C.J. Cherryh's Blog, page 24

Endodontist phase 2…

works real well, no pain even on the shots, but...didn't give me antibiotics, and he's off today. Friday. Sigh. OTOH, thank goodness for my dentist, who does have Fridays---because half my face is red and the sinus hurts. We knew that one was affecting the sinus. And it did. Good news is, we got the med, and I'll be on it for the next endodontist appointment next Wednesday.

We had freezing fog last night (road is clear now with daylight, but they can be interesting when the temp is 10 degrees in fog.) The trees are absolutely gorgeous, all frosted.

So the drive to the drugstore was really pretty.

Got all my shopping done---meaning everything I mail-ordered arrived; and we're ready. Antibiotics isn't quite the thing I'd wanted for Christmas, but hey, last evening I really, really wanted them. Early present, eh?

THe dentist is suspicious of yet one more molar, but the endodontist says give it time---this is the one the not-so-good dentist office worked on. I've never heard a doc actually say 'malpractice' but my current one said it of the last guy...mmm. But I'm not the suing sort. I'm just glad to have a good guy now.

Not too sore. Of course, it’s usually day 3 when ouches show up…

Going to have a few bruises, but all ok.

Figure skating was one of our really good smart moves. You learn how not to fall on slick surfaces and how to fall if you're going to...which boils down to, walk like a penguin on frozen surfaces, ie, flat-footed in small steps, never set a heel down...you'll notice hockey refs using penguin steps; b) watch for slope c) if you do hit a slope center yourself and squat as much as you can (shorter fall) and d) if you're falling, fall---don't fight it; keep your head upmost and put your arms out sideways or straight up like Superman taking off, so you won't break bones. A belly flop hurts, but it rarely breaks anything if you can avoid hitting your chin. Ditto a back fall---curl like a kidney bean, hug yourself, and try to land on your curved back rather than hip or head. Note that Walker Shortbread tins make a very poor landing spot.

About half a foot of snow

It's really pretty out there. The snow-viewing lantern top knob is quite buried: the whole top is a conical mound of snow. And more is forecast over the next couple of days, with temperatures in the single digits. We're going to have some shoveling and snow-blowing to do. Maybe we'll wait to see what falls today, but maybe not: since the snowplow on the arterial crosses our driveway and leaves us quite a berm, we probably had better break through that before any melt freezes---but cold as it is, melt is unlikely. I always hate to disturb the perfect snow with shoveling, but practicality says we will have to clear the driveway and walks.

Really good snow going on…..

Love to watch it snow.

This week was a bit of a bummer—bone graft didn’t take well enough, so the dental implant is on hold, perhaps for good—and the scan to determine same found 3 abscesses. So…back to the endodontist. I was really in a down mood Monday; but hey, it is what it is, and at least we found this damage before it created another problem. And the endodontist thinks it’s likely only 2, recommending a watch-it on one.

Meanwhile we have this lovely snowfall going on, and the world is getting pretty.

Snow came—though thinly; another slushy bit today. Our furnace has been out for a few days…

This house is well-insulated, a bennie of living in the north. It takes more time than that to drop us below 64 degrees in the house, and since we keep the winter day temperatures around 68 F, or 20 C, we’re pretty ok. Even during the 8 day blackout with no furnace action (the ignition is electric) we made do with a hunter’s indoor-capable propane stove (had to keep a window cracked) intermittently: we were able to keep the fish tanks at 61.8 by draping doors and windows and doing our living in the same room.

We re-lit it once, but we had problems with the fan motor, so that didn’t last. Turns out, however, that the thing fell within the 5 year warranty, and our only bill was labor. Yay! We finally have actual heat coming out of the vents, and the cats, instead of being furry balls or lying on our laps, are sleeping atop my bed on a fuzzy blanket, stretched out in comfort. We still hold to our 68 F but at least we have, like, a warm bathroom. Life is good. Our local HVAC people are good folks: they know our names when we call, they have our records, they service what they sell, and they’re prompt and sane. We got this furnace in 2013 (Carrier brand) and they assured us our AC portion was perfectly good, though we asked. I also appreciate a company that gives you an honest assessment of your stuff without trying to con you into something you don’t need.

So—we’re warm, we’re ok, the snow is forecast to continue until the weekend, lightly so, and we did not have a huge bill.

They say snow is coming.

Just went to the store…

Pot roast, potatoes, carrots, celery, etc.

It’s supposed to be just a light dusting, but more later in the week.

We are home and snug and preparing to decorate for Christmas, a thing Jane dearly loves to do. I agreed to clean up in advance while she picks up the new novel for a couple of days, then turnabout, and so on. All is merry, but not yet bright. Our neighbor put up Christmas lights before Halloween: we just plan to put up trees, nothing outside…we lived in one of those extravagant decoration neighborhoods that sort of did the ultimate: there was even a plan for where to land a chopper to get a neighbor out if somebody had a heart attack, because the road was jammed solid after dark. Having done THAT kind of decorating—we think a mantel and a couple of trees is quite enough!

Back from Philcon…

We made it. We landed in Denver as winter storm Argos got fired up, had change planes on a 10 minute most-of-a-mile hike, de-ice the new one, got on toward Philadelphia, took off at 2, landed at midnight, no food since noon.

Met by a Philcon friend, taken to Wawa to get really very good sandwiches and on to the Cherry Hill NJ Crown Plaza, which was a room with a glorious view of autumn foliage and the river 12 stories below…

Conventioning, conventioning, conventioning. Autographing, meeting many people I haven’t seen in more than a decade—

Argos hit with such a fury it blew our window open, but the cool air was really nice—40 degrees. Philadelphia seems to like the temperature kept around 73 degrees, and we came dressed for fall. So we were able to sleep well, given the open window blasting 40 degree gales. We had a lovely time, met and re-met, and then boarded the Southwest flight home, which this time took us to Las Vegas. On this leg, partly because I’d strained my once-injured knee in Denver and Jane was handling our really heavy carry-ons, we yelled uncle and took the wheelchair option…felt a little guilty, but not willing to have permanent damage to the knee in another sprint; and it also let me take some of the weight off Jane’s hands, carrying it in my lap. Which made ME heavier for the pusher, but hey, they set the pace, not me. We got out of there with no supper, no food but a bag of fritos (lunch size) and on to Boise, and on to Spokane. Kudos to our dear coach Joan who got us TO the airport in good order, and to friends Tim and Cheryl, for Tim picking us up even if Cheryl was under the weather: friends are people who are there when they say they’ll be, come hail come wrack… we’re home. Arrived home to refire the half-week old frozen pizza, burned my side of it, ate it anyway: hunger is a good sauce, for sure.

Next day, breakfast and unpacking. We’re exhausted. And the house furnace quit. We’re working on that issue.

But we had left the cats the longest ever, from Thursday midday til late Monday, and their manners were impeccable, not a mistake, not a hairball, nothing scratched or overset. They simply met us at the door and have been pretty well glued to us ever since.

Sigh. A basement full of books…

About 4x the number that will fit on shelves in our library area of same.

This is a job we’ve postponed since moving here. We’ve tried about everything to figure how to sort this mess, but I think Jane is onto it. Three quarters of them have to go (to a library charity) and unfortunately a large proportion of the wrong books are occupying the shelf space. So Jane is clearing about 3 shelves for ‘this has to stay,’ which lets us sort forward and discard as we go.

It’s kind of like lawn mowing tall grass in one sense—that first you have to create a place to set the mower.

It’s a good winter project.

Right now it’s pre-winter gardening. Getting the wisteria trimmed back and the green trash filled before they do the last collection.

Peace, everybody.

Jane has been posting some very pretty pictures…

She has.

Her link is in the left sidebar.

New lower back thingie, besides the Gazelle glider…

This one is also helping both Jane and me…a home traction for lower back that ought to be safe if used as directed. It’s from Teeter, the people that make the inverse table hanging thingie, so I figured it had to be other than a crackpot gadget. It’s far less expensive, about 50.00; you have to lie on your back on the floor with feet on a chair, knees bent as if you were sitting. You thread this roller thingie onto your legs, you take hold of the handles and push down, and simultaneously try to relax your back (not easy!) You hold for about half a minute, then release half a minute, and repeat this several times. You don’t feel pressure in your back, or not much of anywhere, but it is providing a little bit what hanging upside down would do, without the stress on the rest of your body and accumulation of blood in your brain.

I’m not as agile as I used to be, so I ask Jane’s help to arrange the thingie. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01G9GAA76?...

But it helps a lot. Upper leg pain is sometimes not hip pain, but lower back pain referred sideways; and in our cases, seems to be. It relieves it, and the unit is cheaper than one visit to the chiropractor to have much the same.