TubaOrNotTuba

The current public healt strategy seems to be based on the use of a ratchet strap. Today, the rules went one click further towards a required and eventual lock down. And, like many others, I want to know. What is the goal? We all know that the greatest risk is from travel to/from other jurisdictions. Why not lock the door to our island castle? Pull up the proverbial drawbridge. Every additional case brings risks that far exceed the “cost to doing business”. Can we get a good winter storm, and pull the plows for a bit? I’ve been going with a “careful” plan for over two years, while the idiots continue to undo efforts. It’s not just here; this is nation wide. And it’s getting a little old as a game.

Every year, the same reacion: Look, that might be snow! It won’t stay just yet, but it brings all of the other items on the to do list into focus. Find your boots and mitts. Plaan to shift the tires. Find the scraper. Get timcets to a southern location (that one doesn’t happen in our family, but it could be a plan).

Probably there is a list of things that go bang in the night. The dog, stumbling around. A peal of thunder. A rock coming through the ceiling and landing on your pillow. The last one is a real event; happened in BC earlier this week. We have photos, thanks to the media.

If I take advice from Scientific American, my masks are insufficient. Inefficient. Inexpensive, actually. We’re not done with facewear just yet, and so the need

I must be really old, because I once owned a chemistry set. Turns out, with evolving safety measures, this stopped being a toy of choice for curious boys around the time that we were putting people on the moon. Coincidence?

This morning, we turned our home into a tiny laboratory, to perform some applied science experiments. The new “juice box”, received yesterday, needed to be tested for its intended purposes. For example, could we use it to evaporate excess water from scalp hair? Yes. How about, extract essential oils from crushed seeds, to prepare an essential beverage (brewing coffee)? Again, yes. And finally, would we be able to prepare simple menu items, such as grilled cheese sandwiches? On all tests, success. Two thumbs up. Now we just need the green light for some camping/glamping. I will delay any other tests, such as recharging the “juice box” using solar panels until we actually acquire some.

On the next math exam, expect the following question:

“If a container of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats weighing 900 grams falls 1 meter (due to gravity), onto a solid surface, how much of a mess will it make? Assume that the container has a lid, albeit poorly fitting.”

In a play on a song from my childhood, I learned that there was “No Mulch Today”Every couple of seasons, the flower beds require a facelift, and bags filled with mulch are an acceptable material. And so, off I went to shop. Didn’t find any (in the usual places), but I did have the chance to see how local retail has responded to the pandemic

While reading history (fact or fiction, combined), I have often taken note of the diet. Specifically, the ration of bread, which seemed to satisfy soldier and criminal alike.  Did it really? Satisfy, I mean. Today, I tried my own test, relying on that last batch of bread for a full pair of meals. Now, the quality is surely part of the equation; they would have killed for something as “light and white and tasty”. I’ll know better, several hours hence, but for the moment I’m satiated. For those of you who exclaim “But it’s not a balanced diet”, I disagree. Grains, dairy, that egg I threw into the machine just for the fun of it; all came together in a manner that makes me want to repeat the plan before I forget my details.

If current trends continue, I will have to go back to school. My education is filling up with knowledge gaps, as improbable as that idea might seem. Most recently, that photo of a black hole.