Worlds apart
West Coast- part 1
I rolled into Seattle at 5:30am. I heard a single, hesitant, muffled ‘woof’ from the champion guard-dog labradoodle from behind the closed door of the master bedroom, otherwise all was dark and quiet and I slinked downstairs with my sleeping bag, plopped on the sofa and got myself another couple hours of sleep.
“Where’d you sleep last night?” everyone asked. I told them I made use of just about every rest stop on the way out. I have to stop otherwise my back stiffens up, so the rest stops are great for stretching, napping, doing push-ups, checking out the local road maps and reading up on the local history. (They still have nice signs and posters- haven’t converted everything to the QR thing yet- but if Japan is any indication, it’s coming; last summer I stood on a train platform at the main station in a medium-sized town- no more train timetables to look at- only a giant QR code for your smart phone.)
I like the rest stop in Couer d’ Alene- you can take a walk into the woods and come to the edge of a giant opening. All I could see in the late-evening darkness was a big, rolling sprinkler system right in front of me and the lights of a couple solitary houses miles across the huge field.
Late night radio was better back when cars had the the mechanical knobs. With some deft, analog fine tuning, you could always find Art Bell bouncing off the ionosphere from somewhere in the country. That show was good for killing a couple hours.
The weather in Seattle is typical: drizzly and cold blaaaa.
But at least the ground isn’t frozen, with a 4-month layer of case-hard ice under your feet. I’ve fallen on the ice four times in Montana- and I mean a good, hard, spread-eagle SPLAT! Three times on my back and once on my face. I walk very carefully now.
So I appreciate the mild, west-of-Cascades weather. We took a walk around the neighborhood yesterday.
I still have a cough from this bugger of a cold I got two weeks ago. Cousin Bob said, “You probably have covid. I had the same thing- thought it was just a cold, but it was covid.”
I’m feeling healthy, but every time my cousin tells a joke- and he’s pretty funny- I have a coughing jag. His wife requested I take the test. This crap has gone on so long, and I just want to hang with the family. “OK, I’ll take your test.”
There are signs that even the Seattlites are tiring of this. Yes, at the Trader Joe’s and healthy-food markets you get your maskers for sure, and Bob’s wife just had lunch at a friend’s house who demanded everyone test before coming over. The three ladies invited all thought it was over the top.
I picked up the local fish wrap, The Seattle Times, and read through the articles.
Seattle settles CHOP lawsuit. Apparently some businesses in the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone (otherwise known as CHAZ (Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone) were unhappy with the city abandoning that area of town for two weeks and letting it become a zone of chaos and destruction. They sued the city for their inactivity and won a modest settlement for damages and losses.
UW study finds catching covid provides immunity from worst effects- but “vaccines still best”.
White House defends response to toxic train wreck.
US and China vie for upper hand in a zone where balloons, UFOs, missiles fly.
Luxembourg doing their best to arm Ukraine.
Fetterman praised after publicly seeking depression treatment. The US Surgeon General, Vivek Murphy, tweeted praise for Fetterman, saying he hopes his “courage will serve as an example for others.”
Like I said, fish wrap.
Next, Fauci in town.