Happy Rosh Hashanah!

Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year, the symbolic anniversary of the creation of the world. The words Rosh Hashanah literally mean "Head of the Year." In addition to being the anniversary of the past creation of the world, Jewish tradition sees everyone as being created anew at this time every year. Rosh Hashanah occurs on the first and second days of the Hebrew month of Tishrei, which usually falls sometime in September or October.

The proceeding was a flashback from my childhood, many of my close friends were Jewish and so I got to know the Jewish holidays almost as well as the national holidays. It is almost hard to believe that I hardly know anyone who celebrates the traditional Jewish holidays anymore.

Today was a three bag walk, for the last couple days I have been walking areas that I had not walked before, so there was a lot of trash that had not been picked up for a while. I have also been doing the parking lots and there has been a lot of trash there; it will be interesting to see once it is cleaned up if it will stay that way.

Today I had my famous Southwestern omelet for breakfast, three kinds of peppers, onions, mushrooms, and hot salsa. I have been trying to use up all the peppers that we have in the refrigerator, so I have been having lots of salads and Southwestern omelets.

After eating I emptied the dishwasher, made myself a cup of coffee and then headed to the living room to read the paper. When I finished the sun still had not made it out, but I went outside anyway and watered. The hydrangea plants were looking pretty wilted, partly because it had been so hot and partly because I had not been watering as much as I probably should have.

When I finished watering, the sun still had not come out; in fact it had started misting again. This morning when I finished my walk this morning my hair was really wet from the low cloud cover. So I pruned the roses and did a little weeding, so that I could put it into the yard debris can for pick up tomorrow.

Then I went out front under the fir trees and dug up a half dozen hollyhocks and transplanted them into the back yard. They were not doing very well under the fir trees so I thought that I would try giving them some more sunlight and in an area where they will be getting regular watering.

I also transplanted some columbine plants and planted them throughout the big rose garden. After I finished my transplanting, I cleaned up and made myself some lunch. The mail had come while I was digging up the hollyhocks but I had not taken the time to look at it yet, so I did that while I ate.

After resting for a while after eating I went back outside and did a little weeding in the side yard. Andrea came over after taking Brandon to the doctor's and stayed for a while. I needed to finish some things outside so I went back outside to finish up and when I was putting my tools away I noticed Aaron's car there, so I cleaned up and visited with him for a while. He had some of his guitar stains with him for us to look at. He had a couple samples where he had done some experimenting and they looked pretty good.

Well, tonight was clean out the refrigerator and leftover night, we either eat or threw out most of the leftovers or open items in the refrigerator, it is surprising how much space that opened up. Well I probably should have painted today, but it was just misty enough that I thought that I would wait for a day when it was a little drier.

That looks like it for today, so good night!

What a Wonderful Wednesday!

This morning on my walk, I decided to walk on the front side of the high school, something that I had not yet done. I was really surprised at just how much trash there was in the front of the school. I kind of expected it in the back of the school or the playing fields, but for some reason I expected the front to be a little cleaner.

Of course, part of what I walked this morning was right next to Round Table pizza and across the street from Wendy's. Also there was a path from one of the Tri-Met bus stops, so I guess that helps explains some of the trash. I wound up picking up four bags of trash this morning; I had three of them before I left the quarter mile track around the football stadium.

After I got home and ate breakfast, I read the paper and then went outside to prune the roses and dig up tree sucker and blackberry suckers. After I dug up what I could find, I went to the front yard and raked the leaves and shells from the walnut trees. Then I went around and edged the front lawn, something I had not done in a couple months.

While I was raking the mail came so I took it out to the back yard and read it along with a cup of coffee. Most of what I got was perspectives from some of my investments, a few catalogs, my bank statement and the visa bill for Kathleen's printer. So after looking at all the mail and finishing my coffee, I went inside, cleaned up and then logged on to my computer.

Since I had gotten my bank statement, I decided that I would reconcile my checking account and savings account. It only took about twenty minutes to go through both accounts and everything reconciled the first time through, something that is always a good thing.

After a while I made myself a salad and added some chicken to it to make a really nice salad. That is two days in a row that I have had a salad for lunch, pretty soon my ears will be getting longer and I will be able to wiggle them and my nose as well.

Kathleen wanted to go to Montivilla Sewing Center, but I was too tired and did not feel like getting that cleaned up. I gave her a couple insurance refund checks from our auto insurance to take to the credit union and deposit into her checking account. So I loaded her sewing machine into her SUV and she took off.

She came back about 1730 and had bought a twelve foot 2x4 which I had to unload and take upstairs for her. She asked me about dinner and she said that she wanted to make Mandarin Orange Chicken. It is a frozen dish that we get from Trader Joe's that we really like. We happened to have two packages, one we just bought and one we have had for a while, so we used the one we had for a while.

Well, that was my day, the weather has really been nice today, only in the eighties...much nicer than the nineties that we have been having. With the weather cooling off, I am going to have to get serious about finishing painting the east side of the house. I think that I have an hour or so of painting on the ladder to go to finish up and then there is the trim around the three windows on the second floor.

Maybe in the next week or two I will get it all done. Until then this is a good time for me to say good night.

The Nation Remembers

It is hard to believe that it has been six years since the nations security was shaken, but it has. I still remember I was sitting at my desk at Boeing when I got a news flash on my computer and then doing a search to get a live feed of what was going on.

I guess that I hit me harder than a lot of people on the west coast because I had family and friends in New York. I think I either watched or listened to the news until I went to bed that night. The only other thing that I can remember having as much impact on me was the day the high school caught on fire and both my sister and I were in it at the time.

I was lucky enough to have been on the first floor in the new part of the high school, in a study hall and close to an exit, but my sister was up in the old part on the second floor. WE had relatives calling all night long, and even had the news media interviewing us. We were quite the celebrities at the time.

Anyway, I had a good walk this morning, I even picked up two bags of trash and today the supervisor of the high school maintenance department thanked me for picking up the trash. I was a little surprised at the amount of trash today, but I think a lot of it is from the teams. Items like water bottles and tape, and then there is always a lot of trash that blows in from the 122nd Avenue fast food places.

I got a little work done outside, but it was getting pretty warm, so I decided to just stay inside today. I did a little reading and took a nap in my chair for a while; all in all it was just kind of a lazy day. I think I spent too much time reflecting on how the world has changed in the last six years...and not for the better.

It was too hot to cook tonight so Kathleen just made some more chicken/mango salad. She also cut up a cantaloupe, so it was a pretty light meal. After I loaded the dinner dishes into the dishwasher, Kathleen decided to make some brownies, so she has them in the oven now.

Well, like I said this has been a pretty unproductive day, so I think that I will just say good night and call it a day.

Melting Monday

I knew that we were going to be in for a warm day when at 0600 as I was walking and before the sun came out I could feel the wind blowing hot across my face. I did have a good walk I even picked up three bags of trash at the high school. I did not walk yesterday, but I was really surprised at how much trash was there.

After eating my breakfast, I loaded the dishwasher, turned it on and then went outside to get a little work done before it got too hot. I pruned up the roses, dug up some tree suckers and then watered the roses, berries, hydrangeas and the impatiences. The hydrangeas and impatiences were looking almost dead, but after watering they started to come back to life.

Then I went into the house, and after cleaning up I read the paper and the mail. Then I made myself a salad for lunch and had a couple slices cold of delite pizza to go along with it. After eating I unloaded the dryer, folded the clothes and put it away. I also wound up doing four loads of laundry, Kathleen started the first load, but I wound up doing the rest.

After finishing the laundry I sat down and took a little nap. I missed getting a nap, as we were visiting friends and Kathleen did not think that I needed to leave to take a nap when I said that I did. By the time we got home, after 1800, it was too late to take a nap as I knew that I would not be able to go to sleep when I needed to.

Kathleen took off for a meeting tonight so I made a couple chicken salad pita's and had some macaroni salad and Cole slaw to go along with it. It was just too hot to have much of anything else other than salads.

Well, my naps were not enough to make up for missing yesterday, so I think that I will have an early bed. It has been cooling off pretty nicely at night, so I am hoping that even though the temperature was in the mid nineties today it should cool off to the fifties tonight.

I think that pretty much covers my day, so here is my good night.

Saturday's Somewhat Satisfying

This morning I picked up over two grocery bags of stuff at the high school today. A lot of it was drink bottles and cups from the game last night. It was not really as bad as I thought it might have been.

For breakfast I made an egg beater omelet with onion, mushrooms, red, yellow and green peppers, I also heated up the left-over fish and tater tots from last night, so I started out the day with a pretty hardy meal.

After putting the dishes into the dishwasher I went into the living room to read the paper. After finishing the paper, I went outside and pruned the roses and dug up tree suckers. I also decided to do a little tree trimming to the ash tree in the back yard. It had a lot of dead branches and ones that were low hanging and in my way when I walked underneath it.

Then I went back into the house and checked the mail, there really was not much of anything there, so I recycled it and then went back outside.

This time I decided to tackle the rest of the ivy under the fir trees. I finally have it all pulled out, but I am also sure that I will have to keep pulling up shoots as they sprout from the finger roots that I missed pulling out.

Then I went back inside and made my self some lunch. I used a brot roll and added sardines to it for a nice sardine sandwich. After resting for a while, I decided to go back outside and
get my chipper and chip up the branches that I cut out of the tree as well as the branches, fir cones and other things that I had been storing in one of my garbage cans.

I started chipping about 1530 and by the time I finished it was 1930 and I was really tired. Besides being tired I also slice the tip of one of my fingers and that bleed for quite a while. It is really still pretty sore and I am having a difficult time trying to keyboard.

Kathleen had gone to Fabric Depot and then grocery shopping and she came home just as I was washing up. She was surprised that I was just finishing up as well. After I cleaned up a little I helped her unload the car and then we ate dinner.

She had bought some fried and some baked chicken for me along with some Jo-Jo's, Cole slaw, and macaroni salad. I tried eating the chicken, but it was too greasy and so I just had a little salad and slaw and a couple Jo-Jo's for dinner. I was more tired than hungry anyway.

Well, this brings me to now, and I think I really need to jump into the shower and really get cleaned up, so I will just say my good nights and call it a day.

Feel Fine Friday

I had a pretty good walk this morning; I took a little different route this morning, but still made my trip around the high school field. I picked up lots of water and beverage bottles and cups, but it has been getting better everyday.

I had shredded wheat with bran, brown puffed rice with a banana and raisins and poured soy milk over it all. I try to alternate between cereal and egg beaters just to keep from getting too monotonous. Of course in the cooler weather I have oatmeal, raisins and black strap molasses almost every day.

After eating I emptied the dishwasher and then went in and read the paper. Since the mail had not gotten here yet I went outside and raked the leaves and walnut shell off the front lawn, then I got out my little Brill electric reel mower and mowed the front and back lawns. I was going to try to mow my neighbor’s lawn today as well, but I needed to rest for a while before I got started.

After resting for a half hour or so, I got out the Honda rotary mower and mowed her whole lawn. By the time I finished that I was really feeling tired, so I sat outside and rested for a while. About the time I was starting to get up to go into the house, I saw the UPS truck stop out front, so I went out to see what was coming our way.

It was a small box, so when I opened it I found a half gallon bottle of Ocean Spray cranberry/pomegranate juice. I belong to a consumer panel and every once in a while I get some samples to try out and give my opinion about.

I have not tried it yet, but probably will to tomorrow. It was almost 1400, so I heated up a couple brots and toasted a couple buns for lunch. The mail had come, so I went out and got it and I think everything wound up in the recycling bag.

I was really tired, so I went upstairs and laid down for what turned out to be a three hour nap. When I finally got up it was 1845, I asked Kathleen what she was going to do for dinner and she gave me a couple suggestions, one of which was the left over fish and tater tots from last night. I chose the left overs as it would free up refrigerator space and I do not really mind having the same thing two days in a row.

Well, that was my day. I have noticed that even though we still have not had a lot of rain, the nights are cooler and there is usually dew on the ground in the morning, so the grass is growing and turning green once again.

While I did not get a lot done to day, I have felt pretty good for almost two weeks now; other than feeling tired a lot and I guess I am going to have to get use to that. I think that I have run out of things to say, so I will just say good night.

Taking it easy Thursday

This morning after my walk and shower, I got ready to meet with the guys for breakfast, something that I had not been able to do for months. I am still feeling pretty good although to day I have been pretty tired. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop and my start not feeling good again.

For some reason I did not get much of anything done today, I did prune the roses and dug up some tree suckers, but that was about it. I spent most of the day reading, the paper, the mail and a book. I did take time out to make myself a Boca burger and had it and some watermelon juice outside on our new patio table and chairs. It was nice to just sit outside for a while.

Although it was after I had lunch that I did my yard work. I had thought about mowing, but that would have required me to rake the front lawn first, and I just could not muster up the energy to do that. Maybe tomorrow!

Anyway for dinner tonight, Kathleen made some fish and some Tatar tots. This is really a quick blog entry, but not much happened today. So good night, sleep tight!

What Happened to Wednesday?

My walk was pretty much the same as it has been for the last couple of weeks; there really was not a lot more trash at the high school field today than there has been. This morning was cereal day so I had shredded wheat with bran and brown puffed rice with a banana and raisins. The brown puffed rice had a little more flavor than regular puffed rice and the shredded wheat with bran was a little more flavorful.

After breakfast, I read the paper and then went outside and trimmed the boxwood hedge, and then I rototilled the spot where Kathleen wanted to plant the clematis and put up the arch trellis. After I finished rototilling, I raked the soil, then planted the clematis and watered it.

The rototilling and raking was enough to make me tired, so I went inside and rested up. After a while Kathleen left to go to a class she had signed up for at Montivilla Sewing Center, so I made myself a brot, and had some potato salad. After eating I took some of the things that needed to do downstairs into the basement and put the bakery items into the freezer. I also vacuumed the downstairs.

The downstairs really needed vacuuming for a couple days, but I just have not gotten around to it. Shortly after I finished doing that Kathleen came home, she had stopped at Office Depot and picked up a floor mat for underneath her sewing center, so I helped her take it out of her SUV and took it upstairs and put it down on the floor.

For dinner tonight, Kathleen made brots, and the potato salad, and she had some corn on the cob. I have not been eating corn as it has been messing up my intestines and I have not needed any more help messing up my intestines.

Well, as I look back on the day, I realized that I should have finished painting the east side of the house, but I was so focused on rototilling and planting the clematis that by the time I remembered it, I was too tired to do it. Now I will have to wait for the next overcast day to do it.

Well, that was my day, I think we are planning on watching "Wild Hog" tonight, we borrowed it from Aaron and Tami and they gave us the Netflix envelope so that we can send it back for them. I think I hear the curtain going up so I will say good night for now!

Tuesday's Turn About

Sometime during the night it started to rain and it was just finishing up when I got up this morning. It was kind of nice to have the rain; it has been so dry it was nice not to have to water for a couple of days. I wore my hat when I started out on my walk, although I did not really need it.

I walked for just a little over an hour, although part of that time I spent picking up trash at the high school. I was a little surprised at the amount of trash today, seeing how yesterday was a holiday and there were no school activities. It will be interesting to see what there is tomorrow now that school is back in session.

When I got home I made myself an egg beater omelet and some toast for breakfast. When I got done I emptied the dishwasher and then put my breakfast dishes in. I also did the hand washing and cleaned up the sink.

Then I went into the living room and read the paper. When I finished it, I put it in the recycling bin up front and then went outside and finished preparing the ground where I am planning on planting the clematis. When I was about half way through, Kathleen came outside with some coffee and a brownie for a mid-morning snack.

The ground was surprisingly hard even though I broke most of it up yesterday with my pick ax so I did not get anything done other than that. I was going to bring out my rototiller and really break up the ground, but it looked like it was going to start raining again so I decided to just put everything away and finish it up another day.

Shortly after I got cleaned up the mail came, so I got it and sat down, opened it and looked through it. I got my refund check from the insurance company, a couple bills and the confirmation of my stock sales and buying. I think I sold about $75,000.00 of one stock and bought the same amount of another. This making money is almost like work!

Since I got the insurance check I decided that I needed to go to the credit union and deposit it along with two checks fro two different doctor's offices of over payment and then I had $150.00 in cash to deposit. I really hate carrying around that much cash so I was glad to get rid of it.

After I finished at the credit union, Kathleen wanted to stop off at Home Depot to look at a couple things; we got out of there for under $20.00, not bad for us. Then she wanted to stop off at the Barn to get some fresh corn and a watermelon, we have been going through two or three a week. Kathleen has been eating most of them.

After the Barn she wanted to stop at the Orowheat Bakery Outlet to get some rolls. Well, we did not just get rolls; we got two shopping bags full of stuff. When we finally got home, I changed clothes and then helped myself a buttermilk donut since I had not had lunch again today.

For dinner Kathleen reheated some more of the left overs from Giuseppe's; that was the third meal we have had and there is enough for one more meal. Well, I fell pretty tired tonight, I think it probably has more to do with the change in the weather than anything else, but I am tired none the less.

So with that said, I am going to say good night!

Monday's Madness

I had a good five mile walk to start out my day. Although after walking a block I was ready to turn around as my back was killing me. Every step literately brought tears to my eyes it hurt that much, but the stubborn German in me would not let me quit, so I kept going.

Finally after about a mile of walking, I could take steps without excruciation pain and by the time I finished I felt much better than when I started. I picked up some more trash at the high school, not nearly as much as I had been, but I was surprised at how much there was considering that this is a long weekend with no sporting contest at the fields or no school so I would not have thought that there would have been much traffic around the school.

Anyway, when I got home I made myself some toast and spread peanut butter and all fruit on it. I do not normally have toast any longer, but I did not have any cereal, other than Kathleen's puffed rice. After I finished eating I read the paper and then went outside and dug up some tree suckers, blackberry plants and some nightshade. I also pruned the roses and then used the pick ax to break up the ground where I am going to plant the clematis and put up the trellis arch.

Then I went inside, cleaned up and asked Kathleen if she wanted to go with me when I went to feed Aaron and Tami's animals. She said that she would also like to stop at Wal-Mart, so we took off around1400.

Archie was glad to see me; I play fetch with him and try to wear him out a little. I also brought some pepperoni dog treats for him and try to get him to sit before I give it to him. He usually sits right away, but he has a hard time staying in the sit position...he always wants to be on the move.

Every day he has had about an inch of water left and every day his food is always all gone. I would have thought that he would have been drinking more water, but that has not been the case.

Jasmine only ate about half of what I gave her yesterday, I guess that I thought that she would eat more, but now that I am thinking about it I had to let her in the first day so she probably was a little hungrier.

I can not remember the name of their lop ear, but it did not need any food or water today, I filled up its water bottle yesterday and it was still a little more than half full. There was also plenty of food and since Aaron, Tami and the girls are due back today, I thought that it would probably be okay.

We finally got back from Wal-Mart about 1630, we did a little grocery shopping while we where there. I got some shredded wheat and some Cheerios, we also got some produce as we were all out of fruit. I splurged and got a couple packs of Johnsonville brots and rolls, I do not usually eat them, but once in a while I have a hungering for them and nothing else will fill the bill.

Kathleen was hungry when we got home; I was about ready to eat anything I could get my hands on, so we fixed dinner about 1700. We have been eating closer to 1900, so it was a little early, but since neither one of us had eaten lunch, we felt it was better to eat dinner now and then if we get hungry later have a snack.

Kathleen also bought a couple brownie mixes and so she made a batch of brownies while we ate dinner. She brought a plateful in for me, but I was full enough that I told her that I would have then a little later. Well, I am not sure where the day, or for that matter the summer has gone. Alyssa had invited us to her house today, but we just had too many things to do and ran out of time.

Well, I fell asleep during HGTV’s Design Star last night, and then I slept in past 0700 this morning, but I have been tired all day. I think the other day when I hurt my back, has been sapping my energy. So I thin that I will just say good night and call it a day!

Satisfying Saturday

Another good walk this morning, just a little over an hour. That was not all walking because this morning I decided that I would take a plastic bag with me and pick up trash as I walked around the high school fields. I had to empty it three times, not all of them were completely full, but I think that I picked up all the trash that I saw.

Mostly paper cups, plastic cups, straws, gum wrappers, several other various pieces of plastic and several bottles. It took a little longer to pick up the trash, but I have felt bad about not doing it all week. Yesterday I picked up as much as I could hold and then dump it into the nearest garbage can. Then I would do it all over again, that I why I thought about taking the bag to put the garbage in.

When I got home I started making myself breakfast. I was sautéing my onions and portabella mushroom when Kathleen came down and asked if I would like some hash brown potatoes. I said sure, so she grated the potatoes. She also asked if wanted her egg whites, again I said sure, so she poured the egg whites on top of my onions and mushrooms and then I added some egg beaters and made a nice omelet.

When the potatoes were done, I added some hot salsa to them and then put the omelet on the plate and added some green chili sauce on top of it. It was a nice breakfast. After breakfast Kathleen made some coffee and I put the breakfast dishes into the dishwasher. Then I went into the living room and read the paper.

Today the mail got here at the normal time; I think that our regular mailman must be on vacation. So I opened the mail after I finished the paper, there was not much there, so all of it went into the recycling bag.

After doing that I went outside and pruned the roses and dug up some more tree suckers. Then I got out the bird feeder that Kathleen bought a few years ago and just found and hung it up by the kitchen window.

While I was out in the front yard, I noticed that some of the grass was getting pretty long, so I got out my rake and raked up the walnut shells and then got the push reel mower and mowed the front lawn. I used the Brill electric reel but with out the battery, it only weighs a few pounds and is really easy to push. Since most of the lawn did not need mowing I thought that I would just push it and get a little more exercising in.

After putting the mower away, I set up the sprinkler and turned it on. When I finally got done I went inside and made myself a salad for lunch. After eating I loaded up the dishwasher and turned it on. Then I went outside and set up my chipping/pitching net and got my pitching wedge and my bag of practice balls and started chipping away. I did that for about a half hour, I stepped wrong and hurt my back a little while I was working on the front lawn.

Kathleen needed to go to the fabric store so she took off while I was still outside; shortly after she left I picked up the golf balls and put everything away. Then I watered the rose garden and the berry patch and when I finished that I turned off the sprinkler and put everything away.

When Kathleen came home she heated up the left overs from last night. That pretty much brings me up to now, so I think that I will just say good night and take a shower in a little bit.

Feeling Fine Friday

I took another early morning walk for an hour again this morning and felt pretty good afterwards. So this has been five days that I have felt pretty good, I think that this is the longest that I have feel decently since January. I am hoping to continue this trend for a while. I was getting pretty frustrated with the way I had been feeling.

I ran out of shredded wheat earlier in the week and have not gone grocery shopping since, so this morning when I got back from my walk I used a sample box of chocolate Chex that I got in the mail the other day and filled the rest of the bowl up with puffed rice. Of course I added my usual banana, raisins and soy milk.

After I finished eating I put my dishes into the dishwasher and then took the towels out of the dryer, folded and put them away. Then I started the first of three loads of laundry that I washed, dried, folded and put away. I think it was almost five o'clock before I finished with the last load.

Then I read the paper and vacuumed the upstairs; I cannot remember the last time I actually vacuumed the upstairs carpeting, but I have wanted to do it for a long time. I was not surprised at the amount of "stuff" that I picked up either.

I was going to vacuum the downstairs, but Kathleen was on the phone and I did not want to make the noise.
So I went outside and clipped the dead headed Shasta daisies and then the climbing roses. For some reason I hardly ever spend much time on the climbing roses, and while they do not need a lot of attention, these had been neglected for quite a while.

When I finished, I went into the house, cleaned up and made myself some lunch; I used the last of the Kaiser rolls and put some guacamole and hot salsa on the roll and then added some lettuce and left over spam for a SLT (spam, lettuce and tomato) sandwich.

After resting for a few minutes, I went back outside with the intention of digging up a spot to plant the last clematis and also put up the arch trellis for it to grow on. The ground was so hard that I was going to get my pick ax and break up the soil, but just as I was going into the garage to get my pick ax I noticed Andrea's Land Rover, so I went around front.

Andrea was already in the house, so I went back outside and put the rest of my tools away and sat down and visited with her and Brandon for a while. Somewhere along the way, Kathleen mentioned that Toni and Chucky were going to take us out to dinner tonight. Andrea decided that she would go along as well.

We finally we decided to go to Giuseppe's for some Italian cuisine. The place was packed and we had to drive around the parking lot for twenty minutes before we could find a place to park. Then we waited outside for about forty-five minutes before they had a table for us. It was worth the wait, and Kathleen and I brought home enough food for at least one more dinner and even then we will probably have some left overs.

We finally got home about 2030 and here I am. I as feeling pretty good and I think that this is the best that I have felt for five days since I started my radiation. This is about five and a half months since I finished my treatments and they told me that the side effects usually last from three to six months.

My hope now is that maybe the problems that I have been going through for the last nine months are coming to an end. Well, I still get tired easily and I have reached the point where my brain is slow and I think I will call it a day before I fall asleep on the key board. So good night for now!

Thursday's Triumph

I was up around 0530 this morning so when I got downstairs I decided that I would try to do my walking thing early again today. I varied my route slightly again today to make it a little longer then the previous two days and wound up taking about an hour to completed it.

I was a little tired and sore when I got home, but other than that I felt pretty good. So I made myself my egg beater omelet with onion and mushroom and ham and had a couple slices of dark rye toast to go along with it. After putting my dishes into the dishwasher, I went into the living room and read the paper.

When I finished the paper, the mail had not arrived yet so I went outside and pulled weeds, dug up tree suckers and pruned the roses. After I was out there for a while Kathleen brought out a couple demi-cups coffee and we sat out under the cherry trees at our new table and chairs and had a mid morning break.

After finishing the coffee, I decided that I would go to work some more on the ivy under the fir trees and see if I could finish that job. I got almost done, probably another hour or so and I should have it done. Of course, I will have to keep working on the sprouts that keep coming up from the roots that broke off, but at least the majority of the work is done.

I will still have to do the east side of the garage, and a little bit along the roses by the driveway, but that should not be too hard...I hope! I went into the house and got a 1.5 pint bottle of water out of the refrigerator and drank it while I cooled off.

I perspire so much that I have to drink a lot of fluids to stay hydrated, and my preferred drink is usually water. I think that so far today I have had at least 64 ounces of water and I will probably have another 24 ounces before the day is over.

I cleaned up and then made myself some lunch, I cooked a basil pizza veggie burger in a couple halves of pita bread, and I also had a couple slices of egg plant and a dill pickle along with twenty four ounces of water.

After sitting and relaxing for a while I took a cold shower to clean up and cool down, it helped cool off for a while, but I am still pretty warm feeling.

I went upstairs to put my dirty clothes in the hamper and Kathleen could not believe how sweaty I was, so I had to remind her that on Monday at the doctor's I was sitting on the table in my birthday suit and she was dress and I was the one who was hot and she was the one who was freezing.

Even in the middle of winter, I am usually running around bare footed in my shorts and a tee shirt and she is all bundled up...she is cold and I am roasting. I use to attribute it to a high metabolism, but I am not sure that is true any longer, I think that my metabolism has all but shut down.

Anyway, I am planning on meeting with the group of guys that I have been meeting with for ten or so years tonight, so I hope that I am still feeling okay to go. It seems like I have missed getting together with them more often than I have met with them lately.

With that said, I am going to say good night now, as I am pretty sure that I will be too tired to do this after I get back tonight.

Welcome Wednesdat

I was up before 0600 tins morning so when I got downstairs I took off for my morning walk. I walked almost the same path that I took yesterday, but since I do not like to do exactly the same thing two days in a row, I altered my path a little.

I felt pretty good after my walk, so I made myself breakfast. Since I only had a half of a cup of shredded wheat left I had to supplement it with some puffed rice. I did have my banana and some raisins and my soy milk to top it off so it was not too bad.

After eating I emptied the dishwasher and then went into the living room to read the paper. Since the mail had not arrived yet, I went outside and edged the rose garden and dug up some more tree suckers. I also dug some old chairs out of the garage to take to Goodwill this afternoon.

I did a little weeding in the berry patch between the blueberries and the stepping stones, but it was getting too hot and while I felt pretty good, I wanted to keep it that way. I also heard the mail truck go by so I knew that the mail was here, so I went inside and cleaned up and then got and read the mail.

By this time it was getting close to lunch time, so I made myself a salad and put a couple pieces of ham in a pita half and that was my lunch. After putting my dishes into the dishwasher, I bagged up the items for Goodwill and listed what was there for tax purposes. After I got everything bagged, Kathleen had a couple other bags for me to go through and list.

After getting everything into the SUV I went upstairs and changed my clothes and waited for Kathleen to come downstairs. We finally took off about 1500; Kathleen had bought a watermelon that was not any good so she wanted to take it back to Winco. So after I unloaded the junk at Goodwill, she took off and stopped at Winco and exchanged the watermelon and bought a few other things as well.

I was a little after 1600 when we got home and so I sat down in my easy chair and fell asleep. When I woke up Kathleen was making BLT's with avocado on Kaiser Roles. So now I am full and not quite ready for bed, but it is not going to take much for me to fall asleep. So before I do here is my good night!

Treking Through Tuessday

I was up before the sun came up this morning so when I got downstairs I took myself for a walk. I had originally planned on doing a short walk, but I felt pretty good so I decided that I would walk around the sports fields at the high school as well. I wound up being almost four miles. It was only about a mile further than I had walked yesterday, and it is a route that I might make part of my regular routine.

The other routes that I do usually involve walking by peoples houses and when I walk early in the morning like that I always feel like people are wondering what I am doing. I know that I am always a little curious when I see someone walking by either just before the sun comes up or after dark.

This morning for breakfast I made myself a salmon omelet and had it on some dark rye toast. Then after reading the paper I went outside and raked the front yard, it was not that there were a lot of leaves on the lawn, but rather a lot of walnut shells that the squirrels leave behind when they eat the walnuts out of the tree.

Last year we actually had some walnuts that we could have dried, but it was the first year in fifteen years or so that there have been any walnuts, usually the squirrels and ravens manage to get them all. Most of them are too wormy so I really do not care that they get them, it is just that they squirrels leave such a mess.

I even raked out the dead bulb stems and leaves and put them into my compost tumbler and picked up the fir cones and walnut shells to chop up in my chipper/shredder. I have a full garbage can full on them and small branches that I will need to chop up one of these days. I had thought that I might do it today, but I was feeling so much better than I had that I thought that I would not push myself and just enjoy not hurting for the time being.

I finally made it back inside around 1330 and made myself a Morningstar pizza basil veggie burger and put it into two pita halves along with some artichoke/garlic dip and some guacamole salsa dip. I also had some eggplant patties with sun dried tomatoes on top. I am trying to eat a little more bland food, but it is hard.

I do not like white bread or highly processed foods and those are the things that I can probably eat and not cause myself so much misery. So while those foods somewhat alleviate one problem the processed foods do not do anything for my glaucomic count or provide much nutritional value. They are also not conducive to loosing weight either...kind of a catch 22.

I went upstairs to take my nap but Kathleen had stripped the bed, so I went back downstairs to sit in my easy chair, but just as I was getting comfortable our new neighbor knocked on the front door, so I did not really get a nap in; maybe I will sleep a little longer tomorrow morning.

For dinner Kathleen heated up a couple frozen dinners by Healthy Choice, but neither one of us thought much of them; not much taste and what there was, was pretty watered down.

Well, I do feel a little better, my butt is not nearly as sore as it was after my procedure yesterday, so maybe I can start a new trend. With that said, I think that I will say my good night and call it a day.

Monday's Miseries

Well, after having my computer lock up on me five times and my not really being in the mood to fight it any longer I decided to log on using my laptop. I think that I will forgo everything that I had written in my other attempts and just give you my doctor's report.

He confirmed that part of my problem is "radiation proctitis", which is what I had suspected all along. The problem is that it is difficult to treat and is extremely resistant. He did a sigmoidoscopy on me, which hurt more than it normally would because the radiation caused a lot of scaring on my large intestine. He said that it looked irritated and was narrower than it should be because of all the scar tissue.

He wrote me a prescription for some suppositories that are suppose to relieve some of the soreness. He also referred me to a clinic that does colonoscopies, but I could not get an appointment until October 9th So until then I will not know anything more specific. Even though I am not particularly looking forward to the colonoscopy I would like to know what is wrong and to see if there is anything that can be done to improve my condition.

Well, I am tired, sore and frustrated so I think that I will just say good night.

Failed Friday

This morning was a pretty normal morning, at least normal lately. I made myself breakfast consisting of sautéing a potato, a veggie sausage, onion, mushroom, green, red and yellow peppers and then pouring egg beaters on top and frying the mix. When it was all done I poured some hot salsa on top and it was really good and filling.

Then after reading the paper and mail, I went for a three mile walk. My side was bothering me when I started out, but it seemed to get better as I walked. I was feeling pretty tired when I got home, but I went out back and worked in the rose garden and dug up some more tree suckers out of the lawn.

When I finished it was almost 1400, so I went inside and made myself some breaded eggplant I then put it on a couple slices of black rye toast and added some sun dried tomatoes soaked in olive oil. It was really pretty good. I am thinking that tomorrow I may do the eggplant and sun dried tomatoes again only add some sardines to the mix. That ought to give me some omega three and be relatively fat free.

I was going to take a nap this afternoon, but I never made it upstairs so I just fell asleep in my easy chair. Why is it that I can get more sleep in that chair than when I actually try to take a nap?

Tonight we are having some of the leftover salmon and rice from the other night, that is if I can get Kathleen downstairs. If she does not come down pretty soon I may just reheat it up myself. It is always nice when I can get her to fix a meal or two a day, usually I wind up making breakfast and lunch for myself...sometimes dinner as well, but usually I can talk her into doing that.

Well, I really got very little done today, I have all kinds of things that I need to get done...I just do not have the energy to even get started. Well on that cheery note, I think that I will just say good night!

Thursday's Tiredness

I woke up this morning and actually felt pretty good...unfortunately it did not last. After breakfast and reading the paper and mail, I decided that I would go for a walk. My side was hurting a little again, but I wanted to get a walk in if for no other reason than I did not want to get out of the habit of walking every day.

I only walked for a little over a half of an hour, short of my goal of at least forty-five minutes of walking or about four miles. As I was walking I noticed that my side was hurting more than it had when I first got up. I was not worse from walking, but just really annoying.

When I got home I went out to the back yard and worked on the roses and dig out some more tree suckers. It has become a daily task to dig up tree suckers. I do not understand how they can grow so fast, almost overnight they appear and they are a couple inches tall!

After working outside for a while I decided that I would go in and take a nap. I actually went upstairs and lay down on the bed instead of just falling asleep in my easy chair. Shortly after I fell asleep Andrea, Brandon and Toni stopped by for a while, I had only been asleep for a short while when Kathleen shut a door and woke me up other wise I probably would have slept through their visit.

So after about five minutes I awoke enough to go downstairs, but no sooner did I get downstairs when I realized that I had not put my glasses on, so I had to go back upstairs and get them. After I got settled in my chair I got to hold Brandon for a while...he is really getting big!

We had to leave the house at 1600 because we had a financial planning class with our financial advisors over in Beaverton. With traffic being bad at that time we wanted to leave so that we would have plenty of time to get there by 1700. We made it with a few minutes to spare.

After the class we stopped at Trader Joe's to pick up a few items and that took about an hour. We finally got home a little after 1900. Kathleen used the potatoes from last night and made a potato salad, we had the ham from last night ant the cold slaw and macaroni salad as well.

Well, I tried to take a nap today, but really did not get much sleep, I do not feel too bad for not having a nap, but I really did not do much today either. I think that it is time to just say good night.

Wednesday's Waiting

This morning I had to wait to eat breakfast until after I got back from having my blood drawn for a glucose level test. Since my appointment was not until 0930 that meant that I would not be having breakfast until after 1000.

So I pulled my Wrangler out of the garage and noticed that it was pretty dusty, I does not get driven enough and had quite a collection of dust on it. So I got out my California duster and spent a couple minutes dusting it off. I only have about 60 miles on it since I filled it up over a month ago so you can see that it really spends most of its time in the garage.

After getting back from the blood draw, I ate breakfast and then since it was not raining out, I decided to go work out in the yard for a while. I pruned roses, dug up sucker from the Italian prune and the apple tree and then mowed the lawn.

The lawn had not been mowed in a couple weeks, first it was too dry, then last week I felt so poorly that I did not get around to it and then the rain started, so today was really the first day that I had to mow.

I felt better today than I have in about a week, so I wanted to take advantage of that as much as possible. After mowing, I decided that I would go for a short walk, as I have not done that on a regular basis for over a week. I wound up walking a little over four aerobic miles. I have been wearing a pedometer for over a month and it keeps track of the number of steps, number of aerobic steps, calories I burn, and miles I walk.

I watched it one day as it turned over and found out that for me 1450 steps equaled a mile of aerobic walking. So far today I took I have taken 11545 steps, 6014 aerobic steps burned 966 calories and walked 8.01 miles.

I was pretty tired this afternoon but I did not take a nap. By the time I finished my walk it was getting close to 1500 so I made some lunch and after that I read the paper and mail. Shortly after that Kathleen came downstairs to make dinner.

So I never did get my nap in today. I have found that it does help when I take the time to take a nap, but too often I do not do it. I am going to have to schedule a nap into my afternoons, but most afternoons Kathleen and I are running around and it has not become a habit yet.

Well, that about does it for today, now I just have to wait a couple days for the doctors office to call and let me know what my test results show. I would not be too surprised if it turned out that I were diabetic, I have been showing up borderline for several years and I was talking to Kathleen's nurse yesterday and she said that the stress for the radiation could cause one to show up in a diabetic curve. More good news!

For someone who had been relative healthy for the first 59 and a half years the last year and a half has not been much fun. I think that I must be making up for lost time. So between that and the constant pain that I am in I guess I should not be surprised by being so tired all the time.

With that said, I think I will just say good night for today!

Moving again Monday

Well, I think that I am feeling a little better. I think that last week I must have over done something because I have been exhausted for the last four or five days without having done much of anything. Wednesday night Kathleen and I attended our class desert for our former pastor and Thursday nigh I was out to be part of a political discussion group discussing an upcoming amendment to the state constitution.

By Friday I was pretty much comatose, I was awake...kind of, but I could hardly move out of my chair. I took a short walk, and even that did not wake me up. Saturday I was suppose to go to a discipleship meeting at church, but was worn out and I knew that I needed to be somewhat awake for Hayden's birthday party that afternoon.

I made it through the party okay, but by the time we got home I was ready to go to bed. I forced myself to stay up for a couple hours, just so that I would not be wide awake at two in the morning. Sunday I did not go to church because I still did not have any energy and I wanted to go to a memorial service of someone from church.

Kathleen had someone that she wanted to visit with for a while Sunday afternoon and I thought that they were going to meet somewhere, but about an hour before she was going to arrive I found out that she was coming over here. So I did what I could to clean up the living room and took about ten bags of stuff out to her SUV to take to Goodwill. I also vacuumed the downstairs a couple times.

Then I found out that she was coming with her husband and that they were running a little late. By this time I was too worn out to go to the memorial service and really too tired to be much of a host either, but I did not have much of a choice on the latter.

When they got here, the husband needed to go for a walk around the block, I was exhausted so I did not go, but just sat and tried to stay awake while Kathleen and her friend visited. As an aside, I had not had the time to eat lunch and by the time they left I was ready to eat anything I could get into my mouth.

On top of everything else, I have been having this really annoying pain in my left side as well as in my back area. It was not the usual back pain, but rather something inside; I deduced that it had something to do with my intestines as I was also having a lot of mucus discharge as well. Whatever it was I was totally zapped every day for the last few days.

Then when I woke up this morning, I noticed right away that I did not have the pain in my side, there was still some pain in my back, but this was more of the normal back pain. So I did have a little more energy today although my joints were really bothering me today...but that I think I can attribute to the rain that we are having today.

We did get out and drop the stuff off at Goodwill and then did some grocery shopping at Winco, but now I am pretty worn out once again, not quite like what I was all weekend, but for not having done much today I am more tired than I should be.

Well, it is about 1900 and I think that I will go upstairs and see if Kathleen is doing anything for dinner tonight. So I will just say good night now that I have caught everyone up on my last few days.