Elsa and I were up and out early this morning. The sun was nowhere in sight. It was cool. My sweatshirt was a welcome cover. I ran into any number of fellow walkers today. Carol came down the hill with her little schnauzer off-leash. He ran over to Elsa and sniffed away. She sat down and covered her privates. This was a 'me-too moment. Carol told me that her husband was out fishing. Did I want some if they caught anything? Yes. She said she would drop it off. As I approached my house, Julie, who lives on a cross street, told me that her husband was also out fishing this morning. She asked me about the farm next door. She wanted to order food from them but didn't' have the contact information. I had to move on because I had yoga this morning. I went in and fed Elsa before I went out to get a few more steps in before it was time for yoga.
As I approached the closed gate, Scott was holding Elsa up so we could see each other. I took a shot to send to the family on the mainland. They're Elsa fans. There were only three students today again. More had said they were planning to come but backed out. I spent most of the time lying down, modifying Yvette's directions to my position. After class, she told me I was looking much better, straighter. Pushing my tight muscles causes pain, but, as usual, afterward, I am better off.
When I came inside, I checked my email and read the latest output of Quora Digest. It's a gossip column; shame on me. I'm mostly following posts about the British royals. I'm getting sick of information about Meagan and Harry, but Queen Elizabeth becomes more and more enjoyable. She is understated and subtle. Apparently, she has a great sense of humor.
There's a story of someone who came up to her and told her how much she looked like the Queen. Elizabeth's response, "That's good." On another occasion, someone came up and asked her if she had ever met the Queen. She said, "No, but he has," pointing to her bodyguard. She has a wicked sense of humor. There are lots of shots of her laughing. How great is that! Getting to know her better is a balm for my aching insides when looking at the worldwide political situation.
I called my friend Melissa with a follow-up question from yesterday. I had heard that someone was afraid that her baby would be taken away from her if she had Covid. That freaked me out on two counts. One if it's true and second that anyone is that paranoid. Melissa is an OBGYN surgeon who travels to Australia, among other places, to deliver babies for free. I asked her if there was any truth to this fear. She told me that babies are sometimes removed from their mothers if the mother is deadly ill, on a respirator. The baby is given to another family member if such a person is available. It sounded like the mother would have to be close to unconscious because of the seriousness of her illness. Their milk quality couldn't be very good, and it would seriously drain the mother of whatever energy she had left. I can imagine mothers who would still want to nurse, even knowing that they were putting their own lives at serious risk. I assume it would be up to the other family members if the mother couldn't make that decision. I felt better about the current situation. We are not up to a point yet where we are forced to do things that affect our own lives and our children's lives – unless, of course, you are an immigrant. I suppose if the government is prepared to treat immigrants that way, can the rest of us be far behind?
I alternated between working on my article about my reading method and going through all the papers Marissa had emailed from Progressive. After going through them, I can imagine that people dismissed my questions because the answers are difficult to ferret out. The premiums go up and down without any logic or any attempt to explain them. The premiums change, and it clearly says in one section where it says there is no change. Very confusing. I will put all the information on a spreadsheet so I can easily follow the ups and downs. Some of the ups may just be because of rate hikes, but that's not stated in the premium notice. Sometimes a rate hike or decrease is noted, but it doesn't match the premium amounts. No wonder no one wanted to answer my questions.
I had charged the Kia, my electric car, up till five pm yesterday when the solar panels no longer get enough direct light to charge for free. I plugged the car in again today to finish the charging. Up till this point, the full charge registered at 24 units. Today it registered at 26 units. It's not 26 miles in a strict sense. I'll figure it out over time. It does seem that the car uses less energy as it gets broken in. It's interesting to follow.
Judy called. Her son Matt has been working for several years on writing a musical. They have finally put together a presentation to pitch to producers. She is going to send me the pitch. It sounds like nothing I have seen him do before. She also told me Adam is feeling better. It started with Jazzy having a sore throat and a temperature. As she got better, he got sick. But both are doing better now.
Damon called. He, Cylin, and August had taken a four-day vacation at a beach house in Malibu. He went through the plusses and minuses. The biggest problem was the house was right on the Pacific Coast Highway. The house had a short driveway. They had to go from a dead stop to over sixty miles an hour to get out of the driveway. Yikes! That was scary. I always wondered about those homes. It seemed that the noise from the highway would be bothersome. Damon said it was quiet once you were in the house. They only heard the sound of the waves crashing beneath their balcony.
On my walk this evening, I had an encounter with the sidewalk Nazi. I was walking in the street, facing oncoming traffic. When this car turned onto the street, I was almost at the top of Nehiwa. I pulled Elsa over. We were both standing on the grass, well off the street. The driver of the truck stopped and pointed frantically toward the house on the top of the block. I got that he was angry, but I couldn't figure out what he was about for the life of me. Then I remembered that young woman I passed one night who was upset because someone had yelled at her for not walking on the sidewalk. Everyone walks in the street here. The road is all of two blocks long. It is rare to have two cars on the street simultaneously, no less one going in each direction. I think I will call the police department to see if this man has a right to bully walkers- or for that matter, run us over.
_____ _____ ____
Musings:
Shivani posted a video on Facebook showing two men passing out free face masks to people out on a seaside walkway in California. This one couple was sitting there without masks. They said they didn't need them because they were going to heaven and asked the young men," Where are you going."
I find it interesting that many of these folks insist that their civil liberties are under attack if someone forces them to wear masks. Are these the people who think that same-sex couples shouldn't be allowed to marry? Actually, I heard today a Baptist pastor proposed a solution to the homosexual problem: take them all out and shoot them. I don't know if he also claims that the government he says should do the 'right thing' and kill them all also has no right to make him wear a mask.
Wearing a mask is not just for our protection; it is for the protection of others. It's up there with driving while drunk. You may be able to drive home safely and not kill someone; then again, you may not. Any of us may walk safely among others and cause no harm; on the other hand, we may not. We may be personally responsible for the death of another person. I find logical inconsistencies in the thinking of those who take an extreme position.
Everyone has a right to put their money on the horse of their choice. But some people believe those who disagree with and support their positions are evil. And those who do support their cherished positions are, by definition, good. This is hard for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment