Archive for the ‘San Pedro’ category

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Thursday

April 9, 2020

Well here we are on Thursday. Just sitting at home trying to keep busy and not go stark-raving mad. I’m trying to do a blog post every day. First to keep myself busy and not get sick by heading out to shop or something.

It is raining here today in SoCal. It is a pleasant light, soaking rain. As I have said before, the seasons here in Cal are rain, mud, fire and earthquake. We are in the rainy season.

Rain in the planter outside our door.

The more it rains, the less likely their will be fires next summer.

So yesterday we had our Zoom Bible Study. One of our members offered to share face masks that she was making for free. So later in the day Bonnie dropped off a couple of masks for us.

We are feeling incredibly lucky here. We don’t have jobs to lose. We don’t have to go out to work in a grocery store or drive a truck.

Our Social Security payment arrived on Wednesday. It’s scheduled for the second Wednesday of every month. And in April, the 2nd Wednesday fell on April 8th, the earliest we could possibly receive it. May won’t be quite as early. And the stock market seems to be climbing out of the deep hole that it was in. (My retirement fund is in the market.)

We are both reasonably healthy. All of our major surgeries were done last year. I would hate to be looking at to reschedule something like knee surgery. Some of our minor medical appointments have been pushed back until May or June. Dentist is only doing emergencies. I was scheduled for optometry visit to get new eye glass prescription. That won’t happen until June, maybe. And, optometry department at Costco is closed until whenever.

One last thing. Regency Palms is on lock-down so no visits to see Mary. So far, there have no covel-19 incidents at RP. Some other nursing homes haven’t been so lucky. We’ve done FaceTime a couple of times with Mary. She doesn’t have a clue what FaceTime is. But we say hi and wave.

TTFN

Joe

Categories: Corona, San Pedro
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Wednesday

April 1, 2020

We decided to go grocery shopping today. First though, we did our Wednesday Senior Bible study on Zoom. We’re getting the hang of Zoom. I set up a background of the Arizona desert. Amused. Once we were done with that it was off to Albertsons. We were running low in milk and half/half. Besides, that was one of the legal things we could do during our confinement.

I read that some of the mega-churches are defying the stay-at-home orders. Just spreading their germs and putting their tithes in bucket. Maybe they should just throw those pastors in Jail or maybe turn of the power and water. Just not right. They seem to think that it is another Left-wing-liberal-hoax.

First thing that we noticed was they has new signs pasted to the floor reminding everyone to keep your distance.

Last week they just had red tape stuck to the floor. They also has a staff person disinfecting the shopping carts before taken by shoppers to start their shopping.

They are starting to get back to normal with stocking of shelves. Produce was pretty much fully stocked. The meat department also pretty well complete.

Canned goods is still pretty much hit and miss. Some soups were restocked but not all. Paper goods not so much.

I had to go to the liquor section to get some tonic water for our gin & tonics. Got a fresh lime in the fruit section. Got some milk & half/half. Also, heard that the Cannabis stores are open during the lock-down. We do have our priorities.

Then it was time to get into the check out line. Once again they had one queue feeding all of the registers. The line was moving pretty quickly. They have put up “spit guards” at all of the registers. Sigh. The checkout line started halfway down the paper goods aisle, turned the corner to the main aisle by the liquor section. One can see the lack of paper goods.

Paula will be heading over to Long Beach to drop off a package of adult diapers. She won’t get to see her Mother. They are still on lock-down and are expected to be that way for the foreseeable future.

I tried to make an appointment to gets my eyes checked to get new glasses. Kaiser isn’t doing any optometry appointments until June (at the earliest). I tried Costco too. No luck there either.

That’s enough for now.

TTFN

Joe

Categories: Corona, San Pedro
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Saturday

March 28, 2020

So here is a picture of the front of our refrigerator. We proudly post art work from our grand-kids.

In addition to all of the magnets obtained during our travels, we have added some letters and numbers. We first asked Jonathan and Sarah to make words and phrases with the available letters. It didn’t need to make any sense.

So we started adjusting the letters to form new words that seemed to make sense to our feeble brains. When we bought this refrigerator a year or so ago, we made sure that magnets would stick.

So we did some grocery shopping today. Things are getting much mellower. There was even toilet paper available. Not a lot and not upscale brands. Looks like the store didn’t waste time taking packages out of the boxes. Just cut open the boxes and stash them on the shelf. It’s going to take a long time for this to be completely back to normal.

So the store doesn’t want to deal with our reusable grocery bags. Sigh. We either pack the stuff ourselves in our grocery bags or buy the bags from them which the will pack. Starbucks is open but you can’t sit and chat.

We stopped at “Crazy Fish” to get some take-out for lunch. Many restaurants are open for take-out only. I had some fish tacos. Paula had a shrimp salad. They are very tasty. Support your local restaurants by doing take-out during the Covid-19 restrictions.

Categories: Corona, San Pedro
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Thursday

March 27, 2020

Yesterday, I made a quick trip to Costco in Torrance to pickup a replacement hearing aid charger that had arrived. Got the call from hearing aid department on Wednesday that it had arrived.

I had told them that without it my hearing aid charger was a $3500 paper weight.

So I was in and out in about 10 minutes. Costco is looking considerably more mellow than a couple of weeks ago.

So now that my hearing aids are working I can hear what Paula is telling me. I suppose that’s a good thing. At least, I’m not saying, “What did you say?”

We started using Zoom for our church’s Senior Bible Study. I also used it to meet up with some folks from our church in Billerica. We also managed a FaceTime session with Mary over in Long Beach. I don’t think she quite gets what is going on. Sigh.

We will be doing a FaceTime session with Mike and the grand-kids later today.

Meanwhile, the exhaust fan for our clothes dryer has died. We called our handy man Jeff to see when he could get over to work on it. On Sunday. It seems that Jeff is a busy man. Meanwhile, Paula has to take clothes to laundromat.

Keep on keeping on. We will get through this.

Joe

Categories: Corona, San Pedro
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Tuesday

March 25, 2020

Paula and I went grocery shopping. I toyed with the idea of ordering groceries online for delivery. Nope, not going to do it. It’s the one time we can legally go out and do something.

Alberston’s didn’t seem quite as crazy as last week. Reasonable lines at checkout. Some of the shelves are still empty. Especially, the canned food aisles and the paper goods aisle. It’ll probably be a while before they are back to normal.

Still plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. Deli is running normal. We stopped and chatted with Alan in the meat department. He still had a smile on his face. Meat had reasonable selections.

Traffic seems to be returning to sub-normal. Traffic on Western was moderate. I went out on Sunday for an appointment for a PET scan at Kaiser at 5:30 pm. Roads were pretty much empty.

Some activities are coming back to normal. The grounds crew was outside raking and trimming the shrubs. Only thing not operating is restaurants.

One can see what cereals are must have for the ongoing saga. Seems like Honey Nut Cheerios are a hot seller.

Every time we go to the store there is some new rule. This time bringing your own bags was verboten. Turns out we could use our own bags as long as the clerk didn’t have to touch them.

In other news, our church is starting online services. We have Senior Bible study on Zoom tomorrow. Zoom has hit the big time. We will probably drop in on a Zoom service with our church back in Mass. Here is an article on Zoom in the NY Times.

We will try to get over to Long Beach to drop off some stuff for Paula’s Mom. Her facility is on “lockdown” so no visit, just drop the stuff and go. She probably doesn’t have a clue about what’s going on. We might try a face-time visit but I have my doubts that she will understand.

I can’t stand watching Donald Trump on the news. That SOB will kill us all. Is it November yet?

That’s all for now. Stay safe.

Joe

Categories: Corona, San Pedro
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Friday

March 21, 2020

So we went to Albertson’s for groceries. Here’s my comparison with our last visit on Monday. They had only one entrance open with a clerk managing the flow to prevent too many people joining in the fun. They moved the grocery carts inside where the tables and chairs for Starbucks were. So one person going out, then let another come in.

They’re allowing seniors (65+) to get a head start between 7 and 9 am. We’re not getting up at 0 dark thirty for the privilege.

Fresh produce seemed to be reasonably well stocked, including bananas. Bread was not so much. They stopped putting out fresh bagels and pastries on the shelf so that customers couldn’t be able to grab and put in a bag. I understand.

Meat section also looked pretty well stocked.

Canned goods including soup shelves are empty.

Paper goods aisle empty.

Still no run on beer, wine or gin. I heard that Cannabis stores are open doing business. We saw one woman who checked out with a single large bottle of vodka. Must have wanted it bad. Didn’t notice the brand, though

The check out queue was better managed. They had one line and a clerk to send the person at the head of the queue to next available cashier. Took us about 10 minutes to check out.

We managed to talk with some of our friends that work there. We learned that they got a $2/hour hazardous pay increase. They deserve it. I thanked them for their service. Our friend Dairy Dan had his trip to Boston cancelled. He had had tickets to a Celtics game. Also, our trip to Boston in May had been cancelled.

Categories: Corona, San Pedro
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Wednesday

March 18, 2020

I’m getting a bit stir crazy. Not a lot to talk about. Paula is off taking stuff over to Mary. Glad we have her over at the Regency Palms. Only places that seem to be open are drug stores and supermarkets.

So life goes on at a somewhat slower pace. Saw a picture of the 405 without any cars. Not sure that I believe that was taken recently. Amusing, none the less.

One of the interesting features of our condo is the master bathroom. The toilet has a view whereby one can sit watch what is going on in the neighborhood.

So I noticed that there was a steady stream of cars coming and going (mostly going, to work I guess). Trash is being picked up. Mail is delivered. Life goes on, sort of.

Our son, Neil and his wife are off in Hawaii for a vacation. They left before the fecal matter hit the air movement device. They are going be in for a rude reentry to every day living. Pictures were beautiful.

Good news is that gas prices haven’t been lower in a long time. Bad news is no place to go. Our trip to MA in May has been cancelled.

One of the amusing pictures that I saw was the barren soup aisle except for Manhattan clam chowder. Taken somewhere in New England. Starve to death before eating Manhattan clam chowder.

Family coming over tomorrow for dinner. Shepherd’s Pie.

TTYL, Joe

Categories: Corona, San Pedro
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Yes, We Have No Bananas

March 16, 2020

Today is Monday. We decoded to do our grocery shopping again at Albertsons. Here’s what’s different from last Friday. The first thing we noticed was they removed all the tables and chair near the Starbucks stand. Grrrrrr. We usually like to sit and chat about what’s on sale, what we need. Not today. Do your shopping and get out of here.

It was a challenge to find a grocery cart. Paula eventually snagged one. Parking wasn’t as bad as Friday.

Checkout lines were shorter. 8 out of 10 lines open for business. Wait time about 10 minutes for checkout. In the produce section, they were out of several different fruits and vegetables, including bananas. Made me think of an old song titled “Yes, We Have No Bananas“.

Here are a couple of pictures of the produce section.

They were out of green beans but there were plenty of brussel sprouts. I guess brussel sprouts are not that important for the end of the world crowd.

There was a moderate supply of fish and meats. We bought some salmon that we like. One can see what’s important for end of world crowd. Sold out of canned soups and such. But in the same aisle there was plenty of ketchup, pickles and salad dressing. Pasta was pretty much sold out.

Dairy was pretty much fully stocked. We got our 1% milk, eggs and half and half. We talked to our friend “Dairy Dan” I told him. “Not hiding in the refrigerator?”. Dan is going to Boston next month. He had planned on going to a Boston Celtics game. Very sad. He was looking forward to that part of his trip.

Categories: Corona, San Pedro
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Corona Rambling

March 15, 2020

So we went to church this morning. It seems that it was about the only event that wasn’t cancelled due to the Corona virus. Our church (Oceanview Baptist in San Pedro) had taken steps to control things. No passing the offering plate, greeters wore gloves, no snacks after service, but there was coffee (poured by kitchen staff).

Attendance was down a bit. I could tell because I didn’t have any problem finding a parking space. Rain had finally stopped and sun was shining.

We didn’t go out for brunch with our grand kids, but Paula and I felt we could use some pancakes and eggs/bacon. Restaurant was open though not very crowded.

So on Friday Paula and I went grocery shopping. Friday is one of our normal shopping days. The place was mobbed. All check out lanes operating. It took us 45 minutes to check out once we got into line.

So they’re running out of TP, hand sanitizer, Clorox and bottled water. I sort of understand the TP and hand sanitizer but I don’t get the water. Why do people think they need bottled water? The virus isn’t transmitted by the water supply. Do think it is or will be? Beats me.

Checkout line on Friday (note the wine shelves)
Picture taken on 3/10. Much emptier on Friday

So you can see the crowd waiting to check out. Paper goods aisle empty. There doesn’t seem to be a run on wine and beer. WTF? Nobody needs beer to make it through the impending doom? If this were Mass. before a blizzard the beer and vodka would be gone too.

We felt lucky that our guests from the Boston area were back home before all the Corona virus stuff hit the fan.

So now we have to figure out to do for the weeks ahead. Lodge cancelled, OES canceled. Assistance League cancelled. Grand kids and family will probably be over for dinner next week. All of their activities have been cancelled. Maybe we can watch some movies on Netflix? Paula has a bunch of projects for us.

Categories: San Pedro

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The Nook – San Pedro

January 19, 2020

After church, we usually go out for Brunch. Most times, Mike and his family join us, but they were visiting another church in La Habra. We thought we might have to go over to Long Beach to see Paula’s Mom but found out that she was okay.

So we decided to take the opportunity to try a new restaurant called “The Nook” formerly known as the Gaffey Street Diner. The Nook is located at 247 N Gaffey Street. We had stopped eating at the Gaffey Street Diner because of service and quality issues. We had been mostly sending our Sunday morning business to the Pacific Diner.

There is an additional “Nook” restaurant in Torrance at 2169 Pacific Coast Hwy.

So we gave it a try. The interior had been completely redone with new wallpaper and new booths and tables. The wall paper is sort of a stylized view of Los Angeles, San Pedro and Long Beach. Kind of neat.

So service was pretty good. The place was about 1/3 full which thought was pretty good for Sunday at 1pm. We sat at a table for two and ordered coffee and water. Most of the time I order bacon and eggs. So often that our usual waitress calls me “Bacon and Eggs”. But today, I decided to try their tuna melt. Paula ordered the Eggs Benedict.

Paula asked for the fruit cup instead of home fries, but she forgot to tell the waitress “no cantelope or melon”. When I get the tuna melt, I usually only eat half and take the rest home for lunch on Monday.

One final thing. They managed to find an artist to do a mural on the side of the building next to the parking lot. Their logo is a smiling fried egg. Kind of cute. The old mural was of Guy Fieri from a review done by him for his food network show “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” a long time ago.

Categories: Reviews, San Pedro
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