Covid-19 Journal - Week 7 Begins

What a difference a week makes.

Some of you already know from a comment I added  subsequently to last week's Covid-19 Journal update that my 98-year-old father fell and broke his hip last Tuesday. He had surgery on the hip late Wednesday afternoon, and he is now recovering in a Houston hospital. He will probably move to a physical therapy facility tomorrow, where he will spend the next two weeks trying to regain as much of the limited mobility he had before the fall as possible. At that point, we will have to determine the best way to get him the level of care that he will need for the foreseeable future. 

What makes all of this especially tough is that I'm unable to visit potential care facilities to help me judge for myself the quality of the facilities and the people who work there. No nursing homes and assisted living facilities in the state (perhaps the entire country?) are allowing visitors, including family, to come inside. They are even restricting residents to their own rooms at this point. I'm finding that virtual tours, while helpful, don't give me the comfort level I need to make such a life-changing decision - and that my stress level rises at about the same pace my comfort level falls. To say that this has been a horrible week would be an understatement

Virus Stats from Johns Hopkins:

In the last week,

Worldwide cases increased from 2,440,876 to 2,995,456,
United States cases from 766,212 to 968,203, and
Texas cases went from 19,512 with 504 deaths to 24,968 with 651 deaths.

Outside:

For the most part, we have been having some really nice spring weather even though it did reach 91 degrees at least once this week. Unfortunately, tornados came through the area last week and there was some major damage in a small rural community about 50 miles northeast of us. I think there were at least three deaths involved plus the usual mass destruction that accompanies this kind of storm. And then Saturday night, a nice little hail storm came out of nowhere and pelted the house so hard that I was worried about the windows on the north side of the house breaking. Interesting weather-week to say the least. 

Reading/Watching/Listening to:

I received a review copy of As Good As Can Be back in late January (you know, back in the good old days) and I spent three days this week reading it. It's a really interesting coming-of-age novel about a military brat who had one of those "Great Santini" kinds of fathers. I really enjoyed the book, not the least because I came of age at pretty much the same time as its main character, and I hope to have a formal review of the novel up on Tuesday. 

The review copy that I was happiest to snag this week is one called I, John Kennedy Toole by Kent Carroll and Jodee Blanco. Most of you know Toole's story, including his tragic death and how hard and long his mother worked to get his novel posthumously published. A Confederacy of Dunces, of course, went on to win the Pulitzer Prize after it was finally published - thanks largely to author Walker Percy and publisher Kent Carroll. This novel is a fictional recreation of Toole's life and it will be published on May 5.

I was surprised that three of the books I had on hold at the library decided to come in 4-6 months early! Just what I didn't need to have happen all at once, so I've accepted two of them and postponed the other. I'm wondering if the long wait time caused a bunch of people to drop off the list out of frustration. I have another 15 on hold, and I sure hope they don't all suddenly start coming in at the same time like this batch did. 

As you can see, the two I checked out are very different from each other. Blood is Allison Moorer's memoir about the traumatic murder-suicide in which she and her sister, Shelby Lynn, lost their mother at the hand of their father. I don't know much about My Sister the Serial Killer other that it's been highly praised in just about every literary publication I read. At the very least, one look at the cover makes me pretty sure that it's going to be an entertaining read.

I enjoyed a couple of good movies again last week, but my favorite by far was 1963's Hud starring Paul Newman, Melvin Douglas, Patricia Neal, and Brandon deWilde. Hud was based on Larry McMurtry's 1961 novel Horseman, Pass By and it won three Academy Awards. I read the novel in the mid-eighties and don't remember much about it, but Hud is such a masterpiece of storytelling that I know I'll be revisiting McMurtry's novel soon so that I can compare the two. 

The other highlight to my viewing week was a livestream event from the historic Carnton plantation house in Franklin, Tennessee. During the American Civil War, the house was used as a field hospital that treated at least 300 Confederate soldiers during and after the battle. Before it was all over, the bodies of six Confederate generals were placed side-by-side on the back porch of the house. Civil War battlefields are wonderfully preserved in numerous states, but Carnton and its graveyard are extraordinary. I know that not everyone has a Facebook account, but if you do, and if you would like to watch the one-hour tour, click on this link.


Listening To:

I decided to borrow some of my old Beatles LPs back from my grandson last week and drag out the turntable to see what they sound like (I gave the albums to him last year because he loves them as much as I do, and I know he will keep them safe for another generation.) I was surprised at how good they still sound, even on the more modern speakers that tend to pick up every little snap or pop that the old LPs were so prone to acquiring over time. We ended up listening to albums pretty much all day long for a couple of days while we did other things around the house. Great memories were rekindled -in my case, and created - in his case.


In the Kitchen:

Nothing much new in the way of grocery and supply shopping, I'm afraid. The local stores don't seem to have made all that much progress in re-filling all the holes on their shelves, so it's still pretty much a matter of luck when it comes to finding exactly what you're looking for. CVS pharmacy is doing a really good job with free delivery of prescription medicines. So far, our prescriptions have all arrived in one day at no extra cost to what we've already been paying for the same meds.

The Outside World:

Bolivar, Just East of Galveston Island on 4-26-20

Tomorrow it becomes mandatory in Harris County, Texas, that everyone who leaves home is to use a mask while out. The announcement was made four days ago, and it does look like around 80% of people are complying with the order already. We'll see tomorrow if the county is really going to fine people who do not comply. Sadly, I saw on the news today that the beaches in Galveston and Bolivar  were fairly crowded today, and that's not at all a good sign of what's to come. 

I don't know about you guys, but I'm tired - and not just tired of being confined so close to home for the last six weeks. I'm physically tired, and I fear that's the result of living with the increased stress levels we have all been experiencing whether we consciously realize it or not. Stress and a disruption of my exercise routine are really doing a number on me. 

So, another week in the books. Hang in there, guys. Stay safe.