What did you do today? 2019 version.

[W2R]

Thanks. She saw her PCP yesterday who gave her some hydrocodone, it's not a good med for cluster headaches, but this morning her headache is much improved.[emoji111] I'd also stopped at a local rec dispensary and bought a couple of CBD products. Not sure what helped and I don't really care.

Today the pharmacy is supposed to have nasal imitrex in. I've read it's a great med for cluster headaches.

She has a appointment with an assistant neurologist in Durango Monday morning. There's some weather heading this way, hopefully we can get there. Not worried about traction but some forecasts are calling for 8-16" of snow and 50mph winds.

With a headache as bad as hers has apparently been, I'm surprised that you aren't driving there before the snowfall and staying in a nearby motel within walking distance. Sounds like it could be worth the cost if the headache intensifies again (unless they cancel her appointment). But then, I don't live in snow country so I don't know much about dealing with snowstorms.

 

[MRG]

With a headache as bad as hers has apparently been, I'm surprised that you aren't driving there before the snowfall and staying in a nearby motel within walking distance. Sounds like it could be worth the cost if the headache intensifies again (unless they cancel her appointment). But then, I don't live in snow country so I don't know much about dealing with snowstorms.

Thank you for a good idea. We're watching the weather forecast and trying to plan out the trip. Given how ill DW has been I'm letting her make all the decisions. [emoji12]

Of course there's always a chance something will be canceled. I had a specialist appointment last storm and they rescheduled everyone from morning to afternoon or to the next month.

Today we actually went out for lunch. First time in a week. It's nice to see her smile and feeling a lot better.

 

[NW-Bound]

Today is a rainy day, good for staying inside to eat some hot soup.

Yesterday, the weather was partially cloudy and cool, perfect for a family outing that my children arranged for a light hike through Boyce Thompson Arboretum. It is less than 1 hour drive from town, and they opened the Picket Post Mansion to the public only 2 days of the year. Today would not be good for a visit, and people knew that, so yesterday it was crowded with snowbirds in the area.

Later yesterday, we took my mother, son, daughter, and son-in-law to an Italian restaurant to celebrate our 39th wedding anniversary. What a good day! Life cannot be much better than this, even if one spends more money.

 

[NW-Bound]

Made up a couple of big plates of spaghetti for DW and me. Looks like the snow is about stopping so I'm going to go out and play with the snow blower. Maybe photos later.

Edit to add photos:

Good move on the spaghetti. Snow removal work needs a lot more calories than a salad can provide, no matter how big it is.

 

[pacergal]

Yesterday, dinner with DS. Today will be dinner with DD, DSiL.
Schedules are such that it is difficult to get them all together on the same day! But, who cares, we're retired )

 

[Walt34]

Slept until 9:00, then the gym, a large salad for lunch and enjoying unseasonably warm (55° F) temperatures. I took the small snow blower (the one in post #170) down to the shed and drained all fuel from it, put some oil in the cylinder and a bit of anti-seize on the spark plug threads - that thing was a bear to get out. The small snow blower is a new-to-me one that is a spare that I stumbled across on Craig's List that was two years old and had only been run once to make sure it worked. Close examination seems to substantiate that claim. It wasn't a steal, but the price was more than fair I thought. The idea was to get one that would be easy for DW to use if needed since she chomps at the bit to get snow cleared from the driveway and walk. I'm a bit more laid back about it. She'll get out there with a shovel and then complain about her sore back, so buying this one is a effort to make that issue go away if she's really all that concerned about clearing snow. That, and having a spare snow blower is always a good idea. Well, except maybe in Florida.

Tomorrow is supposed to be clear and sunny with a high of 62° and I mentioned to DW about maybe putting the other, main, two-stage snow blower away too. That one is a bigger project because there are a few things to take apart to get to oil and grease places in addition to draining all fuel, including the carburetor bowl, and on this one, changing the oil too. But then next winter all that is needed is fuel it up and go and I'll know it won't need any belts or anything caused by neglect.

DW reacted with horror at the thought: "Are you nuts? If you do that we'll get a blizzard!" Granted early February is kinda pushing the envelope on that, but then the fix is easy - put gas in it and we're ready. But I'd kind of like to see a blizzard or at least a heavy snow of a couple of feet, we've been shorted the last few years. So this is like waxing your car during a drought to make it rain.

Gosh, I love this retirement gig. So few weighty decisions to make!

 

[Mango1956]

We drove from Northern California to Death Valley. The hills are so green from all the rain, and the sky was amazing with clouds clearing after the storm. The light show continued in Death Valley with golden hour on the mountains and beautiful cloud shadows. A good day to travel in the golden state!

 

[Ronstar]

Went for a hike in the Phoenix west valley, where we were treated to several Air Force fighter jet flyovers. Then went to see Free Solo at the local IMAX theater - story of the first solo climb of Yosemite’s El Capitan without ropes.

 

[Mango1956]

Went for a hike in the Phoenix west valley, where we were treated to several Air Force fighter jet flyovers. Then went to see Free Solo at the local IMAX theater - story of the first solo climb of Yosemite’s El Capitan without ropes.

Free Solo=great film. Jimmy Chin made another one you might enjoy, called Meru. It might be available on Netflix or Amazon. Also, speaking of flyovers, were in Death Valley yesterday, and an F4 “buzzed” us. China Lake (Navy) is just over the hill from Death Valley and they routinely fly over the park. Our guy was literally 100 feet above us!

 

[Bestwifeever]

Okay, yesterday, but anyway—flew home on Southwest, window seat, no one in the middle seat as the aisle seat guy had his briefcase on that seat, so woohoo, armrest was mine!

Anyway, aisle seat guy was on his phone before takeoff having the exact same conversation with a customer as the aisle seat guy in my way out of town two weeks ago: apologizing for a faulty product being shipped “early”, throwing someone else under the bus who “wasn’t in the meeting where it was decided to hold the shipment until the product was tweaked”, and explaining how the early shipment of the defective product was actually a good thing because the customer would already be up to speed on it when the tweaked product was shipped. Both times my seat mates were doing all the talking, very fast, and sweating bullets. And that’s why retirement is better.

 

[davemartin88]

Unusually warm day here in West Virginia, about 60 degrees. It’s about 50 now so decided to set outside by the fire. Very comfortable.

 

[travelover]

We are on a sunshine tour in Florida to take a break from the PNW winter. Today, we walked Corkscrew Swamp sanctuary SE of Ft Myers. Birding was just OK, but we saw a fairly large alligator. The Air BnB we chose is not as nice as the last one in Ft Myers though they were both rated 5 stars. I guess people are reluctant to criticize nice hosts.

 

[Hermit]

Unusually warm day here in West Virginia, about 60 degrees. It’s about 50 now so decided to set outside by the fire. Very comfortable.

Just started the fire for the evening. My fire is inside. It's about 40 degrees on a nice but windy day. I went in town to talk to the building inspectors. I wanted to make sure I was proceeding correctly on the home theater raised floor. Went back home and cut the floor joists for the raised floor.

 

[6miths]

Walked down to the lab and got some blood work done for the first time in a long time. Quite a nice day again. Amazing how green all the grass is.

 

[MRG]

Woke up to a little fresh snow and not much visibility with more falling.

When it was clearer and DW and I went out for lunch, only a few miles and still limited visibility. Hey it's the first time she's been out, except DR crap, for a while. Driving was slow in 4wd on snow packed roads. When I slowed to take the driveway it was pure ice, anti-locks kicked in and we were skating. I had go to the next road and to turn around without going into an invisible ditch.

DW is feeling a little better, the nuerologist started her on topamax. Her pain is down and she is only taking half the hydrocodone. Topamax takes a while to start working, you have to ramp up the dosage. Hopefully the trend continues. Somehow they got her MRI pushed through a day early and it's unremarkable.[emoji1]

ETA. I did get a big kick. The arrogant ER doc up her who gave her ketamine was telling her what an expert he was on cluster headaches, her then current diagnosis. He made all kinds of claims about them and how he was treating her. The nuerologist confirmed she doesn't have cluster headaches.

 

[REWahoo]

I mentioned a few days ago that I was ditching Dish TV and had told them (repeatedly) to cancel my account at the end of the current billing month, which is 2/11. Today I sold my portable Dish antenna and receiver to a fellow RVer. It has been inactive since November but was still listed on my account, and I contacted Dish to have it removed so the new owner could activate it on his account.

Dish said it would not remove my customer owned receiver since I voluntarily terminated my service effective 2/11. What? The receiver would be removed at that time and until then the new owner could not use it. "Sorry for the inconvenience" was their weasel-worded response.

I pointed out I wasn't inconvenienced at all, their new customer was the one who was going to be miffed at their arbitrary decision not to allow him to activate the receiver for another week - a week of revenue they would be giving up for no apparent good reason. I may have also mentioned something about the fact this was an example of why their business model reminded me of the telephone land line and typewriter industries.

 

[audreyh1]

I did this a couple of days ago. My first smoked brisket. Smoked with pecan. It pretty much took all day. Was too tired to post afterwards, LOL! The brisket point (fatty) end was to die for.....

 

[braumeister]

Nice job -- that looks terrific.

Pecan is pretty mild, though. I only use it when I want to get a bit of color in a turkey. Next time try smoking it with post oak. That seems to be the go-to wood for brisket, especially in Texas.

 

[audreyh1]

Nice job -- that looks terrific.

Pecan is pretty mild, though. I only use it when I want to get a bit of color in a turkey. Next time try smoking it with post oak. That seems to be the go-to wood for brisket, especially in Texas.

Thanks!

Brisket wood depends on where you are in TX and the readily available local wood: East TX - pecan, Central TX - post oak, West Texas - mesquite. Down here it would normally also be mesquite as neither oak nor pecan are native here, but we got tons of mesquite!

My brother really likes pecan for brisket so I decided to try that. The smoke smell was heavenly and the meat had a good smoky flavor. Actually the pellets I used are a blend of oak and pecan - pellet grill/smoker and the base wood is oak AFAIK.

 

[braumeister]

Yeah, I'm a huge fan of mesquite myself, but many think it's too strong.

Anyway, your brisket looked great.

 

[RobbieB]

Put the last coat of varnish on my desk project then drove out to Dublin and had a forty dollar lunch.

 

[Bir48die]

Sat on the beach and drank

 

[braumeister]

Just took three beautiful racks of baby backs out of the Egg.

I get meat at a number of different places, but the ribs at Aldi have always been the best. Better than Kroger or Costco, and actually better than my local old fashioned butcher shop.

 

[W2R]

Just awakened from a delightful nap. I don't think I ever took a nap before I retired but now I sometimes drift off here in my easy chair after lunch. Such luxury.

So far today has been really nice - - it's 82F out there, shorts and sandals weather. Salads for lunch, and then we went for a pleasant drive around the neighborhood. A house nearby is now on the market for half a million, so we drove by to check it out. Our verdict after seeing the outside of the house, which looks pretty trashy, is that it cannot possibly be worth that much but some fool will probably pay it. We are happy where we are.

Just took three beautiful racks of baby backs out of the Egg.

Wow, three racks of ribs? That's a lot. I hope you have guests on the way! Sounds delicious.

 

[steelyman]

Just awakened from a delightful nap. I don't think I ever took a nap before I retired but now I sometimes drift off here in my easy chair after lunch. Such luxury.

A nap is a serious luxury. After reading this I checked for prior threads and found a “Do You Nap?” one from a while ago. I don’t know if it’s active.

The sleep tracking feature from smart watches/wearables (I have a Fitbit) helps decide if you could use a nap based on last night’s sleep. Reliable for me and almost always improves the rest of the day.