Ugh. Still sick. No, not The Virus, but something intestinal, maybe from eating those leftovers I should have thrown out last Friday instead of trying? I woke up and thought, “My head feels like it’s going to explode.” Then I thought of my sister, almost four years ago now, with a brain aneurysm. For the first time, I wonder: if I had gone through with calling her that morning, would she have perhaps mentioned her headache? Might I have had the wisdom to encourage her to get checked out, and might it have made a difference? I had actually dialed the number, then stopped it before it rang, deciding to wait until after I finished feeding the goats. While in their pen, I got stung by a wasp and had a reaction—a missed opportunity to speak with her that final day which I will always regret. At some point after that, in light of family history (both my sister and grandfather having suffered brain aneurysms) I was scheduled for an MRI. We are self pay, although reimbursed by the health sharing cost organization we have been part of for many a year, Samaritan Ministries. When I went for my test, I found the imaging center had misquoted the price. The total was more than I had available. I never rescheduled. Maybe I still should. Someday. After all the stress and panic of the pandemic is passed, perhaps. Panic + epidemic = pandemic. I hadn’t put that together before. A few months ago, after e-mailed conversation with a specialist at UAB, I was also supposed to get blood testing for systemic mastocytosis, with which my brother has been diagnosed. It’s not genetic in a normal sense, but if our mother had it, each of us have a 50% chance of having it as well. Again, I procrastinated. Now I figure all the laboratories are too busy with COVID-19 tests. Yesterday, I absently scratched at what was probably a mosquito bite. A little while later, I looked at my arm to find it covered with allergic welts. I’m pretty sure that is a symptom? Oh, well. I’m keeping Benadryl on hand, and I think we still have an EpiPen on top of the cupboard. The swelling is gone now, with just the small bite mark showing. As I think about it, suddenly my arm is feeling itchy, and then my neck—I wonder, if I scratch again, will my arm swell up once more? DJ let the goats out this morning for me. Instead of putting them back in after a morning graze, I just left them out. It was raining off and on, but they had shelter available. I didn’t think they would get too much to eat. Instead of the lush clover which filled our pastures a few months ago, the grass is short, with brown patches here and there. Whereas before, I could grab a few handfuls and have a generous bunch for the bunnies, now I have to scrabble around to get a good snack for one rabbit. Oops. DJ just came back in from filling in with evening chores. The goats had gotten in the barn. Now we won’t dare let them out for awhile. Fortunately, they only knocked over and ate out of the bucket of black sunflower seeds. With all the roughage, they probably didn’t manage to eat themselves into a bloat like they could have if they’d gotten into the grain. I’m surprised if all four managed to make it in; the two mamas haven’t managed to jump through the manger side previously. Probably it was just Jeremy and Isabel.