How's your week going?- Week of August 9, 2021

[ProudTVJunkie]

Good Morning! It's Monday and the Olympics are over. I've got the closing ceremonies recorded and will likely watch it in the next couple of days. I like the Olympics but I tend to watch more of the winter Olympics because I love figure skating, and curling always makes me giggle. Only in Canada would they come up with a sport where they throw rocks across ice and then brush the ice to make them go farther.

My daughter has art camp this week. It's the last camp of the summer. This summer is going by way too fast. She just asked me when we're doing back to school shopping and I realized we have to have her try on all of her clothes to see what she's grown out of (I think it's going to be a lot). I'm not a shopper so I enjoyed last year when everything was done online but I know she wants to go try clothes on this time so we'll have to head to an actual store.

Although it's only about 80 degrees right now, it looks like it will be in the 90s most of the week.

So how are things where you are? Check in and let us know.

[larryholmes]

'2021 Great Canada Fishing Adventure' begins with late afternoon flight on Thursday to Minneapolis where my brother picks me up at airport. He drives up from Iowa. Next day we cross border at International Fall/Fort Francis...well within the 72 hour time limit for 'COVID PCR' test and completion of the online 'ArriveCAN' registration. We had both COVID vaccinations months ago. The COVID related protocols seem extreme; however, if the-powers-that-be says they are required, I will do everything required. We cannot miss these fishing adventures again. Last year was all we can withstand. Oh, we already have our confirmed two week reservation for 2022. Yahoo!

PS:  Pulled weeds and trimmed for three hours again today.   Poor Dawn will have over two weeks when she has to do it alone.  Hopefully the grandkids who are local will offer to help.  Well, we are have wild hopes and expectations at times!

[ProudTVJunkie]

larryholmes, I'm so happy you're finally getting to go on this trip with your brother. Have a fantastic time. I've meant to ask, is this fly-fishing, and what type of fish do you catch?

Also, remember to be careful. My cousin, in Florida, is positive for Covid. She caught it from someone at work. She's grateful she was vaccinated. Right now it's like a bad sinus infection with a horrible headache, and she's lost her sense of taste and smell, but she doesn't have a fever and it's not affecting her lungs. And her home is large enough that she can stay in a guest room and quarantine so her husband and daughter don't catch it.

[larryholmes]

We jig fish with spinning rods in 18-20 feet of water. Jack uses 1/8 ounce jigs with minnows. I use 1/16 ounce jigs with leeches. We only used the fly rod once; however, it was great fun. That was in shallow water were a river dumped into the lake. However, I caught a dozen nice walleyes on large flies I had tied. We catch mostly walleyes and smallmouth bass. Some northern pike are caught too when they try to raid our bait. Jack caught a 45 1/2 inch northern a couple years ago. It was really savage looking monster...like a garbage can full of teeth! We cook shore lunch [walleye fillets, fried potatoes, and baked beans] every other day. There are proper fire pits in several areas. Nevertheless, you can bet we are very careful to ensure our fire is completely out. A couple years, we skipped them completely because it was so dry. Not sure yet about this year even though area around Sioux Lookout, Ontario, has been getting rain recently. Shore lunch is a wonderful experience if and only if it is safe. Nevertheless, there is nothing wrong with crunchy peanut butter and berry jam sandwiches!

[ibmjas]

I haven't heard much about Covid taking off in our little city, but for the first time in months I wore a mask into the stores I went into this weekend. I would say 98-99% were unmasked. Today (Tuesday) I went to the store in mid afternoon and I would say 50% maybe more were masked (most of us older). It's a good idea. 

I asked a friend to go to lunch today. She showed up with a head cold. I always have to wonder if colds, allergies, etc are actually Covid. She didn't think it could be because she had Covid before and had her shots plus she didn't have a fever. A lot of people I know who had Covid never had a fever. Unfortunately a lot of us will probably get Covid again even when we're vaxxed but the vast majority of the cases will be mild maybe even asymptomatic.

School has started here and masks are mandated since Covid in on the rise. A friend today said she had to take her elderly mother to the ER for non-Covid related probelms. However they didn't have any beds and had to send her to a different hospital so I guess things are ticking up here.

[tycho657]

I hope the fishing trip is successful. I went up to BC years ago with my Dad fishing. Great fun.
Covid is on the rise. I feel for teachers in Fl and TX especially as their governor's have decided to not allow schools to require masks. I wonder how history will record these years of covid and how thousands of people could have been saved if they had just taken simple precautions of things like masks.
I have started to wear my mask again when I'm out with people. Why not be careful just in case?
I am working on my RV and house this week after being gone for over a month. The one issue that has come up is the large sewer roaches coming out of my kitchen sink drains 🤯🙀 my cats found the 1st one then I quickly covered the drain. I ran tge garbage disposal and heard crunching sounds. Tomorrow I'm buying some soda to add to vinegar to put down the drains. With the rains and being gone for a month they have crawled up my pipes. I hope this will get rid of them.

[ProudTVJunkie]

I believe larryholmes is getting on a flight today for his fishing trip. Have fun! And come back with lots of fish stories for us.

ibmjas, schools don't open until just after Labor Day here, but they've already said everyone will have to wear masks, which is fine since that's what we did all of last year. I'm just happy the kids get to go back and I hope there are no outbreaks so they don't have to send them home. My daughter's school did well last year but the high school had to shut down for two-week quarantines more than once.

tycho657, what on earth are sewer roaches! I've never heard of such a thing. Is it something that occurs in desert climates? I hope you're able to get rid of them.

Here in NJ, we have something called Spotted Lantern Flies that first showed up last year. They are an invasive species from China and have no predators here. They are everywhere and are killing our plants. They both fly and jump. It's difficult to kill them without killing bees and other insects you'd actually want in your garden. If you try to step on one or crush them, they jump away, but I've learned that the jumping uses up much of their energy so if you can find them after that jump, they'll likely be still just long enough to catch and kill them. It's almost comical because everyone is trying to kill as many of them as they can. Unfortunately, it still feels like the lantern flies are winning.

[tycho657]

We have had big rains the last 2 days. They say when this happens the roaches that live in the sewers will sometimes seek out pipes coming to the house. I was gone for over a month so they were able to seek out water in my pipes. My neighbor was watering my plants using the kitchen sink. That is where they were coming up. When I’m gone for over a month I usually put plastic wrap over the toilet seats, drains, and add a soup can in the showers, sinks, and tubs. I also add mineral oil in the toilets. This is an issue here.
I didn’t do my usual prepping as I was only going to be gone for a month. I won’t do that again.
After a few days of running the water and turning on the garage disposal hearing crunching sounds, they appear to be gone. I’m blocking the drains with pans and bowls just in case. Yuck!!!

[ProudTVJunkie]

[ibmjas]

So yesterday they declared a disaster emergency in our county because of Covid. There was 1 death and 106 new cases. Hospital beds are filling up. Masks are now required in City/County bldgs. I don't personally know anyone with a recent case of Covid, but it's really on the rise.   I just get so upset about all the unvaxxed people that are clogging up the hospitals preventing people that really need help from getting it. If they don't believe in doctors that tell them to get vaccinated to prevent DEATH why would they bother to seek medical help when they get Covid?

[ProudTVJunkie]

Our numbers are ticking upwards too. I'm so grateful that the one holdout in my family/friend circle got their second shot today. Now I just have to worry about my daughter, who can't get the vaccine until she turns 12 in October.

This fall, we have a governer's election in NJ. I generally like our current governor. I don't agree with everything he's done but I think he's handled the pandemic well and kept people as safe as possible. The guy opposing him is against mask mandates in schools. He thinks parents should choose whether their kids need to wear a mask. He's got a lot more trust in people to do the right thing than I do. But he's really popular in my town because he grew up here. His signs are on every block and it scares the heck out of me.

I'm just hoping our high vaccination rate in NJ gets us through the fall. With everyone in my family vaccinated, I'm really looking forward to a fun, family Christmas this year.