Pandemic Journal - Day 354

I haven't written an update about the dampandemic since December. We're nearly at a year since things turned topsy-turvy. I suppose it actually is beyond a year since the first cases were diagnosed and people died from it.

The biggest change is that we have an administration in place that takes this seriously, one that expects and encourages masks, social distancing, and hand washing. Additionally, three different vaccines are now available, though in short supply and hard to come by.

The numbers peaked as expected in the colder months and are on the decline, but Virginia's governor has said he will keep his current measures in place through the end of this month, at least.

We have stayed home as much as humanly possible. I seldom go in a grocery store, opting instead for pickups where I choose my food online and then the store personnel deliver it to the trunk of my car.

I still wipe down my groceries.

I still have a pair of shoes specifically for wearing out in public.

I still change clothes when I come in after I've been out.

I still have a Covid coat that I wear when I go out. It is washable and thus easily taken care of if someone breathes on me.

We have not eaten in a restaurant since this began, so almost a year. I think it was about 8 months before I went beyond the county line and into the city.

What many people don't realize is that I have been stuck at home since November 22, 2019, when my husband had his ankle fusion. I was home nursing him, although I could go out to the grocery store and shop and didn't have to worry about wiping things down or changing my shoes. 

About the time he was up around and walking, contemplating a return to the fire department and his job as a battalion chief, the pandemic hit. He retired.

So this change for me has been long. I know many people have had to adjust to spending time with significant others that they normally did not. For many months, I missed those nights at home alone, when I could stay up reading until the week hours of the morning. But I have adjusted and we are more in sync on our hours.

I have become better at simply disappearing into my office when I need my alone time, leaving him to entertain himself. For a while I felt like I had to be on call for him constantly, but that has eased. Part of that was his ankle surgery, but a lot of it was simply me feeling ill at ease at having him peering over my shoulder more than I was used to.

My health as far as colds and sinus infections has been better since we have had the mask mandate in place. I intend to continue to wear one when I am in public. I don't care what people think about it.

The ulcer in my stomach came from out of nowhere, but perhaps the stress of the pandemic and all the changes in the last year contributed. At least it led to a weight loss, so yay for that. Too bad the weight loss stopped when I finally received medication for the ulcer.

At least the weight's not going up, but I am also not eating well yet. Many foods are off the table for me for the time being.

Coming up with something for dinner was hard before the ulcer; now it's nigh impossible to move beyond chicken, rice, and peas.

What I wouldn't give for a slice of pizza!

The light at the end of the tunnel as far as the pandemic is brightening. The virus will eventually be tamed, we will have our vaccines, and we will return to a semblance of normal. However, normal wasn't working for everyone, so I don't want to go all the way back to pre-pandemic normal.

I want a better normal for everyone, not simply a wealthy few.

Global Harmony

When we were downtown Saturday for my husband's vaccination, we drove by a new sculpture.

It's called Global Harmony and it was installed in March 2019.

I don't go downtown much, so I had not seen it.

Arizona-based artist Stephen Fairfield created the steel and fiberglass work. It has LED lights that can be programmed to shine in different colors for special occasions.

The artist called Roanoke "a diversified and welcoming city" in media reports. He said the sculpture reflects that "from a global perspective.

It was hard to take it in from the front seat of the car. When the pandemic ends, I will have to go back and take a closer look.

All About that Shot!

Saturday we went to the drive-through shot clinic at the Berglund Center so my husband could receive the Johnson & Johnson one-and-done shot.

He had no reaction to it at all. I kept a close eye on him but he's not had a single issue. Not even a sore arm.

The drive-through clinic worked well. It was impressive, actually. We were in and out in 20 minutes, and that counts the 15 minute wait period that the Health Department required.

Orange and white cones greeted us as we arrived. At the turn in, someone checked off his name and sent us to the right. We drove up and down and up and down a long line of cones. This seemed a little bit of overkill given there was no line, but perhaps there were lines at other times and this was necessary.

The National Guard members were helping. We stopped at another check point, and were directed to the line with "the guy waving the blue flag."

He sent us down the line where several site shots were set up. They checked the name again (at some point, I don't know when, someone wrote "15 1 P " in soap on the back window, which I assume meant 15 minute wait and only one person was registered to get the shot.

My hubby already had on a short sleeved shirt and no coat, so he rolled down the window. A nice woman gave him a shot, put a Band-Aid on him, and sent us over to the other side of the Berglund Center to wait our 15 minutes.

I'm not sure he gave it the full 15 minutes, but we were out of there and gone.

This was a great experience. He's vaccinated, and that means one of us will be safe. His vaccine also helps me until I manage to obtain mine.

Good job and applause all the way around.

P.S. Husband isn't growing horns, or a third eye, or anything at all. Imagine that!

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. Do you put ketchup on hot dogs?

A. Yes.

2. How many TVs in your house?

A. Two, but we seldom use the one in the bedroom.

3. Do you put salt on watermelon?

A. I do.

4. Can you swim?

A. I can.

5. Are your parents still alive?

A. My father is still alive.

6. First car?

A. I drove an ugly orange Datsun. The car that I consider to be my real first car was a Pontiac T-1000, which was kind of a hatchback.

7. Surgeries?

A. Many.

8. What do you drink in the morning?

A. Water.

9. Can you do 100 push ups?

A. I don't think so.

10. Can you change a tire?

A. Yes.

11. Tattoos?

A. Lots of scars.

12. Do you wear sunglasses?

A. When it is sunny.

13. Do you have a phobia?

A. What do you mean by that? Do you know something?

14. Do you have a nickname? 

A. Yes, but I do not use it.

15. Are you a picky eater?

A. Probably. I have a lot of allergies so I am careful about what I eat.

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I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.

Saturday 9: Birthday

Saturday 9: BIRTHDAY (2014)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) In this song, Katy Perry sings that she wants to give her lover something good to celebrate every day. What is making you happy this fine Saturday?

A. My husband is receiving his Covid-19 vaccination! Yay!

2) The video is all about baking a birthday cake. When did you most recently enjoy something home baked? Were you the baker?

A. My husband made a cherry cobbler. It's a firehouse recipe. I could only eat a little of it because of my stomach issues, but it was good.

3) Tell us a memory from one of your birthdays.

A. My mother made me a cake shaped like a butterfly.

4) This week's song shares nothing but the title with a Beatles song. (Here's a video of Paul McCartney performing it live.) Can you think of another title that's been used by more than one song?

A. Jump. It was performed by the Pointer Sisters. Jump was performed by Van Halen. Two different songs.

5) Similarly, this week's featured artist was born Kathryn Hudson and called Katy Hudson until she changed her name to Katy Perry to avoid confusion with the actress Kate Hudson. Have you ever met anyone else with your same name?

A. My cousin has the same first name as I do. There is another person in the area with my first name and last name; I know this because I heard her being paged at the hospital one day while I was there, and the library sometimes asks me which person I am when I am checking out a book and don't have my card with me. But I have not met her.

6) Katy and actor Orlando Bloom became parents to a baby girl in 2020. Bloom is best known for his work in the Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Are you a fan of either of those film series?

A. I am a fan of the Lord of the Rings series. I bet no one could have guessed that.

7) In 2014, the year this song was popular, Prince William toured the United States and attended his first NBA game (Nets vs. Cavaliers). What's the most recent sporting event that you watched?

A. NASCAR.

8) Also in 2014, Joan Rivers died. While best-known for making us laugh, she was a very successful entrepreneur, selling jewelry on QVC. Have you ever ordered anything from TV?

A. Not that I recall.

9) Random question -- Have you ever been told you talk too much?

A. No. My parents told me that, I'm sure, but most people think I am too quiet.

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I encourage you to visit other participants in Saturday 9 posts and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however.

Batwoman Review

Batwoman, Season 2, is playing on the CW. I'm recording it and am a few episodes behind. Season 1 was so bad I wasn't going to inflict more of it upon my husband.

Season 2 is slightly better than season 1, so far. That isn't saying much, because the writing in Season 1 was absolutely awful. The acting was fine but the writing was among the worst I have ever seen.

Season 2 had a rough start. The show had to replace character Kate Kane, who was Batwoman, with a new person, Ryan, as Batwoman. The actor who played Kate Kane bowed out after the first season (I could hardly blame her, as bad as the writing was). 

The first few episodes have been establishing this new Batwoman. It goes beyond credibility more than once, and sometimes I feel like the show has simply leapt over significant plot holes, but it is an improvement over season 1, to a point.

The writing is still bad, but the introduction of a new villain shows promise. We'll see.

When this show was first announced, I had high hopes for it. I like Supergirl, which is in its final season this spring. I like shows with strong heroines. 

But I also like shows with good writing, and Batwoman suffers from a serious lack of imagination.

He's Getting a Shot!

My husband goes tomorrow for his Johnson & Johnson one-and-done Covid-19 shot. This is great news, as neither of us have been able to navigate Virginia's incredibly poor system to schedule this much-needed vaccine.

I will go with him, of course, in case he has any issues, and for moral support.

While we are both under 65, we have co-morbidities that put us in the 1b category, and thus eligible for the vaccine. Virginia's roll-out was, well, bad. The sign-ups were left to individual health districts. There was not a state-wide sign up, and there was no confirmation once you signed up that you actually *were* signed up.

Then it came down to who got to their email fastest with a link to get into one of the clinics offering the shots. Next, it was whoever signed into the CVS sight fast enough.

Virginia wised up and created a stable database, and my husband received an email for the J&J shot clinic this weekend. Had a friend not alerted me that the emails were going out, I would not have been fast enough to get him in - as it was, there were only two time openings left when I hit one, and then I sweated through several pages of required information before I hit the button and his appointment was confirmed.

Having one of us protected will help. His mother has already had the shot, so he will feel more comfortable being around her and he can run errands without as much worry.

My doctor very emphatically simply told me if I caught Covid, I would die. So I have mostly stayed home. Of course, she's also sure I am going to die of a heart attack. She just doesn't know if that will be tomorrow or 30 years from now.

My husband is glad he is getting the one-time shot. As the weather warms up, he will have less time to tend to such things as getting a second shot.

Thursday Thirteen - Tree Removal

We lost more trees this week. The beetle that killed the ash trees took out a few more in the back yard. They were close to the house, so we had them removed.

The view before the tree massacre began.

My new view.

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 697th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

More "Fun" with Dell

The new media card reader arrived last week, a day later than anticipated.

Dellcares on Twitter very helpfully wanted me to tear my computer apart long before the media card reader arrived, but I told them I would take it apart when the part arrived, and not before.

The UPS guy told me Dell sent me an empty box. Ha.

Before I continue, I will note that I have been in the innards of my computers before. I've added ram, changed out hard drives, and installed graphic cards.

Always before, though, these weren't brand new computers still under warranty.

So I unhooked all the wires and plugs, and carried the computer into the kitchen. I laid it flat on the table, and proceeded to unscrew the left side so I could get into the thing.

The left side came off. The media card reader was on the right side, of course.

After attempting in vain to remove it without removing anything else, I ended up unscrewing the hard drive to make room.

I replaced the media card reader, reinstalled the hard drive, and put the side back on.

The media card reader works - sort of.

It's very difficult to get an SD card in and out of the computer. The slot in the case is too tight. I will use an external card reader after all.

Basically I went through all of that for nothing.

Dell, in the meantime, was very unapologetic about the entire affair. I had to return the old part "or your warranty will be voided" and I am fairly sure I won't be buying another Dell. I've had Dells for about 20 years and they've been decent computers, but this one is cheaply made and if I'd seen it on the shelf, I think I would have passed on it. 

This is why some things should not be purchased online.

I found in my purchasing information an email address from the salesperson. He had told me to write if I had any problems, so I wrote him a rather scathing indictment of his computer and the customer service department.

That was last week, and I have not received a response.

I don't expect I will.

Turkeys Like the Birdfeeder

 

Sunday Stealing #375

Sunday Stealing

1. What is the farthest you have ever traveled?

A. I went to France when I was in high school.

2. Who did you date while in high school?

A. That was a long time ago, and it doesn't matter anymore. Although I did learn that the young man who took me to the prom was badly injured in a vehicle accident some years ago. I never heard how he fared, though. I hope he recovered.

3. What is one of the worst trips you've ever taken? What went wrong?

A. We went to Virginia Beach in 1989, immediately after the Greekfest riots. We had called our hotel before we left home to ensure that all was well. When we arrived, we found that the power was out on our side of the street, and the hotel was running off a generator. There was no air conditioning and little light. I think we were nearly the only people in the place. Down the block, however, was another hotel that was fully lit and had power. After asking the guy at the counter if we could have a fan for our room and he declined, I went full-on asthma attack and told him that his company would be paying my medical bills. He refunded our money and we went down the street. Most of the shops were closed and boarded up. The destruction was much worse than we had anticipated and certainly much worse than the hotel people had led us to believe when we called. We didn't go back to Virginia Beach until a few years ago, and we had a nice time then.

4. How do you like to spend a lazy day?

A. Reading.

5. How old were you when you found out that JFK had been assassinated? How did it affect you?

A. I was about six months old. According to the story I've been told, I was in my car seat and my mother was outside hanging up clothes. A neighbor told her JFK had been shot, and she was so upset that she left me sitting outside by the clothesline and the neighbor eventually took me to her.

6. Who has been one of the most important people in your life?

A. My husband by far as been and is the most important person in my life. He's my rock, my friend, my everything.

7. What is one trait you would most like to improve in yourself?

A. I would like to procrastinate less.

8. Did you date someone in college?

A. I was already married when I was in college.

9. What was your dream car?

A. I've never had a dream car, really. I think the Toyota Avalon is a nice looking vehicle. I drive a Camry and it is fine. I just want something reliable and steady.

10. Did you have a family member you wish you'd gotten to know better?

A. I would have liked to have known my father's parents better. They moved to California when I was a baby and I seldom saw them. They were unknown voices on the phone who sent strange Christmas presents to us. After I married, I began writing to my grandfather and I learned more about him that way, but it was not like having had him around my entire life.

11. Tell me about your greatest gardening success.

A. I have roses. They look pitiful now. They are 35 years old and I need to replace them. But there was a time when they were truly gorgeous. They were a riot of color around the heat pump and certainly made that area look better. I am thinking of replacing them with some kind of bush that doesn't require as much attention as roses.

12. What was your Dad like when you were a child?

A. My father is an outgoing fellow with a charismatic personality. He plays guitar and sings, and is always busy doing something. He was like that when I was young, too.

13. What is the best job you've ever had?

A. Being a freelance news reporter for the local paper. I loved the work. The variety it offered was endless. I learned things every day. I was able to teach people about their local government through my articles. I did things I never thought I'd do, saw things I never thought I'd see, and met people I would not otherwise have met during the course of my career as a local news writer.

14. What are your favorite songs?

A. I tend to listen to songs from my teenage years. I like Bread, for example, and listen to them frequently. I also liked disco and still listen to that. Nothing beats disco as a song for housecleaning.

15. If you could choose any talents to have, what would they be?

A. I would like to like to knit or crochet or something. I can do it, but I'm not particularly crafty. I guess I would like to be better at crafts. Or cooking. That would be a healthier choice. I hate to cook and I would like to like it and want to learn more about it.

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I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.

Saturday 9: Bills, Bills, Bills

Saturday 9: BILLS, BILLS, BILLS (1999)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This song is about a cheating boyfriend. Unlike most songs, where the lover deceives by seeing another, this one squanders his girl's financial resources. She sings that he's ruined her credit. Do you know your credit score?

A. Yes, I know my credit score.

2) How often do you pay your bills? Do you handle them as they come in, or do you pay weekly, bi-weekly or monthly? Or are you lucky enough to have someone else handle your bills?

A. I handle the bills. I pay them as they come in, generally, although issues with the post office in the last several month has messed up my system.

3) Destiny's Child had a hit with "Bills, Bills, Bills." This girl group got their start in Houston, TX. During the recent, bruising storm, lead singer Beyonce sent food, money and water to her home state. Have you spent much time in the Lone Star State?

A. I think I drove through it with my family in 1976. So no. However, much of my mother's family relocated from Virginia to Texas, for reasons that elude me.

4) Beyonce is the breakout star of the group and went on to have a highly successful solo career. Can you think of another star who began his/her career as the member of a group?

A. Phil Collins (Genesus), Glenn Fry (Eagles), Michael McDonald (Doobie Brothers), Stevie Nicks (Fleetwood Mac), Don Henley (Eagles).

5) "Bills, Bills, Bills" was performed a cappella by the kids on Glee. That Fox show ran for six seasons. Were you a fan? 

A. I have never seen the show.

6) In 1999, when this song was on the charts, SpongeBob SquarePants premiered. The show remains popular among the younger set. Have you ever seen it?

A. I have never seen the show.

7) SpongeBob has become an industry, spawning movies, a Broadway musical, video games and both coloring and comic books. Once considered children's amusements, today coloring and comic books enjoy a following among adults. Have you recently enjoyed coloring or reading a comic book?

A. Not recently, but I enjoy coloring.

8) Also in 1999, Walmart expanded to the United Kingdom. Do you shop at Walmart?

A. Sometimes. I haven't been in an actual store in about a year, but I have ordered things we use online.

 

9) Random question -- We've all met people who aren't exactly as they present themselves. Are you good at spotting a phony?

A. Apparently not. I became friends with someone who once was a man but is now a woman and had no idea for over two years. That is not being a phony - she was being herself - but it is something I thought I would have picked up on. (I know there are appropriate terms for this but I don't want to misuse them.) Otherwise, when I interviewed people for the newspaper, I tried to be sure they were being honest in their answers, but I am sure I was misled a time or two. As for my friends, hopefully they are all honest with me.

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I encourage you to visit other participants in Saturday 9 posts and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however.

 

Red-tailed Hawk

I saw this amazing (and large) bird land in the pines and keep an eye on my bird feeder for over an hour. I suspect the bird was contemplating breakfast.

Red-tailed hawks are found throughout Virginia and can have up to a 4-foot wing span.

Thursday Thirteen

Here are 13 topics I could lecture on for an hour or so, if I were asked:

1. Writing news articles.

2. Keeping a journal.

3. History of Botetourt County.

4. My genealogical history.

5. An analysis of Stuart Woods' books.

6. An analysis of Janet Evanovich's books.

7. The guitar.

8. Songs of the 1970s.

9. An analysis of The Lord of the Rings & The Hobbit.

10. The habits of the Virginia whitetail deer

11. Photography.

12. A history of video games.

13. Politics from my perspective.

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 696th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Avoidance Behavior

 Q. What is something important you've been avoiding? Why are you putting it off? How would you feel if you took care of it?

A. I have put off calling to schedule my mammogram. I have put it off because of Covid-19. I was hoping I might get the vaccine before I had this done. I also have been dealing with a stomach ulcer, and I can only deal with one thing at a time right now. 

If I schedule the appointment and go ahead and get it taken care of, then I will have it off my mind. Maybe I could schedule it for April, and I would have my Covid shot by then. I'm in the under 65 but high risk group, so I think I'm up next.

My Adventures with Dell

My computer was purchased in 2015, and it was a Dell. It came with Windows 8.1, and I upgraded it to Windows 10.

It worked ok. Then back at the end of January, it crashed big time, and when I finally managed to reset it, I lost my programs. My data was backed up on an external hard drive, so it was fine.

There is a backdoor through which one can download Windows 10 for free. I used that and managed to get the computer up and running.

In the meantime, my well-meaning husband insisted I purchase a new computer. This one was, after all, six years old, and that's generally all I get out of a computer.

So I went to the Dell Computer site and after chatting with a technician in chat, and then with someone on the phone, I settled on an Inspiron 3880. I needed something with a DVD drive and a media card reader. I don't game much anymore so mostly I needed something for browsing and word processing.

The computer arrived and the FedEx guy practically threw it in the door (he is never gentle with anything). I managed to get the new computer up and running, and over the last two weeks I installed my software, created a backup and restore disk, and hooked my external hard drive backup to it.

However, when I went to use the SD card reader, it wouldn't read the card. I downloaded straight from the camera instead. Later, I tried a different SD card. It went in and it read it. But when I popped it back out, a piece of plastic came out with it.

Now the card reader won't work at all. It doesn't read cards, and it won't bounce them back out, either.

Seemed to me it came faulty.

It happens.

I contacted Dell via chat. I was told that because this was a hardware "wear and tear" issue, it wasn't warranted. At that time, the computer was 13 days old.

The chat person gave me a number to call. I called. I was placed on hold, and after a very long time, the call simply . . . ended. No one ever picked back up and then I got that "erk erk erk" noise that says you've been disconnected.

Frustrated, I went to twitter and tweeted: "Never buy a @Dell!"

Moments later, Dellcares messaged me. They would solve my problem, some helpful person named Laverna said.

After I explained the problem, she too said that they wouldn't fix the issue, because maybe I'd pushed too hard on the card and broken the spring inside. Really? I've been using card readers for 20 years and this is your response?

I told Laverna they were very useless and I would never buy another Dell. (I probably won't after all this.)

This is my fourth Dell computer. They've always been fairly reliable, but I could tell this 3880 was more cheaply made than my old one. The DVD drive feels like it will fall apart when trying to install a DVD.

Anyway, later I received another message from Laverna at Dell. She'd talked to her manager, and they were going to send me a new internal card reader at no charge to me but I would have to install it.

I asked if this would void the remainder of the warranty and the answer was, probably.

I went to Amazon and bought an external media drive, which should arrive today or tomorrow.

In the meantime, Dell went ahead and began the process of sending me this part, which after learning that it would probably void the remainder of my warranty if I install it, I didn't particularly want.

After I received an email saying the part was on its way, I thought, well, I can just hang on to the part and install it in a year, after the warranty period is up. I don't have a problem using an external card reader. There's a USB port for it.

But maybe I can't hang on to it like that, because there were these indications on the Dell support site that I may have to send the old part back.

Early this morning, I woke to find another Twitter message from Dell. Here's the entire thing:

I left it there, because (a) I'm not getting a monitor, (b) no one is coming to fix this, and (c) the FedEx guy doesn't hang around waiting on things.

My best hope now is that when the part arrives, there is a note in there that says I don't need to send the old part back. An external card reader cost me $15. This part can't cost Dell but what, $1 maybe?

Customer service sure isn't what it used to be. If I had the money, I'd give this one to my husband and purchase something somewhere else.

Bent on Destruction

This box contains my journals. I kept journals from 1985 until about 2003. Then I stopped. I occasionally write something to get it off my chest, but I no longer write daily. It's a good thing, or I would have more to shred.

Yes, I am shredding these. I'm trying to clear out things so that when I pass away, there won't be so much to deal with. Ridding myself and my heirs of these journals was high on my to-do list, and this week, they are being destroyed.

I have noted that I certainly learned to write whilst writing these journals. A lot of them are from creative writing courses - nothing salvageable in them, but I certainly did a lot of writing. (The entire lot of journals, if I sat them side by side, would be about as much as a set of old-fashioned printed encyclopedias.)

Good riddance.

****

What do you need today? What is one way you can give yourself some extra care today?

I need to stop thinking. My brain is on fast forward and I'm having a difficult time turning it off today. I could go read a book. That would give me something else to think about.

Who is someone you admire? Why?

I admire my mother-in-law. She has accepted the pandemic with aplomb, although I know she's much more of a people-person than I am and staying in has been difficult for her. She did a decent job of raising her son - he knows how to fold his t-shirts, for one thing (he actually folds them better than I do). She has aged gracefully and well.

How do you want to feel today? Do you feel that way? What can you do that would help you feel that way?

This seems a lot like the first question in these journal prompts. I would like to feel well. I do not feel well. I am still having stomach issues and have doctors' appointments over the next weeks. Hopefully we can get things settled down.

February Journal Prompts. Join up at Kwizgiver's. 

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

Coronavirus  questions

 

  

In the past year have you–

1. Gone without a bra? 

A. Yes. But I did that before the pandemic.

2. Skipped making your bed? 

A. Not that I recall. I always make my bed in the morning.

3. Ordered groceries to be delivered?

A. We don't have that option in my rural area. We instead do pickup, where we drive to the store and someone loads our groceries in the trunk, and we wave bye-bye and drive back home.

4. Cooked a real meal?

A. Of course. We eat at home mostly now, so every meal is a "real meal" of some kind, cooked by me and occasionally my spouse.

5. Spent the day in pajamas?

A. No. I am always dressed by 9:30 a.m.

6. Skipped shaving your legs?

A. No, I have not.

7. Spent hours on Instagram or Pinterest.

A. I have not. I have never understood the allure of Pinterest and I do not have an Instagram account.

8. Eaten in a restaurant?

A. We have ordered take-out and had picnics in the car outside of the restaurants, but we have not eaten in a restaurant since March 13, 2020.

9. Skipped washing your hair?

A. I do this occasionally anyway, to allow the natural oils to refresh my locks.

10. Not folded the laundry?

A. Some days the laundry is washed and left in the basket. This is nothing new and not related to the pandemic.

11. Worked a puzzle?

A. I have worked puzzles on the computer, but not the kind where you lose the pieces.

12. Had Zoom calls?

A. No. I set up to have a Zoom call but it never happened. I used Facetime over Christmas.

13. Written letters?

A. Yes, I have written letters during the pandemic. I found a pen pal and I also started writing to my first cousin, who lives in Kansas.

14. Binge-watched a TV show?

A. I have not binge-watched a TV show since the pandemic started. I don't watch that much television. I'd rather read a book. I have been binging books.

15. Gone barefoot?

A. I never go barefoot. I can't stand to have my feet uncovered.

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I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.

Saturday 9: Cry

Saturday 9: Cry (1952)

Unfamiliar with this song? Hear it here.

1) In this song, Johnnie Ray assures us we'll feel better if we cry. Do you agree?

A. Generally speaking, I feel better if I'm really upset and finally let it go and have a good cry. It may not make the issue go away, but it allows the feelings release.

2) He also mentions waking from a dream, believing it was real. Has that ever happened to you?

A. Yes, it has. We have a bit of fey in the family and frequently if I dream of my brother, I call him to make sure he's ok.

3) Because this record was such a massive hit, Johnnie Ray was nicknamed "The Prince of Wails." Without looking it up, do you know who is currently the Prince of Wales?

A. I think that is Queen Elizabeth's current husband. But now I will go look it up. Nope. I was wrong. It's Prince Charles. I was on the right track, anyway.

4) To cash in on the success of this single, 20th Century Fox cast Johnnie Ray in a big-budget musical, There's No Business Like Show Business. Today it's best remembered as a Marilyn Monroe movie. Have you seen many of Marilyn's films?

A. I am not sure I've ever seen a single film with Marilyn Monroe in it.

5) After graduating from high school, Johnnie worked at low-paying jobs, including bus boy and soda jerk. He found he made better tips when he began playing piano in restaurants. Have you ever worked for tips?

A. No, I have not. When I was in high school and played in a Top 40 band, we had a set fee. There may have been times a hat was passed for extra, but we had a guaranteed rate to start with.

6) In 1969, Johnnie was in the news a lot again because he performed with Judy Garland during her European tour and was best man at her wedding to Mickey Deans. Tell us what you wore to the most recent wedding you attended.

A. I can't remember the last wedding I attended. I wore nice black pants and a blouse to my nephew's wedding reception a couple of years ago. They eloped and my husband and I threw them a party a few months later. That's as close as I can get to a wedding in the last 20 years.

7) In 1952, when this song was a hit, Mr. Potato Head made his debut. It was the first toy advertised on television. What TV commercial have you seen recently?

A. "Hi, I'm William Shatner, and you may not know this about me, but I was diagnosed with sleep apnea some time ago." Clean your sleep apnea stuff with some machine that must cost a fortune because they are offering $100 off.

8) Also in 1952, chlorophyll was all the rage for banishing bad breath. Colgate led the way by adding it to their toothpaste. Do you use gum, mints, mouthwash, or breath strips?

A. I use Listerine.

9) Random question -- Congratulations! You won a free three night/two day weekend for two in Las Vegas! The weather is predicted to be sunny and 65º each day you're there. It's 12:00 noon on your first day. Are we most likely to find you: a) gambling in the casino or b) having breakfast in bed or c) outside, enjoying the sun and the sights?

A. Hopefully outside taking in the sights.

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I encourage you to visit other participants in Saturday 9 posts and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however.

Cardinals on Ice