44 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 6-4-20

  1. I saw the picture and started to leave until I noticed “It’s Thursday”.
    That Donna was on a roll yesterday.
    I sympathize with er frustration over these conditions. But worse!

    Look out for the conventions this year. I suspect someone is already planning disruptive demonstrations. The troublemakers don’t realize that demonstrations will strengthen Trump’s base and destroy Biden’s.
    That is the opposite of what they want to happen.
    Tis probably belongs on the “Politics” thread, but it occurred to me here.

    Liked by 2 people

  2. Quick! Someone remind me we must listen to the “experts”……. 🙄

    https://hotair.com/archives/john-s-2/2020/06/03/widely-publicized-hydroxychloroquine-study-appears-based-bogus-data/

    “Widely Publicized Hydroxychloroquine Study Appears To Be Based On Bogus Data”

    “Last week, a group of 100 doctors and scientists wrote an open letter to Lancet asking that the data underlying the study be explained in more detail because it appeared the numbers didn’t add up. At the time, Dr. Sapan S. Desai, the owner of Surgisphere vigorously defended the accuracy of his data but refused to show it to anyone. He later agreed to let Lancet review it. However, today the Guardian reported some additional problems with the credibility of Surgisphere, a company whose total of six employees include a science fiction author and an adult model:

    A search of publicly available material suggests several of Surgisphere’s employees have little or no data or scientific background. ” and fantasy artist. Another employee listed as a marketing executive is an adult model and events hostess.”

    ———

    Yet the “experts” at the NEJM and The Lancet lapped it up.

    Liked by 2 people

  3. Good morning. Husband and eighteen daughter should be home today. Seventeen month old grandson is delighted to have Auntie Mel back to serve him. And the mom is delighted to have twelve year old to assist again.

    Liked by 5 people

  4. I hope this is good, but yesterday I laid down some industrial (6mil thick) plastic where we think water is getting in. Last night it poured down buckets and so far, no water entered the house.

    Here’s hoping it stays that way. We can’t get anyone to dig around the foundation until the ground dries, and all this rain isn’t helping us.

    Liked by 5 people

  5. This is one of our weeks of high temperatures. I am going to have to go out for a morning walk before it reaches over 90 degrees here today.
    Actually had a lunch with friends yesterday, so unusual.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Good late morning. Art and I went to vote this a.m. I told him it was our first date for 2020. We were in the line before it opened at 8 a.m. Tomorrow is the last day of early voting. We had planned to vote absentee but our ballots never came. We had to sign an affidavit that we would destroy the ballots if we receive them.

    I also went to the bank, a postal drop box, and Publix. Finally Publix has some off brand toilet paper which seems so odd for them. I did not get any of that. The choice was to buy one roll for less than a dollar or a whole bunch of who knows what for $18.00.

    This was a really big day out for me! And now I have a Georgia voter sticker to add to the collection.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. It’s cool and overcast here this morning. Hoping it stays that way (it’s only supposed to get up to 70 or so).

    Conventions: There’s uncertainty about whether those will be held as usual, due to ‘social distancing.’ And I wouldn’t begin to predict the outcome of how civil unrest this summer will help or hurt one party or the other.

    Right now I’d give the upper hand to the Democrats, chaos like this will usually hurt the incumbent. But it’s still ‘early.’ We’ll see what’s going on by September.

    I see our mayor now wants to slash the police budget.

    So grateful to be covering a routine, boring harbor commission meeting this morning.

    Liked by 2 people

  8. If the Democrats had a stronger nominee, it would be easier to call, frankly. The nation is in a mess, people will naturally be more drawn to someone fresh who can provide some new ideas and new leadership, a more positive message. Trump is generally angry (have we not all had enough anger for a lifetime?) and does not inspire beyond his base; I’d say that even confidence there is shrinking. Yeah, wrong thread, sorry.

    Liked by 3 people

  9. Michelle, the niece and nephew trio is where she is assisting. They called and asked to have her back. Their babysitter is in her last year of education training so she said she would work on directing little daughter’s schoolwork if only we would send her back. Apparently, she is a big help. I know she is here but we can sacrifice that for a season. She has learned to adore and care deeply for babies and seeing to their needs. No more fear!

    Liked by 5 people

  10. Saw the reports about that at least a week ago in The Guardian, and yesterday The Guardian reported on the database company that the data for the study was gotten from (the main author just analyzed the data) that raised questions about the authenticity of the data sources. The experts who wrote that letter were pretty quick to pick up on the data errors in that study, which was a retrospective study, not the gold standard of evidence. The gold standard is a randomized control trial, and there are several of those still ongoing with chloroquine with results pending. It will not be the first time The Lancet had to retract a study with data flaws. They published that infamous retrospective study that seemed to link vaccines to autism, and then had to retract it after, once again, expert reviewers pointed out the data flaws. The Lancet may need to upgrade its own review system, but they are not the only medical peer reviewed journal out there that is available to consult.

    Like

  11. Roscuro and AJ, for those of us not following the Lancet, what did their initial study find on this one? (Did they find it helpful or not?)

    Like

  12. Not helpful, and increased risk of detrimental effects. The large VA study that was published earlier had similar findings about increased risk, as have some smaller studies, but the flawed data in this study makes it entirely unreliable for use.

    Like

  13. The header illustrates one of the hazards of identifying flowers–there are so many and they are so similar. Also, some flowers just like that header are labeled asters and some are labeled fleabane. Recently I looked them up to see if I could find out the difference, and there were some technical differences, but also fleabane tends to bloom in spring, aster in late spring or early summer. So . . . are the ones that are just beginning to bloom now asters or fleabane (let alone which species of that type)? I don’t know. I find the daisy-like flowers (yellow and white both) mostly confusing. Pretty flower, though, whatever it is!

    I have been trying to document all my local wildflowers this year–though I haven’t yet identified them all, and sometimes I just don’t know if two plants are the same species or not. But the best I can, I’m trying to take photos of each species blooming in a certain half of the month. I got 60 in the first half of May, a bit over 60 in the second half. Most species made it to both “halves,” but not all. Last year a whole bunch of new species started blooming the last week of May; this year some of those started in May and some in June. Anyway, I’m making collages of all the sets and then plan to put them in a book (probably followed by photos of individual flowers) and then in future years I’ll be able to look and see what month a flower blooms, and what else blooms that month. I’m expecting to see patterns such as more bright-colored flowers late in the summer (nothing orange is blooming yet, for instance), but I’m interested in seeing what it shows. It’s a lot of work, though, since pretty much it means making sure I walk at least part of all the local trails every week to ten days to make sure I don’t miss anything. Some flowers only bloom in one small spot. If I were going to be really thorough, I’d visit all the local state parks, too . . . but this isn’t my day job! (We don’t get white trilliums within walking distance of me, for instance, but someone posted photos of more than one species of white trillium on Flickr, taken at a state park that’s only about 20 minutes from my house.)

    I’m also trying to photograph all the species of insects I see, but I know that one is impossible, so I’m just getting the ones that cooperate. I’ve already gotten more than 80 species, and most of the butterflies aren’t around yet.

    Like

  14. I went out for a walk this morning, and wasn’t planning on making it a long walk, but I did at least four miles. I guess I’m going to be Jo when I grow up!

    I was photographing wildflowers–one of those species that began to bloom in May last year–when a woman told me, “There’s a really big turtle in the middle of the trail a little ways up.” So i left the flowers till later and hurried a quarter mile or so to where a snapping turtle was crossing the road–my first time to see them out of water unless it was from a car. I’m guessing it was a female roaming to lay eggs or going back to her home pond after doing so. But I got some good photos of her. That was a fun treat, and made it worth the walk. People see me with my camera all the time, and occasionally I get a nice tip like that. Without the heads-up I might or might not have gotten far enough down the trail to see her before she was off in the grass.

    Liked by 3 people

  15. I just got back from a four mile walk in the state park. I am so hot and sweaty! I went earlier because it is going to be over 90 later with up to 100 in the valley. On a few flat stretches, I did a little jogging. Sure got my heart rate up. Time to cool off.

    Liked by 2 people

  16. I went for a little walk this morning, took the dogs since son has been doing husband’s chores in his absence. One thing led to another. Weeding the strawberries, weeding the cherry trees and hollyhocks, weeding the shrubs, mowing the back forty, then the side forty, then the east forty and the grape vineyard and orchard….But the mower kept stalling though not as much and it does mow for a while. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. As you can tell, I do not have child care today.

    Liked by 4 people

  17. I hate budget stories. The port passed theirs today.

    I’ve put a call in to the doctor to see if maybe I need to get some kind of assessment by a physical therapist, or whether I’m just being impatient in the healing process. I just feel at a loss now in terms of what I should be doing? Pushing forward to use it me? No?

    Liked by 3 people

  18. The A/C keeps a steady 75°. When I am in and out a lot getting some yard work done it seems chilly inside, but 75° is not a real low inside temp. With my poor vision it’s difficult for me to adjust the setting on the thermostat. It’s all digital. Thermostats use to be easy. For all our progress, in some respects we have made life harder. Having the ability to give many options is nice, but when it becomes too hard to access even the simplest changes then it’s hardly worth the investment. The problem is that it is set according to time of day and not just an easy thing to deal with without messing it up.

    Like

  19. I’ve used a flashlight to read the thermostat. But now I have a lamp in that area which helps.

    The gazillion dollar budget story is in. But I’m savvy enough not to use ‘gazillion’ in the story. Might as well have been a gazillion, though.

    Liked by 3 people

  20. Posted by our pastor today w/this intro:

    ~ In an effort to truly grasp what is happening in the minds and hearts of people on every side, I have read, watched, listened to sermons, videos, links of every sort ad infinitum. As of now, in my humble estimation, this guy nails it more than any. And I don’t even know who he is. ~

    Liked by 3 people

  21. Someone did a bit of research and he (in the video) apparently isn’t a trinitarian, is not theologically very sound perhaps (all the also is 2nd hand), but the focus here is on his words about how we are to keep our focus on Jesus and not get caught up in all the political in-fighting, partisan bickering, endless arguing — but always pursue the truth and recognize that we are all vulnerable to “getting it wrong” when we rely on “our hearts” and feelings and personal or political opinions.

    I’ve never quite seen anything like this in our nation and am disheartened and anxious and feeling all kinds of other unpleasant things over it.

    Christian friend said it’s like we’re bouncing between the specter of a militarized nation and the guillotines of a french-style revolution. NO good end in sight. Which is why keeping our eyes on Christ — and continually reminding ourselves that there’s a big picture all at work here, it’s not ‘about us’ or our political party or our favorite or most-hated president ever.

    It’s about God doing a work that we cannot fathom on our side. It may get harder before it’s over. But the end will bring glory to God, good to his people, and will be a blessing, realized in our time or not.

    We can trust that.

    Liked by 3 people

  22. DJ, I had noticed in the 6:42 link that a couple of times he said that God “told him” something, and that always raises a bit of a yellow flag for me (a lot of people say that and aren’t really thinking about their claiming prophet status, or it would be a “red” flag), but otherwise most of what he says in that particular video is good.

    Liked by 1 person

  23. That too (and me too), of course, cheryl, though I believe people very casually (sometimes thoughtlessly) say that — and again, as you said, it are the words about our political culture right now that caught my attention. I’m so, so tired of the bickering — and liked also what he said about how we’ve lost the ability to “agree to disagree,” how we all run to our favorite biased news sources.

    Anyway, also a good reminder that God is doing something here, we don’t know quite what, but it helps to continually remind myself of that so I can “back away” from the anger and the snark and the endless going at each other.

    I went to the grocery store and my knee was better again — I’m thinking maybe I ‘baby’ it too much, maybe walking regularly, as much as I can, is good for it, it didn’t really hurt much at all while I was out shopping, walking to and from the car. It hurts most after i’ve been sitting and working for a while and then try to get up — and at night when I’m in bed.

    Liked by 2 people

  24. Chas, I stepped outside, but all I could see was clouds. (One downside to this condo–there aren’t many–is that we can’t really “see” outside.)

    Another downside is the postal service. DJ, thank you for the suggestion I contact the Australian company about the missing package. I don’t remember if I ever told you, but I’d actually ordered another package from them, perhaps in February but maybe early March, that I had given up for lost, because somehow it ended up with my old address. But they said if the new homeowners sent it back to them, they’d remail it. Well, when I contacted them about this one, they said the other package had come back to them about two weeks ago, but he’d tried to e-mail me and the e-mails weren’t getting through, and did I still want the package (and at what address) or did I want a refund. Actually I still wanted one item in it but not the other–I’d reordered one, but one was unavailable–but I told him yes, I still want the package. I don’t think he realized I was asking about a different package, and I didn’t bother to tell him, because by that time tracking told me the package was in St Louis, MO. (Remember this is the package that was “out for delivery” at my home and then apparently got put on an outbound truck instead.)

    Well, one of the joys of the local postal delivery is that on Mondays (or Tuesday after a Monday holiday), mail doesn’t come till late, usually after 7:00 p.m. and sometimes after 8:00. And as “luck” would have it, the first time it was “out for delivery” was the day after Memorial Day, and the second time was the following Monday, so I had to wait all day twice. And that Monday I saw the mailperson’s vehicle at 7:55. Well, I had a Zoom CE meeting at 8:00, and I couldn’t get to the mailbox and back that quickly but it would be dark by the time the meeting was over, so I told my husband (who knew I was waiting for the package) that the mail had just come and my meeting was just starting. He went out, and when he ducked his head in a few minutes later, I asked if he got the package, and he said no, it was still saying “out for delivery.”

    An hour or so later, he happened to check tracking again, and it then said “delivered,” and that it had been left by our door. So . . . a package from Australia (and clearly from Australia) with post marks indicating it had been shipped more than a month before, that had been already misdirected once . . . the mailperson just left it outside our door after our curtains were closed for the night, out facing a busy street (visible to the street and thus vulnerable to theft) and where it could get rained on if we don’t see it till the next morning. And the only reason we knew it had been delivered was he checked tracking.

    Anyway, the postal service is definitely a trade for the worse, and for someone with a home-based business, that is less than exciting. But hopefully this mail lady will retire in a year or two and be replaced by someone who actually cares about customer service.

    Liked by 1 person

  25. Tomorrow we will have Chickadee over for a visit (to celebrate her birthday, which is next week – same day as Michelle’s) for the first time in almost four months. I am so excited to see her finally!

    Liked by 7 people

  26. I heard someone say that when a nation doesn’t follow the Lord, He sends a plague.

    Or more as needed. 😦

    Honestly, the earthquake last night felt a bit over the top. Though, we didn’t feel it here.

    We got a fire about 35 miles east. 8 houses lost.

    Liked by 1 person

  27. Kizzie, enjoy the visit! It has been about that long since we have seen our younger daughter, too. Fortunately she came up to visit for a few hours before all this happened. (Our older daughter, our son-in-law, and our granddaughter, it has been since Christmas–not even any photos of a growing toddler! We do talk to them by phone every four or five weeks.)

    Liked by 1 person

  28. I feel like the moon came straight from Chas. Beautiful. It was hidden behind the trees here, but I went to walk another mile with my friend and on the way home there was the huge, full moon.

    Liked by 3 people

  29. DJ, that video guy looks just like seventh son! I thought, how bout that? Son has a youtube video and I can tell him I saw it. But when he started speaking, he did not sound like son. I showed the pic to husband and asked who it was. Seventh son. The hat, the beard, the look…And this guy was born in Germany the same year third son was born in Germany, homeschooled and in the military. Odd.
    Good video, by the way.

    I looked out, the moon was peeking from behind the clouds.

    Liked by 4 people

  30. Cheryl, glad the delivery worked out.

    My place is set up nicely for deliveries with a high, sheltered porch far away from the sidewalk so it’s pretty hidden if something’s left on the porch.

    I missed the moon, was busy hauling trash out and didn’t “look up.”

    So I’ve not been baby-ing my knee tonight, we’ll see how it feels in the morning. Probably was a mistake.

    Like

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.