covid diary: day 48

frost, April 27. sigh.

Yesterday, the pandemic claimed another victim: Dr. Lorna M. Breen, the medical director of the emergency department at New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital, died by suicide. Dr. Breen worked in one of the NYC hospitals hardest hit by COVID-19, and she contracted it herself, but went back to work after a brief recovery period. Dr. Breen had no history of mental health issues, and her father said she described the stress of seeing so many patients dying, many of them before they could even be unloaded from ambulances. In a statement reported by the New York Times, her father said, “Make sure she’s praised as a hero, because she was. She’s a casualty just as much as anyone else who has died.” My heart breaks for Dr. Breen and her family and colleagues, especially since I know this won't be the only ancillary death that results from this pandemic. I haven't seen any statistics, but I would imagine that as people deal with the loss of their loved ones, the overwhelming financial burden of getting medical care to stay alive, or the financial stress of job loss, the rate of suicide will rise.

And in a mark of just how absurd this new reality is, the very next thing I read today is that two cats have tested positive for COVID-19, and the CDC recommends that social distancing guidelines be applied to pets now too. So ... you know ... don't let anyone outside your immediate family pet your cat or give your dog any ear skritches.

It was a quiet weekend around here. Mike built some more birdhouses, so soon the pasture trails will all have them. We're also planning to plant some wildflowers in random clumps all around the pasture. I got an email from my boss cutting my hours even further; I'm down to 50 percent of my pre-pandemic hours now. (Don't worry, we're fine for now.) In good news, the IRS fixed the glitch in its website related to zero filers (people like us who neither got a return nor had to pay taxes last year), so I was able to put our bank information in the system. Allegedly, we will have a deposit as early as next week. I'll keep you posted on that, though I'm skeptical.

Last night I made brownies for dessert and we sat out by the fire and ate them and chatted. I asked the boys what they miss the most that we can't do anymore, and all three of them answered "school." Max misses his friends, Liam misses his friends and learning new things in class and challenging himself, and Henry misses his friends and having a structure to his day. "I miss it because it took up so much time," he said. "Now I have all this time and I don't have anything to do with it."

Funny, because today was an elearning day, and around midday Henry's teacher sent me a message: "I thought you'd want to see Henry's writing response."

Don't worry, I put a transcript below.

Prompt: This is your chance to practice writing 2 paragraphs (12 lines). Below, write about what you enjoyed most about this story AND was the author’s choice to tell the story of humans along with the story of the redwood a good one? (First paragraph, state what you like about the story. Use examples from the story. In the second paragraph, state your opinion about the way the author used humans and redwoods written together. Again, use examples from the story. 

Henry’s response:
I did not like anything about the story. I do have to right this paragraph tho. A paragraph is six sentences, sentence one is about your opinion or the argument that you are making. Sentences 2-5 are you supporting your argument or justifying your opinion. For example: I did not find the book to be interesting. Sentence 6 is you restating your opinion or closing your argument, for example: I did not find this story to be interesting but I am required by law to write these paragraphs.
My opinion about the way that the author used humans and redwoods is that it was not interesting. As I said in my previous paragraph I did not find the story to be interesting. Yet I am still required to write this paragraph. I do enjoy writing these bland paragraphs tho. I do not like writing paragraphs but I’m trying to make this interesting. This is my final sentence and I have hated doing these two paragraphs.

Oh, Henry. Needless to say, I made him rewrite the two paragraphs. I told him it's fine if he didn't like the story or didn't think the author effectively articulated the premise, but he has to support that opinion with evidence from the text. After about two hours, he came back down and showed me this:

I did not find the story to be interesting. I think that the story was too long because the author could have shown the life of the tree without the current event at that point. I think that the author could have shortened the story by removing the points of the animals and the humans. I think that the author could have explained the inner working of the tree. I feel that the author could have focused more on the trees' different parts. Again, I did not find the story interesting.
My opinion on the way that the author used humans and redwoods together was that it wasn’t interesting. I think that in the section that the author talked about humans that they could have elaborated on the things the people were doing. I think that the author could have done something different with the humans and the tree together. I think that the author could have made a more significant connection between the tree, the ecosystem, and the humans. I think that the author could have added a way to explain the ecosystem that the tree needs. I did not think that the way the author used the humans and redwoods was interesting.

Meanwhile, Max had to do a fashion show in Chinese, which meant that he finally got around to taking a shower and grooming himself. Kudos to Max! Liam has been pacing himself pretty well to get all his work done, but like I mentioned, he hates not being able to learn and be challenged in a classroom setting. His English class finished reading Macbeth (in graphic novel format, which I will never stop being offended by), moved on to horror, and is now doing science fiction. He had to send a greeting in Spanish to one of his friends via social media. (History and trig and chemistry are much harder, but I do know a viewing of Schindler's List is in his future as an extra credit opportunity for history. I have the inside track on that since his teacher is my aunt Laura. I'll watch it with him but probably I'll regret that afterward when I am once again overwhelmed by man's inhumanity to man.) 

In the mail today, we got a surprise: My friend Valerie made us each a mask and sent them from San Antonio. Here's Liam modeling his. 

It started drizzling around dinnertime, but it wasn't enough to keep me and Mike from taking a walk around the pasture. We planned out the locations of the new birdhouses, talked about our plans for improving the trails gradually, and generally just enjoyed being in the quiet together. 

And the night ended with a twist. Max came up from the basement in tears. "Mom, I made a mistake," he told me. Turns out he and Liam were messing around, and he kicked backward and put a heel-size hole in the wall. In a funny twist, I was about Max's age when I put my foot through a wall at my parents' house (I was also messing around, trying to climb up the wall in the hallway by putting my back against one side and my feet against the other, which worked great until I got halfway up and my foot went through the wall, oops), so I knew exactly what to do. And just like my dad taught me how to drywall and patch and fill and sand and paint, so tonight I taught Max about the joys of spackle, and over the next few days he'll get the satisfaction of sanding and smoothing and painting. And so the world carries on, one generation to the next. Good night, friends.

Nationwide cases: 987,022. Deaths: 56,144.