Travels of THB: June 2020

Department of Cancellations:

Tokyo Olympics 2020 (no change from May report): still awaiting ANA airline update on refund or credit
New York in September: theaters are now "postponing" performances in September to January; instructions on getting refunds on the way for Girl From the North Country and American Utopia
Colombia and Mexico City in November (no change from May report): no update from three airlines on refunds or credits

Department of Attributions: SAS was the source for id'ing the cuplrit and victim in the death on the boardwalk pic last month

Department of Tax Advice: In 2020 you are not required to take required minimum distributions (RMD) from IRAs. And, if you have taken one (or more) already this year, you are allowed to pay it back into your IRA by August 31 at no penalty

Department of Disclaimers: THB is not a licensed tax advisor, so please contact a more reliable source to verify the above tax advice. THB is also not an attorney, nor a scientist, nor a professional baseball player. All are professions that politicians (and less often pundits) often state they are not either. Except for the professional baseball player, that is one our non-leader in charge sez he most certainly could have been. And an astronaut. And a sword-swallower. And whether a stable and an unstable genius, always a genius.

Department of History: THB's top book for the first half of 2020 (out of 53) is A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe (historical fiction, pub’d way back 1722): Yep, THB has dug deep into the archives for this one. Eerily similar to our current pandemic (when it comes to viral pandemics, not much has changed in 350+ years, including deliriums in many victims), this is a re-creation of the history of the bubonic plague in 1665 London. Defoe, the author of Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders, was actually a well known journalist for most of his life (as well as a British secret agent), and this book reads much more as an actual week by week happening than as a novel. Scary, and even scarier: after the plague year there was a fire in London that destroyed much of the city. Will we see the same if DJT doesn't get re-elected and calls out his troops?

Department of Real Estate: At least 3 units at MDC have sold within the last 30-60 days. Several more are on the market. All are going for more than the going rate for units sold in the 2015-2018 period.

Car in a ditch; took THB and DB 45+ minutes to get by this spot

Yet another complete stop of traffic on 5 lanes of 101

Department of Highway Patrol: THB and DB have not made many up and backs between E-ville and MDC in the last two months, yet the traffic patterns have become clear. In May far fewer cars yet on almost every leg (approx 100 miles a leg) we came to a dead stop due to road work and there were always cars racing by at 80-100 mph. In June the traffic got thicker and there were almost always serious accidents: one happened about 20 seconds in front of us so we saw the multiple pileups scattered across 3 lanes; one accident happened late at night and the traffic was still crawling at 9am for 45 minutes while the highway patrol was documenting what happened. With the re-opening of the economy, in late June Saturday morning was just like in the old days: stop and go from Gilroy to MDC. Sunday in just 50 miles each way the traffic came to a halt numerous times.

Pics by Category

Things That Fly

THB thinks this is a wild turkey, rarely seen at MDC

Pic by DB, Great Egret in the Dunes is a rarity

Two-fer: hawk vs whale

THB bets on the whale

Hawk never stood a chance

large wounded Western Tiger Swallowtail

Beach Scenes

Fading away as time passes, early in June

Mid-month

June 24

Could be rabbit tracks, they are known to hop on the beach tho THB has never seen one on sand

Lots of boats out fishing, this day they were all sitting atop a light blue strip of water about 1/2 mile out

Same seam of light blue water

Same spot, ships at night, pic by DB

The boats are fishing for squid and at night the squid are attracted by the lights

MDC Events

DB taking a break, discussing the fine points of weed pulling and J hasn't been Huck Finn'd into joining her yet. In fact, THB is sent off to pull conocosia behind J's unit, Huck Finning THB by proxy

Trash item THB did not pick up (NYT ran a similar pic!)

Mask trash on upswing

Closed until Father's Day

Deconstructed Carl Dern art piece; all non-welded metal connectors rusted out

Jack rabbits at MDC: they only come out early in the day and are very quick to runaway and fast to hide. The rest THB sees are cottontails

Newly posted mid-June

Last month: garbage truck. This month: septic trucks (a rare sighting!)

Early birds get wet

The pool and hot tub (yes, a small public hot tub with a diameter of maybe 8 feet) are open as of June 21st, Father's day. Pool has no chairs of tables. Not clear how to share the pool when others are there.

Full-staff back June 22; chimney repair

To talk to MDC office staff (now back at work in situ) you go through another door to the right and then wait behind a Plexiglas "screen" to see if someone in the office will come around...very much like trying to find someone to open the right window at the main admin building (Sproul Hall) at UCB in the 60s: you would knock on a window, someone would open and say for that you need to go to another window; you would walk over the the "right" window and the same person from the first window would open it up and offer to help you. TRUE STORY!

Water well pumping station needs remediation

Food and Dining

Social distancing outdoor dining at Fish in Sausalito

Queue for ordering, this person is first in line, one person enters at a time and then the counter is wiped off after every person leaves to dine outside

Indoor dining at Alta Bakery

With full dining comes real serving dishes!

Ad Astra goes back to indoor service

Father's Day pre-breakfast: Ad Astra toast with butter and jam: a great treat

Carmel has opened up and added dining in the street

More dining in the street

Other Brothers Brewpub, totally empty at around 1pm (they just re-opened)

THB goes olliallieberry picking at Gizdich Ranch in Watsonville

Chicken disk (Kiwi talk for check-in desk)

Lots of pickers there before 9am opening

Very unique scarecrow!

THB picks 11.25 pounds in around 1.25 hours, $40 worth

Check-out desk is very slow; if you pay with a credit card the cashier has to stand up and start waving the cc reader over her head

Just down the street from the loft, this well known caterer is now offering excellent meals to go. Share responsibly!!

Flowers at MDC

THB has scoured MDC for any sign of conocosia: this one recently sprouted at base of THB's stairs to the beach, snuck in during the dark of night

Twins Visits

THB visits the twins in San Ramon and after THB makes the last out of the top of the first, the home team is racing to the dugout for their at bats; note that DB knitted the girls' uniforms