how about drinking?

Okay, medical geekiness out of the way. Back to our (modified) regularly-scheduled lives.

I was a laundering fool all weekend. Kept my mind off Bob being at the hospitals. He is super-pissed-off that his stay Sat. night at the Oak Lawn Hilton did not earn him any HHonors points. Why? Because it was booked via Expedia. But wait--he didn't use Expedia, he went straight to the hotel's own website! (He had tried to do it the old-fashioned way, by phoning--but the hotel operator, assuming it even was the hotel operator, turfed him off to Hilton's central reservations system...and a thickly-accented reservationist somewhere in the Indian subcontinent). Nowhere on the website was it divulged that there was any "third-party" aggregator involved! He spent a furious hour complaining, going up the corporate chain as high as possible--everyone with Indian accents telling him that sorry, reservations made through "third-party aggregators" are ineligible for HHonors points. What's even more infuriating is that as a Gold Level member, he was always given an Executive floor room, with full lounge access (free drinks, hot hors d'ouevres, and a hot breakfast). But he paid full price and still had to pay a buck for a hard-boiled egg from the "convenience shop" behind the desk. He got nowhere with corporate--all they were willing to do was give him the URL for a "complaint" webpage.

Gordy had warned me about this. He works for Vivid Seats (for as long as it stays in business). For the past few weeks, he was not just doing his fraud-analyst job but also his old job of Customer Service live chat. Now he has been instructed to tell customers that they are entitled only to a future full credit--no refund, no more promised "120% credit." He feels guilty and is terrified that the company will be slapped with a class-action suit; but unless the sports leagues reopen with live attendance, the company will have to suspend operations. Airlines are all issuing only credits towards future flights (albeit many extending the validity period to two years). The entertainment and hospitality industries (at least the major corporate ones) know they face near-extinction, and are desperately hanging on to every cent they have for as long as they can because the gravy train has derailed and may never be repaired enough to get back on to the track.

Bob had fewer COVID patients at Little Company this time, and his PPE was so robust that he was issued not just an N95 but a full-fledged respirator with a backpack compressor. At Holy Cross, a dozen telemetry nurses have tested positive--they had no patient contact, just sat at their monitors in the nurses' station. (No PPE for them). At Advocate Christ, all of his cardiology consults who either had symptoms or tested positive were taken from him and assigned to the special COVID-floor staff doctors.

My first podiatrist (the one who prescribed my orthotics) was forced to retire, even though he's 2 years younger than I am. His office is at Glenbrook Hospital, which is now NorthShore's all-COVID hospital (varying degrees of severity in different sealed-off wings). He was told that if he wanted to keep working, he would have to treat COVID patients--not as a podiatrist but doing critical care. He decided (wisely) life is too short for that.

My housekeeper's DH is getting his dialysis done at a brand-new COVID-only dialysis center in Villa Park--only two patients in the room at a time. That is because Hines V.A. Hospital needs all of its own dialysis machines for ICU patients, because the "cytokine storms" cause kidney failure in the sickest patients.

With defrosted Easter leftovers (wings, lamb chop, green beans) I had a robust 2017 Viña Robles Paso Robles Huerhuero Vineyard rosé--the one Bob forgot to take to the hotel with him.

JCS, I agree about all of doing rather well health wise, considering all that is going on. And I say gardening IS exercise! Enjoy your kids today, I think it's today and be safe.

Cami, I do hope you and your GF's, all 4 of you can get together. And a sleep over, WOWSA, how fun. Y'all should just get a room down the road at the Hiton, or the Holiday Inn. If my business phone rang at 4 am, it would just go to voice mail, I'm not answering, even if I am up. Or if it were my personal phone.

Sandy, good news from your HK and I hope your DH stays safe and you both remain healthy.

NM, I hope you and Sadie had another relaxing weekend. The funny thing about my nieces is, you wouldn't believe how much they fight and go for weeks sometimes not talking to each other. How did you cook your T-Bones? Those are my favorite, especially that small piece on the side. I saw that mouse turd cocktail, but didn't read it. But this time I did...funny! I liked your comment about cooking up a bunch of bacon so you could have healthier meals this week. Night shift, the 11-7? Will be tough adjusting I would think. The Ninja Foodie is a pressure cooker, slow cooker, air fryer, all in one and even does more.

Mary, my neighbor that is help is not strapped, but she doesn't have any transportation, but I do think she spends her money foolishly. She wanted to buy me a houseplant for all that I have done for her, and I told her I appreciate the thought, but rather she didn't and to keep her money. And yes, she is the one I took with me on the quad. My neice does not have any children, just got married 18 months ago. I hope the fatigue will level off for you. I had it bad when I first started Xeloda, but after awhile, I didn't really have it all. I get it sometimes with the Verzenio, but it's late in the day, almost bedtime anyways. Can't wait to see your new fur baby, what's his name and who took the other one? The neighbor party sounds nice and going to Molly's as well. All sounds pretty safe. Oh my, like NM said, he is a BIG BOY!

MinusTwo, your friend that had the family over is not feeling well now? I hope she is ok and I bet she regrets doing it now.

Celia, I totally agree with you on the protests. People are stupid and possibly making this worse. Therefore prolonging the re-opening of the country. Beautiful sunset.

Jazzy, love your little quails, they are so cute.

It is amazing when you do go somewhere, how many people are NOT wearing masks. Yesterday after DH's dr. appt. I wanted to look for some seeds. The Ace Hardware store we stopped at had a sign on the door, no mask/no entry. I think I have everything I want for the garden

NM- I hope the night shift turns out to be something that is less difficult for you. Whenever I have done night work with data center stuff, or go lives, I have to say the schedule change was tough to adjust to but not having to deal with as much people stuff was good. Sadie will sleep all night and greet you when you get home. I like how Cami did not say anything to you about this at all either in her post, lol.

And I finished those tasty ribs off for lunch tody too!

Saw this map on FB today about recommended closure based on current health care data. Looks like we may have another month to go, and will hear more what the governor is thinking about the May 3rd date stay at home date.

Quick update from our dear illimae. She's still struggling with the nerve damage that makes it VERY hard to swallow. Also she's having problems with vomiting. UGH. Not to mention how much she misses being able to eat real food. She does have doc appointments lined up, but just doesn't feel up to posting right now. She said to let you all know she'll be back soon.

Good Morning, Loungettes!Didn't get up to 3 inches of snow, but did get up to a good coating.

So tired of cold weather and snow. I did get to sit in the sun for a little bit yesterday while trying to get some phone tech working (better reception outside the building) that felt so nice except for the chilly breeze. Walking out of work across the parking lot in the very cold rain was not fun yesterday. Sadie was not impressed with her trip out this ayem, it was one of the shortest in a long time!

Goldie--Sadie and I did have a relaxing weekend, thank you. Right now I'm cooking the steaks by searing in a hot cast iron pan then finishing them in the oven until done. I'd rather grill, but the grill needs to be replaced. I haven't tried on line shopping for a grill yet. It's sad when family won't talk to each other over relatively small things. The night shift will be a bit of an adaptation, 7 peeyem to 7 ayem,but I'm not sleeping so well at night right now anyway. And it's only for 2 weeks and 6 shifts. And it will cut out a very big chunk of very expensive overtime. Maybe I should have said I cooked up the bacon to have TASTIER meals this week, it would be more accurate! Bacon mac and cheese after work Monday. Chicken with mashed potato with cheese and bacon yesterday. The Ninja Foodie sounds like quite the item. Do you use it often?

Jazzy--thanks for the bird info!He's quite the good looking bird. I've been thinking of Illimae, too.

Cammy Cat--Yes, Cammy, I see that you haven't said a word about my TEMPORARY shift change, carefully arranged so that I never work more than 2 nights in a row and with a long weekend on each end of two weeks for preparation and recovery. I'm very sure that I can accommodate this request AND take care of myself at the same time.I love how much you care and appreciate how you take care of me and Sadie!I know people are ready for reopening, I understand that. I want that, too, but I know what can happen if we do it too soon. It is getting harder to avoid the political crap on Facebook, isn't it?

Jazzy--I'm actually looking forward to the temporary night shift schedule as a break from the hour to hour monitoring of so many info sources for the latest changes in regulations and expectations, ragging on staff who aren't using PPE correctly or doing hand hygiene properly, listening to complaints about how (fill in the authority figure of your choice) isn't managing the situation the right way, listening to fears about what will happen if someone in the family catches this,or plans to walk off the job if asked to take care of someone who tests positive, and on and on. It amazes me how everyone can be an expert, yet not follow procedures we've been following for years and years.Ah, well, that's human nature, right?Interesting model for reopening timing. Seems reasonable for Maine, assuming the care rate starts dropping soon AND the testing can get ramped up to where it needs to be.

Chi--I am so jealous of you folks who can play in the gardens!Congrats on reaching the weight goal!I can imagine the emotional reaction to moving that big "clunk" weight down! Thanks for the kind words, just doing what I can to take care of our residents and keep the facility afloat during hard times, BUT at the same time taking care of myself. I don't see it as being a superhero, really.

Minus--thanks for the Illi update.It's ok she doesn't feel like posting.Still praying for her.

Morning, Lily.

Slice of Life

Ingredients:

1.5 oz St. George Terroir Gin

.5 oz Savannah Bee Company honey water

.75 oz watermelon juice

Slice of watermelon (garnish)

Basil (garnish)

Instructions:

Combine honey and water 1:1 to make honey water. Combine all ingredients, then charge and shake with ice in a Perlini carbonated cocktail shaker. Strain into a cocktail glass with a slice of watermelon and basil garnish.

From <https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/drinks/g234/best-spring-cocktails/>

Good morning! Had a great time with my kids last night. We talked and talked along with much laughter. It just warms my heart to see them and know for sure they are doing well.

Our governor has opened the beaches, but several mayors of the coastal towns are keeping them closed. The governor has also opened non-personal retail businesses. There are still “rules” for how many people can be in the store. How that will be monitored is beyond me. My son at the bike store has told me people just come in and do not want to wait their turn. I think I will just continue to use common sense to protect myself.

I should get back out in the yard, but am going through a lazy period. I have a Zoom cocktail hour with some friends this afternoon. Might have storms here on Thursday. Take care all and stay safe!

Minus - Thanks for the updates on Illimae. Sending prayers & healing thoughts.

Jazzy - Took a better look at that map online. Shocked to see that Kentucky has a June 8th date. Our tri-state neighbors Ohio and Indiana have earlier dates. Even New York has an earlier date!

Afternoon ladies.

Minus thank u so much for the update we've all been so concerned.

So Miss Maine everything is going well for u and sadie, did she tell u that or are u guessing. When r u people going to stop getting snow, Of course we did have it a couple of days ago. But u guys get carried away with it. Strange. Now I understand steven Kings books

I kind of envy u garden people <I said kind of> u can get things underway and know u've created something whether to enjoy looking at or eating.

Lori if that map is about right I wouldn;t have thought Utah was like u. Of course I didn't even know Utah was near u. I always figured Utah was very separated within the state how people live. And where they live.

Oh Sandy u made it. Good for you.

OH I had my Dr's app't today on the PHONE what an experience. I told her I would tell her the whole truth and nothin'but the truth all I heard was her laughing.thru most of it. I just wanted to make sure I got my meds renewed. But I had to tell her about my weight, lost another 20 lbs, which at this point she's not happy and is more concerned. So when this thing is over now she even has more tests. I told u all I'm at my HS weight but don't look it, that's for sure. Lori since I saw u this loss is after I saw you. Which u know I don't look like weight was lost <well as much as I have lost> I've lost 130 lbs.total and I don't see it. IDK it's confusing to me.But then again I didn't know Utah was near AZ. so who am I to judge.Wwell at least I got my meds so I withstood her scaring me cuz I don't have to feel as much pain. so.....

Lori do u know when u and Mary came here we were about 2 weeks before the lockdown was in place. Didn't think it was so close.

OK ladies enough about me and my woes, so nothing else to say LOL

I am so glad we heard about Illi just praying things go much better for her.

Stay safe and well everyone.

LUBS U ALL

ChiSandy - The info about spiking does seem to help explain. I live in the Cinci metro area, about 10 miles south of Cinci.

Gorgeous weather here today! On my way to mix up a Chambord Spritzer & have something for dinner.

Kim, watching Maddow right now--and she is spot-on about nursing homes. 40% of our CV19 deaths are occurring in privately-owned (mostly for-profit) long-term-care facilities, few of which have enough (or any) experienced skilled RNs & LPNs like you. They are clueless about infection control, because up until now that has not been an urgent need. They don't know what they need in terms of that (and they don't know what they don't know). Time we started getting more PPEs and training to them. (Good luck having an MD or even NP there full-time). Too few people realize they're not hospitals. I've twice post-op-rehabbed in them, and even most of the CNAs have precious little formal training. One of them didn't even have a single RN overnight--if we didn't get our pain meds before midnight, we were screwed till morning. Sorry to get topical here, but it is what it is (and it's about time that changed). You are more of a superhero than you realize.

With takeout (old-school) Cantonese food, Bob & I are drinking Domaine Collin Cremant de Limoux Brut NV bubbly. Might make a pot of oolong (no sugar though--when I was a kid, my cup used to have at least 2T. of sugar).

Good Morning, Loungettes! Huh, almost 24 hours and no activity in the HTL, that's unusual. Hope everyone is doing ok, just busy with this and that.

Sadie says Hi to everyone!

Frosting Shots

Ingredients

• 1 cup frosting canned or from scratch; try vanilla or cream cheese or chocolate
• 2-4 ounces vodka depending on how strong you want it
• Sprinkles and corn syrup or honey for rimming the glasses

Instructions

• To rim the glasses: place corn syrup or honey on a small plate and sprinkles in a small bowl. Dip the rim of each glass in the sticky syrup, then in the sprinkles.
• If using canned frosting, heat it until it's warm and pourable but not too hot (15-25 seconds for most microwaves). If using a homemade frosting, make sure it is very room temperature and smooth. Pour into a jar or something with a tight fitting lid. Add the vodka, then seal and shake vigorously, until the frosting is mixed with the vodka.
• Pour into glasses and serve. You can also let this sit for up to 3 hours, then shake and pour before serving. They'll last in the glasses at least an hour before starting to separate.

JCS, you and Mary both are doing the ZOOM cocktail thing. How fun.

Jazzy, I am A OK with staying put until June. Heard on the news this morning, GA is opening up, spas, bowling alley, gym, theaters and few others I think. I wish there were a way to know if any of these protesters gets the virus, so we can refuse to treat them!

Cami yes, Utah is right above us. That is where we always go camping, in Moab. It's about a 6 hour drive. March 8th is when Mary and I were there. I know, I got home just in time. I know it's hard for you to not see the weight, and especially cuz the hernias, but I def. see it.

Sandy, enjoy your take out. I won't even do that. My DH was a little upset cuz I would not let him get take out on Monday when we had to go into town.

NM, I can't believe your weather, and we are expceptionally warm, no.....HOT. Love your no comments to Cami. I think this is going to be the norm now! She loses weight cuz she doesn't eat. I think if there is going to be a second surge of this virus, it's going to be worse than the current.

Mary, are you seeing the girls today?

Welcome Li, come in and grab a drink.

Yes, a quiet 24 hours. But I managed to poop in this morning. Did some things outside yesterday, had to get caught up on my paperwork for the month. About the same for today. I am NOT ready for this hot weather, way to early.

Good Morning, Loungettes!

OK, gang, I need to rant and rave for a minute. Feel free to skip this part.Medicare has announced "new" regulations for nursing homes on reporting COVID-19 cases. I put "new" in quotes, because we have always had to report EVERY infection and infectious disease toMedicare, State and Federal CDC, and local, state, and federal public health.Yup, every case of the flu, every wound infection, every bladder infection, every cold, every pneumonia, every infected surgical wound, every infected hangnail has to be reported. Reports go to Medicare monthly. Reports go to other agenciesmonthly or quarterly, as they require. So what is "new"? COVID-19. The requirement for reporting a positive COVID-19 test is 12 hours. Nursing homes must report, within 12 hours of getting the result, a positive COVID-19 test must be reportedto Medicare, state and federal CDC, local public health, and EVERY resident and his/her family.Currently, there is no way to report this to Medicare except through the monthly report. Yup, nursing home are required to report within 12 hours, and Medicare is saying "We don't have any way you can do that right now."I work in a 60 bed nursing home.This is a very small nursing home. If we get a positive test (either a resident or a staff member) we will have 12 hours to call allthe families. Imagine getting a test result at 9 or 10 peeyem (this is not unlikely), and having to make that many phone calls by 9 or 10 ayem the next day. Imagine being the family member getting a call from a nursing home where a loved one lives at midnight, 1 ayem, "sorry to wake you up, but we have to report to you that a resident in a different unit from your loved one tested positive for COVID-19."And do you know what this is based on?The nursing home in Seattle that had the first cases. That facility didn't report the initial outbreak in their building to Medicare before the routine monthly report, or to the local public health folks after the first case BECAUSE THEY DID NOT KNOW IT WAS COVID-19.The freakin' disease wasn't even named at that time! They treated it like pneumonia or flu, followed all the rules and regulations, and Medicare is still citing them for not doing things that were not even put into place until weeks later. Oh, and by the way, a nursing home can be REQUIRED (FORCED) to accept a new admission that is COVID-19 positive, or has symptoms but hasn't been tested if a hospital needs to open up beds.Nursing homes are being harassed for requiring COVID-19 testing before accepting non-emergency admissions. So nursing homes must accept these patients, and then report them and face fines. Or be fined for not accepting them.Add to that the more frequently asked question of "what do we do with long term care when this is over?" "should elders even be living in congregate settings?" and nursing homes being characterized as the portal through which the virus is coming intocommunities (totally untrue, it's picked up in nursing homes earlier than in the general public because we have to report every infection, no matter how mild, socoughs and such that a regular person doesn't call the doctor about gets reported to both a doctor AND Medicare).The growing trend is making nursing homes out to be horrible places deliberately looking to harm or take advantage of our elders.Already there is whispering about how Medicare is going to get back the money they are sending to nursing homes to help out during the epidemic (all the thingsMedicare is requiring nursing homes to do are costly) by setting new, higher, and nearly impossible standards that must be met to avoid being fined. Take the focus on handwashing, for instance. If a worker takes 19 seconds instead of 20 seconds to wash his/her hands, there's a fine. A worker comes out of one room, washes hands, goes into the next room with a call light on, has violated hand washing rules--hands must be washed when coming out of a room and before entering a room, so 2 washes needed back to back. BUT, if the worker takes too long between coming out of one room and going into the next room with a call light on, guess what?Another fine. Every nursing home that has a resident or staff member test positive for COVID-19 will be fined for not preventing the virus from getting into the facility.MANY nursing homes have had 1 (ONE) case, and it never spread because they did everything they were supposed to according to Medicare and usually more based on solid infection control science), so there was never an outbreak (3 cases, at least one is a resident),will be cited and fined. It is becoming very clear to me that the trend in America is to close down all nursing homes. I'm not surprised, nursing homes are expensive, and represent a large part of the cost of health care in theU.S. But I can't help think back to the same attitude and approach when inpatient mental health institutions were deemedineffective, inhumane, and not cost-effective and were closed down. Where did all those people go? I can tell you from experience that there is not enough home care assistance out there for families to hire 24 hour care for a parent with dementia or advanced Parkinson's Disease, or is paralyzed from a stroke. Imagine, if you can, a world where long term care nursing homes do not exist. It's coming.

HUGE SIGH.I feel better. Thanks for letting me unload. And for those who choose not to read through all that, it's OK, I totally understand, and I still thank you for letting me fill up some of HTL space and giving me a safe place to unload.

Sadie and I are going to take advantage of the sun and temp maybe hitting 60 today, before the storm front bringing 1-3 inches of snow moves in. If April showers bring May flowers, than April snow better be bringing bumper crops of snow and everything else!

LI-T--glad you like the recipe!Welcome to the HTL!

Jazzy--I hope the MO and prolia appointment went well. So much has changed, I wonder how much of all this will stay with us forever now.

Goldie--I'm afraid there will be a second surge, too, and that it won't be blamed on actual cause--relaxing restraints too early, or opening the wrong venues too soon. But I don't know for sure how (or when) it should be done, either, so I probably should keep quiet.

Chi--I agree that society needs to re-evaluate how essential all levels of health care workers are, and adjust pay scales. But as long as society values people playing games more than health care workers or food supply chain workers there will always be a pay disparity. I just do not see Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements going up noticeably any time soon, the people who are making those decisions are too open to being swayed by other opinions, especially when those opinions are backed up with money. I hope Heidi's appointment went well and she's forgiven you! Sounds like you are planning a very nice dinner, hope it was tasty.

Aggravation Cocktail

Recipe

• 1 1/2 ounces scotch
• 1/2 ounce Kahlua
• 1/2 ounce heavy cream

Fill an old-fashioned glass with ice. Pour in the scotch and Kahlua. Float the cream on the top and serve with a straw for stirring.

From <https://mixthatdrink.com/aggravation-cocktail/>

I wonder if I can make this with rum instead of scotch--I have rum, but not scotch!

NM, still more snow, say it isn't so! My goodness, and like I said, we have temps up in the 90's this week...ugh! I read through your rant, all of it. And no, I can not imagine no nursing homes. And the mental health institutions, that used to exist for the mentally ill, I use to work at one. I think most of those went into "group" homes? I look at the condition my mom was in, she had no money and no way could have taken care of herself. I had to stay with her 24/7 while we struggled to get her into a nursing home. It was NOT easy, they did not want her BECAUSE she didn't have any money and would make up any excuse they could to deny her.

We will be getting the cooler ready today for these hot temps. IF you remember, out here in the west we use "swamp coolers" or "evaporative coolers", for us AC would eat up all of our electricity. Last night when we went to bed, it was 80 in the house. I can't do that. I've been getting LOTS of 4 legged rodents in the garden, so have to go every day to dispose of them. The ravens are happy!