Just need to talk to my friends (213)

Hello Front Porch Friends.

I'm having a hard time keeping Up with all of you, your all so busy. We are having a wind storm warning today, and the wind right now is blowing real bad. My DD big dog is scared of the noise my little dog Molly, just ignores it. We are suppose to get rain the rest of this week.

Iris, that kitten is so cute, I would love to have it. Thank you for all the pictures. Its sad about Rob Reiner, and his wife, do you live close to them?

Ron, It scared me when you said you were on the ground that rooster could have hurt you. Till you get stronger maybe you should stay away from the roosters.

It is crazy the things the doctors ask a senior person. When I went to meet my new dr. A few days ago, she asked me if I had problems standing or sitting. If I fall down a lot or get dizzy and if I'm still driving. I guess that's her job, but it made me feel older. I was just recovering from the flu so I probably looked old and tired. I am feeling a little better, but still tired a have a cough.

We are having a very quiet Christmas 🎄 the 3 of us are still resting as much as we can. We will be having a Prime Rib, dinner delivered to us.

I have been having a hard time trying this posting, It keeps giving me letters I don't want aand MisspelleMisspelles so e of my words. Just like this last paragraph

Hugs to all and be safe celebrating the holidays. Zetta

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Zetta, Rob Reiner lived in Brentwood which is near Beverly Hills, both upscale areas. I'm about 25 miles away from those areas. Yes, what a tragedy!

I wish someone would adopt the kitten and the other feral cats. I rescued all of my cats, two dogs and two rabbits from my condo complex or the surrounding streets. There is another woman here who also rescues cats and dogs.

Regarding being older: my neurologist recently changed my memory diagnosis from cognitive impairment nos to adult attention deficit disorder, although I never had those problems in childhood. It is my belief that my memory issues are common to my aging brain and not uncommon in my age group. Perhaps there should be a diagnosis of "older adult memory deficit disorder". People seem to shy away from acknowledging the realities of aging.

Lorita, the local newspaper had an article about the rat problem in CA. Various chemical rodenticides have been banned (California Poison Free Wildlife Act). This is because these poisons have been killing the carnivore animals and eagles and owls and hawks that eat rodents. The author of the article has found some success using an electronic repellent, which I assume is an ultrasonic device. She also uses a nontoxic rat and mouse bait that uses corn gluten meal and salt. Theoretically the rat eats the bait and dies from high kidney failure due to hypernatremia. You might look into this.

Iris

Good morning

i haven’t had to shovel since Sunday morning Lorita. It is sunny today but very windy.

Ron I have Rooster memories and they are a lot like your incident.

How did it go with personal trainer Judith?

The personal trainer was wonderful. She had me doing stuff to see where my weaknesses were. Makes sense. She thinks she can really help my balance.

She paints and we a great chat about that. Her surfaces are large and she uses acrylic. We talked about the art in my living room at length. Fun time. Return visit is tomorrow.

I feel bad about animals minding their own business in the forest and all of a sudden they get taken down by a hunter. Bambi loses his mom! Am I too sentimental?

Here in Los Angeles county there area meat markets" that sell freshly slaughtered meat. I have never been inside but I believe there are chickens inside, I don't know what else. There was a supermarket that sold live fish. I watched a young woman bang on a fish's head with a mallet to try to kill it. I stopped going to that supermarket.

Oprah had a show years ago that showed how cows were slaughtered by stunning them in the head first. Meat was given to us by God, so I don't object to eating meat. But now I am eating a more plant based diet because it is supposed to help my health. My A1C is now 5.6, back into the non-diabetic range. It was 7.0 two months ago, so the diet and exercise strategy is working. I had not completely cut out meat, just cut down a lot. My blood pressure was 100/70, down from 130/80. I am happy with these results.

Judith, isn't it nice that you and your trainer also have art in common.

Iris

Ron 🙏

RON…that letter must have been quite a shock. Do you have any Idea what anything is based on?

Your wife died, you moved and you have been dealing with multiple health problems against a system that does not work well.

I can say with certainty that I think you are doing well.

Please do keep us updated as many of us here know a lot about what was in that letter and we know a lot about diagnosis protocol.

Lorita - I just read an article about Texas suing the major makers of smart TVs, alleging that the TVs spy on consumers. I have no idea how much of it is true, but I do remember Vizio getting sued and then settling on a similar charge.

Iris and Lorita - About chickens, hogs, fish, and cows - nope, nope, nope. I can't watch, don't want to know. I even avoid walking through the meat section at the grocery store. I've long referred to it as "the Clive Barker section". Clive Barker writes horror novels, some of which get made into horror films (like Hellraiser). They're usually gory. I'm good with the fake stuff, but not with the real stuff.

Iris - Congrats! Those are great results! Does this mean that you aren't diabetic anymore?

Ron - is the good rooster/bad rooster kind of like the good cop/bad cop? He probably doesn't realize that if he doesn't shape up he could end up on the menu!

On a more serious note, I think it's wise to ask your neurologist about your test results. I'm with Carl - stress (particularly what we've all been through being caregivers), can cause memory issues.

Zetta - I'm glad all of you are resting and planning a quiet Christmas. We're also planning a quiet Christmas.

Judith - It's great when you can find a really good personal trainer. When I first started with mine, he fully assessed where I was, and he never pushed me to do more than I could do. He still assesses, which I really appreciate. Bonus for you that you both are artists!

Carl - This resonates → "We like you because you're friendly and outgoing, and YOU DON'T EXPECT ANYTHING FROM US."

The last couple of days have been productive ones for me - lots of writing, getting errands done, preparing for Christmas, and stuff like that. I had a hard cardio workout yesterday, harder than usual (cardio while wearing a weighted vest), but it wasn't outside of my wheelhouse. That realization kind of lifted me up yesterday.

Earlier tonight I caught up on some articles I had queued up but hadn't yet read. One was an article about Toni Basil. Remember her from the 1980s? She did that song Mickey (oh Mickey, you're so fine, you're so fine, hey Mickey!). Turns out Mickey is a cover - I had no idea. The original is called Kitty and is from 1979. They're essentially the same song - and oh so catchy. I thought that was kind of a fun piece of trivia.

Good morning, all.

Ron— Bet the chicken 'n' dumplings sound pretty good right now. My husband still talks about his younger brother being flogged by a rooster when they were little and becoming supper that night.

Good luck with your appointment. I guess they need to put something on your referral, but that must've been hard for you to read. There was a post a month or so ago in which a new member wrote about a diagnosis I'd never heard of. It was kind of like you describe— mildly forgetful, some word-finding glitches, etc. and I thought it sounded very like my mom of late. One of the features that clicked for me was that people with this condition had better delayed recall than immediate. Mom participated in a study aimed at creating a protocol PCP could use to screen for cognitive changes. It included MMSE and some physical tasks during a video call. When it came time to do the word recall, she flaked (3/5) initially but was able to come up with all 5 words 10 minutes later. I looked but couldn't find that post. If I do, I'll post a link.

Lorita— I find my tablet's predictive text/autocorrect is pretty useful, but on my phone (both linked Apple products) things can get ridiculous. For some reason, it's really weird when my niece and I exchange texts.

I'm feeling prices, too. DS and I made a Costco run Monday and the avocado oil I buy has jumped from about $17 to $25. Yikes. And don't get me started on what I'm paying for water and sewer.

Iris— It is really impressive how you were able to make the changes to improve your heath. Well done, you!

Deer are dangerous. It's not just the collisions while driving but also tick-borne illnesses. Herd management is a necessary reality here. They do use contraceptive measures, but they still need the hunt most years. Unchecked the numbers of deer would not just destroy their habitat, many would starve. The local state park closes for a day in early December for a hunt; a couple decades ago the hundreds of locals would protest the hunt, these days nobody turns up to protest.

Judith— The PT mom worked with on fall issues blamed it on weakness in the muscles that enable lateral movement. They fixed that and it's been almost 2 years since she's had a fall that I know about. It's pretty cool that you can relate given your shared interest in art.

Carl— Cowboy sounds like a creep. Women don't like creeps.

Gothic G— I vaguely recall the Kitty version from way back. I have a friend who used to sing it to one of her cats. Each of her cats has their "own" song which is, umm, kind of different.

Beth— We have a couple of unseasonably warm days currently which has melted most of the snow. It was pretty while it lasted.

Lady Z— I kind of envy you your quiet Christmas.

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It's been a rough week here. The news in general has just been awful. Closer-to-home, it's been a sad time. On Tuesday my niece's bestie landed in the hospital. She has radiation burns from treatment for metastatic breast cancer that became infected and she's developed sepsis. Then yesterday, one of DS's friends died in his sleep. They suspect a seizure or maybe cardiac issue. The kid is only 20. He worked at the railroad with DS and attended the college where DS is taking classes. DS is crushed.

I'm working on wrapping up Christmas despite not feeling especially festive at the moment. I spent part of the day wrapping gifts and figuring out where I need to add in a couple more items. I need a little more stuff for my nephew-in-law and some fancy chocolates for DH's friend. I think I'll head out once the rain stops to avoid having to go out on the weekend. Mom's got her eye injection scheduled for Monday, which means I'll be shopping for the holiday on Christmas Eve Eve which is the worst.

Yesterday afternoon, DH wanted to go out for an early bite at a bar-restaurant that has a lovely table near the fireplace. It's about 10 miles north of us in a more rural part of the county. There was a bad accident that created a detour on back roads making it an almost 1-hour drive. When we got there, it was closed for renovations. We were there last week and there was no indication this was coming up— no signs, no word from a server who recognizes us, nothing on their FB page. So weird. We ended up at a place I like better, so it was OK. They had a man dressed as Santa handing out candy canes which was kind of unexpected.

I hope all have a pleasant day.
HB