How ya doin'?

[Riki]

We fared well so far on PEI, I think.  The kids are back in school, most things have reopened. 

For the first while, from when the state of emergency was called in March, our borders were closed to all non-essential traffic.  Since we are an island, we only have 3 points of entry, and between March and June, one of them (the ferry) was completely closed.  Anyone who arrived in the province had to self-isolate for 14 days, and all those who arrived and were self-isolating were kept track of by government.  Everything closed.  All that was open were grocery stores, gas stations, and pharmacies.  Mom's work closed, but only for 3 weeks.  They were still getting orders that needed to be filled, so they went to production only, no retail.  At first, the liquor stores were closed as well, but there was a bit of an outcry, so it was deemed that liquor was essential, and the government opened one store.  The weed store was still closed, though.  My school was closed, so I was unable to write my ACTA certification test in April.  I'm still waiting for that to be rescheduled.  As we went along, a lot of restaurants began to reopen, doing curbside pickup, take out, or delivery.  A bunch went to Skip the Dishes or Door Dash, more than there were before.  One restaurant created a take out window.  Since they couldn't have anyone eating inside, they moved some of the tables and put a counter on a window next to the front door.  You'd call in your order, or order online, then go to the window and pick it up.  I thought it was pretty resourceful, actually.

On July 3rd, the Atlantic Bubble was opened, which meant those who lived in PEI, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, or Newfoundland and Labrador could travel freely within those four provinces.  There was a form you needed to fill out and have ready when you got to checkpoints at the border.  It was a way of them to keep a record of who was going where.  We went to Nova Scotia twice, once for a funeral (my uncle had died in May, and we were finally able to have the service) and once for a family picnic.  The bubble is still going strong, unfortunately, without tourists from other parts of the country and the US, a lot of tourist operators are having a really bad season.  Also, I could not find work. Period.  I kind of gave up.

We managed to keep our Covid numbers low, compared to other provinces.  As of September 15, we had a total of 57 cases, all but one are recovered.  We had no hospitalizations and no deaths.

I don't think my routine changed much.  I don't go anywhere besides dialysis anyway.  I stopped getting Tim Horton's iced cappuccino's and I dropped about 10lbs.  Anyone who follows me on Facebook knows that I've been keeping track of my steps since the first of the year.  I went another round with Pulmonary Hypertension and had to slow down for a bit, but I seem to be doing much better.  I step in place instead of actually going anywhere to walk.  I've got a goal of 3500 steps per day, and I try to get at least 2kms in steps every day.  My legs look awesome, btw.  I had to forgo my trip to Denver in August, but the conference that I was going to went online.  I've gotten quite good with Zoom and Skype, and discovered that my computer just isn't meant for video calls.  It's a good thing I happened to have a brand new tablet to use.  The beaches in the National Park opened in July, so we were there at least once a week until the weather got too cold.  People were good to stay at least 6ft apart on the beach and in the water, and it was kinda funny to see the lifeguards wearing masks.  I felt bad for them, though.  I know how warm those masks must have been.

Masks aren't manditory in the dialysis unit, but they are in the rest of the hospital.  They've only just put up plexiglass partitions in the waiting room for us blind folk to run into.  I have yet to actually see them, but I've been told they are there.  One of the nurses said she was going to suggest putting stickers on them for those of us who don't see that well, to keep us from walking into them.

Every year, I fundraise for the Kidney Foundation of Canada, for the Kidney Walk.  This year, it's virtual.  The date is September 27, next Sunday, but I'm going to do my video tomorrow, because what I want to do may not exist after Hurricane Teddy hits this week.

Anyway, Mom and I are good.  I'm playing a lot of video games (I managed to get my hands on a Nintendo Switch) and watching a lot of Netflix and Disney+, and yes, I've watched Hamilton and Frozen 2 more times than I should have.

[iolaire]

Riki, thanks for the update and reviving the thread. 

I'm glad to hear you continue to keep busy and entertained. Its been interesting how we all have settled into the new normal and for many are able do fairly well.  Yesterday was the 200 day anniversary of when I choose to start working from home, stop social actives and stay close to home.  Time still flies in lockdown.

Its good to hear that your home island is fairing well.  Remoteness and islands help a lot to keep infection own.  I keep up today with my hometown of Petersburg Alaska and they are also able to keep people safe with mandatory testing of people on arrival to the airport.  Half the positive tests are guests at lodges which are basically isolated already due to their out of town locations.  It seems like they survived the summer influx of fisherman and cannery/fish processor workers.  Canneries in other small towns did have outbreaks but they were contained to specific bunkhouses and seemed to be handed well by everyone.

We had two trips which we delayed, a June trip to the SW - Grand Canyon, etc. and a trip the Republic of Georgia including a five night wine tour.  In May we rescheduled the SW trip to the end of October for our 20 year anniversary - at this point it looks like we will take the flight risk and do the trip.  Friends in Idaho, another couple, will drive down and meet us at Zion National Park for four nights then we will continue on to the Grand Canyon, Sedona and Phoenix on our own.  Utah is doing bad with COVID-19 control so that is a worry, plus the flight.  I already had the KN95 masks that I use if I go to a store but this week we also picked up the clear face shields at Costco.

I am worried about the virus still and worry about how we are getting a bit more careless as things progress.  It feels like the Airplane risk is fairly managed but its still way more risky than staying at home - we are flying SW which is not booking full flights.  We socially distance meetup with friends outside but that has morphed into starting to shared tables outside and last week a dinner inside a restaurant in a private area with six people at the same large long table...  Everyone is careful in their daily life but its worrisome. 

On the plus side we are going camping with them on Saturday night and will have dinner outside a very good German restaurant near the campsite.  (We now use an air mattress in the tent because why not.)

[Hereware]

Hey there!

Just thought would drop by. Everything's still pretty much the same. I hope everyone's well. See you around!