Cop Car's Beat

Catching up - 6/19/2020

Fresh Paint

             

The house is looking fresher these days - not from the front, but definitely from the back. Cecil, the handyman, painted the three sides of the house that comprise rough cedar siding (although, one of those sides is nearly as much brick veneer as siding). The back side of the house faces southeast and the garage side faces southwest, so those two sides really take a beating from the sun and from the prevailing southwesterly winds. The whole house had been painted when it was built in late 1999, of course, and again in 2008. The front of the house, facing northwest, is nearly all brick-faced and gets little sun and wind, so I decided not to bother the environment by having it painted this time.

With the heat as bad as it has been, Cecil was smart enough to have himself and his helper here at 6:30am to work until a bit past noon each day - plus - the first day, Cecil worked for a couple of hours in the afternoon on the side of the house that faces northeast - in the shade. They were so quiet that we never knew when they were here or when they were not.

100' of hose - Front Yard

200' of hose - Back Yard

It seems that all I've done for the past few weeks is water, water, water. Except for one day, the temperatures during the past two weeks have been in the mid-to-high 90s (Fahrenheit) and I don't want to lose our new little trees. On Sundays, I water all of the trees that have been planted within the past 18 months - plus - rose bushes and the three largest tomato plants. That is accomplished by stretching out the back yard hose and setting it to water the base of each of 13 trees for four to twelve minutes, depending upon when the tree was planted, how large the tree is, and the species of the tree. The roses are watered using a separate 75' hose, for four to six minutes each, depending upon how distracted I get in watering the trees. Wednesdays, the three trees that were planted in May get two 9-quart buckets full of water each, and each rose or tomato plant gets one bucket full each. The front hose is used to water the tropical plants that are summering on our front porch, the plantings along the front of the house, and the plantings on the far side of the driveway. [I note that, since 2:00am, today, we have received over one inch of rain - and the heat is supposed to abate somewhat for today and tomorrow. Yay! I shan't need to water plants this weekend. The rain stopped for a bit a couple of hours ago, but it is again coming down. The sump pump has been activating every minute or two since I woke at 2:00am.]

Note that in the left, bottom area of the above photo there are small (tropical) airplane/spider plants coming up beside the sedum. Last fall, I gambled that those plants would come up from roots that had over-wintered for several years now and did not re-pot any of the plants to over-winter inside. Not only did the "established" roots over-winter; a root from a plant that had established itself from a potted plant that I had put into my basement escape window well (see the photo, below) did as well. The window well root took so long to come up that I had given up on it; but, there it comes.

The photo, below, shows the tropical plants that I am summering in the window well this year. Too small to show up in this photo, the airplane plant is in the far corner.

First visitor since February

For the first time since February, we had someone inside our home: Elder Brother (above photo from a visit in 2018). As paranoid as he is (and who wouldn't be who had experienced two heart attacks and about five cardiac arrests?) we felt that he would be as safe as anyone to invade our spaces - and that we would be a much greater risk to him than he to us. EB had phoned a few weeks ago to let me know he would be birding in Kansas. (He had promised me to always let me know, rather than visiting Kansas without letting me know.) I had consulted Hunky Husband, and we had invited EB to stay with us for a night or two - with the proviso that, should he die of CORVID-19 after catching it from us, he wouldn't haunt us.

EB drove in just after 4:00pm, on a Friday, and left at 8:00am, on that Sunday. We enjoyed his stay, but none of us left the house in the time that he was here. Normally, we would have eaten one or two meals out; but, we had pizza for dinner, Friday; leftover pizza for lunch, Saturday; and I put together a chicken salad for dinner, Saturday evening, with EB opting to have a shredded turkey breast sandwich, instead. We had soft-serve ice cream (vanilla with fresh, sweetened strawberries for EB and me and chocolate with chocolate syrup for HH) for the two meals. EB always has the same breakfast, to which he helps himself: bowl of shredded wheat cereal and four ounces of orange juice. He also helped himself to the treats (photo, below) scattered around the house - dark chocolate coated almonds, brownies, etc. EB eats very little and has always been so thin that it is painful to look at him when he doffs his shirt; but, he's a big boy (84 years old) and can take care of himself, I think.

  Left-to-Right: plain M&Ms, lemon cookies dipped in dark chocolate & almond pieces, and pecan candy made from left-over dipping chocolate

At our ages (and with the state of EB's health), HH, EB, and I find that our risk factor is not as worrisome to us as the thought of our not getting to see one another. It should be understood without my saying so that HH and I went into isolation for 14 days after EB's visit. OTOH, EB went on to spend a few nights in motels in Kansas and Texas, his intended locales for birding. EB also isolated himself when he arrived home from his journey.

Birds Fledged

The wren nest among the foliage of a house plant that is summering on the front porch has one egg left in it - abandoned AFAIK. It was probably not viable. The second brood of five house finches in the miniature swing on the front porch all left (the two laggards are shown in the above photo), and a second brood of bluebirds was fledged. I don't expect any more action in the nests during the heat of the summer. I was properly amazed at that second brood of bluebirds since we have been in the mid-to-high 90s during all of June (but for one day when it was 89 degrees Fahrenheit).

Strawberry Moon

We had few strawberries, this spring, my having ripped out our strawberry patch in order to plant HH's roses; but, I did get to watch the Strawberry Moon rise. As you can see (photo, below) the moon had to rise to about 20 degrees above the horizon to clear the tall trees along our creek.

Week in Review - 6/5/2020

Health: For a few days, I kept having a new "symptom" to think about each day. As of this morning...no symptoms. I lived through 'em all and I'm pretty sure they had nothing to do with COVID-19 or any other virus. I think it was a combination of age/heat/food choices/hydration. The age and heat are still with me, but I've been doing better on the food choices and hydration for the past week.

Heat: The heat has about knocked me out. After doing yard work (mostly deep watering our nine newest trees - requiring uncoiling, dragging about, and re-coiling 200' of garden hose) a couple of days ago, I was beet red. That's not unusual for me when the temperature is over 80 degrees F, let alone when it is in the upper 90s. I come inside; drink a cup of water; splash water all over myself; swab my face, arms, and legs down with alcohol; and sit under a (ceiling) fan for 20-30 minutes. * The two, new dogwood trees were looking wilt-y, so I daren't wait until morning. Otherwise, I've done yard work in the morning when it has been cooler. I still get hot, but not beet red. (I think it would be nice if I could perspire!) Hunky Husband even found it hot. He was dragging when he came in from his jogging this morning.  (Maybe he just walked this time?) HH perspires enough for the both of us.

Politics: A long-time lurker has emailed to ask, once again, why I try to refrain from political discussions on my blogs. The Dilbert cartoon (above) in this morning's Wichita Eagle (I would provide a link, but it is behind a pay wall) pretty well sums up a major reason. I'm sure that I could be the person in the red shirt or in the blue shirt, in that cartoon, depending.

As I always believed during my working days, just because something can be done doesn't mean that it should be done. Similarly, as was quoted in an article headlined Ill-considered posts lead to lost jobs amid protests, crisis in this morning's paper, "You don't need to always say something." There are times when one must speak up; but, one must address the right audience when speaking up. I choose, in my blogs, to remain silent and be thought a fool, when it comes to politics. (Apologies to the late President Abraham Lincoln.)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

* I am reminded of a time in July, 1980, during a long string of triple-digit temperature days, when I had taken a TR-182 [turbo-charged, retractable gear Skylane] prototype out for an operational test flight. It was 104 degrees F, that day. After refueling (using a step-ladder) and parking the plane, I walked into the experimental hangar and stuck my head under the circular-troughed hand washing station to cool down. The mechanics found me a sight to behold, I'm sure; but, they were kind enough not to give me a bad time. They were good people.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ADDITION OF 6/5/2020 11:30AM - More from Slashdot.org

Does this posting (below) mean that we Yanks are, in general, hypochondriacs? Perhaps I had no "symptoms" (see, above) at all? I was just fooling myself!

COVID-19 Pandemic Causes 42% Drop In ER Visits Nationwide, CDC Says (upi.com) 74

Posted by BeauHD on Friday June 05, 2020 @06:00AM from the striking-decline dept.

schwit1 shares a report from UPI: Visits to hospital U.S. emergency rooms have dropped by more than 40 percent so far in 2020, compared to the same period last year, according to figures released Wednesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC researchers compared total visits so far this year to the same five-month period in 2019. The number of ER visits declined from a mean of roughly 2.1 million per week between March 31, 2019, and April 27, 2019, to a mean of 1.22 million per week during the "early pandemic" period of March 29 to April 25 of this year, according to the CDC. ER visits declined for every age group, with the largest proportional declines in children 10 years old and younger at 72 percent and children 11 to 14 years old at 71 percent, the agency said. Researchers found the largest declines in ER visits occurred in the New England states at 49 percent, as well as in the mid-Atlantic region at 48 percent. That region includes New York and New Jersey, which has been the epicenter of the U.S. COVID-19 outbreak.

ER visits related to abdominal pain and other digestive problems fell by more than 66,000 per week from year to year, while those among patients reporting musculoskeletal pain -- excluding low-back pain -- dropped by more than 52,000 per week, according to the CDC report. Visits for "sprains and strains" declined by nearly 34,000 per week, and those related to "superficial injuries" fell by nearly 31,000 per week, the researchers said. Conversely, ER visits for "exposure, encounters, screening or contact with infectious disease" increased by nearly 19,000 per week from 2019 to 2020, the analysis found. Specifically, some 18,000 ER visits occurred per week across the country for COVID-19 symptoms through the end of May, the researchers said. The researchers say more research is needed to determine whether the decline in ER visits could be attributed to "actual reductions in injuries or illness [due] to changing activity patterns during the pandemic" lockdown, or if Americans simply delayed or declined emergency care.

More from Slashdot.org - How ignorant can we get?

'Murder Hornet' Meme Inspires Stupid Americans To Kill Pollinators En Masse (latimes.com) 159

Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday May 10, 2020 @12:34PM from the bug-hunt dept.

An anonymous reader writes: You really can't make this stuff up, but Americans across the country, out of fear of "murder hornets," have begun killing all kinds of bees en masse. According to Doug Yanega, senior museum scientist for the Department of Entomology at UC Riverside, a national panic has led to the needless slaughter of native wasps and bees, beneficial insects whose populations are already threatened...

"Folks in China, Korea and Japan have lived side by side with these hornets for hundreds of years, and it has not caused the collapse of human society there. My colleagues in Japan, China and Korea are just rolling their eyes in disbelief at what kind of snowflakes we are..."

"I don't want to downplay this — they are logistically dangerous insects. But having people in Tennessee worry about this is just ridiculous. The only people who should be bothering experts with concerns about wasp IDs are living in the northwest quadrant of Washington (state). And really, right now, nobody else in the country should even be thinking about this stuff," he continued.
"The facts are, experts said, two dead hornets were found in Washington last December, a lone Canadian live nest was found and wiped out last September and no live hornets have yet been seen this year," reports the Associated Press.

And when they spoke to the Washington Agriculture Department entomologist working on the state's response, he issued an additional correction for all the journalists covering this story. "They are not 'murder hornets.' "They are just hornets."

Treadmill away!

This morning, I prevailed upon Hunky Husband to help me put together the treadmill that he had given me - mostly where I needed real muscle or a third hand. The box had arrived last Monday, but I let it stew for a few days to give the viruses time to disassemble.

The first photo, below, shows HH at about 10-15 minutes into our assembly of the treadmill.

After 30 minutes:

After an hour:

Fortunately for him, I was able to let HH go take his nap after 40-45 minutes. Now come the hard parts of getting the tension squared away on the belt so that it doesn't move laterally and figuring out the electronics that track time/distance/heart rate. That will have to wait for another day. I must get outside to water the newer trees in the yard. I will be pooped, then, from hauling 150' of hose out and back and re-coiling it.

HH BBs

Hunky Husband will put up with nearly any food I set before him - as long as he has breakfast bars (BBs) on hand. He alarmed me last week by declaring that he was out of the BBs that he preferred and he would be running to the grocery store to buy some. I was able to dissuade his hurried trip, in favor of buying them during our every-2nd-week shopping trip. He grumbled; but, I've put up with grumbling for enough years that it doesn't signal the end of the world to me. In the meantime, the CDC has recommended that we all wear non-professional masks AKA face coverings; that is, the kind of "mask" we can make ourselves - saving the N-95 masks for those who are frontline medical care/fire fighter/security force workers. Today, since HH is not one to don a mask, I did our weekly shopping, alone, going during the hour after the old-people set-aside hour, when I thought it would be (and it was) less crowded. People were sparsely dotted inside the store.

Yes, I wore a mask - the one that I had made for HH (similar to the one shown at New Project but with the backing comprising two layers of HH's old handkerchiefs), not having gotten my own mask sewn. I tend to judge such face coverings harshly; but, as they say, I guess one is better than nothing - if only to signal to others that the wearer is taking COVID-19 seriously. At any rate, my approach to shopping was strategic. First, I chose to go to one of the two Walmarts in Derby rather than to Dillons. There is a "Neighborhood" Walmart just one mile south of us that is smaller, quicker to get through than is the large Dillons store that HH prefers, a bit over a mile north of us. Then, I planned to leave all of the non-perishable items in the trunk of my car for a few days to allow any viruses time to disassemble themselves; thus, I would check out as two orders - one of the perishables, the second of the non-perishables. It worked like a charm.

This (photo, below) is the trunk of my car with all but one bag (containing HH's BBs) of non-perishables. As you can see, they actually had toilet tissue on the shelves - one package per customer. It did feel a bit peculiar, my not taking my reusable bags into the store; but, it had been suggested that COVID-19-wise, it would be better to use the single-use plastic bags for the foreseeable future.

The photo, below, shows five boxes of HH's favorite BBs (all that were on the shelves) and one box that I picked up, believing that they would "do in a pinch". BTW: It turned out that HH was exaggerating (or, perhaps he just didn't see them on our shelves). He still had three of his favorite BBs (not boxes, but individual bars) on hand.

Not only am I giving the viruses on the non-perishables time to disassemble, I'm giving the viruses on a package that FEDEX delivered yesterday time. It isn't obvious from the photo (below), but the side view of the box is wedge-shaped. Presumably, the box contains my long-awaited manual treadmill. I didn't really want to leave the box on the front porch, in case of rain and/or high wind. (We got the high wind, I can tell. The driveway that I had spent so much time sweeping clear of detritus from our cottonwood tree is, again, covered with such. Oh, well, I won't catch COVID-19 while laboring outside, will I?)

Today's Wichita Eagle carried a photo of a safe hay bale.

ADDITION OF 4/8/2020 - Logical Explanation

Unfortunately, I don't recall which news network carried it last night; but one of the TV news teams aired a short piece on the toilet tissue shortage. The investigative reporter told us that, although there may have been a small amount of hoarding at the start of our taking COVID-19 seriously, the real reason for the shortage follows this logical path:

1. During "normal" times, employed people spend about one-third of their time at work and non-employed people spend time at gyms, stores, restaurants, and such. The toilet tissue that people use in those locations is, in general, single-ply, thin, and made from recycled materials.
2. During CORVID-19 times, many of the employed people are spending 100% of their time at home. The toilet tissue used in homes is, in general, multi-ply and made from virgin materials.
3. The toilet tissue demand from homes cannot be replaced by the toilet tissue excess available due to lagging sales to businesses.
4. Toilet tissue is a low-value, high-volume product; thus, in general, no one in the supply chain stocks a bunch of it in warehouses. In fact, toilet tissue is one of those "just-in-time" products.
5. Because of #4, manufacturers pretty much produce "exactly" the right amount of product. They have no excess manufacturing capacity to open new production lines because that would tie up capital in such equipment and the low-value, high-volume toilet tissue would "never" pay back the investment.

It had, when I first stopped going to the gym, occurred to me that toilet tissue use at home would increase by a tiny amount; but, it didn't occur to me that there would be no excess production capacity to fill the increased demand, nor did I give thought to the effects of so many people's now being sequestered at home. I suppose that the same sort of logic applies to many of the other items that are on shortage in the stores, today, be they paper products or other products. The investigative reporter mentioned the glut on the market of frozen French fries.

New Project: Making masks for WGD

As Bogie and I have mentioned in comments one to another, WonderfulGrandDaughter (WGD) has asked me to make some general duty face masks for her staff of nurses and other workers in a facility populated mostly by old and old, old people (I should be there!) Obviously, those workers are affected by the shortage of personal protective equipment.

I cautioned WGD that as an old, old person, my aches and pains will prevent me from doing mass production work; I could make a few, at least. This evening, after settling upon an acceptable design (such as was suggested by WGD and found here or, the one I actually used that was published by Deaconess Hospital in Indiana) I made the first mask. It isn't a beauty; but, I had limitations. The front of the mask is to be made of tightly woven 100% cotton fabric; but, they wish to have something soft against the face of the wearer, such as 100% cotton flannel. The only flannel that I have on hand, that I know is 100% cotton, is yardage that I bought 12 years ago to rebind a comforter that Mom made (in about 1965-1975) for Hunky Husband. With that limitation, I chose a rather masculine-looking (what does that mean???) quilt fabric for the front. Below is a photo collage with the result. I'm sorta thinking that it won't look all that bad on a male staffer. The "front" is shown at the top of the collage. The pine cones are on the flannel.

Can you guess what took me the longest in the process? Well...first, I had to change from the rounded-point sewing machine needle that is used for knits (I had just started making myself a nightgown when I received the request from WGD) to a heavier weight, sharp-point sewing machine needle for heavier weight woven fabrics. I use a small screwdriver to loosen/tighten the set screw that holds the needle in place. I shook so much (essential tremors) that it was difficult for me to achieve the needle change.

Then...there was making the tucks in the mask and sewing through several layers of fabric to keep them in place at the sides. I'm hoping that WGD finds that the mask isn't too thick for someone to breathe through. There are about four or five versions of this design that I want to make as prototypes for WGD so that she can tell me what works and what doesn't before I get too wound up. Last night I cut out fronts from a lilac-colored Paisley quilt fabric; but, I'm trying to find something lighter than the flannel for the back side. On one of the websites, someone suggested using pillowcase fabric for the backing - soft, 100% cotton. If I have an old pillowcase that still sports a fabric content label that says 100% cotton, I'll try that. I'm trying to stick with fabrics that I have on hand rather than going into a retail establishment to buy pieces and parts.

ADDITION of 3/23/2020 - Noon - A bit of info concerning masks and respirators

Your Source of Innovation in the Medical Field

Which Masks Actually Protect Against Coronavirus?

(Credit: Photo Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

by Celia Sampol

February 28, 2020 Updated on March 5, 2020

The world is facing a shortage of masks and other protective equipment against the new coronavirus, the head of the World Health Organization warned on Friday, February 7th. Surgical masks are especially in demand. But are they really effective? What kind of masks actually protect against Covid-19? Read this article to find out.

(Our in-house expert Hicham Dhouibi contributed to this article.)

Kolmi-Hopen is one of the major manufacturers of single-use medical products. Under normal circumstances, their facility in France makes 150 million surgical masks and over 20 million respirators per year. Today, with the rising demand, they have been requested to make over 500 million masks altogether. This is what Gérald Heuliez, managing director of Kolmi-Hopen, told French news agency AFP. In the meantime, companies like Foxconn have said they would make 20 million masks by the end of this month to face the world demand.

Since the outbreak, people in China and in the rest of the world have rushed to their local pharmacies to get surgical masks. But there are different types of masks on the market, and not all of them are really effective against this virus. So, which masks actually offer protection? 

See our buying guide on How to choose a surgical mask or a respirator.

Surgical Masks vs. Respirators

There are two different types of masks: surgical masks and respirators.

Surgical mask (Credit: DACH Schutzbekleidung)

 >>> A surgical mask is a disposable medical device that can be bought in pharmacy and that protects against infectious agents transmitted by “droplets.” These droplets can be droplets of saliva or secretions from the upper respiratory tract when the wearer exhales.

If worn by the caregiver, the surgical mask protects the patient and his or her environment (air, surfaces, equipment, surgical site). If worn by a contagious patient, it prevents the patient from contaminating his or her surroundings and environment. These masks should not be worn for more than 3 to 8 hours.

A surgical mask can also protect the wearer from the risk of splashes of biological fluids. In this case, the surgical mask must have a waterproof layer. It can also be equipped with a visor to protect the eyes.

But a surgical mask does not protect against “airborne” infectious agents so it will not prevent the wearer from being potentially contaminated by a virus such as the coronavirus.

 

N95 respirator (Credit: 3M)

 >>> A respirator is personal protective equipment that prevents the wearer from inhaling aerosols (dust, smoke, mist) as well as vapors or gases (disinfectants, anesthetic gases) that are health hazards. Unavailable in pharmacy, it protects the wearer from airborne infectious agents i.e. against contamination by a virus such as coronavirus, SARS, H1N1, etc.

Respirators are divided into two categories: insulating and filtering. Filtering respirators consist of a facepiece and a filtering device. Sometimes the filter element is integrated into the facepiece. Depending on the type of filter, the mask will either be effective only against particles, only against certain gases and vapors, or against particles, gases and vapors.

Filtering respirators can sometimes also be equipped with an exhalation valve to improve user comfort. The valve prevents condensation inside the mask, misting on the glasses and helps the user breathe in and out easily.

It should be noted that respirators also protect those who wear them from inhaling “droplets” of infectious agents. Respirators can be disposable or reusable. In the second case, it is possible to replace the filter when it is full.

What Are the Standards ?

Each of these two types of masks is subject to different standards and regulations depending on the country or geographical area.

>>> Surgical masks are tested in the direction of exhalation (from inside to outside). The tests take into account the efficiency of bacterial filtration.

In Europe, they must comply with the European standard EN 14683, which has 3 levels of bacterial filtration efficiency (BFE1, BFE2, Type R). In the United States, they must respect ASTM standards which have three levels of protection (from low risk of exposure to fluids to high risk of exposure to fluids).

>>> Respirators are tested in the direction of inspiration (from outside to inside). The tests take into account the efficiency of the filter and leakage to the face.

In Europe, they must meet the European standard EN 149: 2001 which has three classes of disposable particulate respirators (FFP1, FFP2 and FFP3).

• • FFP1 refers to the least filtering of the three masks with an aerosol filtration of at least 80% and leakage to the inside of maximum 22%. This mask is mainly used as a dust mask (home renovations and various types of work).
  • FFP2 masks have a minimum of 94% filtration percentage and maximum 8% leakage to the inside. They are mainly used in construction, agriculture, and by healthcare professionals against influenza viruses. They are currently used for protection against the coronavirus.
  • FFP3 masks are the most filtering mask of the FFPs. With a minimum filtration percentage of 99% and maximum 2% leakage to the inside, they protect against very fine particles such as asbestos.

ANOTHER INTERESTING WEBSITE: Can DIY Masks Protect Us from Coronavirus?

The short answer is, "No, but DIY masks are better than nothing."

Responding to COVID-19 pandemic

Last week, some of us commented to Week in Review - 3/6/2020 concerning our shopping and how it did not really relate to responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the past few days, I've put more thought into the situation and how Hunky Husband and I should be responding. This thought has been nudged into being by the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Kansas - even though that case is 150 miles from us.

Although HH and I never get to see our family members, enough, visits with our local gang will probably suffer. Seeing them even less than usual will be the greatest sacrifice the virus pushes onto us; but, we don't need to be exchanging any viruses that we may have.

It seems that by having people into our homes, we risk more than we risk by meeting people away from home - especially if the meeting group is small and, even better, if it is outside. One doesn't wish to risk leaving one's own possible viruses in the homes of others nor does one wish visitors to leave one's home bathed in their viruses.

I won't be flying to meet Elder Brother on birding trips, as we had previously done and had actually planned for this year.

What I haven't fully decided, yet, is what to do with Elegant Friend. When she first was diagnosed with short-term memory problems 4-5 years ago, I made a commitment (to myself, and with concurrence of HH) to "be there for her". I know that I am the only one of her old friends whom she sees more than once every 12-18 months, and she has always been one who hated - to the point of obsession - to be alone. (We've been friends since 1963, and she did a lot for my family in those early years.) I try to take Elegant Friend to lunch (and some other activity) at least every 2nd or 3rd week. She lives in an apartment complex that caters to "active seniors". In a way, this may make her "safer" to be around.  We old, old people are most likely to show overt symptoms if we contract COVID-19; thus, Elegant Friend would more likely know if she had been exposed than might be the case did she live among younger people. However, as with family, I'll definitely have to see less of Elegant Friend.

It would be foolish for HH and me to continue attendance of the weekly physics seminars on the campus of Wichita State University. After all, in Kansas, the populations that most travel to the areas in which COVID-19 is likely to be contracted are the academics and students at our universities. The WSU campus is aswarm with international students and those who travel within the States for academic reasons. As if they were reading my mind, WSU emailed me a revised schedule of physics seminars for the remainder of the Spring semester. Prof Charles Belchman of CalTech was scheduled to give two talks on Science Goals for James Webb Space Telescope - one technical talk at a weekly seminar, the other a non-technical talk for the general public. Prof Belchman's talks were "CANCELED DUE TO CORONAVIRUS TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS AT CALTECH & NASA". Shortly thereafter, it was announced that the school at which HH and I met has cancelled all St Pat's Day celebrations - including the St Pat's parade. Since St Pat is the patron saint of engineers, this is a huge concession.

At this point, we plan to continue our more important activities: I'm still going to the gym (it won't do for us to let down on our fitness levels; but, if I cannot find times when there are few people there - the usual case - this item will be reviewed), we still grocery shop (perhaps every 2nd or 3rd week rather than every week), I'll still see our lawyer (they just called to reschedule my next appointment by a couple of days), and we'll keep our medical appointments (dental, dermatological, vision - although, I'm flirting with cancelling the dental appointment). What I am trying to get into the habit of doing is washing my hands in the mud room, before going into the rest of he house, whenever I have been away from the house. I'll be setting up a dedicated hand-washing station at that sink. Fortunately, at least in the near term, weather will allow me to spend more time in the outdoors; thus, helping to prevent cabin fever.

BTW: I had a misconception as to why it is seen as being important to control the spread of CORBID-19 to the extent possible, up front. I had assumed it was to give the health care researchers time to come up with an acceptable vaccine against the virus; thus, saving lives. On TV, the other night, a graph was shown and explained. If I understand correctly, the aim is to reduce concurrent cases in order not to overload the health care system. A similar graph is shown, below.

Week in Review - 3/6/2020

Avian Life

At least one pair of Eastern Bluebirds is checking out our nesting box (photo of the box in June 2018, below). We always have several nesting pairs in our vicinity since there are at least two of our neighbors who also provide bluebird nesting boxes.

Also, resident in our vicinity, are Carolina wrens. I was able to get a couple of acceptable photos of one of them the other day.

 

Cotteycookies

Last year a small, private college (Cottey College) that is in the city in which I was born (Nevada, Missouri), sent me a dozen homemade cookies as a "thank you" for the donation I had made to their STEM scholarship fund during its inaugural year (the scholarship's inaugural year, the college having been founded in 1884). Personally, when I donate money to an organization, I would rather the money be spent on the stated purpose instead of on glossy mailings and/or "thank you" gifts. I nearly always refuse when a fund-raising person asks to take me to lunch, asking that they apply the money toward the endowed scholarship that I've established or added to. However, Mother taught me to be a gracious recipient of gifts - and - HH does like the cookies. Again, this year, I received a dozen homemade cookies - English toffee. If my blood sugar didn't run high, I would be devouring them!

I've supported Cottey College for the past 10-15 years; but, am not a member of the community service organization that owns the school. Information about that organization (P.E.O. Sisterhood) is included at the Cottey website.

P.E.O. Sisterhood

For 90 years, the College, its alumnae, and the P.E.O. Sisterhood have worked together to realize Virginia Alice Cottey Stockard’s premise that women should have excellent educational opportunities – the shared flower and its yellow and white colors symbolizing unity and common goals.

With that acceptance, Cottey became the only nonsectarian college in the nation owned and supported by women, for women, a characteristic still true today. The 90-year partnership between Cottey College and the P.E.O. Sisterhood was celebrated in 2002 at the Sisterhood’s biennial convention, held again in Oklahoma City.

The P.E.O. Sisterhood is a philanthropic educational organization whose goal is the support and advancement of women’s education. The organization began as a college sorority at Iowa Wesleyan College, Mount Pleasant, Iowa, in 1869, and later voted to retain its English letters and off-campus chapters, changing from a college group to a community group. Today The P.E.O. Sisterhood has over 250,000 members, and is still dedicated to providing educational opportunities for women.

To learn more, visit www.peointernational.org.

Taxes

Our paperwork safely made it into the H&R Block office this morning, dropped off as HH and I went to buy groceries at the store located but a few hundred feet from the H&R Block office.

Yard Work

It's been such nice weather, this week, that I've started working in the yard - something that I cannot do on a "hit or miss" schedule. My muscles do better if I start yard work at a low level of exertion and increase time/effort day-by-day. Wednesday, I worked on removing the purple creepers that were crawling up one of the trees in the woods, leaving only another 50 trees that need such treatment. It took about 15 minutes. Thursday, I spent 25 minutes picking up dead branches and sticks that had been shed by trees in the woods, during the winter, and making a brush pile of them. Today, I spent about 40 minutes transplanting a small tree. I was surprised to find how moist the ground still is; although, as we've been anointed with rain/snow at least one day each week for the past few months, I'm surprised that I should be surprised.

Week in Review - 2/28/2020

Simple strokes for simple folks: Below is a photo of the most usual first sighting that I make each morning. As I sleep in the basement, I luxuriate in the sun streaming through the two windows nearest my bed, as modulated by the bushes (and blown leaves) just outside. (When I look out those windows I am facing southeast; thus the photo is of my bedroom wall to the southwest.) Occasionally, I am treated to the silhouette of a bird swooping across, or a turkey grazing along. All-in-all it is a lovely sight to which I open my eyes. The sun arises early enough these mornings that the sun from the second window alit on a mirror, so I photographed the illuminance from but one of the windows.

Data mining Mom & Dad's planner entries: As previously noted, I am gathering data from entries that my parents made in their planner books. For the past couple of days, I've been perusing their planner from 1977, at which time they would have been approximately 63- and 68-years old, respectively. My parents kept really busy. They had hundreds of friends and relatives whom they interacted with in one or another way, they did much yard work (keeping grass mowed in several of their neighbors' yards as well as their own), they were always painting or papering something in their house, and they were active in the church that Mom attended and the senior citizen's group that the church sponsored. They drove to several small towns 50-100 miles from their home in Kansas City MO to see Dad's mother or Mom's mother or sisters, or to attend funerals of old friends. As they were both from an area that was/is about 100 miles south of their KCMO home, most of the funerals were that far away.

Something that struck me was how much time they spent attending appointments with various physicians, hospitalized for something that would now be a walk-in procedure, or attending to friends and relatives who were hospitalized, in a nursing home, or ill. Mother, alone, kept seven appointments with various physicians, an appointment with her eye doctor, and had minor surgery that hospitalized her (in the facility shown, above) for two days in 1977. Wow! Of course, I knew about all of that at the time; but, I probably considered my parents to be "old" and thought that it went with the territory. It makes me wonder what our children think of Hunky Husband's and my statuses these days when we are a few years older than the 79.75 years that either of my parents reached.

Federal Income Taxes: This week we finalized the package of paperwork that we shall turn over to the guy who started preparing our tax returns last year. During our first 10 years of marriage (1958-1968), I kept our financial records and, thus, did our taxes. For the next several years, HH took over the tasking and, of course, during the years that we were apart, each of us did our own - continuing, as I recall, until HH retired. At that time, we started filing joint tax returns, again, and HH did them - with much grumbling, I must add. Last year, I was able to talk HH into having an H&R Block agent do our taxes. The office is conveniently located - a bit over a mile from our home - and, I wouldn't have to put up with HH's grumbling. (Over the years I had simplified my investments in an attempt to minimize the grumbling, but never totally succeeded!) We were both delighted with the results. It costs a pretty penny; but, HH avoids the aggravation and I don't have to listen to him grumble!

About a month ago, HH asked me to give him my tax-relevant records for 2019 and to help him sort his own records out. We are now ready to take the paperwork in and dump it on the preparer's desk, having obtained all the receipts and forms that we needed. We are supposed to perform the dumping operation on March 6. BTW: This year, I've helped HH figure out how/convinced him to simplify his own investments. Yay! It won't help us this year, but next year, our tax prep will be simpler and cheaper.

ADDITION OF 2/29/2020 - Early signs of spring

It is nearing a time of year when, instead of visiting the gym (as did I, this morning) so often, my exercise will be performed doing yard maintenance. Below is a branch of our azalea bush - planted in a sheltered spot on the southeast side of our house and the recipient of moisture from one of the drain spouts from the guttering around our roof. It thinks that spring is here. Note the many pin oak leaves around the bush. Our neighbors (at least a couple of them) gift us with leaves from their trees that they don't rake up in the fall/winter.

Below is one (of many) clump of iris that will be springing forth, shortly. This clump is on the northeast side of the house - near my basement escape window.

Next come a small number of the zillions of sedums that we have. This clump is near our front steps - on the northwest side of the house.

Finally, below is a photo of a clump of creeping phlox - progeny of plant starts that Bogie sent me 10-12 years ago. Note that nearly all of the leaves are from our own cottonwood tree - as they should be.

Week in Review - 2020Feb22

We had just enough snow a couple of days ago that I was able to enjoy two bowls of ice cream before the sun started melting the snow down. The snow ice cream didn't turn out as well as had the one bowl that I enjoyed the week before; but, poor snow ice cream beats even Häagen-Dazs® in my judgement. It surprised me that this later snow ice cream was NOT the better of the two. The differences were two: this snow was powder snow gathered at 22 degrees Fahrenheit (previous snow was wet, at 32 degrees), and I had to use whole milk (had previously used 1% or 2% fat milk) The photo, below, is from five years ago; but, once you've seen one bowl of snow ice cream, you've seen them all.

This past week I've concentrated on data mining the "diaries" left by my parents. (This is not a short project. During the week I managed to complete data transfer for two years. Of course, I'm still working on Dad and Mom's diaries from the 1930s!) The data are then recorded in my Excel records. I don't know why I do this. When I die no one will look at those Excel files and I can hardly expect to live long enough that the worth of the records is all that great, even to me. (I do refer to those files, on occasion, to see when something occurred or where someone lived at a given time.) I am being reminded/told of stuff that I had forgotten, gotten confused, or never knew. For instance: I asked Elder Brother during his visit a few weeks ago, "Since Mom never had headaches, how was it determined that she was deathly allergic to aspirin?" His answer was that he thought our mother did have headaches and he was unaware of her allergy. Well...I was on firm ground about the allergy. It was on her "Medic Alert" tags and in her records. But, she wrote in her seventies about having bad headaches - sometimes for a few days at a time; so, I was wrong in my "remembering" her telling me that she never had had a headache in her life! Perhaps Mom merely told me that she had never had a migraine. EB agreed that Mom was the only member of our family who did not suffer migraine attacks. Below is a photo of the "diaries" (actually, most of the books are "planners") in one of the boxes - after I had removed a fist full of papers and newspapers.

Below are a couple of photos showing the sorts of notes that my father left in one of the "diaries" (from 1960) that he had used in which to keep miscellaneous notes to himself. On a very few of the pages, Mom had made entries of actual "happenings" of those days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The page on the left is seen to be the legal description of a piece of property - on which stood the house in which Dad's mother lived in a tiny village in southwestern Missouri. The two pages shown in the photo on the right are notes that Dad took while studying the private pilot licensure kit that I had given him for his birthday in the late 1970s or early 1980s (on the left) and a sketch of the platting of the area in which Dad and Mom lived in Kansas City MO. On other pages are notes that Dad took about using my HP-19C, which I got in the same 1970s-1980s time frame. Since the "diary" is dated for 1960, one can see that Dad used that book for note-taking over a goodly number of years.

As I mentioned in a comment, on the 17th the neighbor set metal posts for the back part of his fencing. This morning, he brought in rolls of chain-link fencing to set on the post (photo, below) - which will probably be done, today, since the weather is supposed to be sunny and in the 50s.