees knees. I'm not saying that community dining is back in spades but I am saying that management, for whatever reason, has decided to throw caution to the wind in order to restore some semblance of normality if only for the Thanksgiving holiday. Good for them. The residents, I mean.
The missus was busy as a beaver yesterday putting everything together for today's feast. She made her grandmother's pumpkin pie, a nice cranberry something with a recipe out of Cook's magazine, and she boiled a dozen eggs or so in order to make some deviled eggs. Who doesn't like whore derves? I think she surprised herself at just how busy she was and maybe how everything fell into place so nicely. I had to ask her later in the day if she had time to get in a little exercise since I know how important that is to her on any given day. She's up and out of bed early this morning asking about gravy boats and just how many potatoes she should be cooking in order to make the mashed potatoes.
We're expecting a little snow next week if the forecast that I'm looking at is on target. That means that I will be out and about in the yard today and tomorrow cleaning up the last vestiges of leaves that have taken refuge along the perimeter of our home. My new electric hedge trimmer is working like a charm so there's that. I just have to work a little harder to keep the cord away from the cutting blades since I've not been very successful at that thus far. We have some tall grasses that need clipping before the snow falls and this trimmer is just what the doctor ordered. You know me, everything has to be neat as a pin before the snow comes along. I won't tolerate stragglers. Grasses, I mean.
Did I mention that our turkey is a nice organic 11.5 pounder? It's just the right size. I usually get a bigger bird thinking that I'll make a soup or maybe have some left over for sandwiches but that has just never worked out so I'm going smaller this year. There's enough for the three of us and maybe some to set aside for seconds if someone is so inclined. Isn't a second seating a thing? I guess we'll see. We'll have other leftovers as well so I think we're more than good to go. I can't wait to see if this Whole Foods turkey purchase, along with the other things from the store, was the right choice for us. I guess I would say, so far, so good.
Fast forward 24 hours and Thanksgiving 2021 has come and gone. It was smashing success! Everything turned out just the way we'd hoped and, short of a couple of timing issues, we all sat down to a very nice Thanksgiving meal. We hardly had time to talk about the things that we should have been thankful for before we started eating the dinner. That's not the way it's supposed to work but sometimes the natural order of things goes haywire and you do what you can to restore order even if that means just moving on and hoping for the best. I think we all agreed that the purchases we made from Whole Foods were just perfect and, coming in a very close second, was Nancy's delicious homemade cranberry sauce.
The turkey was unbelievably good and it was cooked to perfection. I prefer a pop-up so I know when to yank the bird out of the oven but this particular 11-pounder had no such thing so I watched the clock according to instructions I read on the internet and it worked out just fine. I usually lather the bird with butter or margarine before putting it in the oven but read somewhere that vegetable oil was the better alternative. I also cooked the bird in the oven with the breast facing downward and that, according to yet one other article I read, allowed the juices to flow into the breast meat as it cooked. I'm not sure if I'd done things differently that it would have turned out any less tasty. It was destined to be good.
The financial markets are under pressure this morning either because the Fed heads announced their plans to double down on tapering and tapering sooner than expected, or, because there is now a new Covid-19 variant coming out of South Africa that is more contagious than the delta variant currently in circulation. It's funny how that works. As for the governments who are using the various variants to suppress and imprison their citizenry, the ends justify the means. It's the perfect tool for the tyrannical powers and the dictator wannabes who make it up as they go along all in the name of keeping people safe. "Two weeks to slow the spread" is so yesterday. Now, it's all about the children.
This couldn't have come at a worse time. The holiday shopping season is just now getting under way with Black Friday and whatever it is that comes along next Monday that involves technology. I can never remember what they call the Monday shopping extravaganza but it's the one holiday when I usually go online to pick up things like charging cords, flash memory, and other computer related accessories.
Sleepy Joe Biden's approval numbers are already in the thirties and if things really go south in a big way in the financial markets we might well see his approval ratings drop into the twenties. It's probably only a matter of time, maybe hours, before a Fed head steps up to the plate to announce QE infinity. And then, if the creek don't rise and the good lord's willin', we'll be off to the races once again. Let's hope that what they say about the "trend being your friend" is correct.
We're keeping an eye on the now seemingly seasonal Covid virus and it seems to be hitting the blue states fairly hard. This is not going to play well in the Adirondacks if Uncle Wally's Holiday bash gets postponed or otherwise delayed yet again due to the uptick in rates of either Covid related deaths orCovid related infections. We were all locked down last Christmas so his plans for his annual get together never got off the drawing board. We took it in stride, of course, being the dutiful brothers and sisters that we are since no one wanted to inadvertently give anyone else the dreaded virus.
I'm hearing that in some places in the UK the death rates are higher amongst the vaccinated under the age of 60 than that of the unvaccinated. So, not only can the vaccinated catch and transmit the virus, but they are also dying in greater numbers compared to their unvaccinated brethren. Tell me again why we have mandates in countries around the world to get vaccinated? Anyway, the new governor in New York state has implemented a ban on elective surgery in the state in order to keep hospital beds free for an anticipated uptick of cases due to the new virus coming out of South Africa. It's likely just more fear mongering and, coming from a blue state, no one should be surprised.
As of now, we're planning to attend Uncle Wally's bash. That said, trips to the Adirondacks in the middle of the winter are, as you may well imagine, already dicey and subject to last minute changes due to weather patterns. I don't know that the missus has some metric in mind when it comes to Covid death or infection rates where, if exceeded, she would want to cancel our trip but I'll need to discuss that with her some time soon. She's throwing a lot of numbers around these days that seem to suggest that she's becoming increasingly frightful but the absence of headlines for a few days might help to restore her sense of equilibrium when it comes to the mass hysteria around this demon of a virus.