Relief

<whinge warning>

There aren’t enough senior’s influenza shots for all the seniors who need them, who want them.

Shameful.

After a harrowing few weeks attempting to get a flu shot, I have finally received the shot. After repeated failures to find a senior’s flu shot, I had decided that the regular flu shot was better than no flu shot. I called the clinic, and had to make a bit of a fuss to get an appointment. The Nurse I eventually spoke with, after getting past the disingenuous gatekeeper, was lovely. I went at the appointed time, and just by luck, luck, luck, she had just received 70 doses of the senior’s shot, and I got one of them. There are hundreds of seniors on her patient list she said, so 70 doses are not enough to keep our vulnerable population as safe as possible.

Poorly done Ontario health care, very poorly done.

I have been particularly concerned about getting the shot, because Attila is working in a crowded environment, where many employees are younger, many with children in school, and many relatively unconcerned about getting the virus. 13% of Ontario schools have tested positive cases of Covid-19, which means that the asymptomatic spread is probably occurring in the schools, and coming home with the children. Attila and I have to be super vigilante, and even then we might not escape Covid-19.

The stress, related to finding a flu shot for myself, left me unable to sleep properly, and prone to many aches and pains. Thankfully, having had the shot, I am relieved, my sleeping patterns have now returned to normal, and I felt much better. Navigating the health care system is extremely stressful.

</whinge warning ended>

The weather has been amazing! Every day has seen temperatures in the “teens”, and most days the sun has been shining brightly. It is oh so cheerful. Yesterday it rained off and on, and today it is cloudy, but the temperature remains unseasonably high, so it is very pleasant to be outdoors.

Attila and I are acclimatizing to his full-time work schedule. His garden is almost put to bed for the winter, just a few more tasks to complete before his focus swings into other projects, such as organizing the garage, and the basement.

The basement organization has been going very slowly indeed, but I try to something every day to keep it moving, no matter how small and insignificant.

Yesterday ceiling fans enjoyed my attentions. Goodness they were dirty. I had to wash each of them twice, using fresh soapy water each time. I want to tackle the dust in the house, as it accumulates quickly.

We did not manage to get a turkey for our Thanksgiving dinner this year. Although the dinner we did have was delicious, I discovered that it means a lot to me to have the traditional turkey dinner to celebrate Thanksgiving, and I assume Christmas dinner as well. For the last month I have been on the search for a frozen turkey to purchase, not trusting that one will be available at a price we can afford when Christmas rolls around. I finally found a grocery store within driving distance that indicated online that they had frozen turkeys. Last night Attila ventured out to that store, and got one of the two frozen turkeys they had in stock. Our Christmas turkey dinner is secured! The down side is that it cost triple the price of last year’s Christmas turkey. That means we spent 1/4 of our monthly food budget on just that turkey. We will cut corners on our other purchases, it is worth it to us.

My finger is now healing nicely. There is no pain, so that I can now do things like wash the ceiling fans, without discomfort. These small injuries used to heal much more quickly, when I was younger. I will have to pay a lot more attention to what used to be minor cuts and bruises.

There were a few more final tasks to do at the Camp, to ready for the winter. Since the weather was lovely on Saturday last, we took a picnic lunch and headed out for a visit. It was glorious. The view, with all the leaves having fallen, revealed the lay of the land, the rock outcrops, the fallen trees, the low areas where the grasses were still quite green.

We had a small camp fire, constructed from the fallen branches I collected after arriving. The contents of the “burn bag” were burned. We collect paper with sensitive material printed on it in a bag that we call the “burn bag”. Every so often we take the bag out to the camp to burn the paper contents in the camp fire.

The mouse trap had one deceased visitor in it, so a burial was performed, and the trap setup for the winter, adding antifreeze to the water.

Water is collected in spring, summer, and autumn, in a large garbage can or barrel. The water is used to douse the camp fires. There is a lid, made by Attila, that places a screen over the barrel to protect wildlife from falling in. In the spring a rip appeared in the screen. Soon we found the screen removed when we visited. The conclusion was that a large animal, probably a deer, was flipping the screen off the barrel to access the water. The screen is no longer used, no animals have perished in the barrel. It is probably a watering station for a lot of wildlife on the property, and wildlife passing through. Deer frequent our property, as well as a variety of birds, foxes, wild turkeys, partridge, and raccoons. We dumped the water out of the barrel for the winter, and stored it in Winnie (the composting outhouse).

We meant to visit for only a few hours, but could not bring ourselves to leave such a beautiful place, on such a beautiful day. It was warm enough to sit around the camp fire in t-shirts. Our picnic was simple, cheese and pickle sandwiches, made with homemade 100% whole wheat bread, and homemade Dill Slice pickles. Something about being outdoors all day, and eating in the great outdoors, makes food taste extra delicious! We packed up our gear, took one last look around the place to make sure everything was secure for the winter, and headed home in the twilight.

Worldly

Weather

2°C
Date: 7:00 AM EST Thursday 12 November 2020
Condition: Partly Cloudy
Pressure: 102.2 kPa
Tendency: Rising
Temperature: 2.2°C
Dew point: 0.1°C
Humidity: 86%
Wind: WNW 10 km/h
Visibility: 24 km

Quote

“Maps encourage boldness. They’re like cryptic love letters. They make anything seem possible.”
Mark Jenkins

Why I became a Geographer!