Sanibel Journal

As my husband Tom was recovering from a viral pneumonia in 2016, one of the things we did for entertainment and information was to check his oxygen levels using a pulse oximeter – one of those clever little electronic devices that a nurse has probably clipped onto your fingertip at some time or another. To make it even more fun, I would pull out my Samsung Galaxy phone (a phone that later died from a swollen battery) and use the Samsung Health app to check my oxygen levels by placing my finger over the phone’s light and camera lens.   Then we’d switch devices, and he would use the phone app while I used the oximeter.   Surprise!   The phone app was amazingly accurate; it agreed with the oximeter readings every time. A pulse oximeter for measuring oxygen saturation levels. But alas, in January 2020, Samsung removed the oximeter function from the Samsung Health app.   I have a different brand of Android phone now.   A few days ago, I checked the ...

One day, before The Isolation, I was wandering through the MacIntosh Books & Paper shop, and I noticed an attractive, large tome written by Jack E. Davis, The Gulf:  The Making of an American Sea .  MacIntosh owner Rebecca Binkowski had displayed the book prominently on a wall, so it was easy to notice.  I opened the book to a random spot and began to read.  The writing was beautiful!  I tested a few other random pages, and declared out loud, “This is a great book!”  Rebecca responded by telling me that it had won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018, and that the author had made a few appearances on Sanibel in recent years. I don’t buy books often because the Cooley household already is home to thousands of books.   But I knew this one deserved a place of honor on my shelves that store books about Florida – after I read it, that is.   As I read it, I kept telling my husband Tom about it.   By the time I was finished, he said he just ha...

William McAdams, Sr., was a tall man with fair skin and blue eyes.  He was of Scottish ancestry, the sort of Scot who knew much about cattle and horses, and who wrote many letters.  When he was 25 years old, he was already known as one of the best farmers in Illinois; he was a particularly well-known breeder of Shorthorn cattle. In 1861, at that young age of 25,  he entered the Union army's 59th infantry and was given quartermaster duties in Company H.  This was not a simple job; there was no effective supply chain during the Civil War.  McAdams and his colleagues had to acquire supplies as the army moved through the South.  How was this accomplished?  Well, McAdams and his colleagues would sneak out to the next town, ahead of the other soldiers, and they'd steal the best horses, cattle, and food that they could find.  That's how a large part of the provisions were procured. War is hell.  This Company H was in the battles of Pea Ridge, Bay...

For three weeks now, the Cooley household of two has been in strict, self-imposed isolation.   As we isolate, I strive to maintain my sense of place in the world.   That place has changed a bit lately. What I do and decide affects others.   I think about that.   JS normally cleans our house once a month, but I decided not now – not until the pandemic is over.   So I texted her (that’s her preferred mode of communication) to ask if she was okay and if she needed money; I said I could pay in advance for cleaning to be done next Fall or whenever.   She texted back that she is good, no worries.   A friend later told me that JS is more concerned about being able to stay away from the virus than she is about money.   She was frightened when she saw careless people still vacationing on Captiva.   I will check back with her again soon. I was concerned about my younger brother who lives alone in Tampa, because I had not heard from him or...

The coronavirus pandemic makes me think of the Great Blizzard of 1978 .  With this pandemic, my husband Tom and I are doing our part by maintaining a strict isolation.  We are staying at home, as far from the problem as possible, so that those on the front lines – the people who work in health care – are not hindered by us. With the Great Blizzard, I was much closer to the front lines.   Although my employer, The Ohio State University, shut down and cancelled classes for the first time in its history, the Student Health Center (along with the university hospitals) was the exception.   We, the health center employees, were told to report to work because an outbreak of influenza had begun on campus, and sick students were coming to the center in spite of the horrible wintry weather.  I was a student as well, working to put myself through college. The worst of the storm in Columbus happened overnight, as I recall.   My neighbors and I woke up to ab...

I am not an expert in orchids.  Nor do I want to be. My husband, Tom, started buying orchids many years ago, mostly from the garden center at the home improvement supply store.  He would bring these green friends home, and we would enjoy their company for a while.  But neither one of us would do much to care for them.  When we left for summer travels, we put the orchids out in the trees and wished them luck.  Almost all of them died. Then we moved to a different house, in a different neighborhood.  I discovered that the pool cage at the new place is ideal for orchids.  This discovery was accidental, since I am not an expert in orchids. Although they look good at first, the orchids from the home improvement store are poorly potted.  In the pool cage, the pots collected rainwater because they had no drain holes!  The orchids were drowning after every rain.  Inside the drainless pots, the orchids were crammed into cheap plastic pot...

The Cooley household just received its ballot for voting on trustees for the Lee County Electric Cooperative board.  To my surprise, there is a contest on the ballot; two people are running for one seat.  That usually does not happen; these elections are generally uncontested. The incumbent has a background in real estate and development with a B.S. degree in business administration from the University of Florida.  He has served on the LCEC board of trustees for 23 years. The Sun, as seen from Captiva Island. The other candidate for the position is an electrical engineer, with experience in directing municipal utilities.  He's taught at Brown University, Northeastern University, Boston University, the Florida Institute of Technology, and more.  He has a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Alexandria University, and both master's and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering from Northeastern University, according to the bio that accompanied the b...