And the Jello jiggled.....

 7:45 am - Tuesday - December 15th - Seal Rock, OR - 46° F, 93% humidity, wind 21 mph out of the south......heavy cloud cover, wind, rain today with a forecast high of 51° F.  On this date in 2011 I posted the following unattributed quote: "Laziness is the art of resting before you get tired".....I guess that epitimizes the fulltime lifestye, no?

I wrote about 'packing' yesterday, but today I will write about UNpacking.  Around 8:30 am we received a text messsage from our oldest daughter, Meredith, advising that many of the friends with whom our kids spend a lot of time have recently tested positive for the Wuhan flu, and as a result our kids are self isolating for the next couple of weeks.  Apparently there has been a recent explosion of COVID cases in SoCal in general.  She expressed concern for our health, and traveling in an airplane to spend time with our kids who have all been exposed, and suggested we not fly south on Wednesday as a precaution.

Admittedly, TLE and I have been discussing this concern between the two of us for a few days now, but were still committed to making the trip.  This new information kind of solidified a feeling we have had, and as a result we decided NOT to make the trip.  Within an hour, or so our other kids began chimming in suggesting we not come south for Christmas.

By the time we had made our decision it was time for me to report for work.  Terry and I spent all of my two hour shift trimming more hedges at sites #10 & 18.  Around 11:15 am it began to rain lightly, so we rushed to finish what we were doing.  By the time I arrived home just after 12 pm my coat was beginning to get wet, but I was still warm and dry underneath.

I spent the afternoon cancelling our flights, a hotel room near my cardiologist where we were going to spend the evening Thursday, and our rental car.  Then I called my cardiologist's office to change my in person appointment to an audio/visual one.  They agreed with my decision not to travel, and sent me a link to Microsoft Teams (like Zoom) for my 3 pm appointment on Thursday.  Next up was for me to unpack my suitcase, return the clothes to their proper places in my closet, and return the suitcase to the trailer.  It is such a nice suitcase, and I was really looking forward to using it, but such is life.....you make plans, and then life happens.

After finishing the cancellation of all our Christmas plans I spent time reflecting back on how we have been living our lives since our government began their "Six weeks to slow the spread" program in March.  We spent the first two months (March and April) at the very rural property of our good friends Tom and Darlene, the formed a travel plan beginnin in early May that would keep us in rural America 95% of the time (Northern Arizona, Southwestern Utah, Western Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, Northern Idaho, Eastern Washington, Whidbey Island, the Olympic Peninsula) coming to a stop in very rural Seal Rock, OR.  During the past 9 months we rarely have been in any location with more than 20 deaths from the Wuhan flu.  Never have we felt unsafe during that time.

You will recall I often commented during our travels this summer that the danger from COVID was in densley populated areas of our country, not in rural America, and that theory has been born out over and over again.  Being mobile such as we are has enabled us to live in areas where life is pretty much going on 'as usual' with the exception mask wearing in grocery, and retail establishments.  We don't wear masks while walking around town, on the beach, hiking, in our car, or in our RV site.  The only time we wear masks for long durations is while at work within the park, otherwise only inside public buildings for minutes at a time.  We are not 'locked down' in our homes, or wondering from where our next meal will come.  There is much more I could say about how half the population no longer trusts government, because of the totalitarian, heavy handed way government in general has handeled this pandemic, but I would just be spitting into the proverbial wind, so I will leave that for another day.  There are consequences to government overreach, and we are seeing that born out increasingly day by day.

After checking the local weather forecast showing high winds overnight we opted to stow our patio awning for the first time in 2, or 3 weeks just as the sun was setting.  It rained on and off most othe afternoon, but stopped early evening.  More rain is forecast for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.....time to get out my snorkel....lol!

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