Sophie's Story

   OK OK, I know the title of this not grammatically correct. However, there's always something about which we can be happy just sounds a little stilted to me....    All the news lately seems to be bad. It seems that the number of Covid-19 cases continues to rise along with the death tolls. According to news reports medical personnel are working without protective gear, the economy is in shambles, there's not enough testing kits to allow medical providers to know who has Covid-19. Schools are scrambling to figure out how to do online education for students. Many people are getting bored with staying inside. No good news anywhere.   A few weeks ago I brought up my amaryllis plants. I have several of them. My dad gave them to me. None of them have ever bloomed. I've asked advice of several people. I've tried to follow it as best I can. All I get is lovely large green leaves every year.   When I bring them up, I water them. The leaves come pretty quick. In fact someti

   Wisconsin and Minnesota have both issued safe at home legislation this week. This legislation mandates the closing of nonessential businesses and requires all people to stay home and not congregate. Anyone who can work from home should be doing so. People are permitted to leave their homes only to go to medical appoints, purchase food or other needed supplies, care for family members or others and walk outside.  People who work in fields that are determined to be essential critical infrastructure and who cannot work from home are permitted to travel to and from work.    I was a little nervous when Wisconsin issued this legislation. I work in Wisconsin and live in Minnesota. I worried that I might get stopped at the state line while driving to work. I decided to make a copy of my Wisconsin pharmacist license and put it in my wallet along with my driver's license. This way I could prove what my job is. I also have my work ID with me. This is what I use to clock in and out when

   These are scary times we are living in. Almost everything is closed. Churches are cancelling services. Concerts and athletic events have been cancelled. Schools have closed, possibly until next fall. Anyone who can work from home is working from home.   The Mall of America has closed. Restaurants are closed or only offering take out or delivery orders. The news is filled with dire warnings about quarantines and the lack of hospital beds and supplies. Everyone is supposed to stay home and stay six feet away from each other in public.   Store shelves are empty as people buy food and supplies in case stores close and essential services are cut off. People are panicking. Hand sanitizer,masks and disinfectant wipes are in short supply.   I should be worried about getting sick myself. After all, I am a community pharmacist. I can't avoid the public and pharmacies can't close. People still need their medications even during public health emergencies. Maybe I'm being naive

   Last Saturday, I opened the freezer door and saw that all the ice cubes had melted. Thinking that I had not fully closed the freezer door I emptied the water out into the sink and closed the door securely. A few hours later I opened the door again. I realized that it was cool, but not cold and that  other things had thawed. Something was wrong.   I alerted C. We moved all the freezer items to the chest freezer downstairs which was working just fine. Then we turned out attention to the refrigerator. All we could hear was the fan running. No compressor. It was broken.   Since it was still cool we left things in there, taking care not to open it unless we had to. Meanwhile we figured out how we going to store all the things in the refrigerator. These are times when it is good to live in Minnesota in the late winter. It was still hovering around 40 degrees. We could keep things in the garage and also in the small unheated mudroom by the front door. We were going to be fine.   We bo

   Spring is contest time when you are a member of Toastmasters International. Every spring clubs all around the world hold contests to decide who will represent them at the area, division and district levels. There are always two contests. This year it is humorous and international. Humorous is pretty obvious. International speech does not need to be humorous but can be. International speech contest is the only one where a winner can go on to compete with other winners from around the world. The ultimate winner is dubbed the World Champion of Public Speaking.   Running a contest requires a lot of people to help out. There are very specific jobs that need to be done. Someone has to chair the contest. They are responsible for running the contest according to Toastmaster rules. There are timers, ballot counters, a sergeant at arms a toastmaster and of course contestants. At area contests there are people to run the registration table and provide or serve food or snacks.    I've d

   It's that time of year again. The snow is melting. The high school championship tournaments are starting. Fast food restaurants are offering deals on fish sandwiches. Shamrock shakes are available.    I have a lot of foods that I consider to be seasonal. For example pumpkin in the fall and winter (until New Year), eggnog in December, chili and lasagna in the late fall and winter, pasta salad, sloppy joes and fruit salad in the summer. There's no rule that says that you can't have these things at other season, but for me it just seems weird. Chili in July just seems wrong unless it is a topping for nachos (which can be eaten in all seasons) Having lasagna in the spring seems too heavy. Eating sloppy joes with coleslaw seems wrong in the middle of January.   Then there are the seasonal treats. Cotton candy at fair time. Aplets and Cotlets during the winter holidays. Hot chocolate in the winter. A fresh apple with caramel on it in the fall.   At this time of year, ther

   Many years ago I got a message from my adopted niece Lissa. 'I'm in trouble", the message read, "Ten little fingers and ten little toes trouble." It took me a bit to figure out what that meant. She was pregnant. She was 19 years old and had only been married for a couple months. She and Kurt were not really in a position to take care of a family. They weren't ready. Lissa had recently lost her job and Kurt's job as a welder was unstable. They hadn't planned on starting a family this soon, but since nature had decided otherwise, they decided do what they needed to be to support children.    It turned out that they really didn't need to do much. Lissa miscarried. At home. They were excited about being parents. They had bought a frame for the ultrasound picture. Now it was over.   A few year after that Lissa got pregnant again.  This time was different. They had jobs. They had insurance. They were ready to start a family. There was excitement,

   The year before last I was working on a Personal Progress program through the church. Some of you may remember what I wrote about it. Part of the program was to complete a number of projects. One of the projects was to create something for use in the home. I decided I was going to make a basket out of  T-shirt yarn. The yarn would be made from worn out and unneeded shirts.    I spent months and months collecting shirts cutting them carefully into strips and winding the strips into balls. When I had enough balls I started knitting the yarn into thick i-cords. the cords would be coiled and used to make the basket.    After many months I had enough cords. I bought some heavy duty thread and sewing needles. I began to fashion my basket. I sewed the bottom and then this sides coiling the cords as I sewed. In order to make the basket sides stand up I used two rows of cords. After several weeks of worth, I was finished it.    It was a mess. The sides did not stand up straight and some