Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

 

Another place the Prisoner likes to curl up:  on top of the clothes I sleep in, on my bed.  Wednesday morning he was sleeping there when the guy came to deliver the water softener salt.  He woke up, took himself down to the sliding glass door to the deck and miaowed loudly, demanding to not be in the house if there were strangers here!

And yes, in my perusal of the Harry Potter magical world series of films, I got around to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, inspiring the title, but it kind of goes with the cat and dog stories... where to find them.  The invisible beasts from the film?  That would be the cats whenever anybody else shows up at the house, and especially if Carl does.

The second service guy came about 10:50 a.m. to change the furnace filter.  They became invisible again during his visit.

The local public health director did her news conference Wednesday morning, rather than Tuesday afternoon.  We are still in the red on the risk dial, 4th week in a row... essentially since the beginning of the year.

It's pretty normal for the national media to be declaring the surge has peaked when it peaks on the coasts, but it hasn't peaked here yet.  Hospitalizations, especially, were up this week over last week, so we're not done yet.

I'm feeling good about my "outage" from normal activities.  My working sibling in town let me know of others in her circle who had experienced a "four day cold, but negative for Covid 19".  Kind of matches my experience.  Still glad I stayed home and didn't share it!

Thursday

First day back at the trainer for a workout.  Took it kind of easy.  But back!

Picked up groceries.  Dropped off some donations of N95 masks to family members who hadn't got theirs yet.  

Friday and Saturday

Pretty much stuck to the home front, decompressing.  Carl and the kids, meanwhile, were out tramping some wetlands.  Might call this Saturday clip from a video "Carl ice skates"?  It's warm for January, but they did find ice in the wetlands.  You can tell it's sunny by Carl's shadow!

While they play outside, I'm prepping for the next season of Billions by streaming the last season.  Why is it I get into these dramas of rich, warped people?  I tend to get sucked into Succession, too... all really mentally warped and WAY beyond my level of personal greed.  But still I watch them!

Here's hoping my fellow Spark refugees are staying well and taking care of yourselves.  I may not have had a whole lot to say this week, but doing my best, too, to live one day at a time, and just relax into what has so far been a pretty OK Winter.

Life is Good.  Spark on! ✨💖🔥

I kept on isolating through day 7...

 

I'm also Trapped, with a cat on the lap

On Sunday, The Prisoner claimed his spot on my lap.  Purring loudly.  As long as I'm stuck with a cat on my lap, tuned the TV to find old Perry Mason episodes and remembered my mom... she loved that show.

Meanwhile, the kids were off hiking at a local lake.  Lacey (GF) caught a great action shot of my favorite grand-dog.

It's a great landscape / nature photo, too, but boy, does Carl look happy, with his ears flying as he runs.  Even while isolating, seeing the animals in nature is uplifting.

I felt pretty normal on Day 5 (Sunday).  Nose was a little drippy, but no more so than usual this time of year.  Monday made three days running of "feeling much better."   Monday (day 6) evening, I started draining and feeling queasy again.  

Still, slept well.  I took a hot shower Tuesday (day 7) morning, and was glad I had waved off the trainer for one more day of isolation.  He'd forgotten (or the message didn't click), and messaged me to come in at 10?  I asked whether that was for Thursday and reminded him that I thought I had cancelled for Tuesday!  To be honest, I was feeling good enough to be tempted to go, but did not muddy the waters further.  Thursday is soon enough to restart the lifting.

Meanwhile, it's a good time to put together ice box cleanout veggie soup.  I started cooking this potful on Sunday and it's still feeding me.

The weather continues its flip-flop with termperatures and clouds.  Still no "real" snow.  Facebook is popping up messages about the storm a year ago that dumped 15 inches of fluffy white stuff on us.

In Wednesday night's cold snap, my son tells me, their furnace decided to misbehave.  The local HVAC folks got them to a stage of limping along, and waiting for new equipment to arrive.  Supply chain issues.  I'm feeling good that they will be taken care of for a while, though, with new home environment.

And... I have been dragged in to Wordle.  Another game on line.  

Wordle 220 4/6

⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜

🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜

⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

It is just enough different to let me justify playing.  One word a day, so it's "portion controlled" as my friends tell me.  The beauty is that since I play on the same site as my kid sis and several FB friends, we can compare results, because everybody gets the same word.

How does it work, you ask?  Five letter word... blind guess.  It lets you know if you have a letter that's IN the word, with a yellow if it's in the wrong position, or Green if it's in the right position.  You get up to six guesses, and you just build from your mistakes and correct guesses.

Anybody else play?

Now, let's all take care of ourselves, best we can, right where we are on this journey called life!  We are all issued ONE body, no trade-ins allowed, and it does amazing things for us!  I am in awe of how mine shook off whatever that was last week.  Ever notice how much better you feel after recovering from illness... even if it felt awful, when you get better you appreciate how good you've got it?

Life is good.  Keep on sparking!

Day 2 to 4 of "isolation"

Day 2:  Thursday

Having not taken a test, I was not a confirmed Covid case.  Not taking chances.  Since I COULD isolate, I DID isolate.

I was sick, but not THAT sick.  I had already cleared my calendar... the mammogram got put off for two weeks.  The trainer's been canceled for the next week.  The plumbing/heating guys delivering filters and softner salt also put off for a week.

Rubia offered to "help", quite vocally.  Having the kitties gives one a reason to get up and move about, at least enough to see that their needs are met.  It's cold outside, but supposed to get warmer, then colder, etc. as it has been doing for the past couple of months.  

Day 3:  Friday

Now whatever this is, was settling into my normal pattern of rejection of whatever is troubling the body.  It is my theory that we all have these responses, but we may not all match exactly.  With me, I often first notice the headache, swollen sinus, and drainage.  In the middle of Thursday night, I opted to take drugs.  I can't do decongestants (glaucoma is a contra-indicator), but for me antihistamines seem to help with the sinus issues. I took a Zyrtek and an Advil (for the headache), then slept a bit better.  In the morning, I did not have the oomph to get up, nor did food sound good.  I spent the bulk of the day in bed.  

I went downstairs a couple of times to deal with kitties and to bring the garbage can back inside.  One trip was not well advised... barely made it back upstairs to the porcelain goddess, but after that episode, felt better.  Took hot shower.  Put on real clothes.  Then took it easy, going out to get the mail, and brewing myself a cup of tea to sip while the news played.

The kids offered to drop off my home test kit this weekend.  That's the kind the hospital quiz says is right for my set of symptoms.  They are reserving the PCR tests for folks with chest pains,  shortness of breath, or fever of 100.4 or more.  They are telling folks not to go to the ER for a test unless they have those kinds of severe symptoms.  They would give you a rapid test if you made an appointment and drove across town.  The earliest appointment they had on their schedule was for Saturday afternoon.

Applying a bit of logical thought, if the local testing has a positivity rate of 25%, that means that 75% of the folks with enough symptoms to go get a test, are testing negative!  Given my symptoms and the odds, I'm anticipating a negative result when I get the tests in hand.

Day 4:  Saturday

Woke mostly human Saturday morning, and quite early.  Probably slept out, having stayed in bed nearly all day Friday.  But not as congested, and hungry.  Oatmeal with raisins and cinnamon tasted wonderful for an early breakfast.  

You can tell I'm feeling better because I was up for finishing watching the Harry Potter series, and the last two or three films are quite dark.  I don't usually go in for battle films when I'm ill.  I go after mindless background noises, music, or silence.

The kids were as good as their word, and delivered the covid at-home lateral flow antigen test.  I carefully followed the instructions, and it came out negative, reinforcing my "feeling better".  Still going to wait to make sure I'm not on one of those "better then worse" cycles before I decide I'm OK to come out from my little isolation episode.

But for now?  Life is good.  Take care of yourselves, and Spark on!

Abundance of caution, or just following the guidance?

 

I admit it's hard to find clear guidance these days.  It's also hard to find Covid testing, around here.  All the sites have moved to "appointment only", and the outdoor ones are closed today and tomorrow due to bitter cold temperatures.  I mean, after all, give their staff some consideration, here!  YOU might be in your car, but THEY are outside, conducting tests all day long!

At home tests?  Oh, I got the beta test link from Biden's initiative to mail them to every legitimate address in America... accessed it yesterday, and ordered mine.  But it will be at least two weeks before those arrive.

The kids ordered some to replace the ones I donated to GF's aunt, but so far, we haven't connected, so don't have that on hand at this point, either.

So when I woke up this morning, stuffed up?  I did what the alternative medical dudes on YouTube have said:  just assume it is Omicron, not a cold, and isolate, already.  Around here, the local health authorities have said, "don't assume it's just a cold or allergies, get a test".  But the docs who make YouTubes are saying, "if you can isolate, isolate, you don't need a test, assume it's Covid".  Much as I'd like to have a for-sure test, I AM doing what health experts have said for years, though:

"If you are sick, stay home!"  Doesn't matter if it's a cold, the flu, or Covid... if you don't feel well, don't expose others!  I rescheduled my mammogram (which was supposed to be this morning).  I texted the trainer and said "take me off the schedule for the next week".  And my kid sis, calling off the normal Wednesday walk.  

I'll just be here with my tea and my chicken soup (and my thermometer and my SpO2 sensor, etc.).  And my cats.  Baby, it's COLD outside today and tomorrow, with high winds... which could also be a contributing factor to my congestion... I tend to be sensitive to weather fronts.

Pep talk:  take care of yourselves.  Be sensitive to community conditions and be kind to others.

Life is still good.  Spark on. Gently!💖

Rest in flight, litte birdie

 

"Nestled

In your wings my little one

This special

Morning brings another sun

Tomorrow

See the things

That never come

Today.

When you see me

Fly away without you

Shadow on the things you know

Feathers fall around you

And show you the way to go

It's over, it's over."

---'Birds' by Neil Young

Some of you may remember my posting about the Christmas eve gather that my son's GF's dad left the gathering to go check on his little avian friend. Last summer, Skittles (the parrolet) lost Chumley, a female cockatiel and his best friend. Since about Thanksgiving, Skittles himself had been ailing. Last night, he passed on.

During his last weeks, the little bird was vetted by an avian expert, and comforted and nursed by his human household. His last day he was given the companionship of his humans and the birds that live with son & his GF, too, a couple of cockatiels names Scout and Kiwi. I'm touched by how much a part of their family the birds are. They have personalities and quirks and habits, just as the more common house pets like dogs and cats do.

Of course no bird would be safe in my house, where I harbor the genetic variants of lions and tigers, both of whom are stone cold killers and would only see winged creatures as "prey". But I recognize the bond that their human family had with them, and honor that they are all grieving the loss of the tiny bird with the giant personality.

If there's a rainbow bridge for the doggos, I hope there is also a rainbow over which these spirits fly, never tired.

Moonrise

I snapped this photo Thursday evening when I was trundling the garbage can to the curb.  The moon, rising above the rooftops... not quite full... it will be full Monday night.

I turned around, and snapped the sunset.  I find the skies fascinating this time of year, as might be observed from the photos I put up.  Darker in the East as the moon rises, still a bit lighter in the West, as the sun is setting.

Slept very well, after those views.  Friday morning, we became a community in a transition of weather.  The snow was not supposed to start until the evening commute.  Most everyone would be home safe and the snow, whatever amount fell, would accumulate on the weekend.  

Being a lagging state, we're only just starting to realize the magnitude of the Omicron surge of Covid-19.  At 10 a.m., a series of local news conferences started.  Can we turn the clock back nearly two years?  Seemed like deja vu.  Bottom line, leading to a collection of bottom lines:  local case rates for Covid are still rising, we are reaching new record highs on a daily basis.   

The first news conference was held by the public schools.  The pandemic is causing staffing issues.  41% of their requests for substitutes on Friday went unfilled.  So teachers and admins who did show up had to cover for them.  This has been happening since school started after the holidays.  Working with Public Health, they have decided to remain open for in person learning, but that during this surge, they will hold no classes for students the next three Fridays. The buildings will remain open on those Fridays so the teachers can catch up on planning.  They will also practice for if they have to take a class, a grade level, or a whole school on-line (remote) on short notice.  

As they have since the start of the pandemic, our schools are rolling with the punches.  They have done a good job of trying to stay open, in person, and stay safe... but let's be honest, omicron is busting our butts.

Next it was the governor:  he's issued a directed health measure that tells the biggest hospital system in the state they must suspend any non-emergency surgeries until at least mid-February.  This was in response to the hospital announcing it was activating its Crisis Standard of Care plan.  The hospital responded that what they were doing was within the rules of this "new" mandate.

At 11:30 a.m. it was the mayor's turn:  the local mask order is back in place, as of midnight Friday night.  She's asking folks to "voluntarily" reduce how much we go out and about:  work and medical appointments only.  I don't work, but kind of consider my trainer sessions to be my "work".  I don't do much beyond that.  I pick up the groceries at the curb.  And I walk, masked, with my kid sis once a week, both of us masked.  I am thinking carefully about what the switch would be to forego the gym sessions with the trainer.  

As predicted the snow started falling around 4 p.m.  The kitties are not so sure about this strange white frozen stuff.  Rubia looked back at me on her Friday evening outing.  The Prisoner tested its depth Saturday morning.  Neither one stayed out for long as the temperature has plunged after our mild start to the week.  

It's cold out there, but at least the sun is shining!  The snow is fresh and white, and shines in the sun.  Tomorrow will see warmer temperatures and melting.

May you all be well, and safe, and making decisions that support your health and well-being, this one and only Saturday, January 15, 2022 we will ever get!  And at the end of day, let it go... whatever we did, it was enough, sufficient to the day.  May the sunshine be that of hope in your hearts!

Life is good.  Savor it, and Spark on!  

✨💖🔥

Sunset, sunrise

 

Sunset on January 11, 2022

Love the sunrises and sunsets this time of year.  As a bonus, with the hours of daylight being the least, I'm awake for both!  😁

Wednesday offered a high temperature of 59℉ (or 15℃ for those of you who speak non-US).  It was a lovely day for the after work sister walk... and our trip around the park and neighborhood ended about sunset.  One more nice day, then on Friday the weatherman is using that dreaded phrase "Winter mix" which means this little old lady in training will be pretty much tucking up and being grateful for how nice it has been so far this season!  

Yes, we've had some cold temperatures that seemed even colder because of the contrasting mildness, but seriously, January 12, 1974 we saw our historically lowest temperature in measured history at -33℉ (translates to -36℃).  Brrrr!  You know it's cold when the F and C numbers get close to matching (they do so at -40 for us geeky folk).

I have to laugh at the expression on our faces in this Thursday morning selfie.  It might look as though The Prisoner and I have had a disagreement.  But in fact, that's my "trying to concentrate on taking the selfie" look.  Cats do make good lap warmers, as long as they behave with their claws.

Workout with the trainer was again the early slot, but there were clients both before and after me.  We were well spaced in the room, but still, I heard coughs from each of them!  I noticed the trainer has moved up to a KN95 mask.  We went with lighter weights for a couple of the exercises (hammer curls and shoulder lifts).

Still watching the various medical folks who post on YouTube about the virus trends.  One of the problems with getting your "news" via social media is that if you look hard enough, you can find someone who agrees with either your rose colored glasses or your panic anxiety.  Fortunately, I have found a few realists, who are neither alarmists nor deniers.  They admit that they really can't predict this thing, and here's their hope based on this evidence or that.  

Putting yourself in another's shoes

A fellow Spark refugee ponders sometimes on whether the Queen shares some of our normal troubles in daily life.  I don't envy The Queen of her current duties, which included today's stripping titles and patronages from one of her sons.  I truly believe that as well as having that hereditary title, The Queen is human, has emotions, and cares about her family.  Her heart must be breaking.  

I've thought the same as family members have had to turn in a relative when it became apparent that their relative had committed a crime.  The unibomber's brother turned him in, for example.  The inner struggle between family loyalty and citizenship... a code of honor.  

A snippet of poetry comes to mind, although this reverie casts it in a slightly different light than the original.  Richard Lovelace:  "I could not love thee (Dear) so much, lov'd I not honour more."  

When we're young, we might THINK we know what we would do, and where our duty lay... but on closer examination as I age, it would have been more difficult.  I am grateful that I have not been put in that kind of position in this life.  At least not that I know of or not yet.

Today's sign of the Covid times

Two of the major hospital systems in our state have announced they are going on "Crisis Standard of Care" plans.  Continue to hunker down, local friends.  I figure we're at least a couple of weeks away from peaking in this wave.

May we all do our best to take care of our health, one day at a time.  At the close of this one and only Thursday, January 13, 2022, let us declare "it was enough.  It was sufficient for today."  Now love yourself enough to rest.  You've earned it!

Life is good.  Spark on!

😴🛌🔥💖✨

First workout since Dr. advice about the right arm

Winter sunrises are so pretty!  This one is about a week old, but it was one of the most vibrant, and I did not see it shared here before, so, there you have it.

The doctor said

A couple of things I didn't mention about my doctor visit yesterday are that I took my blood pressure cuff along, because of a few "higher" readings I had at doctor's offices the past couple of years.  It read higher at my blood draw than my home cuff that same morning.  So I tucked the cuff into my bag and dragged it along.

So, the young nurse took my BP, and it was normal.  I told her what it read at home this morning.  Without even taking it out of the bag, we decide there's nothing wrong with my machine.  

Second thing, I explained to the doctor about my right arm, which has been "talking" to me off and on when I do anything like a bicep curl with it.  Since some time in November.  Particularly over 8 pounds on the weight.  I explained how it would get better, then worse, then better, then worse.

Any nurses reading?  Did you diagnose "tendonitis" sight unseen?  Yeah, that's pretty much our working diagnosis.  Attempt #1 at rehab?  Rest it for a couple of weeks.  Ice if it gets sore for any reason.

Remind you of the "Doctor it hurts if I do this?"  "Then don't do this!" joke?  It did me.

What the trainer did

So today I went to work out with the trainer.  We were masked up.  We skipped the bicep curls entirely, but got a decent workout in, anyway.  For him, it was a short day... everybody else canceled.  The gal before me wasn't feeling good.  The gal after me has twin middle schoolers who both tested positive for Covid.  So far she and her husband are testing negative, but the whole family is isolating.  Her husband, though, was already miserable... with shingles.  Yikes!  I'd say that family has more than their fair share of "stuff" going on just now!

When I arrived, the trainer was doing his own workout.  When I left he left, too.  The weather is VERY nice for January, and he was thinking if the wind wasn't bad, he might go for a bike ride this afternoon.  Hope it works out for him.

And the local virus news

It being Tuesday, the health department is giving their update on how the county is doing.  I read online that Omaha's health director has put their mask order back in place, with backing from the City Council.  I was expecting similar from ours here in Lincoln.  

But NO!  It can't get any higher than Severe risk, on the dial.  But they let the mask order expire on December 23rd, having given everyone the chance / time to get vaccinated. Omicron changed the game. 

They are opening another drive-thru testing site "by appointment only" starting Thursday.  The existing one has added an extra drive-thru lane, and they have also changed to "by appointment only".  

The advice to those of us in the general public:  do NOT get tested "just for peace of mind".  Instead, isolate, quarantine if exposed to someone else who tested positive.  For me that means:  If you get symptoms, and you are vaccinated, treat it like Covid.  Isolate until you get better.

That doesn't mean it's not a possibility down the line that they might re-impose masking order.  Our county is still the highest vaccinated in the state.  

Pep talk time

Here's to taking care of ourselves, best can do, this one and only Tuesday, January 11th, 2021 we will ever get.  I'm hoping you are healthy, that you are doing the things that you CAN do to stay that way, and that whatever circumstances you find yourself in you are first kind to yourself so that you can then be kind to others.

Life is good.  Savor it.  And Spark on! 🔥✨💖

Three down, one to go.

 The title references the "annual" medicalizing.  I've had my fasting labs, my medicare "wellness" visit / interview, and my doctor's visit.  Yet to come, the mammo.

The Prisoner proclaiming ownership of the house.  

On Friday the same gal that did the Medicare interview over the phone last year had me in person this year.  She told me she'd already had omicron!  Even with her three shots.  But we were both masked, me in my N95, her in surgical.  

I was mildly amused as the little "remember 3 words past distracting activity" test used the same three words as LAST year.  I remember the words:  sofa, orange, sunshine... because last year I put them into an image in my mind, of sitting on the sofa eating my orange as the sunshine streamed through the window.

In today's visit with the doctor, he went over my lab results, which were satisfactory.  No med changes, just as there were none with the eye doctor.  The sad thing about today's visit was that the nurse that took care of me had just lost her mother to Covid last week.  Her mom was only 54!  Unvaccinated.  The little nurse had tried to convince her mom to get vaccinated, going over the possible things that could happen, but respecting her mom's right to choose.  What did happen was that her mom got the virus, and it uncovered an underlying pulmonary condition she had not previously known was there.  My heart goes out to every family that goes through this.  It's not over, people.  Be careful out there.

Carl is soaking up Lacey's warm spot, beside her glass and book.

I saw where Sidney Poitier died, at 94.  Same age as my dad would have been, if he lived through today (his birthday). This time of year seems to be rife with celebrities passing, every year.  They save up the whole year's worth to announce them at the end of the year... and it seems like a whole bunch.  

You always knew the actors that you admired coming up were a few years older than you, but... when they start dropping like flies, the difference between your ages seems to shrink!

Saturday was bill and tax-paying day.  I got really frustrated with the IRS website, because I had successfully paid estimated taxes on line using it during the past year, but they have changed their system to supposedly make it more secure.  However, the way they have secured it made it impossible to verify my identity!  Seems my driver's license uses only a middle initial but the IRS has my full middle name and the "primary" documents that are supposed to scan and be used to verify are split between the two.  Sigh.

I've had this kind of problem with some so-called secure systems before.  In the end I just gave up and wrote them a paper check and walked around the block to a "real" mailbox to send it.  If they can't verify it's me, I guess they can't verify anybody else to be me, either, so paper, pen and ink it is!  Glad I tried on Saturday, because if I waited for the due date, there would not have been time for the snail mail.

On Sunday I worked on my annual digital "clean-out", fueled by my experience with the IRS website.  It took a while to root out the "how to" but I finally unlinked the Instagram from Facebook, and deleted that Instagram account.  In the process, I found out that some "bot" had logged on as me, from Fort Worth, TX.  Given the linked nature of the accounts, no great wonder the "hack" leaks I've seen.  This could explain some of the goofy things I have seen in terms of "friend" requests that are obvious social attacks.

That's about it for news from here.  I figured I'd best get a blog out there as I haven't had much to write about.  I still have not formed any "restaurant lotions" as we are jokingly calling them this year, thanks to Alicia's voice to text auto correction of "resolutions".  

With or without those lotions, let us take up the notion that the goal of life is to take care of the one and only body and mind we've been issued for existence on this plane, best can do... so that we will be able to do some good for others around us.  Above all, be kind... you have no idea what burden someone else may be carrying at the moment you encounter them.

Life is good, savor it, and Spark on.🔥💖

Still cold out there

 

To be specific, the high for the day was 12.  Fahrenheit.  

This week's crock meal:

4 or 5 peeled and sliced russet potatoes

Half an onion, diced

1 Green Bell pepper, chopped

1/2 pint baby bella mushrooms, sliced

Pre-cooked smoked chicken breast tenders (whatever I had left in the bag, these came frozen.  I didn't bother to thaw them.)

1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup

Layer the ingredients into your crock pot.  Cover, set to high for a couple of hours, then turn to low and let it continue until dinner time.  Enjoy.

The eye doctor adventure

Sheesh, they are back to "normal", meaning once I get there, I'm at their office for nearly two hours.  Sometime in the first hour, they do the visual field test.  Then you wait.  After a while, they take you for retinal photos, move to an exam room, where the tech takes down my medication list, and measures the eye pressures.  Back to the waiting area where you TRY to keep social distance behind your masks (lots of other grey-hairs like myself are the other waiting patients... we keep our own counsel and stay safe inside our masks).  

Finally, back to an exam room, where I wait in the chair, peering at the computer screen that has all my tests displayed but it's just far enough away that I'd have to get out of my chair to actually read what it says... and I don't want to get caught being snoopy while they have left me alone, and could come back at any moment.

The doctor eventually shows up with two youngsters in tow, the gal who'd done my pressures and retinal photos.  He pronounces me stable, keep the same eye drops, see my optometrist at 6 and 12 months out, and I don't need to come back to him until 18 months.  Yay!  

It's a lesson in patience, right?  

Tomorrow's adventure:  fasting blood work.  

I've already started the fast.  After said blood draw, I get to find out what Medicare wants to know or wants me to know this year.  Next week I get to see my real doctor.

These are the tests our healthy habits are working up to, right? 

End of day pep talk:

Let's see if I can remember my Dr. Seuss:  "Today is gone.  Today was fun.  Tomorrow is another one.  Every day from here to there, funny things are everywhere."  No clue if that's right or not... wonder if there's some gadget that will look it up for me...

Ah-hah!  GoodReads quotes at least part of it:

“From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere!”

― Dr. Seuss, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

And Schmoop quotes had the earlier part:

Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.

This line is from the book One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, by Dr. Seuss (1960).

Back to me:  

OK, then, I stand corrected.  But the sentiment is the same:  let today go, be satisfied that whatever you did toward your health and well being was enough.  It was what you needed it to be.  Now rest well, you've earned it!

Life is Good.  Spark on!

2022 is now officially open

Swiped from others... I think it's a beautiful graphic of hope for the year just starting, don't you?

Sunday's high temperature topped out about 20 degrees, but as the sun started dipping toward the horizon, it streamed in the bay window, and The Prisoner got in the spirit of taking advantage of every bit of sun he could find.  In my mind I titled this photo "sunset longings".

The first Monday of the New Year, thoughts naturally turn to what's coming up.  In my life, it's the annual medicalizing, arriving at just the same point as the next surge might start to impact my community.    

Tuesday morning sunrise:

Monday was warmer than those weekend temps, topping out over 40℉.  Tuesday gave more of the same.  The snow is melting.  The temperature is about to plunge again; the wind is howling out there.  Wednesday they are telling us the high with be 9℉.  Which is chillier than Sunday was.  Welcome to our roller coaster ride.  We are entering the time of year where historically we get the coldest temperatures, but we've had these little breaks.

Tuesday is news conference day for the local Public Health department, at which they bring us up to date with the latest in local case counts, hospitalizations, and putting out the pleas to the public by way of the news media covering it... to do our part.  The public schools had been planning on lifting their masking requirement for students and teachers... and announced at the last minute that they changed their mind.

Post-Christmas and New Years... well, things are not looking wonderful.  The Delta variant is not done with us yet, and Omicron has started to arrive.  53% of the cases in Nebraska that have been genetically sequenced recently have turned up Omicron.

I was surprised to see that although our risk dial is now all the way into the Red, the health department is not reimposing the directed health measure.  Leaving masking in public as "strongly recommended".  Unfortunately, in my observation, "strongly recommended" without the requirement leads to a lot of unmasked faces.  

Of course, you all have your own local levels.  Do your best to stay safe where YOU are!  Wednesday, I think I shall hunker down.  Thursday I have my annual appointment with the eye doctor who is monitoring my cataracts and glaucoma.  Friday I have blood work and my medicare "wellness" interview.  Just trying to preserve health so that I am clear to go for these checkups.

Here's to a healthy week for us all, to open the New Year!

Life is good.  Spark on!

Grateful for neighborly kindness

 

The little drifts on the steps was about as bad as the snowstorm got.  The photo is from shortly before the snow started tapering off, New Year's Day afternoon.  At that point, I went out and cleared the steps.  

I also cleared a narrow strip of driveway, down to the sidewalk.  That is my normal method of determining the depth of snow I will have to deal with, as it covers where it drifts.  

This morning when I arose the phone told me it was minus 5 Fahrenheit.  For those of you who speak Celcius, that works out to minus 20.  Brrr.  Luckily, the steps, being protected from the north wind, stayed clear.  The driveway strip... not.  Drifted right back in.

After session 1 this morning, the driveway strip and the front sidewalk are cleared, but I came back in to thaw my hands.  I have the North sidewalk, and the driveway to finish, and I want to get out before the wind kicks up.  Raw temperatures are not so bad when the wind is calm.

I shall return for the next warming break!

Turns out, the next warming break was when it was done!  I cleared the North sidewalk and started in on the remainder of the driveway.  As I was headed out with my shovel, the man across the street came out with his snow thrower.  

He proceeded to clear his walks and driveway.  I had only about half of the drive to go, and was getting close to deciding to come back in for the next warming break, when my neighbor wheeled his machine across the street gave me a hand signal that he'd work on my remainder!

He not only helped me finish, but when he got that cleared, he proceeded to go clear off the other neighbor across the street.  These folks are on a trip, not there to take care of it themselves.  I didn't talk to them before they left, but I do hope they are seeing the grandmas!  It's hard to live half a continent away from your grandmas!

There is something so peaceful about the sky being blue, the sun being out, the wind being calm, and the temperatures being frigid.  Great skiing weather for those who enjoy that activity.

Yesterday's soup is re-warming for lunch, the cats have been out and are back in, and the church service is on YouTube Live.

It's time to remind ourselves that we are starting a brand new year.  Fresh start.  Renewed hope.  Another chance, just as we have every day, to take care of ourselves.  Let's do our best, this one and only Sunday, January 2,2022 we'll ever get.  And when the day is done, let us declare it as sufficient, release it, and give ourselves the gift of a good night's rest.

Life is Good.  Spark on!  ✨🎇💖🔥

Welcome to 2022 - Happy New Year

Does this look like the promised snow storm?

Welcome to the Winter Storm.  The warning when I went to bed last night had it starting here at 3 a.m.  The phone when I got up told me to expect snow at 7 a.m.  It is now a minute to 9, and the snow is lightly falling.  It started about 15 minutes ago.

I went to bed early last night, because I was tired.  I had no social plans, especially due to that storm forecast.  I got up early, because I wanted to be SURE the cats were inside, when I woke up between 5 and 6 a.m.  I expected to see snow on the deck!  But it was not there.

Nonetheless, I proceeded with my plan to start a crock-pot soup.  I had seen a recipe somewhere online, that starred corn and potatoes, a chowder.  And I had veggies in the 'fridge that need cooking up, so here it is:

It has half a large red onion, diced, a bunch of broccoli florets, two small potatoes, peeled and diced, about 2/3 a bag of frozen corn kernals, a can of no salt cream of mushroom condensed soup, a box of chicken broth, a couple of handfuls of frozen pre-cooked smoked chicken breast tenders, and about a cup of 1% milk.  Crock on high for the first couple of hours, to make sure the frozen bits get started, including the need to thaw and cook.  Then keep on low for the rest of today.

Stay warm my friends.  Stay safe.  And have a happy and peaceful start to your 2022!

Life is good.  Keep on Sparkin'

💖✨🔥⛄❄❆