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Ann McFeatters: It’s time for year-round education in the US

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Luzerne County Council meeting cancelled because push for fewer coronavirus restrictions granted

PLAINS TWP. &mdash; Working from home during these self-isolation pandemic days can find oneself searching for a friend, a pal, a confidant.
				All I got here is Mr. Bill, his dog OhNo and a thing filled with three colors of gel that will travel from one end to another when you flip it.
				I don&rsquo;t know what that thing is called, but I fund myself flipping it several times a day. I&rsquo;m not sure what therapeutic value it provides, but sometimes watching the transfer from one side to the other can be somewhat entertaining.
				Mr. Bill, on the other hand, only offers one comment every time you squeeze him: &ldquo;Oh noooooo!&rdquo;
				And the dog, appropriately named OhNo, says nothing at all.
				Yet these three inanimate objects are, as I said, all I got here to keep me company. They kind of just sit there and stare at me until I press one of them into some sort of action. Their responses are much better than the constant hum of the refrigerator, or the frequent noise of passing vehicles outside my window.
				Yes, the TV is there, but there is little time to watch anything. I am, after all, busily working to provide news stories and this remarkable, enthralling column every day.
				And I do know, by sitting here and facing the window, when every delivery truck goes by and where they stop. I have discovered that several of my neighbors get several deliveries nearly every day from Amazon, Prime, UPS and FedEx. What could they be ordering?
				And I also know exactly what time the U.S. Postal Service letter carrier delivers my mail. Not that I&rsquo;m looking forward to the bills that he usually brings, but yesterday, for example, was a good day for mail.
				Yep, my stimulus check arrived &mdash; finally.
				So now when people ask me what am I going to spend it on, I respond, &ldquo;Where can I go to spend it?&rsquo;
				I saw a report on one of the national news channels the other day about restaurants opening up in a city. One owner went all out to protest his customers and staff. He placed tables in Plexiglas cubicles. So when you call for a reservation, you must request, &ldquo;A bubble for two please.&rdquo;
				Is that what the new normal they are talking about will mean?
				I&rsquo;d rather order takeout and come home and eat it on my table, with Mr. Bill, OhNo and that thing nearby.
				And again I must mention that three years later, I still miss my Lily, my cat of 19-and-a-half years who crossed the Rainbow Bridge.
				If Lily were here, she would certainly be good company.
				And no, I am not getting another cat.
				I miss baseball so much that last night I watched the Red Sox come back to defeat my Yankees in the 2004 ALCS after the Yanks were up 3 games to 0. Boston won 4 straight to go to the World Series.
				That memory is almost as bad as the 1960 World Series when Bill Mazeroski hit a homer in the bottom of the ninth to give the pirates the title over the Yanks.
				If Mr. Bill was around then, or if he was was watching the Yanks 2004 collapse last night with me, I&rsquo;m sure he would have let out a lengthy &ldquo;Oh noooooooooooo!&rdquo;
				I know I sure did.

Coping with Corona: Self-isolation is as good as the company you keep