Slowly, slowly

News blues

Almost 5 million people in the UK are now believed to have Covid-19 ... an all-time high figure for the disease which first struck the nation two years ago. Hospital admissions and deaths are also rising but not nearly so sharply... 
This sharp jump in case numbers is being driven by the virus variant BA.2 which is even more transmissible than the original Omicron version that swept the UK at the beginning of the year.
The latest wave comes just as the government has ended free testing for the virus and as the nation prepares to enjoy its Easter holidays. This prospect raises the fear that further increases in case numbers, followed by rises in hospital admissions and deaths, could afflict the UK.
But as other researchers have pointed out, spring has arrived and warmer weather will allow more and more people to mix out of doors where they are less likely to infect each other. The outcome is unclear, in short.

Read more >> 

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The Lincoln Project:
MAGAmadness  (2:13 mins)
Compromised  (1:12 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

From Instagram, info on UNEA plastics treaty  and greenpeaceafrica

Almost 80,000 tonnes of plastic leak into the oceans and rivers of South Africa each year, making up 3% of the plastic waste generated annually in the country. About 2.4 million tonnes of plastic waste is generated in South Africa each year. From that, 70% is collected, but just 14% of it (including imported waste) is recycled.
…
In October last year, eco-volunteers from the Strandloper Project embarked on an expedition to collect data about the types and origins of plastic pollution along the southern shoreline of South Africa. 

Read “Strangling the ocean: Volunteers are trawling the South African coastline to find out where all the plastic pollution is coming from” >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

This house is a hive of activity. Electrician still figuring out the spaghetti of aged and aging wires cluttering up the system, but he’s making progress. The tenant/caretaker and his young crew mowed two sections of lawn yesterday … before discovering one mower is leaking oil due to a crack and the other mower has a bearing problem.
I finished the first round of settling into the new office. The floor is unfinished – that must wait for now – but the desk is “good enough”, three lamps installed on the desktop (I take pleasure in “re-modeling” lamps and creating one-of-a-kind lampshades) and the expandable worktable is ready to work.
Martha swept and tidied the garage.
The newly resident kids – 8 and 10 years old – tested the swimming pool and found it suited their needs. Yay! Lovely to see people using the pool.
Alas, it rained heavily last night, second night of such rain after dark. I’ll have to check the culverts again today. Yesterday’s check was alarming…

Still no word on when the culvert crew from municipality will be back.
Time to begin another campaign of harassment to get them to finish the job – now six, going on seven years. Easier to work on improving my harassment skills. To date, the harassment skills have proved exceptionally ineffective.

Since the backhoe driver removed trees and plants holding back silt,
exposed silt is pouring into culvert area from both sides.

That silt in middle ground did not exist this time last year.
It's a product of plant removal, more rain,
and inability to foresee the likely result of tree and plant removal.

The second, totally blocked culvert, exposed....At least on the south side of the road.
On the north side of the road, 20 feet away, there's no indication at all that a culvert exists.
The culvert is entirely hidden by debris and vegetation.

Backhoe created a perfect conduit for silt and debris to slip into culvert area.

Close up of above silt-into-culvert path.

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KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:11am
Sunset: 5:53pm

San Francisco Bay Area
Sunrise: 6:51am
Sunset: 7:33pm