Category: Neighborhood

March 23 Updates

CONTENTS
 Sudden Loss Of Sense Of Smell
 48 Confirmed Cases As Of Sunday Night
 Nurses Need Donated B&B
 Whatcom Covid Website
 Food Bank Update
 Corona Virus Online Assessment Tool
 CDC Corona Virus Page
 Fact-Checking
 Washington State Parks Closed
 St. Paul’s Episcopal Offers Online Services
 Seed Swap?

SUDDEN LOSS OF SENSE OF SMELL
Specialists are citing anecdodal evidence that sudden, temporary losses can be markers of  Covid-19 with no other symptoms. If you stop being able to smell, please self-quarantine immediately to protect others.
https://www.entnet.org/content/coronavirus-disease-2019-resources
https://betsybrownmd.substack.com/p/march-22-2020

48 CONFIRMED CASES AS OF SUNDAY NIGHT
Whatcom County now has a total of 48 cases, including two deaths. Twenty-three additional residents & 6 staff have been confirmed at Shuksan Nursing Home.
bellinghamherald.com

NURSES NEED DONATED B&B
Nate from Victor st.  My wife is an er nurse.  Yesterday was a tough day in the er.  They are all swimming in the virus and scared of exposing their families. My wife said the nurses are talking about renting a couple of air b n bs but can’t afford to yet.  They are waiting for it to really hit, but frankly it is. What do you think about reaching out to the community to see if there are empty, safe (not attached to other living spaces) b n bs that could be donated to health care workers for the time being?  
 Nate Wiss
 Victor Street
 [Can someone help? I’ll pass you on.]

WHATCOM COVID WEBSITE
https://whatcomcovid.com/
This looks like a key resource for our community, though it has not yet been updated for Sunday evening. Go explore!

FOOD BANK UPDATE
COVID-19 Update: Bellingham Food Bank Offers Drive-Up Food Boxes
Folks may visit once per week and may choose among all locations which they visit. They will join a car queue and when it’s their turn, volunteers will load a pre-packed food box into their trunk or car without requiring person to person contact. There will be a walk-up option as well. Each car may pick up for up to 2 families.
Dates, Times and Locations
Tuesday, March 24 | 1-4 pm
Shuksan Middle School Parking Lot, 2717 Alderwood Ave
Wednesday, March 25 | 3-6 pm
Christ the King Church Parking Lot, 4173 Meridian St
Thursday, March 26 | 1-4 pm
Waypoint Park Parking Lot, 1100 Granary Ave
CORONA VIRUS ONLINE ASSESSMENT TOOL
https://www.providence.org/patients-and-visitors/coronavirus-advisory

CDC CORONA VIRUS PAGE
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/index.html

FACT-CHECKING
Snopes has a full section on Covid
https://www.snopes.com/collections/new-coronavirus-collection/

WASHINGTON STATE PARKS CLOSED
All state campgrounds through at least April 30th. Avoid ocean beaches due to crowding.

ST. PAUL’S EPISCOPAL OFFERS ONLINE SERVICES
St. Paul’s is offering online services during the coronavirus outbreak in an effort to provide prayer, comfort and support while community members are compelled to stay at home. Live stream services are available by visiting the church’s Facebook page at 8pm daily (Compline) and 10am Sundays (Morning Prayer). Those tuning in do not need to join Facebook to view the public videos. Videos may also be watched at any time after they are broadcast. Visit www.stpaulsbellingham.org or www.facebook.com/StPaulsBellingham.

SEED SWAP?
Getting ready to start my garden. Soil delivery Friday. Anyone have any seeds/ starts to exchange?  
Thank you!
 Tracy Lorenz
 570 780 1716

March 22 Update

CONTENTS
3/22/20 11:00 AM
 U.S. Orders Up To A Yearlong Break On Mortgage Payments
 Bellingham Business Map
 Organic Chemists?
 Sewing Machines
 Donate Pet Food
 New Subscribers

U.S. ORDERS UP TO A YEARLONG BREAK ON MORTGAGE PAYMENTS
March 19, 20202:03 PM ET
 Homeowners who have lost income or their jobs because of the coronavirus outbreak are getting some relief. Depending on their situation, they should be eligible to have their mortgage payments reduced or suspended for up to 12 months.
 Federal regulators, through the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are ordering lenders to offer homeowners flexibility. The move covers about half of all home loans in the U.S. — those guaranteed by Fannie and Freddie. But regulators expect that the entire mortgage industry will quickly adopt a similar policy. Homeowners can’t just stop paying their mortgage. “They need to contact their servicer — that is the lender that they send the check to every month,” he says. “That lender will work with them to be able to work out a payment plan.
https://www.npr.org/2020/03/19/818343720/homeowners-hurt-financially-by-the-coronavirus-may-get-a-mortgage-break?live=1&utm_term=nprnews&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr

BELLINGHAM BUSINESS MAP
What’s open.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1kDUGQnYPdx2X7UdO6oH2kuQIsAGATzvG&ll=48.74925345913838%2C-122.47775742628437&z=14

ORGANIC CHEMISTS?
Are there any organic chemists on this list, or that you can send to me? I’ve got a hand sanitizer question I’d love help with.

SEWING MACHINES
I have a sewing machine here, and a serger, to loan to anyone who has the skills and wants to make masks. Ragfinery is coordinating the local effort. Fabric masks are not actually safe for home use by healthy people for prevention. But our hospitals need and can effectively sanitize them. ~Fl!p

DONATE PET FOOD
People who are broke are surrendering their pets. The shelter could use food to help people keep their pets. They offer free food to anyone who is in need. Food would be better than surrendering your pet. Any type if food is accepted.
 Deidre Kane

NEW SUBSCRIBERS
I have a blog site almost ready to send links to. If new folks could hold off till my glorious new team finishes debugging the site, everyone will be able to sign up there. With luck, later today!

Love/Fl!p

March 21 Update – 1

CONTENTS
Second Death
Local Hand Sanitizer
Babies, Children & Covid
Home Use Mask Dangers & A New Pattern
Free Internet
New Local News Site
For Musicians
National Quilt Day
Cougars

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN DO
I’m sorry to give you hard news. Please, everybody, stay at home. Your job is not to avoid catching it. Your job is to assume you’ve got it and are not yet showing symptoms. Your job is to keep from passing it on.

SECOND DEATH, NURSING HOME INFECTION
[From bellinghamherald.com. Go there to read the details.]
A man in his 80s died at home Friday, March 20, from COVID-19, the novel coronavirus, the Whatcom County Health Department announced at a Whatcom Unified Command news conference Saturday, March 21. One of the three announced Friday is a man in his 80s who lives in Shuksan Healthcare Center, a skilled nursing facility on James Street in Bellingham. Two additional residents at Shuksan Healthcare Center have tested positive for COVID-19, it was announced Saturday. They are a female in her 60s and a female in her 70s. All three are being cared for at Shuksan Healthcare Center, according to Whatcom Unified Command. The health department website now lists 14 cases and 2 deaths for Whatcom County.

LOCAL HAND SANITIZER
Local distilleries are now making hand sanitizer and giving it away in small amounts. For some of them you bring your own bottle.
www.facebook.com/chuckanutbaydistillery
https://www.facebook.com/bellewoodfarms

BABIES, CHILDREN & COVID CONCERNS
https://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/coronavirus/article241371741.html

HOME USE MASK DANGERS & A NEW PATTERN
Will YOU share that the masks are dangerous for home use? Apparently more dangerous than no mask, maybe unless you already have the virus. Moist environment so nasties can grow in them. Hospitals have serious sterilizing equipment. Make them for hospitals. [This changed in April. Everybody wear them in public, but please clean constantly.]
Ragfinery is leading the local sewing effort. [Makerspace is now coordinating.]
https://www.facebook.com/pg/ragfinery/posts/?ref=page_internal

A New Sewing Pattern
https://cdn.fbsbx.com/v/t59.2708-21/87677439_2813402442040704_3444714958535786496_n.pdf/Face-Mask-Instructions-and-Shipping-Instructions.pdf?_nc_cat=103&_nc_sid=0cab14&_nc_ohc=R5p60CzvUlEAX-FeyVS&_nc_ht=cdn.fbsbx.com&oh=79bdc00ff275930782377f2a39528aba&oe=5E76FDD0&dl=1&fbclid=IwAR1con1EJ-7PRShJOfwZqGJTxdGIwEtLd4kgjeIqIBeFA92igt3rfVsVVWE
Email StJosephSupply@peacehealth.org if you wish to donate unopened boxes of N95 masks or other equipment.

FREE INTERNET
If you or someone you know needs internet access, Comcast is offering options to keep users connected. “Internet Essentials” is free to new customers and provides 60 days of internet connectivity. Find out more about this program and other ways to stay connected: https://corporate.comcast.com/covid-19

NEW LOCAL NEWS SITE
Public, nonprofit online news site, called Salish Current. This email news summary comes out once a week, and the site itself has original local news stories: 
https://salish-current.org

FOR MUSICIANS
Possibilities for socially distant jamming? I have not checked these. Would love reviews.
https://www.cockos.com/ninjam/?fbclid=IwAR12vABSBjc0F3__ZaHHRvbWeMxgvzL6596wFxKt4sw2c9kflK_sNtE94Ug
https://www.jamkazam.com/products/platform?fbclid=IwAR2dyCW_lCsnGZJq3RXQavG9gRJH4uwAUlS2LBMnV1OhMZkU_ClGLVi3Xyg

NATIONAL QUILT DAY
Today is National Quilt Day and my family has set up an outdoor quilt exhibit on our fence. We invite our neighbors to walk by (at a safe distance) and enjoy our quilts (all made by me.)  We also invite you to join us with your own fence “exhibits.” [Don’t touch!]
 Amber Hixson
 Corner of Park and Jefferson

COUGARS
Two young cougars were spotted along silver beach creek between lake Whatcom and Hillsdale 2 nights ago. Baby goat and deer kill found. Hunters are out at night for them. Keep children from playing in the creek temporarily ( my kids favorite playground many years ago)  I am the source. They were spotted by the neighbor who lives behind me and he is in touch with the hunters and is a hunter himself. This neighbor said To me this morning, that he did not see any signs of them last night, but it was the night before when he took the photo. I’ll try and send you the photo. He also lost a young goat to the coyotes four days ago.
 Cathy MacKay

Love/Fl!p

March 20 Neighborhood Update

LIST CHANGES
I’m doing fine emotionally (after all, I have all of you to support me!) but my inbox this week has been so full I haven’t managed to read it all, let alone respond to each of you. Nor have I managed to add all the new folks requesting to be on this list. I have been lining up assistance so I can hand over as many tasks as possible to unclog the line (shout out to my new team!!!). I hope by late this afternoon my blog website will be up and running and I’ll send you a link. All these posts will go there, and what I send to lists will just be the table of contents and the link. You will be welcome to share the blog. I have had two lists for many years, Columbia Neighborhood Updates (to couple thousand people until lately) and Fl!p’s Pix For Music (around 1000 subscribers). I’ve combined the two for now. It may make sense to split them again going forward but not right now

NOON NOISE TODAY
Today, Friday, at noon local time, all over the planet, we are invited to go outside and cheer, sing, bang on pots and pans, and make a lot of noise in honor of health care workers. I would add all the other essential workers who are keeping us going through this challenging time. It’s a great time to appreciate each other!

March 19 Neighborhood Update

ELIZABETH PARK SOCIAL DISTANCE SAX CONCERT
My friend and saxophone player extraordinaire, Mark Kelly, sent this email just now:  “Free concert at 3pm today, inside the Elizabeth Park gazebo. My Kid’Sax quartet, playing six feet apart from each other. Bring your chair.”  🙂  Live music!  These kids are very talented.  I will be there!  🙂
 Meredith Ann Murray

NOON NOISE
Our block was INTO it!!! Lots of noise on Victor Street!!!
 Lizanne Schafer

March 17 Neighborhood Update

NEIGHBORHOOD SING?
As I do my social distancing, I find myself craving live music, singing together. I have been mulling over how to help organize a neighborhood sing. It could be people gathering at Elizabeth Park — standing 6-10 feet apart. Or it could be everyone coming into their yards at a given time and belting it out.
I am a nurse and things are, of course, a little crazy right now so I don’t feel like I can spearhead this, but I wanted to plant the seed in case someone else has the time/energy to run with it. I would be happy to help.
Carry on and thanks!
Monica Woelfel
Elizabeth St

March 16 Neighborhood Update

MAKING YOUR VOTE COUNT
This email is about the challenged Whatcom County ballots from the Friday 03/14/2020 State Matchback for Whatcom County. As you know, many voters forgot to declare a party in this election which condemns their ballot to rejection unless they ‘cure’ it during the brief post election certification period. Another segment of voters have signature challenges which have very high numbers in WA for this election. Many of you who have been challenged have probably received a letter from the Whatcom County Auditor (Elections department) that will help you cure your ballot. Please do not delay! If you have the time, I recommend walking right into the Whatcom County election office to solve these problems. I suggest you bring your photo ID. The website https://voter.votewa.gov/  will help you check your “Ballot Status” now and after you ‘cure’ your ballot. Please check it.  For questions on your ballot, you should call the Whatcom County elections office. Contact numbers can be found here: http://www.whatcomcounty.us/2348/Presidential-Primary  As a note, the different challenge groups have very different age curves. The “No Party” challenges skew toward older populations, peaking in the late 60s. All other challenges (including signature challenges) skew much younger, peaking in the teens and early 20s.
The way signature verification works for challenged ballots is tricky. You can fail the second attempt at the verification process. I recommend going in with your ballot and ID.  Many signatures aren’t stable or aren’t recognized as stable/authentic  by the new scanners. My recent SE.2020 vote has four verification failures even though I just submitted one new sig in person. I recommend going in.
Good Luck,
Ryan M. Ferris

WARMING THE COLD
Thanks to our community Shari was able to give out 7-8 sleeping bags and 4 tents this cold weekend, plus blankets, quilts, and good warm boots that fit! I forgot to ask for YOGA MATS/ CAMPING PADS. Those would be wonderful!  My front porch can still be a drop-off point. Thank you! If you didn’t yet contact our city and county government to ask for emergency shelters to be opened, it would still be useful.
Fl!p Breskin
2518 Cherry
flip@columbianeighborhood.org

March 15 Neighborhood Update

TRESPASSING & BURGLARY ON UTTER ST
I caught a man stealing from the shed inside my yard on the 2700 block of Utter St. today at 5:15 PM. He was at my backdoor around 3:00 PM, asking to take an old BBQ from the alley. He returned two hours later, and my husband saw him on our doorbell camera and called to tell me that he was on our back porch again. When I looked outside, he wasn’t there. I went to my side window and found him stealing tools from our shed. I called 911, and they were able to find him along with a bag of stolen items. I was able to identify tools stolen from our shed, but there are items belonging to other people in the bag as well. The patrol officer Tori James told me to reach out to the neighborhood, especially close neighbors, to see if they find anything missing and if so, to contact her at (360) 778-8839 with the case number 20B-16291 to claim any missing items.
Diana Lim
Utter St.

March 12 Neighborhood Update

DOUBLE-CHECK EVENTS & DONATE
If you’re planning on going to an event, it’s a good idea to double-check that it hasn’t been cancelled. And if it has, and you can afford to, you might donate to the artists or event because it means they’ve lost their income stream. We’d like to have them back in the future! And please let me know of cancellations. Zeke and I cancelled our tour to Oregon at the end of this month. Our hosts are willing to reschedule in the future.
Consider donating to your favorite restaurants and other businesses as well, to help them survive this outbreak.

PERSON TO PERSON

BEACH CLEAN-UP FOR WORLD WATER DAY
Sunday, March 22nd, 10:00 a.m., Squalicum Beach parking lot in Bellingham |RSVP on Facebook
Water deserves a day of celebration more than, say, Columbus. Participants get a pass for a FREE yoga class and an entry to win a sunset sailing cruise from Gato Verde!

END OF LIFE PLANNING
[From my friend Micki Jackson
For those who need further impetus to complete their healthcare advance directive, look no further than the novel coronavirus. This virus and the resulting disease state, COVID-19, could adversely impact our already over-burdened U.S. medical care system.
Will the COVID-19 epidemic be limited?  No one knows, but even if it is, the planning efforts currently underway by government agencies, hospitals, clinics, health departments, research facilities, and others will not be wasted, because the planning is good preparation for the next 21st century disaster or pandemic.
Healthcare facilities could experience severe capacity demands, which could be mitigated to some extent if people have documented their healthcare wishes prior to illness and possible hospitalization. When we complete our advance directive, we help our professional care providers better manage potentially lifesaving resources, especially if our region is in the throes of an epidemic.
Whatcom County has multiple resources to assist with advance care planning (ACP), including the presentation, The Realities of Advanced Medical Interventions and follow up ACP workshops. An upcoming Realities’ talk is scheduled March 19, at the Cordata Community Co-op at 6:30PM; follow up workshop on March 25, same time/same venue.
For information: https://www.healthministriesnetwork.net/calendar
ACP should be done before accident, illness — or disaster — strike. Let’s not put ourselves, our family, our professional healthcare providers, nor our community into impossible situations. We are all in this together.

CAPTIONING SERVICES FOR STREAMED EVENTS
Hello there, I am a TypeWell Transcriber (www.typewell.com) providing meaning-for-meaning (i.e. not word for word but slightly condensed for ease of reading) transcription for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing. With the recent move online of Whatcom Community College, I have lost nearly all of my hours there. I am available to caption streamed events that may have moved online due to the increasing self-quarantines. This service is normally $50/per hour of content, but I am open to reducing rates in order to support the community in this time of need. Captions can be read by any web-enabled device. Contact me for more information. Thanks!
Rachel Ballard
Walnut Street
rachelroseballard@gmail.com

LITTLE SQUALICUM ALERT
The streams that run through Little Squalicum Park off-leash dog area are BRIGHT green. All the way down to and including Squalicum beach. Whatcom Department of Health had no idea what it is, and the Department of Ecology said that they looked at it and it doesn’t *appear* to be toxic but also wasn’t sure what it was. You might want to avoid that area for a few days.
Rory O’Connor
Walnut Street

POSTPONED:
Whatcom Chorale’s “Life’s Harmonies” concert on Sunday, March 22, 2020 with guest artist (and local pianist) Henry From, at First Congregational Church of Bellingham. We hope to reschedule the concert later this year.  http://www.whatcomchorale.org
B U G (Bellingham Ukulele Group) has postponed their activities for now.
Many other activities have also been postponed. Check before you go.

EVENT STREAMING SET-UP
My friend Nellie Korn is a professional sound person. She has volunteered to stream the funeral of a friend of mine this afternoon. I asked her, and she has free time coming up because so many events are being cancelled. Nellie has the skills to set up businesses, churches, funeral homes, and other gathering places so they can start live-streaming events. And she can teach the new users how to run that equipment.

KAREN WEILL & LARRY HILDES
I don’t know if there are folks in our neighborhood familiar with Karen & Larry. They have been community activists for years all around our region. I’m sorry to say that Karen died a few days ago of cancer. Her funeral is at 1:00 PM today. I’ve been helping set up live-streaming for folks like me who are staying at home. It will stream over my facebook page, which is set to public. If you want to watch and need help getting on, please contact me by 12:30, because I want to be able to play attention during the funeral.
Love/Fl!p