Getting there.

In spite of relapsing flu sympoms, I managed to post my latest short story.  My old grad school eache old us o write what we know.  She would lik this story ecause I combined feeling sick with my memories of teaching, subsitute teaching, teaching in China.

http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com/2014/01/seasonal-employment-part-one.html

In addition, I put most of our Christmas decorations away and did some cleaning and worked on anoher project.

I wasn't my most productive but I was proud o myself to accomplish anyhing.

Writing and Bad Times

A few days ago Wade and I were talking about jury duty. There are three days I could be on a jury this month.  I'll never know until the night before.  I am curious about it.  I don't see any "Twelve Angry Men" dramas but still would like the experience.

Wade said from all he's heard, it would be very boring.  That doesn't mean I won't get anything out of it, I told him. I told Wade that even boring events still have something to offer writers.

Years ago, I worked as n extra in a movie being filmed in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.  Mostly, I found, being an extra is  a matter of waiting until you are needed.  I met lot of people, heard their stories.  I met some movie stars and mostly found them uninteresting.  I had more fun talking to the technicians finding out about their work.  I had the forethought to bring along some board games and go to talk to many of the extras that way.

Even in this current state of influenza offers me something.  I am writing a short story that I should be able to publish by tomorrow.  It centers around influenza.  Believe it or not, it will be humorous.

But even if I were writing a dramatic story, I would find a use for this experience.  Flu epidemics are important issues.  Anyone who watches Downton Abbey will remember the horror of the Crawley family facing one.  When I taught a class for senior citizens in Shawano I heard how the Spanish flu affected their lives, killing parents and siblings.

So I keep taking note of my symptoms.  I will make use of them.  But not right away.  My head is filled with wool at present.

Meanwhile, we progress to spring, only 68 days until spring.  Today we made another big step. We got our application to be sturgeon guards starting in April.   No matter what the weather, the big sturgeon females are swimming under the ice waiting to progress up the Wolf Rive to their spawning spots.

Hanging in There

Gary left for Dixon this morning and some of my friends wondered how he could leave me feeling so ill but I couldn't see much point in him staying.  My medical advisers say I have a viral infection but the only thing to do is wait it out.  This morning I had swollen glands.  The nurse practitioner who has been getting these cases since the end of 2013 said the swollen glands come toward the end of the viral process.  They are swollen because they are fighting the virus.  She now thinks I have two weeks yet to go before I shake this thing.

All I need to do is drink a lot of water, eat nutritious food, sleep as much as I can and take something like Tylenol for the pain.  In fact, aspirin does a better job for me.  Either way, I can take care of this as well as Gary.

As it turned out, he got to the farmhouse at a good time.  The water pipes were frozen.  It will take a while for that mess to be cleared up.

Meanwhile, I need sunshine.  I take lots of Vitamin D3 but good old Sol is better.  This morning the sun beams were shining through the living room window.  I brought down my camping mat, laid it on the floor and sunbathed in shorts.

Later, I got in the Subaru and went off to the Freedom area to take another look at the snowy owl.  The sun glared on the crust of the snow that lays over the field.  I certainly was getting enough Vitamin D.

In the end, I saw the owl and a few other bird species, bringing my yearly total so fr to 15.  Even in the dead of winter, I know that there is life all around.  It is at this time of year that the great horned owls are beginning to nest in the spruce trees out at the city cemetery.  In less than a month, Gary and I can go out and watch the owlets poking their heads out of their nest.

As of today it's only 69 days until spring.  The sun will come out tomorrow morning at 7:27.   It will be enough for me to get some sun before I have to finish my next short story.

Sunny day

Though I am still suffering the malady with occasional relapses into a foggy brain and body aches, it only takes a sunny day to drive the worst away.

Today Gary popped m into the Subaru with the passenger seat warmer set on high and off we went for a drive on sunny ocuntry roads.  We wound up at the Lutheran cemetery off French Road.  Enough of the snow has evaporated out there that I could work my way to my parents' grave where I retrieved the Christmas wreath and the LED candle we placed there on Christmas Eve.  To my surprise it was still lit..

From there we went to the Chinese restaurant for some dishes loaded with vegetables.

We came home after a pleasant morning to yet another relapse.  I slept the afternoon away.

And so it will go until this terrible winter comes to an end.

I Skyped with Wade today.  We have projects to pursue so I want this ague to disappear.

Still 70 years to go.

Birds on the Road and Birds at Home

I still have a flu that relapses every other day and the Arctic blast continues so Gary and I mostly stay here at Mathom House.  However over the weekend, we were getting cabin fever so went out for a drive to New London.  The Subaru runs well in cold and has the advantage of heated seats that were haven on my sore muscles.

It was our first birding trip of 2014.  By the end of the afternoon we found flocks of turkeys, Gary's favorite, and a couple of bald eagles, mine.  By taking back roads and watching bird feeders in residential areas, we added the following:  mourning doves, rock pigeons, dark eyed juncoes, American crows, red-tailed hawks snow buntings, and sparrows.

Then, back here in my own back yard, I saw hairy and downy woodpeckers and black capped chickadees.  At the end of the day I had twelve species in my Great Wisconsin Birding and Nature Trail checklist booklet for 2014.  That is a good start to the birding season.  In 2011, I had counted only six species by January 6 and the same at this point last year.

I figure on many more on my 2014 list because I will be going to Hawaii and seeing things I never saw before.  My total count for 2013 for the year was 85.  Certainly I can do better than that in 2014.

One of the great projects in Wisconsin over the past few years was the Great Wisconsin Birding and Nature Trail.  Today's news broadcast tells us that a Minnesota fracking firm discharged waste into some of the Trails most sensitive areas.  The firm received an $80,000 fine which is probably what they earn from their terrible practices in a week.  I hope it sends a message to our state legislature to stop issuing permits to these companies.

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The Arctic winds and cold that have been pummeling the Midwest will alleviate by Thursday and we can head on to spring, now only 71 days away.  Today we decided to end the process by putting away Christmas. Four of the Christmas trees are gone.  The last cookie has been eaten.  Now we look forward to the RV and camping show in Green Bay weekend after next, Canoecopiea in Madison in March, the sturgeon guard and crane counts in April, to say nothing of my trip to Hawaii next month.  Hawaii was the only state in the union that did not report freezing temperatures this week. That sounds good to me.  

Still Out for the Count

Yesterday was a non-day for me.  I am still ill and probably will be for the foreseeable future.

Today, I tried to call a doctor.  I was told to call back later.  I did and was told the nurse practitioner would call me back later in the day.  She did not.  I called again around 4:00 pm and finally reached her.  I described my symptoms and she said it sounded like a viral infection that is going around.

I could come in tomorrow, but I asked her what is being prescribed.  Bed rest and Tylenol, she said.  That is what I have been doing for a week, so I have decided there is no point in seeing the doctor.  So I stay at home and doctor myself. My own feeling is that I won't be better until spring no matter what I do.

Just after I talked to the nurse practitioner, I had a call from the the courthouse in Appleton from the Clerk of the Circuit Court to see if I could come in for jury duty on Wednesday.  I explained my condition and was excused.  I was also excused for the 13th of the month which is when I was originally scheduled.  Apparently the same infection is decimating the jury pool.

Gary and I were going to Illinois tomorrow.  I don't see much difference between sitting in this house or sitting in the farmhouse in Illinois so we shall see.

What I have been thinking about is the time I was sick in China.  The hotel manager managed to get a doctor to my hotel room in ten minutes carrying medication.  No charge.

I wonder if people in this country will ever fully realize that we don't have good health care here.

So it's back to bed and Tylenol.   I keep thinking that I have a passport.  Maybe the cure is to go up to Canada for proper treatment.