Seeing Jim's posting about Gumbah took me back like twenty years. Gumbah was writing a story about, well the House of Chin with an emphasis on softball and seen from a JR-like character, although his plan was that each character would narrate his own chapter. A tough way to write a story. I took up on it and started my own version only the JR-esque character did all the narrations. We emailed each other chapters and it worked out quite well. The hardest thing about writing is getting someone to read it and we had a pretty good time of it.
I went back to look at it just now, and I don't think it's that bad, but of course I wouldn't, would I? It'd kind of long seventy-seven pages, but I guess this is best time I'll ever have getting someone to read it, No obligation, but if anybody wants to look at it let me know and I'll send it to you.
Monday, June 8, 2020
Wednesday, June 3, 2020
4th of July party
Dear Friends,
As you know, the coronavirus has wreaked havoc upon sports seasons, schools, events and life in general. After much consideration, I decided it would be best to cancel the 4th of July party this year. We're all (ahem) of a susceptible age, and the afflictions some of us have don't make the situation better. I don't want a hotspot in Grange Circle.
This would have been the 42nd annual, I believe. I'll miss all of you and the tradition we've kept for all these years. But as they say in baseball, "Wait'll next year!" I hope this finds everyone in good health. The Esquire opened the south patio last Fri., but they're taking reservations for 4 persons per table, 2 hour limit. Well, that's just a tad too structured for me, so I'll wait until things calm down, or a vaccine, whichever comes first.
Oh...and be sure not to forget to smash the state.
-JM
PS: JR doesn't have dementia. He was off his many meds...he'd forget to take some at night, so he'd take them in the morning. Then he'd be all messed up. The doctor diagnosed this and assigned a health worker who puts the proper pills in cases for him, with the days and time labeled.
As you know, the coronavirus has wreaked havoc upon sports seasons, schools, events and life in general. After much consideration, I decided it would be best to cancel the 4th of July party this year. We're all (ahem) of a susceptible age, and the afflictions some of us have don't make the situation better. I don't want a hotspot in Grange Circle.
This would have been the 42nd annual, I believe. I'll miss all of you and the tradition we've kept for all these years. But as they say in baseball, "Wait'll next year!" I hope this finds everyone in good health. The Esquire opened the south patio last Fri., but they're taking reservations for 4 persons per table, 2 hour limit. Well, that's just a tad too structured for me, so I'll wait until things calm down, or a vaccine, whichever comes first.
Oh...and be sure not to forget to smash the state.
-JM
PS: JR doesn't have dementia. He was off his many meds...he'd forget to take some at night, so he'd take them in the morning. Then he'd be all messed up. The doctor diagnosed this and assigned a health worker who puts the proper pills in cases for him, with the days and time labeled.
Sunday, May 31, 2020
the weekend
Friday night after watching a movie, I was ready to go to bed, but I thought I'd tune into CNN to see what was going on in the world and there were riots in Minneapolis and Georgia so I stepped out onto the balcony to see what was going on here and holy shit.
The cops were being driven back south on State Street from Kinzie by the demonstrators. They weren't doing much damage at this point but they were all in the cops' faces. Very ugly.
Then some more came from the south crossing the State Street bridge. The cops eventually shoved them back on both fronts. I watched for about an hour and then I went to bed.
Saturday morning there was a little debris, but things were peaceful. I went out to get a sandwich and tuned into CNN where they were launching that stoopid rocket, and settled into my lazy boy for a nap, drifting off just after it had broken the surly bonds of Earth.
When I woke up they were talking about what was going on in Chicago, and I stepped out onto my balcony and holy shit again. What a mob. There was a group of them on Kinzie, in that plaza in front of the IBM building, and coming down Wacker and turning north on State Street. It was a huge confrontation on several shifting fronts. The rioters were uglier, more in the cops' face and throwing what mostly looked like water bottles.
Eventually they were driven back and I went back in and watched a movie. An hour and a half later I stepped back out and there were a couple cars on fire just south of State and Lake. The confrontation was even uglier. Eventually they were driven back and they raised the bridges to keep them away from their target which was Trump Tower and after that there wasn't much going on that I could see from the balcony, but I watched it on CNN, WGN and the local Fox affiliate until ten at which time it appeared to be mostly opportunistic looting. The bridges are still up Sunday afternoon and likely they won't go back down again until Monday morning.
From what I could see the protesters are about 80 percent between 20 and 30 and roughly half white and half black. I tried to look for antifa guys, people dressed in black (actually most all of them are dressed in black, being between 20 and 30 years old) and kind of organized but I didn't see many like that. Some of them seemed to be like peacemakers, sometimes forming a line between the more rabid demonstrators and the cops, and some of them were, well, rabid.
I didn't like these guys, but I felt uneasy about that, it seemed a little right wing. Didn't we demonstrate, or at any rate support the demonstrators, back in the days of the unpopular war and didn't that end it? I used to think that, but anymore I am not so sure . It helped elect Nixon and that guaranteed at leas four more years of the war.
Then my sister send me an email of her cat tearing up her rug and made a little joke about how the cat was doing it in sympathy with the demonstrators, and that struck me. Of course her cat was not doing anything to stop police brutality, but how did these demonstrators think that setting cop cars on fire and looting was doing anything to stop it?
Friday, May 29, 2020
A Glimmer of Hope
The latest in baseball news is that the player's union has set forth a proposal that the lowest paid players take the lowest cut in pay this season and the highest paid take the larger cut. If the owners agree, there is talk of Spring training resuming around June 10th with no fans, no spitting, no sunflower seeds and no showering in the locker rooms, and other restrictions. (If they included no grabbing your underwear from the front, I wouldn't be unhappy about that).
The players, of course, like to hear the cheers from the crowd. Would the announcers and photography crew be enough? Perhaps someone should start looking into developing interactive TV. The fans in their living rooms could choose cheer or boo and it would sound at the stadium.
I know that some (like Nancy) aren't fans of spring training, but hey, baseball is baseball!! I frankly love spring training. I get to see up and coming players. I was a great fan of Bote during his first spring training game.
Please, please you owner jerks, agree to this!
The players, of course, like to hear the cheers from the crowd. Would the announcers and photography crew be enough? Perhaps someone should start looking into developing interactive TV. The fans in their living rooms could choose cheer or boo and it would sound at the stadium.
I know that some (like Nancy) aren't fans of spring training, but hey, baseball is baseball!! I frankly love spring training. I get to see up and coming players. I was a great fan of Bote during his first spring training game.
Please, please you owner jerks, agree to this!
Monday, May 25, 2020
Memorial Day
On this day of the year, at this time of day, every day for the last some thirty years except the last one, we would all have risen, and have been wandering around the way of the recently risen, alighting at last at the round table of last night's merriment. The white coffee pot with the thingamajig on top which I never mastered completely would be making its first round around the round table.
It would be too early for the newspaper but somebody, usually me would have already made the walk to the end of the driveway to look up and down Salem Avenue just in case some miracle had occurred, which it never did. The conversation was always a little halted at first, how did you sleep, fine, how did you sleep, but eventually like a needle on a phonograph it found its groove. Muffins and blueberries would be issued by Nena and be eaten, then quiche and sometimes black-eyed peas. The newspaper would have arrived by then and be passed in pieces among the congregation, the Cubs/Cards box score from the day before, comics, the local news and the news of the nation, and what the hell, some arts and entertainment.
And maybe sometime after the quiche I would take a pee and coming back notice my stuff scattered around the sofa bed, and just you know, put it all together, do my best to make the bed back into a sofa, come back and join the conversation, but soon afterwards there would be a drift towards the car.
Dropping my bag into the trunk, that soft thud, it was just sad. Memorial Day was the beginning of summer, and the whole summer lay ahead. Well not quite the whole summer. It's like when the waitress, after a wait that always seems too long, sets down the pizza and you eagerly wolf down a slice or two and then you look down and there are still plenty of slices, but not as many as there had been before, and now you no longer have a whole pizza to eat. Just sad.
And then some food is pressed upon the guests and maybe a plant or two, and then the hugs, funny how they start randomly but as soon as it is clear what is going on everybody lines up so that everybody hugs everybody else and nobody is left unhugged by any other people. And then we are backing down the driveway, the driver is asking is it clear and the navigator is saying right after this red car, and then we are out in the street. The waving is a bit too much and, knowing that, people wave even more, making joke of it. And the last thing, just as we drive out of view, is Fred and Nena, just beginning to turn to walk back up the driveway.
Summertime has been a long time coming to the lake shore. For weeks the wind has been coming from the east and it has been colder by the lake. Not all that cold, but after maybe ten minutes you are heading back in from the balcony. Fucking wind.
But yesterday it went up to the mid 80s, and they are expected to last at least the week. Yesterday afternoon I was puttering around with my pots, chatting with my neighbors, filling the seed sock. It was so pleasant our there and then a quiver of excitement ran through me when I remembered that part of my summer morning routine is reading the newspaper and sipping coffee as the sun rises, and in the coming morning I could do just that.
And so I did, warm cat fur on my left hand, the finches flying in and stopping short seeing the balcony was occupied by one of those big apes with the gargantuan brains and his companion, a savage beast, and retreating to the railing on the next balcony over, eyeing that full sack of seed and tapping their birdie feet impatient for the intruders to leave so that they can gorge themselves on seed.
Much like Fred standing on the curb of Salem Avenue, tapping his toe, waiting for the paper, so he can gorge himself on the box score of the Cub victory of the day before.
It would be too early for the newspaper but somebody, usually me would have already made the walk to the end of the driveway to look up and down Salem Avenue just in case some miracle had occurred, which it never did. The conversation was always a little halted at first, how did you sleep, fine, how did you sleep, but eventually like a needle on a phonograph it found its groove. Muffins and blueberries would be issued by Nena and be eaten, then quiche and sometimes black-eyed peas. The newspaper would have arrived by then and be passed in pieces among the congregation, the Cubs/Cards box score from the day before, comics, the local news and the news of the nation, and what the hell, some arts and entertainment.
And maybe sometime after the quiche I would take a pee and coming back notice my stuff scattered around the sofa bed, and just you know, put it all together, do my best to make the bed back into a sofa, come back and join the conversation, but soon afterwards there would be a drift towards the car.
Dropping my bag into the trunk, that soft thud, it was just sad. Memorial Day was the beginning of summer, and the whole summer lay ahead. Well not quite the whole summer. It's like when the waitress, after a wait that always seems too long, sets down the pizza and you eagerly wolf down a slice or two and then you look down and there are still plenty of slices, but not as many as there had been before, and now you no longer have a whole pizza to eat. Just sad.
And then some food is pressed upon the guests and maybe a plant or two, and then the hugs, funny how they start randomly but as soon as it is clear what is going on everybody lines up so that everybody hugs everybody else and nobody is left unhugged by any other people. And then we are backing down the driveway, the driver is asking is it clear and the navigator is saying right after this red car, and then we are out in the street. The waving is a bit too much and, knowing that, people wave even more, making joke of it. And the last thing, just as we drive out of view, is Fred and Nena, just beginning to turn to walk back up the driveway.
Summertime has been a long time coming to the lake shore. For weeks the wind has been coming from the east and it has been colder by the lake. Not all that cold, but after maybe ten minutes you are heading back in from the balcony. Fucking wind.
But yesterday it went up to the mid 80s, and they are expected to last at least the week. Yesterday afternoon I was puttering around with my pots, chatting with my neighbors, filling the seed sock. It was so pleasant our there and then a quiver of excitement ran through me when I remembered that part of my summer morning routine is reading the newspaper and sipping coffee as the sun rises, and in the coming morning I could do just that.
And so I did, warm cat fur on my left hand, the finches flying in and stopping short seeing the balcony was occupied by one of those big apes with the gargantuan brains and his companion, a savage beast, and retreating to the railing on the next balcony over, eyeing that full sack of seed and tapping their birdie feet impatient for the intruders to leave so that they can gorge themselves on seed.
Much like Fred standing on the curb of Salem Avenue, tapping his toe, waiting for the paper, so he can gorge himself on the box score of the Cub victory of the day before.
Friday, May 15, 2020
Adventures in St. Louis
On Wednesday we ventured into the city for "stuff." Our first stop was Whole Foods, which, while not crowded, showed that most shoppers were being very careful. Nena saw only one woman without a mask, while I saw one man. There was also a station where masks and gloves were available for customers who wanted them. About a third of the customers were also wearing gloves (as were we). One thing that really struck me was seeing several people wearing masks and gloves while looking at cell phones and picking items off shelves; I soon figured out that they were employees selecting items for pickup/delivery. Also, every one of the help was wearing both gloves and mask. We got our stuff and left.
Our next stop was supposed to be Trader Joe's (off Eager Road, for Sadie's reference) and they had a line that stretched out the door all the way to the PetSmart next door. We decided that was too long to wait, so we went on to our next stop, Total Wine, as we were running low on such items. It wasn't crowded at all, but again, all the help were gloved and masked and the shopping carts were sanitized. We filled our cart and left, heading for another Trader Joe's off Manchester just outside of the beltway (Des Peres?). On the way we decided to have a Cafe Mocha from Panera's. Since all St. Louis restaurants are still closed for dine-in, we had to either a) order from our phones or b) get in the drive-up line. Ordering from the phone proved too complicated, so we got in the drive-up, ordered our drinks, and slowly snaked our way to the window. Again, all the help were gloved and masked. Took about 12-15 minutes.
On to Trader Joe's. (Traffic seemed about normal to me, by the way, which was navigable but busy.) There was a line there, too, but after I parked the car, Nena had been allowed towards the front of the line so we didn't have to wait long; the rule was one cart out, one cart in. Again, the carts were sanitized and all the help wore gloves and masks. Got our stuff and left.
Final stop was a small liquor store called Randall's, which is the only place I know to get Nena's favorite brand of red vermouth. It was not crowded at all, but once again, sanitized carts and glove/masked employees. I had been there before, and the man we dealt with was very knowledgeable about the stock, so he recommended a substitute for the brand we wanted, while I also picked up some beers I can't get out here in Bucolic Rolla.
On back to the homestead. Had to take Manchester/US 100, but it only adds about an extra 10 minutes to the trip from that point. Noticed both ways that there were a LOT of trucks on the highway. Ran into a jam-up on the Interstate due to an overturned semi, but shit happens, right?
All in all, a mostly productive but unnerving experience. We're staying put for a long while now.
Our next stop was supposed to be Trader Joe's (off Eager Road, for Sadie's reference) and they had a line that stretched out the door all the way to the PetSmart next door. We decided that was too long to wait, so we went on to our next stop, Total Wine, as we were running low on such items. It wasn't crowded at all, but again, all the help were gloved and masked and the shopping carts were sanitized. We filled our cart and left, heading for another Trader Joe's off Manchester just outside of the beltway (Des Peres?). On the way we decided to have a Cafe Mocha from Panera's. Since all St. Louis restaurants are still closed for dine-in, we had to either a) order from our phones or b) get in the drive-up line. Ordering from the phone proved too complicated, so we got in the drive-up, ordered our drinks, and slowly snaked our way to the window. Again, all the help were gloved and masked. Took about 12-15 minutes.
On to Trader Joe's. (Traffic seemed about normal to me, by the way, which was navigable but busy.) There was a line there, too, but after I parked the car, Nena had been allowed towards the front of the line so we didn't have to wait long; the rule was one cart out, one cart in. Again, the carts were sanitized and all the help wore gloves and masks. Got our stuff and left.
Final stop was a small liquor store called Randall's, which is the only place I know to get Nena's favorite brand of red vermouth. It was not crowded at all, but once again, sanitized carts and glove/masked employees. I had been there before, and the man we dealt with was very knowledgeable about the stock, so he recommended a substitute for the brand we wanted, while I also picked up some beers I can't get out here in Bucolic Rolla.
On back to the homestead. Had to take Manchester/US 100, but it only adds about an extra 10 minutes to the trip from that point. Noticed both ways that there were a LOT of trucks on the highway. Ran into a jam-up on the Interstate due to an overturned semi, but shit happens, right?
All in all, a mostly productive but unnerving experience. We're staying put for a long while now.
Baseball and all
Rather than attempt to respond to Turns and Nancy about the latest in baseball news, I just thought I would start a new post.
What I have read is this. Last month the owners agreed to pay each of its players on a game by game basis. Their salaries would coincide with what they are normally paid, just not by the year but by the game. I am unclear whether that agreement was based on how many actual games were played or how many would have been played. I think that 82 games was the agreed number. (Not sure if that was based on the previous Memorial Day weekend opening or the July fourth opening). The MLB already knew that there would not be fans in the stands.
Now the owners are reneging saying that because of the lack of fans and possibly fewer advertisers, the players should get half of that. MLBPL and player's agents are saying no way! They say the owners knew about the lack of fans when they agreed to the original pay plan and the owners are just being greedy.
If anyone thinks that these players are going to be in unemployment or food lines, think again. How much money do they have now? Enough to last a year? Probably. Do I think they should hold out? Yes! The owners have always been greedy bastards ever since owners began owning teams. Would I like to see baseball return? Yes, but not on just any terms. Am I, like KJ, irritated by the proposals to tweak the rules here and there for this season (should it begin)? No.
This is the very first time in the history of baseball that there has been absolutely no baseball! It is a damned shame, because it would certainly help everyone's mood if we could watch our teams play while we are mostly prevented from any socializing. I am not even tempted to watch Korean baseball on television with their cardboard fans. It's not the Cubs!
Turns, in order to answer your question about our county and that county to our west that has the Fort, I would have to get back into librarian mode and research the army's regulations during this time. Perhaps they are not allowed off base. I'll let you know later.
What I have read is this. Last month the owners agreed to pay each of its players on a game by game basis. Their salaries would coincide with what they are normally paid, just not by the year but by the game. I am unclear whether that agreement was based on how many actual games were played or how many would have been played. I think that 82 games was the agreed number. (Not sure if that was based on the previous Memorial Day weekend opening or the July fourth opening). The MLB already knew that there would not be fans in the stands.
Now the owners are reneging saying that because of the lack of fans and possibly fewer advertisers, the players should get half of that. MLBPL and player's agents are saying no way! They say the owners knew about the lack of fans when they agreed to the original pay plan and the owners are just being greedy.
If anyone thinks that these players are going to be in unemployment or food lines, think again. How much money do they have now? Enough to last a year? Probably. Do I think they should hold out? Yes! The owners have always been greedy bastards ever since owners began owning teams. Would I like to see baseball return? Yes, but not on just any terms. Am I, like KJ, irritated by the proposals to tweak the rules here and there for this season (should it begin)? No.
This is the very first time in the history of baseball that there has been absolutely no baseball! It is a damned shame, because it would certainly help everyone's mood if we could watch our teams play while we are mostly prevented from any socializing. I am not even tempted to watch Korean baseball on television with their cardboard fans. It's not the Cubs!
Turns, in order to answer your question about our county and that county to our west that has the Fort, I would have to get back into librarian mode and research the army's regulations during this time. Perhaps they are not allowed off base. I'll let you know later.
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
corona corona
I got birds that whistle. I got birds that sing.
If the National League takes the DH it won't mean a thing.
the designated hitter rule
Illinois had six straight days of dropping corona deaths. I guess it's like the stock market where they warn you to not watch it every day because it will drive you mad, but I have to have something to feel like I have an indication of where the bus is going, And the route just became bumpier when we hit a record high today. Mid June at the earliest.
It's getting to me. So much of my life seems pointless without other people. Why do this? Why do that? Why bother? I still keep up with the painting and when it is going well that gives me a couple hours of pleasure, other than that I am pretty much killing time until supper and after when I do my crossword and watch five or six episodes of Veep, so cynical, so filthy, good entertainment for our time under the corona.
There is no end in sight and there is the possibility that we may not even get through this alive, and afterwards who knows what is to come.
So it's kind of surprising that I got so upset by reading about the proposal to have kind of a silly season of baseball beginning around the Fourth of July, I think it will be something like each team plays only members of its own division to avoid travel, what the hell, I can live with that, just for the chance of seeing Javy do one of those tricky tags, or hallelujah stealing home. But the thing that sticks in my craw is that the plan is for the National League, the senior circuit, the rock of ages, to adopt the designated hitter rule. Just for this silly season they say, but you know how those things go.
They don't explain why the DH is part of the plan, maybe Umpire Jim or one of wagoneers could explain it to me. My guess is that the ballplayers like it because it provides employment for more players and they want to sweeten it for the players who will likely be sequestered which will cut into their catting around.
It's getting to me. So much of my life seems pointless without other people. Why do this? Why do that? Why bother? I still keep up with the painting and when it is going well that gives me a couple hours of pleasure, other than that I am pretty much killing time until supper and after when I do my crossword and watch five or six episodes of Veep, so cynical, so filthy, good entertainment for our time under the corona.
There is no end in sight and there is the possibility that we may not even get through this alive, and afterwards who knows what is to come.
So it's kind of surprising that I got so upset by reading about the proposal to have kind of a silly season of baseball beginning around the Fourth of July, I think it will be something like each team plays only members of its own division to avoid travel, what the hell, I can live with that, just for the chance of seeing Javy do one of those tricky tags, or hallelujah stealing home. But the thing that sticks in my craw is that the plan is for the National League, the senior circuit, the rock of ages, to adopt the designated hitter rule. Just for this silly season they say, but you know how those things go.
They don't explain why the DH is part of the plan, maybe Umpire Jim or one of wagoneers could explain it to me. My guess is that the ballplayers like it because it provides employment for more players and they want to sweeten it for the players who will likely be sequestered which will cut into their catting around.
Monday, May 11, 2020
Saturday, May 9, 2020
Check in Periodically
Haven't heard a peep out of most of you. It would be nice to know that you are all well despite confinement.
We had an unusual cold snap last night. Predictions of a frost. So I brought in every vegetable that has been waiting patiently for the weather to clear up enough for Fred to till and plant. Also, brought in a few other plants that I did not think would enjoy temperatures in the thirties, frost or not. Now my kitchen counters look like a plant farm. I don't think that it actually got that cold last night, but I wasn't up this morning until 8AM.
Flower beds are really beginning to look great. I have two students from Ghana who come for six hours a week and are going at the weeds and volunteer trees and bushes with vigor! Fred is delighted not to hear me say that I tried but can't dig up that clump of junk daylillies or a wild honeysuckle bush. I just ask Daniel to do it and whoosh, it's gone! Next week is finals week and those two would like to get more hours if possible after that.
We have our Rolla friends on e-mail now. We take turns writing little poetry vignettes about each other and what we are or imagine others are doing these days. As always, Fred does not contribute. He brewed a batch of IPA on Wednesday and Ron came by to watch and talk (at a safe distance, of course).
So, how are you guys doing? Nancy, Turns, Sadie, Uncle Ken?? Our pub has re-opened with restrictions. We are not risking it yet. Even Fred says he doesn't want to try yet. We have Cubs masks! Everyone is supposed to wear a mask in public, although Fred is going on Tuesday to have his beard trimmed and that would mean no mask, of course.
Hey! Keep in touch!
We had an unusual cold snap last night. Predictions of a frost. So I brought in every vegetable that has been waiting patiently for the weather to clear up enough for Fred to till and plant. Also, brought in a few other plants that I did not think would enjoy temperatures in the thirties, frost or not. Now my kitchen counters look like a plant farm. I don't think that it actually got that cold last night, but I wasn't up this morning until 8AM.
Flower beds are really beginning to look great. I have two students from Ghana who come for six hours a week and are going at the weeds and volunteer trees and bushes with vigor! Fred is delighted not to hear me say that I tried but can't dig up that clump of junk daylillies or a wild honeysuckle bush. I just ask Daniel to do it and whoosh, it's gone! Next week is finals week and those two would like to get more hours if possible after that.
We have our Rolla friends on e-mail now. We take turns writing little poetry vignettes about each other and what we are or imagine others are doing these days. As always, Fred does not contribute. He brewed a batch of IPA on Wednesday and Ron came by to watch and talk (at a safe distance, of course).
So, how are you guys doing? Nancy, Turns, Sadie, Uncle Ken?? Our pub has re-opened with restrictions. We are not risking it yet. Even Fred says he doesn't want to try yet. We have Cubs masks! Everyone is supposed to wear a mask in public, although Fred is going on Tuesday to have his beard trimmed and that would mean no mask, of course.
Hey! Keep in touch!
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
Seems like Almost a Year
We got back from Texas on March 13. Friday the 13th. Black and Gloomy Friday the Thirteenth! Most of our friends were already sequestered at home and the pub closed the following Friday. After we got home, Fred risked a solo trip to shop in St. Louis, despite severe chastising from me.
Since then, we stay pretty close to home.
OK, so it is only May 5th! Considering making burritos tonight. Cinco de Mayo, you know. It hasn't been two months, but wow! I thought time was supposed to fly as we age. Time has slowed down to a snail's pace. Feels like almost a year since we were in Texas. My spring trip with my brother, who lives in Oregon, has been indefinitely postponed. He wants us to make a gruesome cemetery trip to visit Grandmother and Grandfather, Mother and biological Father's graves. Kansas City, Savannah Georgia, and Arlington. Quite a road trip. I had agreed. Lots of stuff to do and see in Kansas City, Savannah is beautiful in the spring, think of all those museums on the mall in D.C.!
Our Memorial Day extravaganza had been cancelled (have to wait and see for Labor Day one). Trip early summer on the bourbon trail....gone!
Plus, such essentials like my dentist appointment end of March postponed until end of June. Second hip replacement on hold. Mammogram postponed. Maybe I might be a bit glad about those three (may regret it).
Nevertheless, we are healthy, as sane as we ever were, and alive.
Since then, we stay pretty close to home.
OK, so it is only May 5th! Considering making burritos tonight. Cinco de Mayo, you know. It hasn't been two months, but wow! I thought time was supposed to fly as we age. Time has slowed down to a snail's pace. Feels like almost a year since we were in Texas. My spring trip with my brother, who lives in Oregon, has been indefinitely postponed. He wants us to make a gruesome cemetery trip to visit Grandmother and Grandfather, Mother and biological Father's graves. Kansas City, Savannah Georgia, and Arlington. Quite a road trip. I had agreed. Lots of stuff to do and see in Kansas City, Savannah is beautiful in the spring, think of all those museums on the mall in D.C.!
Our Memorial Day extravaganza had been cancelled (have to wait and see for Labor Day one). Trip early summer on the bourbon trail....gone!
Plus, such essentials like my dentist appointment end of March postponed until end of June. Second hip replacement on hold. Mammogram postponed. Maybe I might be a bit glad about those three (may regret it).
Nevertheless, we are healthy, as sane as we ever were, and alive.
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
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.
She will be missed.
Thursday, April 23, 2020
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.
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.
Monday, April 20, 2020
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.
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.
Sunday, April 19, 2020
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!
Saturday, April 18, 2020
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.
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.
Friday, April 17, 2020
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
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?
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?
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?
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