Well I just got out of a week in the hospital for this shaking i cant stop. Lots of tests but no answer. its very frustrating. working on getting an appt with a neurologist.
Di: OMgoodness! I can’t imagine the frustration from the uncertainty of a diagnosis…….certainly can delay treatment. I hope the neurologist can provide some information and treatment on what to expect and do in the future. Like Led said, it takes all your energy. Keep us updated. Hope it’s better news.
Hello everyone! I returned from the family reunion yesterday. Stayed an extra night …… along with one of my younger brothers. It was nice to spend some time with him…… been years. Thurs: ran Thurs morning as posted. Then to funeral.
After funeral/reception, I drove about 2.5 hrs to the State Park where the family reunion was planned. Found a good spot and set up tent, canopy, etc. Two BILs were already there, along with the younger brother I mentioned. One of my BIL (& sister) drove down from WY. They attend every year. This BIL was in charge of dinner so he was already in the process when I arrived. Then my cousin sister from Albuquerque arrived and set up next to me. She is the one I stay with when I have races in NM. My youngest sister (her DH was already there) arrived early evening. They bought a used trailer a couple of months ago so the tents were for their 3 daughters who arrived Friday. Nice cool evenings …..but the days were HOT!! There are trees but never enough during an heat wave, right?? Our group campsite had a big ramada with tables, water, and electricity. There were showers nearby too. After dinner, we gathered around a campfire and visited.
Friday: Ran 4 miles. Showered. After breakfast, we took a couple of canopies to the lake about 1/2 mile away and kayaked and canoed till late afternoon. Not a big lake, but enough for all the people to enjoy. Older nieces arrived, had dinner. Quick shower to rinse off dirt and mud. Then, we gathered around the fireplace and caught up with our lives.
Saturday: Ran 4 miles early morning. Showered. Saturday is the big day. Other brothers, nieces, nephews, their kids, other friends and my mom arrived just for the day. Lots of food. Games, prizes and kayaking again. DH arrived in time for breakfast. Him and Mr Bones shared a kayak while I had my own (borrowed from sister). Then, the clouds moved in, thundering in the distance, a few drops of rain and cool breeze but that was it. All the “day trippers” left early evening, and the rest of us had leftovers. I took a quick shower and joined the others around the fireplace again, had drinks and hilarious stories. I had a couple glasses of red wine, then water. We actually spent most of each day hydrating due to the excessive heat, and someone always driving to nearby small store for bags of ice. I didn’t go to bed till 2 am ….. but it was 1 am in AZ, LOL!!
Sun: lazy morning but I still got up before 7 am. Late breakfast. Then to the lake for a couple of hours. Late lunch. Then DH and everyone else started to leave after packing up. My younger brother decided to stay and not rush with his packing. Their son turned 1 year old and this was a great celebration for my nephew. SIL decided to leave Sunday though. Mon: Not much to pack up for me. DB (and SIL) brought so much …..as one does with a baby, LOL!……but he miraculously managed to pack it all up in his truck by 8 am. WOW!! Seriously, I am amazed!! I even took photos before, during and after, haha!! I was impressed with his organization. I left after quick shower. Returned home just in time for an evening rainstorm. Today: 3 miles with Bones around 7 am. DH took the retired elderly friend/colleague to Phx at 5:30 am. Spent most of the morning putting away camp stuff.
Led: whew!!! Relieved you’re back…. It’s understandable how one realigns priorities post retirement. Good relaxing trips with family and with DW. Thank you for your kind words. Family reunion was a good time for hugs, tears and laughter. Reconnecting with siblings is a time for healing and strength.
Altair: gosh, I need to reread ‘The Grapes of Wrath’
It’s thoughtful to make time for GF for a walk and she surpassed your expectations. Good for her. Always great photos on your runs. Yes, I agree that we have stuck together long enough that we feel comfortable sharing more than a ‘running group’ would. Good idea to see what a new month will bring ….. regarding new runners.
Art: it’s so much hotter in NM than northern AZ …..but PHX area takes the heat dome prize, hands down in comparison. Heat stress is what most gardeners are talking about it seems. 3 hikers had to be rescued from Mt Eldon on Sunday!! Being in shape isn’t a guarantee you won’t suffer from heat related illnesses. It seems like most hikers on Mt Eldon underestimate the heat/exertion issues because it’s not ‘as high/difficult’ as Mt Humphrey.
Sunday morning did a 21.2 mile bike ride. Then spent a few minutes in the back yard and said enough of this and went back in the house for the day.
Monday morning did 4.2 miles with some exercises.
Tuesday morning did 4.4 miles with exercises. For some reason it felt a little cooler and dryer out when I left the house around 6:30. Though by the time I got back around 7:50 it definitively felt hot out. Went to a couple of client sites and I swear that the car didn't feel completely cooled off when I got there. Saw in the news before coming here we set another record for today at 119 degrees. It sure felt like it when I went outside for a few minutes.
Led - It takes some time getting things organized after retiring. Took wife a couple of months before she really didn't think of going to work and other work related things. Nice that you were able to spend time with family and you and DW were able to get away for 3 days.
Di - I'll mirror what AZ said and hope they can find the cause. Hang in there.
Altair - Yes, I'm doing just walks now. The few times I tried running it just tired me out sooner because of the heat. Walking in the heat seems OK but running doesn't seem to be a good idea right now. Even the couple of people I see running seem to be doing a fast walk. The garden is in limbo right now. Just a lot of dry dirt looking lonely without any plants. Good that GF wanted to go for a bike ride.
AZ - Sounds like good times at the reunion. I'm not sure I would be able to handle camping now. I would need something comfortable to sleep on. And definitely not in this weather. The heat here is starting to get to me. A little cooling off would be nice. Maybe by the middle of next week. They are hoping for better chances of rain this weekend. I think it's about 123 days with no rain now. Not since March 22.
Art in AZ
Mesa, AZ
Runs in the rain
Di - It's unfortunate that sometimes doctors can't find the cause of our illness. Maybe the neurologist will do better! My thought, maybe an imbalance caused by the dialysis?
Az - The reunion sounds like a fun time! Camping, kayaking, and sitting by a fire drinking wine and telling stories, what a great way to reconnect with your family! I think running outside conditions me to the weather. I feel more adapted to cold in the winter and heat in the summer than most people. However, it becomes a point of contention when I find the house too cold from the air conditioner!
Art - Walks and bike rides are less stressful in the high heat you have, even early in the morning. The car air conditioner has to work extra hard in the heat and since I often have old cars the air does not always work too well. Sometimes I might have to open a window for outside air too.
I finished reading "Grapes of Wrath" Monday morning, great book! For similar reading I could also recommend "Bound for Glory" by folksinger Woody Guthrie.
Right now I'm reading "Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes" by Stephen Jay Gould, a collection of essays originally published in Natural History Magazine. I recently picked up several used copies of his books. Some interesting facts, like blue footed boobies mark out a nest area by a ring of bird poop. They will attack anything which tries to cross into this ring. Although they feed and protect their chicks, if one happens to go outside the ring it will be attacked if it tries to return to the nest!
Female hyenas have an enlarged clitoris and a false scrotum, making the male and female genitalia look very similar. This was thought to have evolved because when hyenas of the same clan meet they will sniff and lick each other's genitals for a few seconds. So a more conspicuous structure serves to facilitate social bonding!
Monday, I worked mowing the lawn and then there was a little rain shower. Afterwards I decided I felt tired and just mowed a bit more of the lawn, no run.
Tuesday, I did not go out for a run until 1 pm. It was nearly 80 degrees, humid with rumbles of thunder. I thought it best to keep the run short and only did about 4 miles. It did not rain, but in conditions like this pop up storms are always a possibility.
Today is supposed to get up to 90 degrees! I woke up at 6:30, but felt tired, so I went back to sleep and did not start my run until 8 am. I skipped eating breakfast, just had some water in which I squeezed a lemon slice. It was a cool 64 degrees when I started, but I knew it would warm up fast! It was sunny and the wind helped keep me feeling refreshed! I did nearly 9 miles, which helps make up for the short run yesterday. Still, I may not reach my goal this week of 30 miles. By the time I finished the run I was sweating and my deck thermometer now read 80 degrees! A quick dip in the pool helped cool my body down.
Wind was stronger when I climbed up a little hill. Looking out over roadside grasses and a corn field towards the valley.
This is one of the roads I ran on, straight with a gradual climb.
They must have planted a wildflower mix, a nice variety of colors.
Long distance runner, what you standin' there for?Get up, get out, get out of the door!
not bad for mile 25
Forecast here is for 100F next 3 days. Crazy to think that's relatively cool compared to what Art is experiencing!!
Our neighborhood has been totally disrupted this summer - there are three big projects going on simultaneously. 1. The school right across the street is getting its huge flat roof replaced*. 2. The street just to the west of us is being repaved. 3. The electric utility is moving all its feeds from overhead to underground. All this is to say that our running plans this morning got changed because the boring equipment was blocking our driveway. I had planned to take Sage to a park for a run, but revised the plan to just go out the front door and do a 1 mile loop. One mile is enough for her, considering the heat. So yeah, there's been a lot of noise and some inconvenience (haven't been able to take the normal route home for a month), but it's good our neighborhood is being maintained and updated. As for my solo run, I did a real slow 3.6 miles as it approached 90F. I'm calling it running, but any slower and it probably wouldn't qualify as such. I've been kinda determined to do at least 4 miles a day, as I very gradually have been catching up to the pace bunny.
Altair - Heh, those excellent photos are from your old camera! Well, good job working with the more limited tech. That's a pretty patch of coneflowers! DW has been taking photography courses (local community college) just to force herself to learn the features of her complicated Canon camera.
AZ - Your camping reunion sounds pretty wonderful. I would love to go kayaking. I think the last me-powered boat I was in was a canoe on the Niobrara river. Osa, our dog at the time, thought it was fun to tip the canoe.
Art - Hope some relief from the searing heat will arrive, preferably before December. Remarkable that you get out for exercise at all, but you're doing a lot of nice long bike rides. I should probably do runs with exercises. There is one course with a pull-up bar that I stop at, but other than that, I just try to do push-ups at home frequently.
Di - Hope the neurologist can help you out. Maybe some medication is to blame?
* A little contemporaneous note, to emphasize the heat situation: Looking out our front window I see the roofer's forklift going down the street, carrying a pallet of Gatorade and putting it up on the roof for the workers. That's something that needs to be done.
Another 4.4 miles walking this morning going around the neighborhood. Was pretty windy out but depended on what street I was on. After a shower took wife to visit daughter and then I worked most of the day.
Altair - Nice job getting in the 9 mile run. I bet the pool felt real cool and welcome.
Led - What a mess with all that construction going on. I usually do the exercises every other day. In this weather I sometimes have to force myself to do them. Just because I get really sweaty from them and the heat and feel uncomfortable with the wet clothes. According to the weather people this weekend we have a 40-50% chance of rain and high temps below 115 degrees. Hope to be a little better Sunday for my bike ride.
Thursday did another 4.4 miles with exercises. And we finally got some rain here overnight. As usual when these storms go through it blows a lot of dust, rains some and then makes the car look really dirty. A quick hose job fixed that until it does it again.
Friday morning felt nicer and with the cloudy sky wasn't too bad out. Put in another 4.4 miles with exercises. Though the clouds went away later in the morning bringing back the high temps.
Art: we’re getting the monsoon clouds but the rain is sporadic and in different places. But the evening cooler temps are very nice. Yes, we get the wind gusts too, after it sprinkles and cars look terrible. Nice consistency on your runs and exercises.
Fri: Could only get in 3 miles this morning. My mom is with us for about two weeks and we can’t leave her alone. So my morning run was short because DH had to leave for work. She naps a lot although she denies it. Ha! Her dementia is getting worse. My siblings noticed it at the family reunion but she’s still able to walk so I had her water my veggie garden this morning. I miss her , it’s good to have her here with us.
Saturday morning did 4.4 miles then worked in the garden turning over the compost piles and getting a few more sections ready for fall planting. Then worked in the garage in shifts working on making another fiberglass mold for the Jensen. This was fitting the divider for the first half of the mold. One of those cut to size as close as possible and then sand and test fit. And sand and test fit over and over until I got it really close.
Sunday morning was cloudy so did 5 miles. Finished fitting and waxing the mold so I can start the fiberglassing tomorrow.
AZ - So far the weather prediction for monsoon activity this weekend hasn't materialized. It's nice that you can spend time with your mom but also sad due to the circumstances. Hang in there.
Led - Road crews do a lot of work in the summer, planned routes may need to be modified. I hope you were able to keep to your 4-miles-a-day plan in the hundred degree heat, although I imagine the temperature was not too bad early morning and late afternoon. Great job approaching that darn bunny! Dogs only sweat in the paws, so they don't do well running distance in the heat. I recently heard somewhere that it's bad for their circulation to try and cool them by hosing down their body, instead you should just wet the legs. Last night I watched part of the youtube video explaining my new camera's operation and tried to take notes. There is so much information covered in the hour and half video. I think I will just learn basics and gradually try out more techniques, I have to get hands on experience to learn new stuff! Your DW has the right idea taking a course to understand her camera, it really is no longer a simple point and shoot, despite all the automatic features. I need to resume upper-body exercises myself, not sure if I can even do a single pull-up right now.
Art - Good you got some cooling clouds, winds and rain, were you able to do a little running or have you still needed to walk in the hot temperature? Looks like you did not get in the Sunday bike ride you planned. Hard to exercise in extreme heat and it is uncomfortable having sweaty clothes. Impressive how you make fiberglass parts for the Jensen. Wish I knew how to do more than basic repairs, although having the right tools for the job is the important factor.
AZ - The time you spend with your Mom now is precious! If you have to cut down the runs for a few weeks it's alright to prioritize spending the time with her. She still can walk and perform tasks, so that is a plus in her quality of life right now.
I finished the natural history book, a lot of interesting information and questions, like is a zebra white with black stripes or black with white stripes? Because a zebra was born with black spots the conclusion is that zebras have black stripes on a white body. Also, there are three varieties of Zebra, one of which is thought to be more closely related to the horse than it is to the other zebras.
I now am almost halfway through another book, " The D. Case or The Truth About the Mystery of Edwin Drood." The "Mystery of Edwin Drood" was the final novel by Dickens and was unfinished. This book attempts to complete the story. It includes the original Dickens unfinished novel and also a storyline where fictional detectives, including Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Father Brown, Lew Archer, Philip Marlowe and many others, are all gathered in a committee to analyze the story and write a satisfactory conclusion. I had read the original novel many years ago, and really forgot the story after all this time, so it is interesting to read it again and the discussion about it. Looking forward to see how the new ending is.
Well, my running plans were disrupted this week. Thursday morning I work up at 4 am with some intestinal cramps, probably caused by cucumber seeds, I've been eating a garden cucumber every day. So I did not sleep well and took a rest day. Friday was humid and it got to 90 degrees and then there was periods of heavy rains all day Saturday. So I had three days in a row of no running. I feel this is a training setback, but perhaps it will be good to have this recovery week'
Sunday I felt better and it was cooler in the mid 70s, less humid and mostly sunny. After all those rest days I was ready for a long run and drove to do a new route. The first two miles were along a busy road with traffic and included a 300 foot climb, but then turned to areas that were farmland, very peaceful and quiet. With the cooler weather and mostly exploring new roads I had an enjoyable run of 8.3 miles! This gives me a 21 mile week, short of the intended 30, but not too bad. I'm happy that my runs are getting to be over 8 mile distances. A big turtle yard figure along the busy road. This was like the size of a Galapagos turtle!
Beautiful skies, deep blue with numerous clouds.
Many nice, big green trees. I thought Art might enjoy them since trees are scarce where he lives!
Same tree, but showing the curve of the road I was running
I think this bird was a Harrier hawk. Later I set some large, brown birds in the bushes to flight, maybe young turkeys?
A great day, so glad it was cooler and with such a nice sky!