Raincharm’s Weblog

Returned home, worked 2 days, and then entered the dreaded world of Covid. After managing to elude it for 3 years, it caught us. Carl first, Saturday, and me by Monday.

I figured it was likely after Carl got sick, so I ran necessary errands on Saturday and worked on time sensitive items on Sunday. I should be able to finish the time sensitive work tomorrow. Still sick, but my brain is working again.

Carl and my journey’s have been very similar, just 2 days apart. The first day was barely able to stay up, but long enough for a video Drs visit to get Paxlovid. I was able to pick it up for Carl, but had to have mine delivered. The second day was better, but still mostly horizontal. Not making any important decisions. Day 3 it feels like recovery is on the horizon, and attempts at doing things can happen. Day 4 for me is tomorrow, but Carl managed to do our laundry, so apparently more energy.

We’ve had to cancel some engagements, like baseball games and donating blood.

And I have to get better soon because I am flying back to Michigan in a bit. I guess I won’t worry quite as much about catching Covid this trip. We figure the likely infection locations were the Mets game or the flight back from NY, even though we were masked on all transit.

At least we got to enjoy a few fleeting flower moments before isolating ourselves in the house.

More time with E. Carl goes to a baseball game. We go on a walk that includes shopping. Some angst. Uber and heading home.

The primary reason for the trip was to get to know E better. And to see Ashlan and Allen. Time with E included the early morning play while his breakfast was being prepared. A few toys and keeping him on the bed/couch. This generally went reasonably well, and he never fell off, so we count it as a success. Most play time was in his play area. About 5′ by 7′ with a padded carpet, surrounded by linked plastic walls. Large enough to accommodate a grown person along with a growing, 26 pound child. Toys entered the enclosure and could be played with until they were unceremoniously flung. Stacking and nesting toys were favorites, along with the shapes that can slide along wire mazes. And especially a smallish container with a purple lid that could be opened and snapped shut. The best is finding exposed wood floor to bang toys against. Of course this activity is discouraged as they are trying to not annoy the downstairs neighbors.

I did get an opportunity to carry E about the hall for a while to distract from the crankies. We looked out of the windows next to the elevator and into the mirrors in the hallway. Oh, and I had a good 45 minute period of unsupervised (by either parent) play while an errand to find cat food was run. We survived.

Carl and Ashlan and two of her friends went to a Mets game on our last evening. The outing was a success, execpt that the Mets played poorly, and it wasn’t really good baseball. 5-0 Nationals win.

We did walk down to the waterfront overlooking Manhattan, twice. We were at the Gantry State Park, across the river from the UN. The first time Carl and I hung out for a while. The second trip was a hit-and-run version, and we slingshot back towards Trader Joe’s and some other grocery store. We wanted to refill their larder before we left town. Next time we need to have some meals in mind to make ahead of time. I find it hard to do on the fly.

They have been working their way through 100 foods for E to try. I think the plantain may have been the final food, although Ashlan was not pleased with how it turned out. E would be a fruititarian if given the choice.

As for angst, I didn’t have a work dream until the last night. But I did get a call on the last day gone that one of my longtime co-workers passed away. She had taken forced retirement (not forced by the office, but by health issues) about a year ago, and it all finally caught up to her. I miss her enthusiasm. A person who truly enjoyed Mondays. And the Seahawks. We do seem to be spending more time than is welcome learning about medical terms and tests.

On arrival in NYC we took the easy route, and got a cab to the apartment. Apparently it’s a flat fee from JFK to Manhattan, but not to Queens. It cost significantly more than the last visit, but then the price of gas is significantly higher too. And I didn’t cherish figuring out the Air Train and subways in the dark after a long day. For the trip back we ordered an Uber, that was not cheap, but more reasonable.

The airport terminal we were in, 7, was pretty uncrowded. Not extremely fast, but definitely not slow. We had left plenty of time for movement around the airport after our bus on the tarmac experience on arrival. None of that today. Walk in, security, find a place to chill and wait for boarding. Piece of cake.

I guess the next thing is to plan the next vacation. There are a few likely potential reasons to leave Seattle. We’ll see what happens next.

Two outings today. First up was a park visit with a few of E’s friends.

Second was a visit to the Jackie Robinson Museum. This included a subway ride. The N to be specific.

It’s only been open for a few months. We spent about 1-1/2 hours reading and looking at most of the exhibits. I learned a few new things as well as seeing evidence of things I thought I knew before.

And we made it back. On the R train to a station. Dinner and some shows, and Carl is snoozing on the couch, soon to be bed.

I feel like I should post a picture of a changing table here

Here is a very hard to decipher picture of planes back ends. I always thought that once I had exited the plane through the jetway, my time on the tarmac for that flight was over. Not so yesterday. We exited, walked for a while and were then directed to a staircase, down, and onto a bus. The bus took off across the tarmac, behind the planes being loaded and unloaded. Use your imagination with the picture, it was dark.

Finally back into the terminal and more walking. Finally to baggage claim and the taxi line. The taxi took about 45 minutes to an hour after we reached the front of the line. But we made it.

Today has been a tired day, with a group birthday party in the middle. Many babies and their parents.

Back at the ranch, everybody spends some time in the pen.

My victory for today was leaving work at 4:30. This is when the office closes. Yesterday it was 8:30 when I left. I am glad I stayed late yesterday. The work I accomplished yesterday made today manageable. Not that there weren’t a few bumps, or I should say edits, along the way. The first set of edits was welcome and expected. The last set came after I had printed and stuffed the letters into envelopes. So, there has been more recycling today than in the last few months together.

I had support from 2 other coworkers who made it possible to get where we got. They were wonderful to help, even though they had to participate in a science fair tonight.

The deadlines are at least partly of my making. Some dates have outside influences, but my taking 4 days off is on me.

My reward at home, a happy face and dinner.

Looking forward to a liesurly evening.

But Carl was

Is it Spring?

Schools have been on Spring Break. Evidence – lighter than normal traffic.

There is baseball. And the baseball games are COLD. My set of clothes includes: long underwear, jeans, socks (sometimes wool), boots, long-sleeved t-shirt, sweater, light jacket, double jacket with a down inner and waterproof outer, scarf, knit hat, liner gloves, and driving gloves.

There are flowers.

The answer from this corner is now a resounding YES.

So, spoiler alert in case you have the game waiting on tape. And if you haven’t done Wordle today, and plan to, don’t scroll too far.

Kansas City Chiefs won. Yeah. Not that I really have an allegiance to either team, but Patrick Mahomes II is the son of a major league baseball player. My biggest complaint about KC is the inane and offensive chant that they do.

The saga of the hacked credit card continued with updating accounts that automatically charge the card. There’s at least one I have to call, but I think that chore is pretty much done.

And we took a relatively short walk to the grocery store to get some snacks.

As part of a more normal Sunday I played Wordle in the morning. Something I have never accomplished before. Got it in one.

And here we go. I got an email from Scarecrow Video, because we are members. They had a link to an article about their store from CNN.

And I watched the Scarecrow story during my normal weekend chore of paying bills and balancing the books. The link was provided to me through an email.

But then there was the other email. Actually a few of them. Two that were obviously spam, with addresses clearly not associated with the subject line. Then one indicating I had signed up for a new account. ???? This was not on my radar. Followed closely by a Fraud alert from our credit card company. YES we were hacked. Two charges, including the one that the CC company caught. I immediately called, checked our account and found the second charge, which they will remove. So the card in question is cancelled with a new card on the way. When it arrives I will spend a few hours tracking down the places that charge automatically.

The only thing that made today easier was after this happened before a few years ago, we got a 2nd credit card. So we could actually still spend money today, if we chose.

We also took a walk, in the drizzle again. And I am sure I took a picture, but it is not on my camera now.

Back to the day’s main events. I got emails from both of the companies where the card was used, not by us. I replied to both, they already had my email, and suggested they cancel the purchase and not send the merchandise. One of the emails even had a name and address of where the purchase was to be sent. I plan to offer this info to the credit card company tomorrow.

So, to make my scattered brain think I did something today I am posting a picture from this morning. Breakfast before the day started.

Today was a typical Seattle winter day. At least how I remember them. You can be out in the rain all day and never get wet. Damp yes, wet no. This is why many Seattleites eschew umbrellas.

We walked in the rain. A few errands, and dropped off our ballot in a ballot box. King County adds more ballot boxes every year, and ballots may be mailed with no postage affixed. This is what making voting easier looks like.

The most exciting thing that happened on the walk was the number of sirens and emergency vehicles we encountered. First it was 2 fire trucks and a medic responding to a location a few blocks off of our route. Then there were numerous police and state patrol vehicles whizzing around with lights and sirens. I figure there were at least 10, and we rather veered away from the roads they were traveling.

I took what I thought might be a nice picture of moss on steps, but apparently my phone disagreed and decided to not save the image. So I will share one from a few days ago, notice the sun.