Ugh

Posted on 03/06/2020 by Grumpa Joe

It must be the barometric pressure that is affecting me again today. My sorry butt has been dragging behind me since getting out of bed this morning. The sky is grey, it is threatening to rain, but it isn’t raining, but it did drizzle a bit. Whatever it is, by noon I was asleep on the couch pretending to read. One would think I got out of bed by six in the morning, but it wasn’t until 8:30 that it finally happened. Three and a half hours later I’m sleeping like I had shoveled a truck load of coal yesterday.

Funk Depression

Actually, last evening I spent a lovely hour on the phone with a young lady from our Lions club. She had just given notice that she and her son were leaving the club, and I had to know why. I found out more than I needed to know to answer my question. It wasn’t because of our failing as a club. Her son just turned twenty-four, and is having acute medical problems which was caused by his birth. He was born three months early and had a very rough time making it into this life. The medical effect was to put him on a drug that would take its toll on his kidneys at a later time in life. It is now that time. That puts him at great risk with the virus too. His choice was to accept life over a service club that puts him at risk of death with every activity he helps. We need direct contact with people in order to serve them. In fact, as Past President of the club I am going wild trying to find a way that we can serve without direct contact.

Because this is a pandemic, every Lions club in the world is affected the same way. What do we do? How do we do it? Those are the questions we wrestle with. Do we wait until the world is rock solid secure that COVID-19 will not affect us anymore? That might be twenty years from now.

Many clubs are having virtual fund raising activities. One in particular struck me as being novel, i.e. a virtual Five K run. No, you don’t imagine running five kilometers, you actually run the distance and report your time to the race officials online. They match your time against all the participants and award the prize to the fastest runner. It isn’t just the same as having a hundred runners show up at one place, register, and who then take off with the gun and fifteen minutes later show up again sweaty and pooped. It just isn’t the same, but people might just take the bait because it is different. The trick is to have a worthy cause to be raising money for.

This year, I will serve as our Club Service Chair which means I will have to stimulate people to find projects to work on. Most times we wait for the projects to come to us, but that leaves huge gaps between service. With lots of members who join to “give back” we need to offer them many opportunities to fulfill their needs. It will be my game to root out the opportunities. COVID has ruined several of our popular events in the Village. To date the Blue Grass Festival is cancelled, the Art on the Green is cancelled, Thursday night car shows are cancelled, and on and on. All of these events have deferred til next year. But, what if next year COVID-19 is still here in force? Do we go back into hiding, or do we begin taking chances with catching the damn bug and fighting back? My guess is that we will not hunker down again, but will fight it off.

Watching the country burn during this rash of riots caused by one man’s brutality against another’s will no doubt cause a spike in COVID. None of the rioters have paid much attention to social distancing, and wearing masks. At this moment I would not want to be in President Trump’s position. He upset the country by closing down and making us all hurt, and now he has to wave a big stick at us to end rioting.

To me the biggest joke is the organizers who really thought they could get away with storming the White House, and are now shouting that Trump is violating their civil rights. If I were president I would have had the entire riot force shot, and their bodies piled on the lawn in front of the White House while I would have stood on the pile brandishing my AK 47 in one hand and the American Flag in the other. That is only one of the many reasons I am not a politician.

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Odds and Ends

Posted on 02/06/2020 by Grumpa Joe

I may not look like I lost weight, but I did. It has been eight weeks since my last haircut, and I looked shaggy. My hair was long enough to have a true Donald Trump wave. After three days of failed phone calls, my barber shop finally picked up and I made a reservation to get sheared.

Before
After

The appointment was for mid-day which gave me a few hours in the morning to attack a new project in the garden.. I transplanted a perennial called Brunnera which flowers blue in the spring time. The rest of the season it has beautifully variegated foliage. It loves shade and was covered by two large perennials that over shadow it. Even I who planted it and knew where it was in the garden had trouble locating it for the dig.

Brunnera

The backside of my house is in shade most of the day so I thought what a great place for this plant. That is where it is right now, in the shade but fully visible to all. I foresee a few more sister plants to make a larger spread of the flowers.

A second project was to locate an overgrown downspout drain in the lawn and to unplug it. It took a little probing in the lawn to strike the plastic pipe, Once found, I dug out the grass that had overgrown it. The thing was completely covered with grass roots and one could be standing on it and not know it. Next came a long hose to reach the downspout and to rush water into the underground drain. It took a few minutes but water finally began gushing out of the drain onto the lawn. Success. One down and six to go. These plugged drains are the cause of my gutters over flooding water. I might as well not have gutters the way these work.

Today is the day I spend with my friends at the Stray Bar. The bar opened over the weekend but it is limited to serving outside on their patio where the tables must be six feet apart, and no groups larger than ten are permitted. After knocking down a few at the Stray I go home to attend a Zoom meeting with my Lions Club Board of directors. Evidently churches and clubs are not considered important enough to allow meetings to occur normally.

Rumors of expected riots within Frankfort are just that, rumors. No such activity has occurred yet. Our town is too little to be significant in the scheme of things. I do know that we have lots of neighbors who are black. They live with us peaceably and are just as upset about the riots as we whites are. I venture to estimate that there are blacks living in every neighborhood within our town. They move here to get their kids into good schools and away from gangs.

Our Chief of Police published a letter stating how terrible he thought the George Floyd killing was, and he assured us that the men on the Frankfort force were trained to arrest people in a civilized manner. I hope he is correct, and that he hasn’t hired that one bad apple that spoils the bunch

The one positive benefit of the Floyd George incident has been the news switched from talking non-stop about COVID-19 to street riots and his death. So far, no-one has complained about not hearing news on COVID. Frankly, I am one who has lost interest in the virus, and my attitude has switched to “if I get it, I get it.” I’ll deal with it if and when it hits me. Of course when I catch it, news about the virus will become the main issue.

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Day 73-SIP-It’s Over

Posted on 30/05/2020 by Grumpa Joe

It’ll be different writing a post everyday without the thematic SIP status. Yesterday our town of Frankfort, IL officially opened the businesses in town thus ending the Stay in Place order. As I rode my two wheeled convertible through the town on the bike path I saw Kansas street blocked with concrete barriers we often see in front of US embassies around the world. The Village fathers agreed to donate the street to the resident restaurants, three of them, a place to serve meals. It was cool to see the colorful umbrellas dotting the streetscape. There were actually people there too, even though it was still the middle of the day. Our residents are hungry for food and socialization. The servers wore masks.


A quick check of the verified Covid infections in our county is down again and hopefully diminishing to zero. The bike path was very crowded with bikers, strollers, and walkers. Everyone seems happy, but were still cautiously hugging the edges of the path to maintain distancing. How easily we were trained, and no one dangled a piece of cheese in front of us to get us to behave that way. I guess the prospect of death is more effective than cheese.

The temperature today is a bit chilly compared to the week gone by. It will keep me in the house until the sun warms things up to the seventies at least. I have my eye on a patch of wild strawberries that is invading my yard. I am paying for last summer’s neglect. I proudly bragged to my friends last year that I didn’t pull a single weed and thus the garden reverted to what it does best, it grew. The trouble with letting it go is that what grew best were what I call native perennials, sometimes referred to as weeds. June is rumored the peak growing season in our horticultural zone 5, and it is proving the rumor. I can see things that look ugly growing taller as I walk by them. The amount of work required to neaten things up is exponential as the sun shines longer each day. As long as I am looking at things in this manner the funk will not invade my psyche like it did yesterday. Thank you Lord for getting me through yesterday.

Later this afternoon we will watch the second attempt to launch our astronauts into space. The weather last Wednesday was not correct for a safe launch so it was scrubbed. The prediction at this moment is a fifty percent chance of the rocket firing for the same reason, i.e. conditions are not optimum.

What makes this space launch special is that it is being done by a private company and not the government. When NASA launched, the success rate was very high and we, the population. actually got bored with the missions. Now that SpaceX is doing the deed, we again think it is exciting. Probably because we like fireworks and the idea of watching a billion dollar rocket blow up is thrilling. Space flight development is no different than ordinary flight development during the age of the Wright brothers. The simple difference is that building a kite is much simpler than building a control-fired bullet the size of the Empire State building. Although, at the time Orville and Wilbur Wright took as much care in proceeding as does SpaceX. Another difference is that Orville and Wilbur kept things quiet. I think because they didn’t want to excite authorities to their amusements on the beach and cause them to be sent to the looney bin for endangering the sea life along the Atlantic shores. In today’s scene the lunacy is trusting a for profit company to be in charge. How do we know that each part of the assembly was made to rigid specifications by certified US vendors, and not by a Chinese vendor who cuts corners, uses materials that are less than pure, and certifies to doing things right, and is the lowest bidder?

While all this goes on America burns. I am sure the latest uprising is fueled by politics, but executed by blacks who like to jump at any opportunity to destroy and kill whitey. I watched the video of the Minneapolis policeman with his foot on the neck of a man who was being apprehended. It appeared to me that the guy was down and in hand cuffs he didn’t need to be restrained by a jackboot between his head and shoulders. It was extreme to say the least. What incites the blacks is when their idea of justice is not practiced, They would have wanted the policeman who was responsible for that treatment to be immediately apprehended, tried, found guilty and executed in the street within a few minutes of the event. Anything short of that is cause for riots, looting, burning and killing all across the country. What is even sadder is that we have police who take out their frustrations on victims with brutality. When the victim is black, the brutality factor seems to escalate by several factors of ten. I will never volunteer to be a policeman. The job gets worse and worse. These guys are expected to be psychologists and warriors who can determine in split seconds the difference between someone who is resisting arrest legitimately, or someone who is resisting with the intent to kill you, and escape to kill someone else too.

Minneapolis Riots, May 29, 2020

Though we have been conditioned in a mere seventy-two days to become docile COVID prisoners our attempts for the last one hundred and fifty-five years to treat blacks like humans has failed. Will it ever happen? I don’t know, but I believe we have a better chance of developing a vaccine for COVID-19 before we find a way to live with blacks.

A Sign of Distress

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Day 72-SIP-Funk

Posted on 29/05/2020 by Grumpa Joe

What a beautiful day it is today! The sun is shining brightly, it is warm, and the birds are singing cheerfully. My mood however is down. Why? How the heck do I know? If I did I might do something about it. Depression, when it occurs is a strong phenomenon. I get this way occasionally, and I hate it. It is only eleven o’clock in the morning and I have already taken a thirty minute nap. Somehow my drowsiness is connected with the sadness. It could be that the 29th of the month is Peg’s death date. She has been gone for eleven months now, but I still feel her presence and wish she could be here with me. Of course I want her here like she was before she went into dementia.

She spent her time in hell on this earth. Seven years of declining memory, four years of lost voice, three years of lost mobility, and finally the end. The lost voice part had to be hell by itself. When a woman who loves to talk can no longer do so she must be existing in silent agony. She spent hours staring out of front window looking and waiting, but for what? I often wondered what was going on in her mind. What were her thoughts? What did she feel?

On gorgeous days like today, I wheeled her out to the deck and down the ramp to the patio, and we sat together next to the pond watching the fish and the birds. I talked to her by retelling our experiences while we were traveling. She never responded in any way, not a smirk, not a grin, not a smile, not a wink, not anything. Eventually, when I spotted a mosquito on her I wheeled her back into the house. She never complained that I did.

Grief is a strange thing. Until I wrote the words above about the 29th being her death date, it never occurred to me that I am feeling punk because of grief. At least it is something to blame my crappy attitude on. In the past, I used exercise to get me out of the funk, and today, I will do the same. Hopefully it will be the cure.

Today is also the first official day that our businesses in town are opening under strict rules. Cafe’s and restaurants are open for outside eating. Those that had patios have it easy, those that don’t are scrambling to put a few tables and chairs out in front of their places. Even the town is working to block off one street to open more outdoor seating space for their customers. Hair salons and barber shops are also open with some strict guidelines, like by appointment only, no waiting inside, masks for stylists and customers, and disinfecting clean ups every half hour.

I have been watching the numbers of COVID cases in our zip code and until this week it has been flat, but yesterday confirmed cases jumped to 124 from 75, is it coincidence, anomaly, or fact? On days like today when I am in a funk, I really don’t give a damn about being careful. I might be better off as a statistic. I really don’t mean that, but it is the way I feel. By tomorrow this feeling will pass, and I’ll want to make my time on this earth worth talking about. I will want a straight pass through the pearly gates without any questions asked.

Filed under: Aging, Biography, family, grief, Memories, Seniors | Tagged: , | 2 Comments »

Day 69-SIP-Miracles Take Awhile

Posted on 26/05/2020 by Grumpa Joe

The day has just about ended and I almost let this post slip away from me. I was already in my movie watching mode when it came to me that I hadn’t written a post yet. So here it is.

I m feeling a bit punk today because I let myself get some sunburn. The first burn of the year always causes me some displeasure. I actually had to put on my fleece jacket to stay warm. Not that the temperature is high, but the burn makes me feel cold.

People are really beginning to come out of their caves to participate in life again. Car traffic is definitely picking up, and there are more people in the stores. Tomorrow, I have to visit the grocery store to pick up essentials. I have worked down my stockpile of food to the point where I am scratching components to cook.

The bike path is now crowded during the week. With everyone home from work they get out to walk and ride often. Before COVID-19 it was only on Saturday and Sunday that the path was crowded. I waited until after supper to take a walk, and there were still many people doing the same. I reminded myself that it is Tuesday and that my bike club always took rides together on Tuesdays. The jocks rode in one group and the easy riders in another. I was always with the easy riders. We called ourselves the Turtles. Some riders can maintain 18-20 mph at a steady pace, but my average was and is still in the 12-14 mph range. It is no fun riding with people that leave you in the dust. So I rode with people who I could leave in the dust. Except, I adjusted my speed down to stay with the fun group. The fast group took a route on regular roads and completed twenty miles in an hour and twenty minutes. The Turtles stayed on the bike path and completed the same miles but it took a lot longer, plus we stopped for ice cream while the jocks didn’t stop for anything.

After spending two hours in the garden this morning transplanting and splitting Stella Dora Lilly’s I was consumed and could not do much the remainder of the afternoon. I took a shower and watched videos on Youtube, mostly comedy. Some of the better ones were of the Johnny Carson Show when he had Richard Prior, and George Carlin on at the same time. Their monologues were okay, but the banter between them on the couch was hilarious.

Tuesday is also the day my friends meet for a couple of hours to have a drink and friendly conversation. Normally, we met at the Stray Bar but it is closed, so we’ve been meeting virtually on Zoom. It is not the same as being with someone in person. We are unanimous in our anticipation of the state reopening next Friday. It won’t be a normal opening, but it will be better than the SIP.

I just read a piece about the various epidemics we have been through and how several of them had death tolls of 100,000 with a hundred million fewer people in the country. Yet, the country was never shut down. Now that COVID-19 is being defined and examined for what its is, the Monday Morning Quarterbacks are all jumping on the pile to cry “we didn’t need to shut down.” That is easy to say now that the facts are known. Where were these same people in February when it all began and nothing was known? I’ll tell you where they were. They were panicking because they didn’t have enough ventilators, or hospital beds, or personal protective gear. It is all we heard for six weeks. Democrats in particular complained heavily, no I must rephrase that from complained to sobbed dramatically. They didn’t know how to take action until the President showed them things could get done quickly, and he put their fears at ease. After the equipment shortages were taken care of the same people cried about not having testing. That too, was solved in a relative short time, but not by Democrats. after the testing was no longer a crying matter they switched to “we need a vaccine.” That one will take a while. I remember while I was working and I came to my toolmakers with a dicey problem with a ridiculously short timetable they would shake their heads and tell me, “look, the impossible we can do in a short time, but miracles take awhile.” Ninety percent of the time we figured out how to get the job done.

There is no question that COVID-19 will go down in history as a game changer for the world. We will all have to change the way we do things and the way we do business, and the way we treat people. It’ll be fun.

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