Battling COVID

So I left work on the evening of the 8th, and I really didn’t feel like myself. The next day I felt full-blown sick, and when I checked my temperature it was 101.0. I knew I was sick, but the question was, was it COVID-19, or was it a normal winter flu?

I tested myself, and I tested positive for COVID-19 on the 9th, and I’ve been in quarantine since. I was a little shocked because I haven’t been sick in long time, and this is the first time I tested positive for COVID.

At this point today I feel much better. It’s been about 12 days and my fever was gone days ago. Every day I feel a little better.

I did however, lose my taste and sense of smell. I just read today that people who lose their sense of taste and smell because of COVID-19 usually have to wait for it to return. It takes time.

They said Hot Tamales and Sour Patch Kids help retrain your taste buds and bring flavor back. Citrus fruits are said to help as well. I’ve been drinking as much water as I can, I’m trying for a gallon-a-day, but that’s not happening. I’m also taking vitamins; I take a multi-vitamin, D3, Magnesium, Saw Palmetto, Milk Thistle, and B12.

Work gave me a return date on the 20th, that’s tomorrow, but I still haven’t produced a negative test yet. Tomorrow I’ll retest-its been four days.

Alright everyone, stay safe and stay healthy!

Who’s the Beast of the East

The Beast of the East is a high school wrestling tournament that took place this weekend, starting yesterday, Saturday, December 18th, and finished up today, Sunday December 19th. All of the matches were wrestled on the campus of the University of Delaware.

2021 Champions

106 Pounds- Nate Desmond (Bethlehem Catholic)

113 Pounds- Leo Deluca (Blair Academy)

120 Pounds- Mark-Anthony McGowen (Blair Academy)

132 Pounds- Tyler Vazquez (Delbarton)

138 Pounds- Tyler Kasak (Bethlehem Catholic)

145 Pounds- Ethan Mojena (Lake Highland Prep)

152 Pounds- Joe Sealey (Wyoming Seminary)

160 Pounds- Jonathan Ley (Lake Highland Prep)

170 Pounds- Daniel Wask (Blair Academy)

195 Pounds- Sonny Sasso (Nazareth)

220 Pounds- TJ Stewart (Blair Academy)

285 Pounds- Nick Feldman (Malvern Prep)

Beast of the East

The Beast of the East High School Wrestling Tournament began yesterday, Saturday, December 18th on the campus of the University of Delaware. The first 3 rounds were wrestled yesterday, and the quarterfinal round was set to begin this morning, Sunday, December 19th.

Bethlehem Catholic and Nazareth have a number of wrestlers in good position to start the day.

106 pounds- 1 Nate Desmond (Bethlehem Catholic) vs. 8 Colin Martin (Staunton River)

113 pounds- Tahir Parkins (Nazareth) vs. 2 Daniel Jones (Delbarton)

120 pounds- 3 Jack Consiglio (Malvern Prep) vs. 6 Cael Mcintyre (Bethlehem Catholic)

132 pounds- Ashton Campbell (Bethlehem Catholic) vs. 2 Tyler Vazquez (Delbarton)

138 pounds- 1 Tyler Kusak (Bethlehem Catholic) vs. Max Stein (Faith Christian Academy)

145 pounds- 1 Cross Wasilewski (Delbarton) vs. Nicholas Foster (Nazareth)

152 pounds- 1 Ty Whalen (Clearview Regional) vs. 8 Dominic Wheatley (Nazareth)

195 pounds- 1 Sonny Sasso (Nazareth) vs. 8 Hudson Skove (Rumson-Fair Haven Regional)

220 pounds- 1 TJ Stewart (Blair Academy) vs. 8 Chase Levey (Nazareth)

285 pounds- 3 Aiden Lacoma (Christiansburg) vs. 6 Sean Kinney (Nazareth)

7 Cooper Rudolph (JW Robinson) vs. 2 Noah Tusin (Waynesburg)

GOOD LUCK TO ALL THE WRESTLERS!

High School Wrestling in the Valley

Tis The Season!

High school wrestling in starting back up again in Lehigh County. Yesterday, Friday December 17th, 6 teams participated in the Gauntlet Duels at Blue Mountain High School in Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania.

There were five rounds, the first beginning at 4:30 PM and the last concluding at 9:30 PM.

Teams- Allentown Allen, Blue Mountain, Pleasant Valley, Southern Lehigh, Stroudsburg, and Tri Valley.

RESULTS

Round 1– Stroudsburg 35 Pleasant Valley 25

Tri Valley 54 Allentown Allen 24

Southern Lehigh 40 Blue Mountain 27

Round 2– Southern Lehigh 42 Pleasant Valley 33

Blue Mountain 46 Allentown Allen 24

Stroudsburg 37 Tri Valley 36

Round 3- Pleasant Valley 54 Allentown Allen 24

Tri Valley 41 Blue Mountain 29

Stroudsburg 44 Southern Lehigh 25

Round 4- Tri Valley 35 Pleasant Valley 30

Southern Lehigh 72 Allentown Allen 0

Stroudsburg 37 Blue Mountain 31

Round 5– Pleasant Valley 48 Blue Mountain 15

Stroudsburg 67 Allentown Allen 6

Tri Valley 43 Southern Lehigh 27

FINAL TEAM RANKINGS

  1. Stroudsburg 5-0
  2. Tri Valley 4-1
  3. Southern Lehigh 3-2
  4. Pleasant Valley 2-3
  5. Blue Mountain 1-4
  6. Allentown Allen 0-5

World Nooz

Right now in Antarctica there’s a Florida-sized glacier known as the “doomsday” glacier. Many sources are reporting about it, and no one is downplaying the seriousness of the possibility of its collapse. They say if it breaks off and slides into the ocean the sea levels will rise almost a foot during the next ten years.

4311 The House on Furnace Street Part 2

A work of fiction

By Francis J. LaManna

4311 Furnace Street remained vacant for the next 30 years. No members of the Ottenbury family showed up or called in to claim the property so it sat. Once or twice during the year employees from the Department of Public Works would show up and cut the lawn, that was in the beginning though. I don’t think anyone trimmed a bush or cut the lawn there in last ten years. People just avoided that place, it was like it didn’t exist. As a matter of fact, in all my years living in Scarlet, I’ve never even seen a For Sale sign on the lawn.

Old man Ottenbury died when I was in high school, I was a sophomore at Scarlet High, and I can remember walking past 4311 everyday on my way home from school. It felt strange-the whole area around his house was one big cold spot. It was eerie too like as if someone was watching me. Sometimes I would run home.

If you take Furnace Street all the way out until you come to the first cross street and cross over, Furnace became Gate Street. My parents and I lived at the end of Gate Street. Sometimes I would get that eerie feeling walking past Ottenbury’s and haul ass. A few years after I graduated Scarlet there was a series of stories in the local paper. Locals thought his house was haunted, and some people reported seeing the ghost of an old man standing in window. There’s a lot of people who think Ottenbury’s house was haunted at the time of his death, and that’s why he didn’t try to get help or leave. No one understood why he just sat there and bled out.

Well, I’m in my forties now, and I ended up buying a house of my own on Gate Street right across from where my parents lived. I don’t go near that house anymore, and here’s the weirdest thing. If I go out onto my front lawn at night when it’s dark and look in the direction of Furnace Street, the sky about that area looks like it’s on fire.

I wish there was a way of closing Gate Street-you know, completely separating our side from Furnace Street. In a sense it would be like closing the gate to the furnace; maybe make it a dead end or something.

Ceres

Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt, and the asteroid belt is located between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars.

Since its discovery on January 1, 1801, by Italian Astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi, Ceres has been referred to as a planet, then reclassified as an asteroid, and finally, a Dwarf Planet in 2006.

Piazzi was also a Catholic Priest. When he made the discovery of Ceres, he did so from the Palermo Astronomical Observatory in Sicily.

The name for Ceres was originally Ceres Ferdinandea. Ceres after the Roman Goddess of Agriculture whose earthly home and oldest temple is in Sicily, and Ferdinandea after King Ferdinand III of Sicily.

The astronomical symbol for Ceres is the Sickle. In 1973, Ceres was resurrected for astrological use.

4311 The House on Furnace Street

A Work of Fiction In Progress

By Francis J. LaManna

It was pouring rain and old man Ottenbury was moving frantically around his house trying to get the windows closed. It’s a good thing, however, not all the windows were open because a house that big could’ve been soaked by the time a man as old as old man Ottenbury got around to closing them. There was no Mrs. Ottenbury, she passed naturally more than a decade ago, and his three kids were grown with lives of their own.

That last window, the one in the living room area was putting up a fight again as it always had. It was near impossible to close; for old man Ottenbury at least. As he pressured down on the small handle, he steadied himself with his left hand pressed against the glass. And then it happened, the glass shattered underneath the pressure of his hand. The sharp glass cut deep into his arm from his wrist all the way up to his elbow.

Ottenbury pulled his arm free and sat on the floor beneath the window. It was still pouring rain, but the sound of rain was soothing. The carpet around the old man was soaked. He closed his eyes and let his thoughts flow, occasionally grabbing onto the memories of his wife. He loved and missed her.

The body of old man Ottenbury was found several days later when the rain stopped. A woman walking past the house noticed the shattered window. Upon closer examination she saw a head and called the police.

Nooz Now 12.13.2021

Good Afternoon!

🏀-With 10 players now in health and safety protocols because of a COVID-19 outbreak, the Chicago Bulls next two games are postponed; Tuesday, December 14 against Detroit, and Thursday, December 16 against Toronto.

🏈-The Jacksonville Jaguars are 2-11, and they were blown out and shut out by the Titans last week. As we get to the root of the issue, we’re beginning to find organization and locker room issues, and of course, trust issues with new coach Urban Meyer. Dysfunctional is the word that came up.

🤣🕹🎮- Check out the link below! Someone on EBAY is selling the entire NES Game Collection for $59,995.00. That’s a great Christmas gift-someone will be extremely happy.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/303728350933?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=303728350933&targetid=1262749492782&device=c&mktype=&googleloc=9006986&poi=&campaignid=14859008593&mkgroupid=130497710760&rlsatarget=pla-1262749492782&abcId=9300678&merchantid=116334769&gclid=CjwKCAiA-9uNBhBTEiwAN3IlNF9R_P0GVzWOfW9wDd22V70Jf_FGSdvFOSqAtAGH5GfwCyKTPpBgaRoC9WQQAvD_BwE

💭-I was sitting at my desk a few days ago looking at pictures of the planets in orbit around the Sun, and I said to myself; What if there’s way more planets than we’re shown? What if there was a planet in between the Sun and Mercury for example? I googled it, and sure enough, someone in the 1800’s thought the same thing, and they named it hypothetical planet Vulcan. Wouldn’t it make sense if planets overlapped in their orbits around the Sun? In my opinion, it kind of did. Unfortunately, it was somehow proved that Vulcan was non-existent.

👽Weird or Not Weird? Two years after WWII ended, an alien spaceship lands in Roswell, New Mexico, a city approximately two hours away from the site the first atom bomb was tested. Do you think our ability to create and successfully detonate an atomic bomb was of some kind of interest to extraterrestrials?

🎄- Christmas is 12-days away. This year, Christmas is on Saturday, December 25th.

🥅NHL- The Pittsburgh Penguins have been the hottest team in hockey for the last month! Since November 18th, the Penguins have gone 9-2-1 and turned their season around.

Have a warm evening, and a fabulous day tomorrow! Stay safe and healthy, and I’m going to finish watching Eclipse (Twilight Saga). 🤣💕

Exhaling Freely; Like Without Your Mouth Covered

https://www.airthings.com/what-is-carbon-dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a gas consisting of one part carbon and two parts oxygen. It is one of the most important gases on the earth because plants use it to produce carbohydrates in a process called photosynthesis. Since humans and animals depend on plants for food, photosynthesis is necessary for the survival of life on earth.

100% Fact -You will still get sick even if you’re wearing a mask.

Why are we still wearing them?