Day 3852

Saturday is my day to venture out of the house and see if the world is still there. This isn't a big change from my life before the pandemic, but I'm still making an effort to stay isolated. Dallas is officially a hotspot now. You wonder what made things suddenly spike? Everyone I know is still acting responsibly. We don't have a beach, so it wasn't that. We did have some protests, but ours weren't nearly as bad as some other cities. The few things Janet and I have done after the city opened up again have all seemed quite safe. Nevertheless, there has been a huge surge in new virus cases.

A lot of things just don't make sense about this virus. You'd think that African countries would be hit the hardest since they always are during any type of pandemic. Medical care isn't good in Africa and people in many countries are packed together in unsanitary conditions. So far, there have been very few deaths in Africa. China, which started this whole thing, isn't even on the list of affected countries anymore. If you believe all the charts and graphs, little countries like Peru are apparently doing much worse than China. The United States seems to be doing worse than Sweden, which didn't do anything at all to flatten the curve. It all makes you wonder.

They say that someone has invented a new heated air filter that kills the virus instantly. If heat does the trick, why are we still having all these problems in Texas? It has definitely been a hot summer. We got started a little late on our walk this morning and had to cut things short as a result. It was already getting too hot for Dawn around 8 AM. Later in the day when I took my afternoon solo walk, it was miserable outside. I guess this is to be expected. It is almost the middle of July.

The skies look clear tonight, so I think I'm going to set an alarm and go look for that comet tomorrow morning. I'm seeing so many cool pictures on the Internet that I'd like to see the comet for myself. Some of the best pictures have been taken by my friends out at McDonald Observatory. I'd like to trade places with those guys. They are so remote that since the observatory closed, they have become almost completely insulated from the problems we are seeing in the cities. This is extreme social distancing and it works for me.

I'm going to skip going to the gym again tomorrow. If I went, I'd probably change my mind because the gym is air conditioned. Of course they now say that building air conditioning systems spread the virus, so there's that. You really don't know who to believe anymore. I have a feeling that the governor is going to close gyms again pretty soon anyway. Texas isn't doing very well these days.

I brought a pizza home for dinner, even though pizza gives me heartburn. Actually the Cowboy Burgers we had for dinner last night gave me heartburn as well. I may be good at social distancing, but I'm not very good at staying on a bland diet.

Sophia is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3851

Life has settled into a predictable routine. We get up early and walk for two hours. I make the bed when we return home. I watch TV while slowly eating breakfast for another two hours. I turn the computer on and check my mail and watch a few YouTube videos. Then I wonder what I'm going to do for the rest of the day.

The coronavirus has changed everything. There's not much point in making travel plans. Where would you go? I'm not sure when I'll ever feel comfortable getting on a plane again. Living in a world where you have to act like everything is radioactive has taken the fun out of the simplest things like going to an afternoon movie or eating in a neighborhood restaurant. The issue isn't about masks or no masks. It's more basic than that. We're living in a world where everyone is waiting for the other shoe to drop. Politics has spoiled a lot of old friendships as well. It's getting ugly out there. Why even bother talking with someone if you are just going to end up getting in an argument? Let's face it. You're not going to convert anyone these days. The lines have already been drawn in the sand.

I was pleased last year that I had managed to find two things that I really enjoyed doing. I liked spending time at large observatories and attending launches at Kennedy Space Center. My favorite observatory is closed for the foreseeable future and you'd have to be crazy to go to Florida right now. I'm not even comfortable taking my telescope down into the park at night because Dallas has become a dangerous place after dark. The longer the pandemic continues the more trapped you begin to feel.

There is no rain in the immediate future, so I guess it's time for me to go up on the roof again. It's probably time to mow the grass again as well. It's amazing how quickly the grass grows when it rains in the Summer. I've got to do outdoor chores early these days and it's usually already too hot by the time I've finished breakfast. The heat provides a good excuse for waiting until tomorrow, but eventually all these things need to be done. I'm not sure I'll get much done tomorrow because Saturday is always grocery day. One chore a day is plenty.

I watched an interesting tutorial video on astrophotography this afternoon. I learned a lot, including the fact that it is virtually impossible to take these kind of photos in a city. The guy who put the video together lives on a small remote island. No wonder his pictures looked so good. I've been thinking about getting up early to take pictures of the comet Neowise, but I can't even find a place nearby with a clear view of the eastern horizon. Maybe I'll have better luck when the comet begins appearing in the evening sky.

It's going to be a long Summer. Fall is probably a lost cause as well. Let's just hope that when Winter eventually arrives, the world will be a better place.

Keller is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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