I check overnight news first thing in the morning as I brew or sip that first cup of coffee. Since it's between 5:00 and 6:00 am, I check the BBC and The Guardian before I check any US sites. After all, the business-hours day is underway across the pond while we're still waking up over here. Here's a look at the coronavirus-related stories there right now (I know that it is not right now first thing in the morning but my blog my rules).
It seems that Russia's Prime Minister, who is most definitely not Vladimir Putin believe it or not but someone named Mikhail Mishustin, has tested positive for the novel coronavirus. He's gone to hospital and suggested that his First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov should take his place. Two days ago, Putin extended Russia's lockdown until May 11 and admitted that there is a shortage of PPE there. I wonder if Vladimir and He Who Shall Not Be Named have compared notes on the pandemic yet.
Over here but reported over there, He Who Shall Not Be Named has repeatedly insisted that the US has run more tests than all other countries combined. The BBC article disputes this, noting that the US total does not exceed the sum of the totals for Spain, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom. The US also lags in the number of tests per capita run. He Who Shall Not Be Named's claim was most likely made in the context of his America First efforts.
Much to the chagrin, well, maybe, of He Who Shall Not Be Named, an intelligence report has concluded that the novel coronavirus was not "manmade or genetically modified." Mother Nature can be a real bitch at times.
The media across the pond even report on events at the state level here, such as the report that Georgia's (the state here, not the country over there) count of coronavirus cases continues to rise. So much for the leveling and decreasing recommended before a state starts to reopen.
Finally, though it's not news in this household, the two doctors/scientists on the White House's coronavirus task force must walk a tightrope between the science and angering He Who Shall Not Be Named. Anthony Fauci has done that a bit more successfully than Deborah Birx in that he has not had to or just has not tried to stroke He Who Shall Not Be Named's ego while stating the science. I still remain in fear that Fauci will leave the task force of his own free will or not because I feel a whole lot more comfortable with him there.
So much for some of the news as reported somewhere other than here. I find it on a more stable, less bombastic foundation than reports on the same topic in the US media. That's probably due to the distance or less emotional involvement in what is being reported.
Thursday, April 30, 2020
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 45
I used Zoom last night to chat with a friend I haven't seen in too long. Zoom wasn't too bad, but then I was speaking with just one other person. The husband's department had a faculty meeting this morning using Zoom. That's harder for me to imagine. In Zoom's favor, it was actually very easy to install unlike Skype which I never did get completely installed right before the start of the pandemic.
He Who Shall Not Be Named doesn't want to be unable to get his Big Macs, so meat processing plants have been deemed essential and must be kept open. Never mind that the workers while not dropping like flies are less than safe from the virus there. And now that the plants must be reopened or kept open, employees who choose not to go to work for their own safety will not be able to draw unemployment. Like too many other people right now, they are damned if they do and damned if they don't.
I've read reports that polls show most Americans would rather things stay unopened than reopen so quickly. Still, cellphone location data compiled by the Maryland group investigating quarantine fatigue show that last Friday marked the second in a row that people stayed home less than usual. On Friday, April 24, 29 percent of Americans stayed within a mile of their home; on April 6, 35 percent did. Officials in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia say that while the rates of increase have slowed, there has been no downward trend in new cases or hospitalization rates. I haven't seen odds offered on what the numbers or rates will be like in reopening states in a week and a half, when the magic two weeks since reopening mark is reached. Could be interesting.
My alma mater, Radford University (it was Radford College when I attended) in Southwest Virginia has announced that it will reopen August 3, with in-person classes beginning August 24. I wonder if that will put pressure on the other state universities to follow suit. Virginia Commonwealth University would like to go with in-person classes in the fall if you believe their reaction to the Radford news. Virginia Tech is supposed to announce its decision by mid-May. I think that's about the time UVA will announce its plans, too.
The UVA Health System will start furloughing employees; they're losing $3 million each day. I told the husband that if I hadn't started to retire a year ago, I'd likely be laid off this summer. In a previous budget crunch, the university put all non-student wage positions on hold. I spent a short time--several weeks, I think--not putting in any hours. Of course, when things got better and I went back to work, I basically worked longer to catch up on the time missed, so they saved no money on my position.
The whole tenor of the pandemic has changed from health issues to economic ones. The headlines are not about the number of new cases or deaths or recoveries. They are about unemployment or the costs of reopening. The health numbers are now cited in terms of economics. How must the numbers change to make reopening the economy as safe as possible. Feature articles in print media are as likely to concern unemployed workers as they are to concern first responders or health workers. I wonder how much a decreasing emphasis on the health side contributes to the protests to ease mitigation measures and reopen businesses. I would think that daily reminders of just how many people are dying from covid-19 would make someone think twice about protesting the quarantine and social distancing factors, especially if the protest involved being shoulder-to-shoulder in a large crowd. But hey, that's just me.
He Who Shall Not Be Named doesn't want to be unable to get his Big Macs, so meat processing plants have been deemed essential and must be kept open. Never mind that the workers while not dropping like flies are less than safe from the virus there. And now that the plants must be reopened or kept open, employees who choose not to go to work for their own safety will not be able to draw unemployment. Like too many other people right now, they are damned if they do and damned if they don't.
I've read reports that polls show most Americans would rather things stay unopened than reopen so quickly. Still, cellphone location data compiled by the Maryland group investigating quarantine fatigue show that last Friday marked the second in a row that people stayed home less than usual. On Friday, April 24, 29 percent of Americans stayed within a mile of their home; on April 6, 35 percent did. Officials in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia say that while the rates of increase have slowed, there has been no downward trend in new cases or hospitalization rates. I haven't seen odds offered on what the numbers or rates will be like in reopening states in a week and a half, when the magic two weeks since reopening mark is reached. Could be interesting.
My alma mater, Radford University (it was Radford College when I attended) in Southwest Virginia has announced that it will reopen August 3, with in-person classes beginning August 24. I wonder if that will put pressure on the other state universities to follow suit. Virginia Commonwealth University would like to go with in-person classes in the fall if you believe their reaction to the Radford news. Virginia Tech is supposed to announce its decision by mid-May. I think that's about the time UVA will announce its plans, too.
The UVA Health System will start furloughing employees; they're losing $3 million each day. I told the husband that if I hadn't started to retire a year ago, I'd likely be laid off this summer. In a previous budget crunch, the university put all non-student wage positions on hold. I spent a short time--several weeks, I think--not putting in any hours. Of course, when things got better and I went back to work, I basically worked longer to catch up on the time missed, so they saved no money on my position.
The whole tenor of the pandemic has changed from health issues to economic ones. The headlines are not about the number of new cases or deaths or recoveries. They are about unemployment or the costs of reopening. The health numbers are now cited in terms of economics. How must the numbers change to make reopening the economy as safe as possible. Feature articles in print media are as likely to concern unemployed workers as they are to concern first responders or health workers. I wonder how much a decreasing emphasis on the health side contributes to the protests to ease mitigation measures and reopen businesses. I would think that daily reminders of just how many people are dying from covid-19 would make someone think twice about protesting the quarantine and social distancing factors, especially if the protest involved being shoulder-to-shoulder in a large crowd. But hey, that's just me.
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 44
I've read multiple articles on kids and parents being home together all day, meshing adult work with kid school at home. The one I read last night on the CNN website, "Why some kids are happier right now, and other unexpected effects of quarantine," really hit home. After finishing it, I turned to the husband and told him I wasn't such a bad parent after all, not that I really ever thought I was.
So what's changed for kids? Forget for a moment the whole "school's out for summer" aspect of right now. There's no school, but there's also no soccer, dance or music lessons, gymnastics; in fact, there are no out-of-school activities at all to which kids have to be rushed from school to activity to home. Kids have extended down time, in some cases for the first time ever. In the case of the sons, they did several after-school activities, always of their own choosing, and typically only one at a time. In other words, no planner was needed to get from one day to the next.
One mother noted, "Now we have a chance to get stupid and take a break together." Kids can experiment and try new things, things they come up with on their own. They learn they can do things they thought that or had been told that they could not.The article notes, "Sheltering in place has lowered the stakes and expectations of everyday life, and it's giving kids a chance to take more chances." Did the sons ever get stupid together and/or take chances? Do not get me started on the stories of riding a couch down the stairs, hiding each other's doors, making armor from AOL CDs and asking the other brother to "Hit me." I thought letting them play on their own was easier than coming up with activities for them. As long as no one got hurt, things were cool.
Before anyone asks, no, the sons did not always get along. They played together better some days than others, and it wasn't until high school that each realized what kindred spirits they and the other brother were. Sometime after that, they became best friends. They continue to be very close though they have grown into different adults (they're in their early 30s now). They had a good foundation on which to build, and the things described above were a big part of that foundation.
The coronavirus pandemic is not a good thing, far from it. At the same time, it offers some bright spots tiny though they may be. People helping each other, some they know and some they don't. People singing or clapping appreciation sometimes from above. It's humbled many of us, showing us just how much we take for granted and giving us the chance to do bette as we go forward. And it has in many, many cases, let kids be kids, and that is a very,very good thing.
So what's changed for kids? Forget for a moment the whole "school's out for summer" aspect of right now. There's no school, but there's also no soccer, dance or music lessons, gymnastics; in fact, there are no out-of-school activities at all to which kids have to be rushed from school to activity to home. Kids have extended down time, in some cases for the first time ever. In the case of the sons, they did several after-school activities, always of their own choosing, and typically only one at a time. In other words, no planner was needed to get from one day to the next.
One mother noted, "Now we have a chance to get stupid and take a break together." Kids can experiment and try new things, things they come up with on their own. They learn they can do things they thought that or had been told that they could not.The article notes, "Sheltering in place has lowered the stakes and expectations of everyday life, and it's giving kids a chance to take more chances." Did the sons ever get stupid together and/or take chances? Do not get me started on the stories of riding a couch down the stairs, hiding each other's doors, making armor from AOL CDs and asking the other brother to "Hit me." I thought letting them play on their own was easier than coming up with activities for them. As long as no one got hurt, things were cool.
Before anyone asks, no, the sons did not always get along. They played together better some days than others, and it wasn't until high school that each realized what kindred spirits they and the other brother were. Sometime after that, they became best friends. They continue to be very close though they have grown into different adults (they're in their early 30s now). They had a good foundation on which to build, and the things described above were a big part of that foundation.
The coronavirus pandemic is not a good thing, far from it. At the same time, it offers some bright spots tiny though they may be. People helping each other, some they know and some they don't. People singing or clapping appreciation sometimes from above. It's humbled many of us, showing us just how much we take for granted and giving us the chance to do bette as we go forward. And it has in many, many cases, let kids be kids, and that is a very,very good thing.
Monday, April 27, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 43
Having just read that He Who Shall Not Be Named "will hold a news conference this evening on additional testing guidance
and other announcements about safely opening up America again" (quote from NBC Nightly News's daily email), I shall defer any comments, pithy or otherwise, until tomorrow.
Sunday, April 26, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 42
The lead article in the Metro section of today's Washington Post is "Experts worry 'quarantine fatigue' is starting." Researchers have looked at smartphone location information and say it indicates the first increase in travel within the US since mid-March, when the pandemic really hit home. People are going out more and not just to necessary places such as the grocery store. Lei Zhang, the lead researcher at the Maryland Transportation Institute at the University of Maryland notes, "We saw something we hoped wasn't happening, but it's there. It seems collectively we're getting a little tired. It looks like people are loosening up on their own to travel more." The declines are not huge--the numbers of people staying home in Fairfax County, Virginia dropped from 46 percent to 44 percent--but they are there.
Virginia's governor and chief health officer have said that there may be some restriction of activity until there is a coronavirus vaccine, which they estimate could take two years. I know a few people who would love to keep teleworking for that time or longer. Teleworking never got old for me, and I did it for twenty-some years.
But what about just staying home? Going nowhere. Existence measured by the distance to the main road or the other cul-de-sac in our small subdivision. I told the husband yesterday, when first reading the comment about its possibly being two years until full activity could resume, that I had no real desire to do out into the world. I'm actually getting spoiled here. I am doing laundry every day (older son leaves his workout clothes when he heads home each morning), but I'm free from another household task that's not my favorite--grocery shopping. That said, I feel bad that older son is doing it for us, to keep us old folks virus-free. I don't think I'd be comfortable with his doing it for two years, though.
I did find myself considering which of various activities I would miss were the current lifestyle to continue. I would miss seeing my mother, though it's not as if I can see her now. And who knows when senior care facilities such as the one in which she lives might relax their restrictions. There are certainly friends I would miss seeing, but I could certainly chat with them on the phone or via Zoom (I still have yet to try that). I would miss working with a trainer, though I guess I could have someone send me workouts to do here. I go somewhat back and forth on quilt guild chapter meetings. I still feel very much as if I don't belong there. People will start talking about some quilter who is a book author or workshop giver, and I've never heard of him or her. I look at the various things brought in for show and tell and know that I could never do the level of workmanship shown. So that one's up in the air. There are certainly people there whom I enjoy seeing; still ...
As someone with no real desire to go to a re-opened anything, I am interested to see what happens with coronavirus rates in two weeks in the states that started to re-open Friday or will start tomorrow. If they have to close everything back up and send people back home, it is not going to be pretty. Once again, I am happy that our governor is a physician and that he seems to have surrounded himself with very reasonable officials. And I do understand that I am not most people when it comes to coping with hermitting. The article cited above concludes with a quote from a public health professor at George Washington University: "The isolation is real. The loneliness is real. We need to add that in our messaging ... We have to acknowledge that it's not easy to stay home."
Tomorrow we start our seventh week staying at home. If it gets harder, I'll let you know.
Virginia's governor and chief health officer have said that there may be some restriction of activity until there is a coronavirus vaccine, which they estimate could take two years. I know a few people who would love to keep teleworking for that time or longer. Teleworking never got old for me, and I did it for twenty-some years.
But what about just staying home? Going nowhere. Existence measured by the distance to the main road or the other cul-de-sac in our small subdivision. I told the husband yesterday, when first reading the comment about its possibly being two years until full activity could resume, that I had no real desire to do out into the world. I'm actually getting spoiled here. I am doing laundry every day (older son leaves his workout clothes when he heads home each morning), but I'm free from another household task that's not my favorite--grocery shopping. That said, I feel bad that older son is doing it for us, to keep us old folks virus-free. I don't think I'd be comfortable with his doing it for two years, though.
I did find myself considering which of various activities I would miss were the current lifestyle to continue. I would miss seeing my mother, though it's not as if I can see her now. And who knows when senior care facilities such as the one in which she lives might relax their restrictions. There are certainly friends I would miss seeing, but I could certainly chat with them on the phone or via Zoom (I still have yet to try that). I would miss working with a trainer, though I guess I could have someone send me workouts to do here. I go somewhat back and forth on quilt guild chapter meetings. I still feel very much as if I don't belong there. People will start talking about some quilter who is a book author or workshop giver, and I've never heard of him or her. I look at the various things brought in for show and tell and know that I could never do the level of workmanship shown. So that one's up in the air. There are certainly people there whom I enjoy seeing; still ...
As someone with no real desire to go to a re-opened anything, I am interested to see what happens with coronavirus rates in two weeks in the states that started to re-open Friday or will start tomorrow. If they have to close everything back up and send people back home, it is not going to be pretty. Once again, I am happy that our governor is a physician and that he seems to have surrounded himself with very reasonable officials. And I do understand that I am not most people when it comes to coping with hermitting. The article cited above concludes with a quote from a public health professor at George Washington University: "The isolation is real. The loneliness is real. We need to add that in our messaging ... We have to acknowledge that it's not easy to stay home."
Tomorrow we start our seventh week staying at home. If it gets harder, I'll let you know.
Saturday, April 25, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 41
Am I a Luddite to admit that I have never Skyped nor have I FaceTimed? The latest person-to-person connection over the Interwebs app seems to be Zoom. The now-online classes at the local university are being offered via Zoom. The husband sat in on an online thesis defense via Zoom yesterday afternoon. One of my quilt guild chapters has done two meetings over Zoom. And some members in an international online quilt guild to which I belong have been talking about scheduling a Zoom session so we can see how each other is doing.
From what I can tell, Zoom is like Skype in that you see the person with whom you are speaking. Or the persons, each in their own window. I gather that a user can select (or develop?) a personal background in front of which their image will appear. The local university has a selection of university scenes, though professors are not required to use one of those for their lecture sessions. I saw a something on Facebook in which a professor (not local) said he was looking forward to lecturing from Hogwarts, using the image of Hogwarts used in the Harry Potter movies. The tailored background is optional; if you don't use one, whatever is behind you will appear with your image.
For some reason, using Zoom for a group something just seems a bit uncomfortable. The idea of people looking so closely at my face as I participate is funny. I mean, I don't like looking at my face too closely in the mirror, so why would I want to inflict it on others? Before we go further, I do understand that one does not have to use the camera and have one's face included; it appears you can go with audio only.
I'm not at all good in crowds or even in most smaller groups. Going to a quilt guild chapter meeting in person is difficult enough for me; taking it online just makes it harder. Others aren't seeing me from across the room; they're seeing me as if we were face-to-face, a distance I don't really want to be at, especially now.
All that said, I may be having a Zoom conversation with one friend this weekend. For some reason, perhaps my dislike of groups, that does not make me nervous. I don't know that it will give me what I would need to feel comfortable Zooming into a larger gathering, but I guess I'll find out.
Tomorrow, I may even comment on the progression of the novel coronavirus and the re-opening of Georgia. There are no White House briefings this afternoon or tomorrow afternoon, so I might not even have to deal with whatever word salad He Who Shall Not Be Named is spouting. And if I've tried Zoom one-on-one by then, I can report on my comfort level.
From what I can tell, Zoom is like Skype in that you see the person with whom you are speaking. Or the persons, each in their own window. I gather that a user can select (or develop?) a personal background in front of which their image will appear. The local university has a selection of university scenes, though professors are not required to use one of those for their lecture sessions. I saw a something on Facebook in which a professor (not local) said he was looking forward to lecturing from Hogwarts, using the image of Hogwarts used in the Harry Potter movies. The tailored background is optional; if you don't use one, whatever is behind you will appear with your image.
For some reason, using Zoom for a group something just seems a bit uncomfortable. The idea of people looking so closely at my face as I participate is funny. I mean, I don't like looking at my face too closely in the mirror, so why would I want to inflict it on others? Before we go further, I do understand that one does not have to use the camera and have one's face included; it appears you can go with audio only.
I'm not at all good in crowds or even in most smaller groups. Going to a quilt guild chapter meeting in person is difficult enough for me; taking it online just makes it harder. Others aren't seeing me from across the room; they're seeing me as if we were face-to-face, a distance I don't really want to be at, especially now.
All that said, I may be having a Zoom conversation with one friend this weekend. For some reason, perhaps my dislike of groups, that does not make me nervous. I don't know that it will give me what I would need to feel comfortable Zooming into a larger gathering, but I guess I'll find out.
Tomorrow, I may even comment on the progression of the novel coronavirus and the re-opening of Georgia. There are no White House briefings this afternoon or tomorrow afternoon, so I might not even have to deal with whatever word salad He Who Shall Not Be Named is spouting. And if I've tried Zoom one-on-one by then, I can report on my comfort level.
Friday, April 24, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 40
We now live in The Onion (for those not familiar with it, The Onion is a newspaper parody)! How else could a Labradoodle breeder be named chief coronavirus vaccine czar? How else could it be thought that by some means introducing a disinfectant to someone's lungs might get rid of the virus? And what about tanning beds or sunny playgrounds as a more external means of virus elimination? He Who Shall Not Be Named sinks lower in my estimation daily, and yesterday's drop was multiple levels.
And today He Who Shall Not Be Named had me just at the point of tears I was so angry. No financial aid will be given to the US Postal Service unless it raises the rates it charges for sending packages. He Who Shall Not Be Named mentions, seriously or not, that they might quadruple those rates. He wants to put the Postal Service out of business so that people can't vote by mail: He has said that if all voting were by mail Republicans would never win another election. And he evidently has the power to do this given that the Senate basically has his back. My stomach turns just thinking about it.
And then there was the news that He Who Shall Not Be Named's senior policy adviser Stephen Miller is on tape saying that the 60-day curb on immigration will help lead to the long-term changes he sees as necessary to get the America he wants. Forget the angry tears; this one makes me want to punch someone in the gut or kick them somewhere below that. Who among us does not have an immigrant within several generations back? The husband is an immigrant for Pete's sake even if he did immigrate from our neighbor just to the north. My great-grandparents on one side came from Germany. Even He Who Shall Not Be Named has an immigrant in the family woodshed not too far back. That's a fact ... one he prefers to overlook.
And so the intended as humorous post on the rise of Zoom as a communications technique will have to wait until another day. I need my hands now to cover my face as I shake my head.
And today He Who Shall Not Be Named had me just at the point of tears I was so angry. No financial aid will be given to the US Postal Service unless it raises the rates it charges for sending packages. He Who Shall Not Be Named mentions, seriously or not, that they might quadruple those rates. He wants to put the Postal Service out of business so that people can't vote by mail: He has said that if all voting were by mail Republicans would never win another election. And he evidently has the power to do this given that the Senate basically has his back. My stomach turns just thinking about it.
And then there was the news that He Who Shall Not Be Named's senior policy adviser Stephen Miller is on tape saying that the 60-day curb on immigration will help lead to the long-term changes he sees as necessary to get the America he wants. Forget the angry tears; this one makes me want to punch someone in the gut or kick them somewhere below that. Who among us does not have an immigrant within several generations back? The husband is an immigrant for Pete's sake even if he did immigrate from our neighbor just to the north. My great-grandparents on one side came from Germany. Even He Who Shall Not Be Named has an immigrant in the family woodshed not too far back. That's a fact ... one he prefers to overlook.
And so the intended as humorous post on the rise of Zoom as a communications technique will have to wait until another day. I need my hands now to cover my face as I shake my head.
Thursday, April 23, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 39
Besides diet and exercise ads, Facebook seems to think I need a planner. Now, my definition of "planner" is an appointment book. My ideal planner would have not only daily pages but also monthly grid calendars. I like to see both the big and the small pictures.
"Planner" today and to others seems to imply motivation, goal-setting, priorities, and the like as well as emotions and moods. I already jot notes for each day on the back of the preceding day's page-a-day calendar (this year's is Thoughts of Dog). I do not want to list those in a book (often hardcover), and check them off as I complete them. Some planners have this all set up for you. There are others that are bullet planners. Each page has a grid of dots. The user draws lines, color codes items, and such to basically design their personal planner. I have seen some entries, neatly lettered and color-coded, that would take me all day to do by which time they would be outdated.
Why do we need planners now? At least here, we are not going anywhere. Only the deities know in which direction the novel coronavirus will send us. I like to think I will still be working at the Fall Fiber Festival the first weekend in October, but I'm not going to write it in ink on a calendar, not yet anyway. So a planner of any sort is superfluous for now. I remember the birthdays, anniversaries, and other special occasions without having them written in plain sight. If things arise to schedule in 2021, perhaps I'll buy a celebratory planner then.
Georgia starts to re-open tomorrow. As the young'ns say, shit gonna get real.
"Planner" today and to others seems to imply motivation, goal-setting, priorities, and the like as well as emotions and moods. I already jot notes for each day on the back of the preceding day's page-a-day calendar (this year's is Thoughts of Dog). I do not want to list those in a book (often hardcover), and check them off as I complete them. Some planners have this all set up for you. There are others that are bullet planners. Each page has a grid of dots. The user draws lines, color codes items, and such to basically design their personal planner. I have seen some entries, neatly lettered and color-coded, that would take me all day to do by which time they would be outdated.
Why do we need planners now? At least here, we are not going anywhere. Only the deities know in which direction the novel coronavirus will send us. I like to think I will still be working at the Fall Fiber Festival the first weekend in October, but I'm not going to write it in ink on a calendar, not yet anyway. So a planner of any sort is superfluous for now. I remember the birthdays, anniversaries, and other special occasions without having them written in plain sight. If things arise to schedule in 2021, perhaps I'll buy a celebratory planner then.
Georgia starts to re-open tomorrow. As the young'ns say, shit gonna get real.
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 38
A quilting friend noted on Facebook that she was isolating all by herself and wondering why Facebook was sending her so many bra ads. I don't think I've gotten a bra ad recently. What I have been getting are ads for (1) weight loss or exercise programs and (2) planners of all kinds.
On the weight loss or exercise front, I haven't seen an ad for Noom since they started advertising on TV, and I can't remember the last time I got anything from WW or Weight Watchers Rebranded. I have been getting ads from something like Eat Like a Bear, put out by a woman who moved to the wilderness--near Yellowstone, if I remember correctly--and lost a lot of weight eating all natural foods. Every ad notes that she has a PhD as if that is supposed to impress me. So does Peter Navarro. Actually, so do I, though I tend not to raise the subject in polite company.
As for exercise programs, I've been getting ads from Body Groove (or something like that) for over a year; it's a move however you want dance program from a woman with extreme dreadlocks. Frequently one of those ads is a testimonial from someone who lost 55 pounds doing it. Again if I remember correctly, this woman is in her 60s but could still do all the Body Groove moves though if you're doing these in the privacy of your own home it shouldn't matter what you look like doing them.
And then there's Figure Eight, the promo for which contains several women with no hips doing figure eights with what would be their hips if they had them. This cuts to a woman or a man with hips and a film showing their progression through learning the various moves and touting how good the program is. They all still seem to have their hips, though. The new promo from Figure Eight is a back view of a woman doing the program. She has no hips, so she is not one of the "users" of the program. The accompanying text notes that the rear view may be easier to follow as one learns the various moves and is included with the frontal footage.
Finally, there's a workout program featuring men doing exercises while seated. Some of the exercises they are doing look as if they'd give a good workout, but I see no reason these men would need to do an in-chair workout. There's nothing to indicate that the workouts are for blizzards that keep you inside for extended periods of time or, heavens how could I have forgotten, pandemics that do the same.
And I'll save the fancy planners for another day. On the coronavirus front, the Washington State death thought to have been the first covid-19 death in the US likely wasn't. The CDC director has said that there could be a second wave of covid-19 next year, in conjunction with influenza season, that may well be worse than the one we're in now. Demonstrations continue pressing states to re-open. I saw a photo of a protester holding a "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" sign. Yeah, you can have the death that right now will likely come with the liberty. They estimate it takes two weeks for symptoms to appear (in those who have symptoms); I wonder how many more new cases we'll see in two weeks resulting from the large protest groups.
On the weight loss or exercise front, I haven't seen an ad for Noom since they started advertising on TV, and I can't remember the last time I got anything from WW or Weight Watchers Rebranded. I have been getting ads from something like Eat Like a Bear, put out by a woman who moved to the wilderness--near Yellowstone, if I remember correctly--and lost a lot of weight eating all natural foods. Every ad notes that she has a PhD as if that is supposed to impress me. So does Peter Navarro. Actually, so do I, though I tend not to raise the subject in polite company.
As for exercise programs, I've been getting ads from Body Groove (or something like that) for over a year; it's a move however you want dance program from a woman with extreme dreadlocks. Frequently one of those ads is a testimonial from someone who lost 55 pounds doing it. Again if I remember correctly, this woman is in her 60s but could still do all the Body Groove moves though if you're doing these in the privacy of your own home it shouldn't matter what you look like doing them.
And then there's Figure Eight, the promo for which contains several women with no hips doing figure eights with what would be their hips if they had them. This cuts to a woman or a man with hips and a film showing their progression through learning the various moves and touting how good the program is. They all still seem to have their hips, though. The new promo from Figure Eight is a back view of a woman doing the program. She has no hips, so she is not one of the "users" of the program. The accompanying text notes that the rear view may be easier to follow as one learns the various moves and is included with the frontal footage.
Finally, there's a workout program featuring men doing exercises while seated. Some of the exercises they are doing look as if they'd give a good workout, but I see no reason these men would need to do an in-chair workout. There's nothing to indicate that the workouts are for blizzards that keep you inside for extended periods of time or, heavens how could I have forgotten, pandemics that do the same.
And I'll save the fancy planners for another day. On the coronavirus front, the Washington State death thought to have been the first covid-19 death in the US likely wasn't. The CDC director has said that there could be a second wave of covid-19 next year, in conjunction with influenza season, that may well be worse than the one we're in now. Demonstrations continue pressing states to re-open. I saw a photo of a protester holding a "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" sign. Yeah, you can have the death that right now will likely come with the liberty. They estimate it takes two weeks for symptoms to appear (in those who have symptoms); I wonder how many more new cases we'll see in two weeks resulting from the large protest groups.
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 37
Ready or not, there are states beginning the process of re-opening. Georgia is starting within the next week. The governor says they are ready, while there are mayors saying their cities are not. And Georgia does not meet the re-opening conditions specified in the guidance from He Who Shall Not Be Named. I wonder how many other governors might be thinking they'll watch what happens in Georgia before they make a decision on their own states.
Testing for the coronavirus remains a big issue. He Who Shall Not Be Named says that the states need to act on their own, but when they do, they might find themselves outbid by the federal government. Go figure. Maryland just scored something like 500,000 tests from South Korea helped by the fact that the governor's wife was born in South Korea. Now they have to hope that the tests arrive. There are stories of the feds diverting shipments to states and adding them to the federal stockpile.
I have not heard much about contact tracing, but that may be because it's not clear contacts need to be traced unless there is a positive test result. Don't put the cart before the horse. Or maybe it's because of privacy issues. Americans can get touchy about such things, unlike citizens of some other countries. If people are observing the stay-at-home directives, there should not be that many contacts for them to remember. Still, trying to identify and find specific people or people who were in a specific place at a specific time could be interesting.
As I told older son in an email, a quilt guild member finished her 500th mask last night at 11:00; I was not that member. I did, however, try making a surgical cap today. There were a few moments of frustration, but both the cap and I survived. If the friend for whom I made it likes it, I may make a few more. They should go faster than the first, prototype did. I'd post a photo, but the ones I sent from phone to laptop seem to be caught in the ether, and the laptop does not seem to want to pull today's photos off my phone, though it will get photos taken a week ago.
What more can I say? It was just another hermitting day here. I do like "hermitting" better than "quarantining." I view there being an outside mandate to quarantine whereas hermitting is something a person wants to do, not has to do.
Testing for the coronavirus remains a big issue. He Who Shall Not Be Named says that the states need to act on their own, but when they do, they might find themselves outbid by the federal government. Go figure. Maryland just scored something like 500,000 tests from South Korea helped by the fact that the governor's wife was born in South Korea. Now they have to hope that the tests arrive. There are stories of the feds diverting shipments to states and adding them to the federal stockpile.
I have not heard much about contact tracing, but that may be because it's not clear contacts need to be traced unless there is a positive test result. Don't put the cart before the horse. Or maybe it's because of privacy issues. Americans can get touchy about such things, unlike citizens of some other countries. If people are observing the stay-at-home directives, there should not be that many contacts for them to remember. Still, trying to identify and find specific people or people who were in a specific place at a specific time could be interesting.
As I told older son in an email, a quilt guild member finished her 500th mask last night at 11:00; I was not that member. I did, however, try making a surgical cap today. There were a few moments of frustration, but both the cap and I survived. If the friend for whom I made it likes it, I may make a few more. They should go faster than the first, prototype did. I'd post a photo, but the ones I sent from phone to laptop seem to be caught in the ether, and the laptop does not seem to want to pull today's photos off my phone, though it will get photos taken a week ago.
What more can I say? It was just another hermitting day here. I do like "hermitting" better than "quarantining." I view there being an outside mandate to quarantine whereas hermitting is something a person wants to do, not has to do.
The View from the Hermitage, Day 36 (sequel)
How could I have forgotten the homemade graham crackers? I know. It was because the husband and I decided that I should never, ever make them again. We could have eaten the whole batch in one sitting accompanied by a glass of milk. I failed epically in getting rectangles cut from the dough, so they did not look like the store-bought ones. Appearances aside, they were damn good.
Monday, April 20, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 36
The Washington Post has run several articles recently on the boredom or creativity people deal with while quarantined. What makes one bored? What creative endeavors do people use to fill the time or otherwise deal with probably more solitude than they are used to? Trying to learn a foreign language is frequently cited as a time-filler as is learning to play a musical instrument. And judging by the absence of flour and yeast from grocery store shelves, many people are baking.
Filling time is not really an issue here in the Hermitage. Before I tried to retire (that's a whole other story), I only worked part-time and from home. Since my attempt at retirement, I have had even more free time here at home. In other words, filling in time at home has not really been an issue. I have one quilt ready for the last step of binding and another quilt pieced and ready to pin to the batting and backing. I have a simple project on my loom, a tool I'm still getting comfortable using. Not using the loom, I wove a large square of martial arts belts in various colo(u)rs; I'm still pondering where to go with that project. And ....
I've been cooking real meals, from recipes even. Since there's no running to the grocery store for a quick pick-up of something I don't have, I've had to get creative with what I do have. I think the Food Channel at one time had a show called something like Door Knock Dinners. They'd knock on your door and ask if the chef standing beside the host could come in and make dinner using whatever he or she could find in your kitchen and pantry. My making of vegetable fried rice was not nearly the level of dish a chef would have made, but it was as authentic as I could get based on several recipes I found online. Usually I only make enough rice for one dinner for two and maybe a lunch for one. I made twice as much the other night, actually planning on making fried rice the next night.
Older son is doing our grocery shopping, so there are sometimes surprises in what he gets in response to what I had on my list. Last week, he picked up some stew beef. It was chopped in chunks smaller than I usually use, so I decided to see what else I could make. I think I googled "beef stew meat" or something similar. One of the first recipes to pop up was for Mongolian beef, something I'd heard of but never eaten. I had to swap out a couple of ingredients--light brown sugar for dark, a regular onion for the green ones, dry ginger for minced--but the result was incredible. I'll definitely be making it again. Older son bought some lamb stew meat this past weekend, and I may use that just to see what it tastes like.
Finally, older son noted that the husband had not had ham for Easter. I usually bought ham slices and just threw them into the oven or plopped them into a frying pan. Last night, I cooked a whole hockey-sock-sized ham. I just followed the directions on the label, but I still count it as cooking something new. We're having some leftover ham for dinner tonight, and the rest went into the freezer. And while I would typically settle for canned pineapple, older son got a fresh pineapple. I may never used canned again.
And so, none of the above has anything to do with the novel coronavirus per se, but it is related to the passage of time in the Hermitage. If I start in on the virus and related personalities such as He Who Shall Not Be Named, my blood pressure might go even higher. And since that, in addition to my asthma and age, puts me at higher risk, I think I'll just stop here.
Filling time is not really an issue here in the Hermitage. Before I tried to retire (that's a whole other story), I only worked part-time and from home. Since my attempt at retirement, I have had even more free time here at home. In other words, filling in time at home has not really been an issue. I have one quilt ready for the last step of binding and another quilt pieced and ready to pin to the batting and backing. I have a simple project on my loom, a tool I'm still getting comfortable using. Not using the loom, I wove a large square of martial arts belts in various colo(u)rs; I'm still pondering where to go with that project. And ....
I've been cooking real meals, from recipes even. Since there's no running to the grocery store for a quick pick-up of something I don't have, I've had to get creative with what I do have. I think the Food Channel at one time had a show called something like Door Knock Dinners. They'd knock on your door and ask if the chef standing beside the host could come in and make dinner using whatever he or she could find in your kitchen and pantry. My making of vegetable fried rice was not nearly the level of dish a chef would have made, but it was as authentic as I could get based on several recipes I found online. Usually I only make enough rice for one dinner for two and maybe a lunch for one. I made twice as much the other night, actually planning on making fried rice the next night.
Older son is doing our grocery shopping, so there are sometimes surprises in what he gets in response to what I had on my list. Last week, he picked up some stew beef. It was chopped in chunks smaller than I usually use, so I decided to see what else I could make. I think I googled "beef stew meat" or something similar. One of the first recipes to pop up was for Mongolian beef, something I'd heard of but never eaten. I had to swap out a couple of ingredients--light brown sugar for dark, a regular onion for the green ones, dry ginger for minced--but the result was incredible. I'll definitely be making it again. Older son bought some lamb stew meat this past weekend, and I may use that just to see what it tastes like.
Finally, older son noted that the husband had not had ham for Easter. I usually bought ham slices and just threw them into the oven or plopped them into a frying pan. Last night, I cooked a whole hockey-sock-sized ham. I just followed the directions on the label, but I still count it as cooking something new. We're having some leftover ham for dinner tonight, and the rest went into the freezer. And while I would typically settle for canned pineapple, older son got a fresh pineapple. I may never used canned again.
And so, none of the above has anything to do with the novel coronavirus per se, but it is related to the passage of time in the Hermitage. If I start in on the virus and related personalities such as He Who Shall Not Be Named, my blood pressure might go even higher. And since that, in addition to my asthma and age, puts me at higher risk, I think I'll just stop here.
Sunday, April 19, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 35
I'm making Sunday a day of rest. Stay tuned tomorrow for adventures in cooking while hermitting.
Saturday, April 18, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 34
My mother reads this blog (hi, Mom!) and has expressed concern over my mood the last couple of days. She reminds me that whereas I will one day sooner or later go back out into the world, she will never be able to leave her room in an assisted living facility. Talk about being humbled.
Virginia got called out by He Who Shall Not Be Named twice, I think, in one tweet. We supposedly need to be "liberated." We also are endangering the second amendment. As far as the liberation goes, yes, the Virginia stay-at-home "order" extends further than in any other state, until June 10. We also have the only physician-governor, a fact for which I am extremely grateful. It is not clear from the various models just when covid-19 will peak here; one model suggested August. Needless to say, there was an outcry, or at least a letter to the editor, about the possibility that we would still be staying at home then. I am sorely tempted to stay at home until there is a vaccine even though that may be into the next year. Of my usual activities, the only ones that would tempt me to leave the hermitage are to visit my mother when she is allowed to have visitors and to visit my trainer. It is not clear when either of those might be possible. While I could maintain a social distance while meeting with my mother, it would be hard for Josh to spot for me on weights from a social distance.
As for the second amendment, I applaud both the governor and our state legislature. I am not up on current events well enough to be able to list all the new rules and regulations related to firearms, but I can report on my personal favorite. No longer will a person be able to buy more than one handgun per month. I kid you not. For the last several years, a person in Virginia could legally buy a new handgun every day, or weekly throughout the year. Who really needs to have that many handguns? You don't exactly hand them out as party favors or present them as hostess gifts. It's not likely you'll be shooting two at once, one in each hand. One handgun per month actually seems like too many to me, but then no one polled me on that issue before the law was changed.
Returning to the possible liberation of Virginia, those who think we need to drop staying at home or social distancing should pay consider this:
Too many people do not seem to understand this. Would it be helpful to require students to take a basic statistics class in order to graduate from high school? There seems to be a lot about the novel coronavirus (I have added "novel" since that is frequently used in the print media) and its rate of transmission that people do not seem to understand. Is that due to the fact that, as my brother-in-law has reminded me on more than one occasion, the average person has an IQ of 100? Of course, a person does not need to understand the left side of the above equality if he or she understands the right side. We're in a somewhat perilous situation here. Reinstating social distancing and staying at home is going to be exponentially more difficult than setting them in place the first time was.
Realistically, what will happen will happen. My opinion matters not to the virus deity(ies). For now, I am trusting our physician-governor to base his decisions on science and not the tweets of He Who Shall Not Be Named.
Virginia got called out by He Who Shall Not Be Named twice, I think, in one tweet. We supposedly need to be "liberated." We also are endangering the second amendment. As far as the liberation goes, yes, the Virginia stay-at-home "order" extends further than in any other state, until June 10. We also have the only physician-governor, a fact for which I am extremely grateful. It is not clear from the various models just when covid-19 will peak here; one model suggested August. Needless to say, there was an outcry, or at least a letter to the editor, about the possibility that we would still be staying at home then. I am sorely tempted to stay at home until there is a vaccine even though that may be into the next year. Of my usual activities, the only ones that would tempt me to leave the hermitage are to visit my mother when she is allowed to have visitors and to visit my trainer. It is not clear when either of those might be possible. While I could maintain a social distance while meeting with my mother, it would be hard for Josh to spot for me on weights from a social distance.
As for the second amendment, I applaud both the governor and our state legislature. I am not up on current events well enough to be able to list all the new rules and regulations related to firearms, but I can report on my personal favorite. No longer will a person be able to buy more than one handgun per month. I kid you not. For the last several years, a person in Virginia could legally buy a new handgun every day, or weekly throughout the year. Who really needs to have that many handguns? You don't exactly hand them out as party favors or present them as hostess gifts. It's not likely you'll be shooting two at once, one in each hand. One handgun per month actually seems like too many to me, but then no one polled me on that issue before the law was changed.
Returning to the possible liberation of Virginia, those who think we need to drop staying at home or social distancing should pay consider this:
Too many people do not seem to understand this. Would it be helpful to require students to take a basic statistics class in order to graduate from high school? There seems to be a lot about the novel coronavirus (I have added "novel" since that is frequently used in the print media) and its rate of transmission that people do not seem to understand. Is that due to the fact that, as my brother-in-law has reminded me on more than one occasion, the average person has an IQ of 100? Of course, a person does not need to understand the left side of the above equality if he or she understands the right side. We're in a somewhat perilous situation here. Reinstating social distancing and staying at home is going to be exponentially more difficult than setting them in place the first time was.
Realistically, what will happen will happen. My opinion matters not to the virus deity(ies). For now, I am trusting our physician-governor to base his decisions on science and not the tweets of He Who Shall Not Be Named.
Friday, April 17, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 33
Demonstrations against social distancing have come to Virginia despite the fact that we have less stringent guidelines (rules?) than a lot of other states. The business entities required to close here are those that put people in close proximity. I won't be working out at the gym with my trainer, the husband and I can't eat out, I can't get my nails done, and next week's haircut won't happen. Go shopping at Lowe's, Joann Fabrics, the comic store, Staples, the sex shop (yes, we have one here)? Sure. They can stay open as long as they limit the number of shoppers to maintain the suggested six-foot separation.
If the demonstrators at the State Capitol are people who have lost jobs or been temporarily furloughed, I can understand their wanting the guidelines to be relaxed. If they are people who want to go out to eat or have a crowded cookout on the front lawn (as older son's neighbors continue to do), I want to scream at them.
On this morning's walk with the family dog, I told the husband and older son that one reason I may have been in such a weird mood yesterday is that at times the image pops into my head that I am becoming the fictional character with long, scraggly grey hair locked in a tower for years on end. A small part of me would like to go out and do things, even run the errands I often despair, but for the most part, I am scared of making the acquaintance of the coronavirus. It terrifies me. Period. Full stop.
For what it's worth, husband and older son assured me I will not become the fictional character described above. I hope they're right.
If the demonstrators at the State Capitol are people who have lost jobs or been temporarily furloughed, I can understand their wanting the guidelines to be relaxed. If they are people who want to go out to eat or have a crowded cookout on the front lawn (as older son's neighbors continue to do), I want to scream at them.
On this morning's walk with the family dog, I told the husband and older son that one reason I may have been in such a weird mood yesterday is that at times the image pops into my head that I am becoming the fictional character with long, scraggly grey hair locked in a tower for years on end. A small part of me would like to go out and do things, even run the errands I often despair, but for the most part, I am scared of making the acquaintance of the coronavirus. It terrifies me. Period. Full stop.
For what it's worth, husband and older son assured me I will not become the fictional character described above. I hope they're right.
Thursday, April 16, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 32
I think the world has finally gotten to me. I slept well but woke up feeling tired. I felt weary. I felt sad. I felt angry. I felt helpless. I just felt funny, as if I were on a seven-second delay with the life going on around me. The husband and older son suggested that after a month of the new normal, my body and soul are just tired of it. They are probably right. Running under everything else on my mind is a current of hows and whys and why nows about what is going on with the world. There's a little person in there throwing up her hands and proclaiming, "We so do not need this!" Would it help to be able to see a reason behind it all? Would it help to be willing to assign responsibility to a deity's wrath?
I've read that people in a high risk group (raising my hand here) should not let their guard down at all until there is a vaccine against the coronavirus and they have been so vaccinated. Maybe after a year or more of this life I'll feel better. Right now, though, it all sucks a bunch.
Cue Lil Orphan Annie music about the sun coming out tomorrow, tomorrow...
I've read that people in a high risk group (raising my hand here) should not let their guard down at all until there is a vaccine against the coronavirus and they have been so vaccinated. Maybe after a year or more of this life I'll feel better. Right now, though, it all sucks a bunch.
Cue Lil Orphan Annie music about the sun coming out tomorrow, tomorrow...
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 31
He Who Shall Not Be Named has conceded that his black magic is not absolute. He still wants the country opened up as soon as possible, but somewhat realizes he can't hold his breath and get what he wants. I can't imagine that governors don't want things to improve economically, but if that comes at the cost of having to shut everything down a second time, it's not what they want to do.
CNN had information about when the shelter-in-place order runs out in each state that has one. I will admit that I did not read through all 50, but of the thirty or so I did read, Virginia's order lasts the longest. We are also the only state that I know for sure has a physician as governor. I can't imagine that those two facts are not related.
Some reports are suggesting that it may be 2022 before a vaccine is available. I try to imagine if there is a way to open things up economically while still mitigating the virus as much as possible. Certain places or situations do not seem compatible with six feet of distance between people even if six feet may not be enough space. Would it work for family groups or groups of people living together to go to a movie with each group sitting six feet (or some defined distance) apart? I chuckle that my immediate thought after typing that sentence was that masks and eating popcorn really don't go well together. Opening eating establishments to on-premises meals with sufficiently separated tables isn't going to fly in small establishments. And with separated tables, the number of servers or even cooks needed would not be what it used to be. Some staff would be re-hired, but not all. More people would be needed than are for take-out and/or delivery, but still not a full contingent.
Those conjectures assume that people would be interested in going back out to eat or for entertainment. If catching covid-19 were still a non-zero possibility, I don't think I'd be all that interested in going out. That said, I go to very, very few movies and can't remember the last time I went out to hear live music. Eating out is nice, but could be satisfied with take-out or delivery. We haven't done either since we entered the Hermitage. While there are nights when I really don't feel like cooking, we haven't been tempted to go out to pick anything up.
The above discussion also ignores altogether how to reopen schools or public meetings and keep in place the measures needed to ward off the virus. Class sizes would have to be prohibitively small to keep students six feet apart, and there would be no way to keep them six feet apart as they move from one class to another. I know that some private schools here are offering what amounts to "real" classes online, but I don't think that's how the public schools are handling things. The sons did a fair amount of distance learning in middle and high school to meet their academic needs. Those worked well, but the courses were designed for online delivery to highly motivated students who could work well independently.
And that's enough scattered thinking for today.
CNN had information about when the shelter-in-place order runs out in each state that has one. I will admit that I did not read through all 50, but of the thirty or so I did read, Virginia's order lasts the longest. We are also the only state that I know for sure has a physician as governor. I can't imagine that those two facts are not related.
Some reports are suggesting that it may be 2022 before a vaccine is available. I try to imagine if there is a way to open things up economically while still mitigating the virus as much as possible. Certain places or situations do not seem compatible with six feet of distance between people even if six feet may not be enough space. Would it work for family groups or groups of people living together to go to a movie with each group sitting six feet (or some defined distance) apart? I chuckle that my immediate thought after typing that sentence was that masks and eating popcorn really don't go well together. Opening eating establishments to on-premises meals with sufficiently separated tables isn't going to fly in small establishments. And with separated tables, the number of servers or even cooks needed would not be what it used to be. Some staff would be re-hired, but not all. More people would be needed than are for take-out and/or delivery, but still not a full contingent.
Those conjectures assume that people would be interested in going back out to eat or for entertainment. If catching covid-19 were still a non-zero possibility, I don't think I'd be all that interested in going out. That said, I go to very, very few movies and can't remember the last time I went out to hear live music. Eating out is nice, but could be satisfied with take-out or delivery. We haven't done either since we entered the Hermitage. While there are nights when I really don't feel like cooking, we haven't been tempted to go out to pick anything up.
The above discussion also ignores altogether how to reopen schools or public meetings and keep in place the measures needed to ward off the virus. Class sizes would have to be prohibitively small to keep students six feet apart, and there would be no way to keep them six feet apart as they move from one class to another. I know that some private schools here are offering what amounts to "real" classes online, but I don't think that's how the public schools are handling things. The sons did a fair amount of distance learning in middle and high school to meet their academic needs. Those worked well, but the courses were designed for online delivery to highly motivated students who could work well independently.
And that's enough scattered thinking for today.
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 30
Thirty days. One month. At least it has not been a lost month such as the one older son said was discussed in the President's meltdown yesterday. Older son said that one of the two video presentations (I forget which one, but then the cat had me up at 4:18 this morning, and it showed on the cognitive front) basically ignored the period from February 6 to March 2. When a reporter mentioned this, the President did not take it well.
And the President says that he holds all authority. The President who said he could not force Republican governors to shut their states down now says he can force the other governors to re-open theirs. The President has shown in the past that he is not at all familiar with the main body of the Constitution, so why should he be familiar with the amendments, one of which gives all powers not assigned to the federal government to state governments. Someone must have told him about the second amendment since he has bestowed his seal of approval on that one. It doesn't sound as if he knows any of the other ones. Freedom of the press? Ha! I guess if he doesn't know the first amendment it's too much to think he's familiar with the tenth.
So do we have a president or a dictator? And who has the responsibility of pointing out to him that a president is not an autocrat? Congress? There don't seem to be too many Republican senators with the testicles to explain the facts of life to him. The judiciary? He's packed the Supreme Court to his liking, though perhaps one of Bush 43's appointees has some stones. If we had finished our devolution into a banana republic, I'd suggest a military coup might be in the works, but we haven't fallen that far. Yet, as younger son likes to respond to such thoughts.
I'm a bit concerned that dwelling on the President's performance yesterday shows that I have become totally numb to what is going on with the virus itself. Is it wrong that today I have not been concerned about what health care workers, several of whom I know personally, are up against? I have even had to remind myself to be angry today, angry about the late preparation, the missed opportunities, the chaos in which we find ourselves. I'd like to blame the day's starting too early, but that would be taking the easy way out. I hope that tomorrow I will again feel something, anything?
And my never assigning a surname to "the President" is because "he who shall not be named" seemed a bit awkward to work into the writing.
And the President says that he holds all authority. The President who said he could not force Republican governors to shut their states down now says he can force the other governors to re-open theirs. The President has shown in the past that he is not at all familiar with the main body of the Constitution, so why should he be familiar with the amendments, one of which gives all powers not assigned to the federal government to state governments. Someone must have told him about the second amendment since he has bestowed his seal of approval on that one. It doesn't sound as if he knows any of the other ones. Freedom of the press? Ha! I guess if he doesn't know the first amendment it's too much to think he's familiar with the tenth.
So do we have a president or a dictator? And who has the responsibility of pointing out to him that a president is not an autocrat? Congress? There don't seem to be too many Republican senators with the testicles to explain the facts of life to him. The judiciary? He's packed the Supreme Court to his liking, though perhaps one of Bush 43's appointees has some stones. If we had finished our devolution into a banana republic, I'd suggest a military coup might be in the works, but we haven't fallen that far. Yet, as younger son likes to respond to such thoughts.
I'm a bit concerned that dwelling on the President's performance yesterday shows that I have become totally numb to what is going on with the virus itself. Is it wrong that today I have not been concerned about what health care workers, several of whom I know personally, are up against? I have even had to remind myself to be angry today, angry about the late preparation, the missed opportunities, the chaos in which we find ourselves. I'd like to blame the day's starting too early, but that would be taking the easy way out. I hope that tomorrow I will again feel something, anything?
And my never assigning a surname to "the President" is because "he who shall not be named" seemed a bit awkward to work into the writing.
Monday, April 13, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 29
I was going to write something about last night's NBC Nightly News montage of first responders and health care people showing while Andrea Bocelli sang "Amazing Grace" a cappella. It brought tears to my eyes not to mention feelings of awe and total respect of the people putting themselves squarely in harm's way to help others. Can our debt to them ever be repaid? Doubtful.
And then this morning happened, closer to home and probably not pandemic-related. Older son went for his morning run in a rather hard rain. He came back way too soon and reported that there was a dead dog in front of one of the driveways in our subdivision. He did not recognize it but thought it looked like a couple of dogs in the subdivision. There were no signs of trauma, so it is not clear what might have killed it, though we can be pretty certain it was not another animal. The husband and older son drove back to retrieve the body. Knowing that the residents were up, they did stop at the house of one of the possible owners, so that older son could knock on their door and see if their dog were okay. It was.
While husband and son were out, I sent a y'all call email to all the neighbors describing the dog and asking if anyone knew to whom the dog belonged. It turns out that it was the other of the two families older son thought it might be. The mother owner was crying as I called to see if I should have the husband and older son bring the body to their house. She said no, her husband would come get it. And he did.
While we were out on the porch waiting for him, we saw emergency vehicles (ambulance and fire truck) arrive at the house of our next-door neighbors. She is 80 and he is 84, so this was not a good sign. When we left the house to walk the family dog, we saw that their car was gone along with the emergency vehices. We did not take this as a good sign. The husband phoned them this afternoon and spoke with the woman. He said she sounded "real bad" so he did not press her for details. She just said that more tests would be needed; nothing was mentioned about this being covid-19 related. He told her, not for the first time, to call if they needed help or anything from town. Older son had already let them know he would be glad to bring them items as he's doing for us.
And so daily life happens in spite of the pandemic, distracting us from worry about the big picture and reminding us that family and friends, furry or human, are what matters most. If you have a pet, give it an extra scritchum. If you have elderly family members or friends, let them know you care and are there for them. We're all in this together after all.
And then this morning happened, closer to home and probably not pandemic-related. Older son went for his morning run in a rather hard rain. He came back way too soon and reported that there was a dead dog in front of one of the driveways in our subdivision. He did not recognize it but thought it looked like a couple of dogs in the subdivision. There were no signs of trauma, so it is not clear what might have killed it, though we can be pretty certain it was not another animal. The husband and older son drove back to retrieve the body. Knowing that the residents were up, they did stop at the house of one of the possible owners, so that older son could knock on their door and see if their dog were okay. It was.
While husband and son were out, I sent a y'all call email to all the neighbors describing the dog and asking if anyone knew to whom the dog belonged. It turns out that it was the other of the two families older son thought it might be. The mother owner was crying as I called to see if I should have the husband and older son bring the body to their house. She said no, her husband would come get it. And he did.
While we were out on the porch waiting for him, we saw emergency vehicles (ambulance and fire truck) arrive at the house of our next-door neighbors. She is 80 and he is 84, so this was not a good sign. When we left the house to walk the family dog, we saw that their car was gone along with the emergency vehices. We did not take this as a good sign. The husband phoned them this afternoon and spoke with the woman. He said she sounded "real bad" so he did not press her for details. She just said that more tests would be needed; nothing was mentioned about this being covid-19 related. He told her, not for the first time, to call if they needed help or anything from town. Older son had already let them know he would be glad to bring them items as he's doing for us.
And so daily life happens in spite of the pandemic, distracting us from worry about the big picture and reminding us that family and friends, furry or human, are what matters most. If you have a pet, give it an extra scritchum. If you have elderly family members or friends, let them know you care and are there for them. We're all in this together after all.
Sunday, April 12, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 28
The husband, older son, and I took the family dog to the park this morning. Once again, we were the only people there wearing masks. We passed two churches, one large and one small, on our way to and from the park. Neither had a single car in its parking lot which was a good thing. The governor here did not give any dispensation to churches for in-person Easter services. Within the subdivision, I saw no evidence of any planned Easter egg hunts. I didn't see any Easter baskets on porches either. The Easter bunny did visit our house, though, and left me a small bag of candy corn. It was the only candy in the house, so the bunny had to make do with it.
I sent an email last night expressing interest in participating in a planned NIH research study. They're looking for people who have not had any form of the new coronavirus. The aim is to quantify undetected cases of coronavirus infections. Specific details don't sound too bad. Participants will have a virtual clinic visit, complete a health assessment, and provide basic demographic information. Acceptance to participate means they want blood, which can be drawn at NIH in Bethesda, Maryland, or by yourself in the privacy of your own home. I had my email ready to send when the husband decided he'd also like to volunteer. Of course, he couldn't send his own, separate email expressing interest; I had to edit my email to include him. I figure it's doing my part to help out in the quest for knowledge. I'm not making any masks, but I'll give NIH my blood.
While The Washington Post's front page is again all pandemic all the time, the local paper, The Daily Progress, has a non-pandemic lead story. For several years, the saga of the local Confederate monuments has been debated, a debate that turned violent on August 12, 2017. State law prohibited localities from removing war monuments; whether statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson were war memorials or monuments to the culture of the early 1900s here was open to debate. The bill signed by the governor gives localities the ability to remove or alter Confederate monuments. That doesn't mean the ones here are gone, but it definitely makes that possible.
I must say that it was nice to read about something other than the coronavirus, even if it wasn't necessarily a feel-good story. The coronavirus is running enough of my life right now; it doesn't have to have total control. And in the spirit of not letting it run my life, I think I'll get back to work on my quilt.
I sent an email last night expressing interest in participating in a planned NIH research study. They're looking for people who have not had any form of the new coronavirus. The aim is to quantify undetected cases of coronavirus infections. Specific details don't sound too bad. Participants will have a virtual clinic visit, complete a health assessment, and provide basic demographic information. Acceptance to participate means they want blood, which can be drawn at NIH in Bethesda, Maryland, or by yourself in the privacy of your own home. I had my email ready to send when the husband decided he'd also like to volunteer. Of course, he couldn't send his own, separate email expressing interest; I had to edit my email to include him. I figure it's doing my part to help out in the quest for knowledge. I'm not making any masks, but I'll give NIH my blood.
While The Washington Post's front page is again all pandemic all the time, the local paper, The Daily Progress, has a non-pandemic lead story. For several years, the saga of the local Confederate monuments has been debated, a debate that turned violent on August 12, 2017. State law prohibited localities from removing war monuments; whether statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson were war memorials or monuments to the culture of the early 1900s here was open to debate. The bill signed by the governor gives localities the ability to remove or alter Confederate monuments. That doesn't mean the ones here are gone, but it definitely makes that possible.
I must say that it was nice to read about something other than the coronavirus, even if it wasn't necessarily a feel-good story. The coronavirus is running enough of my life right now; it doesn't have to have total control. And in the spirit of not letting it run my life, I think I'll get back to work on my quilt.
Saturday, April 11, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 27
It's the new normal. The front page of The Washington Post is back to being all the pandemic all the time. There, and in online news, the big discussion is when to reopen the country. Evidently the President will name a new, smaller task force charged with looking into the options. Its membership will, or so it is said, include his daughter. It is not clear to me why she would have particular expertise in considering the economic side of the issue. I seem to recall her fashion line or business was not a huge success. But it's the President's task force and not mine, so I have no say in the matter.
Easter 2020's being in the past after tomorrow has made May 1 the date of interest for the economic reboot. That's two-and-a-half weeks away, and I really don't think enough will have changed by then to justify it. New York's curve may have flattened, but I expect other cities and even some rural areas will still be on the up-slopes of their own curves then. I hear mention that some states or locations could open up before others, but that doesn't seem feasible. Inter-state business, commerce, or just travel between an open state and a still-closed one could be difficult. And let's not even consider sports.
My money is on sometime in the fall even if it means the cancellation of the early October Fall Fiber Festival at which I annually work for fiber. Older son says that Anthony Fauci has said it could be November before things settle down. And if it's not prudent to open things back up before there is a vaccine to combat the virus, we are likely looking at 12 to 18 months. I have no business or economics background, but I find it hard to believe we could go that long without getting people back to work. Even with Andrew Yang's $1,000 per month universal basic income, a person wouldn't be able to afford necessities such as lodging, food, or clothing, let alone health care in a time of a continuing pandemic.
I cannot think of anyone I know personally who is out of work due to the coronavirus, but that does not mean I won't think of someone as soon as I hit the "Publish" button. I did learn of a second covid-19 case with two degrees of separation from me, the son of a woman I knew back when the sons were in high school. While the first second-degree person I knew of, an elderly woman, died, the one I just learned of, in his thirties, recovered.
And so the new normal continues. I fight intermittent feelings of guilt because I am not making masks as other quilters are and because I am lucky enough to be able to self-isolate so totally. Between various media outlets online, TV, or paper, I can stay informed even though the news is often not very good at all. I can read (currently The Presidents of War by Michael Beschloss), quilt (I can't describe what is currently in progress for fear of tipping off the eventual recipient), write (so far just this blog) in addition to the daily necessaries such as laundry, cooking, working out, and pet care (hail Lassa! / hail Khorne the Blood God).
Easter 2020's being in the past after tomorrow has made May 1 the date of interest for the economic reboot. That's two-and-a-half weeks away, and I really don't think enough will have changed by then to justify it. New York's curve may have flattened, but I expect other cities and even some rural areas will still be on the up-slopes of their own curves then. I hear mention that some states or locations could open up before others, but that doesn't seem feasible. Inter-state business, commerce, or just travel between an open state and a still-closed one could be difficult. And let's not even consider sports.
My money is on sometime in the fall even if it means the cancellation of the early October Fall Fiber Festival at which I annually work for fiber. Older son says that Anthony Fauci has said it could be November before things settle down. And if it's not prudent to open things back up before there is a vaccine to combat the virus, we are likely looking at 12 to 18 months. I have no business or economics background, but I find it hard to believe we could go that long without getting people back to work. Even with Andrew Yang's $1,000 per month universal basic income, a person wouldn't be able to afford necessities such as lodging, food, or clothing, let alone health care in a time of a continuing pandemic.
I cannot think of anyone I know personally who is out of work due to the coronavirus, but that does not mean I won't think of someone as soon as I hit the "Publish" button. I did learn of a second covid-19 case with two degrees of separation from me, the son of a woman I knew back when the sons were in high school. While the first second-degree person I knew of, an elderly woman, died, the one I just learned of, in his thirties, recovered.
And so the new normal continues. I fight intermittent feelings of guilt because I am not making masks as other quilters are and because I am lucky enough to be able to self-isolate so totally. Between various media outlets online, TV, or paper, I can stay informed even though the news is often not very good at all. I can read (currently The Presidents of War by Michael Beschloss), quilt (I can't describe what is currently in progress for fear of tipping off the eventual recipient), write (so far just this blog) in addition to the daily necessaries such as laundry, cooking, working out, and pet care (hail Lassa! / hail Khorne the Blood God).
Friday, April 10, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 26
Taking a break today to get ready for the next quarter century of hermitting.
Thursday, April 9, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 25
Boris Johnson is out of intensive care though still in hospital. John Prine has died from covid-19 complications. Older son says that New York City will begin reporting suspected covid-19 deaths as well as confirmed ones. More countries have stopped using or testing hydroxychloroquine. Nearly 40 residents of a senior care facility near Richmond have died; fortunately, the local facility in which my mother resides has had no cases. Various predictive models have been updated and become more positive given that more people are observing mitigation measures than was originally thought. And so go the major and not-so-major headlines.
Will the pandemic become old news or smaller headlines as spring passes into summer? It is the lead story and several follow-up stories on the TV news every night. A non-coronavirus story is more common on the front page of The Washington Post now than it was when I started writing these posts, but coronavirus stories still predominate. Will we get or are we getting numb to it? Is it becoming the rule rather than the exception? Will such extensive coverage remind people to maintain distance and other measures needed to slow the spread? Or will people begin to tune it out as same old same old?
One of the countries we were going to visit in May was Turkmenistan. Since Antarctica is not a country, Turkmenistan is the only country in the world not to have any reported cases of covid-19. The why is both funny and not so funny. After reading the explanation of their zero cases, I suggested to the husband that maybe we didn't want to rebook the same tour for 2021. The fact that Turkmenistan won't report cases now makes it possible there could still be some into next year. I'm more comfortable waiting a longer while before doing that tour.
And so continues life in the hermitage. No deep thinking, no rush to learn the latest, no resentment at not being able to be out and about. Life in the bubble ain't half bad.
Will the pandemic become old news or smaller headlines as spring passes into summer? It is the lead story and several follow-up stories on the TV news every night. A non-coronavirus story is more common on the front page of The Washington Post now than it was when I started writing these posts, but coronavirus stories still predominate. Will we get or are we getting numb to it? Is it becoming the rule rather than the exception? Will such extensive coverage remind people to maintain distance and other measures needed to slow the spread? Or will people begin to tune it out as same old same old?
One of the countries we were going to visit in May was Turkmenistan. Since Antarctica is not a country, Turkmenistan is the only country in the world not to have any reported cases of covid-19. The why is both funny and not so funny. After reading the explanation of their zero cases, I suggested to the husband that maybe we didn't want to rebook the same tour for 2021. The fact that Turkmenistan won't report cases now makes it possible there could still be some into next year. I'm more comfortable waiting a longer while before doing that tour.
And so continues life in the hermitage. No deep thinking, no rush to learn the latest, no resentment at not being able to be out and about. Life in the bubble ain't half bad.
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 24 (sequel)
The governor would like to postpone the June primaries. He can change them by two weeks on his own; for longer, he'd require legislative approval. Will one week or two change my willingness to work? Not if I have to commit now.
The View from the Hermitage, Day 24
Virginia is scheduled to hold primary elections (there will be separate ballots for Democrats and Republicans-- the voter decides which ballot to vote). I just got the official email from the local Eloctoral Board. As of now the election is on, though they will be urging the public to vote absentee. Turnout is never that good for a June primary so they think they can run it with just four officials (technically called "officers of election") per precinct. For comparison, with no coronavirus, we'd probably have at least eight, maybe 10. We've been trying to get new officials as much experience as possible before the November election. Since crowds of more than 10 people are officially discouraged, only six voters will be allowed in the room at one time.
The email asked officials to let the Electoral Board know their availability and willingness to work in June. Gloves, masks, etc. will be provided. I've been an official since the 2004 presidential election, and an assistant chief for more than half that time. Before the precinct opens at each election, the officials raise their right hands and take a formal oath to run a fair and honest election. I still get emotional when we do this. We are just ordinary people, and we're making it possible for people to exercise their right to vote.
I desperately wanted to say that, yes, I'd be willing and able to work on June 9. Surely, things will be better by then. The stay-at-home order that right now stretches to June 10 will end early, right? We'll be on the downward part of the curve the experts talk about, eh? With a mask, gloves, disinfectants, and hand sanitizer, it will be safe, yes?
I've done some crazy things in my life, even some that might have been dangerous. Working the June 9 primary in Virginia is not going to be one of those.
The email asked officials to let the Electoral Board know their availability and willingness to work in June. Gloves, masks, etc. will be provided. I've been an official since the 2004 presidential election, and an assistant chief for more than half that time. Before the precinct opens at each election, the officials raise their right hands and take a formal oath to run a fair and honest election. I still get emotional when we do this. We are just ordinary people, and we're making it possible for people to exercise their right to vote.
I desperately wanted to say that, yes, I'd be willing and able to work on June 9. Surely, things will be better by then. The stay-at-home order that right now stretches to June 10 will end early, right? We'll be on the downward part of the curve the experts talk about, eh? With a mask, gloves, disinfectants, and hand sanitizer, it will be safe, yes?
I've done some crazy things in my life, even some that might have been dangerous. Working the June 9 primary in Virginia is not going to be one of those.
Tuesday, April 7, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 23
Snippets of what's going on right now:
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been moved to intensive care. They say his condition has worsened but he is not on a ventilator. He first went to hospital Sunday when his symptoms "worsened." This reminds me of Donald Trump's Saturday trip to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to "begin portions of his routine annual physical exam." Unscheduled? On a Saturday? Johnson's going to hospital on a Sunday evening suggests that "worsened" may be more extreme than one might think.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been moved to intensive care. They say his condition has worsened but he is not on a ventilator. He first went to hospital Sunday when his symptoms "worsened." This reminds me of Donald Trump's Saturday trip to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to "begin portions of his routine annual physical exam." Unscheduled? On a Saturday? Johnson's going to hospital on a Sunday evening suggests that "worsened" may be more extreme than one might think.
I know multiple quilters or sewists who are making cloth masks or surgical caps for
whoever needs or wants them. One woman in my quilt guild has made over 200 masks and has “orders” for over 100 more. She and her daughter basically assembly line the
things. The daughter cuts out the fabric and folds and pins the pleats while the mom does the actual sewing. I will admit that I suffered a minute or two of guilt pains telling myself that I should be making masks or caps rather than quilting a quilt that I first conceived more than five years ago. Then I remembered what the masks I made for the family looked like, and I know people are better off without any masks I might make.
President Trump has been promoting hydroxychloroquine as a
treatment for covid-19 despite the lack of testing it has undergone in terms of the current coronavirus. One such test, in Sweden, was halted after the drug's side effects were too severe. I looked at hydroxychloroquine years ago as an anti-malarial for a trip to Cambodia. My primary care doc warned me against using it. At the time, I was having regular migraines, and the doc was worried about neurological side effects. Needless to say, I went for a different anti-malarial, and I would not want the drug were I to have covid-19, even as a last resort.
Turkmenistan, one of the countries we would have visited on our cancelled Silk Road trip, so far reports no coronavirus cases. The autocrat (aka dictator) running things has also banned use of the word "coronavirus." That's one place I would not want to be theses days. There are actually lots of places I would not want to be, but Turkmenistan would be near the top of the list.
And so the days somewhat run together. The numbers go higher each day, expressed with the caution that there are many cases and deaths not counted. Reports come from other countries; some are viewed as more truthful than others. Each day there are reports of, usually, elderly people of note (musicians, actors, authors, and the like) who have passed due to complications from covid-19. Each day I wonder more and more just where this is going and how it might end. The trite answer is that we shall see.
And as I close this, the BBC reports Boris Johnson is "stable in hospital and not on ventilator."
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