The Life in My Years

The Covid Chronicles – I guess that’s what happens in the end, you start to think about the beginning.

Paul

April 1, 2020

Covid-19 will be written in the history books, largely in cold numbers with equally cold facts; your typical who, how, why, what, when and where. While they have their value, cold facts and numbers fail to present the human stories of fear, loss, hope, bravery, perseverance, discovery, love and all the joys and heartbreaks of daily life in hard times. It’s the personal stories that put the meat on the bare bones of cold facts. This Covid Chronicles series is my way of leaving my own personal narrative.

Today The Covid Chronicles is taking a short detour and frankly I need it and my readers could probably use it as well. It’s hard and it’s going to get even harder and it gets tiring and after the news of the last few days I need a rest.

My daughter Jessica blogs in fits and starts, that is to say that she’s a busy young woman with two children and a job so blogging is often placed on the far back burner. That’s an unfortunate thing. I believe that beyond being thoughtful and level headed she is an extremely talented writer. I would like to say that she gets it from her dad but I think that the writing flair jumped a generation from her grandfather (my dad) directly to her.

Today she took to her keyboard after a slightly more than 2 year hiatus and wrote a timely, heartfelt piece which I encourage you to read. If you feel the urge to comment on her piece I encourage you to comment directly on her site (you may if you wish to, copy your comment to my site).
Click on Hotmess Mama to read Jessica’s piece.

Views of America – A Covid Free Zone

Paul

12 comments

March 31, 2020

Another breath of viral free air to celebrate the beauty of America with some favorite images of mine (some previously posted in earlier pieces).

Maine.
Our time in Maine last summer was unfortunately cut short when Cora became seriously ill and we had to fly home. During the few days that we spent in Maine we were treated to picturesque harbors, classic lighthouses and local color.

Port Clyde Maine

Dawn at Marshall Point

Lobsterman’s Buoys

Port Clyde Maine

Mendocino, California
Cora and I visited the coastal towns of Mendocino and Fort Bragg during their annual salmon festival. Mendocino was originally founded as a logging town in 1852. Fort Bragg, a few miles north of Mendocino started out as a military garrison in 1857. Today both towns are popular for their festivals, views of the Pacific, hiking and whale watching.

Town of Mendocino from the banks of the Mendocino River

Foggy sunrise at the mouth of the Mendocino River

Below, Fort Bragg Salmon Festival. Salmon on the grill. Flipping fish.

Louisiana
Three years ago Cora and I drove south from Mississippi through Louisiana. Near the town of Lafayette we took a swamp tour and then headed south to New Orleans.

Washington DC and Virginia
In 2015 Cora and I travelled to Washington DC. It started out as a short vacation to watch the San Francisco Giants play the Washington Nationals for a weekend. We turned it into a two week trip, seeing more of the nation’s capital and the state of Virginia.

National’s Park

Detail Women’s Vietnam Memorial

Marine Corps Memorial

Changing of the guard, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Sunrise Chancellorsville Civil War Battlefield

Union soldier’s gravestone Fredericksburg VA

Rural Virginia

Below, Music at the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, Virginia. Hiltons is a tiny town deep in the woods of southwest Virginia. The Carter Family Fold is a music venue dedicated to the preservation of old timey and bluegrass music. Janette Carter of the famous country music Carter family (June Carter was the wife of Johnny Cash) founded the Fold. Drinking and smoking are not allowed and musicians are not allowed to play electric instruments. The rule against electric instruments was set aside for performances by Johnny Cash. Cash played his last concert at the fold 5 months before his death.

Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello

Mabry Mill, Virginia

Be safe, keep your distance and soon we’ll be travelling again.

THE COVID CHRONICLES – MARCH 30, 2020. National Doctor’s Day

Paul

3 comments

March 31, 2020

Monday, March 30th, 2020
The Butcher’s Bill 11:00 AM, PDT (only a momentary snapshot)
World
Cases: 725,300 Deaths: 36,900
United States
Cases: 158,400 Deaths: 2,919

It’s National Doctor’s Day today. They should make 2020 National Doctor’s Year; and nurses, lab techs, researchers, janitors, hospital and doctors office and healthcare workers in general, first responders, truckers, delivery drivers, plumbers, carpenters, mechanics and anyone else who keeps our shit functioning, cashiers, stock clerks, transit workers, daycare providers, foodbank workers, those helping the homeless, teachers trying to keep their students engaged, factory workers, farmers, ranchers and other food producers, therapists helping those who are having trouble dealing with these difficult times and of course toilet paper manufacturers. If I’ve left someone out I apologize for the omission. Continue reading

THE COVID CHRONICLES – MARCH 29, 2020. Faulty Numbers, Faulty Facts and New Lessons

Paul

4 comments

March 30, 2020

Sunday, March 29th, 2020
The Butcher’s Bill 10:30 AM, PDT (only a momentary snapshot)
World
Cases: 691,867 Deaths: 32,988
United States
Cases: 130,478 Deaths: 2,314

Misleading Stats
Most mornings I get up, put on the coffee and look at the numbers. Nationwide they still go from bad to worse. I try to take some solace in our own county numbers but when I realize that they’re faulty any semblance of consolation disappears. Most of the time I’m in a no man’s land between hopeful fantasy and heavy reality.

Contra Costa County runs along the shoreline of San Pablo Bay on the west and north. It’s about 65 miles from Richmond in the west to Discovery Bay on the eastern edge where Contra Costa opens up to San Joaquin County and the swath of farmland that helps feed the nation. From the shore of San Pablo Bay and the C&H Sugar Refinery in picturesque Crockett in the north to the upscale homes of Danville at the southern border it’s roughly 30 miles.

The population of 1.5 million runs the spectrum from the rich and famous such as celebrities like baseball star Buster Posey, money ball’s Billy Beane and Vince Neil of Motley Crue in Danville and the southwest corner of the county to society’s forgotten ones or the ones much of society would like to forget. Those are the ones who live in the shadow of the refinery, downwind from the landfill and astride the big railyards; the rundown neighborhoods served by mom and pop shops because any supermarkets pulled out long ago.

Out in the Danville area you’re probably more likely to get tested for coronavirus than if you live within sight of the refinery stacks. That might be a mechanism of the fact that as Bob Dylan once said “money doesn’t talk it swears,” and if your money swears loudly enough you’ll get your test. It might also be a mechanism of the relative lack of medical services out on the west side. That’s all despite the claim made by Trump a little over 3 weeks ago that, “Anybody that wants a test can get a test. That’s what the bottom line is,”

The president’s bottom line is just another fabrication. The real bottom line is that my nephew and his wife returned from the Philippines and found out that they may have been exposed to someone with the virus while there. They asked for a test and were refused because they didn’t yet have symptoms. Trump’s tall tale of testing continues today with the assertion, “We have more cases because we’re doing far more testing than anybody in the world.” It’s a fabrication of course if you take into account the more important per capita statistic. The U.S is testing 1 in 366 people compared to Italy where 1 in 133 people are being tested. That the county has 168 confirmed cases of the virus and 3 deaths should give some solace. Truth is that there’s no comfort in those numbers, particularly if you’re one of the 168. The dearth of testing makes the numbers just another administration shell game. Continue reading

THE COVID CHRONICLES – MARCH 28, 2020. The HOA and an Alternate Universe

Paul

14 comments

March 29, 2020

Saturday, March 28th, 2020
The Butcher’s Bill 6:30 PM, PDT (only a momentary snapshot)
World
Cases: 663,037 Deaths: 30,851
United States
Cases: 123,498 Deaths: 2,211

With the exception of Bio-Rad most of the businesses in our little town of Hercules exist to support the residents who commute elsewhere. To call Hercules a town is overestimating . Hercules, or more accurately the town’s planners and low rent politicians want our little berg to be a player. Hercules started out in the 19th century as a company town for a dynamite manufacturer, the Hercules Powder Company. Since then it’s become a bedroom community. During the three decades that we’ve lived here a string of mayors and city councils has left in their wake a series of half baked schemes meant to turn Hercules from a spec on the map to a dot. Most efforts have resulted in massive expense with minimum results.
Our own home is in the Refugio Valley, which starts at about sea level and gradually works its way a few hundred feet up over about a two and a half mile stretch. Our home is typical of 1980’s developments; two stories on a slab sitting on a smallish lot at the upper end of the valley. Here at the far end of the valley we’re not exactly isolated but we’re not in the midst of it all either. And given the current viral state of affairs I’m more than happy that we’re in the far reaches of a speck on the map rather than a dot, or a splotch. Continue reading

The Covid Chronicles – March 27, 2020. Gimme Shelter

Paul

1 comment

March 28, 2020

Oh, a storm is threat’ning
My very life today
If I don’t get some shelter
Oh yeah, I’m gonna fade away

Friday, March 27th
The Butcher’s Bill 11:00 AM, PDT (only a momentary snapshot)
World
Cases: 558,502 Deaths: 22,251
United States
Cases: 91,255 Deaths: 1,353

As of today there are 25 states under a statewide order for residents to shelter in place. That means 25 are not and one wonders if the 25 not under shelter in place are living in blissful ignorance. While the fine print likely varies from state to state the general message is, unless you have to be somewhere essential, (grocery shopping, pharmacy, medical visit, essential work,) then stay at home. The exception to essential movement here in California is exercise that doesn’t involve interacting with others besides your canine companion or significant other. The important maxims are to maintain social distancing and no assemblages of ten or more.

The Year of the Rat
How did we get here? In our household, covid-19 appeared on the radar in the runup to the annual Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco’s Chinatown. The 2020 parade was scheduled for Saturday, February 8th. In any normal year Chinatown is packed during the weeks leading up to the big parade; lion dancers prowl the streets stopping to cavort to the sounds of drums, cymbals, and gongs, the noodle shops, dim sum restaurants, meat markets, souvenir shops and bakeries are packed with shoppers and it’s all punctuated with the popping of firecrackers. Continue reading

The Covid Chronicles – March 26th, 2020. Our Better Angels.

Paul

6 comments

March 27, 2020

A personal journal of life during the time of covid-19

Thursday, March 26th, 2020

The Morning’s Butcher’s Bill (only a momentary snapshot)
World
Cases: 492,603 Deaths: 22,184
United States
Cases: 66,057 Deaths: 946

The day starts on an inauspicious note. I’m waking up to Nancy Pelosi’s weekly news conference and it’s less than inspiring. On this her 80th birthday her remarks range from rambling to almost incoherent. She’s sounding less like the Speaker of the House and more like someone’s confused grandma. Perfect, an incompetent president and a befuddled speaker.

Negative Nancy
I don’t know which tone is more troubling, the addled one or the partisan one.
“We take some pride as I said earlier that congressional democrats in the Senate and in the House were able to flip this over from a corporate trickle down Republican version to bubble up, worker first, families first legislation….Can you believe that it was every Republican, 49 Republicans last night voted to deprive those on unemployement insurance of the additional $600 a week? How could it be that in this time of stress and strain and uncertainty about health and life and livelihood that they would vote that way.”
Such a seduction to engage in partisanship; the ravishing allure of getting in the last word, seems almost sexual with these legislators. There’s no need for McConnell to bait the left and Pelosi to piss off the right and then in the next sentence give a weak nod to bipartisanship. You’ve done the damage with the damning of your opposite.
Listening to Pelosi this morning and Trump yesterday I wonder, where is our leader? Who is going to be the man or woman who will set aside blame and have us believe it. Who will be rolling up his or her sleeves and getting to work and exhorting us to roll up our own sleeves?
Immediately following Pelosi, that man emerges but I’m saving him for last. Continue reading

The Covid Chronicles – March 25th, 2020

Paul

12 comments

March 26, 2020

A personal journal of life during the time of covid-19

Wednesday, March 25th

5:30 in the morning and as per the routine I’m the first one up with Lexi a split second behind. Get dressed in the dark while Cora sleeps. I’ve decided that I’m going to have a dedicated “in the house” garb. My “travelling clothes should go into the hamper once I’m home although I’m not as religious about it as I probably should be. Laziness in the time of covid isn’t exactly a capital idea.

Bright red Adidas sweatpants and a red sweatshirt. At least I won’t get this confused with any other of my clothes in the closet. It doesn’t leave the house except to go down the street to get the mail and given the bright screaming red that’s probably a good idea. Whatever possessed me to get those pants? Continue reading

Bay Area Street Art – A Covid Free Zone

Paul

7 comments

March 24, 2020

Taking a breath of viral free air to offer something pleasing and to try to relieve some of the angst if only for a few moments. The San Francisco Bay Area is rich in street art; some of it sanctioned and some not. Below is a small sampling of images of a few of the many murals that grace the Bay Area.

Half Moon Bay

For years the surf contest at Mavericks along the coast about 30 minutes south of San Francisco has captivated people around the world. The small section of coastline sees waves that are typically over 8 m (25 ft) and top out at over 18 m (60 ft). Unfortunately the contest has been cancelled for four straight years due to “logistical problems.”
But surfing is still king in the area.

On the side of the building that houses the Cunha Store (a great little general merchandise emporium) in Half Moon Bay is a mural of surfer Jeff Clark challenging a big wave at Mavericks. Below: The mural actually covers two walls.

Just north of Half Moon Bay is the little town of Princeton and the Pillar Point Marina. The sides of a utility box depict the local ocean life.

Local art on a municipal utility box

The Covid Chronicles – Foraging

Paul

14 comments

March 23, 2020

I’m up before dawn on a 50° F. morning; chilly for the Bay Area, balmy for those struggling with a side order of snow to go with their pandemic. Wife, daughter and grandchildren are enjoying the warmth of bed. Lexi bounces up, all tail wagging, rolling on the floor, butt in the air doggy excitement. It’s her we’re going to have an outing dance.
“Sorry girl, I’ve got to go hunting.”
It’s not hunting in the traditional sense. This doesn’t require a gun. Not yet anyway, but as Samuel L. Jackson famously said in Jurassic Park, “Hold onto your butts.” It’s discomforting to contemplate our little bit of leftover reason giving way to intimidation at gunpoint for a couple cans of Spam.
Look at the clock, 5:30, running behind. Throw on some clothes, grab some disinfectant and out the door. A glance back at Lexi, giving me the “what about me,” look.
“I’ll be back, girl. Go back to bed.”

At Foodmaxx in Pinole there’s a small knot of people with their shopping carts waiting for the doors to open. I’m pleasantly surprised that I haven’t been greeted with a line. The talk this morning is about the morning’s primary quarry – toilet paper. One poor fellow is down to just a couple rolls and his tone carries more than a little hint of desperation. Toilet paper jokes circulate around our little group; mentions of orphan socks, leaves and stinging nettles.

The door opens and everyone is deferential. It’s not like we were in a line but the politeness and lack of rudeness is a nice way to start the day. The burly guy who opened the door has seen reruns of this show and announces right off,
“We are out of paper products. No paper products.”
“Fuck me.”

Half of the group heads into the store to stalk other game while I abandon my cart and head for the door with the other half. Off to the next hunting ground. On my way to the car I spray my hands again with homemade disinfectant and mull my choices; Lucky just about a half mile up the road or Safeway about ten minutes down the interstate. Shopping for the basics has become something like spinning a roulette wheel.

What used to be one trip to a single store has become a multi-stop scavenger hunt for Lysol, Clorox Wipes, Purell, and other cleaning supplies; meat, frozen foods and dairy. The aisles that carry bread, pasta, pasta sauce, canned meats, beans and vegetables have become a wilderness; a good opportunity to wipe down the barren shelves. Paper towels, face tissue and of course the sine qua non, toilet paper have become the supermarket version of the unicorn. I don’t even bother with the wipes or the hand sanitizer.

Below it looks like $3.13 for air or as that classic rock song goes, Money for Nothing.

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Wednesday, March 25th

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Half Moon Bay

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