Worldwide, the countries that followed the science and shut down early continue to be the ones doing best. Every nation with a conservative government (the United States, Great Britain, China) suffered the most new cases and deaths.

Following two weeks of low reporting, likely due to the year-end and holiday period, the overall upward trend seen prior to this period is continuing, with just under 5 million new cases reported in mid-January globally. This brought the cumulative numbers to over 88 million reported cases and over 1.9 million deaths globally since the start of the pandemic.

Several new, more virulent, varieties of COVID-19 were reported popping up in various countries, including the United States.

In the United States, as predicted by everyone who isn't an idiot, two weeks after Christmas a spike in cases broke all records.

The good news is, we now have a President who doesn't seem to be doing his best not to kill as many Americans as possible. And this, despite Trump's failed revolution and the desperate moves of his seditious followers. By the end of January, President Biden had undone most or all of Trump's "executive orders" and demonstrated a reliance on science instead of wishful thinking as the best approach to dealing with this pandemic.

When he took office, Biden discovered that Trump had no plan at all for distributing vaccines or even making sure enough had been purchased. Fortunately, Biden had (as Obama's Vice President) been a part of creating a pandemic response plan that Trump had literally thrown out. So, of all people, he actually had the best shot of re-implementing it quickly.

And still Trump and his brainless followers get in the way. In two different stadiums where mass vaccinations were taking place, those villains literally blocked access for those trying to get the shots.

Unsurprisingly, Florida and Arizona—with their #Trumpster governors and mindless voters—continue to lead the nation in Covid-19 deaths.

Although we had an uptick in cases (and deaths) in the two weeks following Christmas, in general we're still doing pretty well in Hawaii, especially on Maui, considering that we are a tourist destination. (The islands you can't fly to, are the safest, of course.)

Dogs On The Run

By: Paul S Cilwa	Occurred: 2/1/2021		Page Views: 795
Hashtags: #Coronavirus #Maui
Free-roving canines.
Estimated reading time: 1 minute(s) (29 words)

It gives me such joy each day to see our dogs, Ella and Lilly, race about the property with abandon, especially after having been apartment dogs for so long.

Hiding From The Rain

By: Paul S Cilwa	Occurred: 2/16/2021		Page Views: 790
Hashtags: #Coronavirus #Maui #RainySeason
The grass is always drier on the other side of the volcano.
Estimated reading time: 4 minute(s) (859 words)

Earth's climate, while it has certainly changed many times in the past, is nevertheless not "always" changing. That's because our climate is best described as demonstrating "punctuated equilibrium". This is a condition in which small changes to a system do not reflect much on the system as a whole…until and unless they accumulate beyond a certain threshold, at which point the balance snaps and the system moves torwards a new, completely different balance.

The Rain

By: Paul S Cilwa	Occurred: 2/22/2021		Page Views: 833
Hashtags: #Coronavirus #Maui #RainySeason
When it rains, it pours. Except if it's salt.
Estimated reading time: 2 minute(s) (366 words)

I've lived in places that had a lot of rain before—I'me talking to you, Florida!—but those were sandy places. This is the first time I've had to live, literally, in mud.

Oh, My Ankle!

By: Paul S Cilwa	Posted: 2/25/2021		Page Views: 1,162
Hashtags: #Coronavirus #Maui #AchillesTendon
And then I blew my Achilles tendon.
Estimated reading time: 4 minute(s) (841 words)

And then, trying to do those exercises at home finished the job. One of the exercises I was suppoosed to do was to put the balls of my feet on the edge of a step and try to raise and lower myself, basically trying to stand on tip[toe on the edge of the step. And then, suddenly, something popped in my calf and my foot instantly went dead.

The Death of Me, Yet

By: Paul S Cilwa	Occurred: 2/26/2021		Page Views: 820
Hashtags: #Coronavirus #Maui
Looking forward in the last third of my life.
Estimated reading time: 3 minute(s) (696 words)

I want to talk about death. Really, I want to talk about it but whenever I try, people assume I'm all depressed and try to "fix" me.

But that's not it at all. I'll be 70 soon, in a pandemic, and I anticipate death the way I anticipated Maui before moving here, and the way I anticipated rafting the Grand Canyon before I'd ever done that, and the way I anticipated seeing Superman: The Movie in the theatre before it came out.

Moosic

By: Paul S Cilwa	Occurred: 2/27/2021		Page Views: 782
Hashtags: #Coronavirus #Maui
Music To Chew Cud By
Estimated reading time: 1 minute(s) (166 words)

My grandson is an accompished musician and composer (having been paid professionally to do those things). So of course he has a music studio set up in his little container (also known as the "Zach Shack". And of course he plays the music loud? Why not? Ain't nobody out here anyway but the cows.