Day 5

AS an OK Day...

BUT it had it's moments....

My son locked his keys in his car and enlisted my help he didn't have a coat hanger...most people don't anymore these days and I think I gave him the last one I had and I tried to help but he had a errand he had to do by 2 pm so I drove him to do that and we stopped and ate lunch out which is something I rarely do with someone else especially.  

It was okay not crowded or anything...but I noticed my son had little to say...he never shares any parts of  his life but the bad parts with me...Like Locked my keys in the car can you help....ran out of sugar do you have some, I need your help with this that and everything...

I gotta say Im pretty damn tired of it. 

We were not successful in getting his car open he is gonna try again tomorrow...He kept worrying about the little rubber trim...well shit happens, and it's better than breaking a little window which he wanted to do which was completely stupid or call a locksmith.  I told him if he will just be patient we can get it open.  We just need the right piece of skinny metal that is rigid enough to make the lock move...he has no patience...if he had left me to it I could have opened it but not with him nearly dying.  A locksmith would charge a lot to drive this far...HE said he has a spare key "somewhere" well excuse me but shouldnt' it be in the house or someplace easy to get to in this case...

Im all done being an understanding parent.   

Day 4...

RENCHED MY NECK?

Or something it sure is stiff and painful.  Probably when I was trying to saw up that tree.  I sawed up about 3 ft of it today and split 2 of the logs into firewood.  It's very dry cause this tree was dead no sap so it can go in the fireplace.  May as well burn it...I burnt the big pine that died in mom's yard and it did no damage I can see to my chimney.  

I need a new chain on my saw.  I got one right before I cut the oak tree but that chain was weird...First off I couldn't find the size so I dug thru the boxes and found one in the wrong place.  Im not even sure it was new maybe a returned one...I think the bar is OK, I tested it and no wobble when the chain is good and tight.  

It was cold all day and still is tonight I have a fire going...and it's still cold in here...I grew up in a cold house as my Mom could never really afford for us to have heat so we rarely had it.  She would get up and  put the oven on in the kitchen close the door and get it warm and we would all get dressed in the kitchen in the morning before school...I always insisted my house be warm when I was married and the 2 of us were working we had a good enough income to make sure we were warm...BUT as a retired sole senior on a fixed and low income in a too big of a house now I just can't really heat my home to the point it needs to be heated...I sure enjoyed those couple weeks of warm nights...BUT its unnatural...
IM considering moving my room into the guest room...that would mean I could close off 2 rooms of the house...I would hate to do that BUT I may have to...I can't close my dining off from the living area it's an open floor plan which I love but it's cold...So I was thinking of putting up some heavy drapes that I can take down in the summer...

I think I should sell this house :0(

When my x lived here alone, he moved his bedroom into the dining room, which was strange, but he had given away the dining room table, so he closed off all the bedrooms, and basically only heated the living area....before he  forced me to buy him out MY plan was I would stay on in Moms house, and then MY Son would live in this house with his girlfriend, and that whole deal fell thru they broke up and that whole thing threw my son under the bus...So I ended up moving here when my sis agreed she would come stay with mom, for a year, and then my other sis for 6 months and then mom passed away....NOW my son is in her house...but his electric is higher than MINE, he does not even try to conserve. I only heat the rooms I am in...

This house is all windows and doors! There is 18 windows and 2 glass doors...we did upgrade the windows to double pane years ago but still the house is old and drafty. The attic is well insulated but the walls are not. 

Now  the temps are going to be up n down up n down...I just have to deal with it is all I can say.  Propane increased from $10 for the 20 lb tank to $18...so last year I used Propane overnight but not this year I think I can use my electric and its cheaper...I still have to use the electric heat in my bedroom.  Soooo I did get one tank of Propane, used it yesterday afternoon and last night up until about 1 pm then I put a fire in the fireplace at 2 30...And I will put it  back on tonight when I turn in...

Today I tried to shop while buying the least plastic packaging.  IT is not easy.  I would do better to shop at IGA they have more loose produce.  Walmart does not have much...and many bins were empty..

So a bag of potato was $2.75 and I bought some loose russet potato, I got 5 for $1.75.  I Got 2 red potato and 2 sweet potato...I got one tomato and I bought rice in a cardboard box...BUT I came home with some plastics...I did buy English Muffin, plastic sleeve, coffee creamer in a plastic jug (#1) can be recycled...I got some vinegar in glass which I can not recycle, and that was not good...So I have to do a lot more work on getting my plastic down to zero. 

People were stranded on I-95 between DC and Richmond VA...for like 24 hrs when the local govt shut down the interstate due to snow and a pile up....1,000s stranded in below freezing temps...I think in a case such as that let the ones who can drive out Drive OUT...don't just close the road.  Let me say this nation is a JOKE...dont buy into that greatest BS.  We are not even prepared for a snow storm.  There is no plan in place no rule book it's seat of pants every damn time.

Trumps coup should not be memorialized.  They should simply have a memorial service for the ones who died and DONT give him the air time...he is threat to world peace...and a complete ASS.  I just saw one of the bimbo blondes who broke in say they were like the Jews in Germany....let me just say in that case they were the Germans!! The Germans came to drag out the Jews, they came to the capitol to drag  out the congress.  

We have one million with covid...

Is this my time?

INDY!! 

And another earthquake hit this side of Elgin about 18 miles to the west of me...the second in as many weeks....and we had pouring rain all night and 40mph winds that brought down a dead pine in my back dog run area and it landed on the wire fence.  SO I was out trying to saw it up...got the fence back up...but was not feeling well enough to saw up the tree only made enough cuts to get it off the fence.  Maybe tomorrow the wind won't be blowing and I can try to do more. The dang tree is 15 inches in diameter. AND my chain saw is not doing well I think I bent the blade when trying to cut that oak that Ive been burning all fall.  

I am not feeling well and the way it's going I may not last out this year!! I don't know that I mentioned it but I came down with a dry tickle of a cough about 3 months ago.  I had no clue and figured it would go away... it came about the time the itchy rash came so I thought its related to some sort of residual of covid, or some other virus or a new allergy...

BUT now I'm beginning to think it's heart related. See I have known for a while that I have A-Fib, I was told that I had a heart murmur when I was about 47 yrs old.  So when  I asked what can be done for that and was told Open Heart Surgery new heart valve I said NO way...won't even do the test..

SO now it's like this I noticed I get tired very easy....and that is not like me, I could work like a mule all day and never get so tired now I have to quit.  And I noticed if I carry something heavy I get short of breath and I get that A-Fib skip of a beat...so putting all this together, 

Fatigue, arm and leg weakness, skipped beats and flutter, elevated BP, and now the dry cough...ITS heart failure!! My heart is not pumping the blood thru each chamber as it should.  I get dyspnea.

Today trying to move that log off the fence...I felt awful.  Lately since the cough has come I just have no stamina at all.  

So NO cure for that heart transplant? No way Im too old for such I do need to be on a diuretic, and probably a beta blocker...I would need an  Echocardiogram to be diagnosed.  I thought they did one back in 2015 when I had the heart cath done?? I was told I had a tiny block in one vessel no problem, did not need to be stented.  But I went in complaining of irregular heart beat.  He adjusted my thyroid meds and did a catherization test, and basically told me all was within range for my age, and he said he found no arrhythmia I wore one of those monitors for a week it never stayed on right and right away it came loose I put it back on and added tape, and still they said it was normal...YET I had experienced many episodes of A-Fib.  So I take Aspirin. 

I could be wrong but it sure seems to fit.  

I figure I can die one of 3 ways.  I can die in a hospital, in my bed, or out living my life. 

Tit for tat

HAT ABOUT....

A blogger I read has asked the question why are we not shouting about it on every medium possible? Since Climate Change has been made into a political topic it is rarely spoken of.  Except here on my blog.  I am not afraid of stepping on toes, that's why we have them.  Being blunt has cost me plenty in the world but someone has to do it.  

So I made a resolution to reduce my plastic consumption.  I can almost hear some people saying 'what difference will that make?' It may not make any difference in your life but it may in mine.  See I do believe in the butterfly effect.  Imagine if those 2 Trillionaires had given each of their employees an electric car for Christmas instead of going into Space which was so irrational.   At the very least offset the damages! 

I said I would try to make my own vegan sausage, how naïve I was only a week ago.  SO I go to buy all the ingredients to make my own vegan sausage, it will mean a lot of packaging...SO better to just let that go off my diet period. It gives me indigestion anyways.

I think we should each put ourselves on a carbon reduction diet!  Sit down and really crunch the numbers and figure it out...like how many cows or pigs or lamb do you eat in a year?  This chart is in tons of CO2 per person. 

So what if you cut it in half??? You can figure this out by using your typical shopping trip as an example and add in the fast food you consume, and come up with a number in lbs and figure out the size of a cow in lbs or a lamb...if you eat 5 lbs of meat a week, and a cow weights 1200 lbs....you are eating 240 lbs a year, that's almost 1/4 a cow.  So if you eat half that  you just reduced your footprint....so you give up meat 3 days a week or cut your usage by 1/7th per day! 

What if you convince more people to cut it in half...we have to make these choices.  If I want to reduce the amount of fuel I use in my van, I need to figure out how much I am using and make the decision that I will use 5 gallons less per week.  or say I want to cut it by 15% SOMETHING concrete...is how we make change.  

Eat less meat, drive less miles, use less plastics?  Can each of you think of something you can and will do to reduce your footprint??  Im only going to buy avocado's from California, or the US... they most probably traveled by truck or rail and not by plane or Ocean freight. And I heard that Avocados from Mexico is now owned by the Drug Cartel...Knights Templar so screw that!

 I just feel we need to offset our footprint in every way possible.  If I can not reduce my gas consumption one week due to some reason, then I would eat less imported foods, or if Im a meat eater NO meat for a one day per week some checks and balances to even things out..

This is how we budget our money, our time, almost every aspect of our lives so why don't we manipulate and control our carbon footprint the same way??  I want to hopefully do a long trip this year in my van.  I enjoy camping along the way.  My footprint is going to be mostly gasoline, since I don't stay in motels using energy and all that is involved in keeping a hotel afloat like the huge use of laundry, electricity, all the excessive plastics.  SO I must reduce my consumption in other ways to offset the fuel I will use on the trip.  If I want to drive 5,000 miles divide that by 300 which is what I get to the tank full...that is 16.6 tanks of fuel.  That means I have to offset my consumption by one tank per month which is a 1/4 tank per week...and then some So lets say I reduce it by 1/3 per week.  I go thru about 1/2 tank per week....so I need to reduce that by 1/3 which is 4.17 gallons less per week! So I need to drive 60 miles less per week at 15 mpg. AND I am going to offset this with my less plastic waste which I will try to extrapolate in my next post. 

Jimmy o(

E WILL MISS OUR DEAR FRIEND...

Jimmy has crossed the rainbow bridge and is no longer in pain he is a free dog to run and swim and enjoy himself for eternity...

                                   
                                            Rest in Peace 

💗

2008-2022

We will morn you till we join you. 

Day 2

EATHER ISSUES...

Currently it's pouring rain....the kind you should get in spring when it's soft and heated...the environment is in for a shock...as finally a cold front that has been stalled in the midwest is moving toward us and a stream from the South and west is full of moisture and now it's dumping on us...visibility is pretty much zero from my windows...

My daffodils are up about 4 inches in some parts of the yard and my little peach tree is in pretty much full bloom.  It's been over 70F for the most part of 3 weeks now?  So a fake spring and now the cold returns this will affect the peach crop Im sure.  I traveled thru an orchard last week and the trees had that orange tinge to the limbs they get right before the set the bloom...it's a full 60 days early...Last yr my little tree bloomed and had a few peaches on it, but a late frost killed the fruit...this year it won't even get to set fruit...

That has to be the warmest December on record for us...2021.  I did finally see a flock of Chipping Sparrows....they have been staying north since it's been so warm.  AND speaking of birds moving...my sis the one birds in CO, she has been trying to see Rosy Finch since she moved there and finally yesterday it happened....an entire flock came to her HOUSE and fed on her feeders...She was on cloud 9 to say the least she sent me photos I was soooo jealous..and happy for her at the same time.  There was about 20 of them on the ground in her photo.  

My other sis is down in the dumps as Jimmy did not have a good day yesterday and she is wrestling with a decision one I had to make in April of 2020...my lovely little Casey.  I only had him 6 yrs as I found him wandering down the highway lost....he was an older dog with I found him probably 9 or 10...sis has had Jimmy since 2010 and she thinks he was about 2 when she adopted him... he is the age of my girls...the sisters now we reckon about 14. 

Casey began to have seizures every night about 8 oclock and then he was in that horrible postictal state for hours after...poor little guy I could not bare to see him suffer it was SO hard to make that drive and I nearly turned around several times, but I knew I HAD to do this...I HAD no choice. He was almost blind, he was pretty much deaf, he could barely move around and he was just old and tired and I wanted to ease his suffering and stop his pain. His pain stopped and mine began...as I had 3 solid years of grief.  I don't cry every single day anymore...but I cry at least 3 times a week...my x, my mom, my Casey...and now it seems it will be Jimmy.  

And I do think I will be the first sister to go....I will talk about that more in the upcoming weeks. 

On  a high note I made the perfect biscuit this morning.  I mixed up only ONE...and I gave it my full attention and it was delicious.  I was a glutton for gluten last week...I plan to show more restraint in the upcoming months. 

Day 1

ELL it's 2022 for real now...

As it turned out the movie I had planned to see was a stinker so I kept searching my Tubi list the one I create myself from their library.  I found one of Robert Redford's that I had never seen.  It was made in 2013, and the title is All Is Lost.  

If you haven't seen it I highly recommend it.  The story made me think of myself.  Why you ask? A stubborn old man who obviously was at one time quite able to think clearly and was physically capable to accomplish what he set out to do....but it all goes awry. 

I won't spoil it for you...Tubi is completely free to stream and I recommend it over Peacock, which is mostly free...I have not tried Red Box free stream movies yet.  I don't really do a lot of movies anymore, Im ready for bed earlier and earlier...

One thing that got me was what a horrible noisy New Yrs Eve it was here in my rural neighborhood!! ONE reason is people who don't live here.  The acreage across the road is owned by some rich lady who lives in TX she inherited it and she has no clue but she leases it out.  One year she cut timber and over cut on a piece of my plot that actually falls on the opposite side of the road...I attempted to contact her and she never responded. I was not sure how many trees they cut of mine, I called the Forestry Service and they sent out a man who to take my complaint....and he told me I  would have to hire a surveyor to have the line marked then have the trees counted by a forestry guy who would estimate the size therefore the value, and I just said "fect this" and let it go...

BUT now she leases to a guy who allows hunting and some of the people who come on there are there just to make noise and use the land like a target range which it is NOT..so at Midnight they began to SHOOT automatic weapons, Im always waiting on a bullet to come thru my wall or some shit...

Then this morning about 10 am someone was running a dog over there and yelling at the dog and shooting very close to me...SO I hollered
"stop shooting that damn gun"...There is a road they have created but it was chained and locked SO none of these people have a key to enter the land...this guy had parked on the side of the road and walked in....I left a note on his truck and got his plate number.  I feel like acting on this I wish she would stop leasing or remark the boundary where they can shoot...AWAY from the road since we live right on the opposite side of the road...You are not to shoot within 300 ft of someone's house but the damn guns  of today can travel way farther...I have lost all the contact info I had on the land owner, but I will go to the deeds and see if I can find out who it is...AND I think I will contact the Game Warden and complain about who ever has that lease allowing Target shooting, and people shooting so close to the road.  AND there at all hours of the night.  

Even when it's not hunting season they go there and shoot their damn guns.

I wish I knew I was gonna live longer if so I'd def sell out and move but to WHERE?? Fires in the west, Hurricanes in the deeper south, Snow and murders in the north, and here in the east....Redneck corrupt politics...Midwest Republican bible thumpers...SO out of the fire into the frying pan?

I think I have a problem health wise as well that I will talk about some other time..