The leaves are falling everywhere, including our back yard. Just watching them drop like a snowfall is mesmerizing. It feels like it’s going to snow. Temperatures have been low enough for frost and freeze warnings around here. The mowers were bundled up, wearing stocking caps and gloves yesterday.
Fall is Sena’s favorite season. Temperatures are cooler and the changing colors of the leaves makes us wonder how the trees know when it’s time to drop them.
When I was a kid, I and a lot of neighborhood kids jumped off a small cliff at a park into a huge pile of leaves. It was a big deal to take the leap. We felt like we were flying. The bits of dry, brown leaves got in your hair and down your back under your shirt, making you itch.
I remember raking leaves in an old guy’s yard once. I got blisters on my hands and he didn’t pay me much. I didn’t like that part of fall and still don’t.
Sometimes I see news about Covid-19 variants. They typically sound alarming. The CDC has posted an update on Covid-19 variants that is reassuring. There will always be variants. Not all will be serious threats. According to the update:
“While new variants like BA.2.86 and JN.1 attract attention, right now, 99 percent of SARS-CoV-2 variants are part of the XBB group of the Omicron variant, which is what this year’s updated vaccines are based on. CDC is continuing to track the spread and impact of BA.2.86 and JN.1, as well as other variants as they come and go.
For as long as we have COVID-19, we’ll have new variants. Nearly all represent relatively small changes compared with previous variants. CDC and other agencies monitor for impacts of new variants on vaccines, tests, and treatments, and will alert the public quickly if anything concerning is detected. Most of the time, new variants make little to no impact.
Regardless of the variant, all SARS-CoV-2 viruses spread the same way. So it’s important to protect yourself and others by staying up to date with COVID-19 vaccines, improving ventilation and staying home when you’re sick.”
Our old Parsons chairs are getting pretty lumpy, so we ordered some new ones. We generally buy and put together knockdown furniture to save money, although squatting on my haunches and sitting on the floor while cranking a hex head wrench makes my joints sore.
Sena was having a little anxiety about the chairs. Ordering knockdown furniture can be a daunting experience, especially because I’m one of the least handy persons on the planet.
I looked up Parsons chairs on the internet. It’s named for the Parsons School of Design in Paris, France. They were first created in the 1930s in reaction against very ornamental designs of that era. They’re plain and simple, often used as dining chairs.
When I was a skinny kid, I used to lift our dining chairs for exercise. We couldn’t afford barbells. I think of Parsons chairs as being pretty light weight, so I don’t know if the chair I used for bench pressing were Parsons—although I was definitely a lightweight.
On the other hand, these chairs are definitely heavier than the ones they’re replacing. The tough part was getting the screws lined up when fixing the seat to the chair back. I had to tip the seat slightly either to me or away from me to get the screws in. When I can screw them down easily with my fingers, I’m usually OK. Occasionally, it takes a quick crank with the wrench to get it going.
When I wasn’t interrupting myself taking pictures of my assembly of the chairs, I put one of the chairs together in about 25 minutes. For me, that’s not the record. I assembled a typical knockdown Parsons chair in 15 minutes back in March.
Sena was had high anxiety about the chairs-nervous about possibly having to return them if they were damaged or parts missing and so on. She read some of the reviews by people who got them and had bad experiences. She had high anxiety about me, in case I broke something. But things turned out OK.
Remember to put your non-perishable food items out for the Scouting for Food 2023 food drive today! Collection site hours 9 AM- Noon. If your bag is not picked up by noon, please deliver to local food pantry.
Prepare non-perishable food items (canned or boxed)
We took a couple days to get the hang of the side steal juggle. It’s not easy and a lot of the throws look more like sneaky passes than steals. But it’s a lot of fun!
Sena juggles with her arms really reaching for the sky, like she’s getting robbed—which actually fits this complicated crime of a juggling trick.
You have to get a feel for whether you feel more skilled by reaching with your left or right hand when trying to steal your partner’s juggling balls. That dictates on which side you stand. One of the key points is to stand fairly close together.
It helps to toss the balls a little high and close to the juggling pane of glass so that you don’t have to reach too far out in front or you or too far behind you.
We counted the initial throws just to get started. After the first steal, it got too difficult for us to keep track of the count and a free style pattern began to emerge. We traded balls 4 times and Sena was gunning for 5. We almost got there.
Because we were so close together, ball collisions were common, making it important to time throws.
Side by side, shoulder to shoulder, this is a juggling trick in which teamwork is the key. It really helps you develop more skill with the 3-ball cascade.
Well, I’ve been juggling for a year now. I have been trying to learn the shower juggling pattern for 6 months. I can still do only about 3-4 throws. I think it’ll happen eventually.
All of the juggling balls are downstairs on the lower level since all the upstairs doors were repainted. We can’t scuff them up by dropping juggling balls anymore.
We’re working on a new two person juggling trick. It’s a variation on the steal. It’s a side-by-side steal pattern and it’s more difficult to do than the front steal. We have to orchestrate it a little, sort of like the ever-popular Wolfgang Amadeus (“Bud”) Mozart’s Symphony No. 573.8 in J Minor, Op 74: II. Andante Pizzacata Beef Jerky de Bigfoot. I bet you’re wondering how I got to know so much about classical music. Anyway, we’re getting there.
We’re both working so hard on juggling that our shoulders are sore. I do a total of 200 throws of the cascade every day in addition to other tricks. Sena does air juggling at the dinner table. Maybe we should be doing some shoulder mobility exercises.
I’m pretty consistent about wearing safety goggles. Sena won’t wear them. You should comment that she ought to start right now. Thank you.
The 2023 Scouting for Food drive is on! The Hawkeye Area Council announcement just arrived on our doorknob the other day. Pickup day is October 28, 2023. Instructions:
Prepare non-perishable food items (canned or boxed)
Place donations in a clean bag or box
Put them out by your doorstep by 8 AM
Make sure it’s visible from the street
The food drive supports local families in need. All items collected will be distributed locally. If your bag is not picked up by noon, please deliver to local food pantry.
The other day, Sena and I were talking about growing up in Mason City, Iowa. As kids, both of us were the ones who lugged the groceries home. That was back in the days of paper sacks and, for me and her, food stamps. The food stamp program got started during the Great Depression. The goal was to keep people from starving and farmers from going under. In other words, it was kindness.
Food stamps were a sign of hard times and I don’t think that has changed much, except now I think you get a debit card instead of stamps.
I did grocery shopping at Fareway Store, which got its start in Boone, Iowa. Sena did hers at Grupps Food Center.
When it comes to shopping, I followed what my mother put on a list. I got the items and paid with food stamps. I can’t remember ever coming up short. I think I just gave them the cashier the stamps and they took what was needed to cover the price. I walked to Fareway and then I just walked home carrying two or three paper sacks of groceries. It was about a mile trip up and a mile back. My arms were pretty sore when I got home.
On the other hand, Sena came up short on stamps one day. It was embarrassing enough to have to pay using food stamps. But it was awkward as hell when you didn’t have enough to pay. At that time, the cashier was a guy named Bud Grupp. Bud was Carl Grupp’s son. Carl bought the store in the early 1960s.
Bud counted out the stamps and had to tell Sena that there wasn’t enough. She didn’t know what to say. People were lined up behind her and they could probably tell something was wrong. Bud just said “We’ll put you on credit,” and that was that. He sacked all of the groceries like there was nothing out of the ordinary. Sena didn’t know what was done about the balance on credit, whether it was ever settled or it became just a running bill that never got paid off.
Sena also had to walk home carrying bags of groceries. One winter day during a light snowfall, she dropped all of the bags in the snow. They got wet and all torn up. A woman saw it, came out of her house with some bags and helped Sena get the groceries sacked up again. She got home alright.
About a year ago, Sena was in line waiting to check out groceries. An elderly woman was ahead of her and came up short on money to pay for her few items. She fished in her purse and looked embarrassed and pathetic. Sena was thinking about paying for them herself but just before she could, a guy behind her handed the cashier his credit card and told her he would cover it.
Regardless of what you see in the news, kindness is still out there. Our Christmas cactus is already blooming.
Sena and I have been practicing the front steal trick in juggling. It’s another two-person juggling pattern that took us a couple of days to get right—sort of.
We tried it at first by counting the throws (and catches), which helped us sustain the pattern. On the other hand, it was a lot more fun not scripting it that way. You do get a lot of great practice doing the 3-ball cascade.
Neither one of us knew when the smash and grab was coming. We just stole balls whenever we felt like it. When Sena stole the cascade, I clawed it back and vice versa.
Stealing in two-person juggling is not a crime—it’s a hoot.
The latest update on how to get the respiratory viruses vaccines is updated on the CDC website. Highlights:
“f you have insurance, these vaccines should be free to you in most cases.
Adults without health insurance or adults whose insurance doesn’t cover all COVID-19 vaccine costs can get an updated COVID-19 vaccine for free through the Bridge Access Program.
How COVID-19 vaccines are being distributed changed in September 2023 when these products moved to the commercial market, but there is still plenty of vaccine supply.
Flu, COVID-19, and RSV vaccines may be given at the same visit.”
Go Retire Psychiatrist 