60 yrs and up

Hey, all, just checking in.

A couple of notable things this week:

On Tuesday, I had a "YAG procedure" on my left eye. I've had cataract surgery on both eyes, about 2 years apart, a small part of various dramas my eyes have managed to create. My left eye had developed a film on the intra-eye implanted cataract lens, so the vision on that side was very obscured by fogginess, kind of like looking through thin cloth.

Fortunately, the right eye is 20/20 with correction, but my eye doc couldn't even do an acuity test on the left eye a couple of months ago, because I couldn't read even the biggest numbers on the eye chart. I'd had the YAG procedure on the other eye a couple years back, so I had big expectations. Happily, they were fulfilled.

This procedure is like being tapped with a magic wand: Sit with your chin on the chin rest, look into a lighted thingie, see some blinkie lights while the doctor shoots a laser into the eye. (Yes, really.) No pain, nothing weirder than blinkie lights . . . takes maybe half a minute or so . . . instant, dramatic improvement. Yay! I have an appointment with my regular eye doc in a couple weeks, and I'm sure we'll redo the visual acuity test with much better results.

On another front, my original rowing coach - then the assistant coach of the local university's women's rowing team - had come back to town last season as the new head coach. Also yay, since she's one of the most significant people in my life, the person who helped me pivot in a hugely more positive direction in my late 40s. She's now re-starting the breast cancer survivors' rowing team she coached last time she was here. We'll start weekly indoor practices (rowing machines) on 1/21. We'll have a new direct coach, with her overseeing more indirectly, but I know the coaching will be great. I'm stoked.

I'm still dealing with some after-effects from the skull fracture/subdural hematoma in November. Still mild headaches, still easily fatigued, but gradually better. Weirdly, I just realized that I have anosmia, i.e., can't smell anything. I'm presuming it's from the head injury, though I didn't notice it right away. No way to know right now whether it's temporary or permanent. (I know Covid can cause it, but I haven't had any respiratory symptoms.) I'm doing self-administered Smell Retraining Therapy (SRT), which is a fancy name for smelling several different essential oils - or trying to - a couple of times a day.

@BCLadybug888 - your mentioning Ram Dass was a blast from the past! Oh, my goodness. Ram Dass, Marshall McLuhan, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and more. 1960s/1970s. Heh.

Happy weekend, everyone: If we haven't heard from you lately, let us know how you're doing?

springlering62 wrote: »

My new foot massager finally arrived!


can you post a link to this magical contraption?

Hi, all, just a little chat/update. How is everyone doing?

@BCLadybug888, it was stunning to me to see your Gerbera daisy and Aloe doing fine outdoors in early January. Yeah, yeah, I know everyone's Winter has different weather, but it's So. Much. Colder. Than. That. Here. Some days next week, they say daytime high temps will get down to 4F/-16C, and I know it's even colder elsewhere. Hardy evergreens are still green here of course; and my hardy outdoor cacti are somewhat green and will live if past experience is repeated, but they're in their wrinkly Winter state so don't look happy. (I'll put a photo in a spoiler.)

No real new news here. Giving myself pep talks to keep up Winter workouts, since they're less fun than Summer ones, plus while they help remediate the extra fatigue from my head injury, the fatigue also makes me lazier. Saw my PCP today and we made a followup care plan for the overall situation, with the anosmia being the chief issue of concern at this point, since other progress is reasonable at this stage. I'm supposed to continue the scent training (smelling several essential oils twice a day) for another couple of weeks, and it there's no improvement, she'll prescribe a topical corticosteroid to see if that helps. To me, the anosmia is annoying, but it's a little worrisome that if I had a fire or gas leak, I couldn't smell it.

Right now, while I'd prefer to re-lose literally a few pounds, I'm trying to hold steady weight in order to prioritize nutrition for healing. My jeans still fit comfortably, and my blood pressure today at the doctor's office was 114/72, so I think these few pounds aren't any kind of significant health issue. The skull fracture can take literal months to heal, and my head's still tender, plus it worries me that my osteoporosis may not be a helpful thing in this scenario. Of course I forgot to ask about that this morning, even though I wrote down all the things I wanted to talk about (except that ).

Best wishes to all - I hope you're crushing your goals, as usual!

Well, our mild winter is having a little deep freeze for a week or so, sunny days but cold nights, with the temperature dipping below freezing for several days in a row - so I took pity on the Gerberas and moved them into the garage, and wrapped a tea towel around the aloe vera! When the cold lifts, I'll see how everyone fared...they did so well to last this long, I just had to at least try sending them a lifeline.

Ann, I hope your injury continues to heal and your smell is restored, long road but you are doing very well indeed.

Mark, I sure hope what happened last year does not repeat - plants readying for Spring and then a devastating cold snap. Here in BC we lost almost the entire tree fruit crop.

I also have a plant "problem." I like to propagate them. The goal is to have at least two of each but also to keep giving them away. Lately I've been doing a bunch of propagation of some Rex Begonia. I think the variety is "escargot." It has a really neat spiral on top of each leaf, and the growth form is more compact that many begonias. I was able to give a start to the person who originally gave one to me. Hers died, she thinks, when she was traveling and her house sitter just overwatered them. I've had a jade problem for years and years and years. Twice I gave a start to the person who originally gave me one. His got "the fungus." I inherited a staghorn fern a long time ago. I now have three. I would have a lot more, but I've given several away. Outdoors I keep growing more and more hens and chicks - I don't really have anywhere else to plant 'em. I also give those away.

Neighbor kids were sitting out by the sidewalk late this summer. I rode my bike by. They asked if I'd like to buy some succulents. I told them I just divided a bunch. I came by later and gave them several pots. They were so happy. One was a big pot with lots of individuals. They were going to repot them and try to keep selling.

I do the same with raspberries and marionberries. The raspberries are special because they came from a friend who was moving from her home; she died a couple years ago. I keep her berries propagating all over town. They are very hardy and delicious.

I don't remember where I got the Corsican hellebore. A neighbor was offering them up when she dug a bed. A couple years ago, my next door neighbor let me dig up a hellebore from her bed; it's kind of boring, and I think it might not survive. That's OK.

I sat on a sensory evaluation panel the other day. Some scientists are studying smoke taint in wine. It's hard work. We spit the wine out, so we don't even get a glass of smoked vino. Anyway, I noticed a large quantity of ginkgo nuts on the ground outside. I remembered there's a bunch of trees along that street; I used to work on campus. I remember watching some people happily collect the fruit when they first fell. Well, I decided I'd try to propagate a ginkgo from seed. I collected a bunch of seeds. There were intact fruits, but I didn't want to deal with the mess or risk contact dermatitis. So now I have yet another plant project.

A work colleague gave me an odd cactus thing that he didn't know what it is and I never did either. Not a hardy one. I accidentally left it outside a day too long a month ago. I don't think it survived, but it could sprout back in the spring. I put the pot in a window.

I rooted a bunch of branches from the three varieties of figs in my yard for my boss a bunch of years ago. He loves figs. These do great in our area.

Every two or three springs, I get frost damage to my fruit trees. More often than that, we get some warm weather, and the flowers open. Then we get endless cool rain, so the pollinators ain't flying. Bummer. Last year I harvested a whole bunch of blossoms from my flowering cherry and pickled them. I should put some on the soup I'm making. I bet they'd be pretty and delicious.

There is a tiny bungalow right around the corner from us. There are no curtains to let in as much light as possible and the walls are lined with glass cases with grow lights and humidity gizmos. They are full of exotics. When the weather warms, they put a bunch on their porch.

I always slow when walking and try not to look like I’m staring in- although I am.

I often wonder where the people live. It can’t be more than 800SF and most of that appears to be given over to beautifully cared for plants.

Been dozing off in the afternoons. Super aggravating. Usually I’d be out walking, but instrad am sitting on sofa doing electric foot massage, red light treatment, ice pack, heating pad. Is it any wonder I’m dozing off? I’m bored. The dog is bored. It bugs me to waste time and I’m scared I’ll get out of the habit of walking.

Mentioned it to my husband. I swear the electronics listen.

Scrolling this morning and utterly freaked out because getting ads headlined “SHINGLES VIRUS SLEEPING” with photos of people who’ve dozed off.

It wasn’t until I really looked at the next one that came up that in much smaller print it said “….inside of you. Open your eyes to treatment.”

I am really peeved that a.) it heard me talking about falling asleep and b.) suggested an ad that was off base enough to give me a short burst of anxiety.

Just read an article on Newsweek about a woman who did a 30 day water fast “and lost 25 pounds”. The first two thirds of the article touted her loss and how she felt “closer to her creator” , how prayer and worship got her through this, that she felt lighter (duh), complexion better, less inflammation, and dark circles disappeared.

The article quoted health.com that this was a healthy way to incorporate “autophagy” to remove old dead cells.

(Sorta like a “cleanse”.)

There was only a short paragraph of the dangers involved in the top 2/3 of the article.

The last 1/3 of the article- for those who bothered to read past the Wow! Quick! Weight! Loss! implications were by doctors and dieticians strongly advising against fasts longer than 24-72 hours for health, nutrition, and potentially amplifying pre-existing or dormant ED issues. One also pointed out that 2/3 was likely muscle loss, and the rest potential fat loss.

Here’s the link- only valid if you subscribe to Apple News:
https://apple.news/AxbFpc3cyQSauDh1GJmkFVw

We're having unseasonable weather. Mostly that means it's not raining. Since we're having clear skies without an inverted atmosphere, we get mild sunny afternoons. Since it's been a few days, the grass actually dries out. It also means COLD nights, at least for what we're used to.

I'm way behind on fruit tree pruning, so I'm taking advantage of the dry mild afternoons to catch up. One bummer is looking up into the tree to see what to cut means sometimes I'm looking into the sun. Oh well. I got the Bartlett Pear done yesterday and most of the Chojuro (Asian pear). I'll finish that today and try to get the cherry done. I'll have to leave the branches on the ground since my green waste cart is full. I save some of the fruit wood to use on the grill to smoke things, but there's more than I need. I'm also pruning some other trees where there are branches crossing or two trees interfering with each other. I've got some nice native trees I planted as tiny seedlings that are nice trees now. I am not looking forward to dealing with the fig trees, but I'll have to. The flowering cherry out front might need some work, but mostly I'll be thinking about WHEN to start cutting little whips to bring inside to force bloom. They are lovely.

But here's the thing. As I was up in the pear tree working on it, I remembered how I used to really love pruning these trees. When I bought my house, I was so excited to have an orchard. It was kind of like doing bonsai on a macro scale, and I've been doing bonsai for quite a long time. Funny too; I "have more time" now since I'm retired. But now I see it more as just a chore.

I will say that the tree I'm done with looks so much better.

I will still need to finish working on the raspberries- tying up this year's primacanes. I haven't even started on the blueberries. They need to be pruned, and they need some serious weeding. I'll spread some cardboard and cover it with pine shavings to acidify the soil a bit. Spring really is just around the corner. We got a pollen alert the other day for some trees that have katkins out. I will have to repot most of my bonsai this spring, and silly me - I'm trying to sprout some ginkgo trees.

Gumballs? Do you mean fruit? Ginkgoes are dioecious. That means that male and female flowers grow on different individuals. Only the females make fruit. Because the fruit can be kind of smelly, most of the ones you buy at the nursery are males and are grown from cuttings. There are some females on campus, so I picked up some seeds. Wish me luck. I have one ginkgo bonsai that came from a dear friend when she was moving. A year later she had heart failure and died. So sad. I have lots of her plants. My raspberries came from her, so I do what I can to propagate them and give them away.

Not only are ginkgoes gorgeous in the fall when they turn that gold color, they do an amazing thing. Their leaves seem to all fall off at the same time. Amazing.

I finished the Chojuro and pretty much finished the Stella cherry today. Then I got after one of the figs while waiting for the furnace technician because I can see the front of the house from there. I still have a lot more work to do on that tree plus some work on the two other figs. And then the plum. And the blueberries. And....

Sweetgum is a native where you live. People plant them here as ornamentals. They have gorgeous fall color. They tend to hold their leaves until the week after leaf collection ends in late December or early January. They do shed messy and spiky balls. I have known people to injure themselves turning ankles on them.

Dogwood are subject to a disease. They are slow growing. They don't get that big so aren't the best for shade. Redbud is also native. It would make a decent street tree except for the seed pods. Ginkgo would seem like a good option, but I think the seedlings are very expensive, and they grow slow. There are varieties that don't get quite so big; those might be good options. Is the tree that they are planting a Chinese elm? Those got popular because they are resistant to Dutch Elm Disease.

Your City arborist should get in touch with University of Georgia Extension to help develop a plan to get rid of the brittle non-native trees and rethink street trees that will perform well and live a long time.

BCLadybug888 wrote: »

I am absolutely thrilled to announce, as of today's weigh-in, I am down 75 lbs since joining MFP August 2021!!! 🎆
I lost almost 50 in the first year, but then spent 18 months up & down, slowly losing ground...😐
But in 2024 I was the comeback kid 😃 and now I am on 🔥 for 2025! 🤩

So happy to hear that Ladybug, you've got this, congratulations!

Happy Robbie Burns day to the true Scots and the diaspora! I will be fitting haggis into my calorie allotment 🥰 and singing songs 🎶

BCLadybug888 wrote: »

I am absolutely thrilled to announce, as of today's weigh-in, I am down 75 lbs since joining MFP August 2021!!! 🎆
I lost almost 50 in the first year, but then spent 18 months up & down, slowly losing ground...😐
But in 2024 I was the comeback kid 😃 and now I am on 🔥 for 2025! 🤩

This is utterly fabulous, @BCLadybug888: Heartiest congratulations! I'm betting 2025 will be your year.