Sandwiches for lunch?

Well--‘twas my day to prepare lunch at the Geddes Ranchero and, thanks to an ingredient a neighbor (Ms. Wilma) provided, I was able to put together two pretty good sandwiches. On taking them to my spouse, and pointing out what they were, she asked “where, pray tell, did you find any Elk?” Well, that being said, I told her I’d explain completely, after she evaluated the sandwich. Which she did, very positively, I might add, and with a smile on both our faces, I pointed out we already had the Eggs, and the cheese, and when Wilma came up with with the lettuce, our “Elc” sandwiches were just the thing for our luncheon menu. Interesting, wouldn’t you say?

Of course, this will not be passed on to our one and only grandchild who still maintains a few illusions about our “Christmas” gatherings!

Scientific problems--scientific solutions

Working on a post for my facebook play book, and one of my neighbors caught me at it! Seems one of the neighborhood "children" found some of my cat food attractive--well more than just attractive, I guess, more like mama than anything. You see, another baby possum pretty much left the wet cat food and the dry cat food alone while sucking up the entire helping of moo-milk that the cats also, normally, may or may not find attractive. Guess it was a good time for possum youngster, more like a second or third grade possum than a baby, this one, in any case. If I were inclined, I could have caught and tamed it. Luckily, I was not so inclined. My dog would not have appreciated it, and my wife would not have appreciated it, and I would not have appreciated the rearrangement I would have found for my night-time accomodations.  

Well, that's just what is on the agenda for this evening--pointing out one of the neighborhood denizens. I think they live in the sewers most of the time, coming out if there is a really bad storm, of course. I expect there are worse places to live--the sewers are fairly high in moisture, which really isn't a problem for our little buddies, their accoutirement is not negatively impacted, and the water, such as it is, beats the alternative, especially when one is relatively resistant to the various other creature life that may be carried along in the water. Mankind isn't as resistant as possumkind, I suspect, when it comes to dealing with bacteria and other life forms that may be found in our rainfall and waters of other description that may be found in our drainage sewers.  

Which brings up one additional question--while we are looking for people having resistance to covid-19 by having recovered from said infection, I wonder how such might be handled by our marsupial cousins? Could it be they would be more resistant to this somewhat major distraction than we? I wonder.  

Then, again, maybe a cold-water solution might be worth considering. We do eat fish, don't we? So, if we were to infect some of these little friends of ours with our disease of interest, and find they are not particularly offended with our little problem, maybe a serum made from the blood of this God-given food source would be worth considering. While we are searching for solutions, why exempt any of our food sources?  

How about it, CDC? How about it?

Chocolate chip cookies, and Charlie

Sitting here in our living room, my wife and I were finishing up our breakfast snack. Taking a bite our of a chocolate chip cookie she handed me, I looked at the remainder before putting it in my mouth, first mistake of the morning (and if you believe that, read on, friend!)

Still here? Well, thanks. In any case, looking at my remainder of the chocolate chip cookie (from Fresh Market, at that,) I took it over to Jennie and said “look at this.” Which she did, for about two seconds, before that look of recognition appeared on her face. “It’s Charlie!” She exclaimed--pointing out the nose, eye, mouth, and little colorations of brown on top of the golden coat of our son’s Lab. And, what she saw was exactly what I had seen a few moments earlier. We were in total agreement, for the first time all morning. Thank goodness for small favors.

I returned to my seat on the couch, looked out our living room window at the front lawn, and casually polopped the cookie into my mouth.

Now some things you just should do and some things you probably should not do. This was the latter. I, the sometime auspicious photographer, at that, ate Charlie. Nearly made me sick. If throwing him up would have done the least bit of good, that is exactly what I would have done. Poor Charlie.

I went to my bedroom and stretched out. Nothing seemed to help. I went back to the living room and told wife about my misdeed. She laughed. That did it. Guess I won’t be sick--at least not over this.  Plenty of other things to be sick over (the noon news should do the trick!)  Guess I’d better call Stash to be sure all is well with dear old Charlie! Anyone agree with me on this? (Yep, there goes one hand up in the back of the room.)

And thanks for that, my friend!

Covid-19 vs Us

 A friend of mine and I needed a place to sit down and discuss the news of the day, and we thought the City’s Carolina Bay outdoor area might suit our needs. We met there at 9 AM this morning and took a look at the trail around the bay before sitting down on the covered outdoor structure at the bay. We were able to observe the outdoor life: A couple of Canada Geese, a few turtles, and a number of other bird species provided a bit of entertainment as we had a brief discussion of our understanding of the problems of the day. We were the only two people there which, considering the time of day, was not unusual.

After we had enjoyed each other’s company for about an hour, a city truck drove up. The driver told us the structure, and, indeed, the Carolina Bay area itself was closed to the public due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the City’s thinking the use of its facilities could promote the passing on of the disease. Whether this is the case, or not, it is a decision that was made by our city council, or so we suspect. We were not aware of the prohibition of using the structure we were having our coffee at until the city employee informed us of that fact. We thanked him and left. Hopefully no one who might have used the structure prior to the time we were there left anything that could cause either of us any difficulties. No telling if this might be the case, or not. Guess we will know in the next couple of weeks, though, and will pass any info we might be party to at that time on to anyone else who may have an interest. So, what can I tell you? Keep reading, and let us know how you are faring in today’s viral environment if you develop any problems.

Just out of curiosity, though, we wonder how many people have been tossed off the walk/run track at the park. It seems quite a few walkers are not maintaining anything like a 6 foot separation which, we are told, is something we should be doing to protect ourselves. Is this a problem? If not to them, then why were we considered as being in danger from our interaction? Neither of us has experienced any symptoms of a viral attack. So what might be considered as being the problem here?

Is it just possible that too much is being done to help us all stay healthy? Anyone else have any thoughts on the matter? If so, maybe a phone call to City Hall might be in order. In any case, do what you can to protect yourself, and to protect me in the mean time too.

And thanks for that, my friend!