SUNDAY on MAINTAIN MOUNTAIN

[zip2play]

Good morning kiddies,

One-Act plays last night were good... we stayed for 3 of the four because I started getting really exhasted from this cold and the day of oppressive heat. It seems this morning, I may have progressed to Pamona if rubbery khaki colored excreta streaked with blood is any sign. I never know how to differentiate between chest cold/bronchitis/pneumonia (I can't figure out what "rales" sound like. )
Any clues, nurses, on how to tell a viral infection from a bacterial one without doing a culture? I hate to take unnecessary antibiotics but I will; I have penicillin-V. Is lack of a fever a good sign that it's NOT bacterial? Clue me in.

I had 2 PROFLIGATE days (Fri. and Saturday) where I put away the calorie notebook in order to kick start my metabolism. Let's see if it works. Sauteed salmon, and Stewed Tomatoes tonight...a little rice or a baked potato. Along with a Tofu lunch and a bowl of oatmeal the day's calories should be low again for the NOTEBOOK. I guess that renders any long term averages somewhat useless but 2 days probably gets lost in the numbers for 2 months...maybe I'll just guesstimate 3000 kcal. each day. HAte to go on about my food like this, but hey, that's why we're HERE! !

Bob will be off tomorrow and I HOPE for the rest of the Summer...he doesn't need ANY more time because the Second Quarter is officially over.

Today, the ZIP resteth...and unlike the Lord God Almighty, ZIP HAS AIR CONDITIONING. Another zinger of a boilerama today...last in the 90's (I hope) or at least so says the Weatherman Almighty (yeah RIGHT.) We pulled Bergman's SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE (many hours) and plan to watch it this afternoon.
Oh Susun, a friend brought the entire ANGELS IN AMERICA over for poker (we are the exclusive hosts...I need an excuse to clean up) so I'll finally get to see Episode 5 (and re-watch all of them actually!)

Linda, I'll bet you look chic in that crew-cut! (Gee, are Bing cherries named for BING-UM-TUN or for BING CROSBY?)

Loretta,
I got my 12 bottle PP order already (2 days ) Co-Q10, DHEA, and YOHIMBE BARK (don't laugh)...$119 (health is pricey) Now I realize I should have ordered more lecithin, too...I MAY be on my last container?

Good luck to all of you and yours...
Let a smile be your bumbershoot!

Happy GAY Pride Day to ME and any gany lurkers but it would take several acts of god to get me to that March and rally today in this heat. I've done about 20 of them so I know the drill and again THE ZIP RESTETH! It's MUCH easier to be PROUD at 75 degrees than at 95!

[OrchidCactus]

Hey y'all,

Still warm here, but yesterday was really nice under a shade tree at the orchid society summer picnic. We had a really good time, lotza good folks there to visit with, and brought home 3 plants from the auction (2 of which were even on the want list for years!).

Linda, ok show a pic of the haircut! I need to call my GF that cuts my hair and get a trim....time to remove the 'dead ends'.

Shawnee, are you playing outside today? Pop in during a break if you get a chance. Next weekend you're fursitting for Lil General, right?

Zip, sounds like you need to go to the dr and have yourself checked out for the pneumonia..... nasty stuff can either be viral or bacterial, nothing to play with. DH had it in the summer one time years ago, and it was a booger to get rid of!

Liz, check your email..... So without the wine, do the new meds work well for ya? Hopefully you can find the right combination soon to alleviate the nausea/vertigo etc. Back in December, our oldest dog (Bubba, 13) had a severe inner ear infection which has caused him permanent vertigo. He is on Meclazine 25mg for it, we give him the 'people drug' as it is in a generic MUCH cheaper than the Antivert from the vet for the same med. Bub's the one we're babying along for as long as he is happy and able to get around ok... he's my big baby. Have you tried Meclazine, or are you past that med with your symptoms?

Loretta, to you on your DSD endeavors! Not an easy path to take care of someone with her problems, if you need to chat, let me know!

Susan, so is everything back to normal up there now? How is your DSIL doing? Glad you get your DS for a visit! I bet he'll be spending lots of time with Ms. Ella

Hi to all our MIA's......check in when you can!

[LoveMontana]

Good morning gang. I'm really pissed because I typed out a big long post and lost it.
It's a scorcher here too
and we must venture out to pick up my mom and go to the buffet for dinner.
Gerard just ran to the convenience store at the bottom of the hill to pick up the paper, so at least the air conditioning will have run long enough to be cool. LOL

Roger, don't take a chance with that chest yuck. It's difficult to tell the difference between Viral and bacterial, both can have green or yellow bloody sputum and some don't run a fever with it, so it's a good idea to see a doctor.
Rales sound like crackles in your chest. Think "Rice Crispies".

Happy Gay Pride Day to you

Ginny,
How about some pictures of your new plants? How fortunate that you were able to get some from your wish list.

Shawnee, Lucky you babysitting the General next weekend!!! Pictures please.

Loretta, take care of yourself lady. You are going to need your strength.

Waving to the rest of our gang.
Later

Oh FYI
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches.
That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used?

Because that's the way they built them in England, and English expatriates built the
US Railroads.




Why did the English build them like that?

Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.

Why did "they" use that gauge then?

Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used
for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.


Okay! Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing?

Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of
the old, long distance roads in England, because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.

So who built those old rutted roads?



Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (and England) for their legions. The roads have been used ever since.


And the ruts in the roads?



Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of
destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they
were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing..




The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the
original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. And bureaucracies live forever.

So the next time you are handed a specification and wonder what horse's ass came up
with it, you may

be exactly right, because the Imperial Roman army

chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two war horses.

Now the twist to the story


When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory at Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run
through a tunnel in the mountains. The SRBs had to fit through
that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as
you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.

So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced
transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a
horse's ass.




...... and you thought being a HORSE'S ASS wasn't important!

[BarbCO]

Morning folks.....

Now THAT was very enlightening Linda! That is information I've always wondered about and now I KNOW THE REST OF THE STORY.

HAPPY GAY PRIDE!! Now if you weren't sick I'd chide you about getting out to march and show off that pride!! No one will see you in that 75 degree comfort.

Everyone has already given all the advice on doctors and stuff, so I'll rest on that one.

Ginny, what type of orchid did you pick up? Not that I would know the difference!! I DO know how expensive they are.

Zip, we LOVE hearing about your calories!! Makes all of us women green with envy to see how MUCH you can eat, the variety, and eating out and STILL losing weight. Do you use anything with sauteed salmon - I've been grilling mine with hot mustard , mayo and par. cheese. Change is very good though. Suggestions?

Liz and SuSUN, DD and I will be traveling though Saulte Ste Marie, Ottawa and Montreal on our quest to find Maine. Are there any specialities or suggestions for "stuff" to take back home to show off? I DON"T need another t-shirt or coffee cup!

Went shopping for new blouses (actually more sporting types with small cap sleeves and no collar) to wear that are lighter in color for the summer. Herbergers had some great sales! I got three new ones for $6 a piece.

We also hit a new Wine and Spirits store that has wine tasting every Saturday. We tried some Australian and Argentina wines (merlot, cab's) and then bought some Shiraz. It's a great way to get people to buy wine because they taste something they never had, like it and buy. I would rather go to a vodka tasting party, but oh well!!

to all and need to get some sun!!

Barb

[zip2play]

Linda,
That is a WONDERFUL and probably totally true history of modern technology being developed by horses' asses. Thank you, it's getting a separate sub file in MY DOCUMENTS. It will share the subfile with THE WIT AND WISDOM OF GEORGE BUSH, which for some reason is still conspicuously empty.
I asked my neighbor (former nurse, now drug buyer for a large Union) to borrow her stethascope to check for rales...she left hers in the office but SHE GAVE ME A Z Tri Pak (3- 500mg. Zithromax) and said if I see green bloody lung globs it's probqably bacterial, fever or not. So I'll skip my Lipitor tonight and start taking my first Z tomorrow. (I am petrified of taking Zithromax and Lipitor together so no Lipitor for 10 days. Statins and macrolides are a HUGE no-no together.

Barbara,
If you want a movie strictly for oenophiles, rent SIDEWAYS. It's a good movie and it's guaranteed to have you open at least 2 bottles of your good stufff. If I weren't teetotalling, I'd have run to NEWPORT WINES AND SPIRITS next door while we were watching it. It does for wine lovers what BABBETTE'S FEAST did for gourmands!
A vodka tasting party would be dull because vodka runs the full gamut of tastes from A to A! (I fill my ABSOLUT bottle with El Rotgutoff, from the Brooklyn part of Russia, you see , and nobody has caught on yet!)
Usually I sautee my salmon in 1/3 canola, 1/3 olive, 1/3 butter for a total of about 1T. fat. I shake pretty much cayenne and teeny bit of SEAFOOD SEASONING on before cooking and some dried dill at about 1/2 done (so it doesn't burn.) About 4-5 minutes on a side does it. Today I have steaks so I wrap the sides in and sew a couple stiches to hold them in a nice roundish shape...I hate when the floppy thin "sides" burn. I PREFER the filets but the steaks were on sale at $2.39/lb. and that's my siren's call! They are the less pretty but quite tasty Atlantic Salmon but the price is VERY nice

Hot as a F$#K out there today...we took a short walk to buy more cherries and BROILED! Oh the DELICIOUS cherries are from YAKIMA, WASHINGTON. Anybody nearby?

[Loretta V]

Hi to all

Zip that noisy chest does not sound good and coughing up gunk is not a good sign. How about a doctor visit? IS that out of the question. Any fever?
Show your Gay Pride at home today. Stick a sign in your window or something. I think that 3/1 sale runs until the Sept something.

Linda it sure takes patience to deal with people like your daughter with the ADHD. Best do as you said and just accept her as she is. It sure would be alot easier on you. Something about serenity in accepting the things we cannot change.

Liz I sure don't want to make decisions about my DSD's mental capabilities. I want that to come from some expert. I think it will be a life altering change for her. She has become attached in a way to me and listens to me. Lots of "ifs" in the working.
One step at a time. She will most likely have to be re evaluated for her mental status, I am hoping.

Barb, one of our neighbors just got back from Colo and he sure liked that low humidity there. 20% he said. It was hard for him to come back to this 80, & 90% humidity. Nice sale on those blouses. I tend to wear 3/4 length sleeves most of the time because of my old saggy arms. Just can't make them firm and supple.

Ginny glad that you found some much desired orkid plants. Hope you found some rooom for the new ones. Are you still selling plants on ebay? How is that going for you?

I did forget to mention that the Tribe of DH's will be headed this way around the middle of July. I think some are coming and going. The Dsd is hoping for her children to visit also. DH and I will need to get a motel room for sure. IT will be a ZOOOOOOOOOOO
I would like to get the siblings input though on Marcia.

WE are having a nice Sunday. Marcia has picked up a piece of Latch Hook and I have helped her get going with it. Thanks for small favors. She sleeps a lot day and night and spends a lot of time in the bathroom?????

Hi to the rest of our bunch. Susun, Shawnee, Jackie

[zip2play]

Loretta,

On the doctor's visit, here's how it would go:
"Gee, it sounds like you have a virus, now let's have a hear at that blood pressure."
It would be a total waste of time. If I wanted to demand a lung culture, I'd go, but it's probably a WHOLE lot less aggravating to just take the three Zithromax...it's what I'd invariable wind up doing anyway. My doctor is really, really bad. I use him for referral because I MUST choose someone as my PCP and he's the kind of guy who looks at a pimple and hands me a referral to the MAYO clinic.
I have no use for somebody who thinks that because MOST people have a virus, then I have a virus. Most people don't have lung cancer but it kills the ones who get it. If I had a prescription pad and a few surgical instruments I'd NEVER go to the doctor!

Excitement,
Naps destroyed by the apartment's alarm system going off ...After I saw 3 pumpers, the Deputy Chief and the Fire Battallion chief's cars out front I opened our door...the hallway was filled with smoke. After a half hour they announced over the alarm's loudspeakers, "THAT WAS A FALSE ALARM"...huh, with SMOKE? We shall see what develops. I won't investigate though because I don't want to let any smoke into our tightly sealed COOL apartment!
I don't THINK a jet crashed into the joint!

[shawneesioux]

Hi Y'all

We've had a couple nice days in a row, now back to cool and expecting rain. Will gladly accept any donations of y'all's excess heat.
My poor Tom plants are still in bloom stage, no tiny fruits at all. Thankfully, the store-bought Vine-ripened Toms aren't too bad, and the price had dropped lately.

Zip..Yup, those cherries are Yummy, and $1.49 lb. Yakima is about 170 East of here. A great farming and orchard community. Generally much warmer there than here.
Good luck with that Z-Pak, hope it works its miracle for you, as it did for me a few years back Kick back and REST!

Ginny, the yard work is no longer feeling like play, more like hard physical labor. Bob got crazy with the chain saw. So far, two loads to the Brush Recycling Center (they turn it into mulch, then use it at the city parks).
Because of almost 2 months of rains, I'm about 2 months behind on "keeping up"...Wondering why weeds grow faster than petigreed plants???
Congrats on finding those "special" orkids. The Picnic sounds dee-lightful; shade trees and great plants too.
Hmmm, I'm looking forward to keeping the General...except for Cherokee's resentment and pouting. Also, the Noise factor (for days!) from the neighborhood idiots/fireworks may be stressful for him..it certainly is for Cherokee. Will just have to play it by ear, pardon the pun. Hugs to your FurKids.

Barb, don't ya just love finding bargains?? LOL, I'm with Loretta, I usually wear 3/4 sleeves, "ol' lady arms" ...unless I get too hot, then my priorities change to don't give a sh*t.
Your trip with DD sounds like a lot of fun in neat places.
SO glad your Dr is staying on top of your Thyroid tests. ..its an effective way to tell if you need more, less, or are optimized re meds....well, that and you reporting any change in symptoms promptly.
I putted along about 15 years, with just gradual increases in meds. ( did have one bad episode when I messed with Soy Protein, kicked my TSH up high...got off it, got the ol' TSH back down).
In the last year, the symptoms worsened, but according to the Basic tests, I was optimized; BS! I had to press for the other Tests to get help (the squeeky wheel thing)...

So ...now I have control with how much T3 I take, along with the T4...figured out fast I was getting too much T3. Will keep adjusting as needed. Less brain fog, more energy!

Almost afraid to say it, don't wanna jinx myself, but: I've only had a couple minor Hives outbreaks in the last few weeks...I attribute that to less stress, since the frustration of dealing with my Dr was no longer an issue.
BTW, my Sept 12 appt with Thyroid specialist got bumped back for yet another two weeks!...but I don't really mind, since I'm already getting her input via my PCP.

Feet in the stirrups for me on Wed., Nope, ain't gonna be for a Trail Ride ...same Dr has been checking my innards for 30 years now...you think I deserve a FREE exam for the Thirtieth one???

Loretta, Bless your kind, patient heart. Glad that DSD has developed a good rapport with ya, since it may well be that you will be making major decisions for her. Yes, it would be good to have input from others, IF they are willing to share some of the responsibilities too.
I'm an advocate of Group homes...independant living (alone) for a mentally challenged person is risky business...too many bada$$es could take advantage.
LOL, my MIL would invite anyone in, ran up huge bills with the Avon lady and other solicitors, confused her meds...but that was minor compared to what could happen now, with all the druggies/thieves/offenders roaming the streets in search of easy marks.

Hopefully you do not keep your Rxs in that bathroom. Is she on any meds now?

Liz, how awful for you, to suffer those symptoms. Hoping you find the right med combo soon, and can enjoy your life.

Montana, Yup...JD is doing a fine job. Hope y'all are happy with yours too.
Thanks for the History Lesson...best type of education: pleasure reading while picking up facts

SuSUN...enjoy your Family time together. Give us an update on lil Ella's progress.

Hey to Julie Thinking of you.

Jacki, if ya happen to lurk...it was good to have that little chat with ya...love your plants! Bob is SO pleased to know that his "Grandma Hulda's'' rose has a prominent place in your yard.

[zip2play]

Loretta:

Humidity:
I heard on the Channel 2 days ago that the temperature in Las Vegas was 102 dgrees and the Dew Point was 5 degrees. I calculated the relative humidity and it came out to the lowest I have ever heard of on Planet Earth: 0.64% humidity. Can you BELIEVE it. The report said that people leaving a swimming pool were dry before they got to their lounge chairs!

[BarbCO]

Yep, that's me -- low humidity!! That's why we live where we do. I can wash anything and it's dry in just about no time. When coming out of the pool woutside, just lay on the chair for a few and your suit is dry. When I go back to WI and MN I just about die from that hot moisture and nothing dries for days and days. Friends of mine living in AZ do NOT want to meet with our gang in WY this coming holiday because it's too hot! That's true if you are going from 102 to 85 with more humidity.

Hope it doesn't rain on our parade (race) becasue although I like rain I wouldn't want to train, get in shape, etc. just to be killed by lightning! I ran a mile up hill this am in 17.55 minutes. I think that since I'm training (if that's what one could one this) in altitude with hills, I figure I should do ok on lower ground that is flat. Even though I'm 61 and have asthma, I still hate to see people passing me!

Loretta, I would check on what is in that bathroom and do you have any meds she can get into? Hate to be so noisy but........
You are such a kind, gentle person, I'm sure anyone would benefit from your guidance. Can I come?

Well now, you girls just start lifting weights, get those biceps in shape and tan those arms. That's what I'm working on this summer. I always wore longer sleeves and had a farmer's tan.

Shawnee, I hear you on that thyroid crap. Boy are we complicated machines. My doc now tested for Ts and T4 and will know the results when we return from July 4th trip. She knows what she THINKS is the best way to go and I've never gone wrong with her before.

Traveling with DD isn't all that it's made up to be - I've already been told she is driving, we listen to her music, and I need to be quiet 50% of the time. She'll soften up when mom pays for the trip!!
I can hardly wait to get lobster for McDonald's prizes.

I always hated the stirrup trips, but once you have a baby, NOTHING is private anymore!

I also like group homes because those are people who are well trained to do their job. We are second guessing what needs to be done. A friend has a son (32) and he needs a group home. He is on meds but CANNOT handle money at all. They take care of everything and anything they give him goes for lottery tickets. He spends $100 and wins $20 sometimes. They have to charge his groceries, no car, he bikes around town. He is living on his own, SSI, and low income housing. There are professionals who can take care of him because what happens when they can't?

Ok, must be tired of me by now, I'll go saute my salmon (thanks Zip).

Barb