Chris Loehmer Kincaid's Blog, page 70

Randemic Thoughts

     Hubby and I ready to go vote yesterday. Luckily, our polling place set up drive-through voting, so we didn't even have to leave the car. Ingenious! I should have taken a picture of that.
Here are some more random thoughts I have on this pandemic.
Odd how they had just gotten us all trained to use our cloth shopping bags and now we have to get new bags every time we go shopping. I hope we all remember to go back to the reusable bags when this is all over.Have all the grocery stores always offered curbside pickup? Coz when this is all over, I think it would be great to keep doing it. Order what I need online in the calm of my living room and totally avoid those impulse purchases.How did anyone mentally and emotionally survive the pandemic of 1918 with no internet? A lot of people on Facebook have been reporting that they have been hacked or getting private messages, which screams spam to me. I think it’s all because so many more people are on Facebook more than usual. I ignore that stuff. If you get a new friend request from me, I didn’t do it and I don’t want to hear from you and I’m going to ignore your friend requests because I think somehow that is how “they” (whoever “they” are) actually do hack you. Don’t freak out, don’t pass that stuff on to others, maybe change your password if that makes you feel comfortable, maybe take a social media vacation for a few days. I know that the labs and testing sites are doing their very best, but I still know, in my own pea-brain, that the number of people with COVID is way higher than anyone is reporting. Which is not cause to panic; it just means that numbers are only numbers. Your friends, relatives and that old guy who lives down the street – that’s what really counts. Back to the whole internet thing? It’s great we can stay connected via texting, email and video chat. But better yet? Just pick up the phone and call somebody. Monday morning, this sign was posted outside the medical facility where I work. I think everyone can be a hero. It’s not always the big things; the little things are just as important. God be praised, we haven’t been hit much with this pandemic in my community. Yet. But that doesn’t mean that people aren’t scared and about all I’ve been doing is talking to my patients over the phone as much as I can, not even about this virus, but about everything else in their lives. Nope, I’m not a hero any more than anyone else. Nobody is talking about toothbrushes. I'd recommend you change your toothbrush more often and that all the toothbrushes in your household should practice social distancing.  Terminology changes all the time. Just three months ago I thought of “flattening the curve” as getting my mammogram. And those are my random thoughts for today. It is Holy Week, though, so tomorrow I will get back to writing serious stuff.
Have a great day and God bless. I'm heading off to work now. Chris

but have eternal life.

 
(This year’s Lenten posts revolve around John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” With COVID19 on everyone’s minds, I find it hard not to veer from that theme and instead offer Biblical inspiration for dealing with the pandemic. But we need to turn our eyes back towards Lent and the upcoming crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Despite all this chaos, I’m not going to let my Easter be cancelled.)
  Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. (John 12:23-26, New International Version)
Today is Palm Sunday. With the pandemic sweeping across the globe, it certainly doesn’t seem like it; it doesn’t feel like this is the beginning of Holy Week. The verse above was spoken by Jesus at the outset of that first Holy Week. He knew what was going to happen to Him and He was getting Himself as ready for it as He could. He was compelled to continue to teach His disciples and anyone else who would listen.
But getting back to John 3:16 and the meaning of having eternal life.
  “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.” (John 5:24, New International Version)
God doesn’t really expect all that much from us. All we need to do is believe and have faith, and we will know where are going when we pass from this world into the next. No matter how long anyone lives on this earth, it is only a milli-second of time compared to the eternity we get to spend as children of God with all other believers in Heaven. It’s something to celebrate during our current dark times.
LORD, God, Heavenly Father, there are no words to express the joy in the hearts of believers in knowing that Your Son Jesus has paid for all of our sins and that we have no reason to fear. We will be with You some day in paradise. Amen.

Just Be Held

   Last night, while trying to write this blog post, I tried thinking of an uplifting, even comical story I could share. Something goofy I may have done as a child or as a fifty-something year old. Something to get my mind, and yours, off of the coronavirus pandemic for a little while.
Nothing much came to me, so I woke up this morning wondering if I should just not post anything today.
Then some song lyrics came into my head. Or more likely, God sent these words into my head:
“Your world's not falling apart, it's falling into place.”
I looked up the song by Casting Crowns on-line. I’ve heard it many, many times over the years, but I guess the words never meant what they mean to me this morning.
“Hold it all together, everybody needs you strong. But life hits you out of nowhere, and barely leaves you holding on.”
Listen to the video or read the full lyrics by clicking this link.

I still gotta believe that God has got this taken care of. 

Ask About Masks

   I spent most of yesterday afternoon pouring through articles on the effectiveness of wearing face masks to prevent the spread of illness, as well as my usual obsessively reading of statistics. I decided to just share my thoughts, whether accurate or not. Heck, the media and politicians do it all the time. So, take the following with a grain of salt or bolt of cloth, whichever works for you.

I haven’t watched the nightly news in – I don’t know – thirty years? But besides spending too much time reading COVID19 articles on the internet, I’ve been catching some of the world and national news on TV. Just tonight they aired a piece on the use of masks during this pandemic. I saw a similar piece online.
First, you have to realize what kind of masks there are. As you may have heard, the N95 or respirator mask is the most effective. But to attain that standing it needs to be the right size and worn appropriately. And when it is worn appropriately, you can barely breathe because it is stuck tight to your face. You cannot wear it for long without coming out for air. It is also a one-use product. Despite all of that, it claims to be 95% effective in keeping out bacteria, most viruses and other pathogens.
The standard surgical mask is one size fits all, which like anything with that label, means it really only fits correctly on half the people. It’s a little bit more comfortable, but the downside to that is that comfort means you can breathe – air can get in which means pathogens can too. I couldn’t find the statistics on how effective wearing one is.













With all this hype, people have started sewing their own fabric masks. (God bless them.) They are easy and quick to sew and don’t take much for supplies. They are perhaps more comfortable than the first two options, for the same reason you sleep on a cloth pillowcase and not one made of paper. Different studies I’ve found on these homemade masks is that they are only 50% effective. Is that enough to make a difference? Perhaps. Here are the crucial things to remember, though, no matter what kind of mask you wear.
Once you put it on, you cannot touch it again. Every time you try to itch your nose or adjust it coz your glasses are fogging up, you compromise its effectiveness. And when you touch it, you also expose yourself to whatever bugs the mask has already captured, totally defeating the purpose of wearing it. So, you still need to remember to wash your hands. A lot.
Also, disposable masks are not reusable. Throw them in the proper garbage when you take them off. I don’t know what people plan on doing with their fabric mask. Wash them every day? I’m not sure.
With all this in mind, is it worth it to bother with wearing a mask? It certainly doesn’t hurt, except for one thing. Wearing a mask, of any kind, does not make you invincible. Bacteria is pretty small, but you can see them with a regular microscope. Viruses are way smaller (did I read somewhere that they are 100 times smaller than bacteria?), so they can get through smaller holes in your paper mask or cloth mask.
Your best bet to avoid catching anything from the common cold to COVID19 is to wash your hands, avoid contact with sick people, wash your hands, be careful around anyone as you never really know who is sick, wash your hands, don’t touch your face if you can possibly help it, wash your hands, cover your cough and sneezes, and wash your hands.

shall not perish

(This year’s Lenten posts revolve around John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” With COVID19 on everyone’s minds, I find it hard not to veer from that theme and instead offer Biblical inspiration for dealing with the pandemic. But we need to turn our eyes back towards Lent and the upcoming crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Despite all this chaos, I’m not going to let my Easter be canceled.)
   Jesus told her, “I am the one who raises the dead and gives them life again. Anyone who believes in me, even though he dies like anyone else, shall live again. (John 11:25, Living Bible)
When God created the world and put us humans on it, he intended for us to live forever. Without sin, our bodies wouldn’t wear out and fail us. We were meant to have eternal peace and happiness on this earth.
But Adam and Eve sinned against God which began a long list of problems for everyone who followed. I think that as the world goes on and more sin permeates it, things for us continue to go downhill. I know that God will never turn His back on us, but as more people fall away from Him – well – I don’t know.
I think our world is in a rough place right now. Maybe all the shootings, crazy weather, wars, and general anger, distrust, and despair were just the beginning and now this coronavirus pandemic. There’s a lot going on, and I’m fearful, but not for myself. I’m afraid for all the non-believers out there. As for me, I know where my faith is and I know that I will not perish.
LORD, God, Heavenly Father, I turn to You in prayer. I humbly ask that You send Your Holy Spirit into the hearts of non-believers that they may turn to You in time of trouble. Amen.   

Flashback Friday Fotographs

Three weeks ago, I introduced you to my beloved (albeit bulky) 35 mm SLR Yashica. I also shared the second picture that I took with that camera. I’ve been wanting to share some of the better snapshots from that time, but I got sucked into the whole coronavirus craze. I thought it was time to get my mind off of that for a while.
So here are some of those old photos from the fall of 1980. Yes, forty years ago.    Very First Selfie Random mushroom 

Maybe I should have waited until the Fall to share these pictures. I think we all want to think Spring instead. 

The playground in Marathon Park.
Lichen or some such thing. It's hard to get the pictures to look the same when you scan them into the computer. 


Under a bridge in Wausau.  People cookies! My sister Pat and I used to make small round cut-outs and decorate them like people.
How fun! 

We'll Get There

     I’ve been awake since 4 a.m., a stream of various movie scenes running through my head.

The first thing I did when I finally rolled out of bed a few minutes later was to jump on the internet and find the latest statistics on the pandemic. The movie scene that brings to mind is from “Signs”, when Mel Gibson’s brother and two kids are obsessed with watching the latest news on the TV about the global invasion of aliens.
Then I read online about social distancing and how many states (including mine) have instituted a stay-at-home policy. My head jumps to the scene from the old movie classic, “Ben-Hur”, where Charlton Heston’s friend takes food to his mother and sister in the leper colony. She sets the food down and then backs off ten or twenty feet so they can come and get it without having direct contact. It makes me think of our elderly, holed up in their homes, waiting for their kids to deliver food to them on their front porch. No hugs or handshakes, only shouting across the yard.
Of course, the entire pandemic is like any of a number of apocalyptic movies. I keep thinking that I’ll wake up and be back in my real life. Instead, just like in those thrillers, one thing after another keeps getting piled on our hero. You know - he has a plan to save the world but it keeps getting thwarted in one way or another.
Just like how Hubby’s doctor’s appointment turned out on Monday. Instead of getting released to go back to work with his broken arm fully healed, he has to have surgery tomorrow. He was so devasted. The screw they put in his bone on February 7 didn’t hold, so now they have to put in a plate.
The upside of that is that maybe there wasn’t going to be much work for him to go back to (but then again, is work comp going to figure that out and stop paying him?). And then, our vacation to Tennessee the end of April has to get canceled due to the pandemic and he wouldn’t want to drive all the way there with his arm in a sling anyway.
But with that, “The Wizard of Oz” comes to mind. Not just singing that somewhere over the rainbow things will be better, but more like chanting “I want to go home”. As in home to my childhood, where the biggest stress was some boy teasing me on the playground.
But somewhere, out there, skies are blue. And we’ll get there.

that whoever believes in him

 
(This year’s Lenten posts revolve around John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” With COVID19 on everyone’s minds this week, I was tempted to veer from that theme and offer Biblical inspiration for dealing with the pandemic. But I think we need to turn our eyes back towards Lent and the upcoming crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Despite all this chaos, I’m not going to let my Easter be cancelled.)
   Jesus said to the woman, “Because you believed, you are saved from your sins. Go in peace.” (Luke 7:50, New Century Version)
For the month of February, I wrote about the word “love” and was amazed by how many times it appears in the Bible. I found the word “believe” half as many times, but it was still a very impressive number.
   “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (Matthew 21:22, New International Version)
Which makes perfect sense. Isn’t that what the entire Bible is about? Believing. Having faith. Knowing in your heart that God is your loving Father in heaven and that His Son has saved you from your sins?
   So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. (Matthew 17:20, New King James Version)
But how many of us have that much faith? That much belief in a God we might not be able to see or touch? The thing is it isn’t up to us to move those mountains.
   Jesus said to her, “Dear woman, you are made well because you believed. Go in peace; be healed of your disease.” (Mark 5:34, New Century Version)
It isn’t up to us whether or not we are healed of our physical ailments. What matters is that we are healed of our sin.
Lord, God, Heavenly Father, be with us in these trying times. Send us Your Holy Spirit to heal us of our unbelief and to grant us relief from worry. And if it is Your will, heal us from all of physical afflictions. Amen

Covert COVID19 vs the familiar flu and other crud

     I don’t usually post here on Saturdays, but after the resounding response to Wednesday’s post, I felt obligated to fill you in on the coronavirus a little bit more.
It’s not the flu.
There are some similarities. But let me give you the down and dirty on the flu first. To begin with, when we talk about the “flu”, we mean the upper respiratory kind of influenza. A lot of our patients come in saying they have the flu, because they have nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. That is not the flu, though some call it the stomach flu. It is a gastrointestinal bug. You will not have those symptoms from the flu, except for, fairly rarely, diarrhea.
So what exactly are the symptoms of influenza. It usually comes on very quickly. You go to bed at night feeling fine and around three a.m. you wake up sweating and aching all over. Over the next couple days, the fever and chills may continue, you feel exhausted, you develop a cough, maybe sore throat and headache. But the biggest thing is you feel like you’ve been hit by a semi-truck.
Influenza has been around for centuries. That’s why we are able to produce a yearly vaccine against it. But because there are many different strains of influenza, this year’s shot may not kill every type that crops up. Which is why you may still get the flu even if you’ve had the shot. It should, however, be a much milder case. I cannot stress enough the importance of getting a flu shot each and every fall.
So how is corona different?  
From what I have seen and read, coronavirus begins more insidiously. You may get a sore throat, mild body aches and fatigue, low grade temp and think you are coming down with a cold. If you are youngish and otherwise healthy, that’s all you may get and it will go away and you don’t think much of it.
However, after five to seven days of those symptoms, you may start to cough and run a fever. You may feel short of breath, as if you have just run up three flights of stairs but have done nothing more than take a sip of water.
A few of our defensesIf again, you are fairly healthy, the fever, cough, and shortness of breath may last another week or so and you’ll get better. You can ride it out at home with rest and plenty of fluids. Or things could go south for you.
If you have those symptoms and are over sixty or have chronic conditions, such as COPD, heart disease or diabetes, call your health care provider to see if you need to be seen. Or go straight to the emergency room. Our ERs are being overwhelmed right now, so don’t go running in there all in a panic. Use your head and seek medical attention if you need it.  
But just like flu season, could this pass on its own?  
At first, along with a lot of others, I was thinking that we had the coronavirus here all winter and some of those cases of influenza were just that. And the only reason the numbers of confirmed positives is so high now is because we just started testing for it. I don’t know. I am no expert – and it’s tough to find all the answers because no one is an expert.
Even though coronaviruses have been around for a while, this strain is brand, spanking new. Our bodies – our immune systems – don’t know what to do with it. And neither do all the doctors and scientists studying it.    
Because it hasn’t hit warmer countries quite as hard, there is some speculation that corona doesn’t like hot weather. But I don’t think anyone studying this thinks it will happily roll over and play dead once the northern hemisphere is hit with summer weather. Look at the number of people in Florida with it.
That’s only the tip of the iceberg.  
There is so much more I’d like to say, but you have read enough from me for today. Just don’t take my word for any of this. I’m not a doctor, I’m just a peon who has worked with many a doctor.
Last reminder though, don’t trust everything you read on Facebook or other social media. Keep your wits about you, people. And keep your distance too. Main street was pretty quiet Thursday night
(I thought this webpage offered some more good answers. https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/myth-busters )

Excerpt and Explanation

     I was going to write more about the pandemic tonight, but after losing two nights sleep thinking about what to tell you, I’m giving us all a break. Maybe you need to just do some light reading this weekend.
After he left, Dee looked out the window. The sun was up and not the slightest breeze stirred the leaves that still littered the ground. She’d brought warm clothes; the cool morning air might revive her. Even if it meant walking past cabin number 4. Outside, the air was nippy, but she bundled her winter scarf around her neck and started the trek through the woods. When she came to the four cottages, the black Suburban was gone. Though the curtains were closed in cabin number 4, she could see lights on inside. She watched for any sign of life inside. Nothing at first, but then she saw a shadow pass by the window. Dee waited but couldn’t detect any other activity in the small house. She strode passed it without looking at it again, intent on getting to Lake Michigan. The walk, as the maintenance man had promised, was short and the trail well-groomed. The water was calm, the waves gentle, nearly whispering as they feathered the rocky beach. She walked the stretch of beach until she came to what must be the parking lot the man had told her about. She considered walking back to the resort via the road but instead turned back the way she had come.She almost missed the secluded trail back, not realizing how thick the trees were growing that close to the shore. When she arrived back at the cabins, the SUV had just pulled up. 
I’m only going to bore you with my latest story “To Find Justice” a few more times. I thought I should at least tell you a little of what it is about.
Dee Richards, a devoted wife and mother, dreams of writing a mystery novel. When friends loan her the use of their condo for a week, she seizes the opportunity to make her dream a reality. A secretive couple who is also staying at the resort captures her imagination. Will she finish writing her book or will the mystery right next-door change Dee’s life forever?
Dee works at a store in a small Wisconsin town, her husband at the paper mill.  Yes, they live in a town much like my hometown of Tomahawk. Years ago, I wrote two other short (and horrible) stories about this place, only its name was Owilli. Can anyone guess where I got that name from? Way back when I was growing up, our papermill was owned by Owens-Illinois. Maybe someday, I’ll bring out the other (only much improved) stories of the people who live in Owilli.
The main location for “To Find Justice”, though, is a resort along the shores of Lake Michigan. A place similar to where the picture above was taken. Or perhaps this one. Both taken of Lake Michigan in August. But I soon realized that they were too bright and the wrong season. 
The picture I did choose for the cover is from Lake Superior in September. Wouldn’t you agree it fits the setting much better?
I imagine most authors use stock photos for their books, but that darn photographer in me insists on coming out. You can find “To Find Justice” on Amazon here. Waiting for my first review of it. Hint, hint. And also, if you find formatting errors, my apologies, this was my first time doing something like this. I'll do better next time. 
Have a good weekend. Be safe, stay healthy.