The Monday Mess

Hi All!

Has the swine flu hit where you live? In my neck of the woods, major school districts are shutting down ALL of their schools for a week or more. Tens of thousands (or maybe even hundreds of thousands) of school children are "at home" being told not to congregate for fear that they might pass on the flu.

Now, the media has been telling all kinds of different stories about this flu "epidemic" around here but, from what I can tell, only one person has died in the United States and somewhere around 100-200 in Mexico (actually, I thought the number was much smaller but my neighbor heard the larger number so . . .). It is hard to know what exactly is going on.

There are a couple questions about this whole thing rambling in my mind. First, doesn't the "regular" flu kill at least that many every year? It seems to me that every year people are told that they need to get the flu shot to prevent death - from the "regular" flu. So . . . if this Swine Flu has killed fewer people . . . .

Second, the schools are closing so that the kiddos aren't congregating in large groups. However, you know darn well that all of the parents can't just stop working to stay home with the kids (true, some older kids can stay home by themselves but the younger ones need supervision!). They are looking for somewhere for the kids to go. Where is the most logical place? Day Care centers - where groups of kids are put together. Doesn't that sort of defeat the whole purpose?

And . .. what if the parents can't afford a Day Care or what if all the Day Care Centers close (many have for the same reason as the school districts). Then what? Leave the young kids at home? Miss work and risk losing your job all together? Have a neighbor watch them (again with the congregating)? Is it just me or is there a problem here?

Maybe the entire state should just shut down for a week or so. No one should leave their houses. They can stay inside and watch the new digital tv that might one day be the "norm." They can rent movies from one of those places that mail them to you - oh wait. Getting the mail could be a problem if you can't go outside. Hmmmm.

What a mess! Luckily, we are hearing that the outbreak is on the decline in Mexico so it should be on the decline here as well.

On to other topics . . .

It has been rainy here. And I do mean RAINY! We got another 3 inches of rain or so on Saturday which, when added to the rain from Wednesday, added up to more than 5 inches. There is rain in the forecast again for this week - I think. My poor strawberries need some sun to ripen before they rot!

Skor is getting better . . . I think. The growth on his neck seems to be getting smaller even though it is still pretty darn big. I get to talk to the vet again today to see what we need to do. The antibiotics are almost gone - hopefully, I won't have to get more and can stop the whole "antibiotic dance" Skor and I have been doing twice a day for a week now. The tooth issue seems to be doing well but it could be because of the antibiotics and the steroid shot. I have a feeling we will be going to see the vet again just to be sure. Fun, fun!

I am reading the final chapters in my Deaf Culture book. It is a good feeling to be almost done with the ENTIRE book! Yeah! I don't have any more reading to do for any of my classes but now the studying will start. I promised a girl from my ASL class - also named Tricia by the way (but she spells her name wrong!) - I would study with her. Apparently, she thinks that if she studies with me she will do better on her final than she did on her mid-term. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I don't really study too much. Maybe I will do really, really well on the final since I am going to study!

Okay - I am off to work on something related to school. I am trying very, very hard to remain positive. So far it is working. Sort of.

Trisha

Voice Update: Doing pretty well. My neck is still loose but I need to really keep up the massage. I am feeling a bit "down" about the whole SD thing - imagine that! I don't want to have anything to do with it. Bah!