February 1, 2021

Oh baby, that’s what I’m talkin’ about! We had this 9# pork shoulder roast in the freezer that the missus wanted out to make more room, so I took it out on Friday and began the thaw process. Yesterday morning I gave it a good coating of rub, let it sit for an hour while the Big Green Egg was getting to temperature, threw in a couple of handfuls of soaked hickory, and proceeded to smoke it at between 200 and 250 degrees for 7 hours. Doesn’t it look like something you’d like to have heaped on a nice bun with a layer of coleslaw and some barbecue sauce? Me too, and that’s just we did. Put a big scoop of potato salad next to it and it reminded me of the days we owned our delis. It was pretty doggone tasty.

I’ve become increasingly disturbed at some of the decisions the governor has made over the past couple of months related to the COVID-19 battle. The most recent doesn’t follow the guidelines of the CDC, as she made the decision to move teachers ahead of the elderly for receipt of vaccinations. Even though more than 90% of the people who have died of the coronavirus in Oregon were over 60 years of age, she has made the decision to deviate from CDC guidelines and vaccinate teachers first. Originally, the governor said teachers and residents over 65 would both be eligible at the same time, but last week rolled that back and said teachers would be eligible first, which is contrary to federal recommendations, contrary to Oregon’s own Vaccine Advisory Committee, and differs from what most other states are doing. I spent over 30 years in the field of education, so I’m not attacking teachers for moving up in line, but, in my opinion, her rationale in doing so is not going to get her desired effect. She says she made this decision so schools could soon reopen for in-school instruction. I predict that if schools do reopen this school year it will be the end of April or May for two reasons. First, the vaccination rollout in Oregon has been such a cluster— (you know what), teachers probably won’t get their full doses until early March. Secondly, teachers have said even if they get vaccinated, their students will not have been and they could end up spreading the virus at home to their unvaccinated parents or others in multigenerational homes. Educational and labor advisors to the governor should have made her aware that large school district teachers unions would probably fight the reopening of schools while the coronavirus is still out there. Perhaps they did and she didn’t listen. If, after making this bold decision, and if schools don’t reopen, then she should resign. She owns this decision and has the responsibility to make sure schools do reopen soon, otherwise she’s thrown senior Oregonians under the bus and will still not have gotten the job done of getting students back in the classroom, meanwhile many more elderly Oregonians will have probably been put six feet under. Just my opinion, folks.

Wow! Where did January go? It seems like we were just putting up the Christmas tree and here it is the First of February. At least we’ll have a Super Bowl to watch next Sunday. Go Kansas City!! (I hope someone reminds Mr. tRump that Kansas City is not in Kansas.) 🙂

Have a great evening, stay safe, and pray for a quick turn in line to roll up your sleeve. Ziggyman