I saw that my daughter-in-law, Sandra, posted on Facebook yesterday: “When do the Terrible Twos end?” Sounds like that sunny sweet smiley little boy hasn’t been a perfect angel lately. (!)
Turns out the kiddo has opinions. Strong ones.
I’m really not making light of this, because I remember. It’s a bit vague after nearly 34 years, (32 years when Nate was two), but there were definitely times. Aside from his teenage years, which were truly difficult, toddlerdom didn’t leave an overall negative mark on my memories. Four was bad. I do remember that. Four was hard. I specifically remember an outing at the ocean with my girlfriends and our little boys, staying at a motel on the beach with a couple of bedrooms, and Nate was being especially naughty and I was frazzled. It was time for a time out. “Up on the bed to sit for five minutes, NOW.” He replied, “I’m not sitting on any bed ever!” as he stomped into the bedroom and climbed up on the bed.
Hard to believe he could be a pill, right?
I mean, really.
Quarantined life continues, and my rage builds. We have barely flattened the curve with this pandemic, and yet many states (under pressure from trump and also from republican idiocy as a whole) are opening up—hair salons, tattoo parlors, bowling alleys (!), restaurants, beaches.
Reported US coronavirus cases:
7 weeks ago: 1,000 cases
6 weeks ago: 6,135 cases
5 weeks ago: 52,976 cases
4 weeks ago: 185,499 cases
3 weeks ago: 398,809 cases
2 weeks ago: 609,240 cases
1 week ago: 824,438 cases
Right now: 1,012,517 cases
Also? The U.S. is over 58,00 deaths, more in two months than who died during the Viet Nam War over 19 years.
These shitheads are prolonging the misery for the rest of us who are complying with the stay-at-home orders, and we do it because we understand that public health policy is based in SCIENCE. The cases need to be trending DOWN, not UP, for us to even think about opening up our country! Why the hell are there so many idiots? Including the f**king *president? I’ve had it with stupid.
What day is it? Oh! Friday! Woohoo! Remember when Fridays were da bomb?
To be honest, being retired means that time has been wackadoodle long before the pandemic. It’s just that it’s wackadoodle for nearly everyone now. I wonder what the stories are, and what we’ll hear or read about in the time to come. The novels that will be inspired and written that take place during this Event. The movies. And then the reality of very difficult situations of loneliness, tight spaces, family dysfunction, domestic abuse, trapped, miserable. I read a lot and so I can easily picture much of that misery because there are many, many godawful people, and having to basically be locked in with one or more of them feels like a gut punch. I can’t imagine being a teenager right now, especially a high school senior, missing out on everything, and not able to meet up with friends and let loose. (Pretty sure there is a fair amount of rebellion happening). I’m thankful for technology—can you imagine going through this (as they did in the 1918 pandemic) without phones, television, Zoom, messaging, social media? [Did they even have radio then? Maybe?] Newspapers had to be about their only lifeline. And books.
John and I are blessed, and part of that IS BEING RETIRED. (Aside from the crash of our 401ks, and thank god for John’s pension and Social Security, which will be the first thing republicans will want to chop when this is over, with Medicare second. Watch for it, and vote accordingly). The other part is living where we do, on the water with a peaceful view and the option to walk on our beach. I (we) would be utterly selfish to complain about this, aside from desperately missing the kids. I know they would enjoy coming here to chill (because I know their lives are very stressful), but we’re just not there yet.
My neighbor (and book club buddy) texted me today that OUR BELOVED NURSERY IS ACTUALLY OPEN!!! (Essential? Hmm.) She went about a half hour before closing, so not many people at all. She picked up a lovely begonia and let me know she’d set it on top of our deck steps. I was thrilled and so grateful! I planted it in one of the deck pots:
Is it gorgeous or what??
Nikki has been venturing outside (loving it!) AND…she caught her first bird. Groan. She immediately brought it inside through the bedroom window and John intercepted it and placed it on the deck rail where it sat and recovered for a while. Poor thing was quite stunned, but luckily not DEAD. Then he closed that window and Nikki was in for the rest of the day. But, we’ve let her out now and then and of course she is fixated on the bird feeder.
And I leave you with some photos the kids have sent me. They were out and about in the neighborhood and Quinn found a slug. He was fascinated. (I don’t think he tried to touch it!) (I hope!)
I blame the right-wing batshit crazy *president, right-wing batshit crazy republican governors, right-wing batshit crazy media, and right-wing batshit crazy “protesters” for the fact that it will likely be a long while before I get to see this little boy in the flesh and kiss his bald little head (although it probably won’t be bald by then). Of course people are frightened and the economy is terrifying, but states opening up bowling alleys and tattoo parlors with cases and deaths still climbing are only going to perpetuate the spreading of this virus, which will affect all of us. The astroturfing “protesters,” although small in numbers, congregate shoulder-to-shoulder toting guns and confederate flags and “Maga" hats, demanding that “the country be open” while spreading the disease and, again, prolonging the misery for everyone. Why are there so many STUPID people in this country? The fish rots from the head down.
A Brit wrote an article that describes trump the best I’ve ever read before. Some excerpts:
“He has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace.”
“No humor. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.”
“It’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss.”
“God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid.”
It is taking me a long time to recover from this awful flu. I’m still coughing, six weeks later. And lately there have been some godawful gastrointestinal issues that have pretty much flattened me. Today was the first day that I have actually felt pretty darned good since early-ish March. Jeebus. Now and then I’ve wondered, “Is this really the flu? Might it be…?” But I really don’t think it was Covid-19. I didn’t have a discernable fever, and I never had shortness of breath. Plus, Quinn’s diagnosis of Influenza-A, me not having had a flu shot (but John did), and John not coming down with this. So yeah, flu. It was terrible.
I haven’t been out and about since we returned home from taking care of Quinn when he was sick, then coming down with it myself back in early-ish March. John has been the grocery-go-getter, the Costco-go-getter, and like I’ve mentioned before, he probably goes out more often than he ought to. But if we want some fresh produce, that’s how it needs to be. (He’s good about hand-washing, wearing a mask, and using the Clorox wipes we’ve had on hand, but can no longer find anywhere). We can’t get food delivery here (aside from our Green Chef, which takes care of dinner three nights per week), nor is curb-side/pick-up food possible around this rural area. Yes, we are on the water and we feel utterly blessed about that, but the trade-off is the challenge of acquiring necessities. Amazon has been mostly a failure. I also worry about the meat packing plants throughout the midwest that are inundated with the virus (with zero social distancing) and therefore closing down, and the farming for produce that are mostly worked by immigrants that are also getting sick and facing threatening deportation by this horrific trump regime. WHAT WILL EVERYONE DO IF THE FOOD PIPELINE IS GONE?
Should we be planting seeds for veggies? (I know this regime is hammering the immigrants who farm our vegetables, and curtailing green cards, and who are getting sick, and that they have absolutely no safety net). The worst administration possible for the worst crisis in our lifetime.
On a more uplifting note, us three neighbor ladies held our book club via Zoom today and it was FUN! We haven’t had an opportunity to see each other or communicate for a long time, so this was great! (Aside from sad stories of not being able to see our families). It started out with John bringing in a cute little bag from the front porch, and inside was a small jar with “fluid” in it, and a martini glass, plus a sheet of “instructions.”
Ladies’ Book Club – Lavender Drops
Add ice to jar, close lid and shake, keeping one hand over lid.
Strain into provided barware. [martini glass]
Sip and enjoy!
Your friendly neighborhood spiderman!
Oh my gosh, it was so gooooood! I really need to get the recipe. It was similar to the Crantinis I make for Helen and I when she comes to visit, and this could be dangerous! The lavender is subtle and gentle, but definitely there. It was awesome! So it was Penny’s husband who dropped off the bags on our porches (and concocted the cocktails). Once Mary and I were on Zoom, I asked her if she’d received her bag of lavender and she had no idea what I was talking about, so I directed her to check her porch. Which she did. We were all thrilled! After a bit of Zoom clumsiness, we were good to go and actually did talk about books (a bit)! Our plan is to do the same next month, unless things change (which we don’t foresee).
John went to visit his mom yesterday (she is doing well, although I’m sure she has sad moments. But, I sense there is some freedom she is experiencing that she never has before and so she’s doing fine). While he was out and about, he stopped at Costco and the grocery store and came home with a shit ton of stuff! (Pretty much wore him out loading it all down into the house, so he perched out on the deck for a bit with a beer!) In addition to FOOD (and TP!), he also picked up a bunch of annuals that were out in front of our Fred Meyer grocery store. I’d been feeling sad that since our favorite nursery was closed (because it’s considered nonessential), that we might not have our lovely deck pots this year, so I was thrilled! Today, we cleaned out the pots of all of the old dead crap (tossing the gnarly knots of stems and roots over the deck rails, which is kind of fun to do as they fall a good 25 feet) and then replenished those pots with fairly basic but colorful flowers. I was also happy that a few of the trailing plants from last year survived the winter so some of the pots still have the “spillers” to enhance the “thrillers” and “fillers.” The pots won’t be quite as dynamic as years past, but I was beyond happy and even rather teary. Color! No more dead stuff! Living things that will grow! A sense of normalcy! So good for the soul.
I FaceTimed with Nate and Sandra and Quinn for a brief time this afternoon and it was just great. Kind of slice-of-life, not planned, spur-of-the-moment. Quinn still has his “hiding” thing with me where he puts a blanket over his head and acts all shy (for a short time). And then the hilarious filters. There was one of these with Quinn, too, but we didn’t get a screen shot of it. But here’s one of Nate. As a foot.
As you can see, I’m easily a puddle of giggles around these guys. (Although, I’m curious why this “foot” has brown eyes! Nate’s are BLUE). Hmm.
And then here’s Quinn The Monster:
Pay no attention to the woman with no make-up. (See? I have zero eyes without makeup…)
We have had glorious weather all this week, pushing into the early 70s, and I have loved it. (Today was a bit cloudy, but the sun peeked out later in the afternoon while we were planting flowers). Last night’s sunset was beyond amazing!
We are fully aware of how fortunate we are to be spending “quarantine” here at Harstine and not having to stress about our “livelihoods.” Except for missing seeing Nate and Sandra and Quinn, plus our good friends, we have it damned good.
It would just be so much better for everyone if we didn’t have this dangerous, incompetent IMPOTUS.
It was definitely a highlight yesterday to have us four “Retired Ladies” gather on Zoom and have ourselves a nice chat. We had been meeting for lunch every couple of months or so, and obviously we can’t do that now, so we Zoomed it!
It was so much fun and don’t we look a little like the Geriatric Brady Bunch? Snort. Margaret had the best virtual backgrounds, but for some reason my iPad kept pixelating my attempts. (There are things about Zoom I still need to figure out). Zoom is the pandemic Big Thing, and it is very cool! It’s how the newscasters and their guests/pundits are able to function these days. Also, remote schooling for kids.
Pandemic current status: The curve is beginning to bend in most places, but still climbing the curve in others. But of course trump wants this “nonsense” to end and get everybody back to work and in the sports stadiums. Wouldn’t we all? I miss my kiddo and daughter-in-law and GRANDSON desperately! And my friend Margaret (upper left in the Brady Bunch) desperately wants to travel to New York for her first grandchild’s birth the end of May! Carol and Lynn (right side in the Brady Bunch) also have grandsons that they are ACHING to see and hug. But none of us want to risk hopping back into “normal life” before we should. Really, the only way to take the steps to do that is to TEST, contact trace those who were in contact with new cases, and then isolate/quarantine them to severely limit the transmission, because this virus is exceptionally contagious (and deadly!) But is this country, the richest on Earth, doing that? Of course not. Not under this devoid “leadership.” trump is focused on spinning whatever he can to ensure that he isn’t blamed for all of this. Which is ludicrous, because he is most certainly to blame for how bad this has become because he entirely blew it off when he should have been doubling down on making sure it did not explode as it has done. Two days ago he claimed, “As president, I have total authority.” (Uhm, no he doesn’t, as we have a constitution and we do not have a king). And since he’s apparently been reminded of that fact, now he’s all “Well, it’s all on the governors, I accept no responsibility.”
"There is something quintessentially Trumpian about the claim of total authority and zero responsibility. He alone can save us, he insists, but don't blame him if he doesn't." –Charlie Sykes
I’ve spent all day long apologizing to our cats. They both absolutely love Friskies Beach Crunch Treats, and for Wylie, it is mostly what sustains her. She is very, very picky and aside from asking for her Tuna Florentine wet food a couple of times a week (if that), all she eats are her Beach Crunch Treats. And we are out. I ordered a BUNCH from Amazon way back on April 3, and after being notified that they would arrive today, now I’m being told it’ll be another week, ESTIMATED. Every single time I stand up to do anything, both cats leap over to the Beach Crunch Treats bowl on the counter and hover there, staring at me. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” There are other options for them (including nutritious kibble in the pantry feeder, which Nikki likes OK, but Wylie DOES NOT).
Tomorrow, John will make a necessary trip to the grocery store. Yes, I think he probably goes too often, but he is cautious. Gotta do what we gotta do, right?
Our friend Lee, who helped John a whole lot with building this house FIVE YEARS AGO, was laid off from his construction job, so John hired him to come and do some maintenance stuff around the house. We’ve needed some re-staining of the siding because the UV from the sun bleaches it out on the water-side, so he did that, plus sanding and staining a couple of the big foundation poles that hold the house up (not all of them had been finished back then and now they are). It was good to see him again, distantly! It had been a few years, and he’s aged a bit (don’t we all…) He also has a new baby boy. His employer keeps finding him little jobs to do, so he’s not available around here regularly, but it’s nice to know he can now and then and that we can help him and his family out during these difficult times.
And a cutie pic of Quinn and Sandra coloring!
I love how into it he is! (His hair is starting to grow!)
John’s dad died yesterday (Easter). No, not from the coronavirus, but from complications of old age. I believe he was going to be 94 or 95 (?) in May, and he hasn’t been well for a very long time. Still, I was surprised. It’s always a surprise, isn’t it? It may be natural, but it’s still unexpected.
And life, as it is, continues to be weird and sad. There is some hope, because the rate of new infections of the virus is gradually slowing, and that’s good. But it will take some time for there to NOT be new infections. To have this virus die. And that may not happen entirely until there is a vaccine. And then the anti-vaxxers…what will happen then?
The kids posted video of Quinn hunting Easter Eggs in their yard and oh man was it adorable and oh man did it hit me with a load of bricks that we couldn’t be there to enjoy it in person and present him with a grandparents-sized spoil-the-kid Easter Basket and witness it all and feel the joy of it all. I’ve been pretty good at keeping those feelings at bay, but that hit me. I tell myself, “In the scheme of things, this will be temporary.” I believe that is true, but right now it is very hard. And so very very sad.
OMG, the pollen! It’s tree pollen, and we have not seen it like this EVER. When I go out on the deck, in just seconds, my phone is covered in it. We’ve had the deck door open the past couple of days, and there has been a yellow sheen all over the hardwood from the pollen blowing in. Our neighbor took this photo that pretty much illustrates the jaw-dropping accumulation on his windshield:
I’m not prone to major allergies, but both of us have been sneezing and coughing and feeling that godawful tickle in the backs of our throats all day long, day after day. This is insane!
I know this is a mundane little thing, but I’m feeling so much better because the house is clean! During my weeks zapped with the flu, I had zero gumption and of course no maid and it had become basically disgusting around here. You could hardly see the hardwood floors through the gunk. And shredded bathroom rug fibers from Nikki’s ferocious destructive tendencies clung to everything, everywhere. I have subsequently thrown those rugs away, and it makes me sad! I loved those rugs. They were plush and a perfect color that perfectly matched our towels and I can’t find replacements anywhere (not that I could replace them as long as the litter box is in that room so Nikki would obviously destroy the new rugs!) I am ready for that cat to potty outside! Even though she’s been venturing out onto the deck and maybe a little bit beyond with our nice weather, I don’t think she’s figured out that outside has many natural litterbox opportunities. She also hasn’t figured out the pet door. I know she’s witnessed both Wylie and Bailey entering and exiting through it, but no lightbulb has been lit.
And looky here! Pigs really do fly!
Here's my favorite little grandson collecting "Esster Eggs!"
Yeah. He’s desperate to “open up the country,” even though we are nowhere NEAR the bottom of the curve, which is where we would need to be to even come close to considering that. We have barely reached the apex of that curve, and in many places around the country, we are still struggling to climb that curve. He has zero clue, refuses to listen to the public health experts, refuses to conduct the massive testing required to safely allow people to get back out there (he’s ceasing funding for it), and all he cares about is “opening up” so he can jump into his re-election campaign to cheat and attack Biden in every nefarious method he can construe [and golf]. It doesn’t work that way! He. Is. Pure. Evil.
Obviously, we all want to get back to as much of “normal” as we possibly can, as soon as we can. But it is just plain idiotic to go there before we are ready. We don’t want to start over from the beginning with stay-home orders. We don’t want more people to die that would if we do this right. We don’t want t to drag this godawful pandemic on for months and months longer than we would have to. Having this MORON “in charge” is the most dangerous travesty this country has ever faced, has ever endured. What a despicable, vindictive, preening, incompetent catastrophe of a human being.
My mom’s been gone since 2006. I can absolutely hear her voice
“He is a snot.”
Nikki was introduced to a Big New World these past couple of days—we’ve allowed her outside. The weather has been lovely, so we decided to open the bedroom window onto the big deck (like we’ve done for Wylie and Mojo every spring) and oh, the wide-eyes! WHAT A WORLD IT IS!! So very much to look at, to inspect, to sniff, to absolutely feel AWE about. She’s hung close, and has loved the freedom of going in and out that open window, as if she’s confirming that the “portal” allows that freedom both ways. Narnia!
Then today, John and I took a beach walk. It was quite breezy, but comfortable. And just beautiful.
I haven’t been out and about for quite a while, and John said the snow on the Olympics had melted significantly since he’d last seen them. They still look lovely!
It was an extraordinarily low tide. I commented on it, and John said he’d heard that the Vashon Island ferry run had to be curtailed to wait for the tide to come in because it was too shallow at the dock. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that before! So, my observation was correct. We kept to the gravel and tried to avert the mud. Still, we weren’t very successful in finding agates. (We each found one and mine is pretty lame). I think Nate and Sandra got them all the last time they were here.
It made my heart sing that Wylie followed us during our entire walk. It’s the beach where Mojo’s absence really gets to me, and it felt like she was honoring him by walking with us. She kept close to the bank, moving from bushes and driftwood, meowing now and then. She didn’t actually emerge onto the beach itself until we’d arrived back in front of our place. But we kept seeing her, and even if we didn’t, we could feel her eyes on us.
This old raft had apparently washed up in front of one of our neighbors’ house, and I tried to get artsy with it. Heh heh.
Ultimately, it’s just pretty damned ugly. (I’m glad it’s not parked in front of us!)
It felt really good to get out in the sun and feel the EXPANSE of space and fresh air. We know we are blessed. If we were having to deal with this pandemic in our Des Moines house, I’d be climbing the walls because there was nothing walkable around there. We saw a few people on their decks, but otherwise not a soul on the beach. At times it felt like we were the only two people (and a cat) in the whole world.
Well, aside from the cluster-trump of how this pandemic is being handled. And his sneaky, deceitful agenda of flinging democracy in the dumpster. His and the GOP’s mantra: DO HARM. Like forcing Wisconsin to vote IN PERSON for their primary in the midst of a pandemic instead of postponing it like everyone else did, or allowing voting by mail. I’m sickened by the scenes of people in masks, including OLD PEOPLE, and SICK PEOPLE, standing in line for hours because they reduced the polling places from 180 to five. trump, and his evil cohorts, are monsters.
Sigh. It’s so disheartening. What a terrible time. I know for certain that it would not be this terrible if trump wasn’t the IMPOTUS. If only I had super hero abilities to target my hatred of this morally vacant SOB with flamethrowers.
Today, at this hour (because it changes by the hour):
Worldwide Cases: 1,458,428 Worldwide Deaths: 82,020 U.S. Cases: 398,185 U.S. Deaths: 12,878
This, after the shithead claimed “It’s nothing, it’s just the flu.” “Only 15 cases, it’ll soon be zero.” “It’s a democrat hoax.” “It’ll be gone by April.”
As I’ve mentioned, I’m documenting how I’m going through this because history will not be erased.
Definitely feeling better, after a bit of a setback. If it wasn’t for the fact that I didn’t have a noticeable fever and I didn’t feel a shortness of breath, I would be wondering if this might have BEEN Covid. It’s been so godawful! But those major symptoms were not a factor, so I’m convinced it wasn’t. Just a terrible, long-lasting respiratory flu.
Otherwise, things have been OK. I receive videos and photos of Quinn (and his parents!) every day.
This is his new Seahawks mask! Lol! I swear I can tell that he is grinning behind that mask, by the look of his eyes.
John wore his (boring but functional) mask to the grocery store today. He said about half the people in there were wearing them. (The others probably feel that since trump refuses to wear one, they don’t need to).
I’ll leave you with how Nate keeps himself in shape.
I was washing my hands in the pantry sink this morning and peering out the window that faces the back of our property with all the trees and underbrush and wilderness, and I noticed that our lone (and struggling) Dogwood is leafing out. And it brought tears. The Earth keeps sliding into Spring and it’s been hard to notice. Until that moment.
Because I’ve been sick with that godawful flu (yes, flu), I haven’t been outside our house for nearly three weeks. Most of the reason is because I’ve felt like shit, but the other reason is because the weather has been shit. If the sun has peeked out at all, it’s still been 42° and windy, so no thank you. But it sounds like this upcoming week may have days reaching into the 60s, and I sense I will have a hankering to head to the beach. I need AIR. I need some Vitamin D. I need some MOVEMENT. I need a CHANGE OF SCENERY.
I NEED TO FIND ME SOME AGATES.
Mostly, the days just blend into each other. Here, it’s very quiet, and I wonder what it’s like in towns and cities. I know that the big cities have a constant cacophony of emergency sirens and I’m so thankful that isn’t the case here. I believe that would send me over the edge. I also know there is a lot of sadness in the neighborhood, because of kids/grandkids not able to visit and long-planned trips kaput.
Current Stats:
Worldwide confirmed cases: 1,200,000 U.S. confirmed cases: 310,000 Worldwide deaths: 64,600 U.S. deaths: 8,450
The numbers increase—a lot—by the hour.
The “official” word is another month of shelter-in-place. I suspect it will then be extended again. There are still states (with republican idiot governors) who have not established shelter-in-place rules, even though their cases are climbing. It infuriates me because their lack of action will affect all of us, and slow down the recovery for ALL OF US. I cannot believe that there isn’t a national order so that the behavior countrywide is consistent. But then, there’s an idiot at the helm.
Nate sent me this meme today:
I would add another line: “I blame the previous captain for the iceberg!”
Thankfully, we don’t personally know of anybody who has contracted the virus (although I had a big scare this past week with someone close to me). And I want to keep it that way. People need to be serious about this social distancing. This, from an epidemiologist, really hit it home:
“Seemingly small social chains get large and complex with alarming speed.
If your son visits his girlfriend, and you later sneak over for coffee with a neighbor, your neighbor is now connected to the infected office worker that your son's girlfriend's mother shook hands with.”
What I worry about is that trump has been having hissy fits, screaming, “We’ve gotta get back to work! We’ve gotta end this and open everything up!” He is desperate to grab “his” economy [plus go golfing], which was his only lifeline for his re-election. I fear that he will stupidly demand that the CDC guidelines and state lockdowns be lifted far, FAR too soon, and the result would be catastrophic. I know the governors are ultimately in control of that, but his republican sycophants will readily comply and he will use his vicious vindictiveness to punish the rest.
And here are some cat pics!
These two are not buddies. Nikki in particular is a relentless antagonizer.
And while Nikki was attacking Wylie’s tail, Wylie was doing THIS:
This has now become a regular thing, having to share my water glass with CATS. (Yeah, both of them).
Isn’t it weird to watch commercials or TV shows with people congregating and living normal lives? It’s so DIFFERENT from our current normal. I can’t determine if I’m annoyed with the Skype cable news or if I’m growing accustomed to its lameness. THEN, I’ll see a newscast of masses of humans on a beach or attending church or watching the hospital ship Comfort sliding into port in New York and I feel rage. Why are there so many stupid people? My friend, Margaret, talks of “covidiots,” those into conspiracy theories and claiming the virus is a “gift from God.”
The virus is Covid-19—Co [corona] vi [virus] d [disease] 19 [2019, the year it originated]. Racists call it the “Chinese” virus because that’s what trump has called it, which has caused a lot of violence against Chinese Americans. It was “entertaining” when I called someone out on that and the reply was, “YOU’RE THE RACIST.” All I could honestly do was laugh. Because, what else is there?
I’m finally feeling better! I’m not tossing back QUITE as much Nyquil and cough medicine as I was! I’m still waiting on getting my energy back. Anything I do, like laundry, cooking, etc. feels like such a huge undertaking. Cleaning? What’s that? (Really need to get on that…)
And here it is April. March was the longest year ever, wasn’t it? The last time I posted, on March 25th, the number of confirmed worldwide coronavirus cases was 471,800. Today? At this hour, it’s 937,000 and it climbs by the hour—closing in on a million. Most of the states are on stay-at-home orders, except for some (with accelerating cases) run by republican governors who are digging their weirdly ideological heels in. New York is on fire and New Jersey is not far behind. Here in Washington, the first epicenter/hotspot of the country, our governor took swift action and shut everything down quite early and it’s starting to pay off. The curve is beginning to bend, but there is a long way to go. But I continue to be horrified with the national “leadership” of circus clowns and their colossal failure with handling this crisis. The incompetence, day after day, with no streamlining of critical hospital supplies from national stockpiles, no consistent national stay-at-home orders across the states, the “happy talk” during daily press briefings of “how wonderful the president is” and “we have sent millions of tests and ventilators across this great nation” when they are lying because they have not and the hospitals are screaming. Interestingly, states with republican governors (many of whom have yet to institute a stay-at-home order) have received the equipment they have requested while states with democratic governors have not. It was only a month ago that trump called the coronavirus a “hoax” and that it was only “the flu.” The other day he said, “I’ve always known it was a serious pandemic before anybody else did.” He also said, “I take no responsibility.”
I hate him. The bastard has blood on his hands.
Now that I’m feeling better and emerging from the fog of the (long-lasting!) flu, I’m finally experiencing the pain of not being able to see Nate and Sandra and Quinn. They are wonderful with sending frequent photos and videos (my lifeline!), and we also FaceTimed Friday night, which was just great. And Quinn is old enough to understand what that means, hollering, “Hey, Nonna! Watch!” while he positioned himself on his stool and leaped off. Over and over again. “Hey, Nonna!” My heart swelled! Nate has a filter app on his phone and I absolutely cracked up at the images I was seeing.
My oh my. (Snort!)
THEN, a little later I received a photo of Quinn taking a bath with a major buzz cut. I mean, I know people are struggling with haircuts these days (since all the salons and barber shops are closed), but man what a shock to see that bald little boy.
Lordy. It’ll grow. Right?
I actually trimmed my own hair the other day, and soon I will dye it (it’s due, and I’d ordered a fair stock of my hair dye from Amazon a while back). This is the month I typically get myself a pedi, though. I’m going to really miss THAT. I desperately need well-trimmed toenails and COLOR. I did order some nail polish, so we’ll see how that works out. If I ever receive it. Honestly, it doesn’t matter much because the weather has been godawful and I can’t even imagine wearing sandals. And what will I do when John needs a haircut? Yikes! I’m sure there a million things I haven’t even thought of yet.
I think it’s important to document all of this. It is so very strange, so UNPRECEDENTED. I hate that word. For that last 3-1/2 years, it has been forefront, and it’s so disturbing, so godawful.
I’m not a bit religious (or a conspiracy theorist), but what is all about the massive locusts in the mid-east, this pandemic, and this obvious anti-christ of a shithead, trump? Makes you scratch your head, at least.
