Pandemic: Year Two

We are now almost one month into 2021 and it feels a lot like 2020. The most important change is the feeling of hope, which really began in December with the first people getting the Covid 19 vaccine. As the calendar turned over on January 1st I was happy to welcome the new year and say good bye to 2020. The nine months of living under the pandemic shadow were uncomfortable and it only became worse during the holiday season. All of the frustrations of not seeing family and friends were magnified. The weather did not allow for the escapes that spring, summer and fall did. I am normally ready to move on from the holidays and get the Christmas tree out to the curb, but it felt like an exceptionally large weight was lifted this year. 

The state of Wisconsin announced on Tuesday, 19 January, that residents 65 and over would be eligible to get the vaccine beginning 25 January. My wife was able to get through to Prevea within an hour and we got appointments for the afternoon of the 25th. We will receive our second dose on 15 February. Our lives won't change dramatically, but we will be able to eat in a restaurant and perhaps visit with friends and family inside instead of the driveway or garage. I am hopeful that we will feel safe enough to travel again and stay in hotels. 

Around New Year's Day we finally got enough snow so that the snow bike trails at the Reforestation Camp could be opened. I rode three times a week until the warm weather caught up with us again and they were closed for a few days. We got four inches of snow on the day the Green Bay Packers lost another NFC Championship game and the trails are back open. They are in great shape and that will give me something to do during the long Wisconsin winter. 

Brown County Reforestation Camp

Over the past few years I have considered getting one of those tough cameras to take along on fishing and motorcycle trips. It would be another way to take pictures other than just using my phone, which I don't like to take out in a boat anyway. I have a little Nikon L3 point and shoot camera and I am using that to see if I will like using a camera instead of my phone. The pictures in this post are all from the Nikon. I have played around with the editing feature on it to make the photos a little more interesting. 

I had plans to try and learn to play a little piano and harmonica this winter but so far that has not happened. But now with some real winter weather and icy sidewalks I may be inside enough to pick give them both a try. I have also been working on whittling down a list of books titled "100 Books Every Man Should Read". More about that in my next post.