Thursday, July 30, 2020

The View from the Hermitage, Day 137

No news on what the local K-12 public schools will be doing in the fall. I'm sure there's some debate going on. I think one of the boards was going to meet this afternoon, in which case the 6:00 local news will enlighten me. New cases were down to 911 across the state. I wonder if local numbers will increase noticeably given that we're two-plus weeks out from all the student parties for Midsummers. And the beat goes on... I don't know why that melody just popped into my headspace. It's prettier than "same old same old."

The Atlantic Coast Conference is going to allow fall sports which means I can't--so far anyway--test my theory that without football, the university would close to any in-person classes. There has been some debate on the Charlottesville and university sub.reddits about what might happen in the fall. Evidently, if you leave university housing before six weeks of the semester have gone by, you get a refund. A large number of commenters have offered that closing the university on the six weeks and one day timetable would be too obvious, so just how long after six weeks will they wait. The suggestion has also been floated that since the university will close at some point in the fall, students should party hearty as often as possible until then, social distancing and mask wearing be damned.

HWSNBN has suggested delaying the November election until all the voter fraud issues he sees can be handled. Fortunately, it appears that the Republican leadership in the Senate does not agree with him, since it is only Congress that can change the date of a national election. And should no election be held and the results certified by noon on January 20, then the Speaker of the House will become acting president. I'm assuming that should Nancy Pelosi win reelection to the House, she will continue as Speaker. That would be so pretty to see...Pelosi refusing to pardon or offer any legal protection to HWSNBN.

Unpacking the house is proving difficult. The husband did locate the shelves for the pantry closet, so I reloaded the pantry, tossing expired things as I went. I did the same thing as I put the small jars of herbs and spices back on their racks. I also divvied up sharp implements so that the rack on the counter contains those we use most often. The others can sit in a cabinet. My goal is to have fewer things on the counters than I did before. The de Quervain's tendonitis in my right wrist makes it hard for me to lift heavy things without the wrist brace (and I know, I shouldn't be lifting them even with the wrist brace on), and wearing the brace limits the fine motor movements I can make with my right hand. I'm stubborn for now and refuse even to email my hand doctor (doesn't everyone need their own personal hand doctor?) to let her know what's happening.

The story of Noah's ark maintains that God promised never again to subject the world to 40 days and nights of rain. I don't think there was any mention of 40 days of 90-plus degree (Fahrenheit) days. I think we're into the 30s here now, and the old record was 21 or 22 days. Unless one wants to walk or run in the dark, it's wicked out there even should the humidity be on the low side. ("Low" is a relative term here. We do not have "dry heat" or "dry cold.") At one point HWSNBN suggested that the virus would disappear in hot weather. I have news for him: It's not going away even in this heat!

I just checked the forecast, and the forecast high for tomorrow is only (?!?) in the 80s. I'll believe that when I see it.

2 comments:

cbott said...

Yep, right now temps in the 80s would be "only" in Texas! Ninety-eight was our predicted high today. Not about to check to see if the forecasters were right! I'll take their word for it and stay indoors, thankyouverymuch!

Janet said...

If I walk near home these days (as opposed to biking, or orienteering* in empty forests a drive away), it's after dinner/after the sun goes down, when it gets down closer to 80. Our small neighborhood has street lights and sidewalks, and is safe enough (despite the bear sighting a week or so ago...actually the bear was seen in a different neighborhood though one of our neighborhood's residents saw some bear scat!), and we can get a 2-3 mile walk in without too much duplication.

*Orienteering without markers: someone designs a course, and uploads it (control location GPS coordinates are part of the upload) to a phone app along with a map file; then the user can print the map to follow along, start the app on their phone, and once in the vicinity of the control point a little tune will play telling you you're there. Reaching the finish gets you a trumpet fanfare... ;-)