I made the comment earlier today that this \u201csheltering in place\u201d\nmakes me feel like retirement from retirement! We are not sheltered by mandate;\nit is out of an abundance of caution for my wife\u2019s health. Her immune system is\nnot what one would describe as robust, and she has asthma on top of that. Both\nof those issues leave us fearful for her wellbeing through this. The state is\nfinally releasing infections by town; there are 132 statewide, less than five\nin mine. (Not sure why they do it that way as opposed to giving an actual count\nas they do for those above five.) Many towns have none, which is nice. Of\ncourse, given the whole testing controversy there are likely many more ill than\nis being reported. But given the severity of this virus for people over 60, for\npeople with autoimmune issues, and for people with pre-existing conditions such\nas asthma, this is hunkering down time for her \u2013 for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have \u201cfamily night\u201d every Wednesday night \u2013 have done so\nfor many years. My son and daughter-in-law and the grandkids come, my daughter\nand her boyfriend, and often my niece. I get pizza every other week and the alternating\nweeks we grill or Teri cooks something. We always have a great time and it is a\nlovely tradition, but we couldn\u2019t do it this week \u2013 my daughter is in the school\nsystem and my son in the retail business and either or both could be an\nasymptomatic carrier. Assuming the same next week, I think we\u2019ll try setting up\nsomething over Facetime to try to make it somewhat fun again for everyone,\nuntil we can resume it again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are not grocery shopping in the store anymore; using\nonline ordering and pick-up in the parking lot. It is surprisingly hard to buy\ngroceries online, at least for me; I invariably end up getting something\ndifferent than intended \u2013 too big or too small or whatever. But you just adapt.\nWhat else can you do? I still think that avoiding others and thoroughly washing\nup with soap and water would be quite adequate to protect us, I don\u2019t dare take\nthe chance that I might be wrong and could infect her. That would be horrific. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But I did have to go out today. I had to go have blood drawn\nfor lab work. This for my male readers above 50 years old \u2013 pay attention to\nyour prostate gland!! Get the PSA blood test and have the results clearly explained\nto you. Mine was stable for a number of years, but a couple of years ago it\nbegan a steady series of increases. Similar to software releases, there are major\nand minor steps in a PSA value; to go from 1.6 to 1.8 is a minor step, but\ngoing from a 2.-something to a 3.-something is a major step, and you don\u2019t want\nmajor steps. And I\u2019ve has several. So I have to get it tested twice a year, in\naddition to an annual physical visit with the urologist. Thankfully, it has\nonce again stabilized for the last year and a half (and hopefully now two with\nthis latest test). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For a normally relaxed person, I was extremely nervous going\nthere. I stalled for a while and finally went. I brought two Clorox wipes with\nme: one for use going in and one for use in leaving. I didn\u2019t sit in the\nwaiting area \u2013 stood the whole time. I had to sit for the blood draw but that\nwas the only time any part of me (feet aside) touched anything in the entire\nbuilding. Then when I got home, I left the shoes outside, went into the laundry\narea and stripped down, then went and took a shower. Overkill? Perhaps, but why\ntake the chance with her health? And that is our new reality here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The unnatural and cumbersome steps needed to effectively\nmitigate the risk are tough enough for me, although having said that, were it\nnot for her health I am sure conscientious hand-washing and common sense of\ninterpersonal space would suffice. But to be truly safe, the above and beyond\nsteps are needed and frankly, are manageable. Except not seeing my family \u2013\nthat is hard. It is what it is, and we\u2019ll all get right back to our routine\nonce it is all over. But what\u2019s hard, really hard, is having no idea when this\nwill end. I heard two weeks, then three. Well \u2013 we last went out to eat on\nMarch 9th<\/sup> and not since. So that\u2019s well over two weeks. We did have\nfamily night a week ago so that is only in week one. And they kids were here\nlast weekend so not even a week yet there. But what is the end date? I really\ndon\u2019t know if I\u2019ll even see them on Easter. It is rare to begin a task without\nhaving an end date, a schedule. It helps you pace yourself. This? This is\nfeeling so open-ended\u2026.frustrating to say the least. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve mentioned my metal detector in the past and for the last\ncouple of weeks I\u2019ve been gearing up to go out and use it \u2013 tuning it, charging\nbatteries, refamiliarizing myself with the controls, and so forth. My plan is\nto hit a long coastal beach near me. Last week the tide was wrong (high tide\nmidday) so I pushed it off to this week. I thought today might be the day so\nafter my bloodwork, I took a drive by the area to see how busy it was. The lot\nwas full, they were parking on the street on the shoulder, and were even parked\non another road several hundred yards away. Packed. To an extreme. I think the\narea encompasses approx. 90 acres and it is a mile walk in to reach the bay, so\na lot of room for people to disperse once they leave their cars in the lot and\nmaintain their 6-foot distancing. But really people? I remember when this area\ndidn\u2019t even have a parking lot; it was a dirt road with a locked gate. You would\npark at the gate and find a way in and not see a soul the whole time you were\nthere. Not anymore! I applaud people for getting out and exercising, but did\nnot expect them all to do it all at once \u2013 in the same place!! <\/p>\n\n\n\n No metal detecting today for me, so I ended up back in my\ngarden. If you\u2019ve read my ramblings for more than six months, you\u2019ll remember\nthe saga of the corn last fall. I wrote of it often, starting with the digging\nand tilling the soil, then the battles with the squirrels and\/or rabbits as I\u2019d\nplant the seeds and see them sprout only to be pulled out of the ground the\nnext day, the countless defense mechanisms I employed in my varmint wars,\nculminating in a crop of 2\u201d ears of corn! That garden. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I had actually only cleared and fenced one area initially,\nfor the corn. Late in the fall I went after another section, also full to the\nmaximum extent possible with bull briars. And rocks \u2013 lots of rocks. And not\nsmall rocks either; I am happy when the rock comes out the size of a head of\nlettuce \u2013 those I can handle with my eyes closed. There are some number of them\nthat size, but there are a number that are much larger, weighing more than I\ndo. And you find one in almost every shovelful of digging \u2013 that is, once you\nhack through enough of the bull briar roots to actually get a shovel into the\nground. And to remove one massive rock, you typically have to remove the other\nthree or four nestled up against the big one, preventing its extraction. Fun.\nTeri came out to check up and my one comment through clenched teeth was \u201ca\nlevel of hell \u2013 this is one of Dane\u2019s levels of hell\u201d. But in truth, I enjoy\nit. Digging with one\u2019s hands is a wonderful thing to do. And this \u2013 this is\nbeyond digging \u2013 this is the equivalent of a workout at a gym! The cardio, the\nstrength, the endurance \u2013 all gains from this activity. So while I bitch and\nmoan about it, I enjoy the benefits greatly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whatever situation you are in dear reader, whether isolated away in one of the places with minimal infection or deep in the midst of the full-blown horrors such as NY City, please try to find a moment to step away from the news, get some sunshine and fresh air \u2013 at a proper distance of course \u2013 and if you are lucky enough to have a garden, get your hands dirty and forget about this for a little while. Just be sure to wash your hands when you come back in. Stay well!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I made the comment earlier today that this \u201csheltering in place\u201d makes me feel like retirement from retirement! We are not sheltered by mandate; it is out of an abundance of caution for my wife\u2019s health. Her immune system is not what one would describe as robust, and she has asthma on top of that. 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