Wednesday we got new blinds for all the doors and windows on the back wall. Drapes left by the previous owners had done their job, but they were definitely past their prime. Several had fallen off the wall, either because of poor mounting or failed hardware. We didn’t want new blinds until the builder had finished banging on the back wall. We were supposed to get new blinds before Easter. Unfortunately, Rin and Racheal didn’t get blinds for their bedroom. It’s not a serious issue. There is nobody living behind our house. The bedroom is on the second floor, and there is quite a hill behind the house. Still, it would have been nice to get the blinds in time. It worked out well in the end. We really like the new window treatments.

Construction on the back of our unit is almost done. The builder cleaned up all their trash from behind our building. They decided to replace the vinyl trim around our deck, which made us quite happy. The builder has another couple of hours of work to wrap that up. This phase of construction is down to parts of three buildings. The HoA board decided we should get new flashing on the front and sides of the buildings. This affects every building in the neighborhood. They will be working on this most of the summer. There’s also a matter of the mud behind our building. The board has not decided what to do about that.

Danita and I have been discussing the second COVID booster. Our understanding is that the booster gives two-stage protection. First there are about 8 weeks of antibodies, which prevent one from getting COVID. Then there are 6 months of T-cell protection. These don’t prevent infection, but they prevent an infection from being severe (hospital visits). It’s been about 6 months since we got our first booster, so a second booster made sense to us. We went out yesterday to get our boosters. We arrived at 11:00 when they opened. Another couple arrived at about the same time. Danita and I had trouble filling out the electronic form. The other couple had problems because the administrator couldn’t locate their original vaccination, which they got in Delaware. (Remember people driving all over the place to look for a vaccination?) After all this, the other woman was denied the booster because she wasn’t 50 yet. All in, we spent an hour and a half getting boosted. But it turns out we were far from done. Driving home, I hit the curb.

There was a huge gash in the side of the tire. Cars don’t come with spare tires any more. Our car insurance includes towing. We called. We answered questions such as “What is the VIN number of your car?” We got cut off. We called again. Answered questions again. Waited a couple of hours for the tow. Fortunately we were close to home. Danita walked home and made me a nice lunch. When I got to the tire place, they had several other cars in front of me. It’s only a mile and a half to home, so I walked home and awaited their call. We were all done by 4:30. Fortunately we had really nice weather.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.