Category Archives: pandemic ahead

>But the polls just closed!

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>Didn’t I just say, I mean JUST say on Monday, no less, that I wasn’t going to even think about the potential for a flu pandemic until after the election? Well, the election is over, I’ve started to relax, and look what Mir posted. I like her attitude, though; she wants to go for the ice cream instead of six months of freeze-dried meals to hide under the bed.
So as long as I’m thinking about it — I have a freezer full of various foodstuffs, and our back hallway/pantry is pretty well stocked, but I’m not looking at 6 weeks or 90 days by any means. We feel fortunate if we can skip grocery shopping one weekend and just buy bread & milk & bunny food. If we plan well enough, we can do that frequently. Honestly, we could wait out several days worth of blizzard with what we have on hand.
It’s more practical in my book to plan for a blizzard than for a pandemic. If global warming gets significantly worse, I won’t even have to plan for those. But in the meantime, I think I’ll revise this to reflect the latest panic warnings. It will help me keep my head on straight and my priorities in order.

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>I had a thought.

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In our house, the schtick goes like this.
“I had a thought.”
“Sit down, relax, maybe it’ll go away.”

Being part of NaBloPoMo is a little like that; random thoughts keep poking their way into my tiny brain hoping for a brainstorm that will become the daily post. My rambling train of thought has travelled this route today.
State testing started this morning. I dressed for the occasion in my new sweatshirt from Wireless.com. Teachers loved it; students didn’t notice. They were too worried about their pencils being sharpened and having time for a healthy snack.
I got my annual flu shot after school. Ow! Worthwhile, though, better to have a sore arm for a day or two than to get influenza.
So the flu shot got me thinking about the potential for a pandemic again. If a true pandemic begins, I expect to have enough time to stock up on bottled water, canned soup, and all the generic meds I need for my medicine cabinet. The freezer has stayed pretty full lately; we’ve been good about restocking whatever we use. This isn’t pandemic panic behavior; it’s school year sanity.
But then I watched the evening news, and I realized that the potential for a pandemic, no matter how real, is not immediate. Tomorrow’s election is. The results of this mid-term election, especially in my state, will have a direct impact on me and my family. Legislation already in place, proposed, and under consideration, will have a heavy impact on me, my children, and our way of life.
It’s not too strong a statement to say that if this election goes the wrong way, my income could go down, my health care expenses go up, and my workload increase.
If this election goes too far in the wrong direction, La Petite’s tuition could rise again, her loans could get more expensive, and her chances of working through the summer could diminish within a dwindling local job market.
If those elected do not understand disabilities, Amigo’s specialized education services could cost the district more and more money out of an already shrinking pot, making those services more and more difficult to obtain.
And so it goes; tomorrow, sore arm and all, I’ll go in to school and prepare for day two in a two-week testing period. I’ll do it right and make sure No Child goes Untested. Then I’ll go to the polls and cast my vote for the candidates who are least likely to leave me behind.

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>NaBloPoMo

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National Blog Post Month, created and inspired by Fussy.org, is coming up in November.

Starting on November 1st, many bloggers will work to follow Yoda’s advice and Post Every Day. When I mentioned to my family that I had signed up, they responded, “So what’s new? You post every day anyway!” Well, almost. There are limits. when I had long nights of parent-teacher conferences I didn’t post. I didn’t post when I was sick — okay, maybe I did.

Blogging is fun for me. I blog not for ad revenue (but I might be convinced to sign up if it’s worthwhile), not for the publicity (13-20 readers most days, come on!), but for the pure enjoyment. I just found out that Fussy and friends will be offering a few prizes, but the odds of winning are low (>100 participants!), though, so I’m not counting on it.

Last night Husband, wrapped loosely in a queen sized sheet as he tried to spread it on the bed, complained that he could handle 100 feet of heavy cable better than he could one clean sheet. When I sat down with the pillowcases and laughed, he realized the sad truth: it was a bloggable moment. In his defense, he is fairly accomplished at housework and does it periodically. Making beds is just one of his least favorites on the chore list. He’d rather snowblow the driveway in a blizzard than change sheets, and hence the notable quotable.

One of the best and brightest bulbs in the Blogosphere’s chandelier is that of comraderie and virtual friendship. I read several blogs regularly, if not daily. My list of favorites keeps changing as I find others that think the way I do or entertain me. No one knocks spelling or grammar when a blogger dangles a participle or splits an infinitive. If a mommyblogger is having a rough day, no one tells her she’s a bad mom. We all commiserate and let her know that we’ve had days like that, too. I’ve found like minds who blog from several states away, even in different countries. We develop cyber-friendships by commenting on each other’s blogs and emailing occasionally.

I expect NaBloPoMo will be more of the same. You lucky readers will get to hear all about Thanksgiving at my house, the first snows of our Wisconsin winter, and more. I’ll do my best to make it interesting and enjoyable. And as Yoda might say, “Read Compost Happens you will!”

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>NaBloWriMo

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>Yes, you read that correctly. As if I didn’t have enough to do, I signed up for one more. This is for fun, though, so I can take it or leave it if I get too stressed out. NaBloWriMo stands for National Blog Writing Month. The idea came from the fabulous Fussy, who looks at this as a lead-in to NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. When is that? I have no idea. I can’t see my way clear to write a novel in a month, or write a novel at all… unless it’s a book of poetry, which is not a novel. A poem a day? Now that would be both a challenge and great fun. Maybe in June… but I digress.

My challenge will be to blog every single day in November. If this turns out to be too tough, I’ll try it again in February. (teehee) If I run out of topics, I’ll dig into my coffee mug collection for a freshly brewed story or two. I’ll see what the bunnies are up to. November won’t have much garden or compost talk; up here in the North Woods, the gardens are dead already. I could take the camera outside and show what a snow day looks like. And that’s not even mentioning the children… ….

Well, if I could ramble on about nothing and even provide links to six other posts, I think November will go just fine. Now, gentle lurkers, your challenge is to post a comment on a blog (not necessarily mine) every day of November. Try it! You might like it! See you at NaBloWriMo!

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>Bring it on! (or not)

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>Call me crazy. Call the whole situation unlikely. But call me… a public health emergency volunteer. A member of our local public health department came to our school staff meeting today to talk about plans for — you guessed it, a pandemic — and recruited volunteers from the teaching staff. I signed up.
I had a few misgivings. My family may need me. Even if all schools and major workplaces are closed (the scenario put forth), the media will still be operating, so Husband will still be working. I have a handicapped teenager, and our major support network consists of Grandma, who may be highly at risk of any kind of widespread illness. La Petite is away at college. She may or may not end up at home if an emergency of this scope occurs. It is possible that when the powers that be call, I might have to say no.
But I hope not. I have skills that could be useful.
I teach; speaking to groups, training others, educating the public are all second nature to me.
I’m not shy in front of a television camera or radio microphone, either. I’ve made many appearances as a spokesperson for fundraisers and worthy causes, mainly disability related. Writing press releases or instructions for patients? Piece of cake.
My CPR (including AED) and first aid training are current. Blood doesn’t bother me. If I hadn’t been a teacher, I could have gone to nursing school.
Honestly, though, it’s just nice to know that my little area of the globe has people in charge that are thinking ahead. I’d like to be one of them.

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>Did I can enough tomatoes?

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>The pandemic issue has reared its ugly head again. In a recent wellness newsletter, our health insurance provider discussed the potential for a flu pandemic and how to prepare. When Donald Rumsfield told families to stock up on duct tape and plastic in case of attack, I snorted. When the bird flu headlines kept turning up, I dismissed it as a long shot, far from a clear and present present danger. But now, even though a pandemic form of this particular virus hasn’t turned up yet, I feel like there’s a danger lurking somewhere.
The wellness newsletter mentioned earlier was aimed at school personnel. Teachers, aides, and other school staff come in contact with just about every germ and virus imaginable. The “experts” were warning us to take all the precautions we can and to stock the pantries in case the worst happens.
Now I’m worried. I handle student papers. I pick up pencils from the floor. I sit face to face and talk with them. When a student doesn’t feel well, he’ll come directly to me and ask to go to the school office. By the way, that happened twice today alone.
I wash my hands often, and I have a sweet-scented hand sanitizer on my desk, but the fact remains: I spend six hours a day in a closed room with twenty-seven children who love to perform their symphony of sneeze, cough, and sniffle.
Now here’s the kicker: whenever there’s a nationwide shortage of flu shots, teachers aren’t even on the priority list.
I guess I’d better stock the pantry after all.

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>germ phobia

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>I am becoming Monk. Not the musician/composer, but the television character played by Wisconsin Native Tony Shalhoub.
One of my students became ill and went home yesterday with a sore throat and headache. After I got her settled in the office and told her to rest, The Worry Monster kicked in. Should I sanitize her desk? Her locker? Wash my hands when I handle her papers? Rearrange the desks so she doesn’t breathe on anyone when she comes back? What about the other students that were in a noon meeting with her? Watch them (and myself and the other teacher involved) for symptoms? Get tested for strep? Beg on bended knee for the school nurse to advise me? All of the above? None of the above?
Surf the internet for remedies? Stock up on disposable antibiotic wipes? Buy more tissue boxes?
I keep guzzling home remedies like Airborne and eating fruits and veggies that are high in vitamin C. I use my own hand sanitizer probably too much.
So — has my paranoia gone too far? Only time will tell. If I stay healthy, I’m probably doing all of the right things. But just in case, I’ll stock up on the herbal teas and vitamin Cs and prepare a substitute folder for my desk at school.

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>The cold is going away. Thanks to a week of taking herbal remedies and not-so-natural remedies, I’m breathing almost freely now and I slept drug-free last night. Woo-hoo! I’m still exhausted.

The biggest disadvantage to spending a school week feeling under the weather is that I fall behind. My schoolbag is heavy, heavier, and heaviest tonight. Add to that the work I didn’t get done while dealing with the trauma of a popular student moving away today (tears all around for the entire afternoon) and I don’t even want to think about what’s waiting on my desk for me Monday morning.

My to-do list will get done, though. A typical Saturday in the life of this teacher looks like this:
Wake up. Start coffeepot. (Notice how those two go together?)
Skim newspaper.
Sort laundry.
Start first load of laundry.
While first load washes, correct response papers from reading class.
Move wet, clean laundry to the dryer. Start new load in washer.
Correct comprehension test papers from reading class.
Fold clean, dry load. Rotate next load into dryer and add another to washer.
Score writing assessment papers.
Take periodic breaks from scoring to rotate more laundry through its cycles.
Analyze writing assessment scores.

Did anyone notice what’s missing? This type of day is a work-at-home-in-pajamas day. I often stay in my “loungewear” until the laundry is done and I’ve let the water heater fill up again. Then, and only then, I shower and get dressed and feel presentable enough to go out in public. Some weekends I amaze even myself at how much I can accomplish in my pajamas! Hmmm…if I need to change careers, I should find one that lets me work at home in my pjs.

But in the meantime: next weekend, math!

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