Coronavirus, Covid 19 Discussion and How It Has Affected Your Daily Life Chat Thread

[ChocolateMouse]

I would trade too, I love being warm! XD My joints hurt when it's cold.

It's one of our birds - a spare cockerel from earlier in the year. The celery and eggs in the stuffing is ours, and the carrots we grew too. The apples are local from a tiiiny apple farm that does PYO, so we did that this week. Us and the owners were the only people there most of the time. The bread was local too. The veggies in the centerpiece (minus the apple) are all ones we grew, and all the flowers.

We also made two of these pies. They look like pumpkin; they're actually made from the Brulee butternut squashes we grew this year! The eggs in this were ours too ofc.

 

[SnapdragonQ]

Thanks! We grew so much of this ourselves, it's very exciting!

It's heckin cold here! We're getting down to 40s at night right now!

Us too. There was frost out this morning which is a month early here.

 

[feather13]

I would trade too, I love being warm! XD My joints hurt when it's cold.

It's one of our birds - a spare cockerel from earlier in the year. The celery and eggs in the stuffing is ours, and the carrots we grew too. The apples are local from a tiiiny apple farm that does PYO, so we did that this week. Us and the owners were the only people there most of the time. The bread was local too. The veggies in the centerpiece (minus the apple) are all ones we grew, and all the flowers.

We also made two of these pies. They look like pumpkin; they're actually made from the Brulee butternut squashes we grew this year! The eggs in this were ours too ofc.

What a wonderful harvest and farm-to-table meal!

If you are ever in southern California post-pandemic, let me know! We have an open door policy and love having visitors from all over the world.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Oof, that's such a distance from Ohio! XD I've never been to CA, but if I'm ever going that way I'll hit you up.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I mean, speaking of people who seek and demand justice. Even Justice Scalia left her roses every year on her birthday.
If I may be so bold I'll share the best post I've seen going around about her;

"

There's a few posts going around reminding folks that since RBG is Jewish, the proper thing to say about her passing is "May her memory be for blessing," which is true, but I wanted to add a bit of perspective on what that means.

Jewish tradition does not focus on the afterlife. There are a few thoughts on what happens when we go, some of which look a bit like reincarnation, and some of which looks like time to reevaluate our actions and relationships on earth, but for the most part, the whole "Do good things, get good reward from God; do bad things, get bad punishment from God" is just not part of our worldview. (Spoiler alert: this is why I love The Good Place so much- the final season feels very in line with Jewish thoughts on the afterlife.)
When Jews speak of righteousness, it is never with the idea of an eternal reward. We work to be good humans to others and ourselves because justice and peace are their own rewards. We don't know what happens next, but we know what happens here, and that is enough. The pursuit of justice is one of the highest callings of Judaism, and it should not be misinterpreted as vengeance or punishment. The ideas of justice and sustainability are inextricably linked in Judaism. A system that is unjust cannot sustain, and a system that is unsustainable cannot be just.
It is said that a person who passes on Rosh Hashona is a Tzedek, a good and righteous person. When we speak of tzedakah, the word is often translated as "charity" but it is more accurate to say righteousness. Tzedakah can take many forms (including monetary donation) but it's important to note that tzedakah is not a benevolent contribution given to be kind or nice to those who need it, it is to be viewed as a balancing of the scales, an active working towards justice. To use a simple example, one should donate to the local food bank not to gain favor with God, or to be nice to those with less than ourselves, but because it is unjust for anyone to be without food, especially while others have plenty. Correcting injustice, balancing the scales, evaluating the distribution of power and creating equity is tzedakah, the work of righteousness.
Similar to Maslow's (imperfect) hierarchy of needs, Maimonides wrote in the Middle Ages of eight levels of Tzedakah, the highest of which results in self sufficiency, or rather, an act that creates a sustainable form of justice. "Teaching a man to fish" is an extremely reductionist view of this idea, but it's a start- the real meat of it is the idea that charity is good, but eliminating the need for charity is better. (i.e. Tax the billionaires so we can have universal healthcare instead of praising the rich for building hospitals with their names on them.)
The second highest form is where both the giver and the receiver are unknown to each other. This allows both for the dignity of the recipient, and for the giver to be free from personal motivation and reward. In other words, we should help create a more just world for the benefit of people we don't know, without the expectation of praise, gratitude, or reward, in this life or the next.
When we say that Ruth Bader Ginsberg was a Tzedek, we don't just mean she was a nice person. What we're saying is that she was a thoughtful person who worked tirelessly to create a more just world. One that would perpetuate equality and access, one that wasn't reliant on charity, one that was better for people she did not know, without the expectation of praise or fame. THAT is what it means to be a Tzedek, and I can't think of anyone who better embodies the pursuit of justice.
When we say "may her memory be for blessing" the blessing we speak of is not "may we remember her fondly" or "may her memory be a blessing to us" the blessing implied is this: May you be like Ruth. Jewish thought teaches us that when a person dies, it is up to those who bear her memory to keep her goodness alive. We do this my remembering her, we do this by speaking her name, we do this by carrying on her legacy. We do this by continuing to pursue justice, righteousness, sustainability.
So when you hear us say "May her memory be for blessing" don't hear "It's nice to remember her"-- hear "It's up to us to carry on her legacy." When you hear us say, "She was a Tzedek" don't hear "She was a nice person"-- hear "She was a worker of justice."
May her memory be for blessing.
May her memory be for revolution.
May we become a credit to her name.
"

Thank you for this. May we all strive to be Tzedeks (don't know if I pluralized that properly). Beautiful insight, thank you so much for sharing. What a legacy! What a woman.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Blizzards? You old enough to remember the '77/78? Or the '92/93 winter ice storms?

I was in PA during that ice storm. I came from nice warm NM. That was a whole lot of no fun. I was cleaning stalls at a horse farm. All we were able to do, day after day, was chop open the barn doors, feed and water the horses. There was no time to clean stalls. In fact, it took hours just to chop ice off my car and drive up to the barns! The horses' water buckets were frozen solid every day. It was brutal. There were nealy 30 horses to care for. This was up near Shanksville. My heart nearly stopped on 9/11 when I heard that Flight 93 had gone down near there. I've traced that flight. It looks like it went down practically right over those barns. The memorial is just a couple of miles from there.

 

[IamRainey]

Thanks! We grew so much of this ourselves, it's very exciting!

That really is exciting!

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

Blizzards? You old enough to remember the '77/78? Or the '92/93 winter ice storms?

Oh heck yeah. I remember spending the whole weekend at work in 92/93. (I was an RN in a hospital and hospitals don’t close).
Whenever I miss my working days I remind myself about this stuff. Lol
The one in Feb ‘78 is memorable because I delivered my second baby during that one.

 

[SnapdragonQ]

Oh wow! Northridge must have been terrifying! I follow seismologist Lucy Jones on Twitter who was talking about how close last night's was to Whittier Narrows. I'm not from California, even though I've lived here for nearly 20 years, so every quake I feel is scary. We didn't have any damage, but both of my daughters woke up. Hope nothing was damaged at your house or your son's!

LOL... White Walkers! That's exactly what I thought last night: 2020 is really just missing zombies at this point. And not just the metaphoric ones we have in droves.

Since someone just had to bring up zombies...
Zombie storm Paulette
She's back!

 

[ChocolateMouse]

There was a new case at G's work last week.

Now he's got a mild fever, a cough, and sneezing.... It's hard to tell how much is his allergies (hay fever even maybe) and how much could be serious. We're on 48 hour mandatory watch from his work, so we're gonna wait that out.

In the meantime, he's relegated to his room and the bathroom only. We're going to be handing food in/out of the room, and hand washing every time after we go in.

He's uninsured right now - medicare gap - so not sure what happens to us if he has it. :T