No, it's not 80 degrees F here...
Nor is there an 1980's theme party going on...
It has been 80+ days since I last published an entry here.
As of yesterday, I have lost 80+ pounds on that strict diet I was put on prior to the shoulder operation.
As of yesterday, I have regained 80+ degrees in my range of motion (and I'm promised there will be much more to come!)
Physical Therapy has been brutal and exciting at the same time. The workouts at the YMCA (in the pool and in the gym) have been tough but I'm feeling like a young man again. Yesterday, I was told to take a stroll on the treadmill. It was set for 7% slope (yikes!) and 3.2 miles per hour. I managed to "hang in there" for 90 minutes, covering 5.25 miles and "climbing" over 1600 feet! I feel the old, walk 7 miles a day form coming back to me.
As a side effect, really, that's what the Doctor calls it, I've been taken off four (yes 4!) of the eight medications I was on - and in April (hey, that's next Monday!) I will learn if I will be taken off the remainder. I've already been taken off the most brutal one for me to manage, no more insulin for me!
So, 80 days... they've been very busy with healing, therapy, work outs, learning how to eat right, and of course, catching up at work. With the (hopeful?) onset of Spring, I should be able to resume my walks with camera in hand, ready to take photos of anything that strikes my fancy, and things I would want to share with any of you that are still reading this... including rascally squirrels, whimsical OCHAs, and other imponderables.
I have much reading to catch up - and beg your forbearance - some of you have 80+ unread entries in my reader - and likely and sadly, I'll never be able to read them all. I'm pleased to be back... and at feeling 80%+
Friday, March 29, 2013
Monday, January 7, 2013
7 O'Clock on the 21st Day...
My mom recently found a box of old photos and old dresses her mother squirreled away many years ago. The dresses include those that my mom wore as a little girl and have extensive hand-stitch embroidery on them. We are seeing how to best preserve them - I insisted she not try to wash them until we figured out just how to do so safely.
One photo in the thousands that struck me is this one - My mom's father is the young man fourth from the left behind the desk. The photo is unmarked, but appears to be a bank and/or a telegraph office. The day calendar says "21st" and the clock says 7:00. The signs on the teller(?) cages says American Express Travelers Cheques For Sale Here and Accepted Here.
American Express Traveler's Cheques were first offered in 1891. I think the older gent in the center of the photo might be the bank manager.
My grandfather was an early radio-telgrapher aboard a Navy ship during WWI. Perhaps he learned how being employed in a telegraph office in Durant, Oklahoma?
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Happy New Year - 2013
It's been a long time since I posted anything - I am still "amongst the living."
This morning I was told by my brother - "Since people think 13 is unlucky, the year is now officially 2014a. Next year will be 2014b, and then the years will resume with normal numbering in 2015. Microsoft will fix all computer calendars in a software patch."
Being an engineer of supposedly rational thought process, I find Triskaidekaphobia to be ridiculous, so I had a good laugh at that. :)
Anyhooo... I was able to "get out and about" some over the holiday week - thanks to a lot of working out in the local YMCA pool and other therapy. I've actually gotten some movement back and the old shoulder isn't carping (quite so loudly.) January 16th will (hopefully) see the long wait come to end and the shoulder worked on once more. Hopefully I'll bounce back quickly and be able to return to the walking and other (blog reading?) exercises of old. I've lost some weight and feel pretty good lately.
The Schuykill River bike path on a dreary New Years Day - found me gingerly walking - testing my breathing and arm sling. The blood clot in my lungs may or may not still be there - but I find myself being able to breath well enough to walk just short of 5 miles in the cold before getting weary. Obviously I didn't have to dodge much traffic!
In the Flickr side bar - you will see how cold and snow makes the Morris Arboretum look! John and Lydia Morris look (and felt) cold! The new swans didn't seem to mind the cold much - they were out swimming in the pond, promenading and showing off. I managed getting up and down the hilly paths there - and felt encouraged and nearly excited by the effects of working out in a warm swimming pool. I will continue to do what I can - I miss being outdoors and taking photos and hunting the elusive Charlie photo - as well as watching the antics of the Orange Conehead Alien (OCHA) "peoples."
Also in Flickr, is a "what is it?" snow creature my neighbor built. I'm still wondering, I'll have to catch up with him and ask! Meanwhile, any of you have any thoughts?
It will be a long road ahead in 2013 (2014a, if you must) - but my concerns are not of me... they are of others - others like Tori - fighting anemia and colds; Alice Kay - dealing with an unknown internal issue; Dorkys Ramos - battling the dreaded "C" - and other friends with serious and severe health issues - which make mine look trivial (and they are, in comparison).
Also in my mind are those that are dealing with loved ones that are not feeling their best, privacy being respected - I'll not name them - but they know who they are - and I want them to know I am thinking about them and theirs.
I biggest wish for 2013 will be the return to (and/or continued) good health for all - and that lots of laughter and smiles will follow each and everyone of us - every step we make in the year to come.
This morning I was told by my brother - "Since people think 13 is unlucky, the year is now officially 2014a. Next year will be 2014b, and then the years will resume with normal numbering in 2015. Microsoft will fix all computer calendars in a software patch."
Being an engineer of supposedly rational thought process, I find Triskaidekaphobia to be ridiculous, so I had a good laugh at that. :)
Anyhooo... I was able to "get out and about" some over the holiday week - thanks to a lot of working out in the local YMCA pool and other therapy. I've actually gotten some movement back and the old shoulder isn't carping (quite so loudly.) January 16th will (hopefully) see the long wait come to end and the shoulder worked on once more. Hopefully I'll bounce back quickly and be able to return to the walking and other (blog reading?) exercises of old. I've lost some weight and feel pretty good lately.
The Schuykill River bike path on a dreary New Years Day - found me gingerly walking - testing my breathing and arm sling. The blood clot in my lungs may or may not still be there - but I find myself being able to breath well enough to walk just short of 5 miles in the cold before getting weary. Obviously I didn't have to dodge much traffic!
In the Flickr side bar - you will see how cold and snow makes the Morris Arboretum look! John and Lydia Morris look (and felt) cold! The new swans didn't seem to mind the cold much - they were out swimming in the pond, promenading and showing off. I managed getting up and down the hilly paths there - and felt encouraged and nearly excited by the effects of working out in a warm swimming pool. I will continue to do what I can - I miss being outdoors and taking photos and hunting the elusive Charlie photo - as well as watching the antics of the Orange Conehead Alien (OCHA) "peoples."
Also in Flickr, is a "what is it?" snow creature my neighbor built. I'm still wondering, I'll have to catch up with him and ask! Meanwhile, any of you have any thoughts?
It will be a long road ahead in 2013 (2014a, if you must) - but my concerns are not of me... they are of others - others like Tori - fighting anemia and colds; Alice Kay - dealing with an unknown internal issue; Dorkys Ramos - battling the dreaded "C" - and other friends with serious and severe health issues - which make mine look trivial (and they are, in comparison).
Also in my mind are those that are dealing with loved ones that are not feeling their best, privacy being respected - I'll not name them - but they know who they are - and I want them to know I am thinking about them and theirs.
I biggest wish for 2013 will be the return to (and/or continued) good health for all - and that lots of laughter and smiles will follow each and everyone of us - every step we make in the year to come.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
History isn't about dates...
This morning on my way to work, I was in a long train of cars and trucks. The vehicle in front of me was pleasing to the eye. I'm no great fan of invisible fences since two of the dogs I grew up with found ways to slip out. One would wait for the snow plow to come and leave a mound of snow over the wire that triggered the warning collar, and simply walk out over the distance-keeping hill of snow. The other was a bounder, he could leap like a deer, and easily cleared 5-6 foot fences on the fly. He did this one day, bounding over the warning of the invisible fence, and came back in my older brother's arms, dead from being hit by a car.
But I digress...the two yellow labs sharing the stick they obviously want someone to toss, pulled me out of my rambling thoughts.
I had been thinking about ... history and how it isn't about dates, it's about people. And how I've been reading lately about people that were "much more personal" to me - which made history more ...personal.
Let me explain. My dad's side of the family, largely came to this country around 1850. There are 5-6 generations that, by and large, lived entirely within a few blocks-square area in downtown Philadelphia (with trips to the New Jersey beaches). While Philadelphia is the home of the Liberty Bell and the signing of the Declaration of Independence...the people that did that, and lived through that time, weren't "my people". So the history becomes a bit dusty and remote...
My mom's mother's family immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts from Scotland around 1895. Again, Boston is one of those "a lot of things happened there" towns of old, but it wasn't "my people" that were involved with dumping the tea in the harbor, or listening to Paul Revere shout the "British are coming!"
My mom's Daughters of the American Revolution application and the research that went into it, however, has changed things. History has become much more personal.
My mother's father's family tree for the country that was to become the United States of America is extensive. More than extensive. One branch goes back to John Bush (1590 - 1624) who is my 8th great grandfather. He came to Virginia with Lord De La Warr.
Thomas West, 3rd (or 12th) is often named in history books simply as Lord Delaware. He served as governor of the Jamestown Colony, and the Delaware Bay was named after him.
Suddenly, history takes on a buzz.
John Bush's great-grandsons would travel with Daniel Boone through the Cumberland Gap in 1775.
Johannes Michael Schmidt, my 7th great grandfather, came from Germany in 1737 with others fleeing religious persecution. He entered this country in Philadelphia, lived in Germantown, and later moved to Virginia. 110 years later, my dad's side of the family would come from England and live on Germantown Avenue... Again, something begins to resonate within me...
Philip Peter Visinand, my 8th great grandfather, who born on 10 Apr 1684 in Heilsbruck, Switzerland, came to America in 1731 and settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He is buried in a cemetery I've driven past dozens of times without a thought or care... It's so very different now.
Back north, the town of Salem, Massachusetts was having a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft, between February 1692 and May 1693. Henry Herrick Sr., my 10th great grandfather and his family were deeply involved.
My mom is deeply ashamed by this - I grant this wasn't the world's "finest hour," but it happened.
Does the name David Stern Crockett ring a bell? Perhaps you remember the Alamo? Ancestry.Com tells me he is the uncle of my 4th great grand aunt, Sarah Elizabeth Crockett's husband.
Lost in the fabric of time... and deep in thought, I want to learn more about what have become special to me events in history... the Alamo, the Salem Witch Trials, the settling of Jamestown, and something terrible...
...the damages done to the family during and after the Civil War - where "my people" fought... on the "losing side" near Shelbyville, Tennessee...
..when I look up and see two friendly dogs staring back at me...and soon thereafter I arrive at work once more.
But I digress...the two yellow labs sharing the stick they obviously want someone to toss, pulled me out of my rambling thoughts.
I had been thinking about ... history and how it isn't about dates, it's about people. And how I've been reading lately about people that were "much more personal" to me - which made history more ...personal.
Let me explain. My dad's side of the family, largely came to this country around 1850. There are 5-6 generations that, by and large, lived entirely within a few blocks-square area in downtown Philadelphia (with trips to the New Jersey beaches). While Philadelphia is the home of the Liberty Bell and the signing of the Declaration of Independence...the people that did that, and lived through that time, weren't "my people". So the history becomes a bit dusty and remote...
My mom's mother's family immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts from Scotland around 1895. Again, Boston is one of those "a lot of things happened there" towns of old, but it wasn't "my people" that were involved with dumping the tea in the harbor, or listening to Paul Revere shout the "British are coming!"
My mom's Daughters of the American Revolution application and the research that went into it, however, has changed things. History has become much more personal.
My mother's father's family tree for the country that was to become the United States of America is extensive. More than extensive. One branch goes back to John Bush (1590 - 1624) who is my 8th great grandfather. He came to Virginia with Lord De La Warr.
Thomas West, 3rd (or 12th) is often named in history books simply as Lord Delaware. He served as governor of the Jamestown Colony, and the Delaware Bay was named after him.
Suddenly, history takes on a buzz.
John Bush's great-grandsons would travel with Daniel Boone through the Cumberland Gap in 1775.
Johannes Michael Schmidt, my 7th great grandfather, came from Germany in 1737 with others fleeing religious persecution. He entered this country in Philadelphia, lived in Germantown, and later moved to Virginia. 110 years later, my dad's side of the family would come from England and live on Germantown Avenue... Again, something begins to resonate within me...
Philip Peter Visinand, my 8th great grandfather, who born on 10 Apr 1684 in Heilsbruck, Switzerland, came to America in 1731 and settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He is buried in a cemetery I've driven past dozens of times without a thought or care... It's so very different now.
Back north, the town of Salem, Massachusetts was having a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft, between February 1692 and May 1693. Henry Herrick Sr., my 10th great grandfather and his family were deeply involved.
My mom is deeply ashamed by this - I grant this wasn't the world's "finest hour," but it happened.
Does the name David Stern Crockett ring a bell? Perhaps you remember the Alamo? Ancestry.Com tells me he is the uncle of my 4th great grand aunt, Sarah Elizabeth Crockett's husband.
Lost in the fabric of time... and deep in thought, I want to learn more about what have become special to me events in history... the Alamo, the Salem Witch Trials, the settling of Jamestown, and something terrible...
...the damages done to the family during and after the Civil War - where "my people" fought... on the "losing side" near Shelbyville, Tennessee...
..when I look up and see two friendly dogs staring back at me...and soon thereafter I arrive at work once more.
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