Good Morning!!!! 47F @ 5:00AM. Sunshine to start, then a few afternoon clouds. High 72F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
The "supermoon" outside my window is bright enough to cast shadows, though thin clouds give it a hazy glow.
Sad indeed is the news of
John Prine's passing. His songs made me laugh, and sometimes cry, but I always felt better after listening.
The detailed reporting on CoVid-19 by age group and other statistics will apparently no longer be done, so all I have to report this morning is one additional case here in Butte County, but still no deaths. Nationally, the death of anyone succumbing that tests positive for the disease will be tallied listing the disease as the cause, even though it may have only been a contributing factor. That will greatly exaggerate the death toll here in the US as compared to other places in the world.
I agree, Drew, it is far better to be out in the sticks in these troubling times. This pandemic has brought out the good in a lot of people, but it's brought out the bad in a great many as well. My trip to town yesterday was a mixed bag of both. Thanking the clerks and shop keepers at Costco that had worked all night to restock the shelves, then shortly after asking other people to keep to the six foot separation distance dictated by our county health department and being ignored. It's no wonder the disease seems to be spreading like wildfire in the US. I got to Costco fifteen minutes before the elder hour early opening, and the line stretched all the way across the front of the building, down the side, and half way around the back. No surprise, as people were sticking to the six foot limit pretty well, and no one seemed to be in any particular hurry. It was obvious some very young 60+ year olds were hiding under their floppy hats and bandana improvised masks, more bad behavior. I wasn't in the first 50 shoppers to be let in the door, but it didn't take long for the next 200 to complete their shopping so I'd have my chance. Associates were seen disinfecting shopping carts before handing them over to shoppers as we entered the building, where we had to show our membership cards, but not our IDs to verify our age. I made a bee line for the paper goods, and was rewarded with giant packages of both favorite Bounty paper towel and new-to-me Kirkland brand TP, which I know will be better than nothing, and can only hope it's better than most. Most foods were back in stock, rolled oats were back on the shelf, and the meat cases seemed to be full. No dish washing detergent was available, no hand sanitizer, no bleach, no anti-bacterial soap, no disinfectant spray; households in the US must be very unfriendly to germs these days. I was too late for the first round of rotisserie chickens, but then had a revelation! I slice pieces off the one I buy every week and use it for sandwiches, and seldom get through the whole bird before it's time to go shopping again. Costco strips the meat off the chickens they don't sell at the end of the day and offers them vacuum packed in the deli counter, all white meat in a larger amount for not much more money. So that's the chicken that came home yesterday, half of it going into the freezer for next week, instead of a whole chicken that takes forever to thaw. The liquor isle was well stocked, and I found room in the kart for some Whistle Pig rye; overcome by a hoarder's instinct, I bought two. I figured if I'm risking my life to grocery shop, I might as well die a happy man.:laughing:
The scene at the local big box grocery store was the complete opposite, as their hours of operation are still being held at 24x7. No line waiting to get in, nobody even counting how many were in the store. The paper isle was completely sold out, nothing there but an echo. The meat cases were sparse, but I did find a nice New York steak, and some smaller tri-tip cuts to take home. Plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables were on hand, but again anything to do with fighting germs was sold out. The store has a huge bulk foods area, but most of the self serve and bag barrels were empty, and those that did have something were all pre-packaged I suppose for health reasons. Still no lentils, most beans were sold out as a matter of fact. More bad behavior as I was bagging my groceries, as a woman came up and started bagging hers two feet from me as her husband waited to pay the clerk. I asked her to wait until I'd finished and got a vacant stare in return, so I stepped back until she was done.
I called ahead for my neighbor's taps, both of which were in stock, paid for them over the phone, and was met in the parking lot to complete the delivery. They were only selling to customers that the gummint had termed "critical infrastructure", so I had to do some fancy talking to convince them that a crippled bulldozer qualified on the edge of fire season. Got another parking lot delivery at Tractor Supply where I picked up the glyphosate I'd ordered earlier. I had to go inside at Home Depot, who had closed all entrances but one, but didn't seem to be counting people. I got my wooden stakes and paid for the concrete, with promises of having someone meet me in the loading area where I'd already parked, but after fifteen minutes had to go back inside to ask for help loading again. Same guy that did it last time, and he seemed just as confused this time around, not a virus thing at all.
The best part was getting home by noon, as I usually shop later in the day. Spent a lot more time disinfecting the perishable groceries; I've never used soap on lettuce before, but I did this time. Came out squeaky clean, it did! I left most of the hard goods in the truck, there to bake in the sun for a few days before being let into the house.
By that time the hummers had cleaned out the feeder, and there was no more nectar in the 'fridge, so it was time to break out that fifty pound sack and make another batch. By the time that was done it was almost 4PM and I was still starving. While eating lunch at the office desk I noticed the envelope for the property taxes, which were due at the end of the week, so I went online and took care of those. The registration renewal notice for the truck was right there, too, and I was late in paying, but our DMV had extended a 60 day grace period due to their closing their offices. In spite of the grace period, the web tool insisted on assessing a forty-two dollar penalty. The phone queue was an hour and a half long, so while I was on hold I started a chat session, all in an effort to get the penalty waived. Why would you penalize someone renewing late that was sheltering in place per government order and couldn't go to a smog station for testing because it was closed, too? Didn't get anywhere with the chat session and had to ask twice to communicate with a supervisor, but once connected was given a song and dance to just pay the penalty with a promise of a refund once she saw the transaction come through. Yes, and pigs fly, too, so I'll have to wait to see how that comes out.
I had hopes of getting some work done that afternoon, but it was now past 6 and I just didn't have it in me. Decided to do some quality control on the new batch of Whistle Pig from the lawn chair on the back porch, and was rewarded with a double rainbow, not a bad way to end a tedious day.
Today will be another round of rebar tying and concrete pouring. Looks like perfect weather for it.
Happy Hump Day, folks!
enwalk!
