The Sandcastle

A couple years ago we made a driving trip to Texas to plan my new RV. Traveling by car meant using rest areas, restaurants, and motels. During that trip my ankles became so painful it was hard for me to walk.

At my next physical I asked my doctor about that pain but she could find no reason for it. Thinking it might be arthritis I started taking glucosamine/chondroitin again as it had helped my knees years ago. No relief.

The only thing that helped was not walking.

So, at this year’s physical I asked my doctor about my ankles again. She ordered x-rays and gave me a referral to a podiatrist.

The x-rays did not show arthritis.

The doctor explained to me that just like people’s eyes change shape over the years requiring glasses feet can change shape requiring more support. These supports are called orthotics and they would do a test to see if those might help me.

This is what the test looks like:

 

That is tape they put on my feet to mimic the support of orthotics. I was to wear the tape for at least three but not more than five days to see if they helped. If not, I was to have a radiological bone scan on day four.

For me, this taping was like a wonder drug! I was able to run errands two days in a row without ankle pain!

But…

…I am allergic to adhesives. I managed to leave the tape on almost three full days but once removed the reason for my itching was clear:

 

I had this rash on both feet and it had been driving me nuts!

But, at least, I didn’t have to do the bone scan.

I wanted that relief back without the allergic reaction so we we tried wrapping my feet with an ace bandage:

 

Unfortunately, that didn’t help.

So, back to the doctor I went and they made these molds of my feet:

 

Which they then sent off to have orthotics custom made just for me.

Now, for the next challenge. These are meant to replace the insoles in any pair of shoes. But the shoes I wear most are these:

 

And those insoles are not removable. I tried putting the orthotics in on top of the molded insoles and they fit in the shoe but they make the arch support way too high so didn’t even come close to being comfortable. Unless I want to sand down the insoles of these shoes, I don’t think they are going to work.

So, I started looking at other shoes I own. Like these:

 

As you can see by the one in the back, these insoles come out. In fact I used to wear these shoes so much I wore out one pair of insoles and ordered another pair from the shoe manufacturer. So these would work. As long as the weather is nice. Except for the fact that I’m supposed to wear socks to protect the insoles. Socks with sandals, anyone?

Then there is these:

I haven’t tried these yet because I’d have to trim the insoles to fit. What they have in them now is not so much an insole as a liner. But the tops are stretchy fabric so I might be able to put the orthotics in and still get my feet into them. But, I won’t know until I’ve already trimmed the orthotics. I’m not excited about making that experiment.

The one other pair of shoes I own do not have removable anything. Plus, they are sandals, too.

As a minimalist, I hate the idea of having to go buy shoes when I already own all these. Especially since I only bought those Crocs last month.

But, I sure do like having no ankle pain.

TTYL,

Linda

 

I don’t enjoy cooking. So I am always looking for easier ways to get fed. But, I don’t like eating out all the time either. So I am always looking for easier ways to prepare food at home. Our newest method is called Sous Vide, pronounced “sue veed”. That apparently translates to “water bath”.

No, I’m not boiling all our food now. I know that’s what it sounds like but, honestly, I’m not.

It starts with buying a bunch of meat. LIke these steaks and pork chops.

 

Then filling the meat’s bathtub with water.

 

And setting the temperature for the desired degree of done we want for this particular batch of meat.

 

We have special bags to put the meat into after first turning down the tops to keep from making a mess of the closures.

 

Then the excess air gets vacuumed out of the bags.

 

And the bags of meat are test fit into the water.

 

Then more water is added to cover this particular batch of meat.

 

Then we put the lid on and go watch TV, or do laundry, or whatever else is on the agenda while the cooker does its thing. Sometimes we set a timer to remind us to take the meat out but sometimes we don’t bother. In this case, we set the temperature for 140° for the steaks then came back an hour later and removed them; then we upped the temperature to 160° for the pork chops and put them in to cook. We came back several hours later to remove the pork chops. We could safely do this because the machine cooks the meat to just the temperature you selected then keeps it there until you are ready for it. Leaving it in longer does not make the meat overdone; it just makes it more tender. And who would object to steak you can cut with a butter knife?

Here’s what the pork chops look like right from the cooker.

 

If you like your chops or steaks to look more finished, you can throw them on a hot grill for a few seconds per side to get that crispy outer crust so many like. Dave cooks his steaks that way because he likes his a little more done than I like mine.

And you can put seasonings or marinades right in the bag with the meat so you can gets lots of different flavors from each batch of cooking. And you can cook fish, poultry, eggs, and vegetables this way, too.

But, with only the effort it took to bag the meats and drop them into the cooker we made, I think, nine servings of meat to be readily available for consumption over the next few days.

Next fall, I plan to cook lots of meats this way and freeze them so when I head south for the winter I can eat for a long time while only having to thaw the meat and prepare side dishes. That’s a style of cooking that suits me just fine.

TTYL,

Linda

I have a bag I carry stuff in. It converts from a shoulder bag to a back pack but I wear it on my back most of the time to keep my hands free. It is big enough to carry my iPad inside. It doubles as my bug-out bag so it has a lot of emergency supplies in it like three days worth of medicine, some emergency food, a poncho, a whistle, a flashlight, copies of important papers, etc.

I had my annual physical today. Dave said I should put the bag on the scale.  Today in additional to its normal stuff it had a full water bottle in it (I normally don’t carry my beverage IN my bag) along with a few things like my phone that normally reside in my pockets. It weighed 6.4 pounds. It doubles as my weightlifting program. 🙂

TTYL,

Linda

“Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they have been told.” —Alan Keightley

As a child my parents had very specific ideas as to how I should be including the ever so popular “seen but not heard.” I was a girl growing up in the fifties. I wore hats and gloves to church on Easter Sunday. I learned to cross my legs only at the ankles and to keep my knees together. Girls were expected to take home ec while boys took shop. Boys were expected to pay for everything which girls were to appreciate only by saying, “Thank you.” What the neighbors thought was more important than how you felt. Only shift workers did not sleep the same hours as everyone else. Even in the early sixties girls were not allowed to wear slacks to school except under their dresses on Friday IF there was a football game right after school–and NO ONE wore blue jeans to school and we dressed up to travel if we were going in anything other than the family car.

Now?

I write a blog and other things that strangers read.

The only hats I own are a knit for winter and a rain hat for summer. The only gloves I own are for winter although they are nice leather ones lined with Thinsulate.

I no longer cross my legs at all because my artificial knees make it uncomfortable.

I never did learn to cook or sew but I know even less about mechanical/electrical things.

Dave still pays for everything and I still say, “Thank you.”

It’s still hard for me to identify my feelings, let alone express them.

On a typical night I go to bed somewhere between midnight and 2 am and get up somewhere between 9 am and noon.

I wear blue jeans to everything except weddings and funerals and I wore white jeans to the last wedding I attended. I own one culotte-style skirt–everything else is jeans or sweat pants.

And I go off for the winter in my RV and leave Dave at home.

That last one would drive my mother nuts if she knew about it. After all, what would the neighbors think?!!!

TTYL,

Linda

The first hint was about 3 am Friday morning. As a storm went through the power went out for a couple of minutes then blinked for a couple more minutes but then was fine all day.

So when we went off for the evening everything was fine. However, coming back home, when we turned onto Rockford Road we found this:

What color is our traffic light?

No color at all, right? Even less last night because the street lights were out, too. So you couldn’t even see there was a traffic light at that corner. Only the people who already knew it was there stopped to check for other traffic. Not a good sign.

We passed several of these wondering what the situation would be when we reached home. Again, not good.

No power in our entire neighborhood. Everything beyond our headlights dark.

But, our apartment management was on the ball. They propped open just a titch every door into the complex. Because, of course, none of our electronic keys worked.

So I dug into my carryall for my flashlight. And Dave set his iPhone to flashlight mode. And we climbed the two flights of steps up to our apartment where I lit our two huge emergency candles.

The stove clock said the power went out about 8:45 pm. It was now about midnight. I ate my midnight meal by candlelight but it didn’t feel particularly romantic.

When I went to bed I plugged in my electronics hoping the power would be back on before I got up and things would be recharging.

No such luck. So I plugged my iPad into my laptop and used the laptop’s power to recharge the iPad. With no power our DSL modem didn’t work so my iPad was the best way to get online while I waited for Dave to get up.

Yes, I was up and he was sleeping. Turns out he’d been up during the night so was back in bed making up for lost time.

Once he got up we started talking about what to do about no power. An article in the Star Tribune said the power company hoped to have power restored to everyone by noon Monday. MONDAY?!!!

So we went out for breakfast then started moving into the RV where we could, at least, use my solar power to recharge our electronics. While sitting here doing this, our power came back on. Saturday about 5:45 pm. Guess we can go back home now.

In the meantime here’s some pictures I took of damage we saw while out driving. These are mostly the results of high winds. One gust was measured at 69 mph.

Our street covered by debris:

Uprooted tree across the street from us:

Tree down across the sidewalk on our street:

Tree broken off part way up its trunk:

One of many vehicles hauling away some of the mess:

But, we have power again. And we were so glad to have my RV to retreat to in the meantime. LIfe is still good.

TTYL,

Linda