Randall

Fog was heavy last Monday until about noon. Fog was lighter Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Wednesday became a truly Spring day with temperatures surging into the 70s. Friday started with fog again and remained cloudy throughout the day. Light mist and more fog Saturday. Sunday was sunny.

No church services until mid-April  as we abide by the governor's executive order. Worship services are available on Facebook

Since friends and relatives can't visit rest homes, Residential Care at Beloit had a dance for the residents and made a video. It was good to see Cliff Vetter get out of his wheel chair and swing to the music. A phone visit with Roberta Holdren found her well. She is writing stories and crocheting to fill the hours.

Calling for news is virtually useless during these days of staying at home. I talked with Leota Clawson, Della Houghton and Ila McElroy and was assured they were doing well while staying home. Julie Bolte, Jenny Flavin and Wayne McElroy check on Ila and bring her needed groceries.

Quenten Jones and helpers started demolishing the vacant buildings in downtown Randall Sunday. These include the former grocery store, the hardware store and the Senior Citizens or it might be remembered as the Lions Den buildings

A cousin of Dan Peters made a quick stop at their farm Monday.

A pleasant surprise for me was to learn to video chat with family. Sunday evening, Seleise Barrett and Natalie and David Wood, Alana, Isaac, Evan and Odin connected with me on Messenger to visit and giggle.  It was good to see their smiles.

Memories harken back to the 1940s and 50s when polio was rampant. I don't remember that it was ever called pandemic as what the country is experiencing today. 1949 was one of the worst years. News reels at the theater featured photos of rooms of people in iron lungs, which enabled those victims of polio to breathe. Another treatment which was painful for people and especially for children was putting steaming hot towels on their legs or arms to help  aid the recovery of the muscles.

Some people were more frightened than others. One neighbor girl in Jewell, an only child, contracted polio and was hospitalized in Salina. Her parents hurt with her during the hot towel treatment. She was one of the lucky ones and fully recovered. As far as I know, she never suffered any after effects.

Others recovered,  but as they grew older, their legs became weaker. And there were the victims whose limbs didn't regain their strength. They wore braces on their legs or were wheelchair bound durng their lifetime.

In  1954, the first testing of injections of killed polio virus were given to many children from ages 6 to 11, by Dr. Jonas Salk. He first tested on himself, his lab assistant and his family, which was successful. However, there was difficulty having enough killed polio virus. Albert Sabin developed a live polio vaccine, which was dropped on sugar cubes and given to children. Polio has been virtually eliminated