I guess if you’ve chosen to live under a rock or failing that have not looked at any media over the last few months you wouldn’t have a clue what the above pictures are about. So, since my blog is not about politics….or church…or state, as I deliberately like to stay on the sideline on these topics. Not to say that I don’t have an opinion but it is refreshing to turn on the news, whether it would be print or visual to not have to read more about Trump. I saw a report this morning that more than 70% of Republicans believe that the new President wasn’t elected fairly. I have nothing but respect for my many friends south of us, but seriously? Okay - enought of that.

Rest assured - my pursuit of the perfect pizza continues on. As we are on a continous lockdown (sigh), the ability for one to dine in is more than severely restricted. Last night the “kid” decided to ask if we could do take out from “the Dip.” And by a vote of 2-1, her motion passed and off we went. I must admit that you have to time it right because depending on where you go you can risk eating cold pizza. And of course you can arrive too late because the pizza may have been out of the oven for 10 minutes. Well, it didn’t disappoint and we managed to eat like kings.

On another night I decided to embark to a new place called DETROIT PIZZA! I would have thought that the only great things that came out of Detroit were music and cars - but who would have known that Detroit has its own style of pizza? There have been a few places popping up in the city and this one is fairly new and a bonus - it’s very, very close to where we live. Anyways, the concept of Detroit pizza seems to be a variation of Chicago style in that it’s quite thick however with a difference - the tomato sauce is put on at the end.

I am pleased to report that it passed the test and I would highly recommend it.

So….I got the jab as they call it. The race was and is on. Here is how it happened. The Ontario Government announced in early March that they were going to lower the age requirement for the AstraZeneca vaccine to my age group but were a bit short of the details on how to get it. Gee…that’s a surprise! Anyways, I quickly surveyed a number of articles and it would seem that drug stores were going to be able to start jabbing people on the Friday. Now, note this was Tuesday that the announcement came out. Fast forward to the evening of Wednesday and I was in bed watching the news and they were discussing that a certain Shoppers Drug Mart on the Danforth was already giving the vaccine and were taking walk-ins. I decided to get up very, very early and lined up on the Thursday morning at 6 am. The store was supposed to open at 8 am. Anyways …I got there and I was first in line. Even the media had beat me there. They interviewed me and asked if they could also interview me at the end. As I was waiting it wasn’t completely clear that they would give it to me and it was quite possible that lining up would be a waste of time. At 8 am the staff came out and told us that we would be able to get the shot but they would not start till 9 am.

Well, at 9 am I was told to march in and after a few short minutes, I was given the shot. I had to wait around for about 15 minutes and then off I went to work. I had no issues with the shot as I’ve heard that some people have had symptoms.

On the positive it would seem that more and more people are getting the shot but unfortunately, I still have no idea when I can get the 2nd shot. Oh well.

The other really big news is there is a new addition to the family - meet Ellie. It’s been a few years now since the loss of our second dog (Daisy) and we had sort of been discussing getting another one. Sarah was putting a lot of pressure on us and she really wanted to get a dog. Of course we have all heard that story before - oh, don’t worry, I will take care of the dog. And most parents know exactly what that means. If you have tried to get a dog during these COVID times it is almost impossible. The wait times can be 1-2 years for certain breeds. We had a connection or so we thought - with a local neighbour who had bought this breed last year - cockapoo. I contacted the person and the timing was almost perfect. The almost part was it mean now and that was a bit of a problem given that Sheila was working on mending a broken leg. This would eliminate her in the walking part. So…what to do? Well, we or did I say I - decided to throw caution to the wind and we made the purchase.

Miss Ellie is going to be very small. She was only 2 1/2 pounds when she came home and she still is very small and she is 15 weeks old. She is sleeping well and the potty training is going “okay”. Her personality is starting to emerge and she is quite feisty at times. She has adopted us quite well and I think everyone is enjoying her company.

Anyways, I know it’s been awhile since I've sat down to write and hopefully it won’t be so long till the next post.

-doug