Trump Vanity Letter

So, did everybody get the Trump vanity letter with the IRS return address regarding the stimulus payment?  I was out on the deck, reading, when I hear Larry getting the mail and he says 'We got something from the IRS'.  Now, I am no more scared of the IRS than your average American citizen.  Our taxes aren't as straightforward as they could be, plus I have to file each year for my parents' estate (long story), but there aren't any current issues, at least none that I know of. Still, nobody likes to get something from the IRS, am I right?  So, I open it and there is this letter, filled with his usual self-congratulatory nonsense, paid for by our tax dollars.  What does it cost the government to send out something like that to millions of people?  I just read a story about it in the Washington Post and apparently I wasn't the only one upset about it.  I guess the law did specify the letter had to go out but leave it to the moron in the White House to make it all about him.  Plus, there is a number you can call if you didn't get your payment or have questions, but it just gets you to an automated system that tells you to go to IRS.gov.  Yeah, good luck that that!

Liddia Stevens

Not sure how many of you knew her, but she died yesterday morning suffering from Covid-19. I know this isn't about baseball, but certainly is CU Covid related. She was a wonderful artist and a good friend to all of us. Last seen at one of John"s Fourth of July parties.
She will be missed.

Yu Darvish

The busses and the trains still run their weekday schedules.  Sometimes just to get out, just to go somewhere when there is nowhere to go, I ride the train to the end of the line and then get on a train going back downtown.  Before the corona riding the train was kind of a hustle and bustle thing, a car full of people getting on and off, likely I couldn't get a window seat, and I didn't pay that much attention to the city gliding by outside the window.

Now there is no problem getting a window seat,  Sometimes I am the only person and at its most crowded there are maybe half a dozen, scattered throughout the car per the new rules.  The city slides by in near silent splendor.  But a little boring sometimes so I bring along an old paperback.


I had a my nose deep in one yesterday when I happened to look up, somewhere near Addison and there, affixed to a brick wall, was a big poster for Marquee, the brand spanking new Cubs network.  It carries all the Cub games and if you want to see them you have to pay a pretty penny into the gaping maw of the Trumpist owners of the team, and even if you don't, such is the way of cable tv, you have to pay anyway.  The owners were planning on making a killing.  I don't know the details of the contracts but I hope they are taking a huge loss,  Behind the big Marquee logo there was a Cub hurler, and squinting my eyes I could see that it was Yu Darvish.  He had that a huge contract in 2018 and he had been a bust, but towards the end of the 2019 he had gotten way better and a month and a half ago Cub tongues were wagging, would he be this year's ace?  Not anymore of course.

The book I had taken my nose out of was Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, written 44 years ago by Doris Kearns Goodwin.  Vietnam.  Forty some years in the past and yet the very mention of it takes you right back.  The issue of our generation.  Kind of thought we had won that one, but twenty-five years later we were back at the same old shit in the mideast this time.  A little different, a lot more distant for us, nobody wanted us to fight it, and hardly anybody we knew was going over there, and the press was kept at an arm's length and compared to the mess of Vietnam it was way more muddled and it was still stumbling along when our great hope Obama took the stage and we thought the forces of enlightenment had won, but that never happened, and then Trump, and right on his heels, the way they shoot off everything at the end of the fireworks show, the corona.

Before I was reading LBJ and the American Dream I was reading The Universal Baseball Association by Robert Coover from 1968.  Briefly the guy is some kind of accountant and his life is falling apart around him, but all he cares about is this baseball game he invented ruled by the roll of dice.

Somewhere Yu Darvish is putting on his mask to go for a toilet paper hunt.  On the way out the door he passes the coffee table with the ball nestled in the pocket of the glove.  He moves on.

long ago adventure in cat ownership

Way back when, around the middle of feb, I noticed that Buddy had not had a movement for a couple of days, nor the day after, nor after that.

I got him and his sister about ten years ago from anti cruelty when they were about five years old they had a mandatory visit to the vet and then I took them the next year as suggested, and each time it cost me a fortune (dental work) and I was thinking house cats who never go outside except onto a self-contained balcony, prolly the healthiest animals in the universe.  I've never had a one that didn't live to around twenty.

So they haven't been to the vet in awhile, but constipation, nothing to sneeze at, and the guy is a bit obese

and that worries me a bit.  So I made the appointment and the two of us cabbed there, which displeased the fellow very much.  He wouldn't be coaxed out of his carrier and he has a very mean left and right pawful of claws.  The doc suggested we take the top off the carrier, but it was an old one and it was rusted shut.  They gave me a new one and suggested I bring him back in that one which I did and the doc got access to his ampleness, and poked a little and did one of those blood tests and he was just fine.

For constipation they suggested an over the counter laxative and he was pooping like a champ. Probably if I had just waited and added more metamucil to his food I could have avoided the $450 bill, but now I know that he is fine and I guess that was worth it.  It's like when you bring something up to the human doc and that costs some bucks and it turns out that nothing was really wrong and you're thinking damn, that was money wasted.  But on the other hand would you have been happier to find out that you had cancer?

They also prescribed some medicine for his joints and that ran out in the Current Era and to get more I had to pay online then go to the office and call them outside it and somebody came out and handed it to me and there was no chit chat.

Ah they are a great comfort to me in these times and they appreciate it.  Your cats may ignore you sometimes but they are always glad to have you around in case you need something.

Sixth Monday.  Outside of clerks at Walgreens, Target, and Jewel, I don't think I've talked to another soul face to face. 

Adventures in Dog Ownership

Larry and I had to rush Rocket to the emergency vet this morning. He had grabbed a pair of my rolled up socks and was playing with them, chewing on them and shaking them. Absolutely would not give them up. Usually, he can be bribed, so I went into the kitchen to get a Milk Bone, which worked, but there was only one sock! I looked all around (we have a small living room) and no sock! So, I called the emergency vet who said to bring him in, woke Larry up and off we went. Of course, we are all under a shelter in place, so we had to wait out in the car for a phone call while the vet tech came out and took him in to see the vet. They induced vomiting, but no sock! We conferred with the vet and decided to do an x-ray to see if they can spot anything in his stomach ("Are you SURE that he swallowed the sock?", she asked). While waiting, we decided to run home and search for the sock. Miraculously, Larry found it! Somehow it had gotten behind an end table. I have no idea how it got back there. I probably wouldn't have found it until I pulled out the table to vacuum (we won't talk about how long it will actually be until that happens😀). So, $540 later, all is well that ends well. Time for my nap!

Mid-April response

OK, so I posted a while ago and it wouldn't publish it. Anywho, we - like everyone else - are mostly stuck in the house. I run errands a couple of times a week, but that's it.

When the grocery store panic started, I bought a bag of red potatoes (couldn't get gold ones) and didn't put them in the refrigerator. So naturally, they sprouted, and we had to use them up quickly. Nena made potato soup with some of them (helped by some leftover smoked pork tenderloin we had in the freezer) and it was delicious! She then made Oh-Boy-Mom's potato salad with the rest of them!   Chicken thighs on the grill tonight to go with that.

We are interviewing some students to help out with the weeding and other gardening chores this summer; I think they're going to work out just fine.

Mid-April

It seems as if this blog thing hasn't been too much of a hit lately. Fred says he would just like to see the posts in his e-mail. On the other hand, although he is on that computer almost all day every day, when I ask if he has read his e-mail, he says "in a minute".

I think tonight might be the last freeze of the year. Pretty late this year. Nevertheless, blue bells are blooming, peonies are up and the hosta are starting. Daffodils about gone, but iris are about to bloom.
I have two students helping with the weeding and will have more for the summer. We are distancing. They take pictures of plants they are not sure whether to weed or not and text the picture to me. Weed or not?

Fred says he will till the vegetable garden mid-May. Meanwhile, I anxiously await weather suitable for all these starter veggies to get put onto the porch. I have already  repotted a lot of them. They are lining my kitchen counter and the counter over the wine rack. My parsley has come back outside and that cilantro someone gave me last year decided to try another round (sorry, I can't stand cilantro).

You all get that check signed by the King yet? Some of ours is going to the house that keeps battered women away from their husbands. Seems to be overflowing these days. Some to the woman running against McConnell in Kentucky and maybe the rest to the Natural Resources Defense Council which is fighting all of this deregulation in the courts.

I do think this virus is something that will keep us apart for this year. Hope next year will be better with a proper president in place and travel restrictions lifted. Meanwhile, keep safe.

Easter come and gone

It's been a week since I last posted, nothing much has changed with me, nor I expect with my fellow expats.  I think we had one nice day but it was snowing this morning.

Good Friday I had a meeting with that friend of mine I used to see every other week at the Corner Bakery but a couple weeks ago the only place where you could sit inside was Union Station, and last Friday we were going to walk around in his neighborhood.  We met at an el stop and got on a bus.  I offered him an extra mask, but he said he had his own, but then he wouldn't put it on.  I didn't mind so much when we were outside in the cool breeze waiting for the bus, but when we were on it in that stagnant air he still didn't put it on.  Put it on I said, and he said well he wasn't facing me when he was talking.  We were sitting together in one of those side seats facing parallel, and that wasn't good enough for me.  I'm getting more and more stringent as this thing goes on.  I'm not going to quarantine myself for five weeks and then catch it because somebody is uncomfortable wearing a mask.

I got off the bus and caught a train back downtown and rode the Orange Line, the one that goes out to Midway passing within a mile and a half of the bungalow where I grew up, to the end of the line and back.  It was chilly but it was one of those super clear days, actually days are much clearer under the corona. and the city looked just beautiful in an eerie ascetic way.  I was the only one in my car on the way out, and on the way back there were maybe five, still plenty of room between us all.

I have a niece in El Sobronte and together with her and her hubby and my nephew who lives downtown and my sister who lives on the north shore we had a duo Easter,  Kind of a skype like thing, where you can see everybody's face on your phone.  A lot of people think these things are the berries but I thought it was kind of stoopid, but you know I am kind of a grumpy old man.

Tuesday I went out and got more finch food and now my balcony is alive with the sound of the finches, two couples, Lucy and Desi, and Fred and Ethel,  It's not a bird paradise like Fred and Nena have in their bosky dell, but it is pretty good for a downtown tower.  Here they are and here is Sweetie looking out unfazed at them.  Can you see the tiger?

RIP Beckert and Frey and it seems like there was another Cub that bit the dust lately too, but I can't remember who.  Had a bit of nostalgia reading about the Cubs of the Beckert period.  Getting to the bigs in those days was like working for General Motors, you found a spot like second base on a team like the Cubs and that's where you spent your career, you know, sort of like third base on the Leather Shop.  It was much easier for the fans.  Is it that much of an improvement that now the players are all filthy rich and Republicans.  I'm not one of those old grumps that go on and on about how much money the ballplayers make, but I would make them run as fast as their billion dollar legs could carry them to first base every single time, every single fucking time, they made contact with the ball or else they could spend the rest of the season using their billion dollar arms to toss peanuts in the stands.

Am I right?  Am I right???  You know Goddamn well I am.

Madden just popped into my mind.  It would have been interesting to see how he was doing in Florida was it?

I was reading a column in the Trib today and one of the columnists happened to mention the Universal Baseball Association Inc, (Coover).  Wow that took me back.  Does anybody else remember it?  Discovered it is still in my bookcase though the pages fell out like Autumn leaves, and I think I will take it for a spin this long afternoon to the sound of birdsong.

How was everybody else's holy week?

Lonely baseball in the desert.

I've commented before about how sportswriters are desperate for anything at all to write about, and maybe this is just an outgrowth of that, but there were two articles in the Tribune about an idea that has been percolating, which is to play the beginning of and maybe all of the season in Arizona in the spring training ballfields there.  Too big objections are that it it is too fucking hot, and that the teams would have to be sequestered in local hotels for like five months.  The latter seems the worse because, well guys just want to have fun.  And if they do this how much would the players get paid, which brings up the question are they getting paid now?

Anyway, if they do that, I know it would not be like regular baseball, but I'm pretty sure I would watch it.

Downtown streets are full of panhandlers, but anymore there aren't many pans to handle.  I carry a pocketful of change and hand out like fifty cents to the ones I pass.  I think there is some program to house them in empty hotels because otherwise most of them are going to die.

And I know this is not so big a deal but I have to tell you that I wonder about pigeons.  How are they getting by?  Which reminds me I need to get out and feed my finches.

Hope This is Worth the Lack of Sleep

For years I managed to awaken between 5 and 5:30 in the morning so that I could get myself to work by 7:30 or 8:00. For me, that was about 5 or 6 hours of sleep a night which seemed to be all I needed until the year before I retired. That year, I got a really bad case of the shingles. The stress of working under an incompetent, lying coward was too much for me. After that I absolutely needed 8 or 9 hours of sleep a night.
After retirement, it took awhile to start sleeping later than 5 in the morning. Now I have gone back to my normal. I am more of a night owl and go to bed between 11 and 12 and am up around 8 or 9 in the morning.
So, what has happened and why am I up this morning at the ungodly hour of 5:00 again? Senior hours in the grocery store are between 6 and 8 and we are getting dangerously low on paper towels and disinfectant wipes. I have been told that the stores have reduced hours to clean and restock, so the chances of there being these objects might be greater as they open their doors.
Please! This had better be worth it. I will got to at least two stores so I don't have to do this again for awhile.

The weather was better than 70 here. We hit 81 yesterday. Downright Hot! Should be the same today, but back in the 60's tomorrow. My two young lady gardeners were weeding on Saturday in their woolen caps and winter coats. Yesterday, they were in shorts. Ah, Spring!

Nice pictures Sadie, KJ and Nancy!

Seventy degrees!

I'm sure you all remember this fellow.  Saw him on the bridge coming back from my walk early this afternoon.  His vision is completely (ot slmost completely gone now, and I thought maybe he was unaware that the tour boats are no longer going up and down the river so I paused to tell him that, but it turned out that he had and he was just trolling the bridge for people to hit with puns and he hit me up with three of them justlikethat  before I could even say oh.  And by the way orange you glad that  I posted his photo.

Our first seventy degree day and I couldn't wait to get out in my t-shirt and shorts. and of course my mask.  These things are not going to be so much fun when things get hot and sweaty, but it was okay today, but I was missing something, and then I realized it was fresh air.  I pulled it down when there was nobody near me and pulled it back up when others neared, and I soon realized they were doing the same.  It was kind of like the 50s where people driving the same sports car waved at each other as they passed, or so I heard in Playboy, I mean or so I heard that they said in Playboy.

My sister goes to those early bird hours at the supermarket and they are crowded.  Myself I go noonish and it's not bad.  We had a big campaign to get rid of plastic bags and started charging seven cents each.  To avoid paying that outrageous fee most people got into carrying their NPR tote bag to the store, but now I've heard they don't like dealing with our germ-laden bag so now I buy their bags.

Nice photo Sadie, of that very nice park that I remember so well (I once told young Jim that there were bears in there, but I think Gumbah set him straight).

Shelter in Place - Adventures in Shopping under the New Normal

So, on Friday it sounded like the CDC was going to suggest everyone wear a mask when venturing out in public.  I thought I would make myself one, since I had to go out to the stores the next day.  I had the brilliant idea of cutting up an old, cotton nightgown that had thin straps ('perfect to use as ties', I thought), so for about an hour I cut and hand sewed (no sewing machine) something that does resemble a mask and actually works, but it was uncomfortable, too lumpy, and fogged up my glasses when I wore it. 

Got up at 7:30 AM on Saturday with the goal of getting out of the house around 8:00, which is when Target opens. Since the shelter in place started, I have gotten into the habit of going to two, and sometimes three, stores on Saturday morning.  I used to go to one store at 4:00 in the afternoon, but the late bird gets no worms in this brave new world.  Tried on the mask again, said 'nah' and dug up an old bandana that worked pretty well, except the knot would come loose and I had to keep re-tying it.  A work in progress.

Headed for Target and got there around 8:05.  There was a line of about 50 people out front, standing in a gentle misty rain, six feet apart, waiting to be let into the store in small groups.  I'd say it was about 60/40 masks/no masks.  I joined the line.  People kept coming out of the store carrying large packages of Scott's toilet paper, so I was hopeful of scoring some.  I guess this is how addicts feel.  By the time I got in, all that was left was some off brand I had never heard of, but I grabbed it and felt like I had won the lottery.  Another success - they had a good supply of Campbell's Chunky Chicken Noodle Soup, which Larry likes to eat for lunch.  The last time I was in Safeway, they didn't have a single can of Chunky Soup of any kind - not one.  So, I bought eight at Target, which is the limit, paid and headed to my next stop, Safeway.

There, I was greeted by an employee who pointed me towards the carts which had been wiped down with sanitizer.  Only one entry/exit was open to make sure people only used those carts.  She also asked us to wait until the checker gave the okay to put our groceries on the conveyor belt at checkout.  There is a plexiglass shield up between the customer and the checker and we are asked to avoid contact if possible.  I had heard that they were going to have one way aisles, but that hadn't happened yet, so we will see next week.

I am so used to seeing empty toilet paper and paper towel shelves that I don't even think about it now.  This is the new normal.  They also were practically out of dishwasher and dish detergent, as well as eggs, which is ironic since Petaluma was once the self-proclaimed 'egg capital of the world'.  It reminds me of what they used to tell us about life in the old USSR.  Word would go out that a shop had shoes or meat, and everyone would rush to line up to get it while it lasted.  There were plenty of times in my life when I didn't have the money for everything I wanted, but I don't remember a time like this even through fire, flood and earthquakes.

Of course, this is really just an inconvenience.  There are no real shortages, just people behaving badly and buying more than they need.  The folks working in the grocery stores are literally risking their lives to keep the shelves stocked, and I am grateful to be healthy and able to go to the store.

Beautiful day in the neighborhood

Beautiful 70° with flowering trees and hillsides full of spring beauties in Blackburn Park this morning. Everyone was responsibly social distancing, so thankfully our local parks remain open.

tracking the corona

I've had a hard time tracking this thing.  You can get how many died on a specific day and what the total is, but it's hard to get the day by day totals which I think is what you really want to know to track it.  I finally found this. I think the death rate is more meaningful because cases depends a lot on how many they have tested lately. 

This is the site: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_coronavirus_pandemic_in_Missouri  I used Missouri because most of us expatriates live there.  You can change the location by just putting in say, California, or St_Louis into the url, or maybe there is some way to navigate within the page.  Of course it's still going to be a pretty rough instrument, but I want something.  I am looking for a leveling off so at some point, even if things are still going badly I can think that today is slightly better than yesterday. 

I noticed yesterday in fb that an old Champaign friend of mine (Denise Taylor) is running a fever and going to get testing as is the sister of a guy I know from the building. 

Changing the subject.  Somebody in fb is putting up shots from Mitch Brown's movie Shot.  Here is a link: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3058739247511376&set=pcb.2729849697113582&type=3&theater&ifg=1  I think that is Wilson hopping the hedge or whatever.  I remember that Sirloin House.  Not much on steaks, but I loved that Texas toast/

Shopping and other thoughts

I believe Nancy started a post about shopping in these times. She didn't post it, so I thought I would put in a few words about it.
Fred went to Walmart today.Yes, he wore a mask. He hadn't been able  to find good yogurt for himself. He likes plain, high fat yogurt and we both hate Dannon. It's too sour. So, I asked him to see if he could find paper towels and Lysol or Clorox wipes too. He found yogurt, but absolutely no paper towels or wipes. He found a pair of hair scissors for me. I need to trim my own hair now. Salon not open.
I worry about my hair stylist. He really isn't rich and needs the income.
Fred managed to score a few rolls of toilet paper the other day. This hoarding is becoming a major problem everywhere. Our county still has no reported cases. Big sigh!
The New York Times has a really good map that shows state by state and county by county within each state cases and deaths. It is updated daily.
Kansas City cases have dropped a lot. St. Louis is still on the upswing. Our local hospital is ready and waiting with expectation. They have diagnosed one case who drove here from Springfield with the virus already raging in her. Tested her right away. Swabbed her throat while she was in the car and had her drive back to her mother's place here. She is recovering well. She is in her twenties.
Our friends are being super careful. Damn near all of us are qualified as "old". That is over 60.
I think that this hand washing is rapidly becoming a regular habit that may not go away ever. Just means I have to use moisturizer more. Hmmm. Wonder when people will start hoarding moisturizer.

I turned off my "block pop-up windows" and now I can post here. Wow, who knew?
Our parks are still open, but not those with playground equipment. Hope you can still walk the dog, Sadie.
Tomorrow will be the first day our city ordinance goes into effect, but businesses have followed the guidelines for weeks, so there will be little change. Carry out and curbside service only. No more than 10 people together at once, even on private property. That does not include grocery stores or other essential businesses. Liquor stores are considered essential, but I noticed as I am starting to run out of my shampoo the one store that sells it (Sally's) is closed. The person running the nursery (plants) was complaining that they would probably have to shut down, but Lowe's is open and selling plants. She didn't think that was fair at all. I have to agree. The nursery is a local business and will really suffer as they approach their busiest time.

Reading Comprehension Test - as a test post

St Louis County is comprised of 88 municipalities and many of them have their own, local parks.
St Louis County also maintains a park system of 71 parks. They have their own fancy logo and everything.

Yesterday, the County Executive issued an order to close all the St Louis County Parks, and he went on to name several of the bigger parks in the County Park System like Lone Elk Park and Susson Park, because people wouldn't stop having parties or observe the social distancing orders.

Since the order says "all St Louis County Parks are being closed", not "all parks in St Louis County are being closed" I take this to mean that my local city park is still open for business even though my little city is located within St Louis County. No closed signs are posted at my park except for the signs on the kiddie playground and the rest rooms. Those have been there for probably a week now. So, I'm continuing to walk my dog in the park because that's the only place she'll poop plus the walk is good exercise. If I get a citation I will use the above park closure wording as my defense.

Also, anyone who has watched Counterpart will find all this eerily familiar.

ending the third week

Almost three weeks locked in now.  We didn't get locked in until the 17th, but I'm counting from Friday March 13th, the last day I had a beer in a bar.  So long ago.

Nut much chatter, but then what is there to chatter about?  It reminds me of my last days in Champaign, the fall of 1984.  I was still closing down the Esquire every fucking night, but not many others were anymore.  I'd bike to the bar and maybe there would be Craig, Higgs, Dan Weir.  We would nod to each other, but otherwise stare straight ahead silently.  We had seen each other in the Esquire the night before, and the night before that, and stretching back to who knew when, and none of us led exciting lives so nothing had happened to any of us since the night before when we had last seen each other, so we had nothing to talk about.  What's new?  Nothing.

Kind of like that these days huh?  Oh I'm sure some of us have put the time to good use, but cleaning out your closets is not rich material for conversation.  Reason I am thinking there haven't been any new posts in about a week.

It is warming up a bit, and I am getting out more.  Took a nice walk through downtown yesterday, but it was so damn eerie.  It's like going to a funeral, sure it is a nice day, and maybe it's a fine looking church, but it's not a happy thing.  And though people are sparse there are a lot of cars.  Back before the lock down downtown traffic was at a crawl due partly to pedestrians crossing against the lights and jaywalking.  We were the bullies, if a car wanted to go on the green light they had to wait until we crossed, and we took our good time.  Anymore they just fly.  If you are crossing and you see a car half a block down then you would just stroll across. anymore you gotta hustle your butt because that guy is flying.

This mask thing, I don't know. Sentiment is growing towards it, but I don't hear much about what good it is, and then there's the beard and then there's, ok I admit it, looking like a dork (I should worry, but still).  Nevertheless I thought I'd give it a try today when I went out to buy a new CD/radio player at Target.  By the way, did you know that they don't call it a radio anymore, they say it has an AM/FM receiver.  If you're not a very with-it guy, you are thinking what the hell does that mean, do I have to like plug it into some amplifier?  If it was a radio, wouldn't they say it was a radio?  Apparently not.

Of course I don't have a mask, I have a bandanna of Craig's that Lydia sent me and I was wondering whatever am I going to do with that?  Well now I knew.  I tied it on my face and went out telling myself it was an adventure.  I long for adventure.  But it wasn't much of one.  Only one in seven was wearing a mask and I was the only one wearing a bandanna.  It wasn't much of an adventure