U.S. Life in LOCKDOWN!
“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
–2 Chronicles 7:13-14 (NIV), posted by a friend on fb on 3-18-2020
(Please Scroll down for most recent update; all posts are chronological.)
Tuesday, March 17, 2020 — Saint Patrick’s Day
Never did I think, especially under the “life in USA” category–I would be writing a blog post entitled “Life in LOCKDOWN.”
Yet, on this St. Patrick’s Day 2020, here we are. I got the idea during my midday siesta today–a daily journal of life in the USA with the coronavirus staring us down.
Later I saw a former student of mine posted on that same topic–the post is from the University of Virginia: “Write it Down.”
As I recently read from author Suki Kim, (and I paraphrase), “every story has a beginning that started earlier.” Or something like that. In one way, this blog began late last night– I was looking at the clock at 11:50 pm, thinking: “St. Patrick’s Day is ten minutes away, and at that very moment, midnight Eastern Time, the US borders and airports will be closed to arrivals from Ireland (and the UK too).”
Wednesday, March 18
Life seems to be getting more and more unreal. During breakfast I heard the radio news, “The Governor of Kansas has closed all schools for the rest of the semester.” Kansas is far from the hotspots of California, Washington State, and New York… it is in the American Heartland. That news told me:
1. the virus will eventually spread far and near–it’s no longer just a coastal phenomenon, and
2. this will last a long time. It’s not going away any time soon.
The US and Canada mutually agreed to close their border to all non-essential crossings. (Ironic: up until just a few weeks ago– in some cases a few DAYS ago–talking about “border security” or “enforcing immigration laws” got one easily branded as a “racist, xenophobe, bigot, hater,” and all the other name-calling that many people resort to when they run out of logical arguments. But suddenly now, LOTS of people are realizing: borders are useful!
Other news items today: Belk is closing all their stores for a few weeks. Pres. Trump ordered a Navy medical ship to New York Harbor to provide an extra 1,000 hospital beds. Many healthcare workers are sounding the alarm: if they don’t get enough protective equipment quickly, THEY may be putting themselves at risk, and if our healthcare providers get sick en mass, then we’re all in trouble. As businesses are shutting down, tens of thousands are applying for unemployment. Ironically and tragically, I read of several state unemployment sign-up websites that have been CRASHING due to being overwhelmed. That shows me: do not count on the GOVERNMENT to bail you out!
I so appreciate Dave Ramsey in so many ways. In his opening dialogue today, he said over and over: CALM DOWN. CALM DOWN. Many are alarmed by the stock market roller coaster, mainly DOWN. Even though it was at historic highs just a few WEEKS ago, it has lots 1/3 of its value in the past few weeks. Ramsey pointed out, as AWFUL as 9-11 was, and rubble from that day hit Wall Street, and trading was closed for days and the market plummeted, it made up ALL those losses before CHRISTMAS. It think he said it took some 52 or 53 days only. His point: as severe as these drops are, CALM DOWN. Do NOT sell, unless you want to sell at the bottom and lock in your losses. Think long term. Do not panic. As Ramsey likes to say, “the only person who gets hurt in a roller coaster is the person who tries to get out too early.”
You can hear and see Dave’s March 18 monologue here.
We drove past a church today; their electronic sign read: ALL SERVICES CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.
Still, it’s important to look for the POSITIVES in all this, especially changing what we CAN change. There helpful blog posts from a favorite author and podcaster of mine, Gretchen Rubin.
1. Some ways to effectively work from home. As DreyerCoaching founders, Deborah and I are blessed to work from home anyway–we love it! Still, this is helpful advice who are doing this for the first time, and I found it helpful too.
https://gretchenrubin.com/
2. The Bible says to “redeem the time,” which means “use time wisely. This post has some useful tips to maximize what may be new “at home” or “downtime” for people.
https://gretchenrubin.com/
This time at home can be a blessing: a quiet time to focus on mental, spiritual, emotional, intellectual, physical growth.
Thursday, March 19
Today, mercifully, was the FIRST DAY OF SPRING! Most years that happens around March 21, but I guess with Leap Year and February 29, spring arrived today! After most winters, I’m glad to see spring come, but considering the horrific past three months hundreds of millions around the world have experienced, I am VERY thankful to put the season of Winter 2019-2020 behind us. If you are reading this post, be thankful! You survived this winter!
Many think warmer weather will help the virus, as it often helps reduce the flu. We shall see. Today was a beautiful day in Roanoke, Virginia. Sunny and up into the mid-70’s! Daisy and I took about a three-mile walk up to the mountaintop. Staying physically active during this time of uncertainty is important, and I find walking a great way to stay in shape, relax, and get fresh air and sunshine. I recently read an article claiming that fresh air is a natural disinfectant! Scientists are not exactly who or how, but it is–and that even applies to fresh air that comes inside from the windows! This article about the 1918 Spanish flu has more about the fresh air/sunshine connection.
My wife put a vase full of forsythia and daffodils from my parents’ garden on our dinner table; great colorful announcement of spring!
I have been thinking a lot lately: if one must endure a lockdown or quarantine, the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia are a pretty good place in which to endure it!
There is constant talk about “social distancing.” My oldest brother has a doctorate in microbiology, so yeah, he’s that brilliant. He read a book years ago about the 1918 Spanish flu. He said Philadelphia and St. Louis reacted very differently. The city leaders of Philadelphia were slow to respond to the threat and city life went along as normal; there was a spike of many, sudden deaths. In contrast, the St. Louis leaders took the warnings seriously and quickly shut down all public places: dance halls, Sunday Schools, theaters, etc. As a result, St. Louis had far fewer deaths, and no sudden spike. You can read more here.
A big shock today came from Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State. His department issued a Level 4 travel advisory, the highest possible. Normally Level 4 is only a warning against travel to war-torn countries like Yemen or Somalia. In this case, however, it applies to the whole world. This is unprecedented. Never before has the US State Department issued a Level 4 warning for travel to everywhere. In short, Pompeo said, 1. Americans are to not travel outside the US, to anywhere, and 2. Americans overseas are to return home immediately, while some air and ship service exists. The concern is, if air and sea links all finally end, Americans could end up stranded overseas “for an extended period.” He urged Americans to get home any way they can and not try to rely on the US government to pick them up.
The US, Canada and Mexico also closed their borders to all non-essential travel.
Worked hard today on the mid-term paper for the online class I am taking about Entrepreneurship. Wrote answers for chapters 1-5.
Friday, March 20
Many people are discussing: “How to get by in these challenging times?” A former student of mine who is now a teacher (and thus at home, not working), asked that on facebook and got some good advice. One common piece of advice I am reading often is “keep busy with important, productive tasks.” I have been trying to do that. This morning at 8:00 I taught my three young female students in Shenzhen, China, in our online class. After class I jumped back into my midterm paper, and by noon had written answers for chapters 6-8. I was done! It came to thirty-some pages; I am thankful that I feel comfortable writing. It is such a valuable skill. I emailed the paper to the professor in Kansas with thirty minutes to spare. Then, lunch time. After lunch, I took our Chinese host student on a little drive around town. Since we are in self-quarantine, it felt good to just get out and drive around some. It was a warm day–about 76 degrees. Our first stop was the bank. It was a bit eerie–I was the only customer in the lobby, with five employees. They told me that their lobby would close at 5:00 today, and they would offer drive-thru banking as of Saturday and from now on. Mailed a few copies of the Vinton newspaper article about the Feng family that visited from Taiwan in January–mailed them to the DreyerCoaching teachers who were mentioned by name in the article. From there I went to the grocery store. That was odd too. Thankfully, there was a lot of food. No one should be going hungry. It was not crowded and everyone seemed calm–I observed no panic buying. However, big signs said many items were rationed: one each toilet paper pack, hand sanitizer, hand soap bottles, cold medicines, etc. I also observed that, even there was lots of food overall, there were spotty shortages. Some shelves were bare–maybe 10% of the total. On other shelves, there was food, but the shelves were maybe 10-30% full. We Americans are used to seeing grocery story shelves chock-full of product, but today many were sparse…maybe some 10-15 bottles or cans of something, pushed forward to the front of the shelf in neat little rows, but open space behind. Odd.
Came back home and taught our host student one hour of English–did a vocabulary review, then taught another Chinese student for two hours. The second fellow only lives one mile from us, and I used to go to his home to teach him 1 on 1, but last week his mother requested that we meet him online from now on. We discussed the English words “ironic” and “sarcastic.” In English those are very different, but in the Chinese language there is only one word for both ideas. I told him I thought it was ironic that, even though we only lived a mile apart, I was teaching him online, the same way I teach students on the other side of the world.
I am watching the evening network news almost nightly. New York and California are tightening their lockdown restrictions. Roughly one-fifth of the US population is under lockdown orders. The news showed some reporters asking President Trump why he did not order a nationwide lockdown, and he responded that the virus and overall situations are very different in different areas. He mentioned the US Midwest, for example, where the cases are not so bad. No need to lockdown there. I was thinking the same thing: “Hey, if you’re in Cucumber, West Virginia (pop. 94), there is probably no need for a lockdown!”
Mom and dad drove safely home from the beach in North Carolina to home today. They said they saw many restaurants open along the way. They stopped for lunch and had to take their sandwiches to the car to eat, since the dining room was closed. However, they were able to find services. They had planned to come home tomorrow but they saw different states ordering shut-downs and they did not want to be caught in some bureaucratic snafu and get trapped somewhere, so they came home today.
Had the pleasure of having both our daughters and their children with us tonight for dinner. So proud of and thankful that both our girls are in healthcare. I told them, “You are heroes fighting on the front lines.”
Spoke on LINE with our son who is in Taiwan now. He is considering how to respond to the State Department warning. Cut his trip to Taiwan short and come home now, even though planes and airports may be full of the virus? Or, stay till his planned return in late April, yet risk air links being severed. Airlines are businesses. They will not fly empty jets across the Pacific and keep losing money on each flight.
Saturday, March 21
A warm, beautiful spring day in Virginia. If you didn’t know there was a global pandemic and economic collapse going on, you might think today was just another glorious spring Saturday!
It is very important, in times of unease, to keep oneself busy and productively occupied. This can involve keeping up with one’s normal routines, fulfilling one’s normal obligations to others, and staying physically active. Today I saw a neighbor doing that quintessential American spring rite–mowing his grass. That was reassuring: “some things are getting back to normal.” This afternoon I saw we still had a little gas left from last fall, so I cranked up the push mower and mowed our lawn too. It was a beautiful day to be outside; got me some much-needed sun, fresh air and exercise; and it made the lawn look good too. I can’t control the global pandemic or economic meltdown, but at least I can keep my yard and home looking nice. Focus on what you CAN do, not what you CANNOT do.
Sobering news today. Our youngest son is in Taiwan and today I checked the airline website for options if he wants to return home early. I searched “Taipei to Roanoke” flights. It had one exorbitant one for tomorrow, Sunday, March 22, but then for Monday and the rest of the week only gray text “No flights available.” I was stunned. What does that mean? No United flights into Roanoke period after tomorrow? Or is the Roanoke airport not handling any flights at all? I revised the search for destinations “Greensboro NC” and “Washington DC.” Thankfully there were reasonably-priced flights, and for every day. So far so good. But when I checked the flight details, more shock. A normal trip to or from Taiwan takes 24 hours or so, with flights and layovers. But for the flights I saw today, each took about 44 hours! They listed a 1:30 pm Taipei departure, to Japan. Normally we have a 3-4 hour layover in Tokyo before flying to the US. But now, each flight listed a 23 hour layover in Tokyo! You arrive one afternoon, and leave the next. There seems to be only one flight per day (with that airline) from Japan to the US, in this case, to San Francisco, and from SFO on to the East Coast. Japan is perhaps the cleanest country in the world, and I was joking to my son, “Tokyo is probably the cleanest airport in the world.” If you have to be in an airport during this pandemic, Tokyo may be the most sanitary one; however, in a pandemic, it’s probably best not to stay too long in any airport anywhere.
So the issue is: do people travel now, while there are poor transportation links, or stay later and risk there being NO such links in the foreseeable future?
Sobering: I saw this today–it took 3 months to get to the first 100,000 cases of the virus…but only 12 days to get to the SECOND 100,000! (Note: 100,000 is the approx. population of my hometown, Roanoke, VA.)
Some headlines today:
Italy has 800 new deaths today
Silver lining: as areas shut down, pollution falls and skies clear!
“True Fighter”–90-year-old woman recovers from coronavirus!
Sunday, March 22
This was a remarkable Sunday, the first after the Virginia governor ordered no crowds larger than 10 (unless you are in a store…different story.) Our young, tech-savvy pastor and his team delivered a worship service on facebook live at 10:00 am. I got my cup of coffee and sat in front of the screen and watched. The worhip leader began with some songs, then the pastor led a Bible study “Where is God in the fog?”– that is, where is God in times of uncertainty and confusion. Lastly, the youth pastor had some closing remarks and announcements. I missed being with my friends but it was good to worship and connect via online. You can watch the church service here. As I often tell my students, even if you do not believe in Christianity and the Bible, going to church services is a GREAT way to improve your English skills and learn more about life in the USA!.
The church service ended about 11:00, and then I opened zoom to start our first Sunday School class online. We have been studying the topic “What does the Bible say about Money” for about three months already, and we studied several more Bible verses on that topic in class. Many people who do not understand the Bible think it is boring and irrelevant, but not so! In class that day, we realized the Bible is almost EERILY relevant and up to date. For example, the Old Testament has this verse:
5 Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone,
for they will surely sprout wings
and fly off to the sky like an eagle. – Proverbs 23:5 (in Chinese)
This verse is some 3,000 years old–it’s ancient. Yes, when we studied it on March 22, 2020, the US stock market had had its steepest drop EVER. That market had been at its all-time peak just as recently as February 19. I think during the Trump administration so far, the US stock market has had some 150 historic highs…one right after another! But starting in late February, in only 22 trading days, the market has lost some ONE-THIRD of its value! That represents trillions and trillions of US dollars’ value DESTROYED–in a matter of days. This article explains it well–the other three-fastest drops of 30% all occurred the Great Depression–but none were as fast as the collapse in early 2020. Truly, wealth can “sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.”
In online Sunday School we also “checked in” to see how each other is doing, took prayer requests, and prayed together. There were about eight of us, and we met on zoom for about an hour. I am so THANKFUL that in 2008 God placed in my mind the vision to teach English online, so now I am familiar with the tools to not only keep teaching our English classes, but also have Sunday School!
That weekend our youngest daughter and her son were with us, and also our granddaughter since our oldest daughter was at work in the pharmacy. So, it was a pleasure being with family, even in lockdown. As has been an essential part of my Sunday routine for decades, I took a nap after lunch.
Other big news this week. The US Senate dickered and finally agreed on Thursday to a two-trillion relief package. The US House of Representatives passed it on Friday, March 27, which President Trump promptly signed into law. As I write this on March 27, the US National debt is US$ 23.6 TRILLION. (You can see what it is today–the amount in the top left of the webpage–to see how the debt has grown since March 27, 2020.) Since our federal government is already out of money and $23 trillion in debt, this new $2 TRILLION will just be from the printing of new money from scratch. That means, each dollar is worth less. It is the debasing of the currency. Still, this week we heard a shocking 3 MILLION filed for unemployment last week, so we have to do something to help people. The crash has been so devastating and sudden. I think it took most of us by total surprise. The collapse is hurting so many people, but the hospitality industry (hotels, restaurants, tourism, airlines, etc.) has been practically devastated. I heard a podcast from US Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas)– he quoted a friend in the hotel industry who said most hotels have a 6% occupancy rate now!
Other recent headlines:
Tuesday, March 24
With a single announcement, India, the world’s largest democracy with 1.3 BILLION souls, was ordered into a nationwide lockdown– That single order from the Indian government roughly DOUBLED the number of people total on lockdown–
With massive India on lockdown, that means ONE-THIRD OF HUMANITY is on lockdown—
There are more people on lockdown now, than were alive to witness the age of World War II —
Also on Tuesday, March 24, England’s Prince Charles tested positive for the virus — many then feared for the Queen’s health– A few days later, we learned the UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson tested positive too!
Wednesday, March 28
With all the craziness going on, I wanted to connect with the DreyerCoaching team, so we had a powwow this morning. Since all of us work remotely from our home offices, and two teachers are in Richmond, Virginia, we have to meet online. It was a time for us each to “check in” and tell how we are doing and what we are feeling. We discussed our team and how to best keep helping our students. Team teacher Ms. Holmes, who is working on certification as a health and wellness coach, gave us a some tips for “health and wellness” during these challenging times.
Friday, March 27
The news reported the first case here in Roanoke County, Virginia, and a case also at Virginia Tech–a student there had evidently picked it up while traveling abroad recently. Right now, the worst case is New York City and area– some one-half of all reported cases in the US are there, although much of California, Seattle area, Chicago, New Orleans, and Boston are seeing swift increases.
Thankfully today was a BEAUTIFUL day across Virginia. It got up to 86 F (30 C) today–both the warmest day of 2020 so far here, plus the first day in the 80’s. Our host student from Beijing, Matt, was featured in the local newspaper today, “The Vinton Messenger.” He and his mom were had an interview published in that paper last August when he first arrived here, and today they published a follow-up story. Great headline: “Chinese student flourishes in Vinton and at RVCS.”
Through it all, I am thankful for so much. Thankful we all are in great health in our family and the DreyerCoaching team. Thankful our two daughters are in healthcare, helping other people. Thankful it is SPRING TIME so we can get outside more, open the windows, enjoy the flowers that are starting to bloom, get more hours of sunshine, etc. There is some evidence that indicates HIGHER TEMPERATURES can slow or kill the virus, so I am thinking “bring on the hot Virginia weather!” THANKFUL that God gave me the vision in 2008 to TEACH ONLINE–so ironically as ALL the bricks and mortar schools across Virginia (and many other states are closed), plucky DreyerCoaching is still full steam ahead, teaching Monday – Saturday! THANKFUL that we at DreyerCoaching have been responsible–we have financial reserves to draw on. Two days this week our oldest daughter came to the office to help with some projects. Before she left, my wife printed her check for March and as I sat down to sign it, I realized we had a “teachable monent.” Before I signed my name, I told my daughter, “Last week some THREE MILLION people lost their jobs and filed for relief. But at DreyerCoaching, we are still printing and signing checks and paying people LIKE NORMAL. This is a HUGE blessing.” It feels almost unreal. I watch and read the news and see collapse and panic almost everywhere, but here at DreyerCoaching, we have calmness, peace, and I see we are making a positive difference in our own little way. All students are being taught, and all teachers and team-members are being paid. In the midst of an unprecedented global financial collapse, how wonderful is that? THANKFUL we have been heeding the advice of my parents and Dave Ramsey: live debt free, have an emergency fund, do not panic. As awful as this situation is–and it is awful–I would be in a MUCH WORSE place if I had a home mortgage to pay in a few days, a car note to pay, no reserve funds at all, etc. As recently as a few weeks ago, I was seeing news reports that, even in a then-booming economy, some 80% of Americans lived paycheck to paycheck. That is a bad way to live, and a sudden collapse like this would be far scarier if people have no cushion.
Trying to maintain “normalcy.” Waking up at the normal time; teaching classes like normal; keeping up with emails and social media; taking three healthy meals (and mid-morning fruit snack) at the normal times; walks with Daisy to get fresh air and sunshine; drinking lots of water; reading the Bible and praying at the normal times; and going to bed at normal times. Maintaining healthy routines and habits is always crucial, especially in times of crisis.
Saturday, March 28.
Another gorgeous Virginia day–if you didn’t know there was a global pandemic going on, you’d think today was just a glorious spring Saturday! I am enjoying all the blooms from trees and flowers… The daffodils are in full bloom now, as are tulip trees, flowering pears, redbuds and weeping cherries. The color and life are a welcome respite from the grim national and world news. Deborah, Matt and I worked out in the yard some. Good exercise and we all needed the fresh air and sunshine. I am often thinking: “as often as this virus is, at least it’s hitting us in the spring, when the days are longer and warmer, and you can open the windows and get outside. That is especially important for children so they can get outdoors. There is no ‘good’ time to have this pandemic, but to be cooped up all the time in the dead of winter–like hundreds of millions in China were starting in December–would be far worse.”
Trying to maintain “normalcy,” I put up the birdhouse our youngest daughter made in woodworking class in high school.
Rhode Island is famous for being the tiniest state in the US. Now, Rhode Island police are stopping cars with New York license plates and telling them they have to quarantine. So now, it’s not just travel bans among countries, but we are seeing it start among US states!
Sunday, March 29
Another Sabbath Day in lockdown. The church we attend had another service online at 10:00. The sermon was from Romans 1. You can watch the service here. After the 10:00 service, about 7-8 of us met on zoom for our Sunday School class, studying “What does the Bible say about money?”
Like always, I took a nap after Sunday lunch. For lunch, we ate on the screened porch for the first time in 2020–great to have warm weather again so we can get on that porth more and enjoy the fresh air! In the early afternoon I was sitting on our porch and noticed a pair of black-capped chickadees flying in and out of the birdhouse I’d put up around 4:00 the day before. That house was up for less than 24 hours and a couple had already moved in! Those birds do NOT procrastinate! We have a derogatory term “bird brain,” but I could learn a lesson on decisiveness from those birds! It was another beautiful spring day, so Daisy and I took a walk. Very thankful.
Monday, March 30
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D), who after more than a year is still refusing to resign for his scandal involving a racist photograph, put Virginia under a mandatory lockdown until June 10. Currently, that is the latest date any state has declared for a lockdown to end. I have been seeing reports of many people still congregating in stores, parks and front yards, so it seems he was right to step up the restrictions.
The news reported the first confirmed case of the virus in Roanoke City today. For the first time since the US CIVIL WAR (1861-1865), New York’s iconic Central Park is the site of makeshift HOSPITALS. The US Navy hospital ship “Comfort” arrived in New York Harbor. The goal is to take non-virus patients onboard, so the city’s hospitals can have more open beds available for virus patients.
Tuesday, March 31
I think we are ALL glad to see March 2020 go! It reminds me of the post I read recently:
I do not want the full version of 2020.
I got the 90-day Trial Version and don’t like it.
Cloudy and rainy today. Maybe a metaphor for the news. Of course no one knows the future, but in the presidential news briefing today we were told, even IF we keep up successful “social distancing,” the US can expect to see 100,000-240,000 deaths from the virus. That is roughly 1 to 2.5 Roanoke Cities. Wow. Some prisoners in New York are getting paid to dig mass graves.
Some social media posts floating around go like this:
Tomorrow is April 1, but April Fools’ Day is cancelled–no joke can match the crazy stuff that’s been happening in the real world, and we’re tired.
Wednesday, April 1
April Fools’ Day. Like the post above explains, not too many people are in light-hearted mood for jokes these days. Still, it is a reason to REJOICE that everyone alive today has SURVIVED what was a CHALLENGING month of March! Still, some people do try to find humor; I have been enjoying some of the funny memes on social media and I share many of them liberally.
The news has been so sobering. Some 3 million filed for unemployment last week–this week the news reported that Macy’s is laying off some 130,000 employees, and J.C. Penney’s is doing the same to some 90,000. It’s hard to wrap my mind around: these large, historic, fabled companies that are household names are letting workers go by the tens of thousands. The news last week reported that some ONE HALF of all US DOMESTIC flights have been cancelled; this week that figure is about 80%! And those are DOMESTIC flights, mind you, NOT foreign. The word I keep hearing in the news over and over is “dire.” Yet, in stark contrast to the dire picture from other companies, I am humbled and grateful that plucky little DreyerCoaching.com is moving on! Since yesterday was the end of the month, the team-members submitted their timesheets for March and my wife, our able CFO, printed the checks and today I sat at my desk and signed each one with a small personal note. I always take signing checks as a big responsibility, but never before have I felt the gravity of the situation as heavily as today. I was filled with a profound and reverent sense of gratitude. Gratitude that God gave me the vision way back in 2008 to launch an online school. Gratitude also that we have weathered the storm thus far and, with God’s help, will continue to do so and flourish. As I signed those checks, I realized that DreyerCoaching.com contributes to the livelihood of TEN separate households on a monthly basis. (If you count periodic services we purchase, the number is around 13.) Granted, for most, DreyerCoaching is one source of income among several, but a source of income nonetheless. One team-member texted me this week, expressing gratitude that DreyerCoaching is proving to be a reliable source of employment and income, at home.
Our oldest daughter came to the office today to make reading recordings for our students to listen to and read back to us, for pronunciation practice. We are also getting out our third 9 weeks’ progress reports for each student. We think it’s crucial to keep busy and keep at our jobs. I am just so thankful I have a job to keep at!
Friday, April 3
Today was another glorious spring day in Western Virginia–clear air, blue skies, and many flowers and trees in full bloom. It is almost surreal to square that natural beauty with the ongoing disaster across our land and world. I taught three girls in South China at 8:00 am, then taught “Friendly Free Friday” at 9:30. Classes went well. Later I updated the website to list Tammy in China as the winner of the “Most Improved Award” for the third 9 weeks. After lunch I mowed the grass and trimmed the edges. Like Dave Ramsey says, “Control the controllables.” That is, focus on what you CAN impact and do, not on what you can NOT impact or do. It always feels good to have a neatly-manicured yard. Chatted with one of my brothers on the phone a bit and then watched the local and national TV news with our oldest daughter. Dire news. Another 305 have died from the virus in the New York City area alone in just the last day. That makes me wonder, among other things: “Why did NYC keep its subway system running so long?” The TV news recently reported that as a major reason for the sudden explosion of cases in the area. Today the Center for Disease Control (CDC) urged people to wear cloth masks if they go out, claiming people may have the virus but not know it, so wearing a mask may slow its spread.
Other headlines today:
Delaware police allowed to pull over drivers with out-of-state license plates. A high school buddy of mine just posted a social media meme: Why are liberal states suddenly blocking people from other states, when for years they thought a secure US border was “racist”?
The US hit a grim milestone today: at least 1,000 virus-related deaths today. I am no medical expert or statistician, but I do hear some people asking these questions. How are deaths recorded? If someone has several health difficulties and dies with the virus, why is the virus named as the culprit? Did the other health issues cause the death? How many people die in the US on a normal day anyway?
Dr. Fauci, when asked for a basketball analogy, said “We’re not at half-time yet.”
Social unrest in Italy, as many run out of food.
25% of Americans have NO emergency fund; another 23% only have enough for 3 weeks
Wednesday, April 8
This week is what many Christians call “Holy Week”…the week before Easter Sunday. For most of us, it is a Holy Week unlike any we have ever experienced. At the end of last week, the US Surgeon General said we all need to expect horrific illness and death this week–He said this would be our 9-11 and Pearl Harbor week. He and President Trump were claiming deaths in the 100,000-240,000 range! Thankfully, despite the horrific losses of life that are ongoing, the predictions have been scaled back to some 60,000. Still terrible of course, but actually in the normal range of an annual winter flu season.
Am still trying to stay healthy and keep normal routines. Took Daisy for another 3-mile walk today. Thankful for warm weather and a gorgeous Virginia spring: lots of flowers and blooming trees. In English we say, “Kill two birds with one stone.” That same idiom is also in Chinese and German that I know of, and who knows how many other languages, to show its universal appeal. I like to listen to podcasts as I walk (especially since Daisy isn’t much of a conversationalist). This is one I listened to for the first time today. It was recorded before the virus threw the US into lockdown but it still has good advice. “How to set up an ideal week” encourages you to make a schedule to follow week by week, to enhance your personal effectiveness. From things I am seeing on social media, many people are struggling with maintaining healthy routines and habits while in lockdown; this might help someone. If you take a listen, they will also explain how you can download their FREE “Your Ideal Week” template. It is a 7-Day Calendar with time blocks of 30 minutes. You can use it to pencil in your priorities and commitments. I used this today and it is already helping me focus. As the late Stephen Covey said, “Don’t prioritize your schedule; schedule your priorities.” This lockdown is a rare chance to be quiet and focus on personal growth.
Thursday, April 9 Maundy Thursday
Maundy Thursday is the day in the Christian calendar when we remember Jesus’ Last Supper with His disciples. This event has been made even more famous by the widely-loved painting by Da Vinci. Today our oldest daughter came to the office to make voice recordings to help our students with their listening and pronunciation skills, and she also emailed some of our former students. Learning a new language is a long-term commitment and we hope to encourage some of our former students to return.
As a part of my desire to maintain healthy, productive habits, I have scheduled regular times daily for writing and reading. In my writing time, I found an online class by Seth Godin about Freelancing I paid for years ago but never managed to actually sit down and watch (word for the day: “procrastination”). Well, now in lockdown, we should all have time for things we used to ignore or avoid. One part that stuck out to me was: “Don’t be generic, and even when people pressure you to be, tell them you don’t want to be generic.” Part of the class required the students to answer some questions and make our answers public, so the questions and my answers are here, “Freelancer Manifesto.”
Daisy is so smart. Tonight Deborah and I were watching the 6:30 nightly news when Daisy came hobbling down the hall and into the family room, with her left paw caught up by her neck. She was looking right at me with a worried look on her face, but she was quiet and not panicking. I looked at her and realized she had somehow gotten her one inside claw caught in the small ring that holds her dog tags, and she couldn’t get it loose by herself. (I guess she had been scratching herself and somehow got that one clas stuck.) She stood still as I gently eased her paw forward a bit to unhook the claw and then back to the floor where it belonged. I commented to Deborah, “thank goodness we were home–if that had happened while we were all gone, it could have been bad. Plus, she didn’t yelp or panic. Had she panicked and tried to jerk her paw free, she might have pulled her claw out–and since it was almost 7:00 pm during lockdown, how would we find a veterinarian to help then?” It seemed as if Daisy knew she was in trouble, couldn’t help herself, and came right to me, expecting I could fix it.
Today I was thinking: if only we approached God that way. When we are in pain or a mess we can’t solve ourselves, even if we caused it, do we immediately hobble to God, quietly, but expecting God to fix it and make us well?
Friday, April 10 Good Friday
A friend was supposed to have left today to lead a student group to China. In fact, the Chinese students staying with us was supposed to have gone on that trip, but it was cancelled way back in the winter when the virus was virulent across Mainland China and planes had stopped flying between the US and Mainland China. None of us then could have guessed it would now be virulent across the US and much of the world now too.
Millions of Christians across the world miss going to church on a regular basis, but the lockdown is particularly painful for those who will be missing Easter church services, since Easter is the most important holiday in the Church calendar. In American culture, Christmas is by far the biggest holiday by almost any measure, but Christmas celebrates Jesus’ birth. Easter, however, celebrates Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead, the cornerstone of the Christian religion.
Even though many of us will miss going to church this Easter Sunday, some have been posting messages like this on social media. “The first Easter wasn’t celebrated in a Church. It happened while the disciples were all staying at home, scared and confused, wondering what was going to happen. That sounds a lot like us today. We will keep things very Biblical this #Easter.” Good perspective!
Our DreyerCoaching classes are still on schedule. This morning I shared this story of “The First Easter” with my two classes. I explained to the students, even though the story is in a cartoon format, it is not “childish.” It uses helpful vocabulary like “disciples, silver, betrayed, nailed, crucified, cross, denied, rooster,” etc. As we love to say, at DreyerCoaching, not only do students learn English, but they also learn about life in America and holidays. I also showed both classes this video of our family Easter: they saw us coloring eggs, preparing Easter baskets, going to church, and having Easter lunch with family out on the deck.
Some headlines today:
Economic Devastation Looms on a Good Friday like no other
Christians mark Good Friday in isolation as a “Test of Faith”
US federal debt tops $24 trillion for first time ever; unsustainable
Lots of hardship: both on an individual level we all know about and on a macro-level that we see or read about in the news. Still, some GOOD news today. This morning I learned that the young man who is a former student of mine and now our DreyerCoaching social media/email guru and his wife had their first son last night! In the midst of the chaos and mayhem and destruction, a baby is born! Reason to celebrate!
Friday, April 24
This email came to me from the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Since President Carter switched US diplomatic recognition of China from Taiwan to the People’s Republic on January 1, 1979, AIT has been the kind of “quasi” US embassy in Taiwan that is NOT an embassy. I went there several times when I lived in Taiwan in the 1990s; good people, great service. This email is lengthy, but I think it gives a good “snapshot in time” of where things are right now. Our youngest son David is still in Taiwan now and he is on this email list, getting updates for US citizens in Taiwan.
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Apr 24, 2020, 5:10 AM (1 day ago) |
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Location: Taiwan
Event: The Department of State has issued a Global Level 4 Health Advisory for COVID-19. U.S. citizens who wish to return to the United States should make commercial arrangements as soon as possible unless they are prepared to remain abroad for an indefinite period. Commercial flight options currently exist in Taiwan, however, airlines have significantly reduced direct flights to the United States. Beginning in May, airlines are expected to further reduce direct flights for each of the remaining routes to the United States to one per week or fewer. The U.S. government does not anticipate arranging repatriation flights in Taiwan at this time. Please check with airlines for the latest information on flight options and to make travel arrangements.
As of April 24, the Taiwan Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) has confirmed 428 cases of COVID-19 in Taiwan.
Latest updates from CECC: On April 24, the CECC announced one new confirmed case involving personnel on a naval fleet that recently returned to Taiwan, bringing the number of cases connected to the naval fleet to 30.
The CECC released a map (https://bit.ly/2xyUgs3) containing locations visited by the personnel of the naval fleet after they disembarked. The CECC advises anyone who visited the locations in the specified time periods indicated on the map to conduct self-health management and wear face masks when going out for 14 days. If you feel unwell, call the toll-free Communicable Disease Reporting and Consultation Hotline 1922, and inform the physician of exposure history.
Visit the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) website for updated information.
For information about the coronavirus economic stimulus relief, please refer to the Internal Revenue Service website.
Taiwan-specific information:
The Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced a second automatic 30-day extension for foreigners entering Taiwan on or before March 21 with visa waiver, visitor visa, or landing visa (no application required.) More information here: https://www.boca.gov.tw/cp-220-5081-c06dc-2.html
Taiwan has barred admission to all foreign travelers except for those who hold an Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) or documents proving they are in Taiwan for diplomatic or other official purpose or to fulfill business contracts, and those who have received special permits. Any travelers arriving from outside Taiwan and granted entry are subject to a 14-day home quarantine.
Travelers are currently not allowed to transit through Taiwan in order to prevent cross-border transmission risks.
For the latest update on conditions in Taiwan, including entry restrictions and visa policy, please monitor the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) websiteand contact the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bureau of Consular Affairs (website).
Effective April 10, Taiwan will implement crowd control measures at popular locations such as sight-seeing spots, recreational areas, national parks, night markets, and temples. The CECC reminds people to maintain social distance of at least 1.5 meter in indoor 1 meter in outdoor, wear masks, and practice good personal hygiene.
Passengers are required to wear masks in taxis as well as other forms of public transportation. Taxi drivers have the right to refuse service to people not wearing masks. Those who refuse to wear face masks on public transport after being advised to do so will be fined up to NT$15,000.
Changes to AIT American Citizen Services
AIT Taipei has suspended routine visa services and limited its passport and notarial services.
Because of public health measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the U.S. Department of State has limited its ability to offer routine passport and citizenship services abroad.
Please consider waiting to apply for your passports, through mail or in-person, until the Department has resumed normal operations.
While AIT will continue to process a limited number of routine passport applications, we expect significant delivery delays. At this time, we are unable to estimate when normal operations will resume.
If you previously applied for a passport or citizenship service but have yet to receive your documents, you should expect significant delays. Please note that the validity of your U.S. passport does not affect your eligibility for U.S. citizen emergency services.
AIT will continue to schedule Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) appointments. However, we expect significant delivery delays.
For emergency passport services for U.S. citizens, please contact AIT at TaipeiACS@state.gov.
AIT will also reduce routine notarial services. If your need for a notarial service is not urgent, we encourage you to wait to apply until we resume routine operations.
Actions to Take:
- Consult the United States CDC websitefor the most up-to date information. Consult the Taiwan CDC website for conditions in Taiwan.
- Visit our AIT webpageon COVID-19 for additional information.
- For the most recent information on what you can do to reduce your risk of contracting COVID-19, please see the CDC’s latest recommendations.
- Visit the COVID-19 crisis page on travel.state.govfor the latest information.
- Check with your airlines, cruise lines, or travel operators regarding any updated information about your travel plans and/or restrictions.
- Visit the Department of Homeland Security’s website for the latest travel restrictions to the United States.
Assistance:
- Contact AIT Taipei Office, located at 100 Jinhu Road, Neihu Dist., Taipei City 11461. Phone: (02)2162-2000; Fax: (02) 2162-2239. After-hours emergency number for U.S. citizens is (02) 2162-2000. Email: TaipeiACS@state.govWebsite
- Contact AIT Kaohsiung Office, located at No. 88, 5th floor, Chenggong 2nd Road, Qianzhen District, Kaohsiung City 80661. Phone: (07) 335-5006; Fax: (07)338-0551. Email: TaipeiACS@state.govWebsite
Note: The timestamp on this e-mail message may reflect Washington, D.C., time, which may differ from local time.
Saturday, April 25
The longer I live, the more I realize the importance of IDEAS. Ideas start in our mind, then manifest themselves in what we say and do. So, to get to the ROOTS of our speech and behavior, we need to examine our IDEAS. A major idea that has kept me going in lockdown has been something I heard from Dave Ramsey: “control the controllables.” I can’t control President Trump, Governor Northam, Amazon, etc. So, I seek to focus on what I CAN influence or control. (During lockdown I have been working on a class about Entrepreneurship. Interestingly, our class was online from the beginning, in January 2020, then in late March the entire university went to online. It has been interesting to be in an entrepreneurship class that began in January when the US was white-hot and smashing records, then by mid-terms and spring break time, things were “breaking apart” and the economy was in seeming free-fall.) the kind professor was aware most of us are under stress with the virus pandemic and shut-downs, so she cancelled our largest project in the class! That only left a homework assignment or two and the final, and for the final she said, “Please try to turn it in early.” Wanting to oblige her, I doubled-down my focus and knocked out the final. Was able to submit the file today. KABOOM! Felt GREAT to “control the controllables” and get something done that will help my future.
A few weeks ago while taking some items to my parents’ house, dad asked me to return his library books. At the library I noticed the book drops were shut and a note said “return books later–no fines.” So, I brought dad’s books home and with my online class done I wanted to do some more pleasure reading, so I picked up Stephen Ambrose’s The Victors, about Eisenhower and the soldiers of WW II. Fascinating. It said when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the USA had the 16th largest army in the world–right behind Romania! That made me think two thoughts:
- Many are angry that the US government has largely botched the virus pandemic and shown how unprepared they were–our December 1941 state shows “what’s new?”
- Many claim the US is an aggressive, militaristic country. If that were so, why was our army #16 in size–right behind Romania–in 1941?
Monday, April 27
We saw our first hummingbird of 2020 today– a female at our feeder. With all the disruption and chaos and fear, it was reassuring to see a hummingbird again after a winter of migration to the south–some things are still the same, nature still has a rhythm and balance! (Did you know “rhythm” is the longest word in the English language without an a,e,i.o, or u?)
Tuesday, April 28
Taught an excellent Advanced Writing class at 9:00 a.m.–the students took a classmates’ essay and had to rewrite it in their own words. Later Deborah helped me fix and re-hang some birdfeeders. It was a beautiful day and the forecast called for rain the rest of the week, so I mowed and trimmed the lawn. Again, “control the controllables.” Our oldest daughter came over and cooked a delicious, surprise dinner for us, and just as I took my lase bite, the doorbell rang. It was a neighbor bringing over a cake that was still warm from the oven! Talk about “Hollywood timing!” So much to be thankful for!
Thursday, April 30
America without Hamburgers??!!
That was what I thought and said when Deborah came back from the grocery store tonight and told me, no hamburgers, no German sausages. The news has been predicting meat shortages coming up, and now it is starting!
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For as long as I can remember, April has been by far my favorite month. Three reasons:
- it’s spring, with all the new growth, active animals, long days, and beautiful flowers,
- it’s my birthday month, and
- by the time you get to April, the school year is almost over and summer is here!
So, it was with irony and trepidation we entered this fateful April 2020. I remember in late March many voices in the media saying, “this will be an April unlike any we have ever experienced.”
Here we are, at 10:28 pm, April 30. With only 92 minutes to go, by God’s grace, we have survived this month!
Today was actually a fabulous day for us.
Each spring at DreyerCoaching.com we have the biggest sale of the year. We know learning a new language is a LONG TERM COMMITMENT so we encourage our students to stay with us LONG-TERM. To that end, we offer bonuses to all our current students who re-enroll for the fall. Normally we do our spring sale in March, but with all the craziness and uncertainty this year, we moved it back to April. Today was the last day. Our oldest daughter Harmony came to the office and we were going over our records of renewals. As of today, exactly 50% of our current online English students have re-enrolled for 2020-2021! We appreciate the great trust those parents and students place in us, and with all the pandemic and global economic collapse, we thought having a 50% return rate, in April, is fantastic!
At DreyerCoaching we are not panicking, we are PLANNING!
Today I took a three-mile walk; beautiful last afternoon in April, and I made a new friend. I met a man outside his new home, planting a tree, a weeping redbud. (Good metaphor and life lesson: in the middle of pandemic and global meltdown, plant a tree!) I spoke to him (keeping social distance) and he was very friendly. I picked up a foreign accent and asked him where he was from. He came from Poland at age 14. We chatted a bit about Poland and I told him, when times get better, I hope we can chat more.
Later in the day I saw another friend of mine while I was out and about. We chatted a bit. He asked me: “Is your work pretty much the same?” I told him, Yes, I usually stay in the home office and teach students ESL across the world. Our routines are actually rather unchanged. As he was leaving he said, “I really like your posts on facebook– I agree with every one!”
As a part of our “control the controllables” approach, I called some friends as we are working on getting two dead trees in our yard cut down. I can’t control, say, President Trump or the World Health Organization (WHO), but I can arrange to cut dead trees off our lot and help juice up the economy in a little way too. Also this evening, I finally pulled the trigger and did something I have been procrastinating on for a long time: I took up the invitation to submit piece of writing. Several months ago, both the pastor of the church we attend and the editor of the Roanoke Star gave me the opportunity to write something for them to share. I have struggled with that calling, put it off, and always found “something else to do.” Tonight, finally inspired by something I read in “The Word for You Today” devotional this morning, I sat at my desk and typed a brief devotional about something the Bible says about money and debt. (Spoiler alert: don’t use debt).
Our youngest son, David, has been in Taiwan since February 2–ironically, Groundhog Day, and many think life now is like Groundhog Day! He is to get an EVA Airways flight from Taipei, Taiwan to Chicago TONIGHT our time! Due to the global collapse, United Airlines it seems has cancelled all flights between the US and East Asia until at least early June, so we are thankful David found a Taiwan carrier still in the air!
Some of today’s headlines:
Protestors, some armed, storm the Michigan Statehouse
Fleeing New Yorkers promise they’ll never return
Taiwan emerging from virus with a stronger hand against China
Friday, May 1:
Ahhh… we’ve survived another month! We’ve made it to May! This morning at 8:00 I taught three female students in South China, then at 9:30 I taught a bonus class attended by three teenage boys in Taiwan. They had never heard of the US state of Arizona before, so I showed them some videos and photos and told them about that beautiful state. At 9:16 Stuart Revercomb, the editor of the Roanoke Star, emailed me the link that he had accepted my submission and posted it live. Here it is:
https://theroanokestar.com/2020/05/01/scott-dreyer-whom-are-you-serving/
I send this article out with the hope and prayer it helps and inspires somebody.
If you would like to know more about what the Bible says about money and debt, please read this blog post.
Our son David should be landing in Chicago in a few hours, returning after his three months in Taiwan!
DreyerCoaching.com team teacher Ms. Holmes was kind enough to take our Chinese guest student to fly kites with a few other young people. The wind was strong and they even saw some snow flurries–on the first day of May!–and all had a great time. That is so helpful for mental and emotional health, to get outside some.
This afternoon I went out to run some errands. Went to the Post Office for the first time in several weeks– noticed there is a plastic sheet handing down like a screen, between the clerks and customers. There is an outdoor market right behind the Post Office, and it was open today, but no customers. Wanting to give them some business, I stopped by and bought some flowers to plant in our yard. The man running the market said today was his first day back; the Virginia Governor lifted some parts of his executive orders today, allowing farmers’ markets, elective surgeries, and dental clinics to reopen today. (That has made many of us wonder over the past few weeks: why couldn’t Virginia women get a head of cabbage at a farmers’ market or a mammogram, but they could get a fifth of whiskey at the state-run liquor stores or get an abortion. A lot of us aren’t seeing the “science” in many of these executive orders….) I bought some greeting cards at a local pharmacy. I usually get cards at a chain store, but wanted to help a local business some. Next stop, grocery store. Tanked up on 87 gasoline; with our discount, only $1.25 a gallon! Filled up the car for less than $15! The last time I went to the grocery store, I chose to wear a mask, gloves, and glasses, to be extra safe. Today, I just opted for the mask. Inside the store I was surprised to see maybe 20% of the other shoppers had masks on. All the employees did, however. The paper aisle was still basically empty, but overall, most food supplies looked reasonable to me. Some meat shelves were skimpy, but they had lots of hotdogs and a whole cooler full of hams.
Came home and the tree man was here, taking down two ash trees that were killed by the emerald ash borer, the same nasty bug that has killed countless beautiful ash trees across much of the US, and also across our neighborhood.
I am usually frugal with finances, but today it felt good to initiate some business, from small items like potted flowers and greeting cards, to bigger jobs like getting trees cut down. Healthy economies depend on money moving–that is, currency actually circulating! In a modest way, we contributed to that today.
Some of today’s headlines:
New Mexico Governor uses the Riot Act to seal off city of Gallup
May Day Protests to Reopen California
Orange County (CA) Sheriff has “No Desire” to enforce Beach Ban
US National Debt could hit $30 Trillion by September
Friday, May 8:
Today, May 8, is VE-Day — “Victory in Europe” Day. A week after Hitler committed suicide, Germany surrendered to the Allies on this date in 1945. If you value your freedom, you need to know about this day and what it stands for. You can read more here.
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We have been thankful this week for so much: our youngest son, David, came home from Taiwan this week! We all felt he was very safe there, but as the world economy keeps buckling and as the airlines get hit harder and harder, we all thought it best for him to come home when he did. First he had a United Airlines reservation for April 29, but then United cancelled that. Then he booked for May 18, but when he later saw the UA website, ALL flights for May were suddenly cancelled, with only seats for early June–and who knows if those flights will actually fly! So, he got seat on Eva Airlines, a Taiwan carrier, that fortunately is still flying twice a week, Taipei to Chicago. That way, David could avoid airports in Japan or California. He said his Boeing 777 jumbo jet had some 25 passengers on it! He spent one night in Chicago near the airport then flew to Roanoke the next day–usually United has three flights from Chicago to Roanoke per day, but now they are down to only one–and the flight he took had only five passengers!
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We keep trying to “control the controllables”– good advice ANY time, but especially now. Two more of our (formerly) beautiful and graceful ash trees have died, due to the ash borer that came into the US some years ago (we think) in packing materials from Asia. (Another downside of globalization.) We hired the same tree man who cut down our four other ash trees last year; he does good work at a fair price. Our foreign-exchange guest student and I sat outside on a GLORIOUS Monday and watched him climb high into the tree and cut it down, branch by branch. I told our student, if such a woodman makes one mistake, he could die!
After the tree was down, I was complimenting the tree man on his skill, saying “I could never do your job.” He quickly countered, “I could never do YOUR job.” The tree man is a Christian and he knows God gives different people different giftings and callings, and I also taught his younger sister history some 20 years ago (Roanoke, VA– small world, small city), so he knows I teach teenagers. At least trees never talk back or get moody! Still, it was a humble reminder, we all have our giftings and callings….
When the tree man began cutting down the ash trees, we asked him to remove about 5-6 small white pines there too. At first I missed the privacy from the pines, but we also noticed the new VIEW. With the screen of pines gone, we had a whole new vista of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia–a view we had not noticed before, because the trees had blocked it. David commented that the trees gone made the yard look bigger, and we noticed one more thing: with the trees gone, we suddenly had what we had been missing: a flat, sunny spot, perfect for a small garden! Yesterday I ordered a wood frame of natural, untreated cedar wood to make a raised garden bed. It was surprising to see MANY such garden frames were SOLD OUT online; with the pandemic and collapse, more people than ever are starting gardens, it seems… that is a positive outcome!
When bad things happen–like having to cut formerly-beautiful trees–look for the positive! The trees (and some of our money!) are gone, but we have a new view and garden space. Make the most of it!
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No one can point to one day or event, but over the past few weeks, the tide has turned. At first, the whole push was “stay at home–shelter in place–stay alive.” That sentiment is still VERY strong among millions, but gradually, a counter-current has grown which I think is stronger now. “Open it up; get back to work; we can’t hide at home and starve to death forever.” So, in addition to the pandemic and economic collapse, now we have this tension: Stay shut, or open up?
A few recent headlines:
A record 103,415,000 NOT in the US labor force
JP Morgan: 10-12 Years Until Employment Recovers to Previous Level
Federal Debt Tops $15 TRILLION for first-time ever
Murder in Georgia Shocks Nation
*****
Tuesday, May 12
This past weekend was Mother’s Day weekend. For probably most of us, it was a Mother’s Day unlike any other before, and we hope, ever again. In the US, since Mother’s Day is on a Sunday, many people go to church that morning–even people who seldom go at other times–to show respect to their mother and/or grandmother. This year in the state of Virginia, churches were still banned from having over 10 people, so we watched the 10:00 am church service online again, and then our Sunday School met online. at 11:00. We finished our series “What the Bible says about money,” a series we began last December. It was ironic: when I first thought to explore that topic, I thought, “That would be interesting for one class session.” Then as I began to scratch the surface, I learned the Bible has some 2,000 (!) references to money or finance! Needless to say, one session was not enough! Even though I chose only a small percentage of those 2,000-some Bible verses to study, our class invested about four and a half months on that topic! Also ironically, when we began the series last December, we had NO IDEA the global economy would melt-down week by week. Back in December, the US economy was white-hot and the envy or the world… On February 19, 2020, the US stock market broke record highs ( again)– as news reported the virus was being “contained” in China and most Americans did not yet realize we would soon be the next biggest target. So, we were studying what the Bible says about money, in real time as the US and world economy were buckling and snapping. Since the Bible is roughly 2,000 years and older, we can’t say we weren’t warned….
In our part of the US, Mother’s Day 2020 was gorgeous, weather-wise. Warm, sunny, and with a profusion of flowers. Our son David (who returned recently from Taiwan) and Deborah and I sat in the backyard, under a brilliant blue sky and surrounded by Deborah’s colorful flower garden, and talked and ate ice cream. Great to catch up with him, after his having been gone since February 2.
That afternoon, as mom’s request, we had a family online chat session. All four of mom’s children were there, all three daughters-in-law, plus a large number of the grands and great-grands. Mom observed that her family now has 10 (!) mothers in it. All told, 24 family members joined the chat, from places as far-flung as Colorado, Delaware, New York City, Philadelphia, and North Carolina.
Nature: In contrast to the human world, much of which is struggling and stumbling mightily, the natural world is still moving along in all its springtime glory. Since it has been a cool and somewhat rainy April and early May, many of the flowers have kept their color for many weeks. Some years, a few hot, dry, windy days kill off lots of the color quickly, but not this year. We have added some bird feeders, a new kind of seed (safflower) and a birdbath so these have attracted a larger number of fowl. A few days ago I saw for the first time (that I am aware of) a female grosbeak. The distinct white stripes over her eyes made her easy to identify. I hope to see the more showy male some day. Several early mornings I heard a male turkey gobbling on the mountain behind us. About 2:40 Monday morning, Deborah heard something fall outside; she grabbed a flashlight to look out the window. She saw a black bear eating out of our birdfeeder! We knew black bears were around. I saw one in our neighborhood a few years ago while walking the dog, and a neighbor saw one in an apple tree one block down and one street over last summer. However, this was our first time to sight one in our yard. Ironically, it was Deborah’s first time to ever see a bear in the wild–and this one was in her flower bed! When Deborah called me to look, we think it heard her and beat a hasty retreat. Today I saw for what I think was my first time, a pair of pileated woodpeckers in our yard. They are large, majestic-looking birds. With the exception of the ivory-billed woodpecker, which we believe is probably now extinct, the pileated is the biggest woodpecker in North America.
The church we attend plans to have their first in-person service this Sunday, May 17. However, capacity is limited to 50%, so they will have two services to reduce the crowd size, and members are to call the church office in advance to be directed to the 8:30 or 10:30 service, and to have set seating arranged. The sanctuary will be sanitized between the services. The pastor made very clear, if any members feel uncomfortable attending, to just stay home and worship God in the privacy of their home. The service will still be live-streamed.
A few headlines today:
Dr. Fauci warns against reopening the country too quickly
White House orders all staff to wear face masks at work, but Pres. Trump and VP Pence exempt
Defiant Colorado Restaurant Owner opens restaurant, gets shut down, and reopens again
Twitter to label disputed Virus Tweets
(This is part of a larger, pitched battle. Recently Twitter, FB and Youtube have been “flagging” or deleting many mosts and videos they claim “violate their community standards” or “false.” Like most issues, this story has two sides.
- One side claims: “We need to stop the flow of “conspiracy theories” and information that we know is false. It is our professional responsibility to stop the spreading of rumors and lies.”
- The other side counters: “This is censorship! “Big tech” is not only censoring lies, but they are censoring stories and information that does not fit their preferred “narrative.” In a free country, information — including unpopular information– should have a free flow and let free people research and decide for themselves what they read, believe, and share.”
Just today on fb I got a “friend invite” from a friend who has found an alternative to what he called “Orwellian” fb censorship.
Friday, May 15:
Our son David has been back in the US about two weeks now, so his quarantine is over. He’s in great shape and we are all thankful!
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This morning I got this email and “gold star” (below) from an administrator at Fort Hayes State University, where I took my online class “Entrepreneurship” this spring semester. The class was online from the get-go, but when we started in January, none of us knew what trials and disruptions lay ahead. Around their spring break time, in March, their entire university transitioned to online. I am THANKFUL I stuck with the class, did my work, tried to improve my mind and myself, and finished the course. There is great satisfaction in setting a goal, chipping away at it step by step, and then finally completing it. I thought it was a nice touch from this administrator to send out this affirmation.
You made it! Congratulations on completing the spring semester!
This has been very unusual semester during which many, if not all, of us faced unanticipated challenges.
I want to commend you on your fortitude to see the semester through to the end! Tiger tough!
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Most Disasters drive Americans closer together–this pandemic is Dividing Us
Virginia, whose Governor is a Doctor, has the Nation’s Highest Jump in Cases
Joe Biden Gets Death Toll and Job Loss Numbers Confused
Trump’s Ratings on Virus are Sagging–Why aren’t Biden’s Numbers Surging?
Tiny, Isolated Alaska Town (pop. 450) relies on 14-hour Boat Rides to kept Fed
New Jersey’s Veterans’ Homes Hit Hard by Virus
Friday, May 29:
Two weeks have elapsed since my last post. Maybe I’m seeking excuses for my procrastination, but I prefer to think it’s because I have been positively engaged in other productive pursuits. A few thoughts from the past two weeks:
- Our extended family has LOTS of May birthdays, and there are two in our immediate family. We celebrated those–low-key–recently. Deborah asked me to pick up steaks and thankfully there were some at Kroger, so one of our sons cooked up a succulent steak dinner one night to celebrate. Thankful for family!
- Historic Flooding: Much of Southwest Virginia started getting a sprinkling of rain on Monday, May 18, then steady rains almost all day and night May 19, 20, and 21. Our rain gage recorded some 8.5 inches of rain over the week. Several homes (I think about 13) were evacuated in a part of Southwest Roanoke City, when there were fears that a small dam would break and release a small lake. You can see some photos of flooded Roanoke Valley here. The Roanoke River flows through the Roanoke Valley, then into Smith Mountain Lake (SML). The flooding was so intense, the lake level rose some three feet above the normal level. That extra water covered many docks and filled the lake with a huge amount of debris. Ironically, the weather turned beautiful by Friday, May 22 and that was the start of the big Memorial Day holiday weekend. That weekend is usually a huge event for the lake and a big money-maker for a lot of the businesses there. With the pandemic and economic hard times, such a holiday weekend would have helped many businesses and their employees. However, with the lake flooded and full of muddy water and debris, few tourists wanted to go to that normally beautiful lake this weekend. Unfortunate. Learn more about the SML flooding here.
- Governor Northam: The governor of Virginia visited Virginia Beach on Saturday, May 23. Speaking of flooding, tempers flared when social media was flooded with pictures of him without a mask and side by side with people on the beach. He later explained that he had left his mask in his car, but he did not explain why he did not send a member of his staff back to get it. That explanation also did not explain why he did not keep his 6 feet distance. Ironically, he issued a mask order for the 8 million Virginians just three days later.
- Memorial Day: This is the day we honor those who gave their lives for our freedoms. You can learn about this holiday here. For many if not most Americans, the meaning of Memorial Day has been lost. In its place, many think of it as just a day off from work or school and the unofficial start of summer. With the virus pandemic and economic shutdowns, this year’s Memorial Day was unlike any I have ever experienced. I hope, in this quiet time of forced (relative) inactivity, we take more time to realize its real meaning. This Memorial Day was more poignant to me, because I am reading The Victors by Stephen A. Ambrose, about the “citizen-soldiers” of World War II who left hearth and home to fight overseas to defend liberty, and to liberate total strangers in places they had never been before. Over the holiday weekend I was reading the chapters about D-Day. Unbelievable.
- On May 25, a shop employee in Minneapolis, Minnesota called the police about a counterfeit $20 bill they had just received. (A friend of mine recently — unwittingly — gave me a fake $20 bill, which I unknowingly tried to deposit at the bank. The bank employee noticed it and told me. So, I can relate to innocently getting and giving a fake $20 bill.) The police responded and forced George Floyd to the ground. One officer held him down by using his knee, despite pleas to stop. Tragically, Mr. Floyd died. You can read more details here. The aftermath continues.
- Roanoke Star column: From the earliest days of this lockdown, I have been trying to follow the Dave Ramsey advice, “Control the controllables.” (I understand, on one philosophical level, we cannot “control” much of anything. Maybe more accurate language would be, “Focus on your sphere of Influence.”) To that end, I have taken up a friend’s offer to submit columns to the online newspaper he founded and edits: The Roanoke Star. Here is the column he posted yesterday, about Southwest Virginia and the slow pace of reopening, despite rather low (and in some areas ZERO) infection areas in this part of the state.
- Entreleadership video series: As mentioned above, I am trying to focus on being positive and productive, more now than ever. The Dave Ramsey team has made public some video recordings from their leadership summits, for free. I have watched three of these this month, and it has been helpful and inspirational. It is so crucial, how we spend our time and what we fill our minds with!
- Online college class: the class I began in January, when things seemed “normal” here, I was able to finish in April, a month early. Recently I saw the professor had graded all our papers and I was DELIGHTED to see I not only got an A in the course, but it was 100% ! I have since ordered transcripts of the class. Again, it’s CRUCIAL to stay POSITIVE and FOCUSED at all times, ESPECIALLY in times of chaos and disorder.
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New Year’s Eve: Thursday, December 31, 2020:
As the sun goes down on the New Year’s Eve and closes out 2020, I revisit this blog and see my last entry was May 29–seven months ago! The first three months of this blog focused primarily on the virus and subsequent lockdowns and changes of lifestyle. However, around the end of May, the year’s events took a more ominous and malignant turn, and I took a pause from this blog–not realizing it would be more than a half-year “pause.”
The virus itself in those early months (March-May) led to more severe lockdowns, mass unemployment, mask mandates, deaths, bankruptcies, store shortages, and loss of freedoms. As horrific as those were, for the most part there was the sense that most Americans were “in this together” in the fight against the virus. However, that veneer of unity vaporized around the end of May, as what began as protests against one terrible incident of police brutality metastasized into a series of urban riots across major cities in many parts of the US. In what appeared to be more examples of the slow death of “rule of law” in the US, many state and city political leaders caved to the violence and mob rule, letting violent gangs run wild. In Seattle, some took over a part of the city and declared it an “autonomous zone.” In more sane times, state or city leaders would not tolerate such lawlessness and an affront to their authority and public safety. However, in this case, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan (D) jokingly dismissed the lawless zone within her city limits as a “Summer of Love.” However, in a real-life example of the book Lord of the Flies, it did not take long for violence to take over and people started getting attacked and killed in that area. Finally, the mayor had to realize she had a disaster on her hands and she finally moved to dismantle the “autonomous zone.” In Portland, Oregon, there were violent protests for over 100 nights in a row all summer long. Much of the violence centered on the federal courthouse in downtown Portland. A courthouse is supposed to represent justice and order, so the violent attacks against it represented an attack against the established order of law.
As a spin-off to the urban riots came the “defund the police” movement. The idea seemed to be, because there have been some isolated incidences of police brutality and abuse of power, all law enforcement was “armed and dangerous,” and needed to be brought to heel. Some claimed that if local and state governments took away funding for law enforcement and diverted it to social workers or community programs, crime would go down. In what I could call warped thinking, the idea was the police are the bad guys who deserved punishment while the criminals are the heroes who deserved coddling.
Dishonesty is nothing new, but it seems like deceit and lying reached new heights (or should I say, new lows) in 2020. Some people I know, highly educated, tried to explain away “#defundpolice” by saying, “It’s really not about defunding the police, but reallocating their budgets.” That lame explanation just seems dishonest to me. “Reallocating” means moving money from one place to another, and if you’re taking money from law enforcement, that is defunding. As soon as I heard this phrase late last spring I thought common sense would tell us that defunding and bad-mouthing law enforcement would only embolden criminals and intimidate police to hold back. Alas, common sense is not very common. I was actually right and the politicians pushing “defund police” were wrong, as many cities have seen their murder rates soar to new highs. New York City is a sad example of this. This is one more example of “politics have consequences.” Tragically, those who suffer the most are the very poor in those cities who do not have the money or connections to provide their own security or to move to a safer area. All summer, many people who did have the financial resources or job flexibility were able to flee unsafe, usually Democrat-run cities and escape to safer areas in other parts of the state or country. Stories were told of moving trucks daily packing up people from New York City and California who were fed up and decided to “vote with their feet.” Many fled to Texas, Tennessee, or Florida. Interestingly, those are Republican-run states.
Another trend that saddened me was the open hypocrisy surrounding human life. The group “Black Lives Matter” claimed to value, well, “black lives.” However, in the summer of riots and looting, several black business owners and law enforcement staff were killed, but from the national media…crickets. Many people have pointed out that the biggest taker of black lives in the US is the abortion industry. Still, when I pointed that out by posting a photo of a Planned Parenthood abortion chamber with a “Black Lives Matter” sign in their yard, some people on social media let their heads explode. I realize 2020 has been a challenging, stressful year for everyone, but it seems some people just lost their minds this year.
Despite the challenges of this year, we tried to make the most of it and made some positive memories. Our family went to the beach this summer for a week, and for most of the summer I got outside a lot and our family was blessed to stay healthy.
To add to the difficulties of this year, it was a presidential election year. Since the economy had been exceptionally strong the past three years, most people believe President Trump would have won re-election in a cake walk, had it been a normal year. However, it was not a normal year. Despite the pandemic and non-stop mainstream media attacks, President Trump was considerably ahead in most key states on election night. Yet, the next morning, surprise! Joe Biden had pulled ahead in several key states, and not coincidentally, crucial states that the Democrats had lost in 2016 and needed to retake in 2020 to retake the White House. Upon further inspection, it turned out that several states had large middle of the night “vote dumps” with lopsided margins for Biden that were enough to put him ahead of Trump in those states. (I delved more into these middle of the night “vote dumps” and other alleged voter fraud in this column.) This and much more has caused a large percentage of the US population to conclude the election was rigged and stolen. Most of this year I have continued by “quarantine project” by writing columns for the Roanoke Star online newspaper; I asked some questions about the election in this column. Just as millions of Americans began to ask questions and complain about the perceived fraud, other Americans joined the chorus of the media to claim “The AP has called the race for Joe Biden, end of story, nothing else to look at here.” As if on cue, facebook, Twitter, and Youtube began to first “fact check” and then outright censor articles of claims of voter fraud. Basically, anyone who dared to challenge or question the established “Party Line” was fact checked, censored, had their audiences cut, or all three. These outrageous attacks on free speech struck many people as tyranny. I addressed some of these issues in “Why I Kissed Twitter Good-bye” and this interview with a PhD friend of mine who saw frightening comparisons with Latin American coups and what is happening in the US right now.
Out of the mass censorship, many people kissed the powerful social media platforms good-bye and flocked to self-styled “free speech platforms.” During the weeks following the election and mass “fact checking,” I joined parler, rumble, and clapper.
As of now, almost no US courts have heard cases involving voter fraud or election irregularities. Some claim this shows the election was fine, because there is obviously no evidence of wrongdoing. Others, however, draw the opposite conclusion: judges for whatever reason don’t want to touch voter fraud cases with a ten-foot pole and our courts’ refusals to even hear or evaluate evidence demonstrates a “systemic failure” across much of our government institutions that are supposed to defend our rights. Many are wondering, if the courts will not stand up to defend free elections and the “equal protection” clause of the Constitution, what other rights will they punt in the future? On that, I’ll let you be the judge.
At Thanksgiving, some states banned family gatherings while others limited sized in homes. The goal was supposed to be to protect public health, but many saw the government regulating who could be in a private home as another example of state overreach. We had a family gathering; that day was sunny and unusually warm for Thanksgiving in Virginia–around 70 degrees, so we kept the windows open which helped with ventilation.
Another great blessing: our son Victor was able to come home from the Navy for Christmas, and his sister and her husband pulled off a TOTAL surprise. You can see her video here.
Beginning in around 2015, I began listening to podcasts and have enjoyed it. There are about a half-dozen I subscribe to, and one of my favorites is Entreleadership, a podcast from the Dave Ramsey network for entrepreneurs/business leaders. For the past few decades, our modern world has been called “The Age of Anxiety.” Since 2020 has been such a difficult year and 2021 portends new difficulties, many people are struggling with fear, depression, and anxiety. This episode, “Fear Not,” is helpful. Listen for the story at the end about the birth of the speaker’s second daughter for a particularly powerful story about the danger of how fear can paralyze us and keep us from doing our jobs. At all times but especially in hard times, it is CRUCIAL to consistently fill our minds with that which is healthy, positive, uplifting, and wholesome. There is much we CANNOT control, but we usually CAN control what input we feed our minds with.
As 2020 wound down, here in Southwest Virginia we got a special surprise: a White Christmas! The forecast was for rain and sleet, but around 10 pm on Christmas Eve the sleet turned to huge, sticky snowflakes that soon began to accumulate. We woke on Christmas morning to a winter wonderland; the ground was covered with white and since the snow was particularly wet and it had been a windy night, snow covered most trees and bushes from the sides, including every branch. Trees on the ridge behind our house looked as if they’d been all dipped in powdered sugar. In this part of the country, a White Christmas is rare–our last one was about 10 years ago. I took it as a sign and gift from God.
Another wonderful sign and gift was the beautiful sunrise over the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains on 12-31, the last day of 2020. It reminded me of the Bible verse, “His mercies are new every morning.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)
Happy New Year!