Kingfisher Cove

Beyond Angry

I honestly don’t think there will be SeaFair this year. No Blue Angels. No Tulip Festival. (Certainly no Daffodil Parade). No 4th of July get-togethers. No family vacations.

No trips between Everett and Harstine to see Quinn and the kids for a long time.

I believe this will last much longer than people realize, especially since there are several REPUBLICAN governors and an idiot *president who refuse to follow the dire warnings of public health experts to shut everything down, shelter-in-place, and seriously wind down this pandemic. The virus does not abide by borders or calendars. And truthfully, even when things do finally wind down, they will heat back up time and time again until there is a vaccine. A year out, or more. All it takes is ONE CASE, and everything starts over again.

God, I hope I’m wrong. I’d be delighted to be wrong! But I listen to the experts. I do NOT listen to trump.

There are not enough words in the English language to describe my white-hot hatred for trump. Back to normal by Easter? He is desperate to resume his Nuremberg rallies, to get “his” economy back, to get his hotels and resorts back in business, to resume his attacks on Hunter Biden, to get his fat ass back on the golf course. Every day he spews lies and it sickens me that people believe his lies. Stupidity is our undoing. I hate him so much. What a godawful person. Unfit, incompetent, vindictive, stupid, evil. We all knew he would be a catastrophic failure in a crisis. And here we are.

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I continue to feel pretty much like shit, approaching two weeks with this bug. I thought I was finally turning a corner with it, but today I felt awful. Coughing, coughing, coughing; ZERO energy; and how can a human body produce such a volume of green snot? Here’s a little (more) TMI: Every time I cough, I pee a little in my pants. This is miserable!

At least it’s prevented me from feeling antsy about going out and about, because that’s the last thing I feel like doing. I think, ultimately, I will be OK with this stay-at-home order, because I do love being at home. This is actually a very good place to BE at home. Here’s an example why (from last night):

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Here’s another rant.

I am beyond furious with people (you know who you are) who are referring to this pandemic as the “Chinese” virus. THAT is racist. THAT incites racism. THAT is intended as an insult. And if you are so inclined to call it that, you really need to read THIS.

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And here are some Quinn photos, because after such an angry post, we all need this.

My god, I love that little boy.

Also! Here is a photo of the Everett Naval Base! That large building with the green metal roof is Sandra’s clinic! You can see the ships in the background—one of them is Nate’s. (click to embiggen)

Craptastic

Quinn’s “bug” has slammed me, and I’ve been far too miserable with it to feel too antsy about our virtually complete shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. I am really sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. Blech. Can’t stop coughing, I’m a snot factory. My head hurts. Even my ears hurt. I’m also very thankful for the two bottles of Extreme Nyquil that John was able to score for me in that empty grocery store aisle where he got on his knees and discovered them on the bottom shelf, tucked far in the back.

How do I know that I don’t have the coronavirus? Because Quinn was diagnosed by a doctor with influenza-A and I spent a fair amount of time caring for him (including diaper changes and nose wipings). I did not have a flu shot this year (stupid me), but John did and he is fine. I DID wash my hands about a gazillion times while we were there, but catching his bug was likely unavoidable.

The hydroplane museum is closed so John hasn’t been making that trek twice a week, and he’s also been unable to make his weekly visits to see his elderly parents. He has made a couple of grocery stops (will people EVER STOP HOARDING?) and has tried twice now to pick up my prescription for eye drops, but the pharmacy hasn’t been receiving deliveries of some of their drug orders. For me, it’s not vital, but I hear alarm bells jangling in my head for what that portends.

I’ve switched from Blue Apron to Green Chef (a low-carb option) and that has been wonderful! Three meals for us each week that are delicious but don’t include rice or pasta or grains or bread—and most importantly, I don’t have to THINK about those meals! I have to prepare them, but that’s it! And the box of ingredients is delivered to our door! If only they included toilet paper.

The weather has been beautiful this past week, and even climbing into the comfortable temperature reaches the past couple of days, but I have ZERO energy or desire to even venture out on the deck, let alone take a beach walk. And just wait: the moment I start feeling better, the rains will return.

I’ve been watching coverage of this pandemic, which has evolved into something surreal. Aside from trump’s gobsmacking lies upon lies upon lies regarding the availability of tests, masks, gloves, and ventilators, pundits are broadcasting from isolated locations with wonky lighting and their guests are reporting remotely via Skype—with squawky audio and awkward delays. (An intriguing aspect of that is seeing people’s homes in the background. Lots and lots of bookcases, some messy knick-knack shelves, sometimes eye-catching artwork on the walls. It’s like peeking inside people’s windows). (Also, I’d love a close-up of all of those books!)

Chilling realities these days:

• Restaurants are closed (except for take-out or delivery)
• Bars are closed
• Casinos are closed
• Schools are closed
• Malls and most stores are closed (except grocery and pharmacies)
• Disneyland/World are closed
• New York City, Chicago, and San Francisco are in lockdown, with more each day
• All museums and zoos are closed
• All gyms, hair salons, nail salons, and barbers are closed
• Most businesses, if possible, are telecommuting [I can’t imagine that EVER being allowed where I worked before retiring because they would assume you’d be home goofing off, like baking or something]
• All sports (March Madness, Major League Baseball, Little League, etc.) are kaput
• Likely the summer Olympics will be postponed
• We must shelter in place to stem the transmission of the virus (social distancing, to flatten the curve so that the health system doesn’t collapse)
• The economy is utterly tanking with millions already unemployed
• The youth are shrugging off all of this because if they catch the virus, their symptoms tend to be minimal, BUT—they are still transmitting
• The *president is utterly incompetent with handling this crisis and today lashed out at a reporter for simply asking, “What do you say to all the frightened people?” (His answer? “You’re a bad reporter!”)
• There are not enough medical-grade masks
• There are not enough medical gloves
• There are not enough hospital beds
• There are not enough ventilators
• There have NEVER BEEN ENOUGH DIAGNOSTIC TESTS
• Trump keeps promising week after week that all of these things ARE available, ARE coming
• But he’s lying
• What a failure
• What a fucking asshole

This will probably go on for quite some time. My friend, Margaret, is expecting her first grandchild the end of May and will probably not be able to travel to New York to spend time with her daughter and witness the birth/spend time with her new grandchild. I have no clue when I’ll get to see Nate, Sandra, or Quinn again. Or ANYBODY, for that matter. Helen and I were looking forward to getting together in April and going to the nursery for deck pot/landscaping plants. Nobody knows when this will end, and lots of public health experts are warning it could be months. Certainly there will not be a vaccine for at least a year to a year and a half. How will the economy sustain this?

Why the hell have these past 3-1/2 years been so utterly unprecedented? I’ve heard that word multiple times, constantly, over the last 1,155+ days.

What a dark, dark time.

That’s Sandra on the left, ready for action. Go Navy!

A Bit of a Saga

We had been looking forward to Nate, Sandra, and Quinn coming down this weekend, but things were upended Wednesday when we got a frantic call from Nate. Quinn was sick and they were not allowed to take time off from work (Navy) to care for him. (Yes, you heard that right ). He couldn’t go to daycare with a 101° temperature. So, John and I quickly packed up a few things, set out loads of cat food, grabbed the dog, and headed north with a stop in Tacoma first for my scheduled eye doctor appointment.

When we arrived late Wednesday afternoon, the kids were at work and Nate’s dad (my ex) was there for emergency duty to hand off to us. He’d hot-tailed it up from Olympia so Nate could go to work. Quinn was sleeping on the couch so we stood around and quietly chatted—mostly about our loathing of trump and his abhorrent handling of this coronavirus pandemic. It probably seems that it could have been awkward, but it wasn’t. That ship has sailed. All hands on deck. We stayed through Friday evening. 

What a miserable, sad, and HOT little boy! And stressed parents. Nate had “duty” which meant 24 hours away, followed by a full work day, so basically 36 hours away. Sandra’s hours were more traditional, but she had to be out the door at the butt-crack of dawn. The first day, Quinn slept nearly all day long. Part of it was that he was upset that his parents weren’t there (and that we were instead) so even when he’d wake up, he wouldn’t come out of the bedroom. He was angry, sad, and miserable! I’d go in and check on him constantly, change his diaper and dress him, offer juice, and try to coax him to come out and eat. But he was having none of it. If he wasn’t “hiding” with his favorite blanket over his head, he was sleeping.

Like I said, he slept a LOT that day, and I kept in touch with Sandra via Messenger, and she was getting worried. I was, too, because he hadn’t eaten anything, but I also felt that sleeping (a lot) was probably good for him. Awake, he was miserable. Asleep, he was healing. That evening, Sandra took him to Urgent Care (quite the experience with a long wait, and having to wait in the car because Snohomish County is part of the coronavirus epicenter). He tested positive for influenza-A, which was a relief to know for certain that it wasn’t the coronavirus.

When he woke up Friday morning, he was once again very upset that Mama and Dada weren’t there, and once again hung out under his blanket in bed. Sandra finally suggested that I offer him a “treat” (she keeps small packs of gummy bear-type things, that he isn’t allowed to have very often because of all the sugar). So I brought in one of the packs, gently peeled back the blanket covering his face, and held it up. Wow, he immediately grabbed for it, but I said, “You can have it if you come out and join us.”

And he leaped out of bed and ran down the hall, following me to the family room. He was so excited! Holy moly, did that ever work! And from there, he was in a good mood, horsing around with John and playing with his toys. I could tell his fever was gone, too. I later fed him some soup and he did pretty well. (Also some sliced strawberries…that he kept putting in his soup and then scooping up with his spoon. Heh heh. Whatever it takes).

He’s on the mend, but Sandra was coughing and apparently coming down with it.

AND…now, so am I.

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The kitties were happy to see us when we got home Friday night, and it was good to see them! And pet them!

John just returned from the grocery store and he said it was a complete zoo. Lines 5-6 carts deep. And empty shelves. The cereal aisle was empty. No toilet paper or paper towels, and cleaning supplies were GONE. I needed him to pick me up some heavy duty Nyquil and he said THAT section was cleaned out, too. He got down on his knees and checked the bottom shelf and discovered two bottles of “Severe Nyquil” tucked way in the back that people apparently hadn’t seen and he grabbed those. Thank you! Jeeze.

WHY do people hoard? WHY are they allowed to? And WHY is price-gouging allowed? People suck.

We order a lot of household supplies from Amazon, but we can’t get toilet paper or paper towels now. And if there is any hand sanitizer (mostly there is not), there are prices listed for $300! For a bottle of hand sanitizer! My big concern is if Amazon decides to shut down their distribution centers, because we will be screwed.

My hatred of this vicious, incompetent, despicable president monster has gone nuclear. And with all the misinformation (lies) being spewed by this regime and Faux News, it may well be that his gullible cult followers will be the idiots who win the Darwin Award and remove themselves from the gene pool. But I will never forgive them for spreading this disease.

It’s March

We have enjoyed many top-notch series on various streaming outlets, and have mourned their endings. Probably the worst (in terms of feeling the mourning) was “West Wing,” which we loved, loved, LOVED. We were verklempt when that show ended! But, we just wrapped up a three-season series (16 episodes each) called “800 Words,” and once again we are verklempt! We watched it on Amazon Prime, and it took place in a small and quirky New Zealand beach town. We LOVED IT. It was about a widower and his two teenage kids rather abruptly leaving Sydney, Australia for a tiny town in New Zealand for a fresh start after his wife was unexpectedly killed in a traffic accident. The drama of the family integrating into the town, the characters of the town, the widower’s job of writing an 800-word column that provided the theme of each episode, the dynamics of the people and families and the surf! They literally crawled into our hearts. Such good acting, such excellent writing, such a beautiful environment! Also, besides the credible drama, lots of humor. Oh, we LOVED IT. And now it’s over. After 2018, it wasn’t renewed, and there’s the word verklempt again. Knowing that the other night’s viewing was the last, I had tears streaming down my face. Oh man.

And so it’s March. Lots of wild politics happening (Biden is seriously in the hunt, and just wait for the repubs to dredge up Burisma again in 3-2-1…), and candidates dropping out (and endorsing Biden!) Last night was “Super Tuesday” and it has been very interesting with Biden winning lots of states, including TEXAS! Looks like Bernie will get California. Elizabeth is basically out of it (although she hasn’t dropped out yet), and I have now turned my hopeful eyes to Joe.

Also, the coronavirus pandemic, with Washington State in the center of it with nine deaths to date. And an abysmal trump regime mishandling every damned aspect about it. He actually asked health experts why we can’t just use the flu vaccine to combat it. The dipshit even called it a “hoax” at one of his Nuremberg rallies. His incompetence (and willful viciousness) is breathtaking. We can’t kick him out soon enough.

Nate has been up to his ears with Navy work, and will be “underway” for weeks at a time. He does have the weekend of March 14th and 15th off and they’ll be coming down to see us then. (He said they’ve not even had time to totally unpack from their move so they just aren’t ready for company yet). Hungry to see them! I’ve made reservations for us all to see the wild cat sanctuary here on the island. I think Quinn will love it! The bummer is they don’t allow people to take photos. And that is a HUGE bummer. Also, I sure hope it doesn’t rain. I’m so tired of the rain!

Here’s Nikki with my Valentine’s Day flowers.

I’m here to tell you that she is a demon cat. I have never known a cat to be so intensely curious, so batshit insane, so naughty! Oh, and did I mention destructive? Take a look at my once-beloved bathroom rugs:

I have looked far and wide and cannot find replacements in this perfect color (and plushness). Not that I COULD replace them right now because I know this would happen AGAIN. She is constantly messing with Wylie, and the other day chased her through the pet door! We didn’t know about that until John saw a cat’s face leaping up and down in the window from the small back deck (where the pet door is). She was freaked out, because “outside” is not yet in her vernacular. I’m about ready to let her out in order to mitigate some of her wild insanity. Yes, she can be sweet, and she’s not vicious, but oh the energy. . .

“This weekend we spring forward and lose one hour of rain.”