Owie

Owie is Minnesota-speak for injury. Usually said in one of those sugary-sweet tones of voice adults sometimes use to children as in, “Do you have an owie?”

Yes, I certainly do.

I’m not sure exactly what the doctor said. It was something like, “inflammation of the Achilles bursa.” Which basically means sharp pain in the back of the heel.

Does mine hurt? No. Not, if I don’t move. Trying to walk, however, is very painful.

So, the doctor gave me stretching exercises to do. That’s right. If it hurts to move, the treatment is to move it. Not just to move it but to stretch and hold the sore part of your body. As odd as that sounds it works. When I stretch that tendon before I get up, it hurts less to walk.

The other part of the bad news is the doctor said healing is measured in weeks not days.

So much for my exercise program.

The good news is I’ve now lost 10.4 pounds in spite of how little I exercise.

And things are still going better for me than they are for this guy. Check out his license plate.

TTYL,

Linda

Celebrate!

Today is the official day for celebrating our nation’s independence. This is often done by shooting off fireworks which most people have long forgotten are a symbol of the battles we fought to gain our freedom.

The people across the river have been setting off fireworks all week but they’ve been the kind that make lots of noise without lots of beauty. Since we’ve been hearing these all week we weren’t surprised to hear even more of them last night.

That’s too bad because we missed what was apparently a beautiful display. Dave discovered that only when he was going to bed.

He heard voices outside our bedroom window so he looked out and discovered neighbors sitting at our newly refurbished picnic table watching the display across the river. Before we could get clothes and shoes to go join them, it was all over and our neighbors were clapping and cheering.

I wonder if there will be a repeat tonight?

TTYL,

Linda

Par-tay

We finally met more neighbors. We are spending the evening at the clubhouse taking shelter from passing storms. So far all the damaging storms have indeed passed–just west of us. Close enough to see them and to get some wind and rain but no damage here. Now we are in a lull before one more is due through. Several people are taking advantage of this lull to go grab a quick supper. But, we were just finishing eating when our weather alert radio went off so we’ll just stay here until the next round passes, too. It is on track for a more direct hit and the warnings have included advice to leave mobile homes since the first one recorded 80 mph winds. In the meantime this is a much more comfortable place to shelter than the park bathroom in which we spent time our first summer.

TTYL,

Linda

Ps. The storms have moved on so we are safely home again.

Getting Healthy: Flavorful Vegetables

My mother was never much of a cook and neither was I. Cooking is one of the things I retired from when Dave retired from his day job. But Dave doesn’t enjoy cooking either and eating mostly restaurant or frozen dinner meals has not made me healthy. So I am trying, within my limited physical capabilities, to learn to cook healthful foods. I have been reading and saving many recipes for making vegetables then trying to figure out how on earth I’m going to be able to do all that prep work.

One of the challenges I face is that neither Dave nor I have ever been particularly fond of vegetables. We pretty much stick to frozen broccoli, carrots, and green beans. But, I crave variety. So, I’m working on a theory of how to meet both of those preferences.

Here’s my theory. Start by cleaning out all the old spices in my cupboard. We did that three years ago but I’ve been told spices only keep their full flavor for a year so we should probably do it again. Then we should buy the smallest containers we can of these spices: onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, dill weed, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and whatever else appeals when I get to the spice section of the store. We should also buy a small bottle of sesame oil.

The recipe for vegetables then goes something like this. Steam a cup of vegetables until just tender crisp. Melt a tablespoon of butter and add a teaspoon or so of one of the above flavorings. Toss the vegetables in the butter and serve. That would give us eight different flavors of each vegetable. Multiply that times the three types of vegetables and you get nearly a different flavor each day for a month. Once we learn which flavorings we like most we can start combining flavors. I already know I like onion with dill. And I like garlic on most anything. But having only a small container of each of those will help me remember to also use the other flavors to help keep me out of a rut.

What do you think? Does this sound like it should work?

TTYL,

Linda

ps. I just remembered that some of the recipes I’ve been researching used lemon juice or orange juice as a flavoring. Now I have more than a flavor per day. Orange/cinnamon carrots sounds good to me. Lemon/garlic is popular. I think I may be on to something here.