Another week in quarantine. Turns out that the lockdown is extended now to May 8 and how much do you wanna bet that it’ll be extended until May 15 next week. At some point we are going to need to open back up. Considering that I work in a room by myself I don’t see why I can’t go back in. Of course when I get paid for my work may be another matter. Allergies really kicked in this week. I guess the only good thing I can say about quarantine and not leaving the home is that I’m not outside to be inundated by pollen. They always kick in this time of year so I know it’s not the CCP virus. It’s usually good after the first good rain after the first grass cutting but I was cutting the grass earlier this season so that’s out the window.
So of course the big worry this week is that the international response to this will lead to war with China. Considering the CCP is much more on par with other totalitarian regimes like the Nazi Party they will hopefully have little international backing. I would doubt that they have the abilities to land troops in North America but Taiwan, South Korea and Japan would be quick targets. You would figure that Taiwan would be first. Would the international community try appeasement like Neville Chamberlain did with Czechoslovakia or would they take a harder stance? Hopefully it will not come to that. At least everyone seems to be in agreement that China is a problem (outside of CNN which publishes their propaganda and then when they get called out for it stealthily edit it). No wonder Trump calls them fake news.
On a still glum but a bit cheerier note this week would have had baseball stops in Washington, Frederick, Hagerstown, Harrisburg, Baltimore and maybe even Wilmington. Instead I am cooped up at home. At least Collusion and Liquid Hero here in town are selling beer to go but it just isn’t the same as getting out to visit some of the area breweries. There was a brewery down in Wilmington that I wanted to visit. I hit Twin Lakes last year only to find the door locked on the first visit and a lock on the door the next time. Looking at their Facebook page they are open since they were hosing events so I wanted to catch them this year. Not happening for the time being.
Speaking of the minors, it looks like the minors will be losing some teams. If I remember Frederick and Hagerstown would be eliminated which would really suck for me. Now of course MLB said no agreement was in place yet but I would imagine that it is a matter of time. I’ll see where it stands when an actual announcement is made. You would figure that Frederick would be welcomed into the Atlantic League. Hagerstown might be SOL. We’ll see, apparently there is no set in stone list just yet they say. It would suck losing the New York/Penn League teams like Aberdeen, Williamsport and State College and the smaller communities like that will be the ones to pay the price.
I don’t think the Dream League that is proposed will work. The short season leagues work well for players that are drafted that year and high school players for the most part are not ready to play full season A Ball which is why there is Rookie ball. I don’t know if the intention is to put more players who would have been drafted out of high school into college, thus making college baseball more appealing. I guess but then MLB should not be carrying the NCAA’s bag. You’re also going to take high school age kids from Latin America and throw them into full season A Ball? Rookie ball serves as a good transition for them as they come to the US for the first time.
Finally some live sports (sort of) with the NFL Draft. I am usually ambivalent to this since baseball is underway but nothing else is going on. I am sure the entire thing got huge ratings. It always does but this year especially. I am hopeful that there will be baseball this year but I am becoming less expectant that I will attend a game. I am guessing that the games will be played in empty stadiums and possibly far away from me. It’s better than nothing I guess. It will save me a lot of money both in money spent in the stadium and keeping my gas tank filled along with brewery visits. It just won’t be the same. Well the KBO season looks like it could be starting soon in South Korea. WooHoo! ESPN tried to get the rights to their games (for free) I saw but they couldn’t since ESPN wanted to drop them as soon as MLB started up.
For the most part this week outside of a trip to the grocery store and dinner at my parent’s house one night I didn’t leave the house. OK, I left the house to take a walk but you know what I mean. I admit that there is a part of me that enjoys this but it can’t last. We will need to go back to work at some point and reopen the economy. Too many people are depending on food banks just to eat. I see a lot of people mocking them and at least on my Facebook feed most of them are still employed, so to them I say: What would you do in their place? Hungry, out of work and desperate. It has nothing to do with their demands, there was not this same level of coverage and vitriol when the rent strikers were out demonstrating and the Women’s March in Spain blow-back only came after the fact. It’s purely tribal and protesting is a right (sorry Raleigh police, it is). Protests have occurred during times of emergency in the past. I want things to re-open and the sooner the better. If the left was starving and scared they would have no problem rioting. There is going to be a second wave, we can’t stop it from happening but we do need to make sure our food supply is intact.
On a more positive not I finished up part one of Campaign of Giants on Wednesday. Too bad part two isn’t out yet so I could seamlessly go into it. Since I’ve spent some time down in the Petersburg area in the past few years I’ve gotten to learn a bit of the lay of the land and I visited some of the battles fought there. I’ve also been down there in the summer and it can get hot so I have an understanding of what the soldiers went through. This helped to bring this all together. The most interesting part was the chapter about the construction of the mine underneath Elliott’s Salient. That was a feat of engineering on par or exceeding the pontoon bridge across the James! The next time down I am looking forward to doing some of the hiking trails in the park and also getting into town a bit. I’ve never actually been in the city either. It looks like there are also a couple of breweries there, though I’ve been to one of them already at their branch in Northern Virginia.
Next up as book number 5 is Eric Wittenberg and Scott Mingus’ The Second Battle of Winchester. I have several of Wittenberg’s books about the cavalry in the Gettysburg Campaign and Mingus is York County’s foremost expert on the Civil War and has written several books as well. We’ll see how this goes and a visit to Winchester is on the docket for when the lockdown ends in Virginia. I saw some of the sites when I was down there a few years ago but didn’t have time for them all. I look forward to a much more comprehensive visit or visits as well as stopping at some of the fine breweries in the area. Since the regiment that came from York fought in this as their first combat I am looking forward to learning about that and we’ll see how many good York County names come up. The first one was a fellow named Metzger. Wonder if they’re any relation to the guy from the Metzger Wickersham law firm?
Not much going on over the weekend. I did learn one thing this week, apparently the company I work for is an essential business since they provide support for healthcare providers so I could have been going in to work this whole time. So, I’m back in on Monday. I’ll miss my fuzzy buddies a bit but it will be easier to get work done.
