The gym I go to is closed for the duration. No eating out, either — I was looking forward to that while the offspring were in Utah (which trip has been called off).
As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group is for us to check in at to let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. It's also so we can find other Kossacks nearby for in-person checks when other methods of communication fail - a buddy system. Members come here to check in. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care!
IAN is a great group to join, and a good place to learn to write diaries. Drop one of us a PM to be added to the Itzl Alert Network anytime! We all share the publishing duties, and we welcome everyone who reads IAN to write diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news!
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For the duration: I’m sure some of you already know all about a fair number of these.
Khan Academy
PE
Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman kid stuff
Great Courses Plus — not free, but my daughter says she can get these through her Amazon account. I know they are also available through hoopladigital, which can be signed up for through a lot of public libraries. Though hoopladigital limits you to 15 items checked out per month and no longer does audiobooks (at least, I can’t access audiobooks through the Multnomah County system any more). I decided to try hoopladigital again, and checked out an album from their classical music collection. I found out that if you aren’t on the page, it stops albums after each song.
Scribd.com — ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, sheet music. Not free, but the first 30 days can be, and you can sign in using either Facebook or Google accounts. There are several levels of subscription.
My favorite archaeology site
I suspect as many public libraries as can are pushing their e-resources on their websites. Take shameless advantage.
Lots of musicians, opera organizations, and theater groups are posting performances online for free. My tastes are unlikely to match yours, so check out the ones you like, and if they are posting freebies, take shameless advantage.
Center for Puppetry Arts
Open Culture One of my lifelong friends posted the museum coloring book from this one on Facebook. There are lots and lots of other things, including materials specifically for K-12.
ProPublica
Center for Public Integrity
Reveal News
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
I’ll be back to my usual next week. I may post links to recipes, for the amusement value if nothing else.
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I did get to Barnes & Noble last Tuesday to pick up a book I’ve been waiting for. While I was there, I bought some books my grandkids said they wanted.
Someday it is going to occur to my daughter that I am neither frail nor stupid. I don’t appreciate being treated like a stevedore, or like I’m so smart I MUST already know everything; but I am neither frail nor stupid, and since she’s known me since before she was born, she really ought to have figured that out by now.
If you’re wondering about what brought on that rant, I told her I might go on the bus for an errand I needed to run, since she was planning on driving to work on Tuesday (meeting about working from home and issuance of laptop to do so) and she was fussing about me being in the high risk group, yada yada yada and so forth. And she really chewed on me when my grandson let the cat out of the bag — I had to call my own mother to talk me out of strangling the girl.
For the record, I was one of no more than three passengers on any of the buses I was on that morning.
The restaurant I made our birthday brunch reservation at is closed till the following week. I put the reservation to the first Saturday it’s open again. I don’t think anybody is going to complain. I certainly won’t, since it will be the usual price. If they don’t open as currently scheduled, I will just cancel.
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There was a rumor that schools will be closed till the end of April. The rumor happened on Tuesday — Wednesday morning, that was exactly what the PPS website said. We’re among the fortunate ones whose offspring know how to entertain themselves and realize what the consequences will be when they complain too much about being bored.
And I am going to be wringing every last penny’s worth out of my Kindle Unlimited and Great Courses Online subscriptions.
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Routine medical and dental appointments are being postponed. My granddaughter is heartbroken about not getting her next visit to get her teeth cranked up.
I called about when I could schedule my annual dental checkup and cleaning, and they may or may not be scheduling again beginning April 6th.
My April 14th eye exam is still on — this is the medical side of things where I have to get my eyes dilated and all the less routine tests my ophthalmologist wants done. The woman I spoke with says that they will be sure to notify me if that changes.
My annual physical is currently scheduled for May 5th.
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I’ve cleared my throat more times in the past three weeks than I have in the previous 16 years. My voice teacher said clearing the throat is hard on the vocal cords, so cough instead, and that’s what I’ve been doing until trying to not make people panic recently. Clearing my throat makes it hurt, which is incentive to stay home unless I absolutely MUST go out.
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I’m one of the morning people here. Since I can’t go to the gym for the foreseeable future, I think I may wander the neighborhood for half an hour or so just after I get up. I get fully dressed shortly after I get out of bed, so it won’t be a problem, and walking my grandson to school when he was in kindergarten did me a lot of good.
Did the walking for the first time on Saturday. I didn’t actually go all the way to my grandson’s school (round trip to there being ¾ of a mile pretty much any route possible), so I wended my way back and forth on the residential streets between Milwaukie (which is the major street between us and the school) to make up for the four blocks missing from the standard trip. The way I did it added six long blocks to the trip to make up for the four short ones I was missing.
Also, I decided to go up and walk home along 7th rather than along 8th, which is more usual. The reason for this being that the first 50 feet or so to get to 7th is along McLoughlin, which is also known as Highway 99 East. Usually, when I go that way, a couple of dozen cars and trucks pass me as I’m walking that short stretch. This time, two cars. Period.
I can move at speed when I want to, though my preferred pace is amble. I figure when I can get through the walk without panting as I enter on my return home, I will do two rounds.
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Some maroon in the neighborhood is bagging the dog shit and then leaving the bags.