🔵 By Michael Klevene. Photo by lauragrafie.
Michael’s Weekly Diary 28.02-05.03.22
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: „With faith, you can move mountains. With doubt, you create them“.- Mickey Guyton, singer.
Today’s Bible reading: 1 Peter 2:1-3, 9-10. Monday Feb. 28, 2022. Last day of February already – we are still trying to get back to some normalcy after the National BOP lockdown earlier this month, along with the Covid restrictions & shutdowns along with that. We are hoping to move down to level 2 yellow restrictions, from the current level 3 red, maybe this week, as infections and hospitalizations have reduced drastically. It will be nice to be with our other friends in the other units again and eat regular meals in the chow hall again. We had many weeks of bran/corn/frosted flake breakfasts instead of our regular meals – (biscuits, potatoes, oatmeal, grits, French toast etc.) Started to get a few of those again last week but today back to frosted flakes again so we’ll see what we’re going to get later in the week. Cloudy & gray outside – expecting rain all day as another front moves through after last week’s clear & hot (upper 80’s) days – but spring is near. Went to pick up lunch – pizza, pasta & tiny amount of lettuce (billed as „garden salad“). Still no rain but gray & cloudy yet. Went to pick up dinner trays at 5:30 – had been raining earlier but only a sprinkle now on the way there. Supposed to end by tomorrow.
Today’s Bible reading: Ephesians 6: 18-20. Tuesday March 1. Read an interesting quote this morning – „Everybody thinks it’s going to be different for them. The dinosaurs thought so too“ – Novelist Kathryn Davis. Day started out good – cool outside but no rain. Went to pick up breakfast expecting bran flakes – but got potatoes, biscuits & HOT oatmeal – so hot I burned my lip eating it. Unexpected treat. But then at lunch, we were expecting chicken parmesan, beans & macaroni salad – but instead got a terrible fish patty, rice & green beans. Interesting signs all over the chow hall – „Fish contains pork products“. Why is pork in the fish patty? No answer to that… ate the green beans, made potato salad leftover from breakfast & had a few bites of the fish. Yuck. Maybe dinner will be better? Well – not really – supposed to be BBQ beef – got „sloppy Joes“ instead. Not bad but not good either…
Today’s Bible reading: 1 Peter 4: 7-11. Wednesday March 2. Late breakfast pickup at 8am – actually had the menu items of pancakes & grits,along with 3-count ‚em-3- bananas, another mini Panettone cake – we’ve had these given to us for the past week or so – like an Italian fruitcake but in muffin size. Very tasty & a special treat. Rec scheduled for 9:30 so I’ll probably go out and walk a couple of miles as it’s pretty cool yet this morning. Yup – got in 5 laps, or 2.5 miles. Nice cool breeze. Picked up hamburger – waffle fries lunch – cold as usual so heated everything up a bit. Even had sauteed onions as advertised! Very little mail at mail call – dinner supposed to be spaghetti & meatballs – haven’t had meatballs for almost a year now so don’t expect any. Surprise – we actually got the meatballs! Pretty decent dinner for once including garlic bread. Also collard greens & black beans (which I don’t eat). Still no facilities to fix our broken sinks & urinals in the restroom. We also need a different ice maker as ours runs out before noon every day.
Today’s Bible reading: 1 Samuel 23: 15-24. Thursday March 3. Early breakfast pickup – only bran flakes & cake. Had another Pop-Tart instead. Today starts out cool – 47 deg. Supposed to be in the 80’s later and reaching 90 by next week. Looks like summer is getting here early – and Spring is weeks away yet! Lunch today was pretty great – baked chicken, mashed potatoes, mixed vegs. Still no facilities to fix the urinals (40% unusable) or sinks (18% unusable) – but yesterday did get another ice maker to replace the under-performing one. Maybe we’ll have ice after lunch now… Russian President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is ramping up – shellings of schools, apartment buildings, police stations, attacking civilians & children. War is never a good thing and many more innocent people will end up dying. Got hot dogs for dinner – nothing special.
Today’s Bible reading: Matthew 6: 19-24 – „No one can serve two masters… You cannot serve both God and money.“ Friday March 4, 2022. Getting warmer even early in the mornings – 57 dig. at 6am. Picked up pancakes & oatmeal – supposed to be French toast but pancakes were ok. Putin’s forces shelled a nuclear power facility today – started fires which were put out but Russian forces control the facility and Ukrainian operators are holding them at gun point. Russia and Putin may be guilty of War Crimes under rules of warfare. Picked up tuna salad for lunch – (the fish patty sandwich on the menu for today was lunch on Tuesday instead of the listed chicken patty). I won’t comment on meals any more unless it’s especially good or if it’s not the menu item. (We have a National menu on a 5-week schedule and it’s not supposed to vary or detour from that but it has lately). Still no facilities visit to fix our restroom broken/unusable urinals & sinks.
Today’s Bible reading: Psalm 32. Saturday March 5. Supposed to have oatmeal for breakfast but picked up frosted flakes and cake. Gave it to „Z man“. Not much going on this weekend – still under Level 3 RED restrictions. Were supposed to be going down to Level 2 YELLOW yesterday but it never happened. Sure would love to get rid of these masks & be able to see some other friends in other units again. Regular scrambled eggs, tater tots & flour tortilla lunch. Dinner supposed to be chili but picked up a great roast beef dinner- tender beef, mashed potatoes, green beans, gravy. Very fine this time.
Today’s Bible reading: Romans 8: 22-27. Sunday March 6. Actually got the grits on the menu for breakfast. Had a Pop-Tart instead. Another quiet morning- weekends are usually that way. Normal lunch- tacos for dinner. Nothing much to tell at the end of another week.