2020 Life Logs, Day 120: Back and Weather Better Than Yesterday
Date: Wednesday, April 29, 2020
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 55 degrees, Low 41 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Both my back and the weather were better today than yesterday, so I’ll call that a win, win. And then I had a fun afternoon with the Goldpebbles, so that’s a third win. But in these coronavirus days, the good news always seems to come with some disturbing news. Tonight on the Rachel Maddow Show, Rachel shared the results of a coronavirus projection model produced by Mass General Hospital, Harvard Medical, Boston University, and Georgia Tech. It shows that for the state of Massachusetts, if we keep doing everything exactly the way we are doing them right now, by the end of August, the number of deaths will go up from the current 3,000+ to almost 5,000. But if current standards are relaxed, that August death toll is projected to be almost 29,000. By this model, if we stay in lockdown, we save 24,000 lives. That part is good news. Lives can be saved, but it means continuing to live as we do right now and that is the reality according to this model. While Heather and Jed were here for dinner tonight, Heather got the news that there will be no 4th of July fireworks this year and that the Falmouth Road Race has been cancelled. It is most certainly going to be a different kind of summer.
Speaking of summer, there were times this afternoon when it felt like summer. I picked up the Goldpebbles around 1:45 pm and brought them here to spend the afternoon. We watched some of the Woods Hole Research Center webinar hosted by Heather and then headed outside to transplant raspberries. We didn’t get them all transplanted, but I called a halt to the work as it was time to head down to the dock to launch the kayaks. 
The boys spent the next hour and a half out on the water while I sat and watched. I had on my winter coat, which was needed while sitting still while the wind blew. But there were times when there was no wind orders the sun shining down on my face felt burning hot. It felt so good. But all good things must come to an end, so we headed back to The Cottage around 5 pm. I needed to make another batch of those 40-minute hamburger buns that I made last Thursday when the boys were here, as we were once again having hamburgers for dinner. Heather and Jed arrived in time for Jed to do the grilling. Thank you, Jed. He, Heather, and I had portabella mushroom burgers instead of ground beef burgers and the mushroom burgers were delicious.
No plans for tomorrow other than doing some online shopping for food and beverage deliveries. Afternoon activities will depend on the weather.
I leave you with a stark statement by Fintan O’Toole, Irish Times Columnist. He wrote, “The world has loved, hated, and envied the U.S. Now, for the first time, we pity it.” How I wish we had had wise, thoughtful leadership in this time of crisis.
