I haven't been anywhere a mask was required--I mean, I've been out for drives in the car, but otherwise, I've been at home. We took folding chairs and went to visit a friend and admire her garden yesterday, sat in the shade of her garage and talked. I was surprised at how claustrophobic I got and how quickly, wearing a paper mask. It has pleats, but fits tightly, and in order not to claw it apart I took it off, wrapped my shawl over my nose and mouth and pretended it was good enough.

Is anybody making, or knows anybody making pleated cloth masks? I'm gonna need a couple of those--eager to pay, of course.

Early in our marriage we were really dirt poor and I was making all our bread--cheaper even than the day-old store. I bought 20 lbs of flour at a time, stored it in 5 lb containers, and just used out of one container at a time. The only time I've ever had weevilage was a glass jar of cornmeal that got overlooked and shoved to the back of the pantry for a couple of years.

I'm sorry to hear about Theo's resident's infection, and hope they all weather this with no lingering ill effects. The rest of you, stay healthy. And sane, please. At least mostly.

Oh--JAR. I'm glad he finally felt comfortable enough to come out.

IT's not supposed to be required but there was a hold because I hadn't registered to look for work. So I registered. It also looks lke it takes 72 hours to get direct deposit money. I have to certify every week I'm available for work. This whole thing is a mess and it should be a lot more simple than it is.

It looks like the beaches in the part of Florida I'm in are reopening. Not sure how I feel about that. I know that if they re open and people go to them then maybe the Gulf Specimen Marine Lab can reopen and they desperately need money but at the same time I'm worried about infections spiking.

I am worried for my residents. My guess would be the average age of the infected is 85. At the least, they're going to need a lot of nursing. One went off to the hospital this morning, which had our receptionist in tears saying goodbye. I know the nursing staff is on top of the most recent innovations in care, like checking pulse oximeters to see if lung function is degrading.

Three of the infected are on the same floor, across the hall from each other, and I've seen evidence that they've been eating together in the floor lounge there (they're supposed to keep inside their rooms and NOT socialize) by the leftover trays left on the table. Maybe I should have narc'd on them, but I haven't seen it in the past couple weeks.

At any rate, this is WHY we need testing -- because you really can't detect whether the virus is around just by looking for obvious symptoms, which may not be there.

There are easily 30-40 thousand American deplorables I want to go out and personally bitch-slap tonight.

I do so hope they have a mild case, Theodosia. If they have checking the omimeter readings that is a big plus. It can deteriorate a long way without people noticing.

People!! I made eggplant parm for the first time ever. It is one of my favorite things that I get out often. The only reason I made it was because there was an eggplant in my veggie box. It was sooooo good! Like way better than I expected. Yum! This recipe. [link]

I spent the weekend feeling like I had "error 400: bad request" blinking in a DOS font above my head. I'm on the other side of it, but it's like I got whammied by the situation at large all at once and had to hard reset.

Bev, my friend's partner is making masks and all proceeds are being donated to food security non-profits.

[link]

It is overwhelming. I asked my son why he was still wearing a bandana when his employer supplies masks and he said the regular masks were worthless with his long beard. I need to get him some more of them. I gave him a few that were my mother's. On my list tomorrow.

I need to get some real masks.

People!! I made eggplant parm for the first time ever. It is one of my favorite things that I get out often. The only reason I made it was because there was an eggplant in my veggie box. It was sooooo good! Like way better than I expected. Yum!

Nice! That's so satisfying.

I spent the weekend feeling like I had "error 400: bad request" blinking in a DOS font above my head. I'm on the other side of it, but it's like I got whammied by the situation at large all at once and had to hard reset.

I hear that.

I've been making fabric masks, but it's somewhat slow going for now. If anyone wants some and is willing to wait at least a week to get them, I'll send them to you for the cost of materials and shipping (roughly $2 per mask, plus $8 for shipping any number of them), and you can donate whatever you think is appropriate to your local food bank.

Ooh, I was gonna offer to hold your beer, Theo, but I'm ready to be an active participant in that action. Where do I sign up?

I'm so sorry about your residents. We keep losing the good ones. I want a few lot of Trump and his cronies to choke on their own fluids. Sooner the better. I hate this administration has woken the wolverine (not the character, the animal) in me.

esse, thanks for that link! ETA: Thanks, Hil. Profile addy ok?