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Deep breath
Mar. 12th, 2020 11:25 pm
I have learned something surprising as a result of the coronavirus, namely, what the normal human respiratory rate is. What is surprising is that I learned it, which is to say, that I did not know it, even vaguely. I saw a chart on Wikipedia that listed as a characteristic of severe COVID-19 having a respiratory rate of greater than or equal to 30 breaths per minute ... and without thinking thought, that must be supposed to be less than ... and then realized I was thinking of heart rate, and then realized I had absolutely no idea what the normal respiratory rate is, or what mine is. Turns out for non-elderly adults it's 12-18 breaths per minute ... and five minutes of counting suggests that mine is some fraction over 10. Which I guess is ... good?
Anyway. I saw the first butterfly of the year today--didn't get a good look at it, but it was orange, so probably a Compton tortoiseshell, which was the first butterfly I saw, in March with snow on the ground, like today, a couple of years ago, or a Comma. Saw the first chipmunks of the year on March 3. First robin showed up a few days ago. The purple finches came back to my feeder last week. Funny thing about birds like purple finches showing up at my feeder in late winter is they're not necessarily coming back from the south, because they don't necessarily go south at all--they could as easily be coming down from the north, having exhausted the winter's supply of conifer seeds. Apparently there was a good crop of cones in the boreal forests this year, so no redpolls or pine siskins have come down this far--and a good crop of mountain ash berries in the northern deciduous shield country, so no flocks of Bohemian waxwings, or winter robins.
By this time in the 20th century there had already been, for starters, World War I and the Spanish flu. So if you look at it that way, we're not doing so bad. And, you know, it actually got a lot worse from there before it got better, so you have to like our chances.
--
Currently under my porch: 4.5. Currently at Crowe Lake: 4.2. High there today: 9.2.
Anyway. I saw the first butterfly of the year today--didn't get a good look at it, but it was orange, so probably a Compton tortoiseshell, which was the first butterfly I saw, in March with snow on the ground, like today, a couple of years ago, or a Comma. Saw the first chipmunks of the year on March 3. First robin showed up a few days ago. The purple finches came back to my feeder last week. Funny thing about birds like purple finches showing up at my feeder in late winter is they're not necessarily coming back from the south, because they don't necessarily go south at all--they could as easily be coming down from the north, having exhausted the winter's supply of conifer seeds. Apparently there was a good crop of cones in the boreal forests this year, so no redpolls or pine siskins have come down this far--and a good crop of mountain ash berries in the northern deciduous shield country, so no flocks of Bohemian waxwings, or winter robins.
By this time in the 20th century there had already been, for starters, World War I and the Spanish flu. So if you look at it that way, we're not doing so bad. And, you know, it actually got a lot worse from there before it got better, so you have to like our chances.
--
Currently under my porch: 4.5. Currently at Crowe Lake: 4.2. High there today: 9.2.
