30 Years Ago Today - A Visit With A Friend

It is hard to believe that this video was taken thirty years ago today.  Man, we're getting old.

I'm not giving names in case those in the video don't want to be identified.  Enjoy.

Catching The Rabbit

 I took Ruby for a walk this past weekend, and she flushed a rabbit out of the field. If she hadn't reached the end of her leash, she would have caught it! She was super excited by that, and when we got home I remembered I had bought and stashed away a toy rabbit to give to her during this stay at home period. So I gave it to her. She went nuts! She was so happy she could finally catch the rabbit!

These are a few photos from when she slowed down enough for the photo not to be blurry.

It only took her about 10 minutes to tear the front arm off and get to the squeaker.

The next day, I sewed the arm back on for her.

New Refrigerator

 Well our refrigerator went on the fritz this week.  Sometimes it was cold, sometimes it was not.  I called a repairman and he said that today's refrigerators are closed systems - unless it was an electrical problem, it would be over $1000 to fix and probably not worth the effort.  He helped me troubleshoot over the phone, and found it wasn't the electrical so probably not worth fixing.  We made an emergency trip down to Lowes to find a new one.

We had intended to get a side-by-side like our last one, but they are getting to be a small slice of available choices.  I had not realized how out of fashion they are.

We were both initially against a french door model, but finally found one that had everything that was important to us.  We couldn't find a side-by-side that had everything we wanted.

 So we purchased this Tuesday evening and it was delivered just after lunch today.

 I'm not usually very excited by refrigerators.  I suppose being stuck at home has made it much more important to me now!

Ruby, however, was not impressed.

How The Chinese Handle COVID-19 Now

Now that they've been through it once, this is what the Chinese are doing now to keep it from being re-introduced into China.

Here in California:

• Most employers started having employees work from home starting the week of March 16th
• Governor Newsom closed all non-essential businesses on March 19th
• US Corona virus deaths reached 1000 on March 26th
• They predict the first two weeks in April will be the worst 

We'll see how this all pans out.

1918 Spanish Flu in San Diego

Like me, I bet a lot of you are wondering how long this Coronavirus COVID-19 thing will last, given that most schools and businesses closed starting Monday March 16th.

The closest equivalent to COVID-19 in US history is the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. I read through the 1918 San Diego newspapers to see how long the flu impacted San Diego a hundred years ago.

In 1918, World War I was raging in Europe. The United States had drafted 2.8 million men for the war, and by the summer of 1918 the US was sending 10,000 men per day to France.

With so many troops in such close quarters, an influenza epidemic broke out. It reportedly broke out in Spain because, at the time, other countries had news blackouts but Spain did not. This made it appear to the public that the flu started in Spain so it became known as the Spanish Flu.

With troops being transported between the United States and Europe, the flu soon spread to the United States. The first case in San Diego was reported on September 26, 1918 at Camp Kearny. The Army was severely impacted by the Spanish Flu.

For those not from San Diego, here are some of the terms I use in the tables that follow:

• “San Diego” mean San Diego proper, which only existed by San Diego Bay in 1918
• “Camp Kearny” was an Army camp up on a mesa (Kearny Mesa) about 10 miles from San Diego in 1918
• “Fort Rosecrans” was adjacent to San Diego, on the edge of San Diego Bay
• "National City" is a town just south of San Diego
• "Ramona" is a city east of San Diego, where the land becomes more rugged leading to the "Mountain Empire"
• "Escondido" is a city about 50 miles north of San Diego, 15-20 miles inland from the coast.

This presentation gives a synopsis on how the Spanish Flu affected San Diego in 1918. There was a second strain that circulated in the United States during 1919-1920, but this post focuses only on the 1918 epidemic.

By the time the 1918 Spanish Flu ended, it had killed 0.5% of the San Diego population.

Camp Kearny had a 2% Spanish Flu death rate.

September 1918

The first case of the Spanish Flu in San Diego was reported in the September 27th San Diego newspaper. An Army solder at Camp Kearny had it.

 October 1918

On October 10th, the Army quarantined Camp Kearny.

A day later, the city of San Diego placed restrictions on public gatherings.

 The number of new Spanish Flu cases in San DIego continued to grow throughout the month.

 November 1918

By early November, the number of new cases in San Diego began decreasing. Thought was given to removing the Camp Kearny quarantine and San Diego gathering restrictions.

In fact, the Camp Kearny gave partial liberty on November 10th. Since the war ended on November 11th, it appears this was done to allow the troops to celebrate the end of the war in San Diego, not in camp.

 The number of new cases continued to drop for awhile, but by late November they were spiking again.

In fact, the San Diego board of health recommended re-implementing restrictions. Some San Diego businesses were unhappy with that recommendation and actually ignored it.

 December 1918

The city, the local board of health, and the state health board all struggled with ways to gain control over the Spanish Flu again.

The city council implemented a full quarantine for San Diego for 4 days, then replaced it with the mandatory wearing of masks.

The numbers of new cases again declined, and by December 24th, the mask requirement was dropped.

The newspapers from Jan, Feb, and March 1919 are missing so I cannot tell if there was a relapse during that period, but there does not appear there was. Later in 1919, a new strain went through the United States.

So there you have it. If COVID-19 is anything like the 1918 Spanish Flu, we could be looking at 4-6 weeks of closures followed by a month of masks. We shall see what happens.

Century Old House

While researching the 1918 Spanish Flu in San Diego, I ran across the advertisement for a home for sale in San Diego in December 1918.   I found a Google Street View that shows that same home still exists today, and looks much the same 102 years later!

It is 2000 SF and 4 bedrooms, just like it was in 1918.  However, the value of the home has increase quite a bit.  It was on the market for $6,000 in 1918, while Zillow values it at $996,000 today.

I hope this house sees another hundred years, it has a great design.  From the front anyway.  But it's probably time for that Ficus tree to go.

A Face In The Crowd

We bought it.  I think it looks better here than at the store.  And it will look even better when the plants grow in better around it.