respublica

It just figures the day we need to pick up coffee

We are out of coffee. Each morning I make a normal pot of ground coffee and today I realized if we want this tomorrow, I'll have to go to the store. So what news do I see?

"Coffee prices haven't been this high in 4 years"

Of course. This is due to Brazil's drought and frost. This country is a major producer of coffee beans, the largest in the world.

Covid. Where does Illinois and everyone else stand

Illinois' Covid infection rate is slightly higher than the national average.   Since the first known case of COVID-19 was reported in Illinois on Jan. 24, 2020, there have been 1,499,022 total infections in the state — or 11,765 for every 100,000 people. Of all 50 states and Washington D.C., Illinois ranks No. 28 by cumulative COVID-19 cases, adjusted for population.

Just as COVID-19 infections are more concentrated in Illinois, so too are deaths. So far, there have been 26,335 COVID-19 related deaths in Illinois, or 207 for every 100,000 people. Meanwhile, the national COVID-19 death rate stands at 192 per 100,000 Americans.

Not that far off from the rest of the states, but here we go again with another Virus outbreak. This is serious since we had big hopes that a month ago things were improving.  My guess is judging by all the news stories and photos of large groups of people out and about again. Baseball games, picnics, wedding receptions, all sorts of events we are seeing with lots of people, most without masks.

Maybe the villain in the new outbreaks was the ending of the mask mandates coupled with so many people refusing to get vaccinated.

I confess all of the new infections popping up panics me. It's hard to know what to do or where to go or who to be with.

This link shows the counties in Illinois with their infection rates and whether they are trending up or down. Madison is trending up with more cases. St. Clair is trending down. Interesting.

The local newspaper

I find it frustrating to come across  news stories dealing with local things, linked by the Belleville paper. But the stories are not readable unless you subscribe to the paper. The odd thing is, this paper is about as thin as a sheet of copy paper. It used to be the go to paper for Metro East people, filled with all sorts of things of interest. Not now, at least in the hard copy.

I have no idea what has happened, maybe no advertisers, but it's sad. But I am not going to subscribe to the online version. I still can't get over how tiny this paper is when it's tossed on people's lawns.

What is it about 2:30 in the morning

I've found myself awake at 2:30-ish in the morning more nights than I like. I have no idea why this is and it is very difficult to get back to sleep. Recently we've had a lot of things going on and this could be part of it, but it's happened when nothing has been going on as well. I can fall back asleep if I read something for a bit, but I hate to do that and wake up Dale.

So I did a bit of searching and learned a good thing to have for this wakefulness is a weighted blanket. It seems there is something about it that is calming enough to let sleep go on as it should. I've ordered on from Amazon and I hope it helps.

We often forget about the lampshades

This is going to be a long and busy day so I needed this laugh. An article on how to clean lampshades, something I'd bet we all neglect. I normally notice the dust on the lamps very infrequently and when I dust them I use one of those dry, Swiffer Sweeping cloths I get a Walmart. These work well, have some static in them that sucks up dust.

But here are a few suggestions in the story which defy belief.

For a fabric shade: first dust off with a cloth and then fill the bathtub with enough warm water to cover at least half your lampshade, and add a few drops of gentle liquid laundry detergent. Place the lampshade in the water. If it is very soiled, let it soak for around 10 minutes. Make sure you turn the shade to saturate all sides equally.Dip your microfiber cloth in soapy water and wipe down the lampshade from top to bottom. Then drain the tub and refill it with warm water. Place the shade in clean water to remove the soap. Finally put the shade on a towel to air dry.

I would never do this.

Paper shades. Dust with a microfiber cloth, use some dampness if needed. Get rid of any grease stains by rotating a crustless piece of white bread around it. Seriously?

Glass lampshade: put in dishwasher. I don't think so.

Someone has way too much time on her hands.

Now this is good health news

The American Heart Association now recommends drinking 3 glasses of red wine each day! I am all for this good news since I have red wine almost every day in the late afternoon and during dinner. That does not mean I polish off a whole bottle, but a couple of glasses over that length of time.

A new study published in the American Heart Association journal, Hypertension, determined that drinking three glasses of red wine a day can help maintain healthy blood pressure levels. Over time, regular consumption of flavonoids induces persistent changes in the community of bacteria that live in our stomachs called the gut microbiome. These changes affect various cardiovascular functions, including blood pressure regulation.

According to this illustrious organization, "red wine is rich in flavonoids, which are plant pigments that have anti-inflammatory properties. 

So put down the guilt unless you have other medical reasons for staying away from red wine.

I tend towards the French Pinot Noirs and Spanish Tempranillos blended with a bit of Garnacha. This is my favorite and got it at Parker's Table wine shop near the seminary. But they have been out of it for a while. Total Wine and More stores have this blend. I find California red wines taste a bit too much like wood. Some people like that, I do not. I did find a nice Oregon pinot noir at our local Schnucks of all places. It's a Smith & Perry 2017.  Other local people must have discovered this wine because it has had to be restocked several times since it appeared this summer.

The Collinsville Schnucks seems overloaded with cheaper American wines unlike other Schnucks stores which do carry wines from France, Germany and Italy. Here, they are a very small, unappealing, after thought and just sit on the shelf going no where.

 

Cheers!

It's gonna be blasting hot today

Yesterday was hot, really hot. Today will be the same. I am going to get the grass cut right now before the sun gets to be too much. I am glad we had window shades put on every window in this house earlier this summer. They are nice, but do keep the worst of the heat out. Already, at 8:15 this morning the sun is doing it's thing. I saw this through our stairway window just now.

I like summer, but only to a point.

So Illinois people have an accent?

It seems we do have an accent although it's quite tame. This link has a list of all the words we speak differently than people in other places.

• 89.20% of Illinoisans pronounce "Aunt" as "ant." Only 3.65% say it like "Awnt."
• 58.12% of Illinoisans pronounce "Been" as "Bin." 35.12% say it like "Ben."
• 59.55% pronounce "Caramel" as "Car-ml." 18.95% pronounce it as "Carra-ml." 16.1% use both.
• 64.66% of us pronounce "Coupon" as "Coo-pon." 33.43% say "Cyoo-pon."
• 53.68% of Illinoisans pronounce "Crayon" as "Cray-ahn." 25.33% say "Cran."
• 88.88% pronounce "Creek" with the long e, while 3.31% say "Crick." Another 5.23% use it both ways.
• 82.31% of us pronounce "Lawyer" as "Loyer," while 14.33% say "Law-yer."
• 49.29% of Illinoisans pronounce "Mayonnaise" as "May-uh-Naze," but 40.43% of us say "Man-aze." 7.59% use both.
• 65.76% of us use two syllables to pronounce "Poem," while 34.24% use only one syllable.
• 53.93% pronounce "Really" as "Reely," but 25.68% of Illinoisans say "Rilly."
• 38.23% of us pronounce the word "Realtor" as "Reel-tur," but 39.15% say it with three syllables, as in "Reel-Uh-Tur."
• 77.83% of Illinois pronounce the second vowel in "pajamas" with an "A" similar to "jam" instead of an "A" similar to "father"
• 79.27% of Illinoisans put the emphasis on umBRELLa vs. UMbrella

Let me just say, I'm glad we say Reely instead of Rilly.

Quarter checking time

We have a lot of change. I mean, a seriously large amount of loose change. We have them in rolls, in boxes, in bags, in drawers. We have way too much change. I have no idea what to do with all of it and wish we hadn't gotten in the habit over the years of dumping daily change into bowls or whatever, each night.

But, if I have the time or patience, I may just spend some time checking to see if any of the quarters is a Wisconsin quarter. It seems that there was a printing mistake on many of that state's coin and they can be worth up to 300 dollars. The mistake added an extra line either above or below the left leaf on a partially shucked vegetable, which makes it seem like there’s a third leave above or below it. 

It's going to be brutally hot today and after I cut the grass when I'm finished here, I may just haul out some change and see what we have.

A long way to go just for a free item

This made me laugh this morning. An article with the headline: How to collect your free, surgical, N95 Mask from Thursday.

We have begun wearing masks more frequently these days and have given up on the cloth ones because suddenly they are said to be not as effective as the disposable N95's. I can get the N 95's at Ace Hardware and Home Depot. We aren't running around to medical stores for these.

Anyway, free sounded good. But. To get the free N95 masks starting Thursday you have to go to Singapore!

Sorry, free isn't always free.