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?
