Poking the nose out of the cave...

 With the case counts coming down, and the hospitalizations, too...

With the mask mandate lifted early (a week ago, it was supposed to end last night, anyway)... the risk dial was dropped a couple of notches this week.  People are dropping the masks, sniffing the air, and hoping that with the lessening of risk, this trend will continue.  We're hoping for a couple of months like last May and June, when it's "safer".

So of course the world starts going totally nuts.  

This morning my niece started up a family chat pondering how her older aunties might have felt about the world when we were HER age... OMG did that start my memories down a rabbit hole.  I'm sure my contemporary readers could also go down that kind of rabbit hole.  We lived through so much by the time we were in our mid-30's.  And the 30-40 year olds today?  Same same!

It had not dawned on me until this morning that my niece was young enough to NOT remember the crisis that was Chernoble... but so many things that were "current events" for me and my sister and brother in the first two decades of our lives... yeah, they are in the history books for my son and my niece.  And it's their turn to take care of the world.  

I remember there was a time in my life, probably between 35 and 40 when I realized that for my mother, World War II was during a time in her life when she was the age I was early in the Viet Nam conflict.  Methinks my niece just hit that point of realization vis a vis her dad's sisters!

Saturday morning adventures

I had four goals for my errand run this morning.  

1. Put gas into Dexter's tank, and find out how far the prices have jumped since the last time I had to do this (about two months ago).  He was down to nearly a quarter tank, took nearly 7 gallons.  Price, you ask?  OMG... honestly, not the most I've ever paid for a gallon.  $3.449.  Not as bad as what I paid in Italy in the 1980's.  But it's time for itty bitty cars that sip.  Seriously.  If the world stays crazy (and I expect it will), it's not going down soon.  Plan accordingly.
2. Mail the doctor bill that I don't pay online.  Easy peasy, mailbox on the way to the gas station.
3. Find my medical transportee's apartment house.  Her surgery isn't until the 24th of March, but I had never been to her new place.  Found it!  Now confident that I can find it in the pre-dawn when I have to.
4. Drop off my ballot request at the election commission.  Primaries are coming up, you know.  I am on the list to have my request sent to me every election, all I have to do is fill it out and send it in or drop it off.  You must, of course, request one, each and every election, around here.

Mission accomplished.  That's about it from here today... all that's left is...

Remember to take care of YOU!

Because you're worth it!  Nourish that body with foods that support your immune system.  Take your meds (if you have any prescribed) and supplements you've been instructed to do.  Drink your water.  Remember to breathe.  And come end of the day, let go and rest well.  Sleep while you can, so you'll be ready to be up and do what's needed tomorrow!

Life is good.  Spark on!

Winter returns

 Weather, what else?

We seem to be past "false Spring" and back to Winter, at least for a few days.  The front blew in Monday afternoon into the evening, and Tuesday morning we woke to 6℉ (that's plus 6, F, which translates to minus 14, C, for those who live by that scale).  Brrrr!  Just a dusting of snow, and thankfully, the freezing drizzle passed us by, hitting East and North of us.

See?  Just a dusting on the deck.  The streets are mostly dry.  So I felt totally OK driving to the trainer's gym.

It was really warm inside the halls of the building, but just about right inside the studio where we lift.  We could see a few flakes dancing around outside the windows.

Then on Wednesday?  Mother Nature decided she had to top herself, and I woke to minus 1℉ .  Even more brrrr!

The pride of felines

Had to capture this "landscape" of my small pride of lions.  If they are, as the documentary says, "lions in your living room", that makes The Prisoner (gray) and Rubia (ginger) my personal pride.

The return of cold weather has driven them to stay inside more.  But The Prisoner especially demands to go out a few times a day, even in the cold.

Keeping safe from the virus, as the case counts continue to fall:

I mentioned on Friday that the local mask mandate got lifted.  I'll probably once again wear mine for a while beyond that mandate drop, waiting for the risk dial to also drop before I go bare-faced in public places indoors.  I'm still masking with the trainer, for now, but hopeful that the case counts will continue to drop and we'll have a couple of months of "near normal" as we did last Spring... soon!

The other thing I usually do over Presidents Day weekend:  taxes

US Federal income taxes aren't due until April, but I like to keep on top of these things.  If I am going to have to pay in, I want to budget for it.  And since I usually end up paying estimated taxes (a feature of retirement, since much of my income is chopped up or variable and doesn't have enough withheld), I want to know ahead of time, again, so I can budget.

The financial papers are generally issued by Presidents Day.  The last one I needed showed up last week, so... tradition continues.  

Yes, I prepare my own tax return, with software, and file on-line.  Not everybody does.  Some have incomes such that they don't need to file.  Others are more comfortable hiring it done.  I managed to "do my own (and my spouse's)" all through the years.

I remember my brother as I do this.  He did not trust the software, being an expert in his own right.  We would have these conversations on the phone about how the software treated some situation, versus how he would do it!  It was only the more complex scenarios on which they might differ.  He spent many tax seasons volunteering to help low income folks with their taxes, too.  I was proud of his giving spirit.

In any case, it's done now, filed electronically, and acceptance emails received.  I'm curious about other countries and how simple or complex their tax systems are!

The need to be needed

Do you come from a long line of folks who "hate to be the one who only calls when they need something"?  Yeah, me, too.  But when someone calls with that as their opening sentence, and you know that is their nature... your heart goes out, and you want to be of help to them.  It cost them to make that call.  They would not call me unless it really was their last option.

Don't know the date or time, or even what hospital, but I am needed in someone's hour of trouble to provide transport and post surgery check ups.  I think we all need to feel useful.  And we would all like to think if the shoe were on the other foot, whoever we called as our last option would respond with the needed help.  My caller was so relieved... she thought she had no one... but she's got me.

It got me to thinking of my dad's final weeks on the planet, when he had gone to a meeting in another city, and came home musing that even this late in his life, he still had a contribution to make.  I mused on this with a wry smile: retired or not, pandemic or not, I'm still needed, too.  

Speaking of feeling needed: YOU need yourself!

Which brings me back around to the reason I blog - the pep talk.  Do you take better care of yourself when you have others to care for?  Or are you one who neglects your own well-being when caring for spouse, children, pets and work or volunteer activities?

Something to ponder, perhaps.

The argument that I used to hear was that if you don't take care of yourself, how will you be able to care for others?  So, for that useful activity you are needed to do... please be kind to yourself, and take care of your own well-being!  Nurture the body with quality "real food"... as the saying goes... "not too much"... "mostly plants".  Get some activity in, and don't forget stretching.  Drink your water, to keep hydrated.  And remember at the end of the day, to let your worries go, and relax into sleep.  You've earned it!

Life is good.  Spark on!

Shokz received and tested

Remember me?  The gal who waits to replace things until they break?

Remember Rubia?  The cat who gnawed through my headset wire?

Well, the replacement headset is here.  It's one of those bone conduction Shokz brand, bluetooth connects to whatever (in my case, the phone).  If I want a headset for the computer, I'll buy one especially for that.  The Shokz is for running.

Since I haven't been doing much running, and since I don't subscribe to Audible or music services, it was either call somebody to test it on a phone call, or be lazy and wait.  I waited.  Wednesday evening my son called me, and I wore them around the house, pacing while we talked.  I determined that a) I'm not crazy about how they fit over my right ear.  Yes, my ears are not even and symmetric!  Between the glasses bows and the headset, I get a rub.  I decided that b) I kind of like that feature, it will keep my phone calls short!  BUT, it will not be the headset I buy to go with long-term things like zoom calls on the computer!

Good news: or at least a break! 

I was flipping around for something to watch on TV, and tripped over today's news conference from the public health director.  Like everyone else I had seen the news after news after news of various states dropping their mask mandates.  Well, today, our own public health folks followed suit, and our directed health measures will be lifted a week before they expire... tonight at midnight.  Cases and hospitalizations have dropped, but are not really down to the low levels we enjoyed last May and June (seems like forever ago), but they are dropping the requirement.  Still recommending wear a mask if indoors and unable to keep distance.

Nevertheless, I had prescriptions to pick up today, and used the drive through.  I needed groceries, and used the curbside pickup with online order.  That turned into a comedy of errors, in that three departments worth of "stuff", all the refridgerables never made it to my trunk.  I called the store when I got home and discovered this, and they sent them out by door dash, so I had them within an hour.  And they gave me someone else's buttermilk... yuck!  

One interesting feature of the "mistakes" is that they don't want the mistakes back, so if I'm brave, I have ended up trying some new things, but this one was NOT a winner.  Ended up pouring it down the drain.

I did get brave enough to go inside the local drug store to pick out an Anniversary card for my son's GF's parents, who are coming up on 40 years soon.  That's one item (greeting cards) that's hard to order online.  You want to see what's available, feel its quality, etc.

I am hoping that this going down of the cases continues, and hoping for a break of the nature we saw last Spring and early Summer.  A couple of months worth would be nice!  I had just started to feel braver and do more things out and about when the Delta surge hit last August, and those of us who monitor could see it coming, so tamped down our own outings in July.

And just because... a photo of Carl

The daughter in love caught him peeking around with a sheepish look on his face.  

Who could resist that puppy face?  I asked her what he was hiding from... she didn't know, either.

Entertainment talk

I discovered in the early hours this morning that The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 4 has begun streaming.  I am thrilled.  That is one of two series that got me started on Prime.  The other, Homecoming, and this one, were both recommendations from my son.  

In the budget, when the pandemic hit, some of these streaming things got added in while race fees and travel dropped out.  I  figured I'm paying the price of a movie ticket a month for Amazon Prime.  OK maybe a ticket AND popcorn now that they are raising the prices... but if I have a couple of shows a week that are worth paying for... I can justify it.

What is that movie that says you can't go a day without a good justification?

Enough from here... only the pep talk remains!

Love yourself and your body right where you are.  Listen to its needs, and don't forget that you might have to interpret the need for water, for rest, for exercise, just as you would for a child.  The weather fronts and my body haven't been friends this week, so I'm trying to hold on and be kind to myself.  Hope the same for the rest of you out there!

Life is good.  Spark on!

Happy Super Gold Valentine's Weekend

 

My Sunday morning started with the ding of messenger, from my daughter in love (I stole this title from another blogger)... letting me know she'd left valentine's goodies on my door.

Turns out her parents had made cookies and she and my son had picked up a croissant from a favorite bakery... so I had coffee and croissant breakfast watching curling.

The rest of the day I did a lot of phone gaming.  I have discovered the little app that has you untangling ropes.  And of course the wood blocks puzzle I've had on it for quite some time.  Wordle is on the web site, so have to fire up the computer to play that one.  But the bulk of my time are the "blast" games... Toy Blast and Toon Blast.  I'm on a team for Toon Blast.  Wyoming Cowboys.  Every weekend there is a tournament and the only thing they ask (to not get kicked off the team) is that you play in the tournament and give helps to other team members who are playing.  So even if I let up on it during the week, Friday thru Sunday I try to pull my weight.

Meanwhile, in TV land, I've got sucked into something called The Gilded Age, on HBO Max (the one my son lets me be part of his "family" plan on).  It's from the same producer that did Downton Abbey, but set in New York City, high society.  Naturally, it has modern themes woven into the period piece.  So far, three episodes have aired.  And I'm keeping up with Billions, too.  So when I'm not feeling Olympics, or between the airings, I'm in a fictional world.  Seems about right for this time of year.

When I was younger, it would have been books keeping my attention, but I'm finding myself turning into my great grand-mother, who was pulled to the screen of her television, when TV was new to the scene.  I've always been a bit of an addict to the screen-driven games, fighting my kid for access to The Legend of Zelda on his Nintendo.  I found out by talking to mothers of his buddies that I wasn't the only mom sucked into that one.

But on special days like this one, I of course have the Super Bowl on the tube, and the Halftime show is starting, so I'm going to wrap this.  The game is at this point fairly tight 13 - 10 with the Rams leading the Bengals.  I'm a long-time underdog rooter, so I have hopes for the Bengals.  Seems the quarterback (Burrows) for the Bengals has a dad here in Nebraska, currently in LA for the Super Bowl.  Nebraskans will claim anyone with ties to the state, no matter how remote those ties may be.  Said young man was raised in Ohio and went to school somewhere else, but his dad's here, so we'll claim him.  

Here's hoping that whatever sedentary pursuits you might have, you (and I) remember to get up and move, too.  

Life is Good.  Spark on!

Word Lists

 

What they said:

• Teacher
• Crooks
• Working
• long-sleeved shirt
• campus
• shocking
• Cosgtco

What I heard until I did my double-take, context check:

• t-shirt
• trucks
• wealthy
• sleepshirt
• Kansas
• shopping
• hospital

Sigh.  It is becoming clearer that I am going to need "hearing helpers".  It's just a matter of time.  So far, I am functioning, aware of when I have to concentrate, ask again... do that double-take.  

On "I never go anywhere"

I have been amused in pandemic times by my Google Maps report.  I don't care, I leave my location detection on.  I figured at least if I start wool-gathering and wander off, at least my family / law enforcement would have a place to begin looking for me...

Anyway, the January report came to my in-box last week and informed me that I went to two different doctor's offices, two different grocery pick up spots, the gym, and home.  That's it!  Lather, rinse, repeat!  Last Summer was more interesting (back when the local numbers were better and it was kayaking season).

Which reminds me, I got my park permit sticker already installed on Dexter's windshield.  Looking forward to a more "normal" Spring/Summer, God willing and the variants don't rise.  Like gardeners ordering their seeds, that's me ordering my park sticker!

Today's Olympic reminder

I admit it, I will miss waking up to watch the curling competitions.  The hut, the house, the weight of a stone, free guard zones, the button... vocabulary that takes on whole new meaning once every four years.  For now, I'm savoring these matches.

Today's pep talk

Time to remind us all that we have ONE amazing body, issued to us at birth (or before, depending on when you start counting)... and its up to first our parents and then to ourselves, to take the best care of it we can, while it does amazing things for us.  Like keeping us going, alive!  It converts food to energy.  It heals wounds and injuries.  It resists illness and infections.  It does all these things as long as it can, and it's our job to do the best we can to provide it with high quality input:  clean water, fresh nutritious food, activity for body and brain.  It's easy to take our body for granted or to criticize it for not looking a certain way... but my goodness, what a functioning vehicle for life!

Life is good.  Spark on!

Today's Olympic Treat: Nordic combined

This is another reason I love the Olympic Winter games.  There are so many "different" kinds of sports.  Nordic Combined involves cross country skiing for times with ski jumping for distance.  Maybe why I like both this one and biathlon is because of the combination of sports... after all, I went in for triathlon for myself.  And it also makes sense that I like curling in the combination of disciplines:  you have to have strength to throw the stones, and to sweep to affect their path, but you have to have strategy to choose which shots.

I suppose for some folks, the "big three" of Football, Baseball, and Basketball also offer combinations of skills, but the sheer variety in the Winter games always lifts my spirits.

Kid sis and I went walking this afternoon, in 49℉ sunshine with a light breeze.  We had skipped the prior two weeks due to cold, wind, and conflicts in schedules.  No!  It was THREE weeks we missed, because the week before that I had my "could this be Omicron?" isolation going!

Anyway, it felt good to get out and do!  It's also good news on the community spread front, hospitalizations are still too high, and unfortunately, also deaths, but the cases are dropping.  Hoping we'll see the risk dial go down in a week or two.  It's still in red, where it has been all of 2022!

Here's hoping my fellow Spark refugees are keeping up the spirit of self-care, as we move into seasons with get this:  more daylight!  It's coming, it's going to come.  Not before we get clipped by some more cold days, but it's coming!

🌞 Life is good.  Spark on!

Everyone has to say goodbye sometime

 

Rubia wanted to be a lap cat

My coach asked me to come work out early today, as he needed to head up to his old hometown.  Turns out his father passed away yesterday.  He (the dad) was 88 years old.  The trainer spent some of our time together sharing the story of the phone call from his sister.  Their dad had called her several times during the day, from the assisted living facility where he resided... asking for her help in gassing up the truck (which he no longer has), because he needed to "go home".  

Late in the day, he requested a snack... and the worker went to get it.  When the worker returned, he had passed.  Peacefully, quietly, just let go, and "went home".  Not a bad way to go, in my book.  Still, one is never quite ready for a parent to go.  Says the trainer, his mom and dad's Anniversary is only a couple of weeks away... perhaps Dad is going to celebrate with Mom in heaven, as Mom passed several years ago.

Due to the request to come in early, I got up early, too.  I wanted to do so, anyway, because the Gold Medal match of mixed doubles curling was to start this morning at six.  I had been following the Italian team in particular, because they were just that good.  I had seen them in one of the round robin matches, listening to the language, and re-living my few weeks spent working in Italy, back in the mid 1980's.

Curling is one of those quirky sports that I watch during the Winter Olympics.  Stones are "thrown" (slid) down lanes of ice, toward a target area.  While baseball is divided into innings, curling is divided into "ends".  I started watching this during a Winter Olympics maybe 50 years ago, and got hooked.  The announcers are as quiet as golf announcers, which I appreciate.  Like baseball, it's a thinking game, lots of strategy, combined with the ability and skill to execute said strategy.  In fact, another little bit of trivia I learned this time around (if I knew it before, I had forgotten)... the time on their clocks, which operate like chess clocks, ticking down while it is your team's turn, is called "thinking time".  Fascinating.

The other quirky sport I look for at the Winter Olympics is biathlon, the combination of cross county ski racing and target shooting.  Noisier:  people cheer with cow bells.  It combines athletic prowess in terms of ski racing, and the control needed to slow the heart and the breathing to hit those targets with a rifle.  

I find these things fascinating even though I lack the skills required to execute either of them!  Anybody have sports that they thrill to watch or follow, that you have no particular desire to participate in?

Anyway, that's about it from me this mid-week!  Hope my fellow Spark refugees are doing our best to take care of those amazing bodies we've been given... only one per person, no trading it in, so treat it as well as you'd like it to treat YOU!  

Life is good.  Spark on!

Rabbits and Groundhogs - February is critter month

First of the month, "rabbit day", as my mom used to style it.  I only found out in my adult years that "rabbit day" was celebrated in different ways by others, but to our mom, it meant that the first words out of one's mouth on the first of the month were to be "rabbit, rabbit, rabbit".  Sounds a bit on the "froggy" side, doesn't it.  Other households, I found, had the chore of working the words "white rabbit" into their conversation during the course of the day!  It's supposed to bring good luck for the month.  So, there we have it, Tuesday was Rabbit Day!

Monday night's sunset was a stunner.  

Wednesday was the traditional "Groundhog Day".  This year, the way the date numbers read out, it was also twos-day!  (2/2/22)  

It doesn't seem as though it's time for the groundhog, but here it is.  Since the weather hasn't really gone into "deep winter" mode, the promise of an early Spring seems less of a break, to me.

Groundhog Day, the movie was all about repeating until you got all the mistakes fixed.  Repetition, repetition, repetition.  What was cool was that the protagonist got to keep all that he learned on those repeat days!  

Wednesday, my own repeat was the rescheduled mammogram.  Results showed up online Thursday morning, normal... re-screen on recommended schedule.  Never a comfy thing, but good to do, despite that. That was the last of the things I had rescheduled, due to my little cold a couple weeks back that wasn't Covid.

Speaking of Covid (do we have to keep doing that?)... it was the public health gal's weekly news conference.  The good news was that our case count and testing positivity went down.  The bad news is that hospitalizations and deaths (which lag) did not.  Most Covid patients in our local hospital since January 2021.  I'm sure everyone else is as tired of this as I am, but we are strong, we will survive.  Our grandparents did, and we shall.

Meanwhile, in the "living life" section, we have the daily major accomplishments for Saturday:  changing the bulb on the porch light, handing out dog treats to Barnaby and Caramel (neighborhood doggos), and affixing the new State Park permit to Dexter (the car)'s windshield.  

In the "you've been a naughty cat" category, we have the handiwork of Rubia, shredding the cord that connects the earbud to the bluetooth headset.  She survived, mainly because the headset is seven years old and I've been wanting to put in an order for some Aftershokx.

Here's hoping you're living your best lives, taking care of your health, nad recognizing that you're worth taking care of.

Life is good.  Spark on!

✨💖🔥