All in a Summer Day and a Pandemic

I have to admit this morning that it's difficult to present an upbeat outlook. 

So many reasons for the daily gratitude from Tuesday:  

a warm and lovely summer day

tasty homemade tacos on a Tuesday

a newly manicured lawn

a lovely visit---complete with carrots for horses---with the new neighbors; I know most of the family now.  They are all very nice.

A fun "strut-your-stuff" show last evening by pretty CB. 

Some neat photos at the farm where Willie and Debbie are spending the summer.

A trip past the Pack River swimming hole where folks all ages are braving cool waters for refreshment and fun. 

Lots of reasons for gratitude, for sure, but still I'm in one of those funks we sometimes experience in spite of all the good stuff.

This one has been building up for some time.  It comes along from observing the world outside and wondering when we'll return to a state of sanity.  

Never, in my lifetime, would I have dreamed that Americans would be barred from visiting our age-old allies in Europe.

It may happen as soon as next week, and this angers me.  

I'm not at all angry at the European Union, which is strongly  considering barring Americans when it re-opens July 1.  I don't blame them. 

The United States efforts in controlling the Pandemic are beyond pathetic AND it's not because the seasoned authorities on this dire medical phenomenon have not tried their darndest to suggest and reiterate common-sense guidelines in reducing the threat.

I am very, very angry, however, at the sick circus ringmaster some people like to call President who has continually scoffed at, ignored and pretty much abandoned the idea that his country folk are getting sick and dying daily in growing numbers. 

He has all but given up on that nuisance (in his mind) called Pandemic in favor of attending gatherings where "his" people will fawn all over him" as he makes insensitive, mean-spirited jokes about the Chinese and while bragging about all that HE "allegedly" did at the beginning to stop the Pandemic in its tracks. 

Well, some of us do pay attention very closely to what's happening, and some of us still have pretty good memories about the early days when we listened as he referred in his rallies to the Covid-19 "hoax."  

We have watched lie after lie after lie---not from his so-called 'fake news' but coming directly from his mouth, and, along with that, we have watched the daily death count continue to rise.

We have watched as blind-minded minions and conspiracy lovers throughout the country continue to follow his adolescent example of mocking the idea that this Pandemic actually is much more than the flu and that it already has killed at least three or four times the numbers seen annually with common flu deaths in this country-----and since the end of January. 

We have almost half a year left to reach the full death count from Covid 19. 

And, as the Pandemic marches on----as originally predicted, from populated areas into rural areas----numbers are quickly rising, and the dangers of contracting the virus become more and more imminent.  

Still, the circus clown continues to perform and to mock and doesn't seem to mind wantonly luring people into danger so they can see and cheer on their "chosen one." 

I cannot believe the callousness about death that has taken over this nation.  No big deal, it seems. 

Well, once again, some of us here in America really do want to keep living, and some of us would like to use what life we have left on this Earth enjoying that life. For me, selfishly, it's getting to go back to Ireland some day. 

As long as the circus clown keeps up his act, however, and as long as the blind keep leading the blind as opposed to listening to respected, knowledgeable and reputable people who have dealt with diseases throughout their entire professional careers, we are in for a long and deadly run in the months ahead.

And, yes, sadly, sensible leaders will not want Americans to come to visit their country. 

I find it ironic that the so-called leadership in this nation has spent nearly four years exhausting every attempt possible to rid the country of all those outsiders, which the great circus leader loves to call "rapists, murderers and thugs."  

And, soon it's possible that Americans will be barred from visiting other countries----tried-and-true, longstanding American allies, no less.

Yup, America sure has been Made Great Again, in some eyes.  Hope everyone's enjoying the ride. 

I can hardly wait to see how much greater we become, that is if the reckless behavior associated with the Pandemic, led and inspired by the sick circus clown doesn't get me first.

So sorry about the rant, but every once in a while, all the beauty in life cannot mask the "elephant in the room," and he is a clown, and we will all pay the price for his supreme case of self indulgence.  

And, for many victims, it won't matter.  

Please, let's follow and let's demand common sense. Let's also demand some real leadership.  

VOTE! 

WEAR A MASK where appropriate! 

SOCIAL DISTANCE.

We can still all try to do our part.