And the lockdown continues even as some local establishments flaunt it, empowered by the fact that the DA will not bring charges for anyone caught violating it. Will it work? Time will tell. Will our local leaders take us into the yellow phase to start re-opening? Big questions could be answered this week. Wolf is not happy and could go full authoritarian if a county opens against his will. It is a good thing he is a lame duck (well not quite just yet but he can’t run for a 3rd term) at this point but a move like this could have far reaching ramifications down the line. Some cracks in the armor are starting to form and the president is weighing in. Don’t know if that will help or not.

First down for the week was that I finished up War on the Waters. It was an easy read and under normal lockdown circumstances I would have finished this last week but since I am heading back into work at least a few days a week prevented me from finishing. It’s a 100 foot overview of the naval actions during the war and I think I am going to look for something a bit more detailed when I can get out and buy books again. Next up is David Jordan’s Winfield Scott Hancock A Soldier’s Life.  I’ve started getting into the biographies of the figures of the era and I am going to expand on that in the future since I have all of the principal campaigns covered.

Looks like we might have baseball this year but whether I will be able to attend is another matter. I’ve seen proposals that do not include the minors being played. It will probably start around July 4 so if the minor league schedule isn’t happening my yearly baseball trip would definitely be off anyway. And if the minor league contraction takes place I’m going to lose 4 of the stops on the trip which makes me feel bad. I would hope that the powers that be would extend the agreement by one year so these teams can still play, not that I know what the agreement is. There are no firm details that have been made public but large swaths of territory will potentially longer have pro baseball.

Part of it I understand. I think they are in some way trying to steer high school players into college and if I had to guess junior colleges will be the biggest beneficiary of this. It works with the NFL but baseball is not the NFL. But at the same time you also look at the draft results for most teams very few players that are selected after the 20th round even make it out of A ball, if they make it that far. I don’t know if getting rid of the complex leagues is a good idea, especially since it offers a good transition for Latin American players to come to the US in a more structured environment before having to play in a city far away at 18 years of age. Losing the short season leagues can work if they change when the draft takes place and lower the number of picks but I don’t like it. Of course it’s not up to me, even though I am a large consumer of minor league ball.

I also see that my NC Dinos are off to a 4-1 start in Korea as this week began. Woohoo! My Chinese Baseball team is the Fubon Guardians based pretty much solely on the presence of former Atlantic Leaguer and brief Pirate farmhand Mike Loree, and they are off to an 8-11 start. Not quite as good and it has not been a good effort so far for Loree. Yes, this is probably the only place that you will find Mike Loree’s name on the Internet today. I got his autograph when the Atlantic League All Star Game was in York back in 2010. It’s not worth much of anything I can assure you. The big one I got that day was former Pirate J.R. House who was Loree’s teammate with Long Island at the time.

Slept on something wrong Tuesday night. My neck was sore all the next day but was better Thursday though there was some pain in my chest and that was all gone by Friday. Not something that would normally need to be reported but it’s a slow news time. I’ll wait for CNN to pick up this story. Let Don Lemon or Brian Stelter comment on it. Hopefully this isn’t the Rona. If it was, this is wimpiest flu I’ve ever had since I’ve been able to do all of my normal routine. I actually think I just tweaked a muscle lifting weights.

Hard to believe that my Memorial Day Backyard BBQ is coming up. Bought some extra chicken drumsticks at the grocery store and I did clear out some room in the freezer last weekend using up some old chicken to make pulled BBQ chicken. It’s coming up a lot faster than I thought.

I do need to see if one of the shoe stores are open soon. I’m going to need a new pair at some point in the near future. The current pair has lasted one year so it’s about time. A haircut is also coming up but I think I still have another week or two still. Hopefully by then we’ll start opening back up. Maryland is reopening so it can’t be too much longer I hope. Things might be, by the governor’s grace we will be allowed to move to the next phase next Friday. Praise Wolf!

Stopped in at Collusion for some beer to go on Saturday, a perfect day in all respects. The cats enjoyed a lot of window time.