Monday Musings - May 11, 2020

1. Welcome to the second Monday of May. Maryland remains under a stay-at-home order, but that could be lifted this week.

The Family Maintaining Personal Distancing
Mother's Day 2020
Elkridge, MD
May 10, 2020

2. Mother's Day was yesterday. The family gathered, sort of, to celebrate. he picture represents the family picture maintaining personal distancing. 

3. The seven day forecast finally has some 80 degree days on tap for Maryland! Yay! That would be a nearly 45 degree temperature swing from Saturday's morning's low of 35 degrees. Maybe I will be able to heat the pool and enjoy some time in the water this coming weekend!

My White Azalea
Elkridge, MD
May 10, 2020

4. The azaleas are fully blossomed as is befitting of Mother's Day weekend!

5. The pollen is stifling. My allergy medications are beginning to falter. It must be Springtime in Maryland!

6. Coronavirus/COVID-19 Status as of 0432L/11 May based upon the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Map:
     World: 4,116,767 cases/282,782 deaths
     U.S. :  1,329,799 (32% of World)/79,528 (28% of world)
     Maryland:  32,587 (2.4% of US)/1,644 (2% of US)

7. I am concerned that the frigid weather of the past two mornings may have destroyed the grape harvest which was destined to become the 2020 vintage from the wineries in Maryland and Virginia. 

8. It was sad that the U.S. cannot separate politics from leadership. The U.S. blocked a U.N. Security Council resolution to calling for a halt to armed conflict around the world because of a political dispute with China and the World Health Organization. See US blocks vote on UN's bid for global ceasefire over reference to WHO in The Guardian. 

9. Today in History. On May 11, 1934, a massive storm sends millions of tons of topsoil flying from across the parched Great Plains region of the United States as far east as New York, Boston and Atlanta.

At the time the Great Plains were settled in the mid-1800s, the land was covered by prairie grass, which held moisture in the earth and kept most of the soil from blowing away even during dry spells. By the early 20th century, however, farmers had plowed under much of the grass to create fields. The U.S. entry into World War I in 1917 caused a great need for wheat, and farms began to push their fields to the limit, plowing under more and more grassland with the newly invented tractor. The plowing continued after the war, when the introduction of even more powerful gasoline tractors sped up the process. During the 1920s, wheat production increased by 300 percent, causing a glut in the market by 1931.

Americans Are Being Turned Away Trying to Buy Life Insurance - The Wall Street Journal

For Flynn, Dropped Charges Are the Latest in a Life Full of Reversals - The New York Times

As deaths mount, Trump tries to convince Americans it’s safe to inch back to normal - The Washington Post

Trump eyes federal retirement plan investments amid virus showdown with China - The Washington Post

Iran says United States yet to respond about prisoner swap - Reuters

Indian, Chinese border troops in brief skirmish on northeast Indian border, India says - Reuters

Major U.S. airlines endorse temperature checks for passengers - OANN

Ronald Reagan Quote for the Week


You know, Nancy and I, coming down here from Camp David on the helicopter, we couldn't help but be thinking about this particular day and what it was. I think in hindsight, perhaps, I realize more about my mother than -- and as so many of us do, did not at the time -- Nelle was a little woman, auburn hair, and, I realize now, had a strength through some very trying times that held our family together. We were poor, but the government didn't come around and tell us we were, so -- [laughter] -- we didn't know it. And probably we didn't know it because Nelle was always finding someone that was worse off then we were that needed help.

 -- Remarks During a Visit to the Jeanne Jugan Residence on Mother's Day, May 13, 1984


-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD