Playing the Q Card

"There is danger that, if the Court does not temper its doctrinaire logic with a little practical wisdom, it will convert the constitutional Bill of Rights into a suicide pact." Justice Robert H. Jackson, dissenting, Terminiello v. City of Chicago (1949). 

"May you live in interesting times." An English expression purportedly (and probably incorrectly) attributed to a Chinese source.

A month ago, my Plus One and I were on the beach in San Juan. We were awaiting the arrival of the Norwegian Epic, a cruise ship upon which we would spend a week, with port calls in Aruba, Curacao, St. Lucia and St. Kitts. The weather was astonishingly beautiful, the water a variety of turquoise, dark blue and sea green, and the people mingling without a care in the world.

We visited Alambique, which styled itself a beach lounge, and discovered the Puerto Rican comfort food "mofongo," which defies description even as the ingredients are basic and readily available. We walked miles on the beach two blocks from our Airbnb, stopped for drinks and finger foods at the small bars dotting it. Several days later, it took us all of 13 minutes to get out of our Uber, walk into the terminal and be in our shipboard stateroom. The medical screening was perfunctory - had we been to China, had we felt sick lately?


That was then, before Wuhan was even in my vocabulary.

Our doctor has recommended staying home, being careful. We are both in high-risk demographics - I thought it would take longer to become this old - and getting the virus might mean we'd "be outta there" to quote an Air Force pilot friend. So, here we are.

Access to social media has meant:

1. We are not lonely.
2. We are bombarded with the insightful, the inane and everything in between. 

So, let me offer my take as a retired first responder, a leader and a scholar - 

My doctorate is in law, not medicine and particularly not in epidemiology. I can tell you what the legal landscape looks like, and what will probably be the issues in the lawsuits to follow. I have no idea about medicine. The only way for me to judge the wisdom of steps being taken to address the global pandemic is in hindsight. But, it is roughly analogous to the following story.

A young pregnant woman (our youngest daughter), in the throes of HELLP syndrome and the fog of the magnesium drip used to treat life-threatening high blood pressure, was witness to an extraordinary argument. Her OBYwan and her child's pediatrician, standing nose to nose, were arguing about which patient was going to be walked to the doorstep of death so that both had the best chance of surviving. One, or both, might not make it. Neither doc was sure, but it was what years of study, and decades of practice, told them was the right thing to do.

Medical experts - including our family doc who has guarded our health for twenty-five years - say that this is the big one. This could kill upwards of 400,000 Americans left to run its course, without intervention. Economists warn that draconian (possibly illegal, and unnecessary) social measures could push the country into depression, with millions suddenly unemployed.

I'm an educated person, but I don't know who is right. I know what the governments of the US, and Colorado, have suggested, or imposed. I think very smart people who have a lot more information than me are doing what they think is the right thing.

I wish Pat and I were back on that beach in San Juan. I wish the virus was not now stalking our world.

Serious people are making real-world decisions in good faith. As Dan Bongino has repeatedly said - report cards will come later. Right now? We do what we've been asked to do, support each other as best we can and remember what Churchill said:

     “We have not journeyed all this way across the centuries, across the oceans, across the mountains, across the prairies, because we are made of sugar candy.”

Just so you know--

Graham's 9...and a ham, just like his little sister.

Home Alone

Technology is a huge pain in the ass.

There, I said it. Our modern ability to do nearly anything with technology belies the complexity that accomplishment imposes. "Alexa, turn on the master bedroom light." A voice - "OK." The light goes on. Amazing. I didn't have to walk across a small room in our small house and actually turn a switch.

But, okay maybe that's a bad example. We have an alarm system which... Come to think of it, illustrates what this blog is actually all about.

One of our porties - I'm not naming any names - freaks out whenever she (oops, there I go) hears a beeping sound. Low battery in the smoke detector, disarming the alarm system, autopilot disengaged warning on a YouTube video... Funny, she doesn't mind the microwave when we're nuking her dinner.

So we take every precaution to make sure nothing beeps. She's older, so we lift her up in bed even though there is a step stool. Yeah, we care about our dogs. And, cat. We care about our cat, too.

Where am I going with this? We travel. We like to take a couple trips a year away from home - sometimes many more. We don't always take the dogs. In point of fact we don't often take the dogs. Much as our household is pet-centric I'm not sure how well Jed would do at a resort in Mexico crawling with lizards, monkeys peering in the balcony slider.

So, over the years we've left them in a variety of situations. Friends and family, sometimes (which the dogs prefer). Commercial kennels other times. They've always been well cared for, reluctant to be dropped off, happy to be picked up. Well, ecstatic to be picked up is more like it. Never the worse for wear, though.

And then, the dreaded remotely-monitored TV.

A friend suggested a new kennel, it was fantastic during the walk through - everything we wanted. They were wonderful people, the place was clean... We'd found the perfect place for our male.

Then, we got to watch him in his kennel. Lonely, penned up. Wagging his tail intently whenever someone walked by, crestfallen when they didn't do loves all over him. He wasn't special, he wasn't cherished.

Nothing about this place was any different than the fifteen other kennels our dogs have stayed in over the years. In fact, it was nicer than most. It was just...the first time we'd gotten to see our dog in a kennel pen. When our friend and family network was unavailable for our February trip, we looked for alternatives.

So we interviewed Cassidy, whom we found on line. She runs a house sitting service - Housewolf Petcare LLC. She comes to the house in the early evening and gives the dogs dinner. Stays overnight. Feeds them in the morning. We called our favorite dog walkers (Dog Walking Pals) to resume the noon walks we'd done for five years while Jim had a (for the most part) office job. Lined up the food at home, lined up the treats...

We got daily pictures from both Cassidy and the various dog walkers. The kids were happy, the kids were comfortable at home. They could be themselves (to the point, Cassidy remarked, that some of their bad-dog habits manifested themselves).

And we could relax. In several foreign countries. On a cruise. During the corona virus outbreak.

At least the dogs...and cat. Can't forget the cat. At least the dogs and cat were comfortable and happy. When we got home they stared at us.

"Oh, you're back." And, they returned to bed.

Obviously, Cassidy took excellent care of them. They were home and comfortable. Their routine was hardly disturbed at all. So, when we set up a trip to the DR this fall...

Housewolf Petcare