Home bound

I've been home bound in the past.  A few years ago I had pneumonia and last summer I had surgery.  It's easier to stay home when you have no energy.  This is different.

This virus worries me.  I am in the age group and the medical condition group to be in the "target audience"  I am washing my hands, drinking fluids and getting a lot of rest. I am also doing my job from home.

I have a lot of things I can do and I am going to make a list to try to get them all done.   I have about a week before we 'think" we are going back. April 1.

I am trying not to go out, to avoid the grocery store and anything else.  Chris is supposed to fly to Oakland tomorrow.  the whole think is 'wait and see"

England is postponed.  The travel agent said they will probably give us credit for future travel. In the meantime, I am putting everything I can back into the account I had set up to travel there.  If I DON'T get something back, well.  I will have enough to do it when the ban is lifter.

The virus also means I will be putting off the knee replacement until they can do these types of surgery again,  Sometime in August, I suspect.

I need to check into work in a few minutes and get started on things.  I hope to write more, as it is a stress reliever for me to do this.  I am going to be rambling around the apartment, hoping the internet holds out with everyone being under house arrest in Los Angeles.  I can do some of my writing offline and just move it when the systems restore, I suppose.

Most of my documents for work, however, are online.  This might get interesting,but I can't do anything if the net is down!

Stay safe. Stay healthy and see you here on this page!

Wednesday morning

There's a song by my favorite band, America called Wednesday morning.  Gerry sings "Wednesday morning, nothing is the same"  the song is about a breakup, but the chorus is :

I've been waiting every evening
Wondering what I'm gonna say
Sometimes life can be deceiving
Wednesday won't go away

So I've been waiting on City Council, go to work?  Stay home?  Shelter in place?   No idea at this time.  So I am up, doing my breathing treatment. I do them twice a day and have a compromised immune system but since I can't stay home without a doctor's note  AND my doctor is too busy to give me one, I go to work.  Thankfully I drive and we are closed to the public but I am still out in the world.  I went to the grocery store yesterday, I may start shopping on Amazon 

I need yeast and eggs.  I have a bread maker and I am going to drag it out and put it to work, but I need some things to actually MAKE the bread.  That is , when I am home.

I have a ton of things I can DO from home, for work and it will certainly keep me busy.  I think that meeting will happen with my boss as soon as we hear what Council decide yesterday, if anything.  


I have a phone meeting with my doctor tomorrow at 4:20 or something. I had better check to see the time so I am available to talk to him, not that it will do any good at this stage.

So, I wait to see what my weeks are going to be like.  I will be spending a lot of time trying to find books to download and. maybe try some more intense writing than this blog.  I've got nothing but time, after I do the work for work.  I have an extra two hours a day if I am not commuting.

Stay safe.  Keep calm and wash your hands.  When all this is over, we need to have a party.

Erin Go Bragh

I know only two phrases in Gaelic;  Erin go bragh , which mean Ireland Forever and one which I would like to hurl at the current occupant of the White  House and the Senator from Kentucky  POGUE MAHONE ( a variant of the true Celtic so if you are Irish or speak the language please forgive me.)  it means Kiss my ass and according to my dad, the only Celtic he learned from his grandfather.

My Dad's grandparents were James McCue and Margaret Ward McCue.  The came from Caven ( pronounce KAH-ven, which I learned much to my shame at a dinner party that I had been mispronouncing it all these years)   When I retire, I am going to try to GO to the town and see if I have family there- they came her AFTER the famine, but under some kind of cloud. I would be willing to bet James was an early Fenian, there was some story about his wife signing the farm here over to someone who came looking for him while he was away and it took about two years to get it back.   James and Margaret had eighteen children; three sets of twins in the mix.  She died  when she was 42  Only nine of their children lived to adulthood,  MY grandmother was Ida Mae (she was named after a rich woman in town) but was known as Jenny ( Irish slang for a mule which probably suited her stubborn nature)  I have stories about the McCue daughters which one day I will write down for my grand-kids.  I plan on delving deeper into genealogy and family history when I retire next year.

But for today, my corned beef  in the crock pot ( an American dish eaten for some reason on St Patrick's day) and when I come home from work will hoist a wee dram of Bushmill's to toast my ancestors, and thank them for coming here to create the family that created me.  We are all here by random decisions made by someone.  When I think about that, it IS kind of trippy.

So celebrate today. Heck, celebrate every day, in some small way, the wonderful coincidence that is you!

GRRR

I've been frustrated lately and writing  just has not been possible.  I hate writing grumpy blogs but frankly I am grumpy.

So here goes.

Work is crazy busy.  We are already pedal-to-the metal most days but with this public health crisis everything is so uncertain and we are trying to do our best for staff and the public.  My regular work is harder to accomplish.  I feel frustrated as I can't seem to get anything done.  I have to remind myself to breathe and WASH MY HANDS

England.  I am GOING TO ENGLAND!   Six weeks until my lovely cousin marries the love of his life.  I HAVE to be there.  For now, travel is NOT restricted from here to the UK.  I hope it holds.  Seriously I have my tickets and the room is non-refundable.  That's a LOT of money if we can't go.  Say NOTHING of missing the wedding- which I will really be upset about if that happens.  Sure, I can go some other time but when will all the fam be in one place again?   This bites.

I am talking to my pulmonologist anyway.  I need to be strong enough , health-wise- if this comes at me.  I am high risk on all cylinders.  Sucks.  that's all I can say about it.  Still I will be careful and I am stubborn.  I have had pneumonia once. It was NOT fun.  I wound up in the hospital but I fought back and was ok.  Still,it is NOT something I wish to repeat.

I am trying to find something happy to think about here.  Started listening to a new book on cd- the Dutch house- read by tom Hanks.  Funny Tom and Rita announces that they both had the virus.   Hope they are ok.  I like Tom Hanks!

I need to get a bunch of books, in case I am quarantined.  I have toilet paper and a Brita filter , but I will need something to READ!

Elections, pandemics and washing your hands

Geez.  It's been a while since I sat down to write anything.   Busy and frankly, sick.

I do NOT have the corona virus, just a nasty cold that , as usual, defaulted to bronchitis.  I have chronic asthma and the meds I take to save me also play havoc with my immune system. 

It's a double-edged sword.

The City has declared a state of urgency- maybe it's emergency, I can't remember, but whatever it is, my department is gearing up for a public health crisis.  Better to be prepared, I suppose.  We serve a large homeless population.  I hope this thing gets under control soon, but the current National Administration is kind of blowing it off.  I understand the need to keep calm and not panic, but yesterday, they had a press conference and refused the tv and radio media access. yeah.  Get the word out.  MOST people these days do NOT read the paper. Most people listen to soundbites and tweets.

Sigh

I was in my local Vons and the manger told me some guy bought EVERY SINGLE hand sanitizers, both the pumps and the individual ones.  Nice going asshole.  You feel better now?  He probably is holed up in his house with them and is planning on selling them on the black market for big bucks.


I voted this week.  I voted for Elizabeth Warren, even though people told me she had what my Dad would have called  "a snowballs' chance"  referring to just how long a snowball might survive in hell.  I just wanted the Old White Guys to be aware that they did not have a mandate from the starting gate, that there are people who want change.  I was thinking about this country, how we puff our chests out and claim to be the leader of the Free World, and yet, we cannot elect a woman and a person of color has an uphill climb. There are probably STILL people who believe all the crap that trump and his people slung and still sling at Barrack Obama.   I vote every single time and proudly remember the women of my grandmother's generation who fought for the right to vote- some DIED, but they don't tell you THAT in the history books, women's suffrage and the fight for it is made to sound like a freaking TEA SOCIAL.  I vote because they believed in ME.  I honor them.

Just a final note, as the corona virus spreads or doesn't   Keep calm and wash your hands.  You should be doing it anyway.

Friday thoughts

The longest five minutes of my morning are those between when I press the button that says "brew" and the time the machine makes that noise that says it's finished.  I sit at my computer, or putter around tidying up a bit, waiting.  I can't start my breathing treatment until I have coffee ( well i CAN, I'm just a little anal about the order in which I drink my bean juice THEN do the breathing thing).  The first sip of steaming energy never fails to make me say "AH"  sometimes the second one.  I love my Sumatra and I would be hard pressed to give up the one remaining vice- ok I still have a glass of wine or whiskey now and then but coffee is my daily ritual. My doctor has not YET said I have to give it up and I am thankful.

Yesterday was a bad day and I had a flare of the PH thing.  Chest pains were worse than they had been in a long time.  Usually I can get things to settle down but not yesterday.  I did everything I am supposed to do , but it took a LONG time to be where I could drive home.  UGH.  I did not go to the  Union meeting.  I don't think I could have made it through.  Came home, relaxed a bit and decided, what to do about Chris' car.  It had really reached the end of its' life.  Good solution, ultimately, for all concerned, just more money every month.   It is what it is.

I need a better night's sleep than I am getting, That would help. Soon.

I talked to my Bob.  He told he "I love you and I miss you , Gogo"  My heart melted.  Nothing like that little boy. His brother will probably be much the same.   BOTH of them are outrageous flirts.  My daughter is going to have her hands full with those two.

Enjoy your Friday!  Tomorrow is going to be a busy day.  Good thing it's an "extra" one!

Thursday

Up early. I have to get to work a bit early.  I have a Union thing tonight.  Not looking forward to it. So MUCH anger and derision.  I am tired of it. 

I have been active in my union for a long time.  I am tired of people who don't get it just shouting until people stop trying to explain their point of view.   Even if you are shouting, you are still wrong.

I blame tRump politics, and the dumbing down of our children.  They are being taught to take tests, not to think or reason.  It's scary.  I think  the obsequious "They" want us stupid.  Uneducated people make good servants I guess.

My favorite new slur?  "you Uneducated potato"


On another tangent.  I was reading a book in which the main character is asked about the themes of  "The Great Gatsby" and she BS'ed her was around some answer which made me think.  The BS was an interesting take on the book- it was clear she just read a synopsis and not the book, although it's -what- 60 pages?  Short in any case.  It also made me wonder. As an English major, we are taught to look for themes or symbolism in what we read.  I wondered for about the millionth time, if the symbols are placed there or we are taught to see what is not there.  I tend to think ol' Scott was just telling a story, not all that junk about the meaning of the green light at the end of Daisy's dock.  I am sure Scott and Zelda knew a lot of "Gatsby's " people from humble beginnings who reinvented themselves for the Cafe Society.  It might have been a cold look at the dark underbelly of those glittering people, false friends and sad endings.  That even if you achieve great things, if you lose yourself in the process, just what have you gained?  What is the quote "What profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?"

I wonder if tRump has ever heard that quote.  He probably had no soul to lose.