Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

MORNING ROLL CALL MARCH-APRIL 2020 CLOSED

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
February 29, 2020
189 replies
89943 views

Good Morning to the Front Porch and Welcome to March 2020 Goodbye February, 2020.

Hoping everyone has a great First Day OF MARCH 2020.

morning roll call

DaveMcKAuthor

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Good morning to everyone on the Front Porch on this last Saturday of February the 29th, 2020.

It is stating out as a cool sunny morning and warming up to the low 30's with a warmer Sunday in the low 50's. Hoping everyone has a great weekend.

Posted by Dave the Lighthouse Keeper

DaveMcKAuthor

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Good Sunday to everyone on the Front Porch on this Sunday morning March 1st, 2020. And a very special good morning to our followers that have yet to introduce themselves here.

Posted by Dave the Lighthouse Keeper

LydiaN586309

Community Champion ⭐

Good morning, Porchlanders!

It is an absolutely beautiful morning here in Michigan. The sun is up and out and the streets are dry and clear. Oh, yes, we still have snow everywhere--on the bushes, on the grass, and on our rooftops. But no new snow predicted in our forecast at least for today and no shoveling for me. So I'm good!

Went to another movie (The Invisible Man) yesterday with my movie-going buddy. It was more suspence and thriller than horror. We had a good time, but afterwards we couldn't decide what to do next. Shopping? No. No need. Dining out? Nope. Not really hungry. But we finally decided that our sweet tooths needed filling which lead us to the nearest grocery store and the purchase of a frozen Pepperidge Farms Coconut Cream Cake. Oh, yes we did! Yum! So back at her house, we quickly cut the cake, gently warmed it in the microwave, and then we clicked on a new guilty TV pleasure--a show called My Feet Are Killing Me. Now, this is a show that is all at once fasinating and gory and not for the squimish or faint of heart. But between the "oohs", "ahhs", and "aacks", we watched ugly feet and gory foot surgeries while moaning over the creamy goodness of our cake.

Strange combinations, I know. But so much fun!

Anyway, we've all made it to another month....March! And that means "What?"

And so we patiently wait for it and while we wait, we pour......

...straight from the bean to the cup.

Enjoy this first day of March, Porchers! Enjoy the day. And have a great Sunday!

Lyds

catwoman500

Community Champion ⭐

Happy March to all Porch Peeps!

I've been locked out again for a few days (only on the computer and only on the community forums, though. I can still get the AARP games), and this is the first I've been able to give kudos and reply. Wish I knew why that happens, but at least I know that it will fix itself eventually after a few days. I had some funny wind photos from the other day when it was wild here, but the wind is gone and we are just cold this weekend with a warm up coming this week. I swear I saw a 70 somewhere in the forecast.

Hope everyone stays away from all viruses (both electronic and medical)!

DaveMcKAuthor

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Good evening to everyone on the Front Porch on this first Friday in March 2020!

We are taking a week here in Scottsdale, Arizona at one of our Timeshare. So far we visited my Sister Diane and my Brother-in-law about 50 miles East of here. We have been to 2 Milwaukee Brewers Spring Season games here and a day tour of the Grand Canyon yesterday. Tomorrow we are going to take a day trip and fly home Suday evening.

Hoping everyone is doing well and has a great weekend!

Posted by Dave the Lighthouse Keeper

catwoman500

Community Champion ⭐

Well, folks, Saturday started off with a bang or should I say splash? I was rudely awakened from a nice dream at 5:30 this morning with an odd grumbling noise and then the sound of gushing water. Stumbling to the basement, I see the bottom of my hot water heater spewing water all over the place. Now I am not the best “morning person,” especially without coffee and exercising my poor aching body, so like the proverbial chicken with its head cut off, I was moving in circles trying to figure out what to do first. Couldn’t see the shutoff valve for the water heater, so first cut the circuit breaker, then turned off the water to the whole house, then saw the water heater shutoff and so turned the house water back on. Looked up my plumber to see if they had 24 hour emergency service which they did, but no one was answering the phone. I waited few minutes, called them back, and someone answered. She sent my number to the on-call guy and he called me back shortly and was here with a new one in couple of hours. Whew!

I have since had my coffee, but my back is killing me. Need to exercise and then more coffee. I sure hope everyone’s day starts better than mine!

Put in an IV, please!

LydiaN586309

Community Champion ⭐

Front Porchers,

Well @catwoman500, it's about 8:30pm at night on the Saturday of your basement disaster and I'm glad to read your plumber was able to get out to you and all is now fixed and in order. I had a similar event a few years ago which also resulted in a total replacement of my hot water tank which was very, very old and probably had been in need of replacing long before it went kaput. But these things happen. Such is life.

Anyway, I am a little worried about a good friend of mine who has decided to go on a cruise to "the islands." In fact, she sets sail tomorrow from Florida. Though I asked her if maybe she might have chosen to wait for the cruise considering the dreaded coronavirus out there, she said she had to go since her daughter had made these arrangements months ago and her cancellation would forfeit all of the prepaid cost of the cruise--about four thousand dollars.

Well, of course, I know that's a lot of money. But my friend is 84 years old and has very severe asthma and COPD. She is asthmatic daily. And I just thought maybe she could sit this one out (she's been to the islands before) and just let her daughter go with her busband and children. But she doesn't want to disappoint her family and so she is willing to put her health and life in jeopardy. So I will just say a prayer and in the words of the classic movie Frozen..."Let It Go!"

Hope everybody is doing okay out there. Stay safe.

DaveMcKAuthor

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Good morning to everyone on the Front Porch on this Humpday in March, 2020!

WATER HEATERS! We replaced ours a couple of years ago because the newer models are more efficient and it was cheaper to have installed as a package deal with our new much more efficient furnace. We also got a $300.00 rebate from our utility for installing a high efficiency furnace.

However, I forgot to turn off the water supply lines to the water heater and the wash mechine so they can not leak while we were in Arizona last week.

Photos of our day trip with my Sister Diane in the middle and Brother-in -law Gordy.

Be sure to check out this Link: https://www.tortillaflataz.com/

Posted by Dave the Lighthouse Keeper

DaveMcKAuthor

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Good morning to everyone on the Front Porch on Friday the13th, March 2020. To day we are looking at sunny skies and temperatures in the mid 30's.

On our Arizona trip we had a great late breakfast at a very unique restaurant in the best mall in Sadona. An intimate European-style bistro feel, with charming ambience. Enjoy patio dining amongst outdoor garden lushness year round. Fresh, healthy menu with many GF and vegan dishes, and exquisite dinners. Select wines-on-tap and craft beers. Open daily for breakfast, lunch & dinner, 8:00am-8:30pm. They say that presentation is a very big part of a meal and it was sure true here. This settling was more amazing because we were heading back to 40* temperatures and snow on the ground the next day.

Link to their story: https://sedonasecretgardencafe.com/our-story/

Posted by Dave the Lighthouse Keeper

LaDolceVita

Community Champion ⭐

@DaveMcK Good for you Dave getting some fun time in. Another trip to the grocery store for me. No TP, potaoes, frozen pizza and ground beef. There is bread again. Produce looks pretty good. I bought emergency supplies, mostly cabbage, peppers & eggs. And two extra bottles of wine .

DaveMcKAuthor

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Good morning to everyone on the Front Porch on this Sunday in March, 2020!

Hoping everyone is having a restful weekend. We are having a cool day with cloudy skies. We are just back from the drugstore and grocery store were we picked up what we need. Many shelves were empty but we found what we needed. We have a good supply of TP! Several pizzas and frozen salmon. Watching a movie to replace watching the cancelled college basketball tournaments.

Some more about our Arizona trip in photos which have some downloaded ones.

Grand Canyon Museum

Posted by Dave the Lighthouse Keeper

catwoman500

Community Champion ⭐

Hi Everyone,

I love how everyone is relating their shopping experiences!

This morning was my Acme day. My friend texted me to see if I was still going (as we met at the Acme and always see each other there on Sundays.) My 2 other “Acme” friends were also there today. It was actually a much more normal shopping experience than I had on Friday. The handicapped spaces were available and there were plenty of carts. Hardly anyone in the store as is usual for a Sunday morning. I was so surprised, but then strangers started coming in and we all decided we should move along and not chat so long.

Went to the deli department first and the girl who usually waits on me asked if I wanted more than usual. I thought that was a good idea so got a half pound of my turkey and cheese instead of a quarter pound. I asked about corned beef since Tuesday is St. Patrick’s Day. She couldn’t see any but went in the back and came out with the last corned beef. The man next to me said maybe he should get some, too and Sherry the deli worker said maybe she should cut some for herself before it was all gone. HA!

Plenty of fresh veggies were available as it was “buck-a-bag” week. The bakery even had a loaves of fresh Jewish rye. I did notice the regular bread aisle was real skimpy. Of course there were no wipes or sanitizers and they were low on liquid soap. No alcohol, but I picked up a couple bottles of peroxide. Paper towels were available and some brands of toilet paper.

Milk was available, plenty of frozen meals and entrees, ice cream. I got pretty much of what was on my normal list. Again, I was really surprised.

Now the thing that is bothering a lot of us is that the State Stores (wine and liquor) will be open their normal hours today; some select stores will be open tomorrow; and then the bomb…all closed in at least 4 counties from Tuesday on indefinitely. When I got that alert, I immediately went online and ordered some wine to be delivered to the house.

And after I did my Ebay listings today, I thought I’d check out the closest state store…found a handicapped spot, bought 2 more bottles of wine and since they were out of the standard size of Jameson’s Irish whiskey, I bought 2 of the mini bottles. That should surely be enough for a couple of Irish coffees on Tuesday. Erin Go Braugh!

STAY WELL!

Slainte!

LaDolceVita

Community Champion ⭐

@catwoman500 You are certainly very cheery! I am a bit concerned, looks like some Aldi's may be closed for awhile, do not know the status of my local store. I was so distracted by the grocery store frenzy last Friday that I probably did not make the best buying decisions. I really did not expect things to move so quickly and the closings may last much longer than I previously thought. Library is closed and I finished my last book!

DaveMcKAuthor

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Good morning to everyone on the Front Porch on this Saint Patrick's Day 2020.

I think we should have a Saint Patrick's Day celebration today on line given that we definitely have the distancing issue taking care of.

We cancelled our corned beef and cabbage dinner out last week with our Trivia club.

We hope we returned from Arizona in time to reduce our exposure while traveling. We have been back for 9 days now and have stocked up on TP and frozen pizza plus other frozen foods and canned soups.

With that Let's kick off our our Saint Patrick's day!

Antique postcard

Posted by Dave the Lighthouse Keeper

catwoman500

Community Champion ⭐

Top o’ the mornin' to you all!

Today I think I need to start focusing on as many of the positive things right here in my increasingly smaller world as I can. So I’ll start with the fact that I woke up, I can breathe, I’ve had coffee and a mini scone, and my newspaper arrived (yesterday it didn’t) Also I know my neighbor 2 houses up is OK since she is the one who grabs my paper from the bottom of the driveway on her way to work and brings it up to my mailbox. YAY!

Then, since I have an American Greetings membership, I can send as many e-cards as I want and I had scheduled a bunch of St. Patrick’s e-cards to be sent to friends today. When I opened my email today, I saw that so many people had responded. I was smiling and they were, too. YAY!

Then I heard that Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson are out of the hospital in Australia and are back in their rented home feeling much better. Happy that 2 of the nicest people in the entertainment world are back on their feet. Such role models for all.

Zulily has free shipping today!

Amazon is hiring 100,000 workers and is upping everyone’s pay by $2/hour!

Fresh Market sent an email this AM… “We are designating special shopping hours for seniors and other individuals most at risk. These hours are between 8 AM and 9 AM, Monday–Friday. All stores will continue to operate under our regular business hours.” This made me laugh because no way can I be up and look human to get to the store at that time. Hee hee hee! At least it gave me a good laugh!

Then reading everyone’s’ posts here on AARP always makes me smile.

I will continue to look for more smile makers today. I know I’m looking forward to my Irish coffee later. Now I need to exercise and get human.

Good luck today! Stay well!

Slainte!

Enjoy!

DaveMcKAuthor

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Good Afternoon to everyone on the Front Porch! I think we need to take a moment to thank all those that are working to care for friends, family and neighbors across the miles. I have Facebook friends in England, Italy, on the Pacific Coast, Florida and all parts of Wisconsin that are facing the same uncertainties we all are.

The Extraordinary Decisions Facing American, Spanish, Italian and Chinese, Doctors

There are now simply too many Italian patients for each one of them to receive adequate care.

MARCH 11, 2020

Yascha Mounk

Contributing writer at The Atlantic

CLAUDIO FURLAN / LAPRESSE / AP

Two weeks ago, Italy had 322 confirmed cases of the coronavirus. At that point, doctors in the country’s hospitals could lavish significant attention on each stricken patient.

One week ago, Italy had 2,502 cases of the virus, which causes the disease known as COVID-19. At that point, doctors in the country’s hospitals could still perform the most lifesaving functions by artificially ventilating patients who experienced acute breathing difficulties.

Today, Italy has 10,149 cases of the coronavirus. There are now simply too many patients for each one of them to receive adequate care. Doctors and nurses are unable to tend to everybody. They lack machines to ventilate all those gasping for air.

Now the Italian College of Anesthesia, Analgesia, Resuscitation and Intensive Care (SIAARTI) has published guidelines for the criteria that doctors and nurses should follow as these already extraordinary circumstances worsen. The document begins by likening the moral choices Italian doctors may face to the forms of wartime triage that are required in the field of “catastrophe medicine.” Instead of providing intensive care to all patients who need it, the authors suggest, it may become necessary to follow “the most widely shared criteria regarding distributive justice and the appropriate allocation of limited health resources.”

Posted by Dave the Lighthouse Keeper

DaveMcKAuthor

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

Welcome to the Front Porch on this Snowy Wednesday morning in March, 2020. Our snow will turn to rain and warm into the mid 40's this afternoon. That care and we will ride this out together!

Posted by Dave the Lighthouse Keeper

LaDolceVita

Community Champion ⭐

Woke up with allergy symptoms of course this brought to mind that it has been 5 days since my venture into a very crowded situation at the grocery store. All gone now in the late AM and I feel very well.

Library site says they have extended shut down for another week, at least till the 29th. OK, so I want to order used books from Amazon. Only one of the books I really want to read is available in used format without a pretty good price jump. So I am without an unread book for now. Actually there are some heavier type reading materials that I bought in the past, just dont know if I can concentrate. We need escapist reading during these times of trouble.

Frozenoem

Community Champion ⭐

Afternoon all - guess I'm getting @DaveMcK snow tomorrow before change over to rain , perhaps.Thought that last nights 4" might have been the last.

@LaDolceVita

If really bored for reading materials check out your local used books stores. I've managed to find many through the years.

Wish I had more than heavy reading computer and networking books. Guess it's time to crack Butler's book, " Two years before the mast", again.

Re: the news of Covid we've had our first Curfew enacted in Portland largest city population wise, and 1 complete recovery of our Patient Zero who had been in Iraq courtesy of Navy.

Pays to live in small state who is large in land mass, I guess.

Iron Butterflies and Jimmy Hendrix hit the playlist today, and it's now time to play at cleaning the house.🤣

Froze

And yes, after long days/nights, I'd still like to swing these hunks of glass , plastic and silicon against the nearest wall Come on retirement!

DaveMcKAuthor

Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐

“Spring is coming, spring is coming
birdies build your nest.
weave together straw and feather
doing each your best.
spring is coming, spring is coming
flowers are waking, too.
daisies, lilies, and daffodils
now are coming through.
spring is coming, spring is coming
all around is fair.
shimmer, glimmer on the meadow,
joy is everywhere.”

Equinox means “equal night” when the sun is positioned above the equator & day and night are about equal in length all over the world. This is the start of the Astrological year. Many ancient cultures built structures to point directly toward the rising Sun on this day every year. The celebration of the Vernal Equinox is about new life & hope, the planting of seeds & the activation of the fertility of plants.

If you're ready for good news, we've got some for you: Spring is coming earlier this year than it has since 1896.

The vernal (spring) equinox – which marks the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere – will take place Thursday, March 19, throughout the entire United States, including Alaska and Hawaii. This is "earlier than any other equinox in the last 124 years," AccuWeather said.

The equinox usually falls on either March 20 or 21. "The complicated reasons for 2020's earlier equinox involve leap years, centuries and the length of time it takes Earth to revolve around the sun," CBS News said.

The equinox, which takes place at 11:50 p.m. EDT Thursday, is the precise moment the sun's rays shine directly on the equator. (For everyone outside the eastern time zone, it will be at 10:50 p.m. CDT, 9:50 p.m. MDT and 8:50 p.m. PDT.)

Thursday will be one of two days out of the year – the other being the day of the autumnal equinox in September – when the Earth's axis is tilted neither toward nor away from the sun, resulting in roughly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness almost everywhere on Earth.

So it's an "equal night," which is where the word equinox originated: the two Latin words aequus (equal) and nox (night), according to the National Weather Service. Each day for the next three months, the sun will get higher in the sky – and the daily amount of daylight longer – until the summer solstice in June.

It's also one of only two days each year when almost every spot on Earth – except the poles – experiences a sunrise at due east and a sunset at due west.

Meteorologists, who define the seasons differently, said spring began March 1.

For the folks down under in the Southern Hemisphere, it's the autumnal equinox this Thursday, marking the first day of autumn.

Posted by Dave the Lighthouse Keeper

Show more replies

Sign up

Login with SSO

Login to the community

Login with SSO