How could all you Washington state folk pick “Washington, My Home” over “Louie Louiiiiiiiiii”?

springbranchesThis is not a swine flu H1N1 virus post. Why? Because I am not an influenza expert. So if you have hit the big Goggle Google (Gogol was goggle-eyed!) and landed here, I am just a baggy old bag with an addiction to blathering incoherently on the internet. Check out yesterday’s post. Even my husband couldn’t understand me. If you want facts about the H1N1 virus, check out the CDC. They have all the experts. Charts and graphs and the whole works.

I am over the initial panic that I felt when I first heard the story on NPR last Friday. We had just begun our weekend journey to Houghton Lake and were skirting around Chelsea on the back roads and it was a beautiful afternoon and I was thinking, “SWINE FLU? DEATHS? SAY WHAT?” This just gives me a chance to get up on my soapbox about viral/bacterial illnesses in general. And, again, I am not an expert but I love to bust old wives-type tales.

If you eat pork, don’t quit, fer kee-reist! Well-cooked pork (like you are supposed to cook it) will not give you the H1N1 virus. Even uncooked pork won’t give you the H1N1 virus. It might give you trichinosis but I am not even sure that trichinosis is around any more. In any event, neither pork nor trichinosis are even remotely related to the swine flu.

And what is the flu? If you have spent the last 12 hours forming an intimate relationship with The Blue and Only Toilet, you probably do not have an influenza virus. Unless you have a fever and, well, check out the CDC site. Trust me. If you are just vomiting, you have a garden variety gastrointestinal virus. If you are healthy, you’ll recover. Suck on ice chips to stay hydrated until you can progress to Cheerios or whatever.

The flu is also not related to the common cold. Do *not* demand antibiotics for cold symptoms (whole ‘nother soapbox here). No matter how many times you have to blow your nose or how much congestion is packed up into your respiratory tract, if you are healthy, you will recover. Don’t even get me started on over-the-counter cough medicine crap.

Wash your hands? Yes, good idea. I wash my hands constantly and I was amazed to hear that a rather dismal percentage of people in the USA do not (it was on NPR and I can’t remember the details). But. One of the things I take issue with is that, as far as I know, viruses can be transmitted before someone feels ill or shows symptoms. We are walking a fine balance here with not closing schools, etc., until someone shows symptoms. Since it does not seem to be a deadly virus in most cases (like most flu viruses), maybe that’s okay.

I may be a geeky old bag but I am also a wives’ tale buster and I walk outside all the time with wet frozen hair and I am convinced that I have never gotten sick from doing that. It is viruses and bacteria that make us sick, not beautiful cold weather. Walking in beautiful cold weather, even with frozen hair, energizes me and makes me feel wonderful!

Take care and wash yer hands,
Love, Kw

5 Responses to “How could all you Washington state folk pick “Washington, My Home” over “Louie Louiiiiiiiiii”?”

  1. Kathy Farnell Says:

    I agree with you about all of the above.

  2. Dog Mom Says:

    Lemme add one MORE thing to the rant: People going to work (or sending kids to school) SICK. That (along with people not washing hands) is my biggest pet peeve! Yes, I know the reasonsexcuses: “Work will pile up, because everyone else is so busy…” “I won’t get paid if I’m out sick” “I’ve used up my vacation days”, you know the script…. I put a big piece of blame on the employers/corporations. Why? a) They make their salaried workforce SO lean that its actually *anorexic* – no one can complete their own “deck”, much less cover for a sick employee; b) Either they do not pay for sick days or provide only a very limited number, so people who depend on a paycheck feel forced to go to work, even when they feel/look like death warmed over; c) Managers don’t tell sick employees to go home – thereby contributing to the spread of disease.

    OK, I’m done ranting. Thanks for the forum!

  3. Jay Says:

    Well I spent a good part of my day learning about H1N1 and trying to get our Health Advisory Plan (that has been under development for a while (2 years?)) up and current since it appears we may have to use it, at least to some extent. As to the title, I am not sure why we would have chosen Washington My Home. I didn’t actually know we had chosen, although maybe what I do remember is that “Washington My Home” was chosen a long time ago and the effort was to change it to “Louie Louie”. (“Louie, Louie” is played during the 7th inning stretch at Mariners games after the “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”.)

  4. Margaret Says:

    No one asked me my opinion which seems to be the case a lot lately. Try having a bad cold and cough during this swine flu panic. I feel like a pariah.

  5. Tonya Says:

    “Washington My Home” was selected by an old-school bunch of politicians back in the 50s or 60s (back when a rock song would NEVER be considered for a Grammy). Some time ago (in the 80s I think) it was revisited and there was a push to change it to “Louie Louie” but the conservative generational politicians refused to go for it. Us Boomers consider it our “unofficial” state song!

    As for swine flu? I think THIS is decent method to build up immunity: http://agategal.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341bfdda53ef01156f6c7da0970c-pi

    (tee hee)