More of the same

Worldwide (Map) 
March 10, 2022 - 449,958,700 confirmed infections; 6,016,600 deaths
March 11, 2021 – 117, 645,000 confirmed infections; 2,612,000 deaths

US (Map) 
March 10, 2022 – 79,369,500 confirmed infections; 961,950 deaths
March 11, 2021 - 29,222,420 confirmed infections; 529,884 deaths
Amazingly, the 1 million death toll predicted two weeks ago is still in our future in the US. Or not. Perhaps Covid-19 deaths will cease and we’ll never reach that dire statistic. Here’s hoping.

SA (Coronavirus portal) 
March 10, 2022 - 3,686,560 confirmed infections; 99,625 deaths
March 11, 2021 – 1.522,700 confirmed infections; 50,910 deaths.

Blog post from March 11, 2021: “Load shedding, reprise” >>  

Ironically, load shedding continues. We are without electricity for three 2.5-hour stints each day. 

News blues

As South Africa heads towards the dreaded 100,000 Covid-19 deaths toll, Ministerial Advisory Committee and director of CAPRISA, Salim Abdool Karim reviews the last two years of Covid-19 and its successes in South Africa.  (8:19 mins)

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The US CDC says 90 percent of people no longer need masks. Experts who've been very careful thus far are starting to shift their approaches — but just a little >> 

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On War: “Ukraine: Mother of Russian soldier asks, 'Whose door should I knock on to get my child back?' >> 

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The Lincoln Project: Last Week in the Republican Party (March 8)  (1:35 mins)
The Lincoln Project Re-airs President Biden's Remarks on Ukraine  (12:38 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Described by the head of the UN Environment Programme as the most important multilateral environmental deal  since the Paris agreement in 2015, the new legally binding treaty world leaders recently agreed upon covers the full lifecycle of plastics from production to disposal. This could provide an essential tool to hold governments and companies accountable for their environmental impacts.
Read more >> 

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For Svitlana Krakovska, Ukraine’s leading climate scientist, it was meant to be the week where eight years of work culminated in a landmark UN report exposing the havoc the climate crisis is causing the world. But then the bombs started to crunch into Kyiv.
Krakovska, the head of a delegation of 11 Ukrainian scientists, struggled to help finalize the vast Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report ahead of its release on 28 February even as Russian forces launched their invasion. “I told colleagues that as long as we have the internet and no bombs over our heads we will continue,” she said.

Read “‘This is a fossil fuel war’: Ukraine’s top climate scientist speaks out” 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

In drought-ridden California, I adore the sound of rain. In waterlogged KZN, I dread the same sound.
A little more than one year ago, I shared the most recent information about KZN’s Dept of Transportation’s (DOT) lack of effective maintenance of culverts  adjacent to my mother’s property. Requesting maintenance has been an ongoing project over several years.
It’s not that DOT is unresponsive. Bulldozers and diggers show up, but these are the wrong tools for the job. What is required? Strong people wielding shovels. Here, as in many places, manual labor is considered less sexy than driving a diesel-powered bulldozer.

Blocked culverts back in April 2019

One of two culverts, this one totally blocked - April 2019

March 9, 2022 - now not only utterly blocked, also invisible.
Is this is how ancient cities "disappeared"?

With the unprecedented amounts of rain, my late mother’s garden is ankle-deep in water due to barely functioning culverts designed to drain water from the stream, under the roadway, eventually reaching Howick Falls. One is entirely blocked and covered with vegetation and debris. (Watching this occur over the past 6 years presents insight into how whole cities of the ancient world disappeared until intrepid archaeologists dug them out. Hmmm, maybe I need intrepid archaeologists on this job?)

Last night’s pouring rain had me frantically messaging our local councilperson – again.

I’m tempted to implement Plan B: appeal through humiliation. Write an article for the local weekly print paper explaining the issue then beg readers and local residents each to contribute R5,00 into a fund geared toward paying a non-governmental team of workers to work on public projects. Donations should be deducted from residents’ monthly rates (“property tax”) bill. 

This approach shares the burden of “fighting city hall” among members of the community rather than burdening one person with blowback.
Come to think of it, We the People could adopt the same strategies for other areas where the municipality fails to use residents’ property taxes for residents and public areas (potholes, storm drains, broken signage, dangerous roadways, severely cracked bridges and overpasses…).

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Been working my half hour stint weeding the pond when it is not too rainy or too hot. Each day the pile of pond debris on the pond banks gets a little higher and the pond a little freer.

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Hello, darkness, my old friend…. Escom (SA’s parastatal Electrical Supply Commission) began, again, depriving the citizenry of electricity. This area is at Stage 4, meaning our electricity goes down three times per day - from 6:00 am to 8:30am, 2:00pm to 4:30pm, and from 10pm to 12:30pm. 

Oh, and the price of electricity hikes up at least 10 percent each year.

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Three days to US daylight saving time.
San Francisco Bay Area
Sunrise: 6:27am
Sunset: 6:11pm

KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 5:56am
Sunset: 6:21pm

Relief!

After a week without Internet, I’m back in business. What a relief!
What hasn’t changed is the trend for Covid-19 infections and deaths that continue to climb.
Worldwide (Map) 
August 27 – 24,206,820 confirmed infections; 826,59 deaths
August 20 – 22,174,000 confirmed infections; 782,000 deaths
August 13 – 20,621,000 confirmed infections; 749,400 deaths
US (Map)
August 27 – 5,824,200 confirmed infections; 179,756 deaths
August 20 - 5,500,000 confirmed infections; 171,850 deaths
August 13 - 5,198,000 confirmed infections; 166,050 deaths
SA (Coronavirus portal)

August 27 – 615,700 confirmed infections; 13,502 deaths
August 20 – 592,150 confirmed infections 12,265 deaths
August 13 – 569,000 confirmed infections 11,010 deaths

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What else is new on the Covid-19 front?

South Africa’s chief Covid-19 scientist, Professor Salim Abdool Karim has confirmed that Covid-19 reinfections can occur within months.  “There is now clear evidence of two separate viral infections [in a single person],” he said as the news emerged from Hong Kong on 25 August. In July 2020, news reports suggested a case of reinfection in South Africa, but this was not confirmed by research.
After travelling to Spain, the Hong Kong resident contracted a second viral strain 4.5 months after first being diagnosed with Covid-19. “Antibody responses can decline and reinfections can occur,” said Abdool Karim in a briefing with doctors on Monday night.

Be careful out there….

News blues…

Hurricane Laura passed by Houston, Texas but it’s on track to wreak storm surge damage 30 miles inland of Texas and Louisiana. Up to 10,000 people evacuated in east Texas. They can now return home.
What's more, my family on the Gulf Coast near Houston is safe, too.

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Friends in parts of California say smoke pollution has decreased from the records set earlier in the week. Fires, however, continue unabated.
According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, more than 1.1 million acres have been destroyed – with total acreage burned larger than the state of Rhode Island. California is also experiencing two of the three largest fires in its history. 

Cal Fires map 

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The Lincoln Project: 
Adultery  (1.00 mins)
Daughters  (1:00 mins)
VoteVets - A Real Commander-in-Chief  (1:17 mins)
Country First  (0:55 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

In June I planted seeds with the goal of getting a head start on a veggie garden. All winter, I babied the seeds, nurtured them, talked to them as they sprouted.
They did so well that, over the weekend, I transplanted snap peas, pole beans, zucchini, and onions seedlings from the cold frame into what I’d hoped was a monkey-free section of the garden. That is, not in the area dedicated to veggies, but amid flowers, shrubs, and indigenous plants. This, to hide them from monkeys and prevent damage.
Alas, today, monkeys uncovered my attempts to disguise. They pulled out snap peas and pole beans seedlings. I’ve attempted to replant, but I fear the seedlings will not recover.

Additionally, a dog dug up succulents I’d nurtured in pots since autumn. Back then, they were mere leaves or stem cuttings that I hoped would germinate. They did. Until today.
Succulents are hardier than veggies; perhaps there’s hope. 

It’s also true that, as I’ve worked towards moving my mother – and one dog - into a retirement care center and taken steps to sell this house, my relationship with the garden has morphed.
I love gardening. Living on a houseboat presents limited opportunities to garden.
While in South Africa, I take full advantage of the garden.
This year, as I created a cold frame, used it to germinate seedlings, prepared the garden for winter, I’ve known I’d likely not benefit from my efforts. 

Since I’ve never sold property in South Africa, I’ve discussed how to do so with the lawyer. I seek a realtor referred by the lawyer to smooth the process.
Simultaneously, I’m in two minds about garden mishaps with monkeys and dogs. One part of me is frustrated at ongoing damage. Another part tries to shrug it off. After all, the new owners may not even appreciate vegetable gardens… goldfish in ponds, succulents…
Nevertheless, I’d like to hand over a healthy garden, one the new owners will enjoy for years to come.

Monkeys stymie that effort.