Pandemic Journal Day 136

I can't let a tornado in Botetourt County go by unremarked.

We did not see the tornado, though apparently it was just over the ridge. We went riding around immediately after hearing about it, though. We think it formed near the intersection of Haymakertown Road and Lee Lane and ten followed the Catawba Creek, mostly as a funnel cloud, but perhaps touching down.

The National Weather Service is supposed to be investigating today to confirm touchdown.

The alert went off on my phone while I was in the middle of watching a Melissa Etheridge concert online that I'd paid $10 to see. About the time the alert went off, my PC screen froze, but I was able to refresh it and continue watching. I wasn't getting up from that unless I absolutely had to and we don't, as a rule, have tornadoes here. 

My husband left my side and went prowling around the house to see if he could see anything. He reported rotation in the clouds towards my father's house, which is about where we think the tornado began. Photos began pouring in on social media and my friends Cathy and Teresa both say they felt the tornado and/or heard it.

The tornado apparently came through around 6:40 or so, and we hopped in the car at 7 p.m. and drove around to see if we could find its path. Nothing was visible from the road aside from the one spot at the aforementioned location, whether there were some downed tree limbs. That's why we think it formed around there.

As for the pandemic, we continue to have zero leadership at the federal level. Governor Northam has done a good job trying to keep things in hand in Virginia, but I'm not sure how you deal with so many stupid people and manage a pandemic all at the same time. Everyday there are utterly appalling videos of people who should know better having temper tantrums over wearing masks. You'd think they were all two years old and have never heard the concept of community and protecting others, the way they act. I would be embarrassed. The sad thing is, they think they are in the right and this is all some kind of hoax. A big world-wide hoax, I guess. Must be the best damn hoax ever, is all I can say.

More than 153,000 US citizens have died from this virus. I'm pretty sure a lot of them did not have to die and would not have died if we'd had appropriate leadership to begin with. But we did not.

Last night I started getting a sore throat and that continues into today. My neck glands are a little swollen. I also have a bit of a headache. The headache could be weather-related since we have a tropical depression/hurricane coming up the coast.

I was out a lot last week - I drove my mother-in-law to get her car, I picked up groceries Monday and last night (I do the online thing, I don't go in the store), I had to see the orthopedic doctor, I went to the chiropractor. I probably picked up something somewhere down the line even though I use a lot of Purell and wash my hands at every sink I see. I am not concerned it is Covid-45. I suppose it could be, but most likely it is either an allergy (my husband kept rolling down the car windows because they kept fogging up Saturday night when we were looking for the tornado's path and everyone had mowed their yard), or I picked up one of the many other little viruses that I frequently get.

In other words, it doesn't feel like an out-of-the-ordinary illness for me, although I am quite tired and more than a little depressed.  Time will tell.

The children are supposed to start back to school this month, some homeschooling completely, some going back two days a week, some doing a mix of both online and in-class learning. My niece is headed off to Radford University.  Hopefully she will be safe there and wear her mask and do the things she needs to do take care of herself.

My husband came in this morning fussing because yesterday he'd seen a woman and a child in a silver vehicle stopped a long the side of the road at the pasture field. He did not say anything to them - he should have - and for some strange reason he assumed they were picking up trash (nobody picks up trash, why would he assume that?). At any rate, he came back up ranting and raving because apparently the woman and child had decided to fly a kite and the string was wrapped around the power line and power pole and the kite is in the pasture field. Because of the way the string is wrapped around the power line, he is afraid to touch it. The kite is a hazard to the cows.

What a stupid thing to do.

Then he went to Walmart. Apparently the stores are still having trouble keeping stock; we can't find Clean Shower anywhere, not even online. I like using that to help keep the shower clean. I've considered a mix of water and vinegar but I'm afraid the vinegar will eat the finish off the shower head and the grab bars, all of which are covered with some kind of dark bronze. The Lime-Away has already eaten the color out of the water drain cover and I'd just as soon not mess up the other items.

He stopped by a body repair shop to let them look at a dent in the car. The car has several dents, including one acquired last night on the way home from a grocery store pickup. He slowed but the deer hit into the side of the car. The repair estimate for all the dents is a lot. I think I'll just drive a dented car.

The political divisions in this country are strong, deep, and sick. I read a post on the "Local Conservatives" Facebook group page that was sickening. (They have it open to the public, it is very full of hate. I'd be ashamed to belong to that group.) This one guy advocated separating the country into two nations, and anyone who wasn't a Conservative who wanted to stay in the real America (i.e., the Conservative one), "socalists will loose the right to vote here and be disarmed." [sic] So, in other words, fascism.

I think I need to stay off that page but it is aggravating because I see people I thought otherwise knew better on it and not a single one pointed out to this nut case that he was advocating the same thing Germany did prior to World War II. Their silence implies compliance and agreement.

That's not to say I don't see stupidity on "the left" because I do. I do, however, point out when they overreach. I also am not active in any groups and especially not in any local groups. My father thinks I'm a flaming liberal just because I believe in a social safety net and equal rights for women. But that just makes me a moderate. We have no real left in this country. What used to be center is now considered left, that's how fascist we've become.

Maybe they'll wake up one day, when one of #45's paramilitary stomps on their mommas' faces or something, I don't know.

I'm getting off topic, I was talking about the pandemic, although the pandemic has been made political so it's hard to separate the two. A public health issue shouldn't be political. We should be gracious enough to take care of one another.

I guess that is too much to ask.

********

For those who need to know (and someone must because I felt very led to do this):

Fascism: a totalitarian governmental system led by a dictator and emphasizing aggressive nationalism, militarism, and often racism.

Socialism: a theory or system of social organization in which the means of production and distribution of goods are owned and controlled collectively or by the government

Democracy: government in which supreme power is exercised directly by the people or by their elected agents.

Democrat: an advocate of democracy

Capitalism: an economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately owned.

Just for fun: if the governments/states owns the roads, and you transport your privately made goods over those roads (distribution), is it capitalism or socialism?

Think about it.

Take your time.

*Webster's Dictionary. Everybody ought to own a hard copy.