The hawk was back once again for the 7th straight day.

***********************************************
It's the weekend. Two of the neighbors also had more parties today. One was a group of teens & young adults. However, no live band & DJ like last week. Just canned music & loud voices. The other was a pool party of extended family; or at least, I assume the dozen attendees were extended family. I'd never seen any of them before; so I really don't know. Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought that get-togethers & parties like this are what is helping the spread of COVID. At least, that is what the KC Health Department has said... There were also social protests happening in different part of the Metro with large groups of people in close proximity.

Meanwhile COVID cases are once again at a new single day high in our state. The same is also true in our county. Plus specifically in our zip code. I guess that I don't understand what is going on anymore. Local behavior - beyond our Stay-at-Home isolation - seems to be like COVID didn't exist. People now ignore the swell of confirmed coronavirus cases, the rising hospitalizations, and the deaths. They just do whatever they want to do.

Today marks the 16 Million Covid case Milestone Worldwide; with over 1/4 of those confirmed cases in the USA. The disease is burning through the world and specifically through our country.

**********************************************

Beyond Covid concerns, I really miss having my dogs now with me when I go outside. Unfortunately we know of no way to protect them from the hawk; not beyond keeping them indoors as much as possible. When the furkids absolutely must go out to go potty, we stand nervous guard over them. And then rush them back inside.

Before the hawk showed up, I felt kind of bad about depriving the girls of their daily stroller walks because of COVID. Our normally quiet neighborhood had suddenly became high traffic with walkers (from beyond the neighborhood) who thought nothing about stopping to talk to anyone else also out & about. Very weird and not super safe since masks & social distancing is not being observed.

Still, the dogs were very happy just to play on the deck. They weren't housebound. They had freedom. However now with the hawk, even that freedom has been taken away, too. They are now really housebound. I can see that this already is effecting their emotional attitudes. But we have no other choice. One more stress for us on top of COVID Fatigue.