Have a great time!

Dagmar

Have fun, JayEll!! I'm having too much fun at home to want to travel.

I'm taking an online tracking class with my dog Greta. It is so much fun!! We use a GoPro style camera to video the track and the instructor tells us what to do next. At this beginning stage we use small orange targets (dogs don't see orange well) with hot dogs on top. We have just introduced an "article" for them to find. In this case it is a black sock. There is one at the beginning and end of the track. Here is a video for your entertainment!
https://youtu.be/V7OnmSVUBWQ

Cool! Greta's got her nose down for most of it and she has a big stretch in the middle where you can see her following the direct trail (rather than just searching through the grass). I had a lot of fun years ago doing this with my friend's Frenchie! She was really good at it by the end of the course. We did face-to-face - way before pandemic.

You might want to try scenting too if she's good at the tracking. Trix and I did that - finding the target inside a container and doing a behaviour to indicate the find. Our instructor used large plastic tubs with a hole cut into the lids. Dogs had tons of fun!

Dagmar

Dagmar

We're back from our trip. The place we go is a couple of counties north of us, and we were surprised to find that masks are "suggested" in that county, not "required" or "mandated." The result is that very few are wearing them! We did see some barriers at counters. I don't know what it was like in grocery stores because we had no need to go to one. Some people did seem to be socially distancing.

Maybe they are all vaccinated? ... Nah. Don't think so.

It left me with even more mixed feelings. The people without masks looked cheerful and normal, unlike people where we live, where there is a mandate. Here everyone seems nervous and perpetually worried.

We had a flat tire, but called triple-A, and then had the tire fixed the next day at a little old-time tire shop off the main drag.

Another extension to our stay-at-home lockdown - now on until May 20. I was going to sell my kayak and take photos of it tomorrow. Club closed, locks changed. And our police have now been given the go ahead to challenge drivers about where they are going. That one scares me. The fine, should the officer decide to give you one, is $750. Well over a week's pay for me.

Dagmar

And most of our police commissioners are saying "No, we won't stop people randomly to check their ID. It's unconstitutional". Good to hear! At least I won't be spending more time indoors, eating too much, worrying about where I can and can't go.

Dagmar

Sorry to hear about the lockdown, Dagmar.

Nothing is being done consistently about the virus from one place to another. I mentioned our experience just going a couple of counties away. I'm very glad that the disease is not even more contagious or deadly.

I'm taking a friend to lunch today at one of the few places that is still open for lunch. Protocols are in place, and I'll be wearing a mask where I'm supposed to.

It's gotten pretty quiet in here...

I guess we're all just hunkering down in our lives. Here's something interesting: I was looking something up in a day planner from 2016--and I saw that I weighed the same then as I do now. My weight has gone up and down, but it stays within an 8- to 10-pound range. I guess this is what's known as a set point?

It sort of confirms what I've thought for a long time.

Languishing over here. Trying to get my mind around doing the COVID dance for another 6 - 9 months. I have a lot of projects that could be done but I'm not in the mood nor do I have the energy. I usually have a slump in April due to winter weariness. This year it's more due to pandemic paralysis.

JayEll My body has wanted to weigh around 136 lbs. since I was 11 years old and hit my adult height. I go a little under, a little over, but I always stay somewhere around that point so I agree with you on the set point idea. They only time I've gone way out of whack was during menopause. Curious to see what happens when I quite the commercial dog walking. I have a feeling I will be trying a lot of other "active" activities so there probably won't be much difference from an exercise standpoint. I'm looking forward to being able to attend exercise classes and using weights and machines at a gym. And swimming in a pool if I can find one that's not hugely chlorinated. And biking. And hiking.

Dagmar

I'm signed up to get the vaccine next week. I'm going to get the Johnson & Johnson one-shot vaccine. This is my choice--I like the idea of one shot. Also I like the list of "other ingredients" better.

I think that in the last year+ I have personally been responsible for an increase in dividends for Frito-Lay. Can't tell you how many bags of potato chips I've been through. One or two a week, I think. I probably put someone's kid through college...

We did the usual "not much" on the weekend. There is a surge in the COVID numbers all over Canada so we are not the only ones locked down. This is supposed to end May 20th - no idea if Toronto will get a reprieve or not. Seems like we've been locked down for the entire year and it's getting to all of us.

My food weakness this past year has been for Celebration cafe au lait wafer cookies. Many, many boxes of them. They usually are on sale - 2 for $6 - most weeks and i've been buying waaay too many of them.

Dagmar

I love wafer cookies! Cafe au lait sounds like a good flavor. Potato chips are good too but I haven't eaten any in a long time.

It's getting hot here. DH is just back from a visit in Washington with my son, his wife and baby Atlas who will be 1 next month. They are all doing well, but the wife is a conspiracy theorist. She said they are a "fluoride-free household". She also asked DH (seriously) if he was concerned about the nanobots in the Covid vaccine he got. So I assume the baby has not received any vaccines. Very upsetting but not much I can do about it.

Sorry to hear that your grandchild may not receive vaccinations. Not just COVID but the regular childhood things. We had mandatory vaccination when we were kids. Those who missed the first go would get a make up about 2 weeks later. The only exception was for the children of Jehovah's Witnesses. We always felt a little sorry for them for various reasons.

I was reading about "herd immunity" and how Canada probably will not achieve it in any universal way. And apparently there will be difficulties in our province with those who were vaccinated at pharmacies getting their second dose. DH went to a pharmacy. I got my shot through the government agency so am assured of a second one, though no idea if the August 1 date will be honoured. Such a mess.

Dagmar

Someone in my community commented about "herd stupidity" and I think that's more apt.

I had my Johnson & Johnson shot last Monday and have had no side effects at all.

Meanwhile, that was the same day that the Florida governor suspended local governments' COVID rules. Private businesses can continue to require masks if they like... Still a circus!

Howlin', your daughter in law needs to be told that the needles are too small for nanobots. Jeez,.

I ordered and picked up dinner from a catering company yesterday. The chef taught at a cooking school I attended. His food is always excellent and it comes with specific reheating instructions that a really easy to follow.

I really like the idea of heating up multiple containers in the oven and then rinsing and putting the pans the components came in into the recycling. We had a 3 course meal that was ready in 30 minutes with basically 5 minutes clean up after it.

I still tend to go y by my mom's playbook where cooking is concerned. She made elaborate Sunday dinners from scratch every single weekend.

I don't need/want to do that any more. Whew! It's taken me a long long time to not feel guilty about ordering food, rather than cooking it.

Dagmar