June 17 [Wednesday]
I’m thoroughly enjoying my Covid-summer evenings on the patio. It gets a little cool, but a long sleeve shirt to supplement my shorts make for a pleasant time out here. Meanwhile, the mosquitos have, in return, been enjoying me. I’m a hairy guy, which covers much of my surface area with varying degrees of shag carpeting to fend off the flying fiends, but my feet and ankles are bare. This is consistently where I’m getting hit by those winged marauders. Tonight I fight back, I’m wearing socks!
June 18 [Thursday]
A team of baby birds is nested in the bush immediately outside our kitchen window, finches I think. They hatched last week. We’ve been enjoying their incessant chirping that sparks up throughout the day. They’re getting bigger, the chicks, because their vocals seem to have dropped an octave yesterday. We’re enjoying the birds. The struggle is to keep Ghost Dog disinterested in the budding family life happening within his realm. We’ve had to keep his encroaching curiosity in check. Given his penchant for killing things [squirrel, rabbit, skunk, lizards, mice and birds], these birds wouldn’t have a chance if he haunched up on his hind legs and were to aggressively get after the bush.
Additionally, just now Steffi and Kelly were stepping out to go to a local restaurant, Butter. A baby bird was on the front walkway, alive, feathered and flightless. I don’t know if it’s a dove or pigeon as I am not classically trained in ornithology. Steffi and I both donned gloves, I climbed the tree from whence it came, located the nest, she handed the chick to me, I replaced it back into the nest. Hope this time it stays there until it’s ready. [Evening update: It didn’t stay. We found it in the street this afternoon and shooed it into the nearest bushes, which were across the street. Steffi researched, these birds apparently leave the nest after 12 days, then flounder on the ground for a few days until either attaining flight or meeting the coyote that will eat them.]
June 19 [Friday]
We had a team meeting for work today, virtual. The subject was broached about my field colleagues and I possibly working from home through the rest of 2020! I was surprised, and greatly disappointed, as I had been hoping for release, at least partial release, sometime in July. I work for a company that is thankfully cautious on behalf of the employees’ health. In this case, I suggest the possibility that it may be too cautious or too premature to speak out so far in advance while Covid-uncertainty is still unfolding. There is a lot of ground to cover before we should yield the entire year. My initial issue, or push back, is that we’re already three months in to working virtually and I’m struggling to retain or regain the interest of some [‘customers’] with whom I work. If we extend this out for another six months [!] it may increase the degree of difficulty to continue doing my job effectively.
Immediately after this morning’s virtual meeting I called a colleague of mine. We both spoke out during the meeting about concerns for going virtual to year-end. His concern, as he told me, is of more urgency and got my attention. If the company decides this job can be conducted virtually, well heck, it might then be reasoned that employees should disembark from an expensive state like California and relocate to a less expensive one. There are already large offices in Georgia and Texas. I’m seven years from retirement and would like to get across the goal line with this employer and without having to move out of state.
June 20 [Saturday]
Happy Fathers Day tomorrow! But for today we celebrated at the Safehouse [my parents’ home], a Fathers Day lunch in the backyard. All four of us went, plus Uncle Joe was present. We picked up lunch at Café Bravo on the way there, dropped off a beer at [my big brother’s] for his Fathers Day reward. We stayed in the Safehouse backyard, socially distanced, donned masks, removed for the meal, naturally. We enjoyed considerable pent-up conversation, it was fun. I also enjoyed the soda, sparkling mineral water, coffee, peach pie and more than four mini-éclairs. [Hey, it was my cheat day.] Fun time, and not just because of the food. Two hours, then departure.
[evening]
Feeling still slightly engorged from a Café Bravo lunch, we opted for an abbreviated supper. I walked down the street to La Villa Kitchen for carne asada nachos [the boy], tacquitos [Wife Klem] and a single beef taco [me]. [My daughter ate bread or noodles for which she made herself, I don’t recall.] As I approached the front door of the restaurant an employee was scanning people’s foreheads to read their temperature before entering. If a patron wanted to dine in they needed to submit to a temperature reading and score under the acceptable temperature threshold. I was there for a walk-in pick up order and was not scanned.
I’d heard about temperature readings for access to stores and airports, related to Covid, and this was my first live sighting in action. The reading was taken with the scanner held at arms length several inches away from the forehead, but jarring to see, really, the almost intrusive interaction we’re now accepting as necessary. I hope this is not our future.
June 23 [Tuesday]
We had some excitement this morning. I’d mentioned the batch of baby birds that hatched and were nesting in a bush immediately outside our kitchen window. They all left the nest sometime between yesterday evening and this morning. One of the chicks must have had trouble keeping up with the others. It was in the yard this morning, unable to fly, and floundering around unable to maintain effective subterfuge. Ghost Dog’s attention was piqued, he inspected, caught and killed it. That was a big bummer. I’d prefer if he killed Fat Tony, the squirrel that occasionally sits on top of the concrete block perimeter wall eating palm dates and hectoring him. Not one of the baby birds that’s been chirping outside our window for two weeks.
June 24 [Wednesday]
While bogged down and immersed in work this afternoon, my mood was buoyed by a surprise visit, my big brother Mike! He dropped off a Fathers Day snack pack loaded with tasty grub. [He felt maybe obligated because we had dropped off a beer and card on his porch last weekend when we went to the Safehouse Saturday.] We masked up and spoke on the front porch for five minutes before he whisked himself to another commitment. I hadn’t seen him since March! I feel like a goof feeling as if I’d commit some grandiose party foul if I were to invite him in, so I did no such thing. I miss my brother and his people.
June 25 [Thursday]
[My daughter] and I made a morning trip to 85 Degrees, a local delicious bakery. There was a line to get in! Not because they were busy, only because they were social distancing. I heard about lines getting into stores and a maximum capacity, [Wife Klem] mentioned the lines to get into Trader Joes and Costco. This is my first time having to wait in line to enter a store. Not a problem, the line moved quickly, I’m merely documenting.
June 28 [Sunday]
Sunday morning visit with [my pal] and his momma in Whittier. I brought pancake combos from IHOP and they were totally delicious. But, of course, pancakes from IHOP, a fella would expect no less. We dined outside, distanced and wore masks when not dining. Fun visit. We then had EBay business to transact. I owed him $77 from the EBay sales of his merchandise on consignment. [We have a 60/40 agreement in his favor because he’s putting up the merchandise.] I also retrieved a box of desirable books to sell, including Steinbeck and Hemingway! I’ll have to research and find out what these’re valued at before listing for sale.
[afternoon]
My N95 mask stinks. Not that it is ill-functioning, but in an olfactory sense. I’ve been using this same disposable mask since the first week of April. At that time I thought the mask requirement would be a short-lived ordeal. I had no concept of possibility at that time the masks would extend for three months with no end in sight. Anyway, I pivoted to a bandana that I will tie over my nose and pie hole. [Wife Klem] handed me the elegant bandana, one of [her mom’s] from years ago. Check me out rocking a vintage omi! Heck yes, with pride. I wore it out to Red Robin for Sunday night dinner pick up, my first outing with the upgrade in precaution gear.
June 29 [Monday] [morning]
I took the day off from work today. I’m at a maximum capacity of vacation days, so I must take at least two days of vacation per month, whether I need it or not so as to make room for additional accrual.
We took the morning for a walking trail at the Back Bay delta in Newport this morning, immediately inland from the coast. A nice trail with calm water below and homes overlooking from the hills on both sides. It was good to force all four of us away from our electronic screens for a few hours. Peaceful.
Now for the Covid angle. This is Orange County and there’s been plenty of push back from OC residents wanting to go mask free. The governor, so upset with the defiance, signed an Executive Order requiring masks for the most populous counties in the state, including Orange, when entering businesses. There were plenty of people on the trail this morning without masks, and sometimes in close confines. I've become so heavily inured with mask awareness for the past three months, that seeing people close up without one is a mental challenge to endure, the reckless heathens. But really, even outdoors if distancing is disallowed, precaution is called for. I can understand, I don’t mask up when going for my walks, but I do try to socially distance. Masks would be nice as a courtesy to everyone, but I don’t think it a kneecapping offence.
[evening]
I made French toast for supper. It was on my 2020 Goals, make French toast, and today, mission accomplished . . . and delightfully consumed. I’ve eaten loads of those things to date, but never made them. Today I have leveled that curve, so to speak. They were delicious and a repeat performance must be considered.
June 30 [Tuesday]
Happy birthday to me, I’m 53! A fun day, even with a full schedule of virtual work, culminating in strawberry shortcake dessert and gift giving! Two bandanas were amongst the bounty. The short-lived vintage omi-bandana mask-era was fun, but has been reclaimed after two days. I’ll rotate the new black and blue bandanas as my face covering.
[evening]
The inaugural playing of a new game for me and [my daughter], Like It Or Stop. I’ve got six minutes to entertain or amuse the opposing player, her. If I do not succeed, game ends at the six-minute mark. Success, though, is a voluntary choosing to exceed the six-minute threshold. Today, for our first gaming ever, I held serve for a victorious eight minutes! My game plan, I referred to my blog and regaled the opposition with live recall of the anecdotes referenced. I think we’ll be able to play again sometime because I saw her smile a few times.
-klem
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment