Roscoe's Story

A Surprisingly Pleasant Distraction...

... from the ever depressing #FakeNews of the day being trumpeted across Network and Cable TV and broadcast radio these days is Star Trek: Discovery, which I've recently been semi-binging on CBS AllAccess. Though I'd avoided watching this series in the past due to bad reviews from some quarters, I gave it a shot after seeing someone I respect speak highly of it. And I'm glad I did.

Beginning with Season 1: Episode 1, I've tried to watch one episode per day. With only two Seasons of the show having been made, and no clear idea given as to when the the third Season will begin airing, I want to prolong my enjoyment as long as I can.

And the adventure continues.

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Published on 09 June 2020, this is my post number 29/100/365 of the https://100daystooffload.com blogging challenge.

#100DaysToOffload #StarTrek

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by Roscoe

Where the heck did THIS day come from!?

Saturdays under the current “plandemic” lockdown are supposed to be particularly quiet and calm in the Roscoe-verse. They are days when I don't have to set my alarm. (During her work week I wake first to fix her breakfast and make sure she gets her day started on time.) So Saturdays I can sleep as long as I like.

Waking at my leisure there is usually some kind of live Saturday sporting event on TV in the afternoon now. Thank you NASCAR for coming back to life! And then my Svengoolie in the evening.

As I was fixing this morning's coffee, she came into the kitchen and said,“Honey, I need your help with my phone.” She has an iPhone and I'm exclusively an Android guy. It turned out to be a problem that we needed her Apple I.D and password to remedy, and she had no idea what they are. She had somehow removed her Facebook app and couldn't retrieve it. But I WAS able to logon to her Facebook using my backup Android phone, so I'm letting her use it now. Not wanting to be left in any kind of lurch without a spare, I then ordered myself another phone. Darn, I was NOT planning to spend any money today!

After I'd sorted all that out, I got a text from the neighbor lady next door. She said she needed help and gave me instructions about feeding her cats. WTF?! So I went next door to see what was going on. Before she could unlock the door, a fire truck pulled to the curb and the EMTs rushed up. I stepped back and waited in her yard as the guys got to work.

Turns out she was more than a little drunk. She'd twisted her ankle, sprained it, and had fallen. The guys helped her out to a chair on her front porch, took her vital signs, and tried to figure out what was going on. One of them came to me and asked, “Is she always this argumentative?” I replied that, yes, she pretty much always was. She was insisting that she'd broken her leg, and they were saying that, no, it didn't look like any bones were broken. She demanded to be taken to the hospital, so an ambulance was called and off she went. On her way across the yard she gave me her keys and asked me to take care of her cats.

My wife was napping throughout this drama. When she woke I told her what had happened I said that she'd probably be back home from the hospital after sobering up with her sprained ankle wrapped. Sure enough, later in the afternoon there was a knock at my door. Someone had given her a ride home and was asking for her keys. Sheesh!

That's enough excitement for me. Svengoolie comes on in a few minutes and I plan to enjoy the show in peace and quiet.

The adventure continues.

Published on 06 June 2020, this is my post number 28/100/365 of the https://100daystooffload.com blogging challenge.

#100DaysToOffload #blogging #phone #drama

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by Roscoe

A plague remedy?

We all know that Isaac Newton was one of the most brilliant scientists of all time, right? A manuscript of his is now being offered at auction which includes his hand-written notes on cures for the plague then sweeping Europe. As reported at the Muse & Reason blog, Newton's thoughts on a promising cure (?) are pretty awesome:

“The best is a toad suspended by the legs in a chimney for three days, which at last vomited up earth with various insects in it, on to a dish of yellow wax, and shortly after died... Combining powdered toad with the excretions and serum made into lozenges and worn about the affected area, drove away the contagion and drew out the poison.”

I do NOT think I'll be trying the dangling toad remedy myself.

The adventure continues.

Published on 04 June 2020, this is my number 27/100/365 post of the https://100daystooffload.com blogging challenge.

#100DaysToOffload #blogging

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by Roscoe

Here for the long haul.

Her picture, posted above, of our Anniversary Date Dinner last week is much better than mine. She passed her camera to one of our servers and asked him to snap the photo of us holding our Chirashi Bowls. For my picture, posted here a few days ago, I just snapped a quick shot of the food in front of us from my seat in our booth. To do justice to the event it's only right that I put up her picture.

The title of this post also applies to my commitment to this particular blogging platform, which happens to be the most pleasant that I've used in my over twenty years of blogging. Today I upgraded to the 5-year Pro plan at Write.as. And as we all know, five years in Internet-time almost qualifies as an eternity.

So in both my personal life and my online life I've settled into relationships so satisfying that I intend to continue them for the long haul. I like that.

And so the adventure continues.

Published on 02 June 2020, this is my number 26/100/365 post of the https://100daystooffload.com blogging challenge.

#100DaysToOffload #blogging

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by Roscoe

Was this our last Sushi dinner?

Oh, let's hope not. But, if we're lucky, it may have been our last Sushi dinner in Texas. Let me explain.

She and I have been together since 2013. Our first date was sharing a Sushi dinner served at a local Sushi Sushi restaurant on the Saturday following Memorial Day. And it has been our custom to have a Sushi dinner every year on the Anniversary of that date.

As fate has it, we're going to be extremely busy all day dealing with another social situation this Saturday, so we decided to do the Anniversary dinner a few days early. Pictured above from our dinner yesterday is our sampler plate, already mostly eaten, and the Chirashi Bowls we always order as our main dish.

As I've mentioned before, she and I had plans to move to the Philippines this summer before the Wuhan Flu Pandemic world-wide (nearly) lockdown came along and shut down international travel. So we're stuck here in South Texas (not a bad place in which to be stuck, actually) until the world opens up again. Our best guess is that practical travel to the Philippines MAY resume sometime in 2021. If it does, we'll head over there as quickly as we can.

She assures me that excellent Sushi joints can be found in the Philippines so maybe, just maybe, our next year's Sushi dinner will be served... over there.

And the adventure continues.

Published on 29 May 2020, this is my number 25/100/365 post of the https://100daystooffload.com blogging challenge.

#100DaysToOffload #anniversary #sushi

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by Roscoe

Happy Humpday!

A few hours ago, about Noon-ish, she and I went to one of our favorite quiet little restaurants for lunch. We went inside, were seated at a table, ordered from the menu, and were served by a waiter who has served us many times before. It felt SO DAMNED GOOD to be out in the world living normally for the first time in months!

On the way home we stopped at the neighborhood HEB store for some groceries. I've been hitting the grocery store about once a week since this whole plandemic lockdown nonsense started. Yes, I wore a face mask there, (but I didn't need one inside the restaurant, of course). And the shelves and bins at the store are now filled and well-stocked so shopping is so much easier than it was when the lockdown first hit.

And on the way home we noticed the price of gasoline has gone up. But that's to be expected. There's a whole lot more Texans driving around now, burning up gas. And that whole supply and demand thing comes into play: the greater the demand for a product (gasoline), the higher the price for the supply will be.

GOD, I'm glad Texas is opening back up for business.

And the adventure continues.

Published on 27 May 2020, this is my number 24/100/365 post of the https://100daystooffload.com blogging challenge.

#100DaysToOffload #SeniorLiving

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by Roscoe

Croquet, anyone?

Why in the world has it taken me so long to buy a croquet set?

We had so much fun playing this backyard game when I was a boy growing up! And now that I'm an old fart, I'm finding this a great excuse to get out of the recliner and into the outdoors, fresh air, and sunshine, and move around.

Pricing new croquet sets, I found they can retail into the several hundreds of dollars. BUT cheapo sets like this that I've just purchased online, can be had in the $25.00 or $35.00 range. And this has everything needed to play the game, plus a carrying case to store the stakes, wickets, balls, and mallets when not being used.

Is this aerobic exercise? Of course not. Strength and muscle building? Ha! Not at all. But as I said above, croquet gets me moving around outside in the fresh air and sunshine. And it's fun! So I consider it to be a very healthy activity: something good for old folks like me to do.

So... who's up for a game?

The adventure continues.

Posted on 24 May 2020, this is my 23/100/365 of the https://100daystooffload.com blogging challenge.

#100DaysToOffload #SeniorLiving #health

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by Roscoe

Good Habits, Good Decisions

The week now ending has been challenging in the Roscoe-verse. There were days of monotonous boredom, and other days calling for serious out-of-the ordinary decisions. But throughout it all I was able to maintain a sense of calm and right-thinking.

A major help during this strange week has been keeping up with some very healthy habits: daily prayer & Bible reading, and physical exercise. Now, I don't spend nearly as much time in prayer as some others do, but I make sure to get in some form of formal prayer and Bible reading at least two or three times per day.

Though my days as a competitive runner or serious weight lifter are many, MANY years behind me; and though I'm trying to self-quarantine as much as possible (me being elderly now and with underlying health issues), I can still spend time on my stepper-machine getting a good burn in my major leg muscles, or working through a routine of stretches remembered from my years studying tai-chi.

And look, this past week I didn't miss a day on those good habits. They helped a lot toward making this a good week, I'm sure of that.

The adventure continues.

Posted on 23 May 2020, this is my 22/100/365 of the https://100daystooffload.com blogging challenge.

#100DaysToOffload #habits

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by Roscoe

Two books open at the moment

I seem to have fallen into an old habit, one that has given me a certain sense of comfort many times in the past. Sometimes for years at a time before circumstances pulled me away from it. I'm reading two books at a time, one fiction and the other non-fiction.

The Gunpowder Coast is a science-fiction novel I've just started and am enjoying quite a bit. Loaded onto my Kindle, this is a book I can comfortably read in bed or anywhere else I happen to be.

The other book I'm working through is an RMS Emacs Manual. Those of you familiar with these things know it's an over-sized 800-page brute of a book. I've got it in paperback rather than hardback but it's not the kind of thing you carry around. And it's not what anyone would call light reading. Solidly settled in my home office next to my computers, this will probably take me the rest of this year to work through. Maybe longer.

The science fiction book will certainly be finished first and replaced by others while I continue to work through the Emacs Manual. But this reading pattern will help divert my mind from the ridiculous news cycle that always proves to be so embarrassing during a Presidential Election year.

And the adventure continues.

Posted on 20 May 2020, this is my 21/100/365 of the https://100daystooffload.com blogging challenge.

#100DaysToOffload #books

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by Roscoe

A crash on the first lap...

... of the first REAL LIVE NASCAR CUP RACE of the 2020 Season just happened and I saw it. Only one car was involved. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun into a wall and, thank God, he wasn't injured. But it was exciting to see.

And it is an absolute joy to see the return of one of my favorite live sports following its 10-week shutdown forced by the pandemic lock-down.

For me, this is a clear sign that America is coming back to life. And that makes me very, VERY happy!

And the adventure continues.

Posted on 17 May 2020, this is my 20/100/365 of the https://100daystooffload.com blogging challenge.

#100DaysToOffload #NASCAR

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by Roscoe