Week 7
Day 43. Monday April 27 2020.
For each of us, there is only one day in our lives that we will never be able to later reflect upon.
jumping species where coronavirus come from.
zoonotic diseases - diseases hosted in animals that spread to humans. The CDC estimates that six out of ten infectious diseases in people come from animals. Among them are Lyme disease, Rabies, West Nile, and diseases caused by coronaviruses, including this coronavirus and the SARS virus.
In my walk yesterday south of town on the ocean I ended up finding two more good size sand dollars, each about 3 inches across, but ended up giving them both away before I came home. The first one was when I saw a woman walking toward me alone on the beach and I thought it might be a nice pleasant surprise for her, so I gave her one. They are a rare find in Bandon. Then a bit later in the walk, Christine and Ken road by on their bikes and stopped to chat, so I gave Christine the other one. I don't mind doing nice things for them. They are nice to me. They gave me a nice slice of cherry pie a couple of days ago, and I know how much cherry pie means to them. Ken would kill for it.
Besides, all told, I have about 15 other sand dollars here at home. A whole bunch from California walking along the beaches over the years, where they are more plentiful, and 3 from here. One big one and two little guys. Christine says that she is going to make a garden stone with the sand dollar I gave her, so I gave her another one and she is going to make one for me as well.
When I was on my first bike trip in 1977 or so, I rode up the coast of California from Malibu and stopped in Lompoc to see my godfather and godmother, neither of whom I knew very well, but they were good friends of my parents. Old air force buddies I think. While I was in Lompoc I found a sand dollar on the beach, wrapped it up in toilet paper, put it in a box and mailed it to my mom, so for the rest of our lives together sand dollars were a special thing between us. Sand dollars and rainbows. The rainbow thing came from when she was visiting me in London, and one day we had a long rainy walk, and when we arrived at the gates of Buckingham Palace, the sun suddenly came out and a huge full rainbow appeared before us. Ever since that moment it was rainbows as well. Rainbows and sand dollars. Two little things we had, up against all the other noise of life. And of course now that I am a parent with grown kids as well, I look for little things like that to share with each of them, but I am not sure either one of them are yet at an age where they are looking for things to share with me as well. I am still just the guy who raised them.
At some point we all realize how precious life is and how little time we have with each other. I trust they will get there eventually. As I have told Mara many times, I just hope that I am still alive by the time she realizes that she might want to spend time with me.
*******
I had a good walk this morning. I did 20,000 steps yesterday, so my right hip is a little sore. That's a new one. I have never felt sore in a hip before, which I find slightly worrying because hip complaints are something you see in older people. I am thinking - and hoping - that I have some time to go before sore hips become a thing. I am hoping so anyway. I have done well with my walks so far. This is the beginning of the seventh week and I have walked over 300 miles at this point. I want to keep it up.
*******
Virus numbers do appear to be flattening out, but no one knows anything yet. If there will ever be a vaccine. If the economy will ever come back. If life will ever look like it did before two months ago. Two months and a lifetime ago. This virus is the biggest thing to hit civilization, the human race in the past 100 years. Everybody is wondering what changes will come of it when and if we ever get to the other side.
Day 44. Tuesday April 28 2020.
Good walk this morning south along the beach. Yesterday I stood for awhile and watched a seal swimming close to shore down along the beach, almost as if it was looking for something. Today a lone goose stood atop a rock and kept honking. You wonder the joys and tragedies of their lives.We have a generalized coffeee klatch at the Bandon Coffee Cafe, or at least we did up until a month or so ago. Bandon is a northern beach tourist town, and many people spend their winters in warmer southern locales, then come up to Bandon in the summers. A number of them are back now, so my friend Russ is hosting a coffee get together at his house tomorrow morning, albeit with us all respecting the physical distancing guidelines. It should be interesting. I offered to bring hand sanitizer for all of us.
After my walk, I then drove down to see Jeff Norris in his tailor shop. Stopped and talked for awhile. My newly purchased overalls are too long so I will bring them over to him and he can shorten them for me. I could probably do a half assed job on them myself, but he has become a good friend, so I don't mind giving him the money to see it done right.
**********
See chart above. Sweden is an anomalous country in the world in that it has has decided not to shut it's society down during the pandemic, so my right wing friends are having something of a field day with that because Sweden's death and infection numbers do not look any worse than most western countries.
It doesn't take much investigation however to begin to realize what is going on. The answer lies more in the insular and cohesive natures of Scandinavian societies, and the extremely high levels of trust that Scandinavians have in their (progressive) governments compared to the rest of the west.
Compared to the west, Sweden has done fine. Compared to other Scandinavian countries, however, not so much. In other words, in other western capitalist societies, people are constantly wary of being lied to by their governments and constantly worried about having their pockets picked. In Scandinavia, the governments actually provide progressive health care and take care of their citizens, and consequently trust is high, so that when the government says keep a physical distance, most people do. Hence the numbers similar to the west. Compared to other Scandinavian countries though, there is more of a stark difference.
The best and the worst thing about America is that no one has ever learned to trust, or to listen what the government says. At any time. To anybody.
Bless it's dear heart
Day 45. Wednesday April 29 2020.
We had a coffee get together with the old gang at Russ's house. Just six of us sitting around chewing the fat. It was highly enjoyable to be back in a social environment, even though we were sitting a good six feet away from each other, it brought back some of the old coffee shop magic.
My spinach and lettuce plants need culling now. they are all pretty fat, and need leaves pulled off of them. I do not know anything about it, but I think this is when you can start eating the leaves off the plants for salads and such. I look at my six spinach and six lettuce plants and know that I cannot eat that fast. I will think of calling some people to come get some.
***********
Against the advice of health professionals, some states are beginning to open back up for business. The general thinking is that too many family depend on work to survive, and if they don't get it, property crimes will soon result. I can't blame them, although it will probably bring the virus screaming back. What can you do. Our species is stuck between a rock and a hard place. We are too specialized a society, and we each have our specialized tasks that we do. We need all the cogs to run in concert with one another, which means starting the machine again. That starting the machine means the virus will take advantage, is just what it is. More deaths. Each death is a tragedy, but one that we cannot seem to be able to avoid. if the governments of the world came out and guaranteed everybody food and shelter for the next year, we could all get through it. But food and shelter cost requires money, which requires work, which for many people requires close human contact, which is fertile ground for a virus to spread. And the tragicomedy of it all is that just three months ago nobody would have ever believed that this is where we would be now.
Day 46. Thursday April 30 2020.
An interesting trend with the virus that is not really mentioned in the news media as of yet is the slow migration that the virus is taking across the country. The big explosion in cases happened quite simultaneously on both coasts, but the west coast responded by shutting down immediately and ordering "shelter in place" to its citizens. New York City delayed any shelter in place directives and as a result case loads exploded. It quickly became the WORLD EPICENTER for the virus. Blame for this will be discussed for years, of course, that is if and when we all get to the other side of this. The virus could mutate tomorrow or next week and kill us all.
I think other states were thinking/hoping that it was just a NYC thing, but over the past month I have seen the numbers rise, first in New York State, then to neighboring states, ie New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts. Rhode Island. Now more recently I am seeing the mid southern states and mid western states numbers starting to rise. Illinois, Michigan, Virginia, Kentucky, the Carolinas.
The virus is making a slow journey across America not because of air travel, which has been significantly reduced, but because - I think - that most nuclear family members tend to cluster within 50 miles of each other. Its been said that the virus prefers to spread indoors, and among family members. This makes sense with the trends I am seeing. A slow spread across the country.
Everybody thinks they will be able escape it, until it arrives.
Also, what is really interesting and unnerving about this virus is it's varied nature. It hits some people lightly, or not at all. Its been said that many people are walking around today who have had it and yet never felt it. They are called "asymptomatic" and there are supposedly millions of them. Then there are others that it kills, and others that get it and suffer strokes from it, or lose their hearing, or any feeling in their toes. Why it hits so many people so differently no one can figure out. I am thinking that what we are seeing is not just one virus, but many different mutations or different entry paths into the body, and so are each hitting people differently. As said over and over though, we shall see.
I had a good walk today, and ran into two friends Christine R doing yard work, and Patrick on his bike, both at the same time. So we stood and talked for a bit. Then I walked out to Hennicks on the other side of town and back. 9 mile day. Came home and expanded my garden a bit. This is the last expansion for the year and more of a tidying up of the yard than anything else. Hoed it, then threw a whole bunch of flower seeds out into it. See if anything comes up.
The Spinach and Lettuce in my first garden are growing like crazy so I am starting to offer people to come over and pull some leaves off and Nancy next door did this afternoon.
Now I am showered and clean and ready to coast into an easy later afternoon.
After days of rain on and off it was an absolutely beautiful today. Nicest day of the year so far.
I mowed half the lawn.
Day 47. Friday May 1 2020.
May 1. May Day, whatever that means. Shoot, now I have to look it up.
I guess it also celebrates the origin of labor rights.
I got more of the lawn mowed. In Bandon, It's tough to get the lawn mowed during the months of March and April as it is still raining on and off and the weather has warmed up so the grass starts growing like crazy, but then it is wet and you can't really mow wet grass so you impatiently wait for a few dry days to dry the grass out to get the lawn mowed, but its rare to get the 3 to 4 dry days you need to dry out the grass. So every year its a tough mow in the spring.
More rain tomorrow though, so I ended up mowing the half wet grass in the back yard just to get at least the back yard done. Not happy with it. The air filter cover on the lawn mower came off twice and the air filter looks shot, so I ordered a new one off of Amazon. For years, Amazon used to guarantee 2nd day delivery, but with the pandemic, it's now 9 days. What can you do.
Nice nine mile day walking today. And a radio show tonight. I am going to back off my responsibilities a bit with the show and try to just hand the show off to Eric and Avery after tonight. Eric has come a long way and I think he can handle it. I just called him about it for next week and he seems psyched. For myself, my plan is to move to a solo "Bandon Farm Report" Sundays at 3pm. Get the 101 people driving home from their weekend wherever, play some music, do call ins. See how it goes.
All the states are talking about opening up in the next week or so. Health experts are freaking out and saying its too soon, and once the states open up the virus will surge again, which will lead to another surge in deaths and probably another shutdown.
The virus should not be a political issue, but it has turned out to be. People want to go back to work and feed their kids, despite the dangers. I can understand that. If I was a young dad with kids, feeding and caring for the safety of my kids would come first, no matter the danger.
Day 48. Saturday May 2 2020.
One of the interesting data points coming out recently about the virus is how every region/state/country is undercounting their deaths from the virus to look better than the others, and to show their people that their health care system is taking care of them. But, as is starting to be pointed out more and more now, is that THE DEAD DO NOT LIE. Body counts are body counts. If one state has 1000 deaths a month for a period of years and suddenly with the onset of the virus the number of dead rises to 2000 per month, yet they say that they have had only 500 coronovirus deaths, something doesn't add up. this is happening across the board, and everyone is guilty to a certain degree, so it will all be resolved after the fact.
When I bought my overalls last week at Cascade (a farm store in coos bay) the dressing rooms were closed due to the virus, so I stood in the store and tried them on. With overalls I am lazy and leave the hooks into the bib in, so struggle a bit to get them on and off. Its just who I am.
A few years ago I found an ID bracelet in a box of old jewelry that my mom had given me before she died. The bracelet said "Tod Hebert" which was my dad's name and also my name originally, so one time I asked my dad if it was his, and he said yes, and that when he was a pilot early on he wore it because he thought that if he was in a plane crash, they might not be able to find him, but they might find the bracelet and know he was there. I have worn the bracelet ever since, because it was a part of his life, and also spoke to a part of who I was/am.
Yesterday morning I noticed that the bracelet was gone off my wrist. I looked all over the house and have been slightly heartbroken that I lost it. I sort of figured it came off when I was struggling with the overalls, but could not find it anywhere in the house.
This afternoon, with nothing to lose, I called Cascade and asked if anyone had turned in a silver ID bracelet, and the guy Steve says "Hold on" then comes back on in a minute and asks "Your name "Tod"?. So I am very relieved that at least as of this afternoon the bracelet is there. I plan on driving up to Coos Bay tomorrow to pick it up.
Day 49. Sunday May 3 2020.
Quite a busy day today. Unusual for the quarantine. I started out going to Coos Bay this morning for what is turning out to be a weekly shopping trip to Coos Bay and Walmart where prices are cheaper than Bandon. Bandon is 25 miles away and an ocean tourist town, so stores take advantage of that a little bit. I don't blame them. It is what it is, but I am not going to pay higher prices if I can avoid it. I live here.
I walked out to the North Bend airport just to say hello to the airport, as I am from an aviation family, then stopped at Cascade and they did indeed have my dad's ID bracelet. I sort of jimmy fixed it with wire, and will get a proper silver clasp on amazon. I have found that I am the type that if I am wearing jewelry that is not pure gold or silver I get an itchy rash where the jewelry is. I remember my sister Joy having that allergy problem as well.
When I got back to Bandon I didn't have much time before heading to the KBOG studio. I spent an hour with Eric while he worked on fixing the mixer and I wrote to musician managers who want phone interviews. I am sort of the interview guy here.
Then I did my radio show COGNITIVE DECLINE. The inaugural show. It went ok. It will get better. That's the way these things work. You have to grow into them.
Then I had the weekly phone call with Scott and his two sons Hank and Ted, who are 30 and 28 I think, or about 10 years older than Jana and Mara. Its impressive to see them as responsible men, because I remember them as kids.
Then I finally got the rest of the lawn mowed and it took a couple hours because it was the worst of it. March and April are the toughest months to get the lawn mowed here. Lot's of rain and warmer weather, leading the the grass to grow like crazy. I will try not to let it get that bad again.
Major surprise today. Jana called me around noon because they got a letter in Santa Clara addressed to me from a friend of mine from 40 years ago - Marie (pronounced MAH-RIE) Brady. She was looking for me and thought she found me on the internet so was just writing to say hello, leaving her email address. I quickly responded with some brief life info. How can you encapsulate 40 years? She is in London, so eight hours ahead, but wrote back a single line saying it was late but that she would write back more fully.
What a joy to hear from her. I think of her and all I can imagine her being is 30 years old. I can't even fathom what she would look like at 70. That's just appearances though. I think I know her well enough to know what she is LIKE at 70. Still Marie.
Good article today on how the world is going to treat China moving forward. The truth is that everyone has made mistakes with the virus, but China made the first major mistake by trying to hide the outset of the virus in Wuhan, which then blew up around the world, leading to a complete world economic shutdown. Pretty much a first for our 10,000 year old civilization. Major major mistake on their part, and many lives lost and irreparably damaged. It will be interesting to see what comes out of this.
On to dinner...
I think other states were thinking/hoping that it was just a NYC thing, but over the past month I have seen the numbers rise, first in New York State, then to neighboring states, ie New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts. Rhode Island. Now more recently I am seeing the mid southern states and mid western states numbers starting to rise. Illinois, Michigan, Virginia, Kentucky, the Carolinas.
The virus is making a slow journey across America not because of air travel, which has been significantly reduced, but because - I think - that most nuclear family members tend to cluster within 50 miles of each other. Its been said that the virus prefers to spread indoors, and among family members. This makes sense with the trends I am seeing. A slow spread across the country.
Everybody thinks they will be able escape it, until it arrives.
Also, what is really interesting and unnerving about this virus is it's varied nature. It hits some people lightly, or not at all. Its been said that many people are walking around today who have had it and yet never felt it. They are called "asymptomatic" and there are supposedly millions of them. Then there are others that it kills, and others that get it and suffer strokes from it, or lose their hearing, or any feeling in their toes. Why it hits so many people so differently no one can figure out. I am thinking that what we are seeing is not just one virus, but many different mutations or different entry paths into the body, and so are each hitting people differently. As said over and over though, we shall see.
***********
I had a good walk today, and ran into two friends Christine R doing yard work, and Patrick on his bike, both at the same time. So we stood and talked for a bit. Then I walked out to Hennicks on the other side of town and back. 9 mile day. Came home and expanded my garden a bit. This is the last expansion for the year and more of a tidying up of the yard than anything else. Hoed it, then threw a whole bunch of flower seeds out into it. See if anything comes up.
The Spinach and Lettuce in my first garden are growing like crazy so I am starting to offer people to come over and pull some leaves off and Nancy next door did this afternoon.
Now I am showered and clean and ready to coast into an easy later afternoon.
After days of rain on and off it was an absolutely beautiful today. Nicest day of the year so far.
I mowed half the lawn.
Day 47. Friday May 1 2020.
May 1. May Day, whatever that means. Shoot, now I have to look it up.
It is an ancient festival of Spring and a current traditional spring holiday in many European cultures.
I guess it also celebrates the origin of labor rights.
**********
I got more of the lawn mowed. In Bandon, It's tough to get the lawn mowed during the months of March and April as it is still raining on and off and the weather has warmed up so the grass starts growing like crazy, but then it is wet and you can't really mow wet grass so you impatiently wait for a few dry days to dry the grass out to get the lawn mowed, but its rare to get the 3 to 4 dry days you need to dry out the grass. So every year its a tough mow in the spring.
More rain tomorrow though, so I ended up mowing the half wet grass in the back yard just to get at least the back yard done. Not happy with it. The air filter cover on the lawn mower came off twice and the air filter looks shot, so I ordered a new one off of Amazon. For years, Amazon used to guarantee 2nd day delivery, but with the pandemic, it's now 9 days. What can you do.
**********
Nice nine mile day walking today. And a radio show tonight. I am going to back off my responsibilities a bit with the show and try to just hand the show off to Eric and Avery after tonight. Eric has come a long way and I think he can handle it. I just called him about it for next week and he seems psyched. For myself, my plan is to move to a solo "Bandon Farm Report" Sundays at 3pm. Get the 101 people driving home from their weekend wherever, play some music, do call ins. See how it goes.
**********
All the states are talking about opening up in the next week or so. Health experts are freaking out and saying its too soon, and once the states open up the virus will surge again, which will lead to another surge in deaths and probably another shutdown.
The virus should not be a political issue, but it has turned out to be. People want to go back to work and feed their kids, despite the dangers. I can understand that. If I was a young dad with kids, feeding and caring for the safety of my kids would come first, no matter the danger.
Day 48. Saturday May 2 2020.
********
A few years ago I found an ID bracelet in a box of old jewelry that my mom had given me before she died. The bracelet said "Tod Hebert" which was my dad's name and also my name originally, so one time I asked my dad if it was his, and he said yes, and that when he was a pilot early on he wore it because he thought that if he was in a plane crash, they might not be able to find him, but they might find the bracelet and know he was there. I have worn the bracelet ever since, because it was a part of his life, and also spoke to a part of who I was/am.
Yesterday morning I noticed that the bracelet was gone off my wrist. I looked all over the house and have been slightly heartbroken that I lost it. I sort of figured it came off when I was struggling with the overalls, but could not find it anywhere in the house.
This afternoon, with nothing to lose, I called Cascade and asked if anyone had turned in a silver ID bracelet, and the guy Steve says "Hold on" then comes back on in a minute and asks "Your name "Tod"?. So I am very relieved that at least as of this afternoon the bracelet is there. I plan on driving up to Coos Bay tomorrow to pick it up.
Day 49. Sunday May 3 2020.
 |
| Street Mural |
I walked out to the North Bend airport just to say hello to the airport, as I am from an aviation family, then stopped at Cascade and they did indeed have my dad's ID bracelet. I sort of jimmy fixed it with wire, and will get a proper silver clasp on amazon. I have found that I am the type that if I am wearing jewelry that is not pure gold or silver I get an itchy rash where the jewelry is. I remember my sister Joy having that allergy problem as well.
When I got back to Bandon I didn't have much time before heading to the KBOG studio. I spent an hour with Eric while he worked on fixing the mixer and I wrote to musician managers who want phone interviews. I am sort of the interview guy here.
Then I did my radio show COGNITIVE DECLINE. The inaugural show. It went ok. It will get better. That's the way these things work. You have to grow into them.
Then I had the weekly phone call with Scott and his two sons Hank and Ted, who are 30 and 28 I think, or about 10 years older than Jana and Mara. Its impressive to see them as responsible men, because I remember them as kids.
Then I finally got the rest of the lawn mowed and it took a couple hours because it was the worst of it. March and April are the toughest months to get the lawn mowed here. Lot's of rain and warmer weather, leading the the grass to grow like crazy. I will try not to let it get that bad again.
***********
Major surprise today. Jana called me around noon because they got a letter in Santa Clara addressed to me from a friend of mine from 40 years ago - Marie (pronounced MAH-RIE) Brady. She was looking for me and thought she found me on the internet so was just writing to say hello, leaving her email address. I quickly responded with some brief life info. How can you encapsulate 40 years? She is in London, so eight hours ahead, but wrote back a single line saying it was late but that she would write back more fully.
What a joy to hear from her. I think of her and all I can imagine her being is 30 years old. I can't even fathom what she would look like at 70. That's just appearances though. I think I know her well enough to know what she is LIKE at 70. Still Marie.
**********
Good article today on how the world is going to treat China moving forward. The truth is that everyone has made mistakes with the virus, but China made the first major mistake by trying to hide the outset of the virus in Wuhan, which then blew up around the world, leading to a complete world economic shutdown. Pretty much a first for our 10,000 year old civilization. Major major mistake on their part, and many lives lost and irreparably damaged. It will be interesting to see what comes out of this.
On to dinner...
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