Well….5:24 came pretty damn early this morning and I am feeling it…didn’t take anything for pain or my allergies last night and that may be part of it…but, I need to break that cycle since I can’t get any allergy meds and I’m down to my last 7….will be creaky all morning until I loosen up from that….man, my brain is just not working this morning so this one is going to be a little jumbled…I did get a little work done on the outside of the house yesterday with getting the small stumps taken out of the back yard and getting the awning over the side door fastened down…needed to get that done with the wind that was forecast for today…maybe some 50 mph gusts later and I didn’t want to kick myself for not doing it and having it damaged…other than that, I didn’t get much done yesterday and today looks like an interior day with lots of cleaning that I need to do…with steady winds in the 20’s I won’t be getting out on the bike today and that’s okay…well…I may try to get out before the wind comes up but I’m in no hurry about it….Tom did stop over and brought me a cool little air purifier to help with my allergies and I have it running right now…it has a cool blue light that makes it look pretty modern when it is running and I hope it works…I need help…not much to do today….going to have to ease into this one and get more coffee into me before I can do anything….more later…
All posts by James DeVol
The hidden damage…
Well….after seeing the videos from the doctors, nurses, and other hospital workers on tv and their heart wrenching pleas for help and their deep, deep fear that they too will die from the virus…the thing that hits me like a gut punch is the question of who is going to help with the hidden damage that this work is causing to these people? Every damn one of them who survives is going to have the debilitating affects of PTSD that will always be with them…who is going to take care of them and help them? As a society that operates on the profit motive in healthcare, there is no mechanism, no program, no money that is available to mitigate this hidden disaster…and who is going to replace these people who have given everything to protect their fellow human beings? I don’t even hear any discussion on this terrible human toll…just the same old bullshit on how to “open” the economy and how to give money to corporations that don’t need it…and once the pandemic subsides will we go back to the same old crap where hospitals close and doctors and nurses are expected to take pay cuts to protect the profit of the corporations who see healthcare as just another profit center? Who are we as a country if we allow this to happen? This is our chance to make this a better country as the virus exposes the rotten foundations that have been patched with cheap plaster for so long…we just need the will to do it…but I don’t hold out much hope that will happen…and that makes me sick.
April 12th
Well…running a little late this morning and it’s another one where I just can’t get started….I did get out to get the paper and drive the car for the first time in quite a while and the hla’s were clacking like crazy until it ran for a while….and the paper is now getting disappointing with most companies not putting out ads anymore since they don’t want too many people in the stores and that takes away one of my Sunday morning rituals that I have been doing since I was in my teens…not sure if it’s even worth it to get the paper anymore but we do need to support them so it doesn’t go away…I remember that we had two newspapers in this town when I was a kid along with weekly papers like the “Suburban Life” that covered the small towns that surrounded GR….I miss those days….I did get out for a bike ride yesterday but I think it’s only a matter of time before they close them, too…saw groups of people all over the trail with one of over a dozen who were blocking the trail as they walked…people, stay the hell home if your going to endanger everyone with your stupidity….so I may have to go back to road riding if that crap keeps up…downtown GR is a ghost town so that may be an option….didn’t get a lot done yesterday and won’t today, either…I am still trying to take weekends off but I may get out to work on the garden plot later….the front of the house looked pretty good when I was leaving to get the paper today and that makes me feel good that all the work I’ve done is actually starting to make a difference….more later….
The new stupidist thing I’ve ever heard…
Well…if you’re still listening to anything the moron in chief says, you’ve heard some pretty stupid crap come out of his face…but just yesterday, the stupidest thing I have heard come out of anyone’s mouth came out of idiot boy’s pie hole….I need to quote it so you’ll believe it: “the germ has gotten so brilliant the antibiotic can’t keep up with it….there’s a whole genius to it…not only is it hidden, but it’s very smart…”…okay…I’m shaking my head at the stupidity packed into those few sentences…a brilliant virus? The antibiotic can’t keep up with it? Cripes, the ignorant moron has just shown that there is another thing to add to the long list of things he doesn’t understand….first, viruses can’t be “brilliant” they don’t have brains, they can’t think…they are just pieces of RNA that can hijack host cells to replicate…and that is the only thing they do….they don’t look around and see “antibiotics” and run away from them….and second…doesn’t every second grader know that antibiotics don’t work on viruses? It’s even in in it’s name….let’s spell this out…anti means against something…and biotic means living things, which viruses aren’t….viruses exist in a gray area and are considered to be non-living until they infect living cells….god, I am so tired of stupid people running this country and killing people with their stupidity….this is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard….until later today when the idiot opens his yap again….
More seeds spouted!
Well….can you tell I’m a little bored? I guess you can watch the sparrows on the feeder for only so long before you start to go bonkers…oh, seeds….I have my first green pepper seed sprouted…and I have two more jalapenos that have come up, too so it looks like the extra 4 of each that I planted the other day weren’t necessary…so I guess I’ll just make the garden a little bigger and will have lots of stuff to give away this summer….and I need room for the beans and cukes anyway…so now I wait for the weather to cooperate and that is going to be a little painful…I do need to get motivated to do the doors for the linen closet at the end of the hallway and that will finish up the interior painting….that will be next week…not going to do much today…might be able to get out on the bike in shorts today if I wait til noon or so…that sounds like a plan….
April 11th
Well…I wonder if they have jump starters for people? I sure need one this morning with not being able to get going at all…have been up for an hour and am just now getting to this…and I feel pretty crappy with the allergies just kicking my butt….I may have to take some generic zyrtec that my daughter gave me when I was out there to visit since I won’t go out to the stores anymore with the restrictions they have in place…and I can’t use the generic flonase since it suppresses your immune system and that’s the last thing I need right now….so I guess I’m just going to resign myself to being miserable for the next month or so…didn’t get a lot done yesterday but screwing around a little around here and it looks like today will be the same…I am going to do the kitchen floor but don’t plan on doing much else since I do like to take the weekends off…and my motivation tank is empty…I do want to get the recycling out today but that will take a grand total of about 3 minutes and that won’t do a lot to quell the boredom…ha, I’ll bet you haven’t seen anyone use quell in a long time…just heard a weird noise that I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from and then realized that it is from the sparrows on the feeder attached to the front window…it is almost empty and they are banging on the bottom of it…and the sound is amplified by the window….the little shits went through 2 pounds of feed yesterday and I even had a grackle try to land on the hanging feeder…he was a little too big and it was funny to see him try…probably should fill the feeders this morning…but not now…need more coffee first…more later…
A pepper plant came up….
Well…just took a look at my veggie starters downstairs and one of my jalapenos came up…and it is one of the original seeds that I put in a couple of weeks ago so maybe there is hope for the rest of them? The tomatoes are almost 6 inches tall already and will be more than ready when this damn weather warms up…froze my butt off on the bike today and gave up after only one ride….I wonder if I should start the cukes, too…..or the beans? Nope, don’t have room for them and I think they can wait since planting won’t be for a month or so….can’t wait to get the sunflowers going along with the rest of the flowers, too and I’m glad that I got them before they shut down all of the garden centers…man, I can’t wait till this whole virus thing is over….just sitting here on hold until May 1st now and I am itching to get at the outside…oh, well….
Looting doesn’t have to be permanent….
Well…with the idiot trump firing everyone who was charged with making sure the bailout money went to the right places, to quote Neil Young “the looting has begun” as trump and his cronies just steal everything that is not nailed down….almost half a trillion dollars has disappeared with no oversight…even though oversight is written into the spending bill but the repubs are helping idiot boy give the cash to whoever he wants. Let’s remember one thing that these folks are too stupid and venal to understand…that the looting is not permanent…it’s only going to last until we beat trump in the fall and then the investigations of who got what and who did what and who broke what laws will start….and with a dem in the WH, there will be unfettered cooperation with both the house and senate committees who will find out where the money went and will “claw back” all of the stolen loot…with interest and I would bet that there will be criminal referrals, too….so hey, morons…it may look good right now that you can buy a few more yachts with the stolen money…but we’re going to take it back after November after your cronies are consigned to the ash heap of history….and you will be, too…
April 10th
Well…feel pretty lousy this morning and I think it’s just the allergies flaring after doing the lawn and other stuff outside yesterday…and not sleeping is a part of it too…one good thing is I think taking the day off the bike has helped the pain that I felt everywhere but I’ll be back on it today but in full thermasuit since it snowed here last night and is going to top out around 40 today…I was going to wash all of my winter hats and put them away last week but didn’t get to it and now that looks like a good thing…and it is going to be cold now for the next two weeks so I’m going to be on pause for a while…I did talk to my son yesterday and found that I need to buy a house and be out of here by the first of Feb next year so I need to get my butt in gear and find a house soon…but I want to wait for a while to see where housing prices are going to go with so many people out of work…the predictions are that they should drop by 10% or so and that will help…at least I’ll get a summer here and be able to enjoy my garden and the work I’ve done…and I need to save some cash to have at least 40K for the down payment…but today I’m not going to think about it…or not much anyway….it is a little bit of a relief to have a date to be working towards and I’ll ramp up the search here in a week or so…not much to do today….I did plant some more pepper seeds yesterday since the first ones didn’t come up and I may just plant all of them and then winnow out the ones I don’t need just to ensure I get the head start that I’m getting with the tomatoes….and I need to clean some around here after being lazy yesterday…oh, and cook…have tacos and chicken to make today and then a pizza tomorrow to use everything in the fridge downstairs….I’m not going to go to the grocery store for the next two weeks or more…just don’t want to jump through the new hoops and really should get the freezer emptied…and I can use missing a few meals….more later…
Just couldn’t do it…
Well…you know, I was going to take the day off and just try to heal my self abused body for a day…it sure needs it but I just couldn’t do it… after getting to 10 am with only doing some work downstairs, I kept looking out at the lawn and the weird growth that had sprouted after the rain so I just had to cut it for the first time to even it out…and that lead to walking around and picking up sticks and part of the tar overlay on the cement driveway that I had shoveled up over the winter…and I am trying to get the 12 coats of paint off the copper downspout with some paint stripper that I put on and am just going to leave it on for a week and see how it works…I could buy new ones for about 60 bucks each and that may be a possibility if they are in too poor of shape when the strip is done…they look like they have been repaired a few times so replacing them may be easier….I did skip the bike ride today with the wind blowing over 20 and a high of 42 degrees…and the soreness, did I mention that? Everything still frickin hurts and it hasn’t been this bad in quite a while…I do feel better about how the front of the house looks but it still needs more work but it doesn’t seem so overwhelming….I can’t wait til I can get the outside projects started but it’s too big of a pain int he ass to try to get any supplies right now with lines waiting to get in and stores limiting everything…I guess I can prep and get ready for when things open up again…