Elizabeth Moon's Blog, page 21
August 15, 2014
Found the Farrier! (a horse thing)
My farrier and I have been not connecting for several weeks, while Mac's hooves continue to grow, which is not good for a horse with bad hooves and chronic lameness issues. I had lost (I thought) Brian's card with his phone number on it, and the number posted on the wall returned no answer--not even a machine to leave a message on, and I knew the old old number (in my cellphone) was wrong. So. R- went out to the feed store and found ONE of Brian's cards tacked to the bulletin board and copied down the number. It's the same as the number posted on my wall here, but today when I called Brian answered.
Horse people know that one's farrier is even more important than the hay supplier, unless you're capable of doing your own trimming (I'm not. I managed it with my first horse but not since. Ky was exceptionally patient with me.) So Tuesday Mac will get trimmed, and Monday I will spend time soaking his hooves, because the rain earlier this week is long gone and the hot oven that is usually August in Texas is blowing over us.
And yes, I've now added Brian's number in the computer.
Horse people know that one's farrier is even more important than the hay supplier, unless you're capable of doing your own trimming (I'm not. I managed it with my first horse but not since. Ky was exceptionally patient with me.) So Tuesday Mac will get trimmed, and Monday I will spend time soaking his hooves, because the rain earlier this week is long gone and the hot oven that is usually August in Texas is blowing over us.
And yes, I've now added Brian's number in the computer.
August 10, 2014
Thoughts on Food, Via the Lone Star Tick and Autism
Every food in this world is nutritious for somebody somewhere, at some point in their life. Be it animal or vegetable or mineral (e.g. salt) everything that has been a component of someone's diet has been useful to one or more of its consumers, and even essential in the setting where it was eaten.
Every food in this world is bad for somebody somewhere, at some point in their life. A food that is nutritious for you may be toxic to someone else, and vice versa. The one you can't get along without--the basis of your cultural diet--may make someone else sicker than sick. Might even kill them.
Even a food you've eaten happily all your life can turn on you, both with the changing biochemistry of age and with external events. For the former type of change...I used to do OK with cabbage and its relatives. Wasn't particularly fond of them (though young raw cabbage was pretty tasty!) but they caused me no real trouble, and I included cabbage in most of the vegetable soups I made. Then, in middle age, I made my usual soup, and with the first bowl of it I was on the fast track to the small tiled room and its plumbing. OK, maybe I was coming down with something. But no. It soon became obvious that cabbage and its close relatives were going to cause a huge inconvenience any time I ate them. Something had changed in my internal biochemistry, and cabbage was out (in more ways than one) so I changed how I made vegetable soup. And I wince when diet gurus extol the foods that are "superfoods" and supposedly good for me--and that I know will make me sick for a minimum of 24 hours.
For the second kind of change, take the Lone Star tick, Amblyomma americana, a common tick where I live. These ticks happily suck blood from humans as well as other mammals, and their saliva contains a sugar that is also found in red meat. The saliva also induces a typical immune response (redness, itching, swelling) and therein lies the way that a single tick bite can create an allergy to red meat. The body says "that sugar's bad!" and...there you are. Staring at your favorite steak or burger but unable to eat it. Bad enough the ticks can give you tick borne diseases, but forcing a dietary change in addition to sucking your blood seems...unfair. (Nobody said life was fair. I know.) Other sudden changes? People can become violently allergic to something unexpectedly. I knew someone once who had been eating shellfish without incident for years...until the day he had a life-threatening reaction.
The take home lesson here is that no general statements about foods are universally true. Cabbage makes me sick; it may not make you sick and may in fact make you feel better. What makes me feel good may make you sick. Some thrive on more protein than others. Some thrive on less.
When our son was growing up, there was a lot of hoorah in the media about special diets for autistic kids. Eliminate that, leave out this, add these (expensive!) supplements, on and on and on. Some parents opted for the extremely restrictive diets that had been recommended; some tried less strict diets, and some (like me) were not convinced that a reasonable diet for most kids wouldn't be reasonable for our kids. (My young autist had food likes and dislikes, of course, but most people do. And he turned against cheese and milk (previously among his favorites) suddenly one year and I...shrugged and made sure he had other calcium sources. He was going to be tall; he needed strong bones.) Aside from restricting sweets about as much as I would have for any kid, if he would eat it, he could have it. As I observed the lack of success most people had with restrictive diets and listened to the increasing hype online, on TV, in the news about food allergies and restrictions that were now supposed to be the cure for everything under the sun, I became convinced that a lot of what we hear about foods in the media is...driven by someone's desire for power or profit or both.
Obviously the food industry wants to profit from us. They produce the food; they want the market to support them. I am not a fan of most segments of the food industry--I don't think the fast food joints belong in schools, and we got along fine in elementary and junior high without soda machines or candy machines in the schools at all. I'm opposed to the routine use of antibiotics in healthy animals (increases antibiotic-resistant bacteria) and strongly prefer management practices that are "natural" (cattle and hogs on open ground, chickens running around eating greens and bugs.) Range beef tastes better, in my opinion; less of it is more satisfying than stockyard beef, and when we've been able to have a garden, we gardened organically. It's fairly easy to evade a lot of the advertising pressure if you cook your own meals most of the time, from scratch. Harder, if you're really short of time, or can't find a nearby market with good fresh vegetables and fruits and meat (which basically means, if you're poor and live in a big city) or can't have at least a small garden of your own. But still possible to eat a reasonably good, if imperfect, diet that no, really, is not about to kill you. When I was a kid, the only bread available was white bread; the only potatoes available were russet potatoes; every kid I knew ate white bread, white potatoes, meat, often canned vegetables...and we weren't fat or sick.
Increasingly, the diet industry and fitness industry are filled with "experts" who spout absolute nonsense about food, each with the aim of getting the consumer to buy their book and/or special supplements, and who try to scare people into their particular corner of the food industry--usually more expensive than whatever you were eating. The guru who tells you humans are genetically incapable of handling gluten...is dead wrong. Historically wrong. Ancient peoples ate wild grains that contain gluten for many thousands of years before humans started farming the wheat ancestors. Sure, some people get really sick if they eat anything with gluten in it. Others have no problem with it. The same is true of every other food that's been part of a traditional diet. Some people can't eat tomatoes or strawberries or cabbage or squash or melons or peaches or pineapple or papaya....the list goes on. Some people can eat tomatoes or strawberries or cabbage, etc. every day without any trouble at all. What a person can eat without a problem can change--slowly or suddenly, slightly or completely, for internal or external reasons. But fad after fad sweeps over the diet and fitness industries, and--just as with Big Agriculture--those fads are tied much more to someone's desire for power over others and/or profit from others than to the reality of food and any individual person.
I have friends who are vegetarian and friends who are not. Both are healthy. I have friends who are going gluten-free, and friends who are not. And both are healthy. Some don't do dairy; some do. Both are healthy. What we (the friends involved) do that works is let one another eat what each one wants without trying to change the other person. (Some of us weren't like this when we were younger, but we learned tolerance.) Given the reality of individual reactions to individual foods and diets, and the ephemeral nature of fads proposed by "experts", and the fact that in a large enough population you can find healthy people whose diets are completely different...this seems a sensible and humane approach. I believe there is no perfect diet for everyone. I believe there is no "superfood" and no totally evil food. The foods that make us--individually, one by one, and differently--healthy are the right foods for us. And they are not the same.
Every food in this world is bad for somebody somewhere, at some point in their life. A food that is nutritious for you may be toxic to someone else, and vice versa. The one you can't get along without--the basis of your cultural diet--may make someone else sicker than sick. Might even kill them.
Even a food you've eaten happily all your life can turn on you, both with the changing biochemistry of age and with external events. For the former type of change...I used to do OK with cabbage and its relatives. Wasn't particularly fond of them (though young raw cabbage was pretty tasty!) but they caused me no real trouble, and I included cabbage in most of the vegetable soups I made. Then, in middle age, I made my usual soup, and with the first bowl of it I was on the fast track to the small tiled room and its plumbing. OK, maybe I was coming down with something. But no. It soon became obvious that cabbage and its close relatives were going to cause a huge inconvenience any time I ate them. Something had changed in my internal biochemistry, and cabbage was out (in more ways than one) so I changed how I made vegetable soup. And I wince when diet gurus extol the foods that are "superfoods" and supposedly good for me--and that I know will make me sick for a minimum of 24 hours.
For the second kind of change, take the Lone Star tick, Amblyomma americana, a common tick where I live. These ticks happily suck blood from humans as well as other mammals, and their saliva contains a sugar that is also found in red meat. The saliva also induces a typical immune response (redness, itching, swelling) and therein lies the way that a single tick bite can create an allergy to red meat. The body says "that sugar's bad!" and...there you are. Staring at your favorite steak or burger but unable to eat it. Bad enough the ticks can give you tick borne diseases, but forcing a dietary change in addition to sucking your blood seems...unfair. (Nobody said life was fair. I know.) Other sudden changes? People can become violently allergic to something unexpectedly. I knew someone once who had been eating shellfish without incident for years...until the day he had a life-threatening reaction.
The take home lesson here is that no general statements about foods are universally true. Cabbage makes me sick; it may not make you sick and may in fact make you feel better. What makes me feel good may make you sick. Some thrive on more protein than others. Some thrive on less.
When our son was growing up, there was a lot of hoorah in the media about special diets for autistic kids. Eliminate that, leave out this, add these (expensive!) supplements, on and on and on. Some parents opted for the extremely restrictive diets that had been recommended; some tried less strict diets, and some (like me) were not convinced that a reasonable diet for most kids wouldn't be reasonable for our kids. (My young autist had food likes and dislikes, of course, but most people do. And he turned against cheese and milk (previously among his favorites) suddenly one year and I...shrugged and made sure he had other calcium sources. He was going to be tall; he needed strong bones.) Aside from restricting sweets about as much as I would have for any kid, if he would eat it, he could have it. As I observed the lack of success most people had with restrictive diets and listened to the increasing hype online, on TV, in the news about food allergies and restrictions that were now supposed to be the cure for everything under the sun, I became convinced that a lot of what we hear about foods in the media is...driven by someone's desire for power or profit or both.
Obviously the food industry wants to profit from us. They produce the food; they want the market to support them. I am not a fan of most segments of the food industry--I don't think the fast food joints belong in schools, and we got along fine in elementary and junior high without soda machines or candy machines in the schools at all. I'm opposed to the routine use of antibiotics in healthy animals (increases antibiotic-resistant bacteria) and strongly prefer management practices that are "natural" (cattle and hogs on open ground, chickens running around eating greens and bugs.) Range beef tastes better, in my opinion; less of it is more satisfying than stockyard beef, and when we've been able to have a garden, we gardened organically. It's fairly easy to evade a lot of the advertising pressure if you cook your own meals most of the time, from scratch. Harder, if you're really short of time, or can't find a nearby market with good fresh vegetables and fruits and meat (which basically means, if you're poor and live in a big city) or can't have at least a small garden of your own. But still possible to eat a reasonably good, if imperfect, diet that no, really, is not about to kill you. When I was a kid, the only bread available was white bread; the only potatoes available were russet potatoes; every kid I knew ate white bread, white potatoes, meat, often canned vegetables...and we weren't fat or sick.
Increasingly, the diet industry and fitness industry are filled with "experts" who spout absolute nonsense about food, each with the aim of getting the consumer to buy their book and/or special supplements, and who try to scare people into their particular corner of the food industry--usually more expensive than whatever you were eating. The guru who tells you humans are genetically incapable of handling gluten...is dead wrong. Historically wrong. Ancient peoples ate wild grains that contain gluten for many thousands of years before humans started farming the wheat ancestors. Sure, some people get really sick if they eat anything with gluten in it. Others have no problem with it. The same is true of every other food that's been part of a traditional diet. Some people can't eat tomatoes or strawberries or cabbage or squash or melons or peaches or pineapple or papaya....the list goes on. Some people can eat tomatoes or strawberries or cabbage, etc. every day without any trouble at all. What a person can eat without a problem can change--slowly or suddenly, slightly or completely, for internal or external reasons. But fad after fad sweeps over the diet and fitness industries, and--just as with Big Agriculture--those fads are tied much more to someone's desire for power over others and/or profit from others than to the reality of food and any individual person.
I have friends who are vegetarian and friends who are not. Both are healthy. I have friends who are going gluten-free, and friends who are not. And both are healthy. Some don't do dairy; some do. Both are healthy. What we (the friends involved) do that works is let one another eat what each one wants without trying to change the other person. (Some of us weren't like this when we were younger, but we learned tolerance.) Given the reality of individual reactions to individual foods and diets, and the ephemeral nature of fads proposed by "experts", and the fact that in a large enough population you can find healthy people whose diets are completely different...this seems a sensible and humane approach. I believe there is no perfect diet for everyone. I believe there is no "superfood" and no totally evil food. The foods that make us--individually, one by one, and differently--healthy are the right foods for us. And they are not the same.
August 6, 2014
Seen from the Bicycle
While pedaling up and down and around getting exercise (and lowering blood pressure and other good things) I see things I would never see, let alone notice, if I were driving. Cats...lots and lots of semi-feral (or really feral) cats, for instance. The two weeks when male tarantulas wandered the streets, looking for female tarantulas (who were down in their burrows, waiting...) Tarantulas around here aren't dangerous, just startling when something the size of my palm is trundling across the street. I am glad to say I didn't run over any of them. I see people, though not too many, and say Hi, and they look startled at first, and then smile. Few adults in this town ride a bike, and they don't all ride at the times I do, so I rarely get to see one. But I've gotten to know some people because after they see me a few times, they may ask how far I'm going, or why I'm riding a bike every day.
Today's morning ride had some special surprises.
For several days I'd wondered what strange bird was hanging around a particular house--I couldn't spot it, but I could sure hear it. I suspected it had gotten into that house's attic, but had no way to see. Today I found out that the strange birdlike noises were coming from an animal I had never associated with strange birdlike noises...when it started making additional noises that fit its reputation better. It was a very small pig in someone's fenced back yard. The yard fence runs alongside one of the streets where I ride. I don't have the picture of the pig; I don't carry a camera when I'm doing the daily miles.
A few loops later, I turned at a corner where two vacant lots are diagonal from each other (houses on the other two corners.) And there, right in front of me in the middle of the street, was a roadrunner. Though roadrunners will run along in front of a slow car, or a tractor, or a pedestrian...apparently a person on a bicycle looks like a monster. Away it went into the nearer vacant lot, actually flying a few yards to get up speed. I like roadrunners, and we get them in the barn lot and out on the 80 acres, but I'd never seen one in town proper before. Here's a picture of one that hung around the barn and horse lots quite a bit in 2006. One afternoon I set up about 10 yards away with the big lens and got some great shots.
The classic roadrunner
Today's morning ride had some special surprises.
For several days I'd wondered what strange bird was hanging around a particular house--I couldn't spot it, but I could sure hear it. I suspected it had gotten into that house's attic, but had no way to see. Today I found out that the strange birdlike noises were coming from an animal I had never associated with strange birdlike noises...when it started making additional noises that fit its reputation better. It was a very small pig in someone's fenced back yard. The yard fence runs alongside one of the streets where I ride. I don't have the picture of the pig; I don't carry a camera when I'm doing the daily miles.
A few loops later, I turned at a corner where two vacant lots are diagonal from each other (houses on the other two corners.) And there, right in front of me in the middle of the street, was a roadrunner. Though roadrunners will run along in front of a slow car, or a tractor, or a pedestrian...apparently a person on a bicycle looks like a monster. Away it went into the nearer vacant lot, actually flying a few yards to get up speed. I like roadrunners, and we get them in the barn lot and out on the 80 acres, but I'd never seen one in town proper before. Here's a picture of one that hung around the barn and horse lots quite a bit in 2006. One afternoon I set up about 10 yards away with the big lens and got some great shots.
The classic roadrunner
August 5, 2014
First Seven "Shorty" Socks
Yesterday I took the 7th pair of shorty socks off the needles; they still have loose yarn ends inside, but I couldn't resist a family portrait of the group (with the comment that as usual some of the colors aren't their real color in these pictures.
They're laid out in order of making, starting with the red pair in the lower left, and then counter-clockwise. They have fanciful names, based on the colors: Play Ball (1st pair), Rainy Day Roses, Sunny Day Roses, Desert Canyon Sunset, Tropical Lagoon (at the top, in case you've lost track), Summer Meadow, and the newest, Fiesta.
And here's a picture of the Fiesta socks on my feet (with the loose yarn ends still inside--they were put on just for the photos.)
The green in Rainy Day Roses is a different green than on the other pairs, and photographs much truer to its real appearance, a. It was Ella rae Classic #75. The other greens are all Ella rae Classic #90, a rich emerald green; it looks closest to its real color in the image just above. All the pinkish-purplish stripes are the same yarn. The blue stripe on Play Ball is the same yarn as on Summer Meadow. The purple stripe at the top of Rainy Day Roses is the same yarn as the purple stripes in Desert Canyon Sunset. Both the pinkish-purplish and the purple yarn are Plymouth Galway Nep, so the little "speckles" of color in them are real, not an artifact. Those bits of other colors make the stripes more interesting, I think. Tropical Lagoon has only two yarns, the turquoise and the variegated. Mountain Colors Bitterroot Rainbow is in both the Desert Canyon Sunset (a total of five rows per sock) and in Summer Meadow (the ribbing, as well as more rows.) Fiesta has a small amount of a different purple yarn (in whole socks, it proved to become overly soft and stretchy with multiple washings, so keeping it to narrow stripes should allow other yarns to scaffold it. Yarns used as leftovers from one-color "regular" socks are both greens, red, turquoise, medium blue, variegated blue/aqua/lavender, and both purples. Yarn from intact skeins: the pinkish-purplish, Bitterrroot Rainbow, and the mustard-gold. The mustard-gold is the only one originally purchased as a striping yarn; it was chosen to mix with Bitterroot Rainbow (after I tried out that yarn and found it made stunning stripes), burgundy, hunter green, and brown. I don't want solid-color socks in that color, but as a stripe it'll be fine.
In most of the socks, the heel flap is done in Eye of Partridge, with that pattern continued under the heel a short way for reinforcement and cushioning. This is a photo of my first attempt at Eye of Partridge.
It's a slip-stitch pattern that offsets the slipped & knitted stitches every right-side row (all wrong-side rows are purled--on the flat part of the heel flap--and knitted if the pattern's carried under the heel (which it isn't, here.) It wears better under the back strap of my sandals than a regular heel stitch does.
Aside from the short bit of ribbing that helps hold the short upper part away from the ankle, everything else is done in knit stitch. Toes are anatomical (there's a right and a left sock), fitted to my own feet; the same basic sock could be made with symmetrical toes, of course.
Since I've shrunk the amount of leftover yarn from regular socks, Fiesta may be the last shorty I knit for awhile. I need more regular socks anyway, since the Year One socks are starting to wear out. I have a royal blue pair most of the way down the five inches of ribbing; when it reaches the heel flap, I'll put a following pair (possibly Mountain Colors Indian Paintbrush, or a burgundy) on the needles. I also want to do a dark green this fall, and a black pair, as well as several more pairs of the Herdwick yarn that's so wonderfully warm.
They're laid out in order of making, starting with the red pair in the lower left, and then counter-clockwise. They have fanciful names, based on the colors: Play Ball (1st pair), Rainy Day Roses, Sunny Day Roses, Desert Canyon Sunset, Tropical Lagoon (at the top, in case you've lost track), Summer Meadow, and the newest, Fiesta.
And here's a picture of the Fiesta socks on my feet (with the loose yarn ends still inside--they were put on just for the photos.)
The green in Rainy Day Roses is a different green than on the other pairs, and photographs much truer to its real appearance, a. It was Ella rae Classic #75. The other greens are all Ella rae Classic #90, a rich emerald green; it looks closest to its real color in the image just above. All the pinkish-purplish stripes are the same yarn. The blue stripe on Play Ball is the same yarn as on Summer Meadow. The purple stripe at the top of Rainy Day Roses is the same yarn as the purple stripes in Desert Canyon Sunset. Both the pinkish-purplish and the purple yarn are Plymouth Galway Nep, so the little "speckles" of color in them are real, not an artifact. Those bits of other colors make the stripes more interesting, I think. Tropical Lagoon has only two yarns, the turquoise and the variegated. Mountain Colors Bitterroot Rainbow is in both the Desert Canyon Sunset (a total of five rows per sock) and in Summer Meadow (the ribbing, as well as more rows.) Fiesta has a small amount of a different purple yarn (in whole socks, it proved to become overly soft and stretchy with multiple washings, so keeping it to narrow stripes should allow other yarns to scaffold it. Yarns used as leftovers from one-color "regular" socks are both greens, red, turquoise, medium blue, variegated blue/aqua/lavender, and both purples. Yarn from intact skeins: the pinkish-purplish, Bitterrroot Rainbow, and the mustard-gold. The mustard-gold is the only one originally purchased as a striping yarn; it was chosen to mix with Bitterroot Rainbow (after I tried out that yarn and found it made stunning stripes), burgundy, hunter green, and brown. I don't want solid-color socks in that color, but as a stripe it'll be fine.
In most of the socks, the heel flap is done in Eye of Partridge, with that pattern continued under the heel a short way for reinforcement and cushioning. This is a photo of my first attempt at Eye of Partridge.
It's a slip-stitch pattern that offsets the slipped & knitted stitches every right-side row (all wrong-side rows are purled--on the flat part of the heel flap--and knitted if the pattern's carried under the heel (which it isn't, here.) It wears better under the back strap of my sandals than a regular heel stitch does.
Aside from the short bit of ribbing that helps hold the short upper part away from the ankle, everything else is done in knit stitch. Toes are anatomical (there's a right and a left sock), fitted to my own feet; the same basic sock could be made with symmetrical toes, of course.
Since I've shrunk the amount of leftover yarn from regular socks, Fiesta may be the last shorty I knit for awhile. I need more regular socks anyway, since the Year One socks are starting to wear out. I have a royal blue pair most of the way down the five inches of ribbing; when it reaches the heel flap, I'll put a following pair (possibly Mountain Colors Indian Paintbrush, or a burgundy) on the needles. I also want to do a dark green this fall, and a black pair, as well as several more pairs of the Herdwick yarn that's so wonderfully warm.
August 2, 2014
DragonCon Again
Having missed a couple of years while helping out friends with the runup to LoneStarCon, I'm going back to DragonCon this Labor Day. I'm excited, and hope to see fans who couldn't make it last time. Right now I have a tentative schedule--not final, as the email clearly said--and I've asked for a signing slot and a reading slot in addition--no idea if those are possible, but...don't ask, don't get. Below the cut, the tentative schedule. (EDIT NOTE: autograph session & reading added on Sunday.)
Title: Strategies for the Castrophes of Publishing
Description: Stuff happens, right? Come and learn what options exist if your publisher bankrupts or your editor quits midstream--among other catastrophes.
Time: Fri 11:30 am Location: Embassy D-F - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Lou Anders, Janny Wurts, Chesya Burke, Laura Anne Gilman, Elizabeth Moon, James A. Moore)
-------------------
Title: Napoleon and the Song of Ice and Roses
Description: Some of our favorite fantasy epics have their roots in real-world ones. How does our history get a new life in fantasy?
Time: Fri 02:30 pm Location: Embassy C - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Naomi Novik, Elizabeth Moon, A. J. Hartley, Kathryn Hinds)
-------------------
Title: Magical Tactics
Description: Space marines are great. But what about when firepower is an actual fire power? Military tactics have a place in fantasy literature, too.
Time: Fri 04:00 pm Location: Embassy C - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Elizabeth Moon, Jaym Gates)
-------------------
Title: Delphic Oracle
Description: The Oracle at Delphi used great magic to see the future. Now our writer guests will channel her power to tell us a story--one word at a time.
Time: Sat 02:30 pm Location: Embassy C - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Jody Lynn Nye, Elizabeth Moon, Todd McCaffrey, Lev Grossman, Teresa Patterson)
-------------------
Title: Politics in SF
Description: How do politics of today inform the writers of science fiction?
Time: Sat 05:30 pm Location: Regency V - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Michael Z. Williamson, Lee Martindale, S. M. Stirling, John D. Ringo, Dr. Charles E. Gannon, Elizabeth Moon)
-------------------
Title: Dragon Con Guest of Honor Awards Banquet
Description: We honor our 2014 Guests of Honor and present the Julie Award and Hank Reinhardt Fandom Award.
Time: Sat 07:00 pm Location: Regency VI - VII - Hyatt (Length: 2.5 Hours)
(Tentative Panelists: Lynn Abbey, Kevin J. Anderson, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Lee Martindale, Todd McCaffrey, Harry Turtledove, Patrick J Jones, Jody Lynn Nye, Bill Fawcett, Nancy Knight, Rebecca Moesta, Toni Weisskopf, James Minz, Larry Niven, Kathleen O'Shea David, Peter David, The Ghosts Project, George Pérez, Phoenicia, Elizabeth Moon)
Title: Autograph Sessions
Time: Sun 11:30 am Location: International Hall South - Marriott (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Meagan A Spooner, Todd McCaffrey, Elizabeth Moon)
-------------------
Title: Reading: Elizabeth Moon
Time: Sun 02:30 pm Location: Marietta - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Elizabeth Moon)
...................................................................................................
I will post changes here, probably just by editing this post and correcting as necessary, so this is the place to look for my DragonCon schedule unless I post some other link on Twitter.
Title: Strategies for the Castrophes of Publishing
Description: Stuff happens, right? Come and learn what options exist if your publisher bankrupts or your editor quits midstream--among other catastrophes.
Time: Fri 11:30 am Location: Embassy D-F - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Lou Anders, Janny Wurts, Chesya Burke, Laura Anne Gilman, Elizabeth Moon, James A. Moore)
-------------------
Title: Napoleon and the Song of Ice and Roses
Description: Some of our favorite fantasy epics have their roots in real-world ones. How does our history get a new life in fantasy?
Time: Fri 02:30 pm Location: Embassy C - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Naomi Novik, Elizabeth Moon, A. J. Hartley, Kathryn Hinds)
-------------------
Title: Magical Tactics
Description: Space marines are great. But what about when firepower is an actual fire power? Military tactics have a place in fantasy literature, too.
Time: Fri 04:00 pm Location: Embassy C - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Elizabeth Moon, Jaym Gates)
-------------------
Title: Delphic Oracle
Description: The Oracle at Delphi used great magic to see the future. Now our writer guests will channel her power to tell us a story--one word at a time.
Time: Sat 02:30 pm Location: Embassy C - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Jody Lynn Nye, Elizabeth Moon, Todd McCaffrey, Lev Grossman, Teresa Patterson)
-------------------
Title: Politics in SF
Description: How do politics of today inform the writers of science fiction?
Time: Sat 05:30 pm Location: Regency V - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Michael Z. Williamson, Lee Martindale, S. M. Stirling, John D. Ringo, Dr. Charles E. Gannon, Elizabeth Moon)
-------------------
Title: Dragon Con Guest of Honor Awards Banquet
Description: We honor our 2014 Guests of Honor and present the Julie Award and Hank Reinhardt Fandom Award.
Time: Sat 07:00 pm Location: Regency VI - VII - Hyatt (Length: 2.5 Hours)
(Tentative Panelists: Lynn Abbey, Kevin J. Anderson, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Lee Martindale, Todd McCaffrey, Harry Turtledove, Patrick J Jones, Jody Lynn Nye, Bill Fawcett, Nancy Knight, Rebecca Moesta, Toni Weisskopf, James Minz, Larry Niven, Kathleen O'Shea David, Peter David, The Ghosts Project, George Pérez, Phoenicia, Elizabeth Moon)
Title: Autograph Sessions
Time: Sun 11:30 am Location: International Hall South - Marriott (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Meagan A Spooner, Todd McCaffrey, Elizabeth Moon)
-------------------
Title: Reading: Elizabeth Moon
Time: Sun 02:30 pm Location: Marietta - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Elizabeth Moon)
...................................................................................................
I will post changes here, probably just by editing this post and correcting as necessary, so this is the place to look for my DragonCon schedule unless I post some other link on Twitter.
July 29, 2014
How to Build a Fence to Contain Goats
As near as I can make it, this is how I heard it from one of the old men who used to sit on a bench outside the grocery (no bench there now) and chat by the hour with the other old men. You have to imagine a lean, sunburnt-for-years, old man with the wrinkles of both a hard life and sense of humor, and twinkling eyes set under exuberant eyebrows.
"Now if you want to keep goats in, you need a right good goat fence. Those critters'll get out of any normal fence--yeah, including that woven wire like you got down there at your place. Here's how you build a goat fence.
"First you take your stobs (posts), and you set 'em deep and closer than you would for horses or cattle--say maybe ten feet or so, and make those corners good and strong. Now you're gonna use at least eight strands of wire, good and tight. They're not like hogs, so you don't need to set a line of barb down in the dirt. Then you take your cedar staves, and you weave 'em into the fence, side by side, not a finger-width between 'em, and you twist every strand of that wire between every stave so them goats can't push through." (demonstrates with his hands.) And when you got your whole fence, all good and tight and strong and you can't see through it, and it's as high as your head--" Long pause, and he looked at me sideways.
"Youi're done?" I asked, since he clearly wanted a response.
"One last thing. You take you a bucket of water, and you throw it at the fence, hard as you can." Another pause, and he started that silent chuckle thing that old country folk can do. Beside him on the bench, another old guy's shoulders were shaking with the silent laughter, knowing what was coming.
"And if the water goes through...so will a goat."
Hilarity on the bench, and of course I was laughing too. "The thing about goats," one of the other men said, "is like with some horses. You want to keep goats, you got to be smarter than they are, and most people aren't."
From the same group, later, I got the following livestock insights:
Sheep are born looking for a way to die.
Horses are born looking for a way to get hurt.
Goats are born looking for a way out (alternate: to cause trouble)
*stobs was the old name for posts or stumps
*cedar staves--the small limbs of cedar (actually juniper) a local tree, cut and trimmed to make stakes (staves) to use for both goat fencing and regular fencing to hold wires apart between posts--strengthens the fence. Also used in the notorious "gap gates" in a fence--no proper gate is needed if you just use a fence section, put a skinny cedar pole at the active end, and two loops of wire on the next post...one to stick the foot of the pole into and one at the top to loop over the pole's top. These wobbly unstable miserable things are a pain to work with, especially if the fence wire is barb (which it usually is) We have one gap gate left that's about to become a real gate. (Real gates cost.)
*steeples is the old local pronunciation of staples, what you use to attach the wire to a post. The first fence builder I hired years back told me I'd need x-number of stobs and steeples and I was totally confused. We hadn't been here long enough. They don't come into the goat fence story, but they're local color.
"Now if you want to keep goats in, you need a right good goat fence. Those critters'll get out of any normal fence--yeah, including that woven wire like you got down there at your place. Here's how you build a goat fence.
"First you take your stobs (posts), and you set 'em deep and closer than you would for horses or cattle--say maybe ten feet or so, and make those corners good and strong. Now you're gonna use at least eight strands of wire, good and tight. They're not like hogs, so you don't need to set a line of barb down in the dirt. Then you take your cedar staves, and you weave 'em into the fence, side by side, not a finger-width between 'em, and you twist every strand of that wire between every stave so them goats can't push through." (demonstrates with his hands.) And when you got your whole fence, all good and tight and strong and you can't see through it, and it's as high as your head--" Long pause, and he looked at me sideways.
"Youi're done?" I asked, since he clearly wanted a response.
"One last thing. You take you a bucket of water, and you throw it at the fence, hard as you can." Another pause, and he started that silent chuckle thing that old country folk can do. Beside him on the bench, another old guy's shoulders were shaking with the silent laughter, knowing what was coming.
"And if the water goes through...so will a goat."
Hilarity on the bench, and of course I was laughing too. "The thing about goats," one of the other men said, "is like with some horses. You want to keep goats, you got to be smarter than they are, and most people aren't."
From the same group, later, I got the following livestock insights:
Sheep are born looking for a way to die.
Horses are born looking for a way to get hurt.
Goats are born looking for a way out (alternate: to cause trouble)
*stobs was the old name for posts or stumps
*cedar staves--the small limbs of cedar (actually juniper) a local tree, cut and trimmed to make stakes (staves) to use for both goat fencing and regular fencing to hold wires apart between posts--strengthens the fence. Also used in the notorious "gap gates" in a fence--no proper gate is needed if you just use a fence section, put a skinny cedar pole at the active end, and two loops of wire on the next post...one to stick the foot of the pole into and one at the top to loop over the pole's top. These wobbly unstable miserable things are a pain to work with, especially if the fence wire is barb (which it usually is) We have one gap gate left that's about to become a real gate. (Real gates cost.)
*steeples is the old local pronunciation of staples, what you use to attach the wire to a post. The first fence builder I hired years back told me I'd need x-number of stobs and steeples and I was totally confused. We hadn't been here long enough. They don't come into the goat fence story, but they're local color.
July 28, 2014
Seventh Summer Socks
The seventh pair of "Sporty Shorty" socks for summer bike riding aren't finished, but a friend brought me a gorgeous yarn bowl from ArmadilloCon this year (since I still can't drive, I couldn't go) and that's my excuse for photographing the unfinished pair of socks. The name of this pair is Carnival.
Although the top of the sock on the right is in shadow, it's exactly like the one on the left--a rolled top in the gold, then ribbing in the deep rose, then more gold before the turquoise stripe. The yarns are, from the top: (1) Ella rae Classic, #135 gold, the "framing" color (top, heel flap. toe) (2) Plymouth Yarns Galway Nep, #541 deep rose, (3) Ella rae Classic Superwash, turquoise (bands long gone, no number), Cascade 220 Superwash handpainted (bands long gone, a rich royal purple heather) Ella rae Classic #90, emerald green.
This pair of socks has been difficult; I went too far on #1 before starting #2, then tried to hurry, and that meant #2 has been acting like a Cursed Sock...everything from having to cast repeatedly, trouble joining the circle, ordinary dropped stitches, extra stitches, peculiar stitches (what did I DO? I have no idea), incredible yarn tangles, difficulty with the heel turn (and I don't often have any problem at all with the heel turn), and so on.
I have very little turquoise leftover yarn left (I have some balls deep in storage to make another full-size pair of socks) so most of the sock foot is yarns I have more leftovers of--the green and the deep rose. The purple is a suspect sock yarn--the only pairs of socks I made from Cascade 220 Superwash got all limp and stretched out after repeated washings (and it started with the first wash. I didn't put them in the washer but did them by hand, as I do all the socks.) So the purple's being used as an accent yarn, where if it stretches out it'll be constrained by the Ella rae or the Plymouth, neither of which does. Yes, I might try knitting the purple with smaller needles, but the problem with smaller needles has been my eyesight. We'll see what the new glasses (due this week) will do for that.
When I finish these, the last short pair for the summer (I need new socks for this winter, and my huge pile of leftover yarn from previous long socks has shrunk from five or six Ziploc bags to two) I plan to lay all the pairs out together and take a picture. Meanwhile, there's a royal blue pair of regular socks stalled in the ribbing because I needed more pairs of the shorties to wear on the bike.
Although the top of the sock on the right is in shadow, it's exactly like the one on the left--a rolled top in the gold, then ribbing in the deep rose, then more gold before the turquoise stripe. The yarns are, from the top: (1) Ella rae Classic, #135 gold, the "framing" color (top, heel flap. toe) (2) Plymouth Yarns Galway Nep, #541 deep rose, (3) Ella rae Classic Superwash, turquoise (bands long gone, no number), Cascade 220 Superwash handpainted (bands long gone, a rich royal purple heather) Ella rae Classic #90, emerald green.
This pair of socks has been difficult; I went too far on #1 before starting #2, then tried to hurry, and that meant #2 has been acting like a Cursed Sock...everything from having to cast repeatedly, trouble joining the circle, ordinary dropped stitches, extra stitches, peculiar stitches (what did I DO? I have no idea), incredible yarn tangles, difficulty with the heel turn (and I don't often have any problem at all with the heel turn), and so on.
I have very little turquoise leftover yarn left (I have some balls deep in storage to make another full-size pair of socks) so most of the sock foot is yarns I have more leftovers of--the green and the deep rose. The purple is a suspect sock yarn--the only pairs of socks I made from Cascade 220 Superwash got all limp and stretched out after repeated washings (and it started with the first wash. I didn't put them in the washer but did them by hand, as I do all the socks.) So the purple's being used as an accent yarn, where if it stretches out it'll be constrained by the Ella rae or the Plymouth, neither of which does. Yes, I might try knitting the purple with smaller needles, but the problem with smaller needles has been my eyesight. We'll see what the new glasses (due this week) will do for that.
When I finish these, the last short pair for the summer (I need new socks for this winter, and my huge pile of leftover yarn from previous long socks has shrunk from five or six Ziploc bags to two) I plan to lay all the pairs out together and take a picture. Meanwhile, there's a royal blue pair of regular socks stalled in the ribbing because I needed more pairs of the shorties to wear on the bike.
July 13, 2014
More socks, more pictures!
Finally got the new set of striped shorty socks off the needles around midnight last night. Am now slowly weaving in the ends.
The blue, red, and yellow colors are close to "right", but the green is much deeper, more saturated. If I'd had this shade of green, the socks would have been pretty that way too, but it's not how they really look. I don't know what it is about my camera that does not render this color accurately on its standard setting, but it did the same thing with the first regular (nonstriped) socks of the various greens...this particular green, so vibrant in reality, comes out looking paler, less saturated.
I see the yarn color as a rich, saturated emerald green--just a little bluer than the green in the first striped socks, but that "solidity" to it. It's not a color that would make you think "medium green" or "light green" as the sock images might, more like the color patch shown here, but "brighter" (yarn always seems to ahve more intensity than a color patch on the screen.
Here's a reminder of what the other striped sock with a lot of green looked like:
The socks on the left were the yellower green; the ones of the right (with the rose-colored toes) have this same green as the new socks, but once again it showed up much lighter in the picture. It looked almost right in the picture I took of the partially completed sock several posts ago.
Aside from that, here are the yarns used: Color one, a light "dusty" blue is Ella rae Classic #45. Color two, the green under discussion, is Ella rae Classic #90. Color three is Mountain Colors Bitterroot Rainbow, the handpainted yarn that showed up as red, blue, purple, orange, green or a dusty pink. Color four is Cascade 220 Superwash #821. I used up all my leftover of the blue, and had to break a new ball to finish the toe of one sock. (Had previously striped the first pair of shorties, and also put some stripes on the Sunset Canyon pair. I still have leftover green. I used up about 25 yards of the Mountain Colors handpainted yarn per sock, and about 4-5 yards of the Cascade 220 yellow per sock.
Here's what they look like in sandals (the way I usually wear these socks, for riding the bike.)
I like the way the colors show through the gaps in the sandals, but more than that how cool they are when riding...wool's excellent wicking plus the slightly "standaway" cuffs and the sandals' ventilation means my feet stay very comfortable even riding in 95F weather. One more pair of these shorties and I'll have a full week's rotation with them. But first...weaving in the ends. Then into the rotation they go.
The blue, red, and yellow colors are close to "right", but the green is much deeper, more saturated. If I'd had this shade of green, the socks would have been pretty that way too, but it's not how they really look. I don't know what it is about my camera that does not render this color accurately on its standard setting, but it did the same thing with the first regular (nonstriped) socks of the various greens...this particular green, so vibrant in reality, comes out looking paler, less saturated.
I see the yarn color as a rich, saturated emerald green--just a little bluer than the green in the first striped socks, but that "solidity" to it. It's not a color that would make you think "medium green" or "light green" as the sock images might, more like the color patch shown here, but "brighter" (yarn always seems to ahve more intensity than a color patch on the screen.
Here's a reminder of what the other striped sock with a lot of green looked like:
The socks on the left were the yellower green; the ones of the right (with the rose-colored toes) have this same green as the new socks, but once again it showed up much lighter in the picture. It looked almost right in the picture I took of the partially completed sock several posts ago.
Aside from that, here are the yarns used: Color one, a light "dusty" blue is Ella rae Classic #45. Color two, the green under discussion, is Ella rae Classic #90. Color three is Mountain Colors Bitterroot Rainbow, the handpainted yarn that showed up as red, blue, purple, orange, green or a dusty pink. Color four is Cascade 220 Superwash #821. I used up all my leftover of the blue, and had to break a new ball to finish the toe of one sock. (Had previously striped the first pair of shorties, and also put some stripes on the Sunset Canyon pair. I still have leftover green. I used up about 25 yards of the Mountain Colors handpainted yarn per sock, and about 4-5 yards of the Cascade 220 yellow per sock.
Here's what they look like in sandals (the way I usually wear these socks, for riding the bike.)
I like the way the colors show through the gaps in the sandals, but more than that how cool they are when riding...wool's excellent wicking plus the slightly "standaway" cuffs and the sandals' ventilation means my feet stay very comfortable even riding in 95F weather. One more pair of these shorties and I'll have a full week's rotation with them. But first...weaving in the ends. Then into the rotation they go.
July 12, 2014
Another bike topic
After I'd bought the new bike, in September 2012, I started looking online for advice on using a bicycle to increase fitness. I had the basic idea, but was hoping to find useful information for people over 65 who were just starting to get back in better shape.
It soon became clear that while multiple sites extolled bike riding as a route to fitness, all the practical advice was aimed at very fit much younger people. The only thing they said to people my age was "Always consult with a doctor before starting an exercise program." The advice for younger people was also aimed at non-beginning riders. (There was, for instance, nothing about the bike skills you should have before venturing out in traffic, unless you worked your way down to teaching children to ride. Adults...should know already.)
So I read site after site, and they didn't, of course, all agree. But one that stuck in my mind talked about the three kinds of rides you should do to improve fitness. Oh good, I thought, this will be handy. One of the rides was something called the "long ride." Should be at only moderate effort, building up rhythm, muscle mass, cardiac fifness, etc. Sounded a lot like conditioning you do for performance horses if you want to keep them sound...in addition to "high impact" rides, and interval training, and gymnastics for flexibility and core strength (sounds familiar, right?) they need long, relatively slow, steady work, and they need it before you add on the other things, as well as on "light" days. So I read the rest of the article eagerly.
Then came the specifics: "Start with 25-30 miles..." WHAT? Someone's starting to ride for fitness and you think they can start with 25-30 miles? Right off the bat? At the time, I was finding one mile difficult. When I actually started, 30 yards was difficult (of course that was on a bike that did not fit me, and was of a type I had never ridden before...and on a dirt horse lot...but still.) You don't start an overweight unfit horse at 25-30 miles/day, let along a human in that state who is also over 65. However, I kept riding and riding, creeping up on 2 miles, and then 3, and so on. Someday I will reach 25-30 miles, maybe even more.
During this search I also ran across the statement that any bike riding under 10 mph was "just recreational" and hardly exercise at all...which my heart monitor proved was a false statement.
So what am I getting at here? That if you're an older adult who hasn't ridden a bike in years and decides to start again, most of the biking sites online won't give you the information you need. There may be one that will, but I haven't found it yet. Likewise, your doctor, if not a sports med doctor who has older patients, is not likely to be able to advise you on bike-specifics, and neither is a gym trainer who lacks expertise with older clients and riding outdoors for fitness. There are too many glib generalities and too little specific advice on, for instance, learning to ride a geared bike with hand brakes when the last bike you were on (the only kind you were ever on) was a balloon-tired, steel-framed bike with coaster brakes, or how to design your rides to avoid problems with aging limbs and joints. A lot of what I've done that's been successful for me is based on training horses, including dressage exercises (for instance, learning to ride a circle in both directions without wobbling...doing everything "on both reins" as riders would say, because--as with horses--just because you can ride a semi-circle with radius X to the left does not mean you can immediately ride a semi-circle with radius X to the right.
My sports medicine doc has been immense help, both in defining where a problem was, and in advising me what to do to correct it and prevent others. Almost two years of riding has improved my condition--lowered blood pressure, dropped resting heart rate, improved recovery from exercise, given me more stamina in daily life, improved my balance, etc. But it was harder to start than I'd expected (having believed too much in the "You never forget how to ride a bike" ) and it's taken longer than I hoped to get where I am now. Injuries, illness, travel, and deadlines got in the way...and should be expected. My determination to ride outdoors, part of it on natural land and part of it on...um...substandard streets...means weather is also a factor and has stopped me on days when it feels unsafe to ride.
So for people over 65 who want to ride...go for it. Just go for it with some caution, especially if your last bike was like my previous bike 45+ years ago. I wouldn't change back for anything now, but boy those first weeks were a struggle, until suddenly the coordination of gear shifting and pedaling and braking all came together. Now it's easy. Easier, anyway.
It soon became clear that while multiple sites extolled bike riding as a route to fitness, all the practical advice was aimed at very fit much younger people. The only thing they said to people my age was "Always consult with a doctor before starting an exercise program." The advice for younger people was also aimed at non-beginning riders. (There was, for instance, nothing about the bike skills you should have before venturing out in traffic, unless you worked your way down to teaching children to ride. Adults...should know already.)
So I read site after site, and they didn't, of course, all agree. But one that stuck in my mind talked about the three kinds of rides you should do to improve fitness. Oh good, I thought, this will be handy. One of the rides was something called the "long ride." Should be at only moderate effort, building up rhythm, muscle mass, cardiac fifness, etc. Sounded a lot like conditioning you do for performance horses if you want to keep them sound...in addition to "high impact" rides, and interval training, and gymnastics for flexibility and core strength (sounds familiar, right?) they need long, relatively slow, steady work, and they need it before you add on the other things, as well as on "light" days. So I read the rest of the article eagerly.
Then came the specifics: "Start with 25-30 miles..." WHAT? Someone's starting to ride for fitness and you think they can start with 25-30 miles? Right off the bat? At the time, I was finding one mile difficult. When I actually started, 30 yards was difficult (of course that was on a bike that did not fit me, and was of a type I had never ridden before...and on a dirt horse lot...but still.) You don't start an overweight unfit horse at 25-30 miles/day, let along a human in that state who is also over 65. However, I kept riding and riding, creeping up on 2 miles, and then 3, and so on. Someday I will reach 25-30 miles, maybe even more.
During this search I also ran across the statement that any bike riding under 10 mph was "just recreational" and hardly exercise at all...which my heart monitor proved was a false statement.
So what am I getting at here? That if you're an older adult who hasn't ridden a bike in years and decides to start again, most of the biking sites online won't give you the information you need. There may be one that will, but I haven't found it yet. Likewise, your doctor, if not a sports med doctor who has older patients, is not likely to be able to advise you on bike-specifics, and neither is a gym trainer who lacks expertise with older clients and riding outdoors for fitness. There are too many glib generalities and too little specific advice on, for instance, learning to ride a geared bike with hand brakes when the last bike you were on (the only kind you were ever on) was a balloon-tired, steel-framed bike with coaster brakes, or how to design your rides to avoid problems with aging limbs and joints. A lot of what I've done that's been successful for me is based on training horses, including dressage exercises (for instance, learning to ride a circle in both directions without wobbling...doing everything "on both reins" as riders would say, because--as with horses--just because you can ride a semi-circle with radius X to the left does not mean you can immediately ride a semi-circle with radius X to the right.
My sports medicine doc has been immense help, both in defining where a problem was, and in advising me what to do to correct it and prevent others. Almost two years of riding has improved my condition--lowered blood pressure, dropped resting heart rate, improved recovery from exercise, given me more stamina in daily life, improved my balance, etc. But it was harder to start than I'd expected (having believed too much in the "You never forget how to ride a bike" ) and it's taken longer than I hoped to get where I am now. Injuries, illness, travel, and deadlines got in the way...and should be expected. My determination to ride outdoors, part of it on natural land and part of it on...um...substandard streets...means weather is also a factor and has stopped me on days when it feels unsafe to ride.
So for people over 65 who want to ride...go for it. Just go for it with some caution, especially if your last bike was like my previous bike 45+ years ago. I wouldn't change back for anything now, but boy those first weeks were a struggle, until suddenly the coordination of gear shifting and pedaling and braking all came together. Now it's easy. Easier, anyway.
July 9, 2014
Eye Surgery Recovery: Second Week.
From last Wednesday, the one-week checkup, to this, I had some exercise restrictions lifted, while others (not lifting weights over 5 pounds) stayed the same. I could ride the bicycle. Medicated eyedrops continued on the same schedule, but I was told I could discontinue using the eye shield at night on the Monday (I actually used it Monday night, but not Tuesday). And I was able to get a plain glass lens put in the left side of my regular glasses, so I could see better. Over the course of the week I rode my bike (a total of 54 miles, with three days 10+ miles) and could tell that my vision was improving, though the astigmatism still made it a bit weird.
Today I had my two-week post-surgery exam. As with last week, the first part was a measurement of the eye's size (a measure of any swelling or irregularity in shape, compared to the measurements taken before the surgery) and placement of the implanted lens. The next part included tests of visual acuity (is the operated eye at its full-recovery acuity or not--is it improving from the previous visit or not?) and intra-ocular pressure (the glaucoma test) to see if pressure was building up in the eye. One of the medications used for the healing process can cause increased pressure in susceptible individuals, so they check for it every time. My visual acuity had improved from last week, but not to the final intended level, with correction of myopia to 20/20.
At this point, I could have gotten a new prescription, but it would likely have been only temporary, as my vision is still changing, so on the advice of the eye surgeon, I'm waiting another two weeks for that. The eye surgeon said that four weeks is a more typical period for the operated eye to settle into its final visual acuity. All exercise restrictions except swimming (underwater) and diving have been lifted; I can return to weight work and floor exercises and as much impact exercise as I want. For swimming underwater (I don't even want to!) he said to wait another full week. I am continuing to take the medicated eye drops; two of them will run out before the third (prednisolone) which has to be tapered off. Because of the astigmatism, I won't be driving until I get my new glasses, though if I didn't that problem, I would--overall, my eyesight is already better than before the surgery, when I was driving.
I tried to find clip-on sunglasses at several places, and finally found them at a pharmacy. Unfortunately, they are made in sizes to fit currently fashionable glasses, and none had lenses as large as my glasses (I like BIG lenses because they protect my eyes, like a windshield, when I'm outside riding a bike--bugs--or in blowing dust, which we have at times.) I bought the best match I could find and will wear them while biking until I can get my own full sunglasses.
Two-week post-op: results good, vision much clearer, colors brighter (as others have reported), and I now share the very positive opinion about the value of the surgery that others have expressed. I never had more discomfort than "there might be something in my eye" on the first 36-48 hours, and it was never as bad as actually having a piece of grit in there. It was the incision, I was told. It really, really helps to have someone put the eye drops in, rather than trying to do it yourself. It's a three times a day thing, and it's important to do it right. People trying to do it themselves, using an eye that now has no ability to focus close up, often spill some of the drops, and then they can run out and have to get more.
Discomfort: Minimal in my case. The IV was the most, really, with a tiny bit from eyedrops until the incision healed completely. I took one dose of Tylenol in the recovery period and it wasn't for pain in the eye, but for a headache. There was no discomfort aThe eye shield itself isn't uncomfortable but un-taping it in the morning can be, and if your skin is "loose" you have to hold it down so as not to yank on the eye lid and thus annoy the operated eye. Those with astigmatism and the resources might want to seriously consider the implant that corrects both basic focal length (myopia) and astigmatism, if it's right for their eye. It would give better uncorrected vision and you might not need anything but reading glasses for near vision afterward. I think I'll try that when the other cataract matures (assuming it will). Even if 20/20 isn't possible, going from 350ish (I think was my most recent one) to more like 20/50 is a huge help.
The first week post-op, as I've mentioned, I was able to do light writing on the computer within 24 hours, about a half-day (in patched) the next day or so. Some people I was told, have a problem with double-vision before they get their new prescription, but I haven't had it.
Today I had my two-week post-surgery exam. As with last week, the first part was a measurement of the eye's size (a measure of any swelling or irregularity in shape, compared to the measurements taken before the surgery) and placement of the implanted lens. The next part included tests of visual acuity (is the operated eye at its full-recovery acuity or not--is it improving from the previous visit or not?) and intra-ocular pressure (the glaucoma test) to see if pressure was building up in the eye. One of the medications used for the healing process can cause increased pressure in susceptible individuals, so they check for it every time. My visual acuity had improved from last week, but not to the final intended level, with correction of myopia to 20/20.
At this point, I could have gotten a new prescription, but it would likely have been only temporary, as my vision is still changing, so on the advice of the eye surgeon, I'm waiting another two weeks for that. The eye surgeon said that four weeks is a more typical period for the operated eye to settle into its final visual acuity. All exercise restrictions except swimming (underwater) and diving have been lifted; I can return to weight work and floor exercises and as much impact exercise as I want. For swimming underwater (I don't even want to!) he said to wait another full week. I am continuing to take the medicated eye drops; two of them will run out before the third (prednisolone) which has to be tapered off. Because of the astigmatism, I won't be driving until I get my new glasses, though if I didn't that problem, I would--overall, my eyesight is already better than before the surgery, when I was driving.
I tried to find clip-on sunglasses at several places, and finally found them at a pharmacy. Unfortunately, they are made in sizes to fit currently fashionable glasses, and none had lenses as large as my glasses (I like BIG lenses because they protect my eyes, like a windshield, when I'm outside riding a bike--bugs--or in blowing dust, which we have at times.) I bought the best match I could find and will wear them while biking until I can get my own full sunglasses.
Two-week post-op: results good, vision much clearer, colors brighter (as others have reported), and I now share the very positive opinion about the value of the surgery that others have expressed. I never had more discomfort than "there might be something in my eye" on the first 36-48 hours, and it was never as bad as actually having a piece of grit in there. It was the incision, I was told. It really, really helps to have someone put the eye drops in, rather than trying to do it yourself. It's a three times a day thing, and it's important to do it right. People trying to do it themselves, using an eye that now has no ability to focus close up, often spill some of the drops, and then they can run out and have to get more.
Discomfort: Minimal in my case. The IV was the most, really, with a tiny bit from eyedrops until the incision healed completely. I took one dose of Tylenol in the recovery period and it wasn't for pain in the eye, but for a headache. There was no discomfort aThe eye shield itself isn't uncomfortable but un-taping it in the morning can be, and if your skin is "loose" you have to hold it down so as not to yank on the eye lid and thus annoy the operated eye. Those with astigmatism and the resources might want to seriously consider the implant that corrects both basic focal length (myopia) and astigmatism, if it's right for their eye. It would give better uncorrected vision and you might not need anything but reading glasses for near vision afterward. I think I'll try that when the other cataract matures (assuming it will). Even if 20/20 isn't possible, going from 350ish (I think was my most recent one) to more like 20/50 is a huge help.
The first week post-op, as I've mentioned, I was able to do light writing on the computer within 24 hours, about a half-day (in patched) the next day or so. Some people I was told, have a problem with double-vision before they get their new prescription, but I haven't had it.
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