In the garden, and RAIN!!!!
POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Thursday, December 25, 2025 04:27
VIEWED: 1005090
PAGE 374 of 1154
Just household kind of stuff ... there are a lot more scrub jays in the neighborhood than I anticipated! Because I've been sick I haven't been putting peanuts out for the crittrs, so this AM I finally managed to toss out several handfuls.
Well, I don't know who rang the breakfast bell ... I gotta say, it works better than our social media! ... but a bunch of ravens and FIVE scrub jays showed up for breakfast, as well as a yellow warbler (not a big fan of peanuts, I don't know why it showed up), a couple of squirrels and the usual mockingbirds.
Plus, our dog is in heat. We haven't spayed her because by the time she started living in our backyard and became ours she had already passed any possible reduction of risk factor for mammary tumor, and spaying would just increase the risk of urinary incontinence. So for the time being, she is a whole- if occasionally messy!- dog. But we have to put her in her carrier at night.and because she's so cold sensitive I put a bunch of rags in the bottom and a heating pad across the top along with a towel to hold the heat in.
I had to irrigate the entire yard yesterday (which meant I had to fix a couple of sprinkler-heads) January was such a bust rain-wise. I'll probably irrigate again tomorrow; better to deeply water less often.
And dear daughter and I managed to make eggs Benedict with Hollandaise sauce. She has been bugging and bugging and bugging me about it for months after she ordered it in a couple of local restaurants. I know she "hates fat" and despite the fact that I've told her many times that Hollandaise sauce is just a mixture of melted butter and egg yolks, we did manage to make a sorta-OK sauce to top the poached eggs/Canadian bacon/bagel and she wants to make it again.
Time for me to toddle off. I decongested and rinsed my nose thoroughly and inhaled all the meds I'm supposed to, taken all the pills and drunk all of the liquids* and I hope to god I sleep better than I have been for the past I don't know how long!
* This reminds me of the LAST big flu I had, literally right before my scheduled excisional biopsy. I was so sick, they canceled the surgery and my PCP worked mighty hard to get me helthy enough for the next time-slot: breathing treatments, two rounds of azithormycin, oral steroids, anti-asthma meds and shit I've even forgotten. I'm not sure any of that pushed my recovery forward faster than cough syrup, steam-breathing, and albuterol would have. Wondering if I have something a little different than asthma going on...
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
Happy New Year, WISHY. I edited out your psychopathic screed!
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
My energy levels are down and up, then down again. I'm way better than at the start when I wasn't sure I could help myself if I got any sicker. But I sometimes go to bed feeling like I have some energy, and the next AM I'm wiped out, and more than half the day is shot until I can manage to do something ... little. I try to do at least one little thing. But I too am falling way behind. And I noticed that my left lung isn't expanding much. So I try to do some deep inhales w/ pursed lip exhales from time to time during the day. And sometimes my lungs are quiet, sometimes wheezing, sometimes bubbling, and sometimes both.
Signy, you're probably in bed already, but I hope you sleep well, too. Goodnight.
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
I'm past the bubbling stage (I think). Possibly the meds really ARE doing something for me: Advair inhaler, montelukast pill, albuterol (inhaler, as needed), nasal rinse of budesonide and mupirocin, plus ... on my own ... cough syrup, nasal decongestant, humidification/steam breathing, and the occasional "gargle with vodka". Seems to have been helping. No longer coughing up green chunks from my lungs, it's mostly clear and thin, but I STILL feel a "catch" with every breath and occasionally uncontrollable spasmodic coughing. When I DO cough hard, I kinda get woozy. My thinking is super-fuzzy ... I keep forgetting where I put things etc.
Maybe you need a chest x-ray for pneumonia??? Make a same-day? Or go to a local urgent care? You might get some helpful meds from a doc; sounds like you could use some!
When you say "do something little", like .... HOW "little" do you mean? Yesterday I did three sinksful of dishes, threw peanuts out for the little critters, did a half-week's-worth of grocery shopping (but dear daughter put the groceries away), managed to do 20 minutes of weeding but didn't walk the dog except for a couple of trips across the street, and made beef, bean, and cheese burritos for dinner. Also, took a 2-hour nap!
I consider that to be VERY unproductive day. My previous night's sleep was shit and my energy levels were frustratingly low. How does that compare to your days? About the same?
Also, dear daughter is still coughing altho her energy levels appear to be better than mine, hubby is not coughing at all anymore and he's been woodworking (planing, sawing, chiseling wood to make a bed platform) for about a week so HIS energy levels appear pretty good.
Just trying to give you a metric on how we're all recovering so you can decide if you're making good progress or need extra help.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
Happy New Year, WISHY. I edited out your psychopathic screed!
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Hope you both feel better soon.
I'm taking the antibodies now. I was able to eat peanuts for the first time last night, so at least I'm at the point where I am able to eat anything I used to eat pre-surgery. Yesterday is the first time I didn't take any Tylenol before eating or going to sleep. I've barely been taking any, but I would still pop a 500mg pill before I ate the last few days.
I think I might call up one of my friends and go out for some chicken or steak this week or next depending on how I'm feeling about it. I haven't been able to eat either for years. I'll feel a lot better about all of this after a belly full of real meat instead of constant hamburger patties. 
Do Right, Be Right. :)
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Jeez...
How long? Everything okay now?
Do Right, Be Right. :)
Think it was about 5 minutes but yeah everything was alright.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Hey Brenda, I have a ?? about your apartment building: Does it have a sprinkler system? Does it have emergency lights? Clearly marked and lighted exit signs?
If no sprinklers, does it have TWO stairwells, on opposite sides of the building, that can be used to evacuate in case of fire? We just recently had a high-rise apartment fire that killed two people, and this building wasn't required to have sprinklers since it was an older one and was "grandfathered" in. About a dozen people were pulled off the roof by helicopter.
Which reminds me of that horrible fire in England, the Grenfell fire
So I hope you have several evacuation routes planned ... preferably to the ground floor because there's no assurance that anyone could be evacuated from a rooftop ... and an idea what to do next if one route is blocked. For example, if you start down one stairwell and encounter a lot of smoke, are you able to exit that stairwell, cross the building (touching and counting doors as you go if there's too much smoke to see) and access another one? Do you have a flashlight or three charged and handy? (Here in earthquake country we have one in every room, plus special battery-powered "nightlights" that plug into a socket and only turn on in the dark when the power goes out.) Look into it, grab your flashlight, walk the building and the routes even in the dark, make sure that the exit doors are unlocked (In some public buildings here you can exit into the stairwell but not re-enter into the building except at the ground floor ... that kinda makes an alternate evacuation route impossible to access) etc. Mentally prepare yourself, but nothing beats actual walk-thru practice, which will carry your thru in times of stress. Check it out, walk thru your plan a few times a year.
Other than that ... carry on!
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
Happy New Year, WISHY. I edited out your psychopathic screed!
There is a sprinkler system and stairwells that I can get to. Had to use one of them when the elevators were out a couple of weeks ago. I have small flashlights, I just have to put batteries into them.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
DANG! Signy, I had a whole long response that got 'et' by the website. But in sum - we started out at VASTLY different baselines! Your bad days are like 3 or 4 pre-flu good days for me. My left lung has already improved with breathing exercises and postural drainage. And overall, I've improved quite a bit. I'm probably at 70-80% baseline, but with - yanno - the frequent wheeze, occasional bubble, and of course some bouts of random coughing.
As for your cough-wooziness, you may possibly have 'cough syncope' (so called because some people actually faint after a prolonged bout of coughing), and it's caused by mechanical disruption of circulation to the brain due to coughing. Treatment is cough suppression.
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:Just to make sure I understand ... my post-flu "bad days" are like your pre-flu "good days"?
Originally posted by 1KIKI:
DANG! Signy, I had a whole long response that got 'et' by the website. But in sum - we started out at VASTLY different baselines! Your bad days are like 3 or 4 pre-flu good days for me. My left lung has already improved with breathing exercises and postural drainage. And overall, I've improved quite a bit. I'm probably at 70-80% baseline, but with - yanno - the frequent wheeze, occasional bubble, and of course some bouts of random coughing.
As for your cough-wooziness, you may possibly have 'cough syncope' (so called because some people actually faint after a prolonged bout of coughing), and it's caused by mechanical disruption of circulation to the brain due to coughing. Treatment is cough suppression.
If that's the case, you might want to see a doctor and figure out what's going on!
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
Happy New Year, WISHY. I edited out your psychopathic screed!
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:My mind is vastly relieved. Get those batteries next time you shop; preparedness never hurt anyone! Othere than that ... carry on!
SIGNYM: Hey Brenda, I have a ?? about your apartment building: Does it have a sprinkler system? Does it have emergency lights? Clearly marked and lighted exit signs?
If no sprinklers, does it have TWO stairwells, on opposite sides of the building, that can be used to evacuate in case of fire? We just recently had a high-rise apartment fire that killed two people, and this building wasn't required to have sprinklers since it was an older one and was "grandfathered" in. About a dozen people were pulled off the roof by helicopter...
So I hope you have several evacuation routes planned ... preferably to the ground floor because there's no assurance that anyone could be evacuated from a rooftop ... and an idea what to do next if one route is blocked. For example, if you start down one stairwell and encounter a lot of smoke, are you able to exit that stairwell, cross the building (touching and counting doors as you go if there's too much smoke to see) and access another one? Do you have a flashlight or three charged and handy? (Here in earthquake country we have one in every room, plus special battery-powered "nightlights" that plug into a socket and only turn on in the dark when the power goes out.) Look into it, grab your flashlight, walk the building and the routes even in the dark, make sure that the exit doors are unlocked (In some public buildings here you can exit into the stairwell but not re-enter into the building except at the ground floor ... that kinda makes an alternate evacuation route impossible to access) etc. Mentally prepare yourself, but nothing beats actual walk-thru practice, which will carry your thru in times of stress. Check it out, walk thru your plan a few times a year.
Other than that ... carry on!
BRENDA: There is a sprinkler system and stairwells that I can get to. Had to use one of them when the elevators were out a couple of weeks ago. I have small flashlights, I just have to put batteries into them.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
Happy New Year, WISHY. I edited out your psychopathic screed!
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
So, before I forget - last nite the power went out - not once, not twice, but at least three times that I know of. The first time I was still up. So I went felt my way to the window in total darkness, looked up and down the street - nope, no streetlights on ... no house lights on ... it's the neighborhood, not just me ... might was well go to bed. Then about an hour later I woke up and all the lights were back on - so I went around rebooting the DVR, fixing the clocks, re-starting the air cleaners, turning out the lights except for the couple I leave on - and I was in back in bed for no more than a few minutes when it went out, again. So I said to myself to hell with it and went back to sleep. Sometime later, I woke up and the hall light was back on, and I thought to myself, well, I guess I'll get to everything tomorrow. Woke up again and all the lights were back off, again. But I slept till pretty late, so if there were anymore ons and offs, I didn't track them. And when I got up this AM, the power was back on.
OF COURSE I couldn't go online last night to report or read information about the outage @ SoCalEd because ... no power. And when I looked today, it's as if it never happened.
Nothing happened ... nothing to see ... move along.
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME