270 Days, An Election, Air Show, Rocket Launch, Doctor Visit, Thanksgiving, Birthdays and Covid

It has now been 270 days since we started our stay at Shelter Inn Place. Like with everyone else in the world it is getting old, but we are following the "better being safe than sorry" rule. We are happy we are in Florida where even in December we have weather that enables us to keep our doors and windows open, get outside to exercise and enjoy comfortable outdoor dining at many local eateries. That said, since Florida has lifted almost all Covid restrictions, we are not eating out as much and never indoors. Some good news now that it is December, hurricane season is over. While our friends in Louisiana got pounded this year we escaped with no big storms in our part of Florida. We only had to close our shutters once, so we were very happy.

On election day we once again worked the polls for team Biden - Harris. There was never a line of people where we worked so we felt safe being there.

Unfortunately, we did not get the results we wanted in Florida, but we still wanted to be part of the effort.

On Saturday, November 7th we got the news we had been waiting for when several news services called the election for Joe and Kamala. We are very sad that even a month after all the results are in the president still refuses to accept the FACT that he lost. I feel this is a dangerous time for our country.

During the first weekend of November the Stuart Air Show is held. On the Thursday prior to that we heard a very loud rumble as this jet flew very low over our place. It was practice for the weekend so we had several days of this.

There were a variety of acrobatic events and we could watch them from our place.

There were a number of different acrobatic teams.

It was amazing how low they flew over the city. Unfortunately, last year a plane crashed at the airport during practice, killing the pilot.

 

This fighter, with its afterburner glowing, was so low it set off our neighbor's security alarm.

Different jet. This one with two engines. Here is a link to a video of a jet hovering, something I did not know they could do.

Here is the link to a video of a jet coming over our place.

These four fighters performing as a team was very neat. Hopefully next year we will be able to go to the airport to get an up close look at all the planes.

On November 15th we saw the SpaceX launch watching from our yard. We are 100 miles from Cape Canaveral but it was still very neat. 

We could see it for several minutes as it went into orbit for the 27 hour trip to the International Space Station. We plan to go to the beach for a better look at some future launch.

We needed to get a doctor in Florida now that this is our home base. Cleveland Clinic has a new facility just a couple blocks from us, so that is the place we chose The great thing about the clinic is that we can go there for pretty much all our medical needs. Lab work, screenings and even an OBGYN, all in one place. We like our new doctor, but she sure is young. The tests we had done came back with great results. I have lost 16 pounds and lowered my cholesterol by nearly 20 points. The exercise and Nanc's cooking is doing the job for me. Of course, Nanc, who is much more health conscience than me, also had a good report. 

How does a 74 year old man celebrate his lower weight and cholesterol?  By going to Duffy's for a bacon cheese burger with a side of onion rings. It was wonderful, but it is a treat I will be eating much less often. 

How did Nanc celebrate? With a more sensible order of Ahi tuna and a side of steamed broccoli. I guess that is why she was able to run seven miles on her 70th birthday and I could only take a stroll on the beach. 

My birthday was on Thanksgiving day. We went to Hutchinson Island for a nice walk on the beach. In our part of Florida we can almost always find an uncrowded beach. There has been some big waves, so there is a lot of  beach erosion.

We found a few neat shells and some shark's teeth.

Enjoying the Florida sunshine on my birthday.

Last Thanksgiving our friends Joe and Kathy were here with us and Joe cooked a wonderful fish stew rather than the traditional turkey and stuffing. I guess it is now our new traditional Thanksgiving meal. It was fantastic!

This will be our first Christmas in our new place. We decided we have not had a big tree for 13 years so we will continue that tradition. We did put up a string of lights on the patio.......

.....and our little tree,  holiday flag and window candles that we displayed in Opus. Nanc has also put a few Christmas touches around the house so we are all ready for the holidays.

I do like condo living as the HOA takes care of all the grounds. I think the trimming of the palms is a once a year event.

This is why I'm glad it is someone else's job. I don't do tree climbing any more.

Our neighbor Hector took advantage of the trimming and collected the coconuts. He had this big machete to open them and save the milk. He shared one with us. Fresh coconut and its milk is great.

COVID -19

Really, this is the toilet and paper aisle at Target. Why do people do this? It is crazy to me!

It has been 33 days since our last post and the Covid numbers are growing at an unbelievable rate. The number of cases in the US has increased by 5,549,783 to 14,779,499 with the 7 day average of new cases more than doubling to nearly 196,000. The number of deaths has increased by 51,757 to 282,436 with the 7 day average increasing to 2,169. Why don't people understand that the longer we go without following the medical professionals' guidelines the longer the restrictions are going to be in place. All you are being asked to do is wear a mask, social distance, wash your hands and stay out of big crowds. Hopefully, with the vaccine and a new administration modeling proper behavior this thing will be under control by spring.

With 2020 already being as bad as it has been, we have also suffered the loss of two of Nanc's siblings, Michelle lost her battle with cancer in January and Dave from heart disease this month.

Here is Nanc and here siblings a few years ago. Front are Michelle, Dave and Nancy; back are Karen, Marty and Judy. Judy and Nanc are the only two remaining.

 

In April of 2017 we all got together in Maryland for Michelle's birthday. This was the last time they were together. We are hoping 2021 is a much better year for everyone.