Swiped from others... I think it's a beautiful graphic of hope for the year just starting, don't you?
Sunday's high temperature topped out about 20 degrees, but as the sun started dipping toward the horizon, it streamed in the bay window, and The Prisoner got in the spirit of taking advantage of every bit of sun he could find. In my mind I titled this photo "sunset longings".
The first Monday of the New Year, thoughts naturally turn to what's coming up. In my life, it's the annual medicalizing, arriving at just the same point as the next surge might start to impact my community.
Monday was warmer than those weekend temps, topping out over 40℉. Tuesday gave more of the same. The snow is melting. The temperature is about to plunge again; the wind is howling out there. Wednesday they are telling us the high with be 9℉. Which is chillier than Sunday was. Welcome to our roller coaster ride. We are entering the time of year where historically we get the coldest temperatures, but we've had these little breaks.
Tuesday is news conference day for the local Public Health department, at which they bring us up to date with the latest in local case counts, hospitalizations, and putting out the pleas to the public by way of the news media covering it... to do our part. The public schools had been planning on lifting their masking requirement for students and teachers... and announced at the last minute that they changed their mind.
Post-Christmas and New Years... well, things are not looking wonderful. The Delta variant is not done with us yet, and Omicron has started to arrive. 53% of the cases in Nebraska that have been genetically sequenced recently have turned up Omicron.
I was surprised to see that although our risk dial is now all the way into the Red, the health department is not reimposing the directed health measure. Leaving masking in public as "strongly recommended". Unfortunately, in my observation, "strongly recommended" without the requirement leads to a lot of unmasked faces.
Of course, you all have your own local levels. Do your best to stay safe where YOU are! Wednesday, I think I shall hunker down. Thursday I have my annual appointment with the eye doctor who is monitoring my cataracts and glaucoma. Friday I have blood work and my medicare "wellness" interview. Just trying to preserve health so that I am clear to go for these checkups.
Here's to a healthy week for us all, to open the New Year!
Like the meme & downloaded it. Enjoyed all the photos. We are in the red zone alert here and 50% of our EMT personnel are out due to Covid, run on personal at-home and clinical test kits that are in short supply. Stay warm and safe.
ReplyDeleteHang in and stay safe!💖🥶
DeleteOur numbers are up and climbing as well. I just wish that people would think of others during this whole thing.
ReplyDelete💖 Stay well, best you can, whatever others may do. At least the numbers give us fair warning.
DeleteWe just got our booster shot and more restrictions have come down such as schools stay closed and children learn on line. I, too, love your 2022 graphic too.
ReplyDeleteOur schools are open as of today, but all people, kids and adults, regardless of vaccination status, are required to mask inside any school district building (including admin offices).
DeleteMissouri is a red state. Those of us who disagree with the policies are in the minority...unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteYeah. And your pediatric hospitals were one of our back ups as ours become overwhelmed next door. Nebraska is a lagging state, and Colorado, Iowa, and Missouri where we might transfer our hospital overflow... well, y'all got problems of your own.
DeleteTherefore... being extra cautious. As when I stay off the roads so other people don't have an extra target of a little old lady... I shall do my best to avoid needing a hospital for the next few months... maybe for the rest of my life?
Eat healthy, move regularly, follow those hand-washing, social distancing, mask wearing rules and get your sleep, eh?
I love the 2022 graphic!
ReplyDeleteI've pretty much quit worrying about the day to day COVID numbers and drama and assimilated it into it-is-what-it-is. I'm learning to live with it.
My 'very good at behaving' children got it on the plane. All it might have taken was one person within a 12-seat square behind them who refused to mask on the 7 hour flight to ruin the Christmas and NY plans of 20 people from two countries.
I saw the CEO of one airline swear mask mandates should be removed on planes as they have such good filtered air. Ya think?
The good news is that maybe all this is going to fade away. I recently listened to an NPR segment when a comment about pandemics caught my ear and I agree. Pandemics hit us and get our attention and become monsters. As the viruses mutate and we become better at whatever we do to combat the disease, the whole thing settles down and fades into normal living. You know when the great pandemic of 1918 began, right? When did it end?
"...the first wave originated in the spring of 1918, during World War I...it remains uncertain where the virus first emerged...the virus [spread] throughout the U.S. and Europe during the late spring. By summer the virus had reached parts of Russia, Africa, Asia, and New Zealand. This first wave was comparatively mild...a second, more lethal wave began about August or September 1918. During this wave...patients usually dying just two days after experiencing the first symptoms of the flu. As social distancing measures were enforced, the second wave began to die down... Once those measures were relaxed, however, a third wave began in the winter and early spring of 1919. Though not as deadly as the second wave, the third wave still claimed a large number of lives. By summer the virus had run its course in many parts of the world, but some historians suggest that there was a fourth wave in winter 1920, though it was far less virulent. (culled from online Britannica)
Thanks for giving me a spot for some discourse!
Good job, finding a way to accept what is. As they say, "time will tell". The magnification of the 24/7 news cycle and their need to always have "crisis" feeds into this.
DeleteAs for the 1918 pandemic, there's some personal history there. My husband's mother's father succumbed to it, when she was a toddler.
Wars, famines, fires, and pandemics... big scary monsters that civilizations might survive, but not all their citizens. As normal citizens don't seem to care for the uncertainty, we naturally seek ways to create a form of stability and normalcy.
Love seeing the conversation of the logical. We don't know what it will end, we just have to be prudent and get through it, in whatever form it presents.
Definitely love the 2022 graphic! We need HOPE.
ReplyDeleteAwww, the Prisoner has the right idea. Miss Lilly loves to find her little spot of sunshine (when it decides to come out. Sure not today, though! Snow, cold, wind.
Yes, ‘strongly recommended’ means LOTS of folks aren’t going to mask. **SIGH**
All we can do is take care of OURSELVES and stay safe and well.
hugs
barb
1crazydog
Agreed! Be safe, my friend!
DeleteI love the 2022 pic. The cat photo and the sunrise one are priceless. Super cold freezing temps. I hope all the health decisions at your place are in the best interest for the population. Meanwhile, may you and yours stay as safe and warm as possible.
ReplyDeleteBrrr! That silly cat (in the photo) insisted on going outside before I left for the eye doctor this morning, and I was over at that office for nearly two hours. It was 2 degrees F at the time. And he may have a fur coat... BUT! He was happy to come inside when I got home.
DeleteAwwww, what a sweetie. I love cats and have 4.
DeleteHappy new year and I really like your 2022 grafic. We used to have a cat that sat in the front window as our house faces south so lots of sun.
ReplyDeleteCold here today, and I'm celebrating good news at the eye doctor's... don't have to go back to this one for 18 months! He still wants me going to the other one at 6, and again at 12 months, but the glaucoma seems to be stable. Cataracts still not "ripe" for surgery.
DeleteBeautiful fantastic photo of Prisoner! The lighting is striking!
ReplyDeleteThe amazing thing about this, and other, amazing photos, is when the animal stays in the pose long enough for you to get the phone out and snap!
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