The View from the Hermitage, Day 120

What's new? Really? Anything? Covid-19 cases in Virginia continue to rise slowly. Cases elsewhere continue to surge. Florida's new case total yesterday would make it fourth on a list of new cases by country. California's governor has ordered most indoor activities including restaurants to close. I do not know the status of the beaches there, but it would seem to me that that might pose a similar problem in terms of crowds. The increases are especially disturbing given that we're just starting to get into the period in which one would expect the cases caught the July 4 weekend to begin to appear.

Los Angeles and San Diego school systems, the two largest in California, will begin the 2020-21 school year online. I can't say that I blame them given everything else happening in that state. In terms or sports, the Patriot League has cancelled its slate of fall sports, though there is some dispensation for West Point and the Naval Academy should they wish to continue their games with the Air Force Academy. I told someone this morning that it would not at all surprise me if football were the deciding factor at the university here. No fall sports means no football and without football why have students come back. The husband said that he wished that did not sound even a bit plausible.

The husband was talking to one of the staff members in his department about getting something set up, and was told that unless some announcement is made, he and his faculty colleagues are barred from using their university offices. They can go in to pick things up, check on anything that needs to be checked on, and then leave. They can't, for example, use their office to meet with a grad student or do work using their office computer. He has absolutely no idea what the plan is for fall other than that he will be teaching online only, meaning taping all the lectures as he did this summer. He would like to do that in the physics building and be able tape demos as they are done rather than plugging in pre-recorded segments. It would be nice if he knew in a couple of weeks so that unpacking furniture and refilling bookcases (once they're put back together) can be adjusted to any taping space he might need here at home. At least any taping that has to be done here will be done in his upstairs office and not the living room as was the case this summer. I'll still have to be on the quiet side, but I will at least be able to do things in the kitchen, for example. One drawback to an open floor plan is how easily sound can travel.

The deadline for filing one's federal income tax returns was moved from April 15 to July 15 due to the pandemic. The husband is responsible for the taxes and normally starts working on them around April 12 or 13. This year? Yeah, the box of papers is sitting on the table in front of me and has yet to feel the caress of the husband's hands. I lose track of the number of times each year that I bite my tongue so as not to upset the apple cart. The state tax forms are already overdue. The husband claims he can't do the state returns until he's done the federal returns. Normally, the federal deadline is April 15 while the state deadline is May 1. They did extend the state deadline but not until August 1. I have no idea what sort of penalty we'll pay. As long as I don't draw blood while biting my tongue...

Given that I spent all morning on the phone with a friend (I did not know that she and her husband had separated), the day became something of a no-starter. If I go put the clothes into the dryer I will be able to say I at least did something noteworthy today.