Month: October 2021

I have had a couple of busy weeks.  I’ve been working on strengthening my upper leg muscles and on my balance.  Both are improving.  

Descending stairs is doing well.  Going up needs work.  And I  can now go halfway around the house to prune the butterfly bush without extra support and no shortness of breath … and even then shorten the cuttings to fit into the trash.

Kaloo Kalay …

And last saturday I got to spend most of the day with Mark and Paul.  We went to see the newest attempt to translate Herbert’s “Dune” to film.  It is much superior to the last one … and Mark tells me there are plans for a total of six films.  Next one is said to be due in 2023.  I’ll still be here for that one.  Maybe not any others but that won’t stop me from enjoying.

I remember the story basics.  However, Mark has a memory for details and nuances.  “Chapter 1” is steaming on HBOMax so I’ll be able to rewatch it and possibly see what I missed.

Before the movie, I tried to get my Covid booster but after being told on the phone all I had to do was walk in, it turns out I need to make an appointment via the net and specify which vaccine I want … so there’s a chore for this coming week.

The day ended with dinner at Casa Ramos (if you’re ever there try the pollo taquitos).

An altogether great day.

~~~

Our local Opera HD performance group which had been disrupted by Covid as had so much else, made a too-late effort at reforming.  One of us had in the meantime become a subscriber to the Met and had been receiving the magazine.  It turns out that our effort was too delayed.  The local showings in Medford (both the saturday live presentations and the wednesday encores) were sold out.

Lessons learned …

1. Join the Met guild so I get the Met magazine (done)

2. Start watching for the announcements for the 2022/2023 season in early August 2022 and learn as much as possible about the shows proposed and the performers

3. Start the choice selection asap and enter orders as soon as all preferences are received

4. Continue hopes, affirmations, habit modifications, grats for friends, etc leading to my return asap to my pre-COVID “normal” or maybe a bit better.

5.  Hope the Met chooses to repeat one or two of this season’s new productions of old favorites (Rigaletto) and/or new operas (Eurydice and Hamlet).

~~~

Weather has been wet.  There has been night rain nearly every night for a week, with only scattered showers during the days.

~~~

A very pleasant young man was here last monday to check out the safety of the Monitor heater which came with the house.  I told him I’d been living with wood and solar for over forty years and wanted to make sure I didn’t start a fire or blow myself up the first time the heater was started.  That made him laugh.

He found that when the folks who installed the flooring put the Monitor back in place, they failed to reconnect the vent and the correction took him all of about 15 minutes.  

He then did a complete go-over of the entire system and set it to maintain the house at 60º from 1830 to 0630 and 70º the daytime hours.  It’s been 2 days and seems to be working the way which keeps me comfortable.  We’ll see how it goes when winter hits and how the cost compares to the electric forced air which is part of the house and which is currently turned off.

~~~

Today is the day my storage unit was emptied.  For a while the house will be stuffed with plastic bins and cardboard boxes, etc.

There are things found so far which had been forgotten or thought misplaced and, since I’ve just touched the tip of the unpacking iceberg, others anticipated which have yet to be revealed.  

But then I’ve been in this mode for only a couple of hours. 

~~~

 Since my move-unmove-different move I have been the recipient of so many gifts, help, positive affirmations, some interactions which felt like negative assessments which may be working out to be blessings in disguise, unanticipated invitations, kindnesses, unexpected aid, discounts … and today when I went to write the check to the mover, and asked if he was sure that was all, he smiled and said I should just consider it karma coming round.

The Great Spirit created a system of balance and justice. This law says, if you treat others with respect, you will be treated with respect. If you gossip about no one, no one will gossip about you. If you are fair in all of your dealings, you can expect the same. If you share with others, others will share with you. If you judge others, others will judge you. 

The original teaching talks about being a giving person.You will always get back what you give out.  Help me to be a giving person today.

–Joe Coyhis, STOCKBRIDGE-MUNSEE Tribes

So … ‘til next week …

I should have mentioned in last week’s tirade that the hospital I was in when the events resulting in my tirade occurred was Fairchild in Yreka, not Dignity Health in Mt Shasta.

~~~

Tomorrow is the  anniversary of my chosen sister’s birth.

I have known her since the 60s.

We are soooo different. 

But there are real intersection points.

We’ve shared joy and dreams and are now sharing loss and grief.

I’ve come to question a lot of the ways people use the word “love” …  but I love her and affirm my wish that Blessings be hers in the days to come.

~~~

We had a touch of pre-dawn showers twice last week.  But so far no real rain.  Dawn temps have been in the highs 30s and low 40s.  Daytime temps in the mid-60s.

Snow had been predicted down to 3,500’.  The altitude here is about 3,200’, and we didn’t see any white, not even a skiff.  There was some dawn snow skiffs one day last week over in Mt Shasta.

And the deciduous trees are changing. Winter approaches.

~~~

Life always presents surprises.

Twice in the last couple of weeks, as I went down for my nap, I could hear something (the space is too small for a person or a bear) which sounded as if it was scrabbling around just outside my bedroom wall.  

I banged on the wall and waited.  There was a pause, then a resumption. The next time I banged with more force … and repeatedly.

Success.

After my nap I walked out to take a look and see if I could see any trampling or scat signs.  I thought it might have been racoons even though they are usually active at night.  Nothing.

Then last wednesday … it happened again.

This time I went to the window in my loo which is the only window opening into the area involved and yelled “Who’s there?”

No answer.

Just then a neighbor who walks the loop came into view and I called to her asking if she could see any action in the area.  Her reply was “Two crows on the roof.”  She told me occasionally she has the same problem.

Question solved.

~~~

Thursday last I had to go to the Weed clinic for inoculation updates.  A friend came by to take me.  She drives a big Jeep which you have to climb up into, so I was sure I could get in, but in-and-out-and-back-in was a question.  

Result … I surprised me and did it with only a slight rise in respirations.  My caregiver stepped in for an eye over while I was there and approved my phone report in re my physical condition.  He also had my SAT checked and, contrary to the SAT of 90% and pulse of 133 which was the machine’s evaluation on which the Fairchild doc based his incorrect script putting me on betablockers, my SAT was 95/96% and pulse was 80 … both well within normal for me.  Maybe it would have been good for the Fairchild doc to hear the advice I gave to the students to “Listen to your patients.” even when he had consciously turned away.

Last thursday had been a busy, sort-of tiring morning and so Darlene went through the Burger King drive up for chicken salads which we brought back here and shared with comfortable conversation.

When we arrived here about 1145 the back-up generator was running.  Everything in the house was normal, so I gave it no thought.  My reaction was it was most likely the weekly check-up and gave it no further attention.

But when it was still running as Darlene left at 1230, I began to wonder.  I put in a call to Campora, the company who manages the propane for the generator, but the woman with whom I usually talk was at lunch.

By the time I reached her I had heard from the power company telling me my area was under a power outage while repairs were being made.  

The power came back on and the generator quit at 1310 and the change in noise was my only clue.

Now I know how that system works, and that it does work.

~~~

Another couple of insights this week …

Farm-based wake-up times do not work in an urban setting.

I find I still wake up between 0545 and 0615.  Then I listen to the early PBS news, brew a couple of cups of tea, have a basic breakfast with fruit, do my basic computer checks … then I sit and wonder what comes next.  Basically nothing … local activities (i.e. south Siskiyou County) aren’t usually open for business before 0930 at the very earliest … more likely 1000, sometimes even noon.  Even NPR is mono-broadcasting.

Possible solution?  Learn to sleep later or find something to do during the newly available time.

Second insight (not necessarily “new”) … my enjoyment of most music noted as “Classical” is not universally shared.  LA’s Dudamel is quoted as saying “A lot of those who think they don’t ‘like’ Classical music have never really heard it.”  My personal experience has been with at least two friends who humored me by attending an HD live presentation of a Met opera and then ended up anticipating what will be offered this coming season.

An aside to this insight is and has been the understanding that an identical taste in music or other entertainment neither guarantees or hinders friendship.  As with my belief concerning most choices in life … I choose for me and you choose for you.  We  can always agree to disagree and move on from there.

But back to my first thought in re music … When I hear dates attached to a piece of music, a musician, or a composer I find myself wondering if any of my ancestors alive during whatever time period which has come to mind ever had the opportunity to experience that music, musician, or composer.  Knowing my ancestry, the answer is most likely probably not.

Oh well …

~~~

And an interesting thought for contemplation …

The picture for this month on my calendar is a Manet painted in 1881 titled “Woman Reading”. It is in the Chicago Art Museum.

The thought that is giving me question is that it doesn’t look to me as if she is reading the book/magazine in front of her but actually looking past the magazine to her right at someone else in the room.

What do you think?

Maybe it needs to be seen in person.

~~~

A week of small accomplishments and some lessons.

The idea of growing into the unique person that is you is interesting. Like Dr Seuss says “ there is nobody youer than you”.   

We have all been created with gifts and limitations and do our best to navigate our lives. We need to be grateful for the gifts and even the struggles.  

Feel a sense of gratitude for each new day.  

So … ‘til next week …

As said previously …

This post had been planned under vastly different circumstances.  Then monday the 20th happened.  Short form … I wound up in hospital with left lower lobe pneumonia.  

After four days of stressed out staff (and two covid deaths that I recognized as gurneys passed my  door with body bags) the only non-harried attendants with any loose time I saw were the students.  They were harried, but by instructors.  I did hope to teach them one thing which I think is REALLY important … LISTEN TO YOUR PATIENTS.!!!

I wound up really pissed at the RNs (especially the one who poopooed the importance of a bloody sputum sample by telling the student to have me spit into tissues and thrown them away.) and the MDS (of the three who were overall assigned to me I saw only one more than once and he was so involved with machines and what they were saying he had no time to listen to me and told me so).

I was put on IV antibiotics (which my body kept refusing by leaking into surrounding tissue).  I finally told the one RN who listened, I can drink so why not switch to orals. He listened and the switch occured.

My head has “white coat” anxiety.  To those who don’t recognize the phrase, every time I enter a medical interaction, however benign or how well I know the medical person involved, my heart rate increases and my blood pressure goes up.  My regular caregiver knows that about me so waits a couple of minutes for my head to catch up and then rechecks vital signs which are by then normal.  I tried to tell the MD in charge about this anomaly and his response was he didn’t have time for this, turned his back on me, advised if those conditions weren’t taken care of, I’d die … and left my bedside. There were other incidents when listening to me could have improved his understanding of what was happening, but his stock response was he was not going to take time to listen.

As a result, I was sent home with the oral broad range antibiotic as well as aspirin and a betablocker for my“atrial fibrillation” and hypertension.  He had not asked, and obviously not read the list of my daily supplements which include 1000mg of Vitamin C (an excellent blood thinner) and after trusting and taking the Rx aspirin for two days and waking up with a nosebleed, I stopped.

Also knowing my reaction to medical interactions, I was afraid of the betablocker.

I had been instructed to make a follow-up appointment with my regular caregiver, so did (it had to be a phone consult due to Covid).  I said “Troy, you know me and my medical patterns … so here’s my list of fears, concerns, and non-compliances.”

We talked for nearly an hour, he asked questions and wound up agreeing I was wise to stop the aspirin, he could see no need for the betablocker based on our exam history, and the antibiotic was proper and adequate.

I need updates on my inoculations.  They are scheduled for tomorrow (thursday) at the clinic.  A friend is coming to get me and take me to the clinic.  Troy says he’ll make a quick dash to see me and say “Hi”.

I’ve been home over a week and am improving … not as fast as I would like but faster than I might have expected.  My mornings are good, then an assigned nap, and a slower afternoon. 

Up and around by 0700 and in bed by when the street lights come on at 1930.

Appetite still not up to snuff, but I’m trying.  And one day next week a friend will be here in the morning bearing a pot of homemade soup.  That should help.

~~~

On to other more mundane events …

It took a couple of weeks after escrow closed (more about escrow later when I can be more objective) to get the new flooring installed and the big furniture out of storage and into place (most big furniture is still in the place I had the movers put it).

~~~

One entertaining, educational event last week filled the morning of the 28th. 

The very tall dead pine in the RV park to the northeast, and which has had everyone a bit on edge with winter approaching, since its possible trajectory if snow load and winter wind should cause it to uproot would seem to have put two of the neighbor’s houses on the fallline, was dropped.

The last time I watched them fall a tree that tall was in the days when one lone lumberjack with climbing spikes on his boots, a strong belt around his waist and the tree, and a tool belt holding a handheld saw and some rope went up a tree, alone, with only ground support.

Boy was that exciting watching.

Nowadays it is a whole lot different.

Two workmen (I hesitate to call them lumbermen) in a cherry picker with electric saws and oodles of rope and pins did the work it used to take one lumberman less time to do.  Interesting, but not as exciting.

At least it kept a lot of us entertained all morning.

~~~

The big tv is operational.  The library table, which will be its site, is still in storage.  More on that later.

~~~

Now you’ve heard my gripes etc. and I leave you with …

When life seems dark;

When despair grows around you;

You are sent this thought …

Move with flame to light the darkness.

Rise from the Earth like a tree.

Accept that from the rivers and mountains life runs

Bringing you surprises.

Receive and embrace this wish.

It is named and brings you … Hope.

So … ‘til next week …