You sorta touched on one of my peeves.


ETA: Just came in from outside - the dogs wanted out. Nice breeze, felt good - it's only 102° Needless to say it's been warm today.

I have to be gone for about 5-7 hours tomorrow for a Drs appt. And it's supposed to be about the same temp tomorrow. The dogs are doing okay even though they don't want to go out till it starts to cool off (102 is cool?) so I think I'll break my long time habit of not leaving loose dogs in the house while I'm gone. Avalanche isn't a problem, Sky piddles in the kitchen when she can't get out so I'll expect a wet spot. It's too hot to leave them out where they get tangled up and then can't get to the shade.

Where did you find that. I want to find a colorado one and post it on the local fb page. Absolutely true.

Good luck with the dr appointment tomorrow

There are times and this is one of them.  At about 10:00AM I called the clinic to make sure they were where I thought they were.   I have an appt for 2:30 and they need to draw blood ... but they stop drawing blood about 10:30 ... on a good day it'd take me about two hours to get there ... SHIT!!!  So they reschedule me for a blood draw on 08/02 with a followup for physical later.
 
I've tried using Community Care so that I don't have to drive so far to get medical care but that's just about turned into a joke.  The one doctor I had that was worth his salt is leaving and that leaves me with the Hospital Clinic which isn't worth a damn.  Add to that that community care seems to think that they don't have to forward records to the VA (that's part of their agreement) so VA loses me in their system ... Thank the gods that I'm not really needing their care.

Main reason for this visit is that I've been getting up, moving around and then getting real disoriented / dizzy.  This isn't the get up and get dizzy, where your blood makes a mad rush to your feet, this is a 'get up, go through the kitchen, go through the spare room and out the back door and then have to set down quickly before I fall down!'  Don't like this at all!  Blood pressure occasionally (rarely!) shows 'irregular heartbeat' and from time to time I can feel my heart throw an extra strong 'ba dum' in there but generally nothing that seriously concerns me - just don't want to fall out the back door or down the steps ...  @amymeme comments???

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Finally saw what's been giving Avalanche fits, seems as if I have a coyote visiting over the small hours of the morning to get water.  Not a problem to me but Avalanche wants to go out and play ... ?????

Al - my very first thought is what is your hydration status? You want to make sure your urine is pale - almost like water. I've had multiple episodes like that and potato chips always seems to fix it - finally pinned hubby down to the mechanism and he said I don't drink enough, get dehydrated, chips have salt, salt causes BP to increase, constructing blood vessels, or...something like that. Basically drink more. And, if you have high blood pressure, don't eat the chips!!! Oh - a thought - some blood pressure meds can make you woozy - have you taken your pulse or BP when you have those episodes?

But. I am constantly getting asked, when I complain of dizziness, is it woozy/lightheaded or spinning ( either me or the room.) Apparently there is a difference with the latter being vertigo which can be benign positional, menieur's disease or other stuff. Hubby has developed a vertigo problem in the past few months and it's a bit limiting. Some days better than others. Whatever it is, you should crawl at the first hint - at our age a fall could result in a head injury with severe or deadly consequences.

As for the da dum. I have episodes of that, just a single or very occasionally a double. Had for the last 20 years or so mine are pre mature atrial beats. But they are isolated. A more serious, and in need of more urgent attention, is atrial fibrillation (Afib). My sister developed that this winter and needed cardioversion (shock paddles) on 2 different occasions. Problem with Afib is you throw clots that lead to strokes so a blood thinner is needed. Maybe the local place can at least run an EKG strip?

I had an episode last month, probably heartburn/indigestion felt in my back. But severe. Hubby doesn't buy that, said women's heart attacks are different and sent me to cardiologist. Waiting now on pre authorization for stress test and echocardiogram. My EKG was unchanged for the last 20 years so the cardiologist is not particularly concerned - but, between my sister, my mother who had a quintuple bypass at age 76 and a TAVR procedure ( aortic valve replacement) a few years later and the fact that a whole bunch of uncles and grandfather died rather young from heart disease, he says my family history warrants further testing. Sigh.

Old age ain't for sissies...

Thanks @amymeme ... So, I can rule Menieur's disease out.  It require long term vertigo and I'm looking at 2-4 minute sessions with generally long times between sometimes hours, sometimes days.  Mayo recommends lifestyle changes relating to caffeine, alcohol and nicotine ... that ain't gonna happen!  I'm too much in love with my coffee.

It's been hot and dry here so I'm putting away about 6-8 16oz bottles of water a day - now I know that caffeine is a diuretic so I tend to make more trips to the potty than most folks do - even old folks.  Discussion with my prior doctor mentioned that with the amount of coffee I drink (generally 8+ cups of strong coffee a day) suggested that I'm probably a fast caffeine metabolizer.  Caffeine withdrawal will generally give me a horrendous (like a migraine, I presume) headache.

The question of type of 'dizzyness' is one I've been asked a couple of times and I wish I could give a good definition.  Okay, the old 'stand up, get dizzy' is the woozy type, no problem there and if I don't set with my legs crossed under me I don't have a problem.  I've 'passed put' one time in my life, that I remember.  About 40 years ago I'd gone to visit some neighbors and indulged in a bit of their TCH, I don't really like the effects (of it or too much alcohol) so a hit or two is enough for me.  After taking a couple of hits, I stood up and fell flat on my face - out cold!  What I'm experiencing now is very similar to 'about to pass out.'  Since it occurs several seconds (to a couple of minutes) after I stand up I'm really concerned about going down the steps a little quicker than I intended.

BP:  For a long time (well a long time after I got the cuff) my readings were within a point or two of 117/77 ... no fail.  Lately I've seen as low as 104/70 to 140/78 ... not overly concerned there since the diastolic is close.  Systolic is quite literally all over the place ... over the past month or so.

And, no I'm not expecting Wayne to diagnose at a distance but your having a live in 'encyclopedia' is more than a bit handy.

I'm irritated that when they set me up for the VA appt they didn't tell me that is was 1) going to be one trip for bloodwork and 2) another later for physical / follow up.  Generally I feel good - ignoring the fact that I've smoked way too much for way too long and tend to get short of breath quickly.  And just for the comment O2 stay around 92-94 and has for the last year or so, not good but not that bad.  I really wish I had the desire to quit but basically don't care.

We have had good luck with community care via mercy hospital in durango otherwise its an issue of test getting done and approval and such so drive to peublo for most things and aurora for the rest. The local va clinic has an incompetent pa.

Hubby has similar issues. Its been blamed on a low sodium/copd corelated issue. For the longest time it was blamed on alcohol, then he stopped drinking and problem still happens. They put in a referral to neuro for it and are waiting for that appointment.

There's this weird stuff falling from the sky here today. Think it's called rain.

No i think its called mud. Actually we are having flooding issues because its so dry and then the monsoon hit and it just sits on top of the sand.

@twisterii "rain" I seem to think I've heard that word before, but could you define it for me just so I'm sure?    We've had about 1.5 inches (depends on where you are in the area) so my tanks are full and I'm good for another couple of years if need be! What we've gotten so far is very welcome and while I don't need it to fill the tanks, a little more on the mountains would be nice ... maybe bring the water table up a few inches and it's gotten ridiculously low ... several wells have gone dry and folks aren't even thinking about going deeper!

@Lostmaniac  It seems odd, if the ground is dry and it rains, the rain should soak in.  But you and I both know that when the ground is really dry, it doesn't soak in, it runs off and takes half a mountain with it.  The road that goes past my place in past years has been a raging river that invades my front "lawn" (and a time or two has invaded the "under trailer" ground.) and then goes away about as fast as it came.  With luck some of it soaks in but most of it just seems to goes past.

Rio grande looks bad up here but did you see the pics of it being completely dry in Albuquerque? And thats downriver of the confluence with the rio bravo and the rio peublo. Im short and can walk across without getting my shirt wet up here. I feel for the fish. All the old men are taking about how before the 60s wolf creek pass had an avg of 4000 inches of snow. Had barely 600 this year. Thats the south fork headwaters of the rio grande. And the upper headwaters dam is at 80% but thats because it overflowed 2 years in a row because the snow melted too fast.

Yeah the road becomes a raging river from both directions then pools at the bottom. If it goes high enough it floods the people down from that spot. Then it becomes about 10 inches of mud and breaks my suspension. Weird desert weather. You would have to live in a rural one to understand. Also the weather created a hay shortage here. Almost everyone lost the first 2 cuttings of alfalfa to rain and now its cow hay.

Have to head to peublo for a va appointment tomorrow. Its been over 100 degrees there. And depending on tonight and tomorrow i may take splinter to the emergency vet in Colorado springs. Adds another hour to the 3ish hour drive each way. Hopefully i dont have to go to springs and hopefully there are no cows to dodge on i25 near heurfano (its happened to me personally 6 times)

So what do your desert dogs think of the rain?

As disappointing as our rain totals were yesterday it did come down slow and will hopefully soften the crust that had formed on the ground so that hopefully the rains we get tonight that might be harder will get the chance to soak in and not just run off.

@LostManiac "What do mine think of the rain?"  Avalanche is terrified of thunder (really any loud sharp noise) and associates thunder with rain so he's not impressed.  Even if it's just an easy sprinkle, he's not going out.
Sky wasn't afraid of the rain and used to go out if she needed to but she's picked up on A's fear so she waits till she has to go out and then it's hit and miss.

@TwisterII  My farmer people (friends of my mothers) in central Illinois hated rain.  They'd put in corn and then they'd get no rain so they had this stunted mess worth nothing.  'Course when it did rain right, I loved to go out running in the fields - always came back soaked and muddy (at about 9-10?)  The best rains were the early one that came light and loosened the soil so they could work it and then a little more as the corn came up.  I hate(d) heavy rains, all it seems to do is create a big muddy river running through the fields / yard / road!

We finally got some rain - an inch or a bit more late last week and another 1.5 to 2 inches overnight Sunday. I really wanted rain water for the pool - our well water has extremely high total alkalinity which buffers the pH, making it difficult, if not impossible, to raise or lower the pH. In my case, I want to lower the pH to 7.6. At present it is drifting to 8.0 - a level that makes chlorine a less efficient sanitizer. I also overshot my cyanuric acid level a bit and would like to lower that about 15 ppm. Dilution or emptying and replacing are the only options to lower CYA. So I was please with what rain we got.

Ami, not so much. It came with 2 hours of one after the other severe thunderstorms. Starting at 2:30 AM. After we went to bed at 1:30 AM. The day after our neighbor had their yearly gathering complete with an extended fireworks display. With first, early on in the evening setting off isolated test launches. Then the main display. Followed by a stron6g of stragglers. And since we were downwind of them, it was unbearable hot so all our windows were open and thus the explosions sounded as if they were right in our backyard. So Ami was absolutely frantic. Which meant that my evening preparations of a brisket to be served the next day got delayed by a few hours. So instead of smoking it from 6 to 10 and finishing in the oven for a few hours, I didn't get to it until 11 and by the time I trimmed it up, it was after midnight so I just threw it in the oven to cook slow until 6:30. So 2 nights of short and shorter sleep - and had to be up early on Monday for banking and Dr. appts 2 hours away. Still catching up on sleep. Sleep recuperation at 71 decidedly different from 35!!!

And, sad day, our doc for the last 20 odd years is retiring in December. As is my opthalmologist. And hubby has now seen his third urologist retire. And since he is no longer in active practice we're going to have to rely on recommendations from others for new docs. This time, gonna pick somebody relatively recently out of residency for hopefully more permanence. As long as they don't move...

C'est la vie - life up on the hill in the finger lakes. Not bad, all things considered.

It weird how few things bother any of my dogs but in the last 24 hours we have had 4 military planes breaking the sound barrier and big groups of helicopters and spider does not like that (the others will bark if they shake the house). Different planes and helicopters then the normal army training, well same helicopters just different colors then army or national guard. Either a light blue or a blue grey instead of the olive green or camo or black. AF experimental stuff is that color.

Unless this has to do with the rio grande being under the army corp of engineers and going dry.

Construction broke ground this am across the field. Its about a half mile away but with no trees the dogs can see for miles and its been constant barking. Seems like new air b&bs going up everywhere here.

Monsoon is if full force so it actually snowed and hailed before turning back into rain with 50mph winds. Its turning into a needing the heater and the ac on the same day kind of year. Upper 30s and 40s at night and windy and upper 80s low 90s daytime with sand storms.

Lostmaniac wrote:

Monsoon is if full force so it actually snowed and hailed before turning back into rain with 50mph winds. Its turning into a needing the heater and the ac on the same day kind of year. Upper 30s and 40s at night and windy and upper 80s low 90s daytime with sand storms.

Oookaaayyy... So that rules out living in the Colorado mountains

I've looked at climate change impact forecasts and have concluded that where we are is probably a very good place to stay. Which is good 'cause I like it here. Hubby would like to move to someplace smaller less expensive but our place is paid for and even renting a one bedroom apartment would not be cheaper than our expenses here. Though, we are starting to see maintenance repairs needed. Most critical is the shed porch roof which is currently supported by 2 lally columns and a temporary brace. Close up behind that is front and back steps/stoop need the brick replaced. The leading edge has been damaged by water falling from the gutters above. And next is getting the damn squirrels out of the family room attic. We've had a roofer twice try to cover their entrance holes but it's not working. Unfortunately, we now have mature hickory trees, an oak tree and a black walnut tree within 50 feet of the house. That makes us very attractive. Not to mention that are red squirrels and one of their favorites is the tip ends of Norway spruce which we have planted hundreds on the property and they are now maturing.

I have a stress/echocardiogram test coming up next week. I'm really concerned I won't be able to finish - my right knee and foot are currently a significant problem and the stenosis in my back leaves my legs feeling like cement. If they let me rest my hands on the console, the stenosis problem will be minimized ("shopping cart sign".) For the rest, I'm trying all my different shoes to find which I ones I can walk in with the least discomfort. So far, not going well. And barefoot is even worse. Dogs are liking my search - they get more walks. Husband not so much - I'm not one to suffer in silence. At least that's what he says

Hahaha thats not all of colorado or even all of the colorado mountains just the rim of the taos plateau that makes up the san luis valley. Highest alpine desert in the world. We have actual tundra up higher. Going over the ranges anywhere but south isnt desert and south goes down in elevation as a alpine desert until be becomes an actual desert in new mexico. You would love winter. It hits -30 at night on a regular basis. Also if you look at south fork on a map its at the intersection of 2 giant canyons which leads to high winds. Im not in town im on the base of one of the mountains that makes up the giant canyon. It only rains during monsoon season. Most of our precipitation is in snow.

And we did not need ac or regularly go above 80 except in August until 2 years ago. I want to move up higher or out to lake city but the mortgage is only $600 a month so it would be stupid to sell and buy something else.

We are dealing with what i think are packrats upstairs. Insulation needs to be pulled walls have gaps that need fixing and someone needs to seal the crawlspace and eves. Most of that means exterminator and pulling the roof aka getting hubby to call state farm. If someone would get the rat droppings and old bait things that have been there since before we moved in i would let the dogs go hunting. But someone needs a hazmat suit because mice and rats here carry hantavirus. I wont do it because of spiders.

@Lostmaniac oh, watch out for those blue one, they're United Nations soldiers coming to take us all into their camps if we don't toe their line.

The Rio Grande down here isn't dry but you can walk across it without getting you feet wet in a lot of places.  What's an illegal say "What river, I didn't see no stinking river."  

Monsoon, it's supposed to be that time of year here as well but it looks like most of it is staying well to our west.  I was watching a good storm (oranges / reds on Wunderground) that was on the other side of the park from us heading our way ... it never made it here ... I really wouldn't complain about getting 'mudded in' for a day or three, we generally need the water that badly!

@Amymeme  Don't let lostmaniac fool ya, Colorado is like a lot of the rest of the country, beautiful if oyu come at the right time of the year and miserable the rest of the time.  I've thought about moving back north then common sense overrules - I'm not shoveling ... oh, the white stuff ... oh, yeh snow!!

Yup april till end of oct is beautiful and its a dry cold so its not damp and stuff. Snow melts at 20 degrees here because we are closer to the sun and water properties change higher up. Its almost always sunny. I happen to live on an unmaintained 4x4 road and thats sometimes an issue. And when its really really cold i stay inside. But a huge reason i left houston in 2012 was that you can always put more clothes on but it hits a point when you cant take anything else off.

Something i hate about colorado is packrats (and my dogs inability to catch on that i knocked off the house an hour ago).


Why is the un flying things capable of breaking the sound barrier? We know that kirtland and ft carson use the area as a test flight area because of the sparse population and the altitude. Probably something experimental. Still not sure what to make about the massive amount of helicopters lately that are a light blue grey. Both chinooks and apaches. I really like watching the vertical takeoff things. Sometimes it looks like a plane and sometimes it looks like a helicopter.

Science lesson for the day:  In some case, the sun actually does get 'warm enough' that it'll heat roofs and sidewalks so the snow really does melt - but it leaves water which will refreeze and give you a nice "oops" the next morning.  What I saw more of when I lived in New York was a process called sublimation where the humidity level is so low that the snow "evaporates" (sublimes) without leaving a trace.  That was an eye opener when I first learned about it.  

Packrats (desert rats) are a major pain and one of the reasons I've tried to keep at least one cat here - and that's a major fail!  Beside sneaking into the house from time to time, they also dig these stupid burrows outside.  One little hole that leads underground to another one a few yards away - great way to get a sprained ankle if'n you're not careful!  (( But you know that already, rightt? ))

Uh ... my comment about the UN was really facetious - shades of the black choppers that were so popular with the conspiracy theorists a few years back.  More seriously, the Marine Corp uses a light grey (and to me it looks like a powder puff blue) for their non-combatant Helicopters and VTOL craft.  
When I spent the summer on the Mojave just outside Edwards we had all sorts of planes coming over and going "boom!"  The house I lived in seemed to be just about there they broke the sound barrier so we didn't hang things on the wall and made sure that things on shelves wouldn't 'walk' around.  In that day (mid 60's) all the experimental craft and there were a lot of them, had red tails (so they could find them when they went down??)

We have a large butte here (called 9 point mesa) that the Air Force used to use for a 'bombing target'.  They never dropped anything just flew over like they were on a raid.  That was always fun to watch,  first we had about 6 jets fly over (checking to make sure it was clear?), then the bomber would come in on approach.  I always thought the Cargo craft (like the C5A) were big, but seeing a bomber come 'straight at you' at low level gives a whole new meaning to BIG!

Backing up a bit to the 'blue' helicopters, there's a fairly good size contingent of Marines at Ft Carson (a Mountain Battalion?) and they regularly train with the army and air force.  That might be what you're seeing but there's no active training scheduled according to the Ft Carson Web site.

I was looking at one of the FB groups where a member was complaining<?> that their pup was doing a major blow.  Join the party, it's the wrong time of year but my two have been blowing coat for about the last two weeks.  Unless we're going to have an early winter come in, it's way too early for the fall blow and definitely way too late for the late spring blow.

'course Avalanche looks like he's skin and bones.  It's been too hot to eat so they're both skipping meals (or nibbling at 'em) until they get hungry and then they'll clean their bowls.  Sky's got enough fur that she doesn't look too bad but the bones are still pretty prominent.

Now, this is absolutely no fair!  The east (gotta call my brother) has been seeing floods, the northwest has been getting some good rain, even the midwest has been getting rain ----- where's mine!  Shoot, even DEATH VALLEY!! has had some flooding!!  My house sets high enough I could do with a good 6" shower!

I've exchanged several PM's with @Kinu and I'm at a point that I don't have much of anything to offer him for advice.  Hope he comes up with a workable solution.

Its been flash floods and mudslides all over the place here. Usually its the air force out of kirtland sandia flying experimental things. We saw tons of it when we lived on base. The army just paid a huge amount of money to extend the runway in Alamosa to do near misses with the fighter jets and c130s.

Not seeing nearly as much because i have a job now which brings me to a semi personal question for you. I work at a gun/hunting fishing hardware and feed store aka big r (they have them in texas). When veterans come to the register wearing hats with their battalions or branch or submarine, should i say " thank you for your service" ? My hubby hates it so im trying to figure out if i should or not. He feels its patronizing and i dont want others to feel that way.

Good on you getting a job, every soldier need someone to support him in his later years.

That's a good question, personally I get real tired of it real quick.  I wouldn't call it patronizing but in my time it was either volunteer, I did, or get drafted and probably go to RVN (which I did anyway) ... it wasn't like I really wanted to join.  Later years it was a volunteer effort and I do appreciate the fellows who joined but didn't have to and that stretches to the military people of today.
I think that's gonna be "you take your chances"  I don't know of anyone who's gotten shot for saying thanks for your service but you probably will hear some older vets give a "shit!"
But on that note, if I see another Korean or RVN vet, I'll snap a quick salute ... "Thanks, bro!"

Ive met 2 ww2 vets but mostly its older Hispanic Korean and nam vets. Lots of marines and submariners. Then younger kids feom here that joined the military to get out of here only to end up back here. I wear my coast guard shirts quite a bit. It gets a very different reaction depending on the age. The older people seem to have great respect for the coast guard but the younger vets seem to think its a joke extension of ice.

And thanks. I like the jobs, not the hours so im not sure how long it will last. Its my first real tax paying job in 12 years and only 1 of 3 places out of almost 20 job applications that called me back.

It is hit or miss any given day on whether my brother-in-law wants to be thanked for his service. Seems if he wears something acknowledging he was in the army then he's in general okay with being thanked but rarely does he wear anything letting anyone know. Mostly it's just if he thinks there might be a discount at a store for it will he bother. He went to Afghanistan and after the bail out he's had some struggles with feeling like his time and injuries he got being over there were a waste so he gets to feeling like what he didn't wasn't a service at all. With time and therapy he might feel a little different.

@TwisterII  I relate to your BIL's feelings though for me it was a different war.  I left VN shortly before the fall and had gotten to know several of the people who worked for us pretty well.  (( Shoot, I was on of the few GI's who'd join them for lunch. ))   Oh, I had a lot of the feelings the US did, "This was a civil war, we didn't belong there." but at the same time I was concerned for the ARVN who actively wanted a democracy and fought for / with us.  It sucks big time when you can't feel good about trying to help someone.

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@lostmaniac It's surprising how many places do have 'military' discounts - but you have to know about them and ask for them to get them.  Most of the car places, like Auto Zone, have a 10% discount and they'll even give it on an internet order.  If you're into house repairs, Lowes, McCoys and Home Depot all have a standard 10% discount for active / retired / veterans.  Veterans advantage shows a lot of places that the general veteran (military service with less than 20 years) can get a discount.  (( caveat: veterans advantage also does a lot of advertising the normal discounts (free shipping with a $35 order from WalMart, for example) ))

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Have I said lately how much I miss Sasha?  I've been taking Avalanche and Sky out for walks by themselves and neither of them have any interest in staying anywhere near me like Sasha did.  While she was fun to take out, these two are a pain - I have no idea where they're gonna end up.  If they aren't on lead they're ... well, somewhere.