April 13, 2020

Did you miss me? Didn’t post yesterday for the first time since I started this thing. Spent a quiet Easter Sunday at home enjoying the sunshine, reading, and cooking. Normally we would be out at Jen and Bill’s with other family members for Easter dinner. Due to the current situation it was just the missus and me in our prison. We did have a nice dinner, though. Had some veal shanks in the freezer (sorry Cloie), and just happened to watch Giada on Food Network in the morning where she made an asparagus salad and a creamy polenta with spinach. We didn’t have all of the same ingredients she used, but used it as an inspiration to do our own thing. Quarantined Easter dinner at the Stout household: Osso Bucco, creamy polenta, and asparagus salad with feta cheese and hazelnuts.

Here is a photo of the cookies and cream cupcakes that Carol baked on Friday. Delicious!

I mentioned in Saturday’s post that there were some music specials Sunday and Monday on A&E network. Yesterday was Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson. If you missed the Willie Nelson special try to catch it on a repeat. It was fabulous! Lot’s of guest musicians playing by themselves and with Willie. He is 86 years old now, so you might want to see him before he joins John Prine up there. Tonight there are two more specials on A&E, Kenny Rogers and Merle Haggard. Since we are in the culture side of this post, I also just got a FB message that Peter Bowen, a Montana author whose books I read, died a couple of days ago after falling at his home in Livingston, MT. A weird thing is that just last night I was communicating with a former colleague about Carol and I being in Livingston to meet up with an artist, Amber Jean, to buy a bronze sculpture she did. We love Livingston and could live there if it weren’t for the wind. I think half of the population in the town is either an author, artist, movie star, or musician. Another weird thing is that the word “weird” does not follow the rule, “i” before “e” except after “c”.

Okay, we’ve been through the food section, arts and entertainment, can’t do sports because there are no sports at this time, so I guess we have to get to the politics section. I will assume that you read or heard on the news over the weekend the reports about the late response to the coronavirus from the White House. I wrote about it last week, but the political issue now becomes whether tRump will fire Dr. Fauci. Yesterday, while being interviewed, Dr. Fauci seemed to confirm that he and other health officials had recommended social-distancing a month before tRump announced the guidance. “We make a recommendation. Often, the recommendation is taken. Sometimes, it’s not,” Dr. Fauci said. Then last night tRump, obviously p____d off retweeted a message from a former California Republican candidate to #FireFauci. Of course, now today the White House is downplaying it and says that tRump has no intention of getting rid of Dr. Fauci, but we’ve heard those kinds of messages before and in time the person did end up being sacked. Right now the most credible person up on that campaign stage briefing is Fauci. The other doctor has become a sycophantic tool of tRump. “He’s been so attentive to the scientific literature and the details and the data. His ability to analyze and integrate data is a real benefit during our discussions.” – Dr. Deborah Birx 3/27/2020 (as she cleans off her mouth and nose, if y’all know what I mean). And then there is Dr. Fauci,

Hope you had a relaxing weekend so you can get back to the toil of this week. Oh, and if you do go out and are driving around, be careful and watch out for children who are out and about skipping school. STAY SAFE, STAY HEALTHY, STAY HOME. Ziggyman