a timely donation, a box, MLK/GOP, doctors, and covid

As volunteers at SHARE we'll bring something home occasionally that we want or need. The Elders generally take a few things like snacks or frozen pizza at the administration's urging. This week a box of dried garbanzo beans showed up which I've been keeping an eye out for at the grocery store and haven't been able to find because Marc wants to make falafel and it requires dried garbanzo beans. So, yay! Maybe there's falafel in my future.

I finally got the two trumpet flower pieces boxed up and ready to send out Monday. I always double box my work. First I wrap the piece in bubble wrap and put it in a box with preferably 2” extra space all around which I fill with foam so that it is well cushioned on all six sides. That box goes into a bigger box with ideally 2” of space all the way around that gets filled with peanuts, when I have them, bagged in the plastic bags that the newspaper comes in so they don't scatter, or foam or, in this case, some honeycombed cardboard that the new vanity came packed with and crumpled newspaper. I have very limited choices of box sizes out here for the outer box. The ideal size I needed was 14” x 16” x 15” Walmart has always had a medium size box 16” x 16” x 17” tall, easy enough to cut down the height. Did they have it on Wednesday? No. The medium size box they had was 14” x 19” x 17” tall so I was looking at taking the thing apart and cutting it down in length as well as height. But then Thursday someone brought in a donation in the old medium size box which I immediately claimed and cut down the height by 2” and got it done. Have to wait til tomorrow to send it out because MLK Day.

And so today the hypocrisy shines bright from the GOP and Republican congresspeople as they post on FB and tweet about what a great man MLK Jr. was and how he fought for equality in life and justice for people of color, really all Americans, while at the same time they are passing legislation that suppresses the vote of people of color or obstructing legislation that would expand the rights of Americans to vote and in some instances lying outright like our governor Abbott who tweeted “Nearly 60 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. articulated a vision of freedom, equality, & opportunity in his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. He inspired hope in our nation. And that beacon of hope & liberty still burns bright in Texas.” while he and our Republican legislature are actively suppressing the vote and trying to prevent the history of this country's suppression of black people being taught in our public schools.

You might remember the last crown I got last October, they had a hell of a time getting a temporary crown, took like four tries before they got one that didn't break apart either before or while they were adjusting the bite, and the fourth successful one came off later in the day. When the permanent crown came in I asked the dentist if it was going to stay on considering the trouble they had with the temporary. Absolutely, he said, I'm using the strongest glue available. Well, Friday morning as I was eating my oatmeal for breakfast, it came off. Not only that, it's got a hole in it. I go in tomorrow morning.

And speaking of doctors, I went to the ophthalmologist this afternoon. You might also remember last January when I got my eyesight tested the optometrist said I was developing cataracts (as well as age related macular degeneration) and should go see an ophthalmologist late summer about it. A little late but better late than never. So good news, she says I am developing a cataract in my left eye but it's not bad enough for surgery yet and while she sees a few gray spots in my right eye she wouldn't call it macular degeneration. She seemed a little skeptical of the optometrist and wanted to know where I had gone. She says I have 20/20 in my right eye which is doing my far seeing and 20/50 in my left which is doing my close up seeing and could correct my vision with glasses but as long as I wasn't having any problems seeing or reading, which I'm not, it was up to me so I declined. Come back in a year unless things go south sooner than I think they will she says.

Covid finally hit my family. My grandson Mikey tested positive last Monday and Autumn tested positive after she got back from Ecuador last week, but not Jade so all the girls went and got tested Saturday. Autumn is still positive as is Robin now but not Jade or Sarah. The two boys and Audra are getting tested later this week. In other news Mikey and Audra and, of course, baby Paisleigh, have decided to move to Arkansas where her family lives, where Audra is from. There's a tiny house on Audra's parent's property that they are going to move into. This isn't surprising really, we all expected that they would move to Arkansas eventually. Gonna miss that baby though.

Minnie this morning...

What do you mean it's time to get up? 

first freeze and year end stuff

You can see from my last post Friday, the last day of the year, we were wearing t-shirts and shorts; same Saturday, first day of the new year. I know it hit 80˚, maybe even a little warmer. This was happening in the yard...bluebonnets, 10 petal anemones, and woodland lilies already starting to bloom way too early.

And then 12 hours later it had dropped at least 50˚ because when I got up at 8:30 Sunday morning it was 32˚. I managed to get everything in the house or garage except for a pot of bromeliads which I overlooked and the big yellow angel trumpet in the pot which has two open flowers on it. It didn't seem damaged after it warmed up. We did get the big heavy pot with the cereus in the garage. We managed to lift it the 6” or so off the cinder blocks it was sitting on and onto the garden cart and then again slide it onto cinder blocks with a 3” thick concrete block on top. You can see how monsterous it is.

I cut back the porter weed and covered it. Cut the long blooming stalks off the begonia 

and brought it and the pink angel trumpet in. Got the last plumeria out of the ground and moved both it and the bird of paradise into the garage, brought in the two staghorn ferns.

All this after our usual New Year's Day brunch with mimosas on Saturday and then a nap to sleep off the champagne.

Sunday the sky cleared up and it wouldn't have been so bad out there in the low 40˚s except for the constant 30 mph wind with gusts up to 38 mph. The cardinals were all puffed up to keep warm and they and the chickadees and titmice were busy emptying the bird feeder. I did manage to get the giant tarp up and around the plants in the garage but that's about all. Spent the lion's share of the day on the couch reading after I made crepes for breakfast. I had plans to go over to my daughter's house to see the baby now that the kids are back from Arkansas but I just didn't want to go out in the weather. My feet had finally gotten warm. Or numb. Hard to tell which.

Last night though, it got even colder for longer, a crust of ice on the birdbath when I got up. The big yellow angel trumpet is looking pretty droopy today but I won't know how damaged it is until tomorrow probably.

Now that all the holidays are done, the lost days behind us, the deck built, I'll get back over to the shop this week and do the finish work on the luna moth piece and make another try at photographing the angel trumpet pieces. I also got more of the flex seal paste, only this time in a tube for use in a caulk gun, to make another stab at stopping the roof from leaking in that one spot in the studio.

I've been seeing a lot of good riddance to 2021 posts, that it wasn't a great year but as I mentioned before it was far better than the previous four. Biden has managed to get several important pieces of legislation passed with obstruction not only from the Republicans, even though a majority of the republican electorate is in favor of Biden's policies, but from a few in his own party. He has made headway in undoing so much of the damage that Trump did. The economy is doing well with a high growth rate and lowest unemployment in decades even if poverty wage employers are having a hard time getting workers. The January 6^th commission was established and is making headway, participants have been arrested and are being tried and convicted, maybe not the big dogs yet but evidence is piling up. We got vaccines for covid and just recently, for the first time, an actual treatment for covid. And even though two new variants popped up, it's looking like maybe covid is transitioning from pandemic to endemic, like the flu, which may not be preferable but manageable. It wasn't all good of course. The Republican party or rather now the Party of Trump has passed all sorts of voter suppression laws, worse gerrymandering in states they control, even getting rid of republicans who won't subvert an election they lose. They have not stopped trying to undermine our democracy or the rule of law in order to take over this country and it's essential that they don't get control of even one house of congress after the midterm elections.

For me, it was a pretty good year. I finally got back in the studio after a year and a half, finished a piece that had been lingering and started new work. There's a new baby in the family and a college graduate, and a new deck to enjoy when the weather warms up again. I'm healthy and active, I'm not homeless or in fear of losing my home or hungry, everyone in my immediate family is well and I'm grateful for those things.

So here we go, onward through another year.

new deck, new year

I haven't done much this week besides be around to put in my two cents, answer and ask questions while the deck was being built. 

And here is the finished deck, two sets of stairs, one in front and one on the right behind the yew tree.

They finished up a little after noon Wednesday. Rocky had some lattice in his trailer that the previous owner was getting rid of so he used that to dress it up around the bottom. The lattice is a little beat up and dirty but basically in good condition otherwise. I'll hose it down and paint it the rose color to match the house. The deck still needs to have sealer put on it and I'm contemplating whether or not I want to paint the railing, white if I do. One thing for sure, I'm going to have to pay more attention to the flower beds in the front now.

The luna moth is out of the kiln and I've cleaned off all the plaster. It came out with a major flaw at one end of the caterpillar where for some reason it looks like a bubble came up and left a clear spot about the size of a dime in the solid white background. We're mystified. This is a real problem since it's going in a stand. I have an idea how to disguise it or at least mitigate it using enamel paint so we'll just see how that works out.

It looks like our warm weather is coming to an end and we're going to have our first light freeze. It's supposed to dip down to the high 30˚s Saturday night and Monday night and if that was as cold as it was going to get I would have left everything outside but the prediction is 29˚ Sunday night so Tuesday I cleaned up and reorganized the garage to accommodate the plants and Wednesday set up two of the plant etageres inside and all the plant stands and brought in all the small pots, moved all the bigger pots (plumerias, bird of paradise) over by the garage to be moved in. I still have three plumerias to dig up, somehow move the big night blooming cereus into the garage, and decide what to do about the pink and yellow angel trumpets in pots today or tomorrow. I pruned back the pink so it will be relatively easy to move but the yellow is huge and covered in buds. I'll have to prune back the porter weed which is still blooming and cover it if I want it to survive. I'm not going to bother trying to cover anything else. Sink or swim baby, sink or swim.

We got some unexpected bad news, sad news for Marc, yesterday. One of his first cousins died yesterday morning. Covid. We don't know if he was vaccinated or not, didn't even know he was in the hospital, haven't been close to that branch of the family for a while, but he also had some serious health issues. He was 65, younger than us.

Omicron has made it to Wharton and the Elders, the two young Mormon men who volunteer at SHARE, have been exposed and so they weren't there Thursday. Jan decided to limit people to food only (usually they can select clothing and housewares as well, masks required) and we closed an hour early yesterday. None of us volunteers want to be exposed.

It's New Year's Eve. Twenty twenty one has been choppy but far better than the previous four years. Let's hope for continued improvement and some sorely needed indictments against the principals who supported, planned, financed, orchestrated, and participated in the attempt to overthrow a legal election and our democracy.

more of the same

Lately, every time I wake up during the night and in the morning there is a different song in my head. I have no idea why my brain picks the ones it does and it's usually just a refrain repeating over and over. Last night one of the times I woke from a dream or to change position the name Boo Radley was there repeating over and over. I knew it was a fictitious character so after I got up to go to the bathroom I picked up my phone in the middle of the night to google the name. Boo Radley, the probably abused quiet man who refused to come out of his house except at night to walk when the town was settling down for sleep from To Kill A Mockingbird. Now why the hell did my brain drag that up? I read that book probably over 50 years ago and if someone had asked me point blank yesterday the name of that character I doubt I would have been able to come up with it or even remember that character.

Marc and I got our Moderna booster shots yesterday and my arm was sore and I was a little achy during the night but I feel OK today so far. I was reading yesterday that the general consensus among scientists is getting to the position that covid is here to stay, much like the flu. One scientist said he would probably wear a mask in the grocery store and on airplanes for the rest of his life but that otherwise life needed to get back to normal and normal now means another virus that just is. It will probably have seasons much like the flu with colder weather and more indoor activities but with vaccination and the new developing medical treatments it probably won't be any worse than getting the flu. In fact, the report said there are areas where the death rate is lower than that for flu but also areas where it is much higher. I guess it remains to be seen if the vaccine for covid will have to be administered yearly like the flu vaccine.

Butterflies have been migrating through...sulfurs, long wings, monarchs, fritillaries, the buckeye, and this red admiral also a bit tattered.

I think I've finally got the design for the comet moth done so I'm ready to make the wax base for it and the small pink trumpet flower. Maybe today. Rocky's supposed to come over later and cut the plywood for me for mounting the two trumpet flower pieces.

A bit of good news yesterday on the political scene...the Justice Department indicted Steve Bannon for contempt and issued a warrant for his arrest for his refusal to comply with the subpoena from the January 6 Commission to testify and provide documents. It seemed to take far too long, that maybe Merrick Garland was not going to enforce the congressional subpoena but the wheels of justice turn slow and Garland has said that the Justice Department will abide by the law. The indictment and subsequent warrant for Bannon's arrest can't compel him to testify but if he doesn't, he's likely to be fined up to $2000 and spend two years in jail. As Heather Cox Richardson says, if he's in jail he won't be able to record his podcasts and further whip up Trump's base and that would be a good thing. Trump's Chief Of Staff Mark Meadows deadline to abide by his subpoena ran out yesterday so we'll see if this changes his mind or if he will be the next to be referred for criminal contempt.

Thursdays are very busy days as are Fridays pretty much. I can write or read and so I find myself behind. Today is busy too but I'm trying to, if not catch up, then at least get current. We'll see. I'm working in the shop today.

cleaning up and rearranging

First, thank you all for all the lovely comments on my work. I'm through showing off for now.

Friday, another day with no progress though I did go over to the shop and started cleaning up my cold work station. That shop is so old and has so many problems like active termites. There was a door in between the big bay and the little bay which fell off its hinges due to so much having been eaten by termites. Dragged that out and some auxiliary wood teeming with larva. Die you little bastards I said as I tossed the remains either on the burn pile or on the gravel in the hot sun. I do need to get some spray and treat the area. Fortunately 90% of the shop is metal and we didn't run into any active termites when building in the studio room. So I cleaned up debris and finally found the wand part of the shop vac that goes on the end of the hose that you actually vac with which has been missing since the shop flooded during Harvey which is four years ago! Apparently it floated out of the small bay and into the corner of the big bay where it was completely hidden by a piece of plywood and Gene's sandblasting cabinet and other items of his. I'm surprised we didn't find it when he came and got all his stuff. I've searched that shop at least three times over the years looking for it. So I did that, put things away, shoveled up a pile of silicon carbide (sandblasting medium that had been in a paper bag that disintegrated after the flood) into a big bucket, used the shop vac, and by the time I had done all that my panties were soaked, my thin t-shirt was soaked, my shorts at the crotch were soaked, my hair was soaked, all with sweat. I still need to come up with a way to hang the Foredom. I'll have to get up early to work for a couple of hours before it gets too hot when I start the finish work. I think when I get the last indoor room built out, I'll move all my cold work equipment in there.

More rain Friday, just as I was about to take Minnie for her walk. We missed the brunt of the rain we got a few days ago, while we only got 1 1/2” - 2” the communities around us got 4” or more. My neighbor tells me we've already exceeded our annual rainfall for the year.

Saturday I ventured out in the barn looking for something I could use to hang the Foredom on and spied one of my 6' garden stakes and a light bulb went off. My little work desk has holes running down the side, the stake has holes so I grabbed up the stake, the roll of copper wire I have on hand, the wire snips, a wire clothes hanger, and a 6' quick release tie down (from my river guide days) and went over to the shop and voila! I'm all set.

cold/finish work area

left to right: upright grinder, ring saw, dead flat lap

manual grinding station (plate glass, silicon carbide, water to make a slurry and round and round we go)

work desk with Foredom

motor and handpiece

Then I started cleaning up and rearranging the old mold making area, hopefully making it easier and more convenient to store and measure out the materials. It's neater and cleaner at any rate. And of course, no before pictures because...me but believe me, it was nasty. While that was happening, high wind and rain started happening so I had to close the roll up bay doors. Fortunately, it had stopped by the time I was done.

I thought I would work on the drawing some this afternoon but I may try and finish my book instead.

Finally, we just found out another one of Marc's brothers has covid, unvaccinated because he 'heard stuff' so instead of paying attention to what the doctors, epidemiologists, scientists, and virologists were saying, you know those highly educated people who have  dedicated their lives to the study, research, and mitigation of viruses, he listened to...idiots. He's pretty sick but not hospitalized so far and the hospital systems in the city are at capacity or nearly so. Hopefully he won't get worse. So, anyone out there reading this and not vaccinated, get your dumb asses vaxxed. This delta variant is as contagious as chicken pox, the standard everything else is measured by. And yes, healthy children and young adults are getting it and dying. Don't let your last words be...I shoulda got the vaccine.

 

vaccines and golden idols

We got our second vaccine shot Thursday and this time it was much more organized. A sign on the front door of the civic center directed us to a door on the side which opened directly into the room where you walked up to a table and gave them your name and appointment time and they marked you off the list and then directed you to a row of chairs to wait your turn to get jabbed. Our appointment time was 10:45 and we got there about 10:40, waited less than 2 minutes to be called over, another few minutes while the jabber filled out the vax card and get stuck, wait the required 15 minutes and we walked out 20 minutes after we got there.

I'm a little achy this morning (Friday) and the injection site is sore but not the whole arm like last time and I didn't sleep well last night, couldn't get comfortable, so I'm unsure how much of my lack of energy is due to the vaccine and how much is due to poor sleep. I plan to be lazy all day today as it's overcast and a little chilly (but maybe that was just me). I might even get back to my drawing which I haven't worked on since the first day weeks ago due to my right hand buzzing like a subliminal electrical current when I grasp things but by afternoon even that subsides. I can make a fist now with no pain and the nerve jolts have stopped and while I wore the wrist brace for about a week, I now think the problem is either in my upper arm or my elbow and just manifests in my hand. Now that I've had both my vaccine shots I see a trip to the masseuse in my future and maybe the chiropractor too.

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The next day: well, turns out I didn't work on my drawing after all. After breakfast I sat on the couch for an hour and read and then went back to bed til 2 PM. I felt better, less achy, more rested until the dog wanted her walk and she didn't just want a quick outing, she wanted a long walk and that used up all my energy and motivation for the day. Back to the couch and book til bed. But I slept well last night, feel normal today. Still overcast out but I may start moving all the plants back outside from the house and garage today.

In other news, I'm trying to stay off the political stream. I read Heather Cox Richardson's newsletter every morning but I'm mostly staying off Twitter and FB. The adults are in charge now and I have to trust Biden's team to take care of things. The Republicans have completely devolved into the cult of Trump with very few exceptions, even Mitch McConnell has caved and said he will support Trump if he's the nominee in 2024, and at CPAC they rolled out a golden idol of Trump. I kid you not. 

And a bigger group of liars in one place you will not find while they jeer and 'own' the libs. And of course, so true to form, The House passed Biden's covid relief bill with not one single Republican voting for it. As usual, Republicans only want to help the rich get richer and fuck ordinary Americans, they should have prepared better.

So as not to end on such a sour note, here are the fresh prayer flags.

why does this shit always happen at the end of the day

As usual, the day after I publish a covid post, something big comes out and that something big is that over 95,000 people died of covid in January, the largest death toll for one month since the pandemic began. That's nearly 1/5 of the total deaths in one month. I wonder how many of those people were infected during their Christmas gatherings.

Tuesday was a fairly laid back day until...

I slept late, only waking when the alarm for my 9 AM pill taking sounded and I was deep in REM sleep. I've had several wakeful hours in the middle of the night three out of the last 5 nights and last night was no exception. I woke briefly before 6 and then sank back under.

After breakfast I set up the sprinkler since the promised rain was not forthcoming but my little temperamental sprinkler would not spin, or rather, it would not spin with the water on, it would spin freely in my hand giving it a push and I argued with that thing all last year so I threw it in the trash and went to the feed store and got me a new sprinkler. Set it up and went in to wash the dishes that were two days overdue, had lunch, moved the sprinkler around, walked the dog, saw two of my neighbors and stopped to chat for a few minutes, moved the sprinkler again at the far back flower bed where the poppies grow and the banana trees are and the hose will barely reach to the middle of that bed and I gave it a big tug, which I have done many times over the years to see if I could get it one more inch further and it gave. And when I say it gave, the PVC pipe coming out of the ground that the hose bib is on broke off at ground level and water started geysering up. By then it was 3:30. Turned off the water to the house and Marc and I dug it out a little to see if it was something we had the wherewithal to fix ourselves here and at 4:30 I called Rocky. He was just finishing up and would be right there so I continued digging it out and cutting the roots out while I waited for Rocky so he could see the best way to proceed. The goal was to just cap it off for the night so Rocky had cut off the part that needed to be replaced and I made a mad dash to El Campo before the lumber/hardware store closed which I thought was 6 PM and got there with 10 minutes to spare only to see that they close at 7. But, I got the stuff, called Rocky, I have the stuff and I'm heading back, and he was waiting in the driveway when I got back and the pipe was capped off and we had water to the house again. Further repairs to be made today.

the repair

And here's some spooky little woo woo, Monday I was talking with my daughter about the new stimulus package and she hopes it comes through because the company she works for will probably have to close in 6 months if it doesn't pass and that she'd have to have two jobs here and still wouldn't make what she makes now. That evening coming home from yoga I mentioned this to Pam and remarked that Sarah could job hunt in El Campo and Rosenberg as well. The next day, my email spam blocker report showed four spam emails about jobs, three of which were specifically related to El Campo. I have never before gotten spam for job opportunities in El Campo.

Well, the Republicans had a chance to disavow Trump and save what little shred of integrity they may have still had and they put on a good show of it for a couple of days with their speeches but they seem determined to embrace the lies and wackos with Lindsey Graham threatening to call in the FBI if the Democrats call even one witness against Trump in his impeachment trial coming up, as if we wouldn't want that. Ten Republican senators had a meeting with President Biden with a counter offer stimulus package that was 1/3 the cost of the Democrat proposal and he rightly rejected it as being too weak to solve any problems. As usual Republicans only want to give the very rich money they don't need and tell the rest of us to just suck it up. Schumer is going ahead to pass the stimulus package through a process called reconciliation. Watch the Republicans scream even though it's the same process they used for their trillion dollar tax cuts for the wealthy.

Saw these yesterday in the easement in front of the shop. 

the probable last covid post and sweet peas

As I expected, the second covid test came up negative and the whatever it was is gone. Now I'm just biding my time til I get the second dose of the vaccine on February 11^th.

You may have noticed I haven't done a covid post since December 28^th. The following week the attempted insurrection happened and then all the details coming out and then finally Biden and Harris being inaugurated pretty much absorbed me and then once Biden was in the pressure to find the real info and share it eased off since now the adults and scientists are back in charge, we've rejoined the WHO, and the facts are finally being shared by our new administration. While we were all preoccupied with the insurrection et al, infections continued to climb because people couldn't be bothered to refrain from big Christmas gatherings for one lousy year and daily deaths started topping 4,000 and I think that is still holding, over 4,000 dead a day. The infection rate has started to decline again now and decline in deaths usually follow, especially since vaccines are starting to be distributed now that Biden is in charge with an aggressive plan to get it done. Biden also issued a federal mask mandate, reinstalled the pandemic response team, and has a plan for a national vaccination program. The CDC issued an order that everyone using any form of public transport must wear a mask. One out of every 500 people in South Dakota has died from covid. New, more infectious, mutations are occurring, the newest from South Africa but the vaccines seem, for the most part, to work against them. It is still a heinous disease that attacks all our organs and even those who had mild symptoms are facing health problems associated with hearts, lungs, kidneys, and re the Guardian "covid linked to brain disorders and mental illness", so please, continue to protect yourself and others. One easy way is to start taking a vitamin D supplement as a preventative as those with vitamin D deficiencies tended to get sicker and have a greater chance of dying, also from the Guardian, while a guy I talked to at the dermatologist's office in the waiting room who had it and whose doctor prescribed large doses of D, zinc, and C and who said he felt much better after just two days and was over it soon after. 

This will probably be my last post mainly about covid. Hard to believe it's been a year since it first entered our consciousness and nearly a year since we started our self-quarantining in mid-March. Hopefully by summer enough people will be vaccinated and we will have returned to some form of normal. I'm curious how this time of restricted activity will influence life after the pandemic.

Current US statistics as of today 1/31/21, 21:40 GMT: cases – 26,736,283; deaths – 451,540. Texas is still #2 for infections and dropped to #3 in deaths.

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The predicted rain never materialized yesterday and it's a windy blue sky day today. Warm in the sun and out of the wind but that wind is chilly. My little sweet pea sprouts are 2” - 3” and I ended up with 15, I think, in all. My goal today was to go ahead and get them in the ground and maybe move the white butterfly ginger as it's just not doing well where it is. I did get the sweet peas in the ground but first I tied a piece of hog wire to the fence section and put some corrugated plastic sheeting between the two to help keep the weeds from the other side from encroaching and also to protect the plants when my neighbor sprays herbicide in that area, then I had to dig up the grass and weeds in front, add in the landscaper's mix to improve the under layer, bordered it in bricks from the planters that used to be inside the studio room in the house (you might remember I had them taken out after the flood), filled in with potting soil/composted peat/fertilizer and planted the sweet peas.

I also finally hung the other bird feeder that I repaired the perches on and so far the little birds have found it but no squirrels have made an attempt that I've seen but it looks to me like it's pretty much squirrel proof. They may climb on it but I don't think they can get the seed out. It may also be cardinal proof too as I haven't seen any of them on it and I'm not happy about where it's hanging but I need a teenage fearless tree climbing boy to get it where I want it.

Addendum to the pink blush of spring...

After I published the post, I saw this rare pink 10 petal anemone

and I while I picked a different viola, there is this little pink one. 

another test and the first blush of spring

I'm writing this part Thursday evening and as of Thursday evening, the whatever it is on my hands and feet has resolved itself and it has pretty much cleared up. Tuesday was probably the worst day. Even so, there was a bit of drama going on here this afternoon. We got a phone message from one of my readers expressing her concern (for which I am grateful) and suggested I look up covid toes and wished me to be well. That had not occurred to me this whole time so I did, it strikes the toes and fingers, hands and feet, palms and soles and the redness and swelling and sometimes lumps so it was sounding too possible. Also said it can be mistaken for chilblains. I did read about chilblains as it had come up in my searches and it described it perfectly but I discounted it since, one , it doesn't get that cold here and two, it had been warm the week I broke out.

I called my sister...so, this happened. Call your doctor, call your dermatologist and see what they say. So I called both but only got a call back by the dermatologist so far. So, this happened, I told her, and what did she think since she hadn't seem to know right off oh this is...whatever. She's waiting to see the results of my blood work and wants to rule out a few things but she did bring up that covid toes is similar to chilblains and we talked about that. Mainly that chilblains is a vascular thing, and maybe stress, and as such, I guess not limited to cold triggers. OK, that's logical. But, she says, it's entirely possible that you could be infected. She suggested getting tested again.

I had already tried to register at the local CVS which does free testing or I could wait for the once a week free countywide testing that changes location from city to city and I had just missed it here last Tuesday. I didn't qualify at CVS because my symptom wasn't listed and I don't think I have been exposed. So the dermatologist called the CVS to see if they would accept a 'script from her for the test. No, I would have to register online. But her symptom isn't on the online list. Just have her select something. So, I lied and I'm getting tested Friday. I really don't think I have covid. Covid toes with zero other symptoms or likely exposure seems very unlikely (and a call back from my PCP's office this Friday morning confirmed that it is rare but go get tested). I think the most likely reason is chilblains. But we'll see.

So much for the latest installment of, as Mary Moon calls it, how it is for old people.

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This Friday morning the sun rose on a clear blue sky which didn't even last a half hour before it started clouding over and now it is completely overcast. The bird feeder was empty again, they empty it in a day, the birds and the squirrels. I'm seeing all the usual...sparrows, goldfinches which I expect will continue their migration soon, a house finch or two, cardinals, chickadees, titmice, white wing doves, inca doves, I think maybe the little warblers that winter over here are gone, hard to tell through the screen and dirty window.

And now the sun has won out burning away the overcast though still a little hazy, temperatures in the high 50˚s heading for the mid 60˚s. The red shouldered hawks are out calling for mates during a stroll around the yard in which spring is emerging pinkly.

The various roses,

these so vibrant that even in the shade the camera can't pick up the detail in the flowers,

another small chinese fringe flower tree in bloom,

the blooming maple tree,

the first open blooms of the woodland petal pink, invasive little things that they are,

it's not all pink out there as the anemones are also showing off. 

And the pansies and violas, the only thing blooming until a few days ago during the short winter.

getting the vaccine, confused flowers, and 2020 review

I have an appointment on January 26 at 6 PM, eleven days after the first date it had shown me two or three hours earlier, to get my first covid vaccination shot. Out of the 9 available locations I focused on the two nearest me, both nearly an hour away. It took me a good 15 minutes flipping back and forth between the two locations, constantly refreshing the sites. Four times it gave me a date and time and then before I could get name, email, and phone entered and clicked register it told me that, oops, someone else already got that one. Many times it told me no dates or times available and to try again but I persevered and finally succeeded in getting an appointment. Not my first choice in location but no farther away. I don't know which vaccine I'll get.

My sister sent me a link to a site that lists all the places in Texas that have and are distributing the vaccine and surprisingly enough, the HEB (grocery) pharmacy in this little podunk town has it but is only vaccinating front line healthcare workers right now. I imagine they have the Moderna vaccine since it doesn't need extraordinarily frigid temps to store it as I'm pretty sure the HEB doesn't have sub-zero celsius storage capacity.

It seems the word has gone out that the bird feeder is open for business. I'm seeing chickadees and sparrows and the little warblers that winter over here and white wing doves and inca doves and cardinals and goldfinches that are migrating through. And of course the curious little wrens though they don't eat seed.

Yesterday morning I looked out the back door and there was, no surprise, a squirrel on the bird feeder with it's back to me. I opened the door, it ignored me, I walked right up to it, it ignored me, I poked it on the butt, it sat up and looked at me. What are you doing I said and then it finally jumped down and went up the tree. Later in the day I saw the same squirrel, I'm sure it was the same squirrel by the way it was behaving, on the rim of the turtle pond acting sort of woozy with its tail in the water trying to get a drink which it did and then jumped down and went over to the overturned bucket on the ground upon which I had put a hand full of pecans and there it stayed. I took its picture and came inside. Haven't seen it since but that squirrel is not well.

I had thought I would get out there and clear out the last 12' in the barn yesterday as the days are nice and warm but it was so windy and gusty that raking and sweeping would have been an exercise in futility and I finally got tired of being pushed around by the wind and came in so maybe today as we're supposed to get to the mid 70s.

I saw the first bloom of the 10 petal anemone in the yard yesterday

and there is a bluebonnet plant in the front that is putting out buds. In December.

Some of the plants look like this

when they should look like this at best this time of year.

And the spring weeds in the yard have just exploded the last few days. It looks so fresh and green. In December. The woodland violets and the little yellow oxalis are starting to bloom.

This is all way early y'all.

Well, tomorrow is New Year's Eve and I suppose this is when I usually post about the past year but I think it can be summed up in a few words...as bad as we thought 2019 was, 2020 was exponentially worse, the only bright spot being that we kicked Trump to the curb. I'll leave it at that.

weeks 40 and 41

I see I'm due for a covid post.

I only have one window open to an NPR article dated December 18 titled “Newly Released COVID-19 Data Show Most U.S. Cities Are 'Sustained Hotspots'” which includes a map that is almost entirely red. This quote says it all...”The data show how seriously the pandemic is affecting each state and local area, Panchadsaram says, and the upshot "is that it's all really bad."” 

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What else is there to say? Hospitals are still overwhelmed, our healthcare workers are seriously exhausted and demoralized because too many stupid and/or selfish Americans just won't follow the simplest guidelines of mask wearing in public and not gathering in groups until it's under control. Saw one tweet today from a nurse that a husband and wife had both died that day after hosting a Thanksgiving gathering for 20 people. As bad as it's been since Thanksgiving, now we have the Christmas surge to look forward to.

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The US is continuing to rack up another million confirmed infections every 4 or 5 days, thousands are dying every day even with a national death rate, as of December 27, of something like 1.7% (at its highest in mid-May 2020 it was 6.2%), info via this site. Texas death rate as of December 26^th was 1.79% while my county was 2.96%. Yay us.

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The only good news is that there are now two vaccines out there, Pfizer's and Moderna's, and our healthcare workers are getting vaccinated and of course all those Republican naysayer congressmen who have continuously downplayed the virus and refused to wear masks and held and attended super spreader events are now jumping the line to get vaccinated. But even that good news is diluted by Trump sitting on millions of doses with no plan in place to get them distributed.

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A news item from CNN dated December 28 related that this month more than 63,000 Americans have died from the virus, the most of any month since the pandemic started meaning more than 1 in 1,000 people have now died from the virus and the rate is accelerating and some hospitals are now or are looking at rationing ICU beds in the near future.

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I had a surprise email today. I figured it would be early to late spring before I would be able to get vaccinated but I have been informed that as an established patient of the Hermann Memorial system and being over 65 I am eligible to get the vaccine now and it provided a link to make an appointment. I looked at it earlier today and at that time, mid January was open for an appointment. I didn't follow through then. I'm kind of freaked out, I figured I'd have a couple of months to see how people were faring who got vaccinated. I'm being silly I know and I will sign up for it.

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Current US statistics via Worldometer as of today 12/28/20, 21:29 GMT: cases – 19,701,832; deaths – 342,347. Texas is still #2 for infections and #2 for deaths.

observations, notifications, and random stuff

The little warblers that winter over here and chickadees and sparrows are visiting the bird feeder.

Today is a clear blue sky 

but Saturday morning it rained 2” worth.

I have two more sweet peas sprouting so that makes 9 all from the same package though I don't know which one.

An enormous group of three ever shifting Vs geese, one nestled inside another like chevrons, flew overhead this morning heading north.

This plant I received in a trade is sending up a bloom stalk.

Next spring's poppies and baby blue eyes are sprouting.

One of the amaryllis bulbs has a leaf tip peeking out.

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Marc's mom called Thursday to let us know one of his brothers has covid and pneumonia.

Daughter Sarah came over Saturday to tell us that not only the brother but almost all members of three families, the brother's, the niece's, and a nephew's, all in Dallas also have covid (can you guess they've been socializing together), fortunately not his older sister...so far and no one is sick enough to be hospitalized so we are grateful for that.

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I've been waiting all summer for a day like today to clean out and reorganize the barn or garage. Am I doing it? No, no I am not. But the dog and I did take a long walk today and I piddled around in the yard some because it is just so pretty out.

I hauled out the angel trumpet for some sun since it really does not like being inside and starts dropping leaves almost immediately and the begonia and bird of paradise as well, went across the street to my neighbor's house for tree ripened grapefruit, 

arranged some small sandstone slabs under the bird feeder to hopefully make it easier for the ground feeding birds to get to the seed that falls, put some pecan 'seconds' out for the squirrels in an attempt to keep them off the bird feeder (hope springs eternal, right?), bathed the dog because...dog, found the strand that had gotten pulled off the beaded curtain and reattached that as well as reattached a smaller section on another strand and so now with the previous repair nothing is missing, though it's a little tattered at the bottom, which is a miracle because I've had it for at least 20 years, 

dug out the tubular bird feeder that the previous owners left behind, because I'm thinking it might be a little more squirrel proof, which had three of the six perches missing and repaired that because I had a piece of 1/4” dowel rod which with a little whittling on one end worked perfectly.

So all in all, a fairly productive day.