Friday, March 20, 2020, Santa Barbara, California.

This blog post collects photos, impressions, news of the period from Wednesday, March 11 to Friday, March 20. These impressions are mine and mine alone. This is not a news report. This is not comprehensive. This is not scientific.

The situation is changing fast. A few days ago our Governor Newsom said if we were over 65 then he really wanted us to stay home. It didn’t apply to those younger.

Last evening, the San Jose Mercury News reported, “Marking the most sweeping measure taken by a state to slow the spread of the COVID-19 disease, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday ordered all of the state’s 40 million residents to stay at home with exceptions for essential work, food or other needs.”

We plan to simply abide by the order, and not second guess it or flaunt it.

Solana Beach Trip Wed, March 11 to Sat, March 14

On Wednesday, March 11th, Chris and I took Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner to Solana Beach (San Diego area, 5½ hours each way). There were only 6 – 8 people in the whole car — about the same number on the return on Saturday, March 14th.

It was a friendly, low key visit with friends Kim and Marty at their condo there. Solana Beach felt very normal, not very different from pre-coronavirus times. Our hosts thought tables in at least one brewpub were spaced farther apart than normal, but at Pizza Port we had just the normal crowding, noise, and good beer.

Last Friday, still in Solana Beach, I was told my iPad class was cancelled for now. No real surprise there, but it helped me realize how much I enjoy conducting it.

Cancellations were being inflicted on Kim and Marty, too, and Kim immediately started looking forward to using her newly cleared schedule to do some good things she hadn’t had a chance to do yet. This immediate positive spin was very nice to see.

More detailed events and thoughts; all about me, me, me!

It’s nice not to be alone through this.

Unless one or both of us is clobbered by Covid-19 we’re gonna be OK.

Acquiring food will take more thought and time and money, but so far we’ve seen we can order and then pickup sushi with no trouble. We’ve ordered groceries from two organizations who send individuals out to grocery stores to pickup items for us, and we were very pleased with how that worked out.

Financially? I’ve been able to avoid checking on our retirement accounts. I know they’ve taken big hits but I don’t know how big. I do know I don’t have to worry about keeping our lights on or paying for groceries next month and I’m not worried about being furloughed. I also know not all are so fortunate.

Our internet, water, trash, gas, cell phones, and electricity services all seem to be operating normally. Phew!

The same day we got back from almost normal Solana Beach I was off to Vons and Trader Joe’s for what I thought would be an almost normal grocery run.

I was shocked by the empty shelves!

After doing the best I could at Vons, I remember thinking TJ’s might be better. I wonder why I thought that?

Would like to think folk less fearful than this. Oh well.

I would like to believe we don’t really don’t have toilet paper or peanut butter shortages in this country. But I hope as we get more accustomed to these various restrictions people will start thinking we’ve got enough peanut butter at home and we can actually buy some more without too much trouble so maybe we don’t need to keep stocking up any more.

To me this means the distribution of goods may be adjusted just enough so shelves will fill back up in about a week? Several weeks? Am I smoking something? It gets better from here? Or are these the last of the good days?

This morning Andrea wrote that she thought the groceries situation in Lancaster, PA was relatively normal. She was able to get 13 of 14 items on her list. Have they been hunkering longer than we have?

I’ve seen some signs of serious cooperation, innovation, flexibility, and altruism and it’s heartening.

The peanut butter “shortage” seems to be hitting me hardest! Surprise! Well, small surprise. Just saw a few cases of the stuff on the lawn at the Franklin Center as part of normal free food distribution on Tuesday. There seemed to be fewer people and they weren’t so close together. (And I felt a twinge of how come they can get peanut butter and I can’t?) (I’m trying to rise above that, but not really doing very well, am I?)

Chris and I tested the library’s new delivery system Wednesday. First you telephone to schedule a time slot at our Eastside Library branch to pick up that book they’ve told you they now hold. Then you show up at the right time and knock loudly on the locked outer door. This guy then shows up carrying a book and holds it up so you can see it’s the right one. You nod and hold up your ID and he nods and then opens the door about 4 inches and hands you the book. I was about 15 feet back and exchanged waves with him. Then we turn around and walk all the way home (all one and a half blocks) wearing a goofy grin. I’m not really sure what was so enjoyable about that.

Just a few minutes ago Chris told me it looks like the library isn’t gonna continue to do the hand-the-books-through-the-crack-in-the-door delivery scheme. Too labor intensive? Too much fun? Sure was fun while it lasted.

Yesterday we tried to get CVS to deliver our three prescriptions that were ready. They tout this free service a lot. Should be easy to get it to happen, right? WRONG!

We finally figured out that CVS requires you to pay a membership fee of $60/year for some sort of exalted status that allows you to call and talk to a human being to arrange final details. Let’s say I am not impressed. Sometime before final figuringitoutness Chris just went down there and picked up the prescriptions the old-fashioned way.

Because we’re both well past the threshold for being vulnerable older folk, I expect to check into senior hours soon at several local supermarkets.

One of our volleyball friends gave me one of their 4 large jars of peanut butter! I’m still smiling about that one. I’m set for weeks!

In Lancaster, PA daughter Andrea felt grocery shopping was almost normal — got 13 of the 14 items on her list.

Nine known Covid-19 cases in Santa Barbara County now; six in North county (Santa Maria area), three in South (Santa Barbara area).

===== END OF POST =====

Wednesday, October 16, 2019 9:30ish pm

I’m watching TV, expecting Inigo to check-in any time now. Usually he does this by appearing in my lap. No huffing, puffing, meowing, or traipsing across the floor noises. He’s a smooth, shadowy, guy.

Chris is not home. She is traveling south on Amtrak’s Coast Starlight train and is now near Klamath Falls, Oregon. She can provide some emotional support for what I’m about to go through, but that’s about it.

The text messages that comprise the heart of this story appear below and are unedited except for one naughty word that I censored.

What is Diana’s name doing in there? No idea. With my mumbling and dithering the dictation software did the best it could. I probably meant for the word to be “dictate.”

There’s at least one typo in there, too, but you’re gonna have to deal. Remember this is the tail end of my day and I’m not at my sharpest.

I have reasons to have expected our small prey to be a gopher, but I’m not gonna get into that.

During the big hunt, when Inigo and I are sometimes only a few feet apart, in a corner, say, I’d try to explain to him what I’m doing in a calm, ordinary voice. Calm, normal voice and no quick, noisy movements from me. I didn’t want him freaking out when I was moving furniture right near him. Good boy Inigo.

Note that the action covers about 2 hours Wednesday evening, and the final words are Chris’s on Thursday Morning.

Our little saga begins that fateful Wednesday night when instead of realizing there’s a 9-pound cat in my lap, I hear some thumping nearby. In the dark living room I see the outline of a black cat who’s almost always hard to see anyway with a dark, fist-sized, object in his mouth.

I turn a light on not knowing what else I’m gonna see and by then the mouthful is gone and the chase is on.

Paul to Chris, 9:46 pm
Dear little Inigo brought a gopher into our living room. He was torturing it for a while and then it got away and neither he nor I know where the little critter is now. Yikes!

Chris to Paul, 10:27 pm
Oh no!! Good luck!!

Paul to Chris, 10:31 pm
Yeah, good luck is right. Inigo and I still haven’t found the little [naughty word censored!].

Chris to Paul, 10:34 pm
That sounds horrible. And it’ll be the most inconvenient time. Yuck! I feel very badly for you!

Paul to Chris, 11:21 pm
We got him! And I do mean we. I was just starting to Diana response to you and I heard great commotion from the parlor and Inigo was on his trail again.

Chris to Paul, 11:23 pm
Inigo would realize where he was and I would then gently methodically start removing obstacles to expose him. Finally I had a chance to smack him with them meter stick. I smote him and then I had a chance to put him out of his misery. I didn’t enjoy that at all.

Paul to Chris, 11:24

The living room now looks like this.

Paul to Chris, 11:26 pm
The late gopher looked like this. I think that’s a rat actually.

Paul to Chris, 11:27
Phew!

Chris to Paul, 7:54 am Thursday
Wow! THAT was drama! Sounds like you & Inigo were quite the team! I’m very, very glad you guys won the battle. And the smiting. No, it really doesn’t sound like fun (at least for you). But selfishly I’m glad it’s done before I got home.

But I bet Inigo enjoyed going on the hunt with his dad!

>>>>>End of Gopher story

After Janie Ivey’s initial inspiration in early June I started ruminating on reminders of Kate Ocean. It’s three and a half years now since she died and I’m still reminded of her frequently, and once I started assembling this blog I found my list growing and growing.

Here is a sampling, by no means complete, of these reminders. Their ordering isn’t quite random — the first couple and the final couple are among my favorites.

Valentine’s hearts hanging on ceilings

Left photo is from 2013. When “B” and I first learned of Kate’s desire to hang hearts from the the ceiling of BCRC (Breast Cancer Resource Center—old location) we thought it was a terrible idea, but Kate persisted and I worked out a way to do it that wasn’t too bad! (Faint praise, eh?)

Shortly after BCRC moved to its new location I wondered if Kate’s and my decorating careers were over. They were. We didn’t decorate for another event.

The right-hand photo shows the lone heart from 2013 still hanging on Chris’s and my living room ceiling. This was my ceiling test area.

The Milpas roundabout

I love the Milpas roundabout at the 101, and every time I’m here I think of Kate who would drive out of her way to AVOID it. Oh well. (Image constructed by Google Earth from photographs and a simulated viewpoint of several hundred feet altitude.)

There are now plants in our kitchen bay window

In our nice, sunny kitchen bay window we didn’t always have plants. I remember Kate being horrified by our (well, I ‘spoze, mostly Paul) keeping kitchen tools there such as a colander, cheesy plastic containers, and other unworthy items right where Kate knew plants belonged.

On the right is a current photo of a Christmas cactus (gift of Kate Ocean!) that has taken over the bay window. If Kate could see it, she’d say, oh Chris, we need to repot your plant. Then Chris would say, nooo, if you do that it’ll just grow bigger still and then you’ll want to repot it again.

Then, if there was another time, Kate would say, oh Chris, we need to repot … and Chris would say …. I THINK we would all enjoy these scenes!

Most times I drive by her street (either South Voluntario or East Figueroa)

Stopping by her place after picking up flowers from Trader Joes’s

I don’t do this any more, of course, but still it was a little jarring when I realized I’ve mostly forgotten that during her final few years with us, after picking up one or two grocery carts of donated flowers from TJ’s, I’d usually stop at her place on my way to BCRC to drop off a couple of bouquets. I’d usually wind up with a cup of coffee out of the deal, too.

It was in making our simple drop-off arrangements I got adept at sending text messages between our (not smart) phones. I always got a kick out of thinking of the two of us relative old farts comfortably exchanging text messages (we were both so much older than the typical texting demographic!).

Small fish table; and other things

For example: ceramic coaster featuring a very large letter “K”, Christmas plate that “B” and Kate gave us loaded with cookies, Nordstrom towel, Loo sign.

Photos

I have a couple hundred photos where she appears, and, of course, any time I see one it’s a reminder; here, with Janie, e.g..

Marshmallow roasting sticks still beside our fireplace

We used them during the S’mores part of our 2 or 3 Christmas Eves together. I cut them from a bamboo stand in our back yard. In the left photo, which is NOT a reenactment, I’m pretty sure one of the hands is Kate’s. In the right photo, taken a couple of weeks ago, the same sticks are still there, waiting.

And speaking of Christmas Eve …

On the first Christmas Eve at our house with Kate, she and I went out on our back patio to check out the Star Walk app on our iPads and as we were holding an iPad up against the dark sky and inviting the app to tell us about the constellations we were looking at, Santa and reindeer dashed by. They don’t run or gallop, do they? Don’t they dash? How can you not like that? Anyway, in this example these guys are dashing past the constellation Pegasus. The dashed line is the Earth’s apparent path across the heavens. Completely gratuitous feature of the app! Christmas Eve only.

Any time I pick up either of the Kate photo books I assembled

It’s a concentrated reminder and a real visceral twang.

Any time I think of the Celebration of Kate’s life at the mission

I remember the distinct pleasure of working with a terrific group of others to do the best we could for Kate’s memory, Kate’s many friends, and ourselves.

Mobile hanging in Chris’s room — a birthday gift to Chris from Kate

Begonia photo from our daughter Kate

Left: begonia, RB Jr., is shown at Kate Ocean’s Voluntario Street place in about 2013. RB is from Ruby Begonia, Kate’s name for the begonia Chris acquired from her mother many years ago that is somehow still alive despite Chris’s care. RB Jr. is from a cutting from Chris’s plant. She fussed over this little guy a bunch, whose health I felt she somehow connected to her own.

Right: photo recently arrived (without any prompting or any idea that I was assembling this list) from daughter Kate showing current healthy state of her cutting from RB or RBjr that has grown up and is now living in Melrose, Massachusetts.

Trips — At the Santa Barbara airport a couple weeks ago, e.g.

Just before leaving Santa Barbara, I found myself ready to take a socks photo, something I routinely used to do for Kate when I was out of town. Besides a socks photo (especially my heart socks that I came to think of as my travel socks) I’d email a goofy safe-arrival photo, and maybe others. When we returned from trips she’d ask how are the babies? (Meaning the cats.) She seemed to enjoy hearing about our trips, not feel bad because we were reminding her she may not have the wherewithal to do similar travelling.

Reminder from Shutterfly of 7 years ago

Shutterfly emailed this collage to me just a couple of months age.

I’ve uploaded several thousand photos to their website over the last 10 years, and produced many photobooks and lots of prints of many sizes from them, so they have lots of photos and projects they can remind me of.

This particular group of photos is from Kate and Reggie’s Hawaii trip of October 2010, and BCRC’s annual December Tea and Fashion Show of probably the same year. (No, I don’t know where Shutterfly got seven years ago — may not be worth any time investment doing some math here.)

Annual French Festival in Santa Barbara

She always spoke so fondly of the French Festival. This notice was emailed to me just a few weeks ago, so perhaps as long as there’s an active French Festival in town they’ll be reminding me of Kate every year about this time.

Shoe-changing bench

I probably see and use this bench of Kate’s more than any of the other reminders but somehow it was the last thing I thought of!

Note to those who might actually read this post: that possibly disparaging comment at the very, very end of this post is actually a link to, and the title of the previous post in this blog site, I do not mean it to say anything about the current post!

<<<<<end of post

South Butt tee shirt

Because of a delivery glitch Chris wound up with two, size large, long sleeve, grey tee shirts. 

Now I am the proud owner of one of them. Grey isn’t a normal favorite color but free is an excellent price. I expect it to be a good initial layer on occasions.

Photo shows main elements of story: tee shirt with its logo, Chris’s North Face jacket with its logo, tee shirt tag from RedBubble company with washing instructions and world’s sweetest little clothespin. 

The folk at RedBubble sound like a friendly, wacky group. The tee shirt logo is an obvious example and both sides of the tag provide others. The obverse claims it was printed by happy people with matching socks. The reverse says: cold wash only; don’t tumble dry: don’t iron print; don’t slap pandas.

I’d like to add another photo here, an enlarged shot of obverse and reverse sides of tag, but free version of app won’t allow it. I don’t think I’m going to buy the app.

But I’m writing these few lines on my kingmouse.blog blog and now I can add all the photos I want!

The tee shirt, the tag, and the sweet little clothespin are amusing for a minute but this is overdoing it.

This entry is a good example of writing up something up that isn’t worth it! After a good start here, I began to get that sinking feeling that I was pounding this topic to death. 

Post here as an example of something I wouldn’t want to do again.

>>>>>end of post