Relaxing in Virginia

We have enjoyed some downtime after our ill-fated attempt to get in some RV travel prior to our wintering in Florida. It has not all been resting up and trying to recover from the nasty Covid virus. Actually, it has been somewhat of a busy four weeks since arriving back at our Virginia home. Relaxing in Virginia….

Covid

I guess that we are considered some of the “breakthrough” cases. Testing positive after having been fully vaccinated. As I said in the prior post, Pat had recovered in about a week, but it has taken much longer for me. At the six week mark, I am finally getting my smell and taste back.

But the headaches continue. Not having any taste and smell is very strange. And really sucks. Pat is a great cook and all I could sense was a salty taste. And to make it even worse, I had just brewed a new Red Ale beer ( brewed on 9/11 and named it “red, white, and blue ale”) before we left and it was carbonated and ready to try. All I could taste was the carbonated mouth feel. And to make it even worse my son Ross tried it said it was the best tasting beer he had ever tried. Dang it!

Radford Rec Center

Being a property owner we qualified to join the local rec/senior center. It is very nice with all the cardio and weight machines as well as a walking track around the top of the large gym. So with the onset of cold and rainy weather, it has been nice to workout 3-4 times per week. Walk a couple of miles and then 30 minutes or so on the weight. Trying to get back into shape.

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Trish joins me occasionally as well. I try to coerce her to come along by mentioning all the hot chicks there. She just says to say hi and have a good time. She can see through my motives very easily. Actually kinda worrisome.

Got My Flu Shot

I am very consistent on this one. Each and every year I get the dose and hope the people programming it chose the correct virus to target. I read somewhere that this years’ shot has the juice to target four different viruses. I have also heard from several sources that the flu may be worse this year. Not sure why, but it was a non-event last year, so this year may be a super rebound year.

I went to Walmart as a walk-in, registered, and got the shot all in 15 minutes. Then it was on to picking up some groceries for Pat. Very easy. I will have to wait two more months to get the Covid booster since I had the monoclonal antibody Covid treatment. My doc says I should have better immunity than anyone. There is that.

More Work on the Home

Buying an older home has many pros and cons. Tons of great custom upgrades, but there is also a 60 year old infrastructure buried in the frame. I forget about that until something happens. One of those weaknesses are some cast iron drain pipes still remain in the home.

The guest bathroom section of the cast iron abruptly decided to stop working. A rarely used bathroom had the deadly combination of slowly draining and leaking through the basement ceiling at the same time. What the heck.

I opened up the ceiling access to determine what I was up against. Found a duct taped wrapped cast iron drain pipe. That can’t be a good sign. Of course the next step was to watch a dozen YouTubes on replacing cast iron with PVC plastic pipe.

Cast iron pipe was a stated 50 year life, but can last 100 years in some cases. So it is probably time to replace it and I’m getting a quote now. Looked to be a pretty crappy DIY job, so will outsource this one!

Pat’s Trip to Ohio

Last week Pat drive up to near Columbus for one of her best friends (Coach Becky) birthday party. I think she had a great time. Becky’s website can be found here: LINK

Pat is quite the dietitian and frowns on any junk food, so it was my opportunity for a Cracker Barrel breakfast and for a local Brickhouse pizza. Maybe she will not read this.

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Thanksgiving and Wrap Up

The holiday is just one week away and we have all of our adult children coming for the annual event. We love to have them visit and it is even sweeter since we were gone for three years worth of Thanksgivings. Traveling the great USA after we retired!

We have been otherwise busy raking up the leaves, playing with hobbies and now planning our RV trip to Florida for the second time. This time it will be a straight southbound shot with a three day layover in Savannah. Then a few months in Florida until the snow has melted Up North. Enough time that I can forget about the upcoming plumbing bill.

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Take care and God Bless.