TubaOrNotTuba

After a recent effort to fill my RV water tank using a funnel, I decided that we need to step up our game. Not to deny the utility of the funnel, but the fill port is located on the exterior vertical wall of the rig, and water obeys gravity. That is, we managed to pour a lot of water on the ground.

Some things qualify as poorly kept secrets. Today, when CBC announced that the swimming area of my LOCAL BEACH was temporarily closed, due to a shark sighting… that qualified as real. I mean, I’ve known about the risk of sharks for most of my adult life. The local dive shop sold “bang sticks” which seemed like over reaction, but there you have it. I’d seen photos of fish that had been hauled aboard. I cannot claim to have ever been theoretical prey, but I’m going to be better informed in future. Perhaps our dog not wanting to swim has nothing to do with fear of getting his fur wet.

You’ve probably seen those odd math questions that pop up on social media. Usually, a poorly defined equation, where the combination of operators and brackets leave those of us who are math-diminished gasping. I’ve been watching the solution process, and what is clear is that a) the order of operations is important and b) there are several variants out there. What seems clear to one is pure gibberish to another. Oddly, that’s how I remember most of my math classes after leaving the safe harbour of elementary school.

I didn’t know that nature could evolve so quickly. Everything I’ve learned about viral pandemics is being proven wrong. The latest catch, coming days after I proudly told the world that I was vaccinated is that the virus might not be thwarted by my efforts. That I may be just as deadly to others as before. That I’m staying home for the foreseeable future, wearing a mask and scrubbing my hands like someone from the cast of Macbeth.

Over the years, I’ve had certain moments of criticism for what can be classified as “cooking odours”. My fault, for not running the appropriate ventilation fans and opening strategic windows. However, I have to mention that the smell of a steamed clam is stronger than I would have thought. And those same fans can carry traces into parts of the house that my pizza accidents never have. Or maybe the scent of commercial pasta is easier to accept than something organic and “fresh from the sea”.

Seventy-seven days: the time between my two sessions in a the vax-chair. I assume they’ve been very busy, because I’ve been mentally prepared for at least that long. And now I sit quietly for the mandatory wait-week, while my antibodies gear up for a war I don’t really want to have to fight. I can stay home; it fits with my introverted view of the world.

They almost had me. A crime documentary series, with the title :”Heist”. And then the tagline. Watch people almost get away with these crimes of a lifetime. You see what the publicist did there, right. Oh well. Back to searching for TV content that takes me beyond the mundane.

Right now, the most important statistic for many around me is whether or not you have been vaccinated against COVID-19 via the public health service. I’m going to try to avoid slipping into a “rant” mode, but it won’t be easy. As of this date, fully 83% of the population (over the age of twelve) has started the process (which takes several months). The next logical move, by society, is to identify the 17% who have chosen an alternate strategy.

Dress appropriately. It doesn’t matter if the weather changes on an irregular, pseudorandom schedule. Dress in layers. Sounds like what a parent might say. Right now, in early July, we have rain showers and a top temperature of 12C. On second thought, I’ll just stay inside. At least when the ice age begins, my bed will be close by. And I know that the other coast can only wish for such a clement climate. Here, things will change; they always do. And I no longer have to fret about calling a bus for my flock of student sheep.

,We moving into another phase in this multi-month battle against a virus. I’ll call it the “upload” phase, as a terse but true description. You see, the borders (or as some see them, the frontiers) have been closed since early last year. Sort of. That’s a story for another day.