Us, January 19, 2020: John, Leo, Shadow, Roy, Ondine
Us, January 19, 2020: John, Leo, Shadow, Roy, Ondine
One day to tax day, for those filing on the old deadline. The pandemic has pushed the IRS filing deadline to July 15; when tax day becomes less inevitable, that's a sign how deeply coronavirus has reached into everyday life.
The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracker shows that COVID-19 has been confirmed in over 1.9 million people worldwide, and has claimed over 125,000 lives. The U.S. has over 594,000 confirmed cases, with over 25,400 deaths. And in San Diego, the numbers rose to 1,847 cases with 47 deaths.
Social distancing does seem to be working to flatten the curve, though, so that's a positive sign. The rate of doubling has slowed significantly, also a good sign. The Trump administration, against medical and scientific advice, is eager to ease restrictions and return to business as usual in an effort to get the economy going again.
To place the COVID-19 pandemic into historical perspective, because John is a wanna-be medievalist/early modernist, in the 14th century the Black Death killed 50-100 million people worldwide, at a time when the world population wasn't nearly what it is today. The last global pandemic, the "Spanish" flu (H1N1) epidemic of 1918, infected some 500 million people worldwide and killed 17-50 million people, including 675,000 Americans.
On a happier note . . .
The Easter Bunny visited our house, hiding treats in the living room for the kints: each got a bag of black jelly beans, Peeps, a Kinder egg, a pack of licorice Red Vines, and a set of JBL earbuds with a microphone for online class meetings. Then we went next door to Barbara's for an early kaffeetrinken, and called Liz and Ulli. Later on, we called Frances too, and John and his sister Elaine texted back and forth. So, a virtual family Easter under social distancing.
Speaking of social distancing, Vista Cove, Frances' retirement community, has been in lockdown since the early days of the pandemic, with no guests allowed in for visits and temperature checks for residents returning from outside. They've also issued masks for the residents. We're so happy they've been so proactive in keeping their residents safe. A couple weeks ago, they instituted shift dining by floor, so there's ample separation between diners. Less social, but a lot safer. (Plus probably a bit easier on the kitchen since Vista Cove serves a blend of fixed menu and restaurant-style dining.) The exercise classes still continue, as other in-house activities.
Shopping-wise, Ondine made a trip out Saturday to get kaffeetrinken fixings and groceries. John went out Tuesday, hitting Albertson's for groceries and Kahoots for dog food. Albertson's actually had packs of their own brand toilet paper, limit one pack per customer, so that was a score. Smart & Final has fallen off his shopping radar because the last times he's gone the shelves have been too bare. Stores are prohibiting reusable bags now, so we have a growing pile of plastic shopping bags. Those are the only trips out of the house we've taken all week other than walking the doggo at night.
Leo has been mostly doing his own projects because schoolwork doesn't take up much of his time. That means music and Minecraft just now.
Roy is at times in class or doing work online, at other times working on a Minecraft server with friends. He's been debating with himself whether or not to apply for California unemployment, because several of his friends have done it and are collecting beaucoup bucks from the state. The money would be very useful for paying for his senior year, that's for sure! He's struggling with his uber conservative principles, though, to avoid taking government money.
On the other hand, Roy did his taxes and found he owes the state of California $15, so he's on a mission to get it back, plus plus plus.
Ondine has been steadily doing the haiku-a-day challenge on Instagram. And, she continues doing her job from home.
John watched the Anthony Hopkins Lear on Amazon Prime, and Monday evening we watched the National Theatre's stage production of Jane Eyre. And, he's finalizing our 2019 taxes with an eye toward getting it in tomorrow. He's also doing a FutureLearn course on archaeology, focusing on human remains.
Shadow got his drops today, a few days late for this thrilling event in his life. Also, just this morning in the back yard he got buzzed by the hawk who lives in the big tree behind our house. We think Shadow is a bit too big for the hawk to consider him prey, but they're both definitely after the same squirrels so the hawk may have been warning him off. It's a huge hawk, though, and could definitely do serious damage to Shadow, who is actually a smallish dog.
The weather seems to have made a definite turn. The rain we've been having stopped, and today it's sunny and supposed to get up to 80 degrees. The week looks sunny and warm, with the last sprinkle of the season a remote possibility around the weekend.
Neighborhood gas prices dropped to $2.89 per gallon. And the stock market is hanging around 23,949 at this moment.
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