Went downtown the other day and brought home personal stuff from the office. The office has been closed since the middle of March and won’t open, at the earliest until the end of June. The only people working there are a cleaning staff and a security guard. Plus our pipeline control people which is staffed 24 hours a day. They have spread those folks all over the building to avoid cross contamination in case Covid-19 gets somebody sick.

I realized that yes, I am going to miss the job and the people, and I am really going to miss downtown. Weather permitting, I walked a mile to 3 miles every day at noon and poked into every square inch. I’ll be checking out from time to time. On weekends, when parking is free, cuz I am cheap.

Lots of nice evenings as the sun sets in the back yard.

Watching the weather. I love weather watching. Everybody in Oklahoma stays aware of the weather and watches the skies this time of year. We are all very conversant with terms like hook echos and such as that.

Lots of walks in the neighborhood for our dog Rascal. He kind of walks us is how it works. He routes us by all his friends.

Our tubby little kitten, Lizzy is wondering why everybody is around all the time. It interferes with her napping. She’s appropriated this basket that Heather was going to use as a centerpiece on our coffee table. So I guess that Lizzie is the centerpiece. It is peaceful to me watching a cat in deep sleep.

The greenbelt from our back yard. I fly the drone straight up mainly. I don’t really want to fly over other people’s property. So I send it straight up and use it like a periscope.

So Oklahoma is gradually opening up. Heather and I went to our favorite tap room and had a couple beers in their outside area, maintaining extreme social distancing from everybody else. The gyms Heather teaches are opening up as well and they are communicating protocols for staff and members. Myself, since I am in a high risk group I am holding off going to a gym until July. I’ll be playing it by ear.

What have you been up to?

I am linking up to Skywatch Friday

How is everybody doing with their social isolation. Here in Oklahoma the Governor, despite the advice from the medical community, has decided to start opening businesses starting tomorrow (Friday, April 24). So we’ll see what happens. Our family will continue with the social isolation until we deem it safe as we do have extended family members in town that are at risk.

In the meantime I have my cameras including my new drone to keep me occupied. It turns out that although it is capable of some fancy aerial maneuvers I use it mainly like a periscope. I find myself in the morning and the evening looking at the sky and if I see something interesting I launch it. I still am using what I call the “training wheels” the propeller guards which add quite a bit of weight and lower the performance but I can still get it up to about 125 meters which is I can barely see it when it is up there. So get it up there and turn it this and that to see what is going on with the sky. Nothing to get in the way then.

I am kind of an incrementalist, plus the thing is kind of expensive, so I will gradually let it fly higher and a little bit further as time goes on. I don’t think I’ll ever let it out of my sight.

And I am still experimenting with it. Here is a grain elevator near where we live. So just did an elevator eyes so to speak with the drone. Going from street level up and then back down. I edited the video on my Iphone. Imovie is a great app that is simple to use.

And then, this has nothing to do with skies but I love watching videos of the Irish dancers. How do you get your legs to move that fast is what I want to know.

I wish everybody a great week ahead and I hope everybody and their friends and family are staying safe.

Skywatch Friday

A new world was born for me this week.

Social distancing, remote working, hunkering down fell down on us in the US quickly as our national leadership finally acknowledged the reality of the Corona Virus and started treating it as a public health problem instead of a public relations issue.

Better late than never orders are out to shut down restaurants, schools, gyms, almost any public place. The RiverParks authority has even requested that we maintain six feet of space if come upon somebody while running or bicycling on their trails.

I’m kind of worried about my brother who is in a rehab hospital. I try and visit him every day but I worry about putting his and other patients health at risk. Nobody else visits him though so I show up every day during the restricted visiting hours and visit with him. Phone communication has worked out very well with him.

From what I read, we may be hunkering down for quite a while so figure out a way to survive and thrive. I went on a walk with my wife and one of the dogs in the neighborhood with my camera. I am looking at familiar things in new ways, trying to determine what my new normal is going to be.

So be safe, make sure that you double check your sources of news, wash your hands and lets be kind to one another. We are all each other have.

Skywatch Friday