Me and “The Other One” actually had to go out today and the stores were packed! While everyone wore masks, there was no pretense of social distancing. This is gonna blow up in our faces in a BIG way!
In the mean time, we’re gonna continue to isolate, work from home and do what we’ve been doing.
And the pool is too cold to get in and the mosquitoes are out in force but alas, we have Rum so all is not lost.
It’s been three more weeks and we’re now in phase 2 in Florida, except the Miami/Dade/Broward coast. Bars are open - 50% seating. Restaurants went from 25% to 50%, and 100% outside. Many ware masks in public, but many don’t. Even less gloves. Our death rate has dramatically gone down, but the infection rate is somewhat level, or even possibly over the last week increased slightly. In our county we had 28 in quarantine 2 weeks ago, it’s now 43. We’ve had 15 deaths, 3 about a 10 days ago. Nursing homes, especially one of them (I’ve told everyone don’t put me there 
) had 14 staff and 14 patients tested positive. Some of the details are just not availble.
Some have spoke that the death rate compared to the tested positive rate has diminished considerably. Florida numbers seem to support that. Maybe it has mutated like the SARS virus did into a less deadly form.
Good luck - stay safe -
A few of you know I’ve an offer to buy my company so I’ve been under tremendous stress and working ungodly hours. Such is life.
Well, one of my few respites is that once a month, all of my old college friends get together for an online zoom happy hour.
A little back story: During our college years in Germany we spent countless hours debating the ills of the world and planning our futures (like any of that planning worked out for any of us! LOL) At some point during our second year of uni someone suggested a trip to Tenerife. That trip led us to plan a trip for most every break from college. We “eurail passed” all over europe exploring every museum, beach, bar etc. After graduation we spent a few years not really staying in touch and one of the ladies reached out by regular old mail (that’s all we had back then as compuserve hadn’t even been invented) and suggested we all come “home” to Frankfurt for New Years. We did and that started a 35 year tradition of staying connected by meeting and celebrating new years in cities all around the world. We’ve done Paris, Tokyo, Madrid, Rome, Rio, NYC, Sydney etc. Not everyone can attend every year but hardly anyone misses two years in a row. The group size has grown considerably because now we have spouses, kids etc.
Back to fishing… During COVID, we started having a monthly happy hour via zoom. Because of all the time zones of the group, we try to balance the timing so that’s it fair to everyone. So, on Friday morning at 8:30a I found myself drinking Bloody Mary’s and eating banana bread. We finished up around 10:30a EST and then I got a knock on the door and a neighbors fishing buddy cancelled at the last minute and I (under the influence of alcohol) threw caution to wind and accept the invitation to go fishing.
By noon we had this 30 year old boat in the water:
By 12:30 we were anchored in 50’ deep water and had a few lines baited when out of the blue this 100’ sailboat kept coming at us… on collision course. We were yelling, whistling etc. trying to get their captains attention. All of a sudden he pops up, grabs the wheel and steers his boat clear of us. He missed us by about 15 feet. After catching our breath, we went back to fishing.
For those who don’t deep sea fish, live bait works best and live bait is hard to find (especially now) so we spent a fair amount of time casting a net for ballyhoo, which is a small fish with a very long “beak” and it’s used for trolling and generally attracts much larger fish. After the first few net casts we had about 12 ballyhoo and promptly put a few on hooks within minutes we got our first hit, a barracuda.
Large barracuda really taste nasty so we decided to cut him loose. I controlled the cuda while my buddy cut the hook. No injuries, the cuda swam away.
We managed to pull in a few red snapper before the winds kicked up and we had 2-4 foot swells and I got sick (twice) - apparently banana bread and bloody mary’s don’t mix with rough seas… who knew! It was about 3:30p anyway so we decided to head back (thank god!). By 5p we had the boat hosed down and back under cover and were filleting the fish.
That was my first break in weeks and my first REAL outing in months! I’m debating if I will ever leave the house again. 
Great story! Thank you for sharing.
Nowhere near as glorious as it may have sounded in my response to @Neil_HNF last night… but you wanted to hear more! LOL
This story is not as great. A long time friend and owner of a very upscale Italian restaurant is closing in a week because he can’t cover costs at 50% occupancy rules. He hopes to reopen in September.
That is truly sad. Sometimes I think back when I owned my bar (early 80’s) and how dependent we were on tourists (Colorado ski resort) and think about:
A) how much I miss those mountains
B) how much I don’t miss the cold
C) how in the hell I would survive with this season coming up. I guarantee you there’ll be no tourist this fall/winter and if there is, you really wouldn’t want them!
I can’t imagine how stressful this must be for bar and restaurant owners today. It’s not just their livelihoods, it’s their life!
I have a daughter in Denver and we are visiting in a two weeks. I tried to get a room in the ski areas - Breck, etc - and nothing is really available - had to get a house in Crested Butte (western Co). It’s very full right now and fall is fulling up.
Cold - that’s why we are both in Fla.
My bar was in Dillon (Keystone, A-Basin). I loved Denver, that’s where I lived before I found the mountains. LOL Colorado is the only state that has never had a quarantine or social distancing… probably explains why their cases are skyrocketing.
In New Mexico, cases are rising but not enough to push back the phased in lifting of restrictions. The Native American reservations are suffering the most with almost half of the State’s virus cases.
State wide requirements demand wearing a mask while in public and social distancing. Gatherings are limited in size. I see very few people not wearing masks in grocery stores, big box stores and the like. Some counties are grumbling a lot about the masks and distancing, but by and large most people are ok with it. Well, not really, but the introverts are quite content. There are many people living in NM who came here specifically to get away from people. There’s a lot of open space here.
We have an interest in a local rural town restaurant. Until about a month ago it was take out only. Then outside tables, and now inside seating. Capacity is limited and the sit down eating bar cannot be used. The restaurant does better each time. Bars with alcohol serving are still not allowed. These are in serious trouble. Restaurants that were not geared for take out are also suffering.
Arizona is to our West and Texas to our East. Visitors are required to voluntarily quarantine for 14 days. Residents are highly advised to stay at home, not to travel to other states.
John
Update, yesterday NM did a role back which was demanded by an up tick in the virus here. Restaurants cannot now have indoor service, only curbside tables or pick up orders. Masks are now mandated statewide and will be enforced. There may be more restrictions to come, the governor stated, if people do not follow mask, social distancing and quarantine requirements. Also, people from out of state cannot use state parks and other recreation facilities. They will be turned away.
John
DON’T DO THIS: YOU ONLY HAVE TWO EYES.
I think some of my delay was due to the virus. Late Friday I noticed some black fuzzy filaments in my left eye. I initially thought dirt had gotten in. The next day, there were more filaments. It was a holiday weekend, so I incorrectly assumed that an eye doctor was not available. I also had no idea what was wrong, if it was bad, etc. Denial is a strong force. But my left eye was not providing much input, totally fuzzy and the filaments in the way.
Tuesday I tracked down a good eye dr for detached retinas (my guess after several days of waiting). They scolded me profusely about I should have called the emergency room and gotten immediate attention. They got me in in 2 hrs and found I had 2 tears, no detachment - very good news. The mycillia was detached, causing a vial of consistent obscurity,
They lasered the tears. Took about 7 minutes. Very bright. Sometimes she would machine gun me laser shots. It doesn’t hurt, just really weird and brighter than the sun. Now I just have the vial and filaments. They will dissolve over then next couple weeks, so still not much use from the left eye. But no surgery.
If you ever have anything like this happen, call the best hospital in the area immediately. Apparently I was lucky that the tears did not detach, which would have been a full out surgery.
State of Florida has lifted all restrictions effective just hours ago. The Governor is also calling a special session to address https://www.flgov.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Combatting-Violence-Protection-Act.pdf and a business COVID-19 Liability immunity bill.
Wow, Florida now has 13,914 deaths, and it appears anything goes, back to business and profits as usual. I wonder how many deaths are due to that pesky 1st Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Per “Combatting-Violence-Protection-Act”, I wonder who decides what is a “disorderly assembly”. I think a lot of city/state council meetings could be called “disorderly assembly”. They better watch out.
Well, back to my state:
New Mexico still has stringent requirements relating to the pandemic and a governor who is concerned about the health of its citizens. It can’t be easy trying to balance this against the stress small busineses are facing. Restaurants can seat at 25% capacity, for example, with another 25% outside seating, but winter’s coming soon. Employees must wear masks among other precautionary requirements. Bars are still closed unless over 50% of their business is serving food. Theaters still closed. School jurisdictions with low virus levels are open for attendance but with health/safety procedures in place, and many have hybrid teaching or just Internet schooling.
The past 2 weeks has seen virus cases go from a low of 37/day to 237 reported today. Even still, the 7 day average positivity rate is just 2.3%, one of the lowest in the country. My guess is Labor Day mayhem combined with kiddies back to school. There could be a role back coming, we’ll know better on Monday when the current restrictions are set to expire, be renewed or whatever. It’s not that we weren’t expecting an uptick. We’re hoping it’s just a blip.
John
I’m not going to engage in the deaths if we did this or that. Without an economy, we’ll have significantly more deaths, or bad outcomes.
As to the disorderly assembly - that’s what the legislature will determine. Hence the special session.
The business liability for COVID is a must, or there wont be any small businesses around after the lawyers get done. I’ve been lobbying for this for several months.
Finally, I’m traveling to the Grand Canyon next month for a couple weeks. I see the Navajo nation is on stay at home lock down. You can’t even drive thru the nation - for example AZ 64 to the Grand Canyon is closed.
PS 85% of the deaths in Florida are in 3 southeastern counties - which are known as New Yorker’s second home - a place to escape the domestic terrorism allowed in NYC. Thanks for bringing it to our state.
Hey guys, let’s keep politics out of this.
I’ve now had more doctor visits during the COVID days than my entire life prior to 2020. 4 weeks after the retina tears, the retina detached. More lasers. 4 weeks later it detached again, more lasers and cryo to glue the retina back on and added a gas bubble to push the retina onto the eyewall. 2 days later, more lasers, as the detachment moved again (they were chasing a bubble). On Dec 11 for a check up, they found it detached yet again. What was really odd this time was that there was no indication to me anything was wrong. My vision was really good, other than the big floater/veil.
On the following Monday they did a vitrectomy and placed a silicone strap/buckle around my eye to make it smaller, and lasered my retina back on, and completely filled my eye with the gas (C3F8). The vitreous tissue was pulling my retina off, so they removed the tissue. It was also the same tissue with black strings and veil I couldn’t see thru from the original tear…
I’m now just starting to get back to being able to see enough to read. Driving not a good idea. One of the eye drops dilates my eye, so I’m photophobic, especially outside.
What is interesting is the buckle has changed the shape of my eye, and it changed my significant farsightedness to very slightly nearsighted in that eye.
PS - the buckle causes for the first week extreme pain. The next week it’s just painful. It’s pretty much calmed down now as far as pain (4 weeks).
As I said before, be careful with your eyes, you only have two, and you need them both.
Here’s a great article on Reverse Engineering the source code of the BioNTech/Pfizer SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine. We’re wondering if AppStudio needs a plugin for this. 
