Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community seriesfor those who wish to share a virtual kitchen table with other readers of Daily Kos who aren’t throwing pies at one another. Drop by to talk about music, your weather, your garden, or what you cooked for supper…. Newcomers may notice that many who post in this series already know one another to some degree, but we welcome guests at our kitchen table and hope to make some new friends as well.
Here in Portland, we are expecting snow. In fact, the Governor has declared a weather emergency from today through Jan. 3 — and nary a flake has fallen yet. But snow will be coming soon. Not that it will make a huge difference to me and Ann — we’re pretty much shut up anyway.
In a way, there are two storms expected. In addition to snow, there’s Omicron. Flights are being canceled because airlines don’t have the staff to fly all the planes. Maybe there’s a silver lining to that if it lessens exposures…I don’t know. Sadder still, Pediatric hospitals in parts of U.S. filling fast:
About 800 kids have been admitted nearly every day this week, with those in Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania and New York hit particularly hard by the juggernaut variant
This time last year, Claudia Hoyen, a pediatric infectious-disease specialist in Cleveland, remembers staring at an eerily empty hospital as Christmas approached. With many schools shut and activities canceled, most children had been sheltered from the coronavirus. Today, nearly every bed at the children’s hospital where she works is full.
I still don’t understand the insistence on having in-class teaching rather than virtual classes in this situation. “But the economy!” and”childrens’ mental health!” seem to me to be weak arguments as hospitals are overrun and Omicron runs rampant. Ann and I have a dear friend who is a sixth grade teacher expecting to retire after this school year. She’s one of our board gaming pals and we miss her. We regretfully declined her Thanksgiving invite this year because of her exposure to children. (As my doctors said to me, “You just can’t.” A cancer survivor herself, our friend can’t wait to retire, believe you me.
But enough of doom and gloom. It’s Christmas Eve and you probably want to know about the title of this diary. Without further ado:
When Santa’s unavailable, the Corbett Christmas Chicken delivers
Like some of the best holiday traditions, this one began when something went wrong.
In the 1970s, members of the Corbett Fire Department in eastern Multnomah County planned to use their fire truck to deliver presents to the firefighters’ children. They sought a Santa suit, but they waited until days before Christmas to procure one, and the local costume shop was sold out.
What the shop did have was a chicken costume.
Merry Christmas and come on in! Be comfortable and share your day, your holiday plans, your menus! This is an open thread.
Added for the sheer beauty of it: