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

***

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.

*** 

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 

*** 

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. 

G&T

Yet another day with no Internet connection at the house.
I visited a local café and, for the price of one decaf latte and one toasted cheese muffin, I caught up on online business, posted on this blog, dabbled in the news – until my laptop battery ran low and Eskom began a 2.5 hour session of load shedding.

News blues…

The Republican National Convention. What to say? My brief glimpse into goings-on suggests a marathon Revision-of-History. Three days to reversion events of the last three and a half years, pit reality against Trump fantasy, wrap lies up in the Stars and Stripes, and hope The Base doesn’t notice and votes for him anyway.

*** 

Fox News refuses to show a 30-second ad by the American Federation of Teachers union, “Enough is Enough” declaring it “inaccurate.”

AFT slams Trump and Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell for what the union says is failure to provide adequate personal protective equipment to educators and plan for a safe return to public schools during the coronavirus outbreak. “Enough is Enough, this November say ‘no’ to Trump and McConnell’s chaos. 

*** 

The Lincoln Project:

The Wall  (0:55 mins) 

Evil  (0:55 mins) 

Comedienne Sarah Cooper riffs on Trump at DNC (1.20 mins) 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Unlike some US states, liberal California allows grocery stores to sell limited selections of wine and liquor. Liquor laws, however, differ from state to state. 

In Texas, for example, sales of beer are permitted between 7am and midnight on all days except Sunday; Sunday sales are permitted between midnight and 1am and between 12pm and midnight (excepting certain sales of beer with food). 

In the so called “dry” states - Kansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee — entirely dry by default - counties specifically must authorize the sale of alcohol in order for it to be legal and subject to state liquor control laws. Alabama specifically allows cities and counties to elect to go dry by public referendum. Other states permit sales by country, that is, some counties are “dry”, others not. 

Complicated. 

Apart from the ban on alcohol due to Covid, in KZN alcohol beverages are not sold in grocery stores but in specialized “bottle stores” or “off sales.”
I’m not interested enough in alcohol to visit a bottle store regularly to purchase alcohol, and it’s been six months or more since I’ve had wine, beer, cocktail, or a mixed drink.
Today, grocery shopping at a small mall, I noticed a bottle store and, out of nowhere, longed to taste a margarita, frozen. I entered the store – masked, of course – offered my hands for the doorperson to spritz, then scanned the shelves.
The tequila section comprised 3 unknown brands, all 2 liter size, priced around R200 per bottle. Cheap for booze in comparison to US prices, but more than I wanted to pay. No tequila offered in smaller bottles, and my dreams of a margarita dashed.
“What about a smaller size bottle of gin, say Tanqueray gin?” I asked. 

No Tanqueray in small bottles either.

Instead, the salesclerk displayed a packaged set of three small bottles (twice the size of airplane offerings) labeled, “Bloedlemoen” – blood orange; a “special” price of R49.99 (US$2.95).
Gin and tonic sounded delicious.
I paid, asked her to remove the packaging, and stuffed 3 small bottles of Bloedlemoen gin into my backpack. 

Limes, I knew, awaited me in the ‘fridge back at home. 

Alas, it had been so long since I’d enjoyed a gin and tonic, I’d forgotten to purchase tonic water.
After a quick drive to the local grocery store, I enjoyed my first alcoholic beverage in months.
Delicious.

Complain-athon

Still no Internet.
The problem, according to the ISP host, is “weird” – accompanied by an emoji to depict puzzlement. He gave me three different log-in combinations to try; none logged me in.
No Internet connection means, 1) no convenient online payment for airtime – and that means limited or no cell phone communication. (In South Africa, one pays separately for airtime - phone, etc., - and data - Internet access, etc. I find the overlap between the two mysterious.) I could drive to the grocery store to buy airtime, but … I’m supposed to be up and running “soon” 2) no reaching out to family in California frustrated with the slow pace of my current renter’s exit. (He had committed to moving out last Sunday, but delayed – and frustrated my daughter who’d taken three days off work ”for nothing”, 3) no easy email to/from the care center my mother was supposed to move into, 4) no easy online payment to the care center to secure her room, 5) one email from the care center matron explained that, because she hadn’t heard from me, she’d given the room to another incoming resident, 6) no blog posts for 5 days blows my commitment to myself to post each day during Lockdown. (Posting provides me focus and maintains my equilibrium during this stressful time.)

News blues…

No news is good news?
I have no television and – without Internet – limited ability to follow local and international goings-on. This “enquiring mind” wants to know:
Is Donald Trump still occupying the White House?
If so, has Donald Trump blown up the US and/or the world yet?
How go his escalating efforts to maintain ego-integrity by diminishing other human beings?
How many confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the US? In South Africa? In the world? How many dead from Covid-19? How fares the race for an effective vaccine?
How fares the conspiracy-theorists’ world of whackjobbery?
How fare the fires and air quality in my adopted state, California?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

With my mother potentially losing her room at the care center due to my lack of Internet connection, today’s second item of business was to nail down that confirmation. First item of business: getting online.
The ISP host arrived at 9:30am, checked my laptop, confirmed it was disconnected. Soon, he uncovered a problem with the router…and carried that off to his office to troubleshoot. He’d call me, he said, with the diagnosis, “soon.”
Next pressing item of business: visit matron and the care center. The tone of the email I’d received from the matron was such that I’d worried all available rooms had been taken. Not so.
The matron showed me still available rooms: one looked over the inner, enclosed courtyard garden and got morning sunshine. Two looked over the parking lot and, at first glance, were, I thought, less desirable. But… the big advantage? Zebra, warthog, impala, and other animals frequented the area.
The matron pointed through the window to discrete piles of animal dung outside and said, “You see evidence of the wild animals visiting. It’s removed each day. Next day, the animals are back, grazing and pooping ….” “

Perfect. My mom will appreciate that. She’ll take this room.”
It’s not as if the room abuts the parking lot. An indigenous shade tree and a strip of indigenous plants interspersed with garden ornaments offer visual interest. Plus, the room is close to a bathroom and the kitchenette with a ‘fridge where she can store Jessica’s delicious giblet meals.
Before I departed the retirement community, I asked for – and received - permission to walk the extensive grounds. Prior to Lockdown, I’d regularly walked the g

Winter view - click to enlarge. 

rounds and swum in the community pool. 

The grounds are both safe for a solitary woman to walk and the Game Walk route winds into a lovely valley. 

Today, pressed for time, I did not take Game Walk but wandered up a hill upon which rested herd of Blesbok.

I also startled a pair of bushbuck, and enjoyed listening to and watching masked weaver birds as they built this year’s nests. 
Spring is on the way.

*** 

Blesbok - click to enlarge 

Later, the ISP host phoned to report oned to report Telkom, the national communications grid, was “experiencing an outage that no one can diagnose.” 

A parallel to Eskom’s load shedding? 
“Cry the beloved country.”

Frothing at the mouth!

No Internet connection since Thursday night! More than 96 hours!
The ISP host came by at 9:30am today, changed the password, and said I’d be up and running “soon.”
In my world, “soon” means within the hour.
In his world, it means … well, I’m not sure.
Around 3pm, I was briefly connected – then shut down again, due to – irony of ironies – a Telkom error message warning, ““your connection is not safe.” (Telkom is the national communications grid. I’d cancelled Telkom landline accounts in this household due to inefficiency and lack of customer support. Alas, my Internet account relies on Telkom. Telkom gets the last laugh.
Yet again, I contracted the ISP host. He responded, “There may be a delay. Please give it another half hour.”
Soon after, Eskom – the national electrical power grid – began load shedding; no electricity for the next 2.5 hours!
This is akin to enjoying a walk when a vehicle veers off the road, crashes into you and knocks you into a ditch, whereupon a giant bird poops on you, causes massive infection that requires amputation of one arm and two hands – and you can’t work on your laptop anymore…. At last, Internet disconnection is the least of your problems!
Is life in South Africa a prescient view of our collective future?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Yesterday, I transplanted germinated seedlings into the garden: peas and pole beans, zucchini, beets, onions, chard. Also planted another batch of seeds – along with parsley and cilantro.
I may not be in this house when the vegetables ripen, but I’ll have the joy of knowing the house’s new owners can harvest and enjoy.
That is, if the monkeys don’t get to the veggies first.

*** 

Harbingers of spring?
Thanks to Covid-19, this my first winter in KZN Africa in decades, and my first winter ever in the Midlands. I don’t know if daytime temperatures reaching into the upper 80s are usual, but I appreciate them.
Summer temperatures in the inner San Francisco Bay rarely reach the 80s. (Mark Twain said, “The coldest winter I ever spent was summer in San Francisco….”) 

Moreover, masked weaver birds gather in trees and chat vigorously, perhaps discussing pairing off and building nests.
The stream is alive with the sounds of singing insects, and the occasional chirp of frogs.
It’s dry, dry, dry with little sign of rain, yet… is that light, breeziness in the air the beginning of spring?

Lockdowner

Thirty-six-plus hours without an Internet connection and this Lockedowner has gone from stir-crazy to full-on crazy.
I could not visit the local café that provides internet connection as the café closed at 2:00pm. And its closed all day Sunday.
Not having access to the Internet – adjusting to its absence and the involuntary changes forced on my daily routine – highlight my Internet dependence… although “addiction” might be the more apt term.
Neither a cigarette smoker nor a regular imbiber of alcohol, I sympathize deeply with South Africans involuntarily forced to forgo those pleasures due to Lockdown Level 3’s nation-wide ban on alcohol and cigarettes. (The ban on both items lifted with Level 2.) 

News blues… 

According to family and friends in California, air quality degraded to numbers well-above 280, into 300 in some area, on the Air Quality Index .

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Much of what must happen over the next few weeks and months - relocate my mother, deal with the Labor Department, distribute, sell, donate furnishings, rehome dogs, sell the house, return to California - must be carefully planned.
Planning and teamwork come naturally to me; for years planning and teamwork earned me a living as a project manager in California’s high-tech industry.
Planning and teamwork does not come naturally to my mother. For decades, she was a one-woman show. She was frequently indecisive and insecure, but she ruled her roost with an iron fist.
On the micro, intra-family level, our different styles offer potential conflict and misunderstanding.
On the macro, inter-cultural level, I’m handicapped by my limited understanding of – and hair-trigger frustration with - South Africa’s bureaucracy.
Layer a pandemic and Lockdown over an already complex situation and… I quaver.
Am I up to this challenge?
Can I be kind yet forceful, master my frustration, cope with the social isolation, ignore criticism of disengaged extended family, maintain my dignity and self-respect, and demonstrate compassion?
I hope so.

un-Netted

Twenty-four-plus hours without an Internet connection makes any already-stir-crazy Lockedowner more stir-crazy.

News blues…

“I can’t breathe….” Across the United States, this infamous phrase encapsulates horror, tragedy, injustice, police brutality, and shame. It denotes the brutal police tactic of an officer of the law placing a knee upon the neck of a human being – and not infrequently, removing it only after the victim has suffocated.
“I can’t breathe” takes on a whole new, tragic meaning as California’s wider Bay Area - home to more than 7.1 million pairs of lungs - suffers an extra-ordinary fire season with some 560 fires, many the largest blazes in the state’s history.  Family and friends report difficulty breathing amid the worst smoke pollution in the state’s history.
Air quality at Concord/Walnut Creek – 25 miles inland from the bay – fluctuates above 220 on the Air Quality Index:  “unhealthy for sensitive groups.”
Does “sensitive” mean “oxygen dependent”? Is there a parallel between the brutal police tactic of placing a knee upon the neck of a human being and the brutal tactic of politicians, corporations, and governments effectively refusing to address climate change?
Given explosive fires as a symptom of climate change, is climate change inaction akin to placing a metaphoric knee on the neck of living creatures everywhere, depriving them of oxygen by ensuring a high CO2/ methane/ pollution-laded atmosphere?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I purchase a monthly data plan from a local ISP and carefully titrate my usage to ensure data lasts the entire month.
Back in February, before my life had been threatened by my mother’s domestic worker’s son, I had given – naively it turns out – both domestic workers access to the data plan. I trusted they’d use it as lightly as they did their own limited, pay-as-you-go plan: for SMS (“text”) and WhatsApp.
Alas.
The same domestic worker whose son threatened to kill me has abused this trust.
Last month, I ran out of data before the end of the month, suspected excessive data usage by others, and asked the ISP host to change my password. He didn’t respond and, fully occupied seeking a care center for my mother, I dropped the issue.
This month, as usual, I carefully logged my data usage. I was on track to run out of data on 31 August. Instead, 11 days before the end of the month, I ran out of data.
Early Friday morning, I queried the ISP host who said I’d used 4 gigs more than my plan provides. Records indicate the domestic worker has used upward of 11 gigs and shut down my account.

Already stressed by family circumstances, and Lockdown Level 2, and this isolating rural neighborhood, 11 days without Internet threatens my sanity!
I depend upon technology to 1) communicate with my American family and friends, 2) conduct online research for freelance writing, 3) stay current with world news, 4) read online magazines, 5) download library e-books, 6) break the monotony of Lockdown, and, 7) defuse the stress of dealing with my elderly mother, her two domestic workers and one gardener, large garden, and her seven pampered, poopin’ and peein’ pooches.
At least this time, I know that the lack of Internet connectivity is due to abuse, not the usual mysterious, unfathomable, illogical, overly bureaucratic South African-ism….
Despite informing the ISP host early Friday morning that my Internet was down, he waited until Saturday morning – 24 hours later - to inform me he doesn’t work weekends.
I could, he said, reconnect today – Saturday - by buying an additional plan and waiting until Monday for him to drop by and change the password.
Or, I could not reconnect until Monday when he’d drop by and change the password and I could buy an additional plan.
Neither option meets my needs - or my level of anger.
A third option? Forgo buying more data for the rest of the month. I’d take my business to a local café where Internet connection comes free with the purchase of a decaf latte (imbibed around a face mask).
This option feels as if I’m punishing myself by way of passive-aggressively punishing a lackadaisical businessperson.
Ouch!
In California, I live forty miles from Silicon Valley – the world’s center of high-tech, high-end customer service, and high-end competition between businesses to provide high-end customer service.
In rural KwaZulu Natal, I live 14,000 miles from Silicon Valley and a million miles from mediocre customer service, with no competition between businesses.
Usually, I find South Africa’s low-tech, half-assed business attitudes acceptably old-fashioned, even quaint.
Today? Not so much.
Let me say it in American: I am pissed off!
Or, more politely: I am PO’d.
I’m PO’d that I’m disconnected for days from an online world that sustains me during a difficult time.
I’m PO’d at the abuse of my Internet account by a domestic worker.
I’m PO’d that I allowed someone who has repeatedly proved herself arrogant and less than honest to use my generosity. And I’m PO’d that my mother recognizes this arrogance and dishonesty, but refuses to address it.
I’m PO’d at the ISP host’s business habits. What service business owner – less than a quarter mile away - makes a good customer (who has referred new customers) “wait until Monday”?
Today, I’ve finally reached overwhelming frustration with Lockdown.

***

Thirty-six hours after seeing her new home at the lovely community with a comfortable and welcoming care center, where semi-domesticated wild animals roam, my mother is still on track to move.
Moreover, I emailed the matron yesterday and confirmed the move-in date – September 15 - and asked to hold the smaller room for my mother. (I could not convince my mother to take the larger, more accommodating room. Ah well. I tried. Win some /lose some!). Might this “lifestyle change” actually happen?
Could I have pulled off a miracle? During a pandemic?

“What we do, echoes through generations”

Oh, how I miss Barack Obama! A man of intellect, intelligence, moral generosity, and a sense of humor. Downright presidential! Addressing the 2020 Democratic National Convention, Obama said, “What we do, echoes through generations.”
Indeed.
Watch/listen to his full speech  | NBC News (19:25 mins)

News blues…

Debris piles burn as the
LNU Lightning Complex fire
burns through the area on
Wednesday in Fairfield, California.
Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
click to enlarge.

Air Quality Index  – purple! 

Fires! 

Wildfires continue to sear through California,  forcing thousands out of their homes and taxing the state’s firefighting capacity amid a heatwave and the coronavirus pandemic. One grouping of fires – the LNU Lightning Complex north of the Bay Area – grew rapidly overnight, doubling in size to about 131,000 acres by Thursday, and burning through more than 100 homes and buildings. The fires have so far destroyed 175 structures, including homes, and are threatening 50,000 more… In all, 33 civilians and firefighters have been injured...
As the flames edged toward the Silicon Valley city of San Jose, they blackened the skies and spewed up what was perhaps some of the worst air quality in the world. Ash blanketed many Bay Area neighborhoods, and health officials asked residents to stay indoors, warning that the combination of smoky air and Covid-19 make those with respiratory conditions doubly vulnerable.
Big Basin Redwoods state park, California’s oldest state park and home of some of its majestic redwoods, sustained “extensive damage”… with several historic buildings destroyed.
About two dozen major blazes and several smaller fires have eaten through brushland and dense forests, wildlands in the Sierra Nevada, southern California, and regions north, east and south of San Francisco. Evacuated residents now number in the tens of thousands…
The coronavirus pandemic has also complicated the government’s ability to safely evacuate and shelter residents. … California has been struggling to get a handle on a recent surge in coronavirus cases, and crowded shelters could exacerbate the spread of Covid-19 among evacuees.

*** 

Not to be ageist but… something funny to lighten the mood:

How old is Biden?
Well, he is older than 94 percent of all living Americans, and older than 96 percent of all people alive on the planet, according to demographic data compiled by the United Nations.
He is already older than 27 presidents were when they died — including 14 years older than Franklin D. Roosevelt and 13 years older than Lyndon B. Johnson.
When Biden arrived in the U.S. Senate at age 30 on Jan. 3, 1973, he joined six senators who were born in the late 1800s. Of those 100 people — all of them men, and only one not white — he is one of just 13 who are still alive today. Read, “Joe Biden: An old man trying to lead a young country.”  

***

Lookit! An anomaly is today’s polarized politics: A Congress that does its job!

The Brazilian Congress has decided that the use of masks is mandatory  in closed places like commercial establishments, many workplaces, religious temples and schools. In a joint session of both houses — Senate and Deputies Chamber — the legislature overturned President Jair Bolsonaro's veto on such requirements.
In votes on Wednesday, senators and deputies also upheld the right of mayors and governors to fine those who disobeyed the requirement.
The Congress also overturned Bolsonaro's vetoes of a law that sets out the federal government's duties to protect indigenous people during the pandemic. The legislators upheld aspects of the law assuring universal access to drinkable water, emergency access to beds in hospitals, the acquisition of ventilators and the delivery of free food to indigenous people and communities of slaves' descendants.

Maybe the actions of Brazil’s Congress will rub off onto the Republican-controlled Congress of the United States?
Nah Hopeless to expect US Congressional Republicans action toward funding unemployed Americans and struggling health care workers and centers, providing affordable health care, taxing corporations, addressing long term effects of climate change….

*** 

Daily Maverick interview with journalist Andrew Harding, author of These are not gentle people 

A non-fiction crime drama that intimately explores South Africa’s divisions and questions the idea of truth in an unequal society. These Are Not Gentle People began in 2016 when Harding went to court in Parys, Free State, after a group of white farmers were charged after they caught and brutally assaulted Samuel Tjixa and Simon Jubeba, accused of attempting to rob an elderly white farmer in the area. Both men died.
Harding was immediately struck by the different versions of the story. Two black men had been accused of trying to rob a white farmer and other white farmers, who live in fear of violence, caught them and meted out punishment.

***

Sarah Cooper riffs on Trump at the 2020 Democratic National Convention  (1:15 mins) 

Really American: Rigger in Chief  (1:30 mins) ***

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

For the past six months, I’ve sought a care center that would meet the needs of my 87-year-old mother. Back in May, Lockdown prevented a planned visit to a community with grounds large enough to host wild African animals: impala, warthog, blesbok, zebra….
After Lockdown Level 2 was announced, I re-contacted the care center matron and arranged a visit. I learned from her that, if the place met my mother’s needs, she could potentially bring one of her six dogs to live there, too.
Great news!
I quickly followed up and took my mother and Jessica, her dog, for a visit.
The gods smiled upon us: we were welcomed by a herd of 7 zebras grazing on the extensive lawns. Another zebra grazed between the parking lot and the residential building. (My mother loves animals.)
Since Jessica, like all my mother’s dogs are not leash-trained, I worried Jessica might create a bad first impression. Instead, she followed us into the building and made herself at home. She met Bella, the white husky who lives, and introduced herself to residents.
I was amazed – and proud of her.
As the matron showed my mother her choice of rooms - one large (and more expensive), and two small - I watched my mother for signs of distress, or distaste, or reluctance.
Instead, she, like Jessica, was amenable to moving.
We’ve a long way to go, but we made a start.
Observation: when one is in the moment of a big and ultimately successful event, one tends not to recognize that moment until later. Today, I recognize that yesterday’s event went very well. I put a lot into it and, so far (11 hours later) it appears that it’s “all systems go!”
But…
Am I’m spinning my wheels? Will she’ll change her mind – again?
That’s my experience: my mother changing her mind, acting as if something that happened never actually happened, and recently, when stressed, saying, “Oh, I wish I could just die. That would take care of everything.”
Challenging being involved in this transition. I feel that no matter what I do, my efforts are dismissed, undermined, diminished.
As “they” say, “story of my life”. My “problem”? Being a feisty daughter in a sexist culture?
I was tempted to end this post with a trio of emojis expressing laughter, tears, and craziness.
Far better to end with an apt quote: “What we do, echoes through generations…”

Riled up!

It ain't getting better yet. 

Worldwide (map of global cases ):
August 20 – 22,425,000 confirmed infections; 788,000 deaths
August 13 – 20,621,000 confirmed infections; 749,400 deaths
August 6 – 18,753,000 confirmed infections; 706,800 deaths
United States (map of infections and rates) :
August 20 - 5,530,000 confirmed infections; 173,177 deaths
August 13 - 5,198,000 confirmed infections; 166,050 deaths
August 6 – 4,824,000 confirmed infections; 158,250 deaths
South Africa (Covid Information Portal) :
August 20 – 596,060 confirmed infections 12,423 deaths
August 13 – 569,000 confirmed infections 11,010 deaths
August 6 – 529,900 confirmed infections; 9,298 deaths

Big question: Is anyone safe from Covid-19?

To answer this, we need to look at how our immune system eliminates the virus. In itself, that reveals a hugely important positive concept: unlike some viruses that turn us into lifelong carriers (remember herpes, or HIV?), we can actually eliminate this coronavirus. For most of us it takes about two weeks. You have heard that immunology is complicated; here’s what we know so far.
Our bodies contain different types of defences, some evolved for speed, others for accuracy. Speedy defences deployed minutes after infection are part of the body’s innate immune system, and are powerful enough to control many pathogens. In researching Covid-19, scientists worried that if these were sufficient to control coronavirus, we would risk having no protection from reinfection. This is because rapid defences do not refine themselves to be more potent after the first infection, and they would be expected to mobilise in the same way when we become exposed to the same virus after recovery, suffering the same symptoms in the process. (Read the full article: “Is anyone safe…”} 

News blues…

Decades living in California and frequently puzzled by Americans’ lack of expressed anger about, say, unaffordable health care, increasingly subpar education of children and youth, laissez faire attitudes to inequitable housing, income, taxes, racial inequality, an over-reliance on military might instead of heart-felt diplomacy, and increasing numbers of homeless and vulnerable people.
If the system isn’t yet broken, it’s close to breaking point.
Then, along comes a polarizing figure like The Donald, intellectually ill-equipped to function in his role as president, and psychologically ill-equipped to squeeze out positive feelings for other humans, never mind feel anything as sophisticated as compassion.
Suddenly, far more than usual Americans are rearing up and intimating, “hell no, we’re not gonna take it anymore!”
Following the goings-on from 14,000-plus miles away, I’m enjoying the spectacle of Americans trumping Trump.
Ironic that, with notoriously low voter turnout, Americans would get riled up about Trump imperiling mail-in voting.

In the age of email, texting, Goole, Facebook, Twitter, Tik Tok...
Who’d a thunk?

Trump’s poking the post office is not the only thing bugging Americans. Disputes about wearing/ not wearing masks, social distancing or not, staying home or going to the beach, pale in comparison to plain old embarrassment.

Nearly 7 in 10 Americans say the US response to the coronavirus outbreak makes them feel embarrassed, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS, as 62% of the public says President Donald Trump could be doing more to fight the outbreak.
The new poll  finds disapproval of Trump's handling of the outbreak at a new high, 58%, as the share who say the worst of the pandemic is yet to come has risen to 55% after dropping through the spring. And as the virus has spread from the nation's cities throughout its countryside, the number who know someone who's been diagnosed with the virus has jumped dramatically to 67%, up from 40% in early June.
And Americans are angry. About 8 in 10 say they are at least somewhat angry about the way things are going in the country today, including an astonishing 51% who say they are very angry.

***

The Lincoln Project: America  (0:55 mins)
Hasta La Vista:
English version  (1:17 mins)
Spanish version  (1:25 mins)
Care  (0.56 mins)
Meidas Touch: Trump’s Course: Driving Us in the Wrong Direction (0.25 mins)

***

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Tuesday night, temperatures dropped below zero and thick ice remained in the watering can at 10am. After opening the cold-frame, I noticed a pole bean seedling and a couple of zucchini seedlings looked … parched. Took a moment to understand they’d likely been damaged by low temperatures. Perhaps a cold draft flowed into the cold-frame?
The good news is that spring is on the way! Temperatures will still fluctuate, but sunrise and sunset times indicate spring is on the way:
Aug 6 : sunrise: 6:37am; sunset: 5:29 pm
Aug 20 : sunrise: 6:24am; sunset: 5:37 pm

*** 

The US Embassy in Pretoria published a long list of upcoming repatriation flights. As of 21 August, and almost every day after that through August and into September, KLM, Turkish, Emirates, Ethiopia, and Qatar airlines will ferry Americans back to America. Interested? Contact Johannesburgacsmessage@state.gov or book tickets directly with airlines, as follows:

• Ethiopian Airlines: SouthAfricaSalesTeam@ethiopianairlines.com
• Lufthansa: Jnbmarketing@dlh.de
• Emirates: Emirates Johannesburg office, eksa@emirates.com and completing a required booking form
• Turkish Airlines: cptmarketing@thy.com
• KLM by contacting:
    o Website: You can book your ticket through KLM’s website www.klm.co.za by searching for a one-way trip and specific date. The calendar view will not display them. Please book only for the flights on these dates.
    o Call centre: KLM sales and Service Centre can be contacted to book a flight, via phone: +27 (0)10 205 0100 or +27(0)10 205 0101, daily between 09:00 –16:00. Payment can only be made with credit card. If you have an existing booking with Air France or KLM you can use it to (partially) pay for this flight.
    o Additional Information: During the booking process a link will be given to fill in a web form. You need to fill in the form for each passenger in your reservation. It is mandatory to fill in this web form. In case you missed the link in your booking process, you can find it here: https://www.klm.com/travel/za_en/customer_support/repatriation_flights.htm.
• Air France: the same KLM information above.
• Qatar Airways: for reservations visit www.qatarairways.com/WeWillGetYouHome and use promo code PR_CR981 or call +27 11 267 7700.

I will remain here for the foreseeable future. Lots to do: move my elderly mother and one large dog to move into a local care center, other dogs to rehome, domestic workers to “retrench,” and a large house to spruce up for sale.
The sooner I get started, the sooner I can high-tail it back to houseboat-living….

What goes around...

I was tempted to title today’s post, “The arc of justice”, but the popular version of that quote is not the original version. The rhetorical version popularized by Martin Luther King then Barack Obama, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,” is elegant yet paraphrases the original …

portion of a sermon delivered in 1853 by the abolitionist minister Theodore Parker.  Born in Lexington, Massachusetts, in 1810, Parker studied at Harvard Divinity School and eventually became an influential transcendentalist and minister in the Unitarian church. In that sermon, Parker said: “I do not pretend to understand the moral universe. The arc is a long one. My eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by experience of sight. I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice.”

A downhome version might be, “What goes around, comes around,” or “The chickens come home to roost.”
As Donald Trump’s presidency flails, and Republicans flee his sinking ship, those of us who’ve watched askance, may feel the blossoming of hope. 

Finally! Finally, Trump’s criminality is catching up with him and his enablers. 

News blues…

Mueller Prosecutor Calls Senate Intel’s Report On Russian Interference ‘A Remarkable Document’  (7:15 mins)

“There clearly was Russian interference in the [2016] election … to help Donald Trump – and it was amply justified to undertake the investigation [despite] AG Barr arguing the opposite. Both Republicans and Democrats agree Paul Manafort was a grave, counterintelligence risk….

Living in both South Africa and California over the last few years, I’ve been astonished at South Africans’ views of Trump as “a successful businessman,” a “Christian,” someone “we” can trust.
South Africans viewing Trump through the lens of politics reiterated versions of “trust a businessman, not a politician, to fix politics….”
South Africans viewing Trump through the lens of Christianity have maintained, if not solidified, the view that Trump is heaven-sent, a welcome feature of the End Times… and that opposition to Trump and support of Bill Gates and Anthony Fauci is the devil’s work.
The pandemic and strict lockdown prevented face-to-face conversations to confirm whether this trend held. With Level 2, I hope to explore further.
Meanwhile, goings-on in the United States appear to trend towards accountability, aka “justice.”
Then again, there was zero accountability after the 2008 financial crash. 

Time will tell… won’t it?

***

Republican Confessions  (1:15 mins)

“I think my party made a bad mistake, and I’m going to have to vote against that mistake on the 3rd of November.” 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Frost covered the lawns here early this morning, as temperature dropped below zero. Temperatures in California spiked: 130 F/ 54 C in Death Valley, 109 F/ 42 C at a friend’s place in Pleasant Hill, and 106 F/ 41 C at my houseboat. And fires…

More than 30 wildfires are burning across California,  including nearly a dozen that started in the last two days, according to officials with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and a Times analysis.
While the containment of some fires is increasing, other blazes are being sparked and are growing amid a combination of excessive heat and lightning from thunderstorms induced by a tropical storm in the Pacific Ocean.
Air quality was bad in many parts of the state due to the fires and weather. But the Bay Area and other parts of Northern California were hit particularly hard as winds carried smoke from multiple fires in places such as Marin, Sonoma, San Mateo and Monterey counties into communities. Experts say the air quality could be even worse on Wednesday.

*** 

Seedlings as metaphor for growth, new beginnings, implicit trust in life continuing…. 

Foreground left to right: beets, zucchini,
cucumbers, beans
Background right: peas
Inbetween: chard, onions, 
No shows: rockette, basil, cilantro
Click to enlarge.

I planted seeds before the last freeze in the recycled-freezer-as-coldframe and they’re doing well. I plan to transplant them into monkey-proof plots disguised in garden plants over the next few days.
What I appreciate about this batch of seedlings:
Some grow vigorously (peas, pole beans)
Some are slow to germinate (cilantro, basil)
Some perhaps planted out of season (rockette, cucumbers)
One or two show signs of dis-ease (front-left pole bean)

In other words, a metaphor for life….

Second wave?

Lockdown Alert Level 2 began at 1 minute after midnight. Smokers and imbibers of alcohol are back in business!

News blues…

New Zealand, Italy, Spain, UK, the US – all experiencing second waves of Covid-19 infections. Can South Africa be far behind?

The South African Medical Association says a second wave of COVID-19 should be expected… to take place within the next 8-12 weeks.
While the association has welcomed the easing of the lockdown, it is warning that the fight against the coronavirus is far from over.

***

At last, the conversation begins in the US about deeply investigating – and charging, as necessary – abuses against the US Constitution by the current president and his enablers.
A Presidential Crimes Commission, aka a Trump Crimes Commission.  (15:16 mins)
Congressman Swalwell calls for inquiry and, if required, prosecution of wrong-doing in Trump administration. Republican Glen Kirschner explains.  
And, today’s update  (7:35 mins)

The Lincoln Project – comprised of former Republicans – states:

Tonight, at the Democratic National Convention, we'll witness a piece of history. A prominent voice crossing party lines to put country over party. [Republican] Governor John Kasich was the last man standing in the 2016 GOP primary. Now he's backing former Vice President Biden.
When we set out nine months ago to rally Republicans to the Constitution and against Donald Trump, we weren’t sure how big a movement we would find, or who would answer the call.
We have become a true force in this campaign.
What Governor Kasich is doing tonight is rare and historic. That’s because we’re at a historic crossroads, where we must choose: America or Trump?
Across America, there are millions of Republicans like Governor Kasich, patriotic voters choosing America over Trump. We’re proud to count many of them among our supporters.
Just last week, we launched an eight-state campaign to convince reluctant Trump voters that the cost of four more years would be too high.
Our goal? Persuade 3-5% of Republicans to switch their votes to Joe Biden — from the suburbs, to deep red rural counties — and make sure Joe Biden wins by such a wide margin, no one ever tries Trumpism again.

I never imagined I’d promote Republican values. Indeed, I’m not promoting Republican values, rather I’m giving credit where credit is due. I’m amazed – even proud of - Republicans speaking out against what they perceive as a betrayal of their values by the Trumpies.
Might this start a trend where the US becomes less polarized?
Might Americans speak out against the betrayal of American values, no matter their political affiliation?
Here’s hopin’
1306 days of Trump done, 78 days to the election… 

Insist on your right to vote via mail-in ballots, then go vote, Americans!

***

California’s extreme temperatures trigger power outages “as the state’s power grid became overwhelmed by energy demands.”

A Stage 3 emergency alert was declared … by the California Independent System Operator, which runs the state’s power grid. The agency has not declared a statewide emergency of this kind since 2001. More than 300,000 customers in both Northern and Southern California were without power….
Temperatures for some parts of the state are expected to reach [indeed, are already reaching] into the triple digits….
Across the country, some 150 million people are set to experience temperatures hotter than 90 degrees over the next week, and 50 million of those forecast to experience temperatures over 100 degrees.
More than 80 million people were under heat alerts Friday from the Central and Southern Plains as well as for nearly the entire West Coast. The myriad heat alerts covering the map included heat advisories, excessive heat watches and excessive heat warnings all issued by the National Weather Service.

Meanwhile, “Eskom implored South Africans to reduce their energy use…and implemented stage 2 load shedding following plant breakdowns. 

 Power outages. Load shedding. A rose by any other name….
US terminology for power outages/load shedding:
“Rolling blackout”: a defined period during which power may or may not go off.
“Public safety shutdown”: a specific time during which power will go off to ensure power lines do not ignite wildfires.

*** 

The Lincoln Project: Dad  (2:25 mins)
Meet Mother  (2:15 mins)
Divorce Trump  (0:55 mins)
Trump the Internet: Trump Bible Study - The Prodigal Son  (9:25 mins)
From Rosa to Kamala  (1:55 mins)
Randy Rainbow: “Kamala”  (3:40 mins)

Healthy futures, anyone?

One of our planet’s amazing creatures: the Lyre Bird.  (2:57 mins)
Imagine life on this planet without its astonishing variety and diversity. Then, find a community of people with whom you can work to ensure the continuation of that astonishing variety and diversity. Get to work on healthy futures….

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

The opening of liquor stores has the alcohol imbibers of the country a-twitter. At 10:00am this morning, one hour after liquor stores reopened, my mother called the local store for a delivery of her favorite wine. The manager informed her, “We’re sold out!” 

I happened to be in a different shopping mall and thought to purchase a couple of bottles of her favorite wine. One look at the long queue (“the line”) - 20 people, socially distanced - dissuaded me.

*** 

Eskom (SA’s national electricity provider) sent a tree trimming crew to this neighborhood yesterday to buzz-cut growing trees. All day long, the neighborhood endured hours of high-pitched buzzing.

Click to enlarge. 

Alas, the trimming crew revealed itself as more of a butchering crew. This photo (left) shows one formerly beautiful swamp cypress - branches and crown demolished.

What remains are heaps of shorn branches detached from trunk and left to the vagaries of August’s winds. 

Photo, below left, shows a different Eskom's team's tree trimming abilities from five years ago. 

Lobsided, but the tree maintains its crown and continues growing. 

Is it too much to ask that Eskom run their tree trimming crews through basic training on pruning? Or, are my standards simply too high? 

Click to enlarge. 

***

I’ve been in near-hibernation mode due to one hundred forty-five days of Lockdown, more than ten weeks of winter, and gobs of socio-cultural stress.
Unlike Trump’s version of Covid-19, my stress will not “magically go away,” but Level 2 brings with it the possibility of action.
Today, finally - after a delay of four months – I plan to visit the person who manages the place that might offer a comfortable, caring environment for my elderly mother and one dog.

Forward momentum?

Correction: Lockdown Level 2 begins 00:01 Tuesday, not Sunday or Monday. I’m not the only one confused. Newspapers also acknowledged and clarified the confusion. Tuesday seems an odd time to transition. The latest pandemic stats are worrisome, too.

On Sunday, 3,692 new Covid-19 cases were reported. [South Africa] has now recorded 587,345 confirmed cases since the coronavirus hit South African shores in March.
Gauteng continues to be the epicentre of the virus, with 199,635 confirmed cases. KwaZulu-Natal has now the second highest number of positive cases at 105,383, followed by the Western Cape with 102,449 cases.

News blues…

Trumpian logic: slash medical care during a global pandemic even as the US leads the world in infection rates.

Pentagon officials working on Defense Secretary Mark Esper's cost-cutting review of the department have proposed slashing military health care by $2.2 billion, a reduction that some defense officials say could effectively gut the Pentagon’s health care system during a nationwide pandemic…[and] imperil the health care of … roughly 9.5 million active-duty personnel, military retirees and their dependents …as the nation grapples with Covid-19. 

Hmmm, why not cut back on the manufacture, production, testing, and use of military equipment and toxic arms and armaments? The US spends by far more than any other country on earth on its military.
The DoD’s fiscal year 2020 budget is approximately $721.5 billion ($721,531,000,000) - approximately $712.6 billion discretionary and $8.9 billion in mandatory spending. But no. Can’t cut back on weapons, only on personnel costs.

***

Desperate men reach for desperate measures...or, more Trumpian logic:

During an interview on Fox News, Trump said that if USPS does not receive the additional $25 billion funding request that Democrats included in the ongoing stimulus negotiations, then he believes the Post Office won't be able to handle the influx of mail-in ballots in the upcoming election.
"They want three and a half billion dollars for something that'll turn out to be fraudulent, that's election money basically. They want three and a half billion dollars for the mail-in votes. Universal mail-in ballots. They want $25 billion, billion, for the Post Office. Now they need that money in order to make the Post Office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots.”

Americans rear up and push back against Trump and his cronies:

Protesters filled the streets outside the head of the U.S. Postal Service's home in Northwest Washington, D.C., on Saturday, some carrying signs that read "Don't mess with the USPS" and "Don't stamp out our democracy." The demonstrators blew airhorns and banged pots as a few of them walked to the front door of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's building and pinned fake ballots to his front door, as protesters accused him and the White House of working together to undermine main-in ballots and the election.
"Hey hey, Louis DeJoy, the Postal Service is not your toy!" the protesters chanted. It was not known if he was home.
… DeJoy, a Trump ally who has served as postmaster general since May, reshuffled much of the experienced senior leadership in USPS's organizational chart when he took control of the agency, and he has introduced a number of policy changes that appear to have slowed the delivery of mail. … DeJoy has also overseen the decommissioning of 671 of the agency's letter sorting machines, which can individually sort 35,000 pieces of mail per hour.

Healthy future’s anyone?

See all 18 photos 

The demise of the MV Wakashio leads to the demise of Maurtius’ Blue Bay Marine Park reserve, environmentally protected marine ecosystems, pristine waters, tourist beaches, and mangrove plantations.

It's unclear how much oil was removed before Saturday. Earlier this week, the operator, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, said about 1,180 metric tons of oil had leaked from fuel tanks - with about 460 tons manually recovered from the sea and coast. The ship was carrying about 3,800 tons of Very Low Sulphur Fuel Oil and 200 tons of diesel oil…  
The Panama-flagged tanker was carrying more than 4,000 tonnes of heavy oil, lubricants and diesel from China to Brazil. Between 800 and 1,200 tonnes was thought to have leaked into the sea, with the rest being pumped out by salvage experts.
“In view of the rough sea condition, the salvage company … has informed us that it cannot carry on with the pumping of the remaining oil,” the Mauritius National Crisis Committee said in a statement.
Scientists say the full impact of the spill is still unclear, but the oil has already reached exceptional zones of marine life…[as well as]… a unique coastal wetland recognised for the diversity of its coral and fish species, as well as for the endangered green turtle [causing] … “a massive poisonous shock to the system,” said Adam Moolna, an environmental scientist from Mauritius. “This oil will have cascading effects across the webs of life.”
…Thousands of volunteers, many smeared from head to toe in black sludge, ignored official instructions to stay away and strung together miles of improvised floating barriers made of straw in a desperate attempt to hold back the oily tide.
“We have had to fully equip our front-line staff … Many persons have been wading into the oil spilled waters with only thongs and wearing shorts and it is extremely dangerous. A couple of hours exposed to fumes can cause headaches, nose and eye burns and even dizziness,” said Jean Hugues Gardenne, of the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation.
…Tourism generated 63bn rupees ($1.6bn) for the Mauritian economy last year. The industry had already been badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mauritius shut its borders on 19 March and has had only 344 cases of Covid-19, of which 332 have recovered and 10 have died. The country is still closed to international air travel. In May, the central bank said that in the past two months alone, the nation had lost 12bn rupees in foreign exchange due to the fall in tourism. 

***

The Lincoln Project: Complacent  (0:55 mins)
Astonishing that, within 12 hours of publishing, Lincoln Project ads generate more than half a million views. Bad news for Trump; great news for We, the People.
Meidas Touch: Are You Better Off? | Airing Nationwide on Fox News  (0:55 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

The weather is cold and dreary and predicted to drop below freezing the next two nights. Nevertheless, guarded optimism as the country drops to Alert Level 2.
Action is possible.
I’m back on track to find a safe, welcoming – and acceptable to my mother – retirement community that provides caring oversight…and that permits her to keep at least one dog.
Prior to Lockdown – 144 days ago - I’d contacted representatives of an Ambers property. Then, alas, plans went on hold.
Covid-19 was the ostensible reason although my mother, after agreeing with the plan, changed her mind, nixed the new plan, came up with another, then nixed that one, too.
Since then, we’ve bobbed in the waters of uncertainty, indecision, and negativity.
But a new day dawns.
I’m hopeful that I can visit that Ambers property, and other similar properties, this week.
Forward momentum feels good!

Reckoning

Level 2 as of midnight tonight! 

News blues…

President Ramaphosa updates South Africans (28:00 mins) and declares a “new phase” in response: Extend national state of disaster until Sept 15 but move to Level 2.
Alert Level 2 protocols:

• Remove restrictions on the resumption of economic activity albeit with necessary and appropriate conditions
• Interprovincial travel ban lifted
• Hospitality reopens with approved protocols
• Restaurants, bars, taverns reopen with approved protocols
• Lift restrictions on the sale of cigarettes
• Alcohol use subject to conditions: up to 10 pm in public; for sale Mon – Thur 9 am to 5p for use at home
• Lift restrictions for family and friend – small gatherings
• Continue social distancing and protect the vulnerable continue

Protocols that remain in place:

• International travel remains restricted
• No gatherings of more than 50 people, including funerals and religious
• Curfew from 10 pm to 4 am
• Stay at home, work at home if possible

Continue to:

• Wear masks
• Protect the elderly and those with underlying conditions
• Social distancing
• Proper ventilation
• Limit travel to necessary trips only
• Avoid social gatherings
• Wash and sanitize hands
• Behave responsibly – act as if you could infect others

Keep in mind that New Zealand, a model of well-managed response to Covid-19, reinstituted lockdown in Auckland due to a second wave of infections.

On Sunday, New Zealand reported 13 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus for the last 24 hours, as the country’s first outbreak in months continued to grow.
All but one of the new cases were from community transmission and appeared to be linked to a cluster in Auckland where the most recent outbreak started, said Ashley Bloomfield, the New Zealand director general of health. The 13th was a traveller who returned from abroad and was in managed quarantine. It brings the number of active cases in New Zealand to 69. Since the start of the year the country had recorded 1,271 cases.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Despite international travel remaining restricted, this morning, for the first time in 144 days, I fantasized about la dolce vita aboard my houseboat. Many things to work out here before I can resume the liveaboard life, but it beckons, and I can see myself back in California.

*** 

Alas, in California, news came of a favorite pet cat passing away peacefully. RIP, Tommy, Mr T, The Tomalizer, Catiwompuss. The 90-year-old mother of a friend passed away the same day, almost the same time. Perhaps they’re together in the place the succors good souls? 

***

Local weather here has gone from hot 27 C (81 F) with gusting winds, accompanied by fire warnings, to 11 C (42 F) with predictions of 1 C and -1 C (31 - 30 F) overnight this week. Continued predictions for sorely needed rain that never comes.

It’s baaaack!

Birtherism is back. Trump’s lies about Barack Obama’s place of birth (“not in the US”) are being recycled for Democratic vice-presidential pick, Kamala Harris. 
Oh, so, so tired of Donald Trump.
Former National Republican Convention chairperson Michael Steele says, “America, I’ve talked to you about being punked, if you’re gonna get punked on this [birtherism] again, then you deserve what you get. [Going for birtherism again] says a hellava lot more about you than it does about Donald Trump. Kill it now. Not another story about it….”

News blues…

© Really American 

The Lincoln Project: Unprecedented  (0:55 mins)
Meidas Touch: Bye Hannity  (:55 mins)
Really American: Rescue Our Votes  (1:40 mins)
Republican Voters Against Trump: Here's Some Unique Texas Profanities for Trump  (2:30 mins)

Healthy futures anyone?

One of the pleasures of an “alternative lifestyle” – a houseboat on the San Joaquin River in the Sacramento Delta – is the seasonal wildlife. 

A favorite winter pleasure is sipping coffee as morning sunshine brightens the river and splashes through panorama windows into the cabin. Add the occasional sighting of sea lions and river otters gliding through the channel, and life doesn’t get much better…
Otter news improves day-by-day:

River otters were hunted for their fur in California until 1961. Despite the end of hunting, otters all but disappeared from the San Francisco Bay Area and southward, and polluted waters were thought to share in the blame. However, in the last decade, river otters have made a celebrated rebound, particularly in the North Bay, and have been spotted everywhere from Napa to San Jose. That they returned of their own accord without any reintroduction is a likely sign that restoration efforts have improved the health of creeks and streams. The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is considered a hub for river otters. 
Sea otters return to the bay’s estuaries, too.
… San Francisco Bay, California’s largest estuary, could support about 6,000 [sea] otters, more than double the current population. …Scientists also believe that sea otters could be conservation allies, with their potential to help restore other polluted estuaries in California. “…we may need them in estuaries but estuaries may also need sea otters.” … 

Welcome home, otters of all stripes…

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Feeling psychologically exhausted, worn down by bureaucrat-itis…
South Africa’s defunct post office service manages, occasionally, willy nilly, to squeeze a piece of mail into a residential post box.
Yesterday, after months of no postal delivery at all, my mother received in her post box two religious tracts, a seven-month-late bill from the power company, and an on-time bill from the municipal water company.
Since late January, 2020 I’ve tried, unsuccessfully, to receive my mother’s water bill via email. Emailing bills can be done, albeit apparently not by the municipal water company. I receive other municipal bills by email: property tax (“rates”), Eskom, natural gas, phone bill (before cancelling due to no phone service for three months)…. 

Sure, it takes what feels like eons talking on the phone with services representatives, but it can be done and I've succeeded in doing it.
Alas, the elusive water bill.
Until yesterday’s unexpected arrival in the post box, I’ve not seen a water bill in six months.
During the interim, I’ve tried contacting the water department and I’ve paid an estimated amount via online eft each month.
One issue: the phone number on the bill is indecipherable as it is printed in white ink upon a black and white silhouette of a garden.
The more legible email address customercare@umdm.gov.za – also white ink on black and white background - provides no customer care.
I emailed that address back on 15 March asking for a statement of the last 6 months’ payments.
Response?
Nada. Zero. Zilch.
Yesterday’s hardcopy bill threatened to “disconnect supply” if we don’t pay.
I paid half of the unusually high amount and emailed again, asking, again, for a statement of the last 6 months’ payments.
Last night that email bounced back, ironically from postmaster@umdm.gov.za (doesn’t that domain name, “@umdm.gov.za", imply the bounce back happened at the municipality level?). The message: 

Delivery has failed to these recipients or groups: customercare@umdm.gov.za
Your message wasn't delivered. Despite repeated attempts to deliver your message, the recipient's email system refused to accept a connection from your email system.
Contact the recipient by some other means (by phone, for example) and ask them to tell their email admin that it appears that their email system is refusing connections from your email server. Give them the error details shown below. It's likely that the recipient's email admin is the only one who can fix this problem.
For Email Admins
No connection could be made because the target computer actively refused it. This usually results from trying to connect to a service that is inactive on the remote host - that is, one with no server application running.

Exhausting.
The thought of contacting “the recipient by some other means (by phone, for example)”, finding a legible and working phone number, jumping through the various hoops to reach and talk to a knowledgeable human, to follow through on how to resolve the issue….
Perhaps my assumptions about service a la South Africa must be tempered with reality a la South Africa, but… 

Oh, how I long to be back in my houseboat, spying on birds … and otters….

Bedeviling details

7-day rolling averages, analyzed by the Washington Post state: “Yesterday 1,499 Americans died from the novel coronavirus, the highest number since mid-May… 1,000 Americans each day have succumbed to COVID-19 for the last 17 days.”  

More than half a million Covid deaths worldwide, 22-plus-percent American,, thats 4 percent of the global population.

But oh, never mind that....

“It is,” our philosopher prez says, “what it is.”

Let’s focus on what’s immediately important: Trump’s “beautiful hair.” 

News blues… 

We "still have work to do but the situation is all under control".

Japanese-owned oil tanker MV Wakashio struck a coral reef on July 25 spilling an estimated 1,1300 metric tons of oil into the Indian Ocean off Mauritius.
…Oceanographer Vassen Kauppaymuthoo previously warned of the damage if the vessel was to break apart. ”The damage we are seeing now is nothing compared to what may happen when the Wakashio will break. The whole east coast, from Blue Bay to Grand Gaube, will be affected.” 

Subsequently, "almost all" the fuel  oil .. has been pumped out and... 

…transferred to shore by helicopter and to another ship owned by the same Japanese firm, Nagashiki Shipping. …  

France has sent a military aircraft with pollution-control equipment from its nearby island of Réunion, while Japan has sent a six-member team to assist the French efforts. The Mauritius coast guard and several police units are also at the site in the south-east of the island. 

Not to be cynical, but “the situation is all under control" – sounds Trumpian.
Perhaps the oil will, “like a miracle, just disappear.” 

*** 

The Lincoln Project: Kamala  (0:55 mins)
Meidas Touch: Prosecute Trump: Kamala Harris Makes the Case Against Trump (1:00)
Really American: Trump Kills USPS  (:40 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Load shedding is back. Power went off for 2.5 hours in the morning and 2.5 hours last night.
Today, the app states our neighborhood is at “Stage 2 – since 28 minutes ago.” Power remained on.
The same screen displayed: “Not load shedding right now!”
It’s hard to know which side is up.
One might think that, with bureaucratic bungling normalized, one would acclimate.
Alas, not so.   

Slogging

Pandemic’s latest toll. A month of numbers:
Worldwide

August 13 – 20,621,000  confirmed infections; 749,400 deaths
August 6 – 18,753,000 confirmed infections; 706,800 deaths
July 9 - 12,041,500 confirmed infections; 549,470 deaths

US
August 13 - 5,198,000 confirmed infections; 166,050 deaths
August 6 –  4,824,000 confirmed infections; 158,250 deaths
July 9 – 3,054,800 infections; 132,300 deaths

South Africa
August 13 – 569,000 confirmed infections 11,010 deaths
August 6 – 529,900 confirmed infections; 9,298 deaths
July 9 - 224,665 infections; 3,602 deaths

News blues…

CO2 levels in the atmosphere
8 August 2020: 413.17 ppm
This time last year: 410.35 ppm
10 years ago: 399.71 ppm
Pre-industrial base: 280
Safe level: 350
Atmospheric CO2 reading from Mauna Loa, Hawaii (part per million). Source: NOAA-ESRL.

The draconian coronavirus lockdowns across the world have led to sharp drops in carbon emissions, but this will have “negligible” impact on the climate crisis, with global heating cut by just 0.01C by 2030, a study has found.  But the analysis also shows that putting the huge sums of post-Covid-19 government funding into a green recovery and shunning fossil fuels will give the world a good chance of keeping the rise in global temperatures below 1.5C. …we are now at a “make or break” moment in keeping under the limit – as compared with pre-industrial levels – agreed by the world’s governments to avoid the worst effects of global heating.
The research is primarily based on … data [that] gives near-real-time information on travel and work patterns and therefore gives an idea of the level of emissions. The data covered 123 countries that together are responsible for 99% of fossil fuel emissions. The researchers found that global CO2 emissions dropped by more than 25% in April 2020, and nitrogen oxides (NOx) by 30%.
These falls show that rapid changes in people’s behaviour can make big differences to emissions in the short term, but the scientists said such lockdowns are impossible to maintain. Therefore, economy-wide changes are needed for a transformation to a zero-emissions economy, such as greening transport, buildings and industry with renewable energy, hydrogen or by capturing and burying CO2.

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Covid-19 launched a mortality category, “excess deaths.” Our World in Data  defines this as

… miscounting deaths from the under-reporting of Covid-19-related deaths and other health conditions left untreated….[or] as actual deaths from all causes, minus ‘normal’ deaths.
US CDC  calculates potentially excess deaths … by subtracting the expected number of deaths from the observed number of deaths. The expected number refers to the number of deaths that we would see if that state’s death rate was equal to the best-performing states.
South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) weekly report  revealed the difference between the country’s confirmed Covid-19 deaths and the number of excess natural deaths. From the first week of March to July 21, the country recorded 22,279 excess natural deaths: 6,620 excess deaths in Gauteng, 6,411 in the Eastern Cape, 4,133 in the Western Cape and 2,632 in KwaZulu-Natal [with] 752 reported in the Free State, 627 in Mpumalanga, 566 in the North West, 527 in Limpopo, and 164 in the Northern Cape.

People paying attention to pandemic numbers – confirmed infections and deaths - understand that confirmed and published numbers represent only a small percentage of actual infections and deaths.
Listening carefully to public figures and politicians discuss confirmed Covid deaths and “excess deaths” one might hear references to “stigma” and “social stigma”  afforded those afflicted.
Such stigma can have fatal consequences.
In South Africa’s hard hit, overcrowded townships and informal settlements, social stigma associated with coronavirus can lead to the infected hiding and/or denying their status and/or not seeking medical help. This, as disclosing one’s status can incur attack and endanger the life of the infected – and the lives of the infected person’s family….

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I’ve embarked on the veggie garden hiding project and located three areas in the garden monkeys might not explore. Problem is, one of the household’s 7 dogs likely will detect the sweet smell of compost – explore, and dig up seedlings.

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A day to mask up and venture out of the security gates to forage for groceries, (guarded) social contact, and a change of scenery.