Forum Activity for @strumelia

Yes Venni, you really need to have a doctor take a look at you. 

@venni Go to the hospital as fast as possible. Covid-19 can get seriously dangerous very fast, very soon. Take care and I hope you get better soon!

Wanted to include a pic of the funny cactus in the kitchen. It started out when i bought it maybe 12 yrs ago consisting of three stalks about 8 inches high. Now it has reached the top of that window. The reason it's so tall and skinny is because it doesn't get full sun. Doesn't seem to care much though, it keeps growing cheerfully! That one i did repot about two yrs ago so it doesn't need it again for a while.

Here are the two beautiful Red Chestnut bromeliads in the living room I repotted two weeks ago. I pruned off about 20 lower leaves from each bromeliad so that I could more easily get them repotted. They will love their new orchid mix type soil. Isn't it magical how the sun glows burgundy through their striped leaves like stained glass?...

Then here's the 40+ pound spiny cactus that I needed help from my husband to repot- what a monstrous job that was!
Thank goodness it may not ever need a repot again- that last time was 14 years ago! Here it is all happy in its new pot in the bedroom (that blue thingy is a humidifier we use during the winter with the dry house heat)...

@venni I hope you can get help with your worsening covid symptoms!  Take care.

Most of my friends have had very little or no reaction to the vaccines other than a sore arm for a few days.
I got that weird "Covid Arm" reaction a week after my first Moderna vaccine but nothing much else. But then after my second shot, like Robin I was bedridden for a day and a half- very major immune system reaction. I'd do it all over again in a second because I feel so relieved now.
Today I went to the supermarket and for the first time in over a year I did not have that creepy feeling every time someone passed close by me, or just from touching things. Yes i used a mask and Purell but I felt sooooo much safer. Oh happy day!

Today I made a date for next week with a dear old friend (also vaccinated)- it'll be my first visit indoors with no masks, with someone other than my husband. Feels so strange to ease back into 'normal' by baby steps. 

Who knew a year ago we'd all be swapping vaccine stories and brands by now?  I've heard of people with no reactions (other than local soreness you'd get from any injection), I've heard of people getting kicked with the second shot, I've heard of mild stuff in between.  I have one coworker who actually got the Covid Arm thing a week after her 1st Moderna!  They moved up the eligibility here in WA.  We became eligible 3/31, and now all adults will be eligible as of 4/15, so I wanted to get my butt in gear a little ahead of that!

Yay, @lisavb!  

My first Moderna shot was a piece of cake.  About 12 hours after my second shot, my immune system kicked in hard.  It's good to know my immune system is working well.  

Excited to report we each have our 1st Pfizer shots scheduled for next week!

You're welcome, Dusty. And it will be a great loss for the dulcimer community.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thanks for sharing that, Ken.  Unfortunately, the last line reiterates something Bonnie has posted on her website: when their current supply of wood is used up, they will cease building dulcimers.  That will be a loss for all of us.

In case anyone interested is not already aware, Bonnie and Max were also the subject of The Hearts of the Dulcimer Podcast #042 by @wayne-jiang and @patricia-delich.

You're welcome, Susie. I thought it was.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thanks Ken, that was interesting.

I thought some folks would enjoy this article: https://themtnear.com/2021/04/award-winning-dulcimer-maker-and-musician-bonnie-carol/

Ken,

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I learned of this several months ago and thought it was pretty cool, Dusty.  Thanks for the post!  

I don't know what's best about this, that it was a kid who came up with the idea or that it can be created with a 3-D printer.  I immediately started thinking about a dulcimer fretboard, though, and the debate about just intonation vs equal temperament, or diatonic vs chromatic fretboards.  This idea would put an end to those debates forever since every instrument would be infinitely adjustable. 

Thanks for sharing that article, Dusty. I found it informative and interesting.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

It is chilly & wet here in my little corner of SE Ohio US this morning.  The guitar player in the house and I get our second vaccines on Saturday-- yay!  

March started like a lamb... going out like a Lion.  The good thing is we've both been doubled jabbed.  Lots of other not so good stuff happening though...

We had a lovely bike ride around Buttermere here in Cumbria yesterday. It was good to feel the heat if the sun. Unfortunately covid19restrictions are being eased soon and I fear it will be mayhem.

Beautiful (but windy) day in northern California as well. Took the dog on an early morning walk , which meant I got to practice maintaining my dignity while carrying a little bag of poop. 

March 30th is National Walk in a Park Day in the USA.  A beautiful sunny day in Kentucky with temperatures in the low 70's.  My husband and I  took a walk in a park in downtown Somerset. Just lovely to be out in nature. Nina

A sunny spring day in Bonn and I got out of home office at 2 pm. I spent the afternoon on the grass near the Rhine promenade of the Beuel district playing dulcimer. Some people even asked (while maintaining social distancing) what kind of instrument I played and asked "So you play it like a guitar?" 

So this was quite cheerful, wish you all have a good time

Here's an interesting online article about research being done at McGill University that has found that music we like stimulates the same part of the brain that responds to certain pleasure signals, especially pleasure related to survival, such as eating food when you're really hungry.  

https://www.inverse.com/mind-body/why-music-makes-us-happy-survival-science

It's a beautiful day here in SE Ohio US.  I've spent a little time outdoors working a bit.  So good to be out and feel the sunshine and hear the birds!  

Sending all good wishes to y'all!

Schlubby has the sweetest facial expression, who could resist her?
It's good that you can give her the love and reassurance she needs after losing her furry companion. 

Little Shelby, a.k.a. Schlubby, turned 15 on the Ides of March. She's doing fairly well in spite of hyperthyroidism. She's on a salt-free diet, which means fewer treats. She's skinny enough as it is. Her behaviour changed after Angus died. She's acting much more needy now, and often calls out when we're out of sight. Still, she has always had a great attitude and cooperates when anything, such as cutting her nails or being checked by the vet, needs to be done.

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I'm glad Elvis had good final months, @mary-z-cox !  Enjoy Charley!  Pets are family.  <3

Thanks for asking. Elvis passed last June at 15 (he had a tumor on his aorta & finally his back broke) but he had an excellent last year with several beach camping trips & a fall mountain excursion in which he was able to escape and join old man McCalls bear hunting dog pack for a night of intense hound excitement. (they were poaching on our land) But he was like a puppy until the last month or two.  We have been 9 months without a basset & just got Charley last week.  He is one of the most intelligent puppies I have ever seen & Bob & I feel like new parents again.

Keep picking,

Mary Z. Cox

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That's real cute, Mary!
Do you still have either of your previous two bassets?

That dinner looks great too.  :)

What Rojo said and elegant.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Wow they are fantastic. Confident woodworking

That has happened up here in Ontario, too, Ken. The city was actually tending towatrds a ban on single-use plastic bags until the pandemic started, then they switched to recomending them, and now we have switched back. Trudeau the Lesser had said he wants a nationwide ban on single use plastics sometime soon.

Hi ... I finally got my first shot of the M vaccine on Tuesday. Sandie got her shot of Pfizer on Sunday afternoon. In each case the line was not long. (In between us the age-based eligibility for a shot went down from 75, me, to 70 and over, her.)

This dulcimer is all walnut. There is absolutely no luthier information.  I got it in Berkeley, CA via craigslist.

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Your stories of having to constantly go back to the car reminds me of the husband who never left on a trip in the car with his wife without having to go back to the house so she could make sure the iron was off.  He solved that by always taking the iron and putting it in the car before they went anywhere.  Saved making a lot of trips back to the house!

I'm popping in to agree to the time zone comments.  I've attended a few workshops at 7:30 am (I'm on the west coast), but when I was registering for  Quarantune 3.0 I basically decided that for the most part I wasn't going to consider the first and second sessions, the earliest of which started at 5:30 am for me.  I did do one super early one that presented Scottish melodies, which my husband approved of (I warned him beforehand)

There were some folk from the U.K. attending in the wee small hours, and I applaud them!

They look very sweet Venni!
I've had a rabbit or two during my lifetime of pet keeping, too. 

Yeah Ken I remember that but only for the first several months of the pandemic, when very little was known about how the virus was typically spread. At first it was thought to be spread mostly by touching, hence the bag ban.

I think we may see the end to automatic hand shake greetings. When you think about it, it's the best way to spread germs and get colds and flu anyway. I'm all for changing it permanently to fist or elbow bumps, or just waving or nodding hello when being introduced.   :)