Day 3796

Today was dismal. You know how I feel about an all day rain. We were lucky to be able to take Dawn for a short walk before the rain started in earnest, but even on this little excursion we managed to get wet. Dawn isn't scared of storms, but she definitely doesn't like to get wet. Neither do I. I definitely got wet today. I had to go up on the roof during the rain to restart one of the pumps. Water had caused a short in an extension cord and thrown a circuit breaker. I managed to get everything fixed, but the pumps couldn't keep up with all the water. It was a very heavy rain.

I should have skipped grocery shopping this morning, but I needed more fresh fruit. I had to go to two different stores to find strawberries. All the berries destined for Sam's Club must has been delivered to Kroger instead. There was a huge display and the berries were even on sale. There seems to be an abundance of food, but distribution is all messed up. You never know what you are going to find at a store on any particular day.

The chiggers have arrived. I got my first bites of the season yesterday. I must have gotten bitten when I stepped off the path on our walk the other day to photograph some Texas Thistle for my blog photo. It doesn't take much. Now I am itching like crazy. I'm pretty good at avoiding poison ivy, but I seem unable to escape chiggers and mosquitos. We've got to check Dawn for ticks every day as well. The bugs are back for the Summer.

I'm making progress on my quest to return to Kennedy Space Center. I contacted my editor at SpaceFlight Magazine and the magazine agreed to sponsor me, providing the information I needed to apply for clearance from the military. I'll fill out the government forms over the weekend and send them to the Air Force next week. I don't know how long the approval process takes, but I hope to be able to cover the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover launch later this Summer.

I am completely baffled that so many people want to stay in lockdown mode until a cure for Covid-19 is found. Don't these people read history? There may never be a cure. It took over 100 years to eradicate polio and several early attempts at a vaccine were disastrous. To this day there has never been a successful vaccine for any virus in the coronavirus family. We all get our flu shots, but some years this vaccine is only marginally effective. The common flu keeps mutating and a new vaccine must be developed every year. Remember, vaccines don't actually cure anything. They just accelerate the process of building herd immunity in a population.

There have been other pandemics in my lifetime, but I don't remember a reaction like the one I'm seeing now. This is irrational panic. The Hong Kong flu killed well over a million people in 1969 and few people even remember it. I don't and I was there. The Hong Kong flu was a major global pandemic that caused huge disruptions in Europe, but nothing was shut down anywhere. Corpses were stored in subway tunnels in Berlin. Half the workforce in France was bedridden while the rest of us were preoccupied with Woodstock, Vietnam, and going to the moon. A vaccine was eventually developed but it didn't eradicate the disease. It remains in circulation today as a strain of the seasonal flu. Quick cures for viruses just don't exist.

I hope the rain stops tomorrow. I'm tired of shepherding balky pumps and nervously looking for leaks. The "service required" light came on in my car again. I'm tired of that too. Give me a break. I'm not even driving the car these days.

Liberty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3781

I got my stimulus money today. I noticed that the deposit was labeled as a tax refund by the IRS. Hmm. Does this mean that if I happen to get a refund next year, will the stimulus be deducted from my refund as funds already received? It wouldn't surprise me. The IRS doesn't do things accidentally. I'm sure there was a reason the stimulus money was labeled as a tax refund.

Texas starts to reopen today. The streets were certainly busier, but not a lot has changed. Very few restaurants will be opening soon. Most owners decided that with new limited occupancy rules, they'd lose more money opening than by staying closed. I only went out today to go to the post office. I needed stamps, but there was a long line of people spaced six feet apart waiting to get to the counter. Suddenly buying stamps didn't seem all that important. It might finally be time to start doing everything online. You can pay bills online. You can buy stamps online. You can even deposit checks in the bank online. I've resisted these things because I like going to the post office and the bank. These little outings keep me in touch with the neighborhood. I usually follow the path of least resistance though. It now seems easier to do almost everything from home.

I ordered some N-95 masks, thinking that I might want them if I fly to Florida for the Crew Dragon launch. I haven't heard anything from NASA about my press credentials, but I'm trying to stay optimistic. The airlines should still be pretty empty in late May, but I wouldn't be surprised if Southwest Airlines keeps canceling flights to Orlando until they can manage to fill up their few remaining planes. Wouldn't that be weird if nobody is flying, but the few planes still in the air are completely full. Again, this wouldn't surprise me.

I keep hearing that some people still want to stay in lockdown mode until a vaccine becomes available. At the same time I am hearing more and more people say that they definitely don't want to be the first to take this new vaccine. "Let the others go first," they say. There is still a lot of skepticism about vaccines out there. I've been vaccinated for just about everything, but I wouldn't want to be the first to try any new vaccine. It's a long and often rocky road to develop a vaccine that works. Early trials of a polio vaccine in 1935 were a disaster. Several test subjects died of polio and many more were paralyzed. Even Jonas Salk had problems with his successful vaccine when a bad batch from Cutter Laboratories started giving children polio in 1955. Polio vaccination was even suspended for a while while politicians argued about it's effectiveness. If you are waiting for a vaccine, you might have to wait a lot longer than you think. Almost all vaccine development programs are filled with failures and false starts.

I personally like the cleaner air and empty streets we experienced in April, but it seems pretty obvious to me that the world will reopen soon. The natives are getting restless. Unless another major city erupts like New York, we will begin to normalize the deaths and the media will start to talk about something else. I'm not saying that this is a good thing, but it's going to happen. You simply can't shut down the world indefinitely. Even the World Health Organization is saying that Sweden is a good model for the future now.

I've walked over 20,000 steps every day this week. A year ago I wouldn't have thought this was possible. Dawn continues to make us laugh. We've had many Dalmatians, but she is the funniest one. Such a bundle of quirky little habits.  She definitely came to us at the right time. I think I'm going to go ahead any upgrade my laptop. I should be concentrating on improving the house, but improving a computer is more my speed.

Betsy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day