The View from the Hermitage, Day 65

One thing I am apt to remember from my time in the Hermitage is the furniture arrangement I put up with. In January, we had the interior of our house repainted for the first time since we had it built in 1985. That involved moving all the furniture away from the walls. To move bookcases, I packed all the books in banker's boxes that got put in the basement. They went to the basement since the plan was to have the hardwood floors sanded and refinished in March. I was not going to put all the books back on the shelves only to take them off again so soon. The floors got moved until May, and it seemed simpler just to leave the furniture sitting away from the walls, in the middle of some rooms, and so on. It will get moved out to a pod or truck for the week it will take to do the floors. May has become July (July 20 to be exact), so we're still living in general disarray.

In January, we moved to the guest room in the basement for the master bedroom to be repainted. When that had been done, the husband noted that we might as well stay on in the basement since we would be living there for the week in March it would take to do the floors. He liked the fact that it is darker in the basement; the master bedroom has a skylight over the bed. There are other differences as well. The guest room has a double bed; the master bedroom has a queen-size bed. The guest bathroom has a single sink; the master bathroom has a double sink. Whoever gets downstairs first in the evening or gets up first in the morning gets the sink to themselves.

On the plus side, the laundry is also in the basement, so there is no carrying laundry baskets between the basement and second floor. And as I said, the guest bedroom is darker which the husband says should help us sleep better. It may help him, but I'm not seeing any benefits in the sleep area.

On the coronavirus front, I got a notification on my cell phone from ABC News noting that besides the lungs, the novel virus can attack the brain as well. In one case cited, the effect on the brain was seen several days before there was any effect on the lungs. The patient did not get tested for covid-19 until the lungs got involved. Lungs, circulatory system, toes, brain. Is there any part of our human body that the virus doesn't like or won't adapt to? The picture gets a bit dimmer just as more states reopen or reopen even more. I know that at some point I will have to venture out into the world beyond my house or subdivision, but can I make that first time when I go out to get vaccinated?

Some weeks ago, I sent an email volunteering to participate in an NIH study on coronavirus antigens. They were looking for people who had not been tested. A week or so ago (the weeks seem to meld together) I got a follow-up email asking for some more medical info. Today I got an email acknowledging receipt of the survey I'd completed and returned and noting that I should hear very soon if I had been chosen to move on to the next stage. That may be the stage where I can go to NIH in Bethesda, Maryland to have blood drawn (not gonna happen) or draw blood on my own using instructions they'd send. Do something every day that scares you.

I worry somewhat that I am becoming numb to the pandemic's events. The footage of overcrowded hospitals in New York City, and the aerial photo of the mass graves had a visceral effect. They were shocking. It's become more businesslike. Numbers, graphs, projections, and the like just don't have the same effect, not that I want the examples I used to recur. Will the novel coronavirus become just another part of human existence, like influenza? Will it last long enough that the "novel" gets dropped?

And He Who Shall Not Be Named claims to be taking hydroxychloroquine. There's nothing so far to confirm or discount his statement. Now can we get him to inject or ingest a bit of bleach?