AS: Interesting Times-the 2020 USA thread

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  • That must have made your father's day - I'm so glad to hear the plan worked out so well.
  • bassobasso Shipmate
    Good for the sheriff's department!
  • RossweisseRossweisse Hell Host, 8th Day Host, Glory
    That’s wonderful, jj!
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Well done, JJ - glad your dad had such a nice day! :)
  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host
    I think I was almost as excited as he was!!
    It was about 2:10 AM when I woke remembering his birthday and the fun we would have. My thoughts were springing around in my head so much that I could hardly get back to sleep!
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    JJ - Well, it lifted my spirits too and I'm in a different hemisphere! Well done everyone involved.
  • MaryLouiseMaryLouise Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Fantastic, JJ!
  • NicoleMRNicoleMR Shipmate
    New York City has announced schools will be closed for the remainder of the school year.
  • Golden KeyGolden Key Shipmate, Glory
    Wheee! The "Svengoolie" TV show is running "This Island Earth" right now! (Svengoolie shows old sci-fi, (fairly mild) horror, etc. films, somewhat like MST3K, but less commenting.)

    Anyone else watch "Svengoolie"?
  • Yesterday (Easter Sunday) would have been my father's 100th birthday. He was a World War II veteran. He passed away from cancer back in the 70s.
  • @AuthorDiva May you be blessed by your memories of your father.
  • RossweisseRossweisse Hell Host, 8th Day Host, Glory
    As my Pater used to say, @AuthorDiva, his generation was marching over the horizon at the rate of a company a day. His company departed a little over four years ago. I'm sorry you didn't have your father longer.
  • RuthRuth Shipmate
    NicoleMR wrote: »
    New York City has announced schools will be closed for the remainder of the school year.

    Does that have an effect on the libraries? I don't know how closely the two work together, but I recall your saying something that linked them.

    California schools are also closed for the rest of the school year.
  • NicoleMRNicoleMR Shipmate
    It hasn't been decided by our Higher Ups in the library what's going to happen, or if it has been decided, they haven't told us yet. We're just hanging in and doing our best. I know there is some planning going on for making the Summer Reading Program, which is a major project of the library every year, virtual rather than in person, which would suggest that there are thoughts on keeping us closed, but that's just supposition at this point. There is no actual connection between the library and the schools, but yes, we do tend to work closely together.
  • Oddly our library here in town has been closed, but the staff come in as usual to be available for phone queries and to assist those wanting to download e-books.
  • BabyWombat wrote: »
    Oddly our library here in town has been closed, but the staff come in as usual to be available for phone queries and to assist those wanting to download e-books.
    Same here in our county. Not sure how many staff there are, perhaps only one.

  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host
    We had rain this morning! And thunder rolling around in the Heavens! And frogs! I love frog song!
  • BabyWombat wrote: »
    Oddly our library here in town has been closed, but the staff come in as usual to be available for phone queries and to assist those wanting to download e-books.

    Maybe
    this library
    should have had a staff member around.
    :smile:
  • We have a tiny koi frog pond and it is visited by hawks and eagles, sitting on the overhanging branches and looking for lunch.
  • DooneDoone Shipmate
    Pigwidgeon wrote: »
    BabyWombat wrote: »
    Oddly our library here in town has been closed, but the staff come in as usual to be available for phone queries and to assist those wanting to download e-books.

    Maybe
    this library
    should have had a staff member around.
    :smile:

    Just brilliant 😂!
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    jedijudy wrote: »
    We had rain this morning! And thunder rolling around in the Heavens! And frogs ...
    It sounds as if you're living in the Old Testament ... :mrgreen:
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    Piglet wrote: »
    jedijudy wrote: »
    We had rain this morning! And thunder rolling around in the Heavens! And frogs ...
    It sounds as if you're living in the Old Testament ... :mrgreen:
    Well, there is a plague . . . .

  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host
    If frogs and thunder are plague material, I'll take a dozen, please!
    After the rain passed, we now have low humidity and temps (just 81 right now!!!) and sunshine.

    Hurricane season starts one month from today. I'm enjoying this delightful weather while it lasts!
  • Our libraries are opening up again for kerb-side service next week. I imagine it'll work off their existing hold system, by we'll see. Returns will get quarantined for several days before they're placed back in circulation.
  • PigwidgeonPigwidgeon Shipmate
    It's 90F, clear, and dry here in central Arizona. We've been just briefly getting up to 100F or so this past week, but we'll mostly be in the 90s during the day next week. As long as there's no humidity, I'm happy.
    :smile:

    We don't have hurricanes, but we do have out monsoon season (usually starting early July) with more humidity, dust storms, microbursts, and haboobs.
  • "haboob" is such an interesting word. I just want to keep repeating it. I think I'm cracking finally...
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I had to google it .. :blush:
  • Better Googled than experienced.
  • PigwidgeonPigwidgeon Shipmate
    When the first major one hit (maybe 12 y
    Better Googled than experienced.

    So true!


  • Golden KeyGolden Key Shipmate, Glory
    Re library:

    Wow! I'm guessing the cleaner doesn't read (English?), and/or has never used a library. What a lot of work to do! If not for the virus, I'd suggest getting a bunch of school kids and college students to put the books back in order...expecting a few pranks, but most books would get back in the right order.

    At least it's not permanent damage. Several years back, a woman in...Greece? Eastern Europe?...took it upon herself to clean a painting in her village church. She really cleaned it. IIRC, the damage was thought permanent, but someone was going to see if it could be fixed.
  • PigwidgeonPigwidgeon Shipmate
    When I first went to work at my church office, I noticed something odd about the parish library* -- all of the books were arranged by color. :fearful: My predecessor would bring her young daughters to work with her when they were off from school. One day they were driving her crazy, so she told them to go rearrange the library. I believe the color scheme was her idea, not her daughters'. (I can't tell you how many hours -- of my own time -- I spent trying to put it in a more logical order.)

    *"Parish Library" meaning a motley collection of books, mostly donated by retired or deceased clergy.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Pigwidgeon wrote: »

    *"Parish Library" meaning a motley collection of books, mostly donated by retired or deceased clergy.

    I like the idea of the Rev Jabez Bellwether rising from his grave to gift you his Marie Corelli novels and Melville on Psalms.
  • Pigwidgeon wrote: »
    When I first went to work at my church office, I noticed something odd about the parish library* -- all of the books were arranged by color. :fearful: My predecessor would bring her young daughters to work with her when they were off from school. One day they were driving her crazy, so she told them to go rearrange the library. I believe the color scheme was her idea, not her daughters'. (I can't tell you how many hours -- of my own time -- I spent trying to put it in a more logical order.)

    *"Parish Library" meaning a motley collection of books, mostly donated by retired or deceased clergy.

    That is how I arrange my personal library by color. Not a decorating choice but how I remember them.

  • Pangolin GuerrePangolin Guerre Shipmate
    edited May 2020
    Golden Key wrote: »
    Re library:

    Wow! I'm guessing the cleaner doesn't read (English?), and/or has never used a library. What a lot of work to do! If not for the virus, I'd suggest getting a bunch of school kids and college students to put the books back in order...expecting a few pranks, but most books would get back in the right order.

    At least it's not permanent damage. Several years back, a woman in...Greece? Eastern Europe?...took it upon herself to clean a painting in her village church. She really cleaned it. IIRC, the damage was thought permanent, but someone was going to see if it could be fixed.

    If it's the case that comes to my mind, the "restorer" was in Spain.
  • Golden KeyGolden Key Shipmate, Glory
    PG--

    Yeah, that's it. Thx. Actually, seeing it now, I kind of like the damaged version.
  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host
    We were supposed to have a whole day of rain yesterday. One to four inches, in fact.
    It totally didn't happen. :cry:
    All I noticed were a very few itty-bitty, teensy-weensy specks on the windshield of my car.

    Oh, and Lovebugs are here. (Should post this thought in the TICTH thread!!!)
  • PigwidgeonPigwidgeon Shipmate
    edited May 2020
    jedijudy wrote: »
    We were supposed to have a whole day of rain yesterday. One to four inches, in fact.
    It totally didn't happen. :cry:
    I guess it headed west instead of east. We were not supposed to have rain yesterday, so I wondered what the strange noise was outside while I was eating breakfast. That was a very brief shower, and then we had another not-quite-so-brief one later on in the day. Any rain here in Arizona is newsworthy -- and brings on the mosquitoes.
  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host
    Oh, yes, mosquitoes. At least lovebugs don't bite. A very small benefit!
  • Having been on lockdown for over a month now, and living in a rural area with only 4 other houses near by, Mr Image, the dog and I are very excited to be watching them resurfacing our road today. We looked out of our window for over an hour. Any other time I doubt we would even notice. Well the dog would. Graven Image, who now appears to be very easily entertained.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    It's a feature of the times, GI - I was inordinately excited yesterday when someone went past the house on horseback. :smiley:
  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host
    My mockingbird has been practicing. A lot! Yesterday, he was doing a passable cardinal and pretty accurate hawk. Just now I heard him doing a blue-gray gnatcatcher. He needs a bit more practice on that one. The car alarm was really good, though!!

    It was over a year ago he, or one of his relatives, sat on top of my elm tree singing away. Suddenly, a bluejay flew by, and he immediately started speaking in bluejay!

    A number of years ago, I kept hearing a cell phone ringing in the neighbor's back yard. I finally laid eyes on the mockingbird making that sound.

    Birds are awesome! Mockingbirds are also very entertaining!
  • PigwidgeonPigwidgeon Shipmate
    jedijudy wrote: »
    A number of years ago, I kept hearing a cell phone ringing in the neighbor's back yard. I finally laid eyes on the mockingbird making that sound.
    Many years ago when I had a swimming pool in my backyard I was floating around one afternoon when I heard the outdoor telephone ring (this was before cell phones -- you know, the Good Old Days). I had reason to think it might be important, so I swam over, got out of the pool, too late. This happened a few times. Then the "telephone" rang from the opposite side of the pool, and I realized it was a mockingbird. I could swear it was laughing at me!
  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host
    Pigwidgeon, I suspect that you are right!! Their little bird brains seem to be full of mischief!
  • Several insurance surprises, we just received a refund on our auto insurance last week, shelter in place a lack of driving refund. Not sure if it was the insurance company being generous or the state requiring them to do it. Now we received a notice that starting in August and for the rest of the year our medical insurance will be lower by $20.00 a month. I am guessing fewer claims and non necessary medical treatment is being delayed by many.
    Hope in balances off our higher food prices.
  • Golden KeyGolden Key Shipmate, Glory
    GI, good re lower costs!
  • RuthRuth Shipmate
    I got a refund on my car insurance as well. The state of California ordered companies to refund insurance premiums for March and April. Some companies had already made plans to do so.
  • I have my insurance through USAA. They regularly send me end-of-the-year credits if they have surplus funds. They recently gave me a credit because of the pandemic.

    I've also saved a lot on gasoline. I just noticed today that it's beginning to get a bit low. The last time I filled up was April 7.
  • edited June 2020
    All of the insurance companies appear to have issued the same credit. Of course, there's one particular company, whose ads feature either a certain beloved national landmark or a rather perspicacious emu, that seems to think they're the only one offering this as well as other universally offered perks.
  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host
    Hmmmph. My auto insurance company doesn't seem to be offering any discount or refunds. Maybe I should look into that!
  • bassobasso Shipmate
    Things are slowly opening up in the Bay Area. I got my first haircut in 4 months yesterday. Everybody had masks (mask-wearing is very usual here) and my temp was checked before I was admitted. I stopped at a local salon that I'd gone to several years ago instead of the the inexpensive chain I'd used for a while - I decided to support a local business. They were happy to see me and even remembered me.

    Of course I've been working right through; the grocery business certainly counts as essential so I haven't missed even a day of work.

    It's hard not to think that they're moving too fast and we should really have waited for another month or so before opening. We shall see!
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