Tag Archives: Covid 19

Nature, Red of Tooth and Claw

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The other day our little pomeranian Rascal had been outside and wanted in, the only problem was that a baby bunny was hanging from his mouth. The little critter was already gone. Now Rascal was just doing what dogs do, right? Heather went out and found its sibling about six feet from the nest looking scared to death and helpless.

A quick consultation with my friend Mr. Google indicated that the best thing we could do was just leave it alone. We did although it was a hot day and all that, so monitored it through our bedroom window and it survived the rest of that day and to the next afternoon when it looked like it was rallying a little bit and seemed to be more energetic and active.

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And of course we watched Rascal closely when we let him out side to do his thing. And I’m happy to report that the little bunny has made it to some cover and is being closely monitored by its mother so we are happy that our non-intervention plan worked. (so far at least).

In other news I am sad to report that I have come down with Covid. The symptoms I am having are like a really bad allergy attack. And since it is a holiday weekend I couldn’t a teleappointment until Wednesday which is the day, if I don’t have a fever, that the CDC says that I can end isolation. Kind of sucks being sick at the start of a holiday weekend but I think I’ll be fine. I just don’t want to be cooped up but that is just the way it is.

We just had the primary elections in Oklahoma and of course I voted. If you had elections I hope you did the same.

I am linking with Saturday’s Critters by Eileen. Come join in the fun.

First Skywatch of 2022!!

Son is done graduated from college and is now looking for a job. He had an early morning interview at this place the other day and I liked the light on the east facing facade and the sky. Hey you know, you gotta get photos where you find them, right?

And this is a reverse sunset, looking south from the front yard.

And a similar shot from my brother’s assisted living place near our house.

And a sunrise photo from my back yard.

I launched the drone the other day at sunset. This is looking east. I love the pink that shows up in the sky opposite of sunsets.

And this is looking roughly north of northeast. The buildings just to the right of center is downtown Tulsa.

Tell you the truth I was not overly impressed with the photos so I ran one of them through a filter.

While I was flying the drone, I took a drone selfie of me. Heather got me that vest I am wearing. It is an electrically heated vest and I love it. Not only does it heat the front and back of the body, it heats the collar, and the pockets!! I’ve been testing it and I love it. It keeps me toasty warm. I haven’t been this excited about a Christmas present since I was a kid.

Graph by moi, compiled from Oklahoma State Department of Health Data

I am wishing everybody a happy and safe New Year. I hope everybody, who can, is up to date on their vaccinations, and are being careful. Our new infections are increasing rapidly. The public health professionals are saying to pay more attention to hospitalizations now. That metric is about double what it was in early November. I know everybody is tired of it but now is not the time to just give up.

And now I am going to brag on me a little bit. I mean why have a blog if you aren’t going to highlight yourself every now and then? Anyway I won the “Company Values” category for the photo above, taken on Memorial Day in 2020.

That’s all for now. I am linking with Skywatch Friday. Come join us!!

Skywatch Friday – Vacation Edition

This week I didn’t know if I was going to be able to post a Skywatch Friday post. Our son is going back to school soon and we wanted to give him some sort of vacation after his summer of taking Spanish classes online (three hours a day, four days a week of Zoom, ouch, I hate zoom), working hard at Loews Hardware, and socially isolating during this resurgence of Covid in a state that is not doing anything it about in order to maintain “freedom and justice for all.” (Yes, literally the state is doing nothing at all.)

So we said goodbye to our worthless cats and incredulous dogs.

Loaded up the car like the Okies we are and headed to Branson, Missouri. (Aka, the “Baptist Las Vegas”) to stay at a cabin for fun and social isolation. No shows, no, Silver Dollar City, no elbow to elbow jostling with anybody, cook most of our own meals and go at off times and eat outside when we do go out to eat.

This cabin had some strict rules. Most cabins have don’t type rules, this cabin had “do” rules. We liked these rules, what about you?

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The first day we went kayaking. It doesn’t get more socially distant than this.

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So we went here, there, and everywhere in the cove of the place we were staying.

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So we have done a ton of reading, hanging out at the swimming pool, and just kind of in general chillaxing.

We made one trip into the “Belly of the Beast” Branson Landing which is pretty much deserted. Taney County, which includes Branson has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the county, about 30% according to the state. I’m like wow! A city so dependent on outside visitors is doing everything they can to discourage travelers. Their brand new mayor is actually proud of their anti public health stance. What are we doing here!! We walked up and down the deserted area without entering any of the places that were open. Personally, I think they would be smart to get ahead of the issue instead of sticking their head in the sand.

Back in our bubble!! They skies are pretty cool. I tried to fly my drone but the cabin in in a no fly zone for some reason. Probably because we are so close to the lake.

Cabin internets are highly variable and I didn’t think that I would be able to post from there so I set Skywatch Friday up in advance and thought well I’ll just post when I get home but it turns out it is blazingly fast. So I am linking up with Skywatch Friday. Come join us!!

Skywatch Friday – Socially Distant Bike Ride

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Here we are still sheltering in place, along with most of the rest of the world. Here we can go out on errands like grocery shopping and such including outdoor exercise as long as we practice social distancing. I went out on a bike ride along a bike path close to the house.

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I’ve ran, walked, biked and geocached along this path dozens of times over the years.

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Generally I have this 20 plus mile trail to myself but not any longer. Lots of people are looking for a little exercise to make our stay at home more bearable.

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I had never seen so many people on this trail.

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But there is still wide open spaces.

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And when we were passing each other we all got way over on the edge of the trail.

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I’m actually kind of hoping that people make this being outside a permanent part of their lives after the crisis is over.

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I saw an interview with our latest national hero Dr. Anthony Fauci explained about the seasonality of viruses. He says it is not the heat, its the ultraviolet light from the sun that kills the viruses. I killed a bunch of them yesterday. But because I am skin cancer survivor I slather on the sun block very heavily. Can the viruses hide under my sunscreen? Just thought I give fearful something to be afraid of (not really.)

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And that is a wrap as I turn off my Go Pro clone.

Are you spending time outside, fully in compliance with whatever orders you are under? Tell me about it.

Linking with Skywatch Friday