Safely Home and Silver Linings

Rachel and Holly made it home safely from South Africa a few days earlier than planned. With things changing so much with respect to international travel, we were relieved to see they made it home with no problems along the way. Rachel is doing a 14-day self-quarantine to be on the safe side in case she's been infected. That makes good sense. The screen for the COVID-19 virus when they re-entered the country was not much more than a cursory once-over. We spent 45 minutes with her on a video chat yesterday. It was nice to see her and hear a little more about her travels.

Much of our country is sheltering in place due to the COVID-19 virus. Non-essential stores are closed as are restaurants however, most restaurants are open for either carryout or curbside pickup. Paper towels and toilet paper are in short supply as is hand sanitizer. A worker in a store recently told me that manufacturers aren't taking orders from stores for hand sanitizer at this time—it's all being sent to hospitals and other care facilities.

The group of guys I ride with from Northfield has suspended our Tuesday night and Saturday morning gravel rides to lessen the chance for passing along the virus to others. It's a smart move and one I was expecting. The guys out of Lakeville that I ride with are still getting together but I won't be joining them until we're well on the backside of this pandemic. It seems an unnecessary risk.

And speaking of risks—I'm still riding outdoors. I've been toying with the idea of parking my bikes and utilizing my indoor trainer instead to remove the risk for a riding injury that may need medical help. I'd rather not burden our healthcare workers any more than they already are but neither do I want to spend time in a hospital where exposure to the C-19 virus is (I would think) higher than most other places. It's possible that once our situation here turns dier (I'm convinced it will), I'll limit myself to indoor rides. It's not nearly the same as being outdoors but they're an excellent workout.

I try not to fret about the possibility of contracting the C-19 virus but I'd be lying if I said I didn't occasionally think about it. Would I be one of the lucky ones (one of the 80% who would have relatively mild symptoms) or would I be one of the more extreme cases? I came across this sobering tweet last night. The main takeaway from the video for me is that if we go the way of Italy (I tend to believe we will), only 1 person in 50 who is in need of a ventilator will have access to one. That's a frightening number. Most of us know people in the at-risk category. Take a moment to ponder that 1 in 50 number while being mindful that it's a conservative estimate.

For the longest time, I try and find the silver linings in the curveballs life throws; for many, tho, there are few in this pandemic—especially for those who will lose people close to them or who won't be receiving a paycheck, and those whose businesses won't be able to survive more than a week or two of being shuttered—if that. I truly don't know how we make this work without a good dose of that democratic socialism some of us on the left like to occasionally tout. I'm sure there are silver linings to be found, tho. I've seen lots of families with their pets leading the way walking past our house the last few days and I've noticed a lot less traffic on the road when I'm out biking. I'm noticing more neighbors than ever out chatting in the quiet neighborhood streets, making sure to keep a safe distance from one another in this day of social distancing—a term I'm sure very few of us had ever heard of until recently. Those are all small silver linings. They're a start.

I finally made it back down into my studio to knock out a stained glass project this past week. I'm pleased with how it turned out. The design was something I came up with a while back but I wasn't sure if I'd take the time to breathe life into it. I'm glad I did. Here's a link to it on my Etsy site where you can see additional photos of it.

The video below is from our first (and possibly last) Tuesday Night Gravel ride of the season with the guys from Northfield. I'm hopeful we'll get the green light to begin them once again toward the middle of summer but it's anybody's guess at this point. I'm going to miss those rides!

That's all I've got.