Post Opening/Vaccine "Adventures"

I'm off for the weekend. We are going to Nashville, about 6 1/2 hours away---away for the first time since March 2020--when the pandemic closed down everything. The only place I have been in THIRTEEN months is the grocery and the doctor/dentist! We have both been "shot" twice so we feel good enough to attend a concert (all masked and with only 50% filled to capacity), go out to dinner, and then on Saturday go to the Country Music Hall of Fame. So, we are starting small! Good news: I have lost 30 pounds! Bad news: I'm short and could not find any pants to wear---I spent 4 hours shopping and nothing! I don't want to spend a lot because I plan on losing 30 more this year. I found a pair of stretch jeans that were for people 5'3" and under so that's what I'm wearing this weekend. I probably will not be out of place in Nashville; however, I always like to take a pair of dress pants or a dress, but no can do this time! That is a good problem to have. Of course, my tablet with my book library goes with me--always!

Kentucky is on a four week re-vaccination schedule, even though we got a bonus shipment this week. So I get my second shot next week. Planning a trip to Cinci to visit daughter and her family. We had an outdoor get together at Christmas time, and haven’t seen them since. Daughter will probably convince me to go to a museum or art show.

Here, the local plant and garden shop is finally open after being closed all of last year. I’m so happy they survived and plan to go spend at least double what I normally do. I have a new yard to fill anyway.

Got second shot Tuesday. No reaction with Shot #1. Shot #2 was like having the flu for 24 hours. Fine now. Oral surgery next week. The fun never stops!

I am a low-income retiree with a chronic blood cancer, so my immunity is compromised and I don't have the energy or wherewithal to go travelling or do anything worth reporting on.

However, I am SO GRATEFUL to be able to be able to

--Run over to the neighbor to take some treats

--Go back to Mass

--Go the garden store and run into friends

--Browse the grocery aisles for inspiration

--Help out at the animal shelter food bank

--Get a haircut from a professional (I have been using my husband's hair clipper on mine for over a year) and getting my eyebrows done

--Having friends who have been faithful correspondents in for "live" coffee.

... and just going for visits that are not medical-related!

Congratulations everyone! It will be 2 weeks after my second shot this coming Monday. I will probably start going back to work a couple days a week, which may not sound like fun, but after a year at home, it will be.

Planning a lunch in person with 2 other vaccinated friends in a couple of weeks! Yay!

My dream trip is to visit my friends in Switzerland this summer. Does anyone know how vaccination is going there? My friend seemed to indicate it was slow.

>4 krazy4katz: This is the last I heard about Switzerland. Only 6 percent of the population fully vaccinated, but efforts underway to ramp up supplies. More here:

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/number-of-covid-19-vaccinations-rises-in-switzerlan...

Hope you are able to travel soon!

My first dose of the Moderna vaccine had me sleeping on and off for the better part of three days and a moderately sore arm for maybe twelve hours. My second dose ... I'm wondering if I got an injection of saline instead -- no injection site pain, no reaction at all. I'm supposed to reach full immunity next Thursday and I'm seriously considering getting tested for antibodies. Everyone I know has had some reaction. It's hard to believe the first one was enough.
Last Saturday, I got together with a few friends; had to display our vaccine cards to attend. It was supposed to be in a friend's back yard, but since it was raining, they have a spacious walled-in former patio with open windows on three sides and ceiling fans that created greater air pressure than outside, so plenty of air flow away from us.
Last night, our city council voted to lift the mask-mandate effective some time next week. But the 50% capacity limit is still in effect. Let's just say I have mixed feelings about it. We have a boatload of anti-vaxers in our town, and 1) I'm surprised that they're not shooting their guns into the air in celebration; and 2) not surprised that they're still screaming about government over reach and "freedom" and such.
Establishments like the grocery stores and my coffee shop downtown (pretty much the only places I've been over the past year) are still requiring customers to wear masks, at least until the end of May. But of course, there's no way to enforce that requirement, so I see more and more maskless people whenever I go out.
I just checked the county website. Just over 1/5th of the population are fully vaccinated; 3/8ths have received their first dose. The current rate of new infections, although on a downward trend, is still more than twice as high as it was this time last year. Stupid humans!

ETA: Forgot to actually address the Point of all of this!
At some point, I'm going to take a drive out to Sweetwater, where my step-son and his family live. I've got a good trunkful of photo albums, papers, and memorabilia that are significant to him, as it represents his childhood and his family prior to me being in the picture. Beyond that, since we weren't able to celebrate our high school class's 50th anniversary last year, we're looking at calling it 50.1, probably in October in New Jersey. I'm thinking I might drive there this time. "We'll see," said the Zen master.

>5 nohrt4me2: Thank you for the update on Switzerland.

I was very lucky regarding side effects. The first time I had a achy arm, which is no surprise. I also had some nausea 2 days later, which may or may not have been related to the vaccine. The second time, the nurse told me to keep swinging my arm around in a circle to help the pain go away. It worked, I think. I had no other side effects, so I was lucky. My husband had no side effects either.

>7 krazy4katz: Good tip about swinging your arm around. Most of my friends my age had no real reaction. I think I am kind of an outlier on these responses because of low baseline immunity.

>8 nohrt4me2: That is interesting because I thought I read that younger people tend to have more severe reactions to the vaccine because they have stronger immune responses. Perhaps it is more complicated...

>9 krazy4katz: Yes, the oncologist went on a long technical/explanation about oral chemo, immune suppression, and inflammatory response. You have to have a board certification to follow her sometimes. Normally I try to ask her yes/no questions but sometimes I make the mistake of asking why. Yikes. I don't have that kind of time.

Well, my husband and I are delighted to be attending the van Gogh "Immersive Experience" exhibition in Atlanta this July. We're getting our second doses in 2 weeks or so, and will be fully ready by then. We live in a rural county, so driving into Atlanta involves a hotel room and a nice dinner out. Woo hoo!

In August, I would dearly love to visit my 94 year old mother in Michigan. We'll see. They're in a bad spike atm. Hopefully it will be under control by then. She lives alone and has all her wits about her, she's fully vaccinated now, and IMO has weathered this pandemic amazingly well. If conditions are good, we'll be up there!

>6 WholeHouseLibrary: I got the Moderna and had no side effects either time except a small red rash on my arm.

Well, it seems my first actual venture beyond a 6-mile radius of my house will be this weekend -- the (usually annual) family reunion, the family being the extended one of the late and cherished MrsHouseLibrary -- at the cemetery that, due to inheritance, I own with her two sisters. Yeah, I own a graveyard with three Confederate soldiers in it. I've also dug three graves there. I will be the only one from her father's branch of the family that will be there. Legitimate reasons for the others not going.
In years past, there were over a hundered in attendance. After the patriarchs became permanent residents, few felt the compulsion to make that trip to east Texas, and one year there were only six. Two years ago, they had over thirty. The primary function of the reunion is to collect funds for the upkeep of the site. Also to eat catfish, but that's not the appeal for me. This is my wife's family, and I like to see them squirm a bit when my presence and my New Jersey accent reminds them that there were two sides in the Civil War -- the Yankees and the Losers.

>13 WholeHouseLibrary: WholeHouseLibrary, so pleased to run into you again on this site! And so sorry for you and your family's loss of MrsWholeHouseLibrary. I hope her books will help keep her memory fresh.

>13 WholeHouseLibrary: LOL Yankees and Losers! I had some southern relatives (in the past, they have passed now) who wouldn't speak to me because I taught at General Sherman High School!

Following my second vaccination I had my first trip to South Sudan for 18 months, indeed my first trip anywhere, spending a fortnight in Juba to facilitate an assembly and then touch base with various people. I don't think I've spent more than a couple of months away from Sudan or South Sudan for at least 25 years, and in recent years I've been making upwards of thirty international flights a year, so it was an interesting hiatus. It was good to see Juba again, but it had also been good being at home in Kenya for 18 months, so retirement is looking more and more attractive.

Making an international flight, albeit a relatively short one, an hour and twenty minutes each way, was much less painful than I had imagined, providing one's paperwork is in order. COVID test in Narobi the day before my flight, received the certificate by e-mail that same evening, Nairobi airport was empty with more staff than passengers so that was a pleasant experience, flight was half empty, and I got through port health, immigration, baggage collection and customs in Juba airport quicker than I have ever done before. More or less the same procedure on the way home - COVID test two days before, pick up a hard copy of the certificate, then the additional step of filling in an online form for the Kenyan Ministry of Health in advance of my trip and receiving a QR bar code by e-mail to display on arrival. Check in at Juba was slow as the electricity was off, and it was very very hot inside the terminal with no air conditioning working, well over 30C outside so who knows what it was inside, but a couple of years ago Juba airport only had a tent so we count our blessings. There were a few Chinese people on the plane wearing full hazmat PPE - paper overalls with hoods, paper booties, rubber gloves, masks, goggles - a strange sight and they must have been baking hot. At Nairobi airport those of us who had filled in the online form barely had to pause as our QR code was scanned. Now I have to report my health status to the Ministry of Health every day for 14 days using my smartphone. I forgot today and got an SMS reminding me to do so.

>16 John5918: Glad you were able to move/travel relatively easy.