Day 3740

The baby owls have really grown since I saw them last. I initially mistook one of the babies for the mother this afternoon. A closer look quickly revealed that I was looking at one of the babies, but it was still surprising to see how quickly they had developed. Evidently, young Great Horned Owls eat four times as much as adults, causing them to grow very quickly. The mom isn't around as much these days, but still returns almost every day to feed her children mice and encourage them to fly.

I think there are a lot more doomsday preppers than I ever would have imagined. I can't believe how much food people are buying. When I went to Sam's Club this morning to get some necessities, I saw people with enough food to last them for an entire year. Several people with large SUV's had the entire back of their cars stuffed to the ceiling with food and paper products.

It's easy to see how panic buying escalates. Literally everyone in the store had a big package of paper towels in their buggy, so I got one too. It wasn't a brand that I usually buy, but who cares when you are facing the apocalypse. I certainly hope people don't decide to start using paper towels as toilet papers. If that happens there are going to be some major plumbing problems.

I finally found some distilled water, oatmeal, and blueberries. I never realized that so many people need distilled water. I use it to prevent mineral scale from building up in my coffee maker. Other people use it for more important things, like preventing their Dalmatians from developing stones and keeping CPAP machines running properly.

I wonder when these Spring rains are going to end? I spent so much time clearing the roof of water yesterday and now it's raining again. Water on the roof is my own private version of the Sisyphus myth. The gods who condemned Sisyphus thought that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor. They were probably right. At least the roof isn't leaking.

I think dogs are loving this pandemic. I've never seen so many people walking their dogs in the park. It's good that people are becoming more active. They seem to becoming kinder too. I wonder how long this will last when the pandemic is finally over? I think the panic buying will finally subside when people realize they have more food than they could possible use. Maybe people will continue to drive less as well. One can only hope. I hope some of these new behaviors become permanent.

It's a shame that I won't be able to go to the gym tomorrow. Our options for doing things away from home continue to grow smaller. Janet and I did do our part to support local restaurants by ordering a pizza from a little neighborhood restaurant that makes a good pie.

My dealer told me that I sold a few more brass trains today. It's kind of astonishing that anyone is still buying railroad collectibles during the apocalypse, but it's fine by me. Today's sales almost paid for my trip to McDonald Observatory. I still don't have the nerve to look at my brokerage account. Janet and I have both lost a lot of money, but it's better at this time not to know how much.

The lesson of this week is that life goes on no matter what happens. We adjust to things and establish new priorities. I hope you guys are all doing well. Nobody I know has died yet. I hope I can say the same thing next week.

Big Boy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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