What I Heard This Week! 06-18-2020
On her way in this morning,Tina said they were playing a game on the radio about super-heroes, which got me to thinking of The Green Hornet and Kato. Go figure. That was a really, long time ago. I Googled (of course) and found that Universal is currently in development for a film based on these beloved superhero characters.The Green Hornet was first a popular radio adventure show in the 1930’s, predating even Superman. In the 1940’s, the character received his own movie serials(each chapter was screened at a movie theater for one week, and ended with a cliffhanger),and then in 1966, a TV adaptation introduced Bruce Lee as Kato. The original story line is about Britt Reid, owner/publisher of The Daily Sentinel. Armed with knowledge from his sources, cool weapons, a supercar known as the Black Beauty and his trusty aide Kato, Reid became the Green Hornet, a vigilante crime fighter wanted by the police and feared by the criminal world. Maybe we could get them to change the story line to Lisa Baker, owner/publisher of The Source Weekly, not afraid of COVID-19, willing to do ‘most’ anything to get it under control, all under the guise of trying to sell you an ad during these hard times. Nah.I do not look good in costumes.
Yes,it is a thing. MaskClub.com. For $9.99 per month, you can be sent a new mask 12 times a year to celebrate the month. No. Let’s face it, we are going to be wearing masks for quite a while so we might as well make a total fashion statement and look good while we’re doing it. It is called fun and remember…we are all in this together. What a great Father’s Day gift.Father’s Day is Sunday. So, if you are reading this on Monday you may have missed it.
As I looked out the window on Saturday, I saw a big green grasshopper. The kind we played with when we were little and would ‘spit tobacco’ on us. National Pollinator Week is June 22-28.Our insect population is declining and this matters for our future food supply and the natural world. We need to learn to share the world with them. The plight of insects is important, so remember the next time you pick up bug killer, unless you are killing roaches. I promise not to shame you for killing roaches. Promise.
Southwest Airlines is predicting that intense competition for passengers will create a brutal low-fare environment. Then I received an email announcing $49 fares. Wow. That hurts.Quaker Oats is removing the name and image of Aunt Jemima from the brand in effort “to make progress toward racial equality.”According to Sesame Street, “like birds of a feather, we’re in this together.” C is for covering your face with a mask, A is for a park and staying six feet apart, R is for remembering to wash your hands, and E is for everyone’s job to help others.CARE.A study of 96,000 COVID-19 patients showed those treated with antimalarial drugs are tied to a higher risk of death.
My niece works at HEB in Bastrop County. They have been stricter there about masks than our county, where everyone seems to think they are invincible. After viewing video footage at the store…my niece said that a man and woman (not together) started talking about coronavirus while both were shopping on the same isle. The woman made her purchases, left the store, then came running, screaming, and yelling that this same man had sprayed her and her car with wasp spray. Well, as it turns out, she had gone to her car, sprayed it and herself with the wasp spray. Hmmm. Thank goodness it was all on video camera. I wonder what was said on the isle.
Juneteenth, a combination of June and nineteenth, is also known as Freedom Day,Jubilee Day and Cel-Liberation Day. All previously enslaved people in Texas were free on this day in 1865. Early celebrations were used as political rallies to give voting instructions to newly freed slaves. In 1872, a group of black community leaders in Texas, all former slaves, pooled together $800 (a seemingly impossible feat at the time) for the purchase of 10 acres of open land as home to celebrate Juneteenth. Today it is known as Houston‘s Emancipation Park and Emancipation Community Center. The modern holiday places much emphasis upon teaching about African American heritage.Wikipedia
RECENT BIRTHDAYS: Pro and College Football Hall of Fame Gale Sayers is 77. His nickname was Kansas Comet. Rock musician Lenny Davidson is 76. The Dave Clark Five. Actress Idina Menzel is 49. Rent, Elphaba in Wicked, & Elsa in Frozen. Rapper Cee Lo Green is 45. Actresses Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen are 34. Singer Tom Jones is 80. Need I say more. Actor Liam Neeson is 68. Actor director Clint Eastwood is 90. Singer Peter Yarrow is 82. Puff, the Magic Dragon. Actress Sharon Gless is 77. Cagney and Lacey.
Artist Christo died at 85. He was best known for radical alternatives to traditional monuments and controversial outdoor sculptures,with his late wife and partner Jeanne-Claude. There were more than 7,500 painted oil barrels floating on a lake in Hyde Park.In 1980, they planned “Surrounded Islands,” renting 11 islands in Miami’s Biscayne Bay for nearly $13,000 and surrounded the perimeters in vivid pink polypropylene fabric. In the process, they cleaned the islands of nearly 40 tons of garbage. It was considered crucial to Miami’s rejuvenation in the 1980’s as a cultural destination.
Annie Glenn, wife of the late John Glenn, died at age 100 from complications of COVID-19. They were married for 73 years at the time of John Glenn’s death in 2016. He was the first American to orbit the Earth and was a Democratic US senator from Ohio, who attributed his accomplishments to his wife’s strength and support.
Notice to my Kids: Changing the toilet paper roll will not cause brain damage. Just risk it.
There comes a time in your life when you need to make a decision. I decided to re-caulk the master bathroom shower at my house. I have saved and saved over the years to re-do part of the bathroom, but something always comes and eats that money. COVID-19 is chewing through it right now, so I decided to just re-caulk the shower and be done with it for now. I gathered my supplies. Months ago, I had googled the best caulk to use and had already purchased it. Silicone. I had pulled out most of the old caulk except where someone in the past had used a sanded version, so some places were impossible to remove without a chisel. I had razor blades, paper towels, gloves, and Windex ready. I cut the first tube. Dang, it was white, and I needed bisque. There were 4 different kinds and colors of caulk used in this one shower and one of them was white, so I thought to myself, surely it won’t look that bad. I did a tiny area. It looked terrible. Another trip to Lowes. No small tubes in the right color so I bought the big one that required a caulk gun. Hmmm. Will I be able to find one of my caulk guns? I knew that my daughter had taken one to school. I was in luck and I climbed back in the shower, then remembered I needed a glass of ice water. One trip to the kitchen. Sigh. I loaded the caulk, then read the side. “Take off tip.” My hands don’t seem to grip as well now, and the tip was not budging. Google, “How to Remove Tip from GE Caulk Tube.” It said to use pliers, so back to the garage. They lied. When I couldn’t get the tip off, another search told me that there wasn’t really a tip. So, where was the cutter that was supposed to be on the caulk gun? After careful inspection, I just used a razor blade to open it and then tried to caulk, but the stuff just wouldn’t come out. I read a little further on the instructions. Ahhh. You must pierce the foil inside. Another trip to the garage where there were no nails long enough or thin enough to use for this purpose. So, I found my wire cutters and cut a coat hanger, impatiently pierced the foil, and started caulking. Oh, and I bent the hanger piece and attached the wire to the caulk gun for next time.(I am assuming it’s like having a baby, you forget the pain and after a while I will try to do the other bathroom.) Wait, I need a wet towel. This time I yelled for my daughter. Several times. She brought me three wet towels (I am raising such a smart girl.) One of the cats had arrived at this time to watch and snicker. About 45 minutes later I was finished, and the shower looks surprisingly good for 22-year-old tile. Now, about that carpet. Who carpets a bathroom?
County Judge Matt Sebesta says that Brazoria County “is losing ground” in efforts to control the spread of COVID-19. When that happens, our hospitals will be full very quickly. The most infected age group is 30 to 49. As I write this, Texas continues setting a new one-day high number of cases for the seventh time in eight days. Texas is also reporting the highest number of hospitalized patients since the outbreak began. Counties are begging to issue more restrictive orders than Governor Abbott has suggested. A new research model shows that over 201,000 people will most likely die in the U.S. by October 1st. This is not the second wave;we are still in the first.
Texas Monthly says, “…Texas is entering the most dangerous period of the pandemic yet…” India recorded 11,929 new cases in a 24-hour period.Science Magazine says that a new study shows roughly 1.7 billion people have at least one of the underlying health conditions that can worsen cases of the virus. That is 1 in 5 people. Increasing evidence suggests that smokers are more likely to become ill and die from COVID-19 than non-smokers, so many life-time smokers are now putting down their cigarettes for good. As we set another daily record for virus hospitalizations, Abbott says he is confident the state can continue reopening while controlling the spread of infections. Then the next article said that Abbott is scolding Texans in their twenties for refusing to wear face masks or practice social distancing. Good grief. Twenty-year-old’s still need clear and precise instructions. You are the Governor of the State of Texas. Make it mandatory. Today.
On Mother’s Day (May 10th) there were only 2 cases of COVID reported in Brazoria County that specific day while we partied and got together with family for the first time. Two weeks later, on Memorial Day Weekend (May 24th) there were 3 cases reported while we partied and got together with friends and family. Fast forward a whole twenty days to this past weekend (June 14th) and we had 42 cases reported in just one day. That’s huge. Paying attention? Are you a part of the solution or part of the problem? We want so badly to be done with this, that we are not doing what we need to do. It is spreading quickly. It was explained on Meet the Press yesterday that we are past a pandemic and are now classified as an endemic and it will continue to be an endemic until a vaccine is found, because people are not doing what they need to do. If every person that is now sick, passes the virus to just one other person, then we are stationary.There is no more working towards the curve. We found the curve, flipped it the finger and went on our merry way, because it’s easier than self-discipline and accepting personal responsibility for our actions. Just because you wake up in a free country every day, does not give you the constitutional right to cause harm to others when they are using common sense. Your needs are not more important than everyone else’s. The rules have been explained to us, oh, so many times. It should be a no-brainer by now. Because you may be contagious but not show any symptoms, social distancing, wearing a mask and keeping our hands clean can almost eliminate the possibility of someone spreading the virus.According to Johns Hopkins University researchers, one person who has COVID-19 can infect two to three other people. If those three each go on to infect three more people, the first person in the chain, patient zero, will have led to 12 cases. And if that plays out just 10 times,the first case will have led to more than 59,000. Hang on. You know the drill. PS – New Zealand is now having soccer games, with people in the stands, no social distancing, and no masks…do you know why? Because they did what they were supposed to do when they were supposed to do it. There is no virus in their country now. If I sound upset, it’s because I am. I feel like we just lost three months of our lives, but I will be nicer next week. Stay safe. Thanks for reading us.
Lisa
