by Judy Handley | May 22, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 142: Interesting Relationship
Date: Friday, May 22, 2020
Weather: Sunny, Still Breezy; High 63, Low 54 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I didn’t do much today other than just enjoy a beautiful day. Unfortunately, the lowered activity level resulted in more pain in my hips. Interesting relationship. You would think that the inflammation would like a day off with no activity, but not so. I have been taking notes since meeting with the physical therapist and on the days when I have been the most active, I have had the least pain. I finally got a copy of the x-ray report of my lower spine and it shows moderate degeneration of the posterior of the spine causing the pain in my hips. Whatever I did to aggravate this is just going to take time and proper exercise to heal. But evidently standing in the kitchen and cooking is not the kind of exercise needed. It does better with gardening and pulling kayaks out of the water.
I did spend time today focused on food. My weekly Misfits box of veggies was delivered this morning, so I spent time putting those items away and I made an order for an afternoon delivery from Rory’s Market to fill in the gaps. When it arrived, I spent more time putting things away and then delivering to Heather and Jed a few things that I ordered for them. They were both working, so I tried to slip in, quietly put things away, and slip back out. On the way home, I called the fish market and picked up some Pacific salmon curbside, drove home by the beach road just to check out the activity level and parking situation, and then came home to check on the chicken bone broth that had been burbling all day. I have been craving a piece of pumpkin pie, so I made that, and made creamy broccoli potato soup to use broccoli that needed to be eaten sooner rather then later. In between all of this, Karen and Peter Baranowski stopped by with their son and grandchildren who are visiting them for a couple of days. This is the first time they have been together since the COVID lockdown, so they are super excited to have them for the weekend. Karen wanted the kids to meet Shadow and then they went next door to visit with the aunties by waving to them through the floor to ceiling windows on their deck.
Tomorrow Heather and Jed are laying the wood flooring in Sam’s bedroom and I think the plan is for the boys to come spend the day here with me. There is an 80 per cent chance of rain tomorrow, so we might have to find indoor activities. There are at least three Woods Hole Oceanographic webinars I think the boys would enjoy watching, as well as the PBS series on water–H2O: The Molecule That Made Us. It aired in April, but it is still available to watch. I have watched the first episode three times and could watch it three more times. I had the boys watch a bit of the first episode when they were here yesterday and they were really into it. So, if it is raining, we can watch science programs. And if it is not raining, we have a long list of fun things to do outside.
by Judy Handley | May 21, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Log, Day 141: Electric Violin, More Kayak Krazies, Talking to Friends and Family
Date: Thursday, May 21, 2020
Weather: Sunny, but Cool with the Wind; High 57, Low 48 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Another great day with beautiful weather. Blue skies and sunshine is always welcome, but right now it is especially cherished. But it was a windy day and felt considerably cooler than yesterday although the thermometer read the same as yesterday. I went to pick up the Goldpebbles mid-afternoon to come over for another Kayak Krazies afternoon. We had fun, but unfortunately, it was just not as perfect as yesterday. That was mostly because of the direction of the wind and chill it left in the air. But the boys still had a good time trying their best to sink those kayaks.
Other parts of my day . . . when I went over to pick up the Goldpebbles this afternoon, Ollie was in the basement with Heather playing his violin. But for the first time, it had an electronic connection and it sounded fantastic. He was so excited to finally be electronic. Then this evening I spent a time talking with friend Lynne Kirwin who has been spending the last few months in New Zealand. She had planned to return to Michigan the first of May, but that didn’t happen, and it is still too early for her to make a return home reservation. Maybe by the end of July, but we will just have to wait and see how things play out. I also spent time talking to my sister Patsy in Nashville. She has not been out since the middle of March and is getting very anxious to go food shopping. She has plenty of food, but she is really missing the shopping aspect.
I did not get to the gardening tasks for today, but those seedlings are still growing in my plant window. Maybe tomorrow.
by Judy Handley | May 20, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 140: Kayak Krazies
Date: Wednesday, May 20, 2020
Weather: Sunny with a Cool Breeze; High 56, Low 40 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Another gorgeous day, and another day when I didn’t do what was on my agenda. But that’s okay as I enjoyed every minute of this unplanned day. My morning did go according to plan. I got up and took Shadow for a walk and then got ready for my physical therapy session on Zoom. The stretches Joe has me doing are a bit painful, but they seem to be making a positive improvement with my back issue. He upped the level of the back extension stretch I am to do every two hours. He is now calling it a ‘press up’ and it is more like a push up where your legs stay on the floor while you push your head and arched back upwards until your arms are locked straight. Then you exhale while holding the position and repeat nine more times. Like I said, it doesn’t feel great, but when I am done, the heaviness and pain in my lower back and hips is better. I am to continue this until next Monday when we meet again. We both laughed that we realized we will be meeting on Memorial Day. Like Joe said, in these coronavirus days, we really have stopped worrying about what day of the week it is.
Early this morning, I got a text from Heather asking if the boys could come over this afternoon so she could host her Wednesday webinar in peace and quiet. And, of course, I said I would love to have them. They had decided that they wanted to have a Nerf gun battle. I am not a Nerf gun fan, but I said okay as long as they followed the rules. They did and they had a great time. I had them set up a little fenced area for Shadow as I didn’t want him chasing and eating Nerf bullets and I sat with him inside the fenced area and read. When it was time for Ollie to go home for his weekly 4 pm violin lesson on Zoom, Sam and Jonah decided they wanted to stay and go kayaking. Well, they didn’t really want to kayak. They wanted to practice capsizing the kayaks and sinking them while playing in the water.
I’m figuring this activity is fulfilling their physical education requirements for school and teaching them a little physics while having fun. That was fine with me, so they stayed with Shadow while I took Ollie home. When I returned, the ‘Kayak Krazies’ began and they had a blast. It was low tide and they could literally walk in the water, so it seemed safe enough. They stood up in the kayaks and used them like paddle boards. They jumped out and capsized the kayaks and then rode on them and looked like they were riding on a whale’s back. Then they found ways to fill the kayaks with water and get them to sink. Heather brought Ollie back after his violin lesson and he joined in the fun as well. Heather and Jonah headed home around 6 pm to help Jed get dinner ready while Sam and Ollie showered. I didn’t get them home until almost 7 pm, just in time for a late dinner. They are all looking forward to returning tomorrow afternoon. The weather tomorrow and Friday is supposed to be even warmer than today and it will still be low tide in the middle of the afternoon, so it is a perfect time for Kayak Krazies. So much fun.
by Judy Handley | May 19, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 139: Glorious Weather Day
Date: Tuesday, May 19, 2020
Weather: Sunny and Breezy; High 59, Low 44 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was a gloriously beautiful, breezy spring day with blue skies and sunshine. My plan for the day was to do some gardening. I was going to work on getting my drip irrigation system up and running and then plant some seeds. So much for plans. That didn’t happen. But a good thing did happen and it was garden related. Before I went for my morning walk with Shadow, I got a call from Justin bringing me up-to-date on things in Puerto Rico. Where he lives in western Puerto Rico, they seem to be following the same guidelines as we have here in Massachusetts and stay-at-home is still in place. Justin is spending most of his time working on his computer. Jo is spending a lot of time in her garden. Ziggy is playing MineCraft with friends and enjoying being with them each day, even if it is online. Prior to Justin and Jo relaxing rules about online time, Ziggy was getting very lonely and really missing contact with his friends. This MineCraft group has solved his problem. And Coco continues to play dollies with her friends on Zoom. So, the days of living with the threat of the coronavirus are going along there just as they are here. After the call, I did go on my walk with Shadow and then I got a text from Jane Woodin asking if I would like to come dig up some Jerusalem Artichokes to plant here. These plants are perennials and they multiply like mad. You can eat the tubers of these artichokes, but the real reason for having them is that they have the most beautiful yellow flowers in late summer and into the fall. Jane always picks bunches of them and delivers them to friends to brighten their days. And those of us who have been the recipients of these beautiful bouquets have asked if we could dig some up to start on our properties. I tried transplanting the roots of the dried-up plants last fall, but none of those have come up this spring. So, I jumped at the opportunity to go over and get some to transplant. I ended up getting quite a few and it basically took me the rest of the afternoon to get them planted. Bruce also offered some hops vines, so I transplanted those around a tree so the vines could climb and I added a couple of the luffa sponge seedlings I have been growing inside, as they are also climbers. I didn’t harden them off first, so I hope they make it. But if not, I have 18 more seedlings to plant later. I did spend the day gardening . . . just not on the tasks I had planned. Maybe I’ll get back to that plan tomorrow. Thank you, Bruce and Jane for sharing. I sure hope these transplants make it! And after spending the entire afternoon outside in the sun and breezy conditions digging trenches in which to plant the artichokes, I am zapped. Time for bed.
by Judy Handley | May 18, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 138: PT and the GYWC
Date: Monday, May 18, 2020
Weather: Mostly Cloudy with Glimpses of Sunshine; High 56, Low 48 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Here’s your daily puzzle. What does PT stand for? Yes, physical therapy. And this morning I had my first ever PT assessment on Zoom. It worked great, but now I just have to hope that the new recommendations work. My physical therapist is a young man named Joe. He asked all the normal questions and he was able to watch me as I executed his directions for physical movement and record the responses. After an hour of assessment, he gave me his ‘prescription’ for activity for the next two days . . . until we meet again on Zoom. I have been using stretches and exercises for sciatic pain, but he wants to try a different approach. He believes the problem is either a herniated disc or simply a damaged disc or discs pressing on nerves in the lower spine–not just a pitiformis muscle issue. Basically, instead of pulling my knees in toward my body as a stretch as I have been doing, he wants me to arch my back in an extension. Laying on my stomach and keeping my pelvis on the floor, I am to raise my torso by pushing on my hands and straightening my arms. Ouch. It does not feel good and seems counter-intuitive, but he wants me to do these extensions every two hours during the day for two days. He thinks this will relieve the pressure I feel in my hips and the pain that goes down into my thighs. He left in place one sitting stretch I have been doing so that when the pain gets too bad, I can do that to relieve the pressure. Another thing he prescribed was never sitting with having a rolled up towel in the small of my back. This is like magic. When I lean back into the rolled-up towel, it throws my shoulders back and my posture is no longer leaning forward when working on the computer. It helps me sit straight up and it feels so good.
So that is the PT part of the puzzle. Now for the GYWC—the Goldpebble Yard Work Crew. My neighbor and landlady, Shirley, put out the call yesterday to have her lawn mowed. The man who owns the house next door to her is a landscaper up near Boston and only comes to the house next door on weekends during the summer. But he sends a landscaping crew to do the lawn anytime needed. When Shirley’s husband died in 2015, he started doing her yard as well. And when I moved here, they also did my yard. But the house was put on the market last fall and the landscapers have not returned this spring. Shirley’s grass was getting very tall. Her niece and my friend Karen Baranowski suggested to her yesterday that maybe my grandsons would like to take on this job. And indeed, they did. Heather delivered the crew, the lawn mower, and the weed whacker at 1:45 this afternoon and they worked at break neck speed for the next hour and 45 minutes. Sam was in charge of mowing the grass, but all three boys were given a chance to do some mowing. Jonah was in charge of trim work with the weed whacker and Ollie was in charge of dragging a tarp laden down with grass clippings from Shirley’s yard to the hillside going down to the water in my side yard. That is where the clippings have always been dumped, so we just continued the tradition. Ollie also used the hand clippers to trim back briars and bushes in various parts of Shirley’s property. The Goldpebbles were a lean, mean crew! They worked together to get the job done and the result looked great. They are interested in doing this for Shirley all summer if the landscapers don’t return. After talking to Shirley, I let them set their own fee. They thought it through and came up with a very reasonable rate. I am calling them the Goldpebble Yard Work Crew, but they might come up with a different name. This evening I asked Jed to help them learn how to do a computer invoice to make the whole affair official. That way I can pay them when they do the job and then we will invoice Shirley and she will pay me. I hope this works out for the boys as it is a great way to nurture the work ethic. And maybe we can further the experience by having them keep track of their earnings and how they spend the money. Then it will also be an economic lesson as well.
by Judy Handley | May 17, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 137: Goldstones Over for Dinner
Date: Sunday, May 17, 2020
Weather: Partly Sunny, A Little Cooler; High 53, Low 46 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It was one of those slow and easy Sundays. Shadow and I spent the morning together walking in the sunshine and playing in the yard. Then at noon, I went into town to resupply my dwindling beer supply by ordering ahead and doing curbside pick-up. And from there I went to see what the Goldstones were up to and to invite them over for dinner. I had a bunch of laundry that I needed to pick up, mostly towels from kayaking and car washing yesterday, and I decided to take the laundry baskets of the Goldstones’ unfolded laundry home with me to do that for them. Fixing dinner took more time than I thought, so I didn’t get the job done in time for them to take their clothes home with them tonight, but they are now folded and ready for delivery tomorrow morning. Heather and Jed are still spending their weekends working on renovation projects, so relieving them of laundry folding is my contribution.
Yesterday Sam got his new bedroom splatter painted and he was a happy 13 year-old showing off the results to me today.
This evening I did a repeat of last week’s dinner, hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill, added some marinated veggies, and once again made those 40-minute hamburger buns that have become a favorite of the boys. That was about it for today. Tomorrow morning I have my online physical therapy appointment for my back. The prednisone that I am taking is keeping the pain in control and keeping me moving, but somehow I’m not sure anything has changed. I still get shooting pains with certain movements. I have to take the prednisone for six more days. Once I stop taking that, I’ll find out just how things are doing. But I am just grateful that for now, I am able to do most things without too much pain.
