We have arrived at our third outing for quad-annual reflection of the last four years here in the Outhouse, and the world. If you missed our previous two pieces on Leap Day, you can check them out right here: A Leap in Time (2016) and A Leap in Time II (2020).
So what has brought us to this moment on February 29th, 2024?
On the world stage, the Summer Olympics are being hosted in Paris, France this time around. There’s been some news blurbs on it over the last half year or so, but I haven’t seen too much hype about it yet. Probably the biggest current new is the War in Ukraine, which is entering its second year, and the terrorist Hamas attack on Jerusalem that happened back in October of 2023 that has sparked armed conflict in the region. There is certainly a lot more tragedy ongoing this time around than this day 4 years ago. But of course, we cannot neglect to mention COVID-19. Four years ago, we were just starting to hear word of this on the news, and no one was really sure what was going on or what it would bring. As it turned out, as I predicted in our last piece, it did indeed bring about a world-wide pandemic – one in which we are still suffering from the affects. COVID boosters are now recommended along with the annual flu shot (I got both back at the beginning of the year), and subsequently got sick. Of course the Pandemic hit closer to home for my family, like millions of other families out there over the last four years, as my father was one of the early casualties to the pandemic.
There’s another Presidential election coming up, and I don’t think any of us would of thought we could possibly see a rematch of the 2020 election, which saw Democratic candidate Joe Biden win the White House. And then all hell broke loose in our Democracy and continues to be troublesome to this day. This year’s election could very well see the end of American Democracy as we know it if saner heads do not prevail at the ballot box in November.
The weather hasn’t been as wacky this year, although mid-January saw us hit by a few storms right in a row – and saw us getting some snow to boot! Overall the temperatures have been more mild for the most part, but we have had some cold snaps. Our biggest snowfalls have happened just this month! On a wider scale, there is much more talk and evidence that global warming is having a distinct effect on the world and the weather right now. We haven’t had a summer go by in the last four years that didn’t have tornado warnings for us here on the Northeast Coast – one of which spawned a tornado the ripped down the major highway just to the north of us.
From the world, to the family, we have had some changes come to us over the last four years as well. Our hopes of moving to Lancaster/Hershey never materialized, primarily because of the Pandemic, in which, as I mentioned, saw my Father as one of the early victims in April of 2020. It also unfortunately canceled the plans Erin and I had of flying out to England for my sister’s wedding. Fortunately, the wedding still went on – much later than planned, and my sis and bro-in-law are settling into the new house they recently bought. We have had more additions to our family as well. Right around the March/April 2020 timeframe, we began to see stray cats wandering the neighborhood and over the last nearly four years now, have welcomed several into our home as house pets. Of course you can read all about those adventures right here in the blog from the last few months. We also had several home improvements – getting new sunroom in March of 2022, and then getting new siding for the house in October of that year. We also needed to have some work done on our chimney. We also added a propane backup generator to the house back in 2021 – and subsequently didn’t need it for a year thereafter. But it finally has gotten some use since then, most recently proving itself during one of those storms in January. And just yesterday we we were supposed to have most of the windows in the house replaced (all under warranty, fortunately), a project we have been waiting on for over a year and a half at this point, but because of a last minute medical appointment for Erin, it is now scheduled for tomorrow. Hopefully everything goes smoothly!
Of course, between the cats and the home improvements, money has been tight, necessitating me getting a second job – appropriately enough at PetSmart, which will help us save money on taking care of the kitties. Another big personal change for me was suffering a heart attack at the end of March 2023. That has made the biggest impact on my life and necessitated some changes in my diet to stay healthy. I can’t say I am too pleased about that, and it has been a frustrating time for me, but I am still doing what I need to do so I can maintain my health. Another change for me, not necessitated by the heart attack, but one that I needed for my mental well being was the retirement from streaming and content creation back in 2022. The stress of working all day, then coming home and trying to host a stream and create gaming videos got to be a bit much on me mentally, so I have given up those aspirations, and feel much better for it, though I do miss it sometimes.
Shannon is still going strong with her current retail occupation and is in the process of being promoted to store manager in the near future. Her parents moved back to the area from Ohio in 2022, so that at least has been a very positive change as well. Erin is now a High School graduate and has joined me in the work force at my main retail company. It has helped her break out of the anxiety and shell she built up during her high school years, which was fueled by the Pandemic. One good thing to come out of that was her ability to do remote learning, which she took to very well, and finished her last three years with strong grades. Her Freshman year was very much a struggle, and we are grateful for one of the few positive things to come out of COVID. Abby is still Abby and enjoying her 3rd grade journey at school. She also has become a gamer like myself and Erin (who is still into Star Wars: The Old Republic), and even has her own guild in a game called Star Stable.
I guess that pretty much covers the overarching basics. This go around certainly has seen the most changes and chaos I think than the previous eight years brought us. Hopefully, come this day in 2028, we can speak of more peaceful and happy things. Hopefully we’ll still be around to actually account for them in this space. It is a future most uncertain.
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