Attribute to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

And so it finally begins as I wake up late morning after that 7P to 3A shift last night and a productive day at home beforehand. My second vacation week—not long after the first one which had been pushed forward to avoid the peak of the Covid 19 pandemic that ended up fizzling out in my region back in mid April.

Have the breakdown of the Turtle Table well underway Thursday with some of the plants moved to the greenhouse. As you can see it has evolved significantly since last report. The upper tank of the new 40B duo is set up outside the room with the UG filter and gravel. Also made a trip to the hardware store to look into the status of my mower that is in their shop and pick up a few brass fittings and clamps for the fill system on the patio and the one at the pond site and those are now finished.

Saw this going into the tractor shop.

Kind of uplifting after the unceasing drone of “Trump / Republicans baaad—SJWs / Democrats gooood” on mainstream and social media. Very much like a few years ago when Commie News Network was beating the drums on Russian interference and the feeling that it was the end of the world for us and the dawning of a new age of Progressive rule that would endure like a Thousand Year Reich. It’s a different world on there and the other outlets and I sometimes let it affect me too much. Guess the President’s chances are at least as good as the first time around in 2016 going up against the Hildabeast.

It was looking like we may have hit a tipping point on the pandemic when I went into the downstairs level of the store it looks like nobody’s wearing masks anymore although the employees have them down hanging loose around their necks so I dropped mine least people start thinking I’m a sissy or something. I guess the though police may be loosing their grip on enforcement. LOL.

I’m getting the feeling now it’s at least as safe as it was back in the beginning when I was still going into Walmart without one, keeping a distance from other people and avoiding crowded isles. I’ve defaulted back to that mode keeping a mask handy to wear if a store requires it and in the case of getting onto close quarters with other people like in a checkout line where the cashier and an elderly lady ahead of me were masked. I more or less have been doing it to protect other people and I’m not afraid of the virus like I was back in the beginning. Have even dropped the decon routine with the groceries for now. I’ve come a long way from the time a few months ago when I was eating in the mostly empty cafeteria and prepping to handle my food like getting ready for an aseptic procedure such as a blood draw or insertion of a Foley catheter!

But not so fast!

Just when you thought it safe to go back into the water—they come out with the sequel—“Jaws II”! “Covid 2.0: The Second Virus Wave”. Brought to you courtesy of those mean old nasty and greedy small business owners who want to get up and running again. And the newsfeed on your phone. Guess the George Floyd protests that replaced the preoccupation with the lingering First Wave of the virus are also getting old. Plus the economy was starting to recover and we cannot have that in an election year with the democrats desperate to get back into power.

Guess we’ll have to see how this second virus wave shakes out. This is probably another wish disguised as a fear by advocates of a kind of government that is more or less a disease masquerading as its own cure. There has been so much unbridled speculation and fear mongering that you don’t know what to believe anymore . You can’t trust the experts because so many of them belong to the establishment that wants to use crisis as an tool to control people and r the social order in favor of a perpetual lockdown and command economy. I’m beginning to have serous doubts about the military too because I think they are in the tank for the Deep State and may take the side of a progressive administration and see us as the enemy. Maybe Trump should fire the generals who are trying to undermine him like Truman fired MacArthur.

If that were not enough; there is even more ridiculousness brewing . They’re taking away Elmer Fudd’s shotgun and Yosemite Sam’s pistols! I guess the hunting documentary parody with the tawny brown “Hunting Jacket for the Mother in Law” that has a hood sporting deer antlers will be totally banned along with “Bugs Nips the Nips” & “Southern Fried Rabbit”!

The only thing that keeps me from being overwhelmed by despair is clownish insanity of the democrats. Maybe they can be gaslighted into becoming frustrated and unhinged so they destroy their own credibility and blow their chances for winning the election. That’s one way for dealing with crazy people you want to be rid of. Tick them off so they act out and get hauled away to the funny farm.

There is part of me—my heart that wants to kill my enemies with kindness and enlighten them with logic. That almost became the theme of this article but my cynicism prevailed. The logical part of my brain doubts the likelihood of being successful at using reason on people who are irrational. Never the less in some cases it’s worth a try.

Update: Saturday Evening at 8:00 PM

Back from a late afternoon shopping trip in Greensburg to get some aquarium gravel and other supplies for the recently renovated 40B duo that was stripped and resealed the week of Memorial Day and passed the water test this week. That trip turned into a brave adventure of eating at my favorite Chinese restaurant ; The New City Buffet followed by a stop at the Latrobe Walmart for milk and a short mental list of other stuff.

I got the idea while going to PetsMart which I visited twice: to buy turtle feed and again to get my gravel after successfully scoring some filter plates at the nearby PetCo!

I had noticed coming in on my first visit that the Texas Roadhouse has a sign up saying that it is now open for in-house dining! I thought about it as I left the plaza the second time around and decided to cruise by for a closer look. Unfortunately they had people waiting in line outside so I said to hell with that. It’s been the same for me through the course of this crisis whenever I looked at the lines of cars for the drive through at McDonalds and other fast food chains. I don’t even care to sit with my car idling even under normal circumstances. I’d sooner walk in even for takeout.

Well I got to thinking about the New City Buffet and figured it worth the while to check out on my way out Rt 30 to Latrobe. I knew most restaurants have been open for takeout but since the region had finally been given a green light by the State to reopen all businesses with some measures of precautions left in place.

I was wondering what that might entail and I found out when I approached the front door and saw the sign. Ditto for questions regarding masks. And the prepay makes sense from a bio security perspective. A single person at the front desk handling the cash reduces the exposure of the waiters and waitresses that used to handle cash and credit cards.

When I talked about the possibility of going there at work earlier this week someone said it was probably unsafe because at a buffet you have multiple people walking around the food and handling the tongs for picking up food items. I kind of screwed up there because I thought—damn—I’m going to have to go back to the bathroom and wash my hands again after I get done loading my plate! And then I noticed other people were wearing disposable gloves that I was supposed to get before being escorted to my table! I quickly fixed that problem and went back to wash my hands again before eating. And I had a pretty decent time and left a good tip too.

Walmart is much saner these days.

However there are still some bare shelves. You guessed it—the toilet paper isle-though you can still get some at most stores.

As noted above I’m still practicing some social distancing and putting on my mask for close encounters—mostly at the cash register. Did the same at the pet shops I visited.

Well, I’ve now taken some chances and I’ll see what happens. I’m hoping nothing and if it does—then oh well. There are policy wonks already sounding the alarm and who will certainly be champing at the bit to say “I told you so” if there is a resurgence of the pandemic. But we can’t hide in our homes forever. Life , Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness must go on. Sometimes with common sense precautions—but it must go on or we shalt surely die. And our country along with us.

My update on the Florida Room will have to be a quickie because I’m up against the deadline for submissions and may even be too late for the upcoming issue.

As of earlier today I finished clearing out nearly all the remaining plants from the Turtle Table setup—which have been moved along with the turts to the greenhouse and I will begin dismantling the Table for modifications in the coming days. I will detail this more in a future edition of the Norseman’s Diaries or better yet—the Adventures in Herpetology series—if I ever get that one off the ground!