Month: December 2014

It was looking like we would not have a white Christmas, but it started snowing early Christmas Day and we ended up with 4 – 5 inches before it was all over. This gave me an opportunity to fire up the John Deere garden tractor, equipped with a blade, and plow out our driveway, sidewalks, and some neighbor’s sidewalks.

Before I get into our Christmas Day in detail, below is a clip of foster kitten batch #25 featuring Vivianne, Edward/Eddie, and KitKat: (Run time is 3:16)

[cincopa AgEArNcW0kDy]

We had a few presents under the tree, a classical (nylon string) guitar for Pam and a “selfie stick” for me. (A selfie stick is a light-weight monopod with a camera mount on one end. You can put your camera on the mount and take photos of yourself without the use of a tripod.) The RV trailer received a set of wheel covers to help preserve the tires.

Pam cooked an excellent meal and topped it off with a reduced-sugar rhubarb pie. Pie turned out picture-perfect and tasted great. Daughter Felicity Skyped from a house sit in Dublin, Ireland to catch up on events, and Pam had spoken to son Toby on Christmas Eve so the family news was pretty well covered.

We put on Christmas music and relaxed most of the rest of the day. My snow plowing took a few hours – two rounds as the snow got deeper – and the rest of the time was spent eating, looking at small house plans on the web, and trying to video-tape the kittens for the above clip. It was a relaxing day. We hope everyone reading this had a good day as well!

December 26th we braved the roads – still messy but the snow was melting – and did a bit of after-Christmas shopping. Not much; we needed a few groceries and sundry items such as a new pair of gloves for me. Does everyone have a pair of not good but not bad enough to throw away gloves? Mine finally reached the throw-away condition.  J. C. Penney had Isotoner gloves for men at half-price so I bought a pair for driving and another pair for general winter work. The feel of brand-new gloves is quite nice.

We had an unexpected repair just before Christmas…the F-150 blew out it’s alternator, $562.00 to repair at a shop. (Also included changing the serpentine, or fan, belt.) Ouch. The Honda needs a new thermostat; it occasionally turns on the “Check Engine Light” and the code tells me a replacement is needed. I hope to get to that job today or tomorrow. The Honda turned over 350,000 miles yesterday, a record for any car we have owned, so minor repairs are to be expected.

On the medical side, I had a reaction to the original prescription I was on, Metformin, and was switched to a drug called Glipizide. The Metformin gave me severe lower back pain, bad enough that I had trouble standing up and walking. The Glipizide seems to be much easier on my system. Glucose tests are coming in under 140 in the evening before dinner. This is good news as my doctor was aiming for 150 over-all. Tests at other times of the day are a bit higher so I still have a ways to go, but progress is evident. I’ve lost about 10 pounds so far and hope to loose more as I continue the low sugar diet I am on.

I miss my ice cream. I miss my tea. I miss my cranberry juice and Pepsi. I am hoping that at some future point it will be OK to have, in very small quantities and only occasionally, some of these foods again. I have tried Splenda and Truvia as alternate sweeteners but they are not as good as the real stuff. On the other hand, we are eating more turkey and fish, foods I like and are better for me anyway. Life is always a balance.

Last night I had a service call to go into the office as our e-mail server quit passing e-mails through the system, and I am on 24/7 call for these sorts of things (even when I’m technically on vacation). Hours later I had the problem fixed but didn’t return home until about 1:30 AM so I slept in late. As I type this the day looks sunny but cold with a forecast high  in the mid-20s. Later this week we will get into the single digits for lows and will not get above freezing for the next week or more. I guess winter has settled in after a warmer-than-normal first few weeks of December.

I hope all reading this are anticipating a Happy New Year.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Regarding the kitten clip, these kittens are named after characters in the movie “Pretty Woman.”  Observing KitKat (the gray one) as well as attempting to catch her after she’s been running free has convinced me she is too feral for adoption.  KitKat will need to be introduced to our garage cat colony when the time comes.  Vivianne and Eddie will domesticate just fine.  It is what it is; I’ve learned one must accept the animals as they are.

The addition of a six string guitar to the house is my attempt to bring music back into the daily routine.  Although I’ve always wanted to learn to play the guitar, I currently don’t have much time in the day to practice. I also may have waited too long in life to start playing, as arthritis is beginning to slightly swell my finger joints.  We will see.

Happy Trails.

Surprise!

I certainly was when my health office informed me I was suffering from Type 2 diabetes. I have ketones in my urine; this is significant as stored fat is broken down and ketones are made if your diet does not contain enough carbohydrate to supply the body with sugar (glucose) for energy or if your body can’t use blood sugar properly. I fall into the later category.

I had been experiencing some symptoms such as increased thirst and more frequent bathroom trips. Looking on-line I found these symptoms could be indicative of several underlying problems so I decided to get in and get checked.

I was diagnosed by the County’s health practitioner system. We have a service (C.E.B.T.) that covers screenings and routine medical care at no charge. The nurse who did my blood work was qualified to write prescriptions and was quite informative through the entire process.

I was hoping for something simple, like a bladder infection, but alas, I am now one of the 25.8 million people in the US who are afflicted. Of course, the same symptoms could have been the result of cancer, particularly prostate cancer, so in a way diabetes is not the worst case scenario.

I’ve already started to modify my diet and between that and medication my blood sugar levels have dropped over the past few days. While in the health office my count was 338, by the next evening it had dropped to 224 and last night it was 131. (Normal range, depending on who you talk to, is 100 – 140 or 70 – 120.) These are evening readings, taken around 6:30 PM before dinner. Readings at other times can be higher. This morning, before breakfast, it was 193.  I hope to be able to control my condition with diet after getting stabilized with the prescription medicine. I am currently on something called Glipizide.

The health office took several vials of blood and sent them off for testing. Of particular interest will be the results of the “A1c” test which is supposed to indicate you average blood sugar count over the last two months. While the clinic had said they would run this test my doctor did not yet have the results. My regular doctor  formulated an “official” treatment plan to go forward, basically confirming the diet I had already begun and monitoring the effects of the medication.

I didn’t notice any symptoms until we returned from our vacation trip, but diabetes doesn’t happen overnight so I probably have had it for some time. Some people who have diabetes never do experience symptoms.

As part of the treatment I had to get one of those blood monitoring devices. Geez…a lot to take in at once. I learned how to load my  “lancing device” with “lancets” and use this device to prick my finger to get a drop of blood to be wicked into the “test strips” and analyzed by the “glucose monitor.” At least  everything fits into a kit supplied with the monitor.

The lancing device has a depth setting…higher numbers drive the lancet deeper. I’m using the default setting of “4.” The device goes up to a setting of 7. (I can’t imagine using a setting of 7.) The lancets are disposable (single use, same as the test strips) and there is a learned procedure for removing them from the lancing device without damage to oneself. What a pain (literally).

My testing kit

Pam has been helping by going on-line and looking up foods and diets appropriate for diabetics. There is some conflicting information, but all pretty much come down to reducing sugar (for diabetes) and salt intake (for weight loss and blood pressure). Carbohydrates are necessary to get some glucose in your system; the trick is to determine the right balance. We are already planning an uptick in meals of fish and lean meats along with more unsalted nuts and alternative foods.

But, for the short term, I have given up my regular tea (I use a lot of sugar in mine), ice cream, cranberry juice  (kept in my refrigerator at work), crackers, and desserts. (Wouldn’t you know, we have 2 flavors of ice cream in the freezer as I speak.)  Some of these will be replaced by other sweeteners and flavoring substitutes, but it will take a while to get everything in place.

It was a bit of a shock but it won’t slow me down — much. I’m going to try Truvia sweetener in my tea and I’ll adopt a different diet that is probably better for me, and I’ll likely lose some weight, not a bad thing. The questions are more about going forward as diabetes tends to get worse over time, so this will affect me for the rest of my life to an increasing degree. How much so remains to be seen. I am hopeful it won’t be a major factor.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

All retirement plans going forward depend on a modicum of good health for each of us.  This latest diagnosis is a bump in the road, yes, the first in no doubt what will be many medical issues as we continue to age. It’s also a clarion call to move forward with land development for summer housing and to explore winter retirement alternatives.  No time to lose!  Should be an active 2015.

Happy Trails.