Just need to talk to my friends (215)

Good morning.

It's bright and sunny this morning with a forecasted high of 54F which should lead to some serious melting. I still expect the massive heap left by the plows to be with us another month. It's still well over DH's head in height.

Ron— Do you find your BP fluctuates with sodium intake? I'm sure you'll be happy to have some answers from the testing coming up. What did you end up ordering last night? I don't mind working for my dinner, either as a MD crab boil or a Maine lobster, but it's not something I want to go get dressed up and do at a nice restaurant.

Lorita— IME, the dog you're meant to have will turn up one way of another. I agree with Judith's description of what would be ideal but would also include the dog having been fostered/tested around cats as you have a responsibility for their well-being.

Carl— I had no idea donkeys lived that long. Yikes! I know my grandfather "inherited" a foul-mouthed parrot from his business partner. He was around for years until Nana finally put her foot down and rehomed him.

My daffodils are poking up but the leaves are very anemic looking as they've been under a couple feet of snow for over a month. I'm sure they'll be fine.

Gothic G— I've heard it said that sit-to-stands and squats are the two important moves needed to maintain independence. It makes sense. Before I took mom for 6 months of PT for falls, I thought she was in pretty good shape, but she had no strength in the muscles used for lateral movement. Fixing that was really helpful.

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We revisited PT goals yesterday. I have 116 degrees of flexion in my baby-knee which is great. The PT removed the last of my Steri-strips. I was glad for that as they were starting to shed behind me rather like the Mummy. Yuck. I'm not working out hard, but I came home from PT, fell asleep through my 2pm Tylenol/NSAID and spent the rest of the evening on the struggle bus trying to get on top of things. Not a smooth move. The overnight went pretty well.

I flaked on dinner and DH wasn't feeling it either, so he picked us up some Chinese take-out which was a treat. I'm catching up on some laundry. DH has been talking about it as if it's some onerous project one needs to clear their calendar to manage which is just silly. Even DS is rolling his eyes at his dad's nonsense.

Gotta go; it's time to move the towels to the dryer or we'll be using Bounty after our showers.

Have a pleasant day.
HB

GG, the gym reaper with the neck cut out feature looks good. I don't know if our gym has one. I am so glad your mom inspired you to start working out. My inspiration: in 2025 my New Year's resolution was to exercise 5 days per week - I was doing overhead presses, farmer's carry and squats but not a lot of cardio. More recently I began going to fitness classes at the library and some of the gals there go to my gym as well. That inspired me. I have enjoyed going to the gym; I'm meeting a lot of nice people and I like working out, particularly doing something different workout-wise than just the 3 things I was doing at home.

Lorita, I won't give any dog advice. You have gotten that from others. What does Mike say? I trust you will consider this decision and do what you feel is best for your household.

HB, glad you are doing as well as you are; sounds pretty good for just 3 1/2 weeks post op. Many don't progress that quickly. Happy for you.

Time to shower; we're going to the thrift store - 50% off sale today (there'll be a huge crowd - 😕).

Good morning,

Had a terrible night and really don’t know why. Could not get to sleep until 2 this morning and was awake again at 4.

Dinner with family last night was a disaster HB. It started with being a hour after being seated for anyone to take our order. I ordered a fish basket and received pieces of chicken that was overcooked. Three in the family ordered crawfish and all three complained about how small and hard to get the meat out due to being overcooked. The granddaughter ordered a shrimp poor boy and was the only one to be satisfied with her food. With eaten there before and it was good, but a disaster last night. The owner did reduce our bill, but that didn’t satisfy our belly.

HB, I don’t believe the blood pressure fluctuating has anything to do with sodium intake, I’m a creature of habit and except for exceptions like last night, everything I do from medicine, eating, sleeping, etc is pretty much routine. Blood pressure readings have been normal the last several readings, even last night and this morning.

I believe I’ll try and lay back down and rest!

Ron

Carl, people always ask me, what are my plans for tomorrow or what are my plans for the weekend. They don't seem to understand that at my age, my "plans" are for every day to be the SAME. "Plans" take a lot out of me, so I try to keep them to a minimum. Is it the same for you?

Iris

Good afternoon.

I'm having our fence replaced - one side at a time. That sounds efficient and easy to me, but goodness when you hire a perfectionist its slightly maddening. One day he was going to take one side down & the next build that side back - perfect. The taking down went well and fast, until said perfectionist saw a root. I think he had every tool known to man trying to cut it out. It wasn't bothering anything nor in the way & I have no idea where it even came from. He had dug a hole 3 ft in circumference & at least 2 ft deep only to decide "it was fine!" He did that again but it was much smaller. So that's why it took him much longer than anticipated to remove one side of the fence. The next day I ended up shutting our curtains because I just couldn't watch. He's a great guy, high ranking on the police force, well respected and this is a side job. He measured, then measured again then dropped a line to guide him, put up temp runners, remeasured then would put one picket in. He'd get his spacer picket, do everything thing again, then do another picket. only attacking the top. After about 4 pickets and well over 45 minutes he'd go back and check level on top sides and screw in the middle of the picket - not the bottom. That's when I stopped looking. I will say it looks fabulous. I talked to him several times thanking him for doing such a great job. He said this is where he relaxes - I thought to myself I'm certainly not relaxed! So one side is completed. Phew…..

Ron that meal sounds dreadful. Its rare we eat out during the evening. Its just too crowded and loud for DH. We do have one place we go with our group of friends, but we go into the private room so he's fine there.

HB your baby knee is coming along. That's an impressive bend. Just be careful as your energy isn't built up yet and baby knee is still in charge.

Lorita all of you are adjusting. If you bring another dog into the house that will be an adjustment also. Stormy might have a difficult time sharing you? I know you'll think everything through and it will be a perfect decision for you.

Iris I try to keep each day pretty much the same for DH. Of course things change, but in general each day is planned to be the same. I find if I mention something to him he tends to worry about it, so he does much better if I casually will say "oh no, we're out of banana's. I need to run to the store. Why don't you go with me?" If I'd say "we're out of banana's" before I could say anything else he'd be wondering why, when I was getting more, etc.

Carl it's good for us all to be active. Now I couldn't keep up with GG if my life depended on it, but we can have goals!

Think I'll go sit on the patio & stare at my beautiful one side completed fence! Let's be safe everyone.

Plans???

I do list three things to get done during the day. Once completed I move on to daily stuff..Incoming mail always takes a while. Calls, filing, recording etc. Usually done in a few hours that is when I turn to the ever present clutter/memorabilia.

My plans are usually appointments…lol

Good night.

Good morning

Ron

Good shopping, Beth!

Good morning.

Iris

Good morning.

me too…..