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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Y is for Yellowstone

9/27/2023

Back in February I asked you to give me topics to write about that would correspond to the alphabet. Sometimes several of you sent ideas for one letter and sometimes I wrote about all of them (I’s and S’s) Here we are at letter Y for which your suggestions are Yummy Food and Yawns. The word yawn absolutely makes me yawn; no way I could write about that - I would yawn for hours. I worked on Yummy Food but could only find a scolding voice about Americans eating too much sugar. Bah. True but not interesting.

So, I gave Y a go again. Y is for?

"I was Scott Simon's teller."

9/22/2023

First of all - Thank you to those of you who came to the Wisconsin Writers Association zoom gala last night. I HAD received an email a week ago which said I would be reading my whole story. Cutting it in half while I was reading was awkward! It was still a happy event for me and the other writers. Thanks for being there! 

X is for Xeriscape

9/20/2023

Xeriscape is pronounced ‘zeer-eh-scape’ and it means landscaping with little to no irrigated water. Readers in the west already know about this. Those of us who don’t live in arid or desert places need to wake up to the incredible resource that water is - then begin to accommodate ourselves to “water all around and beneath us all the time” is no longer our reality. Nor is it our right. We’ve got to get smarter and do better.

W is for Wonder

9/13/202

To whomever suggested Wonder - Thank You!  ‘Wonder’ has been bobbing in my mind like a frog in a pond.

However, I have FOUR suggestions from you guys for X - but I do not want to write four X essays. These are the suggestions:

1.) X signature substitution

2.) xylophone on a string pulled by a toddler

3.) xenophobia

4.) Xmas. 

If you have an opinion respond with the one you would like me to attempt. I will choose whichever X gets the most comments.

There will be no gerrymandering in this election.

GNTL - NAMI

9/7/2023

Grownups Noticing Their Lives

NAMI

Most of you know about my former weird and lovely job of coordinating an employability skills program for Huber-qualified inmates in the Racine County Jail (that’s a mouthful). Early on I realized that most of the people I would work with were people with 1.) huge addiction problems, and 2.) underlying and over-the-top and to-the-side just lying around mental health issues.

V is for Vocabulary

9/6/2023 

For those who are new here - This year I am writing about topics, in alphabetical order, that were suggested to me by readers. Sometimes this is hard! 

IRTNOG

My cousin-in-law Dave has some powerfully thorough avocations (for fun and profit he earned a PhD in biochemistry; you will notice this in his list). This year, among other pursuits, he has been collecting words which have appeared in our culture since 1945, which was the year he also appeared in our culture.

Tag Cloud

9/11 17 minutes 500 Words A-Z AARPtaxes AAUW abortion Acadia accident Accountable Advent aging Alaska anniversary antibiotics antlers apples appointments Arrows art Ashland August Augustine aunts baby Badlands balance Baldwin Barbara Barkskins Beauty Becky Becoming Esther Berry birthday bistro BLM Blue BookReport books boy scout Bread BrokenDays BuyAngry Cabeza de Vaca Cahokia calendars Canada canoe cat romance cats cello Chicago China Choosing Christmas cilantro Cinnabuns circus climate change clouds Clowns clutter Colonialism comet ComfortZone CommonSense community consumerism Cops Corvid-19 Courage Covid-19 Crazy creditreport creosote CrimeShows danger DarkRiver death Debate December DecisionFatigue decluttering democracy dentist depression Destination Today Detroit Didion disasterprep dogs dollhouse Dreams Duty Easter eBay Echoes Eclipse election EmilyDickinson eschatology Esquipulas exit polls eyes Fable FairTrade family farmer Fata Morgana ferns firealarm Fitness Five Flatbread Flexible flu Food Pantry Fort de Chartres frame Franc FrancGarcia friends frugal FrugalHacks Frugality frustration Ft.Ticonderoga fungi fusion Galena Gannets Garden GarfieldParkConservatory Gaspe genius geode GeorgeFloyd gerrymandering ghosts gifts girls GNTL gorgons goulash GovernorThompsonStatePark Graduation grandkids granola groceries Guatemala gum guns Hair happiness HaveYouEver? hawks healthcare Healthinsurance hearings heart heaven HelleKBerry heroes hike History home HomeRepair Honduras Hope HowCrowGotOutofJail humor hurricane Ice Cream idiosyncrasy igloos impeachment Innkeeper Instincts integrity InternetPrivacy Interview InviteMe2Speak James Baldwin Jan 6 Janus jewelry JoyceAndrews Judy JulianofNorwich Jump justice Karen kites ladder Lady Lamb LangstonHuges LaphamPeak laundry LeeLeeMcKnight lemming Len Light Lincoln Little Women LockedOut Loki loneliness LouisArmstrong Love Ludington Macaw macho Manitoulin MargaretFuller Maria Hamilton Marquette marriage Marsden Hartley masks Mayan MayaWorks meme Memories men Middlemarch MilesWallyDiego MindfulChickens Mistakes MLK moon Mother MothersDay mounds mouser movies museums must-haves Mustapha NAMI Nancy Drew Newfoundland New Mexico New York City Nomadland nope observation OBUUC Ocotillo OnaJudge ordinary OscarRomero osprey Outside oximeter Parade mayhem PastorBettyRendon Paul Hessert PDQ Penny persimmon photos Pi Pies pineapples poetry Preaching privacy procrastination Protest QE2 Quern quest Questions Rabbit holes racism reading recipe recipes recommendations Remember RepresentationMatters Reruns responsetoKapenga Retirement rhubarb Ricky rime RitesofPassage romance Rosemary Ruether Roses Roti Ruth SamaritanWoman Sanctuary Sandhillcranes Santuario de Chimayo SaraKurtz SaraRodriguez satellites ScottSimon sculpture Seasons Sermon ServantsoftheQuest sewing Shepherd Shontay ShortStory shoulder sick sickness Slower snow Social Security SofritoBandito solstice South Dakota SpaceShuttle spirituality spring square feet staining stars stele Stereotypes stories StoryStarts stream monitoring stress Survival swim Talent taxes teenager thankgsgiving Thanksgiving TheBridge TheMaid ThePerpetualYou therapy ThreeBillBoards Three Thing ThreeThings Three Things TidalBore TimeBeing toddler Tom tortillas Trains travel Traveler Tubing turtle Twilight Bark Tyrone Ukraine Ulysses Grant Umbrella UnrelatedObservations Up North urgency vacation vaccine Valentines vanilla Vietnam vision VivianWokeUpDrowning Vocabulary vole volunteer WalkingAndSeeing Wampanaog war WarsanShire weather weaving Webs wedding whines WhyAttendChurch Wiley Willa WillaCather Wisteria Won! Wonder words Xeriscape Yellowstone
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