Mild Armageddon

I remember when I was a kid, and used to go to Church, hence, read things like The Book of Revelations, and had discussions with friends about it. We were young, and stupid. If I still believed in that kind of thing, I would have to cast myself now as old and stupid. But belief has faded, and I have moved on.

Back in those days, though, friends and I used to talk about what it would be like to live through the events described in the Bible. We were flooish enough to think in the first place that it might be kind of fun or amazing, and in the second, that we might actually be among the survivors.

No, here I am approaching fifty, and seeing the world in a mild form of Armageddon, and that the biggenst problem isn’t the Armogeddon itself, but the people in it. I am more worried that danger comes to us in the form of someone carrying a virus and a huge ego than anything else.

Things have settled in for the moment. If we get sick, we get sick. Hopefully it will be mild for us if we do. But that can only be taken a day, a moment at a time.

Beruit blew up the other day. They were dealing with Covid, too. They have experienced Armageddon in magnitudes so mugh higher than we. It looks like the crater is roughly the square footage of two football fields. Three hundred thousand people were made instantly homeless. My heart is completely broken for those people and what they are going through now. The facts of the investigation that will follow will prove no doubt that the cause of this catastrophe comes down to corruption, and when it is all finally spoken out loud, I will not be surprised to see civil war there. I have yet to hear of any response from American leadership on the matter, and that disgusts me. We could have started a ground war there in a matter of a day or so, with the logistics and military capability we have. We could have won a diplomatic coup with that kind of effort put into aid sent to Lebanon. But, nothing.

Bible thumpers may say we are seeing Armageddon. They may say we are seeing the end times of the world. An hundred years from now, they will still be waiting. That’s just the way of things. In the mean time, will people learn to wear masks, to wash their hands, to not touch their faces, that history repeats itself, and that corruption and deregulation leads to great danger? Will they come to realize that national leaders and corporations have not their interests in mind, but their money.

We hang out on our little farm, leaving as little as possible these days. For me, someone who is interested in a deeper understanding of how people lived an hundred years and more ago, this is a bit of an opportunity to experience something a little more like it. It’s not Armageddon. It is a deeper understanding of our place in history by living in it. We are witnesses to history. But in this moment, our fingerprints are all over it.

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Hot Summer Day. Too Hot

We cut the grass today and got pretty well caught up with that. It is a lot to take care of; more than an acre. Getting it done before the temperatures go up is pretty critical, too. We did. Then Missus got started on washing llama fiber, and I got busy setting up a way to stand market umbrellas up to cast shade on our patio area. For that, I put in a post, digging a couple feet through rock and compressed soil. I was thinking it would go better if I had some shade to work in. It arrived, just after I finished.

I helped with the llama fiber after by making some drying racks to set on the laundry lines. It was pretty simple, but required a lot of wire cutting and bending. Because of the size of the wire racks, made from old fencing, I mosty worked in the sun, so that was… fun? No. But it got done, and the results seemed to work for now. We could do with rebuilding them from hardware cloth or something, but this will do for now.

We reached up to a high of 98F today. That would mean spending the afternoon in the airconditioned house, if we had one. I mean, we have a house. But the house does not have air conditioning. The sun has set, the air outside is down to the 70’s, and it is still 89F upstairs inside right now, with a fan blowing the hot air out. The fan is one of them four foot in diameter jobbies, too. So it is doing a righteous effort at it.

Tomorrow is meant to be a little cooler, though still in the mid 90’s. The fiber picker is set to arrive, too. We will be able to see how that works, and if it does the job Missus is expecting of it. Hopefully it will. If so, we are putting a load of fiber away till she gets her little shop up and running and we get it sold. We are also working out the methods to get the best result of fiber from animal to customer.

I only slept five hours last night, so I am looking forward to a good night’s sleep tonight. The time for it is almost arrived!

Best get ready.

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Remember?

http://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-florida-man-bought-lamborghini-after-claiming-nearly-4m-in-covid-19-relief-loans-12037953

Remember Ronald Regan’s Welfare Queen?

Meanwhile, the Repubican Party wants to reduce unemployment payments so poor people won’t make more from that than they do while working. Bear in mind that $600 a week is double full time work at minimum wage. And that has got to be subsidised by the government for people to survive on it. Something smells rotten in Denmark, and D.C..

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The coming week promises via the weather app a few really warm ones. We are meant to hit the 90’s right in the middle! Then it is meant to get a little cooler at the end of the ten day forecast, which is pretty much useless because it is so far out that it gets difficult to model with the computers.

I had forgotten what it was I thought of earlier in the year as a great birthday idea for Missus, but it was easy to find her something nice and useful to her. I set her up with two complete wire working jigs and extra little knobby things for shaping in them.

It came back to me what she needed on Sunday. So I took right to it, and ordered her a wool picker to use on the llama fiber. Bing-badda-boom! That shipped yesterday, so should be here soon. I got it off Etsy, so it is a homemade jobby. But if it does what we need, and the guy who did it worked out the troubles I had with the concept of it, then it ought to be great. If it can handle the amount of fiber we need to work, it ought to be great.

I have some photographic gear coming tomorrow. Nothing big, just a beauty dish I would like to experiement with, and the power cords to replace the British ones that came with the lights I had picked up while living in the UK. There is also another rubber eye rest for the camera. Anyway, I am looking forward to their getting here, and being able to work with the lights again for the first time in ten years.

My biggest next step is meant to be paying off PayPal and sorting out student loan payments again, and then saving some money aside to finally get a tractor for this old farm so we can get serious about working it, or at least keeping it in shape. I once read a fellow who said that anyone who is serious about farming has got to have a tractor. To all you homesteaders out there, or future ones, plan on it. Count on it. Bank on it. We have acerage we have done nothing with but use as pasture for our livestock. Even that has been bad as the grass there needs to be redone from the roots up. As we are now, we have got no chance. And I don’t even mention any other kind of vegetation growing, nor things like snow removal, a huge deal, or firewood handling and compost scooping, or digging jobs or anything like that. I have gardens that could use a larger tiller, and driveways that want a better road bed. And guess who is in a panic if any large animal dies? Yup… The guy who has got to go out and get it loaded on a trailer and hauled off to the dump.

I am sore today. Used to be that every morning that I would wake up in so much pain that I way lay there a spell and think the thoughts aging people think, like, “surely it’s cancer. That’s how I am going to die, isn’t it? I am going in misery, and this is just the beginning.” Now days cancer has gotten replaced by Coronavirus. At least there is variety in life!

As I was saying, I am sore today. I took the day easy yesterday, and sort of celebrated how clean the house is by trying out feeling like there is nothing prodding at me to be done. There is. There is a lot, and I need to get to it. Ihave shop swaps to do, and some work to finish in the craftroom and both bathrooms. I have a seat that needs building in front of the window in the library, and some seats that need to be built out on the front porch. There is painting to do, and electrical installations. I have things to do.

So what will be on today’s list? Let’s see what I can get up to!

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Clean House!

This weekend we finished a big portion of our house cleaning and sorting, and can finally say that what’s here is ours, and not leftovers from someone else, and junk that nobody seems to want; leftovers from mt grandmother, and leftovers from when we first moved to the US, and lived on a very low income, and had to buy everythign from thrift stores because there was so little room for anything new.

I did a sort out of our storage, and put into use severl of those plastic tote boxes we decided to use to get organized, and that made a huge difference, and mouse proffed the things we keep in the outbuilding. Missus took a bold step in deciding to spend a lot of money on those totes!

Our living room, dining room, and my den are all cleaned up and the stuff from them is nearly all sorted out. We have a little to clean up in two bedrooms and the sitting room upstairs, still, but those are none too bad. I have a few projects to finish over the next week or two, which can be done before payday. Then I’ll probably be able to look at some things that need doing that require a bit of money to complete them. I’d like ot get the area around the woodstove refinished and looking a lot better than it is now. I won’t post photos of the area on the blog till it is done. That means that as far as instrucitonal blogging and the sort, I have been at a stand still based on a certain sense of pride and decency.

Right now a couple of the rooms just need flooring done to be complete, or done enough to call good. There are projects, like building the reading nook in the library in a spot that was previously made for a firewood bunk. That will only require a set of shelves and a light in it, then some cushions on the bottom, and it is done.

Well, anyway, the point is that I am excited about where we are at at the start of this week.

The next big steps will be to finish the shop moves, and get us into our outbuildings, selling shop for her, and a workshop with more space in it for me. I am also excited because the building I get for my workshop has a much older feel to it than the one I am in now with vinyl siding, and such. I get an all wood building that will suit well to the kind of woodworking I want to get more into.

I am thinking on how to install a model railroad into the den, so that it does not take up a huge amount of space or money, and can be easily set up with a cover to keep dust from it. I have that train I bought last year that models the one my mom and I rode in the summer of 1980 or so, when I was nine, and things like this were the best things in the whole world to me. Right now I am thinking two u-turns with a straight run between representing the stations at Salt Lake and Denver, with the mountains between long the wall. I want it high enough small kids and pets won’t be able to reach up, covered with plexiglass against the dust, and as out of the way as possible to allow the room to still function. That puts it about four and a half feet up the wall.

The time preiod of the train should probably be 1980 for the sake of when I got to ride it. It would look really cool in the 1950’s too. That was a real transition time in this country from agricultural and industrial to technological. It stands on the cusps of ag and tech, and right in the middle of industrial. The 1980 period would end up covered in more grafitti, as I remember it. I can’t scribble in N-scale!

Our eldest came by this weekend to help out with getting firewood, which was awesome. It was a good time to be able to hang out and talk, and to get thigns done. He also helped out with such things as moving stuff from the house to storage. So, with his help, it was a lot easier to get things cleaned up once and for all. Now to keep it that wiay till the run up to the Holidays!

The summer season is hot on us right now. Temperatures are topping out in the low 90’s, usually. That means the house is hot, and the kids are wanting to play in the pool or in the water sprinklers. I want to have a minute to take a break now, and reasses the way forward from here. I will be letting the girls out to the pool in an hour and a half or so. Meanwhile, writing is an excerise in thought, and a chance to catch my breath and see where I am at and where I am heading.

I feel fortunate that at this point I am in a house that I really know well, and I know how to do many of the things I want that have always been on my list of things I have always wanted in a house. One example is putting power outlets in place that will run on a switch, and allow me to plug in holiday lights easily, and where I can turn on the whole display in one go. There are other, more critical thhing to do, true, but we are also talking about reaching for pie in the sky here. Who does not want to live where they are reaching for that?

We have got all LED lights for this year’s holiday displays, so it will be cheaper to run, but also require less to install the electrical support system as I just suggested I want to do.

Coronavirus has stalled our ability to go to town to get some of the things we need. It has also kept us at home, giving us less reason to procrastinate the things we need to do. I have been thinking like we really travelled back in time to the early 1900’s, when it was more difficult to get far from home, and when things were harder to get ahold of. We have Amazon now days to support us, and we can get the shopping ordered and picked up withhout exposing ourselves to a lot of people; reducing our social exposure. I can’t imagine how that is anything but living like it is 1900. Sure, the part about the car and the shopping being loaded in for us is different. But I do like it, and like the extra time I get to spend with my kids without the whole trauma of taking them into a store and having them wanting things we cannot budget. It’s been a big change.

I feel fortunate to be in rural Idaho at this particular time in life, and during this event. It does nto make us safe, but we have greater control over our efforts to be safe. I ready almost daily about the thousands that have died, and the hundreds more that do each day. It breaks my heart. Other countries have been able to reduce deaths and the spread of this virus. There seems to be a sort of person here who refuses to take the responsibilities that are required of those who wish to have the rights granted them. There are those who forget that their rights are granted them to free them from government tyranny, not from social responsibility. Well, be it what it may. I have the right to stay home, and I take it as much as I can. We are getting on pretty well, at the moment, and aware that even though we do, we are still highly likely to get this virus and end up sick and dying like others are. All we can do is do our best to reduce risk, and take it a day at a time.

I don’t know what else I should address right now. There are other things I wish to discuss, yet there are things I don’t wish to discuss publicly. I think it best to keep from airing laundry I don’t want everyone to see. But for my sake, I will say there are some dirty clothes that fit a couple of people I know I hardly know. But between them I have the right to say what needs to be said.

So, that’s a bit of where I am at right now. I better go eat some lunch and be ready to get the girls out into their pool today. The farmer’s irrigation ought to hit us tonight, and dirty up the pool again after I clean it today. That ought to keep me free to do other tings tomorrow as I will not be cleaning it out for them again then.

I want to try to write more here. I always do. Who knows. Mabe I will be up to it more, now. Let’s see.

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I Am Reminded

I am oft reminded that I am not musical. I remember it well when I am with others, and won’t dare to ruin any composition with my voice or instrumentation. But even alone, I cannot muster a sound or two that does not fit the definition of caucophany to the point of pushing the extremems of its meaning. I am not musical.

I recently watched a video where Christopher Hitchens said that he was not musical, and was also not a novelist. He said that he had observed that the people who are novelists, tended to be musical as well. Thus, he defined himself, a prolific writer, as an essayist.

I think I fit this, and fit it well. I cannot muster the imagination and the ability to sustain it to create characters and then follow them through a plotline. THis is purely anecdotal, of course, but it seems to fit.

It is nothing to me to get up in the morning and to clear my mind on a keyboard, filling a screen with whatever comes to mind, or whatever was on my mind before getting out of bed and pretending I am concious.

This morning, I could not put more than a thought or two in order before getting up. I know it is meant to be a hot one today, and if I am going to get anything done, it is going to have to be tackeled in the morning hours, before the sun has stolen the workable daylight hours and cast them into a dismal furnace. Still, writing comes easy.

“What do I write about?”

That’s easy. Write whatever is in mind. There is something in mind, isn’t there? Write it. Even if there is no particular order. That is what editing software is for. The imparative is to get something from the brain to the fingers to the screen. Do it, if for nothing else, but to practice the art. It may not be good. It may never be great. But it is better to make it happen to make nothing at all.

A school child can say there is nothing to write about. There is always something to write about. Write about the knot in your shoelaces. Tell about the lace, the way you have inserted the laces into the shoes, why they are that way, where you learned it, and any other creative ways you have tried, and why. Tell about who taught you to tie the laces. Tell about why you do, or do not put a knot in your bows. Do you fold the bow and turn the second lace around it, or do you make the bow and tie them together? Do you like the way they lay when you do? Do you even tie your shoes at all, or do you wear only slip ons, or just slip on a laced shoe? Are boots your thing? Why? Are the comfortable, or necessary, or both? Does walking make you happy? Does it make you suffer? There is so much to say, and no two people would write the same essay.

If anything is difficult, it is taking a complex subject and breaking it down into an ordered essay, pleasant to read, concise, informative, and something that adds value to the reader. Without citing Arab proverbs about elephants, the point is much the same, to take it a bit at a time, outline the thing, and get to the chore of writing it. It is likely best to section it off, and write each topic in the ouline. Of course, what do I know about it, as this is also a difficult task for me to do. So, I’ll tell you what! I’ll make a project, and see what I can do and then present it later. Let’s see if I can string together many thoughts without boring myself to death. I’ll even try to pick a heavy topic, so as not to cop out with some lightweight task that any school child could do. Please don’t expect it till next year, though, in case it does turn into a project of some magnitude.

Right, Missus just put in her breakfast request, and said she is starving, and I cannot let that happen.

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Life Keeps Moving On

Life moves on. People get older. I get older. I am past the age when I celebrate myelf getting older. But the young… They are lucky that still think the passing of a year a momentous occasion.

As the days count on, the virus continues to spread almost completely out of control in my country. As of today, the President’s office will be in charge of keeping the count, rather than the CDC. For weeks, the President has been complaining that when people are tested, new cases are revealed. With the election coming up in four months, nothing about this looks corrupt at all. I am sure that by November, the numbers tht the President’s office will report will reveal that it is safe for schools to be open, and for the populace to go to the polls to vote, rather than voting by mail, where he is less likely to win. Surely there are no bodies rolled up in the carpet in the trunk of the President’s car.

We are keeping busy at home, hoping for a working vaccine to arrive before we return to a life that involves much time with the public. It is all about making the house better, and building up the things we have always wanted for our little micro farm, as well as reevaluating what we want to carry on in our own foodchain. New hobbies will likely take off by next year if we can finish what we are working on now.

One new hobby will involve something like spoon-carving. I want to start milling the trees I get hold of. To that end, I am considering getting a hobby size mill, and running wood through it before giving everything up to firewood. Being able to mill myself will allow me more freedom with dimensions, too. I would be able to mill pieces two or three inches thick, or much more, at will. That could put an end to shopping for wood at the box store. That means that with a bandsaw, and a few hand planes, anything I would ever need would be in my reach, so long as I can still get the trees.

If I am to ever bother with a mill and even a bandsaw, then a lathe is another mighty good option. Boy, what I could do with lottery winnings! In lieu of that sound financial plan, the trick here is the shorted route to some profits. What could I sell? Milling services? Spoons, spindles, or small pieces of wood others can work with? Options are good! Which option would be best to keep a certain, safe distance from the public, allowing online sales? Obviously I am kind of thinking out loud here. Reclaimed wood could opt in here, too. Random.

Time to get back to a more specified subject matter here.

I cleaned out our storeage building the day before yesterday, and got it organized and ready to take a lot more storeage. That will result in a cleaner shop building, and a cleaner workshop. I need to ready those buildings for electrical installation. I cannot put that off all summer. That’s a whole project that will go tons better when the buildings are clean and ready. Once the main panels are in, and the buildings are clean, then I can look at how the final wiring can go in each. So, it’s planned out. Planned right to completion, that.

I had such high hopes for the gardens this year. I really looked forward to getting a good harvest, and putting it up. I tilled and planted and watered, and got great germination in weeds, but little to show for the seeds I put down. Is it me? Is it my soil? Is it the seeds? I have some detctive work to do. The corn is coming along fair. The north garden is useless, and just weeds. I am like to let pig out and wander along it and have all she wants to eat of those weeds. There appears to be nothing worth saving in there. The south garden could do with some severe attention to the weeds, to see if there is anything worth a damn in there. But even if so, I had to hurry to plant it because I thought my planting day was going to be foiled by the neighbor’s irrigation line, so we put in a hell of a lot of onions. What we see now, is a hell of a lot of weeds.

So, today wants me to clean up a couple of outbuildings and clear out a lot of weeds. This conflict is one of my problems. I think it best to clean out the buildings, and get them towards being done once and for all, so next year can move on without distraction. I need to order a new recoil starter for the cultivator, anyhow. That would make the weeding a lot easier. I guess that is today’s list of to-do’s. The logspliiter it down too. The recoil starter is broke on it as well, and probably fixable. But the fuel keeps getting fouled by water because the top of tht engine is complete shit, and lets water into the fuel, and the carburator. It could do with a better engine assembly on it. Electric start, if it is changable?

The kids are also going to be wanting some time in the paddling pool. No chance I can blame them for that! The high is expected to be 94. Too hot for work!

So, that’s a little update on what is going on here. I am still away from Facebook, and happier for it. And that is an update of what is not going on here. Time to get this day a moving!

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The Stars In Our Eyes

Where we live we are lucky have a fairly dark sky and a balcony facing south. Stepping out the door and onto the balcony can sometimes be like stepping off into the void of space itself. Tonight I was so lucky to have caught my two daughters still awake a while after the sun had set, and we gathered there, and talked about the stars for about an hour, spotting numerous satellites soaring over head, and even a couple of shooting stars. At one point we even caught sight of what appeared to be a very high altitude aircraft that did not show up on Flightradar24. The dim navigation lights were the distinctive trait of an aircraft. But they were dim. The girls both had a really good time, called it awesome, and are now already fast asleep in their beds. I am avoiding the temptation to just sleep out on the balcony myself. Really happy to have spent that time with my two little stars.

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As The Virus Burns

A fire begins deep in the forest as lighting strikes a single tree.  As that tree is consumed, two trees near it begin to catch, then finally are also engulfed.  Soon there are six trees, then eight all burning at once, as the first three are already burned out.  The fire continues to spread from tree to tree till it has burned down the side of an entire mountain, hubdreds of trees gone, then it crawls down the other side, and makes its way to the next mountain and the next.  Eventually, the fire consumes miles of wildreness, sending life scurrying out of its way, millions of trees lost to the flames and smoke. 

Fires like this don’t burn at a rate of every tree at once.  They don’t just stop because trees stand in their way.  Trees cannot will the fire to end.  The fire will get them, or it won’t.  It moves in the directions easiest for it to go, with the wind, up the hills, and it jumps for miles as burning embers are carried from one place to the next, starting seperate burns that eventually may burn together again, or may go two different ways.  No tree has a say in the matter.  They are rooted where they are, no will to speak of, no way to change where they stand, or to protect themselves from the coming flame. 

An infectious disease, a virus, burns through a population like a forest of moving trees, able to walk, to carry the flames from place to place as they go about their day.  They unknowingly carry the flames with them, setting others alight, including their friends, families, co-workers, and everyone else they come into contact with.  The biggest difference?  The population of human beings have will, and knowledge, and they know the fire is set, the flames are among them. 

In the modern age, we come to a time when there is another factor, too.  We are able to contact eachother at the speed of light, person to person, place to place, almost anywhere on the globe.  We can tell eachother that the fire is coming, and we can then do something about it, namely, wash our hands, wear a mask, don’t touch our faces, practice social distancing. 

The whirlwind of the pandemic is still only gaining speed in mid July, 2020.  Some will stand as trees in the forest and burn.  They will set alight others around them who will do the things necessary to survive, and those have, and will die.  The stubborn ones, willfully are putting everyone in danger. 

The argument has been made that it is their right not to wear a mask, and they will not be told what to do.  You bet when they get stopped by a police officer, that seatbelt gets clicked on, and they will be asked if they know why they were stopped, out of a myriad of laws telling them how to drive.  They will be wearing clothes, even though I could just as easily argue that clothing is a Socialist Agenda to force them to do something for other people’s benefit. The drivier will submit to a sobriety test if told to, and if they fail it, they will be arrested on the grounds they are an endagerment to the public. I could go on about everything. But in the end, wearing a mask in public is not the law. It is an extrordinary request for the same reasons general safety has been encoded in so many other laws. It is a chance for a democracy to show it has the educational standards not to need a law.

Yeah, you can bet that many of the anti-maskers will also be the ones bitching at “all the stupid safety labels on everything.” They should have the common sense to recognize the dangers without the labels, right? Well?

The human forest is on fire. Some will ony be singed, some will only be scorched. Some will be burned to the ground. The desolation that remains is a choice.

And finally, I want to address the “I’ll just tough it out if I get it,” argument. The mask was never about you. It was about everyone else around you. I don’t care if you die in agony alone in a sterile bed in an ICU. I care about people like the nurses and doctors that will be looking after you, the people who clean in the hospital, take out the trash. I care about the pharmacy workers, the equiptment support personell and the porters who will be working in close proximity to you as they stuff a hose in your throat, and down into your lungs to force oxygen into you in a desperate bid to keep you alive. I care about the ones who will put their families and friends at risk for you. I care about the people who care that much about you, not you, who does not have the care to just put on a mask.

I live in an area where it is apparent that it is going to burn hard before the end of the year. Most people where I live will not wear a mask, and even more so, they gather for private parties. When I was in town today, the local cinema had a sign out front; “E.T. tonight. Free.”

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Sinus Infection

The past few days have been less than fun.  I tought I was experiencing a toothache where I had lost a molar some sixteen years ago, and that it was sausing the normal toothache pains.  However, the pain transitioned from that area, and all the teeth on the same side, and moved up into my head.  This morning’s nasal drip turned into the last straw before attempting to rediagnose the issuse myself with the help of Dr. Google. 

I was well enough to go up to the store and get a saline and sugar rinse for an extorionate price, and then came home and gave it a go, after washing the store off my hands.  Thank you Coronavirus! 

Before very long at home, I sat down and fell asleep.  Missus talked me into going up to the bed to lay down by merely making the suggestion.  I went up, and had a rough sleep, waking up several times.  I was looking forward to her finishing work, and then telling her that I was set to call it and go to the Health Clinic and get an antibiotic perscrition.  She didn’t come till she had finished work, then taken a nap herself, so when she did come, and asked me if I knew what time it was, she told me 3:30.  Not much time before the clinic closed.  Still, we were able to get there and make both, an appointment, and pharmacy hours. 

The doctor agreed that I had diagnosed correctly, sinus infection, and said I didn’t need her.  I reminded her that I cannot write myself a prescription.  She did and started to tell me that she had sent it off, and it was for a ten day cycle.  I said, to be taken twice a day for the full cycle, even if I am feeling better.  I have not had antibiotics for thirty years, but I have done a couple of stints working as delivery for pharmacies. 

The important moment came at supper time when I took the first tablet of the course.  Missus said that when she had a similar experience, she felt better soon after her first tablet.  And so it was.  Not all better yet, but at least I am awake. 

And so, what are my desires in these moments of ill feeling, apart from sexual, and life affirming? To write, and tell the world, I am still alive!  Life affirming!  And that’s me in a nutshell when I am under the weather.  I like to prop up my little brolly that tries to keep me alive and dry of the storm. 

The last few nights have been poor sleep, tooth pain, headachy, and finally sinus pain last night, distinguishing this from just a toothache, which I believed it was till then. 

I went to the local health clinic, and found it to be a little less protective than I expected as far as the virus is concerned.  The lady at the desk wore no mask, and she did not chase me off when I leaned over the desk to write, which I realized I was doing and appologized for, she said, “that’s okay.  There is noone else here.”  The nurse who took my vitals wore a mask part of the time, but the doctor wore hers the whole time, suggeting she was more intimate with, or more aware of her patients potential infections. 

So far, still no signs of the virus for myself.  Happy news as I am the designated emerger from our lockdown.  Whenever there is a need, especially for groceries, I am the one designated to go get them, keeping at least one person barrier against the virus, even though we would obviously all get it if I did breing it home.  Cautious sensibilities are thus on me.  It’s a big responsibility to the people I love. 

We are holding back, keeping more than social distance because the virus is spiking again.  We have been all along, but the situation is becoming more dire, even though the attitudes of people I see in public, and reported in the press seem to be almost indifferent among many.  I have heard in the news of people yelling at folks in masks that they are just pushing an agenda.  I have heard someone in a shop complaining to his partner about “all the stupid people in masks.”  I doubt these are experts in infectious control, and instead, represent the type of people who disreguard those with actual knowledge as ‘know-it-alls.’  Yeah, kiss my ass.  Nobody knows less than he who thinks he knows everything.  Hail to the Chief!

I am happy to keep in my little corner of Earth, at a safe distance, aware that the defences I need are small ones, not stockpiles of guns and ammunition; sorry preppers.  The problem was not Armageddon, or Red Dawn.  It turned out to be more like War of the Worlds.  Just keep safe, and do nothing.  The rest could take care of itself. 

I guess this society started politicizing wellness when it started to politicize vaccines as far back as a century or more ago.  Yes, the anti-vaxer movement is that old, at least.  The earlies renditions go back to those who would call a vaccine, just like a lightning rod, interfering with God’s Will.  Somehow, apparently, God’s attempts to strike people dead with lightning were subverted by Mr. Franklin’s invention.  Laughable. 

I have spoken to one fellow who believes the virus does not kill anymore than the common flu does, and his plan is to lay down and tough it out if he catches it.  Well, there is an example of male ego if I ever saw it, just the idea of toughing it out, nevermind the complete disreguard for other people.  And I assume he is not aware that so far this year it has already killed more people than things like eleven years of Vietnam.  Misinformed is surmounted by being willfully disinformed. MAGA.

I am unhappy with the politics in the issue, and should not perpetuate it myself. At the same time, the will of some to walk over, and endanger others to the peril of the lives of all involved, and children and the elderly who are not involved around them… Well, I said what I said.

So, Coronavirus is a thing, and it is going as fast as ignorane will move it. The sinus infection over the past few days has knocked me out of useful service, so with this handfull of antibiotics, I hope to get back up on my feet and prove worthy of my rations once again. Everything for us is business as usual. The farm is moving along with another season of more weeds than food growing out of the vegetable patches. The kids are enjoying their time off of studies. The kids are being educated still in subversive ways they don’t recognize as learning. Equipment on the farm is failing me, and making me resent the money spent on it. I am older, and feeling it.

Posted in Catastrophe & Disaster, Coronavirus, Journal Entry | Comments Off on Sinus Infection