Red Plaid Man

I was driving the GG home from Naomikong Point after picking him up from a 16-mile hike. We were trundling along through the res about to pass Pickles and for about a split-second I had an almost overwhelming urge to stop and have a beer/whine. It wasn’t specific to Pickles although Pickles is a fine bar and I enjoy going there. I just wanted to have the freedom to, you know, go to a bar, fer kee-reist.

I have long grown out of my crazy college bar-fly years but we do like to eat lunch or dinner at bar-restaurants or even just stop in somewhere to have a beer/whine once in a while. In normal times, that is. The last time I was in a bar was March 6 when the GG was gallivanting around the northern lower and I walked over to Knight’s to get my regular Friday dose of porterization. I was nervous about the virus that night but we hadn’t heard of any cases in the Great Lake State yet although I was thinking there was probably asymptomatic community spread. Hence, nervous.

I haven’t really missed going out to eat/drink during our long isolation so I dunno what was up today. Maybe I was remembering one of the last times I went to Pickles, last summer. My cousin(s) TeriAna and my daughters and a bunch of their 20 30-something friends were with us. When will we be able to do that again?

Of course we did not stop at Pickles. We aren’t that stupid. Also we have plenty of beer/whine here at the moomincabin and can get more (curbside) if we run out, which I doubt we will although I’ll probably have to do some replenishment when we get back to the Planet.

When we got back to the moomincabin, I was scrolling Twitter and saw that BigGretch aka #thatWomanInMichigan had finally closed the bars in the yooperland. Even though (as far as I know) the cases are still few and far between up here. What the locals do NOT want is a bunch of people coming up here to go to bars because they are closed elsewhere. BTW, this only affects bars that do not make a significant amount of their revenue (70% I think) from food. So Pickles is not affected since it is primarily a restaurant.

I’m gonna steal The Guru’s asterisk system for a few disclaimers/notes/whatever to end this. (It’s better than bullets.)

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The “res” strictly enforces a 35 mph speed limit. I’ve heard people say this is to collect revenue but I am old enough to remember when it was an impoverished area and Native American people living there were pretty regularly killed via automotive vee-hickles as they walked along the road shoulder. Wow have things changed over the years. For the better and for all of us, even those of us who are not Native American. I’ll stop now because all of this would take up its own separate blahg entry or 1000.

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You don’t have to be a specialist in epidemiology to understand Virus 101… … … ad infinitum ad nauseam… … … but so many of our so-called “leaders” don’t seem to get it at all.

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My opinion? We should close EVERYTHING we can until the virus is under control and make no mistake it is NOT NOT NOT. All stores/restaurants/bars should do curbside/delivery only. Schools should NOT OPEN for in person classes. Teachers DO want to be in classrooms but they do NOT want to die, nor do they want their elderly parents to die.

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We need to SUPPORT those who can’t work for now as well as the businesses that would normally employ them. This BS argument about people getting paid more on unemployment than they can earn has got to go. Most people WANT to work and these are not normal times. These people are AFRAID to work! This is a major public health emergency and getting rid of the virus is tantamount to keeping our economy on track. I can afford to pay a little extra in taxes if that’s what we need and I will happily do that.

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I totally support BigGretch. I don’t agree with every single thing she does but I know she has an extremely difficult job to do and I think she is on the right track. As much as I think she would make a wonderful veep, I hope she isn’t Biden’s choice because boy oh boy oh boy do we need her here in the Great Lake State.

I’m done! Love y’all (even if you disagree with me), KW

One Response to “Red Plaid Man”

  1. Margaret Says:

    I admire our governor Inslee also, but too many others think he is doing everything wrong because he’s trying to be sensible, cautious and science based about this virus! They just want C19 to magically disappear. (weren’t we promised that?) I miss sitting around schmoozing, people watching, deciding what I would like off a menu and enjoying draft beer. I love draft beer! But I am NOT ready to go anywhere near a bar or restaurant. I haven’t even done take out.