What Are You Doing While Riding Out This Period Of Social Isolation?

Been working on some inside home improvement projects inside. Was sunn and still and 55 here today so decided to do some yard work . Got about 2 hours of weeding and prepping the flower and veggie beds for planting . But had to stop , grab a beer and watch these little guys for the next 2 hours that came out to hunt for bugs. I find them fascinating and calming to watch . I’ve even hand fed some of them worms from the garden. These guys are awesome and eat a crap ton load of bugs ??5BDA03C8-10EC-4385-89B5-F5AC8EEB8CB8.jpeg2BD44FE7-9071-4F2E-8E8E-6DC035520CC3.jpegFE99E1C8-A9CF-430D-A662-A966D79089FD.jpegC2B10CC4-47FC-4645-A058-C42A6732BDE7.jpegC609F17F-D421-44F3-B75B-6067C7FA438E.jpeg1F929280-C39F-4B4F-9E42-5787346E3E8D.jpeg88D6C1F7-A494-4929-9B98-65CC90D8140D.jpeg
Love how the one was side eyeing me ?
 
Been working on some inside home improvement projects inside. Was sunn and still and 55 here today so decided to do some yard work . Got about 2 hours of weeding and prepping the flower and veggie beds for planting . But had to stop , grab a beer and watch these little guys for the next 2 hours that came out to hunt for bugs. I find them fascinating and calming to watch . I’ve even hand fed some of them worms from the garden. These guys are awesome and eat a crap ton load of bugs ??View attachment 91407View attachment 91408View attachment 91409View attachment 91410View attachment 91411View attachment 91412View attachment 91413
Love how the one was side eyeing me ?

We have blue skinks here. They are everywhere. They aren't friendly though, they run off real fast. What kind of lizards are they?
 
We have blue skinks here. They are everywhere. They aren't friendly though, they run off real fast. What kind of lizards are they?

They are Italian Wall lizards. Not native to Long Island NY. Two stories about how they came to be here.You can google it . Started in one neighborhood in the 70’s I think , and didn’t really spread from there . Local university that had a thriving population was studying them . Were in a dozen or so neighborhoods across Nassau county Long Island by about 15 years ago . Showed up in my neighborhood and on my property about 10 years ago and I couldn’t be more thrilled . Now pretty much everywhere on the island. They’ve somehow acclimatedHibernatrd to the colder winters here which can be below zero to 20’s and 30’s, with 25-35 or so the norm .

Google Italian wall lizards on Long Island. Pretty cool story and read .

Found one of many articles ......

 
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Puling up roots finally in my 16 x 30 garden for the last week so I could till it today and lay black landscape fabric.

I built it in 2017 but haven't used it and it became a little forest in there..

Hard work, but satisfying. I'm wiped out at night.

Tomorrow were planting stuff outside that we started inside, it's pretty mild here. Fingers crossed.

I'm just doing yardwork and spring cleaning mainly. Fixing stuff, that sort of thing.

I could use some chickens now, it's hard to get eggs and I have to have eggs.
 
Pretty much a lockdown over here in the UK. There aren't enough Police to enforce anything, so provided you're not taking the piss - it's ok. Some shops are open (essential. Supermarkets, Corner Shops, Pet Food, Hardware and... Bike Shops) but pretty much everything else is closed. Public events are a definite no-no and meetings of more than two people outside of immediate family are banned (and can be dispersed). It's times like this that i) I'm glad that I don't live alone any more and ii) I have a garden, even if it is only small.

The government weren't doing anything. Then we had a sunny weekend a couple of weeks ago and the beaches were packed, tourist towns were busy (even though many shops had voluntarily closed and pubs/restaurants had been ordered to close) despite the advice, so straight away on the Monday - lockdown.

My car was due its MOT (annual safety check, quite rigorous) but the government decided that all MOT certificates for cars due them after the 30th of March would be extended by six months. My car was due on the 2nd of April.

It's odd things here and there - but essentially stay indoors, go outside once a day to exercise and only go out when necessary. Caring for loved ones is fine, going to work if the job can't be done from home is also fine. The government have promised to pay 80% of the salary of workers for businesses that have essentially temporarily ceased trading or have had a significant drop-off in trade (called 'furloughing') but those employees must not work and the companies can choose to top up the rest of the salary if they wish.

It's been relatively straightforward here as both of us work in jobs that can be done from home and are doing so on full pay. A lot of people have been nowhere near as lucky, sadly.

It's been like this in Ohio since Mar 22nd ish...People pretty much seem to be following it except teen agers and the upper middle class "suburbanites" who normally ignore rules because it doesn't apply to them :sneaky:
 
Sanded down my work bench, @80 and 120. Now waiting for the first coat of poly to dry. Two more coats.
 
I'm prepping to cook a hot dog.

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Sanded down my work bench, @80 and 120. Now waiting for the first coat of poly to dry. Two more coats.
And here I figured you were working on your next avatar.
 
I wish I remembered more-we use to make our own immunoassays all the time precipitation and radioimmunoassays early on, competitive and non-competitive and then all the colormetric or enzymatic you see now in kits. The enzymatic are only linear depending on enzyme kinetics so it can be thorny snf need lots of controls or if you let to incubate to long useless. When I was working with blood there are a million antibodies to various blood element markers. We used fluorescent antibodies so you label the cells then sort cells with a flow cytotmeter and isolate a pure population of specific blood cells or we used iron laden antibody and magnetics to pull cells covered with antibody to beads then wash and purify. Cool stuff. Man if you don't use it you lose it. Once I start thinking about it starts coming back some though. I really liked physics in my BS degree (It and Chemistry) and I like it because it has rules, biology is full of exceptions to rules. I guess the quantum world rules are foreign. Physics rules biology and physiology-you can't get away from it. Neurobiology is electrical engineering in many ways-it's electrochemical gradients but same stuff applies. Physics makes biology makes sense really. Engineers and physicist make great biologist-I know a few in fact-they changed to renal biology and neurobiology. I always wanted to take a geology course and I didn't take parasitology (though became friends with the professor) because I'm such a hypochondriac I'd freak and never eat anything again. He came by one day with those amoeba that eats peoples brains and we added some to some chick neuronal cultures I had for my project. We watched them gobble up the neurons-started at axon tip and gobble up to cell body. It was freaky. He was a cool dude I think I mentioned him. He was an old alcoholic and he all these books of naked females students he'd photographed for decades-in basement in his studio (his wife knew about it apparently). Actually I may sound like a prude but I didn't like it TBH. Way to many academics looked at females as some perk-it was ridiculous so common place.
"Chick neuronal cultures"? Not 'babe' brain cells, I'm hoping?
 
DIY goodies . Front door painted. Yearly chore. Front porch area is next. Then a few Bagel slicers in the shop.
Simple chore, just getting saws setup for more than one production .
Ever noticed the fantastic finish on the UK Prime Minister's front door at No.10 Downing st.?
There are two doors, one refinished (spray painted, buffed) and stored then switched for the other when it gets weathered.
 
Been working on some inside home improvement projects inside. Was sunn and still and 55 here today so decided to do some yard work . Got about 2 hours of weeding and prepping the flower and veggie beds for planting . But had to stop , grab a beer and watch these little guys for the next 2 hours that came out to hunt for bugs. I find them fascinating and calming to watch . I’ve even hand fed some of them worms from the garden. These guys are awesome and eat a crap ton load of bugs ??View attachment 91407View attachment 91408View attachment 91409View attachment 91410View attachment 91411View attachment 91412View attachment 91413
Love how the one was side eyeing me ?
Beautiful things reptiles. Amazed they survive your harsh winters.
 
That antibody thing I wrote is confusing-read the Science article. The antibodies to antibodies-so I mean they can make specific antibodies (from another species) on a substrate to test for a viral antigen in blood or adhere the synthesized or isolated viral antigens on a substrate and test for antibodies you make in your blood. Sorry that made no sense-I had a brain hemorrhoid. But yes viruses are fascinating the genes the regulate pluripotency in animals are also ones associated with viral oncogenes that cause cancers. They also have insidious ways to enter cells and their function in keep bacteria a bay and in ecosystems is just being discovered. There are probably way more viruses that will be discovered to be beneficial than bad is my conjecture or at least hope.
If there's ever a final solution to cancer it will probably use a virus to target the malignant cells, no?
 
Aha! I live on a long peninsula in the Atlantic: Cornwall, England. Level with Newfoundland Canada - but frost is very uncommon.

I didn’t understand how relatively mild most of the UK is until the last few years. I just always assumed all of Europe was much colder than most of the US, because it’s so far north. Lol
 
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