Mary Beth Writes

There are Lyrid meteor showers this week.

“The Lyrids have been observed and reported since 687 BC; no other modern shower has been recorded as far back in time. (that’s from Wikipedia.

Len went out to look for them one night and didn’t find the fabled shooting stars of yore.

He did find some quiet late-night beauty.

I read this interesting article in the NYT today. Read Here. 

Medical care people are discovering that people can be positive for coronavirus while feeling fine or close to fine. The sense right now is that there are many more carriers for COVID than we know. Some who will soon be deathly ill are feeling fine today and thus are going about their regular routines, able to shed virus willy-nilly if they are not in quarantine.

When a virus attacks a normal lung cell, the cell stops working efficiently fairly quickly. This means the person receives less oxygen that they need so they become weak, confused and generally fall into some deleterious state.

People with Covid-19 go longer with very low amounts of oxygen in their systems than professionals expect to see. When they finally show up at a clinic or ER they may be so low on oxygen they “ought” to be in a coma, but they are still talking, thinking, and acting. They are close to a serious medical episode or to their own death but they don’t quite act like it. Yet. 

The main clue they are presenting with is – fast breathing.  Because their lung cells can’t get in enough oxygen the person compensates by breathing faster.

The physician writing the article talks about the common oximeter which is that blue thing they snap on your finger at the doctor’s office; that gizmo measures the oxygen in your system.  Len looked online; one can BUY this thing for $30. It is not invasive, one doesn’t need to be a rocket scientist or respiratory therapist to utilize it (Hi, Pam and Jennifer who DID do respiratory therapies!).

We ordered an oximeter and now I’m curious. Will my oxygen level change after a long walk?  Does it change when there are scary scenes in movies?  If I go on vacation (will I ever go on a vacation again??) and don’t climb the stairs in my house 17 times a day, will that affect my whatever is my normal oxygen level?

And most relevant. If Len or I become ill, will this little thing give us another way to monitor our own health?  Obviously, we are not medical professionals and if we get sick, we call our medical office.  But can this tool help us sort out what’s going on?

The article has a paywall. If you can’t get past it and are curious, write to me at MB@MaryBethDanielson.com and I will email an abbreviated version to you.

Have you seen the Before and After Quarantine Lil Debbie? You know that cute Lil Debbie girl who is on the box of the Lil Debbie junk food. (I gained 25 pounds in high school in the three years after my dad died. I’m here to witness than NO ONE should eat Lil Debbie cakes every day. Possibly no one should eat them ever, but that’s your call.)

The visual joke is Lil Debbie and then a very chunky Large Deborah post- quarantine.  Cuz she sat home eating those cakes.  It makes me laugh, although it is fat-shaming and I’m better than that. Yeah, I'm not laughing.

It does pose an interesting question. We are weeks into this. We now know we are probably not going to read War and Peace, or re-tile the bathroom, or go through those boxes (and boxes and boxes) of our parent’s vacation slides. There is a certain level of reality now. This quarantine is worse and easier than we would have thought.  We are seeing realities we didn’t understand before, such as: Did you know more than half of the people deemed “essential” are women of color?

How will you be different? How do you think this will affect you?

Will you ever take a hug for granted again? Have you changed some habits and you aren’t going back? Will you eat in more or are you so sick of your own cooking you will eat out more? Will you go outside more because you are getting used to it now? 

How will you be different?

 

Comments

When we lived in Hurricane Alley, my husband’s idea of Hurricane rations was Lil Debbie Snack cakes and tuna fish! If I survive this, I promise to continue to thank every server and cashier and medical person I encounter! I hope everyone realizes what a quandary it is to be a grocery store clerk or fast food worker. They need their “ essential” job to just keep food on the table but would make more on unemployment ( once the bugs are worked out) but cannot quit because that would exclude them from unemployment. Would you potentially risk your life for a bit more than minimum wage? I have never had to make that choice.
Mary Beth's picture

I worked retail a lot in my life. The work was hard and my co-workers were some of the strongest, kindest, most motivated people I have ever known. Or maybe I should say the most wonderful WOMEN I have ever known - because mostly I worked with women. If I got behind or didn't know exactly what to do, there was always someone around aware enough to jump in and show or help me.

When this is over I'm not sure that I can go back to the hugs I so freely gave out I'll try but.( I never shook hands because of the germs involved ) I've always treated cashier's with respect because I've been in their shoes and know the abuse heaped on them... I will eat out again and probably more frequently and as in the past I will over tip but I'll more than likely up the amount that I leave to try and make up for their mounting loss... As for little Debbie's those cream filled oatmeal things were the best... Always kept a secret stash under my bed...

I am a single woman living alone. I will never take hugging for granted! One thing I hope to continue is the use of social applications like Zoom. If I can see people live, I will. But during this quarantine I have spent more time with family than ever before. And I appreciate having a cup of morning coffee with a friend on the East Coast, something we never would have thought of before.

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Be a (bit of a) Scientist This Summer!

3/23/2023

This is an updated rerun of a story I posted last spring.

This is about Stream Monitoring and How to Do It. You don’t have to be a man to do this, but many are and that’s as close to the obvious joke as I’m going to go.

Len and his volunteer pal Tom enjoy this volunteer gig a lot. Once each month in the summer they go to the same stretch of the same stream to check water quality and to discover what creatures are lurking in the water and muck.  

A-Z Ice Cream & Marco Polo

DQ will never look the same. This photo is of a patio where one eats their gelato, somewhere in Italy. 

...

3/22/2023

What is the thing most people spend a great deal of time, energy, and money keeping off our necks and out of our homes?

Chilly air

What is ice cream?

Chilly air with sugar.

Igloos

3/16/2022

We are working our way through an Alphabet of Topics and we are currently considering the letter I. Two days ago, I wrote about Idiosyncrasies. Today is Igloo. Next up is Ice Cream.

So here we are again with nervous banks and a jumpy stock market and we “commoners” quietly peruse how many bags of beans we have in the pantry. I hope by the time I finish and post this the news is more stable, but I doubt it. “May you live in interesting times.” Right?

You know what I learned while researching igloos?

I is for Idiosyncrasy - "I'm not goofy. You are..."

3/14/2023  (Happy Pi Day)

Idiosyncrasies are like cave drawings; enigmatic clues that say once upon a time something happened here. A story unfolded. Someone tried to solve a problem. The solution worked, or at least it kept the person comfortable or comforted long enough for the idiosyncratic habit to form.

A-Z Humor Me

Humor 3/8/2023

I heard this joke in a sermon in 1974. I heard that highly revered minister preach at least a hundred sermons and this is the ONLY thing I remember him saying.  

A guy loses his job and is desperate for a new one with which to support his precious family. Nothing turns up until one day the newspaper Help Wanted Ads (so now you know how old this jokes really is) says the zoo has an opening. Guy applies. The HR person looks worried and then says the zoo changed its mind, the job is too demeaning. Guy says he’s desperate, will take anything.

A-Z Heaven ...

3/3/2023

First of all, you should realize that tomorrow is March 4th which is the only date of the year which tells you what to do. Hah.

This week I was amazed by this map/representation of the process of the creation of a new star. A year ago, there were no visuals of this process. What you are looking at is cutting-edge stuff observed and collaborated by 90 astronomers worldwide.

That + in the middle is the new star that right now is bigger than our sun. We know it’s young and new because it’s growing.

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