Yesterday was the fourth Sunday that the attendance limit on Church has been lifted in Texas and our Archdiocese. Easter Sunday was the first, and it was pretty full as we arrived a little less than half an hour early and were in the overflow room in the Church Hall. Each Sunday since, we've been in the actual Church, which is good. Watching Mass on video doesn't convey the same feel as actually being in the church, if you know what I mean.
I've noticed a few things about the subsequent Sundays though. Subtle things. First, there are more people showing up each week. That's good. It's good to see folks that you recognize, but don't really "know". It's one step in a return to some semblance of normalcy. Another thing is that because more people are showing up, the 6' rule, while still in effect, is....well, lets just say, interpretation of 6' is stretched a bit (maybe shrunk is a better word).
Another rule that's still in effect is the requirement to wear a mask. I had been using the type of mask I use in the woodshop. It's pretty effective at keeping things out of my nose and throat, I figured it would be better than most things I've seen people wearing to protect them from the Chinese Military manufactured Virus. However, I realize that wearing it continually for an hour was causing symptoms that I recognized from Altitude Chamber rides back in the day on flying status. Those of you who experienced the chamber know I'm talking about Hypoxia or Oxygen Starvation. So, I went with a light weight gaiter for Mass.
My thought here was I don't want some paranoid nutcase to start screaming at me during Mass because I don't have a mask on. So, I'm going to the least level compliant with the rules. It is the Lord's House and I don't want to cause a scene. However, the distance between the front door and the mask being on or off (depending on Pre-Mass or Post-Mass) can be measured in Microns.
Yesterday, I noticed additional indications that these "rules" are eroding. Several people, maybe 5 or 6, didn't wear a mask at all. Others wore it into Church, let it hang during the service, put it on for Communion and the exit and took it off completely at the door.
I think this is a very good sign, people are subtly just saying "No". And, face it, who's going to enforce it?
The Police? After that verdict last week and the brouhaha over the shooting of the would be murderer, I give it 6 weeks before most Police Forces are at 50% strength. Who, in their right minds, would stay when any attempt to enforce the law can result in jail time for you?
Since it's highly unlikely that reduced Police numbers and rule changes on engaging will cause a subsequent reduction in violent crimes , maybe the Police will start arresting people for not wearing a mask just to keep their numbers up. Besides, I don't think it will be the Really Good Officers that stay, if you know what I mean.
God help us then as I think that will be the tipping point.
So, given all that, Mrs J and I returned home, where I spent the morning taking my frustrations out on a large number of weeds that had taken root (literally) during the great Lawn Mower Hiatus. I had tried to mow them into oblivion with the push mower, but they were too many and actually stopped the blade. Not wishing to work any harder than necessary, I took the liberty of watering the ground thoroughly the night before. This seemed to work as the shovel (my weed execution weapon of choice...I had no other) went significantly deeper than it had before. The weeds were easier to remove. Not "easy" by any stretch, but "easier".
While I'm engaging in said activity, I heard a buzzing sound. I looked up and what do I see?
I know, I'm not Cecil B. DeMille, but I don't usually garden with a high end camera. On Sarge's Blog payroll, I'm lucky to afford a cell phone. At one point, the two ship, actually rolled in on me. Pulled off, and up into a barrel roll. Unfortunately, the phones auto focus was going bonkers at that point and what should have been a glorious piece of filmography was a total blur. "I coulda been a Contender" **
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| Head to the barn |
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| And join Annie |
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| and Cooper |
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| And Mooshka and Mouseka Or Mouseka and Mooshka |
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| And Oskar |
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| And Schmedly |
And take a nap dreaming of Peace on Earth while flying!
Peace out y'all!
Update: Ask and ye shall receive, Mark!
*Yogi Berra
**Marlon Brando "On the Waterfront" 1954...I wasn't born yet, but somebody on this blog was! He's.....Old!
And still not even ONE biplane in that video!!!
ReplyDeleteOh, the things we do for our commenters. This was taken at an airshow I went to last month. Gypsy Moth IIRC. The first video was taken at the front of my house. Apparently the FAA has a requirement for civilian airshow pilots to review the rules & regs and get current in formation flying. There is an VERY nice hotel on our airport and the owner is a flying fanatic. He hosts the school 3 or 4 times a year and since there aren't a lot of homes near me, they tend to fly overhead to practice. While I wouldn't want them to "drop in" obviously, I do enjoy going outside and watching. Yes, the former IP in me is regularly critiquing the flight. It's in my blood.
DeleteA lot of your commenters were born before 1954.
ReplyDeleteI was telling a younger coworker that the American flag didn't have 50 stars when I was born, he thought for just a second and asked, "Did it have thirteen stars?" Good one.
What kinda airplanes?
Maybe you should check your home for high concentrations of naturally occurring sleeping gas? :)
The airplanes were T-29s. A lot of them were produced in the final stages of WWII, then shopped out to various foreign air forces when ours transitioned to jets, so they're in fairly large supply. Unfortunately, way out of my price range. So....I just watch and sigh.
DeletePerhaps. I did sleep pretty well last night, all that fresh air doncha' know?
T-what? I thought T-29s were used to train naviguessers and had 2 engines. Looks like T-6s to me.
DeleteT-29 would be, according to Wiki, a Convair twin engine classroom plane...
DeleteWell...I'm gonna claim that my coffee hadn't kicked in and completed connecting synapses between brain and fingers. I think they were t-28s as they had more of a bubble canopy than the T-6s, but I could be wrong about that also.
DeleteConfederate Airforce flying those Trojans?
DeleteTuna,
DeleteCould be...They've got to comply with the regs also. They don't publish anything on the school in the papers and the airplanes are painted as the owner desires, so I just don't know.
John is a hoot. Sleeping gas??? Is that what wakes me up at night when it thunderously escapes?
ReplyDeleteI noticed the same hypoxia when I talk with a mask on. We have a mandate at work, but most don't abide it for long. We do have a mask nazi. When I see him in the hallway, I go for my phone and play this: https://youtu.be/GK2GUxOnjDQ
Which made me curious about the words of the French Anthem. THOSE guys aren't playing in the lyrics. Too bad they have bent over to avoid ever having to actually DO what they sing about. Mexico's anthem is similar. And ours says something about the home of the brave and the land of the free. Quickly becoming the home of the slave and the land of the fee. Maybe we could sue under the "truth in advertising" protections, or the "content label accuracy" clause of the Federal Code.
We have clump grass down here. I do the same song and dance with it. Up root and dry out. Works every time. Shortly after, I attempt a full twist on the naproxin cap... Tune in again for the dance of the semi-elderly...
STxAR,
DeleteI don't think that's sleeping gas as it usually wakes Mrs J up and the resulting thump on my shoulder wakes me up. Perhaps "Gas while sleeping"?
I am So going to download that to my phone. Interesting how many times the words "Free" and "Freedom" are used in it though, isn't it? Why it's almost as if the commies believe that saying something often enough can make it so. Sure seems to be the case.
Me and Naproxin are good friends, along with my Gay Friend, Ben.
Nice anthem. Though considering who our 'leaders' are and where Covidiocracy came from, mayhaps this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_eZfVpiCDk&t=3s
DeleteDo you mean these Frenchies? https://100percentfedup.com/military-slams-macron-france-in-mortal-danger-of-civil-war-due-to-anti-west-globalist-policies-of-disintegration/
As to grass, the apartment management takes the attitude that if it's relatively green, they'll call it 'grass.'
Lotta truth in that, Beans.
DeleteMrs J has dictated that that criteria is no longer valid. All weeds must DIE!
Wait, Ben Gay? the proper response is, "How long?"..... heh....
Delete:-)
DeleteWe certainly do live in interesting times.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's all I'll say about that.
Your beasties all look content, shows you're doing a good job as a beastie parent. (Horse, cats, dogs...)
Yeah, we do indeed. I'd advocate for turning the "interesting" rheostat down quite a bit.
DeleteThanks.
If there is sleeping gas on the homestead it's of the variety that hits the four-legged first. Good luck in your continuing battle with the kingdom of the weeds. Around here there still is a mask mandate and I just love to see a vehicle driving about with the solitary occupant wearing a mask while.....alone.....in the vehicle....solitary...... by themselves......no one else.....
ReplyDeleteNylon,
DeleteYeah we got them down here also. There's one additional symptom present here that you may have omitted in describing them in your local...All the windows are up. I typically drive by, point and laugh, but that's just me being charitable.
1950 here - so I am also friendly with aches and remedies. As many times as I have seen them, I still tend to rush outside the house on the coast to see the Marine air elements fly by - never tire of them. And we're coming up on the time of year they regularly fly bikini patrol parallel to the shore.
ReplyDeleteOur resident menagerie is down a bit - only three dogs and two cats, imagine we'll inherit others in due time.
Why more people don't just say something to the effect of "No - STFU" to those who want us to bow down to them is puzzling to me.
Tom,
DeleteI do the same thing when I hear jets on the Low Level Route in my area. No bikinis though.
I think that right now people are just being polite and taking off their masks when they can. The No-STFU is coming and soon, I think.
The sound of radials flying at the T-82 Formation Flying Cert. made me look up many times this past weekend. Even got to view them in the training areas using ADS-B Exchange (off 87 south of town & FM 2323 north) as the flights got beyond old eyeball range. Wish I knew how to attach a still picture or two of finger 4 formation(s) taken from previous FFC's.
ReplyDeleteCletus
Yeah, the group off 87 south were my guys. I don't know if Blogger allows pictures in comments. That would be interesting.
DeleteJuvat, I think this will eventually be the way of it. The rules will continue to slip - when I travel back to my parents and Old Home, the slippage is more extreme indeed. It helps that the weather is better and we are more able to have more of the outside "in", as it were. But absent an actual threat, it is quite difficult to maintain a high level of alarm for a long period of time (e.g., World War II versus a x number of year long emergency for a virus with no defined end goals for ending the crisis). At some point, people will just go back to living their lives.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think Dr Falsie will continue to flap his jaws and the Pols will continue to try and twist it to their advantage, but I'm thinking we're getting very close to the point you describe. Which will leave Dr. Falsie and his Pol leaders with two options, let it go or escalate. IMHO, the first would be the logical course. Unfortunately, I think the latter is distinctly possible.
Delete” I wasn't born yet, but somebody on this blog was! He's.....Old!
ReplyDeleteIn the immortal words of Buck Pennington, GOML.
I think there must be a formation flying certification at Mather.
I see “Texans” flying back and forth a few times a year.
They can practice to their hearts content to the south of here.
Entirely possible, Skip, that there is a similar school out there. Those airplanes are not inexpensive to operate so having the school close to home would minimize that expense.
DeleteMuch mask slippage even here in Gainesgrad, capitol of the Democratic People's Republic of Alachuacountystan. More and more every day. Still a lot of morons driving around in their cars with masks on and the windows up.
ReplyDeleteAs to the police? Yeah, no matter how right they are they will still be punished for doing their jobs. So glorified meter-maids many of them will become. Just like the police in England, who only roust and abuse non-minority people while totally ignoring what the minority are doing.
We all need to be more like that priest in Canada...
Other than that, I still find it totally unamazing as to our pets ability to not join in our work around our various houses, apartments, casas, spreads, mansions, bunkers etc. Unless, of course, we don't want them to, and then suddenly 'poof' there they are. But, well, wouldn't have it any other way.
Your governor needs to be more like DeSantis....
As to the world of aviation in the above listed AO, there's been a pair of T-45 Goshawks burning fuel and making noise above this fair city for a couple weeks. Which is weird, as UF (otherwise known as The University of Beijing in Gainesville) has only AF and Army ROTC programs. And they are definitely not T-38s. Tangent - The Boeing T-7 Redhawk trainer is finally in production. Wonder how Boeing is going to screw that up? - Untangent. The trainers are flying at about 2000 feet, making lots of noise, in a 2 ship formation and doing a good job of staying together. Other aircraft have been a flight of C/M-22 Ospreys, and those things make a lot of noise. There was one Sea Stallion that decided to come over our apartment and try to knock the fillings out of our heads from 500-1000 feet up (kind of hard to judge the distance when your eyeballs are bouncing around.) Other than that, aviationwise, just the usual cop choppers and the life-flights.
What's the status of your family visitors? Are they enjoying being back in the States, or are they gone already?
DIL and Wonder Dog, Tex, are settled in quite well. She's getting out and about doing things with her teacher buddies. We get together for Flappy Hour out on our back porch a couple of nights a week, just to watch hummingbirds and the sun set. So things are going well on that side. Little J is still deployed, their next assignment details are changing weekly it seems. Not the destination, but when he's leaving, how he's getting there, whether theirs a mandatory return to the States to touch base, yada, yada, yada. Nothing like a gummint bureaucracy in and organization's capability to screw things up. Last word we heard was DIL and Tex will be with us til the end of September.
DeleteMasks are required at our church but not enforced. The great majority seem to forget to wear theirs. ;) Those who do are respected and people seem to be sensitive to others who desire to maintain spacing.
ReplyDeleteWe've got about half of the pier still marked or cordoned for those who want to sit with space. And an overflow in the dining hall with video for those who want even greater spacing.
Sounds about like our situation.
Delete"pews" not pier
ReplyDeletePews...Piers....A place to drop anchor and sit for a while.
DeleteMasks are required at our church but not enforced. The great majority seem to forget to wear theirs. ;) Those who do are respected and people seem to be sensitive to others who desire to maintain spacing.
ReplyDeleteWe've got about half of the pier still marked or cordoned for those who want to sit with space. And an overflow in the dining hall with video for those who want even greater spacing.
Deja vu...all over again! :-)
DeleteSo on Mondays I get to practice my "Grammy" skills. He is not quite 2 yet...another couple of months...but LOVES to be outside. Doesn't matter how cold, windy, snowy, rainy,or sunshiny..."go out!!" is a popular request. So I pile sweater, sweatshirt, hood, gloves, and boots on, and then I get the kiddo dressed in same and out we go. (Ya have to eat breakfast first...no going out without getting the tummy fed, and the pull-ups changed...rules, doncha know...
ReplyDeleteAnywhoo...we are out this morning chasing after soap bubbles, enjoying the breeze, rather stiff at times, and we hear this noise. So he looks at the street for the "vroom", only there is no truck/car/van/motorcycle in view. And I point up to the sky...several times...hey, the kid is not quite 2...finally the helicopter comes into view and heads right over the house. Probably was a med-flight type of deal, couldn't tell from my angle. So it is pretty loud, and goes right along. He just grins and says VROOM! So I said "helicopter". He nods and says "VROOM!!".
So I said "maybe someday."
There's a picture in this post of another little boy about the same age doing about the same thing.
DeleteI'm here to tell ya, someday's sometimes happen. Mrs J and I are looking very much forward to meeting our first grandchild in late October. You'd better believe I'm going to take him/her to the airport as soon as possible.
I got the idea of what they were doing! :-) And yes, we're pretty much DONE with masking up here. Even the restaurants are tired of it, and more and more staff are no longer wearing masks, since NONE of the patrons are. Good luck with the weeds... and quite the menagerie you've got there!
ReplyDeleteThanks OldNFO. Had a Doctor's appointment this week, a referral. Nobody in the Dr's office was wearing masks. I noticed they were carrying them in case Karen showed up, but, no Dr's, Nurses, specialists, desk folks or patients. I thought that was pretty telling.
DeleteThe identification on ADS-B Exchange showed the FFC planes around T-82...well all I checked...as T6's, although some were built in the 50's and noticed one built in 1960...may be correct info., may not since it's on the net.
ReplyDeleteCletus
Could have been, could have been either. The airshow I went to in Burnet had flights by both types, since that's in the general vicinity, it's likely that both types were here. The two ship that were doing the barrel rolls definitely had a bubble type cockpit and appeared to be wider in the waste.
DeleteThe two gray cats are plotting something. I just know it. Whenever I see someone’s birthdate mentioned, I usually figure out in my mind (what’s left of it), whether I could be the dad. Sometimes it’s frightening, like I could be my son-in-law’s father’s dad! Had I led a more exciting lifestyle in my youth, that is.
ReplyDeleteLtFuzz, definitely they're plotting something. Typically it's waiting for me to hit the rack. At that point, they climb up on the headboard and peer over to see where I'm sleeping, then leap down on me. They're not all that heavy, but gravity accelerates them. I used to sleep quite comfortably on my back. Talk about a target rich environment for a successful dive bomb attack. Now, at best I sleep on my side. That having been said, they're pretty fun to have around and surprisingly affectionate for felines.
DeleteGot that age thing, I ran into one of my first students when I started teaching HS. She mentioned that she had a kid that was entering MS this year. It stunned me, until I did the Math and figured out she was 41 or so. Tempus Fugit sure is true!