19 March 2020 Friday

Was so wiped by the 600 mile trip on Thursday that I got but very little done. Still no sign of the Wuhan Kung Flu. After 3-4 stops in and near Anchorage, where they have cases of the Wuhan Kung Flu, I figured I might be a candidate for bringing the virus back to Homer and Fritz Creek. I was careful as I did wash my hands and use a paper towels to operate the doors. No symptoms, as yet. Probably a little early to have symptoms as the incubation period is 10-14 days or something like that. I’m not too worried about it. I haven’t even had a cold in the last 20 or so years and I think I’ve taken the flu shot maybe 2-3 times. I did wake up this morning with aching shoulder and finger joints. At 75, I kinda expect to be hurting some in the mornings. When I get up and get moving the pain seems to subside. Arthritis in my fingers is the big problem. Nothing twelve cups of coffee can’t fix.

Last Wednesday, I went to the Homer City Hall to complain and warn the moronic mayor and even more moronic city council about these reusable grocery bags. They banned “single use” plastic bags a few weeks ago. “Single Use” are their words, however, those of us out in the real world find many uses for those bags. Anyway, I wanted to explain to these idiots that the average reusable bag brought from home had more bacteria/virus infestation than the average public toilet. They’re just ‘begging’ for some one to bring in a bag with the Wuhan Kung Flu virus on it. Can’t you just see it? They put it on the counter where the slide you groceries down to be bagged, a nice young person handles your bag while filling it with your items and then they move on to contaminate 50-60 other bags and, perhaps, their fellow employees. Banning these plastic bags made little sense in the beginning and no sense now.

The new wall alongside the stairs was my project for today. I finished it by about 1:00 and ate Summer’s leftover Chinese takeout from yesterday. This made me very sleepy and I took an hour nap. It reminded me of my Grandfather. Everyday at noon, while working in the cotton fields, we’d break for lunch and he’d lie down under the cotton trailer on his cotton picking sack and take a nap. This was a long time ago. I lived with them from age 6 until almost 13 and we worked in the fields all through spring, late summer and into the Fall every year. Spring and early summer were the times for picking strawberries and chopping (thinning) cotton. It had to be thinned to allow the plants to grow tall and produce the most cotton bolls. Midsummer was ‘Summer School’. You went to school in the summer so that you could stay out of school in September, October and part of November to pick cotton. I have always wondered how I skipped a grade in school. I didn’t get to start until I was near 7 and plus 12 should have made me 19 in my senior year but I was only 18 in my senior year of high school. Some where I skipped a year. One of life’s small mysteries, I suppose.

The wall framing was finished when I realized that I was going to have to move it away from the stairs by about an inch and a quarter. An inch and a quarter to accommodate 1/2″ sheet rock and a 3/4″ side plate on the stairs. Since it isn’t load bearing there are only 6 screws holding it in place so I can pry it away from the steps install the side plate and the sheetrock and tap it back into place. Bad planning but a minor difficulty, at worst. I got on with the electrical part of the job. I needed an outlet for the TV that will hang on the wall, a switch for the light that I’m installing in the stairwell. At present the only way to light the stairs is climb up and turn on the hall light at the top of the stairs. That switch is not located near the stairwell but just outside Summer’s bedroom. Currently, you must climb the stairs in the dark and then search for the light switch on the wall, also, in the dark. A serious accident waiting to happen.

Summer got laid off from her job today. Seems that people were discontinuing their external dog care as they, themselves, were losing their jobs or deciding to hibernate until the Wuhan Kung Flu season has passed. I know I’ve probably already said this numerous times BUT all of this is the dumbest damned thing to which I have ever been witness. Close to 13,000 deaths this year from the current version of the common Flu and a few hundred deaths from the Wuhan Kung Flu. There has been no news at all about the 13,000 people in America who have died but nothing except wall to wall panic news about the few hundred who have died here in the US of A. As I have stated previously, you have a better chance of being killed by a WWII German NAZI driving a Panzer tank than dying from the Wuhan Kung Flu.

We seemed to be in mid ‘Break Up’ until tonight. It has begun snowing with a vengeance, Not big wet flakes that you know are going to melt on touch down but tiny little flakes that tend to stick. The weather forecast is for it to continue to snow through Saturday and clear off Sunday. Temps will go back to the mid 30s starting Sunday and through most of next week. It is ‘Break Up’ but it seems to be a more gradual process that last year. Last year was !!!!!BREAK UP!!!!! It was all over in about 10-12 days. Not so much this year. It looks like we might have snow on the ground right up to mid-April.

Well, I’ve had dinner. It was ‘make your own dinner’ night. I guess it’s time for bed, I’ve had a few vodkas, fed Miss Suzy and watched a bit of TV. Ta Ta.