What did you do today? 2019 version.

[Khan]

Spent some time this morning picking crabs. Stirred crab meat into mac & cheese along with some herbs from the garden. Tasty.

 

[MRG]

Spend a little quality time with my insurance company telling tales. I just wish they'd pick one story and keep it. So far they've told me and my doctor's office the exact opposite thing twice! Sometimes I wonder if they're so confused as it benefits them.

 

[SnowBound]

Doctor. Cast cut off. Crutches 7 weeks more. Wegmans. Got new library book. Home. Watch it snow.

I love the snow, only thing that could be better is the dog sleeping at my feet, but dog slept beside me last night (so she already got her fill in).

 

[Walt34]

An ongoing slow project is wire brushing and then painting the front porch steel railing. What makes it slow is both waiting for suitable weather that is suitable not only for the paint but for me. The paint has a wider band of tolerable temperatures than I do. The other issue is that I can only work on it for about 20 to 40 minutes at a time before I have to stop from back pain. Sitting on the ground or standing and leaning over the railing for long means I'm in some measure of pain for a good chunk of the rest of the day. But I'll get it finished eventually.

I did did discuss it with my doctor, he gave me a prescription for Percocet so I'll explore other options later on. The pills work for the pain short term but you'd have to be living in a cave to be unaware of the potential addiction issues over a long time.

 

[Music Lover]

I swapped 5 sets of winter to summer tires today...thank goodness for electric impact wrenches!!

 

[Hermit]

I picked up my old plow truck after a windshield replacement today. They told me it was so rusty that this was probably the last windshield replacement that will not leak. The windshield was cracked when I bought it 8 years ago. If I get two or three years out of it before it gets another crack and another 8 years after, I should be good for as long as I want to keep it!

 

[misshathaway]

An ongoing slow project is wire brushing and then painting the front porch steel railing. What makes it slow is both waiting for suitable weather that is suitable not only for the paint but for me. The paint has a wider band of tolerable temperatures than I do. The other issue is that I can only work on it for about 20 to 40 minutes at a time before I have to stop from back pain. Sitting on the ground or standing and leaning over the railing for long means I'm in some measure of pain for a good chunk of the rest of the day. But I'll get it finished eventually.

I did that once. What a horrible job. There is no comfortable position to take. It was so horrible that for the back steps rail I cleaned the rail but just painted right over it. And the back rail peeled after one season. You are doing it the right way.

 

[38Chevy454]

Actually over past 2 days, Monday I shoveled out about 1 yard of rocks from a planter built into my pool patio (pool installed last summer). The patio concrete guys had to redo some of the patio due to cosmetic errors; which I put them off until Oct last year once pool season was over. I had a lot of the concrete base rock to get rid of, fortunately had a place needing fill in far back yard to put it onto. Then yesterday I hooked up my utility trailer to the truck and went and got 2 yards of topsoil. Once home, I hooked that trailer up to my zero turn mower (home made hitch, I am sure it's over the loading recommendation of the ZT) and brought the trailer full of dirt to the patio area. Proceeded to shovel out the 2 yards of dirt. My "home yard fitness program" definitely has me feeling the muscles used last couple days. DW did help me a bit, but most of the heavy work was done by me.

 

[Nemo2]

Got released from hospital this morning where I've been, pretty much, since having my first side of kidney stones blasted on on April 8.

I've been pumped with so many antibiotics I figure I could walk through a leper colony and effect a 90% cure rate.

As I was being discharged they kindly informed me that I have contracted VRE, courtesy of a patient with whom I shared the room, and as an ongoing precaution I should always wash my hands after such activities as using the toilet.....(I'm thinking "What am I, two? It wasn't my unclean hands that got me into this!")

DW borrowed a hospital wheelchair and pushed me across the road to my urologist's, where we started rescheduling my outstanding procedures. Found out that my kidneys are great but that my bladder, which apparently doesn't fully empty, is problematic - perhaps exacerbated by an enlarged prostate.

Right now I'm Weak & Wobbly, but discovered an interesting thing yesterday, (perhaps related to muscle memory?) - a physio and I walked around the floor, arms linked - I'm like a little old man being helped across the road.

She then suggested I attempt some stairs, and got a colleague to hold the stairwell door open. I grabbed the handrail and flew up two flights; if she hadn't yelled "That's enough!" I would have kept going.

Back on level ground and I revert to wobbly.

Same thing when we got home - going upstairs? A breeze. Walking around the house I'm using a cane. (DW suggested we buy a lighthouse which is nothing but stairs.

 

[braumeister]

I grabbed the handrail and flew up two flights; if she hadn't yelled "That's enough!" I would have kept going.

Back on level ground and I revert to wobbly.

That's exactly why canes are so useful. Having that supported grip makes a world of difference.

Glad you're back home and able to function again. Best of luck with the rest of it.

 

[SnowBound]

Posting my 100th post. Going to attempt to go to the basement, maybe even get back up the stairs without any help. Late afternoon will hopefully be on the deck (thankfully no steps) getting a few rays, maybe eating popcorn, no salt.

Oh: I have the w*rk thing restarting in two weeks.

 

[NW-Bound]

I left San Sebastian and drove to Bilbao. The drive was short enough to allow detours to visit Getaria, a fishing village turned a tourist spot for Spaniards, and Guernica. The latter's claim to historical significance was due to the dictator Franco invitation to Hitler to use the town for target bombing and strafing by the Luftwaffe, on the infamous day of 26 April 1937. Picasso's painting named Guernica brought the world's attention to this horrible event.

Wherever I went today, the shops were all closed except for restaurants. People mostly stayed home, except for tourists (international as well as Spanish). It turned out to be part of the Easter holiday here.

 

[W2R]

Today I am sitting at home waiting for SS to call me. They sent me a letter saying that now that my ex is deceased, I can probably get a higher monthly amount as a surviving spouse but I have to apply. I had a choice of going down to the SS office in person or doing this by phone, and chose the latter since it is apparently somewhat of a zoo down there and hard to find parking. I switched from divorced spousal SS to SS on my own account when I turned 70 last June, the day before I learned of his demise.

Someone here on the forum (MSBC, IIRC) advised me last year that I should apply for survivor's benefits, and I thank him for that! At the time, honestly I was too devastated and freaked out by my ex's unexpected death to do anything about it, though. After all, we were married for 23 years and the way he died was so awful (and no, I don't want to post about that because it could become political, but trust me, it was awful). I guess I can handle dealing with SS now. Time heals all wounds, as they say, and although I may never feel great about it I am doing a lot better than I was.

I have NO idea how much of a raise in SS I might be in for, if any, so no matter what they tell me I will be happy about it. Dealing with the SS bureaucracy is not my idea of a fun day, but getting money out of it would help.

After the scheduled phone call, F and I will go out to lunch which is always fun. Today we are expecting severe thunderstorms and high winds, but we will still have fun. If the weather is too bad to drive safely, we'll eat at the little place around the corner instead of our usual restaurant. I love living next door to him and it is really handy at times like this.

 

[aja8888]

W2R, the storms are coming your way. We had several inches of rain last night and through the morning here. Oh, and my experience with SS over the phone has always been OK.

 

[W2R]

W2R, the storms are coming your way. We had several inches of rain last night and through the morning here. Oh, and my experience with SS over the phone has always been OK.

My past experiences with SS over the phone were very good as well so I hope this one is, too.

And you're right about the storms. Here's the radar as of right now; I'm located right at the dot indicating where New Orleans is, on the south shore of Lake Ponchartrain. Looks like we're in for it. I'm sure we will be fine, though.

 

[aja8888]

It was just a lot of rain with some thunder and lightning. Started here around 4:00 am and ended at 10.

 

[Moemg]

......................................

Same thing when we got home - going upstairs? A breeze. Walking around the house I'm using a cane. (DW suggested we buy a lighthouse which is nothing but stairs.

Maybe you should consider a walker for around the house . It offers more stability than a cane especially since you have more procedures coming . You can find them at any thrift store .Hope you get back to your old self !

 

[Walt34]

Worked a bit more on the front porch railing, wire brushing alternately with a battery-powered drill and impact driver when one starts to feel a little warm/hot, and then painted what was ready for it. The next several days are forecast to be rainy so I'll get a break from that. At the rate I'm going I should be done by the end of the month.

 

[Calico]

Puppy and Baby Therapy at W#rk

Today was a fun day at w#rk. One of my co-workers/best friends is on vacation this week, and she brought her 11-month-old grandson and her new 10-week-old puppy (toy poodle) by for a visit. Several of us had a nice long visit outside in the sunshine, fighting over who got to hold the puppy and/or the baby. Lots of puppy kisses.

We agreed that we need to make this a weekly event (if only!) Everyone was in a good mood for the rest of the day. Never underestimate the therapeutic effects of puppies and babies.

After that I had my next-to-last performance evaluation ever (!), and got "high marks" from my boss.

I took the afternoon off, and went to my 6-month-post-chemo checkup, where I once again got a clean bill of health. To celebrate, I had a nice gooey (and decidedly unhealthy) brownie in the hospital cafe. Don't tell my doctor. My mantra is: into each life a few brownies must fall.

A puppy, a baby, and a brownie all in one day. It doesn't get any better than that.

 

[braumeister]

A most amusing spam phone call this morning. I didn't answer it because the caller id said LA CTY OF and the line below that said "Algeria".

My guess is that it was probably someone claiming to be from Los Angeles county telling me about the arrest warrant out for me for nonpayment of something. But what made me laugh is the phone number began with 213 which is of course the LA area code. I looked it up and sure enough the country dialing code for Algeria is also 213. I wonder how many people see that 213 and think it's legitimately coming from Los Angeles?

 

[MBAustin]

Enjoying a beautiful spring day! Our fish pond had its annual cleaning on Monday and I had them bring some additional stones to fill out some areas that had become a bit bare - the pond is 7 years old and I learned last fall that it has settled over time (normal). Looks like new again!

This is singing week for me. Sunday sang Brahms' Schicksalslied and Requiem and Haydn Te Deum in concert with a local university choir - it was magnificent. Tonight is Good Friday Tenebrae (darkness) choral service at our church, and then two services Easter Sunday including the Hallelujah Chorus (with brass and handbells). Tiring but inspiring!

 

[Gumby]

This is singing week for me. Sunday sang Brahms' Schicksalslied and Requiem and Haydn Te Deum in concert with a local university choir - it was magnificent. Tonight is Good Friday Tenebrae (darkness) choral service at our church, and then two services Easter Sunday including the Hallelujah Chorus (with brass and handbells). Tiring but inspiring!

Such fun! We do our Tenebrae service on Maundy Thursday. Last night we sang Martin's Scenes From Gethsemane. Like you, we will sing the Hallelujah Chorus at two services on Sunday, along with the Vivaldi Gloria. This will be the very first time I have been to my own church on Easter. For the last 30 years, the young wife and I have gone to the in-laws in New Jersey.

 

[Calico]

Yesterday Puppies and Babies, Today a Tornado

Today turned out to be just a wee bit less fun than yesterday.

For several hours this afternoon/evening my area was hit with devastating thunderstorms, tornado watches, and tornado warnings. Lots of downed trees, power outages, live wires on the roads and car accidents. Amazingly (in my county) so far no loss of life reported. Not sure about the rest of the state.

I did not sustain any damage, and the threat has now passed. I did spend an hour in the interior bathroom with two pissed off cats, my phone, and my laptop, watching the local forecasts as they described a tornado that apparently touched down a few miles from me. I have the scratches from the cats to show for it. Try wrestling two cats into a small room while a possible tornado is approaching - it really teaches you to focus.

The storm did tremendous damage on a road about 3 miles from some of my family members on the other side of town (they spent the time in the closet under the stairs with their dogs).

Everyone I know is safe, although some people are without power. After that roller coaster ride, I am hoping for a nice quiet weekend!

 

[W2R]

Calico, I am so glad you are OK!! That line of storms that went through here yesterday was awful in some locations, and caused a lot of property damage and a few deaths too. I think that might be the same line of storms that hit your area. We were supposed to get hit hard by it too, and had a tornado watch, severe thunderstorm watch, and wind alerts, but we lucked out and it wasn't that bad here thank goodness. That sounds so scary, huddling in the bathroom with your cats.

The local Social Security office that was supposed to call me yesterday, even shut down for the afternoon because of the predictions. So, they didn't call. Hopefully they will call next week but I have no idea.

 

[USA]

Spent 5 nites in St George UT taking DGS and DGD to build some memories. Much fun!