it's bad out there

 So, since I'm not an expert in health policy, I'm going to quote someone who is. I've talked about Andy Slavitt before. I follow him on Twitter and find his daily updates to be equal parts informative and terrifying. Yesterday's update was definitely the latter. I've combined his thread into one text block, but otherwise these are his words as he posted them.

COVID Update December 17: This is my worst thread. I hate writing it. But I have to write it. 

This is what happened yesterday in California. 61,000 new cases in a single day. 

But it’s not the cases. It’s the trajectory. 35,000 prior peak.

This is what happened in Minnesota. It’s not the decline to still historically high numbers. It’s that the governor was forced to majorly let up on restrictions yesterday at the first sign— a sure fire sign they are coming back.

You may ask “how can he be forced?” And you would be right, but the legislature has unique authority in Minnesota. They had threatened to remove the health commissioner & throw the state into disarray.

In New York, Andrew Cuomo had a press conference about COVID. It wasn’t the press conference itself where he warned about an overwhelmed system. He had done that last Spring. It was that this time he kept emphasizing the economy in his pleas to New Yorkers.

Yesterday one American died every 30 seconds. But no one has the tolerance to talk about it any longer. 

We’re forced to talk about the economy. Because enough people are apparently no long motivated by 3600 people dying. In a day.

Are we at the bad part yet? It’s getting worse. The people dying today got infected before Thanksgiving. Before people infected their families. And Thanksgiving was a sh-t show by all accounts.

So I have taken a peak at what the numbers suggest comes next. And that’s when I got even more horrified.

If things continue as they are— full hospitals, threats of strikes, PPE running out— and very soft, late, in enforced public health measures— what we are experiencing now will get much worse. 

Many Americans will absolutely as a badge of pride gather in large numbers for Christmas now. We know this for sure.

Because of: Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day & Thanksgiving. 

What does all this mean? 

It means that despite beginning vaccine rollouts, we may not have even have the deaths we will have by the time we get to spring.

It means we could have days in January where more than 6000 people die in a day from COVID.

Much of this is driven by non-compliant behavior. People who refuse. A president who doesn’t care. Essential workers we push out. People who live in poor working conditions. 

And Kristy Noem.

Even Ron DeSantis has been willing to look at CDC reports on outbreaks. But not Kristy Noem.

Even with governors who care, who are doing their best, they are facing such pressure from non-believers, legislators— all 100% followers of Trump— that they compromise on their compromises.

Conversation yesterday. “We know gyms should be closed. But we’re getting tremendous pushback that they should be open 50%. So I’m holding the line and opening at 25%.”

These showboat compromises are good for no one. 

I have sympathy for all of the people who have to make tough decisions.

But there are easy decisions too. Easy decisions are the ones where more people live if you make them. Easy decisions mean supporting the people losing their livelihoods so we can be safe. 

Right now there are people who are in 4 categories of compliance:

1-Taking very few risks

2-Taking more risks than they think

3-Forced to take risks because of job/living

4-Carefree

It would be one thing if the losses were confined to people in category 4. Expressing their liberty.

But category 3 (essential workers, ppl facing homelessness, multi-gen houses) suffer disproportionately based on Category 4 behavior. 

As prevalence grows more & more people in the first 2 categories— occasionally letting their guards down but trying very hard— are more & more at risk.

As are people who need the hospital for other reasons.

We are poised for science to bail us out before too long. But here, the same elements that plague us we will face again. People who choose not to be safe because they see numbers dropping. People who spread false rumors about the vaccines.

I write these painful perspectives because you have to be smart for everyone who isn’t. It’s that driver’s ed defensive driving principal we learned in high school. It won’t always be there. But it will for now.

In the meantime 2 things. First— ask every person you agree to spend time with this simple question: Have you been in contact w someone who tested positive for COVID?

Ask them. It may feel weird but ask them. Amazing how many people will answer yes when they think about it. 

There’s little we can do about people who don’t care. About a leader who feeds into it. History will be the judge. In the meantime, please, get there to see it & protect your family & neighbors. 

Let's keep fighting.

deadliest days

So this meme has been going around, and the information is as of December 7. Today is December 11, and we already need a new ranking.

Updated rankings:

1. Galveston Hurricane, 1900: 8,000

2. Battle of Antietam, 1862: 3,600

3. Two Days Ago, 12/9, COVID: 3,088

4. Yesterday, 12/10, COVID: 3,067

5. San Francisco Earthquake, 1906: 3,000

6. September 11, 2001: 2,977

7. Thursday, December 3, COVID: 2,861

8. Wednesday, 12/2, COVID: 2,762

9. Three Days Ago, 12/8, COVID: 2,655

10. Friday, 12/4, COVID: 2,439

So six of the 10 deadliest days (yeah, I added one; it bothered me to not stop on an even number) in U.S. history have been from COVID, and have happened in the past 10 days. And just FYI, I did fact-check these numbers. The COVID numbers I added come from the COVID Tracking Project.  

As if that's not terrifying enough, look at this tweet from Dr. Ashish Jah, who is the current dean of the Brown University School of Health and former director of the Harvard Global Health Institute:

Friends, we're in trouble here. Nearly 4,000 people will die on January 1. That's almost half the population of Plymouth ... in one day.

I've been thinking for a while now that it's only a matter of time before I start hearing every day about someone I know personally having COVID. Well, that time is here. Almost every day, I'm hearing that a friend, a relative, someone I went to high school with, or someone I otherwise know personally has been diagnosed with it. In our house, we're waiting for test results (again) for four of us.

And what comes next? Well, now it's probably only a matter of time before someone I know personally dies from it. At least two people I've met have died (we didn't really "know" each other, but this family rented a house from my family years ago, and two members have died in the past few weeks) already. 

And what's our government doing? Oh, right, fucking around asking the Supreme Court to invalidate 20 million votes in four states so Trump can stay in office. And blocking the Biden team from getting useful information that would allow them to actually help Americans. 

We're so screwed.

surprise, surprise

School called this afternoon. It turns out that Henry is a close contact of someone who tested positive for COVID-19, so he has to quarantine at home for the next two weeks. We knew it was only a matter of time, but still, this sucks. He says the close contact is the kid who sits next to him at lunch, and if they just found out her test results this afternoon, it stands to reason that she got tested sometime at the end of last week, which means Henry is four or five days into being exposed (and if he was exposed, he has definitely exposed the rest of us in the meantime). I'll take him to get tested later this week (or earlier, if he develops symptoms). He is not very happy right now.

Meanwhile, all of us are tired, and I don't just mean tired of the pandemic. Most days the boys go up and take naps when they get home from school. Some days I do too. Friday, Max came home from school, had a snack, and went up to take a nap ... and didn't wake up until Saturday morning. At which point he had a cup of coffee, talked to me for a few minutes, then decided he was still really tired and went back to sleep until early afternoon. Yesterday, I felt a little off after lunch, so I went up to lay down ... and ended up sleeping for FOUR hours. Henry also took a long nap yesterday and woke up feeling completely out of sorts. I'm not sure what's going on here, but it's definitely not the norm.

Having said that, some things are still pretty normal. Like Saturday afternoon when I sent the boys out to hang ornaments on the tree in the driveway, and they ended up having sword fights with the stakes we use to mark the driveway in the winter. See? Who could have predicted that would happen? (Me. I predicted it. Which is why I also had them put the stakes in the ground that afternoon.)

and here we are

It took roughly a decade to get to November 3 of this year, yet somehow the month (!!) that has followed has gone by in the blink of an eye. 

We spent Thanksgiving just like we've spent every other important day this year: just the five of us. Both of our families had gatherings, but we opted to stay home to keep everyone a little bit safer (not just us, but our families). Mike cooked a turkey, which he then promptly turned into delicious turkey avocado enchiladas. We did some projects around the house, and then had a family work day out in the barn Saturday where we made another tiny dent in shoveling out all the literal and figurative shit that's been out there since before we moved in. It's a little like finding an attic filled with stuff, and you don't know if it will be trash or treasure. Yeah, like that, except with manure and nesting critters.

Suddenly we're into December, and preparing for a Christmas season that will look and feel vastly different than the ones that came before. Will any Christmas ever be normal again? Who knows — but this one definitely won't.

If you're assuming that means we won't be seeing anyone for Christmas, you're right. There's just no way that it can be safe for everyone. And for us, that's ok. We're not religious, so to us Christmas is just an excuse to spend time with people we care about — and honestly, we would rather have that time when there aren't accompanying expectations and traditions and stresses. I've never really seen the point in a day of family obligation to celebrate for the sake of tradition; I would much rather see people spontaneously on a random fall evening than feel obligated to make noodles for 125 people. 

So here's the thing: If you're a person who usually buys gifts for us or for the boys, you should know that the gift we really want, the gift we've ALWAYS wanted, is time. Time to be together without the pressure of an official engagement. Time to form real connections throughout the year instead of getting together on prescribed days of obligatory celebration. We want your stories. We want to know you. And we want to know that you really know us.

I am fully aware, believe me, that time together is not something we're going to get physically this year. It's just not. And that's ok, because what I'm talking about isn't necessarily just a physical togetherness. I've been thinking a LOT about how to make the end of the year special, and how to connect with people when we're not going to physically connect. And for me, that means I'm reassessing the old traditions and thinking about what's really important. 

I probably won't see any of my aunts, uncles, or cousins this year. ANY of my family members who don't live in this house, really. So I had this idea that we should do a gingerbread house competition. Anyone who wants to participate will buy the same $10 gingerbread house kit from Target (I have five of them lined up in my office at this very minute), and we'll all decorate them and post pictures in our online family group. We'll have Aunt Rita be the judge, and she'll award prizes to winners in each age group. And what are the prizes, you ask? Well, I don't know yet, but I know they'll be special. I've asked my family to donate prizes that are either handmade or that mean something to us, like a memento. For my part, I'll offer up a copy of the photo memory book I made for Gramps for his 80th birthday, and also one of my great-grandpa's business cards from Jeffirs Motor Co. that has a handwritten note on the back: "next week's allowance." (Side note: Aunt Rita tells me that she and Grandma Ethel both got an allowance every week. Aunt Rita got $10 pocket money, and Grandma Ethel got grocery and spending money. So this note could refer to either of them.)

It's a silly competition, but I think it will be a lot of fun and will foster a sense of togetherness that will otherwise be missing this year. Plus I'm super excited about my top-secret gingerbread project. I really shouldn't even talk about it because I'm not sure I have the artistry to pull it off, but I'm damned well going to try.

Will I do a traditional card and letter this year? I dunno. Maybe not. It certainly isn't the most personal way to reach out to people. I might do something totally different. Let's be honest, this year has sucked, and there's not a whole lot to write about. BUT this year is also an opportunity to redefine what we want from our connections with people. And I'm all about that.

So I encourage you, friends, to keep this a little in mind as you go about your holiday shopping. If you want to buy a traditional gift, that's great! But also maybe think about ways you can personally connect with the person you're giving a gift to. Write a letter. Send a photo that means something to you, and enclose a little backstory that reveals something of yourself. Use Zoom, or FaceTime, or the phone and have a real conversation, just you and someone you care about. And then make that a habit. Drop something in the mail every month, just to delight whoever's on the other end. Christmas isn't the only time your people want to hear from you. 

well, that's a damned relief

 Joe Biden has won the election, thank all available gods.

There's still so much work to do, starting with two runoff Senate races in Georgia that will decide control of that body. We also have to undo all the damage Trump has done, not just to our systems of democracy, but to people who have suffered immeasurably under his administration. The kids who are still separated from their parents. The grieving families of the COVID-19 dead. The people who have "recovered" but are still suffering lasting symptoms. Those who have lost their jobs, their homes, their security, their future prospects. 

And we have to work to undo the systemic racism that undergirds our political process. We have to abolish or outsmart the Electoral College, and expand the franchise so more Americans vote in every election, and their voices count equally. We have to fund systems of opportunity for marginalized people. There's so much to do that there's no way it will get done in a single term. But progress can happen. 

And we'll do it all in the face of the racist and sexist attacks against our vice president-elect, Senator Kamala Harris. She is such an inspiration, and I'm so glad she has broken this glass ceiling. One more to go, in time.

This transition period is terrifying. Trump is basically a trapped animal now, and there's no telling what he will slash and burn on his way out. Meanwhile, coronavirus is rampant across the country. We're seeing more than 100,000 new cases EVERY DAY, even with the minimal testing under this administration. Indiana alone is seeing more than 4,000 new cases every day. Our county has wide community spread. Even right this minute, we're waiting on a couple of test results in our house because Henry is close friends with a kid who is a close contact of another kid who tested positive. I'm believe Henry is fine, but we need to make sure.

At the beginning of this, I was blogging every day to try to make sense of it, so that the boys would remember this wild and unprecedented time. But as the months have dragged by, the problems have gotten so big that it's hard to make them make sense, and even harder to put them in context. Honestly, there IS NO CONTEXT for this. All we can do is what we've been doing since March: stay isolated, and try not to get it or spread it. Hope we can keep ourselves safe long enough for a vaccine that works. Hope our loved ones do the same.

That hope is a little easier today than it was yesterday, now that the Biden/Harris administration is going to be a reality. 

isolation vacation

 

We got back a week ago from spending a week on the Outer Banks, which is one of our favorite places in the whole world. This time we didn't stay on Ocracoke, opting instead for a beachfront pad in South Nags Head. We did go to Ocracoke for a day trip though, and we made sure to get Eduardo's tacos while we were there.

For at least the first six months or so of pandemic times, we figured vacation was impossible. But slowly we started to see how it could work, and we decided to make fall break our goal for getting away. At first, I bought tickets to fly to Las Vegas to see some national parks, but we couldn't figure out a way to make that feel safe to us with all the transitions, so we nixed that plan in favor of a driving vacation, and it worked out really well.

We didn't eat in any restaurants (though we did get carryout). We didn't go to crowded places. We went into one souvenir shop, early in the morning, when it wasn't too crowded, and we only bought the things we were looking for and then got the heck out of there. We went into one gift shop, at Bodie Island lighthouse, but that shop had a limit of 8 people, and we were the only ones in there. We went grocery shopping twice. 

Most of the time, we stayed at our house, venturing down to the beach several times a day. I had to do a little work while we were gone, but I had the privilege of doing it with a view of the ocean every time I looked up from my laptop. Since we were there on the off season, there was barely anyone on the beach, and definitely nobody anywhere near us. The water was too chilly for me and Mike, but the boys managed to swim at least four times during the week. 

One day we ventured to the Wright Brothers National Memorial, but once we got there and saw how crowded it was (even though it was outdoors), we turned around and left. It just wasn't worth it to risk our health for something that will be there next time if we still want to see it.

Most afternoons, Mike and one or two of the boys went hiking in different nature areas, none of which were crowded either. He took a ton of bird and animal pictures, which I'll let him share himself. In fact, though I took the pictures in this post, Mike was the primary photographer for this trip. I took a lot of naps and gave myself permission to stop worrying so much and just focus on being happy for the week, whatever that looked like. And it was glorious.

And now we're home, and the election is tomorrow, and the pandemic is out of control. We're still isolating for another week (except for the mandatories, school and work) to make sure we didn't inadvertently get infected, but as of now, all of us are feeling pretty good. Then again, ask me tomorrow.

welp

 You know what's not so reassuring on the last day of school before you plan to send your precious offspring back in person? Getting a message like this one:

Parents- We have received a few calls and messages about school closing. As of right now, school is OPEN and in person all next week. We are telling students to treat every day like a snow day where we we could POSSIBLY get the call to go virtual if COVID numbers are high so they need to take their supplies home each night. Again, as of Friday at 11:20, school will be OPEN all week next week unless you receive a call or email from Mr. Hartley. Thank you and have a great weekend!

Yikes, y'all.

covid terrorists

Hey, remember when those armed assholes stormed the Michigan state capitol? 

I sure do! Every day since that day, I've worried about my aunt Chris going to do her job in Lansing and having to wear a bulletproof vest because armed white terrorists (NOT A MILITIA, THANK YOU VERY MUCH) have invaded her workplace. 

Well, guess what? Turns out that some of these same assholes plus some of their asshole friends who are also white terrorists have been plotting to kidnap Governor Whitmer and either kill her outright or put her on trial. The plan was foiled today by state and federal authorities working together. Federal charges have been brought against six men, and state charges against seven more.

And listen, even if there are "only" thirteen of them, think about what that looks like for a minute. Imagine being a woman being PUT ON TRIAL by more than a dozen right-wing entitled white terrorists. Think historically about how those kinds of "trials" have played out. Spoiler: They never turn out well for the woman. EVER. This is terrifying, y'all.

Especially when you think about her "crimes." 

What did Governor Whitmer do that was so terrible? I'm so glad you asked. She shut down her state at the start of the pandemic, just like most other governors did. She initiated a mask mandate in her state, just like most other governors did. She worked to reopen the state gradually and in consultation with scientists, just like most other governors have.

So what makes Gretchen Whitmer so much more offensive than those many other governors? 

1. She's a woman.

2. She doesn't apologize for doing her job.

3. She does her job well while being a woman.

These people were serious. They met in the basement of a shop that they had to access through a trapdoor. They confiscated cell phones during their meetings. They planned out how to take the governor at her vacation home, then blow up a bridge to evade capture long enough to put her on trial, convict her, and sentence her to death. For the crime of legislating while being a woman.

Sometimes I just don't know what to say. I'm so glad she's ok, and I'm amazed at how brave and poised and defiant and strong she continues to be. And I'm incandescently angry at these terrorists, and at the president who has blatantly encouraged them. I hope they all live long enough to go through their own trials, in the actual American judicial system, and that they all get convicted and spend the rest of their lives in prison understanding what it *really* means to have their freedoms taken away. I'll bet if that happens, they'll wish that they had just shut the fuck up and put on masks like sensible human beings.*

*Of course they won't. Men like these never take responsibility for their own actions. Not when there's always someone else to blame, like a mouth Democratic governor who doesn't know her place. Gross.

this is just to say

These boys have been home with me for seven months now. They're going back to school Monday, and I'm terrified for them. For all of us.

It's been very hard spending seven months doing my own full-time (and usually more than full time!) job and shepherding them through school every day while also trying to keep us all safe and alive. It's been an enormous stress that I'm not sure I've fully even processed. I don't know what happens when they go back to school and I'm here alone with the dogs and my work and my thoughts, and I can focus again and work through everything. I really don't.

BUT.

I also want to say that I'm going to miss them so much. Right now, I can hear Liam singing in the basement when he's not laughing and talking to his friends (it's lunch break for him). I can hear Henry in the kitchen making lunch for them all. I can hear Max moving around in his room above me. I can verify that in this very moment, they're here, and we're safe. I can force them to give me a hug if I want. (I won't; that's not my thing.) I have this moment, and we're here, and it's all ok for now, and I just want to make a note of how much that means to me. This assurance is a precious commodity, and I'm about to send them off into the world again and lose it.

covid, covid everywhere

 The world is pretty terrifying right now.

The president has COVID, checked himself into and out of the hospital, says he feels better than he did 20 years ago, and doesn't once acknowledge that it's probably because he's taking powerful mind-altering steroids as part of his highly experimental treatment. The White House cluster has encompassed senators, former governors, senior advisors, the press secretary and four of her deputies, the president's military valet, housekeeping staff, journalists, and others. There's no clear information on how anyone is actually doing, and every morning I wake up with dread/anticipation of what I will see in the news.

Oh yeah, and all the Joint Chiefs are quarantining too because Admiral Charles Ray, second in command of the Coast Guard, has COVID too. Let me just emphasize that: The heads of all branches of our military are in quarantine because this administration refuses to follow science and get a handle on this virus. It seems entirely likely that Trump himself is the source of Admiral Ray's infection, at that. Jesus, these people.

And it's getting bad close to home too. Yesterday, a staff member at Henry's school tested positive. One of the firefighters on my dad's fire department tested positive and may have exposed the rest of them. The school across the street from my parents is shut down entirely for (at least) two weeks because there are so many cases. A maintenance guy at Mike's work tested positive. 

It feels like there's no escape, and that's very very scary. 

And the convergence of this renewed first wave of COVID (Note: We are still in the FIRST wave!!!) with the closeness of the election is really ramping up the tension. Everything feels uncertain and tenuous and dangerous in a way that I can't fully express. 

These are bad times, friends. Stay safe.

so the president has covid ...

 We didn't have to wait too long for our "October surprise" this election cycle. We found out on Thursday morning that Hope Hicks, a close advisor to Trump, had tested positive. She had been in close contact with him all through the week, including debate prep and his disaster spitshow rabid performance in the debate on Tuesday. But knowing that his close contact had COVID-19, did Trump isolate himself? No, he did not. He instead went to a fundraiser at his golf club, where superfans paid $250K each to spend time in close quarters with the president ... and his shedding virus. Yippee!

It's not just him, though. Turns out that the source of the outbreak is probably the Rose Garden ceremony a week ago where Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court to fill the seat of Our Lady of Dissent Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It was a craven move that he never should have made, and I'm not a religious person like ACB and all the rest of them claim to be, but if I were, I would sure as hell think that God was smiting me and my whole crew for our (their) terrible sins.

ACB herself reportedly had COVID-19 "over the summer" but recovered. I put the quotes there because let's review: She's a lawyer, and also "the summer" could mean anytime before September 22. So if "over the summer" sounds deliberately vague, I'm sure that's not on purpose or anything. (It's totally on purpose.) 

Anyway, so ACB didn't get COVID-19 after this even, but you know who has? Donald Trump. Melania Trump. Sen. Mike Lee. Sen. Thom Tillis. Former Governor Chris Christie (who is already hospitalized). Campaign manager Bill Stepian. Former senior advisor and peddler of "alternative facts" Kellyanne Conway. Oh, and Fr. John Jenkins, president of Notre Dame, who was there because ACB was a professor at ND. 

SO FAR.

Those are just the big names. In addition, several White House reporters and staffers have tested positive. And those people are on their own to figure out their health care. They don't get helicopter rides to Walter Reed or experimental drug cocktails just for funsies.

But back to the president. He announced very early Friday morning that he had tested positive, and by Friday evening, he was taken by helicopter to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. There have been confirmed reports that his oxygen levels were low enough for him to need supplemental oxygen at times on both Friday and Saturday. He was given an experimental antibody cocktail on Friday, then started remdesivir, a drug that has only been approved for compassionate use in severe cases. He'll get a five-day course of it, and theoretically, it will make it harder for the virus to replicate. Then today came the news that he is ALSO taking dexamethasone, a steroid that the World Health Organization said showed promise in reducing mortality for critically ill patients. 

Yet Trump's doctors insist that his symptoms are mild and that he's on the road to recovery, and might even be released from Walter Reed and sent back to the White House tomorrow to continue his recovery. Do you believe that? Yeah, I don't either.

And listen, I'm not saying I hope for any bad outcomes. I don't. I want him to get healthy so he can get his ass kicked in this election and then spend the rest of his life being held accountable for his many crimes. But it's not up to me, and it's not even up to him anymore. The virus in in charge now.

Stay safe. Wash your hands. Wear your mask. Don't be like this parade of dumbasses.

P.S. You would think that in this situation, Mike Pence would be in total isolation with Mother Pence, just waiting for his chance to fulfil his lifelong dream of ascending to the Oval Office by hook or by crook. But NOPE, he's out campaigning in person like everything's totally fine! Listen, just between you and me, it seems entirely plausible that we could end up with President Nancy Pelosi on or before January 21. Stay tuned.

and he's off!

On Monday, Liam officially turned 16 and 90 days, but the BMV is closed on Mondays, so yesterday I rescheduled my workday (somehow scheduling myself for like 14 hours of work in one day in the process) so I could take him during his study hall/lunch break.

We already had all the paperwork done, but of course I am always suspicious when it comes to the BMV because those picky bastards seem to take real joy in telling me I need a copy of my light bill from two addresses ago, along with a lock of hair from my mother's cat and a lucky penny found near a beaver dam by the light of the full moon. Seriously, it took me *three* tries to satisfy them with enough documents before they would issue me a Real ID. What's up with that? Anyway, I dug out passports, Social Security cards, birth certificates, and proof of address for us both, along with a marriage license for me, just in case.

And so of course it turned out that we didn't need any of that stuff because we already provided it when he got his permit back in February. (But mark my words: If I hadn't brought all of that, they definitely would have asked me for it!!) So all we had to do was wait in a long line (for Plymouth) and try to distance ourselves from other people as best we could until it was his turn. But then it was just bing bong boom. A couple signatures and $17.50 later, and we were on our way.

Liam brought me back home to get back to work, then he and Max headed out to pick up Jimmy John's for lunch. And then he drove himself to and from school for his tennis match last night. 

I'm sensing increased freedom for us all!

*****************

UPDATE: Liam has already figured out how to monetize having his license. After extensive machinations, he talked each of his brothers into giving him $10 to stop at DQ for blizzards on his way home from his tennis match tonight. That's $5 for the blizzard, and $5 for Liam's commission. Times two. These kids, I'm telling you!

fall comes to the pasture

My work really gets busy during political season, and this year is worse than many others. My main company is running on a very small crew (since people got let go at the start of the pandemic), plus I'm still working on side projects because I need to keep relationships going so I have work to do after the election. So there hasn't been a ton of time for ... really anything other than work.

Mike, meanwhile, is also being overworked. The problem at his company has been turnover. Lots of people are leaving, and the company has responded by mandating that the people who are still there work six days a week for the rest of the year (!!) so they can make their numbers. To me, this is a ridiculous way to run a business because nobody wants to work six days every week, so they end up losing more workers, which exacerbates the problem they were trying to address in the first place. Ummmm just a suggestion, but maybe better pay, benefits, or working conditions would help you hire and retain good people? I don't know, just spitballing here.

Anyway, given all that, I was as surprised as the next person when I ended up totally blowing off work yesterday to spend the day paying bills, visiting with my mom, taking a walk through the pasture with Mike, and reading a book in the bathtub. Oh, and then driving around town until 11 with Liam and Max hunting Pokemon so Liam could get in the last of his nighttime driving hours. I can't say I woke up today ready to face the day with tons of enthusiasm, but I can say that I definitely needed that day off.

Anyway, for your viewing pleasure, here are some shots of fall in the pasture. Mike likes the summer best, but my favorite has always been fall, and I don't think it's hard to see why.

covid, six months in

 I read a thread the other day that really resonated with me. This is by Dr. Aisha Ahmad, an international security professor at University of Toronto. I'm going to copy it in its entirety from her Twitter thread.

The 6 month mark in any sustained crisis is always difficult. We have all adjusted to this "new normal", but might now feel like we're running out of steam. Yet, at best, we are only 1/3 the way through this marathon. How can we keep going? 

First, in my experience, this is a very normal time to struggle or slump. I *always* hit a wall 6 months into a tough assignment in a disaster zone. The desire to "get away" or "make it stop" is intense. I've done this many times, and at 6 months, it's like clockwork.

This time, our crisis is global and there is nowhere to run. That's OK. I've had to power through that 6 month hump before and there is life on the other side. Right now, it feels like we looking ahead at long, dark wintery tunnel. But it's not going to be like that.

Rather, this is our next major adaptation phase. We've already re-learned how to do groceries, host meetings, and even teach classes. And we have found new ways to be happy and have fun. But as the days get shorter and colder, we need to be ready to innovate again.

This is my first pandemic, but not my first 6 month wall. So, what can I share to help you? First, the wall is real and normal. And frankly, it's not productive to try to ram your head through it. It will break naturally in about 4-6 weeks if you ride it out.

Of course, there are things we have to do. Work. Teach. Cook. Exercise. But just don't expect to be sparklingly happy or wildly creative in the middle of your wall. Right now, if you can meet your obligations and be kind to your loved ones, you get an A+.

Also, don't be afraid that your happiness & creativity are gone for the rest of this marathon. Not true. I assure you that it will soon break & you will hit a new stride. But today, roll with it. Clear away less challenging projects. Read a novel. Download that meditation app. 

Frankly, even though we cannot physically leave this disaster zone, try to give yourself a mental or figurative "shore leave". Short mental escapes can offer respite and distance from the everyday struggle. Take more mental "leave" until you clear the wall.

In my experience, this 6 month wall both arrives and dissipates like clockwork. So I don't fight it anymore. I don't beat myself up over it. I just know that it will happen & trust that the dip will pass. In the meantime, I try to support my mental & emotional health.

Take heart. We have navigated a harrowing global disaster for 6 months, with resourcefulness & courage. We have already found new ways to live, love, and be happy under these rough conditions. A miracle & a marvel. This is hard proof that we have what it takes to keep going.

So, dear friends, do not despair of the 6 month wall. It's not permanent, nor will it define you in this period of adversity. Trust that the magic that helped you through the first phase is still there. Take a breath & a pause. You'll be on the other side in no time.

Friends, I feel this in my soul. I've hit a wall for sure. Everything feels impossibly hard and hopeless. I do not feel successful or creative. I feel ... resigned and scared. But it helps to know this is normal. That I'm not the only one feeling this way, even though it very much seems like it sometimes. 

We just keep going, and eventually, something will shift. It has to.

covid, still

Max is all of us trying to get through this.

This pandemic will never end. 

There are now more than 200,000 dead Americans, and some people (notably people in the Republican Party) want to pretend like everything is back to normal. Weddings and baby showers and funerals and rallies are happening. It boggles my mind. Is it ... just not real for some people until it hits home?

I don't know. I don't have the answers. I can tell you, though, that it's hard to fight that pull. I want things to be normal. I do. My brother and sister-in-law's baby shower was yesterday, and I wanted to be there. Even to play the annoying baby shower games. Just to stand and laugh and talk to people and look forward to having another nephew. But I can't ignore this pandemic, so instead I went early, gave them their gift, and got out of there before the guests arrived. 

I want to go eat at a restaurant. I want to fly on a plane and visit a national park. I want to sit on the bleachers and watch my kid play tennis. And six months after this pandemic started, none of that is even remotely possible. STILL. 

But life still has sweet moments. Jack and Avalon and my parents came to watch Liam's final home match of the season (from chairs we set up in the grass), and Henry spent the whole time helping Jack hunt for four-leaf clovers that he could bring to my mom. 

I took Liam to get his driving test on Saturday, and he passed with flying colors. The instructor said it was clear that he has been driving a lot because he's very comfortable and smooth. Liam said he didn't really fit in the test car because his knees were jammed up against the dash, but he made it work. Now he only needs three more hours of night driving, then a week from today he can get his license.

And yesterday was our anniversary. We've been married for 17 years, and I can't think of anyone I'd rather suffer through a pandemic with. I got Mike the most romantic gift ever—I installed a pull-out garbage bin in one of the kitchen cabinets. He is very excited, you guys. Trust me when I say this gift is TRUE LOVE. Henry had to help me with the installation a little, because he's the only one of us still small enough to fit into the cabinet to put in the back screws. We got it all done just before Mike got home from work, and I surprised him with Oscar the Grouch singing "I Love Trash" in the background. Because we are nerds, and we are perfect for each other. 

covid: ides of september edition

Political season is upon us, friends, which means I am slammed slammed slammed at work every day. Political ads galore. I'm wrapping up a couple of side projects for work too, so I've been spending a lot of time chained to my desk.

Which obviously makes this the perfect time to tear some things out of the kitchen, namely that ugly-ass decorative tile backsplash. I've spent the past few days with mallet and chisel, patiently (ha! not so patiently) chipping away at each individual mortared-in piece, and I've got about half the walls done. Credit to Liam, though, because I'm too short and too boobalicious to reach the corner, so he was kind enough to remove those tiles for me. It's a big project, but honestly, it will make me feel better just to get *something* done. I feel like we've been treading water all year, and barely at that, so any movement in a forward direction is worth this residual soreness, not to mention all the sanding and mudding and painting in my future.

Yes, it's ridiculous. Yes, I'm doing it anyway.

In other news, we're running lots of countdowns around here.

13 days until Liam gets his license

14 days until the last tennis match of the regular season

27 days until the boys (probably) go back to in-person school

31 days until we leave for vacation (!!!)

49 days until the election

Plus an endless number of days until life goes back to something resembling normal. 

Counting down is so much more satisfying than counting up the number of days in this endless, relentless pandemic hellscape, don't you think? At least some things have an endpoint.

covid diary: a day of some number in september

Labor Day is over, which means political season is kicking into high gear, which means that for the next eight weeks or so, I'll be busy busy busy at work. Which obviously makes it the perfect time to plan a vacation. I'm only half joking with that. Fall break is coming up, and political season be damned, we're getting out of this house. We bought those plane tickets to Vegas, but we still can't see ourselves using them (too risky!) so instead we're going to drive somewhere. Not to worry, we won't be out a single cent for the plane tickets since we bought them with Southwest credits. They'll just go back into our account, and we'll have to use them by sometime next year. 

Anyway! Let's catch up. Max got his cast removed, Liam continues to play in tennis matches (though he has a notably lackluster doubles partner this year, which puts a real drag on the proceedings), and Henry is very excited about something something Fortnite (this is a video game about which I now have extensive knowledge because Henry never stops talking about it; however, I won't inflict all that vastly important knowledge on you — just know that next time you see Henry, he'll tell you ALL about it if you ask. or even if you don't). 

We're fresh off a long weekend of work, work, and some other work. I wrapped up a couple of side projects (well, mostly wrapped up, just a few odds and ends left and then I can bill for them) on Saturday and Sunday. Mike did all his usual weekend things, getting the groceries, mowing the yard, etc. And then yesterday, Mike and Henry decided to cross a huge thing off our project list: they dismantled the hot tub!

Friends, I tried, I really did, but it turns out that once a hot tub outlives its functional life (which this one did sometime around a decade ago), nobody will take it off your hands. You can't even pay someone to come and get it for scrap. Believe me, I made all the phone calls inquiring. And then I turned to the boys' favorite resource: youtube. What a wondrous and helpful place the internet can be sometimes! I found videos showing how to cut your old hot tub up for disposal, along with instructions for the tools you would need. Luckily, I happen to have a connection to one of the world's preeminent tool collectors, so I hit my dad up for the appropriate tool (a sawzall, kind of like a VERY MANLY version of an electric knife you would use for carving a turkey) and then hit Amazon up for a three-pack of the special blades that cut through all hot tub materials, and we were in business. Ummmmm ... Mike was in business.

It took him the whole damned day, but eventually Mike won the Battle of the Hot Tub in spectacular fashion. Take a look at these before, during, and after shots. And now we have all this extra space out on the patio. No idea what we'll do with it, if anything. Definitely clean it first thing.

Now we just have to spend the next 100 weeks (give or take) getting rid of it piece by piece in our trash bin every week.

In national news, the president wants to pretend that coronavirus is over and everything's back to normal, even though it very clearly is not. He's got other problems on his hands now too because at least five major news outlets have independently verified and reported on his comments about our military. You will be shocked (SHOCKED!) to learn that Trump thinks people who serve in the military are "suckers," and people who die for their country are "losers." It's revolting. He's revolting. How do people twist up their logic to believe in this guy? 

Meanwhile, Sen. Kamala Harris busted out her Chuck Taylors and jeans and flew to Kenosha to speak in person to the family of Jacob Blake, a Black man shot in the back seven times by police for ... I don't even know what. They were already holding him by the shirt, so shooting him in the back was just egregious. Protests against this kind of police brutality have continued for more than 100 days now, all across the country. And guess how the police reacted? If you guessed WITH MORE VIOLENCE, you're right! Everything is such a mess. Will we ever go back to normal?

I'm dealing with this pandemic in a perfectly normal way: working ridiculous hours, then surfacing to pester Mike with projects I dream of doing. Can we build shelves in the laundry room? What about the pantry? Can we replace some floors? Can I take a hammer to the ugly backsplash in the kitchen? Can I paint the kitchen countertops? No? Then what about putting new laminate on top of the old laminate? Will we ever finish the basement? 

Honestly, I'm pretty sure he decided to finally tackle the hot tub project just to not have to hear me offer one more excellent-but-probably-more-expensive-than-we-think idea. 

Anyway, I'd love to write more, but I've got a new proposal to discuss with Mike. Stay tuned!

covid diary: day 175

 It's been a while since we checked in with the CDC. Hmm, I wonder what they're up to?

Oh, relaxing testing guidance on orders from the White House? Cool cool. That will definitely reduce our number of positive tests. Remember: If we do less testing, we have much lower cases! (Note: We do not have much lower cases. The president is a moron.)

But wait, there's more. Over the weekend, there were lots of headlines like this one: "New CDC report shows 94% of COVID-19 deaths in US had underlying medical conditions." And you'll never guess what followed: lots and lots and lots of people (including some in very high places) claiming that the "real" death count is only 6% of the 180,000+ people who have died of COVID-19. 

Which, to put it mildly, is complete bullshit.

Here's what the CDC actually said:

"For 6% of the deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned. For deaths with conditions or causes in addition to COVID-19, on average, there were 2.6 additional conditions or causes per death." 

You can see that it doesn't say that only 6% of the 180,000 died of COVID-19, right?  And if you actually read the chart (at the link above) and look at the "underlying conditions," a lot of them are caused by COVID-19. Respiratory failure. Cardiac arrest. Sepsis. Renal failure. 

They also list preexisting conditions, including hypertension and obesity. Mike has high blood pressure, but if he gets COVID-19 and dies, he will have died from COVID-19, not from high blood pressure. I am fat, but if I get COVID-19 and die, I will have died from COVID-19, not from being fat. It's absolutely ridiculous to say otherwise. 

And yet.

Look at this retweet from Trump (which has since been deleted, but guess what, the internet is forever): “This week the CDC quietly updated the Covid number to admit that only 6% of all the 153,504 deaths recorded actually died from Covid. That's 9,210 deaths The other 94% had 2-3 other serious illnesses & the overwhelming majority were of very advanced age.”

Bull. Shit. 

But don't take my word for it. How about asking the country's leading infectious disease expert? Take it away, Dr. Fauci:

"The point that the CDC was trying to make was that a certain percentage of people who died had nothing else but just COVID. That does not mean that someone who has hypertension or diabetes who dies of COVID didn't die of COVID-19. They did. So the numbers you've been hearing, the 180,000-plus deaths, are real deaths from COVID-19. Let there not be any confusion about that. It's not 9,000 deaths from COVID-19. It's 180,000-plus deaths." 

 Oh hey, and what do you know? This afternoon the CDC director sent an urgent letter to all governors asking them to expedite the process and clear any barriers to operation for vaccine distribution facilities (including waiving requirements, if necessary) so they are "fully operational by November 1."

November 1, you say? Surely it's a coincidence. SURELY this administration wouldn't be pushing through an untested, unproven vaccine just so they can make it public two days before Election Day. 

Oh wait. They totally would, and they totally are. Not just that, but the U.S. has also refused to sign on with 170+ other countries to develop a system to develop, make, and fairly distribute a vaccine. The administration says it's because they refuse to partner with the WHO, which is completely stupid and shortsighted. More than 170 countries (there are only 195 total, for the love of socks!) want to work together to make the world safer again. Trump just wants to have the credit. I bet if those 170 countries agreed to slap his name/branding on it, he would jump at the chance to join their vaccine project. 

This reminds me of that time when so many countries worked together with the WHO to create reliable test kits way back in March, and the U.S. rejected that partnership too. How did going it alone work out for us with that again?

We're in real trouble, friends. There are 62 more days until the election.

covid diary: day 174

 Listen, I'm no expert on human behavior, but let me just say that if you are the president, and you start tweeting out of the blue about how you DIDN'T have to be rushed to Walter Reed Medical Center because you had a series of mini-strokes ... that's gonna raise some questions.

What a deeply weird preemptive denial. 

But that's how we live now, I guess? Something definitely happened. Reporting indicates that Mike Pence was kept in the area because they thought he would have to assume the presidency that day if Trump went under anesthesia. That's ... not standard procedure. And what about all the subsequent mentions of him being given cognitive tests ("man, woman, person, camera, TV")? Doctors don't just go around administering cognitive tests if they don't have any questions about the cognitive ability of the test taker.

I'm just saying. 

It keeps getting worse. How will we get through the next 63 days?

UGH.

covid diary: day 173

 This is exhausting. 

Every day, there's some new evil being perpetrated by this administration. Every day, roughly a thousand of my fellow Americans die and there's barely a ripple nationally. And the lies. The blame shifting. The gaslighting. Up is down and left is pink and everything takes so much EFFORT.

And that's on purpose. We're on year four of a chaos campaign designed to distract us with maximum outrage, to keep us fighting on so many fronts that we can't tell what day it is or what direction the next attack will come from. 

It didn't have to be this way. Not just in an abstract sense, but in a concrete one. It wasn't supposed to be this way. New evidence comes out every week that details things like how corrupt reporters leaked exit polls to the Trump campaign on Election Day 2016 indicating where he was going to lose, then between the phone call at 5 p.m. and the polls closing a couple hours later, miraculously JUST ENOUGH votes were cast to give Trump enough swing states to win the Electoral College. New evidence comes out all the time, including a report from the Republican Senate, that Trump did in fact collude with Russia to win the election. And he's going to do his best to do it again this year.

I'm not sure what the remedy is here. All the guardrails and checks and balances have failed, and we are in the direst of straits. Biden calls it a "battle for the soul of our nation," but I think of it more like "last chance to keep a democracy, morons."

Trump supporters talk casually about the potential for a second civil war if he doesn't win this election, but what they might not realize is that it's already been happening across the nation in a very personal way. Take me, for example. I can understand how some members of my family voted for Trump the first time, thinking he would be better than Clinton, thinking the Supreme Court was the most important thing and that checks and balances would keep Trump in line with the norms of government. What I cannot and will not ever understand is that some of those people are still Trump supporters after four years. This is what they wanted? Kids in cages, hundreds of thousands dead in a pandemic with no effective response, endless lawbreaking, graft happening before our eyes, rights being taken away from Dreamers and immigrants and citizens alike? 

No. Anyone who still supports this administration does not care about me or my family, or this nation. Certain of my family members will profess their love for us all, but continue to support an administration that would continue to gut rights and access to opportunity for my Black great-nephew, for my gay cousins, for me. And guess what? That's not love, and I want no part of it. I feel like I'm constantly grieving people I used to admire these days. I will never be able to forget that these people stood against our family and still professed their love for us. It's never "just politics."

I realize there's not much light and hope in this post, but that's because there's not much light and hope in the country right now. There are little things. My great-nephew E spent the day with us Friday. My parents brought the boys new school shoes, along with hanging baskets of pansies for me and Mike. There hasn't been a huge outbreak at our school yet, so we're thinking we will send the boys back to in-person school after fall break. There are 64 more days to get through before the election.

But in the meantime, we're tired. So, so tired.

covid diary: day 169

 Get Shit Done Week continues! Today, it's literal shit. I called on Monday to ask how often we should get our septic tank emptied, and it turns out the right answer is every two years, which means we're due. Did I just randomly think of this? No, I did not. I would have just continued merrily flush-flush-flushing along if left to my own devices. Luckily, my dad thinks of things like this, and he told me it was time to start thinking about getting it done. I didn't expect it to happen quite so soon because the guy at the excavation company told me he would just fit it in whenever he had time. Welp, apparently he had time this afternoon, so that's another thing I can cross off my list.

Today I also got Liam signed up to take the SAT (gulp). Naturally, this was the last day to sign up for the test here in Plymouth, so we had to rush through the process together. It's WAY more involved than I remember it being! So many questions just to take a test. And then we had to take a photo because he has to have a ticket to get in, and that ticket has to have his picture on it, and that picture has to meet certain guidelines specified by the College Board. After three tries, we finally got one he was happy with. (Along with his nearsightedness and his propensity to get migraines, poor Liam definitely gets that messy hair from me. Luckily, most of the rest is Mike.)

I'm working another split shift today, which means working 7-12 this morning and then 7-10 tonight. And then getting up in the morning to start again at 7. Someday I'll detail how stressful my job is right now, but that day is not today. 

covid diary: day 168

 

I'm getting it back together. I hope.

After two weeks of nonstop deadlines, I'm finally digging out. Oh, and did I mention that this is the third week of school? It's a LOT to work full time (and then some) and oversee three kids doing everything they need to do for school. I get emails on emails on emails from teachers, principals, guidance counselors, and even colleges (most of Liam's classes are dual credit college courses). I talk on the phone with teachers, check all the many, many different apps and websites for the appropriate schedule and grade and attendance information. I follow up on homework and make sure everyone has what they need when they need it. It's exhausting.

And today is particularly tiring. I was up at 4:45 to go to the pool, then home and showered and working at 7. I worked until 9:45, then I took the boys to the optometrist for their annual exams. Henry's got great vision, Max has a slight astigmatism but not enough for glasses, and Liam's eyes are slightly worse but the exam showed no physical cause for his ocular migraines, so I guess he can just thank my side of the gene pool for both of those things. So it's new glasses for Liam, plus contacts whenever they get trial packs in again (who knows in these pandemic times when that will be). Then we grabbed lunch at DQ (the boys were VERY excited about that) and came home so the boys could get back to school and I could work a little bit more.

And then.

For some reason, I've designated this Get Shit Done Week. Sunday my dad came over and rewired some things so we could move the modem and router to my office to give me a hard line to the internet to take some of the strain off the Wi-Fi that came from four of us using it at once. (Haha, joke's on us, because while the new placement is great for me, it means Liam has no signal in his basement work area, so for now I have a 100-foot ethernet cable strung from my office down into the basement. Very classy.) And today the plumbers are here because we've had a small leak for months now in our laundry room. The leak is caused by a valve in the shower upstairs in the master bath, and naturally, they couldn't replace that valve without having access to it ... so they cut a hole in the bedroom wall. Side note: Seriously, does nobody design a house with the foresight to consider that they might want to have access to the plumbing? Come on now.

The plumbers finished just in time for me to rush Liam to the tennis courts for a home match tonight that I won't be able to watch because I have to go back to work 6-10 since I took off earlier to take the boys to the optometrist. I guess I'm ready to go? Ugh.

In short, life is progressing apace. Tennis is being played, casts are being worn, and school is happening with some reluctance and more than a little effort.

Carry on.

P.S. I'm done tracking numbers because this is only going in one direction. It's bad, bad, bad. So just assume for now on that it's worse than it was yesterday, and maybe a little bit better than it will be tomorrow. 

covid diary: day 153, again

painted lady, on a cosmo in the pasture

if you've been following along, you know holli and liam got their covid test results in amazingly rapid fashion for the non-rapid test, and they were both negative. i let out an enormous sigh of relief, right after they did. 2020 has been the longest, worstest year ever, but at least this turned out well. for now.

so tennis continues. school starts virtually on wednesday, with the district reevaluating whether to return to in-school instruction after a couple of weeks. i wonder how things around the country are going in areas where in-person school has already started?

how about in greenfield, IN? oh no.

Just hours into the first day of classes on Thursday, a call from the county health department notified Greenfield Central Junior High School in Indiana that a student who had walked the halls and sat in various classrooms had tested positive for the coronavirus.

ok, so that's just some bad luck. i'm sure everything else is going fine. wait, what?

Last week, schools in Corinth, Miss., welcomed back hundreds of students. By Friday, one high-schooler tested positive for the novel coronavirus. By early this week, the count rose to six students and one staff member infected. Now, 116 students have been sent home to quarantine, a spokeswoman for the school district confirmed.

dammit. well, i'm sure you saw the pictures from those students in north paulding high school in metro atlanta, where barely any of the kids in the packed hallways were wearing masks or practicing (or even able to practice) social distancing. you know, those pics the kids were suspended for posting on social media? (yeah, because it wasn't them exposing the school for its terrible adherence to proper coronavirus practices, it was because they posted on social media during school.)

very few of those kids had masks on. i'm sure it will all turn out ok. no problem...oh crap.

The Paulding County high school that became infamous for hallways crowded with unmasked students will retreat online for at least a couple days this week after revealing that a half-dozen students and three staffers were diagnosed with COVID-19.

The district said it needs time to disinfect the North Paulding High School building and look for other potentially infected individuals.

ugh. so schools are proving to be an ideal place for covid to spread. i guess we shouldn't be surprised, as every reputable expert and public health official (and the cdc, whatever that's worth anymore) strongly recommends NOT opening in-person school until infection rates are way down, which they are nowhere near being.

maybe other public gatherings are doing better than the schools. how about the churches?

A man with Covid-19 went to church in mid-June, then 91 other people got sick, including 53 who were at the service, according to Ohio's governor.

"It spread like wildfire, wildfire. Very, very scary," Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday. "We know that our faith-based leaders want nothing more than to protect those who come to worship."

rats. i suppose it's possible the christians offended their god by, i don't know, not persecuting the homos enough or something. but i'm sure other religious sects are doing fine, right?

The rabbi of a suburban New York synagogue grappling with the coronavirus outbreak has tested positive for the illness, as the number of cases related to an infected congregant climbed higher Friday.

Rabbi Reuven Fink, of the Young Israel of New Rochelle temple, is among the 44 confirmed cases in the state, according to a statement posted Friday on the website of Yeshiva University, where Fink teaches two courses. The state confirmed 22 new cases Friday, doubling the number from a day earlier.

well, what the hell. i guess the lesson to be learned is that public gatherings are excellent places to spread a highly contagious virus, so we probably shouldn't allow such events to take place. in fact, the worst idea would be to allow a huge rally to take place, where social distancing was nonexistent and the attendees were disdainful of wearing masks or doing anything to prevent the transmission of a killer global pandemic virus.

good thing nothing like that is happening...oh, are you fucking kidding me?

main street sturgis, yesterday

so the sturgis, SD motorcycle rally is on, starting friday and running for nine days. this annual biker congregation usually attracts 500,000 to 750,000 motorcycle enthusiasts a year, but they are only expecting 250,000 this year. obviously, only the dumbest and least aware of current events are planning to attend. but gawd, there's a lot of them.

what kind of idiots are attending this rally? this kind:

“On my way I ain’t scared of the media flue or as we call it round here election flue see ya soon sd,” J.F. Watson of Ohio said.

impressive spelling, jf. you might want to check your chimney flue, i think the fumes are backing up into your house.

the local citizens are against having the rally. really, it's only common sense, as why would you want 250,000 people from around the country to congregate in a small town, share their viruses among themselves and the various small business operators of the town. of course, the small business operators desperately rely on the rally to be able to continue to operate their businesses into the future, so they're kinda stuck in this situation. 

hey, as our fearless sociopathic leader says, it is what it is (with over 160,000 coronavirus deaths being what it is). until about three weeks from now, when the results of forcibly opening the schools and allowing sturgis spikes coronavirus cases through the roof.

so what's happening here? who cares. school starts virtually wednesday, max gets a new cast thursday, holli is buried with work, i have to work sunday, blah blah blah. i would put some biker rock video here at the end of the post, but i don't want to. so in honor of max's poor thumb, it's dylan. deal with it.