Happy New Year!

Froggie went a’courtin’ …
frogs mating in the
swimming pool to usher in
the new year (see below).

Perhaps We the People should take heed of this Froggie couple and, as we wave a grateful farewell to 2020, pledge, for 2021, to “make love, not war”?

News blues…

Dr Fauci will become chief Covid advisor to the Biden administration. This, after Fauci’s frustration and struggles with the Trump administration. Fifty-two years as a public servant:  (20:00 mins)

***

Covidiot is a peculiarly American phenomena whereby certain Americans apparently believe wearing masks, social distancing, and hand hygiene does not apply to them... and that coronavirus is a hoax. Moreover, since they are American and thus “free,” they can act “free.” Behold, an example of a Covidiot practicing covidiocy:

A store clerk was left amazed by a customer who had cut a hole in her Covid-19 face mask because it 'makes it easier to breathe'.
Joe Samaan was working his shift at an S J Food Mart outside Lexington, Kentucky, when a woman came in asking to pay for gas.
But unlike the hundreds of other customers Joe sees on a daily basis, the hole in this woman's protective facewear, which left her mouth and nose exposed, caught his eye. Here’s the incredible moment Kentucky Covidiot explains she has cut a hole in her face mask because it 'makes it easier to breathe'  

Healthy planet, anyone?

Amid 2020’s gloom, there are reasons to be hopeful about the climate in 2021 

***

Iceland - an example for the rest of us...

Isolated and challenged by a harsh climate and battered by the financial crisis of 2008, Iceland has successfully moved away from fossil fuels and shifted to 100% electricity production from renewable sources.
The island nation has developed high-tech greenhouses to grow organic vegetables and embraced sustainable fish farming, ecotourism, breakthrough processes for carbon capture and disposal, and efforts to restore the forests that were lost in earlier centuries https://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2020/dec/30/icelands-innovations-to-reach-net-zero-in-pictures

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

My mother has been released from hospital back to the Care Center where, I’m told, she’s “doing well,” eating (Jungle Oats), sleeping, and will begin her physiotherapy regime ASAP.
Jessica The Dog, back at the house, is settling in , too. She still acts depressed, but her tail curls over her back again, she roly-polies on the grass when I encourage her to walk in the garden, she’s eating like a trooper, and monkeys are scarce due to her vigilance. She enjoys barking.

***

Word is getting around among the frog population that the garden pond is sufficiently crowded with mating “courting” frogs, that a couple desiring privacy might try the swimming pool. That, or courting frogs have discovered that I’ve become quite the Swimming Pool Gal with vastly improved pool maintenance skills.
Yesterday, after I cleaned and flushed the pool filter, sprinkled chlorine granules, and refreshed the chlorine-dispensing “floaters”, I discovered this amorous couple producing meters-/yards-long strings of eggs. (the videos aren’t perfect but they give the gist….)
I removed the strings of eggs -the long black stream shown in the video - then discovered another batch of eggs – at least a cupful - in one of the pool filter baskets. The small, round, black eggs, encased in a translucent, flexible, and strong string would be, under normal conditions of froggie mating, wound around reeds, lilies, and other pond vegetation.
Given how many hundreds of eggs one frog-mating couple produces, it’s clear the planet and it’s amphibians are in way worse shape than even I, a pessimist, imagined.

Frogs mating - December 31, 2020.

And, a couple more videos for your new year's viewing pleasure (no ads!)

Rhombic night adder

Masked weaver building a nest

Egyptian Geese

TGIO*

* Thank God It’s Over!

The end Lockdown Week 40 coincides nicely with the end of the year. 

More than 82 million people around the world infected with a highly contagious virus is a hellava way to end a year, any year!. Who’da thunk?
Below, our weekly wrap up of Covid-19 stats of the last three months.
May the year 2021 see a diminution of the horror.

Worldwide (Map) 
December 31 – 82,656000 confirmed infections; 1,8040100 deaths
November 26 – 60,334,000 confirmed infections; 1,420,500 deaths
October 29 – 44,402,000 confirmed infections; 1,173,270 deaths
Cry, the beloved planet….

US (Map) 
December 31 – 19,737,200 confirmed infections; 342,260 deaths
November 26 – 12,771,000 confirmed infections; 262,145 deaths
October 29 – 8,856,000 confirmed infections; 227,675 deaths
One in 1,000 Americans have now died of Covid-19.
1 in 17 Americans have tested positive for Covid-19.
More than 63,000 Americans died of Covid-19 in December.
Cry, the beloved country….

SA (Tracker)  
December 31 – 1,039,165 confirmed infections; 28,035 deaths
November 26 – 775,510 confirmed infections; 21,2010 deaths
October 29 – 719,715 confirmed infections; 19,111 deaths
Cry, the (original) beloved country….

News blues…

Then and Now: a photo essay of the year around the world. 

***

And, 18 actually good things that happened in 2020 

Healthy planet, anyone?

Could Covid lockdown have helped save the planet?  Slowdown of human activity was too short to reverse years of destruction, but we saw a glimpse of post-fossil fuel world  

When lockdown began, climate scientists were horrified at the unfolding tragedy, but also intrigued to observe what they called an “inadvertent experiment” on a global scale. To what extent, they asked, would the Earth system respond to the steepest slowdown in human activity since the second world war?
Environmental activists put the question more succinctly: how much would it help to save the planet?
Almost one year on from the first reported Covid case, the short answer is: not enough. In fact, experts say the pandemic may have made some environmental problems worse, though there is still a narrow window of opportunity for something good to come from something bad if governments use their economic stimulus packages to promote a green recovery.

Read “Could Covid lockdown have helped save the planet?” >> 

***

This Year Was A Disaster for The Planet. From record-breaking wildfires to devastating hurricanes, human-driven climate change keeps killing us.  

***

Floods, storms and searing heat: 2020 in extreme weather. While Covid has dominated the news, the world has also felt the effects of human-driven global heating. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I end the year with my mother still in hospital due, not to adverse reaction to her recent surgery, but still awaiting results of her Covid test. The Care Center, naturally, requires she’s Covid negative before they can accept her. She was tested on Monday, the same day she was admitted. Today, Thursday, she’s still not received results. 

One wonder what viruses and infections she may have been exposed to after four days in the Petrie dish of a hospital.
On the other hand, I’d asked the surgeon on Tuesday if he could see his way to keeping her in the hospital one more day. This, I thought, might ensure better post-surgery care – and delay my sharing the news that I brought Jessica back to the house while my mom recovers. The surgeon explained that, under normal conditions, he’d consider keeping her another day, but under Covid conditions, hospital staff are hard pressed and hospital beds at a premium.
Jessica The Dog has had a tough time. A lugubrious creature at the best of times, she’s currently in mourning. She spends her days installed in her ‘special place’ in the garden, a spot that expresses her state of mind. Yesterday, she refused to move from there, even during the afternoon rain shower.
Good news for Jessica? After having to stifle her yen to bark at the Care Center, here she’s free to bark again. And she does. She's especially gleeful at barking at monkeys. I'm gleeful too: the monkeys take heed.

***

My brother and his family – 3 adults – are under quarantine as “secondary contacts” for Covid.  The son of a member of the extended family, someone who visits regularly with my sister-in-law, is infected. 

Covid is getting closer. The Care Center psychologist also is under quarantine. While my contact with both my brother and the psychologist is confined to texting and/or phone, I feel more hemmed in by encroaching Covid.
Meanwhile, the Care Center has set up video conferencing. This means my brother – my mother’s all time favorite human in the world – can easily contact her to chat. The only drawback? Both my mother and my brother mumble, slur their words, and/or speak at such low volume that a conversation quickly becomes a mumble-athon. At least they can see one another.
My dread my first Zoom conversation with my mother as I will have to explain why Jessica is at the house rather than the Care Center. I doubt my mother will accept the truth: that, for now, her physical health decrees she cannot get up to feed and walk the dog.
Alas, try telling that to an 87 year old who still thinks of herself as a 27 year old.

Storm in a teacup

News blues…

Bheki Cele, SA Minister of Police,
under his signature Trilby hat.
Image: Esa Alexander 

Bheki Cele, Minister of Police, looks like a man who loves his work and has fun doing it. Yesterday, he warned creative South Africans about the sale of alcohol during Lockdown Level 3:

The non-sale of alcohol is the non-sale of alcohol - do not put alcohol in teapots in your restaurants or in bottles ... We know your tricks, don’t invite the police to come and check whether there is really Rooibos [tea] in there or there is something else in the teapot.

Further advice from Cele  >> 

***

More pithy advice from the front lines of the Battle against Covid:

“Some of us will die, but those left behind should continue the fight… Your chances of survival when arriving at a hospital will decided whether you are admitted to ICU or receive oxygen.” 

***

Eskom may have stumbled upon a load shedding schedule that least annoys South Africans: coincide load shedding with curfew.
Perhaps it’s the intense heat of the last few days, but electricity supply has been unreliable and We the People find ourselves suddenly in the dark. Electricity simply goes off – and comes back on – and goes off – and comes back on… Surely this defies the intention behind a schedule?
Yesterday, we learned at 3pm of a load shedding event from 22:00 to 5:00, aka 10pm to 5am.
Curfew extends from 21:00 to 6:00 for all medical, security, and essential workers.
Has Eskom hit upon perfect timing?
Perhaps Bheki Cele – and his Trilby – is working with Eskom to persuade South Africans to adhere to curfew? Stay home and drink Rooibos tea?

Healthy planet, anyone?

… and yet another climate-change-related crisis, this one a fatal freshwater skin disease in dolphins:

Dolphins are increasingly dying slow, painful deaths from skin lesions likened to severe burns as a result of exposure to fresh water, exacerbated by the climate crisis.
Researchers in the US and Australia have defined for the first time an emerging “freshwater skin disease” reported in coastal dolphin populations in the US, South America and Australia.
While cetaceans can survive in fresh water for short periods, sudden and prolonged exposure – such as when an animal becomes trapped, or the salinity of their habitat is affected by heavy rainfall – has been found to cause a form of dermatitis.
This progresses into ulcers and lesions that can affect up to 70% of the animal’s surface area, with the severity of a third-degree burn. 
“Their skin is just as sensitive as ours, and possibly even more so – it would be incredibly painful,” says Dr Nahiid Stephens, a veterinary pathologist at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia, and co-author of the paper published in Scientific Reports journal. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

It’s been a long day of waiting for news on my mother’s health.
She underwent surgery to insert a metal pin into the neck of her femur (where upper leg bone fits into hip socket). The surgeon reported that all went well, and she could be returned to the Care Center as soon as today, tomorrow at the latest. All depends upon the negative result of Covid test. (The test was conducted on Monday, the day of her injury, and we’re still awaiting results.)
I’d be happy with delayed results keeping her in the hospital another day. I know, theoretically, that hospitals are the best dispensers of assorted infections, but they’re also not the Care Center where my mother is comfortable enough to complain ad nauseum. In hospital, a new environment, she’d have to work up the nerve to complain. Every day of her not complaining is a day of healing.

***

Jessica, The Dog, is depressed. Her pleasure at returning to the house, her old stomping-sniffing-roly-poly ground, has been accompanied by what looks like depression. She spent all day yesterday – 34C/95F temperature – in a part of the garden she once resorted to only when she was miffed or depressed.
Jessica is a dog sensitive to human – and dog – moods and emotions. As with many creatures with high degrees of sensitivity, Jessica shares - perhaps over-shares - her own emotionality.
She is, however, slowly settling.
I’ve decided – and the Care Center agrees – that Jessica should stay at the house until my mother is mobile enough for Jessica to return there. To all adhering to the philosophy of Common Sense, my mom is recovering from a fall and surgery and is in no shape to get out of bed to feed and walk the dog. Alas, there’s my mother’s version of reality: “Of course I can take care of Jessica. I want her back!” She’ll be unhappy without me!”
I dread telling my mother of this decision. Perhaps I should try to manipulate her into thinking she made the decision?
Manipulation is not in my comfort zone. I tend to take the direct approach – usually to my detriment. But I'm desperate. Perhaps, if I rose to the occasion I'd learn a new skill? Learning to manipulate also may increase my own psychological range.
At the very least, it would break the monotony of Lockdown.

Vigilance demanded

News blues…

President Ramaphosa’s update to the nation on South Africa’s Covid status: (38:00 mins)
Key takeaways:
More than 1 million infected and more than 27,000 dead, a rate of 50,000 new infections since Christmas Eve; new cases dire in KZN, Western Cape, Gauteng, and Eastern Cape
New variant – 501.V2 - is well established in SA and it appears to be more contagious than first wave; it’s also fueled by super spreader events -
We’re all paying price for the lack of vigilance people displayed during the holidays: not masking, not sanitizing, not maintaining social distance, and hosting/attending public events that increase the risk of transmission
Alcohol contributes to risky behavior; also drives up trauma cases in hospitals; fewer restrictions on alcohol creates increased trauma cases in hospitals and puts unnecessary strain on hospitals already full; health care workers exhausted - and more than 41,000 health workers infected
A doctor wrote a letter stating: “We’re all going to pay for your inability to be responsible with our lives”
NCCC recommends Lockdown level 3, from midnight, to:

• Minimize risk of super spreader events
• Limit activities of infected persons showing no symptoms; decrease unsafe interactions; increase implementation of social distancing, wearing masks, sanitizing, and regular symptom checking
• Redirect scarce resources
• This includes all indoor and outdoor gatherings are prohibited for 14 days from midnight
• Funerals cannot be attended by more than 50 people
• Businesses must determine social distancing guidelines and limits
• Curfew: extended form 9 pm to 6am, nobody allowed outside during curfew except for medical, security, and essential workers
• Most businesses must be closed by 8pm
• Everyone must wear a cloth mask over nose and mouth in public. Adjusted level 3 makes every individual legally responsible for wearing a mask in public – compulsory for everyone and failure to do so will be considered an offence that could lead to arrest, fine and/or prosecution with up to 6 months in jail.
• Sale of alcohol: this industry is important but out priority is to save lives and protect health care system: every medical related item and person is needed to save lives so alcohol sale is prohibited except for some exceptions. This will be reviewed in next few weeks if there’s a sustained decline in alcohol-related incidents.
• Businesses may operate as long as health protocol are adhered to, except for alcohol related business.

Restrictions are in effect until January 15, 2021 when they will be reevaluated on the basis of state of pandemic
Hotspots subject to additional restrictions:

• Eastern Cape and Garden Route
• KZN: Durban,
• West Rand and Joburg
• Western Cape and Karoo
• North West
• Limpopo
• Beaches, dams, lakes, pools, closed to the public
• Parks: some open
• Minimize travel within districts and minimal social contact.

Vaccine update:
SA is part of global access – COVAX – with ZAR 283 million contribution already made. SA will be among first group of African countries to get vaccine, probably in the second quarter of 2021;
Need to build partnership between govt and business to augment resources to achieve herd immunity
Public must observe highest degree of vigilance and protect others
Avoid 3Cs: closed spaced, crowded area, contact with others

Play your part to defeat this pandemic
Instead of parties at new year, spend time with close family – no fireworks but light a candle for those who have lost their lives and the sacrifices made by all.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Late this afternoon I learned my mother, residing (unhappily) in the Care Center, had “fallen in the passageway.” This, after I’d visited her earlier in the day and found her fuzzy, confused, and focused on my brother, his well-being, his location, and his absence.
I drove to the Care Center to pick up the dog and arrived just as the ambulance was pulling out of the parking lot. I flagged it down and was able to talk, briefly, at my mom (she was in no shape to talk to me). I told her I would relate events to my brother and ask him get in touch with her… and that I was taking Jessica back to the house.
Due to surging Covid infections, the ambulance EMTs didn’t know if there would be a bed for her at local hospital - or where they’d take her if there was no bed.
I had to trust that they knew what they were doing.
I picked up Jessica’s food – the dog was freaked out – and talked to the Sister on duty. Apparently, mom – foggy as she was – got up, did not ring for assistance and used her walker to head down the passageway (to the bathroom?). She moved aside in the passageway to accommodate another resident and fell. Her leg was clearly damaged as it was at an unnatural angel.
We got Jessica in the car and I drove home.
Jessica looked very uncertain after she arrived. The other dogs were cautious and one, an officious beast at the best of times, looked ready to attack. That’s all I need: dog fights, dog emergency care at the vet, more dog hassles….
Last night, at 9pm, the hospital-based surgeon, phoned. My mother, he said, has what looks like a broken hip. Then he asked, “Is she usually this confused?”
I explained the events of the last week, mentioned that her regular doctor had taken her off her chronic blood thinner meds just last week in case of a fall.
The surgeon said he had no information at all on my mother’s medical history. Nothing in the way of background had accompanied her admission. All he had received was, "Elderly woman, fell, hurt her leg and may have hit her head."
In other words, the Care Center had sent her off without documentation. I know documentation exists as I’d filled out pages of forms on her medical history forms when my mom was admitted to the Center. Yet she had nothing to guide her medical care at the hospital. Moreover, shock and confusion meant she could provide nothing meaningful.
Covid mandates that no one can visit patients. So, my mother, scared, confused, has a broken hip that requires surgery that she cannot undergo until the surgeon contacts her GP to learn more about her medical history. She also requires a Covid test before she can be fully admitted to the hospital. And she’ll require another Covid test before she can be discharged back the Care Center.
After talking to the surgeon, I phoned the Care Center to request an appointment with the matron. Alas, the matron is “on leave and won’t be back until next week.”
“Well, who is in charge now?”
“Sister Liz.”
“No, I need to talk to someone with higher status than Sister Liz.”
Turns out no one is available.
I gave my email address and asked that a Trustee contact me.
Sending my mother off to hospital with no safeguarding documentation is a dereliction of care.
Emergency surgery on someone just recently off blood thinners could be fatal.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve let some things slide at the Care Center. For example, my mother was able to take too many pills last week - after the Center had said their care givers would dispense her pills to her.
True, my mother is stubborn, stuck in her ways, imperious, and sometimes quite unpleasant (I’ve been on beneficiary many times). But, Care Center personnel’s failure to provide minimal vigilance cannot be overlooked.

Countdown, 1

This strange and challenging year comes to a close with strange and challenging events…. Do We the People of the world have the will, the know-how, and the selflessness to steer a different direction for our mutual survival?
That is the question....

News blues…

South Africa surpasses milestone of 1 million cases of Covid infections. 
The world surpasses 80 million infections.
The US surpasses 19 million infections, almost double the infection numbers of India, the country with the next highest rate at 10 million.

***

• The president of the United State has, over his term, siphoned off more than US $10.5 million into his personal business.  
• As of Dec. 27, 2020 the same president of the United State has played golf 306 times since becoming President.  This, after chastising Obama for golfing far fewer times over two terms in office. 
• The same president of the United States has overtly ignored a raging pandemic, and potential mitigation measures. As of today

…there have been nearly 19 million recorded COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and more than 331,000 deaths nationwide.
December marked the deadliest month in the United States since the coronavirus pandemic began, with more than 63,000 COVID-19 deaths recorded nationwide during the month so far. 
April held the previous monthly record for the highest number of COVID-19 deaths, with at least 55,000 reported. The U.S. saw a steep incline in coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the spring, followed by a sharp decrease over the summer. Those numbers began to increase again in the fall and have continued to surge into the winter.

*** 

© Meidas Touch

The Trump administration highlights the weakness of the American political bureaucracy. 

For now, the systems is holding (the dismissal of Trump’s claims of election fraud) but it is teetering. 

Trump has shown how to successfully manipulate a system whose “checks and balances” are designed to forestall such manipulations. 

With Joe Biden, the “go along to get along guy,” there is no reason to assume the next administration will do anything to check the flagrant abuses of Trump and his enablers.
The US system may be designed for checks and balances, but it depends solely on the combined and concerted will of Congress to ensure the system works. 

There’s no reason at all to expect the will of the current Congress to implement consequences and strengthen democracy.

On the positive side, at least humor remains. Thank you, Meidas Touch.

  

Healthy planet, anyone?

Hopeful directions:

The Air Company, based in New York, makes vodka from two ingredients: carbon dioxide and water. Each bottle that’s produced takes carbon dioxide out of the air. It has been chosen as one of the finalists in the $20m NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, which aims to incentivise innovation in the field of carbon capture, utilisation and storage.

More news of hopeful directions >> 
On the other hand, “'It's as if we've learned nothing': alarm over Amazon road project.” 
Our planet is in desperate need of common sense, logic, and a change of direction. 

We’re running out of time….

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

It was too hot yesterday for outside activities. Turns out if was also too hot for inside activities. For several hours in the afternoon, Eskom failed to supply electricity. Eskom’s designed-to-inform app failed to inform, too.

Short and sweet Sunday

News blues…

Yes, SA's new coronavirus variant - 501Y.V2 – is rapidly displacing others; yes, data suggests it is highly transmissible; yes, according to experts it is “the dominant lineage of the second wave,”; yes, it likely transmits more easily; yes, younger people are more infected and [sicker] with it than any other variants. And, yes, hospitals are struggling and oxygen is in short supply. The latest SA news  …
What else do we need to know to convince us take all necessary precautions? Stay home. Wear a mask when away from home and keep your distance from others. It may not be enough, but think of it as not just you you’re protecting, it’s our entire community….

***

Meanwhile, even some conspiracy theorists, skeptics, and just plain nutty Americans are getting on the vaccine bandwagon.

Ever since the race to develop a coronavirus vaccine began last spring, upbeat announcements were stalked by ominous polls: No matter how encouraging the news, growing numbers of people said they would refuse to get the shot. The time frame was dangerously accelerated, many people warned. The vaccine was a scam from Big Pharma, others said. A political ploy by the Trump administration, many Democrats charged. The internet pulsed with apocalyptic predictions from longtime vaccine opponents, who decried the new shot as the epitome of every concern they’d ever put forth. But over the past few weeks, as the vaccine went from a hypothetical to a reality, something happened. Fresh surveys show attitudes shifting and a clear majority of Americans now eager to get vaccinated. 

In polls by Gallup, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Pew Research Center, the portion of people saying they are now likely or certain to take the vaccine has grown from about 50% this summer to more than 60%, and in one poll 73% — a figure that approaches what some public health experts say would be sufficient for herd immunity. 

Perhaps the spell of Trump, Trump-fever, is breaking? At last.

Healthy planet, anyone?

• Discovery of 'cryptic species' shows Earth is even more biologically diverse 
• How humans and small gardens help wildlife 
• Nature photos of the year 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

We’re moving from the rainy season to the swelter season. Today will be 34C/94F with 82 percent humidity. 

After decades in the San Francisco Bay Area, I sometimes wonder about my ability to handle weeks of KZN summer.

Holiday madness, 3

© National Geographic. 

Mother and daughter came up with a way to hug each other for the first time in two months. They hung a clothesline and pinned a drop cloth to it in the yard in Wantagh, New York. Then they embraced through the plastic.
“In spite of everything that we’re facing, we still look for ways to connect….”

News blues…

South Africa’s health minister criticises the travel bans, saying there is 'no evidence' new SA variant is more dangerous. 
Given the reluctance humans show, each day, for adhering to safety measures and preventing the rapid spread of Covid, I wonder why the health minister equivocates? A surging pandemic with a new, potentially more transmissible variant, is not the time to allow humans wiggle room, Minister Mkhize. Clamp down!

***

Are concerns regarding South Africa’s new coronavirus variant justified? 

Healthy planet, anyone?

Sensational! Volcanos for the holidays.
Hawaii: Kilauea Eruption Day Four - Rising Lava Lake Update (Dec. 24, 2020)  (3:50 mins)
Italy: Eruption of Mount Etna – in Italian, no subtitles but spectacular views. (Dec 23, 2020)  (2:30 mins)
Japan: Sakurajima Eruption Accompanied by Lightnings (Dec 22, 2020) (3:10 mins)

***

Lithium the new coal?
We human display an unerring knack for getting it wrong. Even as we prefer to pretend the opposite, we know the disaster our passion for coal and oil has foisted on our small planet. Yet, here we are, chasing another disastrous passion. This time, lithium:

Lithium is a key active material in the rechargeable batteries that run electric cars. It is found in rock and clay deposits as a solid mineral, as well as dissolved in brine. It is popular with battery manufacturers because, as the least dense metal, it stores a lot of energy for its weight.
Electrifying transport has become a top priority in the move to a lower-carbon future. In Europe, car travel accounts for around 12% of all the continent’s carbon emissions. To keep in line with the Paris agreement, emissions from cars and vans will need to drop by more than a third (37.5%) by 2030. The EU has set an ambitious goal of reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by the same date. To that end, Brussels and individual member states are pouring millions of euros into incentivising car owners to switch to electric. Some countries are going even further, proposing to ban sales of diesel and petrol vehicles in the near future (as early as 2025 in the case of Norway). If all goes to plan, European electric vehicle ownership could jump from around 2m today to 40m by 2030.

Read “The curse of ‘white oil’: electric vehicles dirty secret >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

My plan for re-introducing my reclusive mother to her fellow Care Center residents flopped. I’d purchased enough mince pies – a raisin, sultana fruit tartlet – for all of A Wing’s residents’ morning tea. I’d expected folks to gather, as usual, in the lounge. I planned to offer the treats and suggest folks drop in and visit my mother who is struggling to adjust to her new environment.
Alas, of the residents remaining in the Center (many left to spend the day with family) all took tea and mince pie in their rooms. No re-introduction was possible.
Perhaps just as well. My mother fell asleep before tea. She slept until after lunch. I took The Dog for a walk, waited, then departed. I returned to visit and conduct another dog walk later that afternoon.

Holiday madness, 2

Week 40
Day 274 Friday, December 25 - Holiday madness, 2

© Zapiro.com

Humor to save our sanity…

Happy holidays! Enjoy the humor/humour:

Don Caron: SIGH IN THE NIGHT - A Parody of Silent Night (2:42 mins) 

***

This virus that’s known as Corona
Has spread from New York to Pomona
So to keep myself healthy
But not become wealthy
I’ll just stay in my house all alona

***

• Which Christmas film was 30 years ahead of its time?
  Home Alone
• Did you hear that production was down at Santa’s workshop?
  Many of his workers have had to elf isolate!
• Why didn’t Mary and Joseph make it to Bethlehem?
  All Virgin flights were cancelled.
• Why are Santa’s reindeer allowed to travel on Christmas Eve?
  They have herd immunity.
• Why did the pirates have to go into lockdown?
  Because the “Arrrr!” rate had risen.
• Why couldn’t Mary and Joseph join their work conference call?
  Because there was no Zoom at the inn.
• What do the Trumps do for Christmas dinner?
  They put on a super spread. 

***

Meidas Touch: You're a Mean One, Mr. Mitch! (1:33 mins) 

***

Holiday madness, 1

Worldwide (Map) 
December 24 – 78,674,530 confirmed infections; 1,730,000 deaths
November 26 – 60,334,000 confirmed infections; 1,420,500 deaths
October 29 – 44,402,000 confirmed infections; 1,173,270 deaths

US (Map)  
December 24 – 18,455,660 confirmed infections; 326,100 deaths
November 26 – 12,771,000 confirmed infections; 262,145 deaths
October 29 – 8,856,000 confirmed infections; 227,675 deaths

SA (Tracker) 
December 24 – 974,260 confirmed infections; 25,660 deaths
November 26 – 775,510 confirmed infections; 21,2010 deaths
October 29 – 719,715 confirmed infections; 19,111 deaths

News blues…

Highest ever single-day increase in Covid-19 cases, with more than 14,000 recorded in SA in 24 hours. With more than 400 deaths recorded in 24 hours for only the third time, health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize warns that current restrictions need to be reviewed. This is the highest single-day increase in cases. The previous highest total was 13,944 recorded on July 24.

***

As The Donald continues his “pardon-a-thon” and ill-uses the presidential pardon system to nullify his cronies wrong-doing, other whacka-doodleitude continues: 

• A San Jose salon owner is refusing to comply with Santa Clara County's health order and keeping his doors open to customers despite risk of citation or worse. "I refuse to close," James Griffiths, the owner of Salon Blu, told NBC. "If they’re not having a real shutdown, I’m talking about the grimy little liquor store down here, the gas station, Home Depot, Starbucks, if they don’t shut them down then I’m not shutting down." 
• An elderly man hospitalized in Southern California for treatment of COVID-19 was fatally struck by a roommate who became annoyed when the victim began praying. The 82-year-old victim was struck with an oxygen tank on Dec. 17 while housed in a two-person room at Antelope Valley Hospital and died the next day. 
• Soon-to-be-ex-President Donald Trump reportedly suggested more than once that he wouldn’t mind seeing a granite image of his own visage on South Dakota’s Mount Rushmore next to Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington; but since that seems to be literally impossible, some insiders are now saying he has lowered his sights to something more attainable: putting his name on a major airport. Anonymous White House sources said that Trump once asked what kind of “paperwork” would have to be done to make Trump International Airport a reality.

***

Humor could save us:

Fauci on a Couchi  (1:33 mins)
The Kiffness If you go down to the beach today… (1:44 mins) (Not a perspective I fully endorse but I appreciate The Kiffness.)
’Twas the night before Christmas  (7:30 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

This segment of this blog is designed to 1) raise awareness about how pandemics will continue to be a feature of life as long as We the People – and our leaders-in-denial – refuse to recognize how out-of-control consumption risks our planet, ourselves, 2) offer positive examples of people and countries grappling with how to create and institute a healthier planet and people.
With lockdown going on for longer than anyone would have guessed, it becomes harder to offer readers positive examples. Today’s offering addresses bullet 1:

To prevent future pandemics, we must stop deforestation and end the illegal wildlife trade. Do you agree? Of course you do, because what’s not to like? The buck stops with the evil other. The question is, will doing those things solve the problem? And the answer is, probably not. They will help, but there’s another, potentially bigger problem closer to home: the global north’s use of natural resources, especially its reliance on livestock.

Read “Time for some home truths about deforestation” >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

My plan for Christmas lunch with my elderly neighbor almost came adrift yesterday. She’s not been out of her house for 10 months, due to health conditions making her high risk if she contracted Covid. I visit her every 7 to 10 days, enjoy a cup of tea and cookies, catch up on and share the latest neighborhood gossip, and refresh my Afrikaans language “skills”.
Our plan to enjoy lunch together hatched, unhatched, then repeatedly hatched, unhatched upon prevailing circumstances. (My mother’s moods, plans, and actions highly influential.) Our plan appeared definitely unhatched when my neighbor’s neighbor, with whom she visits every morning, was tested for Covid. Results were expected yesterday, but due to overwhelm at the testing lab, the holidays, etc., results were delayed. We agreed to scrap our planned get-together, but I’d cook the meal anyway and deliver her portion through her (sanitized) window.
This morning, however, we learned the results of the test: negative.
The plan’s back on!
I’ll pop the roast in the oven, leave Martha (domestic worker) to oversee it, drive three containers of dog food - giblets, pet mince, and rice – to the Care Center, visit my mother, and feed and walk the dog. After that, I’ll drive to my neighbor’s house, pick her up to bring to the upper security gate (that involves a lot of unlocking, tugging and pushing since the automatic opener is malfunctioning due to flooding), and, carefully, walk my neighbor to the verandah. (None of the latter would be necessary if she could negotiate the long staircase leading to the house. She can’t. Nor could my mother…which is why my mother isn’t here for Christmas lunch.
Word of warning: when you reach 80 years old, do not purchase a house with 20 stairs, a landing, then 5 more stairs. It might make your dogs “happy” to have a large garden but 25 stairs are guaranteed – despite your denial to the contrary - not to serve you, the human, well for long.) 

Meanwhile, for today, let the lunching begin!

Covid conscious

If cats can socially distance,
why can’t humans?  
Credit: Coleen Joice Aquino

News blues…

Covid is stressing Western Cape residents and health care workers to their limits. There’s even talk of potentially bringing in the SADF - military - to ensure compliance with basic preventions such as wearing masks, hand sanitizing, and social distancing  (4:04 mins) What does it take to make the uncompliant Covid conscious?

***

A helpful coronavirus dashboard presents a series of virus-related topics, from health care to available resources 

***

Holidays in South Africa are accompanied by the growing tally of deaths on the roads. This year the tally is lower than last year but still outrageously high: 690…and counting. KZN has the highest rate of fatalities.   (5:25 mins) 

Healthy planet, anyone?

 Credit: Nicholas Georgiadis 

Ivory from a Portuguese trading ship that sank in 1533 preserved  genetic traces of elephant lineages  that have vanished from West Africa. The ivory from the shipwreck was identified as belonging to  forest elephants rather than  the species’ larger, more well-known savanna-dwelling cousins. 

In 2008, workers searching for diamonds off the coast of Namibia found a different kind of treasure: hundreds of gold coins mixed with timber and other debris. They had stumbled upon Bom Jesus, a Portuguese trading vessel lost during a voyage to India in 1533. Among the 40 tons of cargo recovered from the sunken ship were more than 100 elephant tusks. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Covid has confined my elderly neighbor to her house for 9 months. I visit her once every 8 to 10 days. Recently, I arranged for our domestic worker to work for once a week for this neighbor. Yesterday, after our domestic worker spent the morning working there, my neighbor notified me that her neighbor, a physically compromised diabetic, was tested for Covid. He expects results of the test later today.
To date, this neighborhood has been mercifully free of Covid infection. If this neighbor has contracted it, already tight restrictions will tighten and fear and suspicion will increase.
With the emergence of the even more highly infectious Covid variant, I’m more freaked out more than I expected.

***

I’ve been in South Africa since January 28, 2020. I expected to return to California on May 28, 2020. Then, I planned to return mid-March 2021. Now? Who knows when I’ll return? A notice issued yesterday from the US Embassy:

Location: The Republic of South Africa
Event: A new variant of the COVID-19 virus, known as 501.V2, is driving infection rates in areas of South Africa. This discovery is gaining increased international attention and currently as many as 15 countries have banned flights and travelers who have spent time in The Republic of South Africa in the last 10 days.
Actions to Take:

• Travelers should consult with their airlines to inquire about potential flight cancellations and rerouting
• Check destination and transit countries' rules and regulations regarding traveling from South Africa
• Exercise increased hygiene measures and social distancing in South Africa, especially in areas where COVID case numbers are increasing.
• Visit South Africa's COVID information and resource portal, https://sacoronavirus.co.za, for additional information.
• • Monitor local and international media for continuing developments.

***

I’ve been fretting about what my mother would agree to do on Christmas Day. My brother invited her to his house then changed his mind. The gathering planned by his large and exuberant family morphed from “just family” to “just extended family” to “what the hell, everyone is welcome!” Not a safe situation for anyone, never mind a fragile 87-year-old.
I hesitated to bring her to this house as I was stymied by how to, 1) carry her up the 20-plus steps to the dining area, and 2) shoehorn her - and The dog - out of the house to return her to the Care Center afterwards. Calling the cops or ambulance personnel to extract an old lady who refused to depart her own home for a Care Center she “hates” would not align with the spirit of the “festive season.”
Miraculously, we agreed I’d bring her a platter of mince pies – a British colonial “festive season” fruit pastry – and spend time with her at the Care Center.
Then, inspiration! I purchased enough mince pies for the whole of A Wing and, on Christmas Day, we’ll share mince pies and fruit cake with all her fellow A Wing inmates. I’ll also encourage people to approach my mother in friendship as she’s “too shy to reach out directly.”
Lordy, I hope this breaks her stubborn regime of self-imposed, reclusive isolation.

Fever Swamp

News blues…

As Donald Trump grapples with ways to defeat America and American voters, and invoke martial law rather than be “a loser,” Fever Swamp is an apt description of his state of mind. (6:55 mins)
Moreover, former sycophants are turning on him (and there’s no anger like that of former sycophants). Even right-wing, conspiracy-spreading news outlets such as Fox and Newsmax and turning on him.

  ***

The worse is yet to come? The number of people hospitalized across California with confirmed COVID-19 infections is more than double the state’s previous peak, reached in July, and a state model forecasts the total could hit 75,000 patients by mid-January.
Plans for rationing care are not in place yet, but they need to be established because “the worst is yet to come….” 

***

The Lincoln Project: The dream still lives  (0:55 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

The global food system is on course to drive rapid and widespread ecological damage with almost 90% of land animals likely to lose some of their habitat by 2050.

A study published in the journal Nature Sustainability shows that unless the food industry is rapidly transformed, changing what people eat and how it is produced, the world faces widespread biodiversity loss in the coming decades.
The study’s lead author, David Williams from Leeds University, said without fundamental changes, millions of square kilometres of natural habitats could be lost by 2050. “Ultimately, we need to change what we eat and how it is produced if we are going to save wildlife on a global scale.”  

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Summer solstice. The day I slowly began moving belongings into my new small home. Also the day my mother upped the ante on her determination to escape the Care Center.
My giant dilemma: what to do with someone whose determination to “escape” revolves around a fantasy only tangentially related to reality. Terrified of her brush with making an effort to fit in, desperately afraid of rejection, and replete with years of being in charge, she finds herself not in charge. Deteriorating physical and cognitive disabilities make it unlikely she’ll ever be in charge again.
Nevertheless, she’s stubbornly determined to win an unwinnable game – and control the outcome, too.
I, on the other hand, find myself emotionally detached. Emotional distance is what I learned as my mother’s daughter; emotional distance is how I find myself responding. Dutiful daughter. ***
Monkey see, monkey do. Emboldened by their successful raid on my pantry with “paw paws” (papayas) earlier this week, monkeys now case the joint while I’m inside. With the remaining 3 dogs find it above their paygrade to chase monkeys, so monkeys circle the downstairs seeking entry. The potential quick gobble of paw paw in the pantry makes all risk worthwhile.
My response? Shut the French doors, close the burglar guards and shout, “Scoot monkeys!”
So far, scooting is the last thing on monkey minds!

Solstice

Week 39 Day 270 Monday, December 21 - Solstice

Mid-summer in KZN (left)… and mid-winter in California (right)
Click to enlarge. 

I miss my American family, but I don’t miss winter. Living on a houseboat, as I do when in California, has its plusses in the winter. To name several: the confined space of a houseboat is easy to heat; seals and sea lions frequent Delta waterways; the migration of sandhill cranes to the Delta is in full swing. 

News blues…

As numbers of people infected and die from Covid-19, Donald Trump utters nary a word on the pandemic. Instead, he’s focused on overturning a legitimate election and declaring martial law. 

***

My hopes for returning to California are dire now that South Africa and UK have been identified as hotspots for the new coronavirus strain:

Germany plans to impose restrictions on flights from and to SA and Britain after the two countries reported identifying a new coronavirus strain, a government spokesman said on Sunday.
He said that the government was working on new travel rules and was in contact with European Union partners.
El Salvador has also banned travellers who have been in the United Kingdom or SA in the last 30 days or whose flights included a layover in those countries….

Goodbye dreams of seeing family, sea lions, and sandhill cranes any time soon….

Healthy planet, anyone?

It's not easy these days to find positive news on the environment. One Tree Planted responds to this dearth of good news by sifting through the headlines and presenting some of the best stories related to nature, conservation, and biodiversity. Here’s their July news…. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

As populations of the SARSCov-2 virus surge, so do populations of mosquitos. What’s a bad mosquito-related event for someone who sleeps under a mosquito net?
Mosquitos inside the net!
What’s worse than a buzzing mosquito or two insides the net?
Buzzing mosquitos flitting through the light emitted by one’s cell phone as one reads the screen.
It’s woman against predator.
So far, predator wins!

New behaviors

News blues…

• A new coronavirus variant? South Africa and the new coronavirus variant: your questions and health department’s answers 
• UK scrambles amid fears a new variant of COVID-19 is spreading more rapidly across parts of the country that could be “up to 70 percent more transmissible” than the original variant. 
• A fairly technical good explanation (if you’re patient) of the new variant of Covid-19 that 'may be spreading faster'  (1:45:40 mins)

***

Another look at whacky stuff: Fox Spreading New DANGEROUS Lies about Covid (3:05 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

A photo essay to remind us of the creatures of our beautiful planet 

***

We can learn to better love our country. There’s no better time than now: Namadgi national park: ‘A mystery, a relic, a vibrant pulse in the earth’ 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Monkeys, always observant, have noticed this household has trimmed down from 10 to 3 dogs. Their response? House invasion!
AS I departed the house yesterday, I discovered and discouraged (“scoot monkey!) a monkey in the foliage outside the house. This is the closest to the residence that I’ve ever encountered a monkey. I pulled the burglar guards closed and departed.
Three hours later, my return was met with an excited domestic worker who reported monkeys had invaded the house and eaten my paw paws (“papayas”). Paw paws do have a wonderful aroma and it’s likely that aroma attracted the hungry beasts. They’d entered through the burglar guards, pounced on the fruit, then made themselves comfortable on my large worktable and proceeded to eat the fruit.
By the time, I returned home, Martha (domestic worker) had cleaned up behind the monkeys. I can only imagine the mess that she’d faced. Thank you, Martha. 

From now on out we will keep both the burglar guards and the French doors shut.

It’s his nucleus accumbens and dorsal striatum!

It’s his nucleus accumbens and dorsal striatum!

Madam & Eve, courtesy of
South African cartoonists Steven Francis and Rico 

***

James Kimmel, Jr., researcher on violence, discovered that “your brain on grievance looks a lot like your brain on drugs.”
In fact, brain imaging studies show that harboring a grievance (a perceived wrong or injustice, real or imagined) activates the same neural reward circuitry as narcotics.” Kimmel relates his findings in relation to Donald Trump:

Scientists [find] that in substance addiction, environmental cues such as being in a place where drugs are taken or meeting another person who takes drugs cause sharp surges of dopamine in crucial reward and habit regions of the brain, specifically, the nucleus accumbens and dorsal striatum. This triggers cravings in anticipation of experiencing pleasure and relief through intoxication. Recent studies show that cues such as experiencing or being reminded of a perceived wrong or injustice — a grievance — activate these same reward and habit regions of the brain, triggering cravings in anticipation of experiencing pleasure and relief through retaliation. To be clear, the retaliation doesn’t need to be physically violent—an unkind word, or tweet, can also be very gratifying.
Although these are new findings and the research in this area is not yet settled, what this suggests is that similar to the way people become addicted to drugs or gambling, people may also become addicted to seeking retribution against their enemies — revenge addiction. This may help explain why some people just can’t let go of their grievances long after others feel they should have moved on—and why some people resort to violence.
It’s worth asking whether this helps explain Trump’s fixation on his grievances and ways of exacting retribution for them. The hallmark of addiction is compulsive behavior despite harmful consequences. Trump’s unrelenting efforts to retaliate against those he believes have treated him unjustly (including, now, American voters) appear to be compulsive and uncontrollable. The harm this causes to himself and others is obvious but seems to have no deterrent effect. Reports suggest he has been doing this for much of his life. He seems powerless to stop. He also seems to derive a great deal of pleasure from it.

Hmmm. Explains a lot…except how to manage it.
Alas, the recent election as “intervention” appears to have upped Trump’s pleasure in wreaking revenge.
Read, “What the Science of Addiction Tells Us About Trump“  >> 

News blues…

South Africans are hosting a new variant of coronavirus, with “three mutations, which is an unusually high number for a new variant, and can bind more easily to receptors in the human body.” This. according to health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize, speaking at a briefing alongside top scientists including Prof Salim Abdool Karim and Prof Tulio de Oliveira.
This “new highly transmissible variant is circulating widely — but it is not clear yet whether it is more severe than the original variants. Nevertheless, it has become the dominant one in the country's second coronavirus wave, and is “making young and previously healthy people severely ill”. 

Healthy planet, anyone?

Mixed results of the pandemic. It cuts funding and volunteer numbers, rises awareness, and results in more people are rescuing more injured animals – and overwhelms systems. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

A good time is planned for all!
My mother will enjoy Christmas Day with my brother and his family. The Dog will enjoy Christmas Day at this house – her previous home.
I hope we can load The Dog (and the mother?) back into the car when it’s time to return them to the Care Center.
I expect my mother’s surging determination to escape the Care Center will be tempered by reality after she visits my brother and his family in their small house. Not only is the house small, the two bedrooms already are inhabited by my brother’s wife’s adult sons and an eight-year-old grandson – and a puppy. Imagine my mother and The Dog squeezed in there! (One hour, max, before mayhem breaks out!)

“Whole-of-America approach”

News blues…

We start a new week – in South Africa lockdown weeks begin on Fridays – with the US experiencing “roughly one coronavirus-related death every 27 seconds.” This, after, Mike Pence, US vice president and chair of the Coronavirus Task Force wrote a summer Op Ed for the Wall Street Journal:

The media has tried to scare the American people every step of the way, and predictions of a second wave are no different. The truth is, whatever the media says, our whole-of-America approach has been a success.
We’ve slowed the spread, we’ve cared for the most vulnerable, we’ve saved lives, we’ve created a solid foundation for whatever challenges we may face in the future.

A lot can happen between now and 20 January, 2021 when Trump et al, depart the White House and escape responsibility for the botched systems we know they're leaving behind (most recently, knee-capping the CDC; a massive breech of national security data . These are some of what we know. What don't we know about yet?)

***

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, stricken with Covid at the White House, retracts his anti-mask advice and urges Americans to wear masks: “I was wrong!”  (1:00 mins)

***

Meanwhile, California nears zero capacity in its intensive care units as COVID-19 cases continue to surge. As of Thursday morning, there was just 3% ICU capacity statewide, the California Department of Public Health revealed on its statewide metrics database. 

***

In South Africa, 24,000 have now died from Covid-19, with 9,100 new cases in 24 hours.

Healthy planet, anyone?

There’s a tendency for (some) humans to believe that if we just left alone the “natural” world, it would “fix” itself. The problem of “just letting nature get on with” and returning it to its pristine roots? There is no such thing as “pristine roots.” The natural world is in a state of ongoing unfolding. (You know, kind of like you are in a state of ongoing unfolding, too….

…the problem with “just letting nature get on with it” is twofold: first, ecological succession takes a long time. And second, [countries and] Britain now contains so many invasive plant and animal species that we may never get the resulting forests we hope for through a policy of benign neglect. In other words, some management will always be required…
If we want to maximise biodiversity in our wild spaces, we need to consider what grows there, and what food webs and habitats are built and supported. There is no guarantee that nature, unassisted, will arrive at a desired outcome.

Read “Letters: Restoring forests needs both nature and nurture” >> 

An excellent read for a challenging view of nature and nurture is Charles Mann’s 2005 book 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Out walking Jessica (the dog) yesterday, I spotted a legavan/ legawaan/rock monitor lizard.

It ran from the Care Center parking lot into the reeds lining the shore of nearby Robin Pond.
Jessica, luckily, did not spot it. Had she spotted it, it’s likely she’d chase after it, barking. Barking is a no no at the Care Center. Chasing critters and barking is a double whammy no no. Last week, she barked and chased a warthog family – with an audience of lawn bowlers and the driver of a vehicle that stopped just before it struck the belligerent dog.
Yes, I am supposed to leash the dog and I do if people are around. She caught me off guard that time as we were heading back home, and I was not vigilant.
Moreover, softy me sometimes allows her off leash so she can sniff at leisure and roll (“roly poly”) on the grass. She is, after all, confined to the Care Center. She doesn’t get out much, and rarely has a chance to bark at anything, never mind critters as deserving (in her mind) of a good bark as a warthog family.
The Care Center inhabitant of the Care Center I’m most concerned about is, of course, Mother Dearest. She’s maintaining her complain-a-thon: she hates the place, she’ll call her lawyer to get her out (he can’t), when will her grandson rescue her (he won’t), and where are her peas (in the fridge outside her door).
Yesterday, I responded to her with a human version of a dog’s bark: “The country – the world – is in lockdown. You’d be well advised to take it day-by-day for the next several weeks. Change the channel in your mind to find something nurturing for yourself because no one is going anywhere while the pandemic rages. With 75 million people infected around the world, and 7 to 10 thousand South Africans infected per day, no one, not even Jesus, will move you anywhere right now.
Like Jessica, if pressed, my bark is worse than my bite.

What can go wrong…

Worldwide (Map) 
December 17 – 73,557,500 confirmed infections; 1,637,100 deaths
November 19 – 56,188,000 confirmed infections; 1,348,600 deaths
October 22 – 41,150,000 confirmed infections; 1,130.410 deaths

US (Map)
December 17 – 16,724,775 confirmed infections; 303,900 deaths
November 19 – 11,525,600 confirmed infections; 250,485 deaths
October 22 – 8,333,595 confirmed infections; 222,100 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal)
December 17 – 873,680 confirmed infections; 23,665 deaths
November 19 – 757,145 confirmed infections; 20,556 deaths
October 22 – 708,360 confirmed infections; 18,750 deaths

News blues…

What can go wrong, will go wrong… On the eve of delivering thousands of vaccines into thousands of willing arms, a major storm threatens:

…shipments of the vital coronavirus vaccine around the US face delay as a monster winter storm pummels states from Virginia to Massachusetts.
Treacherous weather could bury parts of the eastern US in snow, ice or flooding and cause power outages, hazardous travel conditions, or even tornadoes on Wednesday and Thursday, according to the National Weather Service, threatening all forms of transportation being used by the vaccine manufacturing facilities, centered in Michigan, as they fly and truck vials around the country.
The storm, which is set to be a record for December and hit a region stretching from Virginia to north of New York City by late afternoon on Wednesday, was poised to drop as much as 2ft (0.6 meters) of snow in some places by Thursday.

Gosh, maybe the conspiracy theorists (aka “whackjobs”) are 100 percent correct and there is a giant, organized, worldwide cabal of Never Trumpers, socialists, communists, Democrats, God and gods, freedom-haters “out there” looking to “do us harm” ….
Could it be?

***

A notice from my island hometown, Alameda, in San Francisco Bay:

Stay at Home Order Extended to January 7th; No New Changes to Permitted Activities
The State announced today that the availability of intensive care unit (ICU) beds has fallen below 15 percent in the Bay Area Region. This means that the Stay at Home restrictions adopted by Alameda County and seven other Bay Area jurisdictions earlier this month remain in effect for the entire Bay Area region for a minimum of three weeks, starting today. Because Alameda County’s restrictions already match the State’s restrictions, there are no additional changes to permitted activities at this time.
After the minimum three weeks (January 7, 2021), the State’s order could be lifted once the region’s projected ICU capacity meets or exceeds 15 percent. As with local Health Officer orders, easing of restrictions will also depend on local disease conditions.

***

The Lincoln Project: Never happens here  (1:35 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone? 

One of the pleasure of KZN this time of year – the rainy season – is lying in bed at night listening to frogs sing for a mate. The cacophony is extraordinary. During my next trip here, I plan to bring my recording equipment to capture the amazing variety of frog calls.
In other parts of the world, France, for example, live, breathing, singing frogs are fatally unwelcome:

The French courts have had their final word: Grignols’ grenouilles (frogs) must go.
The frogs of a Dordogne village have been served notice after a judge decided they make so much noise during the mating season that they are a nuisance to the neighbours.
After nine years of legal battles, Michel and Annie Pécheras have been told they have 90 days to drain the 300 sq-metre pond at their home in the village of Grignols: population 587, and get rid of the amphibians. 

A 300 sq-metre pond is home to many, many frogs. 

Has any thought been given to what happens to a 300 sq-metre pond sans grenouilles?

I imagine not. Why think ahead? Why think beyond immediate needs and desires? Why think “big picture”? 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Grrrr. Care Center Mother! 

Each week the Care Center provides residents an opportunity to order whatever “extras” they want from the local grocery store. Care Center staff track orders and deliver items to residents. My mother, however, prefers to phone Martha, her former domestic worker still resident in this house, and order up dog food that I carry to the Care Center. Now, Mother Dearest orders Martha to cook her own food, too. (Naturally, my mother calls Martha directly as she – mother – knows I’d put the kabosh on the order. This puts Martha in a tough spot: she’s officially my mother’s domestic worker but reliant on my to carry the order to the Care Center.)
Ironically, when my mother lived in this house, she ate only Jungle Oats cereal and three Romany Cream biscuits accompanying each of her dozen or more cups of Rooibos tea each day. We’d begged her to eat the occasional serving of over-cooked vegetables. She did so reluctantly.
The Care Center serves breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and yet more tea. Alas, according to my mother, the Care Center’s food is “awful,” the “vegetables hard” - “no peas!” – and the tea supply insufficient.
In the past, along with dog food – specialty giblets, chicken livers, and rice – and dog biscuits – “the dogs only like Beenos and Montego” – I’ve also carried gem squash to my mother. I brought a package of four as she intended, she said, to microwave one a day. A week after I delivered them, four gem squash remained in the unopened package. My enquiring as to why she’d not cooked them elicited a plaintive, “I have no knife.” Eventually, I asked a care giver to cook her gem squash. Delivery of the cooked vegetable was met with yet another complaint: “It was too stringy.”
Carrying dog food up to the Care Center every two or three days has been a chore. Ditto carrying dog biscuits up the Care Center every two or three weeks – with another delivery due today.
I can’t tell, yet, whether my mother is conducting an ongoing low intensity war of attrition with the outcome her victorious ejection from the Care Center or whether dementia is kicking in faster than predicted. Meanwhile, Martha will semi-comply with her order. I’ll take the flak for Martha not exactly following orders. I’ll carry a small container of frozen peas – uncooked, no gravy – and deliver it, along with a box of Beenos and Montego dog biscuits.
I’m almost thankful that the Care Center locked down to visitors. It allows me an (almost) clear conscience when, masked as usual, I deliver these items to my mother through her window….

***

On the public holiday Day of Reconciliation an Eskom contractor called, seeking permission to enter this property.
Background: Eskom, SA’s national supplier of electricity, brutally prunes trees that touch overhead electrical cable. Last year, they massacred two beautifully mature swamp cypress, leaving only the main trunks; branch and pruning debris remains as litter blocking the free flow of water in the stream.
Accordingly, I’m reluctant to allow them into the garden for a repeat performance.
I was away from the property when the Eskom contractor called. We agreed he and his team would come at noon – “12 o’clock today” – and I’d be back home to allow them entrance. (My hesitation: why are they working on a public holiday? Could this be a scam to gain entrance into the property and rob? At this time of year, warnings about such home invasion robberies proliferate.) I was home at the agreed upon time.
Eskom failed to arrive at noon, or even 1pm or 2pm or 3pm….
Long story short: Eskom never arrived at all. At midnight, I noticed a SMS/text msg: “It seams as if I can’t make it in an hour time, too much work….” Hmmmm.
Correction: I was wrong. Eskom’s representative, Zephraim just showed up. (He introduced himself along with, “If you read the Bible, you’ll see Zephraim and words about Babylon.” How can I resist?)
Zephraim will bring his crew to cut. 

I’ll be out for most of the day.
What will I return to?
If only Zephraim of Babylon had a passage in the Bible about respecting all God’s living work on planet earth!