Reciprocity

Actually I had zero reaction to my first shot, not even the sore arm. Hoping for a repeat performance this time . I have heard reports indicating people have generally suffered greater reactions after the 2nd shot. Not sure if that true or not.

Yes @Lilley no cost for the vaccine (but they'll tax us for it later ) No two heads or extra boobs so far, just a slight swollen feeling around my head.

Gif avalanche coming our way

The Indian variant probably isn't the last. These viruses mutate over time to keep themselves alive. I expect there will be tweaks to the vaccine formulas and possibly an annual booster shot offered. I expect, like the flu shot, not that large a percentage of the population will want the booster. People get complacent. With some re-opening plans in place now here in Canada, the latest debate is employers making full vaccination a condition of employment. That could get ugly

In Canada, everyone was included in lockdowns and stay at home orders. There were no divisions of age groups there but in the initial wave of the pandemic is was widely known that the elderly (over 60-65) were most at risk of serious illness & death. Since the variants have arrived, that has actually turned around where now it's younger people (20's-30's) that are ending up in the ICU units and dying. Not sure if that's because the elderly were vaccinated earlier or just that the younger people were pushing things more in terms of gatherings etc. There are so many, worldwide, whole just aren't taking this whole thing very seriously. You don't have to look online very long to fine any conspiracy theory you might want to find. Makes it tough for people on the fence with getting the vaccination.

Yup! Still know I can contract it and spread it too. I'm not one to be partying in large numbers or even going out pretty much anywhere all that often in crowd situations but it will be nice to sit on a patio for a dinner and drinks once in awhile now that summer is here and we are both looking forward to travelling again at some point later this year or early next year. I feel a lot safer vaccinated than before but I do realize it's not a magic bullet that makes me invincible.

Nice Job Ace!! You quit is really adding up now

WOW, YES absolutely!! Give me a road trip any day over a quick flight! So much fun and seeing new places is fabulous. Based on where you live I suppose you're a little far north to make southern Utah/northern Arizona part of your travels but OMG, that part of the country is just so awesome and different from anywhere else - so beautiful and awesome to see on a road trip! In any case, have a blast! It will also be so much more relaxed and fulfilling as a non-smoker too (bonus!!)

LOL - Yeah, not here in Canada The whole timing became a political football, as did the qualifying process for the AZ and J&J vaccines. Without becoming too political here, Canada was late out-of-the-gate on getting vaccine shipments coming here in big enough numbers to really get the vaccination programs up and running so, because of that they wanted to get 1st shots into the arms of as many people as possible to at least have 'some' protection. As a result, they said the vaccine oversight medical group here in Canada had determined that it would be safe to delay 2nd doses for up to 4 months So, they were booking 2nd shots roughly 4 month after 1st shots. My first shot was Apr. 7th so now my 2nd will be just over 2 months. The vaccine manufacturers never weighed in on this delay because during their initial, somewhat rushed testing they only used the approx. 1 month interval. In limited studies since the initial test groups, it is said that a further delay is not only safe but actually maximizes the efficacy. Bottom line, I don't think anyone really knows for sure, as is the case with many things in this pandemic. Constricted time frames, due to the magnitude of this pandemic has simply not allowed extensive studies. In the end, I'm just glad vaccines were developed so quickly. Miraculous might be a better term for what was done in 1 year! Now that there's lots of vaccine coming in, they are ramping up the second doses mostly due to the emergence of the Delta (India) variant, which has proven problematic to people with only their 1st dose. Canada did a big flip-flop on making the AZ vaccine available as well. The same vaccine board wouldn't approve it for use initially. But, because of vaccine shortages with both Pfizer & Moderna, they came back and said .... yeah, the AZ is OK now for I think people over 40? So they started giving it out like candy for a few weeks then took it back off the availability list here because of the blood clotting issue. They are now allowing people who got AZ as their initial shot to also get it as their second shot too. They have also approved those AZ people to get one of the MRNA vaccines (Pfizer/Moderna) as their second shot. Kind of glad I'm not in that group. Not sure I'd want to mix those? As well, Canada has never released the shipment of J&J one-shot vaccine they got back in May due to concerns over tainted vaccine batches that were reported in the US at the manufacturing facility our batch came from. Not sure what happened to those doses? I would imagine they have or will soon expire That's the long-winded story

Was able to re-book my second shot at 8:00 AM this morning so I did. It was originally booked after my 1st vaccine for July 27th Now I get my second vaccination Thursday June 17th. So a couple of weeks after, when it fully kicks in, I'll be good to go. Good timing too because things will be opening up quite a bit by then so I'll feel safer doing things I haven't done in quite awhile

He also played Davey Crockett, another famous American frontiersman who died at the Alamo, in a mid 1950's Disney TV series along side of Buddy Epsen of Beverly Hillbillies fame. My Mom bought me a Davey Crocket outfit when I was pretty young complete with the coon-skin hat with the dangling raccoon tail and all. She told me I loved that outfit so much I even wanted to wear it to bed at night lol.

I suspect no one in your other life really gets it - what it's like to quit that is. That's why there's so much value to a forum like this. Everyone certainly does 'get it'. We're all traveling the same path. Just separated by time and distance is all

We're not wine drinkers but they also distil Rye-Whiskey there and we love their Salted Caramel Whiskey based Cream Liquor! So tasty on the rocks as an after dinner treat Puts Bailey's Irish Cream to shame (IMO) From what I have ever heard, Niagara wines are OK for locally produced wines but they are not really up there on a world wide scale. They do make excellent dessert Ice Wines though. If you ever make your way to Niagara on the Lake again, it's worth a visit because you can buy taste testing packages and sample many of their products, both wine & whiskey products. They have a lovely patio and large indoor area for this. Even a skating rink for winter months. And of course, a retail store lol.

We all had many times when we thought about or wanted to go back to smoking ... for various reasons. Stress, sadness, happiness; you name it! The one thing that is universally true in EVERY case is that lighting up will not help the situation and in fact would put you in a deep dark place because you would have thrown away 5 months of hard work. I don't see the positive side anywhere to lighting up. It's junkie thinking for sure. Your addiction wants control again .... don't let that happen under any circumstances! Sorry your friend is in a tough spot Please honor her by keeping your quit. I'm sure she would want to know you're making a positive change for your future.

She had to do the clean up

Wow! Great work Robbie!! Keep moving forward and active on the forum. It will help you

We were there at Juno Beach. So many died to keep us free. A victory wrapped in tragedy.

There's so many great things to discover with food recipes. Some we just stumble across through experimentation. I read one the other day about mixing some cream cheese in with mashed potatoes. Think I'm gonna try that one sometime. Sounded interesting.

Got lucky as today the weather was very hot and it was windy so that helps get the temp. up. I stayed even at 300 for 2 hours which is unusual. I'm normally smoking ribs at 225F - 250F with water in the pan to keep temps down. Had a few cups of water in the pan to keep things moist and cooked it on the lower rack where temps will be a little higher than the upper rack. Yes, I slashed the skin/fat layer but not the meat itself. Gotta render that duck fat during the cook or the meat goes greasy. You can just prick the skin with a metal pick or the tip of a knife if you prefer long as there's an escape route for the liquified fat. Rub was just salt pepper and some orange zest from the orange I stuffed into the cavity of the bird. I dry brined the duck night before. 1/2 cup of Kosher salt all over the bird and in the cavity; let stand in the fridge overnight. The glaze I used was Honey/Orange/Maple syrup with balsamic Vinegar, dried thyme, honey, maple syrup and orange juice. There's other glaze recipes you could use. The interweb is full of them. Stuff the cavity with whatever you have on hand. Apples, oranges celery, onions, any spices you like. Helps to keep the breast from collapsing while cooking. Most will say to pull the bird when the breast temp is 160F. I was going for 145F because I heard 160 would be a little too well done. I pulled it at 150-155F internal. That seemed to be about right. Med/rare but a little more on the medium side. Not dried out though & that's key The Raspberry sauce was a huge pain in the as*!! Took an hour and a half to get the seeds out after cooking. Pushing all that mush through a fine sieve (strainer) was brutal!! The liquid gold that resulted was very worthwhile though. Paired perfectly with the roasted duck Yum! And yes, I agree. Duck, even cooked well, is dense almost to the point of being chewy. Add dryness from over cooking or a bunch of duck fat because the fat wasn't rendered properly during cooking and you have a disaster It's not something I would cook often but I wanted to give it a try at least once

Had beans, fired eggs and toast the other night - tasted great! Simple is just fine in my books

Here's the results of the 'smoke a duck' experience today Duck was dry-brined last night in the fridge overnight. Fired up the smoker and prepared the duck with some Kosher Salt, Coarse grind black pepper and some orange zest rubbed onto the skin. brush on some of the Orange/Honey/Maple glaze. Stuff the cavity with orange quarters, onions, thyme and rosemary. Onto the smoker it goes at 300F: After 1 hour cooking time with spritzing the glaze every 15 minutes: Added some apple wood chunks for the smoke flavor: After 2 hours cook time: Internal temp was 155F so I pulled it and wrapped in foil for 15 mins. resting time. Carved and on the table after resting Plated with the Raspberry sauce made from scratch last night: Turned out better than I thought it would as I've never cooked duck before so was a little intimidated. The only lesson I really learned after the cook was finish is that my original time calculation was off by 1 hour. Only took 2 hours and I calculate 3 originally. I always go by internal meat temp rather than recommended cooking time otherwise you risk under or over cooking.

Don't be discouraged, any of you newbies! You have done the really hard work and yes, the challenges continue at times. That's to be expected but if you think about things and look back to the early days of your quits, you'll see things are improving overall. Now (a months or 2 or 3 in), is the time to consciously start changing your thoughts from; Geez I wish I could have a smoke right now to; am I ever happy and impressed with myself that I don't have to hide behind a smoke anymore in this situation! Looking towards the benefits you're seeing and dismissing any urges to smoke will take you far and help get you to where you want to be. The other big issue is patience! You really need to have that at this point. Patience and faith in the process. We all wanted our quits to be further advanced than what they were early on. It's happing, even though you may not see it daily. You developed smoking triggers/habits over 20-30-40 years. Give your quit at least 1 year to start erasing those triggers/habits that you've imprinted on your brains. It WILL happen if you give it a chance and the proper timeframe Now, speaking of smoking .... I gotta go slow cook that duck on the smoker

Just finished making a Raspberry Sauce for the roast duck I'll be slow cooking on my Weber Smoker tomorrow. Guess I should have put it in a white bowl for better color contrast lol. Never cooked a duck before. Hope it turns out OK. Dry brining it tonight. Will season tomorrow morning and stuff some quartered oranges in the body cavity then throw it on the charcoal smoker for probably 3 hours at about 300F. Have an Orange/Maple Glaze I will add while cooking.