Correction

On March 13th, I think it was me who went south, more than the world. This statement I failed to further inform myself about:"We're far from the end of the pandemic. More than 675,000 Americans died from the Spanish flu in 1918. Approximately one third of the world's population was wiped out."
In all of China's much larger population than ours, only some 3200 people have died from coronaviuus. Worldwide, the death count is only some 8000, and the virus has been in China since late last year.

It's not that I believed hundreds of thousands would die here, I didn't quite, but I dared to use that figure to give the post a heavy tone, and now I feel as if it were a crazy move on my part, since days later, it left me vulnerable to some TV newscaster's "worst case scenario" of 2.2 million Americans dying. How, when since late last year, only some 8000 have died globally? How is that likely? Don't have time to research and try to find out, but it doesn't seem likely.

While growing up, the phrase was, "If you think the world is crazy, it's you who is crazy." Things haven't changed since then. I stepped off into the deep end on March 13th.

Getting Serious at Bedminster

Some people have told me I should run for President. Can you imagine a supermarket food-prepper getting elected? That's like a "nigger" in charge of a 19th-century South Carolina plantation. Some have wondered what the f@#! I am doing in that job, but as it turns out, it's a very good one, because among essential services. I will continue supporting my family on less than 15 bucks an hour, while--unfortunately--many Americans will be strapped. For all we know, we may see soup lines.

A janitor there had $700,000 in stocks a few weeks ago. No, nothing like that now. But the point is, I'm not the only one who, after he lost his corporate job, found no one would hire him because of his age. Companies routinely break the age discrimination law. When on unemployment, I went to some seminars offered, and the speaker told us they do. The janitor has a story similar to mine.

And more. I voluntarily stayed in a low position with the credit union. I had more than option to climb the ladder; it was encouraged, and my performance evaluations were beyond "meeting expectations." I was subtly frowned upon for not reaching for better, but on the road, I not only had time to quickly write thoughts on notebook pages, but time to shoot photography and fish on lunch breaks, a practice I found not only filled my life with inspiration, but made me much more willing to do my job well. And, in fact, I became superlative. (I never quite got over making the mistake of giving a bag of interoffice mail to the wrong branch on rare occasion, however. Then I had to race back and correct the mistake, but there was always time.) You wouldn't understand why that was better than advancing and making thousands of dollars more each year--as well as retaining employment rather than getting laid off--unless you can understand the ambition of a writer who is fully committed to every advantage he can gain for that career, rather than for a conventional career.

(It's theorized that average IQ cannot understand IQ above 130.)

An evening like this one at Bedminster Pond with my son, Matt, is a great equalizer. If my IQ were over 200, it wouldn't have made any difference, perhaps. Not in terms of a catch. I did see a small sunfish. Matt pointed out a snapping turtle that had just surfaced. The evening lacked that certain punch bass need to overtake a spinner. I got a couple of bumps that might have been bass knocking it. A Rapala Husky Jerk--suspends--would have been the choice. If the water were clear. I knew that maybe even with it dingy, the plug might work, but I got into the persistence of trying to tease one of those bass, maybe bass, knocking the spinner, to commit. I knew all along the chance was about nil. Maybe not nil itself. Especially with the light getting interesting.

We did begin on the sunlit side. Shallower. But there was no sunlight on it. I got the notion that maybe the deeper shaded side would offer something. It did result in more interest from both of us. And for me, the feeling that it mattered cleared up some uncertainty about life.

Matt told me he felt better out there. He remembered Lake Musconetcong. Topwater fishing for the pickerel. Wants to do that again. I don't know if many pickerel have come back after the chemotherapy the lake got for water chestnuts, but perhaps they have.

Summer

Counting the Dead

Going to try and fish Bedminster Pond with Matt after I post the following. It's not very mild out, so the chance of any catches is little. I haven't ruled out rigging up fly rods and fishing the river instead.

About a week ago, someone at the supermarket pitched me the idea that the pandemic could be biological warfare, planned and executed in the interest of worldwide authoritarian dictatorship, beginning with Putin. I don't believe this is the case. Pandemics happen naturally. I noted the Spanish Flu in a recent post, from which a third of the world's population died. This pandemic won't be as severe, if I have the death percentage correct, but many of us will die, and all the likelihood is that it will have essentially been due to natural causes. It would have helped if tests were widely available, but agency set in place to deal with a pandemic--put in place by the Obama Administration--was gutted by Trump.

If everyone were tested, why lock down? Those who tested as carriers could have quarantined. At the least, we would have had more control in combating this disease from Day One of its emergence in China.

"2.2 million people in the United States could die," news flash just now. In 1918, 675,000 Americans died from the Spanish Flu, but the population was much less, so even if two million of us are soon dead, the percentage isn't quite as high. Rather than to quibble over that, the news now is staggering.

The news also reported Trump as saying he always believed this a pandemic. Yeah? He was reported only 11 days ago or so as saying it's a conspiracy of the democrats to lower his re-election chances. Not long thereafter, I heard him mumble on TV like a druggie that this would soon pass, as if it were nothing.

I will be posting. My mood is somber, and for all I know, it may tend to remain so. I wonder what nation we will re-emerge to find? How many months or years from now?  I am informed there may be a vaccine available in a year and some months from now, so possibly it won't be much more than a year. We suffered a fairly serious economic downturn not much more than a decade ago. This one, I think, will be much worse, but markets will return, of course, if any of us is to survive. America is resilient. America is the toughest nation to ever stand on the face of this earth.

If you catch a whiff of death's stench, remember who you voted for in 2016. If you really are confident in that vote, you know you made a good choice. Confidence is not evasiveness. As we witnessed Republican senators not long ago, we saw them dodge.

America is great. Great enough to suffer damnation. And come back.

I wish I could find more confident words than those, but I don't have them now. What I face is something I know I may not recover from, though I believe I will. I just feel very put out. I worked very hard to get my life back during what has been a most chaotic winter for me. True--good thing I got my equipment in order before the lock down. I would have been screwed. But no sooner was I finally feeling hints of normality, than this pandemic came down on us.

Part of what sucks so much is that even with the economy as good as it was just weeks ago, who among us was full of confidence and life?  I'm speaking for myself; maybe you were full of confidence and life: I did see some photos of outstanding catches on Facebook. Are we to give up and not even care to return, because life sucked anyway? Maybe we'll explore the depths of depression in the interim, and find life calls us back in spite of ourselves. Not very appealing, no, but speaking for myself again, I sure know I can't get cheerful over TV ads, and rarely have got cheerful over them, anytime. If I controlled the TV in our household, it wouldn't be on as much, and in any event, maybe people will wake up about how childish and ridiculous so much marketing is. Not to talk down children, but ads behaving like 13-year-olds jacking off for the first time aim at adults. 

Division Offices CLOSED. I Give Them LOADS of Credit for Trout Stocking

WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREAS OPEN FOR RECREATION
ALL DIVISION OFFICES ARE CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC

Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Catherine R. McCabe announced today that the public may still access the Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Wildlife Management Areas, including roads, parking areas, trails, lakes and other open space areas for healthful recreation.

However, all offices, educational centers, restrooms and similar facilities within these areas are closed to the public until further notice in order to protect public health and safety as the state works to address COVID-19.

“Keeping state-owned open spaces available to the public is important so people can continue to enjoy the healthful benefits of recreation and being outdoors,” Commissioner McCabe said. “We advise the public to practice social distancing while enjoying our open spaces.”

Conservation Police Officers will continue to conduct routine patrols of WMAs to ensure public safety and general wellbeing of the visiting public.

All educational events and classes run by the Division of Fish and Wildlife including Hunter Education classes, Aquatic Education classes, R3 events and public educational events are also cancelled through April 30, 2020. 

Pre-season trout stocking originally scheduled to begin on March 23 has been moved up and has already begun. The Division will be making every effort to distribute trout without interruption.  

Licenses and permits will not be available for purchase at Division offices, however you may still purchase them online.

For updates, please visit www.njfishandwildlife.com

Lenny, Hope You Read the Blog from Home

I'll be posting. Don't know if the state, etc., will send any press releases, but I'll come up with some content.

Take it the club is closing?