Cowgirl

Many of us are staying at home right now. I just found this site. It looks like it has a lot of good content for kids to read. And it’s free. Open Culture http://www.openculture.com/2016/08/enter-an-archive-of-6000-historical-childrens-books-all-digitized-and-free-to-read-online.html

1 hr 49 min ago There are at least 811 new coronavirus deaths reported in the US on Tuesday From CNN's Dave Alsup There have been at least 811 new coronavirus deaths reported in the US on Tuesday, according to a count from CNN Health. This is the most reported deaths in the United States in a single day since the coronavirus outbreak began. There have been a total of 3,815 deaths reported in the US.

Illinois update: Public Health Officials Announce 937 New Cases of Coronavirus Disease 31st Mar, 2020 SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 937 new cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 26 additional deaths. Cook County: 2 male 50s, 1 male 60s, 2 female 60s, 5 males 70s, 2 females 70s, 3 male 80s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 90s DuPage County: 2 females 70s Kane County: 1 male 80s Lake County: 1 female 60s McLean County: 1 male 70s Morgan County: 1 male 80s St. Clair County: 1 female 30s Will County: 1 male 80s, 1 female 80 Ford and Ogle counties are now reporting cases. Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 5,994 cases, including 99 deaths, in 54 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to 99 years.

There’s 25 confirmed cases in the county to our west and cases in every county around us.

It is officially in my county now. Person in their 20’s tested positive. Because it is all around us, I had been careful, assuming it was here also. The young patient is reportedly in a major hospital in another city (transferred from our small, rural hospital).

Illinois update: Public Health Officials Announce 461 New Cases of Coronavirus Disease 30th Mar, 2020 SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 461 new cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois. Eight new deaths are also being reported, including the death of an incarcerated man from Stateville Correctional Center. Cook County: male 50s, male 60s, female 60s, female 70s DuPage County: male 60s Kendal County: female 60s Will County: male 50s, male 60s Additionally, 12 men who were incarcerated at Stateville are now hospitalized, including several requiring ventilators. There are 77 more incarcerated individuals with symptoms who are isolated at the facility. Eleven staff are also being isolated. The Illinois Department of Corrections is taking a number of steps to control the spread of COVID-19 in its correctional centers. Staff who work with individuals in isolation and quarantine, as well as in the health center, are wearing full personal protective equipment (PPE) and all staff are wearing some PPE. Staff are also having their temperature checked daily as they enter the facility. Correctional centers with a confirmed case are placed on lockdown, which means there is no movement around the facility except for medical care. Incarcerated individuals who show symptoms are being tested. Clark, Crawford, Marion, Randolph, and Saline counties are now reporting cases. Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 5,057 cases, including 73 deaths, in 52 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to 99 years. For all personal protective equipment (PPE) donations, email PPE.donations@illinois.gov. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov. Medically trained professionals able to volunteer are asked to sign up at www.illinoishelps.net. 5,057 Positive Tests Confirmed 73 Deaths 30,446 Total Persons Tested

DH shaves his head. Got tired of the receding hairline years ago. If he let it grow he’d have a ring of hair around his lower head. Looks MUCH better bald.

I have long hair that I usually braid. I usually get it cut twice per year, but I somehow haven’t got around to getting it cut in ... gee, we’ll over a year. I was going to get it cut this spring. Guess that won’t be happening for awhile! But I sure like the idea of Tress Mobile.

🎉 Happy birthday CG! 🎉

Stormy weather. Power keep flickering off and back on due to the high winds. Trying to get ready for work. Power loss equals water loss in the country. Might be tough to look "professional" today. One prep we had intended to get but finances got in the way: a concrete storm shelter. This is why stormy weather always makes me feel a bit anxious -- we don't really have a safe place to ride out nasty storms. Somehow, some way, I hope we can get one, sooner rather than later. DH was going to build one, to save money, but he never got around to it before he got sick.

Infant death. 😿 From CNN: >>>>> 1 hr 57 min ago First death of infant in connection with coronavirus reported in the US From CNN’s Hollie Silverman A Chicago baby is the first infant death in the US associated with coronavirus, Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said Saturday. "There has never before been a death associated with COVID-19 in an infant. A full investigation is underway to determine the cause of death," Ezike said. "We must do everything we can to prevent the spread of this deadly virus. If not to protect ourselves, but to protect those around us." An investigation into the cause of death is underway, Ezike said. The death of a child younger than one year with coronavirus has previously been reported in China. That child had a pre-existing condition. <<<<<

Agreed. While we cannot be completely self-sufficient, what we can do is a big help and worth doing. And that is true of anyone. , at any level of home food production. If I could have only one thing in terms of home food production, it would be my chickens. They are not too much work, they can forage for some of their own food, and the eggs are rich in vitamins and protein. I am glad to see more towns allowing backyard flocks nowadays. Backyard chickens should not be a luxury only for us country bumpkins.

Given our current health challenges, no, we couldn’t live off what we can produce. But what we can produce (or, what I can produce, really), can go a long way toward feeding us. I have lots of fruits, some of which are medicinal: rose hips, cherries, apples, raspberries, strawberries, elderberries, highbush cranberries, hawthorn berries, mulberries, blueberries. I have a fair number of herbs. We have good egg production. And then there’s the vegetable beds. Our pecan trees are several years from production right now. But given our health challenges, we cannot scale up for grain production, which we would need to do for sufficient calories. We have enough land, good soil, and a good food producing climate — in theory we could be entirely self-sufficient. But I don’t have the physical ability to provide the needed labor. So, our garden homestead can only be a part of our food survival, not all of it.

There are severe shortages of PPE for medical personnel and so it was only a matter of time before they started discussions about DNR for COVID-19 patients. Should medical staff risk their lives trying to do CPR on a COVID-19 patient whose heart has stopped? https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/26/health/coronavirus-hospitals-do-not-resuscitate-bn/index.html

Happy belated birthday, Mary. Hope it was a good one. Sleepless here too, Miki. Guess the anxiety of these times is getting to me. Going to do granny hours shopping for some fresh produce today and also some garden seeds (I hope). Also need another med for DH - doc changed one. Not keen on going out into this mess, but need to get it done.

I need to build a new garden bed this year also, to add to the garden — figure we’ll need the extra food. Fortunately we also have poop factories, aka horse and chickens. I need to pump up the wheelbarrow tire and hope it will hold air so I can shovel some aged manure and compost for the new bed.

Exactly, Littlesister. This is just another way to politicize this crisis. This pandemic is not being deliberately spread by terrorists or evil people.It is spreading because people won’t / can’t stay home and this virus spreads easily between people. But that is not entirely their faults. They have to work, etc. And since they aren’t even testing every pneumonia patient, a huge number of people don’t even know they are infected with this virus.

I access this site via my iPad. I can see the chat box, but it won’t let me enter a comment.

This is a sobering report. https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/25/health/coronavirus-covid-hospitals/index.html This excerpt really got me: >> Another nurse in Georgia said she was repeatedly denied testing, even as her own symptoms worsened over the course of a week. The nurse, who had cared for several patients who died of pneumonia but were never tested for Covid-19, was finally tested Tuesday -- the same day she was admitted to the hospital and put in isolation. "It was not until this morning that I could finally be tested," she said as she gasped for breath between heavy coughs. "It is insane. And it's infuriating. You feel you have to scream to even be heard." << They aren’t testing. Patients are dying of pneumonia and not counted in the pandemic numbers because they aren’t testing.

CNN: DOJ may criminally charge those who spread COVID-19 intentionally. https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/25/politics/coronavirus-terrorism-justice-department/index.html

DH’s gout is way past home remedies. We used to use all those, of course. And I wish we hadn’t. He also does not drink. He also rarely ate beef (has had ZERO since September). He is too fat. That is likely a contributing factor. Gout completely destroyed his knee. There is no knee left, really, just deteriorated bone on bone. No cartilage, no meniscus, nothing that makes a knee function as a knee. The x-rays and MRI scared even a Harvard trained orthopedic surgeon we were referred to at one point. I tried for years to get DH to go to a rheumatologist, for proper treatment, but he stubbornly refused. He would see a nurse practitioner at a local family medicine clinic. He was prescribed one medication, but his blood levels were not properly monitored. And he would use home remedies for those flare-ups too. Now the knee cannot be saved. It can only be replaced. And it took some searching to even find a surgeon willing to do the surgery. Lesson here is that gout is NOT something to take lightly and to “treat” with home remedies. It can actually completely destroy a joint or joints. Even if you get some temporary relief, those aren’t actual TREATMENTS and do nothing to save the joints. Gout is a disease best treated and monitored by a rheumatologist. Just sayin.

Number of confirmed cases in USA passes 64,000. There are, of course, many who have it and are untested. But suuuuure this will be over by Easter.

Today is my first day of being home from work, on my work rotation. “Slept in” for 20 minutes before the menagerie reminded me I was late for feeding. But it was an odd night, full of weird dreams and wakefulness, so I don’t feel well-rested. Fed the menagerie, collected the eggs, fed the DH, and started some laundry, Need to sort through food preps today and do some rotating. Also need to clean AGAIN. It’s mud season here. It is a constant thing. I could mop every day and still not keep up. Mud season bizarrely started mid-winter this year and continues. Climate change.

Good to see you! We are also only semi-prepared here, because life happens. But we are better prepared than many, as you are. We’ll get through this together.