Meet Me At The Park

A couple of weeks ago the cat rescue Hubby Tony and I foster through offered volunteers the opportunity to attend this afternoon's St. Louis City SC Major League Soccer game as part of the team's community appreciation program. The team just began playing in 2023, and we haven't had a chance to see a match yet. We jumped at the opportunity.

However, for the past few days the meteorologists were warning about potential severe weather in the afternoon (heavy rain, strong wind, very large hail, and possible tornadoes). To us the key word was potential, so we decided not to worry about it. However we did decide to utilize a parking garage some distance away and travel downtown on the Metrolink light rail to keep the car safe just in case the forecasters were correct.

Soccer games don't stop for normal precipitation, and umbrellas are banned in the stadium, so we both brought rain jackets. It was a good thing we did, because on the walk to the stadium it started raining. We pulled out the jackets. Ten minutes later it stopped, and by the time the game started it was sunny. I realized that I hadn't used sunscreen and worried about burning.

I decided to wear a cat shelter logo shirt, but was in the tiny minority that did not have some type of City logo clothing on. However, the shirt was a nice way for other volunteers to identify me. Today's opponent was Austin, represented on the scoreboard as ATX. Tony eventually figured out the initials stood for Austin Texas. Our seats were close to the diehard fan supporters section, where the groups waved flags, sang, chanted, and beat drums during the entire game.

After the first half City was down by one goal. Ten minutes into the second half an announcement was made that there was thunder in the area and play would stop until it passed. The total delay ended up being about 50 minutes. After the game resumed City tried their best, but lost the game 0-1. Tony and I agreed we still had a great time.

Five years ago today: Rules From The Male Side

You're Getting Old!

I was recently introduced to the entertaining website You're Getting Old!, which offers all types of facts about a person's age. The process starts by inputting a birth date:

I found out that I was 24,182 days old. In addition to reading about facts about historical and cultural events that have taken place during my my life I also found out that:

• My age in days equaled those of the singer Adele plus the actress Kristen Stewart added together.

• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 24,177 days ago on October 31st, 1892 (which is nearer to my birth date than today).

• Over the years, I've had 2,211 candles on my birthday cakes.

• The moon has orbited the earth 885 times since I was born.

• Out of 100,000 people born on the same day as I was, approximately 78,719 are still living

Five years ago today: Adventures In Yoga, Virtually

It Was Beautiful Day To Learn Something

Last Friday I was reading the calendar section of the paper and saw that Bellefontaine Cemetery and Arboretum was having a Medal of Honor walking tour today. The event description on the cemetary website said:

Join us at the Arboretum on Medal of Honor Day for our special walking tour. During this two-hour walking tour, you will visit the graves of the 10 Medal of Honor recipients laid to rest at Bellefontaine Cemetery and Arboretum.  At each grave, their accomplishments will be read aloud from the submissions made to secure their accommodation. Attendees will carry flags to each burial location and be part of honoring these 10 heroes of our country.

There was nothing on the calendar, so Hubby Tony and I decided to go.

By the time the tour started at 1:30 pm it was sunny and warm enough to just need a fleece jacket. There were approximately 20 people on the tour, and most looked to be approximately my age. I learned that today was one of the two times each year that the medal recipients had the American and Medal of Honor flags next to their graves refreshed. (The other is on Veteran's Day.)

As the tour left the gathering building each person grabbed a flag (either American or Medal of Honor). At each grave, someone carrying an American flag placed it on the left of the tombstone and someone carrying a Medal of Honor flag did the same thing on the right. The tour guide read the official proclamation that listed their accomplishments and provided extra information.

The vast majority of Medal of Honor recipients at the cemetery fought in the Civil War, but there was one from World War I and one from the U.S.-Korean Conflict of 1871, which I hadn't heard of before. At the end of the walk the group dispersed with no fanfare. 

I can't speak for anyone else, but I was glad to have had the opportunity to combine a nice walk with a little bit of history.

Five years ago today: Let There Be Light

I Found A Government Worker Who Gave A Hoot!

It was almost a month ago that I mailed information to Medicare to prove that I had prescription coverage in 2024.

The USPS Priority envelope I sent was supposed to be delivered within five days. On Day Four I checked the USPS website and the envelope was still in transit. I got the same result on Day Five and Day Seven. On Day Ten the message changed to tell me that they weren't sure when the envelope would actually be delivered.

The lack of mailing success and the reported snafus in the federal workforce made me quite pessimistic that anything would get done. Mike left a comment on the original post, which said "I think the government workers that might get fired don't give a hoot right now." My reply was "I agree. However, I have my fingers crossed that I might find the one who does."

Two days ago I received an envelope from my secondary insurance company. I removed the enclosed letter and began reading.... 

In case it's not big enough, the letter says:

Beneficiary Notice of Late Enrollment Penalty Adjustment Report

Medicare notified us that your late enrollment penalty was recently removed. We are writing to notify you of this change and to confirm the late enrollment penalty has been removed.

I was so happy I did a little happy dance in the kitchen, then filed the letter in case I need to prove everything again some time in the future.

Five years ago today: I Am A Cat And I Sleep Wherever I Want

Plant Kingdom Propagation

Last spring Hubby Tony and I went to our city's farmer's market on opening day. There was a band playing, plants and produce for sale, vendors giving out samples. I spun a wheel of chance and won a small starter pot of mint plant.

Near the end of our visit Tony and I were sitting on a retaining wall listening to the music. I looked down and saw several sedum (stonecrop) leaves laying on the ground. I figured I the fallen leaves were fair game and knew they were easy to propagate. I picked them up and brought them home.

Back at the condo, I discovered I had gotten rid of all my flower pots, but I punched some holes in two recycled plastic containers and added soil. The mint went in one container. In the other I laid the sedum leaves on top of the soil. A month later some of the sedum leaves had shriveled up and died, but several had started growing tiny roots. All summer I watered the plants when I remembered to, and when I went out of town I took the containers down to my neighbor's deck.

Surprisingly, the mint never took off. The sedum plants grew, and when a big rainstorm came through a couple of leaves were knocked off and started growing themselves. At the end of the season I had to figure out what to do with the plants. The condo doesn't have any good place for house plants, and I knew there wasn't enough sun for the mint, but since sedum is sometimes grown as a house plant I decided to bring the pot inside and see what happened. It's made it through, but at this point is looking pretty scraggly.

Today, of course, is the first day of spring. Thanks to some above average temperatures a different variety of sedum in the living retaining wall across the street from our building has started to green up for the year. However, since the average last frost date for the area is April 7th I'm going to leave my fabricated houseplant inside until then. I think it will be happy to feel Nature.

Five years ago today: Virtual Fun

Where In The World?

This afternoon I was doing a puzzle where all of the answers were names of countries. There was a list of county names, and the goal was to fit them together on a crossword puzzle grid. Reading down the list most of the countries were familiar, but down near the bottom of the list I saw Tuvalu, which I had never heard of.

A quick internet search told me that Tuvalu is an island country in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. I started wondering how many other countries I didn't know.

According to the United Nations there are 195 recognized countries in the world. (Two of them are non-members-Vatican City and the State of Palestine.) To find out the country names I scrolled down the list on the World Countries List and found 11 that were new to me.

• Comoros, Djibouti, Mayotte, and Reunion Island are in the Eastern Africa region.
• Guadaloupe is in the Lesser Antiles/Caribbean region
• Kiribati and the Northern Mariana Islands are in the Micronesia/Oceania region
• Pitcairn Island and Wallis and Futuna Islands are in the Polynesia/Oceania region
• Tokelau is in the Oceania/Australia region
• And the Faroe Islands, an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark in Northern Europe
  

Five years ago: The Wearing Of The Green

What A Week!

Every time I've turned around this week there's another notable date on the calendar!

March 11-National COVID-19 Day (The day that the World Health Organization declared COVID a global pandemic. Not exactly a celebratory event, but this meme showed up in my Facebook memories today and still makes me laugh.)

March 14-Pi Day (A celebration of π, the mathematical symbol used to represent a the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter)

Also March 14-314 Day (The original area code for St. Louis is 314, so on this day the city's uniqueness is celebrated)

March 15-Ides of March (The day Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BCE)

March 17-St. Patrick's Day (A celebration of the patron saint of Ireland. The area hosts two parades-one yesterday and another tomorrow.)

Five years ago: The New (Temporary) Normal

An Untypical Friday

My schedule on Friday is usually pretty predictable. I have a meeting at 9:30, then I run errands on the way home. After lunch I get some type of exercise, then mid-afternoon have a snack and do a crossword puzzle before starting on dinner. After dinner I watch TV/read/surf the web until bedtime.

Today didn't flow anything like that, and it was a great day.

Things started changing on Wednesday. Hubby Tony reminded me that this Friday it was his turn to drive donated sandwiches down to two organizations in the city who feed the homeless. The man who usually volunteers with him was going to be out of town. Tony checked around but was unable to find an alternate volunteer.

Tony and I had decided to eat dinner at a Fish Fry at an alternate church this week. He had come up with the suggestion of St. Alphonsus Liguori "Rock" Catholic Church, a historic Black Catholic church in St. Louis. This one was unique because it took place during the lunch hour and afternoon.

Our original plan was to stop by for an early dinner, but when I realized that it wouldn't be too much of a detour from the sandwich donation stops I told Tony I would go with him and we could have a lunch date.

Everything went according to plan. There was even time to walk through some lovely city neighborhoods after delivering the sandwich but before heading to the church. We arrived at 11:15, and I was surprised to see that the parking lot was already full.

The menu had three types of fish, and could be ordered as a meal (with spaghetti, cole slaw, a piece of bread, and a small slice of cake) or a sandwich. We both passed on the cod, which shows up everywhere, and ordered catfish and jack salmon meals.

The church had a nice delivery system. Ordering was done via a paper menu, which had a two-part ticket attached to it. After paying for the food the cashier tore the ticket in half and handed it to us, saying they would call the number when the food was ready.

The kitchen was also doing a substantial number of carry out orders, so it was a little bit of a wait for our food, but it was worth it. Each meal had two large pieces of fish, so Tony and I shared. Both of them were lightly breaded, freshly fried, and piping hot. The side dishes were fresh and tasty. 

On the way home we passed by a veteran's hospital a large group lined both sides of the street, protesting the Trump Administration’s planned cuts to veterans services. When Tony politely honked his horn the nearby protesters cheered.

The Cat, The Mice, And Heaven

One day a cat dies of natural causes and goes to Heaven, where he meets the Lord.

The Lord says to the cat, "You lived a good life, and if there is any way I can make your stay in Heaven more comfortable please let me know."

The cat thinks for a moment and says, "Lord, all my life I have lived with a poor family and had to sleep on a hard wooden floor."

The Lord stops the cat and says, "Say no more," and a wonderful, fluffy pillow appears. A few days later, six mice are killed in a tragic farming accident. All of them go to heaven. Again, the Lord is there to greet them with the same offer.

The mice answer, "All our lives we have been chased. We have had to run from cats, dogs, and even women with brooms. Running, running, running; we're tired of running. Do you think we could have roller skates so that we don't have to run anymore?"

The Lord says, "Say no more" and fits each mouse with beautiful new roller skates.

About a week later, the Lord stops by to see the cat and finds him snoozing on the pillow.

The Lord gently wakes the cat and asks him, "How are things since you got here?"

The cat stretches and yawns, then replies, "It is wonderful here. Better than I could have ever expected. And those 'Meals On Wheels' you've been sending by are the best!"

Five years ago today: Wash Those Hands!

Reclaiming Some Shut-eye

Did you know that the Monday after the return of Daylight Saving Time in most parts of the United States is National Napping Day, meant to make up for the hour of sleep that we lost due to the time change?

I participated in the unofficial holiday, but only partly because of the time change. On Saturday night I was dead tired and in bed long before normal. The last thing I did was set my bedside clock to the time it would be changing to.

I woke up Sunday morning refreshed, and hopeful that my health was back to normal, but as the day unfolded I found myself taking several short naps, and last night I had trouble falling asleep. 

Today I was determined to get my sleep schedule back on track. However, mid-afternoon I had trouble keeping my eyes open, so I set my phone timer for 15 minutes and crawled into bed, which was enough to keep me going. The extra sunlight after dinner also helped.

I've done my part, and hope that tomorrow my schedule is completely reset.

Five years ago today: Time Change Woes

Full Service

Tomorrow night is Hubby Tony's turn to host his friends for poker. This afternoon I tagged along while he purchased the food and snacks.

The first stop was a warehouse club, where Tony grabbed a chicken pot pie from the prepared food section and bags of salad from the refrigerated area. The temperature outside was warm enough that we stopped by the house to drop off the perishable things before heading out again, this time to a local chain grocery store. I pushed the cart and Tony took charge. Ten minutes later the cart held a selection of drinks, sweet and savory snack foods, dinner rolls, and dessert.

One of us is normally at the grocery store every few days, which means there are just a couple of items and we use the self-serve checkout. Today's larger purchase required the use of a cashier. Tony took charge of putting everything on the conveyor belt, then handed off the bags to the bagger.

The cashier had scanned a third of the items when he stopped, explaining that the computer had flagged one of them as expired. It wouldn't let him sell the item, so he had to find and remove it. The item turned out to be the dinner rolls, which should have been pulled from the shelf three days ago. There was no indication of mold, but also no way to know how stale the rolls would have been.

I wonder what would have happened if Tony had scanned his own purchases?

Five years ago: The Blog Post Can Wait

Taking Life One Day At A Time

I am thrilled to report that even though I still have less pep in my step then normal I have been fever-free for 48 hours!

I ended up making a second trip to an urgent care (this time one connected to hospital system of my primary care physician, which was closed over the weekend). There I got a breathing treatment and a prescription for an inhaler. The next day, either the bronchodilators were working or I had finally enough antibiotics in my system to feel substantially better. 

My fever-free milestone means that I can go out in public and not worry about sharing my pneumonia germs with the public. However, I'm not quite ready for prime time yet. I am constantly coughing/blowing my nose, which is annoying for both me and other people. 

Because of my symptoms I'm taking life one day at a time. I've cancelled a volunteer commitment for tomorrow night, and need to decide what to do about a girl's night out on Saturday. The rest of my commitments will fall into line...or not.

When Dessert Doesn't Sound Good I Know I'm Sick!

You may be aware that Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, is tomorrow. The day before Ash Wednesday is known as Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, or Shrove Tuesday (in any culture, a a day noted for its emphasis on excess).

I love celebrating Mardi Gras, but this year not much is going to happen. Even after four days of antibiotics for a diagnosed bacterial pneumonia, little has changed. Google tells me that for healthy people the symptoms usually improve within 48 hours of starting treatment, but I guess I was too optimistic.

I did not get out the large bag of beads, and did not dress the table with the traditional purple, green, and gold. Dinner will be leftovers of the lovely red beans and rice that Hubby Tony cooked on Sunday. He will include cornbread and dessert with his meal. I will not.

Five years ago today: A Very Red Sign Of Spring

Indisposed

Earlier in the week I reported that my health was problematic during my recent vacation. I went to the gym for a Pilates class on Wednesday, but my cough started ramping up and I cancelled the Aqua Zumba class on Thursday. Yesterday I Zoomed into my standing meeting so I wouldn't distract other people. The weather was lovely, so Hubby Tony and I went to a nearby park (so I could social distance myself) and walked. At the end of the 45 minutes I was beat, which usually doesn't happen. For the rest of the day I drank warm water, herbal tea, and tea with honey and lemon. I gargled with saltwater, and steamed my sinuses. Nothing offered more than temporary relief. Last night was almost constant coughing.

When I woke up today I thought maybe things were better, but after breakfast I was researching urgent care centers. There, I was surprised to find out I had a fever, but was COVID- and influenza-free. However, I had a bacterial infection.

I came home with prescriptions for two types of antibiotics and a cough suppressant, and directions to stay home for at least 48 hours or until my fever goes away. Today the living room couch and bed have been my best friends, and probably will be tomorrow too.

If you don't see me for a while at least you'll know why.

Five years ago today: Comments Made In 1957