The Sooner, The Better.
04/09/20 07:01
I've been using an app called Grammerly as of late to clean up some of the writing in this here blog. Me just being me isn't getting the job done so having someone or something look over my shoulder before pushing this stuff out isn't a bad idea. What I didn't realize is that my use or non-use of commas in my writing has been notoriously bad. And all this time I thought my biggest problem had to do with tenses but not so much. I'm happy to make the corrections so that things might flow better. To what end, I'm not sure. See what I did there?
As we he head into the long weekend around here Nancy is feeling relieved that she has some time off. Time to collect her wits and forget about her day-to-day responsibilities to her job, her family, and to herself. Just taking some things off the table should give her some relief and she's put everyone on notice that she'll not be available for a period of time. I do think that despite her protestations, that she is better off with things that give her a modicum of structure in her day-to-day existence.
There is something to be said for having something to do with your time when not doing something with your time leaves you in a constant state of flux. Nancy had a life filled with this and that before this coronavirus thing came along and now she still does all that stuff but she does it without leaving the house. She works from home; she shops from home; she takes her yoga and relaxation classes from home, and I do the things that she won't so she doesn't have to leave the house. I've been resisting the role of enabler but with limited success. I need to push back harder.
I do my best to see that she is not reading the wrong newspapers, listening to the wrong people on the radio, and not wallowing any more than is necessary in storylines that take her to dark places. It's more of a nudge here and there instead of blocking and tackling at every turn. I think I know what works and what doesn't after all these years so I think I have a leg up when it comes to lending a helping hand.
It may mean nothing more than making her an iced coffee on a hot afternoon, taking her for a ride along the ocean despite my preferences to go in a different direction altogether, urging her to go for a bike ride when she'd rather take a walk around the neighborhood, stopping to pick up a quart of her favorite soup on a rainy afternoon, walking out to the garden with her in the early morning to see how everything is progressing, or reminding her now and then that her son is no longer 12-years old. If he wants to have a drink then she should get off her high horse and ignore his desire to do the same.
I don't want to see her get too invested in all the activities that she thinks is required of her in order for us to get out of the house and on the road to our favorite vacation spot. Moms tend to pack too much and we dads just want to head out the door with a satchel full of underwear and mismatched socks. It will likely start weighing on Nancy in predictable ways sooner rather than later so I'll have to keep an eye out for that. As for me, I've resisted the urge to make a list and have started to put things I don't want to forget to bring in the back seat of the car. That's as good a strategy as any so that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
I've asked one of my peeps to see if there is an espresso machine in the house at the lake and I'm still waiting to hear back from him. I suppose I could make a cup of coffee some other way but why not have it the way I like it. In case you're wondering, that would be black and strong. Hot would be nice but it's not necessary. I could bring my own machine if I had to but free space in the car may be at a premium with the three of us packing our things to the gills. My machine is on the small side so taking it is not out of the question. I will find a spot for it if I have to.
I'm not hearing any overt worries or concerns about the weather although I think Nancy would prefer, if nothing else, to have a pleasant mix of warm and not so warm days and nights, and if necessary, a rainy day or two that sees us playing backgammon indoors and out of the elements. Here's hoping that we have a warm day or two that gives us a good excuse to spend our midday hours swimming and lounging in Sandy Bay. Just like days of old I guess I would say. Do you think that's asking too much?
We'll never have so many people over to the house so that we have to worry about social distancing, wearing masks, and that kind of thing. We'll exchange elbow bumps for hugs, and air hugs for handshakes, but I think we can dispense with the need for the N95 masks if we keep our distance from each other. As awkward as that may be at the outset, I expect we'll get in a groove in a New York minute and we'll all be wondering what all the fuss was about when all is said and done. I don't know how we do that effectively while boating but we all love challenges so let's just make sure we have a flotation device for everyone before we depart from the dock.
If this damn virus can sustain itself in the face of 30 mph winds and a UV index > 10 then I think we have bigger problems than any of us can imagine. These are the elemental challenges those little buggers will face when we're out and about on the lake without masks or any other type of PPE. We'll be throwing caution to the wind and enjoying every minute of it. Cough or clear your throat off the back of the boat if you have to but be quick about it. Social distancing rules will kick in should we decide to walk about on one or more of the local islands so be assured that we are not against adopting precautions when and where necessary.
The hummingbirds hereabouts will be making their way south soon and that will be one more telltale sign that the summer season is on the wane. Legend has it that they come back to the same area each and every year. I can neither confirm or deny that because I can't tell one hummingbird from another. All I know is that they come and go like clockwork each season. I keep their feeders cleaned and filled so they'll have no reason not to return.
They are fierce protectors of their food sources and that is a battle that plays out day in and day out during the summer months as they light on nearby branches and engage other hummingbirds in aerial gymnastics who dare to use the same feeder. How much of that is related to their mating rituals I just don't know. I do know that the birds disappear from time to time for days on end during the summer months and mating, nesting, and raising the next generation might well serve as an explanation for that activity or absence of same.
I think we're supposed to quarantine for 14 days when we return from our vacation spot. We had to go searching for that information so I'm not sure how well that is understood by the general public. That being the case, I'm likely to make up my own rules when we return. What Nancy and Evan do is their own business. But there are things that need to be done once we return and I'm just going to have to throw caution to the wind to get them done. If I don't tell anyone, no one will be the wiser. While I have no intention of becoming the legendary patient zero, I also have no desire to sit on the sidelines while my family fails to thrive.
I'm still waiting to see the science that says wearing masks and social distancing make a difference. When I see the throngs of protestors and rioters in hotspots like New York City and other environs without so much as a tick-up in the number of positive cases I have to wonder. Was it all a ruse to keep the lot of us inside and the economy closed down to make sure that Trump loses the election in November? It's looking more and more suspicious by the day.
But Stumblin' Joe Biden can't catch a break. He's not out of the basement for more than a day before he's saying something stupid or just downright gaffe-ish. He was reading a teleprompter the other day and he just kept right on reading when the prompter was telling him that he was at the end of a sentence. "End of sentence", he mumbled.
You could tell he caught himself mid-sentence but there was no turning back for Stumblin' Joe. How bout the time he was taking questions from the audience while attending a small gathering in a local church? A black woman steps up to the microphone and without hesitation says something about not wanting to read from the script they gave her to read. You can't make this stuff up.
The polls have snugged up in a lot of places. It was Biden's race to lose just three weeks back. That euphoria has now faded to black. Speaking of blacks, there are rumors going round about Trump winning a pretty good percentage of the minority vote come election day. Getting something in the low twenties would put a win out of reach for the Biden candidacy. That is also true for the Hispanic vote and maybe to a greater extent.
Axios published an article the other day about Trump probably winning in a landslide only to lose after all the mail-in ballots have been counted. The democrats are encouraging their voters to take the mail-in route to do just that. They want to throw it into a cocked hat where the military has to go in to physically extract Trump from the Oval Office after the Supreme Court or the state legislators find for Biden when every last ballot regardless of mail date gets tallied.
As long as the racial strife continues in the cities across our nation splashing scenes of burning buildings, looters crashing through store windows, BLM and Antifa types engaging our great men and women in law enforcement, there is likely to be a growing chorus of calls for more law and order and not less. There will be no defunding the police if Trump and his allies in police departments across the country have anything to say about it.
The American public agrees wholeheartedly with that sentiment after seeing months on end of the madness in their streets. The cancel culture and its toxic roots that have taken hold in our corporate and private institutions have to be torn asunder as it were and tossed on the ash heap of history. As my dear departed father used to say, "the sooner the better."
As we he head into the long weekend around here Nancy is feeling relieved that she has some time off. Time to collect her wits and forget about her day-to-day responsibilities to her job, her family, and to herself. Just taking some things off the table should give her some relief and she's put everyone on notice that she'll not be available for a period of time. I do think that despite her protestations, that she is better off with things that give her a modicum of structure in her day-to-day existence.
There is something to be said for having something to do with your time when not doing something with your time leaves you in a constant state of flux. Nancy had a life filled with this and that before this coronavirus thing came along and now she still does all that stuff but she does it without leaving the house. She works from home; she shops from home; she takes her yoga and relaxation classes from home, and I do the things that she won't so she doesn't have to leave the house. I've been resisting the role of enabler but with limited success. I need to push back harder.
I do my best to see that she is not reading the wrong newspapers, listening to the wrong people on the radio, and not wallowing any more than is necessary in storylines that take her to dark places. It's more of a nudge here and there instead of blocking and tackling at every turn. I think I know what works and what doesn't after all these years so I think I have a leg up when it comes to lending a helping hand.
It may mean nothing more than making her an iced coffee on a hot afternoon, taking her for a ride along the ocean despite my preferences to go in a different direction altogether, urging her to go for a bike ride when she'd rather take a walk around the neighborhood, stopping to pick up a quart of her favorite soup on a rainy afternoon, walking out to the garden with her in the early morning to see how everything is progressing, or reminding her now and then that her son is no longer 12-years old. If he wants to have a drink then she should get off her high horse and ignore his desire to do the same.
I don't want to see her get too invested in all the activities that she thinks is required of her in order for us to get out of the house and on the road to our favorite vacation spot. Moms tend to pack too much and we dads just want to head out the door with a satchel full of underwear and mismatched socks. It will likely start weighing on Nancy in predictable ways sooner rather than later so I'll have to keep an eye out for that. As for me, I've resisted the urge to make a list and have started to put things I don't want to forget to bring in the back seat of the car. That's as good a strategy as any so that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
I've asked one of my peeps to see if there is an espresso machine in the house at the lake and I'm still waiting to hear back from him. I suppose I could make a cup of coffee some other way but why not have it the way I like it. In case you're wondering, that would be black and strong. Hot would be nice but it's not necessary. I could bring my own machine if I had to but free space in the car may be at a premium with the three of us packing our things to the gills. My machine is on the small side so taking it is not out of the question. I will find a spot for it if I have to.
I'm not hearing any overt worries or concerns about the weather although I think Nancy would prefer, if nothing else, to have a pleasant mix of warm and not so warm days and nights, and if necessary, a rainy day or two that sees us playing backgammon indoors and out of the elements. Here's hoping that we have a warm day or two that gives us a good excuse to spend our midday hours swimming and lounging in Sandy Bay. Just like days of old I guess I would say. Do you think that's asking too much?
We'll never have so many people over to the house so that we have to worry about social distancing, wearing masks, and that kind of thing. We'll exchange elbow bumps for hugs, and air hugs for handshakes, but I think we can dispense with the need for the N95 masks if we keep our distance from each other. As awkward as that may be at the outset, I expect we'll get in a groove in a New York minute and we'll all be wondering what all the fuss was about when all is said and done. I don't know how we do that effectively while boating but we all love challenges so let's just make sure we have a flotation device for everyone before we depart from the dock.
If this damn virus can sustain itself in the face of 30 mph winds and a UV index > 10 then I think we have bigger problems than any of us can imagine. These are the elemental challenges those little buggers will face when we're out and about on the lake without masks or any other type of PPE. We'll be throwing caution to the wind and enjoying every minute of it. Cough or clear your throat off the back of the boat if you have to but be quick about it. Social distancing rules will kick in should we decide to walk about on one or more of the local islands so be assured that we are not against adopting precautions when and where necessary.
The hummingbirds hereabouts will be making their way south soon and that will be one more telltale sign that the summer season is on the wane. Legend has it that they come back to the same area each and every year. I can neither confirm or deny that because I can't tell one hummingbird from another. All I know is that they come and go like clockwork each season. I keep their feeders cleaned and filled so they'll have no reason not to return.
They are fierce protectors of their food sources and that is a battle that plays out day in and day out during the summer months as they light on nearby branches and engage other hummingbirds in aerial gymnastics who dare to use the same feeder. How much of that is related to their mating rituals I just don't know. I do know that the birds disappear from time to time for days on end during the summer months and mating, nesting, and raising the next generation might well serve as an explanation for that activity or absence of same.
I think we're supposed to quarantine for 14 days when we return from our vacation spot. We had to go searching for that information so I'm not sure how well that is understood by the general public. That being the case, I'm likely to make up my own rules when we return. What Nancy and Evan do is their own business. But there are things that need to be done once we return and I'm just going to have to throw caution to the wind to get them done. If I don't tell anyone, no one will be the wiser. While I have no intention of becoming the legendary patient zero, I also have no desire to sit on the sidelines while my family fails to thrive.
I'm still waiting to see the science that says wearing masks and social distancing make a difference. When I see the throngs of protestors and rioters in hotspots like New York City and other environs without so much as a tick-up in the number of positive cases I have to wonder. Was it all a ruse to keep the lot of us inside and the economy closed down to make sure that Trump loses the election in November? It's looking more and more suspicious by the day.
But Stumblin' Joe Biden can't catch a break. He's not out of the basement for more than a day before he's saying something stupid or just downright gaffe-ish. He was reading a teleprompter the other day and he just kept right on reading when the prompter was telling him that he was at the end of a sentence. "End of sentence", he mumbled.
You could tell he caught himself mid-sentence but there was no turning back for Stumblin' Joe. How bout the time he was taking questions from the audience while attending a small gathering in a local church? A black woman steps up to the microphone and without hesitation says something about not wanting to read from the script they gave her to read. You can't make this stuff up.
The polls have snugged up in a lot of places. It was Biden's race to lose just three weeks back. That euphoria has now faded to black. Speaking of blacks, there are rumors going round about Trump winning a pretty good percentage of the minority vote come election day. Getting something in the low twenties would put a win out of reach for the Biden candidacy. That is also true for the Hispanic vote and maybe to a greater extent.
Axios published an article the other day about Trump probably winning in a landslide only to lose after all the mail-in ballots have been counted. The democrats are encouraging their voters to take the mail-in route to do just that. They want to throw it into a cocked hat where the military has to go in to physically extract Trump from the Oval Office after the Supreme Court or the state legislators find for Biden when every last ballot regardless of mail date gets tallied.
As long as the racial strife continues in the cities across our nation splashing scenes of burning buildings, looters crashing through store windows, BLM and Antifa types engaging our great men and women in law enforcement, there is likely to be a growing chorus of calls for more law and order and not less. There will be no defunding the police if Trump and his allies in police departments across the country have anything to say about it.
The American public agrees wholeheartedly with that sentiment after seeing months on end of the madness in their streets. The cancel culture and its toxic roots that have taken hold in our corporate and private institutions have to be torn asunder as it were and tossed on the ash heap of history. As my dear departed father used to say, "the sooner the better."