Wordless Wednesday – allow your photo(s) to tell the story.
Linda Schaub
FIFTY FAVORITE PARK PHOTOS
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- Parker noshin’ nuts
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- Fox Squirrel
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- Black Squirrel
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- Parker, my Park cutie!
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- Pekin Duck
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- Mallard Hybrid Duck
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- Midnight munchin’ nuts
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- Mute Swan
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- Goslings
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- Mama Robin
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- Seagulls on ice floe
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- Great Blue Heron
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- Parker chowin’ down
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- Mallard Duck
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- Northern Cardinal
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- Great Blue Heron (“Harry”) fishing for shad
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- Parker: shameless begging
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- Viceroy Butterfly
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- Great Blue Heron
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- American Goldfinch
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- Seagull
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- Robin baby (not fledged yet)
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- Mallard Ducks
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- Robins almost ready to fledge
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- Parker angling for peanuts
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- Robin fledgling
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- Parker making a point that he wants peanuts
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- Parker smells peanuts
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- Parker with a peanut
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- Red-Winged Blackbird
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- Seagull
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- Red-Bellied Woodpecker
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- Pekin Duck
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- Starling
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- Canada Geese family
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- Canada Goose and goslings
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- Red-Winged Blackbird
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- Parker says candy is dandy.
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- Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly
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- American Goldfinch
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- Hunny Bunny
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- Parker looking for peanuts
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- The pier just past sunrise
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- Mute Swan
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- Parker in the snow
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- Parker and a treat
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- Great Blue Heron
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- Me and my shadow (a/k/a Parker)
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- Fox Squirrel
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- Seagull
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- Canada Goose
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- Mallard Ducks
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- Mute Swan
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- Fox Squirrel – Parker
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- Northern Cardinal
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BADGES
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- 02-02-2018
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- 03-13-2018
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- 03-25-2018
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- 03-26-2018
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- Year #6!! 02/2019
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- 04-13-2019
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- 11-21-19
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Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
This reminds me of the old Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared.
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Originally I intended to use the word “Progression” for “Plethora” as I’ve gone from paper masks to the thicker N95 masks (which I had left over from an indoor silicone caulking project). I didn’t use as many of the cone-shaped N95 masks as I did not walk as much due to all the ice.
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Wow!
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Always prepared. I’d have used more of the N95s that I bought around Christmastime for Omicron, but I didn’t walk that much in February. It was cheaper to buy them in bulk. I’ll go back to the cotton ones if Michigan doesn’t have any surges as they were the most comfortable and they work for allergy purposes too since I stopped my shots over the Winter months.
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I am *almost* ready to start a small bonfire with all of my masks! 🙂
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I ordered extra N95s around Christmastime with the Omicron surge, then didn’t walk very much for 4-5 weeks, so I am good for a long while. They also had supply issues with the N95s, so I just decided to get more to avoid re-ordering. Toss ’em Laurie – it might bring luck for ending this pandemic.
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Me too Laurie !! Hahaha
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Perfect. The last two years have been something else.
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Yes and sadly I don’t think it is over yet, though Michigan cases have decreased a lot the last few weeks.
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I’m keeping mine just in case and still wear a mask at big stores like Krogers.
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Me too Cathy. I have been leaving it off at the Park lately, only because the FogAway is not working that well and the condensation caused an icy glaze on my glasses which was dangerous walking on ice and snow. I’ll continue to mask up for a public place though.
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That’s a very organized collection. I am keeping mine, as well. And I don’t see that going away. When you roll around in a wheelchair most of the time, it’s the equivalent of walking on your hands all day. Those wheels touch many things you don’t really want to think about, even inside the house.
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I will continue wearing them to the stores or public places and I stopped my allergy shots for the Winter two years in a row (I’ve been going for decades due to allergies from dust, mold and Spring allergies) due to COVID and now he makes us have appointments, not just a drop-in basis, which I’m not crazy about. So, once the grass and trees are out, the mask will benefit me as it did in 2020 and 2021. I know what you’re saying Zazzy. I’m a bit of a germaphobe anyway – I didn’t have vinyl gloves in this group, but I use them. Could you use a lightweight pair of gloves, maybe leather? They would grip the wheels where you have to propel yourself forward and then just take the gloves off? See if that would help. Germs are everywhere, even if you are the best housekeeper (something that I am not and my mom was a good housekeeper, which caused some disagreement between us as I don’t strive for perfection).
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I used to use weight lifting gloves but gloves are so inconvenient. I use hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes or spray for the wheels. And I try not to be obsessed. Perfection is over-rated. I loved her to death but my mom was a tad OCD. My girl scout leader gave me credit for the housekeeping badge (I wonder if that’s still a badge) even though there was nothing to clean at the house. IIRC it had to be something unusual that hadn’t been cleaned in a while.
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My mom had a wheelchair in later years, a portable one, as it was difficult for her to walk with a cane and she had orthopedic problems and also cellulitis (inflammation in her legs), so it helped her out. I usually pushed, so getting around was not so much of an issue, but she had arthritis in her hands, so it might have been difficult to maneuver much on her own. My mom was like your mom and it took me many years to convince her that it was okay to leave a rinsed-out coffee cup and a plate in the sink overnight if we had a late snack. Maybe it was the way they were raised? I never made it to girl scout, but was a brownie in Canada, then we moved here and I could not get in as all the troop quotas were full. I would definitely not win any prizes for my housekeeping nor my cooking skills. 🙂
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We’ll never forget these past two years.
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Miss Linda…………………….I’m so glad that we’re starting to not have to wear the masks
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Yes, the glasses fogging up were problematic in Wintertime – otherwise I had no issues with it. But not seeing through the icy glace was definitely a problem!
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I can’t get rid of my covid things because it seems like it will be back. It is so nice not to wear a mask and I hope it stays that way. How funny that it is almost gone and the government sends us at home tests now.
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No, I’m not going to get rid of mine either Diane. In fact, I will be wearing the cotton ones outside soon as I suspended my allergy shots for Winter due to Omicron and did that in Winter of 2020-2021, so it will help me when the pollen flies in early April.
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We’ve had a little over a million cases in Ontario and 12,000 deaths, for a population of about 14 million, not sure how that compares with your population? Mask mandates are being phased out Mar 21 but I’ll still be wearing mine!
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Wow – 12,000 deaths in all of Ontario and we had 32,000 in Michigan, a population of 10 million. Not too impressive for us is it? I will continue to wear my mask. I have to say the only one that bothered me was the thick KN95 mask I had bought for silicone caulking a few years ago. That mask is airtight but is very hot. I think no germs could penetrate that mask.
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We have about an 80% vaccination rate in my area, and 50% with three doses, so that accounts for the difference. Today I read that long haulers with COVID are now developing heart problems after even if they didn’t have anything before. I know people are just shrugging it off but there could be long term side effects we are not aware of yet.
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Canada deserves kudos for getting so many people vaccinated/boosted. Yes, the long-term effects are staggering. Yesterday was the two-year anniversary of the first case in Michigan and there was an interview with a woman who struggles to this day and was one of the first diagnosed cases. She spent 86 days in hospital, 36 on a ventilator and says she is still not back to work, nor any kind of regular routine as she has no energy and feels debilitated in one form or another every single day. Very scary. And, today on the news I heard that this 2021-2022 flu shot was a “dud” – their terminology as it was only 16% to 20% successful at fighting flu symptoms and they consider 50% to be good. (Not great odds at 50% either – I thought it was at least 60%.)
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I don’t think there was as much flu around this year, as people are stilling wearing masks and using hand sanitizer and social distancing…..that’s my guess although I haven’t read anything lately specifically re flu.
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I’m glad there was no flu outbreak Joni – next year I will not get my flu shot the beginning of September. Too early, despite their warning to get it done ASAP after the serum is available.
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We just went through all our pandemic paraphernalia. Kept the things we’ll still use and brought the rest to the “give and take” swap space at the transfer station. We’re still wearing our masks in public places.
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I will be wearing my mask in all public places as well Barbara – not taking any chances, plus I suspended my allergy injections for the Winter since it is just Spring allergies and dust, mold and I told them I was not going anywhere more than necessary during the Omicron surge in late November. So I will be resuming shot sometime next month, but have to go weekly to built up to my prior level, so I expect the trees and grass may get to me, so I’ll keep the mask. The masks don’t bother me, except when it is brutally cold and even FogAway spray will not keep the icy glaze on the lenses away.
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Linda
This speaks volumes and I bet many of us have our plethora pandemic stuff we could share ! Ha!
I read some comments about how the n95 you wore more recently – I went the other way and used a thinner and thinner one because I just didn’t think it made more than a 3% difference – if any!!
but I digress – here is to hoping this will soon be a memory
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Yvette – I started out with bandanas, then lightweight masks, then as Delta surged, then Omicron surged, I masked up more intensely, sometimes double masking on the paper masks for trips to the Park, cotton or thicker masks for public places. I had a package of very thick N95 masks I had bought for a silicone caulking job a few years ago. They really were the best, but hot and pinching my face after a while and I only wore them during surges – other than that the masks never bothered me in the least. I’m a bit of a germaphobe to begin with, so the pandemic has wigged me out to be honest. 🙂
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Well glad you had masks that you found useful …
And there were sure a good variety of them –
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Michigan has had high COVID stats throughout the pandemic and there’s been a lot of pushback about wearing masks as well as anti-vaxxing, so that probably contributed to our high positivity rate.
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Well I think we have very different views on this and the role of the mask – so let’s agree to disagree or just talk about things we have in common – haha – like birds or nature
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That sounds good Yvette. I am a bit of a germaphobe so the pandemic has wigged me out. I did see you made a comment that they were only 3% effective though. Birds and nature are a better topic.
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Yes ma’am – let’s stick to topics that unite – hahaha
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Wow – very organized and prepared. Glad you were able to get the supplies you needed to feel safe.
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I wear a mask every time I go out of the house and had more protection if going somewhere with a crowd. I had to lower the mask at the Park during the Winter as it not only fogged up my glasses, but created an icy glaze on them. I tried what you did with the Kleenex and I must’ve done it wrong as it still fogged up – hopefully next Winter we’re out of masks for good.
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I agree, hopefully the masks will officially be gone before next winter. Here’s another option…
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Me too Shelley – I should have probably clarified this was a collection … the rise and fall of COVID, the surges and then feeling better about going out. I hope this is the end, but I heard Pfizer is seeking to get a fourth shot for 65 years of age and older. I had the Moderna series – nothing on that yet.
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Thanks for the clarification. I think you’ll hear more on Moderna soon.
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Yes, well I intended to go with a progression of pandemic paraphernalia and then changed my mind. Since Pfizer is pushing for a fourth shot for 65 and older, especially in lieu of a new Omicron variant, I’m sure Moderna is not far behind.
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🤗🤗🤗
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I made a bunch of pretty cloth masks at the beginning. Then I learned that they work… but not well, so I purchased a few boring, but more effective masks. So much for fashion and aesthetics. 🙂
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I liked the cloth masks the best Janis. A fellow blogger and I were discussing how the masks fogged up our glasses, so she recommended some from Etsy – no fogging. I transitioned to N95 masks as we had the Delta variants, but especially Omicron. How far we’ve come! (And hopefully things remain status quo for good.)
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