Day 12 of rollback-California Covid spike-Governor shuts us down
California has seen 12,040 cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours. The Governor says this total is the highest in the nation. We are now deemed a “hot spot”, along with Florida, Arizona, and Texas. California has had 425,616 Covid-19 cases and we have lost 8027 souls. We lead the nation with the most Covid-19 cases.
Friday. 7/24/20
Class enrollment moves to 13…
7:30 – the dog is up and whining at the foot of the stairs. I go downstairs and she pooped in front of the door. Why does she keep doing this? Is she angry at us? I take her outside then give her cheese.
8:00-10:00 – I grab my coffee and book and read outside on the patio. I finish The Day that Went Missing.
10:00-10:30 – I start a load of laundry and water my plants. I listen to The Daily.
11:00-12:00 – I eat a salad for lunch and read Money Diary entries [back by popular demand, MDs are now posted on Mon, Wed, and Fri].
12:00-2:00 – Shower and I also wash and braid my hair, which takes forever. I listen to Airtalk, Today Explained, PBS Newshour, What a Day, and Start Here. I set out a vegetable quiche I made two months ago for defrosting.
2:30-4:00 – Dressed and I tuck my braids in a ball cap and don’t bother wearing make-up because I’m wearing sunglasses and a mask. Yet another study has found that some masks are more effective than others based on the quality of the fabric. My sister-in-law, C., made several, cute masks for L. and I out of brightly colored fabric. Unfortunately, they’re made out of cotton, which is supposed to be the worst material for masks (sigh) although any face covering is a good face covering. HOWEVER, C. created an insert in the event that we want to strengthen the barrier with a paper towel. L. and I never bothered before, but I do it now and will from this point forward after reading the study. L. said she’s still not going to bother with a paper towel.
I go to Whole Foods for my monthly alcohol trip and a couple things that L. was unable to find when she did the bi-monthly shopping last month. I get there around 3:15, trying to time it so there are fewer people in the store, but it is packed. I’ve heard better comments about Trader Joes and might start going there after today. Although the line to get into TJs sometimes snakes around the building, it allegedly moves fast and once inside the store, I’ve heard there are one-way arrows, social distancing, and you can actually see the products. BC, TJs was a complete shit-show and you had to climb over customers who were standing, oblivious, blocking the frozen food sections - kind of like Whole Foods is now – but I’ve heard TJs has changed…
At Whole Foods, customers pour into the store without anyone monitoring the number of people entering. I’m just about inside, when I see a dirty white male (according to a recent study, men are dirty in general and more likely to contract Covid-19 because they don’t wash their hands and are basically unclean) walk right up to the entrance carrying his mask. I notice that most customers put their masks on before they get out of their car.
Once inside, people are jammed up around the produce section and another dirty male is touching all of the tomatoes. What happened to the previous advice from Experts instructing us to just ‘look’ at the item we want to select, then make the visual commitment and only touch the item when you are putting it in your cart? I know exactly what I need and the route I have to take so I move quickly to get strawberries, ground turkey, chicken broth, and two 4-packs of Prosecco. I listen to the Political Gabfest while I shop.
You might remember the snafu that ensued the last time I went to Whole Foods. A customer was paying and grabbing his bags to leave when I moved up to the checkout stand and unloaded a few items at the furthest end of the conveyer belt, closest to me and not even close to the customer. I was admonished by the cashier for not waiting until the customer was entirely gone, even though I had no idea those were the rules. NOW, there is a sign at the front of each checkout stand, instructing customers to wait in line until the person in front of you is completely finished with their transactions. Apparently, other people were just as confused as I was and written instructions were necessary. I say again, “Why the strict orders for social distancing at the check-out stand, when customers are all over each other, social distancing be damned, in the aisles?”
4:30-5:00 – Home and I put the groceries away.
5:00 – 9:00 - Most Fridays for me are ‘paperwork’ days so I retire to my home office to handle odds and ends for the coming week, while reading online news along the way.
-I go to Home Depot.com and order a fluorescent tube for the kitchen; light bulbs for our bathrooms; two batteries for our garage door opener; Simple Green for the yard; and a landscape flood light ‘canister’ as yet another section of the ground lighting went out. I’ve been replacing them, one at a time, as they stop working. It takes a long time to scroll thru online lighting to find the right flood light.
-Bad news: Swisco, the alternative company to Taiwan-based Anderson, no longer has parts for the lift-latch mechanism on my patio door. It’s very likely that I will have to replace the entire door. I ask L. to text her dad pictures of the lock and see if he has any advice.
-I ask L. to tell her dad to text the dog groomers and schedule an appointment for the dog. Why does he have to do this? Because A., the groomer, does not answer the phone and will only respond to my ex-husband’s texts, NOT my texts. This is so irritating, but she does a great job with the dog.
I listen to Southern Fried Crime as I work.
-I call AFLAC and try to cancel my insurance policy. As former law enforcement, I was required to be 100% fit for duty at all times, which meant that if I was sick or injured, I would not be allowed to work until I was completely, 100% recovered. This policy was often shelved for employees who were “in the car” (liked). I saw a supervisor report for work a week after shoulder surgery even though he was unable to pull the seat belt over his lap – as a result, he didn’t have to use ANY of his sick time. If you can’t put on your seatbelt, how do you pull your firearm?
At the same time, a female employee who broke her LEFT foot was prohibited from working for 8 weeks, until her cast came off, because management said she could NOT drive safely. Who drives with their LEFT foot? And, if she couldn’t drive, why wasn’t she allowed to work from home? Because Management didn’t like her. She was forced to burn 8 weeks of sick time.
So, I’ve always known that if the s—t hit the fan, I would be banned from work until I obtained a doctor’s note for clearance. Thus, the reason for AFLAC – my paycheck would be covered as long as I was injured OFF-duty. An injury ON-duty falls under Worker’s Comp. and an entirely different set of rules. By the grace of God, in 25 years, I was never injured and I’m grateful for that. Unfortunately, I paid $130 a month for my AFLAC membership for 25 years (you do the math), but this is how insurance operates.
When I call to cancel my AFLAC membership, I’m told that I can’t do it over the phone – I have to call a husband and wife team (sales reps) instead and I’m certain it will be a long conversation where they try to talk me out of it. I write a letter addressed to AFLAC headquarters, requesting cancellation of my membership, and put it in the mailbox. Hopefully this will work-I’m so sick of talking to people.
-I call Dunn Edwards to see if I can drop off the paint cans tomorrow, but the employee says “our bins are full.” I call a second Dunn Edwards who tells me they are also full and only collect cans on Tuesdays but their ‘sister’ store – the store I just called – can take them. I call Dunn Edwards No. 1 and speak to the same employee, wherein I tell her that the other Dunn Edwards said she should have space. I said, “How can your bins be full already when they were cleared yesterday?” She’s not having it and tells me to call them next Thursday.
-After a month of searching, I find a place that might take my used books. It’s the Goodwill Bookstore in Porter Ranch. This is not your typical Goodwill – it’s an actual bookstore and only books are sold at this location. I call and speak with an employee who says she’ll take 40 books tomorrow.
-After jumping through numerous hoops to register with my HOA’s website, I am finally able to reserve a ONE-hour slot for my community pool for Monday, at 12:00. Lets see what happens.
9:00-11:00 – I make two dishes for L. and I with the boiled chicken I made on Wed. The first is Chicken Soup, so I put chicken and chicken broth into a Dutch oven, and cut up carrots, celery, onion, and spinach. The second is Chicken and Carrots. I slice up several slices of the boiled chicken, sprinkle with paprika, and place in a baking dish, although the chicken is already cooked. Then, I chop up more carrots and steam them. Once soft, I coat the carrots with honey and place everything on top of the chicken. Because I’m chopping up so many vegetables, I go ahead and prepare two spinach salads for lunch tomorrow and the next day, adding chopped zucchini, tomatoes, cheese, and tomato-basil EVOO to the mix.
11:00-12:00 – The kitchen is a disaster so I wash the dishes, put everything away, and take out the trash.
12:00-1:30 – L. and I watch Love After Lockup and scream at the TV.