Sunday, December 06, 2020

COLDNESS RELATIVE IN AGING AND IN PEOPLE

A song lyric from "Young At Heart" keeps popping into my mind as I think about what has been happening in my life this past week.  Michael Buble's words refer to love but they also have a different meaning for me presently as I apologize to lyricist Carolyn Leigh for changing the second line here:   

"Life gets more exciting with each passing day, 

  And problems can occur or are on their way" 


Only in mid-November I wrote:

"My furnace stopped working -- the penalty of having a long-lasting piece of equipment is manufacturers stop making parts so that if you need one, it's not readily available, but if you do get one it's very expensive.  Is that what is meant when they say, you can't win for losing?  Fortunately, that part of my furnace, though determined to be at risk for malfunction, is still operating but who knows what the future may bring."

I found out what the future would bring and how quickly, a week ago, when I awoke one morning to colder than usual temperatures in my bedroom.  Of course, such problems usually occur outside normal repair company working days, instead on weekends and holidays.  I was fortunate I thought since this was a Thursday, and my always accommodating service company was able to respond the next day.

There was bad news then when the serviceman determined that motor part "at risk for malfunction" had permanently gone kaput (my technical term), would need replacement.   The other choice was installing new furnace/AC units, no inexpensive undertaking.  In any event,  I had to go through the weekend without heat before further resolution could begin to occur.  Considering my present units were 28 years old, that they had survived considerably past their life expectancy with few repair problems, I used the time to determine new units seemed the best choice.

A week later was the earliest new units' installation could occur and as luck would have it, outdoor and inside temperatures only became colder during that time period.  Keep in mind "cold" is a relative term, depending on the climate where we each live as I didn't experience even freezing temperatures.  Nevertheless, wearing thermal socks, using a heating pad on my feet, attiring myself in fleece-lined lounge wear, wrapping myself in a flannel bed sheet became the order of the day.  My fingers were also constantly cold requiring I frequently warm them, prompting me a few days later to order fingerless gloves on the internet since I expected to have to use them writing this blog piece.

I couldn't help feeling like a pantywaist as these temperatures when I lived in snow country years ago would have been considered a delightfully warm fall/winter day, but my body had acclimated to a warm clime long ago -- plus aging may have altered my body thermostat's efficient operation, too, or maybe my blood circulation is sluggish -- whatever -- I was cold.  At least, I'll be better prepared for cold in the future should the need arise.  

My wonderful service company was able to install my new units at the end of that first week instead of the following Mon., so I've enjoyed comfortable warmth this weekend as I type this.  Naturally, the weather is warming up outside now.   I was probably lucky this didn't happen earlier, too, as my service company man said they had contracted the virus which slowly swept through their staff.  So, they had just shut down the company for three weeks and only recently resumed business.  Yes, they masked when they came into my house as did I, also I wiped down knobs and various areas after they left, just in case.  Who knows what areas I may have missed.

On a broader note, Covid-19 infections continue to increase across the nation.  California residents have been severely impacted with our state plan for coping now being divided into 5 geographic regions.  ICU bed unit % of availability determines if a Regional Stay Home Order (click on link) becomes effective in each of the regions you can read about on the link.  For regions with under 15% ICU bed unit availability, the order goes into effect Sunday, December 6, 2020 at 11:59 PM.

Los Angeles County were I live has already had the number of available ICU hospital beds decrease to under 15% triggering us to be the second region needing to follow the Stay Home Order.  Nowhere in the entire U.S.A. have we begun yet to see the numbers of the possible increase in infected patients from Thanksgiving when so many people traveled or gathered in groups conceivably risking exposure to contracting Covid-19.

Lock-down conditions pretty much prevail now for those of us in Los Angeles County.  Basic safety care needs to continue -- including washing our hands, staying in our homes, wearing masks, avoiding others than those living with us and taking care even with them.  Businesses are faced with increased challenges trying to survive as many have to temporarily close.

You may want to avoid reading the remainder of this opinionated commentary ..... 
I feel compelled to say the failure of some citizens in this country to recognize the need to simply wear a mask beyond intelligent comprehension for understanding.  

I am a now retired health care worker who sometimes had to use personal protection equipment (PPE) such as mask, gown, gloves through those years.   I suffered no ill effects from having to do so even on those occasions when all I needed was a mask so wearers need not fear personal health damage.  I encountered patients needing to be protected from potential germs unknowingly carried.  I rehabilitated other patients with contagious diseases that might have infected me.  Some patients were on ventilators, many needing to be safely weaned off them to eat and speak if if they were to begin partial or complete recovery.  Should we health care workers protest the inconvenience of wearing masks, etc. by refusing to do so, too?

I think the reasons given by some in the public for choosing to not wear a mask to be the height of ridiculousness, and stupidity, not to mention dangerous, uncaring of others as well as themselves,  to put it mildly.  Religious groups refusing to do so are adopting a position 100% contrary to what they claim to believe about caring for humanity.

I shudder to think what those people would have belly-ached about had they been asked to sacrifice as people did in WWII for not just a year or two but several years.  I wonder how that attitude and behavior would have adversely impacted that war effort, lives of American troops dedicated to saving the world from fascism -- incidentally and coincidentally much as it threatens our nation and others in the world today.  

What has happened to the common sense, intelligent critical thinking and humanity of so many people in this nation, or did it never exist to the degree I thought it did?

40 comments:

  1. Quite an eventful time you have had since your last post. Our cold here does not need furnaces or heating gadgets but, it does mean extra clothing that at least for me seems to keep getting caught in all kinds of corners! A minor inconvenience compared to what you have to undergo.

    I too am lucky to have good service people around and just two days ago, the washing machined needed to be repaired and a phone call and it was fixed in just a couple of hours.

    Sometimes, I wonder how my parents lived their entire lives without these gadgets!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you have good gadget service too. Watch out for those corners. My mother grew up in a time period without all our devices. Even when I was young they weren't as refined as they've seen become. However would we manage without them?

      Delete
  2. Regarding your "political' comment I have read several articles explaining the source. We are a nation born from slavery, meaning that people (some) felt they were the smarter and healthier class and that others were designed to serve them and the upper class did not exist to help those in poverty. This translates into insistance on freedom (to be free and dumb) without regard for the "others."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is an explanation but so incredible to me anyone today could still embrace such beliefs. I know they do because I lived a few years.in a state where such thinking predominated. Enlightened friends who still live there have shared their shocked discovery that a number of their friends and neighbors cling to such ideas. Moving back to a section of our country some years ago I had thought did not hold such beliefs I, too, was shocked to discover otherwise with those attitudes just more covert. Our current President has brought them all out into the open.

      Delete
  3. I'm happy that your new HVAC equipment was installed promptly - especially since you suffer from cold. I was reminded of how simple our heating systems used to be. When I, as executrix to my mother's will, sold her house in 1994, it still had the furnace that had been installed when the house was built in the early 1920s - a convection air, gas-fired furnace 6-8 feet in diameter with air ducted through 1-foot-diameter ducts. My father, an electrician, had upgraded the installation to forced air in the late 1940s - by placing an electric fan in the plenum, controlled by the same electrical line from the thermostat that controlled the gas valve. With so little to go wrong with it, that furnace is probably still going strong.

    OTOH: in 2014, we replaced the heating and cooling units of our current installation, because of constant refrigerant leaks in the system that had been installed in 1999. I am happy that we did. The new system is so quiet that, without checking the thermostat, we usually don't know when the system is heating or cooling.

    As to idiots without masks: It's appalling to have hospital nurses talk about the people whom they are treating, some of whom have died, who argue that they can't possibly be suffering from COVID-19 because it is fake news.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, my new heating and cooling system, also highly energy efficient, is welcomed. Interesting what your father was able to do to update that old system and how well it survived. Sounds like your house has a good system now.

      Those tales of dying patients denying the existence of Covid-19 boggle my mind when I read about them.

      Delete
  4. I totally agree with you on masks and the lack of sense to not wear them when around other people. Social distance. Wash hands. Just commonsense. I know those from both sides of the political divide who are resisting them. I find it nonsensical, but you can't convince them.

    My husband tried with the clerk in a local store, who said people get legionnaire's disease from them. My husband said only when you don't wash them or replace regularly. Some say people got it even wearing them. That is true but they reduce their risk with a mask and social distancing. Why not do what we can as this disease is scary on so many levels.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Incredible what some people believe and how unreceptive they are to known facts and truth. Even if masks do little more than reduce the likelihood of spreading disease that would justify wearing them. I, too, know people who live in denial about the virus and reject masks.

      Delete
    2. This is absolutely and patently FALSE. You cannot contract Legionnaire's disease from mask wearing. This was a supposed facebook post that itself has spurious origins. A reputable source, which anyone could have checked themselves, https://legionella.org/ask-the-experts/ , says this:

      You cannot contract Legionnaires' disease from wearing face masks. Legionella bacteria is transmitted by aspirating drinking water or breathing in water droplets. Legionella is not spread from person-to-person in respiratory droplets nor does the bacteria survive on dry surfaces. Your mask would not be a source of transmission for the Legionella bacteria. Legionnaires' disease happens when the following occurs:

      Legionella is present in a water source + water from the contaminated source enters the lungs (through aerosol or aspiration) + the person exposed is susceptible to infection.

      In short, the person wearing the mask would have to already be infected with the legionella bacteria to have the disease.

      All of this is so ridiculous.

      Delete
    3. Perhaps overkill, but another thorough debunking of that stupid story can be found here:

      https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/face-masks-legionnaires-disease/

      Snopes.com is a great source for debunking any story that sounds iffy. The problem is, some people are so thoroughly lost that they cannot tell when a story sounds implausible.

      Delete
    4. Thanks Nance for debunking that falsehood about masks and legionnaire’s disease with credible links. Snopes is a fact check site I frequently use. I should have caught that misstatement about masks but overlooked it. I don't waste my time with so many tales that get spread on FB and Twitter, too, so didn't realize that one was being peddled and people were believing it.

      Delete
    5. The thing with people like the clerk, a very nice person, is they won't believe what you tell them. He has no choice though about wearing it as the store requires it. Hopefully, he listened to my husband tell him about proper care of them. Not sure that will happen either. His second complaint was the store didn't provide them. Well, a lot of stores operate on a thin budget and why wouldn't he need it anyway since AZ requires them to shop etc. It's a peculiar time

      Delete
    6. The point of the misinformation being stated is that masks being worn do not transmit Legionnaire’s Disease based on links provided in Nance’s comments above.
      ReplyDelete

      Delete
    7. The point is he believes he knew two people who got it from their masks. It doesn't matter if it's true. It's what people believe and their fears. If you use your mask, wash it, do not wear it too long but when my husband told him that he didn't want to hear it. Then its-- it costs too much. You can get bacterial infections from masks IF you don't use them wisely. Our noses are full of them. There is an easy solution-- use the mask wisely as we do with seat belts.

      Delete
  5. I too wonder about the lack of sacrifice we are making to keep the country safe. This group of people here in Fresno would have done very poorly had they lived during the hardships of WWII. I remember my parents telling me how fortunate I was to not have to live during war time with all of the shortages. My parents built a new house but were unable to immediately get bathroom fixtures for it as the materials were going into war goods. My parents didn't complain, they just persevered.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That must have been frustrating to your parents needing to finish their home construction. I was a young girl during WWII but recall the impact on our Great Lakes midwest home restricting even some products we children wanted, like Double Bubblegum. My mother coped with ration books and more important product shortages. Residents living on our coasts had additional challenges due to guarding against possible invasion threats.

      Delete
    2. Or Fleer's Bubble Gum.

      Delete
  6. It is horrifying. Our rates in my small rural county have tripled in the past four days. People refuse to mask. Refuse to stay out of crowds. Refuse to follow the most minimal guidelines.

    I will never understand this.

    A local business has been calling for the impeachment of our governor, mocking the CDC, calling for us to support our small businesses, etc. via a huge light up sign in the front lawn of his business since last March. As our cases spiked, my husband noticed that his sign now reads "Merry Christmas!"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is scarily true in too many places. Ironic holiday wish considering the situation.

      Delete
  7. Agree, agree, agree. These non-maskers and individuals who have a sort of Russian Roulette mentality are entitled and selfish, period. I have no patience for any of their arguments. Their words mean nothing. If they only harmed themselves with their actions, that would be one thing. But they are putting others at risk--serious risk--and that's simply criminal. I don't care how they present or couch their arguments. They are wrong and stupid and selfish and The Problem.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is what is so upsetting to me, too, that they endanger others, not just themselves.

      Delete
  8. So glad you now are back in business where a touch of a button can bring blessed warmth.
    As for masks, I just don't get it. It is such a simple thing and is very effective in saving lives. It isn't like they are being asked to surgically stitch their nostrils shut. Sigh.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Simple, isn’t it — just touch the button! What you describe might be reason for some to resist.

      Delete
  9. So agree with you Joared. I see the stupity first hand in my building. It terrifies me.

    XO
    WWW

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We just have to take care ourselves as best we can. Some people get violent if they’re asked to mask — incredible.

      Delete
  10. "What has happened to the common sense, intelligent critical thinking and humanity of so many people in this nation?" I ask myself the same question about my fellow Brits. People are still attending parties and large gatherings with little attempt to keep themselves and others safe from infection.

    Not having domestic heating for a few days is no joke. We once accidentally ran out of heating oil and it took several days to get a delivery. Needless to say I now keep a very close eye on our oil tank!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you’re keeping tabs on your heating oil so you can avoid running out. Guess we’re not the hardy souls like those in generations before us when heating systems weren't as sophisticated. Too cold or too hot is unpleasant. I lost AC some years ago in the midst of hot 3 digit temperatures that having only an electric fan helped little and i felt miserable for several days and nights until that problem was corrected.

      Delete
  11. So now you have shattered another myth for me, namely that the weather in California is always warm, if not hot.
    I am glad you have managed the unwanted cold spell.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, as I mentioned “cold” is a relative term. Rarely do we get temperature where I live that reach freezing, 32F, or go below, and then its usually just for a night or two. Sorry to shatter your perception we enjoy perpetual warm weather, but compared to climates with more variation, we are sunny and warm most of the time. Where I live in northeast Los Angeles County foothills our weather most similarly compares to a Mediterranean climate.

      Delete
    2. Next, you'll be telling us that it rains in southern California!
      ; )

      Delete
    3. Rain? What is that???

      Delete
  12. Both G and I were flat out appalled at the thousands who flew during Thanksgiving. Even better...Christmas is coming. LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Who knows what Christmas will bring with travelers.

      Delete
  13. I love your last sentence.
    "What has happened to the common sense, intelligent critical thinking and humanity of so many people in this nation, or did it never exist to the degree I thought it did?"
    and I think, for me, that it might have existed but, more likely, I just dreamed it !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Has seemed to me like more overt dissension than we previously had.

      Delete
  14. I remember freezing in my apartment in NYC for 2 weeks because the boiler broke. No hot showers, no hot water to wash my dishes, no tepid water to brush my teeth, no heat in the dead of winter. Ugh. Lucky I live in Hawaii now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Now, that would really be cold compared to my experience in SoCal. Yes, do enjoy Hawaii!

      Delete
  15. Our HVAC is about 40 years old, and I sometimes dream of replacing it, but other times am thankful that is was well made and still works. I feel like we’re living on borrowed time with it, to be sure.

    I can’t even with the masks. I don’t know how people can be so mean and stupid. This pandemic is going to get worse before it gets better, and a lot of that could have been avoided. Grrr.

    Thanks for coming by my blog...I finally checked in where I saw your comments awaiting moderation. I have that set for new people, to prevent spam. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow! 40:years! To think I was impressed my unit passed its predicted survival rate, but that's nothing compared to your unit. Wonder what brand you have — send me an email if you happen to read this.

      Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment. I, too, have had to moderate all comments due to trolls and spammers. Too bad they’re such losers in life they can’t find some more interesting way to spend their time and efforts.

      Delete
    2. J at www.jellyjules.com said...
      Our HVAC is xxxxxx brand. It has needed work a few times, and we have been told things like, “It could last 5 more years, or 5 more minutes, who knows.” I know it’s inefficient, but as “They don’t make them like they used to”, I am always hesitant to spend the big bucks to replace it.

      12/13/2020 7:29 PM
      (note: Thanks I removed brand name to not promote company as meant for private email but I could moderate -- Joared. ;-)

      Delete