Well Hello anyone who members me! Classwife was kind enough to write and check on me to make sure I hadn't bit the dust, which I haven't, but almost did, but am fine overall. Since I quit
vaping now almost 2 years ago (Yes, I still miss it - but with Covid believed I needed to quit - on Covid, more to follow), I don't think to check in here much. But I do miss you'ze guys and gals and I have nothing but the fondest memories of my time on these here parts.
A short history of the last couple years. Charlie decided after four years of town home living, he wanted a house house again. We put our house on the market in December 2019, just as we were reading about some illness in Wuhan, China taking people down. Didn't give it much thought, went to Maine for Christmas, where I ate my body weight in Lobster and then we came home after the new year to a majorly changing world. We wound up taking our house off the market when the world starting to shut down, but before we did, we had found a brand new house, built by a Miami, FL., builder who built the perfect home (for us) on one of the widest parts of the Hillsborough River about 4 miles north of downtown Tampa. It was priced above our means, so we didn't give it much thought. Fast forward to July of 2020 and a couple who had seen our home before the world shut down was desperate for a home in our area and they offered more than we were asking (this before the real-estate market went bonkers with price increases) and we decided to accept the offer. We had a whopping 4 weeks to move and I found out the house on the river had not only not sold, but they had dropped the price $125,000, so we bought it and moved quickly.
Here is the view we wake to every day (note it took 10 months of permitting to get the dock built - 10 FRIGGING MONTHS - but it was finally built):
Life was going OK. You know, work, come home, eat dinner, go to bed, rinse and repeat. Then in late August of this year, I started to cough. Then Charlie started to cough. We got rapid Covid tests, which were negative, so we figured we caught colds. Only I got worse. And then it was the holiday weekend and I continued to get worse. Had the full PCR tests and yep, fully vaccinated, we had Covid. I wound up with Pneumonia and the white scarring on my lungs. I did have to spend a day (actually 10 hours just to be seen by a doctor) in the ER, but didn't have to be admitted or on Oxygen/Intubated. I was out for a month before I could return to work and I still don't have the full lung capacity I did pre-Covid. For example, after I quit
vaping, I could get on our elliptical at home and go 5 miles or more in 30 minutes. Now, I'm lucky to get to 3 miles in 30 minutes, but it's improving slowly. Charlie however, barely got sick. Which was good for me as I could barely walk 10 feet and needed his help.
Now with Omicron out there, we're trying to be very careful and stay away from people. I NEVER want to go
through that again. No, I don't.
Otherwise, we're doing well. I'm old enough now to retire, but am not sure what I'd do if I wasn't working, so I'll keep working until I figure out what's next.
Classwife, thanks for checking on my and reminding of the time I used to be here. I do hope everyone is doing well.
All my best to you'ze all!
Sir Rod, as I wuz once known. And Happy New Year. Let's hope 2022 is better than the last couple sucky years.