Thursday, March 12, 2020

Crazy Ms.Crazy McCrazy Pants


Sometimes when you use other people's bagged leaves for mulch, you find things in the bags which were tossed in either by accident or on purpose. Sometimes you find candy-wrappers or scraps of fast-food containers. A styrofoam coffee cup. Worse case scenario: dog shit.
But Mr. Moon found that little tin flamingo in one of the bags he brought home the other day. I suppose it rusted off its legs or maybe it was part of a hanging decoration. I don't know. But now he (or she) is gracing our garden fence.

How are you doing? Are you freaking out? Disgusted at the other people freaking out? Disgusted at the people who aren't freaking out? Angry at Trump and his inability to grasp a concept and then deal with it? Wondering what all the fuss is about? Being all Zen about it? Trembling in a closet? Determined not to let the virus get in the way of your life? Taking nips from the old sherry bottle? Hoarding Ativan? Putting your fingers in your ears and singing La-La-La-La-La?
All of the above and/or maybe using other strategies that may suit you and your lifestyle better?

Personally, I've just been frantically scratching my hives today.

I decided to go to Monticello to return a library book and so I did. I also wanted to early vote and did that too. I didn't feel the thrill I generally get when I vote. I did have a pretty good conversation with Terez and another library employee about the virus and about Trump. Terez tries so hard to be neutral about things as he is friends with people all over the spectrum of beliefs, both political and religious, and the other lady, perhaps around my age or perhaps younger, obviously felt the need to keep her mouth shut until I voiced a few of my opinions at which point she opened up and we all ended the conversation shaking our heads and feeling like, well, at least we aren't alone. 
One thing we definitely agreed on was that there isn't nearly enough testing going on. And yes. I know about how Trump declined the test kits from WHO and the ones made here got fucked up but no one is saying just how bad the shortage is. Do we even need to talk about how many ways Trump has dropped the ball on this one? Can we even imagine how many ways he will continue to do so?
If there's a way to make a horrible situation worse, he'll find it and implement it.
Well. Okay. No need to continue in this vein because it's not going to help a thing.
I don't even feel any better for venting.

So, yeah. Went to the library, went to the voting place, went to Wag the Dog where I chastised myself in equal measures for risking my health to search for a treasure that I don't need in a lot of trash that no one needs and yet, at the same time, for feeling like I was risking my health by going into Wag the Dog in the first place.
I mean- Monticello, Florida is hardly the hub of a gathering place for world travelers or people who know world travelers or even for people who've driven up to Thomasville, Georgia recently.
Then I went to CVS to get more Sudafed where I had to have my driver's license scanned which was a bit of a trick because the windowed pocket in my wallet where I keep it is too tight and I can never get it out. The lady behind the counter did it for me, sliding her perfectly manicured orange finger-nailed finger in there like she'd had advanced training on the technique.
"Oh! I don't want you to break a fingernail!" I said.
She didn't.
Then I had to sign a thing that said I wasn't going to make meth out of the Sudafed.
"But I could go buy a gun!" I said. I was in a mood.
"Right?" the lady said.
More head shaking.

Came home to find my husband sitting in front of the TV which wasn't on. He'd stayed home today to watch FSU play in a tournament but at the last moment, the tournament had been canceled due to...yeah, you know.
So he got a lot of gardening done and mowed some of the yard and took some rolled up old fence to the dump place with the tractor that he got running and had gotten up early to get the tire repaired on down at the local repair shop.
I did an online New Yorker crossword which seems to be my newest addiction. I'm serious. I could sit here and do those things all day long.
After that I did a little yard work myself, mostly just pulling up more betony and crocosmia and listening to Sally Fields.

Household tip of the day:
The dishwasher, right after it's run through its cycle and you've unloaded it, is a great place to let bread rise. It's warm and very steamy-ish in there, especially if you unload it quickly.
Please note that the dough should be in a covered bowl and I feel ridiculous even saying that but you never know.

Hell, you never know anything. At least I don't.

Here's one thing I do know- I really want some baby chickens but I can't figure out where I'd raise them. We have no spare bathtubs and no spare pac-'n-plays and besides that, I don't want to deal with the mess. And it is a mess. But Lord, Lord- wouldn't baby chicks be a nice distraction right about now?

To be continued.
Hopefully...

Love...Ms. Moon

P.S. Two pictures from the yard today.


Native buckeye.

Iris.

Aren't they pretty?

18 comments:

  1. Go get yourself some baby chickens, woman! Distraction is good!

    I'm doing a little bit of all of the above, to be honest. I can't help but worry. Speaking of hives, my eczema has gone crazy in the past week due to stress. It's miserable.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm pretty damned depressed by the virus. I'm pretty damned angry and people who STILL say it's just a cold. Did Italy shut its entire country down for a cold? No - I don't think so. We've got 2 to 3 weeks to go before it gets really bad. Some of the pointy head guys think things are going to be bad until the election, and I will certainly be out of toilet paper by then. I just can't believe the orange intestinal blockage deliberately tanked testing because he wanted to keep the numbers low. This is bad, even for him.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm pinning my hopes on that I live in a small town and have limited contact with people at best though I am going out to an event tomorrow and am pretty healthy and think I have a pretty strong immune system and it hasn't made its way here yet though a big city is very close. worst case scenarios are scary and having Trump in control is also scary but giving in to scary doesn't help me survive.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I was in the feed store the other day and there were baby chickens and it took everything not to walk out of there with some. Because I too have nowhere to put them and our coop is not big enough yet for any more and, and, and. However, now that I'm on quarantine, I have time to do all sorts of things like build a coop addition and tear down a fence and and and. Sigh.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh lordy, let me count the ways. Hiding in the closet alternating with not letting the virus interfere, headache alternating with anxiety attacks. Wish I could put my fingers in my ears, am compulsively consuming all and sundry info about it. I'm tired, can we just quit this game now?

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a great idea for a warm steamy place to let bread rise! What else can we do but go about our lives? I don’t know how much or how little to freak out. My throat feels sore whenever I think about the virus but then I’m very suggestible.

    ReplyDelete
  7. CDC says if you are at risk, make a plan, get supplies and practice social distancing. I can't find basic stuff online, don't drive and already socially distant. A friend did not listen to me, went to visit another friend in hospital and now has pneumonia. Stupidity can harm or kill...All I can do is what I can.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow! That's scary about your friend! So sorry to hear that, E.

      Delete
  8. I live in a suburb of Kansas City and the mayor of KC has declared a state of emergency so the big 12 games and just about everything else has been canceled. Canceling sports around here is unheard of, so that got me a little nervous. We stocked up on groceries today and will stay home except for medical appointments and such. They say if you are over 60 to stay away from crowds and we are each 67. We stay home most of the time anyway but it somehow feels different if you "have" to - ha! That must be the stubborn child in me.

    There are no flowers here yet so that picture of the Iris makes the day worthwhile!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Los Angeles is sort of freaking out in general. I'm kind of freaking out but not really. I've got all three of my children home -- two from college that are going online and of course, Sophie who I am most worried about. The school where I teach has closed, and we are teaching virtually. I sure hope the app Zoom holds up. I've stocked my kitchen up with food and stuff, but I'm anxious about what's next.

    ReplyDelete
  10. No sports on TV. I think there will be a baby boom in about nine months.

    Stay healthy Ms. Moon.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I of course enjoyed this post as I do all of your posts. And then I got to the end and you said "Hopefully" and my enjoyment doubled. Made me laugh. Trump is a horrible person and horrible leader, and the GOP can add this pandemic response shitshow to their list of failures.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Well, at least you're avoiding getting stuck with a bunch more roosters! (By not buying chicks, I mean.)

    I just don't know what to think about all this virus stuff. I'm still torn between "it's blown out of proportion" and "it's totally scary." I think the thing I struggle with most is the uncertainty -- not of whether I'll get sick, but rather, do I go to work tomorrow? Can we go to a restaurant? Can we get toilet paper and dog food? That kind of thing.

    ReplyDelete
  13. One of the worst things about Trumper's response was his description of COVID-19 as a "foreign virus". Why "foreign"? He's trying to blame those pesky foreigners for it all. Then he goes on to declare that he's sticking up exclusively for Americans. Don't people in China matter? Iran? Italy? Spain? We are all people and viewed from outer space this is just a tiny ball of planet. A pebble. We all matter. "MAKE EARTH GREAT AGAIN!" "EARTH FIRST!" Stick that on the baseball caps please.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I'm pretty zen about it I must admit, although I do find that I'm MORE conscious of washing my hands. I always do wash my hands of course but now for longer and I'm more aware doing it. Other than that I'll be avoiding the city as I've no reason to go there. I think you have to take sensible precautions but you can also worry yourself half to death over something over which we don't have a great deal of control!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks for the bread/dishwasher tip. I have a breadmaker but sometimes I just want to make a nice handmade loaf. I never seem to be able to find anywhere that has that steady warmth bread needs to rise well. As for "That thing" - well, it seems to me that people in our two countries had better just get on with it and decide what to do ourselves. Not much sign of joined up thinking from our leaders.

    ReplyDelete
  16. All I will say is that this is not a great time for Jessie to go back to nursing and for you to be looking after children.

    I'm not panicking, but I am taking care. And it's worrying how hard it is to do that.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Beautiful pictures of the iris, Ms. Moon. About the dough, I too made a mistake and had it overflow once, so indeed "you never know". Crosswords, sudokus, wordsearch all these have always kept me on my toes. Yes, do not lose hope, all is well and have a blessed heart!

    ReplyDelete

Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.