Homesteader

Do you get flu shots? My various docs are pushing the flu shot this year. I can't remember what the specialty pharmacist said yesterday, but it was something like, "with Covid around, the flu could potentially get much worse." I thought they cured the flu last year since they didn't track much except C-19. I'm on the fence with the flu shot this year.

I was put on the 81 mg aspirin while in the hospital last month. I'm not into daily meds but thought I might stay on this regimen. I'm just not sure and haven't taken the time to research it. The cardiac docs at the hospital put me on bp and cholesterol meds on the way out the door. I didn't take them until I talked to my regular VA doc. She had me take my bp for several weeks before making the decision. Past cholesterol blood tests came out normal. Two weeks later, my bp and cholesterol meds are sitting on the dresser. BP averages 118/67 throughout the day. I don't like to be TOO cautious and take all these drugs just because I'm getting old.

I have plenty of chux pads from opened boxes. Charity shop only wants unopened boxes. I have been scratching my head on what to do with them. There's only SO MUCH room in the closet for potential supplies. We do have a lot of touch-up painting to do around here and those chux pads would work great on the floor. Thanks for taking that rabbit hole journey for us.

DH has been looking for one of these for YEARS. They are great for extra storage and aren't taxed on our property. He just has to figure out how to get the running gear off of it without killing himself and build a ramp into the aluminum box. Generally, an old one costs $2500 plus shipping. We waited long enough and his boss at the racetrack asked him if we wanted their old one out in the woods. YES!! It took DH 2 days to brush out the small trees so that a tow truck could hook onto it and drag it the mile to our place. We were burned on the towing though. They charged us $400 cash for one mile of towing. The other two towing companies didn't even call us back, so we went with what we could get ... and still had to wait weeks for the guy to show up. It seems local companies can't get people to work. They're extremely short on warm bodies. DH and I said that's it time to starting treating our country like it's back in the Depression ... bread and soup lines instead of paying everyone to stay home.

We spent the past few days camping at the national forest up north. The nights were as dark as pitch and no cell service. . A great getaway with bro and SIL. It has been so stressful with mom's end of life the past few weeks. I could have used 2 more weeks but the fishing was lousy except for that big Northern Pike. . I was so happy DH was there to take that ugly fish with 10,000 sharp teeth off the line.

I am getting to that point, too. Have had the flu shot for a few years due to so much traveling. I am thinking of becoming a hermit and foregoing all of that stuff in the future. If a child received a covid jab at Walgreens instead of a flu shot and was told by that pharmacy "sorry", that makes my neck hairs stand on end. Who the heck has their child get a flu shot, anyway.

They fell about 2 feet and caught by the safety lines. They had to climb back up with help and back to where they came from which was about 4' behind them. They took off their helmets and harnesses and went down to the bleachers the rest of the afternoon. Only bruised the pride. We think we're still young even though our bodies tell a different story.

Will be praying for her. So many of the side affect numbers are being buried. Our hospice nurse had to quit last month. Her upper arm and shoulder became numb and really hurt. She can't maneuver her patients anymore. She was an incredibly knowledgeable and compassionate medical nurse.

There were guides at various 'crows nests' around the course. After the instruction on the first obstacle, we were left to figure out how to get through the rest of the course. We could go many different directions. We paired up and went out. Only four people could be on one phase of the course at a time. We had our own colored safety cable above us to hook into. The other pair on the course took the other colored cable. OSHA would be proud of the safety training we received. We did have one lady who ended upside down and didn't have the upper body strength to upright herself. She was not built to even tackle the course, but they allowed her. It took over 20 minutes for the instructors to get her head above her heart. It would have been a good time to have several MALE instructors handy to help with muscling her back to the next crows nest. The guys weren't very far away. They just let the female instructors learn some valuable lessons themselves, like trying to scoot dead weight uphill for 30'. Once they figured out leverage instead of muscle, they got the poor lady to safety. Several other ladies made it out onto the first obstacle and fell. They spent much of the afternoon weepy and discouraged. Our pastor's wife did some consulting and really helped the ladies. All-in-all it was fantastic. IF we decide to do it next year, we'll get back to the health club and get in better shape. Besides, I was only 3 weeks out of the hospital and only 1 week from raising my arm above my head due to Shingles.

Yesterday was a fun day after church. A GF and I challenged each other to a zip-line experience MONTHS ago and invited the other ladies at church to join us. Then the pandemic shut down everything and our adventure was put on hold. The dream came to reality yesterday ... only the adventurous course location changed. We also had over 60 ladies sign up for the afternoon instead of the limit of 20 at the other place. If you survived the course, there was a huge dinner waiting at the dining hall. The course was high-ropes. It was built on huge power poles and stood 40' off the ground. They said that people become paranoid and paralyzed after 35' off the ground. The course was set up for teenage church groups and was used for team building. They stay for a few days in cabins and go on different adventures, including the rushing waters of the Wisconsin River. Back to the story. My GF and I walked up the three flights of stairs and realized we had made a small miscalculation. We didn't have the upper body strength as we did in earlier days. However, everybody was watching and we couldn't turn back. Sort of like the adventures Dar and I used to sign up for before our brains matured. I must say that we did survive and were cheered at the finish line. Both of us had bodies like noodles and knew we would pay a big price on the following days. By the time we got to the dining hall, all the young whipper snappers were already talking about a new adventure in the springtime.

I had a wise, old retired nurse tell me about the advantages of the different diets. We were living in SE Asia at the time and spent our evenings together. She said that the diabetic diet is the best one overall for the average person. I've always remembered that, especially since DH is diabetic. His doctor gave him a printout the last time he went for a physical. He brought it home and gave it to me. It's called the DASH diet (low salt, I think). I took one look at it and told him that I couldn't make it work. I told him that all of his terrible snacking habits would ruin all the hours of work I would have to put into cooking what was in the DASH diet. I gave him the printout back and said I would follow his lead on what he would eat in the future. He just tossed the printout to the side and never looked at it again. After 48 years with that man, I know when to invest time and when to stop beating my head against the kitchen wall.

As we become older, our pets become our kids. We gave away our last pet when we started international travel. It took years not to feel guilty as he was the most loyal of all our dogs. Praying for you guys and all your different kind of pains.

DH read an article yesterday about the lack of truck drivers to move the containers out of the ports ... onto the roads and rails. It reminds me of when he worked for the power plant and the fears the workers had of it crashing and going cold. It was almost impossible to get everything to come back online at just the precise time it was needed. It's always a good reminder to me about our fractured infrastructure.

Two shall become one. It's from God, and He knows the deepest of sorrows. If you did not grieve, there would be something wrong. As I grow older, I wonder how I would ever survive without DH. We've been attached at the hip for almost 50 years. I have a dear friend who lost her hubby about 4 months ago. She calls regularly and bends my ear for hours at a time. It's a special time we have together as we tell stories about her hubby all the time. He was one of the smartest and funniest guys I know. I am so sorry they moved away so far a few years ago but we spend that special time together on the phone to help with the passing of time. I have no doubt that we will see him again in Heaven, but the wait can seem like forever, especially at night. Love you, Momo.

Yes, you were a brat, but so was I. Same problem up here in the tundra.

I had fun at the VA hospital last week looking out my room window. I would ask all the interns/residents if the knew what that tall bldg was across the street. Nobody knew. I explained that it was the WARF building. Wisconsin Alumi Research Foundation. That is where wafarin was developed (WARF). They would just stand there like deer in the headlights.

Saying of the day (think .... who's on first base, if you're that old): If the vaccine does not protect the vaccinated from the unvaccinated, and all the unvaccinated get vaccinated, who will protect the vaccinated from the vaccinated.

That sure was a lot of fun. NOT! Just got out of the VA hospital after four days of constant testing for low O2 blood levels. I HATE nose cannula breathing devices. Even worse, I hate being woken throughout the nights with dropping O2 levels and increased liters of O2 through the nose. After all that, they told me I had Lyme, Shingles, and new onset of emphysema. Nothing surprised me. However, they still can't tell me why the O2 levels are all over the place. One explanation is the auto-immune meds I take for psoriasis arthritis. They're hard on the lungs. I think I have four different medical departments calling me within the next week. Thankfully, I talked them out of bringing home O2 tanks. I will do any kind of exercise just to bring back my health. I still haven't figured out why they gave me cholesterol and blood pressure scripts. Both of those are well within normal numbers. They will be set aside in my medicine cabinet until it can be proven it's necessary. I even had to take a Covid test in ER because I had shortness of breath. Everything came out negative. I have to say that the VA hospital was a great experience. I think I went through about 9 intense tests in those four days. It's a good exercise on the health of so many human organs. I would have enjoyed more interaction with more of the patients but I ended up in isolation due to shingles. I certainly expected to be discharged sooner, but the VA is not run by private insurance companies who have you pushed out the door in record times. They couldn't get blood draws the last day. The veins kept rolling on the techs. I kept telling them I didn't have much to drink because food/water was withheld most of the time those four days due to tests and possible procedures on the horizon. They finally let me go, but I had lots of bandages on my arm in an attempt to extract blood from a dehydrated patient. Can't wait to get my strength back so I can tour the garden. It's so good to be home. Dang, my weight is down to what I was while playing intercollegiate sports 40 years ago. I sure wish I had some of that energy back, though. After the Shingles clear up, I can go back to the health club on a regular basis. Having everything closed down due to Covid certainly causes so many other diseases to flair up and kill people besides that virus.

I noticed a few weeks ago that I was getting winded carrying trays of food up to my mom upstairs. Gardening was getting more difficult as I carried bowls of produce up to the house. I talked to several doctors and they suggested I head to ER and get checked. Instead of getting checked out, I got checked in. They said it was easier to get the battery of tests while in-house instead of dragging out a diagnosis over a couple of weeks. They kept bugging me to breathe deeper and finally put O2 on me in the evening. Now I know why mama hated her cannula and long hose. lots of heart and lung tests today. Not sure if I can go home. Tomorrow is DH'S birthday. I shouldn't have procrastinated on that card. Oh yeah. My bothersome rash turns out to be shingles. Now everyone comes into my room with lots of garb on. I feel like I am on the Covid unit.

Canned 4 quarts of green beans last night. I can't seem to get into any kind of a rhythm since my mom's funeral this week. Just when I think I'll tackle something, I go take a nap instead. Part of the problem may be the Lyme's disease, or just exhaustion from the past few years of caring for mama. Either way, I have lots of canning to do and DH needs to start cutting down some trees for firewood. We're about 3 months behind, but do have a year's worth of stacked and dried wood in the shed. Mama used to ask why we have so much wood. This year is the prime example.

10 quarts of green beans earlier this week and approx 10 quarts of tomato juice today. I don't like heating up so much water on the stove for waterbathing so I just pressure cook them based on what the Ball book or county extensions recommend. I am hoping to do a few pints of dilly beans and basil pesto this weekend. Thankfully, I didn't plant much this year as mama was declining so quickly. Even what is ripening seems overwhelming. Thankfully, much of it was perennial and come back faithfully next year.

If you want good advice, look for links in YouTube from County Extensions or Universities. Otherwise you will get 150 different answers from 100 different backyard beekeepers. Dar is a good resource too. We generally keep back around 80 # of honey each year to feed back to the bees. It gets really cold up north and they can eat through the stores very quickly. Since we don't sell the honey, we just let them eat their own honey in the winter. Otherwise, we would make candy boards for them, too.

With the shortage of lids, you might want to rethink canning in pint jars. Yes, a quart jar is a lot of food, but just pull out what you need each day and have a few meals from just one canning jar lid.

Our long-term hospice nurse said that mom was getting 'sassy' with me. Sometimes I'd just go out to the garden and rip a few weeds out by their necks. Seemed to be good therapy.

It was a sad week this past week. I had been sleeping on the floor at my mom's new assisted living apartment just down the road. She had gotten so bad, I couldn't care for her anymore (6 aides and a chef replaced me) . The social worker is a very wise woman. She asked me if I wanted to be the 'daughter' once again. I said Yes!. The private facility where we placed my mom is brand new. It's state of the art and CNA's are trying to get a job there. They are very particular and hire very compassionate and trained people. They took care of all her physical and medical needs, and I was able to spend each day by her side being her daughter once again. Well, mom only lasted three weeks and passed away two days ago. Either my brother or myself were there full-time the past week. We switched places on the living room floor and talked mom into taking her meds. She thought the staff was poisoning her with the pills. She went psychotic and paranoid on us. I am so thankful she didn't turn on my brother or me. She always knew a familiar voice and would follow our commands, except one time when she stuck out her tongue at us. Bro and I would argue at the end of her bed as to who was the most favorite child. Towards the end, she could only grunt or moan, but we knew we made her laugh on the inside. Wow. Caregiving isn't for sissies. I don't recommend it for everybody, but God gave us the grace to care for mom the last 1.5 years in our home. DH was awesome. He kept picking up the pieces and kept everything tweaked and humming around here, including new central air and a new 40' deck this past year to keep mom busy and comfortable. He's the best. We have a quick turn-around on the funeral. Grandchildren are in town for a baby shower. They agreed to stay for the funeral on Monday. Everything is in place except a hole hasn't been dug at the cemetery yet. It seems the city worker who makes that decision is in Canada. The gravedigger said if he could get permission on Monday morning to start digging, he would be ready for the funeral in early afternoon. What a guy!! If not, mom goes back into the refrigerator until there's a hole to receive her body. I have SO MUCH to do for paperwork. Everything has been set-aside the past few months. I barely keep up with a few things in the garden. I guess I'm thankful I didn't have the time to plant like in past years. It won't be so overwhelming this Autumn. I did ask mom several weeks ago if she would help me snap some beans like I've done for her the past 60 years. She just grunted at me.