Day 6016
vaccine day 65
54 days into retirement
Sheesh! Nearly a month since the last post? Looks like I need to manage my time better. Not like I have job or anything! I will admit, I’ve been watching WAY too much CNN lately, but there’s some actual entertainment value there if you like hearing about the train wreck that is everything Trump lately. Couldn’t be happening to a more deserving guy.
In more mundane things, I have managed to install a chandelier over the dining room table. Involved determining the power source, cracking the wall open and installing the switch, then opening up the ceiling in a couple of places and running said power to the lamp. Then my favorite part (not!) – patching the drywall. Gotta say – it didn’t turn out too bad. Took a bazillion coats, tracking down little bubbles in the tape and eliminating them and finally getting it smooth enough for paint.
Painting the ceiling? A pain in the neck job even when it goes well. Luckily (or maybe not) I have plenty of experience painting ceilings and have already made all the mistakes. This effort went pretty well. Now? The walls. Going from a color that made me feel like I was trapped inside a pumpkin to something called “Russian Sage”. Much calmer. That effort starts today with about 300 feet of painting tape to be applied.
What else have I done to stay occupied? Changed out the counter top on our semi-custom entertainment wall. It’s built out of pre-fab cabinets that I arranged to look like a big honkin’ hutch. Installed a pre-fab kitchen style countertop on the center unit, but it had a set curl to it from how it was stored at Home Despot. Was hoping it would flatten itself out eventually, but it never did. So off with it’s head. Replaced with a home grown counter that looks good, is flat and gave me something to work on for a few days.
No update on the vaccine trial front. Many of you have probably hear that the J&J vaccine has been submitted for Emergency Use Authorization. That’s the one & done vaccine that I’m in the Phase 3 trial for. Test data shows efficacy in the 72 – 85% range, but be aware that that is only 28 days after injection. It DOES steadily keep improving with age (like me & wine!) I do have an appointment 2/15 for more blood testing for the trial. so maybe I’ll be unblinded then. With my co-morbidities (diabetes & high blood pressure), I’d like to be at the front of the line when Group 1C is eligible.
In bigger news – we made arrangements for a week of camping in the Finger Lakes with one of Cindy’s cousins & his wife. The big revelation during that conversation was her cousin sharing that they’ve sold their townhouse, upgraded their truck & camper and are now full time RV living. They got a 40 foot 5th wheel Toy Hauler (big camper with a garage on the back for storing bikes, kayaks, a golf cart, whatever) and upgraded to a one ton truck for hauling that puppy around. Cindy & I have long had a dream of doing a lap (or two) of the country and try to see as much as we can. But maintaining a house and caring for two cats makes taking more than a one week trip kind of a pain with having to arrange for lawn care and cat herding. Our son would do it, but could we ask him to do it all summer for 2 or 3 years?
So we are contemplating selling everything and using the proceeds to upgrade our truck & camper. The research has been kind of entertaining and has given me a healthy dose of sticker shock. We’ve narrowed down our camper selection to 2, maybe 3 models. Camper selection drives truck requirements. There are basically 3 models of truck to select from, with a nearly infinite combination of trim levels. I’ve been having a blast going through the various manufacturers build & price web sites.
Nothing happening on that front in the immediate future. Cindy won’t retire till December 2021 at the earliest. We also have an entire household to liquidate. We’ve been talking about shedding ‘stuff’ and minimizing for a while, but this full time RV option throws a whole new prospective on that effort. Scary, exciting, maybe even fun! If we do this, the house would be on the market about a year from today. Time to start shedding stuff!