A whole lot of nothing

As I was starting this post, I was thinking, I've got nothing, and truth be told there isn't much going on around here.  So I'll start where almost all conversations in this province starts, the weather.  (You might think I'm kidding, but seriously it's often the opening topic of conversation.)

The photo was taken on Thursday afternoon.  It was raining, since the temperature was above freezing, hooray!  The forecast for overnight was heavy snow until midnight.  Well, they sure got that wrong, there was a light dusting on the grass out back but nothing more.  It was cool Friday but still got above freezing, and by Sunday we're expecting a high of 15C (59F).  I posted this to FB, saying I think Mother Nature is a little confused.  

Or perhaps I was because I woke to snow this morning! Not a lot and it will gone by this afternoon.  I went out to feed the birds this morning and the sun felt lovely and warm.

I didn't get out walking since the curling was on, though managed to get at least 30 minutes of walking in the house.  Nor did I finish any items.  Eli's sweater is progressing nicely, I have one more sleeve to finish before I can sew the raglan and sleeve seams, before finishing the neck and button bands.  I'm sure it will be done sometime next week so will share a photo then.

The mixed doubles curling finished on Thursday evening, with the duo of Gushue and Einarson winning.  Brad Gushue, from Newfoundland, and his team were Team Canada at the men's Brier (which means they won the event last year), and Kerri Einarson and her team won the most recent women's Scotties  and will represent Canada at the Women's Worlds at the end of April.  Now the two will be heading off to Aberdeen, Scotland in the middle of May for the mixed doubles Worlds. I doubt that event will be televised so I'll have to keep track on the results on the internet.

One piece of news, my brother (59) was able to get his vaccine on Sunday.  He had quite the reaction, started getting chilled that afternoon, his temperature rose to 40.4C (104.7F), had a headache, body aches, and felt absolutely awful.  If his temperature had reached 41C, he would have gone to the hospital.  But it only lasted overnight and by morning his temperature was just slightly elevated, and though he felt like he'd been hit by a Mack truck, he was feeling so much better.  He said he'd never felt that sick before and if that's what Covid is like he's grateful it only lasted a few hours.  

His wife had the shot a few days later and had absolutely no reaction.  Now, she's certain he's a wuss. Which, if you knew my brother, you'd know he's not in the least.  I talked to a friend yesterday and her partner also had a similar reaction to the vaccine. I'm grateful I did not.

Our province, and the city where I live in particular, has been hit hard by the B 1.1.7 Covid variant.  As of Friday, there were 800 cases of the variant in the city alone. Restaurants and bars will be closed as of tomorrow, though gyms were able to remain open until the City stepped in and required them to be closed.  Churches remain open, but can have no more than 30 people in attendance.  The scary part is the number of patients in the ICU are high and almost half of the patients are in the age of 20-39. Just on Friday, the province announced 7 more deaths in our area, yet the number of ICU patients increased by 2.  Doing the math, that means another 9 patients were admitted to the ICU in a single day.  

Travel into and out of the city is not recommended, unless it is considered essential.  D and Eli were planning to come to the city this week but she decided as the numbers were climbing to rearrange Eli's doctor's appointment to the end of April.  I had thought I might drive out during Easter break, but will put that off for another week or so beyond then.  Hopefully we'll see the numbers start coming down soon.  I would hate to be the one to inadvertently bring the variant to her home.  Not only is she in the age group that seems to be impacted the most, she has underlying health issues that would make it worse.  Even their small town has been affected as one of the elementary schools was also closed last week due to a grade 3 student who was diagnosed with the variant.  Eli attends the other school and they remain open for now.  For now, we'll play it safe and remain within our small bubbles.  

There isn't much on my plate for today, I'll probably do some knitting, I'm working on a couple of craft items, the kitchen floor needs washing and I'd like to get outdoors for a walk this afternoon.  I saw on the news that someone spotted a Mallard drake this week - perhaps the ducks will be back at the pond.  No robins yet though.

Here's a photo from this morning that made me smile. That's one fat, happy squirrel.  Take care everyone and have a great week ahead!