Just to add to my fun vax facts, you can still get COVID if you’re vaccinated, you just won’t die of it!  Also, you can still transmit it to others if you don’t continue to wear a mask and distance.  And if you’ve gotten the virus and survived, your immunity won’t be sufficient and lasting if you don’t then get the vaccine.  If you get the vax after contracting COVID, your reaction to the shot may be more pronounced, because your immune response may be greater, but you’ll have better immunity going forward.  So far, all three vaccines, Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J, appear to be adequate against the latest stronger variants of the virus.

Back at the fort, it’s headed for 75º out, and very conducive to getting stuff done.  I re-tilled and edged my new expanded fence bed, and did other gardeny jobs, earning myself an IPA.  Soon I’ll sow salad greens there, and later, lots of annual cutting flowers.  E continued to work on the side porch, which is coming along nicely.

Lots more flowers are blooming.

It feels so different to be vaccinated.  Not physically; we just experienced some localized muscle discomfort and other minor effects.  Mostly, we feel not quite as marginalized, more included and hopeful.  We weren’t sure we’d ever get there.  Just one more shot each to go.  Then of course we’ll still continue to take all the precautions, to protect others who aren’t vaccinated.

Not much else exciting to report.  E continued to work on the “deck” project, and finished mowing the property.  Lots of flowers and trees are blooming, with temps back in the 70s.

Today is the last day of Pesach (yay) and also Easter.  In an ecumenical gesture, I made these.

E is preparing to make the traditional end-of-Pesach pizza, and I’m looking forward to drinking some chametz (whiskey)!

As of this post, we will have finally gotten (Moderna) vaccine #1, with the second to follow April 30.  This is a momentous occasion for us, after all the waiting and searching for vaccine appointments.  They don’t make it easy, here in the confederacy!

Of course we will continue to take precautions as before, as even a vaccinated person can pass on the virus.  Sadly, we probably still won’t be in the clear soon enough to see my son off to his new state of MO in person, though not for lack of trying!  But at least some time in May we’ll feel a little safer to go out for essentials.  Yay science!  We are pleased.

Did I mention yay!!?

We had a couple of sunny days in the 70s, then back to drenching rain day and night, now leaving us with a frosty Feb.-like front for April Fools’ Day.  All the tulips are hanging their heads with the chill.  On the other hand, it hasn’t fazed hardy herbs like comfrey, pictured.  In East TN, you garden on a climate roller coaster, when you can.

The other day(s), I cleaned up, expanded, and tilled the bed along the side fence all the way down to the shed (no easy task, with “soil” like concrete).  I re-tilled the front tomato bed, which had weeded over again.  I cut back the tomato seedlings again, and sowed cucumbers and bronze fennel indoors.  I transplanted hardened-off herbs to the herb bed.  After all this rain, all my cool weather veggies are coming up in the main veg garden.  Hopefully they won’t freeze.

Meanwhile, E has been working on the “deck” project, restoring it to an actual porch.  Whether or not we end up staying here, the obvious goal is to bring this hillbilly haven up to resale value in the next few years.