Life Issues

Its been a while since my last post but everything has been going along smoothly snf it just didn't seem all that important. Then a couple of major life issues came alog,he igst, of course, being the Corona Virus COVID pandemic which is still marching through the world. Currently some 900 Americans a day are dying from this scourge. In my humble and non-scientific opinion it has much to do with the poor way our country prepared itself for it and has since handled it. olitics and the I believe we have been hit hard because we didn't handle it properly from the start and because politics and the economy have driven the decisions to reopen the country and our schools rather than our helth experts. Believe me, I get it. Businesses were hurting and parents , stuck at home, can't take care of their kids and go to work, if they even have a job. So what to do? Open our schools so parents have a babysitter. Open our businesses so they don't go under and so folks have a job to go to. The result? The rate of COVID infections and the death rate have increased or remained the same. Add to that the folks in our land who believe they are somehow immune to the virus , don't believe it is as bad as they've been told by health experts, or who just don't think anyone has the right to tell them what to do, and you have a perfect storm for this virus to continue to sicken and kill people. Especially the old, infirm, those with less than perfect immune systems, the first responders, the teachers, the children going back into classrooms unprepared for protecting them from the virus. You get the picture. 

So, I am staying pretty much at home. Have been since March of this year with only rare exceptions and only then when I am well protected--wearing a mask, staying well away from others who I am unsure about how they have protected themselves, and going to stores or the barbershop only at times when places are least crowded and have taken the best possible measures to protect their customers and washing my hands until they are raw.

Locally, I have always shopped at Fred Meyer for much of my grocery shopping. But of the local grocery stores they have by far done the worst job to protect customers. So we pay a bit more and go to the Haggen store nearer us that has done an outstanding job of setting up protections. 

My barber has let me come in by myself for an early morning appointment (only been twice) when no one else is in the shop. She takes extra precautions to keep her shop sanitized, wears a mask, insists I do too the entire time she is cutting my hair and we each sanitize our hands before and after the haircut.

I don't know when or if this is ever going to come to an end. Perhaps only when a medication is developed that can end it or at least bring it under control. But I do hope it is soon as I am sure everyone else does. I don't like the way it has isolated people. I am saddened by so many folks that rather than keeping in better touch through email or Facetime or ZOOM, instead seem to have circled their wagons and isolated themselves. When this virus first started up we made an effort to contact people by the methods above. We must have contacted 25-30 people we know including some we hadn't been in touch with for many years except by Christmas card.  To date we have been contacted back by only a couple of people. What we call reciprocals. Many people we have thought were close friends we simply haven't heard from at all in less we have made the effort to recontact them. Now I understand, folks are quite possibly feeling depressed or isolated or just frozen, not knowing what to do or willing to do anything to reach out to others. But, am I wrong? Isn't this the best of times to do just that? 

Our summertime activities usually center around boating and usually with boating friends. But what with social distancing requirements and staying out of other marinas where social distancing is difficult at best, much of those activities have been taken away from us. It hasn't helped that we have had boat problems (see next post) that have even kept us from anchoring out somewhere. And with Canada closed to American boaters this summer (the place love most to go), the most popular local boating anchorages are much more crowded than usual.

No, I know my problems don't amount to a hill of beans compared to folks who have lost their jobs, are worried they could lose their homes, that have jobs that expose them daily to stress and to this deadly virus. I get it! Buck up, Michael! Quit your whining and get on with it! And I will. I'm made of pretty tough stuff. Just thought I'd vent a little.   

What is the answer? I just don't know but it is very depressing to see that people you thought you could depend on, at the very least keep in touch, seem to have forgotten to do just that. Ah, well, this too as they say, shall pass.