COCKTAILS AT 7

I’m all excited! Big night tonight! I’m having cocktails at 7 my time with a lovely lady in Seattle.

Cathy Hakola.

I mentioned Cathy about 2 weeks ago. A message on Facebook. Cathy shared with me she had lived in Key West in 1987. At the Gat0 House. Had an experience with Matron Gustens. I fell in love with her when she told me she had been reading my blog for years.

She was vacationing near Boca Raton. Returning to Seattle the next day.

A few days later I had skype. Cathy was apparently a skyper. I must have told her I would be on skype in a few days. We skyped. Took a little time to work things out. She walked me through it.

We spent a delightful hour.

Cathy is 54, affiliated with a Seattle hospital, divorced, etc.

I mentioned that I drank very little since my pancreatitis attack last year. Also, that I was self quarantined. This is day 36 by the way.

Out of all this, tonight was born. Cocktails via skype. It will be 4 o’clock Cathy’s time.

She took care of the alcohol problem. Bought me 5 small jars of gin in Seattle and Fed Ex’d them to me.

I am all set. All I have to do is trim my beard.

Virtual dating. Who would have believed!

My time in Greece taught me the Greek people were unique. More caring and loving than most.

Their experience with coronavirus proof.

In the U.S. and most parts of the world, the old are brushed aside to care for the young. The young having a better chance to survive in a world where inhalators, etc. were in short supply.

I opted to self-quarantine because of that. I am 84, have a bad heart, and several underlying problems.

Greece has a different attitude when it comes to the old.

Dr. Sotirios Tsiodras is a Harvard grad. He is a Professor of Medicine in Greece. He is also the leader of the Task Force dealing with the virus.

His attitude toward the sick different. He has instructed medical persons not to turn their backs on the elderly.

His reasoning simple: “They’re our mothers and fathers, grandmothers and granddads…..Honor and respect every one – them especially. Without them we have no identity, we don’t exist.”

Julian Assange. Owner of Wikileaks. The man who in 2010 somehow acquired U.S. Army intelligence of a very sensitive nature. He published it.

The U.S. wants to arrest him. Assange ran from one country to another. Finally found a safe haven till recently at Ecuador’s Embassy in London.

He spent 7 years there. Recently let out, he was arrested by the English and is spending one year in jail there or somewhere in Europe. When he is released, the U.S. will want him returned to the U.S. to face charges.

I felt sorry for Assange. Sometimes certain government information has to be leaked for the good of the nation. Whether the U.S. Army papers were such, I do not know.

Adding to my sadness was that he was spending years in the Embassy in London. I am sure he was well treated. I envisioned him in a small room, some books to read, a small TV. Though of his making, an uncomfortable position.

Turns out things were not so bad.

Assange fathered 2 children while locked in the Embassy. Sex while confined. Not a bad deal.

The children: Gabriel 3 and Max 1.

The mother is Stella Morris. Now age 37. She is one of Assange’s lawyers. Part of his legal team.

The children are not “accidents.” Intentionally bred. Stella says they wanted a family. She added that Assange is “extraordinary, generous, tender and loving.”

Assange even got the opportunity to watch his 2 children being born. Via a video link from the Embassy to the hospital delivery room.

Assange’s “monastic” life not as bad as I thought.

China and coronavirus daily in the news. The country where it all started.

China was first in and was thought to be the first out of the problem. Not so. A second wave of the virus is developing. Attributed to Chinese business men traveling in and out.

China is trying to keep the second wave problem quiet. As it did with the first. The government has “quietly reimposed restrictions” on news releases.

Excuse the redundancy, but it is good to have good friends.

Florida’s Governor De Santis is an incompetent. Even worse than Trump. His problem is he is at Trump’s heels like a lap dog. Follows the Trump line 100 percent. Trump considers him an excellent Governor, of course.

Florida gets all the equipment and materials it needs to fight the virus. Sometimes even more than requested.

Testing a U.S. problem big time. In spite of Trump’s “we have the best testing in the world.” Not enough testing kits/apparatus anywhere. Or, so I thought.

As of last friday, the Daytona Beach Advent Health Hospital began doing 500 or more drive up tests. The number immaterial. Enough tests available.

The Daytona International Speedway somewhat involved.

A study was released over the weekend. In addition to age, obesity is a major factor in determining survival.

It is expected that obesity will join age in being a deciding factor re admissions to certain hospitals.

So difficult to believe the U.S. has reached this stage.

Donald was required to switch positions again this week. One day the Presidency is all powerful, Governors/States below him. The next it is the Governors and States responsibility to decide when virus restrictions can be relieved and people can return to work.

In 24 hours, Trump found out the law was on the side of the Governors and States. Another example of the President not understanding the Constitution.

Trump said in effect he “may” help if the States fail.

Glad we are all in this together!

Not all stimulus payments are direct. Most will be by check.

Mailing of checks held up a few days because the President decided he wanted his name on the checks.

Trump wanted his name on the checks as signing on behalf of the government. Prohibited by law as it turns out. Authorized signers for legal disbursements by the U.S. Treasury are permitted only by an authorized signer. Standard practice is for a civil servant to sign the checks to ensure that government payments are nonpartisan.

Instead the President’s name will appear on the bottom left hand corner of the checks where Memo is: “President Donald J. Trump.”

The Trump name on the checks has delayed their issuance. Technical problems in adding Trump’s name. Were supposed to go out earlier in the week. Reported they will begin going out today.

Trump is looking for scapegoats for his many failures re the coronavirus problem. He never takes responsibility. Always someone else’s fault.

A list is developing. Names on the list so far: China, WHO, Fauci, and the Governors.

One, some, or all.

I close with May Johnson. With her diary entry for this date in 1896, the Key West Citizen ran her photograph. I dare not describe her. Everything different from what I expected of a 19 year old school teacher. Her hair, her glasses, lack of a smile. She looks like a prudish school teacher from days of old. Probably should. She was a school teacher.

Enjoy your day! I am going to enjoy my evening!

17 comments on “COCKTAILS AT 7

  1. Your Skype date sounds wonderful, we adapt and we survive. If things turn out, maybe you two can find another and have a 3-way.

  2. Regarding the virus testing in Daytona Beach. It should be explained that the test kits were ordered from a private vendor and paid for by AdventHealth hospital. These test kits were not provided by the state or federal government. Governor DeSantis had nothing to do with it. Also, they are a different type of test kit than those in short supply elsewhere. Americans are resourceful, and can often get things done without waiting for help from government.

      • the CEO of AdventHealth Central Florida Division is David Ottati. The company spokesman is Jeff Grainger.You can find their interviews with CBS and other networks online. Look it up yourself, Genius.

        • Hey I’m not disputing anything, I’m just so impressed with Florida, always in the forefront of Medical research and Health Care. You Go Girl!

  3. In Michigan a person who lives on a lake is prohibited from going out on his fishing boat ALONE! And you wonder why the Michiganders are uprising against the kook governor!

    • I live in Michigan and I didn’t know that, where did you hear that? Not that I really want to row all the way to Milwaukee alone, mind you.

  4. Michigan DNR site. The use of motorized boats is prohibited. Although canoeing, kayaking and sailing is allowed! Makes no sense! Could be why the protest there included people from all party lines according to the NY Post.

    • The governor of Michigan recently extended (until Apr 30) Michigan’s temporary emergency Stay-at-Home order to prohibit the use of motorized recreational boats. This is reported that this was because Michigan boating enthusiasts were apparently congregating in large groups in large numbers on docks and other boating areas in violation of the temporary order and common sense.

      It appears that the person who first posted this on Lou’s blog did so in an incomplete way that seems to distort the facts and confuse the truth of why this was being done as well as that this is part of a temporary emergency matter and not something wildly draconian.

      One wonders if that post wasn’t made simply as an effort to create controversy, by that same old troll who is constantly on Lou’s blog, off topic, with poor and often untruthful (wrong) information.

      • So a lakefront homeowner in Michigan is prohibited from taking his Alumacraft boat with a 6hp motor from his own shoreline alone to catch some bluegills! Just saying. Even the boat launches in Martin county florida reopened! At least the florida governor has some common sense!

        • Yeah, terrible how a bunch of defiant hotheads and a couple of 6 packs of Stroh’s can ruin it for everybody! It wasn’t so bad when we could do a little fishing, even if it was winter.

          But I guess we gotta all work together and get this thing behind us. It isn’t going to end if we are careless or foolish, is it Thank God it is still mostly cold in MI, 40 Degrees today and they’re talking about more snow. Not exactly boating weather yet anyhow.

          • Stacey – do you suppose the crackdown was caused by that Tea Party protest rally hooligans, funded by the Betsy DeVos Family?

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