Post a good thing that happened in your life today

[spacecadet]

15 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

Hard to know if it makes a difference

It's not "hard to know". A couple of anecdotes don't change the simple fact that vaccination vastly reduces the chances of serious illness and death.

What is "hard" is to see such a clear falsehood repeated. I don't know what it says about attitudes in the US that you even know anyone unvaccinated. I certainly don't.

Very depressing that this still have to be called out after two and a half years of so much suffering.

[Betty LaRue]

11 hours ago, spacecadet said:

It's not "hard to know". A couple of anecdotes don't change the simple fact that vaccination vastly reduces the chances of serious illness and death.

What is "hard" is to see such a clear falsehood repeated. I don't know what it says about attitudes in the US that you even know anyone unvaccinated. I certainly don't.

Very depressing that this still have to be called out after two and a half years of so much suffering.

And it is very hilarious that you, who said you blocked me, you just can’t resist, can you? 😂🤣 And the anecdotes I wrote are only a drop in the bucket, I didn’t want to bore with all of them. I gave examples. It is a falsehood in your eyes, a truth in mine. You have no idea what is true and false and it is very disingenuous of you to say what you don’t know for a fact. What I said are facts, not untruths. Would you like to come over and interview these people? I’m sure they would enjoy a laugh.

Oh, and by the way, I am blocking you, not giving it lip service or posturing like you’re the only smart person in the room.

The only thing I can say is I personally don’t know of any of the truly old people who died of Covid, I didn’t know any personally like I personally know the others. I’ve heard of them, but didn’t know their vaccination status.

And by the way, my very respected and popular Cardiologist told me his wife was unvaccinated and the only reason he was is because he was forced into it to work.

Edited October 19, 2022 by Betty LaRue

[spacecadet]

Just a heads-up in case anyone doesn't know it yet.

When a post is quoted, blocking doesn't work.

Oh, and while I'm probably not the smartest person in the room, according to the evidence I'm probably not the dumbest either.

Edited October 19, 2022 by spacecadet

[Dave Richards]

Heads down folks. Sparks and red arrows are flying!🤬

[Rebecca Ore]

10 hours ago, Dave Richards said:

Heads down folks. Sparks and red arrows are flying!🤬

 

We had people come to Nicaragua and Costa Rica because they believed that these countries were properly ignoring it or something.  The first cases in Costa Rica were gringo tourists who didn't die.  The first cases in Nicaragua were also imported.  Sometime after it was first in the country, a couple came down to consider moving to Nicaragua.  He developed a lung problem that the high end hospital said matching Chinese Covid x-rays, but since they were a private hospital, they would have to transfer him to a public hospital for the tests and treatment since they were out of spaces for Covid patients.  The wife refused to do this and took him to a hotel where he died less than two or three days later (she was posting on Facebook as things happened).

 

People known to me did die of it here.  Being irresponsible about it like so many US citizens was making me tear up a little thinking about that couple. 

 

My friend who was vaccinated and given boosters had adult onset asthma, so had a preexisting condition.  He had a mild case.   Same has been true of others who caught it recently despite being vaccinated.

 

I also have preexisting conditions, decided not to take the chance.

 

My guess is that people who rolled the dice and lost didn't talk about it.   I know that the health service here was testing possible cases (my helper was tested but didn't have it, and I know of others who were tested. 

 

Nicaraguans are  now getting vaccines and boosters at about the same time as my family in the US, but at first, there just weren't any vaccines. 

 

People are still selling masks here.   In a country with dengue, malaria, mountain leprosy, and Chagus disease, plus another that I can't spell off the top of my head, people are more likely to take sensible precautions than in places where insects can't kill you. 

Edited October 20, 2022 by Rebecca Ore

[spacecadet]

4 hours ago, Rebecca Ore said:

My guess is that people who rolled the dice and lost didn't talk about it. 

......because they're six feet under, alas.

[Betty LaRue]

10 hours ago, Rebecca Ore said:

 

We had people come to Nicaragua and Costa Rica because they believed that these countries were properly ignoring it or something.  The first cases in Costa Rica were gringo tourists who didn't die.  The first cases in Nicaragua were also imported.  Sometime after it was first in the country, a couple came down to consider moving to Nicaragua.  He developed a lung problem that the high end hospital said matching Chinese Covid x-rays, but since they were a private hospital, they would have to transfer him to a public hospital for the tests and treatment since they were out of spaces for Covid patients.  The wife refused to do this and took him to a hotel where he died less than two or three days later (she was posting on Facebook as things happened).

 

People known to me did die of it here.  Being irresponsible about it like so many US citizens was making me tear up a little thinking about that couple. 

 

My friend who was vaccinated and given boosters had adult onset asthma, so had a preexisting condition.  He had a mild case.   Same has been true of others who caught it recently despite being vaccinated.

 

I also have preexisting conditions, decided not to take the chance.

 

My guess is that people who rolled the dice and lost didn't talk about it.   I know that the health service here was testing possible cases (my helper was tested but didn't have it, and I know of others who were tested. 

 

Nicaraguans are  now getting vaccines and boosters at about the same time as my family in the US, but at first, there just weren't any vaccines. 

 

People are still selling masks here.   In a country with dengue, malaria, mountain leprosy, and Chagus disease, plus another that I can't spell off the top of my head, people are more likely to take sensible precautions than in places where insects can't kill you. 

The people I spoke of were family members and neighbors. I have 3 children, they have spouses and children and some of those have children. I have 10 great grandchildren so far.  I have two sisters, one has 5 children, the other 3, with extended family from those. When I start counting, there are a lot of people and the family members represent a good cross section of all ages and health status.

I know the vaccination status of all of them, they share and discuss because we start a prayer chain for the sick. It’s pretty close to 50-50. Nobody criticizes anyone for their personal decisions. It’s a live and let live mentality, nobody should cast aspersions on anyone.

One of my sisters (the oldest) has many things wrong with her, COPD, kidneys, heart…she took one shot and one booster, both made her very sick, the worst from the booster (almost had to be hospitalized) but no more because her immune system is nil and she found out after the fact that the vaccine doesn’t work for her…it builds virtually no immunity. She’s now getting gamma globulin infusions to build up her immune system.

 

Another very close family member has Rheumatoid arthritis. She takes drugs that actually suppresses her immune system so it won’t attack her joints. Her doctors (she has several) told her to not get the vaccine because she would get no immunity but she might suffer side effects for no good reason. Her husband is vaccinated. He got Covid from work last January, she got Covid from church a couple of months later. Neither infected each other because they were careful. Their course of the illness was comparable. Her sore throat was worse than his, his cough tickle and runny nose was worse.  Neither ever had to see a doctor over it, but both took the anti-viral med, begun within two days of getting sick.

 

My neighbors, a couple….one was vaccinated, the other not. They both got Covid at the same time, similar symptoms and recovery. The man told me they never argued about it, but accepted each other’s decisions. He said they fussed more over what color to paint the trim on their windows! 😁

Another family couple, the ones that caught Covid in Europe, were both vaccinated with several boosters. He has diabetes, she doesn’t. Both overweight. Illness the same.
When any family member gets sick, we spread the news to the rest of the family and get updates.
So don’t shoot the messenger. Not one single family member, vaccinated or not, got sick enough for it to be a concern. They just felt lousy for awhile and missed work.  Most of them had one of the Omicron variants, but about 1/4 to 1/3 of them got the early bad variant. Delta? Most caught it at work, a few got Omicron at church after things opened back up. A few had no idea where they got it.

I realize a lot of people died from it, I watch and read the news. It’s been a looong time around here since there have been any reported Covid deaths.  All I have spoken about is from my own family, friends and neighbors, which none lost their lives, vaccinated or not. Maybe my family is unique.
Yesterday the newspaper reported Covid is mutating faster than the vaccine makers can keep up with, that may be why so many of my vaccinated family got it anyway. One always has to consider whether the vaccinated feel invincible and the unvaccinated are more careful.

Most of the time when I see a medical provider, they still are all masked. A few of the patients mask, most no longer do as “usually” it’s not required like it was for so long. In my area of the country, it is said that Covid has been reduced to an illness similar to the flu. When I go out and about, seeing someone masked is a rarity.
Some of my family who caught Covid in the last year told me their past flu infections were worse and lasted longer. Since I haven’t had Covid, I can’t say. It’s been 30 years since I last had the flu (had it 3 times) the last two when I was vaccinated, and the only reason I wasn’t hospitalized is because I promised my doctor (begged) that I’d stay in bed. I got pneumonia from it twice. I was much sicker then from the flu than what Covid is doing to family members presently.

I’m getting my flu shot this week.

[John Mitchell]

On 17/10/2022 at 08:44, Rebecca Ore said:

 

110ish, on a 40 amp circuit of its own, so if I have to clean or replace it, that gets turned off.  My current one can get quite hot, but running more water through it, turning the tap more open, cools it off.  It's basically a dual heating coil that water runs over.  Works well and is way cheaper than a hot water heater.  I've got this one set on low heat.  High heat is for winters where the ground water isn't 68 F.  Never heard of anyone actually dying in one.  220 volts might be more likely to be lethal. 

 

 Your electric shower fixture is a dream compared to some of the funky ones I've seen in budget hotels in Central America and Mexico. I've actually had minor shocks from them. I once stayed in a hotel in El Salvador where the bathroom was so tiny that you could literally sit on the toilet and take an electric shower at the same time -- not the ideal way to go, I suspect. 😬

[Rebecca Ore]

5 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

 

 Your electric shower fixture is a dream compared to some of the funky ones I've seen in budget hotels in Central America and Mexico. I've actually had minor shocks from them. I once stayed in a hotel in El Salvador where the bathroom was so tiny that you could literally sit on the toilet and take an electric shower at the same time -- not the ideal way to go, I suspect. 😬

 

The tricks are to have the flow break into droplets, to not have a metal drain connected to metal pipes, and have the  shower installed high enough that you don't touch any wires under normal operation.  My shower control knob is down on the feed pipe.  Also, it's a good idea to have it installed on grounded circuits where someone hasn't stolen the copper grounding wires from the system.

 

Having a 220 volt

system seems a bit more problematic -- more heat, but can kill you if anything goes wrong.  Also, if people don't know better, installing a 110 shower on a 220 circuit can burn out shower heads fast.  You need the 40 amp separate circuit.

 

Friend had one 220 volt outlet in the dining room of her hotel, but it's labeled so people don't try using it to charge phones. 

 

 

[Rebecca Ore]

7 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

Most of the time when I see a medical provider, they still are all masked. A few of the patients mask, most no longer do as “usually” it’s not required like it was for so long. In my area of the country, it is said that Covid has been reduced to an illness similar to the flu. When I go out and about, seeing someone masked is a rarity.

 

Nicaragua never had either a mask or vaccine mandate.  The majority of people who refused the vaccine were country people.   Given that the human population no longer has long term quarantining, the various diseases get shared globally.  Costa Rica had higher rates because it is so reliant on tourism and requiring testing to enter is such a hassle.  Nicaragua still requires testing to enter as far as I know. 

 

Some of this may be that in the US, people ride in private cars and among your circles, people are unlikely to live in high rise apartment buildings.  Most of the silliness about Covid has been from the sort of gringos who also believe in fake currencies and stuff.   Mask requirement are left up to individual businesses.  All banks required them and had the armed guards in front enforce company policies.  Grocery store guards have truncheons.  I've never heard of anyone doing anything like the loony stuff that shows up on YouTube.

 

Nobody in my immediate US family has caught it either that they've said.  All have been vaccinated.

 

 

 

 

[Bryan]

Xmas is coming as demonstrated by the festive junk appearing in the shops. Xmas cake already made, and being fed with cheap brandy.

 

This year, in a break with our family tradition, we will be visiting our elder son and family on Xmas day, rather than them coming to us. Our younger son and family will be going to his partner's parents, but they will be visiting us later in the week.

 

There is a sort of natural progression here, when first married we would go to one of our two sets of parents, then as they became more elderly, they would come to us. I've a photo of the last time all four of them were sat around our table along with our kids and various aunts etc.  Now we appear to be moving into that situation, but, hopefully, not for the last time !

[Betty LaRue]

21 hours ago, Rebecca Ore said:

 

Nicaragua never had either a mask or vaccine mandate.  The majority of people who refused the vaccine were country people.   Given that the human population no longer has long term quarantining, the various diseases get shared globally.  Costa Rica had higher rates because it is so reliant on tourism and requiring testing to enter is such a hassle.  Nicaragua still requires testing to enter as far as I know. 

 

Some of this may be that in the US, people ride in private cars and among your circles, people are unlikely to live in high rise apartment buildings.  Most of the silliness about Covid has been from the sort of gringos who also believe in fake currencies and stuff.   Mask requirement are left up to individual businesses.  All banks required them and had the armed guards in front enforce company policies.  Grocery store guards have truncheons.  I've never heard of anyone doing anything like the loony stuff that shows up on YouTube.

 

Nobody in my immediate US family has caught it either that they've said.  All have been vaccinated.

 

 

You are right. All of my people live in single-family homes and have their own cars.  But most do have jobs.  Although my extended family have gathered for holidays except the first one after it all started. I had Christmas dinner with my daughter and her husband, alone.
 

 

 

[gvallee]

As we need to take a break from travelling to go through the rigmarole of renewing our visa, we decided to volunteer for house sittings with animals in Cairns. As it is important to the story, I will clarify the context:  Cairns is located in the tropics by the Great Barrier Reef, with a monsoon season coming up very shortly.

We never know in advance what the property is like. Even the dogs' breed is usually unknown.

We got accepted for two, one month+ stint each. By the beach with palm trees, swimming pool, the dream. The second one gave us a shock. We were selected because, having lived in Cairns, we had experience of cyclones, could start a generator, would know what to do, etc. Got in touch with the owners who gave us more details. She said she didn't want to boast so didn't include photos of the house, but it was, as she put it modestly, 'a very nice house' backing onto bushland. It had numerous terraces, bedrooms and bathrooms (we could have one each), swimming pool of course. They have their own plane to fly to their fishing cabin in the wilderness and own horses nearby. We were gobsmacked. We only have the street name so far, so excitedly checked Google Earth and hope for one we saw.

We will have two dogs to take care of. Part of the instructions are: there is a 3 metre long monitor (big lizard) that sometimes gets into the house. She fought it with a broom once, but not before it wrecked the kitchen. If the dogs want to go out at night for a toilet break, make sure the big python is not in the garden before letting them out!

I am so excited about the wildlife opportunities there will be. Let's see what happens.

[gvallee]

As we need to take a break from travelling to go through the rigmarole of renewing our visa, we decided to volunteer for house sittings with animals in Cairns. As it is important to the story, I will clarify the context:  Cairns is located in the tropics by the Great Barrier Reef, with a monsoon season coming up very shortly.

We never know in advance what the property is like. Even the dogs' breed is usually unknown.

We got accepted for two, one month+ stint each. By the beach with palm trees, swimming pool, the dream. The second one gave us a shock. We were selected because, having lived in Cairns, we had experience of cyclones, could start a generator, would know what to do, etc. Got in touch with the owners who gave us more details. She said she didn't want to boast so didn't include photos of the house, but it was, as she put it modestly, 'a very nice house' backing onto bushland. It had numerous terraces, bedrooms and bathrooms (we could have one each), swimming pool of course. They have their own plane to fly to their fishing cabin in the wilderness and own horses nearby. We were gobsmacked. We only have the street name so far, so excitedly checked Google Earth and hope for one we saw.

We will have two dogs to take care of. Part of the instructions are: there is a 3 metre long monitor (big lizard) that sometimes gets into the house. She fought it with a broom once, but not before it wrecked the kitchen. If the dogs want to go out at night for a toilet break, make sure the big python is not in the garden before letting them out!

I am so excited about the wildlife opportunities there will be. Let's see what happens.

[Ed Rooney]

 

Here's a bad thing that turned into a good thing.

 

I bought a half pound of coffee last week at Black Sheep Coffee, the latest up-scale coffee house to open in Liverpool ONE. I was shocked to see they had charged me £9.99. Yikes! The same amount of French roast coffee 5 at M&S is £2.85 . . . and it's better coffee. 

 

 

[gvallee]

9 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

Here's a bad thing that turned into a good thing.

 

I bought a half pound of coffee last week at Black Sheep Coffee, the latest up-scale coffee house to open in Liverpool ONE. I was shocked to see they had charged me £9.99. Yikes! The same amount of French roast coffee 5 at M&S is £2.85 . . . and it's better coffee. 

 

 

 

We went to a grocery shop today and were appalled to see our favourite coffee capsules had gone up by 100%. We are hopefully assuming that the reason is the store location, very remote out of the way location where freight costs are high. Let's see when we get back to civilization. We're coffee addicts. 

[Cecile Marion]

36 minutes ago, gvallee said:

As we need to take a break from travelling to go through the rigmarole of renewing our visa, we decided to volunteer for house sittings with animals in Cairns. As it is important to the story, I will clarify the context:  Cairns is located in the tropics by the Great Barrier Reef, with a monsoon season coming up very shortly.

We never know in advance what the property is like. Even the dogs' breed is usually unknown.

We got accepted for two, one month+ stint each. By the beach with palm trees, swimming pool, the dream. The second one gave us a shock. We were selected because, having lived in Cairns, we had experience of cyclones, could start a generator, would know what to do, etc. Got in touch with the owners who gave us more details. She said she didn't want to boast so didn't include photos of the house, but it was, as she put it modestly, 'a very nice house' backing onto bushland. It had numerous terraces, bedrooms and bathrooms (we could have one each), swimming pool of course. They have their own plane to fly to their fishing cabin in the wilderness and own horses nearby. We were gobsmacked. We only have the street name so far, so excitedly checked Google Earth and hope for one we saw.

We will have two dogs to take care of. Part of the instructions are: there is a 3 metre long monitor (big lizard) that sometimes gets into the house. She fought it with a broom once, but not before it wrecked the kitchen. If the dogs want to go out at night for a toilet break, make sure the big python is not in the garden before letting them out!

I am so excited about the wildlife opportunities there will be. Let's see what happens.

A three metre long monitor lizard sounds big enough to ride! Looking forward to seeing your photos. Perhaps having the monitor and the python in the same photo would be interesting. 😉

[Bryan]

2 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

Here's a bad thing that turned into a good thing.

 

I bought a half pound of coffee last week at Black Sheep Coffee, the latest up-scale coffee house to open in Liverpool ONE. I was shocked to see they had charged me £9.99. Yikes! The same amount of French roast coffee 5 at M&S is £2.85 . . . and it's better coffee. 

 

 

I take it you prefer strong coffee Ed?  Being a coffee wimp I prefer Lazy Sunday 3 from Taylors, bought from Sainsbury's - whenever they have it on offer. I brew it every morning in one of our Moka pots, come the afternoon we downgrade to instant decaf.

[Rebecca Ore]

7 hours ago, gvallee said:

 

We went to a grocery shop today and were appalled to see our favourite coffee capsules had gone up by 100%. We are hopefully assuming that the reason is the store location, very remote out of the way location where freight costs are high. Let's see when we get back to civilization. We're coffee addicts. 

 

My coffee is from a local growers' coop's retail coffee shop (makes coffee drinks and sells coffee both ground and roasted whole bean.  I grind before brewing, and I used a variety of pour over, cloth brewing sacks in a wooden purpose built holder (no photos yet), French press, and a immersion brewer in plastic with a drain that empties when placed on the cup (like a Clever Dripper).  Coffee here is around $4 US a pound for whole beans.  Arabica, always. 

 

Coffee capsules?  Pre-ground?  

[Dave Richards]

10 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

Here's a bad thing that turned into a good thing.

 

I bought a half pound of coffee last week at Black Sheep Coffee, the latest up-scale coffee house to open in Liverpool ONE. I was shocked to see they had charged me £9.99. Yikes! The same amount of French roast coffee 5 at M&S is £2.85 . . . and it's better coffee. 

 

 

Ahh, coffee, one of my favourite subjects Edo. We bought the M&S French 5 roast whole beans and their Italian 4 roast. Found the French a bit harsh and bitter but the Italian was really good and surprising value at £2.85.

One of our favourites is a bean going under the name of Girls Run The World which we get from Waitrose. Normal price is around a fiver but they often have it on offer for £3.50. I don’t think it’s exclusive to Waitrose. It’s 100% Arabica and worth trying if you like a rich, smooth, mellow brew.

Edited October 22, 2022 by Dave Richards
Corrected text

[Ed Rooney]

Ahh, coffee talk!

 

These days, I make my morning brew in a French press, so the finer espresso grind is a bit too fine. In Rome in the '60s, I often started the day at Caffe Sant'Eustachio, said at the time to serve the best coffee in the world. 

 

I do like strong black coffee, Bryan, but I just have two mugs with breakfast, no more in my day. I'm still using sugar, having tried all the various substitutes and finding they taste like poison. I've been doing intermittent fasting, eating no dinner, food 12 years now. 

 

Dave, a lot of people think M&S Foodhall is more expensive than other supermarkets. I've not found that to be true. Some items are even less costly than Tesco or the others. And the quality its higher. 

 

A small mystery -- why are all the French presses made in Germany?  

[gvallee]

10 hours ago, Rebecca Ore said:

 

My coffee is from a local growers' coop's retail coffee shop (makes coffee drinks and sells coffee both ground and roasted whole bean.  I grind before brewing, and I used a variety of pour over, cloth brewing sacks in a wooden purpose built holder (no photos yet), French press, and a immersion brewer in plastic with a drain that empties when placed on the cup (like a Clever Dripper).  Coffee here is around $4 US a pound for whole beans.  Arabica, always. 

 

Coffee capsules?  Pre-ground?  

 

I live in a bus so have very limited space. We are very happy with our coffee capsules and little Nespresso machine. Plus we have stuck it to the worktop so don't have to put it away every day. 

 

Hubby's dad had a very successful business importing coffee from Mexico to the UK.

Edited October 23, 2022 by gvallee

[Bryan]

4 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

Ahh, coffee talk!

 

 

 

I do like strong black coffee, Bryan, but I just have two mugs with breakfast, no more in my day. I'm still using sugar, having tried all the various substitutes and finding they taste like poison. I've been doing intermittent fasting, eating no dinner, food 12 years now. 

 

 

Yup I can't take strong black coffee without sugar, but the category 3 stuff isn't as bitter and I can enjoy a cup without any sweetener. I stopped taking sugar in my tea in my late teens, and now I can't stand the taste of the stuff. We've recently stayed at a couple of hotels and found that the breakfast cereals all contained added sugar, so we bought a packet of no added sugar muesli and ate that with fruit.

[Bryan]

Our bathroom refit is almost complete, the builders laid a new floor covering, replaced the sanitary ware, and covered some of the walls with click fit plastic panels. I've fitted skirting boards, a new bath panel and boxed in the pipes. Not much left to do now except the paintwork and replacing the old light fitting and shower curtain. Years ago I would have done the whole job myself, but I've almost learned how to grow old gracefully.

 

I was going to make a tongue and groove bath panel, but discovered that you can buy a ready primed MDF lookalike that just needed cutting to size. Modern adhesives have greatly reduced the need for screw or nail connections, great news for use in an environment with hidden pipes lurking beneath the surfaces !

[NYCat]

At one place in the Falklands they would serve us a French press and we dutifully pressed it down and then realized that there were no grounds. The coffee was already made. Perhaps instant. It gave us a laugh.

 

Yesterday I went to a profoundly silly ballet called "Whipped Cream". It was my first time at Lincoln Center in years. So delightful.

 

Paulette