Omicron & the Owl

Happy new year friends.  I wish for you all, and me, a great 2022.  Unfortunately the year hasn't started off great for the Mueller household as I managed to bring home the Omicron variant of the covid virus.  Ugh!  Despite all our efforts to stay safe it happened.  I know where I got it (from work) but have no idea from who.  Turns out there are many of my coworkers also battling the virus.

Angie and I had such an amazing New Year's Eve day with an afternoon nature outing where we saw a couple species of owls and hand fed some chickadees.  We had a lovely dinner at home and managed to stay up until midnight to ring in the new year.

A great horned owl greeted us to an otherwise empty woodlot.  Zero humans which was A-OK by us and no other birds or wildlife (no surprise).  I haven't had a nice view of this species of owl in about 5 years.  The last time I saw this species of owl in these woods was at least 10 years ago.

Angie managed to spot a couple long-eared owls in another area we walked through.  How awesome!  Again, no other humans anywhere to be seen.  We choose paths less traveled.

2021 wasn't a great year by any means but it sure ended quite nicely for us.

Now, along comes New Year's Day.  I felt rather tired and thought perhaps the big walk yesterday and a late night had something to do with it.  I only had one drink so it wasn't that.  As the day moved along my leg muscles started to ache and only got worse, to the point where walking to the bathroom which is downstairs in our old house, had me think "how badly do I need to go?"

I went to bed mid-evening but woke up around 1 AM to a fever.  I was drenched in sweat.  37.9 Celsius (100.2 F) was my temperature.  Next to come was a tickle in the back of my sinuses and it wasn't long until I was all stuffed up.  Both Angie and I were up shortly after 4 AM.  She managed to purchase some rapid test kits online before Christmas and here was the perfect time to use one.  The wiry swab thing really tickled my nose.  It took everything to hold in a sneeze.  When she put the final bits together for the test, including my sample, it showed positive within seconds.  NOOOOOOOOO!  Self quarantining we go!

It bothered me to think that I picked up covid.  We've both been very careful through this pandemic.  We haven't been social butterflies.  I knew deep down it had to be from work.  Now, this is the messed up part.  I was home for 5 days over Christmas, key word is HOME.  I was only at work for 8 hours on the 29th of December and 6 hours on the 30th.  Of those 14 hours in the plant, I would have had my mask off for maybe 10 minutes in the cafeteria when I have a quick snack a few hours into my shift since we don't take lunch until 6 hours in.  I've been eating my lunch in my car for a number of years.  I like to go out and get a coffee, listen to some tunes and have a 30 minute time out from work.  Sitting in the cafeteria on break is not a break in my opinion.  The work talk at the tables is not my thing.  I'm not afraid to admit that seeing some faces in the cafeteria also ruins my break.  Anyway, somehow in that little span of time, I picked up the bug.  Was it when my mask was off?  Or maybe there was an opening on the side and it got in?  Who knows?

By Sunday afternoon I developed a painful upper chest cough.  My throat got really sore, like it was fiery hot.  So any coughing was very unpleasant.  I tried to zone the day away but it was difficult due to all my symptoms as well as my mind not being at rest.

It was count day for me with project feeder watch.  It was around 5 PM and nearly dark outside, meaning the birds were gone for the day.  I had turned the computer on to enter my bird counts when I happened to look out the window one last time and noticed the screech owl was sticking his head out of the box.  HOLY S**T!  Big surprise because if  you caught my blog not too long ago, you know we had a screech owl in both boxes in the days before Christmas.  The last day that we saw it was December 23rd.  Here we are now at January 2nd and he's back.  I had to go back to the website where I had just entered my counts and happily do an edit, adding the owl to the list.

I grabbed my camera, tweaked my settings and took this shot from the deck.  I love his camouflage against the bark that I added to this nest box.

So, as I have battled Omicron and recover this week (obviously not going to work), I have glued myself to my chair in the kitchen by the window around 4:45 PM every day, waiting and wondering if the owl will show.  He returned again on January 3rd and 4th.  I did not see him on January 5th.  Then on January 6th I was about to write him off as a "no-show" once again, when he appeared much later than past days.  It was 5:30 PM and totally dark out.  I thought I saw him from the window and actually had to step out on the back deck to be sure.  I now wonder if perhaps he did that on the 5th as well?

This little owl has been a gift this week.  A blessing might be another good word to use.  He's been a great distraction for both Angie and I.  

When he sticks his head out, he just sits with his eyes as slits.  As it gets closer to dark, he gets more active.  He starts looking around at the wild world in front of him.  He will look to the cedars down back.  He will look to the pines up here by the house.  He will look out to further off backyards where there are some large conifers.  Then, in a flash, he takes flight from the box and disappears.  Two nights he has gone to the cedars down by the shed.  Another night it was off to the neighbour's trees.  I guess it doesn't matter where he goes, just as long as he comes back.

I'm on day 6 now of this bug.  I started my official count from Sunday when I knew I was sick, and not Saturday when I thought I was getting sick.  I am home until January 12th, so that's 5 more days of R&R, and 5 more evenings where I can watch the box and look out for the owl.  When I go back to work, I will miss him since I work 2 PM to 10 PM.  Angie will be on owl watch then.

I know there are a lot of varying opinions on covid and this Omicron variant.  I've learned through my social media post about getting sick that many others have been sick with it in the last couple weeks.  For some, it was mild and short lived (3 days).  For others, it's been harder and longer lasting.  Whether you take covid seriously or not, it is still a sickness.  I hate being sick.  When I am sick, I stay home.  When I see sick people, I stay away.  That's always been my style, way before covid.  I always wish more people would be as respectful towards others when they are sick and stay home, or at the very least, away from as many people as possible.

Before I finish this, you may be wondering, did Angie get Omicron?  YES!  She is about 36 hours behind me and certainly isn't happy about it at all.  She never got the fever like I did, or the muscle aches as long as I did; but she's dealing with more coughing and sinus stuffiness.  Chatting with others, their symptoms and length of some are all over the board.  Sure it may have been a slight illness for some, but that doesn't mean it won't be worse for someone else.

Okay, enough about Omicron, but I had to talk about it because it is happening here in our house right now...  and the little screech owl has been some of nature's best medicine for us.  One last look at him.  

See you all again soon, in a much healthier state (I am feeling much better than 6 days ago, hopefully a restful weekend ahead will put the final crush to this bug).

I hate this term and cannot wait till it is not used by people any longer...  stay safe.