Tuesday, April 21, 2020

As Dear Keith Says, It's Not The Rock, It's The Roll


I am absolutely fascinated by the way this Sago palm (and all Sago's for that matter) is making its new fronds. They are so soft and absolutely curled at the edges like little pig tails and they will open up, straighten up, and grow horribly prickly and sharp as they mature. I know I have said this before but Sago's are not palms at all, really. They belong to the cycad family and have been around since the dinosaurs. Anything that has been around since the dinosaurs is obviously a most hardy and well-evolved thing.
I read an article the other day about how scientists have managed to mess around (purposefully) with the expression of genes in a chicken embryo to create one that has a dinosaur-like snout instead of a beak. It was not a matter of introducing any new genes but rather of canceling out the expression of the genes which are still there which produce the beak.
Here's the article if you want to read it. 
I just find this fascinating.
Jessie and the boys came over for a little while today and brought their lunch with them and I made Mr. Moon and me sandwiches and we sat outside and had a socially distant picnic in the shade which was absolutely delightful.


We were discussing the story about the chicken with the dinosaur snout (and scientists did not allow the egg to hatch although they feel as if it could have survived just fine) and Mr. Moon said that he did not think that trying to repopulate the earth with dinosaurs was a good idea. 
Jessie and I disagreed but of course we were only basing our thoughts about that on sheer fantasy and what the awe and amazement of seeing a full-grown giant dinosaur come to life would be like. 
"Bring back the wooly mammoths, too!" I said. 
Again, Mr. Moon disagreed.
"So, we could be sitting here eating our lunch and a wooly mammoth would come crashing through the trees and destroy everything around us," he said. 
I suggested that if they start bringing back extinct animals, it would probably be one of the giant armadillos the size of Volkswagens that would be most apt to come wandering through out yard, seeing as how the regular modern-day version of them already live under our house. 
The boys did not seem interested at all in this discussion. They were too busy eating hummus and soybutter sandwiches and apples and carrots and so forth. 

It was SO good to see them. They got to ride on the lawn mower with their mama driving it. Levon was especially thrilled about this. He told the whole story to us and said that "Mama got faster and faster!" 
He is speaking so well and his grammar and word-usage are quite impressive! He has a slightly gravely voice like Gibson's and it's so hysterical to hear that old-man voice coming out of that little boy. He and I took a walk around the front yard and he got up in the swing and I took his picture. 


You can tell that he has a lot inside of him that he is ready to say. 

August was happy to be here. He played on the tractor with his brother of course and challenged his Boppy to a race. 
August won. 
He's got those beautiful long legs, brown and sturdy. He curled up in his mother's lap for a little while and he melted my heart. 


We all played a casual game with a big ball, kicking it from one to another and that was fun. We could stand far apart and yet still do something together in real life. Levon would get so excited when the ball was coming to him that he did a little tap dance. He's a good kicker with accurate aim.

We adults also talked about the virus, of course. Mostly about how ignorant people seem to be about social distancing. Jessie had just been to Costco the day before and said that they were obviously really trying to do their best with employees constantly wiping down freezer handles and making sure that people were staying six feet apart at registers. She said that most people there were wearing masks. Mr. Moon talked about how horrible it was at Lowe's where no one seemed the least bit concerned, employees included. Jessie pointed out that if a business shows concern, people seem to pick up on that and are more careful. 
I think she's probably right. 

After they left, Mr. Moon went out and worked on putting together the new garden cart he bought yesterday and I did absolutely nothing. And I didn't worry about it! I took a long walk this morning and let the rest of the day fall where it may. I even laid down on the bed and read for awhile and then put my book down and closed my eyes and just as I was falling asleep, I heard Liberace crowing, obviously in the house because it echoed like he was being amplified. He practically shook the walls. I got up and chased him out of the kitchen and after that I couldn't settle back down so I finally got up and made a blueberry cobbler with frozen berries that were in the freezer. It's in the oven now. 

I think I'm going to have to go into town later this week. I have to pick up a prescription and I am running out of all of the vegetables that we don't have in the garden. Jessie brought me a zucchini, a yellow squash, a half of a small head of purple cabbage, and a cucumber so we're not in dire straits but I have a list that fills up one side of a large index card and to be honest, after two weeks I am almost looking forward to a little jaunt outside of Lloyd although I am mostly completely happy here. 
Mr. Moon's bike helmet that he had ordered came in the mail today and that was big excitement. Tomorrow we have a Zoom meeting set up with the doctor from Mayo. We've both downloaded the app and hope that we can figure it out for real and true when the time comes. 
I hate sounding like an old person but let's admit it- I am an old person. 

And so it goes. Each day the same and yet, each day different. 
Some days the weather is hot and humid and some days (today) it is cooler and the sky is so clear and blue that it's like an imagined dream. Some days I do laundry. Some days I do not. Some days I bake bread and some days we eat that bread. Some days something comes in the mail and some days we don't even bother to check. Some days we get to see family and some days we only see each other. Every day we eat well. 
Every day we continue to love each other and try to remember to use good manners and to not take out frustrations on each other. 
Some nights the dreams are good and other nights, the dreams are strange and disturbing. 
We learn to roll with what each of these days bring. 

And always we are grateful. 

Love...Ms. Moon





12 comments:

  1. A few friends came over a week or so ago and we had a socially distanced picnic lunch. It was wonderful. First time I had felt normal in a month. It was a real pick me up. I went to the grocery store a few days ago for the first time in about a month and it was a shitshow. I worried the whole time about getting too close to other people. And here and there were people shopping with their kids which just pissed me off. Extra bodies to try to stay 6 feet away from. It was exhausting. I'm definitely going to continue to do as much of my shopping with pickup and delivery.

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  2. Lovely narrative again. It's peaceful reading in here.

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  3. I think of Levon growing as tall as Owen, and it's OK, though I wish he wouldn't.

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  4. I've been wondering what happened with the Mayo. Hopefully it will be good. We have not Zoomed yet, nobody I really want to talk to! I'm kind of surprised Mayo is Zooming since it's such an insecure platform.

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  5. I was kind of surprised that Mayo was Zooming because they have some special medical apps for the purpose. I was supposed to use one with my doc but we ended up talking on the phone instead. I do love zooming my students because it is good seeing their faces all over the world. However teaching on line is weird and I don't think could do it at all if I didn't already have a relationship with them.
    Your grandbabies are getting so big. I am glad that you got to spend time with them even if no touching was allowed.

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  6. Sounds like a wonderful day...Those boys are getting so big!

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  7. I'm glad you got to see your little uns today. We aren't even allowed to do social distancing picnics!!! As for zoom, I zoomed my tax guy yesterday which was ok, but it did keep freezing on occasion, probably because I reckon my wifi is weak. Good luck!

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  8. I am with Mr Moon when it comes to dinosaur chickens. That guy is a bit like me - blessed with oodles of common sense! Who would want a flock of dinosaur chickens approaching from behind with their little dinosaur teeth snapping. Imagine what hell Liberace would create if he had a dinosaur head! As for Levon's "Trick or Treat" T-shirt, I wonder if the 45th president has one in an XXXXL size for when he goes down to the beach at Mar a Lago. Do you think his legs are also spray tanned?

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  9. I'm not going to ask how Liberace got into your kitchen. I'll just imagine that you live in one of those places where exterior doors can be left open and windows don't need screens.

    It's disheartening to hear people say this thing is "just" the flu and that it's all been exaggerated and that the directives against being unnecessarily out in public and at jobs are an affront to civil liberties. How stupid are some people? A LOT of people! That's what's scary.

    If they can't believe this is serious when the healthcare workers who have seen it up close are telling us it is and begging us to stay home ... then who CAN we believe?

    -Kate

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  10. I am very surprised the boys were not into that dinosaur conversation. It seems the idea of repopulating the planet with dinosaurs would really appeal to little boys! It kind of appeals to me, actually. It would probably do a lot toward solving Earth's population issues.

    Then again, the methane.

    I am struck by Levon having a gravelly voice kind of like Gibson. It makes me realize how old Levon is now! Already talking, and with a distinct voice!

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  11. Apart from the social distancing, we are rediscovering life at its sweetest, in which we remember to enjoy one another in the simplest ways.

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  12. what a sweet day! A picnic and a lawn mower ride and a baby with a gravely voice, It is all too delightful! You have the skill to tell stories like none other, heart warming.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.