Respite
[guest post by Dana]
This is a thread not about coronavirus per se, but rather it’s about what you’ve been doing to occupy yourselves with during this strange time we find ourselves in. Some of us are in states under “stay at home” orders, “lockdowns,” or where restrictions vary. Regardless, tell us about your days, your distractions, and how it’s all impacting you on a personal level. Because there may be a tendency during social distancing and isolation to get depressed, especially if you live alone or are simply not hard-wired for a solitary life, this is a place to come together and just talk and listen to your virtual neighbors. And to be reminded that you’re not alone.
Anyway, I’ve been doing a lot of walking in my neighborhood, and hiking in a nearby canyon. For me, the engulfing silence of an open-air cathedral is salve to my worried soul. That the weather has ranged anywhere from dark, stormy skies to brilliant blues ones makes this favorite distraction that much more enjoyable. Of course the recent rains have only helped with the presentation, given that everything that is now a dazzling shade of green will be a parched expanse of brown come August. Below are some photos from a few different hikes during this uncertain season.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
–Dana
I hope everyone is well.
Dana (4fb37f) — 3/22/2020 @ 4:04 pmI forgot how you’re a real photographer.
I had thought about posting my own photos, but they would pale in comparison.
Patterico (115b1f) — 3/22/2020 @ 4:05 pmSeems like some damn fine social distancing to me. Thanks for encouraging people to stretch their legs.
Dustin (b18b7a) — 3/22/2020 @ 4:07 pmNot a real photographer. I just take pictures. It would be terrific for you to add your photos to the post and add your story too!
Dana (4fb37f) — 3/22/2020 @ 4:10 pmHere is some of what I have been doing:
Good:
Praying more
Counseling those seeking it
Bad [one reinforces the other]:
Eating the wrong foods
Playing video games
I mentioned giving up video games for lent. Idolatry! Gluttony! J’accuse!
felipe (023cc9) — 3/22/2020 @ 4:12 pmIn my house, we are the kind of people that are hard-wired for solitude. The social-distancing comes naturally. Is this true of anyone else here?
Dana (4fb37f) — 3/22/2020 @ 4:13 pmDana (4fb37f) — 3/22/2020 @ 4:10 pm
felipe (023cc9) — 3/22/2020 @ 4:14 pmNooo, don’t do that, Dana. You just made light of a great compliment paid to you. Just say, “thank you!”
felipe,
I will say “thank you” for the compliment.
Also, me too with the eating too much. And let’s not even get into Lenten failures: I took on a challenge from a good friend (who shall remain nameless, but he knows who he is) to give up the three C’s (as I mentioned a few weeks ago), and let me tell you, Complaining and Criticizing apparently come to me as naturally as scarfing down a box of yummy goldfish! (Goldfish do not qualify as the third C: chips. So there’s still that.)
Dana (4fb37f) — 3/22/2020 @ 4:22 pmCatching up on a few dozen books that I bought on Kindle.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827) — 3/22/2020 @ 4:27 pmWatching AcornTV and Britbox.
Changing my office around so that its a proper huddle room, need a good camera background and better lighting since video is so much more important now that MCk has shut down travel.
Those are beautiful photos, Dana. Your eye for composition is excellent.
DRJ (15874d) — 3/22/2020 @ 4:30 pmThey are beautiful photos, Dana.
felipe (023cc9) — 3/22/2020 @ 4:32 pmReminds me of the old saying:
“March in Southern CA, when the real estate agents use 90% of their film.”
harkin (b64479) — 3/22/2020 @ 4:32 pmI cleaned up the interior of my car. It was last cleaned during the 2008 market downturn. When I am optimistic, I think that I will upgrading to a new car. In times like this, I vacuum out the car.
Fred (c46b99) — 3/22/2020 @ 4:43 pmLovely images Dana.
One of the best and most practical courses in college was meteorology. You can predict your local weather beneath your 12 mile ‘sky dome’ from horizon to horizon just by reading the clouds and their wind pattern.
Clouds in the pix indicate rain is coming.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 3/22/2020 @ 4:46 pmLot of outdoor time with kids and dogs.
Nathan (5efffe) — 3/22/2020 @ 5:05 pmMy wife is having an easier time with social distancing than I am. I’ve known for a while that I depend on social contact with my close friends to remain sane, but I didn’t realize how deeply until now.
Luckily, our toddler has been in extremely high spirits, and has been conversing with us constantly. That has been a great blessing. And I’ve had lots of time to cook, which is one of my most reliable therapies at this time in my life. If work slows down – which it looks like it will – I will try to get some reading done as well, which would be nice.
Leviticus (28a6ca) — 3/22/2020 @ 5:07 pmHaving the bars and breweries closed has been good for our budget, though. At this time of year, the patios in Albuquerque are very difficult to resist. Less so when they’re closed.
Leviticus (28a6ca) — 3/22/2020 @ 5:09 pm12, yes just like 90% of Topps baseball cards for NL players were taken at Shea Stadium. Damn I hope the K and J leagues can be broadcast here if they kickoff soon.
urbanleftbehind (f608a4) — 3/22/2020 @ 5:10 pmLevi, if it comes to pass, I suggest reading to your son. Pick your favorite book and just start, making eye contact. Your child may not understand the words, but he will understand the love.
felipe (023cc9) — 3/22/2020 @ 5:12 pmIt’s good advice, felipe. We read to her every night, and she definitely follows along.
Leviticus (28a6ca) — 3/22/2020 @ 5:17 pmGiven the nature and good spirit of this thread, I’d be happy to provide some update photos, so that this community (which has been so important to me and to our family) can see how our baby has grown over the last two years. I could email Patterico, DRJ, Dana, or JVW – whoever was best positioned to post them.
Leviticus (28a6ca) — 3/22/2020 @ 5:19 pmThis is a pleasant time of year to be outside in New Mexico.
DRJ (15874d) — 3/22/2020 @ 5:20 pmI would love to see them, Leviticus, but don’t email me. I quit checking my email a couple of years ago. I’m lazy now.
DRJ (15874d) — 3/22/2020 @ 5:23 pmI have hundreds of beautiful pix of NJ’s LBI and would love to share them but doesn’t seem to be a way to post them here. So I just run them as a slide show on my box as screensavers.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 3/22/2020 @ 5:25 pmThink of all the money from Nigerian princes and Liberian bank presidents you’re leaving on the table!
Dave (1bb933) — 3/22/2020 @ 5:34 pmThink of all the money from Nigerian princes and Liberian bank presidents you’re leaving on the table!
Dave (1bb933) — 3/22/2020 @ 5:34 pm
Now that, right there, is funny!
felipe (023cc9) — 3/22/2020 @ 5:56 pmCol. Klink, what sort of videos do you do?
Leviticus, I am checking with P to see if he minds receiving them to post. Also, the toddler stage is an utterly delightful one. I’m glad you are reading your little one. I read an interesting piece that explained that even if toddlers/children are busily engaged in other play, read to them at that time too because their little minds still absorb the story. This is especially true with wiggle worms and tactile kids who can’t sit still for a story but have to be doing something else at the same time.
Dana (4fb37f) — 3/22/2020 @ 5:57 pmLeviticus (28a6ca) — 3/22/2020 @ 5:17 pm
I knew you had a daughter! I was projecting. Thank you for your gentle response, Levi!
felipe (023cc9) — 3/22/2020 @ 5:59 pmLeviticus, email your photos to Patterico so he can post them. I would love to see them. I hope to contribute to her college “fun” someday (Lord, let me live that long!).
felipe (023cc9) — 3/22/2020 @ 6:02 pmLeviticus, go ahead and send to Patterio at patterico@gmail.com
Dana (4fb37f) — 3/22/2020 @ 6:10 pmHuddle rooms are the new name for small video conference rooms. I run a practice for a management consulting firm, and the huddle room has allowed me to get off the road and do most things remotely, and then the last 10 days happened so now I’m upgrading it do really go 100% online only. I leave the room open so my team can just “drop by” like it’s an open office plan, just seperated by 300-7,000 miles.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827) — 3/22/2020 @ 6:31 pmI walk our Cairn Terrier Ruby around a lake in our neighborhood… it’s a leisurely 2.2 mile walk that would be faster if Ruby didn’t stop to smell every “exotic” smell on our route… or chase squirrels at the park… or leave her mark… or…
And I keep our cars in tip-top shape.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/22/2020 @ 6:50 pmGreat pictures! We’ve been hiking and watching all those DVD’s we checked out of the library and can’t return until April. Also, reading those books we were always going to read.
rcocean (1a839e) — 3/22/2020 @ 7:09 pmUpside: There’s no traffic on the road.
rcocean (1a839e) — 3/22/2020 @ 7:10 pmDownside: There’s no where to go.
Going nowhere real fast though.
Dustin (b18b7a) — 3/22/2020 @ 7:11 pmWatching videos from Crufts: freestyle heelwork, agility, flyball. I especially like the “rescue dog” agility contest, which often involves dogs with their own spontaneous plans for the event.
Radegunda (39c35f) — 3/22/2020 @ 8:34 pmI’ve been working on my lawn in the hope that it will not look like a copy of the Verdun battlefield when midsummer finally gets here.
John B Boddie (286277) — 3/22/2020 @ 8:47 pmAnd the band played on!
rota (6f430c) — 3/22/2020 @ 9:05 pmBesides the thankless task of correcting people on the Internet, I’ve got an awful lot of my SF/mystery/thriller reading list done. You know, the list that grows exponentially faster than you can actually read.
Am currently reading “Shadows of Annihilation”, the third Black Chamber book by S M Stirling. Before that was the most recent posthumous Spenser book. Reread Ringworld, again. Before that was the entire 21-book Honor Harrington series, something I’d been meaning to get to for several years.
Next up are a couple of C J Cherryh books, two “Revenger” books by Alastair Reynolds and well, there’s still 200 other books on my Kindle. I’ve been meaning to start on the Expanse for some time now, and there’s some classic old thrillers from Leon Uris my wife says I should read.
Escapism seems to be the order of the day. I could not bear to read history, economics or politics right now. So Robert Conquest gets put off again, as do Eric Foner and Bob Woodward.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/22/2020 @ 11:53 pmIt does help that we picked up and moved to New Mexico 18 months ago, so most of my friends are back in L.A. and I can “visit” without leaving the house. Silver lining. I think the isolation is harder on my wife, but so far we’ve managed to make it work. Just saw “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” Good movie.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/22/2020 @ 11:59 pmAnother reason to stop and smell the roses?
Lost Sense of Smell May Be Peculiar Clue to Coronavirus Infection
Seems to be many indications of the same thing from different sources around the world, and it even happens to people who otherwise show no symptoms but test positive for the germ.
Read the whole thing.
Dave (1bb933) — 3/22/2020 @ 11:59 pmOther than, of course, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Sony’s Crackle, Disney’s video streaming service, YouTube videos, scientific articles and studies, good books, I’ve been eating healthier than ever (meat aka the carnivore diet), learning new exercise routines that can be done from home (counting Shovelglove and The Miracle SEVEN [including “The Tiger Moves], adding other healthy habits (such as mindset training with great quotes and some of my own thoughts, a 30+ second cold shower every morning, appropriate nutritional supplements), and engaging in lots of sex (although not with Jenny: I don’t know her)!
Anything to keep the immune system healthy; we all must do our part.
Make America Ordered Again (23f793) — 3/23/2020 @ 5:13 amAlthough 90% of our govt orgs’ employees are home doing nothing, the powers that be asked those of us with laptops and access to work from home (mostly IT and other tech folks). Difficult to stay motivated. Plus: rainy and have not been able to buy TP for weeks. Worried about the economic future. Am a bit down, which is unlike me normally. The dogs are enjoying having us home and their extra walks.
Mel (a60e4c) — 3/23/2020 @ 2:58 pmHi Mel,
Earlier today I saw that Amazon has TP in stock. I don’t know where you’re located, but it might be good to jump on it, give your weather. Dogs are great company, aren’t they?
Dana (4fb37f) — 3/23/2020 @ 3:31 pmSo, I put down what I was reading and picked up the NEW. HEINLEIN. BOOK.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/24/2020 @ 2:46 pm