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The Cromwell

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Friday check in, still doin good here. SIL was out today and she said people were gettin down right rude and almost violent .
The veneer of civilization is pretty thin. I fear things like this will get worse.
I have been making it a point to put on my best nice behavior when out and about.

LOL yeah I know but I can fake it pretty well for a while.
 

SteveS45

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I’m glad you’re looking after your P’s. That’s really a good thing for them. Mine are in the denier camp and think it’s all overblown and what them, worry?

Mine are a little over concerned as I have told you Dad got concerned I went out to the store when I went to get him a stock of TP. Not like they needed it but I risked it to go there and used so much Sanitizer and showered as soon as I got home plus washed my clothes. I love them and will do anything for them~!
 

wildgypsy70

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Checking in!

Not much going on. The boys are on their way home from fishing all day. I’ve been puttering all day. Went to the post office.....ghost town......

Ahhhh, they’re home......
 

5150sick

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I had to go to the pharmacy today.
They had the drive thru only open.
At least that's out of the way until the end of April.
 

The Cromwell

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I can prolly get a Kindle app and pay something. It’d be worth it, because I read a lot. And more, especially now. Thanks, Crom!
You have an amazon Prime acct?
In any case cheap kindles were ~$50 last time I looked.
And you can use other free books downloaded to them using the proper format of course, which I forget what that is.

I have amazon prime and the kindle unlimited thing. $10/mo and any book listed on the unlimited program you can read for free and many other free titles out there.
 

Rhianne

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I just placed a big order with Vitacost for supplies, like instant oatmeal, peanut butter, honey, coffee, creamer, some snack cookies, more liquid soap, etc. I know you’re meant to buy canned goods, but I bought stuff that I’d like to eat, and that won’t go bad.

I could really only afford to buy @$100 worth of stuff, but I’ll have to buy more when I have it.

I finished a book yesterday about Britain after the War called Austerity Britain, about rationing and shortages. Most things I wanted were OOS on Vitacost, so I feel like I know kind of what it feels like.

I’m not grumbling, I’m just seeing a similarity now to then.
 

Rhianne

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You have an amazon Prime acct?
In any case cheap kindles were ~$50 last time I looked.
And you can use other free books downloaded to them using the proper format of course, which I forget what that is.

I have amazon prime and the kindle unlimited thing. $10/mo and any book listed on the unlimited program you can read for free and many other free titles out there.

No, but I’ll get one. I think we had one years ago and let it lapse. Hopefully they’ll sign me back up or let me get a new account.

I did have a Kindle a long time ago. I’m not sure what happened to it. I’ll look at the newer ones. Thanks, Cromwell.
 

Rhianne

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We are just fighting a different type of war right now, but yes similar restrictions and personal sacrifices.

loose lips sink toilet paper.

It seemed so similar when I was reading that book. We won’t have to rebuild bombed out buildings, but society is going through massive changes already. Hopefully it won’t be destroyed by the time this is over!
 

Rhianne

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Society? We have a society? And is it worth saving?

It’s debatable, but there’s certain goods and services we’re all used to.
The last year has been crazy stocking up for Deeming and now corona.
I’m wondering now how crappy it’s going to feel not being able to buy or browse anything vape related. I’ve only been vaping now for a year. Not long enough to be cut off from gear!
 

Smigo

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Went and got some fuel today, when paying my misses mentioned to the guy behind the till about whats been going on and the crazy toilet paper thing. He said "do you need some" my misses said yeah we haven't been able to get any for weeks, but we do have facial tissues at least. He said no worriess ill be back in a minute and returned with a 20 pack from out the back. He said he'd put them aside for people he thought actually really needed them. What a good decent person. My eyes nearly popped out! Cant believe I took a picture of it and am posting it on the internet, toilet paper!
20200328_145818(1).jpg
Street below when we were there would usually have most of the parking spaces full. Odd to see it this way.
20200328_134222(1).jpg
Stay well everyone.
 

SteveS45

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Still here~!

giphy.gif
 

MyMagicMist

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I can prolly get a Kindle app and pay something. It’d be worth it, because I read a lot. And more, especially now. Thanks, Crom!

You might also want to check out FBReader and Calibre. There's also BookBub, BookRix, GoodReads has a listing. You might want to check the nation's public library. Foss Mint (Free Open Source Software) has a listing of listings/catalogs of free ebooks.

Nah, dinae t'ink ye be running outta wot to read, sis. :)

In any case cheap kindles were ~$50 last time I looked.

Ha! Got you whooped on this. Don't matter whatever device you want to use. I know free and open sourced e-book reading software exists. No need to shell out $50 for a closed source Kindle. Lots of the open software can read Kindle format, Mobi, M$'s (Microsoft) format, Adobe's. Then, know lots of places offering free ebooks. Besides that a handy search engine can brink more ebooks, respect your privacy, and plant trees to help save Earth. :p :D :)
 
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gopher_byrd

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Talked with my doc yesterday. Blood tests came back with everything in the normal range except my sugar level was up a little. Probably too many carbs as I love bread and beer. After 4 weeks on the road with bread and beer everyday that is what brought it up. I'll just have to stick with wine and bourbon and less bread. Deserts are a rare thing for me, so I vape them...

I cooked dinner last night. I made zucchini puffs. They are a savory pancake made with zucchini, parmesan cheese, garlic, salt, and pepper. No meat last night as we are Catholic and it is Lent. Tonight we'll have the leftover zucchini puffs with a pork loin roast we snagged during our Walmart run on Tuesday.

Today, I'll work on a recipe for @wildgypsy70's mix challenge for this week: http://vapingunderground.com/threads/the-daily-mixing-thread.360087/page-280#post-2770461 A peach, strawberry, and blueberry pie sounds good since I can't eat it.

Keep your spirits up folks! We'll get through this thing!
 

MyMagicMist

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We won’t have to rebuild bombed out buildings, but society is going through massive changes already. Hopefully it won’t be destroyed by the time this is over!

Hm. No, maybe not exploded buildings. Now, I don't know what progress has come along since these articles were posted. Still it seems the U.S. has trouble in responding to disasters. Consider Katrina, 9/11/2001, hurricanes recently in TX. And now we've a virus going to wind up tanking out a lot of small to medium business because they cannot afford to shut down a week, much less two weeks. But these businesses will not be helped. Only the large corporations will get any help. They'll get money from taxpayers in the form of the government buying out their debts.

I think if the government has to buy out a business's debts, bail them out, then that business belongs directly to The People (definition #1). We all ought to get dividends paid out quarterly from GM for example. We ought to own the airlines that get bailed out in the coming weeks, get paid quarterly say 2% per person of airline industry profits.

Why? Because to my mind the government is "by the People, for the People", a vehicle/tool of the People.

From the American Declaration of Independence:

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

The preamble of the Constitution for America:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

These explain why. Our government is a tool of the People of the nation for America. Our government needs to to do the emphasized things for the People.

Do I think we'll actually see such happening? No. Instead we'll "carry the can" and get told we can change it all by voting, which is pure bullshit, and if we don't vote we can't complain.

What would be even nicer is to see the government turn the dividends out into municipal type of mutual fund acting as a "feeder" to pay out quarterly. This could then be invested into "public works" type of stuff such as free education, free medical, infrastructure improvements, switching off dependency on oil and gas (going Green). The "feeder fund" would be maintained by the continual profits from the companies/corporations the government "bought out" and "saved". The People would then would at least be getting half a fair shake. But I don't see that happening either. Rather I see it going right to the IMF to pay off America's debt.

But then we're getting hundreds of trillions pumped into our economy. Gee, no end to our debt it seems. Such a fucking Ponzi scheme, all of it.

Society? We have a society? And is it worth saving?

A lot to wonder over there.
 
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DaBunny

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Well, Bunny, if carrot muffins are anything like carrot cake, then by all means! Sounds wonderful with coffee. Yum!
yes very much so can be baked as loaf, Layer cake or Muffin.
has Buttermilk in em.... { I froze da buttermilk so it would not spoil }
ya it curdles yet who cares IT GETS BAKED so still taste fresh...

little trick i learned a long time ago when sparkey would have to be out of town
for a few weeks at a time..
 
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MyMagicMist

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Well, Bunny, if carrot muffins are anything like carrot cake, then by all means! Sounds wonderful with coffee. Yum!

Mhm, that does sound yummy. Wife made her dad some blueberry muffins last night. She brought me a bag with four in it. "Be careful they are hot." Probably two minutes later I held up a baggie containing muffin wrappers.

"Gee, you could have brought me some muffins, huh," I asked her She chuckled. I may just have to go down to see the FIL this morning. Her BIL is sitting out in the kitchen here. That makes it difficult to go out and make coffee. Him sitting is right over the sink, just in the way. Which fine, he lives here, but then we do as well. Gah! *grumbles something unintelligible in roughly seven different languages*

*goes "hmph" and snorts* Ya know what? ... I'm a gonna go make me a french press pot of coffee anyway. Ha!
 

nadalama

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@Rhianne there's a good shareware e-book reader called Calibre. That's what I used to use before I got Kindle Unlimited. And of course, the Kindle software itself is free from Amazon - no need to buy a Kindle if you have any kind of Android or iOS tablet or phone.

Amazon has many Kindle books available for free or for 99 cents. Also if you sign up for Prime, it comes with Prime Reading, which is a special collection of books you borrow and return, similar to Kindle Unlimited. With Prime you also get Amazon First Reads, which is one (sometimes two) free books from a specific collection they offer at the beginning of each month.
 

nadalama

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yes very much so can be baked as loaf, Layer cake or Muffin.
has Buttermilk in em.... { I froze da buttermilk so it would not spoil }
ya it curdles yet who cares IT GETS BAKED so still taste fresh...

little trick i learned a long time ago when sparkey would have to be out of town
for a few weeks at a time..

I am partial to pumpkin bread with walnuts. Never put that batter in a muffin tin, but I'm sure I could. Have made it in tube pans, Bundt pans, loaf pans. Betty Crocker's recipe, from the old red cookbook. Also very, very partial to homemade gingerbread with lemon glaze.

There may be a lemon pound cake on my horizon, IF the supplies on hand will support the use of that much butter in a cake. Seems like the recipe calls for a half pound of butter. Will not sub that - the cake just wouldn't be right. However, may order extra butter next time so I can make one then.

Listen to me. Sounds like 1958. The times they are a-changin'.
 

DaBunny

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I am partial to pumpkin bread with walnuts. Never put that batter in a muffin tin, but I'm sure I could. Have made it in tube pans, Bundt pans, loaf pans. Betty Crocker's recipe, from the old red cookbook. Also very, very partial to homemade gingerbread with lemon glaze.

There may be a lemon pound cake on my horizon, IF the supplies on hand will support the use of that much butter in a cake. Seems like the recipe calls for a half pound of butter. Will not sub that - the cake just wouldn't be right. However, may order extra butter next time so I can make one then.

Listen to me. Sounds like 1958. The times they are a-changin'.
my cookbook was written 1959 SAME YEAR I WAS BORN....
when butters on sale I STOCK UP 10 pounds at a time....
that keeps my freezer REAL HAPPY.

so even if Times may be a changing ...
i offer proof dat
da REALLY good stuff never changes... lol lol lol
 

wildgypsy70

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Good morning, peeps! The house is awake and buzzing. Gluten free coffee cake being made, coffee brewing and plans happening. The boys are finishing up the porch today before the rain comes. I’m gonna shower, listen to Fresh03’s show and work on Cornbread Pudding. Maybe mix a few of the recipes I’ve been putting up. We shall see. I need some variety in my juice.....I’m coming out of my shock to realize that I’ve been vaping the same three things for days.
 

nadalama

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Well today, ...

My mom in VA phoned my wife. When there's anything with any connotation of impact mom calls her. And yes, my middle brother having a heart attack is of impact. His wife drove him to the hospital. He had been having diarrhea the past few days, got up today and was doubled over a chair. His wife asked what was going on. He complained of hurting jaw, pain in one side. She waited hours in the parking lot until they come got her. He had blockage in the front and back. They got the front but due to its location could not get the back. They're putting him on medication. His wife waited in the parking lot because the hospital was closed to visitors. She was allowed in to talk to the doctor five minutes or so, and to see my brother for all of five minutes.

And then, ...

Me and wife sat here and watched WV DHHR and the governor's cabinet daily corona virus media update on the Youtube. Our take away from it was the four questions the media asked were left mainly unanswered and they were well thought questions. It boiled down too carry on social distancing, report out of state people if they don't self quarantine, keep the faith, we're sending out mail ballots so we need to ensure we vote.

"Anything else, you're on your own. We don't know. By the way we fumbled up reports of the two cases of death. They were misidentified by the health department. Now, we're going to verify with the hospitals and coroners. Oh, we did get half the masks we asked for and got those distributed appropriately to first responding crews, health department, corrections officers."

The first sentences were not actually spoken. It was though the implication of the "message" though.

There was no assurance of much other than doing as we are is working. No word on when stuff will reopen, more concern with getting the "engine" of the "grain belt" running again. Told my wife, "sure, leadership like that, I'm gonna run right out to vote or to mail in a ballot."

A good point to my day. Her dad called and had me clean his dog Luna's ears. It was raining. When I come back down. I stopped and looked over our irises. They're all doing well, the rain give them a subtle healthy green glow. If some don't bloom this year they will next. :)

I hope your brother makes a full recovery. Never a good time for a heart attack, but this may be one of the worst times. (My younger sister has had one as well. Hers came from dehydration, go figure. Woman cannot live by Pepsi and coffee alone. Water is required.)
 

~Don~

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Another day and still healthy.

Wife braved Costco on her way home from the hospital yesterday... she said Costco was nearly empty... of people, and brought home some needed items... and some guilty pleasures (PECANS! I'll roast them later today and salt them )

She also was appreciative and explained to me Costco's infectious control (Wife is also the IC-Coordinator for her department at Kaiser)

Baby Sis says she is ok, no symptoms to report.

Mum hasn't responded to texts this morning...


Wife is walking the dogs... which I normally do M-F in the mornings, and she gets the honor on the weekends... evening walks we both go.


Skimming through the some of the previous posts about reads etc., I thought I would share some resources

https://librivox.org/

and

http://www.gutenberg.org/

not the most extensive library of literature but free ;)

Anyway, be safe everyone.
 

Ms. Trixy

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And there are free books out there you can download in electronic form to read on your computer. Classics mostly but not all.

google is your friend.... sometimes....
If you just do a quick search you can find many FREE online readers. View attachment 157721

There is also BookBub. You can get many books you don't need to pay for. And for those of you who enjoy steamy novels, this is the spot.
 

The Cromwell

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Efforts to mitigate the spread of infectious disease during a pandemic which include social distancing and shutting of businesses help the economy in the long term, according to a new study by American economists.

Researchers with the Federal Reserve bank examined the impact of quarantines, social isolation, and business closings in the aftermath of the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.

The researchers found that those measures saved lives and boosted the post-pandemic American economy.

They examined American cities which implemented ‘nonpharmaceutical intervention’ - the closure of schools, limiting business hours, and quarantining citizens - during the 1918 pandemic.
 

nadalama

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I want monies... but our income puts us in the "So what if you live in one of the top 5 cost of living areas in the world, get bent" bracket

Can't like that. Sucks. I'm really sorry it looks that way for you, and I'm sure many others who live in high cost-of-living areas. I remember those prices in SoCal from my travels out there 20+ years ago. I was very glad I was on an expense account.

@The Cromwell I looked through that bill several times and could not find ANY reference to social security recipients. The whole thing may or may not hinge on whether you filed taxes in 2019 or 2018. It does appear they will use 2019 if you've already filed for 2019, if not, then they'll use 2018.

npr.org has the full text of the bill.
 

The Cromwell

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Can't like that. Sucks. I'm really sorry it looks that way for you, and I'm sure many others who live in high cost-of-living areas. I remember those prices in SoCal from my travels out there 20+ years ago. I was very glad I was on an expense account.

@The Cromwell I looked through that bill several times and could not find ANY reference to social security recipients. The whole thing may or may not hinge on whether you filed taxes in 2019 or 2018. It does appear they will use 2019 if you've already filed for 2019, if not, then they'll use 2018.

npr.org has the full text of the bill.
We file taxes every year, but have not owed any for a couple of years.
 

~Don~

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Can't like that. Sucks.

Not complaining, and said money would be better off to those that truly can use it.

Not saying the wife and I couldn't use it... we could... but there are many people out there truly hurting.

I just don't have faith in our government to give out the trillions in totality and in the most needed way.

I feel for those that have a high wage, but also a higher cost of living due to debt to income ratio solely based on location... 75k a year in Iowa goes a ton further than $75k in San Fran.


'Tis a reason I tell the wife we should move out of CA... although lower pay in other states, the cost of living and how far the dollar goes elsewhere is a huge incentive, but she is so attached to family.
 

MrMeowgi

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Not complaining, and said money would be better off to those that truly can use it.

Not saying the wife and I couldn't use it... we could... but there are many people out there truly hurting.

I just don't have faith in our government to give out the trillions in totality and in the most needed way.

I feel for those that have a high wage, but also a higher cost of living due to debt to income ratio solely based on location... 75k a year in Iowa goes a ton further than $75k in San Fran.


'Tis a reason I tell the wife we should move out of CA... although lower pay in other states, the cost of living and how far the dollar goes elsewhere is a huge incentive, but she is so attached to family.
Could almost live like a king in NC for 75 grand a year. Lol
 

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