I am feeling better and I attribute it to many hours of sleep last night. Humor this sick old lady and read the details about my “good” night.

My body was so tired of sitting in the glider!! Television held no interest and, believe-it-or-not, no desire to sit at the computer doing genealogy. I “went to bed” before 9:00 PM. At the suggestion of a dear lady-friend, I had improvised elevation for the head of my bed. I suspect I fell asleep shortly after nine—and awakened at 1:30 AM. I was experiencing the gut-wrenching, strangling, coughs so returned to the glider in the living room. Two uncomfortable, sleepless hours were followed by the reckless decision to go “back to bed” and stretch out laying flat. Remarkably, I fell asleep and did not awaken until 6:35 AM. I awakened screaming with a leg cramp!!

The leg cramp tore me away from a dream. A friend (identity unknown) and I were riding two-wheel bicycles. I remember the beautiful countryside and suburbs and waving to people. At the end of the dream I was at a Railroad track and a train was coming. My friend was on the other side; I had time to get across but I froze. That’s when I awakened. (I jotted down the dream details before I forgot.) Question: Would I have crossed the tracks before or after the train?

Stretching out, prone, in my bed has felt so wonderful, I returned to my bed and did not awaken until 8:00 AM. I awakened from another dream: I was in a crowd of very nice people and (in retrospect) we were probably in a large auditorium. One person asked where I got my dress. “Oh, I’ve had it about forty years”  was followed by their comment “It’s so pretty.”  Then it was time to leave and it was raining and I was wearing my forty-year-old raincoat. (A very “dressy” raincoat that was part of my “professional working woman wardrobe.” See me wearing it in the picture when arriving on Nantucket Island for the Coffin Family Reunion, Oct 1992.)

I’m feeling better but extremely weak—and tired.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shame, shame, Lorraine!! The coat still hangs in her closet. That “vintage” item—and dozens of others—are scheduled for an antiques–collectibles shop when she stops procrastinating.

If the reader has followed my blog messages for several years, “reader” knows I was an RVer for many years.  I had a blog devoted to my Tab Teardrop Trailer Travels. One of my Tab Teardrop Trailer friends sent this extremely kind email on Tuesday, January 4th.

Lorraine, I am sorry you still feel sick, but I’m glad your RV park manager was kind enough to take you to the doctor, and others in your community are helping out with food, prayers, etc.  Thinking back to the last two places you lived before coming here, I don’t think the managers of those parks would have been so kind!  It’s a tribute to the generosity and open-heartedness of your new community, and also a tribute to your bravery in finding a new home some distance away that values you for who you are.  I was thinking about that and remembered a quote that showed up on my Facebook feed a while back.  I couldn’t find that entry, but googled it online and found the quote here:

https://mileiq.com/blog-en-us/know-the-value-of-yourself

“There is a story circulating online; its moral is a perfect tip to start your day. Know your worth!  

A father said to his son: You graduated with honors, here is a car that I acquired many years ago … it is several years old.

But before I give it to you, take it to the used car lot downtown and tell them I want to sell it and see how much they offer you.

The son went to the used car lot, returned to his father, and said, “They offered me $ 1,000 because it looks very worn out.”

The father said, “Take it to the pawnshop.”

The son went to the pawnshop, returned to his father, and said, “The pawnshop offered $ 100 because it was a very old car.”

The father asked his son to go to a car club and show them the car.

The son took the car to the club, returned, and told his father: “Some people in the club offered $ 100,000 for it, since it is a Nissan Skyline R34, iconic car and sought after by many.

The father said to his son; If you are not valued, do not be angry, it means that you are in the wrong place. Those who know your value are those who appreciate you; never stay in a place where no one sees your worth.”

I hope you feel better soon, and I am glad you are receiving so much support.  Let me know if there is anything I can do to help you.

Best wishes,

Ann Chapman

9:45 AM: Lorraine got two–plus hours of sleep between 5:00 and 8:00 AM. It was a “happy feeling” to “wake up.”  I  crave more sleep!! After endless, around–the–clock, coughing, I am coughing less. Now I wish I had the energy to prepare my good cup of gourmet coffee. After this brief message, I’ll make a cup of tea and add honey.

12:00 noon: I enjoyed an hour without the strangling cough.

Postscript @ 3:00 PM:  Several hours without the strangling cough. What a relief it is!! I enjoyed delicious potato soup from a neighbor. She didn’t know my preference—but her’s is absolute “mashed potato soup” perfection. “Mashed potato soup”—soup so thick the spoon stands up in the bowl.

Postscript @ 6:00 PM:  I’m “better” but far from a fully-functioning person. There are occasional fits of coughing. I managed to walk to the Clubhouse and deposit my late rent check in the locked box. On the way home, I collected a stack of mail from my mailbox. In response to an email message from Texas Utility (electricity) saying my payment was overdue, I phoned…  As you know, I haven’t had enough health to take care of my few bills (TXU, Jitterbug  phone, Spectrum  TV–WiFi, and one credit card paid in full each month).

In a “praise report” blog message, I will not launch into a rant about the Jitterbug  phone. More about that on another day.

Come back later because I’ll add more information as the day goes by.

I want to go to sleep for twelve hours (at least eight hours) and awaken and feel normal again. I am so exhausted. I can’t sleep in my bed because laying down flat I constantly cough a stranging cough. Occasionally, I experiment with “going to bed” before shifting back to the “glider” in the living room. I almost titled this blog “Chair dislike.” After so many hours, and so many days, the chair is no longer comfortable. I have no choice. (Correction: Move to the computer chair because a blog message came to mind.) The “glider” reclines but does not have a footrest. I haven’t the energy—or desire—to fix an improvised footrest. (Read this blog message and see a picture of an earlier improvised footrest.) ~~ I have the strangling cough while sitting in the “glider”—and at the computer—but at intervals. “Cough, cough, blow, blow.”

Postscript @7:45 PM

… no diagnosis. Gratefully, I’m not “bad enough” to go to the Emergency Room. They would have carried me off kicking and screaming!! The owner–manager of the RV Park was so kind to take me and sit with me (at my doctor’s office). I’ve been home fewer than thirty minutes and I’m ready to eat some stew (from “owner–manager” on Saturday night). ~~~~ Just “touching base” so you know I have two prescriptions and, hopefully, I’m on the road to recovery.

Postscript @ 6:45 PM:  Right now, I do not feel a “hair’s width” better than this time last night.

I hope and pray you didn’t read “Goodbye, farewell, adios, auf wiedersehen, au revior.” It has been scheduled for many months–always two or three weeks ahead of the current message. It was prepared (obviously) to say goodbye if you stopped receiving regular blog messages. ~~ I’m very sick but I’m still alive. 

Sitting for hours, imagine how many blog messages I’ve written in my mind. #1: Yoyo weather.

#2: Lost week. Absolutely nothing was accomplished all week. The comfortable chair has ceased to be comfortable. Cough, cough, blow, blow…

#3: Virus:: Friends from Florida to California have offered suggestions for ways to doctor my symptoms. Residents in my RV Park are praying for me—and bringing food.

#4: No interest in TV, or Ancestry.

#5: Sunday morning and no interest in making my gourmet coffee.

#6: Evidence of “cough, cough, blow, blow.”

This blogger is a subscriber to email newsletters from several holistic health organizations.

COVID: He Said WHAT?!

When the pandemic started picking up steam in early 2020, we all said we weren’t going to politicize it.

And we all know how that went…

But I wish we could have at least agreed not to sensationalize it.

This pandemic is bad enough without all of the speculation, hype and fear-mongering. And I believe the media and some government officials have engaged in all three.

But now, I think one individual has gone WAY too far.

A retiring top U.S. health official made a prediction that I consider so outlandish and irresponsible that I’m literally seeing red.

He may have caused fear and panic in MILLIONS of decent Americans.

But there’s one thing that should give us comfort…

I’m absolutely CONVINCED he’s dead wrong.

Stoking Panic

Dr. Francis Collins, the longtime head of the National Institutes of Health, is retiring and riding off into the sunset.

He left us with a guitar song he wrote about the pandemic, which was bad enough. If only he’d stopped there…

In an interview with National Public Radio, Collins had the audacity to suggest that the United States could potentially see ONE MILLION coronavirus cases a day due to the omicron variant.

“Even if it has a somewhat lower risk of severity, we could be having a million cases a day if we’re not really attentive to all of those mitigation strategies,” he said.

Well, friend, I’m glad Collins is retiring. Because if I was president and heard him say that, he would have been fired before he returned to his office.

Speculation like that, from a man of Collins’ stature, can cause widespread panic. And as far as I’m concerned, he’s pulling these numbers from thin air.

At the time I’m writing this, South Africa (where omicron first took hold) is averaging just under 25,000 cases a day. Not 25 million, as the panicked media reports would have you believe – 25,000.

And South Africa’s population is about 18% the population of the United States.

That 25,000 would scale up to about 139,000 cases a day in America. Of course, the South African numbers could increase – and it’s winter in America and conditions are ripe for indoor transmission.

But even if you TRIPLE that 139,000, you don’t get to HALF the number that Collins is throwing out there.

And NPR, to its credit, admitted that the most pessimistic projections have us at 500,000 cases a day by January. That’s pretty awful (and let’s all hope it doesn’t happen) – but it’s not CLOSE to a million.

Now, on to my second point… where on Earth do these government health officials get their arrogance?

If we’d only do a better job following their mitigation strategies…

Well, if the American people have lost confidence in the advice offered by our government health officials, I don’t blame them one bit.

I feel like I keep having to remind people of this… but AMERICA HAS HAD THE WORST CONFIRMED CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK IN THE WORLD!

The same people who claim to have all of the answers are also the faces of the worst outbreak on the planet.

I’d hope we all would have learned by now that our government has no ability to control this virus. The only thing that will work is Americans taking individual, personal responsibility.

Will cases increase? Of course… it’s winter and the new omicron variant is, by all accounts, much more transmissible.

But a million cases a day? HECK no, as far as I’m concerned.

How sure am I that we won’t average a million cases a day?

Well, if I’m wrong, I’ll eat my hat. I’ll slather it in hot sauce and eat my own danged hat.

That’s what I’m willing to do if I’m wrong.

But what is Collins willing to do if… and WHEN… he’s wrong?

Well, I’ll gladly give him the space here to write an apology to the American people. He’ll owe them one.

Just don’t hold your breath.

To Your Health,

Sarah Reagan
Health Sciences Institute

The owner–manager of this RV Park came to check on me (because my %$#& “smartphone” wasn’t working). Nobody in the Park is sick and he believes I have a sinus infection. So I checked “Doctor Google” and found this interesting information.