You know me, dentist phobia. So I figured I'd give the gums a good week's treatment before I called the dentist. This was really painful Monday and Tuesday. I had a low-grade fever both days and I had to quit using the water flosser because it hurt so much. Even my upper and lower palette swelled up and the salt rinses were painful; they made my sinuses hurt. My glands were swollen, too. Oddly, at no time did I have any type of toothache; I have had sore gums before, but it has always been associated with a toothache. Instead I flossed with regular floss, which was painful enough, and kept up with the salt rinses along with peroxide rinses (I looked at a $12 tooth rinse at the supermarket; the active ingredient was, guess what, peroxide! I figured to save $12 I could stand the bad taste.) Tuesday I was asleep most of the afternoon. Wednesday I felt better and the fever never came back.

Thursday morning, when I resolved I would call the dentist if things hadn't improved, the swelling was down almost everywhere, and brushing and rinsing didn't hurt much anymore, and by Friday everything was fine again. So...beats me. I didn't think peroxide and salt would take down real infection. I did remember my strange reaction to the Zostavax, though, and looked up reactions to tetanus vaccines online. And there were bleeding gums and swollen glands. Hmmmn.

The rest of the week went by smoothly for us, but not so for James' mother. On Monday she had a very mild heart attack, which I guess was linked to the slow heartbeat? We're getting the reports from James' sister, and she can only visit Mom on limited hours, so she doesn't know everything the doctors are doing.

Friday I did my usual quiet three hours between noon and three, reading the Mass readings for Good Friday, then listening to all six BBC Lent Talks for this year. This year's theme was "hope." I finished out the three hours with Madeleine L'Engle's And It Was Good, the first book in her Genesis trilogy in which she covers the creation through the almost-sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham. Said prayers for Mom and hoped things will turn around.

And, finally, today, O finally!...I got my second vaccine! We made a day of it: I-285 was backed up at one in the afternoon, so after I was "shot" and waited the regulation thirty minutes reading Ben Aaronovitch's What Abigail Did That Summer, we drove home overland through (mostly) Holcomb Bridge Road. Had lunch at Zaxby's and stopped at Trader Joe's for chicken sausage and chocolate and other goodies.

Tonight I had a fever of 100.3. Why am I not surprised? They say it means you are building antibodies, so it's a good thing.

[The fever, incidentally, lasted through Sunday and Monday, and then vanished as if it had never arrived.]

Labels: COVID-19, family, holidays, illness

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:34:00 PM

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Wednesday an official milestone was reached: 100,000 people in the United States had died of COVID-19.

And Wednesday we had another trip to Kaiser: James had to pick up the latest prescription for his UTI (now he has a fungal infection) and decided just to reorder a big batch of prescriptions as well. From there we went to Publix. We were actually thinking of going to Barnes & Noble, but instead we came home and I was glad of it, because (guess what) the heat was once again doing a number on my lower GI. We wanted to watch the SpaceX launch anyway: this is their first mission carrying human beings, two astronauts who are traveling to the International Space Station. And the launch is from Pad 39A at Cape Canaveral, where we went to the moon. Mission Control was alive once again. Alas, afternoon Florida weather struck: there was a chance of lightning and a tornado warning. Evidently they did not want a replay of the Apollo 12, where the whole spacecraft was hit by lightning. Twice. They have another launch window on Saturday.

Thursday we had to go back to Kaiser, because while he got all his refills they never gave him the new prescription! Sigh. From there we did a turn around Lidl, then I ran into Kroger for no-salt mushrooms and low-sodium Pringles. We had to hurry home, because James had his first physical therapy appointment for his back that afternoon. While he was out, I decided to tool out to the Office Max on Thornton Road because I thought it was high time I made sure I had a refill for my Sheaffer pen that I use in my journal, and that store was the closest one that had any (there were supposedly three in stock). Well, when I got there, there were none on the rack. Between a very nice salesperson and the manager, they found me the last, lone one, but the package was broken open. They gave it to me for fifty cents.

On the way home I stopped at a Big Lots and found more big rolls of Bounty, plus the oversize bottle of Suave shampoo I was looking for. And Home Depot had triple-taps; I got both a polarized one and two non-polarized ones. After shifting around a few things when I got home, we should have enough spares now.

And Friday we had lunch out with friends! Gathered with Alice, Ken, and Aubrey at O'Charley's, where we got seated in a corner near the bar. The waitress brought your stuff and put it on a tray behind you, and you picked it up yourself, for minimal contact. It worked out well, and my steak, baked potato, and green salad was dandy.

And then we did go to Barnes & Noble, which was both refreshing and disappointing. They have rearranged the entire store, with all the fiction now downstairs. I like the new layout, but I think if possible they may have fewer books in the store! So tired of all the dumb toys and stuffed animals and junk. I don't mind book-related toys so much, like Harry Potter wands and stuffed owls, and the like, because at least they have a connection with books, and learning toys, but building toys and dolls and stuffed animals are just annoying. Since I complained so mightily to them on Facebook, I decided I had to buy something: I found Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America, about the vice-presidents who succeeded to the presidency due to death (assassination or otherwise).

We still got home very early; I watched three episodes of Longmire and then, to lure James away from the computer, found Strategic Air Command on Amazon Prime. It worked, too!

Saturday morning I hurried downstairs to finally vacuum the library and then get the main area done, because we would spend late morning and most of the afternoon watching the SpaceX launch. It went flawlessly, even though there was a better chance of rain today and they went almost down to the wire on a weather scrub. But the clouds cleared and the Falcon rocket rose like a dream and lifted the Dragon spacecraft into orbit. It's so nice to see space coverage again! And I loved seeing the excitement of the younger people, including the two astronauts on the NASA coverage and drawings sent in by boys and girls inspired by exploration.

Alan Siler had also arranged to have a virtual WHOlanta on Facebook. I got to the correct group late, and then was always a little behind, so I only saw a bit of the Doctor Who music discussion and a little more of Sophie Aldred, but did see all of Colin Baker. It was a great idea, but I was too distracted by the SpaceX mission to give it my proper attention.

It was almost an antidote for what was going on downtown. People are protesting, and rightly, too, over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Ahmaud Arbery in south Georgia. The George Floyd death is particular nasty—the police officer had him pinned to the ground by putting a knee on his neck for eight minutes, effectively smothering the poor man while three other officers did nothing to stop him. The video of this is absolutely hideous and painful to watch. Arbery was shot earlier this year because two self-appointed neighborhood vigilantes thought this guy jogging through their neighborhood "might be" a burglar who had struck back in December and chased him down. He turned around and tried to fight them off—of course he did! what would you do if you were jogging and two crazy men suddenly started attacking you?—and they shot him (but haven't been arrested for it until now). But of course in a group of perfectly justified protestors there are always people who spoil it for everyone else: suddenly there are figures running amok setting fire to buildings and police cars, and then looting stores. Most of the stores wrecked and looted were owned by people of color, so who was actually harmed? An African-American police officer was deliberately hit and seriously injured as well, by someone on an ATV. Plus an AT&T store was looted. Because nothing says respect for the death of an innocent man like busting windows and stealing cell phones! Atlanta's mayor was furious and told them to go home and quit disrespecting George Floyd's death.

I am having 1968 flashbacks. I was twelve in 1968. Via the news I saw Dr. Martin Luther King shot. I saw Bobby Kennedy shot. I saw riots at both the Democratic and Republican conventions. I saw police turn fire hoses and tear gas and German Shepherds on Vietnam protesters and Civil Rights marchers. I saw Watts burn. And I thought people would know better and be better when I was an adult. And we're still doing this effing racist shit. As if the color of your skin has anything to do with what kind of person you are! Madness! Revolting! Sickening! This isn't 1820, or even 1920! It's the 21st century and why are we still falling for this fake crap about "superior racial groups"?

Labels: conventions, COVID-19, events, food, friends, health, shopping, space

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:07:00 PM

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Well, crap, summer has struck. On Monday all I did was go to Lidl, then I stopped at both Office Max and Lowes looking for USB plugs (you know, the kind of electrical plug you plug a USB cord in to charge something—flummoxed last week when I was also looking for them because no one seemed to understand what I wanted!) and the guy at Lowes didn't understand either. Thank goodness I found some at Office Max! Anyway, it was hot and disgusting-smelling and then the summer inevitable happened, and I was sick for the rest of the afternoon from the heat. Ended up crawling in the spare room and sleeping for over two hours. We had such a nice spring and now it's in the 80s. Having to wear a face mask exacerbates the effect. I had no problems with it while it was chilly or in the 60s. Now that it's 70s and 80s I don't feel as if I'm getting any air with it clapped on my face like an Alien and sweat collects in the mask.

We had a busy four days off, mostly grocery shopping. Wednesday it was BOGOs at Publix, then we drove out to Trader Joe's and stocked up on James' bedtime tea, their yummy orange chicken [Later: good thing we bought it, too...], chicken sausage, fruit bars for James (Lidl has some that he says are acceptable, but he prefers TJ's), and of course one dark-chocolate covered Biscoff bar as a treat. And I finally found vegetable broth!  Thursday's grocery odyssey it was Kroger, where we were able to get the low-salt items Publix didn't have. Then we took a giant step and ate our first meal in a restaurant since March 21: went to Ken's Grill. Everyone wore masks, tables were cleaned again before we sat down, waitress placed food at the edge of the table—we scrunched over as far as we could on the table so not to breathe on her. Met Jesse Medina coming in to get some takeout, so it was nice to talk to someone else in the group! And...pork chops! I love their pork chops!

For dessert we went to Hobby Lobby and then had Baskin-Robbins cones for the first time in what seemed like forever.

Back to Kaiser on Friday for James to have another test, then he asked me what I wanted for lunch. Well, I had an extra protein at Tin Drum; the Akers Mill location is still closed, so we went to the closest one, on Roswell Road. It was horrible in there: they have redone the place in an industrial decorating pattern with the tall ceiling and the pipes and vents above, and with the cashier next to the chefs cooking, you can barely hear anything, and try bellowing through the stupid mask!

On the way home we stopped at Micro Center. I walked out with nothing because they don't sell Blu-Ray cases any longer. Damn.

Saturday I trimmed the bushes out front while it was still shady and that was about it.

What else? My checkup got cancelled. Again. [Later: There's a reason for that, chaps...]

But I found out Barnes & Noble was re-opening tomorrow. Cool!

Labels: COVID-19, food, health, shopping, sickness

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:54:00 PM

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I've read a couple of articles now about how, since stay-at-home orders and allowing those to telework who could has been in force, the environment has improved in one month. Yes, we're using more plastic bags because most of the grocery stores won't bag your stuff if you use your own bags, and of course there's tremendous medical waste, but CO² emissions are way down (the graphic showing the NYC/Boston corridor is amazing). In some places like Los Angeles and Bejing and London there is actually clear sky again. There are fish swimming in the Thames River, and coyotes wandering through San Francisco.

Being in the suburbs we have the usual complement of wildlife: some rabbits, chipmunks, the occasional possum and raccoons, the less occasional coyote or fox, and lots of squirrels. This morning Tucker and I took one of our longer walks—amazingly, at one point he was the one wanting to go farther!—and I noticed how many more squirrels I was seeing this year. And I think I know the reason: fewer people driving to work. During the spring the young squirrels are often seen as squished bodies at the side of the road, having misjudged their sprint on an early morning or late afternoon dash across the asphalt. This year I've seen almost no squirrel bodies, but lots of live squirrels.

One of the things I've learned during all these shortages is that you really can get by on less. Back when I was nervous about getting another big package of toilet paper—back when you weren't seeing any in the store, and a poor friend of mine in a major metro area was so worried about a dwindling supply that friends sent packages because this person is ill and housebound and the grocery delivery services never sent paper towels and toilet tissue—I was parceling out the squares carefully. I'm still keeping an eye on how much I use and admonish myself to use only what I need, not a leisurely swath of squares. I've also found that judicious use of the Swiffer wet sweeper cloths means I can mop the kitchen floor just as clean with two as with three, and that I can use fewer Lysol disinfecting wipes cleaning the bathroom and get it just as sanitary.

Plus I realized with amazement that we are still working with the same package of one half-dozen XL Brawny paper towels we bought at Publix back on March 13 merely due to more judicious use of them. I washed my hands a lot even before COVID-19 and would always manage to spatter water on the bathroom counters, and I would think nothing of taking one sheet of paper towel (we get the Pick-a-Size, so it's a small sheet), wiping the sink, then throwing it away. Now, unless the spatter on the counters is dirty (like the other day when I washed the covers of the two books I bought on e-Bay), I will just leave one or two of the small pick-a-size sheets on the bathroom sink counter and wipe up with them over and over until the square starts to disintegrate, which takes about five days to a week. So...using fewer rolls of paper towels—and of course the ultimate thing to do would be to replace these squares with microfiber cloths and just toss them in the washer once a week.

Maybe after this is over we'll remember all the little conservation tricks we learned and buy less and toss fewer things into the trash and thus the landfills.

And hopefully supervisors will do their jobs and check the metrics on their teleworking workers and realize they can trust most of them to telework more and still get their jobs done. Face it, some people aren't "made" to telework; they need supervision or they goof off or they need constant guidance. Some find it hard to get into the discipline, but finally "get it" and do their work. And there are others for whom it just "works." I always thought I did more work while teleworking because there was no one walking by who just wanted to talk, no delays because the printer didn't work (about half the time) and no delays for the long distance walked to the printer, no delays because of environmental issues (like it was just so damn hot in the place you had to keep running to the bathroom to splash cold water on yourself). At home I just reached to my right to grab my printouts instead of walking 75 steps to the printer and 75 back. The bathroom at home was 10 steps away rather than more than 100 (and the refrigerator water dispenser was also 10 steps away, rather than 100+ for the bubbler). For James the rest room and the water fountain are even farther away, so when teleworking he's back at his desk in a trice and always available for a call.

So maybe when we can go out again, and quit wasting plastic bags and protective gear again, maybe we'll remember the lessons of using less and teleworking more. Maybe in the future coyotes will still be spied in San Francisco and more squirrels will chatter in our yards, and the skies will be blue over LA and London and Beijing because people learned by staying home they could get by with so much less.

Labels: COVID-19, nature, shopping, work

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 1:16:00 PM

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