I took Heidi for a walk at the off leash park on Wednesday.  It was surprisingly cold and I walked fast.  I only went halfway into the woods and then turned around and headed back because the sun was setting.  As we were walking back, another dog decided she wanted to play with Heidi.  This other dog was quite aggressive, hackles up but tail wagging.  Heidi wanted to play but wasn't all that sure about this dog so she hid behind my legs.  The other dog came running straight at me, trying to get at Heidi and I ended up being knocked over, flat on my back.  

Fortunately I fell in the snow and no harm was done but people, keep your dogs in check.  

When we made it back to the car it was just getting dark and as I backed up, my car slid off the gravel road and into the ditch.  I've been driving in Alberta weather all my life but without snow tires, I couldn't get out.  Three separate vehicles stopped to help me, rachet straps were pooled and a truck pulled me out of the ditch.  At one point I started crying, telling the young woman who was keeping me company while her boyfriend helped tow my car, that it was so nice to see that kindness still existed in the world.  

With so much negativity online and on the news, we forget that humans can be kind and will help each other.  

We were supposed to see Katie this weekend but got an email today telling us that all the group homes are in lockdown.  Katie didn't understand last time and I doubt she'll be any happier about it this time.  We didn't get to see her last weekend because we had our grandson and he was sick and I didn't want Katie to get what he had.  I miss her already.

I'm so tired of conspiracy and hoax theories related to covid.  I wanted to punch someone in the throat the other day at work if I had to listen to one more word about how we're overreacting and that it's all bullshit.  But of course, punching people is wrong.  Right?

According to the WHO about 20% of people who get infected will end up needing hospitilization.  I live in a province with a population of 4 million people and we have 8065 acute care beds, or just beds for sick people, not ICU beds.  I've been nursing for thirty-four years and I can tell you that acute care beds are pretty much always full.  So now we're in a pandemic that could potentially make 800,000 people sick enough to require an acute care bed.  How's that gonna work?  

People don't seem to understand that health care is a limited resource and right now we're just trying to slow things down so that not everyone gets sick at the same time.  Until there is a vaccine and people actually get vaccinated, covid will continue on.  We have no immunity to it yet.  

And then people say, well, it's not any worse than the flu.  Bullshit!  Covid has a mortality rate of about 3-4%.  This number will probably get lower as we do more testing but for now, 3-4% is our best guess.  So in a province of 4 million people, that's 120,000.  On average about 28,000 Albertans die each year.  Last year 39 people died from the flu.  So far this year 393 people have died from covid, so not your average flu.

I could go on but I won't.  I'm tired of stupid, tired of mean, tired of ignorant and tired of people arguing about their rights.  We are all in this together.  We all need to do our bit.  We all need to take care of each other and if that means wearing a mask, wear the damn mask, stand back six feet, wash your damn hands, stay home, quit socializing, grow up and set a good example for someone.