Labor day weekend was a great ending to summer.

Saturday, we went to the State Fair with QJ & C6. Afterwards we went back to their place, to swim, play games and have dinner.

C6 and QJ are *very* social. They said that over the last year, they've had 30 couples over for swimming, games and ice cream. Outdoors to be COVID safe. I believe it. They have always made an effort to get to know everyone.

Sunday, evening we had dinner with Evan, Allen, a friend of theirs and our brother in law. 

Today the brother in law hosted a small party at the rowing club. 

The brother in law is doing much better. He said he can now take deep and full breaths without coughing or pain.

Over the weekend, we went to an AA gay men's retreat. We've gone to this retreat four times now. I always enjoy it. It's as much a social thing as it is work on a twelve step program. Indeed, the social parts of the retreat are the reasons for its existence. Many recovering addicts have burned their past relationships. The retreat was created as an opportunity to make new acquittances and catch up with old.

I'm always a little bit of an odd duck at this retreat in that I'm not an addict and not sober. None the less, there are a few regular attendees at the retreat that I would like to stay in touch with. 

There is an author who moves around the country depending on the time. of year. He spends early summer in Alaska. He likes August in the Pacific North West.

There is another man, who only has one  leg. In his past life, he lived around the world. I say "lived around the world" and not "traveled around the world" He lived in many countries in Asia and Central America until his travels came to an end when he lost his leg in Mexico. Now he lives full time in PV, though he spends a month a year in the PNW. He is one of the calmest and most approachable people I've met. 

Hmmm. What does it say about me that I want a few friends who are nomads? Perhaps I am traveling by proxy.

 Actually... the brother-in-law has pneumonia, psittacosis, c-diff *and* valley fever. 

I'm googling these diseases. The county is doing contract tracing on him. What the hell did he do?

The brother in law has psittacosis-- bird chlamydia. Google it. It's a real thing. Apparently, just before his big bender, a sick wild bird found its way into his apartment. He tried to care for it for a bit. 

The psittacosis caused a very bad pneumonia in him while he was drinking.

He is home now-- on an oxygen machine and three antibiotics. 

C6 is also on the mend. Eventually he went to the hospital and received the COVID antibiotic super-treatment. 

The husband is loosing weight at a healthy pace.

Socially, all is good. Work is stressful. But home is good.

 And something I haven't mentioned-- the husband had bariatric surgery a couple of weeks ago while I was away in Ontario. His plan. He know he would be in a fowl mood after his surgery so he didn't want me around. 

He's lost 25lbs so far and is looking good. 

The brother-in-law is in and out of the hospital. They are not sure what he has. They have given him many tests. 

C6 has COVID. He was vaccinated, but has a heart transplant and is on immunosuppressants. C6 and his husband, QJ, went down to Lazy Bear last week. Their room mates down their tested positive. Two days later C6 had it.

QJ says C6 is in pain. His oxygen is good. QJ is discussing with C6's medical people if C6 should go to the hospital.

Going to Lazy Bear when you are on immunosuppressants... It's easy for me to roll my eyes at that as I'm comfortable isolating. C6 has always been super social. COVID has been a major stress for him.

And me... I'm doing well. Sunday was Bate's official retirement party. Sunday evening Allen and Evan were over for dinner and games.

Tuesday was National Night out. It is a night where our community gets to meet each other and our local police. National Night out is probably our neighborhoods largest social event.

We take over a local park, setup many inflatable kids activities, have face painting, clowns, balloon art, side walk chalk drawings and free hotdogs, ice cream and samosas. The husband and I have volunteered for this for a few years. The husband cooks and serves hotdogs and samosas. I am the gopher. I empty the garbage, hand out water bottles, substitute for volunteers when they need it (I made and served popcorn for about an hour only burning two batches) and help on whatever crises crop op.

There were two crises this year.

The relish... Usually the someone from the committee buys a dozen bottles of squeezable relish for the event. This year he couldn't find squeezable relish in the store. He bought squeeze bottles and big bottles of relish at Costco. That relish was too chunky to squirt out of the squeeze bottles. So we cut the squeeze bottles to open up the hole. No luck. The relish was still to chunky. So we blended the relish and then put it in the squeeze bottles. Success.

Second crises... the samosas. Last year we served up about two hundred samosas. There are plenty of vegetarians in the neighborhood and the samosas offer them something instead of hot dogs. 

Thirty minutes before the event started, I drove over to another volunteers house to pick up the samosas. They were still frozen. Last year we bought pre-cooked samosas from a local restaurant. This year the guy in charge of buying the food tried to save money by buying two hundred raw frozen samosas. We didn't know about this until the last minute.

"But the instructions say just put them in the oven at 350F for 15 minutes!"

Two hundreds raw frozen samosas don't fit into one or two ovens. We split them into ten trays. The volunteer baked six of the trays in her two ovens and on her BBQ. I baked the remaining in my oven and on my BBQ. I think about half of the samosas baked properly. The other half welded themselves to the tray, or baked into a large mass.

We showed up to the party thirty minutes late, but with enough samosas to satisfy a few families.

When we ran out we just said "The samosas were very popular. We'll get more this year."

The guy who bought the frozen samosas apologized. Next year we'll use the restaurant again.

Am now flying back to Seattle from Toronto.

Had a bit of excitement over my return COVID-test. When you return to the U.S. you need a covid test within 72 hours before departure. For the last two days of my trip, I was with my parents who live in the middle of no-where. The nearest test-site to my parents was a county run and not set up to process anyone who didn't have a Canadian health card, so...

Fortunately Toronto is well setup. I worked with a friend in Toronto who is a travel agent. We found a company near the airport that does rapid tests. I left my parents a little early on Sunday, made the five hour drive to Toronto and got my COVID test.

My parents eat a lot of sausage, egg, potato, ham, bread and cheese. And cookies and coffee. Don't forget the cookies and coffee. My stomach feels bogged down after a few meals with them. 

I had lunch with my cousin today. She has a similar problem with her parents. These stubborn old people-- eating what's convenient. We commiserated over salads. 

I used to be happy that my parents all lived near their brothers and sisters. My hope was that they could take care of each other in an emergency. Now I see that they are all old. The young ones are in their late seventies. Half of them have lost their drivers licenses. They are not going to be able to take care of each other.

Life at my parents is very tranquil. At least for now. This summer in the Ottawa Valley is very pleasant with enough heat and rain they everything growing like crazy.

We had breakfast with an uncle and an aunt this morning. They are all getting old. Maybe they are talking themselves into an early grave... 

A couple years ago at my aunts last eye doctor appointment, she was informed that that doctor now does everything online. It would be more convenient if she scheduled appointments or got reminders that way. My aunt decided that she had enough with harassment from that doctor and hasn't gone back since. Of course there are no either eye doctors in this neck of the woods. So she is slowly going blind with aging eye glasses.

 

I had a great first week in Toronto. Toronto is coming out of it's pandemic lockdown, so while I hung out with my friends, they were hanging out with people for the first time in weeks.

My friends are all vaccinated now.  and mostly we stayed outdoors. Toronto is having a lovely summer. It was easy to watch movies in the back yard, or take a long walk along the lake.

I drove from Toronto to my parents on Sunday. It's a five hour drive. They live way out in small town Ontario.

They are doing well. Dad, who had his knees replaced over winter, is walking just fine for a seventy seven year old man. Mother is starting to be a little more wobbly when she walks. It's especially noticeable when she gets out of the truck. 

Monday, I had breakfast with them in the morning. After that, I drove back to my hotel and worked there for the day. In the evening I returned to their place, had a late dinner with them and a couple of drinks. We watched a little TV together. Then I said goodbye and drove back to the hotel.

I am in Toronto. Other Canadian friends in WA were curious about what I went through to travel, so I write this up... 

My journey had much testing and showing documentation.

Direct daytime flights were *very* expensive. I ended up taking a red-eye that flew through Chicago.

Needed a COVID test in Seattle before departure. There is a list of accepted partners on the WA State COVID website. I used a drive though test run by GS Health in Bellevue. They were fast. I am reluctant about giving positive feedback to anyone who sticks a q tip up my nose. Outside that, I'd recommend them.

Upload your data in ArriveCan (Canadian Immigration Service) before departure. You can only do this after your negative test, and within 72 hours of your flight. You will need to provide an address you can quarantine at, should it come to that.

Air Canada checked documentation in Chicago. (ArriveCan receipt, Proof of Vaccination. Proof of Negative Covid Test) They were turning away people. I saw an American wife of a Canadian get turned away because fully vaccinated Americans are not yet allowed in Canada for optional reasons.

After I arrived in Toronto, my documentation was checked multiple times by multiple people. No intense grilling over specifics. The officials just read the documents, then checked and added stamps to my passport.

There was another post arrival COVID test after immigration. This will go faster if you setup an account with Switch Health beforehand.

Finally, I was given "Instructions for Canadians with Vaccine Exemptions" and sent me on my way.

I will need to have another COVID test before I return to the USA. So I found a provider near my Parents and scheduled an appointment three days before my return.

All told I needed to create accounts with three health providers for my COVID tests and then create an ArriveCan account for immigration. I needed to provide proof of vaccination and proof of a negative COVID test. I had paper on online copies of both.

The borders have opened up enough that I will fly back to Ontario, Canada for a couple weeks to visit family and friends. I haven't seen my parents in two years, so it's time. Currently non-Canadian's can't easily enter without quarantining so the husband will stay in Seattle.

Of course cross-border travel now has much testing and paperwork. Three COVID tests total. First is a pre-flight test which I had yesterday. The second is a a post arrival test which will be administered after I land in Toronto. I'll have my third test before I fly back to Seattle.

The brother-in-law is still in the hospital and is slowly recovering. The plan is that next week he will be released from the hospital. He'll spend a few days at our house with the husband. He'll go through his outpatient treatment here. 

The husband is at the brother-in-law's apartment today, working with our house cleaner to deep clean it. This is more than I would have done for the brother-in-law, but the husband really wants to help.

Saturday story... For the first time since COVID the husband and I went out for an evening. We stayed up past 9pm! We met friends for dinner on Capital Hill then saw a band.

Capital Hill is in full recovery after last years protests. Restaurants and bars are open again. Street life is bustling.

The city is still allowing the "open air" accommodations made for COVID. This means that many restaurants have tables out into the sidewalks. Some of the smaller streets were closed and operating as a street fair.

It's nice to see a vibrant Capital Hill again.

The brother in law is still in the hospital. He can talk now, but quickly becomes tired.

The husband and I went to the brother-in-laws apartment after the hospital visit. The apartment was disgusting. Garbage was everywhere. The place smelt of piss and rot. Maggots were in the garbage. Blueberries were every where. All over the carpet. All over the kitchen floor. Rotting meat was also on the floor. The husband suspects that during the heat wave the brother-in-law took frozen food out of his freezer and used it to cool. 

We threw out anything rotten. Anything that was attracting bugs or mice. Then we placed traps and sprayed the place down with bug killer.

We agree that the brother-in-law is on his way to a quick death especially if he continues to live alone. We are talking amongst ourselves to figure out who, how and wen we have this conversation with him. When he is sober he is a bright, creative and hardworking guy. But every now and then...

The brother-in-law is in a real pickle. He is still largely unconscious. He has alcohol induced hepatitis, pneumonia and some kind of blood infection. His electrolytes refuse to get into balance. He has lost a tooth and looks like shit.

This is all hard on the husband. The husband really loves his brother and deeply wants to help him. I have to watch my tongue as I feel no sympathy for the brother-in-law. The brother-in-law has been having alcoholic meltdowns for decades. For just as long, the husband has been rescuing him from the brink

The brother-in-law is not going to stay sober with a little more love, a little more help, and a renewed commitment to AA. The brother-in-law needs a radically different situation. Maybe he needs a conservatorship. Maybe he needs to be a ward of the state. Maybe we need to accept that it's just a matter of time before he drinks himself to death.

The brother-in-law is in the hospital being detoxed. Sunday two old friends dropped in to check on him. He place was a mess. He was barely coherent. 

The husband is trying to stay uninvolved. This is really hurting him.

 

July 4, Bates took us to visit his model train club. These aren't little toy trains. They are 1:8 working trains, powerful enough to tow twenty more more seated passengers over three miles of track.

I'm fascinated by the amount of effort that goes into this. There are many different types of trains-- real steam trains. Diesel trains. Electric Trains. Each attracts a different type of train geek. 

We have hot water again! Praise Jesus!

We quickly spent in the upper four figures to address this— plumbers, flood restoration, drywall contractor, new hot water tank and a pressure regulator for the house. Insurance should cover much of it. I'm thankful we had enough savings and big credit cards to see it through.