The Second Pademic

 

If you were wondering how the Second Pandemic (Stupidity) is doing, you need look no further than the Great State of Alabama.

How do I know this? I was driving to an appointment this morning, and was listening to NPR on the radio. The reporter was interviewing 3 Infection Control physicians who worked in hospitals in Alabama. While describing the overwhelming task of trying to cope with the influx huge of people who were sick and dying from COVID-19, it was mentioned that there were many of these sick and dying patients (and there families) who were insisting that COVID-19 did not exist. 

While there is a huge controversy in this country about getting vaccinated and wearing masks,  I am not seeing any reports in the news (interviews, people carrying signs, etc.) who are saying it is because COVID-19 does not exist; the main reason seems to revolve around  perceived freedom of choice.

In Alabama, though, people are laying in hospital beds dying from COVID-19, and many of them (and their family members) are insisting it is not from COVID. The fact that 600,000+ people in the US and well over a million people worldwide have died from this does nothing to sway them from their belief. It is a worldview that is, well, a bit out there.

If you remember a few years back, the Darwin Awards were quite popular. The award was "presented" to an individual who did something to remove himself from the gene pool in a spectacular way. Perhaps dying from a somewhat preventable disease because of denying it exists may not rise to the level of "spectacular" but, if we are a little less fussy about this, the Darwin Awards have the potential to make a comeback in Alabama. Sad, but it appears that there is no end in sight for this particular pandemic

My Mayflower Ancestor

My oldest daughter, Sarah, has been researching the genealogy of our family for years. During the course of this journey, she discovered that one of my paternal grandmother's ancestors came to America on the Mayflower in 1620.

His name was Edward Doty and he was, by all accounts, a  colorful character. He made the voyage as an indentured servant. After landing in Massachusetts (instead of the intended destination of Virginia), Doty and the other indentured servants argued that their contracts for indentured servitude were void since their contract was to serve in Virginia. As a compromise the Pilgrim leaders created a set of laws which became the Mayflower Compact. Doty was one of the signers.

Doty had a reputation for being argumentative and having a quick temper. As a result, he ended up appearing in Plymouth court numerous times over the years. Many of his business dealings were alleged to be fraudulent.

Doty was also one of the combatants in the first duel fought in New England on June 18, 1621 (fought with a sword and a dagger). The duel ended with both participants being wounded.

Records show Doty received one acre of land and was later granted twenty additional acres. There were additional land transactions over the years which apparently made him fairly prosperous.

As for his life of crime, court records exist from 1632 onward, and document 23 cases involving Doty between 1632 and 1651. There were suits and countersuits, accusations of fraud, slander, fighting, assault, debt, trespass, and theft. Amazingly, he was never jailed for anything, paying an occasional fine instead.

Among Doty's ancestors were at least one lawyer, a playwright, a territorial governor, a state legislator and an outlaw. There is also an Edward Doty society which his descendants can join (I have no plans to apply).

As far as I know, my daughter has not found any other ancestors as interesting as Doty, but the search is not over. How about your family?

 

 

Seaside Path in Acadia

 

My wife and I had made reservations to go on a 16-day bus trip in the summer of 2020. The trip included touring several national parks out west (Glacier, Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, etc.) as well as local sites, such as museums and the Black Hills, and crossing into Canada for the Calgary Stampede and touring Banff National Park. 

The pandemic, combined with the closure of the Canadian border led to the cancellation of our trip. Travel restrictions imposed by the State of Vermont, which varied week to week in response to the pandemic in the moment, made planning any getaway challenging.

Generally, vacations with my wife have been to Maine; either to Acadia or Freeport, or sometimes both. We decided to try to plan a trip to Acadia, and hoped that Hancock County, where Acadia was located, would be green on the Travel Map that the State updated every week.

In addition to the Travel Map, the success of our trip relied upon careful planning. Having lived on Mount Desert Island as a child, and having returned there over thirty times in the last 50 years, I am very familiar with places to go, including places where there won't be crowds. We have been coming to MDI in October for the past 25+ years and, even though the number of tourists has increased over the years, it is still not as bad as in July or August. 

We also generally rent a house for a week, rather than staying in a hotel. For this trip, we found an Airbnb, which was a ranch house about 150 yards from my childhood home in Southwest Harbor. The advantage with this choice was, if the pandemic got worse, we could cancel and get a refund with 48 hours notice.

We also created a list of places we could see and hike which were unlikely to be overflowing with tourists. One of them was the Seaside Path.

If you look at tourist maps of hiking trails on Mount Desert Island, you will not find the Seaside Path. Much of it is on private property, but the owners give permission for hikers to cross their land. The path starts near Jordan Pond, passes through evergreen forest;

past a private stable;

beneath the Stanley Brook Bridge:

and eventually ends up on the beach at Seal Harbor for a picnic lunch.

Originally, the path connected the Seaside Inn in Seal Harbor with the Jordan Pond House. The Seaside Inn is long gone, the original Jordan Pond House burned down in 1979 (replaced by the current version). At one time, the path also served as a buckboard road. Today, the path is well-maintained, though little used (we saw one jogger on the trail during our walk to Seal Harbor and back).

My wife and I are trying to be optimistic, and have a reservation to rent a house on the shore in October, 2021. Hopefully between the vaccine, changes in Washington, and at least most of us behaving responsibly, the world will be a better place by then. One can only hope.

 

Christmas Adventures with Merlin

Merlin joined the family two years ago as a rescue. Along with his mother and siblings, he had been found and taken in by a shelter. Merlin ended up being the last to be adopted. No one wanted him because of his deformed tail. It is smaller than normal and shaped like a capital L. When he wags his tail, it is reminiscent of someone waving a signal flag. While others may find Merlin undesirable, we love him and believe we are lucky to have him.

One of Merlin's many pleasures is inspecting the contents of bags. When I come home from the grocery store, he hops up onto the counter, checks the contents of the bags and supervises unloading the groceries and putting them away. Actually, bags from any shopping we do are subject to being inspected by the little guy.

His curiosity, his love of bags and the availability of Christmas gift bags are what got him into trouble yesterday. My wife has a large blanket chest in our bedroom, and she had several gift bags on top of it awaiting delivery. Merlin jumped up onto the blanket chest to begin his inspections.

Unfortunately, with one of the gift bags, he stuck his head through the handle to look inside. Everything was fine until the inspection ended. When he tried to pull his head out of the bag, his head was stuck in the loop of the handle and things went downhill from there. Merlin panicked, jumped off the blanket chest and took off through the house, still attached to the gift bag. bumping into furniture and scattering Christmas gifts as he tore through the house. The bag was quickly destroyed, but the remnants were still attached because the loop of the handle was still around his neck.

Merlin ended up back in the bedroom under our bed. My wife tried to reach him to remove the bag, but he kept moving away. After several attempts, the bag was removed and he went downstairs to my daughter's bedroom to rest and recover from the trauma.

When he finally emerged a few hours later, he was crying and limping as he tried to climb the stairs. My wife and I were hoping his injury was just a sprain or strain, by his crying indicated he was in pain, and it was clear he needed to be checked by a vet. It was late afternoon on Christmas eve, and naturally our vets office was closed. This left us with having to go to BEVS (Burlington Emergency Veterinary Service). Our Christmas eve ended up being 4 hours there.

Because of the pandemic, we were not allowed to enter the building and had to wait in our car in the parking lot. Conversations were over the phone, and a vet tech came out to take Merlin and his pet carrier into the building. It turns out that Merlin has a fracture of the head of his femur (the "ball" of the "ball and socket" joint).

While he is scheduled for surgery on January 5th, our job in the meantime is to restrict his activity and to keep him from jumping and making things worse.

If you have ever owned a cat, you know from experience that telling the little guy to do something (or not to do something) is a colossal waste of time. If you mention the word "supper", he will come and await being fed. Otherwise, he does pretty much whatever he wants. Currently, he is residing in our guest room, with the mattress and box spring from the bed leaning up against the wall, leaving him with nothing in the room that he can jump up onto. He is well-medicated, and destined to spend the next several days eating and sleeping, with the only down side being restricted to the room/

After all this, you have to ask yourself: Will Merlin keep his nose out of bags in the future? Not likely.

 

Battery Park Protest Failure

 

On August 25th of this year, a group of protesters entered Battery Park in Burlington and set up a tent camp. They announced a set of demands, with the primary demand being the firing of three Burlington police officers who had been accused of having used excessive force during the performance of their duties. The group stated that they would continue to occupy the park until their demands were met.

On Wednesday, September 30th without fanfare, the protesters abandoned their camp, leaving over a dozen tents, dozens of homemade signs, and piles of trash. One of the three officers that they demanded be fired had accepted a buyout deal from the city of Burlington,  while the other two officers remained on duty. While I am sympathetic to at least some of the demands from the protesters, it would be hard to describe the protest, considering the original demands, to be a success.

While good intentions are commendable, one needs a lot more than that to be successful in an endeavor like this. Where did things go wrong?

Unrealistic Demands

You can't just fire a police officer. Having been in a leadership position in a union environment (the State of Vermont) I can tell you from experience that the employees have protections under the contract to protect them from arbitrary actions by management (which is a good thing). Due process and discipline are clearly defined and must be followed. The three police officers had gone through the due process defined by the contract, so the matter was closed. Interestingly, a member of the Police Commission resigned, reportedly because he advocated having the city fire the officers anyway, and deal with the consequences. The consequences, once arbitration concluded, would probably have included reinstatement to their jobs, back pay, and punitive damages. I am glad that the city officials did not take him seriously and that he has faded from the spotlight. I have forgotten his name already

The protesters, by making a demand (fire the officers) that the city was not going to accept, combined with a pledge to remain in the park until it happened, set the stage for failure.

A Short-Term Camp and a  Long-Term Commitment

In the beginning, the protesters enjoyed a lot of support. Food was donated, one of the owners of a nearby house allowed them to fill plastic jugs with water for drinking, and there was a lot of positive response with honking of horns when people drove by and saw protesters along the street with their signs.

Over time, though, the Law of Diminishing returns kicked in. People often lose interest in donating to something that does not appear to be reaching a successful conclusion. This protest did not appear to have substantial financial backing to permit ongoing purchase of needed supplies. Also, more protesters may join the camp, while others grow tired of the ongoing status quo and decide to leave. Toward the end, it looked like the exodus had begun well before the last day.

While food and shelter are important, hygiene and sanitation are also necessary for a living situation that needs to be able to continue for a prolonged period. Protesters who plan to live in a tent probably do not bring a large suitcase with a lot of clothing; they are more likely to be traveling light with a few outfits. While there is a laundromat a few blocks away on Pearl street, I am not sure how many protesters chose to utilize it.

For bathrooms, the protesters had Port-a-Potties. While these may be OK for one-time or occasional use, I can't say I would recommend them as the only option for weeks.

As for bathing, there are no facilities in Battery Park. If there was any provision for bathing, it wasn't evident, and the fact that they were filling plastic jugs with water from a  nearby home would indicate that there would have to be a lot of this happening to support regular bathing for dozens of people. How likely is that? 

No "Mission Accomplished"

The way this protest was going, there was a potential for it to look like a modern version of Washington's encampment at Valley Forge. I can totally understand people giving up, but why the messy exit? Why abandon perfectly good tents?

The answer, from my perspective, is that perhaps the tents were not "perfectly good". Picture yourself as a protester. You brought along a couple of changes of clothing. You have been there for over a month, living in close proximity to many others, wearing the same clothes repeatedly, not bathing very well (if at all), and the weather, which was pretty warm at the beginning, is starting to cool off. 

Because of the living conditions, did the protesters begin to experience some public health issues? Bedbugs? Scabies? Why else would you simply leave multiple tents in the park? I do not know for sure, but one certainly wonders.

Fortunately, this protest was non-violent and, with a few exceptions, civil. City officials chose wisely to not confront the protesters for camping illegally in the park and to wait them out. 

If nothing else, the protest serves as an example of good intentions without being well thought out. One of the adult learning principles is "How It's Not Done", and this definitely falls in that category.

And no, I do not want a used tent.

Free Trump Lie Detector

I think it is safe to say that, if lying were an Olympic event, Donald Trump would take the gold medal without much effort. Since taking office, members of the press have identified in excess of 13,000 lies, and the number, like the national deficit, grows daily.

There is a machine called a Lie Detector, but it is neither valid nor reliable. Fortunately, with Trump, you don't need it. All you need are his own words.

Over time, if you have not already noticed, there are certain words or phrases that, when he uses them, the next thing to come out of his mouth adds to the 13,000+ total of whoppers.

Examples include:

- "probably"

- "maybe"

- "I heard..."

- "people say..."

- "I believe" (or "I don't believe")

- "believe me"

Other less subtle examples include:

- "the Democrats..."

- "Obama..."

- "I didn't know him very well"

Unfortunately for him, this, along with being impeached, will most likely be his most memorable legacy as President. 

In the years to come, people may watch video of Trump at one of his rallies and ask themselves, "Is he lying?"

Probably.

Change My Mind. Really?

Being retired and having WAY too much time on my hands, I tend to spend a fair amount of time on the Internet. One of the things I have noticed is photos of individuals standing or sitting with a sign which makes a potentially controversial or inflammatory statement followed by "Change My Mind". While these people are apparently looking for an arguement, I am afraid they do not get the desired reaction from me. 

While I can be very opinionated and judgemental, I don't feel any obligation to inflect myself upon you to try to convince you that I am right and that you should hold the same opinion. If people want to agree with me, that's fine. If they don't, I am not going to be offended.

Because I don't feel like adding to all of the conflict that is already everywhere around me, I don't go bonkers when I see someone with their "Change My Mind" sign. My usual reaction (which I tend to keep to myself), is: "Who cares what you think?" 

The signs are intended to spark conflict and elicit a reaction. It's my belief that these individuals are deeply entrenched in their positions, and no one is going to convince them otherwise. If you happen to feel an obligation to engage these individuals to save them from themselves, feel free. As for me, I will most likely keep my inside thoughts inside.