Our Wander Years

My first (and second) COVID-19 test

Posted on December 18, 2020 by Sparky

When my son was visiting me less than 2 weeks ago I spent a few minutes researching how to get a COVID-19 test in Fort Myers, thinking that he and his girlfriend might need to get one to be allowed back in Massachusetts. Well, they were less concerned about that than I was and they were right – MA took them back, no questions asked. But the seed of thought was planted. And, because I had been in close contact with them – and because I am still considering attending a Christmas party with over a dozen other people – I thought it might be a good idea to get tested.

Fort Myers has a large, free testing site that gives rapid COVID-19 tests – results in less than 30 minutes. And while that instant gratification was appealing, I had also seen the lines of cars waiting to enter that site. And I had no compelling need for instant results. So I looked into the drive-through testing being offered at my local CVS pharmacy (I had seen the signs when I had been there recently). It turns out that the testing there, too, is free. And while an appointment is required, the “out time” was in minutes rather than days. I discovered this at about 2 pm on Monday as the first appointment time offered then was 3:10 pm. What the heck? I booked it.

I had to wait 25 minutes in line at the drive-through pharmacy window, which gave me time to review the video on how the test would be conducted. I thought I was prepared. When I got to the window I was handed a testing kit containing a swab and a vial. I abused myself with the swab, sticking it about 3 inches up each nostril. I sneezed. How does anyone not sneeze? But I put the swab in the vial and, when breaking off the tip of the swab (as required), I spilled some of the liquid in the vial.

Two days later I got the results – negative but inconclusive (insufficient DNA), I don’t know if that was because I didn’t swab correctly or because I spilled the liquid, but I had to retake the test. CVS, to their credit, were on the ball and called me to reschedule. I went back yesterday – no waiting this time – and redid the test, being careful to not spill the liquid and putting the swab even deeper in my nostrils this time. But I still sneezed.

I expect I will be negative, but the experience was instructive. It is indeed, easy to get a COVID-19 test now, which is great. If only it had been easy 6 months ago it might have saved thousands of lives.

Categories: Health | 2 Comments

A visit from #2 son

Posted on December 13, 2020 by Sparky

I suppose I should apologize to Charlie Chan, that inscrutable oriental detective. But since he referred to himself as “oriental” which most asians now regard as derogatory and since none of the 5 actors who played him in the movies was actually asian, I won’t apologize much. I doubt that he was even inscrutable, whatever that means.

The point being that my younger son, Frank, visited me for a week, leaving yesterday. This was my Christmas gift to him – a week in the Florida sun. Thanks to the pandemic the airfares are dirt cheap, as are the hotels. He brought his girlfriend and the total cost for airfare and hotel was under $700. I let him use my car for the week (I had the truck). Cheap, cheap, cheap vacation for him.

Notice that I said “a week in the sun” rather than “a week in the heat.” Because it was sunny but cool. But 60s seems warm to those who endure 30s and 40s this time of year. And it did get into the upper 70s twice during the week. Warm enough for a northerner to use the pool.

Frank and I went out Thursday night, sans girlfriend, for some father/son bonding time. Had pizza at Capone’s then had a beer at The Lodge. I got the pint while Frank opted for the “large” thinking it would be 22 oz, as they serve in MA. But this was a full 32 ounces. Huge. He finished it. Fortunately he wasn’t driving.

We also spent a day touring the area, including visiting Sanibel Island and the Ding Darling Nature Preserve. I was hoping to find some large alligators, but I guess it was too cold. Struck out at Ding. But we did get to walk the beach at the southern tip of Sanibel and get to dip our toes in the Gulf of Mexico.

So, a pretty good week. So good that they decided to return for Christmas. On their dime.

Categories: Family, FL, Places | 1 Comment

Being tidy or being disloyal?

Posted on December 12, 2020 by Sparky

Maybe both?

The question arises because I have been going through the stuff that I brought south from our storage unit in Massachusetts. It turns out that much of what has been stored up there for years is memorabilia – items saved from our many trips in the RV and our cruises. Jett was much more sentimental than I am. Jars of sand from beaches we have visited were very dear to her. To me they trigger some fond memories but they are, ultimately, just jars of sand. They will have absolutely no meaning to whoever is unlucky enough to be saddled with cleaning out the shed when I die. So I figure I am doing someone in the future a great favor by getting rid of this memorabilia now. Goodbye, sand. Farewell daily cruise calendars. So long, campground maps.

All gone, sent to the trash bin. It felt good to be tidy.

But it felt like I was being disloyal to Jett. Sorry, darling.

Categories: Commentary, FL, Places, RV Living | Leave a comment

“Bomb Shell” by Catherine Coulter

Posted on November 30, 2020 by Sparky

I had a really hard time finishing this book. I felt that I should be liking it more than I was. I blamed the good weather, the holidays, Jett’s death, demands of a long To Do list.

But now I think that the book just sucked.

This was my first Catherine Coulter book and it will be my last.

Let’s start with the title. Bomb Shell. I have no idea why she chose this for a title other than it catches the eye. There are no bombs in the book. There isn’t even a busty blond.

Next, the plot. Or rather the plots because there are two: a mysterious set of events resulting in murder in a rural Virginia town and the murder of the grandson of the ex-chairman of the Federal Reserve in Washington DC. I expected that these two plotlines would eventually converge. But other than having some of the FBI folks involved in both there was no connection. I think Coulter just had two ideas that she couldn’t turn into stand-alone books so she threw them together. Lazy. I hate that.

Also, the rural Virginia plot involved the MS-13 gang and a world-famous classical musician teaming up to distribute drugs from a cave. I couldn’t help but liken this to a plot from the Hardy Boys books that I read as a pre-teen. Completely ridiculous.

Don’t waste your time. 2 out of 10.

Categories: Books | Leave a comment

Thanksgiving for one

Posted on November 28, 2020 by Sparky

That sounds sadder than it was. It was a very quiet day – just Rusty and me – but I rather enjoyed the solitude. I finished the jigsaw puzzle I was working on, watched some football and a couple of movies, read a bit then cooked myself a nice dinner: pork roast, asparagus, mashed potatoes with pork gravy. This really required no special culinary skills. The pork roast came from the freezer, as did the asparagus. The potatoes were courtesy of Bob Evans and the gravy was in a jar from Heinz. But I cooked the pork perfectly and it all assembled quite nicely. Tasted great.

When I was walking Rusty before dinner two neighbors stopped me and invited me to join them. I was touched by their kindness but gracefully declined. I was really enjoying the solitude and was looking forward to the pork roast.

For the evening walk, I took Rusty on the usual around-the-pond path. And encountered a site where the owner must have worked his ass off all day putting up Christmas lights. Very impressive. But I think my Thanksgiving Day was better than his.

Categories: FL, Food, RV Living | Leave a comment

Completely re-tired

Posted on November 20, 2020 by Sparky

Sorry, couldn’t resist. Too damn clever for my own good.

After getting 3 new tires for the truck last week, I got one new tire and one tire repaired today on the RV. The repaired tire was the one that took a nail on the trip south a few weeks ago (seems like years).

Between the two I have spent about $1200 on tires in the past 2 weeks. Well, tires and lugnuts. I had to replace all 32 lugnuts on the truck for reasons that aren’t interesting. But that was nearly $200 of the $1200 paid.

But with the new tires and the hitch reinstalled yesterday (I am getting too old to lift nearly 100 lbs!) the rig is now ready to go. If I decide I want to go somewhere.

Categories: RV Living | 3 Comments

Life without Jett

Posted on November 18, 2020 by Sparky

It has now been a month since Jett slipped the mortal coil. My life without her is coming into focus. Some of the changes are obvious but others are more subtle and surprising.

First, the obvious. I miss her. Every day. I don’t miss being the 24/7 caregiver that I became in her final months, but I miss her companionship, her wisdom, her unwavering moral compass. I miss being able to share things with her. The other day I witnessed something in the resort and my immediate thought was “Wait ’til Jett hears this“, followed about half a second later by the cold realization that I would never, ever be able to share anything with her again.

The increased responsibilities. Jett, at one time, handled the cooking, most of the cleaning, all of the social engagements, care for Rusty, the laundry and remembering birthdays and arranging for Christmas gifts. With her illness I took over the cooking, cleaning and laundry, but it wasn’t until she was gone that I had to deal with the full burden of care for Rusty and responsibility for birthdays and gifts. I have created a calendar of birthdays and will soon have to figure out who is on the Christmas gift list. I haven’t had many social engagements yet but when they come it will be up to me to handle the arrangements. I can do it all. But I don’t want to.

Meals. During the final two months I was constantly on the lookout for high-protein foods that I hoped I could get her to eat. She ate very few of the things I bought. As I am too cheap to throw away perfectly good food, I am now consuming the items that I bought for her. High-protein snack bars, Ensure shakes, coffee and chocolate ice cream (okay, not high protein but nutritious and things that she would eat, until the end). I am also trying to clean out the very full freezer that has items like frozen asparagus and cooked shrimp – things that she used for appetizers. I will eat them all. Even when not consuming items that I bought for her or things that she bought to serve to others, my cooking habits have changed. I now eat smaller, quicker meals. I cooked 5 bratwurst and 4 hamburgers on Sunday. Those will be my entrees for a week.

Altered priorities. When we arrived in Florida the item at the top of our priority list was installing the washer/dryer in the shed. That would be the culmination of over 2 years of effort and would thrill Jett who would no longer have to make the tiring trek to the laundromat. Now, with her gone, the urgency is diminished. I can do one trip to the resort laundromat every 2 to 3 weeks, for about $11. How long will it take to break even on a $1500 washer/dryer investment? Years. Yes, the convenience is a factor, but I was driven mostly by a desire to make Jett’s life easier. I think I have a higher tolerance of laundromats than Jett did.

Freedom to use “her” space. The RV has a bath-and-a-half. The full bath was hers, except when I needed to shower and shave in the morning. The half bath was mine. Now I have full use of the full bath and rarely use the half bath. Similarly, the dining room table was hers, used to keep piles of papers, periodicals and “to do” tasks. Now it is mine and I am using it right now to do a jigsaw puzzle.

Some of these changes are improvements in my life. But I would happily trade all these improvements to have Jett back again.

Categories: Commentary, Food, RV Living | Leave a comment

COVID in the park

Posted on November 17, 2020 by Sparky

Last spring, as the “season” was winding down and COVID was ramping up, there seemed to be an air of invincibility in the resort. Lots of going-away parties, nary a mask in sight and no social distancing. It seemed to me that people were taking a lot of risks, but they got away with it – there were no reports of COVID in the park.

This year is different. Shortly after I returned from the funeral (Oct 29) a notice went out that a resident couple had both tested positive and were self-quarantining. Shortly after that a workamper tested positive. Now a pickleball player has tested positive after playing pickleball with 18 people. Pickleball is an outdoor activity so the risk of transmission is reduced, but still… that is 4 confirmed cases and potentially several dozen other people exposed. And the park is no more than 50% full – maybe 300 people, tops. That means that potentially up to 10% of the residents have had some exposure to the virus. It seems inevitable that more cases will follow.

A couple of days ago I ran into (from a distance) one of the regular pickleball players. He invited me to return to the courts and I promised that I would, soon. Well, maybe not so soon now. And I am glad I wasn’t one of the 18 who were exposed last week.

Maybe residents will start to take this pandemic seriously now.

Categories: FL, Health, Places, RV Living, RV Parks | Leave a comment

Eta

Posted on November 13, 2020 by Sparky

One of the risks of living in Florida is hurricanes. I have no intention of being in an RV in the path of even a minimal Category 1 (75 mph) hurricane. I was fortunate that Florida was not targeted during the two weeks that I was away for Jett’s funeral. But when I returned I had to deal with Hurricane Eta.

Twice.

Yes, in this very busy hurricane season they ran out of names and had to dig into the Greek alphabet – Eta being the 7th letter there. Eta was a very unusual storm. First it devastated Central America as a Category 4 (130-156 mph, hundreds of deaths and over $5B in damage), one of the most powerful storms ever to appear that close to the equator. Then it wandered around the Caribbean Sea like a drunken sailor for many days, crossing Cuba and the Florida Keys and bringing torrential rains to Fort Myers (hit 1), then curving back out to sea for a few more days. Then, on Monday and Tuesday of this week, it finally decided to head straight north, raking the west coast of Florida (hit 2) before making landfall near Sarasota, crossing Florida and continuing up the east coast of the US as a tropical storm.

Frankly, it was little more than a nuisance for me. The main impact was rain. Lots of rain. The first pass dumped maybe 4 inches of rain on my site and the second pass probably added 2 to 3 more. The winds were strong, but the highest gusts were probably around 50 mph. Enough to rock the RV, but not particularly worrisome. While many sites in the resort experienced minor flooding, mine had none at all. The drainage ditch behind the site filled but didn’t overflow. As the RV is on wheels and the shed is on blocks, even a foot of water would have caused no real damage. I might have had to replace some mulch.

Had the forecast been worse, what would I have done? Well, the good thing about hurricanes – if hurricanes can be said to have any good qualities – is that they move slowly. More slowly than an RV. So I would have hitched up and tried to outrun it. Millions of other people with the same idea would have made the travel very slow, but still faster than the hurricane. And if I couldn’t find a campground with a site available… well, my RV has a bed.

The greatest issue in this case was the condition of the truck. While it had traveled nearly 6,000 miles with nary a problem in the past month, it was due for an oil change and was in fairly desperate need of some new tires. But it could have hauled the RV a few hundred miles to avoid a hurricane.

Fortunately, it didn’t have to.

Categories: Adventures, FL, Places | Leave a comment

Working the polls

Posted on November 9, 2020 by Sparky

One of the reasons that I had to hurry home from the funeral is that I had committed to being a poll worker at the local precinct for the Nov 3 General Election. I was given the job of “deputy” which is actually pretty responsible, despite the fact that I was a complete newbie. One of the duties of the deputy is to swear in all of the other workers. So I had to arrive by 5:30am and, as my first official duty, swear in the other 10 poll workers.

Then I participated in setting up the polling place – assembling the voting stations, running extension cords to the registration verification tables, putting down the 6-foot separation markers (to minimize the chance that voting in the pandemic would kill anyone). Then I had to go outside, measure a 150-foot perimeter, put up signs banning political activity within that perimeter, put up the “Vote Here” signs, put on my vest (see photo) and make sure no one entered the polling place before 7am.

After the polls opened I had to monitor the flow and keep the crowd from building up inside the polling place. In truth that was only an issue for the first 2 hours. The line of people waiting to vote may have reached about 30 people at the peak, but things flowed pretty well. The last 10 hours had only minor lines.

For 12 hours I was not allowed to leave the building. I brought food and drinks in a cooler that the Lee County Elections Commission thoughtfully provided. While the work was tiring, it was not overwhelming. But I was very happy when we could close and lock the doors at 7pm. I think the final tally of voters was somewhere between 500 and 600.

I then had to participate in the teardown of the polling place while the paperwork for the final tally was being prepared and the results uploaded. I had to sign off on the final numbers, along with 3 other workers, and had to verify that the ballot boxes – needed for a recount that won’t happen – were locked and secure.

All-in-all it was a positive experience. The team – a pretty balanced mix of Republicans and Democrats – worked together efficiently and congenially. I felt I made some friends. It was a great example in how people with different political views could work together toward a common goal. Congress: take note.

Thanks to my neighbor, Mark, for walking Rusty at noon. He (Rusty, not Mark) wasn’t happy to be left alone most of the day, but at least he didn’t have to hold his water.

Categories: Adventures, Commentary, FL, Places | 1 Comment