Charlie

But new viral diseases are showing up more frequently, think SARS, MERS and COVID-19 all within the past twenty years. They are also being spread more easily as people travel more widely and easily. I don't think this is a once in a century black swan. And if we don't manage to develop a very effective vaccine (after 35 years we still don't have one for HIV), we may be adjusting to COVID-19 for more than just a few months.

Well, Epigonos, you are pretty clever in the kitchen. Could you buy the ingredients and make your own candy? My brother-in-law, who usually has trouble making his own breakfast, has been making his own ice cream; he makes an excellent imitation of Ben & Jerry's cherry Garcia.

Lots of people right now are adopting dogs from shelters, reasoning that it is an ideal time to get a dog and train it, as well as have companionship when one is sheltering in place. Therefore, many shelters are running out of adoptable dogs. What worries me is all the people who have to go back to work at some point and then discover they don't want to leave the dog at home alone while they are at work and when they want to go out and play after work. I fear that a lot of animals who have become bonded with owners who are there 24/7 will then be returned to the shelters. I don't think that adopting a dog is something that should be done without careful forethought and commitment for the longer haul. I think you are right to be concerned about the issues you have mentioned.

An official order from the city of Palm Springs.

His ad says he is going to be available in Palm Springs this Sunday and Monday. I wonder where he plans to stay, since hotels, AirBNB, etc., are not allowed to take reservations for anyone other than essential workers, and I don't think escorts qualify. Only essential travel is allowed, also, and if he is going to be in Miami the next day, he will have to fly, but there are hardly any flights leaving PSP. Oh, and I hope he knows that he has to wear a face mask whenever he goes outside.

Luckily, we lived in Philly, and just drove across the river to NJ when we needed stuff for a party. But one had to be careful, because PA authorities watched the liquor stores there for folks with PA plates who bought a lot. Friends went over there once when they were having a big party, but they saw someone eying them suspiciously from another car in the parking lot of the liquor store in Cherry Hill, so they drove their puchases to the PATCO train stop in Camden, put it all in shopping bags, and one of them took the train across the river, while the other one drove across the Ben Franklin Bridge. Sure enough, he was stopped by cops waiting at the Philly side of the bridge, who were dumbfounded when they searched the car and found nothing. They let him go, and he went to the PATCO station downtown and picked up his partner with the bags.

I read somewhere that PA Liquor Control Board was trying to find a way to sell online because they are losing so much money. It would be difficult, because the purchaser is required to show proof of age at time of purchase.

It's really hard to maintain that kind of hard-on while sitting naked on a cold metal open step over the ocean.

Yes.

Once they have been cremated, there is no possibility of ever identifying them if someone should step forward looking for them.

I still have only my one glass of wine with dinner, as always; however, lately I have been tempted by the thought of a nice glass of Harvey's Bristol Cream sherry in late afternoon.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in his prime.

Lookout from the top of the tram on Mt. San Jacinto, above Palm Springs?

While I was still able to play tennis, we had eliminated the high fives and fist bumps at the end of a match; everyone was touching the ends of our racquet heads against the other (also enables social distancing across the net).

Zion is quiet but still wonderful off-season. We spent three days there one early December, because we could get a room at the lodge in the park itself.

I went back to get my bike yesterday, and discovered that the shop was closing that afternoon for the duration of the lockdown. There was a long line waiting outside--6 ft apart--to pick up like I was. So I got it back just in time, and now I hope I can remember how to ride it.

I went to three different chain drug stores yesterday looking for a thermometer--all of them were sold out--but at each one there was a sign at the entrance that they would not serve anyone who tried to enter without a mask.

International travelers to destinations that require visas will probably find them much harder to get for the coming year. Many more Americans will be taking domestic vacations. Look for the national parks to be overloaded with visitors when (if?) they re-open later this year.

To my surprise, I have lost 2 lbs since I stated eating all meals at home.

OMG. This is the first procedure you have discussed that I actually understand and could tell someone what to do! (My spouse occasionally suffers from serious nosebleeds.)

Not long ago I couldn't find eggs anywhere; this morning there were plenty of them.

I dropped my subscription to AD because it had turned into mostly an interior decorating mag, but if they started including photos like these...........

The rules in my local supermarkets seem to change every few days. This morning my Albertson's had one-way aisles, and an employee at checkout whose job was to enforce the six foot separation between customers. There was also a SaranWrap-type cover on the charge card keypad, that could be changed for each customer who used it.

We all die alone. We just want to have someone say farewell as we leave.

I mentioned in another thread that back in February I had started reading The Mosquito by Timothy Winegard, a long history of the diseases caused by mosquitoes that had altered the course of human history. I was reading it slowly, so by the time we were in lockdown I was still dealing with things like the yellow fever epidemics in the US in the late 18th century, and I finally finished only a week ago with the prospects for West Nile Virus and Zika. Although Winegard's prose style is somewhat overblown, there was an enormous amount of interesting information, not only about the diseases but also about the ways people and nations responded to them, that still seems relevant even though COVID-19 is not an epidemic spread by mosquitoes. Now I need something different, so I am reading Thomas Cahill's How the Irish Saved Civilization. When I finish that soon, I think I'l start on a recent biography of William McKinley.