Odds and Ends

 It's been awhile, so I'll try to catch up.

I'm feeling fine, no more problems. I finished the antibiotics today, no bad effects.

We are having lovely weather, since the oppressive heat moved out. We had three days of tortuous heat and humidity. Streets were buckling and cars blowing tires. Insane! We stayed home. My annuals did not like the heat. My Johnny-Jump-Ups have gone to seed.

We have 5 months to decide where to move. Our lease ends the last day of December, so we will need to have a new apartment rented before then.

We have a new favorite place, Waupaca Chain O' Lakes, about an hour west of us. It was a sunny, breezy day when we arrived at Hartman Creek State Park. The pines were fragrant in the warm sunshine. The water sparkled, and I wanted to deep breathe all of it in and never leave. We took a walk around the lake and thankfully did not catch any ticks.

I am not going to write about the complete idiotic orange moron in the White House whose stupidity is putting our nation in harm's way.

Hubby bought me an African Violet. The flowers are deep red. I had to remove them because I found signs of thrips on the flowers. No damage to the leaves. I treated with a systemic. It's a no-name. It will grow more flowers.

We took a drive to Wild Rose and filled up 7 gallon jugs of spring water. Since it's not tested we have decided not to drink it, but it's wonderful for my plants!

I need to repot my orchids. One has bloomed continuously for nearly a year. The others have not bloomed at all. They need to do something other than occupy my limited space.

I think this is about all the news for now.

 

Well That Was Weird

 I woke up in the middle of the night feeling nauseous. I got up to pee and thought, should I go back to bed? I felt weak. No, I should go to the living room and tell hubby, who was up watching TV. I grabbed my meters, glucose and ketone, and sat down at the table, or rather collapsed. Numbers were fine. 

"Get my blood pressure cuff," I told hubby, who was already hovering over me with concern.

By now my head was on the table. 

48 over 35, pulse 57.

"I'm calling an ambulance," hubby said. He lifted me to couch and got me dressed (a shirt and loose pants over my jammies, and socks. 

The ambulance guys came. Hubby said the police came, too. Gotta call the whole gang!

They took my vitals, and by then my blood pressure was high. Go figure.

They transported me to the hospital, through town, on bumpy roads. Well, the highway is closed at night for construction. Hubby followed.

IV, blood tests, EKG, Cat scan of lower abdomen, urine sample. 

I have a UTI infection. The hospital concocted a mix of antibiotics to shoot into my IV and called in a script of antibiotics to my pharmacy. After the doctor checked in with us I was discharged and we went home. I think we were there about 3 hours.

My tests at the hospital were in range. Cat scan showed all is good in there, yay! I'm not sure if I was dehydrated, but they gave me two IV bags of saline.

I don't know why my blood pressure drops so low, but it's rare, only maybe once a year. It happened in Hartford, but I waited for hubby to come home from work. I was told not to do that, just call an ambulance. That time I was dehydrated and had a UTI.

I have a follow-up on June 30th at the clinic. I plan to discuss all this with my provider.

Anyway, I'm feeling good, antibiotics are working, and surprisingly easy to take.

Some Better News

 My SIL got a better cast for his wrist/arm. The one he had went up over his elbow and caused pain and stress in his shoulder and neck. They took that cast off. My daughter said he had a nasty looking sore on his wrist where the break is, maybe because it was swollen under the cast. Now he has a shorter removable cast, which I suppose is better and more comfortable.

I searched for some other way to find cabins for rent. I found an app that shows locations and prices plus pictures and info. Campgrounds that also have cabins seem to have better prices.

I did some potting today.

Lithops

Philodendron Brasil all in one pot

 

Updates

Catching up.

Hubby took a mini vacation. He was hoping to go to Kosovo this summer and asked for extra time (unpaid). His request was never approved, so he took half his vacation to de-stress a little.

We drove down to Indiana Saturday the 17th and stayed until Tuesday morning, the 20th. It was nice to see my daughter and her hubby (with the broken wrist). We wished him to get well soon. We also had the chance to say hi and congratulations to his son who had his high school graduation this last Sunday. 

While we were there we went to a Fur-Trade Era reenactment.

That was fun. We also went to dinner and enjoyed time with family.

The construction delays through Illinois have been horrible, both directions, no matter what time of day.  Miles and miles of stop and go. How many more years? Ugh.

We took some of hubby's time off to drive around after we came home. 

Friday, May 23rd we drove to Shawano. Nice little town with some tourist shops, but with nicer stuff than the Dells.

Saturday, May 24th, Wausau. Big difference from when we last visited. This time, we saw several vacant store fronts, not like the vibrant city center we saw the first time.

Sunday May 25th, Kohler-Andrea (Sheboygan) and Plymouth. Took a nice, but windy walk, then headed to Plymouth, which seemed to be closed for the day.

Monday, May 26th, Shamba Safari and Wild Rose. This was the best day. Shamba Safari was fun. We opted not to buy a bucket of food and feed the animals, so we kept the windows rolled up. The animals are all looking for food, and I'm glad the window was rolled up when a big, flightless bird pecked the glass looking for a handout. It was amusing.

After the Safari, hubby asked which was should we go on Eagle Road. We came from the right, so I said, "left".

It was an interesting drive. We entered a large, forested wildlife area. We think there might be places to camp in there but I haven't searched yet. There was no internet, but the GPS on our phones provided offline maps, so I wasn't worried. We drove for miles. The forests were "posted" as state wildlife area. Ever so often there was a small clearing, where one could park. We aren't sure why. We drove through a shambled town with rundown houses called Germania. Finally Eagle Road ended at highway 22, so we turned north. A few miles up the road, hubby saw a pretty park, so we stopped. We were in Wild Rose. 

A lady told us to try the water from the artesian well. I filled a water bottle. Town's people stopped by to fill jugs. Next time I will bring jugs. The internet says the water in the area is pure and known for class A trout streams. We noticed the creek running through the park was sparkling clean.

After Wild Rose we continued driving. The pines were tall. There were a few rolling hills. Suddenly I felt at home, which was sad because none of that could be my home, we were only driving through. From highway 22 we turned east and took some smaller roads to Fremont, which looked wonderful, with a lake and camping and cabins to rent. We were only a half hour from home. Suddenly I felt like there was hope for us to truly get out in nature, rent a cabin, fun stuff like that.

But we were a half hour from home.

"Fremont is near Chicago, Maddison, Appleton! Come stay, it's only $400 to $800 per night!" The ads say.

Crap. We were a day late and a dollar short, or rather, 10 years late and a million short. I haven't checked out camping yet, but we aren't set up for camping.

Hubby has been tired. He said he didn't know why. I told him he's depressed. He doesn't like the people he works with. He feels the company tells him one thing and then changes it. If he leaves he has to pay back the money they gave him to move here.

I was sad this morning. Knowing hubby is sad makes it worse. I had trouble getting one of my medications. My new provider did not write a script for it so Walmart got it filled from Britta, my PCP from Hartford. I sent her a message, apologizing for the trouble, and told her I missed her and Hartford, and was sorry we had to move. She wrote back that she missed me too.

Later my new provider's office called and said the script wasn't filled because it was for low dose estrogen (that is inserted vaginally, I have vaginal atrophy) and I have a history of breast cancer. She wanted to know if I had clearance from my oncologist to take it. What? My oncologist?? I haven't seen an oncologist since probably 2002 which was 5 years after I finished treatment. I get my mammograms. They told me if there was any change, let them know. There has never been a change.

I really hope my hubby can figure it out at work. All I can say is that mostly I feel moving here was an expensive mistake. But we are here. 

Anyway, the last update....hubby is taking a vacation day so he can drive me to my mammogram. Simply put, because of my hubby's work schedule, I don't have the truck long enough in the morning to go anywhere much past Walmart. I told him I could check out Uber but he wants to take me.

I hope I have a happier post next time. I guess today was a rant, to get it off my chest.

New PCP and Other Stuff

 I saw my new primary care provider today. Her name is Sally and she sat down and talked quite a bit to get to know me. It was a pleasant visit.  The drive to downtown Greenville was easy. She put in an order for me to have my annual mammogram, but I will need to go to a hospital that is all the way across town. Two issues....I don't drive expressways and I don't have transportation except for a short time in the morning. It's for the end of July. Maybe I can figure it out before then.

My test results are in, A1C 6.6 (better than I expected after all the stress), thyroid looks ok. Blood pressure 124/80 (no meds), weight 134, height 5'7" (still, after all these years!! No shrinking!) It's interesting that they consider me underweight. I'm not starving myself!

Next in news...my son-in-law broke his wrist. First X-ray seemed to show a hairline crack, but the next X-ray revealed a complete break at the wrist of the larger arm bone on the pinky side. He now has a cast to above his elbow and a hard time sleeping with it.

The air conditioners got cleaned and the sliding screen door fairly fixed.

My hubby's work sucks. Stress and back biting.

My daughter suggested a UV blocking semi-sheer curtain for that hot west window. She uses them on her west windows and they help a lot to block the heat. Here is what I ordered from Amazon:

I hung the curtain sideways because I don't want it to cover my plants or block the sunshine from them.

Here it is with the blinds drawn

In other news, I have been looking for a pedestal pot for my philodendron. I just think it would look cool since it trails nicely. Hubby and I were out shopping and I spotted one. I questioned the only color choice, but decided to try anyway.

I am not liking the color

The color clash is barf worthy. That's a fake distressed area on the stand.

I don't know if I should try to sand it down and repaint it or just return it and get my $12 back. I'll never get all the glaze out of those details.

And lastly, I'll leave you with a bunch of pictures of my Gasteria blooms.

The plant

That's all for tonight.

Delete and Start Again

I don't know why I can't write. I start, then delete. I guess I will just start.

Last weekend we drove up to Door County. We were looking for a place to walk. We stopped at Bayview Park. It looked like it involved a lot of walking and hubby's foot still bothered him, so we decided to leave that for another time. On the way back we decided to take a local road closer to the Lake. We stopped at Lambeau Cottage Park and took a short walk. It all felt like we were "back home". I don't know what else to call it. We lived in southeast Wisconsin since 2016. The trails have a certain "feel" about them, different from the swamps around the Fox Valley. We also discovered a map for trails around the Cofrin Memorial Arboretum, which was across the road. We plan to visit often. It's about a 45 minute to 1 hour drive, up through Green Bay.

The day before, on Saturday, I found out the creator and Administrator of the best succulent group on the internet passed away. "Papa Bear" Ken Bell, respected by all, loved by many. On Monday everything came crashing down on my emotions and I cried, over loosing things, our beloved trails, the view, Ken, you name it. On top of it all, I've been stressed because hubby is stressed, as there is friction at work. 

We've had some warm, beautiful weather, but the apartment was HOT. I turned the heat off a few days ago, but it just seemed hot. The plant room was very hot, and the sunny west window sill was baking my plants. I can't open the murder curtains (I mean vertical blinds) all the way because there is no privacy from the cars and people. My digital thermometer registered between 90 and 101 on my plants. I moved them off the sill. I tried to open the window but it was stuck. I opened the patio door (there is a screen door) and put a fan there (nice dry, cooler air outside). Our bedroom was warm, so I faced another fan in there. This was seriously stressing me out. I checked the thermostat. The heat was off. When hubby came home from work he was able to open the window, which afforded some relief.

The next day the apartment still felt too warm. At this point I was stressed and exhausted. I sat down on the couch and flopped my arm across the back. WHAT THE HECK??? HEAT rising from behind the couch. OMG the radiator was pumping out heat. It was then I realized ALL the radiators were 95 degrees. I called right away, and maintenance came over and replaced some kind of regulator that was stuck open. He said it was the third one he had switched out that day. 

So, anyway, the apartment cooled off, the window opens, that's good. Now I'm waiting for them to fix the sliding screen door, which screeches and sticks something horrible when I try to close it, and clean the air conditioner, which looks like it hasn't been cleaned since they built this place. No way am I turning it on and blowing that black crap all over. Geez.

After all that turmoil and stress, I have been concentrating on my plants. I have quite a few succulents outside now, and a few flowers we bought. This weekend we are buying more potting soil and a few more flowers. I will add pictures with captions.

Lake Michigan in Green Bay

Trail at Lambeau Cottage

Cofrin Memorial Arboretum map

Green heart I found in Bayview

Patio plants

Coral bells (Heuchera) and Speedwell, both perennials, may or may not come back.

Something the bumble bee loves

Murder curtains. They swing back and forth when I open or close them, chopping leaves along the way

New plant, senecio crassissimus, lavender steps

Sedum Cape Blanco in a pot that matches, with stones that match. Hope it lives!

From the top

Pachyveria Powder Puff looking nice and blue.

New plant, Adromischus cooperi

New plant, Oxalis Charmed Wine

Oxalis Irish Mist showing white splashes after years of growing plain!

Gold vein Oxalis

That's all for tonight.

We Got The Truck Back!

 And I found my shoes. I have one of those wire holders for hanging on a kitchen cabinet door for holding foil and plastic wrap. It doesn't fit these cabinets so I hung it on the side of a wire shelf in the closet, and stuffed a pair of shoes in it. Today I pulled out those shoes and low and behold, my little black tennis shoes were behind them.

We were happy to get the truck back. The little Ford Escape was fun to drive. The seats were uncomfortable and hard to adjust because they were manual. They didn't charge for all the extra days but we did need to pay for a new battery, because our insurance didn't cover that. Our service advisor took a picture when the truck was all apart.

Dash removed and sitting where the seats were, center console out, steering column out, seats on floor somewhere outside the truck.....=:o

We are having some nice warm weather. I even put some plants out! Tuesday night is supposed to be 37 so I brought some back in, well, it's still mild out but they were saying strong storms and wind. Here are some pictures from today. I can't tell you how happy I felt seeing my plants out there and enjoying the fresh air.

Just a few for now

I love this Silver Squill. It will grow more compact soon.

My sedum saucers are recovering from the squirrel attack

I planted some semps in there

This weekend hubby and I had fun. We bought some ginormous strawberries at Woodman's and ate them with sugar free whipped cream. Well, hubby mashed his berries into those strawberry shortbread cakes lol. Woodman's almost always has a great deal on strawberries.

My dessert

Hubby's creation

Monster berry

Normal berry

That's all the news for tonight.

Where Are My Shoes? And Other Random Stuff

 I can't find my pair of canvas tennis shoes. I know I had them before we moved. Darnit. They were so comfortable, but I rarely wore them because the soles are/were thin (not worn, just thin) and no good on trails. Hubby says he will buy me a pair, but I know how that goes.....with my feet.

Good news on the truck. Assembly day was today. Programming day will be Monday, so we can pick it up Tuesday morning. They said they have pictures of it all taken apart.

I just found out the hosting company for my website has an HTML editor. It's WYSIWYG, which is even better (what you see is what you get)...so easy. I can edit the pages right on the server, no need to downloading, changing then publishing. It's about time I update things. I think I started it in 2002.

Another former resident of Midland passed away, and there is a reunion this October. I wish I could go again. Thankfully there is a Facebook group that keeps everyone updated. My website more or less just just has some stories, pictures and a link to the Facebook group.

Hubby wants me to renew my passport. It expired but is still eligible for renewal. Not that I plan to fly internationally, but just in case my real ID driver's license isn't enough for domestic flights.

I decided to log into VisaJourney. It's been awhile, because we haven't needed any advice since hubby became a citizen. I wanted to see if there was any chatter and travel. Some people were asking if it was safe to fly and would they be denied entry on return. Surprisingly there didn't seem to be a lot of concern, unless one had deportation orders or did a crime.

I rearranged my plants AGAIN. My Haworthia and Haworthiopsis were getting too much light, so I set up a less strong light and put them there. I put some of the succulents that need strong light were the others were. I lined up as many as I could on the window sills. The rest are on the shelf in front of the window. There are nine plants sitting in the dark that don't fit anywhere. In a couple weeks they can go outside if the temperatures are ok for them.

I had some issues showing up with some of my plants, other than lighting. I am concerned about the softened water. There are so many opinions about it being safe for plants, but I don't want to risk it. Hubby said we will buy bottled water for them. I think the cheapest possible would be fine. I was filtering it but found out it won't remove the salt.

That's about it for tonight.

 

Still Not Fixed

Update on our truck as of Friday....front seats out and dashboard removed and sitting on the floor. No update today (Monday).

I got some more unpacking/donating/ tossing done. Have some more papers to go through, and more clothes.

We had a thunderstorm last night with torrential rain. Things are greening up, finally. Today I heard some cranes so I grabbed my phone and rushed out to the patio. They were circling around and calling loudly. I wonder if the former habitat that is now being filled in was their nesting place. Anyway, they flew away. 

Hubby was off Friday so we took some time to drive around, because it was sunny and mild. There are some interesting buildings along the river by Lawrence University. They are former factories converted into apartments and restaurants. We would like to explore the area more if we can figure out where to park. The Historic District around the University is really pretty. 

I edited my "Dreams" statement. I don't think my life has any more dreams. It just sets me up for disappointment. Unless we win a lottery we are never living in a house. My dreams of living with a view are fading. I'm hoping spring will cheer me up. I hope we can find places to walk that aren't a swamp. There seems to be a lot of swamps and flat, boring land with no hills around here...well....Fox Valley. Don't tell me "bloom where you're planted".

That's all the complaining for today. Need to vacuum the dead pill bugs out of the hall closet. I don't know why we have pill bugs.