QUARANTINE BLOG # 326

February 19, 2021

Pitchers and catchers reported to spring training Wednesday in anticipation of a full 162 game schedule, but the Toronto Blue Jays, they won’t be playing home games at home in Toronto any time soon.  The Blue Jays will play their first two home stands of the season at their spring training facility in Dunedin, Florida.  The team cited the “ongoing Canada-U.S. border closure” in making the “difficult decision.”  After opening the season against the Yankees and the Rangers, they are on the road until April 27 when the next home games are to be played in Toronto through May 2.  It remains unlikely they would gain approval to play May games in Toronto.  A return home in the second half may be more realistic, after players and large segments of the population in the U.S. and Canada are vaccinated.

👉  By the thousands, U.S. service members are refusing or putting off the COVID-19 vaccine as frustrated commanders scramble to knock down internet rumors and find the right pitch that will persuade troops to get the shot.  Some Army units are seeing as few as one-third agree to the vaccine.  One potential convincer is an imminent deployment.  Sailors on ships heading out to sea last week, for example, were choosing to take the shot at rates exceeding 80% to 90%.  The Food and Drug Administration has allowed emergency use of the vaccine, so it’s voluntary. “We cannot make it mandatory yet,” Vice Admiral Andrew Lewis, commander of the Navy’s 2nd Fleet, said.  “I can tell you we’re probably going to make it mandatory as soon as we can, just like we do with the flu vaccine.”

👉  It’s too cold to visit Guadalupe Mountains National Park right now, but since we haven’t been to a National Park lately, and will visit virtually anyway, let’s check it out.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park, east of El Paso, Texas, covers 86,367 acres (134.9 sq mi) in the same mountain range as Carlsbad Caverns National Park.  The mountain range includes Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas at 8,749 feet.  

Archaeological evidence shows that people have lived there lived over 10,000 years in and among the many caves and alcoves.  Hunter-gatherers followed large game and collected edible vegetation, as evidenced by the discovery of projectile points, baskets, pottery and rock art (here is a YouTube video of the rock art, and at the end you get a glimpse of the hiking trail).

The first Europeans to arrive in the area were the Spanish in the 16th century, but they did not make serious attempts to settle in the area. The Spanish introduced horses; nomadic tribes like the Apaches soon found them an asset for hunting and migrating.  Or for attacking John Wayne.

Side Bar Your Honor: That scene is from the movie The Searchers, which was named the greatest American Western by the American Film Institute in 2008, and it placed 12th on the organization’s 2007 list of the 100 greatest American movies of all time.  The Searchers has influenced many movies since its release in 1956, including George Lucas’ film Star Wars: A New Hope.  The scene in which Ethan Edwards discovers the flaming wreckage of his family homestead is reflected in 1977’s Star Wars, wherein Luke Skywalker finds that his homestead has been burned and destroyed by Imperial Storm Troopers.

But back to Guadalupe Mountains NP.

Almost a year ago, March 8, 2020 to be exact, KW and CJ, along with their new friends Fred and Ethel, and their faithful companions Tour Guide and Mrs. Tour Guide, visited GMNP.  Here the quartet is posing at a sign giving directions to four hikes.

KW and CJ decided to hike Guadalupe Trail, accompanied by the tour guides.

I will let KW tell the story from his Most Excellent Adventure.  “Tour Guide’s heavy pack twisted to the right, and when it twisted it pulled him down.  

This is a drawing by Tour Guide to illustrate the described scene.

“He was a lot closer than the drawing shows.  He wanted Mrs. Tour Guide to take a picture, but she was intent on pulling him from the edge.  Probably a good idea since the only thing stopping him from rolling down about a 1000 feet or so to the bottom was the bush (which was placed there by God to stopped his descent to the bottom).  The tour guides decided it was way to strenuous and scary to continue to the top.  We had made it 3/4 of the way up.  So it is crossed off the bucket list.”

👉  Before we close, another look at the outdoors, this time with Bob:

👉  Have you ever considered how great an element of paradox there is in our human life? Just when we think we have found a formula to fit the facts of life, something unpredictable turns up. Just when we think we have established the rule, we discover a host of exceptions. You can’t index life. You can’t hope to get the mystery of life tied up into a neat little formula, with no loose ends anywhere.

Needing strength, needing mercy, let us listen to Paul. “For indeed, when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Without were conflicts, within were fears. Nevertheless God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us” (2 Corinthians 7:5-6).

“Without were fightings. Within were fears.” Paul ought, by all the rules, to have cried “I’m beaten,” and given up the struggle. But there was this contradiction of the logic of the natural with the invasion of the supernatural. “Without were fightings, within were fears. Nevertheless God! God comforted me.”

Darkness may cover the earth, and gross darkness covers the people – nevertheless God!  Faith may tremble at the assaults of devastating doubt, and heart and flesh may faint and fail – nevertheless God!

There was a day in Martin Luther’s life when death seemed very near. “The Pope’s little finger,” thundered the Cardinal legate, “is stronger than all Germany. Do you expect your princes to take up arms to defend you? I tell you, No! And where will you be then? Tell me that! Where will you be then?” “Then, as now,” cried Luther, “in the hands of Almighty God!” That is the victory that overcomes the world.

Can we, facing the fightings without and the fears within, rise to it? Reach out of the darkness, and feel the pressure of a more than human hand. Stand up in the might of Christ, and bid defiance to your fears. “Nevertheless God!”

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