Social Distancing Sunday

We had some strong thunderstorms blow through last night. It is that time of the year when the warm and cold air fight for superiority. As we move into summer, the warm air will win out but the cold ain’t going without a fight. Today the wind is howling as they say which just add a sense of weirdness to the day.

One of the drawbacks of the whole social distancing thing is that they’ve closed down the shot clinic where I get my allergy shots. It makes sense in that you can’t control spacing in a waiting room and I think it is all part of eliminating “non-essential” medial visits which probably helps keep the doctors and nurses safe in case they are needed for real emergencies.

But it also mean my allergies are running free. And the storms and wind don’t help with that since it kicks up all the stuff that’s here and probably brings in stuff from elsewhere. Got a weather alert about today being a high pollen day. So I’m doubling up on the anti-histamine and hoping for the best. Have to tell you that its darn hard to avoid touching your face when your nose and eyes are itchy like crazy. Plus you sneeze these days and people assume you have the plague.

Got the dog out for his walk although the park we picked is one that tends to flood in heavy rains – which we forgot about until we got there. So it was a short walk and he’s been looking for more. We’ll see. Saw a few other people even though it was relatively early on a Sunday morning. The nice thing is that most people are still being social and not treating every other human as if they are just carriers of the virus who should be avoided.

The stores are starting to recover here. There was actually toilet paper at our main store and the produce aisles had mostly recovered. Still short on pasta, rice, soup and the like. Overheard a funny comment from a disappointed shopper asking where the carbs were. Wonder how many people gave up on the low-carb lifestyle when they were creating their emergency supply.

Had to go to a few other places today because (a) we forgot to buy some things at the store on Saturday and (b) they were out of a few things we did want to buy. One place had big red X’s on the floor spaced out at six foot intervals so we could all line up like good little citizens and keep the appropriate distance suggested by our “experts”. (Sorry just a little cynicsm there)

In another sign of nature moving on and not caring that we are all sheltered in place in fear of this virus, the goldfinches are getting into their summer plumage. If you don’t know this bird, they go from drab and dull in the winter to bright yellow in the spring.

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Saw an interesting post from a Facebook friend. Basically, she was going on about the current anointed medical expert because he’s been on a couple of late night shows. Not that I doubt his credentials or anything like that but I just sometimes wonder if we’ve reached a point where people put too much faith in “science”. Like believing that we are somehow more “evolved” that way.

Now, I’m not anti-science by any measure. But it does concern me a bit to place too much trust in another person. People are flawed. We all come with our own set of biases and issues that color and influence our thoughts and actions. A person doesn’t become immune to this simply by obtaining an advanced degree or becoming an “expert”. Not saying you shouldn’t listen to them but nobody really has all the answers here.

I mean if you think about it, we feel like we are so advanced and this primitive form of life is reeking all kinds of havoc. And, so far, science has figured out how to test for it but not how to protect us from it.

Well, I’m not going to get any deeper into that particular rabbit hole.

Given the recent numbers from my part of the country, I’m thinking we aren’t getting out of lock down any time soon. That doesn’t make me happy. The studio originally thought about reopening on April 6th which is when our two week stay at home order runs out. I’m thinking that the chances are slim to none that it opens as scheduled.

So we just carry on with our new normal and continue to believe that these troubled times will eventually pass.