06-27-2012

  I passed my first test the last couple of days and learned to take breaks and was able to keep up stamina. It wasn't my old pace but better than I've done in a long time. Peanut Beans are small, hence the name and I managed to pick the two 100 foot rolls in two days. The days were cooler and its suppose to be extremely hot for a few days, so I had some incentive. I started yesterday at 8:30am and quit at 8pm, today 9am until 3pm and I was done. I had to wrap the right knee, but that wasn't unusual, had to do that a lot at UPS years ago. For new drivers, listen to what they say. Put the packages on the steps, go outside the package car and walk around, then pick them up. It may look macho to Geronimo out with the package today, but it don't look so macho a few years later. Anyway, It was about 3 bushel of beans. I'm still standing, sorta, lol.

  Megan is breaking them and Denise is canning them. For as much as I love green beans, think it will be a while before I eat anymore. Bobbie had Mark ask for a mess to cook, they never ate any before. She is suppose to come to get them tomorrow. Tickled Megan and Denise not to have to break and can them. She has 42 qts so far and what they have broken now will do between 7 and 14 more quarts, plus there is another 7 + unbroken, we have more than enough to share... and then some.

  I watered the beans and corn for 3 1/2 hours after picking, the other four rolls are coming in, but the corn is not doing well it appears. If it don't, the cows will eat it. The other beans are growing on homemade trellises, no bending as much.  picked the chili peppers snd divided them between Patel and Roma,

So tonight  filly fall asleep. Megan had a boy over his name is Jacob, He said he liked it. We will see.. For now, bedtime    

   

06-2502012

Morristown Dental got my tooth back in this morning, so I'm back online again in the eating part. I teased them and told them I'd put Gorilla Glue on it again, but I didn't. Afterward I went and signed up at a Gym on East Morris Blvd, turns out my insurance pays for it and it's called the Silver Sneaker Plan. It seems only yesterday I was young, now I'm a Silver Sneaker?

 I took a chance and went by Don and Barb's home, they were there. Barb was sitting on the back porch and Don with her. They still hold hands. Barb has lost some weight but she is still ahead of the curve, and that's what counts. As always, she is in a good, positive mood, Don is as well. She has some more to go and the cancer is responding. Barb is a fighter. Her throat sounds a little better but she too has lost her saliva glands. The Biotene she says works great. I've seldom seen few couples with this deep of love and devotion. Please keep them in your prayers.

  I hear tonight, through another party that another good friend Tommy has his back. They said UT sent him home with Hospice. Please keep them in your prayers. They are excellent people too. I need to go see him.

  We have 21 qts of Peanut Beans done and I start again picking them. They are small and low, and it takes a while to get them. Maybe just a row next year instead of two. I haven't put my best into the gardens this year, but they have done well all things considered. Next year, God willing, I'll move things around a bit. As soon as these are done, and the weather is pretty, we're heading to a picnic in the mountains.

  Next week Misty will be 33 and the next week I'll be 52. I was 19 when she was born. Where does time go...     

6-21-2012

  Denise filled me in on what the dizzy spells could be coming from, a side effect of one of the meds that I've taken since the heart attack. She usually is a walking drug book and maybe just didn't think about it. Then again maybe I didn't mention it to her. :) The last time I did I had a high BP and got the second pill and another heart cath a few years ago. 

  This morning while brushing my two teeth that hold the bottom partial in, well, actually my only two teeth, the right one came out. Thats the one that keeps coming out but the night I decided to kiss the tile in the bathroom it felt kind of funny. I called the dentist and guess what, they won't be back until Monday. Fortunately the rod came out too. I'm not sure how long it's suppose to be but it looks kinda long. I also feel asleep one night before the fall with my teeth in, and I use to grind my teeth when I sleep.

  I've battled back and forth on what to do with it until then. I can put it in the partial then slowly made the rod go in the hole and as long as it ain't sticky I can eat and all works well. Doc said they might not work when we discussed doing them with the lack of saliva. I got up early and picked Peanut Beans until the heat came then me and Megan took ours and mom's trash off, went to get cat food, then to TSC. Ran up to the Dollar General to get some Gorilla Glue. Went back out and repaired my goof on the repair on the lawn mower, added another sprinkler and attached it. Then it was almost 9pm and Denise had supper ready, the Peanut Bean left over from the run with Potatoes and Bacon to flavor it. Watched Swamp People and then I realized that if I glue the rod back in with Gorilla Glue it wouldn't have time to set before I feel asleep, and I'd really not want to awaken to one tooth tomorrow.

  I'll wait until tomorrow, pick beans early, lack one more side of the Peanut Beans (only ones ready now), then when the heat starts I'll come inside and line up and glue it back in, I'll have to be careful not to glue it to the partial. I may though wait until Monday. The tooth break is under the gum line and It will be hard to get it glued back in without risk of gluing it all together, plus the glue will probably burn a tad. If this thing will stretch out until my insurance resets I think I'll have the two pulled and a denture made.

  The throat is doing good, even with the poor air quality they keep talking about and the heat. I've ditched the hat since my hair covers the back of my neck and I wear a Bandana rolled and tired around that covers most of it. I think slowly the effects of the radiation are weakening, plus I'm a little more careful by observing the UVB hours and taking more breaking or working in the shade after 1pm when they become UVA. As of today, I take my thermos with me outside and drink just water, no soft drinks when outside. Seems less is needed, plus I throw some ice in it and there is a faucet or water-hose always somewhere close when I need a refill.

  Just one more side of a row to go on the Peanut Beans, 100 ft, and I get a break from them for about a week, then the other four rows will start about a week after that, half white runners then greasybacks. Denise got 7 qts canned tonight and Megan is breaking tomorrows tonight for another run. Tomorrow Denise will do Bread & Butter Pickles and another run of Peanut Beans. I'm slower than I use to be by a long shot but stamina is slowly coming about. I've learned to not set as high a goal or at least try and not get too frustrated when I don't get a lot done. I think I'll be here the exact amount of time that I'm suppose to be, and I think I'll be around just long enough to get whatever it is that I was put here done.

  One weekend we are going to get on the bike, swing by and get some KFC and head in the mountains, towards Cherokee, NC or Cling's Dome, Cades Cove, who knows, maybe all three. Pull over along side the road and have a picnic. Walk around a bit until the feeling comes back in our butts, then ride some more. Make a few more memories because life is a terrible thing to waste.   

06-19-2012

Today I finally got the dizzy spells caught... I think. I rebuilt the deck on the riding mower and broke the belt. Totally my fault since it was obvious that Noah probably used this thing way before I got it, plus I ain't been easy on it since I've had it either. :) Nobody here has the belt so I went on Amazon to order it and while I was looking I hit a major dizzy spell. Double vision and a tired feeling come and go at random, sometimes a lot and sometimes days apart. This time I was sitting at the desk and it hit me to grab the blood pressure machine and check. The spell was almost over by the time I thought to do it and got it strapped on. The BP was low at 107/70 and that was at the end of the spell.

   I'm not sure what brings them on. I had been outside fixing the lawn mower. It was hot but I used air tools, so it wasn't like I was straining. I wasn't stressed, I kinda expected it to break, just too cheap to buy one when I bought the other parts. A lot of times they hit while I'm driving and I've learned to close one eye to lessen the double vision, that usually helps. On the bike I pull over to the side of the road if it goes on for a while or gets too hard. I've had these since before my heart attack in 05, then they stopped, now they're back, have been for quite a while. No pain involved, sometimes fatigue and sometimes not. Strange. Tonight my BP is 116/85. We've still left off the one BP med and that also took care of the need for a Potassium supplement, which Denise gave me because it was a diuretic. The neck seems frozen in time, tonight's back pop didn't do anything. I went back to 5mg of Prednisone from 10 as the swelling seems to be better. Tonight I started eating smaller portions to hopefully lose weight. Between that and picking beans next week maybe my feet will come more into view. :)

     

06-16-2012

  Been a while so I thought I'd update. First off, Happy Fathers Day.

  The discs are slowly going down and I can turn my head a little easier now. My nose is about healed and the forehead is getting close too, can't beat that. I got one more muscle relaxer left I'll take tonight and then get Denise to pop me again. I thought I'd really messed up yesterday when I got on the tractor, bumpy ride. I helped Mark move a building Hosea gave him with the front end loader, then helped him unload it. He used his John Deere and I used our Massey Ferguson. My blood pressure has stayed normal without the extra blood pressure pill, so I get to cut that and the Potassium supplement. 2 down, 6 to go.

  I spent the last two days though healing from a supper Denise fixed where she put 6 (I think she said) Garlic cloves in the meal. Major acid reflux, so I've upped the Prednisone to 10mg until the swelling goes down. Too much of a good thing ain't good no more.  I'd say pain level last night was at about 8. Swallowing is all but impossible and I'm guessing that is why what little saliva I have quit, maybe even the headaches that still linger, but I've had them since I kissed the floor that night.

  I've laid low for the last few days, except for the trip to town twice now. I've gotten some funny looks, so I point to Denise and say, "I thought she said get up." Tomorrow maybe I'll work a little more in the garden and fix the lawn mower, I busted the housing that turns one of the blades mowing the barn lot, should have used the bush hog. Tonight Denise is making Bread & Butter pickles, first batch. Soon will be the Peanut Beans to can. Squash is ready to pick again too and in a week the Garlic will be cured. I'm watering every other day now. It's so dry the trees are still fighting over the dogs.

06-11-2012

   Went to see Dr Schindler today and let him check me out. I didn't remember to do the blood work, it was nice enough for them to see me as a walk in. He said that what it sounded like I experienced was pretty common after taking my B.P., which was low. He said that probably what had happened was I blacked out from a B.P. drop. The fix for that is when I wake up and before getting out of bed, I need to make a fist and he showed me how with both hands. He said like milking a cow, about 10 times to tell the heart that my body would be moving and kind of like an alarm tell the heart to increase blood flow.

  He prescribed some meds to ease the pain and relax the muscles from the swelling of the discs in my neck. I think the pain ones though were more or less from the gashes on my nose and the hide took off on my forehead, which really don't hurt that bad. I got Dr Jaynes to adjust my glasses today too. A friend of his fell on concrete the same day and they were unplugging him, so it was fatal. So I'm fortunate. I didn't get all the blood cleaned up off the floor like I thought but I didn't get any on the rug, thank God. I can turn my head some tonight but it's gonna take some time to heal. Meanwhile I look like an India guru that a drunk colored the dot all over my forehead. :) 

  The same day also my oldest grandson Josh wrecked on a slip stick? Something like that. He road burnt his knees, hips, and arms, plus broke his wrist and arm. He seems in good spirits. This boy is like all the other grandkids and totally positive. His luck on injuries though I think are inherited or that's what Misty says, lol. Josh said he got to pick the color of his cast and a full recovery is expected. He is a little daredevil and says he will ride whatever that thing is again.  

06-10-2012

  We went to the beach this week and I wondered how the throat would do in all that sun, we didn't have to find out. We got to spend one and a half days out of five from the rain. I enjoyed watching the ocean from the balcony though, and that was ok too, maybe better. Between the Prednisone and Mt Dews, and eating like a pig, I had another worry too. I figured people would throw water on my and try to roll me in the ocean, lol. Luckily the weather people there do the same drugs these do here and missed the weather altogether. Funny, we got mountains and that makes the weather unpredictable and they have flat land and ocean and that makes the weather unpredictable. Dry, Wet, Flat, Hilly... that pretty much covers the whole earth, lol.

  The gardens have done well so far, some things grow better one year and not the next but by far quicker than I can keep tended. It sounds weird but neither the heat nor the cold agree with the throat after cancer. It gets too hot or too cold it makes it hard to breathe. I wear a large straw hat and a bandanna around my neck and when I mow or bush hog I wear it like a mask. It doesn't make it perfect but better on the next day. I worried that I couldn't keep up this year after the episode but with Megan and Denise's help so far so good. We had a baby Donkey born, first ever here, all ears and legs and Denise has named him Jesse. Megan has two keets she is raising after the mom was killed. I think she has prefers them over her ducks, which are about half grown. Keets are hard to raise and hopefully at least one will be a female.   

  Once again between 4-4:30am I awoke, went to the bathroom and fell. After the stairs event I keep at least one Sierra Mist and Mt Dew upstairs, figured that would eliminate the injuries. I figured wrong. I fell in the bathroom and lucky for me my face caught the wall and tile floor. It knocked me silly. I felt the right side give and boom. Funny, I rolled over and laid there for a moment to think out my options. Megan was in bed and she sleeps without her hearing aids, Denise is on the other end of the house. So I thought I'd yell for help, except I can't yell. Option one is off the table. So I thought I'd lay there until I could get my wits about me, the messed up two discs in my neck were causing intense pain as they swelled. That optioned ended when I felt blood go down my face and into my eyes. I figured that if I got blood on Denise's rugs I would be dead, or wish I was, lol. So I got up and grabbed some Kleenexes and wiped the blood out of my eyes and face, then off the floor. I looked in the mirror to see the damage, then woke Denise up. I had worn my glasses to bed and she picked them up in 3 pieces and cleaned up blood I had missed. So today I've stayed still, watched some TV, heated and cooled my neck, and just chilled. If it's no better by tomorrow I may go to the Schindler, but today I saw no reason to go to the E.R. I think it's probably time for blood work anyway, might as well kill two birds with one stone.