Monday, March 8
Today was my mother's birthday--she would have been 101, if I did my math correctly. Her birthday always followed mine by one day. She died of stomach cancer (at age 55) that was caught way too late. (Happy Birthday, Mom!)
----------
I could tell that the outside temperature was warmer (a couple degrees above freezing) last night, just by the boat's inside temperature. The morning was sunny and relatively warm (39 degrees or so) with the expected afternoon high temperature approaching 48 degrees. (It should get even warmer as the week goes on.)
It was difficult getting back into the swing of daily radiation treatments following a weekend off--kind of like getting back to work. At 10:40 AM I had to drink 16 ounces of water and hold it through my treatment at 11:40. Sounded easy enough, huh?
 |
Sixteen ounces of water is a lot more
than I would normally drink
in one sitting. |
I have identified four pocket knives that I intend to sell on eBay this week. (I have at least six more in the drawer in my navigation station!)
 |
Pocket knives selected to be sold (left to right):
SOG multi-tool, Leatherman WAVE, Gerber
GATOR, and SOG Woodline. |
I might change my mind on the Gerber GATOR and not sell it. I don't know why I am so attracted to pocket knives and the latest design improvements (with ball bearings in the pivot points, faster deployment devices, etc.).
----------
I finished off my day by trying a premium tequila, G4 brand. I thought that since we will be living in Mexico for the winter, I should at least be drinking a good Mexican tequila. The drink I had was a tequila and tonic which consisted of 1-1/2 ounces of (G4-brand) tequila, the juice of 1/2 of a lemon, and (diet) tonic to fill the remainder of the cocktail glass. (For a few moments I imagined myself in San Miguel de Allende with some of the characters in the two recent books I read.)
Tuesday, March 9 (Vaccination Day)
Because I had an early radiation treatment (7:30 AM) I was up at 5 AM to begin my preparation. It has been a long time since I had to get up that early and I hope not to do it again anytime soon. Seven thirty was the only time slot available that allowed me to accommodate our noon appointment in Baltimore (at M&T Bank Stadium) for our first vaccine shot.
After eating a light breakfast at McDonalds, we came back to the boat and filled our fresh water tanks. We were down to the last 5 gallons or so which was running it pretty close. (We were on our starboard tank which only holds about 12 gallons. We use that tank as a "day tank" for our onboard water maker.)
----------
We had a noon appointment at M&T Bank Stadium for our COVID vaccine but it was clear that the only intent on making appointments was to control the flow of people. The parking and flow of people walking inside the stadium was controlled by reservists and the national guard. (Back in the day when I was in the Army Reserve, I would probably have been on similar duty if we had had a pandemic back then.) Once inside, we waited in line (socially distanced, of course) while we were being registered (apparently against our appointment data by a USAF reservist) and then again, while waiting for our shots. (Our shot was given by a nurse from a local hospital.)
 |
Inside the vaccination site at M&T Bank
Stadium in Baltimore. |
In my estimation, there were 70 stations where vaccinations were administered and it took about 10 minutes each--so, 420 people were vaccinated per hour. This meant that there were some 3,360 per day just at this one site. There were at least three sites like this in Maryland--the number of vaccination sites is expected to increase dramatically very soon.
We had to wait an additional 15 minutes after our shot in case we had some type of serious allergic reaction. We got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine which requires only one shot and we didn’t have a choice but that was OK since we are now done with it. (We also received a card showing that we received the vaccination--I think we may need this to get into Mexico in the fall.)
----------
On the drive back from Baltimore we noticed that buds were just started to come out on certain trees. It was a balmy 71 degrees in the afternoon!
Wednesday, March 10
I just read where 1 in 10 U.S. citizens were fully vaccinated as of yesterday--fortunately, we were included in those statistics. (One of the first things I do each day is read the news on my iPad, first CNN, the Reuters, and then, BBC if time allows.)
----------
The weather was sunny and warm this morning, almost like someone flipped a switch to allow spring to begin. (No, there is no such switch for you crazy QAnon believers out there!) The outside temperature was 49 degrees at 8 AM, headed for 62 in the afternoon. The morning was very peaceful, only the occasional screams of seagulls to break the outside silence.
 |
| Lola enjoying the morning sun in the cockpit. |
After my radiation treatment in late morning, my main goal was to ship out a spare (teak) boat door to a fellow C&C boat owner who needs a door. (I've been storing the door for several years, thinking that I may need it again but it is clear now that I won't. I had to remove the door and frame to change out our onboard stove several years ago. I installed a new frame that does not allow for the remounting of the door.)
Thursday, March 11
It was warm from the get go today and it hit 77 degrees F in the afternoon!
----------
After my radiation treatment today, we met with the individual who bought my business five years ago, Sonja Bradley. We met for lunch outside at Nando's Peri-Peri, a new South African restaurant in Crofton--the food and the company was great.
 |
Shooting sporting clays at station #20 at Prince
George's Trap, Skeet, and Sporting Clays. |
Maggie and I went shooting sporting clays at Prince George's after lunch. In the image above, I'm shooting at a clay that was flying through the opening in the trees with my SKB 28-gauge over and under shotgun. I'm still shooting loads that I reloaded when we lived in our house. I hit about 2/3 of my targets today, a bit off for me. We only shot one station today--25 rounds each but at only one station.
I was surprised how tired I became after such a short time shooting and a little walking between stations. I wasn't sure if it was due to my radiation treatments or I've just grown out of shape over the winter.
Stay tuned for more of our life's adventures...thanks for following our blog!
No comments:
Post a Comment