Smartie's Bar & Grill #73

My corona thought for the afternoon is we should have all studied and took to heart what George Washington said about foreign alliances in his farewell address. We would certainly be a bit wiser.

 

These are strange days.

They closed all the elementary and secondary schools in Virginia for the next few weeks and the colleges have shut down for the semester. Things aren't too bad out here in the rural areas although I haven't seen a roll of toilet paper on our local grocery store's shelves in almost two weeks. The hoarders have probably been the ones sitting around too much cable news and getting pumped full of fear. Speaking of which, I can hardly bring myself to watch the business channels anymore on account of the Chicken Littles on Wall Street who are having a complete meltdown.

Fortunately, we're still working and hopefully the sh*t storm will blow around us.

Hope ya do okay for the next month, Seth. It's times like these why I always keep a little disaster fund in the bank. You never know when something like this is going to show up out of the blue...

 

Evidently, more of us should have read Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Self-Reliance", too.

I certainly hope we've learned our lesson from this experience. We absolutely cannot allow this to happen to ourselves again.

 

"Rechenka"...

If Diana's performance is a trip into a mystical forest, the original composer provides a full-blown acid trip. I don't know why the link isn't working properly. You'll just have to skip past the first twenty seconds.

I don't remember the song, but there's a bit of Pink Floyd's "The Wall" in there.

 

We're OK too. We have savings, and my wife is still working. She has a job in the financial side of the medical field, so it can't stop. I also started some prepping about 10 years ago, including toilet paper.

Yeah, Wall Street doesn't seem to get it that this is all going to be over in the not too distant future. And when the crisis is over, everything is going to bounce back to normal.

 

Um ... I don't understand what I don't understand.
However I do understand that mush.
Do Yuz all understand dat.? Or does it need repeating.

 

Actually if one cares to pay close attention that is an example
of doubletalk or doublespeak.Or words meant as a statement
not literally false but cleverly avoids an unpleasant truth.
How can one honestly say they don't know { understand } what
they don't understand.They would have to understand enough to know
they don't understand.Like those at a cocktail party in Georgetown
who are what you call { consider } " know it alls " who are afraid to
admit they may not know something.So they wing-it.Meaning act out
as if they know something they surely don't.
Keep a close eye out for this phenomena in the near future.

 

Jake from State Farm is working from home.

 

I think Hurricane Michael was easier to handle, we left before he came to visit. So far there have been no Covid19 cases in our county.

 

GW was not a professional politician - TG.

"Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people under an efficient government. the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.

Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or caprice?"

Transcript of President George Washington's Farewell Address (1796)
https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=15&page=transcript

 

So I was talking to my beloved son on the phone a couple days ago. He commented that baby boomers (that's me) are at increased risk if we catch the Corona virus.

Then he said that at least Social Security would still be there for him when he reaches that age ...

He called that "seeing the glass as half full."

 

Is that hacker watching you?

 

Culling the herd.



Where did your son pick up that sense of humor - Iraq?

 

Finally Good news for us Seniors as to what it's like
to test positive and have the Coronavirus.
Fox News this Friday morning March 21 or the first day of Spring
interviewed a 68 yr.old *Minnesota man who found out after being tested
extensively for flu was the first one from his state tested for Coronavirus.
He went to the doctors due to finding out when visiting California with his
wife that 2 persons at the same place they stayed tested Positive.
So he went and got tested.He was not feeling very sick but was also not
feeling normal.He self quarantined and separated from his wife who tested
negetative { using separate bathrooms }.He started feeling better and his temp
never got higher than 101.A Flu requires a temp of at least 103.
He said he didn't feel normal but had an appetite and recovered rather
quickly.He looked and sounded well this morning while conversing with
Fox's Brian Kilmeade.

* John O'Neil was either the first or among the first tested for
the Coronavirus from his state.This was Mid Feburary.

 

Lots of luck on that one!! The age to draw will be in the eighties if they keep moving it up.

 

As a Film Buff - Hud - { 1963 } is in my estimation Paul Newman's
best movie.He is perfect in the role.That old timer { Melvyn Douglas }
received his Oscar for his greatest role as Hud's Father { Homer }.
The movie has among the greatest dialogue of any Movie,bar none.
I have repeatedly used quotes from - Hud - here at the Grill.

" Little by little the look of the country changes because
of the men we admire.You're just going to have to make up
you own mind one day about what's right and wrong. "
- Homer Bannon to Lonnie { Hud's nephew }

 

I can relate. At least there's a degree of certainty to a hurricane. I'm sure that's what's got the stock markets so freaked out, too. All it takes is a whiff of uncertainty to send them into a tailspin.

We live in rural southern Virginia and the WuFlu hasn't reached our county yet, either. "Social distancing" is a way of life down here so there's a good chance it will pass us by. The vast majority of cases have been up in the densely populated counties of Northern Virginia adjacent to Washington DC.

 

Hud is one of my favorite films - the dialogue and acting are great and James Wong Howe won an Academy Award for his cinematography. I've got a copy of it in my personal DVD collection.

Heck, I might have to watch that this weekend...

 

Maybe it will be a simple disease.

 

A lot of new things going on this is all a learning experience to make us tougher and more resilient. We are American, we are can-do and will do People. Piece of cake. Now stay in your space six feet away.

 

Good morning barflies. Pics of beautiful Texas wildflowers to brighten your day! Banner year for bluebonnets!

 

Beautiful.

Mrs. Talon lined our driveway with Mount Hood daffodils last Fall and now they're in full bloom. It's a nice thing to come home to after a long day in the slave pit.

The neat thing I've discovered about that flower is when it starts to bloom it's yellow and white and then over time it turns completely white - you can kinda see the progression in this photo:

 

Gee I dunno.Not mush like - Jake and the Fat Man -.{1987-92 }