Same Old, Same Old

 Nothing new to report.  Stay well.

A Foggy Day

 Canada has now had 30,452 deaths, and counting, from Covid.  The U.S. has roughly 10 times our population so you'd think that they should have 10 times our death count, around 300,000.  Instead, they have buried 853,452 victims, or 28 times as many as Canada.

As a result, we now live, on average, 5 years longer than the average American, i.e. 83 years versus 78.  Used to be 4 years longer, based on our better health system, but their response to Covid has cost them another year of life.

Their current average daily death rate is above 1,500 per day.  If this continues they'll add another half a million deaths in 2022 and further widen the longevity gap.

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Meanwhile, some positive news items for today:

- idiot tennis star Novak Djokovic was denied entry to Australia due to visa/vaccination issues.

- idiot folks from Canada who partied and vaped aboard a Sunwing charter flight to Mexico are not welcome on any flight home.  And some of them have contracted Covid.  Hope they enjoy their extended stay.  They'll likely be facing significant fines when they finally get back.

- after a slow start, I ended up winning the first Skip-Bo game of the year.  And I don't feel the least bit guilty about beating a foggy-minded invalid.

- said foggy-minded invalid had a much better day today.  Almost human once again😏.

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Stay well.

Progress

 Today's birthday wishes go to granddaughter Anna.  At age 26, she and her business partner in Germany have incorporated a company that designs computer games.  They  now have several employees and the company is doing really well.

Congratulations and best wishes Anna!  And good luck in your house hunt.

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Mardi has progressed from a) excruciating pain, to b) our definition of discomfort, i.e. pain you can live with, to c) the general definition of discomfort, i.e. physical uneasiness.  We're getting there!

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Cancelled the first two weeks of our planned Florida stay this morning.  We're still hopeful that we'll be able to head south by the end of the month though, in which case we'll need to be creative regarding travel insurance.

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Stay well.

Another Day

 Having found the Fishguts CD for Al, I read the cover sheet and thought it might be interesting to some of you.

Big Fishguts Debut

- Dedicated to the pursuit of good fun, good fishing and a little music along the way -

The purpose of recording this CD was to capture the essence of The Fishguts for posterity, so that future generations (children, grandchildren and possibly great grandchildren) will have a sense of part of their ancestry and possibly come to some understanding of why they're so screwed up!!

The band started to form in the late summer, early fall of 1999 from a common bond of friendship, fishing, laughter and music.

The inspiration for this CD was Wilf Craig (Bud & Roger's father) who recorded 78's with the Dofascoaires and Dofasco Humdingers in the late 40's, early 50's, which have been preserved through the years for future generations to hear.  Ridin' Down the Canyon, recorded by the Fishguts was one of those songs.

The Fishguts have no pretensions of who they are......, so sit back, put your feet up and hopefully enjoy The Big Fishguts Debut cause it's As Good as its Gonna Get..............

Yes, that was our BFD.

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Sometime during a sleepless night of discomfort, Mardi headed out to the living room.  When I got up at 8 a.m. she was sleeping on the recliner and didn't wake up until 11:15, in time to wave to Gary and Jill from the balcony as they delivered a Shepherd's Pie (they must think that I can't cook!).

Baked with love!  Angels of Mercy they are.  Nurse Dorsal says thanks!

We've also enjoyed a fruit "tree" from Maureen and Matt.

Please note:  We are not pleading for more stuff.  We're living with enough guilt already.  Mardi will get better.

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Escaped for an hour to visit the greenhouse.  The fresh air was a treat.

Kent and Donna are planting Geranium cuttings and have that under control, while David and the twins straighten the Easter Lilys.

Lifting and replacing the trays requires a lot of bending and twisting, so I'll leave that to the experts.  My next project, apparently, will be to build some more outdoor benches for the garden centre.

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Looks like we're in for a raging epidemic and many of us may end up infected.  Stay well if you can.  If not, please have a mild case.

Fishguts

 Some of you may be wondering what the "Fishguts" reference was all about yesterday.  It started years ago on a fishing trip when we all took our instruments along and made music by the campfire.  Brother Roger came up with the name of the group and we played together for several years.  Even cut a CD!

This picture was taken during a greenhouse "practix".  That's Roger on the left, Barry (he with the great voice) in the middle, Ed and Maurice.  

As the years went by, our get-togethers gradually had more chat and less music.  Then, Covid and some misunderstandings shut us down entirely.  

Yes Barry, those were fun times.

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Mardi took two steps forward on the weekend, but one step back today.  She's sleeping better, but still has jolts of pain.

So, the nurse will put off the greenhouse visit until tomorrow (but I did  make it to the LCBO - priorities you know!).

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The new round of Ontario closures includes theatres, at least until January 17.  We've got tickets to Theatre Aquarius for January 21.  We'll have to see what happens next.

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Stay positive.  Stay well.

Salt Water Joys

 So, it's starting.  An Alberta hospital has withdrawn maternity services due to a lack of staffing.  Root cause?  Unvaccinated assholes filling up the spaces and infecting staff (or stupid unvaccinated staff).

Why turn away pregnant women?  Why not sacrifice the anti-vaxxers?

If a wife or newborn child dies because of this, wouldn't that be manslaughter?  If only there was a way to deliver justice to the perpetrators.

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Mardi is moving better today.  It's been a real grind for her.  Hopefully, we're nearing the end of her ordeal.  She's back to being almost human 😍.

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Being my masochistic self, it's time to post the Skip-Bo results for 2021.  Somehow (maybe skill?) Mardi beat me 26 games to 14.  That's two years in a row that I've come up on the short end.

She's prepared to move on to a different game, but I'm too stubborn to give up.

And yes, so far I'm losing our first game of 2022😓.

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With Mardi feeling better and having less need for a nurse, I needed to find something else to do.  Decided to get the accordion (which is about 75 years old) out and touch the keys.  Haven't done that in about two years.

Interestingly, although I had no tune in mind, all of a sudden I started to play "Salt Water Joys", a song I had not even thought about for those two years.  The unconscious mind is an interesting and complex mechanism!

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Tomorrow, if Mardi continues to improve I'll drop by the greenhouse to see what's cooking.  Need to make a stop at the LCBO too - it's been a long weekend!

Stay well.

Polar Bears

 Today's birthday wishes go out to Mardi's New Year's baby.  Happy birthday Greg.

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Spent the day once again watching my love wince and groan from her ailment.

Instead, Monica thought that I should have gone for a dip today:

"Bud, in one of your blogs you said you were bored and lonely yet I didn’t see you down at the lake for the polar bear swim today! I am sure Mardi would gladly have left her sick bed to help you dress!!
Happy New Year!!"

What the hell, I could probably match that guy!

Monica, I promise to do a polar bear swim when climate change brings the January 1 water temperature in Lake Ontario up to 80F.

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Mardi spent part of the day awake, but she's still bent over in pain at times.  Hopefully, we'll see more improvement in the next couple of days.

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Stay well.