What. . . is that white stuff on the ground?

PROJECTS for 2 Jan 2024, in order accomplished

Project: Post Electricity bill payment
Status: Done

Project: Call County Tax Assessor and initiate Property (car) and Real Estate (home) assessments
Status: Done

Project: Call dental office to find out date and time of next cleaning/exam
Status: Done

Project: Call Pulmonology and schedule 6-mouth follow-up visit for this Feb
Status: Done

Project: Call Cardiology and move pre-existing late Feb appointment to an earlier date
Status: Done

Project: Visit the State DMV website for online 2025 car registration renewal
Status: Done

Project: Enter car registration renewal expense in computerized account register
Status: Done

Project: 2+1/2 mile exercise-walk
Status: Will do so after lunch

Project: Walk City Utilities bill payment to City Hall
Status: Will do so immediately after exercise-walk

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Jan 2 2025, 08:07 PM

Busy morning! Sounds productive.

Been working on clearing the bank next to a small river. Last time was January 2013 so it was due. Most was just finger thick trees that we just fell and let be, but some could be taken care of.

This pic is from December 2022
And this is from today
Birch downed


Even though today's pics are taken close up, you can see the difference.


And this is what we in the trade call

skillzz

This post has been edited by mirocu: Jan 7 2025, 05:56 PM

Lotsa work. And lotsa firewood too it looks. Brrrr!

Project: Exercise-walks
Status: Modus Interruptus

Unlike last winter, mild with only a few days severe enough to prevent my walks, this winter is made of sterner stuff. Already I've had a multiple-day enforced break. Today looks to be the start of another break. I hoped to get in one final walk this afternoon, but a quick trip outside to check mail immediately after lunch convinced me otherwise. I've walked without harm in colder temps. But the combo of cold temps and strong frigid winds is too much.

On the other hand, I had my best "heavy" (haha) weight/resistance training session in ages this afternoon. It's been so long since I experienced a "weightlifter's high" that I'd forgotten that such a thing exists, until today.


Project: Acquire documents required to prepare and file my 2024 Fed and State tax returns
Status: Nearly done

To the best of my knowledge, only my mutual funds and bank tax statements are lacking. No rush. I don't file until February. I'll use TurboTax, as I have for decades. My return is so simple I could do it myself the old-fashioned way. But my math is so bad I fear making a booboo and getting in trouble.

Decrepit; Your second project looks like one on my project list. Only I have yet to begin.

Currently I've been shoveling snow and breaking ice for my two houses. In a week, 3-storms laid down a foot of snow over 2-inches of ice. Now, I'm reliving those long-gone ice-fishing days with my brother in upper Wisconsin.

Project: Prepare and e-lile 2024 Fed & State tax returns.
Status: BINGO!

This is almost the only day since catching influenza type-A on Jan 27 that I haven't felt utterly miserable, so I figured I'd better tackle my tax returns. I was a bit hesitant to do so since, though I'm physically better, my mind remains a shambles. But it's got to get done, and who knows when I'll have another halfway decent day?

There were times I was sorely tempted to throw in the towel due to heavy brain fog, but plowed on regardless. It's all water under the bridge now. For good or ill, both Fed and State returns are complete, e-filed and accepted by the IRS and State Tax Agency.

I did mine at the beginning of the month, and I already received my State return. So yay for alacrity.

Project: Back up my entire Kindle library to a computer directory
Status: DONE!

In case you haven't heard, on the 26th of February Amazon is removing the ability to download purchased Kindle books to computer. There are tons of videos about it on YouTube, which is how I caught wind of it. While it might end up not being a big deal, I can see all sorts of potential downsides, especially at a time when bannings and censorship are on the rise, and Amazon can reach into our Kindles to remove or edit our Kindle ebooks without our consent.

I currently "own" 225 Kindle ebooks! They must be downloaded one at a time. The process is fairly simple but time-consuming. Due to illness I didn't feel up to the task until a few days ago. At that time I DL'd a "page" worth of titles. This afternoon I took the bull by the horns and downloaded the rest. I don't think I missed anything, my storage directory shows that it holds 225 items, matching the number of Kindle titles I own.

What this means for the future I do not know. My paperwhite and its contents are among my prized possessions. I suppose I'll just play it by ear and hope for the best. Maybe.

Thank goodness "send to Kindle" isn't touched (so far as I know), so I can still upload Project Gutenberg titles to Kindle. And in any case I've always saved backups of those on PC. Believe it or not, I possess far more Project Gutenberg titles than I do Kindle titles.

I guess in a way I got lucky, in that back when I was buying books from Kindle I was working at a place that blocked the internet. I could use the Kindle for PC app on my work laptop, but it could not connect to Amazon. So I had to physically download every book and copy it to the work laptop before I could read it.

I did see this sort of thing coming. So I stripped out the DRM every time I bought a book and kept that copy of it. So when Amazon suspended my membership a few years back I could still read all my books. (Someone hacked my account and used it to make a bunch of fraudulent purchases. I refused to pay for it, so Amazon froze my account. Explaining it all to them did not help of course. So I have not used Amazon since, and never will).

I forget what I used to strip out the DRM, but there were several programs around at the time that did it quite easily.

I found that Calbre is a good tool for converting ebooks to different formats. And now I use SumatraPDF for reading them.

Then again, isn't the best experience to hold a real book in your hands?


And project-wise to build up a nice library in your home. I don't read much these days but if I started I would want to make a nice set of shelves to store the books on.

Until not many years ago I had no interest in e-books. Nowadays I have difficulty reading paperbacks even with reading glasses. Hardbacks are often easier to read, but difficult to hold for extended periods while lying on the sofa, which is how I do almost all of my "pleasure" reading. E-books solve these dilemmas handily. Too, e-books tend to be significantly cheaper than their paper counterparts. I rarely pay more than $1.99 - $3.99 per e-book thanks to frequent sales. For instance, I often see Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" in an e-book omnibus edition (one book as Tolkien intended rather than three separate books) sold for $1.99 on Amazon. You can bet I grabbed it, no questions asked.

In pretty much every way I prefer e-books and e-readers. This came as quite a surprise when I got my Paperwhite. My original thought was to use it only when out and about, such as waiting to be seen at a medical facility. As things turned out, I only carry my Paperwhite with me if I suspect an all-day or multi-day hospital stay, Otherwise, it stays home.

I still read paper books daily for one specific scenario, at the kitchen table while eating meals. I've got a nice wood tabletop bookstand that holds hardbacks so I can eat as I read. (It doesn't work so well with paperbacks, but again, I have trouble reading those anyway.) The last thing I want is my Paperwhite screen splattered with grease.

All that said, the prospect of having e-books I paid for edited or removed without my consent is becoming more and more of a worry. Maybe little or nothing will come of it, but ya never know.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Feb 22 2025, 09:47 PM

Thanks for explaining that, Decrepit. And I must say you have quite solid points there, I can see why you like e-books. And having them edited or even removed after purchase without prior consent or knowledge is sickening and I would argue borderline illegal. I'm glad your project of saving them to your computer is, as Emperor Palpatine would say, complete!

Project: Survive Cardiology Appointment
Status: Outcome Surprisingly Bloodless

Yesterday, Monday January 24, 2025, I had two periodic medical appointments back-to-back; Pulmonology at 1300, Cardiology at 1415. During the first I divulged the history of my still-ongoing ailment, which began life as influenza Type-A in late January. I was asked to provide a sputum sample which I couldn't do on the spot so was given a cup to bring back once I coughed up the requirements. (I did so this morning). I'm also now on a two-week Levofloxicine treatment and scheduled for a follow-up visit in early April.

That was the easy visit.

Next up, Cardiology. I'd dreaded this visit for some time. Why? Because I needed to spill the beans about my diet change from impure vegetarian to impure carnivore and weaning myself off Statins. Complicating matters is the fact that doing so shot my once-stellar (by conventional medical wisdom) Chorestorol readings through the roof. I've heard horror stories of these truth-telling confrontations going very badly for the patient. It didn't help that, as poorly as I feel, I didn't prepare as well as I might have were I in good health. Regardless, it had to be done.

With a lot of fumbling around and starts and stops, I got through it, explaining why I did what I did to the best of my meager ability. To my happy surprise, I was neither flung out of the second-story window nor told to immediately vacate the premises and not come back. She bemoaned my Chorestoral readings and gave me the standard lecture on the supposed benefits of low Cholesterol. That done, she stated that their policy is to give guidance and recommendations to the patient, but not force us to comply. I'm still concerned since the doctor I saw today is one of the clinic's sub-doctors. My next appointment, six months from now, is with the head doctor, who might not be as "forgiving". Time will tell.

Project: Move dental appointment
Status: done

I just finished doing so. It dawned on me this morning that, with the appointment scheduled for this coming Monday morning, and me constantly spitting up wads of gnarly sputum and feeling miserable to boot, I probably can't endure a lengthy sit in a dentist's chair getting my teeth cleaned without potentially disastrous consequences. It's now scheduled for Monday, March 31.


Project: Let brother prepare and file his 2024 tax returns on my computer, an annual ritual
Status: Up in the air, but hopefully this coming weekend

He wanted to do so this past weekend, but I felt too miserable and worried that he might catch whatever I've got. I'm still not 100% sure if I'm risk-free, but my pulmonologist thinks I have infected lungs, which isn't spreading, unless someone decides to drink the sputum in the cup I now keep at my side at all times. Besides, time is running short. It's got to get done sometime soon. The stumbling block is that he's still a working man, and like me, he has no cell/mobile phone. I've left a message on his landline phone answering machine, and hope to hear from him today once he's home from work.

Project: Report of a decrepit life during early 2025
Status: Here it is


It’s been quite a year-to-date, health-wise. It began well enough, with me continuing my exercise-walks and weight/resistance sessions. I even progressed to being able to do three sets of 12 full push-ups, which I couldn’t do any of as recently as mid-2024. (I have been doing sets of “knee push-ups” for several years.)

On 27 Jan this year, I visited Dermatology to check a non-healing scab on my left leg, near the crotch. Dermatology is within the complex that houses all my too-many specialists and my hospital-of-choice, but in a separate building. I’d not been there before. As such, I gave myself an extra twenty minutes, just in case. As it turns out, I spotted the building right away, and signed in right away, twenty-plus minutes before I needed to. The waiting room was jam-packed with patients. My appointment ended up beginning 38 minutes later than scheduled. In other words, I spent a good hour in the waiting room before being seen. This will come into play later.

Once seen, a doctor numbed the appropriate section of leg and proceeded to remove a layer of skin for testing. That done, his assistant applied a standard-issue cottonball plus conventional band aide atop the open wound. I commented that this combo would likely not hold well, me being a bleeder. The assistant ignored me. I didn’t press the issue, figuring a little blood loss, should it occur, is no big deal. I should have pressed the issue.

Before I reached home my left trouser leg was saturated in blood. I became lightheaded and needed to periodically shake my head to remain focused. But make it home I did. Thankfully, I have rolls of self-adhering elastic bandages at the house. I made a beeline to the bathroom, dropped my pants, and quickly wrapped my leg with an elastic bandage. This did the trick. Bleeding stopped. That out of the way, I downed lots of water and rested awhile. Felt well enough to resume my normal routine not long afterward.

The test turned out positive for cancer, thankfully non-spreading. I return to dermatology for its removal early April. You can bet I’ll carry a roll of elastic bandages with me, just in case.

Next day, January 28, was my birthday. I felt perfectly well all day, though I elected not to do an exercise walk for fear of reopening my leg “wound”.

January 29 began well. I got in one of my best exercise-walks in some months, and was pleased with that day’s weight/resistance session. Then, about mid-afternoon, I began feeling unwell. My health eventually worsened to the point where I knew I needed treatment, so drove to Urgent Care, suspecting either COVID or a very nasty flu. Bingo! Influenza type-A. Was prescribed standard-issue flu meds and sent home. Over the next few days, I improved little by little until I felt I would likely be able to resume my exercise routines the next day.

It wasn’t to be. My health plummeted. Within days I felt worse than ever. I reached a point when I honestly felt as if I was on death’s doorstep and might cross the threshold at any time. I managed to drive myself to ER, a nightmarish experience, its only outcome a new standard-issue prescription med. Pretty much all of February was spent in various stages of misery. I’d occasionally feel halfway decent with hope of recovery, then slide into another period of seemingly perching on death’s doorstep. For much of this time I lost the ability to eat, everything put in my mouth tasting so obnoxious it couldn’t be swallowed.

Thankfully, I had a periodic appointment with my long-time pulmonologist toward the end of the month. He, if anyone, would get me on the road to recovery. During the visit, I provided details of my symptoms and was asked for a sputum sample, which I provided the next morning. The result? Pneumonia that can not be treated with swallowable antibiotics but must instead be treated in hospital with IV antibiotics.

Once in hospital I improved daily. Yesterday, Mar 11, I was deemed well enough to come home, but not fully cured. I was released with a "PICC-line" in my upper left arm, a supply of IV antibiotics, and was this afternoon trained on how to administer IV antibiotics on my own! (I’ve since forgotten half what I was taught, but hope to fake my way through the procedure. In any case, I have a number to call if and when things go amiss.)

I must say that my hospital stay was a delight. Everyone was super friendly and helpful. Believe it or not, I even stepped out of character and remained sociable and, if I may say so, charming, the entire time. Who would’ve thought? Heck, after a few days some of the staff would come to my room to say goodbye at the end of their shifts, let me know when they’d be back, and occasionally comment on how they enjoyed having me as a patient. Even stranger, I wasn’t faking it, but actually enjoyed these social exchanges. Then again, this was an ideal situation for me to unleash a normally comatose side of my personality. I could be sociable within a confined space and limited timespan, without fear of triggering any sort of long-term social commitments, which I consider unwelcome to the nth degree. Now home, I again bask in blissful solitude. Yet, I suspect I will cherish the memory of a time when I allowed a rarely-seen facet of my persona to shine forth, to the end of my days . . . or the middle of next week, whichever comes first.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Mar 19 2025, 12:23 PM

What a well-written summary of your not so great year so far. I'm so glad your pulmonologist was able to give you an actionable diagnosis and some time in the hospital to fix the pneumonia. Also glad your leg spot is not spreadable and hope the April procedure is successful and less bloody than the test was. Annoying how that stuff gets in the way of our fitness programs, is it not?

Thanks Acadian. You have a better opinion of my narrative than do I. And yes, lack of exercise was my most commonly held regret from the onset of influenza type-A near the end of January until three days into my hospital stay this March. Of course most of that time my regret was on a back burner, since my ongoing illness robbed me of almost all physical and mental energy. There was no question of me attempting any sort of physical activity beyond the bare minimum required to exist from day to day.

Not mentioned in my original post is that, during the third day of my hospital stay, I began feeling well enough to resume exercise. I thought about attempting a few pushups but was told weighted arm exercises were (and are) a no-go as long as an IV insertion point remains in my arm. However, I took it upon myself to begin exercise walks . . . after a fashion. That first attempt was confined to within my room, walking from one end to the other ad nauseam. I was able to maintain a decent speed while doing so. I expected to peter out within 15-20 minutes, but lasted the entire hour! Next day I took advantage of the fact that mine was one of the two rooms at the far end of my wing, with space for an emergency exit before hitting the end wall. My walk thus increased to from the far side of my room to the hall's end wall. I fully expected someone to stop me, but was left alone, again getting in a full hour. Next day I realized that I had a bit of extra walking space in the hall going in the other direction. Walking that small stretch of hall became my track for the remainder of my stay, utilizing my room only when my end of the hall became "busy". All this said, there were of course interruptions "most days" for vital sign readings, blood work, and so on. In those cases I kept an eye on how long these breaks lasted and tacked the time to the end of my hour. It worked out pretty well, if I do say so myself . . . and I do.

Additionally, on day four I added several ab exercises that put only minimal stress on my arms, began doing "chair squats", and lastly several leg strengthening exercises that again don't unduly stress the arms. I was surprised that, although I was obviously weaker, I retained enough endurance to do as many reps as I did pre-illness. Now, when I'm finally able to resume weighted arm exercises, always my weak point, I fully expect to have to drop weightage to below pre-illness levels. How much below remains to be seen.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Mar 13 2025, 10:59 PM