Ethics and Oxygen

Yesterday I braved the Great Viral Unknown as puppy prep continues here in western Montana.

This was one of my early stops and unfortunately, it presented a dilemma.

In spite of their sign, I was not there to buy a missile nor is safety one of their primary concerns. I was there to pick up a small tank of just-in-case oxygen for the puppy arrival(s).

I went in to discover the employees were not wearing masks.

Mind blown.

I had not considered calling a medical supply place to ask if their employees were masked — I simply assumed they would be, given the nature of their customers. Not many people need medical supplies unless they are in a vulnerable group, after all.

How could I give them my business and feel okay?

But I needed the oxygen and it was by prescription — walking out would have felt righteous in the moment but required yet another trip to Missoula and I was already there and…

My mom used to note I have a tendency to cut off my nose to spite my face and while I am still not 100% sure what that means, I believe it involves a certain willingness to do something rather dumb to prove a point.

My mother was correct — the truth is I usually make the point and to heck with my nose BUT after much internal weighing of the options and — seriously — agonizing about this, I elected to simply ask about the masks, express in a respectful way my surprise that they were not wearing masks, and get the oxygen.

And write this post.

In the future, I will call all business to ensure masked employees — lesson learned.

The CDC “…recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies)…”

The employee who handed me the oxygen did not have freakishly long arms — she absolutely violated socially distancing guidelines.

I observe that masks have become an interesting litmus test for me. I am still trying to decide if this is fair or not, reasonable or not, but in general I see people wearing masks as belong to my “tribe” — and those who are not as people who are unsafe, for all kinds of reasons.

Daisy’s temperature is holding steady — nothing imminent in the Puppy Department. But if needed, they have oxygen — and I have a bruised conscience.

More Pandemic Puppy Prep

Pandemic Puppy Prep was productive over the weekend.

I have exterior doors to paint but I am terrible at selecting colors — all those choices paralyze me! I blame this on Catholic schools, which were great for a lot of things but I never learned the art of making choices — I just put on my green plaid uniform everyday.

Luckily, I now have Friend Suzanne. Armed with her handy Sherman-Williams paint wheel thing, Friend Suzanne can find the perfect color for anything.

So far she has selected the correct blue for my office at the university (with perfectly coordinated trim, mind you), and the perfect color and trim color for the remodeled kitchen and dining area (and because it all flows together — the entry, living room and hall).

I sent out a Color S.O.S. with photos of the roof to assist and had the two color choices for the exterior doors within the hour. Suzanne is like a Magic Eight Ball for color selection!

Since I was in the painting mood, I decided the whelping box needed an update. Yes, I am nesting.

I called around to find a paint store where the employees were wearing masks and Sherman-Williams in Missoula was the winner.

I am a bit obsessive about toxic things and so the poor sales guy was prompted to call a manager to discuss which of their paints was lowest in the VOC department and so on — they were all so nice and helpful (and masked).

While he did that, I stood in front of the approximately 14 bazillion paint chips and tried to pick a color for the whelping box. I looked automatically for the familiar green plaid of my uniform but nope — I was forced to channel my Inner Suzanne and make a different choice.

It wasn’t pretty but in the end, I did it.

Well, I actually did it about ten times but I finally just handed the guy a chip and said, “this one.”

Later — when asked what color I selected — I could not remember. It turned out to be this kind of a teal/green/blue color. Not plaid but I like it!

And so the whelping box was painted and after a few stressful hours searching for the pins that hold the corners together (life in a construction zone is messy), we were able to set it all up.

There is a cushioning mat under the vinyl floor, and that all sits on top of the living room floor.

I have some touch-up painting to do, more linens to wash, hemostats to sterilize, and so on — this is quite a production and very exciting.

We expect to see a drop in Daisy’s body temperature when she is within 24 hours of whelping. I started documenting her temperature this morning to establish a baseline -- it was 100.6. I will check her temperature four times each day at roughly the same times.

The soonest we would expect puppies is Friday but the actual due date is Saturday/Sunday. I am confident she will honor my request to deliver at least some of the 47 puppies that appear to be inside her on Sunday so that the litter birthday can be the same as mine. I have also requested a daytime delivery — good thing days are long this time of year and Daisy is such a Cooperator!

And that is the latest from Puppy Central.

Masking Love

Pandemic Puppy Prep is complicated — and thank goodness for Amazon. Every day feels like Christmas around here, with daily packages arriving filled with such exciting things as bulb syringes and hemostats.

Yesterday was especially thrilling — the puppy collars arrived!

Sparkle’s mom and Daisy’s grandfather are littermates and so that means Daisy’s puppies will be Sparkle’s something-cousins…

We raise our litters in the house, OF COURSE, and so last week I went to Home Depot to purchase a piece of vinyl to cover the living room floor -- the whelping box will sit on it.

The parking lot was packed and mask-less people streamed in and out of the store.

I was dumfounded. And irate.

I called Dear Husband as I drove off and it went like this: @#$%& *&%#$

Lowe’s was the same.

And so was the next phone call to Dear Husband.

I went to the flooring store — no masks but also very few people.

I needed that vinyl! It had to air out before it could come in the house and so I put my own mask on and went inside.

I got my piece of vinyl — a remnant — FOR FREE! #score

I cannot afford to get sick for all kinds of reasons but especially because we have puppies arriving next weekend. Montana has low rates BUT the tourists are arriving and careless people are congregating again — I am worried about June.

I am now unwilling to go into places that do not require masks and in a Red State like this, those places are far and few between. Costco and the Good Food Store in Missoula — those are my Peeps.

Masks — the new symbol of Love Your Neighbor.