Monday - 248th

You're talking to a person here who has, from day 1 of the pandemic, practiced safe behaviors. Being retired makes that less of a challenge. Some degree of isolation at home is not so unusual for us -- we're home bodies and our social orbit is intense but small. A few tweaks later and we achieved a level of total seclusion,  cut off from all people contact. (Except for the occasional masked, distanced, outside encounter with family members who are, themselves, at least partially isolated.)

But what if you ask yourself this question: is your degree of caution excessive? Should you adjust things to meet the new available data on contacts, on periods of isolation, on testing? 

With the approach of the holiday season, I thought I'd explore these questions. For the past week, I've been reading guidelines, recommendations and new findings as they are presented on main stream media with verifiable links to reputable sources, and, too, those that appear on the CDC website. Let me tell you, it's a mess of inconsistent information out there! I can point you to several statements on the CDC that are downright misleading and even incorrect. The guidelines coming from the mouths of infection specialists are vague or worse -- so generalized as to exclude most common situations, indeed, your own situation, and so you have to modify and calculate and you have few reliable metrics to help you along.

Can I say it -- I wish there was a federal response to the virus, where directions, recommendations, answers to questions were put forth consistently, updated regularly, and adjusted for the season. Navigating what's out there now is brutal! No wonder so many people are floundering, making mistakes left and right just because they don't know what (beyond masks, hand washing and social distancing) is and what is not safe.

A cold and threatening November morning. I may as well keep staring at the computer screen. After all, the walk to feed the animals tells me that outdoor time is not going to be much fun today.

 

 

The temptation to linger forever over breakfast is so strong!

 

 

But, a morning of internet reading is enough to remind you of your commitment to a more balanced day. Yesterday, for the first time since October 1, I did not make my 10 000 step goal. Today -- I either recover or I throw it all away. I choose "recover," so Ed and I go out to rake honey locust seed pods away from the Big Bed.  It's real work and it counts toward your active steps, especially if you rake hard enough to give yourself blisters. Which I did.

 

The sun comes out toward the end and suddenly the cold does not seem so terrible at all. We rake, mow and mulch together until the whole courtyard area is mostly free of pods and leaves. Oh, did we need that diversion! 

 

 

Evening. We turn on lights late at the house. Ed likes it that way and I go along. I take in the fading light and I think how precious it is, how sweet it will be to wake up to a fresh load of brightness tomorrow. 

Ed gets up to lock up the cheepers, I turn on the lights, make up a salad for our supper of leftovers,  and we fall gently into our end of day routines.