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Today I did not work from home. I took the day off–as much as you can in a lockdown.

I stayed mostly inside. I did see the smoke blow away and then tonight blow back into the area.

(It was darker a bit later as more smoke headed out way. My friends refer to the smoke in their posts as “Mordor” coming for the Portland area).

My throat and eyes were burning most of the day. I did not talk that much today. I took the day off to avoid having issues with my throat–bad air conditions do me harm.

So I stayed inside, except for a few excursions to get the mail and check the sky and mostly read.

I made cheeseburgers for lunch. Frozen patties were part of the grocery delivery from Safeway today. This time everything was perfect from Safeway, and they delivered an hour early. So we had patties and buns. So I grilled up three patties and added cheese. I did think of this: Cheeseburger in Paradise.

Corwin headed out later to play chess I think with a friend. I found the box of potato skins with cheese and bacon in the freezer from Schwan’s, and so Susie and I had those for dinner with a side of fresh cucumber from our local box of veggies. I am trying to use it up!

Corwin did the groceries today and said, “We have too much food!” Having two different sizes of olives? Two heads of lettuce? Quart of teriyaki sauce? Well, maybe we are a bit over-stocked.

I watched “Foyer’s War,” the BBC show and recommended, today while cooking and doing the dishes. Again, keeping it a quiet, slow-moving day.

I liked to tell you that I did interesting things today, but no, I just read a book and made some easy meals. That is what you do when the air is difficult.

The US stock market fell over six-hundred points. One of the trials for the vaccine in the UK has trouble with side-effects. That leaves two vaccine in stage 3 without issues, so far. In more bad news, the US Senate appears to be deadlocked against stimulus as the US unemployment rate fell from unimaginable bad 10% to 8.5% horribly bad. But, my Ford stock went up and Nike is at $112+. According to my information, the market is no longer betting on tech stocks and is looking at inflation returning. That is my concern, and I hope I am wrong.

Today the reports show that about five-hundred people died from the infection in the USA today.

I found this version of Pues Si Vivimos that mostly matches the Methodist Hymnal #356. I think I have done this before, but it is a good day for it.

 

The winds and the smoke came today. We have some unusual pressure event that has spun up the winds and created a bizarre spiral wind in the valley. The wind blows for each direction as if it was a swirl of air. The wind then stops and starts again. The wind has wrapped and unwrapped my USA flag on its pole from the direction changes, weird! The sky went gray, and the sun yellow as the smoke fills our valley from the Mt. Hood fire and other fires further away. Air Volvo, green-gray, is gray now with ash. The wind has dropped branches on Air Volvo, and I was hit by a small branch standing next to Air Volvo!

Air Volvo already grayed and bouncing off small branches.

I thought of parking Air Volvo on the street, but where would be safe? Trees are everywhere. So Air Volvo is in the driveway.

Before the air turned brown and the wind started dropping sticks on me, I started with a rush at 8:15ish as Susie had appointments and a driver. So we got her off to hair, nails, toes, etc. by 9ish. I then finished my Scythe boardgame work so I can put that away. I made the last small fixes and sprayed them with the final coating to protect the oil paints for shading.

As this is spoiler content for Scythe, no pictures.

I got a text from Mariah to have lunch. Susie was still with her appointment, so I met Mariah at Buffalo Wild Wings in the outdoor seating, and we had wings and talked about writing. We both had a refreshing beverage, Coors Light, and waved off the wasps until we had finished. The wasps then came for the leftovers in packs. We gave up the table to them and paid the bill.

I then headed to Hillsboro. The local game store was closed for the holiday. Good for them! I walked to the excellent hobby store, Hillsboro Hobby Store, and found them open and went in and purchased something. They have the best old model kit collection. They are on the Internet selling for years. Today I found a Prinz Eugen heavy cruiser in 1/700 scale. When I opened it, the kit has the etched brass for the model, all for the excellent price of $24.99 (no sales tax in Oregon).  I do not know when I can build it, but I was happy to get this one.

I then went to Insomnia Coffee to write. I got a muffin and coffee. I got back to “Howard’s Lockdown” and made some more fixes and chatted with a few folks, everyone in masks, and keeping our distances. I find the Insomnia Coffee locations make me feel safe, and all are peaceful places to write. I am about 1/3 through the story for fixes.

I came home and took a short nap and got the bedding in the washer. I find that when pollen is out-of-control that redoing the bed helps. With the addition of smoke, wind, and Covid-19, I wash it even more!

I then made home-made all-rotten-potatoes (that is what we call them) with ham, excellent locally made ham from Olympia Provisions. Corwin cut up an onion for me while I sliced eight taters, put that in a glass dish, added some butter, and then cut pieces of the perfect ham and put that on top. This bakes forever (over an hour). Pulled it out about halfway cooked and added heavy cream and shredded cheddar cheese. Always covered in tin foil in a glass dish. It is a bit plain, but the ham and cheese and cream make it work.

The winds and sticks then started falling. I began to feel the burn—my eyes and throat. I put in for PTO, Paid-Time-Off, as I do not want to talk with a burning throat–I had endless Zoom meetings on Tuesday.

More than two-hundred eighty persons in the USA are reported to have died from the virus this Labor Day 2020.

With the winds, smoke, riots, Corvid-19, elections, and so on, this seemed the right song for today from Motown from 2009: Detroit Mass Choir – The Storm Is Passing Over. It will be alright.

Yes, we have reached 175 days locked down. From all I have read, I would say we are now halfway through this emergency. The President has pushed hard for a vaccine, and we have to remember though I do trust him, I know the people making the vaccine love their children–it will be safe. It takes three weeks for the vaccine to work, and it requires two doses, so you are looking at six weeks. Assuming we get a vaccine released in early November, that puts it out about twelve weeks (84 days) and then to get it to everyone that needs it will be a month or two (60 days). So I believe we are beyond the halfway point. As said in Doctor Who, “halfway out of the dark.” We have months to go, and it will be hard to wait, but the dark is fading now.

Today I got going about 9ish. I did not sleep until 2ish, so I still did not get enough sleep. Maybe tonight. I just want to do so much in a single day. I only head to bed at a reasonable time when I have work the next day.

I have to admit that I had a bagel and putted around. I then watched “Deadliest Catch” on Discovery. I found some pasta leftovers and had that for lunch while I watched the crab fishing reality TV show. This and the Alaska Gold shows are almost the only show I watch. I did miss “Lovecraft Country” today, but I watch it on my Apple and will catch-up this coming morning. I loved the book, and I like how they have presented the same themes with changes to fit more visual media.

Returning to crafts, I also worked on my Scythe items, getting them to the last stage, oil paint shading. This is my newest system of painting. I like oil paints as they do not change color or fade when they dry. I also have an excellent nearly clear spray I put on before the oil paints. This protects the acrylics I use for the main detailing. I have also moved to use homemade decals. I create a design and then print it on decal paper, expensive but available online, using my inkjet printer. I then spray the finished sheet with a heavy coat of the same spray I use on the figures. This makes the design waterproof on the water decals–my first attempt without the stabilizing coat was not very successful; it melted. I cut the decals and then use water and a paintbrush to apply them. It requires some skill and luck. The decals are also transparent, so it is best to white color under them.

I tried last night to work on the USS Maine, but the kit has some issues and will require me to do some rework (holes are the wrong size for parts, some parts have to be assembled, masts need to be replaced with brass wire, and some parts may have to be replaced). That is rainy night work, so I will pick this up in the fall. Disappointed, but instead, I will paint some more figures.

Corwin and Susie got going later, and I asked them if they want to head out for dinner to celebrate the holiday. It is hard to go camping or visit the beach without taking risks–so masks and dinner are about as risky as I can get. We did nearby Orenco Station and found the French place was again only take-out. So there is an excellent Thai place, so we did that: Nine Dang Fine Thai. The food was excellent, and Susie and Corwin finished with a colossal coconut ice cream dessert. I had to help Susie with her’s.

We then came home, and I got out the old DVD of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and we watched it. I forgot how good it was. We enjoyed just watching it. You could hear one of use saying one of the lines once in a while. I miss going out to movies.

About four-hundred people in the USA today passed away from the virus.

Yesterday I picked an opera. This time I went the other way with some Latin: Ave verum corpus (Byrd) The Gesualdo Six at Ely Cathedral. I had to look this up, and you can find more information here: Ave verum corpus Wikipedia.

It is another Saturday and 2020 End-of-Summer weekend.

I started by rolling over at 6ish and finally getting going 9ish.

I read my email and had some coffee. Nothing too exciting.

At noon-ish, I managed to head out for lunch. I first stopped at Tammy’s Hobbies first. I have a model of the USS Maine. A battleship back then, the 1890s, was painted golden yellow and white with light tan wood decks. I needed the correct paints. My current collection of various gray shades for navy ships is from the wrong periods.

Aside: People who build models of warships like to get the colors right. One of the strangest issues for ship model builders is the famous sunken battleship the USS Arizona. There are multiple kits and sizes available. I have built one. But what color was the USS Arizona on December 7, 1941, is an issue the model builder must decide if he or she wants the last look of the ship. Was it gray or blue-gray? Did the tops of the turrets still show red paint? There is no record, and the paint schemes were followed at the discretion of the captain. We know that the order to paint all the pretty wood decks gray-blue was later, so the deck was bright tan. Once you decide on a color, what was the shade? Those black and white photos do not help. Most model builders go with colors of a few years before Pearl Harbor; those are agreed too and come in bottles for purchase.

The model I am building is a tiny scale, but I like to build 1/700 as the final ship does not take up a lot of space. There are lots of models in a 1/700 scale.

The kit is from Russia, and the colors are coded to paints I do not use. So I went with Vallejo paints and found Yellow Ochre, perfect. I also found tan and red-brown for some other areas. I also bought a replacement can of Chaos Black spray paint. My can is almost empty after painting all the Scythe items and mechs.

After getting my paints, I went looking for food. My search ended at Big O’s Pizza. I had a three-cheese Calzone that was huge and a cool hard cider. I had no breakfast, so I did manage to eat the whole thing. The last time I was at Big O’s Pizza was with Bill Butler quite a few years ago. I was happy they were still there. Everyone was wearing masks and careful. The Wifi was good, so I used my Apple while I waited.

I did like the calzone, but I went with their recommendation, three-cheese. I think next time I will go with something with meat in it.

While there, I did some more work on my Howard story, “Howard’s Lockdown.” I was surprised to find so many mistakes. I made corrections through the first section of the story. I will start on the second part on Sunday. I feel I need to make one more pass through the whole work and then send it into Grammarly one more time. After that, it should be done. I was mostly adding a few clarifications. No changes to the story, so I think it is almost finished.

Returning home, I took a nap. The hard cider and the calzone equals a nap. After a few hours, I started up again. I had put out three pounds of frozen skinless and boneless chicken thighs. I cut up carrots, onions, celery, and mixed that with olives and half a preserved lemon with Tagine spices. Add cut-up chicken and baked at 350 for 90 mins.  I made white rice to go with it. It was good.

Susie got up late and watched the ponies–Susie is a fan of horse racing. Susie watched the Kentucky Derby today. I then put on “Mary Poppins” for her while I cooked. We followed this with “Midnight in Paris” while eating the Tagine styled chicken. I caught a few bits of that–it is one of my favorites. A time-traveling writer in Paris getting advice from all the famous writers and artists in the 1920s. How could I not love it?

I am also working on the Scythe items. As these are content items, I cannot discuss them (spoilers), but they will finish on Sunday, and then I will start the USS Maine.

I also bought a 1/700 SMS Scharnhorst model, and it was delivered today. I was surprised I could find one online and at 20% off. Again a Russia made model by the same company that makes the USS Maine model. I have read quite a few books on the battles of SMS Scharnhorst, and last year the wreck was found. The guns on the wreck are still pointed out as if still fighting after 105 years.

SMS Scharnhorst was painted yellow like the USS Maine.

About seven-hundred deaths are reported today in the USA from the virus.

Today I went off a bit and found an ancient Egyptian hymn set to music by Philp Glass.

Labor Day is Monday. So today is counted by many, including Nike, as the end of summer. This is the last week that has Nike, even when working from home, close at noon, giving most the afternoon to enjoy.  I have been heading into Portland to have lunch and play a game at Mox Boarding House each Friday. So today was my last day to do this for 2020.

Before I headed out, I started this morning at 6ish in a rush. I had a 6:35AM meeting! I had four hours of Zoom meeting discussing how Nike’s new software should work. I had trouble sleeping last night, so I was working on only four hours of sleep! The first thing I did was make coffee. Mexican fair-trade and non-GMO and organic whole bean coffee makes an excellent cup of liberal board-crossing coffee.

The frustration also returned as agreements forged this week in hours and hours of meetings were again broken. These problems are put off until after Labor Day.

So getting to Mox around noon, I met the folks who know me now and expect me now. I sat down in the same place in the bar and set-up one of the most challenging games I have to play, Pax Pamir. This is also one of the most elegant looking games. Pax Parmir recreates The Great Game into a board game where you represent a local warlord in the region made up of modern Afghanistan and Iran but set in the 1890s. It plays poorly with two players, but it has an automata player that creates a particular opponent that represents an idea, not a single warlord that can make it suitable for two players. It is hard to fight an idea, and the game mechanic makes this still real. And the board for this board game is not a traditional paper board, but instead is a small rug with a map of the area.

Evan did not know the game–he met me today at Mox, and I have played only a few times. I set-up the automata and for a three-person start, but we played just two of us as a learning game. I won, but that was mostly to stop the game as Russia, my faction, was too far ahead as Evan was just learning. Again, it is a weak game with two players, and a faction can have a run-away. Evan’s play should have been to abandon the Afgan faction and join Russia, which was running-away, forcing a reduction of payment to me being the only supporter of Russia. Yes, you can change sides! So if one side is winning, everyone switches to that faction and starting buy gifts and adding supporters of that faction to your court to get your cut. Yes, it is a tricky game as you want victory points, not necessarily a winning faction. Evan tried to play some more winning combinations instead. I forced the Dominance Check by buying that card and, as the only supporter for the apparent domination of Russia (yellow in the picture), I got the maximum points. The game ends after the fourth Dominance Check or when a player is ahead by four or more points–I was.

Again, faction management, dominance, and influence peddling are not everyday gaming concepts, so we look forward to another game now that Evan has more of a handle on the game. We will play the automata or get more players (hard in a Covid-19 emergency). Evan wants to play again. That has been my feeling about this game. It is challenging but fascinating–the journey is exciting and a challenge.

I had a headache but ordered dessert at Mox (wonderful dessert there) and coffee (hoping chocolate and coffee would help–it worked), and we got out Scythe.

It was a hard gaming day for Evan. I also won in Scythe, earning 48 to his 47 final coin count. We played new factions this time, we have been playing a lot of two-person Scythe these months, and I gave Evan the war-monger set-up to try, Saxony with the Militant mat (black color). I picked the Nordic faction (blue color) with a randomly selected Patriotic mat. Evan slammed into me over and over, and I recovered and kept building but at one point when I misplayed and got a severe spanking, I nearly conceded. I continued to play through the process and gather more and more coins–the usual play for Nordic. Saxony ended the game, as I have seen often, by a double attack into me after I earned my fifth star by winning combat on Saxony. This is the Scythe punching-bag move. After you are attacked, you sandbag and lose that battle, and know that your opponent has used up all his/her power, you make a double attack and crush them and ending the game. Often, Saxony still loses as combat, while earning stars seldom brings other advantages, and that was true in this game, but it was very close and was anyone’s game.

I received a packaged for Scythe from the manufacture, Stonemaier, after I drove home from Mox, Evan, and I leaving Mox after the last game. Including the new rule book (which has typos in the Scythe Automata section and they will be sending me a replacement soon) and I did miss a minor rule (miss playing Will who always knows everything on Sycthe), but as we played consistently, it would have not changed the outcome of the game. It is nice to have an indexed full set of rules finally for Scythe!

The package from Stonemaier also had a back-up set of miniatures for airships and Fenris items for Scythe. I like to have a spare set when I paint miniatures so that the game remains whole while I work on the items. Now I do!

I started the color painting on the Scythe items today.

Tonight I started to wheeze, banshees screaming in my chest, and getting dizzy. I stopped, took some aspirin and Benadryl, and rested for a bit. I am feeling much better now after a few hours and no screaming banshees. Lack of sleep and asthma exposed to unrelenting Pacific Northwest tree pollen is the usual cause. So I will sleep even more, a two-hour nap today, and should be better soon.

Dinner was cold pizza leftovers. Not exciting, but the frig is filling with left-overs so time to eat leftovers.

The USA stock market continued to experience gravity and cratered a bit today. It did recover a bit in the afternoon, but still, the fall in tech stocks was harsh. I read, as I am hoping I am wrong, that bad times are coming, that the change in the market is driven by a belief that inflation is returning. Bonds yields are climbing, meaning that Bonds are running counter to the traditional wisdom that treasuries are purchased when the market falls. That is not happening, meaning inflation fears are driving the market. I am watching and hoping my fears of out-of-control inflation is the product of my imagination. I am changing nothing in my 401K at this time.

Like yesterday, about another thousand people in the USA died from the virus today.

Today I decided on a nice hymn I do not know, Higher Ground. It is a old hymn but not in the Methodist Hymnal.