Sing the mountain down while God remains oblique and unimpressed

[pameladean]

Thanks to anybody in my circle who is posting anything at all, and to anybody reading my posts. I'm really leaning on Dreamwidth at the moment, even though I'm fortunate to be in a household of four people whom I am very fond of indeed.

I'm still struggling to work productively, but am working on the book every day. The nice comments about my excerpt in the New Decameron were really helpful in producing some writing energy.

As of Saturday morning, nobody in this house is going out to work; as of Friday evening, nobody in Minnesota is supposed to go out except to do a job deemed essential or to get exercise, food, or medical supplies. I am very cautiously optimistic, based on some remarks by both the governor (currently in quarantine because a member of his security staff has COVID-19) and the head of Hennepin Healthcare that maybe, possibly, Minnesota got it together in time to mitigate the first wave of cases and flatten things.

I was supposed to see my doctor today for yearly bloodwork and general checking-in about my diabetes. The appointment was rescheduled for April 30. In the meantime, it seemed prudent to do better at checking my blood sugar. Preliminary results are not bad, fasting numbers in line with a type 2 diabetic under the care of a doctor, after-dinner ones sometimes fine and sometimes a tad high. It's extremely obvious, a thing I knew but have to keep relearning because it's inconvenient, that increasing exercise will bring both numbers down. I am working on it.

In the meantime, I had to relearn how to use the newish glucometer and finish reading the manual. My old glucometer (still working fine, but if you change health insurance companies you have to get a new glucomter that they approve, and your existing test strips of course don't work in the new glucometer) was supposed to be cleaned and sanitized using Chlorox germicidal wipes. These are useful things to have around and I had in fact used them all up at some point.

This glucometer, impressively, is supposed, according to the manual, to be cleaned and sanitized only with Super Sani-Cloth wipes (available at Home Depot, Amazon, Walmart, and other providers!) I did a quick search for those to see what they were. Of course they are out of stock everywhere. I set a couple of email alerts to be notified if they ever are back in stock for anybody except hospitals, and hied me to the customer support page for the glucometer. The person who helped me via chat responded at once that the meter did not have to be cleaned at all, but if I got blood on it I could just wipe it off with a dampened cloth.

This is of course a relief, AND YET. I am pretty sure when only one product is allowed in a case like this, there's a monetary connection between it and the company that sells the glucometers, but I had not expected to be told that the entire process wasn't really necessary. I'd thought they might tell me to use a little rubbing alcohol if I had it.

Between the New Decameron and my Nevada Barr reread, I'm doing better with reading fiction rather than Twitter, insofar as there's a difference. That's actually not fair to Twitter, where I've found many valuable links and cheering goofiness, and where I can converse with people I don't see here. But you never know when ill-intended fiction will pop up.

Lydy is nurturing a sourdough starter. I had looked extensively at doing so but not started yet. I'm not bored, more slowed down to an even more molasses-like state than my usual by both pity and terror. Thanks, Aristotle.

I miss my sweetie whom I don't live with very much indeed. We have hopes, though not, I guess, during the about-to-take effect shutdown, to sit eight feet apart in the back yard on a warm mellow day, and actually converse.

I'd better shower, dress, clean something, and go for a walk while it's nice out. May you all be safe.

Pamela

Comments

[sovay]

Thanks to anybody in my circle who is posting anything at all, and to anybody reading my posts.

I am very glad to hear from you. I am sorry that you are separated from any of your people at this time. Stay safe.

[pameladean]

Thank you. I do not care for it at all, but it seems best for the moment. I know you will work to stay safe as well, but urge it anyway.

P.

[dreamshark]

I was thinking of suggesting that we might take a walk together as the weather gets pleasanter, but if you are not even willing to come within 8 feet of your sweetie you probably aren't interested in that.

Personally, I'm much less concerned about outdoor exposure than indoor. They've been saying from the beginning that you aren't in much danger from simply passing someone on the street. The guideline was always less than 6 (or sometimes 3) feet for an extended period of time (defined as 10 minutes or more). The seriously contagious environment seems to be indoor crowds for a period of several hours: parties, church services, concerts, conventions. The problem is rebreathing the same air, which is not that much of an issue outdoors with wafting breezes and whatnot.

As various households complete their own 2-week self-isolations I'm thinking that a little cautious socialization between those households becomes less and less dangerous. But you should do what you're comfortable with. The more you keep to yourself the safer you are, and clearly you don't want to take any chances. Over here at DreamPark we have been doing no entertaining at all and staying home except for solo outdoor walks and the occasional grocery shopping trip. I feel pretty safe as long as we keep that up.

[pameladean]

I have three charmingly-named comorbidities, and the whole thing sounds absolutely miserable even if you make it through; so I'm being extremely paranoid. It's too bad, as a walk with you would have been nice, assuming my molasses pace didn't drive you to distraction. Maybe we could consider it if this all gets under control.

P.

[dreamshark]

I'm not a fast walker myself. And I've gotten so out of shape over the winter that 1 mile is pretty much my limit. Let's keep it in mind as things develop.

Since we are both in self-isolation we should be a pretty safe match, although your definition of self-isolation is slightly stricter than mine. But only slightly, I think.

[pameladean]

Definitely keeping it in mind. I am not sure I can stay this jumpy, but you never know. P.

[mrissa]

Please do not feel like you have to self-deprecate about taking reasonable cautions given your risk levels and the seriousness of this situation.

[pameladean]

Yes, thank you, very good point. Also considering the large range of variables that are still unknown.

P.

[bibliofile]

From now on, in my head, you live with three humans, several cats, and your charmingly-named comorbities: Aloysius, Murgatroyd, and er Thingummy?

I'd sort of assumed that strict cleansing requirements were sort of a backup clause to point to when customers do odd things. "Did we suggest that [taking it deep sea diving] would be a good way to clean it? I'm so sorry, but it's not our fault."

[tiger_spot]

It's good to hear from you.

[pameladean]

Same here. P.

[lcohen]

it's good to see posts from you and hear how you're doing. i am apparently reading social media and stuff for work but not for fun, as it were.

i received bad news today which you saw, which has caused me to redouble my caution. a bunch of idiots went out to the lakefront yesterday, so the city is closing more stuff down and word is that we may get a more restrictive shutdown. i miss human contact more than i can say but by golly, i will adhere because bad news is terrible to receive.

stay well, my dear friend.

[pameladean]

I'm glad you're being careful. You stay well too. P.

[lydamorehouse]

Walking has seriously improved my mood. Hopefully, it will help you, too.

I'm impressed you've been writing. I've been finding that incredibly difficult. I did manage a little bit so far today though. So progress! We shall cheer each other on!

[pameladean]

It's really not much, just a paragraph or three a day. But anything is great, in this situation. Go you for managing what you did! Cheering one another one is a fine idea.

I'm about to put on sunscreen (ugh) and venture forth.

P.

[cowfan]

I got that same thing about my new glucometer and never ordered the required wipes. I am glad to know that they are not necessary. I do wipe off the lancing device if I get blood on it and just wipe it a little with a Kleenex after using it. Maybe we could go for a slow walk at some point. I've been taking walks around the neighborhood on good days.

[pameladean]

You might approach the customer service branch of whoever makes your glucometer just to be sure. (Mine is an Accu-chek.) But the cleaning and sanitizing might be an excess of caution on the part of all manufacturers, I don't know.

I found that if I neglected to clean my old one or ran out of wipes, it did start to get a buildup of finger oils, so an occasional wipedown of some sort seems reasonable.

P.

[asakiyume]

Wow, how ... I don't know what to say--crazy, or eye-opening, or *something*--about the glucometer. I'm glad you don't have to find some way to obtain rarer-than-gold wipes, though.

Yes: may we all be safe. Enjoy the walk!

[pameladean]

I know, I'm still very much boggled.

The walk was nice. There were a lot of people and dogs out, but without exception we did the two-step around one another and mostly passed at distances of more like ten than six feet. Nobody was remotely inconsiderate.

P.

[halfmoon_mollie1]

The blackness is about two steps behind me, and I am so glad to here from you.

[pameladean]

*waves hands at the blackness and blows very loud party horns at it*

P.

[kiya]

I am quite grateful that my impulse acquisition of the sourdough culture extracted from an Egyptian archaeological find from the guy who invented the XBox means I can in theory produce bread, only I am still bad at sourdough.

(And I put in all the above in that sentence because I love this weird world even if it is also terrible rn.)

[pameladean]

That is AWESOME. The world is loveable, just not completely safe. Not a tame world.

P.

[kiya]

Further up and further in.

Maybe I'll get a better rise there.

[pameladean]

Now that would be very heaven. P.

[carbonel]

I don't think I can make enough bread to keep a sourdough starter going, but I love sourdough and have requested that Lydy provide me with an offspring of the starter if she succeeds at it.

I am contemplating a run to Costco during the senior early shopping hours. I could use a few things, but this is really motivated by the fact that I'm almost out of smoked salmon, my usual breakfast being coffee and half a bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon. There are other places to buy it, but Costco is my usual source and a known quantity. And the next-best place is Minsk Market, and I'm not sure it'd be possible to maintain proper distancing there. Though they do have excellent bread.

I am going to go for a walk tomorrow and tell my ankle to shut up.

[pameladean]

You can make other things with sourdough starter -- pancakes and so on -- but it is still a lot more making things than one might be used to.

How did your ankle respond to the walk?

P.

[carbonel]

My ankle seems to have been fine with the walk. It's improving very slowly -- way too slowly for my taste -- but exercise doesn't seem to make it worse, or at least only temporarily.

I felt as if I turned some kind of corner a few days ago when I got out of bed and put my weight on it and it didn't immediately hurt. (It did as soon as the foot flexed, but improvement nevertheless.)