Just Stay Home

I think it's going on 6...maybe 7 weeks now we've been ordered to stay home/quarantine to minimize coronavirus transmission.

Anyone claiming their life hasn't been disrupted in some way is lying. Speaking for myself, I'm retired, I'm the quintessential introvert and I tend to be a homebody anyway. I hoard food by nature...I swear I won't miss any meals until the 4th of July.

I understand it's very challenging for many people. People have to work from where their jobs are such that they can do that. Not everyone likes that. I always hated working from home. Some people are seriously getting on each other's nerves. Others have lost their job and are threatened economically. But it's fair to say the impact on my life has been minimal. Mostly I've found my shopping habits have changed considerably. I don't stop at the supermarket "for a few things" anymore.

Certainly the biggest impact has been...the public library closing. It's looking like the public library network will be closed until July. Causing much anxiety. I think public libraries are jewels. I read 2 or 3, sometimes even 4 books a week. It's a comparatively trivial issue but it had me wringing my hands anyway.

The public library does loan ebooks! So. I sucked it up and got a Kindle!

Frankly I think it's a little expensive. But the technology is fairly mature and reliable. And it is a quality product. I'm halfway through my first book and I'm confident it was a good decision.

By the way...

He's still staring!

Snow Day?!

Woke up to this, Saturday morning, 18 April...

Seriously?
This is the second latest snowfall I can remember. The latest I've ever seen snow was 9 May 1977. That was pretty bad because the leaves were already out which made the snow covered branches very heavy. We had a foot of snow in some isolated spots.

I actually don't mind the snow so much. It's the cold I really hate. And this hasn't been much of a season. Can't really recall any below 0 weather. Certainly not for any length of time. Long underwear, quilted overalls, storm parka and sheepskin hat stayed in the closet for the entire season and that's usually the best indicator.

And I thought this was kind of pretty...

Happy Good Friday?

I don't know. I. Just. Don't. Know.

I'm a confirmed Methodist. Although I don't practice. I'm in my 60s and I don't ever remember anyone saying...Happy Good Friday?

Good Friday is not a happy day as far as I know.

Edited to add:

It's much to my parent's credit. After I was confirmed I was allowed to make up my own mind. And I did. I haven't been in a church in 50 years.

My mind was actually made up when I was 6 years old. Our church youth minister told me my cat wouldn't go to heaven because animals didn't go to heaven. It was that day. In that single moment. I remember it like I remember Kennedy's assassination. I decided they were all full of shit.

Be careful with what you say to little kids. They're not stupid.

Bagels?

All the anxiety over the virus is stressing even me out!

So of course my thoughts turn to comfort food and not necessarily new things but things I may not have done before. Distractions.

For example, I just happen to have a half pound of chicken livers and eggs. So I'll make some chopped liver this week. I've never had chopped liver!

I've had deviled ham but I'd never made deviled ham before. Couple of days I made deviled ham! Spun some cooked ham cubes in a food processor, added some mayonnaise, mustard, lemon juice, chopped garlic, onions and celery, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce and sweet paprika. No recipe really, just a little this and a little that. I should have taken a picture! It was crazy good. I was going to fork it on to some crackers with a bowl of soup...but...it was so good I had to make a loaf of sandwich bread to make a real sandwich. I'll never have deviled ham from a can ever again.

And...bagels? I made bagels!

Poppy seed. Sesame seed.
I used this recipe. I used 100% white whole wheat flour. The recipe scaled easily I just divided everything by 4. They were very good bagels and I'll do that again. I don't know where I got the idea bagels were hard to make. These were so easy.

Well Holy Crap

This was the line of cars at the food bank when I went for my morning walk today.

4 April 2020
I counted 28 cars.

The normal route to the food bank was detoured due to the high volume of traffic.

Main St. 11:00 am on what would normally be a busy Saturday morning.

He went to Jared!

So. Jared Kushner is now in charge of the coronavirus task force.

Are you fucking kidding me?!

Sleep well America.