The View from the Hermitage, Day 230

This will be a short one because I'd like to do a couple of worthwhile things before changing into Rex for the trick or treating reveal. I did make the October goal of walking 304.2 miles set by my Apple Watch. On my long walk, I stopped at one point and came in for some heating pad time. I went back out and finished accompanied by Son #1 and The Family Dog. I have no idea what the November goal might be, but if it won't give me some time to get my back healed, I'll just write it off. They don't do similar goals from one month to the next, so it won't be another walk so many miles things. Stay tuned for details tomorrow.

The state covid-19 numbers for the last few days are enough to make you sit down in disbelief. The seven-day rolling average posted this morning is 1,260, The highest number we have had including the ones right after case numbers from some days were added to the wrong day. If the numbers keep rising, I would not be surprised if at least one region of the state is going to get some tighter restrictions. We most assuredly do not have the novel coronavirus under control here.

Finally, my mom's facility notified families that there were a few more positive cases from this past week's testing. Also, one resident died, though it is not clear to what extent covid-19 was the or a cause. 

RAWR!

The View from the Hermitage, Day 229

My back is feeling significantly better, and a chance remains to hit the magic 304.2 miles tomorrow. Son #1 has promised to walk some of it with me and offer encouragement. As of this moment, I need nine miles, from which at least one may be deducted if The Professor would like to take a pre-dinner walk. It's not at all clear if The Family Dog will come with; she had no interest in doing so yesterday so we ended up not going at all.

I did a trial run on my t-rex costume this afternoon; I had not worn it for over 2.5 years. It was a good thing I did, too. The little motor or device that powers the fan that blows the air that inflates the costume was not working. It turned out that one of the battery slots had a good amount of corrosion. I had forgotten, too, that an extra-small Phillips head screwdriver was needed to get into the battery compartment. The Professor found one and took care of the battery replacement. Getting into the costume is also somewhat complicated. I had forgotten the issue of putting legs down the leg sleeves as opposed to the tail. I'll be able to do that a bit more comfortably tomorrow since I plan to wear leggings. 

I'd forgotten, too, how long it takes for the costume to inflate fully in terms of getting the head up and the tail out. If I were much shorter, I'd have a real hard time wearing it. It's designed so that the wearer can look out the head or the neck; the neck is at the right height for me. It sounds as if the neighborhood kids will be moving as a group with several parents accompanying, so I'll have but one chance to make a good entrance.The Professor and I figured out that the easiest way to do this is for me to become Rex just outside the walk-out basement. Obviously, I'll be doing this with plenty of time to spare. I understand that the caravan is starting out at 6:00, but I have no idea where our house will be on the itinerary. I'll be able to hear them coming, though, and should be able to come around one side or the other and surprise them. And, yes, I will be wearing at least one mask under the mask provided by the costume, possibly a double layer. So, what do you think?

If you look at the top photo closely, you can see my face looking out of the neck. The arms really are as short as they look in that shot. You wouldn't expect the costume-makers to cheat and put long arms on there, would you? The short arms can be a bit of a bother. On my first attempt to don the costume, the zipper (you can see it in the top shot running vertically) got stuck, and there was no way I could fix it by myself. Having an assistant when donning or doffing this thing is highly recommended. I was planning today to put it all the way on and inflated out on the porch because I did not know how The Family Dog would react. The jammed zipper brought me in for assistance. As it turned out, The Family Dog had no problem identifying me as the occupant; she is after all part hound and hounds have good noses.

On the coronavirus front, the cases at my mom's assisted living facility finally made the paper, though not at all in a sensational way. The cases had to be reported to the regional health district, and that body reports daily to local media. There was just a matter-of-fact mention of 30 cases at a facility in a nearby county and 26 cases at Mom's facility. There have been no deaths associated with either outbreak.

I never took an economics class, and perhaps I should have. I read the other day that the US economy grew by something like a third, but then stock prices seem to have plummeted on several recent days. And there are so many people still unemployed. Businesses--local and national--are declaring bankruptcy and/or closing stores daily. I should see if there is a list online of what stores still exist in what was the first mall here. One of the anchor stores, Sears, left a while ago, and another, JC Penny, will close as of November 20. The other two anchor stores belong to one company; women's clothes and accessories are in one place with men's and housewares in the other one. Victoria's Secret has apparently left as well. I doubt Santa will be visiting the mall this year, but there were some local people who annually complained that Santa and the photo-with operation were located right outside Victoria's Secret's suggestive window displays. 

We may even watch the news tonight to get the scoop on the earthquake in Turkey and Greece. One of The Professor's graduate students, now PhD'ed and out in the world, was Turkish, and her family still lives there. If we do, we will likely try to ignore the election coverage. My already high blood pressure might spike even higher. 

So little coverage--in this blog and on this day--of the pandemic which inspired this blog. I can't say that distresses me. I'm sure there will be plenty of pandemic news in the coming run-up to the election. But for now, I'm just happy to be making an appearance as Rex for the first time in too long.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 228

We were expecting rain and wind from Zeta this afternoon, and darn if Zeta didn't split apart and leave us in the sunny weather in between the two halves. It did rain like the dickens overnight and this morning, but now it's wet out there, but nothing new is coming down. I did get a little bit of walking in. I find that if I spend some time on the heating pad, I can walk around for a while with no pain. I've also been ferrying things from the boxes in the basement to the other floors of the house. I still have not found my kindle, one of my cameras (which was, I think, last used by The Professor), or our newest heating pad. They have to be out there somewhere. It's going to be touch and go if I make the 304.2 miles walking set as my Apple watch's October challenge. I'm not going to hurt my back further by going overboard on that.

My mom has a week to go in her two weeks of quarantine. The facility did another round of point prevalence testing yesterday but did not test the people who tested positive last week. If any of those people tested negative this week, it would not be clear which test--last week or this week--was a false one, which means there would be no change to the two weeks of isolation. Mom still has no symptoms, which I hope continues as the virus runs its course. I should see if there are any statistics on how many people have had someone they know personally come down with covid-19. Until Mom tested positive, I had two degrees of separation with someone who'd tested positive, that is, I knew someone who knew someone who'd had it. Six degrees of Kevin Bacon, anyone?

I verified that the absentee ballots belonging to The Professor and me were processed and counted. They won't be downloading any results from the scanners until election day. They will process absentee or early ballots before election day, but they will not download the data from the scanner until election day. And for those who like trivial things, each of the scanners operated by this county can process 10,000 ballots before a new scanner is needed. As of sometime last week, nearly two scanners had been filled by people voting early in-person. I'm looking forward to The Professor's report on how many people actually come in to vote on November 3. It could feel like a primary in terms of how few people show up. 

The governor yesterday touted Virginia as being one of the states not seeing a rapid increase in cases of covid-19. Put the emphasis on "rapid" there. We are seeing an increase albeit a slow one. The governor says that it's Southwest Virginia that is driving the increases. Having gone to high school and college in Southwest Virginia, I am not really surprised. In many parts of the region, pretty much nothing has replaced the coal mining that used to drive the local economies. There are large areas with no hospital at all, suggesting that there may be lots of people dying at home, having been unable to get treatment of any kind, let alone of the types The Orange Foolius got. 

I'm still feeling pretty much numb in the absence of news reports on the candidates' goings-on, but it's a good numb. I do read the newspapers and some online outlets, but I don't overdo it. There are moments I feel guilty about intentionally ignoring so much of the news, but it's in the interest of maintaining my mental health as well as that of The Professor. I think a slow walk would be of help in maintaining that mental health, and as The Professor has been sitting most of the day, it would likely help his physical health as well. And I will turn us around should my back start complaining.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 227

I wish I could say that a week from today, we will know just who will be inaugurated on January 20. I think the odds that we will are long indeed. My bigger hope is that the Supreme Court doesn't need to be involved in the decision about just who will be inaugurated. At this point, I would accept even a general tradition being in place that a justice does not rule on an election issue involving the President who nominated the justice. Of course, even if there were such a tradition, it would likely be broken just as so much else has been broken in the last four years. 

I should be keeping track of the number of text messages I'm getting from Uncle Joe, his running mate, his campaign chair, his wife (there has been only one from Jill, I think), the Democratic National Committee, and many of the friends of all of the above. We've gotten very little campaign literature via snail mail. I wonder if the campaigns are cutting their use of snail mail to save paper or to free up snail mail channels for the return of mail-in ballots. Of course, the USPS is now telling people who still have mail-in ballots not to mail them. Instead, they should take them to a drop-box or the office of their Voter Registrar. I find it hard to believe that there are people out there who have not yet made up their mind about the candidates. Are they waiting for one (or more) more October surprise?

Today's Washington Post has a very interesting article, "On election's edge, many see an abyss." There are people on both sides of the candidate issue who see an electoral victory for the other side as being something akin to the end of democracy or of the world as we know it. Can you say "apocalypse"? I would like to think that whatever outcome comes to pass, it can be accepted without violence? I considered making sure that the ammunition magazines for my handguns were full and ready (yes, I am a gun owner, one who greatly enjoys shooting at paper or vinyl targets), but decided that we're far enough out of the city that were violence of some sort be on its way, there would be time to load the magazines then. I am sad that I could not help but think about firearms as a possible post-election need; I hope this does not become a permanent mark of the new normal.

Moving away from public health and electoral issues, the ache in my back comes and goes depending on whether I have recently been making the acquaintance of a heating pad. No outdoor walk save the very first with the family dog, and that was a painful one. I've been alternating between sitting with the heating bag reading and doing what I can until it hurts again. I managed to cut the number of bankers' boxes in the basement family room by three, though I accomplished that by combining the contents of four almost-empty boxes. While sitting with the heating bag, I have been reading the latest edition of National Geographic, a special issue on the novel coronavirus. Fascinating and, so far, only a wee bit pessimistic. 

Putting on my t-rex costume and sneaking up on neighborhood children who come to the porch on Halloween? Yay or nay?

 

View from the Hermitage, Day 226

I did walk this morning, though more slowly and not as far as I usually walk. In general, my back is much improved over yesterday. I'm hoping it will feel even better tomorrow. I've got my fingers crossed that I can make the 304.2 miles by Saturday to win the challenge that Coach Apple Watch set for October. 

They swore Amy Coney Barratt in as a Supreme Court justice last night, on the South Lawn of the White House. Supposedly more people wore masks than at her nomination announcement in the Rose Garden, but Clarence Thomas, who administered the oath, and the Orange Foolius standing with them were bare-faced. I liked the catchy headline that one media outlet used--that she was sworn in under cover of darkness. We have as a justice a lawyer who practiced civil law for two years, was a professor for 15 years, and a federal judge for only three years. She has never argued a case before the Supreme Court. The comparison with the person she replaced, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, is stark. Only one Republican broke the party line, Susan Collins of Maine. She's in a tight race, but whether crossing party lines will help her I do not know. 

The Professor is starting to think about what he should take with him to work at the polls. I mention this because anyone who knows The Professor knows that he usually leaves things to the last minute. In a pandemic, though, one does not want to forget anything, let alone anything essential. They will have masks and gloves there; I am not sure about face masks, so he is taking one from his university lab. He'll have extra masks and gloves with him as well. There will be a communal coffee pot, but any other food must be brought and cannot be shared. I told him I needed to know no later than Sunday what he wanted for Tuesday. Son #1 has already provided caffeinated chewing gum. The precinct chief has said that she will be bringing a very large bowl of individually wrapped Halloween-style candies. Of course, that pits the upper in the chocolate with the obligatory sugar crash.

I have been knitting a bag to felt, but finally admitted that it is only worsening the De Quervain's syndrome I have in my right wrist. I went through my needle felting supplies (I have way too many kits and really need to start doing them, one at a time) and came across felt in a large embroidery hoop. It came with an assortment of colored yarn. I decided to do a scene with the Northern Lights above. It can be a Christmas present for the brother (his) / brother-in-law (mine) for whom gift selection is a problem. He dabbles in various art forms, so I think this will interest him. He has several of my quilts including one he lusted after for years until I finally gave it to him. 

Dr. Fauci offered the uncheerful assessment that we are still in the first wave of the novel coronavirus. The numbers did go down after everything started but never enough to say that any wave was over. With the rate of new cases now growing faster than it ever has, we're not just fucked, we're REALLY fucked. Not the best news as we head toward the season for giving thanks, but at least we can give thanks for someone like Dr. Fauci to help us deal with this. 

The election is a week from today. I have nothing more to say on that today.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 225

Today is a day that could have gone better. I seem to have done something to the right side of my lower back that would suggest I should not do exercise walking tomorrow. This peeves me to no end, especially as it impacts my finishing (or not) my October challenge as set by my Apple watch. I need to walk 34.1 more miles to hit the goal of 304.2 miles. If I take two days off, that would be over 10 miles each of the remaining days. I guess I need to hope that in the morning I feel up to at least walking with the family dog.

Five members of VP Pence's staff are out with covid-19, a fact that the administration initially did not want made public. When VP-candidate Harris had staff members who tested positive but with whom she had had minimal contact, she took several days off. Pence, on the other hand, is out campaigning after having close contact with his positive staff members. Evidently "Vice Presidential Campaigning" is an essential job which means it is not governed by CDC guidance on exposure. The Orange Foolius's chief of staff has confirmed that the administration is not even trying to control the pandemic, so of course they'll send The Foolius and his VP out in public.

On the covid-19 front, I looked at what the local hospitals have as policies on visitation. So many things are being loosened or at least not tightened that I was curious. The non-university general hospital's policies were last updated July 20. They are

• All non-COVID-19 patients and patients who are not under investigation for COVID-19 may have one visitor.
• All Obstetric patients may have one designated birth support person, who may remain with them throughout delivery and the remainder of their postpartum stay.
• Cancer Center: No visitors.
• Emergency Department: No visitors.
• End-of-life patients may have two visitors. 

It's not clear when the university hospital's current policies were set. There are special rules for a couple of special units, but the general policies are 

We are allowing additional visitation to inpatient units and procedural areas within the hospital. Visitors are NOT allowed in clinics, with some visiting exceptions.

• Inpatient units: Patients may have two designated visitors. One designated visitor at a time is permitted at the patient’s bedside between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m.
• Inpatient procedural areas: Patients may have two designated visitors. One designated visitor at a time is permitted at the patient’s inpatient bedside between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m.; if the patient returns to the room following a procedure between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m., a designated visitor may spend four hours with the patient.
• Outpatient procedural areas: Patients may have one designated visitor, though it is preferred that visitors wait remotely in their vehicles during the procedure.
• Outpatient clinics: Visitors are not permitted unless clinic leadership makes an exception to support the needs of a patient. Children may have one adult come with them to their appointment.

Your designated visitors can’t change during your stay. Visitors should not stay in the lobby, cafeteria or other public spaces at the hospital unless asked to do so by the care team.

I'm really glad to be relatively healthy at the moment.

The Professor and I did watch the candidate interviews on 60 Minutes last night. The differences between the candidates was striking. Uncle Joe was asked if he could still lose despite his leads in all the polls. He said he could. They did not ask The Orange Foolius the same question, but had they I am sure he would have replied that he could only lose were the election rigged. He clearly had no real interest in doing the interview. Just as in the first debate, he spent a lot of time interrupting or trying to speak over the interviewer. 

In the dumpster fire that is 2020, they located the first US murder hornet nest in Blaine, Washington. There are undoubtedly more yet to be found. More wildfires have started in California and Colorado, and possibly in a couple other states I don't remember or never knew. Hurricane Zeta is out there with its eyes on the gulf coast. I expect that the aftermath of next week's election is, either way I imagine, going to fan that dumpster fire at hurricane strength.

Here's hoping for something light-hearted to post tomorrow.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 224

Thirty-two weeks, and the livin' ain't easy? I don't think that's the case. We're at least getting by when it comes to some things, while others are easy. All I have to do is set my standards appropriately, and what comes after it what it is. 

My mom went from being one of three covid-positive residents at her facility to being one of 14. I told her I was sorry that she got demoted. One of three is clearly superior to being one of 14. She took the news well. I looped her Primary Care Physician in yesterday. He called her and they discussed options should she develop symptoms. I'm still comfortable with the care she's getting. They're doing another round of testing on Wednesday. If she then tests negative, the first result may have been a false positive. It could also be that the second result is a false negative. Either way, I expect they'll keep her in strict quarantine for the full 14 days from the first test.

I have to make another correction to something I said recently. I believe I said that the upcoming election would be the first one I'd missed since I started being an official in 2004. Nope! I skipped the June 2020 primary election for the same reason I'm sitting this one out, to protect against possible exposure to the novel coronavirus.

I mentioned yesterday having photos for the post. I've started carrying my iPhone to listen to music. That also gives me a handy camera should I see something meriting more attention, things such as this 

on the end of a branch on a small pine tree. If I look at it right, it turns into a strange creature possibly up to no good. Yesterday was foggy but strangely. Normally, it's foggiest in the low part of my walk where I go down one hill and up another. I took the shot below after coming out of that swale. There was more visibility lower down.

The fog is nice when walking in this direction. Otherwise the sun can be quite bright in my eyes. Before my previous eye doctor retired, she told me that my light-colored retinas likely mean cataract surgery earlier than normal, with one way to delay it being wearing sunglasses or a hat with a visor to keep the sun out of my eyes.

A few posts ago, I commented about never taking the annual first-day-of-school photos and other such traditional favorites. There is one shot I really wish I had started and continued taking. 

This shot doesn't  really show the base of the tree in the center, but it's growing out of what was once a pile of manure. The developer of our subdivision dumped it there in the spring of 1987, when I was pregnant with Son #1. I did not really have morning sickness as much as I had early evening sickness, but those aside, stepping out onto our porch and smelling the manure made me want to hurl. The developer never used the manure for anything, and eventually plants started growing out of it. The trunk of the tree is a fairly impressive size. I should try to remember to get a shot in December or January when the vegetation about it is gone. I wish that each year on Son #1's birthday, I'd taken a photo showing his growth and the tree's, side by side. 

I shall shortly go upstairs to inquire of The Professor just when he would like to dine this evening and whether he might be interested in watching Lesley Stahl's interview with The Orange Foolius on 60 Minutes. He probably will not, but I'm not going to assume that without asking. He'll probably prefer an old episode of Law and Order, but we'll see.

Uncle Joe is apparently hitting at The Foolius's handling of the pandemic in his stump speeches. I find it hard to understand how people can let him just dismiss it. Science may never recover if it has to fight The Foolius and friends for four more years. The Foolius keeps saying, incorrectly so far, that the virus in going away, will miraculously disappear, and so on. He at least acknowledges that it is real. I cannot understand the virus deniers who refuse to recognize its existence, nor can I understand the conspiracy theorists who see it as having been intentionally created and launched. If you know even a bit about science and/or medicine and a bit about history, you should have known another pandemic would eventually occur. You might have not predicted this one specifically, but you had to know one was coming. And, yes, there will be another one after this one, but hopefully not for another century or longer.

Tomorrow we start into the final week of the campaign. Fingers crossed that there are no final October surprises.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 223

Once again, I had a plan for today's post. It included photos even. It flew out the window when I awoke to the news that my mom tested positive for covid-19. She's asymptomatic and in strict quarantine for 14 days. Anyone coming into her room wears full protective gear. She retains her sense of humor, laughing when I told her that yesterday's result meant she contributed to the new national record of number of cases in one day. She assured me that she would not die before the election results were in because she wanted to see The Orange Foolius lose.

She's in a very good place. I have no complaints about how the facility is handling things. I haven't seen her since early March, but it's been better for both of us that way. I certainly couldn't see her now. There's nothing I can do, so I'm trying not to let it get to me too much. Hoo hoo! I can add a photo after all. I've been coping by playing with doll parts.

I put this photo up on Facebook and asked if anyone had ideas. One person suggested I double the number of appendages and see what I could come up with. I checked my stash of doll body parts, and found two more sets of appendages in approximately the right size. I'm going to go down to my studio now and see what I can come up with. 

And tomorrow I'll see about using those other photos.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 222

First, apologies to Lesley Stahl for misspelling her first name yesterday. I did wonder as I typed it whether it was "ie" or "ey." I shall try to remember to check next time. It certainly would not have been difficult to do so.

Evidently, last night's Presidential debate was oh so much better than the first one. The moderator of the first one, Chris Wallace, complimented last night's moderator, Kristen Welker. Lest you think her success was due to one or the other mic being off at times, she was not the one controlling the mute switch. And the mics were only turned off for the initial two-minute statements by each candidate when the topic to be discussed changed. According to Son #1, Uncle Joe even let loose with a "Malarkey!" at some point. The Orange Foolius again cast himself as having done more for people of color than anyone else other than Abraham Lincoln. And the novel coronavirus will soon be a thing of the past. If you believe those last two things, we should probably end our conversation right now.

Yesterday's "Local Living" section of The Washington Post had an article with advice on how to form a "pod" to help make it through winter. "Pod" here has no connection with the pods in The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the original or the remake). Son #1, The Professor, and I are a pod. We do not live together, but our principal interaction is with only the other two people. I tried to think of other people with whom I'd like to be pod-mates.  There aren't a lot, and I don't really know anyone keeping themselves as much of a hermit as I am. And the potential pod-partners all live a ways away, and I'm just not that into going other places these days. 

Public schools in the city are staying all online for the time being; public schools in the county will start hybrid instruction for preschoolers through third graders on November 6. Kids will go to school in person two days a week and work at home the other three. There will be two groups in each class attending alternately. Some 187 teachers, or about 15 percent of the county teachers, requested to keep working remotely. Of those, 51 requests are related to the Americans with Disabilities Act and will be granted automatically. The other requests will be considered individually and may or may not be granted. Three teachers requested a leave of absence, while two teachers retired. I can't say that I blame the ones who would prefer to stay online. Some may have elderly parents living with them or spouses with compromised immune systems. It will be interesting to see which type of requests are granted and which type are not.

The 2020 election is but a week and a half away. This will be the first election of any kind--general or primary--since the 2004 Presidential election at which I will not be working. I'm going to miss it, even if it is going to be an hour longer than it has been. The polls will now be open in Virginia from 6:00 am to 8:00 pm. Arrive at 5:00 am and hope to be on one's way home by, now, 9:00 pm. I'll be insisting the husband sleep in the guest room the night before, though I may wake up at 4:00 am on my own. I expect that the official results in Virginia can be certified by noon on Friday, November 6, but this year you just don't know. 

The state health department did not update its key metrics page for October 21 until it put up the today's October 23  update. The numbers were not good. There were 1,332 new cases on the 21st, and another 1,180 on the 22nd. The seven-day moving average is at 1,023. Those numbers are getting perilously close to the highest ever in the state. Offhand, I wonder what the new case number will be for Election Day.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 221

The final Presidential debate, airs tonight at 9:00. I hope to be asleep not long after 9:00 pm, though Son #1 has said he will phone if there is anything debate-related we should know before morning. The phone is on my side of the bed. I expect I will hear it ring even if I have my working ear pushed into the pillow. I expect that The Orange Foolius will react negatively to the fact that mics will be turned off during each candidate's opening statement. And if both mics are open while one or the other candidate is answering a question, I expect that The Foolius will again attempt to talk over both Uncle Joe and the debate moderator, Kristen Welker. I watched an unedited tape of the Foolius's interview with Leslie Stahl for this weekends 60 Minutes. The Foolius spent much of his time there talking over Stahl's questions before he ended the interview early. When given the five-minutes-remaining alert, The Orange Foolius said he thought enough had been done and rose to leave. I was more hoping for a rage quit, but that probably was too much to hope for. 

My attempt to save Halloween for the neighborhood kids is working! Only one family has specifically said they don't want to participate, and it's perfectly understandable. Their driveway is one of the longer in the subdivision, plus the female resident is recovering from a stroke and broken hip (she broke her hip when falling down during the stroke). The families that have been silent about having candy or not are older, retired people often with long driveways. 

As I typed that last sentence it hit me that I, too, am now among those retired and, yes, older folks. I guess because The Professor continues to profess and I hadn't worked full time in some 30 years, I don't really feel retired. It may be, too, that I've been too occupied with redoing the house to have the amount of free time most of the retirees I know have. While I am glad I'm not just sticking things back anywhere but trying to decorate as much as I ever have, it's taking a whole lot longer than it otherwise would have. 

I am wondering if there is a reason that the state covid-19 counts that are normally updated at 10:00 am have still not been updated. Was there something as simple as a date glitch, or are they trying to cover up anything? The local university's numbers have not been updated either, but the cutoff time there is 4:00 pm or not too long ago. 

Speaking of covid-19, the local university has announced its plans for the spring semester. Students on campus will go home on November 24 for Thanksgiving holidays. All exams will be given online only in early December. Students do not return to campus until February1, with classes as they are this semester, mostly online. The last day of classes is May 6. They will announce by March 15 whether there will be a graduation ceremony. The class of 2020 was supposed to get theirs a week after the class of 2021, but if one doesn't happen neither will the other one. The Professor is looking forward to the semester. He will teach two sections of the same subject but only online. This means that he tapes one lecture, but two separate classes watch it. His devilish chuckle when mentioning that to me should perhaps have been more disturbing than it was.

The university's covid-19 case numbers were just updated. Students showed half the number of new cases as yesterday, 8 to yesterday's 16. The daily average of new cases is still higher than last week's and scratching at the heels of the number from the week before last. I should see if I can find the number of students living on campus. Wait for it. Forgetting the percentage of students who live on campus (it's 39 percent of undergraduates), I just had a trip down memory lane on the website of the office from which I retired. Several things I was responsible for updating have not been updated, and we're not talking things delayed by the pandemic. Not my circus and not my monkeys. They're on their own now.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 220

A couple of days ago, I shared a song lyric that spoke to me. I seem to be finding meaningful, at least to me, quotes in many places these days. The latest was the last line in an episode of Law and Order originally shown some years ago but now in syndication. "Sometimes the good you do doesn't do you any good." The line was said by Manhattan District Attorney Arthur Branch played by Fred Thompson. Whenever I read the words, I hear them spoken in Thompson's deep Southern drawl. I need to remember these words the next time I do something that I think is under-appreciated. Did I do the good deed to be thanked, or did I do it because it was the right thing and needed to be done? I'm hoping Arthur Branch aka Fred Thompson can keep me in line.

The Professor has a case of covid-19 in the undergraduate class he's teaching. There was a midterm today, and the student let The Professor know that she might be getting up and then returning during the test; he didn't ask why. The Professor watches students taking an exam via Zoom. I think the exams are open book and open notes, but students are not supposed to use the Internet. If The Professor sees a student use their smart phone, for example, he's going to want to know what they are doing. The student with covid-19 wanted The Professor to know that she wasn't going to use the Internet while off-camera.

The local university's case numbers are so low that I really wonder how many cases are missed because  students go for testing outside the university. I don't know if the university has started its testing every on-campus student every nine days. The plan is to test an entire dorm on the same day. Given the university numbers that were just updated, they may have started doing whole dorms. There were 15 new student cases, the most in a couple of weeks. Last week (Sunday through Saturday), 34 students tested positive. Three days into this week, there have already been 21 positive cases. I have not seen many photos of student gatherings, but the ones I have seen suggest little mask use and less social distancing. It makes me want to grab a random student by the shoulders and shake them as I ask, "Why?" over and over. Actually, I don't want to do that given that it would put me in close physical contact with someone who odds are has not been taking basic precautions. 

England is poised to start a challenge trial in 2021. They will take a pool of healthy young adults ages 18 through 30 and expose them to the novel coronavirus in order to test vaccines. The first step is to infect 90 volunteers with live virus with the aim of determining the smallest dose that will infect someone. Then, groups of volunteers will be given a vaccine then will be exposed to the virus. Obviously, the goal is for the vaccine to prevent the virus from taking hold. Son #1 has put his name in the pool for any trial they might end up doing in this country. I'm not sure this country would do a challenge trial. There are pesky ethical questions to be sure. 

Closer to home, my kindle is still unaccounted for.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 219

We are almost to the end of Tuesday business hours on the East coast, and so far The Orange Foolius has not withdrawn from Thursday night's debate. I figured that once the organizers committed to cutting off the Candidate A's microphone while Candidate B was delivering his opening statement, The Foolius would call foul and go sulk in a corner. I do like the sound of the format, though I know many people don't. The 15 minutes each on different topics will, I hope, give some focus to the discourse, though I expect The Foolius won't let himself be limited to the topic at hand. And I fully expect him to interrupt post-opening comments as long as his microphone has been turned back on. Of course, if this debate mirrors the first fiasco,we may not have candidate debates in 2024.

And here's a headline I grabbed off the Facebook feed of The Washington Post: "Most Trump supporters believe the president is dismantling a sex-trafficking ring involving top Democrats." They may know nothing about QAnon but simply believe whatever the Foolius or his associates tells them. How they can take this at face value without seeing any evidence boggles my mind. It also frightens me. These people are allowed to vote, and likely will in large numbers. If The Foolius wins a second term, I fully expect we will move uncomfortably close to being a police state, though some may say we're already there. I'm not sure we'll get to martial law because military leaders may balk even if the person giving orders is the Commander-in-Chief. So much uncertainty, too much uncertainty.

We got an expedition catalog today from Hurtigruten, the company that runs the mailboat along the Norwegian coast. We did their 12 day Bergen to Kirkenes back to Bergen a couple of years ago during the Polar Night (the opposite of the Midnight Sun). They do expedition trips to Antarctica, Svalbard in Norway, and the one that I might think about were I to win the lottery, the Northwest Passage from Nome, Alaska to Halifax, Nova Scotia. The "if only" thought didn't last long; it was replaced by the thought of when we-I might feel safe going on such a trip or any cruise, actually. Or a plane. The CDC is now recommending against any sort of public transit if you don't stay masked and at an appropriate distance from the other passengers. I'd even be nervous about hopping in the car for a trip that would involve spending an overnight in a hotel. The idea of being with even a small group of other people  scares me. 

I went through a couple more boxes this afternoon. My kindle continues to elude me. I made a visible dent in the pile of stuff outside the door to my office/studio. Tomorrow I will likely deal with boxes in the master bedroom/bathroom. There are decisions still to me made about just how many pairs of weird earrings I need to have. The handcuff, marijuana leaf, and razor blade (not real  razor blades) ones will stay, definitely, and some of the dinosaurs, but how many dinosaur pairs do I need, really? I actually don't know how many such pairs I have. That might be a good place to start tomorrow.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 218

A variety of sites come up if you Google "pandemic poetry." The first few appear to have been done back in late spring or early summer. It's not the first party to which I've been late. As I walked this morning, pandemic poetry arose in my thoughts. Haiku seemed too difficult to compose while walking and listening to music (Michael Franti and Spearhead), to I turned to a limerick. It doesn't suck, but it could definitely be better. 

There was a virus that came from Wuhan | In spite of the China travel ban | What to do? we did ask |      Stay apart; wear a mask | To me, that's a very good plan

I typed it the way I did because I was lazy and didn't want to hop around figuring out how to format the space between paragraphs. Notice that there is no direct mention of The Orange Foolius, just a hint at his ban on travel from China. Maybe on tomorrow's walk I'll attempt something more scathing with him in mind.

The Orange Foolius spent much of today's phone call berating Dr. Fauci. I particularly liked his comment that if he'd listened to Dr. Fauci's advice, more than 500,000 people would have died of covid-19 by now. And how many fewer would have died of covid-19 had the general populace had a good example of the value of wearing a mask? The Foolius is just worried that someone will make a deal out of the fact that Dr. Fauci's ratings are higher than his depending on how you define ratings. 

The final debate is on Thursday night. It doesn't start until 9:00, so I don't expect The Professor and I will watch any of it. The moderator will be Kristen Welker of NBC, about whom The Orange Foolius just tweeted on Saturday "She’s always been terrible & unfair, just like most of the Fake News reporters, but I’ll still play the game. The people know!" Here's hoping she takes after Savannah Guthrie rather than Chris Wallace. I think a female moderator bothers The Foolius. Why should he have to answer to a mere woman?

Trying to minimize my exposure to potentially depressing or angering political news is keeping my stress level lower but doesn't seem to give me as much to write about here. I'll see what I can come up with tomorrow.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 217

Yesterday and today I listened to music while walking, and one line of one song really stuck with me. From "Broken Crown" by Mumford and Sons:

But in this twilight, our choices seal our fate.

That's a damn good way to sum up 2020 so far, at least the pandemic part of it. The choice to wear a mask or not, to stay a social distance away from someone or not, to avoid bars and other crowded places or not. So many little things, any one of which could be a choice between life and death. That simplifies it greatly, but any one choice could seal our fate these days, really and for true. I will remember this line the next time I find myself thinking that my six months plus of hermitting have been over-reacting, that I can go do something, I won't catch the covid. Is this a chance I'm willing to take? No, not now and hopefully not until there's a reliable vaccine and treatment. In this twilight, my choice can seal my fate.

I woke up to a text message sent last night after I'd gone to bed from my mother's assisted living facility. They had sent a resident to the hospital on a non-covid matter and the person tested positive for covid when checked in. The resident was asymptomatic as far as covid-19 went. They're working on contact tracing and trying to determine how the resident might have been exposed. They've stepped back all the reopening things they were doing. Residents are back to eating every meal alone in their rooms. They had been eating breakfast and lunch in the dining room two days each week, socially distanced and with fewer people at each table. The hairdresser was coming back and taking appointments. Families who desired to could set up "patio visits" outside again socially distanced and masked. All those are off for now. They'll be doing point prevalent testing the next two Wednesdays. If all the results are negative, they'll restart the reopening. If they don't find any resident or staffer with a positive test, that might mean something got transferred in a patio visit. No one but staff members can go inside. If a resident leaves for any reason, they must isolate for two weeks on returning. They're being very careful, in other words, but shit does happen. 

I did get the boxes off the bed last night. Two went back into Son #2's room. They hold yarn that can't be unpacked until some bookshelves have been reassembled. I found a few sentimental things worth the time it was taking to go through everything in detail. I've decided to treat it as if inspired by The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter. I could be getting rid of more, but it's hard enough at times to get rid of what I am. A few things I'm giving now to Son #1; I don't see Son #2 often enough to hand him anything now. I have boxes going for each son to go through at their convenience and a third box with things that belonged to both of them or whose ownership I simply don't recall. 

And so this isn't the longest of blog posts. I haven't even mentioned the week count of 31. (There, I've mentioned it.) I've been doing a lot of thinking. The music actually seems to make it easier to think while I'm walking. There's a lot to think about these days for all of us. Too much at times. Writing this blog helps me sort out some of those thoughts. I do that better some days than others. I appreciate that there are people who actually read it. I may be a hermit, but I don't feel alone.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 216

I need to go through multiple boxes retrieved from Son #2's bedroom that sit now on the master bedroom bed The Professor and I hope to inhabit overnight. I actually had notes of topics about which to write! If I don't make it back here later, those topics will still be relevant tomorrow.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 215

The Professor and I didn't go to bed until 9:00 last night, but we spent the hour from 8:00 to 9:00 watching an old rerun of Perry Mason rather than either town hall. We did read various reports about the town halls over breakfast this morning. The winner was the columnist who noted that changing the channel from the Orange Foolius's town hall to Uncle Joe's was like switching from Ancient Aliens to PBS NewsHour. Most reports were complimentary of the way Savannah Guthrie handled the Orage Foolius town hall. One said she was better than either moderator of the two earlier debates.

I find it interesting that even though the case numbers now are, in many cases, higher or almost as high as they were in March, when the pandemic was first declared, people seem to be so much more lackadaisical about it now than they were then. Instead of picking up restaurant food or having it delivered, too many people now want to eat inside the restaurant. Even with tables widely spaced, there's likely a nontrivial risk. And I cannot at all imagine going to a gym right now. I know that the looming cooler or cold weather will be a deterrent to working out outside for many people. Even with exercise-induced asthma made worse by working out outdoors, I still prefer that to a gym right now. I walked just over eight miles this morning, or 96 laps of the small indoor track at the gym I was going to most frequently. Ninety-six laps? Fuhgeddabout it!

As for schools being virtual or in-person, I can see both sides there, at least a little. Most kids would, I imagine, learn better in person than online. Both Sons did several online classes that counted toward their middle or high school graduations, but then the Sons are, shall we say, a bit different. The courses they took were also designed to be delivered online, which I am sure had a real impact on the quality of the finished product. Given my hermitting, I have not spoken with any neighbors who have school-aged kids about how their kids are doing. This morning, Son #1 and I watched a school bus deliver a large ziploc bag of materials to a neighbor's child who is, I think, in first grade. I did not know the schools were doing that, but I like it.

The Sons did sign up for a 2021 ultra-marathon. It's in mid-March and is the last one they ran before everything shut down in 2020. As Son #1 said, if this one ends up cancelled, we're going to be in pretty deep shit then. The advantage of ultra-marathoning is that the runners naturally separate into solo runners or very small clusters. It's not like the local Ten Miler that has a gazillion entrants meaning that it's pretty much a steady stream of runners the whole way. There are also few spectators lining an ultra-marathon course, unlike a road race in a city. 

 I'm not working as an election official this year, but The Professor is. As such, he was sent a link to a map showing potential absentee ballot action across the state, by precinct. At the local precinct, 37 percent of voters have returned or requested absentee ballots. There are several local precincts over 50 percent. It is shaping up to be a totally new type of election. The Professor said he might have a slow day; they've extended the hours the polls are open from 6:00 am to 7:00 pm to 6:00 am to 8:00 pm. They've also made election day a state holiday which may or may not affect turnout. I expect that The Professor's face when he walks in the door will tell me how things went in our home precinct. The totals he would see, though, are only for the people voting on election day at the precinct. Absentee ballots get counted as if they are a separate precinct, the Central Absentee precinct. 

The Orange Foolius has refused disaster aid for California's 1.9 million acres of wildfires that destroyed over 3,300 homes, and killed at least three people. I'm willing to bet that if the governor of California were a Republican, aid would have been forthcoming quickly. The Orange Foolius at one point blamed the wildfires on Governor Newsom. I can feel my blood pressure rising as I type that. How do people vote for the Foolius? Do they see him as a god who can do no wrong? I do not understand it. 

Given the eight miles I walked this morning, tomorrow and Sunday will be recovery days. I will walk both days, but I will not be compulsive about how far or how fast. I earned that right this morning.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 214

I've been talking about Halloween and the possibility it might be cancelled. I had my final Halloween canceled, and I was not happy. We were living in Morehead, Kentucky, and there was an age limit on Halloween. Once you turned 12, you were not supposed to be out and about for Halloween. The year I was 11 years old, I had walking pneumonia over Halloween. I did not feel all that bad, but I was not allowed to go trick or treating. The last year I would be allowed to go! I was not at all amused.

So far, one other family in the subdivision has gotten on board on having treats for costumed kids. And it was a family I would not have picked as participating. Sometimes it's nice to be proven wrong. I'm still pondering what kind of candy(ies) to offer. Son #1 has been ordering our groceries from Whole Foods. They're delivered to him, and he brings them out to us. He said he would check what sort of candy they had the next time he orders something. I need to make sure it's something The Professor and I will eat in case there are leftovers, a guilt-causing consumption to be sure but better than throwing it away.

The Professor has not yet decided if he is up for watching either town hall tonight. Uncle Joe's (I figure if The Orange Foolius gets a nickname so should his opponent) is 90 minutes log; that of The Orange Foolius is 60 minutes long. Son #1 has offered that The Orange Foolius has a higher probability of letting some horrible profanity slip out. I haven't read anything about real-time fact-checking, but you know there will be some untruths put forward by The Orange Foolius, probably more than some when it comes right down to it. 

So far, The Professor's trial run of some sort of thing has yielded no explosions. It turns out that whatever might explode is sitting in a trash can full of water, meaning I might not even hear anything. No explosion is what he and his graduate student want to happen. They want to see how high they can get the pressure in some sort of container. I think there is an upper limit they want to hit, but that's just my guess based on things The Professor has said. It turns out that The Professor and his graduate student will be busy with this into the evening hours, meaning that I'm making frozen pizza to go with the already made salad and that I can eat whenever I want to. 

On the unpacking front, I today managed to empty two boxes of random things. Nothing made it into the donation box, but I have one bag of paper to recycle and one bag of trash. I'm trying to get boxes in the basement cleaned out in hopes of finding my kindle. If I can't find it, I'll add one to my Christmas wishlist.

They're locking London down again as covid rates in Europe go even higher. I can't imagine any locality here going into total lockdown again. I understand that people are very tired of this. There are days when I am tired of being a hermit. Then I remind myself how little contact it can take to transmit the virus to someone else. I haven't hermitted as long as I have to make it for nothing in one short fix of the outside world. Son #1 has done so much to keep me safe; I will not disappoint him. 

Fortunately, I was not planning on a wedding or other large-scale event during this time. I know people are tired of the pandemic, but I cannot understand how a large-scale event is important enough to put so many people at risk. The motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota. The wedding in Millinocket, Maine. I just don't get it and probably never will. Even harder for me to get are the virus-deniers or science-deniers. This is not a conspiracy of any sort. Perhaps I should remind myself of something The Professor's brother has said more than once: The average IQ is 100, and most of the people with whom I associate are above that average.

Maybe for something different, I'll watch the nightly network news. And maybe not.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 213

I'm getting bored with using "He Who Shall Not Be Named" for the current president. I'm going to try out Orange Foolius, one older son used recently. I also discovered the subreddit for Trump nicknames, so the possibilities may be endless. I think for fun I'll change up some of the cast of characters' names as well. The husband will become The Professor not that Gilligan's Island has anything to do with it. Older son would probably appreciate my making him Son #1 and his younger brother Son #2. The family dog is getting capitalized, Family Dog..

It appears that tomorrow night's canceled Presidential debate has been replaced by a Joe Biden town hall on ABC and an Orange Foolius town hall on NBC.What do you want to bet that it's all about the ratings to the Orange Foolius? He'll have an edge since his town hall will be shown on three networks, NBC, CNBC, and MSNBC. Coverage of both town halls starts at 8:00 pm, meaning that I may actually be awake. The Professor likely will argue for watching Perry Mason on FETV. If we watched a candidate, I expect it will be Biden. The Professor says the Orange Foolius's voice makes him ill.

From tomorrow back to yesterday, last night's rally. Evidently, the Orange Foolius again suggested he could enter the crowd of supporters and kiss men without infecting them with covid-19. I did not hear if he included "beautiful women." It appears that his doctors did give him the more accurate PCR test and, while the results suggested he no longer carried a significant amount of virus, they also did not definitively say he had none. In other words, he may still be contagious or he may not be. I would not take a chance on that choice. 

The local university is going to start testing every student living on campus every nine days. These tests would be conducted by the university. The procedure would be to go into a dorm and test everyone there, somewhat like my mother's assisted living facility's testing everyone there on the same day. Students living off-campus will be given kits with which they can test themselves and return the sample to a vendor. They may also be required to do saliva tests on campus. Tests are mandatory, though I did not hear what the penalties might be for refusing to be tested or missing a scheduled test. Students with schedule conflicts or already in quarantine due to possible exposure can reschedule tests. 

As for unpacking, putting away, and/or organizing things, I declared today a day free of any of those activities. I may declare tomorrow one as well. The Professor and a grad student were setting something up out in the yard, and I didn't want to have to walk around all day wearing a mask. I just told them that I would be in the basement and if they needed a bathroom or supplies, to use the main floor. Tomorrow they will be running some sort of tests using the stuff they set up today, tests that I understand may run into the evening. I'm told only that if I hear anything explode, that is not good.

Two of the neighbor families I emailed yesterday have let me know that they would love to take me up on the offer to leave a bowl of candy on the porch for Halloween. One dad said his daughter had been asking over and over if she'd have to give up Halloween. I just emailed everyone in the subdivision and told them my plan. I noted that we are all giving up so much during the pandemic, and I didn't want the kids to have to give up Halloween. I did say that people should knock on my door to let me know there's someone out there. I want to be able to look out the window and see the costumes.  Maybe I should put my Ralph the Rex t-rex costume on for the occasion. 

I feel like I'm not living up to the good citizen standard. I have been actively not watching television news. I read the two papers we get, the local rag and The Washington Post. I check a few websites in the morning, typically The Guardian followed by The New York Times. I check out some of the news notifications that come in on my cell phone, but by no means all of them. My stress level has gone noticeably down since I've been doing this.

Finally, I may not be up with current pop culture since I just learned earlier this week that just as some women want their breasts to be bigger and will undergo surgery to make that happen, making one's butt bigger is also possible. What's that song? "I like big butts and I cannot lie"? From what I read, the butt enlargement surgery is more likely to go horribly wrong than the breast enlargement surgery is. I had larger breasts when I was pregnant and nursing, and that was entirely a long enough time for me. I felt self-conscious when people were looking at me above the waist. And as for butt enlargement, I've been working hard during the pandemic to get mine smaller. "No big butts, and I cannot lie" is the plan around here.

 

The View from the Hermitage, Day 212

So HWSNBN did a rally in Sanford, Florida last evening. He told the crowd that he felt "powerful" and was not contagious. He felt well enough he said, to head into the crowd and "kiss the guys and the beautiful women." I would never be in the crowd at a Trump rally, but if caught in that sort of situation would do my utmost to look as ugly as possible. As Air Force One was taking off on the way to Florida, HWSNBN's doctor released a statement that HWSNBN had tested negative on two tests a day apart. Never mind that they were supposedly rapid tests, the ones with an unusually high rate of false negatives. 

I think HWSNBN is heading to a different state each night this week. Pennsylvania, Iowa, and North Carolina are on his list so far. His staff is evidently not happy about his schedule fearing it might overtax him. He wants to prove, I am sure, that he is younger than Joe Biden in real age as well as energy and alertness. It would be too bad if he wore himself out and again became symptomatic. I know his doctor says that he is over covid-19, but that guy has seemed squirrely from Day One. 

The Senate Judiciary Committee is in the second day of interviewing Amy Coney Barrett. An interesting point I saw in an essay was that Ruth Bader Ginsburg's last request was not that she be replaced by another woman but that her replacement be nominated by the president inaugurated in January 2021. I wonder what Ginsburg would think of Barrett. Actually, might they have known each other professionally? I wonder.

A friend posted on Facebook an article excerpt covering Barrett's life and career but as if she were a Muslim, not a Catholic. Would she even have been considered for the job? The author held that she would not. I would hold that it would have been hard for a Muslim woman to get an academic position equal to the one Barrett has. I expect the doors that were opened for Barrett would have been shut tightly against a Muslim woman of similar biographical elements. 

I have decided to embrace the idea of setting very finite tasks for each day of unpacking and putting away. Stress reduction at it finest. I rewarded myself this afternoon with a bit of practice with the needle-felting machine that has yet to be named. My sewing machine is Xena the Warrior Bernina. I wonder what name would be appropriate for a Janome needle-felting machine.

Today's tasks were to peruse the boxes in younger son's bedroom. The ones I could safely get to were his stuff, not ours, so they stayed put. I also took the pins, bracelets, and necklaces I separated yesterday and did a first pass of keep, donate/gift, or toss. I will do this a second time tomorrow and possibly a third time the next day. Don't ask me when I'll get to the earrings.

I just emailed the three families in the subdivision who have kids of trick-or-treating age. The CDC has defined trick or treating as a high risk activity, and I know some localities have banned it and some parents have forbidden it. I want the neighbors to know that if they want their kids to do some safe trick or treating, I am quite willing to put a bowl of treats on my porch from which they can choose. I don't want, though, to get candy and then have no one come. Older son does not eat candy, and the husband would not consume it fast enough to rescue me from eating too much of it myself. 

The View from the Hermitage, Day 211

Another gloomy, rainy day. The "rain" is as much sprinkles as it is rain. I walked seven miles this morning and only wore my rain jacket for about the first half mile. As I was closing in on seven, it seemed as if it were going to start to rain, but I quickly realized it was just water falling off the trees. It's supposed to stop tonight. Here's hoping it really does. 

Today's unpacking and putting away adventure was starting on my jewelry. No gems or fine metals here, just random things collected over forty or so years. Over that time, or at least over the 35 years in this house, it had gotten split up to various small jewelry boxes, boxes in which jewelry came, and other smallish containers. I need to get it all sorted out so that I can find something specific I want to wear. I have no idea how many pairs of earrings I have. Many I know I will never wear again. A lot are kid-themed from when the sons were in preschool and elementary school. I may keep some of those for random wearing, but I probably don't need all the pairs I have. Sitting on the floor going through it was not too comfortable, so I stopped at the point at which I had necklaces in one tray, pins in another, and bracelets in a third. I also had containers of pendants lacking chains, single earrings, and earring pairs in which one or both were missing the loop to go through my ear. Tomorrow I may do a first pass through the earrings. 

As I noted yesterday, I did read Ross Dhouthat's oped piece "There Will Be No Trump Coup." He makes a good case, but I am not totally convinced. The militias becoming more and more public scare the crap out of me. Living in Charlottesville, I've seen what can go down when militias and antifas and other liberal groups meet. It wasn't pretty then, and it won't be pretty if it happens again. I can't help but think that if a militia wanted to make a statement, they would see Charlottesville as a good place to do so. Younger son and his spouse equivalent plan to stay in place in Richmond, though they may very well relocate their parrot to the cabin the own north of town. They live close enough to where past protests have occurred that it is quite possible tear gas could reach their house. Just like the canary in the coal mine, EmmaJean could keel over from exposure. 

On the novel coronavirus front, Alaska, Colorado, Indiana, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, and Wisconsin set records for the number of new covid-19 cases in the week that ended yesterday. Rates in many other states are rising, just not to record numbers ... yet. Too many people seem to think that we're out of the woods. News flash: We aren't. We're still fucked and will likely continue to be fucked for quite some time.

I guess we could all work to catch covid-19 so we could end up immune and with a protective glow just as has happened with HWSNBN. I doubt we could all get the same treatments he got even if we wanted to. I heard that he wants to hold a rally daily between now and November 2. He could be in trouble. People have made it as far as he has with no real crises then WHAM! They go downhill pretty fast. 

And on the downhill or death front, John McCain's mother has passed at the ripe old age of 108. I remember watching tape of her passing his coffin as he lay in state in the Capitol. Parents should not have to bury their children. I remember, in 2008, as McCain ran against Obama, critics kept saying McCain was too old. He brought his mom out on the campaign trail to attest to the genetic longevity he may have inherited. Damn cancer! It takes way too many people way too early.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 210

Thirty weeks! If you're around my age, you probably remember when we weren't supposed to trust anyone older than 30. I hope this doesn't mean I have to start not trusting each passing week. They're hard enough to believe most weeks, but I like being able to trust that they will happen, pandemic or not.

I was feeling on the blue side earlier, feeling as if I were accomplishing nothing worthwhile nor anything creatively fun. I knit or needle felt in the evening while the husband does crossword puzzles or sudokus with the television on for background noise, but I don't want to head down to use the sewing or felting machine given that it's the one time the husband and I can sit together other than dinner. I forget sometimes that I do have a house to put back together which is why I'm not engaging in creative play during daytime hours. Managing to accomplish a relatively big thing this afternoon has helped me to feel better. 

Back when my desk in the basement was a desk for work, I had a standing desk accessory on it. When the husband moved home to work, I gave it to him for his home office. He was missing the one he had used at his office. He ended up deciding that the desk in his home office did not have enough extra room with the standing desk device sitting on it. It went out into the hallway where it has sat pretty much since we started putting things back after the floor job. This week, I took the time to clean off my desk so that older son could carry the standing desk device down and put it back on my desk. The HP printer I had down here was too large, so I swapped it with the smaller Epson printer I'd sent up to the husband (yes, I had two printers on one desk). 

This afternoon, after telling myself I'd feel better if I did something, I boxed up my laptop and anything else that did not need to be on the unused-for-eating side of the dining room table. Unexpectedly, I had to remove the Epson printer from the network and re-install it, which took a while. I am pleased to report that it works just fine. I just need to remember that it is installed on the wi-fi network associated with the wi-fi extender plugged into the wall just outside the door. As long as I log in to the same network, I can print just fine. Having accomplished my goal for the day, I feel much more upbeat. I had also forgotten how much I like working at a standing desk. Yes, life is good!

I kept my walk short this morning, for recovery purposes and due to the rain that was starting to pick up. At one point, the big pots of fall flowers outside several houses jumped out and hopped on my train of thought. Homey touches, just as the pumpkins on several porches were. I did, for several years, get pumpkins to put on our porch. A couple of years they were made into jack-o-lanterns that sat on the porch until they rotted. When the sons outgrew the jack-o-lantern stage, the pumpkins eventually became katana (Japanese Samurai sword) practice. I haven't gotten porch pumpkins for several years now. You can't see the porch from the road. Neither can we see the porch from inside the house. 

Every August or September, my Facebook page gets decorated with first-day-of-school photos posted by various friends. Some, posted by younger friends, are of their kids in real time. Others posted by friends of a similar age to me are throw-backs. Am I a failed parent to admit that taking such photos never even entered my mind? I did recently ask older son if he would miss having such photos as memories of his childhood. He said he'd be embarrassed if such photos existed, and I expect he was being truthful. 

Other potential family traditions came and went. The gingerbread house kits were a hit for one year. The sons competed to see who could come up with the best gingerbread house of horrors. They fashioned licorice strings into nooses, for example. Red frosting became the blood flowing out under the front door. Did they want to do this again the next year? Nope. I may eventually have thrown the kits away to keep me from eating all the candy I'd gotten for them to use.

When the sons were middle- and high-school age, I did start making homemade cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning something of a family tradition. I am still expected to make them even if older son's "healthy eating" means he won't eat any. So I guess I haven't been a total failure on the parenting or mothering front.  At least that's what I tell myself as I eat the leftover cinnamon rolls. 

I will now go rest on my laurels for writing a post bereft (save for this) of any mention of current politics. I think I've earned it.

 

The View from the Hermitage, Day 209

"If it were easy, it wouldn't be awesome." These were the words of encouragement from older son as I was struggling with my sixth mile this morning. I've been walking while he runs, though on weekends he runs carrying a 30-pound metal plate in his rucksack. I've been walking seven miles each morning; it will be a while before I move up to eight. Right now, the seventh mile is hard enough to tell me I should not yet try eight, at least not on a regular basis.

Back in April, the digit in the ten's place in my weight hit a number I really didn't like. I started seriously watching what I was eating and using the decades-old ski machine daily. I lost a pound or two most weeks, which was good. When refinishing the floors made us relocate to younger son's cabin, I started walking. I kept it up when we got home; it seemed more of a workout than the skiing. A couple of weeks ago, I hit a point at which I had lost the weight that I put on over the six years of three major joint surgeries. I'm trying to lose a bit more now without being overly compulsive about it. I no longer track what I eat, but I watch it very carefully as I go through the day.

HWSNBN spoke from a White House balcony this afternoon. The headline I saw on CNN said he gave a divisive speech to a mostly brown and black crowd. He removed his mask in order to speak. It looked as if most members of the crowd then removed theirs. He is still declining to say if he has had a negative covid-19 test or when his last negative one before the first positive one was. His even more erratic than usual behavior suggests he's still getting dexamethasone. Older son read that the normal course of that treatment is ten days. He's gone about eight days now. It will be interesting to see how steroid withdrawal is for him. His behavior may deteriorate even more, strange as that may sound. I am probably more scared now than I've been in the last four years. It seems quite clear that no one is going to try to stop him, and I don't want to know what he might do to try to get re-elected. I would not put it past him to start a war or try to impose martial law here at home. 

The local county is talking about increasing the amount of in=person instruction in the public schools. Right now, the only students going to their physical school are some English language learners, some special education students who need in-person instruction, and kids who cannot get an internet signal at home. The division's administration say that a recent survey showed parents wanted their kids back in in-person school. Teachers, on the other hand, do not want to go back to teaching in person. It sounds as if keeping your kids in virtual learning is an option, though no one has explained what that might look like. It's not clear, for instance, whether the virtual teacher a kid has right now will remain his or her virtual teacher if the family opts out of going in person. Once again, I am glad that my kids have grown out of K-12. Actually, it's nice they've grown out of college as well given the covid-19 issues at that level as well.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 208

Older son and I have been playing a game each morning. What is the new October surprise? We started this last week when HWSNBN was first diagnosed with covid-19. Older son is doing better than I am with his off-the-wall predictions. Mine, that Pence will also get covid-19, just isn't happening. Older son came up with a doozy this morning. He described it as a tin-foil-hat scenario that would rival just about any other conspiracy theory view of the now. Let me see if I can remember all the details. Nancy Pelosi has introduced a bill to create a commission to monitor a president's ability to carry out the duties of the office. Moscow Mitch has committed to getting this through the Senate. The deal here is that the Democrats will stop protesting Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Court nomination; they will also agree to not pack the court when Biden becomes President. Once a commission is established, spots on it will go to a ever-so-slightly-more Republican slant. George W. Bush will be included as the chief resource in terms of what it takes to be president. Mike Pence is in on this since the VP has to agree that the president is derelict in his or her duties for the 25th amendment to work. Once Pence is on board, the commission will move to temporarily strip HWSNBN of the power of the presidency with Pence to become acting president. Biden will win the presidency and the deal will enable enough close-race Republicans to win their races that they keep the majority in the Senate.

Yeah, we'll see if any of this might possibly come true. If any of it does, I'll wear a tin foil hat in older son's honor.

The husband says that there is another covid-19 case in his department, another graduate student. That makes a total so far of three. The case numbers for the whole university have not looked all that bad actually. Older son tells me, though, that there is discussion on Reddit of how many students are getting tested at outside sources; the university number includes only those people testing positive on tests conducted by the university. Older son said he actually saw a report (veracity unknown) that the residents in a sorority house had all tested positive on tests done outside the university. The university claims that if someone, when being tested elsewhere, indicates a connection to the university, the result must be passed on to the university. What I wonder is if they always ask if the person being tested is from the university. I can also see students lying and saying they are not connected to the university. 

I chatted with my mom this afternoon. Her assisted living facility has started to serve breakfast in the dining room. Each resident gets one or two meals there each week. Mom has been lobbying for breakfast for some time now and was quite happy to see it finally come through. Word is that they won't start in-dining-room dinner service until there's been another round of covid-19 testing. I can't say I blame them. Better safe than not. 

The kitchen curtains arrived today. After I post this, I may even unwrap and unfold them to see how they look. I expect they will need ironing. I do have the ironing board set up in the basement. I used it on an Egyptian tablecloth that younger son brought back from a high school trip there. The husband and I would love to visit Egypt, but not until that part of the world is much more stable. 

The husband just came in from mowing the lawn to say that there was a problem with the mower, said problem not sounding good at all. Older son is on his way out here to help with the problem. I think I should go provide moral support.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 207

It sounds as if the real winner in last night's vice presidential debate was the fly who spent some minutes sitting on Mike Pence;s white hair. I did see one headline that spoke of what a brazen liar Pence has become. This, I suppose, was in response to his defending HWSNBN. Speaking of HWSNBN, he says he will not participate in the virtual debate planned for next week because the format makes it possible for his microphone to be turned off. I really hope the Presidential Debate Committee does hold a debate with only Joe Biden present so that it becomes pretty much a Biden town hall. And because HWSNBN declines participating, I don't think the equal time rules would apply. This just adds to my amazement that there are people who would vote for such a thug. 

I saw an article reporting that Nancy Pelosi is looking into the 25th amendment, worrying that HWSNBN is not in good shape to carry out the duties of the presidency. I doubt she can get Mike Pence to go along with it given his statements in last night's debate. I seem to remember that the VP is required to sign on to any declaration that the President in unfit to serve. And then there are Cabinet members to line up. Still, it's about time someone raised the question.

On the covid-19 front, I hope that the number of new cases put up today in Virginia is not for real. At 1,844, it was second only to the 2,015 that turned out to have some cases from two or three other days added in. If it's a real number, things are worse than I thought. Also on the covid-19 front, it appears that while the local university has a number of student cases, they have not really transmitted those to members of the local communities. Two of the women's sports teams--volleyball and soccer--have had to cancel or postpone matches due to covid-19 and, at least in the case of one, injuries. I heard rumors of a wild party held by the soccer team but do not know how true said rumor was.

The temperature was in the 80sF again yesterday. Although I in general prefer hot days to cold ones, yesterday's heat made my morning walk harder. I cut it short to be available for a call from the vet and ended up not going back out. I made up for a bit of it today, walking 7.65 miles. If the seventh mile weren't didn't seem so hard, I'd go for eight. Not right now though. The upside to the walking is that I've now managed to lose the extra weight I put on in the aftermath of three major joint surgeries in 2014, 2016, and 2018. I at several points have joked that my goal for 2020 was to not need a major joint surgery. So far, I've been good and given the pandemic wouldn't go into a hospital now except for emergency care.

I ordered curtains for the two windows in the kitchen. It's my trial run before I order them for the dining room and living room. Fortunately, nothing was repainted in the bedroom, so I don't need to replace those curtains. I am going to get new curtains for the master bathroom since the ones I had there for 30-plue years were cheap plastic ones, sort of like the material a shower curtain might be. Those may be the next ones I order. I'm not brave enough yet to order everything at once. 

On the unpacking front, I have cleared off enough of the desk in my office that the standing desk I used to have there but gave to the husband can to back. The husband decided that his home office desk was too small for the standing desk unit, so it's been sitting in the hallway between his home office and the bedroom. I also moved some more books to try to consolidate my fabric books. I have four bankers' boxes of books pulled out of the storage bedroom that need new shelves. It maybe a while before those get done, so I need to find a new place to stack them. There's always something. I should go do that now while I'm thinking of it. Otherwise, I will next think of it at a most inconvenient time.

 

The View from the Hermitage, Day 206

The unpacking and organizing continues. While I have not yet found my kindle, I did find two souvenirs from Viet Nam that might come in handy now. Walking around a downtown, virtually every Vietnamese woman you see will be wearing a mask. Some masks cover more than others. On our second trip there, we inquired as to the reasoning. We were actually thinking it might have something to do with air pollution, though that did not explain why we saw no men wearing masks. Remember the days when people here, especially women, basked in the sun or visited a salon to get their skin tan? We were told that in Vietnam, women want to keep their skin as untanned as possible. Hence, they wear masks when out in the sun. We purchased a couple, which I found this afternoon. As I said, some masks

cover more than others.

I of course had to see how these might work as the pandemic masks we wear today. I was told that one test of a mask's permeability is can you blow a match out exhaling through the mask. With the lower, smaller mask, the match flame flickered, but I could not extinguish it. With the upper, larger mask, I could not even get the flame to flicker. I guess I now have two more masks to put in the basket I keep near the door.

HWSNBN on steroids scares me even more than HWSNBN not on steroids. It worries me that there is not "real" discussion of invoking the 25th amendment. The man has the nuclear codes, and while I doubt he would try to start something against his good buddy Vlad, might he start something against China. Repay China for the coronavirus with a nuke perhaps? He might also order his friend Bill at Justice to arrest Hunter and Joe Biden on a trumped-up treason charge. He might do almost anything. 

The Washington Post ran an article this morning comparing Boris Johnson and HWSNBN in terms of their respective bouts with covid-19. The headline "Johnson, Trump: A study in contrasts" pretty much sums up the gist of the article. It seems that Johnson ("call me Boris") was treated as a regular patient despite having a large medical team tending to him. He had two intensive care doctors named Nick and paid tribute to them by giving his newborn son the middle name Nicholas. He specifically praised two nurses who stayed by his bed the two days he received supplemental oxygen. I would guess that HWSNBN couldn't tell you the name of anyone other than, possibly, his principal doctor. Johnson also spent some time convalescing after leaving the hospital; he did not go back to work the day he left, or even the day after that. Different strokes for different folks.

Dr. Fauci now says that it may well be the end of 2021 before enough doses to vaccine have been given to help us return to something resembling the old normal. And the US death total may very well double to 400,000 before then. The University of Washington says that deaths could total 300,000 by December 1, 2020. I wonder how long my hair will be in 14 more months. At least the growing-out bangs will be out of my eyes well before then. And I will be even more spoiled by then in terms of having someone else (older son) obtain groceries for me. For one, he selects much healthier food than I would left to my own devices. And he picks out wine the same way I do--how expensive is it, and what is on the label? I've given a couple of labels back to him and was unable to get a few off the bottles, but I should make a collage of all the ones I've been able to remove and keep. I daresay it would be interesting. 

Note to self: Think about in whatever other boxes your kindle could be hiding.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 205

Where to begin? Well, writing this is distracting me from looking at curtains online. I finally measured some of the windows. The impetus was that the husband was talking about putting up the ones we used to have on each window. The problems with that include that the colors no longer match the rugs, the accent walls, and the general scheme I'm aiming at (Did I just make it sound as if I know what I'm doing?) and that once something is up there, it removes the pressure to find something that works. I'm hoping I can find something online because I really don't want to do in-person retail shopping and expose myself to the world. 

HWSNBN went back to the White House last evening. When he arrived, he went up the steps to the balcony overlooking the south lawn, removed his mask, gave a two-thumbs-up, then entered into a room in which all the people that could be seen were maskless. After that, he had them re-film it because he wanted it to look a bit different when used, probably for campaign purposes. Older son sent me a link to a Twitter feed in which someone had zoomed in to catch HWSNBN's face after he removed the mask. Said footage resides here. It certainly looks to me as if HWSNBN is having some trouble breathing. As one of the doctors said, he's not out of the woods yet.

The aspect of it all that had me looking down and shaking my head was that HWSNBN's campaign is now saying that HWSNBN's bout of covid-19, his personal experience, makes him more qualified to deal with the pandemic than Joe Biden. In other words, not following the public health guidelines is a good thing, and anyone who does follow them is not to be trusted. We should also not let covid-19 "dominate" our lives, because he feels better than he has in 20 years. Can you say, "Steroids are your friends?"

Hurricane Delta (I now have a "Delta Dawn" ear worm) is growing rapidly just south of the Gulf of Mexico. It appeared to go from tropical storm to Cat 4 hurricane in a matter of hours. This is the earliest we've had that many storms; climate change, you know. It's also unusual for nine or 10 of those storms to land on the US. I must admit that if I'd lived in New Orleans, I'd have moved elsewhere by now. 

I just saw a headline that HWSNBN is breaking off negotiations with Democrats over a second stimulus package. That does not hurt us personally, but it will hurt far, far too many people. But they don't need to worry as long as they don't let covid-19 dominate their lives.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 204

It has just been announced that HWSNBN is going back to the White House at 6:30 this evening. His aides have supposedly been encouraging him to stay at Walter Reed noting that should his condition worsen and send him back there a second time, it will not look at all good. And we know he's all about looking good, right? He's already trying to use his infection to his advantage. His campaign has noted that HWSNBN has first-hard experience with covid-19, experience his opponent does not. I heard that and just had to shake my head. Have they no shame? 

There were evidently two Secret Service agents in the car with HWSNBN during his drive-by. They wore medical-grade masks, face shields, and coveralls, though there were some tears in the coveralls of the agent riding shotgun. The husband did a little digging and learned that while a Secret Service agent can decline taking part in an activity that risks the life of the President, an agent cannot decline taking part in an activity that risks his own life. This somewhat surprises me; having the two reversed seems to make more sense. 

HWSNBN's press secretary and two of her aides are the latest positive covid-19 cases to emerge from the Rose Garden event for Amy Coney Barrett. It's something like the Red Wedding on Game of Thrones: People just keep dropping. It's going to be interesting to see how many positive cases come out of HWSNBN's fundraising events on the day he first tested positive, assuming we get to see that number. One number we have yet to see is the date of his last negative test. I've seen several people asked that question, none of whom answered it.

On a more local front, they local university's football team had not had any positive covid-19 cases since July, and the couple then were determined to be something the player brought with him from home. That was until Friday. Saturday, playing the number one team in the country, the locals were missing one of the full-time assistant coaches as well as six or seven players. The coach tested positive; it was not clear if the players had tested positive or were in quarantine because of exposure to someone  infected. 

I have made some noticeable progress on the unpacking and organizing front. I emptied two boxes today that contained fragile items that lived on the mantle. They are not all back on the mantle but all save a bottle of snake wine from Vietnam are somewhere on display. I'm not at all sure where to put the snake wine. I suggested to the husband that he find a place for it so that it would be visible when he's on Zoom calls with his students. He didn't seem to like that idea. 

The folks at the National Zoo got hold of the panda cub long enough to take the blood sample needed to determine it's gender. They then gave the cub's father paint and a canvas so that he could paint a gender reveal picture. The cub is male. I'm not sure if China has a preference for one gender or the other. Either way, the cub is theirs in four years. I haven't been to the zoo in some time. I used to go a lot when I would drive younger son up to Washington so he could spend the day with his girlfriend from Potomac, Maryland. I like to just sit and watch certain animals. After a couple hours at the zoo, I'd head to a museum or just stroll. I wonder how long it will be before doing that feels safe. Maybe never?