The View from the Hermitage, Day 336

The view out the dining room window of the Hermitage is a wee bit different from what was there yesterday or even this morning. There's less snow. Tree branches have shed the ice that weighed them down this morning. One icicle still lives on the eave outside the basement sun room and appears to be hanging on for dear life. A monotonous dripping announces that what was frozen on the roof is melting rhythmically. I expect tomorrow will show even larger changes. 

The more things change, the more they stay the same here in my week 48 of the pandemic. Xpot is still Xpot and has beaten the rap one more time. The novel coronavirus stays novel; the UK variant has been found locally. Countries do what they think best. Germans has tightened its borders, banning travel from some Czech regions. New Zealand has locked down Auckland while three cases in one family are investigated. One of the cases worked in the laundry department of an airline catering company. Here in the US, most things are still left up to the states. There may be a national mask mandate governing interstate travel, but individual states can follow that but have no other mask regulations. Montana just dropped its mask mandate; the governor told Montanans to be vigilant. How the heck can you be vigilant against something you cannot see or feel until it's too late.

An investigator on the World Health Organization team investigating the start of the coronavirus says that China refused to hand over key data, leading a US national security adviser to say he had "deep concerns" about the initial findings. The WHO investigator said that the team requested raw patient data but was given only a summary. The importance of the raw data stems from the fact that only half of the 174 initial cases had exposure to the Wuhan wet market where China says the virus was initially detected. 

I finally remembered today to ask my mom if the sense of smell she lost during her October bout with covid-19 had ever returned. She said it had not. People in the hall still know when she's snacking on microwave popcorn, but she says she smells nothing. Now I need to remember to ask her if losing her sense of smell has made things taste different. I told her that at least she is not a restaurant critic. I read of one such person who could no longer do his or her job having lost both a sense of smell and a sense of taste. 

I could depress myself by commenting on the impeachment verdict and other things political, but I now have evidence that I have been paying too much attention to political news. A crossword clue this morning was "______ King of Maine." I moved my pen to fill it in, but "Angus" was too short. Okay. What could it be. Several minutes later, I got the letter T from a cross clue and realized the King of the clue was Stephen, not Angus. The Professor said that the same thing had happened to him. I will endeavor to get back to more popular culture than political culture. 

One more snow and ice photo. I love the patterns that branches can make. 

The View from the Hermitage, Day 335

The impeachment vote was held a wee bit ago. Needless to say, Xpot was acquitted. The most positive comment that comes to mind is that at least a seventh Republican saw the light and turned from the dark side. I'm sure that Xpot is no longer screaming at his television but is instead gloating and planning his comeback. I just hope that the comeback does not include revenge, suggesting to his "followers" that those who were not with him are against him and should be punished. I would not put that past him at all. I expect there will soon be a pro-Xpot rally, perhaps even on President's Day. As if catching covid-19 is not scary enough, we now have a lunatic with potentially violent followers to fear.

So let's see how scared I can be from the coronavirus notes I wrote while not thinking about the pending impeachment vote. Some health people are cautioning that unless the first-world, developed countries get with the program of ensuring that all nations get the vaccines in "a fast and fair manner," it could be years before the coronavirus is under control at a global level. "Vaccine nationalism" will only prolong the pandemic. Moderna, for example, has given no doses to COVAX, the global vaccine effort, nor have they made any deals to provide vaccine to low-income nations.

While we here in the US have vaccine, many logistical hurdles remain in terms of getting it into people's arms. Not getting our act together will most likely mean that many Americans who want to be vaccinated will still not be vaccinated by the end of the summer. And what percent of people refuse to be vaccinated is still not known with any degree of certainty, but it is likely large enough to make herd immunity difficult if not impossible to achieve. 

My mom got her second vaccine injection on Thursday. She felt more physical effects from the second shot than she did from the first. Another friend who just got her second shot said the same thing. I guess the second dose ups the number of antibodies to a point where more or stronger effects can be felt. Maybe in a few months I'll be able to comment first-hand. Every now and again when I read articles or hear about people complaining about how difficult it is to make vaccination appointments or how the system must be broken because they haven't heard anything after registering, I wonder if my sitting back and saying I'll get an appointment when someone says it's my turn makes me stranger than I may already be. The Professor has said that he doesn't want to get vaccinated until K-12 teachers or child-care workers or other more-essential workers have been vaccinated. While working from home is by no means ideal, it lets him limit his potential exposure and, by extension, mine. 

It's after 5:00 pm here which means I can investigate the alcohol options available without resorting to the "somewhere in the world it is after 5:00 pm" copout. I'm thinking that watching the news tonight would be a bad thing.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 334

I just went out to go up to the mailbox and retrieve the Valentine present I'd ordered for The Professor. The air had a brisk, wintry tang to it. It felt so good, almost like a soothing cool lotion rubbed on my cheeks. It erased some of the stress of the day trying to help The Professor with some computer issues he's been having. Since it didn't erase all the stress, I'm not going to write about the pandemic or impeachment or other worldly matters. I'm just going to put in some photos taken so far in 2021 and possibly comment on some of them. My blog. My rules.

  

I actually took this shot on New Year's Day when I was thinking I should try to do what I did one year and post a photo a day. Given that no photos were ever posted here or on Instagram, you can see how far that idea went. A naked, leafless tree is a recurring quilt idea that, like the photo a day, hasn't really gone anywhere. 

I took these two shots on the morning walk with Son #1 and The Family Dog. The pine trees make me think I'm in Narnia, and they are helpfully or not pointing in the direction they think I should take. I won't say whether I took their advice.

Some freezing or frozen precipitation is in the forecast for tonight, though I can't say that the air out there smells like incoming precipitation. It is nice to have winter for a couple of days. Once The Sons were no longer in school and my duty to drive was reduced, winter got a lot more welcome. That said, we're coming up on the 8th anniversary of what got me the Mother of the Year award for 2013. I need to figure out the exact date and recount that as the day's post. 

Finally, Lauren owes me big time. Lauren who? Hell if I know. All I know is that I found a voicemail on my cell phone intended for someone named Lauren. It was not just any message either, but the offer of a job. The call originated in New Jersey. I returned the call and explained that I was not Lauren though I had gotten a message intended for her. The man whom I had called was very apologetic and also appreciative of the fact that I had taken the time to clear up the situation. I told him to have a nice weekend and said good-bye. As for his being appreciative, wouldn't  anyone have done that? Or am I just that naive?

The View from the Hermitage, Day 333

I did turn on the impeachment trial coverage today. It's disheartening to hear the announcers talking about Republican Senators who are not paying attention. They said that one was looking at a map of Asia and writing in the country names. Really?!? I had teachers who would have thrown an eraser (remember the days of chalkboards?) at that guy and hit him in the head. I did learn a new word, though: prebut. It's rebutting before what you want to rebut is introduced. Prebut. I like that. 

It is probably not surprising, but Americans' perception of the risk of contracting covid-19 is the lowest it has been since October. When asked how they would view the risk of returning to pre-pandemic behavior right now, 9 percent said there would be no risk while 25 percent said the risk would be small. The people least likely to see covid-19 as a risk were (no surprise here) ages 18-29 (58 percent) and (again no surprise) Republicans (49 percent). On the flip side, though, 76 percent of those who had been vaccinated still saw covid-19 as a risk. 

Speaking of vaccinations, Dr. Fauci says that by April we could be at "open season" for vaccinations. Anyone who wants to be vaccinated can then be vaccinated. I hope he's correct, but I'm not that optimistic. I did see "fully vaccinated" defined as having had both shots with at least two weeks having passed since the second shot. At the same time, I saw guidance that one should assume protection may start to wear off after three months. 

Covid case numbers are declining or holding steady in all 50 states but the national numbers are not what could be considered "good." More states are loosening restrictions, something that may not be a good idea. Germany is extending its lockdown despite a drop in the number of cases. The British government is said to have plans to introduce mandatory quarantine and prison sentences for travelers who lie on entry forms. I have to say that this sounds pretty drastic and I'll believe it when I see or hear more details about it.

Psychiatrists are warning of a "tsunami" of eating disorders. The isolation of lockdown has people feeling out of control. Food becomes something that can be controlled, something that can compensate for the lack of control felt in other life things. Since reading this, I've been trying to figure out whether I'm just repressing a sense of no control or if I'm just coping with it really well. Does it matter that I've said not entirely jokingly that my 2020 began in May 2019 when my mom started having health problems? Only about a month after we got her squared away in assisted living in January 2020 the pandemic reared its ugly head. I did stick to my guns about leaving my job, but still it took over a year to actually end being on call. Have I just accepted that there's not as much control in my life given everything that's happened in the last almost-two years? I'll have to give that some thought.

It's snowing again, leading off what could be five days of snow, sleet, freezing rain, and wintry mix. I didn't realize how last year's non-winter (we had less than two inches of snow spread out over the whole season) bummed me out. It does help that I have no reason or desire to drive anywhere. I love watching the snow fall, and I love walking in it. The snow is slowly building up on the branches of the dogwood tree outside the dining room window, and I love watching the change from brown to white branches. It's calming. 

As I've been typing, the House impeachment managers have rested their case, opening the door for Xpot's attorneys to being their defense tomorrow. The CNN talking heads said the final vote might even be taken on Saturday. I don't think he'll be convicted, but I might consider it a win if more than six Republicans vote for conviction. I do have champagne ready should that  happen. 

 

The View from the Hermitage, Day 332

The novel coronavirus cannot compete with Xpot's impeachment trial on the news front. Only an unbelievably good or bad aspect of the virus could compete with coverage of the trial. I suppose that's warranted. We've had pandemics before, but we've never had a second impeachment trial nor have we ever had an impeachment trial for someone no longer in office. Once again, I have watched no news coverage during the day and will rely on the nightly news for the high points. I instead have been wrestling with a quilt repair, but that's another story. 

On the news front but not related to either pandemic or impeachment is that breakdancing will be a sport in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Breakdancing. Really. Here, I revert to Michael Wilbon (former sports columnist for The Washington Post) for guidance as to what is a competitive "sport." Are you competing directly with another person? Is there an objective standard such as time against which each competitor is measured? Then it's a sport. I believe that gymnasts and figure skaters are tremendously physically fit, but gymnastics and figure skating are not sports.

In terms of the Olympics, the Tokyo ones that is, the director of Australian tennis says that a more rigorous coronavirus plan is needed. He's basing this on what has been required to get the Australian Open up and running. One of his suggestions is to lengthen the games to allow for longer quarantine periods with athletes training at their own accommodations rather than together at Olympic facilities. Another factor in terms of the Olympics in Tokyo is that Japan's general population of people ages 16 to 59 will likely not be getting covid vaccines until July, the month is which the games are scheduled to be held. Will the world accept the Olympic Games without spectators? Your guess is as good as mine. 

Moving to Europe, Europe's oldest living person, a nun, has survived covid-19 days before her 117th birthday. She was asymptomatic even. In case anyone is wondering, she is the world's second oldest living person.

The CDC has issued new mask advice. A tightly fitting surgical mask or layering a cloth mask over a surgical mask can reduce transmission of covid-19 by up to 96.5 percent if (you knew there had to be a condition, right?) both people are wearing them. Other covid highlights include that half of US deaths have come since November 1, 2020. Experts are advising that a dip in new case rates does not mean that restrictions should be reset totally. Once spring arrives and people are doing more outdoor activities might be a better time to relax things. Starting Friday, Philadelphia will allow restaurants to increase indoor dining from 25 percent of capacity to 50 percent if they pass an air test. First, they must have HVAC or a standalone ventilation unit that is fully operational and that ventilates the entire dining area. The room's air must be replaced at least 15 times per hour. I did not look into exactly how this would be measured.

As for the quilt repair mentioned at the outset, when The Sons were little, 4 to 6 years old, I made each of them a trip around the world tied quilt that emerged from my first ever quilting class. They kept these quilts on their beds year after year. About seven or eight years ago, Son #1 asked if I could repair his quilt; there were holes or tears from just how well it had been loved. I said I would do it, having absolutely no idea how to do that. I actually took the quilt to a meeting of one of the guild chapters to which I belonged thinking it might be a way to get to know some of the people better, asking for advice. That plan bombed. The main suggestion was to make a new quilt, this offered after asking why I would even think of trying to repair this one, even after hearing how long my son had had the quilt and how much he valued it. I ended up winging it and actually did a not-too-bad job. 

Then Son #2 asked me to repair his quilt. Son #1 was okay with my adding some new fabric patches to cover the holes; I was surprised at how closely I could match 20-plus year old fabric at Joann's. I repaired it as if the three worn layers were one, then put down new batting and backing and machine-quilted all the ditches. Son #2, on the other hand, has asked me to replace as little fabric as possible. He does not want new batting because he does not want it to be any warmer than it already is. His quilt also has more wear and tear then the first one. I won't say how long I've had the quilt sitting awaiting repair. I will just say that it occurred to me that getting the quilt done would be a great birthday present. This gives me until April 2. I have already determined that it's getting new backing. I will not add a new batting layer, but there's no way I can do a reasonable job if the original backing has to be visible. 

The punchline is that Son #1 says his quilt has a few more rips and worn spots, so can I fix his again once I'm done with Son #2's. Momming really is a lifelong experience.  

The View from the Hermitage, Day 331

Xpot's second impeachment trial has started. While I have yet to watch any of it, I heard that a videotape of some of the insurrection including the noose intended for Vice President Pence was one of the first things shown.  Watching a summary shown on a network's nightly news show is probably a better use of my time than watching it as it happens live.

Moving to the novel coronavirus front, a researcher from the World Health Organization says that it is unlikely that the virus escaped from a Chinese lab. I call that good news in that directing pent-up pandemic anger toward a bat or some other animal is safer to the world than potentially going to war against another nation. 

Some researchers here are warning that we could see a surge in deaths from the covid variants given how far behind we are in tracking them. We currently rank 54rd in the world for covid-19 genetic sequencing despite having one of the most well-developed genomic infrastructures in the world. The CDC did not begin reviewing samples from states until November 2020 and currently received only 750 per week for sequencing. Variant B117 aka the British variant appears to be 50 percent more transmissible and could result in a summer surge if the vaccines end up being less effective against it.

A recent survey included the question "When do you anticipate returning to normal levels of attending in-person gatherings?" I found the results quite interesting. For the total US sample surveyed, 28 percent said that they already are attending in-person gatherings. The responses by political party did not surprise me: 42 percent of Republicans are already attending such gatherings compared to 10 percent of Democrats. Education didn't seem to affect current attendance, though the two groups were high school or less (28 percent) versus bachelor's degree or higher (27 percent). 

I am disheartened that just over one-fourth of all respondents are already attending in-person gatherings. I concede that they may be doing so masked and distanced, but I don't really believe that's the case. That so many Republicans are already gathering in groups is surprising only in that I would not have been surprised to see a higher number. I've read several reports in which doctors or epidemiologists say that things are opening up too soon, and we'll see the effects down the road. I wonder if we'll be able to distinguish between the Super Bowl surge and the Valentine's one or if they'll basically run together. 

One of the local drugstores is starting covid vaccinations on Friday. The appointment system will go live sometime tomorrow. To get an appointment, you must already be registered with the local health district and over the age of 65. This means that The Professor could try getting an appointment; he's not sure it's worth the hassle of the every-man-for-himself appointment process. I don't think I'd try getting an appointment in a scrum. The system of the district's sending you an email with instructions to follow seems much easier even if it means waiting longer. It's not as if I have in-person gatherings I want or need to attend. 

I do, though, have dinner with The Professor to attend, and I'm making corn chowder tonight.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 330

Last night's Super Bowl as a football game was disappointing. The ads were also not of the same caliber as those in years past. We only watched the first half before following The Family Dog to bed. I watched a couple of the ads we missed, such as Bruce Springsteen's Jeep ad, online this morning and found nothing to get excited about. I've never been a Tom Brady fan, but I did appreciate reading that in September 2014, six years and five Super Bowls ago, he said, "When I suck, I'll retire. But I don't plan on sucking for a long time."

As for the pie and the chili, both were great. I asked The Professor if the pie (which does taste very much like a cookie) "needed" the cream cheese crust I wrestled with. He said it did, that it would not have tasted the same on a plain pastry crust. The chili was good last night and again for lunch today. Son #1 took a container of it with him this morning and texted me later to tell me it was delicious. The chili recipe can be found here. I don't want to run wild violating copyright protection, but I might be willing to scan the pie and crust recipes and send them to a couple of close friends. 

In news of viruses other than the novel coronavirus one, the Democratic Republic of the Congo had an Ebola case surface. The woman presenting with Ebola was married to a man who survived Ebola a couple of years ago. It turns out that the Ebola virus can live in semen and eye tissue for over three years. It gives new meaning to the term "safe sex."

The good news is that Covid-19 rates in the US are declining. There were just over 87,000 new cases yesterday, the first day since early November with fewer than 100,000 new cases. Deaths are not declining, unfortunately, and the total case number for the US is now over 27,000,000. In 44 states, new case rates are declining, while that are flat in the other six states. The lowest new case rates are in Hawaii, North Dakota, and Washington State; the highest are in South Carolina, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.

The bad news is that the above declines may not last. The variants, particularly that from the UK, are becoming more prevalent and could bring on a new wave of cases. There is also a nontrivial probability of seeing a post-Super-Bowl surge. Thousands danced, maskless, in the streets of downtown Tampa following last night's game. There were also likely to have been crowded indoor gatherings in other cities. 

While Virginia is treating high-risk conditions on the honor system, New York State is requiring that people document whatever underlying conditions they have that put them at higher risk should they get covid-19. Documentation can be in the form of a doctor's letter, other medical information, or some form of signed certification. While it would be a hassle, though not difficult, to get such documentation from my doctor, it may be a better way to handle things. Given the anxiety some people are showing about when they could get vaccinated, I can see someone claiming to have something they don't really have just to get vaccinated sooner than they otherwise would be able to. 

Something I never would have thought of as a result of the pandemic is an increased demand for services from organizations in Israel that help ultra-Orthodox who have left the fold transition to modern Israeli society. The reasons cited for the increased exiting the fold are that the pandemic has caused a breakdown of supervision and routine, an increase in internet use, and more time for questioning and self discovery.