2020, the year of COVID19 and LAUGH/SOB

It's July 2020, and here in Massachusetts we've hit the dog days of summer. I'll start with my weather and tree report, and then go from there.
Again, I forget this blog is here, but when I do remember it's fun to catch up on years past.

Last spring we had a rash of squirrel damage where the little tree rats were eating the bark off the old maple trees in the canyon. They've done this in past years and I don't understand why, because it's often a year where there have been plenty of nuts and it was mild. It destroys whole branches on the tree, and these trees, many being 200 years old, can ill afford the damage. Thankfully this year they seemed to leave the trees along. A happy reprieve.
The winter was mild, the spring was wet, and now it's dry dry dry. But for the occasional soaking of a thunderstorm. Just enough water to revive the grass and feed the weeds.
Another year without the dreaded inch worms, or canker works, ie the winter moths. There were a few, and a few is fine, but nothing like the destructive force they were. Hopefully this is the permanent trend. I know the birds miss them to feed their babies, but the trees don't need that added stress.

So on to COVID 19. What will go down in history as one of the worst pandemics as we now measure things, not so much with the loss of life but as a destroyer of economies as this generations tries to keep the virus from spreading. The comparison to the 1918 Flu pandemic is obvious. Though back then, that flu was such a fast acting disease that you could be walking to work and die by the time you got there, this disease is insipid in its invisibility. You can carry it and share it without ever feeling sick or getting sick, and that make it all the harder to get people to take it seriously, or to deal with it seriously. Add to that the lack of leadership in dealing with it, it looks to take a very similar course as the 1918 flu.. though again, hopefully not as deadly, but with  132,000 dead in 4 months in America, what happens in the fall is anyone's guess.
I can say that we have had a share of Covid burials, about 4, and all elderly people.. But the story that all deaths are being listed as Covid is not true, I can attest to that.
The restrictions of the pandemic lockdown has really changed the funeral industry in the last 3 months. Limited or no wakes, limited people at the burials, people choosing cremation so they can hopefully have a service later in the year when things calm down.. it's all very new. And masks, everyone wearing masks to try to stop the spread of the virus. If I were to make a time casual for this year, I would put an array of masks in it to represent the year.

On new news, the cemetery is considering erecting a columbarium in the Beal St. Section. Actually we are thinking of three, but one to start. As the cemetery runs out of room and cremation becomes ever more popular, it seems the way to go. But again, Covid has kind of put a damper on that for the moment.

Have I mentioned the turkey's and the chipmunks? When I (your author) first started at the cemetery, you would NEVER see either. Once in a rare while you might  catch a glimpse of a chipmunk or a turkey. Now they are common. Chips live all around the chapel building and at least once every few weeks try to run into the garage. Turkey moms have their families in the woods around the cemetery and their broods of 10-12  chicks blend right into the grass. And while last year we had a number of fox sightings, we haven't seen any this year..but they are out there, the fox, coyotes, and deer, and even Bald Eagles are not occasionally seen in Weymouth near the water.