Day 31-Quarantine-Conventions

Posted on 17/04/2020 by Grumpa Joe

For three years I registered for the Lions District Convention. Peg was still with me and my philosophy was that if she was well enough I would go. Since the convention is located within twenty miles of home I planned to go for the main day, attend meetings and the dinner. Peg was never getting better, so I never went. I forfeited the registration and dinner fees. This year was different. Peg had passed, and I had no excuse to not go. I registered for all three days, and booked a hotel room at considerable expense. Then, I told myself why not attend all the conventions, go to the State also, I registered. The flyer came for the Lions USA/CANADA Leadership Forum in Louisville, Kentucky. This was another meeting I wanted to attend all three of those years, but they were too far away, and needed several days. I opted out of all of them, until this year.

You know the rest of the story, all of them are cancelled. Today was supposed to be day one of the District Convention. They aren’t even having a virtual meeting to elect officers. I will spend this  weekend the same way I have spent all the previous weekends, hunkered down in my palatial home wondering in which room to spend the day.

Yesterday, the President announced his phased plan to restart the economy. Good luck with that. I don’t think I will be too quick to respond to entering crowded restaurants and venues after the last six weeks of brainwashing to keep a distance. In fact, it’ll be a very long time before I am convinced it is safe enough for me to gamble outside. That is what it will be, a gamble. Each time I come within a foot of another human I will be wondering if the corona jumped the space and landed on me. Maybe I’ll zip myself into one of those big plastic balls and enter society that way. Or I’ll attach my feet to roller blades, and roll through crowds faster that the corona can leap. Or maybe, just maybe, I’ll stay at home and not gamble with any of it. The next few years may be my end of life experience. Not such a bad one when I think about it, but nevertheless not such a good one either.

Filed under: Aging, family, grief, Seniors | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

Day 16- Quarantine-Random Thoughts

Posted on 02/04/2020 by Grumpa Joe

I wrote the last three posts in the morning. This one is coming in late afternoon. That means I have more personal stuff to write about. No matter, it is the same stuff today as it was for the past few days. I live in a pattern. Get up, clean up, make breakfast, eat breakfast, read email, work in my shop, take a walk, and pray. Come back, eat lunch, then read a book, then after my lap top battery runs down I watch some videos on the desk-top, and  finally I am writing. I could end it at this point, but there are some things on my mind that have to be explored.

I am still fascinated by the dumb questions people ask of President Trump at his daily press conference on the COVID-19 problem. I have concluded that most of them are asked in an attempt to trap him into contradicting himself  or changing his answer. I am amazed at the level of patience he has with the reporters. Here they are trying to trap him into a situation that they can take hm down, and he politely answers. He knows what they are doing but remains strong to avoid the traps.

One of the situations that particularly befuddles me is the one where they try to get him to say he should have shut the country down sooner so the number of corona deaths would be reduced. Any ass hole who has a brain could answer that for himself, but that same a-hole would not be able to write an accusing news bit to tear down the Commander in Chief.

Another thing that amazes me is the level of detail Trump has on all of the subjects that come up. He speaks with authority on all of them. He is also smart enough to know that some questions are best answered by experts. He then passes the question to one of the doctors or bureaucratic heads to spout details.

The President and the task force are not afraid to change predictions based on new data obtained since yesterday. Scientists love data, and the more they have the better they can prognosticate the spread of the disease.

I am also impressed by the level of leadership being shown by the Vice President and all the heads of departments on the team. It gives me confidence to know that VP Pence can take over for Trump if the time ever arrives.

Trump is always positive, and he hates negativity. He sees successful solutions to problems rather than failure. That is a positive thinking technique called ‘visioning’. It happens to be a technique I myself use in my life and it worked very well for me in my career.

Yesterday, Trump announced what is going on in the war against Mexican drug cartels, and with Iran’s mischief. That tells me he is capable of handling many problems simultaneously not by himself but by directing his heads of office and his generals to assess and report conditions, so he can brainstorm with them. Once he makes a decision to go, he lets them do the job, and they do.

Trump is often criticized for declaring bankruptcy often. Yet, data shows that a typical entrepreneur business man fails three to six times before he succeeds. He doesn’t see failure as a negative, only as a learning experience.

After supper, I continue to binge watch ‘Homeland’ a TV series. It is based on the CIA effort to thwart terrorist attacks toward America. If only 10% of this story is true, it scares the crap out of me that this kind of stuff goes on. Since it involves Muslim Extremists I am completely engrossed in the story. So much so, that I ma dreaming up conspiracy theories of my own that can explain some of what is going on today. For instance, what if, the corona virus was intentionally released by a sleeper cell as revenge for China moving millions of muslims into concentration camps to keep them away from the general population? Who knows, my theory can be as feasible as any other. The Wuhuan area is known for its biological lab industry. It wouldn’t take much for one person to sneak out a vial of the corona virus and disperse it within the population. They are not afraid of dying in these missions when they are brainwashed into believing it is for the glory Allah.

I’ve made my points, and its time make supper, and listen to some of the daily press conference.

Filed under: Biography, family, muslims | Tagged: , , , , | 4 Comments »

Day 8 of Quarantine-Best Advice Ever

Posted on 24/03/2020 by Grumpa Joe

This morning I received a message from one of my angel friends. It is a comprehensive explanation of COVID-19 signs and symptoms. Here it is in its entirety.

I didn’t check this with SNOPES because every point of it makes sense and will be good to heed regardless of its veracity.

 

Stanford Hospital Board Internal Message

 

 

The new Coronavirus may not show sign of infection for many days. How can one know if he/she is infected? By the time they have fever and/or cough and go to the hospital, the lung is usually 50% Fibrosis and it’s too late.

 

Taiwan experts provide a simple self-check that we can do every morning. Take a deep breath and hold your breath for more than 10 seconds. If you complete it successfully without coughing, without discomfort, stiffness or tightness, etc., it proves there is no Fibrosis in the lungs, basically indicates no infection. In critical time, please self-check every morning in an environment with clean air.

 

Serious excellent advice by Japanese doctors treating COVID-19 cases: Everyone should ensure your mouth & throat are moist, never dry. Take a few sips of water every 15 minutes at least. Why? Even if the virus gets into your mouth, drinking water or other liquids will wash them down through your throat and into the stomach. Once there, your stomach acid will kill all the virus. If you don’t drink enough water more regularly, the virus can enter your windpipe and into the lungs. That’s very dangerous.

 

Please send and share this with family and friends. Take care everyone and may the world recover from this Coronavirus soon.

 

Important Announcement — Coronavirus

  1. If you have a runny nose and sputum, you have a common cold
  2. Coronavirus pneumonia is a dry cough with no runny nose.
  3. This new virus is not heat-resistant and will be killed by a temperature of just 78/80 degrees (F). It hates the Sun.
  4. If someone sneezes with it, it takes about 10 feet before it drops to the ground and is no longer airborne.
  5. If it drops on a metal surface it will live for at least 12 hours — so if you come into contact with any metal surface — wash your hands as soon as you can with a bacterial soap.
  6. On fabric it can survive for 6-12 hours. normal laundry detergent will kill it.
  7. Drinking warm water is effective for all viruses. Try not to drink liquids with ice.
  8. Wash your hands frequently as the virus can only live on your hands for 5-10 minutes, but — a lot can happen during that time — you can rub your eyes, pick your nose unwittingly and so on.
  9. You should also gargle as a prevention. A simple solution of salt in warm water will suffice.
  10. Can’t emphasize enough — drink plenty of water!

 

The Symptoms

  1. It will first infect the throat, so you’ll have a sore throat lasting 3/4 days
  2. The virus then blends into a nasal fluid that enters the trachea and then the lungs, causing pneumonia. This takes about 5/6 days further.
  3. With the pneumonia comes high fever and difficulty in breathing.
  4. The nasal congestion is not like the normal kind. You feel like you’re drowning. It’s imperative you then seek immediate attention.

 

Filed under: Aging, family, health care, Seniors | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

Days 5 & 6 of Self Quarantine

Posted on 21/03/2020 by Grumpa Joe

Oops! I missed another day of logging. Yesterday was day five and I let the day go by without writing a single word. Instead I surfed the net. I spent way too many hours looking at photos of celebrities and their children. It is a matter of being sucked in by a headline on an article that read “Robert Redford’s Beautiful Daughter” or some such thing. I must have looked at two hundred people before Redford came up, and was I disappointed. His daughter was not ugly, but she wasn’t gorgeous, she was ordinary.

Between that waste of time, I spent a few minutes replacing art work that I had taken down during the floor refinishing process. I read the last thirty pages of my book, and spent an hour working on my new intarsia project. The best thing I did all day was to go for my walk. I watched the Governor’s press conference where he announced that the Illinois will be on lockdown beginning Saturday.

After supper, I enjoyed a brief text session with a friend while we conducted a Virtual Happy Hour. I drank Scotch and she sipped an exotic chocolate-cherry liqueur.  We traded photos as proof of our activity.

Today, day six, has begun a little better. I folded my clothes, made my bed, concocted a KETO breakfast and moved some more furniture back into place. The remainder of the day I will spend in my workshop grinding on wood to remove all that does not look like a rose.

So far, my days in self quarantine are not much different than my normal days. Since I don’t have a partner to take care of I waste time and become bored. Except, I can’t go to the library (closed), or church (closed), or the grocery store (don’t need anything). What is different is that I am using the dishwasher more often and I set it on sanitize. Same holds true for the clothes washer.

I can’t get over how people complain about not having masks and gloves in hospitals. This morning I watched a news bit about a lady whose mission it is to make up kits with masks, gloves and sanitizer. She donates these to health care workers. I missed the part about where she gets her supplies.

Many people are in panic mode and buy their important needs to the point of absurdity. A friend sent me a photo of a lady with a rather huge derriere loading her SUV with jumbo packs of toilet paper. The truck was loaded and she still had a couple of shopping carts full of TP to load. Who needs that much stuff?  Then I watched a video by the History Guy explaining the history of toilet paper.

The History Guy: A Brief History of Toilet Paper from videos

It seems TP is a relatively new invention. This history goes back to ancient Greek and Roman times.  The best part is the story about King Henry the VII who employed a special officer of the court to keep his butt wiped and clean all the time. Think about that the next time you feel your job is terrible.

I must clarify why I am in self-imposed quarantine. I have not come in contact with anyone who has been exposed to the corona virus. I don’t know anyone who has been exposed. I am just being a good citizen of Illinois trying to do my part to squash this terrible scourge.

Read up on the virus. It’s DNA does not  come from humans therefore our bodies do not have any resistance to corona at all. Virologists have little history to go by when trying to develop a vaccine. Talk about getting a problem with a blank history this is it.  Yesterday I read a news bit about how long the virus lives on different surfaces. It sounded like the study was developed in that last two weeks. If you want to kill the virus fast you must clad everything to own in copper. Corona virus does not like copper at all, but It loves stainless steel. Thank God I don’t have stainless steel appliances. The virus can live on stainless the longest.

After proof reading my words above, I’ve decided I really didn’t waste all of my time yesterday, I rather entertained myself with new knowledge.

 

Filed under: family, health care, Humor, Science | Tagged: , , , , | 2 Comments »