COVID Senior Lockdown, Day 50!

And on the Fiftieth Day, The Governor declared that we could now Boat, and Golf, and Tennis (okay, not a verb), and Frolic in the Park - as long (sigh) as we “continue to practice…[Doesn’t your brain expect to hear the words Safe Sex right here?]…social distancing and other etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.” Huzzah.

Less people. Less trips. Less infections. Less patients. Yes, and less patience with “less”. Does anybody remember the word “fewer”? I know. It’s on the same dung heap of linguistic history as “best” (replaced by “greatest” in The Most Greatest Hyperbole Coup of 2008, led by ESPN). Was Brooks Robinson the best third baseman ever? Yes. Was he the greatest? I don’t even know what that means. I’ve also had enough of “unprecedented” (which replaced “uncharted”/”unchartered” when people realized they didn’t know how to use it) and “stunning,” the universal descriptor for any new COVID statistic. People need a thesaurus. And don’t get me started on “amongst.” What? Were you raised in an English barne?

Back to fun stuff. Yes, more bird news! Today, we were visited by a squadron of Swallows. This is rare. We see them flying high overhead at times in the summer, chasing swarms of mosquitoes and other small, annoying critters. They are a hoot to watch: aerial acrobats doing swoops and loops and moving it seems at the speed of sound. Today, they were doing all of that at ground level in the back yard. Like a feathered attack of TIE Fighters.* Fascinating. My guess is that a cloud of buglets hatched in the grass or something and these guys were just hunting and feasting. I literally had to duck coming out onto the deck as they zipped past at unpredictable angles. Beautiful birds, by the way. Barn Swallows, to be specific. My bird bible tells me they are the only Swallows who actually have the iconic swallow-tail.

* I owe my Star Wars readers some love because I completely blew off May the Fourth.

Stay sane.