Mid Week Mind Meanderings

Pictured above is a female summer tanager. The male gets a bright red coat but the female is kind of drab green yellow. I guess this trade off makes sense in the bird world when the female spends most of the time on the nest. Hard to hide if you are bright red.

Anyway, a couple of days ago, one of these showed up at our feeders. No male in sight. Since birds tend to be paired, I’m wondering about her mate. Did she lose him on the trip up – migration can be difficult. Or is she just looking for one? Is my yard like a bird hook up zone?

Or is she heading further north and just stopping off here because we have an abundant supply of food and water? Would love to see a male and it would be cool if they nested here.

The last few days have been chilly at night but I’ve been leaving the heater off because it is more comfortable to sleep. Then I turn it on when I get up and shut it off once the house hits the desired temperature. But the difference between now and earlier in the year is that the actual air mass is warmer. So even on those chilly mornings, you still get the undertone of warmth. Don’t get me wrong – I kind of like the hot days of summer but these spring days are kind of special.

So we took Rocco for another walk in the park. The plan was to stop for coffee afterward but the line at the drive through was snaking back into the road so we bailed on that idea. I have no idea where all the coffee addicts were coming from but they were out in full force. Seems like every time we drive by that place, it is full of cars. Then I remember I used to be like that as well. I can say my coffee consumption has really dropped off since I stopped working.

Just going to throw in a random exercise note. It has been two months since I finished my last round of shots. I know this because it was right before we got put under house arrest. The knee has been almost pain free. Which could also be the result of being able to do more of the leg exercises and strengthening the muscles around it. It could also be the two month break from dancing. But it is nice.

Now this falls into the first world problems category but we are down to our last candles. Will have to order some online because the store is not yet reopened. Of course, as much as we love the candles, we also always wait until we get coupons because they are pretty darned expensive. With the stores being closed, they just aren’t sending out as many coupons. What to do, what to do.

Seriously, I do hope they are able to reopen soon. Again, like most stores we tend to frequent, the people who work there recognize us. Kind of like greeting old friends when we go to restock. And I do wonder how they are making out through all this.

I have decided to wait another two weeks before starting back up with dancing. Really need to get my allergies under control first. And I need to stock up on some additional masks because I think they’ll be gross after a lesson and not something I’m going to want to put right back on.

I’m not going to spend a lot of time discussing the virus and the polarizing responses to it but I did see what seemed to be a legit survey with some scary results. 75% of Republicans think the worst is behind us while 75% of Democrats think the worst is yet to come. My family leans left and I can that they are clearly in the “worst is yet to come” camp. (I’m more of an independent because I think both parties suck in their own ways)

I suspect there are lots of reasons for this but it is kind of alarming to think that we could divide up along political lines for something that really shouldn’t be political. Actually, that’s not really the problem – the problem is that each side becomes so convinced that their position is correct that you can’t have a civil discussion.

But enough about that. To me, the data are trending in the right direction here. What I find interesting is that there are places where the number of cases is showing exponential growth but the actual deaths rates are not matching what happened here or in parts of Europe. I’m not smart enough to know why and I suspect even the experts really don’t know. I just look at data and see patterns and this is what I see right now.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for today. Just had to ramble a little bit before going to get my next allergy shot. My weather app has already informed me that the tree pollen is going to be high today. Which I know because I was out already.