[loonlover]

Good morning.

75 degrees and 95% humidity with an expected high of 95.

II working 3-11 today. That arena will be rather warm. House cleaning is my assignment while he is at work.

Otherwise, we'll just keep on avoiding people as much as possible.

A deputy sheriff for the county Little Rock is in lives a couple houses down and across the street. Saturday night 12 sheriff's department vehicles lined up out in the street (startled us, to say the least, when so many vehicles with lights and sirens started arriving and parking in front of our house) to deliver a cake. People got out of the vehicles, children included, went over to the deputy's house, stayed a few minutes, then drove off. One or two cars might have been out there as long as 10 minutes. It sure made it fun for people driving by to get through and we would not have been able to get out of our driveway. No masks in sight on anyone. It was obvious a party of some sort was being held. I just don't understand people gathering like that, even if some of it is done outdoors. I suppose some of that is due to our being at a higher risk age. I guess you'd say we had a slight adventure this weekend, but didn't really appreciate the sirens. We did relax a bit once we realized it wasn't deputies from our county.

Yesterday at least was quiet.

Hope your week is off to a good start. Stay safe.

 

[Jane917]

Update: I have an appointment to be tested for COVID-19 on Friday at 2:30 pm in Tucson. Not as soon as I wanted to be tested, but better than nothing.

I have not yet been able to determine how best to get DH tested for the possible genetic variation that he might have inherited. I have sent emails to get clarification.

I did not get around to reorganizing the craft room.

Tomorrow is another day.

Just piping in with a few comments. First, sorry you may have been exposed to COVID and that your testing is not convenient. All our hospitals and clinics have free drive-up testing. Is that not common every where? A few months ago I had symptoms, and was screened on-line, then sent to my provider's testing site, where all was completed in the car. The test was negative, fortunately, and I was diagnosed with a cold/cough.

As far as genetic testing, can your DH contact his medical provider? My husband's brother was diagnosed with Lynch Syndrome after completing years in a clinical trial for Stage 4 colon cancer. We had never heard of Lynch Syndrome, but apparently it occurs in 1 out of 300 people. The syndrome predisposes you to several types of cancer, and usually in the fiercest of forms. All DH's siblings were tested. One sister has it, one doesn't. You cannot be a carrier and pass it on to your children without having it yourself. The sister who is positive has two sons who were tested (both adults) and they were both negative. DH has 3 sons, 1 is negative, 2 have not yet been tested. DH is positive for the syndrome and under the care of a genetics counselor, and also gets some cancer screenings more often now. He should have had his colonoscopy last Spring, but of course that was canceled. It will be rescheduled soon, but obviously the backlog to reschedule is long. One son who has not been tested has 2 boys, but they are both adopted. The other son who has not been tested has a son and a daughter. This syndrome is especially critical for girls, as the incidence of ovarian cancer at a young age is high. We assume DH's father had it also because he had several cancers in later life, and died from melanoma (not one of the critical cancers of the syndrome).

Anyway, as far as screening, he should be able to contact his provider who will refer for screening. DH received a kit in the mail, which I think was a swab. There are companies that keep track of all this data and contract with health agencies. I wish you luck finding the right person to contact. The agency who did the screening of DH's brother initially, contacted all his siblings.

Might as well tell all that it is in the 60s in the PNW, heading into low 80s today. We are having beautiful weather, cooling down nicely at night. Our state requires masks and from what I see everyone around here is in compliance. I rarely step inside a store and have groceries delivered right to the back of my car. Pickup groceries are quite easy here, though I find some strange things when I get home.

Stay safe and well, everyone! Jane

 

[NapCat (retired)]

Good Morning

We are having a wonderful treat in the desert....Clouds and Rain !! Still hot, but it looks so refreshing.

High Adventure in the Lighthouse Ranch over the weekend. I was going out on the deck with my coffee and when I opened the door, one of the kittens ran in with a "present" for me....a snake ! a very live snake !! He was small, but spry and without my glasses, I could not ID him.....after chasing him for an hour or so, he scampered under the floor in the kitchen under the sink. Figuring he would find his way out, I didn't worry much, however next day he showed up again investigating kitchen garbage....Got him ! and released him outside.

Not too much planned, just enjoying a shady day.

Hope everyone's week is off to a good and safe start

 

[crebel]

High Adventure in the Lighthouse Ranch over the weekend. I was going out on the deck with my coffee and when I opened the door, one of the kittens ran in with a "present" for me....a snake ! a very live snake !! He was small, but spry and without my glasses, I could not ID him.....after chasing him for an hour or so, he scampered under the floor in the kitchen under the sink. Figuring he would find his way out, I didn't worry much, however next day he showed up again investigating kitchen garbage....Got him ! and released him outside.

I don't know what I would have done, but it would probably have involved screaming, and never sleeping in my house again until someone (else) was able to determine it was gone ... even a garter snake. *shudder*

Just piping in with a few comments. First, sorry you may have been exposed to COVID and that your testing is not convenient. All our hospitals and clinics have free drive-up testing. Is that not common every where? A few months ago I had symptoms, and was screened on-line, then sent to my provider's testing site, where all was completed in the car. The test was negative, fortunately, and I was diagnosed with a cold/cough.

Stay safe and well, everyone! Jane

Very unfortunately, the answer is NO.

Another positive this morning among DS's co-workers as we still await his results.

Nice weather here today. Moderate temperatures in the 70s (my idea of perfect) and lower humidity.

Stay safe all and be well.

 

[Andra]

Good afternoon.
We spent a good bit of time this weekend cleaning and straightening to make room for the AC installers who will be coming on Friday.  DH didn't want to chance the units giving out on us in the heat of the summer (yes, I know we have already hit triple digits this year).  It's easier to not argue once he gets his mind set on something.  They are supposed to get both units replaced in one day.  I sure hope they are right.  It's also not supposed to be as hot on Friday, but there is rain in the forecast.
I still hurt from my workout on Thursday, even with all the going up and down stairs that I did on the weekend.  I figure about the time I stop hurting it will be Thursday and time for another torture session.

Anna, I'm glad your trial is over.  Hope your precautions in the jury room were successful.
Crebel, I hope your son's test is negative.
NapCat, my kitties used to bring me lizards and birds. 

Everybody stay safe and be smart - even if you are surrounded by Cov-idiots.

 

[mlewis78]

Good morning. I hope everyone is well and that all covid tests come out negative. I haven't had mine yet but need to get on the stick for it so I can have the breathing test at Mount Sinai West.

I went to see ENT doctor Monday with my audiology test in hand. He explained how much hearing loss, although he didn't use numbers and I don't see them on the report. Just that my hearing is probably fine in the activities I'm doing now, but if I went to a party or noisy indoor restaurant I might not hear a conversation a few feet away. I guess it was good to know this, but I was there about ear pain and had to let him know that. He was the one who wanted the hearing test and I only got it so that he would treat me for pain. Now he says for first time it is TMJ syndrome. I was incredulous but polite. I told him then why if I let too many hours (say go by without 2 Advil,I have ear pain, sometimes 6 hours or less. He said that shows that it is TMJ if Advil helps! He suggested that if it doesn't improve or gets worse that I see an oral surgeon and he gave me a name. I am trying to believe it now in the hope that I can find something online. A few months ago I saw a video for musicians about massaging the jaw for TMJ. Maybe there are more. My jaw doesn't hurt though. He did see a bit of ear wax and he removed it (from the "bad" ear), and that also gave me some hope that I'd feel better, even though it was very unpleasant. It's been years since a doctor had to remove wax.

Telracs, the outdoor table configurations on 8th, 9th and 10th Avenues are all different. They are using the street now (even while traffic goes by and 9th Avenue has the water main equipment pens out there in the street. So you can get a table almost flush up with an equipment pen chain link fence. Some have the street tables and sidewalk tables. Most of the ones that have both have the sidewalk tables up against the restaurant. The Chinese restaurant Mee Noodle Shop at 53rd/9th only has takeout and no tables outside. This leads me to believe that the table service is not all that profitable, since there are not as many tables out there as they used to have inside.

When I got home this afternoon, there was the jury summons in the mailbox. I was thinking all the way upstairs about the sore throat or sniffles I am going to have on whatever the date is. Then I saw that it's August 12th at 1:30pm and started to consider it more realistically as maybe I could do this. But it's GRAND JURY. That could be a long time, and they are backlogged from being shut down so long. I have never been on grand jury duty. I would need to take the subway, which I have not done yet.

I've been hearing that the subways are the cleanest ever now.  A friend from my neighborhood on facebook told me today that she took it to Brooklyn for first time. She said that it's the cleanest she has EVER seen it and she is in her 50s. I also saw a thread in NextDoor about it and others say the same although some have said that there has been litter on the platforms. But so far the homeless are not living on the trains, since they close it from 1am-5am for cleaning. When the time comes for me to go on it (not this week), I plan to wear mask, gloves, stand up and when I get out of a station, I will toss the gloves in the garbage and use hand sanitizer.

It is 81 degrees at 5:15AM, humidity down to 51% and the temp is going up to 91 later. I am not sure how high the temp was when I was out Monday afternoon because I was too concerned about other things to check, but I knew it was in the 90s. Here they always count the number of days it's 90 or above and call it a heat wave. I realize that in the south and southwest that 90s is just summer.

NapCat, I do not know how you pulled that off. Any method to catching a small snake? Did you hold it or trap it in a box or something. I'm with Crebel about this! The closest to sheer terror like this for me in the past year was last fall when I went to the 181st St. subway station at 1am after visiting a friend up there. There was one woman on the platform sitting down on a bench and there was a rat scurrying around on the platform. I froze and just stood where I was and eventually it ran past me and over to the tracks. I decided never to go in there that late or stay that late visiting or take a shared car service (this before covid) home.

Have an excellent day.

 

[crebel]

Good very early morning.  I have been up for a while already - eating pizza DH brought home at 9 p.m. last night was a really bad choice.  Serious heartburn woke me up around 2 a.m., but I think it is now under control.  There may be a nap in my afternoon schedule. 

We had a few rain showers yesterday and may have a few today, but the temperatures, humidity, and weather overall have been very pleasant so far this week.  The farmers need the rain so I have no complaints!

On multiple occasions we have had live birds, bats, mice, squirrels, and frogs in the house.  I can handle all of those (although I do a fair amount of screeching/screaming when birds are swooping as you try to funnel them out an open door), but snakes of any kind in the house are where I draw the line.  I don't care how harmless they are, my aversion is strong. 

I much, much, MUCH prefer to see wildlife outside through my windows.  We frequently have deer and raccoons to watch.  We have had fox, huge snapping turtles, a river otter in our creek, and even once a mountain lion in our yard.  We do trap and relocate or dispose of nasty possums and destructive groundhogs.  Once in a great while, brown snakes will sun themselves in our driveway or be seen around the creek.  Outside I give them a wide berth, but in the house ... nope, nope, nope! 

DS is still waiting for results, staying quarantined, and is still asymptomatic, so thanks for the good thoughts from all. 

Everyone stay safe, be well.

 

[loonlover]

Good morning.

Scattered thunderstorms might appear after midnight and into tomorrow morning. Otherwise, nothing different on the weather front.

Another person hoping everyone's tests are negative.

Our youngest son lost his 13 1/2 yr old dog yesterday. He has had some rough times recently; his dogs certainly helped him through them. 

I have discovered I am not really good at organizing grocery purchases for the long haul. So, a pickup from Kroger will be my errand of the day. I did better at the beginning of this ordeal than I have done lately, that's for sure.

Make a part of your day special in some way. Stay safe.

 

[telracs]

*wanders in, hands out assorted popcorns, wanders out*

 

[Andra]

Just a brief check-in after taking popcorn from telracs...
79 and humid in Austin with a tiny chance of rain. 
Testing with AT&T at work today to try their managed phone bridge to see how it works - our August Commission Meeting will more than likely be remote.
Still cleaning in my office and taking things to storage and/or goodwill.

Take care.

 

[telracs]

Just a brief check-in after taking popcorn from telracs...
79 and humid in Austin with a tiny chance of rain.
Testing with AT&T at work today to try their managed phone bridge to see how it works - our August Commission Meeting will more than likely be remote.
Still cleaning in my office and taking things to storage and/or goodwill.

Take care.

actually, it seems my popcorn came from Austin. cornucopia popcorn, ever heard of it?

 

[NapCat (retired)]

Good Morning

Our forecast is 112 and no wind, so after filling the bird feeders and a couple of small outdoor projects, it will be an indoor Napcatcatnappin' day...the piano is calling to me, so I may spend a few hours working on a beautiful Sonata that has been sitting in the music desk for a while.

LL: Long term shopping is an organization art ! Lists are important, so set up your phone with a list for each category/store i.e.: Home Depot, Grocery, Walmart, Auto etc. Except for perishables, buy double what you need. For repair parts, TAKE A PICTURE ! so the salesperson can get you the right part.

On-Line shopping is becoming more convenient and AMAZON'S Prime free delivery is a good deal for folks like me. (100 miles to the nearest town, 350 miles if I have to go to Vegas) Unless storage space is a problem, stockpiling essentials is a good idea.

CREBEL: For living in a very remote area, I really do not get too much wildlife in the house. I spray around the doors and windows, so anything that comes in, dies shortly. I leave a Shop Vac out to clean up the bodies often, otherwise my light colored carpet looks like a Dalmatian ! I can handle snakes, rats and ugly women, but spiders make me turn into a screaming little girl and you will find me in the next county ! giggle. We have a tarantula migration in the Autumn.

I am on a major migratory route, so see a wide variety of birds year-round. Coyotes, Bobcats, Wild Burros and Horses, Mountain Sheep come to visit fairly often. A couple of years ago a young Peacock wandered in a stayed for two years (he thought he was a cat and was amazingly gentle with kittens !) He liked classical music and would stay next to open windows listening for hours....naturally I named him MOZART.

MLEWIS 78: I sucked up the snake with the Shop VAC, then put the filter outside...he made a timely escape (avoiding several curious cats).

Hope everyone is having a good and safe week.

 

[crebel]

By the way ...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

to telracs!

 

[loonlover]

By the way ...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

to telracs!

A second of this from your friends in Arkansas!

 

[Annalog]

Happy birthday, telracs!

For everyone getting tests, may the results be good.

Good evening from southern Arizona. I have finally cleared a section in my craft room where I could sleep if I either start showing symptoms or test positive for COVID-19. Since this is just four days after the day that I am concerned about, tomorrow is the earliest that I would expect symptoms although yesterday is the earliest that I could expect to test positive or possibly be contagious.

Yesterday, an alarm on my phone reminded me of another scheduled Zoom meeting. This time it was a meeting with past coworkers from where I worked almost 10 years ago. At least one of those people is still needing to fly to customer sites. The others are either retired or able to meet with customers, or prospective customers, electronically. I am happy to be in the retired group!

Today, DH discovered a water line leak in the area where we have been working for some years to put up a greenhouse. Fortunately, we won't need to disassemble much to fix the leak. Tomorrow DH will go to Ace Hardware to get the parts he needs for the repair and also for a water shutoff valve specifically for the line to the greenhouse. We don't know when the leak started but there was standing water and mud today. Something had to have hit the above ground faucet and neither of us remember having done that.

Hope your day is wonderful. Be safe and be excellent to each other.

 

[crebel]

Good morning!  My baby boy (38 years old  ) had a NEGATIVE test!  We know that doesn't mean any of us still can't get sick, but we are much relieved this morning.

We did have a little more rain yesterday and it is a little foggy out there this morning.  While having my first cup of tea on the veranda around 6 a.m., I was still able to watch a doe and her fawn in our yard.  A really nice start to my day.  No special plans for the day.

I did find a box of gourmet truffle mac-n-cheese in my cupboard and I have half a bag of langostinos from Trader Joes in my freezer.  I'm thinking that will make a pretty snazzy home version of lobster mac-n-cheese for supper.

Everyone stay safe, be well and keep those negative test results coming!

 

[loonlover]

Good morning.

Glad the test was negative. Hopefully any others waiting to be tested will be the same.

Making frozen cole slaw on my to-do list today. Dinner (midday for us now) will be an easy sweet and sour meatball stir fry served with rice and either egg rolls or pot stickers from the freezer. Not much to prep there.

Thunderstorms are in the forecast with an expected high of 88.

Hope your day goes well. Stay safe.

 

[Andra]

actually, it seems my popcorn came from Austin. cornucopia popcorn, ever heard of it?

No, but I'll have to go look it up now

And I hope you had an excellent day for your birthday!

 

[Andra]

Good morning.  It's 76 and muggy in Austin.  We have a 30% chance of rain today - I'll believe it when I see it.
Today is Ginger's 4th adoption anniversary.  It doesn't seem like it's been that long, but sometimes it seems like she's been with me forever.

Crebel - so glad to hear the test was negative!

Stay safe.

 

[NapCat (retired)]

Good Morning, All

We have added very high wind to our triple digit temperatures...really stresses the trees.

Have a great day, but be safe, my Friends

Belated Birthday wishes, Telracs
Glad the test results were negative, Crebel