Category Archives: Health

Hungry

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I went to the dentist today. I had deferred the appointment, to rejigger some loose fillings, twice, so I needed to get there. I got a reminder call yesterday that the appointment I thought would be at 12:50 was for 11:50.

I had a meeting set up that was shorter than I expected, since I had to end sooner than planned to make it to the dentist. That worked out fine. We were done early anyway. I raced to the dentist, risking speeding tickets as I went 35 in a couple of 25 MPH zones. Still, I was several minutes late. Then I had to wait around for a while, first in the waiting room, and then in the chair (where I learned that Novacaine hasn’t been used for about 50 years, that now they use other drugs, like Septacaine, that Novacaine is a brand name that everyone bandies about for various similar numbness drugs, and that Septacaine contains Epinephrine–no wonder I was shaking like a blender).

I had eaten at about 10:00. I left the dentist at about 1:00. I couldn’t feel crap in the left side of my mouth. I literally could have had crap on my face and I would not have known. Luckily, my glance in the mirror revealed not even a bit of shattered filling when all was over. But the numbness meant I couldn’t eat for a while.

The dentist suggested a milkshake. We were almost out of milk. I wouldn’t have enjoyed that anyway. Who wants a milkshake with a numb tongue? I had some cereal at about quarter to five. That was a bad idea. The numbness was mostly gone and soreness had replaced it. Every crunch was uncomfortable, so I let the cereal soak for a while. In the small pool of milk I eked from the jug.

At 5:00 I had to leave for an evening meeting. I didn’t eat much today. I am still hungry. On my drive home the only thing I had with me were a couple of caramels. Given the fresh fillings in my teeth, I figured they would have been a bad choice.

If the pears are ripe, I will go with that. My wife did bring home some milk so maybe the milkshake idea can still work. I will need to wait until the children are fully asleep, however. In our open house, a blender at bed time would be worse than caramels with new fillings.

Or maybe I will just make the chocolate Santa right next to the computer go down. At least that would be a start.

Rough Day

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At 1:00 AM I woke with the thought that I had missed a presentation I was supposed to, well, present, on Saturday.  Sunday night is a bad time to remember such a thing.  Saturday morning would be much better, at least for me.  So I descended the stairs in the dark, checked my calendar and, ouch, I had indeed missed it.

My brain was already spinning, and I hadn’t gotten much sleep, so at that point, forget it.  I read for a while, did a few crossword puzzles, and lay awake cursing myself.  It wouldn’t have been so bad if a whole crew of students and parents were not waiting for me to show up, but they were.  I called the guy with whom I had coordinated things and he was forgiving.  He was more forgiving than me, that’s for sure.

After a while we all went skiing.  I forgot my spouse”s skis.  Great.  One of us can’t take both the children on the ski lift, since they both still need assistance.  So I took our daughter while the other two farted around.  We only took one run before my daughter was tired and cold and wanted to quit.  This was because I had dropped a ski pole from the lift and had to walk uphill to get it. No one helped us out with that.

I went for a run this afternoon.  I had eaten two slices of toast and a muffin.  Oh, I did have a couple crackers.  No sleep and little food.  I was out of energy pretty quickly.  I put in a few miles, and it was beautiful, but I was tuckered and brain wouldn’t shut off.  Too tiring.

Friends are coming for dinner.  I have soup well underway (potato leek) and fresh bread just about ready to hit the oven.  Hopefully that will all work out.  I need something to call good today.  Sheesh.  I’m getting senile a little early.  Those crossword puzzles aren’t doing the trick, but maybe doing them at 2:00 AM doesn’t count.

I am hoping tomorrow offers better luck.  Otherwise, I will need to conclude that something is wrong.  My confidence is taking some blows lately (I forgot a couple of other important meetings earlier this week as well).  It won’t be long now before I turn into a grumpy old man.

Running In Icy Wind

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Earlier in the week I bagged going for a run, even a short one, because the time I had to do it was too cold. I don’t necessarily regret not going. It was ten below and breezy. I just wimped out. But I wasn’t going to do that again today.

It was much warmer than the last time I tried to make the decision to run, two days ago. It was 18 degrees warmer in fact. Of course, this meant it was only 8 degrees, and the wind was whipping. It was a frostbite kind of run I was looking toward.

I went despite the chill. I wore some layers and stretched and just went out there. I still am not going all that far. I went about five and a half today. I ran fairly quickly, to keep warm, and to just get on back to the house. But it was slippery. Road salt hasn’t done much of anything for several days now. Some sand had been spread on the road, but still, my traction could have been better.

My pace was average, even though I tried to go faster. I had the wind to slow me down, plus the slipperiness, plus some hills. A couple of times I had all these at once. Moreover, I was cold. My muscles were not exactly loose like they are on a summer day. I had to move quickly to keep limber.

My chief worry was frostbite on my face. I thought about wearing a neck gaitor to cover my face, but that would have meant that I was likely to get too warm. Getting too warm means sweating, and sweating can lead to hypothermia on day like today. If I had to slow down of stop (twisted ankle, knee pain, what have you) I would get too cold too fast. It turns out my own rising heat kept my face warm enough.

So I got out there and had a solid run today. I only got out two days this week, thanks to my fear of the cool weather (the temperature rose to 11 today, the highest and the first double digits since Tuesday). Maybe tomorrow I can squeeze in a few miles. It may get up to the teens again.

How can I wimp out then?

Baking Bread

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Fresh Bread, Baby

Fresh Bread, Baby

Last night my wife and I sat down (and stood around, and paced) and talked about our finances. We are in fine financial shape overall. When we look at how we can immediately cut out expenses, there isn’t much that jumps out in the no-brainer category. We don’t have cable or satellite television. Our electric bill is low. We get a discount on the oil we use. We keep the thermostat at about 62. The price of gas is low. Still, we feel like we need to balance things better.

Our conversation about bread make me think about bread, if you know what I’m saying. One area we might cut expenses is our grocery bill. We don’t spend a fortune on frozen dinners or junk food. The problem is that we want quality. I was raised with the knowledge that teh generic or store brand version of a product is the same as the name brand, and this was and often is true. But I have entered another league since those days. I don’t want just the whatever, GMO, artificially colored, high-trans-fat margarine. I want the local, all natural butter. It tastes better and it works better when cooking.

I know we could save money if we were willing to compromise on quality, but I am determined not to do that. I buy Green Mountain fair trade coffee, and that is a compromise of sorts. I prefer that to Maxwell House by a long shot and I know that it has benefits far beyond my budget. I also don’t want to pay for coffee in a paper cup every day. When I bake bread, I know it will be better bread with good flour and butter and even salt. Quality matters.

I also know I trade time for money. I could buy a five dollar loaf of bread, or I could bake a loaf of bread. The freshly baked homemade loaf is just as good if not better but takes more time. I just popped a loaf of bread out of the oven that I started this morning. A few hours of work means some damn good food and a big savings. If I can take the time to make what I eat, I will save money and have quality grub.

For dinner we will have fresh bread and fresh soup. That is good stuff. Yes, it takes time. I need to make time when I have it to prepare so I can eat well every meal, not just boil up some pasta because it is quick. I need to whip up dinner in a hurry sometimes when the children and I get home late. Prepping in advance can help us eat sooner and still eat well.

Maybe that should have been a New Year’s resolution: eat even more freshly made food for taste, health, and the the old pocketbook. I suppose I can make it one now. Bread once per week? That might be doable. I’ll have to see what I’ve got for time, as soon as I finish eating this pasta.

Avian Eats

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I put up the bird feeders a little late this year.  Usually we get them up right around the time of the ground freezing solid.  Those little flittering creatures must have a harder time finding treats once things freeze up, right?  I know, of course, that this is not really true, but it provides a good reason to get the feeders out.

I managed to get them out last week, before the new year turned.  At least I can say I hung them in December.  I only hung two as the peanut feeder (a wire mesh tube made for nuts) seems to be missing.  Maybe the squirrels broke into the garage and carried it off, hoping to crack its secrets.  Of the two out there now, one contains sunflower seeds and the other contains thistle.

Today the birds finally discovered them.  They were some forlorn food offerings for a few days, but now the chickadees and finches and titmice can once again revel in the easy pickings.  Of course, once the blue jays move, those hogs, we will have to refill more often.  For now, however, we can watch the little dudes hop about in the cold without the bright blue bullies in the cafeteria.

I bought the sunflower seed at the hardware store.  We had the other seed left over from last year (it wasn’t and isn’t as popular, clearly).  I picked up a 25-pound bag and started walking to the counter but then realized that that was, to be kind to myself, stupid.  A 50-pound bag would save money, would last longer, and would mean one fewer trip to the hardware store.  Duh.  So I borrowed a cart and hauled it to the car.

Using the cart didn’t stop by back from aching a few days later.  Maybe it was moving the furniture.  That may have helped.  I think it was taking the foam pad off our bed.  Really, who cares?  The point is that I need to at least be careful when I haul around large bags of avian eats.  While I sit her with my sore back, I look out at the feeders, doing their job of supplying our feathered neighbors with vittles.

Here is to good health as well as to seeing all kinds of interesting antics from our dinosaur progeny in 2009.

Resolutions?

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I have never been one for New Year’s resolutions.  I have thought about the idea of them.  As in, “Now would be as good a time as any to set some goals for myself so maybe I should.”  But that idea has never really panned out, turned into action.  So here we are again at the turn of the year.  Good old 2009 has begun.  Should I make some resolutions this year?

So here goes with a brainstorming session on what I might resolve to do.  We’ll start with the classics and see if any of them fit me.  One of the most common resolutions, or so it seems to me, is to lose weight.  I guess I could lose a few pounds but I feel pretty solid, so to speak,  in that area.  I suppose I could cut down on candy but that will happen with the natural cycle of saying goodbye to the holidays.  And other foods to cut out?  Well, I did make a cheesecake yesterday, but once that’s gone I probably won’t make another for a year.  So much for food.

Another typical resolution is to quit smoking.  I wish my brother and sister would quit smoking, those addicts, but I can’t change them.  I don’t smoke, so that one is out.  Exercise more?  I have been getting the runs in and I plan to do a lot more but I don’t need to resolve to do that.  Join a gym?  Waste of money if you ask me.  So healthwise I think I am OK.

How about feeding the brain?  We get only one channel on television so I can’t really cut down much on the boob tube.  I read a lot of news.  I listen to all kinds of books when I am in the car.  I could read more books, the paper kind I mean.  How about I go with that one?

Resolution one:  Read more books, especially in view of my children.  No, that’s too vague.  How about:  Read at least one good book every month so my children can see that I am doing so.

I like my job so I don’t need to find a new one.  I already am in the process of doing a better job.  I am not too concerned with making a lot more money.  I spend a lot of time with my children.  I like to hike and I could do more of that, I suppose.  Dang, this is tough.  I make goals, but those are more fluid, arising with whatever situation I might encounter and wherever I find myself.  This seems a little forced.

So maybe this is why I haven’t made New Year’s resolutions in the past.  I don’t feel that I need to and if I am going to make goals I don’t tend to do it at an arbitrary time like January first.  Or maybe it is because I have too much champagne and then my mind is too fuzzy to think about that.

But I’ve got one resolution.  I will start right now, the first day of the new year.  Once I am done here I will grab the book I just got from the library and get started on a good story.  I guess I could narrow it down a bit further and just say that I resolve to this day read at least a few pages in a good book.  Since the high temperature today was nine degrees, it is a good day to make that happen.

Happy New Year from this freezing town in northern Vermont.  And happy reading to you, too.

CTD Round Two?

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It looks like, now that three out of four of us seemed to have escaped the illness that beset us this week, my daughter may be coming down with it.  The waking up moaning in pain is clue number one.  The half-asleep cries of “my belly hurts” and “I don’t want to throw up” are the next clues.

Ah, we thought she would escape it.  I suppose she may feel ill because she ate too much candy.  Or maybe she has some other intestinal woes.  Could be, right?  But, really, who am I kidding?  She’s going to toss the cookies tonight.  It is just a matter of time.

Unless she fights it off.  Could happen.  But it looks to be another long night.

I hate to see my sweet kid in agony.  Maybe she, like myself, will appreciate the benefit of a cleansing by vomiting.  My guess, however, is that that ain’t happenin’.

Get ready, plumbing.  We’ll be calling on you tonight.

CTD

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That is the way I felt a couple of nights ago.  As I spent some time preparing details for my school trip the next morning, my gut started to speak to me.  It wasn’t providing a soliloquy on the merits of the meager dinner I had just consumed.  It wasn’t philosophizing on my eating habits.  It was poking me with a stick and shouting obscenities.

After I went to bed I did not stay in it long.  I rolled around and rolled around.  Eventually I was up and emptying my innards.  I got to know the plumbing fixtures, at least one of them, quite well.  We had some conversations, the toilet and I;  first I made some rather loud utterances, then it responded with a rather consistent flushing sound response.  It was civil, if not gentlemanly.

I spent yesterday in a weak and achy stupor.  Wasn’t that a good time.  It gave me time to reflect on how healthy it is to purge one’s system occasionally.  I was purged.  I was as empty as I could get.  My painful belly gave me pause.  Was I about to continue this process?  Or was I just hungry?  It turns out I was hungry.

I was not alone in my experience.  My wife and my son enjoyed the fine winter evening as well, out of bed often to check out the night’s wonders.  They, too, enjoyed the benefit of indoor plumbing.  My daughter did not have quite the same experience, but she was a witness, even crying in distress at one point, wondering if we would all be OK.

That next day we all stayed home, although my daughter never did get sick.  Lucky her.  She might as well have taken the bus, but neither of her parents would have been up for collecting her were her body to opt for the purging plan.  She was fine today as well, it turns out.  She is a healthy bugger, even without the cleansing.

Today I was home again.  As late as 2:00 I debated whether I should keep a meeting I had set for 5:00, but it wasn’t going to happen.  Too dizzy.  I still don’t feel 100%, after a day rest that included a two-hour nap, although I feel like I should fake it a little so my wife doesn’t think I am a total wuss.  Food has helped.  Lots of water has helped.  Hopefully another night’s sleep will do the trick.  I can’t miss another day of work.  It is way too much of a hassle to miss even one, and I’ve got three missed days under my belt this month with last week’s snow day.

No more circling the drain for me.  I am rising to the top now.  Soon I will swimming about, flush with health.  So to speak.

Burning My Fingers

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We are having a bunch of friends over tomorrow and i was planning to make them some soup.  I baked up a bunch of butternut squash, an hour and a quarter at 350 degrees, and let it sit for a while.  I thought it had cooled enough, but 350 degrees is pretty hot.  I toasted my fingertips.

I have done plenty of cooking.  I do most of the cooking in our house.  i try hard to come up with something wholesome and fresh and tasty, so we don’t end up eating reheated pasta with tater tots.  I have made soup a number of times this fall.  I have to use the pumpkins we grew.  This time I used something different.

I look forward to making soup tomorrow, but my fingertips are really sore.  In fact, typing this right now is uncomfortable.  What was I thinking?

Whatever.  Tomorrow I will whip up the soup.  And a couple of pies.  Crap, the oven is going to be busy all day.  So much for reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.  Maybe it will balance out.  Local squash and apples instead of California squash and Washington apples.  A day of baking can’t pump out too much carbon compared to shipping food thousands of miles can it?

After a day of baking I am hoping my fingers will have cooled a bit.  I suppose even if they haven’t, some apple pie will distract me long enough to forget about it.

Pain But No Worries

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Tonight I got this pain in my upper back, between my shoulders. What is the scoop with that? I wasn’t lifting anything or straining myself or doing anything that might have caused an injury at that moment. I was walking toward the kitchen to cook up some beans for dinner. And pow! Sharp pain between the shoulders. It is sticking around.

Whenever I have any kind of injury, I reflect back to when I had back surgery. Two years ago I was dealing with some serious pain. I literally was rolling on the floor at night, unable to sleep. I went to a chiropractor and saw my primary care doctor but the pain stuck around. Ultimately, I had surgery for a ruptured disc. A neurosurgeon sliced me open and took about the bad juju.

All that was a drag, of course, but it happens. We get hurt sometimes and we can’t predict when it will happen and how badly it will happen. But here is the deal: I had no worries about paying for all the care I received. I have great a great health insurance. Even chiropractic care was paid for. I paid nothing for all of it.

I am lucky and I know it. How many people don’t have any health insurance? Forget the huge deductibles or problems that won’t be covered. What if I simply had no coverage at all? Given the medical issues I had, I would have had to pay thousands of dollars. I would still be paying for that without my health insurance.

I met a high school student today who got injured playing football. He is hobbling around on crutches, just as he was two weeks ago when I saw him last. He tore three ligaments and will need surgery. He doesn’t have it scheduled yet. He is unsure when it will happen. My guess is that he does not have health insurance even close to what I’ve got. Does he even have any? Is his surgery getting put off because he can’t afford it?

Vermont has pretty good coverage for minors. We have a state program to cover children whose parents do not have health insurance or can’t afford it. As a state, that is a smart thing to do. The legislature has talked for a while now about passing legislation that would cover everyone, regardless of age, who does not have access to coverage. I hope that may one day happen.

So, I have some pain that is slowing me down for the evening. Sure, that isn’t what I want. I am worried what it might be. Could it get worse? Could it be a sign of something really bad? I will not worry about those things until the pain persists. Otherwise, I won’t worry at all. That is a gift.