Second thoughts

News blues

Covid-19 case counts are falling in the United States and many parts of the country are starting to relax.
Cities like Washington, DC, and New York are lifting vaccine mandates for many public indoor spaces. National public health officials are easing up, too. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now advises that communities with low levels of transmission can forgo universal masking. As spring draws near, is it finally time to feel hopeful? Is it possible the worst of the pandemic is behind us?

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But… even as the global number of new cases and deaths continued downward, falling by 16 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively in the week ending last Sunday, compared to the previous week, scientists caution that the end of the Omicron surge is not the end of the pandemic, but more like the plateau experienced between previous waves over the past two years.

As immunity wanes, and another variant emerges at some point, the population could again be susceptible to mass infections….
Epidemiologist Adam Kucharski, an associate professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said it was hard to predict how long it may take for the next troublesome variant to emerge, but he pointed to similar plateaus experienced between the Alpha and Delta variants.
“Many countries with declining cases are likely to be in a ‘honeymoon period’ of lower transmission, especially if much of the reduction in transmission has come from vaccines, which can wane quickly in terms of protection against Omicron infection.”

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Meidas Touch Little girl sings “Let it Go” in bomb shelter in Ukraine  (1:35 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

A new climate movement to persuade and support relatively well-off people to make “The Jump” and sign up to the six pledges. 

(With my current “lifestyle” of traveling to/from South Africa once a year, I already contravene one of the six pledges. Maybe my rare forays into stores to shop and/or buy “new clothing” balances out my travel climate bill? Enquiring minds wanna know….)

Our world in photos >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Garden pond: from pondering to foraying. I deemed too expensive the only quote I’d been given to clear the garden pond of over-growth. Overly ambitious, I took on the project, pledging to spend half- to one-hour per day ridding the waterway of its overgrown (“alien”) lilies and water grass. So far, so good.

Current pile of removed pond weed.
This stuff is heavy when wet. 

Still got to weed out all the remaining weeds seen here, plus a greater amount
of lilies growing densely on the other side of the pond.
Biting off more than I can chew?
Hmmmm. You think?

Alas, looking at these photos, I realize I’m working hard yet making little headway.
Either half- to one-hour per day is insufficient and I must up my game or I must bite the bullet and engage an actual pond landscaper to complete the work.
Moreover, the sun at 8:30am today is already too hot and intense to don waders and carry out my scheduled 30 mins. 

Or not. 

Maybe I'll head there after I post this.

Or not. 

Moreover, my stash of band-aids ("plasters") was in my wallet... stolen in Johannesburg airport the day I arrived. What do band-aids have to do with pond weeding? Well, the gumboots attached to my waders rub the skin off my ankles while I work in the pond. My socks are inadequate to protect my sensitive ankles from further irritation. I need to purchase more band-aids.

Hmmmm. 

Lack of band-aids might be today's perfectly logical reason to delay today's pond foray.