Well, at least now we have a better understanding.

Or,  "how I learned to stay in the car".

I didn't take any snazzy pictures,  so you'll have to be satisfied with a few words.   I'll try to be punchy.

Anyhoodle,  a decision was made to make an excursion to a particular butcher/deli kind of place about half way between here and downtown Toronto.

Now,  I should say that,  our impression is, that Toronto has been somewhat hard hit by the Coronavirus,  but I don't have any actual numbers to back up that particular observation,  so you'll have to take my word for it.
Suffice to say,  in a similar fashion to most any large city,  the occurrence of COVID-19 is considerably higher than most any place in suburbia. 

Well,  unless it's a meat processing plant,  but that's a whole other clusterfuck.

I'm referring to the "Family Meat and Deli"  on Brown's Line.  You can look it up if you give a rat's ass.

But here's the thing.

There was some talk about "needing some meat",  both on the part of T.C.'s older sister (she'll be 85 this summer, so we prefer to get her stuff,  rather than have her go shopping)  as well as a few things that they carry that we like.   I'm referring of course to kranjska klobasa. 

Our first clue should have been when T.C.'s sister called them a couple days ago,  and the word was,  "Oh sure,  the two of you can come in,  or you can order ahead of time."

Didn't register.  But that should have been a red flag.

Now that we think on it,  there are no deli type of stores that are just allowing folks to "come in". 

The one we have here in Burlington was trying that a few weeks back,  by only allowing two people in the store at a time,  but when I was there,  I could see that it clearly wasn't working. 
The thing is,  once you go into this type of place,  you really need to stand in one spot,  and not ramble around trying to decide what you want.  If it wasn't for the fact that I would have had to touch the guy,  I really wanted to clobber this one fellow who simply couldn't seem to figure out what he wanted without wandering up and down the display case.

In the meanwhile,  that particular store (J & G Meats)  has very astutely realised that having customers in the store simply doesn't work, and have gone to "curb side" shopping.   We all know what that is,  so no need to explain.

So,  back to "Family Meat....".   And this is all I know from the report that I got back from T.C. 

They haven't a clue.

After she donned her mask and went in,  I saw two more people go in,  (without masks on, I might add)  and it looked like there were already at least two or three in the store.   And this is not a big store.  About as wide as the average townhouse. 

Not that wide.

So,  T.C. is trying to keep her distance,  getting somewhat hassled by other shoppers,  who don't know where to stand,  and then?   They're calling out numbers!

She bailed. 

Apparently,  there was only one lady behind the counter,  and just how she was supposed to be cleaning anything (including the number thingy)  was unclear.  (like,  impossible)  Plus,  there was no protection for the cashier,  like the sort of screen that mostly all of the retail outlets have installed.  Just a disaster waiting to happen.


So now we know.   We know why the numbers are so much higher in a city like Toronto compared to say,  Burlington. 

It's not just the stupid people.  I think it also has to do with a sense that,  even though there might be a ticket in the offing,  the by law officers are so few and far between,  that there's no worries about anyone putting up a fuss.

It was a nice day for a drive.

Which is to say,  not a nice day to be outdoors.   We had snow.  It was maybe one or two degrees above zero when we got up.  Not sure what to say about May.  It pretty much sucks so far.  Naturally,  I've already switched out the winter tires. 

On the other hand,  the Marinas aren't opening,  which means the boats won't be going in the water any time soon.   But in light of the crappy weather,  that seems to be an OK thing.   Who knew?

Still unclear how the whole sailing thing is going to pan out this summer. 

We'll see.


That's all I got.

Thanks for moving your eyes back and forth.

Keep washing those hands.

Big day today.

It's garbage day!   Whoohoo!

*snort*

And,  yard waste,  and recycling,  and well,  it's enough to get motivate me to get dressed this morning.

And,  and.

Well,  that's really the extent of it.

T.C. is making masks for members of the family.  I think she's up to around 25 or 30 by now,  most of which have been delivered.   She did get a request for masks from one of our nieces and her gang,  with the query as to "how much?"   But,  T.C. isn't doing this to make any money,  she's just making masks.  She has all kinds of material,  although we're waiting (and waiting) for more elastic to come from God knows where.  Had we known it was on a slow boat from China,  I suspect we might have tried to source some elsewhere. 

She can manage in the meanwhile.

I swear I see more delivery vehicles roaming around the neighbourhood than....anything.
And that's OK,  as I certainly don't miss all the Moms racing around the corner to get their kids to school on time.   I swear we could just take down the stop sign at the corner and nothing would change.

Of course there are the folks out walking their kids to try and either keep them occupied or at least burn off a little energy.   I'm sure many,  many folks with school aged kids have a new appreciation for the teachers in their kids lives.  Just a thought.


Of course,  there's the odd "Covidiot"  out and about. 

Now,  how do I know?   Well for example,  if the neighbour's "kid"  (he's probably in his twenties by now)  is heading out somewhere with his dirtbike on the back of his pick-up truck?   What kind of "essential service"  would he be performing?

Entertaining the medical staff in the parking lot of the local hospital? 

Right.

This was on the front of the local rag that arrived on our driveway yesterday.   And no,  this isn't the "propaganda" one.  Just the local offering that used to have way more flyers,  and now has been reduced to not much of anything.  The big change came after the shut down.

I actually liked the flyers.   But,  now all the stores have that sort of thing "on line". 
 

I didn't have to read the article to totally get the gist.  Of course we want to shop locally.  We (this household,  and the kids)  have been doing that for years.  Trouble is,  not everyone either can or is willing to go to the extra effort. 

And they say that the Farmer's Market might not reopen for quite some time.  Yikes.   That will suck.

I'd be willing to drive around the countryside seeking out all the farms that would have come to the market,  and doing some sort of "end of driveway"  thing.   I mean,  fuel costs wouldn't be a big deal. 

Anyhoo,  I'm still farting around with the table that I'm stripping.   Just not looking forward to sanding the bendy bits.

Had to take it apart to make it a bit easier to work on.

I do some as I feel like it.  It's not like the little project I had last year when I was "on the clock".   This is for my nephew and his wife.   He's the kind of fellow whom you can call for help,  and he'll be there.  Being as he's a fireman,  he was the guy to call to help with putting stain on the front of the house last summer,  way up there at the peak,  where Muggins here has very little desire to be.

Not only am I not crazy about heights,   but being that far up not just a scaffold,  but a step ladder ON TOP of the scaffold to boot. 

No sir.


Meanwhile,   T.C. tried her hand at making some treats for us. 

Because we're wasting away to nothing. 


Hope you are all well.

Thanks for stopping by.

And all the rest.

We don't have a bird cage.

There was a budgie here in the house when we moved here,  but it took no time to get rid of him.   He was "relocated".   And no,  that's not the same as,  "he went to the farm".  But,  whatever.
His owners came and took him away.

So no need to line the bird cage with newspaper.   We do however,  have a wood burning fireplace,  so I always make sure that I set aside a certain amount of newsprint that comes to the door for just that reason.  I've heard it said that, "print media is dead",  and if that's not quite the case,  then I suspect that it's been on life support for some time.  Just the same,  there is enough newsprint floating around that I can start a fire whenever my little heart desires.

And where the heck am I going with this?

Well,  a few days ago I guess it was,  there was a tiny segment on the Toronto news about folks being upset about getting this one particular publication in their mailboxes.   "It's Propaganda!"  was the mantra.

Of course somebody,  the News People maybe?  contacted the Post Office to enquire about just why this was being circulated,  to which the Post Office more or less said,  "Um, because they're paying us."

Which,  in consideration of the somewhat poor financial situation of our Canadian Postal Service,  is probably a good thing.

Well yes,  it is in fact,  "Propaganda",  but if you think in general terms about just what propaganda really is,  then most anything that you read that might have a particular slant could be considered propaganda. 

Oh and,  interesting little side snippet,  the German translation for "word of mouth" is "Mund Propaganda".  Literally,  "mouth propaganda". 

So,  here's the publication,  or at least part of the front page:

I had a couple thoughts when I noticed it in our mailbox: 
First of all,  "oooh...we got mail".  (Because we don't seem to get mail every day these days)  and then, "Oh look,  they're delivering this crap all the way out here.  Huh."

I'm pretty sure my next thought was, "Welp,  now I have enough newspaper to have a fire tonight if I want."   And that was about it.

No calls to the media,  or Canada Post.

Oh and,  they're trying to say that the Coronavirus was a huge Chinese plot of some sort.  Really,  I didn't read it,  so I have no clue.  And hey,  maybe it was?  We'll never really know.  Nor will these folks who pretend to know enough to put it in a "newspaper".

Now,  I will say this.   What ever numbers are coming out of places like China or Saudi Arabia in terms of the stats on the Virus?   Not credible.   And really,  until every single citizen in any country you can name has been tested,  none of the numbers are really believable. 
Having said that,  even if the numbers are off by a couple percentage points,  there's a helluva difference between having more dead than the Vietnam War and say,  3800 plus deaths in a country like for example,  Canada.

Meanwhile,  this past weekend,  Daughter Number One had a birthday. And I realise that, at a certain point in time in ones life, birthdays are maybe not the huge deal as when one was say,  a teenager?   Speaking for myself,  I'd just as soon let birthdays slip on by with very,  very little fanfare.

I'm sure however that there would have been at least some cake involved and a song if it weren't for the Pandemic.

Instead,  there was a stream of visitors at the front of their house,  with some presents to unwrap.   No singing though.

T.C. made her a "clutch purse":

Now,  I'll say this about that.

Prior to the whole Pandemic thing,  any time that a present was being prepared here at The Ponderosa,  there was always the concern that it would be discovered at some point during the process.  You know,  folks come over for dinner,  there might be some reason to go to the sewing room,  or out to the garage.  Like that.
 
At one point maybe a month ago,  T.C. caught herself about to say,  "Oh,  I'd better put that stuff away."  and then realised that,  nobody's coming into the house.  And nobody will be for quite some time.

We were having a little discussion about just how cautious is TOO cautious.   Um,  I'm kind of on the side of,  there is no such thing as too cautious? 

Even though I might have the right of way on a rural road where the vehicles coming up on my side have a stop sign,  do I just keep barrelling on through,  hoping that that transport truck is going to stop?  Or maybe I just might slow down a bit and keep an eye on him.   What if he doesn't see the stop sign?  By the way, I'm thinking of this particular example.

Anyhoo,  that's all of my ramblings for today,  and maybe for a few days.

Thanks for stopping by.

Keep your stick on the ice.  And wash your hands.