We went for a nice long drive in the countryside yesterday.  It was a beautiful day, blue skies and sunshine.  We had no destination, just a big loop that took us about 50 miles in an hour and a half.  It was nice to get out and see some different scenery.

We last filled up the gas tank on March 30, and when we left the house yesterday we only had about 50 miles on the odometer.  The shame of it is we keep getting “Fuel Points” from our grocery purchases and prescription refills that give us a nice discount on our gas.  The points expire every month but we have a hard time using them because we don’t need gas!  A nice problem to have, I guess, but I hate to not buy gas when we can get up to $1 per gallon off.

We continue to avoid eating restaurant food, and have gotten to the place where it doesn’t have much appeal.  One of these days we may go out for pizza, but we just bought some frozen pizza dough and are going to try making our own.  It won’t be as good as pizza from our favorite place, but we’re on a roll now with cooking at home and don’t want to break the streak!

Someone blogged the other day about takeout being a “significant treat” but we don’t see the appeal of eating food from a cardboard or styrofoam container.  We’ve been experimenting with beans and grains and different kinds of veggies, improving our ability to grill fish, and continuing our weekly steak habit (about the only meat we eat these days).  The scale has been very happy with the higher quality of food.  Just this week my weight hit the lowest point since we started tracking in 2009!  Kathy is right along beside me.  Life is good!

Today’s photo reminds me that we would all be a lot better off if we spent more time listening instead of talking.  Listening to good music through good headphones allows us to mind our own business and to not bother others.

We were scheduled to get haircuts today.  Fortunately things haven’t gotten too shaggy yet.  Another month, though, and we may need to take action.

One of our most recurring topics of conversation is “when will we be able to travel again?”  Of course we could be stubborn and head off now, provided we were able to navigate the various states’ rules for entry from our of state, rules about quarantine, etc., and as long as we were willing to carry grocery store food in coolers and eat carryout.  But nothing is open, so it would be “travel for travel’s sake.”  Instead we’re making ourselves be content with sticking at home and taking care of all those endless things that we’ve been putting off until “some day.”  It seems like “some day” might be here.

The cruise industry has gotten a lot of press recently because of all the reports of ships full of sick people, etc.  The cruise lines are unfortunate symbols of what happens when you put a bunch of people from different places in one space for a week or more.  All kinds of interesting things can happen, and the media loves reporting on cruise ships because when things go wrong they make for great headlines.

It’s no secret that Kathy & I love to cruise.  We have a cruise booked for October to celebrate our 40th anniversary.  The cruise lines say that they intend to sail again soon.  And they might, provided they can convince the CDC and Coast Guard to allow the ships to dock.  The big question is: when will the cruising public be confident enough to book a cruise?  That’s the question we find ourselves asking: even if the ship sails, how do we feel about being on it?  Certainly by October a lot of this will have blown over, we reason.  And we don’t have to put the rest of our money down until early July.  Will we know by then?  We’re holding off until then to make a decision.  It will be interesting to see how things look in another 3 months.

I read an article this morning about hair stylists doing “virtual haircuts” over video.  Kathy & I were very fortunate to have gotten haircuts just before the shutdown, but our next appointments were supposed to be for this week.  So far so good, but our next appointments aren’t until mid-May.  Things may start looking a little shaggy by then!  I’ve always wondered how I would look with a buzz cut, this might be the time! 😉  I’ve said many times that birthdays and haircuts are two things I won’t complain about, even I have to wait a while for the haircut!

A recent conversation with a very wise person inspired the following, so while I can’t take credit for all of it, I’ve tried to make the words my own:

One of the outcomes of this recent stay-at-home situation is that we have all been given a gift of time.  It is up to each of us to determine how best to take advantage of this gift.  If you are still working but working from home, instead of gazing out the office window or scrolling through Facebook during an idle moment, you can use that moment in another way.  Connect with a friend by phone, water your plants, go for a walk.  If you are out of work, you can use the time to learn a new skill or update your resume or LinkedIn profile.  If you’ve been thinking about quitting your job and starting something new, the first (and often the hardest!) step may have already been done for you.  Figure out what you want to do next and start preparing for it.

One of the most frequent things I hear from people is a statement that starts out with “when this is all over….”  When what is all over?  Life?  No, this IS life.  This is change.  We’re probably not going to return to “Before” in terms of everything being exactly the same.  We’re likely going to move on to “Next.”  And Next will be different.  I hear people talk about the “new normal” like it is some idyllic, static situation.  It’s not.  Many things will return to the way they were before, but many won’t.  As an example, Kathy & I have found that cooking at home and not eating at restaurants is good for us.  Maybe that’s our Next.  It’s probably not a good idea to hop onto a cruise ship for a while.  Maybe that’s our Next.  We can’t wait to get in the car and drive 5 or 8 or 10 thousand miles on a road trip.  We could do that now but it probably won’t be a lot of fun.  Hopefully in another month or two that might be possible.  Maybe that’s our Next.

I’ve got a whole list of projects and priorities that I’m working on.  I hope I get a lot of them accomplished.  I also hope that I don’t, because that will hopefully mean that we’re getting back to some of the things we’ve had to put off during this time.  We’ll see.  But in the meantime, we’ll take a day at a time and when it’s time to pack the car and head off, you can bet we’ll be ready!

Friday is trash day in our neighborhood, and once in a while on my morning walks I come across something that’s a little bit different or interesting.  Since the Goodwill store is closed, I guess people are just throwing stuff in the trash.  That’s a shame, although I suspect that a lot of stuff that Goodwill gets will eventually end up in the trash.  This morning there was a set of golf clubs sticking out of someone’s can,  I recently got rid of a set of my own (less a sentimental putter), but I took them to Goodwill.  Not that I know, but the ones I saw this morning looked better than the ones I got rid of.  No, I didn’t bring them home.

Later in my walk I passed an empty box from a 75″ television.  75″!  Lordy that’s huge!  The “recommended viewing distance” for a 75″ 4G TV is 8-12 feet.  First of all, I only have maybe 3 walls in my entire house to hang a TV  that size, and there is only one of them where I could get that far away!  Yikes!  We don’t even have a TV, although we’ve been contemplating buying one just to watch old movies.  In the meantime we’ve watched a few on my 24″ computer monitor.  That seems large enough!

Something else I wanted to mention.  I know that a few people who read my blog might have something interesting to say in reply, but don’t feel comfortable posting a comment.  That’s OK!  If you are an email subscriber, replying to the email you receive will come directly to me and not post to the blog.  If you subscribe via an RSS feed, you can send me an email directly at tomdills (at) tomdills.com.  I welcome the dialog and feedback, and I don’t judge!

One of our local columnists wrote recently about an experience he had with some people wearing and some people not wearing masks.  He described a situation where he was waiting for a carryout order outside a restaurant.  He and the other two people in line were wearing masks.  During this time, a person without a mask walked into the store, picked up his order and left.  Those standing in line were apparently incensed by – not the idea of the guy cutting in line – the fact that the guy was not wearing a mask.

The writer opened his post by stating that “There are plenty of ways to divide us into two types of people.  I think the newest way is this: Those who wear masks when they go out and about, and those who don’t.”  He closes his article by stating: “if you’re wearing a mask, it shows that you’re thinking about others. And if you don’t, it feels like it’s all about you.”

My reaction to his statement is that we already have way too many ways to divide people like us and people who aren’t like us.  The mask thing is just something else for people to be divided and self-righteous about.  We were already harboring an overly-reactive state of suspicion and paranoia before the virus arrived.  We don’t need to be thinking up new ways to judge people.

A month or so ago, the “experts” were telling us that masks weren’t necessary.  But now, a different set of “experts” is telling us that wearing a mask “can’t hurt” or something to that effect.  And yes, I understand that a small percentage of the population might be “carriers” and not know it.    Both approaches are right, neither of them is wrong.

My concern with masks is that they give people a false sense of security.  Just like someone taking a cholesterol medicine rationalizes that he/she can eat anything he/she wants, wearing masks makes people think they are “safe” when the safest thing to do is to stay the f*** home.

Because we are dealing with incompetent, ineffective and inconsistent leadership at all levels in this country, particularly at the national level, no one really knows who or what to believe.  We as a society act like a flock of sheep.  Where the crowd goes, we follow.  When it comes to knowing what to do in a crisis, we tend to follow the one with the loudest voice.  Right now that voice is hollering about masks.

We missed out on the so-called ‘Super Pink Moon’ last night due to cloud cover, but of course due to unfortunate timing awoke this morning to perfectly clear skies and are looking forward to a temperature in the 80s.  The pollen count has been quite high, which makes it challenging for spending a lot of time outdoors.  We’re hopeful that a cold front passing through tomorrow will give us at least a little relief.

I’ve got a lineup of mostly kitchen gadgets coming this week, but have some ideas for shooting other interesting things around the house.  I’d better, because I need to be prepared for at least a few more weeks, possibly more!

One of the “miracles” of our modern time is home delivery from all kinds of stores.  It is proving to be especially useful now, as a way to minimize trips to public places like Home Depot and Target.  There is little point in risking exposure for hummingbird nectar or Roundup, but you can have it delivered!  Delivery does have a bit of a downside, however, as things don’t always get delivered at the same time.  I purchased some patio cleaner and a pump sprayer to clean some mildew off our patio.  The cleaner will come today, but the sprayer isn’t due to arrive until Friday.  Good thing I’ve got plenty of time to wait.  I’m not in a hurry to do chores! 😉