MontanaMama
MontanaMama's JournalUPDATED: Got the dreaded call from the county health department yesterday afternoon.
My 16 year old son was listed as a close contact to a person diagnosed with Covid. He was apparently exposed last Thursday. He worked all day at Ace Hardware that day and went out for ice cream with some fellow employees afterwards. He’s fully vaxxed and has no symptoms. The health department guy told me we would need to provide proof of vaccination (which I did) and have no symptoms through day 7 (that’s today) and he would be permitted to go to work if he tested negative. We’re waiting for the health department to call today to tell us where and when he can be tested…they are reportedly really backed up.
So last night my son told me that his posse of friends was getting together to watch movies and one of their homes. He said “I know I can’t go…I’m just disappointed and I’m really sick of this BS.” Then, I heard him call his best pal to tell him what was going on. He said “No, I’m not feeling sick but I don’t want to be the guy that gets one of my friends sick.” It made me proud that he gets it and wants to do the right thing. It also pisses me off because we didn’t have to be here. Antivaxxers continue their reign of terror on the good people around them.
I know we are all suffering but as a mama, my kiddo is my primary focus. I am weary of hearing that kids are resilient, they’ll get through this just fine. This is hard on young people…they don’t yet have the ability to see these months and years of Covid in the context of a long lifetime. They’re present in this moment and this moment sucks for them.
UPDATE: Day 8 after my son’s Covid exposure and he’s doing just fine. I think we’re on the upswing from this event. We still haven’t been contacted by the health department as far as getting him tested and released to work. That may happen yet today…who knows. I’ve talked with them 3 times and keep getting conflicting information regarding protocols for this.
We did get some very good news…the little Ace Hardware store where my kiddo works is paying him (and the others who were exposed) while they stay home and wait for the health department to give him the green light to go back to work. Isn’t that great?
He starts school on Tuesday so fingers crossed he will be able to do that. 🤞
Update on my rescued Eurasian collared dove.
Lots of you know I rescued a dove that fell out of a tree during a thunderstorm the last week of June. This little dude tumbled to the ground with a sibling…we left them overnight in the hope that parents would come back but they never did. The sibling died overnight so the remaining baby came home with me. I hand fed him/her for almost a month before graduating him to a homemade seed mixture and diced apples with he loves. FYI, I tend to use the male pronoun because other than my chickens, I’m surrounded by male family members and critters. We’ve named this little one Ragamuffin. RG for short.
RG flies free all day every day. I leave food and water out for him and I see him here and there during the day. RG’s will visit with other doves but not always. He will feed on the ground with my chickens sometimes. He loves to sit in a potted bell pepper plant on my patio and lands on my head randomly when I walk around the yard which has taken some getting used to. He keeps me company in the garden. I leave the patio door open at dusk and he flies into the family room and perches on a light fixture for the night.
I don’t know what will happen with this guy going forward but I’ve sure learned a lot. I didn’t mean to get attached but that ship has sailed. I love RG.
Vaccines. Kids. Divorces. Crazy parents.
So I took my 16 year old son into the health department today to get the booster for the 4 way meningitis vaccine and the first shot of the meningitis B vaccine. While we were waiting for the nurse, my kiddo was on his phone making plans with his dad to go fishing tomorrow and getting permission to invite his best friend along for the trip. Thus far, his friend hasn’t been vaccinated for Covid…that’s been a concern for our family for a while.
My kiddo’s friend, “Oscar” lives with his dad most of the time but stays with his mother sometimes. His folks are divorced and the mom is a full fledged tRump humping nightmare and would not consent to Oscar getting the Covid vaccine.
Today, after my son got off the phone with his dad, he said “Mama, btw, Oscar’s dad got him vaccinated. His mom doesn’t know. So if you see her, don’t say anything.” I was so freaking relieved. I love Oscar. He’s such a great kid and I’ve worried that he wouldn’t ever be vaccinated and worried even more that I’d have to tell my son he couldn’t see Oscar until he was vaxxed. I’ve been biding my time because it’s summer and the boys are outside biking, hiking and fishing most of the time….and our Covid numbers are still low (for now) here in town.
WTH is wrong with these parents who won’t protect their kids? I could weep for the kids who won’t be protected and I kid you not, I had real tears of relief that my son’s friend is now protected.
In memory of my beloved dog, Tag.
I can hardly breathe. In two hours, we'll be at the vet for the last time. Tag is 14 years old...he's tired, painful and he has let me know that things aren't fun for him any more.
Tag was born in 2007 on a working sheep ranch at the base of the Mission Mountains. He was a ball of black and white fuzz that was hell on wheels for his first two years of life. I named him Tag because nobody could catch him when he didn't want to be caught. He was head strong and I loved that about him. Even when he chewed the legs off of an antique chair, or ate a new pair of Birkenstocks, I just couldn't be mad at him.
Tag loved to catch anything thrown through the air...and he could indeed catch anything! It was years before we could take him fishing because he would try to catch your fly out of the air before it hit the water. Tag would try to catch snow flakes falling in the winter and rain drops in the summer.
Tag wasn't just an average border collie, Tag epitomized the breed...he loved herding his backyard chickens and anything else that needed to be organized in a group. Tag herded me and the lawnmower, me and the laundry basket, me and the shopping bags. He herded my son and his friends when they were small...he had a collection of balls that he would herd together when he got bored. He would herd minnows at the creek. If it moved, Tag would herd it.
When Tag came into my life, I had a toddler underfoot, a grandma, parents and a brother. My son is now 16 and all the family I had are gone. Tag got me through a lot of loss...whenever I was sad, he would nudge to take him for a walk or throw the Frisbee so that I would feel better and he was right....every. single. time.
I will miss Tag's endless cheer and his enthusiasm for life. I will miss his wet nose nudges and watching him snooze on the lawn on sunny summer afternoons...always with his head upright, of course, so I would know he was working.
I know all dogs are angels...but this boy truly is. He's the dog of my life. I will miss him terribly.
Profile Information
Gender: FemaleHometown: Montana
Home country: USA
Member since: Mon Oct 31, 2016, 02:23 PM
Number of posts: 23,297