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Today was the morning that Susie had Mohs surgery for cancerous and precancerous skin issues on her head. We left for Portland about nine-ish, I got up about 7ish, and arrived a bit early. We cruised around Portland for a few minutes and then parked and checked into the clinic. Everything is different from the last time I was there. There is no wait in the waiting area and no coffee. The patients are put in their separate rooms for the procedure and stay there until done. In the past, the patients were sent out to the waiting room and wait to see if the procedure was enough or if they need more surgery. Susie was there for two hours and had only one surgery for each spot.

Susie headed in for Mohs Surgery.

I waited in the Air Volvo in the parking lot. I was reading, try not to fall asleep, a book on how gunnery for battleships was developed before World War I and how well it worked. I made a few calls and tried to take a nap.

I then went to the comic store across the street. Funny, it is Portland, and all the cars stopped for me to let me cross the road. I was almost embarrassed to stop traffic, but it is Portland and being overly polite while driving is a thing here.

ACME, the store’s name and the name of the supplier of various items for Bugs Bunny and other cartoon folks, is a hole-in-the-wall shop, with just one hallway of items. Only older comics, vintage, are offered with other various related items, most in their original wrappers, of course. Vintage would also describe the store and the layout. It smelled of old paper and maybe glue.

The owner, wearing a mask, was happy to have a new customer. Everything was 50% off. Someone very skilled in plastic models had decorated the store with finely made U-boats, warplanes, Star Trek, and armor suits. The owner explained that a comic artist also made models, and these are his models. I believe he had a model of the ship from The Perfect Storm that got my attention–I want one of those to build. Instead of focusing on the models, I asked him to select a few comic books that represent the art for a friend for Christmas. He picked out some Avengers from 1964 and 2011 and Gotham City Sirens from 2009 as good representations. Unlike most stores I have been in (including Powell’s), he only takes cash. I was surprised and paid him; I let him keep the change, 50% off is nice, but it was a bit much in a pandemic. It was a pleasant distraction.

The doctor’s office called soon after that Susie was done. I pushed her on her walker as she was exhausted and in a bit of pain. She was able to get into Air Volvo. We stopped by McDonald’s, and Susie had her fav, Chicken McNugget Happy Meal, and I had a two-cheese burger meal. My dad used to order that when I visited in Michigan, “Hey, want to get a cheeseburger,” he would say. I think I had three or more trips in a week when I visited. I always think of him when I order one.

Susie went to bed to rest. I had to stop at Powell’s and pick-up the Christmas gifts. So I left for a short time. I picked up my order. There I also found an older copy of Aristophanes in English and Greek, including my fav play, “The Frogs.” I have always wanted one with the Greek, just $11, and now I can see the Greek words being translated. My Greek is mostly basic New Testament Greek for teaching Sunday School, but I always wanted to see how Aristophanes put together his lines.

Susie had an ice-pack on when I returned. This helped with the stinging pain.

I let her rest and watched The Expanse new season. This is one of the best series that is both SciFi and horror. I recommend it. It was picked up by Amazon Prime; they have done the last two seasons, and the show is just excellent.

Dinner was ribeye steaks grilled on the gas grill with just salt and pepper sprinkled with coffee. I found an old package of stuffing and a can of cranberry jelly and so went with last year’s Thanksgiving food. I usually buy two over everything, and the stuffing was just expired (it is stale bread anyway). So steak, stuffing, and cranberry jelly. It worked! Susie managed 1/2 a steak. She got going got dinner and watched some of The Expanse with me.

Oregon suffered its highest death count today from the infection: 53. The USA had 2,976 deaths today from Covid-19. The vaccine was delivered today to Oregon.

I picked, after some searching, The Storm is Passing Over, for today’s story. This is from Detroit in 2009, but it could be today.

 

Today started as usual for Mondays at 6ish, with me wondering how it could already be six! Another rushed morning as I had a 7AM meeting. I managed to read emails and find my way and be ready for the first Zoom meeting, all cleaned-up and shinny.

I remember it was Monday and got Susie going in time to have coffee and a corn muffin before her taxi picked her up at 9ish to see Zeriada for hair, nails, toes, and so on. This is an every Monday morning item.

I had a break in the morning, but I was cold this morning and could not get warm. I put on a sweater and shoes and decided not to walk today. I could use the exercise, but I was just cold.

I had a few crises of the moment and then ordered lunch. I debated about making lunch with myself, it is much cheaper or having some leftovers. I decided to order for Thai to be delivered. My last massaman curry (beef) from Ma-Now Thai Cuisine was fabulous, so I ordered another today. I felt much better after that.

I had a few more meetings and words of encouragement for some issues found in the cutover for Nike’s new system we are installing. It was a very light day on content and heavy on procedures.

The physical therapy folks called. Clare is now scheduled for later in the week: Two days. Susie has Mohs surgery to remove some cancerous and precancerous skin. This is done out-patient. We have done it before. Clare agreed to work around that.

I have some great steaks to cook, but Corwin left, and Susie was tired, so I put them off for a day. I made chicken Cordon Blu from frozen with some “fire-roasted” veggies that I bake from frozen for a side dish. I also had a can of pears to go with it. The “fire-roasted” include potatoes, so it was more starch than a veggie. Susie had her dinner after she was up after 8ish.

We played online Dungeons and Dragons today with five players on the Roll20 website, one player in Minnesota. We continued our adventure that I run, as DM, in the Mad Mage’s Dungeon–this is material you can purchase and run using their software. We are down on the tenth level of this massive complex. We had finished last Monday late with a tough fight. The adventurers, played by our players, need a break and rest.

We agreed to advance the players to the next level of power, the 11th level, at the finish of the last game. But, the evil elves, Drow, are fighting back–this is my plan to make the game interesting. I wanted to give the players a scare; I set up a powerful assault on the players’ characters before they could rest. To do this before the game started, I went to the map in Roll20, copied the bad guys’ tokens, and organized a military-like line-up. When the game restarted today, the players had only a few minutes to rest. I then moved in the attack. Some of the bad guys were also invisible and could cast lightning bolts.

I managed to scare but not crush the players. They managed to stop the attack, kill most of the attackers, and drive off the remaining Drow mages that were blasting them with lightning bolts! The players then had their characters hid and rest for a day of game time to fully recover and get their new spells ready (they get new 6th level spells, game-changing powerful spells).

I had a few problems with the interface, but I managed to keep the game going. My Apple computer is only dual-core and can be slowed down by Internet applications. The other remote players had no serious issues and no disconnects. A replacement Apple is about the price of a short trip to Amsterdam for two!

Returning to the game, having learned some harsh lessons about poison and Drow, the players used magic to be immune to poison and to get extra hit points! They found the main spider goddess temple with the Drow priestess, her consort, her demonic allies, and some ridiculously weak giant spiders and troops. They took one look at it and charged in. They wanted some payback!

This time the attack went better, and their wizard actually disintegrated the consort with one of those new spells. More than 1/2 of the damage was ignored from the Drow and their allies: Poison. The fight was over quickly, with the Drow slain (or disintegrated) and the demonic allies of the Drow running back to their sulfurous planes of existence.

We stopped there as we had reached our end time, two hours. We continue next Monday. Everyone I think had a good time.

After that, I made Susie dinner and put on the move that is a remake of The Saint. It is a fav.

Today it was reported that more than one-thousand six-hundred twenty people died from the virus. It is one of the worst Monday this year.

The vaccine is being distributed today in the USA. Some of the first shots were given in NYC.

I have done this before, but it fits: Morning Has Broken. This is Methodist Hymnal #145.

 

This evening my back-up hard drive for my Mac has failed. It is a brand new 5TD drive. I suspect it was damaged when I disconnected it. I am using a USB connection to use it. I am guilty of just disconnecting it. I am not very happy as you can’t have a laptop you can not move. I am trying to erase the hard drive and re-use it. I am making a new back-up.

Return to more interesting topics, I woke at 9:30ish this morning and did my normal email and other tasks. I opened a package of maple syrup breakfast sausage and put them in a glass dish, and baked them at 350 for 30 mins. and then turn the sausages over and cooked for 15 more mins.  These are everyone’s fav. I also heated some water with salt and two caps fulls of vinegar. When the water was hot and just about to boil, I turn down the heat to low. I then carefully break two eggs into the water to poach. Breakfast was two poached eggs, a few sausages, and a bagel with light cream cheese.

Susie had Eggo Waffles with the sausages. Corwin had sausages and a bagel.

It is easy to cover all meals now; dinner tonight was microwaved leftovers. Susie and I finished the Chinese delivered a few days ago. Corwin had some of the leftover Morracoan Chicken I made last night.

I did not get to making Beignets this morning. Instead, I did all the touch-up and fixes on the figures from the board game Heroes of Air, Land, and Sea. The dwarf faction is now painted and touched up. I also have sprayed the initial protective flat clear. I use the fantastic Mr. Super Clean UV flat clear. I have to buy it from Amazon as I cannot get it from our local stores. They cannot get it in.

 

I have yet to apply dark oil paint to do the shading. I use to use inks for this. I even used a bit of ink this time to make the faces and muscles more defined, but I still had to repaint some of it. The ink stains the paint to a darker shade. The inks also dry a different color than when you put them on. Oil paints do not have these problems, and I can wipe them off and try again–no repainting. I use a dark color oil paint, Spaceship Filth, from the company with the strange name of 502 Abteilung. They make oil paints for shading for models and figures.

My friend’s family, Michael Giessner, picked up my wine this weekend and dropped it off. Purple Cow Vineyard includes a free bottle as thanks for continuing to buy in the pandemic. The wine is made about thirty minutes away and is some of the best wine I have tasted.

Back to work on Monday.

It was reported that today in the USA, 1,379 died from the virus today.

I found a hymn I have never heard, and it is from 1653: Jesus, Priceless Treasure. I could only find it sung on the Internet by Lutherans. This hymn is #532 in the Methodist Hymnal.

 

 

 

I managed to sleep in until 8ish this morning with no events to wake me. First time I slept about eight hours in days. I did the dishes. Read emails and painted figures. I ignored the laundry and did not fold it–it did not seem to mind.

I am still using the “Classic Editor” on WordPress and have not had any more crashes. I can also see the back-ups. I would prefer the new editor, but having everything working as expected is a plus. I will remain using classic!

I watched the next Mandalorian episode this morning. I am still impressed by the acting and creativity, but it seems guilty of the same issues I see in Doctor Who. The story cannot progress fast during a week; that is saved for the end-of-season. I liked the TV series The Expanse because I am never sure how important an episode is while watching it–they would kill characters and complete major story arcs anytime. We will see what happens with this show.

I ordered bagels for lunch for everyone. I had an everything lox bagel.

I painted figures for much of the day. I am trying to complete the initial painting of the dwarf faction of the board game Heroes of Air, Land, and Sea. I have completed the initial painting of all twenty figures (it is hard to do twelve figures that are exactly the same), and now I have to do the touch-up and corrections. I have also done the hair by my new dry brushing light colors over plain colors to get the hair to look more realistic. I do not want a blond to look like they are wearing a lemon. This with a dark shading oil paint to restore the 3D shading will make this work.

I should finish tomorrow with these figures.

I also read a new book on gunnery practices in world war one for battleships delivered today–are you bored already? Revisionist historians are now–well, in 2005, after more than a hundred years, looking closer at what happened in one battle for three hours. It was one of the worst moments in history for the modern British Navy, the near defeat of their best fast attack squadron and the destruction of two ships and crew. This near-disaster happened in the “Run South” of the Battle of Jutland 1916. Britain’s ships only managed eleven hits on their opponents (vs. 35+ hits against the British ships) and lost two battlecruisers in horrific explosions. Historians are still trying to understand what happened. The official account from 1916 or so was just published, being suppressed for 100 years! I bought a copy when it was released.

This book on gunnery has no strong narrative to keep you interested, and I did manage to nod-off this afternoon after page 9. I am further now. I am interested in the author’s conclusions about the battle (I have ten or more books on this one battle and related material), which makes me plow through.

Returning to today, I had to slip out, nothing I like to do with the Covid-19 growing infection rates, and buy some goods at the restaurant supply store and a few other Safeway items. I was happy to see everyone is careful and following procedures, and wearing masks. I was surprised to see a new meat counter in Safeway and picked out some nice steaks. Before, the local Safeway had only refrigerated cases, and you picked out what you wanted from the pre-packaged items. Today, for the first time at my local store, I could pick my steaks and have them packaged for me.

It is strange to see my Safeway keep improving during the emergency. The store is cleaner, better organized, and has a better selection now. Not what you would expect in a pandemic!

I made dinner of Morrocan Lemon Chicken with rice. I use tagine spices and preserved lemons for this. There are recipes for something like this are on the Internet. I just two chop onion, cut up celery, peel and cut carrots into largest bits, heat oil and butter in a large dutch oven on the stove, cook garlic and the onions for a bit, add the spices, chicken, cook a bit, and then add the rest. Bake covered for an hour or so at 350F. I made the rice in the Instant Pot.

While we waited, I dug out the Olympia Provision cheeses and meats. Susie made that her dinner. Corwin and I enjoyed the chicken.

I was going to make some beignets today, or at least get the dough started. I will likely try that tomorrow morning. I have always wanted to learn how to make these since I watched Princess and the Frog by Disney. I liked the music too–I have the soundtrack!

I usually get burned-out of painting after doing two factions. I have one initial set left, but I may move on to something else after I finish the dwarf figures (forty figures in a month is a lot for me). I will see how I feel on Sunday.

I would like to get back to writing Howard’s stories–putting painting aside for a while. I was editing Howard in Amsterdam, and I want to add an epilogue to Howard’s Lockdown. I usually write at a coffee house, but Covid-19 prevents that now.

The deaths from Covid-19 in the USA today: 2,309.

Another hymn I miss singing. I can manage to sing this one most days: Many Gifts, One Spirit. Methodist Hymnal #114.

Today I had a mostly slow and easy Friday. Nothing went wrong at the house. No sudden caregiving events today. No huge meltdowns at Nike’s computers. Just a slow status meeting full day. It was nice to have a day like that.

It will not be that interesting of a blog as it was just a normal quiet day.

I started at 6ish and responded to email and tried to get caught up and see what I needed to do. It is Friday. There are usually no emergencies in our program. I am not doing production support. Thus the usual suspects of Fridays’ problems do not belong to me now.

So I just caught up and tried to help here and there. Again, almost everything is working today, and our cut-over for the new system I am helping to start is on Monday morning.

The narrative is already moving to lunch. I ordered a massaman curry (beef) from Ma-Now Thai Cuisine. It was perfect and was delivered on-time. It was too much food, but it was soooo good. I made an Eggo Waffle for Susie with peanut butter. She was running late on Thursday, so we bumped her “Thursday” pill to today. She takes that pill for bone strength, drinks lots of water, and sits for 45 mins without moving or eating.

We have no medical things today.

I had a few more details to do, and then at about 3ish, I called it a weekend. I then rested a bit and did the dishes.

I have been painting the figures each night for a few minutes for the board game Heroes of Air, Land, and Sea. I am using the technique of using washed out paints to create easy shading effects. The look is good enough for gaming figures. The look also works for modern figures that are not SciFi.

 

I created a comparison. The picture has three groups of figures. The Star Trek figures are painted over white primer and use ink to shade. I then correct that with a bit more paint. This is how I use to paint. I do it only now for figures. I want very bright.

The Doctor Who figures on the other side use more shading and a bit dusty looking. I was not that happy with the look, except for military figures, UNIT in this case.

The fantasy figures in the middle use the black primer and light white over the black. The paints are then diluted. For these, I used special inks that were used to bring out the highlights. The paint on these middle figures is a bit dark for me, but they are better than game board quality. These fantasy figures are from Estonia.

Just a few lessons while I was thinking about it.

These figures on the bottom of the tray use oil paints to create shading instead of inks I used before. These are brighter and less work.

I defrosted some ribeye steaks. I grilled the steaks on the gas grill. I did not notice the grill was on when I opened the gas tank valve. I threw a lighted match in–checking that there was no leak and there was a woosh, and it lighted. I do not try to light it so dramatically, most nights. I heated up some rolls, and we had peaches from a can. I am tired of making green beans. The steaks are from Smart Foodservice Warehouse. I do not recommend them, the steaks are cut too thin. I forgot that when I bought them.

Reports are still showing a terrifying death rate for the virus in the USA of 3,031, including 15 from Oregon, for today. Reports I have found show the current USA’s death daily rate is 150% of its previous average, suggesting strongly that Covid-19 is causing more deaths at the rate shown in the reports.

I have done this before, but it is a prayer, and we could use a prayer today.