>> jimster, you can buy seed on Ebay for $3 including shipping. Yeah, one can. I completely endorse it for anyone who has money to burn and garden space to waste. I've been thinking about joining them - I must have 5,000 Bhut Jolokia seeds, or at least ones that look like the BJ! Mike

We have them and they're supposed to be used to see if we're in a patient's room so there are fewer over head pages (noise on the unit). Unfortunately, they don't use them like they're supposed to be used. I get a hundred freaking phone calls/and or overhead pages a day...like today. I can be in the room and they still call me or call out over the intercom when I don't answer my phone because I'm gowned and gloved in an isolation room. I was so happy when my phone battery died around 6 pm tonight. What really annoys me the most is when you just left a patient's room after making sure they don't need anything and they call you back for something. You're busy with another patient and they expect you to drop everything and run back to their room NOW. If you can't go right NOW they call over and over and over again. To make matters worse we are having to take groups of patients on a certain team now so that the doctors can round with us every morning...which they aren't doing. So, for the past few days I've had patients all over the unit, so we're running our @sses off even more than usual. My legs and back are killing me. Sorry, I know that's more than you were asking.

Snidely, I got a wonderful, thoughtful thank you note from a man not long ago. He is someone we don't know well, but when he was younger he was hired to drive for someone we are related to by marriage when that gentleman was beginning stages of Alzheimer's. A faithful companion and caring personal employee. He's no longer driving on the freeway himself, and twice DH has called him to see if he'd like to be picked up for an out of town event. He accepted, and followed up later with very kind handwritten note (beautiful handwriting). I found it gracious and thoughtful. Suzieque, you may not know it but you've already been generous with your neighbor. You've provided him with an opportunity to show his son its important to be a helpful part of his community. A lesson DH learned very young, and still follows today with neighbors and an elderly former neighbor. And she does try to repay him, but knowing her limited means it will frustrate him if she buys him something. Her cinnamon rolls he will happily accept. I don't think you are creating a circumstance of expectance if you occasionally treat them though, gift card for a movie or coffee bar (where they usually have Italian fruit sodas appropriate for fathers and teens both). A thank you note other times is more than enough. DH will still talk about being a boy and having his mother send him to the next farm to put in hay for the widow there. I don't know if you are familiar with the process of cutting, baling, loading into the truck then into the barn, but it's hot, dirty, prickly work. He was paid in popsicles, his mother wouldn't allow him to complain or take more ;) He laughs about it even now.

So, you cannot be honest and think it is strange it is apparently spreading amongst those vaccinated? In our area I would say "spreading" is not true. We have some new cases, but not a large number. Some are attributed to a variant. We knew in the beginning the vaccine was not 100% and that there could be new variants pop up which could cause problems. Here they are talking about more children coming down with Covid, but thankfully, for the most part, they are not getting seriously ill. Still, some parents are worried about children heading back to school soon. Was that your assumption when you took the vaccine? I think most people thought the vaccine was 90% in NOT getting Covid at all, therefore having immunity. No that was not my assumption nor was it the assumption of most people I talked to about covid and the vaccine. If you researched, listened to the CDC and the local health department(s), it was always said that the vaccine was 90-something percent effective in preventing serious cases/hospitalization. That has worked! Our hospitalization is down dramatically! Also, you can get those numbers from the hospitals directly, not just the media. I remember when my dad was hospitalized last October and my sister and I were so worried about him being in the hospital while Covid was present. We watched the numbers in that particular hospital start at 2 and slowly rise, never very high while dad was there. Weeks later, it was near 200 in that one hospital. Numbers are back down although there are a few covid cases in that hospital. The county health departments report the death numbers, which at present are in the single digits. I will say that we had a church member pass away last week from Covid. An older woman and her husband both contracted Covid, as did one of their grandsons. The older couple have health issues and live in an area of their daughter's home. Not sure who of the three first contracted it. I'm also not sure if the lady who died was vaccinated as she had several health issues and she may have been cautioned in being vaccinated. Her husband has been well enough to be home, other than a short period after being told of her death (he went into shock). The grandson (teen) has been the least sick of the three. I am not a shopper and other than our recent trip and a couple of antique stores in surrounding cities, I have avoided shopping. We do eat out but mostly still aim for less than peak times. I am still doing grocery pick-up although I will go occasionally to pick up meat and to the small produce market. Basically what I am saying is we are living pretty much back to normal, but taking precautions. It is rare to see a place require a mask but many businesses have signs on the door that say mask suggested or something similar. I kept a bag of masks with us on our trip and we still have them in our vehicles, etc. in case they are needed.