Staying In and Staying Warm

This afternoon it is 6C with wind up to 60km/hr.  I was sitting in my living room wearing my Rider sweater while we watched the Rider game on TV    At least the fans who sat out in the cold and wind had something to cheer about with the team finally getting a win.   If the Riders can finish the season on a winning note maybe there will be a little more optimism for next year.  

I wasn't feeling well earlier in the week so didn't go out much, but doing better by the end of the week.  Yesterday afternoon we went and got our flu shots.   I have gotten a flu shot every year since 1995 after I had pneumonia.  I usually get little or no adverse reaction from the flu shot, and just some mild soreness in my shoulder this time.  (Janice tells me to stop poking it to see if it is still sore.)  This was the first year that Elaine got a flu shot as well and had no adverse reaction at all.  The influenza vaccine this year has the same three components as last year: A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)-like virus, an A/Perth/16/2009 (H3N2)-like virus, and a B/Brisbane/60/2008-like virus (B Victoria lineage).  There is no live virus in the vaccine but inactivated components that will develop antibodies to these or similar influenza viruses.  The A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)-like virus is the same one that caused the H1N1 scare two years ago and there was a separate H1N1 flu shot.   For the last two years it has been part of the regular seasonal flu shot.  

In other news we finally got our new basement windows installed on Thursday morning after waiting several months since the contractors are so busy.  The small furnace/ laundry room window had a single pane with wood frame rotting and has been replaced with a double pane PVC window.   We also got the basement bedroom window replaced with a larger one that meets the regulations for emergency egress.  The existing window met the minimum dimension but was just less than the minimum area.  It needed to be replaced anyway with a better quality window that stopped the wind from blowing through.  For that bedroom window we also got a larger window well  to meet the regulations.  This was done by the bobcat contractor when the soil build up and grading around our house was finally completed.   So slowly the work we need is getting done and maybe soon we can get someone to start working in our basement.