I’m still sick, and it sucks.
The thing that sucks is that while I am sick, I am not “can’t get out of bed” sick. I feel worn out and run down. I’m napping at weird hours of the day and yet going to be early. My sore throat has progressed to a cough that is difficult to stop, no matter what formulation of Alka-Seltzer Plus I take. But I am not so sick that I can’t walk the dog, feed the chickens, carry in the firewood and do other homestead chores.
I usually look forward to my chores. They get me outside and give me an excuse to patrol the area and maybe bump into a neighbor. I get to feel the sun and the wind on my face and see the starts at night. In my present condition, the wind makes me wince and I don’t give a darn about the stars. My chores have become, well, chores.
My wife helps with carrying in the firewood, which I appreciate. We’ve done it so often we have it down to a science. We can do it quickly and efficiently. But now it wears me out.
I can’t help but wonder if doing these chores is impeding my recovery. The doctor always tells you to rest, and I am, at least compared to my normal, healthy activity level. But you can’t be a total couch potato when you live on a homestead.
I guess this is somewhat how it would be to be sick in a SHTF situation. Work would still need to be done. It is also a reminder to stockpile facial tissue and OTC meds. I am running through both at rapid rates.
Inconvenience versus Emergency
Whatever this virus is, and I haven’t had it tested, it is annoying. If I was laid up in bed, there are people we could call who could come and feed the chickens. We have friends who would love to have our dog visit. (I think they like the dog more than they do me). My daughter, who house sits when we away for a few days or her best friend could come out and help. But this annoying virus doesn’t seem that serious, so we don’t ask. We don’t want to cry wolf; we’re saving those contingencies for a genuine emergency.
I realize I should just be thankful this illness is an uncomfortable inconvenience and not an emergency, but it’s difficult to think positively when your nose drips and you cough every two minutes.
Boring
Being sick is also boring. I’ve tried to catch up on reading my American Bee Journal back issues, but that requires more brain power than I can marshal. I’ve watched far more TV in the past five days than I normally do. Thank goodness for the NFL games on Saturday and Sunday because I was running out of things to watch. I watched all three Hobbit movies. (Not the Lord of the Rings, but the Hobbit book where Bilbo finds the ring.)
I’ve watched plenty of YouTube, but I am running out of content. The Canadian Prepper can tell me he thinks the odds of nuclear war this year are 7 out of 10 only so many times before he loses credibility. I’ve seen Mike Morgan ride around in his excavator and seen so many YouTubers cut and split firewood that I now turn on a video with the sound of someone using a chainsaw when I want to nap in front of the TV. It knocks me right out.
YouTube is great when you want to learn how to do something you have never done before or need a quick refresher when you do something you haven’t done for years, like disassemble a certain gun. I like it less as reality TV. I don’t want to watch YouTube for drama, and I don’t like their clickbait video titles or misleading images.
And then there are the YouTube preppers and off-gridders who do stupid stuff, make poor decisions, buy land they haven’t seen or are unprepared to live on, and otherwise jump in feet first without doing any research. Some of these videos need a cautionary statement: “Warning, this video contains advice from someone with no training or experience who has never done this before and does not know if it will succeed. Following their advice could be dangerous.”
Old Age and Experience
A few years ago I canceled my subscription to Backwoods Home magazine because I felt I knew more than their authors and the second generation of their editors. Maybe this is the curse of growing old and experienced. The older you get, the more often you can say, “Been there, done that.” On the other hand, some might consider that evidence of a life well lived.
Yeah, let’s go with that.
In any case, I hope you are healthy, warm, and don’t find our content too redundant. I don’t know if I am recovering, but my symptoms are evolving. In any case, I expect to be back to talking about war, the economy, and prepping in the next couple of days.
