Swamped. Yes. What with the house still under remodel, and the cat situation, and winter coming, and 2 sessions a week in physical therapy (which is working), I just let time get away from me. Writing…did I mention that?
Thank you all for hanging in and hanging on.
The PT has just wiped me out 2 days a week—but the good news is, both of us are improving. Too much office chair sitting had done a number, and when you get (ahem!) a little older, you just can’t afford a bad chair.
I was doing really fairly well when Cat Wars went ballistic under me: Shu’s 16 lbs (like a bowling ball) went under the foot I was setting down and I hit the tile floor, faceplant. PT took care of that, too.
The good news is we have finally gotten Sei to spend a few quiet hours sitting in his cat tree while, 7 feet away, Jane sat with Tanner, both cats quiet and comfy. We did not add Shu to that situation. But if Sei settles, Shu will be less anxious. Shu may be the bully and brains of the pair, but Sei is the arbiter of good will. If Sei is upset, Shu is. That was yesterday.
Jane and I were both limping about and were having difficulty in general, and we are now walking much more freely and my balance is improving—given no cat knocking my foot from under me. We’re almost to the ‘starting an exercise program’ state. But not quite. Both of us had near identical problems, one hip joint with some ‘frozen’ tendons, ie, not responding right, and Jane was worse. But that’s getting (ow!) fixed, after both standard mds and chiropractors had failed. This guy is sports medicine, and he’s good. We got onto him via our former skating coach.
I’m making progress on the Foreigner book, and Jane is working like a trooper on sanding and mudding in the basement remodel, but she is also helping me out by ‘running’ the alternate story line in the Foreigner story: she’s taking Damiri and Cajeiri’s story line, and blocking that out, while I write Bren’s side—the two lines interweave, but in this case are geographically separate, so this makes things easier.
WHat else? We managed to get the garden winterized before the freeze. And we haven’t had the snow this year, so far, which has been helpful. Neither one of us should be shoveling at this stage of PT.
Went out last night to take some presents to our second local pub, which is running a Tree of Sharing for some kindergarten kids in a local youth center—kids asking for things like gloves and hats, mostly; so we tossed in some extras. They’ll take the gifts over today along with a free sack lunch, so I hope it will be a happy time for the kids.
And that’s pretty well where we’ve been, working. Yesterday was sis-Lynn’s birthday, so that was hard for Jane, but she doesn’t give way, just soldiers on through, and we take care of Tanner, which is a promise to Lynn we’ve kept; and so far so good. He’s graduated from the basement to a kennel-cage under one Christmas tree (we have 2 little ones near each other) and spends time out and about while the two others are napping in my room/office/pit…and the yowls of doom have subsided to a much calmer mew. ONe secret has been some kitty-calming stuff that is a treat, and because Tanner won’t eat those, we’ve resorted to pot. Yep. Hemp oil, actually, which is a little different, from a related plant; and after a couple of drops of that, Tanner gets restful sleep (a sleep-deprived cat who is already high strung is a cat in deep distress)—and a rested Tanner is much calmer, so ours are faced with a much quieter kitty, and WWIII seems to be easing. We just keep at it, and yesterday was a good day on that front.
Wishing all of you the best of holidays and goodies and prezzies and times, from Jane and me.
Nice to hear PT is helping – I am curious about the kind of movements recommended as I have an office job and have issues with my shoulder blade area. I injured myself last year which exacerbated the problem and then I used enough ibuprofen to kill all the good bugs in my digestive system which was pretty bad (and stupid) but I am really getting over that by eating a lot of saurkraut and pro-biotics. The best news is that I lost 25 pounds and get to retire at the end of April.
Happy Holidays to you both.
Good to hear that the cats are finally settling down a bit, and that you and Jane are both getting the help you need with the aches and pains.
Best wishes for a good season and a very good, calmer and healthier/less ouchy new year to come.
Would you please tell Jane I’m sorry to have been absent from the game so long? It’s been crazy busy at work, and most Fridays I’ve worked till after eight (21:45 today), then had something to eat and just collapsed with some light reading. I just couldn’t face more time on the computer.
It’ll remain very busy for another few weeks, but we’re hoping that sometime in January things should start to calm down. After that I hope to pick up the Friday gaming evenings again…
This pt starts with heat and TENS unit (Amazon has them) then a chiropractic move to free up the lower back, then deep tissue massage on the area of trouble, then ultrasound on same spot. Takes about an hour. Never bruises but feels as if it could. And now and again massage pressure hits a tendon that hasn’t said hello in the last 5 years. Yee-hah!
Every time I’ve fallen since I was 55 or so has ended up creating back problems. No broken bones, just monstrous backaches. So I sympathize. Glad the PT is helping.
Jane hasn’t been up since Halloween. THe holiday events just kind of aren’t the same for her this year, but she vows to be back in the game after New Years.
Good that the kittehs are declaring a Christmas Armistice, as it were. If they can maintain the detente, it will be much easier on everyone. How is the hemp oil used — vaporizer, topical, drops in water dish or on food? Junior is expressing his howliday wishes quite loudly off and on, so maybe we can use this to calm his fuzzy little butt down.
My personal holiday wish is that the back pains which have intermittently plagued me for the last few years take a nice long hiatus; currently they are quiet except for an occasional grumble. I feel for ya with the PT!
And yes, Mele Kalikimaka e ka Hauoli Makahiki Hou!
Whew! I was getting worried. I was thinking of the big ice storm/blackout a few years back when all of us in electron land were blathering on for days not realizing our dear moderator, her household and all the fish were freezing in the dark. I even checked other sources to see whether Spokane was experiencing some seismic or meteorologic event we should know about. [Gee I hope everyone’s health is okay? Maybe they won a lottery and suddenly bunged off to a tropical isle on holiday?] I wish there was a member of the wavy navy in Spokane so in future if you choose to run dark for awhile we can deputize them to knock on your door and see if you are okay (bringing wine and/or chocolate of course).
If you needed additional PT after treading on Shu, what kind of PT did Shu need? Not an equal contest by any means and he probably got more sympathy.
Shu was mightily impressed by the landing, but managed not to be underneath me.
I hear you. You get busy and wrapped up in the things in front of you, and then you pop up out of the burrow and take a look around, and weeks have gone by in the RW.
I hear you on the physical aches and pains, to quote the original “Bette” (Davis), “Old age ain’t for sissies.” I’m glad you could find a doc who can give you some relief — even if it means working hard to get it. Exercise has benefits over and above what it does for the aches and pains.
I’m staring down the barrel of a knee replacement. Left knee is bone on bone and slowly but surely chewing my medial meniscus to pieces. I’ve got an orthopod through the VA who will do it here — if it’s OK with the oncologist and the cardiologist. I’m going to be having intensive “prehab” before the surgery to have as little down time as possible after the surgery. None of it can happen until my cardiologist says it’s OK to get off the Plavix — at least long enough to get through the surgery. I go to the oncologist for a six-month CT and checkup in January, see the orthopod in Feb and see the cardiologist in March. Maybe I can get everybody’s act together and get a new knee for my birthday. When it hurts to walk, you sit, and that’s not good for you, especially when it gets to the point that you’re seriously considering getting a handicapped sticker for the car.
Glad the kitties are beginning to settle down. I wonder if they’d all been girl kitties instead of boy kitties, whether it would have been easier to cohabituate them. For some reason, I tend to think of boy kitties as being more territorial.
When you’ve lost a loved one, holidays are always rocky going and full of emotional booby traps. Even though it’s been four years since I lost my dad, the holidays are still hard.
Did you get a package from Tx?
WOL, I just designed and finished my own Julekuler ball for a Solstice/Anniversay gift for my spouse (married 32 years as of the Solstice yesterday). It went very well except I noticed late in the knitting like (half an hour after midnight) that the initial R in one lower quadrant was reversed! So, Friday morning when I woke up, I ripped back about a third… and realized that I had stupidly started knitting the chart from the top right corner, not the bottom right. When patterns are fully symmetrical (the prior julekuler I’ve knit so far), that novice mistake doesn’t matter. When doing non-symmetrical letters, boy does it ever! But I am a champion reknitter and all’s well that ends well. The red & white ball is hanging in the center of our dining room doorway between a swag of faux holly & ivy that, come to think of it, we used in our wedding low these many years ago.
Hope you get good news on your knee and all your body bits and parts!
I’ve had both of my knees replaced. A lesson from my first one is be able to touch your toes before you go in. It is annoying to be tripping over your toenails and having them rip holes in your slipper socks before someone is willing to cut them for you,
Similar situation on the rainy side. I hybridize rhododendrons–a poor choice because I have very little shade. So in winter (checking…yep, winter), though usually November, I pull the shade cloth off the skimpy rebar frame of my “shadehouse” and move all the containers to one end so they all protect each other, resisting the hard winds and helping in freezing cold (when it deigns to come). I just pushed to finish the last couple dozen this afternoon, but after I came in and sat a while my hip would hardly function. I couldn’t take ibuprofen because in a week I’m on the table for an epidural, but of steroid. Like you, no blood thinners allowed. So I’ve had my heating pad on and cane out all evening–it’s been needed in the past (synovial cyst).
(A year ago my sister wasn’t able to take me so I thought I could tough it out without the mild sedation. Went shocky–bad idea. Don’t try that! Trust me on that.)
I am so glad y’all are doing OK. I was getting worried it might be more than routine or some con or other writerly SF&F business, or just plain busy Real World stuff.
Very glad that PT and exercise are helping. Desk sitting and not enough varied motion, I can tell the difference in myself when I do household chores (getting up and down) and such. Very minor, but something I need to work on so I don’t have trouble when I’m older. (I will be 53 in March. I am still not used to this idea that I’m “over the hill” or at or closer to middle age or senior citizen than I am ready to think of myself as. — My mom had ankle and knee trouble as early as her mid-40’s to mid-50’s, and (hah) wore hiking boots in the art and frame shop (to guard against dropping frames or glass on her feet) but also for much-needed ankle support. So I’m conscious of this stuff in other people. My grandmother, her mom, was exceedingly fit into her mid-70’s, and only really started slowing much in her 90’s. (She did yoga and other exercise at a YWCA when I was a kid and when she was into her mid-60’s, maybe into her 70’s. I had a very traditional grandmother, but she also had a very forward-thinking modern and somewhat feminist side to her, which was a very cool combination. She was not like the Lady Ilisidi, but would probably have got on famously with her.) But as she got older, well, she always walked fast and didn’t look so much where she was going, and did NOT want to have use a cane or walker, until age and the obvious showed her she had to. Heh. — So far, I have missed out on the ankle and knee issues that may run in that side of the family. I hope to avoid that altogether. Maybe I inherited from my dad’s side on that. But it makes me conscious of such things. With my eyesight, I have to be a little more aware of my surroundings and how and where I move, (ah, this is far from perfect, mind you) so perhaps I’ll do OK.
It’s good to hear Tanner and Sei and She are doing better. Hemp oil, huh? Well, hey, if it works for ’em. (I am in favor of legalization here in Texas, at least for medicinal uses, which I think should never have been issue to begin with; IMHO. I’ve come to think that legalizing it in general would be smarter. It is still a long way away from happening in my ultra-conservative state. Sigh.)
My two cats have (oh my!) declared at least a temporary truce, and the bed is once again shared neutral territory, for each other and to share me. Heh. This is good. The two have never quite gotten the concept that they can easily share me and each other, and that this doesn’t mean that either one gets less love, attention, food, etc., but that we can all have plenty. Bless their pointy little fluff-brained heads. — They have had ID tags with their flea collars since the hotel stay, and accepted those fine, for which I am very grateful. Smokey officially turns 8 next week, since I count from when I got him between Christmas and New Year’s. Goober reached 12, and shows good signs of having good years left. If he lives past 13 and a few months, he will be the longest-lived kitty I’ve been fortunate to have. I hope so. He’s a sweetheart. (I think introducing a new cat to Smokey, the assertive and jealous one will be an iffy thing someday.)
I am still figuring out where things landed after the Great Reshuffle, but going through things slowly, and will need to get by the storage space in January to (sigh) do more. — I am expecting a quiet and solo Christmas, just me and the cats. This is OK, but hey, I wish it were different. Handling it better this year, though. — I intend to read and watch videos on Christmas, and have gone easy on meal prep, but it’ll be nice.
I’d ordered a hassock; posted about this in the previous thread. It arrived. Ah, but I did not see from the photo that, haha, it has small tassels and, whee, little rhinestone sparkly jewel bits in patterns, along with the cloth pattern which I did see. (Indian or Morroccan design, old-world ethnic.) Hah, so this thing is a little more funky and bohemian than I was expecting! A bit more showy. — Well, that’s fine. It’s also smaller in person than I had thought, but also OK. — I think this one is going to be for the cats, either in the bedroom or living room. (I fear the tassels may be foredoomed.) — I like this, though I’m usually not so into that style. I think I have more of an inner hippie than I thought! — This would fit in great on a trading starship, say the Pride or the Serenity or Lucy / Le Cygne or the Solar Queen, or others. — It would fit right in with the sets for a couple of old Star Trek TOS episodes. (Cue the Orion Slave Girls and others dancing, and hmm, funny, they didn’t have any guys dancing. Darn it.) — It would also fit in with old pirate and 18th/19th century navy stories or the Arabian Nights, etc. — I think I like it. — I’m going to get another, hopefully less sparkly / tasselly, haha. — Yes, I did not get enough polyester fill to stuff it, so I will be ordering more. It could take a couple of standard bed pillows besides what’s in there now. But it looks like I can get a good amount of poly fill for cheap. (I don’t have old pillows anymore, or I’d use them.) — So, hmm, the hassock is a welcome addition.
Be it noted, back in the 70’s, my mom wore very wild tops in the art shop. Pattern and color? Bring it on! This hid any stray paint from giving art lessons or doing framing or painting, so it was practical. But Mom loved the color-ways and patterns in those tops. (She went through a stage with a “butterfly sleeve” top. Mom was not thin to start with, though not heavy; but having had multiple pregnancies, plus getting older, she put on weight.) Hah, so I grew up with an appreciation or both the conservative and the liberal sides of things, but had a more conservative home / family life. As I’ve gone through my adult life, I’ve turned a bit more liberal. — And as I’d said in a prior post, I miss having a hassock. We had a large brown vinyl hassock or ottoman, left from some previous living room set. The old mama dog I grew up with, as well as many cats, and myself as a kid, enjoyed that hassock. So this was a nod to that, a little nostalgia and comfort. — It does seem like it would fit in perfectly on a merchant starship or station or colony. 😀
I watched the movie, Coco, for the first time last night. Oh, poignant for me. The duality and dilemma of a loving family relationship, to and from, and yet how that can conflict with someone’s true nature and talents and need to express them. The difficulty there of finding some way to reconcile those needs, family and love, and personal growth and the passion for what you love to do. — And I got many good laughs and some sniffles and thought, along with the fun and entertainment. Miguel and Dante and each of the family and supporting characters, they really outdid themselves. (And they had authentic people and culture.) (I had never heard of alebrijes, the fantasy spirit-creatures.) I was really impressed with the story, the artwork and animation, and the music. Wow, good film. It managed to get in a lot without any moralizing or preachy overtones. Still mulling over the film.
A very happy Christmas or Hannukah or other holiday to one and all. I’m solo again this year. Maybe it won’t be so by next year, I don’t know.
Comment
Oops, I accidentally “submitted” before I typed my comment. I was going to say “delighted to hear from you, C.J. We had all missed your posts. Enjoy the greater mobility that comes with the pain of PT and have a lovely Christmas!
If you catch that in the first 30 minutes, there’ll be an “Click to edit” button below your post with a countdown timer. If so, you could’ve just edited the empty post. (Editing is one of the “new” things here I’ve wished a long time for.)
I hope you and Jane feel better soon. Happy Yule to all.
They’ve legalized industrial hemp all over the US, which is what I THINK this stuff is made of (was grown extensively for rope during WWII, is visually hard to tell from pot, apparently, and sheriffs have gone nuts trying to eradicate it for years, since it self-seeds.) Since pot is legal in WA, I have no idea which this comes from, but since it’s sold as a pet remedy on Amazon, I think it’s the industrial sort—which you can’t smoke, btw: they say it will make you quite unhappy if you do.
It’s the common source for burlap. When was the last time you saw a “gunny sack”?
They’ve been using other fibers. like jute, for burlap bags – which are still very much in use.
I haven’t seen any on the West Coast in over 40 years! I used to get them with feed, and saved a 32Gal can full of them rolled up, then everything switched to petro-based woven white plastic strip made bags.
Not meaning to be political, but hemp does have THC in it, just very little. It’s like non-alcoholic wine, which is less than half a percent alcohol.
Hemp’s not going to get anyone high, but it will probably trip a drug test. Trader Joe’s sells tasty granola bars with hemp seeds, but I wouldn’t use them as on-the-road snacks! I have heard some B vitamins are derived from hemp seeds and have an issue with drug tests.
Deep tissue massage – hurts! Helps! CJ, have you seen “The Runners” at the park downtown Spokane? They were done by David Govedare who happens to live quite close to me and is friend, his partner does an unbelievable deep tissue massage and unwound many, many tangled muscles in my shoulder and I can feel the difference just in my posture and also relieved pain (which I noticed after I stopped hurting from the body work-over she gave me.) The chiropractor said my shoulder was almost dislocated from the muscle issues and his tweaks also helped. Thank you for the advice!