On A More Positive Note...

This has been the most magnificent Spring I can remember.  March was warm and started things rolling, then April cooled and prolonged it.  And I have a young hound who needs a lot of exercise so we have been out in it almost every day, walking miles and miles.  Various governors would be pissed off at me, too, since I'm in and out of West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia and no I don't self-quarantine afterwards.

"And miles to go before I sleep..."

The bluebells have been amazing - just acres and acres of blue blanketing the forest floors.  They are at the tail end of their bloom season now, and once completely done not only will the flowers disappear but the foliage will also fade back into the ground, leaving no trace of the plant until Spring comes round again.

Virginia Bluebells

Acres and Acres of Bluebells

Wake Robin Trillium

Trout Lily

Bloodroot

Dutchman's Britches

Squirrel Corn

Jack-In-The-Pulpit

Grape Hyacinth - A Pretty, Invasive Non-Native

Nodding Star of Bethlehem - Also An Invasive Non-native But Beautiful

Just Really Cool

It's warm enough now that I'm seeing frog eggs in puddles, turtles, and snakes, and hearing Spring peepers.  The hummingbirds are back and video is already circulating of the first bear raids of the season.  Spring is well and truly here and we're loving it.

Sweden's Losses

Without a lockdown, Sweden's COVID fatalities currently stand at 0.004% higher than ours when calculated relative to our populations.

Another Visual Or Two

Because I don't want to clean house - it always just gets dirty again - I've pulled a bunch of numbers off the CDC/National Center for Health Statistics site.  They have a standard mortality list for which they've posted info by state for the years 2014 - 2017.  I didn't feel like pulling every year, so I used 2017 and added today's COVID fatality number for comparison.  My next project, if I feel so inclined, will be to add a column for the mortality rates as percentage of population.  Which is actually rather more important than a flat rate.  I also updated the flu season comparison.  Click to embiggen.

And, no, West Virginia isn't a mistake.  Our 20 COVID deaths are so low compared to other causes of mortality that they don't even show.  Yet we are locked down.  The states surrounding the panhandle aren't much worse, yet they are also solidly locked down.

New York City is special - 75% of the state's COVID fatalities are in the city.

And one more for the entire US.

Once Upon A Time...

... a queen, totally disconnected from her hungry subjects, said "Let them eat cake."

Nancy Pelosi stood in front of her $24,000 worth of freezers full of +$7 a pint ice cream and said "Let them eat ice cream."

May her future be as bright as Marie's was.

I Keep Hearing A Voice

And it sounds like Rod Serling.

Happy Easter!

Supervisory Position

Just making sure that Spring is moving ahead as planned.

Unsupervised Kids, An Abandoned House...

...a can of gasoline, and matches.

Grounded until they are 50 years old.

Some Quick Cipherin'

Actually, I pulled the CDC's ciphering and threw it into a graph.  All numbers are CDC estimates, except the COVID death numbers, which are theoretically actual data.  I say theoretically because guidance issued for coding COVID deaths may make the number a little murky by not requiring confirmation that it's actually that virus.  My concern with this is that the desire for COVID money may make governmental entities inclined to pressure doctors for a COVID fatality diagnosis.

Anyhoo, I graphed flu seasons, swine flu, and current COVID death numbers to compare fatality levels.

OMG I'M DYIN'

Got a text from my daughter:

"Its gonna be a long quarantine... after ripping a series of farts while sitting on my lap, Amelia looked at me and said "my butt does the most fun things" 🤦‍♀️"

ROTFLMAO!!!!

I'm Trying To Figure Out...

...how I'm supposed to go to bed.

Score!

I Mean, Really

It's been, what, 3 weeks since the crazy started?  And the toilet paper is still being snapped up, meat is ephemeral, flour rare, and yeast non-existant, even though there's plenty of bread on the store shelves.

Makes me wonder if there are people waiting for the trucks and then buying all the delivery to resell at a profit.

Does He Not Understand...

...that stealing toilet paper is potentially a capital offence?