How To Keep Busy During Covid 19

Since about March 10, when our governor came out with stay at home directives, life has changed.  I need to be even more diligent than most, as Ron is probably the most at risk person I know.  He's got at least three conditions that make him more likely to get the virus than others.  So I am definitely staying home.

This situation is making it difficult for me to have blog topics.  In the past my topics were all related to my active life.  I would talk about an event I had gone to, a restaurant I had eaten at, an activity I had enjoyed.  Now, everything is done at home, so I will tell you about my day, and some of the things I am reading/watching/learning on TV or internet.

My typical day begins with a 30 minute walk with Pepper around 7:00.  I come home, fix my coffee, and sit down with my on line NY Times, e-mails and texts and then a book.  I try to read for about an hour in the morning.  It's a discipline I like, and even though I don't always feel like doing it, I try to make it the first thing I do each day.  Then, Ron gets up, I fix him breakfast, and get him ready for the morning, either relaxing in front of the TV, or in his office, doing tax returns.  After getting him settled, I do about a 45 minute workout.  My local gym, EOS, has online classes, some live and some I can put on any time, including stretch, yoga, pilates, strength training, etc.  It's great.  By now it is almost lunch time, so I make lunch, take Pepper for a short walk, and relax a bit.  The afternoon I usually watch Netflix.  After Netflix, I take Pepper for a long walk, maybe an hour.  By then it's getting late in the day, I watch a little CNN or MSNBC and catch up on this tragedy.

I just finished watching The Tiger King on Netflix.  It's a 7 part documentary on the rise and fall of Joe Maldonado Passage, better known as Joe Exotic.  The series shows murder, madness and mayhem that is beyond anything I could have imagined.  He has been raising tigers (and other cats) in captivity for many years, and had a private zoo, where visitors got to get up close and personal with the cats.  He bred and raised mostly tigers, and sold them for thousands of dollars to other collectors.  His main rival was Carol Baskin, another lover of exotic cats.  He was finally arrested, tried and found guilty of attempted murder for hire (of Carol Baskin), among other things.  His plan to have her murdered was unsuccessful.  He is currently serving a 22 year sentence.  Apparently many other people associated with him, some of whom testified against him, are also under federal investigation, and will probably be arrested.

What I also learned from this series is that there are 5,000-10,000 tigers in private ownership in the U.S.   That figure blew my mind.  There are only 4,000 of these amazing animals left in the wild.  The other interesting fact was that many states have not passed  laws that prohibits the breeding and selling of wild animals.  The laws for each state are different, with Oklahoma and South Carolina being two states that have the most relaxed laws, thus many of the private ownership is in these states. 

While you're sitting home looking for something to do, turn on Tiger King.  It will amaze you.