Stuck in place

You may eventually figure out that I am realllllllly bored: 3 posts in a week.

I have even turned off the television as it was just an irritant. I have all these streaming services available to me and I just can't get interested in anything. I spend more time seeing what is on each service than I do watching anything. The only thing I watch with any regularity is Rizzoli and Isles. And that's mostly because I have seen the entire series before. Also, Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander are both very attractive women. But I can't watch more than one, or on the rare occasion, two episodes at a a time.

The weather has been mixed this weekend. Nice on Friday and Saturday, some rain, Sunday was rainy to start but cleared up and then an arctic cold front decided to remind us that we have no control over the weather.

 

I subscribed to a Home Depot Group on Facebook. About all I am seeing is how the employees (called associates) are being run ragged by customers who are assholes, by the temporary(we hope) curbside pickup process, government mandated limits on number of customers allowed in stores, other employees calling out for personal reasons, managers who have no clue, and all the social distancing requirements heaped upon us. Our store has not been too bad, at least while I am there. I have conversations with customers. I have done door duty and found most folks understand the new procedures. I have helped pull orders and load things onto pickups and into cars. I have helped bring in shopping carts because our lot loaders are busy pulling orders and loading. I have been in six different departments in a four hour shift (I am a part-timer). I have used our electric ladders to downstock depleted merchandise. The store management team is right in there alongside us doing the same stuff. People are doing things we had no real procedures for and are inventing on the fly.

I have read that some state governments are having us shut down flooring, paint and garden as non-essential services. Hardware, electrical, plumbing, lumber, appliances and building materials are necessities to keep houses together.

I read that some states are mandating the use of masks for employees and customers alike. When that happens, I go claustrophobic and stay home during open hours, and just stay for the restock portion of my shift. I have spoken with several medical professionals who shop at our store and they ALL agreed that the cloth masks do no good. I'll just go wash my hands.

It has been in the media that Home Depot is looking out for the folks on the floor. Overtime is available and will be paid at double rate instead of time and a half, personal days off are greatly increased for this year, a small weekly bonus will be included in our paychecks, extra money is being sent to the stores for snacks and food for the employees, gift cards for local restaurants are being given out, and even though we are closing early, at 6pm, we are scheduled to stay for our regular schedule until 10 to do the clean up and down stocking so we don't have to do it with customers in the aisles.

Since we are one of the few store open during this thing, we have been super busy. Also since a lot of folks are quarantined out of their offices and businesses, they have time to work on those tasks that have been piling up. I am not allowed to say what our sales plan is, but I know we are beating weekly goals by Saturday afternoons, at least for the last three weeks.

I had the weekend scheduled off and told the managers they could call me in if they needed me. Apparently, they didn't need me. So I did laundry. Even washed the dogs bedding. Now I have to go sort out the clothes and put them away and make up the bed.

Right now, I don't know if I am hungry or bored or tired. A possible combination of all three is the most likely answer.







These are my grandsons. 5 years old and 17 months. They are best buddies. I miss them.

SiriusXM, are you serious

While imprisoned in my own home for the last few days, I have, on and off, been listening to SiriusXM on my smart tv. They are now playing what they call the 1000 most important songs of the classic rock era. What they mean, aside from Jimi Hendrix and Santana, the best 1000 songs by white guys. It seems acts like Sly and the Family Stone, Otis Redding, Edwin Starr, all of Motown and Stax (Nashville), the Romantics, and a host of other non-white guys couldn't make the cut. I have heard some truly forgettable songs by good acts, but not their best.

I am not saying I am totally qualified to choose the best songs of all time from any particular era, but I know what I grew up listening to. The songs on the list should be the ones that you sang along to in the car. You danced with you first crush. The ones you had on you turntable or cassette deck or (dare I say it) reel to reel player.

I just looked at the list published elsewhere. And the comments that followed. I realize there is no way on this pandemic earth we can all agree on the top songs. A lot of the comments said their favorite was rated too low. A couple of the comments were in line with my above stated question. As I looked down the list, I did a "wtf" noise that that particular song was even included.

SiriusXM has a poop load of channels to listen to. I have been known to switch out of  a song that I like, but only sort of, looking for a song I like better. And yes, I even have easy listening jazz and other weird stuff. Even a country station I listen to when driving long distances. It's OUtlaw Country with Willie and the boys. Old shit. Like me.

Living the Orange Life

A warning: I am eating Lorna Doone cookies and drinking Blue Norther vodka from the local distillery, so this may make less sense as it goes along.

The pandemic has hit the major population centers, notably New York, New Jersey, Detroit, Minneapolis, and Chicago. Because the federal government is run by the zany, uneducated, greedy crew from the RNC, little is being done on a national level to help the situation. The state governors are trying to step up to the plate and get shit done. Today we passed the 2000 deaths mark for a single day. The orange hued idiot in charge is saying we need to lift restrictions and get people back to work. We need to spread the rate of infection way beyond the ability of the medical service providers to cope with the situation is what he is really saying. Now he has made Jared and Ivanka in charge of supplies and then determining when restrictions are to be lifted. We, Are. Fucked. Jared says the NATIONAL supply is not for the states to use, and Ivanka will listen to her daddy to say that we should lift all restrictions for work and business and travel so the American economy can restart and they can say donald made the economy strong again and the Dow Jones and S&P averages are up so he should be re-elected. On the contrary, it will result in the deaths of several thousand more people.

On the local level, we here in Texoma are not feeling the impact of the Covid 19 like the rest of the world. A few cases in Denison the originated from someone attending Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but not much else. Due to some smart acting by the state government ( I can't believe I am saying this), non-essential stuff, except for Hobby Lobby, was shut down and restaurants were take out and delivery only. Home Depot and Lowes are considered "essential services" and remain available to the public. Since everyone else is not in their offices and have all this free time, projects need to be completed, and since no one else is available for a shopping trip, Depot and Lowes find themselves inundated. There was a metric devised to help maintain the six feet of separation: only 150 people at a time would be allowed into the stores. There is only one way in and two ways out. An application was built for our portable phone to help maintain that count and as long as the assigned people at the exits did their job, we could maximize the customer flow through the store. It was rocky the first couple of days and we showed 79 people still in the store an hour after closing. they weren't really there, just an accounting error. Some stores reported unruly and beligerent behavior and rude remarks, but for the most part the folks understood, and the lines moved quickly.

There are a lot of folks wearing masks, and some with gloves. Some of the customers I saw earlier in the day with masks weren't wearing them when they came back for that one or two things they forgot. I didn't mention it and they didn't either. Most of the employees aren't wearing masks or gloves. I spoke with a couple of medical professionals who weren't masked and they confirmed my thoughts that the masks were of little value. I said it gave the folks some feeling of contributing, and they said it was a very false sense of security.

A couple of the additional services we are providing are Buy Online, Pick Up in Store(BOPIS) and curbside pickup. We have, for a long time, had BOPIS. The curbside pickup is a little different. You send in an order online and as soon as we can, we pull the order for you. When you get to the store, you will park in one of ten designate spots and call into the store to let us know you are here and we bring the stuff out to you. If you have proper ID, we either load it for you or let you load it. Both of these systems involve additional people and they are being pulled from the sales floor. This means fewer people on the floor to assist the idiots who don't know which end of a screwdriver to use.

And factor that we have 8 to 10% of our folks out because of sick or fear of sick, you can easily see that we are trying to do everything with a short staff.

Reminds me of two things: first the Seabees motto: "we have done so much for so long with so little, we are qualified to do everything with nothing at all." Second is the story of the window washer in a high rise apartment building. He is washing the windows on and upper story outside a bathroom. As he is squeeging, a well endowed young lady steps out of he shower. She sees the window washer and with her towel out of reach, she puts a hand over her lower parts and an arm across her breasts. The ma notices her predicament and tries to console her. "hey, lady, if the Good Lord had meant for you to cover up, he would have given you three hands!"

There is probably a lot more to be said, but for now, I need to get to bed and get some sleep. It has been a very long week.

Happy chocolate bunny day!

Lock it Down

My daughter is re starting her blog, Maybe in this Pandemic, we should all start or restart our blogs to record whatever thoughts we may encounter within ourselves.

This self-shuttering is nothing new for some of us. Since the divorce in 2018, and the subsequent move to Sherman, Texas, my life has been one of monastic proportions. Except for the occasional family get-together or visit from my son because he had project to get done on short notice, I have very little contact with the world around me. Yes, there is a movie theater, many pretty good restaurants, shopping centers, and other sites to visit. But I have no need of any of that. I have multiple movie streaming services for entertainment. I have a working stove and refrigerator so I can cook whatever I feel like at the moment. The only shopping I need to do besides groceries is done where I work at the Home Depot. I tried the church thing to see if I could form any relationships there, but with my work schedule, my attendance was spotty, and I never felt like I fit in to any of that.

So, I am affected very little by the "stay away from everybody" rules. Except for where I work. Yes, at 71+ I am still putting on the orange apron three to five days a week. I do go a little cabin fever crazy being separated from society, so I mingle (now at a safe distance) with the people of Texoma.

Oh, by the way, the question as to new transportation got resolved last May. The 2000 AstroVan was being quite uncooperative when it rained and had a lot of trouble starting. I missed one day of work and was late another day. Since I had been looking at various vehicles, notably the Kia Sorrento, Ford Flex, and Chevy Traverse, I was developing a plan, of sorts. One Friday in May, I checked online one last time before going to work. Reliable Chevrolet had a great deal on a 2018 Traverse with 31000 miles on it. I had to leave for work right then, but checked the computer at work to confirm what I saw. I emailed them and also called to let them know I would be down there on the next day to buy that car. By the time I got there, the salesman was ready to go, we drove it a bit, he checked my credit level and we went to the finance office to finalize everything.

I had thought about keeping the Astro for  the days it would start and use it as a materials hauler. I went back the next day and tried to start it, but it would not start. Again. I called a haul-it-away company and they gave me $200 for the van and hauled it off. It started right up that time.

Aside from the lack of van sized hauling space, I really like my new car. Sirius XM, heated seats, blind spot indicators, links with my phone for navigation, almost 30 mpg on the highway, and a host of other things I am still learning about.

On a sadder note, the elder dog, Duchess, is ailing. Sometime in December, she started getting real skinny. I took her to the vet who gave me some recommendations, and they sort of worked for a short period. She is thinner now. She still jumps up when I get the leashes. And she prances in the back yard. I hand feed her baked chicken, but some of that passes right through her only partially digested. Some nights she pees on the kitchen floor, and I have cleaned up runny brown stuff that should have been better digested. I am expecting to come home to her lifeless body one day.

Stay well. Stay safely apart. Vote Blue.

In Colorado

Yes, loyal readers of this blog, I am, in fact, in Colorado. I am in Breckenridge, staying at the Grand Colorado on Peak 8, Suite 1323D.

Why, you may certainly ask, are you in Colorado when there is so much work to be done at your house? Yes, you may ask. And I have been asking myself that same question all week.

The backstory on this current adventure into attempted hypoxic hypoxia starts after the events of March 2, 2018, or as it has become known: Independence Day. Not just Texas Independence Day, but my own. My divorce was proclaimed final on that day. The now ex-wife and I are still friendly toward one another, if cautiously. As part of the divorce settlement, she was to take possession of the annual timeshare week at Peak 7 in Breckenridge, and I was to own the biannual week at Tanglewood in Pottsboro, Texas. It had been her constant insistence that we vacation in Breckenridge or that she travel with our daughter or she go alone every year that led to our purchase of the timeshare here. And there have been, lately, a few times when it went unused.

So as I was clarifying my situation last October with the folks at Tanglewood resort, I deposited my week with Interval International. When I do that, I normally get a "bonus week" to be used at a limited number of resorts. As luck would have it, Grand Colorado on Peak 8 was one of those resorts. I called Kathy and told her that I was able to do that in either June or August and we could match it up with her week and spend two consecutive weeks in the mountains. She chose June, just to get away from early Texas heat. So I signed us up for the two weeks on October 4th.

She does not remember the phone calls. She remembers everything else I have ever said, whether I said it or not, but does does not remember that conversation.

An unfortunate occurrence happened in her life, after she had traveled to Europe and Macchu Picchu and where ever else she went. There were several small lumps discovered in one breast. That happened in late October or early November. Because our daughter and two very young grandsons were coming from Korea to visit, she decided to keep it her "little secret". In January, she told her sons, and eventually, after the oldest told me, let me know. She was keeping it from us while Kyla+2 were her so the focus was on the visitors. A couple of times Kyla asked me what was going on with Kathy. She knew something was up.

After surgery, which removed any precancerous growths, there was chemotherapy, and physical therapy. I should also note that Kathy, after we sold the house (another potential blog), initially lived in motels and moved stuff in and out of here four, now three, storage units as necessary. In September or October she finally agreed with our sons that she needed better living arrangements and found a small apartment in Plano, ten minutes away from either son.

Even though I discussed this with her in front of the family a few times, she began to deny knowing anything about the arrangements. After surgery and chemo and being all alone in her 800 square foot apartment, she began to think about how I had "betrayed her" and "gone around her" and " she had no need of me" and whatever else scared and lonely people think about. In discussions as we got closer to the time of the scheduled vacation, she verbally lashed out and said she had no desire to spend ANY time with me. I was to make my own arrangements for lodging for that second week or she could just not go and I WILL reimburse her for her annual fees of $910. I agreed to that.

I am guessing that some of her friends or therapists or family finally got through to her that a week in the mountains would be very beneficial. Soooo, after hemming and hawing (whatever that means), she decided to come up. She was going to come up on Thursday or Friday, but airfares were greatly lower on Saturday. And with all her leave-me-alone-I will-do-this-myself posturing, she is asking family to get her to and from the airport. And she has asked me to drive down to Denver airport to pick her up. Which I will gladly do. And she asked if we could go to church together on Pentecost Sunday. And she will need help getting groceries. And maybe looking at real estate listings. And..... Which I will gladly do for her.

After all, I am the one who fucked up her life.

As for what I have done this week: Mostly slept in. Ate a late breakfast in the condo each day. Walked around downtown Breckenridge, ate meals at restaurants I had never been to, sampled wine and whisky, had a sales presentation that bordered on fraud, and consumed a bit more alcohol than normal, attempting hystotoxic hypoxia as well. I met some ladies from Montana while sampling wine, a bartender who is a very intense Red Sox fan, the head chef at Breckenridge Distillery Restaurant, a very pretty bartender who has moved her ambitions from Sociology to Psychology to Law, a former member of the Israeli Defense Force who is now selling skin treatments, and a few of the local residents who had some funny stories to tell about some of the vacationers who are here from the lowlands only once a year. The valley floor is 9600 feet above sea level. I live at 620.

I also had the opportunity to get my signatures where they needed to be so that we could transfer the title of the Peak 7 timeshares to Kathy's name only. I will help direct Kathy to the Contracts Office so she can complete the process.

The plan for next week, I think, is get her settled into her lodgings, church on Sunday, look at real estate, and then kick me out. I told her my plan could be to go to Grand Junction, then Gunnison, then somewhere else, and then home. Because of my curiosity regarding Gunnison, I may stop there for a short period and then head home to do whatever I can to work on the house. And see my dogs. And then probably get Kathy from the airport on the following Saturday. Just because....

Another chilly day in Texoma

The weather for the first few days of February was almost spring-like. Highs in the 70s, High 50s at night. The dogs and I took the long walk route for about three or four days.

Then the bottom fell out. At least temperature-wise. It may hit the mid 30s today. Needless to say, there won't be any strolls after dark tonight.

Not much going on here. I just replaced a couple of fans that irritated me. One, in the media room, was fitting for a little girl with all the pink designs and cute little shades. It has been replaced with a satin nickel fan with black blades. The one in the kitchen was an old one that I had bought almost 30 years ago for the house in Plano. It was a cheap fan that made a buzzing, humming noise no matter what speed setting. It was replaced with another white fan that is absolutely silent.

The floor in the entry and hallway is torn out. Whoever installed the cement board did not properly laminate it to the underlayment, so it was very easy to remove. It was held down with screws, but since it was Durock, it pulled right through and I was able to remove the screws with a drill. I found a slight depression in one area that I will have to fill to level, but it should not take much.

The Astrovan is still giving me an occasional headache. Fortunately, the battery is strong. I have to crank it for a few minutes before the fuel gets into the firing chamber, making for a rough start. A friend at work has been giving me advice on resolving the issue. He indicated certain additives will help clean the fuel injectors, making for an easier start. I just have to wait until I use most of the fuel in the existing tankful. I am supposed to put the additive into an almost empty tank and then fill it with High Octane gas. We'll see what happens.

I sit here sometimes questioning why I still go to work at Home Depot. Then I look at the list of projects I am attempting to accomplish. They all cost money. Now, I have money in the bank, but fear of growing old and outliving it is always in the back of my mind. There is also the social aspect of it. I have zero social life outside of work here in Sherman. The grandkids are in Allen, and the kids are in Allen and Plano. And I let the ex-wife verbally abuse me occasionally, just so I will have had someone to talk with, or listen to, as is mostly the case. She just had Cancer elimination surgery, and is now doing the chemo and other therapies.

Another reason to stay with it is, looking back at Decembers expenses, there are occasional drains on the checking account that are not necessarily in the budget. A new mattress and rental car for my daughter's visit and paying to get my keys out of a locked van and new carpet and so on and so on. Once again, the money is there, but I feel the need to build up my reserves again. I have been totally broke, living on credit card purchases. I do not want that ever again.

I have several doctor appointments in the next few weeks. Hopefully one of them will get around to prescribing something for my high blood pressure. The other thing is that I need to get a Primary Care Physician. When I signed up for my Medicare Advantage Plan, they assigned me a doctor's name, but I haven't even talked with anyone yet. That is probably what I should be doing today, rather than typing out a Blog that no one will ever read.

One last thing: Google has said they were shutting down their Google+ stuff. I don't know if that also means they are killing the Blogger, but, if they are, I will set something up on another site. Yes, I know no one will ever read it, but what the hell, it gives me something to do every couple of months or so.

December thoughts

Since my last post was two months ago, I thought I would add a new one.

Besides, it is COLD and raining outside and I have to go to work in a few hours.

Mostly happy stuff. Daughter and her sons have come to Texas to visit from Korea. She initially stayed at my house, which meant I had some cleaning to do, but it was worth every minute of vacuuming, dusting and washing. Marek is now four and Rowan is three months, but wearing six months clothes as he is that big already. Marek and I have been goofing around, playing with Legos and other kid stuff. I have had the opportunity to feed and then change diapers on Rowan. Kyla is in the business of making different fudge recipes for her clientele in Korea and experimented with a couple here in Sherman. It's alll good.

Kathy finally moved into an apartment. She has been living in motels and going on various trips to keep herself occupied. She is slowly finding out all the shit I had been doing for her and not telling her. I just smile and nod when she mentions it.

Grandson JM2 had his tonsils out. and then that branch of the family all experienced some sort of bug. Good part is that they are all over it now and cousins can get together.

Aaron is about done with his drafting classwork. Now to find a job that can use what he has learned. He says he may have some leads.

My social circle is increasing. Well, not necessarily social circle, but I am meeting more people. Most of them I call "doctor" and they all seem to have "-ologist" in their title: cardiologist, pulmonologist, hematologist, nephrologist, etc. I had an incident of a pulmonary embolism, a blood clot in my lungs which made my heart and kidneys stressed and a few other things. I have now been tested and probed and sampled and evaluated in several different ways. I think I am all right for a 70 year old obese white male, and the tests are saying, so far, that I may live a few more years, at least long enough to finish working on this house.

I finished painting the living room, dining room (dog's room), and hallways. Carpet is ordered and will be installed in a couple of days. Yes, I went a little expensive for the carpet, but it will be the last carpet I install in that room, and I got the premium pad to go with it.

I painted the garage and most of the trim. I installed the corner trim and am waiting on friendly weather to get to the fascia. I will then do the decorative trim on the east side of the garage, which almost no one will ever notice but me and a couple of the neighbors.

After abovementioned family departs, I will be tearing out the tile in the entry and hallway, leveling out the floor and installing a wood plank floor. With luck, it should take one or two days for removal and aboutbthe same for installation. I may have to install an underlayment becasuse there might be just OSB down there. Just more dollars expended, more effort, but I will have a beautiful floor.

And I am starting to look a new vehicles again. The Astro keeps on making weird noises and my dashboard indicators light up at random. The local guy can't catch whatever is going on when it goes on, and everything runs okay for a while, but then the machine gets tempermental. I have looked at chevy and GMC vans online and even the Chevy Traverse. A couple of Suburbans have shown up that appear attractive, but with outrageously high mileage. But I will keep looking. I think this van will last a short while as it is.

So. Things are moving along well. I don't have a lot to complain about. And whatever I am complaining about is minor compared to the good stuff happening to me.

Now, if we can get donald out of the White House and in front of a firing squad, all will be better in the world.