Teppy, yesterday there was a rally at the capital here organized by student athletes begging to be allowed to play. And everyone is hella sympathetic!

But: risk management groups informed the schools that there were insurance concerns if they didn't follow the state health guidelines, all the way down to slow-pitch softball and cross country. As much as we want to see them play, it's not worth killing someone.

Am I wrong, or hasn't Covid-19 been burning through sports teams like wildfire?

I do feel bad for kids who depend on sports for their friends/fun, because this school year is already going to SUCK, but honestly, any activity where you mostly run into people while breathing heavily is NOT SAFE RIGHT NOW.

I do like peas in my M&C. Also tuna, or sometimes ham. But I've found bits of roasted chicken to be especially delightful. Emmett and I once sampled some at TJ's (back in the Before Times when they handed out free food) that was mixed with salsa and that shit was yummy.

I think lobster Mac is probably Emmett's favorite though.

I've done some super fancy M&C made with an IPA and all that and...it's really gratifying to make a perfect cheese sauce from scratch and watch it roll over your elbow noodles in gorgeous, thick, smooth waves.

I do feel bad for kids who depend on sports for their friends/fun, because this school year is already going to SUCK,

I mean, I do totally agree with this. Plus it does mess with some students' chances of getting scholarships. It's a lousy choice, but it's the better of 2 lousy choices.

but honestly, any activity where you mostly run into people while breathing heavily is NOT SAFE RIGHT NOW.

This really supercedes everything, in my mind. Keeping your kids safe is paramount. And humans are notoriously bad at estimating risk.

I think lobster Mac is probably Emmett's favorite though.

I've made smoked gouda mac & cheese (no peas), and I really want to make it again with lobster and/or crab meat.

And (I'm just going to keep posting here), despite the many article we've all read about how Covid-19 has been transmitted at family gatherings even though people thought they were being safe, Tim's extended family is having a shindig Sunday at a park. The fact that it's outdoors is in its favor, but it is going to be a LOT of people, and, frankly, I think it's a bad idea. I really, really miss everyone in his family, but even an outdoor gathering with 50+ people is a bad idea.

Tim and I disagree on the risk level: he's going but I'm staying home. And I know that if he's going and coming right back home to me, then I might as well go, because the exposure will be the same (I'm not making him self-quarantine for 14 days, so maybe my commitment to risk mitigation is a little weak). But if I went, I would be edgy and jittery and stressed the entire time, and nobody wants that person to be at their party. *I* don't want to be that person.

But I think it's a stupid-ass choice on his part, Mr. I-Take-Immunosuppressants. Oh, AND Tim's dad is going to go. He's demonstrated that he won't keep a mask on, and then he's going to go right back to his assisted living facility after the gathering of 50+ family members.

This is so not a great idea.

I am going to a small family gathering this Sunday. Less than 10 people, and in a back yard. I am sort of podded with Maria and her mom (the birthday girl) and I spent the a whole 8 hour day with her brother Philip at work together (masked, but pretty close the whole day for student orientation) , so I feel fairly safe with that but add in the other brothers, wives and kids, it makes me a little nervous. But I will feel silly if I am the only one masked.

Less than 10 people

I'd be fine with that. I was even okay at the prospect of 20 people. But 50 people is way past my comfort level, even outdoors.

Oh, that is worrying, Tep. Good luck to everyone.

It really is hard to maintain the urgency of the "being in a pandemic experience" as long as we have been half-assedly dealing with it. At this point I think I am coping more by not believing that there is a normal to get back to than by embracing the mess we are in, if that makes sense. Like, when someone says something about when we are working in the office again there is a not-that-small part of me that is surprised that that is something that might happen. And if other people are doing the same thing, I can see where that might trigger an urge to discount the danger to make it easier to live with. Or something.

Any 50+ meeting of people is almost guaranteed to have one presymptomatic person roaming around shedding viral load. And COVID is surging through rural Ohio right now.

Outside is nice in theory but then people cluster up close and talk louder and if you're in the shade without the wind blowing through it's not a whole lot better than being inside.

I would not do that.

These family events are EXACTLY how superspreader events are happening now.