Hard to Plan

 

In these interesting times it’s a bit difficult make any sort of long range plans. Between the pandemic, economic collapse, social upheaval, and natural disasters, it’s not a good time to travel.

I was talking to a paramedic friend of mine. He thought that the schools would eventually all have to go to remote learning. He expects the virus to spread easily in a school environment. His kid is staying home. Fortunately for him, his wife works from home so can be there.

My friend was also appalled with Florida’s decision to remove restrictions from bars and restaurants. With that in mind, I’m happy with my decision to stay home for the duration. Who knows what the world will look like a year or two down the road? While I can guess, that’s no way to plan. If 2020 has shown us anything it’s that we can expect the unexpected.

We are fortunate to have gotten some rain finally. That takes the edge off, but we’ll need a lot more. There are wells not far from me that have gone dry. Our foliage season was short up here in the north. The dryness hastened things along. The leaves on many trees looked burnt and crinkled, like they’d been too near a fire. Drought will do that. Now the rain is washing a lot of leaves onto the ground.

My lovely wife and I are doing well. The plan is to fort up as much as possible and avoid the flu and Covid season. Progress is being made on home projects. There will be plenty to keep me busy.

-Sixbears

Calm Before the Storm

I’m enjoying summer. The weather’s been amazing here in the Great North Woods. My lovely wife and I take the sailboat out on the lake. We’ve visited with friends and family outside and in a safe manner. The other day we even went to listen to a local musician play in the park. Home projects are getting done. Maybe not as quickly or as easily as during normal times, but they are getting done. In these interesting times we are doing better than most. New Hampshire is one of the states managing the crisis fairly well. However, there are signs of trouble ahead. Tourists have come into the state from all over. There are packed restaurants. Bike week, which had been rescheduled from June, will be taking place. That usually brings in crowds from all over. Some people have gotten very lax about precautions. I’m hoping that our luck will hold, but still taking all precautions. Too many places have gone from few cases to major outbreaks to relax. Now is the time to sort out any last minute preps. You don’t have to be Nostradamus to know the fall and winter are going to be challenging times. Don’t let this narrow window of prep time slip away. I’m expecting to be pretty much locked down when the cold weather sets in. I’ve plenty of coffee, books to read, and popcorn to watch the show. -Sixbears

Quarantine Update

Things are getting pretty crazy out there and it’s too early for crazy. Quarantines take time to work. When they are broken, they are broken. All those folks who are so anxious to get back to work and resume normal life are only going to make the pandemic worse.

Now I get that people are running out of money and have food insecurity. That just shows how badly the Federal government is handling this crisis. There are third world countries that are taking better care of their people. We should be doing better than places like El Salvador, but we aren’t. Then then are countries like South Africa that have a hard lockdown but not enough provisions made to feed people. They have riots in the streets now because people are running out of food.

Your financial overlords want you to go back to work. They may have to let their seventh vacation home go. Go back to your low wage job so they can continue the lifestyle they’ve become accustomed to.

Guess what? it’s not going to happen. Just accept the planet is going into a deep depression and plan accordingly. That’s already baked into the cake. Financially, a lot of us are going to be in trouble. However, you don’t have to also suffer from this illness too. The fatality rate is bad enough, but survivors also suffer lifelong damage.

Scientists say we won’t really have this beat until there is a vaccine. They also say that vaccines might not even work. The coronavirus might be mutating fast enough to prevent that from happening. It’s also possible that humans don’t develop a strong enough antibody response to keep from being reinfected. This is a new disease and it will take time to figure out.

My thinking is that the longer one can avoid infection the better their odds are. There’s a lot of effort going into the search for treatments and a cure. Those who get infected a year or two from now will have the benefit of all that research and experience. Even better will be those who go the distance and don’t get this at all. The least I can do for my overworked friends in the medical system is to not be part of the freaking problem.


I’m high risk so that’s my goal. Fortunately, my daughters are taking this seriously and doing what they can to help me avoid risky behavior. I am truly blessed.

-Sixbears