Crone Cronies - 2020 Be Like: January, February, Pandemic, December. 7/19

[sciencelady]

Good morning!

Today will be a rainy day - still hope to get a nice dog walk in with Gus between showers or in them... Otherwise putzing around - yesterday I finished the audit I was working on for a professional organization and am waiting for comments back.

I did look up what made a seedless watermelon, and it's a mutant - one parent (female) is 44 chromosomes per cell and the other (male) is 22 chromosomes per pollen - glad its not chemically stopped from having seeds!

Laura, I haven't gone or tried the library system since the Covid-19 closings. I miss our library . The chair yoga classes I participated in have been on Zoom instead of the library. I might do today's class if I'm sitting here because of the rain.

Dede, sorry about the bike and knee pain. Being able to ride a bike again is on my dream list after hip replacement surgery. I am trying to limit walking to prevent too much pain in the joint. Sounds like your joint pain trumps any muscle soreness you get from workouts - kind of cuts out a lot of exercise. Our mask regs are increasing in town - lots more places require them. I don't wear mine in the park to walk Gus as I'm usually the only person there and might pass two or three people during our walk at a good distance between us. I do notice lots of them do have masks on their necks, so there is a convenience factor in having the mask available if needed.

Paula, I love cherries also! (I even pick them up in winter when they come from Chile in January). Yeah, I'm in agreement with you that virus =/= politics. It exists and needs to be dealt with...

Waves to all (from >6 feet apart!)!

Anita

[Laura S.]

I went to the grocery store this morning. It was too muggily hot, even early, for a walk. I did a cardio dance workout on YouTube and it got me moving. I caught up on things I needed to do with email and the computer this afternoon.

Anita - It occurred to me that I didn't answer your question about cooking the chicken livers. My DH is a country boy from West Virginia (aka, fried food is plentiful). I dip the livers in flour (gluten-free, of course) and fry them. Part way through, I dump in chopped onion. We don't wear our masks when we go on walks - and no one else does either - because people are good about moving about to keep a suitable distance between people out walking.

Paula - The library buildings are not open. You can reserve books online and when they come in make an appointment to pick them up. When you go pick them up, there are some tables under cover outside the library that hold bags with the names of people coming to pick up the books. When you return them, there's an open slot where you put the books. It's totally contactless.

Dede - 18 people in a small town is a lot, especially if the numbers are going up. I'm sorry that it's hard there.

[ddj]

Laura, I'm not seeing many people walking in our neighborhood either. The heat is stifling. When I go out, I've taken to wearing caps. It all started when I got one with buttons so I could hook the ear loops of my too-big masks around them. But they were great for blocking the sun and absorbing sweat, so I wear them all the time now.

Anita, I hope the rain cools things down where you are. The reason I was surprised that the bike caused my knee pain was because of one of our local physical therapists. He has a weekly newspaper column, and he has mentioned his bad knee for years. He finally got a knee replacement last year and wishes he'd done it sooner. He said he could no longer play basketball with his friends, and it took him so long to get to an injured player on the football field that the coach would have to reassure the player that he was indeed coming. But the one thing that he never had a problem with was biking. He is an avid cyclist, and it never bothered his wrecked knee. So if it didn't bother him, I can't understand why it's a problem for me.

Paula, I'm glad you had a nice day on Catalina for your hike.

Today I did thirty minutes of walking with Leslie and chair yoga for tension relief. I wish I could've done more, but it is what it is.

I've had a problem with house finches on the hummingbird feeder. Sometimes about five at a time. Why the sudden interest? That feeder has been there for years. There were a couple of yellow finches on it the other day. My mom said they might be thirsty, but I fill the bird feeder with fresh water every morning. Weird.

Have a good evening, ladies.

[Paula]

Good evening. Workout this morning was Jessica Smith's Chair Cardio, Jessica Smith's Chair Toning, then Yoga with Adriene Reunite with Your Core.

Anita, do you have an exercise bike? Might be helpful when you're in recovery. Glad it's not muggy here. We always take a mask with us when we walk but rarely need to use them - people are good about staying apart in my neighborhood.

Laura, interesting how your library is working. I haven't even tried to see if I could get books in that way, I like reading on my Kindle and prefer it to regular books.

DeeDee, I've seen people put buttons on their hats to hook ear loops on, seems like a good answer for many. With the exercise bike, it could be that his knee injury is simply different than yours. No idea why finches would decide they want to use the hummingbird feeder.

[sciencelady]

Good morning!

Planning on working at the WRC - this will be the second to last duckling week as they will be closing down August 1st. Not bad, as I'll be quitting the other day at WRC on the 14th (surgery on the 21st). Today's a nice cool day so hope to get a good walk in with Gus - distance is a pain in the hip though... Otherwise, I've got appointments to talk to my financial advisor (every 6 months), and an evening discussion of elderly co-op living with friends. Otherwise putzing...

Laura, I don't think I've had fried chicken livers - pan cooked, yes, but not nicely fried in a crispy cover.

Dede, I'll need to work on my knee flexibility to get a good stroke on the bike going again and then hip recovery also. I wanted to bike after my knee surgery (before sucked), but it didn't feel good . At this point I'll be happy to walk around a block with a walker after surgery. A friend suggested getting a electric bike to make going up hills with less pressure on my knee or hip. Does the hummingbird feeder attract bugs that the finches are interested in? I don't think finches could get to the sap inside.

Paula, no exercise bike here - I looked into getting a indoor stand for my bike to set up my outdoor bike on for training, but the stand at REI was about $400 - yikes!

Waves to all (from >6 feet apart!)!

Anita

[Laura S.]

It was a busy and good day. I had an Excel tutoring session with my buddy from Maryland this morning. We covered the basics of formulas and functions including the SUM, AVERAGE, MAX, and MIN functions. I told her a little about SUMIF and she got exceited about one of the versions of it, so we covered it, too. At that point, we had been talking an hour and I could see her brain starting to melt down. I told her I was impressed by how much she took in. Then, I did some strength work with the band. I took DH to his PT appointment this afternoon. And we had normal house stuff like a load of laundry, unloading the dishwasher and putting out the trash and recyclables.

Last night, our church announced that there would be no meetings at the church facilities through the end of the year. They don't feel that they can safely have services with 500-1000 people per location. So they will be encouraging people to meet in small groups in homes, outside if possible. They will also continue streaming services. If something happens and it becomes possible for big groups to safely meet, the church is nimble enough to change course, but I don't think they're expecting that.

Paula - I doubt I'll ever get Kindle books from the library. My Kindle is so loaded down with books I haven't read. Plus, I regularly get books from Prime Reading. I also read books on my Kindle and the physical books from the library.

Anita - You'll just have to visit West Virginia someday! Liver is not hard to find there. I hope this evening's meeting is informative for you. I'd be interested to hear any takeaways.

Dede - It's great you found a way to combine the hat and mask in a good way. I'm sorry you are having so many physical issues. Good job getting in exercise that fit the limitations you are having now. And I hope it changes for the better soon.

[ddj]

Laura, when I check the real-time R-naught each day, your state continues to be in the green zone. You all are doing things right. Our church is meeting in a limited capacity, having split the congregation into groups. It seems to be working so far, but we've been streaming. Our mayor's wife has COVID, but he still won't mandate masks. Says he can't.

Someone today said it was illegal for stores to tell people they can't shop without masks. Really? What about no shoes, no shirt, no service? How do they get away with that if they aren't allowed to determine what people have to do to be able to shop in their stores? Sheesh.

And I'm sorry, but liver makes me shudder.

Anita, I don't think the feeder attracts anything other than the occasional wasp. And it's been hanging there for years. It's kind of weird.

Paula, I wish I preferred Kindle books! I'm sure DH does too.

Today I did Burn Sets: Biceps and Triceps and Restorative Yoga for Chest, Shoulders, and Upper Back.

Everyone have a great evening.

[Sophronisba]

Hi, everyone. I used to lurk at VideoFitness all the time; I haven't been here in years but for some reason I felt like stopping by this week.

I have barely left my house, except for groceries, since March. My husbands' parents are both immuno-compromised and my son has asthma so I am being super-careful. My parents are going to in-person church but I honestly wish they wouldn't.

I have put a lot of books on my Kindle in the past few months but now that our library is offering curbside pickup I will hopefully cut back a little bit.

Today I did Cardio Kicks (combos only) and then tacked on the Upper Body Express premix of Total Body Trisets.

I hope everyone is having a great week!

[Paula]

Good evening. Workout this morning was Yoga With Kassandra - Flexibility & Hamstrings. This is a long practice, almost an hour. I like Kassandra she's slow and deliberate. This practice has some zingers. Most of the time I go alone and all is well and some of the time I feel like a fish out of water flopping around. This is the second time I've done this one and I'll do it again - even if I can't do everything I like the practice and my body feels good when it's over.

Anita, you could probably buy a basic exercise bike for $400.00 - that much for a stand! Of course REI is a high end store, so it's probably a really good bike stand. Is the WRC just closing down duckling care in August or are they shutting down all together? It would be sad if they are shutting down altogether. I've never had fried chicken livers either, my mother used to make us eat beef liver a couple times a month and that ended any desire I ever had to eat liver.

Laura, it's probably a good decision for your church to cancel gatherings. Sounds like you don't need ebooks from the library - you have plenty without it. I have a few I got from prime reading but mostly I use the library. I spent the day doing house stuff too - laundry etc. I did get a lot done on my latest quilt. I got the border made - not attached to the quilt top, just made and ready to put on.

Deedee, You make a good point on stores being able to tell people to wear masks - they do so here. The Governor mandated mask wearing in public places. I'm sure he's not the only Governor to mandate masks. Maybe the Mayor can't mandate masks, but your Governor can. Truth be told I like the idea of real books better than Kindle books I just find them so hard to read anymore. I need to be able to adjust the font size and the background lighting. When I read a regular book my eyes get tired so quickly and/or start watering.

Sophronisba, welcome, hopefully you will stop by again. We all need online friends more than ever as we can't be with our friends. Be safe.

[sciencelady]

Good morning!

Planning on going in for a pre surgical physical and I'm unsure if they'll grab blood this morning, so not eating any breakfast this morning (or drinking coffee ). Afterwards, breakfast and then walking Gus. Otherwise I'm putzing around in the garden and house - today will be warmer, but not the heat blast coming this weekend (feels like temps well into the 100s). I'll need to figure out where I can get a Covid-19 test done within a week of surgery.

Laura, I'm glad you had a good session with your student and saw she wasn't keeping up mentally after an hour - I'm hoping teachers pick up on that with their students remotely when that starts up again in schools. Our church is experimenting with remote services - some are YouTubed, tried Zoom, now planning on a drive through service... There's a lot of older people in this service so health safety is a priority - it was also two blocks off Lake Street so the riots were close before - frankly, some of our elderly might not have a computer at home. Luckily the minister is young and can experiment with approaches! Last night's discussion on choosing went well - we discussed what we're looking for in house environment and what's important to have near. For me, it was nature, even if I drove out to parks every day like I do now, animals, like my pets and helping them at the wildlife rehab center, and casual friends just to be around like I do at circus.

Dede, our state just came out with a mask mandate to wear indoors in public places - still nothing for outdoor wearing, although it does occur at things like the compost pile. I don't find that to be a problem, most of my places are already covered under business mandates also (Target, Trader Joe's, Menards, etc).

Hello Sophronisba! Welcome to the Cronies! We'll talk about lots of things here besides exercise. Where are you from?

Paula, The WRC is just closing the waterfowl nursery - yesterday there were only three boxes to take care of - each had about three birds in them. Earlier this spring there were about 30 boxes with about ten birds in each. There were three floor pens also yesterday containing about 40 birds each - they'll be moving to another outdoor farm this week. I finished working there in about an hour instead of my usual four to five hours. I assume a chicken liver meal would be about five livers? Seems odd to have that many organs available, but I hope the number works out over the many chickens slaughtered out there. Liver wouldn't be a meal if you only had a few chickens on a farm. We've got a lot of chicken backyarders in our neighborhood . Our libraries are still closed, but you can order books for pickup.

Waves to all (from >6 feet apart!)!

Anita