I had an extra-long shift scheduled at mom's today.
The regular caregiver is burned out and needed a long weekend.
The roofer called and said they were going to start today. Crap, crap, crap, crap.
Normally, no problem. Mrs ERJ and I would split up. One would stay home and the other would do mom-duty.
I had to call and renege on mom-duty which got siblings and other care-givers' panties in a wad.
I called the roofer at 8:30 this morning "What time will they show up?"
"Oh, something came up. The tear-off crew will be there after lunch" the contractor said.
At 12:30, two guys pull up in a pickup and drop off a few rolls of underlayment and say they will start tomorrow.
I head to Mom's five hours later than scheduled. The person who showed up at 7 the previous night was still there and a walking zombie. She said she wanted to stay until the next person came and I could go back home. Hey, her call.
I walked the dog and then went home.
Things being what they are, I don't know what other choices I had. The contractor from last year stiffed us from late June for the whole rest of the construction season. I cannot get too bent about this guy slipping a day.
The other thing is that roofers work in rain-free windows of time. We have sporadic rain forecast and they are going to tear-off and roof one side at a time.
I will be very, very happy when the new roof is in place.
Conversations
While in town I had a conversation with one of my brothers. He was pissed at me (brothers can tell these things).
The conversation was about changes to The Rules when mom clocks through the two weeks after her second shot and is considered fully vaccinated.
The CDC guidance varies from webpage-to-webpage. One place it says "everybody fully vaccinated...good to go" other places it says "Full face masks and physical distancing is still required if anybody in the house is at high risk (which includes old people over 65)". Holy crap! Mom is 89 and by those standards will never see a human face the rest of her life.
My brother was knocked on his butt for four days by the vaccine (Pfizer). He is pissed that he went through the grief and there will be no benefit.
With Mrs ERJ away, I have to monitor the family Facebook page. I floated the idea of dropping the masks if mom and caregiver are fully vaccinated. I also pointed out that every decision has two risks. There might be a slight increase in the risk of Mom getting Covid if we drop the masks but there is an increased risk that multiple caregivers will jump-ship if we don't give them relief on masks. Caregivers with flu-like symptoms are expected to recuse themselves but that was pre-Covid anyway
My gut feel is that some of them are already not wearing masks when more than six feet from Mom and Mom is A-OK with that. She is not going to rat on them. I caught myself doing it. Mom asks "What did you say?" and down comes the mask so she can see my lips move.
A basic rule of leadership is to not issue directives that will not be followed and you cannot enforce. Something our Governor never learned.
Off subject... this seemed up your alley. I came across it by accident but since this is up in your neck of the woods. https://iamhumanimal.com/story/the-one-acre-project-s1/?utm_source=Gleam&utm_medium=Giveaway&utm_campaign=Leupold
ReplyDeleteOk, Im not a Dr. and I dont play one on TV but...some of the CDC stuff doesn't make sense. Either the vaccine works or it's a joke. For MOST Vaccines, if you have had your shot, you are good to go. Ok, but we want to be extra safe. So, if your mom is vaccinated AND the caregiver is vaccinated surely the chance for infection is just about 0 . Finally, if God forbid somehow, someway your mom gets sick every " expert" says the chance of getting sick enough to need to be hospitalized is almost 0 if the person has had the shots. ( Of course again, CDC and every other "expert" have changed their recommendations and in some cases been caught in out and out lies. Also, again, I am not a Dr. but if it was me...I'd throw the damn masks away when you are alone with your mom)
ReplyDeleteOver the last few days I have been seeing reports about female period problems and connections to both the "un" and the vaccinated. There is a laundry list of differing "symptoms" with which I won't bore you. By now we all know that 2 of the 3 "vaccines" are actually causing you to be your own personal virus making factory. I have seen it speculated that some people having had the shots, are actually "shedding" the virus and causing this problem in the unvaccinated. Is it too much of a stretch to think that the Bozo's that be recognize this little unintended consequence but don't want to say it because of the "PR" problems this might cause? Yes, yes you've had your shots but you still have to stay masked and 3 parsecs away from man and beast. And since this thing is experimental we're not really sure that some other Frankenvirus couldn't jump the shark combine with some other bits and pieces of your "junk" dna and create... Well now I'm just off in the weeds writing the script for a SF movie of the week.
ReplyDeleteIf you read the literature, you will find two-plus decades of controlled, randomized trials showing masks don't protect the wearer or the people around him. I found many of those papers on the CDC website. Don't worry about the masks.
ReplyDeleteYeah, well, I agree with you but....
DeleteI have at least one sister-in-law who is SURE that the only way they could get it is from my brother who cares for mom. Never mind that they fly to Denver and Houston for professional conferences. There is no way a highly trained (fill in any profession) would go to a conference and spread it.
Ironically, one of Michigan's first super-spreader episodes was from somebody who went to a conference on Covid in Grand Rapids and stopped in a fast-food emporium in Portland, Michigan while on their way home to Brighton, Michigan.
It whacked Ionia and Clinton county metrics for five months.
Oh, and the super-spreader was an infectious disease specialist.
Emotions are not logical.