Scientists have thought for about a year and a half that cats were suseptible to the Avian Flu. Now there's proof. A dead cat found on an island in Germany had the H5N1 virus. If it can go to cats, between cats, it won't be long before it moves on to humans on the rough tongues of loving felines.
This flu wasn't much of a worry for me when it was confined to birds. I don't touch live birds, I don't associate with those that do - I am not a snob, we just don't move in the same circles. As it spreads across Asia and Europe and gets closer to my front door it worries me more, but the fact that a cat has died from this virus has raised my level of concern considerably. I go once a week to get allergy shots so that some day my son and I can have a cat. Now I'm not so sure.
Are we about to see another great influenza pandemic? Is it 1918 all over again? The statistics about that outbreak in the prologue of Gina Kolata’s 1999 book "Flu the Story of the Great Influenza pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus that Caused It" are even more frightening as we may be on the verge of another pandemic.
"The 1918 flu epidemic puts every other epidemic of (the 20th) century to shame. It was a plague so deadly that if a similar virus were to strike today, it would kill more people in a single year that heart disease, cancers, strokes, chronic pulmonary disease, AIDS and Alzheimer’s combined. The epidemic affected the course of history and was a terrifying presence at the end of World War I, killing more Americans in a single year than died in battle in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War."
According to Kolata this flu was swift and nasty, killing in a matter days or even hours. The symptoms sound similar to Ebola and victims drown in their own fluids.
None of this is good news. I have asthma and without a shot I am highly suseptible to the flu, of course there is NO shot for the H5N1 virus. I have a 3 year old boy who is for the most part healthy (currently getting over an ear infection) but small children are also suseptible to the flu.
This latest revelation has me thinking twice about pets of any kind. It will be years before I will be able to have a cat, and a chicken is just out of the question.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Monday, February 27, 2006
Where the hell have I been?
It's been over a year. I can't believe I've been that lax in getting stuff posted but then again I can. Life with a little kid is busy, tiring and time for a blog is limited when you're doing it all alone.
I was cleaning off the computer desk top and found this sticky note that has been closed since last summer. So here is a glimpse from May 2005.
Just a quick note to let you all know I'm still alive and the blog is not dead either. Schedules and health still are an issue for regular writing, the only reason I can write now is that I'm on vacation and procrastinating on putting together the bulletin board for E's school, painting the utility room and the powder room, spraying to kill the ants that have invaded the abode and resealing the edges of the bathtub. It's a nice quiet E-free vacation at home. ba ha ha [The dresser mentioned here was a great source of pride to both E and me.]
I'd be working if I hadn't caught the cold E got when the was cutting teeth last week. 4 are coming it at the same time. Yes 4. The canines and the lower incisors. The fevers are gone, the crankiness has subsided and his appetite has come back full force. Of course now I am achier than normal and have a sore throat. Basically I don't feel much like doing heavy physical labor. The weather has also be working against me. It's the first week of May and we have had frost warnings for the last 2 nights. It's not getting above the mid-40's. SO DEPRESSING.
Since I last wrote my little guy has changed a lot. "Rhinoceros" has replaced "rhinus" and "Hippopatomus" has replaced "Hipparhinus". Yes his vocabulary has increased dramatically. Strangers don't believe his is just shy of 2 and a half. He can identify a handful of capital letters: A (the triangle letter), O (the circle letter), and E (the letter that starts his name), the others are there, but he has trouble from time to time getting them all. He can count to 20 if he concentrates, if he doesn't 6 follows 3 a bit too closely.
A few weeks ago we made jello and I was reading the directions. "We need 1 cup of boiling hot water and 1 cup of cold water." He blurted out "That's 2 cups!" Proof of genius? hmmm
He loves to help in any way he can. This weekend he was trying to kill ants using his toy hammer. I can just image the terror those poor ants experienced. It's kinder, I believe, to just kill them quickly with a hammer or a shoe or any other blunt object but to pound around them several times until they are petrified and unable to move before you finally end it for them it just seemed cruel.
Every Saturday and Sunday at the end of morning cuddles I say. "Here's the deal..." and give the run down of what needs to happen that day. It could be anything from a visit to the library or a trip to the city to cleaning house or some quality time at the park. This weekend as I was using the bathroom I heard little footsteps on the stairs and, "here's the deal...I'm gonna get my hammer and kill the ants in the bafroom." It was a struggle to keep from laughing loud enough for him to hear me.
Well I'm going to get back to work, the tea is gone and the clock is ticking I want to get SOMETHING done before I go to pick E up at 5pm.
____
Since then E has had a birthday, can identify all 52 letters (upper and lower), can spell his first name, 4 and 5 are no longer forgotten when counting to 10 but 15 is often skipped on the way to 20. He's now completely potty trained and recovering from an ear infection.
Will try harder to post regularly this year. but now I must sleep.
I was cleaning off the computer desk top and found this sticky note that has been closed since last summer. So here is a glimpse from May 2005.
Just a quick note to let you all know I'm still alive and the blog is not dead either. Schedules and health still are an issue for regular writing, the only reason I can write now is that I'm on vacation and procrastinating on putting together the bulletin board for E's school, painting the utility room and the powder room, spraying to kill the ants that have invaded the abode and resealing the edges of the bathtub. It's a nice quiet E-free vacation at home. ba ha ha [The dresser mentioned here was a great source of pride to both E and me.]
I'd be working if I hadn't caught the cold E got when the was cutting teeth last week. 4 are coming it at the same time. Yes 4. The canines and the lower incisors. The fevers are gone, the crankiness has subsided and his appetite has come back full force. Of course now I am achier than normal and have a sore throat. Basically I don't feel much like doing heavy physical labor. The weather has also be working against me. It's the first week of May and we have had frost warnings for the last 2 nights. It's not getting above the mid-40's. SO DEPRESSING.
Since I last wrote my little guy has changed a lot. "Rhinoceros" has replaced "rhinus" and "Hippopatomus" has replaced "Hipparhinus". Yes his vocabulary has increased dramatically. Strangers don't believe his is just shy of 2 and a half. He can identify a handful of capital letters: A (the triangle letter), O (the circle letter), and E (the letter that starts his name), the others are there, but he has trouble from time to time getting them all. He can count to 20 if he concentrates, if he doesn't 6 follows 3 a bit too closely.
A few weeks ago we made jello and I was reading the directions. "We need 1 cup of boiling hot water and 1 cup of cold water." He blurted out "That's 2 cups!" Proof of genius? hmmm
He loves to help in any way he can. This weekend he was trying to kill ants using his toy hammer. I can just image the terror those poor ants experienced. It's kinder, I believe, to just kill them quickly with a hammer or a shoe or any other blunt object but to pound around them several times until they are petrified and unable to move before you finally end it for them it just seemed cruel.
Every Saturday and Sunday at the end of morning cuddles I say. "Here's the deal..." and give the run down of what needs to happen that day. It could be anything from a visit to the library or a trip to the city to cleaning house or some quality time at the park. This weekend as I was using the bathroom I heard little footsteps on the stairs and, "here's the deal...I'm gonna get my hammer and kill the ants in the bafroom." It was a struggle to keep from laughing loud enough for him to hear me.
Well I'm going to get back to work, the tea is gone and the clock is ticking I want to get SOMETHING done before I go to pick E up at 5pm.
____
Since then E has had a birthday, can identify all 52 letters (upper and lower), can spell his first name, 4 and 5 are no longer forgotten when counting to 10 but 15 is often skipped on the way to 20. He's now completely potty trained and recovering from an ear infection.
Will try harder to post regularly this year. but now I must sleep.
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