Items

• 2020-03-01

  Ghost Town Adventures

  During Covid, when everything was on lockdown, my wife and I found ourselves with quite a bit of free time. She was running a non-profit an I had recently started to go back to school. So, in order to get out of the house we decided to explore ghost towns. At the time, we lived in Montana and there are sometinh like sixty, give or take a few, within a days drive. So we would pile into our little chevy Aveo and drive out to a ghost town somewhere. What supriseed me the most was that even though Montana lists ghost towns on their state map not all of them are abandoned. More than once we would drive down a long dirt road into an old mining town that was supposed to be abandoned only to see people living in a trailer or in one of the refurbished buildings. Honestly, exploring old and forgotten parts of the state was alot of fun. Without covids restrictions we wouldn't have done it either. The only time we needed to interact with others was at the gas station for provisions and that was fairly standard. Just mask up keep your distance and go. One thing that suprised me about visiting ghost towns (aside from people living in them) was how long many of them managed to stay alive. For those of you who aren't familiar with the settlement of the American West, mining was fairly important in the mid to late nineteenth century. Regardless of whether it was silver, gold, copper, tin or any other metal, towns would form around successful mines. One these places ran dry though the townspeople would move on. But for quite a few, the mine would continue to be explored and excavated for years after it had quit producing. Seeing records of people living in an area in the 1920's and the mine not having produced anything significant in twenty years was fascinating. My wife and I spent quite a bit of time talking about these peoples lives, hopes, and dreams. Then of course if there were vampires hiding in the mines. I don't want the events of covid to ever repeat themselves but I miss the time toghether that it gave my wife and I. We have a child now so any adventure like this would be different but I might try to have us go get lost somewhere together one of these days.
• 2021-03-16

  Nice to be in the sun

  Being an avid traveler the Covid lockdowns provided an obstacle I couldn't overcome. I had to sit it out. Local trips in New England filed my free time but many restrictions limited the scope of availability. In March of 2021 my girlfriend and I took our first trip since the start. We went to Aruba. Her first time my 4th. Being a favorite destination I was aware of much of what the island had to offer. Yet still unsure what lockdowns meant. We had to abide by a curfew and masks had to be worn. However the trip was a warm delightful experience which was followed by more adventures.
• 
  2020-03

  Riding the Covid Wave from Quito to Sydney

  The pandemic was declared as I was en route to Ecuador. I was trapped in a strict lockdown isolated from any other travellers. My book describes my reactions and rescue. As a doctor I was not surprised that a pandemic was occurring as I knew that epidemiologists always say it is not an if but rather a when.
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  2020-04

  New Adventures due to Quarantine

  These two images were taken when my sister and I went to an abandoned train tunnel and explored it. Being stuck in quarantine has brought us back together and outside yearning to explore new places.
• 
  2020-09

  Covit-19 and the outdoors

  What do you do when you cannot do what you normally do? In Arizona the guidelines of the Governor have been pretty light except for a couple of weeks on April 2020, otherwise he was very proud to say that Arizona would follow the CDC guidelines “the Arizona way”. Meaning? We recommend the mask but is up the business to decide the extent of the enforcement; six feet distance, the same; stay home if you feel you have symptoms, of course. I have to say that the business, for the most part, have taken a more responsible posture than the authorities. Even today April 2021, when the Governor remove any obligation to wear mask, I continue to see most of the business, and population at large, that continue to wear the mask in public. So, with these light restrictions what do you do when you cannot do what you normally do? The answer for many Arizonians, and visitors, has been outdoor activities! Hiking, biking or simply going to the park. My story is of last September 2021. I too decided to resume my mountain biking activity in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve and I sent my bike to a shop for routine maintenance and replace of my old tires. What I find out is that the shop could not find any tire of my kind through their suppliers in fact, they told me, it is getting difficult even to buy a new bike, the bike market just exploded . . . I was not alone. They suggest for me to go to Amazon and look for tires and I was lucky to find my tires from a pool of only 7 in all US!!! Silver line: thank to Covint-19 the US population is finally exercising, I’ll take it
• 
  2019-06-08

  My New Puppy

  The picture that I am sharing is that of our newest family member, Petey. He is a Catahoula Leopard Dog who has webbed feet and was bred to go into the bogs. My husband and I found him online from an animal rescue in which we found out he had been abused which made us love him evermore. We have been wanting to get a new puppy for a while in order for our other two fur babies to have a playmate. As a result of the pandemic, we thought now would be the best time since I am working from home and it affords me to be able to train and work with a puppy. This is important to me because he has become a vital part of our homemaking. We keep our sense of humor, even more, bringing new adventures, and allowing for us to make a home for a dog that had not seen love before. To say the least, Petey has fit into our household great and is now part of the pack.
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  2020-03-12

  COVID-19 Productivity Plan

  HIST30060: A ‘COVID-19 Productivity Plan’ in the making. In the early days of the pandemic, my girlfriend and I were excited about entering lockdown. An eventual lockdown felt inevitable in mid-March, so we sat down at our local café to plan all the things we hoped to achieve. The plan reflects the sense of novelty and strange excitement many experienced in the beginning.
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  2020-06-10

  Grateful!

  I selected this picture to represent my experience of Covid-19 and 2020. It's a graduation photo that defines an accomplishment and my journey. I've learned the concept when beginning an adventure, I will have to continue. But as I approach the finish line, I might have to finish alone. The pandemic has opened doors of opportunities not only financially, but spiritually. God has shown me in so many ways that he's here to care for me and supply my needs. Though Covid-19 has been a raging storm in our lives, I've realized that I appreciate life much more.