Wednesday March 22 2023

G'day!

It's gorgeous here, almost 80 and sunny.  Love this time of year here.  No heating or air conditioning needed.

I got quite a bit done in the way of chores.  I mopped the house, cleaned the bathrooms, did two loads of laundry, went to the grocery store, and made steamed some veggies and made lunches for the next couple of days.   Was going to make pasta but forgot to get (salt free) tomato sauce but I found some homemade bbq sauce in the freezer that has been needing to be used and figured it would go good in a pasta dish with some diced tomatoes...we'll see.

Need to go to the gym later before it gets too late.  Been listening to health related podcasts.  One doctor I was listening to is a firm believer, unlike my doctor, that people should have a blood pressure below 120/80.  My doctor said that he thinks it's now coming out that is a bit too aggressive.  He did lower what he used to want me at which was below 160/90 and wants me at 140/90.  I barely make it with my readings lately being 136/85.  So I may be on a BP med soon.  The podcaster also said you should sit still, feet flat on the ground,  for five minutes prior to having your blood pressure taken which I never do.

Have a good evening!

Doncha hate it when the very first thing the nurse does at a doc's appt is take your BP? Mine is always higher than normal when I first sit down in the exam room, because she doesn't give time to slow the innards down to a reasonable BP. So I always make them take my BP at the end of the appt! THEN it is more normal.

More exciting bird news: We had a pileated woodpecker arrive at the Bird-Feed Cafe. THEN, we had a sharp-shinned hawk (who has a rusty-colored chest.) who was casing the backyard; don't know if he caught anything. AND then, right outside the backdoor, a BIG turkey was ...yes...gobbling down the birdseed off the patio! It might be turkeys that have been cleaning off the stairs where I put birdseed. (Maybe they come up in early AM, when we aren't up.)

Well, Joe, No sunshine here today, just gray clouds and intermittent light showers. 62 degrees today, 78 tomorrow and 82 on Friday! // Hope all goes well w/ the visit to the vet. Hope your cat doesn't freak out going for a car ride and into the vet's office.

And, Tweety, here's something else I learned about BP's besides "feet flat on the floor", and that is DON'T clench your teeth! I have a habit of doing that, well, not exactly clenching, but my jaws are firmly set. I have a good bit of tension in my body that I am frequently unaware of, but when I DO go ahead and purposefully relax my shoulders, I am always amazed at how tense they were until I did so. Though I've been told that to look at me, I seem quite calm. So, what, I am "calmly tense?" (or vice-versa?) 

j22, I keep meaning to tell you how much I've been enjoying the photos you've posted, so this time I have remembered to say so! And dianah has posted some neat ones, too.

I'm not sure I can pull this off, but I was thinking of having someone just take a couple of photos of me unfolding the book-cover from Crack @ the Edge of the World....it really does unfold to poster size. Then I'll have to have the photo sent to one of y'all, so you can post it on AN for me? Then, dianah, you can see the book-cover you TOTALLY MISSED when you owned the book! And y'all else can, of course, say something FLATTERING about how you hadn't pictured me looking like I do. ?? Anyway, I'll see what I can do and if I can figure out how to do it! (But don't hold your breath, in case I dawdle about it!)

Later!

My bp is almost always high at the doctors office. I have had some negative experiences with healthcare for the past couple of years and I tense up when I'm there. The medical assistant is really good about reviewing my med list first before doing my bp, and she will even repeat the bp later in the visit, but it is still often high. The doctor takes my word for it when I report 110/70 at home. I am on a baby dose of lisinopril. They had me on a higher dose but I felt like I was going to pass out, and my bp was 80/40. 

It's sunny but cool here, around 50. I went to one of the demonstration gardens for an orientation, and then helped plant up some plant starts. I am getting to know some of the volunteers. One lady has read a lot, but she doesn't have much practical experience. She is amazed that I can identify plants without a label. It's sort of like birds, you see enough and you learn their names. 

Dianah, that does sound like an easy, tasty recipe. I'm not sure what we are having tonight. I see dh thawed out 2 enormous chicken breasts.

Angus has an appointment coming up. I wasn't going to take him, but dh and youngest ds seem to think he would benefit. I just hope they don't try to up-sell me on a bunch of testing and treatments, like the last vet did. He's an older dog, seems healthy and content and I don't see the point in a bunch of labs and X-rays. 

Yep, this guy was saying to ask your provider to not take the BP right away like that because sitting in the waiting room doesn't count.  My doc actually took mine himself when it was high when I came in.  But he too takes my word for it that I monitor it myself.  

Stars, when I'm trying to get patients to relax, I always start with their jaw because it's usually clenched.  I'm the same way when getting myself to relax.

I'm the master at being calm at work.  I guess by now I've been through enough scenarios that nothing freaks me out much.  Many times patients have compliments my calm demeanor.  

I'm also appear calm when there's inner turmoil.  When I went to counseling a few years ago for anxiety that was what he said "you don't appear anxious".  That's because with a lifetime of anxiety I've become a master at covering it up.  As a bullied kid, I became a master at being stoic and not reacting.  Plus I didn't know I had to act anxious in order to have anxiety.

My elder dogs get regular checkups.  I'm part of a plan that I pay monthly so they don't do anything that's not in the plan.   I need to keep up their vaccines because the boarding places here require it.  I wouldn't board them in an ordinary kennel though.  It would be one of those places that is cage-less.  But thankfully my brother in law takes them most of the time lately.  

My pasta with the bbq sauce turned out good.  I added some ground (vegan) beef and taco seasoning.  

Waiting to hear from my sister.  My dad was taken to the hospital with abdominal pain.  He doesn't complain much so if he is in the ER it must be bad.  She can't leave my mother so she's at home.  She said mom fell the other day and her back hurts.  This is a lot for her to bear.  

Oh, yeah, and AFTER I think I am relaxed, I am surprised at how the tension sneaks back without me even being aware of it, until I re-relax ....

I am, however, good in an emergency....calm and direct; and it isn't until after whatever it was is over ...then I start shaking. Well, let me correct myself: I have always been calm at work during an emergency.

When hubby did all of his fantastical falling, I was NOT calm. When you watch your husband fall backwards down 9 steps, or fall face-first down six steps (among other falls) it does tend to get one riled up! And when we lived up in Asheville, he had 'lost his breath' while laughing or coughing...got down to the bottom of his lungs and could not inhale again, I did, several times, have to make a fist and POUND him on his chest while yelling his name, trying to make him take a breath. Then he "comes to" and looks at me and says, "I'm okay." Yuh, right. Thank goodness he hasn't done that for several years; it not only scared the cr*p out of me it made me p,o'd!

Tweety, hope your parents start feeling better soon. 

Hello from rainy Phoenix! I flew in Monday and was unable to connect to hotel WiFi until today. It just wouldn't work as intended until I accidentally did something that opened a browser window that let me enter the password info. Staff were no help. 

Hubs arrived this morning after driving first to Tucson to visit a friend. They went to a hockey game last night. Hubs stopped at White Sands National Monument on his drive west. We're waiting to go for cocktails and dinner. I refuse to count calories while we are being wined and dined by the risk retention group. Monday night I had a strawberry jalapeño margarita that I really liked but did then have pretty bad heartburn that night. 

We had a free afternoon so we went to a musical instrument museum nearby. It was interesting. Sadly, when Hubs put the top down on the convertible as we were leaving the museum, it caught somehow and broke the glass rear window. We taped plastic over it but how disappointing to have to deal with that (and not being able to see out the back windshield) all the way back home. 

Tomorrow we join my friends and head to Flagstaff. Apparently there is flooding in Sedona so we will miss it. And Winter weather advisories in the north. 

J22, I enjoyed your pictures. Would love to see yours, Stars. 

My father is okay.  They were able to manually reduce a hernia in the ER and it wasn't strangulated so he's home.  He'll follow up with a surgical consult and return to the ER if the pain returns or it pops out.  He's had inguinal hernia surgery before in the 90's but he was in his 60's then, not 89.  So surgery is the last option.

Ado, bummer about the car window.  That's such a nice part of the country.  So different from here in Florida.

On top of all the stress my sister is under one of her outdoor cats was killed by a pit pull that got into the back yard.  She's devastated.  They were indoor-outdoor cats.   My mother hates cats so they were outdoors most of the time.