Four Quarantine Questions

Why Is Quarantine Relaxing?

“Shall I just assume I have a cold?” I asked the nurse at the OB doctor’s office on Monday morning.

“Yes,” she said. “So many people are calling for the same thing to see if they have COVID. Some do, of course, but it’s like no one can even have a cold anymore.”

“So it won’t interfere with my appointment?”

“No, just be careful how you answer the questions at the door,” she said. “You haven’t had a fever, right?”

“Right,” I said.

“And you aren’t coughing.”

“Yes, I am coughing.”

“Oh, you are?” A pause.

“Yes,” I sigh. I also sounded terrible, my voice, like a piece of raw meat, talking.

“Well… maybe better rule it out.”

“Yes, that might be better,” I agreed. In some cases, COVID has been harmful to the unborn, although many women have problem-free births.

So, that afternoon, I got in the 40-car line of people waiting to get tested at Elkhart General Hospital. Trust me, the least painful part was the actual test. That was just a quick swirl around both nostrils with a swab, and I got to do the swirling. The two-hour-ish wait was the hard part, but thankfully, I was behind on podcasts and educated myself while waiting.

Then, we settled into a 3-5 day quarantine, waiting for results.

And I found, once again, that look-alike days are very relaxing. When you have one day after another that is exactly the same, you have significantly less stress. Also, it was quite nice to have Marnell home again. Since we can both work from home, we tapped away at our own computers and it was all quite cozy.

Now, I just checked my records online from the hospital and discovered the virus was not detected in my sample. Not surprising. Quarantine is over. Am I glad or sad? I don’t know.

Should I Temporarily Take Up a Job At the Hospital?

I’ve been enjoying my writing projects a lot, but I do have a nagging sense of the call of duty at the hospital. I keep wondering if there is a job where a person who is not “current” in hospital tasks could step in and help out. At the beginning of October, our hospital had 30 inpatients with COVID. At the beginning of November, they had 60. Now, mid-November, they have 90.

I can just picture it now, back in those days when I worked there and patients overloaded our heart surgery census. When you get crazy busy, things get missed and you’re too tired to think straight. Then you are short with patients or co-workers. Or you forget to report that one lab value that got eclipsed by that one emergency. People get upset and a whole cascade of bad things happens. I can only imagine, but my best guess is that this is happening now. However, by the time I would re-train for bedside tasks, I wouldn’t have much time to help before ending up in the hospital myself giving birth. So I’m not sure that I would be more help than bother.

Why Won’t the Birds Eat the Dried Fruit I Put Out for Them?

I had a stash of dried apple bits with small brown fruits (dates? raisins?) mixed in and I just couldn’t think of a good use for them. Finally, I piled a nice serving in the kitchen birdfeeder, beside the pile of seeds. What a nice treat for the birds! I thought. How generous of me to think of it!

Now, you would think birds would eat fruit. Why else do farmers put large flapping inflatables in their blueberry and strawberry fields? To scare the birds away from eating the fruit, yes?

But no. My birds do not eat fruit. In fact, just minutes ago, I saw one finely feathered specimen sifting through the fruit pile looking for seeds. Seriously!

Why Is Amazon So Annoying?

I guess if you are a big bear you get to act like one. But I’ve started a bit of a personal boycott. It turns out there are other stores in the world. We just got a nice paper shredder from Office Max, delivered to our door. I ordered a book from a publishing house, and clothes from a clothing store. Who knew?!

Maybe it was because my sister started me on Rakuten, the online coupon company, with promises that both she and I would get $40 if I followed her link, and I would get cash back on select online purchases. I ordered the paper shredder and I already have $46.42 in my cash back account. You can get the money mailed to you as a check or dropped in your PayPal account. Kind of clever, for no extra charge. Hey, great idea – why not follow my link? Sign up with Katrina’s Link!

Perhaps quarantine makes you a bit loopy, judging from this blog. Hope to see you next week, with a clearer head.

Books and Audio and a Plea

Thanks to those of you who have left reviews on Amazon or Goodreads! This helps a lot. There are quite a few of you who also planned to leave reviews who haven’t – I know how it goes – so I’ll post the easy links for you here. Thanks a lot!

Marnell said it was “interesting” that I complained about Amazon, then asked for reviews on Amazon. Well. Listen to this.

When I sell a paper book on Amazon, they take twice as much money-or more- compared to what they return to me. I actually don’t like selling them on Amazon. But there’s the big bear – if people don’t know where to find a book, they search the bear. And, not only that, if a book does not have many reviews, it doesn’t get as much attention. So feel free!

I’m not even posting links to buy the book today, because if you are planning to buy, you should wait until our sale the Monday after Thanksgiving! Unless you desperately need something now, in which case you can always shop in the store.

Audio- We are running a bit late and doing some negotiations about how the CDs will come about. Still hopeful to have some forms ready by Christmas, but Thanksgiving might be a stretch. I’ll keep you updated! (Oh, and Amazon? I heard their audio, through Audible, is taking five months to load. Typical! So expect it by May 2021.)