Peter, we had a hard freeze two mornings ago and possibly another one tonight. Palisade peaches will be rare this year and other fruit probably as well. Worst freeze in more than 20 years. If you are not familiar with Palisade peaches, you have missed something large and juicy in good years. Palisade is a town just east of Grand Jct. and has lots of orchards. it snowed up here today, though it melted right away. On the Front Range is can snow into May and up in the "foothills" (we lived at 7,900') it snowed one year on the first day of summer—3" and it stuck. But here we are in a warmer and drier place, so snow in mid-April is infrequent and a several day cold snap even more unusual.
I haven't seen a lot of cows in the Grand Valley, although some are certainly here. We used to live in ranching country (Delta Co.), but no longer. I think the auctions are now being done via internet, but some ranchers are so adamant to stay a century behind, I don't know what they do. Ranchers are not known for flexibility. The meat packing plants are on the other side of the state in northeast Colorado in Greeley, a town you can smell coming up the road. Meat processing plants are known to be less than gentile places to work and many have been raided by ICE before the virus arrived.
I expect there to be all sorts of supply problems for everything for quite a while until people adjust. The administration's recommendations to reopen are available. I also have read "A Roadmap to Reopening" by the American Enterprise Institute. The latter is far superior in content and scope and can be found online for the more curious. AEI and I don't agree on most anything, but their report is well done and much clearer to understand and follow. Our county is not reporting new test results lately. The number of pending results—they had risen to 227 a few days ago—disappeared from their website today. Looks like they sent them to a lab that is far, far behind and they don't know what to do. A moving protest is scheduled for Saturday to challenge restrictions and a county commission candidate is telling people this is nothing, masks spread the virus and other untruths. Rebellion!
Snowing again. Makes it easier to stay in.
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Gene
The Airstream is sold; a 2016 Nash 24M replaced it.
Hi, maybe the damn airlines will remove half of the seats so real people can actually enjoy a long flight. Or maybe they will just freeze dry us for the flight.
The geniuses at Ryanair wanted to replace those seats with semi-squatting stools so they could cram even more onto a flight.
Gene made a good point about converting some pax planes to cargo. My friend's airline just put all their older wide bodies on the block and canned 1,800 pilots, including him. If I owned that airline, I would convert those wide bodies into cargo planes. Diversification is never a bad thing.
__________________ easily distracted by shiny objects
Enjoy your contributions to The Breakfast Show, even if I do not acknowledge every reply.
I hope everyone remains well, physically and mentally. I have had some trouble sleeping. I usually sleep like the proverbial baby in the FaN, but had a nightmare a few nights ago. Someone was trying to suffocate me with a surgical mask. Woke up feeling claustrophobic and just had to get out of there. In the middle of the night, wearing my torn nightie. That's what I get for procrastinating what I truly needed before the pandemic hit - new sleepwear. Truly a minor annoyance in the scope of things, but I hope those feelings of claustrophobia do not return tonight.
That's why I chose the Airstream. Those large windows do not promote any feeling of being closed in, but we are in a different sphere now. If it rains tonight, that would help That rain on the AS roof is so relaxing. z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z
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I realize this is not a new thought, but with companies under such stress and many deciding to just bag it, we are entering a New World, dunno how Brave, but New. Nothing will be the same after we are released from durance vile.
So along with reinventing myself, our culture is going to have to reinvent itself, too. Hope we are strong enough to be good at this....
I realize this is not a new thought, but with companies under such stress and many deciding to just bag it, we are entering a New World, dunno how Brave, but New. Nothing will be the same after we are released from durance vile.
So along with reinventing myself, our culture is going to have to reinvent itself, too. Hope we are strong enough to be good at this....
Vivian
Hi Vivian.
Good point about that reinvention. I think the after effect of this pandemic will be deeper than 9/11. "Durance vile" is an apt analogy.
I feel bad for the seniors imprisoned by their extended-care homes. They can only look out the window to see the flowers, the sky, and the faces of their loved ones.
__________________ easily distracted by shiny objects
I realize this is not a new thought, but with companies under such stress and many deciding to just bag it, we are entering a New World, dunno how Brave, but New. Nothing will be the same after we are released from durance vile.
So along with reinventing myself, our culture is going to have to reinvent itself, too. Hope we are strong enough to be good at this....
Vivian
We are.
We are going to have to reinvent some wheels and learn new ways of living, but humans have been doing that after wars, famines, plagues, etc., for thousands of years.
We can do it, and we will.
Maggie
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🏡 🚐 Cherish and appreciate those you love. This moment could be your last.🌹🐚
Thanks Peter. Unfortunately I misinterpreted some of the Health Dep't data and the hospitalization rate was for recovered and sick people and I thought it was for current cases. So they didn't add up because I missed a footnote. I'm embarrassed and already sent the director of the dep't an apology. I didn't know the Sentinel published columns online the day before.
There seems to be a lot of pressure here to reopen and the number of cases seems very low. I have been told today that the health dep't is sure they have only negatives in the pending cases and that is hard to believe. I will follow up on that. Maybe are lucky. Maybe they haven't tested enough. Maybe seniors in long term residential facilities (everything from nursing homes to assisted living) have been very lucky and no one has brought the virus into any of the places. Once it gets into one, it seems guaranteed to spread and kill. I read today half of the deaths in Canada are in such places and one in Montreal has been hit very hard. It does look like overall Canada has far, far fewer cases than the US.
Perhaps the worldwide reduction in pollution and climate warming gases will save more lives than we lose from Covid-19. That would be an interesting statistic to research.
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Gene
The Airstream is sold; a 2016 Nash 24M replaced it.
Perhaps the worldwide reduction in pollution and climate warming gases will save more lives than we lose from Covid-19. That would be an interesting statistic to research
Very interesting. The space shot of the Venetian canals show cleaner water.
The fatality rate from human activity (traffic accidents in particular) has also decreased.
It does look like overall Canada has far, far fewer cases than the US.
Am guessing our weather may have had something to do with that. Just as the virus was breaking, most Canadians had already isolated themselves indoors.
Thank goodness the virus did not begin its silent rampage in November and December, particularly during the Christmas season. The infection rate would have been staggering.
Gene, our military has stepped in to help the exhausted medical staff, particularly those in senior homes. Has the U.S. done the same? Might be a good point in your next column. The seniors in your editorial jurisdiction should be grateful for your voice!
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There has been very little involvement by the military here (except to get sick on the aircraft carrier in Guam). There were the two hospital ships, but they could only provide 1 to 2 thousand beds in the country's two biggest cities. The Army Corps of Engineers has been involved in building some temporary facilities. Otherwise, not much I know about. The federal government here has pretty much abdicated responsibility and that includes the military. Some, maybe most or all, governors have called out some National Guard units to help with various needs.
Traffic here on the interstate (70) that passes through is down about 15%, not really a lot, but local traffic is down appreciably. That's nice. I will interview the director of the health department this week even though I criticized his dep't. I see summer style clouds outside and warm temps are welcome even though it makes the travel bug more active. Soon we will be able to worry about West Nile virus—that's another one often asymptomatic. It killed a friend two years ago.
One thing that helps bring peace when I am worried more than is useful is to take my temperature. So far, always normal for both of us.
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Gene
The Airstream is sold; a 2016 Nash 24M replaced it.
One thing that helps bring peace when I am worried more than is useful is to take my temperature. So far, always normal for both of us.
Was just reading about the peanut-butter test; the loss of the sense of smell is
an indicator, especially in those who are generally asymptomatic. If you can smell pb, you're okay.
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Our local CostCo in Mesa, AZ did the senior hours thing. There was a serpentine cart line that was completely full of hundreds of seniors. The late arrivals faced many hours in line. We arrived at 1:30pm and had a very short line to going into the storeand it took three admission cycles to get into the store. The usual paper products were captured by the first group in as only one pallet to TP had arrived. Meats and veggies were readily available. I wondered at the over a hundred dollar roasts in the cooler that required a good sized gathering of friends to enjoy.
Gene, that was a great article and pertinent to every locality. Listening to the airways and TV I realize that the truth is also a extremely scarce commodity.
We are hanging in there, but it is a wet spring in Arizona with many pollens in the air causing running noses and sinus issues. Heightens the stress levels of wondering what if....
On Thursday last we went to the Costco in North Scottsdale, arrived at 07:50, senior time was to be 08:00 to 09:00. There were at least 200 to 300 old folks in the parking lot lined up with Police on duty keeping the line. No way when home return on Friday around 14:00 line was only 5 minutes wait. Inside no paper products. Other items were in store. What is it with TP?? The virus doesn’t cause the runs.
The TP thing, according to a story on MSNBC a couple of weeks ago, was that residential TP is produced at factories maxed out normally. Since people are staying home, they are not using commercial TP which is made by other companies which can't make the softer version used in homes. So more people at home, more TP used there, shortage. Reports some time ago were than about 10% of patients with Covid-19 did get diarrhea. I would expect those would be more serious patients though because the virus seems to take long time to work its way through your body. Maybe they are using hospital TP. You could buy one of those commercial TP dispensers tat have the narrow, rough stuff and then order commercial TP, or go to hardware store and buy some 600 grit sandpaper, or an auto supply store and get 2,400 grit. These are so fine that it may compare to that stuff in the big rolls.
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Gene
The Airstream is sold; a 2016 Nash 24M replaced it.
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Hi, maybe the damn airlines will remove half of the seats so real people can actually enjoy a long flight. Or maybe they will just freeze dry us for the flight. 
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