The coronavirus news is not good. As a now-retired and mostly fixed income person, I’ve been pretty happy with the gains of my savings/holdings in the stock market the last couple of years. But the last three days of COVID-19-driven market collapse have wiped out pretty much all that. It’s hard to watch. My brothers and I may have to break out our masks again (feature picture above).

Unusual weather in our part of Socal lately. Dry and hot – 80 degrees most days this week. Sure doesn’t feel like February.

I absolutely love this article in The Atlantic. In depth, multi-media and thoughtful coverage. It speaks to me in particular because I dedicated 4-5 days of my life in 1977 to helping folks recover from a terrible flood of the Tug River around Williamson KY, the same area as in the article. We shoveled deep muck, pumped out basements, delivered food, slept in the back of trucks and the occasional homeowner’s floor. We were wet, filthy and tired for the entire time, but we  endured, in part because we knew we could leave after a few days and the people who lived there would have to stay. These kind of floods are a real tragedy, and kudos to The Atlantic for documenting it.

After a few days of feeling normal this week, I got whacked with a full-body arthritis (?) attack yesterday. Everything hurt, severely, so much so that I was pretty much incapacitated for a day. If I can figure out what activity brought it on I’ll sure avoid it – don’t want any more days like that.

A big congratulations to my friend Robert at Blue Heron Blast on his favorable health diagnosis! Sometimes the good guys do in fact win. Robert is a really interesting person and a champion blogger/photographer.

Finally, as much as I love dogs, this seems like a really bad idea. A dog or a person is more than just their physical shell, and cloning doesn’t recreate that persona, just the shell. What do you think? (Reply in comments.)