If I ran the zoo

Ah, life during a pandemic.

This is usually my favorite time of year. Mostly sunny but not too hot. Flowers blooming. Great golf weather. Start of the major league baseball season.

My solution to social distancing is to get in my car and explore new places, listening to as much bad news as I can bear before turning the radio dial to old time rock and roll.

Have you driven along the S Skagit Highway? Because it’s a road rarely taken, it has some funkiness but there are also beautiful farms and incredible views. The part God did is amazing and mankind is starting to clean up its mess. The beautiful winding river is surrounded by beautiful snowcapped foothills.

Lots of time for contemplation. Am I living the life I should be living? How are my kids going to survive this disruption in their careers? How long is this going to last? Should we open things up to save the economy even though we know there will be a cost in human lives? Usually a challenge like this unites a nation, but nowadays, we have young people holding signs on bridges over the freeway saying “open” while old people are dying in record numbers.

I have seasonal allergies so I’ve been waking up coughing and sneezing and my doctor thought it might be a good idea for me to be tested for Covid-19. I had the blood test for antibodies which turned out negative and then I had the swab test to see if I currently have the virus.

It was so easy. Drive to the eastern parking lot at Skagit Valley College, show them your driver’s license and health care card and, not so much fun, stick a small swab into your nostril and dig out anything you can. They tell you if your results are negative, you’ll get a text within three days. If it is positive, you’ll get a call.

The next day I got a text. One word. “Negative”. Best one-word text ever.

And now, feeling pretty optimistic, I have a revelation. I am going to buy a puppy. The shelters are mostly shut down, appointment only, and only access to dogs with lots of issues, such as “not good with cats” or “not good with small children.” A neighbor tells me that his friends’ dog just had a litter of Golden Retriever puppies.

Lo and behold, I now have a wonderful companion to help me get through these challenging times, with the film industry shutdown and most of my family far far away. Her name is Rosie and she is sitting on my feet right now as I type away in my home office.

She’s affectionate and already loves to chase balls and she’s not even nine weeks old. We’ll see how she does when we are reunited with my wife and her new rescued cat, Bobby, but I’m optimistic that we can overcome all of these challenges and learn to live together in peace.