Loyalty

Brand loyalty and/or company loyalty is such a funny thing.

I don't think I've ever used anything except Crest for toothpaste. Different flavors maybe but always Crest.

If I have to purchase boxed Mc and Cheese, it's always Kraft.

I would choose Costco over Sams Club any day. Given the choice, Target would always win over Walmart.

90% of the time, it's a matter of service. If your service is great and your product is meh, you'd still stick with them. Their product and pricing could be great but if their service stinks, you'd ditch them if you could. I've shopped at other more expensive stores just because of their great service. I stick with my expensive dentist because he's so kind to me and I really need that.

Treat your customers right.

A   L*O*N*G  time ago, we used AT&T for our telephone service. I hated them. Worst customer service. I was never so happy to ditch a company when I canceled my land line, 14 years ago. Shortly after that, they started sending me all these great promotional deals and come back and you'll save $$. All I could think was, if you cared about my business when you had it, I might not have left! Boneheads. Anyway, I'll never, and I mean never, use AT&T again.

When we switched our cell phone service from Sprint to Verizon, they never asked why or if there was anything they could do to keep me as a customer. After 10 years you'd think they would be curious why they were losing me? Nope. That's fine. I'll never go back to them. Worst customer service.

Last February we ditched cable TV. Now we just stream everything. Netflix, Hulu, Disney. We've been with that cable company for 20 years. We kept our internet service though. Last month we started getting weekly junk mail from them. We miss you! Come back! Look at this great deal! Blah, blah, blah. This really irritates me. I was a customer of yours for 20 years and you never once offered me a great deal. New customers get all the great deals and free phones. But your loyal customers don't get squat. That doesn't seem like good business. Maybe you wouldn't need so many new customers if you just treated the ones you have, better. Hmmmm.

The past

This was so interesting and tragic and sad;

https://www.smh.com.au/world/suitcases-tell-stories-of-lives-lived-at-the-margins-20150617-ghpu6l.html

Sometimes, when I see old photographs in a box at an antique shop, it makes me feel so sad. I know people love to go antiquing but I wonder if they ever think about the story behind those items. 

Asparagus

I love asparagus. I could eat a lot of asparagus. Mmmmmmm. But asparagus makes your pee smell. It does, really. But it turns out that that's not true of everyone who eats asparagus! Isn't that weird?

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-asparagus-makes-your-urine-smell-49961252/

I'm really not crazy! Whew!

getting organized

Last week, my fella took another tote bin plus some other things, to Good-Will for me.  He said donations were piled up outside! That doesn't usually happen at our Good-Will store. It made total sense to me. So many people at home, cleaning up, throwing crap out. Yep. I'm doing it too!
Coincidentally, I saw this list (you know how much I love these) today;

Things is your house that a professional organizer would throw out!
* Flimsy kitchen utensils -that's good one. I need to do that
* Writing implements - I'm in trouble
* Reference material - I don't think that's entirely true. Like how to books. I'm keeping those until I know how to do it.
* Trip memorabilia - you know, old maps and travel brochures
* Expired things - food, medicine, vitamins...when was the last time you looked in the back of your cupboards????
* Storage 'solutions' - like containers that don't have a lid anymore, even Tupperware!
* Hobby supplies - oh, hell no!!!!!
* Outdated technology - probably. But if you had kept your old Apple PC, 
you'd have a lot of $$ right now!
* The "to-be-fixed" pile - maybe, after a year or so, just to be sure
* Parts for discarded items - accessories and manuals to things you don't have anymore! (mom)
* Secret stash - this one cracked me up because rinsed out jars was on the list! Ugh
* Swag and freebies - like all those pens you pick up and should throw out now!
* Unmatched things - socks, gloves...but I know the second I do, the other one will turn up!
* Awards and trophies - that's just sad
* Cookbooks - Noooooooo
* Clothes hangers - you have unused clothes hangers? I say, buy more clothes!
* Vases - I'm cool with this one. You really only need a couple.
* Refrigerator magnets - hahahahahahaha, when hell freezes over! It's my thing man!

Crisis Fatigue

Have you heard of Crisis Fatigue. It's a real thing. It's sounds pretty self explanatory.

Here's a pretty good article about Crisis Fatigue. It explains what is actually happening to your body.

https://www.wired.com/story/crisis-fatigue/

It's interesting. I suspect that there are A LOT of people in the world suffering from it. On different levels but still. I am. And it's exhausting. Also, there's something called the 'quarantine 15!' It's about weight gain during the pandemic. 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-right-mindset/202003/what-is-quarantine-15

That seems pretty normal to me. If you can't go anywhere or do anything, what else is there? Eating or drinking. Or both! I've definitely been drinking more. I know I'm doing it too...and I don't care. HA!

Bird brains!

Oh, not literally, like real brains, just the term. Sheesh.

Last year when we were on our fabulous 30th anniversary road trip, we bought a bison skull. I always wanted one. We got it in Deadwood SD. It's awesome...and big. We finally hung it up a few months ago. It's awesome...and big!

(I can see a good use for Christmas lights, can't you?!?!?)

I use to have this little, fake cow skull on the wall. My fella hung it outside on the front porch. It works, it's rustic. Anyway, a couple weeks ago we came home and found all these little twigs on the porch,

What the heck?! So we're looking all around. I thought maybe a bird thought it wanted to build a nest in the wreath. Nope that wasn't it. Hmmmmm,

Then my fella spots it...

Do you see it???

Here's a close up,

 A tiny bird is building it's nest inside the fake skull!!!! It's called a House Wren, a little smaller than a chickadee. Also, it has a pretty song, a pretty loud song! Aaaaaaand, it's July! Isn't it kind of late to be nesting?? I guess we're going to try and use the garage door more right now so we don't disturb them so much. What funny birds.

Great sorrow

Today we said goodbye to our beloved 16 year old miniature schnauzer, Greta. 

Greta, the bestest girl evah. 

Greta with the sweet, loyal, loving soul. There are so many things I want to say about her. 

She weighed 2.8 pounds when we brought her home at 7 weeks. She was about the size of a beanie baby! Seriously, how cute is this?!?!?!

I can't believe that was in April of 2004. We've had Greta for 1/2 of our married lives together! Whoa. That's a long time!

She was 5 months old when she got her first haircut. When I picked her up, I was so startled that I laughed out loud! Are you sure this is MY dog?? This is her before and after picture;

 

When she was a puppy, we had this little plushy squirrel for her that she loved. She killed 4 of them before we had to move on to a larger plushy! Her second favorite toy was a rubber squeaky burger. Squeaky toys were the best. She knew the names of her toys too. We didn't really make an effort to teach her those either. But she always knew the difference between "get the burger" and "get the ball."

When she was a 'teen' we kept her gated in the kitchen/dinning room. She ate a corner of one wall and tore up the vinyl flooring in another corner. Man she was busy! She chewed up any book I left out but she never ate our shoes. Oh, well...there was her love of slippers 😂

I walked her every single day, no matter the weather, to teach her good manners so she would be an awesome dog. And she was! She was a quick learner too. But every once in awhile she would rebel. She would pull on the leash, bark at everything, stop at every post and light pole and sometimes just walk into someone's yard and lay down! Such a character!! 

Once we were walking and this strange cat crossed the street to come say hi to us. Greta usually barked her head off at cats (for no reason). But she didn't that time. The cat walked a blocked with us, right next to Greta, before it left. We found out later that it was a deaf cat. Greta was smart, eh!? 

She knew all the right commands pretty early too. Sit, down, and twirl :-). She loved tug of war and scrunched up balls of paper. Christmas was a lot fun!! 

One of our favorite games was hide and seek. I would hide some place in the house and my fella would say, "where's da mama?" It was harder to make it challenging after a couple years though, she knew all my hiding spots! 

She loved to sleep under the covers, right behind my knees. 

She was completely food driven. You could get her to do almost anything for a treat. We weren't big on people food, just here and there, but she had her favorites. The milk in the bottom of the cereal bowl, peanut butter, pizza crust and Dairy Queen.

She knew when I said, "love da mama" that I wanted a cuddle and she would jump on my chest and lay down. Super cute. After my fella retired, she liked to lay by him all the time.

She wasn't a digger but she sure was athletic in her youth! She never did catch that bunny though. And until she got much older, she didn't mind the snow. She always hated the rain but the snow was ok.

She didn't love Pepper when we brought her home. But it turned out that she really grew to care about her. After Pepper died, she lost her appetite. She lost her interest in walks or playing or hanging out outside. That grief coupled with her age and failing physical abilities, was pretty hard on us. Heartbreaking as a matter of fact. 

We really struggled with what the right thing to do for her was. We wanted to keep her with us. For as long as we could I guess. But that's not always the best thing for you pet, is it. She was struggling to eat, struggling to drink, struggling to stay on her feet. Because she was deaf and mostly blind, everything startled her. 

Greta loved us all unconditionally. There were moments when that unconditional love just made my whole day worthwhile. The love of a dog is a gift. 

It's so hard to imagine our home without her. I know it's been awhile since we've seen her sitting at the window waiting for us to get home, but I'm still going to miss that. 

I'm going to miss her toasty hot little body next to me when I was chilled. I'm going to miss her twirl for a treat; She always had grand expectations. That's a good way to live your life.

Her absence will be profound. 

She was the bestest girl evah!

                                                                                 

                           totally bribed them for this shot

"dad! is that for us!?!?"

                                         

                       She actually did pose for pictures

                but she didn't like all the pictures 😜

                                   Yep, another bribe 😊

                        One day when I came out of the bathroom, there she was, waiting....😂

Greta and Pepper had wonderful lives and ours will be changed forever without them.

Critics

Critics are funny people. I mean, how is it even possible to be an "expert" at something that's so subjective? And critics are always looking for some hidden meaning in a film...or music or book. why can't it just be a great story? I've liked some movies that critics liked, but for the most part, I stay away from anything that a critic says is fantastic. Isn't the point of entertainment to be entertained? I don't always want to be made to feel something. 

Star Wars was an amazing movie at the time. I'm sure there are at least a 100 other movies that are wildly popular with movie goes that the critics hated. That doesn't even make sense to me. The critics hated Waterworld. I thought it was very entertaining. At least it was an original idea! 

My fella and I are trying to find things to watch on Netflix and Prime video. Even an original  Netflix/Prime series is ok. Some of those are actually pretty good. The critics liked The Marvelous Mrs Maisel so I wasn't going to watch. But Chuck's daughter said it was a lot of fun, so I did. It is fun. They also liked Fleabag, which I didn't. They hate Upload but I think it's fun.

It's the same for books. In general, all the critics dislike most of Stephen King's books. Honestly, I don't even like all of them, but still. MILLIONS of people DO like them! So who the hell cares what a 100 critics think? AND, why do you need somebody to tell you if you should buy/listen/watch something anyway.

Now for something completely different

I think I should be a bird watcher. I like birds. I like watching them. I like that they all have different ways of doing thing and I love seeing it all play out at our backyard diner! It's amazing that we have so many different types of birds at our feeder.

we have a few different varieties of Sparrows...in abundance!

These cute little Chickadees

Cardinals all year

Cardinals mate for life. We have 2 couples :-)

A Blue-jay occasionally

They are loud and bossy

Blackbirds

They stay on the ground mostly

These pretty little birds. They're Dark Eyed Juncos

This is a Common Grackle. Messy birds

Morning Doves!!

They stay on the ground too. We have a little flock that stops by

We also have a lot of these, House Finch

Like a Sparrow with flair

These little guys crack me up! They SWOOP in super fast, grab a sunflower seed and take off!

It's a Nuthatch

And I love the little Tufted Titmouse. Soooo pretty.

My least favorite bird, the Starling! They're pigs and they eat everything!!

Then there's this little Wren. One of these built a nest in my fella's motorcycle helmet one year!

This next one is new to our feeder this year. It's a Rose Breasted Grosbeak. Man is it pretty! So striking in person. But dang, they fling the food out of the feeder for a foot at least! Ugh.

And, we get alllll the woodpeckers!

Red Bellied Woodpecker

Red Headed Woodpecker

I can never tell if these are a Downy Woodpecker or a Hairy Woodpecker

and of course this GIANT dude!

Pileated Woodpecker

One year we had a ton of these, but not so much this year. 

It's an American Goldfinch

And last but not least,

a Bluebird

And of course we have Robins and  Hummingbirds, Great Blue Herrons and Red Tail Hawks. But not at our feeder. It's a nice pastime, watching the birds.

Pandem......blah blah blah

Last Saturday we went shopping, in real stores! It was fun :-) It's nice that businesses are opening up. 
Also, it seemed like about 1/2 of the people I saw were wearing masks and the other 1/2 weren't. And the ages were all different, of mask wearers. It was nice to get out and do normal things though.

I was thinking on my drive in this morning, about everyone's mental health. Admittedly, I don't read or watch a lot of news. I see the headlines. That give me the gist of things. Even at that, I was feeling a little depressed last week. It was more of a general sadness kind of feeling. Almost like, loss. Is that weird? I felt it a little more strongly this morning. As more and more people head back to work and more and more businesses open up, I see more and more headlines that say things like, "Things will never be the same again" and "Things you will never see again." Things like, X store is going out of business. X store will not reopen. X performer has canceled their 2020 tour. It's almost June. The year is almost 1/2 over. Over before it really started. Yep, I feel a sense of loss. AND, I still feel all the time like I'm under reacting and over reacting at the same time! 

I don't feel like the numbers add up. I mean, when the media says there is an increase in the number of COVID19 cases - they forget to say, but we're testing 10 times the number of people, so duh. When they talk about it in my home state they say, there were 300 new cases confirmed yesterday, making the percentage of people testing positive at 14%. Isn't that a better marker? Some states report COVID19 deaths differently than other states. Like, in Colorado, you can have COVID19 and die of something different so they don't count that as a COVID19 related death. But in other states, you could die of a heart attack but be positive for COVID19 and they count that as COVID19 death. Does that account for the decrease in stroke and heart attack deaths so far this year? 

The CDC says that during the 2009 flu pandemic, (H1N1) an estimated 12,469 people died in the US. The Hong Kong flu of 1968 killed about 100,000 in the US and 1 million globally. The Asian flu of 1957 killed 116,000 in th US and 1.1 million globally. Those were all "new" flus and pandemics. The whole world didn't just stop because of those. And all of those numbers are estimated by the CDC.

What the hell are you supposed to believe?

Pandemic life

Enough is enough! Don't you think??
Has social distancing been effective? Was decimating the American way of life and the economy, effective? Or was it even necessary? Isn't it mind boggling that in just a mere 60 days, you can essentially take down a whole country?! 

The head of WHO says the worst is yet to come. Dr. Fauci warns of "needless suffering and death" if we 'open' too soon. So what the hell do you want everyone to do?!?!?! There is already needless suffering going on. Have you been on social media? Do you have any sense of what 30 million unemployed people are going through? Or the millions upon millions of people that effected by those 30 million being unemployed!? You people better get your shit together because the average joe won't stand for this much longer.

Now that businesses are starting to open up again, the mix of emotions in workers is all over the place! They want to get back to work, but what's the cost if they do? The media has made it nearly impossible to make an informed decision. UGH 

I think the next couple months are just going to be hell.

Pandemic life

and now for something completely different; good news!

The North Face is giving 50% discount to health care workers through the end of the year.
Crocs is giving away 10,000 pairs of shoes a day to healthcare workers!
Adidas is giving first responders and health care workers 40% off until May 12th
Kroger is donating 200,000 gallons of milk to local food banks, through the summer
Nike is donating 32,500 pairs of shoes to health care workers
Jet Blue is giving away 100,000 round-trip flights to health care heroes.
and ingenuity abounds!!

https://www.wthr.com/article/anderson-senior-creates-free-ear-saver-straps-frontline-workers

and so many other great stories. Look for those stories, instead of spending your time reading doom and gloom!!

Pandemic life

Well, now that things are starting to reopen, there's a whole new set of disgruntled people. One of the local malls opened - with 2 entrances and staff counting how many shoppers were coming and going. But a lot of the shoppers were pissed off because only a handful of stores were open.  😲

Still, to this day, I always feel like I'm under reacting and over reacting at the same time. Also, I want people to do the right thing but still feel like I shouldn't be forced to do it. I get the whole stay at home orders but honestly, you can't make me. Also, because I'm always under/over reacting, I just have a hard time believing that this will change the world forever. For instance, Disney is a cash cow and completely bottom line driven. I find it hard to believe that they will lower their max occupancy permanently. I'm not sure about buffet lines. That's a staple in Vegas. Do you think they're willing to give that up? Or in small towns? Maybe, if millions of people had died. But they didn't. 

I'm happy things are opening back up but I don't want to stand in line to be one of 50% of the people that gets to go in. I don't want anything that badly. Not even cheese balls at Menards! I'd rather just order it online. 

And what's going to happen in the Fall when the '2nd wave' hits? Americans won't do this again. So I guess if you get COVID 19 and die, you die. This is SO WEIRD!

Pandemic life

I know there are probably other things to talk about, aren't there?

On May 1st, our Governor laid out his plan to put the state back into action. Finally! 

Yesterday, retail store and restaurants could open at 50% capacity. That didn't stop people over the weekend though! Granted, the weather was super great but holy wow! There were TONS of people out and about!! We had a couple things we wanted to do but there were lines everywhere. So we just went grocery shopping instead. And I don't mean, just went and picked some things up. I mean full on, pantry was bare, shopping. Well, except for those few extra things, like ice cream. LOL It was fun. But look! The TP isle was almost normal!

I can justify the extra $$ spent though...I've saved over $400 in gas by working from home! That's awesome. I think we should get a bigger discount than 25% on our car insurance for the month though. 

Speaking of working from home. I'm going in to the office on Mon Tue and Wed now. I'm hoping that by the time it's time for people to start coming back, that could be my permanent schedule. I could work from home on Thu and Fri.  I would only have to commute 3 days a week!!!! Man would that be heavenly! There was a lot more traffic this morning too. Complete with at least 2 serious car accidents! Everyone is just going too fast, because there are less obstacles in their way. 

Oh! Saturday, my pregnant with twins niece in Utah, had a virtual baby shower on Zoom! Very creative and actually, pretty fun. I see more of those in the future :-) And mom and I did our home version of Wine and Canvas. Also fun. We can drink more and take more breaks at home. Good times :-)

Pandemic life

Today in my home state, the Governor gave us his plan to get back on track. 
He's going to reopen the state in phases.
He's hopeful that if everything goes well, all restrictions will be lifted by July 3rd. JULY!!! Holy shit. Yeah, I get it but dang. I feel like we've just lost 6 months of our life. Like waking up from a coma. We won't even know what to do with ourselves! And they haven't made up a plan for the next school year yet. Ugh.
Anyway, I was sitting trying to remember the time lines. I needed Google's help;

12/30/19; A Chinese Dr. sounds the alarm. He died on 2/7/20 :-(
1/4/20 - WHO start tracking illnesses in Wuhan
1/11/20 - the first known coronavirus death is reported
1/13/20 - the virus spreads to other countries
1/20/20 - the first American case was confirmed
1/23/20 - Wuhan is locked down
1/30/20 - WHO declares a public health emergency
2/2/20 - first death outside of China
2/11/20 - the disease gets a name, COVID 19
2/14/20 - first death in Europe, Paris
2/23/20 - COVID 19 explodes in Italy
2/28/20 - First US death
3/11/20 - WHO declares COVID 19 a global pandemic
3/11/20 - US bans travel from Europe
3/13/20 - US declares a national emergency
3/15/20 - Europe shuts down
3/23/20 - UK locks down
3/24/20 - India locks down
3/26/20 - Global cases of COVID 19 top 500,000
3/27/20 - Nearly half of all Americans under lockdown
4/2/20 - over 1 million confirmed cases worldwide
4/13/20 - over 2 million confirmed cases worldwide
5/1/20 - over 3.2 million confirmed cases, 233,000 deaths

when I look at those last 3 dates, clearly people aren't in lockdown or following social distancing guidelines. But they sure are bitchin' about not having anything to do!