The spring season of 2020

Spring 2020 Its all about me

It has been a spring I've never encountered before. Neither have you. Neither have any of the other 7 or so billion of people. The entire earth is in a quarantine. So I have been posting a sporadic blog of how this virus affects me. I won't repeat those ideas here.

I have been doing some day trips which are less entertaining than before the quarantine because one of the enjoyments of these trips is eating at little restaurants in out of the way towns. However I have been going to where there are waterfalls. I did make it out birding but not as much as normal. It has been a cool and rainy spring for about half of the days. Not today though. It is about 80 degrees and sunny so I went down to the Columbia River for about an hour reading and basking. However, I wrote about the seasons birding in another post.

The first trip was to Silver Creek Falls in Oregon a bit east of Salem and about an hour and a half from home. To get there I went about 30 miles on the tedious #205 which wends through suburban and industrial Portland and on to #214, an Oregon state road and from there it was a pleasant rural drive through the Willamette Valley wine district. Since it was a valley mountains could be seen in most directions but the land in the valley is very flat. I got to Silverton, a small town about 15 miles from my destination. It would have been the place to get that repast described above were it any other time.

Actually it was early into a relaxation of the quarantine imposed on us all and so bistros and diners were open to small numbers and the local used book store open to one customer at a time. This is not a pleasant experience for me so I simply ambled about town for 15 or so minutes and then headed for the falls.

The short few miles from Silverton on #213 took us up into the foot hills of part of the Cascade range and so was filled with sharp turns and winding roads which were beautiful. Then it was to the falls and a walk of nearly 2 hours.

Canyon

The State park is Oregon's largest so my walk only attended to a small part of it. While I was near the top of the upper falls, I saw the enormous chasm that you see above.

The only falls that I reached were cascading into the gorge from around 100 feet above.

One of Silverton Creek Falls

A few days prior to my venture south to Silver Creek Falls I went to Lucia Falls where I have been to on several occasions. I actually went there by accident. I was looking for a new way to get to Salmon Creek and apparently got my directions disoriented and headed the wrong direction about 15 miles north of here. So I went to Plan B instead.

Plan B-Lucia Falls

This week I went to Siouxon Falls in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. It was an incredible trip to take on a reasonably beautiful day. It is a little less than 50 miles away and into the mountainous region that includes Mt. St. Helens. Once I got out of the suburban area I drove past these small county towns that I never had a reason to go to. Once past Clark County it was pretty much farmland for a few miles until I reached the foothills. The road narrowed which was not an issue since there was no traffic. When I was about 5 miles from the park, the road narrowed to one lane and drivers who met oncoming traffic would have a very tiny margin of error to let each car pass. A mistake of about 6 inches would be enough to send one or both cars off the road and into the deep gully on each side of the street.

Anyway the park is beautiful with the Douglas Fir trees looming a hundred and a half feet high, creating a canopy that rendered the trails dark, wet and lovely. I did not get to any of the falls up there as the driving to get there and to get back home was far more than I had allotted for this trip.

One branch of the Lewis River (I think)

Some of the view a few miles outside of the park.

In between Chelalis and the park is a large area of land that has been de-forested with unwanted lumber and scrap wood scattered about for acres. It would seem that part of any arrangement that the lumber industry had for cutting these areas would include a clean up but apparently it doesn't. All of that scrap wood could easily be re-cycled in many ways but rather, it just lays there.

That is pretty much the extent of my travels.

I have become “zoomed out” by the new way of communicating on line. I have watched discussion panels (mostly concerning the Black Lives Matter movement). The next one on deck right now is one on Conspiracies and Cranks put on by the Center for Inquiry. These have taken the place of any courses at the community college which of course is currently closed.

Hopefully the summer will be a season that reasonably allows for groups dining together but maybe it won't.

Otherwise I have spent much of this season reading books and catching up on the vast number of articles amassed in order to read later. Without the quarantine they would amass even more. I have cut them all down.

I wonder how much life will be permanently changed as a result of this quarantine. The entire earth has already made Jeff Bezos a far richer man than he already was. Will technology like Zoom further erode our being face to face with people? At the rate we are going it seems that even more will be available to those with a laptop and a bed. As more people have begun to tel-work will we see office complexes closing for the lack of rentals?

I never take my musings about the future very seriously but I still like to do that. I also hope I can travel again during this next season.

As usual I am cooking quite a bit. Actually in unusual amounts. I had last eaten restaurant food on March 6^th. I had my last beer at a pub on March 10^th. So I am cooking at home. I bought a smoker and have used that either to slow smoke meats or vegetables. It functions like a stove in that I can set it 350 degrees for an hour. That will take care of a whole chicken and with a residual flavoring of oak chips. I mad a shepherds pie on one occasion.

On another I made a pomegranate and tahini sauce and topped over acorn squash and roasted with pistachios.

Today I broke my dining out streak and bought a shrimp salad and fish stew from a local seafood place.

Lastly I read an interesting interview in Prospect magazine where Emma Smith talks about the influence of 16^th centuries plagues had on Shakespeare's plays. She suggests that one to read is Venusand Aphrodite which explores lewd behavior during those times. I have not read that play but intend to and you can too.

Tomorrow marks the third anniversary of the last time I saw Baltimore as I headed west that day.

Corona Virus Diary #8

Corona Virus Diary #8

Since there are so few places to go it is more of a task to come up with new things to say about the pandemic. I am glad that cooler heads prevail here in our state capitals. South of me in Oregon where I do not vote, the state republicans have proven to be more vainglorious than they are leaders. It does seem obvious that they want to please POTUS so rather than work cooperatively and maybe do some compromising they ensure that votes cannot occur by boycotting the senate sessions. They are the minority so they win less votes and therefore take their marbles home. The governor however is strong and rational as is ours here in Washington. Our state legislative bodies are also less rancorous. That does not mean that we don't have extremists prodded by their party. Apparently they are less numerous than in Oregon or maybe our water is healthier.

The state that I grew up in-Michigan, certainly has its share of whack jobs-this is not new to that state. They show up armed and screaming along with confederate flags and other right wing symbols in order to intimidate the governor. That does not appear to be working as she has been resolute in maintaining social controls that hopefully will end the chaos of national quarantine.

Likewise in the state I adopted for 36 years-Maryland, the governor is not seeking to do any boneheaded lifting of the regulations with more evidence of that being safe. What makes him unique is that he is a rare republican who does not march to the song of the emperor and his new clothes.

So as dreary as it is, I am not going to be attending places and events simply because the lack of leadership at the federal level desires us to do so.

I miss a couple of things pretty dearly as a result of this quarantine. The first is that libraries are closed. These are a source mostly of periodicals for me. My own local library is a fairly new structure and so does not have much historical character. It does have the New York Review of Books, The Scientist, The New Yorker Magazine and other magazines that I am not going to subscribe to. I typically spend several hours over the course of a few days, reading such at the library.

The Portland 9^th Avenue Library has about 3 times as many periodicals as the one near me. It is also located in a beautiful, historical structure in the near downtown area near Portland State University. I can sit there for hours catching up on news. When I am done there are a slew of restaurants to check out and that is my routine when I am there.

I am not the baseball fan that I was in the 1970s but have annually got much succor that accompanies the end of winter by the box scores to read everyday and the chance to watch games. It is noticeably absent just like much of the joys of the new spring.

I did start my porch garden though more subdued than the previous two seasons. I'd rather do a better job with a few select plants than hope for success with abundance. Lets see how that works out.

I have been doing way more cooking than my waistline prefers. Apparently so are many others. I have seen articles about food shortages and have witnessed them myself as our stores which for the most part have robust supplies, also are curiously short on things I would not have guessed they would be. My local store was all out of corn starch the other day. Really? Corn starch? Maybe I'll organize a public protest.

Corona Virus Diary #7

Corona Virus Diary #7

Things remain about the same this week. The sick head count and its fatal landing point continues to grow though apparently the pace is slowing. Entertainment venues remain closed where I live and where they are not I sincerely hope the governments there are right. I don't have any reason to think that they are but hopefully I am wrong. If I am, then venues will open in more places and less people will be getting sick and dying.

Across the nation there are small bands of white men and their significant others decrying governments who remain obdurate in protecting citizens and keeping entertainment and dining businesses closed. Reading the posters, seeing interviews with participants these people have no understanding of the current conditions. They do however, demand the right to do anything they want to do. Theoretically that is, so long as they are not harming society. If I am wrong in my estimation of what is currently wrong, then I can agree with the protesters. Since the messages they provide do not show evidence that they have a clue I suspect their demands are personal and inspired by politics.
I won't bore anyone with links regarding these protests since they are so prevalent in the media already.

In other straw dog news, the commander in chief remains resolute in his non-thinking and generally incoherent daily news briefs. There was never, long before the outbreak of corona virus, that he would do otherwise.

The weather is improving into a genuine spring so while it is easier to get outside, there are still few places to go. Sometimes I walk rudderless, ambling about in order to enjoy some sun and warmth. I often visit some co-residents of this apartment complex for short visits in the garden area. A couple of them are succumbing to right wing fantastical conspiracy theories all designed to assist the presumptive Republican nominee for this coming November election in winning re-election. He has done nothing that would make anyone with an ounce of analysis change their mind. His adherents of course are fueled by high octane emotionalism which may indeed get him re-elected. Americans across the board are actually that silly.

The Vancouver City Farmer's Market re-opened with very limited offering. There was no hot foods available and no fringe market booths like massages or aromatherapy which I thought would be a good thing. However I think and how little I go to these booths, I recognize that they lent much flavor to the Market. A barren market is a boring one and I realize that now that those peripheral booths are not there.

It was a reasonable attempt but being this early in the season, fresh produce is still at a premium. Opening day also was cool and raining two conditions that also do not enhance a market.

First Vancouver Farmer's Market of 2020

There are a number of articles about books and diaries of famous people who have either endured a pandemic or have written books about fictionalized pandemics. The best books that I have read include Camus' The Plague and Sinclair Lewis' Arrowsmith. I read each of these novels a long time ago but remember each fondly. Isaac Newton also survived a plague by retreating to the country side, the same method the wealthy can quarantine themselves. Samuel Pepys in 17^th Century England wrote his own diary of living through a pandemic.

Corona Virus Diary #6

Corona Virus Diary # 6

It gets more difficult every week, to find enough corona related events to make mention of. My peers and I typically cite our exhaustion with the news. The media likewise has abated with news, at least so far as it is relevant. Those outlets are reliant on informing people that some celebrity's cousin has died as a result of the virus and to point out the recklessness of POTUS. The latter has become tedious long before this virus made news and then pandemic. We know that the Commander in Chief will lie, exaggerate and change his story routinely. This personal failure has not been news for many years and plugging it into stories of Covid 19 does not change that. Likewise the outraged and indignant presentation by all the talking head at Fox News is now just a trope. People who want misinformation and propaganda rather than informed information that is data driven will continue to use Fox as their source. People who eschew such nonsense will get news from genuine sources. The latter should have stopped slapping their foreheads every time some Hannity or Limbaugh says something absurd.

I have been watching more television during this lull in the action and have noticed the style of television advertisement. Apparently every company that can afford a commercial wants us to know that they are available for services because they are concerned with our health and they admire first responders and medical professionals.

Then they intend to sell us high fat foods, plenty of sugar and provide us with cures and relief from things that we did not know were ever an issue. The examples are legion but I'll just provide onethat I saw the other day.

On a daily basis there are several mentions in the news, of how the environment is faring during this pandemic. It is essentially good news and often presented asif ironic. Simply taking a few moments to reflect on events, it is obvious that with less traffic, many businesses shuttered at least temporarily and people home schooling, less impact on the environment is being made. It is not ironic and is temporary.

We know that it is short lived since we can look at the organized MAGA hat wearers including politicians, who are demanding a lifting of quarantines and suggested safety measures imposed by local governments that are taking their cues from scientific data rather than misrepresentations suggested from the White House and its favorite news sources.

Locally one of our representatives, Eileen Quiring (elected on the curious motto “a republican you can trust”) joined protesters in Olympia and tells the media “the natives are getting restless”. Her electors and the POTUS undoubtedly love this nonsense.

Once released (or releasing themselves) from the prescriptions of this virus, it seems certain that all measurable environmental improvements will return to as they were around March 10^th of this year. No one is going to learn a lesson from any of this.

I am running out of things to say so now I present some historic context.

I and everyone I have contact with are still healthy.

Corona Virus #5

Corona Virus Diary #5

Not much is new enough to mention here. I see that CIC supporters are pretending to protest the health and safety related quarantines. From what I read, these are more Trump Rallies than a legitimate posing of potential legal or social issues that may require changes. Everybody wants the economy to get back to full swing. Most of us do not want that at the expense of innumerable deaths and the costs of medical treatment.

At least on the surface, one could argue that the POTUS and his minions do not care much about the health of the society. Since it is the weakest (physically as well as economically) that are more apt to die from this that maybe stripping all quarantine will rid society of those less worthy. I have not yet read an argument against that notion. Where is Jonathon Swift when we need him?

One particular issue that is in high gear is that of wearing masks. Since the common surgical or industrial masks are a rare commodity we all have seen instructions of how to make our own mask. Here are my instructions for making a mask:

1.      Purchase a strip of velcro many years ago

2.      Try to remember why you bought it and why you have saved a 6 inch remnant of that original role

3.      Go to the towel drawer in the kitchen that includes a large handkerchief type of cloth (plaid preferred)

4.      Wonder how you came to possess this cloth-from whence did it find its way into the drawer

5.      Fold the cloth in half

6.      Fold it again in half but rather than have the two ends meet in the middle, leave about an inch between the two ends

7.      Cut the strip of Velcro roughly in half

8.      Lay one part of the Velcro at the end of one of the ends of the folded cloth

9.      Since you have no thread or a needle to sew the strip of Velcro onto get your stapler out and staple the strip to the end of the cloth with at least two staples

10.  Take the second strip of Velcro-the opposite knap of the first and adhere it to the first strip

11.  Stretch it over the one inch gap and across to the other end of the folded cloth

12.  Staple it to the cloth so that you end up with a connecting tie between the two ends of folded cloth

13.  Peel the two pieces of Velcro from each other and wrap the cloth across your face including your nose and re-adhere the two pieces of Velcro

14.  When you where it the first time, cloth fibers perhaps, induce you to a sneezing fit among other costumers at the local grocery store

When you are complete of this project, you will look as I did below  

I probably should have worn a hat

Corona virus #4

Corona virus #4

It’s been over a month since I last ate or drink any provisions from a food establishment. I wonder when the last time that happened. Probably before I was in high school. But that is not tragic.

What is tragic is how republicans and their minions are making this whole mess and the government’s response to it, a political game. The POTUS has tossed sops to all of us and boons to businesses-and he wants no restrictions or over sight. History does not suggest that tycoons find largesse during times like this. It does suggest that the degree of profiteering will go up.

Potus is intent on making board members and stockholders get their due quickly and among his dubious exhortations, is an optimism that is unwarranted. He also originally appointed Mike Pence to head up the government response and Pence becomes mute. The legitimate epidemiologist, Dr. Anthony Fauci speaks after the commander in chief has bumbled and lied his way through another of his daily updates. When leadership is required this is what we get. In the Portland newspaper I saw today, an editorial by Steve Duin that makes this obvious.

When you mix science with politics you get politics and nobody but the Executive Branch, the Senate and all of their minions will throw a screen up to blur their own duplicity in this. Hopefully if the POTUS lifts quarantine bans, governors and the common man will ignore that and stay sequestered until the disease is genuinely contained.

There is also the issue of miracle cures touted by many and accelerated by many in the media and on the World Wide Web that are either not tested or inefficiently done so. I see them everywhere these days and hear people extol their virtues with only the information provided by a media talking head. You cannot make people think for themselves. They would have to break the barriers presented by authority figures like Sean Hannity. Rudy Giuliani, himself just a self-promoting huckster also sings the praises saying of the charlatan doctor Zelinko, which he is “thinking of solutions, just like the president.”

In other news there is no other news from me. Everything in my personal life is a clone of the one that occurred a week ago. That is a good thing too because in my case no news is good news. I am reading considerably and was allured by Montaigne’s essay On Experience which is much about self-quarantine during the time of one of Europe’s plagues. Here is a reference to that from TheParis Review. Lastly for today is some further details about Montaigne and this essay.

Corona Virus Diary #3

Corona Virus #3

Since I have never watched any of those zombie apocalypse movies (or pick your most favored and feared metaphysical ogre) I cannot say much about their content. However there are plenty of trailers showing scenes like hordes of invaders and entrenched yet intrepid heroes ready to fight them. Those enemies now are out to steal your toilet paper. POTUS has ensured that we can hunker down and protect our loved ones as we can equally protect our possessions and thus gun shops are deemed essential. News of valiant attempts to protect ourselves are a new well spring of newsitems in a world where everything is virus related.  

There are naysayers too. Some who preach that this is overplayed, even a hoax. This is a well-played ruse I guess. There are millions who pretend to have gotten the illness and many who have succumbed to it all for the practical joke of a hoax.

The erstwhile “think tank” called the Hoover Institute hosts RichardEpstein among other propagandists who feel that this all a big hype. He only can convince his own choir and it is easy to do amongst those minions. You can do it too and here are a few ways to do that. You use scornful similes and metaphors and direct them to the “left” (which means all who do not agree with you or the Hoover Institute. You also use verbiage that suggests that those people are lying. You hint that the Chinese have set this virus purposefully in motion and that Italy and Spain are deceptive about their own tactics to tame this disease. You also ignore the fact that America is the world leader in the number of corona virus cases. I guess if this is a hoax those numbers mean nothing. When you don’t have the virus as a foe you can also bring up a true straw dog like socialism.

In other news it seems that every day there is a report about environmental changes that are the result of severely limited automobile driving and factory output. I have to imagine that many flights have been cancelled though I have not investigated. While most all of us are self-quarantining, the earth and atmosphere are breathing a little easier. The web site Space.com printed one such article about the increase in the ozone layer due to reduction of emissions. The science magazine Nautilus has an article about how nature acts when human involvement in it are reduced.  

Anyway the knowledge that this illness is at best a hoax and at worst simply overstated, be sure to attend (along with as many others as possible) your big fundamentalist church so that you can spiritually and more importantly, emotionally reinvigorate as well as to tithe that preacher. Since the NRA doesn’t care about you and POTUS doesn’t either, they only have eyes for each other, buy your new gun. I think that a well-placed silver bullet to the heart of Dracula will keep your family safe.

Some personal news about myself is that nothing has changed. I don’t get out much but we have also had about 10 days of horrid weather. This next week is supposed to be pretty nice so I’ll do more hiking than the last several days. At the same time many (but not all) local parks are closed. I’ll have to make do with what I can.

My friends Arja and Rande came to Portland to visit their daughter in early (pre shut down) and had March 31 as their return flight to New Hampshire. I was not sure that flight would continue but it did and they sent photos of their cabin as they flew home (successfully).

Grocery stores are still open and they have not run out of beer-that is good. They do not have the masks that we are all urged by scientists and medical researchers to wear. Paper products despite being limited to the numbers one can purchase, are still gone almost immediately. There are cars other than mine on the roads on those purchase days (for me that is Sunday and Wednesday) but not many.

Several days ago I woke up with a mild sore throat which for me has usually been the harbinger of a common cold but I jotted down the occurrence. I did not have that symptom the next day but did have a mild headache. This was a tad alarming since I cannot recall the last time I had a headache. It has been several years now since the last one. So I jotted that down. I also have had a bit of vertigo the other day but dizziness is something I have lived with. You may have noticed it yourself if you have been in my presence.

Anyway the headache which was mild enough to only notice if I actually thought about it disappeared after a few hours or maybe even less. I took note of my overall physical wellbeing for a few days but since with the exception of a little light-headedness I have symptoms of nothing.

Every spring I am a little happier and part of that because along with returning swallows is the opening of the baseball season. Should there be a 2020 baseball season it will be particularly joyful as it will mark the end of this year’s pandemic.