Lonely and Homeless

“Lonely, I'm Mr. Lonely
I have nobody for my own
Oh, I'm so lonely…..”

That song came to mind as I watched “Birdman,” a homeless person in the community lean on the cold rail near the beach and stare out over the Pacific Ocean at a recent sunset before the local police began giving tickets for watching it from your car!  How many sunsets has “Birdman” seen over his lifetime as he hangs around familiar territory?  What was it in his life that led to his predicament?  Mental illness?  Addiction?  Adjustment disorders?

He pointed out the rocks below and reminisced that he began sleeping on them at nights when he was sixteen years old.  He felt safe down there, he said.  But on this night, he was hoping for a motel room which the town was giving to some of the community homeless due to the spread of the COVID19.  He wasn’t sure he would qualify. He could no longer get down to the beach… it was closed.

Homelessness and loneliness go together.  His challenge is similar to ours:  he worries about food, clothing and shelter.  But his worry – and those like him – is daily.  Most of us are holding in place, hunkered down but with food, clean clothing and shelter.  That may change as the government inflicted shutdown continues and people lose their jobs and livelihoods. 

He doesn’t work so the lay-offs and shuttered businesses aren’t his concern.  Sort of.  But still, it is a dilemma because no one is on the streets to give him a handout.  Some of the local restaurants which feed the local homeless out the back door, are closed.  The social services are limited due to the pandemic and people of good will are confined to their homes.

The chronic homeless like “Birdman” are out there on the streets.  They may not be in our neighborhoods but look around, you’ll see them.  They aren’t going away; their numbers may grow as this pandemic lingers. 

“Birdman” is just one story out there.   

Pandemic Panic

Going Stir Crazy:  It’s not a political thing.  We are all into this together because the rules and regulations concerning the Corona virus are having an affect on all of us.  The schools are closed (Spring Break isn’t, apparently!), tele-schooling is the new thing (except for those who have been taking on-line classes for years), as well as teleworking, teleconferencing, telemedicine, telemarketing (can you say SPAM calls), and teleworshipping (I think we can discount Jim Baker and Tami Faye back in the day!).     

Two weeks ago, the DOW was over 29,000: today in the 19,000s!  Covid-panic'd stock market!  People sell low and buy high… isn’t it supposed to be the other way around?  I just peeked at my 401k, a, b, c… whatever; oh, it is a “paper loss!”they say.  Thank goodness for that kind of paper; at least no one is hoarding it!  I wish car dealers would sell their new rides low and buy used ones high!  Maybe a new business model!

Handshaking is now over, and some dope wants you to whack your elbows together so your crazy bones will buzz.  Let’s see… we could use the “Namaste bow;” the Tibetan “show me your tongue;” or the one I like, the Chinese greeting (hopefully, this isn’t racist!) where you double up your right fist and put your open left palm above it, representing the “yin and yang” of life.  Just don’t wag your gun finger in an uncontrolled manner; you might get arrested for flesh violence.  

The toilet paper saga is getting old:  the other day I was behind a guy who had three 8-rolls of some brand of TP encased in a purple wrapper and a bottle of wine.  I tried to figure out if the two went together.  (Hey, I bet you wish you had the rolls of toilet paper that your kid used to TP the house of his buddy back on your shelf, that way you wouldn’t have to hoard all that tissue so your neighbor has none.  I know, you don’t care.)

Speaking of that, I needed something from Target; I hardly ever go there because if I needed to use the bathroom, I’m not sure which one is acceptable for me to use.  I hate being politically incorrect; I always get crap for that.  But I digress… So, I thought I’d go back to the cleaning products aisle and see if there were any bottom-cleaning products:  Sure enough, not a single roll left!  The shelves were bare… except for a two pack roll of “Bounty Prints:  The Quicker Picker Upper.”  PS: Stop calling 911 when you can’t find toilet paper on the shelf!  Get creative… share with a friend. 

 Yesterday evening I went to In-N-Out Burger for my 800 calories:  I added it up and it was over 850 and I hadn’t ordered a drink!  The seat police wouldn’t let me sit down; she was cute, in her Burger outfit, but the swinging dirty dish rag which she held menacing toward me made me think twice about pushing past her.  Social distancing: no seating allowed in the restaurant, but I could carry out or order from the Tacoma and hang outside. 

I just bought a six-foot leash to walk my dog; I have heard that dogs and cats can’t pass the Corona virus on to humans, which is good news.  But the length of the leash is a passive yardstick:  I’ll know how far to stay away from all the people clogging the sidewalks out walking, allegedly getting fresh air!  You know they are out walking because they are bored!  I’ve been walking my dog for ten years and the only time I’ve seen so many people out is when they are accompanying their kids, trick-or-treating at Halloween!

I went to Costco a bit ago to get a chicken salad at the food court; Mickey loves to go to Costco for bits of chicken and “love!”  Whoa… the food court is only selling hotdogs and pizza!  There was only one guy buying at the window, when normally it would be standing-room-only!  There are signs posted over the other choices saying, “Unavailable.”  Turns out it is “unavailable” because they are limiting choices to limit people!  And nowhere to sit!   The big sign at the entrance listed all the things unavailable, including toilet paper, dry dog food and Vitamin C, as a food hosts squirts an unknown chemical on the shopping cart handles.   But there she was, the chic in the white Mercedes SUV with cases and cases of water!  She had two Costco workers loading that thing to the brim… no social distancing there!  What happened to concern over plastics… or for that matter, what’s wrong with “tap water?” 

 

How many more days till the self-quarantine is over?  Eleven?   This is going to get interesting!     

The Babies

There it was, such a tiny nest precariously perched on a small decorative light cord covered above only with the cross-stitched sunscreen on a pergola in the back yard.  The tiny darting bird, wings furiously slapping air, is building a crude but perfectly engineered bed using spider silk and dull green lichen in which to lay two jelly bean-sized eggs.  

Within 3 weeks, little nestlings, their heads with spike-like hair on naked bodies bob and weave above the rim of the nest with beaks wide open and eyes clamped shut.

 

The feeding frenzy begins as the mother, an Anna Hummingbird, spends much of her time looking and foraging for insects and insect eggs found in local trees and on the ground.  Trip after trip, she makes, as she dutifully feeds her two babies the nectar and insects which she has ingested, only to regurgitate it deep into their crops. 

 

They grow quickly, new feathers appear and their beaks sharpen.  And they share the same small space, moving in unison for a comfortable spot.  The mother continues without hesitation to continue her sole purpose, and that is the constant feeding of her babies.

 

Eventually, it is time to leave the nest and face their world.  One at a time they each spend time flapping their wings, building up the muscles and tendons which will transform them into darting, hovering, zipping hummingbird.     

One is left and for another day she works her wings, practicing hard for the moment of lift off!.  After a long period of flapping, she lays down across the nest, pooped.  Eventually, she recovers and the next morning, she has left the nest.