Chickens Eating Chicken

Last week my COVID symptoms kept me from doing my cooking shifts at the church. Today I put on my mask and showed up.

I decided to made an easy dinner of grocery store deli fried chicken, potato salad, and sliced tomato.  My shopping list also included milk and bread for the pastor and a package of bacon requested by the associate priest.

At the rectory I said hello to the parish office staff and headed back to the kitchen. After putting the perishables away and doing a few dishes left in the sink I put the bacon in the oven to bake. While it was cooking I took a good look in the refrigerator and realized that no one had eaten leftovers since I had last been there.

The remains from a chicken fajita lunch were now more than a week old. Time for them to go. I wondered if it would be strange to feed them to the chickens? They're omnivores, which means they eat just about anything, but it seemed weird. After thinking about it for a couple minutes, though, I decided to give it a try. 

I know from experience these chickens aren't fans of onions so I sent the vegetables down the garbage disposal, then rinsed the chicken to remove the taco seasoning and cut the strips into small pieces. When the bacon was done I grabbed the bowl of chicken and headed across the parking lot to the coop, where all three hens were out in the run. 

I opened the door and they scattered, but after I tossed the pieces of meat down and walked out they quickly returned. I've never seen them enjoy a snack as much as today's. They were actually squawking at each other as they competed over the morsels. It was so much fun to watch!

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Five years ago: Go Away, Already!

Isolated No More!

Because I was with someone who tested positive for COVID on Monday, the next day I turned to the Centers for Disease Control and Protection for reliable advice. Their page What to Do if You Were Exposed to COVID-19 had a handy Isolation and Exposure calculator. I told the calculator I had been exposed to the virus, had not had a confirmed case of COVID within the past 90 days, and the date I was exposed. The calculator told me that I didn't need to stay home unless I developed symptoms.

On Wednesday, two days after exposure, I woke up with a scratchy throat, a headache, and a general 'off' feeling and changed my weekend plans. Over the course of that day my nose started running, I developed a cough, my body ached, and I couldn't stay awake for more than a couple of hours at a time.

But each day since then got a little better. Today was my fifth day of isolation, and according to the guidelines that meant it was testing day. I was completely symptom free, and it was satisfying to have the test come out negative, meaning I could be out in public places as long as I wear a mask indoors for another five days.

It felt strange, but good to be out. I went to a couple of grocery stores with Hubby Tony. Later in the afternoon we went to Mass, where we sat in the social distancing, masks required section. On the way home I popped into Costco, then drove across the street to a restaurant and got a gyro salad to go.

I suspect the time will go quickly and it won't be long until I'll be putting on a mask by choice instead of by obligation.

Fun Emoji Combinations

Do you know about Google Emoji Kitchen? It's a way to merge two emojis and then use them.

The process is easy. The first step is to go to www.google.com and search for Emoji Kitchen. Next, click on the Get Cooking button.

From the list of available emojis, click on two. They will show up in the first boxes, and the merge will be in the box on the right. There's an option to share your creation via email or social media, or you can right click to copy or save the image.

Sometimes combining two similar emojis came up with different results. For example, joining the newspaper and bear together featured the animal above the fold on the front page. Newspaper and dog had the dog carrying the paper in its mouth.

Combining grinning face with open mouth showing upper teeth and pink hearts yielded hearts with open mouthed smiles. Swapping out the face for pumpkins gave pumpkins with hearts floating above them.

I had a great time wasting time experimenting with the site. If you decide to play with it what do you think?

Five years ago today: Wanted: Cookies

No Retreating For Me

Since June I've been one of 30 women planning a religious retreat at a local retreat center. The event starts on Thursday evening and ends on Sunday morning, but since I'm part of the organizing team my weekend actually starts with set up Thursday morning. It should. But it won't.

Monday morning Hubby Tony and I did money counting at the parish office. The counting is done in a room with a large conference table.Tony and I were at one end of the table and the other two people (another couple) sat at the other end.

Tuesday morning we received an email from one of the other counters saying they had just tested positive for Covid. The CDC guidelines say that anyone exposed should wear a mask, and then isolate if symptoms show up. I mulled over what that would mean for a weekend-long event. I would hate to be the one to pass on the virus to anyone, but I knew that at least one of the planning team members had respiratory issues and chances were good that other planning team members or retreatants would too. 

In the end my mulling was pointless; this morning I woke up with a scratchy throat, a headache, and a general 'off' feeling and it was obvious what I had to do.

I emailed the retreat leadership team and the organizers of the events I was working on to let them know, and made arrangements to drop off my supplies at another team member's house. When that was done I put away the personal items I had piled in the corner of the bedroom to take with me, and recycled the paperwork I no longer needed.

The event will go on without me, but it will be strange to have a quiet weekend instead of the jam-packed one I have been planning for. 

Five years ago today: The Middle Of The Month

A Day To Encourage Others

According to Wikipedia, September 12th is the National Day of Encouragement, a time to provide motivation and positive affirmations toward others.

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Over the years I've found that it doesn't take much effort to build people up. Tonight I participated in a Zoom committee meeting and did my best to be an encourager. As we hashed through some questions one of the members was quiet, and even though I wasn't leading the meeting I went out of my way to ask her what she thought.

At the end of the meeting we had gotten a lot done, and right before I logged off I added a "great job" to everyone. 

Five years ago: Better Than An Exterminator

See You Later, Alligator

Yesterday Hubby Tony and I attended a performance of the play "Million Dollar Quartet". The jukebox musical (where the songs are well-known popular tunes rather than original) dramatizes a recording session at the Sun Record recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee on December 4, 1956. The session included Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis (who was a newcomer at the time). At the end of the show, after the bows, there was a 'encore' concert and each musician performed one complete song. Carl Perkins' was "See You Later Alligator". 

Listening to that made me think of a teacher from the preschool I used to work at who had a wide assortment of rhyming goodbyes. Every day was different, and it was often tied into something the class had talked about earlier. Some of the ones I remember: 

• See you later, Alligator 
• After a while, Crocodile 
• Gotta go, Buffalo 
• See you soon, Racoon (or sometimes Baboon) 
• Gotta Bail, Whale 
• Take care, Polar Bear 
• Peace Out, Trout 
• In a shake, Garter Snake 
• Hit the road, Happy Toad 
• Gotta scat, Cat 
• Can't stay, Blue Jay 
• Bye-bye, Butterfly 
• Toodle-loo, Kangaroo 
• Time to scoot, Little Newt 
• Till then, Penguin 
• Bye now, Brown Cow 
• Adios, Hippos 
• Hasta Mañana, Iguana 
• Out the door, Dinosaur 
• To your house, Quiet Mouse 
• Better skadoodle, Poodle 
• Until then, Hen 
• Adieu, Cockatoo 
• Farewell, Gazelle 
• Hit the Street, Parakeet

Five years ago: In Lieu Of

Formal Preferred, Please

The daughter of a friend of Hubby Tony is getting married in October,. We've had the date on the calendar for months. When the invitation came several weeks ago I was surprised to read that the dress code was 'black tie preferred'. 

Tony and I aren't particularly black tie people. He can get away with wearing a dark suit, but I didn't have anything appropriate to wear hanging in my closet and would have to buy a dress. 

A couple of days after Tony RSVPd we went to the mall to walk. There's a store that always displays fancy formals in the window. I enjoy seeing them, but before that day there was never a reason to go in. I figured all of their merchandise would be too fancy for what I was looking for, but they had a nice selection of dresses that would work for me. That day was a sweltering one, and I was too sweaty to think about trying anything on, but the helpful associate encouraged me to come back later. 

I did browse the formal wear departments of the anchor stores while I was there, and found out their prices were higher. For a couple of weeks I popped into the thrift stores by my house on a regular basis. I didn't have any luck. 

Earlier this week I made a solo trip to the formal shop, tried on some dresses, and settled on my two favorites. The next day Tony went with me and we decided on sequined sheath dress with a lace jacket.

As she rang up the sale I asked the associate about accessories. She gave me suggestions for shoes (black, red, nude, or silver) and purses (which can either match the dress or the shoes). She also told me that in her opinion I did not need any jewelry other than earrings (and I have some fake diamond dangles that I can polish up and use).  

Now I just have to start looking for the other pieces. I'm not a dress shoe type of person either. Wish me luck.

Five years ago: A Wow! Day

Naming Of The Driving Paths

I had a hankering for a good hot dog today, so Hubby Tony and I ended up at Steve's Hot Dogs in the South Grand neighborhood. Ironically, I ended up ordering a Al Hrabratsky bratwurst, a play on the name of Al Hrabosky who is a former Cardinal baseball player and now color commentator for the team. His playing days nickname was the Mad Hungarian, and the sausage was topped with brown mustard, sauerkraut, celery salt and Hungarian paprika. Hubby Tony ordered a St. Louis Dog and we split both, along with a basket of fries.

Coming home on the highway we got in a discussion about the naming conventions for roads.  Tony thought that it made a difference if the road ran east/west or north/south, and that things changed when a road passed through the border from St. Louis City to St. Louis County, but the highway exits we passed didn't prove his points. When we got home we I did some research and found out (thanks to Vox) the differences between streets, boulevards, avenues, and many other types of roads.

The major ones: 

• Roads are the most general category, and a way to connect two points. 

• Streets are public roads with buildings on both sides. They often run perpendicular to avenues. 

• Avenues are public roads, often in a city, usually with trees or buildings on the side. They frequently run perpendicular to a street. 

• Boulevards are wide streets with trees on both sides. They often have a median.

The article goes on to list many other types of roads. Many of them are represented in my area, although when you get out into the suburbs it seems like developers are less inclined to follow the conventions:

• Lanes are narrow roads, often in a rural area. 

• Drives often take their contours from the natural environment like a mountain or lake.

• Ways are small streets off of a road. 

• Courts are roads that end in a circle or loop.

• Terraces usually describe streets following the tops of slopes. 

• Places are roads or streets that usually have no throughway. 

• Alleys are small pathways between buildings. They may or may not be wide enough to drive on.

The next category of roads wasn't part of our driving home discussion, but I found the definitions helpful:

• Frontage Roads are also known as access or service roads. They run parallel to larger roads and provide local access. 

• Highways are major public roads that usually connects multiple cities. 

• Interstates are large, typically federally funded networks of roads that are part of a highway system. They may go between states, but don't have to. 

• Turnpikes are part of a highway, but are usually a toll road. 

• Freeways are part of a highway system. They are large roads with two or more lanes on each side. 

• Parkways are large, decorated public roads. They are named for the parkland that often appears on the side of the road. 

• Causeways are raised roads that pass across low or swampy ground or water. 

• Beltways are highways surrounding a city. 

• Crescents are winding roads that resemble a crescent. They may attach to a road at both ends.

Finding The Right Job

In the United States, Labor Day is celebrated on the first Monday in September. The U.S Department of Labor says that Labor Day is "An annual celebration of the social and economic achievements of American workers".  Most people include the day as part of a three-day weekend.

In honor of the holiday, here's a lengthy resume of someone who quite unsuccessful in the job market:

As a young man:

• My first job was in an orange juice factory, but I couldn't concentrate on the same old boring rind, and I got canned.
• I worked in the woods as a lumberjack, but I just couldn't hack it, so they gave me the axe.
• I tried working in a doughnut shop, but I soon got tired of the hole business.
• I manufactured calendars, but my days were numbered.
• I tried to be a tailor, but I just wasn't suited for it. Mainly because it was a sew-sew job, de-pleating and de-pressing.
• I took a job as an upholsterer, but I never recovered.

In my prime:

• I tried working in a car muffler factory, but that was exhausting.
• I wanted to be a barber, but I just couldn't cut it.
• I was a pilot, but tended to wing it, and I didn't have the right altitude.
• I studied to become a doctor, but I didn't have enough patients for the job.
• I became a Velcro salesman, but I couldn't stick with it.
• I tried my hand at a professional career in tennis, but it wasn't my racket. I was too high strung.
• I became a baker, but it wasn't a cakewalk, and I couldn't make enough dough. They fired me after I left a cake out in the rain.
• I was a masseuse for a while, but I rubbed people the wrong way.
• I managed to get a good job working for a pool maintenance company, but the work was just too draining.

Later in life:

• I became a personal trainer in a gym, but they said I wasn't fit for the job.
• I thought about being a historian, but I couldn't see a future in it.
• I was an electrician, but I found the work shocking and revolting, so they discharged me.
• I tried being a teacher, but I soon lost my principal, my faculties, and my class.
• I turned to farming, but I wasn't outstanding in my field.
• I took a job as an elevator operator. The job had its ups and downs, and I got the shaft.
• I sold origami, but the business folded.

Finally: 

• I took a job at UPS, but I couldn't express myself.
• I tried being a fireman, but I suffered burnout.
• I became a banker, but I lacked interest and maturity, and finally withdrew from the job.
• I was a professional fisherman, but I couldn't live on my net income.
• I worked in a shoe factory, but I just didn't fit in. They thought I was a loafer, and I got the boot.
• I worked at Starbucks, but I had to quit because it was always the same old grind.
• So, I've retired, and I find I'm a perfect fit for this job!

Five years ago today: Emoji Fun

Back Up And Running

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You may remember that on Monday our internet went down, and the earliest technician appointment was last night.

The appointment arrival window was from 5-6 pm. I had a meeting to attend, and when I left the house Hubby Tony had received notification that the technician was on their way. I wished him luck on my way out. 

My meeting ended at 9:00, and I hadn't gotten any updates from Tony. I texted him asking about the project status. Seconds later I learned that we were back online. (Alleluia!) The whole appointment had gone so smoothly he'd even had time to do some grocery shopping and reconnect our TV to the network.

When I got home Tony shared the details of the appointment. I learned that our eight-unit condo building has a master box in the basement. It had so many splitters coming off the main wiring that it was hard for the technician to figure out which one was ours. However, he eventually found the correct set, then realized that our wires were corroded. He put in new ones, which fixed the problem.

 Tony and I will be headed to the store today to buy a nice gift certificate for the neighbor who let us use her signal.

Five years ago today: Downtown Fun