Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for August 13, 2020

Think of the people stuck in apartments without a backyard or even a balcony.

Looks like a great program .

Pig could spend his time writing an adventure novel: Journey to the Center of the Basement.

Tomorrow Pig just make it to the smokehouse.

The handle on the windowsill looks like a hat for Pig.

Tuesday and Wednesday were two consecutive days off from the grocery store. Dad and I went all the way form Clark County, Washington to Clallam County, Washington where I was born. Did a hike with someone we knew from church then around the Elwha River (I was writing my GoComics comments Tuesday night from the hotel room where WiFi was a little slow).

I know where I’m going: crazy! (Not actually. It’s been pretty pleasant so far. Don’t have to deal with people so much…)

We’re still going out ever week to forage for groceries. But it’s getting a little iffier as the number of local cases keeps climbing… despite the fact that we  are washing and masking properly. Als will be going to our granddaughter’s high school graduation ceremony next week: It’s a drive-through thing at the local fair grounds, with whatever talking happens coming in through the radio.

Never, ever, going outside? Why didn’t I think of that? I’m just going to let my cat walk himself to the vet from now on.

The Post Office, the supermarket and a local area of trails. Fresh air and some exercise from time to time are essential!

Take a trip and never have to leave the farm. Setting on that sack of seeds. The Wild Wood Weed ! ….. Croc Power !

Friday the 13th is on a Thursday this time… especially dangerous. Stay save out there everyone.

Say hello to the tires, Pig.

C’mon Pig. Don’t worry, and go outside. This isn’t the swine flu!

I hop on my ebike and the whole city is my backyard.

In my neighborhood, people take walks down the streets. It’s good exercise and you get to talk to people walking the other direction on the other side of the street. Social distancing built right in, and we don’t even have to wear masks.

Hooray for Amazon, eh Pig?

Pig should pack a picnic lunch and make a day of it. Maybe even camp out in the garage over night. No joke I have been reading about people camping out in the back yard and acting like it was the deep woods just to keep for going insane.

About once a month I get the urge to just drive somewhere. We do the weekly grocery thing, I ride my bike in the morning, but sometimes I have to just get in the car and leave the house. Last time I drove the highway circling our city, next time I am going to put my bike in the car and go to a local park to ride its trails.

EXCELLENT TIME to go through 50 years of treasures that you just HAD to have and keep. . .

I don’t mind being stuck inside all day.

Settling into a new home and selling the old one has kept us busy without much trouble. Soon it will be bare root season.

Don’t forget to shine your shoes and put on cologne.

I went out to the curb this morning at 5:40 to bring in the trash bin. Ahhhh, fresh air, birds singing. Only two more weeks until I get to do it again. (We don’t have much trash so it only goes out every other week. We do make twice weekly runs to the recycle bins, tho)

Little did I realize when we built our covered roof terrace what a sanity saver it would be during the pandemic lockdown. We were able to escape the confines of our apartment and get plenty of fresh air, exercise ( that’s where the free-weights and the exercise machine is ), sit comfortably surrounded by plants and flowers, and watch all the action (or lack of it) in the barrio.

Even though things have opened up a little ( we’re on Code Yellow ), our 3rd-floor patio is still the safest place to be.

A sit down restaurant would be nice.

As for me, I’m going out to mow the lawn.

Well, having the warmest summer in Wisconsin in forever AND having a pool makes social distancing palatable. Not saying I love it but… Just want this to end. I will never forget the different response mechanisms used by people. So interesting how people react so differently to distress and being stressed. Really bummed about people in nursing homes and the like with no family contact.

I’m averaging 10 miles a day. Hiking. Yes, outside.

May sound funny, but I did this in Dominican Republic, where they had a 60-day lockdown including curfew at 5 p.m. (the building rooftop was the other hangout place for weeks) :/

My garage is my happy place ! I hope to spend a lot of time there when I retire.

I’m LOVING it all. The dog and I go out a lot and I can watch my hummingbirds and cardinals and other birds through the woods out my back window. Never bored.

If I couldn’t go to the park, it wouldn’t be pretty

Pig has a garage?! Who knew? Still, while on his exciting visit there, maybe he can say hello to his car, too, assuming he has one of those in his garage.

What an exciting day! (Hey, I’ve been in my apartment, except for grocery shopping and a few other errands, since mid-March….)