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.