As we enter spring, and the first anniversary of everything being shut down, we are seeing 55 current cases of COVID in our county. The cumulative total since they began testing is 1,868 confirmed cases of COVID in the county and 7 deaths. There’s a bit of a spike in the town of Conway, with 35 new cases in the last 14 days. My guess that would be from everyone here over winter break. Hopefully, as more people are vaccinated, these spikes won’t happen.

Both my son and I received our second dose of the Moderna vaccine last week. We both had similar symptoms of being very tired, some light-headedness, and headaches. We felt bad for about a day and a half then went back to normal. New Hampshire opened up vaccine registration to 50 and above on Monday the 22nd. I was on the site right away at 8 in the morning and got my spouse an appointment for the same day. He had the Pfizer vaccine and woke up this morning tired and achy, so he called out of work since he operates heavy machinery. He’ll go back for his second dose on April 12th.

With that, everyone except for my 5 year old granddaughter will be vaccinated in this household. I feel like I can breathe a sigh of relief. I know there are some questions about how long the vaccine will last and if boosters will be required, but I’ve gone from being paralyzed at the thought of losing someone to feeling confident that we managed to get through this awful time.

We aren’t completely unscathed; one of my bridesmaids lost a brother and a sister within 10 days of each other. The brother was a police officer who battled COVID for two months in the hospital before succumbing. Her sister contracted it and died fairly quickly. I don’t care what “rights” you think you have – your rights do not include spreading a disease that kills other people. I see people who won’t wear a mask as selfish and uncaring. I consider it a statement about their character and it’s one I don’t like.

We are in a nice stretch of weather, finally. It feels like spring, although we’ve had snow storms in April before. On Saturday the 20th I went to Pickering Pond Park in Rochester to start getting in shape for the summer. I walked a total of 5.1 miles according to my activity app and found 23 geocaches.

This area is where the City of Rochester first started a sewer treatment facility back in the 1950’s. Three of the lagoons were never used for that purpose, and beginning in the 1990’s the area was reclaimed as public walking trails. The paths surrounding the unused lagoons is flat and wide. Trails that branch off of these trails along the Cocheco River have some hills. Even before the trees have sprouted for the spring, it’s a pleasant walk. It can be done in a loop, which is nice.

Those 5.1 miles were the most walking I’ve done since I was at Disney World in January and I was tired by the time I was done, although it didn’t take all that long.

I think I’ll take a day for myself tomorrow and go to the beach in Maine and do some walking and geocaching there. I’m enjoying the weather and the lack of crowds right now and I’d like to continue to get in shape so I can do some more challenging hikes this summer.

Take care and stay safe!