Quiet Thursday

SCENIC: It was a beautiful day, weather wise, and so we spent a good part of the day out of doors again. The photo above was taken from our mid-yard, where we were picking up branches and sod that were generated from our storage shed and pavers projects. 

Meanwhile, out in the back yard, the tulips were wide open in today's sunshine. 

It's hard to believe those things fold all the way back up into their cup shape in the late afternoon.

STORE SCORE: I needed to go to the store today. I was trying to hold out for another few days, but when you live with CJ and you run out of ketchup, well, that's nearly an emergency.

I thought I'd hit it early in hopes of light crowds and fresh air in the stores. It was a good strategy. I was to WinCo by 7:30, and it was just me and a couple dozen other people in the cavernous store. I was happy to see most shoppers were wearing masks and gloves. (I was surprised to see that the cashiers and store workers were not wearing masks. They should be.)

I did pretty well at WinCo, but they didn't have any yeast. It's almost as hard to come by as toilet paper (which WinCo had, BTW). It was still super early when I got out of WinCo, so I decided to stop by Smart FoodService (formerly Cash & Carry) to see if they had any. I went to their baking aisle and it was wiped out. I basically went down the aisle looking at labels under blank spaces. Sure enough, the yeast section was a barren wasteland. However, I know that the store often has additional stock way up high on shelves, so I peered up and, sure enough, there was a box that said Red Star on it. 

Score! I strained to reach it, and was surprised by how heavy it was. Fortunately, I didn't get a concussion. I did get three POUNDS of yeast, however. (And no, I'm not hording, I swear. One is for me, one's for my mom, and one's for my daughter-in-law.)

Speaking of concussions, later in the day, we were working out in the shed, and I couldn't help but think this looked like an accident waiting to happen. 

See that claw of a hammer peeking out, ready to jump onto someone's unsuspecting head?

SOCIAL DISTANCING TO THE EXTREME: What's the best way to social distance during a global pandemic? How about blasting off to the International Space Station!?

Above, a Soyuz MS-16 lifts off from Site 31 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan today, carrying two cosmonauts and one NASA astronaut. The trio made a quick, six-hour trip to the ISS. (photo credits: NASA/GCTC/Andrey Shelepin)

The ISS's newest residents are Ivan Vagner of Roscosmos (top), Chris Cassidy of NASA, center, and Anatoly Ivanishin . (photo credit: NASA/GCTC/Andrey Shelepin)

Bet they're all hoping COVID-19 is a bad memory by the time they're home in six months. (Unfortunately, it's not at all likely that will be the case.)

The virus affected situations leading up to today's launch. According to a story in Discover Magazine, both NASA and the Russian space agency took their traditional pre-flight quarantines even more seriously than usual. Instead of the standard two-week isolation, this go-round it was four weeks. Also, while astronauts and cosmonauts traditionally break quarantine to place flowers at the grave of Yuri Gagarin, that tradition- as well as all other off-site visits - were eliminated.

Just for fun, here's a great old photo of President Richard Nixon visiting the Apollo 11 astronauts in quarantine (in an Airstream trailer) after their historic flight to the moon in 1969. (Credit: NASA)