Plague 2020 #12 October and (most of) November

[geowench]

October and November have been mostly about watching the fall of the American Empire.  Even though Biden won the election, I'm not 100% certain he will actually be sworn in ... 45 is now trying to get states that went to Biden to cast their electoral votes for him.  And even if Biden is peacefully sworn in ... 71 million people voted for 45, which just makes me sick, and the repubs will still control the senate, not to mention the Supreme Court.  so yeah ... it's all terrible.  And that's not even getting into COVID, which is completely out of control.

So let's see, back in October, I was doing really well with my walking and rehab, up to 3 miles ... and then we had an early ice storm that closed the state down for two days.  On Oct 27 I walked out on my porch, didn't see the ice, and down I went, royally wrenching my already effed up R knee.  It was breath-takingly painful.  I immediately iced it down and did all the right things, and it is slowly improving, but I've had a painful November because of it.  It's worst at night, usually around 2-4 AM I wake up and it is really painful and I can't get back to sleep.  I thought about going back to PT, but with corona so out of control, I don't actually feel safe going back to the rehab place that I stopped going to back in early summer because I was uncomfortable with their level of CDC recommendation compliance.  So I'm doing my best to rehab it myself, and it has really improved tremendously.  Last weekend I managed about a 1.5 miles.  I'm sure I can do that again tomorrow, though I probably won't try to push it to 2 miles.  Maybe 1.75 miles.

This week work started us working split schedules again until the beginning of January - and probably longer, given the way everyone expects COVID to go this winter.  So every other day I go into the office and every other day I work from home.  I actually like this - there are fewer people in the office when I have to go in and while working from home full time gets lonely and boring, I like doing it every other day.  

Socially I am more isolated than ever, of course.  I've seen no one since February, I think.  Thanksgiving is this coming week, and it will be just me and E.  Usually we get together with this couple who lives in Tulsa, but when I texted her to say what a bummer we can't do Thanksgiving this year, she was all, oh we've moved to Nevada.  So now we really are friendless.  Sigh.

I am especially blue right now because yesterday coming home from work I found a beautiful barn owl dead in the middle of the road.  Of course I brought it home and will prepare the skull and bury the rest of it, but it really made we sad.  Some nights we hear owls hooting and I find it so beautiful and peaceful and calming and to find one of them dead (again!) just really bums me out.  

But 'tis the season to be grateful and I am genuinely grateful for so many things.  We are healthy(ish) and have not contracted COVID, we are both employed and have a comfy home and all we need.  This is a crazy ass time to be alive, and I am know that I am a fortunate woman.

Comments

[old_black]

Oh dear. I would be terrified of slipping on ice. Being kept awake at night by the pain must be really awful. Sounds like you are making definite progress in self-rehabilitation,though. Good for you!

I too would be very sad at the death of a barn owl. We have had a similar bird visting our garden at night (a tawny frogmouth) and it's wonderful to see it perching and watching for prey, then silently swooping. Such beauty and elegance.

[geowench]

Hi Michael! How's the COVID sich over there? Still working from home?

[old_black]

We're doing very well in terms of COVID - we're a very government-compliant society :-)
The USA seems to be still very much in the grip of this pandemic. I guess Joe Biden isn't going to be able to wave a magic wand and make it disappear, but he seems to be bringing a very different leadership attitude, which must help a lot.

It's been two weeks since any new cases of COVID-19 were detected in my state, and in fact in the three most populous states of Australia, with about 90% of the population!! They are analysing sewage (!) and say they're finding SARS-COV-2 virus in the sewage from a few suburbs of Sydney, but no one who has the COVID-19 is evidently sick enough or civic-minded enough to get tested. We're starting to get more relaxed, both personally and in terms of government regulations about gatherings.

I hope the vaccine(s) turn out to be as good as the initial tests suggest, and that enough of the population get vaccinated to allow life to get back towards normal (not that I'm looking forward to going back to work. I'm still working from home and will be possibly till Feb or March 2021).

I' very glad to hear that you are in good COVID-health, despite your other (knee) troubles. I think of you often.

Best wishes, Michael

[fineplan]

I can't imagine how isolated you feel -- I feel totally isolated and I'm in the middle of a big city!

I hope your knee recovers soon. I'm glad you're able to work with it and it seems to be improving.

[geowench]

Well, I actually feel less isolated than I did last year in Prague. While part of me wishes we were still there, and far far away from the US, another part of me is relieved that we are here where we know how to access services that we might need. I did used to be better at maintaining contact with folks ...

[fineplan]

It was nice getting to visit you there. It was gorgeous and it's great to see someplace with someone who appreciates things. :D