The View from the Hermitage, Day 144

This seems to be a gross day. Can we make it better by pondering questions such as if a baker's dozen is 13, is a baker's gross a baker's dozen baker's dozens or 13 items 13 times over, for 169? Or is it a mere dozen baker's dozens or 13 items 12 times over, for 156? Using Google, I just learned:

"A gross is usually a dozen dozen. But, in baking, it can sometimes be ten dozen (called a short dozen). From this, we can derive the possibilities for a baker's gross: a standard dozen of baker's dozens: 12 x 13 = 156 count."

And there we have it.

No new news on my mom's situation. They will be repeating the covid-19 tests of all residents and staff next Tuesday and/or Wednesday. If it's anything like last time, it will be a week before the results are known. I am trying not to be too worried since there is nothing at all that I can do. I could pretend it's a school shooting and offer my thoughts and prayers, I guess. At least Mom will be distracted this weekend watching the PGA Championship. Her favorite golfer is Tiger Woods; there are a few others she likes as well. Her least favorite golfer is Phil Mickelson. She loves it when he misses the cut.

News surrounding the novel coronavirus continues to center on restarting schools and sports. The photos of unmasked crowds seem to all be from schools right now, at least on weekdays. I have tried to remember whether I would have felt invincible enough as a teenager to say no to the mask. Probably not given that my father was a biology teacher.

My dad was a biology teacher story: I lived in Montana until I move up to grade 6. Sometime around 1964, there was a rather impressive flood. We watched from the front steps as waters from the Missouri River came down one side of the street while water from the Sun River came down the other. The street ended up covered in several feet of water. It did not make it into our house except for the flood in the basement. The other neighborhood kids got to wade and swim and splash and otherwise enjoy the new neighborhood pool, but not the kids of the biology teacher. Fast forward a little while, and the kids of the biology teacher were the only ones not being taken in for typhoid shots.

A quilting friend related the story of her nephew's upcoming wedding. She will not be attending it since the bride and groom do not want anyone there to wear a mask. It would evidently tarnish their perfect wedding. Needless to say, my quilting friend will not be attending. What makes the story even more amazing is that the nephew is a firefighter/paramedic, and the bride works in an administrative job at a hospital. One would think that they of all people should know the risks and not ignore them. Personally, I think a masked wedding would be kind of fun. I think a the masks would make it all a more memorable event than would guests ending up seriously ill a few days later.

Today is the anniversary of the debut of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan, when war took on an entirely new dimension. We are still the only country to have deployed atomic or nuclear weapons strategically rather than just for testing. May we remain the only country to ever have done so.

My current challenge is to find the plastic container in which the postage stamps are stored. That should have been one of the last items stored before the floors were done. At least it should have been. And as such, it should be one of the first items found in the various places we stored things. I ordered more stamps today that will be here in five to seven days, but the search for the plastic container will continue. I'm sure that when we do come across it, I will then remember having put it where we found it. I am also sure that we will come across it the day the newly ordered stamps arrive.

Everyday life continues in the hermitage while the virus continues its rounds outside. There is so little that I can do in so many respects, so don't worry, be happy. That's a lesson I probably should have learned years ago and not from a global pandemic.