Ehlana and Ethan:
Happy 33rd Birthday, Aunt
Deborah!
Happy 4th Anniversary, Michelle
and Neil!
Let’s begin this update from where we left
off yesterday.
We had our campground at Naomi’s house set
up by the time her Mom got home from the salon; she brought pizzeria pizza with
her; and we were happy to get the bonus pizza meal for a second day in a
row. Our evening last night included a
family bike ride; back yard games; and then movies and music on an iPad while
having our co-ed cuddle time in the tent.
We had to deal with a ‘raid’ from Zack and Eli, but they were camping at
Zack’s house; and were kept from bugging us all night. The co-ed cuddling ‘accidentally’ lasted all
night; and then our morning began with Tai Chi by the river with the
Carringtons. That was fun; so was
breakfast at Naomi’s; and then we packed up our campground because there’s rain
and potential thunderstorms in the forecast for tonight.
The weather has been great all day today,
but before we got around to the play time; we did some chores at Naomi’s and
Aiden’s houses; played at the lab or archives for a couple of hours; and then
headed out on our bikes with a picnic lunch.
The food, biking on the trails, and play time with our friends was
great; and then we needed to be home in time to get cleaned up and then help
with kid control for Aunt Deborah’s birthday dinner. Naomi was already going to be a party guest,
since Aunt Deborah actually is her aunt; so Aiden was added as my plus-one so
that he could come too. That worked out
since Hailey was there too so that Leah would have some back-up support for
dealing with Zack and Eli for a few hours.
Some parents couldn’t get away from work
early; so we had more than an hour and a half of play time before that dinner;
we – the kids – were allowed to take our food and drinks with us and eat by the
river or on the dock; and the adults had fun with their conversations and some
roasting for Aunt Deborah. There was
more after-dinner entertainment that included canoe rides and visits to the
park, but it was also a work night; so the party wrapped up by dusk. We’d considered another sleepover – this time
at Aiden’s house, but didn’t end up doing that; so we’ve had a quiet night at
home since then. Jacuzzi or bath time
was an option; Cassie and May are taking turns in my Jacuzzi now; and that’s
why this update is being written in Ethan’s room while we have our bedtime
chat. I’ll be having another girl chat
soon with Cassie and May, but before we wrap this up; let’s do a quick pandemic
update.
The global confirmed coronavirus case total
topped nineteen million today; and our national total passed the five million
milestone. We may be seeing a plateau
for new cases growth this week, but while that is good news; we’ll wait to see
whether that continues or is just a lull as we head into the fall. Fatality rates continue to improve thanks to
better treatments and early-detection, but that’s also, in-part, because there
is a jump in the number of younger adults catching the virus; and we don’t know
what impact that will have in the coming months – especially if a significant
percentage of those younger people end up dealing with longer-term recovery
issues. We’re also still getting around
forty thousand deaths per week worldwide, and with new outbreaks happening in a
lot of different countries around the world; that number could get worse before
it gets better again.
Finally, we’ll not our continuing concerns
over the rush to vaccines. The push for
wide-spread testing is, to be blunt, stupid – especially when it comes to
technology that has never been used for even a single successful vaccine in the
past. We know from history how badly
that can turn out; and sometimes it can be years or decades before those
unintended consequences show up. Nobody
has learned everything about this virus yet; we’re only beginning to understand
the effects it has on our bodies; and so we also can’t possibly know whether
vaccines based on what we think we know so far might cause more harm than good
in the medium to long term. That’s why
it normally takes years or decades to develop vaccines – and why we don’t have
cures of vaccines for most viruses.
We don’t want to get into a rant on this;
and really hope that we won’t be writing future journal reports about the kind
of problems we’re concerned with right now.
Governments around the world have made a lot of mistakes during this
pandemic; and we don’t want them to make matters worse by trying harder to
score political points than just doing what’s right and best for everyone.
Okay, that’s the end of our rant for
tonight. We’ll wrap this up; and one of
us will move on to the girl chat time with Cassie and May before we both call
it a night and get some sleep.
This is Ehlana and Ethan Proctor; live from
the hidden home of the Magi of the Light – and May the Magi Force be with you!
