Is it something I said?

[morrobay]

good article on what type of mask to wear...

What would happen if every American wore an N95-type mask for four weeks in risky settings like being indoors?

"It would stop the epidemic," Dr. Abraar Karan, an internal medicine physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

The most common mask in use among the general public today is a fabric mask, often homemade. Effectiveness depends on the type of fabric used and the number of layers of cloth. These masks can be as little as 26% effective.


"A surgical mask with a cloth mask on top of it can get you over 91% removal efficiency for particles," Allen recently told Dr. Gupta's team.

Whatever the fabric, look for a tight weave, according to studies. Use the light test to check the weave: If you can easily see the outline of the individual fibers when you hold up the mask to the light, it's not likely to be effective.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/25/health/covid-19-masks-which-is-best-wellness/index.html

[morrobay]

[Jeff Wrangler]

I'm originally from the Philadelphia suburbs, now stuck in Austin TX, but I'm watching the storm heading towards Philly, on the Weather channel website...

WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM EST TUESDAY...

WHAT...Heavy mixed precipitation. Total snow and sleet accumulations of 7 to 14 inches and ice accumulations of a light glaze. Winds gusting as high as 45 mph.

Nothing worth mentioning happening in Center City. Not like the Blizzard of '96. Different story in the Lehigh Valley, I believe.

[morrobay]

No kidding?  The way they're talking about it on the news sounds like the end of the world...but I guess that's what the news usually does.  Glad to hear you're not seeing much accumulation.  Do you work from home, Jeff?

[Jeff Wrangler]

Hi Lee (IIRC)
thanks for the welcome back! 

As for the maple leaves, will they ever fall?  Glad it saved you raking.  I have 8 big pecan trees that drop tons of leaves.  This year I paid to have the leaves in the front yard bagged (40!), but the back is too big, so they'll just have to be mulched when mowing season starts.

Nancy

You want raking? In her front yard my grandmother had what was supposed to be a flowering crabapple tree. Only flowering. Right. ... The ground underneath that tree became solid crabapples. Guess who ended up having to rake them?

[morrobay]

were they covered with bees?  We had apple trees in our backyard and it was my job to pick up the apples, and there were always bees around 

[Jeff Wrangler]

No kidding?  The way they're talking about it on the news sounds like the end of the world...but I guess that's what the news usually does.  Glad to hear you're not seeing much accumulation.  Do you work from home, Jeff?

Actually, I miss big snowstorms. I'll never forget the Blizzard of '96. It was one big party. The city was shut down for days. The bars were crowded because the staff couldn't get home. We made snow angels in the middle of the 1200-block of Locust Street. Ahem. ... I got laid. ... 

Thanks to/because of Covid I've been working at home since last March and will be at least through the end of June--I'm betting longer. I've got a one-bedroom condo, and at first it was miserable. Then I was able to make a dedicated work space in a corner of the living room, so now it's not so bad. The funny thing about bad weather though: I live at Broad and Spruce and work at 38th and Market. I can go into the Broad Street line up at the corner and travel underground all the way to 40th Street. During one snowstorm, there was nobody on the floor except a vide president and me. (How he got there I didn't ask; he lived somewhere in the western suburbs.)

[morrobay]

that's a good reason to remember the storm 

Do you find it easier to work from home, do you miss being around your co-workers?  Yeah, you have to carve out a space to work, it would be hard using a dining table or other makeshift place with a computer. 

I'm so lucky...my company has a site set up where we can order certain things and they pay, like a desk, chair, monitor, docking station, headsets, etc.  I haven't ordered anything yet, but I'm thinking of getting a new chair.  They also gave us $1500 last year, in two separate checks, which they called Covid WFH assistance.  Our current back to work date is Sept 1, but they've also said in staff meetings that it's possible to work from anywhere, and that it would be considered if we wanted to relocate (at our own expense).  I want to get back to the Phila 'burbs so bad!  And it's so expensive! 

[morrobay]

it snowed in Austin on Jan 10 

my side yard with pecan trees...

[Sason]

Emmett, born without eyelids, perfect in every way

Hi Emmett, and hi Nancy!