Daily Diary

stars - what about one of those shower benches? I took the arms & back off mine. Only the seat, so it's not BIG taking up too much room in my shower. The trick to those grab bars is to mount it LOW, just low/high enough to easily finger/palm touch it to steady yourself. Higher and you'll grab it for support. I get anxious when my normal oxygen stuff goes kaflueey. So I needed my rescue inhaler this morning. Funny how you get used to the noise concentrators make when you use one every nite. Like the quiet was DEFEANING!!! I could never figure how my pts could sleep thru all the rattling racket. There's also a gel, Arnicare, that some just love. Me, ehhh...

Good morning! Stars, chronic bronchitis is no joke. Do you have convenient care clinics other than an ER he could go to if he can't wait? If he needs steroids and/or antibodies he shouldn't wait. These days of course the first thing they will do is test for covid. If you haven't sent the cards to Herring yet, please give her my best. Thanks for the advice on the patches. Joe, never heard of Hobbit Day. For some reason I wasn't a fan of his work. I should get into it or at least the movies. Good luck with the weight loss. I can't fast. Congrats on completing that. Good luck at your new job. J22, sorry you're down in the dumps. Hope your husband's work stress lessens. With places being short staffed, and with them getting sick with covid, it seems management is under a lot of strain these days. My back felt okay without any ibuprofen or creams. Some minor twitches here and there but I'm very stiff. We'll see how I do at work, but I'll make sure I bring my ibuprofen. I think I have some Volteran cream. I used it on my neck years ago and got some earlier in the year that my doc recommended for my hand problem. Which by the way is greatly improved. My hand is sore and stiff in the morning but the rest of the day I don't notice it. I continue to exercise it. It's back to work for me. I've been off since Sept. 6th. A nice stretch of days off. I didn't sleep well and am exhausted. Nothing like coming back from a vacation tired. Felt like I couldn't sleep anymore so got up thinking the alarm was about to ring and it was 3:30 so I made myself lie down. Finally dozed a bit and got up around 4:40. This even with a klonopin and muscle relaxer. Going to wean myself from taking so much klonopin. It's more effective when I need it if I haven't been taking a lot. I'm making progress on a mammoth (for me) 575 page novel called "Florwer of Iowa" about a young homosexual in World War I. It's not a page turner but interesting enough to keep me at it. Have about 100 more pages to go. I've been reading it since early July. I used to read a lot more than I do. Lately I've preferred watching movies. I got an Amazon order and opened it and found some sort of mayonnaise salad dressing and noticed three packages addressed to my neighbor so I brought it over to them. They weren't home to ask if they got my oder which Amazon says I got. So I left it on their step. Ugh...... Found out a woman I went to high school went died of Covid. She was still living in my hometown, where my parents are. They are seeing a rise in cases. The news is better here in Florida with cases dropping but we'll find out tomorrow with our weekly report how it's going.

Don't know if any of y'all have tried it, but Voltaren gel works too. It is OVER-THE-COUNTER now and people like it better than the scripted order. Funny how the old-timey meds work. Meclizine is one of them. If it works it really works well. I had to take a couple doses of colchcine for crazy toe gout. And flexeril for muscle spasms and back ache (trying to stave off an old fx'd back vertebra from fx'ing again). Read somewhere that colchcine was being used for covid, like ivermectin et al.

Happy Hobbit Day https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobbit_Day Tweety hope your back feels better. Thanks for sharing the recipe BC I haven't heard of seeding with clover before Stars hope your email gets straightened out and your dh gets over that bronchitis quickly NJ22 sounds like a productive day Yesterday was a slower day at work. Have gotten more access but still not enough to start practicing. Though the actual training doesn't start until next week. Spent the time doing compliance training and signing up for benefits Fast went really well, lasted until this morning, a good 36 hours. Finally weighed myself, have gained 15lb since May, more than I had expected. Will have to work on getting that back down. Have been overeating quite a bit over the last few months, so I need to get back on the diet, and perhaps modify it a bit Went for a walk last night and stopped at the credit union Today will likely be another slow day at work. Was glad to hear that training next week will be oriented towards beginners like myself, as opposed to experienced people like some of my new coworkers Will do grocery shopping night, might stop at the bakery. Have both bell choir and regular choir practice. Weather has been cooler, think it will be in the 60s again today, some rain expected

Good morning! Joe, glad the first day went okay. Hope you get the hang of things soon. Learning the ins and outs of Worker's Comp. should be interesting. Our case managers deal with worker's comp. case managers a lot. Usually they are good at getting what the patient needs, except on the weekends when they are off. J22, sounds like a productive day. BC, hope your home improvement project goes well and that you're happy with the results. Stars, sorry about the Gmail woes. Hope your husband improves. It's natural I think to think about such things like if he deteriorates how will you handle him and Nannie. My sister was one of those that only the mood altering drug worked for her symptoms such as valium was the only thing that worked for her vertigo, phenobarbital was the only thing that worked for her seizers, phenergan was the only thing that worked for her "chronic" nausea and of course opioids for neck and other ailments. I think she's off of all that stuff now. My lower back pain came back with a vengeance after yoga class last night. Took some ibuprofen and that helped some and tried some OTC lidocaine cream that I'm not sure helped much. Didn't see any capsicum patches but might give them a try. Much better today but it seems to be under the service. Wonder what's up as I didn't injury it as I know and I've been doing this yoga class for several years now. Best friend's colonoscopy came back good without polyps and he says he's done and won't repeat in 10 years when he's 80. I stopped by the beach for a walk but spent most of that time trying to find a bathroom and ultimately and to drive to one. But it was a nice morning. The "cold front" that many of you are getting that will change your weather isn't going to make it this far but it's going to be pleasant in the 80's. Perfect for me. Last day off before returning to work tomorrow for two days. No overtime scheduled in the future as of yet. Need to prepare lunches and dinner. Made lentils last night and had some good lentil wraps. Which was similar to this recipe. https://servingrealness.com/easy-vegan-spicy-lentil-wrap-trader-joes-copycat-recipe/. It was good. I made a goal months ago to try a new recipe weekly and this was this week's. Still have a lot of lentils left over. May make it easy on myself and make a lentil spaghetti sauce. Going to mop the floors and go to the gym as well. Hopefully the gym won't aggravate my back. We'll see. I'm frustrated that our governor just appointed a lap dog for Surgeon General of Florida that is somewhat anti-vaxx saying vaccines aren't the only way to combat Covid. No but it's the best thing to keep patients out of the hospital. I just can't even.....

Good afternoon. Its mild and sunny here, and I've feel like I have ticked off several items on the "to do" list. First thing was to take dh to work. We had discussed this last night and I had said it will be before my online seminar at 11. So I got up and got dressed when he did, and got in my car with the dog and waited for him as he set out the recycle and trash can. Then I watched him put his lunch in our other vehicle and get in as if to drive. I pulled along side and asked him where he was going. He was going to work, just assuming I was taking the dog somewhere at 7 in the morning. Uh, no. Anyway, I got our covid tests booked for next week's trip to Canada, got dh's prescription called in ( he didn't think they would refill it without the number and he lost the label), and got his pants shortened, spackled a little wall repair, and sheets in the washer. And I watched a seminar on a new TB treatment regimen. Whew! Now I need to cut the grass. Joe, good to see that the new job start is going relatively smoothly. When I got my colonoscopy my ride couldn't even come in the bloody building. I jokingly asked to see all the staffs' negative covid tests and they didn't think that was very funny. Stars, did they do an Epley maneuvers for your vertigo? Sometimes it helps. I gotta get going BC, yup summer gone. Our nights are cool, but the days still get up to 70.

Good morning- I'm sad to say that it's the last day of summer. Nights have already turned cool here, but the recent days have been in the high 70s and beautiful. I'm always sad to see summer go. DH took my car to be inspected this AM, and found out the registration expired in July. Oops. Fortunately, I can renew it on line. Working at home today. Landscapers are coming to finish my new front walk and re-seed the lawn. I'm having them seed it with clover, as it is bee friendly and doesn't require fertilizers or pesticides. It still looks pretty and green, and is soft to walk on. Then I will have my front steps re-built. That will be it for home improvement projects this year. Tweety-I hope George's scope goes well and you're not too bored waiting for him. Joe-I'm glad your first day went well and you have all the equipment you need. NSIME-I'm glad it was just vertigo, not that that's fun. I hope the meclizine helps and you don't need it too often. J22-Geez, I wish I liked running. I hope you have decent weather for the 10k. Hi to Dianah and Amo. I wonder why Ted isn't talking to us?

Good morning! Stars, glad your appointment went well and I hope the medication helps. My mother has inner ear problems that causes vertigo as well. My drug addict sister claimed she had it and that nothing worked but valium. Eye roll. But now she's off drugs I haven't heard much about her vertigo. J22, good luck in the 10K. Hard to believe it's actually getting cool somewhere when it's still so hot here. Actually it seems to be a bit cooler here and won't even get to 90, but that's just a tease. Bowling was fun. We lost all the games and got sent to last place, 16th place out of 16 teams and the team that did this to us catapulted themselves up to first place. Covid restrictions that we had last season when cases were much lower are dropped now. It seemed crowded, but it's the usual way of bowling. I and one of my teammates kept their masks on the whole time and I saw one other person a ways down with a mask. Otherwise no one was wearing a mask and there was zero social distancing. Like I said before I'm presuming they are vaccinated and know from reading surveys that gay men have a higher rate of vaccination than the rest of Floridians (we tend to be liberal overall) so I have to let that go if I want to bowl. To me it even though this is normal, it seems too weird in these times. Funny how normal doesn't seem right any more. But this is Florida. I'm glad I got the booster though. I'm up early to take best friend to his colonoscopy appointment. This is just routine and probably will be his last since he's 70 if this one is clean as I suspect it might. They will let me in the ground floor cafeteria but not the upstairs waiting area and they will call when he's done. Some places still have some covid rules. It's in a part of town that I can't go home easily and pick him up timely when he's done so I just might hang around or find a nearby Starbucks or do something.

Hullo. I just home home from some errands. I dropped off old propane bottles from camping at the toxic waste place and a bag of clothes at the ARC (its like Goodwill). Then I went looking for some new running pants and a shirt, which I found at REI. The weather is too cool in the morning to run in shorts and a tank. I am doing a 10K event this Saturday that starts at 8. I hope it doesn't rain. And the genetics lab called to make an appointment for testing. My new cardiologist agreed to refer me due to eldest ds's heart issue and my sis. My concern is for my other children and the 2 grandsons. I will do a televisit, and then likely a saliva test. They are so funny in saying they are booked way out and then offer an appointment in 2 weeks. Oh honey, places around here are booked out 3 months! Joe, I hope your first day went smooth. I suspect there is quite a bit of inservicing to get you going. And there are always glitches at the beginning. COVID hospitalizations are down, but infections are steady. And deaths. I had Moderna vaccine, so that one likely won't be approved for a few weeks. I plan to get my flu vaccine at the end of October, so maybe I can get it and my booster together. I am looking forward to the kid vaccine to come out; I know dd would feel a lot better once her youngest gets his. BC, oooh, a safari! I have always wanted to see Africa, especially the animals. I'm headed outside to do a little yard work. Ta

Good morning! Joe, congrats and best of luck in your new job. BC, great that you had a nice getaway. I too set aside a certain amount a month for travel (which I might have mentioned in the past). Good news is that with the pandemic shutting down travel and me cancelling plans last year, I already have enough stashed away for another trip, although I did spend a boatload of money this past trip. A safari sounds awesome. Stars, thanks for the advice about the patches. Will give them a try should the need arise. I don't write checks, all bills are paid automatically and my debit card purchases are posted immediately. Since my checking has interest I tend to keep a good deal of money in it so as to not have to worry that I'll be overdrawn (but do have overdraft protection). Some like like my six months insurance bill give me notice way ahead of time that they will be taking out the money. I picked the date when my mortgage will be paid. I still keep track of every penny same as when I used to write it all down. I wonder if your husbands tremors are alcohol related? J22, that's crazy the discount card takes off so much but good you have it. I too had an appointment last time I renewed in person and it went very well. In fact they were calling my name as I was walking in. I wound up making a black bean pumpkin chili that caught my eye instead of lentils. Today I'm going to get a haircut and stop by work and do some education. I got notice a month ago I was behind but have ignored it because I have zero time to do it when I'm there and my browser at home doesn't let me get on because of their security measures and I don't want to change browsers. Bowling is tonight. Covid seems to be falling here. According to the daily email our covid population is dropping at work thankfully. One newspaper article uses the word "plummets" in regards to hospitalizations in FL, but that rate of transmission remains quite high. It appears that it's rising in some areas you guys are in like NC, Mass. and RI. This happened last summer when we surged before other areas of the country, like the mid-west. We still have the honor of the highest 7-day death rate in the country as well as the highest rate of positivity. I'm happy to say I went to crowded airports, airplanes, and buses with a mask and remain symptom free after five days so I will not test myself. Most other people were cooperative in wearing a mask as well. I think this is in line with the CDC that asymptomatic travelers don't need to be tested if vaccinated. I still wear a mask so as not to transmit it should I have it even without mask mandates here in Florida.

Hi Tweety. It sure can be anxiety producing Dianah sounds like a good memorial service NJ22 hoping it will be that quick for me to upgrade Stars I'm certainly tempted to do something like that 🙂 BC a safari would be interesting Quieter day yesterday. Got to church early for choir practice, there were only 3 of us but we did pretty good. After work came home and then met J for lunch at one of our usual places. Did some laundry when I got home and exercised. Listened to some folk music Spend some time making sure all of my work at home stuff was connected correctly. Managed to figure out how to get signed in, which is a major step which hopefully will make the 1st day easier Going to be a bit humid today, and rainy, but cooler than yesterday. The rest of the week should be cooler still

Good morning all! Slept OK for a Sat nite. I usually stay up waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay late reading or watching old movies, then sleep in. Had a little difficulty getting to sleep but slept till 8. Dh and I are up, getting ready to drive to the memorial jam. It goes from 11-3; we plan to leave around 10. No pressure, we can be a little late (it just cuts into our jam time!). Tweety, good your back is better. Which lentil recipe did you choose? Joe, congrats again on the new job, and hope your sleep is better once you have started the job and there are fewer unknowns. Whoa, No Stars, over 1000 emails since May??? Well they kept you busy anyway!! Did your team finally win or lose? Hello BCGrad and nurseJ22, and herring and everyone else! Have a good day!

Good Morning! Joe, starting a new job sure can be anxiety producing. J22, glad you found the dress. Outside weddings can be tricky here too. Many people schedule them on the beach and during the summer it can rain, and during the winter it can be gorgeous 80 degrees or cold and windy. My former pharmacy plan required you to get 90 day supplies of maintenance meds, which I guess somehow profited someone. Kind of make sense but what do you do if the doc changes the prescription and you have 50 pills left? Not sure what my new plan requires but there is a plan to have a 90 day supply mailed to you every three months without you having to do anything. Decided to take my sleeping pill last night along with an old muscle relaxant. It's expired, but I figured couldn't heart. My lower back was really bothering me yesterday, especially yoga class. Ibuprofen helped and I'm feeling much better today and actually slept pretty decently. Today I just want to cook and relax. Craving lentils so will look for a lentil recipe. It's supposed to be my weekend to work but took it off to recover from vacation. Have my usual days off and go back on Thursday.

Stars I have noticed the same things, borders between open lands and more wooded lands seem to have more birds. Or maybe I read that somewhere NJ22 I hope you can find a good dress for the wedding Amo those mom and pop drug stores can offer services the larger ones don't. I get 90 days refills via Walgreens, have not had any issues Hi Tweety and Dianah Got up early yesterday to get my drivers license renewed. Used the new appointment system and the whole process took maybe 10 min. Was hoping to upgrade my license...in the next 2 years we're supposed to bring in additional documentation to prove identity make our license more secure...but one of the documents I brought was wrong so I'll have to do that at some point in the future Went for a brief hike afterwards, then met dad for lunch. Came home and watched some Stooges and Svengoolie Today have choir practice and church. Then going to meet J for lunch. His allergies have been improving so hopefully we can meet, if not we'll have to try for tomorrow night Feeling a bit anxious with the start date of the new job tomorrow. Noticed it has been taking me a bit longer to get to sleep, and I have more dreams when I sleep, the last few nights. Coudl be related Will be warm day today, up to 90, but it looks like the last warm day for the forseeable future

To you folks having pharmacy problems - are you using the local CVS or Walmart? I get my regular, regular meds from my insurance-approved pharm provider. They fill my scripts for 90 days. U more recetve and med-stable.sually NO problems. I have the option of letting them auto-refill my meds, but I choose to call in for my refills as nec. Now I do this for my regular stuff - Lasix, coreg, lipid med, inhaler etc. I use a local Mom & Pop drug store for the one-times and stat - owner delivers! System works for me! Just a thought --- stars - please get that dizziness checked out. I'll be trying again to mail another greeting card to YOU with belated birthday wishes for Nan. Hope she's a bit more receptive to my neutral messages. 'Dead Pigs' - the title intrigued me. 'Porcs Morts' and 'Cerdos Muertos'. Neat titles! Made grilled cheese earlier. Getting some heartburn. Got heartburn yesterday when I had egg salad. I don't think egg salad and me agree...

Here I am! Not working, Tweety is spot on, I don’t generally work weekends. I am down near the big city looking for a “mother of the groom” dress. Ugh. Most of what is in the stores is close out, all black (too stark) all white ( that’s for the bride) or leopard print ( cue my children to call me a cougar). And very few petites. I did find a gray sweater dress, that will do. The wedding will be outside in two weeks, so it could be sunny and warm, or pouring rain. And it did pour rain last night. Half of our little town has no electricity. Ope, here is dh, time to go.

Stars, I'm pretty sure J22 doesn't work weekends. Glad you're feeling better but yes, you do need to find out what's going on. That was decent of the people to give you free meals and good on your husband for speaking up. Wonder what the fascination with that one case is? I can understand it being a local story here in Florida, but a national obsession? Weird. Now the guy is missing/hiding. Dianah, that soup sounds good. I love poblano peppers.

Hello all! We attended Zoom Sabbath School, which was engaging. Then just returned from meeting friends at El Torito for lunch. I tried their poblano potato soup, which (without the chorizo) was quite tasty! And added a salad and I have both as leftovers for a day or two! It was a nice visit with B & S, with whom we have been friends for YEARS and YEARS!! It is in the 90's today, not bad temps. Of course, with Fall just around the corner, I hope to have a lot more days and nights of cooler temps. Dh is getting set up for his Jamkazam session. I may join in, just to keep my callouses up! Have a nice afternoon!

Good morning! Stars, good that you got an appointment. Hope you feel better. J22, that's so aggravating about your meds. I don't seem to have any trouble with the one prescription. My issue is when I want a renewal he tends to ignore the pharmacy's request, but renews it when I call him directly. The insomnia bug really has me still. I've been up since around 4AM and I think I'm starting to relax and get sleepy. I'll just sleep the day away probably. Oh well, not much to do. I did schedule a hot yoga class this afternoon. BP is a better 124/79 which is surprising since I'm a bit sleep deprived. I have noticed before when I've come back from vacation and haven't exercised and eaten well that my BP creeps up. Hopefully will stabilize as I get back in my routine. Watched an interesting Chinese-American movie "Dead Pigs" which apparently was released in China a couple of years ago, and the festival circuit but just got a worldwide release. It came to my attention because of it's good ratings on Rotten Tomatoes. Pretty good movie that covers many angles.

Yes, thank you, Tweety, for sharing the lovely photos. There are some lovely places in that part of the country. And yes, you should look into Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, but I might be a little prejudiced. There are some lovely National Parks in California too, as Dianah can attest too. Typical Friday at work. Not a lot going on, but that's fine. It started raining in the night, heavy rain and wind are forecast for tonight. I just booked a dog sitter for Angus for when we go to eldest ds's wedding in 2 weeks. I need to figure out what to wear. Maybe we will drive to the big city so I find something. Our few local department stores all seem to be stocked with close-out summer stuff and I want something warm as the wedding will be outside. The pharmacy called to say they actually got my med reordered. Only took a week, luckily it was just my baby dose of lisinopril. Dd has a similar issue with her ADHD meds. Because they are scheduled meds many phone calls are required, and the pharmacy often only has a weeks supply and if she goes off them she is miserable. When she tried to refill ahead of time to go on vacay, it took an act of Congress to get them a week early. Gosh, rebuilding a rectory seems like quite an undertaking. Building costs here are ridiculous, and I understand it's almost impossible to find contractors that aren't booked out for several months. Hope you see lots of birds. When I was running by the harbor last night, I heard this loud "Grawk" and spotted a beautiful heron flying past the moored boats. I wasn't quick enough to grab a photo. Take care, stay dry!

Good morning! Glad the pictures showed up and thanks for the compliments. Joe, hope you have a nice weekend before starting your new job. Sounds like you've been doing a lot of work with the vestry. Dianah, that's a nice tradition to jam in honor of someone's passing. I have no plans for my next trip but I still might stay in the US and Yellowstone area is towards the top of the list. Stars, you should definitely get the vertigo checked out if it persists. It could be many things. Hope you get the medication situation straightened out. The insomnia bug bit me. I was actually going to give in and just get up but it was only 3:30 AM and talked myself back to sleep. I had been using my sleep aid through the trip but stopped last night and just took melatonin. The scale was very unkind and I put on maybe five pounds on vacation. I did indulge in a lot of poor eating. BP is up to 140/90. Yikes. Today will be a chore day. I want to mow the grass but I'm hearing thunder outside but no rain. It's still summer and our rainy season here. I have laundry to do as well and want to cook, as well as get some exercise. Hope everyone has a great day.

Tweety thanks for sharing the pics, they look great Stars hope that the PCP office gets things straightened out, and the dizziness fades Dianah I recovered pretty quick, as it was a pretty short trip Hi NJ22 and Amo Was a nice quiet day at work, for my last day. Was nice to finally say goodbye to that job, though I will miss the people I got my new work at home equipment, so I set that up after work and put away the old stuff. Took longer than I had expected After that I went to the vestry meeting, which ran long as there was a lot to discuss. Mostly with the rectory, the congretation seems to want to either build or buy a new one and sell or demolish the old. We're setting up a committee to look into those options. More work ahead there After the meeting some of the vestry met with the new minister to negotiate salary and benefits. Hopefully they were able to reach an agreement and we'll finally have a new minister very soon Today, going out birdwatching this morning. Not really anything else planned for today. Might meet J for dinner if he's up to it, although his allergies have been bad this week. Weather should be dry but kind of warm today, up to 90

Yay Tweety! Thank you for the beautiful pictures!! My favorites are the dam photo, you on the hiking trail, and the vistas (the monuments best). I'm so glad you went, and had a great time AWAY from home! (what is the next trip being planned??) Joe, hope negotiations go smoothly and that you soon officially have your new pastor. Have you recovered from YOUR recent trip?? nurseJ22, love the photo of you two! No Stars, ugh with all the problems with staff changing and messed-up prescription refills. I'm sure your patients appreciated your attention to detail, especially if you were leaving and turning their care over to someone else (new)! Spreadsheets and info can be so helpful! I hope you can get the meds situation in line (especially Nannie's mood stabilizing meds). Such weirdness about your BP and the wooziness when sleeping on your left side! Scratching my head about that one... Have the gypsies been behaving themselves? How is Ozzie? Hope to hear sometime from herring... we miss you, herring! Ahhhhh, tomorrow is FRIDAY! We may attend a memorial jam on Sunday. It's traditional, in bluegrass circles, to hold a jam. Sometimes there's a little service, sometimes not. Ppl just get together and play, in honor of the missing person. It's usually uplifting, as you KNOW the person would love to be there playing if s/he could! Only 86 degrees when I got to the car today, after work! No triple-digits!!! Woo-hoo! Have a good evening!

Monument Valley, Arizona. It's part of the Navajo Nation. Many westerns were shot there.

Thanks. I did the drop and drag but either but didn't do the "add to post" thing. I don't know what the last picture is still a ? but ignore that. The last picture above with the tree at sunset (with the sun behind me) is one of my favorite pictures. Also the one below I thought came out good and is my new Facebook profile picture. Each picture represents a major stop on the vacation. The Hoover Dam, Zion, Bryce, Sedona, Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon. Bryce Canyon was my favorite stop as I didn't expect it to be so stunning and it was where I hiked and had a picnic lunch at the bottom. Of course everything was stunning to me and so different than Florida. I met my sister to get my dogs and they look great and are happily sleeping. The coffee shop girls where we met thought they were so cute. I took a nice hard sleeping nap for a couple of hours. Still adjusting to the 3 hour time difference. Going shopping to replenish my fridge with some healthy food. I'll be honest that will I had several vegan meals, I wasn't 100% vegan. But that's usually how I do vacations. No guilt.