Dogs just gotta have fun

Biscuit wisely uses Sylvia as shield

   POINT RICHMOND - Ask your dog if he or she is upset about the stay-at-home, shelter in place orders.
     I have never seen so many pooches out on patrol with their owners, a nearly endless parade of dogs and owners making sweeps up and down the street, around the paths in the Miller-Knox park or in the center of the 'downtown' of Point Richmond.
    There are plenty of dogs cavorting in doggie play dates, too. They don't have to worry about social distancing.
    This morning Biscuit took part briefly in a dog party on the grassy area close to the road here at Brickyard Landing. He was by far the smallest canine in the pack, but didn't let it bother him.
    Considering that yesterday he was attacked by a black poodle twice his size - and that the devil dog took a bite right next to his eye - I was happy to see Biscuit was still feisty enough today to mix it up with the big dogs.
    He thinks he's a big dog anyway.
    When the shelter in place orders are lifted, it will probably be boom times for dog walkers again.
    But not for Biscuit of course. He had us trained too well.

Biscuit looks like a wrestling referee, watching for the 'pin'

Memories of the Great Easter Beer Hunts

   PETALUMA, Calif. - There are traditions and there are traditions.
     And so it was when my oldest son was nearly 5-years-old and my daughter not quite 2-years-old, we added a special Easter Egg Hunt to the traditional search.
     We still had the traditional Easter Egg hunt, with colorful decorated Easter eggs hidden around the backyard of my suburban Petaluma home. (The house was on Rocca Drive off Payran Street, in case anyone knows Petaluma.)
     My children and children of friends would scour my backyard coming back with Easter Eggs and candy hidden all about.
     It was great fun, of course.
     But as soon as all the Easter Eggs were gathered, the children would take over the event, hiding cans of cold beer around the yard for the adults to find.
   

      As the adults would wander around, pretending not to see a silver-colored can of Coors Light under a lawn chair, the children would squeal "Look down, look down!" or give some other clue to the obviously bumbling adults.
     The party after the Easter Egg and Easter Beer Hunts was always fun, too, usually including a big Sunday brunch that included adults raiding Easter baskets for the children's chocolate.
     And somewhere in my photo archives is a picture of my daughter that first year of the Great Easter Beer Hunts, splendidly attired in a pretty yellow Easter dress, using two tiny hands to hoist an unopened Coors Light can to her lips.
     It's a family classic, of course.

     Happy Easter to all, and to all a good day.

   

Leaving 'shelter-at-home' to bust loose on the freeway

   POINT RICHMOND - A simple errand.
     Drive to a bank in El Cerrito, make a quick transaction and drive home.
     And that's pretty much what happened.
     Except...
     After being totally on foot for too many days - with the fastest forward motion coming from running after Biscuit - I needed some speed.

Not the Prius we drive...

     And so it was - in a Prius of all cars - I got on the freeway heading east and jammed the accelerator to the floor. I tore along passing cars, trucks, a motorcycle and a vehicle so decrepit, it defies categorization. I didn't get that good a look at it anyway.
     How fast did I get up to? Not sure I should say, in case some CHP helicopter clocked me. But don't underestimate how fast a Prius can go when encouraged.
     BTW, I did pass a black Dodge Charger like he was standing still.
    Playing Hot Rod Lincoln by Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen on the radio probably kept my foot down a few seconds longer than I probably should have.
     But man! Did it feel good to zoom. (Zoom as in vehicle zoom, not that ubiquitous computer conferencing program that makes us all look like we're playing Hollywood Squares).
     When I got to my destination I thought about the film, Steelyard Blues with Donald Sutherland, Jane Fonda, and Peter Boyle. Wildly speeding vehicles and car chases figure prominently in that flick.
     It also reminded me of the film Bullitt, starring Steve McQueen. Perhaps the most famous scene from that movie is below.  If you watch the clip, view it all the way through to the end.
     After my experience with today's errand, I would say if you own a dark-green 1968 Mustang fastback, don't let me borrow it under any circumstances until long after this coronavirus, stay-at-home, shelter-in-place order has been lifted.
     Zooooom.

A face mask - the must-have coronavirus accessory

   POINT RICHMOND - The sewing machines have been, well, sewing like crazy for more than a week now here, across California, the nation - and maybe planet, producing face masks for people to wear to protect them - and others - from COVID-19.
     All the masks I have seen here seem very solidly made, including several Admiral Fox made specifically for my mug while she was cranking masks out like a factory assembly line for other people in Brickyard Landing and beyond.
     Everyone working those sewing machines deserves a lot of thanks for their efforts.

     On the Admiral's advice, at the end of every day, whichever of the masks I have worn is tossed into the washing machine for a good anti-viral cleaning.
     Makes a lot of sense.
     And I've noticed there's a kind of a protocol people seem to follow with their masks when walking out and about, at least here in the Point.
     Walking alone, the face mask is often pulled down, worn around the neck like a stylish scarf. But as someone approaches - whether they are masked or not - the face mask gets quickly pulled up into place.
     It's kind of the opposite of what knights used to do in the Middle Ages with their helmets when they approached each other on horseback.
     As they rode up, they would raise the front of their helmets so they could see each other's eyes and to signal a friendly intention. If the front stayed down, a duel was likely. Some historians say it's also the origin of the military salute.
   
     In digging around today I ran across an amazing array of masks - some famous, some funny and some downright weird. Some have real medical-protection value, others are just for style or effect.
     Here's a few for your amusement while you wait for your mask to finish getting scrubbed in the washing machine.

Doctor's plague mask, from the Bubonic Plague era

The Mask - from the movie of the same name

Planet of the Apes mask

Man in the Iron Mask

'We Gotta Get Out of This Place'

   POINT RICHMOND - Cabin fever broke out today in my condo.
     Even Biscuit is showing symptoms.

• Irritability 

• Jumping at loud noises 

• Barking at Sylvia

     Oh, those are mine, not Biscuit's.
     He has his own responses to being home-bound.
   My escape in this situation usually involves writing. And this morning writing and the manifold effects of COVID-19 collided when I joined a national Zoom conference for a story to be published in the Richmond Pulse newspaper.
     The one-hour session was fascinating but fueled my claustrophobia.
     Why?
     "We have no vaccine. We have no treatment. You just need to stay at home," one doctor said.
     It was nearly word-for-word what he said weeks ago in another such session.
   As I have been tapping on the keys to write up what a half dozen experts had to say, I implemented another escape strategy.
     No, not drinking wine - that's for later.
     The escape strategy is listening to music, 60s music usually.
     And what song did my computer pick randomly from my music library?
     We Gotta Get Out of This Place by Eric Burdon and The Animals.
     Yes, I have it on a loop right now.

"We gotta get out of this place,

If it's the last thing we ever do..."

   But about Cabin Fever wine.
     That bit of fermentation is produced and sold by Hazlitt 1852 Winery in Hector New York, the same Hector where Admiral Fox and I have spent many summers. And we've spent a bit of those summers at the winery, though I must admit in all the hours spent socializing there I have never sampled Cabin Fever.
     Well, if we "get out of this place" and back to Hector this summer, I'm buying a bottle.
     Now that I think about it, they ship all over the United States.
  Cabin Fever to cure cabin fever? Why not?

Some funny, some not-so-funny, coronavirus humor

POINT RICHMOND - A friend in upstate NY passed along these tidbits of coronavirus & shelter-in-place humor...

• Half of us are going to come out of this quarantine as amazing cooks. The other half will come out with a drinking problem.
• I used to spin that toilet paper like I was on Wheel of Fortune. Now I turn it like I'm cracking a safe.
• I need to practice social-distancing from the refrigerator.
• Still haven't decided where to go for Easter ----- The Living Room or The Bedroom
• PSA: every few days try your jeans on just to make sure they fit. Pajamas will have you believe all is well in the kingdom.
• Homeschooling is going well. 2 students suspended for fighting and 1 teacher fired for drinking on the job. (Yancey knows someone to whom this applies!)
• I don't think anyone expected that when we changed the clocks we'd go from Standard Time to the Twilight Zone
• This morning I saw a neighbor talking to her cat. It was obvious she thought her cat understood her. I came into my house, told my dog..... we laughed a lot.
• So, after this quarantine.....will the producers of "My 600 Pound Life" just find me or do I find them?
• Quarantine Day 5: Went to this restaurant called THE KITCHEN. You have to gather all the ingredients and make your own meal. I have no clue how this place is still in business.
• My body has absorbed so much soap and disinfectant lately that when I pee it cleans the toilet.
• Day 5 of Homeschooling: One of these little monsters called in a bomb threat.
• I'm so excited --- it's time to take out the garbage. What should I wear?
• I hope the weather is good tomorrow for my trip to Puerto Backyarda. I'm getting tired of Los Livingroom.
• Classified Ad: Single person with toilet paper seeks same with hand sanitizer for good clean fun.
• Day 6 of Homeschooling: My child just said "I hope I don't have the same teacher next year".... I'm offended.

Health-and-welfare checks on amigos

   POINT RICHMOND, Calif. - In the middle of this coronavirus muddle - and by middle I simply mean that the virus muddle is all around us, not halfway over - I try daily to do a few health-and-welfare checks on folks. The term health-and-welfare checks we picked up cruising our sailboat in Mexico.  
     When someone hadn't been heard from or seen on the ocean for a stretch, we would put the call out on the ham radio.
     Now in the middle of this virus muddle, for me doing a health-and-welfare check might mean a phone call, email, text message, FB message, FaceTime connection, Linked-in dispatch, a postcard (I have huge stack of Red Writer trailer postcards) or even an actual letter.
     I've been on the receiving end of lots of contact from people, too. It helps with the isolation.
     Of course I am hardly alone in our 1,431-square-foot condominium. Sylvia, the Biscuit and I are in nearly constant communication - whether it's convenient for each of us or not. I've actually been eyeballing one of my closets to see if it could be made into an isolation booth. You can do a lot in 16 square feet. Really.
     The consensus among most folks I contact is that they are doing okay. Very few say they are doing great. The most common adjective is "surviving," which in this case is certainly apropos on several levels.
     Most frustrating for many folks is the uncertainty of how long we may be in this stay-at-home, shelter-in-place limbo. May 1? June 1? July 1, August 1, January 2021. (I hope the 2021 reference didn't make anyone do a Linda Blair-like projectile-vomit imitation. I nearly did just writing it.)
     The amazing upside to making these health and welfare checks is that they act kind of like a chain letter. I will write to someone in Pittsburgh (PA) who will mention to someone else that I had contacted them. Then, voila!, I get an email or other message from that person.
     And the list goes on. It feels good on my end to hear from folks, too.
     I would continue to ramble, but my stack of postcards is calling to me. And Biscuit needs to go out, of course.
     Stay safe, stay sheltered, stay sane, amigos.