Keksie

As promised a picture of the cactus blooming. Not exactly a pleasant fragrance either and it draws flies. LOL

What a cute baby and such a beautiful cat. Jade is a wonderful companion.

That is a lot for the kids to deal with. My prayers are with you and your family.

I just don't want to get in a situation where they start enforcing mask wearing and I can't leave. On land we could just go somewhere else or in a pinch come back home. I research carefully where we travel to make sure that the protocols we are against are not in place.

I am so sorry to hear about your mom. Happy for you that your tumor is the same and your team won.

That is another reason. However, I am not sure how they would know you had covid while on the ship unless you told them.

I have not been on any cruise since the restart. I am waiting until all the protocols are reliably gone. I would hate to be on a ship and halfway through be told I had to wear a mask. Until then I will just go on land vacations where none of the protocols are required and haven't been for a long time.

She was much loved and respected. The world will miss her presence.

I prefer printouts because I like everything on one or two pages that I can see all at once. Phone screens are just not big enough. I use excel to create spreadsheets for vacations and for packing lists.

Aren't you worried that only testing once a week you will miss a positive test? Say you are exposed on a Saturday and get covid. You test on Monday morning but it is negative, if you tested an hour later it would be positive, but you don't test until the next Monday. You will have been walking around with covid for a whole week!

That heat would be tough without air conditioning. Hoping for cool weather coming soon for you.

When I lived in Texas in 2011, we had 90 days of 100+ weather and no rain. We just stayed in with the air conditioning and fans going. I lost a lot of plants that summer. Labor Day weekend we had a fire that burned 1600 homes. Labor Day weekend there was a big fire on the other side of town. My husband's mother was supposed to come visit but had fallen in the airport on the way down and broke her hip. One of my knitting friends, her husband, 5 dogs and 3 cats had to evacuate to my house since her house was in the path of the fire. The house was super clean and there was a lot of food prepared because of his mother's visit so it worked out well. I had 5 cats and 2 dogs at the time and we made it work. They were at my house for 11 days because although her home survived the fire the power had been cut to her area. Now she is my best friend. We have the same birthday (different year). Both our sons moved to this area of Florida for different reasons and at different times. She moved to Missouri for a while and has now moved 45 minutes away from me.

What is regularly test? Every morning, twice a day, once a week, once a month? You could test negative in the morning and an hour later test positive. We are retired and take vacations other than cruises so no requirement to take a test. I have not had any symptoms of anything for years so have not had a reason to test.

I love those flowers. I have a cactus type plant that blooms during the day, the bloom lasts a day or two. I wouldn't call the flower pretty and the fragrance is not what I would call nice. I do like the plant because it is unusual and it was a pass-along plant from a friend. I will try to remember to get a picture when it blooms.

My experience with friends who have gotten it is completely the opposite of the two examples above. Women who are 50+, vaccinated, maybe boosted, various health problems have reported a day or two of congestion, headaches and feeling tired. All were feeling fine by day 3 or 4.

That was super scary. So glad he is much better now and you have gotten some cuddles in. Congratulations on the baba.

If they liked the floor plan then I am sure they will just remodel to their taste and be very happy in the home. We saw our house floor plans online which is why we bought the house before even seeing it in person. I knew that I could update/change anything inside or out. So far, we took out a huge tub in the master bath and replaced it with a huge shower. We put up a nice backsplash in the kitchen along with new counter tops. We put cabinets in the utility room and upgraded the sink in there. We have also replaced the furnace/air conditioner, pumped the septic and painted most of the rooms. Of course my husband has built a large building and put up a metal shed that was already here but in pieces. The only major project left is to clean, reorganize and paint the garage.

We were on acreage and didn't really have a lawn. Being Texas, and with it just being the two of us, the sprinklers were not enough to keep a lawn alive. It was more a pasture grass with some weeds thrown in that my husband mowed that would be semi-green in the summer. We would get 90 days of 100 plus weather with no rain in the summer.

We have two tanks here in Florida. Who knew? We found out when we had the septic company come pump (because I was not sure when if ever it had been done). One is for the washer and one is for everything else. In Texas we had an aerobic system. It had to be inspected quarterly, so we would pay the inspector, he would come out, walk around to the back, press the button to make the alarm sound (in case the air pump failed), walk to the front door and put a tag saying he had been there on the door, send the paperwork to the county and we would be all good.

Two good things from the pandemic: 1. Cocktails in to go cups 2. Houses selling above asking, in one day, with no inspections and for cash!

Also from Royal Caribbean website: Accepted Tests for U.S. Cruises Departing on or After September 5, 2022; with No Stops in Canada or Bermuda The test you take can be professionally administered by a health professional, such as a doctor or pharmacist, or you can use a home test kit. Home test kits for these sailings are not required to be administered under live video supervision. You will present the negative test result at the time of boarding. You can show it in the form of a printout, an email, or an app screen from the test provider. Or you can show a picture of your negative home test on your phone, or present the actual negative test itself.

For All Sailings Departing on or after September 5, 2022 from U.S. Homeports with No Stops in Bermuda or Canada If your cruise visits Bermuda or Canada, test protocols for your cruise are in the next section. Guests 5 years of age and older who are not fully vaccinated must bring a negative test result for a COVID-19 antigen or PCR test taken within the 3 days before boarding day, regardless of the duration of their cruise. Fully vaccinated guests 5 years of age and older must bring a negative test result for a COVID-19 antigen or PCR test taken within the 3 days before boarding day on sailings that are 10 nights or longer only. Testing is not required for fully vaccinated guests on shorter itineraries. Guests younger than 5 do not have any testing requirements. Required testing for all guests, regardless of vaccination status, can be completed using any type of PCR or antigen test. It can be professionally proctored by a healthcare professional, such as your doctor or pharmacist, or you can use a home test kit. Home test kits are not required to be conducted under live video supervision. Tests must be arranged on your own and are at your own expense.  The above is from Royal Caribbean's website. Depending on the itinerary, date, number of nights etc. home test kits do not need to be under live supervision. Totally worthless would be a good description. LOL

I was just saying if pcur was that worried about catching covid ever again that taking a mask down to eat or drink while around others might not be the way to go about it. I guess I don't understand people who want to be assured of never catching it, taking a chance being around others, taking masks down for any reason etc. It is like the people I see going into the store with their masks firmly under their nose - why bother?

I think a lot of the cruises now just need a picture of a negative test with your name and date on a paper in the picture. I think 1 test would work for everyone in a party, you would just need to change the name for each picture. Since we are retired and will not cruise until all the protocols are finished we have never needed to take a test so I am not sure why people are getting so many.

If you truly don't want it to happen again then you may want to stay masked, get your food and drink to go and go back to your cabin. To be extra safe just don't go anyplace there are other people.