Happy Birthday to me………………………………………….

As always, first the chronology:

3/15/20 – Sunday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine. Cleaned up and downstairs to finish the taxes. Out for lunch at McDonald’s then shopping. Needed some envelopes for the tax papers. Ended up traveling all around looking for things for Julie as well as things for us. Finally home around 3PM. Short nap. Dinner. Downstairs to chat with the guys on 2 meters. Did the blog and computer updates. Did some Raspberry Pi work. Bed, Big Bang and sleep.

3/16/20 – Monday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine. Chores around the house. Lunch then out to Kroger Pharmacy, dropped off paperwork at accountant, then to Mike and Julies to wait for the plumber to come look at the upstairs shower. Home, dinner, chatted with the guys on 2 meters. Bed, computer work, sleep.

3/17/20 – Tuesday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine. Over to Mike and Julie’s to fix the printer on Mike’s computer and to put a printer on the hallway computer. Had lunch then home. Did paper work update and computer work. Kathy came home and we had dinner. Downstairs to chat with the guys on 2 meters. Upstairs to bed, computer work, Big Bang and sleep.

3/18/20 – Wednesday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine. Kathy needed a print cartridge to do an online course so we got ready and went up to Office Depot. Got some things at Office Depot and picked up some doughnuts at Krispy Kreme on the way home. Put things away and had lunch. Then got paperwork together to renew registrations and took them down to the county clerks office. Back home and helped Kathy with some things. Had dinner then downstairs to chat with the guys on 2 meters. Up to bed, computer work, Big Bang and sleep.

3/19/20 – Thursday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine. Kathy was up and out early to babysit the grandchildren. Stripped the bed and started the laundry. Cleaned up and downstairs to play radio. Got many interruptions. Bands were bad. Continued with computer work. Finished the laundry and prepared dinner. Kathy came home and we ate. Downstairs and chatted with the guys on 2 meters. Upstairs to bed, Computer work, Big Bang and sleep.

3/20/20 – Friday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine. Kathy was up and out early again to babysit the grandchildren. Did a little finishing up of the laundry then got guns ready to go shooting this afternoon. Had a light lunch then headed to Point Blank. Met Mike Craycroft over there and we shot for 1/2 hour. I had a coupon for a good deal on a range bag that included eye and ear protection and some free range time so Mike took advantage of that. Came home and took a nap. Kathy got home and we went down to Moby Dick’s to pick up food for dinner. Home and ate. Downstairs to chat with the guys on 2 meters then cleaned guns. Upstairs to bed, Computer work and sleep.

3/21/20 – Saturday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine. Chores around the house. Downstairs to work on my Python course. Kathy went shopping and baked some goodies for this evening. Mike, Julie and the grandchildren came over for dinner to celebrate Julie and my birthdays this last week. Back downstairs to do a little more work on the Python course. Computer updates. Upstairs, chores, bed, Big Bang and sleep.

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Now the specifics:

This week had two birthdays.  Wednesday was Julie’s birthday and Thursday was mine.  I’m getting older, just turned 72.  Where has the time gone?  Anyway, with all the chaos in the world, little was done during the week to celebrate.  Kathy was babysitting the grandchildren Thursday but I did get a lemon filled doughnut with a LED candle on my place mat when I got up.  But the celebration was actually Saturday night.  Mike and Julie picked up food at Mark’s Feed Store and brought it over to the house along with the grandchildren.  We had a great time.

I finished up all the things I had to do with taxes so I delivered them to the accounting guy that does them for me.  Of course, later this week the Federal Government decided that they would give everyone a little extra time because of the Coronavirus.  I’m not sure when they have to be done but I’m sure my friend that does the taxes will be on top of things.

In Kentucky the registration renewal on vehicles is the end of the month in which your birthday occurs.  So, the registration on all the vehicles I own is due the end of this month.  A total of 5 vehicles including my Chrysler, the Pontiac Vibe I inherited from Mike and Julie, the truck, my motorcycle and lastly my trailer.  Registration in this state also includes a tax on the value of the vehicle as of January 1st of the year you are renewing the registration.  As a result of the Coronavirus they are not allowing the general public into the county clerks office where you do the renewal.  I had several options to renew now but I like the folks in the clerks office so I thought it would be good to keep the work coming their way.  So, I gathered all the necessary paperwork and put it in an envelope along with a check and took it down to the court house where they had a lock box outside to put your paperwork in.  Of course the day after I dropped it off, the head of the state transportation cabinet put a 90 day hold over on all registrations.  So mine would have been good till the end of June.  But, I got all the renewed registration back this week with a nice note for the lovely lady that did mine.  All is good.

Another challenge as a result of the Coronavirus is the distance learning the grandchildren are doing.  So, Tuesday I was up at my daughter’s place getting computers up and running for the kids to do their homework and to be able to print it.  So they are good with that.

I really don’t know what to think about this virus thing.  On one hand I look at the statistics and it seems to me that in the big picture of things a very low percentage of people are really having a problem with it.  I do see that number climbing so I’m not sure how high it will go before things peak.  But I think with all the super intelligent people we have in this world they should certainly come up with a better way of managing things without all the devastation they are causing.  Personally I’ve lost a lot of my retirement.  But, in the big picture, I’m still one of the more fortunate.  I still have an income when many people that live pay check to pay check are now out of a job.  I am lucky in comparison.  I have all the faith in the world that we will come through this.  Some people will get sick and some will die and that is unfortunate.  But the majority will survive with a few if any inconveniences.  Let us all stick together and help each other through these trying times.  Don’t panic.  Fear is a terrible enemy and will destroy you faster than the Coronavirus.

Being stuck in the house and not being able to do the things I normally do as a result of the Coronavirus and the crappy weather, I’ve been doing a lot of work learning the Python programming language.  As soon as I complete the course I’m taking on Python I will learn Flask.  Then I’ll have all the tools I need to program the Raspberry Pi and make the garage door system work.

Well, that is more than enough for this week.  I hope this finds everyone safe and healthy and that you continue to stay that way.  I want to thank all the people that wished me happy birthday this week.  That is the story from Kentucky for this week.  Blog at you again next week.