Back to Beethoven

Today I start my third week of sheltering at home and working from home. Also my first week in that scenario of on call rotation. Thankfully, the weekend was quiet, and the weather improved to the point where both Terry and I got out of the house and worked in the yard Sunday afternoon. I needed the exercise to counteract the back and neck pain I’ve been suffering from in my non-ergonomic home office.

Terry also accompanied me to pickup our second order from Dillons (local Kroger affiliate) and we decided to run the van through the car wash. For Terry, it’s been weeks since he has let the house. He’s at increased risk for the coronavirus and it would likely prove fatal for him. He self-isolates during flu season, and the coronavirus pandemic meant he’s had to extend an already months-long isolation. The sunshine and brief excursion did both of us good.

I work up Sunday knowing I needed to make a fresh loaf of the Oatmeal Sandwich bread to go with the sourdough stuffing, boneless chicken thighs and corn I’d made the day before as a ‘care package’ from my father and uncle. I’m still tweaking the recipe and Ron, my uncle, had expressed interest in trying the ‘original’ version which uses three tablespoons of molasses. I had just popped that loaf in the oven when he messaged me to state he and Dad were going on a road trip to Cottonwood Falls. I was a bit confused as I though they were going to meet us at Dillons when we picked up our order and I would transfer the care package to them. Since it was going to be a gorgeous perfect spring day in Kansas, my only warning was the Flint Hills ranchers would probably be burning their fields this time of year (they were) and a request for a sketch of the oldest still in use county courthouse in Kansas. Now I wish I’d let the bread rise just a tad longer since I didn’t need to have it finished by noon and cool by one o’clock.

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Taking the Fifth

Back in late March, I wrote a post about searching for an Austen audiobook I needed to read for a book club discussion.  At the end of that post, I promised a followup post on watching a movie using Hoopla and Google Chromecast.  I did search diligently for a movie to watch via Hoopla, one that I hadn’t already seen and that was even remotely appealing.  I watched two movies from Hoopla:  The Girl on the Train and Drive Hard.  I wasn’t overly impressed with either of them.  I searched and searched and determined that Hoopla’s catalog is just not for me, at least for movies.

I’m my own worst enemy though.  I’ve been a Netflix subscriber for years, both Blu-Rays and streaming.  I’m a snob when it comes to video quality as well.  For example, I rarely watch anything provided by my Dish Network subscription because they compress their “HD” to such a point that it might as well be “SD” quality.  If it’s not at least Blu-Ray quality, I’d rather not watch it.  So anything worth seeing, I’ve either gotten the Blu-Ray from Netflix or I’ve bought it through Google Play.

So Hoopla’s movie and television catalog is dated or full of not-so-highly rated offerings.  i could say similar things for Netflix streaming, but at least there are occasional gems to be had and the television shows available on Netflix are only about a year behind, except for their own flagship shows of course.

But Hoopla has more than just movies and shows.  It has music (and ebooks and audiobooks and comics and … well a whole lot more).  This will become significant in a moment.

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