Social Distancing and temporarliy closed

We are fortunate here on the mountain because we can be outdoors and still follow all the new rules.   I don't have new photos for today since we are still waiting for the big snow melt.  

March 2019 First Mushrooms

Yesterday we brought in six wheelbarrels of firewood and stacked it in the wood room.  Every trip in and out of the basement, Retired Mountain Man tosses either the ball or frisbee for Maggie and our neighbor's dog, Thompson.  As soon as the wheelbarrel comes out of the basement door, they know the game is on.  They never stop wanting to play the game, but they do take breaks.

\The search in on for the first blossom out there.  Come on spring!

Most of the day I spent a lot of time on the internet trying to find out what we can do in our local communties to help each other get through the coronavirus. There are many people who are doing the same and have some good ideas.

Both hospitals in our area, Bonner General Health in Sandpoint, and Kootenai Health, in Coeur d' alene can use face masks.  There were several of us searching the net yesterday trying to find the best information for patterns and instructions.

My sewing skills are not good, but I know there are many talented seamstresses out there who could make these up in about 15 minutes.  All you need is some cotton fabric.  The best pattern also calls for elastic for the ties, but they can be made with fabric ties. 

Coronavirus Deaconess  - instructions and video.

Kootenai Health - instructions

There are ongoing discussions about how we can help our local businesses.  Many restaurants are offering takeout meals and some have websites where you can purchase a gift certificate for future use.  As we work our way through this I'm sure there will be many new ways we can help each other out.  In the meantime, do your part.  Stay home and take care of yourself.

As I was browsing through my files, I found photos from our trip to Creston, B.C. on March 18, 2019.

Different times now.

Port of Entry at Porthill.  Temporarily closed until May 6th.  

What can we do?

I'm not sure what day of isolation we are in now, but life is slowly moving forward.  We watch the news and press conferences and it seems that if we are to survive this virus, we are all going to need to pull together.

The federal government has been promising more tests, masks, hospital ships, ventilators and protective equipment for our doctors and nurses, but nothing appears to be in the pipeline.  I don't think we can count on any of those supplies showing up in Bonner County anytime soon.

Our Governor, Brad Little, has refused to issue an order to close all restaurants and bars and schools.  Thankfully, our school district decided to close.  There are local restaurants and bars that are still open.  One of those is owned by a Sandpoint City Councilman.  At the same time, our local hospital has cancelled all elective surgeries and they are re-using masks?   Something is not right here.

What does our hospital need?

Do they have a shortage of masks?  Gowns?  Gloves?  Do they need more staff?

There are approximately 45,000 people in Bonner County.   Who needs help?   How can we keep our communities, family, friends and neighbors afloat?  There are a lot of people who have just lost their jobs.

I certainly don't have the answers, but it seems like we should all be able to do our part.

How do we help those who have lost their jobs?

The local food bank?

Senior Centers?

Nursing Homes?

Hospital  and clinics?

For the most part we are all "sheltering in place". There are 45,000 of us.  Let's put our thinking caps on.

Sandpoint Online
http://sandpointonline.com/news/coronavirus.shtml

It is going to be a nice spring day.

Would you prefer to face Grandma or a Griz?

We have been without Internet service since last Friday night.  An entire week, but it seems like it was longer than that.

So, where were we?

Oh yeah, the coronavirus.

 a.k.a. "hoax".

We have all watched it evolve from a hoax to a fully blown national emergency.

"Anyone who wants a test, can get a test".  Where are the tests?   Waiting on the tests....

Retired Mountain Man was scheduled to have shoulder surgery on Wed. Mar. 25th.  Plus, he is also being treated for bladder cancer and his first treatment was on Monday.  He will need 5 more treatments.  One every week.  Will the treatments still be available?

Angry?

We have been self-isolating since, Friday, March 13th.  (the night our internet went out).  We are missing our kids and grandkids and it's depressing to know that we won't get to see them anytime soon.

I will tell you right now that I am more angry than I am depressed.

Angry? Why?

The lack of response to the virus by our government, both at the national and state level, has put all of the people I love and care about at risk.  Plus the many friends that I also love and care about are also at risk.  The members of my community.   

Today Jon's doctor called to say that all elective surgeries have been cancelled.  Retired Mountain Man needs his shoulder surgery.  He has a lot of pain and really can't use his right arm at all.

Yep.  Still angry.   Certainly not at the doctor.  They are doing what they need to do.

There are those that think I shouldn't make this political.  Well, the politicians just made my family's health "political".  Too bad for them.  They made their choices.

   It doesn't pay to tick off the grandmothers in America.  In other words, "don't poke the bear". 

Yes, I will do my part.  I will do whatever I can to help my family and friends and my neighbors.  I am so glad that Medicaid Expansion in Idaho passed and was implemented.  It will help many who had no health care get through this.

Medicaid expansion supporters at the legislature.

The U.S. Senate left town for a three-day weekend.  Couldn't be bothered with the virus.  Many congressmen and women mocked and made fun of those who were concerned about the virus. 

Wait a minute.  They work for us, don't they?

Yep.  Still angry.

That said, we have lots of firewood to keep the furnace going.  Two freezers full of garden veggies, fruits and meat.  Canned goods in the root cellar and a pantry full of assorted gluten-free flours, sugar and you name it, I've got it.  I've always had a stocked pantry because many years ago you didn't waste gasoline driving to Sandpoint every week to buy groceries.  When it's a twenty minute drive to the grocery store, one stocks up.   Always.

I still miss my precious grandbabies.

Great-grandson

There are scientists and doctors in my family.  I have friends who are doctors.  I respect their opinions.  They have studied and worked hard and not only that, they have a lot of experience and expertise.  I trust them.   

Grandaughter Sarah, is a pharmacist in Missoula.  One of those important people on the front lines.  She works many ten and twelve hour days.   Dedication.

Sarah and great-grandaughter, Quinn.

There has been such disregard by our government for what scientists and doctors were trying to tell them that it is mind boggling.   We sat on our hands while the virus raged in China.

I've heard that even now, there are many who don't believe in following the recommendations from the CDC.
 
Son Jamie or JP, (the one in the center of the photo) is a database computer technolgy guy.  Data.  Computers.  Facts.  His company does a lot of work for FEMA.  More data.  More facts.

It seems it took the stock market falling thousands of points to finally get some people to pay attention.  Even then, they were more worried about their wallet than their constituents.

Thankfully, we have practically every scientist and doctor in the world trying to find a drug or vaccine to stop it.  We have realized that we are woefully unprepared for this and that maybe we should have listened to them.

Son David, is a professor at the University of Montana. They will be collaborating with Mt. Sinai Hospital on research for a coronavirus vaccine and they have applied for funding for that purpose.  He is also one of the founders of  InImmune, a research company that collaborates with the University of Montana.

Thank you to all of them who are working overtime trying to find a drug or vaccine that will stop the virus.

My grandson, Dylan, is a phlebotomist.  He's the one who comes to your room to draw blood while you are in the hospital.  It's important to your doctor what your blood test results show.  More of that data and science stuff.   I want him to have protective gear to wear when he's at the hospital.  I heard tonight that many hospitals are desparate for ventilators and gear.  Come on, government officials.  Get it done.

Facts, data and science are important.  

I am counting on some scientist out there in the world somewhere to find a solution to the mess we are in.

It's my intention to survive the coronavirus if for no other purpose than to vote in November.

Begonia tribute.

Yesterday I checked the few begonia bulbs that I had saved from last year.  I thought they might survive the early frost that we had last fall, but unfortunately, they did not.    We had a very early hard freeze in September.  It was so cold that it froze everything in pots on our deck.  That usually doesn't happen until the end of October.  I dug up a few of them and stored them in perlite and hoped for the best.  Yesterday I found out that they are all mush.

I am posting some photos from last summer.  They were definitely beauties.

The orange one was my all-time favorite.  The bulb was huge and measured about 8" in circumference.

Begonias are lovely because once they start blooming, they never stop.  All summer, into the fall.

This was my "begonia corner" of my deck.  Some of these were over three feet tall.

It's time to start over.  I'm looking at what's available online.  Still haven't found the orange one yet.  

The good news is that my Red Robin tomatoes are growing and it's time to transplant them into larger pots again.  It will be time to start the garden tomatoes soon.

Spring forward.

The weather

First it was snow and snow and then more snow. 

Now it's rain and rain and rain and more rain.  Hundreds of potholes in our county road and the snow is slowly melting away.  It's pouring rain.

No, it's not raining on my tomato plants, but they are on my mind today.

This morning when I checked the weather for our area, it says the temperature in Sandpoint is 50 degrees.  Feb. 1st and it's 50 degrees at 7:00 a.m. 

Amazing thing - climate change.  More extremes all the time, one of those being the wind.  It's also very windy today.

Gardeners pay attention to the weather and the one major change I've noticed since I started growing a garden here in 1974 is that we now have frequent gusty wind storms.  It doesn't seem to matter what time of the year it is. 

The good thing is that February is here and spring is that much closer.

Yesterday Retired Mountain Man and I made a trip to Sandpoint to stock up on supplies for Super Bowl weekend.

As I said, it's been raining here non stop for thirty days.  At least that's the way it seems.  The highways were covered with water and there was standing water in all the low lying areas.  Ugh!  The rain and fog and dreary weather is just that.  Dreary. 

The parking lot at Yoke's had no parking spaces since it seems that everyone was there to get ready for Super Bowl weekend.  As we were shopping we happened to run into a couple of people we haven't seen for some time.  Marie Hawkins, who was the secretary at Stidwell Jr. High during the years that Jon taught there and also Marilyn George, who was one of the math teachers.  It was great to talk to them and definitely cheered us up.

After getting home from our trip, it was time for my other project which was to get my Red Robin tomato seeds started.  A good thing to do on the last day of January.  I have been growing Red Robin tomatoes for six years now and they are my favorite.  They produce tomatoes from May through September and the convenience of being able to pick a few ripe tomatoes from the plants on my deck is wonderful.  Homegrown and picked off the vine.  It's something to look forward to.

My light fixture for starting seeds is set up in the bay window.  With a warming mat underneath the pots, the seeds should sprout in four or five days.

There's nothing to see yet, so these are some photos from years past.

With any luck, by April or May we will have some ripe cherry tomatoes to eat.

I still haven't decided which team to cheer for in the Super Bowl but I hope the game is a good one.   We are in need of any kind of distraction from our local weather.   I am so desparate that even the halftime show and commercials may look good. 

How about a photo of something cheery?