Inconclusive, game time, the weekend

Cori relayed to us the outcomes of the testing she and her crew went through for COVID. All the tests came back negative except hers. Hers was inconclusive. Unfortunately, that is not the negative result she needed in order to fly back home to Honduras. Inconclusive can mean a number of things but generally it has to do with the over abundance of mucus in the sinuses making it impossible to see if there are any COVID viral invaders lurking in the area tested. It simply means, the lab analyzing the sample was unable to determine if the COVID virus is present. No clear yes or no. What that means for Cori and her crew is that they will have to reschedule their flights for a later date – yet to be determined – and get tested again within 72 hours of that flight. The delay is heartbreaking, but God was not caught off guard by the test results. If we keep our faith in this situation, we may be able to see God do something miraculous for the family is this delay.

For my part, I am taking the test result for what it is, a non-answer. With the rest of the family testing negative (which I learned can mean a variety of things because it is registered as “not detected”), I am inclined to go with my lack of any symptoms after eight days as a negative result. In the practical sense, that is how it plays out in real life. That does not help Nate, Cori and the kids get home, but it helps Mama and me to go on with our lives. The only real question for us is, do we go to church Sunday or do we wait one more week? Sadly, Erin is still out and now Barbara’s husband Jerry is in the hospital with pneumonia being attributed to COVID. The last time we were in church with Barbara and Jerry was on the 13^th. I am not sure if they passed the virus to anyone at church, but it did not attach to me and Mama.

In our church family, we have two other families out with COVID related illnesses. It is actually hard to tell since everything from a sore throat and a runny nose, to pneumonia – all of which we had long before COVID – are now attributed specifically to COVID. Is it a player in all of those? Perhaps. Mostly we just assume it is. Is our isolating from each other the best way to treat this? Evidence is mounting that that is not the best method of dealing with the virus, especially when 99% of us are either not infected or asymptomatic. It is hard to establish herd immunity when we stop herding. Again, the evidence is inconclusive.

I was in meetings all morning yesterday. The first hour and a half meeting was to unveil our new brand for the company and the intent of the rebranding. The second was an hour and a half of a competitive game in which we all competed against each other answering trivia questions. There were five rounds of ten questions each. Most were multiple choice but there were some short answer questions that required typing in an answer. What made the game highly competitive was that as each question came up a countdown timer started and the longer you took to answer the question, the less points you were able to get from a correct answer. As expected, I did not place in any of the five rounds, but I participated just in case the results were being tabulated. My highest score in a round was around 700 points. I am not much of a trivia buff. I am less of a game enthusiast. But it made for a pleasant morning. Unproductive, but pleasant. As far as they were able our management got us together for a fun morning without getting us together physically. We are still adhering to the end of the year timeline in our working remotly. I am actually happy about that decision. Mama very happy about it.

We do not have lot planned for this weekend. There will be plenty to do and we will add to the list as the weekend progresses. My most pressing project is to work in the hives. I will need to remove the honey super on the one hive, and I am considering whether or not I need to start feeding the bees. Things are dry and dying here as we progress towards Winter so there is little for them to eat. I also need to get the pig lot done. I have barely started on it so far, but the weather is so much more pleasant now that the labor involved will be far more enjoyable. In between those projects are the little weekend things we do because I have the extra time. Along with those I will do some fishing and set out some jug lines in the creek.

Nate and the boys scoped out the creek for me and found it was navigable for a good distance from the crossing where we are able to access it. It is also deep enough for me to use the trolling motor in a large portion of what I accessible to us. The fact that they saw a very large cotton mouth snake was alarming to Blake, but it was not unexpected.

We should have a good weekend ahead of us. Only the issue of attending church in person in question needs to be decided.