Bishop

"Pandemic" of COVID-19

A quick overview: 

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The disease was first identified in 2019 in Wuhan, China, and has since spread globally, resulting in the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic. Common symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath. Muscle pain, sputum production and sore throat are less common.^[ While the majority of cases result in mild symptoms, some progress to severe pneumonia and multi-organ failure. The rate of deaths per number of diagnosed cases is on average 3.4%, ranging from 0.2% in those less than 20 to approximately 15% in those over 80 years old. 

The infection is typically spread from one person to another via respiratory droplets produced during coughing and sneezing. Time from exposure to onset of symptoms is generally between two and 14 days, with an average of five days.  

Recommended measures to prevent infection include frequent hand washing, maintaining distance from others, and not touching one's face. The use of masks is recommended for those who suspect they have the virus and their caregivers but not the general public. There is no vaccine or specific antiviral treatment for COVID-19. Management involves treatment of symptoms, supportive care, isolation, and experimental measures.^[26]

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak a pandemic and a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Evidence of local transmission of the disease has been found in many countries across all six WHO regions.

Thankfully Sara Lassila (Mickelson) - graduate from Cherry HS - working with a team @ the Mayo has developed a test that can detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus in clinical samples. The SARS-CoV-2 virus causes COVID-19.

^{So THAT being said - people all over the US are FREAKING out.  There is a shortage of toilet paper - NONE of the grocery stores in Bemidji have a square to spare.  If you look on Amazon.com for TP - it'll bring you to paper towels.  They are out.  I am the type of person who has a few extra of everything anyway - just because I hate to run out; extra shampoo, bars of soap, ibuprofen, etc.  We'll be fine.  However the hoarders are being selfish and taking everything off the shelf, sadly including medications, which prevents others from having some and it will likely expire before they can use it all.  The food shelves are hurting.    My elderly neighbor called US to see if we were ok, bless her heart.}  

Schools all over MN are closed staring today until at least the end of March.  My heart goes out to those kids.  Mostly you'll have two different type of environments.  One environment will be like what my teacher friends have to deal with on the reservation - the child will be at home, have about 10 hrs of screen time a day, fill themselves with junk food (or have no food at all), not complete their assigned homework because they don't have anyone who care for them besides their teacher, and witness drug abuse and domestic violence.  The second environment is two working parents or divorced parents.  The kids are either unsupervised and at home alone with the garbage that is on TV or they're in daycare for 9 hrs a day - and probably too old for it.  Who will be their teacher?  I have to work Thursday, so David is staying home, but after that I cancelled all my shifts.

All the Bemidji restaurants have gone to take-out or delivery only.  Gov. Walz has closed all MN movie theaters, fitness clubs, gyms, cafes, bowling alleys, bingo halls, hookah bars, arcades, and country clubs. FL beaches are staying open and all these spring-breakers are on the beach, spreading this junk then flying it back to their home states, while the rest of us are staying home and slathering ourselves in hand sanitizer and rationing our children to 3 squares of Charmin.  

God bless America.  

News: Law to Commit Suicide

https://www.bemidjipioneer.com/opinion/columns/4748568-Shaw-Choosing-death-with-dignity?fbclid=IwAR2-7KXae0vfbsLenp4ossl9hjSWfuoNTMxsoUa0Ik6BfALBJ-i35QMtfP0

Ugh. MN is just disappointing by me over and over again. Now trying to play God by taking a pill to end their life, comparing a human to the life of a dying cat. They call it dying with dignity, not even physician assisted suicide anymore. Who are they kidding?! God help us.

2017 US Tragedies

* Donald Trump became our 45th president, beating out Hillary Clinton.
* Wildfires: California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington; so far this year, more than 8 million acres have burned
* Hurricanes: Harvey (Category 4, Tx), Irma (Category 5, FL, British Virgin Islands), Maria (Category 5, Puerto Rico). "In just three days, Irma, Jose and Katia have produced as much as energy as about half a normal six-month hurricane season."
* Las Vegas Shooting: 59 killed, over 500 injured.
* Tornadoes:  There have been 1,423 reports of tornadoes in the United States in 2017 so far.
* Earthquake: Mexico 8.1.

2016 Election

I'll be honest, I voted for Evan McMullin.  I wish it would have been Hillary vs Ted Cruz.  BUT -- that didn't stop David and I from rooting for Trump last night when watching the polls.  I don't know what we will get with Trump, but I do know what we would get with Hillary...4 more years of what Obama did to this poor country, and worse.  

I pray for our country.  I pray for our president.  Republicans took the presidency, the house, & the senate.  As much as people believe that Obama did "such great things for our nation", I beg to ask the question -- then why did the country vote this way and BEG for change???

I believe Trump is deep down still democrat, but I also believe he likes to be popular and well liked. He does not want to fail.  Obama has divided this country horribly.  In Glen Beck's words, Trump has his work cut out for him...about as much as Lincoln had to unify this nation.  Obama & Clinton are of the "us and them" mentality.  She made this clear when she called Trump supporters "deplorables".  I pray Trump reaches across the aisle and fixes what is terribly, terribly wrong.

Trump got Florida, Michigan, & Wisconsin -- what does that tell you? Hope and change went the wrong way, but I digress.

God bless America.

228

Hillary Clinton

279

Donald J. Trump

270 to win

59,649,606 votes (47.7%)

On this date: 10/11/2015 80*+

Letters to Our Congressman & Senators

Years from now we may not remember why or that we did this, but recently Planned Parenthood has been caught on hidden cameras selling aborted babies and piecing them out for $60/organ. They even admit, in a letter to congress, to being more gentle with certain "tissues" to get more of a quality product. ARG!!! Disgusting! 

Our church gave us these packets & encouraged us to sign our own little note at the end. We prayed over them to encourage our congressmen to vote for what the people want and who they represent, not their own personal agenda. The kids and I even printed out a couple of Raegan & Suess pics we liked. 

Cliffs laying off 100 Salaried workers at United Taconite, Northshore, Hibbing Taconite add to Iron Range mining woes

CLEVELAND — The mining layoffs this time around are salaried workers.

Cliffs Natural Resources will eliminate about 100 white collar employees spread out at its Hibbing Taconite, Northhsore Mining and United Taconite Iron Range operations.

Union officials say these cuts do not involve any union workers.

The news was the latest jolt to mining on the Range. It follows announcements of about 1,150 layoffs by U.S. Steel at its Minntac plant in Mountain Iron and the Keetac facility in Keewatin, and more than 40 pink slips given out at Magnetation on the east Range.

Cliffs officials have made it clear recently that they intend to continue reducing costs, including staffing.

Rumors of the layoffs began circulating in the area late Monday morning. Cliffs was contacted at its home office in Cleveland for comment at that time but did not

respond to requests for confirmation and comment.

DFL Reps. Jason Metsa of Virginia and Carly Melin of Hibbing said the layoffs by Cliffs is following a “familiar” trend in the region.

“Once again, family and friends on the Range are facing economic hardship and an uncertain future,” Melin said.

“Unfortunately, this is becoming familiar news. We will do everything we can to make sure the state of Minnesota is supportive of our families on the Range and that they get the benefits they have earned and deserve,” Metsa said.

The two lawmakers urged workers being laid off to contact them directly with any questions.

Gas: $1.99

When I started driving gas was 0.99. Haven't seen it this low in a while!

A prince is born

The royal prince is born, Monday 7/22/13. Felicity was so excited to watch. 

Don't blame me

I decided to look for a bumper sticker that says"Don't blame me I voted for Romney".

Election 2012

This is my blog, my on-line journal. Here I can write what I want. It's mine. My opinions, my record of events for my children to look back on in the future. So here...I write.

Tuesday evening I voted. I voted conservative and I voted YES for the marriage amendment to be defined as "One Woman & One Man". I voted YES for people to bring photo IDs with them to vote. I vote the ETHICS. But (sigh) America and MN went against the grain that God has set out.

OBAMA: A man was voted into the white house who wants to cut our military budget, and already has, making us a more vulnerable country.
He takes tax-payers money to give to places like Planned Parenthood to give free abortions to the low income (I know of women personally who use abortions as a method of birth control and have multiple abortions versus taking the Pill). Obama once was quoted, regarding abortion, "I wouldn't want my daughters to be punished with a baby." Punished? Really? And he supports partial-birth abortion - where the baby is near full term, partially delivered, and then it's brains are sucked out through a syringe in order to kill it. Disgusting and degrading.
This is the man who let us believe, for 14 days, a terrorist attack was really a "demonstration". He LIED to the American people. And later when he said he called it a terrorist attack, he did not, he said "The American people will not tolerate terror". That's not the same thing.
And this is who we RE-elected to run our country? A man who lies, kills. A man who claims the responsibility to have "...gotten Bin Ladin" when it was President Bush's decision to go after him in the first place while Obama said he was going to pull all troops back home as soon as he became president the 1st time?
Now he is going to raise the taxes on "wealthy" small business owners (anyone making over $250K - which is not a lot for small businesses), leaving these businesses with less money to hire more employees. Therefore more unemployed Americans. More taxes taken out of everyone's pockets to support the unemployed. He is going to put Obama Care into place, which is just devastating, and a joke once one reads into it.

I woke up Wednesday morning, barely got my robe and glasses on before turning on the TV to find out the election results. Living in a blue state, I wasn't much surprised by the MN results. Disappointed, but still not surprised. But my heart still sank as I saw that the Christians had been defeated all around. I kept thinking, "My God, my God. Why have you abandoned me?" Then I started to think: God didn't let us down. He didn't abandon us. God is a 'gentleman' and He won't go where he isn't invited. If a majority of our country does not want God here, He won't be. And maybe this is God's Will. We won't know why certain things happen until He comes again.

Christi: why do you vote conservative? I vote the moral & ethical issues. And even if the candidates aren't perfect, I vote for the least likely to go against God's will. My Liberal friends don't tend to like my answer because usually the ethical topics I bring up "don't apply to me", per them.  Hmm.

Abortion is a sin, yet it is legal. Homosexual marriages are a sin, yet becoming legal (1 Cor. 6:9-10). Just because something is written into law, does not make it right. 

What happens when we go to heaven some day and ask God, "Why didn't you give a cure for cancer? Or AIDS? Why didn't we have world peace" God's reply: "I did. You aborted the baby I gave you to solve your problems."

We are going to have to answer to God, face to face, someday as to the decisions we made and the people we voted for in our lifetimes here on earth. God isn't going to say, "well, who had the best tax plan?" He's going to say "who did you vote for who preserved life?" Is God really going to say "Well done, my good and faithful servant" after we explain to him that we voted for a weaker economy, a liar, and a baby-killer?

I'm not posting this on Facebook.  Like I said in the beginning: this is my blog for me and my family. If you disagree, create your own blog and write your own thoughts. I am just writing this down so that there is never any doubt to anyone as to where I stand. What more can you say than:"Jesus Christ, thy Will be done." 

Do NOT Let Kids Eat in Cars!

It happened again.  A friend of a friend of a friend's story:
2 grandparents took their 6 grandkids on a car trip.  The kiddos wanted to snack on marshmallows, the youngest being 2 years old.  By the time they got to their destination, one of the older kids noticed the 2 year old wasn't waking up from his "nap".  He had choked on a marshmallow and died.  PLEASE, don't let your kids eat in cars!  By the time you notice that they're choking and pull over, it may just be too late.  I'd rather hear them scream all the way home that they're hungry than to never hear their voice ever again.

Beaver Glands Bear "Natural Flavoring"

While I've often read labels, I'm doing more research.  Here's my findings:
Castoreum is the exudate from the castor sacs of the mature beaver. Within the zoological realm, castoreum is the yellowish secretion of the castor sac in combination with the beaver's urine, used during scent marking of territory.
Castoreum is also used in small amounts to contribute to the flavor and odor of cigarettes.

In the United States, castoreum has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a food additive, often referenced simply as a "natural flavoring" in the product's list of ingredients. While it can be used both food and beverages as a vanilla, raspberry and strawberry flavoring, the annual industry consumption is only around 300 pounds. bon appetit

Where is America Headed? (videos from 1965 & 2012 - interesting!)

1965: 2012: I believe Dad would have found this interesting. Happy 65th, Dad.

Death of an Talented Artist...Thomas Kinkade on Good Friday 04/06/2012

Thomas Kinkade, who died unexpectedly on Friday at age 54, was an artist whose paintings of idyllic landscapes and biblically themed scenes garnered a huge popular following. How unexpected, but how awesome to die on the same day as our Lord. It just reminds us once again how short our lives are here on earth. May God bless this very talented man who touched so many lives in such a short amount of time.

Steve Jobs February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011

Pro-life Corner: How different our world would be if Joanne Simpson had chosen to abort her unintended pregnancy. Instead she gave birth to a boy who was adopted by a loving couple. That boy was Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, Inc. and the creative genius behind the iPhone, IPod, and IPad and creator of tens of thousands of jobs.

“Before embarking, he’d looked at his sister Patty, then for a long time at his children, then at his life’s partner, Laurene, and then over their shoulders past them. Steve’s final words were: OH WOW. OH WOW. OH WOW.”

Tylenol Changes

Tylenol has changed its dosing. To all Moms out there, you may wish to read the following article. I was not aware of the changes until I bought a new bottle of baby acetaminophen the other day and opened this huge bottle. It pretty much concludes that it is less concentrated to reduce medication errors by standardizing dosing across products.
The only inconvenience is that I personally prefer the dropper to the syringe - less messy & less clean up, but whatever.
http://www.tylenol.com/page.jhtml?id=tylenol/children/subfsafety_convenience.inc

Ban Puppy Mills!

I was watching the Dog Whisperer and he had a special on Puppy Mills. What I didn't realize is that any puppy you buy can be from a puppy mill - or their parents, and this includes any dog from the classified ads and especially pet stores (the worst). Unfortunately, puppy mills are not illegal. Many claim the pups and parents are free reign with good exercise. This is not true. Some of these dogs never get to see the light of day and are kept in small cages - only used to breed. They are abused, missing limbs due to chicken-wired cages, can be inbred and have infections. Sick. I encourage you, adopt from a shelter. What a sick world we live in.
These people had 400 hundred dogs when they were only licensed for 100 dogs. They were forced to get rid of 300 dogs overnight. Luckily, they they humanelygave them to kennels and shelters versus putting them down, but still:
http://worldkennelusa.com/home.php?xid=209e308feb03795a178a63696a3c1adf
http://network.bestfriends.org/6832/news.aspx

Minnesota Government Shutdown: Grandmas and Grandpas Speak Out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WdpRuIHrK0
What's at Stake in Minnesota
We are now 13 days into a state government shutdown, with the eyes of the nation and even the international community upon us. We are face to face with the structural deficit that budget analysts predicted more than two years ago. Even while services to seniors rank among the highest of priorities, we will not come away from this stand-off between the Legislature and the Governor without cuts. Still, we can shape the final outcome – our immediate goal is to secure about $20 million that would close the gap between the Governor’s and the Legislature’s budgets for the spectrum of senior care.

As the closed-door negotiations between Governor Dayton and legislative leaders continue, we must return to our core messages and remind policymakers of the $6.7 billion economic impact of older adult services on the state economy, the 142,000 jobs we generate, the demographic changes that are sweeping our state and the names and faces of those we serve and those we employ.