USMB Coffee Shop IV

[gallantwarrior]

Went for another truck load of wood yesterday. A guy known to one of my co-workers has a bunch of logs he needs cleared off his property. I cut the smaller logs to truck bed length (about as much weight as I could handle) and the larger logs I cut to stove length. Now, I will have to start cutting, splitting, and stacking this stuff. I still have a bunch to cut into stove length and split right here, too. Wood for the winter is looking better than when this whole stroke/heart attack saga began.
It's been rainy and cooler, typical Alaskan fall weather. It makes work easier, as long as it's not pissing rain. There's "termination dust" on most all the mountains, too. As usual, I'm busier than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest, especially with all the added work that my partner usually does.
My brother has become enamored of the idea of buying a motor home and coming up here, at least for the summers. I'm encouraging him. He's also reassured me that he's ready and willing to come up to help whenever I can get the hip replaced. It's more like I'll need both hips replaced because now the left hip is starting to be a chronic pain.


Well, I sure hope all y'all are doing okay. May your pains be few and slight. In some ways, this is a family for me.

gallantwarrior


I'll take care of you while you mend.

They won't do both hips at once.

The docs will want you to heal and rehab from one before they do the other.

I've plenty of time on my hands lately.

Plus, the guys drank the dandelion mead and didn't share with me.

And I'm totally out of soap.

HELLO! Those bastages! I have a bit of triple-berry mead on bottles and will have at least one batch of sack mead bottled before I have surgery on my hip. I knew about not doing both at once but I am beginning to suspect I'll have to have an evaluation whether the left or right hip gets done first. If I had the surgery when I planned, it would have been the right hip. Now, the left hip is beginning to be a great pain and I suspect it's been deteriorating due to over-stress.
You come up, I'll teach you how to make soap. In the meantime, I have a bunch in storage. If you want more soap, PM me and I'll see to it that you get a supply. Let me check and see what I still have on hand.
How have you been? What have you been up to since our meeting on the beach? I'm guessing all your chicks have left the nest by now?
Lee

 

[gallantwarrior]

Looked good when I got up this morning, blue sky and sunshine. Now it's gray and bleak looking. At least it's not stink hot and impossible temps to work in.
I do have some inside work to get done, especially since I cleaned the stove. Now the curtains need washing because they've turned dingy gray from all the carbon emitted when I pulled down the stove pipes.
The goats are enjoying their newest shelter and will like it even better when I make the final improvements.
Good to see some old friends back at the CS.

 

[Lumpy 1]

Went for another truck load of wood yesterday. A guy known to one of my co-workers has a bunch of logs he needs cleared off his property. I cut the smaller logs to truck bed length (about as much weight as I could handle) and the larger logs I cut to stove length. Now, I will have to start cutting, splitting, and stacking this stuff. I still have a bunch to cut into stove length and split right here, too. Wood for the winter is looking better than when this whole stroke/heart attack saga began.
It's been rainy and cooler, typical Alaskan fall weather. It makes work easier, as long as it's not pissing rain. There's "termination dust" on most all the mountains, too. As usual, I'm busier than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest, especially with all the added work that my partner usually does.
My brother has become enamored of the idea of buying a motor home and coming up here, at least for the summers. I'm encouraging him. He's also reassured me that he's ready and willing to come up to help whenever I can get the hip replaced. It's more like I'll need both hips replaced because now the left hip is starting to be a chronic pain.
Well, I sure hope all y'all are doing okay. May your pains be few and slight. In some ways, this is a family for me.

Bro Lump says, drive the truck but hire some healthy teenagers to do most of the work (for cash) .. it's fun telling them what do and their cheap.. and speaking of cheap, it would be cheaper in long/short run ..

.. it's a good side business OP as well.

(200 acres.. that is cool, what kinda land?)
.

I've been trying to lure younger guys from work to help and now that fishing and hunting seasons are over, maybe they'll come out. In the meantime, I dislike the idea of dying ala "To Light a Fire". And hiring local teenagers any more is like inviting a robbery. Kids these days are too much out for an easy score than to earn their way, like we did.
200 acres of prime birch/spruce forest. It's like breaking virgin ground to establish a farmstead. I do like living rough. It was revealing when my citified brother came up for a month. He appeared to enjoy the labor but I wonder how long that pleasure would last if he had to do it day-after-day, year-after-year. This is definitely a dedicated lifestyle.

Wow, birch/spruce forest sounds great especially if it includes ponds, streams or a river. When you have 3 pretty daughters and a son there's no lack of cheap labor willing to impress I guess.

Other than a 19 year stint in the silicon valley we've always lived at least 1/2 hour out of town on forest or pastoral land. Personally.. I'm just not cut out for city living, non stop traffic and ignorant people.

 

[Montrovant]

I got a call last night (as I was going to bed) about a job interview. I go for that at 8PM tonight. It's probably going to cause a bit of havoc with my sleep schedule, but I'll take a nap before I go. I haven't gotten the promotion/job change at work yet, so I'll have to decide what to do if I'm offered the new job: take the new job, or tell my current job I have another offer and see what they'll do.

 

[Foxfyre]

I got a call last night (as I was going to bed) about a job interview. I go for that at 8PM tonight. It's probably going to cause a bit of havoc with my sleep schedule, but I'll take a nap before I go. I haven't gotten the promotion/job change at work yet, so I'll have to decide what to do if I'm offered the new job: take the new job, or tell my current job I have another offer and see what they'll do.

Fingers crossed that it is the job you've been hoping for Montro. If not, you don't have much of importance to lose by checking it out. Ya'll all kick some prayers and/or positive vibes his way for the next few hours.

 

[gallantwarrior]

Went for another truck load of wood yesterday. A guy known to one of my co-workers has a bunch of logs he needs cleared off his property. I cut the smaller logs to truck bed length (about as much weight as I could handle) and the larger logs I cut to stove length. Now, I will have to start cutting, splitting, and stacking this stuff. I still have a bunch to cut into stove length and split right here, too. Wood for the winter is looking better than when this whole stroke/heart attack saga began.
It's been rainy and cooler, typical Alaskan fall weather. It makes work easier, as long as it's not pissing rain. There's "termination dust" on most all the mountains, too. As usual, I'm busier than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest, especially with all the added work that my partner usually does.
My brother has become enamored of the idea of buying a motor home and coming up here, at least for the summers. I'm encouraging him. He's also reassured me that he's ready and willing to come up to help whenever I can get the hip replaced. It's more like I'll need both hips replaced because now the left hip is starting to be a chronic pain.
Well, I sure hope all y'all are doing okay. May your pains be few and slight. In some ways, this is a family for me.

Bro Lump says, drive the truck but hire some healthy teenagers to do most of the work (for cash) .. it's fun telling them what do and their cheap.. and speaking of cheap, it would be cheaper in long/short run ..

.. it's a good side business OP as well.

(200 acres.. that is cool, what kinda land?)
.

I've been trying to lure younger guys from work to help and now that fishing and hunting seasons are over, maybe they'll come out. In the meantime, I dislike the idea of dying ala "To Light a Fire". And hiring local teenagers any more is like inviting a robbery. Kids these days are too much out for an easy score than to earn their way, like we did.
200 acres of prime birch/spruce forest. It's like breaking virgin ground to establish a farmstead. I do like living rough. It was revealing when my citified brother came up for a month. He appeared to enjoy the labor but I wonder how long that pleasure would last if he had to do it day-after-day, year-after-year. This is definitely a dedicated lifestyle.

Wow, birch/spruce forest sounds great especially if it includes ponds, streams or a river. When you have 3 pretty daughters and a son there's no lack of cheap labor willing to impress I guess.

Other than a 19 year stint in the silicon valley we've always lived at least 1/2 hour out of town on forest or pastoral land. Personally.. I'm just not cut out for city living, non stop traffic and ignorant people.

The pretty daughter and two pretty granddaughters live on Okinawa with their Special Forces husband/papa.
I despise city living but I will not find the kind of money I earn at the state's biggest commercial airport. I am an aircraft mechanic specializing in Boeing aircraft so I go where the money is. My plan was to retire in November, until my partner had his stroke. Now, I am pretty much stuck until we stabilize the partner and his debts. I look forward to my simple life, though. I love living off the land, off-grid, etc. So many of these modern day folks do not understand what living "off grid" or without modern amenities really means. Fer chrissakes! I don't even own a microwave!!!

 

[gallantwarrior]

I got a call last night (as I was going to bed) about a job interview. I go for that at 8PM tonight. It's probably going to cause a bit of havoc with my sleep schedule, but I'll take a nap before I go. I haven't gotten the promotion/job change at work yet, so I'll have to decide what to do if I'm offered the new job: take the new job, or tell my current job I have another offer and see what they'll do.

You will be tested...Good luck!

 

[beautress]

Been having bouts of the blahs the past month or so. It would come and go and nothing seemed to set it off. Thursday morning at 4 AM I went to the ER. was admitted. Friday morning at 8AM I had another heart Cath. They found an older stent that was 80% blocked by scar tissue, I'm now told that was the problem a year ago May. So they tell me to keep doing everything I'm doing because I'm doing everything right. Still have some of the blahs but that could be sheer exhaustion from all the time in the hospital.

Did they unblock the blocked stent?

Probably something totally unrelated but up to a couple of weeks ago I was experiencing chronic fatigue and the blahs and worried that something was really wrong. But I got to thinking that Hombre and I had fallen back into a pattern of mostly piecemeal meals, not especially healthy ones, sandwiches and potato chips, and such. So I went back on my old regime of flax oil/ground flax seed smoothies for breakfast, cut way back on sugar, and upped my veggie intake. Within a couple of days the fatigue and depression were gone and I was feeling good. Can't fix the collapsed vertebrae in my back, but if that's all I have to cope with, I'm good.

Prayers up that your pain from the vertibrate goes away soon. Hugs.

Thanks but it is a permanent condition I fear. Not excruciating or incapcitating pain, but it does give me fits some days. Especially if I forget to take my hemp oil. Due to another problem that developed a few months ago, I can't take nsaids (Advil, Motrin, and such) anymore and that complicates things because those really knocked the pain in a hurry. And because of the propensity of addictions in my family, I steer clear of the ophiods as much as possible. But I'm learning other holistic methods to keep things under control.

Oh, Foxfyre, somehow I missed this post last night. I was beat on my feet and have a terrible case of asthma that just wipes me out late at night. I hear spinal surgery has had some major advances in the past couple of years and wondered if your vertebrae could be corrected in that way. I'm hoping and praying there could be some way of you getting spinal support in some way that would remove your need for painkillers so you could live and move in a pain-free way. You're one of the best people I know, and you deserve a life of pain-free living imho. I'm praying for a viable alternative that doctors can fix your problem, and spinal injuries are very central to our general well-being. I know, because while I was suffering the years I had screaming out loud pain 24-7-365 with fibromyalgia, the neural system can be compromised and lead to a lot of misery. And it's funny how the parathyroids, which govern calcium uptake wound up being the sole cause of my neural misfirings that lied to my brain about pain that was in a word, just crazy. I hope your physician will relay you to a good endocrinologist to rule out other issues, and if they can coordinate with the best of good surgeons that specialize in "back" or spinal problems. There is a reason your vertabrae gave out on you, and I'm praying that they can now fix it with lazer surgery, but first they will want you to go to an endocrinologist to rule out calcium distribution issues that are causing a failure of your spinal bones to heal. Forgive me for being stupid, you may have pursued this cure, or if you did long ago, it is likely there is a new procedure that can save you from a life of disability the likes of which I am a veteran of many years, and am partially back now due to the relief I got when 2 of 4 parathyroids that went bad were removed. It took a year after my surgery for all the bone spurs that had grown in places spurs oughtn't to be increasing my already horrendous load of pain. I adore you and want nothing but the best for you, Foxfyre, which is a life of wellness that you have furnished for so many other people through your outreach to seniors in your community and your online cheerleaders like me. I wonder if massage therapy in the right hands could help. I know when I can't walk well with my RA, I can still use the rowing machine at our local Iron Works. Your problem is different than mine, because the spine is where your problem is, and it is central in support issues, and only you know what you can and cannot do without pain. All of us here love you, and there is no one like you in this world.

Bless you my friend and thank you for all your kind words. If it gets to the point it is seriously interfering with my quality of life, I will consult another specialist, but it really isn't that serious or constant at this time, and I would rather not risk the complications that can come with invasive surgery. And neither my personal physician or orthopedic are suggesting anything radical at this time.

You on the other hand, have been to hell and back medically I know. Your fibro went away? At least that as a huge blessing. You yourself are a blessing.

As for your asthma, have you tried regional honey? One old home treatment for asthma is to boil 5 or 6 whole cloves in a cup of water, add a bit of ginger and enough regional honey to make it taste good, and sip. (Remove or at least don't swallow those whole cloves though.) And plain old black tea and coffee is supposed to be good too.

And many have reported that a modified Budwig protocol (flaxseed oil mixed properly with cottage cheese--the properly part is essential but I can teach you how) have done wonders for their asthma, allergies, psoriasis and other maladies.

Thanks for the remedy and kind words, Foxfyre. It works a little better than the prescription, and it's a lot pleasanter than I imagined it to be. I found some regional honey at the store the other day, since I was nearly out. I'm trying to figure out how much to use, because it's way sweeter than honey, but it enhances the spices very well. 1 tsp wasn't enough, and a tablespoon overrun was too sweet, so If I can get it right, I know it's going to help because even with the variations in sweetness those spices got rid of the temporary wheeze which is disconcerting because the high pitch is right there with mosquito noises, which I double dog hate.

Advanced age just isn't for sissies, is it. I've been meaning to get back over here to the Lounge to say hi to all the friends here. Tonight, I got back from Karaoke a little down. They cancelled future engagements to make room for a gift store. 16 of us left very disappointed after singing our hearts out. Plus, living on acreage in the farmlands of Walker County, almost everyone drives 20 miles to get there or more, from all points. Now, we don't have a common place to gather that isn't a church or a bar. 16 groups of people left the diner very disappointed, and we have no place to meet that doesn't cater to smokers, drug users, and drunks. The diner business in a tiny town must be very profitless to turn 16 groups of customers away, who will never go back due to the distance driven to get there and no reason to go back. Eh. The menu put them in the greasy spoon category anyway. lol (looking for reasons not to mourn the loss of my singing pals.)

 

[Dajjal]

I was woken up by a phone call saying illegal activity had been detected on my computer and I would be disconnected from the internet within 24 hours > it told me to press 1 to speak to a supervisor.

I figured it to be a scam so I hung up, but they called back four times in the following few hours. I checked the number each time, and each time the call came from a different number. I did not press 1 as I assumed it would switch me through to a high priced telephone line where some scammer would try an illicit more information.
So now I will have to wait 24 hours to see if my internet is disconnected.

Very wise Dajjal as it absolutely is a scam along with those telling you that your microsoft license has expired or the government is coming to get you because you owe back taxes or some such. And just about the time you think you know about them all, somebody comes up with a new scheme to scam us.

We should all be very wise about this and highly skeptical of anything on our computer or on the telephone or in our e-mail that seems odd or unusual.

I was stupid enough to fall for the Microsoft scam...once. Now, anyone calls with some bullshit claim, they get read the riot act and reported. It's amazing the lengths these people go to in order to steal your money. It must pay damned well.

They are persistent bastards, I will give them that. They have woken me up at 8am for the last three mornings.
I now regard them as my morning wake up alarm call.

 

[Foxfyre]

 

[Foxfyre]

 

[Foxfyre]

 

[Hossfly]

 

[Dajjal]

View attachment 282561

When I was a boy we had a Labrador and if we saw a spider we used to set the dog on it and she ate them.
Recently I saw a news paper article where a false black widow spider had bitten a man 5 times while he was in bed, and now he cannot walk. Black widows seem to actually hunt you down in bed and bite and poison you.

 

[Dajjal]

 

[Foxfyre]

 

[Foxfyre]

 

[beautress]

I think I finished the sailboat quilt today, and was I in for a surprise when I had sewn the last row! Somehow, 4 squares I was reserving for another quilt got placed as sails, which already had 5 rows for sales. That made it 6 rowsof sails, and the quilt is pleasantly longer, because while it's slightly oversized for a crib quilt, the extra row made it measure 70 inches top to bottom before adding 14 inches in borders all around. Tomorrow, I'll have to go for borders that make it 84" long, which is a great size for a tall boy or girl. I may reserve it for my home, because it will remind me to pay attention. <giggle> Once you get started on these little log cabin quilts, they are done more and more quickly using piecing methods that enhance the celerity of the work while still enjoying quality. So instead of having 17 sails, this sailboat will have 21 log cabin sails. The sky is a mix of all pastels, which I call "buttermilk skies." I drove to Onalaska this morning, visited the Livingston WalMart, where they had a lot of blues. I just always run short of log cabin blues, and I've made a dozen pink quilts this year, when it is time for blue.
Getting tired of this awful case of chest congestion from Asthma. At least the medicine doesn't make me sick any more. Thanks for the funny pictures, Foxfyre, Daajal, and Hossfly.

And prayers up for Monty's job, and all those experiencing health crises. Love yas!

 

[Hossfly]

View attachment 282689

Karate Kat!

 

[Mindful]

My shoulder is improving, albeit slowly. Helped no doubt by the warmth of the eastern Mediterranean sun. I'm living in the birthplace of Aphrodite right now. So many myths and legends have passed through this place.