Sick

Yeah, I got sick around Easter.  In different times, it would be no big deal. I don't get sick very often, but it happens. Fever, chills, aches and pains, headache, sore throat, upset stomach and runny nose.  Blech.

Unfortunately, many of these symptoms are associated with the conrona virus.  I was mildly concerned, but I never thought that I had corona virus.  This felt too much like other bugs that I've caught.  If testing was widely available, I could run down to the doctor's office and find out.  However, there's still a shortage of tests.  Public health guidelines are to stay home and self-isolate unless your situation is really bad (difficulty breathing).

The good news is that I haven't had any breathing issues, and my fever went away after a couple of days.  I stayed on Tylenol for most of the week, so I wasn't positive if the fever went away on its own or if it was the Tylenol.  Now I need 3 days of no fever (without Tylenol) , seven days since onset of symptoms, and a decline in symptoms.  If the fever doesn't return, I should be good to go on Sunday.

To protect Justin and the rest of the family, I moved up to the Scamp.  My little electric heater has kept it mostly comfortable during some cold temperatures.  Callie the crazy dog has been good company and has kept her eye on me day and night to make sure that I stay isolated.

During my staycation, I read "Call of the Wild," binged on downloaded episodes of Bosch and the Wire, and slept a lot.  Those tv shows are really good, but "Call of the Wild" is timeless.  It's available for free at the internet archive. It's especially recommended for anyone with a dog like Callie.

I returned to my long walks on country roads on Wednesday.  I rarely see anybody.  This is a stream in the marsh near my house. When I first looked at it, I saw two decent-sized trout. My friend Jon (now deceased) told me there were trout in this stream, but I never saw proof until this week.

I'll probably start splitting wood again this weekend.  On a hill like we have, leaning trees sometimes pull up by their roots and fall.  That happened this week to an oak.

The domino effect changed five other trees.  The tangle is probably too dangerous to mess with at this point, but gravity will eventually bring them all down to create more potential firewood.  My chainsaw can be very patient.  There are less dangerous downed trees in my woods to process.

Nature has many lessons for us. When a tree falls in the forest, it doesn’t really matter if anyone hears it.  But there is often collateral damage.

Closed

Sunrise from our Hill

My favorite local places to hike are:  Gibraltar Rock (less than ten miles away) and Devil's Lake (less than thirty miles away by way of the Merrimac Ferry).

Yesterday, Governor Evers closed those two locations, along with dozens of other state parks and state natural areas in southern Wisconsin.  This was not unexpected.  State public lands have been flooded with people seeking outdoor opportunities but who were not practicing social distancing.  In fact, the record crowds of people, together with closed bathrooms, limited garbage service and no added staffing, resulted in increased vandalism and litter.

I've been staying away because it was all too predictable, given human nature.  The Lodi Marsh remains open, as far as I know.  We've been hiking there about once per week early on weekday mornings to avoid crowds.

Lodi Marsh

Unfortunately, Callie has had a couple of hostile encounters with other dogs there.  One was an off-leash pit bull that the owner had no control over, even after we walked fifty feet off the trail to avoid it.  Another was an on-leash bigger dog that its owner wasn't able to control.  The dog literally dragged her owner 30 yards to get into Callie's face.  Callie's behavior has improved dramatically since she joined our family, but she doesn't tolerate other dogs in her face.

Australian cattle dogs are part Australian dingo, and she seems to have received more than her fair share of that part.  Sometimes, I think Callie must be swearing at the other dogs in dog language.  She definitely brings out the worst in other dogs.  The only dog that she tolerates is Elvis the service dog.  Callie seems to think that Elvis is a docile cow tied to Justin's power wheelchair. 


The best place to walk has turned out to be on the country roads east of my house.   The old dairy farm roads are almost always empty of traffic and people. 

After a five mile walk in the morning, we work on the firewood project in the afternoon.  This involves cutting down dead trees, bucking the downed trees into rounds, and rolling the rounds down the hill (we call it firewood bowling).

Then we pile the rounds into the splitting pile, split the rounds into firewood, and stack the firewood  on pallets.  Each year, we move seasoned firewood (1-3 years old, dependent on species) from the outside storage area into the pole shed for the coming winter.

There's still plenty of work to do outside while social distancing. With temperatures in the 20's and 30's for the next 7 days, we will still be burning last winter's firewood to keep the house toasty.

The Driveway

The plan was to be about 500 miles from home and on my way to New Mexico by today. Instead, Callie and I are camping next to our pole shed on the hill.  I really can’t complain. I have nearly every convenience of a rustic campground: twenty amp electricity, a water spigot down the hill, and  a bathroom inside the house. The Scamp has a bathroom, but there are no open dump stations to unload so we will let that go unused for awhile.

There is also a fire ring, although the state of Wisconsin suspended burning permits and strongly discourages campfires so as not to place any strain on emergency services responding to grass fires.

Numbers for “the virus” have been climbing in Columbia County, but no deaths so far. Dane County, where Madison is located, is a bit of a hotspot. Milwaukee is the big hotspot here with deaths starting to climb, and hospitals putting up triage tents in parking lots.

Our family is staying relatively healthy. Julia’s dad Gene is out of the hospital. We have scaled back our hiking trips. Mostly, we hike from our front door. There are country roads to our west and trails to our east.

This is actually a pretty good place to ride out the storm. Camping in your driveway is better than not camping at all.

Safer at Home

Lockdown sounds so draconian, so Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers issued a "Safer at Home" emergency order, which basically means the same thing.  Like many states, the lockdown order has many exceptions.  The one I'm particularly fond of is that we are allowed to get out and exercise, provided that we maintain social distancing.

We've been getting out to hike every day.  Our state parks are still open for hiking, so Julia and Allie headed to Devil's Lake yesterday.  This morning, Julia and I left the vehicles at home and walked out our front door to the Lodi Marsh Segment of the Ice Age trail.

It was a perfect day to hike.  The sandhill cranes were calling; the squirrels were out and about; and Crazy Callie, the border heeler, was leading the way for our 8.5 mile hike.

It's a stressful time.  Julia's dad was admitted to the hospital tonight with suspected pneumonia.  We don't know yet whether it's bacterial or viral.  (3/26/20 update: he does not not have Coronavirus or  pneumonia; the diagnosis is acute kidney injury due to dehydration)

Exercise, meditation, prayer.  We all need to manage this weird time that we are in.   Besides hiking, I've moved all of next winter's firewood from my outdoor stacks into the pole shed.  Now it's time for me to cut and split some more wood.  Rain is predicted for the next few days, so I'm not sure how much I'll get done.

I finished a really good book that I downloaded from the library:  "The Underground Railroad" by Colson Whitehead.  What we're going through certainly pales in comparison to what runaway slaves went through on their attempts to get north.   I highly recommend the book.

I can't recommend this cruise offer that I got in the mail yesterday.

New Reality

We are settling into our new reality in south-central Wisconsin.  Most businesses with public interaction have closed.  Based upon CDC recommendations and other information, Julia's optometry office also closed, except for emergency and curbside service.  She will be off of the schedule for awhile.

The weather has been lousy during the last couple of days:  rain, snow, cloudy skies.  I've continued to take long walks with Callie in town. The streets are mostly deserted.  With schools closed, I expected to see more kids outside, but I guess everyone is sticking close to home and inside.

Allie and Justin are both home.  Allie is taking care of Justin and getting paid for it.  Justin's previous caregivers have shut down operations in Whitewater, and the dorms have fully closed.  His care coordinator advised the status quo will remain in place until at least mid-April and perhaps longer.  Justin is on a bunch of medications, and we've stocked up on those as best we can. 

The grocery store has had shortages like many around the state, but it hasn't been too crazy.  The hardware store remains open. Bars and restaurants are all closed.  I've been doing a lot of reading online about the virus, and it takes a bit to separate the wheat from the chaff.  One of the best sources that I've found is this blog by a very experienced infectious disease physician:

Allie is probably the most bored out of the four of us.  She put together this video:

Rapid Changes

It's amazing how fast the world has changed in the past few weeks.  The stock market has tanked.  Countries are closing borders. Schools are closing.  Crowds are a bad thing.  Social distancing is a thing...a good thing.  Honestly, I didn't need social distancing to be a trend.

If it was just up to me, I would be heading out west in early April with the Scamp. Unfortunately, it is not meant to be.

Justin has a great semester going at UW-Whitewater.   He has new friends.  He is doing well in school.  Additionally, he found a new passion:  sports broadcasting.  One of Justin's new friends is a communications major and participates on the campus television station.  Justin auditioned and is now is part of the broadcasting team.

 
Each week, they do a sports talk show, covering a wide range of local, regional and national sports topics.  Also, for college team broadcasts, they provide play-by-play, color and sideline reporting.  Justin loves spectator sports, talking and the limelight, so the fit is perfect. 

Unfortunately, the corona virus has thrown a wrench into the continuation of the semester.  UW-Whitewater, along with many other colleges, is closing early for an extended spring break, and the future of the semester is unclear.  Justin is coming home tomorrow. We are planning for the probability that he will need to complete the semester from home with his classes offered only online.

While the situation is fluid, his care giving agency has advised that care giving will not be available in the dorms when online classes resume.  That means that Julia and I will likely share care giving responsibilities at home for the foreseeable future.  There is a possibility that Allie might be able to help out some too.  Anyway, I'm 99% sure that I won't be making any long trips this spring.  I will need to stay closer to home for awhile.

One scary thing is that Justin has weak lungs due to his muscular dystrophy.  He already needs a bipap machine at night for breathing assistance.  Justin rarely catches viruses, so we're hoping that continues. 

Glacial Drumlin

Today, Julia and I celebrated our last day of the empty nest by hiking the Glacial Drumlin Trail near Lake Mills, Wisconsin.  We did an in/out hike of about eight miles.  Spring is in the air.

Robins literally arrived just a few days ago.  They are fat and sassy after a trip north.  On the trail today, we saw another sign of spring:  the return of the sandhill cranes.

After the hike, we went to Lewis Station Winery, where we sampled several red wines (ok) and dined on wood-fired pizza (really good).

On a final note, I ordered 25 lbs of green coffee beans to get me through the zombie apocalypse.  I'll let other people stock up on toilet paper.