Day 30-Quarantine-Target On My Back

Posted on 16/04/2020 by Grumpa Joe

Wow! The news today has certainly shifted from reporting how many deaths are occurring due to COVID-19 to how soon can we stop the madness created by shutting down the economy. Let the political bickering begin. At least for the past thirty days we didn’t have to endure the constant Trump bashing and democrat accusations about Trump killing people with his new weapon COVID-19. The joke of the day is VP Joe Biden accusing Trump of not taking any responsibility for all the deaths. If anyone in the country took responsibility, it was Trump. He shut off the flights from China, Europe and caused the commerce in our country to nosedive. He warned early on that we would reach a point where a dead economy will cause more harm than the virus, He worked and still works diligently to provide resources to all the fifty lame-ass states that were caught unprepared to handle their citizens. Blame, blame, blame is all I hear today. All of it points at Trump. None of the blame belongs to him.

There is an important fact that we must all remember from our second year high school civics class, i.e. States Rights. Each State is in charge of keeping their residents safe from harm and to provide essential services. States do an outstanding job with police, firemen, and EMT’s but it all stops there. Ask any governor how much he budgets for emergency management. Most likely it is a number close to zero, or the salary of the Emergency Management Czar he appointed to the job.

Democrats place blame on Trump for everything, Republicans accuse him of redistributing the wealth better than a socialist. There doesn’t seem to be any happy medium. In the meantime the president continues to do what he believes is important which is to save our ass from the grave and to restart the engine that drives us all.

The one thing I want to see happen is a continued effort to test people for COVID. I saw a news bit yesterday that praised the Iranians for inventing a COVID meter that detects the virus within 100 meters. Now that’s what I’m talking about!

What a great idea if it really does exist. If it does, why did Iran have to dig mass graves to dump all the COVID bodies? Since I’m in the target age group the virus loves to kill I am concerned. All of  you going back to work with strong immunity and me without any. All I have is social distancing and face masks. I figure by the time we finally get a vaccine for COVID, ninety percent of seniors will be feeding daisies.

My experience with a virus that does not have a vaccine goes back to the polio era of the nineteen thirties to the the nineteen fifties. For twenty years all we had were guidelines, stay away from crowds, stay away from beaches, stay away from people who had it. I don’t remember how many more there were. What I do know is that I didn’t frequent the beaches and I never congregated in crowds, and I still got it. The funny thing is that none of my family, who I  lived with got it, none of my friends that I hung out with got it, nor did anyone I knew got it. My body just couldn’t resist the damn thing. The same will occur with COVID until the vaccine arrives. Our lives will be a crap shoot, on some days we’ll roll seven, or seven-eleven, and on other days we’ll roll snake-eyes. Life will go on, people will die everyday from a thousand things and some will die from COVID. Now that we know how the big-bad-monster behaves it won’t be as scary.

Filed under: Aging, family, Government, health care, Science | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a comment »

Day 29-Quarantine-Virtual Sports

Posted on 15/04/2020 by Grumpa Joe

How about it folks, let’s do some brainstorming. I’ve heard a lot of people complain that they are in live sports withdrawal. That is not something I readily understand, but sympathize with sports fans. I’ve heard my favorite radio host say he is tired of watching 14 year old baseball games and even older football games. He would like the MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, and live Cricket to return to the stadiums. Lets kick out all the COVID hospital paraphernalia and lay down the grass, wood, and ice once again. That won’t happen until we decide we would rather catch the Covid-19 virus and develop our own immunity, or we get vaccinated.

Here is an idea I came up with, virtual teams playing virtual games. With the advanced gaming technology available it should be relatively simple to set up. The hard part would be in inventing how games would be played in a virtual setting. My vision has each professional team equipped with the latest WII software integrated with the latest gaming software. Players of each team operate using a meeting program similar to Zoom, so they can communicate (huddle) to call plays. The players all have WII controllers and use them to move against the opposing team who is controlling their robotic equivalent in defense. They watch themselves on the screen to decide what moves to make and which way to move and who to tackle etc. Basketball programs are already pretty sophisticated with the players controlling themselves on screen using the handheld device.

Think of the benefits, all players would  be socially distanced from one another. Spectators would be doing the same. Game injuries could be eliminated although some aggressive WII players can hurt themselves even when alone. There would be no need for a Zamboni to make new ice between periods, and for that matter there wouldn’t really be a need to take long breaks between halves and periods because the physicality of the game is so much reduced. Although this rule would not be eliminated since most players would want to grab a quick beer between periods.  Fighting at hockey games is nil because the players are so far apart. Injuries requiring stitches disappear. Instant replays to decide if a player is out of bounds is not required. The computers will know when a foot goes over a line.

Teams would save big money by not having to transport players to far away cities to compete. At worst, the teams can set up virtual game studios with separated Covid-19 play-rooms to keep them safe. This also removes the virtual team  player from his living room so he can relinquish the game player to his kids. Players would be freed from having to be in top physical condition since there isn’t any real contact between human bodies. Instead, players would have to train using game controllers and eye coordination.

Another twist is that the team owners could charge fans a premium play in games. Pick your position, get a controller, and substitute for a professional player. They can charge you by the number of plays you want to play, or you can pay a huge subscription for a season pass, or an even larger subscription to substitute for a season. Because of the new 5G systems available the subscriptions available to play are limitless. Each SS (subscription  substitute) player will be playing the game and watching himself on his TV. You can now play the same position against all your drinking buddies in the exact same game and determine which of you is the best.

You get the idea, right?

What’s that? It’s already available?

Then why am I wasting my and brainpower posting about it

I need some wine.

 

Filed under: Aging, family, Humor, Sarcasm, Technology | Tagged: , , | 3 Comments »

Day 28-Quarantine-Sadness & Grief

Posted on 14/04/2020 by Grumpa Joe

Last night I slept soundly and woke up a little early. By 7:30 a.m. I had folded my laundry and made breakfast. Then it occurred to me, today is Peg’s birthday. She would have been 86. Although it has been ten months since she passed,  grief visited me as though it happened this morning. I may have to break down and drive to the cemetery to visit her.

On the COVID-19 front things are getting heated now that the death rate curves are beginning to show we may be on a downturn, New York, that is, Chicago is barely rising. Our area is clearly lagging New York and California, we always do even during recessions. We hear news about the east and west coming out of a downturn in business when we are just beginning to feel it. Nevertheless, we continue to hunker down as the rest of the country begins to argue about who to put the blame on. There are two major culprits in my opinion, Democrats, and China. At this point it is Democrats who are pointing fingers at Trump trying to further injure him. They don’t give a rats ass about their fellow citizens, only about taking power from Trump and the Republicans. With the Stay in Place Orders all across the country, the election is an issue, do we have an election or not?

I belong to the Lions Club that is not a secret. Lions Clubs International cancelled their yearly convention which is where they hold elections for officers. There will not be an election, the officers in place will continue for another term. Unfortunately, our United States Constitution does not cover how to handle a year when the election may not be feasible or possible.  Therefore, we argue. We ceased to debate about thirty years ago, and now it is always all out war with people-bashing rhetoric, one party trying to out-bash the other.

In the meantime the population copes with boredom, lack of money, shortages, and anxiety. One thing we have not lost is our sense of humor. We love to poke fun at one another sometimes bringing out the most creative ideas ever. Here are some of them from my daily e-mails.

Just For Fun

 

If you must go out wear masks

No Pictures, Just Words

Ontario has banned groups larger than 5.
If you’re a family of 6, you’re all about to 
find out who’s the least favorite!
~~~~~~
Health Tip:  If you keep a glass of wine 
in each hand, you can’t accidentally touch 
your face.

~~~~~~

The longer this goes on, the harder it will be 
to return to a society where pants and bras are required!
~~~~~
Remember when we were little and our underwear 
had the days of the week on them?
Yeah, they would be very helpful right now.

~~~~~~

Today’s Weather?
Room temperature
~~~~~
If you get an email with the subject “Knock Knock”, don’t open it. It’s a Jehovah Witness working from home

 

Filed under: Aging, Election, family, grief, Humor | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Day 27-Quarantine-Not Camelot

Posted on 13/04/2020 by Grumpa Joe

It is hard to believe that I am one day away from  four weeks of Stay in Place. Last week I ordered a list of groceries for home delivery, and they were due to arrive today between 3 and 5. I patiently delayed going for a walk and did other things to fill the day. At the same time, I searched my freezers for something to eat. I have consciously been working down my inventory of food supplies because I had too many things that were freezer burned and discoloring from age. It was my habit to keep plenty on hand while Peg was still with me, and when I went grocery shopping I always came home with more than I really needed. Needless to say the supply was pretty big. It has taken me about six months to work it down. The freezer is two days away from empty, but the order was going to arrive today. I am using a just i time process to buy and keep only what I need. The supply is so close to home that I needn’t have huge backlogs of stuff, except there is COVID-19, and stay in place. The problem is that ‘just-in-time’ is ‘almost-too-late;’

At about three-thirty, I was getting anxious about when to expect the order to arrive so I went online to check it out. Surprise, surprise, somehow I never really finalized the order and nothing was coming. Oh boy! I discovered where my mistake was and reordered but the earliest delivery is six days away. I reordered and this time got a confirmation number and a delivery date and time. Then it became a scramble to rush to the grocery story to buy some stuff to bolster my supplies. At the same time, I called a friend and asked if there was anything she needed. Of course she did. No one passes up an offer to bring groceries. Her last words to me were “be sure to wear a mask.”

So tonight, I had the last tv dinner from the freezer and tomorrow I will cook something fresh to use up the last pork roast I defrosted today. As I cleaned up after supper, the sun was setting low in the western sky and sending beams of bright light into the house. The sky was turning into a blaze of colors which I haven’t seen for a few days because of cloudiness, maybe I’ll get to see the moon tonight.

Last night I watched a public service announcement by our mayor. He talked about the importance of social distancing. He related a personal story about his neighbors, one to his right and one to his left. The man on the right was in Silver Cross Hospital with COVID-19 and on a respirator, the one of the left had COVID-19 and died. He displayed a map of our area in Will County and it was loaded with red dots where all the reported cases were reported. It scared the pants off me. I aways envisioned Frankfort as Camelot. In my mind the red dots would surround the village boundaries but never cross into our little piece of heaven. Well, my vision is totally wrong, we have lots of COVID-19 all around us. Time to tighten up and heed the recommendations more strictly.

 

Filed under: Cooking, family, Food, health care, Seniors | Tagged: , , | Leave a comment »

Day 25-Quarantine-Balance Need Vs Virus

Posted on 11/04/2020 by Grumpa Joe

“Grind wood,” said my mind, “grind wood.” It has been several days since I attacked my latest intarsia project, so the brain pointed me to the shop. The project is based on roses. It was going to be a short easy project after my last one which put Cecil the Lion in the spotlight. So far, it hasn’t been short, nor has it been easy. Since this is the third time I’ve done a rose I thought it would be simple. Not so. I made a mistake of making the roses too small, life-size actually. But making life-size roses from wood requires great skill, precision, and patience, and I possess none of them.

 

Cecil the Lion

This winter, I made a note to myself to experiment with miniature intarsia. I am thinking of moving to an apartment. Moving to a smaller space would require that I give up my wood working hobby. Thus, the idea of miniatures came to me. I could make a shop with some very basic power tools that would require the space of a kitchen table. The amount of wood I’d be removing would be greatly reduced therefore the dust factor might be livable. I’m still working on reducing noise so that wouldn’t become a lease breaker.

This rose project has a large number of tiny pieces, not unlike a miniature would have. I am learning that miniatures require excellent vision. I wear glasses, but the level of acuity is not there. I have light in my shop equal to the noon-day sun, yet, I still need spot-lights to see the piece I am working on. The idea of moving toward miniaturization is quickly fading. I may be reduced to set up in the bedroom to build model airplanes from balsa wood and glue, like I did in my early teens.

COVID-19 is still a major factor in life. I will break from being a hermit by visiting my daughter for Easter. I warned her that if she gives me the virus, she will have hell to pay. Truth be known she is equally starved for company even though she has a husband, son and daughter living with her. I guess they all lock themselves into their personal spaces and keep at a distance.

The COVID-19 Task Force is finally beginning to see some light, but they are still tenuous about giving a green light to return to work. We are spending two trillion dollars to be able to learn about how this virus spreads to do its damage. If they give up too soon, the data they need will slip from their control. At the same time the economy is about to need a respirator, or it too will succumb to the virus.

Have you ever wondered what it means for the economy to die? Everyone will lose their jobs, except government workers. The rest of us will run out of money, but it won’t matter because nothing will be available for us to use money for. Food will disappear. I don’t know about you, but I definitely need food to survive, more so than toilet paper. Gas will disappear because no one will be working to refine oil, or to distribute gas. Cars will run out of fuel where ever they are and not move again. All roads will be jammed with cars and trucks. Phones will stop working. Hospitals will shut down. Electricity will disappear since power plants will shut down. The list of necessities that are not available is a mile long and we will be stealing from each other to survive.


Deaths

COVID-19 versus Economy

The picture isn’t pretty, so the decision to get the economy back to work before it deteriorates further is crucial. The new question is how many deaths will occur because of a dead economy versus the deaths from COVID-19?

Filed under: Biography, family, Government, health care | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

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