A surprise....

This fritillary on the pineapple sage blooms today.  It has been really cold here so I was definitely not expecting to see a butterfly.

Yard work today (which is why I spotted this!)...leaf raking, cutting back some dying things,  and covering them up hoping they will come back out next spring.  The leaves are all pile around the briar patch in the side yard.  The birds have been going in and out of it so now they have a little more protection from the cold and wind.  However, it is warm here for the rest of the week and weekend.     The gazanias are still blooming and the camellias look like they might have blooms by Christmas.

I did some research today just to see what I could find out about daily deaths in the US for past years.  The average death rate for 2018 per day was 7708 people.   The deaths were caused by all the "normal" reasons...heart disease, strokes, cancer, lung problems, accidents, kidney problems, murder and other reasons.   When we hear about Covid deaths now..maybe 3000 a day.. it makes me wonder how many of these deaths would have happened anyway.   It makes me wonder if there are 7000 people dying every day (or whatever the current average is)  and 3000 people dying of Covid also.  I don't think we are given a true and real count of what is actually happening.   Just my opinion.  

 We never know when death will happen.  Don't lose precious time worrying about what ifs.    Live your best life.   Masked or not.