Friday 8/21/2020
This morning I scraped out the very last grains of my coffee. Peets’ has completely screwed up my subscription. Supposedly they send me a pound of Gaia Organic Blend every three weeks, with the last shipment to have been on 8/14. That order stayed in “processing” status for 3 days until I called. The lady said they had had a computer problem, very sorry, she would start a new order with a 20% discount. They refunded the cost of the lost order; and yesterday they charged my card for a new order, but it also has not shipped, and now I’m out.
Since the blood center yesterday said “no strenuous activity for 24 hours” I decided to have a walk instead of a run, and in fact, to walk to Peets’ at Town and Country and get me some coffee. Which I did, a half pound of Gaia Organic ground the way I like it. (They don’t offer my preferred grind on their subscription scheme.) I was in the store for a very brief time; everyone was in masks and distancing like mad. Cleaned my hands with alcohol on exit.
I made some progress on the Ford model and should finish it this weekend. Fussy stuff, attaching tiny bits of chrome and clear to finish the exterior, and attaching wheels.
Mid-day, Prudence, the CH Newsletter editor, asked for a story on the volunteer thing. So I wrote a 300 word piece for her.
At Rhonda’s open meeting, there was as usual good news and bad. Good: the second round of testing of dining and office staff had all come back negative, and restrictions were lifted. The dining staff is now able to put away wearing face shields over their masks, and allowed to come out of the kitchen. Which means, they will be able to resume delivering meal carts! Not sure if that is good or bad news. We have volunteers booked to do that through next week. Also unclear at this point whether the other volunteer tasks are to continue. Marcia and I will confer tomorrow and then try to get some clarity from H.R. person Kim.
In other news, owing to forest fires not that far away, just the other side of the Coast Range — Big Basin Redwoods park was destroyed yesterday, the oldest California park; I’ve been there several times; it’s a 30-minute drive, about — anyway, while it is highly unlikely that Palo Alto would ever be under evacuation order, the management have been updating their crisis plans again. If anyone feels nervous and wants to go and spend time with friends or relatives in another area, they may, and they won’t be required to do a 14-day isolation on return, assuming no symptoms. There was some amusing discussion of how to choose a refuge. Rhonda said, approximately, “If you have a choice between a healthy friend with a small house with no AC, or an aunt with a big house but she is coughing and has a fever, well, I know which I’d pick.”
Rhonda said their first response to evacuation would be to shelter in place; our building is made of concrete and steel and not in the middle of a forest. If they do have to evacuate, they have plans to bring in buses and plans for places to go. And everybody is to find that “go bag” we were all gifted last year and make sure it contains what you would need for a stay away.
2020 just keeps getting better and better, you know?
Codgerville 