Friday Check In

Ah, the life of a shut-in. I'm losing muscle tone and my tan is balancing out. But not in a good way. At least I'm not gaining weight. I'm used to walking 5 to 7 miles per day. Now I'm at nearly .5 miles per day.

But on the up side, I'm catching up on movies and books I've wanted to enjoy.

Being well connected with many of the lord high muckty mucks in my company, I'm being told to expect to return to work by mid June. Of course that's very subject to change. But at least it's a bit to be hopeful about.

I hope all are well.

Jeff I enjoyed Deathnote. Another anime I always loved watching with my daughter was Monster Rancher always a fun romp. And all the Miyazaki movies are on Netflix I will bare knuckle fight in the rain in a white t-shirt anyone who thinks they aren't simply the best animated movies of all time.

Friday check in. Its May its warm and nice so not complaining at all. Waiting to hear what the recommendations are for the next month. If it does not fit with my safety first view I will be thumbing my nose. This stuff is far from over. Until I feel safe I will be only going outdoors in full hazmat. Sidearm strapped on each side. Twin shotguns on my back and various knives, samurai swords and flame throwers for good measure. And my station wagon now looks like a vehicle from Madmax. I am ready for anything.

So lots of books have been read and music enjoyed. Copious amounts of bread has been baked and bread puddings have been had with custard and ginger beer so I am not complaining at all. The pantry is stocked and spirits are high.

Happy to be here checking in with my CC family. Whats everyone up to this long weekend.??

I had totally forgotten it was Friday, thinking it was Thursday and wondering if everyone else had made a mistake. I must have missed a day somewhere this week.
Stay at home orders are now a thing of the past here in Texas and a number of other states as of this morning. At the same time the death rate is going up. Go figure!
On the other hand with so many folks toting guns and other forms of mayhem like you Seamus, the Governor is between a rock and a hard place. I have a feeling the number of sick is going to back up again and who knows what will happen after that.
Some of the medical staff look absolutely all in and a repeat or worsening of what we already have could break the camel's back.
On the fun side we've been gardening and watching all our veggies grow. We've been walking at the park again every morning using lots of Off. We've been reading lots, watching streaming channels lots and just plain staying out of the way. I don't see that changing for months yet.

Stay safe and well all.
CDM

Without a shadow of a doubt. When people are out and about without comprehensive testing and contact tracking the infection rate is going to grow. This thing is not treatable on scale now. Any of the drugs that show as being effective have not changed the death rate. Meaning without a vaccine people are going to die. Its a conundrum as its hard to keep people indoors but reality is a lot more people are going to die. And should any politician get to choose who lives or dies.

I think not.

It's sunny and warm, two conditions that are so uncommon in Michigan that it must surely be sign of the Apocalypse. So in readiness for the Unexpected, this weekend will be time to clear away all the papers (tax forms, bills, the detritus of responsibility) and eat good food from the remnants in the fridge (my mother-in-law used to call them "Mustgoes") and serving up mindless entertainment on the DVD and On Demand.

We're into the new season of *Killing Eve* and liking it, having finished off the fifth season of *Better Call Saul*. Wonder of wonders, She Who Must Be Obeyed now wants to watch *Breaking Bad* all the way through, something she *would not* do prior to being sucked in by Saul. I am ecstatic--both of our sons and I inhaled that series and still think it's one of the best TV series ever.

So be safe, friend. Poke neighbors with a six foot pole just to be cordial, and keep breathing.
Jeff

Same old boring week. I'm losing muscle tone. And my sun tan is evening out. But not in a good way. Oh well. At least we still have our health.



Me. on my way to the grocery store.

A good sequestered weekend -- I was ensared by Radio Life magazine searches at americanradiohistory.com. I found all kinds of goodies about Suspense changes in casts, changes in titles, and I posted one of them today.

Working on season 7 of Vera, 2 more nights to go. Then we head to Mr Foyle for season 2.

Every time we think we find a movie to watch, we play the trailer and say "nah"!! Been that way for a couple of years now. Have more interest in niche documentaries it seems.

Lamb chops on the grill today... yum

And then tomorrow starts the retiree's week once more 6 six Saturdays in a row -- that's what this confinement has created -- without our various activities it does all seem the same.

We've decided watching "Groundhog Day" would hit way too close to home right now

Today I actually remembered it's Friday. Not an awful lot accomplished this week I must confess. However we have just purchased a flatbed scanner after Mrs CDM decided to break out her scrapbooking hobby again after a period of about 10 years of inactivity. Sitting on the kitchen table are monstrous piles of photos and negatives from almost 50 years of marriage and countless years of family 'troves' before that. So without a doubt next week will be busy indeed. The biggest problem is how to store the digitized copies so I'm going to spend today working that out.

Needless to say radio work has taken a bit of a back seat for now.
Covid-wise, restaurants, churches and shops have started to open up again very slowly but we are not going anywhere except the park for the foreseeable future.

Keep safe and out of the way y'all.

CDM I went through the scan one million pics routine. I bought a 2TB external drive and I copied the files onto that. I then added cloud storage and placed them there securely for family to browse. I then burnt the lot to Bluerays. I also still have the originals. But I went a bit crazy with the digital backup of it all.

Now back to Covid forget flattening the curve etc. Until there is a vaccine no one is safe and even then you could still get it. I will not be eating in restaurants or gathering with crowds until that is covered. My family members recovered. Some of my friends died. Family members had good info going in as I was up on all treatments and cares and especially about not sleeping on your back if you get it. Need to sleep on side or tummy propped up. Its a bastard this thing and too many people are making light of its danger. Next time i hear someone equate death my car accidents with Covid I am coming over to your house and running you over. I will say see you can catch a car accident. The false equivalencies and strawmans are too much to bear. Have your family get it have people you love die then get back to me about you getting a hair cut or going to the beach.

Now onto fun. Lots of books read and music listened too. Tv is now rationed as you can go nuts watching everything. I have a shed in the backyard and I set it up Famous Five or the Find-Outers style with a nice chair and bed for doggo and we go out and read books listen to music and drink gingerbeer. I Know CDM will catch those references.

Life is good we alive, healthy and we have the club to visit everyday. Shoutout to everyone who contributes you time and effort makes us all a family.

We're doing the photo scanning thing, too. It's been really impressive, but we're tossing things out along the way. We've been using an Epson flatbed but also a new Fujitsu document scanner that has just been incredible! Been teaching Mrs GB about backup strategies to the same computer, backup drives, thumb drives, and the cloud. We're covered!

Had about 500 slides to deal with too. The slide viewer we had worked fine and I narrowed it down to 150. Sent them to Larsen Digital in Salt Lake City for 30 cents each and got my hi-res scans the other day. Gosh my father was an awful photographer. Have been sharing with others in the extended family to identify events and people.

Some items that my mother had were large, from the 1930s-1950s, so we brought them to Staples, and they did a great job. I worked in the printing business for 40 years. When I started, a color scanner was $300,000. When you wanted something scanned, you were easily in for $100 each item. That price has plummeted and the quality is much better, too. I know what prices were in the 1970s and 80s -- scanning is free, for all practical purposes, in this marvelous age.

We had good news yesterday as Mrs GB can get a post-op appointment on Monday, 3 weeks earlier than originally scheduled. Hooray! We could use some good news on the vision front.

I hope she can make the appointment on Monday -- because I am cooking on Sunday! I hope it's a memorable Mother's Day for the right reasons

Tuesday evening I am guest on the new Radio Memories podcast with Ted Davenport and Goodmond Danielson. Will advise when they make it available!

Best to all Cobaltian Moms both with us and in our memories

Our sons and daughters-in-law sent my wife a HUGE bouquet of flowers for Mother's Day today and under normal circumstances I would have been unnerved by a masked man standing at the edge of our porch obscured by mums and lilies and painted daisies and snapdragons and any other flora that grew in the Midwest. I mean, the Lone Ranger hasn't been around these parts in some time.

But now our house is filled with fragrance. Here's hoping you all can enjoy the sweet scents of Spring, even if you have to buy a can of Febreze with Gain to do so.

I'll echo Greybelt's best blessings to Cobaltian Mothers everywhere. Oh, and, Space, I'm not calling you a mother when I say that.
Be blessed.
Jeff

Friday doesn't seem to be as important as it used to, does it? At least it doesn't stand out as much. But we should hold on to hope for the future.

We're all living in variations of the same world right now. Worry and boredom in pretty much equal parts. So, I hope everyone can put those things aside every once in a while and find creative ways to laugh and enjoy life. I took a two mile walk today. And that'll be part of my daily regimen from now on. I'd spent so much time in couch potato mode, that I'd started to form roots. And that will never do. Given that my body is used to about five miles per day.

One of my things to stay human, is to add a few bits of decadence to our lives once or twice per week. This week it's a few pounds of Brattwurst and a couple six packs of Guinness. Along with about a dozen hoagie rolls. I'll simmer those sausage in beer, then finish them on the grill. Then they'll be served on the rolls, along with peppers and onion sauteed with a bit of salt and minced garlic. On the side will be a pile of potato pancake medallions, made with garlic, onion, chives, along with a pinch of salt and pepper in the mix. I'll also toss a pile of mustard seed in the blender, with extra virgin olive oil, honey, a pinch of salt and a splash of balsamic vinegar. That'll all go for a wild ride, until it hits the consistency I like. There'll also be a fresh green salad on the side. But that's mostly for looks. Because who would waste time and energy on that, when Ya have Guinness, Bratts and taters?

Locally, we're starting to do limited business openings. They're theoretically following limited capacity, masks and social distancing. But based on what I saw the first day in the grocery store, most of these self absorbed idiots are proving my description of them at the beginning of this sentence, is pretty close to accurate. The wife and I are gonna remain on lockdown for at least a few more weeks.

Well folks, be well, stay safe and try to find moments of joy. And make those mothers and wives feel special this weekend. If for no other reason, because they put up with US!

Trust me Jeff, I've been called a mother somethin' quite a few times. And I probably earned it at least a few of those times. So, no worries.

When I started to digitize our photos, I made separate folders for each year that I could, and placed them in the appropriate folder, If I couldn't figure out the year, it went into a folder like "1960's", or such. The actual photos that were done with a digital camera were no problem because it most often told you the date that it was taken in the properties box.

Hope this help's because I now use these to rotate as different screen savers.

Best regards

Art

RIP Little Richard. A wop bomma loo bop a whop bam boom, but he made me smile and rock out.
Jeff

Some good news on the Mrs GB front
at the time of the surgery she was 20/100 in the affected eye
a month later 20/70
and today, almost three months after surgery 20/30
the vision in the center is still distorted, so the better vision is on the edges
the imaging of the surgical area shows continued healing and the nerves reattaching
just the sense of some progress has lifted her spirits
the doctor said the headaches and fatigue are normal as the brain is still trying to make sense out of the 20/20 information from one eye and the distorted center image with 20/30 at the edges from the other eye. unfortunately it's not something that can be corrected with lenses
only slight cataract forming, so it may be a while, like years, before the next step of the surgery can be done.

all in all -- a good visit -- sometimes just hearing that problems are a normal part of recovery makes you feel better
next visit 5-6 months

thanks always to Cobalt for your prayers and thoughts!!

Its amazing how adaptive the visual cortex is. It can remap your vision after eye surgery. Glad to hear the healing is continuing and remember that telling yourself you are going to get better and being positive has a huge effect on how your body heals. So keep Mrs. GB spirits up and it will do wonders.

It is amazing how adaptive the human body can be if we let it.

The mental attitude of a person can make a huge difference. Joe, your strength and outlook is definitely helping Mrs GB recover. It make take a little while, but she'll get there with your help.

Everyone stay safe

Best regards

Art

Friday... again? So quick... and so many more Foyle's War to go. We finish season 4 one night this weekend and then jump into a different short series and then back to FW. Or at least that's the plan.

The beginning of sustained Summer-like weather is starting in earnest this weekend -- much BBQ ahead and much more enjoying meals outside, too. Much more walking ahead!

Strange accommodations in these times as Saturday some of the belt promotion tests for karate will be done in a parking lot as my teacher watches from his car. Think the Okinawan masters who survived the shellings and fighting of WW2 on their island would be quite confused by all of this after what they went through.

GB I hope that car has AC. I remember attending a weekend JuJitsu seminar in an old school Japanese Gi that was like putting on a burlap sack. I had a severe sunburn on my back and shoulders. I would peel it off after each training day taking skin with it. Of course we were not facing a contagious virus.

Hope everyone is doing well. Monday they are easing the restrictions a bit in Ireland. Family members can get together. More stores opening etc. No big gatherings allowed. I will be be my same cautious self. The virus is still out there. No country at the moment has perfect testing so many unknowns. Reality is local govs are swamped as they have zero pandemic training. I am lucky to have watched enough Sci-fi to know the next wave is planetary Alien drop troops so keep an eye on the skies everyone.

Same old routine for me. Like I said before lucky I work for myself so have been busy. Understand people losing their jobs is hard so we donate to agencies that are helping with that. Everyone does a little bit it lifts the boat.

For TV I just finished a bunch of car shows on Netflix. I really enjoyed Rust Valley Restorers. Bunch of loveable idiots. My Dad be going nuts if saw what they were doing to cars.

Everybody stays safe. Good vibes going out to Mrs. GB and to Tom's wife Carolyn. Lets all stay healthy.

We have spent the week scanning photos & negatives!! Found out that I can easily scan ET labels using the flatbed, which I was not able to do with my previous device. Art, I came to the same conclusion that you did and am scanning by year/month. Much easier that way especially when some of the photos are not in order.

On the viewing front we have finished George Gently and Line of Duty through season 5. Season 6 is not available for streaming here yet. Both series are excellent and I highly recommend them.

North Texas is in the process of opening up everything, supposedly with restrictions but you wouldn't know it. Large gatherings are still out but folks are ignoring that direction as well. The Police have just about given up trying to convince large groups to break it up but they are just ignored. As a result, cases are starting to spike in all the usual hot spots around here.

Stay well y'all.

We had lots of the vacation pictures organized and you can see when it was that the digital camera came into play. The family stuff has been the issue and Mrs got all that done in about two weeks with the document scanner and the flatbed for the bigger items and the rigid and 3-D items. We've been backing up all the way and have been keeping 2 to 3 prior backups just in case. The cruises are easy, we just have those by ship and year. The vacations are by destination and year. The other stuff is mixed, some by topic where we make subfolders with years or people. But it all gets done.

Now we have to decide if we re-name the photo file names. We've decided not to for now, unless it's a particular one or two here and there that we want to be sure we find quickly.

It's been great fun getting it all done, with two Rubbermaid tubs of photos sent to the trash. All in the quest to downsize once more, sometime, somewhere.... unknown at this moment...

Another Friday, another mundane adventureless week gone by. Did my weekly Mad Max trek to the grocery store a couple of days ago. It managed to chip away once more at my faith in humanity. About two thirds of the people I encountered were completely ignoring all of the rules. But I'll continue to do all I can to protect my beloved, "She Who Must Not Be Angered".

Japanese lessons started yesterday. I hate that part at the beginning, when you stay confused and don't feel like you're making progress. But I've been through it before and know that muddling along is all you can do, until you have a real base built. Then it takes off and everything begins to make sense and feel more natural.

Folk's, I'm declaring Saturday as a day of celebration, in honor of the positive medical results for Greybelt and Toebig's wives. Drinks are on the house, through 11:00 p.m. Saturday. Don't blame me, if you're too hungover for church on Sunday. Your lack of self control is not my fault. But it does add to my amusement. As a last resort, ask Seamus for The Cobalt Club's official hangover remedy. Be warned, the cure is worse than the curse. I remember the last time I used... Actually, I have no memory of the two week period after... Hmm... that's interesting.

Friday is here yippeee. The weather has been brilliant. Nice and sunny and warm. I have been out walking the doggo everyday. Even social distancing you can have a nice day out. We walk the hilly areas that not many people want to haul up. We do it for the workout and the good old socratic method of working out your problems on a walk. Always find it clears my head and problems I am working soon pop into place.

I am anxious for news from Jeff and how the flooding is going. I am watching that stuff on the interweb. Looks insane. My good friend Robert was always talking about shit hitting the fan when the Levy breaks. Now I know what he meant.

We are slowly opening things up here because we actually flattened the curve. New infections and deaths have gone way down. We locked down early and that made a huge difference.

Not gonna lie I am making shepherds pie tonight so I am excited about that. Made Irish stew the other day added the traditional Irish stout got a new one from a microbrewery and it was nice and bitter. I do not drink but I use stout in Stews and cakes. The alcohol burns off and you get the delicious hint of flavour. As you all know I am a 15 star chef. Yes my dog awarded me the 15 star rating but he is a legit professional food and chef rater. He showed me his certificate and everything.

Lots of books read, music heard and work done. Plus exercising and walking are kept up diligently.

Couple of random things. How good is the actress playing Joan in the Magic Island of Euclidia? I love her robotic delivery of a child kidnapped and brought up by scientists. And I am beyond excited that Anson Mount is getting his own Star Trek series after playing Captain Christopher Pike in Star Trek Discovery. He was beyond brilliant in that show. His new series "Strange New Worlds" is going to be boffo boxoffice I tell ya...

So check in everyone I want to hear that news from abroad.

What's this Seamus, an Irishman that doesn't drink? I always thought it was in the blood. My mother's family all hailed from Port Laois area - the same was definitely not the same with them! At least you use stout in your stews and Shepherd's Pie - another staple in this household.

We tend to not have the levies and hence the levy breaks in N. Texas but we do get lots of extremely dangerous flash floods. In the summer and fall we can go weeks without any rain and then a deluge. We had that last weekend with 5.82" in a 24 hour period. Only so much is sucked into the ground and then the rest runs off and hence the 'flash' flooding.

Otherwise very hot weather here already and the forecast is for a long hot summer the rest of the way. Not at all comfortable in the mid to late afternoons so we just stay inside.

We're back to watching the end of the Brokenwood series and have just started off Doc Martin, which is set in Cornwall near my childhood haunt of Padstow where my aunt and uncle had a cottage. Just love that area. I don't really like the sci-fi stuff so I'm afraid I am not worthy to join in that conversation.

Keep well y'all.