Us, January 19, 2020: John, Leo, Shadow, Roy, Ondine
Us, January 19, 2020: John, Leo, Shadow, Roy, Ondine
April Fool's Day came and went with no pranks, since it seems Gaia may be playing the biggest prank in human history.
Speaking of which, the coronavirus pandemic rages pretty much unabated, with even the best-case models showing a grim upward curve, on which we're still within the first part. As of this writing, the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracker shows nearly 1.2 million confirmed cases of coronavirus worldwide, with over 64,600 deaths. The U.S. accounts for nearly a quarter of the caseload, with over 308,800 confirmed cases and over 8,300 deaths. In San Diego, there are 1,112 confirmed cases and 17 deaths.
Emerging research seems to show that the virus can be spread through people who are completely asymptomatic; not everyone who actively has the virus gets sick from it. So now, facemasks in public are becoming the social norm to protect others. John trotted out his old Mt. Whitney topo map scarf to tie around his face, bandito-style, on a recent trip to the grocery store. Who knows, maybe niqabs are the answer for everyone.
Meanwhile, toilet paper remains out of stock just about everywhere. You'd think the supply chain would've caught up, but toilet paper is such a low-margin product to warehouse that manufacturing, packaging, and delivering it is a just-in-time sort of thing. John has found Smart and Final to have the sparsest shelves compared with Sprouts, Keil's, and Albertson's, all of which have most things back in stock.
We've ventured out for groceries only, and have so far resisted the promotions of take-out and delivery services from restaurants. Other than that, the cars remain parked. There's nothing to do anyways. We've started a nightly game of charades before dinner, which is entertaining, especially when one draws "upside-down unholy floating angry head of Santa Claus." Roy contributed it, John acted it, and it took only about 15 seconds for Leo to get it. That might tell you a little more about us than we'd like.
Garden events include a hummingbird nest in our cherimoya tree, and a hawk who flew its freshly killed squirrel to a high branch behind our house, where it ripped and snarfed at the entrails while we watched. On our night walks, we've heard and (rarely) seen several owls, both barn and great horned.
Also, Friday evening we felt an earthquake, a 4.9 centered in Riverside near Anza. We haven't felt an earthquake that strong in a while, two solid thumps that shook the house and worried the dog.
Leo continues on spring break while Patrick Henry and all the other schools in the district get ready to launch online learning on Monday. Grading will be "harmless," that is, grades can't go down and can only go up. Meanwhile, the UC and state college systems have relaxed their admissions requirements in light of all the school closures and disruptions to education as usual. So it's sort of a really boring gap semester for most graduating seniors.
Roy is in class online and has been for a couple weeks. He also got some work hours for the Ent Center box office, fielding inquiries remotely.
Ondine continues to work from home, setting up and dismantling her home office in our bedroom, where she has a window looking out into the back yard. She's gotten adept at a very different approach to her role.
John starts a MOOC next week on archaeology, and has been tuning in to various theatre companies productions online. This weekend, for instance, he plans to watch the Metropolitan Opera's production of Verdi's Macbeth, based on the Shakespeare play. He continues to kick off his day with a 45-minute ride on his exercise bike every morning, plus we walk the dog together at night. And, he's still working on our taxes with an eye toward April 15 even though the tax deadline has been extended to July 15. He cut his hair this morning, a good three inches, but no one noticed.
Shadow loves the new normal, with his pack around him all the time and bedroom privileges, at least with Leo. John has caught Shadow sneaking sheepishly down the hall, upon which the dog scrambles to get back to his designated area in the kitchen and family room. Some days he even gets two walks, one with Leo and one with us, although last night he hurt his foot and we had to carry him home, looking all droopy and sad.
Neighborhood gas prices are about $3.09 per gallon. The stock market closed Friday at 21,052.
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