The sensor for my temperature gage is outside hanging on the inside of a
branch of an evergreen tree, a bottle tree to be precise. It reported to
the display on my desk that the high for the day was 119 degrees.
I've noticed a lot of disaster and apocalyptic documentaries on Netflix. I
recently watched one about major eruptions from major volcanoes from the
past. One such mega-volcano is the Yellowstone. A major eruption from this
volcano would, the documentary announced, blanket the area to the east of it
with soot which destroys plant life, killing the weak, and leaving the
strong to fight with each other over the remaining food.
Netflix announced a second season of Van Helsing. I clicked on it, couldn't
remember the first season and so clicked on that, thinking I'd watch it
again if I couldn't remember it clearly. It began with a mega-eruption of
the Yellowstone volcano after which huge numbers of people became
zombie-like vampires who began biting (or eating) everyone who wasn't made a
vampire-zombie by the eruption. Those in the Van Helsing line of course are
immune to a vampire bite. Kelly Overton plays Vanessa Helsing. To make the
story, there are real vampires who see this as an opportunity to take over
the world and Vanessa will be a huge stumbling block because any vampire who
tastes her blood is turned human once again - and she of course has
super-human fighting abilities - and an attitude.
Buck Knives, a few years back, came out with a series of knives to be used
in the Zombie Apocalypse. I didn't buy any. Maybe I should have.
When one reaches 83, I've noticed that pretty much all one's relatives and
friends of roughly the same age are either dead or so enfeebled they aren't
up to much social contact, and what little they are up to is associated with
going to doctors and then talking about their illnesses and operations.
Like Vanessa Helsing I have thus far been immune to illness (if one doesn't
count headaches from reading too much, and watching too many movies on
Netflix and Amazon Prime, and of course the occasional stomach ache from
trying an unusual prepared meal from Stater Bros).
I'm locked-down for the night in my 2073 square foot house with my three
dogs. I spend a good deal of time lifting weights in my garage, dumbbells
in my study, crunches, air squats, etc. When (if) it gets cooler, I'll be
ready to hike again. At present, however, I go out only (as long as this
heat wave lasts) when I need groceries - and then there is the back-yard
which my dogs have access to through doggy doors, but often, especially
after it gets dark, they won't go out there unless I go with them. I read
obscure histories - of the poetry of Provence, and Inquisitions, for
example, which were the Zombie Apocalypses of their day. I also have been
reading some of the works of Ian Jack: The History of English Literature,
1818-1832, and Keats and the Mirror of Art, and like many of the characters
in Marvel's the Iron Fist, Season 2, I often wonder why I do what I do. ;-)
Lawrence
