Thursday, June 18, 2020

Pandemic Ponderings


There's little Miss Tweety who is still not as big as a crow. She really isn't. And with a lack of comb or wattle she really does not look like a chicken to me. While the other hens her age are at least 3/4 size now and looking less like teens and more like adults every day, she stays in this sort of peep/hen limbo, a tiny thing I worry about because she'd be such an easy mouthful for a hawk or an owl. Or hell, a large blue jay.
I wonder what her eggs will look like. As Mr. Moon said today, he can't wait to enjoy a half dozen of them scrambled.

I had a nightmare early this morning about shopping at a Winn Dixie late at night. I had a crowd with me and the store was packed, physical distancing completely ignored, and the shelves were almost bare. I couldn't find a darn thing I needed but managed to pull together some frozen foods and a few other things that I thought I could make into a meal for all of these people with me but when it came time to pay I could not find my debit card, I couldn't find a pen to write a check with, and when I reached into my wallet for the cash I thought was there all I could find was a wad of lettuce.
Yes. Lettuce.
Now whether this was simply an anxiety dream about the shopping I was going to do today or it had even more implications about the food we grow being worth more than dollar bills, I do not know. But there it was.
I procrastinated around here for a few hours before I got myself together to go into town. I hit Costco first which is never too bad but I really want to know why it is that things which look reasonably sized in Costco look like giant food when you get it home. Some things I just know aren't worth buying there like massive bags of tortilla chips because they'll go bad before we eat them all. But today I guess I just wasn't thinking and when I got home I could barely fit everything in the refrigerator when combined with what I got at Publix. A container of portobello mushrooms I bought at Costco seemed not too overly large until I pulled it out in my own kitchen at which point I realized that I better be making a lot of dishes with mushrooms in them.
And I will.
Still- it's a strange thing but I find it to be true, this deceptive lens which seems to slip over my eyes as soon as I step into the store.

At Publix I got about one of everything.
Okay not really.
But I did get a lot. Still no bread flour but plenty of all purpose which is good. I was hungry when I was shopping which is never a good thing. I bought three different types of berries, deciding that I'd make a lemony cheesecake and top it with berries and that's a fine thought but will I? I guess I'm committed now. At Costco I bought a double pack (each rather huge) of eggplant parmesan fresh ravioli (organic!) and so tonight we're going to be eating some of those with a bastardized chicken cacciatore. It's simmering now, the sauce made of tomatoes (of course!) and mushrooms (there you go) and shallots and olives and capers and spinach. And the very last squash we picked, cut up into tiny pieces. It should be fit to eat. And there will be leftovers galore. As I always say, in my last lifetime I was a cook at a lumberjack camp and even when I was cooking for six or more I always made too much. Now that I'm cooking for two it's pretty ridiculous.

When I got everything put away this afternoon after my shopping I could only go lay down and take a nap. I had plans to finish Levon's dress and at least start one for August but forget it. I just did not have any energy left. I do feel guilty about that. My husband is working so hard that it's ridiculous. Besides working at the duplex today he had to go fix a leak at our rental plaza. So he was on a roof in the sun and then laying flooring in the duplex. He keeps saying, "I'm so tired," and I know he is. I don't know how he does it. I truly do not. I do know, however, that when that little home is ready for Hank and Rachel to move in he is going to feel so pleased to have created a pretty, fresh, clean space for them. Oh! I forgot! He sent me a picture of a puddle of water in the front yard where obviously there was a leak in a pipe going into the house. So I doubt that he ever got to the flooring today but took off his roofing hat and put on his plumbing hat. It's six-thirty and he's still not home.
I wonder if he'll have the energy to chew his supper.

In a nice bit of synchronicity last night, after I finished up my post I started listening to a podcast of the day's Fresh Air and Terry was interviewing a disease control expert and professor from Minnesota. He absolutely talked about some of the things I had been wondering about. He admitted that scientists just do not know exactly why the virus spreads so quickly in some places and not in others. But he did say that being outdoors or any place where there is a constant air flow seems to truly cut down on transmission. Also that getting the virus from surfaces is not that big a threat. He does not worry about wiping down packages or groceries at all. And that food does not seem to be a transmitter. Another thing he said was that people who attend Trump's Tulsa rally should not only have to sign a release about not suing Trump but also stating that if they do become infected from the event they will not seek medical care in order not to strain the health care system or infect health care workers although he knew that was not legal and will never happen. But at the very end, Terry asked him how the coronavirus has affected his life and he said that he has five beautiful grandchildren and that he has not seen them in person since March 10. That his children do not want to expose him as he is over sixty-five and have been keeping them away.
I could tell that this was as painful for him as me not being able to hug and kiss my grandchildren has been for me.

So I still don't know what the risks are but I do sort of have an answer from an authority.
And from an article on CNN:

Florida reported 3,207 additional coronavirus cases on Thursday -- the largest single-day count in the state since the pandemic, according to the state health department. Florida's total reported cases climbed to nearly 86,000, according to data.
The Sunshine State has "all the markings of the next large epicenter of coronavirus transmission," and risks being the "worst it has ever been," according to projections from a model by scientists at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania.
So there you go. While our president is busily spending his days trying to block the publication of John Bolton and Mary Trump's books, the country is speeding down the fast lane to more and more illnesses and deaths. 
But hey! According to him he's made Juneteenth very famous. 
Sorry for the messed up font and spacing but that's what happens sometimes after I cut and paste. 
Here's a picture from a FB memory of three years ago that I posted today. 


Who would ever have imagined then that there would come a day when looking back at the way we could hug and hold each other could move us to tears?
Ay-yi. 
My sweetheart's home. 
Love...Ms. Moon



17 comments:

  1. Your dream is hilarious in a black humor way- I felt every moment. Oh the covid heebie jeebies- I have only know one person to die of covid19, Dennis has only had on patient die, but it is early yet, they say. Bet if you got a hazmat suit and gloves and a really good mask you could squeeze those children safely.

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    1. sorry about my thumbs, can not edit...so I just have to sound like english is not my first language

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    2. Honestly, I didn't notice anything wrong with your comment at all in any way. Could I just use a lot of parchment paper or Saran Wrap between us to hug them?

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  2. I too have been having outrageous Pandemic induced Dreams that are a bit Nightmarish in silly ways. I got carried away with buying Berries at the Grocer but they look so delicious don't they? I'm going to make some Smoothies with ours. That wee Chicken is adorable and her Eggs will be interesting, do you suppose she'll lay smaller ones due to her diminutive size? Our State is doing terrible too with COVID case increases of 300% and some of our Hospitals ran out of Beds already, we have a Covidiot Governor who is a Twitler Ass Kisser and used to be an Ice-Cream Parlor CEO, so what can I say when an Idiot gets Voted in by other Idiots who thought they would be good Leaders?! Since we had a Great-Grandchild die of the Virus in February we took it seriously at the jump and knew it did kill Children even tho' they lied for a long time and assured Parents that Kids were Safe... in fact nobody is Safe or Immune and they're finding that out all of the time now. I do Hope that eventually saner Heads prevail and they allow the Experts out again, it's as if they've put them in the Witness Protection Program or something, they've been so conspicuous by their absence!

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    1. One of the experts I heard talking yesterday said that fifty percent of the people hospitalized in NYC so far have been under the age of sixty-five. We came into this virus with such wrong ideas and information. There's still so much we don't know. Meanwhile, our "leaders" are playing games with our health. It's evil.

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  3. I wonder if Miss Tweety has a genetic shortcoming, like a human Down syndrome or dwarfism?
    I read the CNN article, and wondered about Ohio. It has gone too quiet in my state. I think we're what they were talking about on public radio, referencing a large contingent of armed protesters bursting on a scene. I thought about that show a friend loves, the pimple popper. Protesters bursting like a big pimple. I'm glad I don't have a TV.

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    1. Tweety is a bantum chicken which are smaller breeds. She's normal I guess, for her breed. Which I do not know.
      The guy I heard on NPR was saying that surprisingly, the protests have not seemed to create a lot of new illness and that this could be because it's just harder for the virus to pass from human to human outside.
      Who knows?
      I guess we'll know a lot more in two weeks after Trump's Tulsa rally. I wish he'd pop like the damn pimple he is.

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  4. Honey-oh dear, we're watching Florida with concern and trembling. I know you and yours will be safe and not fools but so many will die. I don't understand my species. Animals are so much more sensible. I think I'd rather be an animal. Obviously a coyote would be a logical choice. XXXXXXXX

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    1. Animals ARE so much more sensible. They deal with the reality put before them in the best ways they are able. Humans? Not so much.
      Yes. I can see you as a coyote. Wonder why.

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  5. I read about some people washing down their groceries too and thought "no way am I doing that". It wasn't actually something we were advised to do anyway but I knew I couldn't be bothered. Had to laugh at your dream about finding lettuce in your wallet though. Those are the kind of weird dreams I occasionally get too!

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    1. Oh my god. There were films here demonstrating how to sanitize our groceries. I sort of tried that once or twice and then thought, "Nah. We'll just die."
      I hear that a lot of people are having weird dreams. Not surprising is it?

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  6. I'm glad you and Mr. Moon are staying safe as Florida sneezes and coughs all around you. Common sense, masks and hand washing still seem to be the best way to avoid the virus.

    As for tRump, he will be the death of many people. On the upside his family makes mine look good:)

    Stay safe my friend.

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    1. Yes m'am on all of that.
      Trump's family- dear god. As I read somewhere lately- how is it that he fathered two sons off a mother who was a model who ended up looking just like Bevis and Butthead?
      YOU stay safe too, okay?

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  7. I admire Mr. Moon's industriousness. Good Lord, I am proud of myself when I vacuum the house! I couldn't even begin to imagine all those home-improvement projects.

    What's going to be interesting is when the Repubs bring their big show to Jacksonville. Nightmare! My brother is already complaining about it, and all the associated risks.

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    1. I swear- I don't know how Glen does it. This is real work. And hell, I'm proud when I mop the floor!
      Yeah. I bet Jacksonville isn't real happy about that. Except for- you know- the crazy people.

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  8. thanks to our republican money over health governor Texas jumped from 5th place to 2nd place for the most new covid-19 cases. yippee. and he still says go ahead and open to 75%.yesterday I worked outside in the heat, today i"m working inside in the AC. I still haven't been to Costco but will soon as Marc ordered 4 new tires for the car.

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    1. Florida's beating y'all's asses, I think, when it comes to Covid spikes. Florida always wins when the competition is for the craziest award.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.